Insane Like Me | A Gotham Valeska Twins Story

jerome: chapter 6

Third Person POV
"No one cares who the mayor is banging! You can do better than this, people. Now go out and get me some headlines, damn it!" The boss of the Gotham Gazette lectured his employees. He was unaware of the bodies falling from outside the building behind him. His employees completely disregarded what he said and ran towards the window behind their boss, he joined them soon after, curious about all the commotion.
"Oh my god!" He gasped as he saw the horrifying scene below him.

Irene's POV
I sat criss-cross on the ledge of the Gotham Gazette, next to Jerome as Aaron tossed another innocent hostage off the roof. It wasn't right to kill these people, they did nothing wrong. I kept my mouth shut, though. Dobkins is a snitch and he'd rat me out to Galavan if I ever went against the millionaire's wishes.
"Perfect." Jerome said once the man labeled A had landed on the ground. Another reason I kept my mouth shut, Jerome seemed to be enjoying this and I didn't want to ruin his fun, no matter how messed up it was. I'd let him and the rest of our group do whatever horrific things they want as long as they don't force me to kill innocent people.
"Next. Mister X." Jerome stated as he turned around to look at the next poor victim. Greenwood, who was in charge of spray painting the hostage whatever letter Jerome told him, handed Dobkins Mister X, who then handed him to Aaron. Aaron placed him up on the ledge, ready to toss him off, till Jerome interrupted, not quite happy with the victim's placement.
"A little to the right." He demanded and Aaron did as instructed.
"Okay, that's the spot." Jerome responded. Aaron then threw Mister X off the building and he joined the previous hostages several feet down. I cringed a bit at the thud of his body and the screams of civilians that followed.
"What shall we do with the spare?" Dobkins asked, pointing to the last victim they kidnapped. They had taken 7 people in order to spell out the name of our little group, but Jerome wanted to be quirky and decided to spell the word differently, leaving one hostage with no role. I saw this as my chance to maybe save a victim and ease my conscience.
"Let's just let him go, no one else needs to die." I whispered into Jerome's ear. He looked at me with an entertained smile. He patted my head and said, "Sorry, baby girl, no can do. Mr. Galavan wants us to make an impression and if our hostage mentions that we let him leave, unharmed, this city wouldn't take us seriously, they'd think we're a bunch of softies." He explained. He had a point, we wouldn't seem as scary if we went with my suggestion. Jerome then looked down, thinking. He popped his head up not a moment later, hopped off the ledge, and walked over to Greenwood and the hostage. I hopped back onto the roof as well to see what he was up to. He took the spray paint and sprayed an exclamation point on the hostage.
"Aaron, would you kindly?" Jerome requested. Aaron picked up the hostage and threw him over the ledge, just like the previous 6. We all leaned over the ledge to see the outcome. The victims were dead on the road below us, forming something of a line that spelled out Maniax!, our group name.
"Now that's a headline." Jerome joked and laughed hysterically.

I woke up to humming. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jerome walking out of our shared bathroom with an expensive looking red robe on. I groaned and flopped over on the king-sized bed, I was never a morning person. And with how hectic yesterday was, I was exhausted.
"Good morning, sunshine!" Jerome greeted me as he walked over to our bed and kissed me on the forehead. I groaned again and he chuckled in response.
"Come on, you need to get up. Mr. Galavan just informed me breakfast is ready. There's gonna be donuts!" Jerome explained, making sure I heard the last statement. He knew how much I loved donuts. I perked up immediately and got out of bed. Jerome grinned and handed me my own robe. I pulled the black material over my body and slipped my black slippers on. Besides that, I was wearing a purple silk top with matching purple silk pajama shorts. I gotta admit, living in Theo Galavan's mansion was incredibly luxurious. I could get used to this rich life, maybe ruling Gotham would be worth all the bad things we were doing to accomplish it. Jerome and I made our way to the dining room, where the rest of the Maniax! were already. I spotted the donuts, quickly grabbed a plate, and put one on it. I then sat down next to Dobkins, Jerome was next to me at the head of the table.
"Fine job yesterday, gentlemen and lady." Theo congratulated, making sure to acknowledge me.
"We opened big. The whole city knows your name now." He explained, showing a Gotham Gazette newspaper to us, which, indeed, had our names on the front page.
"So, bravo. Let's give ourselves a round of applause." They all started clapping, Jerome loudly, while Dobkins did his in a circle. I didn't want to at first, but when I saw Theo looking at me expectantly, I clapped softly. It wasn't something to be proud of, in my opinion. Those men didn't deserve to die. Everyone else here thought they did, though, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Now that we have Gotham's attention, it's time for the Maniax! to make a grand entrance." Theo informed.
"Wasn't that it?" I questioned with a confused face.
"That was the overture. Now the audience is hushed, expectant. The curtain rises..." Theo started explaining, looking at me as he walked past Greenwood, who was on the opposite side of the table from me, and made his way over to Jerome.
"Then what happens?" Jerome asked, intrigued.
"Oh, then we confront Gothamites with their most primal fears. Take from them all they hold dear and sacred." Theo continued, placing his hands on Jerome's shoulders. Those words shook me to my core. Innocent lives were just going to be destroyed for the sake of us ruling Gotham? There had to be another way. Jerome had formed a creepily excited smile on his face at Theo's explanation.
"And then what happens?" He asked once more, his voice almost a growl.
"Well, then we offer them salvation. And then they are ours." Theo finished. Well at least we'd stop the horrific events at some point, but how far in the future would that be? Months? Years? I don't think I could do this for years.
"Let's get busy, man." Greenwood commented to Galavan, raising his eyebrows excitedly at me. I gulped, he was known for eating women, so I wanted to keep as much distance between us as possible. I looked down, away from his gaze. I flickered my eyes up to see Jerome staring daggers into Greenwood. I have a feeling they'll never get along.
"Patience, first you all need to learn a little stagecraft." Theo remarked.
"Stagecraft?" Greenwood asked with a mouth full of donut.
"You're going to be on TV. You have to present yourselves with style and vigor. Dobkins, say, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."" Theo requested from behind where me and Dobkins were seated.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." He rushed out in a monotone mumble.
"Again, with a smile." Theo demanded.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." The schizophrenic repeated, still mumbling, but with a smile and higher tone to his voice. It wasn't very good and judging by Theo's reaction, he wouldn't be at center stage.
"You." He sighed, pointing to Greenwood. The cannibal put down his donut and bellowed, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." I cringed, it was too harsh for my taste.
"Not bad. Sinister and authoritative." Theo noted. He then turned to Aaron, who had a donut shoved in his mouth and chocolate all over his lips. He looked up at Galavan, clueless.
"Never mind." Theo shook his head, then looked at me.
"Irene, how about you?"
"Oh no, I'm not really a presenter." I hesitated.
"Oh, come on. Give it a try." Theo encouraged. I took a shaky breath and cleared my throat. Jerome gave me a thumbs up.
"Good-" My voice cracked, my fear getting the better of me. I slowly closed my eyes from embarrassment. I heard the others laugh at me and felt Theo's hand rest on my shoulder.
"That's alright, Irene. There are plenty of other roles for you." He comforted.
"Yeah, I think that'd be best." I rushed out and opened my eyes.
"Jerome." Theo called out, signaling he was next. He cleared his throat and stood up on his chair, sprawling his arms out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening!" He greeted, playfully. Yep, he was definitely the winner.
"Very good. Boyishly charming." Theo commented, smiling. Jerome let out one of his distinguishable laughs, making all of us smile.
"The laugh is fabulous. Use that." Theo added. After that, Tabitha and Barbara walked in the room, whipping the mayor, who had a box over his head. The poor guy had no idea where he was going and ended up slamming into a wall and falling down, unconscious.
"I am so glad that you two are getting along. But, we're a little busy here, so if you could leave the poor mayor alone." Theo told the girls.
"We're bored." Tabitha whined.
"Yeah, why do they get to have all the fun?" Barbara added.
"Your time is coming, I told you." Theo assured. He then looked down at the mayor, who lied on the ground making no sound.
"You haven't killed him, have you?" He questioned.
"No, I don't think so." Tabitha replied, whipping the mayor once more. The mayor whimpered in response, meaning he was still alive.
"Nope, hanging in there." Tabitha commented as she left the room. She ruffled my hair on her way out. I don't know why, perhaps because I'm the youngest here, but her and her brother seem to want to treat me as a child. At first, I thought Theo saw me as equal, but that clearly wasn't the case. I didn't like it at all, I was 18, technically an adult, so why did they have to treat me like I was so innocent? I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't, that I could be just as maniacal and cold hearted, maybe even more so, as the rest of the Arkham escapees, but that would require me to kill innocent people and I wasn't exactly on board with that.
"When? When is my time coming?" Barbara asked Theo, snapping me out of my thoughts and back to the conversation at hand.
"Soon, very soon. Why don't you tell me about James Gordon?" Theo said, walking closer to Barbara.
"What do you wanna know?" She responded.
Jim Gordon. That awful man who sent us to the loony bin when we're not even crazy!
The voice shouted, sending sparks of pain up my neck. I twitched and snapped my head for a moment. Jerome took notice of this.
"It speaking to you again?" He asked.
"Yeah." I answered simply.
"What'd it say?" He asked, curiously.
"James Gordon. It wants revenge on him...and so do I." I explained. He smiled deviously at the darkness in my tone.
"Oh, you will, darling. I'll make sure of that."