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

[questionauthority]

[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?]

Comments

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Stopping dead in his tracks.]

Care to repeat that?

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

Like a teenage girl whose beau moved away.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[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.

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

[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?

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Shut up.

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

You didn't answer my question.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

I said shut up.

[SMACK.]

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

[For the first time in his life, Crane wasn't actually prepared to get hit across the face. He stumbles and falls to the ground.

He is silent for a short time.]

Well. I suppose that is a good an answer as any.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

It doesn't bother you? Knowing that this town's taken away any opportunity you may have once had to best him?

Consider if, God forbid, they drone Luthor next. How would you react?

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

Why? It isn't as if every opportunity has been taken. There is still Gotham, Edward, there is still home-- or have you forgotten about it?

And I would consider that a victory. His mind succumbed to the town first.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Through gritted teeth.]

I haven't forgotten.

Is it, though? Is it truly a victory when your opponent is removed from play by an outside force?

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

There are times when I truly wonder.

I don't see why it can't be. In a game of survival, isn't one victorious over those who fall before you do?

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

That would be the case. But what would you prefer: to deal the final blow yourself? Or to allow someone else to do it for you?

[...wait.]

What the hell is that supposed to mean, you "wonder?"

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

The former would be best, of course. But, given no other option, the latter would suffice. [Crane just wants revenge in general.]

It's just something I've noticed. The longer one stays here, the more they become attached to these beings from other dimensions... The more they become attached, the less they remember where they've come from.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

...

[He can't exactly argue with that. Yes, Gotham is his long-term goal. But when they do manage to find their way back home, what then? What of Ema and Luke? Susan and Slugger? What then?]

...I know where I've come from. Nothing could possibly make me forget. [Says the man who's experienced how much head trauma?]

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

If you say so. Only time will truly tell, don't you think.

[He stands slowly, adjusting his jaw as he does so.] You haven't forgotten how to hit, if anything.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

If anything, I'd say this place has taught me to hit harder. [Glass jaws, man. It's a Gotham thing.]

[uranophobe.livejournal.com]

I'll take your word for it. [More like glass everything.]

I can understand your situation somewhat, however. You did manage to find yourself in a very... unique household, didn't you. They're all very interesting... especially that one boy. The one who had my ring.