Penn
The video goes static, and back to the regular program. The room is completely silent. I can't even hear their breathing. They're all holding it, not knowing how to react. I have a sick grin on my face, revealing in everyone's fear.
That's when all the yelling starts up, everyone pointing at me and making wild gestures, my brother's name surfing through all the frightened chatter. Even Top Dog (the guy never gave me his name) is staring at me, not knowing how to react. Gotham is under siege because of me. All for me.
I calmly and confidently step onto the table I was sitting at, and survey the room. "SILENCE!" The ruckus immediately stops, and all eyes are on me. The girl responsible for Gotham's suffering. The girl with her brother's fearsome legacy. I smile at the cowering inmates before me, knowing that I have all the power.
"Yes, you heard right. Jerome Valeska, my big brother, is alive. My sisters and I resurrected him, in fact. He is alive, and because of my imprisonment, he will stop at nothing until I am released. Until I am free. Jerome carried a legacy of death and madness, and it is clear that it is a legacy I now carry. The Valeska legacy is stained in blood and death, and it will not end."
I walked along the table, my heart beating fast at the thought of my siblings killing millions to avenge me. "I know that because of what my siblings have announced, I am feared. I am Penn Valeska, the reason for Gotham City's suffering. However, there is no need to fear me, fellow inmates of Arkham Asylum. I know that we are all in here because we are what the 'sane' freaks call 'psychotic' and 'mad'. We understand each other. Moreover, I understand you. I understand that those people out there are what my brother called 'tiny little cogs in a giant, absurd machine'. We are free. If you want to stand against these tyrants, you must fight. Do not let them push you down. Once my siblings come to retrieve what is theirs, I can help you all as well. You can join the Valeskas and make the city understand that they need to wake up and be free.
"Let me lead you, and I swear, Gotham will fall and finally realize who is free. Not them. Us." I stopped in the center of the table, watching them all. Watching them all take in my words, my promises, my vision. My vision of blood. My vision of madness running rampant through the streets of Gotham. Like a virus.
One man stands up, looking up at me with a grin. "Let us free those cogs, Penn Valeska." His allegiance is mine. I can see it.
Soon, another stands. Then another. Another. Another. Another. The entire room is pledging themselves to me, even the guards silent as they see the newest inmate take control within a minute.
I hear a voice shout, "Valeska!" And then laughs, and then hoots and hollers. They are cheering for me. They love me. They want me to rule.
"Valeska!"
"Valeska!"
"Valeska!"
Top Dog is yelling at everyone, trying to tell them not to bow down to some bloodthirsty girl, but no one listens. No one bows to him anymore. They bow to me. He is no longer the top. He no longer has control. He no longer runs the joint.
I do.
I begin to giggle as the cheers surround me, turning into a psychotic, evil cackle, ringing throughout the room.
The Valeskas will rise.
June
-
About 43 hours since the "incident", and we're getting ready for the next one. We're each dressed in all black, running in the shadows. It's important that no one sees us- we don't want things to get messy- for now. I look at my watch. We are waiting for the midnight train. 1 hour and 44 minutes left until all the excitement.
So here's what's gonna happen...
Train, explosives, boom, and madness.
I chose this train for a reason. Not only is it a passenger train, but it holds cargo on the last two carts.
Let's call the cargo... Reactive substances. The contents in the cart contain a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of pretty lights, fire, a big BANG! -And results in pure chaos... To think all it took was some brains and the manipulating of one of those train-tech geeks at the station.
He's dead now, by the way. Unfortunately, I had to clean the bloody corpse up. Like I said, things can't get messy yet.
To determine the suitability of explosive things for a.. Particular use, its physical properties must first be known. The usefulness of an explosive can only be appreciated when the properties and the factors affecting them are fully understood. Hell, I may be crazy, but I pack some brains in this head.
It took some reasearch, but I found out the chemical properties and explosive-ness of all the crap in the cargo cart. Basically, there were originally two trains- one for people, the other for grocery store supplies that couldn't be bought anywhere else. Gotham, being as stupid as it is, thought it would just save money to put both together. To any normal person, this wouldn't be a threat. But there's me.
I've always loved fireworks.
All you need to make a bomb is an aerosol can, tin foil and sparklers. Grocery stores carry these items, and this shipment has more than plenty of it. We still have a few of our own bombs left, so yeah, it'll light up pretty well.
-
We sit on the side of the track, about 30 miles away from civilization. Jerome holds a bomb in his hand, smiling in the dark. Zöe holds a long, sharp dagger, as do I. Zöe, Penn and I each have one of three daggers- they all match. Three of a kind.
These daggers are powerful enough to stab through pretty much anything. My sister and I plan on stabbing through the outside of the moving train, our way of getting on. We need to make the people aboard aware that the Valeskas are here.
I chose this part of the track because of the turn. It'll slow down a bit. The train is pretty long, and considering its speed, it'll pass in about three minutes- enough time to make a short speech. Then, Jerome will throw a bomb into the cargo. We say goodbye just as people attempt to call the police, We hop off, then boom! Simple.
The train will be here in about seven minutes now.
-
The track rumbles as the train nears. We stand up, pulling out our tools. The bright light moves closer. I look down, trying not to blind myself. I look up after the light passes. Passengers peep through the glass windows, a few recording the passing starry sky.
I jump when Jerome shoots a bullet through one of the windows. I look at him, and he shrugs his shoulders. Zöe gestures towards me, signaling me that it's time to get on board.
Sparks fly as my sister and I stab through the steel of the train. We fly backwards, barely able to hang on. The dagger slides back far enough for me to get my feet on the cart's platform behind the door. Whew.
-
Zöe kicks the door in, making a baby start crying and a few women scream. A man pulls out his phone- good. We need attention.
I let him silently call as I yell, "Ladies and gentlemen, good evening! You know our brother, sister, and we want attention. Our sister is unfairly kept in a hell-hole! So, you're gonna help us. Oh, by the way- you're all going to die a horrible death." I let out an insane laugh as Zöe throws a small blade through a man's head.
Screaming. Crying. Fear.
We grin, knowing we will succesfully do our part in population control.
I hear the man whispering into his phone, saying something along the lines of "Valeska, yes. Train, yes, can you not hear me? We're all dead! Please.. Please help us. There are children on this..." and so on. Only a minute and a half has passed, but we don't plan on staying long.
We calmly walk back out through the door, giving others time to make their last phone calls.
Oh crap.
Zöe stares at me. "Okay, June, so... How are we gonna get off?" She asks this with curiosity, she thinks I have a plan. As much as I thought everything else out, I forgot this part. The part that would save us from our explosion. I look at her and smile.
"Heh," I say nervously. "Guess we'll just have to wing it. Jump with me! It'll... Be fun!"
Zöe shoots me a disgusted look. "It'll be fatal if we don't land right." I shrug. We stand at the edge of the steel platform, ready for the injuries ahead. This'll cut us back at least two days. Oops.
My sister takes a deep breath and steps off the ledge, tumbling into the ground. I'm next. I literally hop off. Pain immediately shoots through my right leg, going all the way up to my neck. Dust burns my eyes, blood covers my forehead. Friction between me and the ground stops me, leaving me only 15 feet from Zöe. I hear her groaning in pain. I try to squirm towards her, quietly telling her that we don't have time.
"Zöe, come on, Jerome... The bomb..." My vision blurs, and I taste the metalic-ness of blood in my mouth. My eyes glaze over, and darkness surrounds me.
-
I wake up, yards away from where I blacked out. I must have been thrown here from the explosion.
It's still night. My ears are ringing. I see flames in the distance, and hear a voice. Jerome?
"June? Zöe? What the hell happened?!"
I'm falling in and out of consciousness. Concentration isn't an option, but sleep is... I feel a hand wipe blood off of my head as I doze off.
Zöe
I open my eyes to see a circle of people above me, dressed in hospital scrubs and masks over the lower parts of their faces. A bright light is shone in my face, temporarily blinding me. I can hear faint murmurs coming from the strange people, but when I try to speak, nothing comes out. It feels as though there is something in my mouth, preventing me from talking.
The strange medical people disappear from my line of sight for a minute, causing me to panic and thrash around. Tight straps are tied around my arms, body and legs, pinning me down to the cold surface. The people come back again, but this time with long, spiked instruments that I can only imagine are used for torture.
My eyes grow wide as the people begin using those instruments of death on me... And pain explodes all over my body. My eyes close as my body seems to shut down from the pain overload and suddenly I can hear my screams in my head, drowning out the intense pain...
And then I jolt awake.
Panting heavily, I survey my surroundings, I seem to be at the edge of the woods somewhere, with no idea of how I got here. Thankfully, that dream I had turned out to be just that, albeit completely terrifying. I'm not afraid of much, but that has left me shaken.
Getting gingerly to my feet, I begin to wonder whether June and Jerome
are alright, together or even alive. The last thing I remember is jumping from that train and landing hard into the ground and being knocked out.
"Wonder why you don't feel any pain."
I hear those words and whirl around, holding my three-of-a-kind dagger out in defense. My mouth opens in shock and I'm left standing there in complete disbelief. There isn't someone else standing there.
It's me.
Well, not me exactly. The figure has darker hair than me, basically black, and a darker smirk than I usually wear. She wears a black dress so long that I can't make out what shoes she is wearing, if any. But it's the same facial structure and height of nearly five foot seven. I'm definitely going mad. More than I already am.
"Wha...what did you say? Who are you? What are you?"
"Well I guess that you could say that I'm a new and improved you," the girl, me, says.
"I don't have time for this," I reply. "I'm going to find my sister and brother... and then get my other sister back where she belongs. With us."
Before I could walk past her...me, she said, "You don't really think they care about you, do you? Because they don't love you and they never will."
I stopped in my tracks. "You don't know anything about me and my family," I say as I turn around and leave her there, enjoying my victory.
But I don't see her dark smirk grow even darker as she disappears back into me.