grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP. 10: That's Were I Know The Name

  A couple of days had passed here and we were all planning about what to do and how to do the big opening act for our name to be reconized. Theo helped us organize and build up our plan but I still got this really weird vibe from him. Every time I heard his name I shivered a bit. I had heard it somewhere! It was agonizing! It pried at my brain and poked around as if trying to piss me off. I hadn't heard of Tabitha, his sister so maybe I was just imagining things. Maybe it sounded like a name I had heard else were. He seemed rich so maybe someone had talked about him and I over heard it. Yeah...that was probably it.

  At around 12:15 in the afternoon, I decided to walk around the place. I think this Theo guy was planning something bigger than the plan he told us. Why would be break out crazy people, let them loose on Gotham and give them a title when it gave him nothing in return? That made no sense. These other idiot's could fall for it all they want but I was not going to be so easily fooled. I was grateful for everything he had given yes, yeah blah blah blah and all that. But, I remember what he did to Richard. He could do that to any of us at any time. 

  Soooo, I was not going to die that quickly. When I die I want to leave the world thinking about me when I was gone. Not stabbed to death by a annoying, ponytail lesbian like Tabitha. Oh yeah, Barbara and her seemed to be going out which was weird. I thought Barbara had an obsession with Jimbo but eh, I don't judge. I just needed to figure out what the hell was really going on around here. But I had to keep low if I didn't want my head to be chopped off. 

  I was roaming around, walking into random rooms that were unlocked and checking them to see if any diabolical plan was happening. The rooms that were locked I managed to pick some of them with a clip from my hair. Most of the locked rooms were either bedroom, storage closets, or just empty offices. One door however, would not unlock with my clip. It seemed to have something special about that lock that my clips could not compromise with. It also had another lock at the top so that told me something. This is the room I was looking for. Before I could investigate further, I heard voices coming my way. 

  I curse under my breath before sprinting away and towards my room. I close my door quietly before climbing onto my bed. I sigh and think. I needed to get into that room if I wanted to see what the hell was going on here but how? I could kick it down but that would be waayyy to much noise and people would come running my way as soon as I tried. So that was out. What else should I do? That is when I hear a knock on my door. I knit my brows.

  "Come in!" I call out. The door opens and shows none other than Theo Galavan standing there. How wonderful. Note my sarcasm. He smiles. 

  "Hello Grace." He oozes. I sit up and stay on the edge of my bed. He walks around my room. "Well, you certainly made this place your own." 

  "What do you want?" I snap. He slowly turns my way and gives a small chuckle. 

  "Oh Grace, so defensive. I just wanted to talk." He tells me. I raise a brow. 

  "About?" I ask. He motions for me to follow him as he walks out the door. I sigh but get up, walking out and closing my door. He puts his hands behind his back, waiting for me to catch up. I do and he continues to talk as we walk down the hall. 

  "Ever since you got here, you have seemed to dislike my ways of giving you your freedom." He says. "You seem...resentful. Why is that?" I look in front of me. 

  "Well, you can see my hesitance. You break us out of Arkham and expect nothing in return. I just find it all a little bit strange." I explain. He nods. 

  "Yes I can see that." He says and we stop in front of a door. He opens it and we walk in to see it's his office. He had many shelves of books among the walls, a table with big chairs next to an unlit fire place, a large window showed the rottings of Gotham city, a desk against the side of the room with a large chair in the front to which he sat at. He motioned to the seat in front of him.

  "Please, sit." He says. I walk up to the chair and sit, crossing my legs. He folded his hands into one another than looked around the office. 

  "Did you know this building used to be my father's." He told me. I looked around and glanced at the books, not really paying attention to his story. "The Galavan name has been passed on threw centuries and centuries. It was passed to me and now I must bare this responsibility. This heavy weight. I must impress my dear departed father. I will grow the family name to go past Gotham, past the U.S, to travel around the entire world. I will do it to. What did you parents leave you?"

  I look at him. 

  "I don't know. I killed them." I answer. He nods. 

  "Right, forgive me that passed my mind." He says and he then shifts. "You know, I knew your father. Mr. Sky." I raise my brows in surprise. He nods. "Yes, the Galavan's have been in business with the Sky's a long time. Your father and I talked a lot considering money and the many things we offered each in this...business. I was one of his main profiters." 

  A light bulb popped into my brain. That...is where I had heard his name. No, not heard. I had read his name. Whenever my family had left me home when they went out for dinner, I would look around everyone's rooms. I had come into my father's and shifted threw his paperwork. I had seen the name Theo Galavan in many of them, signed contracts, business agreements. So I wasn't crazy(okay I was but for a different reason), I had heard his name before. I raise my head a bit and notices my change attitude. 

  "So your father mentioned me?" He said. I shake my head. 

  "No. I stumbled on his work one day by accident." 'Accident.' He nods his head and then stands, walking over to my chair, talking while doing so. 

  "Your father was never a nice man. He never acted like he actually cared about what our business was about. He just wanted the money." He told me.

  "So what was your 'business' about exactly?" I ask. He waves a hand in the air. 

  "That's all in the past. I am talking about the now." He tells me and leans on the front of his desk near me. He deflected that pretty well but I still knew he diverted the subject. 

  "To speak truthfully, I'm glad your father is gone. He just kept taking my money, never helped others and was always, altogether, to put it forward, an asshole." Theo says. He didn't need to tell me that, I lived with the guy. 

  "The reason I brought you all here is because I want people that are very much like your father to understand that they are not the only people in Gotham. That there are the less fortunate that need to be understood and paid attention to. People like you." He says then begins to walk around my chair slowly. "You need to be recognized for what you have been through. People need to realize that you are to be reckoned with. That you are a danger that they need to respect. They shouldn't keep you captive in a cage. They need to let you free and spread your wings." He grabbed the top of my chair and leaned in towards me from behind.

  "You need to leave a mark. You need to show them. You need to show them like you showed your father that you should be looked at twice and not ignored." He finished and I felt myself looking at the ground, thinking of what he said. Somehow, despite me hating him, he made sense. The people of Gotham turned a blind eye to what really happened to people like me. I remember my time in my household. My father was dragging me by my hair into my house and I saw my neighbor standing on the other side of the street, looking at what was going on. I thought he was going to help me, but he simply turned around and went back inside. I lifted my head up higher. He walked in front of me once again. 

  "So, Grace." He said. "Do you understand what I am saying? Why I brought you all here?" I nod and then smile. 

  "I do very much now." I say. I still didn't fully trust him but he made sense. He clapped his hands together.

  "Wonderful." He said with a chuckle. He then seemed to think of something and checked his watch. "Ahh. I am afraid I must go now. I have business to attend to with my sister. Feel free to roam around the building as much as you like. Ask a guard to make you food if your hungry." He then walked up to his door, opening it up for me. I stand and make my way towards the door. Just as I was about to leave, he stops me.

  "Oh and Grace." He says. I turn to him. "Try to make yourself as comfortable as you need. You are welcome to go wherever you like. You don't have to hide about it." He smiles. I nod and walk out, going to my room and running over in my head what had just happened.