Re: Main Street
No, if there was any disgust in the room, it came from Eddie's corner. He couldn't even fight the urge to recoil a little at his own image. A disheveled mess ranting like a crazed homeless man that was brought in from the street for biting someone. No this couldn't be right. He took off his glasses, collapsing the arms in his fist as he visibly tried to keep himself together. He shut his eyes and silently echoed himself like he was just trying to get all this straight. His memories of sitting in that chair had him as some dapper criminal with scum on his shoes smarter than the people who tried to make him better. So, why did he look like some cheap drunk Joker copy?
"Oh I don't know if I'd say busy." Riddler rolled his eyes to the ceiling, more than happy to talk about his past exploits. "I just opened up the flood gates. Ever wondered what it would be like if everything this city typed on a keyboard went public? Every lie. Every scandalous love letter. Every embarrassing rant about how much you hate your in-laws. All of it." The Riddler's eyes widened as he wiggled his fingers in the air for dramatic effect.
"As a shrink, don't you think the most interesting part is that everyone could have just turned their computers off right away to keep it from spreading? But, they didn't." Riddler slammed his palms down on the table and leaned forward. "Because every last one of them wanted a secret from someone else. They'd give up their own safety just to have dirt on their neighbors." Then his voice went quiet. The same whisper quiet that Eddie had used when he talked to her against the oak tree, but this time it was hollow and self-serving. "Tell me the truth, doctor. Did you go looking for secrets even at the expense of your own?"
In the back of the room, Eddie looked up and made eye contact with Steph over Riddler's shoulders like they had done with the nurse or the scientist back when they were playing detective. Another habit they had fallen into that he liked. Not just because it was some nonverbal secret that not even an expert hacker could decode, but because he liked having a reminder of their connection. If she glanced up at him, Eddie looked a little shaken; angry even. Part of him hoped to marvel in his own crazed genius, but it all looked so pathetic from where he stood.