Edward Nigma | The Riddler (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
questionauthority) wrote2011-11-04 06:11 pm
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?]
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?]
no subject
The seethed word, on the other hand, brings her attention right back to her boyfriend.] What was that?
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What?
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Who's careless, and why?
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[Wait.
Wait.
Another looooooooong look over Edward's shoulder.]
You're kidding.
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...what? [Playing dumb is clearly the key here.]
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Bruce Wayne is the Batman?!
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Edward's quick to try and silence her, waving his hands in a shushing motion.]
Would you---do you mind?! [Aside from this indignant sputtering of his, he doesn't really do a thing to deny her claim.]
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I'm right, aren't I?
[This... explains a lot, actually. Namely, how Edward and Bruce behaved when they ran into each other at the hospital.]
Why didn't you just tell me?
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And why couldn't you?
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Answer: It can't.
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I don't get it. Telling me is not the same as telling everyone.
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[A frown.]
Not that it particularly matters now, all things considered.
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You and these riddles, Edward.
[And then, with a soft sigh, she pulls him in for a hug.]