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] strike-you-out.livejournal.com 2011-11-12 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's a first time for everything. Slugger briefly glances up.]

I just wanted you to know.

[That said, he'll begin to push away from the table.]

[identity profile] coolbowtie.livejournal.com 2011-11-12 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Mad and impossible and the best thing there is.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-12 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Slugger.

[The word leaves his mouth without him even realizing it. A beat.]

...you can stay if you like. [Despite avoiding his fake!family for much of the day---hell, for most of the week since they attacked him only one day prior to Halloween---Edward doesn't want to be alone right now.]

[identity profile] strike-you-out.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
...

[A silent moment passes in which Slugger stares at Edward in surprise. He was about to push himself up from the chair but now he'll ease back into it. Soon his gaze falls on the contraption in Edward's hands again; it obviously spells something, though he can't see what. Knowing Edward, it probably has a specific purpose.]

You left clues on it?

[identity profile] notalwystrthful.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose I should thank you, Mr. Nigma.

But, really - will you be okay without them or are they someone you've known for a long time?

[identity profile] custodismundi.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm. [this is a thoughtful pause.]

I'd hazard you're hinting at time, then, sir. But it makes me wonder what 'time' really means in a place like this.

[...]

Aside from additional opportunities to lose aforementioned sanity, of course.

[identity profile] lunawolves10th.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
We must destroy it. As soon as we can. This is too cruel.

[identity profile] hintcoinplz.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
[If Edward looks close enough, he can see the word "magic" on the box.]

It's uhm...well, promise not to say anything to Slugger or miss Susan? It's sort of a secret project.
Edited 2011-11-13 03:39 (UTC)

[identity profile] uranophobe.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
You didn't answer my question.

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, Dist should have known that there would be an amount of this he'd have to get through. Still, he sinks down along the wall, taking another drink.]

How was I to know? He was kind to me. Helped me. ...Treated me better than anyone else. That is, until he betrayed me.

[identity profile] geassedmassacre.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 10:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Euphie stares, fascinated.]

I see. Can you send me a message right now?

[identity profile] greatestmanll40.livejournal.com 2011-11-13 11:03 am (UTC)(link)
Of course.

He was lucky to have bypassed security amidst that crisis. However, it only further proved that we must work together... despite the efforts of some among us.

Namely Crane.
kinship: (Strategist)

[personal profile] kinship 2011-11-13 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[He didn't doubt he would be correct, he always was. Still, his voice has a hint of satisfaction running through it.]

Thanks. Was there a reason for the riddle?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
He played to your ego and you devoured his praise without hesitation.

[Edward's hand makes its way to his forehead as he lets out a sigh.]

He'd done the same to Luthor and I as well.

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Then how can you blame me? I can't be sure that any of you wouldn't have disposed of me without a second thought; he was just nicer about it. You don't think any more highly of me than he does.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Close, but not quite there.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
Nicer? Last I checked, I never put a bullet through your brain.

[Though... there's still the matter of what happened in the bunker after Dist's betrayal was revealed.]

...although I suppose I owe you an apology. For your... [He gestures to his own eye as an indicator.]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
I've known him for years.

But I'll be more than okay without him. I'm... certain of that.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[A twist of a lever, and the Enigma Machine whirs to life. A recorded message (in Edward's voice, of course) begins to play, the audio filtered by a strange, eerie sort of echo.]

Rrrrrrrrrriddle me this. The more there is, the less you see-ee-ee. What could I be?

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
You're the first to apologize to me for anything.

[This is probably not true, but Dist is drunk and is really bad at remembering things while inebriated.]

Friends have done worse to me. He just succeeded in killing me. And, like I said, I don't have any value to anyone here. I have no reason to ally with anyone, not if they don't give a damn about me. It has to be mutual or it's just subservience. I thought I had equality there. It was a lie, but that didn't matter in the moment. I didn't know.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods.]

It was originally built as a means to deliver my riddles. Assuming that whoever has their hands on it is smart enough, they can turn the dials in order to spell out the proper answer.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
[There's a long moment of silence as Edward seems to contemplate something. Eventually, he makes his way over to the wall just next to Dist, sinking down next to him. It feels strange, really, bringing himself down to Dist's level. But at the same time... appropriate.]

Then perhaps I was wrong about you in the first place. The two of us aren't that different at all. Are we?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps they'll be so kind as to use all twelve days of Christmas this year.

[identity profile] riastrad-ridire.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
...Don't tell me you modern humans have a twelve-day holiday or something. We're screwed if they pull something like that.

[identity profile] buildstherobots.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
...I don't know. Are we?

[They really... don't know each other, do they? Dist offers the bottle again.]

Your friend Crane tried to break me.

[And probably succeeded.]

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