AGAPE ▻ THE RIDDLER

▻ 01 | SPARKS

SPARKS
[ GOTHAM STREETS ⇆ 8:09 PM ]

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            EDWARD'S FOOTSTEPS BOUNCED OFF THE ALLEY'S WALLS, his large hands stuffed in the pockets of his purple suit jacket with his shoulders rolled back in confidence. The skin on his cheek was stained red from the hit he had received earlier, resulting from one of Penguin's men frustration at continuously answering a riddle wrong. Though, he didn't mind it much as he was already used to the men's idiotic way of coping with their lack of intelligence -- he was only annoyed by the stinging sensation he got each time his fingers grazed over the bruised skin.

A loud BANG around the corner caught his attention, earning a raised eyebrow from him as he quickened his pace, curious to find out the source of the noise. Edward's spirits were lifted once he came face-to-face with the woman of his dreams killing someone at her feet, his once sour mood disappearing once she noticed him standing there with a boyish smile on his pink lips. The lifeless body hit the concrete with a loud thud as the pair refused to break eye contact, Katrina's lips also twitching into a smile at the sight of the man she was once infatuated with, hints of a crush still lingering in her heart whenever she saw him.

            "My, my, look at who we have here." Edward playfully cooed, glancing side to side for any sign of her psychotic boyfriend. "Katrina, how nice to see you again after your lovely bar date with Dent." He expressed obvious distaste in his voice at the mention of the burned man, allowing his jealousy to show through in the privacy of their own time -- something they haven't been gifted in a while due to Edward's constant rejection towards her.

            "Eddy." The woman's lengthy brunette hair swayed side to side in the high pony tail she wore, her dark clothing clinging to every curve of her body when she walked up to the taller male. "What are you doing here?" Katrina didn't bother hiding the excitement in her tone once she stood in front of him, not seeing the harm in the tiny crush she harvested for the egotistical male if she wasn't in an official relationship with Dent.

            Edward simply shrugged, struggling to contain his own eagerness towards their newfound moment and attempting to regain his usual cool exterior. "I was just heading home, well headquarters, would you like to join me on the walk or are you too busy committing murder?" He nodded over towards the bloody body casually laying on the ground behind her, earning a short glance over her shoulder from her before she looked back up at him through her eyelashes.

            "You're being uncharacteristically kind to me." Katrina commented, recalling the previous times where he'd tell her to go away or reject her offer to walk back with him; though, she did have an idea as to where this new kindness was coming from. "Does this have to do with my lack of interest in you now?" Although, she knew that it was a stretch of the truth since she was interested in him a tad, it satisfied her to see him clench his jaw in annoyance at her words.

            "Hm." The grin on his bruised face lacked any sense of friendliness, only holding hostility, when he roughly took a hold of her arm and pulled her into him. "Whatever game you're trying to play, Kit Kat, isn't going to work. Soon enough, you'll grow tired of feigning feelings for little Harvs and you'll come crawling back to me." He spat, malice coating his every words as his anger rose.

            Edward was never fond of someone belittling him, especially when it had to do with woman -- Katrina, to be exact. Ever since Katrina had claimed to be done with Riddler, leaving people quite skeptical at first, Edward has noticed his colleagues tease him further more than usual on his lack at romance skills. The high school like teasing growing even more when Harvey and her grew closer, far closer than Edward would have liked. He hadn't liked the inferior feeling one bit and her participation in it didn't help.

Katrina's eyes twinkled with excitement at Edward's response. She was more than aware that, if she wanted, she could kill him within seconds for rough handling her but her attraction towards the man stopped her.

            "Oh, Edward." Bringing her free hand up to his face, the pads of her fingers softly running over the damaged area of his face, earning the skin under his clothing to rise up in goosebumps at her delicate touch. "No one here is faking a thing but you. You only began having 'feelings' for me when you saw me with another man. Am I wrong?" She tilted her head to the side in a mocking questioning matter, batting her eyelashes at him to further tease his problem.

            "You are." He proudly corrected her, taking a hold of her other arm by the wrist and keeping her hand in place. "You've been mine from the start and-" The sound of gun being shot behind them, a bullet flying past them and injuring the wall of the building behind them, interrupted Edward's words. They both turned in the direction of the shooter, their gazes falling on Harvey's upset figure a few steps behind them. A scowl was driven into his facial features upon seeing Edward's hold on the girl.

            "Nygma." Harvey annoyingly greeted, bringing the gun down and taking a menacing step closer to them; completely disregarding the dead man on the floor as he stepped over it. "I'm not in the mood to clean up another corpse so I highly suggest that you remove your hands off of her."

            Edward's fixed stare shifted from the gun man to the woman beneath him. "You don't seem very pleased that he's here." He whispered to her, not bothering to hide his smug tone, peaking over to where Harvey waited on him to let go of 'his' new girlfriend. The Riddler unwillingly complied to Harvey's wishes, dropping his hold from the girl and stepping away from her -- much to her dismay. "And I know you're not." He confirmed before turning on his heel, ready to commence his brainstorming on a plan to get her away from him.