๐‚๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ -

The bat symbol lit the sky once again and I walk over to my bike and pull my mask down and make sure it covered my face securely, I climbed onto my off-white bike and started the engine and looked behind me to then start driving.

I didn't have the same tech as Batman did but I did have similar morale to him as I didn't use any guns or explosives that were made with the intent to kill mostly making me a pacifist, I never plan on killing anyone as it never resolves the problem and I think it only worsens it.

The rain was growing heavy making it hit my mask and it made me look on my armour to see that the water repelled against it making me smile, I arrived at the spot where the bat signal came from and climbed up the side of the building until I reached the top to see Gordon due to the fact I was flexible and knew how to climb fast.

Batman and Gordon turned to see me and seemed confused as the rain had made my suit go from a pale grey to a darker grey that allowed me to blend into the shadows, I look at the large light that made a loud humming noise and then returned my eyes to the two who stood in confusion.

I was silent due to the fact I didn't have re-verb on my mask yet so my voice would be easily recognizable if I spoke so I took Gordon's notepad and wrote on it, whilst I wrote the Batman watched me with his cold stare as Gordon looked at him confused.ย 

"You need to be at Mayor Mitchell's, I'm coming with," Gordon read my note aloud.

Batman studied my handwriting for a moment but I intentionally had made it inconsistent and instead copied mostly Bruce's handwriting style, I knew Bruce Wayne outside of this crime fighting life but it was rare to see him but everyone was having that problem recently.

Gordon sighs and allows me to visit the Mayor's crime scene with Batman and I took my motorbike which was parked behind Batman's, we drove to the crime scene and police stared at Batman and I as we walked behind Gordon and Bat seemed to soak all the attention whilst trying to remain mysterious and threatening.

My mask covered all of my face besides my eyes so I instead waved to the police officers which caught attention and confused him, Gordon soon was suddenly stopped by one of his higher ups and asked why he brought the Bat and was confused when he saw me.

"Who's the other one?" Pete savage asked.

I noticed he was talking about me and recognized his voice almost instantly and felt all the eyes fall on me when he asked, Gordon whispers to him then we were let through and I see the Mayor leaned against the chair with tape covering his face with sections of his hair poking out.

"๐๐จ ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ž๐ฌ." was written in blood on the tape.

I notice the bag on his hand and take it off to see this thumb was missing meaning that it was written in his blood, I notice how batman had found the weapon that looked like something you would use to lift up a carpet or some kind of tool to use for removing carpets.

I look over at the window and notice how it's open and walk over to it and look out of it to see no signs of anything, this killer was good at covering their tracks but left a blood stain from where Bat had found the weapon that was used.

Mitchell most likely was knocked unconscious by brute force of the carpentry tool as he had to be alive for everything else that happened otherwise there would be more signs of distress, the room is too tidy and clean and it wasn't the killer who cleaned after the fact as as glass of whiskey was still sat half-full.

"This was left for you," Gordon says to Batman.

This peaked my interest and I walked over which made Gordon very wary of me and have his guard up but that was understandable as he barely knew me, the letter had cursive handwriting that was close to being illegible that read 'to the batman' and he opened it for it to be a store-bought card but he quickly opened the card.

"๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ซ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ก๐ž'๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐š๐?"

I look back at the Mayor and read the "๐๐จ ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ž๐ฌ." that was written on his face and knew that this was related to the fact that Mitchell tried so hard to hide Gotham's corruption, the killer was clearly not doing this as a one-off but was here to send a message and possibly harm others.

I put my hand out for Gordon's note pad and he gives me it with a pen knowing that this was the only way to get me to communicate, I start writing and Batman watches me yet again.

"๐‡๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ." I wrote.

Batman looked at it and nodded his head in agreement as Gordon took the notepad then ripped the page out for evidence, I walked back over to the Mayor again and lifted his hand to show them his thumb was missing and Batman made the link that it was his blood that had the writing on his face and on the walls that read "๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ".

I noticed how the back of Batman's card also had a question mark with lines around it, the killer was clearly planning on acting out on more than one victim to prove his point but we would have to try and figure out the hitlist and solve the clues before anyone died.

The person who is doing this clearly understands that death isn't going to solve the problem as their riddle tells us that his lies are still floating around, the fact Mitchell is dead won't remove his lies or give Gotham a clean slate from the lies and this person was mostly likely wanting Batman to work with him on solving this issue as they share an end goal.

Removing Gotham's corruption in hopes of preventing all this crime and violence.

I took another quick glance around the building and was had ran out of clues to piece this together, I walked past Gordon and Batman who looked at me confused as I walked out of the building down the hallway we came causing police officers to watch and stare at me.

I got on my motorbike and turned it's engine on and it revs, I curse myself on my breath as I didn't want to be loud so I quickly drove off to my house.

I arrive home and changed into some casual clothing and picked up my phone to see a message from both Bruce and Alfred, I hadn't heard from the Wayne family in so long that it felt so weird that I had a message from Bruce and Alfred.

I unlocked my phone and realised that they had both invited me over for a dinner of sorts in the morning, I messaged Alfred to say that I will be there in there 30 minutes early then turned my phone off as I walked down into my garage to start working on my suit.

I was working on a system to re-verb my voice but I wanted it to sound robotic and androgynous so no one would be close to guessing who I was, I look up to see the photos of me in the orphanage was now suddenly gone which was weird as I didn't remember touching or moving them recently and they were here when I went in the garage this morning.

The photos of me in the orphanage were mostly photos of an old friend Edward and I when the place was in a liveable condition and didn't soon cause the kids to become violent, it was closed not long ago but I'm lucky enough to have wealth holding me up and a high enough social status to know Bruce.

I was in that orphanage due to my mother ending her own life not long after Bruce's parents were murdered and my dad just disappeared, I assumed he was dead by now as he left the huge fortune on me with no where to go so I went to the same orphanage as the kids who were left on streets and would suffer once they left.

I snap out of my thought as my computer tells me it was done uploading the files to my mask, I put my mask on and spoke causing my voice to have a glitchy effect to it instead of robotic but I sighed and accepted it.

My phone suddenly starts to ring and I pick it up and see it was Alfred, so I answered after taking my mask off.

"Alfred, I know your eager to see me but it's 1AM," I smiled.

I looked down at my mask and the suit and realised that it would need upgrading due to how little protection it would give me against the stuff Batman frequently faces, I focus back on the call whilst looking up at the wall without all the photos of the only good memories of the orphanage.

"I know that but Master Bruce is uncertain if he can make it to the event, I called to let you know it would most likely be cancelled last second," Alfred responded, he sounded tired.

Alfred had to care for Bruce since his parent's passing and I knew that Alfred was close to Bruce's parents, I knew Martha Wayne briefly as it was my mother who caused us to grow close to the Wayne's.

"Oh, it's fine Alfred. I was uncertain if I could make it now myself," I reassured him.

Alfred was clearly desperate for Bruce to leave the house but I guess that the attack on the Mayor must of scared him or something, he was already untrusting towards everyone and the nature of the attack must have him on edge.

Alfred thanks me and assures me he'll organise an event for Bruce and I to reconnect and I thanked him then ended the call, I look back at my computer and googled the riddle that the killer gave us.

There was one video and it was a man in a coat with the same symbol on his coat on YouTube, I clicked on it and he called himself the Riddler and the comments were full of agreement on the Riddler's thought on power and corruption within Gotham.ย 

I let the video play as I started working on upgrading my suit by adding some layers to cushion punches and added some bullet-proofing, the video soon ended and another one of his videos played as I had turned on auto-play due.

I finish working on my suit for the night and walk over to my laptop and turned off the Riddler's video to have the feeling of eyes stalking me, I shook it off as my paranoia and put my suit away and turned the light off in my garage and walked into the lounge.

I walked up to my bedroom then realise I forgot my phone and rolled my eyes, I walked down and grabbed my phone without turning the garage light on and could hear heavy breathing.

I knew switching the light on would cause the person to leap at me but I noticed how Riddler had a similar breathing pattern to his from the videos, I grabbed a metal pole off the floor and then switched on the light for him to jump at me.

Luckily, I always had my suit in my bag so I swung the metal pole to hit Riddler in the put the keys in my bike as I grabbed the bag and jumped on the bike.

I slammed the garage button to open my garage as Riddler slowly stood up and walked towards me, I drive and cause the bike and I to slide under the little opening the garage had made then it started to close open I left as it was motion detected.

"Holy shit," I choke out.

I quickly grabbed my phone and started ringing Alfred but when he doesn't answer I call Bruce, he answers the phone almost instantly.

"Y/N?" Bruce asks, tired and confused.

I weave between a few cars and it caused my engine to rev more and it caused Bruce to shout my name again through the phone, his voice was full of concern but his voice echoed on his side meaning he was in a large, open space.ย 

"Riddler came into my house, he stole some of my photos and I'm on my way to your house," I shout down the phone.

I didn't realise how much adrenaline I had pumping through my veins until I heard my shaken voice, I knew that I was driving recklessly and Bruce could hear it as cars honked their horns at me as I sped past them on my motorbike.

I knew Bruce would yell at me later for all of my reckless driving but for all I know Riddler could have put a tracker on me.

"The Riddler? Is that the Mayor's killer?" Bruce asked, his voice was clearly full of concern.

I take a sharp turn causing my wheels to squeal at at high-pitch, I was close to the Wayne Manor by now but the adrenaline caused me to hyper focus on the driving and make me feel slow even if I was going over the speed limit.

"I'll talk when I get there," I don't answer his question.

"Y/N, Don't end this call-"

I ended the call.

I nearly hit a car but swerve to avoid it and it honks it's horn at me and I just ignored him and sped up, I arrive at the Manor and park my bike and I walk up to the door for Bruce to open it as I go to knock.

"I told you not to end the call," He sighed.

I noticed how Bruce had black eyeshadow covering his eyes and his hair was all over the place and messy, he was pale and looked like he hadn't seen the sun in years which made me feel worried for him.

Bruce lets me in the house and I sit in the dining room, he soon brings me a hot drink and sits next to me.

I was still trying to understand why the Riddler came to me out of all people as I had seen Gotham's corruption first hand and no one knew I was 'Ghost' as I decided to call myself, I take a deep breath and take a sip of my drink as Bruce looks at me concerned.

"What happened?" He asked me.

I place the mug down and watched the steam slowly twist into the air as I see how I drank half of the drink like how Mitchell had left his whiskey, all that plagued my mind was now the crime scene after finding so little and due to his nature of the clue he gave us I was constantly looking for the deeper meanings of what he left.

Everything this man did had a purpose.

Bruce nodded his head whilst I explained to him what happened and when I mentioned Riddler had a YouTube it peaked his interest, Bruce still listened to me and took a deep breath and started to think about the issue for a moment then Alfred walked in.

"Alfred, did you get my call?" I ask, he seemed awake.

He looked at me confused and looked at his phone in pure confusion, this told me Riddler had tampered in my phone in some way and was most likely trying to block all the contacts on my phone before he attacked me.

"No, you didn't call me," Alfred responds.

Riddler had tampered with my phone which meant I could no longer use the one I had, I grabbed my phone and placed it on the table as I opened my contacts to see all the names had been changed to '?' and Alfred's number had been blocked.

He had put added a new contact on the phone that was named 'Riddler' too meaning that he most likely knew I was going to escape or would of used my death to talk to Batman again.




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