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.
