Dante awakes, standing before the Wood of Suicides. The church behind him, his body is back to normal, his adopted father’s clothing fitting him accordingly.

 

“How did I get back here? Dad? I’m still wearing his clothes, so he can’t be too far away. But wait, that doesn’t make any sense. Why do they fit now? Okay, I’m dreaming. That has to be it. This is a dream. I think it’s gonna be a bad one.”

 

Perched behind him on the roof of the church, Griffon calls out.

 

“Hey, look whose back in Limbo City! Couldn’t handle Gotham, ay?”

 

As Dante turns to face him, the church doors fly open. Harley emerges and rushes to him.

 

“Dante! Ho my gawd, ho my gawd! Ho boy am I glad to see you! Ho my gawd!”

 

“Oh give me a break,”Griffon scoffs at their embrace of relief.

 

“Oh man, Harley, I thought you were dead!”

 

“No, but I’m hanging by a thread!” 

 

“Awe no, awe honey, I’m here!”

 

“It’s starting to get real cold. I’m so glad you finally showed up. I’m saved, ho my gawd, I’m saved!”

 

Squawk, “He’s not here for you, sweetheart. You looking for your beloved Killer-Red?”

 

“You know where he is?”

 

“Oh yeah, sure sure. Check it out, I found him over here. Follow me!”

 

He flies away. 

 

“Hang on, Dante, I think this is a trick. I heard real scary noises in the woods on my way here. I heard crying. I ran away from it, it was so creepy! I barely made it to the church. The trees broke my mallet. Dante. Dante, don’t trust Griffon.”

 

“You heard crying in the woods?”

 

“Yeah! Yeah and I ain’t got no weapon!”

 

“Honey, you did the right thing hiding here but what if what you heard was Killer-Red?! I have to find him!”

 

Dante follows Griffon adamantly, Harley trailing closely behind.

 

“Dante, wait!”

 

The demon guides them to a statuesque, timber cluster. Halting in his tracks abruptly, Dante’s balance is thrown, over what stands propped up in the center. Now a dead little spirit, Killer-Red’s legs have molded into a stiff trunk. His hooded head tilted woefully, the X melting down his face like black sap. One arm lifted around his waist, the other bent in front of his chest, his hand posed as though he’s dropped something. Crushed, Dante caves in on himself, crumbles to his knees.

 

Griffon, amused, perches on a tree a few feet away.

 

“Wow Dante, you don’t look so good.”

 

“Are you SERIOUS right now?!” Harley hollers. “Oh my GAWD!”

 

“Damn, can you guys believe Killer-Red offed himself while you were gone? Oh what an unfortunate turn of events.”

 

Wanting to see Dante panic, Griffon pauses in anticipation. But Dante’s reaction is baffling to the demon. The Nephilim is strangely quiet, holding himself and shuddering, his head lowered in agony as he struggles to breathe.

 

“Oh come on, the kid followed you around like a bad smell and you don’t have anything to say when he blows himself away?”

 

He dives next to him and grabs something off the ground with his claws. 

 

He tosses it to Dante. 

 

It’s Revenant.  

 

“I gotta give him credit. I’ve seen grown men shit themselves when someone aimed a gun at their head, but this kid was fearless. He stuck your gun in his mouth and pulled that devil trigger all by himself.”

 

Dante sets the gun aside. Tries to lift his head but has to close his eyes. Now that Griffon can see tears falling, he takes it up a notch.

 

“That’s fucking hysterical. With your fucking gun, oh that is too good! Oh that is so rich, that's too fucking sweet. Right in the kisser! I’m surprised his whole head didn’t explode.”

 

Desperate for the comfort of his new father, Dante grips the collar of his gifted jacket, speaking in the smallest voice.

 

“Dad. Help.”

 

Harley frowns as he wipes away the thickly flowing nasal drip that’s running over his lips. With a sniffle, he tries to catch his breath through such soundless, yet heavy weeping. Impatiently, Griffon hops between him and Killer-Red and jaggedly sticks his sharp, horned beak right in the Nephilim’s face. 

 

“What’s the matter, poser? You didn’t care about this little shit, didja?”

 

Harley’s heard enough. Suddenly, she snaps, completely loses her marbles!

 

“YaaaaaAAAAAA-LEAVE HIM ALONE, YA STINKIN’ PIGEON! YOU WOULDN’T LAST FIVE MINUTES WITH MR. JAAAYYY!!!

 

“And?” Squawk! “Dah! Watch where you’re pointing that thing, ya nut job!”

 

Revenant’s in her hands and she’s pointing it at Griffon! 

 

“Nothing nutty about wanting you to SHUT YOUR TRAP!!!”

 

“Jeez, what did Vergil ever see in you, Harley Quinn? Holy fuck balls!”

 

“The kid lasted way longer than you ever would! Than I ever could! SO QUIT MAKING FUN OF HIM!!! IT AIN’T FUNNY!!!”

 

“Whoa whoa, Harley, hold your horses, Harley. Don’t do anything I’ll regret, Harley. Let’s be rational, let’s be rational. Remember, I’m the King’s Royal Birdie! You don’t wanna shoot a pretty birdie dead like Robin over here, do ya?”

 

“Cut the crap, Griffon. You’re nothing like Robin. YOU’RE MEAN!”

 

“That’s rich coming from you.”

 

“Cut the CRAP!”

 

“Sorry sorry sorry!” 

 

“Shoo, go away before I BLAST YA!!!”

 

“Alright alright, I’m going, I’m going. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” 

 

With a grand flap, Griffon takes flight and leaves. 

 

Pissed, Harley marches over to Killer-Red and points at the bright paint-like blood that’s covered the right side of his face.

 

“He ain’t like this from your gun. Someone bashed his brains in. One of the demon-trees probably. Trust me, I know what this shit looks like. Ya see, this is from his temple. He didn’t do it to himself, okay? Hey. Awe, honey, it’s not your fault.”

 

“How’d you escape from the Hub?” Dante manages, his tone weak and frail.

 

“I took off when Vergil was distracted. Been hiding out here, hoping it doesn’t get too cold. How’d you get back to Limbo City?”

 

“I don’t remember.”

 

He gets up and runs his fingertips through the sticky sap oozing down Killer-Red’s cheek. Then he strokes his white fringe out of his face, the strands feeling more like willow leaves than human hair.

 

“I’m not leaving him here in the woods like this, but I’m not sure how to move him without breaking him. God, he’s covered in claw marks. Did those harpies put their claws on you, Killer-Red?”

 

“They fondled him?! Gross! Oh my gawd, like while he was still alive or-”

 

“I can’t tell.”

 

“I’m boiling right now! Reminds me of Mr. J, screwing around with all those corpses, like they were puppets!” 

 

She holds Revenant high ready. 

 

“Dante, we’re gonna end up like him if we don’t think of something fast.” 

 

“It’s hard to think.”

 

She snaps her fingers. 

 

“Oh hey, what about that stinky pepper spray you gave me after we humped each other at my apartment? You got anymore of that stuff?”

 

“Yes, there’s more inside the church.” He holds his friend’s hooded head, speaking to him with great care. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay? I promise. Come on, Frances, let’s go!”

 

They hurry back to the church and locate a stash of canned repellents in a cabinet.

 

“Only three left,” Dante huffs, grabbing one without a lid and shaking it. “I don’t think any of them are full but it’s gonna have to be enough!”

 

They grab the goods, rush back to the woods, and shake the cans up. He instructs her.

 

“You spray the trunk with this one, and I’ll spray his arms and back with these. He’s probably gonna fall backwards. I’ll catch him.”

 

“Got it,” she salutes and gets to it.

 

They douse Killer-Red in this potent formula. Most of the trees around them begin to retract. They watch the bark on the trunk recede, revealing his legs.

 

“I think it’s working,” says Harley.

 

Thunder. Rain drops.

 

“I think you’re right. Shit, this one’s already out and it’s gonna rain. That’s gonna wash it away!”

 

Without ceasing, he tosses the empty can aside.

 

The smell, Harley’s becoming nauseous. Disoriented, she stumbles into a coughing fit and accidentally sprays the wrong tree. The only one that didn’t move, right in it’s crying face made of bark. A knothole forms. From it, a translucent kaleidoscope of lavender butterflies emerges. 

 

“Oops, sorry,” she gags. 

 

The coat of spray on Killer-Red hardens, then crumbles. He goes limp, collapsing backwards into Dante’s arms.

 

“I gotchu! I got him, let’s go!”

 

Lightning cracks. The trees thrash, their branches swinging and flailing. Harley raises Revenant.

 

“Move it, shitheads, we’re coming through!"

 

BOOM! She fires a bomb, forcing a pathway through the brush. But before Dante can even stand, a flurry of emerald-green robins unravels from Killer-Red’s body. Like a puzzle falling apart, these winged fragments disperse, soaring all around the Nephilim while tweeting feverishly. 

 

He holds his forehead and rubs his neck, sick with sadness.

 

BANG! Harley shoots a branch that almost whacked him in the face.

 

“Sorry, sweetie, but we need to get outta here!”

 

She grabs his hand, they take off running, with her blasting anything that tries to viciously get in their way. 

 

As they race through the woods, the flock follows closely behind. He looks over his shoulder at them until another branch almost smacks him. Knowing he needs to focus, he uses what little energy he has, to hold her hand tighter and lead her back to the church.

 

There, the Divine Harpies perch on the rooftop and taunt. 

 

“Harley, you whore!”

“Dante, you pervert!”

“We heard your admirer, Devil Hunter.”

“Calling you to bed with him because he was cold.”

“You should have heard the way he squealed,”

“When we posed him like a statue.”

 

BANG! Harley shoots one down dead. 

 

“Perfect shot! Ha! Now THAT’S funny! Whose next?”

 

“Whore!”

“She shot us!”

“She’s insane, she’s insane!”

“She’s a whore!”

“She shot us!”

 

BANG! She shoots another one dead.

 

“That’s for calling my friend a pervert, ya stupid chickens!”

 

“Witch, witch, witch!”

“You are a whore! He is a pervert!”

“You’re a lost cause, Harley Quinn!”

“You’re a child abuser, Dante!”

 

BANG! She kills a third one.

 

“That’s for calling me a whore! And THIS is for molesting Killer-Red, ya nasty motherFUCKAS!”

 

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

 

She kills them all!

 

“Now you’re dead, Mr. J, you sick son of a bitch! That’s right, I killed him! I killed him and I liked it! I liked it, I tells ya, I liked it! Wah!”

 

Dante grabs her arm and hurries her inside with all the little robins, slamming the door shut behind them.

 

Wacky laughter, “Hahahahaha! Best joke I ever told! I like this gun by the way.”

 

He faces the doors, his back to her.

 

“It was never like that,” he says, the pieces of a ghost quietly swooping around him in slow motion.

 

“Whatcha mean?” she exhales playfully.

 

“I never touched him like that.”

 

“Haha! Well no, of course ya didn’t, you were too busy banging me, and I ain’t an easy catch.”

 

“I never got hard when we kept warm or when he needed to be held. I would never do that to a kid. Too many demons tried to do it to me.”

 

“Honey, I know you. I know you wouldn’t. They were talking smack because the kid was in love with you.”

 

He faces her then woefully observes the phantom-flock. She continues…

 

“But you did the right thing not entertaining that. I know he wasn’t as young as Hell made him seem but still, you handled him with a lot of care and a lot of respect.”

 

He is silent, on the verge of blacking out, unable to swallow his circumstances.

 

“Don’t beat yourself up, Dante. There’s a silver lining. It’s like when Batman didn’t wanna kill Mr. J, so I got to do it instead! Those slut puppies back there, I got to shoot ‘em all for what they did… and I liked it! It felt good. I’d do it again.”

 

She puts her hand on his back, rubbing it therapeutically and watching more tears run down his cheeks.

 

“Awe, Dante. Hey, I saw the Red Hood take you away to Gotham with Deathstroke. They used the Yamato. Vergil got it back but that’s how they left Limbo City.”

 

“You saw Red Hood? With Deathstroke?”

 

“Well yeah.”

 

“I thought he hated Deathstroke like I do.”

 

“Guess they both hated Vergil more. They took you with them. Ya didn’t wake up with them around?”

 

“No. I woke up in my father’s arms.”

 

“That sounds real special. Look, I know what I saw. Red Hood is still out there, even if Killer-Red is dead. Okay?”

 

Reassured, he involuntarily invokes his transparent wings. Harley slouches hopelessly, dropping her new gun.

 

“Are you alright?” he asks.

 

“Awe no. Awe, you’re not really here, are ya. Awe, I really am all alone forever now.”

 

Her face scrunches.

 

“Harley? Awe no, baby, don’t cry. You’re not alone, I’m right here.” 

 

“Yeah right. I saw what happened to ya in the Hub! Ya fuckin’ lost your wings, man. They got blown to Smithereens. Hells playing a mean trick on me now. Well I ain’t gonna let it get to me! No way!”

 

“What? No, Harley-“

 

She turns away, shaking her head like a spaz, bursting into laughter then spiraling into sobs in a snap. He worriedly holds her arm.

 

“Harley. Harley, what’s wrong with you?”

 

Like a demented clown, she turns around, smiling broadly, her liner smearing. 

 

Gasp! “What’s happening to you? Frances, tell me what’s wrong.”

 

“Nothings wrong, puddin’, nothin’ at all. Your best friend died. You need a hug. Here, let Doctor Quinzel make it a little better for ya. Come ‘ere.”

 

He lets her embrace him. As he reciprocates, he can feel her shaking.

 

“What is it?” he asks again, stroking her neck. She squeezes him tighter, he squeezes her back. “Shhh, calm down, we’re in this together, alright? Frances, can you still hear me?”

 

“You were good to me. Thanks for being my pal. I can take care of myself from now on. I’m smart, I got a PHD. I’m Harley motherfucking Quinn.”

 

“Yeah but-“

 

"They can’t hurt him or you anymore.”

 

Everything goes white.