Smooth Manipulator
Summary: It was easy for Jeremiah to get what he wanted. He'd been doing it since he was a child.
A/N: I had to write this. Just based off of what Jerome said about how Jeremiah made their mom believe he was the bad one...
Jeremiah Valeska had always had this...talent. A talent for manipulation. He had ever since he was a small child when he'd make his mother believe the worst of his brother. It helped that their mother found Jerome to be a troublemaker. A boy with undiagnosed ADHD and bipolar, too excitable. It was easy to make his eyes all wide and tearful, especially behind his glasses, allow his lower lip to tremble as he told his mother about something "Jerome" had done. Whether it be killing some poor creature that had the bad luck of being in site or trying to stab him.
The truth was, it had never been Jerome who was the issue. It had been Jeremiah. That wasn't to say that Jerome didn't have his own issues, but he wasn't born bad like Jeremiah knew he'd been. Jerome's...evil had come from the abuse that he'd suffered at the hands of his mother because of the things she'd believed when Jeremiah spoke of them. Head injuries were a bitch, especially if they were never checked.
There was a time when Jeremiah and Jerome were children and Jeremiah shoved Jerome into the water of a nearby pond and held him under there, hands pressed atop his head, laughing as Jerome struggled. He finally let go when he heard a twig snap behind him. Jerome had climbed out of the pond and had avoided Jeremiah for a solid week. He didn't bother trying to tell anyone what had happened. They would have never believed him.
Jeremiah also manipulated Bruce when they finally met, pretending to be this innocent, nerdy, soft spoken guy. A victim of Jerome. And the boy with the big heart had believed it. He hadn't listened to the words Jerome spewed about him. He promised to help pay for Jeremiah's pursuits. He had believed Jeremiah when he pretended to be terrified that his dead brother was back. And had been so shocked and horrified when Jeremiah waltzed into the mansion and shot Selina.
Just after Jerome had died, Jeremiah used his manipulation tactics again. Ecco had already trusted him. She was already very loyal to him. It took nothing to convince her to shoot herself in the head or breathe in the same as he had. All it took was telling her how she meant so much to him. How she was the most important follower.
And so she'd taken the gun, pressed it to the side of her skull and bam! And then she'd breathed in the gas, eating up his words as he weaved a tale about the gift that his brother had given him.
He'd gotten her to help find more worshippers. People who would prove their commitment to him, just as she had. He'd had her help build the church. And spy on Gotham to see what was going on. He'd hidden in the shadows, amusement filling him as he watched Ecco and Selina fight. He had to muffle a laugh. Selina was looking for him and had no idea that he was right in the same building as her.
His next big plan was something for Bruce. Something that would force Bruce to be his true self. The Dark Knight. And that plan had everything to do with Martha and Thomas Wayne.