Rorahkins and Dreamehkins off on another whirlwind adventure ;D [Mature Content]

[[Sometimes I hold my cat up like little baby simba in the beginning of the Lion King, for the lols XD I don't think he likes me at all XD And no, I haven't seen the hunger games, or read the books xD People at school are really irking me by talking about it non stop ._. I just wanna SLAP THEMMMM. I mean they may be good, but SHUUP PEOPLE XD ]]

Harl took a half step back as he stood up, but not by much. 'As opposed to you who looks hot all the time?' She initially questioned, but she made it sound like a statement if anything. 'You are so much trouble.' She hit him in the chest before digging through her pockets for the remaining notes, before throwing them at him and stepping back. 'Take them and go.'

((If you can't be bothered reading all the books - to be fair, they are quite a chore until you get into them - just watch the film. You'll love it. It has psychos in it Have you seen the trailer for that funny Snow White film? It looks hilarious XD The darker one just looks... I don't know. Dark O.o
I have a thrilling sense of vocabulary XD
I do that with my cat. I'll randomly wrp my arms around him and kiss him,just like he couldnrandomly walk over and bite me. We have a mutual relationship ))

"Hey, you said it, not me." Nico smirked, just in time to take the blow to the chest. He staggered backwards, eyes wide, and rubbed it gently as if it were made of glass. "Not the freakin' moobs, bitch!" He grumbled, when he saw the notes flutter to the floor. He raised an eyebrow. Had she just given him money?
"Relax, alright?" He huffed, holding a hand protectively over his bruised chest,and scooping up around four or five notes and stuffing them back into his pocket. "I'll take these. Keep the rest. You get broke, go rob a bank or something." He opened up the purse and scrunched the notes into the correct compartment, clasped it closed and put it back in his pocket.
He backed away towards the door. "I'm going, I'm going. But by the way," He paused as he reached the door, flashing her another wink. "Still got a nice ass."
With that, he fled from the room.

((Going to bed now. Nanight! ^_^))

[I think that the darker snow white film looks good! What...Snow White and the Huntsman isn't it? It looks pretty good ;D And niiiight! I hope you will be on tomorrow heheh ]

Harl didn't say anything, but looked down as he left the room. She slammed the door angrily behind him as he left in a hurry, hoping that that was all she would see of him until she cooled down a bit. Harl looked back at the bed, seeing some of the scattered notes lying there and she went to pick them up, stuffing them in her pocket hurriedly. Grabbing her backpack and her set of keys, she set off outside, and she knew where she was going.

The guys in prison said that they wanted some sort of way that they could still commit crimes, but not be done for it. It was this that kept Harl awake most nights, masterminding plans, thinking of ways that it could be achieved. It was this that hatched the idea of an alter ego, someone else who Harley could become to do all the dirty work that she felt so good doing. Someone who could be against the crappy police, the civilians, someone who could do wrong...and get away with it.

Harl couldn't remember how she obtained the costume (or Rorah was too lazy to think up a way of getting it), but when she first put it on, she felt...different. Unlike herself. It had been a month since the purse theft and the run in with the rather attractive guy. Somehow she hadn't starved, but from the money she swindled, she could get by. Once again she donned the costume and looked at herself in the mirror. It was sleek and shiny, and was made out of a material that tightly hugged every curve on her body. The patterns were striking, an alternating mix of huge black and red checks, complete with black leather gloves, black shoes and a material jester's hat, the same colours as the suit. It had two tails on it, one hanging down either side of her head, and on the end were two small white bobbles. For her makeup she chose a completely white face, achieved with face paint, striking black lips, and a black mask that circled around her eyes in a figure-of-eight style. She even put in some contact lenses to disguise the colour of her eyes, one red, one black. Dramatic, yes. But she felt so alive! Taking such care to make sure that it was sexy and yet...intimidating. The Harlequin was born.

Harley figured that it would be easier to operate at night, where suspicions were low and the guards were down. Shops would be locked, yes, but locks were nothing for Harl! She had learned far harder things off of the inmates during her prison sentence, like how to take down up to seven security guards and still keep up appearances.

The first one was easy. The first robbery. A young man, probably in his 20s. His eyes were wild, as was his hair and his demeanor. He was obviously running away from someone, he was breathing in short gasps in between muttering worried curses and things like 'what will my wife say?' and 'I can't do this.'
Stupid talk really. The Harlequin was perched on the ledge of the takeaway, overlooking the small alley where the mad man was cowering. It was a wet day; the rain left puddles and a stale scent in the air of a place much in need of a soaking. A single, solitary street lamp illuminated him with an orange glow; the rest of the street was dark. The Harlequin picked her moment carefully, a moment where the whole alley was bathed in darkness as the light flickered on and off. She landed on the concrete, allowing her knees to bend to the impact rendering her landing completely silent, and her victim unaware.

She crept up to the man from behind, seeing that he was smuggling a package of some sorts, concealed in a brown paper bag that he was clutching incredibly tightly to his chest, and in a clumsy movement he dropped it, allowing several 20 and 50 pound notes to breeze to the ground. He bent down and scooped them up, cursing and wiping them on his jacket after they had dipped in a puddle that lay at his feet. He got up and turned around and in a flurry of movement she was at his side. The Harlequin withdrew a knife that she had folded inside her glove. He emitted a startled squeak as she brandished the knife at his throat, holding it so close that the serrated edge pierced his skin ever so slightly. ‘Now are you going to be a good boy and hand that over or am I going to have to take it by force?’
The man said nothing.
'I'm going to count to ten, and if you haven't given it to me then I will do something that you'll unnecessarily have forced me to do. One....two....three...four...'
The wild eyed man stammered, barely coming to his senses as he realized what she was doing.
'P-please...I have a wife...and t-three children...'
'five...'
'they're starving...and I-I-'
'six...'
'I need to get this back to them otherwise they-'
'seven...'
'-they will die and it'll be all my fault!'
'eight...'
The man was now in tears, they were sliding down his face as he begged for her to spare him. 'nine...'
She leaned closer into him until her mouth was beside his ear. With sickening finality, the final number was whispered to her victim.
'ten.'

The man slid to the floor, his lifeless body clattering amongst faded bins, his throat slit. The Harlequin grabbed the bag from the floor where he had dropped it and looked inside. My goodness there was a lot of money, and all in notes too! She giggled, like a small child that had just found a stash of sweets. There had to be at least 3 grand in there. Drug money, it must have been. She looked down at the body of the man. She felt no remorse, just...emptiness. Harley would have felt something, she was sure of it, but The Harlequin didn't. She was emotionless. And as she wiped the blood off of the knife, she produced a small playing card from within the other glove, the ace of clubs. Bending down she slotted it into the hand of the dead man. Satisfied, she made off with her treasure back to the travel inn, climbing the fire escape silently, slipping into her room and slipping off the costume. Throwing the money and the entirety of her costume into the bag, Harley crashed on the bed and fell asleep at once.

[Woahh...we have a severe case of mentality over here. Just pass me my straight jacket and let's get it over and done with okay? xD I had an idea where at first her crimes are few and kinda far between, like once a month or something? Like, she only does that when she needs it. But being in the costume and killing people and taking what they have slowly takes her over, and the young, fairly innocent Harley becomes like this...remorseless killer who simply loves killing people because it's what she finds fun? And Nico becomes dragged into the situation because obviously his father is the Chief of Police, but what if the Harlequin starts killing people he knows and loves, and then the line is really drawn? But he's taken a liking to Harl but he bitterly hates The Harlequin...But of course he doesn't know that she is the one killing his friends...
Jeez I think of these things too much ._. Well there you go, around 1,300 words before bedtime YIPEE. I know what's going to keep me up tonight huh? Have fun reading this when you wake up Dreambug ;3 ]

((I will, but not much. Got school work to do, and my room's a pigsty But that post was AMAZING! She's so mean XD Well done, I wouldn't have been able to write all that so late. Or most days, actually *applauds*

Yeah, that's it. I think it's kinda risky shooting two Snow White films at the same time, though. I might end up seeing both

That idea's good, too! Glad to know you have one, because I was making up this asshole as I went along. Looking forward to this
And dude, just googled 'Harlequin'. Good idea! Very creepy, though XD))

Nico came down one morning – or more like afternoon – and collapsed on the sofa, turning on the TV with a yawn. His father was in the kitchen with some colleagues, nothing new there. The door was shut. Evidently, he wasn't meant to hear anything.
It didn't stop him from eavesdropping, anyway.
The door was wooden, but it wasn't thick, nor soundproof. Nico could still hear blips of the conversation, even from the sofa.
“Homicide... Male of between the ages of 19 and 21... Not yet been identified... Slit throat... Robbery... Kong's Chinese Takeaway...”
His eyebrows shot to the sky. Body? That meant there'd been a murder. Outside Kongs? That was only a five minute walk away from where Nico lived...
He stood up and walked towards the kitchen, just when a report came on the TV about a prison escapee. The face of the criminal filled the screen, and Nico felt himself hold his breath.
The girl! That friggin' girl that robbed him!
The report said she'd been done for theft and sent to jail on a long sentence. That didn't surprise him, she'd seemed like quite the expert on that alleyway when she'd stolen from Michelle. But how the Hell had she escaped from prison? His Dad had always said that was near impossible to do, and that it was pointless anyway because you'd be caught eventually. How had she survived so long?
He'd not seen that girl for weeks, not since the robbery on the alley when he'd chased her to the hostel, then let her keep most of the money. After all that, too...
Well, she'd managed to keep her head down (Psh, yeah ;D) and Nico secretly hoped she stayed that way. He quite liked her, she was hot. Had a bit of a mouth, yeah, but she had... Personality. And a nice ass. He was a young man of simple pleasures, and they were pretty much it.
He stood up and wandered into the kitchen – partially for some brunch, and partially so he could nosy at what they were looking at. There was a laptop on the dining table with some CCTV footage of the previous night. It showed a young man pressed up against a wall, clutching a bag that was bulging with notes. There had to beat least two thousand in there, probably dirty money. The figure beside him held a knife at his throat, and was muttering things to him, probably asking for the money, but he refused. In the end, she slit his throat and walked away with the huge bag in her arms.
“What's she wearing?” He asked the group of officers, forgetting his bed head and baggy clothes that he'd been sleeping in. A couple turned and looked at him curiously, and his father shook his head.
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with, Nico.”
No way was he leaving that easily. “This the guy that was murdered last night?”
His father, Elmo Rafael, flashed him a scolding look. “Go watch TV, Nico.”
“I'm twenty, Dad, not five.” He snapped, then picked up a slice of bread and casually began chewing on it, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the other officers. “Let's have a look.”
He sat down on one of the dining chairs in front of the laptop and stared at the screen curiously, his head rested on his palm.
“My son wanted to be a detective, but he bunked school, so that wrecked his chances.” Elmo was telling one of his colleagues, but Nico ignored him.
“What's she wearing?” He asked again. One of the officers leant on the table beside him and rewound the tape pack to the beginning.
“It's a Harlequin costume.” The officer informed him.
Nico raised an eyebrow. “Harlequin?”
The officer sighed. “Harlequins were individuals hired by royalty to entertain them, or the Court, and make them laugh.”
“I get it.” Nico nodded. “Like clowns or jokers, yeah?”
The officer nodded.
Nico turned back to the laptop and pressed 'Play'. “Something tells me she'd not just come back from a Pantomime, then.” He stared intently at the screen. “So that would be quite menacing, then, if one of those came up to you and pulled out a knife, never mind a normal person.” Beside him, the older man grunted. “So fear must be the main drive, then. She hesitated in killing him, let him tremble, but I bet even if he gave her the money she'd have killed him.”
He glanced down at the papers by the laptop. Two words in the notes caught his attention. He turned to his father. “You say she's a serial killer? But there's only been one murder...”
“Yet.” Elmo grunted. “By the way she got dressed up, even put on makeup and contact lenses, we think it's just a matter of time. Killers don't just do these things once. They want to enjoy the fear, and they'll keep going until they get their 'fair share', if you get it. But you've seen enough already.” He snapped the laptop shut and put it in it's case, then they all began gathering up the papers.
Nico pulled a face. “Where you going?”
“The crime scene.”
His face lit up. “Can I come?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you smell. Go have a shower.”
Nico glared at him. “Fine. Then can I come?”
“No.”
He groaned, then left the room to shower. Screw his father. He'd go to the crime scene no matter what it took. He knew where it was, anyway, and he was the Chief's son. He was allowed anywhere his father was allowed, without permission.
Smirking, he headed to the bathroom, stripped and stepped into the shower.

He decided he'd do a detour, since there'd be Police everywhere, to keep form being spotted. First, he went to Subway for some 1.30 breakfast, then sat outside on his motorbike to eat it.
He'd never seen a dead body in person before. He was quite looking forward to it.
Nico flashed a wink at some passing young ladies, taking another bite out of his sandwich. It was habit now, he couldn't help it. It was also the reason why he didn't have girlfriends any more.
Not that he cared.
Shrugging, he bit another chunk out of his sandwich, smiling contently to himself.
Like I said, he was a man of simple pleasures.

[Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it xD And I'll probably be on and off, I need to do pretty much what you do too :3 If you google Harley Quinn then you will see her outfit, it's pretty much the same but I made a few mods (like minus some stupid frills on the gloves and shoes xD)]

It was mid-afternoon and Harl was sitting in one of the less formal bars in town. It was dingy and run down, like most of the bars in town, but it was frequented by criminals and drug dealers, and the barmen were friendly towards every lowlife that stumbled through the doors. She was sitting at the bar, enjoying a beer, when a man next to her was reading a local paper. She spun around on the chair to read the front page of the open paper and choked on her drink. She was on the front page. Without saying a word she spun to face the bar again and pondered this. As long as she was in here she was fine, until the cops raided the place with every single unit they had and arrested everyone in here on the grounds of being a lowlife. They'd been wanting to get to this place for years, but to her amusement every attempt had been in vain.

She drained the glass and left, glancing right and left to see if anyone suspicious was out there. No one. She left in a quick walk back to the hostel and passed the sleeping receptionist. The repugnant smell of whatever it was filled her nostrils again as she made her way down to her room, and opened the door. Nothing in the papers about the murder/robbery, but somehow she figured that it wouldn't be long until something appeared on the news. She couldn't remember what happened last night, probably because she had been insanely tired, but somehow it worried her. What had I done? Harl thought to herself as she sat on the bed. Something red caught her eye, and she walked over to her rucksack where her costume was hanging out. She stuffed it right to the bottom and threw everything in there with it, the contacts, the paint, the bag of money. If the police raided this place she would be put away for a long time.

((Ohh, she is creepy. XD Is she supposed to be the Joker's wife, or was that just some weird person's impersonation?))

Nico finished off his sandwich and got back on his bike, heading down towards the crime scene. However, he passed a dark alleyway on route where there were a group of older, very threatening looking males. Nico recognised a couple of them, his father had arrested them for stupid crimes such as drink-driving and getting involved in pub fights. He knew they were guilty of far worse crimes, but they were clever enough not to be noticed.
He paused, only for a moment, and immediately they noticed him.
"Hey, look who it is!" They elbowed each other until they were all staring at him, and a few of their eyes narrowed bitterly. Nico looked away. He just needed to keep driving, without looking back. He was nearly there...
"Oy! Where you going, Chief?"
They called him that because he was the one who'd grassed on them, when he'd seen a man get beaten nearly to death in that alleyway by that very crew, and they didn't seem to want to let things go. That was two years ago, for Christ's sake!
He revved the engine and zoomed forward, away from the pub.
"Get out of here, you good for nothin' bastard!"
With pleasure, he thought.

[No, in the Batman universe she's the Joker's girlfriend xD They are honestly as mad as eachother, but I think if I was that mad I could quite happily marry the Joker ;D]

Harley showered, and once she was out and dry she looked out of the window in the hostel, thoroughly bored. She'd gone to see her mum once since she'd been out, but not again. She couldn't go back to that godforsaken house for a second time. She wanted to go outside...at least as Harl she couldn't.

The Harlequin moved quietly down the fire escape and from around halfway down she could easily jump onto the roof of a nearby building. Most people were inside by afternoon, the recent warm weather meant that they were probably in groups having a barbecue or something silly like that. Of course the criminals would be around, and they were the best part, obviously. She slunk across the roofs, but nothing was going on! The streets seemed dead. Time to make some fun.

When he reached the crime scene, Nico was disappointed to find that the body had been taken in for analysis, so the 'crime scene'ended up being nothing but a load of yellow numbers on the floor. Grumbling, he turned away, already bored. What else was there to do?
The murder victim was Jack Barnsley, who had been the same age as Nico and he recognised him as a guy he went to the same secondary school with. They weren't close enough to be friends, but Nico was slightly shocked that he knew the guy. However. Jack had always been in trouble with criminals ever since he was in his mid-teens. For all they knew yet, the 'Harlequin' could have been hired to kill him for something he'd done. But why did they make such a big deal? Why did they dress up?
He slid on a pair of shades and wandered boredly away from the crime scene. He couldn't be bothered to call one of his friends, he didn't have a girlfriend to do 'stuff' with, and his mother was out on holiday in Scotland, so he couldn' go visit her.
Sulking, he sat on his bike and decided to take acruise around town, hoping to stir some trouble.

[I've been flicking through The Joker's and Harley Quinn's pages on Wikipedia today and I've thought up some frightful ideas But the awesome thing is, even if The Harlequin is caught, she can't be charged >: D ]

The last man toppled to the ground as The Harlequin roundhouse kicked the guy around the temple. The five men were on the ground groaning, and they weren't small guys either. Three of them were about as big as the security guards uptown, huge men with muscles that could pull a bear's head off it's shoulders. She had pick-pocketed the gang before she left, but as she was dancing past them counting what she had swindled, her foot grazed against something metal. She looked down, and at her feet was a miniature pistol. She glanced around to see if anyone was coming, and she giggled, a high pitched squeak, and picked it up. Checking it was loaded, she shoved it down the side of her boot. Even though her shoe was small, the mini pistol was smaller, and and could easily fit it in with no discomfort. Still giggling, she skipped away happily, shoving the money in her glove and casually tossing a small playing card over her shoulders that fluttered to the ground and came to rest on one of the guy's chests. He groaned. Those guys would be out for ages. As she strolled around the corner she spied Nico approaching on his bike. Hiding back behind the corner again, she checked that there was no one else. Presumably he'd just come back from the crime scene, judging by the direction he was headed. She came out into the open once she checked that there was no one on the streets. The Harlequin leaned against the corner of the building and folded her arms. 'Did you know him?' She called over, a childish smirk on her face. 'Shame really. He squealed like a baby.' She threw her head back and cackled. 'He begged and begged and cried. Shoulda seen him.' She shook her head, the smirk still playing across her face. 'You know you can tell that stupid daddy'o chief of yours that he'll never catch me.'

((Did you add more to that post? I swear it was shorter before XD And why cant she be charged? ))

Nico caught sight of a black and red figure hanging around the street corner, and jammed the breaks on with a gasp. The Harlequin! The murderer that he'd just seen on the CCTV footage!
The bike skidded to a stop, and his heart caught in his mouth. He'd never been face-to-face with a murderer before, and he couldn't say that he wasn't scared out of his wits. But he wasn't going to beg and cry like Jack had. He had a rep to keep up, and he was the Chief's son, after all.
He looked the Harlequin up and down critically. She was a woman, definitely. A fearless one. In any other circumstances, if she wasn't wearing that ridiculous costume, he might like her. But alas, things were different. No doubt she was armed. And he wasn't in a 'dying' mood.
Clenching his jaw, he replied flatly. "That so? Really, it'll only be a matter of time, with you dressed like that." He nodded to her costume. He shifted his hands on the handles of the bike, realising how sweaty they'd become. "And yes, I did know him. Not well, he went to my school."
Wait, why was he answering to her? Why was he telling her all this, just feeding her with more information about himself?
He raised a challenging eyebrow, flashing her the tiniest of smirks."By the way, you ain't half as creepy in the daylight."

[Yeah I added more cause I was bored xD Anndd you shall see ;D Or she shall tell him. Either way lol xD ]

The Harlequin listened to his answers carefully, smirking. 'Well I know, nothing was happening today, and you know what? That's so boring! Just hanging around...nothing to do...' She swaggered up to him on his bike. 'So of course making my own trouble wasn't hard. I don't know why the cops in this town are such pansies. Of course....they can't catch me.' She pouted. 'And isn't that horrid?' She noted his reaction to her and found it rather amusing. 'Oh you don't need to be scared of me, you're too cute to die.' She turned on her heel. 'Yet.'

((Ohh okay, so I'm not completely mad then ))

He frowned at her strange words, wondering vaguely why she thought she couldn't be caught. Seriously, all he had to do was go to his father, tell her where he saw her and they'd be on her tail. Simple as. He admitted, some of the cops were, as she called them, 'pansies'. But they could catch criminals when they really wanted to.
He chuckled, slightly nervously and shook his head. "Too cute to die..." He whispered. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" He asked her, noticing how dangerously close she was to him. Even when she turned away, he still felt uneasy around her. He felt uneasy around clowns and anything close, anyway.
"You kill a guy, then flaunt around in broad daylight wearing some tatty dress-up costume, then you threaten me? Are you serious?"

[Haha, not as mad as her xD]

She swung back to face him again. 'Tatty?' She sounded hurt. 'This isn't tatty!' She looked at her costume. 'It's better than yours.' She raised an eyebrow and walked to him again.
'And maybe just a bit...scarier.' She flicked out the pocket knife and held it to his face. 'Ooh...now who next? Your friends?' She waited for his reaction. 'Your family?' She smirked and waited for his reaction again, pressing the knife to his cheek.

Nico shut up immediately when he saw the knife pointing at him, and turned his face away carefully, trying to keep the tip as far from him as possible. He'd never been threatened like this before... Not in real life, anyway. He'd played games on his Xbox when things like this happened, but the adrenaline rush that he'd been expecting didn't come. He was frozen, too scared to move, almost too scared to speak.
She'd kill his friends? His family? How did she know who his friends were? Even his family? Fair enough, everyone knew his father, therefore knew him. But How did she know about his mum? His friends?
He stared at the quiet road in front, feeling the cold blade pressed up against his face. He felt sick.
"You don't know a d-damn thing about me." He growled, his hands shaking on the handlebars. He refused to beg, or plead, like Jack had. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him cower.
"Never mind the other people in my life."

The Harlequin giggled at the look on his face. She leaned forwards and whispered in his ear. 'Like I said, you don't need to worry about dying.' She grinned and whipped the knife back, not cutting into his skin but merely scratching it with the tip of the blade. She moved away from him, walking backwards. 'I know a little about you. I know enough to know that your father is all that you have.'
She inspected the blade as she walked back away from him slowly, but still keeping an eye on him just in case he tried anything funny. 'You can hunt me down, but even if you catch me...I won't squeal.' The Harlequin smirked, turning and skipping down the alley. 'Best be on the lookout tonight!' She called back to him happily. 'You never know what might happen.'
And with that, she was gone.

Nico winced, turned his head away from the tip of the knife. A faint, red line appeared seconds later on his cheek where the blade had scratched, but no blood was spilled. However, his cheeks flushed in fury.
How dare she threaten him?
He waited until she'd disappeared until he revved the engine and sped off down the road, back to the crime scene. He had to warn them, and his Dad. They had to know the Harlequin was after them.
But why? Why did she choose him, of all people? He'd done nothing to her...

People were funny. In fact, the whole mother thing had been a complete guess, but he had been so up tight about it that it seemed to be a really good guess, at least. The Harlequin was overlooking the crime scene, sitting atop the building with her legs crossed like a child. She loved how forensics were taking samples of the scene Like they would find anything to go by. She had been too careful for them to find anything, but with luck they would have found her little 'calling card', the playing card that she had left before she fled the scene with all that lovely money. She smirked at how they were trying so hard, how they were desperate to find anything, and yet the anguish on their faces said that someone would have to tell that poor family that their son had been killed and they were too useless to find out who did it.

When Nico arrived at the scene - his face paler than ever and he was almost choking on panic - his father had just been handed a small playing card and was studying it intently, wondering whether it's symbol and number had any meaning to it whatsoever.
Nico staggered off his bike, almost forgetting to brake first, and ducked under the 'Police' tape, jogging straight to his father's side.
"Dad! Dad, I have to talk to y-"
"Not now, Nico." His father snapped, sitting down on the boot of his police car, handing the card back to one of the scientists. "I have too much to do."
"I saw her." Nico panted, unable to stand still. He was obviously nervous, to say the least. He was fidgetting, his gaze darting around the street every now and then. Paranoia was getting to him; he wanted to rip his hair out. Badly. "The Harlequin. I saw her."
His father's head snapped up. "When?"
"Just a minute ago. Down the street."
"Did she say something to you?" The older man's eyebrows knitted together, he could tell something was up. "What's wrong? Did she approach you?"
Nico nodded, gasped. Swallowed. "She's probably not there anymore. But Dad, that's not-"
"I'll get a few of my colleagues to go there immediately." His father barked something into his walkie-talkie. "Can you take me there?"
Nico stared incredulously at the ma. "She'll have gone, now! Dad, listen..."
"That's not the point. It's a lead, and we can follow her steps until we catch her." His father had already got into the front of the car. "Get in. Show me where she went."
Gulping nervously, he got into the passenger seat. He knew they were wasting time, but at least for now his Dad had back-up. If she appeared, they could shoot her if needs be. With that, the three cars headed off down the road.

Her ears perked at the sound of a bike approaching, leaning over the edge of the building. She tried to listen to their conversation, straining to hear their hushed voices. She saw him get into the car, and got up, walking to the edge of the building and putting her hands on her hips. 'Where are you going?' She mumbled, smirking. She dropped down into the alleyway and took the backstreets, she could get to the spot just as quickly without risking going out into the open. As soon as she splashed through the seemingly invincible puddles lying in the dark and damp lane, tiptoeing towards the entrance. She wasn't sure what they were going to do exactly, look for prints?

When they arrived, Nico was not surprised to find that The Harlequin had disappeared, and sank back in his seat with a defeated sigh. "Dad, I have to-"
"Whereabouts was she?" The man asked, climbing out the car. He ordered the other officers to get out and search the premisis for any clues that might lead them to her. A hair? A fingerprint? Shoe tread? Scrap of cloth caught on a fence?
Nico swallowed nervously, nodding to the shadow she disappeared to.
"And did she say anything to you?"
"She-" He stopped. If she was listening in, right then, and she heard him tell his Dad that she planned to kill him, what if she did it, there and then? Quietly, so she wasn't caught? Trembling, he shook his head.
His father frowned at him, but otherwise shrugged it off. He pulled out his gun, held it protectively and walked with a couple of comrades into the shadows, leaving Nico alone with the cars.

[You live in England right? Did you see the Grand National?? ]

The Harlequin hid behind a skip, not daring to breathe. As soon as the first officer was next to where she was hiding, she lashed out at them, disarming them in one quick move. Reaching for her shoe, she pulled out the small gun and firing it at point blank range at her. She fell to the ground immediately after a compressed BANG. She kicked the second officer down, disarming him too, and knocking him out. Realizing that she still had one bullet left, she confronted the final officer, which happened to be the chief. Holding the gun in front of his face, she grinned at him. "You might want to come better armed next time."

((I did! So sad that those two horses had to get put down. I liked Synchronised after he chucked off his rider and ran away right before the race was about to start Bless him, he was such a gorgeous horse. :/ But hey, it was a good show. It's never been that interesting before XD))

Elmo wheeled round as his comrades fell to the ground and stared at the menacing figure before him, gun outstretched in both hands. He fired once, missed and quickly cocked his gun, pointing it at her head. "Put the weapon down, or I'll-"
The minute he started talking, her gun pointed at his head. He swallowed.
As calmly as he could manage, he tried again. "I'd suggest you put your weapon down, Miss, or I will shoot you."

Nico heard the gunshots go off and ran into the dark alley to see what the commotion was. What he saw next was something he'd been dreading most.
He froze, only feet away from the Harlequin herself, and felt his heart catch in his throat. She was going to kill him... She was actually going to kill him, just like she'd said.
"Harlequin...." He gasped, when he noticed the other bodies around them. He thought, for a sickening moment, that she'd killed them all, but he saw one of them groan lightly, and let out a slightly relieved sigh.
He turned back to the crazy woman, beads of sweat forming on his brow. "Harlequin... Please..." He closed his eyes, knowing he was now doing exactly what he promised himself he wouldn't do. "Please, don't kill him." He stared pleadingly at her, eyes wide with desperation.

((Going to bed now, early morning. Nanight! ))

[I know, he was the joint favourite too...I guess it could have happened to any horse, but he was beautiful wasn't he...I'm still very happy that a grey won, you don't see too many of those in racing really And I'm so proud of that female jockey on Seabass, the highest ranking female jockey to run in the grand national...I bet she's so proud! And night!]

The Harlequin giggled as he raised his weapon. 'Ah ah ah...You fire on me, I fire on you, we both die. I've got nothing to lose.' She knew that he wouldn't risk it, not when his son was watching and a father was probably all he had. 'I know, throw in a bit of anarchy and then everyone loses their minds.' Her eyes flicked to the boy who had approached them both. She smiled. "Ahh look at you. You used to be so...impressive. Now when faced with an ultimatum...you're just boring!" She sniggered. "Play the bad guy for once, get your hands dirty! Attack me and maybe your precious daddy will be spared."
Her weapon wasn't lowered, it was still pointed at his head with the same deadly accuracy as it had been for at least a few minutes. From her other hand she produced the knife and flipped it out. She inspected it for a few moments, seeming as though she was in the middle of an armed stand off. She raised it. "You know why I use a knife?" She asked. "Nah guns...guns are too quick. You don't get to savour all the little details." She threw it up in the air and caught it by the handle again. "When people are threatened with knives...that's when they show you their true colours. That's when they show you who they really are. And they beg...oh do. they. beg!" She sniggered, still holding the gun level. "So. Are you going to continue your sad little lives tracking me down like desperate little sniffer dogs or am I going to turn this entire town against the cops? And believe me I can do that. The more I do and the more I get away with it the more criminals I can pick up. And I won't wait. And it all depends on whether I shoot you here and now or whether I let you live to kiss your son's ass another day."

[she's a bit mad isn't she?]

((Yeah, I do like the greys. The problem with the black and bays are that they all look the same. The greys did fairly well in general, I think. I really liked that light, light grey one that finished about 10th. And that female jockey seemed quite nice.
Oh dear, Harley. You can be pretty creepy when you want to be, can't you? XD))

Nico almost choked on his fear. The Harlequin wanted him to fight her? I mean, sure, he'd taken parts in fights before... Petty ones, the usual 'stop flirting with my girlfriend' type of fight. But never had any of them been serious. Never had involved someone's lie being at stake.
Now, things were much worse. Not only did she have a gun to his Dad's head, but she had a knife as well. He didn't know why he was so surprised at the sight of it, it was obvious she'd have one in posession. That was how she'd killed Jack the night before. But he hadn't realised how reckless she'd be, and good at what she did. She knew his father wouldn't dream of shooting her. Not that he'd never shot before, but he feared for his own life and Nico's. Psychopaths were difficult to understand, and were always unpredictable. He couldn't risk it.
Still, his own weapon stayed at the crazy woman's head, trailing on her every move.
"What d'you want, Harlequin?" Nico tried desperately. "D'you want money? Is that what this is all about? What is it?" His eyes darted desperately towards his father, who was keeping his eyes locked on her. Nico took a step forward, sweat forming on his brow. "D'you want me?"
"Nico, stay back." Elmo ordered. Nico ignored him.
"Or are you just here to scare the crap out of us? Tell me, bitch!" His fists shook by his sides as he faught himself to stay together. But it was no use. She already knew how scared he was.