You should have known Edward would escape from Baraba's grasp. She's the type of woman who would pretend to be your friend only to backstab you the next day. Most people are like that in Gotham. So, you took matters in your hands. Edward doesn't have anywhere to go except for Oswald's place. You had decided to pay him a visit.

Returning home from just killing another one of Gotham's most intellectuals, Ed had walked into the living room. He paused once he saw you sitting down, an anaconda on the couch, a giant python on the floor. Sage and Jade rested on your lap while you held Shiba in your arms, stroking her. You didn't glance his way.

"Hello, Nygma". You turned to him, smiling. "Watch your step. Veil doesn't like it when people don't see her"

"(y/n)" Ed continued to stand where he was. He knew that Baraba hadn't killed you, but he wished she had. He never liked you from the moment you stepped foot in this household. You watched as the man took a deep breath. "I didn't think you'd be here".

"Well, since now I'm a Cobblepot, this place is mine". You gestured toward the house. "After all, Oswald is dead"

Edward watched you stand up, glancing at the snakes as they began to slowly slither toward him. Their low hisses put him on edge. You stopped when you stood right in front of him, a pocket knife in your hand. Waving the knife around, you pointed it directly at his heart. You smirked.

"You know, Ed" You began. "I've been thinking over the past few days and I've decided, I'm not going to kill you".

"You're not". The man sounded confused as you retracted the knife from his chest.

"No". You continued to smirk, taking a step back. "You see, Ed, I believe in 'An eye for an eye', 'a life for a life', 'a loved one for a loved one'".

You grabbed the taller man's tie, making him look at you in your eye level, eyes shining yellow, glaring at him. You watched as bits of fear rose within him as you held the knife to his throat. A chuckle escaped your lips when you finally remembered him from Indian Hill.

"One day, Ed" Your glare hardens. "You will fall in love again. But unlike the last two times, you or Oswald are not going to be one to kill your partner. Instead, it would be me. And when that day comes, you are going to remember that you killed your best friend, your mentor, and by doing so, you sent a death sentence to your partner's life".

The snakes hissed and snapped their mouths at him. You let go of him, putting your knife back inside your pocket. Patting his shoulder, you made your way out of the home. "In the meantime, take care of the place. See you around, Nygma"

A few weeks go by and you continued to read about one of Gotham's intellectuals die on the news. The children looked happier as they helped around the place. The workers and guards continued to remain loyal to you even after Oswald's fall. You were in your office, doing paperwork as always. Shiba was out with the other snakes tonight, leaving you alone. A sudden memory of Jerome popped into your mind.

It was a memory of him placing a necklace around your neck. The feeling of his fingers brushing against your skin sent shivers down your spine. His breath was so close to your ear. His arms wrapping around your waist once he was done. He placed a small peck on your bare shoulder. Your breath hitched once the memory ended.

"What went wrong?" You whispered to no one. Checking the clock, you saw that it was getting late. Are you seriously thinking about this? You have to be insane for wanting to pay Jerome a visit. But he remembers the memories you don't. He knows you more than you know yourself. He has the answers to the questions you've been dying to know. Fuck it. Picking up the phone, you dialed the head of Arkham Asylum.

Walking the halls of the asylum, you remembered the time you were in Indian Hill. You hated it. You wanted to kill every worker you saw out of anger. But you held yourself back, you had to. They did nothing wrong. It was the Indian Hill workers who deserved to be punished. A guard opened the door to one of the visitation rooms. Jerome sat, smiling at you while his arms were handcuffed the table. You sat across from him.

"Did you miss me, (y/n)?" He grinned. "Is that why you called this little meeting?"

"I asked to see you so I could ask you some questions". You placed your bag on the table. Sage and Jade slithered out. Shiba remained in the bag, only allowing her upper body to peak out. Jerome's smile faltered for a second once he saw his mother's pet snake.

"I see that you're doing well, Shiba" Jerome turned to you, his smile returning.

"She said to go fuck yourself" You crossed your arms and legs. Jerome looked at you, impressed and confused. You glanced at Sage and Jade. "No, you can't eat him. Your mouths aren't as big as Veil's or Bam's"

"You speak to snakes". Jerome leaned toward you, grinning.

"Oh, I can do more than that" Your eyes shone yellow, speaking in a low whisper. "My senses are heightened. I can see heat signatures. I even have the strength of a giant python and anaconda. That's why I keep them in my office."

Placing your arm on the table, Sage and Jade slithered to you and pierced their fangs into your skin. Jerome watched as they did so. He was on the edge of his seat. You held yourself with confidence, and if you didn't, he would have jumped in to save you. But you have everything under control and took noticed how excited he was watching.

"I'm also immune to all snake venom". You held your arm up, elbow still on the table. A smirk still on your lips. "And my blood can act as an antidote".

"Wow. You've really changed, huh. '' Jerome leaned back into his seat. "So, what questions does my dear kitten have for me? Is it about our wonderful relationship?"

"What was the circus like?" You asked. Jerome's smile fell. He glared at you. You could tell he doesn't like the subject being brought up. Could you blame him? He came here expecting to catch up with you. He even planned on stealing a kiss or two, though he knows you'd punch him for it. But you didn't care. You just want to fill in the gaps in your memories.

"I don't remember much from there" You leaned back, staring at your hands. "I remember being with you, being in love with you. Those memories look so sweet. They look and feel nice. But I don't remember the people there. I don't remember the friends and family I made".

"First off, sweetheart" You looked at Jerome. He leaned in, holding your hands. "I'm your family. Everyone there doesn't matter"

You took your hands away from him. Sage and Jade snapped at him. Jerome laughed. You glared. "If you're only going to tell me lies, I'm leaving".

"Fine, fine". Jerome rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you what you want to hear, not the truth"

"What you believe is the truth are actual lies". You mocked a smile.

"Whatever you say, doll". Jerome leaned back. "So, what do you want to know?"

Before you could ask any of your questions, your phone rang. Jerome glanced at the device in your hand, angry at it for disrupting your time with him. You placed your index finger up, signaling to him to stay quiet and to wait a moment. Your brows knitted together as you looked at the unknown number. Placing your phone to your ear, you spoke. "Who is this?"

"Ivy Pepper" You heard a female's voice. She sounded excited. The name sounded familiar to you. Wasn't she Selina Kyle's friend?

"What do you want?" You stood up and went to the corner of the room. Jerome watched your every move.

"Oswald's alive" Those two words caused you to pause, eyes widening. You felt like your heart stopped and tears forming. Jerome glared as he saw your reaction. You look like you've just been given the best news in your life. He bit the inside of his cheek while looking at you. You didn't have that reaction when he came back. He wondered who was making you look so happy. "I saved him. He told me to tell you to come to see him"

"I-I'll be on my way". You managed to speak. Ivy told you the address and the two of you hung up. A bright smile formed and you looked at the snakes. "Sage, Jade, get in the bag. We're leaving"

What news did you receive? Sage asked as he made his way back inside your bag. It must be good news. Jade commented. Jerome watched the whole thing. "Where are you going?"

"An urgent matter came up". You grabbed your bag and signaled to the guard to open the door. "I'll come back tomorrow, don't worry".

Jerome watched as you left with a bright grin. A part of him felt betrayed that you had someone else that made you smile like that. But the other part was happy that you told him that you'll come again. Knowing that you're trying to close him off, he never thought that he could feel that type of happiness again. The type that he felt when he was with you during the circus. Yet there's someone out there that is making you feel the way that he can't. He despises that. He'll figure it out tomorrow.

You walked into an abandoned house. It was surrounded by all sorts of plants. Looking around, you made your way toward the sunroom. You could hear a female's voice and Oswald conversing. They were talking about the Indian Hill experiments. "What sort of freaks?"

"Not all of us are freaks" You grabbed their attention. Oswald smiled at the sight of you. Tears finally fell from your eyes as you ran into Oswald's arms. The two of you hugged each other tightly. You're the only one who Oswald could truly trust his life with. You pulled away to stare at his face, hands on his cheeks. "I thought you were dead, Ozzie"

"I'll be fine when I get my revenge on Ed" Oswald grinned.

"When we get our revenge" You corrected, placing your hands back to your side. "I'm going to be part of this too"

"No, no" Oswald shook his head. "You can't. What if you die? Plus, you don't usually kill".

"I kill only those that deserve it". You glanced at the dead bodies on the plant bed, turning back to Ivy and Oswald. "And I'm just going to guess that they deserved this".

"Totally" Ivy smiled. "They tied up Oswald and were going to auction him off, but I saved him with my perfume -"

"That does not matter" Oswald raised his voice. He placed his hands on your shoulders. "What matters is that I keep you safe"

"Oswald, I can handle myself". You walked around the plant bed, getting a better glance at the bodies. Staring at Gabe, you placed your fingers on your lips then on his forehead. He may have been faking his loyalty toward Oswald, but he was a good friend to you. You watched as plants began to grow on their bodies.

"I know you can". You turned to Oswald. He looked concerned. "I'm just worried that something could happen to you".

"How about this then," You glanced at both Oswald and Ivy. "You tell me which 'freaks' you're planning to bring and I'll tell you everything I know about them. I was the doc's favorite before Fish came along."

Oswald turned to Ivy. The redhead just shrugged. Unlike with Gabe, she trusted you. She was shocked that Oswald was actually nice to someone. She's been trying to gain his trust from the moment he woke up. Letting out a sigh, Oswald nodded his head. "Alright"

"Great!" Ivy clapped her hands together. "I'll go make some tea and we'll get started".

You turned to Oswald, who just shook his head. Smiling, you walked up to him and wrapped an arm around his back. The two of you followed Ivy to her kitchen. She served the two of you and herself tea, placing the cups on the dirty table as the two of you sat down. You took a sip. Not bad. Ivy waited for your reaction. She looked happy when you smiled at her.

"So, who are these freaks that we're planning to recruit" Oswald turned to the redheaded girl.

"Well, I don't remember all of them" Ivy began. "But I remember Selina mentioning this guy who can only survive in the cold and an old friend of ours who calls herself Firefly - she has a thing for fires and anything to do with the heat".

"Victor Fries and Bridgit Pike" The two turned to you. "Fries calls himself Mr. Freeze. He experimented on people trying to preserve his wife in ice so he can find a way to save her from dying but failed. He then exposed himself to his own experiment, trying to kill himself, but his body mutated so he can't survive out of subzero temperatures".

"And where is he now?" Oswald asked.

"Last I checked, he's hiding in some ice chamber somewhere" You took a sip of your tea. "I'm guessing it's somewhere in the arctic. It's the only place he could survive without his suit"

"Suit?" Ivy looked at you, confused.

"Strange made a suit so Fries can survive outside". You explained, glancing at Oswald, smiling. "It's most likely in one of the Wayne Enterprises abandoned warehouses. That's where they took most of the Indian Hill stuff anyways".

"How do you know that?" Ivy raised a brow.

"I have eyes around Gotham" You shrugged. "Wayne Enterprises started Indian Hill. It only makes sense that they put it there. Plus, my psycho ex-boyfriend was stolen from there and came back to life a few weeks ago"

"Wait, you're ex is alive?" Oswald backtracked.

"Yes, but that's not the point right now". You continued, turning to Ivy. "Bridgit Pike is a friend of Selina's. Her step-brothers forced her to go on one of their heist jobs, and she got burnt or something. She ended up making a fireproof suit as a result. Then, she killed her brothers and went on a criminal activity spree around Gotham with a flamethrower as a signature weapon. Ironically, she died by her own fire. Strange brought her back and manipulated her to work for him as the rest of us"

"Don't tell me she's living in a volcano or something" Ivy commented. You laughed.

"No, I ran into her while I was in hiding". You explained. "She got her memories back and I helped her get a job somewhere. She works in a refinery, it's miles from here, but I'm going to need a week to convince her boss to allow us to see her. He hates it when his workers have visitors. Oh, and I'll need that week to locate Fries"

"Alright" Oswald tapped the table. "I think this a plan"

You smiled as the three of you cheered, clinking your cups together. The rest of the day you spent getting to know Ivy and catching up with Oswald. Ivy told you about her actual age and how she was aged up. You were shocked to hear about her adventures outside of Gotham but didn't judge her for it. You had told Oswald about the other 'freaks' that were Indian Hill that were still alive but with Fish Mooney. You had also told him about Jerome and his cult, explaining why you weren't there for him that night. He didn't blame you and fully understood. At the end of the day, you were just happy to have Oswald back.

The sound of the door beeping took Jerome away from his thoughts. The guards pushed him inside the visitation room where you were waiting for him. He looked at you as the guards cuffed him to the table. You were on the phone in the corner of the room while the snakes remained on the table. Were you talking to the person from yesterday? You made eye contact with him the moment the guards left the room. "Don't worry about it. I'll get to it later. Just focus on the job I gave you. Okay, I gotta go. Bye".

"Sorry about that". You placed your phone in your pocket, taking a seat. "Work has me busy these days".

"Oh yeah". Jerome nodded as he remembered what you did for a job. "The gang told me that you ran some sort of club for street rats. They mentioned that you have some power now in Gotham. What was it that they called you? The princess of Gotham? Queen of snakes? Serpentine? You have so many titles"

"What can I say?" You smirked, shrugging. "I won the people over"

"And how did you do that?" The ginger-haired boy leaned in. His stitched on face stretched as he grinned ear to ear. "Did you kill a mob boss or something?"

"No". You stroked Sage along his scales, still making eye contact with Jerome. "I actually became the adoptive sister of one. He helped me out of a situation that was caused here and I helped him get rid of some them"

"My, oh, my" Jerome leaned back, whistling. "Looks like my darling doesn't care much for killing anymore, huh"

"I don't as long as I think the people deserve it" You glared.

"Tell me more". His eyes gleamed with curiosity. "Who'd ya kill first? What was going through your mind? All of it"

"How about you answer this question first?" You pulled out a picture of an older woman. She wore a green outfit that resembled snake scales and a matching turban hat. Jerome's grin fell once his eyes landed on the familiar face. It was a picture of Jerome's mother. You smirked, sliding the picture on the table toward him. "This is your mother. Lilia Velaska. You killed her, right?"

"If you know, why are you asking?" Jerome glared.

"Because I don't remember her". You leaned in, hand still on the picture. "I've seen her in my recent dreams, but I can't recall who she was. Shiba told me that she was her previous master, and you're her son, but what's my relationship with her? Was I her apprentice?"

Jerome stared at you, not replying. He grabbed the photo from your hand and looked at it. His glare hardens and he crumpled it up, throwing it to the ground. He rotated his head, laughing hysterically. His green eyes stared at you with a burning hatred.

"You were just more than her apprentice". He began to explain. "You were my dear mother's dream child. She was the one to convince Mr. Haly to take you in. She treated you better than her own children. When you were around, she put up a front and acted like a damaged single mother that only need to go to AA meetings to become a better human being. But when you were off somewhere like in your trailer, she would do a 180 and have fun with me. Her, uncle Zack, and mommy's dozens of lovers would take turns on beating the crap out of me and nag at me to do the chores. I figured that deep down, she never wanted us. She wanted a daughter. A daughter like you. She probably only kept us because pops told her to."

Jerome paused. He took a moment, held your hands in his, stroking them with his thumb. You watched and waited for him to continue.

"But you know -" He took in a deep breath, looking back up at you. The anger that he had for you disappeared. His green eyes looked at you with admiration. "- the only time I felt free from her was when I was with you. Even when I saw how different she treated you, I still fell in love with you. You gave me the love that she couldn't. You treated me like a human being and not some sort of loner freak like the rest. You made me feel other emotions that weren't hatred and anger"

"Don't go sounding like a romantic, now" You took your arms and placed them in your pockets. Jerome smirked when he noticed your ears turning red.

"Now, answer my questions". The boy leaned back, smiling like a child waiting for a lollipop. You found it cute for some reason.

Sighing, you leaned back. "I killed a couple of nuns and headmaster from the orphanage I was in. They were treating the children terribly, so I took matters into my own hands. They called me their savior in the end. It was a little girl that I met there who was the first to call me Serpentine. We're pen pals".

"How'd you kill 'em?" He rested his head on his hand. You gestured at the snakes in front of you.

"They do what I want them to" You shrugged. "Now, my turn".

You pulled out another picture. This time it was of you, Jerome, and two other people - a guy and girl. Jerome rolled his eyes at the memory of those two. You stared at him, tapping your finger on the two. "Our friends, right? John Grayson and Mary Lloyd. What did we do when we hung out?"

"They're YOUR friends". Jerome emphasized. "Not mine. I only hung out with them because you did, but they couldn't care less about me. Mary and Grayson would chat about what's popular. You and Mary would at times go off about some girl stuff. Most of the time we would sit around, drink some booze Mary stole from her family and talk about things. I never really participated in the conversations, except for when the two of you would talk about how good looking Grayson was. The two of them were an off-and-on again thing, but tied the knot last year."

"Seems like you were a loner" You arched a brow.

"No one messed with me unless it involved you or work around circus". Jerome pointed out. "I'm not lying when I say my world revolves around you"

"And now it revolves around causing chaos wherever you go" The boy smirked as he saw you relax around him. He wanted to take this chance to talk more about the two of you, but your phone rang again. Damn that thing. You smiled at him. "Excuse me".

He watched you stand up and go to the corner again. You looked at the caller id. It was Markos. You leaned against the wall, phone at your ear. "Yes"

"Baraba Kean requests your presence, Miss" The old man spoke over the phone.

"What for?" Jerome noticed your grimace expression.

"She said that it was a private matter"

"Is she there with you now?" You arched a brow. Markos replied with a 'yes'. "Pass me to her"

"(y/n), darling, how are you?" Jerome raised a brow as you rolled your eyes.

"Unless you're calling me to say that you have-" You glanced at Jerome. "You-know-who's head on a plate for my snakes, there really is no reason for you to be calling me"

"Well, no. That's not why I'm calling you". Baraba spoke. "I'm calling because I have a question".

"You have three seconds". You spoke in a monotone voice. "Three. two-"

"Did Oswald - may he rest in peace -" Jerome saw you roll your eyes again. "Ever mention a secret organization to you? One that is said to be the true masterminds controlling Gotham?"

"No. This is the first time I ever heard of it". You walked over to the other corner of the room. "Now, go live up to your end of the deal or else I'll have my snakes bite off that pretty little girlfriend of yours neck and feast on the rest of her remaining limbs. Kapish? Bye"

You smiled as you hung up the phone. Jerome raised his brows at you. Smirking, he felt goosebumps on his arms as he heard you threaten the person over the phone. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't turned on by it. He'll admit to liking this new you. You kept your morals but loosen up a bit.

"Sorry about that, where were we?" You sat back down, smiling. Just then, an officer knocked on the door. It was the signal telling you time was up. The guards entered to grab Jerome and take him to his cell.

The redhead leaned in once again, holding your hands. His wide grin reappearing on his lips. You hadn't pulled away from him this time as he stroked your knuckles. The snakes gave a low hiss. You leaned in to hear what Jerome had to say. He took that chance to place a kiss on your cheek, whispering to your ear. "Come by again tomorrow, doll"