Like A Shadow In Gotham | Jeremiah Valeska/Joker

Chapter 9 - Debts Repaid

I was heavily panting by the time I ran into the alley, my feet thrashing against the ground creating a lot of noise. This made the henchmen turn and they started screaming at me as to what I was doing outside, if I had escaped, and what not. All of their words were falling on deaf ears.

Instead of running away from them, I was running towards them, until I finally reached them and fell on my knees in front of Jeremiah. The henchmen who had been holding him dropped him abruptly and instead rushed to grab me by my shoulders, making me scream at them.

"Fucking dumbasses. He needs you right now. I'm not escaping . I was, but I am back now. You can tell this to your boss once he is well enough. Let me go!" I hurled a few more abuses at them before they let go of me. I immediately found myself next to Jeremiah, my fingers struggling to find a pulse.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found it.

"What happened?" I flicked an angry glare towards one of the henchmen who were looking at me confused. Truth was that they all were pretty much confused right now.

"He, uh.. He got shot. One on his leg and the other right through his stomach." One of them said. I followed his words with my eyes and trailed my gaze lower until I fixed it on his bleeding stomach.

"Fuck, Miah." I whispered underneath my breath and rolled up his bloody shirt until I saw the spurting wound. "The bullet is still inside. Jesus." I was panicking, I looked down at my bloody hands, that were covered in the blood of my ex husband, my hands that were shivering profusely. Briefly, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, sucking it up and fluttered them open again.

My fingers latched to my t shirt and I lifted the hem up to my lips, using my teeth to make a tear in the fabric. I ripped off the fabric, leaving only a small part of the t shirt left to cover my bra, my stomach now visible. I further ripped the makeshift bandage into two, tying the first one around the wound on his foot while the other I pressed to his stomach wound, immediately stepping up.

"What the hell are you guys doing staring at me like that? Lift him up and carry him upstairs."

I watched them lift Joker up using his arms and his feet and slid his unconscious body through the back door, leaving one henchman behind me.

"Move!" He grabbed me by my arm and we started walking inside, back to Joker's hideout.

"I am moving! No need to yell buddy!" I yelled back at him and scowled once my face had turned back towards the front.

We climbed up the stairs which were altogether familiar to me. I had been here only an hour before but I was moving upwards to the roof. We climbed the flight of stairs. I counted in my mind, we had climbed up three floors until the henchmen pulled open the metal door and stepped into the hallway.

We reached the front door and I jerked my arm away from him, my feet reaching the door as I threw it open. It was eerily quiet.

"Put him on the couch. Hurry." I pointed to the henchmen. They nodded and walked up to the couch carrying Jeremiah's unconscious bleeding form and gently lowered him on his back, his chest heaving up and down as he took punctured breaths.

"Jesus, just get me Joker's medical kit someone.."

I watched one of the henchmen disappear and the other one bolted the front door and stood by it, watching me curiously. "What are you doing?" He raised an eyebrow cautiously.

"What do you think I am doing? I am saving this man's life."

"And why would you do that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Because he saved mine when I was shot in the shoulder. Anything else, big-mouth?!" I snapped, my frustration visible on my face.

I turned back to face him as he knelt down beside him on the floor and started taking off his bloody shirt. "He is burning up, that's not good." I mumbled , looking around for the henchman who had gone to retrieve Jeremiah's medical kit. I moved from his shirt to his pants, rolling it up until his knees as I examined the bleeding on the bullet wound on his foot. Just then, I heard heavy footsteps in the hallway and the henchman emerged with the medical kit in his hands. He hurried up to me and knelt down beside me to help.