Happy Birthday Manda
shini02's birthday is on Friday so I finally got around to writing her present.
Title: Intellectual Freedom
Fandom: Batman (Arkham City)
Rating: T
Genre: Angst
Pairings: Edward Nygma (Riddler)
Warnings: None
Summary: Arkham City isn't as much of a prison as people think it is. Then again, nobody is smart enough to know that besides the Riddler.
Intellectual Freedom
They certainly didn't pick the nicest part of Gotham to hand over to Strange for his grand social experiment. It's clear to me now as I walk the grimy streets of Arkham City. It's an interesting name whose cleverness is so rudimentary that it isn't worth dwelling on. Still, I wonder what old Amadeus Arkham would have thought had he lived to see his family home grow to such a size. Strange thinks he's a genius in doing this. They all think they are.
Riddle me this if you dare. What's the only way the Riddler is like everyone else on the planet? Try not to think too hard lest you burst a blood vessel in that meager mind of yours. Give up? Of course you do. They all do. The answer is simple. The Riddler, like you, is trapped. Now true it's not the same prison that both you and I inhabit. Mine is obviously a physical one filled with concrete walls and fences lined with razor wire. Yours though, yours is quite different. You have become ensnared in ignorance. Every day your tiny brains are placated by the intellectual drivel spewed forth from your television sets and computer screens like vomit. You trap your brains in a box because using it for complex, analytical thought is too taxing. I assume if you took a look at the world around you and really thought about things, you'd go mad.
There are cops in Arkham City. I don't mean those foppish TYGER guards Strange has on his payroll. I mean real cops, GCPD cops. They think they're so clever that no one notices them, moving around in civilian clothes and trying to blend in like chameleons. They don't understand. Dent, Cobblepot, and all the others are fooled by such a ruse but I'm not. These undercover cops are actually an insult to my intellect if they expect me to fall for such a cheap trick. I take such insults very, very personally.
Riddle me this then. If our society is so stupid, which it plainly is, then how do we free ourselves from our imprisonment? Oh now there's a tricky one. You could be like me and train your mind to operate on a higher level. You can't be like me though. No one is smarter than me, not even Batman. Oh yes he might think he's clever just like those cops, masquerading as something he clearly isn't. Yes, he's such a genius just like everyone else who mocks my brilliance but I will teach them all. So no, you can never be like me no matter how hard you may try.
I suppose you think that now my little riddle has no answer. You think perhaps I simply tricked you, pulled a gag on you like that twit the Joker. I don't tell jokes and even if I stooped so low they would certainly be funnier than his. No, my riddle has a simple answer that you are merely too stupid to figure out. You'll scratch your head like some Neanderthal then shrug your shoulders and go back to texting your friends about your inane activities. Well if your mind can handle such a revelation then allow me to enlighten you. For those unfortunate enough to not be me, which is everyone else on the planet of course, there is only one escape from the prison of ignorance. That means of escape is death. I wouldn't expect you to understand that. No, you prefer to watch rather than listen. Very well then, I'll provide you with both the visual stimulation you crave so much and the abject example of the lesson you need so much to learn. These clever cops and that oh so clever Batman will all be dead at my feet and I'll use the mindless media to broadcast their humiliation and subsequent execution by my hands. Once I do that, all of Gotham City will know that I am smarter than them. Once I do this, I'll be completely free without ever having to step one foot outside of Arkham City.
Title: Intellectual Freedom
Fandom: Batman (Arkham City)
Rating: T
Genre: Angst
Pairings: Edward Nygma (Riddler)
Warnings: None
Summary: Arkham City isn't as much of a prison as people think it is. Then again, nobody is smart enough to know that besides the Riddler.
Intellectual Freedom
They certainly didn't pick the nicest part of Gotham to hand over to Strange for his grand social experiment. It's clear to me now as I walk the grimy streets of Arkham City. It's an interesting name whose cleverness is so rudimentary that it isn't worth dwelling on. Still, I wonder what old Amadeus Arkham would have thought had he lived to see his family home grow to such a size. Strange thinks he's a genius in doing this. They all think they are.
Riddle me this if you dare. What's the only way the Riddler is like everyone else on the planet? Try not to think too hard lest you burst a blood vessel in that meager mind of yours. Give up? Of course you do. They all do. The answer is simple. The Riddler, like you, is trapped. Now true it's not the same prison that both you and I inhabit. Mine is obviously a physical one filled with concrete walls and fences lined with razor wire. Yours though, yours is quite different. You have become ensnared in ignorance. Every day your tiny brains are placated by the intellectual drivel spewed forth from your television sets and computer screens like vomit. You trap your brains in a box because using it for complex, analytical thought is too taxing. I assume if you took a look at the world around you and really thought about things, you'd go mad.
There are cops in Arkham City. I don't mean those foppish TYGER guards Strange has on his payroll. I mean real cops, GCPD cops. They think they're so clever that no one notices them, moving around in civilian clothes and trying to blend in like chameleons. They don't understand. Dent, Cobblepot, and all the others are fooled by such a ruse but I'm not. These undercover cops are actually an insult to my intellect if they expect me to fall for such a cheap trick. I take such insults very, very personally.
Riddle me this then. If our society is so stupid, which it plainly is, then how do we free ourselves from our imprisonment? Oh now there's a tricky one. You could be like me and train your mind to operate on a higher level. You can't be like me though. No one is smarter than me, not even Batman. Oh yes he might think he's clever just like those cops, masquerading as something he clearly isn't. Yes, he's such a genius just like everyone else who mocks my brilliance but I will teach them all. So no, you can never be like me no matter how hard you may try.
I suppose you think that now my little riddle has no answer. You think perhaps I simply tricked you, pulled a gag on you like that twit the Joker. I don't tell jokes and even if I stooped so low they would certainly be funnier than his. No, my riddle has a simple answer that you are merely too stupid to figure out. You'll scratch your head like some Neanderthal then shrug your shoulders and go back to texting your friends about your inane activities. Well if your mind can handle such a revelation then allow me to enlighten you. For those unfortunate enough to not be me, which is everyone else on the planet of course, there is only one escape from the prison of ignorance. That means of escape is death. I wouldn't expect you to understand that. No, you prefer to watch rather than listen. Very well then, I'll provide you with both the visual stimulation you crave so much and the abject example of the lesson you need so much to learn. These clever cops and that oh so clever Batman will all be dead at my feet and I'll use the mindless media to broadcast their humiliation and subsequent execution by my hands. Once I do that, all of Gotham City will know that I am smarter than them. Once I do this, I'll be completely free without ever having to step one foot outside of Arkham City.