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]

Fear Toxin. It's his specialty. [Edward wasn't even aware that the Scarecrow had any in his supply. Though it only makes sense that he'd brew up more.] What then?

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

What then? He left me there overnight, then let me go. Apparently I'm part of his study, but he doesn't need me any more.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[He mutters something under his breath. Likely akin to "Why am I not surprised?"]

Jonathan's... a very interesting sort of doctor. Certainly not the kind people enjoy visiting on a regular basis. [Hell, even dentists have better luck than him.]

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

I know that. Now I know that.

[Bitterness? Yeah.]

I thought I'd try opening up. Trusting. Coordinating, to better figure this place out.

You see how well that's turned out. I can't decide if I should go it alone or try and join back up with you, but I'm mostly sure you won't inject me with something.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Only "mostly?" [A mirthless chuckle. Yeah, bitterness on his end too.]

I'd originally intended to go about this alone. To solve this riddle on my own, to leave Mayfield with little concern as to whether or not the others were smart enough to figure it out as well. But it isn't that simple. Nothing is, really, in this place.

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

I think everyone did.

[DRINK.]

I'm working on a stabilizer for the eye so you can't damage it again.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Once Dist has lowered the bottle again, Edward'll finally take it out of his hands and take a swig as well.]

Your efforts may be better spent elsewhere, considering that I don't intend to damage it again.

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter if it's you. It's an easily exploited weakness, and I intend to correct it. You simply exposed it to me.

[Edward sharing his drink, as well as being willing to listen, is helping immensely.]

I figured you'd never want to speak to me again.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

I'll admit I wasn't thrilled to know who you'd been cavorting about with. Yet you at least attempted to reverse the damage by warning me.

[Edward had spent so long attempting to repair bridges he'd thought to have been so thoroughly burnt. This must be what it's like to be on the other side, he supposes, listening to Dist talk.]

We're speaking now, aren't we?

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

I told you, I had no reason to doubt him. It had never hurt you before, and I was attempting to recover information that I was going to share.

[He sighs, grinding the heel of hand into his temple. Everything is fuzzy.]

We are... at my insistence. Crane did say you would never come to me.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

After how I'd treated you, you had expected me to make the next move? [Reacting to Dist the way he had gotten him chewed out by Schuldig. Ema, too.]

But I suppose I could have just slammed the door in your face. If I really wanted to. [This isn't at Dist's insistence. Or at Edward's initiative. This is them just kind of... meeting somewhere around the middle.]

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

You could have come to apologize, you know. I'd say I deserve one, not just from you.

I almost expected to get a door slammed in my face.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

And apologize I did, Dist. What more do you want from me?

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

After I demanded it. How much is a thought worth when it's requested? You never would have admitted you were wrong if I hadn't come here, even if you realized it on your own.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[The sad thing is? Dist is probably right. Even now, Edward's still got too much pride. He's grown more aware of his mistakes but by no means is he enthusiastic to accept them. Still, if he wants a real apology...]

Dist. [A pause, then...] Saphir.

I'm sorry.

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

[The use of his old name - at least, its use in a non-weaponized context - takes Dist completely by surprise. He'd been expecting a fight, another argument about how Edward wasn't wrong at all.

His expression is unreadable for a few moments, but then he takes another swig from the bottle, then draws his knees up and buries his face in his arms.]

I hate it here. I hate it so much.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[For the most part, Edward's pretty quiet in return. Though eventually, he has this to offer:]

You're not alone there.

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

You have that brunette. Ema.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[That's an unexpected change in topic.]

What do you mean?

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

[This... this is really hard to say. It's something he's never said... but no one has listened to him before. Not really, not since Anise. And, again, drunk.]

You love her. And she loves you. Yes?

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Granted, Edward never makes life very easy for Ema. Nor she, for him. But at the end of the day, they'll still say they love one another. He nods.]

Of course.

[Where is Dist going with this...?]

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

...I don't have that.

[It's the simplest, most straightforward way to answer. He simply doesn't. He never has. He's tolerated, he's used. It's never something he's been blind to; for a long time, he simply didn't care.]

That must make it easier for you.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[It's almost similar to Edward's own situation, really. Always tolerated in Gotham (barely). Never appreciated. Never respected. Yet despite his changed relationship status...]

...it doesn't always. [He hangs his head.] In some ways, it makes things all the more challenging. [Not to say that Edward's never appreciated a good challenge. But still.]

Question: When we do manage to overpower our captors, to solve the riddle that is Mayfield, what then? What happens when we no longer have to call this place "home?" [What happens when they have to return to their separate homes? In separate worlds?

...it's a thought that's been digging at the back of Edward's head more and more as of late.]

[buildstherobots.livejournal.com]

I'm not going home. I'm staying. I'm going to burn this place to the ground, then rebuild it to be a real home.

[He hasn't considered the fact that it might not be an option yet.]

Who knows if we'll even be able to leave, once we solve it?

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Dist is staying? Those words really shouldn't surprise him. There are plenty of people without much to return home to. He's suffered through enough Ethics classes here to know that.]

...good question. [Groan.] Yet another we're going to have to ponder.