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

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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?]

Threaded | Flat

What's that?

[Leaning over your shoulder.]

[Sitting at the table.]

The way you worded the question leaves it vague, Mr. Nigma.

However, is it someone dear that Mayfield took from you?

Can you just tell us without riddles for once, Nigma...?

Uhm... our baby teeth?

Hmm... [this sounds like it would be something circumstantial. Ray thinks about this carefully, then answers:] Freedom?

Did you see him today?

[Because Dick sure as hell did.] Assuming this riddle is about him.

Love.

[Guess who else sounds utterly wiped out.]

[Lex walks into the hall for business of his own, though he is curious as to what Riddler is doing.]

Nigma.

[Euphie walks into the kitchen and goes over to him, tilting her head curiously. She points at the thing he's playing with.]

What is that?

[There comes a knock from the door to the conference room. Hovering in the entryway, Slugger peers curiously in at Edward. Lately, he's been doing strange things such as knocking on doors rather than simply appearing abruptly from thin air and not breaking into Edward's office or purposely misplacing his belongings or flushing the toilet while Edward is in the shower.]

[There's a long silence while Sara thinks about that. Maybe he can even hear her softly repeating the words to herself, before she responds indignantly.]

You can't -- you can't be saying we'll never see our homes again, can you?

...

[Breathing is clearly audible on the other end of the phone, but the person it belongs to clearly doesn't feel inclined to even try.]

If you think the answer's 'home', I'm gonna punch you in the goddamned face.

Our lunch?

I would have guessed 'your sanity', but I realize you're making some sort of vague attempt to reclaim that.

NEMIAG doesn't spell anything, by the way.

The past?

[Yes, of course, Eddie is obviously all alone. Ignoring the fact that multiple people work in the hospital, and Crane had caught the whole thing while going outside for a smoke break. And, since what sort of friend would be really be if he let those wounds go unsalted, Crane catches him when he's exiting the hospital.]

You're mooning over him.

[...huh. He doesn't sound so good.]

I am really, really bad at riddles, man. Can I get a hint or something?

[knock knock motherfucking knock]

Would ya mine if I gave your riddle a shot, stranger?

Yesterday.

Unless you're capable of time travel, then well, it's an open slate.

[and he sounds rather smug about that.]

Edited 2011-11-05 14:34 (UTC)

I'd say sanity, but-- from the looks of things, some of us have felt a sore lack of that particular commodity from the start, I'm afraid!

[Question: What do you do when someone grabs your wrist while you're trying to bolt?

Answer: Stop walking, or at least be forced to.]

You look like you've seen a ghost. You okay?

[Cain thinks about this for a moment before replying.]

There are two possible answers I can see - yesterday, or our mother's womb.

Threaded | Flat

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C

C

[ phone ]

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B

Phone

Phone

[Phone]

C - Hall of Doom

C.

C

phone

B

[phone]