Gotham Oneshots- Requests Are Open!

One Of My Three soups

Continuation of my earlier oneshot "A Beautiful Darkness Inside Of You"

*8½ months later*

Jerome sits at the table with Firefly, Freeze, Crane, and a very nervous and reluctant Oswald, who wore a big, black, velvet coat in an effort to hide his growing baby bump.

"Hear ye, hear ye! I'd like to officially welcome you all to our first ever mandatory brunch meeting. Now, I know what you're all thinking: Why have I gathered this legion of horribles? That has a nice ring to it, write that down, will ya? Well, back when I was in Arkham, I came up with a plan to turn this city into a madhouse. Now, I am on the cusp of making that happen, but I need help from all of..." Jerome pauses momentarily when Freeze raises his hand "Put all questions on ice until the end." He quips.

"Mr Oswald." Jerome says, looking across the table to where Oswald sits at the other end "Thank you for doing your part in hosting us today."

Oswald plasters a fake smile on his face "Anything for an old friend." He says sarcastically.

"Crane. Where are we at with the...you know what." Jerome says, looking at Scarecrow.

"It's coming along dreadfully." Crane says.

"Oh. Pun worthy! Excellent! Freeze, ice man, you're our science guy. We're gonna need a lab. A big one." Jerome says.

"Easy enough." Freeze says.

"Mmm...now, all we need is Mr Tetch to return with some very important information." Jerome says.

One of the servers, an Arkham escapee, goes to set something on firefly's plate with his hand instead of tongs. Jerome slams his hand on the table, rattling the glasses set out. "USE THE TONGS, CARL!" He yells.

"You still haven't told us how you're going to take over the underworld." Firefly says inquisitively.

"Who says I wanna do that? I'm an artist. I just wanna paint the town crazy." Jerome says, making a painting gesture. "Once that happens, I couldn't care less how you horribles rip the city apart."

"I'm in. Let's do this." Firefly says, a bright gleam in her red eyes.

"Well, not yet. Nothing can happen until we have our one last essential ingredient." Jerome says as Tetch walks in wearing a black and white checkered small print jacket and white dress shirt with a red-black bowtie and black tophat.

"The one thing that'll tie it all together." Jerome says, smiling wickedly and gesturing for Tetch to take a seat.

Oswald's head started spinning with another dizzy spell. At least I'm sitting down this time. He lets a hand rest on his abdomen, absentmindedly protecting the little life inside him. He lives in a Narrows apartment with Ed. It's awkward at times, but it's better than him and his unborn child living on the street.

A few minutes later, Jerome dismisses them. Oswald immediately bolted for the door, but Jerome stops him.

"Ah, let me have a looksie at you here. Oof, you put on some winter weight, Pengy. Jeez Louise, look at that hump. That's funny. Hahaha!" Jerome says, laughing like a lunatic. Oswald shoves past him, desperate to get out of there.

Oswald is walking down the sidewalk towards Ed's narrows apartment when he sees Butch sitting on a bench outside what was Cherry's place.

"Butch?" Oswald says quietly in shock. Butch turns his head, revealing more fully his pale, ghostly face. Oswald's eyes widen in shock.

"I had heard you were different." He says warmly, walking towards him. "But I will be honest. I like it!"

"What do you want?" Butch says moodily, taking another drink of his beer.