Hello, bit dissapointed I didn't get any feedback, but I will previal! Anyway, another chapter! Most of Riddler's origins come from the comic books and such. Also camera watches are real, and I want one lol, they sell them on eBay :) Enjoy!
Edward was reading through a paragraph about programing a mechanical arm in the book he had borrowed from the library when the announcement came on.
"Hey Gators! Want to show to the school you're the best at puzzles and how smart you are? Next Monday at lunch be at the cafeteria challenge Mr. Marks at his impossible puzzle test and you can win the hundred dollars that no student in the history of school has been able to win! Be there Monday!" some peppy teenage girl practically screamed over the intercom.
Instantly the room buzzed with conversation, after all this was calculus. The course all brilliant students took.
"Did she say a hundred dollars?"
"No way. The school never gives away money."
"No it's true! My brother says every four years the physics teacher brings out this impossible puzzle no one can solve."
"Hell I'm going to try; I think I have a chance at it."
The conversations filled the classroom, and Edward noticed the teacher was smiling as if she knew a secret. And Edward knew this secret. She knew no one could solve it, the whole staff was setting up the students to fail. Idiots.
Someone prodded his shoulder, it was some girl, he could never remember all their names. She spoke in a cheerful voice, "Are you going to try Ed?"
"Of course not, it's all…" but he stopped, all these morons were falling for the trick. He grinned, if he could get that money, show everyone his genius. Prove his father wrong, show him how smart he was. And he knew how to be sure he could do that puzzle.
He gave the girl a smile, "Actually why not, where's the harm?"
Edward pulled the tiny camera out of the front of his backpack and stuck it in the handle of a locker near the door of Mr. Marks' office. He turned on his watch and soon he was getting feed from the camera on his watch phone. The internet was an amazing place to buy crazy gadgets.
It was the perfect plan, he set up motion detectors each way of the hallway and they would send him a signal if someone was passing by. He pulled out his lock picking kit and the cheap school lock clicked open easily.
"Too easy," he paused, "At least for me," he grinned for real for the first time in a while. The adrenaline rush of breaking the rules was exhilarating.
He walked over to the desk, if this puzzle was so precious to Mr. Marks, and considering that he had the intelligence of a high school teacher, Edward figured he knew where he kept it.
Edward pulled open the first drawer, unlocked, full of a mix of pencils and pens. Edward winced at the man's untidiness, but closed the drawer. The next filled with files and then finally the last drawer. He pulled, locked.
Snickering like a maniac Edward pulled out his kit again and the drawer was open. He looked in, his anticipation rising. At the bottom was…
A rubix cube.
"Is this a joke?" Edward muttered, but then he realized this one was different, it was completely green with a question mark on each side. This meant the pieces had to be in a specific order.
Edward continued talking to himself, "Well that can't be all of it. There are people who can solve cubes in seconds. Maybe not this specific but still." He hit himself on the forehead, "Of course, I'm a genius! There must be a certain time limit!"
Without a second thought, Edward mixed up the blocks at random, "I'll stay here until I can solve it. And then I'll be the master of puzzles," he grinned at the thought and started moving the lines of squares.
The week of school went by faster than usual for Edward who looked forward to practicing the puzzle every night. The first night it had taken him 3 hours to figure it but his time kept getting better and better. Even on the weekend he managed to break into the school. And soon the day had come and Edward entered the annoyingly loud cafeteria.
Already a few people had gathered around Mr. Marks, only three others were participating in the test. Most had been scared off by Derek Huong, the boy who could do a rubix cube in five minutes and claimed he did a million piece puzzles at home.
Edward stepped into the line of participants, he could hear the snickers. All the people who doubted him, he could hardly keep the smile off his face. Today was the day he would shine.
"Ah, Ed, good to see you here," Edward could see the doubt even in the eyes of the teacher.
But he gave him a smile, a smile that probably creeped out the teacher a bit, "Why thank you sir."
Unsure if the teenager was mocking him, or because he was just a little strange, Mr. Marks began the contest. "Good afternoon students, welcome to the tradition of the puzzle, the test of intelligence, may I introduce the cube!"
He pulled the green rubix cube from his bag and held it up for the school to see. They cheered like mentally ill children lead by a pied piper. Always following a leader, screaming for anything that involved school spirit, the students lacked any intelligence, no wonder they weren't participating. The only part of the cube that resembled anything to do with school was it was green, the school's colour.
"You have one minute to solve the puzzle, the question marks must be properly made again," he explained, Edward smiled at how right he had been.
Mr. Marks mixed up the cube and tossed it to the first girl who looked baffled and confused.
"And go!" the physics teacher hit the start button of the timer and the girl began furiously mixing up the blocks. Edward didn't even pay attention.
"And stop, I'm sorry Pamela but you have not finished the puzzle," the teacher mixed up the block again and handed it to the next person. Three minutes later and the cube was in Edward's hands again. He barely heard the teacher yell go. For once he didn't notice how the students were slowly leaving the cafeteria, obviously having no hope in him solving it. Especially after Derek couldn't do it. He didn't notice that Mr. Marks wasn't even watching him but rather the timer, waiting to say stop. Afterwards he would give the old speech of, "You tried your best guys, congratulations. I think you did better than four years ago." He didn't remember the morning in which his father had pushed him down the stairs for being in the way. He didn't think about how he had been called a failure, useless and a moron all within five seconds after falling.
No, all he could see, all he could feel, all that mattered was the puzzle.
"Done."
His words rang clear despite the noise of the cafeteria, the voices fell silent as the students started to crowd back to the centre.
Mr. Marks stopped the timer in shock, "What?"
In Edward's palm was the complete cube with a perfect question mark on each side.
The teacher grabbed the cube and looked it over in almost a panic, "How is that possible? Each question mark is a bit different so you can't use different parts of the question mark in different ones," he muttered softly and quietly. The cube was perfect. He looked down at his timer and gaped in shock again. It was so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop. Mr. Marks announced the time, "38 seconds."
Silence filled the room, Edward grinned, practically beaming. He took back the cube, "Am I victorious Mr. Marks?"
Someone started clapping, and soon the whole room was applauding. Some whistles and cheers followed.
Mr. Marks handed him an envelope and a large book, "Book of Riddles, for the master of puzzles Mr. Nashton. Congratulations. Keep the cube." The man was beaming and shaking his hand as the cheering elevated.
It was everything Edward had dreamed of as he took a bow and raised his arms up still holding the cube. They saw him, they really saw him. As the genius he was, he never wanted the moment to end. He laughed, because to them, not only were they cheering to his brilliance but to their own stupidity, he was smarter than them all. He knew why he was more brilliant, for thinking outside the box, for not conforming or seeing the teacher's lies. But as he basked in the glory of people's praises he knew most important lesson of all.
Cheating would get him anywhere he wanted.