Edward Nigma (riddle_riddle) wrote in newalliance, @ 2012-04-15 08:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | batgirl ii, red robin, riddler, spoiler |
Who: Robin, the Riddler, Spoiler, Batgirl, NPC goons, NPC innocent spectators
Where: The bad part of Gotham
When: Pre-Dated - Monday, March 16, evening
What: Robin has tracked down the Riddler and tries to catch him, however the Riddler manages to escape, only to fall into the hands of a vengeful Spoiler.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Status: Completed in Gdocs
It had been nearly a month now since the Riddler had murdered Stephanie’s dad, and in that time Robin had worked the streets tirelessly trying to find him. The problem was, of course, that the Riddler was too smart to stay out in the open or to leave any obvious tracks, both physical or electronic. That left Robin the laborious task then of working through the scum of the Gotham underworld to try and find out where he was hiding from people who had worked, or were currently doing odd jobs for him in some capacity. Again, no easy feat. Especially when these were not the kind of people who liked to talk. Fortunately, his close study and working relationship with the Batman gave him plenty of means with which to ‘persuade’ the people he needed to talk, and in the end, his efforts had finally borne fruit. Now as he crept silently through the Riddler’s hide out to the room he had pin pointed him in, he found himself unconsciously clenching his fists, more than a little eager to get his hands on the murderer.
“Riddle me this”, Robin said as he approached Nigma, “What is often blind, yet inescapable?” He let the riddle hang in there air just a moment, both for psychological effect and as a means through which to restrain himself, before answering in a dark voice, “Justice.”
There were times when Eddie needed supplies, and for the most part, he would purchase them online. However, he couldn’t simply have them delivered to his secret lair - he had them sent to a certain shop on the East side of the city, after making a deal with the owner, and then pick them up, later. Hired goons were loading boxes into a plain ol’ van, while Eddie waited, his green Riddler’s suit a stark contrast to the work clothes the others wore. His back was turned, leaning both of his gloved hands upon his cane, and the others were so busy lugging stuff around that nobody noticed Robin’s presence, until it was too late.
The voice asking the riddle made Eddie perk up, and his initial reaction was not to wonder who had asked, but what was the answer. In the moment’s pause, the Riddler looked over his shoulder and was met with horror to see the masked hero. Eyes opened wide and mouth gaped. He maneuvered himself to get away, but Robin was too close.
Robin was not typically one to take any pleasure in instilling fear in his adversaries, but in this one instance he could not deny the satisfaction that it brought him. To know, that if only for that moment, he had caused the Riddler to feel the same kind of fear he so often set upon his victims. When Nigma went to flee, Robin caught him by the shoulder and spun him back, to catch his left hook. And then a right. When the Riddler began to fall backward, Robin broke with his usual discipline and pounced on him like a predatory cat, grabbing him by the collar as he temporarily forgot that they were not alone.
The Riddler went down instantly; he didn’t even attempt to put up a fight. A fist fell hard across his nose and blood spattered, yet miraculously, he did not lose consciousness. By that time, the men who had been hired to load the Riddler’s van saw what was happening. Two of them dropped whatever they were doing and fled - they hadn’t been hired to fight off one of Batman’s crew. But two others, who looked more intimidating in size and strength, decided to see if they could match against this kid in the cape. While Robin’s attention was focused upon the Riddler, one came from behind and grabbed him by both his arms, yanking him off the hapless criminal. Holding Robin tight, pulling his arms behind his back, the second goon believed Robin to be incapacitated and unable to fight back when he swung a punch.
The moment Robin was pulled off him, the Riddler scrambled to his feet. His head was spinning and throbbing with pain, but he had enough of his wits about him to make a break for it. Picking up his cane, which he’d dropped to the ground, he stumbled for the door to escape.
Robin cursed himself for being so foolish as his arms were yanked behind his back, leaving him vulnerable to the thug before him who took full advantage of the situation. A couple shots to his abdominal area taught him in his pain not to make such a mistake again, as he found his focus again. Pinned as he was, he kicked both of his feet up and out, knocking the thug in front of him to the ground. The man behind him thrashed him back and forth, but Robin did not waste his strength in fighting the hold. Instead, he went with the flow, and waited until he was actually held in place again before kicking his left leg up high enough against his body catch the man in the face with the toe of his boot.
As that man stumbled backward, the other was just recovering, and in the spare second he had to assess his situation, Robin discovered none to his surprise that the Riddler had already high tailed it, causing him to curse again. He would pursue, of course, but first he had to deal with the two big men who were closing in on him from either side.
As he ran through the alley, Eddie held his sleeve up to his nose to stem the flow of blood; Robin’s punch hit him hard, but nothing he hadn’t dealt with before. He knew that his goons wouldn’t be able to hold Robin off for too long, so he needed to distance himself as far as possible and find a place to hide until the coast was clear. Preferably in one of his safe houses, which he maintained in different parts of the city.
Rooftop tag had become a thing for Spoiler and Batgirl and this time, for once, it was Spoiler who was trying to get away from Batgirl. She was running as fast as she could, over alleys, across roofs and under billboards.
Batgirl had to admit she was somewhat impressed by Spoiler's speed. Clearly she'd had some amount of athletic training before donning a costume. Not that Batgirl herself couldn't keep up with her; the black-clad girl was hot on the heels of the purple-clad one. But most people she chased would have been caught in less than a minute, and it was going on four minutes now.
Batgirl supposed if she really wanted to pour on the speed, the chase would be over, but where was the fun in that?
It was by pure luck that as Steph grappled over an alley between two brownstones that she saw Eddie. The sound of his steps hard on the pavement had made Steph glance down and his particular swatch of green was all too familiar. Stunned, she landed on the roof with a tumble that knocked the breath out of her, but she didn’t care. The game of tag was forgotten.
It was the Riddler.
Batgirl leaped over the alley gap and was at Spoiler's side, wanting to see if she was okay. Her landing left much to be desired, and in fact looked kind of painful. But it was clear Spoiler was paying attention to something else. Or rather, someone. Someone wearing green with those curly question shapes. Her eyes narrowed behind her mask.
Licking her lips, Steph ran down the roof, all the while keeping her gaze trained on the Riddler down below. The bastard was so close. Fists clenched, she roared and leaped sideways into the alley, angling her body so that she landed near him on the way down. “I’m going to fucking kill you!” she declared.
The sudden appearance of the Spoiler made Eddie skid to a halt. The end of this particular round of games was coming to an end, he knew it in his heart. Once he was cornered like this, without any hired goons to come to his aid, without any Death Traps to act as a buffer, he was as good as caught. But that didn’t mean he would not give up without a fight.
“Riddle me this! In a tunnel of darkness lies a beast of iron. It can only attack when pulled back,” Eddie pulled out a pistol from his pocket and fired two shots, then turned to run the opposite direction, toward the street, where, upon the sidewalk, a group of people were walking. He pushed through the people, who shouted with shock, both at the sight of the man they recognized as the Riddler, but also at the gun in his hand. He ran across the street, dodging a couple oncoming cars, whose horns loudly honked. On the other side, he sped down another alley, turning and firing as he ran. The people who the Riddler had passed began using their cell phones to record the excitement.
The gun was something Steph had not anticipated and her slight hesitation at seeing it cost her. It was by pure instinct that she dodged and rolled behind the boxes of junk and newspapers. Riddler wasn’t wasting time with aim and Steph was thankful for that. Hearing no consecutive shots being fired, Steph took a leap of faith and took off running. She could easily make out the Riddler’s green suit as he tried to escape. Angered, Steph bulldozed into the crowd. She didn’t see or hear the mixed reception she got from the crowd, most of them having never seen the Spoiler before.
From her vantage point on the roof, Batgirl took a moment to see if Spoiler had been shot. Clearly, the Riddler had missed, so she decided to take an easier route than the other two. She followed the rooftop along to the side facing the street, where the Riddler was dodging cars. She leaped off of the building and fired a jumpline at the building across the street. It anchored, and she swung toward it.
Steph crossed the road with more grace and less honking than the Riddler, thanks to years on the track team and her nightly escapades with Batgirl. She had no trouble keeping up with him this time and she caught up to him in the alley once again. If the Riddler could read body language half as well as Batgirl, it was obvious that Spoiler was done playing games.
Eddie was not nearly in good shape as Spoiler, spending most of his time at a computer - his only hope was to find a place to hide and foil the woman that way. He turned a corner but was utterly defeated upon discovering it was a dead end. Spinning around, he then came face to face with his opponent, and panicking, he began shooting at her, again.
Climbing the side of the building on the other side of the street took a minute or so, but as soon as her feet hit the cold rooftop, Batgirl followed the alley side, sprinting to catch up with the Riddler. She heard gunshots. She drew a trio of mini-batarangs from her belt and continued running.
This time, Steph knew he was going to shoot before he did and dodged to the left with moments to spare. She hated being shot at. It was the one good thing her dad did. He never used firearms. Despite all his misgivings, he didn’t use guns. The thought only made Steph more angry than she had been seconds ago and as soon as she dared, Steph sent two batarangs around the corner at where she imagined the Riddler to be.
With her minor distraction in place, she rushed him, fists clenched and jaw set.
The batarangs caused Riddler to duck, though they had been not perfectly aimed, giving Spoiler the chance she needed to advance. Fear registered upon his face. He aimed his gun one last time, but she was too quick and reached him before he even could get another round off.
Cass had reached the edge of the roof and had a perfect vantage point to see the Riddler trapped at the dead end. The only thing preventing from throwing the batarangs at him to disarm him was, well, a person. Spoiler had reached him, and her body language shouted violent rage. The same kind Batgirl had seen in her the first night they encountered each other. The same rage that had been caused by the man in green. The murderer.
Batgirl crouched at the edge of the roof and watched.
Cornered like the rat that he was. That was how Steph wanted him. The Riddler might not know the full magnitude of what he had done but he was going to pay for what he had done.
She swatted the Riddler’s gun away easily like Batgirl had shown her that time they ambushed the group of drug dealers. It was surprisingly easy to follow through by forcing him down to his knees with the simple gesture of wrapping her fingers around his thumb and twisting downward, another move Batgirl had shown her.
“You can’t get away from me forever, you sick fuck.” she hissed, and socked him in the jaw as hard as she could.
Eddie’s twisted hand hurt so much, it was possible that Spoiler had broken bones. His head was flung violently to the side from the force of the punch, and he could honestly say that Spoiler hit harder than Robin had. The game was definitely up, but that did not disturb him. Instead, he chuckled, past the blood that was flowing from his broken lip. “Riddle me this...” but that was all he could speak before being struck again.
Riddle me this? Riddle me this?
At a time like this, after all that he had done, he wanted to play with stupid riddles? Steph let go of the Riddler’s fingers, but before she could think, another punch landed on his face with a sickening crunch. “Don’t you talk about riddles. You killed him! YOU KILLED HIM!” It was so easy, landing punch after punch. She wasn’t even thinking anymore. It was pure rage and instinct and although somewhere inside her, she knew that what she was doing was wrong, there was a sick and perverted joy in seeing her dad’s murdered being beaten like this.
Batgirl watched. She hated people who killed. She'd hated them ever since she was six, and she'd discovered it was a horrific thing to be one. And the Riddler was one. He even showed on a video that he was one. He flaunted the fact as if it had been the most reasonable fact in the world.
He had taken the Spoiler's father from her, and Spoiler had every right to beat him bloody.
But beating someone bloody and beating someone to death were two different things. Batgirl prided herself on being able to tell when a person intended to do the one and when a person intended to do the other. And Spoiler's body said it was long past the first intention. Even worse, it was enjoying what it was doing.
Batgirl descended to the alley below, landing near Spoiler's shoulder. The shoulder of the arm she was using to pummel the Riddler. Batgirl reached out and blocked Spoiler's next punch with her forearm. The three batarangs clutched between her fingers glinted in the light. She wanted to get Spoiler's attention. "Stop. Now."
On edge, Steph turned when she noticed the sudden movement and felt the force of her punch before diverted. She was clearly expecting a Riddler goon or thug but no, it was Batgirl. Steph had forgotten about her friend in her haste to pursue the Riddler. She was crying under her mask by then, but she didn’t notice.
Steph stared at Batgirl, momentarily stopping her beat down on the Riddler. Batgirl had asked her to stop. She never asked her to stop. Steph turned her gaze to the Riddler’s bloody face, and her bloodied glove.
“I...I...oh god.”
Batgirl stared back, watching Spoiler's body language as realization dawned. She dropped her hand and placed the mini-batarangs back in her belt pouch. The Riddler was too beaten to be a threat to anyone, and Spoiler was falling apart at the seams.
Not knowing what else to do, Batgirl closed the distance between them and did something her time with the Batfamily had taught her to do. Something that had nothing to do with crime fighting, and everything to do with pain and loss.
She hugged Spoiler, letting the girl collapse and cry in her arms.
The thugs that Robin had had to deal with did not take long to dispatch, but by the time he caught up to the action, it was already over. Spoiler, with bloody glove, standing beside a broken Riddler. Batgirl there, holding. It was the exact scenario he had wanted to avoid by taking out the Riddler first; because though he thought that Stephanie was more than justified in her vengeance, he had worried that she would not be able to restrain herself once she tasted it. And regrettably, it seemed his concern had been genuine. Not that he entirely blamed her.
“The cops will be here any second”, Robin said as he dropped down beside Spoiler and Batgirl. “You’ve got get out of here, now.” To Batgirl specifically, he added, “Take her.” Stopping beside the Riddler, he checked the vitals of the murderer and hoped that he would not have to go through the frustration of having to perform any sort of medical intervention before the GCPD hit the scene.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t go anywhere until they get here.”