Everyone (after they had gotten their drinks, slurped them down and paid the waitress) got into the Mystery Machine, and under Batman’s directions, went to Arkham Asylum to question the Riddler.
He may have been their only lead, but at least it was something.
Along the ride, Ivory (after giving the ponies back their superhero forms) was unusually quiet, and Sunny was first to notice this. “Hey…” she said, earning Ivory’s attention. “Is something bothering you?”
“Oh… well… I was just thinking about that incident that Batman was telling you all about… along with some other things,” Ivory admitted. “Things that happened when I was little.”
“You can talk to us about it if you want,” Sunny said. “I always find it easier to tell ponies what’s bothering me, so I don’t feel so alone.”
“We’ll be here for you,” Zipp promised the kirin with a smile. “No matter what.”
Ivory looked down at her hooves for a moment before sighing. “All right. Do you remember how Batman said he found me as a filly?” she asked, causing the ponies and Shaggy and Scooby, who were in the back seat with them, to nod in confirmation. “Well before it was Batman training me, it was my father and myself. We wandered the forests together before we came to Gotham, and I learned a lot of magical skill from him.”
“Did… something happen?” Hitch asked softly. “Well… yes,” Ivory said. “When I was about 8, we wandered into the city, and then some… dangerous men came out of hiding, hoping to auction us off for rare horses. My father held them off while I ran away, but when I came back after an hour… my father was gone, taken by the thugs in their van. I chased after them, but… I couldn’t keep up. I stayed for a month under the Gotham bridge until Batman found me and offered to train me into the superhero I am today.”
“Wow… I’m so sorry, Ivory,” Misty frowned, putting a hoof around the kirin as a sign of comfort. “That sounds horrible.”
“It was for a while,” Ivory said, “but I have new friends now, and they look out for me the way my father would. I’m still trying to find him, but… maybe someday, I’ll be able to.”
“And maybe we can help you,” Sunny said. “For now, let’s get back to working on this case.”
XXXXXXXX
Soon enough, the group arrived at Arkham Asylum, and since the gang was with Batman, they had permission to come inside. Lining the halls were cells containing Batman’s most dangerous foes lay defeated and lying in wait to take Batman down. “Arkham Asylum…” Velma muttered as they walked down the hall. “This should be a fascinating insight into the supervillain psyche.”
“Like, Batman was right. We should've stayed behind. I'm man enough to admit it,” Shaggy spoke honestly. “I’m dog enough,” Scooby nodded immediately. After they stopped, Scooby began to sniff around until he got to a cell at the end of the hall, which he peered into to see the Riddler sitting inside. “When is a dog not a dog?” he asked, making Scooby's head tilt. “When he’s pure bread! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
This caused Scooby to immediately whimper and step back toward his friends. “I’ve come to get answers, Riddler,” Batman got straight to the point as Misty came and stood beside her canine friend reassuringly. “I know you were working with Professor Milo the night of the accident.”
“Took you long enough,” the Riddler sneered with a smirk. “But before I answer your questions, you must answer mine. When you say my name, I vanish-- what am I?”
“I got it-- a coward!” Shaggy spoke fearfully. “In other words... let’s vanish!” Misty shouted, and she, Shaggy and Scooby tried to escape, but, Zipp Fred and Daphne held them by their shirts and tails. “The answer is… silence,” Velma answered with a calm smile. “Ooh… I like this one,” Riddler smirked, crossing his arms. “Silence it is.”
“We're running, not screaming!” Misty cried, and the masked blue unicorn, Shaggy and Scooby broke free from their friends' hold screaming and running down the hall. “Time to break your silence, Riddler,” Ivory stomped her hoof furiously. “How did you get mixed up with Milo and Scarlett? What happened the night of the accident?”
“Fresh out of school, I was brilliantly evil, but too young. I hadn't figured out the whole supervillain thing yet,” Riddler answered. “So, you came up with a fake name and joined up with Professor Milo's gang,” Fred spoke, and Riddler confirmed it with a nod. “I convinced the rather impressionable Leo Scarlett to join up with me.”
“Impressionable? You convinced him to join a super villain gang and sent his life on a downward spiral!” Zipp flared up her wings in anger. “And not to mention, the machine wasn’t ready!” Sunny agreed, stepping forward. “This was as much your doing as it was Professor Milo’s!”
“And now,” Pipp agreed with a narrowed gaze, “you’ll have to live with that for the rest of your life behind bars!”
“Ahh, you pathetic little ponies forget-- I wasn’t the one who failed to save poor Leo Scarlett,” Riddler addressed with a smirk. “Thank you for saving me by the way… Batman! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
Hearing the Riddler’s taunts made the ponies’ and Ivory’s blood boil, narrowed gazes plastered onto their faces. “Enough! Crimson Cloak-- what is he?” Batman sneered before the ponies had a chance to react. “Perhaps he's fate,” Riddler responded. “You failed to save Leo's life, now he's come for yours. So, I leave you with a final riddle. What's black, white and red all over?”
“Is it a… red, black and white zebra?” Izzy asked, causing the ponies to look at her. “Whaaaaat? It could happen.”
“Everyone in this world knows that, Iz-- a newspaper!” Fred assumed. “Wrong!” Riddler snapped with a smirk, causing the group to look at him once again. “The answer, dear Batman, is the last thing you will ever see. The black of his shadow, his white-hot fury and a descending red shroud of your doom! A-ha ha ha ha ha!!”
“This is a dead end…” Batman muttered, turning away as Riddler sat back down in his cell. “Lest you think me a complete monster, you'll find his remains, the sleeve of his lab coat, laid to rest at Arkham Cemetery-- on the grounds of this very asylum.”
“Let's go,” Ivory spoke with a growl as the Riddler's shrill laughter filled the air, sending a shiver down the gang's spines as they followed the superheroes away.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby and Misty were running as fast as they could, when they suddenly stopped… right at the doorway to the cafeteria. “Like, who knew Arkham had a cafeteria?” Shaggy spoke as they went inside, looking at all the different foods they were serving that day. “Bates Burger, Hanni-bowl, Pasta Al Capone. Sounds scary, but it sure looks delicious.”
“Well, I know I could definitely eat,” Misty shrugged, feeling of her empty stomach. “What do you say, Scoob?”
To this question, the Great Dane licked his lips hungrily. “Let's seek asylum.”
XXXXXXXX
As for the others, they were wandering the halls in search of their scaredy-cat friends. “Misty!” Zipp cried. “Shaggy! Scooby-Doo!” Fred called out. “Where are you?!”
“Sorry, Batman, they run off sometimes. A lot, actually. Okay, every single time,” Daphne apologized to the caped crusader. “And Misty… well…” Sunny tried to say. “...she’s had a lot on her mind, which resorts from where she unfortunately grew up.”
“Flight is a natural response to the unknown,” Batman spoke honestly, and Ivory smiled reassuringly. “We’ll find them.”
“Batman…” the Crimson Cloak rasped, causing the others to stop with a gasp as he appeared before them, looking even more threatening than before. “Leaving so soon, Batman?”
“Jeepers! It’s the ghost!” Daphne cried out. “What do you want, you pestiferous poltergeist?” Batman asked as he and Ivory stood in front of the gang. “Why, your demise, of course,” the Crimson Cloak answered before grabbing Batman and hoisting him high above the floor to the horror of the others. “Zipp, Pipp!” Sunny said as she shifted into her alicorn form. “Help me get Batman out of these things!”
“On it!” Zipp and Pipp shouted, and the three of them pulled against the Crimson Cloak’s ribbon-like bonds to try and pull them off the caped crusader. “How fitting it should happen here,” the Crimson Cloak told Batman, “among all your enemies.”
Luckily, Pipp was able to pull on the one ribbon that cut Batman loose, but the Crimson Cloak disappeared as Batman fell to the floor. “Thank you, Harmonizer. You as well, Cosmic Sunlight and Royal Bolt,” Batman said after a bit of panting. “No problem,” Zipp said. “Now let’s get outta here and find the others.”
But suddenly, after she said that, the lights went out, leaving the building completely dark. “He’s turned off the power!” Daphne said with a gasp. “But the cell doors are electronically operated,” Velma realized. “That means…”
And without another word, the villains began to open their cell doors and walk toward them, and Hitch realized there was only one solution to this. “Batman… what was that you said about running?”
“It’s a natural response.”
“Yeah, that. RUN!!!”
Batman flung his bat-a-rang at the villains, knocking them down and continuing to fight them with Ivory while the others made a swift break for it.
XXXXXXXX
In the cafeteria, Shaggy and Scooby carried many plates stuffed with food with Misty walking beside them, and in that moment, they were almost happy to be there. “You may have to be crazy to get in here,” Shaggy told them, “but you'd be even crazier to leave. Ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Ooh, that's a lot of puddin', puddin',” said a voice. Everyone looked in front of them to see Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn before them, looking smug and determined and causing Shaggy and Scooby to freeze, while Misty stood nervously with them. “You weren't going to eat that salad, were you?” snarled Ivy, just as Harley zipped in front of them, causing the group to whimper nervously. “Ivy gets real upset when folks ain’t nice to plants!”
“This? Uh… garnish,” Shaggy answered, taking the salad off his top plate. “Purely decorative. We’ll just put it back for the next evil mastermind to enjoy.”
“Y-Y-Yeah,” Misty trembled. “N-No need to get all upset about it.”
“Hmmm… you must be new to these parts, bug horse,” Ivy flicked Misty in the nose. “In here, we make the rules.”
“Oh, gotcha. Gotcha,” Misty nodded quickly. “So, um… we’ll just get this food and we’ll be on our way, Miss Ivy. Not gonna cause anymore trouble.”
But then, Harley whipped out a gigantic mallet, making the group yelp in surprise. “Whoa, where did that come from?!” Misty blurt out. “Beats me,” Harley answered as she advanced. “Beats you too!”
The criminally insane Harley tried hitting them with her mallet, but they leapt out of the way in time. But Shaggy backed into someone, feeling of his face, realizing it was Two-Face, causing Shaggy and Scooby to scream and throw food all over the villains.
The three friends immediately knew there was going to be no safe way out of the situation… especially when Two-Face tossed a salad right at them, causing Shag, Scoob and Misty to duck…
...letting the salad fly right into Harley's face. “Ohhh… so it's like that, is it?!” she taunted menacingly befire leaping onto a table. “FOOD FIGHT!!!!”
All the villains Batman ever encountered began to toss food left and right, messes all over the room while Shaggy and Scoob pulled their Equestrian friend underneath a table to avoid the flying food. “We're pinned down!” Misty cried. “We'll have to eat our way outta here!”
Scooby looked around before his eyes settled on the door-- and as crazy as it sounded… she was right. It may be their only chance. “Let's roll!”
So, the three of them rushed out into the food-flying scene, Misty holding up a magically created shield while Shag and Scooby grabbing food, stuffing it into their mouths and running out of the cafeteria, food residue still on them as they crashed into the others. “Girls, Shag, Scoob!” Fred cried, and Shaggy panted tiredly. “Like, the villains are all out!!”
“We know!” Sunny said. “The Crimson Cloak let them out, and they’re right behind us!”
“We can’t let them escape into the city!” Hitch cried in panic. “Everyone out!” Batman commanded as he and Ivory kept an eye out for any villains coming their way. “Quickly!”
“You don’t have to tell us twice!” Izzy shouted before the group ran off. They proceeded to run around the prison for a while, splitting up so not many villains would be able to chase them at once, and Batman and Ivory took the liberties of beating them to pulps if they came into contact with them.
Soon, they all managed to regroup as they ran in the same direction. “We need to seal off the outer exit before they get out!” Batman said, and they all ran to the exit, with Velma and Zipp closing the door, and Batman used one of his devices to seal the door shut. “Phew,” Zipp sighed in relief. “That was close.”
“If those criminals had escaped, it would’ve been a disaster,” Ivory helped Zipp onto her hooves. “Man, the real disaster is all that food going to waste,” Shaggy interrupted. “Yeah…” Scooby hung his head in sadness. “I wanted seconds.”
“I’m just glad everypony made it out of there safe,” Misty said after giving Shaggy and Scooby a look. “Did you find out anything from Riddler?”
“We did, but it was mostly taunts toward Batman,” Hitch frowned. “Let’s look for where to go next before anything else happens.”
“Guys… look,” Daphne gestured ahead, and all of them stood together before a graveyard on the backside of the prison. “Arkham Cemetary!” Velma said with a gasp. Knowing that whatever the Riddler was talking about would be in there, the group lit up whatever flashlights they had and navigated the mist till they found a singular crypt with a question mark over the door-- the Riddler’s symbol. “This must be the place Riddler was talking about!” Fred realized as they approached it carefully. “Like, I have a plan,” Shaggy spoke up. “How about we don’t open the spooky crypt?”
Of course, this plea went unheard as Fred, Hitch, Ivory and Batman pushed the crypt door open, and once Batman turned on his flashlight, the mist seemed to form a ghostly shape. “Zoinks!” Shaggy leapt into Scooby’s paws. “A ghost!”
And as quickly as it appeared, the ghostly mist parted just as Batman stepped inside. “No… it’s another dead end,” Batman said before turning to his sidekick and the Great Dane. “Ivory, Scooby?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Scooby nodded before he and Ivory entered the crypt, the dog vigorously sniffing while Ivory lit up the crypt with her horn. Suddenly, Scooby was about to step his paw into something on the floor, immediately noticing it and barking to alert the others. “Like, Scooby-Doo found something!” Shaggy said, and Batman’s flashlight shined down on the object, to which Velma recognized. “A footprint!”
“Good work, Scooby,” Ivory said, nudging the dog playfully before using her magic to seal the footprint in crystal, allowing Batman to pick up the sample. “Let’s get going,” Batman said. “We need to test this sample to get more clues.”