5669/The Harlequin Blues

The Harlequin Blues
Date of Scene:	21 March 2021
Location:	April's Rooftop
Synopsis:	When it comes to Harley, things are seldom what they seem. Terry and Gar come to inquire about the stories behind those scurrilous Gotham Gazette headlines, and they might have just drafted themselves into hunting some gangsters!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Harley Quinn, Gar Logan

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<Cheshire Cat to Harlequin-- Harl, I'm kinda worried about ya. Wanna check in? Meet me at Ape's rooftop. I'll bring food. And Gar. Probably. We'll catch up.>>

The text message had been sent five minutes ago, after Terry had set himself up on the roof with Gar and had laid out a rather tasteful picnic and folding tables. It was an unseasonably warm night that they could get away wth it, but goodness knows that it will be just a day or two before New York slams everybody else with bitter cold before finally ceding its way to Spring. They do say that March marches in like a lion, after all.

"I hope she's okay," Vorpal says, munching on his roast beef sandwich. "If something's causing her to slip, we gotta be there for her and help her. Buuut... I am curious about what's going on," he says to Gar. "Such things are seldom as they seem."

Harley Quinn has posed:
<<Ooo, Gar will be the apetizer then? Or is it dessert?! *winkyfaceemoji*>> Harley was just finishing up getting some food out for the hyenas, huge chunks of meat that she handled with one hand while texting with the other. She almost gets a hand bitten off as Bud gets frisky due to her taking time in getting his food properly placed down so he can gorge on it. "Down, Bud!"

Really, don't feed your hyenas and text?

But Harley then lifts a finger up, "Boys, change o' plans! To the rooftop!" And so it is that she gets their plates from the ground and runs off to the roof, opening the door to find Gar and Terry already there. Bud and Lou do the same, perhaps a bit surprised. And maybe wondering if Terry and Gar are their meal instead of the meat Harley annoyingly continues to hold and doesn't settle down. "Hey guys!" she opens her arms to the sides!

She is dressed with her yellow overalls tonight, bunny slippers and two big plates on her hands. Plates that are whisked out by the two hyenas and they finally start to devour their food!

Gar Logan has posed:
"You think maybe it's a doppelganger? Because I could totally see it being a doppelganger," Gar says. He's come in some of his typical casualwear, in the form of a raglan shirt and and shorts, with comfy velcro sandals to take advantage of the night the way it is.

He perches nearby rather than sitting normally, a frown setting in. "Because if this is her going back to what she used to do..." But he'll give her a chance first. He owes her that much for her assistance in helping find him at the bottom of the sea.

As Harley turns up with her pets, his attention shifts in that direction and he watches with a measuring gaze, focused on the hyenas but especially her. "Harley," he begins, but he doesn't leave his spot.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"If she is, we'll just have to remind her why she went off them, Gar..." the cat say, patting Gar's hand.

And then the Harlequin comes in "Harl!" the Cheshire cat goes over to give Harley a hug, but he waits until Bud and Lou are properly fed. There is no need to come between a yeen and his meal, after all. "We brought foodstuffs and whatnot, have a seat and dig in."

The Cheshire ambles back to a seat and settles down, grabbing a soda, "How ya been' doing? Anything new to report?" because he always goes for the small talk as the icebreaker.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Oh, they are feeding on the meat quite thoroughly now, but they are keeping an eye out. In fact maybe they got a taste of going after Terry after the training they had at the Themyscira Embassy. Step two of Harley-fu techniques! And once someone is a tasty morsel for a hyena ..., forever a morsel! Yet they don't jump in, maybe they are letting Terry be dessert.

Regardless, Harley makes her way close, a wide grin and a hug offered to Terry before two little kisses are placed, one on each side of Terry's face. Very European!

"How ya doin', Terry? And Gar." she rubs her hands together at the mention of food and approaches to settle down.

"Yea, someone tried ta shoot me and my girlfriend at the holy grounds the other day. Ya know, wheah they make my favorite sandwich." and speaking of sandwiches she reaches over to snatch a sandwich for herself. And yes, isn't Harley great at smalltalk? "But we messed 'em up real good."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan says, "Doing pretty good. I got this back," he explains as he holds up his left arm, waggling the fingers a few times, then adds, "We both stopped our evil dupes, and I'm gonna surprise him with something soon." It's still a surprise if you don't say /what/ it is, or /when/ it will be sprung.

The arms return to resting across his knees as he holds his balance, doing a pretty fine job of remaining still. However, he maintains his distance. Vorpal and Harley have the more friendly thing going. "You been hanging out with Poison Ivy?" he wonders.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal directs a laser beam glance at Gar. It is so cruel, telling the cat that you are going to surprise him... and then leave him wondering. Wondering. Wondering. Cats aren't the best, most patient things in the world when it comes to surprises. "... so cruel," he mutters, and then turns his attention back to Harley.

"I've been noticing the headlines at the Gazette... you wanna give me the background on that? Someone tried to- wait, your girlfriend, she's the one I met at the New Year's Eve thing... and we fought the animated zombie dolls together with, right?" Quick glance at Gar, "Long story, I'll explain later."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"That's right. Aimee!" Harley says with a deepening grin over to Terry when he mentions the New Year party. "But yea, so heah I was showin' her the best sandwiches ever when we get accosted by these guys. Good thing she was theah ta help or we might had been toast." she explains, cutting through a lot of corners, "I am suwah they weah woikin' foh Quellazaire, that bitch." she makes a face and shakes her head. "And yea, that guy at the gazette is for suwah on theah pocket! I mean, fully biased journalist. He didn't even get MY side of the events befoouh printin' that crap!" now she is getting upset. "But I am gonna have a word with him soon. Oh yes, I am.." is that a little wicked smile on her lips. Yes, it iiiiiis!

Her blue eyes then settle on Gar and his question. "Pam? Yep! It's no secret she's my best friend, we been hangin'.." then as if delivered as an afterthought. "I think it was me goin' out with her one day that triggered all this..." she taps her fingertips on her chin.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan merely flashes Vorpal a smile of the purest innocence, which must be an act because Vorpal knows him better than that. "It'll be soon!" he exclaims, twisting the knife in deep.

Then the cat of the bunch mentions the paper, giving Harley an opening to fill them in, and he can only shake his head. "Animated zombie dolls..they wouldn't even make a low-budget horror movie out of that idea."

Harley's basic lack of denial draws more of his focus. "Soooo if the story's not true or biased and stuff, what happened, then?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yeah, lay on the skinny. It sounds like someone pissed off a major goon somehwere and there's a story in there."

The Cheshire leans back on his chair and sips his soda, "Also, I can visit that bozo at the Gazette. I have a little bit of a reputation with the bit of work I've done at the Planet, you know. Investigative RReporter showing up to fact-check might rattle a few spines, y'know?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"So, as ya guys know I am a licensed bounty huntah now..." Oh no! "And so heah I was with Pam, celebratin' havin' taken down this guy called Kiteman.." she goes into explicit detail on how they caught the guy in Gotham, including how they dragged him like a kite on the back of her jaguar as they went to deliver him to prison from where he had escaped. It's all very colorful and it's clear she is taking some liberties with how she tells the tale.

"So THEN we had ta celebrate, and theah's this wicked placed called the freaky tiki, oh man it's great, you guys would love it. Which speakin' of I will have ta drag ya to it one day." Yes, she goes into detailing it fully, including drinks, how she danced the mambo and she even got Pam to smile. An accomplishment all in itself!

".. So we finished the celebration and we went out foh a walk by the harbor. I was sorta drunk, see? Because if I go out I got to be drunk in the end. It's a rule! So we went ta this place wheah we used ta hang out befoouh, and turns out it's being turned into this line of condos by the water. Looking super fancy. We weah sorta upset with it but well, what can we do. So these guys, construction workers, they started ta harass Pam and this other girl that was theah. Hardcore harassin' and so..." yes, one can imagine. But she explains it in detail, how they fought against them, kicked ass and ... "... so I noticed the guys weren't exactly clean, in fact some even woiked foh one of my crews befoouh. Somethin' was fishy! But Pam got carried away, and well, I sorta did too. And she blew the whole thing down with her powers..."

A pause for a breath. "So that was brought those news out in the first place. So I suppose we weren't exactly nice but .., those guys deserved it! And they needed ta be taught a lesson..." a pause, "But the worst came when we weah called ta a meeting a few days after..."

Yet in true Harley fashion she pauses as she is getting to the IMPORTANT part, looking at Gar. "Blame Terry. He had this magic book and left it on the table while he was cosplayin' as a mummy in the bathroom! O' course I went and read it!"

Gar Logan has posed:
Somewhere along the way as Harley launches into all the details, the food gets cold, Gar sleeps for a few hours, and reawakens to hear her talking about Pam dealing with the construction site.

No, no, not really.

But his eyes /do/ begin to glaze over at some point along the way, and heedless of the hyenas feeding, he takes on a werewolf form. Yes, an actual werewolf. "So you're saying she huffed and puffed and blew their houses down?" he asks, which comes out more like a growl. Then, before returning to normal, he turns his gaze toward the cat. "All you had to say from the start was 'blame Terry.'" Now he shifts to himself again. "So what's this about a magic book and dressing up like a mummy?"

He almost forgets, staring at Harley. "A bounty hunter."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Honey, it's /that/ book. You know, the one I got from that guy called Lucifer? Before I could return it, I needed to copy the incantation- that we didn't end up using anyways after we consulted with Raven- so I left the book on the table while I ran to the bathroom. These two come in and think it's one of those roleplaying books and bim bam boom, there's possessed demon dolls swarming the apartment coming from April's antique store. It was like The Walking Dead meets Strawberry Shortcake. BUT-" he raises a finger, "by the end of the day we were victorious, I copied the incantation and returned the book. The end."

He turns to Harley after patting Weregar on the head. "So... if they were in your past crew and someone else has hired them, I suspect those condos going up were... probably not up to code, and a front for some money-laundering scam by some big time gangster?" he tilts his heead. He is completely guessing here, "Don't skimp out on the good part, you've got us at the edge of our seats here!"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I told April latah, she was glad about the mass murder o' some of those dolls. She never liked a few o' 'em! So .., a good deed all in all." Harley explains a bit more about it before Gar goes and turns into a werebeast. She jumps on her seat and her sandwich flies all over! Not that food goes to waste because her hyenas lap over instantly and start devouring it. If it's not in the human's hands it's free for all! They *do* edge away from wereGar though but keep their tail low and ears back, ready for a tussle if there's aggression from the werecreature towards Harley! They are loyal!

But after this intermission, back to the tale!

"And yep Terry!" She finger-guns in his direction when he gives his guess on what may be going on. "So we went ta this buildin' thinkin' we weah gonna get a new bounty ta go on. Pam was sorta suspicious of it all already, she always had a nose foh those things..., but so, we went and we meet with these guys and this woman who starts prattlin' on about we meddlin' with theah business. She wanted us ta stay away and so .., but then she went and sort o' veiled threatened on Pam. So we sorta started kickin' ass.." one can guess it was probably Harley who jumped the gun...

"But so, apparently she had powahs and escaped, and this wicked Quellazaire that looks super cool. That's why I call her that now.. We ran off too, but uh, we had to blow part o' the wall and so and ..., you know. Pam's powahs aren't subtle!" it's a good excuse!

"So yea, theah's somethin' fishy goin' on! And they ain't lettin' go, it must have been that woman sendin' that hit on me and Aimee a few days back."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Oh, right. /That/ book. The one I purged from my memory," Gar remarks before holding up his hands. "Hey, no. That was just me being me. I'm not an actual werewolf all the time." At least the hyenas got a little more to nom on, right?

He repeats a couple times, trying to get it right, "Quellazaire..what does that even mean?" The Titan squints. "So you think she's trying to get revenge on you now?" Running a hand through his hair, he just shakes his head. "If I didn't get into some strange messes myself..."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Hm. They're not letting go because there is probably something /big/ behind this. Sounds like you and Pam stumbled upon a powder keg, Harl. If they're thinking of taking risks on wiping out Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy... that's some deep cojones there, you know. I am suspecting big bucks being moved somewhere, big enough that they consider tussling with you a manageable risk."

He hmmms, and narrows his eyes. "And we suspect the guy from the Gazette migth be on the take, you think? That means /someone/ is paying him. Which means he has to go somewhere to get his payments, or someone goes to him..."

He strokes his chin, gears turning in his head. "What do you think, short, cute and green?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Might be! I mean, we ain't exactly cops. They first just wanted us ta stay away in that sorta villains honor ya know? Ya keep your turf, we keep ours. It's very usual ta be done. Unless theah's an hostile takeover. But .., gettin' ahead o' myself!" Harley then nodding at what Terry says about the reasons on why they might be doing this. "And was thinkin' on goin' ta do a shakeout on the guy, see who might be behind it. Trailin' him could be a thing too." she considers it, tapping on her chin thoughtfully.

"I know April wanted ta use her influence and see about strongarmin' him too.."

Gar's question about what IS a quellazaire has her grin, "Prepare ta be educated, dear Gar!" she taps on her phone for a bit before turning to show it to the green skinned werefiend.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Cigarette_holder.png/1200px-Cigarette_holder.png

After showing the image she tucks the phone away, looking between them as if seeking their opinion on what should be done.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan holds up his hands. "Dude, I don't know much about tailing people like that, but if there's a crooked reporter on the take, he's probably trying to get attention away from what's going on by making others out to be the problem, and let's be honest. People are gonna believe that Harley and Ivy went bad again. That's just the way it is."

He gives Vorpal one of those stares back for a moment before moving along. "So if you can put a little heat on him that's one thing, but if you can catch him, you know, incriminating himself on his own somehow and expose that, even better, right?"

After peering at the picture she shares on the phone, he stares somewhat blankly at her. "All you had to say was it's a cigarette holder. So she's like some Cruella de Ville wannabe? Does she have any Dalmatians around? And no, they shouldn't be adopted because they're not that good with kids." PSA Gar at your service.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Quellazaire is an internet term for a cigarette holder... especially the really long ones like the one you see at Breakfast at Tiffany's. I have to say, I have to give a little respect to a villain who can pull it off." The Cheshire cat hmms, and glances at Harl.

"Harl, I suggest you keep a distance from the potentially crooked newsman and let me try to trail him and see if I can route what is going on that way. Mom's a PI and I know how to do the stakeout thing. And Gar can turn into tiny things and spy, too. One week, two weeks tops, and we should be able to have him. If he's getting payouts, they won't be electronic- too easy to trace, and I doubt mister newsman is savy on the crypto-currency side of things... but he might. But I can snoop around his place and see. And then... when he goes to get his dosh, it's just a matter of documenting it while invisible, throwing an ambush and asking a few questions while borrowing the trademark Batman 'Dangle Them From The Top of A Building' interrogation method. You and Pam do your thing and keep us updated, and we'll compare notes? It's your bounty, but it doesn't mean a couple of Titans can't join in to put some crooked builders behind bars."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley listens with attention to the two of them, nodding effusively at Gar, "Right?! That's what Pam said, Cruella de Vil wannabe. But what can you do?! Sometimes imagination runs short on those two-bit crooks in Gotham. Have ya seen some of the villains they got theah?" Like Harley...

ANYWAY...

Harley smiles genuinely when they appear keen on helping out with this. "Okay, this seems good. Not suwah if I can keep Pam from blowin' up if she is attacked though. I mean, her temper has never been the best, but if we get people aftah her.." she shakes her head. "But .., yea. We can do that. Find that angle on that crooked guy and we will follow it up by .., other ways." she cracks her knuckles almost reflexively at that.

The Titans working together with Harley and Ivy. What a time to be alive!

Gar Logan has posed:
"You know we should at least give someone over there a heads-up, like Nightwing. Batman's probably gonna know the moment we set foot over there somehow, because that's what he does," Gar points out. "And you know what he'd say about that. Maybe I could be, like, honorary Team Batman for a little while, like with a membership card and a scowling mask and everything."

He says this because Batman isn't here...right? Right.

Hopping down from a metal vent he'd started to walk along and balance on top of, he disappears. That is, if they don't follow something flitting over to circle Harley's head a couple times. "You ever wanted to be a fly on the wall? I can do that. I'll see what the buzz is all about. And Ivy's probably gonna do what Ivy does, too. If she puts an end to it first..I mean, I'm not gonna get in her way."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Beastie is right- we'll let Nightwing know so he can spread it to the Bat-Fam. For the time being, you're going to have to bear being slandered by the Gazette until we get all our ducks in a row, and then..." he snaps his fingers, "We'll take a gangster down /and/ I'll expose a crooked journo on the Planet. I /hate/ crooked journalists. But tipping 'Wing off means you won't have Bat-People coming around. Although Batman /might/ come around anyways, if anything to keep up appearances. It would be /more/ suspicious if he doesn't come around after reports that you've turned villain again. so maybe he'll drop in for cookies or something."

The Cheshire cat grins, "So, with that settled... let's chow down! And Harl, you're going to have to tell me where this sandwich place is." He pauses. "You know... once they've repaired and opened up again."