Reviews:

fallendemon248: Harry does indeed turn into a bat and chill out with his bat friends.

The Viking Stranger: I've not forgotten, it's just not my main focus.

HowlnMadHowie: Yes.

Jostanos: Thanks

Chapter 44 -

Edward Nygma, AKA 'The Riddler', was sat in his hideout, he was modifying his equipment while thinking about his encounter with the Batman. When he had first heard about the Batman he had dismissed it as a fictional story told by a bunch of idiots, but when enough of these idiots started talking about him he realised that the Batman did exist, even if he didn't believe over half the stories that he heard.

He had heard so many stories about the Batman, he had heard how he could apparently fly, turn into a bat, move faster than any normal man and a whole horde of other stories. Edward did not consider himself to be an idiot like the rest of the absent-minded, incompetent civilians of Gotham. They could shoot out as many stories about the Batman as they wanted, he would not believe any of them until he got proof, real proof. As far as he was able to see the Batman simply had access to advanced tech and used them to make it look like he was some supernatural force of nature, some scary creature of the night.

When he had come face to face with the Batman he had felt like he finally understood why the Batman had the reputation that he did, the man was quite intimidating up close, not that he would admit that to anyone. If he had been anything like any of the other regular simpleminded thugs then he might just have brought into some of those stories, but he was smarter than that. Once up close he saw that the Batman had been wearing armour, no magically all powerful being would need armour. Those blank 'pure white eyes' that he had been rumoured to have looked more like lenses to him, something which further supported his theory of the Batman simply being a normal human.

Edward already had begun compiling a list of people who he suspected could be the Batman, though it was quite toilsome and was taking a considerable amount of time given the various variables he had to factor in, such as the fact that someone who could not afford to have armour was still capable of stealing it. One person that Edward had suspected to be Batman was Harold 'Harry' Wayne.

Edward remembered attending the same school as Harry Wayne, Edward had gotten into the school purely thanks to his brilliant mind, he hadn't been just gifted the opportunity to go there like the other rich brats. At school he had mentally sorted people into groups such as popular and unpopular. It didn't take him very long to realise that he fell into the second category, how could he not have? To him he felt like the other children were just simply mindless drones obsessing over the latest toys and whatever stupid faze was currently taking over the nation. Edward had more important things to do.

Harry Wayne was the opposite of Edward in so many ways, one example being the fact that he was far more athletic than Edward was, as evidenced by the fact that the boy had always been chosen first when they were choosing people for teams during sport. The boy came from a rich family - the richest family in Gotham in fact and arguably one of the most important families in Gotham's history - so was naturally going to be more popular than the poor nerd that was Edward Nygma. But it wasn't just his money and the fame that came from being a member of the Wayne family that made him popular, even if those two were big factors.

Many had been hoping that by getting in good with Harold Wayne when he was younger they would be able to take advantage when they were older and get jobs in Wayne Enterprises, Edward was glad that Harold proved himself to not be a complete idiot and was able to quickly realise that these festering little parasites simply wanted to take advantage of him, he remained polite but had kept his distance from them, allowing them to be friends but not quite close enough that they would be able to ask for big favours. Harold Wayne was blessed with irritatingly good looks, meaning the female population of the school were obsessed with him, Edward had lost count of how many times he had heard girls talk about how they wished they could get into a relationship with Harry, amongst over things they wished they could do to him.

Harry's girlfriend, Selina Kyle, had also taken the spot of prettiest girl in school, so when those two officially got together the whole school had started talking about it, meaning Edward would have to hear about it even if he didn't want to. And it wasn't enough that Harry had to have been popular, athletic, rich, good looking and famous. No, he also had to have a 'nice personality', meaning he was made even more desirable by everyone around him. The teachers thought he was an absolute delight to teach while the many female members of the school population saw him as prime boyfriend material. And then there was one more thing, the cherry on top, he was smart.

Edward did not for a moment believe that Harry was on the same level of intelligence as himself but he did know that the boy was far more intelligent than the other dunderheads in school, in class he had been nearly able to answer as many questions as Edward himself. But Edward was always able to see that Harry had held back in school, there were moments were he clearly looked like he knew the answer but he didn't raise his hand. Edward always wondered why, but eventually he gave it up as the boy disappointingly being more interested in other useless pursuits than at doing good in class.

For a brief moment Edward Nygma truly did wonder if Harold 'Harry' Wayne was indeed the Batman. When that moment passed he returned to his work, dismissing the idea of Harry being Batman. How could he be? Wayne was just an arrogant brat who was born lucky, why on Earth would he want to be Gotham's resident vigilante?

"Any luck?" Selina asked Harry as she walked down into the batcave. She paused when she saw Harry was putting his suit on, "So...I'll assume that that is a yes." She said.

"Yep," Harry nodded, having all of his suit on with the exception of his helmet which he was holding in his hands. "one of Riddler's goons was able to go free escape at the same time as Riddler, I've managed to track him down and am going to pay him a..." Harry trailed off thoughtfully. "...what's the word I'm looking for?" He hummed.

"A visit?" Selina raised an eyebrow.

"A beating, that's it! I'm going to go and pay him a beating." Harry nodded before he put his helmet on.

"Aargh!" The man screamed out loudly before finding himself suspended in the air, held up by Batman who was holding him with one hand wrapped around his throat. He had thought that he'd be safe staying in the abandoned warehouse that Nygma had set up for him, apparently not.

"Where is...Nygma?" Batman asked, putting more pressure on the guy's neck.

"I...I don't know!" The man blurted out, scared to shit not just because Batman had broken into his safehouse, but also because he really was not sure if Batman was going to kill him or not. "He...he...check the crate! Check the shipping crate!" He said before being thrown onto the floor.

"Which crate?" Batman asked, pressing a boot down on the man's face, causing him to remember there were about ten crates in here.

"I...the one by the wall!" He cried out, pointing to his right side. "Ny...Nygma left something in there, he said somebody would be around asking for him...and...and to give it to whoever it is! That's all I know! Please!" He begged.

Batman stayed still for several moments before he stunned the man and walked towards the wall he had pointed at. He kept his guard up because if it looked like it could be a trap then it probably was. Batman examined the wall, he scanned it with his detective vision and found there were no threats inside. He opened it and found a barrel with an open laptop on it, attached to the laptop was a note that said 'turn on'. Batman took a moment to once again check for traps before he moved forwards and turned on the laptop.

The screen shifted into a green background as the laptop turned on, the first thing he saw was a bar for him to type in a password. On the top of the screen was a question mark, under the question mark was a a riddle.

'I don't have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now I'm white and empty. What am I?'

Batman paused for only the briefest of seconds before he wrote down his answer into the bar.

'Skull'

He entered the password and the laptop screen changed into a blank, black screen. A few seconds later it changed again, this time it showed a live feed of none other than Edward Nygma, The Riddler, who was sat in a chair, facing towards the camera. Dressed just like the last time Batman met him, except his hood was down.

"Greetings and salutations, Batman! My armour clad friend!" The Riddler said in a cheerful voice, as if he was incredibly glad to see Batman.

"We're not friends." Batman said, inwardly slightly disbelieving about how the two of them had apparently switched roles. A while ago it would have been himself reaching out and trying to befriend Nygma.

"Ah, I suppose you're right." The Riddle said with a dramatic sigh. "After all, why would I befriend a soon to be extinct animal? Did you like my riddle, Batman?" He asked with a grin on his face. "I'm sure you did, the answer - as you know - is skull, the fact that you were able to get it right proves that you likely have at least a quarter of a brain in yours. And by that I mean your skull, just saying in case I'm talking too fast for you. Still, I wouldn't get too happy, that was a fairly easy one, if I do say so myself."

"Why are you doing this?" Batman asked, not at all amused.

"Because you got in my way, you may believe that you're the dark demon of the concrete jungle that is Gotham, but I - Edward Nygma, The Riddler - am your superior, and it is high time you learn who the real king is." Riddler said in an arrogant voice.

"I will find you." Batman said, his voice clearly implying that when he did something unpleasant was going to happen.

"I look forward to watching you fail; you won't find me until I am ready for you to do so." Riddler chuckled. "Now, let's start with the game."

"I'm not playing games, Nygma."

"Tough, because you WILL play this one, you caped cretin." Riddler said, enjoying hurling out insults while being far out of reach of Batman. As far as he was concerned this just supported his belief that the Batman was a normal idiot in a mask, what supernatural or mythical force would patiently listen to him insult them without retaliating? "Now, Batman, I've left a...'little surprise for you' at a random Gotham building."

"What building?" Batman asked, he was tempted to ask what the surprise was but he figured Riddler wouldn't answer, plus he'd find out what it was as soon as he discovered the location.

"No, no, no, bad Batman." Riddler tutted. "That is not how this works," He said in a sing song voice. "let me explain it to you, I'll use small words so you can understand. You...big, bad Batman...get riddles. You...answer riddles...if you get riddle right...you get location. Was that okay?" He asked in an innocent voice, though the effect was ruined by the smirk on his lips.

"When I get to you, I'm going to hurt you." Batman told him.

"Oh, is the savage upset?" Riddler said in a baby voice. "I'll get on with it before you start throwing a tantrum. Your first riddle is this: 'It can't be seen, can't be felt, can't be heard, and can't be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, and kills laughter. What is it?'."

"The dark." Batman answered.

"Very good, Batman. I guess you probably liked that one." Riddler said in an amused voice. "Now, for your next riddle: 'What is it that given one, you'll have either two or none?'." Riddler asked, Batman paused and didn't immediately answer. "Oh, what's wrong Batman? Too hard for you? Perhaps I should..."

"A choice." Batman cut him off.

"I beg your pardon?" Riddler blinked.

"The answer to your riddle, it's 'a choice'. I'm giving you one now, surrender and go back to prison, or I find you and take you back myself." Batman replied.

"You're a very dull little vigilante, aren't you?" Riddler snorted. "There's a reason that riddle was the last one, it is in fact I who is offering you a choice. I won't deny that you're physically superior to me, though so are gorillas so don't get too happy over that fact. I can't match you in physical combat, I admit, but you can't match me when it comes to brains. YOU have a choice, stay out of my way and continue to enjoy your years beating up the mindless street thugs of Gotham and leave me to my business or don't, and get in my way and see just why I am better than you."

"You haven't given me the location of your 'little surprise'." Batman said in an impatient voice.

"Alas, you choose poorly," Riddler said with a small sigh, understanding that Batman had just given him his answer. "very well, Batman. Don't say I didn't give you a chance to walk out of this, the location of my little gift should come up on the screen now. Do you see it? Can you remember it?"

"Yes." Batman answered, memorising the location.

"Then that's our dreadfully boring conversation done, for now. I'll be seeing you soon." Riddler chuckled before the screen went blank. A long silence filled the air, it lasted several seconds before Batman broke it.

"Dickhead." He said before he turned and walked off, his cape billowing behind him.

A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. Once again I am sorry that it took so long to update, I have no excuses...except the following:

1) I do have a life outside of fanfic, which includes working at my job.

2) I have other stories that I am focusing on.

3) I was having a bit of writers block while writing this chapter

I hope you guys like the way I portrayed Riddler, if not then please tell me (nicely) how to do it better. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review.