CHAPTER 129

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[David Lance POV]

I sat beside Harley a few meters away from her to avoid any surprises as she slept, the morphine keeping her in a deep painless slumber after the surgery I had performed to set her bones back in place to facilitate their optimal healing.

Talking about healing, Harley's healing factor was doing wonders as the hours passed; as minor as this healing factor was, it was pushing her to recover beyond what it should be possible for a simple human.

Even then, I couldn't help but notice how pale she looked, how fragile, how small.

I knew for a fact she had taken worse beatings, some by the Joker himself, meaning she had to be strong to have survived what she had; I also knew that pity shouldn't be the first I felt when I laid my eyes on her, she was a dangerous criminal or was, it was a confusing situation.

All I knew is that at this moment, she looked so vulnerable, so normal, that it was shocking, unsettling even.

I yawned softly, my eyes fixed on the window as a patrol of Regime soldiers passed by, their lights shining in the glass of the window for a few moments before everything went black.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Harley, my mind racing with questions that I needed answers to. Hopefully, she would offer some insight into this entire situation; the key word being, hopefully, I honestly didn't know if Harley would be able to answer most of my questions, or any for that matter.

I had no idea what to do, honestly.

I don't have the slightest clue of how to escape this situation, how to fix it all.

.....

I could survive, but for how long?

I could stall until the Regime is destroyed, but would that happen? After all, in the games, there were some endings where the Regime wins, and Superman enslaves everyone.

"What's the matter, toots?" Harley muttered groggily, breaking the silence in the room, "You looked like you needed a hug. Want one?"

I looked at her for a few moments before shaking my head. Once again, she surprises me, I didn't expect her to wake up so soon. It's been no less than ten hours since I put her to sleep, and here she was, ready to annoy me some more.

"Meanie," Harley said with a small chuckle as she winced in pain. "But seriously, if ya need someone to talk to, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is at your service."

I stared at her for a few moments before sighing softly, was I actually considering talking with her about my problems right now?

"Don't worry about me telling a thing, doctor-patient confidentiality and all that," Harley said with a wink as she tried to sit up before wincing in pain and lying back down.

I guess I might as well. It's not like I have anything better to do; also, I could be very vague about everything, and who knows, maybe, just maybe, she could offer some help. ~Sign language?~

Harley smiled at me. "I do know sign language. I might be crazy, but I'm a nice crazy person, so go ahead and talk."

I rolled my eyes at her. ~Why Batman sent you after me?~

Harley frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's not how a session works. But if you must know, he got your SOS call."

I see; it makes sense now.

By getting an SOS signal to a probably old and unused channel of communication, Batman and his trademark paranoia went into overdrive, which ended up with him sending Harley after me, resulting in our fight.

~I checked your body for trackers, and I found a few that I destroyed upon finding, two on your clothes, two on your body, and one on your hair. My question is the following, are there any other trackers you're hiding in your person on your belongings?~ I asked, my eyes narrowed at her.

Harley snorted. "If I knew, I would so totally tell ya, but honestly, I don't know. I've been with Bats for so long that I've lost count of how many trackers he's put on me. Here between us, I'm pretty sure that's Batsy's kink."

That's... not totally inaccurate.

I sighed, giving a look to the window before turning back to Harley. ~Will you continue to hunt me down after you recover?~

Harley shook her head with a beaming smile. "Nah, I was just doing this because we didn't know if ya were a bad-bad guy, but you saved me, so I owe you one. Then again, you were the one that put me on the operating table, so... hmmm. Nah, I won't hunt you."

~What do you know about the Regime?~ I asked her, curious to know if she had any insider information that could be useful.

"Only that Superdumb is Superstupid, and I wish with all my heart to every flying star that his Kryptonian balls get crushed by a Kryptonite maze!" Harley said with a roll of her eyes. "He's all high and mighty, sitting on his throne of lies, but as the days go by, he's making a lot of enemies; not just Batsy is fighting against him, others have joined to stop this nightmare, and who can blame them? I mean, people that don't take kindly to dictatorship."

I guess this confirms what I already knew, Harley doesn't like Superman, and honestly, seeing how the Superman of this world is, I can't blame her at all.

~Is that truly all you know?~ I asked her again.

"Honestly, there's not much to tell. Most of the so-called superheroes joined the Kryptonian roach of Superman, leaving Batsy with a very small group of allies to try and combat him," Harley said with a heavy sigh. "I joined Batsy somewhat recently, we might have our differences, but at least I know where I stand with him."

No useful information; she was either avoiding giving too much info, or she honestly knew nothing useful I could use.

"Enough about me. As your appointed Dr, I insist we talk about you and your problems," Harley said, her eyes staring into mine.

Well, here goes nothing.

~I'm just a man, trying to get home,~ I replied with a heavy sigh.

"And where's home?" Harley asked me curiously.

Isn't that the billion-dollar question? Where's home?

~I don't know,~ I replied with a wink. ~If I ever figure it out, you'll be the first one to know. How does that sound?~

Harley smiled, a sad smile filled with empathy. "That sounds like the kind of answer someone gives when they know they're never going home."

Her words struck me like a ton of bricks because she had voiced the thoughts I was pretending to ignore, the voice that kept whispering to my ear that I would never find a way home, that this hell was now my home.

~Well, that's enough for one session. You need to go back to sleep, you're still quite injured,~ I replied, pulling a few medicines from my backpack that were sure to knock her out for another ten hours at the very least.

"It's not... healthy to avoid your demons, believe me, I would know...I'm… an… expert… in the… subject." Harley's eyes started to droop as the medicine took effect, and just as fast as she had woken up, she slumped against the pillows, fast asleep.

I stared at her for a few minutes before turning away, my heart heavy with sadness.

Would I actually find a way out of this hell?

And what would happen if I didn't?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts of the overtiredness that was making my train of thought one less than optimistic. How long it had been since I had last slept? twelve days? At this point, I was running on coffee and adrenaline.

I really needed to sleep, to clear my head. But before that, I would tie Harley up so that she can't move even if she wakes up before me.

Then I would rest.

Maybe rest would clear my head, my thoughts, and hopefully a bit of my pessimism.

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[Rachel Roth / Raven - Earth 16 / POV ]

It had been two days since David had disappeared, two days of no sleep. Two days of continuous research of every magical book I could get my hands on alongside Mr. Kent. According to him, we were making some progress, but it was still not enough.

It would never be enough until we brought David back home.

I had failed him, I had promised him I would protect him, that I would be at his side if Klarion ever came for him, and when push came to shove, I hadn't been there to save him, to help him, to fight by his side.

The team still didn't know about his disappearance. Only Mr. Kent, Batman, and I knew. At least to my knowledge, I had no idea if Batman had told anyone after I had informed him about the situation, and to be entirely honest, I didn't care.

My only concern was finding a way to bring David back.

"Young lady, you should rest. Your friend would wholly disapprove of this self-destructive behavior," Mr. Kent said to me as he walked into the room, a stack of books in his arms.

I glared at him. "He isn't here to disapprove of my behavior, isn't he?"

Mr. Kent sighed and placed the books down on the desk he was sitting at. "I understand your determination, your need to save him, believe I do, but if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be any good to anyone, let alone David."

I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right. I was running on empty, both physically and magically, and if I didn't rest soon, I would literally collapse from exhaustion.

"Fine," I said as I stood up from my chair and stretched my stiff muscles. "I'll go take a nap. I will be back in an hour."

Mr. Kent sighed. "Rest well. I will continue the research in the meantime."

I nodded before making my way to the room Kent had set up for me, my body feeling heavier with every step I took. Once inside the room, I closed the door behind me before I collapsed onto my bed. One hour. And I would return to the books. One hour. That's all I needed.