The Riddler was having the time of his life. He swirled around in his office chair, watching a bank of screens, each one linked to the various rooms and wings of the mansion via the hundreds of security cameras. He huffed and reminded himself that he knew Batman was gonna solve that riddle. I mean, it would be no fun to kill him right away, would it? No. That's why he made the first one so easy. But how did he do it so fast, Riddler thought.

The room was dim, lit mostly from the glow of the 14 screens surrounding him. Seven stacks of two screens circled him along with a few keyboards and mice.

The stream was up to 120 million viewers. Not as many as Riddler had hoped, even given the very late/early hour, but he was still thrilled about it. Pretty much all of Gotham city was watching. 67% of the eastern seaboard was watching. It wasn't quite so late on the west coast, so 89% of California was tuned in. Nearly a third of the entire country and millions more across the world. Riddler was the #1 trend on every social media platform. The Riddler, in that moment, was ostensibly the most famous person on the entire planet.

The thought gave him chills and he began to giggle.

On one of Riddler's screens an alert blurted out. Riddler quickly focused on it. A few cameras overlooking the edges of the royal garden were offline. The other cameras in the area weren't detecting any police. Surely no Gotham local actually solved his riddles and was intruding.

No matter, Riddler thought. He didn't plan on leading Batman out to the garden area anyway. It's okay if a few cameras there are offline. But it was still odd. He designed this network and inspected the contractor's work afterwords himself. How could there be an outage in his system? Perhaps a raccoon was chewing on a wire or something.

###

Robin snuk along the bushes on the edge of the garden. The cryptographic sequencer had certainly proven its value. With it, Robin hacked through Riddler's firewall and found the specific frequency for the monitoring system. He synced into the signal wave with an even stronger new signal and overloaded it.

Robin watched for the camera's chins to droop, signaling they were powered off.

Robin pressed forward closer to the house. Finally clear from all the camera, Robin looked up the four story side of the outer wall. A metal grate for air ventilation was bolted to the top of the next floor. That was his entry point. He pulled his grapnel launcher from his utility belt and fired it at the grate. The claw hooked into it and Robin yanked hard at the cable attached to it, tearing the grate off the wall. He rewound his launcher and fired it again and scaled the wall and entered the air duct.

"Batman. I'm in."

###

"Acknowledged," Batman said quietly.

"What?" Veronica said.

"Stay close."

"Oh. Right," Veronica said. She took each step very carefully, trying to avoid debris. Her high heels were long gone. Her short black skirt was covered in dust and her white short sleeve button down shirt was damp from sweat. "Batman, where are we? This place is awful. It smells here. Are we walking toward the exit? I don't have my phone. I haven't had my phone in…well I don't know because I don't have my phone. Are you sure my hair is okay? It doesn't feel like it's okay."

Batman continued following the glowing green trail in the floor. Now it led down a set of stairs. Recalling the house blue prints in his mind he is heading north toward the recreation wing. The next room was a wet room, meant for muddy boots or wet clothes. The stables would be ahead to the left, but the green trail led into a shower area and toward the pool room where the next riddle waited.

The green light made the water in the pool look like a vat of rippling toxins and acids.

A chill went up Batman's spine for what he knew was yet to come.

"Batman!" The Penguin said. "For once in your sad pathetic life make yourself useful and get me the hell out of here!"

Three feet above the water hung another glass tank, similar to the one Veronica was trapped in. Inside was the Penguin, but missing his signature top hat and umbrella.

"Ozzy?" Veronica said. "What in heavens are you doing here?"

"Ronnie? What the hell does it look like I'm doing, you thick twit! Batman! Open this damn thing now!"

Veronica was taken aback by Oswald's tone toward her.

Batman didn't let his face reveal it, but he enjoyed seeing Penguin like this.

"Oh, Penguin! Oh, Penngy-Poo!" Riddler said. "Oswald Cobblepot, or more affectionately known by everyone else behind his back, the Penguin!"

"Riddler!" Penguin shouted. "I'm gonna kill you, do you hear me? You're a dead man, Nigma!"

"This pudgey pirate is a kind of scum almost as bad as Batman. Where I, the Riddler, have graciously and generously accepted the burden of being your – the people of Gotham's – educator, the Penguin would only use you! Steal from you! Suck you dry of your meager little wages! Perhaps the pool water can cleanse this salty bird!"

A stream of water started pouring into the tank from a pipe connected to the top. It surprised Penguin and he slipped inside the tank and smacked his nose on the glass.

On the wall behind where the tank hung, four shutters swung open, each revealing rotating cards with different numbers, letters, shapes and symbols on each one. Below them was a single red switch like the previous riddle.

Batman studied the rotating cards for a few seconds. He watched the pattern. It was the same four symbols together each time, rotating in a series of ten. He quickly determined the solution to the puzzle. Uh oh, the cards were now rotating faster with each passing moment. Since there was only one red switch, presumably to stop all four cards at once instead of each card individually, he had to wait for the correct combination of cards to repeat again at just the right moment before he hurled his Baterang.

Penguin regained his footing and beat against his glass cage. The water was now past his belly and moving up to his chest.

"Batman, do something!" Veronica said.

Another few seconds passed. The cards were moving so fast now they were hardly distinguishable. The water was up to Penguin's nose.

Now. As quick as a blink, Batman's arm extended and a Batarang left his hand. It struck the red switch and the cards froze on NaCl. The periodic symbol for sodium chloride.

The bottom of the tank swung open. Penguin dropped into the pool below.

Penguin rose to the surface and gasped for air. He kicked his legs and flapped his arm. "Hey!" Penguin said. He choked on a gulp of water. "I can't swim!"

Batman watched him for a moment and his eyes met Penguin's. Batman wanted him to know that he was watching him be helpless and afraid. Finally, Batman kicked a small round float into the pool.

Penguin's hands found it and he kicked his little stubby legs to the edge of the pool, cursing like a sailor the whole way.

Veronica met him at the edge. She wanted to help him, but she also didn't want to get too close. He was awfully wet and grumpy.

"Pull me up!" Penguin said to Veronica.

"Uh, actually, Ozzy, it looks like if you just scooch to your right a little it you can make it to the shallow end and use the ladder."

"You bleeding wo–" Penguin choked another gulp of water.

Batman heard another door unlock. It lit up with green and he started toward it. Veronica followed closely behind him as ordered. Penguin, now out of the pool, caught up behind them, squishing with each step.

The next room was a den. Couches and ottomans, easy chairs, a fireplace, a record player all covered in green light. A large window looked out at the garden with iron bars on the other side of it. The floor lit up along the way.

"Enough of this shit!" Penguin said. He picked up a metal stoker from the side of the fireplace and started to bash the window with it. It took a few wacks before the glass finally shattered, but it was useless against the iron bars. Penguin did not relent.

"Ah ah ah! Batman. control your–" Riddler's PA system was cutting out. "-earlier, there are consequences for cheating! Wait a second…did I just cut–."

A door unlocked and opened. Rhino walked through, ducking his head underneath the threshold.

Penguin turned to the goliath of a man and pointed the poker. "You! Oh, have you got some explaining to do, you big dumb son of a bitch!"

Rhino walked over to him and punched him square in the jaw. Knocked him out cold.

Batman poised himself for a fight should Rhino come at him or Veronica next. Rhino picked up Penguin's limp body and carried him to a long royal blue velvet couch and laid him there. He sat down next to him.

"Testing, testing," the Riddler said. "Please stand by we may be experiencing some very minor technical difficul–"

"You and the girl can go, Batman," said Rhino. "Mr. Cobblepot will be fine. I'm gonna sit with him."

"You're not gonna kill him are you?" Batman asked.

"Nope," Rhino said. "Boss said not to. Just to keep ya inside."

"Is the Riddler your new Boss?"

"Yup," Rhino said. "I think Mr. Cobblepot will understand. It's just business."

"He's paying you more than Penguin?"

"Oh yeah. Lots more."

"And where is he getting this money?"

"Dunno," Rhino said. He shrugged his shoulders. "Didn't ask. None of my business. And bad manners, too."

"What the hell is doing this?" the Riddler said. "Oh! Am I back on? Of course I'm back on! Oh yes, Rhino! Heck of a doorman he is. No one leaves the property while that game is still afoot!"