To My Hope (Edward Nashton x Vigilante!Reader)

No More Lies

You don't know what to do with yourself when the ropes fall to the hard floors, under The Riddler's intense stare. You try to avoid meeting his eye, and focus on the room you're in instead. Maybe if you get an idea of where you are, you'll know the best way to get out?

And the best way to get out is if he's not watching your every move, expecting you to do something to get yourself out of his grips. If you act like it's alright, in a way, listen to what he says, let him do his thing, he'll let his guard down?

After all, now you know that The Riddler who's been terrorising the city is a man you'd met on several occasions, someone you'd never suspect, seemingly defenceless and innocently nerdy and quirky. But that man you'd spoken to in the diner is hard to imagine hidden under the dark greens of his mask and jackets. It doesn't make it any easier to communicate with him, to be around him, in such a vulnerable position. Hope's never vulnerable.

The Riddler waits for a moment, expecting you to say something, but when you don't, he fiddles with his mask covering his face, fixing his hair and putting his glasses back on. He shrugs off the coat and keeps the hoodie underneath it on, for the time being, tugging off his gloves and taking your hand in his. You flinch at the sudden contact, but follow him warily as he leads you into the main room, which is just as cluttered and dark as the ones connecting to it. A laptop is left open at the main, large table, where dozens of news articles about The Batman and Bruce Wayne catch your eye. Your breath hitches as you stare at the crazy wall, a pang of worry pinching you as you wonder if he's connected the two of them. If he knows what only you and Alfred knows.

"D-don't be offended," Edward, The Riddler, seems almost ashamed as you take in the scene before you. "They get this wall, but I wanted Hope to be a little closer to home. Here, I'll show you."

And so he leads you onwards, past the tiny bathroom and the smaller window space opposite it, to what you presume is his bedroom, books and papers all over the floor and mattress. When you look up and catch sight of the hundreds of Polaroids, just like the one in your scrapbook, newspaper reports with 'Hope' highlighted in a faded green, with various riddles about love and hope and light and angels written in that same ominous writing as those cards. Hearts have been drawn in dark, inky pens, and you feel yourself go cold briefly, staring at the biggest proof of his obsession over you.

This isn't right. None of this is. It can't be, can it?

"Do you like it?" he asks with a dopey smile, and your eyes widen as he boldly hugs you from behind, the warmth from his embrace making you shiver. His lips are dangerously close to the skin of your neck, and all you can manage to do is stay looking straight ahead, at the wall of Hope, not a spot of bare walling to be seen amongst the chaos collected. "I like it."

"Edward," you breathe, turning away and out of his hold to finally face him. He perks up at the attention, and you try to ignore his lovestruck gaze as you continue as evenly as you can. "I like that you like how I try to spread hope to people. But you're taking it away from them. Killing people, corrupt or not, isn't the way to do it. I'd like it a lot more if you stopped, okay?"

Edward blinks in confusion, before his smile widens. "Oh, Hope... you don't understand yet. But you will, I promise. I'm doing this for you too, you know. Hope is beautiful inside and out, but for those who are beyond saving, there's nothing left to do. They don't deserve you. But we're going to make a real change, and start all over again. We were always meant to be like this. I've been invisible for so long... but being here with you, right now, and you're looking straight at me... well, it makes it all worth it."

You're not getting through to him. This is pointless.

"What kind of change are you talking about?" you ask sceptically, but The Riddler simply giggles at you fondly.

"I can't ruin the surprise, angel! But we'll get to watch it all together, safely. I've got it all planned out. Why do you look so worried?" he asks in twisted earnestness, and you stop yourself from stepping back as he winds his arms around your waist, pulling you in closer to give you a hug of comfort. "You know I'd never lie to you. There's been enough lies in this godforsaken place. You'll be completely safe with me, okay?"

It's not okay. But you can't say that. Not when you can do anything about this right now. You don't want to set him off.

"You've seen me for who I truly am, and that's as The Riddler," he tells you, pulling away enough to look at you properly. "And you've seen me unmasked. This," he punctuates, brushing a finger against your own mask, and you tense defensively, "isn't the point. But I thought, if you'd like to, you would take it off for me. I wanted you to do it, so I left it alone. It means a lot more if we do this together, doesn't it?"

"No," you find yourself saying, much to his surprise. "No, Edward, I can't do that."

"It's alright," he nods understandingly. "You need a little more time. I can wait. I've waited this long. I just wanted this short time with you before the pigs come to finish the job. Not long now..."

The Riddler glances at his watch, then at the window, and you follow his eyes apprehensively.

"Whatever you're planning-"

"Ssh," he coaxes you, leaning in to rest his forehead against yours, your faces so close together that his warm breath tickles your skin. You know you need to step away, shove him away and fight back, do something while you can. But you're frozen, and the tiniest part of you, one that you're immediately denying and ashamed of, is the fact that it feels quite good. 

It's only when he suddenly slams his lips on yours that you grip his arms, attempting to push him off. But he's stronger than he looks, and keeps going, your back against a wall as Edward lets out broken hums of pleasure, trying his hardest to deepen the kiss. When he pulls away, you look down in shame, a blush dusting your cheeks.

"You can't fight what's meant to be," he says sweetly, nuzzling against your face as you stand there, stunned. "Don't lie to yourself, darling. You know I love you... and you know you could love me back."

Commotion from outside interrupts him, and you blink out of your daze, looking over at the window. Edward's expression goes scarily blank, and you frown.

"What?"

"Your phone battery is in the top drawer in the room you were sitting in," he tells you, not looking away from the window. "We're running out of time here, my Hope, but I'm not done."

You leave the room, heading for your phone quickly. Who do you call first? Bruce? Gordon? Could they track its location?

As you root through his messy heaps of things in the drawers, feeling for the battery, a near slam makes you jump, turning to the door. The door that's now closed and locked behind you, with The Riddler on the other side.

"Edward!" you raise your voice, trying to open it, but to no avail. "Edward, let me out now!"

No answer. Just the scuffling of things being moved around and the window pushed open. You sigh in annoyance and worry, grabbing the battery and quickly putting it back in, watching as your phone starts up.

There's a BANG.

There's shouting from outside, and another door from the apartment closing.

And then there's silence.