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♦ ♢ ♦ Harley Quinn ♦ ♢ ♦ (revupyourharley) wrote in thereincarnates,
@ 2012-04-21 20:32:00

Entry tags:

maximilian kerr

Who. Amber Kelly & Maximillian Kerr
What. The clown prince finds his harlequin diamond
Where. Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey
When. Saturday afternoon, April 21st 2012
Warnings. It's the Joker and Harley. Every warning?

Two months ago, Amber was the one in the white coat. Now she was the one in hospital standard issued pajamas. Could life get anymore cruel? The dozens of track marks on the inside of her arms told her yes, from all the times the doctors poked and prodded her every day since she'd been admitted. Except now they didn't poke and prod her to help her get better. They jabbed at her with needles to test her limits, to see what was going on inside her head that made her so different. So evil, and she knew that's what they were thinking about her. They didn't say so to her face but she wasn't an idiot. Crazy, maybe, but not an idiot. She heard what the doctors and nurses whispered to each other when they thought she couldn't hear them. They believed her, and yet they still kept her locked in this place like a dangerous animal and didn't try to help her. Was this the sort of treatment she'd dedicated half her life to support? Medical torture? The old Amber would have been outraged, but the new Amber only stared at the wall. Everyday, finding new cracks in it every day that her eyes followed meticulously, looking for a way out.

She looked like a blank slate but she was lucid now, had been for weeks, but they still kept her for themselves. At first she'd resisted, acting out by attacking nurses and orderlies and getting into fights with other patients. Once she jammed a pencil into the hand of a girl just down the hall, and they'd put Amber in solitary for two weeks. They'd still done the poking and prodding there, the only difference was in there no one could hear her screams. She screamed until her face went numb, and then she stopped. Stopped screaming, stopped fighting. Now they just waited. Amber Kelly, the once promising psychiatrist was a committed mental patient, indulging the fictional voice of Harleen Quinzel in her head like some enormous, cosmic cliche. Immediately after her nervous break down, she'd rejected Harley, convinced herself she was a delusion brought on by severe sleep deprivation, but she wasn't. After awhile when her arms started to ache from too many needles, Amber couldn't turn to anybody else. Harley listened. Harley understood. And now they both waited.

Waited for their prince.

She'd never met him, but Amber felt him the moment he set foot in her prison. She was sitting with her back to the door, perched precariously on her bed and facing the wall, her way of showing defiance to the monsters that kept her here against her will. They can't keep me here forever, she thought venomously to herself as a pair of footsteps sounded just outside her room and she heard one voice, a voice she recognized as one of the orderlies telling someone else that his 'cousin' was in a good mood today, but to hit the alarm button on the wall if he needed assistance. The hairs on the back of her neck rose then and she started muttering to herself in soft, short gasps. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy I'm not crazy I'm not crazy..."

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cackling
2012-04-22 06:11 pm UTC (link)

If Maximilian could feel, he would feel as if this moment had been lying in wait for years. The too-soon passing of his previous Harley came and went, but oh, was he more than prepared for the next. One might think he'd spent months in advance planning for this. Years, even. That was the beauty of reincarnation, wasn't it? You knew for certain that as one was gutted like a fish, another would rise from the ashes. The harlequin diamond always made her presence known, and he would always find her, no matter where they tried to keep her hidden.

Once he received her name (Amber Kelly, he kept it rolling back and forth through his mind, as if it held some kind of importance) he made it a point to know everything and anything there was to know about her. That was one of the most interesting things about Max; he just got so obsessed. He learned, absorbed, found the doctor in a cage ever so fascinating. She was meant to be his Harley, through and through. He was only disappointed in the fact that it wasn't his responsibility for warping that eager young mind of hers first.

Ah, Trenton. He hated the place. Reminded Him too much of Arkham. How very unthoughtful of them to keep his belongings in a tin can like this. Didn't they know better by now? Of course they didn't. The show had been yet to begin! 'She's been doing so much better,' the orderly explained. This would make it five times now that he'd been in this spit of a place. This would only be the first they would allow him inside of her room. Priorities versus privileges.

'I think today would be a good day to let her see you this time. She's having a good day.' After being taught how to use the button on the wall, he was allowed inside. Something resonated within him that sent a jolt of adrenaline down his every nerve. All he saw was her back, but he knew. Everyone knew. Even the orderlies could sense something. Something not quite on par with the norm of the place.

The door closed behind him to offer up some semblance of privacy, but he knew they would try to be listening in as much as possible. To anyone else, he looked like a normal young man; that's what made the belief so easy. "Aren't you?" He questioned in a way that was almost too soft for The Joker. "Oh, now, that's no fun."

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revupyourharley
2012-04-22 11:46 pm UTC (link)

At first Amber didn't move. Not a muscle, not even the smallest twitch of her body. She didn't move, but she felt it. A pang of familiarity embedded deep within her that spread up from her toes and shot through the rest of her body like a rocket. Her skin tingled and her head suddenly felt much lighter, and then she did the strangest thing. She smiled, probably for the first time in two months. A dreamy, insane sort of smile that lit up her eyes before she closed them over, allowing herself to bask in his presence for a moment before she opened her eyes again.

She wasn't crazy. Not really. Not yet. Amber was still hanging on by a thread, caught between the Amber she was and the Amber she could become. These 'doctors' had been taking bits of her, piece by piece, but she wasn't gone. Just different. Unchecked. She was Amber, unplugged, and only one step away from going in either direction, depending on who was doing the pushing. And after two months of being treated like a caged animal with only the insane whisperings of one Harley Quinn to keep her company, she wasn't all too keen on returning to the life she'd dedicated herself to that gave her things in common with her wardens.

"Maybe." Amber's voice was low, almost harsh, shivering a little in the near unforgiving conditions of her room. She'd recognized his voice, something in her recognized it even though she knew without turning around that she'd never seen him before in her life. She would remember. She also felt that she already knew who he was, but how was any of this even possible? She turned her head an inch, cautiously, just enough for haunted, dark eyes to glance out at him over her shoulder, curiosity getting the better of her. "They pretend I'm making it up but I know they believe me. They're the crazy ones."

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cackling
2012-04-23 04:07 am UTC (link)

She sat like a stubborn child, looking even more so when she glanced at him just over her shoulder. She was hiding from something, perhaps the inevitability of her fate, but the moment she peeked at it, Max knew a part of her sanity was still waiting for him. Waiting patiently, in want. Oh, how he couldn't wait to make it all his. He was practically a kid at a candy store, now. But, shh, shhh, it was too soon to give it all away. Their fun was only just beginning. There wasn't any particular need to rush it. No, no, no, no.

"That's just not very nice of them, is it?" He frowned, taking a few steps forward, but not quickly so as to avoid alarming her. She was still unstable, despite how much better she was 'feeling'. Unpredictability was his favorite time of the day, so with a quick change of his mind, he bounced from one tip of his shoes to the other. Rather like a gruesome ballerina fit to kill you at a moment's notice. His hands were folded behind his back and his eyebrows were raised as he appeared curiously at her side. Max stared at the wall. Tilting his head to admire the cracks there.

"What makes them think they can keep someone like you in a place like this? They're just like you. Doctors. You're what they'll become if they take their work home with them." He winced, finally glancing down at her from the side. It was not yet time to look at her directly. He was saving that for the right moment. Only Max knew when that was. Didn't he? No. Maybe. Perhaps. He grinned. It looked wrong without the make-up. Without the scars. Without the white-washed flesh. But it wouldn't to her. She'd see it. She always did.

"You're what they want to be, but can't, because they're still so .. afraid. So unable to let go. You're right," He brushed a few strands from her shoulder and leaned in to whisper directly into her ear. "They are the crazy ones."

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revupyourharley
2012-04-23 06:49 am UTC (link)

"Someone like me?" Amber echoed his words like she didn't quite understand what he meant, the way they rolled off her tongue just didn't quite feel right. Whoever 'someone like her' was, she was a mystery to Amber, but he seemed to know her and that strangely made her more curious than afraid. If he knew who she was, then she wasn't lost for good, was she? He could help her find herself again.

A surge of fresh hope washed over her at the notion and she clung to it like a drowning woman, exhaling a shaky breath and almost smiling as she found his strange words oddly comforting. Almost, but the corners of her mouth couldn't quite reach full capacity. She wasn't looking now, and yet she could still feel his grin. It practically burned into her, so much that she finally turned her head to look at him again. She was surprised to see that he was next to her now, and she still didn't look him in the eyes. Her gaze was mainly focused on the grin that should have looked wrong but only made sense to her the longer she stared. Entranced.

But the enthrallment only lasted as long as her resolve did, and then her muscles gave a tell tale twitch and she was shivering despite the lack of cold. Her breathing came out in harsh, shuddering gulps as her eyes darted around wildly, looking for any sign that they weren't alone in here. That she was about to be poked and prodded again. For a woman who had always prided herself as being extremely put together, Amber Kelly now came unraveled fairly easily.

"They keep asking me questions. Things I don't know. Things that I - " Her voice was panicky now, but the brush of her hair and whisper in her ear seemed to immediately calm her, though she half shrank between her shoulders before she really heard his last words. Really heard them. "They want all her secrets," Amber hissed urgently at the wall, face darkening at the thought but she didn't clarify who 'she' was. She'd made that mistake once already, and it only took one glance down at her arms to remind her that she was still paying for it.

"Everything. They want to know why. What makes us tick. They forget we're doctors first, scientists second. There's a protocol." She stated this firmly, like she was in the middle of a diagnosis and she was positive of the results. Then she seemed to backtrack, something else he said finally hitting home and her whole head turned to glare at him at chest level. "They're nothing like me."

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cackling
2012-04-27 05:02 am UTC (link)

"You're right," Max agreed, nodding his head slowly. One of his hands dared to edge to the side of her face, cupping her cheek only with the warmth of his palm, not the thing itself. "You do see that, don't you?" He frowned, convincingly sympathetic. "All they wanna do is poke and prod. That's not a good time! You ask me, it's a real snore. What's it all for, anyway?" His fingers stroked down upon a few strands of her hair, curling around one of the ends idly.

"They've taken everything you were and made it what they want," he tutted gently, standing upright suddenly and placing his hands behind his back. He took a step back, twirling round on his heel in order to drag his other leg in a circle until it was back at attention. "Between you and me, that's just not fair." Max looked all around the room, spinning in a quick circle to take it in. Keeping something as explosive as Harley Quinn inside of a cage was never a good idea. Didn't they do their homework? Eventually, The Joker would set foot inside, and he would take back what was his.

But that was the problem with nonbelievers. With skeptics. They were so prepared to reject the truth, that they couldn't see the obvious fact right in front of their faces. Oh, maybe that was just the problem with scientists. These ones especially. The ones interested in finding out the reason people like them went tick, tick, (BOOM!)

"So, whaddya say, cupcake," in an instant, he was turned back in Amber's direction. Swooping down upon her like some kind of buzzard. His demeanor changed just as quickly, from intimidating to comforting. Max looked down at her in a way that he knew one one around this shit hole would ever dare. Tender was a good word for it. Curious. So very, very interested, and only the topic was her. He wanted to know all about her from her point of view, not what everything else had to say. If anyone knew him, they would all know this was probably an act. "You wanna find out what really sets you apart from alla them?"

The Joker didn't do tender. All he wanted was his diamond back.

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revupyourharley
2012-04-28 10:20 pm UTC (link)

Amber had a hard time listening to him with the way he kept throwing himself around the room like that - when he wasn't completely invading her personal bubble, that is. She'd gotten so accustomed to doctors and nurses over the past two months, people as cold and stiff as the white coats they wore (and it didn't occur to her anymore that she used to be one of them), who never touched her except to hurt her. This eccentric man in front of her was the complete opposite of all that. He was animated, spoke in an octave other than monotone, and when he touched her it wasn't to poke her with more needles. Even so, she shrank away from his palm at first, flinching noticeably but otherwise not moving a muscle when his fingers stroked those strands of her hair idly.

She'd been kept here for so long she'd forgotten what human contact felt like that wasn't accompanied by immediate pain, she had almost come to think that it only ever hurt. But it didn't hurt with him. No, his touch felt feather light and barely there, but at the same time weighed on her heavily like the hot sun on a day with no wind. It burned her, even though the luke warm heat of his palm had barely touched her skin. He was like white hot fire, burning her up, and Harley was flouncing around madly in her head as much as Max was dancing in the room around her.

In that moment, she could have known exactly who he was. His name was on the tip of her tongue - not Max, she didn't know that name yet. No, his true name. It was practically searing on the edge of her lips but it wasn't until he came back to her that it happened. That's when Amber stopped shrinking away, his presence so near to hers no longer feeling threatening. Instead, it felt safe. As safe as the insane girl trapped inside her own mind could interpret, anyway, which admittedly was not a very sound diagnosis. Nothing made sense anymore, everything was topsy turvy, but even in the midst of his very obvious madness, she suddenly had clarity. For the first time in months, Amber felt something other than numb. She felt him.

You wanna find out what really sets you apart from alla them? At his question, Amber finally turned where she sat, raising her face slowly up until her dark, hooded eyes were looking straight into his. He could see her now, just like she could see him, and Harley was just below her surface. "Yes."

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cackling
2012-04-29 05:38 am UTC (link)

Ah, but that was the magic word! Didn't she realize? Didn't she know? Of course she didn't. That's why Max was here, after all. To show her. To introduce her. To what? To the world, of course. To the big, bad, brand new world that was going to be all theirs. She had to know it like the back of her hand. She had to feel it in her bones. She had to embrace it, bathe in it. And all that jazz. Now was the time to give her all that. With one itty bitty little world, Max had every intention of serving up the world to her on a silver platter. And there she was, saying it just like that.

His smile was wild, stretching all the way across his face until it was practically swallowing him whole. "Yes, she says," in a sudden burst of excitement, he firmly grabbed the side of her face and leaned in to press his lips to hers. With a quick, bruising kiss that she would be sure to feel after he pulled away, Max turned to face the big red button everyone warned him about. He gave her a wink over his shoulder. Trust me, it said. He didn't need to tell her. He never did. She would understand. Just as she already knew his name.

His hand slapped the button and he began to scream at the top of his lungs, bouncing around like a man possessed. "HELP ME! PLEASE! SHE'S CRAZY!" He howled, clutching at the sides of his face. It was the perfect imitation of someone crying for help. Someone so far down in fear that they can't get back up without gulping for someone to come and save them, please. Please. They're insane. They've lost it. Off down the deep end.

It was all a matter of time. Time. Tick tock tick tock. Once those doors opened, it would all have to be down to that ticking sound. Tick tick. He inhaled through his nose and finally his wish was granted. Tock.

Time to play.

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revupyourharley
2012-04-30 12:00 am UTC (link)

That kiss did more than just bruise, though it certainly did that much. It woke her up. Like the princesses in all those fairy tales where they fall under an evil spell that puts them to sleep and they need their true love's kiss to break the spell and wake them. This wasn't technically a love story, at least not within the strictest confines of society's definition of the phrase. This was a mad love the two held between them, the Joker and Harley. A violent, destructive, unhealthy sort of mad love that bonded the two as one like two people might be bonded together on the same stake going up in flames. A bond that Amber and Max seemed to harness with just one hard look and an even harsher kiss.

She suddenly smiled. An insane sort of smile pulling at the corners of her mouth when Max kissed her wanting, unused lips. It was so quick that it felt like a punch to the face when he tore himself away from her as quickly as he'd latched on, the gentle brutality of it sending her reeling. And yet in the second it took for her to blink after, Amber Kelly felt herself wake up just like the princess in all those stories. She sighed, the madness he'd incited in her with that one, single kiss bubbling over her surface as Max began to scream.

There was no alarm, at least not one either of them could hear. It was silent in the room except for Max's screams, but then that silence was broken as she stood up and the door to her room burst open, two guards rushing in to help. Amber wondered to herself idly that the alarm must be silent, maybe something only guards and the people in white coats could hear like those high pitched whistles only dogs can hear. She was still contemplating this with a frown as one of the guards came toward her, visibly puzzled that she seemed to be doing her visitor no harm and yet he was still screaming his head off.

Then, as if this had been previously planned between the two reincarnated villains, the hospital guard reached out to restrain her and a trigger went off. Like she'd just been waiting for the right moment to spring, Amber's leg came up and she kicked him square in the face, knocking him out cold.

"How do you like having your lights out?" She asked in a strained, high-pitched tone as she glared down at his unconscious form on the floor. She'd always hated lights out.

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cackling
2012-04-30 06:17 am UTC (link)

That was the girl Max had been waiting oh so impatiently to meet. The one at the core. Whoever she was. Amber. Harley. Both. She was here all along, waiting for him to ignite the ever dying spark in her gut. And how willing he was to oblige. To provide the catalyst for insanity, there was not a feeling like it in the world. The adrenaline pumped through every fiber of his being and he knew the plan before he, himself, could plan it. That was part of the beauty. The mess of it all. It wasn't fun if he had to lay it all out on the table for himself. That took away all the magic.

As the guard hit the floor, he knew several more would be well on their way. In an instant, Max reached down to pull off the man's night stick and taser, along with the set of keys he'd kept at his side. Cockroaches often multiplied. But not now. Now, they had somewhere to go. They couldn't stick around and play with all the dirty little things. He scooped Amber up by her elbow, walking with her as if they were on an afternoon stroll. The night stick twirled round in his hands until the two of them exited the room. "Welly, welly, well," Max gasped as he noticed the staff starting towards the two of them.

He grinned at Amber, wagging his eyebrows. "Friends of yours, dear?" That was when the sirens began to sound. Loud and echoing throughout the hallways as if this might cause some kind of commotion. They were right. Everyone seemed to be in all matters of madness. It was positively sinful. Max looked from the group, to Amber at his side. "Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't I mention? She's not my cousin." He grabbed hold of her firmly around the waist and pulled her close to him. "I'm her welcoming committee."

Everyone's gaze was locked onto Max then. Some looked baffled, others understanding. Max gave them his attention again. "Didn't she tell you I was coming?" His lips pulled down in a frown, and he began to rummage in one of his pockets for something. "Uh, just a second." A beat as he continued to search. After a moment of alarms, he pulled out what looked like a small button. A few men ran forward, but it was too late. He'd already pressed it, and every door down this corridor opened up to unleash hell.

"SURPRISE!"

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revupyourharley
2012-04-30 06:58 pm UTC (link)

Amber glared daggers at the approaching doctors in white in the hallway, some immediately stopping in their tracks once they fell under the harshness of her gaze and cringed with reluctant recognition. They knew what they'd done, maybe some of them even felt ashamed for what they'd turned her into. It was their fault, after all. It didn't have to be this way, did it? But then, her fate was always going to be the man currently holding her by the elbow. She knew that even if she still didn't know his name, deep down in her bones. It was always going to end this way, they'd just been more than helpful in speeding up the process.

She stopped in her tracks along with Max as time seemed to come to a brief pause, most of the approaching hospital staff wavering in their advances as it became clear with the looks they exchanged between each other that they weren't sure what to do. Amber didn't pity them, and a certain level of disgust built up in the back of her throat at the thought. She hadn't been given a choice, so why should they leave them theirs? These pretend doctors who called themselves healers when in fact, she had been the only healer of the bunch and they'd made her to suffer for it without her consent. It didn't seem very fair.

When Max grabbed onto her waist and pulled her close, the blond let out a laugh that rang from her throat like tinkling bells, still keeping her narrowed eyes on her tormentors before turning to address her clown prince. "They came without invitations." She glanced back coldly at the white coats who looked even more alarmed than before as realization began to dawn on most of them (some of them even started edging backwards) and something akin to an actual snarl ripped through her teeth. "Mother always said doctors without manners should be punished."

Then all hell broke loose. Max pulled something from his pocket and before anyone could stop him, every door in the corridor opened, including the exit. But the exit was the least of the staff's worries, as patients of all shapes and sizes started pouring out of their rooms to exact their own brand of revenge on their tormentors. Amber didn't know this, but her entire ward had been full of people like her. Reincarnates like her, and now they were all out for blood just like her. She smiled contently at that, previously dead eyes sparkling madly at the sudden chaos surrounding them but then she turned to Max to slip a hand up his chest and purr dreamily into his ear. "Is it time to leave now?"

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cackling
2012-05-01 01:15 am UTC (link)

They all knew what they had done. Now, they would face the cold, hard truth. It grabbed at them with sharp fingernails and seemed to tear them limb from limb. Screams and yelps of pain echoed all throughout the corridor and Max closed his eyes. He listened, as if this were nothing but a symphony, and inhaled the scent of it his destruction. To him, this was just another party to attend. Another notch in the bedpost, if you would. Another checkmate. All the while, the littlest Batman had no idea.

This was reincarnation at its finest. This was what it was all about. They didn't exist to sit on the sidelines. Reincarnates lived to thrive and continue their work from the past, the future. This was their time, and now the world was starting to see that. It had taken long enough, but that only inspired Max to want to move this forward. Keep the world in check. To teach it just what they were dealing with now.

He slammed his stolen nightstick into the jaw of an oncoming guard. Blood splattered this way and that, followed by the tinkling sound of his teeth. The man was grabbed by a woman that looked as if she adorned super strength that had not been in use in quite some time. When his bones snapped like a twig, Max realized he was right. It wasn't until he felt that hand at his chest that his attention was given back to what he had truly come here for. His smile grew again; even without the make-up it looked terrifying.

"Your castle awaits, my dear," but before they moved, Max pressed his lips to Amber's in another kiss without compassion. He brought her in with his tongue and his teeth and there she would remain for the rest of her days on this speck of a planet. He led her out as they pulled apart, directing her through the exit doors that gave way to the night sky. Behind the two clowns, howls of pure torture followed them, and every door sealed itself up tight.

Now, it was time for the real fun to begin.

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revupyourharley
2012-05-01 07:04 am UTC (link)

Their lips met again in the middle of chaos, Amber hardly noticing the screams and blood spraying everywhere around her as Max once again consumed her. It was like nothing she'd ever felt, nothing she'd ever even entertained the thought of existing before. He took her in with everything he was: painful, cruel, frightening but she wasn't afraid. She knew she should be, but she'd stopped knowing the meaning of fear a long time ago. Now in place of where her fear should be, there was only this. Unchecked chaos and destruction that was plainly expressed in the way he kissed her and she kissed him back in eager resignation.

The patients of Ward II were taking full advantage of their golden opportunity, the screams of the hospital staff echoing through the hall and following in their wake as they strolled out into the night. Amber thought she saw a fire starting out of the corner of her eye as they pulled apart but didn't break away, biting his lower lip sharply enough that she drew blood. Poison on her lips that she immediately licked clean, gazing amorously up at him as a cool breeze hit her face and for the first time she realized they were outside.

Amber laughed loudly, for a moment skipping in step with him as they moved further and further from her prison. The elation began to rise in her throat then, spilling into even more insane laughter as it sank in that she was free. She wasn't trapped within four walls anymore, locked away from the world she and the Joker - Max - were meant to change. In that instant, the last few shreds of who Amber Kelly used to be stripped away, only leaving this new one behind to walk arm in arm with the villain who'd saved her.

"Hey boss, can we make a quick stop on the way home?" Amber asked, half herself and half Harley Quinn as they both thought of a particularly beloved piece of wardrobe they knew had been stashed away for safe keeping. "Gotta pick somethin' up."

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