Red And Blue (Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska X OC)

Vengeance Sure Is Sweeter

(1 week later)

Harley struts down the hallway of Arkham, hands in the pockets of her skirt. Her steps are fast and she passes by many other workers on her way. One makes eye contact with her and nods. She flashes him a smile and continues moving quickly, her happy content expression dropping to a serious kind as soon as the man passes over to the next room.

She makes it to the 'B' wing and stops in front of one of the cells. She leans her back against it casually and slips one of her closed hands into the feeding slot at her waist level. She opens her fist to drop a screwdriver onto the cement floor. Then she puts both her hands back in her pockets.

"Thank you." Nygma says from his cell. Harley doesn't turn to face him, trying to remain secret about talking to him, so she replies with her eyes forward.

"Don't mention it. Blue made me." She tells him with a laugh. "She likes you a lot more than I do. If it was just me, I'd probably would've bullied you for looking like a fucking nerd by now." She explains, her words mostly an act. She doesn't hate him as much as she lets on that she does. In fact, she views him more as useful, than anything. Besides, she doesn't have any time to be actively hating someone at the moment other than Galavan.

"What about you?" Nygma asks. "Do you not want out of this place?" He slides the metal chair across the concrete floor of his cell to the middle of the room. The scraping made an unbearable noise, but it quickly went quiet again. "Sorry," He said under his breath, apologizing for the sound.

"No, I'm not leaving with you." She answers him. "I need to stay a little longer. Besides, if I wanted to get a breath of fresh air, I have my own ways of getting out." Ed unscrews the first screw that held up the vent to the ceiling. It clunked to the ground and rolled under the door. Harley bends down and picks it up, putting it into her pocket and knowing that she'll most likely be able to do something with it.

"Suit yourself." He replies, his voice echoing around the interior of the vent now, after getting it fully open and hanging down. He then jumps upward, and stiffly fits himself in. Harley watches, amused by his struggle for a few seconds, but then he disappears in no time.

Harley leaves the wing and heads back to her current room in the basement. On either side of her are other prisoners who had been experimented on, but the difference with her room is that it locks on the inside, not the out. She walks in and closes the door behind her. Then she bends over and lifts the mattress off of her bed frame and grabs the knife that was just sandwiched between the metal and cotton. She holds it in the light and admires the shiny red handle reflecting the image of her eyes back at her. She thinks back on her time in Arkham when Jerome was still alive and the two hadn't even crossed paths with Galavan yet.

—---------------------------------

(A year and a month ago)

"Just hold still a little longer." Harley tells Jerome through a smile. He sighs a little annoyed but does what she asks of him. Harley holds the knife that she had stuck in up to his face, right below his eye. She holds it at an angle, using it as a stencil for the black eyeliner that she smudges across his face. He sits on her bed and tilts his head up at her with his eyes closed.

She convinced him to let her do his eyeliner a couple hours ago and to be honest he's enjoying it more than he thought he would. She takes the knife away and sets it on the desk behind her. She swaps it out for a handheld mirror and shows him what she managed to create. In all honesty, with her experience with make up at the circus, it's pretty damn good.

"You're fucking talented, Harley." He compliments her. Harley feels herself blush a little and she glances away from his eyes to the wall to her right. Jerome moves his hand to her head and grabs her chin, turning her to face him again. "How'd we get so lucky with each other?" He corrects himself. "No. How'd I get so lucky with you?"