MOONLIGHT ↠ B. WAYNE

THIRTEEN

    When Giselle finally wakes, she finds herself engulfed in darkness. She can vaguely make out the sound of cars in the distance. Her body is against cool, sharp steel, her wrists and ankles bound with duct tape. She does her best to feel around her surroundings, smacking her palms onto the metal around her before concluding she's in the back of some sort of vehicle.

Fear bubbles inside of her at the reality of the grave situation. She can't begin to imagine the state of worry that Bruce is in at the moment. Her heart pangs with guilt at the thought of him searching the entire city for her. That is, if she's even still in Gotham.

Giselle begins trying to pull and bite at the duct tape surrounding her wrists. The tape is wrapped in too thickly of a layer to possibly truly remove it. Frustratedly, Giselle begins feeling around once more, desperate for anything that could be used to cut through the sticky situation she's in.

It takes what seems like eternity for Giselle to stumble across something upon the metal floor, that when she finds it she gasps with shock. Her hands carefully examine it before concluding she's holding some sort of letter, or perhaps a card. Giselle remembers at that moment that the Riddler is a lover of riddles and tricks. Perhaps this is one of those.

She cautiously tears at the paper of the envelope, before grasping onto the thick cardstock of the card inside it. Giselle tentatively pulls the card out from the envelope before realizing its far too dark for her to see anything. She desperately opens the card, and is shocked to find it light up, just barely. Inside the card, she can make out the illustration of a sad child with tearful eyes. The eyes of the child glow in a creepy way, but provides enough light for her to just slightly read the words on the card.

WHEN ONE CANNOT
PAY FOR THEIR SINS
THE CRIME MUST FALL
ON THEIR LOVE OR KIN
GOODBYE!

Giselle can feel hot tears bubbling up in her eyes as she drops the card dismissively before beginning to sob. She is really going to die alone in a van from starvation and dehydration because some psychopath decided to target Bruce. She slams her first down against the metal floor, desperate to unleash her building emotions. However, in that moment Giselle considers an idea, and scrambles over to the card that she begins to rip apart. Surely inside there could possibly be something pointy that could cut through the tape. She manages to remove a small thin square that she presumes to be holding the battery. While the edges of the tiny box certainly aren't very sharp, its definitely a start.

Giselle awkwardly positions the battery box into her hand and begins sawing it back and forth over the tape between her wrist. It could take a very long time to possibly even get through the tape, but Giselle refuses to go down without a fight.

❔

It's an eerily dark and rainy night in Gotham City as Bruce Wayne arrives at Arkham Asylum, dressed head to toe as the city's vigilante. Only moments ago he had discovered who the true rat of the Salvatore Maroni case was, before he was shot dead by the Riddler. His pulse is racing as the security guard lets him into the interrogation room.

On the other side of the glass is the psychotic maniac behind countless murders, and the spineless slime that has taken Giselle. It takes every ounce of his self-control to not immediately demand her whereabouts and instantly give away his true identity.

"I told you I'd see you in hell," coos the Riddler, his pale eyes wide as he gazes upon the Batman. He's a short, nerdy looking man with mousy features. His eyes though, are terrifying.

"What do you want from me?" huffs Batman, slowly approaching the glass.

"'Want'? If only you knew how long I've been waiting for this day!" exclaims the Riddler, full of excitement. "For this moment. I've been invisible my whole life. I guess I won't be anymore, will I? They'll remember me now. They'll remember both of us,"