CHAPTER ONE

The Arkham Asylum Riot

In the outskirts of Gotham City lies the horrific sight of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane – it's a dark and grimy building; which lies hundreds of dangerous men and women who are legally insane. It also seems to be the inevitable home of many of The Batman's many rivals, such as The Joker, Harley Quinn, The Scarecrow, Two-Face, Killer Croc and Black Mask...and of course, The Riddler. Riddler is currently Batman's most well-known enemy that's in the Asylum, but that wouldn't last very long – as everyone knows, the enemies of Batman seem to have created a bad habit of escaping the confinements of the asylum. Which will be seen once again in just a few moments...that's right, there's another riot set to take place within Arkham Asylum, and everyone knows when a riot happens – Gotham City becomes dangerous for anyone who is a resident...even when Batman is around to protect them. As our scene takes place on the top floor of Arkham Asylum, we can see two security officers – heavily armed with assault rifles; they are also wearing helmets just in case one of the prisoners attempt to strike. There are two officers, all heavily armed, outside of each cell – our scene begins outside the cell of Edward Nigma...known to the public as "The Riddler". Inside the cell was Nigma dressed in a completely white outfit – including a white straight jacket, with his arms tied together firmly. He lets out a sick laugh, his chuckle echoes throughout the entire floor – that's when one of the two guards turns his head and starts to yell into the cell, banging the door firmly with his clenched fist as he does.

"Shut the fuck up Nigma!"

The guards command didn't really have much effect on the situation, Edward continued to chuckle loudly in his own unique fashion. The high-pitched and irritating laughter started to make the prisoners yell and bang on their cell doors – it was clear that they were attempting to sleep, but the laughter was delaying that. That's when the plan would begin – the guard proceeded to slip the key into the door, twisting it as he pushed the door open slowly but carefully. The guard then approached the giggling Edward, swinging his firearm as it made impact with the skull of Nigma, causing him to fall to the ground and stop the laughter. That's when the guard nods confidently, turning around as he begins to make his way out of the cell – before he could take a single step, Nigma leaps to his feet and wraps his wrapped arms around the guards neck, grasping his throat firmly until the guard eventually falls the ground. The other guard clearly wasn't aware at what just took place, otherwise Nigma would be dead by now – Edward then proceeds to tip-toe his steps up to the entrance to his cell. This is when the guard became suspicious as to why the other was taking so long to return from silencing Nigma. As the other guard moved around until he was in front of the doorway, Edward took advantage of the situation, charging towards the guard, slamming his shoulder into the abdomen of the guard and sending him flying over the railing only to fall to the ground below. Luckily the closest cell to Edward's was quite far away, otherwise he would have been overwhelmed by guards by now. Edward quickly moved across the top floor of the Asylum, hoping to get away from his cell before anyone noticed the bodies.

Eventually Edward reached his desired destination – he stood in front of a convenient switch, he reached out, inhaling a deep breath before tugging it down...that's when the lights in the asylum turned to red, and started flickering one-and-off quickly as the alarm sounded. The doors to every single cell in Arkham Asylum flew wide open – Edward took this opportunity to make his way to the room filled with every costume, gadget and personal belongings to the majority of the criminally insane. Edward grabbed a machete that belonged to one of the insane between his teeth – he used it to cut the straight-jacket apart, his arms were now free. He let out a slight chuckle, rotating his head as his neck made a satisfying cracking sound – it was clear that the plan was going quite well. Gunfire could be heard echoing throughout the entire building as Edward took the time to look for his locker – which he eventually did. Tugging open the door, he laid eyes on the spandex suit that he wore when Batman last caught him. He would have preferred the business suit, but now was no time to be picky – he slipped into the outfit whilst the guards were distracted by the hundreds of prisoners. It only took around five minutes before he was fully geared in his spandex outfit, he slipped his hands into his purple gloves, moving his fingers around to get used to the feeling. As Edward wrapped the purple eye mask around his skull, he gently placed his green bowlers hat upon the dome of his head, he let out a short sigh of relief as he grabbed a hold of the gold question mark shaped cane. He twirled it around in a circle as he leaned on the cane with both hands, a grin spread across his lips as he slowly paced his steps out of the room he was in...Edward Nigma had now once again become The Riddler.

It seemed like a stroll in the park as he made his way through the asylum, the guards were at battle with the escaped prisoners as Riddler found that a door that led to the outside was wide open – this seemed far too easy. Maybe they should highly improve the security of the place...as Riddler made his way out of the building, a spotlight shined brightly on Riddler as he stood directly on the spot, the sound of a voice speaking over an announcement system could be heard as Riddler glared up at the spotlight with a foul look displayed on his face...

"Nigma, get back inside before we shoot – this is your only warning."

Riddler slowly took a single step back as a grin spread across his lips, he raised his hand to his face, clenching his fist as he cleared his throat. He raised his hand, lifting his index finger as he speaks in his quirky high-pitched voice...

"Now, where would be the fun in that? Honestly...we both know how this will end, I'm going back to Gotham City – whilst you will increase the security for my next visit. You may as well make it easier on yourself to allow me to leave, so it will give you time to clean up this mess...How about a riddle?"

The guards didn't respond for a few seconds, perhaps they were actually considering allowing Edward to leave in his Riddler costume – but they came to the opposite conclusion...

"Don't start, Nigma – get inside, or we will shoot...I will not repeat myself."

It was rather clear that the guards of Arkham weren't up for negotiation, so The Riddler decided to give up even trying to convince them to turn a blind eye...

"Very well, make it difficult upon yourself...boys, do your job!"

That's when the spotlight changed to complete darkness, Riddler was basically invisible without that bright-shining spotlight. The guards proceeded to fire their guns into the darkness, hoping to get a shot into Riddler – but they didn't. It was clear that Riddler had people working from the inside, as the gates that led into the asylum slowly parted ways as the exit to the place was made available. The shooting changed directions as several escaped prisoners managed to find a way up on top of the wall where all the guards were shooting from. Whilst they distracted by the prisoners, Riddler casually made his way through the open gates – the only thing between Riddler and Gotham City was a rather large bridge. Riddler quickly paced his steps across the bridge – he could hear the sound of sirens off in the distance, it was clear that the law had been informed about the current riot taking place inside the Asylum. Riddler quickly made it to the other end of the bridge, and hid behind a near-by wall as dozens of police, FBI and SWAT cars flew by him, quickly going across the bridge. By the time all of them were at the other side, Riddler then casually strolled into the city – The Riddler was back in Gotham.