I'd like to thank RebelByrdie and Zarathustra1030 for their reviews. I really appreciate it, as always.
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Batman & Benson 4
Chapter Four
Bruce sat back in his seat at the computer in the Batcave and wearily rubbed his eyes. After returning from tonight's disastrous outing with Mr. Freeze, Bruce immediately hit the computer and tried to look up everything he could find on the accident at Star Labs that Victor Fries was involved in. Dick had wanted to help, but Bruce declined the offer. Dick had an important exam at school the following day, and it was bad enough that Bruce caused Dick to miss out on most of a good night's sleep by forcing him to pick him up.
'The Batwing,' Bruce thought regretfully, as he shook his head. 'Damn it….'
He kept replaying the night's events in his head, reanalyzing his decisions in an attempt to see if he could have avoided the Batwing's destruction by doing something different, but Bruce soon realized that this was a futile gesture, at best. Simply put, he had underestimated Victor Fries, and the cost of that was the Batwing--he just had to accept the situation for what it was and move on. And the best way to do that was try and find out why Fries sought revenge on his former partners at Star Labs in the first place. He suspected that the accident which turned Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze may not have been an accident, and tried to uncover evidence of his suspicion.
Yet that was easier said than done. All of the research he had done into the accident had so far yielded nothing. Bruce checked the news sites online, and saw plenty of coverage of his battle with Mr. Freeze--the press loved that new moniker, and used it continuously.
Playing a hunch, he looked up the obit of Walter Larson. He read that, although the recently retired administrator of Star Labs had settled down in a new home in Willow Hills, he was still doing some part-time consulting work for Allied-Gantt.
Bruce looked up Allied-Gantt, and saw that they were another high tech firm that specialized in scientific research. Once he retired, Larson became a consultant for a firm that was essentially a rival of Star Labs--and Bruce couldn't help but wonder if Larson's relationship with Allied-Gantt was created long before his retirement from Star Labs. And did his "consulting" work include keeping tabs on Star Labs employees who were developing tech that threatened to usurp Allied-Gantt? Star Labs employees like Dr. Victor Fries?
In reading about Fries' accident, Bruce recalled that it had been an after hours affair that was not condoned by the upper management. Larson himself had stated that Fries had violated standard orders that banned all research into cryogenics at the Star Labs facility.
Bruce considered this for a moment. What if Larson was getting paid off by Allied-Gantt to stifle whatever new technical knowledge that was being created at Star Labs? The ban he placed on cryogenic research at Star Labs ensured that nobody would make any major discoveries--nobody but Allied-Gantt. Along comes Victor Fries, who will stop at nothing to save his dying wife, and he goes right head and conducts his own research--against Larson's orders. It would be in the best interest of Larson's, and Allied-Gantt's, to stop Fries from succeeding. If Victor Fries realized this, it would be all the motive he needed to go on the warpath against his former boss.
'Nice theory, but I need proof,' Bruce thought. 'And the Batman can't very well go around questioning people….'
When he heard the elevator doors open, Bruce glanced behind him and smiled when he saw Olivia emerge.
Olivia, seeing his smile, paused warily. "What? Don't tell me you have another experiment you want to try out on me?!"
"No, nothing like that," Bruce replied, grinning.
When he explained his suspicions about the late Walter Larson, Olivia nodded her head in agreement. "It would explain why Victor Fries is so hell-bent on killing his former co-workers," she said.
"I was just wondering if you could do some quiet digging around for me regarding this theory, Liv."
"Yeah, sure," she said thoughtfully. "In fact, you know Angie Davison, the young 'gymnast' whom they found at Larson's house when he was killed? She'll be at police headquarters later today to answer some more questions."
"Is your team involved in the case?"
She shook her head. "We're not the primary investigators because it's not technically an SVU case--she wasn't a rape victim, and she's well above the age of legal consent. But Larson was paying her very well to be his private bedroom squeeze toy--which basically makes her a prostitute."
"She's admitted this?"
"No, but Mike and Andrea strongly suspected it. Davison quit school and lives very well, despite having no real source of income. But Davison's insisting that Larson was her beloved boyfriend--which nobody really believes. I'll check into it for you, Bruce. If anybody would know about whether Larson had Fries' experiment sabotaged--or if Larson was on Allied-Gantt's payroll all along--it should be Davison. A lot of juicy stuff gets shared in pillow talk."
"Thanks, Liv, I'd appreciate it."
She gave him a thoughtful look. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor in return…."
"Name it."
"You really need to see Rachel before she leaves for work this morning, Bruce. She was worried sick about you all last night. That's why I'm here; she asked me to stay over. Seeing Mr. Freeze in action last night really rattled her--it scared the crap out of me, too, but it really affected Rachel very strongly. She needs you right now."
Bruce nodded as he glanced at his watch. "She should be getting up right about now. I'll go see her. Thanks, sis."
"You're welcome, bro," Olivia replied with a smile. Then her smile faded as she stared sadly at the floor.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"It's the Batwing," Olivia said, her voice heavy with emotion. "Oh, Bruce…."
Bruce quickly got up and comforted her with a tight embrace. "I know, Liv. But, at the end of the day, it was just a machine. And it'll soon be replaced."
"Believe me, I feel silly getting all choked up over it," Olivia said, as she wiped away a tear. "But I have such fond memories of that thing. I still remember the first time you took me up in it, when I was posing as Moiré Detune."
Bruce stared at her. "As I recall, Moiré Detune caught you in her place and damned near killed you--that's what you remember fondly?"
"Well, no, of course not, for Christ's sake!" Olivia muttered, as she lightly slapped him on the arm. "I remember fondly all the times I was up in the Batwing, silly! You and Robin even brought me home in it from Luthor's base in Kansas, and just being in the Batwing made me feel like I was already home."
Bruce smiled at the pleasant memory of bringing Olivia back home safe and sound from the melee that occurred at Luthor's secret Warehouse 15. "As I recall, you and Robin were sort of squashed together in the back seat."
"Maybe you could take that in consideration for the next Batwing," Olivia told him. "More spacious seats."
"That won't be a problem with the new one."
She frowned at him. "You make it sound like it's already built."
"It is…practically. It's something that I had Lucius working on for me these past few months. It's called the Javelin; which was which basically a larger version of the Batwing that I was building for the Justice League. They needed a transport for some of the non-super powered members to get back and forth to the satellite. But, since I left the group…."
"You get to keep your toys," Olivia said with a smile. "Cool."
"You've heard about what happened between me and the League?"
She nodded. "Rachel told me. And I think you made the right choice, especially with keeping a shard of kryptonite on your Batsuit. They've basically treated you like a damned criminal." She did a double take at something past Bruce's shoulder. "Hey, speaking of which, there's the Flash right now."
Bruce noticed stock footage of the Flash being shown on a newscast on one of the smaller monitors. When he brought it up on the main screen, they saw that it was a news piece on the revelation that it had been Mr. Freeze who had put Captain Cold and his men in the hospital.
"But not everyone appears to be buying the official story put out by the Gotham City Police Department," Summer Gleason, the female newscaster said. "When asked about it, just after saving lives in a pile up on the freeway in Central City, the Flash had this to say."
The picture cut to the Flash, who strode away from the camera. As he did, he glanced over his shoulder and said, "Sure, the Gotham City police department has just cleared the Batman. But since Batman does most of their dirty work for them, it would be in their best interest to protect him, wouldn't it?"
"Are you saying that this is a cover up by the Gotham City police, Flash?" a reporter asked.
But the Flash merely waved and then sped off.
"Well, screw you, too, Flash!" Olivia said, enraged. "I don't frigging believe this! He just basically said we're all corrupt! Oh, Gordon's gonna hit the ceiling when he sees this!"
"That was a cheap shot," Bruce admitted. "But don't let it get to you, Liv."
"I won't, but what's his frigging problem, anyway? Is he jealous that somebody other than him took down Captain Cold?"
"Actually, the Flash isn't petty like that," Bruce told her. "Captain Cold is one of a rogues gallery of villains whom the Flash takes a more…gentler disposition towards. He believes they are simply misguided souls who can benefit more from compassion, above all else. So he was outraged by the fact that Captain Cold was left for dead on the streets. He's an extremely decent man, Liv--to a fault."
"What is he, a Quaker?"
Bruce chuckled as he and Olivia strode over to the elevator. "Apparently things are more laid back in Central City than they are here."
"Then maybe Captain Cold should have stayed in Central City," Olivia said, as they got in the elevator. "Hey, is this truly the end of it with you and the Justice League? They're not going to push this, are they?"
"They'd better not," Bruce said darkly, "for their sake."
B&B
Bruno Lansky and Emil Rondos briskly wheeled the laundry cart down the corridor of Angel Of Mercy hospital. Although they were dressed in white hospital orderly uniforms--with Emil having even pulled his long black hair back into a pony tail--it was just as important that they acted as though they truly belonged in the hospital.
Therefore, they assumed an almost bored air as they continued to wheel the laundry cart, which was filled with clean bed sheets that they removed from the laundry storage room that they stole it from. The tangled pile of bed sheets would provide the proper cover that they needed.
When they finally emerged into the corridor where Nora Fries' hospital room was, Emil had a hitch in his step when he saw the two police officers standing guard at her door.
"C'mon," Bruno urged him onwards in a whisper. "We knew there'd be a good chance that they'd be here. Business as usual, remember?"
"I'm good," Emil whispered back, as they both walked straight up to the door of Nora Fries' room.
One of the uniformed policemen, a Hispanic man with a goatee, regarded them with a critical eye. "What do you want?"
"We're here to change the bed sheets," Bruno said with a shrug, "what does it look like?"
"You're early today, aren't you?" his partner, a young black woman said.
"Didn't know we were keeping to a special schedule," Emil said with a grin.
When the cops continued to stare at them with hesitant looks, Bruno decided to roll the dice right there and then.
"Look, if us being here now is a problem for you--fine, we'll leave," he said.
"Yeah," Emil added. "We can always come back tomorrow…."
"Let her lay in dirty bed sheets for a day," Bruno said with a distraught shake of his head.
"No, wait," the Hispanic cop said suddenly. After a glance at his partner, he waved them inside. "Go ahead."
"It's just that she usually doesn't have her sheets changed this early," the female cop said. She still appeared suspicious of them.
"Several of our prior patients have been discharged, so she got bumped up on the schedule," Emil explained. "What can I tell ya?"
That appeared to satisfy the black cop. Once she nodded, Bruno and Emil went straight into Nora Fries' hospital room. The door was left open, but the cops stood facing outwards, with their backs turned to them.
Bruno and Emil worked fast. After Bruno removed the IV from her hand, Emil picked up the comatose Nora Fries in his arms while Bruno removed a bundle of sheets from the laundry cart. Emil then placed Nora Fries into the cart in a fetal position. Then Bruno placed the sheets on top of the woman, covering her from view.
They then drew the curtain around the empty hospital bed and then wheeled the cart, which contained their slumbering kidnap victim, right out of the room.
"Take it easy," Bruno told the cops.
"You too," the Hispanic man replied. "Sorry about giving you such grief."
"Hey, you can't be too careful these days, right?" Emil called back with a smile.
His smile vanished once he and Bruno rounded the corner and wheeled the cart into a freight elevator. They took the elevator down to the parking level--where, once they saw the coast was clear, they wheeled the cart over to their van. Bruno carried the slumbering Nora Fries inside the cargo hold of the van and placed her down on a comfortable bed made up of a sleeping bag and pillows.
Emil got in behind him and slid the side door closed. Then he went up to the driver's seat and sat down. He was driving out of the parking level and on the street in just under two minutes. They knew they were probably spotted by the surveillance system. But hopefully nobody would notice their kidnapping until they were well enough away.
Once they arrived at the safe house, with the van parked in the private garage, Bruno finally relaxed. They'd did it.
He stared down at the sleeping woman, and noted how beautiful she was; Nora Fries looked like an angel. Bruno almost pitied her.
Emil slapped him hard on the shoulder and said, "Why don't you kiss her? Maybe you'll wake her up--just like that Sleeping Beauty broad."
"Cute…real cute," Bruno muttered, as he took out his cell phone. He sped-dialed a special number, and when it answered, he said, "We're good to go."
B&B
"Good," Lazlo replied. Then he closed his cell and strode over to the short, squat man who was seated at the desk. "They got her, Penguin."
"Excellent!" he cried, as his cigarette holder shot up in approval. "Good to see the plan is proceeding nicely, eh?"
Lazlo nodded, as he absently rubbed his bald head with his hand. "We're gonna be in for a hell of a fight once Mr. Freeze finds out that we've got his wife. You want me to call in some extra firepower?"
But the Penguin merely shook his head. "No need. Because we won't be fighting Mr. Freeze."
Lazlo frowned at his boss. "But I thought we promised Watts--"
"To hell with what we promised Watts," the Penguin said, with a wave of his hand. "Did you seriously expect me to be satisfied with the arrangement that twit promised us? Oh, no…I want nothing less than to be king of the criminal underworld, Lazlo. And Nora Fries is the key to making that happen for me."
Lazlo shook his head in confusion and said, "Excuse me, boss…but how?"
"Watch and learn, my dear Lazlo, watch and learn. Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!"
B&B
The situation with the Justice League had been snowballing all day. The comments made by the Flash earlier had been playing continuously on the cable news shows, the radio talk shows, as well as online. When the ever-bombastic Carl Bormann declared on his radio talk show that it would be a good thing for the Justice League to invade Gotham City and clean it up once and for all, Mayor Garcia finally had just about all he could take.
And so Rachel found herself standing at the podium in the communications center of City Hall, along with Jim Gordon and the Mayor. There was a large army of reporters assembled before them, and the press conference had been called by Mayor Garcia to straighten out the situation by giving Gotham City's side of the issue.
Yet while Rachel stood alongside Gordon and the Mayor physically, mentally, she was someplace else. She kept thinking back to the surprise visit Bruce had paid her earlier this morning, when she had been getting dressed for work--and before she knew it, Rachel quickly removed what little clothing she'd put on, as Bruce swept her off her feet and brought her back to bed.
What followed was the kind of passionate lovemaking that Rachel always enjoyed, as she found herself at one point, while in the throes of ecstasy, gripping the headboard so hard that her hands ached. Once they were finished, and cuddled close together in bed, Rachel had expressed her concerns for Bruce fighting Mr. Freeze.
"He's nothing like the regular criminals you've fought before," she told him.
"Neither was Killer Croc," he replied. "But I still took him down. And I'll stop Mr. Freeze, as well. Remember what I've once said to you, Rachel? The bigger they are…."
"…the harder they fall," she finished, with a smile.
Rachel smiled slightly now at that pleasant memory. She often wished that she had half of Bruce's confidence--but sometimes, just being with him like that was more than enough to get her suited to face whatever Gotham City threw at her.
And right now, it was throwing curve balls….
"Commissioner Gordon, speaking of Mr. Freeze," a female reporter spoke up. "Now that the Batman has been so resoundingly defeated by him, will you ask for help from the Justice League?"
"Who said anything about Batman being defeated?" Gordon shot back. "The Dark Knight fought Mr. Freeze to a standstill, and eventually forced Freeze to retreat."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but Batman's Batwing was destroyed in the--"
"I'm not going to argue every little detail of the battle with you," Gordon said, cutting her off. "And Batman is far greater than the sum of his vehicles."
A male reporter held up his hand as he spoke frantically into his cell phone. When Gordon choose him, he said, "What's your reaction to the recent development with Captain Cold?"
Gordon shot a puzzled look at Rachel, who shrugged slightly at him in response. "What development would this be?" he asked.
"Captain Cold has now retracted his earlier statement, about Mr. Freeze being the one who placed him and his men in the hospital," the reporter said. "He's now saying that he was coerced into saying that by Gotham City detectives. Cold says that it was the Batman all along who nearly killed him. What's your comment on this?"
Rachel closed her eyes and shook her head with disgust as the entire cadre of reporters went wild with this latest news. She glanced off to the side and saw Alex frantically speaking into her phone. After a few seconds of checking, Alex turned to her and nodded grimly: the story was true.
Rachel then gathered with Gordon and Mayor Garcia in a huddle behind the podium. "Alex has just confirmed it," she said. "The story's true. Cold really did retract his statement."
"Son of a--" Gordon started to curse, but then stopped himself.
"Hell of a time for us to find out about this," the Mayor muttered with equal disgust.
Rachel gestured at the pack of ravenous reporters. "May I?"
Garcia nodded. "Please do."
It took some time for Rachel to quell the reporters, many of whom rudely shouted questions at her. But she merely stood there with her hands held up like a schoolteacher hushing her riled up students. Once they finally calmed down, she spoke.
"Please consider the source of this new information," she said, keeping her voice calm and level. "Captain Cold is a convicted felon who has harassed the Flash and Central City more times than they'd care to count. He is essentially an agent of chaos, and by retracting his earlier statement--which is the truth--and by now putting out this lie, he's simply continuing his criminal behavior of causing mayhem in any fashion he can."
"You were willing to take his word when he exonerated the Batman!" a man shouted from the back. "The Flash is right; you are protecting the Batman, aren't you?!"
The Mayor briskly stepped in and said, "That's all for now. Thank you."
As they left the podium, the reporters began to wildly ask a multitude of questions all at once. Rachel noted that Renee Montoya now stood alongside Alex off to the side.
"That could have gone better," Rachel told Alex with a sigh.
"Yeah? Well, you're gonna love this!" Alex replied.
Rachel saw she gestured at Montoya who urgently ran over to Gordon and whispered something in his ear. "If this is about Cold's back-stabbing, Alex, you should have told Montoya that we already knew."
"It's not that," Alex said, with a shake of her head. "Nora Fries has been kidnapped from her hospital room."
Rachel stared at her in disbelief. "By Mr. Freeze?"
"No, by a pair of guys dressed as orderlies. They caught sight of them on the surveillance cameras--but only after they were long gone." Alex shook her head dismally. "Looks like this is turning out to be another one of those days--the kind that makes me wish I'd stayed in bed."
Rachel thought back to her moment of bliss in bed with Bruce earlier today--and desperately wished she was still there with him. "Believe me, Alex, I know exactly how you feel…."
B&B
"And, here she is," Lucius Fox said, with a grand sweep of his hands, "the Javelin."
Bruce nodded when he saw the sleek vehicle, which gleamed under the lights of the Applied Sciences Division warehouse. "Impressive, Lucius; you're a lot further along than I had thought."
"Once the subassemblies were completed in our subsidiary factories, it was a cinch for me to put her together when everything arrived here."
Bruce gave the elderly man a double take. "You put this monster together yourself?"
"Yes. But I had plenty of help."
Bruce smiled when Lucius pointed at the long line of massive robotic arms, which now all sat quietly off to the side. "I guess we won't have to worry about this bunch babbling to their families about this secret project."
"She's two thirds larger than the Batwing," Lucius said, as he showed Bruce the Javelin. "With more than enough room for six people, and she's space worthy."
"How does it feel to have finally built a bona fide rocket ship, Lucius?"
"Well, she'll take you as far as the Justice League space station," he warned. "But that's the extent of her range. If the League is planning any deep space missions, they're just gonna have to consult with NASA."
Bruce looked over the gleaming silver finish of the Javelin. When he glanced up at Lucius, he had a smirk as he said, "Does she come in black?"
Lucius stared at him, puzzled. "The League wants it to be repainted?"
"No, I do. I'm taking this for myself," Bruce answered. "To replace the Batwing."
Lucius nodded in understanding. "Then the stories I heard were true; you did leave the League. I guess you're not gonna wait for me to build you a replacement Batwing, huh?"
"This will make do, until a proper Batwing replacement is ready. Also, Lucius, I was wondering if you could design and build an anti-freeze delivery system."
"An anti-freeze delivery system?" Lucius repeated thoughtfully. "For the Javelin?"
Bruce shook his head. "No. For a seven foot tall ice man with an attitude problem."
B&B
"I-I don't know," Angie Davison said, as she sat at the interoggation table. She wiped away a tear with a tissue that had been given to her by Olivia. "Walter was such a wonderful man….."
"So you never heard anything about him being involved with industrial espionage?" Olivia asked gently.
Angie was about to shake her head--until she hesitated. "Why are you asking about this, anyway? What does this have to do with anything?"
"We're trying to determine if Walter's killing was the result of revenge on the part of Mr. Freeze," Olivia answered.
"Revenge? For what?"
"Mr. Freeze used to be known as a man called Victor Fries, who used to work for Walter," Olivia said. "Fries suffered a terrible accident while working at the lab--it was originally assumed that he died, but the accident was what turned him into Mr. Freeze. There are some suspicions that the accident might not have been an accident--that it was deliberately set up by Walter Larson and others within the Gotham City Star Labs."
Angie stared at her with a mixture of horror and anger. "So you're saying that Walter got what he deserved?!"
"No, not at all, Angie," Olivia insisted. "But if the motive for Walter's murder was revenge, we need to confirm it if we're going to have any chance of stopping Mr. Freeze. Do you understand, sweetie? This needs to be cleared up, and if you have anything to say--"
"Walter was a kind and decent man!" Angie yelled at her. "He never hurt me! Our relationship may have started out as just fun and games at first, but it soon grew to the point where we loved each other dearly!"
Olivia's heart ached for the girl; it was apparent that she truly adored Walter Larson. "I just need you to clear up the charges of industrial espionage against him, that's all, Angie. Do you know if he received any extra payments? Has he mentioned this to you at all?"
Angie let out a sob as she leaned over the table and placed her face in her hands. "I-I don't want to soil his memory…."
'Dammit, she's so close….' Olivia thought. She got up and came around to Angie's side of the table, where she knelt down before the girl. "Angie? What you say here won't hurt Walter--because he's in a far better place than this, honey. He can no longer be hurt by anything, or anyone. And whatever you tell me now may well help us to stop Mr. Freeze. Whether or not Mr. Freeze has got a legitimate beef doesn't matter, because he's now killing people, and causing a lot of pain to others, like you. We've got to stop him, Angie, anyway we can. So, if you know something, anything--"
"Yes," Angie said, sobbing. "Walter was receiving payments. Cash payments, from Allied-Gant, long before he retired from Star Labs. He used to brag to me about it. He called it his little retirement fund."
'Bingo,' Olivia thought with relief, as she stood up and hugged the girl. "Thank you, Angie. You've been a huge help."
When she heard a tap at the door, Olivia said, "Excuse me, I'll be right back. Do you need anything?"
Angie shook her head. Olivia left the room and found Linda standing in the hallway. "Did you hear that? Angie just opened the door for us to investigate Allied-Gantt."
Although she smiled in response, Linda looked preoccupied. "That's great, Liv. But something else has occurred. Nora Fries has been abducted from her hospital room by a pair of men."
Olivia reeled back in shock at this. "I thought Gordon put people on guard outside of her room!"
"There were guards," Linda said. "But the kidnappers were dressed as orderlies. They snuck Nora Fries out right past them in a laundry bin. Since this is a kidnapping, Gordon wants SVU detectives on the scene, now."
"He's got them," Olivia replied. "You and me. C'mon, let's go."
B&B
He had waited outside of Donald Watt's home for the better part of a day, now. But his quarry was nowhere to be seen. The house had sat empty all day, with the car gone from the garage.
He grew impatient, and decided to take a look inside the house. He stepped out from behind the garage and strode across the yard, towards the back door. As he did this, the ice on his right hand accumulated at a rapid pace, until his hand was encaged in ice that was three times its original size, and shaped into the form of a sledgehammer.
He smashed his hand against the back door, and it flew off of its hinges with a loud crashing sound. He no longer cared about being stealthy in his movements. After all, he'd fought the Batman, and beaten him. There was nothing--or nobody--for him to be afraid of anymore.
After a walk through of the house, he realized that Watts had been gone for quite some time. He probably took off once he found out that Larson and Greene were dead. Well, no matter, he would hunt down Watts no matter where he went in the--
He paused.
He had strode by the kitchen, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was an envelope on the counter, propped up against a cereal box. Written across the envelope was written 'Mr. Freeze.'
He allowed the ice on the tip of his index finger to grow out into a tapered blade. Then he used it to slice open the envelope along the top like a letter opener.
There was a sheet of paper within, with writing that appeared to have been printed out from a computer. "If you wish to find Donald Watts," it read, "we have him and are holding him just for you. He's all yours, if you want him."
The letter proceeded to give an address in the Iron View section of the city, as well as the time: seven o'clock tonight. It was not signed. He did not know who did this favor for him, or why.
But he was about to find out.
He slammed his sledgehammer hand against the front doors, shattering them into a million splinters of wood. A group of children playing in the street all screamed and ran for their lives when they saw him.
He smiled harshly. The little brats were smart to run.
Those who didn't get out of his way, like the Batman, learned the hard way the cost of their folly. Yet despite the fact that he had delivered a defeat to the Batman by destroying the Batwing, a part of him was still enraged that the Dark Knight had even dared to try and stop him.
'Perhaps, once Donald Watts is dead, I'll meet up with Batman again and finish what I've started,' he thought.
The grin of delight on his face was a ghastly sight to behold.
B&B
The Penguin raised the walkie-talkie to his face and said, "Any sign of him?"
"Nothing, boss," came the reply. "All clear."
"Any sign of anybody else?" the Penguin asked. "Any cops?"
"Nothing, boss," the man on the roof repeated. "I've got everybody up here telling me that it's all quiet on the streets around us."
"Very well, keep your eyes open," the Penguin ordered. He put the walk-talkie away within his suit jacket and proceeded to waddle around the stark, empty environs of the abandoned factory.
Lazlo stood with a group of heavily armed men off to the side. "I don't like this, Penguin…."
"What's for you to like?" the Penguin snapped.
"This whole situation is just wrong," Lazlo said, still looking uneasy. "We're leaving ourselves wide open, here. What if the cops got to the note before Mr. Freeze did?"
"I told you: our spies outside Watts' home reported seeing him enter the house. He was then seen leaving with a sheet of paper in his hand. He took the bait! Waugh! Waugh!"
Lazlo just nervously nodded his head. "Great, so all we have to deal with right now is a super-powered, psychotic iceman…."
"Rest easy, my dear Lazlo," the Penguin assured him. "Sometimes a great notion involves great risk. But the rewards will be greater than--"
He was cut off when a loud crashing sound could be heard in the distance. It echoed throughout the factory.
Penguin raised the walkie-talkie to his face and said, "Stephen, report! Any activity?"
"Still quiet on all streets in all directions," he reported.
"He's not coming from the streets," Lazlo said, as he pointed at something with wide eyes. "He's coming up from the basement…."
The Penguin let out a squawk as the massive basement door was ripped from its hinges and thrown across the factory floor. When a large, shambling monster emerged, completely encased in ice, Lazlo and the other men all instantly raised their automatic weapons at it.
Penguin had to admit that Mr. Freeze was indeed a formidable and striking figure. He could see the corpse-like body buried beneath the armor of ice, the dead eyes that stared directly at him. 'This is the creature that bested the Batman,' he reminded himself.
The Penguin made a grand show of ordering his men to lower their weapons. "We're all friends here!" he proclaimed. "Aren't we, Mr. Freeze?"
The ice in front of Mr. Freeze's mouth snapped and blew outwards, and the Penguin saw that this action allowed him to speak.
"Where is Donald Watts?" he asked, his voice a stale monotone that was itself chilling to hear.
The Penguin turned to Lazlo and said, "Show him Watts!"
Lazlo gestured for a pair of men to roll out Watts. Donald Watts hung from his bound hands by a metal hook that was attached to a railing that ran along the ceiling. He was pulled out and displayed before Mr. Freeze like a side of beef, his frantic protests muffled by a gag.
"As you can see," the Penguin said, as he grandly pointed at the bound Watts, "here is one of the fiends, who--"
He was startled into silence when Mr. Freeze strode up to the wiggling Watts and killed him instantly by ramming a large, pointed icicle straight through his heart. The bloodied tip of the icicle burst out from Watt's back, as he slumped into a hanging heap on the hook.
"Oh, sweet Jesus," one of the Penguin's men whispered in horror from behind him.
The deed done, Mr. Freeze snapped off the icicle from his hand, leaving it in Watt's body. Freeze then turned on his heel and began to walk away from them.
'He gets right to the point, doesn't he?' the Penguin thought. 'You've really got to admire that….'
"If only it were so easy to be rid of all of the fiends in this situation," he called after Mr. Freeze. "Especially the ones who abducted your beloved wife…."
That stopped the ice man in his tracks. He spun around and blew out a chunk of ice from his mouth. "Nora?"
The Penguin nodded, as he tried his best to look gravely worried. "Yes, your beloved Nora was taken from her hospital bed this very day!" He turned to Lazlo, who--on cue--handed him that afternoon's edition of the Gotham Gazette. He gave the paper to Mr. Freeze. "See? I tell you, these fiends have no honor whatsoever! Once they heard you were striking back, they fought back by fighting dirty!"
Mr. Freeze ripped apart the newspaper as he let out a low wail that became a howl of rage. Then he went face to face with the Penguin and growled: "Who? Who did this?!"
"They're up and coming mobsters--mere boys, actually--who are trying to take control of all Gotham City, now that Boss Thorne is dead," the Penguin replied. "I-I guess you could call them my business rivals…."
"You?!" Freeze muttered with surprise.
"I admit, I'm no boy scout," the Penguin told him, as he held his hands up. "I even served time for my evil deeds. But I never stooped this low, my dear boy. Never! When I got out of jail, I discovered this new generation of mobsters on the streets, who were far more ruthless than I could even imagine. What they've done here--by kidnapping your helpless wife--is just wrong! They must have been working in league with Larson and the others at Star Labs; they might have even been responsible for your so-called accident."
"Tell me who they are," Freeze said, furious. "Who abducted Nora?!"
"I have my suspicions, but I don't know for sure," the Penguin said. "If you wish, we could work together on this, as partners--until we find your precious Nora."
Mr. Freeze glared at him. "Why would you wish to help me?"
"Because, as I've stated, this is simply wrong!" the Penguin replied. "When you sought revenge by killing Larson and the others, instead of facing you man to man, these fiends have tried to fight back by abducting your helpless wife! They've crossed a line that never should be crossed, my friend. I would be very happy to see them go."
"You would also welcome less competition on the streets, once I've killed those who were responsible," Mr. Freeze muttered bluntly. "It would be good for your 'business', yes?"
"Well, yes, there's that," the Penguin admitted. "But these mad dogs would not be missed by anyone here in Gotham City--no matter what side of the law they might be on. What say you, my fine, frosty friend? Shall we join forces to hunt down these nefarious villains, and save your Nora?"
After a thoughtful pause, Mr. Freeze said, "Yes. If it will help find Nora, and get her safely back to the hospital. Yes; I shall work with you, for now."
The Penguin's cigarette holder shot up as he gave Mr. Freeze a pleased smile. 'At last, I finally have my own invulnerable assassin, with skin as impenetrable as steel, and a heart as cold as ice,' he thought. 'And, in Mr. Freeze's case, his heart probably really is made of ice….'
"Wonderful!" the Penguin cried joyfully. "Just wonderful! Let's break out the bubbly and propose a toast to our new partnership, old boy. Because, I have the feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship! Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!"
To Be Continued....
