Simply & Sanely - Jeremiah Valeska

Chapter 5

Gotham was a city full of scum and home of the worst criminals. Robbery, rape, fraud and murder - one might wonder why bad things happened to good people.
Among this cruel chaos and the injustice that happened to the innocents, there must be hope. Grace. Even Compensation.

But the truth is as simple as alarming: In Gotham, there aren't good people.

Everyone was in disguise, hiding their true intentions behind masks of skin and flesh. With a corrupt police protecting the city, it was no wonder that even the criminals betrayed each other.
Contract killers were a quick and safe solution in that matter.
Killing your drug dealer who charged you 5,000$ for fake meth? Call Jeff.
Killing your partner because he slept with your wife? Call Alejandro.
Killing the boss in order to ascend the shabby throne? Call Michael the Nickel.
But if the job needed to be done probably, Victor Zsasz was your man. He knew his craft and possessed one essential trade that assured his success rate: he loved his job.

Victor was Oswald's ace. After more than 24 hours, his henchmen kept shrinking whilst the excuses kept pilling up. Martinez was still in the hands of Jerome Valeska, a maniac worse than his brother.

Oswald passed time by thinking of various methods of torture, the more brutal the better. Maybe he should cut off his face and eat it in front of him?
„Boss." Victor entered the room, hands folded in front of him. He looked like a serious business man with his black pants and jacket. Just his shaved eyebrows and intense stare revealed the craziness.

Oswald downed his half-full glass of wine in one swift move; the alcohol helped him calm his nerves. He sat in his chair in front of the fire-place, his back facing Victor. A wicked grin spread across the Penguin's face and he winked at the killer. „Come here, Victor, come."

Stepping closer and now standing next to Oswald, Victor's hand twitched as he saw a pair of feet lurking behind the corner of the table.

„Red wine and pain killers are truly reliable when it comes to relieving some stress...", Oswald said and crossed his legs, looking down at the bloody corpse next to him. „But nothings beats good old killing to let off some steam." A pocketknife sparkled while Oswald inspected the blade, his expression turned hard before he threw it against the dead men, followed by the empty wine glass. He let out a wild growl, a mixture of rage and impatientness, but Victor kept a straight face.

„Inability is unacceptable and I swear to god, I will kill every idiot who dares coming back to me with excuses and no information! I want the boy alive, as soon as possible, within the next few hours, together with this maniac! I will torture him until he's begging me to end his miserable and worthless life!"

Oswald's furious words echoed faintly within the high walls. Victor smirked, his dark eyes gleamed with excitement.

„Don't worry, boss. Consider that clown as good as dead."

__

A pulsing pain welcomed you as you slowly woke up. The ground was cold and hard and you had no idea what had happened. Your eyelids were heavy, but you managed to keep them open to look around. Grey stone-walls surrounded you - one, two, three, four. No doors. No windows.

Just a little boy who leaned against wall number three. And then the memories hit you, all at the same time. A tornado of flashing images blustered inside your mind.

The alley. The armored men. The bunker in the woods. The maze. The piercing green eyes.

„Hey...", you mumbled and crawled to the boy. He raised his head and his blanc eyes watched you moving closer.

Jeremiah. Jeremiah Valeska was the man's name who had kidnapped you and this boy. You recognized him - he was the boy you saw on one of the many monitors in Jeremiah's office.
The pain in your head grew stronger and your right cheek was swollen. Ecco. This woman will pay for this, you swore to yourself.