//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Riddle Me This! // Story: Batmare: Arkham Asylum // by TheDarkMare16 //------------------------------// The ending of the trail did not lead me to my brother. I have to leave the Intensive Treatment facility to gain access. No before long, my communicator is brought up. I expect it to be Oracle asking me or informing me but static noise filled my cowl, adjusting to clarity. Then, I heard a voice that is familiar, one of my dangerous enemies I had faced. “Can you hear me, Batmare? I know you can,” the voice asked. It is still warbled but soon, it became clear. I try to trace this broadcast but it is encrypted with a 512-bit cipher. If I going have to track down his location, I need to play his irksome games of finding trophies, solving riddles, collect more Interview Tapes, destroy the teeth, and solve more Chronicles of Arkham. The pony is definitely the smartest in my Rogue Gallery. She is an azure Unicorn with snow white mane and tail with a light periwinkle pattern in it. She is the second closest to my intellect, her only desire is to prove that she is the smartest one and kill me in one of her traps, trying to reduce me to an unintelligent buffoon. Her conditions are fanatic narcissism, egomania, and obsessive compulsion for attention. She is Trixie Lulamoon aka the Great and Powerful Trixie, Enigma, and the Riddler. “Yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, and more importantly, your intellectual superior! My genius has allowed me to easily hack in into your primitive communications. My goal is simple: you complete a series of…amusingly taxing challenges and well…you see. Ready for your first one? Good, but be careful: Don’t CUT yourself on this SHARPLY observed portrait.” I had no choice but every now then, she will be bragging about her intelligence and that I will never solve all of her riddles, but I’ll show her. I looked at a portrait of Quincy Sharp and used my Environment Analysis to solve the riddle. “So you did it, well done! I would’ve expect a colt to work that one rather than the World’s Greatest Detective!” Riddler bragged. I checked my computer in my cowl to check anymore riddles. Unfortunately, I was right. Trixie had time to place 243 riddles across Arkham Island and the facilities. Each riddle is placed in a grid of the number of the chattering teeth, the Chronicles of Arkham, Riddler Trophies, riddles, and if any luck, maps that’ll show me the exact location of every riddle. They have been organized for all facilities and regions of Arkham Island. I have to solve them all, during and after my goal to apprehend Mane-iac. Some locations require more Sparkle Tech from the Batcave but I’ll worry about that later. If I have a sliver amount of time, I could gather any riddles I can access every now and then. Soon, I heard her arrogant voice. “I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have placed a dazzling selection of challenges and puzzles all over Arkham. Are you up to the challenge, can you collect my trophies, are you ready to give up? Your puny mind is no match for my own.” After hearing the message, I spotted that the door on the lower level is opening. I ready myself for more of Mane-iac’s henchponies but it is only a survivor of the onslaught. It was William North, who had a machine gun in his hooves. He opened it cautiously to check for any Blackgate inmates but only spotted me at the entrance. “Hey, Batmare!” he called out. Before I approach him, I grapple to the gargoyle vantage point and glide inside the control room. I figure there’s a riddle in here, so I switched to Detective Mode, which had been back to its normal blue hue instead of the whiskey trail purple hue since I found…that. I spotted a green dot on the far end of the Lobby and a question mark that is invisibly painted on the window. I know I need to align them into Trixie’s logo in a certain position of crouching to solve it. I know there’ll be more of them over Arkham but I guess I need to deal with it. So I crouch and move slightly inch by inch to align the dot underneath the question mark to solve it. I used my Environment Analysis and solved it, after that, I heard Trixie’s voice. “Don’t get too full of yourself, Dark Knight. It only gets harder from here,” she said annoyingly. Trixie gets in a fit of temper tantrums and rage whenever I or somepony more intelligent than her outwits her, and she detests that. That is her major flaw, always claiming to be the pinnacle of the pony mind. I exit out of the room and head towards William North. “It was a massacre. Boles came walking in, telling everypony to cover the front entrance. Said something about Mane-iac’s army coming through the main door; two of my ponies moved to the exit and Frank shot them dead. They never stood a chance,” he said horridly. “Was Boles alone?” I asked. “Thought he was but then I saw Bon-Bon. She was surrounded by Blackgate prisoners and they were just killing everypony in the room. I had no choice, I-I got in here, locked the door, I-I can see through the security feed, it looked like they had somepony with them. It looked like the Commissioner,” he continued on with a slightly shaken voice. “Boles is dead, they carried on without him. Must’ve outlived his usefulness,” I said deadpanned. “Good, he was scum,” he retorted vituperatively. After our conversation, he walked slowly to a dead comrade on the floor in the room. He knelt down and closed his eyes respectfully. “I’ll look after Maria, I promise,” he said solemnly. I don’t want to imagine doing that to another family member, my brother and I had already lost two. It is our sole duty to protect the city from the criminal scum that is trying to claim more lives and ruin innocence like us nineteen years ago. I need to leave the Intensive Treatment building, so I exit through the door leading to the Utility Corridor. Before moving on, I spotted one of the many Riddler trophies that it is placed all over Arkham. I noticed that to get it, a weak, cracked wall is blocking the way. I need one of my supplies to destroy but I’ll get it later. Then, I heard a tune in the distance. I can hear it, it sounds like one of Manehattan’s news channels, the Jack Ryder Show. He is very narcissistic about his job, reason why I dislike him, but not too much, only his egotism I dislike. Speaking of Jack Ryder, a riddle appeared on my cowl: “You don’t know Jack about Manehattan. Tune in to find out.” I walked through the corridor until I spotted a locker room with mangled doors and ruined walls. On a creaky bench, I spotted the radio. The radio is small and in a rectangular cuboid shape and the channel it’s on is 134.5 FM: Manehattan Radio, Jack Ryder. It switched on to the news, so I listened: “We apologized for this interruption of our regular broadcast. Jack Ryder is live from the Manehattan Bay Area with some breaking news!” a reporter announced before switching to the host, Jack Ryder. “This is Jack Ryder with breaking news in the Manehattan Bay Area. We’re getting reports of an armed siege on Arkham Island. Two minutes ago, Mane-iac broadcasts all news channels with this chilling message:” Jack reported before switching to the message by the demented pony. “Greetings, Manehattan. This is the voice of your new master! Oh, hang on, I skipped a bit. Ahem, Mane-iac here, I’m in control of Arkham Island and you could consider yourself out of bounds! If I see any law ponies, vigilantes, or do-gooders in tights coming this way, I’ll start detonating random bombs around the city. What’s it going to be: a kindergarten, a hospital, a billionaire’s mansion, oh, choices choices choices!” “All access to the island has been restricted. Air spaces closed off and earlier reports suggest that Batmare herself is trapped on the island. We’ll be right here coming to you live on any developments. Back to the studio,” Jack finished and switched back to the main studio. “Thanks, Jack. More into it as it happens,” the studio announced. I finished listening to the report and used my Environmental Analysis to solve the riddle. “Thought that was easy, was it? We’ll see, we’ll see,” Trixie said arrogantly. I need to hurry before this will be out of control, so I left the Utility Corridor. In a small space with numerous stacks of paper or files, I spotted a grate and pulled it. I crawled into the shaft and pushed the exit grate. I landed on solid ground that is leading outside. I felt relaxed that I am feeling solid ground after spending hours inside the facility. I spotted a ledge and grappled to the layer. I walked until I spotted the top of the Mansion of Arkham Island. You know the feeling that after spending too long in a sheltered location, you need to walk outside to take in the freedom emotion and fresh air of the morning or the crisp, humid air of dusk and night? I felt those same emotions when I breathed in that air after reaching the cliff that hangs over the eastern side of Arkham. The Mansion, a cemetery, guard towers, shacks, and a botanical garden at my left. The crisp night air slapped my face when I stood over outside, feeling free again. Over the distance, I saw Manehattan and the height of the city, my family’s tower. The bay glistened in the night sky, giving the water a silver blanket in the moonlight. I thanked Luna for this night, but I know there’s no time to bask in the glory of the night. I need to find Mane-iac and stop her before more ponies die or inmates released that weren’t. I took a moment’s time of enjoying the freedom from the Intensive Treatment and looked down below and spotted several armed guards patrolling East Arkham. I breathed in deeply and ready myself to check on the guards and proceeding to track down my brother.