{A/N: The next chapter will be longer, sorry it took so long*}
Elena slowly stroked the brush down her hair, brushing it with ease as she stood in front of her bath-room mirror. She sighed softly when she felt tired again, those things that had been said to comfort her the night before had taken their toll when she came home. She had noticed many things that didn't seem right when she walked into her apartment. How empty it looked even with all the things inside of it. The quiet that lurked around teasingly, as if suggesting at any moment their might be someone there. She had expected someone to be there, Batman…Riddler…anyone.
But there was only her, like before the riddles had started, and the questions that were unanswered. Her light brown eyes reflected her tiredness, impatience, and something else she didn't really expect…excitement. It was overdramatic she thought, of how easily this could be. She scolded herself softly because of this too. She looked away for a moment, and then heard something clatter onto the floor. She glanced back over her shoulder, a moment later back at the bath-room mirror, and saw the Riddler.
Brown hues widen in awe, and a soft gasp, Elena's gasp, was heard. She backed away from the mirror; her hair-brush had slid out of her hand and onto the bath-room counter. She turned, no longer seeing the Riddler. She quickly walked out of the bath-room into the hall-way. She nearly jumped as she heard a knocking at the front-door. Her gaze went down the hall-way, as around the corner was the front-door but who could be here at this hour. She wondered if she should go and see, or just stay where she was. She also wondered how someone, the Riddler, make her feel this way. She was annoyed by it, frustrated by this lack of confidence at the moment. It made her feel like a damsel in distress, which she was not…most of the time. There was that time when Batman did come swooping in and saved her, telling her he'd be around to make sure she was safe. She shook her head, her lips turning into a slight worried frown, glancing to the side for a moment.
The knocking was heard again. Elena sighed softly, running a hand through her hair as she made her way down the hall-way. The carpet she walked on tickled her feet, which made a small smile then appear on her lips but she quickly replaced her expression with a blankly look, shaking her head again as she walked over to the front door. She stopped for a moment, and looked at the door then sighed softly, walking over and looked through the small hole on it. There was no-one at all, just the light of the hall-way outside of her apartment. She un-locked the door, opening it up and looked out to the left and right of the hall-way. Her feet bumped into something a moment later, she looked down only to see a basket with a fruit, and a letter. There was a bright green ribbon on top of the basket, neatly tied and seemed to go well with the basket, fruit and envelope there in front of her.
"No way…" She whispered as she stared at the fruit basket. He couldn't have sent her a fruit basket. She had just been kidding about that. Well, then this was very interesting. It wasn't right for her to feel this way…No, no, no…it was new for her to feel this way. That sounded much more reasonable, at least it did from her point of view. It wasn't how it was supposed to be…It was so much more surreal, things that she didn't need right now. Yet she wanted more…Why she even thought about actually taking the suggestion from the Riddler. She gasped as if in shock, shaking her head at that thought. Elena didn't want to be that way. She had a job, an apartment, even a library card for the main Gotham downtown library, and she was thinking about actually considering being one of Riddler's Riddlemen, well…Riddlewomen? It felt like a rush to her really, all this coming at once within only a few days too.
Her fingers twitched slightly at the odd excitement she felt when reaching down, quickly snatching the letter as if afraid of it. She stood up straight again, her eyes on the fruit for a moment then flashed down onto the slightly worn out paper in her hands. She turned it over, only to see a bright green question mark on it. A small sigh escaped from her lips, even as she cleared her throat, trying to push away the thought of riddles once again, closing her eyes as she took in a deep breath
"This is stupid…It's not even…" She stopped herself from saying anything else. Elena let her hair go in front of her face then, as it tickled her skin though. She grazed her fingers over to the question mark for a moment, before turning it around, and opened the envelope. She reached into the envelope, only to feel a small folded paper. She placed the small letter over the envelope, un-folding it. There was a delicate hand-writing, as if someone took their time writing it. There weren't any eraser marks, or smeared smudges from the pencil shavings on it.
"Your next riddle lies within a riddle." Elena read the words from the paper, her eyebrows slightly narrowed as she read. She felt confused, and sighed. Another riddle…Correction, a riddle she had to find to find her apparently actual next riddle, that wasn't what was on the letter she got. It was so confusing. She shook her head, her lips pushed out in annoyance "Great. Just wonderful…A scavenger hunt around Gotham." It was only a whisper but it was sharp with frustration as she turned around, leaving the fruit, and the basket it was in, outside of her apartment. It was only two in the morning, only that…and she was going to actually go out to find her next riddle. She could have face-palmed herself then, shaking her head as she felt like an idiot "This should be interesting." She whispered, and slipped on her jacket, leaving the letter and envelope on one of the arm-rests on her couch.