Author's Note: As of the last chapter, this story has reached 100 reviews. We did it. Pat yourselves on the backs. Now relax and enjoy this next chapter. How much closer are we to the big climax?

What is Reality?

The tunnel came to an abrupt end. Batman stopped himself as he stared at it. It wasn't like the cave tunnel stopped, or anything. No, it had changed to something that certainly didn't belong there.

From the ceiling hung a red tarp. If that wasn't a warning sign, he didn't know what was. Faintly, he could pick up the sound of music, the same notes playing over and over. It was steady, never changing pace, upbeat even. Batman had memories of this music and he didn't like what they entailed.

Cautiously, he approached the tarp. With one hand, he grabbed it and pulled it aside.

It was just as he thought. The tarp was actually the flap to a tent and a rather large one at that. A large circle was surrounded by rows and rows of benches, an audience filling them. Lights moved all over the place as if looking for something, or someone. There were two tall poles, a trapeze connecting them, along with swings. There were a couple of acrobats using the swings, flying through the air and trading with each other—and by trade he meant letting go of their own swing, sailing towards the other one, and grabbing that to swing back to the opposite pole. There was no net beneath them, so one false move would have sent them falling to their death.

There was movement then. Batman darted his eyes towards it and he saw an elephant lumbering by, dressed in circus clothes. Where it was going, not even the animal seemed to know.

And then came the clowns.

An impossibly small car was running around on dying batteries. It weaved back and forth before coming to a stop. A door opened and clown after clown after clown piled out of it. White face paint with shapes of red, blue, and green made each one unique. Another clown appeared riding a unicycle, holding a pie in hand. He made an idiotic laugh before throwing the pie, which creamed another clown in the face.

Suddenly, a clown wearing a green and yellow wig shot up in front of his face. "Hey there, little boy," he exclaimed excitedly. "What's your—"

Batman's fist slammed into the clown's face, knocking him clear off his feet. The clown collapsed to the floor, lying there in a coma.

"God, I hate clowns," Batman grumbled.

"I must admit, I should have known better."

Naturally, the Riddler had to speak. His avatar came into existence then, his head and hands appearing beneath the big top. "Welcome to your next challenge, Batman! I made this place just for you."

"Did you now?" he responded guardedly.

"Indeed I did. I even gave you an audience too. If you look carefully, you might even recognize some of them."

So far, the Riddler had been playing honest, so Batman decided to look at the audience surrounding him. Though it was dark the further up the stands went, he could make out the first few rows easily. It only took him a moment to realize they were all teenagers.

The hostages.

"Hero worship is a rather trite expressionism for idolization," the Riddler spoke drolly. "In the modern era, you even have internet groups that celebrate celebrities and the like—in fact, there are a few kids there that run pro-Batman websites, just so you know. Now though, I bring them all to meet their so-called champion just so that they can see him fail."

"What's the challenge, Riddler?" the vigilante demanded. There wasn't a chessboard here, so it wasn't clear what he should be doing.

"Oh, this one is a simple one, mostly because I came up with this one at the last minute, so please don't be insulted by its lack of difficulty," the Riddler apologized. "What is full of holes, but still holds water?"

Batman raised an eyebrow at that. Compared to the other riddles he had encountered, this one seemed a bit simple. Even the Riddler seemed embarrassed by it as he said, "I know, it's rather simplistic in delivery, but I warn you that it is best you answer it sooner rather than later. The answer may end up being you."

That was when a couple of the clowns pulled out oversized guns. These were their infamous bang-flag guns and the clowns pointed them at the Dark Knight. However, when they squeezed the triggers, a bang-flag didn't just shoot out as much as they became streaking metal stakes that were fired right at the vigilante.

Immediately, Batman dove to a side to avoid the flying spikes, going into a roll. Pulling out a shuriken from his belt, the moment he ended back up on his feet, he sent the bat-shaped shuriken flying through the air. It whirled towards its targets, knocking the large barreled guns out of the clowns' hands one after the other, causing them to yelp.

"Nicely down, Dark Knight, but I highly suggest you answer the riddle," the Riddler warned him.

What was full of holes but held water? he thought. It didn't take him long to come up with the answer. "A sponge," he called out.

"Correct! See, children? Intelligence is a valuable commodity if you value it as such." Clearly those last words were aimed at the audience. Clearly the maniac had been taunting them throughout their whole ordeal.

"Batman, it's Oracle," he suddenly heard in his ear.

"Go," he spoke lowly.

"Two things—I'll be brief. One, I have people going to pick up that signal jammer you had in the works. We should have it ready to go any time now."

Batman kept his eyes on the circus before him. Any time now he'd be attacked again, not to mention the Riddler throwing another riddle at him. Lucius must have completed the signal jammer, which was a good thing. The sooner they activated it, the better. How Oracle found out about it, he wasn't certain, but that wasn't a problem.

"Two, I think I've managed to hack into the Riddler's server. If I'm careful enough, I think I can start extracting the kids out."

"Do it," he muttered. "Get them out of here. Tell whoever gets the jammer to turn it on as soon as they—"

"Riddle me this, Batman!" the Riddler suddenly proclaimed, "What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence?"

Huh? That old riddle? Why was he using that one? "Time to get a new fence," he responded coolly. "Is that really the best you have for me?"

"It is an old one, is it not? However, you may want to check your watch anyway. I believe it's elephant sitting time."

That's when a shadow covered the vigilante. Whipping his head around, his eyes widened as he saw the backside of the elephant and it was getting ready to sit down on top of him. He sprung forward, darting out of the way of the sitting pachyderm, the entire tent visibly shaking from the landing.

"Good reflexes," the Riddler remarked. "Now onto your next riddle: a detective reported to a crime scene at the circus. A clown was found backstage in a pool of blood with his hands grasping his neck. How did he die?"

Already, Batman was eyeing the clowns. He was just waiting for one of them to pull out a knife or try to attack him. Yet all of them seemed content with running around in circles and spraying each other in the face with large bottles of water. Just because they were attacking each other didn't mean they—

Batman froze. He saw something flipping up into the air before it fell back down, right before another object was thrown up. It looked like a torch, one that was on fire and it was flipping end over end before falling back down.

"The juggler," he said before his eyes darted to a side.

There, in a brightly colored costume, was a juggler. This one was busy juggling knives, tossing one up into the air while catching another, passing it to his other hand and launching it back up. However, he wasn't looking at his knives as he was staring intently at the vigilante.

And then he threw his knives at him, one at a time as he caught them. Raising his arms up, Batman blocked each knife with his gauntlets, aiming to use his triangle blades to take most of the damage. Each knife hit the ground, some bouncing off of it while others pierced into it, their hilts sticking straight up into the air.

Soon, the juggler was out of knives. He then gave a wave at the dark-clad man before scampering off. Batman kept an eye on him before looking for other jugglers, finding the one juggling flaming torches. He was too far away to actually throw them successfully at the vigilante, but one never knew in a place like this.

So he kept searching. It was because of this that he noticed one of the hostages in the audience suddenly vanished into thin air. Oracle. She must have managed to free that hostage. Perfect. Only a thousand more to go.

"Hmmm, I feel as if I've made a mistake here, Batman," the Riddler admitted. "I thought a circus would be a grand arena for your demise, but one can only think of some many good circus riddles. Perhaps it is time to move onto your next challenge, wouldn't you say?"

Suddenly, the clowns, the elephant, and the jugglers vanished from sight, leaving him alone under the big top. "I have one gold coin and one silver coin, but they shine more brightly than all of my little diamonds. Seek me out for the next challenge."

Another riddle, another clue, though Batman was certain that the answer was his next destination. A place with coins and diamonds, so possibly a vault? But what vault only had two coins, both of which were of different metals? No, it wasn't a vault.

So what had coins that shined more brilliantly than diamonds? Diamonds were known for reflecting light, sparkling even. Sparkling...like stars…

Batman tilted his head up towards the top of the big top. The tent rose upwards until all sides met in the middle, the highest point within the tent. It was like an arrow pointing him to his next destination—the sky.

Now how was he supposed to go up there?

He rather doubted he could grapple his way there. There didn't look like there was anything outside of maybe the trapeze to get him up there. There was some scaffolding that was helping to keep the ceiling of the tent up. Yet, just getting to the top of the big top, he felt, wasn't enough. He needed to reach the sky, with its golden sun, silver moon, and sparkling stars. He would need a cannon to reach that at this rate.

Wait, the circus had the human cannonball attraction. What were the chances there was an actual cannon here?

Looking around, Batman sought out such a cannon, seeing none. He was rather pleased to spot another couple of hostages suddenly disappearing. Damn it, it didn't look as if there was a cannon here. Too bad he couldn't make one.

Hold on, this was practically a video game, wasn't it? Why couldn't he make one?

Suddenly, the ground in front of him began to rise up. It was fluid, almost liquidity. It rose up and up, bubbling from a source in the ground. Then it began to take shape. Before he knew it, he had a cannon sitting right in front of him.

Well, that was convenient. So he did have some control of the environment around him. That was good to know. Moving to the cannon's mouth, he jumped up to grab the top of its mouth with his hands so that he could enter it feet first. He slid into the barrel, disappearing into it.

Alright, this wasn't his best idea in the world, but hopefully it worked. Willing the cannon to point upward, he felt the barrel begin to move. Watching out of the mouth, he saw the view of the audience sink down until he saw the center of the tent's roof. Taking a deep breath, he then said, "Fire."

And then he was flying up towards the ceiling like a speeding bullet—or rather cannonball. The top of the tent rushed towards his face and the next thing he knew, he was tearing right through it and entering the sky.

Harper had seen him in action many times, but this one felt so much more than the others. There he was, Batman, here in this hellhole and she knew without needing to be told that he was here to save them and kick some Riddler ass.

Unfortunately, all she could do was sit on the sidelines, with the rest of the kids and watch as Riddler threw riddle after riddle, literally, at the Bat himself. Regardless of how lame the riddles were, it was still awesome to see Batman not only solve them, and easily too, but then evade what came next.

It was too short, and ended too soon. Riddler had pulled back, but then naturally had to leave a riddle behind. But that was where things became interesting.

The way that cannon grew out of the ground and how Batman ordered it, how'd he do that? He had just come in here recently, probably around the time Riddler pulled her out of that classroom-styled prison he had been keeping her, everyone, in. So recent. So how did he do it? Sure, Riddler was constantly changing this place, but now Batman was too.

So...what were the odds the rest of them could as well?

It was an idea, one that was strengthening the feeling of hope she was having, and she looked beside her at a girl, another capture, and had a mind to try her epiphany. Without warning, the girl just blinked out of existence, gone…

Harper blinked, wondering what that had meant when she looked around the rest of the tent, already seeing it start to change into a completely new environment. But she noticed some gaps in there, places that should have held a body or two, but didn't.

What was—oh, it had to be Batman too. There was more to this. Like, like he was trying to get them all out of here while he dealt with that asshole keeping them here. Why could she never fail to be impressed by this guy?

But there were so many of them, and so they needed time. Maybe it had been by chance, but Harper had seen the Dark Knight in a situation that had put him on the defensive and kept him there. That meant they needed to go on offense.

So how could she help with that? And as she took a look at the countless faces around her, another thought occurred to her.

What could they do to help with that?

Hot water poured out of the faucet, slowly filling the tub. In the kitchen, Isis was feasting on a recently filled food bowl. In the living room, the television was turned on if only to have some noise to have after being in a mostly silent maze for...two days? Three?

Selina had more than earned this soak.

Her, ahem, "work clothes" were going to need to be cleaned. It smelled, might need to be burned later, but there were spares to replace it just in case. Meanwhile, she was in a bathrobe, awaiting her soak.

If she never heard another riddle in her life, it would be too soon. Now all that riddling was someone else's problem. Her problem now was ensuring Isis had forgiven her for her absence and planning her next move on Max.

Everything had just been a distraction. None of this situation concerned her. Kids at risk? Kids were always at risk, but nobody was going out of their way to help those without some electric thing on their heads. There was nobody to help when she needed it. Nobody who wanted to help, so it was all fair play to her.

Right now, the bath called to her. Relaxation beckoned and who was she, a creature of pleasure, to resist?

Rapid fired bullets struck the pavement, the sides of buildings, the Wayne Enterprises loading dock, and anything that was out in the open that was not moving. A blast of energy tore one apart, ending its gunfire, but there were many still about.

But these vigilantes had been through fire before. Batarangs had been thrown, a crossbow had been pulled out, and when they really wanted to do damage, there was a Canary Cry that brought enough of the orb-shaped drones to ground that they could be picked off with eskrimas and bo staffs.

So many minutes, so much time had passed, but the fight was over, and the street was littered with the corpses of so many drones. It was over, that was what mattered.

Then a curse from Fox gained all the attention in the area. For some reason, it felt wrong to hear that man swear.

Everything had been fired at, and that included the van. Fox was checking over the signal jammer, but he was deep enough in the van that you could tell it was something else he was checking. Ominously, you could see bullet holes in the sides and roof of the van.

"What's the deal?" Manhunter demanded, being the first to reach the business mogul's side.

"It's the converter!" Fox called back to her. "Jammer's fine, it only got nicked. The converter is shot to hell." Another swear and you felt this was really bad. "We need to find another way to charge the jammer or this won't work."

"Don't you have another one? In storage somewhere?" Black Canary asked.

"None you can plug into a cigarette lighter port. Those need electrical outlets that tap into the city grid," Fox explained.

"What about jumper cables? Using the lighter, we'd be going straight to the car battery anyway," Nightwing pointed out.

"Possible," Fox said carefully, clearly thinking over the idea. "The only question is what kind of charge? Batteries like these are designed for vehicles, produce enough of a charge to keep it running, even with additions like computers and other electronics siphoning from it. The jammer itself needs a large amount of electricity, such as the amount you can get from the electrical grid. That amount is always constant, the source massive enough to supply a city. You can't power a whole city with a car battery, so to be safe, we'll need something to amplify it. Something with a lot of copper."

"Copper wiring?" Black Canary suggested.

"How would we make sure it can amplify enough from the battery then? Couldn't we short it out that way?" Huntress asked.

"Something that has a large source of copper, connected to both the battery and the jammer could do the trick. You'd need another set of jumper cables, but it could be doable," Fox mused. "There's still the risk of shorting out the battery before events resolve. If we turn it on too early, it'll still give the Riddler time to use his killswitch. Too late, and he can use it before we turn it on."

"Then we'll just have to find a large amount of copper or something. Something that can take and amplify the charge easily," Black Canary said.

Nightwing didn't need to wait to hear what she was going to ask next. Where were they going to find a block of copper and in such short notice? He had no clue; his expertise didn't include copper wiring or anything involving electricity. That was...Bluebird's. That girl would have been so valuable throughout this.

Looking away from the group and the van, he took several steps away, looking up and down the street. It was a useless act, he knew it, but feeling like he was doing something, anything, was what he needed right now.

Sometimes useless acts and gestures accomplished nothing and only wasted time.

Not this time.

Maybe it was all the talk about copper, but that certainly stuck out. It was at the end of the street, right in the middle of the t-intersection, and so it was only framed by the buildings on either side of the vigilante. He tilted his head, thinking there was a chance that this might be too good to be true.

Then he decided it wasn't like he had a better idea.

"Hey!" he called out to the ladies and gentleman. With an arm, he pointed at his find and asked, "You think that'll work?"

Like a rocket, Batman flew higher and higher into the sky. He never felt gravity return its grip on him, so he had an inkling that he could conceivably go on forever. Riddler wouldn't let that happen as he was too into his riddle challenges. If he had been thinking, he would have allowed the vigilante to soar forever.

As the sky turned black and the stars twinkled like...diamonds...Batman finally slowed down until he was floating in midair. Looking down, he didn't see a planet as he did more space. Part of him wondered if firing himself this high was a good idea, but it was obvious there was no going back now.

He watched and waited, but so no sign of what he was supposed to do here. After awhile, he called out, "So where's the challenge, Riddler?"

The Riddler responded immediately. "No longer of body, but I'm always remembered. If you look at me, you will know my tale. On legendary wings, you will find me."

At least he had his riddle. No body, but remembered. Something from the past and with a story behind them. Absently he took a step forward and found he was walking through the starry sky. A little weird, but this seemed par for the course in this virtual world. He could hear his footsteps echo all around him, even though there was no obvious ground to be walking on. Even then, he felt as if he were walking on a solid surface.

Batman gazed at the stars then. Were it not for this action, he would have missed a few of them glowing brightly for just an instant. It seemed random a first glance, but then he noticed that grouping of stars formed a pattern.

And then they moved.

His eyes adjusted, or perhaps something else happened within the virtual world's programming, but no longer was he looking at a group of stars, but a charging bull. Letting out a wild roar, the bull rushed towards him, head lowered with its horns ready to skewer him.

Batman crouched down before he jumped upwards. Willing himself higher, he shot upward and upward, high into the sky, the bull passing right beneath him.

If you look at me, you will know my story. No body, but I'm always remembered. A constellation—clever. Batman watched as Taurus slowed its running and made a U-turn, stopping to paw its hoof over and over before letting out another roar and charging at him again.

So how did one stop a raging bull? While he never studied much astrology, he did look into Greek Mythology as many of the constellations had backstories to those myths. The reason for his study was due to the arrival of an Amazon and the creatures of myths that seemed to follow in her wake.

So what did the Greeks say about Taurus? There had been conflicting stories on it, but it involved Zeus hiding one of his lovers in the guise of a bull. Hmm, if Taurus represented Zeus, then perhaps Hera could help him? It was a shame there was no constellation of her that he knew of.

Guess he was on his own for this one.

Glancing around, he noticed some stars forming a line. Reaching to them, he willed them to take form, the stars creating a spear in his hand. Hefting it up, Batman assumed a javelin's stance before he threw the spear right at the charging bull. The spear pierced Taurus right through its head and the constellation shattered, scattering its stars in all directions.

Well, that had been expected, but at least he had proof that he indeed had control over this virtual world. The cannon could have been a happenstance, provided to him by the Riddler, but the spear had been all him.

However, he wasn't out of the woods yet. There were quite a few constellations that could prove hazardous to him.

As if to prove him right, something rammed into his back, causing the vigilante to cry out. He fell down, hooves beating down on him before they disappeared. Grimacing, he looked up and found a ram—Aries. Case in point.

Aries let out a rage-filled bleat, "Baaaaaaaaaaah!" and charged at him. Getting back onto his feet, Batman waited until the ram was nearly upon him. He then lunged forward and up, going right over the ram's head. His hand quickly grabbed onto the ram's horns and he twisted himself around so that he was looking down on Aries. Making sure he had a good grip, he then jerked the ram's head to a side, forcing it to veer off course. "Baaaaaaaaaah!" Aries screamed in fury.

The ram slowed down, which allowed Batman to pull himself down, straddling the animal as he sat on it. Moving his arms, he wrapped them around its neck and gave a vicious twist, breaking the neck. Aries cried out before his constellation shattered.

Alright, that was two down, too many more to go and he needed to find one specifically. The Riddler had hinted that one with wings was the one he needed to find. Now where the hell was he?

That's when he caught another constellation coming to life, the one he quickly identified as Orion. The form of a man appeared, holding a bow and arrow, one that was aimed right at him.

Oh, great.

Orion fired his arrow, causing the Dark Knight to duck it. The archer was undeterred by this and reached for an arrow in his quiver, pulling out one and notching it to his bowstring. He fired it as soon as he could, Batman sidestepping it this time.

Perhaps not as much of a challenge as Taurus and Aries, but the long-range could prove to be a nuisance if something else attacked him, like Leo the lion, or Cancer the crab. At least he knew something of Orion's story that could be beneficial.

Orion had been a great hunter, one that caught the interest of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. They had hunted for awhile, which caused jealousy in Artemis' brother, Apollo. In order to get rid of Orion, he had sent a giant scorpion that killed him.

A scorpion, huh?

Taking out a shuriken, Batman threw it, aiming right for the bow. As Orion readied another arrow, the bat-shaped shuriken cut through the bowstring, destroying the bow in Orion's hands. The constellation yelped, then glared at the dark-clad man. Reaching to his side, he then pulled out a sword and yelled a war cry, one that echoed throughout the starry world.

Batman began backing away. If he was right, he was heading south, which was the way he wanted to go. Reaching to his left, he plucked out another grouping of stars, this one forming a shield.

Orion ran at him, holding the sword above his head. The moment he was within striking distance, he swung the sword down, hitting Batman's shield. There wasn't much force to it, the vigilante noted, but he wasn't about to let a star-made sword kill him. He continued to backpedal, Orion bashing his sword over and over on his shield.

There! Batman spotted the constellation he wanted and focused on it. The group of stars glowed and the form of Scorpius appeared. Immediately, it zeroed in on Orion, snapping its claws before rushing after him.

Having heard the snapping, Orion turned around, letting out a frightful gasp. Scorpius struck, driving its wicked tail right into his chest, causing Orion to shatter into pieces.

Quickly, Batman willed for Scorpius to return to its place in the sky. The stars that comprised the constellation glowed brilliantly before fading away, the scorpion gone, but its constellation outline back where it belonged.

Now, where was the winged constellation he was looking for? Damn, he wished he studied more astronomy when he had the chance.

Looking around himself, he couldn't pick out any star groupings that might have wings. Alright, to the north. Going into a run, he headed back the way he came, hopefully finding what he wanted there. Of course, that put him at risk for running into another constellation.

That proved prophetic, only this time it was from a bear. He heard it roar before it actually attacked him, forcing him to spot it quickly. Standing on its back legs, the large bear was...really damn close! Raising up its clawed hand, it swiped at the vigilante.

Thankfully, he still had his shield and rose it up just in time to block it. Unlike Orion's sword, there was a surprising amount of force behind the blow and Batman felt himself go flying backwards. Grunting as he landed, he shook off the aching he felt and tried to get back onto his feet, only for the bear to be right on top of him, snarling.

Falling back onto his back, Batman kicked his legs up, forcing them right into the bear's belly. Grunting, he forced the bear to lift up and go flying over him, sending it tumbling through the air headfirst. Quickly, he rolled onto his stomach and got back onto his feet, just in time to see the bear land on the starry ground.

It didn't stay that way for long. The bear was on all fours, twisting its head around to roar at him again.

Alright, so the Riddler was throwing bears at him. Well, two could play at this game. He may not have been an expert in astronomy, but he did know there were two bear constellations. Focusing on a star grouping, a second bear was formed. While he expected it to be smaller than the one attacking him—since the Riddler would have definitely been the man to choose the bigger of the two—Batman was surprised when the bear he summoned was much, much larger than the attacking bear.

Looks like someone decided to pick Ursa Minor over Ursa Major.

Letting out its own roar, Ursa Major startled Ursa Minor and the two faced off with each other. That was fine by him. As the two bears roared at each other, Batman looked at the stars around him before he found what he wanted.

As if it had been waiting, a group of stars began to glow and the form of Pegasus appeared. On legendary wings, nothing was more legendary than Pegasus in the night sky. Hurrying over to the winged horse, Batman hauled himself onto its back. This caused Pegasus to neigh, rearing up onto its back feet as it stretched out its wings.

For a moment, Batman thought Pegasus would try to buck him off, but thankfully that didn't come to pass. Pegasus then launched them through the starry sky, flying away from the battle of two bears behind them.

"Alright, Riddler," Batman growled, "I'm coming to find you."

Author's note: The bit with Batman punching a clown was too much for either of us to resist. The title of this chapter is also a reference to a BTAS episode of the same name, in which the Riddler traps Commissioner Gordon in a virtual reality simulation. Sound familiar? Some of Batman's challenges have been taken right from that episode.