Enigma ~The Riddler's Daughter (i_riddle) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2013-05-18 20:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | dinah lance, enigma, zz:status complete |
Capturing An Enigma (Enigma/Dinah Log)
Enigma winced as her leg almost hit a shard of broken glass, resting back against Marcus who was there in an instant, before lifting the leg and flipping backwards, over the man, landing lightly on her feet. She checked her leg, giving a sigh. “I’ve been out of practice,” she muttered, before moving past the three men she had brought with her, slamming her cane down on a jewelry case.
She stared down at the shiny gemstones, gloved hand hesitating for a moment before she grabbed the long strands of diamonds, stuffing them into the bag at her hip. She had made a promise to her father, and she intended to fulfill it....even as it hurt the part of her that was trying desperately to do the right thing for Bruce...for Tony..for everyone who had given her a chance.
Her father had always come first in her life.
As she moved around the small shop, she didn’t see the faint blinking red light, the silent alarm that she had missed the first go round, and was now calling for help.
----
Dinah had been on patrol around the City when the distress call came in. The City must have been in a cooperative mood because the streets shifted and she found herself in front of the jewelry shop. There wasn’t anyone in the clock tower at the moment to ask what she was walking into, but the Canary had a few guesses. She prepared herself for whatever might be waiting and stepped inside the shop. When she spotted the new bride, her stomach clenched. She’d tried so hard to nudge Enigma back onto the right path and she could only imagine how Bruce might feel about her going back to a life of crime.
She cleared her throat to announce her presence and give the young woman a chance to change her mind.
“You don’t want to do this.”
The henchman was noted and Dinah’s posture might seem relaxed but her muscles were tensed and ready to spring into action if it came to a fight.
----
Enigma froze, before turning to look at the woman who had stood next to her at her wedding, before shaking her head, pigtails swinging. “Sorry, Canary, kinda hafta,” she said, before nodding to her men. “Go,” she ordered, giving Marcus a hard stare when he hesitated.
The men ran, leaving Canary to chase them...or deal with the teen crime queen, who had turned to move around the case she was examining, keeping Dinah in her sight as she slammed her cane against the case, scooping out a handful of ruby bracelets.
“How’d ya know we were here, anyway?” she asked curiously.
--
Dinah turned and let out a scream that was loud enough to knock all of Enigma’s men off their feet. Unfortunately, one managed to dodge her scream and made a run for it. She took note of the face and would chase him down but for now she had a Nigma to deal with. Then she turned her attention back to the Riddler’s daughter and moved forward to stop the destruction of property. She reached out in an attempt to deflect the cane.
“You don’t have to. You have a choice, Enigma. It might not seem like it right now, but you do have a choice.”
She ignored the other question for now. She didn’t really need to give too much information on how she’d known they were in the jewelry store. It just might make the next heist easier after all.
----
Enigma’s eyes narrowed, and she flipped the cane, reversing the momentum to hit Dinah. “No, I really don’t. I either do this, or daddy’s going to kill me, so excuse me if I want to live,” she said, fishing around in her waist pack for earplugs, hurriedly cramming one of the bright green objects into her left ear.
“You think I enjoy this?” she raged, long pigtails swinging as she jumped over the jewelry case, leg already aiming for Dinah’s jaw.
--
Dinah swept her arm downward to deflect the kick.
“You’re not enjoying this?” she asked, frowning. “Your dad put you up to this?”
She had to take care of Edward next. Had to make sure that he didn’t get the chance to hurt his daughter or anyone else.
“I can help protect you, but you need to stop destroying and stealing other people’s property.”
----
“All I wanted, was for him to love me,” Enigma roared, landing on her feet and swinging the cane around in a two handed swing, the glittering gold question mark aiming for Dinah’s side. “But noo, I’m not good enough,” she flipped backwards to avoid any attack Dinah might make, landing in a crouch. “Not evil enough...and now he’s going to kill me..”
She snorted at the offer of protection, lashing out, destroying another case. “You can’t stop him! No one can! I die, either here or there, he kills me!”
----
Enigma was well trained. Her time with the Titans as well as her time with her father had made sure of that. Dinah didn’t want to hurt the young woman, but she also knew that she couldn’t just pull her punches. The cane hit her but she managed to evade the full brunt of the blow. She stood where she was, arms up in a defensive position as she waited for Enigma to make her next move.
“I won’t let him kill you,” she promised. “Neither will Bruce.”
She had a feeling that it was okay to speak for Bruce in this case. From what she knew of the scientist, there was no way that Enigma’s new husband would allow Edward to kill her.
“You can still make the right choice. We can make sure that you’re protected. But you can’t keep robbing the residents of the City blind. I can’t let that happen.”
----
“And how, exactly are you going to stop me, pretty bird?” Enigma asked, standing, the cane flashing as it spun, before it shrunk down to a small baton, Enigma’s free hand pulling her gun, aiming it at Dinah, gloved thumb cocking the weapon. “I can fire faster than you can draw a breath, Dinah,” she warned.
She didn’t want to fire, she didn’t even want to be there. She wanted to be at home, with Bruce and Timmy...she wanted to be screaming at R&D for being utter morons and not seeing what the hell she was trying to explain to them.
...she wanted to be anywhere but there, in that moment, everything crashing down around her. It was all going to be gone at the end of this, her job, her marriage, her friendships...all because she couldn’t be good...because she needed her father.
“Just go away,” Enigma whispered softly, brokenly.
--
Dinah stared at the barrel of the gun. It wasn’t the first time she’d been on this end of things, but in her experience, if someone was going to fire they wouldn’t waste time threatening. That didn’t mean that the situation couldn’t be tipped that way. Others might think that Dinah always blindly believed the best in people, but that simply wasn’t true. She knew well enough to be able to tell the difference between someone who was legitimately going to kill her and someone who had a chance at being saved.
When Enigma’s voice softened and the plea was whispered, she didn’t make a move to attempt to disarm. Not yet. She had a feeling that sudden movements weren’t the right thing here. She sent up a silent prayer to Jesse and just hoped that the God was listening. Just in case things tipped in the wrong direction. She had a lot to live for, after all. Then she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
“No. I’m not going to walk away from this.”
----
“Why not?” Enigma screamed, her hand trembling slightly. As the gun wavered she moved her finger off the trigger, not far enough that she couldn’t fire when she wanted...but far enough she wouldn’t accidently shoot Dinah.
“Just go...pretend you never saw me and we can both be happy!”
--
Dinah noticed that Enigma’s trigger finger had eased off a little bit, though she wasn’t in the clear yet. She was aware of the gun-very aware-but for now she met the eyes of the woman holding the gun.
“Because this store belongs to someone. It’s their livelihood. Their dream. And because this isn’t the life you want.” Her voice was soft, with an undertone of determination. She wasn’t going to walk away from this. It wasn’t in her DNA.
“If I walk away, neither of us will be happy. The other option is that you let me turn you in. Get yourself a fair trial. Last I checked, your dad’s connections didn’t extend to the City prison. You’ll be protected in there.”
----
“I will lose everything,” Enigma whispered, shaking her head violently, pigtails swinging. “No...I can’t. I would rather die.”
Melodramatic, yes, but Enigma felt completely lost and broken down in that moment, tired of it all, tired of gaining and losing, tired of being torn into two. Her grip shifted on the gun, tightening, her finger returning to the trigger as she stared at Dinah, raising the gun again to better line it up with the woman’s face.
Before collapsing to her knees, her head hanging, the gun sliding across the floor to Dinah’s feet, tears rolling down her cheeks under her mask. “I can’t...”
--
Dinah felt a tug at her heartstrings when Enigma knelt before her. She leaned down and picked up the gun, taking the bullets out and setting it on the counter behind her. Then she moved forward and held out a hand to the younger woman.
“I know a pretty good lawyer, if you’d like.”
This was how it had to be. A crime had occurred and Enigma needed to go through the system and have her due process for it. That didn’t mean that Dinah wanted her to end up getting an unfair sentence and rotting in jail, but she did believe that jail would be safer for her at the moment.
----
“Still won't stop Tony from firing me,” she muttered as she accepted Dinah’s hand to stand, wiping at her eyes and smearing the dark green makeup she used under her mask. “Sure I can’t bribe ya?”
--
Dinah helped Enigma to her feet and the request actually elicited a small, if slightly sad, smile.
“We have met before, haven’t we?”
Anyone who knew Dinah knew that she didn’t spend much time in the gray areas where bribery and pushing the lines of ethical crimefighting was acceptable. She had her flaws and her times when she probably caused more pain than she should have, but she couldn’t be bought. She had her values and those weren’t for sale.
----
“Ya trained me,” Enigma muttered, before deflating. “At least this time I’m not going to be in a cell next to Joker or Harley...” she said, trying to make light of thing...even as she felt utterly broken. “Lead the way, I doubt you’d trust me to go first.”
--
Dinah pocketed both the gun and the bullets since she didn’t want to just leave them lying around. Then she nodded toward the door and started to lead the way. She didn’t turn her back on the former Titan though. She knew better than that.
“No you won’t be. Harley’s not in the City anymore as far as I can tell and I’m pretty sure you know that the Joker is currently a statue in front of my shop.”
Or if she didn’t know that it was the Joker, she knew now. Dinah assumed that the statue hadn’t gone unnoticed when Enigma had stopped in to invite her to be a bridesmaid. She just hoped that the younger woman took some reassurance from the fact that the Joker couldn’t hurt her anymore.
----
“Wait, that’s really him? I just thought it was an ugly ass likeness he forced on you...can I take a sledgehammer to it before ya lock me up and throw away the key?” she asked, slightly hopeful. Yes, Damon may have healed her injuries, but she still had nightmares about Joker’s...tender mercies and to destroy him would be a nice weight off her shoulders.
“And can we get whomever did it, to do it to dad?”
--
Dinah laughed.
“I’m not sure if taking a sledgehammer to him is a good idea. It could release him.” There was a darker part of her that might have actually been okay with that, if it wasn’t for the fear that it might free the Joker. She wasn’t proud of that part, but it was there all the same.
“It’s not my place to ask the person who did it to do that to your dad. Telling God what to do isn’t exactly up my alley.”
She had a small smile, though it was the truth. Jesse was her friend and she knew that meant that he’d stuck his neck out for her and taken more of an interest than someone with the powers of God maybe should. In turn, she had to respect that she couldn’t run to him for everything. That she couldn’t ask him to turn people into statues.
“I’ll see what I can figure out while you go through the system,” Dinah promised.
----
Enigma snorted at Dinah’s words, looking at the stars above them, wondering when she would see them again outside bars. “There’s no such thing as God,” she said, counter to the fact she had just had a religious wedding.
“Let’s get this over with.”
--
Dinah simply smiled. She would have said the same thing before meeting Jesse. And she really didn’t want to go around shouting at the fact that she had God on speed dial. It wasn’t fair to Jesse and might not even be safe.
She tapped her communicator to call in to the City police to let them know about the situation. Then she led the way to her bike and nodded to it. She thought that it would go better if Enigma wasn’t brought in in cuffs. She had made the choice to let Dinah take her in and so Dinah wanted it to be clear that she had turned herself in. That should count in her favor. She just hoped that the time in jail while awaiting trial would be enough time for her to figure out the right path to choose. And that it would be enough time for Dinah to find some way to protect Enigma from her father.
----
Enigma slid onto the bike, a pout over her lips, arms crossed over her chest, looking every inch the sullen teenage, but she easily wrapped her arms around Dinah’s waist when the older woman got on, relaxed and easy, indicating a willingness to go along and not fight her anymore.