"Hey! I know you're here, why aren't you answering me?"
Dane was deep in thought when he was suddenly interrupted by Harleen's words.
He flew in front of this poor woman, contemplating how to deal with her.
"You came in, didn't you?"
As soon as Dane's soul stepped into the isolation room, Harleen immediately sensed it.
Her ability greatly surprised Dane; he couldn't help but circle Harleen.
And Harleen seemed to sense his gaze; she suddenly became withdrawn, her demeanor turning timid.
She curled up into a ball, hiding in the corner, muttering to herself.
Dane leaned closer to listen.
"Stay away from me, stay away from me, go away, just go away!"
It looked like her normal personality was starting to take over.
At this moment, Dane became even more curious about her inner World.
He cast a magic spell, and his spirit directly entered Harleen Quinzel's brain.
Harleen's inner World was gloomy, like an old film with a dark filter over it.
It appeared lifeless, without a trace of light, and even somewhat eerie.
Dane recognized this place; this was Arkham Asylum.
However, Arkham at this time was in the period when Jason massacred it.
Along the corridors, inside rooms, and by the walkways, bodies shot dead were everywhere.
Blood flowed from the bodies, converging into small rivers on the ground.
In the red rivers, one's reflection could be clearly seen.
Dane stepped on the "rivers," leaving no footprints as he walked, and he heard a sound from that room.
"Your life is as worthless as your name, Joker, why don't you just die?"
Dane's footsteps paused; the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but he was a bit uncertain.
So he hurried a few steps and saw the owner of the voice.
It really was him.
Dane was silent; in the same room where Joker was killed, another "Dane" stood there.
No, he wasn't "standing" there.
Strictly speaking, he was floating in mid-air, looking down at "Joker" who was tied to a chair.
And "Joker" was not the real Joker; it was Harleen, or rather, Harley Quinn.
She had the pigtails Dane remembered, dyed red and blue, her expression manic but unable to hide her fear as she looked at "Dane" in mid-air.
Dane watched this impostor with an expressionless face.
He wore a red tight-fitting battle suit just like himself, but his cloak was also red, and even had blood dripping from it.
The hood of the cloak was pulled over his head, completely concealing his face in Shadow.
Only a pair of eyes seemed to glow with an eerie light, seemingly staring at the "Joker" in front of him.
This scene, this composition, aside from the gloomy filter, dark character images, and the absence of Batman and Red Hood, was almost identical to the scene that night.
Dane instantly understood the key points.
When facing the threat of the Joker personality, Harleen Quinzel spawned a new personality, Harley Quinn, to fight against it.
However, Harley was not as powerful as Joker, so she chose a crazy method to fight him: she actively peered into Joker's memories.
In Joker's countless insane memories throughout his life, there was one man he had only met once.
But in that single encounter, that man ruthlessly, coldly, and without any mercy, killed him.
Joker hated him, but he was utterly helpless against the other party.
Harley thought she had found a way to defeat Joker, so she released the man from Joker's memories.
She guessed correctly; the moment that man appeared, he killed Joker.
But she was also wrong; releasing that man was the beginning of all nightmares.
"There's still one that got away."
Harley Quinn was a personality spawned by the mental infection of Joker, so she naturally carried some crazy characteristics similar to Joker.
Although these characteristics were not strong, they were enough for "Dane" to identify her as "Joker" and kill her.
So, Joker's fate that night began to repeat itself on her.
She played the role of Joker, being killed again and again by the "Dane" who descended from the sky.
By now, Harley had lost count of how many times she had been "killed."
Although Death was not real, the painful memories were so real that they made life worse than Death.
Harley also developed a fear of "Dane" through such repetition, to the point where his image transformed into the current "Bloody Man."
Cruel and cold.
The Bloody Man "Dane" looked down at Harley:
"Why won't you just die obediently, Joker? How much of my time do you intend to waste?"
"Are you in a hurry, dear? Being too eager isn't a good thing; it won't make girls like you."
"I admire your stubbornness and your defiant spirit, but I'm tired of this game."
"So, would you please hurry up and die!"
With that, blood-red lightning lit up on the "Bloody Man," and the lightning transformed into a spear in his hand.
"Honestly, dear, your killing methods should be more varied; this is too monotonous."
Harley forced a smile, for only by finding joy in such suffering could she endure the torment of repeated "Deaths."
Just as she was preparing to accept this "Death" once again, a sudden voice intruded.
"Well, what do you think of this move?"
As soon as the words fell, the Bloody Man's body suddenly stiffened; he looked down.
He found a bloody hand "growing" out of his chest; he had been impaled from behind!
The Bloody Man struggled to turn his head, wanting to see who had killed him.
But a brilliant White lightning suddenly lit up on the bloody fist, and the lightning and high temperature spread up and down the wound, quickly covering his entire body.
A few seconds later, the Bloody Man was burned into a charred skeleton.
And behind him, Dane waved his hand, throwing the impostor's remains against the wall, smashing them into charcoal ash.
"It seems you have some misunderstandings about me, Harlequin."
It refers to the comical character in traditional theater wearing a colorful diamond-patterned costume.
It is also another name for "Joker" in English.
In fact, before the Gotham supervillain Joker gave the word "Joker" a special meaning.
The meaning of Joker actually referred more to the wild card in poker, rather than a circus clown.
It was Joker who brought his clown fear to Gotham, and also left his mark on Gotham.
And Harley Quinn was just another victim of this mark.
Dane could see that the awakened Harleen Quinzel in the outside World was only a temporary return.
With the Bloody Man's execution, the true Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn had already deeply merged, and this process was irreversible.
Most importantly, they didn't want to reverse it.
Harley Quinn, the Clown Girl, was being reborn.
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