The Batwing normally used an auto-navigation system via a series of radio control towers. However, something was wrong as Batman and Zero flew across the city.
"Alfred, Jeremiah, we've got-"
"We're tracking it too. It appears the control towers you use for your auto-nav system are putting out a jamming signal."
"Storm damage?" Batman guessed.
"You'll both have to go down there and find that out for yourselves."
"The Coventry Tower is the closest one to our position. We'll drop there and determine the source of the signal." Zero decided.
The two vigilante heroes ejected from the Batwing and glided down until they smashed through a skylight. No sooner did they land than they overheard several people talking. Using the Detective Vision from his cowl, Batman noticed several armed mobsters holding several technicians hostage.
"Let's make an introduction." Zero said as he swung the door open, he and Batman stepping through.
The duo's shadows loomed over the mobsters, who were startled at their presence.
"Grab the hostages!"
"Y-You seein' this?!"
"What the hell are they?"
"Should we go for the pincer approach?" Batman asked Zero, who smirked behind his mask.
"You read my mind."
Batman dropped some smoke pellets, providing cover for him and Zero to split off in two different directions. Batman grappled up to a nearby platform while Zero slinked against the walls. Batman noticed one thug holding a hostage while underneath a gargoyle and smirked internally.
"Nobody ever expects an attack from above."
He quickly grappled across the platforms until he was right over the gunman, putting him in a perfect position to use an inverted takedown to grab the thug and let the hostage escape. The thug was left dangling by his feet from the ledge.
As for Zero, he had snuck into the vent system, finding the next thug, who had his gun trained on the hostage, but his back to the other grate. Chuckling, Zero burst from the grate, flipped the thug over his shoulder, grabbed his legs, and then slammed him like a ragdoll into the ground hard enough to knock him out.
"P-Please, I don't want any trouble!" The hostage pleaded.
"Just get yourself to safety. And call the police, they'll want to know what's going on." Zero ordered.
Zero made his way through an open vent system, which led to a weak wall where another gunman had the third hostage.
"Lining up like dominoes."
He smashed through the wall and dragged the thug inside, allowing the hostage to get to safety as he struck the thug across the face, knocking him unconscious. He then saw Batman grapple up to pull the last thug over the ledge he was standing on and leave him dangling by his feet.
"Pincer success."
With all enemies neutralized and the hostages safe, Batman and Zero entered the control room to find the wall opposite the door had been blown open, and a corpse was visible beneath the rubble.
Batman frowned. "I don't think this tower malfunction is from storm damage. It's starting to look more like sabotage."
"Alfred, Jeremiah, we're going to set up a crime scene." Zero contacted the two butlers. "Stand by for evidence."
Batman started things off by identifying the body.
"Victim's name is David Shannon, a Gotham Optics employee sent here to repair a faulty network tower. But what killed him?"
Zero took over, noticing a DNA impact on the wall just above the corpse. The visor of his mask created an augmented reality recreation of the events that transpired based on the evidence.
"It seems Mr. Shannon was killed by the blast wave of an explosion that seems to originate from the control room's access panel."
Batman nodded and scanned the access panel, noticing a set of fingerprints that didn't seem to belong to the victim.
"It looks like the panel was rigged to detonate when swiped with a keycard. Someone really didn't want this tower repaired." Batman noted. "And it looks like that same someone left a set of fingerprints behind."
Zero nodded and contacted the butlers. "Alfred, Jeremiah, we're uploading some prints for analysis. Tell us what comes up."
"Certainly, sir. Searching now...and here we are." Alfred said. "They belong to one John F. Baker. He's a rather unremarkable criminal. Small jobs, mostly."
"Curiously, he was just reported dead an hour ago. The GCPD recovered his body from the Diamond District." Jeremiah added. "Seems whoever masterminded the tower's sabotage decided to tie up loose ends."
As the butlers were talking, Zero noticed something behind a nearby grate and used a special magnetizing brace on the palm of his glove to pull it to his hand, revealing it to be the keycard used by the victim. Scanning the card allowed him to access encryption codes for all the control towers, which he shared with Batman, their mask and cowl sharing an interconnected link to the Batcomputer.
"I can use my Cryptographic Sequencer to bypass the booby-trapped access panel," Batman said. "Lelouch, you should stand back in case something goes wrong."
Fortunately, Batman was able to bypass the trap without a problem, allowing him and Zero to unlock the door and climb the ladder past the door to reach the main control room.
"Alfred, Jeremiah, contact the GCPD. Let them know about the body. Send the data from our analysis, too." Batman contacted.
"Certainly, sir. Does this mean you and Master Lelouch have found the source of the disturbance?" Alfred asked.
"I think so."
Wrenching open the door, the two heroes were shocked to find several monitors had been hooked up to the network, along with a remote access panel. When Batman pulled out his Cryptographic Sequencer, the image of a man with green-tinted glasses appeared, his face largely obscured by shadow.
"Well, well, if it isn't the King Thug himself. Figured it was only a matter of time before you showed up. Sorry about the mess downstairs, I'm not a fan of unnecessary death, but sometimes needs must."
"Who is this?" Batman asked.
"Think of me as a great big mystery! One you're never going to solve."
Zero smirked. "Then you don't mind if we call you Enigma, then?"
"Ooh-hoo-hoo, you're quite the clever one, aren't you?" The now-named Enigma chuckled. "Well, how's this for clever? I've taken control of towers all over the city. As long as they're active, your Batwing's useless. And it looks like it's gonna stay that way. Can you hack it at taking them offline? Pun intended, of course."
Batman just scoffed and easily deciphered the remote jammer's code, disabling it.
"Hmmm... Black Mask's not going to like this." Enigma hummed. "Well, since you've obviously proven smart enough to disable this jammer, I figure I'd give you a little reward; I've just sent you coordinates to my personal hideout. Why don't you come by for a little visit?"
As the communication cut, Batman and Zero noticed the tower was now showing the locations of a network of relays that seemed to be distributing a security signal.
"I see you've regained control of the Batwing, sir," Alfred noted. "I suppose it's off to Jezebel Plaza then."
"That's the plan, but we now have a new threat in the form of a man we've taken to calling Enigma." Zero said. "He didn't exactly give us his actual name."
"We'll add him as a case file to the itinerary. And we've already sent an anonymous tip to the police about David Shannon's murder, including all evidence collected." Jeremiah said.
Batman sighed. "This night just keeps getting longer and longer."
"Joy to the world..." Zero quipped.
Since there was plenty of time before the arms deal in Jezebel Plaza was supposed to happen, the Dynamic Duo headed to the coordinates of Enigma's hideout. The entrance was hidden behind a hollow spot on a billboard for the Gotham Rail. Descending the elevator, the two heroes found no sign of Enigma, at least not physically. His obscured face did show up on the monitors inside the hideout.
"Disappointed I didn't choose to meet up in person?" Enigma smugly asked. "Well, obviously, I can't match either of you in the physical department, but my brains are another story."
"What's this about? Sionis hire you to throw us off his trail?" Batman asked.
"Think of me as an information broker. I've got data handlers everywhere, feeding me all kinds of interesting stuff!" Engima explained. "Black Mask paid me quite a generous sum of money to shut down the radio towers. Seems even a savage brute like him was smart enough to know you were ingeniously using them as auto nav-points for your Batwing."
"But this is about more than just Black Mask hiring you to throw us off his trail, isn't it?" Zero asked.
"Oh, yes. The secrets my handlers have been sending me these past few weeks are the juiciest anyone has ever seen!" Enigma said. "See, bullet wounds and broken bones will eventually heal. But incriminating photos? Videos? Emails? That kind of damage can never be repaired."
"So that's your game in all this, huh?" Zero deduced.
"Indeed! I plan to release this information come the morning." Enigma revealed. "Resignations. Arrests. Deaths. It'll be chaos in the streets! And there's not a thing either of you can do to stop me!"
Batman and Zero approached a computer tower in front of them. Batman looked ready to smash it right then and there but Zero stopped him, carefully reaching his hand out to touch it, only to quickly pull it back when the console emitted an electrical discharge.
"As you can see, I hooked the equipment up to a generator that will emit a 10000-volt discharge when approached without the proper password. Just in case someone decided to go all caveman on it." Enigma explained. "The only way to shut it down is to bring down the security relays scattered across the city. And the only way to accurately track them is by shutting down the jamming signal of each tower."
"Then that's just what we'll do." Batman said firmly.
"Of course, each tower will have its own security set up by yours truly." Enigma smugly added. "Better get started trying to dismantle the network, you two. You have until sunrise, and I'm sure neither of you wants the extra work on your plate."
The Dynamic Duo quickly ran a data scan to find the locations and identities of all of Enigma's handlers. Batman then noticed a nearby packet hanging over and grabbed it with his Batclaw.
"Hmmm, some kind of datapack."
"Looks like it's part of a set of ten." Zero noted. "If we can gather the other nine, we can break the encryption and find out what's in the data. That will remove one blackmail file from Enigma's network."
Batman nodded as the two went back to the elevator. It seemed Black Mask and the Assassins weren't the only foe they'd have to face tonight...
I really liked how mtnetsurfer portrayed Riddler in Code Batman with Lloyd Asplund playing him. But here, it will be Edward Nygma and he will have some of that smug asshole energy he had from the canon Arkham games. However, I will also make sure to have his comic book accurate respect for Batman intact, with the addition of Zero being thrown in, I believe Nygma will have another worthy brain to contend with.
Also, what are some ideas for gadgets Zero can use? I'm willing to take suggestions.