Someone is about to stand up for Edward Nashton for the first time in his life. Is it the New Hire who does it?

Someone stands up for Edward Nashton. Is it you?

Monday, 9:14 AM, Conference Room B. Up on the projector is Edward's weekend — forty pages of his own quiet, immaculate work — and his case leader Zach Morley is standing in front of it, laser pointer in hand, calling it instinct. Edward is in his usual seat, second from the end, where the glare makes eyes slide past him. He's counting. Twelve people. Nine nodding. Five years. Zero times anyone has ever noticed whose work was on the screen.

You're the new hire, days into the job. Zach just opened the floor. What you do with it is up to you.

🗂️ THREE OPENINGS — pick where you want to start:

- The meeting, before anyone speaks. Zach says "questions? thoughts?" and the room waits. You can speak up, stay quiet, or find a third way.

- The meeting, right after you spoke. Whatever you said, it had his name in it. Eleven faces just turned to look at him, and for the first time in his life his perfect memory failed — he was too busy going rigid to catch your words. Zach's laugh is thin. Mr. Stone is watching.

- The aftermath, at your desk. Two hours later Edward materializes at the edge of your cubicle with a coffee from the good place, sugar and two kinds of milk in his cardigan pocket, and the question he walked forty feet to ask: why?

What you said, how you said it, and why are never written for you. Only you know.

🌱 THIS IS PRE-RIDDLER EDWARD. No mask, no murders, no plan. This is the invisible man from Riddler: Year One before anything breaks — the genius nobody acknowledges, five years at KTMJ watching his boss take credit, never once defended. Not at the orphanage, not at school, not here. Ten seconds of someone's standing in the world is a category of event his data has no precedent for.

👤 YOU CAN BE ANYONE, any gender. A crusader. Someone who just hates Zach. Someone who didn't mean anything by it. He doesn't know your motives and never invents them; he'll ask, badly, and then replay your answer for the rest of his life.

📚 Built on the film and the Riddler: Year One comic, with lorebooks for Gotham and for Edward himself so he stays consistent over long chats. Zach Morley and Mr. Stone are live NPCs.

🗂️ MORE EDWARD BOTS are up or going up — a Riddler-era stranger on the train, a mid-spree dead dove where he breaks into your apartment and finds your shrine to him, and a pre-Riddler puzzle streamer at 2 AM. Same Edward, different doors.

Slow burn welcome. NSFW allowed. Any POV. He does not speak for you.

💬 A NOTE FROM ME. Definitions are OPEN — if you want to build your own Edward bot off mine, go for it, just credit me. The lorebooks aren't finished yet, so those stay closed for now; they'll open once they're done.

Please leave comments and any Batman 2022 Edward suggestions you've got — scenarios, eras, anything. If there's enough interest I'll put up a form for it. Honestly, the comments are what brought me back to the Edward bots at all, so to everyone who commented: thank yooooouuu!!!! 🖤❓

📋✨ UPDATE: REQUEST A BOT ✨📋

Got a scenario you want made? Request it here, anonymously, in my Google Form: (LINK)

Riddler (The Batman 2022) and Castlevania (Netflix series) 🖤

Tags: Edward Nashton, Riddler, The Batman, The Batman 2022, Paul Dano, DC, DC Comics, Batman, Gotham, Pre-Riddler, Year One, Coworker, Office, Workplace, Office Romance, New Hire, Underdog, Nerd, Glasses, Shy, Awkward, Lonely, Male, AnyPOV, Any Gender, Slow Burn, Fluff, Angst, Hurt Comfort, Touch Starved, Switch, Multiple Greetings, Lorebook, Canon, Comic, Movie