theansweris | DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

[He's starting to type a text back when his phone rings and he can already pretty much guess that it's Ed even before he reads the caller ID.]

Yeah, okay. Hi. Don't panic.

[That, he thinks, is first: don't panic.]

[ It stops Ed for a moment. He pauses, takes a breath and tries again. ]

I knew something had happened when he said he wasn't going back to public housing. I just don't know if something is 'His room mate commented on his limp' or 'He inserted a pair of serving tongs down someone's throat for being disparaging'.

[It's not Vrenille's place to speak for Oswald, but if he had to characterise it, he'd peg the event as half way between the two. Though also...hello, now that he's met Oswald he can actually picture the serving tongs down someone's throat as literal reaction and not just hyperbole, and that's...sort of a shock to realise that we're all living in that reality where a reaction like that would really possibly happen...

Anyway, right. He's focused. What were they saying? Oh yeah...]

He phoned me in the middle of the night, and if I tell you why you gotta promise you're not gonna go off all half cocked 'bout it. You or Riddler, k?

[ Ed's worked forensics on a number of Oswald's victims. He's familiar with his hallmarks.

There's a long silence. ]

Fine. We promise.

[ Yeah, that's Riddler come to handle it. ]

Someone attacked him.

Security in that place is a joke anyway, but they were in his room while he slept, put a knife to his throat.

[And as soon as he says that, he's hastening to add,] He's okay. Had a bit of a shock 'n I think it rattled his cage pretty well, but he's not hurt, 'n he's safe here.

[ There's another protracted silence, and then Ed's softer voice. ]

He won't thank you for telling me that. Is there a body I need to get rid of?

Yeah, I kinda got that. You're not exactly an easy bunch, you guys. But if I gotta choose 'tween lying to you to keep his secrets 'n being straight up with you but wounding his pride a little...

Well, I'm willing to take him being pissed at me for it. Maybe he won't get over it, but I've saved his ass twice now, so far as I'm concerned he can pull his pants up 'n deal. [Ultimately, that's the bottom line for him right now. What he's offering to Oswald is an extension of the loyalty and bond he's built with Ed, and for that he'll go quite a long way. But Ed is still the one who came first for him, and Vrenille isn't going to do anything that feels like betraying him, even if Ed himself would accept being betrayed for the sake of his own best friend.]

And no. Far as I know there's not. Guy made his threat 'n then backed off. Oswald high tailed it outta there.

[Which, on the one hand, means there's no body...and on the other means that the guy in question is still out there.]

[ Ed gives a weak chuckle. ]

That's probably the best stance with Oswald. Honest and consistent.

[ It's really all Ed did. And he's glad that Vrenille is getting that while Oswald isn't easy to get on with, that doesn't make it not worth the effort. ]

That's... probably best for now. Especially if this... individual is unmarked. That would be hard to cover up.

[If it wasn't for you, Ed, he's honestly not sure whether he would be making the effort. But this is where we are, and the effort is there without showing any signs of ending any time soon.

That does not, however, make this next bit any less complicated, because when Ed says that about them being unmarked, it actually brings him up short.]

I...

Shit.

Ed, maybe I shouldn't say anything 'cause it's not my place, but I don't wanna see you get blindsided or caught out so I'm gonna: it was Victor Zsasz. That's who attacked him. Only not the one we know. 'Cording to Oswald he didn't even look the same. There's another one here now, 'n it sounds like he's pretty different from the first.

[ Vrenille. It's almost certainly not worth the effort. But Ed's a little biased and thinks it is.

There's more silence. ]

I see.

No running off half cocked for revenge.

I promise.

[ Riddler purrs it. Means it. Revenge will not be some half cocked affair. It will be slow, methodical and exacting. ]

[Without understanding just what Riddler intends, Vrenille does understand it. He understands, first, that it's him--Riddler, and not Ed--speaking now. And he understands that the promise...the promise isn't a promise of nothing. It's not a promise about the absence of a reprisal.

He understands something else, too, which is that he's the one who's set this in motion. Not alone, of course, and Ed would surely have learned it all sooner or later. But for it to happen just this way? It took his hand--what he began with the gesture of picking up his phone. He could feign or front innocence, ignorance, but it would be a lie.

Wisdom, now, would probably be on the side of letting this all run its course, extricating himself, standing back at safe distance. Whatever Riddler's going to do, Vrenille's pretty sure it will be quite the dangerous game. But where, when it came to dealing with Tim, he tried to reel him in, keep a modicum of civility about the whole thing, this time he attempts no such thing. Maybe he's playing with quite a bit of fire in what he says, after a pause.]

If you need anything, you know where to find me.

I most certainly do.

Thank you, Vrenille. I don't say that often enough, though undoubtedly Ed says it enough for both of us and then some.

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