A Mafia's Riddle

Chapter Three {The Cover-Up}

A loud, unknown beeping filled the dark room and Riddler Sat up and stretching, his back popping like it has never done before. He noticed he was full of energy and had woken up...happy? He had slept better than he had in years, but why. And why was his room so dark?! Usually at least one of his inventions or plans was glowing to some degree...he went to stand up and noticed he was still in his clothes from the day before. He frowned at that...usually he was much more tidy than this...minus when that violating Nyssa or Walker or whoever she was woman had him as her puppet...but him and Ed don't talk about that time...he stood up and walked towards his bathroom, or where it should have been. He hit a wall far sooner however and let out a soft groan, feeling alone the wall until he found something different. "I was going for a light switch, but a doorway might work..." He opened the door and entered a different room, this one had some light coming from a small window. Riddler squinted in the dim light of a bathro-THIS WAS NOT HIS BATHROOM! T-TH-THIS was HER bathroom...had-had he just stayed the night with his devoted?! He looked at the sky out the window...it was about 5:30-6am. Not yet sunrise but light enough to see. Riddler quickly dropped to the floor and crawled to her bedroom door, opening it and leaving her room as silently as possible. Shutting her bedroom door and silently running out her front door (locking it behind him too!) and sprinting into the woods from before not stopping sprinting like he was running for his life...until he stopped where the limousine had been....and...was?

He looked inside to see Oswald asleep on the seat, with Zsasz sitting beside him watching and holding a finger to his lips, and Butch was asleep in the driver's seat. He opened the door and heard Oswald say, more asleep than awake. "Is Ed back yet?" To which Zsasz told him 'yes, go back to sleep." Then after Zsasz woke Butch up and told him to drive them home, he looked at Riddler with a "tell mother what you did" look on his face. Riddler actually blushed dark enough for the assassin to see it before turning to face the window...until Oswald started cuddling his arm. Then he blushed AND looked out the window. The ride home was silent with Zsasz staring at Riddler with a Knowing smirk. Riddler stayed silent only picking up Oswald and taking him to his room, changing him like he has thousands of time through out their lives, and tucking him in  before heading to his own room and stripping down to his boxers, he fell onto his bed, and was asleep before he made contact with the soft blankets and pillows.

SEVERAL hours later, Riddler woke up, disoriented and groggy. He looked at his clock to see it was 7:47pm. He shot up out of his bed only to collapse on the floor. "Well, aren't WE in a predicament...?" "Ugh you..." Riddler groaned when he heard Ed's voice. He looked over to see one of his half finished inventions on the floor, the side facing him a plain, smooth, reflective sheet of metal....with Ed's smirking face and upper torso. "What do you want Ed?! I'm busy!" Riddler snapped at his alter ego. Ed just raised his hands "I'm just here to make sure you don't break MY pretty face, smashing in into the floor because you've gone over 36 hours without and food or water." Ed stated plainly...causing Riddler to realize that Ed was right. His body was showing signs of lacking nutrition of some kind. He stood up, slowly this time, and slowly moved towards his door before stopping and going into his bathroom. Ed looked at him curiously from the mirror. "What exactly are you doing right now?" Riddler didn't even spare him a glance as he shed his clothes, putting them in the hamper nearby and turning on the hot water, having put the plug in the tub previously. "...What...?" Ed asked incredulously, as if he didn't quite understand the scene in front of him...like his brain couldn't process the information. "If you must know Edward...I am taking a hot bath to help relax my sore and stiff muscles. You know, just as well as I, how our stomach is...if we are stiff, sore, uncomfortable, and or achy(which I am experiencing ALL of those things...) we will not be able to eat. I need to relax my body so I can relax my stomach. If I am to eat, shouldn't I be ABLE to and WANT to...?" Not waiting for an answer he turned back to his task at hand, adding some Epson salts to the tub to help him relax.

As soon as the tub was full enough he turned it off, got in, sat down with his back to the wall and hia eyes on the door, laid back some, and closed his eyes while trying to empty gim mind of all thoughts. And he succeeded...for approximately 9 minutes and 32 seconds before Ed spoke again. "Sooo, how is she? Last time I saw her myself she was sad. But I do know we woke up next to her this morning...was it by accident, or are we?" Riddler growled softly in anger at his other side's irritating need to bother and annoy him. "She's fine." He sighed and rand a wet hand through his still dry hair, sending small rivulets of water to cascade slowly down his face softly. "No she's not fine. The night before last, she was crying  again this time, and singing. She's alone, she has no family, friends, or lover."  He debated whether or not, heavily leaning towards NOT, but he decided to still tell him. "I overheard her boss call her today and tell her she's fired. She just paid this month's rent, but she knows she doesn't have next  month's... She's saying she has to move. I may actually have a shot at being able to take her away from all of the hell she goes through... But I don't want to bring her here and taint her innocence." He looked at Eddie in the mirror "And besides...what could I offer her anyways...I'm a criminal and she is an innocent ...she was doing the dishes when I was there that night." He looked away again, he didn't want to see whatever stupid face Ed was going to make at him, and dreading whatever moronically snarky and yet witty thing he'd spit at him...but he was SOOO prepared for what he EXPECTED the former forensic examiner to do or say...that he wasn't prepared for what Ed ACTUALLY did... "Is she okay? God! Are You okay?!" Unfamiliar with his softer side looking at him with anything but contempt... "Um...y-yeah. She has someone she's going to call who will help her with all of this, she said she'd call them after she was done with the dishes. Which was why I left. She went into her room and locked her door." He looked back the the mirror to see his counterpart looking at him with pity, sympathy, and ...concern? He looked away as Ed fell silent and disappeared from bothering Riddler. After he had soaked for about 45 minutes, he rinsed off and got out, getting dressed and slowly headed downstairs to get something to eat. The hideout was quiet for once, and he was unsure if that was good or not. He walked into the kitchen, heading for the fridge when he heard a voice from the couch in the darkened living room. "Nygma?" Riddler soun around as a phone flashlight came on and blinded him for a few seconds. While his eyes were closed from the light the voice turned on a light and came closer. So when he opened his eyes again, all Riddler saw was Jeremiah's face REALLY close to his. Causing him to let out a yelp of surprise before he swung and hit his friend, as hard as he could...in the face... Twice. And then once again...for good measure...

}} Author's Note {{

-Ed's Thoughts / Singing / Words
-Riddler's Thoughts / Singing / Words
-Anna's Thoughts / Singing  / Words
-Hattress's Thoughts / Words / Singing

My wife and I recently discovered Gotham (ik ik we are so late to the party!) and we fell in love! We are diehard fans of:

-Riddler/Ed(Ed is baby)
-Penguin/Oswald(also baby)
-Zsasz(please be Daddy!)
-jim(baby. Don't hurt the Jim!)
-Bullock(omg we need a Bullock)
-Jonathan(baby needs help)
-Butch(teddy bear)

((We HATE Theo Galavan!!!!!!))

There's more but..... we are also obsessed with the Arkham games. I have played and beaten Arkham Asylum. And Arkham Knight (including getting diamond achievements).