"She's breathing. SHE'S BREATHING!"
A deep, masculine voice could be heard. The eyelids fluttered open.
Then a squeakier, but by no means squeaker voice could be heard.
"Give her oxygen NOW!"
Suddenly, she was full of life, her eyes opened wide to a police officer's face.
"Woah...woah...take it easy."
She did as she was told, and breathed in slowly. And oxygen mask was on her face, supplying her with the life giving gas.
As soon as her senses came back, she felt very, very cold. She then heard the squeakier voice.
"Give her this."
Red Bird unclasped his cape and threw it at the officer, who then wrapped the cape around her. She felt surprisingly warm. She looked to her left and saw Red Bird pressing his hands repeatedly onto Scarlett's chest. She also noticed that he had a long sheath at his side with the hilt on top. He leaned his ear towards her mouth and shot right back up.
"Throw me the oxygen!"
The officer threw another oxygen mask and canister at him, which Red Bird caught easily. He then began to supply Scarlett with oxygen.
Scarlett coughed a few times before opening her eyes again. After confirming that she was going to live, Red Bird handed her a jacket, compliments of a citizen. He then stood up and walked away.
He walked up to a wall turned around and slowly slid his back down the wall until he was sitting down. He laid his head down for a short nap. He was exhausted.
Klara then saw a baby being cradled by its mother, and it was crying. She was unfamiliar with the baby's behavioral pattern, but even she knew something wasn't right.
"What's wrong?"
"She's hungry, I haven't fed Mandy since lunch!"
Klara assumed Mandy was the baby's name and made her own inference. Her own mother taught her some of the basics of how to take care of a baby.
"Why don't you breastfeed her?"
The mother blushed.
"She's 3 years old, too old for that activity."
She only knew the basics.
"Oh..um...here."
She raised her arm, hoping for a stem growing vegetables or fruit to appear.
But it didn't.
She stared, confused, at her hand. She tried again, but nothing happened.
"GROW!"
She commanded, but no plant ordered. The mother was also very confused at her behavior, but even more afraid of her seemingly insane actions.
"Here."
Red Bird then handed a fist-full of crushed up granola bars.
"Sorry, he only eats baby food."
He ignored the mother, and placed the hand right in front of the baby's face. The baby leaned its head forward and it began to eat the crushed up granola bars.
The mother was frightened at first, but then shocked when she saw the baby actually eating food that isn't considered baby food.
Klara nudged Red Bird's shoulder. He grunted quietly in pain. His shoulder was heavily bruised.
"How did you know the baby was going to eat it?"
He looked on at the feasting baby.
"It's because my mother fed me this way."
"But, it's not even supposed to be baby food, what did she feed you when you were just a baby?"
He looked on at the baby, he was even tempted to caress its seemingly innocent face.
"Let's just say, my mother never treated me like a baby."
Scarlett's voice could then be heard.
"What happened? And what's with the rubble?"
"Well, after your questionable method of saving failed, resulting in you 2 becoming ice sculptures, Dr. Freeze released a lot of liquid nitrogen. Long story short, I used you 2 as skis to get away. When I realized the gas was faster than me, well, I had to blow up the foundations to stop the gas in its tracks. If the rubble weren't there in the first place, we'd be frozen by now. You can thank me later for me saving you, while I thank you for the horrendous plan you called a rescue."
Klara stood up to him.
"We tried to save you, can't you appreciate that?"
"What happened, is that, you two got frozen, I ended up exerting more energy to save you two, and to save all of us, I had to cut ourselves off from our means of escape. So fine. THANK YOU FOR THIS FUCKING MESS!"
Klara winced. Scarlett turned around and bit her lip in shame. Red Bird sighed.
"Look, maybe I am a bit harsh. I can shout and criticize all day long, but what's happened, happened and now we have to figure out a way to help ourselves."
Red Bird turned around and walked up to a pile of fragile, dirty objects.
"And a good way to start is with a fire."
He took out a flint and created sparks by grinding it with his tomahawk. He placed his hands around the fire and blew on it. Slowly, but surely it grew into a larger flame.
He took out him gloves and revealed his purple fingers and held it near the fire. They were very close to becoming frost bitten. Klara and Scarlett sat opposite of him and also extended their hands.
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait...we wait till someone finds us."
Red Bird continues to stare aimlessly into the fire as if something was going to happen, but nothing did. He stayed there...waiting...waiting...
He felt as if he was moving, but he didn't feel like "he was moving". He felt as if his body was pulling him downwards, yet he felt as if his arms weren't.
Then his hearing slowly came back. Dull crackles, developed into fatigued footsteps. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the ground below him move behind like a current.
His ribs still felt very painful, but it became more bearable. He raises his head and saw Question to his right and limping Jason to his left.
Question turned to face him.
"It's about time you woke up."
Jason mumble something before he collapsed. Garfield caught him and carried him over his shoulder.
"You mind carrying this too?"
He was referring to the unconscious Batgirl. He nodded, and grabbed Batgirl and placed her over his other shoulder.
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in days!"
"Let's just say, I was kidnapped by someone who looked like me. Fortunately, he challenged me to a fight. His martial arts and physicality could do some tweaking."
"Two of you? One is already a handful for the world to handle."
"Humorous as usual, he looked like me, but he was no clone."
Garfield's eyes widened as he remembered what he was missing!
"Where's T'Challa?"
"Who?"
"T'CHA-Uh I mean BLACK PANTHER!"
"You're the only one we saw. We didn't have time to look around since. Especially for this person named after an animal."
Garfield sighed.
"Nevermind...anyways...what the hell is it so FUCKING COLD?"
"Dr. Freeze, he's the only one here that primarily associates with cold elements, but this is...a new level."
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere warm...preferably."
"We can't."
"We won't if we don't quicken our pace."
"No, I mean, we need to stop him, before Gotham is consumed in an ice-age."
"We don't where we are, let alone him. How do you suggest we defeat him? We have 2 unconscious allies and 4 that aren't accounted for as of late."
Garfield rubbed his chin as they walked into an abandoned building.
"Good question."
Garfield shivered a bit. The temperature was dropping rapidly.
"We'll stop here. I'll start a flame."
He gathered a small clutch of thin and dry debris and used two rocks to make a spark. After a few tries, a small fire started. He protected the flame with his hands and gently blew into it. All this happened in less than 10 seconds, he was an exceptional survivor.
He sat down next to fire and took a deep breath. Not much could be heard, except from the occasional explosion.
He felt relieved that almost all of the robots were gone. However, Gotham seemed too calm.
He knew he can't stay there for long. If they want to stop themselves from freezing to death, they would have to confront Dr. Freeze. Jason and Batgirl were still unconscious. Garfield himself, still had multiple broken and bruised bones and Question? Question and him will not be able to defeat Dr. Freeze, he knew it.
He bowed his head, thinking of a solution.
'No time to worried about others. It's time we start winning.'
It was dark...very dark. Ruffling noises could be heard. Suddenly to parallel eye shape openings appeared, revealing what looked like a door. A feminine voice with a slight Arabic accent could be heard. "So, the wild stallion took off in a blur of speed and...Damian?" Gradually louder, yet gentle footsteps could be heard. Suddenly the door opened revealing a very feminine figure. "Where are you Damian?" A squeaky, boyish voice could be heard. "Here, Mama...Look...I'm a bat." The scene reveals a smiling Talia walking up to Damian, who was in a Batman suit that was far too large for a child like him. She kneeled down to his height and gently took off the suit off of him. "Not yet, Damian, but someday...you will be." "Mama, I'm hungry." Damian didn't recall saying that. He wasn't even saying anything. It was another voice...another child's voice.
"Mama, I'm hungry, my stomach hhuuurrrttts." He then say her lips say. "Oh God, if I could give you any food, I would! I swear I would." It definitely wasn't him and his mother...the voice, the new voice wasn't his mother's. Damian raised his eyebrows. "Mama?" Talia bowed her head and began to cry. "Ssshhh, you don't need to cry...shh..shh." "Mama?"
"Mama? Mama?"
Klara looked at him curiously and nudged him a bit.
But a little nudge was enough set off is automatic security protocol.
His body shot right up and he brought a tomahawk right up to her neck.
He was agitated, but then he calmed down as soon as he realized who it was.
"Don't scare me like that."
"If anyone was scared, it would've been me, since you have a bloodied blade to my throat!"
"Touche."
He withdrew his tomahawk and lay his back on the ground. Klara didn't know what he meant, and was still dazzled by the word. He then heard the same voice.
"Don't worry, after this blows by, Mama will buy a bucket of cookies and cream ice-cream just for you. You just have to wait a little longer."
"Ok mama...I'll wait."
Red Bird titled his head and saw a brunette woman cradling a boy no older than 9 years. He rolled onto his belly and got up. His stomach growled and suddenly he felt very hungry. He took out his last remaining food items. 3 British ration bag full of beans and sausages. To this day, though he doesn't admit it, he thought the British had good taste.
He looked at the boy who was grabbing his empty stomach. In these cold temperatures, everyone's metabolism increased to make up for the heat needed to keep themselves at a safe temperature. It was taking a toll out of everyone, starting with the children. His stomach growled again. Red Bird may have the mind of an old, gruff man, but he still had the metabolism of boy in his mid-teens.
'You can never give enough.'
He opened one bag and grabbed a handful of the beans and sausages and gobbled it down quickly, he then dropped the bag on Klara. She looked up at him in shock, but his kept a stoic expression.
"Distribute the food to all the children. They'll need it the most."
He then walked to the edge of the frozen sewer water and turned around.
"Everybody! Listen up! I want you all to stay as far from the ice as you can."
Everyone looked at Red Bird and immediately followed his commands. Klara is seen pouring some rations on the open palms of a little girl. She smiled at her and patted her on the head.
Scarlett was also distributing with rations.
Red Bird then took out a scan and sprayed some foam on the ice. He wrote a R on the ice and took out a detonator. As he looked away, he pressed it, creating a small localized blast that made a hole in the ice. He took a deep breath and dived into the cold water. The sewer water was extremely murky, not to mention disgusting, but he ignored the discomfort. It turns out the sewer water was a whooping 30 feet deep. As he dived to the bottom, he placed a satchel charge on it and primed it, he swam as quickly as he can back to the surface.
As he pulled himself out of the water, everyone could see he was covered in hair, rotten food, and most notably, feces. By this time, they were used to the smell of the sewer water, but seeing what it contained was a whole different story. Some of the people puked right there and then.
Suddenly a blast could be heard creating a small water-spout. Red Bird became covered in every more sewer water.
But then the water level was shrinking rapidly through the hole the explosive made. Eventually, all the water poured out of the hole into a vast system of sewers and catacombs.
The people went to the edge of the platform and saw a large gaping hole. One police-officer asked.
"What is that?"
Red Bird tried to wipe away more of the sewage contents from his suit, helmet and face.
"Ideally...our way out."
SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. IT'S HARD TO MOVE PAST A WRITER'S BLOCK, BUT I GOT PAST THIS ONE. I'LL TRY MY BEST TO GET PAST MORE OF THEM IN THE FUTURE. BTW...I REALIZED A HUGE MISTAKE. DR. FREEZE IS SUPPOSED TO BE MR. FREEZE!
ANOTHER THING I FORGOT TO MENTION IS THAT WHEN A CHARACTER'S NAME IS SHOWN(GARFIELD, DAMIAN, CASS, JASON ETC.) IT MEANS THEIR HEADS CAN BE SEEN, OR THEY'RE OUT OF COSTUME. WHEN IT MENTIONS THE NAME OF A HERO/VILLAIN (REAPER, RED BIRD, SUPERGIRL ETC.) IT MEANS THAT THEY HAVE THEIR COSTUMES ON.
THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS, FAVS, AND FOLLOWS AND HOPEFULLY THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL COME OUT SOON.