How long was this going to take before we knew if it worked? I could see him, floating just below the surface, still looking peaceful and calm. Along with the four men and the tigers, I waited for Eddie to emerge from the Pit. Talia had warned that when person came out of the Pit, he or she was taken with temporary insanity. The person seemed to gain superhuman strength, and the desire for violence. Thus, we waited around, prepared to subdue Eddie until the insanity wore off.

"Is it supposed to do that?" I asked anxiously as the water, now viscous from the additives, began to boil and steam.

The men remained silent, eyes intent on the roiling surface of the water. The violently churning surface quickly obscured Eddie's entire body, and I grew even more anxious as the seconds crawled by, feeling like hours. I chewed my lower lip, trying to look past the bubbles breaking on the surface, eager to pull him out, but afraid to reach in for him.

Without warning, Eddie sat up, coughing and gasping for breath. The torchlight in the chamber made his skin glow as the water sheeted off his upper body. He shook violently, eyes wide as he looked first at his hands, and then around the chamber. Powerless to do anything else at the moment, I stared at him, looking him up and down. As he looked around, I noticed also that all of his scars from surgery were healed, leaving skin that would have been smooth had his head not been covered in a fine bristle of hair.

"Wha- what ha- happened?" he stammered, staring at me. "Where am I?"

I was in pure shock, unable to do anything other than continue to stare at him. Only an hour ago, he had died in my arms. I had felt his last breath as it left his body, felt the warmth leave his skin. Yet here he was, sitting up, talking! Was I dreaming? Had I passed out from the anticipation?

The nudging of the tigers brought me around. All three had gathered around me, gently pushing me to the edge of the Pit. Eddie didn't appear to have gone insane from the submersion in the Lazarus, however I wasn't going to chance that he might not strike out the moment I was close. I knew how he moved in fighting, and I was certain that I could counter him should he decide I was a threat.

"You're going to be ok, Eddie," I began, tentatively reaching out to touch his face when he still hadn't moved.

Talia had said that the Lazarus Pit would cause Eddie to go insane and become violent. From how he was acting, Eddie had not gone insane. Instead, he pressed my hand flat against his face, eyes going wider than before, seemingly on the verge of tears. He looked up at me, pleadingly, silently begging me for an explanation. No, if anything, madness had left him.

"Leave us," I ordered to the men.

"Mistress?" one said, uncertain if he should obey.

"I said leave!" I snarled, snapping my head to glare at the four who were still waiting for Eddie to lash out.

"Yes, Mistress," the four said, bowing with their fists over their hearts. They left quickly and silently.

"Eddie, it's ok. I'm here," I told him. "Let's get you out of there and dried off, ok?"

He nodded, seemingly numb from the experience, and still somewhat disoriented. As he shakily climbed out of the Pit, I noticed that his body no longer seemed as gangly as it had when he went in. By some miracle, he had fleshed out, and the darkness of hair sprinkled his chest. He sat on a soft towel placed on the rim of the Pit, allowing me to dry him off. The muscles that had begun to atrophy were once more firm.

"I was dead," he said tonelessly as I helped him dress. He tugged the shirt I handed him over his head as I turned to get him a sweater.

"Hush now, Eddie. You need to save your strength." I patted his chest as he stood now, looking down at me. His eyes seemed different. When I looked into his eyes, there was a certain something missing.

"I'm fine, Dee," he said. "I don't believe I've ever felt better in my life." He scrubbed a hand over his scalp, cringing at the bristle of hair that met him. I handed him a soft, warm wool cap, which he pulled on after once more touching the new growth of hair.

"I don't believe you. Something is bothering you, Edward Nigma, so come out and say it," I told him firmly.

He sighed heavily, staring into the now still water of the Pit. "I've wasted my life. I could've been rich and doing practically nothing. Living my life at ease, like that fop, Wayne."

"You're nothing like that man, Eddie. Besides, you'd get bored doing something like that," I replied, bending over to collect up the sheet that had wrapped his dead body, along with the towels. Eddie had gone completely silent, and I turned to look at him. "Eddie? What is it?"

His eyes remained locked on the water, and he let silence fall in the chamber, broken only by the steady drip of water into the Lazarus Pit. "Everything we did, Dee. The stealing, the violence, the destruction... The killing that you do. Was that really what I did? Did I really enjoy that?"

I looked questioningly at him. Was he joking? The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, and the defeated slump of his shoulders told me otherwise.

"Tiger, that's what we do. We're in it for the game, the challenge. That's how it's always been. You come up with a plan, make out your riddles, we send them off to Batman, and see if he can solve them before we finish and win the game."

"But the killing..."

"That's me, not you. So don't even worry about it," I said distractedly. Most of that was for the Triad anyway. Ever since I had gotten together with Eddie, I had curbed the urge to kill, and even found that I did value humans; though I maintained that I despised the lot of them. Sure, Eddie had killed, but he had never been the type to just walk up to someone and kill them for no reason. That was never his way. If it fit into his plans, or couldn't be avoided, that's when he killed. He would still work for hours to get around killing, but if it were justifiable, he would live with it.

"I think I know who he is," he said cryptically.

I raised an eyebrow. "'He'?"

"Yes. We need to... Where are we?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember we were on a plane to China. But after that, it's all a blur. How long have we been here?" Before I could answer, he waved me off, scratching his head through the cap. "I want to go home. Now."

Purposely, I ignored his wish to leave. "We've been here for about two weeks now." Tossing the sheet and towels into a basket I had brought, I gave him a gentle shove with my elbow. "Let's get you back to the room and get a meal in you. You're probably hungry."

He looked at me with a trace of frustration on his face. It slowly melted off his face. "I am hungry." The tone in his voice suggested hunger of more than the stomach sort. His eyes said there was more than just food on his mind as he watched me lift the wicker basket and hook a hand through his arm.

~ ~ ~

The confusion that continued to hang on me like a stifling blanket in humid summer heat made me feel angry and frustrated. Many times, as she shoved food at me, urging me to eat, all the while pawing and cooing at me, I wanted to tell her to back off and let me be. Every time one of those thoughts began to form, the blanket smothered it down, nearly taking me with it. At the same time, I was grateful for her attentions. I felt as if I hadn't seen her in years, and her arms draped around my neck, petting my chest as I ate, made me feel complete. Dee didn't force me to talk, and kept mostly silent herself, for which I was thankful as my mind was filled with conflicting thoughts and ideas.

My mind swirled with the things I had done in the past, including the way I had sometimes treated her. Oddly enough, I knew that the times I had played mean tricks on her, Dee still loved me, and, in a way, even enjoyed the fights those tricks had caused. My fingers itched at the urge to play one on her now. She'd do pretty much anything I asked of her, even things she didn't enjoy doing. There were limits, and I knew them. Oh, but it was tempting!

More tempting was the plan that had begun to take form in my head. I had to confirm my suspicions first, of course, but that didn't stop me from jotting mental notes should those notions prove true. I could bring total and complete ruin to Gotham's favorite son. Immediately, I knew I couldn't possibly do this alone. Others would have to be brought in, traps laid. I would require a great deal of money. Money that I didn't currently have, if I wanted to consider pulling this off...

No! No, these thoughts, they were wrong. I should be contemplating what to do with my life when I returned to Gotham. Perhaps I shouldn't return to Gotham, however. It was filled with my past, and I now knew that my actions were not something a man of my intellect should do. On my own, I could put my mind to much better use. With my skills and ingenuity, I could build my own personal empire in no time at all. Dee and I could live comfortably, never worrying about the law, or ending up in the hospital or worse after a day's work.

But where would the fun be? Sure I'd have safety, security. But at what cost? Already, the thought that she would be forcing me to stay here for a few more days was boring me. The solitude made for ideal planning conditions, however there was no way I could do the research I needed by sitting here, holed up in some little place in China that wasn't even on the map! At least in Gotham, I could execute some minor heists, which would help me gather money. There were also those of stature who would pay for my services in stealing things for them. Corrupt city officials and the wealthy who would hire my sort to do the dirty work they wouldn't, or couldn't.

In frustration, I once more pushed the thoughts away from me, struggling to keep a hold of my urges to do wrong. Rubbing my jaw, I was surprised to find the scratchy stubble that had disappeared with the rest of my hair during chemo treatments. In fact, as Dee had helped me dress in the Lazarus chamber, I noticed that all of my hair was coming back. Carefully, I felt along my scalp, where the puckered and itchy scars from the surgery had been. Nothing but skin now, covered in fine hair that was now longer than it had been when I first emerged from the pit waters.

This could be so much fun! The planning alone would be worth it! I would have to look into funding. A smile spread across my face. There were those who could easily be manipulated into funding my project. Some of the connections I had made lately would probably gladly throw in some money for this. If the blossoms on this tree of thought were going to give me the fruit I had in mind, stock in Edward Nigma would skyrocket.

"We'll stay for a few days. I do need a bit of rest," I said, absently patting Dee's arms around my neck. She nuzzled my neck as a way of approving my decision. "There's much to do before we leave here anyway. Much to do."

I hummed as I now embraced those thoughts of wrongdoing, shoving away the ridiculous thoughts of settling down and wasting my life working a normal job for a living. I was Edward Nigma, the Riddler. And I was back.
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