Batman: Protect and Solve

Batman: Protect and Solve

• We start with Lieutenant Gordon getting ready in the morning with his daughter, Barbara. They are having a peaceful breakfast when Barbara casually slips that she is thinking about going into law enforcement like her dad. Gordon flips out and tells her absolutely not. Jim lost his wife on duty with him and will not have his daughter doing the same. She calls him a hypocrite but he says with his position he has a lot of people that depend on him, including Barbara to put a roof over her head and food on the table. He tells her her grades are too perfect for her to waste that opportunity too. He gets called in early to a crime scene and says that’s final. 

• Gordon has been called to a crime scene that just so happens to be the family of a fellow police officer, Blake. The crime scene is weird, with the house torn apart like it was ransacked, but any possible item of value was piled up nice and neet on the coffee table. This obviously wasn’t a robbery gone wrong. The officer Blake shows up at the scene distraught but Gordon won’t let him in. He doesn’t want him to see his family like this. Upon closer inspection, Detective Yin finds something weird.  She picks up an ornate wooden puzzle box on the coffee table amidst the neatly stacked valuables. The box is unmarked, save for a small, hand-painted question mark on one side. Upon shaking it, something rattles inside and gives it to Gordan, asking if this means anything to him. Gordon looks puzzled and says no but he knows somebody who might. 

• Gordon activates the bat-signal and catches the dynamic duo up on that event. He shows them the puzzle box, with nobody at the station being able to open it. Batman hands it to Robin and asks if he wouldn’t mind. Robin continues to try to solve the box but Gordon warns him to be careful, it could be an explosive or something. Nobody has even been close to getting it to open. There’s a solid click as Robin smiles and takes out a rolled up piece of paper. “Well, it’s not a bomb.” He says as he hands the paper to Batman. Batman reads the cryptic message aloud, “Where value’s a pile, motive runs wild. A family torn apart—what role did you play? Find your answer before I take another away.” Gordon and Yin look at eachother troubled. Batman makes sense of it, saying he thinks it’s clear that’s whoever left this is threatening the families of Gotham City’s police department. Gordon gets angrily disgusted and says that makes him sick. Yin says she’s glad she doesn’t have any family in the city. Robin says, “Protector?” The others look at him confused. He continues, “The paper was threatening to take another away unless we had the answer for what role was played.” Gordon scoffs and wonders how the word “protector” is supposed to help them. Batman interjects, “maybe it isn’t. What role do you play? Like role in a play. Robin, isn’t there a performance of Macbeth happening tonight at Gotham Academy?” Robin confirms and Batman asks Gordon if any detectives have children that attend Gotham Academy. Gordon says yes, including his daughter, but thankfully she is more the gymnastics type instead of the thespian. Regardless, they better get down there just in case anything funny happens. 

• Gordon and Yin stand in the back of the auditorium as Batman and Robin stall vigilantly in the rafters. The play seems to be going just fine but Robin complains that it is too boring and the kid playing Macbeth always cheats off him in precalc. The tone of the play takes a strange shift when one of the kids in the back steps into center stage. His castmates get upset and tell him he’s ruing the show and doesn’t have any lines but the nervous kid continues to shake like a leaf and utters the line “uh.. I’m the prize for the deal you seal, A cut from the total, a bonus to feel. I grow with success, yet vanish with none, I’m earned, not given—what am I, done?” The stage manager angrily comes into the stage and drags the kid off by the hand. The kid starts to cry as he is being scolded by the teacher but Gordon and Yin arrive to his side. They ask him who told him to say that and the boy continues to cry and says “the man in green”. Yin and Gordon look at eachother with concern. They ask where is he. Still worked up and weeping, the boys says “I doesn’t know. The man in green pulled him aside with a big green Shepard’s hook and he told me that if I didn’t say his line perfectly he was going to hurt my mom and dad.” Gordon radios to Batman that this sick mystery son of a bitch was here with the kids. Batman tells Gordon to ask the kid to repeat the riddle. The boy does and Batman thinks about it for a moment. “Commission.” Batman says. “A cut from the total deal is commission. Jim, call Commissioner Lobe to make sure his family is safe!” Gordon does but Lobe doesn’t answer. Batman says crap and him and Robin jump into the Batmobile and jet towards Commissioner Lobe’s house. 

• When they get their, they see a couple of squad cars and an ambulance already on scene. A covered body is carted into the ambulance as an older women and two 30 year olds are crying talking to the officer present. The wife, daughter and son-in-law of Commissioner Lobe grieving their loss. Apparently it was Lobe’s birthday and his family was coming to surprise him. Earlier Lobe received a package he thought was a gift from them with a single serve bottle of champagne with a note that said “can you guess the mystery flavor?” It turns out the flavor was rat poison and the family called in as soon as they found him. The police officer sees the Batman and waves him over to talk to the family. The dynamic duo approach but as they do, Lobe’s wife shouts no no and throws a box of tissues in their direction, warning them not to come any closer. Robin says, “geez m’am we’re just here to try to help.” Wildly offended, the woman scoffs, “help!? It’s all your fault my husband is dead. Before you came around Gotham didn’t have any wacko costumed killers out to make a point! So long as everybody did their job right it was safe.” The woman continues to berate Batman and he takes the brunt of it as Gordon finally pulls  up to the scene. Jim has known the family for years and is able to get them to calm down and talk. Batman and Robin step aside. Robin complains to Batman about how she should appreciate all the corruption that Batman put a stop to that her husband was compliant in for years. Batman tells Robin that everyone grieves differently and his wife is not wrong. The number of costumed terror attacks has only risen exponentially since he began his work in Gotham. Robin protests this by saying that to the criminals Batman puts a stop to, he’s a costumed terror attack! The amount of petty crime over all has fallen drastically in Gotham because criminals are scared of the Batman. Batman agrees but also counters by saying it also invites challenge for those who have something to prove as well. Batman contemplates whether or not the trade off is with it. Yin says it sure is as she interrupts their discussion. She said it’s no secret that it took her a little while to come around to the idea of his vigilantism but they’d never be able to take down creeps like this without him. Yin then tells them they may want to come back to the station with her because they found something interesting about the family’s 911 call.

• At the GCPD, Gordon, Yin, Batman, and Robin stand in the dispatch call center where Gordon has the operator play two messages from this evening. The first one is what they would expect. A distraught call from Lobe’s family as they called in finding his body. The second, however, is more alarming. The operator presses play on a call placed one minute before Lobe’s family and the speakers play, “Tick tock, Commissioner. The sands of time are slipping through your fingers. How many birthdays does a man deserve when his legacy stinks of compromise? A little gift for the man in charge—call it... poetic justice. Riddle me this: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I? Solve me before sunrise, or tomorrow’s headlines will be... unforgettable. Your friend, the Riddler.” Batman understands that whatever the main part of the riddle may be, there must be something going on at the Gotham Gazette. Gordon orders Yin to go to the Gazette and Robin goes with. Gordon and Batman spend time trying to decipher the message when all of a sudden, Batman gets it. He tells Gordon to check the crosswords of one of his desk jockeys quick. Gordon goes to the bullpen and grabs a paper from a cop that has it all finished except for one question he was unable to figure out. It reads: “What is the headline of tomorrow’s newspaper?” Batman looks at the blank spaces and tries to find each missing letter that could work. After a while he solves it and is shocked to read his writing that says. “Detectives Unmask Batman or Families Die.” Batman reads it to Gordan and the desk jockey hears it and is horrified. He tries to stand up and arrest Batman there and then because he doesn’t want his family to die. Gordon tells him to calm down there is no legitimacy to this threat. The cop doesn’t want to take the risk and begins to get other cops in the bullpen worked up and ready to grab the Batman. They surround Batman against Gordon’s orders but Batman is able to smoke bomb away.

• At the Gotham Gazette, Yin and Robin sneak around the printing press ready to make thousands of copies for tomorrow morning. Their mystique is ruined when the industrial lights of the building switch on and Riddler stands above and in front of them on a rafter. “Rise and shine Detective and Baby Early Bird. ” The Riddler exclaims, “Sorry but the only worm to be gotten is you two! I’m afraid this newspaper isn’t going to be the only thing that’s red all over!” Riddler activates a switch that causes the printing press to start. Automated carts and conveyor belts move around the warehouse floor right where Yin and Robin are in the middle of. Robin is able to hop about and maneuver around the mechanical mayhem with his acrobatic skills but Yin gets knocked onto a roller with her foot caught in a gear wheel. Yin gets pulled closer and closer to the large steel cylinders made to flatten the paper and Robin leaps into action to free her as Riddler makes a break for the exit. This is when Batman comes crashing through thr sunroof. Robin yells for him to go get the Riddler while he frees Detective Yin. Robin and Yin try to pull her leg free but it just won’t work. Robin then takes out a birdarang and tosses it in the gears, jamming the machine and making heavy rollers crass down towards them as he grapples Yin to safety. 

• Riddler is almost to the door when Batman whisps into his way. Riddler greets the Batman as his dark figure approaches the man in green. Batman says funs over but Riddler insists it’s only just begun, for Riddler continues to say that he has been the thorn in his side, the itch just out of reach he has been unable to scratch for the longest time but he has finally, finally gotten the answer. Batman tells him to explain himself and the Riddler goes onto explain sing, “I know who you really are… Or at least who you pretend to be.. I know that this, this sad dark creature is the real you.” Batman presses forward and drives Riddler into a wall, “You’re lying.” he demands. “Oh I never lie,” the Riddler continues, “I knew those useless yahoos at the GCPD would never be able to figure it out but I had to provide you with some heat to come and find Mwah! That way I can prove it to you myself! See how hard I worked to change police public opinion on you? Riddle me this, Batman: I’m Gotham’s richest, yet I dine alone, A tragic past carved into stone. Billions I wield, yet joy’s out of reach, By day I’m seen, by night I teach. Who am I?” Batman lets go of Riddler and takes a step back. Riddler confidently stands and asks again for Batman to say it, answer the riddle to him. Batman opens his mouth and utters, “Bruce Wayne.” Riddler begins to clap his hands and celebrate joyously. Yes! He has done it, outsmarted the greatest detective! Batman interrupts the Riddler’s one-man party by opening his mouth again and says, “You really think Bruce Wayne is the key? Pathetic.” Riddler stops dead in his tracks as all joy flushes from his face. Batman continues to say, "You're playing games with yourself, Edward. What you've pieced together is nothing more than a series of coincidences, distractions that lead nowhere. You've missed the true puzzle. Just because I fit your riddle doesn't mean I’m the answer. You're not as clever as you think you are." The Riddler denies Batman’s claims and shouts that he is lying. Batman replies confidently, “You’re a smart guy, am I?” Riddler breaks down and shakes his head repeating no, no. Batman’s question of the validity of Riddler’s deduction and challenge of his reasoning creates uncertainty in the Riddler’s mind. Riddler tells Batman to take his mask off and prove it! He then stops himself and says, “no no no, I can’t ruin the run. I can’t spoil the fun. I have to be sure. I’m not sure. No!” Riddler enters a full-on psychotic breakdown as Yin and Robin come up the stairs. Yin asks what happened to him and Batman replies by saying I made him realize he isn’t as smart as he thought he was.

• Riddler gets taken away to a nice soft padded cell at Arkham Asylum. There is a ceremony being held at the GCPD as Lieutenant Gordon is being appointed the new Commissioner Gordon and his daughter is there to show her support. In the Batcave, Batman confesses to Robin and Alfred that Riddler had it all figured out. He knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne. Robin and Alfred feel dread while hearing this. Bruce said he was lucky Riddle’s mind and ego was fragile enough to break in order to keep their secret safe again but this is unacceptable and will never happen again. Bruce says that it is about time he takes full ownership of his family’s company again in order to create a stronger disassociation between Batman and Bruce Wayne. Robin asks if this is a good idea because he is already so stretched thin with his work here in Gotham as well as his new ventures with the Justice League. Batman ensures Dick that it is what needs to be done. And if he really wants to help, he can start by taking on more independent responsibilities as a hero here in Gotham, after all, it is just the two of them… 😉

• In the post-credit scene, we see Riddler in his padded cell and straight jacket on. He keeps murmuring repeating to himself, “If not him then who? Who? Who?.. Hoo…”