It was lunch break for all of them, including the inmates. Which was 'great'. Here in Arkham you had to go to lunch with the inmate you were guarding. You'd eat with them and made sure they didn't try anything.

But because Ariel was new here, another guard opened Riddler's cell and cuffed him for her. Riddler tried to fight back but hilariously failed. She laughed as the guard forced him to his knees, head down to the ground.

This caused him to growl and glare at her from out of the corners of his eyes. "This isn't funny, bitch."

She shrugged, still chuckling. "Yeah? Well to me it is. So get use to me laughing."

He grumbled angrily. "Whatever..."

The guard and Ariel escorted Riddler to the cafeteria. She got in line with him and the guard left to tend to his own inmate.

"It's just you and me now. I could take you down and snap you like a twig." Riddler whispered, clenching his fists.

She smirked and popped him on the side of his head with her hand. "Yeah, whatever. Just get your lunch."

He mumbled to himself, growling again. "Hit me again and you'll regret it."

Ariel grabbed her lunch next and took Riddler to a nearby table. It was empty so it was just her and him.

She grimaced looking at his food, then at hers. Both plates were completely different. Her's was presentable, something you could make at home. His, on the other hand, looked like something out of a thousand year old dumpster. He sighed, picking at it with his plastic spoon.

She suddenly felt bad for him. Sure they fought and called each other names but this wasn't how a person should be treated, criminal or not. The food would kill him before the other inmates would.

She sighed and tried to start a conversation. "They call that food?"

He groaned, rolling his eyes. "Apparently."

She thought for a minute then looked at her own plate. She could live without lunch for the rest of the day, no problem, him on the other hand, probably couldn't waist the opportunity to eat. She pushed her plate forward. "Here, have mine instead."

He furrowed his dark reddish-brown brows, hesitating as he looked at her confused. "What? Why...? What'd you do to it?"

She shrugged, shaking her head. "Nothing. It's just food. I can eat later tonight. Go ahead. Have mine. It's better then the slop they give you."

"But...It's...yours. Aren't you going to be hungry later?"

"Probably. But I'll be fine. I've got food at home. What do you care? Go ahead. Eat it."

He took the plate, looking at the mashed potatoes and gravy, licking his lips. He then turned his head slightly to see the turkey and stuffing. But stopped and looked back up at her. "Are you sure?"

Ariel nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead."

He instantly dug in, scarfing down everything on the plate. She watched him choke down every last bite. He was eating way to fast.

She quickly grabbed the fork that was in his mouth. Her hand curling over his own and the eating utensil. "Careful. You're gonna choke." He quickly glanced down at her hand then back to her face, nodding ever so slightly. She let go a second later and sat back in her chair, smiling kindly as he finished. "Good?'

He hesitated again before speaking. "Y-Yeah..."

She nodded happily, taking his plate of old mush and throwing it away. She then sat back down in front of him as he stared at her awkwardly.

She fidgeted until she couldn't take the silence anymore. "What?"

He shook his head quickly. "Nothing. Nothing..."

"..."

She took him back to his cell since he was finished. They didn't talk for the rest of the day. Which was good. She didn't think she could handle anymore smart ass comments from him. After work it was late so she stopped by a McDonalds on the way. She was starved.

After buying the food she ate on the way, finishing all of her fries and half of her burger by the time she got there. She took her stuff inside and finished the rest of her fast food.

Afterwards she looked around. The place was a mess. She needed to clean up. Besides, she'd be living here till she saved up enough money to get her own place. She had to make it somewhat livable. She tidied up the place then took a shower and washed her face, hair, then body, finishing it all off with a quick shave. After she was done she got dressed, towel dried her hair then brushed her straight, white teeth. She was exhausted and ready for sleep.

And so she did, dreaming of green glowing question marks.

The next day she went to work completely ready. she had on her uniform, a standard black shirt with the Arkham Asylum logo on the back and a small version of the logo on the front left side, matching black pants, and black high heeled combat boots. She had put her long deep red hair in a neat formal bun and had did her usual makeup. By the time she had got to Arkham Asylum in was 8:10 A.M. She was 15 minutes late. Great...

She hurriedly clocked in and walked up to Riddler's cell, and to her surprise he was already up, sitting in his bed, staring at her.

"You're late by 25 minutes."

"I'm aware of that."

"I see...and why are you late?"

"I took too long getting ready."

"Then why didn't you get up earlier?"

"What is this, 20 questions? I'm late. So what?"

"Well, I could have escaped. And you would have been held responsible for it because of your tardiness."

"Well you didn't. And I'm here now. Let's drop it. It's not the end of the world."

"It could have been."

"Ok, Riddler. What's your problem? Why do you care if I'm late?"

"Being punctual is important, that's all."

"Oh? Well. I'll try to be on time from now on if it's that important to you."

"It is." He said bluntly. "And...Thank you." He added.

"You're welcome. Do you need anything? Breakfast, a snack? Do you want to go to the Rec Room?"

"I'd like to go to breakfast, thanks."

"Alright, hold on."

She called in a more experienced guard, and he opened Riddler's cell, cuffed him in the process. Handing him over to her afterwards. Later they entered the cafeteria. All eyes on them as they walked through.

Riddler rolled his large, green eyes. "What is it? Jealous of my intellect that you just have to stare? Staring is rude, you know."

All of the inmates groaned at the same time and turned away causing her to smile, biting back a chuckle as got in line with Riddler. He grabbed his plate of what she could only assume was some type of dairy product, maybe cheese and some sort of mush, possibly grits. She grimaced and grabbed some breakfast off of the staff's bar. And then they both sat down at an empty table. The same one from yesterday.

"Riddler?"

He looked up, putting down his fork that he'd been poking his 'food' with. "Yes?"

"You know if you want my breakfast you can just ask."

"No, no." He shook his head. "I'm fine. You need to eat, don't you?"

She sighed, shaking her head from side to side. "Like I said. I have food at home. Here."

She pushed her plate forward.

He groaned. "Listen. I don't want to take your food from you. It makes me feel, well, sort of...weird."

"Would you rather eat that crap?"

He frowned, looking down at his plate then back up at her. "No..."

"Then here."

He took her plate and scarfed the food down quickly after another moment of hesitation. She even had to do the same thing she did yesterday, stopping him from choking on his food. But he didn't seem to mind.

Ariel smiled after he was done. "Better?"

He nodded. "Yes...Very."

"Good."

She suddenly giggled causing Riddler to look at her confused, and even slightly insulted. "What's so funny?"

"Oh...nothing...It's just...you have a little..." She smiled and sighed, grabbing his napkin. "Here."

He had to keep his jaw from dropping plum to the floor as she dabbed his mouth and chin gently, cleaning up whatever crumbs he had on his face.

"There." She said as she finished, crumpling up the napkin as he sat there completely dumbfounded.

All the inmates were staring, mouths hanging open. Riddler noticed and rolled his eyes. "What is it, you imbeciles?"

"That's not fair!" One of them screamed loudly.

"Yeah!" One agreed. "Why can't our guards be that nice!?"

"We want better food!" Another one screamed, standing up.

"Yeah! And I want her as a guard too!" The one beside him yelled, hands shaking in the air, fists raised.

"No I do!" Another one yelled, starting an all out brawl between the inmates.

Riddler smirked, rolling his eyes as he watched them fight over Ariel and the possibility of getting a better meal. "Maybe my guard just likes me."

Ariel frowned, shaking her head quickly. "Hey! I don't like you at all. I pretty much hate you. So don't start exaggerating things, ok? I just felt bad that you were eating that slop."

He frowned again as she got up and threw away both plates since they were done. "Come on, let's go before you start an even bigger fight."

One of the larger inmates got up, running forward. "Hey, baby! How 'bout gettin' me some grub, eh?! And maybe a little napkin action too."

She rolled her eyes, shooting him a glare. "Get lost, pal. I'm not interested."

"Oh, come on, doll-face. I'll make it worth your while." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down, making suggestive hand movements.

"I said no." She said between clinched teeth. "And if you value you balls, I suggest you turn away and go back to eating with your little friends over there or else I'll take my gun, shoot them off, and shove them up your ass. Got it?"

He gaped, jaw hanging open as the other patients laughed, obviously surprised at her sudden, yet hilarious outburst.

"Hey! No one talks to me that way!"

She turned around with Riddler beside her, ignoring the screaming man as she walked away to leave.

"Hey, don't ignore me, you little bitch!" He screamed again, taking a couple of steps forward.

Ariel turned back around and flipped him off. Which only angered the inmate more, causing him to run at her at full speed. "Come 'er, you stupid brat!"

He grabbed her roughly by the arm, his fingers digging painfully into her skin as he yanked her backwards. She cried out as the other guards ran to try and help her but Riddler beat them to it by grabbing the inmate's arm instead, removing it from her and twisting it behind the man's back. Then continued by socking the man in the face as hard as he could. Which was, to her surprise, hard enough to shatter the man's nose.

"Down, dog." Riddler taunted, pushing the screaming man to the floor.

"Why you little-"

The inmate got up and swung but Riddler dodged him, grabbing the inmate's ears and yanking him backwards. He then proceeded to beat him, throwing him to the ground.

He smirked again as the inmate groaned in pain as if he were about to give up. "This is hardly a surprise. I always knew I was better than you lowlife idiots."

"You son of a-"

Riddler interrupted, laughing as he kicked the man in the face, knocking a tooth out. The man coughed, spitting out blood that had trickled It's way into his mouth from his now broken nose and busted lip.

The Riddler cocked his head to the side, raising a dark red eyebrow as the man sputtered for air after a hard kick to the chest and a violent punch to the neck. "What's wrong, dog? Has your primitive brain given up and accepted that I, the Riddler, am better than you?"

"You little weasel! I'll kill you!"

The inmate got up and ran at Riddler again but stumbled and fell. The guards took this as an opportunity to subdue him. They did so, dragging the man away. Riddler laughed again and waved causing the man to flip him off and to yell threats.

But he just shook his head at the man and clucked his tongue as if to say: "I'm disappointed in you." He shook his head mockingly. "Well, well. The shaved monkey has failed. How utterly, utterly expected."

The man heard his comment and growled again, trying to fight the guard's firm grip on his body. "I'll kill you! You hear me?! I'll kill you!"

Ariel chuckled and cuffed Riddler after her attacker was officially gone, taking him back to his own cell. After he was in, she smiled, watching him as he sat down. "Thank you, you know, for saving me from that inmate."

He shrugged. "You're welcome..." Then he frowned. looking away from her gaze. "I don't even know why I did that. I guess I just decided to be nice just this once since you were being so...nice to me. Besides, I love to mock them and their stupidity anyway."

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, whatever the reason, thanks."

He nodded again. "You're welcome..."

She hesitated, shifting her weight from side to side. The awkward silence was excruciating. "So um...uh, What's...your favorite color?"

He raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his amusement with a fake frown. "Really...? You're seriously going to ask me that?"

"W-What?" She stammered. "I'm just trying to get to know you better."

He sighed. "The answer is green. Obviously."

She nodded. "Figured it was."

"Then why ask?"

"I don't know. I guess I was just making sure."

"I see..."

After a few moments of silence he spoke up again. "What's yours?"

"It's tied between green and purple. I can't decide."

He smiled a little at that. "What a coincidence, me too."

"Really? Cool."

He nodded. "Yes. Cool indeed..."

They both stood there awkwardly. 10 minutes passed. Then 20 and so on.

"Are you excited for Christmas?"

She frowned. "No."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I don't have a family to share it with. At least not in Gotham City anyway."

"Oh..." He mumbled. "Sorry..."

"It's alright. " She sighed. "But it'd be nice to spend a Christmas with someone for once. If I could choose just one thing I'd like to get for Christmas it would be the Roulette Wheel IQ Cube. But It's $100. I still need to pay rent. I couldn't possibly buy that now. But it would be nice. They say no one has solved it yet. I'm hoping to be intelligent enough to. I really want to be the first to solve it."

Riddler nodded. "I've heard of that thing. Even the most intelligent people haven't been able to solve it. Are you sure you want it? If you can't solve it it'd be a waste of good money."

She nodded back. "I'm confident I can solve it. And when I do, I'll know I really am smart and all the insults from my father would be wrong and I'll be able to rub it in his face."

He raised a furrowed eyebrow. "Insults from your father?"

She sighed. "Yeah. He would always say that I was stupid and that I had cheated. He even hit me once because I beat him at a game of chess."

"I'm...sorry..."

"No. It's ok. I want people to know how bad of a father and man he is. I bet you he doesn't even think about me. My mom does though. I miss her."

"My father was the same..." He admitted.

"He was?" She turned around to face him. He was standing in front of her now, still behind the bars, of course.

"Yeah." He continued sadly. "He always told me I was stupid and that I was a cheater and a liar. He beat me a lot. Told me I was a mistake. I tried to prove him wrong time and time again but it never worked."

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know-"

"How could you? It's...alright. Not everyone has a perfect life. Looking at you I would of guessed you would have. But for once, I was...wrong."

She smiled. "No. Not perfect, but it wasn't the worst. I guess...But hey! Enough sad talk. It doesn't do someone good to dwell on the past."

He nodded. "Yeah..."

She looked down at her feet for a moment before quickly looking back up. "I'll be right back, ok?"

He nodded. "Yeah, alright."

She told a nearby guard to watch him for her and that she'd be back soon.

So she hurriedly went to her boss's office, running down the halls.

"Dr. Arkham?"

"Yes, Ms. Ariel?"

"Can I see the Riddler's file?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Sure. But what do you need it for?"

"I just wanted to see it is all."

"Uh, ok. Here. Just give it back when you're done."

She nodded, leaving "I will."

Afterwards she stood outside his office, reading the file.

Name: Edward Nygma aka the Riddler.

Occupation: Professional criminal

Based in: Gotham City

Eye color: Green

Hair color: Dark red.

Height: 6'4

Weight: 185 pounds

Attributes:

Genius intellect

Driven to test others by leaving clues to his crimes

Compulsive need for attention

Skilled hand to hand combatant

Surprising strength and agility

Manipulative

Short tempered

Usually uses knives as weapons (Hidden in cane)

Abused by his father, Edward grew up determined to prove his worth. Driven by a compulsive hunger for attention and desire to prove his intellect to the world, Edward Nygma fashioned himself into the iconic villain known simply as The Riddler or just Riddler. Creating complex conundrums and death traps, Nigma prides himself in watching his helpless victims fail to find solutions to his puzzles and meet with grim fates as he gloats over his superior intellect. Batman is the only person Nigma has ever met with the intellect and abilities to not only solve his riddles, but outsmart him, a fact that drives Nigma further over the edge.