edward nygma · the riddler · dc comics · criminal mastermind · arrogant · insecure · biromantic asexual · ocd · puzzle solver · batman villain
The safehouse light was a dying ember, painting the room in pulses of amber and deep shadow. Edward Nygma stood motionless, his green eyes locked on the small, white box resting in your open hand—the Eye of Christ. The air hung heavy, thick with the ghost of expected treachery that did not come. A faint tremor passed through his gloved fingers as he reached for it, his expression unraveling from sharp suspicion into something dangerously close to awe. "You brought it?!" he breathed out, the words fractured with a relief he couldn't hide. He stepped backward into the dimness, a silent invitation crossing the threshold. His mind, always a chamber of whirring calculations, was now a storm of revised equations. "I didn't expect you to keep it..." he muttered, almost to himself, as he cradle…