Title: Enemy of My Enemy…

Rated for: T though ratings will change depending on the chapter content. I will label each accordingly.

Genre: Adventure/ Suspense/ Family/ Romance

Fandom/Universe: My Own Worst Enemy

Characters: Henry Spivey-Edward Albright, Jack Spivey, Dësmã Albright

Pairings: None.

Spoilers/Warning: None.

Disclaimer: My Own Worst Enemy and all related characters are copyright Jason Smilovic and the NBCNetwork. No infringement intended.

Summary: Congratulations, it's a girl! Only Edward didn't know and Henry wasn't prepared. Uh-oh…

Status: In-Progress

AN: One more chapter to go...

Chapter: Broken Boy Soldiers


Chp11-

He hasn't allowed himself to think about Dësmã's role in the plan because there's nothing Edward can say or has said to her since they left the Graze island to change her mind. Edward is worried she'll be hurt or worse but part of him is glad to have more time with her. Even if their Father-daughter bonding is more about guns, blood and murder. He's had no ties, no feelings to tangle him in more trouble than he needs. His usual dealings with the opposite sex have not prepared him for a relationship with his grown up daughter and Dësmã has remained focused on the task at hand; finding the people responsible for hunting her and killing her Mother.

The not so unexpected visit he received from Matthias the afternoon they'd returned from the main land is still fresh. He'd clearly been upset, because Dësmã was adamant that she would go with Edward. Matthias had know this time it wouldn't be like the time before. When she left to search for Henry Spivey and the lie she assumed he'd been playing out. Matthias had asked Edward not to take her…

Edward had almost voiced his own warning, about Jace and where he'd been putting those paws of his … But Edward has a pretty good idea of what Jace has been for her. The distraction that kept her from thinking of the dead boyfriend. Someone she could trust … no matter what Edward feels – what right does he have to tell her anything at all? She's old enough to decide for herself and Edward has learned enough about his daughter to recognize this.

.

Henry's been gone for 3 months, there's been no word from him. Angie doesn't want to lose hope but with Edward in control … she worries Henry is gone for good.

"Mom?" Ruthy skips in, she's got a healthy glow to her skin – Angie notes her little girl has suddenly grown … suddenly for Angie who feels she's losing them all. More and more she sees less of Jack who spends his time either sparring or training. What she didn't mind at home suddenly bothers her immensely.

"Have they heard anything?" Angie knows the answer by the look on her daughters face.

"No." Ruthy shakes her head, blond ponytail swishing. "They haven't checked in. but that's normal." She adds hurriedly. "Grazê says Dës never checked in either. They have to keep the island safe."

"Yes, safe." Angie echoes but her tone is far from happy about it.

"You know its not her fault." Ruthy's hopeful expression doesn't make the situation any easier for Angie.

"I don't like you running around the island, Ruthy. It isn't safe."

"Mom." Ruthy insist, even with the anger flashing on her Mother's face with any mention of Dësmã.

"You're not going to listen." Angie scowls, she hasn't felt herself from the moment Dësmã showed up. She wont admit that Henry had exhibited strange behavior months before that. 'How did I lose control of my life?'

"Dad has his Jekyl side." Ruthy states walking around the kitchen counter. "He always did." She wraps her skinny arms around Angie's waist and props her chin on her chest. "Its not fair to blame Dësmã for it. She lost her Dad too."

It's a fact Angie has forcibly not thought about. Dësmã thinking her Father was dead all these years and then to find him living a normal suburban life with a wife and children…

"I miss Dad too." Ruthy whispers.

"I know." Angie nods, because she misses him too.

.

It used to be an office plaza-sort of like a mall without escalators but plenty of regular stairs. It has now become a base for Trumbull's own little version of the Janus Corporation. Funded by siphoned government money Trumbull was very careful did not lead anywhere near him. Edward found it by using old contacts, pulling in favors and cashing in on old debts.

"How do you know they'll keep quiet?" Dësmã demands. She's been sitting around playing side kick to Edward the past month and she's had enough of it.

"Because I'll kill them if they don't." Edward replies easily. He spares Dësmã a quick perfunctory smile before returning to his cleaning.

"If Janus doesn't kill you first." Dësmã retorts.

Edward won't admit she's got a point but he does convey his disappointment with her lack of trust in his abilities with the look he gives her. He's worried too. Dësmã shouldn't be there and that warning Matthias threatened him with if Dësmã came to any harm rings in his ears.

.

Edward finds it easier to keep Henry asleep if the Spivey's aren't around to annoy him. Using the empty island house gives him that reprieve and thankfully Angie has been too nervous about wandering the island to leave the Spivey house. Being on his own also provides him the opportunity to spend some time with his daughter, time he's used to get to know her as best he can. The difficulty comes in trying to circumvent years of programming himself, not allowing himself to make any attachments, ties to people that can be used against him, chinks in his armor… because he allows himself to love someone.

Edward finds himself staring at Dësmã, trying not to let her notice but it gets more difficult every day that goes by. Something in the way she'll bite the inside of her cheek as she's thinking or focused, reminds him of Harper. He's caught himself listening to her voice, either with his back to her or before walking into a room she's in, the tone of her voice … its close enough to her Mother's.

"You hungry?"

Dësmã barely glances at him; she's been sitting in the same spot over an hour staring at the ocean. "No, thank you."

"Here." Edward isn't taking 'No' an answer anymore and the coffee cup is reluctantly taken from him. He moves towards her feet and leans on the crates. "Dësmã." She looks at him and he offers a crooked smile. "What made her chose it?"

Dësmã shrugs a shoulder. "It's Greek. Mom loved the mythology."

"I remember." Edward assures, he's been thinking a lot about Harper and what a life with them could have been. "What does it mean?"

"… 'pledge' or 'binding oath'… she must've liked something about it." Dësmã shrugs again and turns to stare at the water once more.

Edward leaves it alone though he's got questions. He has a pretty good idea of what this 'pledge' had been for Harper. Maybe a reminder of what she had with him and lost… Harper had been the romantic type of girl; flowers, notes, poetry, moonlit walks, sappy lovey dovey movies … 'The things I did for her.' Edward chuckles at those memories.

.

Edward meets Dësmã in the hall leading to their escape route. Nothing has gone according to plan other than shooting and blowing things up. He's got a few kill promises to keep after this and really doesn't want to hear the 'I told you' his daughter wont hold back.

Dësmã holds up the grenade waiting for the ok to use it. Edward points to the doors along the hall they have to travel before reaching the stairs and the exit. He nods and they start moving together.

She's hallway down the hall when the first killer comes into the hall. Edward shoots him in the back while Dësmã takes out the one coming behind. Edward gets smacked into the wall. Dësmã doesn't have a clear shot and there are more Janus operatives gathered in the room facing the exit they're trying to get to. Dësmã chooses to take out the bigger threat, moving across the door quickly and tosses the grenade. The one in the lead freezes her in place – a perfect target for the operatives focused on the grenade landing at their feet.

But the one … he looks right at Dësmã and runs towards her. She feels the impact of his body, the harsh impact as they hit the ground and the dizzy sensation from rolling down the stairs.

.

The sky is a bright blue. The sun feels warm on her skin. Her heart is thumping in her chest.

"You don't have jump."

Ruthy looks up at Dësmã. She gets a reassuring smile from her big sister but Ruthy has decided its time to stop behaving like the little kid they all think she is.

"No, I want to." Ruthy nods and drags in a heavy breath.

"Ok," Dësmã agrees. "Just this once then and if you don't like the feeling you never have jump again."

Ruthy nods agreement. 'I can do that.'

"I'll go with you." Dësmã holds out her hand and waits for Ruthy to take it. When she's ready they'll run to the edge and jump into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

"Go!" Ruthy yells as grabs Dësmã's hand and starts to the edge.

.

"Dësmã!" Edward coughs dust and shoves the dead operate out of his way. There's a panic he's never felt before wrapping its tentacles around his heart. It feels like hours before he finally reaches the stairs, the dust settling enough he has a hazy visual of the landing. "Dës!"

The huddled figure getting to its feet turns out to be too tall and bulky for his daughter. But Edward doesn't get a safe target, not when the operative tosses Dësmã over his shoulder and takes off.

.

She's convinced Sully to play possum in the back seat of their stolen car.

'Borrowed.'

Because that's what she told Sully.

"Stealing is wrong, we're just borrowing the car for a little bit."

Dësmã brushes the tears rolling down her cheeks. She's teaching her little brother the worst lessons so maybe step-douche #3 was right about her. Maybe all she is and will be is trouble…

"I'm sorry Mom."

.

'Another one.' Edward scowls at the screen. "Where is that?!"

The man Dësmã thought was just another guy... Is really a Janus operative with a chip in his head. Edward wonders how long Trumbull knew about his daughter. And why spin a fairytale for her? Who was really pulling the strings here?

"It's on a lower level." She stammers wincing away from him.

Edward almost leaves the room and the mousy tech he found at the monitors to beat the shit out of the spy abusing his daughter.

"Turn him off." he follows the demand with a light smack of his open palm to her cheek when she doesn't move fast enough. She squeaks a short gasp of pain and surprise. He doesn't see where the girl gets off complaining when they've watched Dësmã take worse from the spy in her cage.

The mousy tech bites down on her lip, swallowing the short scream as he fists a handful of the dirty blond locks. He doesn't allow her to pull away either and Edward is in her face. "Now."

"Okay." she keeps an eye on Edward as she quickly pulls up the holo, it's different from the one at the office. She clicks a few keys and pulls her hands away from the keyboard. "He's off."

"Good." Edward grabs her roughly by the collar of the flowered denim jacket and hauls her out of the fancy rolling leather chair. "You're going to answer some questions for me."

She nods emphatically, stumbling as he shoves her towards the door.

.

Jared has no idea where he is or why Dësmã keeps screaming at him. "Dës-."

"Back the fuck off!" she kicks out again setting herself to swing. It's not the worst pain she's felt but it seems to hurt the most. She knows better, striking out blindly won't get her out of this mess but seeing him-Jared-the only thoughts racing through her head is that he's alive, he's breathing and moving … and hurting her. "Don't you fucking touch me!"

"Baby, I'm trying to hel-ooph!" Jared doubles over with a well-placed kick but he's smart enough to wrap an arm around her legs. She tries to tear a chunk from his shoulder but she can't reach and Jared is careful not to give her an opening. "What the hell is going on?" he grabs at the hook where her wrists are bleeding from the rope cutting into her skin. "Where are we and why are you strung up, Dës?" he's starting to get angry, confusion finally giving way as he takes in the sweaty mess of his girl. "Who did this?" The blood caked into her hairline, the bruises on her face and the cut on her lip. But she pushes away from him, striking with her bound hands the moment he puts her down.

"You think it's gonna work on me?" she glares and kicks at Jared again to make him back off because he tries to reach for her. "Those goddamned puppy dog eyes!" The same look he gave her anytime he wanted Dësmã to do things his way.

Jared doesn't know what the hell to say but the tears she's fighting to keep in draw him towards her again. "Baby-."

"NO!" she screams but before she can kick at him Jared has his arms wrapped around her and a hand on her chin to keep her from biting. "Let go!"

Jared wasn't expecting the knee to his nuts. But that's how Dësmã makes him let go.

.

Edward should've known better. He should've expected the mousy blond thing to be more than she seemed. Edward definitely would have expected to be suckered if the damn girl hadn't looked so fucking scared he'd kill her if she didn't tell him about the chip-tech.

She played her part well.

And Edward found out there's an actual chance of fixing his chip, fix it so he doesn't get wiped or put to sleep.

Because Edward isn't the first one who's broken.

.

She can't believe him. "You're dead. You're supposed to be dead!"

"Wha-? Dës?" Jared rolls onto all fours. He keeps a healthy distance from her because she's liable to break something, on him.

"…I…" Dësmã bumps into the wall at her back and tiredly slides down. "… you can't …"

"Dës, baby… what the hell is going on?" Jared looks at her, wanting very much to pull her into his arms, wipe the blood from her face - "Who did this to you? Dësmã, tell me."

She's overwhelmed by a storm of emotions; disbelief, hope, fear … there's nothing she doesn't feel and thankfully it numbs the pain her body is in. "You."

Jared frowns; he doesn't understand what she means.

"You hurt me." Dësmã repeats, her hands still tied together with the rope.

"No." Jared shakes his head denying it. "Dës, I wouldn't-. Dësmã…" she scrambles to her feet when he reaches towards her. "Dës…"

"You're one of them." Dësmã can't believe they tricked her. "You have a chip." Her tears fall. "You're a fucking spy!" she lunges at him, bound hands smacking at his chest when he catches her. "Liar! You damn liar!"

"I'm not a spy, Dës; I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Jared grab her hands with one of his own, he turns her so she's facing the wall and he does his best to undo the knot on the rope.

"Why?" she demands. "Why did they send you? What's the point?"

"Dësmã, I'm telling you the truth." Jared yanks on the rope tearing a reluctant yelp from her. "I'm sorry, baby."

"Get off." Dësmã pushes and its easier to get out of his arms. "I'm not buying your bull shit. What the hell are you?"

"You know me," he doesn't take his eyes off her as he gets to his feet. "I'd never hurt you."

"Let me go." She's at the opposite end of the cell.

"Dësmã…I'm not keeping you here." He shrugs, looks around. "I don't where the hell we are or why." he finally looks at her; the wary stance doesn't hide the pain she feels.

.

Edward stares down at the twisted body of the spy he thought was just a geek.

"She's as good as dead." She gasps.

Edward pulls his gun from the holster at his side. "How do I fix it?"

She tries to laugh but that makes her cough and blood splatters over her mouth. "Suck it." She grins. "You're already dead."

.

Her wrists are wrapped with the rope again. She's in the lead with Jared reluctantly holding a gun to her back while they try not to draw attention on their way out. Dësmã still isn't sure about trusting Jared, she's afraid its another trick-

"What are you doing?"

Dësmã stops, her breath caught in her throat.

"Bring her."

Jared looks to Dësmã, a slight shrug of his shoulders asking what he's supposed to do.

"Now."

Dësmã looks up at the man in the gray suit. She steps past Jared forcing him to walk her into the room. There's a large screen in the center, a desk and a sitting area but most of the room is still bare. There's plastic hanging from different sections, still under construction or just on pause…

"Gerald,"

Dësmã looks around, searching for whoever the gray suit is talking to and spots the skinny kid hiding behind another section of plastic across the room.

"Uhm, he's here, Mr. Trumbull." Gerald shifts uncomfortably on his feet.

"Good, now." Trumbull faces Dësmã smiling pleasantly. "You have-."

"It was you?" Dësmã cuts him off. "You're the one who sent them to my house?" she takes a step towards him. "You killed my Mom?"

Trumbull's pleasant smile strains. "You shouldn't accuse." He tells her. "It's all about proof."

"Why?" Dësmã blinks back her tears. "What did we do?"

"You're alive, Ms. Albright." Trumbull turns to Jared, his face taking on a frown. "Gerald?"

"Sir?" Gerald seems to jerk to attention, the thick glasses on his nose get pushed up and a slight puff of breath moves the swatch of brown hair out of his face.

"It seems we have a problem." He tilts his head towards Jared who looks to Dësmã with concern.

"Dës-." Jared starts to hold out the gun to her. Dësmã drops the coil of ropes and grabs the gun. She turns it on Trumbull ignoring the tech swiping at the tablet in his hands. She barely gets a shot off when Jared's hands wrap around her wrist. He yanks on her hard and there's a second shot but that's it.

"Switch him off." Edward jabs the barrel of his gun behind the skinny tech's head. "Now!"

"Edward!" Trumbull yells, he's bleeding, a hand clamped to his shoulder. He turns to Jared. "Kill her!"

Jared loses his grip on the gun as Dësmã successfully throws it out of their hands. He knocks her down with a fist then kicks her onto her back.

"You son of a-!" Edward aims at Trumbull. "Turn him off!"

"I did! I did! He's off, I swear!" Gerald yells, squeezing his eyes shut and scrunching into his shoulders. The gunshot echoes in his ears painfully.

"Dës?" Jared's breathless voice is followed by Edward's.

"Dësmã!" Edward grabs the back of Jared's shirt and yanks him out of the way. "Dësmã?"

"He killed my Mom." She wheezes trying to sit up.

"I know." Edward helps her up. "I heard. Dës …"

"I'm fine." Dësmã pushes away from Edward, she wont even look at Jared and neither of them is allowed to help her off the floor.

"You." Edward grabs Gerald before he can run off.

"I was just doing what I was told!" Gerald throws his hands up, the tablet clutched in his left. "I swear!"

"You're one of his techs." Edward states. "You can fix me." He glares at Jared. "You're going to fix him too."

"Sure, yeah, whatever you say." Gerald nods. "Uh, but uh…"

"What?" Edward scowls.

"Well, there's a hitch, maybe…" Gerald stammers.

.

.

.

.

The program always knew how to remove the original or the cover but they also worked on a way to integrate both into one- that had been the original plan but it kept failing. As in the human guinea pigs always ended up dead. So this was never an option that had been included or mentioned.

Until Edward Albright took a chance.