Jerome Valeska Imagines

ELEVEN | Pressed To Meet Ya: Pt. 2

Be safe, Mom said. Don't get into trouble, Mom said. Well, Mom, I've gotten myself into a pickle.

Jerome Valeska, the same dude who was on the news a year ago and the same guy who DIED, was dragging me in a chokehold with a gun pointed at my head through the garage, looking for the best van. Honestly; there's no difference to any of the vans. There's five news vans. It's not that hard to choose.

Jerome wore a police uniform, hat and jacket and all that, even the belt. No doubt, he stole that. I considered reaching for the taser in his holster in an attempt to escape. I glanced to the side and saw a block-looking thing. Looks like a taser. I was holding his chokehold arm in case he decided to try and crush my throat. I reached back to try and reach it as discreetly as possible as Jerome scanned each fan without saying anything. I grabbed hold of it and tried to pull it when I feel a hand stop me. I couldn't turn my head all the way around to see who's hand it was.

Odd laughter broke out from the man behind us. "The girl tried to take something of yours!" He managed to say through insane laughter.

Jerome let go of me, still making sure to keep me at gun point as he pulled something out of his back pocket. A roll of duct tape emerged from his pocket. I glanced up at his eyes as he began to approach me.

"Turn around, toots," He growled.

I didn't hesitate to respond, turning around.

"Hands back," he ordered.

That I did hesitate on. "N-no, please! I'll be good, I promise!"

"Dwayne, hold this for me, would ya?" I hear the gun click behind me as it's passed along.

Jerome roughly grabbed my arms and pulled them back harshly. I winced in pain because of his aggression. I felt the tape go around my wrists tightly. He finished putting on the tape, which bound my hands behind my back.

"Now, you're not going to misbehave, darlin'," Jerome said darkly. "Let's keep movin'!"

Jerome dragged me along, Dwight following, as we walked by a bunch of identical vans. He stopped at one, finally.

"Eh, this'll do, I suppose," He looked the van up and down.

"I'll get it started," Dwight said frantically.

Quite quickly, the van's engine revved up and Jerome let out a giddy laugh.

"Looks like I'm driving! Oh, Dwayne, throw her in the back, but don't be too rough! We've gotta keep her pretty face in keen condition."

Jerome shoved me over to Dwayne or whatever his name was. He looked like he didn't know how to handle people.

"Now, D! We've got a tight schedule," Jerome shouted.

Dwayne jumped and then pushed me in the van. Before I could get up, he closed the door.
Too bad there weren't any windows.

All I could do was sit in the back of the van. Well, not sure because I was laying down due to his awkward shoving-me-in thing he did. The left door closed first, and from the front, Jerome yelled something inaudibly. Dwight nodded and grabbed a bit of a rag left in the back of the van. It was long enough to wrap around my face. And so he did, ensuring it acted as a gag. I looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping to grasp at some humanity left in his gaze. All I could see though was a crazed anxiety flaring in his eyes. He slammed the doors shut. I left out a muffled cry. As the van lurched forward, I slid back, my back hitting the doors with a thump. I winced at the pain of my hands hitting the door as well.

It felt like 45 minutes had passed, with the jerky movements of the vehicle jostling me around. My gut told me it was likely 10, but it felt like so much longer. Jerome seemed to drive as crazy as he was insane. The van came to a stop, and the ignition turned off. The two front doors opened and closed. The back doors of the van opened and I considered running, embracing freedom with open arms. Jerome grabbed me and pulled me out before I could think of running. He hoisted me over his shoulder.

"Dwayne, get the stuff set up in there! I gotta carry the girl," Jerome ordered.

Dwight scurried off. At this moment, I thought of flailing around, and fear overruled logic. I began to thrash my legs around and tried to scream through the gag. I managed to kick somewhere as Jerome accidentally set me down to clutch his wounded area. I began to run then, slowly, then gaining speed. I turned back and then turned my head and ran straight into Dwight. I lost my balance and fell back, knocking the wind out of me. He looked down at me. I must've been running towards the warehouse-looking building because Inwas remarkably close to the door. Jerome had caught up with me.

"We could've done this the easy way, tootsie. Sadly, you decided to be naughty," Jerome giggled and then dropped his facial expression. "Dwayne, tape."

Dwight passed him the roll and Jerome picked me up again and set me down on an old wooden chair. He undid the duct tape on my wrists.

"Grab her right arm, hold it still, would ya?" He said with a maniacal smile through his gauzed up face.

I tried to pull my arms towards me but the two were a lot stronger than me and Jerome taped the left arm to the arm of the chair. He tossed the roll of tape to Dwight who finished the right. He also taped my feet as I struggled. I was then completely bound to the chair.

Jerome pulled the chair and me along to an area where a camera was set up and there seemed to be a lot of electrical boxes.

Jerome and Dwight exchanged some words but my heart was pulsing so loudly I wasn't paying attention. My adrenaline was making realize the severity of the situation. I was KIDNAPPED and I don't know his motives. Or what he would be doing with me.

Dwight handed him a bag with what...oh god. Jerome's face was in a bag and Dwight gave it to him. Jerome unwrapped his face, the realization now hitting me as to why he had the gauze on. Painfully, he stapled the face back on, each staple receiving dark laughter.

Jerome turned to face Dwight, and raised his staple gun. He smashed it over Dwight's head and Dwight crumpled. I stared with wide eyes. Jerome turned to face me.

"It's all part of the plan, toots. Just you wait!" He laughed crazily.

He began to set up a load of TNT.

"Alright, Toots, I gotta use this chair but you better not go anywhere," Jerome walked towards me. "Or I'll have you blow you to smithereens, too!"

He undid the duct tape and redid the duct tape on my hands behind my back and stood me behind the camera.

"You ready?" Jerome grinned and turned to Dwight who was now awake and was tied tk the chair I was previously restrained to.

"You're a martyr...uh—"Jerome turned to Dwight.

"Dwight," He said.

"Yeah, yeah."

He turned back to the camera. "Aaaand..." He presser the REC button. "Testing,testing. Am I alive? You hear me? Ah, screw it, let's do it..."Jerome peered into the lens. "Hi. Some of you may know..." He looked to me. "...I died. Uh oh. Take it from me. Death. Is. Dull. But coming back...that is something. Leave it to dying to give you a whole new perspective on life." Jerome glanced at you again before getting up and circling around, standing closer to Dwight's dynamite chair. He crouched, looking at the camera again. "And I would like to share that with you." He faced Dwight and grabbed his face. Dwight was clad in a police uniform. "Aww, officer. You look terrible. Hey you got—" Jerome pulled a lighter out from behind Dwight's ear and gasped. He turned to the camera, igniting the lighter. "Tonight Gotham, in the darkness, there are no rules. So, tonight Gotham, do what you want. Kill who you want. Oh, and when morning comes, you, too, shall be..." Jerome lights a stick of dynamite. "Reborn." He began laughing. He stopped abruptly. He dropped the dynamite. Shit, he dropped it. "Oh, and uh—"He snapped his fingers.

"D-dwight," He said.

"I don't forgive you for my face," Jerome began to laugh hysterically. He signaled for me to join him as he broke out into laughter. I caught up to him and he grabbed my arm. He began to run faster, and got far enough to stop. I turned back towards the building. In a split second, everything was extremely bright for a second before there was a ringing. I could still hear Jerome laughing at his disaster.
My hearing returned. Jerome pulled me into a new car. He turned to me and smiled maniacally.

"Tonight is going to be fun!"