Red Hood and The Syphon

Chapter 10

Damp concrete became all Syphon saw. Damp concrete and Edward Nigma. 

Once the drugs that had been pumped through her system during the trial had worn off, Sy found that the Riddler appreciated a creative answer to his games as much as a correct one. Every day, the Gotham City rogue would tell her some crude piece of advice as he beat her at card or chess or some other game the inmates were allowed to play inside the cold, white recreation room, all the while asking her what she planned to do next. 

“What am I supposed to do?” Sy asked, sighing at the queen of spades and six of diamonds in her hand, “I'm just some other guy without any magic to absorb. I can't even get out of here. Zatanna is out there, free to do whatever she fucking likes and I am stuck in here.”

Clenching her jaw, Sy tried to ignore the mental images inside her head of Zatanna performing rituals and sacrifices. She didn't want to think about what the magician could be up to, not while she was stuck in a cage.

“You know what the joy of Gotham is, kid?” Ed asked, shuffling his cards between his fingers, “everyone is just some guy. We don't do superpowers in this city, not really.”

“I'm not smart like you,” She said, shaking her head as she tossed her cards onto the table as she folded. 

“No one is,” He chuckled, throwing his shitty hand down onto the table after she did to claim his victory but no winnings because they weren't allowed to gamble, “but confidence and a good plan will get you so much further than you think. Plenty of oafs in this city get away with it that way.”

“What sort of plan gets us out of here then?” Sy asked, sitting back as Ed began to shuffle the deck of cards again, “You've done it before, right?”

“I have, a few times,” Riddler nodded, spinning the cards in his fingers as he slotted them into a random order, “but now it's your turn, Syphon. Look around, what do you see?”

Letting out a heavy sigh, she leaned her back over the support of the chair and looked around the recreation room. Other inmates sat around on the steel tables, playing games and talking, some rocking in corners and talking to themselves. Metal grating covered the entrance and the walkways outside it. Guards patrolled around them, three armed behind the bars on the walkways and two unarmed inside the rec area. 

“The guards?” Sy asked, turning her head back towards him. 

“Will be a factor,” Ed nodded, tossing cards quickly across the table, “are we leaving now?”

“No.” Sy shook her head, frowning as she tried to concentrate on the puzzle. 

Rec time and meals were the only times Sy and Ed were in the same place. Transitions were easiest for escapes and diversions because the guards had more to think about. Just after a count of prisoners would give them the most time if they can slip out unnoticed. 

“On the way to rec time,” Sy said finally, her eyes in an unfocused stare at the table as she thought. 

“Good choice,” Ed nodded, watching her intently, “How are we getting out?”

They couldn't walk out the front door. Arkham had some heavy security after all the inmates that kept breaking out. Exit routes were limited.

“Got any secret tunnels a first timer wouldn't know about?” she asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. 

“Nothing a first timer could use,” Riddler said, refusing to help any more than pushing her to think. 

Her eyes wandered as she chewed on her lip to try and focus better. The building was meant to make escape feel hopeless, even the guard looked bored. Lazy.