Gotham Imagines

Jerome Valeska #2

Your hands shake as you zip up your shiny, black, leather boots. You place your new and unused gun under your jeans at the back, so it is fairly reachable. But mainly because that's how you'd seen it done in the movies. For extra measure, you grabbed your sharpened, diamond encrusted knife and stuck it down your right boot. You were determined not to die tonight, but determination wasn't going to get you to him. Luck was what you needed. Luck and confidence.

The cover of darkness was your friend and you used it to your advantage. Jumping onto the motorcycle you had recently stolen, you sped along the Gotham streets ignoring the traffic lights and police sirens that were constantly sounding. Arriving at your destination, you scanned the abandoned warehouse around you.

What a cliché hideout, you thought. Being the supposed King Clown of Gotham you expected him to have been smarter or at least picked a better place than the typical run down, falling apart metal company. You'd spent weeks tracking him down, something you never expected you'd have to do. Turns out beating people up for information worked much quicker than the GCPD's methods. You took a deep breath and revelled in the now all too familiar feeling of adrenaline pumping through your veins. Stepping of your motorcycle, your boots clashed again the solid, grey, concrete as you approached the garage door entrance.

Inspecting the ways in, you decided the window that was half open to an empty room was your best option. Slipping in unnoticed, you opened the door that lead into a hallway, only to come face to face with a huge, muscular man carrying a gun that could cause much more damage than yours and your knife combined.

"Who are you?" he growled.

You giggled, Harley had taught you a few lessons before she left and you intended to use them.

"Well, it looks as though I'm in the wrong place, but with a man like you on the other side of the door I'd say it's more like fate," you leant foreword and placed your hand delicately on his chest while biting your lip.

"You shouldn't be here," his low voice stumbled as if his brain, or more like lust, was telling him to say something different entirely.

"How about as soon as you join me back in the room I came from, I'll leave? How does that sound?"

You roughly grabbed his shirt and began pulling him into the room you came from. He followed like a dog on a lead. He put his gun on top of a box on the side and slammed the door shut behind him. He walked towards you, liking his lips and you pulled a disgusted face.

"Now where were we?" he asked before pulling you towards him and kissing you roughly.

You put one hand behind him and used the other to grab your gun and place it against his stomach. He pulled away and glared at you.

"Take me to him," you smirked.

"You'll have to find him yourself," he growled, back to his typical façade.

"Fair enough," you loaded the gun and he took in a deep breath.

"Fine, fine. I'll take you to him," he panicked.

"What a gentleman," you smiled, "lead the way."

He walked right in front of you and you pushed the gun against his back as a reminder that it was there and you weren't playing around. You tried to memorise the way back out just in case of emergencies. The man led you into a room packed with other men with guns and he turned around to smirk at you as if to say, 'didn't think this one through did you?'

As we entered the room heads turned to face you both and you put your gun down, hiding it in your sleeve. Then you saw him. In all his murderous, psychopathic glory. He smiled widely at you both, his red hair sticking up with a strand down over his forehead. His eyes pierced your soul and you smiled knowing you'd found the right man.

"Well well, who do we have here then? A visitor?" he laughed menacingly and it sent the most pleasurable of tingles down your spine.

"I caught this b*tch trying to sneak in here boss," he announced seeming proud of himself.

You weren't going to let him call you that and get away with it. You pulled your gun back out and shot him directly in his temple, the blood splattering all over your new outfit. All the men around you aimed their guns and you and you laughed.

"He was a terrible kisser," you shrugged.

The clown laughed at you.

"Shall we shoot her boss?" someone asked.

"No, no put your guns down. I never liked him anyway," he walked towards you with his hands behind his back, intrigued with your bluntness.

No one moved and his infamous temper came out, "PUT THE GUNS DOWN."

Everyone put their guns down and you laughed, "How did you train them so well?"

"It's all in the tone of voice," he laughed back.

"So, what is it that a beautiful girl like you is doing here?"

"I need your help," you stated simply.

He laughed and span around making all his men laugh as if you had said the stupidest joke he'd ever heard.

"I have something you need," you continued.

He walked until he was right in front of you and spoke down at you, "oh yeah and what would that be?"

"I have access to every file about you in the GCPD and every bit of evidence they have. One phone call and it could all be destroyed within the next 12 hours."

He smiled maliciously at you, "what can I do for you?"

"There's a serial killer on the loose. The GCPD can't find him anywhere and he deserves to die for all he's done-"

"So you've come to me, to ask me to do something good and kill someone whose murdering people. Who do you think I am?" he raised his eyebrows at you.

"I think you're the most crazy and psychopathical person I've ever heard about and that's what I need. You see I have no problem killing someone with a simple bullet," you gestured to the body on the floor, "but torture, I've never been able to bring myself to actually do it. I guess you could say I haven't got to that point of insanity yet. So I want you to teach me."

"Teach you to torture people?"

You nodded, "and all your files will be gone as soon as he is dead."

"So what did this serial killer do to you?" he smirked, seeing straight through you.

"He killed my best friend, the only thing keeping me sane," you admitted.

"Well, I always wanted a little protégé, so," he leant down so his breath was on your neck causing goosebumps to erupt on your skin, "welcome to the team babygirl."

"When do we start?" you smiled psychopathically.

"Tomorrow, first," he pulled you close to him by your waist, "there's a little induction ceremony we need to complete for you to truly be a part of the team."

He winked at you and licked his lips.

"So did all your men go through this induction ceremony?" you joked putting your hand on his chest.

He laughed wickedly and shook his head at you.

"No, it's a new tradition I've just made up. Do you accept?"

You pulled him towards you and crashed your lips to his. He moved aggressively against your mouth and you ran your hands through his red locks. You pulled back out of breath and he laughed once more.

"I'll take that as a yes, my future assassin. You're gonna be a star, I hope you know that. I'll make sure of it. We're gonna kill this serial killer and then babygirl, I want you to stay here. Work for me. And we can be insane together. All the way," he whispered to you.

"All the way," you agreed.

Not only did you find the man you truly believed could help you find and kill the man who had haunted your dreams for the past three weeks, but apparently you'd found a job too, and a lover. Well, that went well.