Liars and Cheats (Edward/Effie Log)
Edward grunted as he moved, his body taking painstaking care as it tried to shift normally so he could get where he needed. He didn't have to walk, but he had grown tired of the asylum, the constant screaming and crying was enough to drive him insane (more than he already was) and his restless nature wouldn't keep him down for too long.
Which is how he found himself in the warehouse, a place that seemed to call him back time after time. As if the place held a special meaning or spot in his heart. Like a home would.
Despite the pungent scent of old, dried blood, pet dander and bullet casings, Edward was finally able to claim some measure of solace. He sighed, coughed, and huffed before settling down into a dander covered computer chair. A layer of dust coated Bruce's old workstation, the bunnies thicker on the floor. Edward had left tracks on the floor as he'd moved and even the bodies he'd left after his Death Trap were covered in the thick mat of dust.
He didn't care. None of that mattered. His mind was too busy trying to decide the best way to get back at that little bitch for dropping a car on him. He had just wanted to scare her, and she went and pulled a Hulk move.
Gritting his teeth, Eddie shifted in his seat. One palm was carefully wrapped around a crutch, the middle part but only to keep it upright, and the other palm curled around the top part of his cane. Edward had taken care of his cane in his down time, turning it into a Penguin-style weapon. It wasn't an umbrella, but it was close. And it could kill someone in a second. Oh death. Beautiful, wonderful death.
If only his death would stop evading him, perhaps he would actually be happy.
What was happiness anyway? Who knew. Who really knew.
-- Effie hummed happily as she bounced into the warehouse, dragging her cleaning kit with her. She had decided to come back to clean the place up, maybe turn it into a gym or something, and was eager to dive into the problem.
Except...someone was already there...
“D-daddy?” she asked, her mouth falling open as she saw her father for...what was to her, the first time. She bounced over to him, going to hug him, only to stop when she realized he was injured. “What happened?!”
--
Edward had no idea why he was so comforted by the array of odors, dander and skeletons but it seemed like he was. Perhaps it was the killer in him that enjoyed the carnage and chaos. And Effie was the last thing on his mind until he heard her shuffling into his peace, as if throwing a stone through his metaphorical pane of glass.
He shot her a glare, then realized something was different. She wasn't running, or trying to kill him. Say what? He blinked and looked up at her, before casting his eyes down to look over his injury.
"Car accident."
Slowly, he lifted his chin and looked up at his daughter suspiciously, eyes dragging over her to verify if she was packing heat or simply playing stupid to get him off guard.
Maybe that's what he wanted. Maybe it wasn't.
--
“Oh daddy...” she said softly, gently touching his leg in a manner that wouldn’t hurt him, her whole face looking sad and worried for him. “Do you need anything? Why didn’t you come to the tower so I could take care of you?”
She looked around, spotting a pillow and after dusting it off, she ran back along with another chair, gently placing his leg on it, getting him comfortable so he wouldn’t bother his leg. It was obvious when she moved that she wasn’t armed, there was no pull of a holster, no flash of her guns.
--
At the mention of the tower, Edward shook his head so violently he almost was ejected from the chair. He hated everything about that damned eyesore and he sure as hell wasn't about to go crawling to his son-in-law, Tony, and of course his daughter.
No thanks. He'd rather die first.
"Not from anyone that lives in that Tower," Edward spat. The very thought had him boiling.
He noticed her movement as she ran, the innocence of it. And the fact that she was unarmed. Well that was new. He winced slightly as she situated his leg but it did feel a little better so he wouldn't shoot her at the moment.
"Thanks baby."
--
“You would do better with family!” she protested, pouting at him. She sighed, kneeling on the ground next to his legs, gently massaging the muscles above the injury. She knew how stressed the muscles could get while trying to keep away from a severe wound, especially the legs and she bet it would help him feel better to relax the over worked muscles.
“Bruce...said that I shouldn’t be around you,” she said softly, staring at Edward’s leg. “That you’re a bad man...I don’t...I don’t remember any of it, of him..of..anything but I don’t think you’re bad...”
-- We that was interesting. Didn't remember anything? Hm. Well, that meant it was time to wipe the slate clean.
Edward offered his daughter his most charming smile, and lifted a hand to pet her hair
"I'm not bad at all! Bruce is the bad one." Edward replied, frowning at Effie then. "You see, he's wanted you for himself for a long time. Conned you into believing he was good. But him and that monster hurt people, innocent people and you can't let him fool you." His voice was sweet, caring and his fingers pushed gently through her hair as if he were trying to comfort her or cushion the blow. "All he does is lie. I'm your father, I would know. He hurts me too."
--
“But...he said we were married and that we love each other...” she said softly, frowning. “I...remember...him naked? But Damon said we were happy...” She bit at her lip, worrying at it, not sure who or what to believe. She wanted to trust her father, every bit of her was screaming to...
“He hurt you?”
--
"He says a lot of things, baby." Edward explained, frowning sadly at Effie as he watched her sit there, confused.
At the mention of seeing Bruce naked, Eddie made a face, "Gross. But I'm sure you have. You are married but he didn't treat you very good after he tricked you into marrying him. He lied to you and made you push away your daddy and the people that really love you. He tried to keep you away from who you really are, my dear."
Edward opened the front of his pants and slid out of them some, showing her the bullet graze as proof, "He shot me." He winced as he redressed his lower half, and settled back into the chair, leg throbbing as he moved. "Shot me here in the warehouse. And left me to die."
--
Effie yelped, covering her eyes when her father started to strip, before peeking through her fingers, a gasp falling from her lips. “D-Daddy..” she whispered, tracing her fingers over the scars, tears in her eyes. She sat up, hugging him tightly when he redressed, crying softly. “I don’t like him!”
She sniffed, still holding Edward, being careful of his leg. “I don’t want to be there with him anymore...I don’t even want to see him...”
--
Edward paid no mind to Effie's yelp of surprise when his pants had evaporated to expose the scar. When she embraced him, Edward pulled her close and held her in his arms, patting her back, "I tried to tell you, baby, but you're married. You don't have a choice."
He pulled back from her and kissed her cheek, "You can always come stay with daddy though. Jonathan won't mind." Too much.
--
“Then I’ll leave him and get a divorce!” she said, her tone enough to give someone the mental image of her stomping her foot. She nodded at his words, wiping her eyes. “I want to come stay with you...I can’t...I can’t go back there! He hurt you and he hurt me and it’s just not right.”
She didn’t even want to hear what Bruce would use as an excuse.
--
Edward nodded, taking one of her hands, "You are more than welcome to come stay with us, baby. We would love to have you. And at least we can keep you safe and away from that evil, nasty old man."
Inwardly, Eddie was giggling. This was way too awesome. Outwardly, he had the most sincere look of concern and fear on his face and in his eyes.
--
“Then I’ll come home...and send someone to get my things...but oh...what about work?” she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. “I don’t want to lose my job!” She had given the R&D staff a week off, but they would need to do something for when that week was up.
Maybe her father could hire a bodyguard for her...
--
"You can work for me." Edward replied, as if that was the obvious solution. "Or I could send Marcus to see to you. Make sure Bruce and Tony aren't trying to hurt you."
Edward didn't care what Effie did, but he needed that control over her. He wanted her to leave Bruce, desperately, and if it meant lying a little....well, it would have to come to that. He wasn't an insane genius for nothing.
--
“What do you do?” she asked, looking up at him. “Bruce said you weren’t a detective anymore...” she looked sad at that. Having a great detective for a father had always been a source of pride in her. He had done what she said people could do, change who they were for the better.
:”Can I do both? Work for you and go to work at Stark Industries? I can take Marcus with me...whomever he is.” She had a flash of a memory, a tall, dark skinned man bending over her, worry in his face as he picked her up to carry her after yet another moment of doing something stupid. A flash of love and care went through her heart at the memory.
Marcus...was someone important to her.
--
"I had to stop being a detective after Bruce shot me the first time. I couldn't walk for a while, so the trade sort of let go." Edward explained, "But I help Jonathan take care of patients at the asylum. It isn't a terrible job, it's helping where I can. I thought about getting back into the detective gig, but I would need an assistant to keep going with my cases in the event that I am unable." Edward motioned to his leg in a cast.
"If that's what you want, baby, then that's what we will do. As long as you're safe and happy, and you can handle both jobs. But I fear Tony and Bruce won't appreciate knowing you're betraying them to work with me. They hate me."
"Marcus will take good care of you. He always has."
--
“I’ll help you, daddy!” she said, smiling up at him. “I can be a great assistant, and Marcus can help me out at work and then everyone’s happy!” Except Bruce, but right now, Effie didn’t care about that. “Do you need an icepack for your leg?”
--
"That sounds perfect, baby. A true father-daughter venture into helping the community." This was all so amusing to Edward inwardly. Eddie shifted, making a face before nodding, "That might help with some of the pain and swelling. The lesson to be learned from this is look both ways before you cross the street." Or piss someone off that can drop a car on you.
--
She leaned up, kissing his cheek, before bouncing off, intending to buy him a fresh and new ice pack. she returned ten minutes later, ice pack ready, along with a bit of take out chinese and a puzzle book for her father to exercise his mind while he was incapacitated.
She carefully laid the wrapped ice pack on his leg, kissing his cheek again as she bounced off to go fix them plates of food, humming brightly, happy to have her father in her life.
--
As she left, and when he was sure she was gone, Edward cackled to himself. His laughter was violent, again almost enough to eject himself from the chair. Tears of amusement welled in his eyes and his face was red, but by the time she returned he was back to normal.
He could smell the takeout as she entered with it, and instantly his stomach was growling.
He groaned when she wrapped the cooled pack around his leg, the chill easing some of the pain and lessening the relentless throbbing. He was going to need more pain pills soon, which meant getting back to the asylum.
"Ohhhhh....puzzles."
Eddie snatched the book up and opened the cover, eyes scanning the riddles and word games that the pages held. A pen seemed to materialize out of nowhere, despite the thing having only been tucked into the lining of his jacket, and in no time Edward had completed all of the puzzles in the booklet.
"Child's play." Edward smirked, setting the completed book aside, clicking his pen.
--
“That’s why I got you two,” Effie said, sticking out her tongue playfully as she set a plate (and another book) in front of Edward, taking her own seat and using her drawn up knees as a table. “So what’s our first case? Ya gotta have something percolating in that brain of yours,” she said, trying to eat a noodle without getting the sauce everywhere.
-- Oh now this was good. Two books. He was starting to kind of like this new Effie. The other one had gotten defiant and boring. This version was submissive and catering to him. His ego adored it.
Taking to the food eagerly, Edward ate with vigor. Mid-bite, Eddie nodded, "I'm actually on a case of my own interests. Trying to get some dirt on your man so we can lock him up in the asylum. He's been treating people too terribly and I can't seem to get anyone to be brave enough to come forward and help me put him away."
He continued to eat, swallowing noodles and wiping sauce from his mouth, "You can get close to him. I can't."
--
“What do you need me to do?” she asked, her eyes wide open, a hint of fear peeking out but overlaying it...complete eagerness to please her father. “Do you want me to follow him around and take pictures?”
She had a moment of picturing herself in a trench coat and oversized hat, hiding behind doors as she stalked Bruce through the tower.
-- Eddie laughed softly at the mental picture he had gotten, the same one of her in the coat and hat trying to take pictures of Bruce. "No no, I need you to get into his computer and get the files of his experiments. There's a rumor that he is working on something big, something dangerous that he wants to release on the city. With Tony funding him, it probably won't take them long to manufacture whatever it is they're making. If that's all they're up to. You can never completely trust the science types."
If Eddie could get his hands on Bruce's lab files and experiments, he would know exactly where to strike. He just needed leverage. And plans.
--
“Well that’s easy peasy! He’s...very malleable,” she said, blushing brightly as her mind spun with what she might have to do to distract him. “I...what if he tries to attack me?” she asked innocently, remembering Bruce’s arms around her, holding her close.
What would he do if she turned him down?!
--
Edward grinned at Effie, touching a finger across one of her cheeks tenderly, "Excellent!"
Pulling his hand from her face, Edward reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a vial of serum. It was Enigma's Hulk serum, and he held it up to her. "This will keep him from changing. You shoot him with it. He won't be able to hurt you." He offered it to her to examine, along with the gun designed for its use.
"Marcus will be there to protect you, too. But make are you keep your eyes open. Those robots and stuff might turn on you if they're programmed the way I think they are."
--
She blushed at her father’s touch, pleased that he was being so kind to her. It was what she had always wanted!
She nodded, swallowing thickly as she took the serum and gun from him, staring down at them before taking a deep breath, steeling herself. “I’ll do it...I’ll get what you need,” she said, nodding before standing. “I...should go. Get it over with and you need to rest anyway.”
She leaned in to kiss his cheek and give him a hug before heading out the door, meeting up with Marcus, explaining to him what she needed. The man frowned at her, glancing back at the Warehouse, wondering what Edward was playing at before opening the car door for Effie, leaving one of his men with another car for Edward.
Effie slotted the serum into it’s place, taking another breath.