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 2011-11-06 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Initially, Edward tries to jerk forward, not realizing who's stopped him immediately.]

Let me---!

[Wait. Ema. The Riddler does stop walking, but by no means does he want to stick around and chat. Not when dear ol' drone Doctor Wayne is starting to make his rounds in the next hall over.]

I'll be fine. [Though he doesn't sound entirely convinced.] We'll talk later.

[identity profile] glowing-science.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
We'll talk now.

[She starts walking, still holding onto his arm. He's obviously bolting, which she's willing to respect, but damn if she's going to let him run away from her.]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Fine, they'll talk now. Ema's still unaware of Bruce's connection to the Dark Knight. And Edward intends to keep it that way.]

Our dear friend Bruce Wayne seems different today.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
You can say that again, friend.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
Hard to believe, isn't it? No contingency plan. No last-minute surprises. No new gadgets or clever tricks. No. They've beaten him.

Once and for all.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
...insightful as ever. Aren't you?

[Filtered]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
Riddle me this: How does one prepare for the possibility of droning? Can one prepare for it? It sounds almost impossible, really, considering the fact that there's next to no established pattern for it.

Still. [To bear witness to something he hadn't prepared for...]

[identity profile] glowing-science.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Is that what has Edward so upset? Funny; she didn't think they were actually that close.]

...I saw. He was all drone this morning when I peeked into his office.

I guess you're not okay with this.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
Then it appears as though my hunch wasn't too far off.

[He seethes to himself, glaring over his shoulder.] Careless.

[identity profile] glowing-science.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Ema looks over Edward's shoulder to find drone!Bruce making his rounds. The smile he's wearing is downright creepy, lacking all of the man's easy charisma.

The seethed word, on the other hand, brings her attention right back to her boyfriend.]
What was that?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
They're essential, Lex. You never know what might be thrown our way.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
[No point in trying to hide it from Slugger. He finds out most of Edward's secrets on his own, anyway.]

Batman.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Glancing back at Ema.]

What?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
Aren't we all, these days?

[identity profile] glowing-science.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
You said 'careless.'

Who's careless, and why?

[identity profile] riastrad-ridire.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
Fair enough. I've had some crazy shit go on around Samhain in past years, but that just takes the damned prize for worst of it.

Can't say anybody else would handle it any better or worse than I did. Hell, I'd even say this place is gonna drive us all crazy. Or crazier.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps. Care to find out?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
Clever, Doctor. But trust me when I say that time travel wasn't exactly a factor I'd considered in posing this riddle.
notasidedick: (oh bugger)

[Filtered] I can't take that icon seriously. I really can't

[personal profile] notasidedick 2011-11-06 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
I guess you can't. It's not like you can just tell people things before then get droned. It would be nice though wouldn't it?

Feeling a bit numb? I still am.

[identity profile] coolbowtie.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
...Well, yes.

I suppose you weren't.

[identity profile] sosghosts.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Any time someone says that to me I usually don't.

[He sighs.] It has to be something in the past. Or the past itself.

[identity profile] custodismundi.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not as sure that's the answer to your riddle, though... I can't say I was ever particularly good at those! Suppose you were to drop a poor soul a hint...?

[identity profile] notalwystrthful.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been told it's one of my talents, so to speak.

[identity profile] strike-you-out.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Slugger stares at his hand as he rests it on the back of a chair. He'd thought Edward would look happier about this, but perhaps there was something more to his relationship with the Batman than what met the eye.]

I thought you hated him.

[identity profile] poisonivyforyou.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Some come back- that kid, Grayson. He-

[Why is every thought coming out so rushed? Why is she so nervous?]

-he got droned, then came back. Maybe Batman will, too.

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