After being questioned by the police, Joan had driven Penelope back to her apartment and told her to get some rest. Penelope had laid in her bed for over an hour before realizing that rest wouldn't be possible. Her composure, once renowned by Arkham staff and patients alike for being unshakeable, had been rattled by her encounters with Nigma and with Kellerman. It had been shattered completely when Kellerman had been killed. Even now, as she drove towards her office, her hands were shaking. While she'd never considered Kellerman a friend, his death was as senseless as it was unexpected. Why was he killed? Was Nigma's presence at the event that evening connected somehow? Did Sharp hire him because he feared something like this would happen? Penelope considered these questions and sighed. No, sleep tonight would not be possible.

Once she reached her office, she parked her car on the street and walked into the building. Joan would frown on this, but Penelope often came here at night, when dreams of the past got to be too much. She always felt better when she had work to occupy her mind. As she walked down the darkened hallway, she noticed a thin crack of light under her door. Penelope stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that she hadn't left her light on the last time she'd been here and it was far too late for it to be the cleaning staff. Someone was in her office.

A cold chill went down Penelope's spine as her mind raced with the possibilities of who could be in her office. She hadn't seen any other cars parked on the street as she'd pulled in. She also couldn't hear noise coming from her office. Perhaps someone had been there and left? Without turning off her light? She was never that lucky. Penelope reached into her purse, only to realize that she had left her cell phone on her bedroom dresser. But, she did have her taser. Steeling herself, Penelope pushed open her door.

She was greeted by the sight of Edward Nigma sitting on her desk with his nose in one of her books. A closer look told her that it was her journal from Arkham Asylum. He hadn't noticed her opening the door or he had and was ignoring her. Penelope stood in her doorway, too shocked to even pull out her taser. Finally, he looked up at her and had the audacity to grin. "Good morning Dr. Young!" he chirped, as if he was an expected guest.

This glib response, on top of his unwelcome presence, tipped her from shock to anger. She slammed the door behind her, causing the frame to shake slightly. "What in the Hell are you doing here!?" she demanded.

"Just catching up on my reading," he replied turning his attention back to the page he was on. "This is illuminating. 'I cannot help but admire the complexity, and yet apparent simplicity of the many conundrums and riddles Nashton regularly presents me within his treatment sessions. Often, I find myself working through them in my, infrequent, free time.'" Nigma looked up at her with a smirk that he might have thought was charming, but to Penelope looked predatory. "So," he asked. "Which one was your favorite?"

Of course, he'd read the passages about himself. Not for the first time that evening, Penelope was taken aback by the sheer ego the man displayed. "Why don't you keep reading?"

Nigma chuckled a bit and turned the page. "'Patient Interview 44, transcript. This is yet another interview with Edward Nigma. I have yet to make up my mind whether he is a genius or just deluded.'" Nigma frowned. "Hurtful!" He continued on, slightly more subdued. "'Whichever one he is, just being in his company is both irritating and exhausting.' Now that's just rude! If you were carrying this much hostility in our sessions, well, it's no wonder why you never made any progress."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "You're right. I should have been soft and sweet to the man who regularly called the rest of the staff morons."

"It couldn't have hurt," Nigma replied as he got to his feet. Penelope fought back a quick wave of panic. Nigma wasn't a large man, but he had a good six inches on her. And she was becoming more and more aware of the fact that she was alone with a man who used to set up death traps for Batman himself. No matter how many times Edward Nigma said he was reformed, he was dangerous. She'd be a fool to forget that.

"Not that this hasn't been entertaining," Nigma said, in that cool, condescending way of his, "But I was here for a purpose. I need to talk to you about what happened at the fundraiser tonight."

Penelope relaxed a bit when he didn't approach her. "You mean Dr. Kellerman's murder? Are you investigating that now too? Won't that get in the way of you providing security for Sharp?"

"I'm very good at multitasking," Nigma chuckled. "And at any rate, catching a murderer will do wonders for Sharp's campaign. And my reputation."

"I'm sure," Penelope said, dryly. "So what part of breaking into my office and looking through my files helps you find the murderer?"

"It got me to have this lovely conversation with you, didn't it? But we're getting a bit off track here." Nigma' face took on a serious expression. "You left the ballroom not long after Kellerman did. Where did you go?"

Penelope chewed her lip a bit before deciding to go along with this. If it got him out of her office faster..."I needed fresh air after Kellerman and I had our...encounter. I went out to the parking garage to have some time for myself. I didn't find out about the murder until Joan-Dr. Leland came to get me."

"Did you see anyone?"

Penelope creased her brow in thought. "There was no one else in the parking garage. I did run into one of the security guards in the hall. He was on his cell phone. I think he was arguing with the person on the other line. He seemed agitated."

"That's it? You didn't see or hear anything else?"

Penelope shook her head. "No." She looked at Nigma and noticed he had an unreadable look on his face. "What?" She asked. "Do you think I'm a suspect?"

"No," Nigma answered. "I know you didn't kill Kellerman. But you are very much involved in this."

Penelope felt a sense of dread pervade her. "What do you mean?"

"Before the fundraiser, Sharp had been receiving threatening letters."

That would explain why Sharp hired him. "What does that have to do with-"

"I was getting to that," Nigma interrupted her. "These letters demanded that Sharp reveal the identity of a 'murderer' the letter writer thought he was protecting. Any ideas who that murderer might be, Dr. Young?"

That feeling of dread was becoming stronger now. Penelope could feel the chill spread and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. "The Joker's outbreak, the TITAN," she murmured, almost becoming unaware of Nigma's presence.

"That's what I suspect," Nigma said. Penelope cringed a bit at that. So he did remember the TITAN project. "But whoever wrote the letters only knows the what, not who. Which means-"

"Everyone of the doctors at the asylum is a target. Because of me." Penelope finished. She felt tears pricking at her eyes. Kellerman was dead because of her. Every one of her old colleagues was in danger because of her. How many more lives would be ruined because of her and that Godforsaken experiment?

"Dr. Young?"

Penelope looked back up. Nigma was staring at her with an expectant look on his face. Penelope took a breath and wiped her eyes. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart. "What do you want from me?"

"I'm confident that an old employee of Arkham's the one behind the letters and the murder. Most likely a security guard. I need to know how many of the old guard at Arkham knew about your little science experiment."

Penelope frowned a bit. "The only people who knew about it were me, Sharp, and the Board at Arkham. Even then, I was the only one who knew most of the details."

"Other than the Joker, at least."

Penelope glared at Nigma. "That wasn't intentional on my part."

Nigma shrugged dismissively. "You weren't the first person to be taken in by the Joker. You won't be the last. What about Aaron Cash?"

Penelope tensed. "What about him?"

"Did he know?"

"Not before the riot. He-" Penelope paused then fully realized the implication. "Aaron wouldn't do this!"

"He did get fired by Sharp afterward," Nygma pointed out. "That's a strong motive for murder."

"But you just said that the murderer killed Kellerman because they didn't know he wasn't the the one responsible for the TITAN," Penelope argued. "Aaron knows that I created it. And even if he didn't know, there's no way he'd murder any of the doctors. He's the reason I'm still alive."

Nigma frowned a bit at that. "I suppose you're right," he conceded. "He'd target Sharp before any of you. But whoever did this has some knowledge of how to avoid security. Even if Cash himself isn't behind this, he likely knows who is."

"Do you have any actual idea what you're doing Nigma? Or are you just going to twist anything I say to fit your narrative."

Nigma narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't have a narrative, Dr. Young. Whatever your history with him is, Cash is a logical suspect given the evidence I have. I'm not looking to satisfy any grudges I might have. I'm-"

"I know," Penelope interrupted. "You're a 'new man.' I've told you anything I can think of. You can leave now." Nigma made no move to leave. Instead, he looked at her with something between annoyance and anger.

"Why is that so hard for you to believe?" He finally asked her. "Why is that so hard for all of you to believe? The police, the media, everyone seems to think that one of these days I'm just going to wake up and start leaving riddles for Batman to solve again! What is it going to take for all of you to stop treating me like I'm still in Arkham?"

He was getting more agitated, but Penelope stood her ground. Perhaps it was exhaustion from the evening's events or just the sheer annoyance of his presence, but she was done with Nigma. "What did you expect?" She coldly asked him. "That just because you helped solve a few murders that this city would forget the past ten years of your life?"

Nigma huffed. "Of course not," he answered. "But is it too much to ask if once, just once, I could get the benefit of the doubt?"

"Why? It's not like anything's changed."

Nigma looked offended at that. "What are you talking about? I-"

"Oh, the dynamic's changed, I'll grant you that. But deep down, you're still the same narcissist I treated at Arkham two years ago." Nigma looked like he wanted to interject, but Penelope cut him off before he could. "Tell me," she asked. "When you woke up from your coma and were medically cleared, why did you become a private investigator?"

Nigma looked blankly at her for a moment. "Why...well, to borrow a quote from Doyle, my mind rebels at stagnation. I needed something to do to put my intellect to good use. It's not as if there were many job openings available to a former super villain."

"I'm sure, but don't you think it's a little telling that you picked a profession that would keep you in direct competition with Batman?"

"This may come as a surprise to you Dr. Young, but my life doesn't revolve around Batman."

"No?" Penelope asked. She knew she was treading on thin ice with Nigma, but she was past the point of caring. "So why call the media in every time you take a case? I've seen your commercials. Even with this case, you couldn't resist making it about yourself and how you were the bigger person for helping Sharp. Don't insult me by pretending that you care about me or about what happens to the people at the asylum. All you care about, all you've ever cared about, is beating Batman and being the smartest person in Gotham and making sure the whole world knows it. And if that's the case, then it's not a matter of if you'll relapse. It's a matter of when." Penelope's voice had gradually risen in volume until she was nearly shouting at the former rogue. She took a deep breath to regain composure before she continued. "So forgive me, Mr. Nigma, if I can't bring myself to give you the benefit of the doubt."

Nigma's facial expression had changed from surprise at her demeanor to barely restrained anger. His grip on his cane had tightened to the point where it looked like it was ready to snap. For a moment, Penelope wondered if she had gone too far. Then Nigma did something unexpected. He laughed.

"My, my Dr. Young!" He said as he finished. "Aren't we bitter? I realize that you must be a bit overwhelmed at what I've told you, but that's no reason to take it out on me. It's true, I'm not exactly in this business out of the goodness of my heart, but all you doctors ever wanted from me was to leave my life of crime. No one ever said I had to be a good person." He began to slowly walk towards her. Penelope back up until she could feel the doorknob dig into her lower back. She calculated how long it would take her to pull out her taser versus how long it would take Nigma to get within grabbing distance of her, all the while fighting off a panic attack. Nigma finally paused about a foot in front of her.

"Besides," he said in a low tone. "Between you and me Dr. Young, which one of us is really a good person? The former supervillain or the woman who violated her Hippocratic Oath and made monsters? If I'm irredeemable, what does that say about you?"

That cut Penelope to the quick. In one swift movement, she sharply shoved Nigma away from her. Before he could recover from the shock, she pulled her taser out of her purse and aimed it at him.

"Get out!" She cried out. Her hands were shaking, her breath coming out in deep gasps, but she never took her eyes off him.

Nigma stared at her, eyes wide in shock and both his hands raised. "Alright, alright. No need for violence. I'll leave." He slowly backed away from her, giving her room to maneuver around him. She slowly crept towards her desk, keeping her fingers at the ready. Nigma never took his eyes off of her, shock being replaced by an odd mix of concern and...admiration? Once assured he was in the clear, Nigma turned to open the door and leave her office. Before he left, he turned to look at her one last time.

"I'd leave town if I were you," he warned. "If this murderer's not caught, it's only a matter of time until they work their way to you."

Penelope didn't lower her taser. "I can take care of myself. Leave. Now."

Nigma let out a short chuckle. "I almost believe it. Well, good night Dr. Young. It's been a pleasure." He sarcastically tipped his hat to her before shutting the office door behind him. Penelope didn't lower her guard until she heard his footsteps gradually recede into silence. She locked her door behind her, then nearly collapsed into her desk chair, overwhelmed at what had just occurred.

A few minutes passed before Penelope had calmed down enough to realize that Nigma had taken her Arkham journal with him when he left, along with all the notes it contained. Tired, angry and shattered by the truth of what Nigma told her, Penelope took her face into her hands and wept.

AN: Sorry for the delay folks. Holidays will do that to you. I also wanted to thank everyone who's left a review and read so far. You guys keep me going. Thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy!

Next Time: Edward questions another person from his past at the Asylum, but his meeting with Dr. Young starts to awaken long suppressed feelings about his past...