Unmasked [Riddler x Batman]

(7) Rainbow Room

Not a bug landing on my phone as I'm writing this 😭)

Colors. Again.

Everywhere, they bleed together is disharmony, like a bad trip on acid x2. The hues stabbed at the man curled up on the ground, his clothing contrating the bright colors with dreary neutrals.

His hands gripping his ears rough, as if the swirls we're screaming. His eyes were clenched shut out of fear of what he might ses, but yet still he could still see the bright explosions of green, the fiery heat of the reds through his eyelids.

He grit his teeth in agony, he didn't want to be here again.

No.

The raven felt that if he lay still enough he would be safe, that the waves of color would disperse leaving him in the darkness with just his thoughts. No harm would come to him, not physically at least.

Eventually... He will wake up.

He understands it's a dream, I morbid night terror that keeps him up at night. it still feels all too real like his memories are being played on loop. His breath stuttered as he heard the sickly laugh come from the right of him, the heavy mispatterned footsteps of steel soled boots hard enough to crack your skull open.

He stops right in front of the hunched body, he nudges it gently with his foot. The body follows the foot down, now slumped to the side, his shoulder is now visible as well as half of his torso.

The figure presses a foot into the bodys upper stomach, feeling for a heartbeat, which was present.

"So you are breathing."

..

"Unresponsive?!" He yelled out, bruces breath caught, "are we?" He drug out in a sadistic tone.

He pushed deeper into his side. Joker could feel his ribs rolling against skin as he went. A pained inahle emerged from the raven as he fought the urge to curl up closer.

"Du..nu..nu..nu.."

Joker moved his foot off of bruces body, instead planting it right in front of his face. His knee his the ground with a painful sounding *klunk*, and he chuckled, spinning a piece of dark greasy hair between his long pale fingers.

...du..nu..nu..nu......"

The joker leaned into bruces face, prying his eyes open. His eyes stared too tough daggers into the piercing green orbs of the jokers.

The joker pulled out a pocket knife he had stored in his suit pocket and held it up in the air menacingly, waving it around like a harmless little toy. Bruces eyes glanced at it before shooting back into the intense eye contact.

"Batman."

As the blade makes contact with pale skin bruce shoots up. His sweat drenched body lay curled up on itself in the bed corner, the sheet pushed completely to the floor. Shivers shoot throughout his body as he catches his breath, looking around at his surroundings to ground himself.

The concrete walls stripped of color, the cork board with newspapers and lines connecting anything to everything.

He could feel his cheeks were damp, and his eyes burned. Everything looked blurry, he couldn't catch his breath. He felt like he was still there, he hasn't escaped.

He needs out.

Bruce kicked off the remaining sheets, he crawled to the end of the bed, looking around for edward, but there was no sign of him.

"Must be at the store" he muttered to himself.

His breathing started to calm as he placed his good foot on the ground, the cold concrete sending stripes of cold up his leg.

He relaxed, he was in reality, normal, depressing, reality. Not the rainbow room of death. "You're fine, you're fine, you're..Fine.. "

Bruce exhaled all of his tension as he placed the injured foot on the ground...

[629 words]