3368/To Hunt a Harley!

To Hunt a Harley!
Date of Scene:	14 September 2020
Location:	The Dugout - The Narrows
Synopsis:	Harley and Red Hood team-up for the best dynamic duo ever! Batman and Robin beware! (Well, maybe not the best of team-ups)
Cast of Characters:	Jason Todd, Harley Quinn

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Jason Todd has posed:
Given the Owl situation, solo patrols were off-limits, however this wasn't a patrol. This was a target raid. All the same Jay had made sure the Bats on deck to patrol the Narrows tonight had already come and gone before he made his move, creeping though the alleys and abandoned storefronts until he was positioned outside the Dugout, the bar he heard, /she'd/ be at.

Though even the Red Hood thought twice about just walking into the Dugout without being sure it would be worth the trouble. So, when he spots a lone lowlife stagger out of the bar, he makes his move. The man doesn't have time to scream before he's hit, dragged down the alley and lifted up against the wall. "Harley Quinn," Red Hood demands as the thug comes to his senses. "She in there?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
The lowlife committed the capital sin of having the house special. On his defense it was having a discount tonight, but he is already feeling the effects of it all.. And then knocked out! Could this night get any worse?! Huh, the Red Hood. This one kills lowlife criminals just like him! So he is suitably panicked.

"Huh, yea. Yea!" The man nods emphatically just in case his slur wasn't heard correctly. "She in there!" he points to the entrance. "She's bein' eyeballed by Vinny. Now that she ain't got the protection of the Joker think they want some retribution." he explains. "Errm. Can I go..?"

Inside one Harley Quinn has been drinking. Heavily? Somewhat. She knows this probably isn't the best of ideas, being back in Gotham.. Too many ghosts and an haunting past, along with not being able to exactly get past it. Ah well, bottoms up!

Jason Todd has posed:
Hood nods, "You can go. Just don't let me catch you doing anything more than grabbing a drink at a shithole like the Dugout," he warns and gives the man a belt in the gut. The last part was just to keep his rep. Word gets out the Red Hood is letting guys go without a little pain, the next guy doesn't crap his pants when he sees him coming.

Red turns from the alley and heads down the stairs to the Dugout, he hammers twice on the door and when the little peep slot slides open and someone asks what's the password, Jay answers with the sound of a slide being racked back on one of his pistols. Turns out it was the right password. Go figure.

The door is opened and the Red Hood enters, taking a moment to hit the guys just inside the door with seats to give them perfect ambush positions, even if they didn't go for any weapons. As the bodies hit the ground, he calls out, "Just a social call. Harley you around?" Red Hood turns looking around the bar, pistol in one hand.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Belted in the gut?! Just his luck.., and he may literally just crap his pants ..., but not right now.. He is too busy running away from the Hood. Really, what's the density per square meter of caped heroes in this city?! But he quickly disappears around a corner.

Getting inside the Dugout at the moment Jason does is juuuuust the ideal it seems. For a proper three-way mexican standoff that is.. Because you see, Vinny has just decided to make his move with his valiant buddies to go take his frustrations with the Joker on Harley. Harley, on her hand, is just getting up to her feet, whiskey bottle in hand and ready to toss it...

So when Red Hood calls out her name Harley and the thugs stop. They look at Jason. "Oh hey Red. Been a while!" So casual.

Vinny then intervenes. "Stay out of this. She's ours. You can have her when we have given her a beatin'"

Harley's response? Cheap shotting Vinny with a tossed whiskey bottle to the head. Which is just the cue for a bar fight to begin! Harley starts to run to one of the windows.

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood's head tilts when Vinny's crew claims dibs on Harley. He sizes them up and snorts wryly. "Good luck with that-" he gets only that far before a whiskey bottle hits Vinny and Harley's on the move.

"Oh no you don't," Red Hood says pulling a batarang from inside his jacket and throwing it with a thunk into the narrow window up to the street. The batarang blinks with ever increasing frequency, clearly about to explode!

Though Red Hood isn't left alone in the brawl that breaks out from the thrown whiskey bottle, two thugs he'd laid into a few nights before use the moment to pounce, a combined six-hundred pounds of biker plowing into the vigilante and slamming him up against the bar.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Works every time! Too bad about wasting some nice whiskey! (Well, not -that- good whiskey...) So it's with a rather self-satisfied smile that Harls starts her run to the window. It's not too far.. She only has to dodge a couple of grabbers, rolling under them, then a swinging bat from the bartender and since she is so close she points with her thumb behind her.

"Put mah drinks on Red's tab!" Of course that the distraction costs her, Vinny catching up with her and kicking at her feet, making her topple over.

"Now you are mine, bitch.." He is still rubbing at the side of his head where the bottle hit him, looming over her just when that batarang hits the window they are both so close to.

"Huh, Vinny.., behind ya?" Harley is helpful! But Vinny replies. "Shut up! I am not going to fall for-" and then explosion.

Vinny gets tossed over in the air to land on the counter with a pained urgh. No, not dead but it's gonna hurt! As for Harley, well, she had a good shield in Vinny! So she scrambles up to her feet and continues her mad dash out of there. She jumps out of the now BIGGER window. "Red! You coulda hurt me!" And then she is out of the building.

As for the thugs holding Jason.. "Not so tough now, are you?" the other chuckles while they attempt to pin him down!

Jason Todd has posed:
"Sorry, do I know you?" Red Hood asks, the thug pinning him down, before bashing his nose flat with his helmet. The thug reels back grabbing his nose and Red Hood lifts his freed arm, still gripping the gun and puts a round in the other man's leg, before driving the grip of his pistol into the bridge of the man's nose.

He pushes him aside and goes after Harley, a couple more patrons stepping up to try to take him on before he makes his way through the blown out window on to the street.

Flicking on night vision, he scans the street for signs of Harley, knowing if he didn't move quick the Clown Princess of Crime was going to slip away.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley has always been known to be a fast one. It was even part of the history available to those pesky vigilantes that had digged into her previous life as one Harleen Quinzel. Years of gymnastics having made her a nimble, athletic woman.

But right now she runs even faster, those legs visible just before she bends a corner into an alley. Safe! Or at least she thinks so. She takes a quick peek behind a shoulder to see if there's anyone pursuing. Empty so far! But no night vision on her though so ..., things can be different from what she imagines!

"That guy really needs ta take a break fwom huntin' me... Geeez..." she says to noone (well, to herself really), and now she was back to those old times when she was still with the Joker, running down the streets, evading caped vigilantes... But this usually happened AFTER she had done some kind of crime (or blamed for it), not when she was going legit!

Life is so unfair!

Jason Todd has posed:
There's a reason the view behind Harley is clear, because as soon as Red Hood saw that leg turn the corner he took to the rooftops. Rolling as soon as he got there and breaking into a run. Batman had made his Robins memorize maps of Gotham until they knew them like the literal back of their hands, and even it had been five years since Jason had been a Robin he still kept up those skills. He knew the alley Harley was going down turned into a four way intersection of similar alleys in a few meters and he needed to get there first.

His legs pump hard, he fees sweat beading under his armour before he reaches the edge of the building and leaps. For a moment he's in mid-air, then his feet hit the far building and he pushes off, in a bit of acrobatics that would do Dick proud as he flips back momentum slowed and lands with a clang on top of a dumpster in a low crouch. If he timed it right he should just be ahead of Harley, if not, he's watching her take off down one of those other three adjoining alleyways!

Harley Quinn has posed:
So long sucka!!!!!

Harley is continuing her dash down that alley, freedom just looming by, and when she takes that last turn to reach the adjoining alleyways she is smelling the sweetness of victory. And also sweat..., because she is running, and has been drinking. Ugh... She knew this was a bad idea. But again not seeing anyone behind her she comes to a stop, turning to look the way she came from. "Seriously?" she asks to noone, hands on her hips. "Ya gettin' a little easy to escape from..." Her shoulders rise in a 'ah well' kind of shrug. And just when she is about to go down one of the alleys it's when Jason drops down and hits the dumpster. Honestly, it's a good thing that the lid is close so the landing is indeed spectacular. Not for Harley though. For her it's HORRIBLE.

Her eyes widen some. "What is it with Gotham and EVERYONE wantin' ta be a ninja?!"

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood levels his pistol at Harley. "Would you want to be seen in this dump?" he asks in reply to the ninja thing. He hops down from the dumpster, doing his best to keep a safe distance from the quick and tricky clown girl. "Whatcha doing back in Gotham? I was willing to give you a pass for last time as long as you were staying out of town."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Dump? Hey, not mah fault if ya don'wanna be stylish." Harley gestures at herself, with her mismatched sneakers, the t-shirt and shorts. Hey, it's a fashion! The raised gun does make her open her arms to the sides a little. "I seem ta have fohgotten my gun home. And look.." she takes a pause for dramatic effect. "You really need ta stop bein' so focused in the past and in Mistah J. It's not healthy for ya. Some could call ya obsessed too." says the girl whose whole origin story is about getting obsessed with the Joker..

But then she FINALLY gets to answer it. "I am just tryin' ta see if I still fit in, ya know?" she says. "This is my home. And I am done with bein' a criminal." well, hopefully.

In the meantime she has edging a little closer to that dumpster, baby step by baby step. Hey, there's a gun! It would make any clownette scared.

Jason Todd has posed:
"You and 'Mistah J' blew me up," Red Hood says, keeping that gun on Harley still. "Tends to stick with you afterwards."

There's a snort about Gotham being her home and not being a criminal. "You are what you are Harley, and your home or not consider your Gotham privileges revoked!" he notices her edging forward and takes a step backwards lifting the gun to aim at her head. "Nice try but-"

"There they are!" shouts Vinny from the end of the alley his face still bloody from where Harley hit him with the whiskey bottle, he and his men pull guns and start to fire.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Heh, sorta. I mean, we don't usually stick around for long aftah blowin' up see?" Yet Harley lets out a grimace. She can't help herself! Digging herself further down the rabbit hole the more she opens her mouth. "Shall we let bygones be bygones. I buy ya a beer?" soooo close to the dump now. She actually isn't sure yet if Red knows how stronger she is.. But taking a dumpster to the face would help making him realize it! Specially after he goes and DENIES her from Gotham!

"Revoked?! Ya can't--" She is about to start mouthing off when Vinny comes running down the street.

"Oh, shit."

And instead of throwing the dumpster towards Red she instead throws it to give them cover from the gun fire coming from Vinny and his buddies. She ducks behind it. "Vinny it's been three yeahs! Let it go!" she calls out. It's not very convincing.

Jason Todd has posed:
No Jason did NOT get the memo on Harley's level of strength. Though by the time she's moving that dumpster he doesn't care, Vinny and his crew are a more immediate, Red Hood ducks into a doorway for some cover and then yanking a smoke grenade out of his coat he hurls it down the alley popping off and filling the alley with an acrid red smoke. Hearing Vinny and his boys coughing as they stumble forward through the smoke, Red emerges from the doorway laying down some covering fire as he moves towards the intersection of alleys, pointing out to Harley over the sound of his pistols "This doesn't mean I'm finished with you."

Harley Quinn has posed:
With the smoke starting to fill the alley it makes Harley cough a bit, waving her hand in front of herself and taking a few steps back. She peeks over the cover to Vinny and his goons, perhaps wondering how to get out of here. Caught between the hammer and the wall..

Story of her life! Unfair!

But then Red gives her that opening. It's returned with a wide grin of a face, piercing blue eyes glinting, so very similar to all those years ago. Manic and happy while she killed.

She ofers a bow full of flourishes to him. "Thank ya, ya won't regret lettin' me go!" does she mean it? Maybe! But he might regret it...

She starts dashing down one of the alleys, using the cover of smoke and the dumpster so as to not get riddled with bullets. No ninja bulletproof outfit for her! (Very jealous)

Jason Todd has posed:
"Hey! I'm not doing this to let you escape!" Jason barks, as Harley thanks him for the escape route. He almost turns and fires low to trip her up but one of Vinny's blind shots catches him in his 'bulletproof ninja armor' and sends him staggering back. Truth be told it's bullet resistant, though Red Hood's version of it includes metal plates which stops the impact even if he's going to have a hell of a bruise in the morning. Jay fires off a couple of rounds back at Vinny before he falls back down the alley Harley had vanished down.

However she wasn't the only one that way, apparently Vinny got a bigger crew in the last three years and as Harley tries to make her escape, a van pulls up and six guys pile out, with bats and crowbars, their leader pointing his crowbar at Harley shouting, "There the ditzy bitch, get her!" before they come on in a rush.

Harley Quinn has posed:
What is this? Is there a bounty for clownettes and she isn't aware of it?! Harls comes to a full stop when she notes the crew coming out. Well, that sucks. Six guys. Bats and crowbars.. Could she take them? Eh, maaaaybe. She isn't just the harlequin anymore, Joker's gag of a sidekick..

She is a badass! She can do this! Oh, yeaaaaaaa!

Shortly after she can be seen running back at a speed from where she came from, nearing Red's position again. "Hey!" she calls out to him. She does hope he is still there! "Theah's moh o' them!" the group trailing after her, bats and crowbars swinging!

She knows there's safety in numbers. And two is better than one! Besides, with Red having let her go means they are buddies now. It's official!

Jason Todd has posed:
The leader of the group rushes at Harley, crowbar swinging hard at her, head, as one of his boys follows up with a bat swung at her legs. Another man tries to circle around behind her, but a bullet sends his bat skittering back towards the car. Red Hood's last bullet for the moment as a matter of fact. Which is why after a running start Red Hood leaps into the fray hand to hand rather than trying to reload. He knocks one on their ass and follows up with a kick to another, grabbing the crowbar off of him and smacking him hard in the ribs. So far the attention is on Red, leaving Harley to deal with her two admirers without more thugs jumping in.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"What's with da viciousness? Don't damage da moichandise!" Harley jumps back to dodge out of the way of her assailants, the crowbar just a hair's length from her nose.. She backflips, her hands on the ground and her legs arching up. They hit the guy with the bat on the face, sending him sprawling back and conveniently leaving that bat there for the taking..

Which Harley does. "Mmmm, my new Johnnyy..." she says to the bat. Because she lost her last one..., while riding an angel. Look, it's a long story..

The smile she gives the leader, full of that manic, intense gaze, along with the eyebrow waggle, should had made him consider his options... But what can a crazy clownette do against a big man like that?

Turns out she can do a lot! She moves in, hitting the man with the gut with the tip of the bat and then swings it upwards, sending the man to a sprawl. "It's yoh fault foh lettin' Vinny get so many guys woikin' foh him!" Yep, blame the vigilantes for all the thugs in the world.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason takes a man off his feet with the hook of the crowbar, then stomps him in the throat leaving his gagging on the street. Another comes on and gets the bar to the face breaking his jaw before he falls flat beside the other man. The remaining thugs look between Harley and the Red Hood and re-think their life choices, deciding whatever Vinny was paying them wasn't worth eating all their meals through a straw. They turn and flee leaving the pair, the van and presumably Vinny's men coming up behind them.

It's the second fact that keeps Jason from trying to inflict a little ironic revenge on Harley with the crowbar right then and there. Instead he drops the bar and sets about reloading his pistols. "Vinny's just strong because your boss is playing with him," Jason says. "Everyone knows he has a beef with the Joker," like a certain Red Hooded vigilante did. "But knowing your boss, he thinks it's funny, but sooner or later though it's going to very bad for Vinny and his crew." Might be kinder to put a bullet in Vinny's head than to let that happen, rules or no rules. "So you want someone to blame, blame Joker," he says.

He glances over at Harley. "I'd ask where he is but that went so well last time, so, once Vinny's down, you're going back to Arkham."

Yeah, Red Hood may not have gotten the memo about the buddies thing.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Dynamic duo right heah!" Harley says when they the guys running off, a self-satisfied shit-eatin' grin on her face, one hand on her hip, the bat on her shoulder. Yep! Definite buddies! She watches them go off at a run.., which just leaves Vinny and his buddies which are now approaching the area once the smoke has dissipated a bit. Their steps are heard clinking on a loose bottle on the floor or on spent bullets on the ground..

"That's sorta hash... So ya wanna go and do Jokah's woik? Doesn't sound like da Red I knew..." She takes a look at Jason. Death seemed to have changed him indeed! But then again ..., she had changed a lot too with her contact with the Joker. And she hadn't even DIED. Imagine if....

"It might be easiah ta bash his bwains in but ..." She shrugs. Hey, they are connecting! Until Red goes and says that last part. It makes her expression shift 180 degrees.

"I ain't goin' back ta Awkham. That place is poison.." And there's an actual tinge of dread in her voice. "And he'll find me theah..."

Jason Todd has posed:
"I'm neither of the Reds you knew," Jason growls, meaning the red masked Robin or the Red Hood who'd been so bent on revenge last summer. Both of them had vanished in explosions, and he wasn't sure which Red was left standing after the fact. "And you /are/ going to Arkham," he says though once again Vinny's timing is impeccable, coming out of the alley and popping off shots.

Red Hood ducks low, guns ready, gritting his teeth he calls out to Harley, "I'll lay down covering fire you get in close with them." As expected a couple of Vinny's goons join him, but before they can fire, Red Hood is standing up and firing, forcing all three crooks into cover giving Harley room to advance and break in her new 'Johnny'.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oh yea?!" Harley is perhaps getting a bit mad now at Jason's refusal to see her point! She is being logical! And she was only responsible for one of the explosions! Or was it the two? Well.... "If ya changed then why---" it's at this point that Vinny comes swingin' his big, ol' gun.

And while Red ducks low she jumps up high... Real high if one is honest, landing atop the dumpster in a squat. " -- why ya so hard ta believe I can change too?!" but no time to wait for a response. She starts off at a run atop that dumpster, a jump over their cover and then she is face to face with them. "Hello, booyyzzz.." She offers.

The first tries to shoot her, but he made the mistake of bringing a gun to a bat fight. So first he gets a broken hand by ways of a bat swing. The next swing sends him flying. Damn that girl hasn't been skipping arm day!

Vinny then shouts, "I am going to get you and that fucking clown for what they did!" What did they doooo though? A mystery so far for our dear readers.

And he will probably add one more thing to the things they did.. The next swing hits him.., well, in the nuts. It's a rather disabling strike, which just makes him drop to his knees and ..., sort of topple off. The last guy...? He looks at her and starts to run out of cover and away. An easy shot for Red. But would he shoot a man in the back?!

Jason Todd has posed:
Would the Red Hood shoot a man in the back? Definitely. Or at least the back of the knee. The man howls as his knee explodes sending him toppling to the ground bleeding. Jason grimaces inside his helmet at the carnage even as he begins to reload.

Not noticing the leader of the second group get to his feet and pick up Jason's discarded crowbar, lifting it high above his head ready to strike.

Harley Quinn has posed:
It's easy to not hear that man getting off the ground and getting the crowbar, specially with all the screaming going on from the man that was just shot. Really Red?! Harley comes out of cover, perhaps too confident that she won't be shot too. On hindsight she has done -worse- to Red than these guys did.. But she isn't the kind of gal that follows logic so she is all smiles. "Teamwork!" She is still grinning and ...

.... Is that a Red reloading? And is she taking advantage of it? Her eyes go wider, picture perfect of how they looked in the past, she bringing the bat back and sending it swinging through the air.. Aimed at Jason? It seems just a tad off.. It goes past him to hit the man that was trying to ambush Jason squarely in the face, making him fall back down on the ground.

She wipes her hands together. "Theah."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason's mind goes exactly where Harley thinks it will go. Curse her sudden but inevitable betrayal! He rolls to the side slamming in his magazine and racking back the slide, the gun is raised aimed at Harley's knee before the sound of a body hitting the ground behind him stops his finger just shy of squeezing fully, he glances back and the pieces click together. He slips his finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard entirely. The gun is lowered. "Thanks," he says getting to his feet.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Thanks foh not cripplin' me foh life." Harley replies about Red not shooting her knee off. Lots of thanks flying around between them! She leans over to pick up her new Johny, eyes straying to Red, "I can't go back ta Awkham." she says with emphasis, back up to her full height and turning to look directly at Red.

"I ain't done nothin' wrong now and ..." a pause. "Ya know what'll happen if I go back there, dontcha? He will get me theah, I wont have anyone ta protect me."

It's a terrified woman that lives under those layers of madness, just the tiniest glimpses visible for a few seconds there before the Harlequin's smile returning. "And besides, ya were the one doin the shootin tonight!"

Jason Todd has posed:
"Didn't do anything wrong?" Jason exclaims. "You must have a real short memory," he says.

Still he looks down at the thug that almost got the drop on him and gives the guy a kick in the gut out of frustration. The pistol goes away and he picks up the bat, holding it out to Harley. "Go," he says. "You earned a pass until next time." Though there's less fire in his tone, less resolve.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Well.., thea's a lot I don't remembah." Harley replies. She mostly only remembers the bad parts, keeping the insanity kicking to keep her ..., sane. Or at least moving. She can only run so far though! But the offer of the bat seems welcome, she taking it with a nod. She looks down at it a moment, then up to Red..

A sharp nod is given. One of understanding of perhaps two people trying to bring change to their messed-up lives. Uncharacteristically of her no words are shared at this point, instead she takes a few steps back, turning suddenly and starts skipping down one of the alleyways at a run.

Maybe tonight hadn't been such a bad one afterall.