Chapter 41: Mind Screws All Around Part: 2
Authors Note: Thank you all once again my lovely reviewers. You are all the best and your kind words and ideas are what keep me and this story going. I am so glad that everyone loves this so much. Now be sure to thank Lightseeker because I couldn't have done my first Riddler chapter without him. This chapter is going to be long, longer than I expected so I'm gonna have to leave you in suspense on what happens with Reaper and Hitgirl so spoilers. And also check out Reaper's story and Red Crosshairs story they are freaking awesome! Enjoy everybody!
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.
While Reaper and Hitgirl were dealing with Blackbeard and Phantom, the rest of the Shadow Warriors pursued Man-Bat and the hostages. Shadow along with the rest of his warriors had been trained to ride their own jet bikes aside from Thanatos who had his flight suit. But for safety reasons only a few members were allowed to drive them. Those members consisted of Shadow, Reaper, Red, Ronin, Gauntlet and Dusk. The rest like Whisper, Phoenix, Hitgirl and Breeze had to ride shotgun to them.
They whipped around multiple buildings and almost lost them a few times, but thanks to Thanatos for being so mobile, he was able to keep up with his speed and capabilities. He got a lock on Man-Bat and could fire at any second but he couldn't due to the two hostages that dangled from his claws and there was Man-Bat himself for being and unwilling participant in Blackbeard's gang.
"Where the hell is he going?" Dusk shouted.
"I don't know, but I think I have an idea." Shadow said.
"Old Gotham." Whisper grunted.
"What the hell is old Gotham?" Blaze asked.
"It was where most of Gotham's business corporations had set up shop." Shadow explained. "There are some buildings that either handle trading, real-estate or land ownerships."
"What kind of land owner ships?" Gauntlet asked.
"You know Wayne Manor, that kind." Shadow stated.
"Damn, but why is a giant human bat going to the most economical place in Gotham?" Gauntlet asked which also seemed to puzzle everyone else. Shadow increased the speed on his bike and continued after Man-Bat.
"That's what we're going to find out. Hang on everybody!" He said as everyone started to go faster.
They started to follow Man-Bat to a tall building that stood alone in the center of Gotham. Shadow and his team never really imagine what goes on in some of these buildings but now that they know some potential criminals might be hiding out in one of them, he may come back to do a background check on them. Even though corporate executives are just as crooked as any other criminal.
Man-Bat crashed into the top floor of the building and the warriors were about to follow when suddenly their bikes started to go haywire. They each crashed into a different section of the building and before they could even get their bearings the rooms they were in started to emit a gas. Everyone, even Thanatos, who had to take his helmet off thanks to whatever happened to the bikes, affected him as well, and one by one they all fell to the ground unconscious.
(Shadow)
Shadow's head felt ten pounds heavy as he tried to lift himself off of the ground. His entire body felt exhausted of energy while trying to get to his feet. His vision was blurred and the room he was in was dark as he started coming back to reality.
"Ugh, what the hell happened?" Shadow groaned. He looked around to see that he was in a small metal room with six hangmen nooses hanging from the ceiling. He followed the nooses up and his eyes widened when he saw six men hung up by their necks. "Who the, are those…?"
"No, they are not your friends…yet." A cocky voice said from the room. Shadow's eyes narrowed as he remembered who that voice belonged to.
"Nigma!" Shadow shouted. On one of the long metal walls an image of thee Riddler appeared on it with him twirling his question mark shaped cane around.
"Correct, I guess you're not as dumb as you look." Riddler scoffed. Shadow clenched his fist remembering all the times this man pissed him off. "I must say you really have grown…Sparrow."
Shadow's eyes widened in shock before he quickly calmed down and continued to stare at the picture.
"Congratulations, you know who I was now what do you want?" He asked.
"Well, you see it all started while I was in Arkham, where I met a very intelligent man by the name of Richard Teach." Riddler started. "And after a few riddles and word games we hit it off quite nice. Afterwards, we decided to team up and work together in order to take over Gotham by eliminating both Batman and his cronies and this up and coming new team The Shadow Warriors. One night while we were figuring out our plans another man who went by the name Phantom decided he wanted in on what we were doing." Shadow let out a loud grunt and punched the wall Riddler was being displayed on.
"You bastard, you have been working with Phantom all along, not waging war with him!" Shadow grunted while punching the wall again.
"Gee, and I thought you were stupid. This also brings me to my next point." Riddler stated playfully. "We asked him what he could bring to the table if he wanted to join us and instead of just a gang he gives us names. Your team's names to be more precise and while going through your file it said that you use to be Sparrow the other boy wonder." Riddler started to get even excited. "You could imagine the joy I felt when I found out that Shadow the fearless assassin was once Sparrow the brainless boy wonder. Do you remember how many of my riddles you failed how many of my puzzles you fallen victim to and,"
"Alright, I get it. You want to prove your smarter than me can we get on with your stupid games now?" Shadow snapped causing Riddler's expression to go from smug to furious.
"Stupid…STUPID!" He shouted. "I am the Riddler and I have nothing to prove to you or your Neanderthal friends. This is just to kill you and your team. You want to die so badly fine." Shadow remained neutral as he continued staring at Nigma.
"You know when you get angry your brain releases and enzyme that can diminish your I.Q. right?" Shadow stated calmly. Riddler slammed his hands on the table and let out a heavy sigh.
"The rules are simple." He said calmly. "If you and your friends can solve my puzzles you live and if you can solve my riddles you can leave, but should you fail you die." He snarled. "Now, your puzzle is this. These men you see are all dead, obviously, but only one of them is innocent. On the nooses below you should see some notes underneath them. They will contain what that person did and what they are. If you can figure out with man is innocent you can live. You have five minutes and…go."
The image of Riddler turned into a countdown timer from five minutes. Shadow quickly made his way over to the first noose and read the note under it.
Murderer. The note read.
The first one killed the butcher man. Then cooked him in a frying pan. Served him to his hungry guest. And gave them seconds on request.
"Killing, cooking and feeding his victims to people." He said rhetorically. "Yeah, defiantly guilty and deserving of death." He threw that note away and moved onto the next one.
"The next one with his smiles and sweets. Stole poor children off the streets. To men who dressed unsavory. He sold them into slavery."
"Kidnapper and slave trader nope not innocent." He said as he saw the clock read four minutes. He read the next few and only came up with an embezzler, a thief and a swindler. The next and last one he had hoped he could figure out and would save his life. He picked up the letter and he felt his heart stop when it read Arson on the front. He mentally slapped himself as he opened and read the note.
"Three houses into ashes burned. The sheriff with no place to turn. Did spy a stranger to his town. Locked him up and beat him down."
Shadow clenched his fist in anger and crumbled the note in the process as he looked over at the clock. His eyes widened to reveal that he had less than a minute.
"Okay think," He said to himself. "There are six supposed criminals and one is innocent. The killer and kidnaper are out. So that leaves the thief, embezzler, the swindler and the arsonist. The thief breaks into people's homes and steals their belongings and some things that are impossible to replace. The swindler promises fortunes and what people desire most, but in the end leaves them with less than nothing so he's out. Embezzlers steal people's money and the arsonist burns down…" That's when it hit him. He opened the note up and looked at it again and his lips broke out in a wide grin under his mask. He walked over to the hangman's noose and pulled down on it with both hands. Just then he was suspended into the air as the floor beneath him opened up to reveal a spike trap. The other five bodies went in and the floor closed as Shadow and the arson were lowered to the ground.
"What, how did you know the arson was innocent?" Riddler asked dumbfounded. He still couldn't believe that the former dark knight had beaten him.
"The note said that sheriff spotted a stranger and just took him to jail." Shadow stated smugly. "It was never implied that he was the arson while the other notes stated that each man was guilty."
"Dammit!" Riddler snapped while Shadow checked the body for the key out of the room. He found it and walked over to the door and unlocked it only for a box with a voice lock placed next to the door knob. "Riddle me this: A woman shoots her husband, holds him under water for five minutes and hangs him. When she's done the husband says, "Good job."."
The riddle ends there and the timer next to the lock reads one minute. Shadow ponders this for a second before it hits him.
"The wife took a picture of her husband." He answered casually. "She 'shoots' him with the camera, then holds the picture under water for five minutes so it can develop and then when she was done she frames it and hangs it up."
The lock read correct in big green letters as the door unlocks revealing it to be an elevator. Shadow steps in while the Riddler is raging on the microphone.
"How, how could you figure those out?" He shouted. "When you were Sparrow you would have never figured those out!" At this Shadow chuckled as he looked back at the image of Riddler.
"That's because I'm not Sparrow anymore." Shadow said in an amused tone. "For a man as smart as yourself I'm surprised you haven't figured that out."
"Why you!"
"Bye Eddie." Shadow says before the doors closed.
(Ronin and Breeze)
Breeze and Ronin were currently running down hallway after hallway until they finally ran into one another. Breeze pulled out her staff and Ronin drew his scalers and held them both out, blocking her attack. When Breeze realized who he was she immediately pulled her staff back.
"Ronin, are you okay?" Breeze asked as she put her staff away.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." He said as he holstered his blades. "Have you seen the others?"
"No, Nigma said we all had our own riddles and puzzles to solve and hopefully we would all meet in the end." She explained.
"Yeah, he said the same thing to me." Ronin grunted as he examined their surroundings. "From what I could tell we are definitely in a maze. I marked every corner with a star to let us know we've been there so we don't waste any time."
"Yeah me too." Breeze said. "Guess Shadow wasn't being paranoid when he told us about figuring out mazes."
"Right, okay let's go this way." He said as the two walked down an unmarked hall.
The two started walking side by side when a light pattern caught his eyes. He quickly held his arm out in front of Breeze, stopping her while he reached for his scaler.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Just hold on one second." He said as he messed around with his wrist mounted arsenal. He pulled out a cable similar to the ones Batman and the rest of his team uses and attached it to his scaler. "I got this idea from a video game that Gauntlet plays. It makes my scaler to be more effective on the field."
He gripped the handle of his weapon and held his arm back before throwing his scaler and the cable along with it. It went about ten feet before he gripped the cable and yanked it back. The scaler touched every light pattern releasing a whole set of rotating blades. They were fast but also slow enough to see that there were gaps in the blades and how they rotated.
"Oh this is not good." Breeze gasped.
"Yeah, well we have no choice but to go through this." Ronin grunted while he holstered his blade again.
"Ah fuck!" Breeze snapped.
"Ready?" He asked as the two got into running positions.
"Hell no!" Breeze shouted.
"Run!"
The two ran towards the blades as fast as they could. Breeze leaped up while Ronin slid on his knees both dodging the middle blades. The two did the same thing only this time they had switched with Breeze sliding on the ground and Ronin taking the air. The last row of blades was going to be tricky since they both couldn't stop without getting hacked to pieces and the next set covered the top and bottom making the middle entry point their only way to escape.
They just barely made it through the small gap as they skidded across the ground only to activate another trap. This one opened up fifty holes at the end of the hall and fired multiple darts at them. Breeze was quick to the punch though when she drew her staff and opened the fan at the end and fired a gust of wind at the darts sending them to the ground before they could hit them. Ronin let out a heavy sigh he didn't know he was holding as he got to his feet.
"Great job Breeze." He panted.
"T-Thanks." She said equally tired.
Ronin went to take a step when he felt his foot sink into the ground. Both his and Breeze's eyes widened at what Ronin just did. They waited to see what was going to happen when they saw the walls closing in around them.
The two ran as fast as they could while the walls started closing in on them. They cut it pretty close to the end but they eventually made it out of the maze before they were crushed. Again the two were breathing heavily.
"Geez, are we finally in the clear now?" Breeze asked.
"I believe so, look." Ronin said as he pointed at two small elevators. One had Breeze's name written in blue while Ronin's was written in black. "Okay, let's go."
They both walked up to their own elevators and the pressed the button to open them when a voice lock appeared out of the wall.
"Breeze, riddle me this: He who builds me doesn't want me, he who buys me doesn't use me, he who uses me doesn't know he's got me. What am I?" Riddler's voice asked.
"Ronin, riddle me this: A man walks into his bathroom and shoots himself right between the eyes using a real gun with real bullets. He walks out alive, with no blood and no special capabilities. How did he survive?"
They both thought about the riddle for a few minutes, both of them having multiple thoughts racing in their heads.
"Okay, he builds me but doesn't want me," Breeze thought. "He buys me but doesn't use me, he then uses me then doesn't know he's got me. What the hell kind of riddle is this?"
"A man goes to the bathroom, shoots himself with a real gun and bullet and comes out unfazed. How does one do that to himself?" Ronin asked himself.
They went over their riddles over and over again, but that's when it hit them. Key words, they needed to look at the key words of the riddle. They did that and they both grinned as they answered the riddles.
"A coffin." Breeze said into the lock. "The man builds it but he doesn't want it yet, another man buys it but doesn't need it yet and when he dies he doesn't know he's in it."
"The man shot his reflection of himself in the bathroom mirror." Ronin said.
The locks on their elevator doors opened up and they both nodded to each other as they walked in and would hopefully reunite with their friends.
(Gauntlet)
Gauntlet with his custom magnum drawn was carefully sneaking down a hallway while keeping his back to the wall. He came up on a corner and slowly peaked around to see that it was just as empty as the one he had just walked from poorly lit and grey stained covered walls.
"Man this guy has poor taste in interior decorating." He joked to himself. He was then alerted by a muffle cry that came from a nearby door. He quickly opened it to reveal a woman bound to an electric chair and gagged by duct tape. The room's only source of light was a lone light bulb that hung from the ceiling.
He went to go help her but he stopped in his tracks when he started hearing static from a loud speaker.
"I would be careful Gauntlet." Riddler's cocky voice warned on the other side. "You see that chair she is strapped to is an old electric chair that went by the name Sparky. It used to be a part of Black Gate prisons death penalty before the lethal injections became famous. So now it sits and waits with a nitroglycerin soaked woman sitting in it. But if you can get the key out of the safe you and her can go free…if you find the combination written on the walls in two minutes, bye!"
The mic went dead as did the light bulb while Gauntlet cursed to himself. The woman panicked while he tried to find the numbers on the walls by allowing his arm to glow bright enough for a light, but not enough to cause the room to go up in flames. The light from his hands were still too dim to light up the whole room but he eventually found the numbers. He punched them into the safe but the safe's digital lock read 'denied' as he punched it in again.
"Oh sorry, but your time is up!" Riddler said as if he were a game show host. Gauntlet's eyes widened in horror as did the girls but before they could start to freak out the Riddler spoke up again. "Oh what the hell, I'm in a good mood so I'll let you and the girl live if you can solve my riddle."
"Dammit, alright you sadistic freak what is it?" Gauntlet grunted.
Two more lights came on as the floors on both sides of the girl opened up. On her left a table lifted up from the ground with a small handgun sitting on it and on her left nothing came out but instead it was revealed to be a man sized tank filled to the brim with water.
"You are trapped in a room with three deadly ways to kill yourself." Riddler stated. "A gun, an electric chair and an eight foot tank of water. You must kill by shooting yourself, switching places with the girl and electrifying yourself or drowning yourself by falling in the tank and letting the door close on top of you. Which one do you chose to live?"
Gauntlet's eyes started to glow orange as did his gauntlets after what he just heard. "How the hell do I chose something that will kill me but let me live at the same time?"
"First, by calming down." Vulcan said to him
"Vulcan?" Gauntlet asked.
"You are about to ignite the liquid on the ground and kill the girl and then this Riddler will truly win." Vulcan said. Gauntlet took his words into consideration as he started to calm down. His hands and eyes dimmed down and he let out a heavy sigh. "Good, now think. How can you use a method known to kill you without actually killing you?"
How indeed.
He first moved over to the gun, he thought maybe that it was loaded with blanks or not at all, but there was no way of knowing for sure. The clip had been welded on the bottom so he couldn't eject it from the gun. He set the gun down and looked at the chair with the girl still looking at him with tears in her eyes. He couldn't sacrifice her but he couldn't let riddler win either.
"Dammit!" He snapped now looking down at the tank of water. He steps in and the lid closes drowning him in minutes. No way could he survive that. He could just heat the water till it evaporated but then he would suffocate from the steam.
"A room with no power and I have to kill myself with a gun, an electric-"Gauntlet's breath stopped at what he just said.
That was it.
"I choose the electric chair!" He exclaimed. "No power no electricity!"
The locks on the girl's cuffs unlocked and the girl quickly sprang out of the chair. Curious he looked at the chair and saw that there was a voice lock on the armrest. There was never any power connected to it at all.
"No!" Ridddler snapped. "You were supposed to get angry and light the place up!"
"There was never a key in here was there?" Gauntlet barked. "You were having a bad day so you decided to make yourself feel better by making me look stupid!" He heated up his hand and pressed it on the top of the safe melting a hole through it to reveal nothing inside. "You lose Edddie!"
(Thanatos)
Thanatos stood before a giant pendulum with a hostage tied beneath it. The metal ball was attached to a long metal poll at the top of the ceiling but since he arrived it started to get lower and lower. Thanatos was about to help the poor soul when his earpiece started to go off.
"Thanatos!" Riddler's voice shouted. "Being named after the Greek god of death, you should know when someone's death clock is about to run out. I am not going to lie you were quite tricky to figure out so here's what will happen. You have two minutes to solve my riddle if you get it wrong or take too long or step over the line in front of you the pendulum will drop and kill the hostage. Get it right and you both can live."
"Fine, I'll play your game and then I'm coming for you!" Thanatos threatened.
"You act like you actually have a choice." Riddler snickered making Thanatos even angrier than before. "Now, riddle me this: I am treasured above most, I create joy when I am made, I create sadness when I fall, I am inside you. What am I?"
Thanatos saw the two minute clock start to tick as he tried his best to remain calm. His eyes followed the pendulum almost hypnotizing him and making him dizzy. He shook his head clean and tried to figure this out. A treasured gift that gives joy and gives sadness when it falls. That part confused the bionic man. It's inside you as well so it has to be a baby.
But a baby isn't inside all of us. There was also that quip about Thanatos's name meaning death. Riddler was a man who always his things in plain view. Obvious to him but a mystery to the rest. He also said inside Thanatos not just to a specific group of people. A treasured gift inside all off us that remark about his name the answer was suddenly clear.
"Life." Thanatos said.
The pendulum slowly stopped over the man as the two both held their breath. The mechanism made a noise and the pendulum slowly rose back into the ceiling. Thanatos went over to the man and helped him out of his binds while Riddler went on a tantrum.
"NO, no, no, no, no, no!" He shouted. "This can't be happening, not another one!" That caught Thanatos's attention.
"Another one you say?" He asked with a smirk as the line suddenly went quite. "So, I take it my friends have also beaten your riddles as well. It seems you just revealed to me that you are losing."
"No, I do not lose!" He shouted. "I am the Riddler and no one is smarter than me. You must have cheated you used some kind of computer in your head to solve my riddle!"
"Yeah, it's called my brain, we all have one." Thanatos joked while the Riddler seethed on the other end of his mic. "Did you know that when you get mad your brain releases an enzyme?"
"YES I KNOW THAT!" He shouted.
"Good." He said as he placed a tracer on the hostage and told him to wait while he got in his elevator. "Then you know I'm coming for you."
(Red ,Dusk and Phoenix)
The two warriors were currently shooting targets down a shooting range while trying their best not to hit the hostages who were tied upside down over a spike pit. The puzzle was to get the exact amount of points without before the time was up without either one holding back.
Red was taking them down left and right while Dusk was only hitting them left or right. He was using his automatic glocks while Red used his signature desert eagles. Dusk was also having trouble reloading as he fumbled with his clips while Red, from his point of view was moving fast enough to load them in midair.
Dusk was about to break down when he suddenly got an idea. He set his guns down real quick and placed all of his clips right side up in a neat row. Red saw this and he grinned at his young friend's tactic. Dusk picked his gun up and this time he only fired one of them. He sprayed bullets all over the place hitting the targets one after another, his aim wasn't as good as Red's enhanced sight and his shooting was more barbaric but he was starting to get his points up. When his gun ran out he lifted up his other gun in his left hand and did the exact same method while he slammed his empty gun over one of the clips. He never stopped firing once while Red had to pause for a few seconds to reload.
Eventually the timer us up and the two warrior scores were exactly the same. The two along with the hostages breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the warrior's slapped hands.
"Great job Dusk." Red congratulated as he embraced his friend.
"Thanks, though not as neat as you I'm still happy it worked out in the end." Dusk said sheepishly.
Red chuckled sheepishly while he tended to the hostages. He gave them a tracer so the police could find them when they got out of here. They moved over to the door that leads out of here but it was locked with a voice lock.
"Red Crosshairs, riddle me this: A sharpshooter hung up his hat and put on a blindfold. He then walked one hundred yards, turned around and shot a bullet through his hat. The blindfold completely blocked his vision so how did he shoot his hat from so far away?"
"Simple, he placed his hat on the barrel of the gun." Red answered almost immediately. Dusk's mouth fell open in shock while the light glowed green indicting he was right. "I heard that one many times before." He chuckled as the lock started up again.
"Now Dusk, riddle me this: A man kills his wife. Many people watch him doing so. Yet no one will accuse him of murder. Why?"
"Why indeed, I don't freaking know!" Riddler warned them early on about cheating and how he would always be watching. He needed to think. How could a guy publicly kill his wife with no consequences?
He's either a politician or a judge someone with connections. But they don't publicly kill their wives.
"The woman was married to a hangman." He said.
The light once again blinked green as the door unlocked and the two walked into a large room. They stared in amazement to see that the floor was glass and beneath it was a large life size pinball machine. Speaking of pinball they looked over to see Phoenix rapidly tapping buttons on a regular pinball machine. What also caught their attention was a man trapped in a plastic ball witch was supported on a stand that led to the machine below.
"So, your friends finally made it, not surprising." He scoffed. "Any liquored up hillbilly with a shotgun could have figured that puzzle out."
"What's going on here?" Red asked.
"I can't figure out his riddle so I have to beat this score!" Phoenix shrieked as he continued to mash the buttons. The Riddler let out a dark chuckle as he watched the young boy struggle.
"Yes, you see the riddle was: Feed me and I live, give me a drink and I die. What am I?" He asked. "He can try and figure it out but if he can somehow manage to beat my score you win. And no talking if either one of you two helps him in any way I will flood the chambers with poisonous gas!"
"Wow, he's really starting to crack." Red thought as he looked at the score. He was shocked to see that the score was '01101001 01110010 01100101'.
"There's no way he can get that score in less than three minutes. Wait a minute." Red looked at the score and he knew what it was. "Binary code, that's it." He taught everyone Morse code a while back and he made sure everyone knew how to speak it even Shadow. Now there was just the matter of the riddle. It was obviously fire. He did a psyche profile on Riddler to know that riddles were usually based on the person. Now he just had to tell Phoenix without Riddler knowing.
Red swallowed the lump in his throat and snapped his fingers twice. He was currently staring at the back of Phoenix's head which suddenly stiffened before resuming its former composure. Red started tapping his foot rapidly as he started talking.
"Phoenix, the answer to the riddle is…"
"Fire!" Phoenix shouted. In an instant the machine just turned off and the man was released. Phoenix collapsed on the machine while the Riddler went on another tirade.
"It can't be happening!" Riddler shouted. "It just can't, you're an idiot. You don't have any deductive skills. You cheated that's the only way you could have one and you two helped him!"
Red started to panic as Phoenix started to chuckle. Both Dusk and Red looked at him as his chuckles turned to laughter.
"No, I just panicked dude!" He laughed as he started to calm down. "I realized it was fire when I realized I too get bigger when I'm engulfed in flames and I die down when I get wet. So no, I didn't cheat."
"AHH!" Riddler screamed as the three quickly made their way out.
(Whisper)
Whisper awoke in her chamber with a throbbing headache as she quickly got to her feet. She checked her coat to see that she still had her eagle and her combat knife. She was about to take her leave when some muffled cries caught her attention. She casually looked over to see six children, some around the ages of ten or thirteen, tied to a carousel. They all sat on the decorative horses as an image of Riddler appeared on the ceiling.
"Whisper!" He shouted. When Whisper saw him she knew he was under a great deal of stress. His hair was shaggy and looked like he'd been pulling at it and his face was scowling as his eyes burned red from the bloodshot.
"You aren't looking so good Eddie." Whisper stated in her gruff voice.
"Shut up, in front of you are some stupid delinquents who sell drugs and create trouble for everyone else." He screamed in anger and frustration. "They also lied to their parents and I personally think they aren't worth the air they breathe. But that will be for you to decide, not me. I will flood the room with a poison that will kill you and the kids in three minutes. I already injected five of them with the cure, but one of them will have two asthma inhalers. One for him and the other for you, their hands are bound with cuffs that will block their hands so no cheating by looking for the one with the inhaler."
"Are you insane you would kill children just to prove you're smarter than me?" Whisper shouted.
"A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!" Riddler shouted. "In a box in front of you there is a gas mask that will have a suppressor built in it along with a key to the locks. Every breath you take will double the speed on the carousel until you can either free them or let the G-force tear them to pieces. GO. FAIL. DIE!"
The carousel started to move fast causing the children to freak out. Whisper quickly grabbed the gas mask and pressed it to her mouth inhaling the suppressor. It was as Riddler said as the ride started to move faster whenever she took a breath. She grabbed the key as well and rushed towards the ride. She grabbed onto one of the horses and saw the large iron cuffs Riddler was talking about.
She quickly looked for the key hole and inserted the key and undid the cuffs. Once they were undone she saw that the child's hands were empty and quickly pushed him off the ride. Whisper went over to the next child, but she clenched her chest feeling the poison burning her lungs. She quickly pressed the mask to her face breathing in the suppressant. She watched the pump go down and up and felt the ride move faster. She lost her balance and grabbed onto a nearby hoarse sustaining her fall.
She quickly got to her feet and walked over to the next child who was now screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Don't forget to give her some of the suppressant!" Sarah's voice rang through her head.
"No time, she's probably cured already!" Whisper shouted at herself.
"She might not though she could die!" Sarah whimpered inside her which started to pain Whisper.
"Alright, I'll give them a breath!" She shouted. "Just stop crying!"
She placed the mask on the child and undid her cuffs to see she had nothing as well. The ride once again went faster making it much more difficult to move. By the time she reached the fifth child the ride was moving fast enough to kill her if she were to fall off. The last child had the cure but the G-force was so strong that she was lifted off of her feet. The pump was empty and the poison was taking its toll on her.
The last child was a nine year old girl and she was starting to suffer under the pressure of force. Whisper reached up towards her hoarse and grabbed the poll it was attached to. With all of her strength she pulled herself next to the girl and undid her cuffs. The second they came undone the girl went flying back screaming. Whisper caught sight of the inhalers in her hands and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.
She lost the grip of one of the inhalers as Whisper watched it go flying somewhere in the room. The ride slowed down and her lungs were burning from the poison. The adrenaline wasn't helping with every breath burning like fire. Whisper heard the girl coughing and looked down to see her lying on her back with tears down her face. Whisper felt tears seep through her mask while watching the girl suffer in pain.
"What are you doing help her!" Sarah shouted in her mind.
For once since she came into existence Whisper listened to what Sarah said. She crawled over to the girl and reached for the inhaler in her hand. She quickly placed the inhaler in her mouth and pressed down on the button. The antidote filled the girl's lungs allowing her to breathe more comfortably.
Whisper smiled under her mask while blood started to seep through her mask. She rolled off of the girl and onto her back while the poison started to finish her off. Her vision started to fade when six little dots hovered over her.
"What are you waiting for help her!" The girl she helped shouted.
Whisper saw the oldest boy reach down and lifted her mask up. He stuck the inhaler in her mouth and injected t cure in her lungs.
She coughed up a lungful of blood and spat it out over in the distance while she breathed in fresh air. Whisper quickly pulled down her mask while the children gathered around her and hugged her. Whisper didn't know how to feel as she wrapped her arms around them, feeling more tears pour from her eyes.
"Riddle me this:" An automated voice said. "I am a person who takes care of children when they're feeling sad. I make the children feel glad. I give them all my heart even from the start. I give them a shelter to be to be under. I give them a place to don't shudder. Who am I?"
Whisper looked down at the children she was comforting and started to have flashbacks from Sarah's past. She remembered how her mother always looked out for her no matter what and how she would die to protect them. The answer was crystal clear.
"A caring mother." Sarah whimpered.
A door opened up revealing an exit for the kids and an entrance to the Riddler. Whisper was definetly going to make him pay for all this. She swore it on her life.
(Riddler)
Riddler went insane after Whisper survived that puzzle and how those little delinquents saved her in the end. Not only that but she solved the riddle as well. That really pissed him off.
He shot up from his chair and started to tear his office apart with his cane. He smashed the monitors the windows and anything he could find.
"How could they do this?" He shouted. "They are punks, delinquents and flat out morons!" He threw his cane into the wall and started panting heavily. "I-I am the Riddler…they can't outsmart me." He looked at another monitor he hadn't destroyed to see that Reaper and Hitgirl were currently entering the docks. He pulled out his cellphone to contact Blackbeard. "Richard, its Edward, Reaper and Hitgirl are entering the boatyard now."
"Good, I'll inform Logan and we'll ambush the little bastards." Blackbeard chuckled.
"Good, good." Riddler whimpered. Blackbeard caught wind of his attitude and decided to ask what was wrong.
"What happened Edward did everything go according to plan?" He asked.
"They…they beat me. They beat my puzzles solved my riddles and everything." He cried. "And all I could do was watch."
"Eddie, I'm surprised at you." Blackbeard chuckled. "You are still alive and you still have Man-Bat don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah I do." He said as his mood started to pick up.
"Then pick yourself up dust yourself off and do what you do best. Win." He encouraged.
"Your right, your right." Riddler cheered. "I still have one more plan up my sleeve."
"Good, now if you'll excuse me I have a fight to stage. Good luck Eddie."
"You too." He said before hanging up. He watched the remaining monitors to see all the warriors reunited in the main room of the entire underground lair he was stationed at. His sadistic green eyes glowed green in psychotic rage as his face broke out in an evil grin.
"Now, the real game begins."