Chapter Text
“What an intriguing city Gotham is turning out to be.” Dexter smiled at Will, scalpel in hand and the muffled cries escaping two men strapped securely before them gagged and blindfolded brought a satisfied smirk to Dexter’s features.
“Yes. A city full of killers.” Will mused. Unlike Dexter, he was staring out of the window and gazing at the city streets below. “There are so many potential victims here.”
“Including our two hosts here. What do they call themselves again, Will? Dexter smiled viciously as he took off the blindfolds so that the two men could see him clearly but still not speak. Muffled moans beneath their sticky gags betrayed their precarious positions.
“The man in the deep velvet green suit is The Riddler, otherwise known as Edward Nygma. Formerly worked at the COPD and murdered at least six people to date.” Will didn’t turn around. He continued staring out of the window and watched the tiny people walking below. They all seemed rushed and uncomfortable on these deadly city streets.
Dexter tore off the gag (duct tape no less, ripping it off painfully) as Riddler grimaced and clutched the arm of the chair forcefully.
“Ow. Was that really necessary? I don’t know who you are but you have a real nerve bringing us here. Do you know how dangerous we are? If we get free we’ll finish you!”
“No riddles for me, Riddler?” Dexter asked with a smile. “How about one for you.”
“Go on,” Riddler’s eyes burned into Dexter as he spat out the words. “I gave you one earlier… remember? The one you didn’t answer yet.”
Dexter laughed a little. He put the scalpel against Riddler’s throat and pressed lightly until a small trickle of blood stained the top of his shirt, spreading in a widening red pool.
Suddenly, Penguin started thrashing wildly in his seat and Dexter looked across, amused by the smaller man’s abrupt anguish.
“Got something to say? The villains here are so colourful, Will.”
As Dexter tore the gag off Penguin, Will didn’t bother to turn around. “That one is The Penguin, otherwise known as Oswald Cobblepot. A crime lord. A kingpin. Has killed so many times there is no official number of his murders to date.”
“I am going to rip your entrails out and spread them from one end of the Narrows to the other! Stop cutting Ed right now! Do you hear me?”
Dexter knelt before Penguin, his hand on the man’s knee as he looked deeply into his eyes. “You were right, Will. About both of them.”
Drawing back, Dexter walked over to the window and put a hand on Will’s shoulder. Will turned at once and they stared at each other for a moment.
“I have met you before in another life, have continued to seek you throughout this life and I will wait for you in the next one. What am I?” Dexter asked in a low guttural voice, his head swivelling slowly to gaze upon Riddler’s face.
“Ed!” Penguin screamed. “Don’t answer him! It’s a trap!”
“Answer mine first.” Riddler spat, furiously unknotting his wrist binds whilst keeping Dexter distracted. “Then I will give you the answer.”
“You know the answer then?” Dexter asked coolly.
“Of course I know what the answer is. But you must answer mine before I give you the satisfaction.” Riddler seemed strangely calm as he repeated his riddle once more. "The higher I climb, the hotter I engage, I can not escape my crystal cage. What am I?"
“The mercury in a thermometer. That was easy.” Dexter rolled his eyes.
Riddler suddenly shot out of his seat and rushed into Dexter, grabbing the arm that wielded the scalpel. Dexter laughed as they both fell to the floor and grappled for possession of the bladed weapon.
Dexter easily overpowered Nygma, straddling him as he looked down into Riddler’s face and placing the scalpel at his throat. Another thin stream of blood emerged as Riddler went limp.
“Ed!” Penguin screamed. “Stop it! Stop it now!”
“Well, what is the answer?” Dexter asked quietly.
“Soulmates!” Penguin screamed. “The answer is soulmates! Stop hurting him!”
Dexter looked at Penguin with a wry smile. The smaller man was in a complete mess, snot dripping from his nose and tears streaming down his face.
Riddler had turned to face Penguin. “Shh, Oswald. You’re right about this being a trap. But the trap has not been lain for you.”
Dexter got off Riddler and joined Will over by the window. Nygma sat up and looked at Penguin, then over at Will and Dexter.
“I see all the little pieces but can never see the whole picture. I mistake infatuation for love and created two identities to conceal the one truth I couldn’t face about myself. Who am I but myself?” Nygma started to laugh but tears were falling freely now.
“Get up.” Dexter said softly. “Do what needs to be done.”
The scalpel was on the floor next to Riddler and he picked it up at once. Getting to his feet awkwardly, he walked over to Penguin’s chair where the smaller man was still thrashing, trying to free himself from his constraints.
“I told you I would look you in the eyes when I put a knife into your heart.” Nygma said. He leaned down and placed the scalpel blade against Oswald’s chest, then placed his forehead against the Penguin’s. He breathed low and deep as he contemplated driving that scalpel home and finishing the job he had once begun.
“Oh Ed.” Penguin sobbed. “It’s okay. I love you. Goodbye, dear friend.”
“And there it is.” Will’s voice shocked the room with its certainty. “Are you going to kill him, Edward Nygma? Are you going to take his life and finish what you started?”
In response to Will’s question, the scalpel tightened in Riddler’s hand. Breathing hard, Riddler forced himself to remove the blade from Oswald’s chest with gritted teeth and leaning forward he embraced Penguin tightly. Leaning over the smaller man still confined to his chair, Riddler sliced through Penguin’s restraints and handed him a handkerchief.
“I’m not going to kill you Oswald.” Riddler stood up and looked over at Will and Dexter. “What is the meaning of all this? Why not just kill us. This is beyond cruel.”
Oswald tried to rise to his feet shakily, but Riddler held him back, placing a hand on his shoulder so he remained seated.
“You’re not here to be killed.” Dexter said. “I’ve already had my fill of killing in this city. At least for this week. I didn’t bring either of you here to end you.”
“Then why?” Penguin spat, dabbing his face with the green handkerchief furiously.
“Riddler asked for my help.” Will said. “He asked me to work out why his brain is broken, why he has two opposing identities that continually fight and the answer to the biggest riddle of them all.”
“You are in on this, Ed?” Penguin asked, aghast. “Damn you!”
Grabbing the scalpel from the Riddler's hand, Penguin held it against Nygma’s chest. “What is the meaning of this? What have you done? How could you betray me!”
“Do it.” Will said. “Kill Riddler once and for all. He has betrayed you once too often. He deserves a passionate end to his suffering.”
“You have no idea what you are talking about!” Penguin said through a haze of tears. “Ed is not broken. Ed is not a dog to be put down!”
“If you remember, you did have a dog named Ed that was put to sleep.” Riddler coughed.
“That wasn’t me!” It was that bitch Nyssa!” Penguin growled. “I am not going to kill Edward.”
Penguin threw the scalpel onto the floor and his eyes locked with Dexter. “Do your worst to me. Kill me. Torture me. Throw me to the pigs. I don’t care! But you take one step towards Ed and I will throttle you both!”
“I am broken.” Riddler admitted softly.
Penguin shook his head and looked at Edward in confusion. “What? Ed! They are trying to get into your head! You can’t let them!”
“It’s true.” Nygma sat down on the chair he had been bound to. He looked shattered.
“Edward, listen to me.” Penguin got down on his knees before Riddler, pain shooting up his injured leg in waves, but he did not care. “They are playing mind games. They are not right.”
“I am exceptionally smart.” Riddler said with a small smile. “I created two different personas to deal with awkward, uncomfortable feelings I was having when I was with you.”
“Ed, what are you saying to me? I don’t understand what you mean.” Oswald’s face was red with anger at having his friend placed in this position by Dexter and Will. “You both will pay for this!”
“I love you Oswald.” Riddler said in a small voice. “Not as a friend. Not as a brother. Some other way that I could not reconcile within my own mind. In some ways, it has driven me crazy.”
“Are you saying your two personalities are ways of dealing with your repressed homosexuality.” Penguin asked simply, calming himself and taking deep even breaths.
“You know?” Edward said, his voice cracking.
“Of course I know. I’ve been protecting you from this from the moment we met, Ed. This isn’t news to me. I know you better than you know yourself. It’s why I love you too!” Penguin took a deep breath. “But you aren’t ready for that, Ed. You aren’t ready to confess that connection or act upon it.”
“I think I’m finally getting there.” Riddler grinned at Penguin, his hand reaching to brush his friend’s face and Oswald took a sharp breath at the physical intimacy. Oswald closed his eyes, feeling the sensation of Edward’s warm hand on his cheekbones and lifted his own hand to cover Ed’s. Holding his hand against his own face, Penguin’s breath was now shallow and ragged.
The next moment, Oswald was grabbed forcefully into a desperate embrace and the two men held each other for as long as they possibly could.
“Now get off that leg, Oswald. Before I have to break into a pharmacy to get you pain medication.” Riddler let Penguin go and the man hobbled to his feet gratefully. He sat across from Riddler, looking at him intensely.
"So all this was a charade?" Penguin said.
"No, we really kidnapped you both and brought you here. Nygma wasn't a part of that. We wanted you both to have a heart-to-heart." Will admitted. "You can both leave now. Our job is done."
Riddler stood up at once, smoothing down his suit and Penguin got painfully to his feet, wincing as the pain lanced up his leg.
"So we can just leave?" Penguin asked, surprised.
Dexter slung a possessive arm over Will's shoulder and gestured towards the door. "Please. You need some time alone."
Penguin hobbled forward, eyes burning into Dexter's amused ones. "I swear, you best leave this city. You and your friend here. If you are here when I return with my men..."
"Oswald..." Nygma turned toward the Penguin, grabbing his arms and looking deeply into his eyes. "Let's just keep this win and move on. For us."
Cobblepot looked at the ground and then up at Ed. Before he could register Nygma moving in the Riddler's lips were firmly pressed against his own and Oswald's body came alight, his painful leg paling as he gasped into Nygma's mouth.
Still dazed and deeply aroused by the kiss, Oswald allowed Ed to shepherd him out of the door. As he reached the frame, he paused for a moment. Then he turned back and smiled at Dexter and Will.
"Everywhere it lurks, unsettling men and unnerving children. In a house it visits, in a cave it dwells. One light can put it to flight and make it retreat. Yet you can never escape it, for it is always there. What is it?"
"Where you will stay from now on." Dexter's eyes hardened. "No more murders. No more crime spree's. Take the year off and get to know each other. Take a holiday and sip mocktails on the beach, I don't care."
Riddler nodded, laughing to himself as he and Penguin closed the door behind them.
Left alone in the apartment, Will turned to Dexter. "Did we do the right thing? Letting them go like that?"
"Everyone deserves a chance at finding true love." Dexter said, tracing his thumb over Will's upper lip. "If they break that promise, I can't guarantee them anything."
"To new love." Will whispered as Dexter leaned in to claim his mouth in a passionate, frenzied kiss.