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?]

[Filtered]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-04 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't. [At least, the riddle isn't directly about him.] But to answer your question, yes. I've seen him.
notasidedick: (bored bats)

[Filtered]

[personal profile] notasidedick 2011-11-04 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
You're going to get a lot of strange answers. People don't like vague riddles you know.

It's a bit of a nuisance to have them still look like these people that were here.

[Filtered]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-04 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Riddles are meant to be vague. They're meant to make you think. What a sad world we live in, if the people in it truly detest having to think for a change.

It's funny. I would have half-expected him to prepare for something like this.
notasidedick: (i'm thinkin so shut up)

[Filtered]

[personal profile] notasidedick 2011-11-04 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
People just don't like to take the time and think anymore. Everyone is just always on their own agendas I guess.

I guess you don't really expect yourself to get droned.

[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...]
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.

[Filtered] Haters to the left

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-10 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
...

[Judging from the silence, it's safe to say that yes, he is still feeling pretty numb.]