grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.59: Recruits

  Ok. So we had done the basics. We had broken out of Arkham. I had killed the people who were trying to kill me. Jervis distracted Jimbo. Jerome killed his uncle and got the information he needed. Baggy got the ingredients he needed. Now that was all done we needed a place to settle down. A place to work out the rest of the quirks of the plan. So we racked our brains for a place to stay. 

  We searched around Gotham. We drove around and found out more information about what had happened when we were all in Arkham. And man did some shit go down. It turns out gangsters completely raged and took over Gotham. Including Limpy and that Sofia he had mentioned ruined his life. I had heard of the Falcone name many times over in my younger life  because of my father's business. I think they had met once or twice so I knew of their position in Gotham's underworld. But it turns out he had recently died. And his daughter was now in some sort of bullet coma. And that meant their mansion was no longer holding any residents. 

  I was in the truck with Jerome, Hatty, and Baggy when a thought came to me. And I of course always gasp whenever getting a good idea so I managed to make Jerome almost flip over the truck when I did right next to him . He had growled at me and Hatty and Baggy had started complaining in the back but I shut them up by shouting my idea at them. That is why we were speeding down the street towards the Falcone mansion. 

  Once reaching our destination, the building seemed deserted. It looked abandoned in all it's old glory. And that just made it the perfect place for the four of us. I had skipped up to the front doors with the rest of them but when trying to open the door, it was of course locked. I was going to try use my excellent lock picking skills but for some reason Baggy just decided to kick it down. Not very efficient but eh, it worked. When walking in I realized I had not seen even half of what rich is. 

  This mansion was huge! It looked as if it had gold built into the walls! One chair looked as if it could cost more money than what my father's entire business had made. It really was more than I had ever seen. Jerome and I took advantage of this quickly and decided to run up the halls and look at everything. I tipped over various vases and statues as well as breaking painting and many other expensive looking things. 

  While Baggy and Hatty were looking for rooms to stay in, I was jumping on the couch with Jerome in the living room. I kicked pillows and ended up having a full on pillow fight with Jerome which turned into a full blown war with real silver silverware. Jerome and I ended up playing hide and seek for awhile and there where so many places to hide it was like a maze of rich rooms and halls. 

  I was having so much fun it felt like I was a kid again. Well, without the shit faces for parents and siblings. I felt alive and so full of life! Freedom was amazing! Being locked up for a year made me forget that. This was just too awesome to even explain!

  After some time of running around, hanging out, and messing around, I went to find a room with Jerome. We went to the master bed room on the third floor and I had never seen a better bed in all my life time. I looked like a kingsized bed blew up. It was the largest bed I had ever seen in my life. Jerome had made many erotic comments about the size of the bed to which I laughed at. The room had a built in bathroom with a bathtub the size of a swimming pool. The tile floor practically was a mirror from how clean it was (which I was pretty sure Jerome and I would ruin), and all together was amazing. But of course, all good things must be momentarily paused because Jerome and I had things to do. 

  I was in the living room picking at my nails with my leg crossed over my other while Jerome lit a fire in the fire place. Baggy was seated a little ways from me and examining his wrists spraying thing while Jervis tried on various hats that matched his new outfit. Jerome made a clicking noise with his tongue as he looked around the living room.