An Ice Place To Visit

It was a chilly November night in Gotham City and Gotham Arena was packed with hockey fans. Everywhere you looked people were wearing the colors of the city's team, The Gotham Blades, which were blue, black, and white, and they were all gleefully chanting "WE WILL, WE WILL, ROCK YOU!" as they worked themselves into a collective frenzy. There was only ten minutes to go until the puck dropped, but several people were still making their way up the narrow stairwells in the stands to their seats. Two of these people in particular were the beautiful magician, Zatanna Zatara, whose long raven hair stood in stark contrast to her pale, creamy skin and the predominantly white Blades jersey which she wore with a pair of dark jeans and leather boots, and her companion, Abel, caretaker of The House of Secrets, who was a hefty man with short, dark hair and beard who was wearing a long-sleeved, black sweater with dark pants and dress shoes. Around his neck he wore a wool scarf made up of blue, black, and white stripes and in his hand he carried a Blades pennant on a thin wooden stick.

"Pardon m-m-me," he stammered as he and Zatanna made their way to their seats after locating the right aisle. Abel, always awkward, fumbled and tripped over people's feet as he passed in front of them. "Pardon me," he said again.

Zatanna was much more graceful as she walked in front of him. Eventually they made their way past the other spectators and found their seats.

"I'm so glad you inv-v-vited me to this," said Abel as he sat down. "I had no idea you were a h-h-hockey fan too."

"Big time," said Zatanna, enthusiastically. "You know me, if it involves a hat trick, I'm there."

Abel chuckled at her play on words.

"I'm just glad you said yes," she continued. "I figured asking you might be a longshot. For some reason I just never pegged you as being that into sports."

"Oh, I can be quite the sp-sp-sportsman," said Abel. "I like r-r-rowing, fencing, b-b-badminton, and the like, but my favorite has always been hockey. The H-H-House of Secrets even has its own ice rink*."

"Really?" said Zatanna, impressed. "You'll have to show me that sometime. That's the one thing Shadowcrest doesn't have."

"I'd l-l-love to," said Abel, as he looked at Zatanna affectionately.

"When I was a little girl my father used to take me to hockey games all the time," said Zatanna. "My favorite team back then was the St. Louis Royals... until they were involved in that horrible tragedy**."

"Ah, yes, The Royals," said Abel. "You know there's more to that st-st-story then you may think. In-"

The sound of a siren suddenly cut him off, and the lights in the arena began to flash and flicker. The crowd started cheering and hollering loudly. The game was about to start.

"I'll tell you later," Abel yelled to Zatanna over the din.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," said the deep booming voice of an announcer over the loudspeaker, "WELCOME TO GOTHAM ARENA ON THIS BEAUTIFUL FRIDAY NIGHT. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME HOCKEY?"

Everyone cheered. Zatanna cheered so loud she scared Abel for a second, but then he began to cheer too.

"WELL THEN, SAY HELLO TO YOUR GOTHAM BLADES," said the announcer as Tom Sawyer by Rush started to blare throughout the arena. There was even more cheering as the players began to enter the rink. One by one they skated in with their arms raised up as the crowd cheered for each player.

"I like him," Zatanna said, leaning over to Abel. She pointed at number ninety-one, Skyler Teguin. He was lean and fast and had a cocky smirk on his face. "He's the new center. He's really good," she said.

"Y-Y-Yes," agreed Abel, nodding. "I've h-h-heard that."

After the last of the Blades had taken to the ice the announcer said, "AND CHALLENGING THEM, ALL THE WAY FROM THE MIDWEST, THE KEYSTONE CITY COMBINES!"

Nobody cheered for them as they came on the ice. In fact, a lot of people even booed.

"Go back to Kansas," shouted Zatanna, giving the team a thumbs down. Abel had never seen her be so aggressive before. He liked it.

Once both teams had entered the rink and had taken their places, both in their respective boxes, and on the ice, the referee skated out to center ice where Hymie Svenn, number fourteen and captain of the Blades, and Duke Gravesman, number eight and center for the Combines, were already in position for the faceoff. The ref blew his whistle and then dropped the puck. Immediately Svenn took possession of it and drove it towards the opposing goal. It was quickly stolen by a Combine.

"So how have you b-b-been?" asked Abel. Now that the crowd had quieted down and the game was underway it seemed like a good time to catch up with Zatanna who he hadn't seen in months.

"Oh, another day, another supervillain," she said. "This morning I had to take on the Queen of Fables. She had sicced a dragon on New York City and blah, blah, blah. I am so exhausted right now, but there was no way I was gonna miss this."

Abel smiled and turned his attention back to the game. Skyler Teguin had just stolen the puck and was heading towards the Combine's goal. He was so fast no one seemed to be able to touch him. He deked left, deked right, took a shot and... scored! The crowd went wild and shot to their feet as the announcer yelled, "BLADES SCORE THEIR FIRST GOAL OF THE NIGHT!"

"Woohoo!" said Zatanna.

There was so much celebratory noise in the arena that at first no one even noticed the small explosion that blew a chunk out of the side of the ice rink. Once a few masked henchmen wearing heavy silver coats and carrying high tech ice guns skated onto the ice, however, people started to take notice.

"W-W-What's this?" said Abel.

Everyone began to get quiet and watch as the thugs were quickly joined on the ice by their leader, none other than infamous frozen supervillain, Mr. Freeze. Freeze, as usual, was wearing his large, bulky, specially designed containment suite with a glass helmet around his bald head to keep him at sub zero temperatures. On his face he wore a pair of red goggles to protect his eyes from bright light. He was also carrying a freeze gun, but his was much larger than those of his men.

"Hello, Gotham," Mr. Freeze said to the whole arena, and his voice could be heard perfectly by everyone as it came out of the large speaker on his chest. Around him his goons pointed their guns randomly at the crowd and at the nearby hockey players who backed away from them.

"Sorry to cause such an interference, but I'm afraid I was unable to get a ticket to tonight's game, so I had to crash," he continued in his cold, emotionless voice.

Many people in the stands began to gasp and chatter worriedly among themselves.

"Oh boy," said Zatanna, annoyed.

"It's a g-g-good thing you're h-h-here tonight," Abel said to her. "You can stop this f-f-fiend in no time with your m-m-magic, right?"

Zatanna gave her friend a worried look. "No, I just told you, I'm exhausted. As in, almost all my magical energy is used up," she said.

"Oh d-d-dear," said Abel.

"The only way I might be able to use magic on Freeze is if I were able to get very close to him. I should have enough mojo for short range spells. But it would have to be without him seeing me."

"How close?" asked Abel.

"Very close," said Zatanna. "Like, right next to him. I might have just enough power to do something then."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this will not take long," announced Mr. Freeze. "I am not here for your money or jewelry. I am here for only one thing; him!" He pointed at Hymie Svenn who stood only a few feet away from him.

"Vhat do you vant vith me?" asked Svenn.

Instead of an answer, two of Freeze's goons rushed over to Svenn and grabbed him. They shoved him towards their boss and stuck their guns into his back to make him move.

"I know h-h-how you can get to him," Abel said to Zatanna as they both kept a careful eye on the scene below.

"How?" asked Zatanna.

"There's a secret t-t-tunnel that runs beneath the ice rink. It's for maintenance p-p-purposes. The entrance is down through the boiler room."

Hymie Svenn skated over to Mr. Freeze who grabbed his arm and pointed his gun at him.

"Okay," said Zatanna. "I'll cast a glamour spell over me, so I can sneak down the stairs unseen. It won't be a very good one, but with everyone standing up and moving around and all I should be able to get through the crowd and out of the stands before it wears off."

"What should I d-d-do?" asked Abel.

"You just stay here and try not to get hurt," Zatanna answered.

"Okay," said Abel. "When you get out in the hall, take a r-r-right and go down three entrances until you s-s-see the metal door with the No Unauthorized Personel sign on it. That's the b-b-boiler room."

"Gotcha," said Zatanna. She made a theatrical gesture with her hands and said, "Elbisivni." Immediately she became somewhat transparent. She gave Abel a thumbs up, which he barely saw, and then she made her way past the people next to her towards the stairs.

"Vhat is this all about?" Svenn demanded of Mr. Freeze. He showed no fear, just anger.

"Your father is Dr. Gunther Svenn, yes?" Freeze asked, coldly.

"He is." Svenn answered.

"Leading researcher in the field of muscular regeneration deficiency. The man who would not share his research with me, even though it would help to save my dear, dying wife. He will share it now, I think... if he ever wants to see you alive again."

Hymie Svenn started to look afraid now.

Nearby, Skyler Teguin slowly started skating up behind Freeze without him seeing, but Freeze turned his gun on him quickly.

"Stay sharp, little Blade," said Freeze. "You do not want to pay my penalty."

"Puck you," shot back Teguin, raising his hands up and backing away.

Zatanna made it outside to the circular lobby area that surrounded the arena itself just as her glamour wore off. Nobody had noticed her escape as far as she knew, so she immediately ran down the curving corridor until she saw the metal door Abel had told her about. With a tiny bit of magic, she jimmy'd the lock open and headed inside where she found some stairs and headed down them. At the bottom was the tunnel leading under the rink. She began to run down it to the far end where she knew Freeze would be standing directly above.

"Where is the camera?" demanded Mr. Freeze, as he looked around the arena. His blue face quickly appeared on the Jumbotron above the ice rink and on the televisions of thousands of Gothamites who were watching the game around the city.

"Ah, there it is," he said. "Hello, world, this is Victor Freeze. I send this message out to Dr. Gunther Svenn..."

In the stands, Abel watched the scene with worry, and began to bite his finger nails hoping that Zatanna could stop this man in time.

Down below, Zatanna had reached the point she thought would be right below Freeze and his cronies. She raised her hand up to the ceiling and used her innate magical sensitivity to reach through the two feet of solid concrete, spiritually, and feel Freezes life force. He was there.

"... And I will give further instructions then," said Mr. Freeze, as he finished his televised ransom demand. He jostled his captive hockey player by the arm indicating he should move, but when he himself began to try to skate he could not. He looked down to see the ice around his feet melting quickly. Nearby, the same thing was happening to the ice underneath his henchmen's blades.

"What is this nonsense?" yelled Freeze as his and his men's skates began to sink. After only about an inch, though, they stopped and the ice suddenly refroze, pinning all of them to the ice. Then, like a giant magnet were beneath them, all the villain's guns were yanked from their hands and pulled down to the ice. Freeze awkwardly leaned down to reach for his, but before he could, Skyler Teguin quickly charged at him and checked him into the boards next to him, knocking him right out of his skates and causing his head to bang around inside his helmet like a bell. He fell to the ice, knocked out cold. The other players quickly went up behind the unarmed henchmen and put their sticks over them to hold them prisoner. As if on cue, Batman suddenly swooped down from the rafters above and the police, who had surrounded the building and were waiting for the right moment to strike, came running in and out onto the ice lead by a young Hispanic female officer named Montoya.

"Good work, Dark Knight," she said as she approached Batman. Her officers began slapping cuffs on Freeze's men.

"Afraid I can't take credit for this one," said Batman in a deep voice.

"No, it was Z-Z-Z-" called out Abel, as he blundered his way onto the ice, slipping and sliding all over the place.

"It was me," said Zatanna. She calmly walked up to the group as if she were stepping out from behind a curtain on a stage.

"Nice work, Zatara," said Montoya. "Me and my men will have Fries back in Arkham in no time." She turned and went to deal with the villain herself.

Abel clumsily went over to Zatanna and hugged her.

"Well d-d-done," he stammered. "You took care of that buffoon in short order. I knew y-y-you would." Then he slipped and fell on his ass, bumping his elbow on the ice. "Ow!" he yelped.

"Oh, Abel," said Zatanna, bending down to help him up. "I told you not to get hurt."

Batman watched on with an unfathomable expression.

"I don't think I've seen you both together since that business at The House of Mystery last Halloween***," he growled. "Are you two here on... a date?"

"It's a secret," said Zatanna, as she hung onto Abel's arm to keep him from falling again. She gave the Dark Knight a wink.

"Come on, let's go get you some ice for that elbow," she then said to Abel, and began leading him away.

"Thanks for your help," Batman called after them. "I'll stick around here to make sure they get Freeze back to the cooler with no problems."

Abel and Zatanna both groaned. Abel from the pain, Zatanna for other reasons.

The End

*See The House of Secrets #114

**Seriously, see it.

***See Batman: The Brave And The Bold #12