Re: The Mansion - The Cellar

[Zoewilliams]

He lashed out a hand, tugging Jerome by the shoulder and making sure the ginger wouldn't escape his grip. His eyes lowered with a face of deadpan seriousness. "Listen baby. " he licked the corner of his lips and gave Edward a good scowl before shortly returning his attention to Jerome.

"Babe. You know I'm crazy for you. Crazy. Mad crazy. Like, fuck a goat crazy." He scoffed a laugh. "But I'd NEVER lie you. You know that honey?"

His eyes glared back over to Edward, pure hate and evil intentions floating in the depths of his dark pupils. He exchanged a look, positive that he knew what he had just done and if anything he'd make sure Ed would regret telling. Do it, his eyes said. Let's see what happens. I dare you.

His voice darkened, eyes still burning with anger. "Right?" His lips licked together in a nod. "See, Ed here was just kidding."

Thing was, he wasn't. And he knew it all well. He could only pray that Jim would survive from Jerome's attack and Jerome wouldn't believe him.

His eyes flashed at Jerome, grip tightening on his arm.

"Oh what. Are you still mad?" This time, he couldn't help but hide a snicker. "Oh baby! Nonono! Don't be upset, it ain't a cute look on you. What. You jealous?"

Forcefully, he pressed a kiss to Jerome's lips, fighting him back and pinning him towards the wall.

"Don't be. Only you drive me crazy. I ADORE you."

[Dead Is The New Sexy]

Jerome finally relented.

Finally.

The words from Joker didn't win him over, but he did believe him. Can you trust someone without believing them? Or maybe it was a case of believing him and not trusting him. He was not entirely sure. But ... "I guess that was fun. And I'm all about having a good time, we all know this, right babe?" Jerome gave Joker a very strange and very menacingly teasing smile. He licked hot blood off his fingers, and then stepped back.

"Oswald Cobblepot. This was your LIFE!" A line from a long ago game show from the 60's. Wasn't that supposed to be .. this is your life? "What's my line." Jerome purred. He was in full psychotic overdrive. Which was not really a change at all from business as usual.

He looked over. There he was, Penguin. Waddle Waddle, Jerome thought happily. But for Oswald it was more Hobble Hobble. Oswald, frozen in dull horror. His oddly pretty features tensed and scared. All his happy thoughts gone.

"He's no fun. I say we guthole the bird."

Oswald was still there, struggling with unconscious Moriarty. Bleeding, unconscious. Crowing about needing help, Jim being too heavy, too goddamned heavy. "Oswald why are you still here?" Oswald gave him a pathetic look, his expression read : so close to getting out of here so close to escaping yet here I am and here we all are ... Jim Moriarty you look so light and yet you weigh a ton of bricks ...

"This has to stop."

Jerome turned and booped Joker on the nose. "Death penalty. For one and all. That is to say .. Come one, Come all! Hurry Hurry! Don't miss the Big Shooooooow!!!!!!!!!"

[Edward Nygma]

Edward couldn't stop a groan from errupting from his throat and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course the Joker would deny it. Why wouldn't he? Edward had proof of course. He had made sure to collect pictures of the Joker in his early life. But telling the Joker that would be suicide. Besides, he already got what he wanted, which was for Jerome and the Joker to stop killing Jim.

Still, he was going to deal with them now, before it would escalate even further. If only Oswald hadn't had his goons check regulary if Ed didn't have any weapons on him. Since yes, he did want Oswald dead still.. Sort of.

And yet, he didn't want the Joker and Jerome to kill Oswald. The very thought of it filled him with rage. Oswald was his. And no one was going to get to him before he did. So he stepped out in front of Oswald and Jim, blocking the way. Edward wasn't the strongest person, but that didn't mean he couldn't still put up a fight if they decided to attack Jim.

"I think it's time for the two of you to leave. I will not mention this past life again if you do. And you gain nothing by killing Oswald, who has kindly invited you into his home and let you have your fun with Moriarty. So please. Get out."

[Zoewilliams]

"Oooh, have our fun with Moriarty." The scarred lipped man couldn't help but snicker, barring a grin of widening red stained teeth. he brought his hands to hair and for tossed back his head, suddenly howling with laughter. "Ah, no, not yet we haven't. Fun is just beginning! Aha ha!"

Tossing his head back up, he looked over to Ed with a glare. A dark glare, smiling lips, but his eyes dark and black and indeed, filled with bad intention. And those black eyes, masked behind makeup and mad stares, blinked purely and gave an innocent smile.

"Ed, right?" he looked over his shoulder to Jerome, then back to Ed. Cautiously, he licked his lips and stared. "You know, one of these days, I'm going to gut you. And gut you. And re-gut you until your all stitched up and pieced together."

He waved his hands around excitedly. "Then, and THEN, I'll fill your insides with concrete, and I'll put you at the end of my bed and leave your itty bitty fleshy skin to rot and shrivel up like a statued prune. A pretty flesh statue. wouldn't that be pretty?" He grinned, taking a few steps back.

"And I'd make you prettier and stretch out that little penguin and put him on top of you." he licked his lips, voice getting darker. "Like a totem pole."
A loud morbid cackle escaped his lips, and quickly he turned, fleeing out of the room and kicking and knocking into a few objects on the way.

((OOC: exit cellar.))

[Dead Is The New Sexy]

Oswald made a sound of horror that would have made more sense in a bad Saturday night scary movie.

It was pure terror and a nauseatingly intense shrill of dismay and disgust. As they left, he was shrieking in that near hysterical tone at them to GO GO GO. Of course he waited until they were well and truly on their way out, because Jerome and his Joker made things ever so much more nightmarish than even Penguin could have wanted or anticipated. He looked over to Ed, and his eyes were wide and frightened, something he wouldn't have ever wanted Ed to see and understand - especially not now, not like this, not in this position.

God no, not after ...just no.


Jerome cackled darkly as he too fled with his man, but before he left them entirely he dropped a vast collection of very thin comics out of his jacket, something out of a freak show really. Self drawn, self made, self bound, with the magic of home printing and publishing. What they depicted was the very depths and worst case scenarios of the so called dark side of the web, sadomasochistic fantasies brought to life. Oswald stared at them, frozen, as the two monsters departed.

Jerome wondered if he might actually scream, but it was, indeed, time to be going.


Jim was waking up.

And it hurt.

It .... oh. Oh god.

Well ...he did scream.


((( ooc Jerome gone too ))

[Edward Nygma]

It was no secret to Ed that he was, subconsciously, terrified of the Joker. Perhaps not as much his physical being as the thing he represented, but still. He'd been hit by the Scarecrow's feartoxin several times now, and one more than one occasion it was the image of the Joker that came to haunt him; if it wasn't the image of his father.

This is why Edward had always been cautious to stay off the Joker's radar where he could prevent it. But now Oswald had made sure he was right in the center of that radar.. And as he saw those seemingly pitch black eyes stare at him maliciously, he couldn't help but feel like he was dosed with feartoxin all over again. The hairs in his neck stood up and he couldn't look away even if he wanted to; like a deer trapped in the headlights of a car. He just stood his ground and hoped his inability to move or blink would be mistaken for boldness rather than fear..

Even when the Joker and his evil minion had left the basement, Ed kept frozen in spot, staring at the now vacant door opening. The only thing breaking him from his spell, was Jim's agonizing scream. At that he finally managed to turn around.

His eyes first met those of Oswald, who looked beyond himself with panick. Ed couldn't help but stare back at him with a furious look of his own. It was hard to feel sorry for Oswald now that he felt so damn angry. He wanted to shout at Oswald, tell him he was a fool for inviting these two into his home, despite his warning not to; for nearly getting the both of them killed.

But.. Given how he looked he wasn't sure if Oswald wasn't just going to faint if he did that or react in an otherwise impulsive way. And he definitely looked as if he already realized the full extent of his mistakes. So instead of saying anything, Ed just clenched his jaw and turned his gaze away towards Jim, moving closer.

"We need to carry him up; to a bed. He needs medical attention or he might die," he told Oswald surprisingly calm but in a very low, almost growling tone that gave away his frustration.

... True, part of that frustration had nothing to do with Oswald making a mistake and more with frustration towards himself for endangering himself to protect Oswald and the confusion as to why he'd even feel the need to. But Edward would be damned before he'd admit that to himself or anyone else, and so for now he put all the blame with Oswald instead.

[Dead Is The New Sexy]

"You saved my life."

Oswald's undoubtedly very unwanted observation. "You do still feel something for me, now don't you Ed!" His face and features lit up with sheer joy and past that, actual triumph that now was cancelling out all his fear. At least as long as he was able to dwell on all this. Ed still loved him, had always loved him, the truth was out, and it was something that he had needed to be able to believe for so long it wasn't funny. But now he could. Now Ed had given him a way to .. to justify it all. Ed still loved him. Was in love. Yes! It all made sense ... so much sense. Eddie had just needed to be able to cope and now he had understood everything.

Besotted and lovesick, Oswald stared at him as Jim groaned and cursed very softly.

Forgotten by Penguin utterly.

Oswald stared at him as a starstruck groupie, marveling at everything about him, his own fractured mind telling him everything he needed to know, and wanted to hear. Everything he insisted on believing. "I knew the whole thing wasn't going to keep on, this icy - pardon the pun - facade between us! I knew it! You love me. You just risked your life for me, it sure as hell wasn't for HIM." He gestured to a suffering Jim Moriarty. And then --

Then -- fond adoration again.

Swooning.

Lies to oneself were so beautiful.

[Edward Nygma]

At that accusation Ed's teeth clacked together with so much force that the click of it was actually audible. He stared up at Oswald with his teeth bared slightly; as they'd be whenever he was angry.

"EXCUSE me!?" he practically growled, not able of containing his anger anymore now that Oswald was making such statements after all the trouble he'd just put them through. "I was acting out of SELF INTEREST. If I hadn't interfered we'd both be dead by now! Thanks to you!"

Edward took a deep intake of breath and closed his eyes for a moment, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to recollect his calmth. Finally he opened his eyes again and continued examining Jim with a forceful sigh. "I'm just going to assume it is shock making you say such ridiculous things. In any case, I need you to snap out of it now. Your hostage is dying."

Edward moved over to Moriarty's ankles and grabbed them, looking up at Oswald then as if wanting to say 'What the hell are you waiting for?' "Take his shoulders. He needs to get out of here."

[Dead Is The New Sexy]

Jim was not getting the help he needed, not by a long shot. Oswald was pretty much forgetting he existed or had any real worth, in all honesty Jim Moriarty could have just vanished into the ethers of time right now and all would be well and good. Oswald did not care, Oswald might never care again. For the moment - and what a moment it was about to be - he was wrapped up in the visage of one Edward Nygma. AKA, that is.

"Excuse you?"

The small man laughed a bitter, joyless laugh. "There is, as the old saying goes, no excuse for you. You're just a washed up, has been something at some point in time no one including yourself even really remembers anymore, a once, a could have been, a might have, a maybe, a never, a used to be. You're nothing. I came to you. I loved you. I spilled my heart to you, maybe even my soul itself. I showed myself, I shared myself. I would have done very literally anything for you. Anything! Do you understand me, jerk? Anything! There is, there was, I should say, no limit on what I could have done for you, what I would have done for you. But you not only - as you said so accurately once - did not love me 'back' - you mocked my love, mocked my weakness. Mocked me. In the deepest of all personal ways. And now you stand there like some overgrown turnip in leafy greens and say ..'excuse me' as if YOU are offended, wronged and harmed? REALLY? I don't actually think so. No, I really don't."

He had to lunge to do it, and he very nearly fell down in the completion of it all, but Oswald slapped him across the face. The strike was of hurt, rejection, righteous rage and pain. Everything, everyone, who had ever harmed him was targeted in that second. But it was Eddie who was the receiver. "NO. NO I think I will not excuse you. NO."

Goddamn it hurt.

He looked at Jim.

Jim opened his eyes and looked back.

And for just a moment, they understood one another.

[Edward Nygma]

Edward was fully intent on giving his attention to Jim who was obviously in need of medical attention. That intention was thrown over and discarded entirely when Oswald suddenly lashed out to him though. Edward had expected it to be honest. He'd seen the feelings crawl underneath Oswald's skin long before he spoke them, as well as feel the need to express his emotions crawl under his own, and it would only be a matter of time before the words came pouring out. But why, of all possible moments this could have happened, did it have to happen now!? While their hostage was bleeding out. This only fueled his anger as Oswald continued to mock his current predicament.

"Anything?" Edward gritted through his teeth, glaring at Oswald over his glasses while he still sat crouched down near Moriarty. "Anything, Oswald!? Really!? You wouldn't even have me have my happiness, Oswald! I trusted you, and you destroyed my ONE chance at happines and a normal life! I would have done anything for YOU! And then you betrayed me! And then after I tried to kill you, you didn't even have the decensy to kill me yourself! You put me up for display like some trophy!"

Edward finally stood up, towering out over Oswald.

"Worse than that, you broke my MIND! And now you have me string around you. Because after all that's happened you're still exactly the same. Selfish! Greedy! PATHETIC!"

His outburst was repaid by a slap in the face. Edward hadn't seen it coming, honestly, so his face moved to the side at the slap and his glasses nearly fell of his face. He stood still like that for a second, needing a moment to progress what just happened. Then finally he pushed his glasses back up his face and turned back to Oswald with a cold glare; his voice dangerously calm. But that did nothing to hide the venom in his words.

"I never mocked you for having feelings for me and wanting them in return. I hate and mock you for what you did to get it. I don't have to ask you if you remember what it felt like when Galavan and Tabitha killed your mother. That's what you did to me. I don't care why you did it. I care that you did it and never even saw it was wrong. Because the only one you'll ever care about is yourself. You don't want to love someone; you just want someone to love you. And honestly.."

He moved past Jim to step closer to Oswald, dangerously close, and then he grabbed his throat roughly, pushing him back against the cold stone wall and squeezing his windpipe. "I don't know why I don't just kill you now." He held him like that; hard enough to be uncomfortable, and yet.. not hard enough to do actual damage.

"Because you're afraid," a low voice spoke suddenly; followed by the sound of soft, calculated footsteps. Edward froze up entirely at that, as well as his expression. He didn't have to look around to know who it was.

Jonathan Crane, holding a metal suitcase, walked up to them, stopping right next to Edward and whispering into his ear. "You don't hesitate to kill someone unless you are terrified."

Edward didn't speak. Didn't move. But everything in his expression, from a creased brow to a tense jaw, confirmed the Scarecrow's theory. He was scared. Seizing the opportunity, Jonathan lifted a hand and put it on Edward's shoulder. "Let go, Edward."

Edward immediatly let go of Oswald and pulled away from Jonathan's grasp as if his touch had burnt him. He turned to glare daggers at the other instead.

"Go upstairs. I'll deal with this." Jonathan told him. Edward's eyes darted from Oswald to Jonathan and back.

"But,-" "Go," Jonathan interrupted with more force when Edward was about to argue. Biting his tongue, Edward finally pushed past Jonathan and went upstairs, leaving the cellar.

Jonathan's luminous baby blues settled on Oswald and he looked him up and down. "Pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Cobblepot," he spoke, as if his presence here was not at all as strange as it really was. He moved over to Moriarty and crouched down next to him. He opened his suitcase, which was apparently filled with medical supplies. "Don't worry. I'm technically a psychiatrist, but I'm well equiped to treat this man."

[Dead Is The New Sexy]

Oswald stared, one hand instinctively going to his now very sore throat. Everything that has just happened had lent an even greater sense of the sublimely surreal to this entire episode. He wondered vaguely what would have happened if he simply thrown himself at Eds feet and begged for his love. Oswald knew better. He had already begged once hadn't he. If Ed had no mercy for his life he was sure as hell not likely to have any for his love. Thrown aside for a love interest of a week. He stared still but now it was at Crane. God ... Crane! Horror of horrors was the idea that immediately sprang into his fevered mind now. A sort of abject sense of dissolution.. But all was forgiven the moment he realized two things: namely that Crane had not harmed Ed, and also he was attempting to actually aid Jim. Jim who was still needed to stay alive.


Jim looked up into the eyes of a madman, and of this he had absolutely no doubts at all. Yet he took his own very special strain of sheer primal comfort from this. It was after all ... No longer really his choice. Not anymore.

"Jonathan Crane. What took you so long?"

[Edward Nygma]

Jonathan took a moment to begin to study Moriarty's throat, which, by the looks of it, had suffered greatly under Jerome's abuse, but nothing that would stick with him permanently. He also noticed immediately that there was a strange angle to his shoulder. .. The bone would have to be put back.

"Being here earlier would have been of no benefit to me.. Whoever you are." Of course Jonathan knew very well who this man was. But it was in his best interest if Oswald wasn't aware of that. It would certainly make his job a lot easier. "Me helping you is just a sign of good faith."

On that note, he snapped back Moriarty's shoulder. If he felt guilty about it hurting really bad, he didn't show it. Instead he just continued talking to Oswald.

"See, Oswald, I have a proposition for you. Recently an opportunity has arrisen; I've found a distributor of supplies and test-subjects for my chemical experiments. Very beneficial indeed. However, if I have him ship it to any of my regular hide-outs, Batman will be on to me in no time and snatch that opportunity away from me. You, on the other hand, own a large club that receives packages of all sorts on a daily basis. I would like to hire some space in your mansion to ship the supplies to and where I can work on my toxin. - In return for the risk-factor, I offer you my services and that of my toxin, to use as you please against anyone you'd like. Are you still following?"

In the meantime Jonathan pulled a large syringe from his suitcase. He filled it up and tapped the tip ... An ominous sign, considdering his line of work. Jonathan seemed to realize this as he caught the look that the two were giving him. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that, even if the response was perfectly justified.

"I should probably mention this is not toxin. It's morphine. It'll help with the pain." Before waiting for a response, he took Jim's arm and inserted the morphine into his system.

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