Jerome Valeska One-Shots

Without You Part 2

It's been a year since Y/N died, and a year since Jerome began his rise to power in the criminal underworld.

It didn't take long for him to climb to the top, because unlike Penguin and all the Italian mobsters in Gotham that had rules and tried not to get themselves taken down by the cops, Jerome and his crazy following had no such qualms. They just killed whoever they wanted, and if someone stood in their way, they killed them too. A lot of the time it was join or die, and if they joined they lost their minds after a short while and then they really joined.

Their ranks grew rapidly when all the stepped on people of Gotham—from the Narrows, the streets, the slums—realized that they didn't have to be pushed around by people that thought they were better because of what they were born into. They could take what they wanted from whoever they wanted if they so chose. No more staying in an endless cycle that never worked out for you and yours just because people in power say you have to.

And when there are such drastic differences in class and so many more of those that have been shoved down than the ones eating from silver spoons, it gets French Revolution real quick.

The crime lords couldn't keep control of their territory anymore, much less their people, a lot of which liked Jerome's way of doing things much better, and eventually they fell out of power or were killed. Penguin himself hobbled into hiding. No one's quite sure where he went off to, but Jerome's best bet is on Riddler.

Anyway, Jerome and his following have control of the city streets. There is some contention on certain streets where the GCPD tries to hold on to their territory where they're keeping the sheep of the city, as well as some of the millionaires, safe, but everyone knows it's only a matter of time until Jerome's way of doing things is all that's left.

Sadly, Jerome had to leave Y/N's body behind in order to make his escape, but he thinks about her and the promise he made every day. He hopes that wherever she is she's proud. It's all for you, princess.

Sighing, he goes to face the day with a smile. Once he leaves his room, he sees that one of his followers is waiting for him, bowing.

"What's new?" Jerome demands, giving the awed man permission to stand and speak.

"We've finally taken Arkham, great one. We can start releasing prisoners at your command," the man relays. "Also, when we explored the facility, we found a hidden lab in the basement. They were experimenting on inmates and on dead bodies."

"That's freaky, even for me. Anything interesting?" Jerome wonders.

"There's a man there who apparently was part of a team that was trying to bring people back to life. He claims they were successful, and..." the man trails off nervously.

"What?" Jerome growls, eyes narrowing.

"They have bodies, like I said, in ice to preserve them. One of the ones we found, well... it was Y/N," the man admits, flinching away from Jerome.

"What?" Jerome roars. "You mean to tell me these losers have been experimenting on my dead girlfriend's body?"

"No, sir, no, not as far as we can tell, and the worker—Dwight—says they hadn't touched her. She was one of the ones lined up to be reanimated," the follower explains. "Her body is still intact, and on ice if you want to see her. And there's something else..."

"What is it?" The redhead grinds out between his teeth.

"Dwight, he claims that with your permission, he could bring her back to life," he replies.

Jerome's head is set reeling. When he thought about bringing Y/N back to life after she died, he thought it would be way into the future, and perhaps involve some sort of hostage situation with scientists. And after he was forced to leave her body, he had to abandon the idea, figuring she would be getting a burial or cremation and leaving it at that.

But this, it seems strange because it's outlandishly simple. What luck that the body of the woman he loves has been preserved on ice for the last year and now there is someone willing to revive her with no bribery or threats needed. It definitely seems too good to be true, and there's no way Jerome will trust this Dwight character, but maybe he'll be useful enough to actually save Y/N, and then Jerome can always off him to tie off loose ends.

"I need to get to Arkham, now," Jerome grunts, making up his mind. "As far as the inmates go, release all of them, except ones locked up for rape or any sort of sexual crime. Kill them. That shit isn't worth keeping alive. You can let people play with them if they want to. As long as they end up dead, I don't care."

With that, Jerome leaves to gather up some of his following and flies down the road to Arkham. He lets his informant lead him down to the basement as the rest of his people work on carrying out his orders. They finally stop in front of a nervous looking man in a lab coat.

"Dwight! I am so glad to hear that you volunteered to bring my girl back! How kind of you to contribute to the team!" Jerome shouts as he enters, giggling a little bit at the man's terrified expression. "I take it that means you want membership to the Jerome fan club. You're offering up one hell of a membership fee, after all."

The psycho strides closer, circling the shaking man like a shark. "I just hope you're not trying to pull anything on me, Dwight. That would not go over well at all. And so help me if you harm one hair on my pretty girl's head, I will slice off your hands and use them as paperweights. After I kill you of course."

"N-No, I would never," Dwight splutters.

Suddenly Jerome brightens, pulling back. "Good! Then we shouldn't have any problems. Now, obviously I can't have you doing your test run on my girl, so, um..."

Jerome turns, and sees the man who had tried to keep from him the state of his love. He stalks over to the informant and stabs him in the throat, watching as his eyes widen in shock and he rapidly bleeds out onto the tile floor.

"Here's your test subject!" Jerome says cheerily. "You're welcome! And he's even got a similar cause of death, so it should give you even more practice for reviving Y/N!"

Dwight stands flabbergasted, starting at the rapidly cooling body on the floor.

"Sorry I made a bit of a mess of your sterile environment, but hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to clean up," Jerome tuts. "I'm leaving you with a couple of my favorite guys as backup. Anyway, I'll leave you to it!"

With that, Jerome cheerily exits, whistling as he tries to find the area where they keep the frozen bodies so he can see his Y/N again.

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Word Count: 1215
Yay, Part 2! Still waiting on votes for Polly Part 4, but I thought I'd fulfill a quick request. @Spade_Karma this one's for you babe! Let me know if you want another part, or if you have any other requests! Please vote and comment if you're still enjoying these and if you've missed them! Love ya!
Gingy