Edward Nigma (riddle_riddle) wrote in newalliance, @ 2012-03-17 23:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | red robin, riddler, spoiler |
Part II
Who: Riddler , Spoiler, Robin
NPCs: Cluemaster
Where: The warehouse beside Gotham Bay
When: Saturday, March 17, a little bit later in the evening, after this scene.
What: Spoiler tries to thwart Riddler’s plan, but ends up in trouble; Robin shows up to help
Rating: R for violence and death
Status: Partially completed in gdocs, continued in comments
”Coffin!” Steph shouted at her computer screen as she pulled the eggplant leggings on, nearly tripping over as she hopped on one foot. “Coffin...damn you.”
Her phone, jumping noisily on her desk, was ringing as calls and texts alike flooded it. Steph was ignoring it and she doubted that anyone could blame her. As soon as the video had appeared on her wall on Facebook, Steph had both been transfixed and horrified at the images that showed the Riddler’s latest victim.
Her dad.
She fumbled with her belt, thankful that everything was still in their pockets. The flash grenades and batarangs she had been able to pick up from around town were in the pockets on the right and her trusty grapple on the left. There wasn’t much time to find the radio or most of her other gadgets in the mess of her room but making due was her thing. Thinking on the fly and all that. Steph pulled her mask on and she was out the window, the video still streaming on her laptop.
She slid off the roof to the ground, rolling as she hit the ground and wincing at the impact. It had been so long since her last outing as the Spoiler and the rough landing only reminded her so - Steph refused to acknowledge how tight her outfit felt around the thigh region. Within seconds of catching her breath, the Spoiler was on her bike and roaring off the asphalt.
It had not taken her even a moment’s hesitation as to where the two were. She remembered the shadows and the rust on the walls all too well. There was only one place in Gotham that could have both. It wasn’t far, but anywhere that wasn’t ‘here’ was too far away at this point. The sadistic bastard was going to kill him. Steph knew it and probably all of Gotham knew it. He was enjoying it too.
“I’m going to kill you.” Steph muttered, and this time, it wasn’t directed at her ass of a father.
As the Riddler started on his third riddle, Steph had broken about a dozen laws on the road and nearly caused two accidents. It barely registered however as she was soon at the door of the familiar building, still rotting and ‘forsaken’ as it had been the first time she had set eyes on it. She abandoned her bike by the adjacent building and threw a piece of tarp over it.
Here goes, Steph thought and crept towards the front door, sticking to the shadows. There wasn’t much use sneaking in the back when it was the Riddler she was up against and she might as well use the least expected entrance.
Her plan seemed to work as nothing jumped up out of nowhere as she opened the door. That it was unlocked rang bells in her head but there was no turning back now.
The front door lead into a small entrance, though it was now empty, save for debris and a thick coating of dust. The dust upon the floor was disturbed, showing footprints back and forth, evidence that activity had recently taken place. The walls were thick, brick, and the only window was thickly boarded up. As Spolier advanced inside the room to get to the second door, which led to the warehouse floor, a motion sensor caught her movement and electronics sprung into activity. Before taking another step, a series of fine laser points appeared in front of her, and simultaneously behind, confining her in a tight space. The edge of her long cape was caught in the path of the beams, and sliced clean through the fabric, leaving a smoky smell: it was clear she was captured, and that if she tried to pass through the beams, she would similarly be sliced.
On the warehouse floor, several riddles had already been asked in the time it took Stephanie to arrive. Cluemaster was not so lucky with his answers, and was in terrible shape. If Eddie had given it some thought, this was’t very fair of him - Cluemaster was no longer able to answer the riddles, but Eddie was in such a highly agitated mental state and it didn’t make a difference. Ever since Cluemaster came on the scene, the he was a thorn deep in the side of the Riddler. Ever since people started drawing the comparisons, Eddie wanted to murder the man, and now he was getting his due. Eddie’s gloating only increased, building up with anticipation. When a small warning light came on to alert him that somebody had arrived and was successfully captured, the Riddler was not at all perturbed, but rather, he expected it.
“It seems that another contestant has dropped by! Which superhero is stupid enough to come waltzing through the front door? Let’s see who it is, shall we? Camera Two!” The order was shouted, and activated a voice command switch on a monitor that was mounted above the camera, which was videoing the scene. Both the Riddler and the viewers watching upon their computers could see the young lady in a long, purple hooded cape, trapped between the two banks of lasers.. The Riddler narrowed his eyes. “Not who I hoped for, but she’ll have to do.”
A microphone hidden in the foyer came on and the Riddler’s voice came through clear. “Welcome! Would you care to introduce yourself to the viewers? No? Very well then. Let your answer be the deal breaker.”
A panel in the brick wall to her left swiveled open to reveal a small keyboard and monitor, where she could see the Riddler standing beside the terribly injured Cluemaster, practically unconscious. The viewers were treated to a split screen, so they could see what was happening in both areas.
“You have twenty seconds to answer. This one is for my friend, Cy. He that lives above me, shouts. Below me, lives a control freak. The one to my right, snores. If you know where I live, you know who I am. Type your answer... NOW!”
To put even more pressure upon her, a small timer appeared in the corner of her monitor, counting down the seconds.
Behind the Riddler, Arthur Brown raised his head a fraction of an inch, hoping for once that it was the Batman but luck was not on his side. He was near death but as his half-opened eyes settled on the familiar costume and body of the young girl trapped in the hallway, he seemed to regain a fraction of his strength and struggled against his constraints, grunting in effort but achieving nothing.
On the screen, Steph’s face crumbled but it was hard to tell behind the dark grey mask that covered her face. Despite all his misgivings, Steph didn’t hate him as much as she claimed. He was her dad and nothing could change that. He looked worse than he did before she left and she knew that she needed to get him to a hospital fast. That was going to be hard - not impossible she insisted - as she could not seem to find a way out of the lasers.
She swallowed and tried to think. It was harder, this one. The riddle had something to do with grids. Above, below, left and right...did the sequence mean anything? It was hard to know and whoever this Cy person was, Steph doubted that he would help even if she could figure out how to contact him.
Frustrated, she did what she always did: she punched the screen as hard as she could. The shattering of the glass did nothing to improve her situation but it was better than doing nothing at all.
A roar of laughter came from the Riddler, who threw back his head in delight. Though the Spoiler could no longer see him, his voice continued to broadcast. “That is not the correct answer, missy. I’d say I’m sorry you’re wrong, but I’m not. Cluemaster, your one and only lifeline has failed you. You lose.”
With great satisfaction, he pressed the button on the floor with his cane - the electrical current coursed through Cluemaster’s body, so intensely that the scent of human flesh burning became strong and the patches where the electrodes were attached to his costume, smoldered. Cluemaster shook, uncontrollably, the sound of electricity crackled and sparks flew. Triumphantly, throughout this horrifying scene, the Riddle laughed and laughed.
When Oracle had first contacted him, Robin had been clear across Gotham in the middle of a skirmish with a band of thugs, so that he had not been able to respond immediately to the new threat. It was not until he was blazing through the streets on his own motorcycle with his cape fluttering behind him in his wake, that the gravity of the situation began to sink in. Because though he would have given it no less of an effort to rescue Riddler’s latest victim, the idea that it was Stephanie’s dad made it personal to him. Even if she did not care for the man, he was still her father. And especially considering what had happened with his own family, and what Stephanie had been through already... this was something he had to stop.
It was almost too much to think about, and the closer he managed to get to the warehouse the worse it seemed to get. All he could do was watch the small HUD on his motorcycle helplessly as the Cluemaster was tortured before a live audience and a maniacal Riddler. Gritting his teeth, he was certain that it could not possibly get any worse, until the moment that it did. The moment he saw the girl in costume who had beaten him to the scene, who was now herself a captive.
At about the same time Riddler taunted Stephanie with a riddle she would have to answer to save the life of her father, Robin was leaping off the back of his motorcycle, not even bothering to slow down or stop as it shot out over Gotham bay. It was only with a vague sense that he recognized the sound of the bike splashing into the water, but by then he was already on the roof top moving quickly but not carelessly, determined not to fall into any similar trap that would delay him.
But it was all for nothing. By the time he blew a hole in the roof with a small explosive and dropped inside, he knew he was too late as soon as he smelled the burning flesh. The failure was only further excliminated when he saw Cluemaster in his final death throes-an image that instantly filled him with such a cold rage that he threw a batarang toward the Riddler without even thinking about it, even though the villain was on the other side of a protective barrier.
“NIGMA!”, Robin yelled in fury, sounding eerily like his mentor.
The sound of the explosive made the Riddler spin around to see who his newest guest was while video cameras, secretly situated around the warehouse, captured the entire drama as it unfolded. The batarang came directly at the Riddler, but slammed against a thick, clear, plexiglass shield, which surrounded him on all sides as well as on top; the sound of the batarang against the plexiglass came as a loud thud, and the Riddler only laughed when Robin shouted.
“Look who it is! Bat-wannabe!”
From this vantage point, one could see that inside the cube, besides the Riddler and the now deceased Cluemaster in his chair, was a video camera on a tripod set up, along with a small monitor, which now showed a closeup of the newly arrived hero. A bank of pedals was on the floor, switches that the Riddler used to control his equipment.
“Another contestant! Let’s see if he fares any better! Behind door number one,” he said, pointing with his cane to the door leading to the foyer, “We have a prize! Let’s show our contestant what he’ll get if he wins!”
The monitor behind the Riddler flashed the scene inside the foyer - the Spoiler caught in between the two banks of laser lights. She was now investigating the wall where the lasers came from, obviously looking for a way to dismantle them.
“If you don’t answer correctly...” The Riddler pressed a pedal and the wooden floor beneath the Spoiler slid away, causing the Spoiler to trip slightly. At her feet there was now a strong metal grid, which revealed the water of the bay beneath them: in between there was a fan-shaped set of blade, which then began spinning very rapidly.
“The young lady becomes pureed fish food! She already knows the answer to the Riddle, why don’t you go ask her? I’ll be kind... you have one minute.”
The Riddler leaned upon his cane and once Robin ran to the door, he smiled at the webcam and said, “I do hope you enjoy the rest of the show. Sadly, I must leave, but we’ll meet again!”
A trapdoor beneath the Riddler’s feet gave way and he dropped out of sight. A few seconds later, a speedboat went racing away, across Gotham Bay, with the Riddler’s green suited form behind the controls.
Completely blind to what was happening to her dad, Steph found it hard to focus on the task at hand as the sounds of torture resonated through the hidden speakers. The scream she heard was barely human and Steph resisted the urge to cry or scream. She refused to give Riddler the satisfaction of knowing her identity (if he did not already). There were tears in her eyes under her mask but the shadows hid the darker spots on them easily enough.
Her fingers shook as she tried to find a way out of the trap. She was stupid to come here alone, but she couldn’t have done anything differently. She had no idea how to get in touch with Batman or Robin, and the Riddler was killing her dad. Had killed him, if the audio feed was to be believed.
She had to get out, she had to live. Then she was going to kill the bastard.
Steph barely had time to sidestep as the panel beneath her slip away and the new horror and danger distracted her for the time being. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she found the time to thank whoever was listening that Robin was here. He would make everything better. He always made everything better. Clinging to that little inch of hope, Steph looked up. She had a grapple. She just needed...something to hold on to.
She wasn’t sure if Robin could hear her, but she said it anyway. “ROBIN! Don’t let him get away! Just...don’t.” Her voice cracked despite her willing it not to and she swallowed.
Robin felt frustration mingle with his anger, as the Riddler made him choose between giving chase and saving Stephanie. Because it wasn’t a decision at all. All he could do was curse to himself as he broke into a sprint toward Stephanie’s location, the looming fear of a time limit, coupled with his grave concern for her safety making his movements swift even as he heard the Riddler getting away in what sounded like a speed boat. He could not do anything about it now, but he swear to himself that he would hunt down the murderer as soon as this was over. Both to bring him to justice, but more importantly out of a well founded fear of what Stephanie herself would do if she ever managed to catch the man. Even if it would be a particularly righteous kill.
Sliding to a stop just short of the lasers in a manner that nearly got his own cape singed, Robin surveyed the trap for no more than three seconds before satisfying himself with the thought that the answer to the Riddler would indeed set Stephanie free. Because the Cluemaster was murdered, and the Riddler had gotten away, leaving no purpose for further deception.
Still, he steeled himself to do what had to be done if he was wrong.
“Hit the SHIFT key!”, Robin said quickly, lowering himself so that he could leap across the floor if need be.
The moment the SHIT key was pressed on the keyboard, the blades stopped spinning and slowly came to a halt; the lasers that kept Stephanie trapped, shut off. She was free to go.