Welcome to Riddlerland

The world around him was rather breathtaking. Rolling hills covered in grass stretched it all directions, a gentle breeze blowing through and causing the grass to dance like rolling tides. Mountains filled the horizon, where the grassy hills ended. The sky was blue and beautiful, a dome over his head.

Batman knew he stood out like a sore thumb in this landscape. His armor was designed to take advantage of the dark and shadows created by a concrete jungle. Being out in plain sight in broad daylight made him look silly.

Looking down at his feet, he could see the grass swallowing up his legs to about mid-calf. It actually felt like grass around his feet. Taking a step, he felt the blades crumple beneath his foot.

This was very realistic. How much of this was the Riddler's design or the engineers at Computron, but they had gone all out. It truly was impressive work and he was currently in the process of bringing that company under his wing. He would really need to take a closer look at the Computron employees and see about folding them into other areas of Wayne Enterprises.

"Well, well, I believe we have a late comer."

That voice. Batman scowled as he heard it. The Riddler knew he was here. "Better late than never I suppose. I must admit I am surprised you decided to join the game, Terrance."

Terrance? Batman frowned then. Why was he calling him Terrance? Then, in midair, the air began to shimmer. A pair of large, gloved hands appeared, followed by an even larger head, that of the Riddler. His mask was firmly in place above his smirk, his hat perched on his head.

"Welcome to Riddlerland, Mr. Terrance Poole," he greeted him. "You may have noticed your classmates are here, but do not fear, you will—" He suddenly cut himself off. "Hold on, you're not Mr. Poole." His eyes narrowed on him. "My, oh my, we meet again, Dark Knight."

"Riddler," Batman spoke back, looking up at him.

"I was not expecting you to come into my realm here, willingly trapping yourself. You have genuinely surprised me. Congratulations are in order."

Suddenly, little fireworks exploded around the Riddler's disembodied head and hands, confetti suddenly falling all over the vigilante. "Not as grand as I would have liked, but it will have to do for the time being."

"Where are the kids, Riddler?" Batman questioned. He cared very little for the celebration around him, even as pieces of confetti clung to his shoulders and cape.

"They are otherwise occupied, though I am sad to say not a one of them has completed the challenges I have set before them. Truly, we are looking at a lost generation of brilliance." The Riddler looked pained by this admission, shaking his disembodied head with mock regret.

Batman stared before he began walking forward, passing under the Riddler and walking down the grassy hill before him. "And where do you think you're going?"

"To find the kids," the dark-clad man answered, not bothering to turn around. To his right, he saw the Riddler slide by him, moving out in front of him.

"Now, now, you don't have to do any such thing. You have presented me a prime opportunity and I would rather not waste it. In fact, if you are able to complete my challenge, I will take you right to them."

"You'll have to excuse me for being skeptical," the Dark Knight responded, continuing to walk even as the Riddler avatar kept in front of him. "Our recent history doesn't play well in your favor."

"I will admit that I did not handle your solution to my labyrinth all that well—even if you did cheat. I am, however, willing to clear the board and start anew. Why, I will even lead you in the way you need to go. No tricks, I promise."

"Is that right?"

"Scout's honor." Two fingers were held up as a salute. "All you need to do is look behind the boulder."

At this, the Riddler gestured with his right hand to Batman's left. Turning his head, he saw a large boulder rising above the grassy hill, sticking out like a sore thumb. He was certain it hadn't been there before. Glancing back to the Riddler and seeing his expectant face, he decided to check the rock. Perhaps he was being genuine.

Or perhaps this was yet another trap.

Walking over to the rock, he began moving around it. As he walked around it, he discovered the hills had changed from endless grass to a rocky terrain. Once he reached the other side, he saw a cave entrance nestled within a rocky crevice.

That was a smooth transition if he ever saw one.

"All you have to do is enter the cave, brave knight," the Riddler instructed him. "Your first challenge awaits inside."

Batman stared at the cave entrance, mulling his choices. He could do as instructed and go inside, or blow it off. Part of him wanted to do the latter, forcing the madman to further change his plans, but he knew he simply couldn't do that. It was an obvious trap, but there were hostages involved. He couldn't risk angering this man.

"Batman, can you hear me?"

The vigilante didn't respond. He wanted to jump from the sudden surprise voice. It wasn't the Riddler's and had gone off right in his ear. In fact, he knew this voice.

"Oracle," he murmured lowly. He didn't want the Riddler hearing him.

"Great, I finally found the right line," the hacker said. "Listen, I've hacked into your communication link so I have access to you in the virtual reality. If I do this right, I might be able to follow the broadcast signal to the other Omnicrons in use. If I can do that, I could free some of the kids."

That sealed it. He needed to buy Oracle some time while she worked to free the hostages. As long as the Riddler had his attention on him, she could do it without him being the wiser, hopefully. "Let's do this," he said out loud.

"I'm glad you're willing to participate," the Riddler said. "I eagerly await you inside."

While he meant his words to Oracle, it served to hide her presence from the puzzle-obsessed maniac. He would need to keep this in mind whenever he spoke, or responded to her. Never show your opponent your full hand.

He then took a step forward, entering the cave.

Barbara felt her heart hammering in her chest, but she forced herself to remain composed. They were in, Riddler knew they were in, but so far showed no signs that he knew that she was watching in.

It needed to be kept that way. Over a thousand lives hung in the balance and she was all too aware of it. But they were going to do this, she was going to be able to do this. So long as she kept her own efforts subtle enough and Batman proved himself way too distracting, they could pull it off.

Already she was running a trace. Batman's connection to Riddler's virtual reality simulation meant that he was connected to the server the madman was using. The server was a physical machine that had to be located somewhere. Find the server, find the Riddler. It was easier said than done, and Barbara fully expected it.

On a monitor, she could see the efforts of the Riddler's defenses. A scrambling program was hiding the location and it would require time, a lot of time, for her trace to find its way through a web of false locations and decoy signals. A map of Gotham was pockmarked with thousands of possible locations and countless lines symbolizing various Wifi connections. The map was practically covered in it all, and it was up to her to clear it up as much as possible.

Then there was the other complication. Well, that wasn't the right word, but it was just as important as finding the Riddler. Thanks to her piggybacking, she did have access to the server itself, but she knew any overt signs of meddling would be picked up. This meant a much more subtler approach. Something that would blindside this madman.

Getting those kids out was top priority.

A notification suddenly popped up on a monitor. Her eyes darted to give it a look, initial confusion and alarm giving her pause. Incoming communication? What? But she already had her own communication network set up and it didn't have anything for incoming calls that did not have access to it.

Wait, the call was not going to her. On another monitor, the specs for a headpiece were brought up and—oh. Oh. That...what was Batman's mask. Helmet. Headgear. Whatever he wanted to call it. Someone was trying to connect to Batman directly.

There would be no other reason than Batman had entrusted to whoever this was the means to contact him like this. If Batman trusted him…

That didn't stop her from bringing up her voice scrambler as she answered.

Through Oracle's digitized voice, she said, "Who is this?"

You could hear this pause on the other line. Seconds ticked by before, "Whom am I speaking to?" It was a male voice, one that had a kind of dignity and, well, let's just say it was also smooth. Like, it was the kind of voice that could narrate a documentary and you would want to watch if only to hear more of it.

"This is Oracle. Why are you calling?" the hacker answered.

"Ma'am, I do believe this is a wrong number—"

Barbara couldn't help herself. She rolled her eyes. "This isn't a wrong number. Nobody uses this number by accident. You're trying to contact Batman. What is it? I'm an ally."

Silence, one that felt like hesitance. Personally, she understood why the person on the other end would be hesitant but right now was not a good time.

"Batman has entered the virtual reality program and is currently unavailable. Do you want me to relay him a message and get back to you?" The hacker wondered if her exasperation would leak through her scrambled, digitized voice.

"Tell him that I have found a solution. He asked that I find a means to block Riddler's killswitch from being triggered. It's ready for pick up."

Had to hand it to this man, he knew how to sum up a lot real quick. Suddenly, she felt a bit more energized because this was a plan that was in motion, and one that was part of Batman's overall scheme. However, it was a ball waiting to be picked up, and time was of the essence.

The line was secure, no doubt, but Oracle had her means. "I am sending someone over to pick it up. I'll relay everything to Batman and will send further instructions along the way. Get whatever you have ready for pick up, preferably mobile if it isn't, and maybe outside your location. If you want to hide your identity, go for it, and know no one will hold it against you. Oracle out."

She ended the call, but not before finding out the mysterious caller's current location. She raised an eyebrow but did not look further into it. Instead, she made another call, one to the rest of the Network.

"Attention, I need everyone to head over to Wayne Enterprises. Batman's has a package he needs picked up immediately. Secure it and I'll update you with what to do with it afterwards."

Confirmations came in, and she knew multiple vigilantes were heading over. More eyes, more hands, more everything needed to protect this thing, this package as she had dubbed it. In the meantime, Batman would need to be informed and more of his plan discovered.

Meanwhile, hope began to spring in her chest.

Ever have that feeling where your brain felt like a fried egg? You know that feeling? Like smoke was coming out of your ears while everything between them was cooked? Yeah, that's what Harper was feeling like.

So far, she had managed to solve three, count them, three riddles. All by guesses. Every remaining riddle had her stumped. She just...she couldn't figure them out! Riddles weren't her thing! She didn't know anyone who they were their thing! Who spent their time trying to solve them anyway? A loser with no life?

Right now, she was staring blankly at the board, one of the many riddles written on it, and...yeah, it was like looking at words and none of them made any sense. She recognized it was English, but that was it. English gibberish, that's what it was for her.

Harper was fried. Who'd have thought? Sure electricity was kinda her thing and all, and frying some bad guys with her tasers was a great stress relief, but never in a million years would she have ever thought she'd be the one fried. Was that irony? It felt like irony so it must be irony.

But what was the Goddamn answer already? What was it? What. WAS. THE. ANSWER! What was the answer? What was it!

In a distant part of her mind, she marveled at the sound made when her forehead made contact with the board. It actually sounded like a skull hitting the whatever it was made of surface. A shame she didn't feel anything, because that meant this exercise of hitting her head against the wall was never going to live up to the real deal. Freaking virtual reality.

Eventually, she pulled and raised her head back, blinking blearily at the unchanging board with its unchanging riddle.

Everyone is attracted to me and everyone falls for me, even you. What am I?

Harper licked her lips even if the action accomplished nothing. She could feel the back of her throat clenching to the point of near spasm. It felt like she was going to say something but whatever it was wanted to stay in the back of her throat and not come out—

Then the wall dissolved, taking the board with its riddle away. Something much worse took its place.

"My, you look like you could use a break," the massive, disembodied head of the Riddler observed. "Worry not, I have just the solution! A means to cool down your overheated brain and allow it some rest! Come, come along, I have need of you."

And then the hand came in. Instinctively, Harper backed away from it even though there was no use in doing so. Fingers reached into the room and captured the girl with the blue-dyed hair and the next thing she knew she was pulled out like some prize from a cereal box. Then from fingers to the actual palm of the hand, she was carried away into the large, fantasy-like city from which she had initially found herself in when this mind-numbing experience had begun.

Words finally left her mouth, but they weren't an answer to any riddle. "Get your hand off me! What are you doing, you creep!"

She had the feeling that Riddler was rolling his eyes at her. "Name calling. The most obvious sign of a small mind. And here I was being so generous to give you some time out of the classroom. We have a guest and ancient laws of hospitality demand that we receive him. This is an invitation to a bread and circus just for you, to keep for yourself without having to share with the rest of the city!"

"The hell are you talking about!" she exclaimed, struggling and squirming in the unyielding grip.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," Riddler told her, and wasn't that an ominous tone of voice.

The cave was more of a tunnel. Walking down the dark path, Batman's eyes flitted to and fro, on the lookout for any traps. There had to be some carefully laid ones. The Riddler wouldn't simply let him walk through without some sort of peril.

Except that he was. There was no telling how long he had been walking and he had yet to be attacked or triggered a trap. It went against the maze completely. Was the Riddler being genuine when he challenged him? It seemed to be that way.

The tunnel soon opened up into a cavern and it was here the vigilante came to a stop. The cavern was a perfect square, which was completely impossible in the real world. He could see the sharp ninety degree angles at the corners. On the floor were a series of squares, alternating black and white. On the two rows close to him and on the other side were…

Chess pieces.

Batman recognized the pawns and the rooks and the bishops. He spotted the king and the queen as well. Oddly enough, there were only three knights on the board, a space where a knight should have been missing.

"Only you can put the king in check, Batman," the Riddler suddenly told him. An avatar of him didn't appear, but his voice reverberated throughout the cave. "Move according to the rules, or it's the end of the day."

Seeing the other way forward, Batman moved onto the chess board, standing on the open knight spot. The square glowed for a moment and the chess pieces changed colors. The ones around the dark-clad man became black while the others on the opposite side became white. One of the pawns moved forward a spot.

"Your move, Batman."

According to the Riddler's words, he was the only one that could put the king in check. Well, there was no point in wasting time. Taking a step forward, he moved around the pawn in front of him and then onto the square in front of it.

However, he didn't stop there, as he moved to the next square, suddenly the ground gave way and Batman felt himself begin to drop. Pitching himself backwards, he landed on his back, both of his legs dangling into the hole. Grunting, he pulled his legs back and then maneuvered himself so that he could look into the hole. Through it, he saw a pit full of spikes, not a single column that offered support for the board. Only in a video game was that possible.

Obviously, he couldn't keep going forward. Standing up, he tried to make sense of this, that was until the Riddler's impatient voice sounded off. "You still need to complete your move, Batman, otherwise this little game will never continue."

Batman narrowed his eyes. He looked behind himself at the open knight spot from where he started. He took in all of the chess pieces and the white pawn that had been moved. Cautiously, he stepped to the square to his right.

The ground remained firm, telling him exactly what was going on here. He was obviously one of his knight pieces, so he could only make L-shaped moves. Another white pawn moved, joining the first one up a row.

Alright, let's try something.

"Pawn four to queen five," he ordered.

His black pawn then moved the two spaces forward, just as he thought it would. That's when the white knight made its move, joining the same row as the two pawns.

Great, he was going to have to play a game of chess. Most likely his opponent was the Riddler, which was probably a blessing. If there was any way he could keep the man distracted, this was the game for it.

Besides, the vigilante considered himself a decent player.

It was easy to get to Wayne Enterprises. It was one of the more iconic buildings in the city, so finding it was easy. Reaching it took time, and finding the docking bay was a slight issue easily resolved.

There was a van there being loaded up. It shouldn't have stood out except this wasn't the kind of bay for vans. A forklift was pulling away from the back of the vehicle, as if it had just placed something inside of it. Supervising it all was a dark-skinned man with salt and pepper coloring his hair.

This man checked his watch, then would look up and down the street that was constructed especially for this back entrance, as if he was expecting someone. There was a call out to the workers that they could go back inside and that he would finish up here personally. Then this man looked up, squinting his eyes as if searching for anything that would come down from above.

Well, at least six individuals did.

Gravity pulled down on capes, and the members of the Network approached the man.

"You have something for us?" Huntress called out, taking the lead. Behind her the Birds followed. Nightwing did so as well, though he noticed how Batgirl hung back. "A package?"

"You're the ones picking it up?" the dark-skinned man answered. He eyed them up and down before adding, "You certainly look the type he would work with."

"What would a guy like Lucius Fox know about who Batman would work with?" Huntress fired back, though she held back on the defensiveness.

Still, that gave Nightwing pause if only because he had to figure out the significance of that name. That it involved Wayne Enterprises meant that this guy was a big deal, but it was like trying to recall a name that you saw or heard everywhere and learned to ignore because you were exposed to it too many times.

"Nothing," Fox replied. "However, you are here now of all times, so you must be helping as well. Come over here." Had to hand it to Fox, he wasn't letting the fact that they were dressed up like this with the sun rising over the horizon stop him from getting down to business.

Reaching the van, they were led to the still opened back where some kind of machine or device was placed. That definitely wasn't something you saw everyday. It looked like a box, like a portable tool chest you could find at a big box store that specializes in home and landscape projects. Unlike those tool chests, this one had a panel jutting out of the side facing them, with at least four ports. One of the ports had a cable running out of it and leading to another device further back into the truck.

"This is a signal jammer. Good up to five hundred yards. That means you need to get close, but have some breathing room. This had to be pulled out of storage, updated, and tweaked, but it should be able to block any signals from Riddler's killswitch. The van here is to help with transport," Fox summed up quickly, gesturing to the jammer and patting the side of the van.

"What's that back there? Behind the jammer?" Nightwing asked, because there were some very important machines in there and he wanted to know all they would be dealing with.

Fox favored the vigilante with a look. "That's the converter. It's already plugged into the jammer. To generate a frequency that disrupts any and all transmissions takes some power, but hopefully this is short term, thus why we have the set up. With the converter, you can plug it into a lighter holder and have the car battery supply the necessary electricity."

"So long as we keep it running," Huntress finished.

"We need to know where Riddler is hiding," Black Canary pointed out. Looking to the rest of them, "We can't just drive up and down every street in Gotham hoping to get lucky."

Now Manhunter was looking to him. "Anything from Oracle?"

"Nothing yet, but you bet she's on it. We'll hear back when she finds it," he answered readily.

"That sucks. We can't just drive around randomly either. For all we know, that could take us further away from where the bastard's hiding," Manhunter stated, looking back towards the jammer. "I hate waiting."

"Waiting's what we'll have to do," Fox said. "Now, when you need to activate—"

A sharp whirring sound grabbed their attention. As heads were starting to turn, a louder whirring noise cut through the air and ended with a crash. Batgirl's arm was extended upwards, and angling their visions in that direction found a formerly hovering drone falling through the air with a batarang embedded in it.

Thanks to previous nights, they all recognized what kind of drone this was. They had been seeing them every time they had approached one of those Riddler devices, the ones that always caused a blackout when destroyed. Multiple orbs of green with purple stripes were flying down from the sky and over the streets.

"Now, now, you pawns are not in your proper positions," a too familiar and hated voice chided. "There are my toys for you to destroy. Maybe they could free this city's children, if only you would play by the rules. It's to my disappointment I find you hiding away, planning cloak and dagger out of sight. This is worthy of a penalty!"

"Give it a rest already," Nightwing retorted, speaking for them all as he whipped out his eskrimas. He didn't need to watch the others as bo staffs, batarangs, and a sword were held up at the ready.

"Sure, I'll give you a rest," the Riddler's voice agreed. Suddenly sprouting out from the sides of the orb-shaped drones, gun turrets appeared and aimed right at them. "How does 'in peace' agree with you?"

Someone muttered "Figures" as the first gunshots were fired.

Batman's eyes darted from side to side. The chessboard was a wreck, pieces of chess pieces littering it.

A big reason for that was because of things like this.

HIs black bishop was sliding diagonally across the board until it reached the Riddler's white rook. The moment it reached, the bishop pulled out a sword and sliced the rook in half diagonally. It wasn't a clean cut either as the castle-shaped piece crumbled into pieces. The bishop took its place, finally coming to a stop.

It had been surprising the first time the pieces actively destroyed each other. He had gotten used to it pretty quickly, though. It had given him some pause as to his own movements though, since he could just imagine what one of those pieces could do to him after watching pieces after piece be annihilated.

There weren't many pawns left. He had two towards the Riddler's side of the board and the Riddler had one, the second one he had actually moved at the start of the game. It had ended up staying on that square. The Riddler was missing both of his rooks now thanks to the recent bishop move. He had one knight, two bishops, his queen, and king in play. Already he was dreading the queen's move as the Riddler had been using it as a wrecking ball as of late.

As for him, he was the only knight left on the board, having sacrificed it to take Riddler's last rook. He at least had his own rook, having stationed it on the Riddler's second row, effectively pinning the man's king to his first row. That rook was being covered by his queen from across the board. His king was currently safe, but he could see three moves the Riddler could take to put it in check.

With each move, it was taking more time for each player to make their next. That had slowed the game down considerably. However, Batman could see himself two moves away from another check—and no doubt the Riddler saw the same. He was probably trying to come up with a move to begin pinning the vigilante's king.

That's when a bishop moved. Batman watched it slide and it stopped right about where he expected it to. The Riddler was cutting off his king's exit route. He was starting to make his play.

Alright, it was time to end this game. "Bishop to bishop five," he ordered, Batman moving his bishop across the board until it had a clear shot at attacking the Riddler's king. "Check," he called out.

Immediately, the king slid over a space, putting itself into the corner. He then moved himself into position, pacing himself one move away from taking the king. "Checkmate," he announced.

There was silence for a moment before he heard clapping. "I must admit, you played wonderfully," the Riddler responded. "You really aren't just some meathead. There is a brain in that head of yours. I can't say how much this pleases me."

Suddenly, the Riddler's king piece began moving over several squares, a move it couldn't do per the rules. Batman shifted into a defensive stance as he stared it down, ready for an attack. However, once the king stopped in front of him, it then raised its sword up above its head. Then it lowered it down, flat side down until it rested on his shoulder, effectively knighting him. A strange gesture, but at least it wasn't trying to kill him.

"You may now proceed to the next arena, Batman," the Riddler told him, a hint of respect in his voice. "Your next challenge should be a fun one for all ages. Don't keep the audience waiting."

That's when he saw a doorway open on the wall opposite of the entrance he had used. Walking towards it, he then passed through the entrance, once again entering a tunnel. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but at least he didn't have to expect the ground to give way beneath him.

Pressing forward, he headed to his next challenge.