Chapter Text
based on this post
Jerome left to Chicago shortly after the hostage show in Gotham. After he was 'killed', he disappeared and planned on going back with a plan of retaliation and take over but first, he wanted to show other cities what he was about. He planned on going solo but one of the other crazies joined him, the muscles. He goes by Muscles, surprisingly. Everyone thinks that Jerome Valeska is dead, but not anymore. Word'll start in Chicago and makes its way to Gotham.
"Come on, no brain." Jerome seethes. "Time to see what Chicago's about."
Jerome and Muscles walk around like regular Chicago visitors, that is until Jerome shoulder bumped someone. "Hey, watch it." A female says to him and keeps walking. Followed by her in a man a few steps behind, exclaiming "Mandy!" loudly. Jerome watches whatever is happening, telling Muscles not to move.
"Will you fucking stop?" The male's voice exclaims, both of them stopping.
"No, I'm tired of you trying to be a fucking hero-"
"Me? Mickey Milkovich a fucking hero?" The guy - Mickey, apparently - scoffs. "I'm trying to save you from physical pain that you seem to fucking like. Kenyatta hits you and doesn't have any fucking remorse over it and you fucking let him! You have three brothers that can easily take care of it."
"Three brothers that'll either get killed or get caught and taken to fucking jail, Mick!" Mandy exclaims.
Jerome's million dollar smile appears on his face, turning to Muscles. "Find out more about this Kenyatta! This should be interesting!"
"How? I know nothing about them or-"
"Follow them!" Jerome exclaims. "Whoever this Kenyatta is, will be on the cover of Chicago and Gotham papers."
Muscles simply nods and follows sloppily behind the two siblings that were recently arguing. Jerome - before they got out of sight - told him to be stealth and quiet and not to lose them. While he was on his mission following the siblings, Jerome went to walk and look around his potential residency. "This shall be fun..." He mumbles to himself before laughing, probably catching odd stares.
Muscles reported back that night, meeting Jerome in an open place, a bar named The Alibi. "Anything?" Jerome stares at him ready to make his mark and he nods.
"He's a big african-american man, really strong." Muscles explains. "I saw him hit the girl we saw earlier, the brother wasn't around."
"Was he there when you left?" And Muscles nods. "Let's go then."
After an hour walk of trying to find the house Muscles was previously at, they arrived. There was a light on so Jerome decided to go undercover. He knocks on the door lightly, waiting. When the door opens, that Mickey fella is standing in the doorway with nothing but sweatpants on. "Can I help you?" He rudely questions, obviously not in the mood. "Didn't I just see you earlier by th- doesn't matter."
"Hello," Jerome holds his hand out, and Mickey just stares at it. Neither of them spoke so Mickey shook his hand, and Jerome continued. "I'm new in town, and this is my friend Kenny. We're kind of lost."
"There's smart phones man. GPS the shit."
"I don't own one and neither does Kenny. Could we come in and use your phone?"
Mickey sighs and lets them inside, cautious. Kenny looks like he's in another world but his muscles made Mickey feel less stronger. Jerome didn't intimidate Mickey. He seems like a typical prancing around redhead to Mickey.
Jerome gets hold of the phone, and calls even though it's late night. "Hello?" The familiar voice made Jerome show his infamous grin.
"Jim Gordon." Jerome chuckles. "How nice to hear your voice. It's me, I'm back. Well, I was never gone but I won't be 'dead' for long. Watch the Chicago news tomorrow morning."
"Jerome Valeska? What the h-"
He hung up the phone and handed it back to Mickey who was watching Muscles 'innocently' roam around. "Something wrong with your buddy here?"
"Who, Kenny? No, he's just all muscles, no brain." Mickey laughs at Jerome's words. "Well, we should get going. Sorry to bother you. Uhm, what's the L?"
"The train that takes you around the Southside." Mickey explains, walking outside and pointing to the train tracks. "The station isn't far, three or four blocks away."
"Thank you." Jerome holds out his hand, Mickey chuckling. "What's funny?"
"You and Kenny. You two are an odd pairing."
All he does is smile in reply before shaking Mickey's hand and walking off. Muscles points to the window where Kenyatta is. "So, what's the plan Boss?"
"Just wait."
Mickey woke up to screaming. It wasn't your usual Southside crackhead screaming, it was his sister screaming as if she had just gotten shot. When Mickey ran into her room, he almost passed out at the sight. Kenyatta is laying on Mandy's bed, blood soaking everything, with the words abusers are bad guys on the wall in marker. Fucking marker! "Why the fuck- did someone bring him here like this?"
"No, he was in bed with me last night! Someone killed him while we were sleeping, Mick, someone was in here while I was sleeping and killed Kenyatta!"
Mandy and Mickey are panicking, too shook up to call the police. Mandy grabs her phone, hands bloody and opens the phone. When she goes, she's getting a call from an unknown number. She answers, hearing, "This is going to sound crazy okay. I'm Jim Gordon and the man who killed your boyfriend is Jerome Valeska. He got stabbed in the neck and died but apparently it was an act and he's still alive and back to terrorize Chicago like he did Gotham."
She stares at Kenyatta's body, "Keep talking."
"I can't right now. Some of us from the GCPD are on our way over, we'll be there to talk. For the meantime, call the Chicago police and stay calm. If he wanted to kill you, he would've."
Mandy ended the phone call then, explaining to Mickey what just happened. After she called the police, ambulance arrived before police, Mickey getting dressed and Mandy grabbing a robe to cover herself. When Mickey emerged from his bedroom, he saw the same redhead from last night standing there in an ambulance uniform on. "A-"
Jerome lifts a finger to his lips, shushing Mickey. When Jerome's finger falls, a line of red is left going down his lips and Mickey put the pieces together that quick. "You kil-"
"Might wanna follow bosses orders when he says shush." Muscles whispers in Mickey's ear, also dressed in an ambulance uniform.
"We'll be in touch." Jerome pats Mickey's cheek before disappearing and the actual ambulance and police arriving minutes later. Mickey wipes the blood from his lips and grabs his shoes.
"Where are you going? You can't fucking leave!" Mandy exclaims.
"I'm not going anywhere yet."
+
Jerome and Muscles rented out a hotel for the time being, just to see how this all went down. Muscles was watching tv, Jerome sitting on the balcony of the hotel wand watching the busy streets of Chicago, also cop cars flying past. His grin appears, clapping his hands together. He walks over to grab the hotel phone and dials the number he'd recently gotten from Mandy's phone.
Once the phone stopped ringing, a "Who the fuck is this and what the fuck do you want?" came through the phone.
Laughing, Jerome sighs. "Now is that a way to talk to people? Especially people who've helped you."
"Helped me? You're fucking crazy!" Mickey exclaims, then after a moment, he gasped. "You're the fucking crazy ass killer redhead from Gotham? Why the fuck-"
"Uh-uh." Jerome moves his finger back and forth in the process as if Mickey could see him. "Dinner, me, you, and maybe Muscles. Then we can talk."
"Dude, I'm not intere-"
"This has nothing to do with yours or my sexual preference, we just need a public place to talk. So you can trust me." Jerome clarifies, Mickey sighing.
"Fine, meet me at Patsy's Pies at eight. Find your fucking way there."
That was the end of the conversation before Mickey hung up. Jerome smirks, and walks over to Muscles before shutting the tv off. "Come on, time to go shopping."
"Do you even have money?" Muscles questions, getting a dirty look. "Oh. We're going to steal it."
"Of course we are, we're bad guys. It's what we do."