Snowing_Melody
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Chapter 2 What a big reward
🕑 Added 2025-10-12 11:16:58 +0000 UTCGotham's sky wept. A perpetual, dreary rain fell from the dark clouds that smothered the city, turning the streets into slick, black mirrors reflecting the lurid glow of neon signs. High above, perched on the stone claws of a gargoyle, the Batman was a shadow within shadows. His white lenses scanned the street below, a chokepoint on the only route leading from the scene of the recent chaos. Aside from three or four cars idling patiently at a red light, the street was quiet. Too quiet.
After a moment more of silent observation, he concluded the trail had gone cold. With a swirl of his cape, he launched himself from the stone sentinel, gliding on manufactured wings toward another part of the city. "The Joker" had just been released from Arkham Asylum, a fact that sat like a tumor in Gotham's gut. The clown needed to be found, and he needed to be caged again.
Down below, in one of those law-abiding cars, Connors sat calmly in the driver's seat. In the passenger seat, Harley Quinn was slumped unconscious, securely fastened by her seatbelt. He drove through one green light after another, heading for one of his anonymous apartments.
Waiting for a traffic light in Gotham… Connors thought with a wry, internal smirk. It's as unnatural as obeying traffic laws in Grand Theft Auto.
But it was a calculated piece of misdirection. After knocking Harley out in a surveillance blind spot, he'd simply gotten in his car and driven like a normal citizen. He was counting on the fact that anyone watching from the rooftops would be looking for a speeding, stolen car, not a man patiently signaling his turns. He had successfully gambled on deceiving the Batman himself.
Soon, he was on the nineteenth floor of a sterile apartment block.
The water in the bathtub was warm, steaming gently. He had stripped the chemical-soaked clothes from Harley's unconscious form and placed her in the tub, adding a generous amount of bath salts to neutralize the pungent odor clinging to her skin. Standing by, he watched for a moment to ensure she wouldn't accidentally slip under the water and drown, then turned his attention to his own affairs. He had taken the time to submit the melon-eating task while on the road, but the reward was not yet available.
Now, with Harley temporarily incapacitated, was the perfect time to check.
I was there, on the scene, and it involved a superhero, he mused, the anticipation a pleasant buzz under his skin. Batman himself was probably looking for me in the dark. This can be regarded as eating a big melon. I don't know what good things will be rewarded?
With a flicker of thought, he opened the interface.
[Eating Melon Today: The delirious Harleen Quinzel]
[Melon-eating reward: Spider sensing]
Spider-sense?!
Connors' breath hitched. He glanced over at Harley, who was unconscious in the bathtub. A slow, dangerous grin spread across his face. This was a great reward! Compared to his previous melon-eating rewards, this time it was definitely a big prize.
Since it was possible to eat all kinds of melons, large and small, every day, it was necessary for Connors to actively choose which one to submit and collect the reward manually. When there was really nothing worth submitting on a certain day, Connors could use this to make the reward accumulate until he thought it was worth claiming. It was in this way that the "intermediate mixed martial arts" he currently possessed was acquired—the only reward he'd received these days beyond money.
But now it was different. With "Spider-Sense" in addition to his MMA skills, as long as he didn't do anything suicidally stupid, his safety was more or less guaranteed.
He walked back into the living room and sat on the couch, the worn fabric groaning under his weight. He wanted to try out the spider-sensing feature. He focused, confirming that his current residence was safe for the time being. Just as he was about to try and achieve a similar "stop-time" effect from the movies, a faint, choked sob came from the bathroom.
Harley's awake?
Connors was on his feet in an instant, his body coiled and ready. This was one of DC's most famously crazy beauties. Even with his spider-sense, he couldn't afford to be careless. He'd brought her here for a reason, of course—to get some intelligence on the Joker from her. Gotham was Batman's city, but it was also the city of the Joker. As long as Connors had the opportunity to catch up with the Joker, the melon would almost be full.
He took a fighting stance, preparing for whatever madness was about to come through the door. The frosted glass door creaked open, and a single, bare foot stepped out onto the bathmat.
Then, Harley Quinn appeared.
She had re-tied her red and blue-tipped hair into twin pigtails, and her body was shrouded in an oversized white men's bathrobe that belonged to him. The thick cotton couldn't completely conceal her hot figure. Before, her whole body was made sticky by the chemical liquid, and he didn't have much energy to look at her while driving. After bringing her back, he was too eager to check the system's rewards for eating melons to pay attention. But now, seeing her cleaned up… she was stunning.
As his eyes lit up, so did hers. In a blur of motion, she crossed the room and grabbed the front of his suit.
"…..?"
Connors didn't understand. His spider-sense gave no response, indicating that Harley had no malice, but what did this mean?
Soon he understood: the suit he was wearing was a dull red. Red and blue were Harley's favorite colors, and she couldn't help but grab it when she saw it. She awkwardly put the dark red blazer on over the white bathrobe. The combination was clumsy, and she soon took the suit off and threw it aside, her eyes constantly patrolling the house. Fortunately, the home Connors temporarily rented had minimalist decoration, and Harley didn't find anything else that would catch her eye. Eventually, she locked her eyes back on Connors.
"My Puddin' doesn't want me anymore," she said, her voice a fragile, trembling thing. Her pitiful appearance was instantly revealed as she spoke to Connors, who was still sitting on the sofa. "Will you… will you take me in?"
She walked toward him, her long, pale legs carrying her with a dancer's grace. Before he could react, she settled onto his lap, her slender arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed herself against him, the very picture of a needy, delicate bird.
Then, before Connors could speak, she leaned in close. Her red lips parted slightly, and he felt the gentle, teasing pressure of her teeth on his earlobe, her warm breath a soft caress against his skin.
'Puddin' is what she calls the clown, he knew. As she pressed her seduction, his mind remained perfectly clear.
Just as their lips were about to meet, Connors placed a firm hand on her shoulder, pushing her back gently as he stood up. "I'm not a shelter, taking in anyone who comes along. The clown abandons you, and you're still calling him your 'Puddin'.' Seems you haven't forgotten him at all."
At his words, the fragile look on Harley's face shattered. An exaggerated, grotesque smile began to pull at the corners of her mouth, stretching wider and wider as the crazy state she had before began to bleed back into her eyes.
"You—"
"The Joker has killed countless people, Harleen," Connors cut her off, his voice sharp and commanding. "One more of you will not make him remember you. How about joining me and turning Gotham upside down?"
At this point, Connors had changed his earlier idea of pulling clown intelligence from Harley Quinn. With a giant troublemaker like Harley by his side, why chase the Joker and Batman again?
The manic smile on Harley's face didn't vanish, but it gradually softened. With a sudden, gleeful laugh, she launched herself from the sofa and into his arms.
"So, from today on, psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel's gone!" she chirped. "My name now is—Harley Quinn!"
His arms wrapped around her, his hands finding the warm, soft flesh beneath the thick bathrobe. A matching smile touched Connors's lips as he held her tight.
"That's right," he murmured, his voice low. "Now, let's celebrate the birth of Gotham City's Harley Quinn!"
