Evening, GothCorp-
*Sigh* "This is so damn boring." A security guard sounded off as he was watching the security monitors. "Everyone is having so much fun over at that party while I'm stuck here bored out of my mind." The guard was so out of it that the moment a hand touched his shoulder, he jumped out of his seat in response. "What the hell?!"
"Hey sorry about that man." A tall man spoke out in a security guard uniform.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm actually filling you in for the shift. Mr. Boyle had actually sent me over here to relieve you of duty for the night." The man said with a cheerful tone before he ushered the current guard to move out of the seat. "So enjoy the compliments man."
"Really? Damn that's great."
The replacement guard was going to say something before his nose started to tingle, letting out a loud sneeze. "AAACHOO!"
"...Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. *Sniffle* Take off and go enjoy yourself."
Not wanting to stay any longer, the security guard went on his merry way in a quickened pace so he wouldn't miss the fun at the penthouse.
Waiting a few more moments, the replacement guard looked around for any sign of any other workers coming around. Seeing as there no one else in the room, the man pulled up his shirt to reveal a grey material underneath with a utility belt just above the pair of guard pants. He pressed a small button to open up a compartment before pulling out an electronic keycard.
'Hope this works.' The 'replacement guard' thought as he made his way towards the electronically locked door. Once close enough, he swiped the card into the slot and saw the card work it's magic. It wasn't long before the lights turned green, signaling that the door was now unlocked. 'Gotta thank Marva on this card when I see her next.'
Once inside, the 'guard' quickly got out of his disguise before moving forward. If one was there to witness this, it would've shown that Batman was there all along. But it didn't matter as he made his way towards the classified files. The Dark Knight activated his detective vision so he wouldn't turn on the lights of the room just in case someone else showed up unannounced.
Now the reason why Batman is here at the GothCorp building was honestly simple: searching for clues. After his chat with Naruto earlier at the graveyard, Batman went looking through the batcomputer for anything he could find on Victor Fries. Apparently he couldn't find much on him at all, leading the Caped Crusader to the idea that Ferris Boyle went through great lengths to cover up the incident. This meant that he'd have to go there in person and find any classified files on the late scientist, if there any left after his death.
Though before he could leave the batcave, Alfred handed him a container of chicken soup of all things. Stating that since he is going back out again, he'll need to have a warm meal to help fight his cold. But Batman would save it for later and eat the meal after this part of the investigation was done and over with.
After finding what he was looking for, he opened up the file and saw several pages of blueprints on what Victor was making before his death. It appeared to be a capsule of some sorts and he wanted to know more about this. Though upon further investigation, Batman found a VHS tape inside of the file. Meaning he'd have to watch this, bu luckily for him there was a TV set nearby.
Once there, he placed the file to the side before turning on the TV set and popping in the tape into the VCR. It took a few moments for the tape to start on up. Though after a bit of waiting, the video started to play.
-Insert Gotham OST: The Tragedy of Victor Fries aka Freeze Freezes Freeze-
"...Is the light on?" The man in a scientist's coat muttered as he peered closer to the video recorder. "Oh wait it is… Good." The scientist then stepped back several feet so that he wouldn't be blocking the entire frame of video. It was there that Batman saw the lab, along with the same capsule from the blueprints. When he felt ready, he coughed into his hand before speaking.
"Hello… My name is Dr. Victor Fries. I am recording to what… I may pray, maybe the first step towards immortality… or something to that degree." Victor then ushered towards the capsule on the other side of the room, with a faint silhouette inside of it. "For what you see here is the CC-100, a cryogenic chamber of my own design. And I created this for the express purpose of freezing subjects stricken with inoperable ailments. Subjects like… like my own beloved wife, Nora. And once a remedy could be found, the subject-"
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
With the sounds of the lab door being harshly pounded, Victor adopted a look of worry.
"Open this door!" The voice recognized as Ferris Boyle could be heard on the other side of the lab entrance. "Open this door now!" With a final *BANG*, the door flung open to reveal the GothCorp CEO with a pair of security guards. Once Boyle came close enough towards the scientist, he rose his voice in anger. "Get away from that equipment! And you two, shut this stuff down!"
"Please stop!" Victor pleaded as he tried to block the security detail from touching the equipment. "This is my experiment!"
"Your unauthorized experiment Victor." Ferris corrected with a narrowed glance. "I ordered funding suspended for this project weeks ago. And now I'm three million in debt thanks to you."
"B-But you can't stop this now! My wife's in there!"
Ferris could only cockily smile as he responded back to this. "So bring her out then."
"You can't stop the process now! SHE'LL DIE!"
Victor's pleads fell onto Death's ears as the CEO pointed towards one of the guards and gave him a simple command. "Open it."
The scientist needed them to stop, so he grasped onto his boss' arms and gave a firm grasp upon him. "But this is her only chance!"
"This is my equiptment Victor!" Ferris yelled out as he shrugged away the man's grasp. "MINE! And I have every legal right to use it or not as I see fit. So I say this project ends now!"
In his horror, Victor saw one of the guards messing around with the nearby control panel. In his haste, Victor seized the man's gun and pointed it towards him. "Back away from her you murderers!"
The nearby guard backed away as he didn't want to get shot. In response to this, the scared CEO tried to reason with the scientist with a slightly panicked tone laced in the soothing voice. "Victor please. I'm sorry… I lost my temper. It doesn't have to come to this… We can talk."
The scientist was hesitant now on what he should do now as he lowered the gun slightly. But this was the opening Ferris needed as he kicked the man in the chest, sending him crashing back onto a table of chemicals. In this moment, Victor screamed out in pain before falling onto the control panel, which sparked to life due to the exposed wiring. All of this caused Victor to be electrocuted with the spilled chemicals on his body.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Victor yelled out in unimaginable pain as the room was starting to fill up with vapor.
"Get out!" Boyle ordered as he and the guards covered their mouths so they wouldn't inhale the fumes. "Get out!"
As Boyle and his guards flee the room, Victor desperately crawled towards the cryogenic chamber as Batman faintly saw the scientist's skin and hair drastically change colors. He was able to bring his body onto the glass, but his body was getting weak from the changes along with him starting to ice over. With the last bit of his strength, he cried out his beloved's wife's name before he too was cryogenically frozen.
"Nora!... Noooooraaaaa!
And with that, the video recording ended leaving Batman in a state of shock on what he just saw. Leaving him with one thing he could possibly mutter in response to this. "My God!"
"Yes…" A drooled out voice called out, causing Batman to whirl around from his position to see Mr. Freeze at the doorway. "It would've move to me to tears, IF I still had tears to shed."
After that, Batman blacked out as he was blasted by Victor's cold gun.
-Unknown Location-
*Groan* 'W-Where… Where am I?' Batman thought as he was feeling really cold while he was slowly waking up. 'And why does my head hurt?' Looking around, he saw he was in a snowy area as he soon realized he was suspended upside down due to seeing Mr. Freeze standing some feet away.
"Ah… Good. You're awake." The armored man spoke out as Batman noticed he had the Bat's utility belt hung over his shoulder. "The snow is beautiful. Don't you think so Batman? Clean and all so uncompromising?"
"And cold." The Dark Knight finished off, getting the frozen man to nod at this.
"Like the swift hand of Vengeance."
"I… I saw what happened to your wife Victor…. I'm sorry."
Victor could only narrow his eyes at the hanging Batman in response to this. "I'm beyond emotions now…. For they've been frozen dead in me."
Things slowly came to fruition as Batman eyed the man's armored attire. "That suit you wear… A result of the coolant?"
"Very good… A detective to the last." Freeze stated as he walked around the captured hero. "I can no longer survive outside of a sub-zero environment… If I do, then I overheat and die as a result. And tonight, I mean to pay back the man who ruined my life… Our lives. Both mine and of my Nora."
*Growl* "Even if you have to kill a building full of people to do so."
Once again Victor nodded his head before he spoke towards the hero. "Think of it Batman. To never again walk in a Summer's day with a hot wind in your face… and a warm hand to hold." The frozen man tightly closed his hands in anger while gritting his teeth at the loss he currently has. "Oh yes… I'd kill for that."
Once that was said, Mr. Freeze then walked away. He ordered the thugs to follow him to leave with him. For they have a party to crash.
After Freeze left the room, Batman started to struggle as he tried to break the icy confinements around his wrists. It took several moments with a lot of his strength to break those set of bindings. When that was done, he hoisted himself upwards and swung around so he could grab the nearby icy stalagmite before slamming it against the ice surrounding his feet. The moment the ice broke away, Batman fell onto the snowy ground with a bit of a daze due to how he landed.
The Bat realized that his suit will need to be better equipped for the next time a situation like this ever happens. He'll need to talk to Marva about this to possibly add the idea to a future suit. But none of that mattered now, he needed to get to GothCorp and fast to stop Victor's plans for revenge.
-Elsewhere-
*Sigh* "It's a quiet night and seems peaceful…" Vanitas muttered to himself as he overlooked the city from up high on a Kazekage lance with his helmet off. "But why do I have this sense of foreboding all of a sudden."
Ever since seeing the vacant Fries residence yesterday, he's been brooding at the loft and he could hardly get any work done this morning. Even throughout the rest of the day when he spent time with the three girls, his mind was elsewhere. Harley, Pam and Rachel had been asking him of what was going on and he couldn't tell them of what happened.
So earlier today, Naruto decided to go and see the Fries gravesite so that he could possibly try to clear his head. Seeing Bruce following him was a bit of a surprise, but the publisher didn't dismiss him away as he told his friend of his connection with the deceased Fries couple. He felt a bit better after talking about that troubled time last year and Naruto thought he could feel moreso on the feeling once telling the girls. The Uzumaki did so once he got back home, seeing Rachel being taught by Pam and Harley on different subjects for the test next week. Even though he came clean on the same story he told Bruce, there was this feeling that kept with him for the remainder of the day.
So here he was by himself, high in the sky so he could possibly use some patrol time to beat up some crooks so his stress could be relieved. Though he could make love with Pam to do so, along with Harley when the time is right, but not in this case. Something felt off, really off, like when he last saw the two last year.
Naruto then placed a hand onto the one of the compartments in his utility belt. Opening the flap, he reached in and pulled out the item of interest. The moment it was out in the night sky, the light glittered off of the diamond center against the metallic snowflake it rested upon with the chain holding up the piece of jewelry.
"Why Victor…. Why did you have it done at your work lab?" The masked Uzumaki muttered as he gazed at both the necklace and the moon. "It should've been easier at your place."
-Flashback, One Year Ago-
Things seemed to be in a standstill for the handful of months since their big scare. With the large amount of formoterol Naruto procured that things could possibly be steady to some degree. But Naruto and Victor knew that the pills could only work for so long due to the increase of coughing attacks. Even Victor guessed that the disease was changing stages now that the formoterol would eventually become useless. It was only a matter of time before Nora would cease to exist and both the scientist and publisher feared the worst.
After the big scare, Victor had been furiously working on a way to save Nora, or to at least prolong the stage transition until a cure could be found. He did come in with some good news from work one day that his project was approved and he could begin construction on what he had in mind to save his wife. Though, for some reason, Victor never told Naruto what it was but he came by one day to the publisher's office for money. The Uzumaki agreed and things progressed onwards after that.
It was then, the eventual day, that Naruto see Nora for the last time for a long time until a cure could be found.
"Are you sure you have to take her to GothCorp Victor?" The publisher asked as he stood outside of Nora's room. "Shouldn't it be safer here where you could properly monitor her? Hell I could even come on by every so often to keep her company while you're at work."
Victor could only shake his head in disagreement before explaining. "I would've done so if I had permission to take the project home, but I couldn't with the equipment I had access to. Even so, it would've gotten me in trouble if I tried just that Naruto."
"...I just hope that the money I gave you helped."
"It has Naruto and don't worry." The scientist said with a bit of reassurance. "For what you've helped me in this could help save others down the road."
*Sigh* "I just wish that things could've gone differently in this Victor." The publisher said as a feeling was bubbling in his chest. Like something might end up wrong and there was nothing for him to do to stop it.
"Same here my friend." Victor said with sorrow in his voice. He swallowed the feeling as he opened the door to his wife's room. "Come on. She wanted to see you before I take her to GothCorp."
"Alright… But just so you know, you are so damn stubborn. You know that?"
His former landlord could only chuckle a little as he walked into the room. "Look who's talking Naruto."
The two then gazed at the frail occupant in the room as she silently finished up her meal before she went through whatever her husband had planned for her at GothCorp. It was her favorite order from Big Belly Burger and Nora wanted to at least dine on it to help her out on the lack of energy she exerted. The meal helped her spirits a little so she could feel somewhat at peace.
"Mmm… That hit the spot." Nora said as she pushed the meal bag away, to which Naruto took and tossed it to the nearby trashcan. "Don't know why it tasted so good this time, but I'm not complaining."
"Possibly with the stuff you've been having for kami knows how long made you yearn for your old guilty pleasure."
*Chuckles* "You're probably right." She said before she brought her hand up to the snowflake necklace around her neck and traced it over with her fingertips. A sapphire jewel resting in the center with small diamonds decorating the thin branches of the piece of jewelry. It was Nora's first anniversary gift from Victor and she hardly took it off. It helped her have a sense of comfort for the longest time.
"It's good to see you Naruto." The frail woman weakly smiled as she gazed at one of the closest friends she had in this world. "At least I get to see a nice, familiar face one last time before I get put under."
"You as well Nora." He said as he grasped his friend's hand. "I just hope that things will turn out alright in the end."
"Same here…. You know Naruto;" Nora said as she tried to readjust herself in her bed so she could properly face her former tenant, "I've always wanted a girl and…. And I hoped that the day Victor and I could have a child, I'd like you to be the godfather."
Naruto was surprised by this request as he didn't know what to say. He even looked over to Victor to see if they were joking, but he only got a small smile with a firm nod in response. Naruto smiled at the couple and nodded several times to show that would gladly accept the request.
It was after that moment when Nora placed her free hand underneath her bedsheet and pulled out a small box before handing it to the silver haired publisher. He was confused on this before he opened the lid to see it's contents. It was a silver necklace in a snowflake like design. Unlike the necklace Nora was currently wearing, which had small snowflake branches coming off of the center, this one had thickened ones with small designs etched into it. In contrast of the jeweled center, it was a nicely sized diamond that seemed to look like winter snow in terms of color.
"Eh… Not that I mind the jewelry Nora, but what's this about?" He questioned as he picked up the necklace from the small box.
*Sigh* "It's a family heirloom that dates back to when my side of the family originated from Europe." She explained as her friend looked over the necklace for better details. "My family was supposedly descended from an Ice Queen that lived in a fallen kingdom. Reason why they eventually moved to America a good couple of centuries ago."
"Really? And what place was that?" Naruto asked since there were several stories pertaining to Ice Queens in various parts of the world, but hard to tell fact from fiction these days. Even more so where each of them truly originated from.
"It was a place called Arendelle. I can only remember certain details from stories from my mother and grandmother, but the full details on our lineage was lost as years went by. Even hard copied records were lost in the travel.*Cough* *Cough* Hell we don't even know which of the two sisters we were descended from anymore."
Finding a bit of interest on this topic, the publisher decided to file that information away for another time so he could research that place a bit better. For now he placed his focus towards Nora and nothing else. It was her time at the moment and she needed it the most.
The frail woman then grasped his hand, with the necklace in his, before giving him a stern look. "Hold onto this for me please Naruto. And promise me... Promise me that you'll be there when I wake up."
Naruto could only smile as he shed a tear at her request. "I was actually going to say that Nora. I was already planning on being there when you woke up. Didn't want you to freak out of waking up at an unfamiliar place without a friend nearby."
*Chuckles* "I'm glad. And Victor…"
"Yes Nora?" Her husband asked for the first time in this conversation.
"Don't blame yourself for what might happen…. If something might be out control for what's to come."
Unbeknownst to the former shinobi; this would be the last time he see either of his former landlords, his friends, for a long time.
-Flashback End-
"I could've saved them." He muttered as tears seemed to threaten to spill from his eyes. "That damn feeling wouldn't go away that day and I should've done something. Should've done more to right their injustice…. Kami, why didn't I do something to stop that shit from happening?"
After what happened that day, he never parted with that necklace Nora gave him and kept it under lock and key. But after the memories of his time with the Fries came back, he took the necklace out of his safe. It had a nice feeling to it as he sensed something emanating from the piece of jewelry, but he didn't know what exactly. Naruto planned to look into it's history when he had time, especially since the recent memory reminded him of the land Nora's family originated from.
He was knocked out of his musings as he saw a bright light several miles away from his position. From what Naruto could guess on the location, it was where the main GothCorp building was located. He then remembered from the news earlier in the day that Ferris Boyle was being awarded as the Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year this evening and it was being filmed live.
"Humanitarian my ass." The Uzumaki muttered with a narrowed glance. He was going to ignore the event going on and place his attention elsewhere when something peculiar entered his vision. It seemed small at first until he saw ice rising and encasing the building. "The hell?"
With his curiosity peaked, Naruto formed his helmet around his head and used his lance to soar through the sky towards the GothCorp building. He arrived onto the scene in less than a minute to see a giant cannon, with various tubes connected to it, as it fired a bluish ray at the building to build up more and more ice around it. The masked Uzumaki guessed it was roughly the size of an 18-wheeler or something less as it was manned by a handful of people wearing winter gear.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm stopping this." Vanitas muttered as he dispersed his Kazekage lance and aimed his feet onto an unsuspecting thug. "In the memorable words of Might Guy… Dynamic Entry!"
"What?" One thug asked as he turned around, only to have a pair of boots slam right against his face. With the speed and strength of the attack, the thug was sent flying several feet before landing onto the ground. This caused the other thugs to freak out on what just happened. They got up to defend the active cannon with their weapons on hand.
Vanitas dashed towards one of the closest thugs near him as he kicked the man in the gut before tossing him into another nearby thug. He had to run out of the way as automatic fire was aimed towards him before he got into cover behind a control pannel. As he was trying to look around for any other thugs, Vanitas spotted something nearby that clearly caught his attention.
"Is that the Bat's belt?" The black and white themed hero questioned with a raised brow. "How the hell is it here?"
"You can thank Mr. Freeze for that." A voice from above stated before a figure dropped down and punched an oncoming thug into unconsciousness. Vanitas looked towards the figure and saw it was Batman, as said hero grabbed his utility belt from the console and clipped it back into place. "He jumped me when I was distracted."
"...Okay. Good to know." The masked publisher simply said as he didn't know who this Mr. Freeze was, but figured he was the ringleader of this operation. "So do you have any idea why this guy is attacking GothCorp?"
Vanitas' answers would have to wait as the two were then assaulted by several other thugs that came closer to the ice weapon. The two heroes could only hope they can make it inside in time before anyone noteworthy gets really hurt. It is just a matter of time before something drastic happens soon enough.
-Meanwhile, GothCorp Ballroom-
"...And so it gives me great pleasure to present this well deserved award to Ferris Boyle." A member of the Humanitarian Committee stated in front of the large audience. Many people were there from Mayor Hill, Summer Gleason and her cameraman from Gotham Insider and many others that were influential one way or another in Gotham City.
Once the Committee member ended his speech, the audience clapped to appreciate Ferris' award. The man of the hour walked towards the podium as he was given the statue to signify his award. When the applause settled down, Ferris cleared his throat and started his rehearsed speech.
"People caring for people." The CEO started off to help set the mood. "Compassion. That was the foundation that Gotham was built on. And I have proudly built GothCorp on that foundation. Reason why we're called 'The People Company'." The acceptance speech was short, but effective as Ferris earned another round of applause. "Thank you so much. Please, no. Thank you."
From there, Summer Gleason came towards the podium as Boyle moved out of the way to give her some space. "Well I'd say that the future is looking very, very bright in Gotham Mr. Boyle. Wouldn't you all agree people?" A resounding agreement came throughout the room in different ways but they were basically the same. Summer was going to say something else, but things started to get a little chilly. Even to the point that people could see their breaths for some reason.
"Brrrrr." Summer sounded off as she held her arms together and rubbed them for warmth. "Did you forget to pay your heating bill Ferris?" She jokingly asked before part of the farthest section of the room exploded with ice growing out from the hole.
In the confusion, thugs started to come out of the icy hole before a handful fired their automatic weapons into the ceiling. The attendees started to panic as they tried to find cover, but there weren't any good ones in the immediate area. Many even tried to exit the room, but to their surprise the other entrances were soon iced over by an ice ray.
"Now where is Ferris Boyle?" Freeze demanded as he questioned the frightened guests upon his arrival. "For the cold eyes of vengeance are upon him."
"And w-who the hell are you?"
Turning towards the source, Freeze saw the man who he was looking for and made his way towards the so called humanitarian. "Ah… Just the man I wanted to meet after so long. Though I'd be lying if this was going to be pleasant."
"You st-still didn't answer my question f-freak." Boyle stated as he tried to keep himself warm. Though he was getting scared of what might happen to him as he looked at the other security guards in the room. Seemingly oblivious of the armed thugs, he called out towards his men. "Why aren't you boys doing anything?!"
"What does it look like boss?!" One of the guards rhetorically spoken out as he was held at gunpoint. "Can't really do a thing sir."
*Growl* "Useless idiots." Ferris muttered under his breath as he didn't realize the cameraman was still filming the events going on.
"Another example of your falsehood of being a humanitarian." Freeze stated as he came up close to the GothCorp CEO. "Not treating those under your employ with the respect they deserve."
"And how would you know?" Ferris asked before he was smacked away from the ringleader's armored hand. The CEO tried to get back up, but his legs were then blasted by Freeze's cold gun. Holding him in place in a barely standing position. "FUCK!"
"I've wanted to do that to you for so long." The armored man with a narrowed glance. "But to answer your question Boyle; you clearly have forgotten the man you ruined one year ago, a colleague by the name Dr. Victor Fries."
With that said, Victor blasted his former boss' legs to build up more ice around the quivering man. Ferris tried to say something, but the cold was becoming too much for him. He tried to beg even for the armored scientist to stop.
"You… beg?" Victor said in a mock astonishment as he lowered his weapon before he adopted a far off look on his visible features. "In my nightmares, I've see my beloved wife behind the glass… Begging to me with her frozen eyes." His expression then turned towards anger before he pointed his cold gun back at Boyle. "Oh how long I've wanted to see the same expression frozen on you Boyle."
Just as Freeze was about to fire his cold gun, the nearby windows broke as Batman and Vanitas crashed right through them with both heroes doing a recovery roll. In this momentary distraction, the helmeted hero threw one of his daggers straight towards the cold gun, knocking it off point so the blast would hit a nearby thug. From there, Batman kicked Freeze off of his placement before the two heroes faced him.
"We'll give you one chance to let him go." Demanded the Bat as he briefly scanned the room on both the hostages and thugs.
Mr. Freeze could only growl out a response as he pointed his weapon towards Boyle. "Threats are meaningless towards a man who has lost everything!" He then fired his gun downwards to create an icy wall to block himself and Boyle from the other occupants in the room.
"You are coming with me Boyle!" Victor growled out as he pulled his former boss out of his icy confinement. As he was walked towards the only available exit of the room, he briefly turned back to see the situation at hand. 'The new variable will be tricky to deal with soon enough. I'll need to quickly figure out how to combat against him.'
Back with the two heroes, both were back to back as they looked towards the hired goons that were coming their way.
"We got a room full of hostages with armed thugs ready to strike us at a given notice." Vanitas muttered low enough for Batman to hear this as well.
"They are the top priority right now." The Dark Knight stated as he went into a fighting position. "Fries can come later." And without any other form of acknowledgement, the Bat went into action, leaving Vanitas to do his own thing.
'Victor… What in Kami's name happened to you?' Thought the masked Uzumaki as he briefly glanced towards where his old friend was previously at before leaping into action himself.
After the two heroes took down the thugs outside earlier, Batman briefly told him of what he learned with the related attack. Suffice to say, Naruto was completely shocked to learn of Victor not only being alive, but is also behind this attack. He was glad that he not only wore a helmet, to hide his surprised features, but that he hid his emotions well enough for a brief moment so Batman wouldn't notice.
Forming a pair of escrima sticks from his powers, Vanitas dashed towards a pair of thugs and smacked them across their heads before jabbing the rounded ends into their guts. He then leaped on top of one of them, used his momentum and strength to send the one thug sailing towards an armed man some feet away. With the thug right next to him, Vanitas did a sweeping kick before doing an ax kick onto the fallen form to knock him out.
Batman had already taken care of several thugs in the past few moments before he clotheslined a pair and knocked them out by slamming their heads towards a nearby table. The Bat then dashed towards another set of thugs as he punched and kicked them in quick successions so he wouldn't waste any free moments for the thugs to fight back. He did have to run out of the way from the automatic fire several times before he had to get to cover behind a tossed over table.
Vanitas saw this happen, so he brought forth his grappling scarf and shot it towards one of the thugs and threw the man at the other thug currently firing upon Batman's position. With this moment cleared, Batman leaped out of his position and threw several batarangs at some of the other thugs with weapons on hand so they would be knocked away. There were others that still had their weapons, but Vanitas brought up a barrier to help for his and Batman's defence. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Batman leaped off of a chair inside of the barrier and threw smoke pellets to help for cover before continuing his assault.
As this was all going on, a clone Vanitas made was escorting many hostages outside via teleporting with two of his daggers to have a stable connection. The original didn't want any of the civilians hurt and in the way so this had to be done. It was slow, but possibly effective instead of leading them through the frozen pathway on the other side of the room. He didn't know if there were some thugs that were still in that pathway so Vanitas couldn't risk it.
"Are you getting all of this Joe?" Summer questioned her co-worker, who's brief response was a small nod as he kept the active camera steady. Both were hiding in a decently well spot that they wouldn't get dragged into the action.
"We're still live Summer." Joe stated as he briefly glanced at the Vanitas copy getting people out of the place. "Are you sure you don't want to get out of here Summer? We could be safer from the outside."
"Nah-Uh. What's going on now is great coverage Joe and it'll help boost our ratings like when we saw Batman, Robin, Vanitas and that mystery woman fight that Solomon fellow last month. Even before that, it was great when we got footage on most of the fight with Clayface on the Daggett interview." The reporter said as she tried to convince her co-worker. "Not only that, but there is more going on here from what that supposed former scientist stated and I want to know more on it."
*Sigh* "If you say so Summer." He muttered as he kept the camera steady so he can get as much footage as possible.
"Come on guys! It's just two of them!" A random thug said before he was met with a flying chair that slammed against his head.
"Shit! We need to regroup!" Another thug stated as a good handful ran towards the other exit of the room to try and meet back with the others. Not knowing that they'll end up getting detained by the police already outside, due to making a wrong turn to meet back up with said thugs.
When things seemed to be clear of any immediate dangers, Batman and Vanitas looked towards the ice wall covering Victor's escape. Without warning, the masked publisher ran towards said wall with a raised hand. "I've got no time for this." Vanitas stated as he formed a void rasengan in the palm of his hand. "Stay back!" Without delay, the masked Uzumaki slammed his attack towards the thick, icy wall to make it crumble from the impact. From there, the two heroes ran through the new entrance.
From their hidden position, Summer and Joe got out and went after the two heroes to get more on the current fight going on. It took a few minutes of careful running, due to most of the hallway covered in ice, but they eventually made it towards the enlarged service area of the building. Which by the way now looked like an odd winter wonderland with the icy stalagmites protruding almost everywhere. And on the bottom floor of said room had Victor pointing his weapon at the CEO.
"...Then join me in my fate… and freeze."
"You're a peon Victor! A pleb! What were you without me huh?! You've got nothing! No power! No resources! Everything around you, I had built and without me-"
"SILENCE!" The armored man bellowed out as he smacked the CEO away and pointed his gun at the 'humanitarian'. "Not another word out of you Boyle! Today you die!"
"You have to let him go Victor!"
Turning towards the source, the frozen scientist eyed the two heroes that jumped down from above with a narrowed glance. "You two will not stop me."
"We know the truth Victor and so will the police. Boyle will face judgment for his crimes."
"I-It was an accident!" Ferris shivered out to try and defend his credibility. "Y-You don't know what yo-you're talking about!"
"Oh will you shut the hell up Ferris!" Vanitas growled out as he pointed his finger in an accusing manner. "Enough of your lies! You've ruined his and his wife's lives, along with who knows how many others!"
-Insert Castlevania Lords of Shadow: The Ice Titan-
"That I can agree on." Said the armored man before he grabbed the CEO and threw him towards a wall and blasted him with his cold gun, rendering the man unconscious. The two heroes tried to act but a wall of ice was soon made from Victor's weapon to block their path towards him.
"You need to stop this Victor! Nora would never have wanted this!" Batman yelled out as he ran towards a possible vantage point for advancement.
"No… What she wants was to live a long life in the warmth of the sun, with her hand in mine." The armored man muttered loud enough for others to hear before he aimed his weapon at the visible spots of his vision. "But because of him, neither one of us would ever feel that ever again! And even if she were alive, she'd only feel the icy touch of a man whose emotions runs cold like the blood in his veins!"
Vanitas ran for cover as he had to dodge several ice blasts. He almost fell a few times due to some ice forming in his path, but he had to keep moving. The masked publisher thought that he could possibly phase his way through the blasts, but one attempt didn't go all that well as he still felt the extreme cold when it went right through him. It took so much out of him that he couldn't risk doing such a thing again.
He glanced upwards where he saw Batman throwing exploding batarangs towards Freeze, but few were successful in getting close. Others seemed to get detonated prematurely once hit by the ice ray. The ones that got close didn't make much damage wise as the attacks didn't fully phase the man at all.
"I've told you this before Batman, but I've come prepared since our last fight." Victor said as he knocked on his armor a few times to emphasise the point. "It'll take much more than those exploding weapons of yours to do damage onto this armor."
'Then I'm going to improvise along the way.' The Bat thought before he used his grappling gun towards one of the hanging pillars for a high vantage point. He fired his grappling gun and swung around several times to get an opening before he threw an exploding batarang at the ice stalagmites from up above. Upon impact, most fell down and landed upon Victor, making him cry out in anger from the attack.
"You will not stand in my way for vengeance!" He yelled out before he blasted his ice walls and made them higher for better coverage. Though he failed to realize the openings he has in his defense as Vanitas threw daggers in said openings. The daggers seemed to dig a bit into the armor, causing the man to grunt when pulling them out with his free hand. Though the cards that followed exploded to distract Victor just enough for Batman to dive on through and attack the armored man.
With the rapid succession of punches onto the man's dome, Batman seemed to do some good amount of damage onto the man like before to stagger the changed scientist. Once slamming the glass dome onto the ground, Batman had to quickly move out of the way so he wouldn't get hit when Victor recovered. Just in time when Freeze got up and ran out of his covering and made another fortified wall before blasting the high vantage points Batman would've used.
"My patience wears thin." The man angrily muttered before he pulled out grenades and tossed them from his cover. Upon impact onto the ground, ice was formed at an accelerated rate in a wide radius. After that, Victor then tossed more in various directions so he could possibly get one of them perchance. Even with that, the surrounding area would've been hard to navigate with the protruding spikes coming from the ground.
'Need to get underneath him if I can.' Vanitas thought before he eyed the grates underneath him. Getting an idea, he summoned some Dusks near him before pulling off the grate below. 'You guys distract him.'
"We live to serve our liege." They spoke in his mind before they went off for their command. They flew out of their cover as Freeze spotted them and shot them on instinct. Not knowing nor caring what they were he just fired to get rid of the annoyances. Some were able to dodge well due to their flexible bodies while others got hit and turned to ice, crashing down and shattering upon impact.
'Okay, going to need to navigate through this.' As Vanitas made his way through, he heard things shattering and breaking from up above. He glanced to see from the small openings to witness Batman tossing furniture from the upper level to try and hit Victor. Even the rest of his Dusks were eventually gone from the supply he summoned were destroyed. After a few more moments of navigation, Naruto was right below his friend.
'I need to do this now!' Vanitas then jumped from his spot, which surprised Freeze and started to attack him as much as he could with some attacks held back. He really didn't want to harm his friend, but he might have to if he needed to stop his actions for the night. Many punches and kicks were met towards the armored scientist before he was smacked away with a hard blow.
Seeing that Vanitas might get hit from the incoming blast, Batman glided down and attacked Victor from behind before damaging the fuel tank on the back of the suit. With the impact upon him, Freeze grabbed ahold of Batman and tossed him towards the other hero before making a blast at the Bat. It wasn't that big though due to the tanks damage, but it was enough to halt the man for some time.
"You two should be helping me, not fighting me." Stated the armored man as he fired his ice weapon at the two heroes.
"We would if you stop firing at us Victor!" Vanitas yelled out as he pulled up his barrier to defend himself and the Bat.
"If this is how you'd want it to be, then so be it."
As the blast kept its course, the barrier was starting to frost over and crack due to the icy attack. Vanitas was starting to stagger as he didn't know how long he could be able to keep this up. Before long, his barrier will break and both he and Batman might be done for.
Unbeknownst to the occupants in the room, a light emanated from Vanitas' utility belt as the one compartment that held Nora's family heirloom opened up on it's own. Said light shot out and went straight towards the cracked barrier before the compartment close back up. The light started to blend with the ice generated from the cold gun onto the barrier. It was hard to tell for anyone in or out of the fight as the icy blast covered the sudden white light.
It didn't matter in the end as the barrier shattered and the two heroes were thrown back several feet. The two shook their heads in discomfort before Vanitas felt an odd weight in his hand. He looked upon it to see something that he didn't expect to see at all: a shield.
From his perspective, it had the vague appearance like the Nobody symbol with his other weapons. It was elongated with part of the rim being grey in color with the rest of the shield being metallic blue in color. It even has five protruding spikes on the end near where his fist was located.
"Whatever that is won't save you now Vanitas!"
Once that was said, Freeze fired his weapon yet again and on instinct Vanitas used his newly acquired shield to defend himself. He skidded back a bit, but he seemed to not feel much force coming from the attack than he thought. But not wanting to see what can happen next, he made a clone and said clone got Batman out of the way to see if he was fine.
Vanitas moved out of the way to cover the small escape. He kept getting hit by the ice blasts, but the shield was able to take a lot of the damage so he could recover. He glanced to the side and saw his clone administer some morphine to help relieve some of Batman's pain before he came running at Victor. Freeze saw this frontal assault and blasted the clone, which encased in ice and shattered onto the floor before wisps of smoke emanated from the corpse.
Naruto shuddered upon seeing this, but kept at it on being the voluntary distraction so Batman could help defeat his friend. In mere moments, the Bat came coming in with a handful of exploding batarangs. But instead of tossing them, he kept them in his hand until the thoughtful last moments needed to stop Victor. Seeing this, Vanitas ran to intercept the possible blast which could possibly kill Batman in close range.
In the last moments, Freeze fired his gun at Batman, but it was unsuccessful when the odd shield intercepted the blast. It did shatter, due to the strain since it's creation, but it gave Batman the moment needed to latch the exploding batarangs at the cold gun and jumped back before it exploded.
With the cold gun out of commission, both heroes thought that they could possibly gain the upper hand in this. But they soon underestimated Victor as they were soon grabbed by their opponent. They tried to get out of the man's grip, but it seemed useless. Vanitas could've phased himself out, but his reserves were dwindling and couldn't perform the action.
"The advanced circuitry in this suit not only powers my suit, but also triples my strength." Explained Mr. Freeze as he held the Bat by his throat before raising him high into the air. "Sooner or later, all those that are in my way must feel the icy touch of Death itself."
As Batman was struggling to get himself free from his current predicament, he tried to think of a way to defeat Victor. Nothing from his arsenal was good enough to help him out here. But one thing came to mind as he pulled out the thermos full of chicken soup Alfred gave to him earlier. It's going to be a waste of good food, but he hoped that this could work. So he mustered the last bit of his strength and slammed the thermos hard onto the glass dome.
Upon impact, the glass seemed to crack a bit due to the hard object. Then the glass started to crack more when the thermos broke and its contents freely spilled onto the cold surface. With the mixture of the hot soup onto the icy dome, it started to break it a whole lot faster than anticipated.
Once this happened, Victor was so surprised with what just occurred that he let go of them and tried to rid himself of the extremely hot soup. In this brief moment, Batman kicked Victor away before Vanitas came back and swept kicked the frozen scientist onto the ground. The two then saw Freeze rocking about, trying to wipe away the hot meal off of him while gasping for cold air.
"N-NOOO! I-It cAn'T eNd ThIs WaY!" Victor struggled voice out as the hot juices were not only harming his cold face, but also the circuitry that was seeping into his suit. Part of the proof was the electronic voice amplifier was sorting out. "...VeNgeAnCe! I-I MusT hAVe mY... vEnGeaNCe!"
'I'm sorry Victor, but vengeance won't solve this issue… Justice will.' The masked publisher thought as he gazed at his former landlord.
Shortly after this moment, the two heroes then gazed towards Summer Gleeson and her cameraman Joe as they carefully came down the frozen stairs. Vanitas was surprised that he didn't see the two in the ballroom earlier when he got the hostages out. Seemed he needs to be thorough when getting others out for future rescues.
Before the reporter could try and ask what this whole situation was about, she eyed the fallen armored man with the thermos nearby. "W-What was th-that s-stuff?"
"The only way to fight a cold."
The others blinked at this as the cameraman soon muttered a small question. "Chicken soup?"
Ignoring this, Batman pulled out a VHS tape from his back and handed it towards the reporter. "A year ago, Ferris Boyle interrupted an experiment. And in that process destroyed two lives. That has the evidence you need to help convict Ferris Boyle for this crime along with possible others."
"...How the hell do you have that?" Vanitas questioned as he eyed the video tape, even the broken thermos on the ground. There was no way the Bat literally had those on him the entire time… unless that utility belt really can hold anything of any size and weight.
Batman could only look towards the other hero for a brief moment before muttering a simple thing. "...Not telling."
-Hours Later, Arkham Asylum-
Inside of his cell, Victor was sitting on top of his bed with blocks of ice surrounding him. Due to his condition of living in a sub-zero environment, his current confinement had a coolant air conditioner blasting the sub-zero air onto the icy scientist. This had to be done until a proper cell was made to become a large meat locker to keep the temperature below freezing. But for now, Victor's current placement will have to do.
In his bit of sorrow, the blue skinned scientist pulled out a handmade ballerina effigy from underneath his bed. It was comprised of an alarm clock he broke apart, for most of the mechanisms, while the ballerina was an miniature ice sculpture of his late wife. As the silent melody played through his head, Victor could only shed a tear before speaking towards his late wife.
"I have failed you Nora…. I wish there was another way for me to say it, but… but I cannot. I can only beg for your forgiveness and pray that you can hear me somehow… someplace…. Someplace with a warm hand waits for mine."
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Hey, Fries! You got a visitor!" One of the guards yelled out from the other side of the cell door. This seemed to peak the frozen man's interests slightly as he wondered who would want to see him. When the metallic door opened, he saw a man he hasn't seen for a long time. A man that was once his tenant and a long dear friend.
"It's been quite some time Victor." The publisher stated as he walked closer to his former landlord with a box tucked underneath his arm.
The new arrival gave Victor a small smile on his face as he saw one of the last few friends he has left in the world. "That it has, my old friend." The scientist then looked towards the object
"I thought we could continue with our chess games that we used to play." Naruto said as he placed the collapsible chess set onto the nearby table.
"I'd like that." The frozen man simply said with a small smile before it went into a questionable frown. "Aren't you going to wear something better to keep you warm?"
Seeing what Victor meant, due to him wearing a light amount of clothing consisting of jeans, a fleece button up and a leather jacket, Naruto could only chuckle a little. "Nah… The cold never really bothered me anyways."
Before the publisher could get things set up, he placed a hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a little box. From there, he placed it into Victor's hand, much to his confusion. In response, Naruto spoke out while getting the chess set properly placed. "I'd thought you should have it Victor. After all, it was Nora's to begin with."
Upon hearing this, the widower slowly opened the box with trembling hands to see his wife's family heirloom. He had forgotten that she gave Naruto the piece of jewelry for safe keeping. All that Victor could do was silently weep in a small form of happiness, for he now has a piece of Nora with him to help on his memories.
Unbeknownst to the two old friends, Batman was standing on top of a high rise rooftop at the asylum with a pair of binoculars. The disguised 'playboy' could only smile upon the scene as the two reunited friends eventually started their chess game after so long. Feeling he shouldn't be here anymore, the Caped Crusader left to go back home and properly rest.
-End Chapter-