Admit solving it, with a twist.

“I believe you voted for Memento, along with a number of other people,” I said, almost keeping the suspicion out of my voice as Penelope had instructed. I’d gotten it, but only because of the hints, right? That should do it.

He smirked at my words and tone. “Well, I am pleased, if a little surprised that some others in this place have reasonable taste in films. Memento was clearly the best of the available films. I am pleased my evening will not be wasted on some mindless commercial dreck.”

I smiled and nodded until he got bored and went off to swap out his book. His reading habits were eclectic, and as he explained, that was because he’d read most of the books here already and so was reading anything he hadn’t read already. Which consisted mainly of romance books to my surprise, though I guess he’d been in here for a while and he generally read voraciously, and quickly in the library, so it wasn’t necessarily a surprise that was all that was left.

But seeing him sitting there, reading a bodice ripper, sent a strange thought through my mind, Riddler, but as a woman, transformed, but still in a modified version of their costume, that silly little question mark cane reduced to a riding crop suitable for sex play, not a deadly weapon…

The scenario played out in my head, catching that cane out of the air breaking it over my knee, then bending her over and making a bitch out of her right in the fucking street.

Goddamn it, I pushed the thought away. Even if it was a potential future, I did not need to be rock hard in the middle of the library, like I was fifteen again. My stupid brain thought about going to find Rapetoy, but she would be busy. How long had it been since I was hard and hadn’t immediately had a warm, tight hole to suck the cum out of my balls?

Quite a while...thinking about that did not help the situation. I was standing in the fucking stacks. My uniform mostly hid it, but the Riddler would undoubtedly notice. I headed down to the bathroom and waited until I could piss without it being in my own face, and then headed back to the library. The rest of the day passed quickly, though when the Riddler came back, that same damn vision did too. Fortunately, I’d adjusted my armor so it was fully invisible, though I did get a slightly strange look from the supervillain, which wasn’t good.

But he was more focused on the movie. Again, we reordered the library and I made him help, just as I had the women, wouldn’t do to seem to be playing favorites. And we watched Memento. As we were cleaning up afterwards, I did ask a question, “Why a movie you’ve already seen, when you’re always going for new books?”

He gave me a confused look, but to my surprise, answered me, “I have a photographic memory for words, but not entirely for images and not at all for faces. Seeing the performances is always a revelation.”

I nodded slightly.

“Oh, and Elias Cain, of 203 N. 32nd Street, Apartment 306, if you tell anyone that, then you will regret it. For the rest of your certain-to-be-short, life.”

I didn’t flinch, but simply said, “You know, if you just say ‘in confidence’ beforehand, then you don’t need the rest of that stuff,” I said.

He glared at me for a long moment, then laughed and stopped helping. I didn’t pick up the chair he’d put down. His eyes met mine, a smirk on his face as he leaned against the wall. A whole confrontation was preparing to start. Him making a threat, then refusing to finish working was a direct challenge. If I just let him get away with it then—another member of the group just picked up the chair and put it back where it was supposed to go.

We looked away from each other and at the very confused young man. I could have forced the confrontation to come back, but that would have looked really, really silly. Instead, I simply smiled as the last of the work finished without either of us doing anything. Several people praised Riddler’s movie choice, maybe even honestly (though even if I hadn’t known, the fact that they knew it was his choice would have been a dead giveaway) and then the whole group broke up, escorted back to their cells.

I headed out, stopping briefly in to see Penelope and let her know how it had gone with Riddler. She glared at me. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t bring it up!”

“I didn’t. He did. And I didn’t admit I knew he’d made the others vote for it. Just said that was how I figured out his riddle.”

She glared, then slowly relaxed. “Anything else?”

“He told me something about his memory, then threatened to kill me if I told anyone.”

“Good. Good.”

I stared at her incredulously. After a long moment, where she continued to repeat ‘good’ as she stared into space, she realized what was happening. “This is a good sign. I will not ask you what he said, as he would do what he threatened, but whatever he said must have been true, otherwise, he wouldn’t have threatened you. Which means he’s opening up to you. Don’t push, but do let him talk to you, if he wants to.”

I frowned, “Is that safe?”

“Of course, not, nothing is safe once you have the attention of a murderer,” there was just a hint of something there...did she realize she was in the same boat with Scarecrow? “But it’s the best opening we’ve had with him in the two years I’ve been here!”

She’d only been here for two years? I’d known she was young, but...fuck. And she was head of medical...how much influence did Scarecrow have to even get her hired to this position, so fast. Sure she had a good reputation, but...of course, it was fucking Arkham, they probably hadn’t had many applicants. I happened to know they were funded for almost twice the medical staff they had, because they couldn’t fill the other posts.

We weren’t quite as bad off for guards, as there were more desperate people who could meet Rapetoy’s standards than desperate doctors who could meet Penelope’s. “I guess not. All righty, I’m outta here, unless you need me for something, doc?”