How long... [Nina]

[Deleted]

A man in a sharp bright green suit sat on the couch, his figure facing the door as he flipped through pages of a book, he had read some time ago. His leg was crossed on his knee, as he waited. His purple gloves, sticking to some pages with each flick of paper. It was strange how she could move, yet everything stayed the same. Bare, empty, and organized.

It hadn't been difficult getting into the apartment. After all, he used to live in this building. He knew the codes. He knew the set up. He even knew a few of the security guards by first name. No, the building wasn't difficult at all. Whoever she was protecting herself from, it certainly wasn't him. She would have known better then to stay in this building.

When he heard the door open, he didn't look up. He continued to read. "Good afternoon, dear. I hope you don't mind my intrusion, but I made myself at home, " he commented with a smirk on his face. His eyes then slowly turned up from the book and landed on hers. How long had it been? A few months at the least, but Edward had not been keeping track.

[Nina Stenet]

Indeed, some things never change at all - Nina's schedule still varies widely, and it's perhaps simple good fortune on Edward's part that today she happened to want to get home on the earlier end of things. Mostly because she's feeling especially tired today - of course, she feels rather weary all day everyday any more, but today is particularly bad. Of course, the likely cause of that is the fact that yesterday was a rather long day. And as she and Shawty return home, she's looking forward to getting some much needed rest. However, the way that her assistant hesitates momentarily after opening the door is her first sign that at the very least her rest is going to be delayed somewhat.

Shawty, as always, is the first one through the door. This apartment may be rather secure, but that doesn't mean that she takes that enough for granted that she'd neglect that detail. Of course, this particular intruder is perhaps the most complicated person to try to protect Dr. Stenet from that there is - his motives for being here could be anything from the most harmless to the most sinister, and she'll admit that he's plenty smart enough to trick her. And she actually wonders if Dr. Stenet would even want her to interfere even if he tried something.

Well, at least the fact the he starts off by immediately talking to Dr. Stenet seems to be a vaguely positive sign, but she still eyes him rather suspiciously as she steps further inside. Beyond Dr. Stenet's safety, there's her own to consider - he did, after all, make a rather threatening statement about never wanting to see her again the last time he saw her. Of course, that was a rather long time ago, and he can't in all fairness expect to not see her here - she lives here, after all. "Mr. Nigma," she murmurs quietly, giving him a polite nod as she turns toward the far side of the room where the dining table is located - still keeping half an eye on him, but doing her best not to be obtrusive about it.

Nina, on the other hand, seems frozen for a moment - first hearing that so familiar voice and then seeing him sitting there on her couch. She blinks for a moment, looking confused - is she dreaming this? That's the only place that she's seen Edward for months now... Once her mind accepts that this is, in fact, reality, several emotions march across her face in quick succession. First is anger, but that feeling is quickly crushed by a much more powerful one: a very painful sadness. In fact, for an instant she looks like she's about to start tearing up, but then she catches herself. She's always been very good at keeping her emotions in check when she feels the need, and she quickly sets aside everything that is just plain not helpful right now.

Trouble is, when she does so there's not much emotion left for her to feel and her face takes on that rather blank look of suppressed feeling as she walks the rest of the way into the apartment and closes the door behind her. Finally she speaks, her voice strangely monotone as she asks, "Why are you here?"

[Deleted]

He ignored the small child as it spoke to him. He had no taste for the creature and would not speak to it directly. It was like her to keep the thing around. In some ways, Nina was very egotistical. She had this unreal fantasy that everyone was interested in her, and therefore, she needed to be protected. Yet, there was insecurity in the action as well. She obviously thought that she could not be the best one to protect herself if she brought in others to do the job...or was it fear. Nonetheless, it wasn't his job to provide psychiatrist analysis to her actions.

He snapped the book shut and placed it on the couch. He wore a smug grin when she asked her question. A question that provided little creativity. Edward's 'trip' to Morocco had an interesting effect on his sanity, but he considered it an enlightenment of the world. It was like his entire life had been in a fog until now. Everything made sense, yet nothing made sense. There were too many questions in the world and too many answers. His mind constantly jumping from one to another like an ADD rabbit. He grabbed his cane and stood, and while he leaned on it slightly, any one with an acute sense of detail would notice that he was not leaning on it like he desperately needed support. No, if anything, it was an act to quickly deceive the less intelligent. But Edward knew that even if Nina did not see with her eyes, she couldn't see with her ability. The way she always looked at his leg told him she could see it, but now...she would see nothing.

He rolled the cane in his hand as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, causally. "I came to talk," he commented as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Obviously with you, sense I am in your home, so I will stress I would prefer if...the child," he smirked, "was not present. If you disagree or you do not want me here, I'll just be on my way." He took a step outside of the couch area giving a flick of his hand, suggesting that either choice did not effect him personally.

[Nina Stenet]

There are certain little details of situations that Nina is entirely blind to, while there are others that she picks up as easily as breathing. Details indicative of someone's health and well-being are of the latter, and when seen on Edward, who she not only still has feelings for but has been concerned about lately, they're rather glaring to her. But though her eyes shift rapidly over him as he moves, mainly focused around his leg but also noting the tilt of his hips and shoulders, she also seems to be avoiding looking at his face directly. But, in any event, she's clearly aware of that change in him, at least, though she doesn't remark upon it.

If anything, it actually makes her feel a bit uncomfortable. It's a reminder that time has past, things have changed - major, drastic things perhaps. Her mind is still trying to come to grips with the fact that his feelings changed, and seeing his body has changed as well now seems to take him another step in the direction of being a stranger. How much of him is still the man that she loves?

At least the way that he talks is familiar - the arrogance, the smirks... Honestly, she suspects that she literally misses the sound of his voice. His statements, though cause her to look rather pensive as she turns toward her assistant. Shawty doesn't respond in words, but when she catches her boss's look, her expression immediately grows more suspicious. Which causes Nina's expression to become rather sad, which causes Shawty to sigh and say, "Fine..." She walks further toward the back of the apartment, heading for one of the bedrooms.

Nina, meanwhile, turns toward the kitchen area, which isn't that far, muttering, "I need a drink..."

[Deleted]

When the child left the room, and he heard the door shut, his smug expression only grew. His hand rolled along the top of his cane as he watched her move into the kitchen. In some ways it felt deadly familiar, but in others it seemed a lifetime ago. And in a way, it had been another life. He felt like he was living another one as he walked in a body he was not yet familiar with.

He walked up to her side as she poured herself a glass. His finger went up to her face and brushed back a piece of her hair. "You appear tired, dear. Did you miss me on my absence?" he asked with a smirk, it almost was a taunt. He brought his hand back to his side, but stay painfully close to her form.

"I suppose, I should stay on topic," he chuckled softly as he leaned back against her counter. "I have noticed a coyote hanging out with many wolves as of late, and I must admit..." He paused and locked eyes with her, "I was a tad bit worried." The grin still stayed on his face as he spoke, but these days, it rarely left.

[Nina Stenet]

Apparently, when Nina said 'a drink' she meant 'water from the tap'. They may not have seen each other for awhile, but her beverage preferences haven't changed during that time. And neither has the way he'd always move stray bits of hair out of her face... The gesture and his question causes another pained look to flicker across her face - the answer to his question is a definite 'yes' - but she doesn't say it out loud.

Instead her eyes flicker away from him again and she casually takes a step away from him before she leans against the counter and sips her water. His analogy causes her to frown for a moment, before she sighs and says, "Edward, I was up very late last night, could hardly sleep, went to work early this morning, worked all day, and now I'm exhausted. Can you tell me who the coyote is?" Because thanks to the mental exhaustion, she can think of no less than three people it could be and she can't seem to figure which of them is the most likely.

[Deleted]

Edward chuckled at her response. While some would consider her words thought through and calm, with him, her words always seemed a bit brash. He pushed himself off the counter, not liking the distance she had created between them. He took the few steps to close the distance, each made with determination. It was almost sad to outside view. He could tell that he had broken her. He read her face, and heard it in her words. It was the sound, as if she was barely grasping on to the last thread of life, or if she were the cat in that cliche picture that hung from a wire with the writing 'hang on there'.

His hands moved to either side of her on the counter, and he brought his lips teasingly close to her. "Now dear, laziness is very unattractive on your features," he commented with a smirk, it was something he had said to her along time ago when she dismissed one of his riddles. "But if you are not inclined to figure it out, it's quite simple." His hand free of the cane reached up and grasped her chin, focusing her eyes on him. "The coyote, a lone strong animal, is you. The wolves, well, I call them 'friends'."

He lips almost touched hers, but he stopped himself with a grin and pulled away. He stepped back and turned from her, running his finger along her counter, as if expecting for dust. "And as I said before, I was...worried," he commented softly.

[Nina Stenet]

When Edward come closer to her this time, Nina doesn't try and solve that problem this time - mostly because it's blatantly obvious that he's doing it on purpose. She looks rather uncomfortable, though, her body leaning away from him a little, and keeping her face turned more downward - thanks to their difference in height that'll a least keep their faces from getting too close.

At least until he holds her chin and pretty much forces her to look at him. The result is rather dramatic: she immediately blushes and the observant person would note that her breath rate suddenly picks up as well. Her eyes also flicker to his lips, though that causes her to subconsciously suck on her own as if trying to keep them away - clearly her mind and her body aren't fully in agreement on a certain subject... From there it's easy enough to deduce exactly why she'd rather not be so close to him...

When he steps away, a very quiet sigh of relief escapes from her as she quickly sorts out exactly what he was saying while he was being so distracting. "You've been watching me?" she asks quietly, not sounding like she really expects an answer to that. Actually, if anything she sounds like she's thinks that's a good thing...

"Well, the coyote doesn't exactly want to be hanging out with wolves," she comments more loudly, sounding tired and frustrated, "But apparently, Cobblepot knows enough to be curious about me and wants more. And Crane... I think he probably intends to do something either to me or with me - what, I don't know. Rather cryptic man." She shakes her head and sips her drink, as if hoping that the liquid will soothe her nerves in spite of the fact that mere water doesn't tend to do that.

"Selina's been trying to help, but... Well, there's plenty to worry about," she adds. Actually, she's a bit surprised to hear him say that he's worried about her at all. Or perhaps he's only worried about possible implications for him? She doesn't dare read any more into it than that. Though, oddly enough, she doesn't seem to be that worried herself - not because she doesn't believe that she's in danger, but because she doesn't seem to care very much about that.

[Deleted]

He listened carefully to his words, but by first appearance it would almost seem like he was ignoring her. His hands traced along her kitchen counter, almost expecting their cleanliness. He opened cupboards, closed them, and then moved on to the next. Was he looking for something? Was he not? Only the Riddler knew the reasoning behind his actions as he opened up the fridge. It was fairly bare of any food, but not a surprising conclusion to come to.

"Felines tend to have one thought in mind: their prey they wish to pounce on," he responded. He opened the freezer and saw a piece of frozen chicken. He pulled it out and moved it to the sink, turning on the cold water. He grabbed a plate and put the plate with the chicken under the water to defrost. "How about I cook for you, one last meal as whatever this is, hm?" He asked, finally giving her glance with a smirk that almost seemed dangerous playing on his lips. He grabbed a cutting knife. "I was thinking some type of chicken pasta," he rolled the knife in his hand as he finally walked back towards her.

His eyes finally took her in fully. They moved across her body like artwork, observing every curve and turn the painting took until finally landing on his eyes once more. "You are quite beautiful. I suppose many men would be lucky to have you. He grabbed her chin with his hand that held the cane, bringing his lips close to hers once more. "It's a shame you build up your defenses to any human touch at all...unless...its forced upon you, Riddle me this, if it was the end of the world, would your last moments be with me?" He then pressed his lips hard to her, kissing her deeply and pressing her up against the kitchen counter.

[Nina Stenet]

Nina's eyes follow him as he explores her cupboards. It isn't difficult to keep the kitchen clean when she only uses it occasionally - she's been throwing herself into her work, albeit without much passion, in an attempt to inject some meaning into her life. The problem is that, at least by the way she'd measure it, she has plenty of meaning in her life but doesn't feel it no matter how much of it there is. But the long hours at work mean that she more often eats there or grabs something from a drive thru. Not the healthiest thing to do, but she's not one to care about her health beyond maintaining a basic level of it and that's only gotten worse of late.

She frowns pensively at his comment on pouncing felines but makes no comment upon it, somewhat distracted as he apparently starts on making a meal. When he offers it up as a 'last meal', however, her expression falls and she barely audibly says, "...was..." No, she's not really interested, if she's honest - he's stirring up all sorts of emotions that she'd rather keep buried just by being here. Many that she thought thought and hoped and wished were dead, not to mention the ones she already knew were lingering on for far too long. Then again, Edward isn't exactly an easy person to actually say no to, especially when you aren't completely certain that you'd ever want to say such a thing to him.

Suddenly, before she really realizes it, he's come close again and is commenting on her appearance, and as her eyes had drifted to the floor they abruptly raise to meet his. She feels frozen in place as he again touches her chin... so close... Hardly hearing the words that he says now, her breath catches. Though it was hardly the first thing that attracted her to him, when their relationship passed the beginning stages her attraction for him became very, very physical. And though time has passed and other things have changed, her body has not forgotten his, and neither has her lips.

And so when she feels his lips against hers there's only an instant of hesitation before his kiss is returned, if anything, with more strength than the one being given. Pressing her lips firmly against his, her free hand quickly finds its way into his hair as she hungrily devours his kiss and then, unsatiated, seems to beg for more. She'd attempted to hold back on the feeling since the moment she saw him here: she wants him, and very badly.

But though it takes a moment, her mind catches up with her and she suddenly becomes very aware of what she's doing. She slowly pulls away from his kiss as if being unwillingly dragged away from it, even though it's herself who is doing the dragging. Turning her face from him, she gasps at the sudden increased need for air and feels the rapid pounding of her heart. "Edward, what are you doing to me?" she asks quietly, sounding horribly confused and even a little bit angry, and meaning the question on perhaps every level it could possibly be interpreted on. If he looks at her face now he'd see a tear traveling down each cheek, only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of emotions he just caused.

[Deleted]

He smirked into the kiss as Nina basically attacked his form. It hadn’t been unexpected. He had this type of effect on women. They longed and needed to cling to him for the meaning of their life. It could almost be deemed sad how these women seek approval from him like daughter from her neglectful father. Not one to reject attention, he easily molded into the kiss, his free hand moving down from her chin and tracing down the center of her chest and then towards her sides to grip her hips hard. When she broke the kiss, he didn’t let distance come between them, keeping her hips against his. He saw the tear, and it made pause for the briefing of moments. He couldn’t remember a time the woman had actually cried in front of him, and while at some point in the pass that would have riled unfamiliar emotions, at this moment it only furthered his ego.

He had managed to break this strong woman.

How poetic…

He smirked and whispered against her lips, “The answer was in the riddle.”

His lips connected with her again at the exact same time he slammed the knife up between her ribcage and into her heart. He twisted the knife, keeping her trapped between him and the counter. His lips opening against hers to catch the gasp of the last full breath she would ever take, and then chuckled softly.

He pulled out the knife slowly, blood staining his clothes, as he dropped the knife on the counter behind her. He moved his hand to her face cupping her cheek and rubbing his bloody gloved thumb along her pale white skin.

“I think deep down you always knew your life…your world…your meaning was in my hands. Goodbye, Dr. Stenet,” he grinned, kissing her lips one last time before he let go of her and walked away.

[Nina Stenet]

For one, painfully brief moment the world had seemed perfect. The man that she loves again in her arms, his lips against hers, that heady feeling caused by his hands tracing along her curves, that exciting surge of adrenaline as her body responds to his, that desire demanding to be satisfied... If only that moment could last forever! She could be happy then, but it passes far too quickly.

In fact the kiss itself lasts longer than that precious moment, suddenly turning bitter against her lips as the truth is laid plain in her mind. This kiss is a lie. His words are uncaring. Her love is no longer returned. They can hold each other in their arms, but their hearts are agonizingly far apart. That is why there are tears on her cheeks - she is not broken but that last bit of a dream she'd held onto is. The man that she loves, the Edward in her memory, cannot be found here.

But if this is not that Edward, then who is it? And why is he doing these things to her? Why does his body tell her so many lies? Are the words from his lips even true? Why come here? Why kiss her? It makes her very angry being manipulated like that, though in the confusing rush of other emotions, she hardly knows which one to favor at first.

Some might say that she had it all figured out a moment too late. But then, she's never killed a person before, she'd prefer to never do so, and his next action at least gives her something more important to worry about than stopping herself from doing something out of anger that she'll regret later. Instead she may look back on this and figure that it was actually quite fortunate how things turned out, all things considered. But she certainly won't feel that way about it now. And not tomorrow.

For a moment, all she can sense is pain. Not the touch of his lips returning to hers, not the sound of his cruel laugh, but a pain so intense that it might as well have taken over her whole world. She won't remember his last words to her or his last kiss, if she was even aware of them to begin with, but as she slumps to the ground, she instead focuses on a riddle: How can something the relative size of an ant patch a hole the size of a grapefruit in the extraordinarily brief amount of time she now has before she loses both consciousness and an unsurvivable amount of blood?

If her meaning in life really did revolve as much around him as he supposes, she would happily give up on that riddle and taking the easier route of simply allowing herself to die as he obviously wishes her to do. But since when has she ever done what he wants? Perhaps he's just as delusional about their relationship as she ever was...

Speaking of things that he doesn't want, the same moment that Dr. Stenet slumps to the ground and therefore out of her way, Shawty fires a bullet aimed to pass within an inch of his arm. A warning shot, of sorts. And the same moment it's fired she smoothly shifts her semi-automatic pistol to aim for his head. This is a small apartment, so the distance between where she stands mostly concealed by the doorway of her darkened bedroom to pretty much anywhere in the main area of the apartment is not great - she won't miss. On the other hand, even if she shoots to kill there's no guarantee that he'll die quickly and without pulling whatever gun he probably has on him, and the speed with which she gets to Nina is far more important than giving him what he deserves for what he just did.

"Leave now," she practically spits out, her voice literally murderous with rage. Unlike her soft-hearted boss, she's killed before and wouldn't hesitate to do so again. In fact the only thing staying her hand now is time. She doesn't have time ensure this man is properly turned into a corpse, yet if he doesn't leave immediately then she would take the time if only to ensure he can do nothing more. The man is too devious for his own good, and she's not about to be in the same room as him or allow him to remain in the same room as Nina for their own safety - what's the point of rushing into the kitchen area to try and save her if he lingers long enough to shoot her in the back while she's doing so? No, she's not taking that risk.

Especially since, though she has a much better grasp of just where Dr. Stenet's abilities with her power are, she knows just how devastating the injury he inflicted is - if her boss lives, it'll be a close thing... But up until the moment that she knew what Mr. Nigma was up to she'd not been watching him from there. Instead she'd been monitoring them using the apartment's internal security system - not a feature that comes standard in these apartments, but one of the things added by Selina. Then again, all the tech in the world can't help her protect a woman who told her to give the man who just stabbed her the benefit of the doubt.

But it can reduce the task of telling the emergency services that she needs the police and an ambulance to the pressing of two buttons as she scrambled from the chair in front of her computer to the doorway, so at least she doesn't have to worry about getting them on their way here. No, she just has to worry about seeing Mr. Nigma out the door and then doing absolutely anything she can to help Dr. Stenet - hopefully enough to keep the woman alive.