THIS CHAPTER SEEMED LIKE IT TOOK FOREVEEEEEER! Gah, Ok, Sorry I had like the worst problems with this mofo-ing chapter. I had my rough draft all ready to go and didnt save it... (Internally screaming at past self)

Yeaaaah, go me. ANYWHO, It's all good and doney-done-done now.

Puzzling predicament

Xelia couldn't help but walk close to the red haired man leading her through the dark; she had gone from arms linked, to her practically hugging the man's arm. He was the only thing stopping her from getting lost, falling into a trap, or getting eaten by whatever might lurk in the dark. He had led her away from the main room the other rogues were in and steered her into a pitch black hallway; much like The Scarecrow had, minus the black light section and Poison Ivy. She could practically feel the man's ego swell at her close proximity; men loved the feeling of a girl depending on them, so Xelia heard. With The Riddler being quite the narcissist, he was far from any exception; to think Harley wanted to set the two up on a date was far beyond crazy. Xelia had to wonder how he knew where to turn and how he knew where they were going, but she supposed that he was counting his steps or some other form of memorization.

"Here we are." He announced as they arrived to wherever he was trying to get to.

"And you know this how?" Xelia asked dryly, momentarily forgetting who she was talking to. To her relief he just smugly laughed.

"I'm The Riddler," he said, as if it really answered Xelia's question, "I know everything." Xelia mentally mocked his words as the room was suddenly flooded with light. She blinked a couple of times, urging her eyes to adjust as she stood next to The Riddler. The room was quite small and half of it was taken up with a large security monitoring system. "You can let go of my arm now, unless of course you don't want to." It took Xelia a moment to process what exactly he meant, before she realized that she was still hugging the man's arm. She quickly let it go with a small apology, and proceeded to look around the room a bit more. It was quite scarce, minus the large machine on one wall and a large plush seat; which just so happened to be dark green leather. She had to wonder if The Riddler had placed it there himself or if it was just a large coincidence. Said man sat down in the plush chair, the leather squeaking under his weight. Xelia just gave a mental shrug as she slid down the wall, not quite sure what exactly she was supposed to be doing; The Joker wanted to use her as bait for Batman, but somehow got commandeered by The Riddler, as to what he was going to use her for was an enigma in itself. She did feel safer with him than she would have with The Joker, especially when comparing the body counts between the two of them, but not by too much.

"Riddle me this," he said slowly looking down at her over his steepled fingers, "when you first see me, you instantly recognize me. I show you exactly what you show me. I can fill you with happiness or bring you to tears. My gaze can help you see better. My face helps you improve yours. What Am I?" Xelia stared blankly at him for a moment, wondering what had spurred him to suddenly ask a riddle. She mentally thought it over, wondering if she should answer it or not.

"I think it's a mirror." Xelia said unsure, suddenly regretting that she opened her mouth when his smug grin grew wider. He leaned forwards a bit, almost like Xelia was about to tell him a secret.

"Very good, I suppose you didn't fry your brains out with all that hair dye after all." He said happily, making her wonder if he even realized that he had just half insulted her. "Let's try another one, shall we?" She wrinkled her nose a bit, she wasn't good at riddles at all. They were such a pain to do back in school, and usually she just ended up asking a friend the answer.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm really not very good at riddles, Mr. Riddler." Xelia said as she rested her chin in her hand.

"It's Edward Nygma, and I certainly don't expect you to know all the answers." He said, taking a moment to smugly adjust his bowler hat a bit.

"Right, well," She opted not to say his name out of both sheer awkwardness and the fact that she would rather not be on first name basis with yet another rogue. "I'm not very good at riddles."

"Non-sense, here let's try this one. I have split the one into five. I am the path that breaks and gives. I am the bow no man may bend." He leaned forwards once more, anticipating her answer, while Xelia sat and repeated the riddle quietly to herself. Oh, how she hated riddles, puzzles, and math.

"I honestly don't know." Xelia said hoping that the man wouldn't press her any further to answer it; of course he did the opposite.

"You're not even trying." His brow furrowed behind his purple mask as he crossed his arms. Xelia was strongly reminded of a child whose mother just asked them to share their favorite toy with a sibling. She sighed a bit as she thought harder about the riddle, running a hand through her hair. Her eyes widened as she realized the answer.

"Oh, a rainbow." She and The Riddler both smiled. Xelia smiling that she had actually solved the dumb riddle and The Riddler smiling at the fact that, for a few moments, he had someone to ask his riddles to. The rest of the rogues would all either ignore him, or tell him to shut up whenever he would ask one. Jonathan Crane would sometimes answer them whenever he felt like it; even if he didn't answer them he still listened to him at least. Xelia gave a small cry as a alarm suddenly went off in the small room, The Riddler just calmly turned towards one of the many monitors.

"It looks like our bat friend has finally managed to find his way here." Edward stood up, motioning for Xelia to do the same, and walked towards the door they had entered through. Xelia gasped a bit as they stepped into a mirror maze, there was a mirrored version of her and The Riddler at every angle.

"Hey!" She cried out suddenly as her wrists were seized by The Prince of Puzzles, and quickly handcuffed to one another.

"Now, now, it's all part of the game." He smugly answered as Xelia started panicking more with each passing moment.

"Game?" Xelia was beyond frightened now, the idea that she was just a pawn made her stomach turn. Instead of answering, The Riddler simply strapped her cuffed wrists to a sort of cross beam above her head and proceeded to leave her, returning back into the room they had come out of. Xelia's mouth dropped as the door shut, leaving her staring at her own reflection.

"Well, well, Batman, so nice of you to join us." The Riddler's smug voice echoed throughout the maze through a series of speakers. Xelia closed her eyes, trying her best to block out the crazed man's stupid banter with Batman, attempting to think of happy thoughts.

She had no idea how long she had been there, but her arms were completely numb from being suspended as they were. She would hear footsteps come close to her, only to fade away in a different direction. Her head hung resting on her chest, as she tried to will herself to not cry.

"Poor Batman, are you growing tired?" The Riddler laughed coldly.

"Not a chance, Nygma." Xelia's head shot up when she heard the gruff reply.

"Batman! Can you hear me?" Xelia's voice was shrill with panic as she cried out to The Dark Knight.

"Batman, this way." A young voice said, making Xelia raise an eyebrow.

"That, my dear, is cheating." The Riddler's voice was deep and murderous, chilling her to the bone. Batman and Robin rounded an unseen corner and saw the rainbow haired girl half hanging there by her cuffed wrists.

"You're here." She said quietly, holding back tears of joy; she'd never been so relieved before.

"Well, Batman, you've managed to find our little friend, but can you manage to solve a riddle too? This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town And beats high mountains down." Batman stood thinking the riddle over for a moment while his sidekick picked the locks to Xelia's handcuffs.

"The answer is time." Batman answered, as Xelia's wrists were set free. She rubbed her wrists and quietly thanked the young man.

"Well done, Batman. The answer is time, speaking of time, can you manage to make it out in time? You have five minutes to escape the maze before the bomb goes off. Good luck!" Xelia couldn't believe how happy he sounded, as if he was announcing that he just got a new puppy, opposed to announcing there's a bomb in the place.

"Come on!" Batman yelled to Xelia and Robin as he led the way. Xelia followed as closely as she could to the Dynamic Duo, but she lacked their physical endurance. Still she pushed on, ignoring the burning sensations in her lungs leg muscles, following the two men through the many twists and turns of the mirror maze till they reached the opening of the maze, then kept running through the funhouse and out onto the boardwalk.

"Robin, take the girl home, the police have most the others in custody." Batman ordered quickly as the trio stopped running once they had put a good distance between them and the bomb. If there even was a bomb, that is. Xelia had no idea if The Riddler would actually blow up a section of The Joker's territory, but she sure wouldn't hang around to see if it was a bluff or not.

"What about you?" His sidekick asked, not wanting to leave Batman by himself. Batman glanced sideways at his young partner.

"I'm going after Joker." He answered simply before heading towards another section of the boardwalk. Xelia just watched him disappear into the fog before turning towards Robin, who was looking down at her. She just smiled at him and shrugged sheepishly a bit.

"Well, let's get going." He said leading her towards the boardwalk entrance, which was now swarmed with cop cars and police tape. Xelia awkwardly shadowed the young vigilante through the hoard of police men and women, when something caught her attention. Harley was handcuffed, being not so gently led by a stout police man; she wasn't going quietly.

"Didn't anyone teach ya how ta handle a lady!" She shouted and thrashed about. The two girl's eyes met and both sets of eyes widened.

"Skittles..." Harley sounded like she was in disbelief that she, of all people, would side with the law.

"Harley, I-" Before Xelia could explain her situation to the clown girl, Poison Ivy's voice cut in.

"Don't even bother. Remember, Harls, she's not one of us." She said from her spot in an open police car. Xelia opened her mouth to say something, but there was nothing to say. Ivy was right, Xelia was not nor will she ever be a rogue. She just looked down at the ground as she walked behind Robin; Harley, Ivy, and The Scarecrow were in custody, thanks to the two caped crusaders.

"Here you go." Xelia looked up to see a helmet being offered to her, looking past the helmet she saw Robin with his own helmet standing next to a sleek looking bike. Xelia had never been on a motorcycle, and she had always been brought up with the idea that they were nothing but danger.

"We're going to ride this?" Xelia asked, alerting him of her skepticism. He just shook the helmet at her a bit, as a sign to shut up and get on the bike; which she did with some difficulty, the bike was quite tall. She shuffled around behind him, attempting to get comfortable. She quickly told him the address to her apartment as she strapped the helmet on her head.

"Ok, now, hold on." He yelled over the deafening roar of the engine. Xelia raised an eyebrow, lightly placing her hands on his hips, unsure how and where she was supposed to place her hands. The young vigilante gunned the bike causing Xelia to shriek and quickly wrap her arms around Robin's mid-section. Her brow furrowed as she heard him laughing at her.

"You did that on purpose!" She accused as she buried her head in his back, attempting to keep the cold air from stinging her.

"Did what on purpose?" He asked acting innocent, making Xelia just roll her eyes. They quickly arrived at her apartment, which really wasn't a surprise considering how fast the bike was going. Xelia swore that once he was gone, she was going to kiss the ground.

"Thanks for everything." Xelia said as she handed the helmet back to the red and green clad young man.

"No problem." He said smiling at her; Xelia smiled back fighting off a small blush.

"Well," Xelia said as she rubbed her arm, "I'd better get going. I'll have a lot of explaining to do to my best friend, and I've got to feed my hamster." She babbled, shuffling towards her apartment complex a bit. The dark haired boy just smiled once again at her.

"See you around." He said before he once again gunned his bike down the road. Xelia swallowed as she mentally prepared herself for Naomi's reactions and questions. The words "Xelia, you've got some 'splainin to do" filtered into her mind.

Arrg, that was a long chapter. For anyone who's yanking out their hair over that last scene, have no fear... Xelia WILL NOT have any romantic interest in Robin. Welllll… she'll have moments, but not outright romance lololol.

Also, The Riddler got away. Blast that riddle loving man, Lol.

I really hope that I got him in character, let me know if I did or if I need to improve his character in any ways.

Lots of Love!

PS: I can imagine that Eddie totally brought his own chair to the party. He wouldn't have sat on Joker's gross moldy funhouse chairs; his suit is too valuable.