Falling Stones

Venom crouched at the top of a building, watching the city below. The skyline protruded upward as if the buildings themselves were trying to stab into the Heavens. He adored the way the shapes of the buildings seemed jagged and threatening as they loomed over the people below. The Daily Bugle was one of those buildings; he was casting his own shadows as the sun faded into the ground.

The large, muscular hulking frame of the beast rippled. He watched for Spider-Man, hungry and ready to strike.

Single-minded when it came to annihlation of the Spider, Venom became lost in its thoughts. It's tongue wiggled, spewing from its maw that stood agape and overflowing with razor sharp teeth.

Below the city went on as usual.

"Your new patient is here...Edward Nygma...or as he calls himself," The nurse wrinkled her nose in disgust as she read over the file. "The Riddler. First time in."

Jonathan glanced up from the newspaper, arching an eyebrow at the name, but waved his hand, indicating the nurse should have the orderlies escort his patient in. Blue eyes returned to the print before him, taking in the reporter's look at one, Edward Nygma's criminal spree.

(Eddie/Babs/Effie)

Sparrow wrinkled her nose as she gazed down over the city..her city. Well, once upon a time.

Gotham still smelled; the bizarre combination of fish and sweat that was...unique to the city and the people that inhabited it.

She reached up, adjusting her mask, ignoring Hawkeye's running commentary on just why he hated Gotham, it's inhabitants, it's criminals and even a few colorful curses regarding certain red-clad teen vigilantes that nearly sideswiped him in the air.

"Get used to it, bird brain, Gotham's lousy with heroes," she called, wanting to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, but you still need traffic signals up here, Spar-row," Hawkeye called over the coms and Effie had a moment of a stiff spine, her mind swirling into the past. For just a moment...he sounded like Red Robin and she suddenly felt sixteen again, trying not to be thrown across the training mat by Tim once again, trying to prove herself.

"Oy, stop spacing out, kid," Tony's voice cut through her com and she made a face. "A, not a kid, B, not spacing out, C, stop hacking the mics."

"I'm bored, your boring, why are you in Gotham anyway?"

"Family reunion," Effie muttered. Granted, she hoped that wouldn't come true, the drama that seeing her father would cause like she needed to listen to yet another lecture on why she could not be an actual hero and was better as an S.H.I.E.L.D. asset than following the Avengers (even if she totally did save certain people's asses the last time).

"You have a family? I thought they made you kill all of them when you became a super secret assassin...Nat, do you have a family?"

"Shut up, Tony."

(Continued from here)

She took his hand and dragged him down into the nearest ally, shoving him against the wall and kissing him. Vines shot out of the wall, wrapping around his wrists, holding him against the wall.

(continued from here)

"It's not crazy, it's fucking stupid. How DARE you try to divorce me!"

Brigid stared up at the large mansion before her, giving the slightest of shivers in the cool air. The heat had died down, but the moisture from the swampland around the property had retained some of the warmth, leading to a bizarre feeling of being both cold and sweltering in the same moment.

She reached back into her car, pulling out her laptop case and travel bag, eager to get upstairs and into bed after the long trip. "Honey, I'm home," She called to the empty mansion, dropping her bag somewhere in the foyer, intent on tracking it back down in the morning.

She headed up the long, winding staircase, bypassing the grand landing of the second floor and continuing up the shaky, metal stairs that lead to the third floor, trying to remember when the contractors were coming back to actually build a staircase instead of leaving this make-shift contraption that was one day going to kill her.

Yawning, she turned the handle to her room, coughing at the clouds of dust her footsteps sent into the air. She flopped back on her sheet covered bed, too tired to bother removing the dust covering before curling on her side, frowning at the blinking lights of the answering machine. "Oh do goo away," she muttered, before rolling over onto her other side, yawning against as her eyes started to close.

Enigma locked the door behind her, stuffing her keys into her small clutch as she hopped down the stairs. She listened to the sound of her heels against the cement sidewalk as she headed for the club, comfortable in the dark, at ease in a time of night that most people feared.

She tilted her head back to look up at the stars, picking out constilations that she had first seen as thousand miles and a lifetime ago away. Mystic Falls wasn't Gotha, and there were a billion more stars above her, but she could still see her favorites...Tim, Robin, Raven, Duela....bright stars named for those that had once been by her side. Then again, she could also see Edward, Jonathan, Harley and J...stars named for those she hid from.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention away from the stars above her. "Memories are worthless," she muttered, idly kicking a rock with her toe before fishing through her clutch for a sucker, humming to herself.

( Lupine Dreams )

Effie watched as Enigma wge out of the business skirt the thief had donned for the meeting, waiting until her sister was out of sight before grabbing Neal’s wrist. “I need to talk to you, privately,” she said, looking up at her sister’s boyfriend.

( Da Da, Da Da, Da da da da DA!!!!!!!!! dadaddada )

Enigma looked down at the broken, twisted body of the woman she had just killed, emotionless as she kicked the woman’s purse down after her. She raised her camera, snapping a picture before turning and walking away, climbing onto her motorcycle and leaving Kate Moreau behind to be found by someone...or birds, which ever.

--

The picture was sitting in a place of prominence next to the wine bottle Kate had left for Neal to find, wiped clean of fingerprints, a final note to the man to not go looking, no matter what secrets lay in that bottle. Kate was dead, buried in the New York City Marble Cemetery, the updated records laying in Peter’s desk drawer where he kept quite a bit of Neal Caffrey’s things despite his better judgement.

Enigma herself was waiting, curled up in her Manhattan Loft (an inheritance from her adopted parents that very few knew about). Neal was up to something, she knew it. A man like Neal Caffrey did not grow a scraggly beard, and mope around like a lost puppy. There was something going on behind those pretty blue eyes and Enigma would wait, to see what he was up to.

--

"She tried to kill me!" Mozzie said, poking his head back in.

"Uh, Mozzie, everyone tries to kill you, it's like a grand tradition..."

"Shush, you!"

E rolled her eyes at Mozzie, pouting down at Neal.

"I don't think we're going to find her here..." Olaf said, scratching his head, before lifting his head to make sure his snow cloud was still above him after losing it in the last two worlds.

( Escape from Arendale )

Enigma was crouched in the mouth of an alley way, examining the electrical panel in front of her, studying the various wires, trying to figure out which one went to the alarm. There was a sudden crack of sound a flash of light and Enigma spun around, weighted cane held in front of her before she rose, looking around.

Enigma was Gotham born, if not bred and she knew that loud noises and light flashes were generally not good and happy things. She slammed the electrical panel shut, giving up on the night's heist. Instead purple gloved hands slid her handgun from it's holster, cocking it as she moved down the alley to investigate.

Effie sighed as she leaned back slightly in her seat, absently reaching up to rub her sore shoulder. She leaned forward again as the bell rang, her long red pigtail sliding onto her desk as she stared at the board, waiting for her new history teacher. She hurt all over from being slammed into a very hard brick wall and wanted nothing more then to curl up in bed with a bottle of pain pills...but nooo, she had to be a ‘normal’ girl.

She let her head fall face first onto the desk, groaning softly.

( Vampire High II )

"Mmm, and what would your girl friday think?" she asked, looking at him, running her fingers through his short hair. She tilted her head, leaning in and pressing her lips against his, marking her claim on him as she thought of Felicity, the urge to murdering the girl rising, flooding her veins. Jealousy had always been a downfall of the Nigma's.

Harley twirled one of her blond pigtails around her finger as she looked at the buildings and streets around her. The area was unfamiliar to her, but she hadn’t been everywhere in Gotham, so that fact was easily dismissed. She worried at her lip before shrugging, pushing off so that she was skating down the street, humming as she sucked on the bright red lollipop in her mouth.

She was heading towards the Asylum, using that as a measure of where the shelter was, most familiar with that route home. She gave a little twirl as she skated, ignoring the distractions around her, and thus ignoring the fact this wasn’t her city.

( What's the Joke? )

Enigma leaned over a table, her see through tank top giving a glimpse of the tiny bikini top she wore. "Ya fellows actually going to order to just sit on yer ass?"

"Well I know one thing I'd like," one of the truckers said, his hand sliding over her ass. She reached down, grabbing his hand and with a sweet, warm smile, broke his wrist, slamming his hand against the table and shattering two fingers. "Not for sale, kitten," she said, straightening and leaving the man screaming in pain behind her, grabbing two beer refills for another table who were enjoying the sunset over the beach outside.

Effie was still kneeling on the floor, the body of the man she had married before her, bleeding out everywhere. A hand fumbled, reaching into her pocket for her phone, typing out a three word message before she let the phone fall away, collapsing onto the body. It would be hours before Damon would arrive to Gotham City from Mystic Falls, and he knew he could let himself in...now that the only true owner of the penthouse was dead.

Effie broke down, curling into a ball around the cooling body of her husband, trembling as she brokenly sobbed, waiting for her best friend to arrive.

Damon wiped the blood from his latest victim off his lips before he walked into the grill to get himself a drink.

He smirked to himself as he walked to the bar and discreetly compelled the bartender to give him a glass of scotch which he took a sip of.

Effie was bouncing in the light, waiting for Damon (and Bonnie, but mostly Damon). He didn't know her, not really...he knew who she had been, the troubled, violent sociopathic slut who had come to Mystic Falls to escape her father. Damon had been a drinking buddy and sex partner, but he had better things to do than keep track of a trouble redhead...which is probably why he hadn't noticed she had died.

...and in death, she found piece, her mind fixing itself back together, returning her to the girl she once was. So while she knew a lot about him...he knew so very little about her.

But it didn't matter, because he was here now and free.

Once the light settled down, and Damon crossed over, Effie took a running leap, wrapping her arms and legs around him, pressing her lips against his.