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(Shortly after the events of JLU’s Epilogue)
Harleen Quinzel was surprised she lived this long given the life she lived. Every day wondering if she was going to kick the bucket in her later years, only to wake up the next day. The self-loathing was an old friend that would leave for moments or more at a time, but it came back. Especially even what became of her granddaughters when the Joker returned.
She kicked herself for forgetting about the Joker’s little backup plan. He had mentioned in vague details, but had she brought those up sooner…maybe it all could have been prevented. Not that it prevented her granddaughters from falling down the same hole. Harleen still regretted it…the words said after their trial. Now she was all alone…
After learning who Batman really was…and after the fall apart, she couldn’t help but wonder what if she had turned her life around to join his side. She had ample chances before it was too late, but she blew them all. All she put her energy into Joker and Poison Ivy. Now she was all alone…with using and abusing before dying. Pamela didn’t even have the dignity to die in front of her, she thought, she wasn’t even sure she was dead.
And now here she was…the end of the line with no legacy to show for it and no one who cared. Considering what happened to Victor Fries, she considered it a small miracle no one put two together to hunt her down for part in the Joker’s madness. On her worst days, she wished they had to end her suffering. In the days, after getting away after everything that happened all those year ago left her with paranoia…that the Batfamily would come for her out of revenge. Nightmares of them finding her and putting her several forms of torture. Out of the delusions of love, Harleen knew she crossed the line…and that was why she went quiet.
She didn’t know the truth, but she assumed that Batman ultimately broke his rule to kill the Joker. She could never blame him…the Joker just kept pushing. Even Batman has his limits. That was what killed ‘Harley Quinn the Clown Groupie’…the fear of being next. She had hoped she could clean up her life…but it was nothing but constant tragedy. Her son and her husband would die deaths undeserve. The twin’s mother turned deadbeat leaving her to raise them…and look how it turned out.
A cruel joke that could be either karma or divine retribution…Harleen can’t help but blame herself. Everyone she never knew or loved was dead and out of reach. She had hoped for dementia or Alzheimer’s…but nope her memory was still tact well into her 90s. She snapped out of her musing to focus on what she came out to be doing…leaving flowers behind.
One would think she was insane for leaving flowers on the graves of the Waynes every year was asking for a death sentence. But it was guilt that came her doing it every year. She had hoped maybe Batman would just kill her…but it never happened. She was not even sure he realized she had been doing this…or maybe he had…and didn’t care. As she left, she didn’t notice she was being watched from a great distance from a sniper’s scope.
“Don’t bother…”
The sniper lowered the gun.
“I got the shot, Miss Wilson.”
“As if putting a bullet in her will solve anything…it’s a waste of money to even plan this.” Ms. Wilson said with a sigh. “Killing her isn’t going to fix my relationship with my son or my son in general. Maybe if it was the Joker…but all that remains is his stale leftovers. I’ll pay the cancellation fee.”
Unknown to all of them, the Batman of Neo Gotham had been watching considering stepping in. However, he would ultimately fly off into the night…there really was nothing left there to deal with.