Please, Please, Please Read The Author Note at the End of this Chapter!
Chapter Two
Normally, Richard's dreams were tormented with nightmares that plagued him until the moment that he woke up. Yet, he hadn't even been dreaming, he was simply out stone cold, in a dreamless, soundless, peaceful sleep that had lasted only the two hours that he'd been in the Batmobile, until he was jolted awake by the high-pitched cackle of a squeal that echoed in his ears. When he jumped and shot upright, grabbing onto the Batmobile's door, which gave beside him and swung open- plopping him at the Riddler's feet. At first he assumed that it was merely a nightmare, but then brushed off the thought- knowing that he wasn't nearly as frightened by the Riddler as he was by any other villains he faced.
Heck, Richard knew very well he could defeat the Riddler with hands behind his back, Riddler gave yet another cackle, "aw, did I disturb your little nap?" He had a smirk that just screamed out his sadistic thinking.
"You took the whole car just to kidnap me?" Richard scoffed tiredly, "I'm whelmed."
"Don't flatter yourself little birdie, you're no more than a happy little toy we found inside the car when we stole it," Riddler said, waggling his staff in Richard's face with a laugh.
"And you think you're going to succeed in whatever you're planning? Please, I'm upset you haven't learned yet," Richard tried to stand, but instead fell back on his butt, "I can beat you with my limbs tied." He said, standing once more with the support of the Batmobile.
Riddler leaned on his cane, chuckling, "that would be, if you could even stand up little bird," he chuckled and stood straight, strutting around like a proud peacock, not even caring how close he got to the Boy Wonder, Robin wouldn't try to touch him, he would only fail in this state. Robin lashed out in a flash of anger, but merely fell onto his face when the criminal merely sidestepped his attack.
The laughter that the Riddler let loose could rival the Joker's lunatic laugh, and Robin wondered if the Joker had gotten to the Riddler prior to their encounter. Robin hit the ground, knocking the breath out of him as he lunged with all of his force focused into one blow, his whole weight targeted at the Riddler, only to feel the curved end of the question mark on the Riddler's staff redirect him straight into the Batmobile.
"Ooh, feisty aren't we?" Riddler chuckled, "why don't you just give up?" He smirked as Robin's shoulders slouched, unknowing that the boy hadn't given up, but instead was merely trying to think before he expended the rest of his energy and strength. "Good boy." He picked Robin up by the collar of his costume, face to face with the bird as he chuckled, pinning him back to the Batmobile, the boy's thrashing getting him nowhere, as Riddler scoffed, "sometimes I forget the rashness of youth."
The criminal threw the hero to the ground whispering in a taunting tone, "am I making it harder for you to keep your eyes open little bird? Do you want to fall asleep? Are you tired of fighting me already?" Riddler turned and called out to his goons, "take him to the cage and if any of you let him fall asleep, and you will be joining him-" Riddler said, "I don't know how he got this tired, but it's an advantage we may not get again."
Riddler quickly whisked off to his own little room, "no one is to bother me, I must prepare a new clue for our great detective!"
Robin felt hands grabbing at him, and the cared little of his comfort as he was jostled and tossed around like a ragdoll before being slung over the shoulder of Riddlette. Robin let his eyes slowly begin to slink shut, before being rewarded with a harsh slap to the face, the sound echoing through Riddler's hideout as the boy's eyes shot open to give a hot glare to the Riddlette that had done it, the thug barely even casting him a second glance.
Finally after what seemed like ages of walking, Robin was tossed to the ground roughly, landing on his back on hard concrete. The sounds of rattling filling his ears as he opened his eyes to stare up at a brightly lit ceiling, which was broken up by bars. Sitting up, Robin realized that he was actually in a cage, planted on the ground, the cage was shaped like a plain square, with little room to roam. As he watched the Riddlette's take post at each corner of his cage, Robin began to poke around, getting a slight bearing of his surroundings.
There was a toilet in the cage, but there was no privacy or toilet paper, rendering that unusable. Robin looked around, trying to determine how much time had passed, but there was no signs of outside light, as far as Robin knew, there weren't even windows. The room was just… Empty. Robin sighed, lying on his back, the struggle of keeping his eyes open making it seem like hours of staring upwards at the lights on the ceiling. Robin wasn't sure how long it had been before his eyes actually did close, and for a brief moment he felt ready to sleep.
There was a sharp jab at his ribs, and his eyes shot open, the thoughts of precious sleep being ripped away as he sat up to see that a Riddlette had poked his staff through the bars of the cage to wake him. The Riddlette, though only completing his job, had a harsh glare at the boy, and Robin sighed, glaring back for a moment before he lay back again, once again fighting his own mind and body.
After another moment he was jabbed in the ribs once more, then jabbed again in the temple, "wake up!" The nearest Riddlette shouted, followed by another prod as Robin sat up and battered the staff away.
"I'm up! I'm up!" He grumbled, pulling his knees to his chest, he felt a bit of similarity to the situation, and soon found himself realizing that he'd been in this situation in much lighter times, when Bruce would try to wake him on weekends for their morning training, and Robin tried to suppress a laugh as he realized how low the Riddlettes must've felt, faced with the task of waking a teenaged boy. Riddler had made them stoop quite low, or so it seemed. From the look on the farthest Riddlette's face, they were enjoying his suffering.
He wished that he was back in the Batmobile, where it was safe, with Batman in the driver's seat, sleeping where he wouldn't be woken.
Batman…. Robin found himself staring at the floor, trying to think, he couldn't figure out where his mentor had gone, or even if the man had been detained with him… It was a mystery what the Riddler had done to the man, or if he'd somehow managed to miraculously escape, leaving his ward to face the fate of sleep-deprivation alone.
A gurgle coming from Robin's stomach pulled him from his thoughts, and Robin sighed, looking around, he was starving, the Riddlettes hadn't fed him yet, and he knew that it was nearing around seven in the morning, from his biological clock's knowledge.
"When's breakfast?" Robin mumbled, not quite thinking about his words as he resisted the urge to let his head loll to the side for sleep.
"Pipe it down, will ya!?" The guard to the left of Robin called at him with a grunt of annoyance.
"Hey… You guys are, like, what… Mini Riddlers, right? Do you guys like Riddles too?" Robin asked in an attempt to make for more annoyance to the guard, after all, no one said he couldn't have a bit of fun by being the thorn in their side while they held him captive..
"I said shut up-" the guard said with a glower.
"Don't acknowledge him you idiot!" The girl to Robin's right called towards the guard. "It'll only make him talk more!" She said harshly, not wanting to get into trouble for any issues that the left guard started with their captive.
"You're so not whelmed, not whelmed at all…" Robin muttered in annoyance as the two guards, as well as the others surrounding his cage fell into another loop of infinite silent, eventually, Robin found himself prodding at his belt for the emergency button, which he realized was non-existent, as his belt was not his- but instead one of many training belts he owned. With light smoke pellets and dull bird-a-rangs, he wasn't sure he even had anything useful for escape.
His real tools had to be in the locker at the cave, what a great time for a mix up… Robin thought distraught as he found himself tracing out shapes on the concrete floor, knees tucked in as he rocked slightly, there was a light layer of dust on the floor, but not nearly enough to draw, and of all the kidnappings he'd been in, Robin thought this must've been the most boring ever. Normally there'd be something for him to fiddle with, but no, Riddler wasn't so "considerate" and Robin was left fighting sleep with nothing to aid in his distraction.
This time I strayed from the original story, I took out the parts with Bruce and I hope to place those in the next chapter instead. Afterall, I have to edit this with my own little flair! Anyways, TO THE MAILBAG! Or comments, or whatever you want to call them-
Mailbag
Cutie0612 - "My little bird. Great chapter." - I know right? The poor bab, thank you for the comment!
Guest - "I'm so excited to see Robin's reaction when he wakes up! I feel like he'd have an easy time escaping if he's left inside the batmobile, but I bet you have some interesting twists up your sleeves. :) " - I hope you were satisfied with his reaction, and indeed I do have some twists! Thank you for your comment!
Guest of Honor - "Poor Bruce and poor Dick. I hope they can get out of this mess. Please update soon." - Im not gonna tell what I have planned, so you have to stay tuned to find out! And sorry this update wasn't done as quickly, but with school starting I'm kinda screwed. Well, thank you for your comment!
Guest - "Poor Dick! Just fast asleep without a care in the world(ish) though I suppose not poor Dick in that case. Hehe I really am excited to see how you describe Robin's reaactions to waking up with the Riddler, i bet it will be interesting! Thank you for posting! I love how you have written Alfred by the way, his characterization in your story seems spot on! Has a sense of humor but also the voice of reason. Hope to read more!" - I know I would love to be able to sleep without a care! I hope this intrested you, and thank you, Alfred is quite easy for me to write perfectly, it amazes even myself. Thank you for the comment!
LuffyLover - "Wow, I really like this. It's definitely different than other stories of a similar type. I am eagerly awaiting an update!" - Thank you, and if you think this is different you should read more of OptimisticEmotion's stories and ideas, they're just great! Thank you for the comment!
As always, thank you for Reading!