Chapter 6: Face Off

Being held prisoner and forced to watch on helplessly had had its advantages after all, all thanks to Huntress' intervention. He hadn't expected her to find this place, hadn't expected her to be able to get the villain to open up into revealing her plan. But she had done it, very impressively. More than that, though, she had shown him a way out of this. From the very first second she had arrived in the room, his mind had started to plan, a far better plan than the one he had been working on before. And now, now it was time to put that plan into action.

For after being held there for far too long, Batman was now loose. And there were countless lives on the line that he had to save. That he and Huntress had to save. Even before she had managed to free him from his shackles, though, Batman had selected his primary target, the one person more than any other that he had to neutralise if they were going to prevent the kill signal being sent out to all those nanites across the world. Huntress could handle the others. This he had to do.

Mr. Freeze was the deadliest threat, the master of the nanites and their controls and the biggest obstacle stood in the path of destroying them. Once that thug with the gun was down, Batman's attention was very firmly on Freeze once more. Luckily, the batarang that had saved Huntress from his clutches had also put Freeze's attention very firmly on Batman. This had become almost personal for Freeze. That made him all the more dangerous, made him all the more likely to fight hard and go for the kill. But it also served Batman's objective. It meant that Freeze was distracted, meant his focus wasn't on hitting that button that would doom so many.

Ignoring all the rest of the chaos that was happening all around them, Batman braced himself, eyes solely on Freeze. He knew he had to take this a step further, had to draw Freeze completely away from the console, away from Huntress, away from the source of the real danger. With Freeze riled up, there was one sure fire way to do that. But it was going to hurt, especially if Batman did not get this right.

The extra batarang he threw was just for show, a means of preventing Freeze from seeing what he was doing and making it believable that he would hold his ground. Sure enough, Freeze easily batted it away as he encroached menacingly onto him at speed. Batman braced himself all the more then, twisting his body and making to move at the last second so that Freeze would have to change his blunt force swing into an attempted grab. It worked perfectly. While diving down away from a punch aimed at his head, Batman hung his leg tantalizingly in the air, and Freeze took the bait. He grabbed hold, using the twisting momentum of the act as a pivot, building up the speed. And then he simply let go.

Even as he flew through the air, Batman braced, tucking in his head so his less vital shoulders could take the brunt of the impact. For a second later he was hitting the wall, hard. More than that, he was crashing through it. Thankfully it wasn't pure, solid stone. If it had been, he wouldn't likely be able to start pushing himself up as he did, just as soon as he had landed in an otherwise empty room on the other side of the hole that had just been created.

But it had worked. As Batman was scrambling back up, Freeze's encased head appeared at the hole, staring furiously after him. The sight of Batman getting back up was enough to drive him onwards too. Soon he was crashing his whole body through the wall, in hot pursuit of his primary foe.

But Batman did not stand still as Freeze came after him. This room was still too close to Huntress and that console. He had to lead Freeze further away, to get him further from that place before he could risk actively engaging him. And so Batman went straight for the exit, safe in the knowledge that Freeze would keep on following.

And hoping that Huntress would continue to impress him. The whole world was counting on it.

That must have hurt, but at least it had gotten Mr. Freeze out of her hair. Still, it meant that she was now in there on her own, and that Batman was on his own too. She couldn't follow him, not when Romero had made it painfully clear that the console in that room was the key to everything. Romero and her thugs could not be allowed to gain control of it, not when so many could be killed with just the push of a button. But then, she knew, it couldn't just be destroyed either. The system Mr. Freeze had programmed into it would be their only way of making sure everyone infected with those nanite weapons was tracked down and freed of them. Otherwise this whole deadly affair could just kickstart again in another place at another time.

And so Huntress would have to guard it, against Romero and all of her thugs, guard it until she and Batman – if he survived Mr. Freeze – could find a way to use it to save lives instead of take them.

And all before the whole house burned down around their ears. She could still the heat rising up from down below, but now, after only a few seconds, she could swear she could actually start to hear the flames too. They must really be roaring away down there. Something in that lab must really burn well. The chaos that Huntress was starting to see had indicated that as well. No doubt Romero's men would work their butts off to try and control the blaze, but from the feel of the blast and the warmth reaching up several floors already, Huntress was sure. This whole place was going to burn, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

In short, if they wanted to save lives, they were going to have to act fast. Very fast.

But Romero had acted fast too. She, too, had seen Freeze chase off after Batman, meaning that she was the only one left in the room fighting for the badguys. It was because of that that she charged forward quickly, instantly grabbing Huntress by the wrists and raising her arms above her head. Her reasoning was clear; Romero did not want Huntress' crossbow turning her way.

"Someone get in here!" Romero screamed out at the top of her lungs even as she made the effort. "They're trying to stop everything we've worked for! Someone ge–!"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Huntress made sure of that with a swift knee launched right into Romero's midriff that both silenced and winded her, knocking her backwards and freeing up Huntress' arms. It even knocked Romero down to her knees as she felt the pain, clearly unused to actually being hit in combat.

But it was too late. Romero's shout had been heard. She obviously had many thugs guarding her house, even up here hidden amongst the rooms of the top floor. In reaction to the blast, they had all started running, running for the stairs, running for the vastness of the basement to try and hold off the flames and save as much as they could. But now, some of those who had been running had a new purpose, for they had just heard Romero's latest orders. Now, more armed goons were rushing in to Romero's aide.

And the first one was already aiming his gun. Thank God Huntress had seen sense to make her crossbow able to automatically reload these days, from a stash of bolts carefully wrapped beneath it and around her wrist. Because of that, it was already armed again and primed, ready to fire. Because of that, she was able to hit him right in the shoulder, making him scream and drop his gun, before he could attempt to kill her.

But her crossbow still needed a second to reload, and there was another gunman running in now who wasn't about to give her that time. She had to turn to even more traditional weapons.

Huntress closed the gap before he could steady his aim. She launched her fist before he could pull the trigger. It landed, right in his ribs, perfectly targeted. Under her force, his body spun beyond his control, meaning that when he inevitably did pull the trigger the bullet slammed harmlessly into the ceiling. Huntress wasn't about to give him a second chance to fire either. Her next blows were clever, well practised, and focused on his gun arm. And they were clever enough to make sure his grip loosed, sending another weapon falling harmlessly to the floor.

Still, the goon was marshalled well enough by his mistress to mean he did not give up there. With her focused on disarming him, he was able to drive one hand solidly into the side of her head before she could begin to defend herself, a blow he quickly tried to repeat. That was a mistake, because he had now gotten Huntress mad. Even through the daze of the first blow she was still aware enough to act. Ducking down, she literally swung her head under his fist, coming up on the other side. Then, with his hand in the unnatural position, she used its own unbalancing effect. Grabbing hold with both hands, she twisted it back, hard. That made the man fall, but she also didn't let go. Because of that, she did the real damage, hearing the crack as his shoulder gave out. Once again, one of Romero's goons was falling in pain.

It was then that she saw it. Romero had overcome the blow to her gut. She was getting back up, but her eyes were not locked on Huntress, were not currently interested in the fight. They only looked to the console, the still primed console and its button of death. And even before she was up again, her intention was clear. She was going to try and push it, no matter what.

Huntress knew that she had to stop her, whatever way she could. But Romero had the advantages of a head start and only a small gap to cover. Huntress had no way to catch up, not in time. She had to do this from range. Thankfully, that new bolt was now firmly in place. Quickly she made to take aim once more, regardless of the fact that this woman was technically family.

But other people had other ideas. The thug she had just hit in the shoulder with one of her crossbow bolts in particular. He was determined to protect the head of his family, and wasn't hurt enough already to be out of the fight for good. That was why, when he saw Huntress lining up her latest shot, he swung his foot, hard. It struck her, right on the shins, and with enough force and momentum to sweep her feet out from under her. Huntress was sent crashing down to the floor, right on top of her attacker.

A swift punch in his face saw him now unconscious, but as Huntress scrambled back to her knees she could see that what time she had was almost gone. Romero was practically at the console. There wasn't much time, no time at all to steady her shot. She had to fire now. And so she raised her arm once more, raised her arm and fired...

She had already been too late. Not because of Romero, but because of the house itself. She had felt the heat building, but even Huntress had thought that she had more time than that. Apparently not though. The flames had clearly reached high enough, high enough to weaken the very wooden floorboards beneath her feet.

For at the exact moment that Huntress fired the shot, the floor gave way underneath her. Immediately she was falling, falling down towards the fires below. Falling in such a way that her shot deviated from what aim she had managed. Huntress saw it as she fell, saw it sail only a hairs breath away from Romero's head but also sail harmlessly into the wall.

And then, before all that she could see was what lay below, Huntress saw Romero hit the button...

The entire place had gone up. Whatever the intruder had done, wherever they had placed their incendiaries, the flames had caught hold almost instantly. Every last one of the vats that stored all of Romero's precious merchandise was ablaze. The lab was on fire too, and looking set to go off with another bang at any moment considering some of the chemicals that were in there.

Giancarlo Giovinco had raced there as soon as he had felt the explosion, not needing to wait for Romero's call. This was one order of hers that could be considered utterly predictable. But now, now that he was in there, all he could do was swear. The whole lot looked lost already. The damage looked done. To the whole damn house. Still, he knew that he and all of his fellows had to try. They had to attempt to save the stores, the house, the operation. This was their chance to make it big, to become feared worldwide. And if they failed, then they may as well put the bullets in their own heads and save Romero the trouble.

"Damn it, get more water down here!" Giovinco roared at another of Romero's men who had come rushing down the stairs behind him. At his call, they instantly turned back the way they came, doing exactly as instructed. Giovinco, though, charged headfirst into the chaos. There had been fire suppression systems in the basement that served as their stores, but none of it was working. It must have been damaged in the blast, somehow stopping the sprinkler system from automatically activating as it should have.

But that was a problem that he could fix, especially considering the strength of the heat that was already making him sweat, already kicking up enough smoke to make him cough and splutter. The heat that would already be weakening the metal of those pipes, meaning smashing them open ought to be that little bit easier.

He spotted the rod quickly, though not quickly enough for his tastes. This place was already a furnace. Professional firemen may have stayed away from it as far as he knew, but he didn't have that liberty, not with the stakes as they were. But spot the rod he had, and instantly he went for it. Grabbing hold, he saw it was just what he wanted, a large wooden pike with a metallic hook on the end designed for opening high up windows, it would now be precisely the club he needed to open up something else.

And so he ran, smashing away as he went, smashing open every last one of the overhead pipes that he passed and setting the water within free, all while other men like himself ferried in buckets, doused, smothered or did whatever else they could all around him. But none of it was really working. Yes it was lessening some of the flames, putting some out completely, but there was just too much. The heat was already too high. More flames were just taking place of the old ones. It was an inferno, and it was completely out of control.

What they were doing wasn't working, not at all, but Giovinco couldn't stop. Still, as he kept up his efforts he set his mind elsewhere, set it on trying to come up with a new plan, with finding a new way to stop that fire. Perhaps the iceman upstairs may hold the key...

Yet it was just when he had that thought that things went to their darkest. Literally. Due to the vast power needs of Romero's hardware and satellite dish, the house wasn't hooked up to the mains, instead running off a series of powerful, internal generators. Generators that had been housed in the basement...

As the lights went out, the meaning was clear. The flames had just taken the generators too.

Giovinco had to keep working though, using the very flames themselves as his light source now. He would do whatever he had to do, but he did need the light. Perhaps more importantly to the wellbeing of all of them, he knew that, upstairs, Romero needed the power. There were backup generators up in the main house, but that was a main house that was already burning. Soon the lights came back on, showing that the backups were kicking in. But those lights were also flickering, meaning that the backups weren't exactly working right either. Perhaps the flames were reaching them too.

This time Giovinco really swore. Those things had to last. They had to allow Romero to finish what she had started. Because right now, that looked like the only way that any of her men would make it out of this basement and live to tell the tale. If they ran now, she would be sure to kill them. That much was unquestionable. But if they stayed, the flames would see them dead too. That much was also clear now. Their only hope was that Romero's signal would get sent, and she would see sense to order them out of there. She had lad them this far after all. She had lead them well. She had lead them on the path to power, to strength, to riches.

Not for one second did the thought pass through Giovinco's mind that she had also lead them to their doom, not until it was already far too late. Not until the next moment did he realise just how much the flames had managed to spread throughout the rest of the house, how much the upper floors were already burning.

Not until the floors above collapsed under the damage of the flames.

Not until those floors collapsed right on top of him, trapping him beneath their weight.

Trapping him to a fiery end.

It had worked, he had gotten Freeze away from the danger zone, he had gotten him far enough away. But getting Freeze away from that console would not be enough. This house wasn't big enough for Batman to be able lead him a merry dance so as to leave Freeze lost and alone far enough away to be out of play. He wouldn't be able to manufacture himself an opening to get back to that primary console and get to work without Freeze coming straight back after him. No, Mr. Freeze would have to be taken completely out of the picture for him to pull that off, which meant Batman couldn't just keep on playing the Pied Piper.

Easier said than done.

He heard the freeze ray firing in the corridor behind him, his signal to duck back into another of the side rooms on the top floor before that ice smashed into the centre of his spine. So that would be it. That would be where he would make his stand.

As soon as he was through the doorway, Batman ducked straight behind it, into the relative cover it could provide. It was simplistic, a move worthy of a novice, but it would also serve the exact purpose he needed of it. Sure enough, only seconds after Batman had entered that room, Mr. Freeze was following him inside. Sure enough, he walked in with freeze ray ready, held out in front of him in case of an opportunistic instant kill. Just as before, Batman knew that he had to take that weapon out of play before he could do anything else. Freeze had just given him a perfect opening to do exactly that.

His very last exploding batarang from what was by now his largely depleted belt did the job perfectly. Not seeing Batman as he had stepped into the room, Freeze had begun to turn. That only meant that the batarang was able to lodge itself right in the barrel of his gun before it blew.

It was dazzling, almost blinding as the weapon was destroyed, ice particles being thrown everywhere. Batman had to fling himself as far back as he could get to avoid the collateral damage encasing him, throwing his cape up in front of him to act as a kind of shield. But Freeze himself couldn't get out of the way. As the mist of ice particles cleared, Batman could see him, robotic joints locked in place by globs of ice. Mind racing, Batman saw the most opportune way out of this, the best and quickest way to end this. But for it to work, he needed Freeze to play ball and, with the bloodlust having taken him, that wasn't likely to happen.

Not unless Freeze was unable to act, unable to fight. Not unless Freeze was frozen. Just as he was now.

But Batman was going to have to do this even faster than he thought. Barely had the ice began to clear than the sound of splintering wood echoed around the room. Barely an instant later, the floor of the far corner collapsed, with flames soon lapping up where it had been, lapping up so high that the ceiling of this room was already starting to blacken. The top floor was now on fire. This entire house didn't have long left. And if it went before he and Huntress could deactivate those nanites, then the risk to countless lives would remain, only with easily the best chance to counteract them gone forever.

Which wasn't even considering the fact that the fires could destroy far more than the house if they were all still inside it...

"Listen to me Freeze!" he called out to the man who had seen his life so destroyed by fate. "You don't want to do this. Remember what you told me back in your lab. This is all about trying to get your life back, not Romero's mad scheme. Not for you. You don't have to fight me on this, Freeze! If you're prize is here, then this is your only chance. This whole place is going to burn, and that'll include your precious cryonics. Go get them now, before your one chance is gone! Go save yourself, and don't stand in between me and saving the world!"

It was a very valid point, and it was one that he hoped would work. Freeze wasn't like Joker, or Two-Face, or Penguin. His aims weren't to kill or cause chaos or increase his wealth and power. He just wanted his life back, the life that he had lost when his wife had gotten sick, the life he had lost when the accident turned Fries into Freeze. He had gotten involved in all of this because he was working on a way he thought might help him to get that life back, had sided with Romero purely because she had something that he needed in order to do that. Now, the cryonics that were so vital to him were under threat. Now, Romero and her men were too distracted with the kill switch and the flames to stop him simply taking what he needed, before the flames did. It didn't make sense for Freeze to stand and fight now, not when the stakes were so high for him too.

If only he would listen to reason...

Batman both saw and heard as the ice locking Freeze's joints in place began to crack, whether under the heat of the flames or by purely being broken under Freeze's greatly enhanced strength. Then, before his eyes, Batman noticed as Freeze began to move too. Only he wasn't heading straight for the door.

But now the fires were whipping around far too much. The crash was booming as the window in the room suddenly smashed, part of the whole wall giving way, opening up the side of the building to the outside world. Not only that, but a loud creak issued from above, the roof of the house itself tilting. The flames had seriously started to hit the structural integrity of the building. It was going, and going soon.

So soon that Batman hadn't the time to fight Freeze. The words had to work. Freeze had to listen. Batman had to do whatever it would take to make him. It was because of that that he took a calculated risk, but also one that could well have been suicidal. He threw his arms up, stepping slowly closer to Freeze in a gesture universally recognised as one of a man who wasn't about to fight any more.

"Go now, Freeze," he reiterated, trying to keep his voice calm despite having to speak loudly enough to keep himself heard over the flames. "Go get your prize. Go now and never threaten anyone like this again, and I won't come after you. I'll let you try and get your life back. But you have to let me go and save those people. You have to let me go and stop Romero, before it's too late for both of us. You have to go. Now."

By the time he said that, he was right on top of Freeze, in the ultimate representation that he wasn't a threat any more. But that said nothing about Freeze's own threatening ability. And by then, Freeze had worked all of his joints free.

The punch struck hard, practically knocking Batman's entire head off as it collided into his chin. He was sent flying, smashing across the room. Thankfully, the wall he hit wasn't one of the ones that was falling apart, not yet, meaning he wasn't sent flying down four storeys to hell. Quickly, Batman began to scramble his way back up to his feet, rubbing at his dazed head.

It looked like he was going to have to fight after all...

"You are right. I am no monster, Batman," Freeze robotically said as Batman looked up again, completing changing that notion. Freeze wasn't encroaching. In fact, he wasn't looking aggressive at all. Instead, he was still in that doorway, only turned as if he was on his way out of it. Batman's efforts had broken through. It had worked after all. "I only created the nanites for Romero out of necessity, to get my hands on the cryonics she possessed and the chance to make myself human again. I did not do this to kill. And I suppose a part of me always hoped that the turn of events that have taken us now may have come to pass. I built a self-destruct subroutine into each one of the nanites, a programme that will enable you to destroy them all from the main console and prevent everyone infected by them from dying. For anyone with any programming ability, unlike Romero, it will not be hard to find. You go and find it Batman. You go save those people. And you do not come after me as I save myself. That is the deal. Break it, and I shall not be as charitable to you as I am being now. Do not come after me."

With that, Freeze was gone. For a good few seconds, Batman stayed where he was, getting his head back in order following that colossal punch. More importantly, though, it was his way of telling Freeze that he would honour his side of that deal, and his way of ensuring Freeze did not turn around and start the fight all over again. It was his way of making sure Freeze knew he wasn't following him, right from the first moment. Freeze had his own life to save, and that wasn't a venture that needed to be defeated.

Romero's, on the other hand, most definitely was. Now, thanks to what Freeze had just said, Batman had more hope. The house may not have long, but so long as he could find Freeze's self-destruct subroutine quickly enough the people of the world still had hope.

A few seconds were enough time waiting. More than enough, with the flames lapping ever closer to him. No longer did Batman stand against that wall recovering. Now it was his turn to run. He had to get to that console. He had to find the nanite's self-destruct and get it's signal transmitted across the world to all who had been infected.

And he had to hope that it wasn't already too late.

The stubbornness of just a nail or two was all that saved her. That was all that kept the lone floorboard from plunging downwards as the rest did, all that held it, dangling over the precipice and the fires that raged below. For beneath the hole that had just erupted in the floor lay another, leading to roaring flames two whole storeys down. Leading only to death.

A death that Huntress managed to avoid by catching hold of that one floorboard that stubbornly held on to it fellows on the top floor.

But the mafia thug she had been sprawled on top of when the floor gave out wasn't so lucky. Unconscious, there was nothing he could do to try and catch hold as Huntress had. He fell, fell all the way down. Fell down into the flames, flames that clearly awoke him to his peril as the blood curdling shrieks started venturing upwards.

Huntress forced herself not to listen. She had to act fast, otherwise it would be her down there too. Those nails holding the board would not last forever. They were already starting to grown under the strain, already bent into a shape they weren't designed to be in. And so she climbed, climbed as rapidly as she possibly could. As soon as she was high enough, Huntress threw up first one hand and then the other, grabbing hold of the edges of the chasm that had opened in the floor beneath where she had previously been, making sure that it would take her weight and not caring about the splinters that dove themselves into her palms. She did so just in time, for even as she began to haul herself back up, the plank fell.

Yet as she finally got herself standing up again on the top floor, she had no time to praise her good fortune. The last thing she had seen when falling had been Romero hitting the kill switch on that vital console. Now Huntress had to see if there was anything that she could do to save the situation, or if she had just failed countless people and doomed them to a horrific death.

What she saw gave her hope. It was only then that she noticed that lights were flashing, both the bulbs and the ones on Romero's console. And Romero was stood there, desperately hammering at that very same button. As if the first time hadn't worked. As if her vital system had just lost power.

As if all those people weren't doomed just yet after all...

"Having trouble, auntie?" Huntress chided, standing tall once again. As she had stood, she hadn't failed to notice the distinct lack of able thugs at Romero's side any more. She hoped that meant that they had all gone, that the flames had made them all flee. Regardless, Romero was now the only one who stood in her way, and so Romero was the one she had to engage. Which all began with trying to get her away from that console. In this game, there were no guarantees. All those people were not safe yet.

"The power to the transmitter may be failing, but this system is able to work in a cumulative manner," Romero snarled as she slowly turned around to face Huntress when hearing her voice told her she was no longer alone up there. "It is a large signal to transmit, but it is building. With every flicker of extra power that the generators give, it gets closer to the magic one hundred percent. And when that moment comes, every world leader who stands in my way will be dead before their heart stops beating. And you, dear niece, shall not stop it. You shall not stop me."

That wasn't true. Huntress wouldn't allow it to be. And yet, she found she couldn't take the easy way out. The thought certainly crossed her mind. It would only take one simple squeeze…

She had been chucked out of the Justice League because she had almost killed a man. That time, her efforts had been in cold blood. This time, it would have been so damn simple to aim her crossbow and send a bolt right through Romero's eye and into her brain. It was almost certainly the only shot Huntress had that Romero wouldn't just battle through to fight on until it was all too late. And yet Huntress found that she just couldn't do it. She couldn't kill Romero. And it wasn't even because she was family. She just... couldn't kill any more. In her heart, she just could not bring herself to physically take that shot.

Romero certainly could though. The other woman could certainly kill, and she certainly looked ready for it. From nowhere she had just pulled out a knife, and was charging straight for Huntress, looking more than ready to use it. Huntress carefully pivoted out of the way, making Romero's own momentum send her onwards. A passing kick in her back saw to it that Romero was sent sprawling into the next room, though she wasn't down for long.

But it was what she just caught out of the corner of her eye that made Huntress give chase instead of holding ground and making Romero bring the fight back to her. Entering through the hole he and Mr. Freeze had smashed in the wall earlier, Batman had just returned.

They now had a chance. Together, they had a chance. Only together did they have the time to do what must be done.

And so Huntress charged after Romero, into the next room, already planning and leading their fight out onto the landing and beyond sight of the console that held so many lives within its power. With the thugs absent, keeping Romero busy was now Huntress' task, so that Romero couldn't try to interrupt what must be done.

For with him there, it was now up to Batman to stop that signal and save all of those lives.

Providing that was still possible...

Huntress was still alive, was still fighting. He saw her disappear out of the 'hidden' room just as he clambered his way back into it, seemingly locked in combat with Romero herself. But he made no effort to give chase. A quick scan told him that there were no more enemies around thanks to her actions, or at least none who could stand in his way. Because of that, he could leave what was left of the fighting down to her, being able to march straight across to the all-important console hooked up to the all-important transmitter.

And then Batman immediately got to work.

He was still appear bleary eyed from the blow he had taken to the head from Freeze, with it feeling like a thousand mallets were drumming on the inside of his skull, but Batman did not let that stop him as he immediately got to work assessing the situation.

Huntress hadn't been able to stop the villains as thoroughly as Batman had hoped. He could tell that right away, could tell that the all-important button had been pushed. But they had hit a bit of luck too. The fires must have been wreaking havoc with the house's power source. Thanks to that, the complete kill signal had not yet been uploaded to the satellite that would send it all around the world, and it seemed now that it was a case of all or nothing.

But it was close. Damn close. As a bit more power sparked through the console enough to reactivate the screens, Batman saw the counter; ninety seven percent. There was no time to lose, but it was a good job that the power dropped out again before that could tick up to a hundred. It meant he didn't have to make any protective measures before using a batarang to slice open the cable stretching up to the roof and severing the consoles entire link to the transmitter. Just in time too. Only moments later, another burst of power brought the console back to life. It glowed with light as the magic one hundred came up, but it was irrelevant. The signal was ready, but with the line cut it now had nowhere to go.

Yet there was no time to celebrate that win, to celebrate the fact that those lives weren't going to be lost today. The eruption saw to that. The hole in the middle of the floor became a volcano for a second, spitting up both flames and burning remnants of furniture from down below. At the same time, the hole in the wall that Freeze had created was soon engulfed too, the ceiling in the next room caving in to block that hole off. There really wasn't long, next to no time at all to make use of the one bit of machinery in the world that knew how to link up to all of those nanites in all of those people. No time at all to find and issue Freeze's self-destruct code to make sure that those people stayed safe.

Yet Batman had no choice but to ignore the flames and keep on working. However, he couldn't do it in the stop start manner of the console under its current power. It was a good job, then, that the electroshock pads he carried these days were so small he had room for many of them on his belt. This was hardly what they were designed for, but as Batman knew more than anyone, having contingencies and back-up plans could often be the key to saving the day. Using the current that those pads could issue was the back-up plan.

The next time the power dropped out, he instantly got to work, first severing the console from its power source before making a workaround of his own. The pads alone wouldn't be enough to power the console for long, but if they only had to kick in when the building's own sources failed, it ought to give him just enough time, hence why he also reconnected the main power leads when he was done. It was quick work, rough work, work that would undoubtedly die a death if it was being asked to last. But he only needed seconds, a couple of minutes at the most. And that he was sure it could muster. There wasn't enough time left for him to be wrong about that anyway, so playing his one hand was what he had to do.

Standing up once more, the fires were now ever closer to him, a quick burst of flames actually making him have to duck out of the way. Thankfully though, it didn't hit the console, and so the chance hadn't gone just yet. When he saw the console again, it was to see the lights staying on, albeit flickering slightly. It meant that he could look for Freeze's code uninterrupted.

Freeze was right. For someone who knew what they were looking for, it wasn't too hard to find. Most importantly, it wasn't too hard to utilise. The kill signal was already buffered, ready to go. It was a simple case of swapping over the code and reconnecting the transmitter. Hurriedly, Batman looked back at the screen. The flames were getting closer. Too close. It had to go. The new signal had to go now.

He heard it first, heard the creaking as the floor started to go beneath him, and he knew right away what was happening. He dove backwards, back towards the exit Huntress and Romero had disappeared through, and he did so just in time. Soon half of the entire room was tumbling down into the fire. Worst of all, the console was going with it, ripping itself off from the wall, dying a death with everything else that had been around it. But just before the screen went blank, just before all of its connections were severed for good, Batman saw the flash of green, knowing straight away what it meant.

The signal had sent, the self-destruct signal that would save all those lives that Romero had worked so hard to take. He had done it.

But still he couldn't celebrate, only this time for an altogether different reason. The flames were still growing around the room, getting too close to him for comfort, but a heat from a different source suddenly took him. A heat from within. All of a sudden, before he could move from where he had leapt to avoid the flames, it felt like his very blood was on fire. And then he could feel something else, a numbness in his right arm and an ever growing sensation that there was something trapped, under the skin. As quickly as he could, Batman ripped the gauntlet off of that arm, leaving the flesh open to the air. Mind racing, he figured out what was happening before he even saw the bulge that had formed on his forearm.

Romero had targeted world leaders, both of national governments and those in major cities. She had targeted them in such a way that all manner of other citizens in those cities would be infected by her deadly nanites too. And now it was clear. Bruce Wayne hadn't been immune to them. He had been infected too. He had had those nanites within himself. And now, right now, now that the self-destruct had been issued, all those scores of nanites that had been in his system were reacting to that signal. Looking down at the lump, he knew what it was. It was the first phase of the subroutine. Freeze's solution wasn't search and destroy, not within the nanites' hosts. Instead, it was to make them gather, to get them to bring themselves all together at one point, and then to take each person's infection out in its entirety in one fell swoop.

Before his eyes, Batman watched that happen. He was forced to grit his teeth as it did, forced to bear the moment of pain as the now singular robot entity, now big enough to see, literally crawled its way out of his arm, just as others would right now be doing from people the whole world over. And then, once it was out, once it had fallen down to the crumbling floors at Batman's feet, its end finally came.

It was destroyed, and Batman didn't need a survey to know that all the others worldwide would be similarly ended too. He had done it. He and Huntress had done it. The people of the world had just been saved. But, even as he rapidly put his gauntlet back in place over his now bleeding arm, Batman knew there was still one task left, made all the clearer as another eruption of flames went up right beside him.

This house was going to go at any second. He had to find Huntress. He had to make sure that they both got out of there alive.

The knife had long since been dropped somewhere, but that didn't mean that the fight was easy. Romero was more able bodied at this stuff that she had first appeared. She was certainly putting up more of a fight than any of her thugs had managed.

But Huntress was determined. She knew what she had to do. She had already managed to drive Romero out onto the landing exactly as planned. Now, she just had to buy time. To buy time and to ensure there was justice for what Romero had been trying to do here. Simply burning her house down and defeating all of her plans wasn't enough. When this whole thing had started, when Batman had first come to her in one Gotham's trademark alleyways, the thought of the monsters that made up most of her bloodline was one of the first that had come to Huntress. Right now, Romero had just taken the biscuit.

Perhaps more than any other fight she had ever faced, Huntress wanted Romero to be brought to justice. Almost as much as she had wanted Mandragora to pay, she wanted that. For her own sakes, as well as for all the other people that Romero might hurt. It went beyond the fact that she was a hero. Like it or not, Romero was her family. As far as Huntress was concerned, that meant it was her responsibility to stop her.

But, even with the place collapsing all around them under the flames, Romero wasn't about to flee, or to surrender. The madness had clearly taken her, the rage at seeing everything she had worked for come undone. The rage at seeing her mad lust for power failing before her eyes.

Yet another punch came in, going straight for Huntress' throat, but she was able to throw up a forearm to deflect the blow harmlessly over her shoulder, using the unbalancing effect it had on Romero to give her the chance to deliver her own punch across Romero's face. Even as she recoiled, though, Romero was countering, slamming down her foot with all its weight right onto Huntress' equivalent. Her foot instantly screamed, as if a bone or two had just snapped, but Romero wasn't done, swinging herself around so that she could then send a round house kick into Huntress' ribs. As Huntress fell, the damage to that leg got even more severe. With the foot trapped and the body falling, the pain wasn't hard to understand. It was a sprain at the very least, and perhaps a lot worse. Still, Huntress wasn't giving up either. She still had one good foot, and a quick swipe of it took Romero's feet out from under her too. Floored, both women were then quickly making use of what space they had on the otherwise empty – but burning – landing, rolling away from one another to get the time and space to safely rise to their feet. Once there, they both stared each other down, but, feeling the immense pain at any attempt to put weight on that one leg, Huntress knew that Romero now had the advantage. Romero clearly knew that too, had clearly noticed that Huntress was struggling. For in that moment, the vile, almost victorious smile began to spread.

"It's apt that you shall die amongst the flames," Romero snarled across at her, cockily beginning to encroach forwards slowly instead of just going for the kill. "It means you won't face much change when you arrive at your father's side in hell. There is no other way out of this for you now other than that eternal damnation. You may have destroyed my home, but you've proved it to me now. Just like my dear, old Franco, you are weak. You're unworthy of the name Bertinelli."

"If being a Bertinelli means being like you, I'm glad of that," Huntress quickly countered, testing but again failing to stand on that ankle as Romero got ever nearer. Despite it failing her, though, her resolution stayed strong. The body may have failed but the spirit remained. As did the knowledge that what she was doing, and what she was saying, was right. "This is wrong, what you've been doing here is wrong. Everything you stand for is wrong! You've abandoned every essence of humanity for a lust of power and greed. And as for my father, he did something far nobler than you could ever understand. He and my mother. They made sure that I lived, even in their deaths. So no, Romero. It's you who's weak."

That did it. Romero did not like hearing that at all. Once again, anger took hold where before the smugness had set in. Now, Romero only yelled with that rage. Now, she charged.

Huntress only just managed to shift her weight so as to allow her a defence that was essentially only on one leg. But she did it, and did it just in time too. Romero's strike still hit, but Huntress was able to cushion the blow, to take the real sting out of it. And to catch Romero in the act.

For she had delivered her own blow at the exact same moment, one fist placed low so that Romero would essentially charge straight onto it and take another blow to the gut. The impact was enough to momentarily double her over, sending her head down low, giving Huntress precisely the opportunity she was after. Grabbing hold with her entire arm, Huntress got Romero in a headlock. Then, with all her might and a quick release, she slammed her aunt hard into the crumbling wall.

It wasn't an impact forceful enough to knock Romero out, but she was clearly dazed as she spun back around, blood already spouting from her forehead. But the madness still remained, the inability to give up. And so Romero was soon charging again, screaming blue murder, trying again to give another devastating punch. But she never got to. This time, Huntress simply beat her to it.

The blow landed hard, very hard, right across Romero's chin as Huntress utilised a longer reach. Romero was instantly sent spinning, falling under the impact. She didn't quite hit the floor though. She managed to catch herself on the banister with each arm spread out wide behind her, the same banister that separated the landing from the four storey drop down the grand stairwell. The spin had meant that she was facing Huntress as she landed, still staring daggers at her through the blood now seeping down her face. And still she wasn't ready to surrender, beginning to push herself up, using that banister as leverage.

And then it happened. The fire damage had already been incredibly extensive. It just happened to choose that moment to send the next bit of the top floor falling. Right behind Romero, the entire length of banister toppled like a set of dominoes, falling backwards and into the chasm below.

The banister that Romero's entire weight and balance had been relying upon during that most crucial of seconds...

Huntress didn't think. She just went into autopilot, throwing herself forwards. Earlier she had realised that she couldn't simply end this by killing her aunt, that something inside her had changed and made it so not even her hatred of what someone related to her had become could make her go that far. But it was more than that, it went further than that. She couldn't just let Romero die either. Maybe it was because she was her father's sister, or maybe it was a new general rule. Either way, that was how it was. That was why Huntress couldn't stand back and let her die now. That was why she dove forwards, sliding along to the edge of the remaining floor, in a desperate effort to save Lucia Romero Bertinelli's life.

Romero really was a stubborn sort. Somehow, she had managed to catch herself. By the fingertips of just one hand, she had somehow managed to catch hold of what remained of the landing. But Huntress could now also see what lay below her. No wonder they could really feel the heat up on the top floor. If Romero couldn't hang on, then the intensity of the fire would kill her, even if the fall didn't. And, from the way the floor was now creaking beneath Huntress' weight and from the look of Romero's grip, it was clear that she wouldn't be able to save herself, not in time.

"Give me your hand!" Huntress quickly called down to Romero, thrusting one arm over the edge towards the other woman, desperate for her to take it. Even if she didn't, Huntress moved her other hand to grab a hold of the arm with which Romero was holding on. Her call was enough to make Romero look back up at her, instead of downwards and towards the fiery death that lay below, her face belying how she must surely be feeling. However, she didn't make an instant move to take Huntress' hand either, leading to Huntress to desperately call out again. "Please! Take my hand! No one else has to die today!"

Huntress could now feel herself sweating more than ever before. She could hear the wood groaning, hear it going. She didn't look up, but she was sure another wall had just gone under the flames. The whole house was going to go at any second. It was now or never, or they were both going to die. Romero seemed to have seen that too, a realisation passing over her face in the next moment. Then, her free hand rose, slowly climbing towards the one Huntress had held out. But she didn't take it. No, at the last second, before Huntress could stop her, she did something else entirely. It was the hand with the wrist mounted crossbow that Huntress had had to hold out for her, her other hand trying to hold Romero up should her own grip fail. Romero had seen that too.

And, instead of taking Huntress' hand, she had just snatched the bolt from her crossbow instead.

"No! What are you doing?" Huntress quickly called out in desperation, unable to believe her eyes. "Don't do this! Let me save you!"

"No, Piccolo Helena," Romero sneered up at her, oddly victorious given all of the circumstances. "I will not go back to what I was. I will not go to prison. In failure, I am nothing. But you have just made one thing clear to me. You are weak enough to be unable to let me fall. I am now dead already. But in death, I can hurt you more. Just as your father hurt me."

"No!" Huntress screamed out as she watched Romero raise the bolt. She looked ready, ready to throw it, to try and plunge it through Huntress' skull. Huntress' reaction was instinctive, desperate. She pulled her head back from the edge, to behind the ledge, out of reach, hoping that Romero would throw anyway and miss, that her effort would fail and she could save her anyway.

But Romero really was determined. What she had said was true, Huntress knew that already. She knew that for some reason she had to save her aunt, for the good of her soul. But Romero wasn't about to give her that chance, determined to hurt Huntress at the end, even if it cost her her life.

Which was why she plunged that crossbow bolt hard into Huntress' arm.

The pain was intense, making Huntress yell out as metal dug to bone. There was nothing that she could do, no way of resisting the natural recoil of the arm as a result of that pain. Nothing she could do to hold onto Romero's one means of avoiding the flames. She tried, God knows she tried. But she was too late. By the time Huntress thrust her hand back out in spite of the hurt, by the time she leant back over to see what was happening, it was all too late.

For Romero had let go off the floor. She was falling, falling down, deep, deep down into the fires. And as she fell, she stared back. She saw Huntress' look of horror.

And then she smiled her way through the last seconds to her fiery damnation.

Huntress could only stare, even after Romero's body disappeared into the flames. Shock had taken her, shock and horror. Despite everything that she had done, it had struck her like a bus to just watch Romero die. Despite the house collapsing down all around her, Huntress could do nothing but stare down there in shock, hand still outstretched as if she could still catch Romero, as if it wasn't all too late already. She simply couldn't move, couldn't even begin to try and save herself from the same fate.

It was only when the weight crashed into her that she finally snapped out of it, looking up to see what had just hit her now. For the briefest of devastating moments, she feared it was a part of the roof, feared that she was dead too. It was only as she looked up into the cowl did she realise.

It was Batman. And not only had he grabbed hold of her, pulling her in against his body, but he had also thrown them both over the abyss. Realising what he was doing, Huntress held on tight as he threw am arm up into the air. His grapnel fired, firing straight upwards to given them precisely the line they needed. Thankfully, the roof of the house still had enough strength in it to hold them. The grapnel held. Not only that, but it also helped the pair of them to swing, swinging straight for a window on the bottom floor, a window they were soon crashing through and back out of the house, into the night.

Barely a second later, the whole house collapsed in on itself behind them, leaving only wreckage, flames, and death. There was no better way of describing it.

It was over.