Unreserved Chapter 3
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Harley heard a voice far off in the distance it seemed.
"…A drac was pressing her up against the pump with a gun to her head…" the voice said.
It seemed vaguely familiar and Harley furrowed her brow. This simple act caused a sharp, searing pain that seemed to consume the entire right side of her face. She let out a small moan.
"What the hell happened to me?" she thought to herself.
The voices stopped, and suddenly Harley heard movement. Her eyes shot open, an action she quickly regretted; the lights were terribly bright and for some reason she was laying down, looking right up at them.
"Where am I?" she thought to herself.
"Harlequin Romance?" the same voice from earlier said.
Harley gingerly opened her eyes and turned to where the voice was coming from. She was face to face with the same man from before, the one who saved her life. He had hazel eyes, she noticed, and they were calm, a little curious, but most definitely not dangerous. She blinked a couple times.
"It's me Party Poison. I saved you from the drac. Remember?" Party questioned, wondering if maybe she'd lost her memory.
"Yeah, uh, I remember… kinda," she replied, more than a little disoriented.
She took a deep breath and tried to sit up. Party's arm grabbed her as he attempted to help her.
"I- I got it," Harley hastily said, not used to someone else's touch, especially a stranger's. The room was spinning, and Harley took deep breaths to try and stop it. It worked, slowly but surely things stopped moving. It was then that Harley was finally able to take in her surroundings, and that seemed to freak her out even more.
"Where am I? Who are you all? What do you fuckers want with me?" she fired off each question.
She reached for her hip, where you ray gun usually was kept.
"Where's my ray gun? Why the hell did you take it?" she continued on, getting more and more panicked.
Party Poison got closer to her and tried to calm her down and Harley's natural reflex was to raise her fist and swing. Unfortunately for her, Party Poison was just a little bit faster. He grabbed her fist and jerked it back down to her side. Jet and Fun Ghoul took a step forward, playing backup. Party shook his head, not wanting Harlequin Romance to feel ambushed.
"Calm down," he ordered, his grip remaining firm despite Harley's desperate attempt to wiggle out of his grasp.
Finally, she realized she wasn't going anywhere and caved to Party's demand.
"Thank you," he said, keeping his hands on her wrists. "You're fine; we aren't going to hurt you. We are on the same side," he continued on, soothingly. "You already know, I'm Party Poison. That over there is Jet Star, Fun Ghoul and Kobra Kid. I saved you from the drac, and afterwards you blacked out. Not to mention you had that nasty cut there, so I brought you here and fixed you up," Party explained.
"Where is here?" Harley asked.
"Smokey's Diner may I take your order?" Jet piped up.
Harley gave him a weird look as Party laughed.
"It's just an old, abandoned diner," Kobra explained as he sat in a chair closer to Harley and she noticed his eyes trailing the side of her face.
She lifted her hand in gently probed the mark. She winced and switched to merely sliding her fingers gingerly along, feeling out the bandages. She looked over at Party as she did so.
"Thank you," she said. "Ya know, for saving me from the drac, for taking care of my face, and what not."
"You're welcome Harlequin Romance."
"Harley," she said.
"Hm?" Party questioned.
"Harley. It's my nickname. Harlequin Romance is a bit of a mouthful," she elaborated.
She swung her feet over the edge of the table and hopped down. She stumbled for a second but was back on her feet.
"Careful there Harley," Party said, trying out the new nickname.
Harley rolled her eyes in response and Party Poison chuckled.
"Here's your ray gun by the way," he added and handed her the gun he had found at the gas station. He assumed it had been hers and he had been correct, she took the gun and slipped it into its spot, resting against her left hip.
"I had two," she stated flatly.
"Well there was only one at the station," Party told her with a shrug.
"Oh yeah, damn Drac," Harley said to herself as she remembered what had happened. She exhaled angrily.
"Right. Well thank you so much for… everything," she said, turning towards the door.
"Wait! What? Where are you going?" Party Poison questioned.
"I'm leaving," she replied.
"But you can't go," Party said and moved towards the door.
"And why the hell not?" Harley asked, stomping her foot. She hated people telling her what she could or could not do.
"Well, where would you go?" asked Party.
"Back to my place. My friend will be looking for me any time now, if she hasn't already. God, she's probably worried sick," Harley trailed on, shaking her head.
"There's more of you?" Party asked, clearly surprised.
"Yes. My friend Crash Animal. Annie for short. She's my partner in crime if you will. It's just her and I. We make a good team though," Harley said, finishing with a smile.
"Well maybe you two should stay here-" Party started.
"No." Harley cut him off.
She saw that she had offended him and felt a pang of guilt but quickly shooed it away. "It's just…" Harley searched for a way to explain. "That doesn't work out. Ever. Let people in and all you do is get hurt." Harley's voice gradually got quieter. She wasn't even sure if Party heard the last part.
Party opened his mouth to say something, but once again Harley cut him off.
"It's just better when Annie and I are alone, okay?" she said, looking away, and letting her fringe shadow her face. "Maybe we'll catch you guys around sometime. But don't count on it," she said and headed towards the door again. This time she made it. She didn't look behind her, she just sort of waved her hand, and then she was gone.
Party Poison stared down at his feet with a sigh.
"That bitch." Jet said incredulously, breaking the silence.
The rest of the guys cracked up and were back to their old selves, joking around and shit. But something was different for Party. He felt like he should go back out there, follow Harley.