Silence is the New Riddle

【29】

Edwards P.O.V.

I stood just out of view of the living room greatly perturbed by what had just transpired. I'd had a feeling that Scarecrow was back ever since the argument we had a few days ago, but now I was completely certain. Hearing him talk to himself was the icing on the cake. I walked down the hall pausing to check on Selina and Ridley in the kitchen.

Both were seated at the kitchen table eating sandwiches. Ridley was picking at her sandwich while Selina devoured hers. Ridley looked up when she noticed me and gave a lopsided grin before raising an eyebrow.

I blinked before shaking my head and backing away. I didn't need any more of that thank you very much. I'd thought that Ridley was a very nice well put together girl, but I realized that she was far from it.

Why had she so violently teased me and why did it get under my skin? My ears reddened as I went through what she'd told me.

Jon could be your perfect test subject on the matter. As if I were the one that conducted experiments on people.

Why had she chosen then to tease me? And why did Jon get so worked up about it? He wouldn't have gotten so worked up about it if he wasn't hiding something. He must've thought that Ridley knew something and he didn't want me to know it. The question remained: What was Jon hiding and what did Ridley know?

I needed to find out the answer, I could not sit back and let this one little thing past me by. I was the Riddler and I was the smartest being on the planet. I knew everything, but this time, apparently I did not. I'd have to remedy that and find out the truth.

Making my way up to my room, I pondered what Jon was hiding. Definitely something big since Scarecrow came back, he wasn't trying to poison Gotham's water supply again, was he? I had told him that it wouldn't have worked, but like most of the time, he didn't listen.

Sitting down in front of the many computers I had, I racked my brain and tried to remember if I told not to do something recently. I came up with nothing. It's like he did those things just to spite me. He was so reckless and impulsive that it was annoying, if not a bit admirable. Impulsiveness wasn't something I could do because my very nature went against it. Even when I'd taken the hit from the Batarang for Jon, I'd quickly weighted the options and knew that keeping Jon out of Arkham was in the best interest of the rest of us.

Even though he'd yelled at me afterward, Jon still insisted on patching me up; albeit yelling at me the whole entire time. I ghosted my hand across my side, thinking about it. I'd never allowed anyone to call me stupid before, it was an insult to my amazing intellect, and yet Jon had called me that no less than 20 times when he'd yelled at me, and I had let him. If that didn't confuse me I didn't know what would.

Then again, I'd always let Jon get away with more than I did most people. It was our friendship, something that was unique in our world. Friendships were seen as a weakness, for Batman could use it against us. It had always been an 'I'll support you but the minute you get into trouble your on your own' type thing, which tended to leave one lonely. You knew you never had a true friend, just someone who could potentially stab you in the back later. I knew that from personal experience.

Shaking my head I focused on the computer, imputing my password (The dark Religions are departed et sweet Science reigns. All lowercase, no spaces), and started to work.

Planning out the next mission was more complicated as I had to incorporate Ridley into the mix. I wanted it to be grand enough for her debut, but also within her comfort range. I knew she didn't like the idea of any sort of robbery, but what was a good mission without one? Another issue I ran into was that I wouldn't be able to be there due to my stitches. This was a personal decision, one that I did not take lightly. No being able to be there to watch out for her was frustrating to think about, but I'd be more helpful if I didn't have to worry about my injuries.