Riddle 032: Milked For All He's Worth

[questionauthority]

[Hey Mayfield. Guess who's been a busy little drone this evening? Well, now that he's gone and killed his first victim, the Riddler's going to be headed on home. But first?

A. ACTION - The Gas Station / Diner - Evening

The Riddler's at the gas station, whistling to himself and filling up the Riddler-Mobile. Which you've probably noticed is a little bit dented. And is missing a windshield. And appears to have something just barely jutting out of the trunk. It's small. Black. Almost looks like a piece of a certain someone's... cape. Not that any of this bothers the Riddler in the slightest.

B. ACTION - 726 Anderson Lane - Soon After

Now that his car's all filled up and everything's all hunky-dory, Edward Nigma's gonna head on home, parking his car in the garage. He doesn't bother taking the corpse out of the trunk, simply leaving it locked inside. Never mind the fact that his ordinarily stainless green suit is still covered in blood. His familiar cane, bent and bloodied, is in his hand.

When he enters the house, there's a big, cheery grin on his face.]

Daddy's home! [Laughing jovially, he'll mosey on over to the kitchen.] How's my happy, healthy family this evening?

Comments

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

Take this!

[As Slugger swings the bat at Edward's hand, Luke attempts to aim a kick at Edward's shin.]

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[As Luke kicks, something long and metal flashes through the air, spinning in the general direction of Edward's head. This is, perhaps, faintly reminiscent of another scene that had occurred in this household once upon a time. Pokers were much more sophisticated than baseball bats, of course.]

And that.

[Susan seems to have recovered from her temper tantrum. She lowers her arm from her position in the doorway; there is a sword attached to her side as well. Just in case.]

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Direct hit on both accounts. The bottle is knocked away from Edward's hand, the rest of it shattering against the side of the counter. And Luke's kick to the shin is enough to knock him slightly off balance, though he doesn't fall to the ground. No, instead he sets his sights on Luke (an easier target, given his lack of a weapon.) He'll make a good little human shield.

Before he can lunge at the boy, though, he's interrupted by the sudden arrival of a flying poker. The pointed tip of which pierces into his temple, lodging itself right on into his head. He doesn't say a word---he can't, really. But after a second, the Riddler's drone tumbles to the ground. Dead.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Slugger doesn't even see the poker coming until its end is lodged in Edward's head. Gaping, he steps away further as the body hits the floor, milk from the glass spilling out as it shatters. Sights shifting from the now dead drone to the source of the poker, he spots Susan armed with a sword.

He doesn't say anything yet, just stares at her in shock as if to say 'That was some throw'.]

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

[Luke doesn't have a comment for the poker, he just stares down at the dead body.

In absolute horror.]

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

Luke, go upstairs.

[Before Luke can stare at the body too long, his vision is being obscured by the back of Susan's black cloak, which somehow seems to purposefully flare out to obstruct his sight. Susan will bend over and, with an unusual display of strength, pull the poker out from where it had lodged in the Riddler's head.

Blood and goo. Not particularly pleasant.]

Slugger, fetch me the linen bandages. Then escort your brother up.

[Whether that's a slip of the tongue or not, she doesn't correct herself.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Shounen Bat takes orders from no one. Except his "mother". The requested items will be in Susan's arms in less than two seconds, after which Luke will feel a tap on his shoulder from behind.]

This way. Unless you want the nightmares to be worse.

[He's actually serious.]

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

[Luke turns to Slugger, away from the corpse of Edward.]

H-he's...

[Dead, he's dead. He looks absolutely distressed at Slugger. While the dead do come back from Mayfield, it wasn't something he was used to witnessing.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[While Slugger doesn't look very broken up about it, he kind of knows how Luke feels. Long ago he'd come home to discover Susan's body in a heap of butchered limbs thanks to Grady and experienced real trauma for what may have been the very first time. Compared to that, this was almost pleasant.]

Maybe this should go in the sketchbook.

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

I don't want this to go in the sketchbook!

[...He probably said that louder then he should have, but right now he's more concerned about the dead body of the Riddler. Luke slightly lowers his voice.]

T-they come back right? That's what everyone says. It's true, isn't it?

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Too soon for that suggestion? Okay then. Slugger will surely be making a note of this event in his own personal records, possibly in pictorial form. As for Luke's question, Slugger merely nods. He honestly doesn't know what will happen after this now that people in Mayfield have started dying for real, but he figures a nod should suffice for now.]

Just go upstairs. Susan and I will handle this.

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

[Luke nods weakly.]

O-okay.

[And with that, he scurries upstairs.]

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[Susan, in the meantime, had been attempting to keep more of Edward's brains from spilling out. That task done, she'll straighten up.]

Well? Go on and keep him company. I can clean up here.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[This time he doesn't "snap" to obey so quickly. Instead, Slugger moves to grab Edward's legs, swatting away a few spiders in the process. They can't just leave the body here on the kitchen floor, after all. What horrible housekeeping that would be.]

Where should we put him?

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[Susan simply fixes him with a Look for a moment or two before deciding it wasn't worth the time to argue.]

The basement, of course. Where else?

[She picks up the shoulders and then drops them absentmindedly, taking some rope stowed in one of the cupboards instead (she had taken to leaving odd lengths of rope around the house after the last few incidents). Then she'll pick up the shoulders.]

Downstairs, then. I'll go around first.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Admittedly, he'd rather face a Look from Susan head-on than allow his eyes to settle on the face of Edward's corpse.

And so 'mother' and 'son' engage in what is quickly becoming a family tradition at the Nigma Residence---carrying Mr. Nigma's body down into the cellar for binding.]