Chapter 1: Hidden secrets revealed

Authors note: Thank you for the two reviews so far! I really appreciate them! Anyway this chapter is set in the present, the past events will happen later on. I will be going into detail about how Edward Nygma starts out after the meeting with this mystery woman whose name is revealed in this chapter. Enjoy!

"Take a seat Mr. Nygma," Dr Bartholomew, the chief psychiatrist at Arkham asylum, instructed as his next patient was escorted into the office by two guards. Edward Nygma hated these so called therapy sessions, they did him no good what so ever. But the doctors at Arkham insisted he took them like all of the other inmates in the asylum to get a head start on his rehabilitation.

Edward Nygma sat down in the chair as he was instructed waiting for his session to begin as the guards departed from the room and shut the door behind them. Dr Bartholomew sat in his seat signing some kind of form, he adjusted his glasses from time to time, which was one observation Edward had noticed. He always was one to notice things. Whether it be tiny things such as the way a person's body language was displayed, or bigger things, like when someone was keeping something from him.

"So," Dr Bartholomew finally spoke placing his clip board down on his desk "how are you today Mr. Nygma?"

"Same as usual doctor, but what is one to expect in this hell hole?" Edward replied frowning as his eyes darted around the room dully. Dr Bartholomew simply took off his glasses and stood up from his chair to open a window.

"I am sorry you feel that way," Bartholomew said apologetically as he then returned to his seat next to his patient. "We do try to make all of our patients feel at home here at Arkham until their sanity is fully restored again."

"Well I don't belong here with the nut jobs like Joker and the rest doctor," Edward spoke rather defiantly.

"It is true that you are not as much of a threat to others as the Jack Napier Mr. Nygma, but you still need to stay at Arkham until we cure you of your alter ego the Riddler entirely."

"I can assure you doctor," Edward explained "there is nothing in me left to cure."

"That may be true," Bartholomew began switching on some kind of machine that was wired to Edward's chair. He headed over to what seemed like a newly installed computer screen and typed in some sort of password which activated the machine fully "but just to be safe, we decided to install a newly built system that can see your thoughts, ones that are regularly concealed during regular sessions. This machine is a lot similar to the one professor Hugo Strange built in his surgery before he got arrested for blackmailing his patients, but I can assure you, your tape will only be seen by me and only me alone."

"How reassuring," Edward muttered as two antenna like things pointed toward the headrest on the chair.

"Lay back please," Bartholomew instructed and Edward did as he was instructed. His soft brown-red hair brushed against the leather as his head made contact with the cool chair. He never usually lay back during therapy sessions; he preferred to sit upright so he could see what his doctors' were up to. Because for some reason, he never really trusted them.

"So what will this contraption do doctor?" Edward questioned as Bartholomew removed his chair away from his patient and took it over to where the computer screen was situated.

"It will merely lower your brains defences so I can see what is really on your mind, besides your riddles of course." Bartholomew explained.

"But you already know of my traumatic childhood, what more is there to me?" Edward asked turning his head slightly to view what was on the screen. Currently it was blank, but shortly it would reveal more than he wished.

"I believe there is more to Edward Nygma that meets the eye," Bartholomew spoke not turning his gaze away from the screen for a second "somewhere deep down in your mind, your traumatic past goes beyond your childhood. But you are concealing the truth with your mind which is causing tension; this may be the cause to your obsession with riddles. And with this, it may be the key to be rid of the Riddler once and for all."

"What if my past may be too overwhelming doctor?" Edward simply stated with no emotion detectable on his face or in his voice. And by the sound of things, Bartholomew's suspicions were correct. This man did have something to hide, but that would soon be revealed with his new machine which could be the key to help cure the insane. The next step in creating a safer and better Gotham city.

"Then we shall help you to conquer it," Bartholomew said rather boldly "if this machine can see what is deeply troubling you, then perhaps it would make it easier for us to cure you. It will take time and it may be difficult, but eventually you will get out of this 'hell hole' and be able to lead a normal life once again as just Edward Nygma. Now just relax and let your mind go blank and we shall see what is really troubling the Riddler."

Edward remained where he lay as he felt a light buzz from the two antennas as they sent some sort of impulses through his brain. He soon felt he could no longer fight from people entering his ingenious mind as the machine lowered his brains defences just like that. And for some strange reason, he felt completely helpless.

Doctor Bartholomew watched as the screen fuzzed and soon came to some random images that appeared in Edward Nygma's mind. The fist image to appear was one of him as the Riddler watching as the Batman valiantly fought his way through his virtual reality software. His quirky smirk obviously evident as he enjoyed watching the caped vigilante fight for his life inside a computer. The next image went to a time in his childhood when his drunken father often beat him for no reason. The poor defenceless boy often ended up with bruises and a few cuts from his father's violent behaviour. After watching other various flashbacks playing through Edward Nygma's mind, Bartholomew decided to finally press to the matter at hand which would reveal his darkest secret.

"Tell me about your time before you became the Riddler," Bartholomew instructed as Edward seemed to try and fight the machine, but it was no good. His defences were too weak to fight off the images that were now revealing themselves to the physiatrist.

"There isn't much to say," Edward lied clutching his seat tightly still attempting to block the machines brainwaves but it was too little, too late. But because Edward clenched his eyes shut he didn't see what was appearing on the screen before him.

"You had your job at Competitron and you were one of the chief game designers for the company," Bartholomew began "and there was a woman."

"How did you?" Edward's eyes suddenly opened in surprise and his eyes widened as a familiar woman appeared on the screen. Her soft medium length chocolate brown hair rested on her shoulders and a small smile crept on her features as she held some sort of completed rubix cube puzzle in her hand. Edward's heart sank as these visions were seen before him.

"Your mind is telling me what you cannot," Bartholomew explained "you have never mentioned a loved one in our previous sessions. This is definitely a breakthrough."

As the images continued, Edward's memories came flooding back to him as the visions continued to play before him against his own will. He hadn't spoken or even thought of this woman for so long, and now he was suddenly bombarded by these thoughts again, and it hurt him emotionally. The Riddler was never bothered by emotions, it was all just a mind game to him, but that was after he had went through a lot of trauma and pain and hardly cared about his past life. And now it was catching up with him again, and for some reason it shook his insides to their core as the pain rattled through his insides.

"You two were in love," Bartholomew continued as he interpreted the images before him "you settled down together in an apartment and were planning to get married."

"Please doctor," Edward pleaded surprisingly as he squirmed about his chair as if he was going under some kind of torture session "I beg of you stop!"

"She was pregnant and everything was happy," Bartholomew continued against his patient's wishes. Edward was actually showing more emotion while these images were shown before him. He obviously didn't want to be reminded of his past. "But then your boss fired you."

"Doctor Bartholomew please no more!" Edward exclaimed again turning his head away from the screen. Bartholomew decided to watch the rest of the images in silence and was rather taken aback by what he had seen.

There was this mysterious woman and Edward Nygma sharing such happy moments but suddenly the events changed for the worst. After his firing Edward went into some sort of depression and vowed some twisted revenge on his boss. The images continued on to his fiancé and him arguing over his obsession with riddles and his determination to seek revenge, and finally… the grief of the couple as their child died before it was even born. The final images were that of the woman leaving Edward and then lastly, Nygma becoming the Riddler. No wonder he kept this from everyone, his story was more tragic than everyone originally thought. So there was more to the story of an angry employee kidnapping and almost killing his boss. And not even the Batman knew of this.

Bartholomew switched the machine off and sat there in silence for a minute. Edward lay back still obviously overwhelmed by all of his past thoughts, he wasn't crying but he was obviously upset by what he had seen. Eventually Doctor Bartholomew moved his chair back over to his patient and turned his screen off. That was when his questions began.

"So Mr. Nygma, care to tell me who that woman was in your thoughts?"

"Her name is Evie Lensure," Edward explained rather sorrowfully as he sat up rubbing his head gently "she was a woman who I met at work, she was a technical consultant for the company and we dated for some time before moving in together."

"Care to tell me why you have never mentioned this woman before?"

"I felt it wasn't necessary to bring up what was left broken," Edward stated plainly fixing his gaze out of the open window. He couldn't look the psychiatrist in the eye. He felt vulnerable, which was one of the traits he considered to be an exploitable weakness. He never showed this much emotion before in any therapy session because he never showed how he truly felt around the doctors. But now all the memories he purposely shoved away to the back of his mind were dragged back to the front again. It took him a long time to get over it and now he would have to try again. This angered him but all of that anger was consumed by sadness. He always wondered what Evie was up to now. Was she married? Did she have the children he never had with her? Was she still living in Gotham? But all of these questions were left unanswered as he didn't know anymore.

"I think we have found what we needed," Dr Bartholomew replied "that machine is proving to be a useful tool to help bring out the true reasons why you became the Riddler. But the question is, why did you conceal this from yourself for so long?"

"I don't like to talk about it," Edward said "it has been so long."

"So what became of this Evie Lensure?" Bartholomew inquired adjusting his glasses curiously. Edward breathed a sigh and glanced up at the ceiling glumly.

"She gave up on me," Edward replied glumly "I assume she moved on with her life."

"I see you truly cared for her, do you still have feelings for her?"

"I don't know. We are talking about something that took place over eight years ago. Things change."

"Yes Mr. Nygma things do change," Bartholomew repeated "but if you do still claim to care for her, your rehabilitation may come sooner than you think. Like they say, anything is possible when love is involved."

"Is there anything else doctor?" Edward asked hoping to heck the session was over. He had been through enough for one day and he would rather be in his cell working on his puzzle books than experiencing anymore of this 'torture session'.

"No I believe that is all today Mr. Nygma, I shall buzz the guards to escort you back to your cell," Bartholomew then pressed a small red button on his desk obviously the buzz button to alert the guards. And soon the guards re-entered the room with those permanently drained expressions stuck on their drawn faces. Working with the insane everyday must've taken its toll on the workers here.

After they exited his office Dr Bartholomew sat there at his computer desk re-watching the video of his previous session with the Riddler. He was actually taken aback to the way Edward opened himself up after the machine got the truth out of him. His story was much deeper than everyone realized. Sure everyone knew of the jealous Mockeridge who stole Nygma's rightful cut of profits on his own game idea and then had the nerve to fire him. But the space of those two years after Edward Nygma was fired and before he became the Riddler still remained a mystery for everyone. But now Bartholomew knew the truth, he pitied Nygma even more than he originally did. He never knew he had a partner and almost had a child. But what actually happened which caused him to have a breakdown and vow revenge against his former employer which would start his crime spree as the Riddler? Perhaps if he investigated it more and found out who this Evie Lensure was, he could hopefully figure it out for himself and finally figure out the way to cure the Riddler once and for all.

…

Around a day later and after a bit of digging through Gotham's files database, Dr Bartholomew had managed to find out more about this Evie Lensure and where she was currently living. Surprisingly she was still here in Gotham, unmarried and apparently childless. She was running a small and successful computer company in Gotham city and lived in a small apartment not far from her work place. Bartholomew was actually relieved she was still in Gotham, which meant it would be easier for him to contact her.

Of all his numerous patients in Arkham asylum the Riddler was one of the most challenging yet intriguing of them. Of course patients with split personalities like Two-face and the Ventriloquist were challenging in their own ways but to find someone who took on an obsession and used it to challenge others, well for some reason it interested him. Of course he wanted to help Edward Nygma become sane again. He had tried before but his methods weren't as subtle as they were now. And of course he had opened a new gateway into the riddle of the Riddler. Never before did he know of a love interest for Nygma or the tragic loss of their child. This made him more determined to help cure this poor unfortunate man of his problems. And Evie Lensure was the key to all of this. Perhaps if he contacted her and persuaded her to attend Nygma's therapy sessions, then she could resolve past issues and eventually help rehabilitate him. Also it would benefit both of them to heal some old wounds left open before.

Finally, after tracking down her company's phone number he decided to give her a ring. Of course he couldn't rule out the possibility that she wouldn't cooperate with his idea and he would have to just do it alone, but by the sounds of this woman, she could still care for Nygma too. And if that was the case, Bartholomew stood a pretty good chance of getting her on board.

Picking up the phone and dialling in the number Bartholomew sat as his desk fidgeting with his glasses uncomfortably while it dialled. And when someone picked up on the other end of the line, he stopped breathing for a split second.

"Hello this is computers for you technical consultant Evie Lensure speaking, how may I be of assistance?"

Bartholomew didn't hesitate; he took his chance and went for it. A person's sanity was at stake her after all. "Good afternoon Miss Lensure, I am doctor Bartholomew of Arkham asylum speaking."

"Oh…" was the only reply from the other end of the line "how may I help you doctor?"

"After a recent therapy session with one of my patients I have found that you may be of some assistance," Bartholomew explained "I was wondering if you could meet me at some place tomorrow to discuss this matter further?"

"Let me see," the voice then stopped for a few moments. Bartholomew got out his handkerchief and patted his forehead with it gently as he nervously awaited a reply. She could say no, or she could say yes, and at this point it all hung in the balance. He hoped she would say yes, because if she said no, it would be more difficult to cure the Riddler. But it seemed today was his day, and finally after a long pause she finally replied rather willingly. "I could do tomorrow at half one in the afternoon. It is my lunch break then you see and it is the only free time I have during work hours. Will that be alright?"

Bartholomew grinned; he hadn't expected her to be this cooperative with his idea. He did try not to mention Nygma in the matter so he didn't put her off, but he somehow knew that she figured it out for herself. "Yes that will be fine Miss Lensure."

"You could meet me at the café on the corner of where I work; I trust you know where I work right?"

"Yes, I have the address," Bartholomew replied coolly "thank you Miss Lensure; you don't know how grateful I am for this."

"Not a problem doctor, I shall see you then."

Bartholomew placed the phone down with ease and smiled. Evie Lensure sounded like a nice woman, and if she was all he thought her to be, she would voluntarily help with the Riddler's rehabilitation. But he didn't wish to get his hopes up too high. This was after all just a meeting. She would make her final decision tomorrow, and he would be forced to tell her everything he knew of their personal matters.

This was just the beginning…

Authors note: Yes for all of you who had read my other story, you may have noticed I used the name Evie again. Well Evie Lensure was the original character for this story and is in no way connected to Evie Davis in 'Song of the Nightingale'. Now I have established that, what do you think? Please review and tell me, thank you!