//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 Riddle Me This // Story: Gotham City Heroes (canceled version) // by Batfan98 //------------------------------// Batman and Robin were overlooking the city of Gotham as night has fallen upon it once again, it was peaceful until they heard an explosion and went to investigate. At the explosion, it was at the right side of a club, and it made a hole in the wall. Two young women walked in, in purple one piece outfits, green high heels, purple bowler hats, and black domino masks, one had long blonde hair and the other had short black hair, they then started taking money from people and put it in pillow cases, they were carrying. Next came in a scrawny man wearing black pants, a green suit jacket with a green vest underneath, a purple tie with a question mark on it, a purple domino mask, purple leather gloves, and a green bowler hat with a question mark on it, he also held in his right hand a gold question mark cane. "Riddle me this! What kind of building do you use as a weapon? Answer: a club." he said, smirking. Then, some kind of object came spinning in the air, hitting a gun out of one goon's hand. It was a batarang, which could only mean..."Batman." The man in the green suit said as he turned to see the caped crusader himself, along side his young partner. "I should have expected to see you here." "You didn't think that this would go unnoticed, Riddler?" "No, I thought we would be in and out quickly, before the police and you show up. Query, Echo, take care of our problem." Riddler called the two women. The blonde haired woman (Query) began to speak "Sure thing-" "-Boss." the black haired woman (Echo) finished for her. They then started to fight Batman and Robin. Query tried to punch Batman, but he blocked her arm and elbowed her to the face. Echo tried to kick Robin, but she grabbed her leg and slammed her against the floor. While the fighting was going on, Riddler pulled a small green envelope from his pocket and set it on the floor. He and his goons then loaded the pillow cases of money into a van they had, which was green and had a purple question mark on it. Riddler then whistled for Query and Echo "Girls, our work here is done." The two henchwomen then ran over to the van and Batman and Robin would have chased after them if they didn't try to spray them with gunfire once they got to the van, forcing them to take cover. The van then drove off, leaving Batman and Robin at the crime. Robin then noticed the green envelope on the floor "Hey, Batman, look at this." she said as she handed it to him. They then got into the Batmobile and drove off. Robin then opened the envelope, to pull out a green piece of paper with writing on it. "What kind of place does water go to for fun?" she read aloud "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, looking at Batman. "It's a riddle, The Riddler always leaves a clue at the end of his crimes." Batman explained. "Why?" Robin asked, curious. "Because he thinks he is smarter than everyone else, he leaves a clue to test one's intelligence." "Oh, so do you know the answer to this riddle? Cause I have no idea." "The answer is a water park." Batman said. Robin thought for a moment and realized the answer, she looked at the paper and there was another riddle on it. "There's more, 'What town is made out of tea cups?' okay, these riddles are confusing." "The answer is China Town." "What do these riddles mean?" Robin asked, confused. "They mean that the Riddler is at the China Town Water Park." Batman said as he turned the Batmobile to where they were the water park is located. Once they arrived, Batman picked the lock open and they walked in. Then something hard landed on their heads, knocking them out. Above them was Query and Echo on a staircase, they just dropped heavy sand bags on them. "Nice work girls." Riddler said. "Thanks-" began Query. "-Boss." finished Echo. After about 45 minutes, Robin woke up to see nothing by darkness, she groaned as she woke up. "Hey boss-" "-the kid's awake." She heard two female voices say as she felt someone pull a bag off her head. She saw the two henchwomen from the club. "Rise and-" "-shine, kid." "Who are you?" Robin asked, she was tied to a chair. "I'm Query." The long blonde haired one introduced. "I'm Echo." The short black haired on introduced. "And you're about to meet someone, here he is..." Query announced. "The Prince of Puzzlers." Echo announced. "The King of Conundrums." Query announced. "The Riddler." They bothsannounced in unison as The Riddler walked in through the door, cane in hand. "Hello, girl wonder, I am Edward Nigma, you may refer to me as Mr. E, Mr. Nigma, The Riddler, just Riddler or-" "Okay, I get it!" Robin said but then got slapped by Echo across the face. "Don't talk to-" "The boss like that." "Thank you girls." Riddler said. "Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by some feather brain in red, you may also call me The Prince of Puzzlers, The King of Conundrum, or Mr. E Nigma." "What do you want?" "Why, to play a game of course." Riddler answered, smiling. "You are a new opponent I have but I wanna see how smart you are?" Riddler said, poking Robin's head twice. "But even if you have the brain of a genius, it's not that smart compared to mine." Riddles said, proudly. "Smart? You think you're smart when you left a Riddle, showing us where your hideout was and having these two bozzos work for you?" Robin said, smirking but was punched across the face by Query. "Watch what you say kid." she warned. "Thank you Query." Riddler smiled. Robin winced at the pain at the side of her face, but quickly recovered. "How are you going to test how smart I am?" Riddler smirked "Riddle me this. What kind of game does water like to play?" Robin raised an eyebrow in confusion, then Query and Echo turned the chair she was in to face the left and in front of her was a pool full of water, and next to her was Batman tied to a char, bending on the edge of the pool, being held by three ropes. "Answer: pool." Riddler said as he walked over to Batman. "Here's the game, I will ask you a series of riddles and if you win, then you and Batman go free, if you get a riddle wrong, then I will cut one rope." he said, pulling out a knife."Ready? Let's begin." Robin wasn't ready for this, she was terrible at riddles, but she had to try in order to save Batman. "Since you're new at this, I'll make your first riddle easy." Robin smiled happily. "Riddle me this. What kind of chicken wears a yellow cape and an R?" Robin's smile turned into a frown, for she knew the answer but was to hesitant to say it. "Sigh...me." "Correct." Riddler smirked. "Joker told you that, didn't he?" Robin asked, annoyed. "He told everyone in Arkham." Riddler answered, smiling. Robin then gave an angry groan. "JOKER!!!" she yelled, angrily. Riddler chuckled and asked the next riddle. "Riddle me this. What kind of aircraft likes to eat?" Robin tried really hard thinking of this one, she didn't know a lot of aircrafts, she wasn't from this world. "Uhhh...a plane with a mouth?" Robin asked, hoping it was the right answer. Riddler smirked "Wrong answer! The correct answer is, a chopper." he then cut one rope. "That one was easy, looks like your stupider than I thought." Riddles teased. "Riddle me this. Without hands, I strike, without legs, I run, my favorite letter is S, what am I?" Riddler asked. Robin thought really hard "Uhh...a deformed animal?" Riddler cut another rope, indicating it was the wrong answer. "The answer is a snake. Boy I love this game." Robin cursed herself, that riddle was easy, how did she not figure it out. "Alright, one last riddle. Riddle me this! I always come, and always pass by, I never stop, I can run out, people can gain more of me, what am I?" This riddle was hard. Robin thought deeply into this one, what never stopped but can run out, what can people gain more of? She looked around desperately for any answers, then noticed a clock on the wall, it took her a moment before she realized what the answer was. "Time! It's time!" Riddler looked surprised by her answering the riddle correctly. "People can run out of time, people can gain more time for something they need to get done, it never stops, and it always passes by." Riddler looked furious "You cheated! You must have cheated!" Riddler accused, but failed to notice Batman using the sharp edges on his gauntlets to cut his bonds, which is what he was doing the whole time. "No, I didn't cheat, I figured out the riddle." Robin defended herself as Riddler marched over to her and shook he by the shoulders. "YOU CHEATED!!!! There's no way you could have figured out that riddle when you were doing so terribly!" he yelled as he stopped shaking her. "Or maybe you're not as smart as you think." Robin said. Riddler's eyes widened and his brows slowly furrowed and his face changed to a look of furiousness. He then back handed Robin across the face hard, leaving a red mark on her cheek. "How dare you?! I am the smartest being there is! No one is smarter than me! YOU HEAR ME!?!?! NO ONE!!!" he readied his fist, about to punch her, and she just closed her eyes and prepared for it. Riddler then felt a hand grab his arm, he looked back to see that it was Batman, free. "How did yo-?!" Riddler was cut off by a hard punch to the face, giving him a bloody nose and he stumbled to the floor. "Hey! Watch-" "-the boss!" Query and Echo said, but we're then both punched in the face, knocking them unconscious. Batman then cut Robin's bonds with the triangular blades on his gauntlets. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Robin said, then noticed Riddler stumbling back up. Batman wanted to punch that freak again so hard for slapping his young partner, but saw Robin walking up to him. She grabbed Riddler by the collar of his shirt. "Riddle me this, Riddler. Who wears green and thinks he's smart? You." she said as she punched him in the face, knocking him out. She wiped her hands together "Who's stupid now, Riddler?"