Checkmate [Batman]

[Deleted]

Location: Beijing, China

Edward rolled a tootsie pop in his mouth as he leaned against an alley two blocks away from the government building. His cane in one hand and his gun at his waist under his jacket. He wasn’t wearing his classic green suit and green hat. It would catch too much attention during his plan, and while normally he loved attention, he didn’t want the government’s figuring out it was him until the avalanche of events already started to take place. He wore a classic black suit and a thin tie. A high-authorized ID badge hung at his hips with a different name then his actual one. It actually was the name of Wu’s competitor, so he would be linked to the attacks. The lollipop moved from one cheek to the next as he causally checked his watch. One minute until six o’clock and still no Batman. Selina had warned him that the man was in town, but from what Edward gathered he was struggling more then usual.

Fool, you were never as smart as the Riddler, he thought with a smirk as he watched the second hand tick to the twelve. As it passed a large explosion was heard at the Gentlemen’s Club across the way. No doubt, many high official in the government had been there after work and many were now dead, but it wasn’t his concern. After all, the explosion would be related to gang war over opium. He heard screams and the sound of a gas line exploding causing rubble to shoot out to the pedestrians on the street. It was the very reason he was relaxing in the alleyway.

Allen, in the security uniform Wu had gotten, would be running into the government building screaming for help and listing off the people who needed protection in the little Chinese Edward had manage to teach him. A big black man in China was a strange sighting, but with the recent explosion he doubted any would even notice. Edward pulled out his phone. His eyes both on the minutes and the screen as he hacked into the electrical systems wifi. It took him two minutes and then he was able to shut the power to the government building. It would be blamed on the explosion, but Allen had five minutes to get to the security room and turn off the cameras before the back up generators kicked on. It was the perfect amount of time for the Riddler to walk over to the building. He put his Blackberry in his pocket and took a step onto the sidewalk. He saw the destruction. He heard people screaming.

He had no doubt that this explosion would catch the attention of the Batman, which is why they only gave themselves five minutes to get into the building after the explosion occurred. Even if Batman was in the area, he would be to focus on saving the people inside to consider this had anything to do with him. Batman was never one to let innocent people die. He also would have no reason to believe this had anything to do with Edward…unless he figured out the six o’clock thing, but that was hardly a large clue. But once again, Edward wasn’t worried. Batman wouldn’t let innocent people die in a fire. I mean some of the people on the street were children. There was one child who had a piece of the building on top of his chest and was barely alive. His mother was crying. Edward didn’t even take note to the gloss over eyes. If Batman could have been intelligent enough to find him before hand, this never would have occurred. Blame the Batman for not being up for the challenge. It certainly was not Edward’s fault. He walked opened up the glass door to the government building, even though some of the windows had been cracked by rubble. Because it was after six o’clock, most people had already left. Those who were in the building then left to see the incident or were the security guards that Allen pointed to the scene. He entered the empty lobby and walked right past the front desk to the door that required a code to get inside. He waited for a moment, until the lights flickered back on from the generator. He then swiped his card and typed in the code. The door beeped, and he easily unlocked it. Allen was running down the hallways towards him.

“Cameras off, Boss,” Allen muttered.

Edward rolled the lollipop into his other cheek. “Quite good,” he said as he watched Allen pull out the two small pistols from his waist. Allen with small guns was always a funny sight, but with his current uniform, it was all he could do.

Edward walked passed him, heading for the elevator to go to the fourth floor where the cyber security wing was located. He pressed the button. “I do believe I have a checkmate,” he said with a smirk as he glanced at the big man, “I swear Darwinism is dying out. With each generation, they seem to become more idiotic then last.”

“Thought that was bout parrots,” Allen muttered. His eyes jumped from door, down the hallway, and up.

Edward pursed his lips in disgust as the comment left Allen’s mouth. “You have only furthered my point,” he snapped as the elevator door opened, and they both walked in.

[grimknight]

Navigating the Bat Wing was placed to auto-pilot which now allowed the Bat to sync through his notes stored from the batcave’s super computer to his own external hard drives loaded into the database of his suit, portable comm-link, and aircraft. The specialized hover jet of his had been given a good run for its money in Beijing, China having to avoid any and all radar, stay ever-vigilant in its use for scouring the massive city, as well as provide him with the latest updates by syncing up with the super computer with feeds provided by Alfred or Dick. Jason had recently gone MIA – a fact that enraged the Bat but one that didn’t entirely shock him given Jason’s rebellious nature. The tracer he had on Catwoman, aka, who was the recently learned Selina Kyle had shown her meander off through a twisted little clever path through the city to eventually meet up with what his satellite intel-link could only hint as being Dr. Nina Stenet.

So, he had an idea of where Riddler’s “squeeze” was along with the feline femme fatale – a detail he’d have to let slide given his press for time. Now he was working to zero in on Nigma’s location for the aptly placed bomb. He knew it was located somewhere… somewhere in the government section of Beijing, China. Wu Jing hadn’t been nearly as informative when it came to the placement of the bomb—partially because the man was slipping into a blunt-trauma induced coma caused by none other than Batman’s striking fists of fury. One minute to 6pm and things were quiet, way too quiet for the likes of the Bat. He had purposely left a symbol of his presence – the battered body of Wu Jing – behind for the Riddler to find as a tactic to keep the man on edge as well as flush him out of his well schemed plan, possibly enabling for him to make mistakes. Mistakes had been… but they were unexpected ones that ended up delaying the Bat rather than allotting him the upper hand. For example, Catwoman’s slip of guise had been one of those mistakes, knocking the Bat back a step or two in his diligence of capturing the Riddler. Yet, he’d managed to pick himself up and utilize the information as a way of aiding his means.

Within the short few days’ time of solving Riddler’s bomb-laden enigma, he had also managed to clean up a good section of the corrupt politicians within Beijing and it was from his brutal washing of the scum on China’s streets that he came to realize the bomb would be planted within the government section of downtown Beijing. He even took caution to place an untraceable bomb-threat call to all downtown buildings within the government office’s vicinity… Including the neighboring bars and clubs the hardworking employees liked to unwind at after their 9 to 5 grind. 6pm.

BA-BOOOOOOM!!!!!

A gentlemen’s club across the way of a highly prestigious government official building suddenly exploded in a mass of mortar, fire, debris, and despite his best efforts to minimize all casualties to zero, bodies. Due to his recently placed anonymous bomb-threat call, the number of victim casualties didn’t manage to hit the double digit mark. However, there was only so much the Bat could do when it came to by-passers on the streets of Beijing. Though the explosion turned out to not be as devastating as Riddler would’ve hoped, it still caused needless death and destruction.

Teeth grit with rage as the location of Riddler’s bomb was suddenly revealed—though in revealing the bomb’s location it almost seemed to intuitively point a beacon of shining spotlight onto the choice of building for Riddler’s escape. Of course the egomaniac would want stick around to reap the “spoils” of his victory—a VERY short lived victory. The Bat’s radar beeped off, honing in with its facial recognition scanning technology, on none other than Edward Nigma, the Riddler. The Bat Wing swooped down from its cocoon of cloud cover above, hovering in furiously fast with its projectile mechanisms now equipped to handle clean up duty from fiery debris and unstable structures. Jet streamed propulsions of water and Co2 were blasted out, extinguishing flames; rubberized cannon projectiles were launched to knock falling debris out of the way from fleeing pedestrians…

Meanwhile, the Bat was syncing his computer’s calibrations up with the facial recognition the jet’s system matched to Nigma, hacking into the smart device in a matter of moments.

With the Bat Wing on auto-pilot, the Bat opened the jet’s hatch and aimed a grapple cannon at the small boy now squirming to breathe while being slowly crushed by a massive piece of debris. The mother screamed in sheer agonizing terror, crying out in her native tongue for someone to save her dying son when suddenly a silent SCHLOOT! of a grapple claw flung out from the hover jet above; the well-aimed grapple cannon fired by what only could appear like some black clad knight mirroring the ancient warriors of Chinese mythos standing on the wing of a flying black steel scaled covered dragon. The piece of broken brick and bent steel debris was fiercely ripped off the boy, allowing him access to breathe—the sounds of sirens from Chinese paramedics now bleating through the scattering streets. Before the mother could look up and give thanks to the Dark Knight, he was gone—a vapor trail of the amazing hover jet in his place.

SYNC COMPLETE.

The computerized tone from Batman’s com-link indicated his hack to gain a direct link to Nigma’s Blackberry. Suddenly a growling rasp of a voice sneered through Riddler’s smart phone.

“Here’s a riddle for you, Nigma. It’s 6:04… If you can't see me, where am I?”

Before the Riddler could ponder the dubious question, the lights and computers in the cyber wing of the 4th floor security unit—much like the nifty little trick that had been pulled in Riddler’s hotel hideout. BOOM!!! A muted explosion went off, blasting a nicely sized hole in the wall on Riddler’s right side, showering the criminal and his lackies in debris and smoke. It was all the Bat needed in order to forcibly access Riddler’s precise location. A sharply aimed batarang was thrown at Allen’s gun wielding hands in effort to better the Bat’s odds. No sooner had the batarang left his gloved finger tips; an elbow now took aim right for Riddler’s exposed face – all actions performed in less than 3 seconds with the subtle touch of finesse only the Batman could possess.

“I’m HERE!”

[Deleted]

The elevator ride had been quite peaceful to Edward. He sucked on his lollipop with playful smirk on his face. His plan had been perfect, and now he had the joy of an easy success. The Batman scare tactics from a couple nights ago were in the back of his mind at this point. Beating up Wu Jing was a poor decision on the Batman. The man had far too much influence, and when he woke the next day he brought his complaints to the Chinese President. The Chinese President was already contacting the American government to explain why one of their ‘super heroes’ was attacking their government officials. Yes, Edward Nigma knew that Batman was taking out more and more of the corrupt within the Chinese government, but the Chinese and the Americans had no idea. If anything, it made the man look even guiltier as they continued to wind up in the hospital. Eventually, maybe the Chinese government would realize that these men were corrupt and ask for their withdrawal, but that wouldn’t occur until after an international incident had occurred. It also played well with Edward’s plan to hack into the system and start a cyber war between the two countries.

It was folding out beautifully, and Batman was walking right into it. It did irritate him that Batman was cheating. Trying to get information from the Edward’s informants….cheating…cheating…cheating.

No matter, he would still beat the Dark Knight. Unfortunately since Edward was in the elevator he had no idea of the events occurring outside the building. If he did, he would know that his plan would have a bump in the road. News would certainly cover Batman putting on the fire and saving the civilians. People would find it difficult to believe that a man would attack government officials for no reason then save a building after a blast.

However, Edward had a plan if such an incident did occur. He already knew it was likely the Batman would be appearing. After all, Edward was racing against the clock at this moment. He had to hack into the computer system then quickly get out of here before Batman got into the building.

He would have enough time though. Batman wouldn’t be able to save all the people who suffered in the blast and get into the building to the fourth floor by the time he gets to the room and does his business. No, it was not possible.

His smirk grew as the elevator stopped at the fourth floor. He took a step out and headed to the security area. There was bounce to his step.

“You’re in a good mood, Boss,” Allen remarked.

“Of course, I am! It’s all going perfectly!” he proclaimed, and if fate were against him he heard a familiar dark voice on his phone. His eyes widened as he heard the riddle. He didn’t see the Batman, and didn’t get time to look around or analyze the riddle before BOOM.

He was thrown back from the power of the explosion and debris. He landed on his side and coughed into his hand. He heard ringing in his ear from being so close to the explosion, but he didn’t have to time to think over that. He had to figure out what was going on and best judge how to respond to it. He pushed himself off the ground, but just as he went to move a dark clad elbow went straight to his face. He certainly had no time to prepare for that attack, and he was back on the ground. It didn’t take a genius to know who that was.

“WHAT? HOW?” Nigma cried aloud from the ground even though his jaw felt like it cracked from the attack. It made no sense! How the hell!

He didn’t hear shots being fired, meaning the Bat had managed to disarm one or both of the guns. He did hear the sound of the Bat being slammed into the wall by Allen’s huge body. One of the main reasons Edward hired the man way back was because he was bigger then Bat, as intelligent no, but in times like these physical force was necessary. Allen’s brutal fight with the Batman gave Edward the time he needed to think.

How in the world did this happen! How did he beat them up here! It made no sense! He had to have cheated! Focus, Nigma. He didn’t have time to complain. He spat his blood onto the ground before his eyes darted as the smoke started to fade in the hallway. His eyes locking to where the explosion had come from.

His already sore jaw dropped. No! NO! All of his planning thrown to waste! He had blown up the security computer system! NO! NO! NO!

His hand found his cane and his hand tightened around it immediately. He pushed himself back up from the ground. He was so angry, but tried to calm himself. All was not over. He could still successfully label Batman as a terrorist. It was what he deserved at the moment. Edward also had to find a way to escape.

“I must applaud you,” he said with a frown as his hand holding his cane going to his jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken, “I am always quite impressed with how far cheating can get you. No matter.” He waved his hand in the air. His lollipop had been forgotten. It had fallen out of his mouth went he went flying to the floor.

“Though you haven’t seen all of my cards have you,” he said with a serious expression. His mind dipped around for a new plan. He smirked as one came to mind. “We have been doing this for some time haven’t we Batman,” he continued as he watched the men battle. He was slowly taking steps back to the stairwell. “I have watched you run away from the law the same way I have, but I wonder how much legal enforcement would finally be able to take you. I presume I will have the answer for that riddle soon enough once they find what set off that poor club across the way.” He smirked, “But I think the more important riddle, is what will Commissioner Gordon do when his son returns home in hundreds of little pieces?”

Oh he knew Jimmy would be a wonderful set in his plan. Since he had lost trust in the boy, he had placed a mini question mark tracer and explosive on his person. He hadn’t intended to need to use it in order to thwart the Batman. It was rather to keep the boy under control, but oh how things could be turned around. All he had to do was click his remote in his pocket, and the boy would be dead. After the many years of playing this game with the Bat he knew better then to get the object he wanted at the moment. If he pulled it out, it would only get whacked out of his hand with one tool or another. Instead, he would wait. He also didn’t plan to reach for it immediately. If he did the Batman would know where it is placed. No need to give the Dark Knight more information then needed.

A cocky smirked appeared on his face. Batman might have ruined his overall goal, but he would not be taking him in today. He would not go back to Arkham! He would not lose to him again!

[grimknight]

Perhaps the Bat had indeed “cheated” by hacking into the villain’s Blackberry smartphone – a hack that still remained intact and managed to remain overlooked due to Riddler’s preoccupied stance of explosions, brawling, and his own inflated ego. The Bat moved to hone in on Nigma when he was slammed by what felt like a tree on his left side, making him barrel to the side. He caught his stumbling gait and resumed control of himself by using the momentum of the body slam the largest goon of Riddler’s (a thug known as Allen). From this momentum, the Bat swung about with a mean left hook, his fist cracking against the behemoth’s square jaw. Allen barely flinched. Great.

Hearing the Riddler’s words taunt him as he now engaged in a battle alerted him to the actual location of the slender and lanky, enigma-obsessed-criminal. The Bat dodged a massive fist aimed for his face and did a tuck roll beside Allen, moving with the swift nimble style of a highly skilled and trained ninja. A back kick was now given to Allen’s lower spine, his steel toed boot slammed into its mark with vengeance. The gorilla of a man stumbled down, giving the Bat just enough time to whip out a bola from his utility belt and place an intuitive aim at Riddler’s scuffling feet. SCHWOOP!!! The weighted throwing weapon flew out with blinding speed and managed to grab tight hold on Riddler’s left leg, now wrapping instinctively around both legs around and around; it sealed its tightened grip of weighted ends and steel-cut wire without mercy and tripped up Nigma within seconds.

Suddenly! A… Phone… Call?!

The ring of his cell phone threw off the Bat’s moment and a grunt escaped his lips as Allen (who clearly had managed to recover from the painful back kick) slammed a clutched fist like a lead weight onto the back of Batman’s neck. The Dark Knight fell to his knees and clearly had to forgo the phone call as he pulled out a handful of rolling spikes and threw them in spray all over the floor in a maneuver of self-defense to buy him a second to recover from the blinding pain that wracked through his body.

<“Master Bruce, it appears your vital signs have risen to an alarming level – I presume you’re not taking the laid back vacation in China with your lady friend as I had hoped.”>

Alfred’s voice now silently came through the much protected comm-link rigged into the bat-suit, a statement and communication only Batman could hear and interact with.

<“No matter, seeing that the plans have changed, I have managed to upload the requested documents and contacts of the Chinese government and provided them the necessary information about the Riddler’s plans. I’m also feeding them the transmission his smart phone mic is currently picking up. Oh, and Miss Selina Kyle is attempting to get ahold of you – though you're probably already aware. Sorry to interrupt. Try and return home in one piece.”>

The signal transmission ended, the Bat unable to respond for fear of compromising anything of his alter-ego to who he debated was the world’s smartest man – or would be if not for his psychotic nature. Allen surged forward to deliver another painful blow but slid on the throwing spikes, losing balance of his massive form. The Bat leaped up with surprising agility and delivered a snap-kick to Allen’s disgruntled face, making the man flip backward, slamming his back onto the slippery floor. The Bat’s sensor-laden boots adjusted to the new conditions of the ground in which he stood and he now turned to face Riddler.

“You’re through, Nigma.” He growled out, the brooding rage felt in his dark, graveled, tone. “Trying to pit a war against the US and China by blaming all your destruction in Beijing on US vigilantes and terrorists? Not gonna’ work. I’ve been tapping your sources and I take good notes.”

He said in a smug finality. But then the words of Riddler’s involvement with the missing son of Commissioner Gordon’s son, James Gordon Jr., aka, Jimmy, came to light.

“If you harm a hair on his head, my face will be the last thing you’ll ever see.”

Boots crunched before Riddler as the Bat now bent down and grabbed hold of Nigma’s collar, lifting him so he was face-to-face.

“Where is Jimmy?”

Suddenly a harsh slam from a broken pipe of the debris in the control room was smashed sharply into Batman’s back. He dropped Nigma and absorbed the pain as much as possible in silence. The painkillers his suit was equipped to pump him with when needed would be used later… Right now? He was done with this Riddler henchman, Allen.

“Big mistake.”

He growled at the human rhino, now easily dodging the next blow Allen swiped with the pole at the Bat’s face. The Bat then charged at the man, stunning him by using his pointed specialized cape as a whip to his face. A sharp slam of the Bat’s knee was given to the man’s diaphragm, making the thug cough out in surprise. One thing was for sure, the Riddler had definitely invested in higher quality henchmen, no doubt…

[Deleted]

Edward’s gloved hand touched the door to the stairwell. He had a taunting smirk as he watched the Batman and Allen fight. He might not have gotten what he wanted today, but at least the Batman wouldn’t be walking away unscratched either. More importantly, the Riddler was going to escape! HAHAHA! He inwardly mocked the man in black. He could twist this to his benefit. Edward always was spectacular at bending words, plans, and well anything to benefit his needs. Batman would be framed, and Edward would be free to move on with his next plan. Even if the FBI would still be in Gotham. He scowled at that thought. If Batman wouldn’t have ruined everything! The FBI would be gone! Edward was helping Gotham!

No time to pity the past, he thought. His hand pushing the door, but just as he went to go something hard hit his leg and cane. The next thing he knew he lost balance and hit the ground with a thud right on his ass. He cursed as he went to move his legs. They were wrapped around with a bola. Where did he pull this thing from?! That stupid built must have a bottomless pit.

Edward looked at the situation and analyzed the issue in a moment. His angry eyes darted to the Bat who for some reason seemed surprise. It was an odd expression on the Bat’s features, and by features, he meant lips and chin. To the average person they never would have caught the hesitation. To Edward, the less emotional straight line of his lips and the second of hesitation only proved something had happen. Hmm…a riddle…

He was slammed out of his thoughts when Allen attacked the man again. Edward shook his head. He didn’t have time to play Pictionary with Batman. He had to get out of here. His hand reached into his pocket and grabbed his pen. He ripped off the top with his teeth revealing a knife. He then started to cut through whatever type of rope was around his leg. Of course, whatever the bat had on his legs was high quality and didn’t cut. His eyebrow furrowed in frustration. No! No! He would not be stopped by the Batman! Edward was smarter then him!

The Batman’s voice caused him to freeze. Edward scowled at that. Now, he was insulting him! “Tapping! You think monitoring them makes a difference, you fool,” he shouted completely unknown to the fact that his phone was transmitting the entire conversation. An insult to his intelligence or plan easily causes Edward to overlook possibilities. “Do you really believe the government will believe you! Does your simple brain understand anything to what you have walked into?! Wu Jing is the advisor to the President! No one would believe that he was behind this. Idiot,” he muttered the last part, but the rest of his rant got stuck in his throat because Batman had grabbed onto his collar.

His eyes widened, already knowing where this was going. He didn’t know understand why, but Batman loved to pick him up by his collar. Here comes the chocking feeling and intimidating look…oh so predictable. And while it was predictable, Edward couldn’t help the tiny bit of fear of what was about to come. He gulped as the Batman mentioned the boy. Edward was about to hit. Oh god, his jaw already hurt….

The question then came, and it caused some of that fear to go away. Batman had no power over Edward. Edward had the boy. He also knew that the Batman would never kill him. He smirked, but before he could say anything Allen had made his move, causing Batman to drop him. For the fourth time this night, he fell on his ass. He winced and bit his lip. He was going to have bruise, that was for certain.

“It wouldn’t be a riddle if I gave the answer, Batman,” Edward hissed in a mixture of pain and anger. He dropped his pen at some point, but he needed to get out of here. He could undo the wrapping. It would just take time to unknot. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cube. He was going to blind himself, but at least the Batman wouldn’t be able to see either. He did the puzzle in a second, and then threw it between him and the fighting. Smoke erupted instantly, and Edward’s hands went to what was wrapped around his leg. He found the two weight and begin to slowly circle one around the other to unwrap the tangled thing it had formed. He didn’t have that much time.

He started undoing the annoying gadget as fast as he could. He needed to make a run for it. It was his only option now.

[grimknight]

Allen barreled over in a coughing fit – a coughing fit suddenly made worse by the Rubix cube shaped smoke-releasing contraption the Riddler had managed to throw into the heat of the fight. More plumes of thick smoke were released into the small control room, adding a heavier thickness of dense fog to the Bat’s own potent smoke bombs. The Bat took the free few seconds to procure a portable breathing apparatus mask from his utility belt; the specialized lenses of his mask easily and automatically adjusted their sensory input to allow for clear vision in the acridly polluted air. Needless to say, the Bat wasn’t hindered like Allen was – despite having a very sore spine, neck, and back from the multiple brute-strength filled hits he had recently endured. A swift, hard-hitting punch to the side of Allen’s temple was delivered from the Bat, knocking the man out cold.

His attention then turned to the shuffling Riddler, watching with mild amusement as the psychotic madman before him tried to squirm out of his bola’s hold. The Bat cracked his knuckles as his ominous shadow enveloped the Riddler in the smoke-filled room – the last sound Riddler would have the pleasure to hear. Nigma would barely have time to look up at the leering dark cowl-covered figure looming above him before a fist was suddenly hammered right into his unprotected face with enough force to knock a football line backer unconscious… With both Allen and Riddler down for the count, the Bat took a few fleeting moments to bind them meticulously in near-impossible wrapped knotted chords and cuffs. Bat-signal devices placed on Allen for the Chinese law enforcement to find were activated – the Chinese police were already storming the building, leaving the Bat a few seconds for his own narrow escape. Allen would have to deal with the laws of China and/or the U.S. – didn’t matter to the Bat, wasn’t his concern.

The Riddler, however, was placed in the detainment compartment of the Bat Wing. The jet had been patiently waiting for its master’s return, silently hovering right outside the blasted entry way that it had created into the control room. If Jimmy Gordon was in China, he would have just enough room to accommodate the boy, Nigma, and Catwoman… It’d be tight, but it’d work. As for Dr. Nina Stenet? He would track her down and affix a signal on her for the Chinese-U.S. Embassy to deport back to America – though he considered her an accessory to Riddler’s crimes due to her aiding and abetting a criminal, he didn’t want her being handed over to the Feds in Gotham. So, she would get off “lightly”… For now. Speaking of now, he needed to get in touch with Catwoman. A call was now placed to her comm-link:

<“Catwoman – Batman here, I need an approximate coordinate of your location. Riddler has been detained. I need you available in 3 minutes.”>