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?]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
[And the door cracks open.]

Dist. [He's actually surprised to see him. There's a look in the Riddler's eyes that's somewhat guilty, yet still cautious and wary. He hasn't seen the "Rose" in well over a month. But despite his trepidation, he decides not to shut the door.]

What brings you here?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
By all means, go ahead. If you think you can solve it.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
How convenient.
fasterthan: (wait what's back there)

[personal profile] fasterthan 2011-11-05 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, that was super helpful.

[Okay. Okay. He can do this. RIDDLES.

God he's so bad at riddles.

...maybe he's got it? He's tentative.]


Uh... the future, maybe? I dunno.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
Yesterday.

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
Dunno about that.

Seems to me like everyday here is the same. Yesterday is today and will be tomorrow.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:21 am (UTC)(link)
Tomorrow. But close enough. [He really must be affected, if he's accepting answers that are "close enough."]

Now, then. If not tomorrow, and not today, the answer must be...

[identity profile] uranophobe.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:21 am (UTC)(link)
Like a teenage girl whose beau moved away.

[identity profile] hardhat-truckie.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks. Is the answer "time"?
fasterthan: (you've got my attention (for now))

[personal profile] fasterthan 2011-11-05 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
...yesterday?

[HEY HE GOT IT SWEET

But the guy really sounds... well, not happy.]


Are you okay, man? You sound a little... uh. Upset.

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Dist had been knocking on the door with a bottle which, when lowered, appears to be a watered-down pink concoction. The alcohol on his breath suggests that it's not water, though.]

We need... we need to talk.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Is he drunk? Most likely. ...in a weird way, Edward has a bit of deja vu, bumping into Dist like this. Asking to speak with him after a feud that happened weeks and weeks ago. Almost like the hassle he'd gone through earlier this year.

Skeptical as he is, it's that association alone that keeps Edward from turning him away.]


Come inside, then.

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Dist himself is rather shocked at this, but he does slip in, rather quickly to avoid the chance of a door being slammed in his face.]

Edward...

[It's really hard to come up with words right now. Instead, he offers the man the bottle.]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
[There's a dangerous look on Edward's face as he begins to advance towards Crane. Bear in mind that he's holding his cane in hand, Jon.]

Don't you dare mock me, Crane.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't take the bottle right away. Rather, he glances at the bottle first, eyes traveling up to Dist's face.]

What? Is this some sort of peace offering?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Who knows?

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe, if that's all it would take.

[Dist takes another swig, then leans heavily on one of the walls.]

I just... I thought I'd share. Edward, I don't want it to be like this. I didn't want to be your enemy. I didn't want to have to make a peace offering at all.

[identity profile] uranophobe.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:42 am (UTC)(link)
[He notices the cane, but doesn't seem particularly concerned about it.]

Of course, how callous of me, finding humor in your time of great loss. Tell me, will you cry over him?

[identity profile] strike-you-out.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[And by "something" he knows you mean "someone".]

Who?

B.

[identity profile] coolbowtie.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Yesterday.

Unless you're capable of time travel, then well, it's an open slate.

[and he sounds rather smug about that.]
Edited 2011-11-05 14:34 (UTC)

[identity profile] sosghosts.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Is there a prize if you guess correctly?

[identity profile] deaths-heritor.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
...Dare I ask what that is?

B;

[identity profile] custodismundi.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd say sanity, but-- from the looks of things, some of us have felt a sore lack of that particular commodity from the start, I'm afraid!

[identity profile] greatestmanll40.livejournal.com 2011-11-05 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
How so?

More riddle based death traps?

A

[identity profile] glowing-science.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Question: What do you do when someone grabs your wrist while you're trying to bolt?

Answer: Stop walking, or at least be forced to.]


You look like you've seen a ghost. You okay?

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