Batman Begins/Dark Knight 1. Chapter 1

The Riddler's Riddle

It would have been a good day. It would have been a perfectly wonderful day if she had never met him. Perhaps had her friend not forgotten her lunch, she would have never met him. But she did.

Anna hurried down the hall. She was counting the doors, trying to remember which one was Dr. Renolds'. The last or the second. Was it the one with the glass window or the steel grated door? The hallways seemed to reach for miles and twist around the Asylum without direction. Left could have been right in this prison of bleached linoleum and florescent light.

Myra had been her friend ever since the beginning of med school. Myra became a psychologist after a thoughtful look at her career path and Anna a nurse practitioner. They had remained friends through college and moved to Gotham City, not together, but at the same time. Since their arrival to the city, three years ago, they had followed their career paths successfully. Gotham was never at a lacking for injuries nor psychological issues.

She was walking with her head down, eyes unfocused, and paying little attention to anything in her path. Myra had pleaded with her earlier to bring Myra's lunch to the Asylum, Anna had at first declined under the fact that Arkham Asylum housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. But Myra was a very persuasive psychologist who had pulled an all-nighter with not a scrap of nourishment. Anna could not refuse.

With a loud_ thwap, _she collided into something. She looked up to view the damage she had caused, and realized that it was not something, but someone, she had stumbled into.

Her eyes slowly moved up, revealing green eyes, red hair and a red jumpsuit. When her eyes finally reached his face, his eyebrows were quirked in a questioning stare, and a smirk on his face."Oh, I'm s-so sorry," Anna's voice quivered.

"One must be careful walking down these halls. You never know who you might encounter," challenged the strange man.

A shiver ran down Anna's spine. Anna vaguely detected a threat in the green-eyed man's words, but simply shook it off as a feeling of paranoia. After all, why would a dangerous inmate of Arkham be allowed to roam the halls freely? She was not walking the high security hallways that very few, save the most hardened of individuals could stomach to visit.

Despite her mental reasoning, Anna clutched the brown paper bag that was her friend's lunch tighter to her chest. Just because the hall was marked on the lowest spectrum of dangerous didn't mean this man was harmless. She continued to nervously crinkle the paper of the bag she held, panicking at the inmates proximity. This, however did not go unnoticed to the man.

"My, my, my, what have you got there?" grinned the man, while he pointed to the bag with a flourish.

"Uh-uh, nothing," stuttered Anna, now getting increasingly antsy, having noticed that there was no one else in the surrounding halls to save her.

"Oh, a_ riddle _is it? Well, I'll have you know that I'm quite good at solving riddles, conundrums, or any other puzzle you might have up your sleeve for me." He rubbed his hands together and stared at Anna without really seeing her.

"It's just some food, I swear!" shouted Anna, her heart pounding and palms sweating.

"Now, now, it's no fun going and spoiling a perfectly good riddle, without challenging the contestant's intelligence!" pouted the red head, now going from creepy to depressed with a mere moment's notice. "Now, for that, you're going to have to play a penalty game!" switching back into ominous.

A bolt of fear shot through Anna. "Uh, I have to go-" she said urgently, now realizing the danger she was in.

"But that would be cheating!" he sneered. "And no one likes a cheater! Besides, since this is your first offense, I'm going to let you off easy."

Anna took a step back. "What offense?"

"Why for spoiling a decently good riddle! You know riddles are not simply words to be thrown around and answered at random! They take time and effort!" he nearly shouted. Then, in a calmer voice, he said, "And anyhow, all I want to know is your name."

Being too scared to weigh the consequences of answering truthfully, she whispered, "Anna Ridel."

"Mrs. Ridel? What an interesting name you have!" he exclaimed. A little "Ridel" was standing right in front of him with nowhere to go, how amusing.

"It's Anna," she corrected, out of habit. "Just Anna."

A vile grin spilled across his features. "Well Anna, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um…. I really need to go….before the food gets cold, and all…"

"Oh, go, go! Believe me, if I ever had the opportunity of a hot meal, I would jump at the chance! Especially, if you could tell what it was, before they cooked it. That is, if they ever did…." His voice trailed off. "The Monday Meatloaf is a mystery even I can't solve!"

Anna looked down at her bag, a combination of guilt and reluctance filling her. She sighed knowing that the difference between right and wrong was going to make the difference between hungry and fed. She reached into the bag, pulling out half of her own sandwich. She reluctantly handed it to him. She was going to regret this. It was probably the equivalent of feeding a stray cat.

He jumped up in the air like and ecstatic child, and giddily leapt for the sandwich. A small smile crept upon his face, as he said, "I think this means I owe you a favor."

"Oh no, you don't have to do that," she said, too terrified to comprehend what he meant by such a cryptic statement. "But do you know where Dr. Reynolds office is? I really need to get there before she starts to wonder where I've gotten to."

"Oh, she's two doors down to the left," he clarified "But don't you get lost! Just between you and me, there's a lot of crazy's down here! And who knows what they might do to someone as lovely as yourself." He whistled once, purposely trailing his eyes down her body to make his point clear.

She laughed uneasily as she continued in the direction he had shown her. She moved quickly down the hall afraid she actually would run into a less friendly inmate of Arkham. She exhaled in relief as she came across a door with the words "Dr. Reynolds Office" scrawled across the window. Her hand reached for the door, opening it, eager to finish her delivery, and get the hell out of Arkham. It wasn't that she held anything against the place, it was just the atmosphere had an aurora of something rotten and declining.

"Oh, there you are I was beginning to fret that you had gotten lost" exclaimed Myra. Her eyes shone brighter at the food as she rushed towards Anna. Her white lab coat floated on the stale asylum air like autumn leaves in a breeze. Myra's hair was still as black as the nighttime sky and her appetite as ravenous as ever.

"No. I just ran into some inmate wearing a red jumpsuit, he was really creepy.", she told her friend waiting for her to tell her that was Arkham or that the patient was perfectly harmless. Sadly, her friend just looked at her with a blank stare.

"How on earth did you get lost in the maximum security ward of Arkham, let alone talk to a level red inmate!" The only type of inmate issued a code red color was a top level inmate. The color red meant that getting close to them without a guard ended in the color red. You'd be bleeding out before you got a sentence in. Or worse. They sometimes dealt pain out in ways that left the mind in a state of insanity forever. She remembered the time the Riddler had left Warden Sharp a riddle foretelling of a medication switch. Sharp had a severe allergic reaction and was hospitalized for a week.

Myra looked at Anna with a dreadful stare as if to say tell me this is a joke. Anna stared back with two honest brown eyes. "Those areas are strictly off limits, and with good reason. The entire patients on that level are extremely dangerous and unstable." her friend worried out loud.

"What do you mean Maximum Security Ward, he was just out in the hallway?" Anna corrected. She knew she had not been wandering the halls without care; she hated getting lost.

"Anna I need you to think carefully what did this man look like?" Dr. Renolds knew every patient in red by name and patient number. They were the rogues, dangerous without a reason. They hurt everyone without call to warrant attack and without discretion for the innocents.

"He had green eyes and red hair. I don't know he just looked like a guy." Anna closed her eyes squinting at the already foggy memory.

Myra's eyes widened. There was only one inmate with red hair and green eyes. The Riddler. One of Arkham's most intelligent and quick tempered of inmates. He was the sort who bid his time and struck, leaving both physical and emotional scars. Anna very well could have died had his escape been more desperate, or had she recognized him.

"Oh, no.", Myra whispered as she pressed a button, "guards it appears that Riddler has escaped." She prayed Anna had the smarts not to tell the madman anything of vital importance. He was as unpredictable as he was brilliant. Who knew what he had planned for Gotham. That was a riddle Myra did not want the answer to.

* * *

**I am editing the chapter's now and reposting them to correct some errors and plot issues. And to answer many fans requests of a sequel I will only say that my other story may give you a hint on the answer to the Riddler's Riddle. I will start updating that tale soon. And fixing its errors and plot issues.**


	2. Chapter 2

Anna undid her hair from it's ponytail. Hours had passed since her visit to the asylum and she was still a bit shaken. After her friend had alerted the guards that the Riddler had escaped she felt as if an ominous cloud of dread had eclipsed her life.

He didn't seem crazy when she spoke with him, but she should have picked up on the creepy vibes. He was practically threatening her. How could she be such a fool? The doorbell rang and Anna was startled from her reverie.

She cautiously made her way to her door. Anna's hand slowly reached for the door as she peered through the peephole, expecting the Riddler himself to be standing at her entryway like an old horror movie villain. To her surprise no one was at the door.

Instead there was a package. Anna pulled the door open and hesitantly picked up the package as if it were a bomb about to go off at any second. Instead of a return address a note with the words "from your secret admirer" was roughly etched into the paper.

She hurriedly tore off the wrapping in childlike glee before she lost her nerve. Inside lay a green teddy bear. It seemed as if its beady black eyes were staring into her soul. But it was adorable and from a man.

Anna had been single for far too long, and was beginning to worry about the looming future. What if she hit forty and was still single? Would she have to become a nun? Would she be too old to date other guys? So the gift was a welcome relief, confirming that her too long blond hair and her dopey brown eyes and her too small boobs could make someone out there drool. Anna was flattered and overjoyed with the thought of having her very own secret admirer. Who could it be, perhaps her nice neighbor who lived two doors down the hall from her. He was handsome, and the idea made her heart speed.

The Riddler was at his hideout; absentmindedly working at a crossword, praising himself for the brilliant baby steps he had taken in pursuing what appeared to be an interesting game. The Riddler sat back in his chair with his legs crossed and fingers tapping against his desk. A smirk was playing across the features of the criminal genius as he pondered her reaction to his little gift. "Perhaps she'll be overjoyed." It was a gift from him after all. How could anyone's reaction be anything less than joyous?

The Riddler quickly moved out of his chair and went to the monitors to see how this little Riddel was doing. He was a curious and ever knowledge hungry creature. Solvency in games such as these required the proper surveillance and finesse. That always seemed to prove his specialty.

He glanced through the video feed trying to gain a perspective of where he was in proportion to the room. What luck, his mind drifted somewhere between irony and glee. She had put the monitor just above her bed. He let a brief perversion flit through his mind like a small candle flame before blowing the glimmer of light out with a puff of intelligence.

He was playing for keeps or at least the pleasure of proving to himself that he was capable of pulling the wager off. He'd get a date, a sign of his cunning intellect and charm, and be done with this foolish idling. He knew that the capers should have been planned earlier, but they somehow eluded him.

Through the camera feed Anna slept, not noticing the hungry eyes of the nearby Teddy devouring her image. The Riddler watched on. Anna stretched her slender arms above her head, and opened the curtains to let some sunlight into the room.

The Riddler steepled his fingers and pressed his lips against them as he peered at the screen. Anna made her way to her dresser, and rummaged around, grabbing a top and a pair of jeans. The Riddler leaned forward in shocked anticipation as he witnessed what he knew he should not. His mouth was agape as he observed her quick, ruffled change.

A small, gentle smile opened her lips, as she gazed at the gift of courtship that her secret admirer had given to her. She picked it up, and tilted her head lovingly as she stared into the black eyes. The Riddler stared back at her with the look of a man pondering a question without any real answer. It was strange to him how this blond haired girl had captured his attention with one simple act of kindness. She could not possibly fathom what such an act meant to Arkham's most deadly…and intelligent.

All his life, he had been beaten down by everyone he had ever come into contact with; his parole officer, schoolyard bullies, his teachers, even his own parents. All of them had ridiculed and mocked him. Called him an idiot… stupid, moron. The words cut superficially, but over time the multitude built up and stung. But he was none of those things. If anything he was a damn genius. Absolutely brilliant. They had never understood the pleasure he got from tinkering with every puzzle, solving the riddles no one else could. His father had constantly admonished him for not being athletic, like the other boys on his street. And if that wasn't enough, his parents had always got into bitter arguments over him… You know what they were arguing about?

About how they should never have had a kid as strange as him. He was not normal, but to him that merely meant that he wasn't an idiot.

Edward sighed, and shivered away his miserable childhood. Why should the past matter now? After all, he now had such an interesting future ahead of him. It almost washed away all the evils that had happened to him. Almost. But not quite.

Anna made her way to the door, now fully dressed, and opened it. A bouquet of roses lay just below her feet. She let out a gasp as she beheld some of the most intricate roses she had ever seen. As her fingers gripped the bouquet and brought it up to her widened eyes, she realized that each rose had been hand-folded out of crossword puzzles. Not only that, but upon closer inspection, she saw that each of the twelve roses' puzzles had been painstakingly completed with words scrawled all across the boxes. Each individual rose was unique in its own way, but each was similar in the fact that all the words drawn into the puzzles were related to feelings of romance.

As she carried the lovely bouquet into her room, Anna's thoughts traveled to the mysterious face of her secret admirer. That did it. God damn it, she _would_ find out who this mystery man was, even if it killed her. Anyone who could be that romantic should at least have the decency to let her go out on a date with him.

As her mind strayed to the topic of this man's identity, she heard a clank on the floor. Both her mouth and her roses dropped to the floor as she beheld the glittering majesty of a diamond necklace. She was floored by the sheer magnitude of the gigantic gems that were now in her trembling hands. She knew they were real. Nothing glitters as bright as diamonds.

The Riddler sat at a table in his hideout and recalled with querulous amusement his earlier endeavor. It was both a tiresome but rewarding crusade. It had taken him days to locate the perfect jewelry store, let alone the perfect necklace. They were brilliant, clear-cut jewels, worthy of the Queen herself. In fact, a Queen might have worn them.

He remembered the heist like it was yesterday. Oh wait, it was. He grinned brightly at the clever joke. Once he had targeted the store, he left his trademark riddle. That idiot, Bat-Freak, had not been able to decode the riddle in time, so the theft went off without a hitch. The store clerk had shown minimal resistance, though the clerk had tried to press the security button. He nearly unloaded a round into the bastard's leg for squelching his chances at a date with Anna. Of course the clerk quickly improved his chances of living in approving his choice of jewelry. Although he would note that the praise could have been a tad more…enthusiastic. All in all, it had been a very successful robbery.

Meanwhile, Anna had decided that she had had enough. She was going to marry this wonderful, guy! Any man who was that heartfelt had to be the one. He got her freaking jewelry!

She cautiously walked out of her apartment scanning intently each and every corridor that lined her apartment complex. She let out a sigh, there was no way she would just magically walk into her secret admirer. This was not a fairytale. This was real life. Just as the thoughts of defeat maliciously clawed away all lingering hope she had an epiphany. It was obvious who the person was. There was only man who could have left her such gifts.

Her white knuckles quickly rasped onto a neighboring apartment's door. Her breath hitched in her throat as she prepared to confront this mystery man. She could not help but bite her lip as the awkward and prudent doubt made her almost turn tail and hide.

"Hello", answered the man.

"Um I know this is awkward but I was wondering Steve, if you were the one who has um…" Anna stuttered out.

"Uh what?" Steve answered with a confused look glazing over his eyes.

Anna gathered whatever remaining courage she had left and sputtered out the words. "Are you my secret admirer?" Anna questioned as her eyes beamed with hope. She was not dying alone. She would take this man to the grave if she had to.

Steve pondered this question for a bit if he answered truthfully this girl wouldn't give him a second glance, but what if he lied? He would have a hot girlfriend if he lied. Besides the real admirer obviously didn't have the cojones to ask her out. So what was the harm in it? It was not even remotely likely he and this admirer would ever cross paths. What was the harm? "I guess you figured it out. I am _definitely _your secret admirer." He smoothly lied.


	3. Chapter 4

_Ding-dong. _The doorbell forecasted of a brand new day. And a brand new stranger.

Anna's delicate fingers reached for the golden doorknob tentatively as she wriggled the door open. The hasp created a thin blockade between her and her querulous visitor.

"Hello?" Anna answered with an apprehensive voice, as she eyed the man in uniform before her. He was wearing a blue collared tee-shirt with the U.S. Postal emblem embroidered onto the breast pocket of the shirt. He had on navy shorts that were fitted skin-tight, white knee-high socks, black shoes, and a mailman cap topping off the entire uniform. His mailbag was slung over his shoulder, and looked suspiciously empty.

His face, along with his green eyes, lit up with a bright smile, crinkling the corners of his lids. "Hello, Madam," purred the man with silky red hair. "How are you on this fine evening?"

"Good morning to you, too," Anna trailed on in a groggy voice, not wanting to appear rude. She glanced down at his bag. "Umm… So do you have some mail for me or something?" Anna voiced her concerns.

The mailman's eyebrows arched up into a perplexed gaze. "Mail? Oh yes, your mail! Because I'm your mailman! How silly of me," he said as he handed her two envelopes.

Anna grabbed the mail from the enigmatic male. "Thanks…" Anna said as she clutched the doorknob, going to slam the egress between her and the ditzy postal man. But just as she did so, one polished, black leather shoe became entrapped between the entrance and her apartment.

_Like hell that hurt… You blasted brunette_, the Riddler mentally grumbled. _I suppose that's what I get for shoving my foot in the doorway, though. But it's not my fault. Perhaps I should have put on a less intimidating disguise! I must appear positively daunting to my delicate flower!_

"Oh my God, are you okay? I didn't mean to slam the door on your foot!"

_She really does care! _The Riddler was practically illuminated with joy. A smirk transformed his features from innocent to something far more perilous.

"Believe me, I've been through a lot worse," he comforted. He most definitely had been through a great deal worse. Batman had seen to that. Thanks to the Dork Knight nearly every bone in his body had been broken. On several occasions he had been blown up. Needless to say a stubbed toe was by far the least of his worries.

"Oh, I feel absolutely awful!" Anna cried. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Anna offered.

A strange gleam entered his eye, and something deep inside of him twisted and turned in a pleasant sort of possession at the sentiments that were directed towards him. Right then, more than anything, he wanted to pull her close to his chest, embrace her in a bear-hug, caressing her curves. He imagined the softness of her body pressed flush against him and her soothing voice professing his name like a sacred vow. However, now was not the place or time for such self-indulgence.

"Coffee would be fine," he said with a sly smile.

Anna hesitated. This mailman was definitely beginning to seem a bit creepy, and she was always wary of strangers if not for the fact that she lived in Gotham than from all the unexpected gifts that had materialized onto her front door. _But he's just an innocent mailman… _she gathered. _The poor guy probably never gets out. One cup of coffee wouldn't hurt anyone, and he seems friendly enough…_

"Sure!" Anna agreed, stepping out of the safety of her apartment. "Where would you like to go?"

The Riddler smirked contemptuously. "Anywhere that your heart desires, Anna."

Anna stopped short. "H-how do you know my name?" she inquired apprehensively.

#$%^&*_! I've blown my own cover,_ thought the Riddler in a panic. Immediately, he considered ways that he could simply kidnap Anna right then. _What if she struggled?_ A blow to the head seems harsh, but I doubt she'll simply leap into my arms willingly. He'd have to carry her out of the building without anyone noticing her…

"Oh, of course!" Anna cried hurriedly. "You saw it on my mail!"

"What? Oh yes, that's it! I saw it on your _mail_…" The Riddler immediately jumped on the excuse that his obliviously, delicate darling had been so gracious as to provide for him. "_Now_… I believe we were going to coffee?"

The bell hanging from the door sounded as the Riddler, still in mailman uniform, and Anna entered Pete's Coffee shop. The small boutique was crowded, with only one empty table remaining, and another couple rapidly making their way towards it.

"Gee, maybe we should have gone somewhere else…" Anna voiced concernedly.

The Riddler grabbed her hand and made a dive for the table, seizing one of the chairs just as the other couple reached it. "Oh!" exclaimed Anna.

"Sorry," piped the Riddler to the infuriated husband and wife. "Looks as though you'll have to find somewhere else to sit. We were here first."

"But- wait!" Anna called after the disgruntled pair. "You can—"

"So, Anna! You don't mind if I call you Anna, do you?" the Riddler cut her off. Anna stared after the retreating couple, and then dragged her eyes back to who she presumed to be her mailman. "Anna's fine…"

"Well then, Anna," smiled the Riddler smugly. "Tell me about yourself."

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but just then the waiter strode up to their table, requesting their order.

"One white chocolate mocha, with extra whipped cream and sprinkles, please!" Anna said, straightening up cheerfully.

_Ah, _thought the Riddler dreamily. _She likes white chocolate mochas, with whipped cream and sprinkles…I'll have to remember that in the future._

"Aaaandd…" Anna turned towards the Riddler.

"Oh, I like it straight," he murmured, never taking his eyes off of his beloved.

The waiter nodded, and headed back to the kitchen. There was a moment of awkward silence as the Riddler continued to gaze with half-closed lids at the goddess before him. Anna fidgeted with her nails.

"Soooo…." Anna searched for a topic of conversation. "What do you like to do in your free-time? I mean, when you're not delivering mail."

The Riddler considered telling her that his current favorite pass-time was to watch her through the hidden camera within his teddy bear gift to her, but he decided that that might be inadvisable. "Oh, you know," he said. "The usual things. Stealing jewelr—I mean, hanging out with the guys, playing cards, poker… that sort of thing."

"Oh…" said Anna, staring up at the ceiling.

"B-but I also have a softer side!" the Riddler scrambled to fix his mistake. _I don't want her thinking that I, the Riddler, am some no-good, run-of-the-mill, trashy bum! I'm far better than that! _

"I simply love to donate money to help society," he lied. "You know, to those animal shelters, and such."

"Ah, really?" Anna queried. "I love animals!"

The Riddler grinned. _Another female swooning at the incomprehensible words of the great Edward Nygma. _Just then, the waiter returned with their coffee. The Riddler had noticed from the moment that Anna answered her door that she had been wearing the diamond necklace that he had secretly given to her, but he had been waiting for the opportune moment to inquire about it. Now, that moment had come…

"So, Anna, tell me… Where did you get that lovely necklace of yours?"

"Oh, this?" Anna asked excitedly, fingering the dazzling gems of the necklace. "I got it from my secret admirer!"

"Oh really?" asked the Riddler expectantly. "And who might that be?" He took a huge sip of his coffee.

"You'll never guess!" chirped Anna. "It was from my neighbor, Steve!"

The Riddler choked on his coffee, and clapped his hands over his mouth to keep from spewing it out across the table. He forced himself to swallow, his eyes narrowing in disgust. "Steve, hmm? Are you sure that was who gave it to you," he chided as if to an easily confused toddler.

"Yes, he told me himself!" Anna sang. "Oh, you'll never believe how sweet he is! I always thought that he didn't even know I existed, even though we live right next door to each other, but now I realized that he was just too shy to talk to me! And he's given me all these wonderful gifts!"

"Is that so?" hissed the Riddler through clenched teeth. _Perhaps one more gift should be in store… Steve's head roasted on a spit, and stuck outside her door!_ A dark gleam twinkled in his green eyes as each new form of torture augmented to the building jig saw puzzle worth of ideas he had in store for Steve.

"I'm so glad that I finally know who it was who was giving me all those amazing things!" said Anna happily, "And to think, it was charming, kind, handsome Steve, all along! And he and I are going on a date tomorrow night!"

The Riddler gripped the edges of the table so hard that it creaked and threatened to snap. _How dare that—that imposter-! On second thought nothing short of a riddle stapled to his genitals will right this egregious affair._

On the outside his face maintained a façade of sedated coolness, but on the inside he could feel his insides burning. Internally he was seething with jealousy. If that simpleton so much as touched let alone glanced in the direction of his girl he wouldn't hesitate to engrave question marks on every inch of his putrid skin. No one else was allowed to touch her, **no one,** not any other male, not even her own brother, and especially not Steve.

They would only soil her with their retched embrace. Bring dishonor upon her fragile form. She belonged to him, and as such she would be valued above all else. Not even the Dark Knight's defeat could compare with one of Anna's melting smiles. And if anyone hindered him from claiming his prize, well he'd just have to ensure that they paid for it with misery and death.

A sinister smirk writhed upon his face as he asked, "So about this date, where do you two plan on going? After all Gotham is dangerous place to be even in the company of others." _Especially for those who dare to cross one of the deadliest of rogues. _

A 100 watt smile zapped onto Anna's face. "Steve's taking me out to see a movie, and there's no need to fret because we're going to the theatre on the upper and relatively safer part of Gotham ." She looked back up to the postal worker awaiting his reply still glowing in the type of excitement one gets from telling a particularly mouth-watering secret. As she awaited his reply she viewed that for the briefest of moments his face had contorted in a terrifying rage, but before she could read anymore into it his voice returned to the conversation at hand.

"I see," victory would be his, "Well I must be off, it was a pleasure dining with you sweet Anna" He would not fail. He would be triumphant.

"Oh, Anna?"

"Uh, yes?" Anna answered unsure of what else the mysterious man had left to say to her.

"Not everyone is who they say" He replied, his eyes swirling in waves of emotion each fragmenting into a new feeling with every step he took closer to the door, until the only evidence left of his appearance was a half empty cup of coffee.

_What an odd man… _Anna thought as she sipped away at her mocha.

Anna twirled between outfits she had laid out in preparation for her date. Her fingers shifted from dress to jeans, but finally compromising for a blue skirt. Upon making that decision she now had to toil over the immense decision of what shirt to wear.

After about three hours she had finally dictated what she was to wear along with styling her hair just right. Everything was perfect. There wasn't a flaw left to consider, she was ready.

Anna began pacing across her apartment flat's floor, impatient for her date to commence. Suddenly, a low knock rolled across her door. Anna sprinted towards the sound like a hyper active child.

She took one fleeting glance at mirror to be certain she looked presentable, and tore the door open.

Steve grinned at her when he viewed the simplistic beauty of her state of dress. "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course," she replied flipping her hair out of her eyes.

After a few minutes of driving they reached the movie theatre, and purchased their tickets. As they made their way into a pair of empty seats, Anna feared that the smile on her face was so big that it might remain there for eternity.

Steve let a grin glaze over his face as he raised his arms above his head into a stretching motion before draping his arm across one of Anna's cream colored shoulders.

They sat like that for thirty minutes enjoying comfortable setting of enjoying a movie in the shared hold.

Without warning the picture began to sputter and splack until the screen shifted into black.

"What's wrong?" Anna whispered.

"It's probably just malfunctioning it'll come back on in a minute." Steve whispered back into the darkened room.

As if in response to Steve's declaration the screen shifted again and morphed into a sickening shade of green. A bone-chilling laugh filled the theatre, as a face replaced the dispiriting green.

The face on the screen wore a green bowler's hat, and a deep purple mask. His gaze burned with a fury that the purple mask failed to conceal. It instead only increased the anger that sweltered inside those emerald orbs.

Anna shivered in recognition as she realized just who this man was. _Oh my God it's the Riddler. What's he doing here?_

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight I have a special riddle for all of you special couples. But first…" A loud tearing sound echoed through the cinema like a shrill scream. Everyone in the audience gasped as the infamous question marked cane shredded across the thin screen. Two gloved hands parted the hole to allow the body that they were fastened to, to step out of the rip.

By now people had begun to panic. Some had started screaming, while others yelled for escape.

The Riddler's hand rose above the commotion and ended it with only a few words. "Before anyone else attempts something foolish, let me remind you that all of the doors are locked, and in conclusion there is no escape." The same hand now lowered to stroke his temple. "Now will you all kindly return to your seats."

"As I was saying, I have a riddle for all of you darling lovers. I am the brother of truth. I create enemies and end friendships, but if not discovered am mistaken as my brother. What am I?"

"Well surely someone here knows the answer." The Riddler turned towards where Anna and Steve were seated.

"What about you Steve, do you have an answer for me?"\

Anna felt the bottom of her stomach fall out and fill with dread as she heard the Riddler spit out Steve's name like it was bile._ What does he want with Steve?_

Steve himself shook in sheer unadulterated terror. "How do you know my name?"

The Riddler brought the blade of his cane sharply down Steve's cheek leaving a small cut to dribble blood. "That I'm afraid is not the answer to the riddle." He bellowed. Sighing he continued "The answer Steve, is a lie. I really expected you of all people to be able to answer that one, especially when your so well versed with the subject." Now the blade was focused on inching dangerously close to Steve's jugular vein.

"Stop it! Please, don't hurt him." Anna couldn't stand it any longer. She didn't care if this act meant putting her own life on the line, she wasn't just about to allow her boyfriend to perish.

The dark glint occupying his eyes momentarily left his eyes as he turned away from what would be his latest victim to face his love. "I a-pp-ologize." The cane left Steve in an instant and resumed its absent-minded twirling.

"But there are consequences for incorrect answers." And with that being said the Riddler reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a dark green handkerchief. With the same movements he tenderly pressed the cloth onto Anna's mouth.

Anna's eyes widened, and her arms started to flail all about her. Such a struggle was for naught, as within mere instants everything went dark.

The penetrating gaze of the Riddler left Anna it returned to Steve.

"As for you, well I can promise that your punishment will be severe, but as for the rest of you young lovers remaining…" A button from his cane was furtively pressed allowing the locked doors to launch open. "You are free to leave. Go on skedaddle." The crowd bolted for the doors at his announcement, speedily covering the ground between entrapment and freedom forcing the men guarding the entrance to enter.

His gaze turned affectionate as he began to scrutinize over his Anna. "Joe, Richard be sure to handle Miss Riddell with the utmost importance when you place her in the van. And remember I'll be right out, so if there's so much as a hair out of place it'll be your heads."

He abruptly returned his attention to the bothersome annoyance that had been giving him a headache since the early morning until now. "Steve I'm going to give you a fair chance at keeping your life. If you answer this riddle correctly I shall allow you to continue living, if you don't well the circumstances are unfortunate. **I'm not alive, but I grow. I don't have lungs but I need air. I don't have a mouth but water kills me. Question what am I?**

"I dd-don't know, I can't answer."

A vile smirk curled onto Edward's face. "Well how unfortunate for you. If it's any consolation…," at this pair of handcuffs was snapped onto Steve's wrists binding him to his seat, "I was going to kill you regardless of whether you gave the correct answer or not."

"Look on the bright side at least you'll soon discover the answer to that riddle." With that being said he exited the room and felt no remorse for his next actions.

Haphazardly a mach was lit and dropped onto the floor. Green eyes watched in comical amusement as the gasoline smothered floor ignited into blazes engulfing the building in black flames.

As a van disappeared from the dismal scene maniacal laughter could be made out in the distance.


	4. Chapter 5

Anna moaned softly. She was lying on her side, on a bed that was far too large and comfortable to be her own. Her head felt like it was in a deep fog, and her vision was blurred. She tried to make out where she was, and slowly, a figure came into view. The person was seated not two feet away from her, facing her. He seemed to be covered in a mottled green robe… No, not a robe. A suit.

"You're awake!" he crowed delightedly.

Anna shrieked. She flung herself out of the bed, on the opposite side from the villain. Trembling, she cast a cursory glance across her frame, confirming that she still had her clothes on. "You're-you're the Riddler…." she stammered.

He had envisioned her waking to find him close to her bed, gazing at her with tender affection. She would have murmured, "Where am I?", in her soft, honey-like voice. He would have stroked her velvety hair, and whispered to her soothingly… Oh, well. This would have to do…

"You do care!" he cried in a cheerful tone. "I was worried at first that you wouldn't recognize me! But now I see that-"

"What do you want with me?" whispered Anna, her mind reeling. What could a Gotham criminal possibly want with her? She wasn't involved in anything having to do with crimes. She hadn't witnessed anything that would make her a liability for some scheme. What could the Riddler possibly want with her?

He appeared just the same as he had in the newspapers, and when she first ran into him at Arkham Asylum. And yet… _Wasn't there another time that I saw him?_, thought Anna. _It seems like…_

"The movie theater!" gasped Anna, as the horrific experiences from her date came rushing back at her, like a tidal wave. And then, "_Where's Steve!"_

The Riddler pursed his lips together in a childish pout, but something in his eyes changed. Something that made Anna's spine tingle.

No. No, no! _NO! _She just _had _to mention him. Now, everything was ruined. The Riddler had thought that he would be rid of that disgusting personage of filth when he had so graciously burned him alive…_ I have to remain calm…,_ he told himself. _I mustn't scare her….. I must not lose control…._

"You were at the theater," continued Anna, her voice scaling up. "You came over to us, and… What did you do with Steve?"

"I don't want to talk about him," said the Riddler indignantly. He tried to diverge from the topic. "Let's talk about you! I have your favorite: a white chocolate mocha, with extra whipped cream and sprinkles!"

Anna's voice was barely audible. "What…have… you… done…with …Steve….?"

The Riddler clenched his teeth. His hands twisted into fists so tight that his knuckles looked like they might break the skin. "Is that all you can think about?" he hissed, with deadly malice in his voice. "Why is that _thing_ so important to you?"

Anna straightened up proudly. She squared her jaw, and said, "I love Steve. Now, tell me what you did with him!"

That was too much. He had tried to be kind and endearing, but she had gone too far. The Riddler lost control.

He silently picked up the chair he had been sitting in moments ago, and flung it across the room. It slammed against the wall splintering into several pieces. Anna backed up against the wall, her heart pounding out of her chest.

The Riddler approached her slowly, his face expressionless. He stopped an inch from her terrified face, and looked down his nose at her. He wanted…needed to kill something…someone….

He slapped her with all the force he was capable of. Her face twisted to the side slamming against the rough edges of the wall with a nauseating scrunch. Her knees buckled, but she did not collapse. She hugged the wall, whimpering and choking back her sobs at her captor's sudden change in mood.

Anna's eyes watered more as she realized how easily this man could kill her.

The Riddler turned slowly and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Edward Nigma was not a violent man when faced with the best of circumstances, but when faced with the worst he could be immortalized by his lone standing wrath.

Regrettably, the conditions he was faced with now were a mixture of both the good and the bad.

Edward sighed._ This was not how I expected things to turn out. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with him? _He had just slapped her and stormed out of the room to leave her alone to her tears. If she had just left **him** out of the conversation he would never have had to resort to such brutality._ Why did she have to make me angry? She should know better. _

Slowly, he removed his gloves and brought his bare hands above him to stroke his temples. He needed time to think.

The now somber footfalls of the Riddler were devoid of their once joyous steps as he entered into his large bedroom and continued into the also large bathroom he had.

In mechanical motions Edward removed his top coat, vest, shirt, trousers, and underwear until he was completely nude. He entered the shower with a serious expression and let the steamy water engulf his body while considering his present predicament. _What would he… NO… What could he do to right the wrongs he was now guilty of?_

Nothing. There was nothing he could do. Nothing that he could take back, and it was all her fault.

He bowed his head further into the scalding jet of water. _There has to be an answer. There's always an answer. Perhaps, an apology. _On fist banged against the question mark patterned tiles of his shower.

_No it was her fault in the first place; if anything he deserved an apology. For it had been her who bated his wrath with that grotesque declaration of love for a man that was false as the fires of hell._

Wait, Of course, no wonder she had been so disillusioned with the ideas of love with such a falsehood. She still believed that Steven was the sender of all those treasures.

_Well won't she just be delighted!_ , thought the Riddler as he washed away the remainder of suds clinging to his arms.

With a mischievous spark in his green eyes he considered how much more enjoyable his shower would be if a certain someone were bathing along side him. His body tingled against the thought of her fingers roaming about his chest as her face tinted scarlet. He would chuckle at that and pull her closer to him letting his own fingers trace the contours of her figure, and she would blush harder. Then shyly she'd bring her lips to meet his.

Yes, that was exactly how she'd act. Shaking the remaining droplets of water from his head he ended such a fantasy. There was no need to get over excited at the imaginary touches of a girl who had yet to be informed of the deceit of her previous partner.

Meanwhile….

Anna brought her knees into her chest and rocked back and forth. _She had to make it out of here. She had to escape._

Gathering her lingering courage she scanned the room for any means of an escape. After a few minutes of scanning she discerned that her only way out of the room was the solid wood door that the Riddler had slammed on his exit.

Scrambling to the aperture Anna grasped the handle of the door and hoped against all hope that the door had remained unlocked.

Lady luck chose that moment to smile upon her for the hatchet slid open the instant she twisted the knob. So, startled by this small bout of chance she nearly lost her footing, and fell through the mouth of the doorway.

Regaining her lost balance she glanced down the hallway for any routes leading to liberation. Curiously, there was only one other exit encored into the wall besides the one she had just left.

_What if the Riddler is behind this door?_ She shivered at the thought of him smirking at the other end of the gateway scolding for her foolish escape plan to send her back before his presence._ But what if this isn't a trap and it really is the road to freedom?_

Forcing her worries to the edges of her mind Anna brought a shaking palm up to the cold metal of the ingress. Trembling Anna wedged the door open as noiselessly as possible.

Once the door was open far enough for herself to squeeze through Anna found herself inside what was without a doubt the Riddler's own private corridors'.

The walls of the room were green with black question marks thrown about the wall in random and messy heaps. The furnishings of the room included a large cherry-oak desk accented with an equally large computer and printer. A leather chair rested at the foot of the desk.

These gorgeous furnishings all paled in comparison to the large bed that was centered in the middle of the room. It sat at a tall height with the hand carved wood it was created from only enhancing its loftiness.

A closer inspection at the carvings would have revealed the story of the riddle of the sphinx inside the vivid pictures. The bed spread itself was green and decorated with all equally green pillows.

Anna may have better appreciated the beauty of such a room were she not considering the incredibly likely scenario of the Riddler returning to his room in the next instant.

Looking about the room once more she discovered that in the whole room there was only one door left remaining in the room that could possibly service her flight.

Opening the door and entering she found that it was nothing more than a simple albeit large bathroom. She eyed the room a bit and decided to continue to the other end of the room in search for some sort of hole that she could reach the outside world through.

Anna froze in her tracks when she discovered exactly what was on the other wall of the same room. There stood the Riddler on the inside of a shower stark naked.

Anna barely stifled a loud gasp that made it past her lips. There stood her captor with his eyes shut, and dripping wet. Anna tried not to stare she tried desperately to get out of that room but she was so shocked. All she could do was stand mesmerized as she took in his muscular build. She watched as the water rippled down his lean muscles pooling at the bottom of the shower.

"_**Shrunck"**_

With that the droplets of water came to an abrupt halt. A hand pulled open the glass entrance of the shower, and Anna realized with dread the dangers she was faced with at that second. His eyes were still shut though she could still make it.

"Where is that towel?"

Not putting much if any thought into her next action Anna reached for the towel and handed it to him.

"Thank-you." The Riddler responded as the towel magically was placed into his searching hands. _How very courteous for a towel to enter one's hands when they need it the most___he thought as__rubbed the stinging soap from his eyes.

_Wait a second…_ His head shot up immediately coming face to face with "his" Anna. Instead of preparing to attack the Riddler relaxed his stance and allowed a smirk to work its way onto his freshly scrubbed face.

"Well, well Anna to what do I owe this pleasant surprise to? You're a bit late if you intended on joining me, but if you'd like I'd be happy to make a return trip with you." he said in a deeply smug voice as he secured the towel about his waist.

Anna was at a loss for words for she could stop staring at his drool worthy midriff. He looked like a sculpture. _Wait I did not just think that! He. Is. A. Criminal!_

Noticing where her eyes were Edward let out a low teasing chuckle. "So, do you like what you see? Because I am enjoying what I see." He took a few steps closer towards Anna.

He was now close enough for her to feel his breathe on her skin and see the smoldering look in his gaze burn brighter. She began to panic; he was too close to her. _What if he tries to kill me… or worse._

She shivered at that last thought. _Would he try to… rape me?_

Snapping her out of her currant thoughts his hand grasped her chin with gentle but firm force.

A Frown marred his features as he saw that his previous slap had now subsided into an ugly bruise. _Why had he felt it necessary to use such unbarred force on her?_

"I didn't mean to hit you so roughly… Anna." At that he suddenly dropped her chin and brought her into a demanding embrace as she was pulled against him into a needy as well as starving hug. In that hug the Edward Nigma swore to never let her go.

She would never leave his side. She was His. And as his he would never hurt her again.

"Could you please put some clothes on?"

"What?" he said as he began to play with her hair not paying attention to the fact he was nearly nude and the girl in his arms was clearly unnerved as well as afraid.

With scared eyes Anna looked up at him once again "Please get dressed."

Understanding showered down upon him like rainfall.

Letting out a small disgruntled huff Edward left the bathroom with Anna and entered his bedroom. He walked purposely towards his dresser and opened one of the drawers before sweeping away his towel from his waist and placing himself inside a pair of boxers.

"Do you think you could have warned me, before you started changing?" Anna said her back still turned away from him unsure as to whether he had finished changing or not.

"Well based on my deductions I'd say that after our previous encounter there is really not much left to your imagination. So, modesty is really more of a courtesy rather necessity. Besides it's not like I have anything you haven't seen before." the Riddler said with a haughty tone.

The thought of her with another man before his self brought furious rage into his senses, but he hid it well enough as he waited for her to respond to his comments.

No response came from Anna as she stared at the floor with rouge coloring splayed all about her cheeks.

A lone eyebrow rose up to Edward's forehead. In a few heartbeats that lone eyebrow was accompanied by a toothy smile. "You haven't have you?"

"No but that's none of your business." She cried out in outrage at how blatantly he had moved onto the subject of her personal life.

Wisely the Riddler decided that taking the conversation any further would be a loss. Despite her clear outrage he was happier for it. _She is all mine. No one else has ever touched her tainted her._ Those thoughts brought only a stronger need to possess the girl before him. That same greedy feeling he got when he successfully pulled off a heist was their festering underneath the surface of his skin begging for her to belong to him. To be his forever.

"I suppose not. Want to hear a riddle?"

Not waiting for her to answer he recited the riddle," The more you have of it the less you see. Question: What is it?"

She frowned she hadn't the foggiest, but before she could say she was unsure the Riddler answered the riddle himself.

"Darkness, and as such is the time. I believe it is time for bed." He said with a stretch of his limbs.

"Where do I sleep?"

"Why with me of course"

"What?" Anna's jaw dropped there was no way she was sleeping in the same bed as a half naked man let alone one of Gotham's most wanted.

"I believe I said…"

"I know what you said and there is no way that's happening; besides I'd rather sleep on the floor than with you." Anna honestly didn't know where she had gotten this sudden courage from, but what she did know was that if it kept her from sharing his bed than she would thank God every day for such a mercy.

The Riddler's eyes narrowed with a mean and sharp look. "You will be sharing this bed with me, and you will get in it this second." The statement was not an offer it was a command. One that Anna refused to obey.

Growling the Riddler stalked towards her with looming steps. When he arrived at her side he towered over her with not only his physical presence but the menace that poured off of his body in waves.

His hands snaked about her waist before picking her up to unceremoniously toss into his bed.

As she flopped onto the bed she tried to raise herself up but was once again pushed down into the plush green bedspread. Looking up she saw that the Riddler had successfully pinned her onto the bed and was now straddling her waist in a pair of green boxers.

"Now are you going to behave like the good girl I know you are or will I have to pin you here the whole night?"

She felt terror well up inside her; she let out a small whimper and nodded her head to indicate that she'd behave herself.

"Good" and with that he reluctantly tore himself from the favorable position he had just been in previously.

Now under the covers he wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled her closely to his chest. He loved how perfectly her body shaped and fitted to his. To him she was perfect. His own private riddle. Even her hair smelt of riddles.

At that thought he intertwined his legs with hers and whispered a goodnight as he brought his lips gently against her cheek.

Anna's body stiffened as she felt his arm entrap her body closer into his taut muscled chest. She felt the tendrils of fear waft about her senses as she felt his hips press intimately against her bottom as he leaned forward to inhale her scent. This apprehension only increased when she felt his legs pierce in-between her own and immobilize any movements that had been previously available to her. Her eyes sparkled in anxiety as his lips brushed tenderly against her cheek.

Anna refused to shed tears at this imprisonment because she knew that she could escape. She knew that she would escape.

Time passed by uncomfortably and without momentum. Anna lied impatiently against the Riddler as she began planning her escape. As the hour passed on Anna felt the Riddler fall limp against her and leave the land of the conscious.

Tentatively Anna freed one arm from her captors grasp. Shifting nervously to the feat of sliding her second arm away from him, she escaped only to have his arms rewrap themselves about her waist. Sighing she began to try and pry his tight grip off her waist when he let out a guttural sounding snarl, and pulled her into his suffocating hold.

"Mine…" he mumbled as one hand began to stray higher only to seek refuge in her full chest. Shocked at the sleeping man's cheekiness Anna redoubled her efforts.

After an amazing battle of limbs Anna had wrestled her way out of the possessive clutches of one of Gotham's notorious, and now faced the next challenge of freeing herself from the room. All she had to do was reach the door and make her way through it. She'd be home then, able to relax and smile with no worries over gruesome kidnappers.

Alas, all her carefully placed movements were for naught, for when she padded across the old floorboards a loud grotesque sound shrieked from the creaking wood. "!"

The once sleeping man awakened without further warning and kicked away the constricting covers. "Riddle me this…" he hollered as his body twisted into a grim position of doom while he twisted a cane that he had reached for in his scramble.

Had Anna not been guilty of attempted escape she would have found the idea of the Riddler twirling his cane in a pair of boxer short hilarious. However, she became fretful at the punishment that was sure to follow her actions.

"Anna?" Edward called out in shock as he realized she no longer inhabited his bedside. "What are you doing out of bed? I thought I said that you were to lie beside me.", he grounded out with anger coloring the meaning of his words.

The guilty party shifted from foot to foot unsure of how to respond. Should she lie? Of coarse she should lie.

"Um would you believe I was going to get a glass of water?" Anna innocently inquired.

"No, I would not." The Riddler replied, but in a softer voice he added,"But I'd like to."

"Come with me we can go into the kitchens and get your glass of water."

Obediently Anna followed along. After a few minutes of wandering they arrived to a wall with a small key code pad hanging above it. Nigma enter the code with a flurry of numbers until the wall collapsed revealing an impeccable kitchen.

"Wow." Anna muttered awestruck at the sheer vastness of the kitchen.

"Like any good man I enjoy a good meal" he said as he handed her an ice cold glass of water.

"Thanks."

"Tell me Anna why are you trying to escape me? Do you really hate me so much that can't even stand to lie in the same bed?" he couldn't help asking such a loaded question. It was his nature to know everything to anything. Even if her answer fueled the betrayal he felt he needed to know.

" I ddd-on't hate you I just want…"

She did not hate him. That revelation alone nearly sterilized all the hurt from his heart. It made his chest swell with pride, joy and good things. It made him want to smash his lips against hers for such hope, but now was not the time.

"You want?" Anything she desired would be hers. All she need do is ask. If that was all it took to ensure her love he'd gladly bring her the moon if she so desired it.

"I just want to go home." Anna whispered lightly.

"No! You're not allowed to leave me!" He had thrown his chair behind him with such force that the thump had echoed across the halls. "You are mine. Mine alone." He said as his lips crushed harshly against her own.

"Snap."

Shocked Anna gazed down her leg and discovered that a strange looking bracelet was now attached to her ankle. The bracelet itself flashed green question marks in an endless dance. Looking closer she noticed that there were words inscribed on the bracelet. It read: _**Property of The Riddler.**_

"I didn't want it like this you know. I wanted to have a relationship built on trust. One where I didn't always need to be checking to see if you were still lying next to me. You know that's a very rude thing to do."

Closing the distance between the Edward smiled as he trailed his fingers down her neckline. "That thing on your ankle is exactly like a house arrest monitor. It tells me where you are every second of the day and will alert me if you try and escape again. So I'd suggest you don't try it because next time I will punish you. " he finished the sentence with a softer kiss onto her forehead.

" But I can't stay here."

"I believe I've been more than fair. To be quite honest with the way you've been behaving I have half a mind to simply punish you. So stop saying unreasonable things and I won't have to." He declared with an angry pout.

She was going to stay here with him for all of their existence. She was not allowed to leave. He would be her owner, her lover, her religion, her life because she already was his everything.

"You don't understand I don't have any clothes or any other supplies. How can I live here without these?"

"Oh… If that's the case tomorrow morning we will go shopping now let's get to bed" he said with a turn on his heels.

_I wonder where we'll go shopping. I wonder what tomorrow will hold._

Waffles. Anna sat awkwardly as the Riddler hummed about the kitchen, fixing her an enormous breakfast. Her thoughts drifted back to the night before.

_I know that it was a bad excuse to say that I wanted to go shopping, but now, with this tracking thing strapped around my ankle, I'm going nowhere fast. Maybe the sooner I accept this whole kidnapping thing, the better. I have a better chance of escaping once he starts to trust me. I just have to hold out that long… or until the unlikely event of my being rescued. Besides, I do need some clothes and things anyway….._

Her reverie was interrupted by a far-too-cheerful voice. "Maple syrup or powdered sugar?"

"Uh…syrup's fine."

"There you are," purred the Riddler as he set a heaping plate of waffles in front of her. Anna's eyes bugged. _I can't eat all this!_

"Make sure you eat all of it! We don't want you to be starving, now do we, Anna?"

Anna shifted uncomfortably. She reached for her fork, and carefully cut off a bite of waffle. She brought it slowly towards her mouth, and then cast a sideways glance at the Riddler. He was staring at her so intensely, she thought his eyeballs might pop out of his head.

"Um…are you going to watch me eat?" Anna queried.

"Yes…" said the Riddler in a trance-like voice, sitting down, his gaze fixed on her.

Anna put the fork down. It took the Riddler a second to realize that she had.

"Aren't you going to continue eating?" the Riddler asked hurt. "You don't like it, do you?"

Anna looked at him strangely. _Man, this guy really jumps to conclusions! _"No, it's fine. It's just a little creepy to eat with you staring at me!" she retorted defensively.

The Riddler relaxed. "Ah." He continued to look at her, though not so furtively.

When Anna was almost finished, the Riddler asked her, "Soooo…where would you like to go shopping?" He said it in a mysterious way, as if the identities of her favorite stores were some great secret.

"…The mall's fine…I usually don't really…"

"To the mall!" The Riddler leapt up, grabbed Anna's wrist, and tugged her energetically to the kitchen door. Anna tried rapidly to regain her footing. "Wait! Wait!" The Riddler continued pulling. "You don't have any clothes on!"

The Riddler stopped. He looked down at his muscular personage in surprise. He was still cloaked in his forest green robe, with his green slippers on.

He chuckled. "So it would seem!" He led the bewildered Anna away from the door, and back to his quarters, a place Anna was already beginning to regard as a traumatizing abode.

Anna was still wearing the clothes she had arrived at the Riddler's hideout in: an off-white, long-sleeved shirt, and a tight-fitting pair of jeans. The Riddler muttered to himself as he scanned through his closet. Finally, he came out with an armful of green fabric. He began to undress.

"Uh, I think I'll just go-" Anna stammered hurriedly.

The Riddler raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, I forgot. My changing clothes in front of you makes you uncomfortable." A slow smile spread across his face. "I'll just slip into the closet and change then. Don't you go anywhere now! Unless you want to join me…in the closet…" he finished slyly.

Anna's mouth dropped open. The Riddler chortled and slipped into the closet.

A cold sweat was breaking out on Anna's forehead. _I have to get out of here, _her conscious screamed at her_. I have to escape. I can't stay with this-this criminal any longer!_

"No," she told herself firmly. "You have to gain his trust. You'll never be able to escape otherwise."

Before Anna was able to regain her countenance, the Riddler popped out of the closet with a loud, "Ta da!"

Anna stared. The Riddler had struck a dashing pose, which he held until he realized that Anna's gaze was less than impressed.

"What?" he questioned.

Anna searched for the right words. "It's nothing… It's just…I thought you were going to try to go, you know, incognito."

Now it was the Riddler's turn to stare. "But this is incognito."

He was clothed in a tight-fitting green suit, with shining, green shoes, green gloves, a purple tie, and a dark green hat perched on his head. The only thing that was missing was the question marks. Anna told him so.

"It's just…I think people will recognize you, even without the question marks."

The Riddler sighed, disappointed. _Why is it so hard to please her?_

"Very well," said the Riddler. "What do you think I should wear?"

A mastermind Gotham criminal was asking her what he should wear? Anna couldn't believe it. She gazed past him, to his closet.

"Um… Do you have anything that's _not_ green?"

The Riddler finally ended up in a tight-fitting green t-shirt, with his suit jacket over it, and a pair of pants that could almost be called brown, though they were still green. Anna somehow managed to convince him to wear black shoes.

The Riddler instructed his guards to keep watch over the hideout, and then he helped Anna into the shotgun seat of an inconspicuous, brown van.

"Sorry about the ride," he said sincerely. "I would have taken you out in one of my sportier cars, but they're all at the shop, being detailed." He peered intensely into Anna's eyes, which made her shift uncomfortably. "I swear, by my heart of hearts, that I _will_ make it up to you!"

"Really, it's fine," Anna said. She didn't like the way he had said "take you out".

They drove down the rainy backstreets in silence. Until…

"I am windows that are tinted many a color. What am I?"

"Er…stained glass?"

"Nope! Eyes." The Riddler turned and again gazed into Anna's big, brilliant eyes. They were a luscious shade of green, dazzling even in the gloom. _Sigh….._

Anna tried to ignore the infatuated look on the Riddler's face. She turned away as they pulled into the mall parking lot. She was all too aware of the tracking device digging into her ankle.

The Riddler cheerily pulled her out of the car, and nearly skipped to the front of the mall. Anna sometimes had to remind herself that he was a grown man. But then…whenever she had those thoughts, her mind was sent plunging back to that awful night, just a short time ago. His hand smacking her cheek with such force… There was no doubt about it. She had seen first-hand that behind his jolly façade, he was just as dangerous a criminal as all the papers believed him to be.

They entered the mall, Anna rubbing her shoulder nervously.

"Where to?" the Riddler asked, pretending to be oblivious to her anxiety. He was very aware that she was far from at ease by his side. _If I could only take her hand…. Show her that I'm not the man she thinks I am. She would realize, then, that there is no one else in the world but me, who would care for her, love her, never leave her side…. I would take her face gently in my hands, whisper to her that everything was going to be alright… Her downcast eyes would flutter open with new understanding. I would caress her cheek, our lips would touch…._

Somehow, the Riddler got the feeling that maybe that kind of comforting was not exactly what Anna needed right now. He restrained himself. _I'll bide my time… She'll come to adore me soon enough…_

Anna ignored the creepy smile sneaking its way onto the Riddler's face. "Abercrombie," she said, and marched off toward the store, with the smirking criminal following at her heels.

By the afternoon, Anna had five bagfuls of clothes and shoes, all of which the Riddler had _insisted_ on carrying. They strolled down the middle of the mall, stopping at every stand or shop that Anna just happened to look at, whether out of interest or just plain glancing. Finally, Anna stopped looking, and just stared at her feet.

Despite everything, though, Anna had indeed become more comfortable in the Riddler's presence. She hated herself for it, but when they were just walking like this, without any weird stares or sexy innuendos, the Riddler was actually kind of tolerable.

"Mr. Riddler?"

The Riddler was taken aback. "Please, call me Edward."

Edward? Anna had never realized that his name was Edward. Most of the newspapers, her only reservoir of information about him, had called him simply "The Riddler".

"Okay, Edward?"

The Riddler trembled inwardly as she delicately spoke his name. "Yes, Anna?" He turned towards her with his hands clasped, and batted his eyelashes lovingly, even though she wasn't looking at him.

Anna spoke so softly that the Riddler had to lean in close to hear her words. "Thank you…"

The Riddler jerked back, shocked. _Did she just…thank me? _

"For what?" he inquired, flummoxed.

"For…taking me shopping." Anna replied. She had meant to say other things, like, _Yeah, thanks for not killing me…or worse. And thanks for breakfast. And- _She had meant to say thanks for everything. But…it seemed too weird, thanking your kidnapper. So she just thanked him for buying her so many clothes.

"Why, you're welcome!" crowed the Riddler, clearly pleased. _I just knew she'd come around! Thanking is the first step to liking! Perhaps she likes me already…_

They walked on in silence for a moment, and then the Riddler asked Anna the most obscure question she could possibly imagine.

"What are your feelings regarding…children?"

"Children?" Anna repeated, perplexed.

"Yes, you know. The smaller versions of adults. Chubby cheeks, wispy hair-"

"I know what children are!"

"Well? Then what are you feelings about them?" The Riddler stopped walking, and laid a hand on Anna's arm. Anna found herself standing face to face with the Riddler. Suddenly, she felt very small.

"Children are…cute, I guess. Why?"

"Oh, no reason," said the Riddler nonchalantly. "Have you ever considered…having any?"

Anna looked at him in disbelief. _What on- What is he getting at?_

Anna made to look at the floor, her favorite method of avoiding uncomfortable situations, but then hesitated.

_No. Look at him. Look him in the eye. Show him that you are more than just some defenseless girl. Show him that you are not just a puppy on a leash._

Anna looked directly at the Riddler. She spoke with such confidence that the Riddler had to blink to cover his surprise. "Frankly, I'd never really considered it. I suppose I might like to have two. Or three."

The Riddler grinned. "Oh, wonderful! I've always wanted three, myself. One is just so…you know." He glanced at her sideways, as if he were waiting for her to realize something.

"What?" asked Anna, her stomach twisting into a knot.

"Nothing. I was just thinking that we're very alike…in that we both want three children. And we're alike in other ways, too-"

Anna's jaw nearly hit the tile floor. Realization of what the Riddler was getting at had just struck her full in the face. "Oh…my…GOD!"

The Riddler did not know whether to be hurt or amused by her reaction.

"You mean-you were talking about-you and me- Oh my God!"

The Riddler decided to be amused. _Perhaps I was a bit too soon…_ Besides, the expression on his darling's face was simply too priceless. He chortled. "Never mind, never mind. Are we done, or do you want to go somewhere else?"

Anna looked away, her eyes wide, trying to regain her composure. _Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God. He did NOT._

After a long moment, Anna pushed the thought from her mind. She locked it in a mental safe, wrapped the safe in chains, obliterated the key, and hurled the package off into space.

"Yes, there's one more store," she said, inhaling deeply. "But I want you to wait out here."

The Riddler narrowed his eyes. "Now, Anna, you know I cannot allow you to-"

He followed her gaze. It was trained on the name of a store across from them. He read the name slowly. _V-I-C…._

The look on the Riddler's face was so positively devilish, if Anna had turned around and seen it, she probably would have died of fright.

"Oh, this will be fun…" purred the Riddler.

He took Anna's hand, and dragged her straight into Victoria's Secret.

Anna cast furtive glances around her as she and the Riddler went through underwear. Yes, the Riddler was looking through women's underwear. Anna would rather have been any other place in the world than where she was at that moment.

"How about this one?" The Riddler held up a grotesque, green thong. Anna shook her head in a definite no.

_I can't believe this is happening to me, _she thought._ Anything but this!_

The people in the store were starting to give them strange looks. As if it wasn't bad enough that the Riddler looked like a deranged leprechaun, now he was pawing through underwear, and selecting for her!

Anna grabbed a handful of random undies. "I'm going to go buy these. Now." She started walking towards the cash register.

The Riddler caught up to her just before she reached the cashier. "At least take this pair!" he begged. He held up a pair of black lace underwear, with roses stitched in at the top.

Anna tried to hide her disgust. She didn't succeed. "Fine," she spat. The Riddler smiled.

As they exited the store with her purchase, Anna let out a sigh of relief. _Please, never let me see any of those shoppers in there ever again._

No sooner had she relaxed, when the Riddler gave a jubilant cry. "Look there!"

He pointed to a suit shop, just a few stores down. Inside, Anna just caught a glimpse of a dashing, green suit. The Riddler headed for the shop, towing Anna along behind him. "This will only take a moment, my dear."

Anna let herself be dragged. After forcing the Riddler to follow her around all day, she decided that he should at least be able to go to a store that _he_ wanted to go to. She was more concerned with how he had called her "dear".

When they entered the store, the Riddler nearly sprinted straight for the green suit, only to find that another shopper had moved in front of it to inspect it. The shopper was mustachioed and corpulent, and as the Riddler made a beeline for the article of clothing that had caught both their interests, he blatantly shoved the round man aside.

"Out of my way, out of my way!" he cried angrily. "It wouldn't fit you anyway, you oaf-like buffoon!"

Anna was appalled. She rushed to the fallen man's side. He huffed and puffed as he tried to right himself.

"Are you okay, sir?" Anna asked concernedly. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's not your fault, young lady," wheezed the man, shooting a furious glance at the Riddler.

When the man had gone, Anna stormed over to the Riddler, who was busy worshipping the handsome suit.

"What the heck was that?" she demanded.

The only thing that could wrench the Riddler's gaze away from the beautiful suit was something a thousand times more beautiful. He gave Anna an innocently confused look. "What was what?"

Anna curled her lip in disbelief and rage. "What do you mean 'What was what'? You just knocked that guy out of the way! And you didn't even notice?"

The Riddler looked at her, not understanding. Anna realized this, and it only fueled her anger.

"I can't believe you! You're so rude! What, do other human beings simply not matter to you?"

The Riddler searched for words. He had never seen his precious cherry blossom so angry! He opened his mouth to speak, but for once, the Riddler was speechless.

Anna shook her head in disgust. She stalked away from him.

The Riddler was hurt. He couldn't comprehend why she would care so much about a silly, old man. He ran after her, and reached her before she could leave the store. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She shook it off with a snarl.

"Anna…" he pleaded. "Look, I'm sorry about the old…man. (He almost said hippopotamus.) I'm not a rude person, really! I just…didn't see him…"

Anna looked completely unconvinced. The Riddler scanned the room. A man had just walked in, and he was looking at a suit, standing not too far from them.

"Here," declared the Riddler. "I'll prove it to you."

Anna watched in surprise as the Riddler marched right up to the man. "Hello there, sir!" he said enthusiastically.

The man froze up. He would have recognized that voice anywhere…

The man turned his head slowly, and looked at the Riddler. The Riddler beamed cheesily.

_The Riddler! What is he doing here?_

"Wonderful weather we're having today, aren't we? For Gotham, anyhow." It took the Riddler a moment to place the man, but then, "Hey, you're Bruce Wayne!"

_He doesn't recognize me… _thought Bruce. _But what is he doing here? _It was then that he noticed the girl standing awkwardly at the front of the store, watching them. _That's the girl who went missing a few days ago! Could it be that…the Riddler is responsible?It must be. In that case, I can't afford to blow my cover. I'll just go along with whatever game he's playing._

"That's me," he said, with a polite smile. "Have we met?"

"Oh, Heavens no!" exclaimed the Riddler in a fake-cheerful voice. "I've just rob-I mean, I was just at you're last charity ball!" He grinned so widely, it looked like his face was about to split in half.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, then, Mister….?" Bruce inquired, with the raise of an eyebrow. _Let's see what you've got, Riddler…_

The Riddler only hesitated for a split-second. "Worthing. James Worthing. And the pleasure's all mine." Again, the smile. There was something that bothered him about this man…

"Well, I must be off," concluded the Riddler. "I trust I'll see you around?"

Bruce Wayne nodded, his eyes narrowing.

The Riddler sauntered back to Anna. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Well?" he asked. "How was that?"

"It almost slightly makes up for what you did to that poor man."

The Riddler chuckled. He grabbed Anna's arm possessively, and she flinched, but didn't jerk away.

As they exited the store, Anna sighed. The Riddler looked at her, and just caught the flicker of a smile on her lips, when all of a sudden, a black object swooped down in front of them.

"Give it up, Riddler."

Batman.

People screamed. Anna's mouth fell open. But the Riddler did the strangest thing of all. He somehow whipped his cane out of thin air, pointed it a Batman, and shrieked, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME, DARK KNIGHT!"

Batman stopped right before his fist collided with the Riddler's nose. "What are you-"

The Riddler seized the opportunity, and whonked Batman over the head with his raised cane. He grabbed Anna's wrist, and ran.

Anna was in a daze. She was barely aware of the Riddler hauling her along, whacking people out of way with his cane, and shouting gibberish and something along the lines of, "Move! Move! Can't you see there's a bat behind me? Move!" All she could think of was what the Riddler had said, "You'll never take her away from me!" What did that mean?

The Riddler jerked around, and shrieked when he saw Batman right behind them. He made a mad dash for the escalators, with Anna stumbling after him.

The Riddler sprang onto the "up" escalator, and pulled Anna close to his chest. Batman reached the escalators just as an enormously fat woman stepped in his way. He leapt onto the second elevator, only to discover that it was the "down" escalator.

"You won't get away this time, Riddler!"

The Riddler guffawed. "You'll have to catch up to me if you want to catch me, Batsy! And so far, it doesn't look like you're making much progress!"

The Riddler and Anna reached the top of the escalator, while Batman was still trying to counter the downward movement of his escalator. The Riddler didn't hesitate, but instantly yanked a passing mall cop off his segway and leapt on. "Hop on, Anna!"

"Where are we going?" Anna shouted.

"Out!"

The Riddler charged down the mall strip, manning the segway. People were running amuck, and screaming at the top of their lungs for no reason that was apparent to the Riddler. After all, they were in Gotham. This kind of thing happened every day. Just not in a mall.

Just then, Batman swung down from one of his grappling hooks, and landed right in the path of the Riddler, putting his arms out to block their passing. Anna yelped, and the Riddler let out a triumphant, "Riddle me this!" as he ran over Batman's foot.

All at once, the floor ran out. Anna gasped, and buried her face in the Riddler's shoulder just as the segway went crashing through the glass banister, and the Riddler, Anna, and the segway tumbled off the second-story floor. The Riddler wrapped his arms protectively around Anna, and….

_Whumpf._

Anna didn't dare open her eyes. She kept them squeezed tightly shut, sure that she was dead. But she couldn't be dead because someone was calling her name. Screaming her name. Taking her face in their hands.

Anna's eyes flew open, and she gasped for air. All around her were fluffy, colorful stuffed animals, and directly in front of her, the Riddler's distraught face.

"Anna? Anna? Are you alright?"

Anna coughed. "I'm fine- Look out!" she cried impulsively.

Batman swung down above the Riddler, but the Riddler flipped over just in time. Batman landed in the pile of stuffed animals, and the Riddler hoisted Anna to her feet. "Hold on!" he crowed.

"What?"

The Riddler leapt from the pile, which must have been at least nine feet off the ground. Just as his feet left the pile, Batman reached out and tried to grab him, but snagged his cane instead. Nevertheless, the Riddler landed on his feet, with Anna in his arms. He made a break for the door, carrying her bridal-style. Anna stared over his shoulder at the black figure catching his breath on top of heap of furry creatures. She watched as her chances of escape disappeared behind revolving doors.


	5. Chapter 6

The car door slammed with a hardy clunk. Two infuriated green eyes glowered over the frame of the red Honda. "Get in"

Anna looked back at the temperamental man with trepidation, knowing full well that what she was about to attempt would push her away from the eye of the storm and into the wrathful hurricane that was brewing on Nigma's face. "No" _I am not getting in that car, just a little longer. All I need is a little more time. Just a few more minutes and Batman will be here. Just a little longer and Edward will be in jail again._

"Damn it, I am in no mood for games. Get in the car now. This is your last chance," Edward growled while counting to ten inside his head. _One…Two…Three…Four…Ten._ He decided to skip to ten, as that time was of the essence. With all the agility and grace of a gazelle fleeing a savage lion Edward walked calmly towards Anna gripping her firmly by the waist with both of his arms. As he began to hall Anna to the back of the car trunk, Anna began to panic; in her panic she started to shake and shiver against the cold metal of the trunk.

"What are you going to do to me?" She should have thought this plan through. What had she been thinking? This was the Riddler. The Riddler, the mastermind of a large portion of the crimes which went on in Gotham. Of course she wasn't going to be able to stall long enough for Batman to save her, and now he looked really mad.

Edward sucked in a calming breath that did absolutely nothing for his already frazzled nerves. From previous experiences he knew he now had exactly ten minutes to hot wire the car and exit the immediate vicinity, in order to be off the Bat's radar. "You have two choices you can get in the car willingly or you can ride in the trunk."

"You're joking right?" Anna's entire being trembled. She just wanted to go home. _There's no way he's serious. He's bluffing._

The time on the clock now left exactly eight minutes for his escape. "I don't do jokes. I do riddles, and I don't have time to solve this little conundrum. "Edward quickly pried open the trunk of the Honda with his practiced hands enchanting the lock to awaken and open. "I do apologize in advance for this." She was left baffled and winded as he forcefully shoved her into the yawning mouth of the car's trunk. "Watch your head this ride is going to be fairly bumpy." The trunk slammed down locking away the light and enclosing her in darkness.

Anna blinked her eyes in the dark womb of the car's trunk. Horror filled her like the intoxication of alcohol would spread through the blood of a wanton wino. She startled at the sound of the ignition starting the engine, and banged her head against the metal hull.

In the driver's seat of the Honda, nimble hands meticulously worked at the gears and steering wheel of the car. A tilted grin spread like warm molasses when the newly commandeered vehicle began to exit the parking lot. There were now five minutes left to get out of upper Gotham and into the Narrows.

The Narrows was one of the less upstanding and attractive neighborhoods of Gotham. The asphalt of the roads were cracked and worn. The people inhabiting this facet of poor hygiene were almost all affiliates of crime syndicates, gangs, and all of whom would help any one of Batman's rogues at the drop of a hat. Perhaps not out of loyalty but at least out of a healthy respect. Then again the few that actually stood up to Arkham's most feared usually wound up missing or experiencing the most dreadful of punishments.

Nigma's brow percolated with drop-lets of sweat as he worked at the gas pedals with the qualities shown in a condemned man running from upcoming judgment. Swerving the car left and right the red-haired Edward Nigma sped through the rings of traffic, honking horns, and angry taxi drivers, eventually reaching the off ramp into the Narrows. "Huzzah! Once again that damned bat has been out riddled."

"mmmm!" _What was that sound. _The Riddler slowed his driving as he drove across the gravelly black top to listen to the strange sound coming from the car. "Oww!" _There it was again. _It sounded like a person in pain, or perhaps, a bat. Edward cautiously reached towards the waist band of his pants and removed a black pistol from the hem of his trousers. Smirking he loaded the gun with five rounds of bullets, cocked the fire arm, aimed towards the back of the car where he was certain the Dark Knight was stowed away and…Fired.

Wait; there was something valuable in the back of the trunk, but what was it? Shoot. He hated it when he couldn't ferret out a puzzle. Then reality hit him as he realized the sudden gravity of his situation. "Oh, my! Dear lord!"

Nigma recklessly pulled the car over on one of the Narrows' dingy alleyways, and kicked the car door out of his way. _No,no,no, I did not just do what I think I did. No,_ _please God no. _His suede shoes pounded the ground with plummeting steps, hurling himself towards the back of the car. For the first time in fifteen years the Riddler prayed. In this case it was more like negotiating. _Please let it be a flesh wound._

As the trunk cracked open with a cloaked disparity, Edward glanced into the vortex of Hades expecting to see Charon rowing another soul across the black expanse only to find an unharmed Anna curled in on herself. Relief flooded through Nigma's limbs like a running waterfall cooling and calming the ebbing tide of grief, until he saw the trickling droplets of blood and tears.

The Riddler's heart stopped for a brief census of time as he dragged Ana from the abyss. "Please don't kill me whatever I did to you I'm sorry. Just please don't hurt me." Anna was sniffling pitifully as the drops of blood from the gash on her shoulder oozed a vermilion color.

"Ana it was an accident. I swear I…" When he reached a shaking hand towards the distraught girl she violently flinched away from his touch. With a quick glance at the wound Edward realized it was only a minor injury. _Thank God. _At least Edward tried to convince himself of this but his fear made his mind play back grave thoughts.

For the second time since her kidnapping Anna realized just who the man that stood before her was. This was no childish man with a dramatic flair but a psychotic killer famous for his cruelty, a man with knack for the illegal and a penchant for organized crime. This was a man that would ruthlessly murder someone's grandmother for the sake of his twisted games.

Who was she kidding? This was Gotham. Anyone was capable of that. No, the Riddler took it a step further. He would lead a captive on, make them feel safe, and then when they least expected it, shoot them in the arm.

"Anna? Anna? Look at me now Anna." _Why is she looking at me like that? Is she in shock?_ The Riddler's mind went over each and every trauma a gun shot could cause. There were a lot but none of the trauma's that he reviewed could explain away the watery green eyes staring back at him with that same look she had given him after his slap.

Sighing, Edward pulled in closer towards the fearful girl crouched on the ground, holding her left shoulder piteously. "Anna I'm going to need to bind that wound" Anna cowered away from his hand, and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. If she was going to die, she'd die in ignorant bliss.

"_**Ripppp**_" Anna's eyes darted towards the sound. The Riddler stood with a large strip of T-shirt shredded from his green shirt which now rested delicately above his navel. As he pressed his hands against the bloody injury he let a smile stretch like elastic across his face. The bullet had clearly passed through. Shoulder wounds always looked worse than they actually were. But people could still die of such wounds. A frown soon replaced his smile as he realized he had yet to bind the wound.

Anna grimaced as she felt his hand wrap the soon to be red, green fabric around her cut. "There all done. Don't you feel better now?" The Riddler was back to his ebullient self. He had escaped Batman with only minor injuries. Minor injuries that the Bat would pay dearly for. After all had the Bat not invented Anna and he would be heading back to the lair with bags of surplus clothing.

Edward Nigma's thoughts were interrupted when a small voice asked, "Why did you shoot me?"

"I forgot you were in the trunk." Anna felt sick at this blasé statement. Edward felt humiliated.

"You don't care about anyone but yourself do you? You could care less if someone died in one of your perverted games." Now Anna felt enraged. She was livid that a human being could so easily throw away someone else's life with out any remorse.

"I care about you." Edward answered softly and honestly despite the tentacles of rage wrapping about him.

Anna had no response to give, so she let Edward lead her to the passenger side seat and buckle her in without exchanging a word. The ride back to the Riddler's hideout was a silent one.


	6. Chapter 7

This has to be a dream, some type of fantastical nightmare. A terribly awful fantasy bred from a fevered mind, and he (he could not be real) was a figment of her imagination. No, he was a demon cloaked in green. The sort of creature that was disguised in human skin, and when she opened her eyes this evil man would vanish.

Anna opened her eyes, the Riddler was still there sitting across from her at his desk. Anna felt ready to cry, what had she done to deserve this man's fixation?

"Anna don't give me that accusing stare. You know I didn't shoot you on purpose." Edward wanted her to forgive him. He wanted her to see him as a sweet unpredictable enigma instead of an abusive lover. He wasn't abusive or violent, he just needed her to keep her full attention on him, and if started to develop a wandering eye, so what if he turned it into a black eye. It wasn't like it'd kill her. Besides she was his plain and simple. He stole her. He won her. He owned her. Like a painting.

"I'm sorry." Anna wasn't really sorry, she just didn't want to make him angry again.

"Let's not fight Anna. Just say you forgive me, and apologize for those harsh words we exchanged earlier. You should probably start out: I'm so sorry for hurting your feelings or I could never stay angry with you Edward." his voice had changed to mimic what Anna figured was supposed to be her voice. Anna couldn't believe her ears. Was he seriously scripting out her own apology. The sheer audacity of the man was as maddening as it was baffling. Earlier Anna had promised not to provoke the Riddler but now her oath seemed contemporary.

"No."

The Riddler spun around in his chair. "I'm not the bad guy here. I guess I can't be the good guy either. But I am a man just as capable of fault as any other human being."

"No you're worse. Somehow you're worse."

Right now Edward needed a plan, a scheme, and an aspirin. Why are all women so blasted eager to yell at him? And then it hit him like a gunshot, quite literally. "Anna how would you like to have a chance at getting even with me?" This plan had to go off without a hitch, without actually going off because if it did, well never mind.

"What do you mean" Anna cautiously phrased her words. She was not about to wander through an infinite maze without knowing the rules.

"It's quite simple really. I'm going to let you have your pound of flesh, and afterward you may go home."

The chance of home sounded just too good to be true. "What's the catch?"

"Catch...mmm, yes, well it's actually more of a shot than a catch." At that the Riddler procured a sleek black pistol and handed it to the frightened woman.

"What... Why did you give me this?" Anna felt sick holding the cold metal item in her hand. She also couldn't understand why he had given her the evil fetish.

"Silly, you're going to shoot me. That way you can't hate me." At that the Riddler forced her hand to press the gun against his temple.

"You are insane, I'm not shooting you" He really was nuts. Totally nuts.

"Well, according to most psychologists yes. But I'd rather be dead than have you hating me. Now shoot me."

"No!"

"Oh, c'mon it's just a bullet."

"No I will not do it, and you can't make me."

"Do you hate me?" Her hand was still forced at his temple, and she found her voice had dried up at the back of her throat. "Do you hate me!" his voice was fire now, accusing, angry, burning. So she cooled the flames with ice.

"No" The gun clattered to the floor with echoing force. Anna may have disliked the man standing before her, but despite the weights of his sins she couldn't bring herself to hate him.

Edward grinned internally, not only had he forced her to admit that she did not hate him, he had also caused her to inadvertently forgive him, at least by his arithmetic. He figured he had been forgiven. Edward knew that he had rigged the game. As a crook he had picked up several tools of the trade and come to a delightful conclusion about guns. They were objects of blind faith that were always worshipped as if loaded. The gun that had been previously pointing at his head had not been loaded. The best part was that Anna didn't know. After all, with his long history with such dangerous femme fatales like Poison Ivy, he had quickly learned not to trust a woman with a loaded gun

"You know if I didn't know any better I'd say you liked me." Within moments Edward had cleared his desk as if it was a hurtle before landing softly next to the girl. This deft movement from Edward's lithe form caused her to curl her knees into her stomach in discomfort against her chair. "Oh, but I always know better." By now Edward had maneuvered his arms to fit both sides of the chair so that his body could hover centimeters above Anna's.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Anna felt nervous at Edward's close proximity. She felt like walls were closing in on her small chair and Edward happened to be one of those walls.

"But if I did that my life would be horribly boring, and I know you can probably sense that I enjoy every last thrill of excitement you give me." With that Edward brought his head down rapidly to steal a kiss. The kiss missed its mark and instead landed on her forehead leaving Nigma no less pleased with himself.

Anna shivered as his tenderness awaked a terrifying thought. If the Riddler had kidnapped her what had he done with Steve? "Where's Steve?"

The Riddler forced a smile on his face despite the fact he now felt the urge to strangle his beautiful angel until she forgot the words to Steve's name and could only remember his. "Anna I'm going to tell you this only once more. Do not mention Steve's name ever again."

"What have you done to him?"

"Sigh; trust me you don't want to know." The Riddler felt an abysmal fury building up inside him. He wanted to tell the girl before him how painful he had made Steve's suffering. He wanted to whisper the facts of Steven's demise. How his flesh would have literally melted off the bone, the fact that Steve would have been highly conscious during the burning and been in immense agony, how the ash and soot would have filled his lungs, tuning the organs into beef jerky. But he didn't want her to cry. He was undeniably selfish but he wasn't heartless.

Suddenly a dark insight filled Anna's mind. "Oh my god. He's dead isn't he?"

"Yes in the sense he is no longer among the living. I suppose you would be correct."

"Did you kill Steve?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how you look at it. Technically I didn't kill him; it was his own stupidity that dealt the final blow." Edward's arms were crossed at his torso, and his face held a smug look of pride.

"How could you do such a thing to Steve? What did he ever do to you?" She felt repulsed at the monster in front of her.

"What did he ever do to me? He stole your attention from me, he dared to touch you, but above all else he took credit for my hard work. Do know how long it takes me to rob a store and leave a riddle?" Edwards face was now lit red as his anger overwhelmed his senses.

"So you killed a man for plagiarism?" Anna's eyes widened as she now understood who her real secret admirer was. There was no way in hell she'd ever marry a psycho like him.

"Steve was a cheater. And as the saying goes cheaters never live."

"That's not how the saying goes."

"Oh, I know." The Riddler said hoping to lift the spirits with his dark humor.

"You are disgusting." The Riddler up until this point had kept his temper wonderfully well restricted to yelling. Sadly, he never had been good at controlling his emotions. Within seconds after Anna's comment had left her mouth the Riddler had shoved her out of her chair by placing his foot just inches away from her face causing her chair to tip backwards. Anna gasped as she fell onto the floor from the force of Edward's kick. In response to this violent action Anna scrambled to her feet and booked it for the nearest door. Anna's legs pumped furiously against the green marble of Edward's office. She was not about to sit idly by and watch this lunatic beat her senseless.

Edward couldn't help the ironic smile reaching his eyes. Here was this girl trying so desperately to flee him and all he wanted to be was close enough to bruise a non-essential body-part. He really hated it when someone insulted him. It made him want to lash out. In seconds Edward had reached Anna's struggling form desperately attempting to open the door.

Anna cried out as Edward barreled into her slamming her face hard into the door after he had successfully pinned her down with his body firmly pressed against her's leaving no gaps to maneuver. "You know this game is getting old… fast." Edward whispered through her hair. Suddenly the room went still as Edward breathed in her scent and he realized that he didn't have enough hurt inside him to hurt her back. Much. His anger was still there, lying under the surface, he still wanted payback, but now he wanted something else. Being pressed this close really wasn't helping his subtleness on the matter. "Anna how about we play a different game. It's good for a change of pace."

Anna's heart sped as she realized that the only type of game that Edward would want to play this close together was much worse than whatever the hell they had been playing earlier. "No, please don't"

Besides the fact that Anna's blatant rejection of his advances were beyond humiliating, he felt a shred of regret at having invoked such fear in the girl pressed pleasantly close to him. Maybe more of a thread than a shred. But that did not change the fact of its existence. "Why is it that you're always so blasted eager to think the worst of me when all my previous actions have been nothing short of kind?"

Anna let out a snort. After being so scared it seemed like the only plausible response. "You are the exact opposite of kind."

"Am I now? Well I am capable of quite a bit of cruelty, especially when dealing with a brat like you." Edward smiled a grin so fraught with villainy Anna lost her voice at the mere sight of it. She now understood exactly why Edward was considered public enemy number one in the Gotham area. "You know Anna; we don't have to play this game. If you say I love you Edward, I might reconsider the severity of your punishment."

"I will never say that."

"Fine." Edward lifted his body from Anna's form before roughly shoving her out of his path. Anna stumbled and fell to the ground scraping her knee, but Edward refused to look back. "Let the games begin."


	7. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: It's been one complexity to the next. One mountain top to deathly hollow, but in celebration of the wondrous comic-con tickets I have acquired I forced a chapter out of my beloved imagination, and will continue supplying copious amounts of attention to not just this story but my other tale. In other words: I'm alive and I have material to write.**

* * *

Anna felt an impending doom of sorts locking onto her coordinates. She had seen neither hide nor hair of the Riddler since their exchange of harsh words. To say she was scared of what he had planned was a severe underscore of her situation. She was terrified; if his treatment of her up until this point was the Riddler's definition of kind-what would be his interpretation of cruelty be?- She shivered at the thought. Hours passed endlessly and the more that the grains of time fell from its hourglass, the more prolific became Anna's peril. She was becoming familiar with Edward's temper and now she had infuriated the man past his breaking point. To put it simply she was screwed.

Meanwhile Edward was hard at work, a vicious plot had woven its way into his brain, and all he could do now was follow where the ball of twine led him.

It led him to the very beginning, to the moment their fates intertwined: to Arkham Asylum.

He had sometimes wondered why they even bothered with the guards. The sentries, instead of making breakouts and break-ins impossible, simply made it tedious. Honestly, had they never heard the saying_-the inmates run the asylum? -_ It was an unprecedented flourishing of stupidity among the doctors. In his opinion the mongoloids were better off dead. Although, if he was being truthful about the sudden gripping homicidal rage, there was a ninety-nine percent possibility it had derived from his current conquest, and not his hatred of all things idiotic. But this was beside the point.

Edward's lips sharpened into a skull splitting grin as his eyes locked onto the golden letters of Dr. Reynolds. He had found the perfect outlet for his unfortunate humor. Who knew, he might yet have a good time. "Knock-Knock Doc, guess who? And I really am going to be quite offended if you need a hint."

Dr. Reynolds eyes widened in shock as she watched what at first sight appeared to be just another member of the medical staff, until he removed his white lab coat revealing the infamous colors of green. "Dear God."

"Well that's not quite the identification I was looking for, but I can see where you'd make the mistake." Oh God, how he missed this routine. The questions. The answers. Him always being right. It was worth every life sentence.

"Riddler what do you want?" Reynolds was visibly shaking. Fantastic.

"Why is it the only answers people can manage to answer me with are questions? We aren't playing jeopardy. Yet." The good doctor was inching ever closer towards her desk in a pathetic attempt to keep him talking, that was at least until he pressed a loaded gun at the psychologist's temple. "I wouldn't even think about calling the guards unless you want to die. But if you are suicidal, rest assured, I can arrange your funeral well after we have concluded our little dance."

"I'm not," her voice was weak with trepidation

"You're not what?" The taunts. The game. Did he really want to quit it all for one miserable little brat? Maybe Anna was just a well needed vacation. And now it was time to get back to business.

Reynolds sucked in a deep breath a she forced the remainder of her wispy words out. "I am not suicidal."

"I thought not. But as fun as our thirteen word conversation has been, I'm starting to get bored with the sound of your voice. Did you know that during our first sessions together I considered stuffing your notebook down your larynx? "The Riddler's eyes were gleaming in self-satisfaction at the way his plans were plodding along.

Dr. Reynolds' breath caught in her throat. She recognized this behavior. It was how Edward would start to talk before a riddle would appear, and a staff member would mysteriously die within hours of the riddles arrival. "Why didn't you?"

"I couldn't think of a riddle to fit the act, and by the time it dawned on me; you were no longer my doctor." Reynolds visibly relaxed as the dangers of her notebook being crammed down her jaws lessened, before noticeably bristling again at Edward's next statement. "No need to be disheartened. We have plenty of time for riddles and death traps where we are going."

"Please just let me go. I swear I'll just let you walk out of here, no problems." How could he have forgotten the begging? In this game he was God. He was alpha and omega. And everyone else was merely a pawn to be sacrificed for their lord's entertainment.

"Do you really think I can't just waltz out of her scotch free this second?"

"How could you hope to, security here is airtight." Edward let out a high pitched cackle. Arkham was more of a cheap vacation home than prison. The mere idea of an airtight security system was ludicrous. "I think you will find that the security here is quite lacking. Oh one quick question, before I forget. Do you have any outstanding allergies?"

"No why?"

"Well I broke into one of the sedative cabinets and I would prefer a living hostage. Let's just pray the needle is sterile because I'm not sure whether I got this syringe from the contaminated side or not." The Riddler procured a menacing needle from some unknown hiding place to have it gleam wickedly in the shifting lights above. The doctor pressed her body as far from the madman as her desk would allow. Recollecting all the times she herself had ordered the Riddler to be sedated after he entered a fanatical episode or become just plain insufferable, she had a keen feeling that the needle was contaminated. It was something she had no doubt he was capable of, she just hoped the needle was not storing some fatalistic blood borne disease.

Edward calmly pulled on a pair of purple gloves and flicked the point of the syringe, roughly jabbing the barb into the side of Reynolds' neck. "It's less painful if you don't watch it go in. Just think one inch lower and I would have pierced your jugular." The Riddler continued rambling in an all knowing voice before the doctor passed out.

As the Riddler exited the office he couldn't help the superior feelings welling inside his chest. To think had the doctor checked her e-mail earlier she may have had a chance at avoiding her fate. Well, that is if she solved his riddle. Coincidently, the original riddle involving the good doctor's notebook could easily be revised to fit a syringe. Funny how things work out.

Anna didn't know why, but with each passing second she felt as though her life span was diminishing. The Riddler had been gone for much too long and deep down Anna knew this meant something wicked was about to befall. Unfortunately, this insight was proven correct when the Riddler's voice announced itself from an overhanging speaker. "Good evening Anna I have quite the surprise for you."

Anna slowly pulled her seated form into an upright position in preparation for the worst. Knowing Edward she doubted she could ever under prepare. "Where are you Edward?"

"I can't say, it would give the game away." The Riddler was taunting her. This was not good.

"Fine, then what is the surprise?" Anna figured the faster he got his stupid revenge the faster she got rescued. She had always preferred to keep things simple and to the point.

"Well you remember correct? Oh, there's no reason to deny it, of course you do." The Riddler paused as a muffled noise interrupted his grandiose speech. "Hold on, I think is trying to say something. What is it girl? Is Anna trapped in a well?"

Maniacal laughter filled the intercom before the clear voice of replaced it. "Anna, what is going on? Are you all right?" Anna had no time to respond seeing as the Riddler's voice soon overshadowed the sounds of the worried doctor.

"On a scale from one to ten, how surprised would you say you are?" Edward needed Anna to regret her nasty behavior, but above all else redeem his lethal reputation. He was dying to let loose after holding back so much.

"I refuse to answer to a madman." Anna was terrified of the punishment to come. She desperately regretted her previous choice of words. Maybe she secretly did harbor a wish to die after all? The current events did certainly make death an entertaining possibility.

"That's really too bad, because in this game each correct answer you give me will be rewarded with a hint as to how to meet the beloved doctor and save her from her deathly fate. Such a shame that you are deciding to be difficult. Did I mention you have a two hour time limit?" Edward hated being called any names of any sort. Whether it be stupid or crazy did not matter. Those who dared to voice such derogatory insults would feel the full brunt of the Riddler's deadly wit. Anna was no exception.

To repay those unkind words of "madman" the Riddler mentally subtracted fifteen minutes from Anna's allotted two hour time limit. After all, who would know? It wasn't like she had a watch on her.

"Eight"

Edward's eyes widened at the small voice interrupting his plot for vengeance. "Pardon?"

"You asked me how surprised I was. On a scale from one to ten you have scored an eight. But only because I was expecting the worst." Anna knew full well that in order to save she had to cooperate. There was no way she had a chance of rescuing Reynolds on her own without hints. If it meant she had to kiss the narcissist's ass she would- no matter how unsavory the taste would undoubtedly be. Therefore she had to pull herself together and play the game.

"Hmmm well, its a good thing this is just the opening act. Believe me Anna by the time we hit the grand finale my score will greatly improve. After all, we have all night long." Edward admitted that he was disheartened by the fact that Anna had not given him top notch marks. It however did create a delectable incentive for him to work towards. He was the single greatest intellect since Einstein, a ten was mere foreplay in the grand scheme of things.

Anna panicked; she in her vast stupidity had just antagonized Edward into trying his hardest to surprise her. And knowing the Riddler he was not one to disappoint.

"I almost forgot. Here is your hint: _I see you and you see yourself. In a reverse world words become jumbled but letters can be deciphered. What am I?" _Oh, how dearly he had missed the mental mastery that riddles presented.

Anna furrowed her brow at the riddle. How on earth was such a complexity considered a hint. Maybe she should just guess. It couldn't hurt the odds. So, Anna glanced around the space and came across an over-hanging mirror. Unlike so many of the Riddler's victims who spent hours pondering the hidden meaning and underlying philosophies of each syllable the puzzler prince uttered only to be later proven wrong, Anna decided to wing it. "A mirror?"

The Riddler nearly gasped aloud. How had she puzzled it out? Not that he considered Anna stupid, oh no not at all. He just was decidedly much more brilliant than a simplistic girl. "Congratulations, you just might get out of my maze alive."

"What maze?" Anna looked all about the room for an imaginary maze. If there was any maze it had to be outside of the room. Only problem was that the room had no exits.

"I gave you the hint. You should be able to figure it out on your own. It's mere child's play."

Anna looked at the mirror and realized at once what she was going to have to do. She was going to have to go through it in order to find the maze. Mustering together the lingering strands of courage, Anna removed the mirror from the wall to reveal a small hole barely big enough to fit a her entire body through the opening.


	8. Chapter 9

Anna crawled through the opening scraping her knees against poured cement. She was either the bravest or most idiotic girl for crawling through a hole in a wall. She personally was leaning towards her quite possibly being retarded, but, hey there always was the off chance she was brave. Once she reached the other end of the brightening tunnel she realized she was with out a doubt an idiot.

The _maze_ was made of obscure pieces of scrap metal, all held together by jumbled meshes of barbed wire stacked cliff high. She couldn't see above the maze or hope to guess an escape route. She and were going to die because some weirdo in tights had self-image issues.

She looked at the above landscape with sharp imposing bits of metal in all its villainous glory pointing down to her spot. Well there was no way to go but forward. _Or up. _The tall wall of the maze was a dangerous climb but not impossible to reach. She could easily make it to the top.

Anna curled her chipped nails onto the jagged surface careful to avoid touching the various bits of barbed wire poking about at odd angles. She inched her body carefully up the wall in an attempt to beat the Riddler at his own game and end this madness. She would succeed in Edward's mad world. Almost there, just a little further.

Sweat trickled down her brow. She licked her lips. One more foothold up and she would be able to plot a course to save , that was until a searing pain gripped her entire body. A rippling pain touched each individual nerve flowing freely all at once into her flesh, causing her grip to involuntarily tighten and loosen. She fell and fell and fell.

She hit the ground heavy and hard feeling the cement welcome her body in a vicious embrace. She laid on the ground, closing her eyes as her lungs failed, and the oxygen in the air became poisonous. She couldn't inhale or exhale; she was suffocating. She closed her eyes in shock.

"You didn't really think that would work did you?" The Riddler felt eager for sweet little Anna's blood. Eager to see her in pain for her meanness. "I mean honestly do you think you're the first woman to play in my maze. I assure you that many have employed the same techniques, with similar results." He wasn't going to play nice. No, she was nothing more than another plaything. Replaceable."May I suggest learning some new tricks to spice up your hostage life? I hear bondage is all the rage now."

Anna kept her eyes closed. Her breath still remained elusive. This impassive response did not escape unnoticed from the watchful gaze of her tormenter. "What does my forwardness steal your breath away sweetheart?" the question was more searching than mocking. Edward was starting to worry that his toy was broken, and after one day's use how sad. Must be made in China.

No response. Edward started to sweat, was Anna truly that delicate? "The silent treatment is a poor choice of tactics for one with my temperament." The Riddler was all bravado as he attempted to discern concern from perverse enjoyment of victory.

No response. "Get up damn it!" Now he was in a panic as miens of ill-thought formed in his head. "Get up right this second or I swear to God I'll slit your friend's throat here and now" All bravado was lost and a mixture of madness and woe seeped into his voice. He killed her. With one thunderbolt thrown at her in his Zeus-Like rage, he had ended a lover's life.

Anna blinked. She forced air awkwardly into her lungs. "Just. Taking a. Moment." She had to be strong now, she couldn't afford to push Edward over the edge. He'd kill them both.

"That wasn't funny. To me or . I was this close from splattering my nice clean floors with blood." Edward felt relieved, she was alive. He was still stubbornly furious, but the need for bodily harm was lessening in his heart. He was now more inclined to threaten than to batter and assault Anna.

"I'm sorry. I just felt winded. Did you shock me?" She was not outraged by the fact that he had electrocuted her. She was merely curious whether she had just experienced a heart-attack or a zap of electricity. She could not quite gather her thoughts back into her head and so they flitted freely about her head.

"Yes. Don't cheat." He had every right to shock Anna. She had cheated and been fairly if not kindly dealt with. He felt no shame for his action just remorse for their unexpected extreme consequences. He hadn't meant life threatening harm just a small penalty. "Tick Tock Anna, the doc's life is on the clock"

Anna forced herself up and into a shaky stance. Okay looks like she was going to have to play the game fair and square. Then a cold thought entered her head. What happens if I make it in time to save Myra Reynolds? Its not like he'll just let me go home, he might not even let live. It was a depressing line of thought but if it was true she needed a plan of action. For now that plan was to make it through the maze in one piece.

The Riddler smiled at the effect one volt of electricity had on the cooperation of the girl. This was not the first time he had to deal with an unruly guest. In previous mock-ups of the mazes he had used less effective materials. He had tried shrubbery for a classical feel. However after a brief stint with Poison Ivy, and becoming an un-willing slave of the crazed plant lady. He remembered vividly being forced to do domestic house work and care for the lunatic's _babies._ He never quite forgave her for forcing him to wear an apron and bake. After that he went industrial. And after his next victim had the brains to climb over the wall and escape he went with the electric approach. In the mock-up he reintroduced his last victim to his new maze and _accidentally _fried the man. Whoops.

Anna crashed through the maze hitting dead end after dead end and getting nowhere. She was running out of time. She was lost and losing the game badly. As much as she hated to admit it without another hint from Edward she was screwed. So there was only one option left: she had to ask no beg the riddler for help. "Edward?"

Edward smiled coldly from the screen he sat watching Anna from. "Giving up already?"

"Not in this lifetime you-" Anna swallowed her tongue and reminded herself to use the art of begging to get Edward's sympathies. She lowered the harsh tone in her voice and forced her face to soften into a pleading countenance. "Please Edward, I need a hint. I can't do this on my own"

"I'm not sure you are deserving of my aid. Convince me otherwise." He was grinning ear to ear. She needed him, his massive intellect to survive. Of course he never gave out anything for free, everything had a price.

Anna considered her next words very carefully. "How?"

Edward growled. She had to ask? She insulted him, humiliated him, and she had to ask? Fine he'd tell her every detail. "I want you to apologize for insulting me. I want to hear sincerity, and I want you to get down on both knees and grovel for my forgiveness." He was pissed.

She frowned. The words would be easy, the emotions hard. "I'm sorry Edward."

"That's it if you aren't even going to try, I might as well just go and get my gun." He had never once in his life quit a game. But what was the point? He wanted her to be sorry not baleful. He reached for his gun preparing to kill the dear doctor, end the game forever when…

"Edward I never meant to hurt you. I was angry." She paused dramatically." I thought you were trying to kill me, but I know you never even tried to because you're not trying now." There was a sniffling sounds coming from her nose. She was close to crying not out of her apology's sentiment but out of fear of death. So she parroted what he wanted to hear. "Please I'm sorry Edward. I'm scared. Help me." She kneeled down.

"Make only left turns." Edward had never in his entire career of super villainy given out a straight answer without the threat of death from an enraged colleague. This girl was dangerous.

Anna in mere minutes reached the center of the maze. Lying in wait for her was both Myra Reynolds and an all too silent Riddler.

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**Alrighty then the story has hit the half-way mark! Sorry for the lack of updates. But I'm back yet again. And a big thank you to the readers out there.**


	9. Chapter 10

The silence in the room was stifling; it saturated the air with unspoken subtext. The Riddler was never silent, ever. He gloated, he whined, complained, whistled, insulted, and cursed with more vivacity then needed. He was incapable of shutting up.

Edward was immersed in his thoughts; he let her win, that much was obvious. He had cheated for her, allowing her to defeat the maze. He let an inferior girl of lower intellect be granted a victory. It wasn't fair she had manipulated his feelings into leverage. He felt like a moron. No fair. No fair. "It's not fair."

Anna stared at the Riddler caught in a stupor. What wasn't fair? He held all the cards, he kidnapped her friend, sent her through a maze, and he tried to kill her. He was right it wasn't fair, after all; she still had to deal with his hysterics.

"You cheated. YOU CHEATED!" He was angry at the girl for playing dirty. It wasn't fair; had she been another he would have never helped her. He was the Riddler, not some push over like Tech. He didn't fall for the seduction of pretty lasses. He didn't let a stupid crush get in the way of the seriousness of a riddle. He was a professional.

Anna was scared she had no clue what was happening. He was throwing a rogue's equivalent to a hissy fit, but to Anna it looked like he needed a sedative. She had no idea as to what to do to calm him. Should she free Myra while he was throwing his hands against random objects, or try and placate him? She frowned not knowing what to do. "Edward?"

"Don't you dare say one word. Not one word. I'm not going to let you cheat yourself out of this one. I have one last game for you my dear, it's called hangman." Edward's vision clouded from the angry hurt. She was using him, laughing to herself about how easy it was to manipulate an idiot. Well, he was done playing the sap; he was done with the gentle touch. Time for more drastic measures.

"Riddle me this. Riddle me that. What's about to be riddled with holes like a slice of swiss cheese?" Anna watched in horror as the Riddler grabbed by the hair pulling her out of the chair. The doctor had been unable to freely rise due to a pair of troublesome handcuffs binding her hands behind her back preventing simple movements. Dr. Reynolds' eyes pulled into several shapes mimicking the fear and surprise that the gag in her mouth concealed. Had there been no gag the good doctor likely would have had a definite expression of terror on her face.

"Don't." Anna stumbled for the right words. She knew right now if Edward was angry it would be useless to try and reason with him. But she had to try. If she failed not only would Myra perish, but she too would die as well.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" The Riddler was losing it. He was furious at Anna for cheating. Having her best his maze through his answers was worse than infidelity. He could not tolerate anyone besting his intellect not even if it was with the help of his brain power to do so. The little temptress was trying to confuse him with sweet nothings, the bitch.

"Edward-" Bang.

"I said shut up." Anna looked at the now bleeding , the bullet had hit her leg and was dripping crimson. Myra would have screamed had her mouth not been gagged, instead she whimpered. They were going to die. Both of them were going to die because of some delusional nutcase. "Now, listen closely and silently. One word and I'll add another bullet to her leg. The game is simple, each wrong answer is met with a bullet to another body part of dear . You currently have one leg on the board, leaving you with the ability to get four wrong letters. If you get hangman I blow ' brains out with a headshot. Got it?" The Riddler finished his speech with a huff before looking down in annoyance at the whimpering doctor. She was giving him a headache.

"You may speak now Anna. I hope your feeble mind can wrap around a simple set of rules." He was grinning in anticipation at this new wonderful game. He would show Anna just how smart he was. She'd see after losing this game how brilliant he was. How could she doubt him? He had to teach her a lesson that besting the Riddler was merely a temporary victory. A minor lapse in judgement amended with a severe punishment mixed in at the end.

Why was he being so cruel? What was this really about? Anna couldn't find the answer. She was confused at how quickly her life had spiraled out of control. "I understand."

"Excellent Anna, you are forming simple sentence structures at a third grade level. Shall we begin?" The Riddler didn't bother waiting for an answer; he didn't care for a response. The noise of his own voice was much too pleasant a sound. "Your phrase is four words and no guessing vowels until your second turn." He turned to a large computer screen behind him.

It was the first time Anna gave her mind to her surroundings. The room she was inside was filled with stacks upon stacks of whirling digital screens, masses of buttons and keyboards, and several thousands of multicolored wires ranging from green to magenta. It was a futuristic _**Best Buy**_ minus the blue shirted employees overeager to make a commission. There were lights flashing in blinking undertones of slimy green and video monitors showing the enormity of the maze, as well as the Riddler's hideout.

Edward turned to his keypad with a dramatic twirl, theatrically hitting two keystrokes with a grand touch of the hand, and watched the monitor come to life. On the monitor Anna's fate flashed in sixteen ominous green blanks on a black screen.

"It's one of my favorite sayings. But I doubt you know enough about me Anna, to hazard a guess." This was the Riddler Gotham feared. This wasn't the goofy fumbling character that was a harmless good-natured quirk, no, this was the arrogant, hateful, mean-spirited side to a villain capable of ending a life on a whim. This was the inner cruelty of Nigma let loose like a wild cross word puzzle at an expert difficulty, where every mistake cost a life. He enjoyed torturing those he deemed dimwitted, taking his giggles from their poor frazzled minds baffled at a superior beings brain. This was the Riddler, a self-proclaimed executioner of the idiotic swine that stagnated society.

"You can't expect me to play this twisted game." Anna was shocked, each wrong answer was a bullet, it was like taking the gun and shooting her friend herself. She couldn't do it. It was not something she could handle, to know she was the cause of her friend's suffering.

"Oh, but I do. You see I promised you a demonstration of cruelty and despite my inclination for deception, I spoke the truth. I'm going to make your friend scream. I'm going to make you cry. And afterwords I'm going to make you realize that I, Edward Nigma, am a genius capable of seeing through your little tricks." So there. Take that you little temptress. He was a damned genius, smarter than Batman himself, and he'd prove it to her through a game of lethal hangman. _Lethal hangman. _Thank God he didn't say that out loud, a game of lethal hangman, honestly.

"Guess a letter, for the better, to remove a fetter." He was sing songing in a less than melodious voice, spinning around in rhythm to his improvised song, grinning in delight at his merriment. He stopped suddenly to press the gun menacingly to the good doctor's temple causing her to flinch and squish her eyes closed. "And I do mean now."

"Alright I'll guess. Give me a…" She paused in discomfort. Get it wrong and cause her friend pain, get it right and maybe she'd have a chance. But not guessing at all meant instant death."Give me a 'C'."

Edward smiled. Anna relaxed, she got it right. He lifted his arm, still smiling and shot Myra in the other leg. Anna screamed along side her friend. Myra laid on the ground with tears falling down her face, breathing shallow breaths in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain. "That's incorrect."

"Don't feel too put out Anna. You can guess vowels now. Isn't that a happy turn around?" He was enjoying the tears streaming down ' face, they were affirmation that he was in control. He liked being in control, it meant superiority. And he was oh, so, delightfully superior.

"You monster how could you?" Anna stared in horror as she watched the Riddler smile down at the woman he had injured like it was all some private joke. The bastard was enjoying this, he wanted to hurt Myra. He was a psychopath.

"Tut, tut, tut, Anna, letters only. Have you somehow failed to grasp that insults are taken_ very_ personally. " He wouldn't consider himself monstrous, just ahead of his time. So far ahead that he did things in a revolutionary fashion, in ways that the neanderthals of Gotham could never understand. He was helping them appreciate how to utilize the full capacity of their shriveled brains by playing these games, if there were no violence in the games the Gothamites would simply ignore him for their favorite T.V. show. The death traps were merely nesacary evils. "On with the game."

The Riddler was growing impatient, this game was fun. Why wasn't Anna enjoying herself, the phrase wasn't even that difficult a conundrum. "Next letter please." He snapped out, irritated at the length of time passing between letters.

"Give me an 'A'" She let the vowel fall out of her mouth like a lead weight. It dropped to the ground, prostate, giving no hint to whether it was a vowel of blameless victory or of baleful violence.

"Lucky guess." The letters filled into their designated spots s the Riddler entered the hated 'A' into the control panel.

Anna let out a deep sigh, she had guessed correctly. It was a small relief that was a momentary blessing, in a twenty-six lettered alphabet.

"You know, fun fact: a human body can bleed out in eight minutes. But I'm all for wasting my time." That last comment was thrown out purely for spite. It hurt the Riddler's ego to know that someone had even made some small infantile triumph over his ingenious sport. Therefore he was determined to poison any accomplishment with a toxic remark to undermine the player's confidence. He was a sore loser indeed.

"I won't lose. I'll guess a 'H'" The Riddler's face contorted into an ugly grimace.

"Correct." The word was spat out in contempt. The Riddler violently pushed the letter into his keypad slamming the key down with angry force.

_**_ **__**H**__** _ **_

_**/_/ _/ **__**A**__** _ **__**H**_

_**/_/ _**_

_** _ **__**A**__** _ _ **__**A**__** _**_

Okay so the first word is clearly 'the', but the rest was unclear and tempting to cipher the puzzle would be met no doubt with failure. "Alright, give me a 't' you-"

"Finish that sentence with one derogatory remark and I'll take it out of your friend's hide." The Riddler was starting to fear that his phrase was becoming transparent. To him the answer was obvious; only a complete moron with a subpar vocabulary would fail to deduce the accurate conclusion.

_**T**__**H**__** _ **_

_**_ _ **__**A**__**T**__**H**_

_**_/_**_

_** _ **__**A**__**T**__** _ **__**A**__** _**_

Anna was close to the answer. She could tell. The Riddler looked nervous, almost like a spoiled child about to be put in a corner for being naughty. She scrutinized the phrase. She could guess a 'E', and get the 'the' solved, but she'd be no closer to the answer. The second word looked like 'faith' and it very well could be. She had to guess an 'I'. "Give me an 'I'"

"I'm sorry but that is incorrect." The Riddler barely turned his gaze towards the doctor, shooting both the woman's left and right arms. The doctor screamed through the gag in animalistic agony. The pain must have been excruciating because when Anna looked up thinking the worst was over with the screaming still continued. "Oh, and did I forget to mention that if you get a vowel wrong its worth two wrong answers? Must have slipped my mind."

In all honesty the Riddler made that last bit up. He just couldn't stand to lose. The doctor interrupted his train of thought with a loud moan. When the Riddler looked down he noted with supreme disgust that the doctor was bleeding out all over his nice clean floors, making a racket. Disgusting filthy nuisance. He would be up all night bleaching all two hundred and eighty seven of the white tiles. "Doctor could you please limit the noise to a twenty percent volume and likewise a smaller blood flow range. You're staining my clean white grout, and giving me a headache."

"You savage. How can you just disregard human life so casually?" He cared more about his floors than he did a living breathing person. He was a sick, depraved, abomination. He was some subspecies of humanity. What on earth could make a person so cruel?

"How can you disregard the importance of sanitation? I bet you haven't the slightest clue as to how much effort goes in to removing a blood stain. At the end of this game I'll give you a quick tutorial. I'm going to make you scrub every inch of this room with bleach and a toothbrush. After all it's your friend's mess not mine." The nerve of some people. He was going to be kindly enough to clean up after the dear at the end of Anna's inevitable failure to spare her some trauma, but now she'd be lucky if he didn't make her remove the body herself.

"And before you give some witty accusation on my mental stability, may I remind you, I am holding a loaded gun and it is pointed at your dear _dear _friend. In my wounded state I might slip and _wound_ your friend." He was so sick of people insulting him, his father, his mother, the Batman, and now _this. _Everyone wanted to take a shot at him. They thought themselves so brilliant and yet they were blind to their own shortcomings. He was **not **crazy. He was just smart. So what if he sent riddles to alert the police, the Bat, it was proven he could out wit them. What was a little bloodshed in an enlightenment of the mind? Did Einstein invent the atomic bomb without recognizing that it would one day be utilized as a weapon? Did Houdini break free of death traps without a bit of showmanship? All rhetorical questions not needing to be answered. Unless of course you were a brain dead ape, then by all means.

Anna paused her angry tongue pulsating from the effort it took to restrain a caustic remark. The choices of words flowing through her mind were all less then lady-like options. She settled for staring at the screen in bewildered hatred. She would not risk a vowel again. Two shots and Myra was dead, if the blood loss didn't kill her first. She could get one more answer wrong before… she shuddered. She wouldn't think such morbid thoughts, she had to stay positive, it would keep her sane. "Give me a 'S'." It was a common enough letter.

"Too bad. So sad." He shot at the doctors torso miraculously missing an essential organ. "Now I know you're not even trying." The doctor let out a moan, convulsing on the ground in agony. In a few minutes of painful shuddering, Myra Reynolds passed out. "One more guess and I put your doc in the morgue. Wasn't this fun? Don't forget to use circular motions to clean my floors."

Anna felt hot sticky tears fall down her face, leaving splotchy streaks. She was killing her friend; she wasn't smart enough to save her. It was because of her stupidity that Myra Reynolds would die. All her fault, like she had fired the gun herself. Then hope arrived on black wings.

Batman. He was here. She saw the flash of a cape, the infamous cowl, he was above them like a dark angel. A savior, the hero. Anna was inspired by hope to buy the hero time to save the both of them. She'd distract him with the one thing he couldn't resist. A riddle. "Before you kill I have to ask you something."

"Nope I'm not falling for that again." He was not about to be tricked into a bout of sympathy where she twisted the pathetic mound of flesh in his chest into some misguided reform. He had no regrets for his actions. deserved every bullet wound he gave her. In their sessions she had after one harmless threat prematurely forced him into general population. In general population he had been beaten within an inch of his life after a very interesting intellectual conversation. At his outright refusal to assume the position when a delightfully witty orange suited simian made the suggestion. He knew he would have to top the request with an equally friendly approach. In his brilliance he had assumed the position of a crotch kick and ran for dear life. Fortunately, his actions had saved him from certain dangers of prison life, but also bought him several cracked ribs. When he exited Blackgate he was much kinder to his doctors on the mutual understanding that if he escaped he would kill them. This was payback.

"It's a riddle. One that I don't think you can solve. If you do you can shoot , if you can't you let us go." That had the Riddler's complete undivided attention. Him incapable of solving a riddle? It would have had him laughing if the implications weren't so insulting. He could Suduku in seconds, crossword in an instant, conundrum in a heartbeat, a riddle was as effortless as breathing.

Batman smiled grimly at where the girl was leading the Riddler. By insulting his intelligence the narcissist would be forced to prove himself. She was stalling, meaning she knew he was here. Good. It would buy him time to separate the Riddler from his gun. He knew from experience that if he startled the Riddler, he would end up doing something rash. Edward Nigma hated losing and in the event usually resorted to desperate measures to maintain victory. His traps always had more to them then their face value.

"Listening attentively and with morbid curiosity" He pointed the gun in a half-assed strive to remind Anna he was in charge. To be truthful his curiosity was piqued and he wanted to hear the riddle more than anything else in the world.

She had to get close for this to even have a shot at success. "With two its a matter of course. I yield with pleasure when taken by force. But when freely given mean so much more. What am I?"

"You simpleton. The answer is a kiss of cours-" Anna had inched close enough to make her move. She force her lips against his in a desperate attempt to distract him from the Dark Knight. He was as stiff as a statue as she tried to get him to respond to the kiss, squishing her lips against his in unpracticed motions, desperate to save her friend's life. If Myra lost any more blood she would die. She needed a hospital.

His eyes widened in shock. His body froze, petrified to stone as Anna's lips pressed hard against his. It was not unpleasant, but surprising. She was kissing him. How strange.

Wait! She was kissing him! His eyes lost their shocked look and fluttered shut. He pressed his lips roughly against Anna's. He needed this badly. He pressed his advance forward and flicked his tongue into her mouth scraping the sides of her cheek tasting everything at once. He lost some of the stiffness in his body and pulled her close into his chest. She probably would need to breathe soon, but Edward couldn't give a damn. His tongue traced the inside of her mouth while his lips pressed harshly into delicate flesh. He would take her here and now if he had to.

Anna felt dirty. She was kissing the man who tried to kill her friend and much to her chagrin he wasn't terrible at it. He was moaning her name in such an innocent way it felt almost surreal to think that just moments ago he was killing a living person. Her eyes stayed open through the whole ordeal of kissing the Riddler, watch his face contort into catlike expressions of joy and ecstasy. He looked in a twisted sort of way like a fallen angel that had returned to grace. At least for a while until the true dark angel swooped down knocking the Riddler away.

The Riddler was perplexed. In front of him stood Batman, not Anna. "Oh, can't you give me five more minutes mom?" He had to admit it was funny how Batman had a knack for spoiling the best of circumstances. But today he was willing to laugh. Why the hell not? Anna truly did love him. Why else would she kiss like _that._

After the ordeal of filling out hours worth of police reports Anna sat in the precinct with a numb feeling of dreamlike quality. It was over. She survived. The Riddler was back at Arkham. Myra was at a hospital. The nightmare was finally over. It was wasn't it?

"Thank you Miss you can leave. Go home, relax. Have a cup of coffee." The police commissioner, Jim Gordon, was looking at the poor girl with a sympathetic stare. Kidnapped with the Riddler for a day was hell on Earth, but a month, that was Arkham Asylum. "And buy yourself a security system. It will help you sleep at night."

"Yes. I'll do just that." She was unsure what was real. Spending so long in captivity made her thoughts fuzzy. It was strange to think she was going back home. Her home.

Batman watched as Anna Rydell returned home. "What are you worried about? Bruce, its over. The Riddler's back in Arkham, the girl is safe at home. Everything's back to normal, Nigma didn't even try to hurt her, he was focused on the doc," Robin sighed concerned for his mentor's paranoia.

"That's just it Robin. He left her unscathed, he focused his anger on the doctor. He didn't even threaten her for getting him caught. He left no riddle to lead us to her whereabouts when he first kidnapped her. It doesn't fit his M.O." Batman had a bad feeling that the Riddler was planning something. No riddle meant something had changed for the criminal and Batman would find out what. Even if he had to visit Arkham.

"So he's just crazy. Relax, Bruce you're paranoid," Robin sighed. It was never a closed case with Bruce; always layers of evil under coincidence.

"I hope so Robin. I hope so." Just once Bruce prayed Dick was right.

* * *

**Can you guess the Riddler's favorite phrase? It was hard to type out and the format may be off, but in case it is just remember sixteen letters and four words. Should look like **

**TH_**

**_/_ ATH**

**_/_**

**_/A_/_/A/_**

**by the end. Slashes are spaces, and dashes are letters. On a completely unrelated note... Who's scared of Bane's voice?**


	10. Chapter 11

Anna sat in her apartment staring at her walls. Four corners of a beige color staring back. She just sat there staring, dead to the world, and unsure whether her ordeal with the Riddler was truly over with. She sat at her kitchen table, categorizing the events in no particular order, and with a coldness that surprised her.

The Riddler had tried to kill Myra. The Riddler had bruised and bloodied the doctor in a game of words. Anna had kissed him. And then it was over.

She looked over each thought in a detached spectrum of flashes. The Riddler let her escape the maze only to flip out on her for cheating him. It didn't make sense. Why help her if he would later try and make her pay for it? He had been livid. But she didn't think his rage had to do with a genuine love for the rules. No, his response was too raw for that; had it been a game penalty he would have been cold, business-like almost. He took her victory personally, like she had done some supremely evil deed. Almost like he knew she had tricked him into aiding her.

Anna paused in her thoughts. Even if he knew she had tricked him it did not explain his emblazoned response. The only time she had seen the Riddler passionate enough to turn violent had been when she insulted him, or mentioned Steve. The episodes tended to correspond with moods of hurt, like any small slight was an assault that had to be met with twelve nuclear warheads and an army of question-mark soldiers. Had he been hurt by her actions? She couldn't believe he would be that sensitive to being fooled-Was his ego that fragile?

Anna hoped his ego was; she hoped he felt hurt. No, she wished him true pain and suffering for what he put her through. He made her watch while he shot her friend in some grotesque game to pay her back for hurting the madman's feelings. She had watched him make Myra writhe on the ground as each bullet entered her skin, seen Edward's handiwork with Steve (She had visited the site of Steve's burial and paid her respects), and been treated herself for the bullet wound in her shoulder. Edward Nigma had made her life a living hell, inflicting her mind with guilt and suffering. When they removed the tracking bracelet around her leg she felt as if an era of torment had ended.

Anna sat back in her chair recalling much to her chagrin and distaste the days of her captivity that had not been so wretched, the days when Nigma's eyes smoldered with such a friendly warmth that she forgot her captivity. When he was not trying to abuse her, Nigma was a goofy man with a more than mild obsession for puzzles. A regular comedian without knowing it. He made her laugh with his antics, his determination to impress her with showmanship of his "peerless genius", and past exploits involving Batman. On those days she hated him all the more because he seemed almost normal. On those days, she would almost forget Edward Nigma was more monster than man. Almost. Until he reminded her.

Then there had been the forced kisses and that "sharing the bed" nonsense. She did not believe he loved her, no he had been more obsessed than in love. But even obsession was too strong a word to use. No, what he felt was more or less curiosity. He was curious, and his curiosity was not child-like in nature, but unique. His was a dark fascination that seemed half the time confused and exasperated when she interacted with the man.

Anna rubbed her temples, frustrated that such a strange man was still giving her a headache well after her rescue. It was high time she forgot Edward Nigma, The Riddler. After all, it was unlikely she would ever see his ugly mug again. Nope, he was gone for good. A distant memory. Forgotten.

The doorbell to her apartment rang; permanently ending her train of thought. Anna rose from her chair and walked towards the noise in mechanical motions. She was half way tempted to ignore the sound in favor of allowing some sleep to come to her exhausted mind, but forced herself to un-lock the clasp on her doorway.

Before Anna had even gotten the lock halfway undone the wooden frame of the door was kicked in. The door caved in on its self leaving shards wood to clatter to ground. Anna flattened to the ground from the shock of having her door so abruptly vandalized, allowing her to look up at two muscly thugs covered head to toe in tattoos. One was a stout man with what looked to be a tobacco chew cradled in his lower lip, the other was a bit taller and a bit fatter with odd splotches of facial hair sticking out in un-groomed patches. The two intruders looked down at Anna in appraising glances.

"Oi is this the girl?" The taller of the two asked his stouter companion.

"Looks like her." The stout man spat out the the dripping brown wad of tobacco onto the ground in vague confirmation. Anna briefly considered how rude such a gesture was before the gravity of her situation hit.

"Well is she or isn't she?" The tall man was now irritated with his compatriot. To get the wrong girl was like announcing to the Riddler you were incompetent. If you were incompetent you were dead in this type of business.

"Yeah it's her alright I recognize the picture. Pretty little thing ain't she." He grinned vulgarly at Anna flashing rows of black stained teeth with several gaps. Anna did not like this man.

"Don't get too attached. The boss said if anything happened or we messed up he'd have our asses." That was not all the Riddler had said. He had told them that one mistake would cost them a game of Russian roulette with all the chambers loaded.

"Too bad. She sure is purty." That was the last thing Anna heard before she was hit over the head and knocked out cold. Anna Riddel was kidnapped once again.

Batman had used his ties with the Arkham doctors on several occasions to gain access to his rogues gallery. He hated having to use such privileges now. Anna Riddel had been kidnapped three hours ago, and time was of the essence. The Riddler was his only lead now, there were no clues left at the apartment.

Batman loomed through the halls of Arkham, a beacon of shadowy justice. He was fast approaching the observation room where patients received their therapy. The Riddler was sitting at a desk shackled in chains from head to toe, bound to the leg of a desk, rendering him immobile. Batman's eyes narrowed imperceptibly, and his features became more grave the longer he stared at Nigma's relaxed position. He was at ease, Batman would have to change that.

"You know we really must stop meeting like this." The Riddler smiled condescendingly at his one true equal: The Batman. A hero who always seemed to thwart the most ingenious of his traps with little to no effort. He had a sneaking suspicion the vigilante used outside help to best his conundrums, so he did not count the hero on level ground when considering brain power. Or looks for that matter. There was a reason the bat wore a mask after all. "The silent treatment I see. What are you, _four_?"

Batman merely stared down at the Riddler causing the temperature to drop several degrees as Edward began to feel nervous under the Bat's dark gaze. "No riddles, no ransoms, no clues. It's not your usual M.O." the words flowing out of Bruce's mouth were factual and frigid. "Why?" That word came out as a deep guttural sound making Nigma flinch.

"What is the reason too bamboozling for you detective?" Edward tried to hide the momentary flinch with a snide remark, hoping the words would return some of his lost pride. Batman quickly realized that he was getting nowhere with his direct approach. He had to push the Riddler into a corner, force him to reveal his true motives.

"You are putting an innocent girl's life in danger without giving her a chance. Are you afraid that I might best you again if you leave me a clue?" It was a bold approach, but Bruce had to hit him somewhere, and a blow to his ego, usually was the most effective.

"Hardly," the Riddler spat. How dare Batman question his ability to win against a subpar intelligence? "I just prefer not to mix my business with pleasure." Edward wanted to rub the Dark Knight's face into the fact that Anna was no doubt a willing hostage after their last impassioned lip lock. But he knew one gloat would cost him dearly. His tongue had a nasty habit for revealing the truth, and he could not allow that just yet.

Batman had Edward on the defensive; meaning he was close to the real answer. He had to push harder, he needed to save the girl. "Are you sure the kidnapping has nothing to do with her sending you back to Arkham?"

The Riddler scowled, of course he would go there. "As I recall the scenario, Anna was far more interested in kissing than being rescued." Shit. He needed to stop talking now he was giving too much away.

So it was worse than he had thought. Batman frowned, now recognizing the behavior Nigma was displaying. He was infatuated with the girl, it explained the lack of his usual signature. Nigma didn't want her to be found, the girl was personal to him. This was bad, very bad.

The last rogue that had decided to express his feelings had been Jervis Tech, the Mad Hatter. He had kidnapped a blond receptionist out of a dental office after an appointment, and forced her to join him in Wonderland. The girl tried to escape and in Tech's delusional state, he implanted a mind control chip into her head. She spent four months in captivity roleplaying as Alice in the Mad Hatter's sick fantasy. When she was finally rescued, she had been unable to speak in any other words but Lewis Carroll, and was covered in lacerations. During her final week of captivity Jervis had been attempting to ween the girl off from mind control, in a perverse effort to get her to like him. When the girl pushed him away after his attempts at wooing her, the Mad Hatter went truly mad. He nearly killed the girl. When Batman questioned the rogue on why he had nearly beaten the girl to death his only coherent response was "I don't think she's an Alice. No she's more of a Mary than an Alice. I should have let her be my Mary Alice from the start." before he started rhyming again.

Batman vowed never to let another rogue destroy an innocent life after the incident. He had to stop this before it got out of hand. "She distracted you to save her friend and filed a restraining order against you." He needed Nigma to return to reality for this to work.

Ouch. A restraint order was harsh. The Riddler knew Anna had been scared but to file a restraining order was over kill. "She filed a restraining order?" Oh God, he was getting sucked in. Batman was doing it again; besting him.

"It will be in your mail tomorrow. She does not care about you, Riddler." Good, he was waking up. Now all Batman had to do was drive home his point. Edward was going to get angry with that last sentence; his narcissism would not allow him to feel rejection.

"Shut up! She wouldn't have kissed me like that if she didn't have some feelings for me." He was lying, trying to use his doubts against him. Batman was trying to make him question Anna's love.

Did she love him? Damn that blasted Bat.

"She saw me on the ceiling beams; she kissed you to distract you." The Riddler was devolving fast, the doubts were resurfacing and the anger was glossing the surface. He was far enough along in his emotional stance to be pushed over the edge and give the Bat the answers he desperately needed.

"Your lying! She loves me, stop it. Not another word!" How dare that idiotic dolt suggest Anna's love for him was false? He vowed to insure that his next scheme involved Catwoman. Let's see how he likes his love life put under a microscope and deathtrap.

"Nigma. You have to let her go. You don't really care for her. It's impossible." The Batman knew Nigma's predilection for true romance was limited to his reflection in the mirror. He loved only himself but if Batman could force him to realize the fact he might let the girl go.

"I love her!" Batman's face for once in his life depicted surprise. If the Riddler was able to admit love for another, it wasn't just serious, it was an honest emotion. The Riddler truly was in love. _Great._

"If you really did, you would have let her go." Maybe he could work Edward's feelings into a beneficial angle. Force him to release the girl.

"I can't Batman. I just can't." Edward could not. To lose Anna was to give up on a riddle before it was solved. It was impossible, he was too selfish.

"Think Nigma. I know you didn't hire Echo and Query. They are still in Blackgate, meaning you hired one of your usual thugs. Think. Right now they are alone with a pretty girl. They each have at the very least one count of molestation to their name's." Batman knew the girl was in danger because if the Riddler was in love he no doubt rushed his kidnapping of the girl. In the rush he most likely forwent the usually background check and preliminary plots. He rushed it and was jeopardizing the girls life.

The Riddler hushed.

"If you don't let me save her. If you don't let her go. You will be endangering her life." Please Riddler. Batman felt like begging, this girl could be killed and raped without the supervision of Nigma. His men, without supervision ware a pack of wild dogs. Without their master barking orders the thugs would fall into old habits.

"I can't let her go. I'm selfish. I'm sorry." He was not sorry for the Bat, but for Anna he deeply regretted any harm that may come to her. I'm sorry Anna. He didn't do a background check, in his eagerness he made a mistake. How could he forget something so basic? It was a rookie mistake, any rogue worth his salt knew that when the kidnappee was of the female species you almost always kept a close and punishing eye on your henchmen, unless of course you were fortunate to be working with persons without previous records of molestation. In that case they did the babysitting, while you negotiated prices. Even criminals such as the Riddler had reputations to protect. It was simply bad for business if your guest was raped, the buyer usually expressed extreme displeasure in such cases.

"Then I hope for your sake she makes it. If she dies there will be blood on your hands, Nigma. The stains will be so red, you will never wash them away. And as much as you pretend not to care, I think this time it will haunt you." Batman disappeared, leaving Nigma in a distraught state. It was the first time in all of Bruce's dealings with the Riddler that he believed the rogue felt remorse. He also knew Nigma would be escaping soon. He would need Robin to keep tabs on Edward, in order to locate the girl as quickly as possible. Hopefully, he would find Anna first.

Edward sat petrified in his chains as thousands of scenarios raced through his overly precise imagination. Anna was no doubt in danger if Batman was willing to say more than three words. The more Batman spoke the more dire the situation was. It was the hero's only tell, and it scared the Riddler more than any threat ever could.

He needed to escape as soon as possible, no doubt the Bat predicted such actions and would follow after such a heated conversation. He could easily exit Arkham at any time, the benefit of having insiders was a facilitated route, shuttling a rogue into Gotham on a whim's notice. However, to escape under the radar of the Batman was a skill few besides the Joker were capable of mastering. But he didn't have time to wait, Anna was alone with recently released convicts, who hadn't seen the fleshy thighs of a woman in years. She was probably being rap- He would not dignify that sentence the privilege of completion. She was fine.

He would escape quickly just to spite the Bat, not because he feared that the hero was correct about the thugs he hired. In fact he needed to see Anna again purely to reassure the girl he had not lost interest, she was probably distraught with insecurity. She was not being raped.

The orderlies retrieved the Riddler from observation, shoving him angrily into the hall. As the Riddler began walking towards the high level security section of the Asylum, passing rows upon rows of screeching madmen. The more violent of inmates pressed their faces against the glass licking the windows of their cells or making vulgar gestures at the passing guards. Home sweet home.

"Move it Nigma. No dilly dallying." The guard shoved Nigma roughly to assert authority and quell some of his lingering nervousness at being so close to the infamous Riddler. He genuinely feared the rogues, especially after hearing word of how the Riddler attacked one of his doctors. He hated this part of his job, it payed well enough, but sometimes he wondered if it was all really worth it.

The Riddler tripped forward, falling to the ground. The guard stared down at the fallen criminal unsure of how to respond. "Would you help be up you bug-eyed buffoon?"

The guard remained immobile, sweat trickled down his brow. He did not know what the protocol was in such instances. "As you can see I am shackled head to toe, and am incapable of getting up without aid. So would you mongoloid of an underling, help me up?" The guard considered the man briefly; he was in chains. He moved reluctantly helping the Riddler to stand, Nigma briefly wrapped one arm onto the guard's shoulder and another onto the guard's waist pulling himself into an upright stance.

Nigma continued towards his cell with an unreadable expression. His face was blank except for a small imperceptible upward tilt of the lips, he walked with this expression into the rogue's gallery. Scarecrow sat in his cell reading, as usual, with the only movement being a mean glance at the guard, the Mad Hatter waved excitedly, welcoming Edward back with the traditional "Why is a raven like a writing desk?", the Joker laughed and hurtled several unkind remarks that Nigma greatly resented and feared, The Ventriloquist stared shyly through his window, and Two-Face grumbled about how now the doctors were endangering his life with a suicide risk if they forced him to listen to Nigma's "stupid" riddles. In the Riddler's opinion, the true stupidity was reflected in the answerer; Two-Face had not answered a single riddle correctly in two years. The Penguin was no longer in Arkham due to his recent "reform" and business venture: "The Iceberg Lounge". Oswald's cell, however; was kept open upon the Batman's insistence, and stood as a reminder to all the rogue's that Batman could not be fooled with "reform".

When Nigma finally reached his cell he decided to have one last little half-game with the guard. Just a quick little quiz of harmless wit. "You want to hear a riddle, James." The Riddler used the orderlies name just to make the poor man sweat; a usual intimidation tactic. "What's dimwitted, and about to make a fool of itself screaming?" The man would not get the hint in the riddle. It was obvious, but the guard was oblivious. Nigma felt a small grain of sympathy for what was about to happen to the guard. Had he been smarter he might have avoided his fate.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not locked in a cell," the guard snidely returned. On second thought, Edward was going to enjoy watching the mook make a fool of himself.

"You can't say I didn't warn you." The Riddler sat calmly in his cell awaiting what was to unfold. The guard walked across the cement floor of the cell-ways, passing each rogue until the action really kicked off. Crane put away his book, and walked fearsomely to the edge of his cell. This is going to be good.

"Guard, I am requesting that you open my cell. I have an important meeting with a dear friend of mine and would loathe to keep them waiting." Crane crossed both of his arms together to rest on his chest, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground.

"Why on Earth would I do that?" The guard laughed at Crane causing the villain to frown.

"Because currently I am the only resident in Arkham with the existing knowledge of the whereabouts of your wife. Martha wasn't it? Did you know she is terrified of the dark?" So, that's how Crane planned to leave Arkham. He no doubt had more to his plans then one simple threat, but still his methods were admirable.

"You bastard! When I get in there I'll-" Jason banged a fist against the glass. If Crane touched one hair on his wife's head; he'd kill the psychopath.

"Yes, I believe that too will work in my advantage. Please, come in and make yourself at home. Martha certainly would." Crane was goading the guard early on. Whoever Crane wanted to see must have been important. Later Edward would find out his answers, but for now he needed Crane to escape.

The guard wasted no time inputing the pass code to open up Jonny's cell, the moron. In his defense, he was enraged, and focused only on Crane. Crane had a spacial way of getting inside everyone's heads and finding their worst fear. He exploited it, picked apart your brain until you were a quivering sac of jelly, and that was without the toxin. Later he would use the toxin to further destroy his "subject". He had no mercy, even Nigma in his schemes tried to avoid making too much of a mess in his work. Still Crane was sensible and by far no where near the Joker's level of cruelty. Then again, no one was.

It happened so fast that had Edward blinked he would have missed the entire event. Crane threw a handful of an unknown (no doubt fear-toxin) substance into Jason's face. Blood curtleing screams exited Jason's mouth instantaneously, God he hated when Crane did that. "Normally, Jason I would explore your fragile psyche and have grand old time experimenting, but I'm late for that meeting I mentioned earlier. But don't you fret I haven't touched Martha, at least not in the ways that her supervisor has been. Anyways. She isn't missing. She's having an affair." Crane pulled the guards face in close to increase the man's screaming. Nigma swore that the Scarecrow got off on the fear from others. That thought alone scared the Riddler.

Crane reached for the Arkham employee's belt seemingly frustrated. "Blast it all. I know he had it on him earlier where is it!" Crane began to yell at his victim frustrated with the items disappearance. Edward decided after watching Crane holler at the injustice of his plan's outcome, that now was as good a time as any to reveal the location of Crane's missing item.

"You-hoo. I believe I have what you are looking for." The Riddler held up to the glass of his cell a key card that would allow the rogues to exit the asylum's high security blocks and eventually the prison itself. Edward knew he had leverage over Crane. When Edward had "fallen" he had carefully borrowed the guard's key card the second he saw the look Jonathan flash the Arkham employee. He knew a free ride when he saw one.

The Scarecrow and the Riddler had never been on friendly terms with one another. Each of the men were unable to stand the others obsessions. Nigma hated listening to the to the doctor ramble on about the power of fear. And Crane could not accept that the power of riddles were superior to a shabby burlap mask.

Crane stopped his highly un-adult behavior of screaming at the now tearful and soon-to-be madman, to focus in on Nigma. Edward shivered. He needed Crane's help, and needed to get it without ending up as another one of the doctor's lab rats. This would require the full ability of Edward's persuasive genius. "Care to let me out of my cell? The pass code is 18944125."

Crane looked his nose down upon the Riddler, both in irritation, and condensation. "Why do you think I just won't open up your cell, gas you, and leave you to your screams while I escape?"

"What makes you think that when I wake up I won't find out who this person that you are meeting is."

"What's to stop me from killing you?"

"Look Crane, the second I'm out of my cell we can both go our own ways. Please, for once this has nothing to do with my selfish whims I- I also have a meeting of sorts."Edward tried in his next breath to sound more courageous. "I pinky swear I will help you with whatever you want after. Cross my heart." He held his hand to his heart in a comical manner causing Crane to release an irritated snort.

"Don't follow me. Don't try to find me after. And do not mention a word of my meeting to the Bat. Not in riddle form, not in code, not even in a puzzle. Understand?" Crane listed off his conditions one after the other. Especially highlighting the importance of the no squealing clause.

"Crystal." Edward gave an energetic salute

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Crane inputted the code to Nigma's cell with his long fingers mumbling under his breath how bad of an idea this was.

"You know you aren't so bad for a guy who has the likability of a vat of acid." Edward gave what he thought was a very generous complement. It apparently was not.

"I suggest you do not open your mouth while in my company, Edward. I have yet to master self control, and am about one minute away from gassing you. So if you can kindly shut-up, do so."

Edward shut his mouth as both of the rogues met the locked gate. Once the doors parted Edward opened his mouth one last time before running down the halls, away from the possible reactions of his dear friend Jonny. "You and I should do lunch sometime later. We simply must catch up. I'd love to hear all about this person you are meeting. Toodles." Edward knew his mentioning about the secret meeting were uncalled for, but he loved messing with the Scarecrow's head. It was only a fair response after all; Crane had threatened to gas him.

Edward sped down the hall looking for one particular door. The only door in fact that led to a supply closet filled with rows upon rows of delightful arrays of sentry uniforms. They most likely would not fit his lean and perfectly sculpted body decently but they would do well enough to fool an idiotic Arkham worker for a few moments. Just enough time to escape and make his way safely to his hideout.

Once he arrived at his hideout he would deal with his newfound distrust of his henchmen, that as the bat had snottily pointed out, each of the men had a record sheet that could wrap around the globe twice. He would find Anna seated comfortably on a chair, not on the ground crying. He would rub the fact that Anna loved him more then dearly departed Steven, into the soon-to-be departed Dark Knight's face. His henchmen would be far away from Anna, possibly three buildings from the girl. And if they were not, if the Bat-bastard was right; he'd kill his lackeys in the most familiar and intimate of ways.

The Riddler exited the supply closet, prepared for yet another daring escape, as only his brilliant mind could concoct, running into another guard. The guard taking immediate notice of what he supposed was a skinny _Claude_ yelled out, "Hey Claude, did ya lose weight ya dumb bastard or is Clarice starving you on her new healthy kick?" Nigma took note that the name plate on his uniform spelled out _Claude Dunbar,_ and decided from a distance he could easily be confused with Claude and hopefully confused without arousing alarm.

"Ya know Clarice, always something healthy, ya gullible sap. I still _**sneak**_ past the radar with a steak." God he loved the guard-speak, so accurate with descriptive language and so easy to imitate.

"Yeah yeah, sure ya are. What ya up to now?" The question surprised Edward. He rechecked the distance between he and the guard, confirming that he was still far enough away to be incapable of distinguishing facial features. Edward was in the clear.

"Oh, I couldn't say. But I'm in a rush so I'll catch ya later ya _**primitive **__overpaid__gorilla_." The second jail-guard stared suspiciously at the retreating form of Edward Nigma, surprised by his friend's sudden bitchy attitude. He shrugged his shoulders before returning to watch the table T.V in front of him. Diets always make people cranky; God forbid Clarice make him go on one.

Anna sat bound and blind-folded in an extremely uncomfortable chair. Why couldn't they ever have cushions, this wasn't the era of the inquisition. Anna had a strange feeling these new kidnappers worked for the Riddler. Consider it a hunch.

* * *

**The answer to the last Riddle was: the death of Batman. Congrats to those who lived through the maze!**


	11. Chapter 12

The hero complex

Anna frowned as the shuffling steps of her captors returned to her new place of residency.

This time her captivity looked to be carried out in a dirty warehouse. The walls were made of cement blocks stacked in ordered rows. The beams over her head were cold steal. She sat in a chair and was tied into an upright position by strong ropes, which eagerly bit into her skin.

At least no one could dare accuse the Riddler of being predictable.

"Oy girly rise an shine" The man in front of her flashed a salacious grin. She already knew she was not going to have an easy time playing the captive of these greasy hoodlums. And in a strange and small way she missed having the Riddler as her captor. He was a bit fresher looking then these men, and less frightening.

The second man smiled at her pulling up a chair, brushing her knees with his. He was missing several teeth and had what looked to be the tattoo of a nude woman on the side of his neck. He frightened Anna in a way Edward never had.

"Say what sorta trouble did a girl like you get in with Riddler? You ain't rich so ya really musta pissed him off to get this type a' attention." He spat a large wad of tobacco onto the floor by her side. It made her flinch.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." It was true. No matter how many times she played the events inside her head she just couldn't make any ordered sense of it.

The man rasped out a laugh. "With the Riddler you'll never get an answer. Just a bunch a questions."

"Well I want answers." She said it in a low voice mainly to herself. But the man overheard and laughed harder.

"If I had to guess your probably just another game piece that made the boss mad. He always has a plan. Too bad really, 'cause if you weren't we could have some fun." He pushed himself up using her thighs for leverage making sure to press his full weight into them.

She wanted the Riddler there and then. It was a lot safer than being outside of his plan. At least he never hinted at having 'fun' with her, he just acted like an over excited child.

Hours passed by in dejected silence as the men left her to her own devices. She had pulled her wrists raw at the ropes and now sat in defeated misery. She was terrified of facing the Ridder. She was petrified of Edward beating her senseless for getting him sent to Arkham. Again. And most of all she just wanted a return to normalcy.

The door finally opened, turning fear into reality. But it wasn't the Riddler. It was the two henchmen. The tobacco hood grinned at her in a wicked manner and the other shyly eyed her with a reluctant hungry stare.

The tobacco chewer spoke first. "Looks like the boss is gonna be late. Which means he ain't showing"

Anna did not like the direction this conversation was headed. "So I guess you'll just have to let me go," she deadpanned.

The shyer one of the two shook his head at the ground.

Tobacco chew spoke again. "Sure we will. After we have a little fun of course." He walked closer to Anna motioning for the shyer one to follow.

"I hate fun. In fact I despise it. So lets not." Anna was panicking and tugging jerkily at her restraints with the unlikely hope her renewed efforts would snap them.

"I don't care what a spoiled bitch like you think. Joe and I haven't seen a pretty peach like you in a long while. We just got out and if the Riddler ain't collecting we ain't getting paid for our services. I think we deserve a small bit of compensation for taking such good care of you girly." He was now in front of her undoing her ties. The shyer of the two held her immobile.

Anna for the first time wished the Riddler was there to ward off these vile men. She was going to be raped and there was nothing she could do about it. And for once the Riddler's prescience would have been welcomed if it meant avoiding such a fate.

Anna felt like everything was moving in slow motion. After the ties came undone she was pushed down onto the floor. The shyer of the two was pushing away at the top of her shirt, tearing it away. Anna felt a trail of wet liquid fall down her cheeks. The tobacco chewer was undoing his was it. This was the end. An end of innocence. The end of what made her whole.

And then the sound of hard metal slamming against a cement aperture filled and echoed across the warehouse and everything stopped. The shyer one stopped holding her down and tobacco chew dropped his pants.

"Boss-" The sound of a gunshot quickly replaced the voice. The bullet caused tobacco chew to drop to the ground and clutch his leg in a weakened attempt to lessen the pain.

The Riddler held the gun in his hand with a blank expression. He felt numb and repulsed. He eyed the scene before him calculating what was happening. Anna's clothes were hanging off her shoulders and a man was on the ground writhing in his boxers.

The next thing he knew he had his gun out and fired a second shot into the fallen man's shoulder. He was in a calm state of madness and bloodlust. He knew in that instant this would be last moments his men lived on Earth. He also knew those moments would be filled with true helplessness and hopelessness. He would make them regret touching Anna. He would feel no remorse, rapists deserved no pity, no mercy. They were the scum of the Earth, worse than any rogue.

"Get up off the ground Jim, and pick Joe up. He's dirtying my floor. This is a rental after all." Jim did as he was told forcing Joe to stand on his wounded leg.

"What am I going to do with you? Hmmm? What I am going to do to you." What started out as a smiling teasing voice changed into a scream. His foot landed hard in between Joe's legs. Joe had no pants on and felt the full brunt of the shoe press into a spot that crippled all men. He would have crumpled to the ground had Jim not been holding him upright. Joe let out a grunt, the combination of bullet wounds and a genital assault was causing some real hurt.

"Oh don't whimper. Hush now. Or I'll blow your head off right now. " The Riddler wanted to use the entire clip of ammo on his henchmen until they bled out on the cement floor. But that was too pleasant a fate for them.

"Tell me in my instructions did I in any way imply that raping my guest was acceptable?" Edward pressed the gun roughly to Jim's head making him almost drop Joe onto the floor.

"No " The answer barely left his mouth. He knew avoiding death depended on his neutrality.

"No? Then why is she on the ground crying? Oh my she's crying." The shock of realizing Anna had been on the ground crying for the entire exchange snapped the Riddler's self restraint.

The next two bullets shattered both of Jim's kneecaps. Both men fell to the ground whimpering and groaning from pain and shock. "Don't move I'll be right back. "

"Do you need a tissue Anna?" He watched the tears fall from Anna's eyes and felt the need to rip the men's insides out and make a necklace from the material for Anna to wear. Instead he pulled from his pocket a handkerchief and offered it for her to dab at her eyes with.

Anna did not take it but instead broke his heart with her next question. He felt like a black hole had opened in his heart and sucked away all feeling. He was going to kill his men.

"Why would you do this to me?" Anna looked up under hooded eyes. She had seen so much pain, so much cruelty with these eyes. It seemed each time she closed them she would open them up to stare once again into Edward Nygma's hateful face. And she was tired of having to open her heavy lids to see that odious face. She wished to be blind to the evil man in front of her. He had done all this to her.

"Anna I didn't- I swear I'd never." He felt a rush of emotion pool in his chest. There was anger. His men shouldn't have. There was sadness. He really wouldn't have. There was love. He really couldn't have her.

"It wasn't enough to torture my friends in front if me and make me watch. It wasn't enough to kill Steve. You had to take more from me." She felt so tired of having to face Edward again and again. She just wanted to rest. She wanted an ending, happy or sad it didn't matter. So long as she could finally shut her eyes.

"Anna I'd- please don't say that. I'm a lot of things but I'm not that" He was not that. He had done many things in his lifetime. He had murdered,tortured, and stolen. He had bribed, brainwashed, and brutalized men guilty of no wrong. He was a bad man. But he was not an evil man.

"What did you think would happen?. After you let your henchmen molest me. Terrify me. Almost rape me. You planned all of this didn't you?" Why did he even bother lying? Did he think he could hide away all the evil of his heart?

"Do you honestly think I'd ever run into your arms for comfort?" She would never let such a vile man touch her.

"Anna I'm begging for you to stop, now. Please before it's too late. I don't want to have to play the role of villain in front of you. " For her to make such accusations. It felt like rejection. He hated being rejected, being ignored. He could feel the snap and crackle of his temper at the edges of his mind and he was closer to snap than crackle. Her words hurt and his hands trembled to do the same. In his rage, love was almost forgotten and almost abandoned.

"Nygma I will always think of you as a villain no matter how many times you pretend to come to my rescue. You will never receive a drop of affection from me. Not after what you've put me through. I hate you. " And it was true she hated him. Truly and honestly. She hated him.

Edward's body became slack and terse as Anna's words flung themselves into earshot. His lips pressed together into a hard line and his eyes crushed his brows together. And then the momentary tension inside his body disappeared and a dark relaxation replaced it.

"You don't mean that. And do you know why you don't mean that? " Edward stated in an objective tone devoid of warmth and previous desperation. It was an affection-less and unfamiliar tone to Anna.

Anna saw the internal shift in the Riddler's character. Seething in his eyes became madness and feral anger. She was silenced at the darkness inside the green eyes of Edward Nygma. Coldness replaced the small flecks of humanity that once speckled throughout his soul. She could not bring herself to say another word as she stared into these unfamiliar eyes. Because evil was staring back.

"You don't mean that because if you did. If you thought me the villain. If you thought me a monster. If you hated me- do have any idea what I would do to you?" Edward spoke through a quiet rage.

"Do you have any clue you sweet little whore?" He screamed the words in an intended anger. His hands shook as if the power of the fury consumed all rational thought. He had gone quite mad.

"Oh, Anna. The intimacies my men thought to do to you are primitive in comparison. I am by far much more inventive and passionate in my loving hatred. " He would have her heart in his hand if she would not give it to him in love. He had a gaping hole in his chest from her hate, it only seemed fair that Anna too share a hole in her chest from his love. If she had nothing nice to say, why he shouldn't even allow her to speak.

"If you hated me I would have torn out your tongue. Then I would have sat and watched you scream until your vocal chords bled. I would have asked over and over if you still hated me. As you can guess having no tongue makes words an impossibility and quite bloody. And as I would receive no apology, no recantation, I would have no other choice but to pull out each one of your teeth until there was nothing left but gum. And then I'd give you one last kiss before sending you out onto the streets of Gotham with a cellphone and heavy amount of blood loss. "

He would destroy her if that was what it took to have her belong to him. He would kill her if she tried to escape his loving nature. "Riddle me this Anna. Why couldn't the ambulance respond in time to the call?"

He stared directly into her eyes smiling at the bitter riddle's answer. " The caller was muted."

It was as if speaking this peace had drained the Riddler of all his energy. He seemed tired. Almost as if accepting her hatred and proclaiming his violence had made him sick.  
"So trust me when I say, you do not want to ever really hate me"

"Why are you doing this to me?" Anna could not understand why he wanted her to feel so much pain. Why did he continue to make her suffer? Had she not bared enough?

He sighed heavily. He could never hope to have her understand. She just needed to see that he meant her no harm, at least, not in the traditional sense. "Well I will admit that half of the things that have happened to you are me but hthe other half were not. I'm sorry for those things. "

"No you're not! You don't have the capacity for it."

"Please Anna I'm trying very hard to be a good man to you. Don't make me cruel" And it was true he had been on his bestest behavior. He was trying to keep in mind that she had almost been raped and all the nasty words decaying her sweet lips were the products of her distress. But each insult made it oh so easy for him to forget. He needed to stop her before he lost the self control needed to stop himself. He knew himself well enough to know his wounded ego would seek out her demise.

"I know! What if I prove to you this mishap was purely an unfortunate accident?" It was a a grand and flawless planned demonstration of his love.

"You-how would you do that?" She was once again baffled. It was such an odd reaction to the situation.

"Shhhh. Close your eyes and count to ten. " The Riddler placed a single gloved finger onto his lips grinning much like a paganistic figure in a ritual of old. He was truly a hallmark figure well worth a written history. Much like Hitler. "Just humor me. "

Anna simply stared blankly at Edward, her eyes locked in a strange trance. She couldn't bring herself to change his commands into actions.

"Shut your damn eyes and start counting!" He was getting impatient. Why didn't she just listen. Her life would be so much simpler. " I want this to be a surprise. I promise you'll like it. "

Anna shut her eyes and the Riddler began whistling an aimless tune. With her eyes shut all the monsters of her imagination came to life and began dancing about her skull with torturous taunts.

"Now open them", the Riddler commanded in a childish harrumph. Anna opened them and discovered that monsters truly did exist in this world. And they were made of C-4.

"Is that a bomb?" Anna felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.

"Why yes. I believe it is." The Riddler brushed the lethal weapon aside like it was a common everyday phenomenon. Similar to how the sun would rise and fall each morning, a bomb could always be found in the Riddler household ready to detonate.

"It's strapped to those men. " The bomb held the men captive to the Riddler's will and anger. One false move, one ingratiating tone, and kaboom.

"Very observant of you to say." Edward had a small smile on his lips. He was going to kill these men in the worst way imaginable. He was going to offer them hope than dash it out. Their dim intellects would be their undoing.

It was insulting to think these men had thought his absence was a leave to have at Anna. He was going to mutilate their minds. He was going to watch them snap.

"You see I wasn't lying when I said I was sorry and now I'm going to prove it. Anna, any man who planned to stage a rape would not publicly execute the perpetrators in front of their beloved." Might as well kill two birds with one stone. The men had to die for placing their grubby fingers on what was his and Anna needed to learn just how true and straight his compass pointed. Killing the men would accomplish the former, having Anna watch it, the latter.

"You can't do this Edward. This proves nothing except that you're a cruel man."

"I'm not so cruel as to not give them a fair chance." By fair he meant he'd give them a chance to clear his good name then boom! Good bye idiocy and hello intimacy. Anna no doubt would hurtle herself into his arms after he heroically avenged her honor. He'd be a knight.

"Jimmy, and Joseph I can imagine you have noticed the bomb strapped onto your bodies. " The Riddler pointed to the bomb dramatically before moving to cradle his forehead in irritation at the clear low IQ of his audience. "And I hope given your limited capacity for critical reasoning that you are aware this very well could be the end of your short and meaningless lives."

He smiled at Anna in a predatory way. He would have thought his smile reassuring.

Oh my God he's going to make me watch, Anna thought in grim understanding. "Please Edward I don't want to see this", she begged.

"Anna I'm in a business meeting right now. Can you please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. " He truly was a knight.

"Now boys I don't want you to think that this sudden impulsive decision to kill you is in anyway personal." He turned his back to his panicking goons in a comedic attempt to ease the tension of the situation. But as he thought on the actual events he became livid and his tone shifted into a low pitched growl. "Oh, wait, that's a lie isn't it?"

"Please boss we're sorry we didn't know she was yer girl. We'd never touch her if she was." The men had red and puffy eyes filled with hopeless dread.

The Riddler's nose scrunched up as if he was smelling something truly foul. Their begging, pleading voices were pathetic to him. Were all other beings such as these no better than crawling worms? He nearly smiled at such a riddle. But it was too sad to think of oneself as the only being of high intellect left on the planet. He was too far above such statuses to allow for such humors.

The Riddler pulled out a gun from his waist band. If the world was filled with worms, he might as well contribute to their extermination.

Bang. The first bullet hit the ceiling.  
"I told you to kidnap her and wait for my arrival. In that moment she was no longer a girl but my girl whether or not my interest was romantic."

"Please boss we didn't mean no disrespect we just hadn't seen such a purty face in so long" It was like watching a rock slowly roll down a cliff side. And these men were gaining momentum.

"Enough! " The Riddler lost all of his previous calm comedic lethality. He was shaking and his skin was turning red. He was no longer teasing, he was going to tear them limb from limb. He was going to drag the process out in such a way that left both of these worms squirming in eternal agony. He was going to show them what it meant to piss off the Riddler.

"On your persons is a bomb. There is enough explosive powder to blow your bodily chunks into a confetti mash of red. But like all matters I am extremely fair in my punishments." He was giggling now as if his previous bout of explosive rage had been forgotten by all involved.

"You have three minutes to punch in a correct code and be saved. Fail and you will die. I will give you one hint to save your lives: what is two plus two." He couldn't help it as the lines fell out in snickering menace. The riddle was too perfect for their fates.

The men perked up in sudden relief. The riddle was for once a solvable piece if nonsense. "Four" The men proudly answered puffing out their chests. They knew they had answered correctly and were eager to be rewarded.

"Good that's the number of digits the code has. Have fun. " He laughed directly at the teary men before turning towards Anna. Her eyes were wide and curious. "See Anna. See how I devout all my heart to you. I did not plot to hurt you. I may be the villain, you're right, but I am your villain. " To him it was a sweet expression, but to Anna it was a confirmation of his evil nature.

The Riddler nearly growled in frustration as he noticed the lack of participation coming from Anna. Didn't she realize this was all for her? He needed her to acknowledge his effort. He needed her to watch.

"I want you to watch Anna" It was a command but it came out in soft tone. He sympathized with her pain but was not empathetic to her desire to ignore him.

"Why?" She couldn't understand it. Why make her watch? Why kill more people? Why?

"Because I need you to know I'd never hurt you. Physically at least. Well in the sense of intimacy at least. I mean to say that I'm a lot of things but rapist is not one of them. " It was true. After all the hurtful words exchanged he needed assurance that they were the resultants of a hot temper and nothing more. He needed to know she did not hate him.

In his past his father had hated him for being too smart. In retaliation he stole the information to their family bank account and emptied the deposit box before running away from home.

His mother had hated him for existing. He had killed her favorite pet cat at the time by dropping it from the third floor level of their apartment to see if cats always landed on their "feet". They didn't, but he couldn't say he cared. The creature he had believed at the time had stolen away his rightfully earned affection and deserved its unkindly demise. He had watched the cat die with particular enjoyment, he did not doubt Anna would share a similar experience watching these men splatter.

"I don't want to see this. Please I've seen enough violence for a lifetime. " Edward frowned. That was not the response he was looking for. Why can't she just admit her love for me? Why doesn't she love me?

"I want you to lov- stop hating me. You need to see how far I'd go for you. I need you to see the things I'd do without you. " Anna for once recognized true pain in Edward's eyes. She saw true emotion. He had admitted to loving her in that slip-up. She was beginning to understand that in Edward's delusional mind kidnapping and homicide was the sweetest form of courtship. It was sick, but at least it made sense.

Anna knew right then that the only way to stop him, the only way to end this evil was to comfort him. He needed reassurance. He needed to know that she did not hate him. "You don't have to Edward. I don't hate you, just please don't make me watch"

It was what he longed to hear and it made him desire to drop to his knees and devout himself to her every need. "Ok." It came out in a silent whisper, but it was still just as strong a promise.

He wouldn't make her watch, but the fact remained her attackers would still be quite dead. No matter if she watched or not the results are the same: death. She would still understand that he would kill for her. There was no true loss.

"Walk with me Anna. I won't make you watch" He rubbed her shoulders in unsure movements, escorting her away from yet another of his victims. This would be the most symbolic of his career murders. Very rarely did he kill in such a bloody way, but he needed the death to symbolize to Anna what sort of man he was. And on another level the death needed to be a reminder to him of what almost happened because of his love. He wondered briefly if Harley ever had such troubles remaining in the Joker's company.

The Riddler allowed a brief sense of accomplishment and pride to overcome him as he noticed how easily Anna fell in step beside him.

As they exited the building the Riddler pulled from his jacket a detonator and quickly pressed the button in a quick flash. He held the button close to Anna's face waggling his eyebrows as the warehouse shook from the explosion. His lips quirked into an odd half smile. "Boom." The phrase weighed heavy in the air as bits of rubble raised into the clouds.

Hands reached for his shirt as the weight of the murder sunk fully in. Right now she needed something, someone to shield her from life. And a shield made of madness was preferable to one made of reality. "I just need something to hold." It was the only response she could muster for him.

His eyes widened at the sudden contact. She was touching him so close. She was sniffling and there was snot leaking out of her nostrils but still he couldn't help the swell of joy culminating throughout his being. He was happy just holding her knowing she didn't hate him. It wasn't enough but for now he was content.


	12. Chapter 13

**This is the end of our tale. The final chapter. The truth is that it is the only way the story can end-with a single question. **

**-Will You?**

* * *

Her arms were wrapped around him like eternity, encircling him in forevers. An endless relationship. A marriage of man and woman, conjoined by shaking arms. But then her hold loosened.

She stared up at him bleary eyed. Her heart felt heavy and her soul like lead. She was sinking into the grief of her fate. "Let's go home Anna." His hand wrapped around her waist guiding her away from the scene. The building was a burning heap of rubble and crumbling ashes.

"Home?" Home. She missed the rutty kitchen sink with pipes that clunked. The linoleum flooring that never stained.

"Yes, the hideout." She knew deep down that the Riddler had not meant her home but still the fact took her remaining strength away. She loathed him into exhaustion.

"That's your home, not mine." Bitterness laced her voice, turning the individual words hard with the sentiment.

The Riddler closed his eyes and sighed. He wished dearly that Anna could just let it go. So what, their first date had ended with a kidnapping. So what. She was lucky it hadn't ended with a funereal. She could be a real jerk sometimes.

"La-la-la- I can't hear you. I think the explosions and smoke have made you delirious." He placed his hands in his ears and humorously moved his head to and fro in a teeter totter motion.

As his head shifted back and forth, space to place, Anna felt a panic. She was going to be stuck in captivity with the Riddler for an eternity. A forever of death, murder, and destruction. "Please just let me go home. I've had enough. I don't think I can stand anymore deaths."

"Why on Earth did you decide to live in Gotham then?" He let out a small grin showing the upper half of his teeth. She was being silly. Gotham had the highest crime rate in the world (despite the bat's charming efforts).

"I wish I didn't." Anna looked towards the grimy skyscrapers above with an empty gaze.

"I can make that a reality you know. I'll admit it'd be hard on me, not having my contacts but". He placed his hand on his chin silently shifting through all the schematics. Furniture to bring. Items to sell. Appliances to buy. It was possible. "I'll manage."

Costa Rica was rather nice. Funds could easily be transferred. Banks were no less difficult to rob in outside lands. He could adapt. "In fact, it would be the easy. Setting up robberies. Staging heists. Ransoming politicians. No batman to stop me!" He went from pondering to ecstatic in seven seconds.

"Anna I would love to move. What do you think of Costa Rica?" He grabbed her hands and swung them to his chest.

The thought of being alone with the Riddler in a foreign country nearly had Anna hyperventilating. She'd be dead in the first week. If the Riddler's sudden mood swings didn't kill her, his criminality certainly would.

"No. There is no way in hell I am going to Costa Rica with you."

"It doesn't have to be Costa Rica. It can be France. I'm easy going. I'll adapt." He gave her a quick wink. He spoke to Anna in way that would make a bystander think that the decision to move from Gotham was her idea.

It wasn't.

"I do not want to move." She spoke bluntly in hopes that the madman would understand her meaning. She was terrified he may not. Her body quivered. She was not moving to Costa Rica.

"Oh. In that case...let's get out of here. The smoke is giving me a headache." The Riddler held his temples, sparing an annoyed glance towards the warehouse.

"I suppose I'm not getting my deposit back from Cobblepott." The building was in a charred heap. Cobblepott was not going to be happy. He was going to have to make amends later -if he wished to keep reunions civil.

"Now I know this is going to be difficult for you Anna, but I strongly advise that you don't try and escape on our ride back to the hideout."She felt his hands pull her head up from the ground firmly holding her in place. His green eyes lacked compassion and compromise.

"No signaling to other cars that you are a hostage. No desperate SOS signals. No taking off your seatbelt as we pass a cop car. I have seen it all, and I can promise you that if you try it. "

"I will throw you into the trunk of the car. I don't want to. Especially after last time. But I will." He would not enjoy the consequences. He would likely end up putting a bullet into someone's head fulfilling his predetermined role as a monster.

"So behave." He looked into her eyes beseechingly. He hoped she would not make this anymore difficult then it had to be. He hated trying to get past police on his own blasted luck. But above all else he hated being a villain especially, when he just wanted Anna to like him.

The car ride was painfully silent. Each inhale and exhale was a deafening boom of noise. Each crinkle of leather a cacophony. The rumble of gravel excruciating.

"How can you stand it?" Anna blurted the thought out without heed.

"Stand what?" He was watching the road just as intensely as he was focusing on the sounds and words Anna made.

"Being a murderer. Doesn't it trouble you?" She didn't say the words cruelly, but still Edward flinched.

"Only if I get caught." He felt a quell of guilt. He meant for the statement to be humorous not psychotic. He wished she could understand the effort he went to for her.

"You are not normal." She was not going to risk a temper tantrum on the highway by telling him he was crazy.

"I suppose I'm not." He smiled brightly at the following silence. Then darkened at the flashing thought of Anna escaping.

He could just see it happening: 'Excuse me sir, do you know why I pulled you over?' He would shake his head no. Maybe fumble for his falsified license and registration. And his real gun. He wasn't stupid.

'Why no I can't imagine why. Was it my devilish good looks?' He'd start out with a smile. Maybe a wink.

'No not at all. It was the girl hanging halfway out your window and screaming bloody murder. ' Then he'd look over his shoulder. He would see Anna gripping his window clawing her way out.

'Why officer I had no idea it was illegal to help a girl in distress recover from carsickness.' The lie would be obvious and blatant. The officer would reach for his weapon. He his.

The officer would be faster. 'On the ground freak. I'll shoot. '

"Ow" He looked at Anna dazed. His hand was crushing hers. Whoops.

"Oh sorry." His hand left hers.

"Want to play eye spy?" He was feeling nervous. He needed a game to take the edge off. He was fairly close to turning into the nearest motel and spending the rest of his life at the Super 8 Motel. The horror.

"Ok"

"You start"

Anna felt a cloud of awkwardness fill the car. She frowned looking at the passing Gotham streets. Up ahead there was a flash of neon lights. All advertising for some form of cheap entertainment. "Eye spy with my little eye something red"

"The Stacked Deck. Go again that was too easy"

"Ok. Eye spy with my little eye something ..." She nearly smiled at the sight in the spans of her window pane. "blue."

"Anna come now, try a little bit harder. That was obvious. The police car up ahead." The Riddler paused. "The police!"

He ran a stop light, hit the curve, and almost killed a pedestrian. All because he kept turning his head to make sure the lone cop car was not tailing them. He checked to see if Anna was in the car still.

She was.

"Please behave Anna. For the sake of my sanity". At least what was left of it. He was staring at the road swerving into tight corners driving forty miles over the speed limit. Anna clutched his arm terrified of death.

"I will. Just please, please slow down." He did. Reluctantly.

When they reached his new hideout he smiled at Anna using all of his teeth. Rows of sharp white edges.

Anna was feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. She had gone through this scene in one too many acts. Get kidnapped. Get rescued. Get kidnapped. It was a never ending cycle of pain.

"Welcome back Anna." He gestured grandly at the abandoned gas station. "I've missed you dearly." Anna felt tears streak down her cheeks on their own accord. Leaving slippery trails of wet behind. She did not want this. She did not want his love. His affection. His kindness. She wanted her home, the warmth of her couch cushions, the half brewed coffee. She wanted to get a thousand and one miles away from Edward Nigma.

"Now, now, no tears. I won't have it. " His hands touched her cheeks moving along the wet streaks baffled by the pattern. She was pretty even covered with sadness.

"You're safe now. No more bad men, just me" He smiled his smile with those rows of sharp rows of white. As if that was much better. Out of the fire and into the center of hell with the devil himself for company.

He held her with a cold certainty as Anna weakened and succumbed to blind hysterics. There were tears, yes. Clear streaks of blurred and youthful fear. Unnecessary acts without heed. She did not know his heart.

She likely would not. But his heart was his own. Just as any man with a will and title had the right to possess.

It was his to break, take, or give. He had broken it into fragments before. He had stitched it back into place with hate and mean acts that served no other purpose other than to hurt. He had taken his heart into a prison of darkness carrying little for others. He had become a Narcissist.

He now was giving his heart freely away to Anna. She may have refused it. Abused his honesty, his patronly kindness. He had returned her insults with quick bouts of anger and elaborate vengeances. He was not the best of men but he knew his heart.

He knew its every tremor and beat just as he knew the wide plains of his genius. He knew the way it sped at the small frightened breaths of Anna at the beginning. The way it ached when her lips curled upwards into the crinkles of her eyes. His heart was Anna's. He would be damned if anyone who held Edward Nigma's heart would not give him ownership of their own reddened organ.

Her heart was his and no amount of tears or anger could change that. He had killed women as they sat and wept. Not directly of course. The weeping came after the failed riddle attempt. He had watched anger cloud the mental faculties of supposedly brilliant police men. They died quickly in his death traps.

Anna was not some sniveling woman or angry police officer.

She was Anna. His Anna. His heart.

Ripping out one's own heart was not practical nor a plausible solution.

"Stop crying. It won't change things. I won't let you go. I will not let you escape and I will not suddenly leave you be." He pushed her hair behind her ears, pressing small hard kisses to her forehead. No more.

"Can't you understand I need you? You've become an extra body part for me, and one I cannot afford to lose." This incessant crying had to stop. The barrage of angry words must cease. He would have no more.

"What happens when all of this is over?" Her eyes were blood-shot and swollen. Edward Nigma's were white and glossy. Like a mirror that reflect what it chose and hid what it refused to see.

"Have you thought of that Edward. What happens when I can't love you? What happens to me?" The Riddler's riddle was not that he was cruel nor was it that he was evil. His riddle was that he could never see the truth of things.

His view of the world was twisted and his actions twisted with it. Gnarled choices made, as frail attempts to right wrongs and mold happiness. The Riddler was a miserable man. Unhappy in life not because of his brilliance but because of a lie.

He told himself he was a genius to hide the fact he hadn't a friend in the world to share his thoughts with. He told himself they were unworthy to disguise his anger at their rejection. He hid under the fact of his high IQ to make up for abandonment. Bank heists and robberies all meshed together a clear puzzle of a man that wanted to reshape a world to fit him. Because he would and never had fit in.

He tried to and failed. In his failure he became worse and worse with each turn. Until finally all that remained was the villain. The burnt char of past and present culminated into a solid figure.

"You will have your happily ever after. We get married have kids. Live behind a white picket fence and live the fairy tales you believed as a child. The end" He rubbed her arms up and down pretending she was shivering because of the cold and not the finality of his bluntness. He was frowning. His hands shook as he held her waist. Drawings of invisible circles covered her hips.

Anna understood this man better than the Arkham psychologists could ever hope to. He was the Riddler because the character of Edward Nigma had failed him. He cared so deeply for what others thought of him, and so he became something capable of holding their attention. As Edward Nigma he was a failure, in career, class, and life. Unloved and unappreciated. Taken advantage of, and wished outside of existence on thoughtless whims. Ignored.

So he became the Riddler to take from the people what he was owed.  
He was owed the attention his parents starved him of. Constant forgotten games, contests, and dinners. There was not a day that he could remember he had not had to tear his father's eyes from the television set by meanness and wicked scheme. A misplaced cigarette ember upon a velvet cushion. A sudden power outage. A drugged cola. He was not a nice child and his father was a cruel man. He never did forget their father son discussions about the sudden misfortunes occurring to daddy darling. Inside his room; door locked as boy and father stood away from escape and prying eyes; he always lied knowing there was no proof, and father needed none. The pain had taught him how to use his quick wits and to never reveal his secrets. It had also filled his heart with a hidden rage.

He was owed love. His childhood he hadn't the love of a mother. He was just an extra cost on an unbalanced budget. She had wanted an abortion but couldn't go through with it. He wished she had, at least then he would never hear of the misery he created when her lips became soaked with booze and mint schnapps. She had taught him to take everything he needed with no remorse and to demand attention from everyone else to prove how much better he was than them all. So much better than her.

School was a palace of knuckle dragging apes who could not understand true intellect. He was bullied and beaten for his victories. He cheated and lied his way into the top not to avoid the work, but to prove he could. He became a wordsmith and magician, the trickster of riddles. He was both hated and riddled in return with brutish attack. He learned to hate back and hurt back. Joey broke his own wintery white leg tripping in the dark of the school hallways a week after Edward's rubbery nose was broken. He learned to destroy.

Anna was a gift that made no sense in its payment. He was owed something fortunate to befall him and he would have it paid to him. His heart had never known such feelings and aches and he was going to keep it that way. He had waited long enough for his cosmic repay and he would have no more of her struggles. Had he not laid bare his heart for her? Had he not forestalled his anger for her benefit, his callous nature? Why had it not been enough?

She came by fate. By all that made him a man he'd have her by force if that was what it took.

Not immediately of course. He wasn't about to associate with the needy outcries of the desperate male. He was far better than such evils. Whether she came to stand by his side now or later was a matter of time. And time moves all the more quickly in fast forward.

He before had been reluctant in utilizing this form of fond action out of a prideful belief that his mere affection would hold her still. It was not affecting her with the desired result of friendliness and he desired her attentions now. He would wait no longer for meager smiles and humor ridden glances. He wanted what she denied, and he would have it without her consent.

"Anna have I ever told you how I became the Riddler? What led me to become the man I am today?" He began fumbling with a Rubik cube. Solving it again and again without expression.

"A little bit. But" She hated that face when it became bereft of emotion. It was frightening.

"Not everything correct?" He frowned as he messed up on a single sequence of the cube. Disgraceful.

"No." She was feeling very wary of this tale.

"You asked me earlier why I do what I do so I'll give you the formal answer. I do it because I never want to feel the way I felt as Edward Nigma." He felt a string of unpleasant emotion rise so he absorbed himself with the cube.

He began with the past. Stories of an abusive father a hateful mother. "She never wanted me. She thought of me more as a bill than a blessing." The cube was solved.

The unfortunate school days. The even worse times as an employee who overworked himself to gain a remembrance from his boss. He was always screwed instead. "He didn't appreciate my brilliance. He thought I would just silently fade into the background. I didn't." The cube was solved again. Too easy.

"That was my first time. As the Riddler you know. I started out planning to just scare my boss, then I got so mad, at how someone so stupid, could be so high up in a company of scumbags that I went above and beyond. I almost killed the man. And I will always wish I did" He wasn't even looking down at the cube, but knew it was solved yet again.

"I am the Riddler, Anna, because Edward Nigma could have never done the things I have done. I was a failure because I let people walk all over me, thinking that the longer I waited, the more patience I had, the more likely I would be remembered." He let the cube fall from his hand.

"But Anna, when I finally took what I needed, when I put on the mask I became a success. I had money, fame and infamy. My father used to call me a moron but after I switched the labels on his pill case I showed him who the real moron was. I am cruel because it works better than being an intelligent nobody surrounded by morons. I am the Riddler" He felt strangely hollow. Empty.

"You weren't a nobody because you let people push you around. You are a nobody because you think that just because someone is less intelligent than you they are less than human."

"I don't think that about you. I don't. Not really anyways. I think sometimes I really want to blow your brains out but not really. The truth is I just like you plain and simple." He fluctuated between anger and sorrow. He was too confused to pick one emotion so he remained impartial.

"I am not a nobody anymore Anna. I'm past that. Everyone knows my name, the mask, the famous crimes. I am a legend. But it isn't enough. I want something I cannot borrow, or steal. I want you." He said it with pride, power, and a pitiful need.

He reached towards her not trying to force his way in but simply making known his intent. He gripped the back of her head by a means that was not cruel but warning. Should she try and refuse him again he would not be capable of retaining the colored sea of jagged emotions crashing throughout his mental channels. Electrified waves of action and reaction.

He splayed both of his hands on the nape of her neck, thumbs relaxed warily onto her pulse point. Just in case. Should she refuse such a basic and harmless bout of human affection... he would not be caught off guard or without the proper disciplinary actions.

He leaned in towards her, his eyelids falling nearly shut. Her lips hadn't an ounce of makeup on but they were so pink, so beautiful. Her mouth came agape and his palms got sweaty.

She couldn't believe this was happening. He had begun by placing his hands around her neck to choke her and now he was kissing her with his tongue pressing against hers.

He closed his eyes fully as he felt her tongue press into his not willingly of course but as a means to push him away. He pushed harder. She would not do so not to him. Not ever.

He dropped one hand away from her neck to pull her waist and body wantonly against his. He'd stop soon; he would not push her much further. He just needed her to feel what he felt for one moment in time. Just a moment to see the insides of his brain. Well maybe not his brain necessarily, but him certainly.

He pulled away looking at her rosy cheeks and shocked expression with shining eyes. Her eyes looked fearful. She did not love him.

Her eyes held shock and confusion but not what he wanted. It would never be enough. He was always trying to prove himself the smartest, the most brilliant, the world's greatest criminal. But here, just like when he tried to make his father proud, when he wanted his classmates' respect, a mother's attention; he was failing.

He was going to have to let her go soon. He couldn't force her to love him. Batman was right It would be a failure.

Anna closed her eyes to shut out Edward Nigma's watering eyes. It was painful to see the way he looked like child. So innocent. He was breaking down and it hurt to watch.

She wished she didn't but she did. Her hand pulled at his arm, and she was holding his shoulder. She pulled him down towards her and pressed her lips onto the plane of his cheek. Softly. Gently.

It was wrong of her to encourage him, but who was not so human that they could bear to see the remaining fragments of a man's sanity flake away completely.

"Anna you don't love me do you?" He held her firmly away to hold her eyes with his.

"I'm sorry Edward but I can't" She wanted to look away. But his gaze was hard and inescapable. There was so much pain.

"Why not?" The question was guileless. Simple.

"Because you hurt people and you enjoy it." It was the root of his issues. Not everything but most of it.

"But I have saved you too. I've taken care of you better than any other man could hope to do." He pointed it out proudly and as an attempt to prove the hero. He was so much superior to the rife filling Gotham.

"Edward..." Her voice came out tiredly.

"Anna, do not lie to me. You've cared for me. There were good moments too." He would not have her pretend that he was some awful ogre who had taken the princess from the castle's stronghold. If anything he was the prince who had rescued the peasant.

She would not deny it. She had fun shopping having, him act like a comedic seven year old. He had been good to her. Not completely bad. "There were good moments. But Edward I need some sort of normalcy. I was not meant to live a life of crime or next to it.

"I have one last question, Anna. Humor me. If let's just say we met under different circumstances and I wasn't the Riddler would you consider at the very least giving me a chance?" His eyes were glowing green embers of affection.

" Edward, things are not different. "

"I know what is. Tell me what if." He petulantly held a hand at his hip and the other on his chin.

"I suppose I would have. Yes I would have." It was the truth.

"Thank you. Anna. One day you are going to remember this conversation and understand why I am the Riddler and Edward Nigma. And one day I'll figure out how to be both." He pledged it with his hand upon his heart.

"I promise" He knelt down to grab the fallen Rubik cube that often he would fiddle around with when his temper rose or his annoyance flared. He did so as a coping mechanism to prevent his temper from flaring. It prevented abuse with Anna. It had never failed to grant him peace.

"Anna I hope you can solve this one day. And I hope you will be ready." He handed her the cube and grabbed a phone.

"What are you doing?" She was confused by the phone.

"Calling the cops silly. There has been a kidnapping recently and I believe it's time for the lady to go home." He smiled at her sadly and wisely.

"You're joking. You're tricking me." There was no way he would willingly let her go.

"Hello Gotham Police Headquarters this is Edward Nigma. The Riddler. No this is not a prank you moronic oaf. I have Anna Riddel here with me the address is 1141 Jigsaw Grove. The abandoned gas station. Do not make me wait" His tone was hard, angry, and final. But it was truthful.

"Where are you going to go?" She was curious what he would do.

"I think I will wait here with you. It's funny, batman was right. You don't love me." He sat in the floor close to her an motioned for her to join him.

"No I don't. I'm sorry." She sat next to him.

"Don't be. It was my fault I came on too strong and well burnt a lot of your stuff up. Besides, I'm not going to give up on you. Not yet." He chuckled pushing his hand upon her shoulder half-heartedly.

Anna blanched.

"Don't worry I'm done with the kidnapping. I think I will try another route." He laughed harder, shaking his head.

"What's that?" She was wary. Oh so wary.

"It's a secret but I know you'll figure it out soon enough. You're smart enough." He winked.

"Promise me it won't be violent." She held his mischievous gaze. She be dammed if he kidnapped her again.

"I'll pinky swear on it." They both smiled at the gesture of their intertwined pinkies. It was an unbreakable promise that he would keep. He never lied, well mostly never...

The sirens came. Flashes of blue and red covered the concrete ground as they both walked away. Edward in cuffs, and Anna with a weight on her heart. She ended her captivity with the Riddler, but a part of her was lingering with Edward Nigma, the man with a dramatic flair and egotistic excitements. She hated to admit it but she might just miss that part of him.

In the back of the squad car Anna fiddled with the Rubik cube in silence and Edward waved at her with a wide smile, handcuffed and happy. "Don't solve it yet darling. Wait a while but don't you dare cheat. Pinky swear!"

She held up a pinky and Edward fell back into line.

Batman watched the scene with a tight frown. In the shadows he held still and silent knowing he was due for a chat with Edward.

"I know that you don't willingly wave the white flag of surrender often so what made you change your mind." His eyes were hard coals searing Edward's gusto. He felt uncomfortable as well as irritated.

"I'm loathing to admit it, but you were right and I was well...blinded. She doesn't love me." he would never admit to being wrong to glorify batman. Not ever.

"And you're going to let her go. Just like that." He knew Edward well enough to know that he never just up and quit a scheme, only utter defeat stopped him. Seldom he quit, unless on the rare occasion, his sense of self-preservation decided to kicked in.

"Just like that. But just because she doesn't love me now doesn't mean she won't love me, now does it?" He folded his chained hands into his lap smugly.

"You so much as go near her Riddler..." There it was. He knew the sudden quit was an act. His hands gripped Edward's collar in anger.

"Relax. I am done with that nonsense. She didn't love me because I was the Riddler. The big bad rogue." His hands patted batman's gloves reassuringly. The sudden contact had the bat quickly removing His hands from Edward's collar. No doubt from experience with Crane.

"Listen here bat bait, I'm reforming. I'm going back to being Edward Nigma. And then I'll finally prove you wrong." He would prove batman wrong one way or another. Maybe it wasn't how he always pictured it but it was still savory. Oh how he regretted the defeat couldn't be the sounds of anguish as a school bus dropped onto the caped crusader. Take what you can get Edward cautioned himself.

"No you won't" Batman had to force the hard line of his lips flat.

"Yes I will! I'm going to be an exemplary citizen of Gotham. A class act. There will be nothing you can do to stop me!" He jumped onto his chair holding his hands at his hips showing his sincerity at the declaration with two clearly unshackled sets of limbs. He picked the locks during their conversation. Whoopsies.

Some villains needed something other than threats. Some villains needed a reason to change, to reform, and start behaving. Edward needed a challenge. And for Edward the obsessive need to prove himself right over the batman was a great incentive. Bruce Wayne hoped sincerely he could prove batman wrong. Just once.

Batman's lips curved upwards a single millimeter. Not enough to notice but enough for him to feel.

Edward growled at batman's annoying need to be the ever righteous town crier. He was such a tattletale. There was no need to call the guards in to recuff him. Just once he'd prove that infernal bat wrong. Just once.

Two months had passed. Anna had been fumbling around with the cube for a month. She hated the moments where she would get through three rows and then blamo. Straight back to the beginning.

After so many close calls, Anna had finally solved the Rubik cube. It was a painful ordeal that took hours of free time. But that is why they call it free time.

Anna expected some grand show to appear after the accomplishment but nothing happened. She set the block down onto the front page of her newspaper in disappointment.

Something on the front page caught her attention: Edward Nigma, aka The Riddler Released from Arkham. She grabbed at the paper causing her Rubik cube to fall to the ground.

The cube smashed into various blocks. Inside the blocks folded away was a note, and a glittering object-a gold ring! A glittering ring set with a sharp clear stone that refracted the outer light of her kitchen acutely.

She opened the note carefully, halfway frightened the paper would combust. The handwriting was hurried yet clear. It read:

"I suspect in your frustration to solve my puzzle you have likely smashed the object upon the ground. I am Edward Nigma, don't look so surprised. You're predictable." He was so aggravatingly full of himself Anna nearly set the letter afire. Wouldn't he be just shocked that she had solved his dumb puzzle on her own.

"I told you I wouldn't give up on you and I meant it. I hope I have become the sort of man you would give a second chance. I hope I've at least tried and successfully reformed. If not, pawn the ring. It is worth- well I'm not really sure. A pretty penny I suppose." She bet the ring was stolen. She frowned as she realized she did not really want to return it.

"I have one last question for you- just keep the question in mind. You won't have to answer yet. Some answers will come more slowly. Think of it as the one riddle only you can solve." He was stalling. His writing was rushed and jarred.

"So" There was quite a bit of space between these lines, almost as if he was trying to dramatically forestall his question.

"Will you?-E. Nigma."Anna held the ring and smiled. She placed it on the paper, and began reading the article.

He was starting a private eye detective agency and planned on providing services to solve crimes that even baffled even the great batman. He was making a-to use his own words "a clean start". He was going to become a model citizen.

Will you? She wondered.


End file.

Batman Begins/Dark Knight, Romance