Chapter 4: Couples therapy

Doctor Joseph Rutherford was a new hire at Arkham. There to "shake things up with the staff" and "ease patients" in his own words - a required hire from the mayor's office itself to "help" Arkham Asylum deal with it's backlog of patients. Perhaps that was why Director Strange had given him these particular patients. Strange hated interference in his asylum. Perhaps he knew the mayors office suspected something.

Edward Nigma was well known to play games with his psychologists until they retired from the stress or - more often than not - became a patient themselves. Deborah Scott was known as a classically volatile inmate who had already put 3 psychologists on compassionate sick-leave. They were known to associate frequently with each other both in and out of Arkham. Nobody, as of yet, had discovered how they were communicating while in separate cell-blocks. But that would come later, for now Rutherford hoped to be the first to break the wall of silence surrounding them in an explosive way. His first success in the asylum. He had devised - and obtained - special permission from Director Strange himself, to conduct a dual therapy session with these two patients.

Both were now sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs in front of his desk.

'You didn't know each other until Arkham, is that correct?' Rutherford began. Neither said a word, both seemingly waiting to see exactly what kind of psychologist he was before they decided how to react. Nigma looked at him as though he were some plebeian life form he had recently discovered that did nothing but talk - Scott looked bored. 'This is a mandatory session.' Rutherford reminded them. 'The object of these referrals is to help you.'

'You're new here, aren't you?' Edward Nigma smirked. 'I can always tell. Are we your first patients, Doctor Rutherford?'

'I am new. Does that concern you, Mr Nigma?' Rutherford asked.

'No, it'll just be more fun to break your fragile little psyche. The other psychiatrists here, they've already been brow-beaten. They know they can't win.' Edward chortled.

'These sessions aren't about winning or losing, Mr Nigma. They're about helping you.'

'What makes you think I need your help?' Edward Nigma wondered. 'I've never lost a battle of wits with you people. I am a genius.'

'Why don't I begin by telling you both what I have on file?'

'Enlighten us, doctor.' Edward replied. 'I am very much looking forward to seeing what you ingrates have written on my psyche.'

'You're crazy, I'm crazy.' Scott replied in the same bored tone.

'Ms Scott has a tendency to become quite irate and stubborn about questions pertaining to you - Mr Nigma. She deflects questions on you and your habits by means of threatening. Her last psychologist actually quoted her telling her that she would "Ram that clipboard down her throat so hard she'd be defecating her stupid questions for the next month".' Rutherford frowned. 'Did you say that, Ms Scott?'

'I said shit.' She replied. 'I said she'd be shitting her stupid questions for the next month.'

'Hardly eloquent.' Nigma admonished the smaller blonde. 'I could have come up with a better insult in my sleep. I have, in fact.'

'She was asking for it.' Scott shrugged. 'And I didn't like her. Shame I didn't get to vent all my feelings.'

'Was that the one you put in the hospital for a month?' Edward replied. 'I admit, it was an amusing distraction but I never did work out where you got the corkscrew from.'

Rutherford coughed and tried to avoid looking as uncomfortable as he clearly felt. 'Yes, well, Mr Nigma - when asked about his associates - simply referred to them as "Darwin Award winners, all" do you think that includes you, Ms Scott?'

'That is an eloquent insult.' Edward continued. 'I hope you're taking mental notes, my genius must be recorded.'

'Do you think Mr Nigma purposefully includes you in these insults, Ms Scott?' Rutherford repeated as Nigma threw him a particularly angry look at being interrupted.

'Probably.' She replied.

'Definitely,' Nigma interrupted.

'Are you not upset by that, at all?' Rutherford coached, pen eagerly on paper, ready to write down a response.

'Edward is smarter than me.' She conceded. 'And you, and everyone in this asylum. He's smarter than the top 15% of the population.' Beside her, Nigma smirked, his ego stroked at her admittance. 'I'm not upset, it's fact.'

'Is that why you allow him such leniency?' Rutherford probed. 'He has gotten you into quite a few situations that are - besides unhealthy - a danger to life.'

'No - it's because he's the boss.' She hissed.

'Interesting. That brings us to our next portion of the therapy session.' Rutherford smiled. 'I have heard many theories about your relationship by former psychologists. However, I am very interested in one particular theory - Would you describe your relationship with each other as a folie a deux?'

'A madness shared by two? Please, Doctor. You'll need to do better than that.'

'That is the most popular theory Mr Nigma. It has also been applied to the man known as Joker and Ms Quinzel, interestingly enough. If you'd like to correct the record-'

'I tolerate Dead Switch. She tolerates me.' Edward replied. Beside him, Deborah nodded. Clearly, it was the way it has always been.

'But you have both shown violent tendencies to people you do not tolerate and usually act in tandem. My former colleagues being a case in point. That speaks to me of a shared psychosis.'

'I don't riddle.' Dead Switch pointed out.

'No, but you have been known - by several witnesses - to answer them.'

'The easy ones.' Edward gloated. 'I try to teach, but you can't move past stupid.'

Rutherford cleared his throat. 'Moving on, Mr Nigma - you have a quite famous dislike of people who believe they are on first name basis with you. In fact, to date, I know of only two people who are on a first name basis with you. One is the enigmatic Doctor Jonathan Crane. It has to be said, Scarecrow is certainly on your intellect level-'

Riddler snorted as if Scarecrow could ever be on par with him.

'-The other is your associate. Deborah. Why do you think that is, Mr Nigma?'

Edward suddenly looked unhappy. Rutherford was frustrating Edward Nigma's ability to toy with him - and he hoped that this frustration would lead to some enlightening comments. Nigma's smile was brittle and he attempted to cover up his anger with a playful 'One has nothing to do with the other, Rutherford.'

'Does it not?' The psychiatrist leaned forward, over the desk as though interested. 'Please, Mr Nigma, enlighten me. Tell me how it doesn't. You tell me that there are two different tiers at work, here. Ms Scott is obviously not as….qualified as Doctor Crane. Has she perhaps earned some right to refer to you in that manner?'

Rutherford noted that Edward Nigma seemed affronted at the very thing he had just suggested. Ms Scott, on the other hand, was watching him closely for an answer. Interesting. Was it the suggestion that Ms Scott was somehow less entitled than Crane? That she, in fact, may have earned her right? Or was it the suggestion that Edward Nigma had more than one level by which he interacted with people that wasn't to do with intelligence?

'Mr Nigma, please answer the question.' Rutherford pushed. 'Ms Scott is very loyal to you, I understand. But so are a lot of other people, currently serving sentences in Blackgate penitentiary. Is it because like you, she has also been labelled insane?'

'No, good doctor,' Edward grit angrily. 'I am not playing your game. Why don't we play mine? Answer a riddle and gain a reply.'

They were so close - but just like that, Edward Nigma had flipped the session around and attempted to take control of it. Again. He wasn't the first psychologist that Nigma had used this tactic on, but he was determined to be the last. He pulled off his glasses and put them down on the desk before he sighed and leaned forward.

'How about I tell you what I think?' Rutherford smiled.

'Do what you want.' Ms Scott replied. 'It's not like we're listening.'

Rutherford was annoyed by that. These two clearly thought that these sessions were useless and merely a change of scenery. 'I believe that you - Mr Nigma - have a certain fondness for Ms Scott. You both have experienced intense and dangerous situations. You are quite able and willing to know the moves of the other without consultation, which allows you to work in perfect tandem and many people speak of your close relationship. I have to wonder if you allow Ms Scott to refer to you by your first name because you trust her - certainly more than you trust Doctor Crane. More than you trust anyone else, besides yourself. That is a deep and powerful relationship built upon necessity. You have shown plenty of willingness to allow the people that work for you to rot, when apprehended. Everyone except for Deborah. You risk your freedom often to take her with you. Do not give me excuses, Mr Nigma. You do not need her. You profess that you do not need anyone and yet you choose, consciously, to bring her with you. You rely upon her in a way you do not rely on the others in your employ and for someone of your emotional scope - that terrifies you. So you pretend it does not exist. That this relationship you have built does not exist because that would make you human. Vulnerable. But some feeling does, inevitably, bleed through. You allow her to get closer to you by the use of your first name when, presumably, Ms Scott would not be worthy. Tell me, Mr Nigma - Do you have romantic feelings for Ms Scott?'

For once in his life - Edward Nigma was speechless. His mouth worked soundlessly, attempting to form some kind of coherent argument - but nothing came out other than a high pitched 'That's - That is absurd! That is-' He looked shellshocked. Scott threw him a surprised and somewhat worried look as Rutherford scribbled his victory into his notebook.

'Did you just break him? You broke Riddler!' She accused the psychologist, with a snarl.

'Ms Scott, Mr Nigma is going through some very difficult emotions that we will discuss -' Rutherford soothed but hardly got any further before a sharpened ruler was stabbed into his hand. She must've secreted it somewhere about her person because materials such as that were not permitted in sessions.

'Nobody breaks Riddler!'She hissed as she wrenched it out. Rutherford pressed the panic button and whimpered. Blood pooled across his notes and blotter. 'When I'm done with you it'll make my last psychologist look like Picasso when compared to Pollock!'

She was interrupted by the office door being slammed open. Four heavyset members of Arkham Security burst into the room, accompanied by orderlies. Dead Switch went for the doctor's eye but was dragged back and pinned into her seat. The ruler fell to the floor with a plastic thwang as needles and restraints were waved.

'You're gonna regret this.' She warned him as they secured her.

Rutherford was clutching his bleeding hand and panting heavily. 'No, ms Scott - it is you who will regret this. I am simply trying to help you.'

'I don't need help!' She screamed as the needle was expertly slid into her arm. Seconds later, she felt the drug taking effect. 'But - you're…you will…' She slurred as everything began to get numb.

Rutherford wrapped his handkerchief around his shaking and bleeding hand and watched as security dragged the two people out of their chairs - heading for solitary no doubt.

Doctor Rutherford paused long enough to jot down a note about what had happened in the session and the violent reaction of Scott towards him for the perceived slight of "Breaking Riddler" before he moved to get medical assistance. The theory hadn't yet been proven - but it hadn't been disproven, either. Nigma's reactions were atypical of his usual self and Rutherford would be lying if he said he didn't get a cheap thrill out of winning against Edward Nigma. The man was infamous in Arkham for never complying with his therapists. Ever.

This victory did not come without cost, however. His hand twinged in agony. He didn't expect Ms Scott to react quite like that in defense of Mr Nigma but every reaction was a window into how the patient thought and behaved. It was clear that when Ms Scott judged Mr Nigma to be incapacitated for one reason or another, she would take unilateral measures outside of her normal purview to rectify that situation in his best interests.

It seemed more and more likely to him that he had stumbled into something that very few psychologists ever thought possible. The narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, and egocentric Edward Nigma and the dissociative, violent, and secretive Deborah Scott were far too close to each other to class as simply co-dependent.

There was something more.


A/N:"You're gonna regret this." Oh my god, Switch, you are a walking cliche, aren't you? Bad lackey! However, you made up for that with the Picasso to Pollock analogy. I love that analogy. So graphic.

Edward's just going to have to keep on wondering how she finds such strangely stabtastic weaponry.