A tall, dark figure stood silhouetted against the glow of the street lights below, watching silently. Waiting. The apartment across the street from him on the top floor was basked in the warm glow of a lamp, piano notes and a female voice singing could be heard faintly over the buzz of the street below. The figure shifted slightly before shooting a grappling hook and swing across the street and onto the dark, ,mossy balcony of the top floor apartment. He stood hunched slightly as he tapped the window twice with his middle and fore fingers. The singing and piano stopped and a chair could be heard moving on wooden floor before the curtain was swept aside and the window opened to reveal a young woman with an unamused expression on her pale and tired face. The dark figure remained completely still, saying nothing as the young woman stepped aside slightly, pulling the window with her and motioned with her free hand into the warmth of the apartment.
"Well, are you going to come in or are you just going to stand out here for everyone to see?" she asked irritably, a small frown creasing her forehead.
The figure moved swiftly into the apartment and moved to the middle of the main room before turning to face the young woman as the shut the window again, allowing the curtain to fall back into place, she let out a sigh before turning swiftly to face him, her dark brown hair bouncing with the motion. The dark figure before her, a middle aged man standing over 6 feet wearing all black, continued to say and do nothing. The young brunette bared her teeth slightly, already aggravated at his unwanted presence.
"Don't keep me waiting bat, I have a lesson plan to sort for tomorrow night and a few more songs to practice before the night is out. Its 10:24 right now so I'd say you have about 5 minutes before I decide to call the police about you harassing me", she said fluidly, before she crossed her arms under her chest and glared slightly at the Batman.
"The Riddle you solved yesterday, what was it?" asked the Bat in a 'won't take no for an answer' tone.
The woman stared at him, eyebrow lifted up high as she thought back to the day before. The Riddler had appeared at Gotham University and held a few classes hostage, he gave them a riddle to solve and stated that if they did not have an answer within two minutes that he would blow the entire campus up.
"Why do you need to ask me that, the Riddler's in Arkham right now, why not ask him?" she sighed, her arms dropped to her sides and she finally caved in, exhaustion taking over, she sat on the piano stool and leaned her head on her hands.
"He's not talking, he told me if I want to find out what it was to ask the one who solved it, that was you Anna" said the bat, voice unwavering as he stared down at her. Anna sighed in frustration before finally telling him, deciding that if she just straight up told the vigilante that he would go away and she could continue with her stressful week in peace.
"It wasn't even a difficult one. I am not alive but I grow, I don't have lungs but I need air, I don't have a mouth but water kills me, what am I" she said into her palms as she dropped her head to try to remember what the riddle was. When she finally looked up again, the bat was gone, her window was open and her curtain was billowing in the wind. The woman growled, getting up and storming to the window before slamming it shut and sorting the curtain again. She took a deep breath to calm herself again and moved back towards the piano, picking up where the bat had interrupted her.
….
Batman stood back in the batcave, Alfred was watching him intently as he paced back and forth . He had an answer but he wasn't sure what to do with it, he hadn't threatened to set the building on fire, he wanted to blow it up and while blowing something up would set it on fire as well, the Riddler was always more accurate. He would have asked a riddle where a bomb or an explosion was the answer. It gave the Bat reason to worry, was there another scheme in play at this exact moment, there was only one way he could find out.
