By Fire - There can only be one

It had been an interesting day at the GCPD Morgue. Christine had been liberally spraying artificial forest scent everywhere again to try and combat the smell of the arson bodies that had come rolling in. Burnt bodies were often either incredibly brittle or baked like a seasoned ham so every precaution was usually taken to ensure that bits weren't lost in transit or during examination. Two kids dead. Stagg was personally overseeing the third, she'd heard. Bernie was sure she still smelled faintly of ash as she buzzed at Edward Nygma's door. No time to shower or change out of her disgusting work clothes.

'Bernie, so glad you could come!' Edward beamed from his door.

'Ye called.' She pointed out, blushing slightly at his jubilant tone. Not many people were happy to see her. Not many called her late at night, at the end of her shift to get a taxi to their studio because they needed her help in very vague circumstances. 'Care ter explain what's going on?' She frowned at him.

'Ah, yes. About that.' Edward's smile turned brittle. He pushed the door open and Bernie caught sight of a slim hand and mouse brown hair. Her mind went into sudden overdrive, seeing the mottled skin. Darkened nails.

Wrist, shoulder, neck, mid-sternum, hip, knee. Wrist, shoulder, neck-

Suddenly, she was almost thankful she hadn't had time to change out of her filthy clothes. 'Is tha-' She began but didn't get much further as Edward grabbed her by the front of her blouse and pulled her into his apartment. He had remarkable strength for someone with very little muscle. He locked the door behind them.

'I don't want you to get the wrong impression, Bernice.' He warned her. Och no - she was just locked in an apartment with a deid body and a serial killer! 'You have to help me hide her.'

Bernie blinked. 'Edward-'

'You were so helpful hiding Dougherty.' He pressed. She froze. An unbidden image of the carnage of her bathroom rose to mind. Wrist, shoulder, neck, mid-sternum-

'What did ye do?'

'I strangled her.' He shrugged. 'She found out. I had to keep it quiet, Bernie. It's our secret.'

Unwillingly, Bernie's eyes fell on Edward's hands. They were large, but delicate. Would he have…? Could he have…?

Our secret. She'd helped him hide one body. Now he was asking her to help him hide a second. You want to, though, don't you? You want to keep his secret - your secret. What happens if you say no? Is he going to do that to you? Is he going to kill you over this too?

She looked up at him. Behind the manic expressions and the jumpy movements there was something darker hidden in his eyes.

I see you. I know you.

'Bernie?' He begged her and his hands twitched. She was pulled out of her thoughts at that, mind made up. 'Alright.' She replied. 'I'll - I'll help.'

'Excellent!' Edward beamed happily.

'Ye do understand that this is your apartment.' She pointed out carefully. 'You can't be seen leaving with a deid body and I don't have any more suitcases.'

Edward frowned and nodded, a hand running through his hair. 'We need a plan.'

'Fer now, I'd suggest turning the thermostat down and shutting all the windows.' Bernie murmured, running through the list of problems death's can leave behind. Smell, insects -

'Ah! Yes. Don't want poor Kristin to start to smell while we work this out.' Edward's laugh was high pitched and unnerved.

Missing. She's going to be missed. 'You need to come up with a plausible reason for her absence, Edward.' She added as an afterthought as he moved away and into another room.

She pulled a set of gloves from her labcoat and slipped them on. Kristin's glasses were askew, the last look of her face seemed to be one of horror.

Good. This is Gotham. You should be afraid.

Petechial hemorrhaging, bruises around the neck along with some scratches, swollen, bitten tongue. All signs of manual strangulation. The area around her was a mess with signs of struggle. Crime of passion, then?

'What are you looking for, Bernie?'

She jumped and turned around. Edward's voice was low, husky and almost unrecognisable in that moment. Hell - she'd have gone so far as sexy if it weren't for the fact he'd just killed a woman and could probably kill her. 'Jus' checking -'

'Checking if I was capable? Or if I was lying to you?' He asked smugly from his bent position.

'Checking fer evidence, Edward.' She grit. 'So we dinnit get caught!'

'Ah, of course.' Edward sighed and squatted down to realign her glasses almost reverently. Bernie noticed that he'd not donned his own pair of gloves, his fingerprints would be all over the surface. Glass was a particularly good material for fingerprinting. He knew that. 'Kristin never really understood, you know.' He murmured. 'I did it for her. At the time, I thought it had gotten out of hand and it was accidental - but looking back, it seemed inevitable. I was an idiot for confronting him and not thinking that Dougherty would try to attack me.'

Of course he was. But he still won. He killed a man for her - and now she's dead.

'She didn't understand.' Ed said coldly.

But I do. I understand it very well.

Bernie shook her head. She needed to concentrate right now. To anticipate what was coming. How to get this one out without being detected. She'd dismembered a man and hid his body - not just anyone, but a cop. If they discovered them trying to hide Kristin, there was a good chance that they'd discover Dougherty as well. Cop killer or not - Bernie could not survive in prison.

'I have an idea!' Ed said suddenly with a manic grin. 'How about a scavenger hunt? You can help, Bern!' He nudged her and almost sent her flying into the corpse that had been Kristin Kringle.

'Scavenger… hunt?' Bernie turned to look at him. 'Fer who, Ed?'

'Me!'

She stared at him for the longest time, terrified and confused by this new Edward. What…. What was happening to him?

The same thing that's happening to you, Bernie. You're losing your mind.

'Ed, what -' She began but he was hardly listening to her right now.

'How do you remove a finger?'

She stared at him, assessing whether he was actually intending to do this, but his manic stare never wavered. For the first time, she noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses. His eyes looked calculating, focused wholly on her as she debated. He was going to do this and, despite all her reservations, it would probably be less brutal on poor Kristin Kringle's corpse if she helped him.

Liar. You can't lie to yourself.

'Depends.' She waffled, spinning for time as her own mind rebelled. 'How clean d'yer want it? How much of the finger do you want? Because if you just want it off, I'd suggest pruning shears. If you want the joint with it, I'd suggest a steak knife.' She couldn't believe that she was suggesting these things at all. That she was talking so candidly about cutting off a murdered woman's fingers. What was wrong with her?

You know exactly what's wrong with you - Blushing Bernie.

Ed thought for a moment and brushed his hair back, smoothed it down after the manic few moments. He seemed to be trying to compose himself, but every few seconds, his lip would come up, as though he were more amused by the situation than anything else. 'Rashes it is!'

She watched him disappear to look for the secuaters and wondered if it was still possible to run. Run right now and never look back.

Why run? You've already done this before. Do you think that he won't know? Do you think you can hide? Do you think you can live with yourself Bernice? It's too late to run. It was too late to run the moment you carved into Dougherty in your bathtub. With the first drop of blood that made it to the drain. All you can do now is be along for the ride because we are doing this.

What was wrong with him? What was wrong with her? Someone - anyone - explain what was happening, here.

There can only be one.

A/N: I skipped two episodes. They're good episodes! But I just can't find a way to insert Bernie in them. And now we're up to the fun ones - Edward being….well, Riddler - and Bernie's reaction to that. This has been half finished in my folder for ages, but life, rekindling my love affair with ruining Arkham Asylum Ed and general stuffs happened. Still, this has to be the most fun I've ever had with Bernie and Ed. She has real PTSD right now (which is why she keeps repeating the order that she dismembered Dougherty in). And she's a little bit insane. Pretty soon, she'll be falling down the rabbit hole!

What should her villain name be? Doctor Dismember? Nurse Ratchet? Break Down Bernie? I'm having too much fun with these. Someone stop me.