Chapter 11
As the night progressed at the Vanelli Mansion, many of the former Vanelli goons grew restless. With the Riddler's toxin recently massed produced, things were about to get interesting.
The Riddler sat in the former living room of the defaced mansion. He had taken time to redecorate, bribing a few willing henchmen to paint the walls green and cover the entire residence in ridiculous question marks. Then adding his own personal touch, he painted writings consisting of riddles on the walls and ceilings.
Dressed in his green leotard, he reclined on the Italian sofa, his feet propped up on a table. Hearing the clatter of high heels, he stood as Selina Kyle strutted into the room, clothed very casually, missing her Cat-garb.
With great haste she spoke, uneasy from his glowering glare, "Eddie, once we spread the toxin, I'm gone. I've given you access to everything you need. I –."
"Not so fast Miss. Kitty," the Riddler began, "Don't you want to be around for the inevitable finale? Batman will be here soon. He always is, especially after the ransom was planted all over the city last night. "
"The Bat is not gonna come Eddie, you killed him remember. The refinery blast, he's dead. He would have showed by now," Selina countered.
"Oh, don't say that. This crime won't be as artistic if the blast actually killed him. Don't worry these crimes take finesse. I know he'll come and this time he won't be able to solve my riddle. This time he'll lose."
"You really think he's alive?" she questioned, unable to accept the concept until she would see for herself. "You're mad Eddie, crime is not a game. You have objectives, motives. Frankly, you're nothing shy of an idiot."
All of a sudden their conversation went cold as lights fell to utter darkness. Two goons soon rushed into the living room. "Boss, what the hell is going on? The power's gone in the whole place," one of them exclaimed.
"Don't worry Frankie, the climax is about to come," the Riddler declared, clicking his heels together.
"What?" the goon remarked, unsure of his boss' intent.
"He's here Catwoman, now the fun can begin," the Riddler excitedly squealed.
"Look out!" a goon yelled, seeing a dark shadow above them in the skylight.
Without warning, both goons drew their guns and began blasting at the ceiling. Shards of cracking glass fell to the floor and the dark scene was overcome with a presence that had been non-existent before. The shady figure that was the Dark Knight landed in the center of the living room as a batarang shot from his hands and took out one the Riddler's goons.
"I can't see him boss, it's too dark," one of the henchmen yelled out, squinting to see.Suddenly a horde of goons entered the pitched dark room, all well strapped, removing their firearms to unload into Batman. Before anyone could find him, the Dark Knight decked a thug and quickly spun around to fire another batarang into another thug's chest. The goon howled in pain as the impact of the batarang dropped him to the floor. By now, the Riddler and Selina had exited into the adjacent hallway, preferring to leave Batman to the goons, at least for now.
Adjusting to the darkness, a large goon crept up behind Batman and bear hugged him while another prepared to fire a round directly into his chest. The Dark Knight quickly kicked his capturer's shin and as the man fell, Batman escaped from his grasp just before the other goon fired a few shots into his partner's chest.
Ducking and swiftly diving forward in attack mode, he grabbed the goon. Quickly punching him in the face, he threw the thug across the room.
There was no time to act decently as three more goons continued to fire. The Dark Knight hastily dodged another barrage of bullets and took out one thug with an impressive kick to the ribs.
As he whipped himself around, a goon quickly fired a shot. Batman darted behind the sofa, but the projectile hit him in the knee. Springing another batarang from his utility belt, it struck the attacker's face, knocking him unconscious.
Rising to his feet, the Dark Knight hobbled out of the room in search of Catwoman and the Riddler. As he entered the hallway, he could hear more shots being fired in other parts of the house.
Out of nowhere, a charging goon popped out from a doorway, firing a Tommy gun. The Dark Knight raced out of harms way, behind a ceramic pillar and threw a stun grenade. Suddenly a flash of blinding light compacted by a deafening boom filled the hallway.
With the goon momentarily disoriented, the Dark Knight met him with brute force, kicking him to the floor, knocking the gun from his grip.
Racing down the hall, he leapt up the massive staircase to the second floor. Once there, a heavy kick from behind knocked him on his knees. Moaning, he shook his head, whirling around to face Catwoman, dressed again in her costume.
"So, you aren't dead?" she started as he stood, each moving in circles around the other, ready for battle.
"No thank to you," he retorted, gripping his hands into fists.
She smirked slightly, her back curved as if on the prowl. "Well, you found us Bats and if you don't mind, I found what I came here for; what Eddie promised me. So… I'll be on my way," she explained slowly, holding up the Cat's Eye emerald.
"The only place you're going is back to Stonegate," he threatened, still circling.
"No," she laughed, flinging back her head, "you'll never take me back there," she declared, lunging for his throat.
Quickly evading her pursuit, Batman grabbed her arms, tossing her over the banister. Watching her fall to the first floor, he noticed she was injured as she struggled to stand seconds later. Knowing she couldn't get far, he proceeded to the master bedroom.
As he busted through a pair of locked, double doors, he squinted at the neon lights overhead. To the left and right of the doors, rested two giant question mark shaped canons.
The Dark Knight gasped as he recognized Mayor Hill, unconscious and gagged, bound to a chair in the center of the room. Abruptly, the door from which he entered slammed shut. Over an intercom hidden somewhere in the room, Batman heard the maniacal laughter of the Riddler.
"Tell me Batman," the villainous madman spoke, "did you in fact figure out my riddle?"
"Yes Edward, I've got it," he called out, racing to Mayor Hill to check for a pulse. "The answer is gangsters. The mob. They make a living by killing, which is death, and they get rich by doing it; they're treated like royalty out of fear. Clever Nigma, but not one of your best," Batman affirmed, smacking the mayor lightly, trying to wake him from his coma.
"Well then smarty pants, maybe you'll be able to get out of this death trap. You have three minutes to rescue your precious mayor before the canons go off. Once they go off your precious mayor will be dead, then the room will fill with my wonderful toxin. You will die Batman, and even if you do escape, you'll never be able to find me. I'll be long gone – out of the wasteland you call Gotham."
With that, the Riddler's voice trailed off and a ticking menacingly sounded over the intercom. With the Mayor unable to wake, Batman turned his attention to the chair, which was bolted to the floor. The man was tied with chains; the chains were intertwined around the steel bars of the chair and dangled with a combination lock.
Batman pulled a lock pick from his belt and began trying to pick the lock. Soon, the lock was broken and the Mayor was free but the canons were somehow triggered. They began moving on a turret, which was set on the two men placing them directly in the line of fire. Batman threw the Mayor over his shoulder and raced to a corner of the room. Both canons fired simultaneously, blowing a massive hole in the wall.
With the Mayor in tow, the Dark Knight quickly raced through the hole into another master suite of the mansion. Busting through the doors, he raced back to the hall and descended the same staircase where Catwoman once laid.
Previously unaware that the cops had arrived, he spotted several of them rounding up a few remaining thugs. Quickly handing over the Mayor to a duo in blue, the cops hastily grabbed him and called to an ambulance technician for a wheelchair. Putting him in a chair, the paramedic rolled him out the door to safety.
Deciding to check the rest of the house, Batman cursed himself for allowing Catwoman to disappear. Quickly scouting to the back of the huge manor, Batman bypassed several policemen and detectives, none of whom he spoke to. Wondering where the cat could be, he entered the billiard room, unable to find the light switch before a hard blow impacted his skull.
Falling over, he moaned in pain, holding his head. Again, the Riddler assaulted him with his signature brass cane. Straddling him, he pinned Batman to the floor, smacking and beating him in vengeful anger.
"Why can't I beat you Bat-brain?" the Riddler exclaimed, his voice high and shrill.
With his vision blurred and his head pounding, Batman struggled to regain control of his senses. As he delivered a straight, effective hook to Nigma's jaw, the clever madman fell backwards off the Dark Knight, wallowing in the floor.
Batman stood, dizzy, but managed to seize a pair of handcuffs from his belt, folding them around the Riddler's wrists.
"It's over Riddler. Back to Arkham," he muttered, leading the madman to the front of the manor.
As the Riddler was escorted to an Arkham van parked outside, Batman knew that this reign of terror was finally over. Pressing a small keypad on his belt, his Batcycle roared outside to the front of the manor, the beams on high.
The group of cops and Arkham officials watched in awe as the Dark Knight topped the impressive bike and sped away into the darkness.