Warnings: Non-graphic murder, celebrating crime, non-graphic guard brutality, non-graphic male x male relationship

A Break Through

The fact that the cell next to Jonathan Crane was empty was not the reason why he had been in such a distracted mood recently, not at all.
Just because that cell happened to belong to the freshly returned-to-Arkham Edward Nigma meant nothing of real importance either.

But wait, I hear you say, how can the cell be empty is the Riddler was back in Arkham? Well anyone who watched the news would know that Edward was currently gracing the medical facility of the asylum.
For some strange reason the idiot inmates Crane was forced to spend time with had come to the erroneous conclusion that this was the reason why Jonathan had been so out of sorts; that he had feelings for Edward and this was causing him to worry about in injured "beau". Harlequin had made that particular comment was it was so very unfortunate that she had suffered such terrible nightmares that night.

Edward Nigma's broken state held little interest to Jonathan and in fact, he would normally relish a broken Edward; it would make him stay quiet and always brought the more aspects of his mind to the surface. This was different though. Jonathan did not have access to Edward and therefore the fact that he had been beaten up badly enough to warrant continuous medical care meant that Jonathan could care less about the man.

That being said, it was hard to escape from the man at the moment; all of the news channels were still clamouring over the two week rampage he had been on. Edward had only managed to avoid capture for fifteen days, a pitiful amount of time really, but he had gone to town on the people of Gotham in such a way that only a true genius could.
Everything had started with a suicide and a note that mentioned four unrelated people, all of whom were safe and sound.
Then those four were kidnapped, never found and the police, as per normal, failed to connect the dots.
An elaborate trail of riddles and questions were left for the Batman to follow to an apparent dead-end that gave the Riddler the perfect opportunity to rob two banks in one night.
For what turned into his grand finale, Edward kidnapped two groups of people, set them up in different locations, gave them a puzzle and an ultimatum; solve it or die. Unsurprisingly Batman interrupted but he only had the time to save one group of people from their own stupidity.
In hindsight, the beating that had resulted from Edward's two week rampage really wasn't surprising at all.

"Did ya hear? They found them sucker Eddie hid!" Harlequin's screeching voice was never what Jonathan wanted to hear when he entered the C.A.R.E. room, but the news broadcast was playing and it seemed like the rabble was excited.

"And so to recap the top story; the four bodies recovered from the dock warehouse have been confirmed to be the missing people kidnapped by the Riddler last week. The police Chief Commissioner Gordon has issued this statement; "We are all deeply upset and sorry that this has happened. The failure of the police department will be investigated immediately and will ensure that something like this will never happen again. Our deepest sympathies go to the bereaved families.""
Much to the displeasure of the guards, the less composed prisoners cheered at the news.
As the newscaster moved onto the more mundane stories, Jonathan picked up the newspaper he was allowed each day and sat in his chair in the corner of the room (and it was his chair; the last person who sat in it had tragically took his own life that night because of the spiders crawling under his skin).

The next few days passed with the little drama, until one evening, a week after Edward's return to Arkham. All of the inmates were in their cells waiting for the lights to go out when the unmistakeable sounds of the guards transporting an inmate filled the corridor.
"Are you sure we can't put a straight-jacket on him?" The young guard sounded nervous, something that Jonathan filed away for further use.
The attending doctor laughed bitterly, "His arm is broken in three places. You wouldn't be able to fit the cast in the straight-jacket if you tried and that's not even taking into account the amount of drugs he's on right now. I doubt he'll be able to tell us his own name right now."
"Careful Doc, you almost sound like you pity him." Carl, the head guard of the D block, had been in Arkham for years and firmly believed that the only thing that would sort the inmates out was a good beating,
The doctor instantly started back-tracking, stuttering and stammering until he made some weak excuse about lawsuits and duty to his patients no matter what.
A hyena-like laugh escaped one of the cells and echoed down the corridor, no doubt disturbing the already nervous guard and doctor. Carl just yelled at him to shut up.

Eventually they opened Edward's cell door and wheeled the stretcher into the cell.
"Leave him strapped down for tonight. Tomorrow we can find some alternative restraints for him." No one dared to argue with Carl, so the door was slammed shut and locked. As soon as the procession had left, the cells erupted with chatter as all of the inmates threw questions at the now-popular Riddler.

"Holla Eddie, what prompted that?"
"How'd you fool the Bat?"
"What'd you do with all the money?"

Edward hadn't said a word throughout the whole proceedings, but eventually managed to say, "I did it for fun of course," in a tired voice.
The night guards called for silence and the hall quietened about as much as it ever would in a prison for the criminally insane.

"You missed two appointments Edward," As ever, the Scarecrow's voice echoed softly around Edward's cell, "But you seem to have made some progress on your own."
With a laugh that sounded like the pain outweighed the amusement, Edward turned his head to face their shared wall. "Well you see Doctor, I was told that I was just holding back; that I wasn't letting my true potential out and it was stunting my progress."
Jonathan couldn't hold back the pleased laugh that escaped him, "I'm pretty sure Doctor Whistler did not have that in mind when she talked about your "true potential".
"But I feel like a new man now." Even drugged he held onto his sarcasm. "That will show them though – no one will dismiss my genius now."
"With ten dead? I'm surprised they didn't move you to a more secure ward."
Edward knew Crane was humouring him, but it was still nice to be on speaking terms with Scarecrow and not end up screaming at ghosts.
"Oh I think this new cocktail they have me on will keep me tame. The world is so very fuzzy right now." The sleepy tone of Edward's voice got worse and worse until Jonathan knew the other would fall asleep.
Their conversation was far from over, but that hardly mattered; there would be plenty of time to talk face-to-face another day.

As it turned out, the 'another day' didn't come for a whole month; Edward had been confined to his cell and the medical ward as punishment.
When Edward was finally allowed into the C.A.R.E. room, he bore the obvious signs of a lost battle against the Dark Knight. His left arm was in a thick cast, while his right was bound in bandages. There was still a large dressing on his temple and dark bags under his eyes that spoke of the need for proper, non-medicated sleep.
"Hiya Eddie!" Of course Harlequin would be the first to greet the Riddler. Edward would normally always aggravate everyone in the room after ten minutes, but he had clemency at that moment.
"Hello Harley. How's it been without me?" Edward appeared to be medicated enough that he was able to sit next to the Harlequin and listen to her chatter and the ravings of the Mad Hatter with a slightly glazed look.
Jonathan tuned out the mindless prattle and focused on his newspaper; there had been an interesting article on a new medical drug that had caused severe hallucinations when tested on humans for the first time.
Eventually Edward made his way over to Jonathan's corner and took an unobtrusive seat a few chairs away from Jonathan's. He waited until the newspaper had been folded up and placed on the table before he said help.
"You're not normally so eager for your sessions Edward. Is something the matter?" The soft voice never failed to make Edward feel nervous and though Edward shifted in his chair, he stuck with his decision to talk.
"I kind of like not being your victim. Patient I can deal with – so long as you don't try to...medicate me."
The raised eyebrow told Edward that it was clear that Jonathan knew that was bullshit.
"Okay so maybe I wanted intelligent conversation!" Edward blurted; he felt uncomfortable and a bit foolish. He didn't want to admit that he wanted Jonathan's attention (well the non-violent kind at least).
"I'm flattered you chose to acknowledge my intelligence Edward. I know how important it is to you." The almost soothing quality Jonathan's voice took on simply reminded Edward how dangerous Jonathan was; you could know exactly what he would do and say, but he would always make you feel vulnerable.
"Thanks Doctor, but as I said, I just needed a little encouragement to be able to achieve more than I thought possible." Edward settled into his chair with a particularly pleased grin on his face.
Jonathan steeped his fingers. "Ah yes. What has Doctor Whistler had to say about that?"
There was no denying that it was a beautiful laugh, one born from the sadistic pleasure of slowly destroying an innocent mind. "Oh she was just shocked and horrified that she had any part in my little outing. You should have seen how she quivered when I told her it was all thanks to her!"
Jonathan smiled, "I have heard whispers of her impending retirement thanks to this. I wonder if they'll let me see her. I'd show the poor woman her true issues." He trailed off, his tone wistful.
After a brief pause, Jonathan shook himself out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry I shouldn't be thinking of other patients while it's your time."
"Not at all." A smile had formed at the attention Jonathan had been paying. Edward almost absentmindedly scratched at the cast on his arm, as if that would stop the itch on his skin.
Jonathan picked up on the movement and asked "You do not seem upset about your capture or abuse at the hands of Batman."
"Oh I'm furious!" There was the malicious spark that Jonathan found so intriguing. "I had more planned for the city, and now I can only watch from here as some of it unfolds." He shook his head in mockery of misery. "It's such a shame; I thought the Bat was better than this, but he just completely failed to grasp the plan. The trail of clues had been left well in advance and Batman has already seen them, but just hadn't understood their true meaning."
"You had a lot planned."
"I had more, but a fair amount of it needs me to be free."

The clock struck four and the guards filed into the C.A.R.E. room to transport the inmates back to their cells. This involved a hell of a struggle and straight-jackets because the "insane" people didn't like to make the guard's lives easy.
Jonathan took advantage of the commotion to stand and lent down to Edward's level, with his arms either side of the chair, meaning he had effectively trapped Edward.
Edward had a slightly confused frown on his face, but he made no attempt to escape or comment on the situation.
"I'm proud of how far you've come Edward. I think we should discuss some business in the future." Then, without giving Edward a chance to answer, Jonathan captured Edward's lips in what was a fiercely possessive kiss.
Edward didn't struggle; in fact he submitted almost instantly and when they parted, a low whine escaped his throat.
"Keep up the progress Edward. I don't think we've even seen a glimmer of your 'true potential' yet."
Jonathan left the breathless Edward in his seat and went happily to his guard.
-

That night, their corridor was a place of nightmares, for two voices spun rhymes of riddles and fears all night long.

Hullo. Did I say I'd update in Decemeber? I meant the end of Janurary obviously.

Ahaha the worst part is that I've written like 6 chapters, but I haven't typed them up and University has decided to take over my life (how mean).

Anyway, I really appreciate everyone who has favourited this story and put it on their alerts~
I absolutleyLOVE everyone who has reviewed; you seriously are awesome and make me write faster!

'Till next time~