One of the glass panels slides back. Batgirl immediately notices that the walls are now not completely solid, as she sees her reflection split in a couple of places. There appear to be corridors running from opposite sides of the next room. As the Dominoed Dare-Doll begins to walk around, she is a bit unnerved by all the images of her shapely form staring back at her.
Batman begins by trying to apply the classic maze layout pattern to his predicament. He is not surprised to discover, as Robin suspected, that The Riddler had abandoned the predictable for this trap. The Masked Manhunter throws his shoulder against what he believes to be an interior wall. All he gains for his effort is a couple of bruises, as the heavy glass panels fail to budge even under his enormous strength.
Sometime later . . . Robin is chagrined to learn that he has become so dis-orientated that he keeps bumping into the mirrored panels. He decides to take a break. The Boy Wonder sits down, knees bended before him. Looking up, he realizes he is once again starting into his own reflection. With his peripheral vision, he can observe his profile from each side. Glancing above, Robin can view the top of his head and the red stretch of his uncaped back. Bending his head forward and separating his knees, he looks into his own eyes behind his black mask and can see the back of his bent legs.
Suddenly he rises to his feet and steps a few paces from the wall behind him. The Teen Titan realizes he has become enamored with looking at himself. "Holy Narcissus!" he says aloud. Still, he has to admit that he does look kind of cute in his Robin costume.
The Boy Wonder turns from side to side, trying to get a glimpse of what his green trunks look like from behind. "I'm not surprised so many girls are smitten with Robin," he thinks while putting his thoughts into the Dick Grayson frame of mind. He rarely got a chance to see himself as the costumed crime fighter. Staring once again into his own face, it occurs to him that it really is not so surprising that no one has figured out that Robin is really Bruce Wayne's youthful ward. In the mask, he looks quite different.
The Teenaged Thunderbolt steps back to take yet another look at his entire costume. He had worried that he was getting a bit old to wear short pants. A self-examination of his muscular legs convinces him that he still looks good. "After all," he decides, "if Michael Jordan can wear shorts on the basketball court, why can't I while fighting crime?"
He wasn't as fond, however, of the turned-up, elf-like wings on his green boots. "Maybe I can talk to Batman about changing them," he says to himself out loud.
The sound of his own voice shakes him out of his reverie. "Holy Mind Games! These mirrors are starting to have an insidious effect on me already!"
Robin takes a deep breath. "I've got to keep my wits about me," he thinks to himself. "I wonder how Batgirl is doing?"
By this point, Batgirl was not doing at all well. "These mirrors are stealing my mind!!" she had thought to herself, plaintively, not half an hour before.
Now, Batgirl had been standing virtually motionless for some time as she contemplated her image from the many different points of view offered by The Riddler's mirror system. She remembered her decision to follow the example of Batman and Robin and to demurely add a cape to her Batgirl costume. She had never before considered that the purpose of a cape was to obscure the view of the wearer's butt!
She was beginning to wonder if perhaps that wasn't a mistake. Part of the reason she wore her costume as tight as she did was to distract her opponents. Leering villains were easier to overcome. Maybe if her rear end could be seen, she wouldn't be successfully grabbed from behind as often.
Barbara admired the shape formed by her pointy, bullet bra. She gazed up and down her costume. It was made of an almost girdle-like fabric, not really as thick as neoprene, but somewhat constricting. She had cut the material on the bias, on a line at a 45 degree angle to the selvage, the narrow border finished as to prevent unraveling. This gave her costume some stretchability and a smoother fit. It was quite comfortable and, if she could say so herself, she looked very good in it!
One thing she noticed was that how her costume caught the light determined whether it appeared dark blue or an unusual shade of purple. The only problem she had with her Batgirl attire was that the knees tended to bag out. Every so often she would have to take them in.
This unproductive line of thought was a symptom of what the mirrors were doing to her brain. Finally, it happened! Her mind snapped. The combined mental strain of all Batgirl's recent adventures caught up with her: Being - trapped in that black hole while tied in a Siamese Human Knot, caught again in the Cat's Whiskers, deafened by sonic onslaught, bound in the Batmobile, covered by candy, drawn by horses towards a cliff, subjected to the Ancient Theban Pebble Torture, part of a Living Crime Fighter Clock and now in this maddening maze of mirrors. Batgirl began to hallucinate uncontrollably.
She perceived herself no longer dressed as Batgirl, but clad in a purple, yellow and green flowing dress, almost like a mu-mu. The garment was covered in diamond patterns of the different colors. The sleeves of the dress reached to her elbows, while the bottom of it almost touched the floor. She was surprised to feel that she was barefoot.
Barbara found herself in a rectangular room. The long ends of the room were on the sides. One side had a padded bench attached, which apparently served as a bed as well as a seat. There was a small alcove built into the opposite wall, which she guessed was some sort of futuristic lavatory. The back wall was bare. The premises were bathed in an eerie orange glow.
Of most interest was the front of the room. It seemed to be wide-open, but the fourth side of the three-walled enclosure was surrounded on the sides and at the top by brightly radiating banks of white lights. Barbara tentatively stuck her hand out towards the opening.
When her outstretched finger reached the plane of the open side, she received a slight electric shock. She discovered that the harder she pushed, the more severe the shock became. Eventually, her body was thrown back by some unseen force away from the invisible barrier, into what she now realized was a cell.
As strange as all this was, one oddity stood out above everything else. As Barbara looked at her outstretched arms, she discovered that her skin was green!
Suddenly there was a commotion to the right down the hall from her cell. Moments later, an Asian-American gentleman wearing a strange tunic came into sight. Even stranger, his entire body and features seemed to blur . . . and an entirely different person was now standing there! He clicked some device in his hand and the lights which imprisoned Barbara went off. He offered Barbara his arm. She accepted and he led her down the corridor.
Events in Batgirl's hallucination followed quickly one after another. She was no longer Batgirl, but a twisted version of Barbara Gordon. She was in an insane asylum on some far distant planet. She had been liberated from her cell by another inmate, who had used his shape-shifting ability to fool the staff and escape. Soon, the inmates were running the asylum.
Fifteen individuals were incarcerated in the sanitarium. The shape-shifter established himself as their leader. Five of the inmates were deemed too violent or uncooperative to let out. Two of the former prisoners were not human, one having blue skin and antenna while the other had a pig-like face. Barbara found she held a special place in the population as the only female.
In fact, she was the only female on the planet! The world she imagined herself on had a poisonous atmosphere, which made escape from the institution impossible.
The leader took a special interest in Barbara. He gave her what he implied were her original clothes: a tight fitting, one-piece bathing suit-like affair. It was blue, with green patches that matched her skin color. Her back was almost totally exposed to her waist, while a loop of material went around her neck. As she was not wearing a bra, the outfit left little to the imagination. The costume was seemingly held together by a small bit of material at breast level. Above this clasp ample cleavage was displayed, while below a swath of green skin was visible to her waist. Her muscular green legs were completely bare, as only a few one inch-wide ribbons of material dangled from belt level.
Next, a message was received that a spaceship would be visiting them. The leader ordered Barbara to put her prison clothes on over her own and return to her cell. The madman's plan was to convince the spaceship's crew that everything was normal, so that they would lower their guard and the inmates could capture their ship.
In her delirium, Batgirl found she had no control over her actions. She found herself attracted to the spaceship captain and tried to warn him. Both the captain and his alien first officer, however, took her warnings as the ravings of a deranged mind. Soon they were both overpowered as well. Barbara shed her outer garb.
Events tumbled on. For some insane reason, the leader was now treating the captain and his first officer as guests. The shape-shifter commanded that Barbara dance for them at dinner.
Having been trained in ballet, Barbara did dance - a provocative, erotic dance that she choreographed as she went along. This was the freest she had ever felt! To be able to express her innermost carnal desires in dance was most liberating. Deeply repressed emotions poured out with every movement.
Suddenly, Barbara remembered that ballet exercises were the basis for her Batgirl conditioning program.
Batgirl?
Batgirl?
The hallucination wavered. For a moment, she could see Batgirl in the endless reflections, performing the dance for an audience of one - herself. In her mind, she fought to return to reality. She struggled . . .
but now the dance was over and she was firmly back in her dream world.
Now the lunatic in charge decided to torture the spaceship captain, for what reason, Barbara didn't know and didn't care. She wanted to help, but dare not.
Then she begged on the captain's behalf with her leader . . . and was threatened with torture herself.
Next she was in a bedroom, administering to the captain after his torture. They kissed. They embraced. Now she was trying to stab the spaceship captain with a knife! Then she was named as her lord's consort and given some sort of bejeweled necklace at a crazy coronation ceremony.
Finally, for no reason (and what reason did a madman need?), she was drug out onto the planet's surface by two of the other inmates in spacesuits. Whatever planet she might be from, she still needed oxygen. This planet's atmosphere choked her. The air she breathed burned her nose, mouth, throat and lungs. She was dying. Desperately, she reached towards a window in the compound, out of which the mad leader of the rebellion was watching her suffering. Gasping, a horrible death seemed to be just seconds away . . .
And then the whole scene changed once more. She was a quite human Barbara Gordon once again, but now she found herself dancing with . . .
Elvis Presley???
Batman continued his search for the exit to The Riddler's trap. Although the multiple images were a distraction, the now Capeless Crusader concentrated on building a map of the maze in his mind.
As the hours passed, he realized that something was wrong. He had seen Building Three from the outside. It couldn't be large enough to contain the maze he had already constructed in his mind's eye. It didn't make any sense . . . unless . . .
Batman took off one of his gloves and smeared his hand on one of the mirrored walls. The resulting smudge from the oils and perspiration on his hand wasn't too obvious, but sufficient for the Dark Knight Detective's purpose. Memorizing the location of the mark, he continued in the direction he had been going.
After about five minutes of slow progress, Batman doubled back the way he had come. About five more minutes later, his suspicions were confirmed! The smudge had moved to another spot. The walls of The Riddler's mirrored maze did move!
It was now clear that there was no way out of the maze. With that knowledge, Batman formed a desperate plan.
Concealed in one of his boots, Batman kept a small piece of metal. Many super-villains had learned to remove his, Robin's and Batgirl's utility belts when placing them in a trap. As more and more of his adversaries learned about his utility belt, he decided it was necessary to have a little something in reserve. To call it a knife would be to give it too much credit, but it might be just enough to gain the Terrific Trio's freedom.
Casually he reached down his leg, as if to scratch. No sense tipping The Riddler or his female soul mates of what he was up to . . . if they were watching. With sleight of hand worthy of a master magician, he palmed the small blade.
Mentally, Batman cleared the false picture of the maze from his mind. Now, he had to completely concentrate, to remember the path he was to take for the next few minutes.
Barely breathing, Batman walked slowly. With each step he strained to hear any sound within the maze. He kept both hands on the walls, hoping to feel some vibration when the walls began to move behind him.
His effort was rewarded! Batman simultaneously detected a slight tremor in the mirrors and heard the faint grinding of gears. Immediately he jumped up with a leap that would have made an NBA player proud. Batman jammed the piece of metal into the light at the junction of the wall and ceiling.
The results were instantaneous. A shower of sparks emitted from the light and then the entire maze went dark! As Batman hoped, the rubber soles of his boots along with the fact that he was airborne had protected him from electrocution.
As his eyes adjusted, Batman was glad to discover that he had not plunged them into pitch darkness. He could now see through the mirrors above and below him. The maze was illuminated by the dim red glow from The Riddler's control room, which appeared to be empty. Not too far away underneath him, Batman was relieved to see Robin. Batman received a cheery wave from the Boy Wonder. Batgirl was barely visible at the other end of the building two floors below, evidently standing completely still.
From memory, Batman now re-traced his steps back through the gloom. He indicated for Robin to try to follow him from the second floor.
Moments later, Batman reached his goal. He could see that here the walls of the mirrored prison had stopped in mid-transformation. Peering down, he noticed a thin black streak across the track on the floor. He put a gloved digit into it and rubbed the substance between his fingers.
"Super-slick watch oil!" Batman thought to himself. "Valuable timepieces weren't the only thing The Riddler stole from Clock King."
Now that the walls were stopped at a halfway point, it would be possible to get a grip on the giant mirrored panes. Batman smashed away at the light at the top of the half-moved piece of glass. Soon, he was able to grab the top of the pane and, with a sudden burst of adrenaline, Batman tore down the first of many panels that he was to dismantle.
Before long the area was littered with broken glass. Robin had made his way directly underneath Batman. Jumping up, he began to pound on the ceiling above him, the floor under Batman. Since the walls were no longer in place on three sides holding that panel in place, Robin's attack was able to loosen it. As the last of the square segment of panes fell to Batman's onslaught, Batman was able to pry his fingers under the sides of the section of flooring separating him from his long time partner. At last the piece went up and over.
"Gosh, Batman," joked Robin as his mentor pulled him up, "I hate to think how many years bad luck you're going to have!"
"Let's just hope it's bad luck for The Riddler and his friends, old chum," replied Batman. "Help me get this ceiling panel loose."
Without the support from underneath, the panel above them slid away easily. In no time, Batman and Robin were on top of the maze, in a crawl space between what had been their glass cage and Building Three's roof.
Quickly they made their way to the control room. Together, with arms protecting their faces, they were able to jump through the much thinner glass of the room's window. There was no sign of The Riddler, Query or Echo. They did, however, find their utility belts and capes, carelessly draped over a chair. After putting on their respective belts and capes, Robin picked up Batgirl's and turned to Batman.
"Shall we smash our way down to Batgirl?"
"No need, Robin," answered Batman. "Just a few quick repairs to these circuits and I can re-open the hatch to her outside door. I've already memorized Batgirl's location and the path necessary to reach her. We'll have her out in minutes."
Four minutes later, after a run down the outside steps and a Batman-led dash through the maze, the Dynamic Duo was at Batgirl's side.
"Batgirl! Are you all right?" said a concerned Robin.
"Hmm? . . . Yes . . . Robin," responded Batgirl dreamily. "These mirrors were quite . . . beguiling. They had me under their spell for a while, but . . ." Batgirl snapped to attention.
"I'm okay now."
"Good. Let's get outside and get after The Riddler!" announced Batman.
Seconds later, the heroes were standing in the late afternoon sunshine, next to their respective vehicles. "All right, let's consider that last riddle," said Batman.
"Uh, Batman," said Robin, sheepishly. "I think I've already got the answer, although I don't know what it means."
"That's wonderful, Robin!" complimented Batgirl. "How did you figure it out so soon?"
"Well," Robin admitted, "I wasn't having any luck getting out of that maze, so, to keep my senses, I concentrated on solving the riddle.
"Here's what I came up with. The Riddler said, In what does hope, the number of people not off a court and revenge come before the designation of the first obstetrics ward in a hospital?
"The number of people on, not off, a court, a basketball court, playing for one team is five.
"Since this is a number puzzle, the first obstetric ward would be number one.
"So, now the riddle is, In what does hope, number five, and revenge come before number one?"
Batman and Batgirl both looked at their teenaged compatriot blankly. "And this helps us how?" Batgirl wanted to know.
"Ah, but The Riddler put another clue in the mix," said Robin, a bit smugly. "Obstetric ward one could be called OB-1!"
There was still no reaction from his older partners.
"Oh, come on, guys," an exasperated Robin pleaded. "OB-1! . . . or Obi-Wan as in Obi-Wan Kenobi! from Star Wars!
"The first Star Wars movie is now known as Episode IV: A New Hope. Return of the Jedi, which is to become the sixth episode in the story, was at first going to be called Revenge of the Jedi. The first episode in the series, The Phantom Menace, is just about ready to be released . . ."
"By Jove, Robin!" Batman interrupted, "you've done it again! The negative and original print of the final cut of The Phantom Menace is being delivered today to the Gotham City facility of Lucasfilm Limited! The world's most sophisticated film processing and duplicating equipment had been developed there. Mr. Lucas wants to release the highest quality prints possible. Also, Gotham City's location makes it ideal as the distribution point of the film to the most theaters in the country with up-to-date sound and projection systems. If The Riddler's steals those originals before they're copied . . ."
"He could ransom them for millions!" finished Robin.
"Batman, how do you know things like that?" Batgirl demanded.
"Oh, experience, Batgirl, experience," Batman retorted enigmatically. He couldn't tell Batgirl that he picked up that information as Bruce Wayne when he was thanking Wayne Industries' friend at MGM for her help in the recent King Tut affair.
"Let's go!" Batman announced. The Terrific Trio took off in their respective vehicles for the film laboratory.
Shortly thereafter, inside said laboratory, The Riddler, Query and Echo were putting the finishing touches on the theft. Query and Echo held machine guns on the Lucasfilm Limited employees as The Riddler herded the frightened technicians and security guards into a film vault.
"Let's hurry up, Riddler," suggested Query. "I can't wait to see what condition the Terrific Trio is in!"
"Yeah," seconded Echo. "Batgirl seemed on the verge of loosing it when we left. I bet she's a candidate for the loony bin by now!"
"Yes, yes, I agree!" said The Riddler as he shut the door to the vault. "Follow me!"
The Riddler led the way to the next room, where he had left the film canisters sitting on a counter. Query and Echo kept their guns at the ready, just in case they had missed anyone or if someone unexpectedly appeared.
"Keep alert, girls!" The Riddler commanded, film canisters under his left arm. "We're too close to our goal for any mistakes now!" The Prince of Puzzler's insane giggle echoed through the quiet building.
If he hadn't been laughing so loud, The Riddler and his gang might have heard the sound of a Batarang whooshing through the air! Batman's projectile and its attached line looped around Query's and Echo's machine guns. Batman promptly pulled the weapons out of their hands.
"No, NO! It's not true! It's impossible!" The Riddler cried in anguish. NO! NO!!
"But it is possible and it is true, Riddler!" rejoined Batman, "and you and your new friends are going straight to jail!"
"Not this time, Batman!" challenged The Riddler. "Query . . . Echo . . . get them!"
As Echo and Query advanced, The Riddler dropped in behind them. Then he turned and scampered away, still clinging to the canisters of film, with Batman in hot pursuit.
Echo engaged Batgirl in battle. The punkish brunette struck a martial arts stance as she spoke, "I've studied your fighting style, Bat-Babe! You're goin' down!"
"I've had just about enough of the likes of you!" spat out Batgirl. All the frustration built up by the last three Bat-Traps she had endured welled up inside her. Instead of one of her typically fancy moves, Batgirl moved briskly forward and simply smashed Echo in the face with a purple-gloved fist!
This line of attack caught Echo completely off guard. Batgirl pressed her advantage. More punches were followed by a swift side kick that knocked Echo off her feet. Instantly Batgirl was on top of her, binding The Riddler's assistant's hands and feet with a Bat-rope.
A few feet away, Query paired off with Robin. After the Boy Wonder's experience with Lady Penelope Peasoup's students in Londinium, as well as the appearance of Pagan, Eva Green and Holly, Robin had finally convinced Batman that a completely hands-off policy against female criminals was no longer practical. Perhaps fighting a woman was not gentlemanly, but if something didn't change, every super-criminal they faced would be hiring female muscle! Batman reluctantly decreed that Robin could use an attacking woman's own strength against her.
After circling the Teenaged Thunderbolt for a few seconds, Query charged. Robin ducked and sent his assailant flying with a judo maneuver. Query hit the floor - hard. She spun around and got to her feet, enraged. She came at the Boy Wonder again. This time Robin grabbed her arms, put his right foot on her rock-hard abs and tossed her into a wall. This same scene, more or less, was played out three additional times before Robin was able to simply walk over to the stunned beauty and clap on the Bat-cuffs.
Meantime, Batman had cornered The Riddler in the next room. The super-villain grabbed a can that had been clipped to the wide white band around his waist.
"I'm not too proud to use a trick again that's worked before, Batman!" shouted The Riddler. "Have another taste of Dr. Riddler's Instant Forever Stick Invisible Wax Emulsion!" He pressed the button on top of the can and a fine spay shot out towards Batman.
"Don't you know that aerosol has been shown to be bad for the environment!" the Caped Crusader came back. Deftly he removed the Batfan from his utility belt and turned it on.
The wax emulsion was blown back at The Riddler. Instantaneously The Riddler's feet became glued to the floor!
At that very moment, Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara and several uniformed policemen entered the room.
"Excellent! Right on time!" praised Batman. "Chief, I believe you'll find The Riddler's female furies ready for arrest in the next room."
"Right, Batman," said the Police Chief. "Come along, men!"
Batman turned his back to the stuck Riddler and motioned for Commissioner Gordon to join him in a short walk to the other side of the room. Twisting to and fro, trying desperately to move his feet, The Riddler became frantic.
"You can't leave me like this, Batman! Let me go! Gordon! Help!"
Then The Riddler began to plead, "Come on, Commissioner! This is police brutality. Please get me loose."
"We will have to get him unstuck, Batman," whispered the white-haired Commissioner.
"I know," replied Batman in hushed tones. "I'll free him with the Bat-laser, but it won't hurt to let him stew for a few minutes."
Then, in a voice a little louder than usual, Batman asked, "Commissioner, what's the status of Gotham City's arch criminals?"
"Well, Batman," answered Gordon, "with your capture of The Riddler, only three major criminals are at-large: The Penguin, Nora Clavicle and Mr. Freeze . . . but there has been no sign of any of them. Maybe they have left town or are just lying low."