Riddle's End (Enigma/Bruce/Damon Log)
Bruce got an alert on his own watch that Enigma was in trouble. What that girl had gotten herself into this time Bruce wasn't exactly sure. He had programmed her watch to alert him when things happened to make her heart beat irregularly, such as trouble or the fact that she might be dying. With her, that didn't seem too invasive considering all the trouble she seemed to get into. It was the least he could do, as well, in efforts to protect her.
The time it went off was about the time the gun fight started, which caused Bruce to set down his tools and check the watch for the beep. It was coming from the warehouse. Bruce hated that place. It held a lot of memories from the past, but he had been in too many altercations there for it to hold any more fondness.
Bruce got up and took the stairs, heading down to the garage where the cars were kept. Usually he didn't like to drive, or be in vehicles at all, but he chose a convertible. It was faster and Enigma might be in danger. He couldn't take any chances.
He started the car with a set of keys from the box they were in, and drove out of the garage and onto the street. It didn't take long for Bruce to reach the warehouse and he stopped the car in front, getting out in a hurry. He could see small splatters of blood on the concrete and sidewalk. This was already beginning to not look good.
Breathing hard, and with his heart racing, Bruce ran for the door to the old warehouse. The paint on the door had begun to peel but he could still see the question mark that taunted him as he rushed for it.
He hit the door hard and it swung open. Instantly Bruce could smell the blood, and he made a face. There was a lot of it. It was everywhere. "Enigma?" He called out, lingering in the door for a moment as his eyes glanced around at the scene. Whoever had been here couldn't be alive. Not with this much blood lost.
Slowly he moved through the warehouse, looking around, unsure if anyone that might try to harm him would be lurking about.
"Baby?" He inquired again, calling louder. He didn't like this at all.
Finally, Bruce followed one of the blood trails which lead behind his old workspace, seeing his wife on the floor. She was laying in a pool of her own blood and looked like she'd been shot repeatedly.
His mind instantly went to Edward. He was going to pay.
Quickly, Bruce knelt down to her and began to check to see if she was still alive. He hoped she was, for everyone's sake.
--
“Hey...sexy...” Enigma managed to choke out, looking up at Bruce. She didn’t ask how he knew where she was or that she needed him, she just reached out a paler than normal hand, taking his, coughing, choking on her blood. She knew she was dying...that her father had won...she was just glad he was here with her.
--
She was alive!
"Oh Enigma.." Bruce groaned in sadness, pulling the dying woman into his arms. He held her, and sighed, his heart racing. Bruce closed his eyes for a moment, the irises having gone completely green at the very sight of her. All they needed now was an outbreak.
He breathed in and out, trying to calm himself down, before allowing his eyes to open. "Don't talk anymore. You can tell me about it later." He whispered, moving a bloody hand to his pocket to pull out his phone.
She needed Damon. He hated to call him but Damon was their only chance for her to survive. They hadn't been married that long and Edward was already trying to make him a widower. This wasn't going to be tolerated. Once Enigma was back to normal, Bruce was going to pay Daddy a visit. Even if he had to beat up the Scare Beast again.
Bruce dialed Damon's number on the phone, having programmed it the last time they'd needed his help (after the joker incident) and held it to his ear as it rang. He waited impatiently, hoping the vampire would pick up.
--
Damon was sitting around on the couch, reading a book, when his phone started to ring. He grabbed it and saw that it was Bruce called. He tapped it to answer it. “Aren’t you supposed to be having wild monkey sex with your new wife right now?” he asked. “And if you’re asking for a threesome, I can already tell you that the answer is no,” he said.
--
Now was definitely not the time for sex jokes, so Bruce frowned. "No, nothing like that!" Bruce shouted without meaning to. He swallowed and calmed down, or tried to, cradling the phone between his shoulder and cheek.
"You wish." Bruce said, trying to joke but he failed miserably to deliver. "I need your help....please." He breathed into the phone, holding his dying wife in his arms. He could feel her blood soaking through his clothes. "Enigma...she's dying...warehouse. Edward..." Bruce managed, before the phone fell to the ground with a clatter.
There was nothing he could do for her. So he sat with her, cradling her as best he could until the vampire arrived.
--
As soon as Damon heard the words ‘she’s dying’ the phone was left behind on the couch as he blurred to his feet and out the door. In no time he had reached the warehouse and found Bruce holding Enigma in his arms. Damon’s eyes turned red, the veins underneath crackling and his fangs slide out before he tore them into his wrist. He knelt down beside Enigma and pressed his wrist against her mouth, forcing her to drink his blood.
--
Enigma squirmed for a moment, struggling, before realizing what was going on and drinking from Damon’s wrist, arms reaching up to clutch at his arm as she swallowed hungrily...eagerly, the wounds on her body closing, healing as they watched.
She shifted, still drinking, blunt teeth worrying at the wound, wanting more as she moved into Damon’s lap, the power...the rush of his blood igniting her every nerve, the warmth of Bruce’s touch followed by the rush of coolness from Damon’s body making her skin sing.
It was the best proof of how she was doing, when she was trying to climb Damon like a monkey during a healing.
--
When Damon arrived, Bruce uncurled himself from around her reluctantly. He wanted to protect her and yet he seemed to fail every single time. He had asked Damon to come to her aid, however, so when the vampire tried to help Bruce released Enigma into his care.
Once she shifted into Damon's lap, Bruce moved to stand. His eyes blazed emerald and he tried desperately to contain himself.
"Damon, thank you for coming. I have business to take care of." Bruce growled, giving into the change finally, unable to keep it at bay any longer.
The shift was easy and quick, and where the man once stood now was a beast. With a mighty roar, the Hulk shifted and lifted a large fist. He punched a hole through one of the walls of the warehouse. "Daddy pay. Hulk smash." Hulk growled, casting one last glance at the pair over his shoulder before the Hulk burst through the opening in the wall.
He ran in the direction of Arkham, determined to destroy the man responsible for harming his wife.
--
Damon was always a little uncomfortable when Enigma crawled into his lap while taking his blood. He was a happily engaged man, and she had a husband who was right there, watching, who could turn into a giant green dude. But he knew that she needed his blood or she was going to die, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. .
He looked at Bruce when he spoke and watched him turn into the green dude. Instinctively, Damon moved to protect Enigma, just in case he happened to have lost control enough to end up hurting her, but instead he seemed intent on going after her father, and considering what the man had done, Damon had no plans to stop him.
--
Enigma watched her husband change into Hulk over Damon’s arm before leaning up, kissing Damon deeply, before standing, wavering slightly, almost collapsing. “Hulk...stop!” she called, struggling after the giant, trying to keep up with him while her body just wanted to fall over. “Please...Hulk...baby...don’t do this...”
Okay, yes, kinda weird her using Bruce’s nickname for the Hulk, but both of them were hers, whether or not Hulk wanted it, and she refused to let either of her husband’s hurt her father. “Damon, help me,” she begged, turning to look at him, tears in her eyes.
--
Hulk wouldn't stop. Not until it was over and he had vanquished his enemy. He would never stop as long as Edward continued to hurt the woman he loved intentionally. And he would never stop until they were even. Edward deserved to die for the things he'd done to Enigma. His own daughter.
He was an unstoppable force, the Hulk. As he ran he picked up cars and threw them, a display of his rage and hate for the man that had given Enigma life. Nobody was going to stand in his way.
Hulk roared as he ran, faster than he looked to be, tossing buses aside and throwing the cars he picked up into buildings. The monster was unleashed and it didn't yet have a reason to stop. Not yet.
--
Damon blurred to his feet and reached out to steady Enigma when she almost collapsed.
“He’s not going to stop. And I’m not sure that he should, Enigma,” he said. He saw no reason that her father should be kept alive after what he had done to his daughter.
--
“He’s my daddy,” she whispered, crying harder. “HULK!” she yelled, voice broken, desperate. She couldn’t reach him, not on her own, and it hurt to know that he was going to kill her father. Yes, she had tried to do that just moments ago...but she still didn’t want him dead. She had simply been defending herself.
“Hulk please...” she begged, not even sure if he could hear her, collapsing in Damon’s arms.
--
There was no way Hulk couldn't heard her tiny voice amidst the plethora of sounds surrounding him as he ran. Too many things, sirens, honking cars, screaming....too many noises to pinpoint just hers. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. He would've just ignored her.
With a few leaps onto building tops, Hulk neared the island where the Asylum stood. He would rip it down to find the madman and once he found the rock that Edward was hiding beneath you could bet that hulk would pick that rock up and smash Eddie with it as if he were simply a bug. It was more than he deserved.
--
Damon could tell how badly she didn’t want Hulk to hurt her father, and despite how much he hated the man himself right now, he didn’t want to see her in pain. He gently set her down and her stood up again.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, before he blurred off after the hulk, intent on attempting to stop him from killing her father.
--
Enigma wiped her eyes, struggling to her feet again, pushing off, stumbling after the pair, careful, avoiding the carnage and disaster Hulk left behind as she followed. Hulk couldn’t die, but he could be worn down until Bruce could be hurt and Edward would do his best to accomplish it...and he father...he was just a mortal man!
She tripped over a rock, cursing as she hit the ground, biting her tongue. As the blood filled her mouth, she raised her head, glaring at the green figure in the distance. “You owe me a huge debt, Bruce Banner,” she muttered as she spit out the blood, standing again. “Huge, I demand may backrubs and bubble baths for this mess.”
--
Hulk reached the island the asylum was located on, but before leaping on to it he picked up a bus and hurled it at the building. "Hulk find you!" Hulk roared, muscles tensing as the bus smashed into one of the walls on the perimeter.
He didn't care if all of the vampires and mortals in the world tried to stop him. The Hulk was simple minded, it focused only on one task and it had a lot of stamina. It would take weeks for Hulk to wear down enough for Bruce to be affected by anything. Usually it just wore the man out. But Bruce had tolerance as well and he was resilient.
"Hulk will find you!" The beast shouted, leaping onto the island and over the rubble of the wall. People below scattered. They'd seen the green giant before and now he was back, sending them into a frenzy.
--
Damon reached the Asylum, naturally being faster than the Hulk and he ended up in front of him.
“Stop!” he yelled. “She doesn’t want this. I get that you’re angry, but she doesn’t want you to kill her father.”
--
Enigma, having given up on actually walking after the pair (and spending a few minutes cursing Damon for leaving her behind), hijacked a motorcyclist, using the smaller footprint of the bike to weave her way between traffic, screaming people and the rubble Hulk left behind, only have trouble twice, where she had to get off the bike and maneuver it by hand around objects too big to ride around.
She roared up to the pair, not even bothering to properly get off the bike (though thankfully turning it off), tripping as she climbed off and let it fall, ending up doing a front handspring to keep from falling again. “Please, Hulk!” she yelled. “I know you want to kill him for this, but I’m alive! I’m fine...he doesn’t deserve to die at your hands...he’s not worth it!”
--
Hulk growled at Damon, knowing the man was there to stand in his way. Nothing was going to keep the green beast from his task, however.
Hulk had picked up a large rock, meaning to throw it at the vampire when Enigma rode up on the motorcycle. Hulk looked over at her, and watched her as she came to where they were.
"Needs to die!!! Hurt wife!! Hulk will make him pay!!" Hulk roared, throwing the rock at the building instead of at Damon.
Hulk looked down at the pair standing before him, unable to understand why they were trying to stop him. Edward deserved nothing less than death for what he'd almost done. And yet they wanted to spare his miserable life.
--
Enigma made it to Hulk’s side, staring up at him, before giving up on that and simply grabbing what was left of his pants (which honestly, wasn’t much...they needed to work on that), using the pant leg and then the belt as a rope, climbing her husband to his arm where she ran out of things to hold onto except his chest hair, sitting on the curl of his belt to look up at him better. “Baby, I’m fine...well and healthy, you don’t need to make him pay, not like this..”
She reached up, her small hand gently touching his chest, as close as she could get to his heart. “Please, Hulk, please baby...I need him, just as I need you...you can’t kill him...”
She really, really hoped that Bruce’s love for her...that whatever Hulk felt that kept him from turning her into a smear on the ground would keep him from throwing her like a frisbee and moving on.
--
Hulk looked down at her as she attempted to climb his seven foot tall frame, a large hand curling gently around her as he pried her from him and set her on the ground. He didn't want to risk hurting her. Part of his brain knew she wasn't an enemy. Which was the part that kept her alive.
"He hurt you." Hulk managed, brain trying to process what she was saying. If his face was a computer screen the words "Does not compute" would be flashing upon it for all to see. He didn't understand why she didn't want him to kill her father. The man obviously deserved to die.
--
Damon remembered Enigma telling him about a tranquilizer that she kept in her boot and he knew that the best way to stop Hulk was to put him out of action until he returned to being Bruce. So he pulled Enigma down off her husband and grabbed the boot off her foot and reached for the tranquilizer gun that she kept inside so he could use it on Hulk. He needed to work fast here.
--
“I know he hurt me, lover, but I...” She yelped as she was suddenly grabbed by Damon, kicking at him. “MOLESTER!” she yelled, pouting that all he was interested in was her boot, before shaking her head. Not the right time for that.
She sat up on her elbows to watch him, hoping he would move fast enough to take Hulk down.
--
Hulk watched as Damon pulled Enigma away and he growled at the vampire. Hulk HATED vampires. They were pesky like mosquitoes but Hulk tolerated this one because Bruce made him. So, when the vampire took away his wife, whatever that was, Hulk wasn't pleased.
Hulk also knew what was in the boot Enigma wore and that prompted Hulk to pick up a large rock. With a roar, Hulk hurled the boulder of wall at the vampire. He didn't want to change back. He still had work to do and all of his anger was beginning to return.
"No!" Hulk growled, running off towards the building to get out of the line of fire.
--
Damon let out a cry of pain when he was suddenly crushed by the boulder that pinned him to the ground. He hadn’t been fast enough to stop Hulk. He just hoped that Enigma was still able to get through him.
--
“DAMON!” Enigma screamed. She scrambled over to him, trying to shove the boulder off of him, finally managing to get it rolled off of him, kneeling next to him. “Nononono, you have to be okay....” she whispered, shaking him, probably making his injuries worse.
She stared at Hulk, tears returning. “Why do you do this?!” she asked, seizing a piece of the boulder and slicing across her wrist, placing it to Damon’s lips.
--
Hulk didn't care about any of that. Damon had brought it in himself. Had he let Enigma deal with it, Bruce would be there and not Hulk. But the vampire had decided to interfere which caused Hulk to become mad all over again.
--
Damon’s neck was broken and twisted awkwardly by the time Enigma got the boulder off him so for now, he lay unconscious and bleeding.
Her blood started to slide down his throat, but for the moment it had no effect on Damon
--
“Come on, Damon...ya gotta wake up. Who will I flirt with and tease? Who will tell me I look hot...well, besides Bruce but he’s judgy,” she babbled, increasing the size of the wound, bleeding harder, desperate to wake up her friend.
“I need you...” she whispered, tears falling harder. Everything was falling apart around her...
She looked up at Hulk again, anger and rage flowing through her, mixed in with the sadness. She seized a softball sized rock and threw it at Hulk. “If you don’t knock it off right now I’m leaving you!” she yelled in a fit of frustration, crying. “I’ll get a divorce and run away to move in with Damon and Elena again!”
Because she refused to believe that Damon wouldn’t wake up, he had to...she couldn’t lose someone else, not after losing Erik and his friendship, after losing her father. She couldn’t lose Bruce, either, but she wasn’t exactly thinking right now.
--
Hulk felt the rock hit him, and though it was small and barely did anything to him (he didn't really even feel it) it was enough to get his attention. With a snarl, Hulk stopped and did a very abrupt about-face. He glared at Enigma, all one ton of him, and growled before rushing at her.
--
Damon’s eyes flew open as the wound started to heal him a little and he coughed a little, letting out a grunt of pain. “Enigma. Are you okay?” he asked, weakly. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.
--
“Not yet,” she answered Damon, moving to protect him, standing over him as she faced down her husband’s rage. “You promised never to hurt me!” she yelled at the charging beast, closing her eyes, bracing for the impact. “After New York, you swore you would never let Hulk hurt me again...”
--
Bruce hadn't forgotten the promise he'd made to her. Before hulk got close enough to Enigma, the beast halted suddenly and gripped its own head with its large fists, roaring in pain from a headache.
--
Damon managed to get to his feet and he pulled Enigma back from Hulk, trying to protect her from him so that she didn’t end up getting hurt. “Stay back,” he said, weakly, screwing his eyes up in pain from the wounds which had yet to heal.
---
She shook her head at Damon’s bravado, kissing his cheek. “Thanks, lover, but he’s going to hurt you over me and there’s only so much blood I can spare,” she said, smiling at him, keeping her voice low so that Damon could hear her, but not Hulk.
She moved around him, heading to her husband, climbing up the debris until she could stand face to face, reaching up and gently massaging his scalp. “It’s alright, baby...let Bruce come back to me. Everything’s alright now, I promise,” she said softly, leaning in and kissing Hulk’s cheek lightly. “Thank you, for wanting to make them pay,” she said softly
--
Hulk roared in pain, thick fingers gripping the strands of hair upon its own head as its massive body rocked back and forth on its feet in pain.
Hearing Enigma's voice, Hulk roared again, but settled, glaring at her as her lips were pressed against his cheek. Hulk couldn't feel the pressure through his thick skin.
Hulk growled, it's brain mulling over the reason why it wasn't trying to smash the puny redhead, but the Bruce inside of it was insisting that she wasn't the enemy.
After a few moments, Hulk became calm and thus changed back, leaving Bruce standing where it had once been, in a tatter of cloth. He was lucky that all of his pants were fitted to stretch with the change or it wouldn't look very good at all for him.
Bruce breathed out, and then his body shivered in exhaustion but he remained standing. He looked up at Enigma, "Can we go now, please?"
--
Damon fell back onto the ground when he saw Bruce instead of hulk. He was still a bit of a mess where some of his wounds weren’t fully healed and he just needed a little more time. And he had a feeling that Enigma would leave with Bruce and then he could wait for a few moments to get into before shape before going back to Elena.
--
“Yeah, baby, we can go now,” she whispered, holding him tightly, tears streaming down her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and looking at Arkham. She would have to deal with her father, but that was a job for another day.
She pulled away from Bruce, sitting next to Damon, scratching back open her wrist and offering it to him silently. They both knew she didn’t have much to spare, but a few more drops wouldn't hurt her, and it would heal him just a bit more. They were still in enemy territory, and Enigma didn’t trust something happening to Damon the moment she turned away.
“Thank you,” she whispered, looking at Damon, the honesty of her words reflected in her eyes. He always was there when she needed him, and this time...he had truly saved her life, not just saved her from some pain.
--
Bruce was relieved when Enigma said they could go. He didn't want to hang around for much longer lest the beast decide it wasn't done causing trouble and wanting to smash Edward. They wouldn't have long for Bruce to get far enough away so he could finish calming down, but he could spare a few moments for Enigma and Damon.
Bruce released his wife and allowed her to go to her injured friend to help him. Bruce closed his eyes, back to the Asylum, knowing that if he looked at it even for a moment the rage would return. It was best to just forget about it for now.
--
Damon’s wounds eventually started to heal properly and he managed to get to his feet fully. “Go with him, Enigma. You need to get away from here,” he said. He knew that that was what was best. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
--
“You better be,” she said, standing and hugging Damon, before making her way back to Bruce’s side, taking his hand. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, giving Damon a wave goodbye as she helped her husband back through the rubble strewn path Hulk created.
--
Bruce waited for Enigma, glad she was back at his side after a few moments. He took her hand and followed her through the destruction, knowing that the mess was his. What else could cause such destruction? Well, a few things probably but none as efficiently as the Hulk. The large green beast was an expert at ripping things apart and leaving them in ruin.
"Yes, please. I'd rather be home resting." Bruce said, having had enough of the events of the day thus far.
--
Damon blurred out of there, wanting to get back to Elena, and Bruce and Enigma seemed to be caught up in each other and didn’t need him around any longer.