Clash of Virtual Proportions

The starry sky had turned into a blue one reminiscent of an ocean. A field of grass and flowers stretched out along the ground. Off in the distance was what appeared to be a city of stone up ahead. It stood out like a sore thumb amongst the blue and green.

And it was here that Pegasus began its descent, descending towards the stone city. Batman took in his new surroundings, searching for threats that might be hiding out here. He immediately noticed a lack of people around, giving the impression this stone city had been abandoned. However, he had been attacked with the stars themselves, so that didn't mean much here.

Soon, Pegasus was gliding between the buildings, swaying from side to side to avoid clipping his wings against them. It was clear the winged horse had a destination in mind and was taking the Dark Knight there.

That location turned out to be a tower made of solid gemstones. A cobblestone courtyard surrounded it, providing Pegasus with the perfect landing point. The moment its hooves touched down, the horse shook its head, neighing impatiently. Taking that as his cue, Batman climbed off of the winged horse. The moment his feet touched down, Pegasus took off, flying off into the blue sky.

Watching Pegasus leave, Batman then turned his attention to the gemstone tower, the sunlight gleaming off of the polished gems. It was an impressive sight to behold, but Batman had no eye for it now.

"And the guest of honor has arrived!"

That voice—and it wasn't reverberating from everywhere. No, it came from the tower itself. Searching for it, Batman saw a staircase made of the same gemstones as the tower, the Riddler walking down them, a smirk on his face.

So, he decided to face him in person.

"Welcome to Riddlerville, Batman!" the Riddler greeted him, coming to the bottom step of the stairs. He placed his cane down in front of him, both hands gripping the cane's head. "I hope you like what I've done with the place."

"It's impressive work," the vigilante acknowledged, the green-dressed man bowing his head to accept the compliment. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Why, to have our face-to-face encounter, of course." The Riddler raised up his cane, dropping one hand to his side as he pointed the butt of it at the dark-clad man. "Every game has to introduce the protagonist and antagonist to each other at some point. Admittedly, this is over virtual reality, but it was a meeting long in the making."

"Is this where we have a showdown over your hostages? Where I have to complete a set of challenges for you to release them?" Batman prodded.

"You know, that isn't a half-bad idea," the Riddler acknowledged. "But I have something else in mind. You see, I rather enjoyed our time at the circus. Admittedly, it was short notice and some of those riddles were of low quality. I mean, the elephant one is so well known, it's hardly worth the effort to use it.

"But there were good elements with that scene and I would prefer to use those and improve upon the bad ones. For instance…"

At this, the Riddler pointed his cane up into the air. Following it, a dark cloud formed above their heads, appearing right out of thin air. The bright sunlight dimmed from the dark cloud, the cloud swirling over and over, growing bigger and bigger. Green bolts of streak lightning crackled throughout the digital storm, an ominous promise of dark things to come.

And then dark shapes fired out of the cloud. It was like a rain of them as they hit the ground around them. It only took Batman to realize it was the hostages, each teen dropping from the swirling cloud and landing on their feet on the ground. The mass of youths grew larger around them until they surrounded the vigilante and madman. They stood everywhere, in the courtyard, on top of the surrounding buildings, even on top of the tower itself.

"And now we have our audience," the Riddler proclaimed as he lowered his cane back in front of him, placing both of his hands on top of its head once more. "Any last words before I destroy you in front of your fanclub?"

"You must think highly of yourself," Batman mused as he allowed his gaze to wander, taking in the sight of the hostages. He wished that there were less of them if only to see proof that Oracle was getting them out. She must have been getting them out one at a time, which if the Riddler's claim of having a thousand of them in his clutches were true, that was going to take a very long time. As if to prove the point, one of the teenagers disappeared from sight.

He was going to have to buy some more time.

"Well, I do admit the sin of vanity is one I possess," the green-dressed man said, making a show of buffing his fingertips against his suitjacket and inspecting them. "It comes from always being the smartest man in the room."

"Then you severely overestimate your intelligence," the vigilante retorted.

That caused the Riddler to freeze. "Is that right?" he growled lowly, lowering his arm. Clearly taking shots at his intelligence was a sore point for him. "Pray tell, what led you to that conclusion?"

"After I left your maze, I did some looking into you," Batman told him. "I found out about those beacons you placed all over the city, along with the militarized drones set up to protect them—though, I believe that is a subterfuge in itself."

"So you found out about those. Consider me mildly impressed," the Riddler sniffed.

Batman ignored the sarcasm. "I learned the beacons appeared every night, always in a new location, though part of that is because the other vigilantes were destroying them—exactly as you planned it."

The Riddler could not conceal his smirk. "Go on," he prodded almost eagerly.

"Following each beacon's destruction, a blackout would ensue. However, just before the blackout, a computer virus was sent. Because of the blackout, it was easy to miss this, but it was spotted. Then there was the location of each beacon—each one was placed within a couple blocks of a bank in Gotham. Incidentally, they were also within the blackout radius every single time. The banks were your real target and you planned on using the city's vigilantes to attack them since whatever had your fingerprints on it had to be significant to your plan. The drones were there to encourage this thought.

"But when they were destroyed, those beacons sent viral transmissions to the banks and the ensuing blackout would ensure no one was the wiser of it as it destroyed the evidence. This entire time, you wanted to get your hands on the money in those banks and since everything is digitized, creating a computer virus that transferred the money to an outside account is relatively easy to engineer. How am I doing so far?"

There wasn't a response, at least not immediately. Then the Riddler tucked his cane underneath his arm and began clapping. "My, my, I really have underestimated you, Dark Knight," he praised. "See, children? This is what you can strive to become if you choose to improve your minds rather than your video game high scores. Truly spectacular."

"What I don't understand is why you would hold these children against their wills and in this place," the vigilante cut off the praise. "What part of your master plan involves abducting a thousand children?"

That smirk was infuriating. "Do not tell me it never occurred to you that this whole hostage situation is in and or itself a bread and circus."

He couldn't mean…

"They're a distraction?!" he demanded, barely able to keep his disbelief in check.

"Rob a bank, people pay attention and hunt you down," Riddler replied. "Hold one thousand ninety seven self-important teenagers in virtual limbo, everyone pays attention to that, and ignores the banks. Who cares about a bank when children are in immanent danger? They pay more attention to the hand grasping the proverbial throat than the hand inputting the PIN number. A magnificent plan, wouldn't you say?"

The self-aggrandizing had already gone over his limit. So, there was really only one answer he could give.

"No, not at all."

The Riddler's body froze up abruptly. "Uhh, excuse me?"

"Your plan, it isn't all that special," Batman repeated. "Despite your riddles and boasts, your plan essentially reduces you to that of a common bank robber, one for the modern, computerized times admittedly, but nothing a group of thugs haven't done by going through the front door. There's nothing special about robbing a bank. You're no criminal mastermind; you're just a simple bank robber, nothing more."

"Says you!" the Riddler shot back heatedly. "And you're missing one key thing, Dark Knight. It isn't just the money, though that is a rather nice perk. After all, one does desire to be paid for their work and I am just like anyone else in that regard. It's the financial records of Gotham's wealthy, its millionaires and billionaires; it's the corporate accounts to every business and corporation in its network; it's the penny-pinching peasants trying to save every cent to their name so they can live in middling comfort in retirement. It's every account in every bank in the city! No group of thugs can do that going through the front door! No, I am no simple bank robber, Batman; I am THE bank robber, it's logical and ultimate extent."

"Perhaps, but again, stealing money isn't some grand scheme, even if you took every effort to make it so. How much money did you blow just to set all of this up? To get your hands on the Omnicrons and the military drones? To reprogram them to serve your cause? It couldn't have been cheap."

"And the impending payout I'm about to receive will ensure I am well compensated for my efforts."

Batman sighed. This guy was really so narcissistic he couldn't see how simplistic his goal was. "In all honesty, I've read dime-store novels with better mysteries than this."

The Riddler's face darkened. "I thought I had finally found the one person in this city of mindless drones that had intellect equal to my own. Alas, I found myself disappointed once again." His face hardened into a scowl. "That you insult me with something as inane as dime-store mystery novels I simply cannot stand!"

Slowly, the Riddler began to grow. Speed kicked in and he was growing rapidly until he was as tall as the tower. "Come, Dark Knight," his voice boomed. "Tell me if your dime-store novels can do this."

She had some experience with gaming, though that was merely what she could get. Being poor really limited your opportunities, you know. But that didn't mean she didn't recognize a boss fight—no, the final boss fight—when she saw it.

The lighting, the clouds above, the darkened city around them, the Riddler as the aforementioned final boss looming over everything and everyone, and last but not least Batman standing before the giant, not even taking a step back.

"Eight of us who go forth not back to protect our king from a foe's attack."

Emerging from the ground, eight chess pawn pieces emerged, their roundheads uncurling to reveal armored men from the waists up, each holding either a sword or spear. With eight voices giving the same war cry, they charged down Batman, their pedestal lower halves sliding across the cobblestone plaza.

Batman, for his part, stood there, not even budging. It felt like Harper's heart was going to pound itself out of her chest out of sheer anticipation, and then their hero acted. As the first pawn reached him, the Dark Knight caught the sword-wielding arm, seemed to move around it, then threw the digital enemy over his shoulder. It really reminded the punk girl of Stephanie, except, Batman didn't stop there. His throw turned into a swing and it was the pawn being used as some kind of club to knock away and scatter the other seven pawns charging at him.

Three toppled over and went still. The remaining four came to a stop, not going backwards at all. Odd, but then Batman struck at the one to his to his left, booted feet literally smashing the pedestal bottom to digital pieces. Then the vigilante was behind the last three, an arm throwing out with three batarangs that struck each pawn's back. The explosions that followed decimated them, and Harper found herself grinning widely.

"Just a warm up," Riddler commentated, holding a hand up as if to say "what can you do?" "You may be able to handle eight pawns, but how about thirty white horses on a red hill, first they clamp, then they stamp, then they stand still?"

That mother—

"Teeth."

-huh? Wait, what?

The cobblestones had turned red, a lump rising out of it for the thirty white horses to appear over it, much like how Riddler had taunted her before. The horses stood no chance as someone like Batman tended to make a lot of dentists happy by knocking out teeth on a regular basis. In this case, Batman summoned a black-gloved fist to do his talking for him.

She heard a cheer around her. It took the teen a second to glance around and unsurprisingly seeing her fellow teenagers cheering. Some were calling out the vigilante's name, others taunting the man holding them against their will, and—

A couple of them had what looked like holographic panels appear right before them. Harper blinked, wondering what that was about. Both of the kids who had this little feature looked uncertain, looking around, then each quickly pressed on it and then both blinked out of existence.

Oh right. Now she was starting to get it. So long as Riddler was focused on Batman, that meant he wasn't paying attention to them. That meant this fight was one big distraction, and Batman would be doing his best to prolong it however he could.

But there were so many of them, and so few were getting out at a time. This would take forever.

Unless they could figure out some way to beat Riddler at his own game? Maybe even kick him out and block him?

And speaking of blocking, Batman just summoned a bat-shaped shield that blocked him from what looked like an intense ray of light blasting through the dark clouds overhead. That reminded her of something else, and maybe it was just the thing they needed to turn this around.

"Did you see that?" she exclaimed to the nearest teen. "You saw how he blocked it?"

The girl in question looked back, giving Harper a questioning look.

Gesturing out to the battle, "He brought that shield out of thin air! The only one around here doing the same thing is Riddler! They're both manipulating the game! And if they can do it, what's to stop us from doing the same thing?"

Because she needed to voice it out to firmly grasp it herself. Because then she impulsively did what she did next. In her mind, she recalled her taser rifle, and, she didn't know, wished or willed or something to that effect, but she did so with all her might.

And then her rifle was in her hands. There was a gasp from the girl she had just spoken to, and that gasp was getting attention from others. A boy demanded to know where the rifle had come from, and she couldn't hide the grin spreading across her face.

As a large shadow fell over them, Batman rising above the rooftops, she began to tell them what she knew.

The city shrunk as Batman grew larger and larger. Soon, he was standing as tall as the Riddler, who was giving him a smirk. He didn't seem all that concerned that the vigilante was now his equal in height and size.

"Not your best move, Batman," the madman told him. "What were you expecting, a clash of titans? Aren't you forgetting the children? If we were to fight the way you want, why, we'll end up crushing them! Surely you've considered this."

Batman glanced down. From this height, all of the hostages looked like ants. But the Riddler was right that if they traded blows, they could stomp on them, and if the man's words were any indication, it would harm them.

"In fact," the Riddler said as he began to raise a foot up. "I could squash them now and save you the trouble of causing all sorts of damage. Then you can fight to your heart's content."

There was an underlying message here: Violence would not solve this problem. Clearly the green-clad man expected the vigilante to plead with him not to do it and put himself into a desperate situation.

But then, he was certain the Riddler had never used violence to solve a problem before either.

In a flash, Batman sent a fist flying up, landing an uppercut to Riddler's chin. The blow sent the giant flying up into the air, where he careened backwards until he landed on his back, destroying a part of his constructed city. More importantly, he didn't land on any of the hostages.

Now came the important part.

"Owww," the Riddler moaned as he laid on debris. His legs had managed to line up with the streets and were stretched out between the buildings. His hands were resting on top of taller buildings, his arms hanging limply off of them. He tilted his head to a side before returning it so that he could look at the Dark Knight. "I was not expecting that," he admitted.

Batman raised up his hands and began cracking the knuckles of each one. "I figured you hadn't. Making yourself this tall, you just made yourself a bigger, easier target for me. In a city like this, it would have made more sense for you to use the layout and hide. Makes it more difficult for me to actually hit you, which we've proved you can't take too many hits from me."

The Riddler stared up at him for a moment. "I do believe you're right, Dark Knight. A change of tactics then." He then began shrinking, sinking into the damage area of his once-sprawling city.

Batman copied his foe and began his descent, making sure to keep the distance between them to a minimum. Soon, they were their normal heights, the Riddler getting back onto his feet as Batman stood several feet away from him.

That's when the Riddler reached behind his back and pulled out a golden ring. "Catch," was all he said as he tossed it to the dark-clad man. Batman caught the ring in one hand, but suddenly found himself holding five of them as they fanned out, each ring interlocking with the next one. Instinctively, he raised his other hand to try and contain them, only for the rings to spill out, getting tangled with his arms. Squirming around, he tried to put them back together, but then found himself effectively handcuffed by the rings.

"Like those trick rings, Batman?" the Riddler asked. "Those are just the first in my arsenal. For instance…"

Suddenly, walls shot up around the vigilante, which then became as transparent as glass. The only part that remained solid was the ceiling above his head. That's when he felt something wet at his feet. Looking down, the dark-clad man saw water beginning to rise.

"Harry Houdini was known for his great escapes, none so more than the water cabinet. Restrained, he freed himself while holding his breath. If you would be so kind as to wait for the water level to rise, I believe we'll be in for quite a show."

Batman closed his eyes and sighed internally. As long as the rules of the real world would follow, he wouldn't have too much trouble with this one. This was one of his final exams when training under John Zatara, albeit without the water. As the water level rose, he got to work on the trick rings.

"Oh, I did make a couple changes," the Riddler then said. "The water is of a thicker variety. A little more viscous than your normal tap water. And the glass, well, one wouldn't want accidents to happen."

Meaning the glass was sturdier than normal as well, most likely break proof. Batman didn't respond as he fiddled with the rings. Then they fell off of his arms, plunging into the rising water. Well, more like plop since the water was thicker. Raising his hands up, he began checking the cabinet for any weaknesses, finding none.

Well then, if the Riddler was going to change the rules, he should act accordingly.

Holding a hand by the glass, he willed a doorknob into existence. Once it appeared, he turned it and opened that side of the glass enclosure, causing the thickened water to spill out as he stepped out.

"You're cheating again," Riddler admonished him, his eyes narrowed.

"After you made some alterations?" Batman countered. "Two of them in fact. You have to give me at least one."

The man continued to glare at him before he moved a hand behind his back, then quickly swung it out. "Catch!"

Something was flying through the air towards him, spinning around much like his shuriken did. Batman side-stepped it, only for it to suddenly change directions and slice right into his arm. The vigilante hissed from the pain he felt, flinching away from the projectile. Turning his head, he watched it fall to the ground, where one end of it pierced into it. His eyes narrowed at the sight of it.

Was that a jigsaw piece?

The Riddler held up more in both of his hands. "With so many different sides, you never know how these are going to travel. Let's see just how many you can avoid."

Then the Riddler was throwing them. Considering how unathletic he seemed, he was throwing the spinning jigsaw pieces like an expert marksman. No doubt this was helped by the virtual reality. Because of that, he could throw as many of those as he wanted.

So Batman decided to play the same game. Reaching behind his back, he then withdrew an absurd number of bat-shaped shuriken. No way would he have been able to keep this amount on him in the real world. Then like his foe, he sent them flying.

His accuracy was dead-on too. Each of his shuriken collided with the jigsaws in midair, causing them to ricochet off of each other. Most ended up falling to the ground, either at a high velocity that caused them to impale the cobblestone, or clatter across of it. Others were launched high into the air, vanishing from sight.

And as suddenly as it started, it ended. "I should have known you would have countered that," the Riddler grumbled. Then he smirked. "So if quality is not working, then one has to turn to quantity, no?"

That's when the madman began to split into two. The outer sides of his body stretched over, causing him to pull apart. Soon there were two Riddlers smirking at him.

"Two of you won't beat me, Riddler," Batman warned him.

"You know, you're right," both Riddlers said simultaneously. It created an echo effect with his voice. That's when he began to divide again, each Riddler splitting into two, creating four of them. But he didn't stop there. Four became, eight, eight became sixteen, sixteen became thirty two. He continued to split until there was an army of Riddlers. "Do you think you're able to take on two hundred fifty six of us?" the Riddler army asked.

Hmmm, now that might be a problem.

Then again, Batman could do the same as the Riddler, dividing himself until he reached the same number. However, he could foresee the Riddler just making more of himself to counter. Soon, there would be a mob of Riddlers and Batmans and they would still be trying to outdo each other.

"I think he can," a voice suddenly spoke. Tilting his head to a side, he was surprised to see Harper Row of all people there. She had a determined look on her face.

"Well now, Ms. Brown, you're sticking your nose where it clearly shouldn't be," the Riddlers said.

"Ms. Brown?" Batman questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Long story," Harper immediately muttered. Then, "It's not just me butting into your business, Riddleman. It's all of us."

Us revealed itself as an entire mob of teenagers. The nearly one thousand of them to be precise—hopefully less with Oracle removing them. However, the odds were clearly in his favor now.

Suddenly, the Riddler multiplied again, probably for his comfort. "Now, now, all of you children should stay out of this. This is between me and the Dark Knight. He would never forgive himself if any of you got hurt."

"Oh, I really doubt that," Harper shot back. "See, we've been watching you since you insist on making us and we've learned something valuable: we have as much control over this world as you do."

And that's when she changed. She began to bulk up and the coloring of her skin changed to black. The next thing Batman knew, Harper Row was a splitting image of him.

Clever.

But that wasn't all. The teenagers around him began to change, each one into himself. There were some that looked just like him, albeit with a few differences, like the Bat Symbol being of different designs, or the horns being longer or shorter.

Others, however, were completely different. A couple looked like dark silhouettes of him. More than a few were gangly and bizarre, looking more like monsters than humans. There was one that looked like a very heroic-version of himself—meaning he was chiseled, tall, and well, damn near a male model wearing his costume. One looked like he was wearing a medieval armor version of his current armor. A couple had a sillier look to him, one of which was holding his hands up, making V's with his second and third fingers as he held them over his eyes. He spotted a few that were covered in weapons, some even futurisk. There were different versions of armor, from steel, to iron, to even solid gold. One was even multicolored with a red torso, yellow arms, and a purple cape.

"Care to divide yourself again, Riddler?" Batman asked him. "Last count, you have five hundred twelve. One more and this might be a fair fight—might.

"But considering what you've put these kids through, I don't think they're going to give you the chance."

There was a roar as the army of Batmen shouted, all with his own voice. Without waiting, they began running towards the Riddler, a tidal wave of vengeance.

The last cable was growing taut, the last knot tied. A testing jerk was given to make sure nothing was shifting or too loose.

It hadn't been easy. They had the van, but getting this new conductor or converter or whatever had been a challenge all its own. First was getting it down, which Manhunter had to get creative with her staff. Second was getting it on top of the van since it was so much bigger and very heavy. A forklift from Wayne Enterprises was "borrowed" to help with that.

But they were ready, Huntress felt. Katana was coming over with some extra jumper cables and extension cords, on loan from Fox. Time was of the essence, and they were lucky none of the cops had arrived yet. Every minute was counting.

"Anything from Oracle? Where're we taking this thing?" the purple-colored vigilante inquired into their only male colleague here. They might be ready, but if they didn't know where they were heading, then it was all a moot point.

"She's still figuring it out," Nightwing answered. "Riddler put up a net over the city, and she's been trying to trace him out. She's narrowing it down but it's still taking time."

"Christ," she muttered. What to do? They couldn't stay here, because the cops would be curious why they were taking this thing, and second, if they started moving, they could be moving away from the Riddler's location, wherever that might be.

"Let's get this out of sight, see if Fox will let us use the loading docks until Oracle figures it out," Manhunter suggested. The staff-wielding vigilante looked up and down the street before adding, "Even with the cops looking too, they are going to send someone over. And we weren't exactly quiet either."

It was the best they could do right now. "Let's move it then lay low. And keep that engine going. We're only going to get one shot at this."

Pandemonium of chaos and violence ruled the virtual city in a mashup of black and green. The hostage children were all shades of Batman, duking it out the green menace that was the Riddler. It was easy to see very few of them knew how to fight, probably took a karate class as an extracurricular, but that didn't really matter. Their opponent wasn't the most physically gifted or martially skilled.

It was essentially a massive brawl taking up the whole courtyard.

Surrounded by the raucous, the real Batman stared down the real Riddler, because it was unspoken that these two would face each other. In real life, this fight would have already been over, but this wasn't real life.

"I am legion and bulwark against the waves, no matter how hard you hold me I always slip away. What am I?"

Never stopping with the riddles, was he? "You're losing your edge," the Dark Knight taunted. "Sand."

"Correct, though it's of the quick variety," Riddler retorted with a smirk.

His feet began to sink down, and it was a struggle not to look at it. It would be a distraction that couldn't be afforded, though his balance was thrown slightly off. As if identifying this as a distraction, Riddler aimed the end of his cane at the vigilante and fired a net out of it. Normally not something to be worried about except embedded in the netting itself were very prominent spikes. Highly impractical, but it would work in this environment.

His feet trapped, unable to make a quick dodge, Batman thought quickly and chose to do something...experimental. Since Riddler was able to divide his body, it stood to reason that he could do that same. That was what he did, he divided but shrank as well.

As a man, he would have been caught by the net; a swarm of bats on the other hand…

Immediately he felt strain on his mind, his attention in multiple places and so much visual information interfering with one another. Spreading himself out increased the strain, and so not thinking was an asset. He went on the attack, and let his swarm of a body lash out at Riddler, surrounding him. The madman gave a cry in surprise, and regressed to the primal need to protect himself, using his green-clad arms to cover his face and head.

Batman directed his swarm behind the green menace and reformed, becoming one, unstrained mind, and lashed out with a kick to the Riddler's back. The criminal gave out a cry as he was shoved forward, landing on his stomach as his cane clattered on the ground beside him.

"You're losing control, Riddler," the vigilante remarked, glancing at the fighting around him.

He could see one Batman deck a Riddler in the face. Another was grappling with a second Riddler. A third Batman was being restrained by one Riddler while a second was punching them in the torso. A fourth Batman, and one that looked very abstract, was dragging a Riddler beneath his cape. A fifth was tag teaming with a sixth to bowl over five Riddlers.

"They weren't supposed to take control themselves, were they?" the Dark Knight continued, turning his gaze back as the real Riddler picked himself up. "Only you were supposed to manipulate this virtual world. To be like a god. But now they figured it out. They're escaping."

"If you think that gives you the advantage, think again," Riddler countered, adjusting his hat. "This is only happening because I'm allowing it. It won't take much to reassert my will over them. You, on the other hand, are turning out to be a worthy challenge. It's almost refreshing."

Narrowing his eyes, "I'm telling you one last time. Release these children now."

"The circus is not yet over and we have plenty of bread," Riddler grinned back.

The fighting around them seemed to take center stage once more. Batman avatars were throwing batarangs and whatever gadgets their minds could come up with. One was using a grapple, the hook and line tied around a Riddler's legs and was swinging the clone around into anyone who happened to be too close. A mob of Riddlers managed to tackle and dogpile three unawares Batmen, but help arrived as other Batmen came to their rescue. He identified the Batman that was in reality Harper Row due to the taser rifle she was wielding to devastating effect.

But there were so many Riddlers. So many. Even for a brief time, it had put a lot of strain on his mind to do it, so how was this man?

Batman did it again, this time creating a second copy of himself. Barely any strain, but he found something in particular out. "I see. This was how you were able to have two different conversations at the same time. You've been in this program the whole time. Communicating through it. Manipulating through it. Playing everyone for fools."

"It's a marvel, is it not?" Riddler practically crooned as he created three clones of his own to double his numbers. "There are no limitations."

Batman matched him for four copies. "Is that so?" he challenged and he could feel more stain on his mind, strengthening.

"Is this what we're doing?" Riddler retorted, multiplying to a full eight. "I can do this all day."

They were all speaking at the same time instead of just one, and Batman taxed himself to bring his numbers up to sixteen. "I'm sure you can."

"And what point are you trying to prove?" Thirty-two Riddlers stood before him, a handful in a battlefield of them.

With a smirk, the Dark Knight stated "Pink elephants."

Thirty-two Riddlers blinked dumbly.

"It's simple, we don't think of anything until someone puts it in our minds, then that's all we can think of," the sixteen Batmen spoke. "But answer this riddle of mine. How can you divide yourself so many times and still maintain the integrity of your simulation?"

The answer should have been prompt. A confident retort that boasted of his intelligence. But the answer Batman got was what he was looking for. There was no answer, only silence, teeth clenching behind barely parted lips.

Do something enough times, you could ignore it. Riddler had probably trained and practiced with this simulation enough to ignore the strain on his mind. But like the idea of a pink elephant, the vigilante had reminded the madman about it.

His various clones melded back into him, and Batman then made a declaration of the answer.

"You can't."

The sky cracking supported that.

The dark clouds dissipated, leaving behind an angry red instead of a calm blue. Distantly, buildings began to crumble, leaving massive clouds of dirt and dust in the air. The tall tower that stood vigil over the courtyard began to tremble, then wobble, until finally falling over, slamming down into the city with a thunderous clap.

A scream tore out of the Riddler's throat, his hands gripping his head. The various copies and clones of the man began to lose solidity then began to rush back to their creator. Riddler disappeared in a blurring swirl of green only to reappear, the sole madman surrounded in a sea of Batmen.

Taking steps forward, Batman loomed over the maniac, glaring down into him and uttering only two words. "It's over."

Riddler tilted his head, glaring back between fingers. "Over?" he repeated. "No. Not yet. Only at the gates of Thebes, young Oedipus."

Purple gloved hands moved to the sides of the Riddler's head. There was space between the palms and ears, as if something was between them, and then the arms pushed up, the hands lifting. The Riddler blinked out of existence, leaving behind a world that was starting to fall apart.

The headset raised off of shellacked auburn hair, one a shade that made it difficult to call it either red or brown. The Riddler panted, taking in deep breaths of air even as his fingers dug into the sides of the VR headset.

It was his own specially designed Omnicron, not for sale, and had personal modifications to it. None of it mattered anymore and he let the device leave his hands to fall to the floor. Behind his domino mask, two eyes stared blankly at the monitors in front of him, not seeing the images on them.

Riddler felt anger. To be undone in such a way, he hadn't considered it, and yet that man, that cheating…

Where anger ended, exhilaration picked up.

...challenge. Was this what it was like to be challenged after dealing with so many, many simple-minded dullards? For someone to be able to play his game, and to not feel his sense of control always in charge, there was something addictive to that feeling.

The Batman was so much more than his reputation.

The smart thing right now would be to leave. Initiate the program holding his viruses at bay, and drain Gotham of all its capital in instance. That's what he should do, because he was a smart man. The smartest.

But that would mean conceding, wouldn't it? Batman had conquered his labyrinth. Batman had mastered his simulation. Two defeats. What would leaving prove? No, he needed a victory, not one over the city because that was too easy. He needed a victory over Batman himself. Only then would he be able to put on his hat and step away. This was a challenge that needed to be bested before taking his leave.

Riddler didn't need to go anywhere. Batman would find him here. His last words to the myth and man himself should guarantee that, depending on how smart he was. So waiting, waiting and…

His eyes drifted to a monitor, one that held the statuses of the children he had taken and held captive. The information on that screen caused him to sit upright, because the numbers he was reading were too low and shrinking.

That first rate cheater!

Without a thought, Riddler stretched out a hand to the keyboard.

This was a simulation of Hell now. The digital city was collapsing, the sky was cracking, and in the distance, a part of it shattered, exposing a dizzying array of 0s and 1s to the naked eye. There was no telling how long this digital place would last.

There was no training or preparing for this kind of scenario. Batman could only rely on those outside this place to do something, because he had done all he could here. That's why he bellowed out "ORACLE!" at the top of his lungs.

"Got it!"

It had been a quick response, but it accompanied a digital panel that appeared in front of himself and every remaining child here. There were two buttons on it, the words "Are you sure you want to log out?" above them, and each button either had the word "yes" or "no" on them.

Turning his gaze away, he yelled out, "Get out! Get out now!"

His yell was punctuated with the ground heaving, then an enormous crack tearing the city in half. The kids closest to him stared back, their digital skins of him having been dropped along with their concentration. Then they began noticing their way out, and multiple hands began hitting yes buttons. Multiple children blinked out of existence, logged out finally.

It was working, but there were so many that hadn't hit the digital button or noticed yet. Understandable but now was not the time to be distracted. So he did another yell, making sure to project his voice as much as he could, with some help from the crumbling simulation.

There was no way he was going to leave, not until they were out. Until every single one of them was out.

"Thank you."

A calm voice in an apocalypse stood out. The vigilante faced the form of Harper Row, a glowing panel floating in the air in front of her.

"Thank you for coming in here. Thank you for saving us," she continued, a wry smile on her face.

"Now is not the time," he told her, his voice dropping. "Get out of here."

"You're right," the girl agreed. "I'll thank you in person."

Her hand reached out, her fingers just around to press down, when abruptly the panel darkened. Harper's finger pressed on the yes button, but nothing happened.

"What the?!" she exclaimed, putting in more effort as if that would somehow fix it. "It's not working!"

Batman's eyes were widening, but he didn't let it slow him down. "Oracle!" he demanded.

"He locked them in! I can't get them out! I can't get them out!""

Damn it!

In front of himself, his panel remained lit, but it was the only one. So many teenagers were desperately trying to get out, but couldn't, not fast enough to beat the Riddler's petty retaliation. What was that lunatic thinking?

"Go."

His attention returned back to Harper who was oddly calm. She faced him, looking right back at him with no fear. Her hands were balled into fists, he could tell that she was forcing herself to hold it together, even as the ground beneath them rumbled. She took into a breath, to steady herself, before she spoke again.

"You came in here to save us. I don't know if anyone else would have, but you did, and that's why I know that you can still do it. You can still save us. Go. Please. Save us."

There was only one thing he could do, one answer he could give, and that was a nod of his head. He took one last look over the collapsing world, the frightened children trapped in it, refocused on Harper Row…

...remembered a time when she hovered over him, wearing a welder's mask with jumper cables attached to his armor…

...and pressed the yes button.

The world faded to black. His hands moved, then took away the darkness along with the Omnicron that he had worn. Throwing it away, it took some effort to get back on his feet, a feeling of disorientation hitting him that needed to be powered through. There was no time for this. Those children had no time.

The first thing he wanted to do was demand what the sit rep was. Finding Barbara Gordon slumping in her wheelchair, tears flowing from the corners of her eyes was enough to get him to center himself.

Then it was straight to work.

"Sit rep, Oracle," he asked with a more calm tone of voice. "What's going on?"

Gordon's daughter wiped the tears from one side of her face. "I got a little over half of them out," she answered, her voice slightly raspy. "According to Riddler's numbers, there's still five hundred twenty-nine of them still in there, and they're locked in. And I'm being locked out."

Fury was raging, but now was not the time to give into it. "You were tracing the Riddler's location through me. What did you find out?"

Barbara swallowed, probably a dry throat. "I don't have an exact location. He's been bouncing his signal throughout the city. I could only narrow it down to five possibles, but we have a problem."

From behind her glasses, Barbara looked him dead in the eye. "According to my calculations, the virtual simulation will fully collapse in less than thirty minutes. With their minds still in it, who knows what'll happen to them? Those kids could be turned into vegetables for all we know. I don't think we can chance waiting for the collapse and hoping it just pushes them out. There's too many unknowns with this programming."

Thirty minutes. He had thirty minutes to find the Riddler's location.

"Everybody's been trying to find him for three days. How are we going to do this in thirty minutes?" Barbara was propping her head on one of hands, staring at the array of monitors as if one of them held the answer they were looking for. Maybe one of them did.

"What are the possibles?" he asked. In response, Barbara brought up a map of the city, five red dots identifying each location. They were spread out, an equal distance between all of them. Picking one wrong one would waste time. Too much time. Thirty minutes wasn't a long time, but it was long enough for one guess.

But which one?

Stopping his train of thought, Batman tried a different approach. This was a riddle, another in a sickening long line of them. There was a clue. Something in the map, the placement of the dots...or the words from the madman himself.

It clicked, his eyes landed on one dot. With a finger, he stabbed out it. "There."

The computer hacker looked up at him. "How do you—"

"Riddler is vain and egotistical, but he has a need for attention. He's been clueing everyone in on where he's hiding the whole time. That's the only place that matches, or has what matches his riddle. Contact the Network, and send them there with the jammer. If things don't go his way, Riddler still has that killswitch. He's capable of locking in children into fragmenting virtual reality, he will use that switch if he thinks he's losing."

There was doubt in her eyes, but the self-styled Oracle nodded in trust. She trusted him, just as Harper trusted him. Gordon. Gotham itself. Their trust would not be misplaced.

"What about you? That's some distance away and every minute counts," the hacker said. "Driving? Flying? I think running on rooftops is out of the question."

It was. Driving and flying were too slow here as well. The Batmobile was ready but it was past dawn, and rush hour was still a thing. Bringing in his jet would take just about the same amount of time from distantly activating it then waiting for it to arrive. No, he needed something faster.

Unfortunately, there was a part of him that resisted. He did not want to use it, but there were over five hundred children depending on him. Trusting him. He got over that reluctance quickly.

Raising a hand to the side of his helmet, he said aloud, "Batman to Watchtower, requesting emergency teleportation to the following location."

Batman had his pride, but pride was not going to save those children.

It took two seconds for a response, but those seconds felt so much longer. "Watchtower to Bats. No idea why you're calling but it's gotta be serious. You better tell us the story 'round the watercooler later, you hear?"

It was somehow appropriate that Flash was the one on monitor duty.

Oracle's apartment lit up with a shimmering light, and then it was all replaced with a building. A museum, or more specifically the Gotham Museum of Natural History. The last time he had been here, he had been pursuing Catwoman during one of her thefts. Funny how it all led back here.

The morning sky was ignored as the Dark Knight broke out into a run. Up the steps he went, a hand reaching to his belt to remove a small explosive. He threw it at the doors, not even slowing down before the small ball of flame that resulted. Instead, when he was close enough, he picked up a leg and powered with momentum, kicked it into the still standing doors that gave way and fell off their hinges.

There was no slowing down as the vigilante ran through the darkened hallways, no alarm sounding out. Confirmation that he was in the right place. Exhibits passed him, ignored, because there was something more important than artifacts of the past.

Two days with minimal rest and nourishment, constant danger and stress, and antagonistic companionship with a cat burglar began to make his muscles burn with further exhaustion. No, keep pressing forward.

They were depending on him. He was depending on the Network coming through. Less than thirty minutes now, but there was going to be more of this. It wasn't as simple as Riddler made everything out to be. There had to be a trap waiting for him at the end. There was always a trap.

Booted feet slammed on polished tile, his cape flapped behind him, and air seemed to rush all around. It was just him now. Alone, but he had a plan. One more time, he would be a distraction that couldn't be ignored. Wouldn't be ignored.

So many exhibits, but there was only one he was interested in, and it had its own area. Entering, he slowed to a stop, letting his cape fall over his shoulders. Over there, he had stood in the company of a mysterious woman named Selina. That felt so long ago. Again, he was back where he had started.

"Riddler!" His voice boomed throughout the room. "I know you're here! Show yourself! This is the only place you can be!"

There was no answer, taunting him. Every second that passed was felt. Fine, if this was how it had to go.

"You keep mentioning myths, and Oedipus. In myth, Oedipus became the king of Thebes, but before he could do that, he had to slay a monster. A monster whose weapon was a riddle. The Sphinx."

Before him stood the replica of the Egyptian Sphinx, nowhere near the Ancient Greek one as Diana had once told him, but it was the only Sphinx in all of Gotham, and the only one big enough for a man with an ego.

There was only time enough for a heartbeat to pass before there was grinding. In the sphinx's chest, a doorway opened, the door itself sliding to a side. Light poured out of it, blocked by a silhouette that clapped, continued to do so as it took its first steps out of the beast. Batman watched through angry eyes, not taking his gaze away.

The hook of his cane hung on one of his arms, and as the clapping stopped, Riddler unhooked it, bringing the butt end of the cane down on the floor, sending a sharp sound ringing throughout the area. Purple-gloved hands rested on the hooked end, now clearly in style of a question mark. A smug smile beamed at the vigilante, further testing his patience.

"Congratulations. You figured it out," Riddler praised.

Batman wasn't interested in congratulations. "Turn it off. Turn it off before you become a child murderer. Let them go."

That smug smile continued to beam at him. Then, the Riddler in his pressed suit began to turn around. "Why? Because you say so?" the madman quipped over his shoulder.

The callousness, the disrespect, and the disregard for human life was too much. "Because this is over. Your goddamn game is over!"

A chuckle answered him, the Riddler stopping to fully look over his shoulder. "On the contrary…"

Beams of red emerged from the darkness, surrounding the vigilante in a web of lasers that surrounded him, placed close enough to his body to limit even the most minute of movement. Batman found himself taking shallower breaths of air as if expanding his chest enough might cross any of the beams. Beneath his feet, the floor began to light up in a rainbow of colors, forming a pattern of a spiraling snake.

Standing before him, Riddler spun on his heel, facing the Dark Knight and stretched out his arms to make his declaration.

"...the real game is only just beginning."

Author's note: How's that for the climatic end…oh wait. Sorry, there's still some more left. Heck of a way end things, and better hope this weekend isn't too long.