Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 5: Ch.4 Harley Quinn

Walking down the stairs, the two armored figures casually wandered through Batman's company, completely ignoring the surveillance cameras along the way.

Su Ming, having started on the rooftop, had no idea what was happening, but seeing that Cindy was also unconcerned, he figured she might be trying to draw out Batwoman intentionally.

When they arrived at Bryce Wayne's office, Cindy casually helped herself by smashing the liquor cabinet and grabbing two bottles of fine wine, ignoring the blaring alarm.

She twisted open one bottle, took a sip, smacked her lips, and nodded approvingly.

She tossed Su Ming the other bottle, and the two of them calmly walked into the elevator, heading straight downstairs.

Under normal circumstances, Deathstroke wouldn't use an elevator—what if the power was cut, and they got trapped or plunged into free fall?

But seeing Cindy walk in so naturally, without a hint of worry, Su Ming didn't say anything and followed her in.

Her confidence suggested she had already taken care of all the guards downstairs.

His enhanced brain quickly deduced this, far better than his mind before crossing into this world. If he'd had this brain back then, he could have probably gotten scholarships to any school.

"Ding!"

The elevator reached the first floor, and as they stepped out, Su Ming saw the chaotic mess in the lobby. Over a dozen security guards were lying on the floor, alive or dead unknown, with shattered furniture and decor scattered around. It was clearly Cindy's handiwork.

Su Ming glanced around and noticed that some of the guards were stunningly beautiful women—no surprise, this was Wayne Enterprises, where even the security staff were well-dressed.

He still wasn't used to this world where women were in charge, and he couldn't help but see them through his old-world lens, focusing on whether they were pretty or not.

"Let's go. They're still alive," Cindy urged as she saw Su Ming standing in the midst of the chaos. She had deliberately spared these guards so they could report to Bryce.

While the chances of Batwoman showing up because of this were slim, it was worth a try. After all, it hadn't taken much effort to deal with the guards.

"Did you drive here? Do you know where Harley is?"

"Of course. Harley's probably still hanging around with The Jester's circus, right?"

The two of them stepped through the shattered glass doors into the dark, rainy night. A few suspicious-looking women were lurking at the street corner, glancing toward them. But as soon as they saw Deathstroke step out of the building, they scattered like birds.

They were hoping to steal something or some files while Wayne Enterprises' security was down, but if Deathstroke was working, they knew it was better to stay far away.

Cindy's car was parked across the street—just a regular American jeep. The inside was a mess, not with trash, but with weapons of various sizes piled everywhere. The back seat was filled with rocket launchers and two massive ammo crates.

When Su Ming got into the passenger seat, he found himself sitting on a grenade. He pulled it out from under him and handed it to Cindy.

"Your grenade."

"No, it's your grenade," Cindy glanced at him, and under her mask, he could hear her snickering as she twisted the key to start the car. "Trying to flirt with me won't work—I only work for money."

Su Ming's eyes widened under his mask. Flirt? What the heck? He was just handing back the grenade he sat on!

"By the way, this world's roles are reversed. Here, men are the weaker side. Usually, it's women who chase men, giving them flowers and gifts, and men who 'marry' them."

Su Ming shuddered at the thought—it was too bizarre. Thinking back on what he had just done, maybe handing her the grenade did seem a bit flirtatious.

If it had been the other way around in his old world, and a woman handed him a cylindrical object from under her... yeah, he'd probably think she was flirting too.

"No, no, that wasn't my intention. I'm just not used to this world yet."

"Oh, oh."

Cindy half-heartedly responded and started the car.

The jeep broke through the curtain of rain and sped down the street. The flickering streetlights made the car's interior alternately bright and dark. Cindy seemed to know the roads well, while Su Ming prepared the weapons at his side.

Yes, weapons.

If they were going to see Harley Quinn, and confirm whether the world was on the brink of destruction, they'd have to storm Joker's territory.

The lunatics who blindly worshipped the Joker had no sense of reason. If you couldn't knock them out, they'd happily drag you into a suicide bombing.

Not to mention, Joker had once used a gas that made people laugh themselves to death—Laughing Gas—and these crazies probably had access to it too.

Su Ming wasn't planning to use the two guns strapped to his legs—he wasn't ready to kill yet. Knocking people out would suffice, and the electric shock feature of his staff should work just fine.

"Security guards use stun batons too. Could that be why I crossed into Deathstroke's body?"

But preparing his staff didn't take much time, and soon, they fell into silence.

"I don't like Gotham. This city is just too crazy."

Su Ming didn't know why he said that. Maybe he was nervous, or afraid of the sudden quiet, so he started a conversation.

"Why?" Cindy glanced at him curiously. "I remember I'm quite popular here."

"Oh, sure, me too... I just think our straightforward style doesn't quite fit this city. The people here... their brains work differently from ours."

Su Ming paused, unsure if Cindy would get the joke. He just felt the air was a bit awkward and wanted to say something, anything.

Just then, Cindy ran a red light, splashing a black guy on the sidewalk with muddy water. When the guy pulled out a gun and fired at the car, Cindy taunted him by flashing the tail lights, laughing in a way that was hard to interpret.

"Haha, yeah, the people here are all crazy. If it weren't for all the work, I'd rather live in Star City."

Star City was Green Arrow's city, where the villains were far more straightforward compared to Gotham's lunatics.

If Atlantis was really about to flood the world, Su Ming would have to fight, no matter the danger, if he wanted to survive.

The problem was, he didn't feel ready. Maybe he could fight for survival, but he couldn't yet kill as easily as the original Deathstroke.

It wasn't about being soft-hearted—it was just... he'd come from a stable society. How could he suddenly kill people?

He knew that even if he didn't go to war with Atlantis, if he wanted to survive in the DC world, Deathstroke's enemies would eventually force him to kill. It was only a matter of time.

Just as he was thinking this, a rocket, trailing white smoke, came flying toward them from a nearby building.

With his enhanced reflexes and dynamic vision, he could even see the exaggerated smiley face painted on the warhead in red and white. Raindrops hit the warhead, shattering into sparkling fragments, reflecting the streetlights.

"Jump!" Cindy shouted, pushing open the car door and leaping out.

Su Ming's enhanced reflexes kicked in, and he instinctively mirrored her movements.

Cindy landed smoothly, while Su Ming, realizing what he was doing mid-air, awkwardly crashed into a pile of trash by the roadside.

The jeep was hit, exploding into pieces. Through the firelight, as if in slow motion, Su Ming noticed Cindy glancing at him. For some reason, he felt like the person under that black-and-yellow mask was in a pretty good mood.

In the next instant, a barrage of bullets rained down on them, accompanied by the sound of gunfire and manic laughter, loud enough to drown out the sound of the storm. The firepower was so intense that the muzzle flashes lit up the street.

Regular bullets were useless against Deathstroke's heavy armor. Though the bullets hurt a little when they hit, they didn't even leave a scratch.

Both of them quickly found cover. Cindy hid behind the corner of a nearby building, her automatic pistol in hand, firing back occasionally.

Su Ming, meanwhile, hid behind a dumpster. Somehow, a gun had found its way into his hand, and before he even realized it, he had already shot down several women with faces painted in crazy colors.

Their bodies fell from the buildings above, hitting the puddles or the burning car wreckage like sacks of flour.

Some of them twitched, rolling their eyes before dying, while others fell like lifeless logs, hitting the ground with a thud.

"What the hell?! I spent so much time overthinking the meaning of life, mentally preparing myself, and now my body reacts so fast it's all for nothing."

This body killed as naturally as it breathed, and there was no discomfort afterward. In fact, the firefight was making him feel... exhilarated.

Like in those novels and movies, the first kill didn't bring any nausea or sorrow—none of that applied to him.

"Well, if I've already started killing, I might as well keep going!"

He gritted his teeth and leaned out from behind the dumpster, firing again.

Call it instinct, or simply going with the flow, Deathstroke's shooting and fighting were ingrained in his body as natural reflexes. What else could Su Ming do but accept it? Abandon this power and let himself be butchered?

This was Gotham, after all. It wasn't a place where normal people could live peacefully!

If it was a contest of who could be crazier, Su Ming wasn't going to back down!

With the combined firepower of the two Deathstrokes, the dozens of Joker gang members were quickly dealt with, and soon the street returned to silence, the rain washing away all traces of evidence.

Of course, no police would show up to investigate—people dying in this area was a daily occurrence.

If the victims were lucky, their bodies would end up in a mass grave or a crematorium. If they weren't...

Well, Gotham was full of crazies, from disgruntled cannibal priests to anatomy professors short on cash, to deranged lunatics who needed bodies for their sick hobbies.

"That's why I love Gotham. The people here are simple, hospitable, and you can enjoy a real shootout at any time. A great vacation spot."

Cindy reloaded her pistols, holstered them, and walked over to Su Ming.

"Phew, I thought Gotham's friendliest people all lived in Arkham. Turns out, the residents of Crazyville are just as warm."

Su Ming brushed some rotten lettuce off his shoulder, tossing it aside. Thankfully, the rain had gotten heavier, washing away the filth and making him look less disheveled.

Cindy glanced around, as if recognizing their location, then pointed in a direction: "Let's go. We'll have a chat with Harley and figure out what's wrong with these people."

"Even though I'm not a doctor, I already know what's wrong—they're insane."

Su Ming let out a breath and followed her, throwing out a cold joke.

That was right—the original Deathstroke was also a master of deadpan humor. After blowing off someone's head or snapping their neck, he'd often mutter some dark, sarcastic comment to himself.

The surrounding buildings were eerily quiet. In the rainy night, they looked like monsters lurking in the dark, with their empty doorways and windows like gaping mouths and hollow eyes, ready to swallow up hope and drive people to madness.

The buildings on both sides of the road were abandoned and now served as hideouts for Joker's gang. The upper walls were covered with crude drawings of the Joker's face, playing cards, and other magic tricks, though the rain had already begun to wash the paint away—this was probably done in the last couple of days.

The upper floors of the buildings were dark, except for one building not far away, which was lit with colorful lights shining through the windows. That was probably where Harley was.

It wasn't hard to guess—now that The Jester was in Arkham, Harley was either plotting a rescue or wallowing in self-pity.

Su Ming didn't believe for a second that Harley hadn't heard their intense firefight earlier. But so far, she hadn't reacted.

As he and Cindy approached the lit building, they could hear music faintly through the sound of rain—loud rock music and screaming vocals coming from one of the upstairs rooms.

"Well, it looks like our little Harley isn't as heartbroken as we thought. She's working out," Cindy remarked, tilting her head to listen. Beneath the music, she could hear the sound of boots hitting the wooden floor.

In the main universe, Harley Quinn had originally been a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. During her research on the Joker, she became fascinated with his chaotic mind, fell madly in love with him, and helped him escape. Afterward, she assisted Joker in various crimes, though Joker only saw her as a nuisance, often using her as bait or a scapegoat to get away from Batman.

But the DC universe was always chaotic. Su Ming couldn't say for sure what the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn was like on Earth -11.

On Earth-37, another gender-swapped world set in the 1960s, Joker and Harley were lesbian lovers.

But in the New 52 universe, Harley had broken up with Joker, cleaned up her act, joined the Birds of Prey, and had a flirty relationship with Batman.

No matter which parallel world, though, Harley's abilities were pretty much the same—she had a genius-level intellect and Olympic-level gymnastics skills.

Her hobbies included listening to music and reading. When she had free time, she'd dance. She was chaotic and insane, but deep down, she knew she was a good girl.