[15 minutes before Wayne Tower went up in flames, Bruce Wayne's office, top floor of Wayne Tower]
"Wake up, Mr. Wayne." The woman called out to Bruce, trying to wake him up. "Mr. Wayne, we're not done talking, we still have a lot more to talk about. Specifically, about your little Bat-Family."
The Dark Knight slowly came to, acutely aware of where he was. He knew he was in trouble but he did not know at whose hand. They were female, and that was the only thing he knew about them.
"I mean look at them! Only one of them was really successful, Tim, but the other two? One of them faked his death, Dick, and the other one actually died! And what did you do to honour Jason? Absolutely zip-shit."
"I--" The Knight attempted to speak, but was quickly interrupted.
"No. Don't speak." She said. "You didn't do anything for Jason, and then he came back and he was mad, and I don't blame him one bit. I would be pissed too." She took a step back and pointed a gun-shaped finger gesture at the Knight's head. "But now he kills. And I know that what I do seems a bit hypocritical, killing heroes who kill and call myself the hero, but really I'm not a hero.
"I'm just someone who's pissed. The fuck. Off." They said, closing in on the Caped Crusader's face. "In this world, you're first."
The Knight looked out of the window into the outside world, knowing full well that his friends and family were searching for him and that they'd be there soon.
"Hey, Dream Knight, over here!" The woman said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Stop zoning off! I'm talking to you here!"
"Fine." He said, looking her in the eyes. "I'm all ears."
"Good." She said calmly, slowly turning her back to him. "Look at batgirl. Barbara, I mean. She got shot by the joker, spent at least a year in a wheelchair and when she was finally able to walk again, it only took two and a half years for her to get her back broken from Bane!"
As she looked back at him, she found him attempting to escape. He stopped once he noticed her gaze, causing her to give a slight smirk. He shrugged it off, and continued to try and escape, and she soon gave a small frown.
A swift kick to the head got him to stop, and she soon got down on her knees, relaxed her arms and stared at him quizzaciously. Although she had a completely blank expression on her face, she was mocking him to full extent.
"You can't escape." She said to him, in an extremely calm voice. "That shit that you're tied up in is the strongest, tightest thing that you'll ever be tied up in. Nothing can cut it, nothing can rip it, it doesn't stretch, it barely bends, et cetera." She explained, continuing with the blank expression and relaxed muscles.
He only scowled in response.
Silence followed for a few heartbeats.
"I know this is totally random and a bit weird, but this is unbelievably comfortable for some reason. Well, I mean when you're not tied up because it feels different, believe me I know the feeling of being tied up in this position, but just sitting like this? Feels oddly therapeutic." She said, breaking the silence, with jumbled speech. She suddenly straightened and stood up. "Anyway, still gotta talk to you about your little family."
"Especially the ones who are looking for you right now," she put her hand to her chin, trying to think. "What're their names? Harper and Cassandra?" The Knight shifted, if only barely noticeably, catching the attention of the woman. "Yes, them! Should be about now that they're searching for the place you were last, but they could be past that already. Who the hell knows? I have something for them, though.
"Something very special."
[Wayne Tower lobby, BlueBird and Orphan, Now]
"I need your brutish strength and combat skill," The Riddler said, pointing his question mark cane at Orphan in an exaggerated manner. "And you, BlueBird," he began as he placed his cane down, with both hands resting on the handle. "I must admit that your technological knowledge is almost as good as mine, but it obviously doesn't rival. I'm building something and I need the opinion of a...lesser mind, but someone who still knows what they're doing."
"Well that was a backhand if I've ever heard one." BlueBird said simply.
"Oh, how I did not mean to offend, you certainly are the most technologically knowledgeable person I know, other than myself of course, but you certainly just don't match up to me." The Riddler continued, adjusting his lime green tie, trying to hide the disdain hidden in his eyes. The rest of his suit was green as well, but a shade or so darker with a white shirt under his jacket. He wore a dark green fedora that fit comfortably on his head, slanted slightly forward, covering the top of his forehead.
"Why should we help you?" BlueBird asked the obvious question, and the Riddler gave a sly smirk.
"Because we'll have a mutual benefit. You'll get the Batman and maybe defeat the person holding him hostage, and I'll finish my...personal mission that has something to do with what's in the basement of this tower." He said, taking a few steps closer.
Bluebird noticed the advance and reached for the gun on her back, much to the Riddler's dismay.
"Ah-ah-ah." He said, shaking his head slowly and dramatically. Suddenly all of the men in the room, of which Bluebird had only just noticed, raised their weapons and aimed them at the vigilantes at the door. "We can't have that, now can we?" Riddler said, pointing toward the weapon, silently telling Bluebird to relax her arms.
She obeyed.
"That's more like it. What I need you to do is just observe the device. Make sure it won't malfunction, make sure it's built properly while I handle something on the roof." The Riddler said to the two girls as he pointed toward the elevator. "Ladies first." He bowed.
The elevator conveniently opened at that exact time, and Bluebird and Orphan entered, wary of what may happen in the basement of the Wayne Tower. Bluebird knew the mainstream stigma of basements to be true, and Orphan knew an enemy taking a hero into a secluded area meant danger.
The Riddler stepped into the elevator without his guards and pressed the basement button before swiping a stolen keycard into the slot.
"Access granted. Lucius Fox." The automated voice in the elevator chimed, followed by the light sound of a bell. "Basement level."
Soon, the elevator shifted and creaked, before slowly groaning it's way down to the basement. As Bluebird stepped out of the elevator, she saw the device and knew exactly what it was.
The digital timer, the jugs of clear liquid, the red sticks of dynamite, the clearly visible packs of C-4, and the wires taking up more space than the other components told BlueBird immediately that it was a bomb. And those components were only what she could see from the elevator.
Bluebird and Orphan quickly turned around toward the Riddler to see him aiming his cane toward them, though they did not know the threat of his simple cane.
Within seconds, the Riddler flipped a cap off of the very top of the flat handle to reveal what seemed to be two electric coils, with electricity bouncing off of them at a rapid pace within the cane itself.
"You will inspect this bomb and make sure that it will go off. It is highly unstable, but very, very devastative. The explosion will take this entire building with it. If not, then it'll take out all of the lobby, causing the building to collapse upon itself." Riddler explained, aiming his cane at both of the vigilantes standing in front of him. "And remember, I said you would get the Batman, not rescue him. Your mistake."
Bluebird stepped forward quickly and with her rifle sized gun in her hands within a second.
The Riddler shot at BlueBird with the electricity coming from his cane, but nothing happened. Bluebird still stood defiantly where she had been five seconds earlier.
"I handle electricity worse than this on a daily basis, do you really think I'm gonna have a suit that doesn't protect me from it?" BlueBird responded before charging him and smashing his face with the butt of her gun. "Teach you for trying to trick us." She mumbled as the incapacitated Riddler slouched down against the nearest wall.
"Cass, pull the red wire on the far left that's attached to the timer." BlueBird said quickly as she took the keycard from the unconscious Riddler's body. Orphan gave her a strange and concerned look. "I got a read on this thing the moment I saw it. Amateur at most. Saw the wiring configurations immediately, just needed to take him out before doing anything."
Orphan nodded and pulled the wire that Bluebird mentioned. Nothing happened and the timer flickered off, deactivating the bomb.
"Good, now we can finally get to the Batman." Bluebird said as Orphan entered the elevator and she pressed the top floor button.