Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Warnings: Angst… violence… crime… kiddies, if your reading this story, don't steal or harm others, karma will eventually happen to you.

Me- before I begin this chapter, I'd like to tell you about Mr. Freeze's gun.

VIH- if you haven't already guessed, it releases ice that can freeze a person whole.

Me- but that's not what I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you have it works. For the sake of this story, the gun is on Mr. Freeze's arm, it's also detachable. Also, the gun works with his energy source.

VIH- that means that he can only use it for a certain amount of time before he will run out of juice and the suite won't be able to maintain the required sub-zero temperatures for him to live.

Me- but he can use it after his suites energy runs out only because it has a back up energy source…

VIH- called Mr. Freeze.

Me- yes, if he uses his own energy he can use the gun longer, but it's risky.

VIH- duh! Oh and one more thing about Mr. Freeze. I looked everywhere and couldn't fine out what disease that his wife had, so because this story is my own interpretation, I'm going to let you think of some horrible chronic disease that next to nobody has and not tell you a specific one.

Me- yes you can make one up if it bothers you that much. Tell me what you thought of, or a really one you want to or not, I may use it, may not… I may just leave it up to you and not write any specific disease for Ryou ever. So there you are, that's all the notes I have to give you to help you understand this chapter a bit better.

Joker- Otogi (thanks to Saelbu)

Penguin- Yami (sorry if that's offensive, it's not meant to be)

Two Face- Malik (thanks to Saelbu)

Harly- Serenity (not Jou's sis anymore MWAHAHAHA! Or is she?)

Cat Woman- Mai (it fits along with the suit… hehe)

Riddler- Yugi (he's good with riddles)

Mr. Freeze- Bakura (white hair)

Poison Ivy- Anzu (well someone has to be her)

Italics- flashback, something being read or watched, you'll know which on by the text.

Cheesy announcer guy- last time on Batman!

"Come sit, we'll get something to eat and you can tell us all about it, then we can head out and save Jou from where ever he is."

"Quick! I'll hold them off, you go and find Jou!" Mr. Freeze yelled fighting Catwoman while Robin was working on Joker.

"No, no, no, no! Stop it! Don't touch me!"

"That's not going to save you Jou, nothing can, except,"

'Hit is going to… If I don't…' he started to feel the tears fall again, 'I wish I hadn't told Kaiba to not come. Please, I don't know how I'm going to survive this, please help me Seto.'

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Honey!" Harly yelled as Robin knocked out her love, Joker. "Now why did you have to be so mean?" Harly asked as she attacked Robin.

"Ahh! Stop!" Robin said as she threw kick after kick at him.

Mr. Freeze looked over; he was getting tired of this. He wasn't even sure if Batman knew where Jou was. 'What if he doesn't make it? What if…' Mr. Freeze was thrown off his train of thought by Catwoman's claws. Now he was mad, not only were people who were supposed to be his partners attacking him, but also he wasn't even sure if his plan worked or not.

"STOP!" He yelled finally breaking down, freezing everyone with in twenty feet of him with his freeze gun, even Robin. "Why are you doing this? We all know that Hit isn't going to be true to his word! I'm tired of all this, I just want to live again! I'm going to leave you like this until I know that nothing worse is going to happen to anyone else!" Everyone just looked at him, bitterly cold and in awe.

"NO!" Everyone turned, or tried to turn, to the scream. Mr. Freeze had a feeling that it was Jou's voice, so he ran into the building to help in any way he could.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Batman was running to each door, putting his ear to it to see if it was the one containing Jou and his attacker, Hit. The noises were getting louder and louder, he knew he was getting closer. A few more doors later Kaiba knew he had the right one.

'Now I need to think of a good plan.' But after hearing Jou's cries for help all rational thought left his mind and he burst in the room, pulling out his bat-a-rang. "Stop, or else."

"Ka… Batman! You're here." Jou said, but he was shut up by Hit's glare. Kaiba tried his hardest to keep his Batman façade up at the sight he saw.

Jou was on his back on a full sized bed, tied very loosely at his wrists and ankles. His boxers, luckily, remained on, not that that was much of a comfort to Kaiba. The bruises and, he assumed whip marks, were almost everywhere on his exposed torso. Kaiba also noted that he was thinner and malnourished-looking.

"Don't move." He said to Hit menacingly. In actuality, Hit staying on top of Jou like that was the last thing he wanted, but he couldn't have Hit make a move to escape, or try to harm Jou again.

"And what if I do Batty?" Hit said, sounding like a crazy man, which he probably was. At this he leaned down closer to Jou's neck. "Isn't he just a doll?" Batman glared. "Are you mad at me? Hehehehe! I bet I could make you even more angry." Hit stated as he took out his dagger. He didn't have time to do anything to Jou though, as Batman threw the bat-a-rang and knocked it out of Hit's hand, leaving a deep cut in its place.

"So you want to mess with me again? This isn't the first time we've met. Remember?" Hit said getting off of Jou.

"I told you not to move." Batman said, not acknowledging the question. In truth, he remembered that night. He beat all Hit's goons, but, Hit and about four others got away. He recently learned that one of those was Jou, and the others were probably still with Hit doing his dirty work.

"Well I do." Hit continued with as much recognition to Batman that he had received himself. "I was close to ruling the world!" Batman wondered why Hit was telling him this, it's not like he cared. "So close, and with Katsu-kun's invention, I was sure to finally win! Then, you somehow heard about where I was hiding, and it was all over." Hit suddenly bent down to the ground to retrieve, not only his knife, but the bat-a-rang as well.

"What are you…?" Before Batman could do anything he was grabbed from behind by one of those old goons. Normally Batman would be able to get out of something like this, but he was stopped by Hit's next move.

"Well, now I believe I will be giving the orders won't I?" Hit gave Batman a crazed smile as he kneeled next to Jounouchi with the knife on his throat.

"Now here's a compromise for you." He was now addressing Jou. "You tell me how to run that machine, and I'll let you and Batman live." Batman tried to make a move, but Hit interrupted him again. "If you make one move I'll kill him batster! AHAHAHAHAHA!" This was Hit's last resort, and he wasn't about to let anything get in the way, he would kill anyone that tried.

"Hit," Katsuya started, "If you kill me, you won't…"

"I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!" Hit yelled at Jou, punching his cheek, resulting in a scream from Jou. He was about to cut Katsu, but Kaiba intervened.

"Stop it!" He yelled.

"I told you to stay still!" Hit yelled stopping an inch from Jou's neck and threw the bat-a-rang at Batman, missing his neck and hitting right below it, on the center of his chest.

"NO!" Jou yelled, pulling on his bonds he watched Batman fall to the ground and the thug run off, scared that Hit would also throw something at him in his demented state.

"Shut up you brat!" Hit said as he struck Jou on the face again, "Now you tell me how to run that machine, or I'll kill your Bat!" Hit threatened as he moved to hover over Kaiba, holding the knife ever so close to his throat.

Jou was at a loss. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't just let Hit kill Kaiba, but he defiantly couldn't tell him how to run that machine, he barely remembered how himself.

"Clock's ticking. Five," Hit started to count down, now Jou was frantic, "four, come now, ever second I'm getting closer, three, two…"

"I lied!" Jou yelled, this was his last chance, and it got Hit to stop. "I… well… the machine, was a fake. I designed it to just look like it would work. There's no way to get it to run." The last thing that Jou saw was an enraged Hit leaping at him before he was knocked out.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Where are they?" Mr. Freeze had looked everywhere for Batman and Jou, finally coming to the group of rooms they all stayed in.

"I lied!" That was Jou! Mr. Freeze knew it. He raced to the door he heard the noise from, but before he could open the door, it was swung open in his face. Mr. Freeze rubbed his helmet looking for any dents feeling slightly dizzy from the force of the door.

"I'll show them! This is it, I'll get what I deserve!" Mr. Freeze heard Hit talking to himself; this was not how he knew Hit to behave. He then saw Hit walking away with an unconscious Batman and Jou in toe.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Freeze asked, getting up, trying to stay steady through his lightheaded state.

"Well, finally here to help are you? Well I don't want anymore help from you." Hit sounded like a little spoiled brat when he said that. To emphasize his point he threw the dagger lightly at Mr. Freeze- he only could do no better while holding the two teens- the dagger only hit Bakura with the handle end and fell to the floor, distracting Mr. Freeze.

"Nice, you really…" But as he looked back up, Hit was gone. "Damn. Where did they go?" Mr. Freeze yelled, running off to try and find where he could have escaped to so fast with such a load.

After running all over the building he finally came to the garage. This was where they had all built the machine that Jou had engineered, even though they didn't have the slightest idea of how it worked. 'I should have thought about coming here first!' Bakura thought as he ran up to the doors. He tried opening them, and they wouldn't budge. "Damn! Its locked!"

"I'm not letting you in Mr. Freeze. You went to find Batman to help Katsuya didn't you? Well, thank you, this turned out well for me." He heard Hit saying from the other side.

"No! Don't do this Hit!" Mr. Freeze yelled.

"Oh? You don't want this? Well, no profit for you, not that I would have given you anything anyways! Hahaha." Hit laughed moving away from the door, presumably to where he had the boys.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Where am I?" Jou said aloud as he tried to rub his head, and, for once, finding his hands free.

"Hello Katsuya." Jou looked around to find where Hit's voice was coming from, but it was too dark in the room.

"Where are you? I told you that the machine doesn't work!" Jou lied, but it was for the best that he did.

"Here." Abruptly a blindingly bright light was turned on and Jou had to shield his eyes so they didn't burn out of his head. He suddenly felt a person materialize next to him and grab his hands, pulling them away from his face.

"You have a choice Jounouchi." Hit said right in his ear. "You can tell me how to work that killer," Hit motioned to the machine, "or you can watch Batman be eliminated." His eyes now adjusted, Jou could see the machine he thought up and Batman hanging from a crane unconscious.

"No!" Hit raised an eyebrow at Jou. "I won't tell you anything. I can't, you'll destroy the world."

"So then Batman's dead?" Hit asked. Jou looked sorrowfully at Batman, dangling helplessly. "Will this isn't what I was expecting, but…" Hit took out the controller that regulates the crane.

Batman was going to be dropped; he'd plummet to the concrete ground, and it would be entirely his fault. "Don't! I…I know how…" Jou couldn't finish his sentence, he couldn't let the world die because of one person, even if he… loved… "No! Don't kill him." Jou lowered his head.

"No, Jou don't!" Jou looked around for whose muffled voice he heard.

"Shut up you traitor." Hit yelled toward the doors.

"Mr. Freeze!" Jou yelled.

"Yes! Don't give up the world!" He heard from behind the large doors.

"But I can't let him die!" Jou was tearing, trying to hold in back, but having a lot of difficulty.

"Shut up you and let him make his own decisions!" Hit yelled as he took something out of his pocket and threw it at the doors. There was an explosion and Jou saw Bakura, helmet broken, lying unconscious on the floor probably ten feet from where he was originally standing.

"Now, do you want to kill anyone else tonight, or just tell me how to run a simple little machine." Jou was now allowing silent tears to flow. "I promise not to kill anyone who doesn't stand in my way." Hit compromised.

Jou looked away from Mr. Freeze, whom he assumed to be dead, and up at Hit. "Oh no, don't give me that face, all teary-eyed and innocent." Hit smiled at him, not with a nice smile, but a demented one.

All Jou could think about was how Bakura only tried to help him, and now he was… He couldn't let this happen to anyone else. Springing up he started to run away, but once he went a few feet, his legs gave way. Jou didn't realize how utterly exhausted he was until this second.

"Aww, is little Katsu tired?" Jou could only lay on the ground breathing deeply and look from Batman to Bakura, not knowing what to do next. "Well, if you just tell me how to work it, not only will Batty here live, but you will too, and you can just live the life you always wanted."

Jou looked over to him, confused, fatigued, and helpless. "Fine." Hit smiled.

"Perfect." Hit walked over to Jou and lifted him, helping him to the machine and into he cockpit. "Here we are."

Hit had won. He would get everything he wanted, power over everything. The life had escaped Jou's eyes, now dull brown orbs used for nothing more then sight. They no longer were windows into his soul as they always were before.

He used those orbs to look at the complicated keyboard that lay in front of him. To tell the truth, Jou could remember exactly how to run his invention, he had blocked that part of his life a long time ago.

"That's right, just show me how to do it ok?" Hit said, clam and motherly, another extreme change, most likely do to the fact that he didn't want to disrupt Jou's thoughts with any harsh word, or he may loss his motivation.

"I remember now." Jou said moving his hands over the buttons.

"Yes, go on and show me." Jou looked up at Hit, who was almost shocked to see the emotionless look of Jou's eyes, but any care was gone before anyone could tell he had it.

"Only I can run it." Jou smiled, his design really was ingenious considering his age at the time. The only way to move the mechanism was for his hand to be on the button. Each one was made to recognize only his print. Jou was almost surprised that Hit didn't notice this and change it, but he probably didn't even look at the blue print, just had the lackeys build it.

"What?" Hit asked, slowly comprehending what Jou told him, and losing his cool with every second.

"It's designed so that I am the only one who can maneuver it." Hit lost it at this and threw Jou out of the small control room. He fell down the stairs, opening wounds and creating new ones.

"You… you bitch!" Hit yelled jumping down the stairs hovering right over Jou. "You did this so that I couldn't use it, and nobody else…" Hit was so infuriated that he kicked Jou hard in his ribs. This rejuvenated Jou's coughing with even more force so that he was retracting and hemorrhaging blood with each cough.

"Well, you know what this means." Hit said as Jou looked up at him through the spasms. Hit just frowned at him as he took out the controller.

"N...no." Jou whispered as he watched Hit press the button releasing Kaiba. Jou couldn't bear to watch Seto fall, so crying and coughing, he looked away.

Silence. Nothing happened; no splat, boom, not a sound. Jou looked up, feeling a sudden chill. There was Kaiba, floating in mid-air. "How?" He then noticed the ice crystals around him, holding him up from the deadly ground. That could only mean one thing.

Jou looked over to the doorframe where Mr. Freeze's body was only minutes before, nothing was there. His crying and coughing had stopped due to his complete state of shock.

"Don't move Hit." Jou looked toward the voice. It was Mr. Freeze! He looked, like he was melting, water trickling from this light blue face.

"Bakura!" Jou yelled passionately, he was dying, but willing to use his last bit of energy to help. Katsuya couldn't help but let sad, yet strangely happy tear flow from his re-energized eyes. Life lived once more in Jounouchi.

The moment was cut short by Hit's interruption, "So, this is how it's going to be hmm? Well, I still have a trick or two up my sleeve." Hit started for his pocket again, but Jou wasn't going to let anything happen this time.

"No!" Jou yelled at him, also used his last bit of energy to tackle Hit. "I won't let you hurt him, or Batman anymore!" Jou, sitting on Hit's back started to go through all the pockets he could find, taking anything out he found useful. Hit struggled as hard as he could, but Jou was exhibiting a strength he'd never seen before, and he let awe pour over him, paralyzing him for a time as Jou rummaged through his stuff.

"Ouch!" Jou said as he retracted his hand from the last pocket. He had cut himself on a knife. Jou couldn't let this stay with Hit so he went right back in and stole it, holding the point to Hit's windpipe. "If you move I'll kill you." Jou threatened. Hit really couldn't believe what was happening. Where was Jou getting this strength? He had starved him, mentally and physically destroyed him, and here he was, pining him down with a knife to his throat.

"I can't let you do this Jou." Hit wasn't out yet. "I have worked my whole life for this, and you'll help me, no matter what!" If Jou could invoke that much strength, then so could he, and then some.

"Don't move… Ah!" Jou was suddenly flipped over. Hit had grabbed his wrist and pulled Jou onto his back, and was now using the knife against him. "No! I can't move."

"That's the idea. Now this is the end of everything! If I can't have the world, there will be no world!" Hit laughed. Looking over at Mr. Freeze who just lowered Batman safely to the ground by retracting the ice with his freeze-gun. "You will be first Mr. Freeze." Hit threw the knife toward him with speed and precision.

"No!" Jou yelled. He couldn't let this happen! Bakura couldn't really die! But before the knife got close enough to him, Mr. Freeze let out more energy then he could possible have from the gun, stopping and freezing the knife.

"Don't worry Jou," Mr. Freeze said, sounding as dead a he looked. "This isn't the end." And with that He gave one last blasted, blowing Hit off of Jou and frozen beyond repair on the ground next to him.

Jou couldn't believe it. 'Is this the end of Hit? Is he really…?' Before Jou could think anymore, he heard a thump. "Bakura!" He yelled, having just enough energy to crawl over to the fallen superhero.

"Bakura?" He didn't respond. "No, you can't die! Please!" Jou was crying more then he ever remembered crying before. "I didn't get to tell you, that you're my hero Bakura. The hero never dies."

Jou laid down his head on his friend's stomache, crying until he passed out, loosing himself to a long black, oblivion.

:-:-:-:-:-:

"How much longer till you think they will be awake?" The multi-million dollar CEO asked his highly paid doctor.

"They could wake up now or in a month. It's a coma sir." The doctor replied looking at the boy in the comfortable hospital bed. "Whatever happened to him, it wasn't something that the body can just come out of so quickly."

"But it's almost been two months." Seto Kaiba said as calmly as he could in his anger.

"All I can tell you is to have hope that they'll live to see the sun again… one day." And with that somber piece, the doctor left to check on the other patient.

Kaiba walked over to the chair by Jounouchi Katsuya's bed. It had been fifty-one days since the night that he went out with Bakura to find Jou, and here he was.

Kaiba felt a pain in his chest at where he was struck with Hit's knife. It was healing nicely, at least that's what the doctors say. But every time he thought about that night, the pain would come back. He doesn't know if it's because just thinking about it puts the feeling of a thousand weights on his chest, or it just isn't healing as nicely a he's been lead to believe, but he can still feel the pain shoot through him like he was being stabbed again.

He looked over to Jou. Most of the bruises had healed and cuts, been mended. Hit was pronounced dead when Kaiba brought all the players in his very real nightmare to the hospital. Mokuba and the other super-villains didn't get it too bad, barely avoiding terrible frostbit, but that's all. Mokuba was doing well; he got over the fever from being too cold a while ago.

Then there was Jou and Bakura. After Kaiba woke up from his knocked out state, he noticed first that it was midday because of the sunlight filtering in through the windows, and two bodies, one on top of the other, a few meters away from him. He painfully walked over to the people; he noticed it was Bakura and Jou. He didn't feel the normal prangs of jealously at the position they were in, because of the state they were in.

The rightly named "Mr. Freeze" had no helmet anymore; all that remained was sharp pieces of glass sticking out of the metal bottom of the helmet. His normally blue and freezing face looked only slightly blue and very pale, almost normal. Kaiba thought he was dead at first. Then there was Jou, still in his boxers, and covered with even more cuts and mares then before. The scariest part was the small line of blood coming from his mouth. Kaiba then noticed more blood over toward a metal machine. Seto thought that if he didn't do something soon, Jounouchi would surely die from blood lose, so he first only took Jou and Mokuba to the hospital. Then coming back for Mr. Freeze, calling the cops to take care of the rest.

After a month the super-villains and Mokuba were fine, but Mr. Freeze and Jou were pronounced comatose.

"Mr. Kaiba?" Another doctor came in, looking pleased. "The antidote that you have requested for the disease of Mr. Ryou is almost complete. We just need to do a few more tests, but all others have proven to work."

Kaiba just nodded and the doctor went on her way to do the rest of the experiments. He went to Bakura's room now, walking in as the first doctor left.

"Sir, there aren't any changes I can see in his condition. At least its not getting worse." the Doctor added, trying to sound encouraging, but Kaiba just ignored him and went inside.

"Well I kept my promise Bakura." Kaiba said to the unconscious body, "I've funded the research that will cure Ryou." Kaiba smiled sadly, "you'll probably be mad at me for not waiting for you to help with the research." Seto laughed at himself. He didn't know what else to say. He had only just "met" Bakura a little bit ago, and it wasn't like he could respond. So Kaiba just looked over the monitors and went back to Katsuya's room.

"Jou," Kaiba whispered to Katsuya as he sat back down in his chair. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been more of a help to you." Seto lifted his hand to Jou's face. He was looking better, more nourished-looking, and the bruises were gone, and the cuts were now only scars. His hand crossed over the especially bad scar on Jou's cheek left by Catwoman, she had told the police about it.

"We better do something about this one." Kaiba said to Jou. "I could pay for some surgery when you wake up to get ride of it. For now, we're just putting medicine on it, it's supposed to get ride of scars." Kaiba stopped stroking Jou's face as he felt the vibrations of his cell phone from his pocket.

"What?" Kaiba asked the person on the other line.

"Mr. Kaiba, there was a problem with the new gaming system and we can't handle it."

"Fine I'm not my way." Kaiba slammed the phone shut and put it away. Looking over to Jou he could bring himself to say goodbye, so he just left.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Me- saddening isn't it?

VIH- well I got this out much faster… and by that I mean more people better review me!

Me-:ignoring VIH: The next chapter should be better though. And by that I mean not so sad :glares at VIH:

VIH- did you know that my initials backwards make HIV? That's depressing.

Me- you just noticed this.

VIH- … well I'll update again soon, just remember to review my little friends! … Not that you're smaller then me… Actually I'm kind of short, so… review my maybe smaller, maybe taller, maybe same heighted friends!

Me- … Write more later-.-;