Red And Blue (Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska X OC)

Keep Your Enemies Closer

Present day

     Harley saunters slowly into her cell. The heavy metal door shuts and locks behind her. The cell is medium sized and about six feet by six feet, with a high barred window near the ceiling. A bed and a few shelves are the only objects in the room at the moment, but she expects to collect more things over time.

     She spins around and runs up to the window on the door, pressing her face against the bars. A guard stands only a few feet away digging through a pile of clothes. The clothes are black and white striped and in many different sizes.

     "Hey!" The guard ignores her. "Hey! You! What's your name?" He turns his gaze to her, annoyed.

      "James. What do you want?"

      "Um, when do I get to see my boyfriend!?" She puts on a fake, impatient smile.

      "Depends, if he's here in Arkham with you, tomorrow morning. If he isn't... a couple decades. Or once a week, visits are every Thursday." She nods her head and backs away slightly from the window. "Pants or a skirt?" James shouts to her.

      "Both." She answers, wanting to put the pants under the skirt as leggings. "I'm Harley by the way." A pile of clothes is squeezed through the window on her door and drops to the floor.

      "Get changed Harley." The man closes the metal flap on the opening to give her privacy. "You'll be here for a while." She takes off her baggy jacket and empties the pockets, hiding a pack of gum, a knife, and a cigarette pack under her mattress. She fully changes into the uniform and knocks on the door.

      "I'm done." She announces to James. He opens her window back up and she hands him her clothes through the bars.

      "Thanks for cooperating. A lot of other inmates don't at all which just makes my job harder. Which is why I'll let you keep that other stuff." He gives a playful wink.

       "What other stuff?" She grins. He smiles back, and laughs a little.

       "Exactly." He strolls to the end of the hall. "Lights out." The place goes mostly dark and Harley lays down in her new bed. She reaches one hand under the mattress and pulls the knife out next to her, then stashes it in her jacket pocket. She stares up at the concrete ceiling and falls asleep.

        The next day Harley can barely open her eyes. James bangs his fist on the metal doors lining her hallway making loud clanging sounds. She realizes how long it's been since the last full night she slept. She pulls the small blanket over her head to block out the noise.

        "C'mon Harley, wake up." She just groans at James's order. He opens her door and yanks the covers off her. "Don't start making me drag you around now." She gets on her feet and follows James out of her cell annoyed. They pass many other inmates down the corridors all acting different but weird.

        Some are screaming, some crying, and some glancing around rapidly on the verge of a mental breakdown. James opens up a chain link door to a fenced off wreck room. Many long tables and benches are placed inside, with about thirty inmates sitting at them. She steps inside and hears a click of a lock behind her on the door.

       "Harley!" She sees Jerome, standing up from a table. She rushes up to him and wraps both her arms up around his neck hugging him.

       "I missed you." She whispers in his ear and then quickly pulls away. She turns to the person that is sitting across from him. The man almost entirely ignores them, other than the side eye he gives, looking up from his magazine every so often. "Who is this?"