And now… Fillmore.
Today's episode: The Caesar Criminal
Act 1: The New Kid in Green
"Hurry, Fillmore." Ingrid Third said helping her friend and partner through the crowd to get into the auditorium. "We don't want to be late."
"I'm going, Ingrid." Fillmore said before the two of them finally made it to the stage. They sat along with the rest of the elite students of X Middle School. "Told you we'd make it. Still, I don't see why you wanted to be here in such a hurry. You didn't really like it when it happened to you."
"I know." Ingrid said. "Look, I kinda know what the new kid is about to go through. I just want to sympathize with him." She looked across the stage and groaned. "Speaking of bad memories."
Cornelius Fillmore followed Ingrid's gaze and shared her disgust toward a certain blonde and pompous-looking student.
"Brad Parnassus." Fillmore groaned silently. "Still upset at him?"
"He tried to have me expelled on my first day here." Ingrid said. "And what's worse, he got away with it by making his assistant take the fall. So yeah, I'm upset at him. I'm just surprised he hasn't made another move yet."
"Don't let him get to you." Fillmore said. "Right now, we're the only ones who see him for what he really is. We just have to stay on our toes around him."
After a short while, the Principal Folsom herself stood before the student body letting them all quiet down. "Good morning, everyone. First off, I'd like to introduce you to a new student that I am confident will be an intellectual force here at X Middle School."
"Hmm. This sounds familiar." Ingrid commented quietly.
"I see him becoming a valedictorian when he puts his mind right. I see him contributing his mind to our most intellectual activities. Students, I give you Edward Nashton!"
The crowd applauded when a new student with brown hair walked on up to the stage with his hands tucked into the pockets of his green jacket. He stuck one hand up to push up his black-rimmed glasses. The rest of his clothes consisted of a blue pair of shorts, black shoes, and a black shirt. His green jacket had a detail on its left side in the shape of a purple question mark with golden outlines. One look on his face indicated he wasn't entirely happy to be there.
"All right. Welcome to X Middle, Mr. Nashton. I'm Principal Dawn Folsom, and it's time for the ceremonial razzing." Principal Folsom said.
Edward turned to his principal in confusion. "The ceremonial what?"
"It's just a little tradition we have here at X." Principal Folsom said. "Everyone tends to be mean to the new kid, so we let all the students get it out of their system by throwing harmless foam balls at you."
"What?" Edward gasped. He looked out at the crowd of students seeing them readying their balls to be thrown. "That's counter-productive."
"Relax. It'll all be over in 120 seconds. After that, your time here at X Middle School will be present."
"But…"
Before Edward could say another word, the rain of foam balls immediately began. For the next two minutes, foam balls were hurled right at the new student. Each second that passed, Edward only got angrier. Soon enough, the balls stopped being thrown leaving him visibly upset.
"Well, now that all that's out of the way," Principal Folsom said, "Is there anything you'd like to say, Mr. Nashton?"
Edward's eye twitched before he took a big breath. "Actually, I do." The principal handed him a microphone which he used to address to everyone at the school. "Riddle me this, X Middle School. It can be cracked. It can be made. It can be told. It can be played. What is it?"
Edward stayed silent for a minute waiting for someone to say something. But after ten seconds, no one spoke up with an answer.
"Wow. No future presidents here. The answer is… a joke. And that's exactly what this school is." That comment made everyone gasp in offense. It made all the other students on the stage and the principal look at him nervously. "You heard me. The principal gives you all two free minutes to bully me, and you expect me to be thankful for that? The fact that you actually think this dissolves bullying is already giving me a migraine. I expect you all to be smarter than that. Otherwise, it's no wonder someone as smart as me has to pick up your slack. Oh, and for the record, I hate the last name 'Nashton'. From now on, I would like you all to call me Edward Nygma. You all have my pity, and may God have mercy on your souls." He dropped the microphone and walked off the stage with everyone staring at him with judgement.
"Wow. Someone's a drama queen." Principal Folsom said. Although, Fillmore and Ingrid had their worries.
"I can't believe he said all that." Said the forensic expert of the Safety Patrol, Karen Tehama. "Was that Ed guy always like this?"
"I just checked him out myself." Said Karen's partner, Joseph Anza, as he held up a manilla folder. Most of the Safety Patrol gathered around his desk to hear him out. "Apparently, Edward Nashton was expelled from his last school for a series of riddle-themed pranks."
"What does that mean?" Fillmore asked.
"Well, from what I could tell, all his pranks could only be disarmed by solving a single riddle that came with them. For example, the quarterback of his school's football team found a stinkbomb in his locker and the only way to disarm it was to type in the answer to a certain riddle into the computer it was hooked up to."
"What was the riddle?" Ingrid asked.
"Not sure if it matters, but it read, 'I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?'"
"Ooh! The planet Earth!" The guess came from the Safety Patrol's photographer, Danny O'Farrel. "I mean, there are billions of eyes, millions of ears, and it does have hemispheres, right? I learned it in geology class."
"O'Farrel, that only covers half of the riddle." Vallejo said.
"Hold on." Ingrid said rubbing her finger on her chin. "I'm guessing the answer is… a brain?"
"Hmm. I can see that." Fillmore said.
"Well, in any case, the quarterback didn't solve it and got stank for it." Anza continued.
"Look, everyone," Vallejo said, "We can discuss this Ed guy's past whenever, but right now, I have a surprise for everybody." Everyone turned to their junior commissioner with interest. "I'm pleased to announce that we've got a new member on the squad with us."
"We do?" Fillmore asked.
"It's not that Edward guy, is it?" Tehama asked.
"No. This is a girl." Vallejo placed his hand on the office doorknob. "People, I'd like to introduce Renee Montoya."
Vallejo opened the door and a girl with black hair and a dark-blue jacket entered the room. She waved to everyone. "Hello."
"Well, hi." Ingrid greeted. "Nice to meet you."
"Glad you could join." Fillmore said.
"Thanks." Renee said just as Vallejo gave her an orange sash to wear. "And may I just say, I am excited for my first case."
Suddenly, a loud girl's scream was heard just outside the window. Everyone jumped when they heard that.
"Might be sooner than you think." Tehama said.
Everyone ran just outside to find a blonde girl staring at the wall. Vallejo approached her.
"Daisy Grant? What's up?"
The blonde girl pointed to the wall which everyone looked at. Much to their surprise, they saw a set of large words written in green across. It was read in a confusing pattern.
"KFDJX TXP EBOB"
Author's Note: Welcome to a whole new chapter. I've been binging Fillmore for a couple of days and I always loved mysteries. Not only that, but I've always wanted to make a fanfiction about the Riddler. So after collaborating with Lord Zeppelin, I've decided to go ahead with this.
Now, this is meant to be just like the episodes, with the opening narration to introduce the episodes and all. As such, when I'm done with an episode-worthy case, I'll upload them three chapters at a time. So obviously, the next case is going to be a while.
I do plan on using original cases as well as some canon ones that Edward Nygma would be involved in. If anyone has any ideas for original or canon cases, let me know.
Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.