4 Meeting A Crazed Woman In The Weirdest Of Places

It'd been a week since I arrived in New York, and I was beginning to see that things were even more different than what I'd expected.

For one, it wasn't just Gwen being the spider-themed hero of Queens.

No. Unlike in the MCU, where I'd assumed I was, Spider-Woman did have certain enemies in this world. Rhino, Doc Ock, Electro, Shocker--there were all sorts of arch-enemies of the girl who lived next door to me.

Looking back in papers and records and such, I figured out Gwen had been Spider-Woman for about three years. A year into her being a masked vigilante, Rhino appeared. A few months after that, Scorpion popped up. For a year, new and more dangerous villains began popping up in the New York city area.

Reading through it, I even felt sorry for her. Until I realized she was the one who chose this life. So the overwhelming amount of work that came with it was on her, nobody else.

But, right now, I was following up on a lead of something that was a bit more serious than wannabe-villains dressed up like animals. I was investigating a gang that had no right being in this universe.

Not because it wasn't a part of the MCU but because it wasn't a part of Marvel in any way, shape or form. I was looking into it because if it were a thing, I needed to kill it's leader. I wasn't a naive goody-two shoes, and neither did I have the patience to put up with this person's shenanigans because their idea of shenanigans was putting a nuke under a city set to blow up if a specific person's heart stopped.

Looking at the old chemical plant, I sighed and pulled the white tiger mask over my face. (A/N - Look in the paragraph comments for an example.)

Lifting a hand, I flicked my finger in sync with a wisp of Metal Qi flowing through my veins. The lock on the gate, along with the chains wrapped around the gate, were shredded into tiny little bits. Metal Qi is useful like this - you can either use it to become more durable than a bunker or you can imbue it into attacks/actions and have that specific attack/action take on an attribute of sharpness.

Pushing the gate out of the way with my electrokinesis derived magnetism, I held my hands in my pocket as I walked onto the abandoned ground around the chemical plant. Surprisingly, I saw a few dead bodies around - all of them dressed like clowns with green hair and pale white faces caked in make-up.

Sighing, I continued onward to the chemical plant itself. I ignored the bodies and the guns they held - they'd been fighting something or someone. The fact they were dead told me it wasn't Spider-Woman they'd been fighting.

Someone else who was just as deadly yet lacked the restraint of Gwen when it came to killing.

As I forced the doors to unlock with my powers, I walked into the plant only to hear squelching sounds echoing through the halls. Looking down I saw some blood under my boot and frowned - I'd have to burn these boots after I was done here. I liked these boots as well.

Shaking my head, I focused my senses and searched through the rundown plant for any signs of bioelectricity. It was sort of like a radar only I could use.

Everyone has bioelectricity inside them while inanimate objects don't have this same bioelectricity. Which paints a pretty accurate picture in my head of what's around me and what's alive and what isn't. I could probably walk around this entire place with my eyes closed and just focusing on this radar alongside my enhanced animal-like senses.

With said senses of mine, I quickly found the only signs of living people in this place.

They were indeed fighting someone but I wasn't in too much of a hurry. Whichever side prevailed, I could capture them and get the information I need from them.

So, without feeling hurried, I began walking toward the people fighting.

Aside from more dead bodies and bigger pools of blood, there wasn't really anything in the grimy hallways of this place. I could at least see that these people had been killed by heavy-ish caliber rounds or they'd had their heads smashed in with a blunt object. So, someone using a high-caliber pistol in one hand and a bat or hammer in another.

...Part of me was already dreading who I suspected this attacker to be. And what it meant for the whole timeline of this gang if it truly was the clown-based gang I thought it was.

Within a few minutes, I'd made it to a massive room that seemed to be where they'd held the more toxic chemicals but whatever gang was squatting in this place had turned it more into a meeting place than a place that held deadly chemicals. The floor was horrific right now - covered in blood and teeth - but even underneath that it was caked in dirt.

So unhygienic it made my skin crawl a little.

But right now, my attention was on the attacker of this place. The slaughterer who'd killed dozens of people just to get here. And who was this terribly efficient killer? It was a small blond woman. She must've been about 5'4" and I'd say she couldn't be any heavier than 120lbs - she was exceptionally lithe. Like a gymnast. Most of her weight was probably held in her thick thighs, her bubbly ass or the breasts that were pretty big for a woman her height. Both of which nearly distracted me from the fact she was currently beating a man's head in with an oversized mallet.

"Where is he?!" she screamed at the person as she whacked his head with the mallet - seemingly unaware that the man was unconscious and quickly edging toward death due to head trauma and subsequent blood loss. Yet that didn't seem to stop her in the slightest, "Huh?! You think you can play silent with me?! Where is he, ya goddamn buffoon?! Where's Mr. J?!"

Her accent was very strong. A very strong Brooklyn accent that was only accentuated by her angry tone.

Of course, I knew who she was. But it was quite surreal to meet a character I never knew I'd meet.

Other marvel characters? I'd been prepared for it. Hell, I knew it was going to happen at some point. But this? I never had a clue this would happen. Who was she? It was obviously Harley Quinn. And she was obviously looking for the Joker. The gang members were obvious a part of Joker's gang.

I was here to see if the Joker was really in this world, and to kill him if that was the case. There are some things I'm willing to gamble on - leaving that nutcase alive, however? No chance.

I had to come all the way here because there were only a few pieces of information about them in newspapers in the past few years. One time when they tried to kidnap Captain George Stacy and another time when they tried to hold a highschool hostage - both times they (Joker and his gang) were stopped by Spider-Woman.

Beyond that, however...they hadn't been doing much. Which unsettled me.

It unsettled me so much I went out of my way to come down to this rundown and abandoned chemical plant.

Harley, oblivious to my thoughts, dropped the dead man to the ground. She was breathing heavily, her mascara smudged and staining her cheeks because of the tears that had been, and are, flowing from her eyes. Her baby blue eyes were red-rimmed and puffy - she was obviously very upset. And when an unstable woman like Harley Quinn is upset? It's best to not be caught in the crosshairs. Unless you're a superhuman like me, I guess.

Because as soon as she spotted me, she looked as if she'd seen a new thing to beat on. Her eyes were like a kid's on christmas morning. She burst forward, moving with surprising speed despite not looking like much of an explosive athlete.

She lifted her mallet with ease despite her arms being slender as hell and slammed it down toward me.

"I'll be taking that," I said, lifting a hand and grabbing the handle for the mallet nearest to the oversized head of the weapon. The mallet was stopped right in it's tracks and I saw Harley's arms shake in both exertion and from the rebound of the mallet suddenly stopping. Their was a surprising amount of strength being applied to the mallet on her hand - strength that genuinely did go against the image of slender arms I was seeing. Regardless, I lifted my free hand and put it toward Harley's stomach, "And you can take this," I said before sending a non-lethal but strong arc of electricity through my hand and into her body.

Like she'd been hit by a massive force, she froze up before flying backward as the crackle of electricity echoed through the room we were in. Her hand tried to hold the mallet but I sent another arc of electricity to her wrist, making her hand go completely limp as she flew backward.

She flew through the air, the forceful contraction of her own muscles being what sent her flying.

She went through the air for a few meters before she fell to the floor with a light thud, entering a tumble as she went front over back in a somewhat comical way. If I were in the mood, I might've even cracked a smile.

She came to a stop, however, on her back, her arms and legs spread out like a starfish. She was trying to move but she couldn't.

Dropping the mallet to the flood, I walked up toward her and squatted next to her, "I assume from your conversation with that goon just now that you don't know where the Joker is?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yesh!" she hurriedly said, her tongue somewhat limp in her own mouth, "Wayt! Wahts happenin'? Ma tongue feelz weird!" frowning, I rolled my eyes as I outstretched a hand and pointed a finger at her mouth. An arc of blue electricity flickered over my finger before shooting into her mouth. More specifically onto her tongue. "Woah! That was a pretty trippy feeling, catboy! Now tell me why you're looking for Mr. J?!"

She was obviously trying to be threatening and tough...but in her current situation, it was anything but threatening. Even without her limbs being paralyzed, I wouldn't find her threatening in the least. She was just too weak for me to feel any threat. After all, I'd completed five stages of the Body Tempering and I was at the precipice of completing the sixth one.

So, everything other than my internal organs had been tempered to perfection by Metal Qi.

Which means I have 25 tonnes of body strength. Not to mention the incredible durability and athleticism given to me by my specific cultivation technique.

"No, how about you tell me about why you're looking for the Joker? Weren't you supposed to be his lover or whatever?" I asked, wondering aloud as I stared down at Harley's blue eyes as they glared back up at mine, "If you tell me your reason...I'll tell you mine."

"...Really?" she seemed somewhat doubtful of what I said, her eyes full of mania seeming to hide intelligence as she tried to read my body language, "You'll tell a stranger your plan?"

"Sure," I shrugged, "Not like you'd be able to stop what I want to do," I, quite frankly, arrogantly said. But that arrogance was backed up with actual power. Harley couldn't stop the Batman - and I was a superhuman who didn't mind killing. There was no way she could stop me if I just decided to kill or cripple her.

"Quite arrogant, doncha think?" she asked, seemingly having forgotten the fact I was the one who put her on the floor as she grinned up at me. Though said question only lingered in the air before Harley did somewhat of a shrug (or whatever her paralyzed body allowed her to do) and continued speaking, "I wanna find Mr. J so I can kill him. He left, had his goons try to kill me and you know why he had 'em do this? Because apparently I've changed! He says I've gotten soft and sane and boring--ARGHHHH! GIVE ME BACK MY LIMBS WITH YOUR ZAPPY POWERS, CATBOY! I WANNA FIND MR. J AND KILL 'IM!"

"...That's interesting," I smiled under my mask and it seemed to show in my voice as Harley went quiet, "Do you wanna have a partnership? I need someone like you to act as a smokescreen for a job I've been planning."

She went silent before she spoke up in an oddly vulnerable voice, "And what? Get used again? No thanks. I'd rather just focus on killin' Mr. J," she tried to turn her head away from me but couldn't, so she settled on averting her gaze and not looking at me.

"I know what it's like, you know?" I sat down on the ground next to her, "To be used and betrayed. It hurts. It really hurts. So, knowing how much it hurts, I wouldn't do that to a partner of mine. Trust me when I say I hate betrayal more than anything on this planet. Backstabbing, lying--all of it. I hate it," I said through grit teeth, remembering all the times in my past life where I've been used or when people lied to try and use me - least of all, the time I got betrayed and killed. "I need a partner in crime. Someone who can be the front to the operation. You wouldn't possibly need employment, would you?"

She went silent for a few seconds before she replied, still looking away from me, "...What kind of wage am I looking at?"

"Whatever money you can steal from the gangs around New York...half of it's yours to use," I set the terms pretty loosely because there was money to made in this world and I didn't exactly need the dirty money of the gangsters. I could invest in Stark Industries if I wanted and I'd get tons of money. Money didn't hold much allure to me.

Loyalty, however. That, was much more important.

If I could successfully break Harley away from Joker...I'd have someone who was incredibly loyal. So loyal they were crazy.

Which was perfect for me. I hated it when I couldn't trust someone fully. I would continuously feel on edge and like my head was filled with paranoia - which it would be. Thinking of 'if's and 'but's and how they could betray me at any time.

Trauma sucks ass. But as they say, 'Once bitten, twice shy'.

"You'd really let me have that much money...?" she asked, seemingly in disbelief, "T-that's a lotta money, you know? That Fisk guy has millions and millions! The Chinese gangs have millions in drug money as well! Y-you s-sure you wanna trust a crazy chick with that much money?" she continued in disbelief.

I just shrugged in response.

"Money doesn't hold much of an appeal to me. What can I say? I'm more interested in loyalty," I said, looking away fro Harley for a few seconds before looking back at her, "So, what do you say? You at least feeling tempted by the salary?" I joked.

Despite looking like she had dollar signs for eyes, Harley coughed, closed her eyes and tried to look unperturbed, "It's an o-okay salary, I will admit," she said before her eyes shot open, angry quickly filling them, "But right now, I wanna focus on finding and making Mr. J pay! That's gotta come first before I do anything like job searching!"

"Then I'll give you a hand because I wanna kill him as well," I said, surprising the blonde with what I said as I stood, "You better not hesitate when it comes to it, Harley," I flicked my finger out, an arc of electricity shooting from it and into Harley's body, unlocking the barrier I'd put on her nervous system.

After that, I held out a hand to help her up.

Harley seemed confused for a second before she tried to grab my hand. She seemed surprised by the sudden feeling in her arms and the ability to use them again.

Either way, she grabbed my hand and I easily picked her up, "Soooo...you wanna kill Mr. J too?" she asked with a curious look.

"Yeah," I nodded brushing my clothes off, "If he's alive someone who means a lot to me is gonna be in danger at some point," an image of my aunt flashed through my head and I had to grit my teeth as a tsunami of worry flooded through me. I had to kill Joker quickly otherwise she'd be at risk.

"Huh, is that so?" she trailed off and things went silent between us.

Knowing she was somewhat on board with my plan of partnership, I turned to her and looked down at the short but curvy blonde, "...We won't be finding Joker tonight. If none of his goons know and you don't know, he's laying much too low for us to find him in one night," I said, disappointing Harley who kicked at the flood with a pout on her face, "So, how about we go and kill a serial rapist who can control people with his pheromones instead? Should be a decent bonding adventure."

Harley seemed to freeze before she looked at me as if to ask if I was serious. When she saw I wasn't going back on what I said, a wicked smile crossed across her angelically beautiful face, "Really?" she asked and I nodded. She let out an excited giggle as she fidgeted back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Oh man! That won't make up for not finding Mr. J...but it'll come close!" she said with a bell-like laugh that didn't suit the situation - we were talking about killing someone.

She turned to me again and slapped me on the arm, "Catboy, you're way different than I thought you were gonna be! I thought you were gonna be one of those stuffy and stuck-up hero-types--But you're way more fun than that! Let's go kill us a scumbag!" she began skipping over to her mallet, her excitement practically palpable in the air around her.

Feeling uncomfortable at her touch, I ignored it and shook my head, "...Can you please stop calling me 'catboy'? Just call me White or Tiger if you have to call me anything, Harley."

...Of course, I got no answer. Shuddering at the implications, I followed after her.

We had a Kilgrave to kill, after all.