A/N: A brief encounter between two of Gotham's Rogues (not a romantic encounter! :D). Set in Arkham City.
The Tasks of Riddler: Bane
Edward arrives at the Krank Toy Company front door. He'd just finished setting up a trap on the roof of the warehouse and had decided to look inside to see if there were any other good hiding places for his trophies…
He walks in with his cane tapping out a steady beat beside him.
He breezes down the short corridor and into the main room and then stops short when he notices a rather shabby, stuffed bear on the floor. Hmm…
His eyes swivel in their sockets as he hears a noise off to his left.
Out of one of the passages leading off the main room appears the lumbering, and simultaneously rather terrifying, form of Bane.
The goliath stops when he notices Edward stood in the centre of the room, holding his cane in one hand and a Riddler trophy in the other.
The two stare at each other for a while.
The thing with being a criminal in Gotham was that it was an ever-growing community, and whilst none of them actually liked each other, they tolerated one another's presence for the greater good (destroying Batman), or simply because it served no purpose to go through the effort of bumping the competition off. It was a kind of silent 'you-do-your-thing-I'll-do-mine' agreement. However in this instance, Edward knew that despite his far superior mind, if this particular criminal were to take issue with him… he wouldn't stand a chance. Which is why he determines that the wisest course of action would be to choose the route of 'polite' conduct, thus he says;
"Ah, Bane… Good to see you."
Behind the mask, the luminescent green eyes narrow, but since he wasn't having his head crushed to smithereens Edward takes this as, if not a good sign, a not-necessarily-bad sign. He continues,
"I thought that you'd been run over by Batman's car." He doesn't hesitate to bring this up since such statements were extremely common in the Gotham underworld. And no matter who you were talking to, nearly all of the Rogues liked to brag about how they'd managed to escape the caped menace.
Bane finally speaks, in his heavily accented voice,
"As if such an encounter would be enough to stop me." The giant man flexes his glowing muscles just to emphasize the point.
"Ah, yes, of course," Edward agrees readily, "Never doubted it." Then he spies a map pinned up on the wall with several green crosses marked on it. "So," he enquires, "what are you here in Arkham City for?"
"I am here to reclaim the Titan formula that that Bruja, Doctor Young, stole from me, and which Joker then stole from her," Bane pronounces, his voice rising with angry determination.
"I see," Edward says, filing away this piece of information in his mind, lest it come in useful later. He did like to know what was going in Arkham City, after all.
"What are you doing here?" the larger man asks suspiciously, glancing down at the green trophy.
Edward looks down as well, "Oh, well, this," he holds up the trophy with pride, "is just a small piece of my ingenious plan to show Batman just how stupid he really is." He had intended to find a much more complex hiding place for his trophy, but he wasn't willing to push his luck with the masked man and so he glances round quickly for any place that looked fairly suitable. He spots a small office on his right that he hadn't noticed when he'd first come in. A quick inspection determines that the doors into the office had all been sealed, which meant that the tiny window in front was the only point of access…
Deftly, Edward hooks the Riddler trophy onto the end of his cane and slides it through the hole to rest it against the far wall.
That done, he then turns back around to Bane, who's watching him a perplexed expression on his face – the bits of his face that were visible that is.
"That will show the Batman that he is stupid?" the masked man echoes, sounding confused.
"Obviously there are a great many more," Edward snaps before he can think better of it. Thankfully though, Bane doesn't take issue with the less-than-respectful response. All he says instead is,
"I find you to be a strange man, Mr Nigma."
Edward sniffs. Yes, well, I hardly think that drug-crazed, vein-bulging monstrosities are the height of normality either, he thinks to himself, but has the sense not to voice the thought.
"Well, Bane, it's been a pleasure," Edward concludes as he gives a touch to his green bowler, "But I really must be off – genius never rests, and all that. I'll be sure to let you know if I hear of any Titan floating about," he calls back over his shoulder as – in an entirely unobvious way – he hurries back outside.
Once the doors have swung shut behind him, he takes a deep lungful of cold, Gotham air.
After glancing round appraisingly, he then picks up his sack of trophies and continues in his self-appointed task.
…
A/N: Playing Arkham City again and couldn't help but think of this scenario as I was getting the trophy in Krank Toys – because really, it was awfully easy to get! And I find it funny to imagine what conversations Riddler may have had with the other Rogues/inmates as he was affixing his trophies to various walls, ceilings, subway cars, etc. :D
Also, I do apologise for the fact that I seem to be filling up the 'Arkham Asylum' section at the moment – once I finish the game I promise I'll calm down! :P