It was the middle of July in Gotham City, and a respite from the heat of summer came with a respite from the city's infamous criminal population. The worst of the super-criminals like the Joker were for once safely locked away in Arkham, the usual gangsters and hoodlums kept their heads down in fear of the shadows looming overhead, and with the recent news that a whole slew of villains had been defeated by the Batman and his allies, it looked like the good times were here to stay. For once, Gotham slept soundly tonight, with one small exception working furiously in an abandoned chemical plant.
"One part adrenobooster, two parts...no, three parts...limizion 12? No, 13, it's...uh....shucks, this is harder then it looks..."
The spritely jester attempting a mad science experiment while bedecked in a lab coat and goggles hastily thrown over her black and white checkered outfit furiously went through pilfered chemical textbooks as the large basin full of bubbling green compound began to stew. Indeed, while times were good for the good people of Gotham, things were rough for the criminal populace, especially Harley Quinn. When she heard the Joker had been taken back to Arkham a while back, she had tried to think positive, using the absence to strike out on her own and get away from her rep as 'the Joker's main squeeze', becoming her own woman and all that jazz. It worked well at first, and she had some fun knocking over mob banks with Two-Face or museums with Catwoman, but without the special spark of the Joker's zaniness, Harley began to struggle. Her technique became tired, and more then once she had to be saved by an erstwhile ally, and thanks to their last encounter (the aforementioned supervillain battle that she only narrowly escaped), those erstwhile allies were few and far between nowadays. What she needed was a new gimmick, something with a fresh coat of paint that'd really knock the bat-socks off of Batman and Batfriends.
And thanks to a fit of inspiration, she had her gimmick. Since she was known as being the Joker's second fiddle, Harley reasoned, what would be the best way to surprise Batman and company? Why, arrive with another villain's playbook in hand! At first she considered finding some of Scarecrow's fear toxin or Mad Hatter's mind control gizmos, but since her usual modus operandi was all about being funny and clever and playing mind games, it made sense to go in the other direction; sheer, raw, power. And luckily it was easy to sneak some Venom away from the deadly mercenary Bane.
Of course, that was the easy part. The small sample Harley yoinked wasn't nearly enough for personal use, so she decided to copy the formula and make some extra herself; Harley Quinn Home Brewed Steroid Juice! She managed to figure out how the stuff multiplied cells and augment physical ability pretty easily, but having them target the right place was the hard bit; Harley had been struggling all night to find the answer, and she was so close when...
"Ha, got it! That should....oh?" Harley blinked as the bubbling green compound suddenly turned a murky deep blue. "That's...odd...but the book says that Ilihan-5 should help it target the right place?"
Harley considered this for a moment, then with a triumphant smirk she tossed the textbook over her shoulder.
"If the book sez, then the book sez!" she insisted as she started scooping out the formula into vials that can be inserted into injection guns. "And to think High School thought I was a D in Chemistry. Show's what you knows, Miss Applebottom!" Harley blew a raspberry at the imagined teacher as she finished loading up the chemicals.
"Now, I gots my Venom," she mused. "Now it's time..."
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
