Since Jerome blew up the power plant, Annabelle had been trying to get his attention and demand why he needed her with him to begin with.
The only response she would get, though, was a laugh and nothing more.
It did nothing but piss her off every single time she heard him laugh after every question she asked him.
At one point, his laughter made her heavily shake because of her anger, but that only resulted in him laughing even louder.
In an attempt to try and get him to tell her what he could need her for, she decided to threaten him.
And that was just what she did.
Well, she attempted to do it, anyway.
After silently glaring at him for several, long minutes, she started to say to him, "Valeska, I swear, if you don't answer my damn questions, I'm going to—"
He scoffed before he let out a laugh as he asked her, "You're going to what, Anna? Break out of those ropes and chains and rip into my neck? Rip my head off? Snap my neck? I've heard all of this before. Just like your threats didn't bother me then, they still don't bother me now. If anything, they're just laughable." When she didn't respond, he said to her, "Besides, if you were going to get out of the ropes and chains, you would've done it by now, which makes me think that it's something that weakens you and something you can't get yourself out of."
After glancing at her through the rearview mirror, he grinned before he asked her, "So, tell me, Anna, what's keeping you from getting out of them?"
She scoffed as she said to him, "That's none of your business. The only thing that matters is that as soon as I'm free of this, I'm going to tear into your throat before doing the same to all of your followers."
He laughed before he said to her, "Oh, the memories your threats bring me. It's just like old times when we were part of the Maniax. I always broke into your room, you always threatened to kill me, but you never did. And you know what, you're not going to do that now, either. Do you know why?"
She blankly stared at him before she replied, "No, I don't."
He told her, "The reason why you won't is because from what I was told, my dear, old friend Victor Zsasz is out in the streets looking for you. I could easily call them and get them to go and kill him, if you tried anything."
She slowly leaned towards the front of the cars with her eyes narrowed as she said, "You know, the last time someone threatened Victor, I ended up breaking just about every single one of his bones with a bat before he got killed. I don't think your followers would be too pleased with the idea of their apparent prophet having almost every single bone in his body broken, just as Theo Galavan's were before he got killed the first time around."
Jerome was silent for a moment, which made Annabelle think he was actually taking her threat seriously, only to stop when he started to laugh before he yelled, "Oh, so she was right! That's good to know. I thought she made it up that you were involved with both of his deaths."
She raised an eyebrow at him as she sighed before she asked him, "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"
Jerome told her, "Oh, before I came to get you and, uh, what was his name again?"
She blinked at him before she told him, "Dwight."
Jerome replied, "Ah, yes, Dwight. Well, before I got you and Dwight, I was holding Jim's old girlfriend hostage and she told me a lot of stuff about you." When she didn't respond, he said, "Things like what, you ask? Well, I'll tell you."
Annabelle merely stared at him with a blank look on her face, while he told her, "She said that you were not only involved with Theo's death twice, but you were also sent to Arkham for his murder. Apparently you broke out, but no one seems to know how. I'm pretty sure that Victor Zsasz was behind that one, just like he was behind the fact that you got broken out of the GCPD. Oh, let's not forget the fact that you and him also got together. Then you almost killed Tabitha a few times." After he glanced at her in the mirror once more, he asked her, "Did I miss anything?"
When she only silently stared at him, he said, "Ah, come on, Anna. You can talk to me, you know. It wouldn't kill you." After he was silent for a moment, he laughed as he said, "Oh, that's funny. I mean, it's not like you can get killed, right?"
She sighed as she said to him, "Bloody hell. You're far more irritating than you were before Galavan killed you."
He feigned a pout as he pressed his hand against his own chest and said to her, "Aw, Anna, you hurt my feelings."
As she rolled her eyes and looked out the window, she replied, "Does it look like I give a damn if I hurt your feelings, Valeska? In case you've forgotten, I'm not a nice person."
Jerome said to her, "Oh, don't worry, Anna. I remember that. I remember it quite well. You always hit me and threw me against walls. Then there were the times you chased me down the halls of that penthouse with whatever you could find."
After a couple moments of silence, she asked him, "Where the hell are you taking me, anyways?"
Jerome replied, "Oh, well, that's a surprise." After she scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, he said to her, "Oh, don't worry, Anna. I'm sure you'll like this surprise very, very much."
* * *
While he walked into his living room with Alfred Pennyworth walking closely behind him, Bruce Wayne told Alfred, "I'll light these candles."
Alfred replied, "Good lad. I'll nip downstairs and see if there's any life left in that old generator."
Just as Bruce was about to light some of the candles, he suddenly stopped when his telephone started to ring.
After Bruce stared at the phone, he looked over at Alfred as he asked, "Who's calling at this hour?"
Alfred slowly walked towards the ringing phone.
It was only when he grabbed the phone that it stopped ringing, which got Alfred to look over at Bruce.
With furrowed eyebrows, Bruce said, "Alfred?"
Alfred brought a finger to his mouth as he said, "Shh."
While he reached for his gun and quickly turned around, he was hit in the head with a gun, which caused him to let out a groan after he fell onto the floor.
Bruce quickly ran over to Alfred and checked on him before he looked up at the man that hit Alfred with the gun.
Once he heard approaching footsteps, he quickly turned around as he heard the sound of Jerome cackling, while the revived ginger slowly walked into the room before he raised his arms and said 'ooh' in a ghostly way.
After Jerome let out a croak and walked even further into the room, Bruce could see more men walking in after him.
It was only when Jerome reached Bruce that he said as he bent over to look down at the young billionaire and folded his arms behind his back, "My, my. Hmm. Look how big you've gotten."
Bruce did nothing but stare up at Jerome in shock, while Jerome asked him, "Say, you wouldn't mind inviting a friend of mine inside, would you?" When Bruce only stared up at him with wide eyes, Jerome said to him, "You know, this is the part where you say yes or no."
When he still received no response, he sighed before he gestured towards Bruce and Alfred after he walked away from them, which allowed the followers that joined him to go about destroying anything they found in the home and also keeping their guns pointed at the young billionaire and his butler.
After watching the destruction they were causing, Jerome walked back over to Bruce and asked him, "What about now? Will you invite my friend inside of your home?"
Bruce hesitated to respond.
He was about to refuse, only to stop when Jerome waved his hand and the followers that were keeping them in place suddenly pointed their guns at Alfred.
Bruce's eyes widened before he yelled, "Okay, fine! They can come in!"
Jerome grinned before he calmly left the room, without so much as bothering to glance at his followers, who were still making a mess out of the room.
Bruce's eyebrows furrowed as he started to wonder who Jerome could possibly want to get invited into the mansion, only to stop and his eyes to widen when he saw Jerome walk back into the room with a chained Annabelle Mikaelson being forcibly dragged into the room with her veins on display.
Then Bruce said, "Annabelle?" When Annabelle looked at him, Bruce asked her, "What's going on?"
After she was shoved onto the floor, she said to Bruce, "It's nice to see you again, Bruce, despite the circumstances we're currently in."
While Jerome walked towards the fireplace and ignored all of the ruckus occurring in the room, Bruce asked her, "Why are you here? Are you here to help Jerome?"
She sighed as she told him, "Believe me, Bruce. The last thing I want to do is help Jerome Valeska with any plan of his. He, unfortunately, has chosen to forcibly drag me along in regard to whatever it is he's planning."
It was then that Jerome merely waved his arms, while more and more items were broken or tossed aside.
While Annabelle eyed all of Jerome's followers, Bruce turned to Alfred and asked him, "Are you okay?"
Alfred replied, "I'll be fine, Master Bruce. I'll be fine."
Before he turned around to look at Bruce, Jerome said, "Nice place you got here. You rent?"
Bruce asked him, "What do you want?"
Jerome scoffed as he said to Bruce, "Attitude." Then he looked over at Alfred and Annabelle as he said, "Teenagers. Am I right?"
Annabelle rolled her eyes at him, while Jerome said, "Oh, I remember those days. So many exciting new emotions floating through you. Wanting to kill everyone you saw. Aw." Then he looked over at Annabelle and asked her, "What about you, Anna?"
When she raised an eyebrow at him, Jerome asked her, "What do you remember most from your days as a teenager?"
Annabelle glanced over at Alfred and Bruce and was silent for a moment before she looked back at Jerome, while she said, "Aside from wanting nothing more than to murder my parents, not much."
Jerome let out a laugh and while he did that, one of his followers walked out from where he went off to and was carrying a transparent owl.
Bruce slowly looked over at the owl and eyed the follower.
After seeing that he no longer had Bruce's attention, Jerome looked over at the owl his follower was carrying before he said, "You. Give me." After he eyed Bruce and weighed the owl with his hand, he said, "You know, I will never understand rich people's tastes."
Bruce told him, "It's worthless. My father found it in a flea market. I keep it for sentimental reasons."
Jerome replied, "Nice try." After letting it bounce around in his hand, he said, "Oh, it's got some heft to it. Expensive, I'm guessing. Be such a shame if I..."
While he released it, Bruce yelled as he and Alfred tried to reach out for it, "No, don't!"
When it didn't shatter upon impact, Jerome said, "Huh." After picking it back up, he said, "Tougher than I figured. Anyway..."
Then he tossed it over his shoulder and it was then that it shattered the moment it hit the floor.
Alfred yelled, "Bloody hell!"
As he stood from the floor, Bruce said, "I asked you what you want."
Jerome replied, "Right. Sorry. The old noodle's still a little al dente post-thaw. The reason I'm here is I'm gonna kill you."
Annabelle raised her eyebrows with a sigh, while Bruce's own eyebrows furrowed before he asked, "Why?"
Jerome told him, "Well, it's the last thing I remember wanting to do. It's been nagging at me since I woke up." Then he opened a pocket knife and clicked his tongue before he walked closer to Bruce as he said, "The idea of slitting that pretty, pink throat of yours. Figure that'd clear the decks. What do you think, huh?"
Alfred let out a groan as he moved to stand up, only to stop when Jerome's followers cocked their guns.
After looking back at Jerome, Bruce said to him, "I remember that night— when you took over the benefit. You were quite the showman."
Jerome replied, "Thank you. Always nice to be appreciated."
While Jerome raised the pocket knife a bit, Bruce asked him, "And you're just going to kill me here? That's kind of disappointing."
Jerome raised his knife even higher and stared at Bruce with a grin before he groaned and turned away from the young billionaire as he asked, "What do you mean?"
Bruce told him, "After all the buildup— you coming back to life, turning off the lights in Gotham— killing me here just doesn't show a lot of..."
As he jumped on the top of a couch, Jerome asked him, "Flair? Hmm?" He kicked a pillow off of the couch before he asked, "Style?"
After he raised his arms, Jerome asked him, "Panache? Hmm? Go on, boy. Spit it out. I can take it."
Bruce said, "I'm Bruce Wayne."
As he jumped off of the couch, Jerome replied, "I'm aware."
While Jerome started to circle around him with his knife barely touching the turtleneck that covered Bruce's neck, Bruce told him, "I am the ruling elite. My company is the machine that keeps the cogs of Gotham running."
In turn, Jerome said in a whisper, "Wow."
Then Bruce yelled, "Killing me should mean something! And you're telling me no one's going to see it?"
With a wide grin on his face once again, Jerome asked him, "You're saying I need an audience?" After pressing the knife lightly against Bruce's turtleneck and holding the side of Bruce's covered neck with his left hand, he said, "Oh. Look, I know you're just trying to buy time, so you can escape. But your point is still valid."
After he walked away from Bruce, Jerome yelled, "Saddle up, boys! We're taking this show on the road! And I know just the spot."
After he grabbed Annabelle by the arm and quickly pulled her back up onto her feet, Jerome said to Bruce and Annabelle, "Come on." Then he looked over at Alfred and said in his own version of an accent similar to Annabelle's, "Uh-uh-uh. Not you, old chap. The prince of Gotham deserves a public death. His butler, not so much."
Then he said to his followers, "Kill him."
As he started to run towards Alfred, Bruce yelled, "No!"
Alfred yelled, "Bruce!" Then he stopped Bruce with a hand on his chest before he said, "This is what you've been training for. You're gonna be alright on your own."
Bruce was silent for a couple of seconds before he said to Alfred, "I will see you again."
Alfred replied, "You carry on, son. You carry on."
While still holding onto Annabelle, Jerome grabbed the back of Bruce's neck and pulled him along as he said, "Strangely intimate. Come on." After letting out a groan, he said, "Try not to get any blood on the couch. I might come back for that."
While Jerome led Annabelle and Bruce out of the room, she said to the revived ginger, "I don't see the point in you bringing me along. The most I'll do is be forced to watch you kill Bruce. There would be no point in me being brought there."
As they walked towards the front door, Jerome replied, "Oh, sure there is. I mean, before I took you and Dwight, I hadn't seen you since I died. We have a lot to catch up on, Anna. And besides, I want to hear all about your time at Arkham, since you only went there after I died."
After they got to the vehicle that Annabelle and Jerome had arrived in, he shoved Bruce into the back seat and threw an arm around Annabelle's shoulder after he closed the back door as he said, "Besides, we're just the best of friends, aren't we, Anna?"
Through grit teeth, Annabelle replied, "Sure, why not."
Jerome let out a laugh before he shoved her into the front passenger seat and then eventually got into the driver's seat.
He didn't give the Original or the young billionaire a chance to adjust because the second he turned the key into the ignition, he sped off of the property and was headed towards his next destination.
* * *
With a black bag on his head and being unable to really see anything, Bruce Wayne did nothing but quietly sigh to himself as he listened to the same conversation between Jerome Valeska and Annabelle Mikaelson.
While Jerome kept asking her more and more questions about her time at Arkham, Annabelle would either refuse to answer his questions, ignore Jerome, threaten him which would get the ginger to laugh, or simply tell him to piss off.
Despite all of the people he met and heard arguing with each other about something in his life, there wasn't anyone that argued like Annabelle and Jerome did, nor did he hear an argument last as long as theirs had.
He didn't even know how long this was going on for, but to him it felt like hours had gone by since the moment Jerome had first asked her about her time at Arkham.
The first time Jerome asked her about it, she got really pissed off.
Well, at least he thought she was angry, since she started to scream threats and obscenities at Jerome.
It was apparent to Bruce that whatever had happened to her there had been a pretty bad experience to make an otherwise pleasant company of a killer to be completely angry just by the mere mention of what had happened to her there before she was broken out of the asylum.
After that, her screams turned into yelling, mere talking and then silence.
Well, silence on Annabelle's part.
Jerome was still asking her questions about Arkham, which Bruce could tell was making her angry, since his knees were touching the back of her seat and he could feel it start to shake every time she became pissed off with Jerome.
After staring in the direction of Annabelle's seat, Bruce looked over in the direction of Jerome's voice when he heard the ginger say, "Oh, come on, Anna. I'll tell you all about my time at Arkham, if it'll get you to tell me what happened."
With a blank look on her face, Annabelle replied, "Well, that's the thing about this, Valeska. I don't give a damn about your experience there, so stop asking me all of these questions and just piss off."
With a big grin on his face, Jerome asked her, "Why so angry, Anna? I'm just asking a simple question."
Annabelle scoffed before she turned her head to stare out the window.
It was silent for a single moment between them before Jerome slowly reached a hand over towards Annabelle in an attempt to repeatedly poke her in order to get her to snap and tell him what he needed to know, only to stop when Annabelle said to him without even looking at him, "Try and poke me again, and you'll be missing a finger."
Jerome laughed as he asked her, "Aw, Anna, where's the fun in that? Besides, if I remember correctly, you always did snap and answer my questions before I was killed, if I poked you enough times."
She quickly turned to look at him with her veins on display and eyed his other finger as she said to him, "I'm serious, Valeska. Just piss off and leave me be."
Jerome grinned as he turned to look at her and asked her, "Oh, but where's the fun in that?"
When Annabelle didn't respond, he continued to stare at her and refused to look back at the road, despite the number of times he hit a person as he stared at Annabelle.
When she still didn't respond, he repeatedly said 'Anna', which got her hands to clench into fists, while Bruce only quietly sighed to himself.
Annabelle turned her head to look back at Bruce and saw that he was twiddling his fingers together.
After sighing to herself, she asked the young billionaire, "What's the problem now, Bruce?"
Bruce quickly raised his head, despite him not being able to actually see her, before he replied, "W-What? Nothing."
She only scoffed in response before she shook her head and turned around to get back to staring out her window.
As she continued to stare out the window, Annabelle did nothing, while Jerome said 'Anna' in a taunting way.
As a matter of fact, she was doing everything in her power to ignore him and simply refused to acknowledge him, which was the reason why she suddenly felt his head resting on her shoulder.
She quickly turned to look at him and slammed her forehead against his own, which got him to let out a groan and a laugh, while her veins came onto display once more as she said to him, "Valeska, I'm serious. Don't touch me. I'd like to not have to deal with you any more than I have to, so do me a favor and stop bloody talking to me."
Jerome only laughed in response, while Bruce's heartbeat increased every time he heard Jerome hit yet another person as he drove the car.
It was apparent that Jerome didn't care who he hit with the car, as long as he got the answer he wanted from Annabelle, or simply got her attention.
That was odd for Bruce.
It was evident just how much Annabelle hated him, so why would Jerome insist on getting answers from her and doing everything he could to get her attention?
He didn't know, and he was sure he didn't want to know, either.
It was silent for a couple of moments before Jerome said to her, "I might not know what happened to you there, but I do know that you've gotten even angrier and much more bloodthirsty after you were broken out." When she still didn't respond, he said to her, "And I can't wait until I find out for myself just what happened to you there. Maybe it'll give me a chance to get a look into your head and see what else makes you mad, Anna."
Annabelle didn't respond.
After that, Bruce heard nothing from them, until he felt something sharp poke his leg and heard Annabelle say, "Leave him be, Valeska. He's not even doing anything. Besides, you told him you'd kill him at whatever your destination is."
Jerome replied, "I will, if you tell me what happened to you at Arkham."
When she didn't respond, he laughed again before he shoved the obvious blade even more into Bruce's cracked skin.
It wasn't until Annabelle saw the car start to swerve around the road that she sighed as she said, "Valeska, just look back at the road before you end up killing Bruce earlier than you planned."
Jerome only turned to look back at Annabelle with a grin as he said to her, "I will, if you tell me about Arkham."
She groaned as she asked him, "Why the bloody hell are you insisting on knowing what happened to me while I was there? It's not like you can do anything about it, since I don't ever plan on going back there and won't return to that cursed place."
Jerome replied, "Oh, I don't know, Anna. Jimbo seems to really want to send you back there, since I heard him say that's where you were headed before I took you and Dwight with me. I just want to know what about Arkham got you to threaten to kill Bullock, Jim and Jim's old girlfriend before I took you and Dwight with me." When she was still silent, he said to her, "Oh, come on, Anna. It couldn't have been that bad. I mean, look at me. It has no effect on me. It didn't get to me when I was there."
She scoffed as she said to him, "Sure it didn't."
Bruce quietly said to himself, "Maybe it'd be better if you told him, that way he could stop talking."
Annabelle quickly turned her head to look at Bruce as she said to him, "Oh, I'm sorry, but last I checked, you've never been sent to that horrid place, Bruce. So I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your bloody mouth shut about it, until you are sent there."
Jerome laughed before he asked Bruce, "Hey, Bruce, would you be a pal and hand me my bag? I need something from inside of it."
Bruce's eyebrows furrowed as he said, "W-What?"
Jerome sighed before he turned around and started to search the backseat of the car and looked for his bag, while Annabelle sighed to herself as the car started to swerve around the road and hit anyone it could, until Jerome grabbed his bag and pulled it up to the front of the car and put one of his hands back on the steering wheel.
With the other hand, Jerome searched for something in his bag as he repeatedly said 'mm-hmm', which got Annabelle to roll her eyes, while he repeatedly glanced over at her.
It wasn't until he pulled out a manila folder that had Annabelle's name written out on the front of it that Annabelle narrowed her eyes at Jerome, while he opened it and said, "Annabelle Mikaelson. Hmm. Let's see. Looks like Hugo Strange here thought that you're delusional. Ooh, it also says that you were most likely suffering from dissociation, conduct disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Oh, and it also says that you're narcissistic and a murderous sociopath."
After he turned a page in the folder, he said, "Oh, here's the things you did when you were there." After a moment of silence, he said, "Oh, Anna, not even one day there and you killed two orderlies?"
Then he started to laugh before he said, "Not to mention all of the other orderlies you killed and the many attempts you made on Hugo Strange's life."
Annabelle didn't respond and simply heavily shook, while Jerome continued to read her file before he said, "Ooh, here's the fun bit. The punishments you got when you were there. Ooh, here's one. On your first day there, you were sent to isolation for killing two orderlies and were kept there for two weeks." After he laughed, he said, "Oh, you got sent to isolation a bunch of times for killing orderlies. Oh, Anna."
Annabelle only blinked and stared ahead of herself, while he asked her, "Oh, Anna, is this your actual weakness? An herb? A single herb that can't hurt anyone?"
When she didn't respond, he started to laugh, which got her veins to come onto display, while she remembered the eighty-one occasions in which they injected the vervain into her system during her stay at Arkham.
It was only when Jerome was about to close the folder that he saw something that was sticking out of the folder.
He quickly grabbed it and pulled it out of the folder and saw that it was a small notebook before he opened it and looked at it to see the notes Hugo had made about Annabelle during her time at Arkham.
He didn't bother to say anything as he quickly looked over the notebook that had all of Hugo's thoughts about the Original vampire that was sitting right beside him.
Occasionally, he would glance over at her, but he said nothing.
After he was done, he read it over once more and focused even more to the detail that Hugo used with each entry he made.
The first one that he re-read was the first meeting Hugo had with Annabelle.
'I've just met Annabelle Mikaelson and she is quite an interesting character. Not only has word been brought to me that she's apparently an Original vampire, or so she liked to claim, she seemed to have a knack for disappearing when she disappeared not once, but twice today. The first time she disappeared was after she killed one orderly and harmed another when they tried to take her to see me. The second time being after my first session with her. It took two whole hours for quite a few of the orderlies to find her standing in front of a headless orderly with blood covering her. But regardless of her knack of disappearing, she was mostly quiet during our session. For the first half of it, she refused to talk and only stared at me, while I read off all of the things that were said about her during her time in Gotham. Although I do consider it odd that there were only things written in her life about her activities in Gotham, I didn't pay much attention to it. What did catch my attention, though, was the fact that, despite her stating that she has siblings, there has been no public record of them. I can't help but wonder if she is perhaps simply imagining them and has been doing it to help protect her from the apparent constant abuse she suffered from as a young child until she was nearly an adult.'
Jerome glanced back over at Annabelle and saw the blank look she had on her face before he looked back at the notebook.
'She grew incredibly angry when I merely suggested that she could be imagining her siblings and stated that she killed more than a thousand people and would have no problem adding my name to that list. Another thing she grew angry about was when I mentioned Jerome Valeska. It appears that, despite how much I insist on her telling me about him, she refused. Well, at least until she told me he was an imbecile, the most irritating man she ever met, that he called her 'Anna' before his demise. Then there was the fact where she stated that he would break into her bathroom while she was taking a shower and remained in her bedroom. Plus, she claimed that Jerome had apparently attempted to frame her for the murder of his mother.'
After not seeing anything being written for a while after that entry, Jerome started to read the next entry.
'It has been two weeks since Miss Mikaelson was put in isolation and unfortunately, it has been a rather, shall we say, exciting time for the asylum. Her dear friend, Victor Zsasz, was attempting to visit her on seven different occasions. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred on the first five times he attempted to visit her, but on the sixth time he resorted to extreme measures and brought in some people with him to shoot up the asylum in an attempt to be allowed to see her once more. After I heard of it, not long after it had occurred, I had Miss Peabody go to him and tell him that he would be refused entry if he was to attempt that again. Then on the seventh time, he appeared to be glad when he was told that he would be able to see Miss Mikaelson again. When Mr. Zsasz did actually see her, I had the cameras turned on and saw just how happy she appeared to be with him. Perhaps it would be for the best if I was to limit the number of times in which they could see one another and see how that would affect her psyche.'
Another week had gone by without Hugo writing anything, which got Jerome to read the next entry.
'I have reason to believe that Miss Mikaelson might very well be narcissistic and a murderous sociopath, since she has shown no sign of remorse, despite the amount of times I've asked her how she felt in regard to Theo Galavan's murder. She also appears to show no signs of empathy towards others, unless she was to get another visit from Mr. Zsasz. It appears that, aside from Mr. Cobblepot during his time in Arkham, Mr. Zsasz is the only other person that she shows empathy for. Perhaps these diagnoses I believe fit her best are a result of her apparent abuse for ten years of her life. According to her, she was abused by her parents from the tender age of six until she was sixteen years old, when she claimed she moved out with a man that had later on become her husband that she had her children with. It's of no surprise that she snapped and killed her husband and children, due to the level of abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents because of the almost invisible scars that are seen on her whenever she has to go and wash herself in the showers. Another issue is the fact that no matter how many times I insist that she be put under the same therapy that was used on Mr. Cobblepot, she would refuse and hurt any orderly that tries to take her with them. And because of that, several of the orderlies here have been sent to the hospital because of the severe injuries they received from her. Regardless of her constant wish to hurt those that attempted to take her to therapy, it is quite evident that she is harboring a lot of anger towards her parents, Butch Gilzean, Fish Mooney, Theo and Tabitha Galavan, along with Jerome Valeska. Although, most of her anger is in regard to Jerome himself.'
'She still has siblings, no matter how much I tell her that they are simply a figment of her imagination and imagined them to protect herself from the abuse she received from her parents. She became quite angry because of that, though, after seeing just how quickly she ran towards me and had her hand wrapped around my neck. It appears that her family, or lack thereof, is a sensitive subject for her. Perhaps I should continue to try and insist that they aren't real and she'll one day actually believe it.'
Then he turned the next page and saw the next entry.
'She has been quite silent today and has refused to answer me. She simply sat there in silence, no bothering to respond as I asked her more and more questions about Mr. Valeska. Despite her claim of what he attempted to frame her for, I've grown curious to see if perhaps there's another reason for her anger towards him, but I haven't found any as of yet. The only reaction I received from her was when an orderly disrupted our session and told her she had another visitor, despite the one from Mr. Edward Nygma earlier that day. I quickly dismissed her and heard nothing more of her, aside from the fact that she apparently had a visit from Detective James Gordon. From what I saw, she appeared to enjoy taunting Detective Gordon, whereas he wasn't amused. He attempted to hurt her at one point, but she waved it off and forced his hand off of her.'
Then he looked at the other page and saw yet another entry.
'I received an anonymous tip from a woman, who claimed that the use of vervain weakened Miss Mikaelson and to administer the herb to her. I acquiesced. I had it injected into her three times a day. Once in the morning, once before she had her lunch and once before she went to bed. Then there was the fact that, since she attempted to kill me once more two weeks ago, she has to be chained to her chair and an orderly has to be in my office whenever I meet up with her. Every time she'd refuse to answer a question, whether it was about Mr. Zsasz or Mr. Valeska, they'd injected her with more vervain. But despite the number of times in which it had happened to her, she still refused to answer my questions. It has been four weeks since I received that anonymous tip and it has been working splendidly. Not only has it lessened the amount of orderlies that have been sent to Gotham General, it also lessened her resolve and has been slowly lessening her hope of ever getting out of Arkham. I want to see how much longer she can have the vervain administered to her before she relents and answers all of my questions.'
Then there was another entry quickly written beneath it.
'I've just received word that, after an apparent shootout and the tearing into several necks of the staff at Arkham, Miss Mikaelson has been broken out of the asylum. Since everyone that was working during the time in which she was broken out were dead and the cameras weren't working for reasons unknown to me, there's no knowing just who was behind her breakout. During the time in which she'd spent at Arkham, she was quite an interesting character. It is a shame that I never got to the point of bringing her down to Indian Hill and testing her to see all of her abilities and how they could affect those that I would bring back to life. No matter, though. There are always more subjects I could potentially use somewhere down the line.'
After reading that last entry, Jerome only let out a 'hmm' as he shoved the small notebook into his coat and put the folder back into his bag.
And so for the rest of the night, Jerome only hummed to himself and said nothing more to Annabelle.
To both Annabelle and Bruce, it was trouble, due to the fact that during the time in which they both knew Jerome, he was not one to be quiet.
To see the constantly talking ginger be silent, aside from the humming he did, it couldn't help but make them both worry about what he was planning.
While Bruce was worried about how he planned on killing him, Annabelle worried about what Jerome could possibly do with the information he got from her file and whatever had been written inside of the small notebook.
And because of the smirk the ginger had on his face, Annabelle knew that whatever he was planning wasn't going to be anything good and she could only hope that it had nothing to do with her and her time at Arkham.
* * *
After the bag was taken off of his head, Bruce raised one of his hands and squinted his eyes as he tried to get used to the bright lights of the circus Jerome had taken him and Annabelle to.
After he got used to the lights, he quickly turned around to see people running around, rides moving and a still chained Annabelle Mikaelson, who was being held close to Jerome.
Then he looked at the rides and games that were being used.
He saw one game where two people were forced to have balls thrown at them instead of the small clown dolls, which got the two people to whimper and let out groans every time a ball would hit one of them.
There was another game where, instead of shooting at the fake ducks, they had a man with bulls-eyes on his arms, his chest and his back, while he was being shot at by whoever chose to play the game.
Then on the merry-go-round, innocent people were strapped to poles and members of Jerome's cult were pointing any weapons they had at the victims.
While he watched another game of a morbid version of whack-a-mole, Jerome yelled to some of the people that were playing the game, "Get him! Squash her!"
Bruce quickly looked over at the game and saw that one man was holding a mallet over his head and a couple of people were trapped in the box and occasionally poking their heads out before they brought them back in hopes that they didn't get killed because of it.
Jerome told the man, "Get the old lady. No, the fat guy. Put your back into it."
After he said that, the man actually hit one of the people in the head, which got blood to splatter from them.
After grinning to himself and glancing over at Annabelle, Jerome forcefully brought her along with him and said with a chuckle as he moved to stand in front of Bruce, "Oh... Well, we're off to a good start." After he put on a gray hat with a red band around it, he said, "What do you say, Bruce? Want to have some fun before the main event?"
Bruce glanced over at Annabelle and saw that she was quite annoyed at the moment before he stared around the place in horror, while Jerome only chuckled as he gestured towards the morbid games.
Despite the probability of him dying, Bruce couldn't help but wonder why Annabelle wasn't fighting against Jerome anymore.
Did he threaten to have someone she cared about get killed?
Did he manage to grow on her?
Was she just playing Jerome for a fool?
He didn't know.
What he did know, though, was that the moment Annabelle was free from those chains, several people were going to die because of it and he didn't know what was worse.
People dying because of Jerome's morbid games, or Annabelle going on a killing spree and killing anyone she saw.
* * *
Annabelle merely sighed and shook her head to herself as a face-painter painted on longer eyebrows, a fake tear and white covering Bruce's eyes, while Jerome merely hummed from beside her.
She still didn't see the point in her being there.
He already found out what happened to her at Arkham, after he somehow managed to acquire her files.
The most she could really do was watch him kill Bruce Wayne.
There really wasn't much she could do, aside from that.
Well, unless of course Jerome merely wanted her there so that he could piss her off, like he did when they were living in Theo's penthouse before Jerome was killed.
Because honestly, he did that several times since the moment she woke up a week after Tabitha had kidnapped her and forced her to return to Gotham.
Perhaps this was him trying to make up for that whole year he missed the opportunity of pissing her off some more.
Whatever the reason he had, all she knew was that she just wanted to get out of the chains, tear into his neck and go back home so that she could be with Victor, but she couldn't.
If she attempted to do anything to Jerome, he would somehow find a way to get in contact with his followers and have them go after Victor and that was something she just couldn't risk to have happen.
So she remained quiet and chose not to say anything and hoped that just from doing that, he would leave her alone.
It seemed to work, because the most he did was pull her around with him and hum to himself when he was standing beside her.
And as of now, he was doing nothing to her and simply shoved her into the arms of one of his followers before he walked up to Bruce and said to him, "Got to be honest, Bruce, you don't make the world's funniest clown. But..."
As he said 'ooh', he opened his pocket knife, which got the face-painter to slightly jump before Jerome said, "We can fix that."
He quickly moved the blade towards Bruce's neck, which made Bruce tense up and try to protect his neck the best he could without the use of his hands, only to stop when Jerome shoved the blade into the face-painter's stomach without warning, which got the face-painter to let out a pained groan.
After pulling the blade out of the face-painter with a sigh, he stuck his finger in the man's wound as he said, "Aw, shut up, you big baby." Then he quickly pulled the finger out of the man's wound and said as he used the blood to make a frown on Bruce's face, "Let's turn that frown... upside-down."
Annabelle sighed and shook her head, while she saw just how disgusted Bruce was with what Jerome had done, but said nothing.
The less she spoke, the less she had to deal with Jerome.
Despite her wish to tell Bruce that he would be fine and could always clean the blood off of him at a later point, if he survived anyways, she said nothing.
She'd rather Bruce have all of Jerome's attention than have to deal with his constant jabbering until he either let her leave his side, or James Gordon came and rescued Bruce.
Although, now that she thought about it, the second option was far more likely than the first.
Since Jerome had almost never left her alone before Theo killed him, there wasn't a very likely chance that he would leave her alone.
He would continue to bother her and see just how many things she'd willingly do and go along with, if it meant that Victor was safe.
And there was nothing she could possibly do about it, while Jerome remained alive.
* * *
As she fought to break free from not only the chains but also the follower that was still holding her, Annabelle glared at the back of Jerome's, while Bruce asked him, "Is there a plan for all this madness?"
Jerome told him, "These people don't want a plan— they want an excuse. The mother who dreams of strangling her child. The husband who wants to stab his wife. All they want is someone to tell them... 'Do it. Kill them. It doesn't matter'. It doesn't." After hearing the ringing, he quickly looked away from Bruce and yelled, "Ooh, I love this game! One, please."
Another follower quickly grabbed Bruce, while Jerome was given a ball and the man sitting at the top of the water tank filled with piranhas as he whimpered, "No, no, no, no. Please, no, no."
Jerome grinned as he tossed the ball up into the air before he caught it and walked in the direction of where Bruce was standing and then turned his back on the young billionaire and was about to pull his arm back, only to stop when Bruce said to him, "You won't get away with it."
Jerome replied, "I already did. Now shush. I need to concentrate." When Annabelle scoffed, Jerome said to her, "That means you too, Anna. I don't need all those insults of yours and your threats distracting me."
After he hesitated for a moment, Jerome said, "Even though you haven't been doing that since I looked at your file."
Then Jerome shrugged to himself before he spat at the ground, while Bruce told him, "A few dozen brainwashed maniacs can't keep the city hostage forever."
Jerome replied, "Well, duh."
Just as Jerome moved his arm back and was about to throw the ball, Bruce asked him, "So what's the point?"
Jerome stopped moving and remained in that posture for a couple of seconds before he turned to Bruce as he said, "The point is that all these people out there, looting, robbing, killing, they're the people who wash your car, who pour your coffee, who take out your trash. And what happened the moment the lights went out? They showed their true faces. They showed how quickly they want to open up your rich boy veins and bathe in your blue blood. That... is the point."
As he took a step towards Jerome, Bruce replied, "That's not true. There are good people in Gotham."
Jerome laughed before he asked, "Like who? The sheep who lock their doors and crawl under their beds?" After he took a step toward Bruce, he said, "Face it, kid, Gotham has no heroes."
When Bruce was silent, Jerome turned back around and moved towards his original spot and tossed the ball up into the air and caught it once more before he attempted to throw it, while the man repeatedly said 'no'.
Just as Jerome was about to throw the ball, Bruce quickly shoved him and made him miss the target, which got Jerome to say 'hey'.
Once he caught himself, he turned to Bruce and yelled, "Foul! He pushed me. Did you see that?"
The man he was talking to nodded his head, while Bruce said to Jerome, "You want to kill someone, let's get on with it. Come on!"
Jerome feigned a yawn before he pushed the button on the target as he said, "You're so boring, Bruce."
Bruce yelled 'no', while the man fell into the water and was killed by the swimming piranhas, which got the water to become red.
With a shrug as he raised his hands, Jerome said, "Huh. Sorry."
Annabelle shook her head with a sigh, while Jerome called over a follower, who handed him a stapler, which got him to staple his face some more after he took his hat off.
Annabelle sighed once more and mouthed 'wow' to herself, while Bruce asked him, "Did that hurt?"
Before he walked over to Bruce, Jerome replied, "Not much. You try."
Then he pulled up Bruce's sleeve before he put a staple into Bruce's arm.
When Bruce only closed his eyes in response, Jerome put another in his arm.
When Bruce still only closed his eyes in response, Jerome put in another, which got Bruce to quickly squeeze his eyes shut as he yelled, "Stop!"
Jerome laughed, while Bruce had told him to stop once more before he said as he handed the stapler back to the follower and put his hat back onto his head, "Alright. Enough dilly-dally. To the main event."
Just like that, Jerome and his two followers took Annabelle and Bruce to where he planned on having Bruce killed.
And as they went there, Annabelle couldn't help but hope, while also not hoping, that James Gordon would come and save Bruce.
She did want him to be there, since he could possibly free her from Jerome's company and she could go back to Victor.
Then she also didn't want him there, because he could try and send her back to Arkham, much like he attempted to do before Jerome had taken her and Dwight.
But since his main issue would be Jerome, she could only hope that he'd be too preoccupied with the ginger maniac that he'd forget all about her and leave her be so that she could make her escape.
* * *
Because of Jerome demanding that one of his followers find her a chair so that she wouldn't try and escape and then was chained to it, Annabelle only sighed to herself and blankly stared at the stage, while one of the followers yelled, "Yeah, we all know why we're here! Here comes Jerome, everybody!"
From where he was standing, Jerome practically sauntered across the stage and raised both of his arms before he stood in the middle of the stage with his left arm raised.
Then he bowed before he swiftly turned around and slapped his own butt three times, which got Annabelle to simply blink at him, while all of his followers in the audience were cheering and laughing.
Jerome also laughed before he turned on the megaphone and said into it, "Hear ye, hear ye, gather round. The show is about to... begin!"
Then he quickly raised his arms, which got the crowd to cheer once more, while he waved at them and held one hand behind one of his ears.
He swung out his arms, which got all but one man to stop cheering.
The same man from before laughed as he said, "Let me hear."
Without saying anything, Jerome pulled his gun out of his coat and pointed it at the man before he shot him in the back, which got him to fall forward and another person to catch him.
The crowd gasped before Jerome yelled into the megaphone, "Shut up! That's better." After he started to walk around on the stage, he said, "Well, I think we can all agree tonight was a rousing success."
After the crowd cheered for a moment, he said, "We brought this miserable city to its knees." Then he quickly jumped up onto a platform as he said, "So, how to thank the best darn culty of fanatics a messiah like myself could ever hope for? I give you..."
A fanfare was heard, but no one was shown.
Jerome yelled into the megaphone, "Cue!"
The two men standing near the curtains opened them and allowed the crowd to see Bruce Wayne, who was bound to a pole with his hands tied above his head, while Jerome said, "I give you the climax of our festivities. The billionaire prince of Gotham... Bruuuuce... Wayne!" After he jumped off of the platform, he walked over to Bruce and asked him, "Well, so what do you say, Bruce? Shall we end the night with a bang? Or better yet... a boom?"
Bruce looked around the crowd, while he tried to think of a way to get out of this, only to stop when he saw Annabelle, who had a blank look on her face as she merely blinked.
From what he could see, she was strapped to a chair, which kept her from escaping.
This simply just foiled Bruce's plan of seeing if she could help him.
While he looked away from her, a cannon was pushed over to Bruce.
As it grew closer, Jerome jumped up onto the small platform Bruce was on and ruffled his hair before he jumped off of it and walked towards the center of the stage once more, while the crowd repeatedly chanted 'boom'.
Once she heard the sound of guns cocking and footsteps approaching from a distance, Annabelle only narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, while Jerome carried a large cannonball and shoved it into the cannon.
After Jerome sighed, he asked himself, "What's next?" After a follower handed him a bag and he pulled out a blade, he said, "Death by a thousand cuts, very poetic. I like that."
Then he poured the bag of blades into the cannon at the same time that Bruce looked up at his arm that still had the staples in them.
After he looked back at Jerome, he saw that he was holding a bucket of nails before Jerome also poured that into the cannon, while he said, "Nailed it."
After Jerome dropped the bucket and walked away, Bruce tried to pull one of the staples out of his arm, while Jerome said into the megaphone, "Alright, folks. This is very important. Whatever you do, please, definitely try this at home. Preferably on a family member." Then Jerome threw himself onto the back of the cannon as he said, "Giddyup. Whoo, doggie! Yee-haw!"
With a blank look on her face, Annabelle stared at Jerome as she said to herself, "You've got to be bloody kidding me."
Jerome asked Bruce, "You ready, partner?"
It was then that Annabelle heard Alfred say from not that far away, "Oh, good Lord."
Then she heard Harvey say, "Strike force just arrived. They're coming in."
Annabelle sighed to herself and closed her eyes and let them remain that way for a couple of moments, only to quickly open her eyes when she heard three gunshots.
While still sitting on the back of the cannon, Jerome turned to the sound of the gunshots and said, "Detective Gordon, you're just in time for the big finish."
Just as one cop yelled for nobody to move, Annabelle closed her eyes.
Even though she knew that James Gordon would immediately send her back to Arkham, she was more than glad that he was there and that she didn't have to deal with Jerome any longer.
Although now that she thought about it, she would probably have to deal with Jerome at Arkham, so she couldn't help but hope that he wouldn't notice her and only focus on Jerome.
While the crowd and Jerome's other followers started to move about and Jerome slid off of the cannon and ducked down behind it, Annabelle started to fight against her chains in hope of breaking free of the chair and getting out of there before James noticed her.
While she did that, she heard a couple pairs of footsteps quickly running over to her.
She quickly closed her eyes and started to hope that it wasn't James that was going towards her, only to stop and open her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows when she heard the familiar voice of Nico Angelos let out a groan before he said, "I can't break the straps. They're covered in vervain."
Her eyes widened when she heard another voice say 'damn it' before she heard the sound of a pocket knife opening and saw a hand cutting at the straps that kept her in the chair.
It was only when the straps were off of her wrists that she turned around to see Victor Zsasz holding bolt cutters before he used them to break the chains and pull them off of her once they were loose.
Then he untied the rope and the moment they were gone, she fell limp and her head hit his chest, while he asked her, "Annabelle, are you okay?"
She replied, "Well, aside from the fact that I haven't had blood since the night those bastards captured me, I'm doing great, now that you're here."
Victor smiled down at her before the smile fell from his face and he asked her, "Where's Jerome?"
She replied, "I don't know. Last I saw him, he slid off of the cannon. I haven't seen him since."
Victor opened his mouth to ask her another question, only to stop when the cannon went off and the things Jerome had shoved into it were shot out of it.
Annabelle quickly turned her head and expected to see a dead Bruce Wayne bound to the pole, only for her eyebrows to furrow when she saw that Bruce was gone.
She only looked back at Victor when he said, "Annabelle, we need to get you out of here before Jim finds you and takes you back to Arkham."
She nodded her head.
While they started to walk away in hopes of blending in through the chaos that was occurring, Victor shoved his wrist into her mouth, which got her to look up at him with furrowed eyebrows, only to stop when she saw that he wasn't even looking at her.
He was looking around them to look for any sign of James Gordon, Harvey Bullock or even Jerome Valeska, but saw no sign of any of them.
Then Annabelle started to bite into his wrist, which got him to clench his jaw but say nothing, while Nico said to them, "Come on, let's go this way. I can hear Gordon up ahead."
Victor nodded his head and made a left turn and quickly followed Nico, while Annabelle pulled his wrist out of her mouth and asked him, "Victor, how did you find me?"
He told her, "I was following Jim Gordon and Bullock and when I saw you strapped to a chair, I knew I had to get you out of there. If Jim saw you, he would've just taken you back to Arkham and I know you'd hate it if you were sent back there."
She whispered to him, "Thank you, Victor, for saving me. Again."
He chuckled as he said to her, "That's not a problem, Annabelle. You know I wouldn't think twice before saving you."
She replied, "Just as I wouldn't think twice before saving you."
The three of them only stopped moving when they heard James Gordon yell, "Zsasz?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
Victor didn't respond.
When they heard James get closer to them, Nico grabbed Victor and Annabelle before he sped off with them and left behind a very confused James Gordon.
It was only at that point that he saw Jerome and ran after him, only for the revived ginger to disappear in the midst of all of the chaos.
It was evident that, until Jerome Valeska was seen once more, James Gordon would have a lot of running around to do and because of Jerome's revival, Annabelle Mikaelson was able to make her escape with the help of Victor Zsasz and Nico Angelos.
The only thing Victor hoped when they made their escape was that nobody searched for Annabelle, while she made her recovery after spending almost three days with Jerome as her captor.
* * *
While he watched Annabelle as she sat on her bed and glared at the wall, Victor entered her bedroom and asked her, "Annabelle, how do you feel?"
Without even looking at him, she sighed before she said to him, "I feel like going against my vow of never again going near Arkham and ripping Jerome's throat out." When Victor opened his mouth to respond, she said to him, "But then I remember that he has several followers all over Gotham and if I were to attempt to harm him, he would have you killed, so I have to think about something else. I have to start thinking about where Oswald is, why I've heard nothing of him and why six people with high IQ's are dying and have been dying since Oswald's disappearance."
Victor sighed as he sat on her bed beside her and said to her, "I'm sure he's fine, Annabelle. You have nothing to worry about. The last time he disappeared was three years ago and he reappeared, still alive, and spying on Maroni for Don Falcone. He's probably just lying low for the time being, or has holed himself up in his house."
She glanced at him as she replied, "I'm not worried. I know he'll be fine. I'm just thinking of him and the deaths since his disappearance because they're the only things that I can think about that will keep me from killing Jerome. I don't know how I would kill him. All I know is that I would kill him and it would be a well-thought out and long ordeal. There would be a lot of blood shed that day, and I would also kill anyone that tried to keep me from killing him. But I can't do that, not when he has a threat hanging over your head. And I won't do it, until the constant threat he has over you is no more."
Victor told her, "Well, you don't have to worry about me. When I was looking for you, I killed some of his followers when they wouldn't tell me where he was and where he took you. And if that's not enough, there were some followers that were arrested by Jim Gordon and the other cops the night of the blackout. Besides, I can handle myself just fine, Annabelle. You have nothing to worry about."
She replied, "Yes, I thought so too, until you were almost killed by some of the men that Tabitha had sent after you last year. I won't risk you getting hurt again, Victor. I'd kill anyone that tried to hurt you, or even those that tried to kill you." While he stared down at her and started to run his fingers through her hair, she said to him, "You know that I lost the two men I loved before I met you. I don't want to lose another, not like this. Not now. I need you. I need you with me. Ever since I watched Elijah and Klaus dagger Kol and then heard that he was daggered on two separate occasions because of them, once being in 1821 and the other in 1914, I have not truly been as happy as I was before Kol had been daggered two-hundred and ninety-nine years ago. The only person that has made me the happiest since that point in time has been you, so call me greedy if you will, but I will not risk losing the one person, aside from my twin brother, who makes me the happiest I've ever felt in my life."
As he slowly pulled her into his arms, he said to her, "Relax, Annabelle. You won't lose me. I'm not going anywhere. Not now, and not ever. I'll always be there with you, no matter the problem, okay?"
She slowly nodded her head, which got him to smile before he leaned down and pressed his lips onto her forehead.
His smile only became wider when she moved even closer to him and turned around so that she could wrap her arms around him.
As she started to bury her face into his chest, she said to him, "I love you, Victor."
He chuckled before he said to her, "I love you too, Annabelle."
Not even caring for the probability of any problems they could face in the future, they remained there and practically lied on Annabelle's bed and enjoyed the feeling of their arms around each other.
They didn't care that Oswald was missing, the possibility of Jerome being in Arkham yet, or that there was someone going around and killing people with high IQ's.
The only thing they cared about was each other and that was enough for them.
And it would be, even through the trials that lied ahead of them.