- "All my life, I've been rejected. Passed over. Left dangling by my fingernails on the edge of a cliff. Too weak, too scared, too worthless to scream... "help me, I'm falling." How come whenever I try to scream it never makes a sound?"
- ―Edward Nashton[src]
Chapter Two: People Lie, Numbers Don't is the second chapter in Paul Dano's limited series The Riddler: Year One.
Plot[]
The following day, Edward returns to work as normal. He discovers that Zach has been promoted to "Junior Division Director", further infuriated by his condescending attitude. Still suspicious that Mr. Stone dismissed his findings, Edward stays behind that night whilst everyone leaves and breaks into his office to doublecheck his discoveries. He soon discovers that KTMJ also legally represents Waterfront Industries and finds that pages have been shredded related to its finances. Finding Stone has shredded them, Edward investigates to find payments from a Mr. Joon and other sections of Gotham, including the Renewal Program.
With his sanity damaged, Edward returns home where he is apparently confronted by a stranger who knows his name. He soon begins investigating his Renewal Applications and begins to wonder whether their operations have impacted his life. Edward soon begins investigating New Beginnings and spying on Mr. Joon, discovering that he routinely makes payments to a young woman. He quickly becomes suspicious of these and his financial situation. Sometime later, Stone asks to meet Edward, claiming to have discovered something with New Beginnings and its accounts. Claiming he is investigating; he asks him to help investigate Wayne Enterprises for a potential case. Though he accepts and is initially optimistic about his opportunities, Edward remains suspicious of Stone and his motives.
With further reports about Batman's operations, Edward becomes inspired by the vigilante and decides to take matters into his own hands. Learning to hack into CCTV systems, he begins spying on New Beginnings and their operations. He begins using his free time to investigate their feeds, learning that they are pushing drops in the area. Deciding to follow Batman's footsteps, Edward begins purchasing military weapons to help in his operations. One night, Edward places a bug on Joon and spies on him from a rooftop. From there, he witnesses and hears a confrontation with Stone, who has been looking at their books and discovered someone is skimming profits. When shown photos of the woman he's giving money to, Joon reveals her to be his daughter and that he'd been giving her his personal funds to leave Gotham. He also learns that they are working for Carmine Falcone. However, Stone isn't convinced and orders Higgins to execute him. From his feeds, Edward witnesses his execution, during which he learns it was actually Higgins who stole to pay off his bail. The following morning, Joon's daughter is confronted by Higgins before she can leave Gotham.
Characters[]
- Edward Nashton
- Batman
- Thomas Wayne
- Carmine Falcone
- Richard Stone
- Unnamed Monster
- Ana Joon
- Gotham City Police Department
- John Joon
- Zach Morley
- Mr. Goodman
- Salvatore Maroni
- Wayne Family
