“Now then,” Nora Fries said, pressing the barrel of her freeze gun to Batman’s chin. “What should we do with you?”
“We should let him go, Nora!” Victor said, standing from his work desk. “He might be able to help us.”
“Help us!” Nora replied. “He won’t help us! No, he’ll stop us, stop
me from getting justice against those responsible!”
“Was it justice what you did to those police officers?” Batman asked. His right hand had been close to his utility belt when Nora had encased his body in ice, and now he struggled, trying to reach those final few inches.
“They were in the way,” Nora said, pressing the gun harder into Batman’s chin. “Like you are.”
“Nora!” Victor said. “Please.”
Nora lowered the gun, turning to her husband. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll let him go.
After I’ve dealt with those responsible. Keep an eye on him, Victor,” she told him. “I’ll be back soon.” With that Nora freeze replaced her helmet, the metallic boots of her costume clanging against the floor as she left the room.
Batman cursed himself, he had been so focused on Victor he should have heard her approach the first time. “Victor,” he said, looking at the other man. “What happened?”
Victor sighed. “She’s been ill. For a long time. That’s why I got into cryogenics in the first place,” he explained. “But she got worse. So I rushed the attempt to freeze her. Until there was a cure ,you see. But something went wrong, something that shouldn’t have.”
The bald man took a deep voice then continued. “Somehow the chemicals… altered her. As far as I can tell they destroyed her illness, but now… now she can only survive in sub-zero temperatures. That’s why she needs to wear that suit.”
Batman nodded. About the only thing he could do while everything below his neck was still trapped in ice. “I’m sorry,” the caped crusader said.
Victor looked at Batman for a second, then went back to his workbench.
* * * * * * * * * *
“You got here fast,” Carrie said, opening the door of Wayne Manor to see her friend standing there.
“Yeah,” Stephanie replied. “I wasn’t that far away when you called and I had nothing better to do so…” She entered the hallway. “Where’s Alfred and Mr. Wayne?”
“Alfred’s busy in the kitchen, and Bruce is… out,” Carrie said. “Actually he’s the reason I asked you here.”
“I knew it!” Stephanie hissed. “He’s abusing you, isn’t he! Well I don’t care how hot and rich he is, we’ll show him what’s what!”
“Steph, no!” Carrie replied. “That’s not it. Bruce… Bruce is Batman.”
Stephanie looked at her friend, her face expressionless for a long moment. Then she started to laugh, and laugh hard. “Okay… okay, that’s a good one,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she tried to calm down. “Bruce is Batman. Yeah right, and next you’ll tell me that Dick’s Nightwing.”
“Well, actually...” Carrie started.
“Carrie, seriously. Why am I here?”
Carrie just grabbed her friend’s hand. “Follow me!” she said, pulling her towards the mansion’s library. Five minutes later the two were down in the Batcave.
“My god!” Stephanie gasped. “He really is Batman… Actually things make a lot more sense now.” She paused. “Wait… does that mean Dick really is Nightwing?”
Carrie nodded. “Yeah.”
“He never told me that when we…” Stephanie trailed off.
“When you what?” Carrie asked.
“Um… nothing.”
“When you what?” Carrie repeated, more firmly.
“Well… It’s kind of a long story,” Stephanie said.
“Steph, what did you two…?” Carrie paused. “You didn’t… you know?”
“What? No! Of course not!” Stephanie shot back. “I mean, yeah, he’s way hot too, but no, we’ve only met a few times. What kind of a person do you take him for?” She paused. “What kind of person do you take
me for?”
“Right,” Carrie laughed. “We should probably stop jumping to conclusions. Next thing you know, we’ll accuse Alfred of being a super-villain or something.”
“Yeah,” Stephanie nodded. “And I promise I’ll tell you later. Right now, why am I here? I mean, I really doubt Bruce would let me down here without being here himself.”
“He doesn’t know you’re here.”
“He doesn’t?! Carrie!” Stephanie sputtered.
“I know,” Carrie said. “It’s just…” The redhead told her friend all about Ra’s and the offer and Bruce not telling her. “I need to find out how to contact Ra’s,” she ended with. “And you’re the only one I know that might be able to hack the computer and that I can trust to keep Bruce’s secret
and not to tell him about this.”
“Carrie, he took you in. If he doesn’t want to talk with Ra’s, there must be a good reason.”
“Didn’t you think he was abusing me?” Carrie shot back.
“Kinda, but I was wrong,” Stephanie replied.
Carrie sighed. “I know. It’s just… they were my parents. You know what it’s like. If someone gave you the same offer wouldn’t you want to find out the truth?”
Stephanie let out a sigh of her own. “All right,” she told Carrie. “Just… give me some time to think it over.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Thank you,” Batman said after Victor took away the water bottle from his lips. Victor had spent the night keeping an eye on the masked man, making sure he was okay, are at least as okay as one could be while being frozen in a block of ice. Fortunately Batman had prepared, his suit designed to keep him warm in such low temperatures.
“You know this is wrong,” Batman finally said to the older man. “Help me get free.”
“I can’t,” Victor replied. “She deserves justice.”
“This is not justice,” Batman told her. “This is vengeance. She may have already killed two people and she has harmed others. How many more must pay?”
“Those responsible must be brought to justice,” Victor told him.
“Who? Who is responsible, Victor?”
“I… I don’t know,” Victor replied. “I… Something went wrong.”
“Yes, but are you sure it wasn’t just an accident?” Batman asked.
“I… I checked everything. I was so sure. There shouldn’t have been a power overload, there shouldn’t have!”
It had taken him all night, but Batman had finally gotten a miniature blowtorch from his belt and was now using it to free himself. With Victor distracted, he took the opportunity finally get on hand free and then…
Batman hissed in pain as another blast of ice crashed into his body, destroying the torch and leaving him trapped from the neck down again.
“Did you no see what he was doing!” Nora snarled as she entered the room, glaring at her husband. “He was trying to trick you! Until he managed to free himself!” She turned to face Batman. “I should turn you into a block of ice right now!”
“Nora!” Victor pleaded. “I’ll keep a better watch on him. I promise.”
“No… I’ll watch him. You just complete the weapon, that’s what your good for,” she replied coldly.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Morning, Alfred,” Carrie said, stifling a yawn as she entered the kitchen. “I guess Bruce got back really late last night. I didn’t hear him come in.”
“Actually he hasn’t returned yet, Miss Carrie,” Alfred said, placing her breakfast before her. “Although it’s not unlike Master Bruce to spend the entire night out.”
Carrie noticed the hesitation in Alfred’s voice. “But…”
“But,” Alfred continued. “He had not checked in either. And
that is most unlike him.”
“Guess we’d better go make sure he’s okay then,” Carrie said, wolfing down her meal. “We’ll check the computer to see if the suit's GPS is working, and if not we’ll start with his last known location.”
“Miss Carrie. Must I remind you that you have classes in a couple hours.”
Carrie shrugged. “Then I guess I’m going to miss them then,” she told Alfred, standing and heading towards the hidden entrance to the cave.
* * * * * * * * * *
“It’s ready, Nora,” Victor said, handing her the device.
Nora turned to face him, taking the weapon. She had spent the last hour watching Batman, not moving at all. “Good,” she said. “And it works?”
Victor nodded. “It is more powerful, freezes faster and holds a larger charge then the smaller gun,” he told her.
“Good,” Nora said again, holding the rifle sized device, aiming it, examining it.
“Nora? What if Batman is right?” Victor said. “What if it was an accident?”
“Right?!” Nora snarled. “You said it yourself! What happened wasn’t an accident! Someone did this to me and that someone must pay!”
“But…” Victor started before Nora cut him off.
“You don’t know what this is like, to be trapped in here, to be a freak! I can’t
feel anything, Victor! Nothing but the cold. If you will not help me then stand aside. Or else!”
“I just don’t want to see you hurt anymore, Nora,” Victor said. “You’re my wife and I love you!”
Nora just turned her back on Victor, put her helmet back on and exited the room.
“She’s going to kill people,” Batman said.
“I know,” Victor replied, sadness in his voice.
“Then help me stop her,” Batman told him. “Before it’s too late. Before something worse happens to her.”
“But…” Victor hesitated.
“Trust me,” Batman told him. “I promise that I will do everything in my power to help her. But I can’t do it unless you free me.” Victor looked at him, obviously undecided. “Victor… please,” Bruce, not Batman, said.
Finally Victor made up his mind, he grabbed a device from his workbench and pointed it at Batman.
* * * * * * * * * *
Carrie hid behind an alleyway, dressed all in black wearing a full-face mask, as she watched Nora exit the building. The one where Batman’s tracker said he was last before it stopped working. She waited for the armored woman to leave then snuck inside, headed toward the large refrigeration unit.
She quickly rushed there and pushed the door open. “I’m here to… Never mind,” she said, seeing Batman being helped down by Victor. “Wait a minute?” she muttered. “If he’s here… then who’s in the suit?”
“Nora Fries,” Batman said as he stood, stretching muscles that had been frozen in place overnight.
“Oh… Okay?” Carrie said, completely confused.
“I’ll explain later. I have to stop her and
you have to go home,” Batman said.
“I’m going with you,” Carrie told him.
“No you’re not,” Batman replied, staring down Carrie.
Carrie stepped backwards, gathering her courage, happy that the mask prevented Batman from seeing the fear on her face. “You know we can argue about this for hours but that’s not gonna help us stop Samus Aran there from doing whatever it is she’s going to do.”
“She’s going to attack WayneTech,” Victor said simply.
“She’s what?!” Carrie hissed. “We have to go then,” she told the two men.
“You…” Batman started.
“I am going to go and help evacuate the building while you deal with Mrs. Freeze. End of conversation. Now lets go.”
Batman finally gave up, the three of them heading out of the building. It was a tight fit in the Batmobile, but it didn’t take long for them to arrive at WayneTech, already too late.
The front doors had been frozen and shattered, the pieces laying across the lobby floor. Inside they found Nora’s first victims, two completely frozen workers, while a handful of others with frozen arms or legs lay around whimpering and shivering. Batman disappeared, quickly heading deeper into the building alone, heading towards the sounds of screams and destruction, leaving Carrie and Victor to tend to the wounded.
He finally found her, standing before Derek Powers, aiming her rifle at him. “They say vengeance is best served cold,” her mechanical voice said as she pulled the trigger. The freeze beam burst forth, hitting the place where Derek had once stood. Nora growled, looking to her side in time to see Batman push Powers through a doorway, disappearing into it himself. “YOU!” she yelled, her freeze ray just missing him and hitting the door.
Nora walked over to the door, the superior strength from her suit easily shattering it. She entered the staircase, her free hand quickly reaching out to grab a batarang flying towards her. “Nice try,” she said, firing her gun towards Batman, again missing him but creating a block of ice between the two. Nora then turned and headed back out of the stairwell.
* * * * * * * * * *
Carrie was in the lab, having removed her mask and tossed on an available lab coat the moment she was alone so that her appearance wouldn’t add to the chaos. She had quickly run into Jervis Tetch and the two were busy evacuating the building when Carrie heard a metallic clang coming towards them. “Crap!” she hissed, looking around the corner to see Nora striding towards them. Jervis slamming the door closed, locking it as the two continued to evacuate the labs.
“This is all my fault!” Jervis cried, a loud clang echoing through the room as Nora started to pound on the metal door. “I never should have let Victor go through with his plan!”
“Jervis,” Carrie said. “Worry about that latter. Right now we have to focus.”
“Right. Right,” he nodded. They heard a noise from outside the door and a few seconds later it shattered completely.
“Down!” Carrie shouted, knocking Jervis to the floor just before a blast passed through where they stood, hitting a computer behind them. She peeked over the top of the desk they hid behind as Nora entered the lab, firing her weapon at lab techs.
Nora had taken a few steps into the room, when Batman appeared behind her, crashing into her and knocking her to the floor. She easily threw him off and reached for her rifle. Carrie quickly tried to kick it out of the way, but Nora moved even faster, reaching out and grabbing Carrie by the neck. “Out of my way brat!” she hissed as she tossed the young woman aside.
Nora picked up her weapon, turning to find Lucius Fox standing there, Victor behind him. “Victor told me everything, Nora,” he said to her. “I am truly sorry, but you have to stop this. If you do, I promise I’ll use all of WayneTech resources to find a cure for you.”
Nora laughed. “Do you think I’d believe that? You may have fooled Victor, but you can’t fool me.” She raised her weapon at him, Victor stepping before Lucius.
“This isn’t the way, Nora,” he told her. “This has to stop.”
Nora hesitated. “They’re lying to you, Victor. Can’t you see they don’t care about a cure, they’re just saying that to save themselves.”
Victor just continued to stand in her way.
“I’ll shoot Victor,” she said. “I will!” She aimed the weapon again. “Just move out of the way. Victor, please! MOVE!” Two batarangs flew out of the corner, one knocking the gun from her hands, while the second sunk into a cable on the suit’s back, shorting the power out. “No!” Nora cried out as she collapsed to the ground, unable to move the heavy suit without it being powered.
Batman stood and walked over to her. Victor quickly moved by her side, holding his wife. “I’m sorry, Nora,” he told her. “I’m truly sorry.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Three dead and over a dozen injured,” Lucius sighed as he looked over the list before him. “Too high a cost.”
Bruce nodded. It was the next day and the two were going over the loss of personnel and damage to the building. “And what about Victor and Nora Fries?”
“She’s been moved to a special cell in Blackgate,” Lucius told Bruce. “She’ll be going on trial for her crimes. Victor’s in jail too, he’s been charged with accessory to murder.”
“If only Batman had gotten here earlier,” Bruce sighed.
“We’re lucky he appeared at all, it could have been worse if he hadn’t, much worse,” Lucius said.
“Still…” Bruce started.
“Batman can’t save everyone,” Lucius replied, cutting Bruce off. “Much as we may wish he could. It’s this town.” He shook his head, sighing and going back to the list as a knock came on the door. “Come in!” he called out.
The door opened and Derek Powers stepped inside. “I have another name of the list,” he told them, handing them a piece of paper. “Jervis Tetch resigned this morning. I tried to talk to him but… he was adamant. He said the guilt is too much.”
Lucius sighed again, taking Jervis’ resignation. Derek gave the men a nod and exited the room.
As soon as Derek was alone in the hallway he pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number. “It’s me,” he said into it. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the news by now.” There was a pause before Derek continued. “Yes, it wasn’t what I planned when I sabotaged Victor’s equipment but it worked out better then we could have hoped. There’s quite a space here now to fill with your people.”
Another pause. “Of course. I’ll make sure they get hired.
You just make sure they have proper paperwork and backgrounds so Fox doesn’t get suspicious.”
The person on the other end spoke some more, Derek laughing at the comment. “Bruce? Please, he’s a fool. He wouldn’t realize what was going on unless I spelled it out for him.”
Derek listened some more, shaking his head. “Sure. Of course. I’ll call back later.” The young man hung up his cell phone, a smile growing on his face as he walked down the hall. Everything was going according to plan.
