Nightmare in Arkham
Chapter 28: "Trial"
-Commissioner Gordon pulled up in front of Gotham University and let Dick out. Just as he was about to drive away, his police scanner went off with a report of a hostile individual on the rampage in Gotham. Almost simultaneously, Dick's phone rang and when he answered Barbara frantically relayed to him that Batman had gone insane and was now running through Gotham. She figured he must have snapped from watching Selina die and that there was no telling what he was going to do. In an instant, Dick was racing to his room to don his Robin costume and Gordon was racing down the street blaring his sirens.
Within the dream world the Riddler had solved every riddle except two. He placed his hand on one of the question marks.
-I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscles, yet I move two hemispheres. What am I?
-The Riddler actually felt insulted by how simple this one was. The answer was the only thing he had actually admired his entire life.
-"The human brain," he answered. The question mark changed into a checkmark and vanished, leaving only one more riddle to be answered.
-The Riddler stared at the last remaining riddle in anticipation, wondering what his prize would be once he answered it correctly. He laid his hand on the mark.
What is it that walks on four legs, then two legs, and then finally three legs?
"Seriously…" The Riddler asked thinking that whatever powers that be had finally given up, "Your last riddle is seriously the oldest and simplest one ever conceived in the history of mankind?" The question was rhetorical but the Riddler paused as if expecting someone to answer. No one did.
-He sighed, "Very well. The answer is a human being: it crawls on all fours as an infant, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane as an old man."
-"EEENT! WRONG!" Freddy's voice called out in a singsong tone.
-The Riddler leapt into the air and landed on his behind. He shot his head in all directions but there was no one except him and the question mark, which had changed from lime green to rose-red.
-"The answer to all three is a baby." Before the Riddler could say anything, the question mark rematerialized as red square and as the Riddler gazed at it, it displayed a visual image a silhouetted baby crawling on all fours. Then the baby was flipped upside down and its legs disappeared with a quick, slashing noise. Then it fell to the ground and began crawling with its two remaining arms, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Then a spike shout up from beneath the infant and impaled it through the chin but not through the head. The spike broke away from the ground and the baby hobbled along on its third leg before succumbing to its wounds and falling dead where it lay; then the spike penetrated the skull. The red screen went blank. "Get the picture?" Freddy's voice asked.
-The Riddler just stood silent with his mouth hanging open in pure repugnance.
-"What is this, some kind of sick joke?" He asked angrily, "That's disgusting! Why the hell would someone make a joke like that?"
-"Simple…it's not their baby."
-"Who are you?!" Riddler shouted into the darkness.
-"Ah-Ah-Ah, in this world I'M the one who asks the riddles. And since you failed to deliver the correct answer…"
-The Riddler looked up and noticed something flying toward him. As the figure drew closer, he recognized it as a golden hand from a video game he was obsessed with in his youth. It was the Hand of Fate.
-At first the Riddler wasn't alarmed, for he knew that the hand's purpose was to relocate him to a random area after failing to answer a riddle. But as the hand descended to where it's front was aligned with the Riddler's body, four long daggers stretched out of the fingertips.
-The Riddler screamed and began to run away but the hand increased its speed and caught him. However, by a string of luck the Riddler was not impaled on the blades, but wound up lodged between two of them. The hand rose high into the air carrying the frightened Riddler between its long claws while the Riddler clung to the blades to keep from falling to his death.
MEANWHILE…
-Alice cautiously stepped through the white mist in what she could only guess some kind of forensic lab. The floor in the room was frozen over in a thin sheet of ice that cracked under the weight of Alice's feet. She wrapped her lab coat tightly around herself wishing she had worn her jacket to work and tried to keep her teeth from chattering in order to avoid drawing any unwanted attention. Alice peered around the room and as she took in the surreal atmosphere created by the pale blue light reflecting off of the ice, she heard faint crackling noises. Alice tried to stop herself from moving but quickly realized, "Those aren't my feet."
-Another sound filled the misty air. It was a loud, metallic noise like a spoon dropping onto a hard floor and this noise was followed by a series of chilling ringing sounds as the creature slowly raked its metal claws against the frozen wall.
-Alice couldn't see the creature but she was certain that it could see her. She slowly backed up against a wall so that she could at least avoid a sneak attack from the she-monster. And then as Alice crouched down to better conceal herself the female monster began singing. It was in a very low whisper tone but the room was so silent that the sound bounced off of every surface and echoed in Alice's ears.
"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down eat you alive
Just like animals, animals, like animals
Maybe you think that you can hide
I can smell your scent from miles
Just like animals, animals, like animals"
-Alice still couldn't see her stalker but she could picture the smile on its face. It sounded like it was enjoying every minute of the chase. But the worst part was Alice had no idea of how close or how far it was from her because the echo of its voice came from so many different directions that it blurred its current position.
-When Alice turned her head to one side she saw out of the corner of her eye that made her abruptly spin around. It was a dim red glow just a few centimeters above her shoulder and even fewer centimeters next to the side of her head. When Alice turned around, the horrid scene that met her eyes almost caused her to scream.
-Sealed behind Alice in a glass case was human corpse that had been burned far beyond the point of recognition. The flesh was ash-black with small traces of cold blue. Every part of the body was hooked up to various wires and cables that seemed to be pumping some kind of pink fluid into what used to be the veins. Part of the body looked like it was in the process of undergoing some kind of cybernetic transformation, which was evident in the left eye. A tiny circular lens similar that of a signal light that glowed a deathly red had replaced the eye. The right eye hung open like the eye of a stuffed animal-head mounted over a fireplace. This eye was the only part of the body that still resembled anything close to human.
-As Alice stared into lifeless eye of the cadaver, she slowly started to realize who she was looking at. The eye she was starring into was the same one that pleaded her to spare its owner's life and the same one that cried for Poison Ivy. "Victor…" Alice said as her voice started to tremble.
-Alice slowly backed away from the corpse, never taking her eyes off it. As she did so, her bottom lip began to quiver and she covered her mouth as she began to weep for her lost comrade. The cold caused the tears to burn Alice's cheeks; a few of the streaks left behind froze and clung to Alice's skin. But she didn't care. She was consumed with sorrow as the moment she gambled Victor's life played tauntingly in her head.
-"I'm sorry Victor," Alice choked out.
-"Why?" A female voice asked, "It's just what the snowman wanted, isn't it?" The voice said almost mimicking Alice's voice.
-Alice spun around to see the creature's dark figure concealed in the mist only about 20 feet behind her. As it moved close, the glow from the creature's eyes seemed to pierce Alice's soul.
-"Don't worry child, he's only sleeping." The creature scraped its claw along a metal railing causing that metallic ring to echo through the room again, "You should be more concerned about yourself right now."
-As the monster drew closer Alice looked at it as if just realizing whom it was for the first time.
-"Catwoman?" She asked both surprised and horrified by the realization that Freddy most likely took her as well.
-The creature stopped, then it gave off a sinister chuckle. "Catwoman? Catwoman is dead my friend," Then the creature stepped into view making its full appearance visible for the first time.
-The creature had the body of a human woman with the head of a female lion. The entire body was covered in fur as black as a panther except for a pattern of scarlet red tiger stripes that ran down the creature's arm, back, and legs. The stripes looked like they could have been claw marks. The creature's right arm was that of a normal lion paw but the left arm was a giant mechanical claw that looked like it had been custom-designed as a high-tech version of Freddy's glove. The cat creature looked into Alice's eyes with the smile of a predator, flashing its long razor-sharp teeth as a foreboding of Alice's impending death.
-"You can call me…Sekhmet," The cat creature announced as it raised its metal claw, "And when I spill blood, my heart rejoices."
-Sekhmet looked at Alice anticipating her to draw back in terror and run, but she didn't. In fact she did the exact opposite.
-Alice stood up straight, her eyes shifted away from despair and began shinning with rage as her adrenaline slowly started to kick in. With her eyes locked on her aggressor, Alice moved both of her hands to the slit in her lab coat and let it fall to the floor at her feet. Alice was now in her fighting clothes, which had appeared as the result of Alice mentally connecting with her anger and will to survive. She glared at Sekhmet and said, "Not my blood."
-Sekhmet smiled with delight and said, "That's the spirit." She then pounced toward Alice who stood ready to fight to the death.
MEANWHILE…
-The Hand of Fate continued to soar through the blackened skies of Arkham City with the Riddler still wedged between its fingers as he screamed in fear. Finally the hand dipped to one side and the Riddler fell from the Hand's clutches and landed on the staircase to the entrance of the Natural History Museum. The Riddler tumbled down the stone steps and when he reached the bottom he groaned in pain as he tried to stand. His body was sore and bruised and he had some trouble keeping his balance for a while but he was otherwise unharmed.
-After the pain in the Riddler's limbs became tolerable, he looked up see where he was. When he saw that he had been dropped off in front of the museum, he smiled to himself. "Well isn't this convenient."
-Riddler stretched his arms and legs to adjust them and then he made his way up the stairs…then stopped cold in his tracks when he saw who was waiting for him at the top.
-"Julie," the Ridller said with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Julie's eyes peered over her glasses as she stared at her former partner with pure malevolence.
-"Long time no see, Eddie. But it looks like you're still the same sad, lonely psychopath I remember you as."
-"You did this to me!" The Riddler snarled, "You destroyed my life! You took away my one chance at…at-"
-"At what?" Julie asked raising one eyebrow.
-"At not becoming the Riddler," Edward responded with hurt in his voice. Julie just laughed.
-"No Eddie, you sentenced yourself in that regard. I just eliminated a tragic flaw in an otherwise perfect plan."
-The Riddler balled his hands into fists and grinded his teeth. "You have the nerve to call me a tragic flaw? I'm the one who invented the memory disks! We could have had everything-"
-"Yes, we could have," Julie interrupted, "If you had taken Gorman up on his offer to buy the memory disks we would both be living like royalty but no! You and your pride and your ego just couldn't leave well enough alone! You uncovered a gold mine, Eddie, and you were just going to let the gold sit in a dusty hole! But what can I expect from a moron like you!"
-The Riddler's entire body shook with rage. He began to approach Julie.
-Julie scoffed, "You wouldn't hit a girl with glasses, would ya Eddie?" The Riddler's fist smashed into the side of Julie's head, knocking off her glasses and sending her falling sideways to the ground."
-"I am not a moron!" The Riddler growled through clenched teeth.
-Julie chuckled, "Prove it. Answer this riddle: I am a king, I am a tyrant; I have four fingers and six toes; and my reign of terror lasted for 20 million years. Who am I?"
-"Tyrannosaurs Rex," Riddler exclaimed triumphantly. The malicious smile on Julie's face did not leave.
-BOOM…BOOM…BOOM
-The ground shook under the Riddler's feet with each thunderous crash.
-BOOM…BOOM
-The Riddler turned to the side. Now facing the entrance to the museum, he watched as the door began to slowly creak open revealing nothing but darkness. There was a long silence, and then something began to emerge.
-It moved slowly at first without showing anything distinct. But as it came closer toward the entrance, it revealed two rows of glistening, dagger-sized teeth.
-Before the Riddler had a chance to react, there came from the darkness a powerful, ear-splitting roar that shattered the windows on various buildings within the vicinity. The roar was accompanied by a blast of wind that blew from the doorway like the air in a jet turbine. The Riddler was sent flying through the air before landing hard at the bottom of the stairs. When the Riddler hit the ground, there was a sound that he could only imagine to be a hundred sticks of dynamite all exploding at the same time. Stone, concrete, metal, and debris rained down like hailstones and the Riddler ducked down with his hands covering is head. When the maelstrom finally subsided, the Riddler looked up and was met with a think smokescreen of brownish-grey dust formed from the heap that now lay around him. The Riddler waited for the dust to clear and when it did, his entire body turned to ice.
-Towering more than 30 feet above the Riddler was the head of the Tyrant Lizard King himself, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Both of its eyes glowed pinkish-red as they peered straight down at the Riddler. When the dust cloud disappeared completely and the entire monster became visible, the Riddler was horrified to see that the prehistoric predatory stood to at least 35 feet tall.
-The Riddler's eyes bulged with intense fear, tremors shook the Riddler's body to his core and he tried with every once of will inside of him to keep his body still but the fear and cold made this nearly impossible.
-Even though his mind was flooded with panic, his brain still obeyed one very important command: don't move. The Riddler knew that if he ran this behemoth would catch him in no time. Its massive legs would give the T-Rex a gait far greater than his own which meant it would be able to cover far more ground than the Riddler in a significantly shorter amount of time. For the moment, his best chance at escape would be to stay completely still and blend in with the debris.
-The T-Rex slowly lowered its head, growling softly as it appeared to study its prey. The Riddler tried to calm himself by rationalizing that the T-Rex wasn't real; that it was a robot or a hologram, it had to be. This comforting thought was shattered when the T-Rex opened its jaws and a strand of saliva (something no artificial creation would be capable of producing) fell to the ground. There was no question now: this monster was real!
-The Riddler's dilating pupils found their way to Julie, who had not gotten up and was starring at him with what, at first, seemed to be concern. But this expression quickly faded into a deviant smirk. She casually placed her glasses back on her face, peered over them, and gave the Riddler a suggestive wink. The T-Rex lifted one gargantuan foot off the ground and stomped it right on top of Julie, crushing her like a ripe tomato.
-At that point the Riddler's fear and adrenaline had completely taken over. He sprung off the ground like a frog and began sprinting down the street with the form and grace of an Olympic runner. He immediately heard the crashing roar and thundering footsteps of his pursuer but this only made him run faster at a speed the Riddler had never dreamed he was capable of.
-As the Riddler ran for his life, he found that even with his life dangling by a thread he was still able to think objectively and calculate plans for survival. He reasoned that he should get off the street and onto the sidewalk because he would be sitting duck out in the open. Keeping speed, the Riddler shifted his course off the road. Against his better judgment he turned to see how far ahead he was from the T-Rex.
-The T-Rex was a good 40 feet behind and for a short instant the Riddler was consoled by the thought that if he maintained his speed the monster would remain at the that distance. The T-Rex shifted its course to stay on the Riddler's trail. When it did so, the monstrous foot, still dripping with Julie's blood and entrails, came crashing down on a rusty, broken down car and crushed it flat. Images of meeting the same fate flashed before the Riddler's mind and he began to panic. There were no windows for him to duck into, no ladders for him to climb, and now the Riddler was certain that none of the abandoned automobiles would protect him. As fear started to grip him, he could feel his body start to slow and hear the ground-shaking footsteps getting closer and closer. But then the Riddler saw salvation.
-When he came upon a street corner, he saw that it ended at a sea wall and beyond that was a massive lake. The T-Rex would not be able to chase the Riddler in water; it's body mass and puny arms would cause the titanic beast to drown if it tried.
-The Riddler made a sharp turn and hurtled with all his remaining strength toward the watery sanctuary. Half way down the street he heard the T-Rex make the turn and the footsteps increased in speed, the T-Rex was now racing toward its prey with everything it could muster.
-As soon as the Riddler came upon the wall he leapt over it like a fish breaching the surface of the ocean and began falling toward the sea. It was then he saw the towering dorsal fin slowly cutting through the water. The Riddler screamed a cry of doom having realized too late that he had leapt out of the frying pan into the fire.
-The Riddler landed with a hard thud on a slab of solid concrete. Having not the time to prepare for the hard impact, the Riddler's body was dealt a shockwave of pain but the pain was neutralized by his utter bewilderment of the miracle that had saved him. The Riddler had landed on a concrete wharf that had been obscured by the shadows of the night. When his eyes adjusted he could see an entire walkway that stretched for about half a mile alongside the dark abyss that had nearly sent him to his death. The Riddler watched as the jet black fin slowly sank beneath the waves leaving a tiny ripple in its wake, then he turned around saw the elevated seawall and the steel ladder that he could have used as an alternative to his leap of faith. This irony caused the Riddler to have a brief moment of laughter that was cut short by the drop of saliva that landed right beside the Riddler's foot.
-The Riddler shot his head up and found himself starring into the red eyes of the Tyrannosaurs. The dinosaur starred back at him but did not move. The Riddler backed away a few steps keeping his eyes on his would be killer. The T-Rex seemed to be aware that he could no longer pursue its quarry and after a moment of consideration, the monster turned around, its tail stretching more than 12 feet outward from the top of the seawall, and lumbered away.
-Breathing a long sigh of relief, the Riddler turned and stared out to sea. He was granted the privilege of feeling the cool, salty air from the sea flow through his long, brown hair and hearing the soothing sound of the waves lapping against the wharf before his attention was drawn to an ominous glow just out of the corner of his eye.
-Situated the edge of the embankment at the midway point between the Riddler and the end of the wharf was a large metal crane with a jib that ran straight out over the sea for about 20 feet. Hanging on the end of the jib was a long steel cable that was about halfway down to the water that sported a massive hook that the Riddler guested was used to haul large cargo off of boats, although the hook did seem unusually large. But what caught the Riddler's attention was what was on top of the jib. Shinning as clear and true as the beacon from a lighthouse on a clear night was a green question mark.
-The Riddler was compelled to go toward the mark but for the first time in his life he was hesitant to answer the riddle. He stood, contemplating his options.
-"Oh Two-Face, where are you when I need you?" He said aloud with a frustrated grunt. He closed his eyes and exhaled. "Fuck it."
-The Riddler began walking toward the crane.
MEANWHILE…
-Bane awoke with a disoriented groan. His head felt like it was spinning and he had a case of double vision. Bane slowly and carefully rose to his feet, cursing in Spanish as he rubbed his aching head. The first noise that he heard was tiny "tweet, tweet".
-Bane shot his head to the ceiling and his vision gradually returned to normal. When it did, he saw a tiny golden bird perched on a set of iron bars that covered a hole in the roof.
-"Oh no," Bane said with eyes wide open. He shot his eyes from the bird and immediately recognized his surroundings. "No, No! This cannot be!"
-Bane was standing in the middle of the five-by-ten prison cell that he had spent more than a decade inside of as a child. It was the Cavidad Oscuro: the dark hole that had served as his home during his stay at the dreaded Peña Duro prison.
-Ironically when Bane was a child this place did not cause him distress but rather shaped him into the man he was today. It was the place where the true journey of Bane had begun. But to find himself trapped in this place after so long, after conquering the most dehumanizing obstacle ever constructed by the sadism of the human mind only to find himself locked away inside of it yet again like a caged animal, caused Bane a sickening emotional blow. He was not so much scared as he was enraged and humiliated. To Bane, this was the equivalent of a Harvard honor-roll student being demoted all the way down to pre-school.
-When Bane looked at his feet, he was greeted by the familiar sight of a swarm of rats and crabs scurrying and snapping around his feet. Bane lifted his foot and stomped it down so hard that dust fell from the walls of the tiny enclosure. Bane continued to do this until the floor was littered with broken shells, matted clumps of brown and black fur, and a stew of yellow and red and orange guts. Bane gave a victorious chuckle before he heard the roar of the tide from the nearby ocean and saw the water begin to flood into the tiny space. The water collected the mass of minced viscera on the ground and swirled it all around Bane face and body as he tried to get to the surface. As Bane pressed his face through one of the holes in the ceiling bars it didn't take long before the anger inside of his mind reached its breaking point.
-He swam down, ignoring the tiny animal guts that seemed to taunt him as he swam toward one of the stonewalls. With all his might, Bane ruptured a giant hole in the stonewall and the water came flooding out. Once the cell was emptied, Bane casually stepped out.
-"You could not contain me then, you will not contain me now," He said with great pride.
-Bane started to walk away but stopped when he noticed his long lost teddy bear lying against the wall opposite the hole. Its tiny body was as soaked and water logged as a kitchen sponge. Bane picked it up and examined it for a brief moment as if reflecting on memories long faded with his past life.
-After a short time, Bane turned the bear over, reached into the incision on its back, and took out a small shank knife. The blade of no longer than Bane's middle finger but it was still a handy weapon in terms of defense.
-"Just in case," Bane said looking about one of the many the desolate halls of the place he knew better than any other. He then tossed his old toy aside like an empty drink cup and walked down the foreboding tunnel that he had not walked in years.
MEANWHILE…
-The Riddler had reached the top of the crane and began attentively making his way across the jib, taking wide, elongated tiptoes to ensure he would not fall into black abyss that slowly churned in a sea of darkness below. When he finally reached the question mark he did so with utmost caution and even when he began moving his hand toward he felt the tug of reluctance on his arm. But the Riddler eventually fought it off and opened up the next riddle…except it wasn't a riddle. It was a question; the one question the Riddler just couldn't answer:
"Why did your father hate you so?"
-The Riddler just stared with his mouth open in confusion. "I…I don't know. He just didn't understand me. His mind just couldn't keep up with my brilliance and he was afraid. I'm sure deep down he truly did love me. I mean, why else could he have hated me?"
-"Aw, how touching," Freddy's voice sounded, "But I'm afraid your answer is incorrect. But if you really want to know, why don't you ask your old man for yourself?"
-"Yeah champ," Another male voice called out, "Why not ask your old man? After all, father knows best."
-The Riddler gasped at the familiar voice and spun around. Sure enough, standing just a few steps behind the Riddler was his father. The large, beefy man sneered at his on with contempt.
-"F-Father?" The Riddler backed up two steps.
-"Good to see you still recognize your old man, Ed."
-The Riddler was resentful toward Julie, but he was terrified of his father. As a child, with every beating he received from his dad the Riddler feared his father would break him in half; he was more than capable of doing it. And from the look in his father's eye it seemed he would do just that.
-"Well Champ, ain't you got something to say?"
-The Riddler's voice was caught in his throat.
-"What's wrong, can't talk little a man? Ha! Ha! Ha! Bet you can't fight like one either," The Riddler's father put his fists up like a boxer and his son shrunk back in fear. "Aw, what's the matter, champ? Do I make you nervous?"
-"N-N-No…" The Riddler finally managed to stammer out. His father's hand shot toward and struck him square in the nose.
-As the Riddler clutched his face while trying to keep his balance, his father grabbed him hard by the collar of his shirt and dangled him over the side of the crane.
-"Don't you lie to me boy! Don't you ever lie to me!"
-Screaming and breathing heavily the Riddler pleaded, "Yes! Yes you make me very nervous! I'm sorry for lying! Please, don't drop me!"
-"Tell me something, how many stories would you have to fall from in order for that think head of yours to break like a coconut?"
-The Riddler's body turned pale at the thought but a hard shake from his father forced him to hurriedly answer.
-"It usually takes about 50 feet or four to five stories to cause death. But based on the position of my body it would probably be less than that. JUST PLEASE DON'T LET ME FALL!"
-The father gave an evil smirk before jerking his son's body back into a full standing position and shoving him down so that he lay starring up at the towering brute from his past.
-"Now that we've had out little touching family reunion, I do believe you were just about to ask me something…"
-"Why do you hate me?" The Riddler asked as a tear fell from his eye, "What did I ever do to you?"
-The man's expression softened. "Oh Eddie, I never hated you. I could never hate you, you're my flesh and blood."
-The Riddler was puzzled.
-"It was never you Eddie, it was always me."
-"Really?" The Riddler asked.
-"Oh yes, ya see, you were always such big super genius, always thinking, always calculating. Yes sir, you were a real King of the Mind."
-The Riddler actually smiled. He never dreamed he would hear those words come from his father. But then his father's smile faded and was replaced with a bitter grimace.
-"But I didn't want a genius, I wanted a son! I wanted a little boy who knew when to keep his trap shut, who knew his place, not some stupid, snot-nosed, goody two-shoes moron who was too smart for his own good! Since the day you were born you've been nothing but a disappoint to me. Nothing but a little, scrawny moron shit."
-The Riddler's fear quickly transformed into hate and he glared murderously at his father.
-"But hey, every father and son eventually kisses and makes up. So what do ya say,"
The Riddler's father brought a hand from behind his back and in it he was grasping a large wooden baseball bat, "Why don't we burry the hatchet and play some ball champ?"
-The Riddler sat up straight and, looking his father square in the eyes, responded without fear, "I never was one for ball, Champ."
-The father growled through his teeth and brought his hand back preparing to swing at his son and, as soon as he did, the Riddler shot to his feet and grabbed the bat in both of his hands. For an intense moment, father and son fought over the bat in violent tug of war with animal like fury. Finally, the Riddler gained the upper hand by kicking his father in the balls. As he bent of in sheer agony clutching his loins the Riddler swung the bat and struck his father in the face. The blow knocked him backwards and as he staggered the Riddler struck again, this time nailing his father in the side. The Riddler wanted more than anything to knock his father off the crane and send him plunging into the freezing water, but the stubborn, large man refused to fall. So the Riddler had to settle for continually striking him in the face, belly, hips, legs, back, shoulders, until his entire body fell down with multiple splotches of red, black, blue, and purple.
-For a moment the Riddler stood over his beaten father breathing heavily as his hate-filled adrenaline settled. Then he hurled the bat through the air and watched it splash down into the sea. Then he heard his father's laughter.
-The Riddler shot his head back toward his dad just as he raised his battered face. He was missing four teeth and both of his eyes were swollen and black, one of his eyes was bloodshot red.
-"Alright," the man said with a bloody smile, "Then why don't we play something a little more fitting." He reached into his pocket and the Riddler's eyes shot open when he saw that his father had somehow obtained one of his own memory disks.
-"How did you get that?!" The Riddler demanded. The father just smiled.
-"I'll be the man, and you can be a good little doggie, and go fetch!"
-The father hurled the memory disk over the Riddler's head and the Riddler screamed as he watched it go flying toward the end of the jib. Impulse took over again and the Riddler made a mad dash for the disk and caught it just before it started to fall toward the water. Unfortunately, the Riddler's haste caused him to step farther than the safe point on the edge and he was sent over the edge screaming as he began falling toward the black.
-In the few seconds that he had, the Riddler caught sight of the crane hook and managed to grab a hold of it with one hand while desperately clutching the memory disk in the other. The Riddler breathed a sigh of relief before he felt the cable start to move.
-Shooting his eyes open and searching in all directions, the Riddler spotted his father now seated at the helm of the crane. It seemed as though his father decided to have one last "bonding experience" with his son: a good-old round of father-son fishing.
-The Cable dropped until the Riddler's feet were just a few inches over the water's surface. The Riddler looked up and then he was overcome with terror.
-"Oh no," speeding through the water 20 feet away was the shark fin. As the fin drew closer, the ferocious fish began raising its massive head above the waves, opening its cavernous mouth that could have clamped around the body of the T-Rex. "NO!"
-Just as the fish was about to hurl itself upon its prey, the Hand of Fate saved the Riddler as it swooped down below his feet and scooped him up. Looking back, the Riddler was able to catch the moment when half of the shark's 65-foot body burst from the water and snapped its jaws around the hook, the pulley block, and some of the cable. As the shark landed back in the water, the sheer size of the beast pulled the jib down with it and before long the entire crane, along with the Riddler's father, was pulled under the waves.
-The Hand of Fate carried the Riddler farther and farther away, all the while he watched the swirling water settle where the second nightmare behemoth had nearly taken him. The Riddler was about 50 feet up in the air when an explosion from beneath grabbed his attention. Looking down, he saw the shark rocketing itself toward him with the hook still lodged in the side of its mouth and the crane dangling from the side.
-The Shark's head stopped right where the Hand of Fate had just passed and the basket-ball sized eye was starring directly at the Riddler. Then the Riddler watched with dumbfounded awe as the shark began to shake its head from side to side thrashing the crane through the air like a play toy. As the crane hurtled toward the Riddler, he caught a brief glimpse of his father's drowned corpse before the Superbeast's head threw the crane in the opposite direction. The cable snapped and the crane went flying through the air over the city before falling into the city miles away. There was a "boom" and a fiery flash in the distance where the crane landed. As the Hand of Fate steered its course away from the water and back toward the city, the Riddler was able to watch the grand finale as the mighty Megalodon smashed down on the water like a meteor and sent a great swell of water sailing more than a hundred feet into the air.
-The Riddler now knew it would take more than brains to survive the trials in this world of madness.