Season 2 Episode 7: Addiction
My name is Bruce Wayne. When I was 8 years old, my parents were killed by an evil. And so I made a promise to fight that evil. I traveled the world for 18 years, and returned to Gotham City to protect it. Now I have new allies, helping me in my crusade, but I also have new enemies. New threats have arrived in my city, and I must stop them. I am vengeance. I am the night. I am the Batman.
Previously on the Batman...
Barbara knows that Bruce is Batman
Batman is on Venom
The Mutant leader has been arrested
Batman and Robin think the shadow is the one who cut the bat rope
The shadow has secretly offered Penguin and Scarecrow a chance to kill Batman
A couple of Mutants who escaped ACE Chemicals run down the street and down an alley as a police car chases them down. It stops and the two cops step out and run down the alley after them. The Mutants climb over a fence and run out onto the street on the other side of the alley. And then Batman and Robin swing down and grab the two Mutants from the street.
The cops run out and see the two Mutants tied up on the sidewalk.
Batman and Robin watch from the roof.
"Two down. There's only about two dozen left to go." Robin comments.
The Batman
They both walk into the Batcave, and Bruce walks up to the work desk.
"Pretty soon, every single member of the Mutant gang will either give up or get arrested. And then we'll have what are you doing?" Dick says.
Bruce takes out the last Venom pill and looks at it.
"No, no no no no no. You don't go taking another Venom pill!" He says rushing up to him and trying to take it from his hand.
"Why not?" Bruce asks.
"Because there can be consequences.!"
"Like what?"
"You said brain damage was seen in some cases!"
"In a couple. Very rare."
"Bruce, goddammit you just got your brain healed!"
"I'm willing to take that risk. Gotham will be safer. Trust me."
"One day Bruce you're going to see the consequences that Venom will have and regret it. We've destroyed all the Venom and you only have one pill left anyways."
Bruce looks at the bottle. Only one pill.
Barbara walks into the Batcave.
"Guess what I got?" She states. "An idea."
"What's the idea?"
"I can get footage of your shadow. From the night he stalked you at ACE Chemicals."
"Where can you get that?"
"Security cameras from the buildings. I'm thinking if I can hack into the cameras, I can get a full video."
Barbara sits at the Batcomputer and starts typing. Dick walks up behind her.
"Got it."
They watch as the shadow grapples up the skyscraper and runs across the roof to the edge. He jumps off and Batman runs to the edge.
"We've seen this before. Can you get something new? No offence." Dick says.
"None taken."
Barbara hacks into a camera from a building across the street from the skyscraper. She sees the shadow run down the alley and onto the street. He runs across the road and hides inside a crowd. She switches to a new camera and watches the crowd turn a corner. She switches cameras until she finds one from inside. She's able to see around the corner through the window and watches the shadow run down the street and grapples up to another building.
"Where did he go after that?" Dick asks.
"I'll try to find him. Relax. It just takes time because hacking into each security camera system in each building isn't easy."
"But if you can do it, you can track him across the city?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
They smile at each other and Barbara goes back to work. Dick walks up to Bruce back at the desk but Bruce puts on his cowl.
"I'll be back." He states.
"Where are you going?"
"Not important." He states and leaves.
A car drives up to some other millionaire's mansion in another city. A bunch of thugs step out but instead of of going inside the mansion, they go behind it and towards his boat in the river. They step on board when the millionaire comes out to the thugs and starts yelling.
"What the hell do you guys think you're doing? This is my boat! You can't just steal it!" He yells.
"Watch us." The leader who's facing away from him replies.
"I'm calling the police!"
He turns but then gets shot in the thigh by a thug. He yells and falls to the ground as the leader turns and slowly walks towards him.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" The millionaire asks.
The leader crouches down to his level.
"I'm the one who asks the questions." The man in the green suit says, and fires his gun into the millionaire's head.
The manufacturer of the Venom sits at his table inside his apartment. He looks at the set he used to make the Venom, when Batman walks in.
"Douglass Franklyn." He states.
"Batman...what do you want from me? ... The Mutants...they forced me too. I didn't want to do it, I just wanted to create a drug that-"
"I know you had nothing to do with the Mutants. How were you able to make the Venom?"
"I...have a partnership with a lab. They provide me with materials which I use to make the Venom."
"Can you make more?"
Batman then gets an alert on the batphone. He checks it, and it's from Robin, telling him that there's a dead body to be investigated.
"I have to go. But I'll come back."
Batman walks into the shadows and disappears.
The forensic scientists start taking pictures of the crime scene and the dead millionaire on the lawn. Batman walks in and meets up with Robin.
"The millionaire was shot in the leg and the head. These guys believe that he tried crawling away when he was shot in the leg before getting shot in the head." Robin explains.
"By who?" Batman asks.
"They left a van here, but it was literally stolen earlier today. Something else missing is the boat. He had a huge yacht here, but someone stole it, and when this guy tried to stop them, he got shot."
"So other then someone stole a yacht and killed the owner, we have no leads?"
"Well, we have ONE."
Robin then points the mansion behind him, and they both turn. Written on the walls in blood is a question:
I have 3 eyes, an am black as night. I can knock down 10 men with a single strike. What am I?
"He left us a clue?"
"Possibly leading us to their location or his plan. It's either going to be a trap, or their encouraging us to follow them."
"Either way, we don't have anything else to follow. Let's solve it."
In the Batcave, Bruce is training on the dummies with a staff. Meanwhile, Dick and Barbara and looking at a photograph of the riddle on the Batcomputer.
"What do you make of this?" Dick asks.
"Sometimes riddles kind of...ignore proper grammar to make it more confusing." Barbara comments.
"Explain."
"It's like, what appears once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years, the answer is the letter 'M' but they don't say 'the word minute,' they just say 'minute.'"
"And you think it might be the same here?"
"It's possible. I mean, no human has 3 eyes."
"Well, unless they're kinda messed up."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do."
"So if no human actually has 3 eyes, then they're not talking about a person."
"And it's something that is black as night. And it can take out 10 men...do you think he's talking about Batman?"
"That would explain a lot, but not the 3 eyes thing."
"Maybe they're referring to the amount of partners he has. Me, Batman, and Selina."
"Who?"
"Catwoman."
"Okay. So the answer is Batman. What does that mean? So what?"
"Damn, you're right."
...
"What if the answer ISN'T Batman?" Barbara suggests.
Bruce then breaks down one of the dummies with a hard punch.
They both turn to him, and then turn back to the computer.
"If it's not Batman, then what's the answer?" Dick asks.
"...not a human, three eyes...maybe it's not eyes." Barbara thinks.
"So you're saying the nouns of the riddle, is figurative?"
"That would include the 10 men and 3 eyes."
"It wouldn't lie about being black as night, would it?"
"No."
"What about the verbs?"
"Knock down...strike...wait, I think I got it."
"What?"
"Knock down, strike, 10 'men,' 3 'eyes,' black as night-"
"Goddammit, just tell me."
"A bowling ball."
Dick looks back at the computer.
...
"Goddammit."
"So what, the bowling alley?" Bruce asks.
"I don't have any other ideas." Barbara says.
"Let's go."
At the bowling alley, the man in the green suit places charges all around the building. He activates each one and then heads back to the lanes to see his group of thugs.
"Let's get out of here." He orders.
That's when the Batmobile drives up and blocks the exit. Robin kicks the door open.
"I'll knock you down with a single strike!" Robin yells.
"That's your big line? I think you're losing your touch." Barbara comments from the Batcave.
"Never." Robin whispers.
The thugs start firing but Robin flips out of the way and kicks a table to it's side, and hides behind it for cover. A smoke bomb gets thrown through the roof and a huge cloud of smoke blinds the thugs.
"We need to get out of here!" The man in the green suit yells.
He bursts out the door and gets in his car. He starts it when Batman lands on the roof. The man starts driving as Batman hangs onto the side and breaks the window on the passenger seat. The man elbows Batman in the nose and drives at a faster speed. Batman grabs him by his shoulder.
"Fuck off!" The man yells.
He unlocks the door and tries to kick it open but fails due to Batman's grip. He pulls out a knife and slides it across Batman's hand. Batman grunts and lets go, and the man kicks open the door. The man then takes a turn around a corner and speeds of. Batman closes the door but the man kicks it open again. He reaches into his green jacket pocket and pulls out a detonator for the bowling alley. Batman breaks the window to the backseat and uses his grappling hook and snatch it from his hand.
"Dammit."
He speeds up towards a tunnel, and swerves to the side, so the passenger seat door will get knocked off. Batman uses his grappling hook and grapples up to a large building as the door gets knocked off, and the man gets away in the tunnel. Batman glides to the other end of the tunnel and waits. But after a few seconds, the car doesn't appear. He turns around and sees that the car has turned and is now driving in the opposite direction. He turns a corner and goes out of sight.
Batman and Robin start driving home in the Batmobile as Barbara talks to them from the Batcave.
"So he got away?" She asks.
"Yes." Batman answers.
"Great. And this time it's even worse because he was getting ready to blow the place up, which means there's no riddle, and no clue to what he's planning next."
"The riddle he gave us wasn't a clue. It lead us to a trap. It was his old hideout which he was planning on getting rid of. Whatever his plan is, he's putting it into action now."
"And we have no idea what it is."
"We have some notion. He stole that boat for a reason. We just have to find out what that reason is."
"Yeah, well until we do we're completely in the dark."
Meanwhile, the man steps onto the boat and a thug walks up to him.
"What the hell was that?" He yells.
"Answer: Fun. Oh, you're talking about the Batman." The green man answers. "I've got to say, I'm impressed with him. He solved it out sooner than I thought he would."
"Yeah, and when he did it, he burst into our hideout because you gave him a damn clue, and because of that you nearly got caught and put this whole operation in jeopardy!"
"Leaving the clues is the entire point! What fun is committing crimes when everyone else doesn't know about it?"
"It makes it safer you idiot!"
The man just laughs.
"I-I-I'm the idiot?! I'd like to see you pull off this plan by yourself. To get this close to people figuring out your scheme, yet still being able to pull it off just under their nose. Then they realize how stupid they are, and how smart I am. A mastermind criminal, a riddler, their intellectual superior. I leave those riddles to prove a point. And it makes the thrill of success all the more satisfying."
"You don't even care if we get the money or not, do you?"
"It'll be a nice reward for my smarts and plan, but knowing that everyone else was outsmarted by me will be reward enough for me."
"Yeah, well your method is going to get us caught."
"We'll see who's correct after I reach the final steps of my plan."
Bruce walks out of Wayne Tower and sees Alfred driving up with his limo.
"Bruce! Mr. Wayne!" A voice calls.
Bruce turns and sees a man in a trench coat rushing up to him. It's Thomas Elliot.
"Tommy. It's good to see you!" Bruce greets.
"Bruce. I'm sorry we didn't really get to talk much after the surgery. But how about we finally catch up now? If you're not busy, I mean if you have something to do, I have no problem waiting, another few years."
The limo stops in front of Bruce.
"Why don't you come along for the ride?" Bruce suggests.
"And then he tripped over the bag into the mud?" Tommy says through laughter in the limo.
Even Bruce smiles.
"Yeah, I remember that." He says.
"...so where are we going?" Tommy asks.
"Back to Wayne Manor."
"Being rich."
"Your family has fortune. How is being a surgeon working out?"
"It's what I love doing. A bit inspired from your father. He saved my mother's life. And I never really said thank you after all the years. Really."
"You should thank my father. How's your mother doing?"
"Well, about that..."
"Sir, we have a problem." Alfred says.
Bruce looks out the window and sees huge screens all over the buildings in the square. Bruce walks out the door and so does Tommy. Over the screens they see a broadcast with a shadow speaking through static. The shadow speaks.
"Riddle Me This: What is yours, but is used more by others? Answer: Your name. The police try to stop me, the Batman tries to stop me, but I am not afraid of them. And to prove it, I will tell you mine. So riddle me this: Puzzling, mysterious, difficult to understand. These are all words to describe me. What am I? Answer: An Enigma. E-Nigma. EDWARD NYGMA! THE RIDDLER! And the final steps of my plan is starting in one hour: You want to catch me, then, and you guessed it, riddle...me...this: I flow down the valley, and am kept in a safe. Both have great value and I'm in more than one place. Where am I? One hour from now, if you haven't solved it, and I don't expect you to, then I'll simply complete my plan like that."
He snaps.
"It's that easy." He says and the broadcast ends.
Bruce and Tommy look at each other.
Bruce marches into the Batcave.
"Did you see it?" He asks.
"Yeah, we saw it." Dick says at the computer. "And I can't solve the riddle. What the hell does it even mean?"
"I flow down a valley, and am kept in safe. Both have great value, and I'm in more than one place."
"More than one place, and BOTH have great value. He's talking about two different things. That's why flow down a valley and being kept in a safe don't make sense together, because they're two different things." Dick explains.
"So what is kept in a safe?"
"Uh..."
"Money. It has great value."
"So what goes down a valley? And is also valuable."
"Riddles change up the nouns, but it keeps the verbs the same. It's a clue. And this verb is 'flow.'"
"Water flows."
"So water goes down a valley."
"Maybe they're talking about a river. Or a stream. One thing that confuses me is that instead of what am I, it's 'where am I.' But it says that they're in two different places, yet the question only asks for one."
"A metaphor of some kind?"
"Wait, I think I got it."
"What is it?"
"A stream and a safe, they both have banks. Water and money, they both have values, they are both in different yet the same places." Dick explains.
"So the simple answer is that he's robbing a bank? Dick, check on all the banks around Gotham."
Dick turns to the computer and starts typing.
"No, they're all perfectly normal." Dick says.
"Has it been an hour?"
Dick looks at the clock.
"Just about, yeah."
"Then why hasn't he stricken?"
"I mean a simple bank, the way he built himself up, a bit underwhelming."
"But there is one more his size."
"Which one?"
Bruce goes up to Wayne Manor and looks out over the river. He sees an island with a huge tower built on it.
"That one. The biggest one in Gotham City. It also explains why he needed the boat." Bruce says. "Come on. Let's go."
The Riddler and his men walk into the huge tower and into the elevator.
"This is where they package all the money and gold. What fools they are to leave it unprotected." The Riddler says.
His thugs start shoving golden bars into their bags and then tossing them into a pile of bags. Some of the workers inside try running, but Riddler's men shoot them down. The factory and conveytor belts keep running.
"All this gold a reward for outsmarting the entire city. It could not be more perfect." He says to a thug.
"I didn't think you could do it, but you did." The thug replies.
The Riddler chuckles.
The Batboat docks at the island and Batman and Robin step out. The thugs on the bottom floor look around when the lights above them break from a Batarang. They hear a sound, like a bat's wings flapping, and a darker part of the shade around them glide through the air.
They shoot at it, and from above, the Riddler and his thugs can hear.
"What's that?" A thug asks.
"The Batman is here." The Riddler says. "Get the bags and get out of here!" The thugs try dragging the gold to another room where Robin is standing.
"Hey guys. How's your day going?" He asks before headbutting one.
He then beats up the rest of the thugs as the Riddler then starts running. When Robin is done, he starts chasing the Riddler. The Riddler then jumps onto the belt and lands on a couple of huge ingots of gold.
"Hey! You know what else is golden?" Robin yells.
He jumps to the belt with Riddler.
"What's so delicate you break it when you speak it's name?" Robin asks.
"Silence." Riddler answers.
"Exactly. Now shut up."
Robin brings out his grappling hook when Riddler then looks up and sees a large piece of machinery about to crush him. He rolls off the belt but then starts to fall all the way to the first floor. Batman jumps onto the belt and fires his grappling hook, catching Riddler by his leg.
But then Batman gets closer to the machine.
"Robin, shut off the belt!" He yells and Robin throws his shuriken at the console, and the belt turns off.
Batman then detaches the line and the Riddler falls the rest of the way down, screaming.
"Batman, what the hell?!"
Batman drops down and meets Riddler at the bottom. He grabs him and headbutts him. He punches him across the face twice. He kicks him in the shoulder and knocks him to the ground. Batman punches him in the nose and blood stains his face. He grabs him by the collar and starts grunting as he shakes the Riddler around. He headbutts him, and continues tightening his grip.
Robin drops down and successfully pulls Batman away from the Riddler.
"Batman! What's wrong with you?!" He starts.
Batman rips off his mask back at the Batcave and so does Robin.
"What the hell was that back there?!" Dick yells.
"I was apprehending the Riddler!" Bruce replies.
"He was already apprehended but you brutally beat him! You can't just go around beating criminals to bloody pulps whenever you want!"
"I've been doing that for the past 7 years! Why is it a problem now?"
"Because this time you took it too far!"
...
"This is because of Venom, isn't it?" Dick starts.
"What?" Bruce asks.
"You took the last pill, didn't you?"
"Dick, shut up about the Venom already!"
"It's affecting your mind, Bruce! You've changed..." Dick says and leaves.
Bruce looks at the TV and sees the Riddler getting arrested on the news.
The Riddler is being escorted in handcuffs next to a thug towards a police boat. The thug leans over to the Riddler.
"I told you so." The thug says.
They both get dragged onto the boat.
Batman appears from the darkness of someone's apartment. The doctor's apartment.
"So can you make me the Venom?" Batman asks.
"I already did. Here."
He tosses him another bottle of pills.
"And I can make more for you if you ask." The manufacturer states.
Dick rubs his forehead in the Batcave when he hears someone.
"Ah-ha!"
"What?" He says.
He looks up and sees Barbara at the computer.
"Dick, I've got something big." She says.
"Okay, what is it?"
"I've followed the security cameras. I've found the location of the shadow. It's an old closed down bar. But it's getting rebuilt. If you're going after him, you better do it fast, because he's not going to stay there for long."
The Batman
A convoy of police cars with a truck in the middle drives down the street. It's a prisoner transport for the Riddler. He sits there and looks at the SWAT officers. He then looks down when they hear a loud explosion coming from outside.
"What the fuck was that?" One of the officers asks.
"Good question. Answer: Nothing good." Riddler says.
They hear a lot of shooting from outside, along with a lot of yelling.
"Oh fuck..." Another officer says.
They both aim their guns to the back door of the truck as the shooting dies down.
"Get ready." They say.
"If whoever's doing this was able to take down that many cops without getting killed, then he's probably not stupid enough to simply walk through the back door, and even if he did, two officers aren't enough to stop him." Riddler comments.
"Would you shut up?"
An explosion then goes off. The back door is blown off by a grenade and smoke clouds the truck. Riddler coughs, and tries to look through the smoke, while lying on the floor of the truck. Blood trickles from his forehead. He looks and sees a figure walk into the back of the truck. The shadow.
One of the SWAT officers tries crawling away but the shadow shoots him dead with a pistol.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Riddler asks.
"Edward Nygma. I've heard of you." The shadow states.
Then he grabs Edward by the collar and drags him out of the truck and holds him up.
"And I don't like you very much. But as much as I hate to admit it, I need your help with a plan of mine, which includes a couple other...friends...I have question for you, a simple yes or no question, but one of those answers will leave you here, beaten and bleeding as you wait for more cops to show up and blame you for an escape attempt, giving you an even longer sentence then you already have." The shadow explains.
The Riddler gulps.
"So riddle me this: Will you help me?"
Next Time on the Batman: Web of Deception (2x8)
Batman and Robin get further into the investigation of the shadow, and in the process meet old enemies, and discover that this investigation is more than just an assassination attempt.
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