Riddle 038: Banking on a Breakdown

[questionauthority]

[PHONE – UNFILTERED]

Well, well. You’ve got quite a lot to answer for, haven’t you, Mayfield? But what?!

What is it that you have to answer?
But to answer, you have to ask?
And to ask you have to speak?
And to speak, you have to know
The answer…!

[Should he speak any faster, Edward Nigma might start tripping over his own tongue-twisters. His voice is shaking, and from the sound of it? The way he’s fumbling with the phone in his hands makes it clear that he’s shaking too. He sounds exhausted, both physically and mentally. Enraged. Anguished. Wounded. Definitely unstable.]

What? What’s that, Mister Mayor? You haven’t got an answer for this? For these---these old wounds? Is death your final answer for all of us?

[He laughs. It’s a deranged, unhinged sound, furious and terrifying yet slightly pathetic at the same time.]

Guess again. You and your incompetent Chief of Police, and your---your---whoever the hell that woman on the phone with you was. Guess again.

Riddle me this, morons. "What… is the poorest bank in the world?" Hmm? [A beat.] I’ll give you a hint: It’s not a riverbank.

Still no answer? Pity. Because if... If I don’t have an answer from you by midnight, if you’re stupid enough not to have that damned machine of yours fixed by the end of the day and if you don’t bring her back---[Steady, Edward. Steady.]---and put everything back to the way it was before… then you’ll learn just how dangerous I can truly be. You will learn that I am not to be underestimated any longer. And by the end of the night, you'll get the message. You'll get it through that thick head of yours, even if I have to---even if I have to break it apart myself. You will know, Mister Mayor… that the Riddler… is better than you.

Don’t keep me waiting.

[ACTION - 726 ANDERSON LANE - AFTERNOON

Hearing how awful the Riddler is on the phone is one thing. Seeing how awful he's becoming is another thing entirely. Between Ema's death yesterday and his phone call today? He's gotten a hell of a lot worse. There are two distinctive wounds on his face---one on his temple, the other dead center on his forehead---and if you look carefully enough you can see the beginnings of what appears to be a very small dent growing in the back of his head.

After his little address to the town, there are a few things Eddie's got to try and take care of.

He's in the bathroom at one point, unraveling a roll of bandages and wrapping it around his head just above his eyebrows before shielding his bandaged skull beneath his hat.

He's in the bedroom for another moment, emerging in a tight green bodysuit littered with question marks with a heavy green trenchcoat resting over his broad shoulders.

He's in his study soon after that, filing frantically through index cards with handwritten instructions.

And finally, he's in the garage, loading up the trunk of the Riddler-Mobile and preparing himself for a long overdue business trip to...

ACTION - MAYFIELD BANK - EARLY EVENING

Because what better a way to get the Mayor's attention than a good ol' fashioned bank job? The frightened drones are loading up massive tote bags with cash, but the money's immaterial. Hostages are Edward's currency right now, drones in particular, and with enough hostages? The Mayor's bound to budge. He's bound to fix everything, right? ...right?]

What's. Taking. So. Long? [He paces around the bank in frustration, a loaded machine pistol hanging loosely from his fingers.] Where is he? Where? Where?

[Are you one of the Riddler's fellow partners-in-crime? A hostage who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or are you one of those noble do-gooders, here to try and save the day? Whoever you are, it's getting easier to tell that Eddie's condition is continuing in a steady decline. He's jumpy. He's twitchy. And his mind, what should be his most powerful weapon, is turning against him. What will you do?]

((OOC: The bank heist will come to an end eventually, but it will be at strike_you_out's hands. Please bear that in mind before responding! Thank you!))

Comments

[1st_superhero]

[One thing that Gilgamesh is actually thankful about his stay in Mayfield is that the town gave him back his direction sense. However, after years of not paying attention to where he was going, learning the way around the town again was pretty hard.]

[Therefore, he ended up in the bank while trying to get home.]

[He was greeted by the sight of a man trying to rob the bank. Other people with a better sense of fear or even common sense might have at least pretended to join the rest of the hostages, but Gilgamesh was different.]

Halt! Evildoer!

[Being the genre-savvy hero that he is, he instead reacts in a way befitting a comic book superhero. Namely, he delivers an ultimatum to the villain while striking a dramatic pose.]

[questionauthority]

Evildoer? [He glances over his shoulder, grip tightening on his cane.] You think I'm the evildoer here...?

[Phone] 1/2

[singlesynapsetheory]

Oh, oh, oh! I know this one! I totally know this one--

[Phone] 2/2

[singlesynapsetheory]

...Wait did you say "The Riddler"?

[Phone]

[fasterthan]

...Eddie. Eddie. Slow down. Deep breaths, buddy.

[questionauthority]

Don't. Don't you dare tell me what to do, Wally West. I don't have time for this.

Bank

[hintcoinplz]

[Luke trudges along beside Edward, after insisting and begging on following along with the promise of not slowing him down. By this point, it's difficult to hide the fact that he's dying. He's wrapped up in bandages like a mummy, a new bandage for every chunk of flesh that's peeling off him almost too easily. The cane that the Riddler gave him as a gift is coming in handy though, as he's using it for support as he makes his way through the bank.

His reason for coming along is not out of approval or pride. In fact if the Riddler focuses long enough, he might be able to make out the disappointment and shame in Luke's expression. No, he's here for another reason: to keep an eye on Edward. It was pretty obvious that Edward's mental health was deteriorating, neither of them might make it to the next day, and Luke wasn't going to let Edward go alone. At least this way, maybe he could talk him down. Maybe no one else had to get hurt in this.

He had to try, at least.]

Mr. Nigma, please try to calm down.

[questionauthority]

I don't have time to calm down, Luke. I refuse to calm down until that bastard gets here and---

[Whoa, sudden spasm in his left side, causing him to release the cane unintentionally and drop forward on one knee. This is new.]

[Phone] O-Okay I think I can tag this without being completely awful

[noluckduck]

[With all that's going on, and with how clearly unwell this guy is, Clover figures this is not the best time to marvel at the fact that holy damn, it's the Riddler, or ask if Batman's in Mayfield too, working as an accountant somewhere.]

Look, uh, I know Mayfield is seriously really shitty, and I don't blame ya for bein' mad, but challengin' the goddamn Mayor strikes me as a bad idea.

B)

[questionauthority]

And what would you propose, then? Waiting while that simpleton does nothing to alleviate this mess?!

726 Anderson

[bread_goes_bip]

[Death thought about responding to the phone call, but decided he was reminding her too much of her brother for that to cut it. So instead she's simply appearing at the house.]

Eddie, you're not planning something foolish, are you?

[questionauthority]

[And he takes a break from loading up the car, resting his head briefly against the roof of it.]

You already know the answer to that.

726 Anderson

[have_your_lives]

[Don't mind how Schuldig has let himself in, Edward. It's fairly easy; any other time, he might be a little concerned about strolling into the home of Slugger and Susan, two people he considers much more formidable than Edward, but under the circumstances...well. For one thing, consequences don't frighten him anymore(or, perhaps more accurately, never did, but they're especially unimportant now). For another, he's pretty damn sure everyone is distracted, either running around like toys with dying batteries - like Edward, like himself - or running around like panicked chickens, trying to hold to the impermanent. Today, everyone has their own agenda they're preoccupied with.

His own happens to include Edward.

When Edward emerges from the bedroom in his costume, Schuldig is waiting there to meet him. He'd almost half-resemble Edward, in fact, since his own green trenchcoat is oddly (circumstantially) similar...except that he's hardly recognizable at the moment. He looks as though he just came from Carrie's prom night; his everything seems to be bleeding. The shirt beneath his trenchcoat is visibly drenched, as are his pants; the trenchcoat is thicker material, but even it's showing blood saturation in some places. And, of course, there's a familiar wound in Schuldig's forehead that's streaking his face with red. He looks like some sort of blood-soaked gorgon.

And he's not paying any of it the slightest bit of attention. The blood is coming from practically every part of him, but they're all superficial wounds - for the moment. Slowly, gradually deepening, and he knows it, but negligible for now. And the human body has, he knows, a ridiculous amount of blood in it, can take a tremendous amount of punishment and still keep going - he's got awhile yet. He's honestly not sure if that's a point of reassurance or dread. But it means that when he speaks, he doesn't sound any different, doesn't acknowledge his own condition at all.]

You know she wouldn't want you doing this. So riddle me this, Nigma - why are you?

[questionauthority]

[There's an abrupt pause in Edward's routine, and he shudders indignantly. He refuses to turn and face Schuldig at this point, he's too angry to even look at him.]

You think you know everything, don't you? Acting as if you even care what she would have wanted. Well, Schuldig, you're the expert. Why don't you tell me?

Why am I doing this?

[bank]

[virtualdiva]

[Miku's just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, really. She'd gone off to the bank for...well, not much of a reason. Unless you could count "I needed to go somewhere and clear my head!" as a reason.

She isn't expecting a bank job while she's there, but apparently, her luck has run out on her. She isn't expecting to see someone she vaguely knows from school either doing the hostage-taking, but that just goes to show how unpredictable Mayfield can be.]

...ah. Who are you talking about?

[questionauthority]

[Eddie whips around to face her.]

Who? Who, indeed...! Our honorable Mayor, of course.

Afternoon

[strike_you_out]

[As Edward bandages his head in the bathroom mirror, half of a face appears in the reflection behind him. Slugger watches hesitantly from behind the door. For a brief moment, he happens to spot the indentation in the back of Edward's skull and the visible portion of his face shrinks from a half to a third behind the door.]

...

What happened?

[questionauthority]

[Oh. Hey kiddo. This is kind of awkward. But Edward doesn't address the large elephant in the room, unraveling more of the bandage and covering the offending dent in its entirety.]

You mean to tell me you haven't heard? People are becoming progressively more wounded, ever since the damned Revival Machine was destroyed.

phone;

[godcomplexed]

Eddie. What are you doing?

[The Doctor's voice is flat, tired, barely there.]

[questionauthority]

Shouldn't that be obvious, Doctor? I'm--- [In pain, in pain.] I've grown far too complacent. I'm not going to let them push me around any longer.

Evening

[strike_you_out]

[Edward and Luke are not the only members of the Nigma residence at the bank tonight. On a particularly dark street, Slugger stands where the light of street lamps don't reach. Neither one of them knows he is here and such is the way he intended it. He came to observe and to wait for the right moment in which to act--preferably at a time when Luke and Edward are separated, but presently he stands with his eyes closed as a building headache begins to blur his vision.

He sways once, then sits to cradle his head on his knees. Until it passes he can't do anything. So he waits in silent agony while he relives the sensation of his brain attempting to herniate out of his skull from radiation poisoning.]

[questionauthority]

[He's not coming.

Edward's waited hour after agonizing hour and the Mayor still hasn't arrived yet. Nor has anyone representing him bothered to show. The machine has, presumably, not been fixed. Ema's still dead. He's still going to die. Nothing's changed.

Where the hell are they? This can't be right. Edward strides forward and marches out of the bank into the dark of the night, almost as if expecting to see a fancy limousine pull up, ready to whisk him away to City Hall so they can talk things out. But there isn't a limousine waiting for him outside. There isn't even a single squad car or policeman on site. The bastards haven't done a thing.]

Stop... Stop ignoring me. [He raises the machine pistol, firing loudly and erratically into the air above him without any real thought or care as to where each bullet is headed.] Stop ignoring me!

[The gun eventually responds to him with a rapid series of clicks. Empty. He carelessly tosses the gun aside before---Damn. Another violent tremor sweeps through him, sending the Riddler down to his knees. It's growing harder and harder to keep himself together, and he's practically having a seizure in the streets. Finally, he's able to find enough strength to gasp for air, curling weakly into himself on the pavement and shaking in fear.

He's all alone, he can't get back up, and it's getting cold... So, so---

CRUNCH.

With a sickening noise that echoes through the night air, Edward tumbles face-first the rest of the way into the pavement and doesn't move. A second bloody dent seems to have appeared at the back of his skull...]

Action 726 Anderson

[inthebones]

Edward.

[Susan, in contrast, looks perfectly fine apart from an increased paleness that only serves to nicely accentuate the sharp features of her face. The consumptive look had always served her well. The bullet wound is well obscured, and as always, her eminently practical self had bandaged it so thoroughly that she was more likely to pass out from restricting blood flow than she would allow any of it to leak out.

She accosts him in his study. Her favorite place to bother him.]

Edward, what in the world do you think you're doing?

[questionauthority]

Not now, Susan.

[He's going to lose track of his notes if she breaks his focus. No distractions. Nothing can get in his way.]

the bank

[licentious]

[ Being held at gun point with a bunch of drone civillians is far from what Lust would picture as the perfect way to spend a Friday night, but, never the less, her fate was now sealed. She sat, not terrified, not furious, but bored out of her mind that she was now stuck here.

However, she does carry a sense of loyalty to Edward. And even though he's falling down the slippery slope Lust has initiated in other men way too many times to count, loyalty is loyalty. He saved her life by his magnificent ability to be an adequate distraction and drive a vehicle and she saved his life by lighting some feisty woman on fire so she'll be here to save his life again if it ever comes down to that.

But, now she's realizing she's hungry and is craving cheese fries. ]

Are you quite finished yet? I'm not sure how much money one can sieze within a couple of hours, but there has to be an upper limit somewhere.

[questionauthority]

[She'll be on the receiving end of a hard glare.]

We won't be finished until he gets here.

Action

[crazyclownwoman]

[Sitting on a counter. Legs folded up under her. Yeah, she's worried. She's also coughing a bit.]

Really Eddie. I don't think this is a good idea.

[questionauthority]

I don't want to hear it. [He brushes past her, pacing impatiently.]

the bank yo

[phobophobia]

[Oh hey guess who just

found a bullhorn

and is standing in front of the bank

wearing a cloak made out of a sheet he's totally cool okay]

Is this really how you're going to go out, Nigma?

[questionauthority]

[Oh, hey. A bullhorn. Perhaps that means they've finally sent someone to---

No. No, it's just Crane.]

What... What the hell are you doing here?