PLEASE KEEP COMMENTING YOUR REACTIONS TO THINGS THAT HAPPEN DURING THE CHAPTER AND JUST THE CHAPTER IN GENERAL
---------
Several hours of makeovers and bomb placements later, Jane found herself in front of the G.C.P.D with her brother and Jerome's old followers dressed and acting very military-like behind them. They were dressed in grey power suits and held their legs together, gripping machine guns. Jeremiah stood in front of them and Jane stood next to him, wearing something very similar to the followers, instead not holding a gun since her hand was still recovering. Jeremiah had gotten all of Jerome's followers to pledge loyalty to him after blowing Jim Gordon up. All except one, Jongleur, had shown up which Jane found odd. She brought it up to her brother, afraid of his anger that a follower left, but received nothing but a shrug. He didn't seem very worried about it. Instead, he had her arrange plans for poor Alfred to be kidnapped so Bruce could go as insane as Jeremiah did. Jane still didn't understand his fascination with the teenager.
Before the group, detectives and cops came running out, extremely alarmed. Jane only recognized a handful, but by their glares, they seemed to remember her.
It was so silent, Jeremiah's voice carried effortlessly. "You might not recognize Jerome's followers as I've given them something of a makeover. But I assure you they're as loyal to me as they ever were to him. More so, because I accomplished something my brother never could. Killing James Gordon."
The group and Jane chanted Jeremiah's name in unison as the detectives before them pulled out their guns pointing at them. Detective Harvey Bullock took charge. "You're a liar!"
Slowly, Jeremiah pulled out a clicker that controlled the bombs. "Not so fast," he taunted. "I have bombs planted around this city. Just like the one that killed Jim Gordon.
Again, the group and Jane chanted. Every time killed Jane a little more inside. She hated how loyal she had to be to him. She hated she still had to prove to her brother the worthiness of her life. She hated that the millions of people in this city could die because she couldn't stand up to him.
The cops inched closer, holding their guns perfectly still. Jeremiah, Jane and their group didn't flinch.
Jeremiah continued. "All you need to know is if I hit this detonator, Gotham's blown back to the Stone Age."
"If I pull this trigger," Bullock spoke. His tone was full of disgust. "Your brains are blown through the back of your skull."
There was a moment of silence before Jeremiah stepped forward until there was only a foot between the two men. "Dead man's switch. You're familiar. It's another little something I took from my brother, except mine is a bit more advanced. You shoot me, my thumb loosens, and then boom, boom, boom." Jeremiah then shrugged and nodded towards his sister. "And if that somehow doesn't work, Jane over there has a switch herself that detonates all of the bombs at once." Jane felt even sicker to her stomach. She didn't want to pull of that trigger. If it came to that, she would find a way. She couldn't kill all those people. There was another pause as the faces of the officers became more harsh. "Now, if you don't do what I say...."
Bullock interrupted, "You're more sick than your brother. And your sister keeps getting dragged back into all of this."
Jane wanted to scream out and agree. She had tried to tell them, no one listened. Now look what they got themselves into. But then Jeremiah chuckled at that and Jane's confidence instantly drained from her body. "Don't compare me to that shortsighted psychopath. He just wanted to destroy things. Me, I'm a builder. I'm going to create a new Gotham in my image. But every artist needs a blank canvas. So, all of this needs to go. Besides, Jane needs someone to put her into check." He glanced back at her, to make sure she was doing as she was told - she was. "She had to be retrained." Jane flinched. Jeremiah looked around at the city, a look of determination on his face. "Anyway, I detonate the explosives in six hours, I want this city empty when I do."
--------------------------
Jane walked silently as her brother was on the phone with poor Bruce Wayne to threaten him. He was going forward with his plan to have Bruce on his side by leveraging Alfred over him. Did Jane think it was a horrible plan? Hell yes. Did she tell him that? Of course not. So she stayed silent while they were on the phone. It wasn't until Jeremiah stopped walking to make his final threat, the group stopping a couple of feet behind him.
"And if you don't want your man-servant to die, too, you will follow my instructions to the letter. 71 Welling Avenue, be there in an hour. Tell the police and I'll know. Just like I know that's where you are right now." Then he shut the phone.
Jane wanted to know what was going on. She didn't like not knowing his plans. The only thing she knew was he was blowing up buildings. "Jeremiah?" Her voice came out soft. She was scared he would be angry she spoke.
He wasn't. He just glanced down at her. "Yes?"
Her voice was still soft. "W-Why are you doing this all? Why are you blowing up all of those buildings? Why are you using me?"
The corners of Jeremiah's mouth turned upward. "You see, Janey." He placed a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. "Gotham City is a dirty place, with dirty politicians and dirty people. It needs to be fixed. I'm going to start this city over. I'm using you, sweet Janey-" He made sure they were making eye contact. "-because I know no matter what, you will be loyal to me. Because if you don't, I will not hesitate to kill you myself."
Then Jeremiah strutted forward into the building before them, his followers following after him. Jane stood stunned for a moment. There he was again, threatening her life. It never got any easier hearing him say it because she knew he meant it. After her moment, she shook herself awake and quickened her pace to catch up.
The group headed down a flight of stairs when Jane finally did catch up with them. When they reached the end, they noticed a decent sized group of people down there waiting for them. Leading the group was Oswald Cobblepot and Barbara Kean, standing tall. And in the center of the group, poor Jongleur stood, taped to the core relay and a grenade taped to his mouth. Well that answered Jane's question on what happened to him. They kept walking before Oswald called out to them.
"Not one step closed, Mr. Valeska."
Jongleur had started crying when Jeremiah acknowledged him. "And is that my dear Jongleur with my core relay in his hand and a grenade taped to his mouth?" He wasn't panicked, just pointing out the obvious.
Oswald nodded. "Indeed, it is."
"Huh. Well.." Jeremiah took off his hat. "It seems you have the upper hand."
"Undoubtedly" Oswald agreed. "And now, we have our own demands."
Jeremiah had sat down as they started to explain their ridiculous demands. Jane stood next to him, very confused. Why did they even have demands? Why did they go out of their way to capture poor Jongleur?
"50 million dollars. That's what you want?" Jeremiah asked, clearly not fully understanding the why either.
Oswald shrugged with a smile on his face. "It's a nice, round number."
"I don't quite have that on me right now," Jeremiah admitted emotionlessly, not that he showed any emotion to begin with.
"You gave the mayor six hours to evacuate Gotham. An impossible task. Let him buy another hour. He will save thousands of lives. 50 million dollars will seem cheap."
Oswald had a good point. They needed to save as many lives as possible. Jane didn't want anyone to die.
Jeremiah nodded. "I see. I play the villain, you get away scot-free and rich. I get you the money, you get me back my core relay."
Barbara Kean spoke up for the first time. "That's usually how a hand-off works, yeah."
Jeremiah paused, looking around before agreeing. "You drive a hard bargain, but I'll see what I can do."
"Just like that?" Barbara asked. "After knowing your brother, I expected something more-"
"Insane?" Jeremiah's tone was harsh. These people kept bringing up how crazy Jerome was and Jane could tell it was starting to get to him. The last thing she needed was for him to snap. Her hand and bruises were just starting to heal somewhat nicely. "I'm nothing if not sane and reasonable." He pulled out his phone. "Two things my brother never valued and what I'm teaching my sister here. That's why I'll be successful. Well, that and being vastly more intelligent. Now, to see about your money."
Jeremiah stood and called the mayor on his phone. Jane could tell what he was thinking. He was one step ahead of them and tried to drop a hint to that. But when Jane looked at their faces, she could tell they did not get that. As the group in front of them started whispering to each other, Jane started to move back towards where her brother stood discreetly. She knew something was going to happen. He wasn't going to get them the money. And he also didn't seem to care about the situation of Jongleur either.
After a moment, Jeremiah let go of the phone and placed it down. "Would you believe it? They put me on hold." Jongleur made some strained moans. "Well, there's always plan number two." Jane watched as Jeremiah reached down to grab a bazooka. Then everything happened so fast. One second, they all stood in the same places, and the next, they were scattered and Jongleur was blown up with the core relay.
Sound waves rung through Jane's ears.
"Are you out of your mind?" Oswald yelled, clearly not expecting that.
"Why do you keep insisting I'm insane?" Jeremiah asked, using the most emotion in a while. "What's insane about having a backup plan, something Jongleur never knew about." He dusted himself off. "And, so you know, this building is within the blast radius, and because of your interference, I'm going to detonate the bombs as soon as I'm far enough away to observe the destruction in peace."
Jane's eyes went big. No. So many people would die!
Barbara voiced her thoughts. "No! You promised the city six hours!"
"And whose fault is it that I changed my mind?"
hey everyone :) this chapter was a little boring but it was just basically setting everything up for the final two chapters of part 1! :) yay! super excited!
i just wanted to let you all know that next week is gonna most likely be the last week of my two updates a week schedule as i am finally back at school for another semester and need to work on school. i'm not sure when part 2 will be coming out as i originally wanted to wait for s5 to get on netflix, which it was supposed to sometime soon so i'll let you all know what happens.
also!! i got no comments on the last chapter which was kinda disappointing so PLEASE COMMENT!!! i need feedback otherwise i dont want to write. so even if its stupid, please just comment! i love reading them! it's literally my favorite thing ever about this website.
i'll see you guys on monday for another update and have a great weekend!