Enigma ~The Riddler's Daughter (i_riddle) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2013-05-09 13:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | edward nigma, enigma, zz:status complete |
A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma (Edward/Enigma Log)
Warning: Violence and blood
Enigma sighed as she looked up at the warehouse before her, nervously tugging on one of her long pigtails before she took a breath, pushing into the place that she had first found a home in The City, the place Bruce and she had started her life in.
The place that could end up her tomb.
“Daddy?” she called, as she entered, running a finger over the table that had once housed Bruce’s work. All traces of the scientist has been eradicated by her father, but the memories remained and she gave a soft smile, before looking around for the man she was looking for, hoping that she wasn’t walking into a trap. “Da-addy!”
--
Edward was very disappointed in his daughter. For a number of reasons he claimed valid in his own twisted mind, finally settled on by the union of Enigma and Bruce. That had been the last straw. Edward understood that Enigma, his daughter, had a right to be happy and make her own way but ultimately her decisions affected his own. And he wasn't about to put up with anyone standing in his way. Including his own blood.
Edward had agreed to meet with Enigma at the warehouse and by Jonathan's insistence he brought along a couple of goons to protect him. Not that he needed them. Well, maybe he did but he hated to believe that.
In Edward's mind, Enigma could never truly be part of both of the worlds she lived in. She had made her choice and sealed her own fate. Edward had stopped loving her the moment she made her vows and said those two words. She no longer held the place in his heart, as tiny as it was, and it crushed him. She had picked the good side and he felt abandoned by her. True they had their differences but Bruce would always be the wall that separated them for the duration of their lives. He wasn't going to tolerate Enigma's games. She might believe that she could be evil in secret, but having a Hero for a husband snuffed that idea out even before it flickered and was allowed to become a flame.
No no. It wouldn't work. Not in the long run. And Edward was exhausted by the idea of being strung along by his daughter. If Bruce was her choice it would be the last one she ever made. He was finished.
Edward's whole life was a trap. Everything. All of it and it always had been. So she was walking into a trap. More than likely the last one she would ever set foot into.
"Over here, baby." He called softly, slipping out of the shadows. He paused and looked at her, fingers of one hand curled around his cane as he watched her from beneath the brim of his green bowler hat. He was cool, collected and calculating. If anyone could feel the danger in the room he hoped it would be her and that she would regret her choices.
--
“Daddy!” she called brightly, turning to look at him, body and mind freezing as she took him in. She swallowed thickly, taking a step backwards, away from him. “Daddy...” she whispered.
This wasn’t her father, this wasn’t the man who had shared her life, her dreams, her very bedroom when they couldn’t find enough room for the two fo them to live separately. This was the stranger that stared at her from the front page of the newspaper, the man she saw every time she snuck off to the library to read again about how she died.
The Riddler.
“You said we would be okay,” she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
--
"I never said anything, baby. Never." Edward replied, voice soft. He kept his face free of emotion but on the inside he was feeling so many things.
"I wanted us to be okay, and I gave you plenty of opportunity to make things okay, but you did what you felt was right which was all you could ever do. Even if it was risky." He explained, tapping his cane against the floor as he spoke. "Which means I have to do the same thing you did. What I think is right. You made me choose, Enigma. And it's a choice I never wanted to ever make."
He smiled at her then, but it was still void of emotion. "You are no longer my daughter. I'm disowning you. You are no longer my Enigma. Only Effie."
It was then Edward tilted his head to look down at the floor. He was afraid she would see how badly she had hurt him and being vulnerable was bad for his ego. Emotion made him act irrationally and if she kept her distance she would live. If she tried to console him in any way he would kill her without a second thought. He no longer held her in such high regard.
She had finally become expendable.
--
“Daddy...you can’t do this...” she whispered, anger and sadness flooding over her, making her legs tremble. “You said you would let me have both! You gave me that!” she screamed, shaking violently. “You were supposed to give me this!”
She shook as she reached in her boot, pulling out her favorite sidearm. She wouldn’t comfort him, she wouldn’t go to him...she would kill him. Because she was a Nigma, and no fancy words about being disowned could change that. If she had to...she would watch him die, rather then walk away from him.
Her hand trembled violently as she raised the gun, showing just how upset she was...how out of control she had become. She couldn’t even aim for his chest, the gun flicking to the left every few seconds as he body shook.
Large tears rolled down her cheeks, broken, hiccuping sobs swallowed, forcing her to choke. “You said you love me...” she whispered, her voice scratched and raw.
--
He could no longer give her anything and it hurt, but not more than the way she had been hurting him since he'd gotten to the city. Her claws had been inserted deep, but with each he pried from himself he grew further and further away from her. Bruce had been the last straw. She couldn't have both. Ever. Not while either of them were alive. It was all or nothing in this game, and she had chosen nothing with her father when she had chosen everything with Bruce.
"I do. Which is why this is so hard." He said softly, sliding his free hand into his own jacket to pull out his own gun. He lifted it expressionlessly, before lifting his chin up. He looked at her, aiming down the sight with a hand that trembled far less than hers was.
He knew she was armed, she always was. It was their way. He expected no less.
"You have no idea how much I love you, Effie. But you made your choice and you will pay for it forever. You will love him and be with him for the rest of your days, however long or short they may be." He said, pulling back the hammer of the revolver, pushing a bullet into the chamber.
"Love isn't something people just give you, especially when you don't deserve it. Consider this the end of our relationship. You don't listen anyway, so why should I even bother with words? Useless things."
--
“They will end up being longer than yours, father...don’t worry, I’ll let Jonathan know you died bravely,” she whispered, a hand sliding over her gun, pulling the slide and chambering a round, firing just as she removed her hand from the weapon, cursing as her hand trembled at just the rightwrong moment and missed.
She promptly hit the deck, rolling to the side, knowing that he would have fired at the same time she did. She was a Nigma...and a Titan, and she wasn’t going to stand there and let him shoot her.
--
He did fire at the same time she did, and of course the first round missed. There was a wide, maniacal grin on his face however. He was amused by her comment. Only one Nigma was going to make it out of here alive and it was going to be him.
He shifted as she fired as well, even though she missed completely when she shot at him. He expected her to have better aim than that.
He pulled the hammer back once more, and fired again at her when she had settled. "What's green and purple and bleeds profusely?" He growled, continuing to fire his gun at her.
Once all of the chambers were empty and the barrel of the gun was smoking, he sighed and shifted to settle the gun back into the holster and drew the other one, cocking the hammer back again.
--
Those words....they were the words burned into her brain, a tattoo across her heart...but they were enough that she screamed, rage flooding her, burning through her pain, her sadness. She had been shot, bleeding heavily from her thigh, but she stood, putting her weight on her good leg as she fired at him again, emptying the clip at him, before she dove behind Bruce’s old desk, popping the empty clip and sliding another into her gun, pulling the slide as she waited, listening.
She would survive this...she would not die here.
--
As she emptied the clip, Edward took one in the shoulder and another in the chest but not close enough to any vital organs to do major damage. He considered that just and fair. They both deserved it but she more than he.
He made a face and moved quickly, taking cover behind a pillar, so as not to take any more stray bullets. Both of them could be deadly enough without the surges of emotion they were both experiencing.
He peered around the pillar at her, before reaching around and firing a bullet in her direction. She hadn't gotten his firing arm, thank god, so she was still in a good amount of danger.
--
“Missed, you’re getting pathetic in your old age, pops!” she called, before darting up to fire off several shots, ducking down again, hoping that the desk strong enough to endure the Hulk having a temper tantrum would stand up to her father.
….God she wished Bruce was there to bring out the beast. Hulk vs her father...while sad, would be a joyous sight.
“Maybe you really should hang up the derby and let the true Nigma’s run the show.”
--
"You have ruined the Nigma name! You will never be a true Nigma so perhaps you should pick something else, Effie Banner." He called out, finding the insults amusing. She was just upset, and he knew it all too well. Being overly emotional with a gun could make one careless however.
And perhaps he had missed, but he still had five shots to go and one of them was bound to hit a good mark. If not, he had a pocket full of bullets and his goons had a good many more. He wouldn't be out anytime soon.
He fired in her direction again after calculating the move. The shot was aimed for her legs, beneath the table itself where the shot was riskier but a little more open. He hoped to get her on her back. Once she was down the fight was over.
--
“E-Nigma,” She mocked, snorting. “Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s not my name, daddy. You can’t destroy everything you don’t like. Everyone still knows you’re Edward Nashton, Everyone still remembers you, no matter how much of your past you try to destroy...and I will always be your daughter.”
She screamed as he bullet tore into her thigh, almost losing her gun in shock, raising up to fire again, tears rolling down her cheeks again, black from her ruined makeup. “I will see you dead, father...” she hissed, before ducking back down, leaning against the wall, staring at the pool of blood beneath her.
If this didn’t end soon..she would die here, hiding behind this desk like a coward.
She swallowed, pushing up, refusing to die like that...to be weak.
--
Edward smirked, "I know what you call yourself, Effie. But a name cannot live on without a legacy." He explained, leaning heavily against the pillar. "And I don't have a daughter. She died a long time ago." Edward said, closing his eyes for a moment. The smile never left his face.
He breathed heavily, blood staining the front of his suit from his shoulder and chest, and his heart raced but he forced his eyes to open. There was a place in his heart that was empty, void...a place where Enigma was once settled. Now it was empty again.
"Not me before you, Effie." Edward said, lifting his arm again, firing at her as she pushed herself up. He had three bullets left. More than enough.
--
“I will always live on, father,” she said, firing at him just seconds before his bullet tore through her chest. She collapsed, blood spilling over her lips, filling her airway from her dead and dying lungs. She choked, blood spraying out of her mouth, spreading out around her from her torso and legs like a morbid halo, staining her brown hair back to it’s true red colour.
She mouthed something, blood gurgling as she struggled to breath.
I love you
--
When the bullet hit her, Edward instantly felt the triumph. He sighed, sinking slowly to the ground against the pillar, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he shifted to the floor. He set the gun back into the holster and closed his eyes for a moment. They stung, and burned. It was a sensation he wasn't familiar with and he didn't know what was happening to him.
All he knew was that she was dying and that it was over. He laughed, opening his eyes which were streaming, throwing his head back as he roared with laughter. Finally, he stopped laughing, the sound faltering into a ragged cough. He tasted blood, but ignored it.
He lifted a hand to his face, brushing the tears away with his fingers before feeling hands on his arms which pulled him to his feet. His thugs were helping him to his feet.
Jonathan was going to be furious. Eddie didn't care. It was over. Now he could move on and live. Finally live.
--
Edward was escorted out to the green limo that was waiting for him, and crawled into the back seat once the door was open. Bleeding all over the car was normal for Eddie.
The car pulled away from the curb once the men were all in it, heading back to Arkham to give Spooky the news.
To Be Continued