Ghost Spider - Chapter 26-30 (Patreon)

Chapter 26The unfortunate truth of business is that people expected you to dress a certain way when going to meetings. If you were just meeting middle management or something business casual was fine, but when you meet the people at the top? Suits. It needed to be suits or you were on the backfoot already.And even though Gwen didn’t particularly care about that, she still had her father’s lessons echoing in her ear about dressing for the position. And since she was scheduled to meet with one of the Wayne Entertainment bigwigs about another potential game she needed to replace the outfit destroyed the last time her apartment was broken into.Too bad she couldn’t just look up a design on the internet and shapeshift her symbiote into it. If anyone asked her for her jacket or anything like that and she was unable to get it back in time it would likely die and wind up a puddle of black goo.And that would be really awkward to explain.So that meant shopping. And not just walking in the store finding the first thing that kinda fits shopping either. She was going to need to get something fitted.Gwen hadn’t even started and she wanted this to be over.-o-“Why is it so hard to find a women’s suit in the mall?” Gwen raged three stores and no results later.For some reason every department store either sold a random assortment of things that even someone as fashion oblivious as Gwen wouldn’t consider business attire, or they simply sold one or two jackets with a skirt option. The men’s clothing section had five different brands and four different styles of cuts! Where were the women’s options? She would buy pants from the men’s section if she had to but boobs didn’t exactly work with the jackets.“All I want is something that fits and has pockets. Is that too much to ask?”“You won’t find those in a department store. Not anything that’s worth the price anyway.”Gwen looked up at the comment and was surprised to see Barbara walking towards her with her own small shopping bag.“Barbara! What are you doing here?”“There’s a charity ball my dad was invited to for the resolution of the Falcone Fiasco. He wanted to bring me along and I needed to restock on some makeup.” She said lifting her bag.“Shouldn’t you be getting that somewhere nicer than the mall if it's going to be that fancy?”Barbara shrugged. “Not really. Past a certain point you’re paying for the name rather than the product. Besides, I know how to work with these. If I need to spend a night being judged by some trophy wife, I want it to be because I look great with stuff that costs a third of what she is wearing, not because something is running.”Gwen shrugged. Makeup had never been a big thing with her, she would just take Barbara’s word for it.“So why do you need a suit? I didn’t think that was your style?”Gwen told her about the upcoming meeting and the need for new clothes. Which turned out to be a minor mistake as the redhead had finished her own shopping and was more than willing to drag her friend around looking for a new outfit.And then to her horror, Barbara dragged Gwen out of the mall without having purchased anything.-o-“So what are we here for again?” Gwen asked with growing dread as they got closer to the building.“Well, you still need an outfit.” Barbara pointed out.“Then why didn’t we stay at the mall? Some of those suits fit pretty well.”Barbara laughed. “Gwen, you don’t go to a department store for a suit. You go there to check some styles at most. Then you go to a specialist.”“This is a JEWELRY store, Barbara.” The blonde pointed out.“Yeah so?”Gwen stopped walking and gave her friend a look promising pain. “So…generally jewelry stores don’t sell suits.”“Oh we’re not here for that.”At this point Gwen didn’t want to deal with her friend’s teasing. So she stopped walking, crossed her arms, and started tapping a foot impatiently.Barbara kept walking until she realized Gwen wasn’t going to give in and follow her.She sighed and turned back. “You couldn’t just let me have fun?” She whined.Gwen raised an eyebrow. “With your shopping habits? I’d be lucky to get around to buying something before dinner.”“Hey!”“It’s true and you know it. So why are you dragging me to somewhere completely unrelated?”Barbara pouted childishly for a bit, but Gwen proved immune to it. “Fine, we’re here to talk with the manager.”“Of a jewelry store? Is she a fashion designer on the side or something?”“Close, her daughter is.” Barbara clarified. “She’s pretty good too. And last I talked to her, she was taking commissions. I figured I’d introduce the two of you, you get a custom tailored suit without getting gouged for it, and I get to spend time looking for a new bracelet.”Gwen thought it over.On the one hand this was likely going to take longer than simply finding an outfit and maybe getting it adjusted later. On the other, a custom outfit would mean she could actually have pockets bigger than the exact dimensions of a credit card.“Alright let’s go.”She made a point of ignoring the happy noise her friend made.-o-Blue Springs Jewelers was the kind of store Gwen would have never set foot in before her dad was killed and she cheated her way into a lucrative career as a game dev. She would have considered herself much too poor for that.It was the kind of store where each item on display was perched on it’s own pedestal, suit-wearing guards unobtrusively watched from the corners, and a sales person actually escorted each potential customer around!It was far too much for some shiny metal and fancy rocks in her opinion.“Ms. Gordon! How lovely to see you again. Back for more window shopping?” A small Indian woman greeted them on the way in, which her friend responded to. Apparently familiar to call out to her by name and even joke a bit since most salespeople would be annoyed by someone spending a lot of time in stores, yet not actually buying anything.“Mrs. Ahmed, and no I’m here for Sabah actually.” Barbara returned. “Though I wouldn’t say no to any suggestions. Maybe something to show off at the Charity gala?”Mrs. Ahmed hummed. “For your friend, I suppose, since you just picked up a dress from her yesterday? Give me a moment and I’ll fetch her.”With that she walked away leaving the two girls to stand around looking at the display stands. Gwen actually thought they were pretty neat. Most of the jewelry she was familiar with was mass produced. These all seemed to be handmade.Still far too expensive though.The woman returned with another girl not much older than either Gwen or Barbara.“So mom said you were looking for an outfit? Please, let’s head into the back. I’d be happy to give you a consultation.” Sabah said while wrapping an arm around Gwen and not so subtly pushing her towards a door.”“Uh, is this allowed?” Gwen squeaked nervously. “I mean aren’t you working for the store right now?”“Eh, Mom owns the place. If she’s okay with it then there’s no issue. Besides, it's a slow day anyways.”“But, but…!”Gwen’s protests fell on deaf ears and when she turned to look to Barbara for help, the traitor just smiled and waved as she was led off.Don’t just stand there, help her!-o-Barbara couldn’t help but laugh at the pleading look Gwen gave her as she was taken to the back with Sabah.Seriously, it wasn’t like she was being led to her execution or anything.“So what made you bring that girl here?” Mrs Ahmed asked. “I know you like to support my daughter’s career when you can but normally you wait until she isn’t working here.”“Spur of the moment, really.” Barbara shrugged. “I found Gwen shopping for a suit for an upcoming business meeting and she needed someone to guide her away from the mass manufactured stuff.”“Hmm.”“Aaaand I needed to make sure she didn’t just grab the first thing that looked okay and fit. Another friend of mine that has a line to Wayne Entertainment told me one of the execs has it out for her. Gwen needs every advantage she can get right now.” Rather, some of Bruce’s automated systems flagged some emails from inside his company pushing for people to blacklist Gwen for some reason and she had caught them while looking for signs of corruption now that the criminal underworld was reeling from recent events.“And why not tell her that?”“Oh I will, but only after her meeting.” Barbara assured the other woman. “Gwen gets really sarcastic when she’s mad at someone. I’d rather she didn’t burn bridges because of something I said. Plus, her games are really good despite being pretty simple. She’ll be fine.”Mrs. Ahmed just hummed again before shaking her head and changing the subject.“Well she’s your friend. You would know her best. Now! If you are looking for something yourself we have a lovely new addition right over here…”-o-“That wasn’t so bad was it?” Sabah asked a short time later.“If you say so.” Gwen grumbled.Truthfully, it hadn’t been that bad at all. Sabah had been pretty fast about getting the measurements she needed and had taken steps to make sure Gwen was comfortable throughout the process. At this point she was mostly holding a grudge because if Barbara ever found out she didn’t totally hate the experience she would take it as an excuse to drag Gwen out on even more shopping trips.“So I’ve been meaning to ask,” Gwen said in an obvious topic change. “What’s the deal with the amulet? Some kind of specialty item you only show certain people?”If so Gwen could see why. The amulet was a massive emerald set with some intricate gold metalwork. Even locked behind the clear glass case, she could tell it was on another level compared to the rest of the pieces here and she wasn’t exactly a jewelry buff.“Not really. That’s actually from someone’s private collection being donated to the gala to raise money for the charity.” The fashion designer shrugged. “There’s going to be an auction with any money raised going to the fund.”“They’re celebrating the takedown of a criminal group during an auction…with another auction?”Sabah smiled. “Hey, never let it be said the upper class isn’t consistent. Besides this at least lets some people see this beauty in person before it winds up forgotten in some rich person’s closet for a few years.”“Something special about it?”“Yeah, it’s called the ‘Spring Isles Emerald’, it’s one of the biggest gems of it’s kind in the world. Collectors would give an arm and a leg to have it in their collection for just a little while. The bragging rights alone would be worth it.”“Really…” Gwen gave the amulet another lookover. Nope, still just looked like a fancy rock to her.“Hahaha, yeah that’s why I’m going into fashion even though mom runs the store. Seems more fun designing for the person than waving some unchanging item around, no matter how much it’s worth.” Sabah laughed when Gwen repeated her thoughts out loud.“Whatever suits you, I guess.” Gwen snarked, getting another laugh out of Sabah with the pun.“So when do you…” Gwen’s spider sense went off. Trusting her instincts, she threw herself on top of Sabah and did her best to shield the other girl as the room suddenly exploded. She felt herself smash into a rack of metal shelves and looked up just in time to see parts of the ceiling falling on her.-o-*BOOOM!*Barbara stopped mid sentence as the building rocked from an explosion. And while her training was enough to stop her from falling over, she had to quickly reach out and steady Mrs Ahmed, who had no such advantages.She barely had time to wonder what happened before she saw smoke pouring out of one of the back room doors…“Gwen!” “Sabah!”All over the store, people burst into motion. Some of the security guards began escorting people out of the store, others ran towards the room Gwen and Sabah had gone into, but none of them were faster than Barbara.She burst through the door, shortly followed by Sabah’s mother, and looked around the room. Fittingly it looked like a bomb had gone off. Practically everything was broken and scattered, but she did see her friend starting to move from under a pile of debris.“Gwen, you okay?! What about Sabah?” She cried, rushing to her friend’s side and helping her both dig herself out of the rubble and looking her over for injuries.“I think we’re both fine.” Gwen coughed. “I managed to shield her from the worst of it before the drop ceiling fell on us. I think she’s just unconscious.”“Oh, thank God!” Mrs Ahmed exclaimed, falling to her knees next to her daughter. “Thank goodness you are both okay.”“We should still call an ambulance.” Barbara suggested. “Just to be sure.”“Yes, yes that seems like a –”“Ma’am, bad news!” one of the security guards interrupted. “It looks like someone has stolen the Amulet!”

Chapter 27“You find anything out?” Gwen asked Barbara when they were finally able to meet up again on top of a random highrise.Being caught in ground zero of an explosion meant that she had spent hours first getting checked over by first responders, then getting some scans done at a hospital to make sure there were no internal injuries, and then getting questioned by the police to see if she noticed anything strange beforehand. Sabah and her mother also wanted to thank her as well, which was nice but a bit awkward since she hadn’t actually done that much.And THEN she had to deal with a circling Renee Montoya because once again Gwen had been very dangerously involved with Gotham’s criminal element in under a month. It was possible Gwen could have sent the older woman away earlier, especially because Montoya probably had plenty of work investigating she needed to do herself, but as one of the very few adult influences still in her life she was just happy the detective cared.So it was only much later that Gwen was able to dig out the communicator and set up a place to meet her friend.“A few things.” Barbara replied. “For one, Blue Springs Jewelers wasn’t the only place hit. Four other places were robbed the same way within an hour of each other. Each one had one item stolen even though there were plenty of other things at each site worth a lot of money to the right people. The only clues the police were able to find immediately were some cards left at the scene.She pulled out her phone and swiped through a few pictures. Each one was of a simple piece of cardstock with one word on it except for the last one.WhoCouldItBe?Gwen raised an eyebrow and handed the phone back. “Isn’t that a little obvious? The question mark is his symbol.”Barbara nodded. “It is, but the Riddler has never been known for being humble. He wants everyone to know he was the one to pull the robberies.”“So what’s the riddle then?”She shrugged. “I think we need to figure that out ourselves. So far all I’ve got is each card corresponds to the place that was stolen from. In order, World of Antiques, Carol’s Diamonds, Indigo Trading, and Blue Springs Jewelers all had a card left behind.”“And the question mark?”“An armored truck that was hit seconds after it received the item, but hadn’t made it off the property.”“So it blurs the line of who exactly was robbed. Cute, I guess.” Gwen scowled.“Legally not really, but close enough.” Barbara agreed.“So who’s doing what?”“Nightwing is keeping an eye on things in case this is a distraction, Robin is helping the police look for more clues and I’ve got a few trawlers going through the dark web looking for any signs of the items being sold.”Gwen was a little jealous the other girl had the space and the setup to do such a thing. Sure she technically had the funds to rent her own space and set up a connection. But people did monitor the web for those types of programs and attempted to backtrack them, on both sides of the law, because they wanted to know who was collecting that data and for what. And Gwen didn’t exactly have the connections Batman did to hide that from everyone.Such was life though. She would just have to settle for superpowers and leave the techno-wizardry to the Batfamily for now.…and putting it that way made her feel much better about herself and a touch less jealous.“So just wait and see?”“For now.” Barbara sighed and pulled her cowl back on. “Maybe we’ll find another clue soon but this isn’t the only thing going on.”As if summoned by that comment, the police scanner suddenly crackled to life. “Attention all units, attention all units. Robbery in progress at Gotham National Bank…”Gwen perked up, pulling on her own mask. “That isn’t far from here.”“Nope.” Bar-Batgirl was already moving towards the edge of the building. “Race you there?”The race wasn’t even close.-o-“Dammit where are Eric and JP?” Sean cursed as he and Vinny ran down some back alleys. The robbery had been a snap, but the cops managed to block off their getaway car so the four of them made a break for it on foot.“They split off. Said they’d meet us at the safehouse.” Vinny panted. Sean didn’t blame him. Carrying all their gear along with the cash was heavier than he thought it would be.“Fuck, fine. Assholes better not be late.”The two of them ran nonstop for nearly ten minutes before they felt safe enough to slow down. No way was any cop going to be able to follow them through the maze of Gotham’s streets on foot and they didn’t see any patrol cars on the roads. They still kept their guard up though. Horror stories of the Bat Brigade appearing out of the shadows made sure no one relaxed until the money was split and hidden away.Speaking of…“So how much do you think we snagged?”Vinny thought it over. “We got slowed down checking for dye packs so, I dunno, maybe around thirty kay each?”That was it? Fuck. That would barely cover his debts, but maybe he could double up by checking out a casino or two. He’d made some decent money at them before and that one dealer said he could come back anytime…The two bank robbers quickly made their way to an abandoned apartment building and pushed through a door, ignoring the ‘condemned’ notice pasted on the front. They were just here to meet up, split the cash, and slip out into the city once they changed clothes. Anything left behind would either be scavenged by some homeless bum or buried when the building got demolished…if that ever happened.Fifteen minutes later though, the two of them were starting to get nervous.“Where the fuck are they?!” Sean raged as he paced back and forth.Vinny was nervously looking out the window every few seconds but tried sounding calm. “They probably took a longer route back. They should be here any–”There was a slight sound of creaking wood down the hall that instantly shut Vinny up.The two listened in and could’ve sworn they heard footsteps. After a quick look and a nod from both of them, they slid into hiding spots and pulled their handguns out of their jackets.Both of them held their breath as the door was silently pushed open and two dark figures stepped inside. Sean’s heart almost leapt out of his throat when he recognised the two. He nearly exploded out of his hiding spot shouting, “Fucking finally! What took you so long?!”Eric jumped like someone had punched him and whirled to face Sean. “Goddamned asshole! What are you doing hiding like the fucking Batman? Shite!”“You two nearly gave me a heart attack.” JP added.“And it’s not like we hit up a club on the way back. We needed to make sure nobody was following us.”Sean shoved his gun back into its holster. “Whatever, lets hurry the fuck up and split the cash and get out of here. Place gives me the creeps.”JP scoffed. “What worried Batman is going to come for your ass?”“Dude, don’t jinx us.” Vinny whined.“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with.”It turned out Vinny was wrong about his guess, much to Sean’s pleasure. Each one of them would be walking out of here with forty thousand each. Not too much more, but enough that he wouldn’t be worried about loan sharks poking around him for not making payments. He could even hit up a casino without needing to make a score for a bit before lining up another job. Just for fun.They were all just cleaning up the stacks and making sure nothing that could be tied to them was left behind when there was a loud thump out in the hallway.All four of the robbers froze. The building was condemned, sure, but that didn’t mean people didn’t still come through. Homeless, addicts, teens trying to prove themselves they could handle. Cops or even worse Batman? They didn’t want to think about it.“You guys hear that?” Eric whispered.“Yeah, think we all did.” JP said back. “Someone check the street, make sure no cops are camped outside.”Vinny edged towards the window and leaned outside a bit. “I don’t see noth– What the fuck! Mpfh!”The other three could only watch as something grabbed Vinny and pulled him out the window. Guns were pulled and they all sprinted to see what got their friend, only to see nothing outside. No cops, no capes, no Vinny. Not even on the ground below. It was like he was just swallowed into the shadows.“Dude…” Eric started. Sean wasn’t having it.“No.”“Dude…!”“No!”“Fuckers, Vinny just got vanished! I am not staying here!” JP bolted to their stuff. Sean grabbed him before he could run out the door.“Calm down dumbass. Vinny just got ganked like some B-movie horror victim. We are NOT going to run out like idiots and get picked off one by one. Grab the rest of the shit. We’re getting out of here.”“What about Vinny?” Eric asked.“If we find him? Great. If not…well, I think the Batman got him.”“Fuck.”Yeah, fuck was about right. Still Sean wasn’t going to let two potential meatshields run off and leave him to face whatever the fuck that was by himself. So he grabbed the cash and his gun and motioned for the others to hurry the fuck up.The three stepped out into the hall and made a point of checking each room they passed -especially the ceilings!- but they saw nothing. Nothing until JP looked behind them and saw a flash of white dip into one of the rooms.“What the fuck was that?!” He shouted, getting the other two’s attention.“What was what?” Sean snapped.“Some white thing. In the shadows!”White…was not Batman’s colors. It wasn’t any of the other Bat Family’s either. Something else was in here with them.“Right, we’re going right for the exit. No stops, no distractio– where the fuck is Eric?” The other man had just vanished.“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” And JP was freaking out.Sean was just about to ditch him and make a break for it when a soft *thwip* rang out and something white and stringy swallowed JP’s head and started dragging him off. Sean nearly fumbled his gun trying to bring it up to snap off a few shots but it didn’t stop whatever was dragging JP off from pulling him around a corner.Figuring he was either fucked by whatever was in here anyway, Sean ran after JP hoping to get a better shot at whatever was hunting them or at least get JP back. But when he turned the corner there was nothing there.“Who…Who’s there?!” He screamed, more out of hysterical frustration than anything.”I am Vengeance...” A growling female voice rang out from seemingly all around him.Sean snapped off a few random shots hoping to hit the thing in here with him.”I am the Night…” A different voice said from the shadows. Sean whirled and squeezed the trigger but the gun clicked empty. He pulled the empty clip and practically threw it away in his haste to swap to a spare.Before he could ram it home, there was a soft thump behind him.I…AM…” Sean managed to twist around just in time to see the face of the thing that was going to end him. The blank white face except for two large blood rimmed eyes. No mouth or nose. At least no mouth until a huge fanged maw split its face from ear to ear. ”GhOSt SpIdEr!”Sean’s legs gave out and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he passed out.-o-“Okay, I need to ask. Gwen, what the fuck?” Barbara finally demanded once they handed the robbers off to the police. She had agreed to the stealth takedown because it seemed like the best way to make sure no one got hurt, but she had not been expecting to see Gwen sprout a smile that looked like it would be right at home on Killer Croc’s face.“Yeah, sorry. My suit’s probably getting hangry. I’m normally better about keeping it from going all toothy.” Gwen -Ghost Spider- said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.“I’m sorry, your SUIT is getting hangry?!”“Yep, didn’t I explain this? I felt like I explained this.”Barbara took a deep breath. “When would you have explained this?!”She was barely holding back her shock, it wasn’t helping Gwen was looking at her like SHE was the crazy one here.“You know, in the cave where you took me after I almost died? The one where you drugged me into unmasking to you all?”Barbara sighed. “We drugged you so you weren’t feeling the ten holes in your chest not to unmask you. And you were high most of that time! Then you kinda stormed out because you were pissed at us. With reason!” She added when Gwen glared at her. “But we never got back to talking about what the suit is.”Ghost Spider took a deep breath of her own and started explaining. “Okay, so Klyntar 101. They are a symbiotic alien race that bond with a host and empower them. I’m 99 percent sure mine is a lesser lab grown version because they are supposed to have their own personality alongside the host’s but mine doesn’t. But one thing all Klyntars need is a steady diet of phenethylamine. If I don’t get enough it makes the suit, and me I guess, a bit more aggressive and moody. So hangry.”“Phenethylamine…why does that sound familiar?”“It’s the happy feel-good chemical found in chocolate.”“Wait…are you saying your powers force you to eat chocolate?” Barbara blinked.Gwen seemed smug. “Yes, and they even make sure the calories don’t affect my figure unless I want it to.”“...I think I hate you a little.”“Ah yes, the other thing my powers rely on. The envious tears of my haters.”

Chapter 28As much as Ghost Spider didn’t want to admit it, she wasn’t going to be the one to track down the Riddler through some computer wizardry. She had already admitted to herself that the Bat Brigade had the better setup and resources for that. Even if they had the same equipment Barbara was simply better than her. Gwen could follow a tune when it came to hacking and information gathering, Barbara was the one who made the music. Of course Gwen would be the one orchestrating a symphony when it came to mechanical engineering with the redhead playing second seat.Increasingly tortured metaphors aside, if Ghost Spider was going to add anything new to the investigation it was going to be going to be by searching Gotham street by street.Not that she was running totally blind. Batgirl had given her a few shaky leads that they normally would have ignored until they had gotten more solid information. Ghost Spider didn’t find anything that would point them towards the Riddler but at least she was ruining the night of quite a few small-time crooks as a bonus.“Did we miss something at the scenes themselves?” The wall-crawler asked over the comms as she swung through the city to the next spot Batgirl had marked as an area of interest.“If we did, so did the police, and it probably would have been cleaned up by now. Cleanup crews started moving the debris this morning.” Batgirl informed her. “But that doesn’t fit the Riddler’s MO. He’s the type to hand us every clue we need and gloat we couldn’t put them together. No, we’re just missing something.”“Don’t suppose there is a convenient map written in invisible ink on those cards, huh?” Ghost Spider snarked.“Hah, I wish! Closest thing I got to a map was comparing the timing and locations for each robbery and superimposing them over a city map. I got what was starting to look like a vector diagram but it wasn’t a perfect fit. One of the points was too far east to match.”“Could you just leave that point out?”“If I had more data, maybe, but we only have five points to look at. Besides throwing away twenty percent of my data because it doesn’t fit right isn’t something a perfectionist like Nigma would do.”Ghost Spider landed in a crouch on one of Gotham’s many skyscrapers and spotted another mugging in progress.“Crap, got another one. I’ll call you back.”“Sure, just remember you have that meeting with Wayne Entertainment tomorrow.”…she had actually forgotten about that.Barbara was a really good friend. Gwen decided she would have to forgive the redhead for dragging her through the mall for hours. She might even need to do something nice for the other girl later.That would have to wait though. Right now she had a criminal to terrify apprehend. Ghost Spider dropped off the wall.“Stop right there, buddy! That doesn’t belong to you.”-o-Barbara sighed and pushed her chair back as dozens of analysis programs chugged along on the many screens of the Batcomputer.Despite having bleeding edge tech that put most governments to shame she wasn’t really expecting the results to give her anything solid to follow up on. There simply wasn’t enough for anything to really give them a solid clue.If Bruce was here he probably would have already narrowed down the search area based on some gut feeling that led to an ironclad string of evidence but Barbara wasn’t him. She needed a firm starting point before she could find the obscure details no criminal wanted people to know.That was why she liked working with computers. It didn’t matter what the topic was, once someone had it entered into a digital space it played by certain rules. Rules Barbara knew inside and out to the point that even not air gapping was a guarantee she couldn’t find a way in. And for those, all she needed to do was find the physical location and use a more personal touch.“Still nothing on the Riddler case?” Dick asked on his way past her workstation. Between him keeping an eye on Gotham with Bruce gone and her looking for any sign of the Riddler the two of them had been spending so much time together that they could decipher the other’s mood by their breathing.“Nothing, and we’re running out of time too.” She agreed in a huff.Dick shrugged. “I’m sure the charity will run just fine even without the stolen exhibits.”“Not just that. The Riddler won't just wait around forever. Allowing the Spring Isles Emerald Amulet to be stolen is going to really affect Mrs Ahmed’s store’s reputation. She doesn’t deserve it and I don’t want to be the one to let him get away.”“Gwen doesn’t have any convenient leads?”Barbara sat up and glared at him. “Don’t start. And I thought you were going to tone down the rampant paranoia.”Dick sighed. “Not what I meant. She did some really good groundwork before the Fiasco. I was wondering if she picked up anything off the street.”“Hmm.” Barbara wasn’t sure she believed him, but let it go. He was trying to be reasonable after all.“She didn’t have anything the last time we talked and she’s busy with a business meeting today, so it's not likely she’ll have anything new until tonight at least. And she’s been mostly checking out areas I’ve picked out, so unless I guessed right or she gets lucky, she shouldn’t have anything new.”Barbara was briefly distracted as she spotted Tim enter the cave followed by Alfred. A quick glance at the clock reassured her she hadn’t skipped a meal so they were probably just checking in.Relieved she wasn’t about to be on the receiving end of one of Alfred’s speeches about self-care she blurred the monitors and decided a short break was in order.“Hey Dick, Babs. How’s things going?” Tim greeted while Alfred offered a cup of coffee to them both, one Barbara gratefully accepted.“Hey yourself, shortstuff.” Dick replied, grinding a fist into the top of Tim’s head, despite the younger boy’s protests, before accepting his own cup from the dutiful butler. “And all quiet, for now. Though we might have some Triad gangs looking to muscle in on some of the Falcone’s old turf. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.”“Is that why you’re looking at a Five Elements diagram?” Tim asked, annoyedly fixing his hair once he escaped from Dick’s grasp.“A what?”“Five Elements, you know the Chinese thing? Earth, water, fire, wood, metal, and all that?” Tim pointed at the blurred screen Barbara had been working on. With the screen inactive, it did look a bit like a circle made of five colored blobs. “Is that not what that is?”“No, it was just the images of what the Riddler stole…” But now that it was pointed out, Barbara was going to look into the possibility. It was a new perspective at the very least.-o-Gwen scowled all the way home from her meeting with Wayne Entertainment.The whole thing had nearly gone wrong from the start when Gwen called in to confirm the appointment with a secretary only to find out the meeting had been moved last minute to an entirely separate building. Apparently they had sent her an email to inform her of the change but nothing appeared in her inbox until five minutes before the meeting time.The tight expression on the exec’s face when Gwen not only showed up on time, but at the correct location all but confirmed the timing was intentional.She had no idea why the person she was meeting with seemed determined to dismiss her pitch every chance she could despite the marketing people in the meeting seeming pretty excited about her new idea. Only half-remembered lessons from her dad about keeping cool under pressure and some additional memories from the event that gave her the symbiote let her get through that entire mess without losing her temper.She still needed to go over the contract before signing, but unless there was something non-negotiable she was pretty sure she could sign within the month.And while the promise of more future money she could safely spend as a civilian was encouraging, it did nothing to calm the frustration of having to sit through some moron in a pantsuit complain that her ideas wouldn’t work in the large scale Wayne Enterprises worked at and was derivative of things already out on the market……as long as you ignored the fact that all the games she brought up were released AFTER her first game and that the second shared some minor art assets AT BEST.It was almost a relief when the blonde’s cell phone went off, distracting her from her building emotional outburst.Gwen quickly answered it after a quick glance at the caller ID.“Hey Barbara, I’m guessing you found something if you're calling me?”“Hi Gwen, and yeah, maybe. You think you can meet me by the docks tonight? Wear something formal, this could be important.”In other words, show up in costume because she would be showing up as Batgirl.“I can do that. We in a rush or anything?”“No, it can wait till later. Just wanted to catch you before you made any other plans. I’ll message you with the details in a bit.” Meaning she would send it to the secure communicator.“Cool, I’ll see you later then.” Gwen hung up, feeling slightly better.Maybe she would be able to take out these feelings on something deserving.-o-Later that night Ghost Spider found out she was the last one to the meeting spot. Not only that but it wasn’t just Batgirl. Nightwing and Robin had shown up as well.The spider-themed heroine made sure to land somewhat far away, no need to make anyone jumpy, but quickly approached the group with a wave.“Hey guys, everyone here for this one lead?”Nightwing not so subtly looked her over before shaking his head. “No. We got word of a Triad drug operation setting up nearby. Robin and I are going to check that out while you two follow up on the Riddler lead.”Ghost Spider wasn’t super thrilled her friend was still holding her at arm's length but at least he was talking to her, so progress?“What, scared we’ll give you cooties or something?”Robin laughed. “He just doesn’t want to admit we’ll be hanging around in case Riddler tries to run off and taking down some drug smugglers as a bonus.”Nightwing gave the younger boy a light smack to the back of his head, much to his expressed displeasure, and started walking off. At least he was nice enough to remind them both to be careful as he left.“Still not talking to me I see?” Ghost Spider asked rhetorically.“He’s getting better.” Batgirl offered.Both of them looked at each other and shrugged. Now wasn’t the time to get into personal drama.“Okay what do we got?” Ghost Spider asked.“A couple warehouses I managed to track down all owned by N-Igmatic Industries. If that isn’t where the Riddler is holed up I’ll eat my cowl.”“No need to go that far, but how’d you figure it out? Last we talked you were convinced it had to be somewhere in the west side of the city.”Batgirl grimaced. “A bit of luck, timing, and Chinese Element Diagrams.”“Huh?”“I’ll tell you later. Right now we’ve got a thief to catch.”One of Ghost Spider’s eyes widened in a parody of a raised eyebrow. “If you say so…”The two heroines stealthily made their way towards the buildings Batgirl had pointed out.Unlike most of the ones surrounding them, these buildings had been obviously modified so that there were no windows or skylights to infiltrate from unexpected angles. Recently too based on some of the weld marks on the walls. Batgirl was obviously right that someone didn’t want people poking around here.That did leave them both in a quandary of how to actually investigate.Unfortunately, the only thing they could reasonably do was pick the lock and go through the front door. They barely had gotten started and already the Riddler was leading them into his game.“Careful.” Ghost Spider whispered as Batgirl cracked the lock in under fifteen seconds. Despite the ease of getting through the door, there was always the possibility of a boobytrap just behind it.“I know,” Batgirl whispered back and snaked a camera into the small gap in the door. “I don’t see anything connected but the rest is pitch black. We’ll have to be careful.”With that warning, the two carefully moved into the warehouse.They barely made it two feet inside before Ghost Spider’s Spider Sense blared a warning. Acting on instinct, the black and white clad heroine threw herself onto her friend and pushed them further into the warehouse as something big and heavy crashed into the ground right behind them.In addition to the loud sound, several lights snapped on at the same time, revealing the two had been forced into a large pyramidal structure made of some clear material and that the crashing sound had been the back ‘wall’ sliding into place.Moments later a TV outside the structure turned on. “Well, well, well. I was wondering what was taking Batman so long, but it seems he’s been delegating to the junior leagues.” The Riddler in his iconic green question-mark covered suit smirked from the display.“But don’t worry, while the Bat will have plenty of time to regret his unwise decision, you two will only be bothered for a few minutes.”A timer appeared in the bottom corner of the display and at the same time a metal plate at the top of the structure pulled back. Ghost Spider and Batgirl weren’t stuck in a pyramid. They were stuck in a giant hourglass.And the sand pouring in from above wasn’t trickling in slowly…

Chapter 29Getting buried alive wasn't really on the list of things Ghost Spider had been expecting when she and Batgirl went after the Riddler. But as far as death traps went, this one seemed…lackluster.It was, afterall, just a big glass box filling with sand. And she had super strength."Cover your head, I'm not sure how this is going to break." She told Batgirl, walking up to the wall and cracking her knuckles. Her friend crouched down and pulled her cape up to cover the rest of her."I wouldn't do that if I were you." Riddler's mocking voice came from the TV.Ghost Spider ignored him, pulling her fist back and then with a shout slammed it into the clear material…"Ah!"…only to collapse on the slowly rising layer of sand clutching her hand in pain when the wall refused to break."Ghost Spider!""Reinforced polycarbonate acrylic backed by a transparent aluminum mesh." Riddler said smugly. "Guaranteed to stand up to anything a certain flying rodent might be carrying with him. But don't worry. There's still a way out if you're fast and clever enough. If not…" He waved at the sand still pouring in and the implied demise it represented.While Ghost Spider flexed her hand a couple times and growled at the supervillain, Batgirl was studying the room they were trapped in. The Riddler had a psychological NEED to prove himself more clever than everyone around him, even to the detriment of himself in several situations such as giving away his current location when he could have simply vanished after his string of robberies.There was someway out of this that they just needed to put the clues together for.The wall they had come in from had been secured to the rest of the hourglass with thick metal clamps on the outside. The walls themselves had no distinguishing marks and there wasn't anything obviously visible in the warehouse either.That meant their way out could only be in two places. The funnel where the sand was coming from…or the floor below them."GS, try doing something about the sand! I think the exit is on the floor!" Batgirl shouted and began doing her best to shift the sand out of the way so she could reach the bottom."The sand, huh?" Ghost Spider muttered, looking at the falling stream of the stuff. She experimentally shot a line of webbing through it to try gumming up the whole, but the falling sand easily swallowed it. "And what am I supposed to do about it?" She complained, but started shooting webs around the top of their section of the hourglass.Eventually the wallcrawler was able to build up a pretty thick sheet of webbing to slow down the stream, but the sand was too heavy and fine to stop completely. Bits were still falling through the gaps but Ghost Spider was too busy making sure the entire thing didn't collapse under the weight to plug them."You better hurry, I don't think this is going to last long!"Batgirl didn't reply, too busy shoveling sand out of the way. Her heart fell for a moment when her fingers brushed over a metal floor with no sign of a way out, but it picked back up when they caught on a hidden latch.Giving it a solid tug revealed a tablet with the message 'What flattens all mountains, wipes out all species, destroys every building, and turns everything into pieces?' displayed on the screen."Oh, you have got to be kidding me!""What now?!""He's got the thing hooked up to an actual riddle!" Batgirl exclaimed. "And it's one about time when he stuck us in a giant hourglass!""Yes, a bit on the nose I'll admit." Riddler chuckled from his screen. "But I figured I'd start off easy. A little something to get the thinking juices flowing." Then he scowled. "Although having a partner to give you a leg up probably made it a bit too easy. Nevertheless, you got the correct answer. On to the next riddle!"He pushed a button on the top of his cane. Suddenly the floor of the hourglass dropped away, allowing the two heroines to fall into the darkness below.-o-Having the floor drop out from under her wasn't something Ghost Spider had been expecting but that wasn't to say she didn't react to it.Her first reaction was to try shooting a webline back into the hourglass to stop her fall, but a sharp panel closed over the hole and cut it. Her next thought – though it was more instinctual reaction – was to grab Batgirl and keep her close so they wouldn't end up separated and blindly shoot a web into the dark in hope that it would break their fall before they hit the ground.She was half successful in that as she managed to stop them from falling into what was probably the next trap, but was completely unprepared when a second later a sheet of metal swatted them out of the air until they crashed into a room filled with water and had to quickly swim to the surface."Pah! You alright?" Batgirl sputtered as she spat water out of her mouth. She was a little worried because her friend was the one to take most of the impact from the thing that launched them here."Y-yeah, nothing broken at least." Ghost Spider hissed even as her side and shoulder throbbed with each movement as she tried treading water."You have to stop taking hits like those.""Trust me. I'm not doing it on purpose."The two stopped talking as they inspected the new room they found themselves in since they were pretty sure this was another trap. Not many places had giant underground water tanks lying around afterall.Unfortunately for them, their surroundings were too dark to make much out. Beyond some shadowy impressions of the edges of the tank everything was pretty much black."Think you can pull us up to the ceiling?" Batgirl asked after a bit. "I'm pretty sure we skipped over one trap already. I'd love to do it again if we could.""I'll give it a shot."Ghost Spider once again shot a webline straight up, but before it got too high there was a flash of something metallic that flew through the air and severed it."Ah, ah, ah. No more of that now." Another TV screen snapped to life showing a visibly annoyed Riddler. "Did you think I wouldn't take countermeasures against cheaters? ""Well sorry for not obediently going along with the plans of the guy trying to kill us." Ghost Spider deadpanned, only to freeze up when something brushed her leg. "Wait, Batgirl…that wasn't you was it?""What wasn't me?"Something brushed up against Ghost Spider's leg again and this time she could tell Batgirl felt it too."That…"Both girls tried scanning the dark waters for any sign of what touched them, but it was no use. There was no sign of what was in there with them."Oh, did I forget to mention that tank is home to a particularly nasty kind of crocodile?" Riddler drawled. "I'd turn the lights on so you could see, but the switch is located at the end of the previous room. You know, the one you skipped. Ah well, do your best to figure out the answer before your new friend decides he's hungry if you can!" He waved and the TV shut off, cutting off the small amount of light it offered.Ghost Spider twitched as she felt that thing move in the water again. It was getting more curious. It wouldn't be long until something happened. "You have any ideas?" She asked Batgirl."If this is anything like the first trap we need to answer a riddle to escape. And the question itself is probably hidden in here somewhere. And since we already figured out we can't go up, that means…" She looked at the water."The clues are hidden below us with the hungry crocodile." Ghost Spider groaned. "In the dark where we can't see two feet in front of us. Great."Batgirl swallowed heavily. "I have a rebreather and a flashlight on my belt.""You happen to have a spare?""No."Ghost Spider sighed. "Yeah, thought so. Alright you search for the riddle, I'll put on my best Steve Irwin impression and buy you some time.""Yippee-ki-yay, cowgirl."Red rimmed eyes narrowed at her friend. "I'm going to ignore that for now. But after this? We're doing a TV marathon to fix your butchering of beloved TV animal icons and eighties action heroes.""TV rots your brain." Batgirl huffed defensively."Possibly. Probably why I think this is a good idea." Ghost Spider responded just as the crocodile passed by again. This time, the spider-themed hero reached out and latched on using her powers, praying the croc wasn't in a position to clamp down on her arm the whole time.The reaction was immediate. While the animal had been content to poke at the two intruders in its territory while making up its mind on which one to take a bite out of first when they were just floating there, being 'attacked' by one of its meals set it off. The large aquatic reptile instantly began thrashing around trying to either dislodge its newly acquired passenger or get its mouth on it instead.Ghost Spider could only hold on for the ride and try to keep her limbs away from the croc's mouth.She might have super powers, but super strength didn't do much when she had no leverage and her opponent was built for the water.Once she saw Ghost Spider begin to distract the hungry predator, Batgirl immediately crammed the rebreather into her mouth and began diving towards the bottom of the tank. Her belt flashlight was easily able to shine through the slightly murky water, but it still took a bit of time to find anything with the small amount of light available to her. Even when she did, it wasn't particularly helpful either. Just a rock with the message '7, 3, 8 - Nothing is correct' carved into it.Clearly only a part of the riddle. And not a very helpful one either.She moved on.Several messages later, Batgirl headed back to the surface. She thought she had found all the messages in the tank but there was no clear direction she could find.6, 8, 2 - One number is correct and well placed.6, 4, 5 - One number is correct but wrong place.2, 0, 6 - Two numbers are correct but wrong places.7, 8, 0 - One number is correct but wrong place.Obviously it was some kind of three number combination, but what were they supposed to do with it?!It didn't help that she had seen Ghost Spider still struggling with the crocodile at several points. The other girl doing her best in a contest of stamina with the animal that at any point was capable of causing severe injury with a single bite.Once Batgirl breached the surface of the water, she looked around for any sign of where the combination was supposed to go but all she saw was a heavily panting Ghost Spider treading water."You okay?" The redhead asked as she swam over, doing her best to keep an eye out for the crocodile. "Any problems on your end?""So good, so far." Ghost Spider breathed. "But it hasn't been easy. That croc definitely isn't a normal animal. Way too strong. And it's not acting like an ambush predator at all. Or it wasn't until a second ago. It threw me off and then just vanished.""Fantastic news." Batgirl griped. "I've got better ones though."She gave Ghost Spider a quick rundown on the parts of the riddle she found and the lack of any further directions. Given that the spider heroine had been crocodile wrestling the entire time, she wasn't expecting Ghost Spider to have much to say immediately but to her surprise she was wrong."I think I know where to look. There's a grate at the bottom of the tank over that way behind some rocks." Ghost Spider pointed in the general direction."How'd you know that?" Batgirl asked curiously. Was it another power Ghost Spider hadn't told her about yet?"I got scraped all across it when New Boots tried to drown me." Ghost Spider deadpanned."Oh…sounds fun."

Chapter 30The two heroines carefully made their way over to the direction Ghost Spider indicated, constantly on guard for any indication that the giant saurian in the tank was about to appear. But despite both of them straining every sense they had, they were unable to pick up even a trace of the crocodile's trail.Even when they both made it to the grate the Spider-themed heroine described neither one of them could catch a glimpse of it. Not that that was very comforting. Between the murky water reducing visibility to under ten feet and the rocks containing multiple places for the hungry reptile to hide, neither one of them relaxed their guard even as Batgirl slotted the three digit code into the lock.'0,5,2…there that should do it.' Batgirl thought as the lock recessed and the entire grate started to retract into the frame with a deafening squeal, made all the worse due to being underwater and thus seemingly omnidirectional.Once the noise did finally stop, Batgirl carefully inspected the newly opened tunnel for new traps but quickly decided it was an exercise in futility. If anything the visibility had only gotten worse. But floating around the entrance was only burning through the time Ghost Spider could hold her breath, they had best get moving.Unfortunately, that was when their crocodile friend decided to make its reappearance. Batgirl turned her head just in time to see a massive shape appear in the gloom and the flash of teeth right where Ghost Spider was before both of them vanished into the tunnel, leaving Batgirl behind staring after them with wide eyes.She was swimming after them a second later, curses streaming through her mind.-o-'okay, I was joking about the boots earlier but if I keep getting attacked by giant reptiles I'm going to dress up like an 80's country singer out of revenge. Ghost Spider complained even as she struggled to stop the crocodile's massive jaws from biting her in half.Her spider sense let her know the reptile was behind her but her reflexes and a good bit of luck were the reason she managed to not do something stupid like impale her hand on a tooth.That didn't mean she wasn't in trouble though.Being caught in the mouth of a crocodile and being dragged blindly underwater wasn't exactly smooth sailing. It only got worse as the creature started thrashing every once in a while, trying to dislodge her enough to bite down fully. And when the multi-ton animal decided that even that wasn't enough and started using the walls of the tunnel as weapons Ghost Spider knew she had to do something now or she was going to end up croc chow.Too bad that was easier said than done considering that unlike the last time she wrestled Scaley she currently had zero leverage, zero room to maneuver, and zero good ideas on how to change that.So it was a good thing that Ghost Spider did have a few bad ideas she could try out first.The first was attempting to kick at the croc's eyes but that quickly turned out to be a bust. Ghost Spider was flexible, but no one with solid bones was flexible enough to pull that off. So after quickly abandoning that plan, she went to the next idea. Punching the thing unconscious from the inside of its mouth.Ghost Spider would be the first to admit this was not the greatest plan ever, but she also was starting to get light headed from holding her breath so long. She needed to get free and find air soon.With that in mind, she did her best to wriggle so that she was still braced against both jaws but also had a hand free and cocked it back. A second later, her fist slammed into the comparatively soft palate of the croc's mouth. Which turned out to be a bit of a mistake.Knocking something out with head trauma was more an art than science at the best of times. Trying to judge the correct amount of force to knock out a probably mutant crocodile and not accidentally put her fist through its skull while underwater and in its mouth was not the best of times. Ghost Spider's punch failed to knock the reptile out and that meant it was free to do what came naturally to it after getting punched in the mouth……meaning it went absolutely berserk and started slamming into the sides of the pipe hard enough to dent metal.Ghost Spider held on for dear life, occasionally sneaking in another punch, until the croc finally smacked against the wall one too many times and something gave way.A sharp crunch echoed through the tunnel and the croc immediately stopped struggling, its jaws stopped pressing down around the wall crawler, and the massive creature just sort of floated off. Unmoving. A quick check revealed no heartbeat, no twitching, and a large amount of something leaking out of the croc's skull just barely visible in the dark water.Ghost Spider was instantly conflicted about the way everything ended. On the one hand, that had been a simple animal following its instincts and didn't deserve to die because of the Riddler's games. On the other hand, it -had- been trying very hard to kill her.All of that was secondary to the fact she was going to need to breathe soon though.Ghost Spider was stuck in a fit of indecision as she debated whether it was better to backtrack down the pipe the croc had dragged her and hold out until she could get back to the surface that way, or keep going and hope there was an exit nearby.Thankfully, the decision was taken out of her hands by the swift arrival of Batgirl moments later, who was quick to temporarily lend her rebreather for a moment along with a light so Ghost Spider could finally see more than just some vague shapes in the dark.The first thing she noticed was the stuff leaking out of the croc wasn't red.Instead, it was dark black. Something that initially confused the heroine until she caught a glimpse of metal beneath the ruined skin. A quick check revealed a rather sophisticated robot frame.Ghost Spider guessed that explained the unnatural size and behavior of the reptile. If it was mechanical then it made sense why it was so aggressive when crocodiles were normally ambush predators.While she was investigating the robot, Batgirl had been checking out the walls of the tunnel. The thrashing that had broken the robot had also led to several cracks in the walls that were slowly leaking air bubbles, signaling a potential way out from the Riddler's deathtrap. Ghost Spider looked over to see her partner in this mess coating the edges of one of the bigger cracks with some sort of putty that foamed up even underwater before placing a detonator in it and signaling for both of them to back away.A flash and explosion later, both heroines were sucked out of the tunnel by the rushing water and fell a short distance before Ghost Spider managed to catch both of them with a webline."Note to self…get something…for underwater adventures…cause that…wasn't fun…" Ghost Spider panted as she took in huge lungfuls of air. She wasn't going to take being able to breathe whenever she wanted for granted for at least a few weeks."Remind me after we get out of this and I'll lend you one of our spares." Batgirl muttered back.Ghost Spider looked at her and saw the redhead was tracing the tunnel to another massive container a short distance away. Disturbingly, there were a massive number of crossbows mounted on tracks surrounding the entire structure that clued the two of them into what the 'theme' of the next challenge would have been if they hadn't created their own exit."I guess that would have been the 'wood' section then." Batgirl mused, drawing Ghost Spider's attention."Section? What do you mean?""Riddler's still keeping to the five elements theme. The sand was earth, the trap we skipped over looked like it was completely made from metal, and the last one was obviously water. If you take that into account and the cycle the elements go through, the next one should be wood." Batgirl explained. "If you count wooden crossbow bolts anyway."Personally, Ghost Spider thought it took a bit more than that, but then again killer robot crocodile didn't scream 'water' theme much better. Obviously the Riddler was willing to sacrifice the theme a bit to make sure the two of them wouldn't be able to walk away from his deathtrap.So rather than get hung up on the madman's commitment to his own theme, she decided to focus on what was actually important."Alright, so how do we find the Riddler before he realizes we're not stuck in his trap anymore?"Batgirl brought a hand to her chin in thought. "The best way would be to find something and track it back to his control room, but I'm not sure we'll be able to find something quickly enough. So my next thought is to try and predict where he's hiding out and head there directly, I'd guess either the middle of the facility where he's protected from all sides or the back from where we entered. The Riddler isn't really the type to risk himself if he can help it.""Makes sense." Ghost Spider commented. "He'd be in the middle if he's keeping to the chinese theme, right? Isn't the middle of a formation usually a big deal?"Batgirl shrugged. "Maybe? I think it depends… But I wouldn't put it past the Riddler to have a backway out just in case.""Then we need to split up. How about…"-o-"Where are they…where are they…"A figure in a green suit decorated with black question marks was muttering to himself as monitor after monitor in front of him changed to show different points of the intricate trap he had built.It had taken him some time to confirm that the two nucinces hadn't simply succumbed to his genius traps and had instead managed to escape. He had known they had somehow destroyed the drone that served as the main challenge of the area and was fully alert for any schemes for them to either escape back towards a previous area or continue ahead, but when there was no sign of them in either direction he was forced to send one of the few minions he had on hand to investigate.Unfortunately, that took time and it wasn't until several minutes later that the minion had even found the hole in the passageway tunnel leaking water in one of the few unmonitored areas around, which meant the two pests could be almost anywhere by now.Edward Nygma was a genius beyond compare, an intellectual with few true peers, but even he was just one man and needed accurate information to plan his next move. And until he located the two rats running around outside his trap, he was quite unfortunately on the backfoot for the moment.But only for the moment."Now then…how should I flush you two out into the open?" He mused.A hand reached for one of the buttons that would enact his contingencies, only for a bat-shaped piece of metal to whistle through the air and pin the entire arm to the control panel by his sleeve."...Batgirl, would you like to hear a riddle?"-o-Just as Batgirl expected, the Riddler did have some sort of command center in the middle of his trap. The only question that remained was if the villain was actually in there.Batgirl quickly maneuvered around the various sensors and cameras she could see around the structure and slipped into an air vent. Looking down into the inside she saw a pair of hired thugs guarding the door into the command center and a figure sitting with their back to her on a large bank of monitors. A green sleeve was enough to tentatively confirm this was where she needed to be though, so she slipped out of the vents with barely a sound and dropped on one of the thugs.He was unconscious almost immediately as his head hit the ground and his partner wasn't much better. Not after Batgirl ducked past a flailing arm and had him in a sleeper hold within seconds.A quick glance back at the figure by the monitors confirmed that the struggle had been quiet enough that the mastermind hadn't noticed, but Batgirl did see him reaching for a control of some sort. With no idea what that would unleash, she made a split second decision to stop him by throwing a batarang at his sleeve. It gave up the element of surprise but at this point, she was confident in handling the Riddler head-to-head."...Batgirl, would you like to hear a riddle?""Is it how many years you think you'll get for grand theft? Because I'm thinking ten or fifteen for this last scheme alone." Batgirl replied, alert for any tricks."Amusing, but no. What do the two of us have in common?"It was a bad idea to give planners time to think or react, so Batgirl rushed at the seated figure and yanked it to face her, fully prepared to deck him in the face, only to pause when she came face to face with a doll-like mask instead of a person."We're both dummies!" The decoy-Riddler cackled from a speaker. "You didn't think you could get the drop on me did you? You may have blundered your way out of my traps, but let's see how you deal with something you cannot just brute force your way out of…"A bright red '15' appeared in the middle of the dummy's face and started counting down. Batgirl's eyes widened in shock at the sight before she found herself sprinting from the control room almost before she realized it, grabbing the unconscious thugs by their collars and dragging them out with her on the way.She managed to slam the door shut just as the timer hit zero. There was a muted 'thump' as the walls shook with the force of the explosion but even after a few seconds that seemed to be it.Something that immediately made Batgirl suspicious."Okay…what's the trick I'm missing…" She muttered to herself, looking around just to see another red timer in the distance hit zero and explode. The force of this explosion was much bigger than the previous one and ended up throwing the heroine to the ground.Batgirl pulled herself back up as fast as she could and immediately started looking around.Several more countdowns could be seen all throughout the facility. And if each of them was actually a bomb…there was enough to flatten the entire structure several times over…"Oh…fu-"Another countdown hit zero followed by an explosion.-o-Ghost Spider almost missed the hidden exit as she and Batgirl split up to try and tackle both scenarios about where the Riddler could be hiding.In fact, if it wasn't for several people suddenly running around Ghost Spider would have simply gone right by it due to the lack of any kind of visible opening and low light. But a wall dropping away revealing a van was fairly eye-catching.So was the man in a green suit shouting orders at the top of his lungs."Get moving, all of you! The Bat-brat found the decoy center and the self destruct is active. I want to be long gone from here before anyone else comes poking around!"The spider-themed hero did a rough about face and latched on to one of the support pillars in the area to better watch the unfolding scene. A small group of minions were trying to rush loading the van with containers that probably had the stolen items from the days before but they didn't seem armed. Probably because they weren't expecting to need to do much beyond move things around after the robberies themselves.Well, that just meant they were in for a bad time.Ghost Spider had also learned from the last time with the Penguin and decided to target the getaway vehicle before she was revealed.Thick sheets of spider silk covered the doors to the van so that no one was getting it anywhere without either pushing it from behind or somehow tearing a hole in the cab."Damn, that other interfering pest is here also! One of you get that van open. The rest, get her!" Riddler ordered even as Ghost Spider leaped into the middle of them.The first minion caught a fist to the jaw and went down like a sack of potatoes, but the others quickly got over the surprise of her sudden entrance and rushed to attack. Ghost Spider ducked a punch and snap kicked a different minion in the chest before grabbing the first's arm and judo throwing him after the second. A third and final minion took the chance to tackle her to the ground, but Ghost Spider rolled with the impact. She managed to get her feet up to the man's chest and sent him flying with a powerful kick."Looks like you need better henchmen, Riddler. They aren't very good at 'getting' things." She taunted, turning to the now scowling villain."I'll just have to do it myself then!" he declared, charging her and swinging a cane topped with a bronze question mark like a baseball bat.Ghost Spider rolled to avoid the swing and went to sweet her opponent's feet but the Riddler was actually more athletic than she was expecting. He jumped her own leg and stabbed at her multiple times with the cane, treating it almost like a rapier."You know, you're better at this than I – woah! – expected." Ghost Spider commented after a particularly near miss."Hmph, it's only natural. I may not be one of those swollen neanderthals but learning how to be physically capable is simply good sense when dealing with the likes of Batman.""...I'm not sure if Batman beat enough common sense in you to think that or knocked enough out that you think the best thing to do is learn to fight so you can keep committing crimes instead of, you know, not commiting crimes!"Riddler took a step back and twirled his cane dramatically. "I don't expect you to understand the desires of an intellectual." Suddenly, several booms echoed through the area. "Ah, it seems like your friend is running out of time to escape."Red-rimmed eyes narrowed as Ghost Spider leaned forward aggressively. "Then I guess I don't have more time to waste on you."With that said, Ghost Spider rushed forward and grabbed both the cane and the front of Riddler's suit with the intention of simply overpowering the man. But instead of ripping the cane out of his grip like she planned, only the black body of the cane moved at her tug, sliding away to reveal a thin blade that had been hidden in the body. One Riddler didn't hesitate to try stabbing her with.Ghost Spider mostly managed to get out of the way, but she hissed as the edge scraped along her ribs. In retaliation, she picked Riddler up by his suit and hurled him into the parked van, liberally covering him in webbing afterwards, and then quickly investigated the wound.Thankfully, it was a long but shallow cut so it wouldn't affect her much.More explosions sounded out and Ghost Spider knew she needed to get a move on if she wanted to make sure Batgirl was alright."Well that was…not fun but it was interesting." Ghost Spider commented to the wriggling cocoon that was the Riddler. "You boys hang around for a while. I'm sure the police would love to hear all about this."She couldn't make out the Riddler's muffled response through the webbing, but decided to take it as agreement. It wasn't like he was going anywhere soon.Now, she had a friend to find and possibly save.-o-When the Riddler said self-destruct, he hadn't been kidding. Nearly everything in sight had been reduced to rubble. Ghost Spider was actually surprised the roof and warehouses above them hadn't collapsed yet but she was sure it was just a matter of time. So she was extra careful where she swung, stepped, or jumped when backtracking just to make sure she didn't shift something and bring the building down on her own head by mistake or get caught in one of the explosions still going off all over the place."Spider! Over here!"Ghost Spider's head snapped towards the shout and saw not only Batgirl but also two more henchmen, unconscious, trapped between a wall of rubble and a fire that had started at some point."You alright?" Ghost Spider asked when she jumped down to join them, wordlessly accepting one of the henchmen and looking for a good place to anchor a webline to pull them all out of the current situation."Mostly," Batgirl confirmed. "A few explosions were close, but I was able to use a few taser batarangs to short out some of the bombs. Managed to keep everything from collapsing on us at least." A large section of roof chose that moment to crash to the ground in the distance. "...for a little while anyway." Batgirl added.Ghost Spider nodded. "Well, we were right about the Riddler's backdoor exit. I managed to catch him on the way out. So all we have to do is get out of here. Need me to take the second guy too?""No, I got him. Just couldn't handle two dead weights at the same time." Batgirl replied, pulling out a grapple gun. "Let's get out of here. I'm so done with today."Ghost Spider hummed in agreement. This wasn't what she had in mind when tracking down a robber.