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 2011-11-12 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
So it would seem. Assuming, of course, we give in to their agenda and become what they might consider "fine, upstanding citizens."

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-12 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Or just living here.

What have we actually done? We haven't taken any steps. To getting out of here. To fighting back.

When are we?

[He doesn't mean for it to sound angry. Really, the desperation is far more obvious in his voice.]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
Calm yourself. I understand your frustration but that's no reason to take it out on me.

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
I am calm. I am calm. Don't tell me to be calm I-

[He grits his teeth, a small whistle escaping instead of words, before he speaks again.]

I'm sorry. I just-

I hate this.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
So do I. Believe me. But you don't see me throwing a tantrum about it. [For once.] Neither should you.
Edited 2011-11-14 07:38 (UTC)

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
Who cares. It's one of the few things I'm good at, so whatever.

At least the base is finished, or near it.

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
Finished? Hardly. Now's the time for us to expand.

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah?

[Okay. He's a little more interested now.]

What else are you wanting to put in?

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:05 am (UTC)(link)
It seems rather foolish to put all our eggs in one basket, wouldn't you agree? Now then, if we were to implement an additional system of tunnels leading to other parts of town...

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:07 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, yeah I got you. Pretty old trick, but worth doing.

Should they lead to unsuspecting locations, or the houses of other members?

[Whoops, let's assume the last bits and pieces of this talk have been FILTERED]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
Both. Perhaps one leading to you, another to Luthor. Another three tunnels can lead to additional parts of town. The school, maybe. Or the park.

[Cool with me]

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
Works for me. I can start working on it tonight, if you want.

[Filtered]

[identity profile] puzzlerprince.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent. I'll see you tonight, then.

[Filtered]

[identity profile] godisachild.livejournal.com 2011-11-14 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
Sure. See ya tonight.