Chapter 117: Strange Alliances Part 2

After leaving Markovic Tower, Slade took Arias to a lone warehouse near Gotham Harbor. It was a dangerous-looking place at that hour, even if Gotham was considered much safer.

"Remind me to renovate these properties one day so they don't practically scream 'shady business,'" Arias's stoic voice resonated from the luxury vehicle that had just pulled into the rather deserted harbor.

Aside from patrolling guards—who were mostly former criminals—the place was empty and far from residential areas. Slade and Arias walked side by side past many containers without exchanging words with the guards. They knew better and just pretended Arias and Slade didn't exist.

Soon they reached their destination. Slade opened the rusty door and walked in with Arias in tow. After turning on the light, however, both came to a stop and focused their gaze on a lone chair in the middle of the room with cut ropes near it.

Before Arias could comment, some odd sounds emanated from a corner.

"Mmph!"

Slade just sighed and walked over, only to find his daughter, Rose, bound tightly and left on the floor.

"Seriously? You had one job. How do you not only let the captive escape but also get yourself in this sorry state?" Slade spoke in an irritated manner while he removed the cloth stuffed in her mouth.

Once the cloth was out, Rose glared at Slade and responded, "Yeah, well, you didn't tell me to watch out for another one. Since you didn't warn me there were two, then you didn't know either!"

She blamed Slade for inferior monitoring, as all this time he had only ever seen one person observing him.

Arias just shook his head, knowing they'd start to bicker.

"I'll leave you two to go over what happened. Slade can update me later."

His words practically fell on deaf ears as the two prideful killers refused to admit it was one or the other's fault.

Upon reaching the residential tower, rather than go to his own suite first, Arias took a detour and stopped by Harley's.

She had had her time to sort through her thoughts; anymore and Arias would be giving her far too much time to reflect. Now was the prime time to influence her unstable emotions. Not too soon that the wound was fresh, but not too late that it had strengthened. It needed to be fragile enough to accept and accommodate a new resident without much resistance.

Arias didn't even bother to knock and just entered the room, where a scruffy-looking Harley could be seen in the living room, lounging on the couch in a weird posture. Her eyes were glued to what looked to be old footage of herself and the Joker on the internet. She was no longer crying, but the pain could still be seen on her face.

Arias walked in slowly but made his steps loud enough for her to hear. Hearing them, she alertly looked his way and turned the TV off, pretending she was doing something else.

'So this is the stage she's reached,' he thought as he made this observation and chose to pretend he didn't notice it. Pointing it out would lead to her denial, and even if she accepted, it would lead to that becoming the subject of conversation.

Arias came to do the opposite: divert her thoughts and flood her mind with confused emotions.

"How are you feeling, Harley?" he asked once in the living room, carrying a light but straightforward tone, making it clear he didn't come here to soothe her with smooth words.

Harley sat upright and flashed a bright but fake smile, trying her best to sound her usual self. "Oh, y'know boss, just watching whatever's on TV and whatnot. You haven't come by in a while; that makes poor Lil Harley kinda sad." She even went as far as to seem somewhat flirtatious, bringing a smirk to Arias's face. 'She makes it too easy.'

Without wasting time, Arias reached out to grab Harley by the hand and brought her close. She fell into his surprise with wide eyes, but he gave her no time to recover. His hands found themselves on her soft and plump behind, gripping onto her ass cheeks firmly. Harley was about to speak but was stopped as Arias planted his mouth on hers, locking them in a wet kiss.

The quickest emotion to combat loss and sadness was one that gave brief but great excitement or happiness, like a drug. This was especially true when the body itself wanted to forget, craving distraction from the pain. Because of this, the resistance Harley tried to give melted away quickly, with her finding she missed being touched. Her body grew hotter, and she found immediate solace in the passionate embrace from Arias. It made her mind cloudy, and she liked that.

"Mmm~" Soft moans escaped the corner of her mouth, and her hands ran down Arias's back, clinging to him tightly and not wanting to let go. In the next moment, her moans grew louder as Arias tightened his grip on her cheeks. The tight booty shorts she wore stretched in a sexy manner as she began to move and curve her back smoothly. Her crotch was now grinding against Arias's leg, becoming more and more moist with every movement.

Like a lust-stricken beast, soon Harley began to move on her own accord, craving the oh-so-sweet release that was nearing. She bit her lip and held Arias tighter, her hardened nipples even poking at her tight crop top.

"F-fuck… I'm… I'm…" Harley was just about to cum when all of a sudden, Arias gripped her waist tightly and prevented her from doing so.

"I just remembered, I forgot to make a very important call. Our time together will have to wait," he said before getting up immediately, giving her little time to protest.

She was unwilling to see him go, not when she was so close. Unfortunately, by the time she tried to follow, Arias had already begun to walk away, soon leaving her penthouse entirely.

Arias was following a simple method: he let her get a taste of what it felt like and left her craving more, just at the edge of release. Even if her mind didn't want to forget the Joker so soon, her body and hormones would slowly chip away at this, without her even knowing.

Left with no choice, she walked back to the couch and began touching herself. This made her mind try to replicate the scenario she was in, so in her mind, it was Arias she was imagining touching her. His scent lingering in the room only made her fantasies feel more real.

She had no idea he was toying with her mind and drawing her closer to him, making him her drug and obsession, the one to take over the emptiness she felt within herself.