The two heroines carefully made their way over to the direction Ghost Spider indicated, constantly on guard for any indication that the giant saurian in the tank was about to appear. But despite both of them straining every sense they had, they were unable to pick up even a trace of the crocodile's trail.

Even when they both made it to the grate the Spider-themed heroine described neither one of them could catch a glimpse of it. Not that that was very comforting. Between the murky water reducing visibility to under ten feet and the rocks containing multiple places for the hungry reptile to hide, neither one of them relaxed their guard even as Batgirl slotted the three digit code into the lock.

'0,5,2…there that should do it.' Batgirl thought as the lock recessed and the entire grate started to retract into the frame with a deafening squeal, made all the worse due to being underwater and thus seemingly omnidirectional.

Once the noise did finally stop, Batgirl carefully inspected the newly opened tunnel for new traps but quickly decided it was an exercise in futility. If anything the visibility had only gotten worse. But floating around the entrance was only burning through the time Ghost Spider could hold her breath, they had best get moving.

Unfortunately, that was when their crocodile friend decided to make its reappearance. Batgirl turned her head just in time to see a massive shape appear in the gloom and the flash of teeth right where Ghost Spider was before both of them vanished into the tunnel, leaving Batgirl behind staring after them with wide eyes.

She was swimming after them a second later, curses streaming through her mind.

-o-

'okay, I was joking about the boots earlier but if I keep getting attacked by giant reptiles I'm going to dress up like an 80's country singer out of revenge. Ghost Spider complained even as she struggled to stop the crocodile's massive jaws from biting her in half.

Her spider sense let her know the reptile was behind her but her reflexes and a good bit of luck were the reason she managed to not do something stupid like impale her hand on a tooth.

That didn't mean she wasn't in trouble though.

Being caught in the mouth of a crocodile and being dragged blindly underwater wasn't exactly smooth sailing. It only got worse as the creature started thrashing every once in a while, trying to dislodge her enough to bite down fully. And when the multi-ton animal decided that even that wasn't enough and started using the walls of the tunnel as weapons Ghost Spider knew she had to do something now or she was going to end up croc chow.

Too bad that was easier said than done considering that unlike the last time she wrestled Scaley she currently had zero leverage, zero room to maneuver, and zero good ideas on how to change that.

So it was a good thing that Ghost Spider did have a few bad ideas she could try out first.

The first was attempting to kick at the croc's eyes but that quickly turned out to be a bust. Ghost Spider was flexible, but no one with solid bones was flexible enough to pull that off. So after quickly abandoning that plan, she went to the next idea. Punching the thing unconscious from the inside of its mouth.

Ghost Spider would be the first to admit this was not the greatest plan ever, but she also was starting to get light headed from holding her breath so long. She needed to get free and find air soon.

With that in mind, she did her best to wriggle so that she was still braced against both jaws but also had a hand free and cocked it back. A second later, her fist slammed into the comparatively soft palate of the croc's mouth. Which turned out to be a bit of a mistake.

Knocking something out with head trauma was more an art than science at the best of times. Trying to judge the correct amount of force to knock out a probably mutant crocodile and not accidentally put her fist through its skull while underwater and in its mouth was not the best of times. Ghost Spider's punch failed to knock the reptile out and that meant it was free to do what came naturally to it after getting punched in the mouth…

…meaning it went absolutely berserk and started slamming into the sides of the pipe hard enough to dent metal.

Ghost Spider held on for dear life, occasionally sneaking in another punch, until the croc finally smacked against the wall one too many times and something gave way.

A sharp crunch echoed through the tunnel and the croc immediately stopped struggling, its jaws stopped pressing down around the wall crawler, and the massive creature just sort of floated off. Unmoving. A quick check revealed no heartbeat, no twitching, and a large amount of something leaking out of the croc's skull just barely visible in the dark water.

Ghost Spider was instantly conflicted about the way everything ended. On the one hand, that had been a simple animal following its instincts and didn't deserve to die because of the Riddler's games. On the other hand, it -had- been trying very hard to kill her.

All of that was secondary to the fact she was going to need to breathe soon though.

Ghost Spider was stuck in a fit of indecision as she debated whether it was better to backtrack down the pipe the croc had dragged her and hold out until she could get back to the surface that way, or keep going and hope there was an exit nearby.

Thankfully, the decision was taken out of her hands by the swift arrival of Batgirl moments later, who was quick to temporarily lend her rebreather for a moment along with a light so Ghost Spider could finally see more than just some vague shapes in the dark.

The first thing she noticed was the stuff leaking out of the croc wasn't red.

Instead, it was dark black. Something that initially confused the heroine until she caught a glimpse of metal beneath the ruined skin. A quick check revealed a rather sophisticated robot frame.

Ghost Spider guessed that explained the unnatural size and behavior of the reptile. If it was mechanical then it made sense why it was so aggressive when crocodiles were normally ambush predators.

While she was investigating the robot, Batgirl had been checking out the walls of the tunnel. The thrashing that had broken the robot had also led to several cracks in the walls that were slowly leaking air bubbles, signaling a potential way out from the Riddler's deathtrap. Ghost Spider looked over to see her partner in this mess coating the edges of one of the bigger cracks with some sort of putty that foamed up even underwater before placing a detonator in it and signaling for both of them to back away.

A flash and explosion later, both heroines were sucked out of the tunnel by the rushing water and fell a short distance before Ghost Spider managed to catch both of them with a webline.

"Note to self…get something…for underwater adventures…cause that…wasn't fun…" Ghost Spider panted as she took in huge lungfuls of air. She wasn't going to take being able to breathe whenever she wanted for granted for at least a few weeks.

"Remind me after we get out of this and I'll lend you one of our spares." Batgirl muttered back.

Ghost Spider looked at her and saw the redhead was tracing the tunnel to another massive container a short distance away. Disturbingly, there were a massive number of crossbows mounted on tracks surrounding the entire structure that clued the two of them into what the 'theme' of the next challenge would have been if they hadn't created their own exit.

"I guess that would have been the 'wood' section then." Batgirl mused, drawing Ghost Spider's attention.

"Section? What do you mean?"

"Riddler's still keeping to the five elements theme. The sand was earth, the trap we skipped over looked like it was completely made from metal, and the last one was obviously water. If you take that into account and the cycle the elements go through, the next one should be wood." Batgirl explained. "If you count wooden crossbow bolts anyway."

Personally, Ghost Spider thought it took a bit more than that, but then again killer robot crocodile didn't scream 'water' theme much better. Obviously the Riddler was willing to sacrifice the theme a bit to make sure the two of them wouldn't be able to walk away from his deathtrap.

So rather than get hung up on the madman's commitment to his own theme, she decided to focus on what was actually important.

"Alright, so how do we find the Riddler before he realizes we're not stuck in his trap anymore?"

Batgirl brought a hand to her chin in thought. "The best way would be to find something and track it back to his control room, but I'm not sure we'll be able to find something quickly enough. So my next thought is to try and predict where he's hiding out and head there directly, I'd guess either the middle of the facility where he's protected from all sides or the back from where we entered. The Riddler isn't really the type to risk himself if he can help it."

"Makes sense." Ghost Spider commented. "He'd be in the middle if he's keeping to the chinese theme, right? Isn't the middle of a formation usually a big deal?"

Batgirl shrugged. "Maybe? I think it depends… But I wouldn't put it past the Riddler to have a backway out just in case."

"Then we need to split up. How about…"

-o-

"Where are they…where are they…"

A figure in a green suit decorated with black question marks was muttering to himself as monitor after monitor in front of him changed to show different points of the intricate trap he had built.

It had taken him some time to confirm that the two nucinces hadn't simply succumbed to his genius traps and had instead managed to escape. He had known they had somehow destroyed the drone that served as the main challenge of the area and was fully alert for any schemes for them to either escape back towards a previous area or continue ahead, but when there was no sign of them in either direction he was forced to send one of the few minions he had on hand to investigate.

Unfortunately, that took time and it wasn't until several minutes later that the minion had even found the hole in the passageway tunnel leaking water in one of the few unmonitored areas around, which meant the two pests could be almost anywhere by now.

Edward Nygma was a genius beyond compare, an intellectual with few true peers, but even he was just one man and needed accurate information to plan his next move. And until he located the two rats running around outside his trap, he was quite unfortunately on the backfoot for the moment.

But only for the moment.

"Now then…how should I flush you two out into the open?" He mused.

A hand reached for one of the buttons that would enact his contingencies, only for a bat-shaped piece of metal to whistle through the air and pin the entire arm to the control panel by his sleeve.

"...Batgirl, would you like to hear a riddle?"

-o-

Just as Batgirl expected, the Riddler did have some sort of command center in the middle of his trap. The only question that remained was if the villain was actually in there.

Batgirl quickly maneuvered around the various sensors and cameras she could see around the structure and slipped into an air vent. Looking down into the inside she saw a pair of hired thugs guarding the door into the command center and a figure sitting with their back to her on a large bank of monitors. A green sleeve was enough to tentatively confirm this was where she needed to be though, so she slipped out of the vents with barely a sound and dropped on one of the thugs.

He was unconscious almost immediately as his head hit the ground and his partner wasn't much better. Not after Batgirl ducked past a flailing arm and had him in a sleeper hold within seconds.

A quick glance back at the figure by the monitors confirmed that the struggle had been quiet enough that the mastermind hadn't noticed, but Batgirl did see him reaching for a control of some sort. With no idea what that would unleash, she made a split second decision to stop him by throwing a batarang at his sleeve. It gave up the element of surprise but at this point, she was confident in handling the Riddler head-to-head.

"...Batgirl, would you like to hear a riddle?"

"Is it how many years you think you'll get for grand theft? Because I'm thinking ten or fifteen for this last scheme alone." Batgirl replied, alert for any tricks.

"Amusing, but no. What do the two of us have in common?"

It was a bad idea to give planners time to think or react, so Batgirl rushed at the seated figure and yanked it to face her, fully prepared to deck him in the face, only to pause when she came face to face with a doll-like mask instead of a person.

"We're both dummies!" The decoy-Riddler cackled from a speaker. "You didn't think you could get the drop on me did you? You may have blundered your way out of my traps, but let's see how you deal with something you cannot just brute force your way out of…"

A bright red '15' appeared in the middle of the dummy's face and started counting down. Batgirl's eyes widened in shock at the sight before she found herself sprinting from the control room almost before she realized it, grabbing the unconscious thugs by their collars and dragging them out with her on the way.

She managed to slam the door shut just as the timer hit zero. There was a muted 'thump' as the walls shook with the force of the explosion but even after a few seconds that seemed to be it.

Something that immediately made Batgirl suspicious.

"Okay…what's the trick I'm missing…" She muttered to herself, looking around just to see another red timer in the distance hit zero and explode. The force of this explosion was much bigger than the previous one and ended up throwing the heroine to the ground.

Batgirl pulled herself back up as fast as she could and immediately started looking around.

Several more countdowns could be seen all throughout the facility. And if each of them was actually a bomb…there was enough to flatten the entire structure several times over…

"Oh…fu-"

Another countdown hit zero followed by an explosion.

-o-

Ghost Spider almost missed the hidden exit as she and Batgirl split up to try and tackle both scenarios about where the Riddler could be hiding.

In fact, if it wasn't for several people suddenly running around Ghost Spider would have simply gone right by it due to the lack of any kind of visible opening and low light. But a wall dropping away revealing a van was fairly eye-catching.

So was the man in a green suit shouting orders at the top of his lungs.

"Get moving, all of you! The Bat-brat found the decoy center and the self destruct is active. I want to be long gone from here before anyone else comes poking around!"

The spider-themed hero did a rough about face and latched on to one of the support pillars in the area to better watch the unfolding scene. A small group of minions were trying to rush loading the van with containers that probably had the stolen items from the days before but they didn't seem armed. Probably because they weren't expecting to need to do much beyond move things around after the robberies themselves.

Well, that just meant they were in for a bad time.

Ghost Spider had also learned from the last time with the Penguin and decided to target the getaway vehicle before she was revealed.

Thick sheets of spider silk covered the doors to the van so that no one was getting it anywhere without either pushing it from behind or somehow tearing a hole in the cab.

"Damn, that other interfering pest is here also! One of you get that van open. The rest, get her!" Riddler ordered even as Ghost Spider leaped into the middle of them.

The first minion caught a fist to the jaw and went down like a sack of potatoes, but the others quickly got over the surprise of her sudden entrance and rushed to attack. Ghost Spider ducked a punch and snap kicked a different minion in the chest before grabbing the first's arm and judo throwing him after the second. A third and final minion took the chance to tackle her to the ground, but Ghost Spider rolled with the impact. She managed to get her feet up to the man's chest and sent him flying with a powerful kick.

"Looks like you need better henchmen, Riddler. They aren't very good at 'getting' things." She taunted, turning to the now scowling villain.

"I'll just have to do it myself then!" he declared, charging her and swinging a cane topped with a bronze question mark like a baseball bat.

Ghost Spider rolled to avoid the swing and went to sweet her opponent's feet but the Riddler was actually more athletic than she was expecting. He jumped her own leg and stabbed at her multiple times with the cane, treating it almost like a rapier.

"You know, you're better at this than I – woah! – expected." Ghost Spider commented after a particularly near miss.

"Hmph, it's only natural. I may not be one of those swollen neanderthals but learning how to be physically capable is simply good sense when dealing with the likes of Batman."

"...I'm not sure if Batman beat enough common sense in you to think that or knocked enough out that you think the best thing to do is learn to fight so you can keep committing crimes instead of, you know, not commiting crimes!"

Riddler took a step back and twirled his cane dramatically. "I don't expect you to understand the desires of an intellectual." Suddenly, several booms echoed through the area. "Ah, it seems like your friend is running out of time to escape."

Red-rimmed eyes narrowed as Ghost Spider leaned forward aggressively. "Then I guess I don't have more time to waste on you."

With that said, Ghost Spider rushed forward and grabbed both the cane and the front of Riddler's suit with the intention of simply overpowering the man. But instead of ripping the cane out of his grip like she planned, only the black body of the cane moved at her tug, sliding away to reveal a thin blade that had been hidden in the body. One Riddler didn't hesitate to try stabbing her with.

Ghost Spider mostly managed to get out of the way, but she hissed as the edge scraped along her ribs. In retaliation, she picked Riddler up by his suit and hurled him into the parked van, liberally covering him in webbing afterwards, and then quickly investigated the wound.

Thankfully, it was a long but shallow cut so it wouldn't affect her much.

More explosions sounded out and Ghost Spider knew she needed to get a move on if she wanted to make sure Batgirl was alright.

"Well that was…not fun but it was interesting." Ghost Spider commented to the wriggling cocoon that was the Riddler. "You boys hang around for a while. I'm sure the police would love to hear all about this."

She couldn't make out the Riddler's muffled response through the webbing, but decided to take it as agreement. It wasn't like he was going anywhere soon.

Now, she had a friend to find and possibly save.

-o-

When the Riddler said self-destruct, he hadn't been kidding. Nearly everything in sight had been reduced to rubble. Ghost Spider was actually surprised the roof and warehouses above them hadn't collapsed yet but she was sure it was just a matter of time. So she was extra careful where she swung, stepped, or jumped when backtracking just to make sure she didn't shift something and bring the building down on her own head by mistake or get caught in one of the explosions still going off all over the place.

"Spider! Over here!"

Ghost Spider's head snapped towards the shout and saw not only Batgirl but also two more henchmen, unconscious, trapped between a wall of rubble and a fire that had started at some point.

"You alright?" Ghost Spider asked when she jumped down to join them, wordlessly accepting one of the henchmen and looking for a good place to anchor a webline to pull them all out of the current situation.

"Mostly," Batgirl confirmed. "A few explosions were close, but I was able to use a few taser batarangs to short out some of the bombs. Managed to keep everything from collapsing on us at least." A large section of roof chose that moment to crash to the ground in the distance. "...for a little while anyway." Batgirl added.

Ghost Spider nodded. "Well, we were right about the Riddler's backdoor exit. I managed to catch him on the way out. So all we have to do is get out of here. Need me to take the second guy too?"

"No, I got him. Just couldn't handle two dead weights at the same time." Batgirl replied, pulling out a grapple gun. "Let's get out of here. I'm so done with today."

Ghost Spider hummed in agreement. This wasn't what she had in mind when tracking down a robber.