Riddled Nightmares: Chapter 1

It was a cold, dark, stormy night in Gotham City. Yeah, just the usual weather in Gotham.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Shots rang out atop a rooftop in Gotham with Rain pouring down the hardest it's ever been with the threat of a flood lingering and the shots of the gun hitting Batman. "Let her go Nygma! You know we're surrounded. You already gave us Crane, Falcone, and the drugs. Don't make it worse for yourself. Just let go of the girl and you'll be protected!" yelled Batman. "Fuck you dad! I'm my own man now! The Riddler is the one who will kill Batman and rule Gotham City!" replied Edward Nygma A.K.A The Riddler at the top of his lungs while feeling the effects of the fear toxin sprayed on to him by Jonathan Crane A.K.A. The Scarecrow. The Riddler was holding a girl hostage. She was about 15 years old and had a gun pointed at her head by a man who has become crazed due to the drug he himself had been selling for months now. A helicopter flew up, shined the brightest light possible on Riddler, he turn around and threatened to blow the girl's brains, and then out the corner of his eye he sees Batman lunging at him and a gunshot is heard!

2 MONTHS AGO

A dark alley is suddenly lightened up as car pulls up in it and shuts it lights out as the men in the car come out and head into a nearby building. The inside of the building was your typical rundown, old warehouse with holes in the ceiling of it, leaky pipes all over, broken windows, and rats being the only occupants there but it was a nice secure place for a meeting or an exchange. They go very far into the building until they got somewhere in the middle of it and stopped at a table where two men were on the other side of it with their faces hidden by the shadows. "Hello," said the First Mysterious Man. One the men from the car stood up and started talking. "I'm Joey. Carl is on my right and the man on the left is Richard. We hear you new guys have made some prime stuff. Really gets inside your mind." "Oh it does. It really does," said the Second Mysterious Man. The First Mysterious Man chimes in, "I trust you have the right amount of payment on you. We don't go under for anyone. Especially street urchins like you three. When was the last time you all heard of a bath and shower?" Carl has never taken too kindly to comments about him and steadily walked right up to the table but was stopped by Joey. "Back off man," he said to Carl, "These are the only guys who will see us after we held up the bank weeks ago. Now can we see the product?" The Second Mysterious Man responded loudly, "Money now or get the hell out of here fools! We haven't got time to waste!" Joey, Carl, and Richard throw three big bags of money on the middle of the table and the mysterious men put it on a scale to weigh in order to see if it's the right amount. It is and then the mysterious men threw a bag towards Joey and then Joey and the other two spread the contents of the bag which is a green powder out on the table then they all snort it through their noses. "GODDAMN! That is some fine shit. Man what did you guys make this out of?" Joey starts blinking rapidly and suddenly starts sweating. In front his eyes a green mist appears right in his face. He sees it and reads it aloud, "First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, the middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?" He looked at it dazed and confused as he takes a breath while Carl and Richard snort the powder as well. "What was that? Pretty weird. Hey what was that?" he asked as he swatted his shoulders as if something was there but then everything fell silent. "AGHHHHHHHHHHHH! NO NO NO NO NO NO! GET THEM OFF ME MAN! GET THEM OFF!" Joey started to scream in a fit of hysteria and fear. "THEY'RE CRAWLING ALL OVER ME!" The First Mysterious Man stepped out and it was Edward Nygma AKA The Riddler in his new hand made and quite stylish silk green suit with a purple trim and black question marks on it, purple tie, and his green bowler hat with the purple and cane. He takes his cane and turns Joey on his back. He looks on in wonder and asks the Second Mysterious Man "Did you up the dosage of fear in the compound?" He answered, "Yes I did. I want to leave Gotham in a final, permanent hell of everyone's own fears my dear friend." Then he steps out the shadows and it is Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA The Scarecrow. Former psychology professor and psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who was fired for using a variety of drugs and psychological tactics to exploit the fears and phobias of his patients who turned to crime and exploit people's fears through his own custom compound drug to take over Gotham City. He can turn this compound into liquid, gas, and powder. Scarecrow spoke. "Ahhhh. Scream my children scream! Tell father what you don't want to go bump in the night as you tuck yourself in ever so safely?" Carl was yelling out on his knees, crying, "Daddy no! I'll be a good boy daddy. I don't want to go in the basement. It hurts when we go down there." Richard is rolling on the ground ripping his clothes off screaming, "RATS! THOSE FUCKING RATS! GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!" Riddler asked, "How long do the effects usually last?" Scarecrow responded, "Oh give or take, three days is the average but with the amount they snorted, seems like it's going to be a week. Incompetent fools! No wonder I hated being a professor." As they packed up their supplies and money, Joey crawled over to The Riddler's feet and begged, "Get them off of me man. I'm gonna die. The spiders are gonna eat me alive." Riddler shoved the bottom of his show on Joey's forehead and kicked him back to the ground and wiped his feet with a wipe from jacket pocket. Riddler and Scarecrow exited the warehouse and got into the back of a private car out in the back alley. "Why are you doing this with me again Nygma?" asked Scarecrow. Riddler responded, "Money. Crime costs money and I'm sure not going to go through the usual banking process for people of our kind Crane. Get caught by Batman and thrown back into Arkham? No way. I had to put on a hell of a performance for the parole broad at Arkham to convince them I was rehabilitated and I don't think I can do an encore on such short notice. Plus I'm trustworthy." With a sigh and stretch, Scarecrow sat back. "Plus you did get me that compound to make messages appear in front of people's eyes to mix with mines so who else was I going to partner with? Thankfully that group of idiots we hired to go steal cars at the auto show is Batman busy. A most fantastic night for us. Driver, get us out of here." The car started and it drove off to a mysterious location.

I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Chapter 2 will be here as soon as it can be. Please be patient and in the mean time, leave thoughtful and honest reviews.