His Trophy | Jerome Valeska

thirteen

The gates of Arkham Asylum clattered as Jim drove through the driveway. He was there to see Jerome and confront him about what he wanted with his daughter. Somehow, no matter how sunny the day was, Arkham always looked grey and miserable. Jim was greeted by one of the nurses and two security guards. As he approached the visiting room, one of the nurses cautioned him.

"He bites," they said, before opening up the door for him. The room was empty, Jerome had yet to enter.

"I'm sure he does," Jim mumbled back as he slowly walked into the room. It was a small grey chamber, there was a large window on one side, looking into the hallway from which Jim had just exited. There Jim could see the two beefy security guards watching, waiting for Jerome to pounce. On the wall opposite that was a metal grill which protected another window. Through that wall, Jim could see into the narrow hallway that led into the main body of the asylum. In the centre of the room was two metal chairs and a large table with a handcuff rail to keep the prisoners tied to the table.

Jim sat, and the nurse set up the camera that was to record the two. Once the nurse was done, she seemed to scurry out of the room. He found this weird but put it down to the company that he was soon to be receiving. Jim waited patiently for Jerome. Every second or so, he would glance through the gated window to see if he could catch Jerome approaching.

He was waiting a while before Jerome finally appeared. Two huge and muscular men dressed in pale green scrubs were holding either side of him. His hands were tightly pulled back in a straight jacket and his legs cuffed, so he walked only in small steps.

Jim stayed seated when they entered, merely watching the guards pushing Jerome into the chair opposite and tightening the straps of the jacket. One of them left the room and stood, like the other guards that had escorted Jim in, by the window watching. The other backed into a corner and stood silently, giving Jim a small nod of greeting.

Jerome was surprisingly quiet as he stared at Jim. He seemed to be angry, or was it disappointment?

"Sorry I'm late, I had a little disagreement with the monkeys behind me," Jerome said as he leant back in his chair. The guard that had stayed in the room tensed when he said this. Jerome then bent over the table, getting close to Jim.

"They have no manners, you know," he muttered to Jim with a smile.

Jim watched him and didn't respond. Jerome stayed leaning over the table for a couple of seconds, his eyes staring blankly into Jims.

"I was hoping that Rory would be with you," Jerome said again, leaning back into the metal chair.

"She's not hiding anywhere is she?" he continued, he slowly turned his head to look through the windows to try and catch a glimpse of her.

"No, she's not." Jim curtly responded.

Jerome looked back to Jim, his eyes moving up and down, analysing him before a crazed smile came back across his face.

"But she's why you're here, right, Jimbo?" he taunted as he smiled. He relaxed in the chair, leaning back, the shackles on his ankles clinking as he moved.

Another long pause fell between the two as Jim tried to refrain himself from hitting Jerome. Jerome soaked up Jim's anger, knowing that through provoking the detective, he could get more on his beloved Rory.

"How is she?" He asked, delighting as he watched Jim's jaw tense with the question. Again, Jim didn't answer.

"What, you're not even going to speak to me?" Jerome pouted as he watched the angry Jim Gordon battle with his morals.

Jim, who was getting more and more angry with the psycho in front of him, stood up and turned the camera on. Jerome let out a chuckle, before rolling his neck.

"Am I going to be on TV, Jimbo?"

Ignoring Jerome, Jim sat back down and rested his hands on the table. looking Jerome directly into the eye, he asked:

"What have you done to my daughter?" his voice was stern and laced with aggression.

Jerome's immediate reaction was a loud and deranged laugh.

"Oh I haven't done anything," he taunted through a smile.

Jim slammed the table.

"Enough with the taunts, Jerome, I want to know what you've done to her? Why do you keep hunting her?" Jim yelled.

Jerome laughed at this watching the detective become even angrier.

"I opened her eyes, Jimmy," was his response.

"Bullshit! You've tormented her for years now, Jerome! Why?" Jim shouted again.

Suddenly, Jerome became very serious and leaned over the table with a menacing glare.

"No, you ask her that. See, you're too good to understand why I need her, why she needs me. You probably think I'm only pursuing her because of you," Jerome snarled.

"Rory is the only one who will ever be able to truly understand freedom. All of you are trapped behind morality and ethics, but she, she sees those who can be free, and she frees them. She gives them power, shows them the right path, like me. We want the world to burn - you can always tell - especially when somebody radiates that much chaos like Rory does. She opened my eyes, so I am opening hers and helping her become like me. I love her, Jim. I feed off of her chaos, I need her. You wanna know what I did her, how about you ask her what she did to me? Ask her about the colours, Jimmy."

Jim, who was trying with all his might to not punch Jerome, looked to the guard and nodded. The man behind the door then entered, and the two guards proceeded to unchain Jerome roughly and take him back to his cell. Jerome, who was now madly laughing yelled as they restrained him.

"Bring her to me Jimbo, she needs me, she won't survive long without me," he then was escorted out of the room, his laughs rang about the place loudly and even as he was taken through the corridor, Jim could still hear his deranged and terrifying cackles.

AUTHORS NOTE-

Hi guys,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 1K READS!! I'm overwhelmed by this and I'm so glad that so many of you like the story! Thank you for reading and I hope you continue too! I'm so grateful for your support and attention :) Also the story will no longer follow the plot of the Gotham TV series and will just become its own thing, I don't know if I want to bring Jeremiah into this story or not yet but the rest of the plot will be my own creation :)

Again, thank you so so so much for reading this!!

R. x