Chapter 6

Place: A secluded cabin in the

Rocky Mountains.

Time: 10:00 A.M.

            Edward Nigma sighed in exhaustion as he sat behind

the desk within his home office, the kids were in school or

day care, his lovely wife had already left for work in the

surgical ward in Central City's hospital, and he was already

starting his day as the mysterious CEO of Labyrinth Publishing.

Life was perfect for the former criminal known as the Riddler...

except for the fact that his goddaughter was off brooding

somewhere, the father of his goddaughter would soon be paying

a visit to his happy home in order to meet his wandering,

unknown child, and finally, he had a unconscious Gotham City

detective on his couch in the living room. The said detective,

who was a possible suitor for his goddaughter's affections,

fainted from shock upon gaining knowledge of certain

individuals as well as being thrust into a world that he

merely thought was legend.

            Throwing his pen down in disgust, he muttered,

"Damm Black Canary and her big mouth...hmph! Ten to

one she'll be the star attraction of this week's "Heroes

and Villains!" Edward Nigma smiled in amusement at that

particular thought, and he smiled even more as he thought

of the comic strip's author...

            *************************************************

Flash Back

Time: Twenty Years in Gotham...

Place: Selina Kyle's apartment...

            Edward Nigma glanced across the kitchen table at

his five-year-old goddaughter, Helena Kyle, as she drew

seriously on a blank piece of paper. Selina was out

prowling for the evening, and she did not want to live

her daughter alone, nor did she wanted her to find out

what her mother did part-time...so entered one Edward Nigma,

godfather extraordinary! The Riddler was the only one who

knew that Selina, also known as the Catwoman, had a daughter...

and Selina wanted to keep it that way! The Riddler could

not blame her for her reasoning, if anyone found out about

Helena...well...the thought was not one worth completing.

The only reason that Edward knew about Helena was because

someone had to help Selina out with the child, and he was

the only one sane enough among the rouges who could do it! 

Though the Riddler had to admit one thing, even to himself...

he would give his very soul to find out who was the father of

Helena Kyle...Selina refused to say! And the Riddler had a

sneaky suspicion that it was someone of great importance

in Gotham City.

            Smiling at the little girl's concentration, the

Riddler turned his attention back to his work...coming

up with riddles to baffle the Batman and his followers.

He was working a job with Two-Face within the week, and

he had to come up with riddles that would suit both him

and his partner in crime. Suddenly a small voice

interrupted his thoughts, "Uncle Eddie, look

what I made!"

            "What did you made, Sweetie?" he asked as he put

down his work, earlier that evening Helena told her mother

and godfather about the wild tales that were going around

in school about Batman, Robin, and the other costumed

individuals that were running around Gotham. The Riddler

thought the tales that Helena repeated to them were amusing,

but Selina merely frowned in worry for some unknown reason.

            "I drew Robin," she replied in excitement, and then

handed him the drawing. As soon as her godfather saw the

drawing, he burst in a rage of laughter. There on the paper,

perfectly drawn, was a cartoon of Robin, the Boy Wonder.

He was swinging beneath the Gotham skyline wearing nothing

but a mask and a baby diaper; he was also sucking on

a pacifier.

            Gasping for breath, the Riddler chocked out,

"H-Helena, this is...words do not even describe it!"

            Helena smiled with pleasure as her godfather managed

to control himself and looked down at her in pride. The

Riddler remembered how Selina refused to send her daughter

to a special school when it was discovered that Helena was

extremely gifted, particularly in art. "I want her to grow

up as normally as possible," Selina said at the time; so

the school system made a compromise with Selina...her

daughter could attend classes with her peers, if Helena

attended special classes after school, on Saturdays, as well

as during the summer in order to encourage as well as educate

her in her unique gifts. Selina agreed, so Helena attended

kindergarten in order to maintain social contact with children

her own age and 7th grade level classes on the side. After a

moment of silence, the Riddler finally said mischievously as

an idea began to form in his mind, "Helena, it is my opinion

that you should draw and write your own comic strip! Your

unique view of heroes and villains is quite extraordinary!"

            Helena beamed with happiness as she asked, "But who

would publish it?  Mommy does not like me to meet grown-ups

very much, and I do not know if she will even agree to it!"

            "Oh, I think she will," replied her godfather,

"After I talk her in to it...as for who would publish

it...why I would sweetheart!

            ***********************************************

End Flashback

            'Six months later,' Edward thought to himself,

'and with Selina's blessing, "Heroes and Villains"

debuted under Helena's pen name of  "Tabby Knight," it

was also the debut of Labyrinth Publishing. At the

time, I started the company as a lark and a possible

means of gaining a little money legitimately...now the

company is one of my joys in life, along side Helena,

my children and wife of course. Of course it doesn't

hurt to know my company beat "Luthor Comics" into the

ground. (Chuckle) Lexy was furious when that particular

company of his went bankrupt! It was a good thing he

could not find "the mysterious CEO of Labyrinth

Publishing or Tabby Knight," before he got impeached

by Congress.'

            Suddenly, Riddler's thoughts were interrupted

by a groan from the living room, "Well, well," he

muttered as he reached for his cane and limped into

the living room, "Sleeping Beauty has finally awaken."

                        *********************************************

            Reese groaned as he sat up on the couch, he look

up at the wall clock, "Damm," he muttered to himself,

"It nearly noon!"

            "And you have not had a single thing to eat all

day," stated Edward Nigma as he came into the living

room and slowly sat down in an old-fashioned rocking

chair, "Feeling better, detective?"

            "No," replied Reese and then he pleaded, "Please

tell me I'm dreaming...please tell me that Helena is not

the daughter of the Batman!"

            "You're not dreaming," Edward told him, "But if

it makes you feel any better my reaction was quite

worse when I found out that Helena's father was indeed

the Batman."

            Curious by this statement, Reese asked, "So,

what was your reaction and who told you?"

            "No one told me," replied Edward as he remembered

the incident, "I found out entirely on my own."

            "How?" questioned Reese.

            Edward Nigma smiled as he dove into his memories,

"A scowl, when Helena was five, she got into a terrible

argument with her mother about publishing her work."

            "Publishing what?" asked Reese with curiosity.

            Edward waved his hand, "That is an entirely different

story my boy, anyway, Helena gave her Selina a furious scowl

and told her darkly, 'Mommy, we can do this the hard way or

the easy way...either way I am going to get what I want!'

Her mother at this point became extremely pale, and I myself

thought the scowl looked quite familiar...though I could

not place it at the time...a week later...

                        *****************************************

Flashback

            The Riddler sighed as he waited impatiently for the

Batman to walk into the trap that he and Two-Face has set

up in order to get rid of him once and for all. Currently,

they were both sitting in what passed as living room in

Two-Face's hideout, watching over their hostages that they

used as bait in order to capture a bat. The hostages, who

were Barbara Gordon, and her boyfriend Dick Grayson, were

currently tied up and gagged on the floor, they were also

furiously glaring at the two villains. While they were waiting,

the Riddler decided to use the time to draft his plans, within

his mind of course, of his future publishing company as well

as to ponder on the pen name that Selina came up with for her

daughter. The Tabby part he could understand, but the Knight?

He was certain that it had something to do with Selina's

mysterious lover, but where did it go in this unusual

puzzle scheme?

            "Your awfully quiet tonight, Eddie," interrupted

Two-Face from his thoughts, "You aren't you excited of

finishing off the bat?"

            "Oh, I am! My dear friend," reassured the Riddler,

"But a personal puzzle of mine, as you know, that has been

plaguing me for quite some time... another piece has been

given to me, and I am just trying to figure out where to

place it in the whole puzzle scheme."

            Two-Face chuckled in amusement; "You have been

working on that puzzle of yours for the past five years!

Do want us to help you with it?" Two-Face asked.

            "No, but thank-you for the offer," replied the

Riddler, "This is one puzzle that I must solve on my own."

            "You'll have plenty of time to solve it back at

Arkham," growled out a mysterious voice as a figure

stepped out of the shadows.

            "Well, if it isn't the bat!" yelled Two-Face in

excitement, "What took you so long? Riddler's puzzles

couldn't have slowed you down that much!"

            The Batman scowled at the villains as he said,

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way..."

            But before he could finish, the Riddler fell out

of his chair with a sudden crash. Slowly he got up, but

he was very pale, and stared at the Batman as if he

seen a ghost.

            Concerned, Two-Face asked while keeping an eye on

the Batman, "Riddler! Are you all right?"

            But the Riddler did not answer him; images came

into his mind as the puzzle that he had been working on

for so long...finally came together...

                        Two similar dark scowls...

                        Two familiar jaw lines...

                        Both saying: "We can do this

                        the easy way or the hard way..."

            "Oh, dear lord!" muttered the Riddler softly,

"It can't be..."

            Two-Face was extremely worried by now, and took

his eye off the Batman as he gave the Riddler his full

attention, "Eddie!"  But the Riddler did not answer his

friend; he just stood there in shock.

            Two-Face's distraction was all that Batman need

to knock the villain out cold, as he quickly went to

untie his protégées, he kept one eye on the Riddler in

case he tried anything, but the Riddler was deep

within his own mind...

                        Two familiar pairs of blue eyes...

                        Two brilliant minds...

                        Two personalities that tend to

                        brood at times...

            Later, as the police prepared to lead the two

criminals away, the Riddler came out of stupor long

enough to pause in front of Batman and asked, "Batman,

may I ask you a personal question?"

            Raising an eyebrow, the Batman replied, "You may,

but I won't guarantee that I'll give you an answer."

While he said this, he thought to himself, 'The Riddler

has been acting unusual, even for him tonight...I wonder

what is on his mind to cause him to act like this?'

            "Do you have any talented artists within your

family tree?" questioned the Riddler with apprehension.

            Batman frowned at the question as well as in

thought, finally he answered, "Yes."

            The Riddler closed his eyes in resignation,

"I feared you would say that," he muttered.

            Confused, the Batman asked, "Why are you

asking me this Nigma?"

            The Riddler opened his eyes, and stared at his

nemesis; the Batman shifted uncomfortable due to the

fact that this was the first time that the Riddler

stared at him in pity, instead of anger. Finally the

Riddler answered, "Batman, I dare not say for there are

too many ears...and before you offer to take me

somewhere more private I ask you that do not do that...

it...it...is better for you to not know...it is a great

burden the knowledge that I have...I dearly wish that

I did not gain it, and remained ignorant of it."

End Flashback

            **************************************************

            "I went to Arkham of course, and escaped a week

later," Edward Nigma said as Reese ate microwave TV

dinner, "I confronted Selina with my suspicions, and she

confirmed them. We decided that both of us would leave

Gotham in order to protect Helena as well as to avoid

contact with both Batman and his band of merry men as well

as to avoid our colleges in Gotham's underworld. We moved

to Central City, Selina retired from our line of work in

order to raise Helena, they both lived outside of the city...

as for myself I stayed within the city itself in order to

gain money to help run the new publishing company that both

Selina and I started...as well as to drive Central City's

protector...the Flash... up the wall...literally! Oh...that

was fun! And when old Bats came into Central City in order

to catch me and haul me off to Arkham...well I just stayed

with Selina and Helena until he left town. I just couldn't

fight with my old enemy anymore because he was the father

of my little Helena."

            Reese shook his head, "Amazing, and the Batman or

the Flash couldn't find you when you were not in the city?

Where did Helena and her Mom live?"

            "Why here of course!" exclaimed Edward with a wave

of his arm, "Both the Flash and Old Bats placed themselves

in my shoes whenever I left the city, that was were they

messed up! They should have placed themselves in Selena's

shoes, but they or anyone else never knew that Selina lived

here...no one but me. Helena attended a nearby school, and

Selina ran our company with the money that I uh...borrowed.

Soon though the extra money became unnecessary due to the

fact that Helena's comic strip was a big hit with the public!

Everything was perfect until..."

            "Until what?" asked Reese as he finished his meal.

            "I'm afraid that is story for another time," whispered

Edward with pain, "It involves Selina's murder...it's very

difficult to tell. If that clown didn't capture me, Selina

would have never returned to Gotham! It...it's my fault

t...that..."

            "It wasn't your fault," said a voice behind the men,

they both jumped in their seats and slowly turned around.

            A blue-eyed, dark-haired with hints of gray man

stood before them, he wore a white t-shirt and blue

jeans, "Bruce Wayne?" Reese gasped out, "What are you

doing here?"

            Riddler, on the other hand, sighed wearily as he

answered for the other man, "He's looking for his

daughter, detective."

            "I thought Helena's father was Bat..." said Reese,

but he trailed off as came to the obvious conclusion, "

You...you're Batman!"

            Bruce Wayne did not pay attention to the young man,

his entire attention was on the Riddler, "Where is she?"

he growled out to the former criminal.

            Edward Nigma replied with a sigh as he rolled his eyes,

"Straight to the point as always, nice to see you haven't

change Bats. I don't know where she is at the moment, she left

toward the woods this morning to find a private place to brood."

            (Crash!) Both men looked down at the floor at the once

again unconscious detective, raising an eyebrow at the Riddler,

Bruce asked in his darkest Batman voice, "What is his problem?"

            "He has had one too many shocks in the past few days,"

replied Edward with a sigh, "Would you like some coffee, my

old friend while we wait for your lovely daughter?"

            Bruce Wayne merely grunted his reply in the affirmative

as he picked up the unconscious man in order to place him on

the couch in the living room.