What moves in flocks and thumps from skin?

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

WHO: EDWARD NYGMA the riddler and NORMAN OSBORN iron patriot
WHERE: One of Norman's many chemical laboratories at Oscorp.
WHEN: May 22nd, morning.
WARNINGS: Doubtful.
SUMMARY: With Shego's resurrection, Eddie has accepted that the rules have changed. Now he requires Norman's expertise on a small matter.
FORMAT: Para.



"Let's be quick about this." Eddie glanced around the sterile examination room, adjacent to the door of a a clean minimalist interpretation of a lab. A single peek told Eddie a reel of information; every vial was organized, every flask and beaker spotless. Only Norman was privy to this room, and the supplies appeared to be yet untouched. Eddie took that to be a rather ominous sign.

"Norman?" His voice breached impatience. "How long does it take you to throw on a lab coat? I'll tell you, since no doubt the information is sorely needed: four point seven seconds for a man that's five-foot-eleven. That's your size, isn't it? Or has your Napoleon complex taken a vertical toll?"

Needless to say, Edward Nygma was hardly comfortable left leaning on a cold table, alone, in the middle of a small room that promised nothing but harsh results and bitter conclusions.

Comments

[osreborn]

Norman slid on his other glove, hearing the familiar slap of latex against his skin as he pulled it taut. It had been a while since the last time he'd come into one of these labs for reasons actually chemical; it brought a smile to his face.

"Calm down," Norman chided, entering the room and heading towards Eddie, one eyebrow quirked. "Try not be too impatient, these processes can be lengthy." He turned his head, picking from a variety of hypodermics. He was looking for a particular one; he needed not just the blood, but the nanites and the mitochondria as well. He needed to know how the blood reacted to Stark's nano-technology... and vice versa.

"And if not that, at least an intricate one."

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

"Your bedside manner could use some work, Norman." Eddie shot a cold glance at his company before resigning to a stilted sigh. Soon rolling up his sleeve, he kept one eye on Norman and the other on his own agenda. Time wasn't as essential, in terms of the nanite conundrum, as Eddie made it out to be. Truly, simply sitting here, dependent on Osborn, was what set the bad taste in the detective's mouth.

With an arm exposed, the chilled air pricked at his skin, making small bumps. Eddie watched Norman, his gaze slipping over the hypodermic display.

"Just try not to draw this out longer than it must be. I know the temptation is strong."

[osreborn]

"Luckily, I'm not a doctor." It was a long, slightly thicker than normal needle that Norman selected, and he affixed a tube onto it for the liquid to collect in. There was a mild sneer on his face, before he turned around and brought the needle to the flesh of Eddie's inner elbow.

He rubbed it first with a latex clad finger, feeling for a vein.

"It'll take however long it takes. I'm not really inclined to spend any more time with you than I have to," he murmured, rubbing the needle in place.

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hoorah, our sentiments mirror each other. Oh fancy that," he said in a hollow tone. Eyes watched the needle's tip, widening slightly as it pierced into his skin. A wince and slow exhale followed, a controlled attempt to block out any similar memories flooding back.

"I'm far more concerned about, oh, Stark's record of my placement. You know he's aware of when I've been around your property assets. Even now, likely." A distasteful sneer played upon his lips. "And yet he suffer no trauma. He had me labeled insane--can you believe such nonsense?--and got clean away with it." A moment's fuming followed as the detective pondered on the bipolarity of social morality. He looked at Norman, almost imploringly.

"Isn't it unfair?"

[osreborn]

Calmly Norman drew the blood, watching the tube fill up before he plucked it out and replaced it with a new, empty one. He had three more laid out, for the same purpose. A smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth, but he for the most part kept on a straight face.

"Oh, I don't know. Seems to me like he had the right idea--" A pause, as he withdrew another batch of blood with an inward hiss, "He just lacked the means to back it up. Perhaps if he'd sent you to an asylum it would have been more effective."

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

That smug expression evaporated the moment Norman enunciated asylum. He yanked his arm away, uncaring how the needle tore at his skin, and stared at his resident scientist.

"What makes you say that?" Eddie narrowed his eyes, wondering if Norman had any access to information that hadn't already been accounted for. There were admittedly blind spots in his otherwise immaculate system of information control, but surely Osborn hadn't found such easy opportunity. Surely not. Eddie swallowed. He hoped not.

"Why would you sat that?" Unchecked eyes widened at Norman Osborn.

[osreborn]

The needle was withdrawn again; refilled, then reinserted. Norman's eyes grew slightly with interest and victory, but he let Eddie's question lay unanswered for a good two or three minutes as he slowly drew more blood. His smirk remained in place -- barely there -- with practiced effort.

"You have experience there, don't you?" He murmured casually, setting apart the filled vials of blood in a neat little row. He looked directly at him, eyes cold and curious, analyzing whatever expression was on the Riddler's face.

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

"What?"

Eddie jerked away, recoiling from Norman. Horror was etched into his face as wide eyes slowly narrowed.

"What do you care?" Truths and half-truths, words twisted and avoided, those in part composed his willing arsenal. But there was little use in denying what Norman already knew. Eddie leaned away from his company, shifted off the table.

[osreborn]

"I found it interesting--" Norman set the vial away, "And curious, how far you seem to go to hide it. I assume you really didn't want me knowing."

He didn't look at Eddie while he spoke, murmuring almost casually. "Why shouldn't I care? This is quite valuable information. After all -- well, Tony Stark wasn't far off the mark, was he? A shame he likely made that call completely on accident. But he's not really all that intelligent."

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

"There's no reason to reference my past, Norman." Eddie arched a eyebrow over an otherwise deadpan expression. "You've admitted your degree of sanity to me, remember. Let's not throw stones at glass houses."

He glanced down at the vials containing his blood, assuming a bored expression. Truth was, despite all appearances, Eddie was quite displeased. Someone had leaked information that he had, indeed, successfully kept from Norman for a smooth year. The only constant variable in flux was the rate of imPorts--perhaps therein was his point of departure--but no matter the brunt of his intelligent suspicion, there was one obvious conundrum that Eddie immediately faced: Norman Osborn knew about Arkham.

"Naturally I'm not keen on such knowledge in the hands of others. It's rude, isn't it?"

[osreborn]

"Well, you did ask," Norman said, smirking. "Don't bring it up next time, if you don't want me commenting."

One last vial to fill, and Norman doesn't hesitate to stick Eddie with the hypodermic, being very cold and scientific about it. Six vials of blood lined up on the counter, and after the sixth had been filled Norman picked them all up and put them in a test tube holder, so he could analyze them more closely later.

"Knowledge is power, Nygma. It's hardly rude, it just is."

[enigmaestro.livejournal.com]

"Do not be so foolish as to lecture me on knowledge, Osborn," Edward hissed out each syllable with accentuated venom. He sneered, emotion running to his head. Norman had taken a good amount of blood, after all, perhaps about a pint and a half. Anger was much easier felt with the sudden, if temporary, lightheaded spin. "Another example of your wanting manners, it seems."

Scowling, he shifted from the metal bed. Impatience was written in his movements, the subtle jerks of his hands and the twist of his legs. It was clear he wanted no further involvement on the topic.

"Are we done yet?" Eddie asked abruptly. He knew the answer, that indeed they were, and although snapping the question brought forth a sharp satisfaction, Eddie left himself open for prolonged torment by Osborn.

It didn't matter, or rather, that wasn't the riding priority. Eddie needed to talk to Freeze. Who else? Who else would have let that history leak?

[osreborn]

Norman smirked, stepping away from Eddie as he peeled the latex from his hands, tossing the gloves away and disposing of the hypodermic. "My manners are fine as they are. You like the truth, don't you, Nygma? I haven't said anything but."

He flicked one of the blood-filled test tubes with a finger nail -- quite promising, all that blood. He would crack the mystery of Stark's nanotechnology yet. If he could replicate it, he could do anything with it.

"Yes, we're done."