Note: as always with these stories, I want to remind you that I've made Catwoman black in them. A liberty, I know, but a couple of portrayals of Catwomen in media adaptations of her have done this so at least there's precedence for this.
Victor Fries' perspective:
The man better known as Mr. Freeze was more than a year into his eighteen-year prison sentence. Unlike most archcriminals of Gotham City, Victor Fries was not insane. He was perfectly capable of not causing any trouble in Blackgate Prison. But that was not to say that he did nothing but eat and sleep. While the other prisoners waited for the evening when the rec room became available, Victor spent those hours working in the crime lab. The authorities had enough sympathy for his motives to move his cryogenically frozen wife, Nora there.
Then finally, the day came that Victor was nearing a cure. He was finishing the work on his notepad in his cell when a guard painstakingly reached into the cold beam that kept Victor's temperature at the fifty below he needed to survive. Taking the notepad, the guard asked, "Still workin' on your woman, huh?"
"Give that back," Victor demanded furiously.
"When I'm good and ready," said the guard.
Victor tried to charge at the guard, but collapsed as he was sure he felt intense heat. It was actually rather cool, but not nearly cool enough.
"That was really stupid," said the guard. "You sure you were a scientist?" Victor had no choice but to crawl into the beam.
"I have caused no trouble since I came," said Victor. "If you don't give that back right now..."
"Relax," said the guard. "I ain't no thief. I just wanna look at it. Good thing, too. Some of these calculations are ass-backwards."
"As if you could possibly understand them, high school dropout," frowned Victor.
"For your information," insisted the guard, "I'm only in this place 'cause brothers can't afford to go to college. But believe it or not, I understand all of this shit. You still ain't ready."
"Thank you very much for your 'help,'" Victor said almost sarcastically, "But I want my notepad back. Hand it over for your job and ability to finance your education."
"Don't come cryin' ta me when you lose your woman for good," he warned. Victor snorted. He was loaded into a portable cold chamber and transferred into the crime lab where he was ready to finish his project.
Lab workers removed the frozen body of Nora Fries, wife of Victor, from the capsule that kept her frozen and placed her on a mattress. Victor hooked an IV and power conduit into Nora's body. These would inject mixes of energy and medicine into her body. The energy to kick-start it; the medicine to cure it.
"We will be together very soon," Victor smiled with joy as he flipped the switches.
The body was thawing. Soon enough, Nora's eyes opened. "Victor," she smiled, "I think I'm getting better."
It had been years since Victor had felt this happy. He took Nora's hand in his own. "I told you I wouldn't let you die," said Victor.
And then, without warning, an unexpectedly harder jolt from the power conduit broke Nora apart in several places! For Victor, the world seemed to stand still. He fell to his knees and cried. He had failed to save his wife for a second time. What was worse, he had been warned that his calculations were flawed. But he was not the only one responsible. He had to work on his own with limited resources because the cold-blooded bureaucrats of Gotham City underfunded his research. They had let Nora down before Victor, so they should have died before him.
Commissioner Gordon's perspective:
"What's atop, Pops?" asked Robin from behind Commissioner James Gordon. He turned to see Batman, Batgirl, and Robin.
"That's Commissioner Pops to you," Gordon smiled at Robin. He didn't used to be this gung-ho. And I could've sworn he was taller. Strange.
"Like he said," asked Batman, "What did youcall us for?"
"Mr. Freeze has escaped," said Gordon. "He failed in his attempt to cure his wife tonight. Within an hour, he'd fashioned a special cold collar that kept him alive long enough for him to break into the inmates' property lockers and get his suit. Because it makes him stronger, escaping wasn't hard after that."
Batman and Robin seemed unfamiliar with all this. Batgirl didn't. "We're on it," she said. "We'll take him down just like before."
Batman's perspective:
As the Batfamily were about to enter their vehicles, Batman told Batgirl, "You seem to know this Freeze character. How? I have barely heard of him, and I can tell that Robin knows even less of him."
"Remember that time you left town over a year ago. I think you were seen in Africa fighting that... Lash guy?"
"Ra's al Ghul," Batman corrected.
Snapping her fingers, Batgirl said, "That's right. Dick and I took care of Freeze back here in Gotham. He's a scientist. But an accident left him unable to survive in warmer weather than fifty below zero. He's got a suit that keeps him super-cool and he's got a gun that freezes people. I know, why can't we ever get anyone easy?"
"You want easy," said the always-obnoxious Robin, "Go play World of Warcraft. I think it's got a beginner's..."
"That is uncalled for," interrupted Batman. "Go on, Batgirl."
"He went after John Linseed," explained Batgirl.
"The Mayor himself?" asked Batman, who realized that Freeze must have thought big.
Nodding, Batgirl continued, "His wife is terminally ill. Freeze cryogenically froze her but didn't have the resources to cure her quickly enough
after Linseed cut funding. Freeze tried to force him to pony up. We stopped him."
"And I thought Poison Ivy's motives were understandable," said Robin.
"Understable, yes," acknowledged Batman. "Justifiable, no. Adding to injustice cannot be the answer." He read over the papers that the Commissioner had given them. "Sounds like he failed in his last attempt to save his wife. She's dead now."
"Can't be a coincidence," said Robin.
"You think he's plotting to kill Linseed?" asked Batgirl.
"You don't?" asked Robin.
"Agreed," said Batman. "We should keep watch over him. I think it's time Bruce Wayne took a vacation."
"And I think Barbara Gordon's having her period and Jason Todd just caught neumonia," grinned Batgirl.
"School is too important for Jason," said Batman. "He just flunked a test. He has to get back on track, no matter what. No buts, Robin."
But it hardly mattered. After spending most of the next day watching Linseed, Batman checked his Battablet at sundown to see that Freeze had apparently robbed a bank. "We goofed," Batman kicked the protruding edge of the rooftop he and Batgirl were watching Linseed from. "Freeze just robbed millions from a bank."
"Oops," said Batgirl.
"Oops is right," Batman agreed. "He's probably up to worse than a mere political assassination, and we missed our chance to guarantee that he doesn't carry it out."
Veronica Vreeland's perspective:
A few days later, Veronica Vreeland was leaving her workplace and lamenting that business at Gothic Report had been off for some time. Other than that bad girl team-up between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy months before, nothing big but the tired old story of a costumed criminal robbing places happened. She believed the Traylor Family had taken over the mobs, but without the scoop, there wasn't anything Veronica could do about it but fire some reporters.
Suddenly, Veronica saw through her rear view mirror that two men lyaing in wait in the backsea floorboards were rising and pointing guns at her. "Alright," she said. "How much are you sticking me up for?"
"Not money," said one of them "Mr. Freeze is gonna destroy your city if the government doesn't give him what he wants."
Veronica smiled. This was the big event she wanted. It didn't matter that this was probably an empty threat. Whether people believed it or not, they would pay attention. "Thank you," Veronica whispered to God.
Bruce's perspective:
Bruce was still officially on vacation, so he had to play golf. At least unlike the one weekend of the month that he played, no other tycoons were out of work, so Bruce didn't have to pretend to enjoy himself. Had be mindful of reporters who expected to see him having fun, though.
As he went home, Bruce checked his phone for news. It seemed that Mr. Freeze had apparently constucted a fortress on a small island on the Atlantic Ocean a good distance from the East Coast. Newswoman Veronica Vreeland had been kidnapped by Freeze and recollected her experience as follows: "I was released after an unpleasant conversation with the notorious terrorist and consider myself lucky to have escaped with my life. He told me to tell Gothamites this."
In the video on Gothic Report's web site in which Veronica had explained all this, she showed viewers a large tablet personally recorded by Freeze. "Tragedy is inevitable," said the grim recording of Freeze. "How much tragedy depends on your elected officials. Because their cold-hearted cheapskatedness helped to rob me of my true love, your fate is in their hands. Mayor Linseed and every member of Gotham's City Council must agree to release all their spouses and children into my custody. I promise to return the frozen heads of all of them. I'll wait exactly three days for a response. If none occurs after that, I will freeze your entire city solid! And if you doubt that I am capable of this, I do believe that a naval battleship is on its way. It should prove that I am not bluffing."
Mr. Freeze meant business. The Batfamily needed all the help it could get. "Dick," Bruce called on his phone to Bludhaven.
"Bruce," said Dick Grayson cheerfully. "It's been too long."
"Agreed," said Bruce. "I understand Nightwing's had some success in Bludhaven."
"He sure has," said Dick. They had to be careful not to say anything to blow their cover. Phone spies, some of which were feds, might be listening in.
"I could use some help," said Bruce.
"I heard," acknowledged Dick. "I'm coming."
Upon arriving at Wayne Manor, Bruce saw Barbara, Jason, and Alfred watching coverage of the battleship inching towards Freeze's island on the TV set in the den.
"Sacrifice hundreds of people or he'll kill millions?" asked Barbara. "He has gone too far!"
"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Jason, "But didn't the blue guy cause his wife's death by screwing up trying to cure his wife?"
"People like that who feel like they've lost everything," explained Bruce, "Can become so wrecked by grief that they lose all sense of reality, right, and wrong. Despite his ultimatum, Freeze may have convinced himself that all Gothamites are responsible."
"You could have responded to your parents' murders like that as well," noted Alfred. "You didn't. Thank God for that!"
"You taught me right," complimented Bruce.
"And I could be a supervillain in training who'll destroy the world one day if I hadn't been taught better," joked Jason. "But actually, I think you're worried about nothing."
"Oh?" asked Bruce.
"A bunch of thugs against a battleship?" asked Jason. "I don't think they need our help this time."
Bruce had hoped Jason was right, but thirty-seven minutes later, the glass dome at the top of the fortress fired a laser that froze the cannons solid! The lasers apparently built within the glass began working on the hull of the ship. Not having time to prepare their lifeboats, sailors that hadn't already been frozen began diving for the sea.
"Oops," Jason said nervously.
Before anyone else in the manor could say anything, Freeze spoke on a loudspeaker that could be heard on the televised broadcast: "Now you see. I will allow rescue ships to search for survivors within twenty miles of my island. If they value their lives, no sailor will swim within that radius. American and Canadian soil are there for them. As for Gothamites, you have three days. Let this rapidly freezing ship be a preview of your fate if the familes of the Mayor and City Councilpeople are not delivered by then."
A moment of silence in Wayne Manor was finally broken when Bruce lamented, "Freeze has proven that he can carry out his threats."
"What's the plan?" asked Dick.
"First things first," said Bruce. "Freeze has given us three days. Stopping him can wait. Innocent sailors can't. Barbara, you let them into the Batsub. Dick, you and I are in the Batjet."
Mr. Freeze's perspective:
"Boss," said Freddie, one of Freeze's men. "We've got a Bat infestation." Freddie moved aside from the telescope so Freeze could look through it.
"Hold your fire," said Freeze. "I promised that rescue ships could search for survivors, didn't I?"
"If we can take them out now," argued Freddie, "Why not?"
"Because they have no way of crossing the ocean to us unseen," pointed out Freeze. "And that will be it. Besides, they are innocent in this, as are the sailors. Only the politicians need suffer."
Wherever you are, beloved Nora, you will not go unavenged. I swear on my life!
Dick Grayson's perspective:
The following morning, Dick had nearly reached Wayne Manor. Weird. I lived there for less than two years yet it feels like a homecoming. Ask and you shall receive, Bruce!
But as this wasn't his home anymore, Dick still knocked on the door. Bruce shook his hand. "Good to see you again, Dick," he said.
"Welcome back, Master Dick," Alfred shook his hand as well. "This place hasn't been the same without you."
Instead of shaking his hand, Barbara immediately hugged and kissed him. "I didn't expect that," smiled Dick.
"You shouldn't expect anything when it comes to me," said Barbara.
"Adults," said Jason.
"And you are..." asked Dick.
"The new Robin," said Jason.
"Figures," said Dick. "Let's test your reflexes." He kicked three times and punched twice at Jason. Every blow was blocked. "Not bad, kid."
"Now that all that's over with," said Bruce, "It's time to take down Freeze. Nightwing is with Batman." Nightwing was the secret identity Dick had adopted in Bludhaven. He had packed the black and blue costume in a duffle bag.
"They will attack by air," strategized Bruce.
"I dunno," said a skeptical Barbara. "That laser dome of his froze a Naval battleship."
"Battleships are slow," said Bruce. "The Batjet is not. Plus, I have equipment that will tell me if we're being targeted. Barbara, you and Jason have the Batsub. But be careful; Freeze must have anticipated that the military might attack by sea and installed underwater missiles or mines."
"So keep an eye on the Batnavicomputer, Jason," said Barbara. "You see anything that might be a bomb, call it out."
"Sure," said Jason.
"Don't you 'sure' me," said Barbara, tugging on Jason's left ear. Seeing that he had gotten the picture, Barbara pecked Dick on the cheek. "For luck."
"Guess it's gonna be a long night for the two of us - and I'm not talking about the mission," Dick grinning lovingly.
"Are you kidding?" asked Barbara, returning Dick's grin with her own. "It's morning. By sundown, you'll be back in Bludhaven."
"Enough," said Bruce. "Before your romp can begin, we have to save Gotham. She needs us like never before."
Batman's perspective:
"So," Nightwing asked early on in the flight to Mr. Freeze's island, "Where'd you pick up that kid?"
"His father was one of Two-Face's goons," explained Batman uneasily. He knew that that fact might have offended Nightwing, since he lost his place in the Batcave because of all the mistakes he made. "I took Jason in after that father was killed by Two-Face."
"Well, he better be good with that resume," said Dick. Batman had fully expected a response like that. "Pity his dad didn't realize that those kinds of shortcuts never work."
"Agreed," said Batman.
Once the Batjet began crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Batman began evasive maneuvers. He easily dodged three laser blasts. "Guess it's not the size of the gun that counts," epitaphed Nightwing.
But within a few seconds, Batman was pounding the steering wheel as the Batnavicomputer showed that something had locked onto the Batjet. "Me and my big mouth," said a suddenly nervous Nightwing.
"The Batjet's about to be frozen," said Batman. "We can't be inside when it is. Get a parachute." He opened a compartment between both floorboards containing parachute packs and and oxygen masks. Both Batman and Nightwing put one of each on.
"He's probably got underwater weapons," said Batman. "We have to float towards Gotham. And hope we're to small to be noticed in the dark."
"Then we'll be giving up Freeze."
"What choice do we have?" asked Batman as he opened the cockpit. He and Night jumped off and opened their parachutes. Seconds later, another laser blast froze the Batjet, and it coasted past the island and for a long way before falling into the Atlantic Ocean.
"Throw down all electronic equipment," shouted Batman. "He probably won't be able to lock onto us. It'll be a shot in the dark."
"No pun intended," realized Nightwing as he reached into his belt to dispose of anything electronic. "Think Batgirl and Robin can stop Freeze."
"They have to," said Batman.
Batgirl's perspective:
The Batsub was weaving through mines on the way to Freeze's island. "They don't get too far apart," noted Robin as he looked on the Batnavicomputer. "This is a piece of cake!"
"That's just it," said Batgirl. "It's too easy. When Nightwing and I took him out, it was hard to do. He even kidnapped us. Took some heroic and foolish acts of Nightwing like the great guy he is for us to..."
"Why are they disappearing up ahead?" asked Robin.
"I knew it," realized Batgirl. "Get out a rebreather and prepare for ejection."
"But we'll..." began Robin.
"No buts," said Batgirl. "This is life or death! Stay underwater until you're close to shore." She looked at the Batnavicomuter. Once it looked safe to eject, she did so.
Batgirl and Robin cleared the exploding minefield safely. Only problem was that they lost their ride. Without it, they didn't dare brave anything else Freeze planned on welcoming them with.
Mr. Freeze's perspective:
"Their rides are destroyed," said Freddie. "Don't know if they're dead,"
"If they're not," said Freeze, "I don't think they will try again. Now they know that we're on a mission. We won't be denied."
"I'd have done 'em," said Freddie wistfully. "For the bragging rights."
"I care nothing about such things," said Freeze. "I want revenge. No more. No less."
Batman's perspective:
Upon landing on the beach, Batman and Nightwing waited for Batgirl and Robin. Eventually, the two emerged out of the water, tired, and swam to shore as well.
"Did you do it?" asked Nightwing. Batman didn't need to see Batgirl and Robin shake their heads to know the answer.
"So," asked Robin. "What are we gonna do now?"
"Working on it," said Batman.
"We Southerners do appreciate work," Batman heard a Southern voice call.
The four costumed heroes turned in the direction of the voice. It was the deceptively muscularly two hundred pound Becky "The Hog" Traylor, her older brother Al, and The Hog's nephew, Joey, and their new accomplice, Catwoman. This was the crime family that now ran the Gotham underworld.
"What do you want?" asked Batman.
"First of all," said The Hog, "Take off that breathin' mask. Your face is too handsome to be completely hidden. Second, relax. We're here to help."
"That'll be the day," said Batgirl.
"Didn't we work together to bring down the mobs?" asked Joey.
"You extorted us," said Batgirl.
"Because you're such suckers," laughed Catwoman. "But in Batman's case, a cute sucker."
"What about the time we helped you find that Ra's pissant?" asked Al. "Or when Batman and my sister talked Two-Face into givin' up?"
"You remember that, don't you, young man?" asked The Hog, pointing at Nightwing. "Yeah, Ah recognize you. Robin, right? All grown up."
"You still haven't given us any reason to trust you," argued the new Robin.
"For starters," asked Batman, "Why would you lift a finger to help us?"
"Because Freeze wants to take out this city," said The Hog, "Includin' our business. So we're willin' to help." She walked up to Batman and smiled.
"I don't think so," said Batman.
"Well, Ah know so," said The Hog. "Your rides're gone and you only got two days to think up a way into a place as heavily armed as an Army base."
"Forget it," refused Batman.
"You'll be back," assured The Hog with a grin. The Traylors and Catwoman left.
"A lot of things have changed in this town," realized Nightwing. "Have I been gone that long?"
Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin spent the next day trying to think up a Plan B. The fateful third day came when Batman finally said, "We can't do this by ourselves."
"Batman, no," said Batgirl. "We can't be in position for the country gangsters to demand something of us later."
"We have no choice," said Batman.
"She could have nothing for us," said Robin.
"Then we're screwed," said Nightwing.
"Never give up hope," said Batman. But in his heart, he had a feeling that this was their last chance.
Catwoman's perspective:
The next morning, Catwoman was waiting for Councilman John Taibstein on his desk. She really didn't like what she was doing. This was a potential prelude to murder that she was going to be involved in. Murder was one thing she wanted very much to avoid except as a last resort. Alas, that last resort had come. The Hog held Catwoman's life and that of her best friend, Sabisia Williams, in the balance.
Councilman Taibstein finally arrived. "Hi, Councilman," said Catwoman. "You're even cuter in person."
Taibstein drew his phone and called a saved phone number. Catwoman smiled at Taibstein's expression of fear and frustration. "Not now," said Taibstein. Little does he know... Taibstein seemed to call again and again, not getting anyone.
"Security's not answering, huh?" chuckled Catwoman as she lounged on Taibstein's desk. "Their superiors have ordered them to take no calls from Councilmen. Their real superiors. And Batman wonders why I work against this whack-ass system."
"What do you want from me?" asked Taibstein.
"It's time for you politicians to do what you do best," said Catwoman. "Be part of the problem and not the solution. My partners have nineteen of you thirty Councilmen in their pockets, whether it's because of deals or blackmail. We're working on the rest of you. You have to agree to risk your family in a plot to stop Mr. Freeze."
"What if I won't take that chance?" asked Taibstein.
"I can't be sure," Catwoman wasn't taking the chances of any unnecessary charges against her should be caught, "But I think something tragic will happen. And our pussy of a Mayor will get to pick a more 'reasonable' interim Councilman in a hurry."
"Why do you need to risk my family?" ask Taibstein.
"Because we need to make it look like you're giving in to him," explained Catwoman.
"I see," said Taibstein.
The Hog's perspective:
The Hog entered her office late that afternoon to see Batman standing there. "Ah told you you'd come crawlin' back to me," said The Hog.
"Let's get one thing straight," said Batman. "This is about Gotham. I've absolutely no intention of anything else between us coming of this."
"Oh, Ah know," said a disappointed Hog. "Linseed and the City Council are ready to give in to Freeze's demands."
"You're joking," said an appalled Batman. He rarely showed much in the way of emotion. This look of horror and disgust on his face made him even more attractive to The Hog.
"Yeah,," she explained. " It is a joke. We're gonna send a boatful of relatives of politicians to Freeze's island. Your Bat-posse'll be hidin' inside. Catwoman too."
"What if I don't accept?" asked Batman.
The Hog smiled and touched Batman's chest. "You wouldn't be here if you had much of a choice. By the way, Ah notice you've been trainin' extra hard. We Southern girls love work ethic in a man."
Batman's perspective:
Batman, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batgirl, and Robin were in a hidden compartment of the boat in which Mr. Freeze's human demands were speeding towards the island.
"This is wrong," said Batgirl.
"Why didn't you say that before?" asked Robin.
"I did say that before," said Batgirl. "We can't accept the help of the Traylors."
"She's right, you know," said Catwoman.
"Would you know from experience?" asked Batman.
"None of yours," said Catwoman in a threatening tone.
"If even Catwoman agrees that we shouldn't do this?" asked Nightwing, "Why are we doing this?"
"Because," Batman said grimly, "Freeze is going to turn the entire city into a glacier. It doesn't get worse than that."
No one could argue with that.
Mr. Freeze's perspective:
"Boss," said Freddie, "The families of Linseed and the Councilmen are on their way."
"Excellent," said Freeze. "Bring them before me, one at a time." Freddie left.
Freeze looked at a large portrait of his late wife, Nora, on the wall. "Revenge draws near, my love."
Batman's perspective:
The five were walking towards the fortress. "For a scientist," said Nightwing, "You'd think Freeze would know about the concept of security."
"He knew anyone who attacked him would have to cross air or sea as far as the eye could see, probably more," figured Batman. "That made him cocky."
"I love to bust cocky skulls," said Robin.
"We won't get a chance if you white folks don't learn more about being sneaky," whispered an annoyed Catwoman. Those were the last words any of them used before reaching the fortress.
"No windows," noted Batgirl.
"Probably didn't need any," guessed Batman. "He probably has the place strategically computerized."
They broke through the locked door to discover four men with freezing guns. "It just got real," said an eager Nightwing.
The men fired their guns. Because these guns projected constant beams, Robin and Batgirl's legs were encased in ice. "You're frozen," quipped one of Freeze's goons.
"Lame," shivered Robin.
Batman, Catwoman, and Nightwing had managed to push over a table so they could use it as cover.
"I think you can get over them and through the door if you use that grappling gun of yours," suggested Catwoman.
"Then you'll be badly outnumbered," Batman shook his head.
"We can take care of ourselves," said Nightwing. "Freeze has to be ready to kill his hostages by now."
Reluctantly, Batman quickly Batgrappled on an overhead fan blade over the goons, ran through a door, and closed it behind himself. He hated running out on Nightwing and Catwoman, but they were right. Lives were at stake.
Nightwing's perspective:
"Well," said Nightwing, "We're outnumbered and up against futuristic guns. Any ideas?"
"Just one," said Catwoman. Immediately afterwards, Nightwing heard a doorknob slowly turning and the voice of Batman saying, "Hold on, children. I'm not leaving you behind."
Just as Nightwing would have protested that Batman should keep going, Catwoman placed a hand over his mouth and whispered, "Element of surprise." They peeked to see that that Freeze's men were focused on the door and not Nightwing and Catwoman.
"Got gas?" asked Catwoman.
"Yeah, said Nightwing as he threw a gas pellet at Freeze's men. Within seconds, they were out cold.
"You know ventriloquism?" Nightwing asked Catwoman.
"I do now," grinned Catwoman slyly.
"I can kinda tell what he sees in you," said Nightwing.
"Hey," said Batgirl in rage. Uh-oh!
"N-not that I'm not taken," said Nightwing nervously.
"Robin and I have frozen legs," said Batgirl. Nightwing and Catwoman went over to help. Looks like I might have to be here awhile,
"Don't worry," said Catwoman as she and Nightwing began pounding at Batgirl's frozen legs. "It's not the Batboy I've got."
"In... your... dreams," insisted a cold Robin.
"His nightmare maybe," said Catwoman.
Batman's perspective:
Batman ambushed the man holding prisoners in a hall. "Thank God," said one woman. "F-Freeze was gonna kill us!"
"Stay," commanded Batman as he barged through the door.
"The city wouldn't see to her needs so..." Mr. Freeze turned towards Batman and blasted at Batman. Batman was not completely able to dodge it before Bataranging the Freeze Gun out of Freeze's hands. Batman's left hand and forearm were frozen, but he knew how to turn this to his advantage. Using the ice as a club, he punched a hole in the glass that helped keep Freeze's face at under fifty degrees below zero. Feeling the room temperature, he screamed and fell to the ground in an attempt to cover his face with the floor.
"Why?" asked Freeze. "You know I'm justified."
"No, you're not," said Batman. "I know what you've been through - believe it or not - but killing loved ones of those who wronged you isn't justice. It's not even revenge. Any way you look at it, it's murdering people who never harmed you."
Everybody sailed back to the mainland. As the boat reached land and the families of Mayor Linseed and the City Council were heading home, Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin realized that The Catwoman had vanished without anyone noticing.
"Where'd she go?" asked Batgirl.
"Don't know," said Batman. "Don't care at the moment, either. Whatever their motives, she helped us save the city."
"Speaking of which," noted Robin, "Who wants to thank The Hog?"
"It's the right thing to do," admitted Batgirl.
"I'm in no hurry," said Batman.
"If there's no business to take care of," began Batgirl before glaring at Nightwing, "If you ever give me any indication that you'd take a criminal over me, I will beat the ever-loving shit out of you!"
"Aren't you overreacting a tad?" asked Nightwing. He was slapped in the face.
"You've got your answer," laughed Robin.
"What's this about?" asked Batman.
"Mind your own business," said Batgirl.
"If you've got it in you," said Nightwing.
"At least you've found common ground," said Batman.
"So," asked Robin. "What's gonna happen to the bad guy?"
"He'll go back to prison," said Batman.
"Executed?" asked Nightwing.
"I hope not," Batman said with his head down.
"Why?," asked Batgirl. "For attempting mass murder and trying to destroy this city, he deserves it!"
"He was driven to extremes by tragedy, like we were," argued Batman. "If we hadn't been steered right by others, we could have become him."
Mr. Freeze's perspective:
Mr. Freeze was outside of his costume. He thought of his wife Nora. "I'm sorry, my dear," he said. "I can't do anything right for you, it seems."
The guard Freeze had conversed with at the beginning of this story entered his cell. "Guess who dodged death row?" he asked.
"I give up," said Freeze.
"You. The Gov'nor's understanding of your situation. Me? I'd have ordered your execution in a second!"
Freeze's answer to that was to pull the guard into the cold beam to stun him with the intense cold and take away his gun.
"Joking," pleaded the guard. "In fact, I warned you that you'd make mistakes with your plan to save your wife. I tried to help."
"I know," said Freeze. "But who said this gun was for you?" He put the barrel of the gun in his mouth, pointed at the upper jaw, and pulled the trigger.