grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.55: Red Crows

  I was free! HA HA HA! Finally free of that hellhole that always seemed to make its ways back into my life. I never knew breathing in fresh air would be so...amazing! I felt invincible! Jerome and I laughed the entire way out of Arkham, stealing a truck to get away with Baggy and Hatty. We had the whole plan laid out already. The GCPD wouldn't know what hit them. Our plan was Hatty. He was the main distraction while we did our own things. 

  He was going to hypnotize most of Gotham from the radio. We planned for him to mess with Jimbo so he could focus on him rather than Jerome and I. Because we both had places to be tonight. In the morning, we had even more things to do. Jerome was getting information tonight while I was getting closure. Closure from what? Well, from my dear ol' dads old associates of course! 

  Jerome and I had to separate but he told me where he would be and I didn't think it was that far from where I was going. He was going to a diner towards the edge of Gotham while I was going into the center. I had gotten information about where the group I was going after was and it turns out they normal hung out in an old warehouse collection. 

  They called themselves the Red Crows. Stupid, I know. They had been trying to get me and kill me now for three years. I was amazed about how bad their tracking skills where. I had been practically broadcasting myself across Gotham ever since I killed my parents yet they still couldn't find me. I could see how sharp they where just from that. I could guess what they were like. Plus I had met one of them when I was younger.

  He was pretty fat with dyed red hair and a bushy beard. He was pig on all standards. He tried to hit on me when I was fifteen. In front of my dad. He didn't care of course. So, maybe this was payback for him being an asshole pig. Yeah. But also back to the closure thing. I had killed all the people in my life who had made my life a living hell. But it turns out I missed some. I would take care of that tonight.

                            |TIME SKIP|

  I stood outside the warehouses, my eyes planted on the tall structures before me. Jerome had dropped me off here about a minute ago and we had said our goodbyes and kissed quite a bit even though we'd probably be gone from one another for about an hour or two at the most. It was still kind of hard to split from him even in that small amount of time but I needed to get something done. 

 I breathe in, settling my gaze firmly on the collection of warehouses lined up. I then realized I didn't know which warehouse held the "Red Crows" and internally groaned. I rolled my head a bit but walk forward, scanning the warehouses around me. It was worse since it was dark but I could dimly see the tall, gated, warehouses. They had large metal garage like doors on them with doors on the side that were most likely locked. It was like a maze of warehouses all around me and I rose a brow as all of them looked the same. I decided to just go up to random ones.

  I went up to each side door, twisting the knobs. Some where locked. With those I would kick it until it burst open. Most where empty or full of some useless boxes of drugs for the local drug dealers around here. I was getting bored quick and thought maybe they might not even be here in the first place. When I come up to another warehouse, kick the door down and see it was empty, I groaned openly and put my head back. This was ridiculous! 

  After my little outburst I looked back down, glaring at the empty space and narrowed my brows. This was a waste of time. I decided to just meet up with Jerome in that diner he said was at the edge of the city. I rolled my eyes one last time, turning around until I suddenly was hit in the face so hard I fell back and a second later was surrounded by black. 

                      |TIME SKIP|

  The first thing I felt was the large headache crawling up in the back of my skull, thick and painful. I groaned, grinding my teeth. I was side wise, laying on the ground. The second thing I felt was the weight on my wrists. I opened my eyes but was met with black. It felt like some sort of bag was settled around my head, making it difficult to breathe a bit. I was still half way drowsy and my headache was getting worse but I tried to find my surroundings.