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 Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:23 pm
Once upon a time, about two decades ago, there was a small yet resourceful crime family living in Gotham. At it's head was a man named Eddy Holman, he was inteligent and quite wealthy. Yet Eddy was keeping a severe mental instability secret for his entire life, his abusive fathers orders. Even in death Eddy was terrified of what his father would think. Or worse, what his father might do to him. At Eddy's right hand was a sociopath named Laura Sullivan, she was ruthless and domineering. Laura was willing to do whatever it took to get what she wanted, which was Eddy's authority over the family. She felt that she could do a better job of running their businesses, though Eddy had been more than adequate before.
At one time Laura thought that she would just marry the b*****d, surely she could weasle control away from him that way. But all that that effort led to was a short term fling which left her unsatisfied and pregnant. Rather than tell everyone who's baby she was carrying, she opted to keep it a secret and silently vowed that she would kill Eddy one way or another.
It was a long time before Laura got her chance, she had to earn the loyalty of all Eddy's horses and all Eddy's men. And because she was also a good mother she wanted to be sure that no harm would befall her baby boy if she failed. It was eight years of work, during which time she found out that her little baby Emry had inherited his fathers mental instability. Unlike Eddy, Emry was put on drugs to manage his problem and generally seemed very normal to everyone around him.
Now, Laura thought she did a good job of keeping family and work seprate. Emry didn't need to know the nature of her work until he was much older. But by eight years old Emry already knew a good portion of what was going on. All his babysitters were his mothers co-workers or their families, and what they talked about when they thought Emry was asleep for the night wasn't always very child friendly. Of course he didn't quite grasp it all, but he had a rather good idea of what a 'hit' was and other terms common to his mothers job. Unfortunately being so young made it very easy to bribe information out of him, and he and Eddy had quickly become friends.
Armed with a childs understanding of a long time grudge, Eddy played with Laura. He'd pretend he might know something, or make it seem as though he would try to get her killed, sometimes he even made veiled threats towards Emry. Of course he knew Laura was too valuable an asset to remove flippantly, but with his own twisted sense of reality he made biding his time fun.
Near the end of his life as Eddy Holman, the poor man was having a terrible time keeping his imbalances incheck. He had to at least appear to have all his ducks in the same rows as everyone else. If he didn't no time would be wasted in removing him. His breakdowns were beginning to become more frequent and in inopportune moments. For the most part people wanted to believe he was bipolar, seeing as he would be nice one moment and beating people up the next. All it would have taken was one good laughing fit to do him in, he just didn't know what to do.
With tensions high, and loyalties in question, Laura made her move. At the last moment before an important meeting, Laura killed Eddy's usual driver and with Eddy non-the-wiser she insisted on taking the mans place. After slipping him a double dose of her son's medications, which made him very sleepy, she took a detour to the docks. She had decided that the docks were as good a way as any to get rid of the man she despised, and it wasn't that far off the road from where her meeting was anyway.
Eddy was still consious when Laura tied his shoelaces to an anchor and pushed it into the murky depths. Thinking that her goal was finally reached Laura left and went to her first meeting as her own boss. But her plans were not quite successful. While Eddy had been drugged he still had enough motor function to get a knife from his pocket and cut himself free. It felt as though he would never get to the surface for air, and the current dragged him around something awful.
When he was finally able to breate air again, it was all he could do to get to a bouy and stay on it until the drugs wore off sometime the next day. How he managed to survive the ordeal would be a mystery even to him, seeing as he spent most of the time having a halicinatory conversation with his darker side.
Eddy dunked his saner parts headfirst into the water and holding it there until it was dead. And so newly baptised as Wild Card he found his way back to land and went in search of Laura, that tratorous b***h.
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:05 pm
Eleven o'clock at the Sullivan residence, Emry had been in bed and asleep by nine but awoke to a noise. Sitting up groggily he listened for it again, he wasn't quite sure if he really had heard a noise or if he'd dreamt it however he prefered to know which before he went back to sleep. But rather than identify what he heard, he discovered that there were plenty of noises he didn't hear which should have been present. The faint sound of the gangsters swapping stories, glasses taping the table or the fridge opening and closing, chairs squeaking on the linoleum. The house was unnaturally quiet at an unusual time of night, his mother had said she wouldn't be home until closer to one in the morning.
The young boy quietly slipped out of bed and went to the door, still listening for anything out of the ordinary. It was open just a crack, letting light from the hall into the room, so he slipped out and crept towards the stairs. He was nervous to say the least, what if there was somebody in the house? Someone who would try to hurt him? This hadn't happened before, but it was something his mother worried about, that worry had quite effectively imprinted upon her son. As he went down the stairs he decided that if the kitchen was empty he would just go back to bed, his mother would be sleeping and he wouldn't want to wake her. Though he did find it strange that if everyone in the house were asleep that so many lights would be left on. The hallway light was one thing, but the livingroom and kitchen lights were still on.
Emry was right outside the kitchen door when he realised he was hearing strange sounds from the other side. No chairs or usual kitchen noises, but a squishy noise and some shuffling. The boy stood stock still, unsure of what to do. It could still be the men his mother left in charge, perhaps they were doing something he didn't want to know about. He was just taking a step back, to return to his room and hide under the blankets, when the door flew open. The bright kitchen light obscured the man for a second, "Emry! I didn't wake you did I?" Eddy scooped the boy up in his arms and started back towards the stairs, "Since you're up, I don't suppose you know where I could find glue and string around here huh? I've got a little craft project going on in the kitchen and I could use a bit of each." Eddy was smiling, that gave him a twisted and slightly disturbing appearance. Eddy Holeman rarely smiled and then he usually just seemed stressed, but this night was different. The man was soaking wet for one thing, he seemed to have a soaker in both shoes.
"Yeah, there's glue and string in my craft box." Emry had never had reason to fear his mothers boss, the man was always nice to him. Always nice or indifferent, but never did he allow or threaten harm on the kid, "Mr. Holeman, why are you all wet?" Eddy's hair was a little longer than was strictly professional, but had been very neat and tidy pretty well every time Emry had ever seem him. Now it was a mess, dangling in the mans face and tangled. In fact, the whole of Eddy's being was out of place, his suit was damaged and he was bruised as though he'd been in a fight. But Eddy never fought, he paid people to do that for him. Not that Emry knew from seeing, but grownups always underestimate the intelligence of children and their respect for bed times.
"Huh? Oh, well..." Eddy mulled that question over a bit, a slightly sour look on his face, "Your mom pulled a dirty trick on me. Sent me for a swim, but she forgot the concrete boots. Now, I'm just here to pick up a few things and then I'm going to go play one on her." Tossing Emry's hair he set the kid on the floor outside his room, "'Kay, get me the craft stuff and then get back to bed squirt."
"What about your project in the kitchen? And where are the guys? They always play poker until my mom gets home." Emry found the things Eddy wanted and handed them over. Still sleepy and confused, but willing to trust that Eddy was just having a good day for a change.
Smiling slyly the man knelt down to look Emry in the eye, "Funny you should mention poker. Have you ever seen the picture of the dogs playing?" He saw a blank look on Emrys face and sighed, "Nevermind. The boys went out for awhile, they'll be in the kitchen playing poker before you know it." He pinched Emry's cheek painfully hard before pushing him back towards the bed, "You weren't supposed to wake up Em. Stay in bed now, got it?" If Emry didn't know the man better, he could swear that the last part sounded like a threat. That tone was unnerving to hear from Ed, but of course it had to be an empty threat. His eyelids were getting heavy again though, so Emry complaciently crawled back under his blankets and lay his head on the pillow. Eddy still hovering over him the child fell back to sleep, it was an hour before the crazed man made up his mind on wither or not he would smother the boy.
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:30 pm
It had been a few months since Emry woke up to the worst day of his life. Police were knocking at the door with news that his mother was dead, having burned alive in her office which had apparently been sprayed down with accelerant. And then there had been that horrific display in the kitchen, all Emry's 'babysitters' dead and posed around the table.
It had been a few months and since his initial conversations with the police Emry had stopped talking. He was lucky with child services, he was placed in a good temporary home with few other kids. And, after some time to adjust and be evaluated by doctors to evaluate his level of trauma, he would finally be meeting potential parents. The two groups in the morning hadn't gone well, four parents walked away feeling that he 'wasn't quite the right fit' or 'they weren't capable of helping him overcome his problems.' Or as Emry prefered to think, 'Nice ways of calling me crazy.' Not that he'd done much to give them that idea, he wasn't talking to them at all.
The third person to see if he was a good 'fit' for their household came without her husband. He had apparently been called in to work, the woman talked incessantly chattering away while the boy stared blankly out the window. She was nice enough, she had a weird way of talking down to him without it feeling like she was talking down to him. She told him that she couldn't have her own children and so she and her husband wanted to adopt, his only question was why they didn't then adopt a baby. But he didn't ask that, he didn't want to encourage anyone. He already had a mother, and she was dead.
He was comfortably off in his own little world when suddenly the chipper woman was sitting right next to him with a semi-serious look on her face, "I know you don't want to talk right now, and I can respect that. But I want you to know how sorry I am for what happened to you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now. You're going to meet a lot of people who want to be your new mother and father, and we really don't mean to be disrespectful towards your mother. Nobody can replace her, ever. But that doesn't mean you can't have the love of any other adult. You're going to hurt for a long time, but I want you to promise you wont let it ruin your life, okay?" The boy stared at her for a long moment, she was a very strange woman, he thought he could get used to being around her if he tried. He nodded as his promise, she probably wouldn't be adopting him anyway so what would it matter if he couldn't keep the promise?
She smiled and stayed with him a little while longer, drawing his attention to a game she called 'S.O.S.' It didn't require any talking, just strategy and gaining points. He was pretty sure she let him win, but it was a neat game anyway. When it was time for her to go he surprised her, "Will you come back tomorrow?"
Just a week later Emry was moving into his new home. He still wasn't sure he liked that woman, and he knew that her husband wasn't thrilled with him, but he was sure he could get used to her. She mothered him without replacing his mother, and when he woke up at night having nightmares she held him until he cried it out. She was there the way the police, therapists, and foster familys couldn't be. Even if she did talk too much.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:22 pm
After awhile the boy stopped crying when he woke up with nightmares, he was starting to get used to them after a fashion. He didn't want to bother Lucy or her husband so he tried to just go back to sleep, but he just wasn't tired anymore he wanted to be up doing something. He tried reading, or playing quietly with toys, but what he really wanted was to go to the park just two blocks away. It wasn't far, what could possibly happen in two blocks?
It was perhaps an hour before Emry finally decided to go, he knew he could be back before Lucy woke up. He slipped down the stairs, put on his shoes and quietly made his way outside. He hesitated at the doorway, there was a motion sensing light on the porch, if he moved it might turn on and it was right outside the master bedroom. Would it wake them up? Would this get him in trouble if he were caught? Did he care? Well, he did care a little. Enough that he managed to negotiate himself to the far end of the porch and get off it without setting off the light.
The walk to the park was uneventful and he didn't see anyone around. Smiling at having the whole place to himself he headed for the swings, then the headed for the big elephant shaped slide. He didn't get all the way up the stairs however, as he heard voices from underneath him, "You dummy! I told you to quit hitting on seventeen!" Curious Emry started back down the steps, "Shut up man, card counting isn't easy okay? I don't see you doing any better." Standing in the doorway of the alcove under the slide he found two older boys sitting in there with a deck of cards, it was a fairly big slide so even though they had to be in their teens they weren't cramped, "What are you guys doing?"
One boy hit his head on the curved wall by sitting up too straight, the other was surprised but not as jumpy, "Hey! Where the hell did you come from? Get out of here kid."
The one was still rubbing his head and whining, Emry ignored the dismissal, "I live near here. And this is a public park, I don't have to leave if I don't want to." Aside from the thought that might makes right, Emry had him there, "Maybe in the daytime you brat, but at night it's our park. So beat it."
Recovering a little from jarring his head the other one sighed, "Oh come on, he's just a kid. Besides we aren't doing anything wrong per say. What could he do to us?" The more aggressive boy grumbled and picked up the cards, "Well just go play someplace else then. Stupid kid."
Emry watched them play for awhile, he asked questions now and then, one would answer him fairly nicely and the other was condescending and rude. Eventually he started to pick up on what they were trying to do, "Hit."
"You aren't paying. And nobody hits on an eighteen you twerp." Brows furrowed Emry reached out and took the top card off the pile, tossing it with the other two in play he added smugly, "Twenty one. Right?"
There was a moment of silence before anyone said anything, "Bullshit. That was beginners luck. Nobody hits on eighteen and wins." They did it again, this time dealing Emry in, and darn it if the kid didn't win again, this time with a twenty. "How the hell are you doing that?"
A mischievous grin met the other boys, "It's not that hard really. It's just numbers, I'm really good at numbers." He explained the math a little better, at least he explained it the way he was told by one of his sitters one time. What does a mobster do with a kid that can't sleep? Read him a friggin' story? Well probably, but not Emry's 'uncles.' "It helps a lot that you aren't shuffling though. I know which cards are at the bottom already so I know what the ones on top are. Just not the order for sure."
The other boys shared a look, "How old are you?" They couldn't sneak him into a casino, which is what they were trying to do themselves, but there were seedier places they might get him in to. "Almost nine, why?"
They didn't play much more that night, Emry was finally getting tired and soon the neighborhood would be getting active. That was not the last time they played cards together, in fact they did so quite regularly. Eventually they had a pretty good system, Emry wouldn't get to play anywhere but he could sit nearby and signal the other two. So it was barely a month before they convinced Emry to go to one of the games they had found.
They took him with the story that he was the younger brother to one of them, and what kind of guy would leave his kid brother home alone at night? So Emry would watch the grown ups and the older kids who weasled their way into the games play, and meanwhile he would be sending signals to his buddies on when to hit and when to stay. He wasn't perfect of course, but for an almost nine year old to be making any money at this he did extremely well. They didn't get caught the first time, or the second, not even the third, and they had a pretty good idea of when it was time to quit playing.
They didn't get caught until someone who recognized Emry watched them play for awhile, the guy knew Emry had no siblings older or otherwise and smelled a scam. After about an hour some big guys escorted them outside, the bully was scared but that only made him get loud and obnoxious while the other boy seemed about ready to piss himself. For his part, Emry was pretty cool about it, he was just a kid after all, what would they do to him? Not much, it was the other two that might get hurt bad.
Finding themselves in a back alley facing a guy with in a suit Emry felt he knew they guy from somewhere, one of his mothers business meetings? A function? Or did he just have one of those familiar faces? "Look man, we haven't done anything. If this is how you treat-" A good ol' fist to the gut took the wind from the kids sails, "Holy s**t! Martin? s**t man we're sorry okay?"
The man with the suit frowned, "You come into one of my joints, count cards, lie to my boys, and cheat me out of my money, and you're sorry?" He patted the skittish one on the cheek before punching him in the mouth, "First you're going to give back what you took, with interest. Then my boys here are gonna rough you up a bit. Then, maybe I'll believe you're sorry." He turned to Emry the one only just starting to get a little nervous. They wont hurt a kid too bad right? "And you." Emry looked up at the slightly familiar face, he had to be a lower ranked ganster, or at least from a smaller group like his mom, "Come here." Emry approached, trying to ignore the violence right next to them and the man knelt so as to be closer to eye level, "You might not remember me kiddo, but I knew your mom. We did business together awhile back. Now because I'm such a nice guy, I'm gonna let you and your... Friends here, go home intact. But if you three come back in here and ******** with my business again, kid or not I swear I will fillet you like the little fish you are." To accentuate the point he opened up a switch blade, the tip stopping just short of the boys gut making him take a startled step back, "Do we understand each other?" He probably didn't mean it, killing Emry for such a thing, hell usually he would probably just have the other ones beaten up a little extra to set an example to the younger generation. But Emry was a gangsters kid, a second in command gangsters kid, that was different, the kid knew better.
"Yes sir." Standing up and straightening his coat the man nodded, his guys handed over the money that the older kids had had in their pockets and the suit gave some to Emry, "Get yourself a cab kid. And don't say I never did anything for ya."
Emry waited for his escort to recover from their beating, they were sore and bleeding a little but felt lucky. Not a 'lets do this again next week' lucky, the kind of lucky where you go home and swear to get a proper and honest job. They decided to walk to a slightly better area to flag a cab, they were pretty beaten up so it was unlikely that anyone would try to mug them. Even a mugger doesn't want sloppy seconds.
Back at the club there was a bit of a talk behind closed doors, "Would you really kill the kid boss?"
"Tsh, if he grows up anything like his mother we'll wish I had killed him right there by the time he's sixteen."
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