I do not OWN Young Justice, just making sure I'm legal around here.
MOUNT JUSTICE
NOVEMBER 25, 18:30 EDT
"What's up, guys?", asked Robin, in his training clothes. He was going for the kitchen to grab a bit when he spotted Wally checking what appeared to be a DVD, with all the rest of the team wondering around him.
"Hey, Miss M just found this, it looks like a movie disc", answered Wally, "but it's from none of us. Yours?"
"Nope, don't use DVD in a very long time now", Robin added, checking inside the refrigerator for some snack that got away from Wally's 'degustation derby'.
"The weird thing is, it is asking if we are going to play it", wondered M'gann.
This caught Robin's attention. It was the Training, after all.
"Ok, let me check it", the Boy-Wonder humored.
The young hero caught the disc and checked it, up and down.
"'Play Me ?'... that's odd, all right. Is it out-terrogating us?"
"'Out-terrogating'?", Wally raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, it's..."
"Yeah, we get it", said Artemis, annoyed with yet another one of Robin's new words. "But still, it doesn't answer WHO is this from, or WHAT is it doing here."
"Maybe it's Black Canary's?", wondered Superboy. "She was here earlier, maybe she forgot it."
"No, I remember her leaving before lunch, and I found this way after we cleaned up and did the dishes."
"Come on, guys, there is one only logical course of action!", said Wally, taking the DVD out of Robin's hands and rushing straight for the TV.
They all gathered on the couches while Wally turned the DVD player on and inserted the disc.
After a moment of loading, a man suddenly took over the screen, wearing a green suit, red sideburns under his green hat, a trickster smile in his face.
"Hey!"
"Isn't that...?"
"It's...!"
"... Riddler", Robin said, his voice cold. Now he understood it. It wasn't a question, the 'Play Me ?'.
It was an instruction and a signature.
'PLAY ME'
?
"Hello there, 'kids'. And hello again, Robin."
"This is nuts!", Kid Flash shouted. "How DID he..."
"Right now, you must all be wondering, 'how did the Riddler find US?", he asked in the screen, hands behind his back, spinning his brass cane. "You see, I have been sooo busy, ever since I left that 'Beautiful Dream' I was put into. Thanks to Robin, I must add."
Robin was quiet, paying the most attention to the recording.
"So many things happened while I was sabbatical, so many changes and so many new faces started showing everyday around the Globe. I heard rumors, from Santa Prisca to India, from New Orleans... to Happy Harbor, of all places!"
He was at some big place with bad lighting, or maybe purposely shadowy, while he stood in the spotlight, the focus of attention.
"Not so hard to add the facts, at least, not so hard for someone like ME. I got my eyes on you, kids, and you are my NEW pet project... and it is going to be BIG!"
He gave a small laugh. It did not sound sincere.
"But WHAT could a man... like ME... be planning against KIDS, like you? Hm? Here, let me give you a hint...", he said stepping right, out of the camera focus.
There was only darkness beyond where he once stood.
Then the lights came on, and they all gasped - even Robin.
Red Arrow.
Tied to a chair. Almost naked. Beaten up.
REALLY beaten up.
His face was swollen in places. there was some blood on the corner of his mouth and, to the horror of his friends, many cuts and bruises covered his arms and bare legs.
And he still had his mask on his face.
"Did you guess it? Can YOU guess it?" He toyed, walking around their friend. "Come on, I'm asking an easy one here. No ideas?"
"When I get my hands on him...", said Superboy, only for Artemis to add, "You will have to wait until after I'M done."
Miss Martian had tears in her face already.
Kid Flash's mouth was wide open, too stunned to speak.
And Robin... Robin just watched, arms crossed, hand on his chin.
"No ideas? Thought so. Perhaps this one IS too difficult for children, after all!", he smiled, in a new, more sinister way, this time. "The answer is: 'I'm going to prove a Point'. This,"- he motioned his head toward the bounded hero - 'this is what happens to kids who think they can play adults' games."
The Riddler walk back to the camera, almost blocking Red Arrow again.
"They lose."
His words echoed in the cave. Nobody spoke. Nobody made a move. They were like statues from the shock of those scenes.
But it wasn't over.
"In the name of fairness, maybe you'll want to prove me WRONG. Right? Of course I am. So..." - he looked side to side - "... can you DO it? Can you stop me? ME?"
The Riddler opened up his arms, his cane still spinning on his right hand.
"Here is my challenge: YOU, the 'Young Justice League', will have to solve my riddles and triumph over my games, and if you do, 'IF' you do, you will have your lost friend back. I promise."
Suddenly, he stopped the spinning and hit the cane on the floor.
"Of course, my challenge comes with rules, and there's one VERY important rule: 'No help from the grown-ups!'. Got that? After all, this is YOUR homework, no cheating allowed... or 'Speedy' here is the one who gets the penalties."
The Riddler came closer to the screen, his brown eyes stood out in his small green domino mask.
"Ready to match wits with the Riddler?"
He picked up the camera and gave himself a close-up.
"Oh, and Robin? 'Riddle me this, riddle me that, can you catch me without the BAT?'".
A swift motion in the scene and the floor was the last thing recorded before the camera smashed against the ground.
It was the end of the message.