Marinette's Fateful Trip To Gotham (~Damienette~)

Chapter 8

(idk if I researched this right but apparently that was the smartest person in the world's IQ so let's pretend she's at that level ok?)

She stepped forward, looked directly at the Riddler, and bravely stated "I will."

The Riddler's head whipped towards her, and his eyes narrowed analysing her quickly before smiling wickedly, not deeming her a threat.

Oh, how Marinette loved surprising people. It was hilarious to see villains' faces when they realised that she was not some small, defenceless little girl.

"Well then," the Riddler drawled, "Come on up then little girl".

He quickly let go of the girl he was holding, who fell to the ground, before getting up and running quickly away. Thankfully, the girl had manners and mouthed a quick thank you to Marinette before disappearing into the crowd.

Marinette passed her suitcases over to her friends, threw her now empty coffee cup into a nearby bin and walked forwards, greatly uneased by the now hundreds of people staring at her – she had never been great with everyone's eyes on her, even as Ladybug, as she had always been somewhat self-conscious that she would mess up.

However, despite the extra pressure placed on her shoulders as Ladybug, she always felt freer than she did as Marinette due to her anonymity and the superpowers she possessed. When she was Marinette, her social anxiety sky-rocketed, although she was working on it, amongst other things.

But she didn't let that stop her. Soon, she was standing just a mere metre away from the Riddler, whose suit, that she could now see clearly, was an absolute disaster. From the fabric choice to the terrible colours, it looked like his outfit had been picked using an online randomising spinning wheel.

"Ok girl. You know the rules. 5 questions, you get it right, one of them gets freed, you get it wrong, and one of them dies. Good luck" he smirked, "you'll need it".

"Riddle me this! The more there is of me, the less you see. What am I?" He grinned evilly.

Marinette thought for a moment, before confidently replying "Darkness.".

The Riddler's smile dropped, and instead, anger burned in his eyes. He hadn't expected Marinette to get it right, let alone be confident whilst doing so. It seemed to him that he had to up his game. One of the men reluctantly let a civilian go, who ran away terrified.

"Riddle me this!" he said, attempting to conceal the anger from his voice, "I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?"

Marinette took mere seconds to come up with an answer for this one. "A map" she grinned, enjoying watching the Riddler get even more annoyed. A second civilian was released.

The horrendously multi-coloured villain furrowed his brows and thought for a moment, before perking up and smiling "Riddle me this! I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?"

This one was too easy for Marinette. "An echo," she answered effortlessly, "come on, surely you can do better than that." Her smug face and answer made the Riddler visibly furious, and although he attempted to conceal his anger with a smile, it only made him appear more maniacal than before. Another civilian was let go.

"You've been lucky so far girl, but you won't make it to the end" he refuted.

"Riddle me this!" he growled, "What goes up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up?" The Riddler was certain that this would stump Marinette, but instead, she answered it within seconds. "Really, I thought these were meant to be hard. It's an umbrella."