questionauthority: (Tip my hat to you)
Edward Nigma | The Riddler ([personal profile] questionauthority) wrote2011-11-04 06:11 pm

Riddle 036: What is it that nobody wants to have, yet nobody wants to lose?

[A - ACTION - Hospital.

On an ordinary day, during an ordinary visit to the hospital (perhaps to see Ema), the Riddler winds up running into another familiar face. But there's something quite different about him today. He's got that cheery look in his eyes, a dopey smile that's been plastered onto his face. But unlike his ordinary childish facade, the look on Bruce Wayne's face is eerily... vacant. Empty.

Question: What happens when you discover that the man who's outwitted you, outmatched you, and beaten you to an absolute pulp more times than you can count has been turned into nothing more than a brainless automaton with no mind or free will to call his own?

Answer: Grin like a madman and gloat when nobody else is around.]


So you've failed at last. Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. After all, who can truly hold a candle to my genius? Not you, Dark Knight. [He laughs.]

If only you could see yourself now. The World's Greatest Detective? Hardly.

Question:

"What is greater than God? More evil than the Devil himself?
The rich need it, the poor have it, and if you eat it you'll die?"

Answer: Nothing. You're nothing now. You've lost. And I, Edward Nigma, have finally---

[Won? ...no. No, he hasn't. Mayfield did this to him. Mayfield took the Batman and broke him down into nothing. Not the Riddler. This... isn't his victory. This was never a victory at all. And as soon as he realizes that, Edward's wide smirk fades into a venomous glare. Shoving the husk he once called his archnemesis out of his way, he moves to depart the hospital and put as much distance between himself and that... thing as he possibly can.]

[B - PHONE - Unfiltered. The winning edge is completely gone from his voice now. He sounds strangely empty.]

Riddle me this. What is the one thing we have all seen and will never see again?

[C - ACTION - 726 Anderson Lane / The Hall of Doom.

Whether he's sitting in the kitchen tinkering around with a strange contraption he's received in the mail or in the empty conference room of the Hall of Doom, the Riddler is uncharacteristically quiet this evening. Bother him?]

[phone]

[identity profile] riastrad-ridire.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
If you think the answer's 'home', I'm gonna punch you in the goddamned face.

B

[identity profile] sosghosts.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
Our lunch?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Edward's definitely noticed the shift in Slugger's behavior over the past several weeks. And oddly enough? It's somewhat distressing for reasons unexplainable. And instead of showing displeasure at the little monster or giving him a foul look, Eddie glances up and motions for him to enter with a slight inclination of his head.]

Come in, Slugger.

[identity profile] strike-you-out.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Slugger enters, stopping to close the doors behind him should Lex Luthor or anyone else still be wandering around the premise, then approaches the end of the conference table. He'll first eye the mechanism Edward is playing with in his hands. Whatever it is, it looks sort of like a game.]

The town gave that back to you?

C

[identity profile] deaths-heritor.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
I would have guessed 'your sanity', but I realize you're making some sort of vague attempt to reclaim that.

NEMIAG doesn't spell anything, by the way.

B

[identity profile] undying-heroism.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
The past?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods.]

I suppose it's only fair, given that it also took something away.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
[At that suggestion, Edward responds just as indignantly.]

Don't be stupid. That wasn't at all what I was suggesting.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
...is someone there? Hello?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
Trust me, Lancer. If I were to suggest that answer, I would deserve it.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose, in a way, that applies. Not the one I had in mind specifically, of course, but it could work.

[identity profile] riastrad-ridire.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
Good to hear--but I guess I've lost my ability with riddles, at least in this era.

So what's the answer, then?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
Charming. But no.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
Not now, Susan.

[Focusing intently on his machine.]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Yesterday."

There's no time like the present to try and find it again, you know.

[identity profile] riastrad-ridire.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
... [He laughed on hearing that, somewhat bitterly.] Damn, I of all people should have thought of that. Must be more out of it than I thought.
Edited 2011-11-05 08:00 (UTC)

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'm taking the time to make few slight modifications to this Enigma Machine I've so recently received. It'll serve us well when implemented as a new security measure for our headquarters, among the others I've installed.

A

[identity profile] uranophobe.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Yes, of course, Eddie is obviously all alone. Ignoring the fact that multiple people work in the hospital, and Crane had caught the whole thing while going outside for a smoke break. And, since what sort of friend would be really be if he let those wounds go unsalted, Crane catches him when he's exiting the hospital.]

You're mooning over him.
fasterthan: (concerned about you)

B

[personal profile] fasterthan 2011-11-05 08:05 am (UTC)(link)
[...huh. He doesn't sound so good.]

I am really, really bad at riddles, man. Can I get a hint or something?

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
[knock knock motherfucking knock]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
True enough. Appropriate, given that there don't appear to be many definite answers in this town.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Stopping dead in his tracks.]

Care to repeat that?

B

[identity profile] hardhat-truckie.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
Would ya mine if I gave your riddle a shot, stranger?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
You wouldn't be the first man to ask for one. [And of course, Eddie gives him a hint in the form of another riddle. Sorry, bro.]

What is always coming but never arrives?

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
I guess.

What was the answer you were looking for?

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