Harley was biding her time by doing half naked
gymnastics. She hung upside down from
the mouth of the T-rex in her red and black bra and panty set. Alfred came down and put a tray of lunch on
the counter next to the main computer terminal.
“Hay Mister P.
What’s for lunch?” Harley called in her trade mark Marilyn Monroe squeak.
“Chicken salad sandwich,” Alfred smiled.
Harley made a series of leaps that brought her safely to
the ground. She strutted over to the computer
and smiled at Alfred.
“Thanks Alfred,” Harley grabbed a sandwich and flopped
back in the chair, “Have a seat Alfred, I want to talk to you for a second…”
“Of course Miss Quinzel,” Alfred stood still.
“I did a little digging and I found something really
weird,” Harley said with a mouthful of food.
“And what was that?” Alfred asked.
Harley hit a few keys on the key board next to her and
the main screen came up with a collage of Harley Quinn wanted posters and news
articles of Harley and Joker and Harley and Ivy on criminal escapades.
“How am I a well-respected doctor at Arkham and a
vigilante if I am a super crook’s whore?” Harley asked.
“That is indeed what we are wondering,” Alfred said.
“I looked around,” Harley said, “Why is Dixie part of the
Batfamily? I remember that she was
scooped up after her parents were killed by Catwoman and they busted Zucko… Yet
here is an article about Dixie Grayson being adopted by Bruce after her family
died…”
“Well that is how we remember things this morning,”
Alfred said, “Although this morning Master Bruce was asking about a Master Dick…
So I imagine something is effecting everything…”
“Weird,” Harley said before taking another bite.
A loud klaxon from the terminal blared causing Harley to
spit the food out of her mouth. It
landed on Alfred’s suit.
“I didn’t do it…” Harley looked at the computer and then
back at Alfred, “Oh sorry about that…”
“It is alright Doctor Quinzel,” Alfred said calmly, “It
is not the first time nor do I have any inkling that it will be the last.”
Alfred reached over and taped a few keys on the other
keyboard on the desk and brought up the source of the alert. He then pulled out a cell phone and made a
call.
*
“A bomb in my car?” Bruce said as he made his way to the
garage, “Are you sure Alfred?”
As he stepped out of the elevator he noticed something to
his left, a security guard half stuffed under the car on the end… just out of
sight of the cameras… Bruce put his hand
in his pocket and put his thumb on the small device. As he did he noticed the red lights on the
cameras blink out as he walked. As Bruce
walked he spoted his car and nearby there was a security guard… the exact same
security guard that had been knocked out…
“Ah, Josh,” Bruce smile in full FOP mode, “Did you fill
out the application for the scholarship so you can finish your degree?”
Bruce held out his hand waiting for the guard to respond
to the verbal trap.
“Ah yes Mister Wayne,” the Guard went to shake his hand, “They
said they would call me in when they finished get in applications.”
Bruce smashed his head into the impersonator’s head. The impersonator fell back to the ground and
went back to her naked blue skinned form… As she did, she locked up and the
black pulses washed over her just like in the case of Egghead and Harley…
*
Harley and Alfred got a call from Bruce.
“Mystique, yes sir,” Alfred brought up the file, “Miss
Darkholme, Raven. Five foot ten in her default
state, blue skin, yellow eyes and red hair.
Metamorphic Adaptation, Enhanced Physical Attributes, Accelerated
Healing, Toxin resistance, Disease resistance, Psychic defenses, and possibly
retarted aging. Wanted for act of
terrorism in connection with her role as a Mutant Rights agitator.”
“Hay Bruce are you going her a heroic Makeover?” Harley
asked into the speaker phone mic, “Like you did for me? And the villainous one
Catwoman apparently gave Dixie Grayson?”
“What do you know about that?” Bruce asked.
“I looked myself up and ewwww, Joker really? Yeah, no,”
Harley made faces, “But I remember Catwoman adopting a kitten a while back and
she raised the girl and trained her as her partner Night Paw. But on your computer Dixie Greyson is your
adopted daughter and cohort Nightwing?
That sounds like a bad stripper name by the way… But, point is, what I
remember is different from what is on record.
So I can only guess that some sort of reality warp causes Mandela effect
is going on. Did you ask Alfred if he
knew a Dick Grayson this morning?”
“Yes,” Bruce confirmed.
“My guess is that whatever the cause of the changes being
made are slowly altering memories of events.
Since I was at the center of one of these events and was you we have our
memories as if the old version of reality never happened in my case or the
change never happened in your case. I
would guess that slowly the rest of the world will remember things differently
a little bit at a time so it would be a less traumatic change to the rest of
the world.”
“What do you know about Egghead?” Bruce asked.
“Smart guy nerd that works for bad people?” Harley asked.
“I encountered him about an hour ago and he started
acting like I was his boss,” Batman’s voice growled over the speaker phone, “And
he was my spy inside the labs of evil labs.”
“Egghead? The baldy with the weird misshaped head?” Harley
arched an eyebrow, “Yeah, no, he is a douche bag.”
“Hang on I need to remove a bomb…” Batman brushed the
comment off.
Harley went back to eating her sandwich. Alfred was picking the spit pieces off food
from earlier off his suit. Harley had a
thought and swallowed before asking Alfred.
“Hay Mister P, if Bruce is reforming Mystique, does that
mean she will be my girlfriend too?” Harley asked, “From what I am putting
together, I am very open about being Bruce’s girlfriend and helping with his
Fop act and I still feel bisexual like the article states about me and Doctor
Isley.”
“I will ask when Mystique comes too,” Bruce said with a
slight annoyance.
“Bruce?” a voice called, “What happened, I came to warn
you a contract was put out on your life… What?”
“I have the devise,” Bruce said, “And we are on speaker
phone.”
“Who with?” the woman’s voice asked.
“Me and Alfred,” Harley said.
She quickly typed a note on the computer.
“Harley?” the woman asked, “Oh yeah… Hello Alfred.”
“Do you remember when we first dated Bruce?” Harley
asked.
“What? Really? Now?” the woman said, “Ugh, we did
publicity for Bruce as a fop. I was the
red head at the start, you stole him from me, then I came back as a black girl
and stole him and went out the back door. Why?”
“Just checking something,” Harley said.
“Ok,” Bruce said, “We will talk later back at the manor.”
“Right-a-rooney!” Harley called.
*
Bruce watched as the woman who sat on the ground naked
got up and took a normal visage. She
went from her blue skin and red hair to a ginger haired Caucasian woman in a
flirty black skirt suit.
“Let’s get out of here Mister Wayne,” Mystique purred, “I
have a lot of things to brief you on.”