Disclaimer: I do not own Batman
GCPD surrounded Gotham Cathedral; an anonymous tip had informed them of a bomb within the church. Currently, Officer Michael Lane was inside trying to diffuse the bomb, but it wasn't a normal bomb, it was attached to a computer with a message on the screen.
"Struggling?"
Batman appeared behind Officer Lane.
"They never covered this kind of stuff at the academy."
"Then let me try…"
Batman stepped past Lane and took a look at the message.
I'm a giant in a city, silent and wise. Filled with endless stories, underneath the skies. I am not a creature, but a vault of lore.
What am I?
"A riddle?" asked Batman
"Clearly, but what's the answer?" asked Lane
"Easy, a Library."
Batman typed out 'Library' and the countdown timer on the bombs stopped. Lane let out a sigh of relief, until the lights came on in a bright shade of green. The screen came back on, showing a shadowy figure.
"Congratulations, it appears I have finally met my equal, reveal yourself!"
Batman looked towards Lane, who stepped in view of the camera.
"Officer Michael Lane, I'm surprised. But I suppose we can hide our true intellect from others. I'm looking forward to our little game!"
"What game? Who are you?"
"Oh, of course, how foolish of me, introductions, you can call me…The Riddler. As for the game, I have set up 5 more challenges around Gotham, and you're going to play."
"And if I refuse?"
"I thought you'd say that. I have taken hostages and hidden them near my challenges, if you don't save them, they die. So, care to play?"
Lane gritted his teeth in anger.
"Fine, let's play!"
"Wonderful, you already have all you need to find the first hostage, I look forward to seeing you there!"
The screen turned off.
"We already have all we need?"
"The answer to the riddle, the first hostage is at Gotham Public Library"
Batman took out his Batclaw and left the cathedral, Lane ran to his squad car. The rest of the GCPD were about to follow, when a voice came over their radios.
"To our boys in blue, Officer Lane has accepted the responsibility of challenging me, The Riddler, to a night of riddles and games, but I'm afraid he must do it all on his own. If I see any officers near Lane, I'll blow Gotham sky high."
Lane arrived at the library, he entered and saw a woman, around mid 50s, a noose tied around her neck and standing atop a massive pile of books. The Riddler's voice sounded on the nearby speakers.
"Officer Lane, let's hope you can find a way to save this poor woman, those books aren't the most structurally sound thing to be standing on."
Lane started climbing the books. Riddler was right, they were very unstable and wobbly, Lane struggled keeping himself upright, he almost reached the woman when the pile came tumbling down. Luckily, Batman was able to catch Lane and get the woman down, cutting the noose with a Batarang. Lane untied her.
"Thank you, both of you, I thought I was done for."
"You're safe now, did The Riddler say anything to you?" asked Batman
"No, but he did put this in my pocket."
The woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Batman.
I have seats but no living room, I have an engine but I'm not a car, I'm a transport but I'm not a plane, I'm a bullet but I'm not fired from a gun, I can be found in a subway but I'm no sandwich.
What am I?
"That's easy, a train, even I know that." said Lane
"Yes, it's almost too easy."
Lane contacted the other GCPD officers to come get the hostage before getting back in his car. Batman checked the rooftops to search for the next riddle. When Batman discovered a train at an abandoned station, covered in green question marks, he contacted Lane and told him where to go. The two soon met up at the station next to the train. Lane and Batman stepped inside the train, which immediately closed the doors and couldn't be opened again. A hologram of the Riddler appeared, now showing his full appearance. He wore a green suit covered with question marks with rolled up sleeves, a black dress shirt beneath the jacket and a green tie with a black question mark. His face could not be seen as he wore a green trilby hat and was looking down so the brim covered his face. He was leaning on a cane shaped like a question mark.
"Congratulations on solving my riddle, Lane, I hope you're ready for the next one. At the end of this abandoned train tunnel is a man, a dishonest man. In 1 minute, this train will start up at full speed and crash right into him, splattering him across the tunnel, the game is in the locomotive, finish it in time and the man will survive."
The hologram disappeared and Lane and Batman rushed to the locomotive. A grid of squares on a screen. Lane touched one of them and the square and each of the surrounding ones turned from black to green.
"You need to fill the grid with green squares." said Batman
Batman went to tap the screen, only to get a small electric shock.
"Looks like I have to handle this one." said Lane
"I'll talk you through it."
With Batman giving instructions, Lane worked through the puzzle. When the minute expired and the train started moving, Batman tried to break the windows of the train, but the glass was reinforced. In the distance, they could see the man Riddler had taken hostage. Lane was able to finish the puzzle just in time to stop the train from hitting the man. The doors opened and Lane and Batman got out to release the man. Batman found the next riddle in the man's pocket.
What do you always have with you, yet always leave behind?
"The answer is fingerprints."
"The next riddle must be at GCPD's Forensics Labs."
Lane contacted the GCPD to come to the station to pick up the hostage. As Lane was heading to the Forensics Labs, he got contacted by Detective Bullock.
"Lane, you still alive?"
"Still kicking, detective, you got the hostages to safety?"
"Yeah, the woman is Jessica Houston, she said Riddler told her she'd pay for ruining his family. The guy is Franklin Accardo, he was a witness in a murder case from a couple years ago."
"Oh? Any more info?"
"A woman called Kringle was strangled to death in her apartment, people suspected her boyfriend, Paul Patten, but Accardo gave an alibi that they were at Noonan's Bar at the time."
"That could be important, the next hostage might be in the forensics labs, but Riddler warned everyone that only I can be seen there."
"Understood"
Soon, Lane and Batman arrived at the GCPD, Batman got to the roof to find a way into the Forensics Labs without being spotted by the officers. Lane headed to the labs and kicked the door open. A chubby man was laying on a table, restrained at his four limbs and his neck by padlocks. The table was connected to a set of car batteries and a timer. There were hundreds of keys hanging from the ceiling with tags attached to them. The Riddler appeared on a nearby monitor.
"This should be a fun one, attached to each of these little restraints is a small riddle, unrelated to my little scavenger hunt, but I'll never turn down a fun little riddle. The answers are on the keys above you, find the correct key with the correct answer to each riddle and release the man laying before you. Tread carefully, Lane, for each incorrect answer, our little friend here will take a nasty little shock, and with each wrong answer, the voltage gets worse. Fail to solve the riddles within one hour and the man will be shocked at max power, which is around double the voltage used for the electric chair!"
Batman dropped in from the vents as the Riddler disappeared and the timer started.
"Think you can cut this guy loose?" asked Lane
"No, these restraints are reinforced, nothing I've got can cut through them."
"How did Riddler even set all this up?"
"2 possibilities, the first is that Riddler has someone from the GCPD working for him…"
"That's not likely, I trust the people I work with, what's theory two?"
"That Riddler doesn't need someone in the GCPD working for him, because he works for the GCPD himself!"
"Again, I have doubts, but for now, let's focus on letting this guy go, pick a lock." said Lane
Batman checked the riddle attached to the man's right leg.
What has the ability to make 2 people out of one?
"2 people out of one? I have no idea, only cloning could do that, but that's not a riddle." said Lane
"This is a basic one you'd likely find in a child's riddle book, the second person made is a reflection, the answer is a mirror."
"Well, riddles were never my strong point."
Batman and Lane searched the room for the key labelled 'Mirror'. Soon, Lane was able to find it and unlock the first restraint. Batman checked the second lock, on the man's left leg.
What looks like a log, floats like a log, but is not a log?
"Well, lots of things float, but what looks like a log?"
"This one, I'm not fully sure, search the keys and maybe we'll find it."
Batman and Lane checked the answers on the keys, after about 10 minutes, Lane felt like he got the answer, an Alligator. He checked the key in the lock and the restraint unlocked. Lane checked the riddle on the man's left wrist.
I have four fingers and a thumb, but flesh and blood, I have none. What am I?
"This is an easy one, a glove." said Lane
Batman found the key labelled glove and unlocked the restraint. He then took the riddle attached to the restraint around the man's neck.
What has one eye but cannot see?
"A needle." said both Batman and Lane at the same time.
After a brief search for the key, Lane unlocked the restraint and Batman checked the last riddle.
I am found in socks, scarves and mittens, and on the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
"You know the answer?" asked Lane
"Easy one, it's Yarn."
Lane soon found the key and unlocked the last restraint, before removing the towel from the man's face. The man was knocked out cold, probably from some sort of sedative. Batman saw the next riddle sticking out of his shirt pocket and took it, before exiting through the vents. Lane called officers into the forensics lab to attend to the hostage. When the hostage was taken care of, he rushed to his car and contacted Batman.
"The man's safe now, what's the next riddle?" asked Lane
"It says 'I'm as a child, a lamb and a simpleton at once. All were born with me, yet few possess me at the moment of death. What am I?', thankfully I already know the answer, it's Innocence." said Batman
"Innocence? So the next hostage is in a nursery? The riddle mentions a child."
"No, I thought about the previous hostages, my files revealed the woman was involved in a court case 20 years ago, she had been the mistress to a man whose name had been redacted, his wife filed for divorce and went missing the day before the final verdict. The next hostage, Franklin Accardo, gave a witness statement in a murder case that allowed the suspect to go free. The previous hostage I recognized, Paul Patten, was the suspect that Accardo aided in the murder case. Riddler believes all these people he's taking are guilty of different crimes, he's judging them, so the innocence in the riddle refers to a trial verdict, the next hostage is at Solomon Wayne Courthouse." said Batman
Lane stepped on the gas and sped to the Courthouse. Batman was waiting on the roof. Lane entered through the front door while Batman entered from the roof. They got inside and Lane followed a trail of spray painted green question marks. Batman opened the door and inside was an old man behind a glass wall, tied to the walls by barbed wire attached to motors on the walls. A hologram of the Riddler appeared on a mechanical device nearby.
"My next game, Lane. The man before you is guilty of breaking the heart of an innocent woman, ruining the life of a wise young boy, and murder! Solve my fun little puzzle and the man's restraints will be released, but if you fail to solve it within 4 minutes, the man's limbs will be ripped from his body, but then again, the crimes he's committed…does he deserve mercy?"
The Riddler's hologram disappeared, replaced by a holographic cube with mismatched sides.
"Oh, I used to love these things when I was a kid." said Lane
"This is no time for nostalgia, we have to be quick." said Batman
Batman started work using the buttons on the device to manipulate the cube. With every passing second, the hostage's restraints slowly got tighter and tighter. Lane tried to work on breaking open a metal door on the glass wall. Time was ticking away and the man was screaming in pain as the barbed wire cut his skin. Eventually, with a couple seconds left on the clock, Batman finished the puzzle and the hostage's restraints were released. The metal door opened and Lane went to check on the man. His mouth had been sewn shut, leaving him unable to speak. Batman took out a batarang and tried to use it to cut the wires, but it was no use.
"We'll have to get him to a doctor to remove the wires. But we need to find the Riddler's last hostage." said Batman, taking the last riddle from the hostage's pocket. Lane contacted the GCPD to come get the hostage.
Critical care with great haste, where patients are met with an urgent embrace. What am I?
"Do you know the answer?" asked Lane
"An Emergency, the last hostage is at a hospital."
"But which one? There are several hospitals across Gotham."
Batman gave it some thought for a minute, before he realised where the last hostage was, and who it was.
"Gotham General Hospital."
Batman rushed out of the courthouse, followed by Lane.
"How'd you guess that?"
"Because the last hostage is Commissioner Gordon!"
Batman took to the rooftops while Lane got in his car and drove to Gotham General Hospital. Batman contacted Alfred.
"Alfred, see if you can look up something on the court case involving Jessica Houston, the wife that went missing, what was her name?"
"On it, sir, it appears the woman's name was Amanda, her surname wasn't revealed since her husband's name was redacted, but her maiden name was Nygma, she was succeeded by her son, Edward. I'll send a picture of the boy."
"Thanks Alfred, I think I have all I need to figure out who this Riddler is."
Soon, Batman and Lane arrived at Gotham General Hospital. Batman travelled through the vents while Lane went to the receptionist, showing his police badge and asking about Commissioner Gordon. She had told him that a doctor had taken Commissioner Gordon to the basement for a hydrotherapy bath. Lane went to the basement, the door was locked, so he kicked it open, revealing the sight of an unconscious Commissioner Gordon's tied down in a bathtub, wires were in the water and connected to devices around the room. Batman entered the room behind Lane. The Riddler's voice sounded from the speaker.
"Congratulations, Lane, the final game! Let's see if you can save the Commissioner! The rules are fairly simple…"
A light came on behind Commissioner Gordon, a classic wire loop game.
"...get the hoop to the end of the wire maze, careful not to touch the wire or Gordon gets a shock, with each mistake, the shocks get worse. And don't bother trying to take the wires out, step past the green line and all 4 batteries activate at once. Good luck!"
Batman stood by the game and took hold of the hoop. Gently moving across the wire.
"How'd you know Gordon was the last hostage?" asked Lane
"The same reason why I know exactly who the Riddler is."
"You know? Who is it?"
"Detective Edward Nashton."
Lane stood in shock. Batman was now a quarter of the way through the game when he accidentally hit the wire and gave Gordon a mild shock.
"How is that possible?"
"2 years ago, Paul Patten was suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Kristen Kringle, after she got engaged to police detective Edward Nashton. Due to his relationship to the victim, Nashton was kept off the case by Commissioner Gordon…"
"That's true, but Eddie insisted on leading the investigation. When we caught Patten and took him in, Edward got violent. Gordon suspended him for police brutality. Eddie said he didn't mind, as long as Patten got what he deserved. But Franklin Accardo gave a statement that said Patten was having drinks at Noonan's Bar at the time of the murder, allowing Patten to go free. But what about the other two hostages?"
"Jessica Houston was involved in a divorce case when she had been having an affair with a man, whose wife disappeared before the court date. The woman's son was named Edward…"
Batman took out a small device, resembling a cell phone, showing a picture of the young Edward, clearly a younger version of detective Edward Nashton. At this point, Batman was half way through.
"The missing woman was Edward's mother, and then there's the last man, Riddler said he broke a woman's heart and committed murder, the wife he cheated on and made disappear. That man was Edward's father."
"So that's it, Eddie is trying to dish out his own justice."
"This isn't justice, this is revenge."
Batman kept going. Eventually finishing the game. The batteries powered down, allowing Batman and Lane to get near the bathtub and release Commissioner Gordon. Batman checked his pulse.
"He'll live."
"Thank goodness for that, but now what? Where's Riddler?"
"Where are Gotham's files kept?"
"Uh…a repository located under City Hall, why?"
"That's what Riddler is after, think back to the five answers to the riddles, Library, a train, which is found at a Station, Fingerprints, Innocence, Emergency. Rearrange the first letters and you get Files."
Batman and Lane exited the library after Lane called for security to look after Commissioner Gordon. They both got in Lane's car and drove to City Hall. At City Hall, in the repository, Riddler sat at a computer, where he was searching through anything he could find on himself. Meanwhile, several miniature robots searched for physical files on 'Edward Nashton'. Lane stepped inside and pulled a gun on Riddler.
"Hands up, Eddie, I wish I didn't have to do this. You were a good detective."
"Greetings, Lane, I must compliment you on figuring out my secret riddles. Then again, there was your little lifeline helping you along."
"What are you talking about, you maniac?"
"I'm no maniac, I am a brainiac. I'm too intelligent to fall for any lies, Michael, I know Batman has been helping you along, I've known about your little alliance for quite some time."
The moment was interrupted by one of Riddler's robots smashing against the wall between Riddler and Lane. Batman stepped out of the shadows.
"Why now, Nashton? Everything that happened with the people you kidnapped was years ago, why wait so long to do all this?" asked Batman
"Because I couldn't do anything with Gordon, after I returned from my suspension, Gordon kept a close eye on me, then when he suffered that heart attack, I took my chance. The chance to put an end to the biggest weakling in Gotham!"
"The biggest weakling in Gotham? What are you talking about?" asked Lane
"I know who you're talking about, you mean Edward Nashton, you're here to erase all traces of your existence." said Batman
"Give the bat a prize! Edward Nashton stood by while his abusive, alcoholic father stepped out on his own wife with some whore! He didn't speak up when that same father murdered Edward's mother! He wasn't strong enough to save his fiancée! He let the system walk over him when her killer got away with murder! The world would have been better without him, and after tonight, Edward Nashton will cease to exist, but they will remember Gotham's greatest mind, THE RIDDLER!"
"You're crazy."
"NO! I'M NOT! I'm an unrivalled intellect who sees the truth where others fail! My dear mother knew that! And so will Gotham, and you won't stop me!"
Riddler pressed a hidden button on his question mark cane. The eyes on the robots flashed red and the robots turned to attack Batman and Lane. While Batman and Lane fought off Riddler's robots, Riddler took the chance to escape. Once the robots were defeated, Batman ran after Riddler. Riddler had hidden somewhere within City Hall. When Batman turned a corner, Riddler jumped out and took a swing with his cane, knocking Batman back, before jabbing Batman in the stomach with the end, which doubled as a taser. Bringing Batman to his knees. Riddler raised his cane, ready to deliver the final blow, when a gunshot brought Riddler down, clutching his bleeding leg. Batman looked to see Lane pointing his smoking gun.
"Here's a riddle, what's green and red and heading to Arkham? The answer, you!" said Lane
Batman and Lane handcuffed Riddler and put him in Lane's car. Batman took to the rooftops while Lane drove Riddler to the GCPD.
"Riddle me this, Lane, what's stopping me from revealing your secret alliance to Batman once we reach the GCPD?" asked Riddler
"Because, Eddie, after all you've done tonight, you'll be seen as another madman, you can tell them whatever you want, it would just be the ramblings of a psychopath!"
"Psychopath? PSYCHOPATH?! Who's crazy between the two of us? The man that wants to bring justice to Gotham, or the one teaming with A MAN DRESSED LIKE A BAT?!"
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