With a sigh the Riddler opens the door to his penthouse. He had just come from Oswald's house, but Oswald had refused to see him. Somehow Oswald knew about Riddler going through with his plan of helping the Red Hood meet the cities biggest drug lords. Obviously he wasn't taking it very well. Edward hadn't expected to get the cold shoulder from his oldest and dearest friend.
The worse part was that Oswald was more than just a friend to Edward. Especially given the most recent interactions between them. Edward loved Oswald. Had he even told him that? The Riddler wasn't even certain now. Damn shock therapy. However, he was certain that he had definitely shown him. That was something that no amount of shock therapy could take from him. It was in a rudamentally basic and very primal way, sure, but sex is more than a physical entity. It's emotional as well. And for two men, with testosterone pumping through them, it's a jesture of submission. It's a treaty that speaks of trust. It was fully giving yourself to another. It was embarking on something completely sacred.
It had been spontaneous. Definitely not something that had ever been on Edward's to-do-list. But it WAS NOT something that Edward walked into blindly with little or no thought. In one flash it just all presented itself clearly in his mind. One kiss brought up, and at the same time, answered a thousand questions. The only logical thing he saw to do was to claim Oswald's as his, while at the same time surrendering himself to him completely.
Edward's eyes stare at the wooden floor as he walks across it, heading to his office. Had he moved too quickly? Had he come across as someone who sleeps around? Had reality crept into Oswald's mind? Did he see the whole thing as a mistake? Was he now in regret and pushing him away? Was that the whole reason Oswald was so mad about the whole Red Hood thing?
Edward reaches out to the door to his office. He turns the knob and opens it. He walks into the pitch black room as he had a thousand times. The blacked out room was to keep prying eyes from sneaking peeks at whatever illegal things he may have been cooking up in his office at any given time. It served also to give the Riddler comfort. A life lived looking over your shoulder all the time was something that Edward hated doing. There were dozens of neighboring buildings that could easily make perfect vantage points to anyone with a sniper rifle.
The Riddler knows that to his immediate left, four feet from the floor, was the light switch. His hand reaches over instinctually and flicks it on. As the room illuminated Edward's eyes raise. What he sees freezes his feet in place and causes his mouth to drop with confusion. There, sitting at his desk, slouching in the seat, was the Red Hood. His hands were folded in his lap. The white eyes of his hood were menacing. Edward wonders if the criminal has come to kill him?
"H-how the hell did you get in here?" The Riddler asks. He raises his hands slightly in a gesture of surrender. Sudden movements usually aren't wise when dealing with criminals.
"Through the flaws in your security system," the Red Hood dryly answers. He sits up and leans over the desk, hands still folded.
"I'm sure you thought it was impenetrable, but as you can clearly see, it could use some work."
The Riddler's eyes narrow in anger, "Is there a good reason for you breaking into my home.? For the second time?"
"As a matter of fact, there is. I require a lab. You just so happen to have one. Therefore, I need to use it," Jason tells him.
"No," Edward shakes his head.
"Come again?" Jason rasps.
"We had a deal. I agreed to help you in exchange for more territory, to which you agreed upon. I have fulfilled my end. You haven't. I'd be a fool to just keep helping you with nothing in return. So, in short, the day you deliver, well that's the day I might rethink working with you," the Riddler folds his arms across his chest.
Jason's head slightly tilted. Obviously it was time to give Nygma an incitive to do as he says. "Working with me? No, no. Make no mistake about it, you're working for me. You can either comply and give me what I ask for, or suffer the concenquences."
"Are you actually threatening me in my own house?!" Edward yells, quickly growing tired of this Red Hood character.
Jason sits back in the chair, a smirk comes to his lips beneath the mask. He wasn't afraid of the Riddler. He already knew that Edward wasn't much of a fighter. He fought with his mind, not with muscle. "Threatening you? No, not at all." He reaches his hand into the inner pocket of his coat. The Riddler tenses, expecting it to be a gun. Jason pulls out something, and it wasn't a gun. He tosses what's in his hand onto the desks surface. "I'm blackmailing you."
Edward's eyes fall to the desk top. It was about a dozen pictures. But on closer inspection he saw what was on those pictures. His jaw drops. He rushes forward and grabs the pictures in both fists. "Where the fuck did you get these!? He demanded as he shook the crumpled pictures.
"Where isn't important," Jason tells him. "What is important is the fact that they exist, and that I have them. Just a little bit of insurance that will see to it that I get what I want. Obviously, should you decline, these pictures are going to fall into the hands of someone you don't want seeing them. Can you imagine how people might react to knowing that you and Penguin are lovers?" Jason taunts him.
Edward's heart pounded. That kind of information could ruin he and Oswald. It was not only a hazzard to their very characters, but to their business dealings as well. Criminals would come at their organizations, because they would see them as less than men. Edward wanted to kill Jason. He had to kill him, right? It was the only way to protect himself and Oswald.
"I should kill you," Edward says lowly as he stares at Jason with murderous eyes.
Jason shrugs, "You can try. Just know this, there's lots of copies of your romantic preferences. I'm the only one who knows where they are. Also, should I suddenly fall dead, the copies will make it into hands. Those hands will most positively make those pictures go viral. So I suggest Nygma, you think really hard about your next move."
But the man who was so obsessed with his own intellect, does anything but think. Within seconds he is flying through the air. He doesn't even brush the desk that sat between them. His hands latch on to Jason's neck as he topples the chair. Jason's back hits the floor with the Riddler landing on top of him. The Riddler squeezes his hands as tightly as he can around Jason's neck. The sound of laughter fills the room. "Haha hahaha hahahaha!!!"
The Riddler looks at Jason with a befuddled look. How the hell did he have the air to laugh at him? Only then does Edward notice that his fingers were squeezing something that had no give. Panting, Edward sits up a bit. He slowly releases Jason's throat.
"That's right Nigma," Jason says, "you can't choke me in the suit. Nor can you penetrate any of my kill zones with a blade or a bullet. Hahaha!"
The Riddler realizes that he's approaching this situation all wrong. He wasn't using his head. He narrows his eyes at the masked Red Hood beneath his weight, "If you do anything with those pictures you'll leave me no choice but to use a little blackmail of my own against you."
"Hahaha;" Jason chuckles, "you don't have any."
A sideways smirk plays on Edward's lips. "Don't be so sure about that Hood. Because you see, I know you just so happen to be the half brother of the very man you're plotting to kill."
Up until that moment, Jason had thought all the cards were in his hand. But what the Riddler just said shattered all of his illusions about being in control. How did the Riddler, of all people, have that sort of information about him? Had he made it up? No, he couldn't have, it was far too specific to be coincidental. Jason couldn't help but wonder just how much Edward knew.
And as reality seeped in and gave Jason a good bitch slap, his veins began pumping in rage. His fists grab ahold of the Riddler's suit and jerks him down closer to his masked face. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
Surprisingly, Edward was cool and calm. As if he thought he had all the cards in his own hands this time. "What's wrong Mr. Hood? Are you starting to feel a little pressure? Scared that your secret might get out? Yeah, touche, right? Ohhhh, it must feel pretty emasculating to see I've got a little blackmail of my own."
Jason saw red, and it wasn't from the hood over his head. He rolls them. On top of the Riddler, he swings and gets Edward's left eye. He rares back his fist and hits him a second time, in the same spot. As he's bringing his fist up to swing at him a third time Edward notices the suits material in Jason's armpit. It wasn't rigid or hard like the bulletproof parts. Ergo, it was a vantage point. Edward quickly pulls a knife from under the leg of his pants. He quickly thrusts it into Jason's armpit. Jason yells out in pain.
Edward pushes Jason off him. He kneels beside him and watches as he pulls the knife from his armpit and slings it. It wedges into the nearest wall. "I believe you have some pictures that you want to give me. Along with copies. And any little disks, memory sticks, or negatives," the Riddler says as he watches Jason do a quick field dressing to his wound.
"Like hell I am," Jason rasps lowly, "I have the proof to back my claims about you, but what do you have to prove your accusation about me?"
The Riddler casually reaches inside his jacket and pulls out his phone. "What proof you ask?" The Riddler quickly reaches out and flips the red hood off Jason's head and snaps a picture. At the same time his jaw drops at what he sees. "Holy shit," he mutters.
Jason scampers across the floor. His back hits a bookshelf and he pulls himself to his feet. His hands hover over his guns as he peers at Edward with cold uncaring eyes.
He really wanted to put a bullet in the Riddler's forehead, but sadly, he still needed him for his lab. Jason notices the look of shock on the Riddler's face, and in that moment he realizes why. His own mouth parts and he looks down, away from Edward's surprised stare.
"I recognize you," the Riddler points at him.
"You don't know me," Jason practically growls as he looks at him through narrowed eyes.
"I didn't say that I knew you. I said I recognize you...or at least I think I do. The makeup..." He's quickly cut off.
"It's not makeup," Jason corrects him.
"Ok. Well whatever it is is making it difficult to be certain, but aren't you that kid that Bruce Wayne adopted?" Riddler asks looking him over in awe.
"A lifetime ago maybe, but I'm on my own now," Jason sighs.
"You are the Joker's brother? His second brother?" Riddler tries piecing things together by talking through them.
"We share a mother and that is it," Jason stresses.
"I see. And why do you have his whole...uh, you know, color scheme with the skin and hair?" Riddler asks with a slightly cocked head.
"None of your business," Jason rolls his eyes.
"Does the Joker know about you?" Edward can't help but wonder out loud.
"I'd say he does since he's the one who told me I was his half brother," Jason pushes his hair out of his face.
"And why are you going to so much trouble to kill him? I mean, obviously you have a reason."
Jason nods, "Damn right I do. Now, since you have dirt on me, and I have dirt on you, what do you say to dropping the interrogation and showing me to a lab?"
"Not so fast," Edward folds his arms over his chest, "I'm not so sure about helping you. You see, if you attempt to kill the Joker and fail, he's going to backtrack your every move. Which would bring him to my doorstep. Granted I want him dead too, but until he actually is, I have to answer to him. He'd kill me for helping you."
"You've already crossed that line Riddler, remember? The whole drug lord meeting? So you're already in the line of fire. But you needn't worry, I will kill that son of a bitch. Then I'll make good on my deal with you. If you help me now, I'll throw in a bonus," Jason says.
"Why do you need a lab?" The Riddler sees fit to ask.
"The Joker has kidnapped a child and he and his whore are playing house with it. I'm going to find out who she belongs to and see to it that she's returned. I don't want an innocent child in the way when I make my move on the Joker," Jason explains. "If you choose to not help me, well there's the pictures. Plus, I might call off our deal. So what's it gonna be Riddler?"
Riddler thinks it over for a minute. "You know, I could always go to J and tell him what you're up to."
Jason cocks his head with a menacing glare fixed on Edward. "Can you guarantee you will make it to the door before I shoot you in the back of the head?"
Edward stiffens and swallows, "It seems like a waste of time to give me an option when clearly, there isn't one."
Jason shrugs, "So, how about that lab now?"