The rest of the day passed fairly smoothly. The tension between Starfire and Tim's adopted siblings vanished when Tim summarized his discussion with the alien girl. Dick and Barbara accepted that Starfire's failure to discuss the problems inherent to her relationship with their little brother had not come from indifference or malice but from different cultural views. Apologies were made, and the couples parted on good terms. The rest of the team was relieved- though they didn't know the source of the tension, they had been fully aware that something was wrong, and they were pleased that whatever it was had been resolved.

At nine o'clock that night, the assembled heroes while Batman laid out his plans for the night.

"Tonight, I'm going to divide you into pairs to better cover the city. Cyborg and Starfire, I want you to search the Industrial Heights area for signs of Killer Croc- there've been reports of missing pets and vagrants in that area, and these are generally good indicators of his presence. Batgirl and Raven, you will sweep the docks- Mister Freeze needs large amounts of space and access to water to build and maintain his freezing apparatus. Finally, Robin and I will find the Riddler- we'll be searching through some of his old hideouts for any sign of him. Remember, if you find your target report in before taking further action. I believe all of you are capable heroes but it never hurts to be safe. Are there any questions?"

"I have one" Nightwing replied from his place near the Batcomputer. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to run a few sweeps of the city in general" his mentor replied. "Keep an eye out for anything unusual and be ready to supply support, but more than that, I want you to watch over the city. Word of Crane's achievement may have reached the underworld by now, and the smaller players may feel that, with my attention diverted, they can do as they please. They must be disabused of this idea."

"Oh, don't worry about that" Nightwing replied airily, casually racking the knuckles of one fist. "I'm sure I'll be able to convince them; maybe appeal to their better natures."

"I also have a question" Starfire said carefully, shooting nervous glances at Nightwing. "Why are we to be split up at all? Would it not be better if I were to work with Robin, and you were to work with Cyborg? I do not object to working with Cyborg at all, but it seems to me that each team should have one member who is familiar with this city."

Batman nodded. "True, but I chose these teams for a reason. Robin and myself have the most experience with the Riddler- we are familiar with his thought patterns and have experience with his puzzles. You and Cyborg are the most powerful close quarters fighters, which means you'll be able to battle Killer Croc most effectively. But you also possess formidable ranged combat abilities, meaning you'll also be able to take him out before he can fight back. Finally, Cyborg's enhanced senses will be vital in tracking Croc through the sewers, his favorite hiding place. Lastly, the team of Raven and Batgirl will be sent after Mister Freeze due to that villain's penchant for large numbers of henchmen- both girls are well-suited to battling large groups of assailants. However, due to Raven's sensitivity to the mentally ill, she should avoid direct contact with Mister Freeze himself and restrict herself to battling his thugs. If that is all, we'll begin preparations for the night."

The team spent another hour making themselves ready for the nights work. While the native Gothamites prepared their arsenals and vehicles, their friends from Jump City went over dossiers containing information about their targets for the evening. Eventually, they were ready and the teams headed for their respective rides. Batman and Robin took the Batmobile, Cyborg, Starfire and Nightwing rode one of Batman's spare cars (a jet black sedan with no license plate) and Raven and Batgirl departed on her motorcycle.

Batgirl stopped her bike once they reached the outskirts of Gotham's vast waterfront district. Raven gratefully stepped off the bike- she didn't much like the noise or the speed which accompanied motorcycles and found it a relief to be back on her own feet. Once Batgirl had secured her ride behind a pile of discarded shipping containers, the two heroines began their search. Reasoning that height would provide a better chance of spotting their quarry, Raven carried them up to the roof of the nearest warehouse building. From there the two began to move silently down the docks- Batgirl leaping and swinging from building to building while Raven slowly floated over the street. They moved slowly, keeping an eye out for anything or anyone unusual.

After more than two hours of searching, Batgirl signaled to Raven to approach. The empathy slowly lowered herself down to rooftop level and shot her partner a questioning look. Batgirl pointed down at a small building on the street below them.

"There" she said "Saw a man enter wearing thick winter coat and gloves. Think it worth checking?"

Raven wiped the sweat from her brow. "Given that it must be eighty degrees out and humid, I'd have to say yes. What sort of question is that?"

"Joke" Batgirl replied, sheepishly. "Trying sarcasm."

"Mmph. Keep trying." Raven said as she enveloped them both in a telekinetic field and lowered them to ground level.

Approaching the building- which was really more of a shack- the girls examined it minutely. It was a standard pre-fab building, the sort which is frequently used on construction sites as a temporary office suite. From its size, it appeared to contain three or perhaps four small rooms. Placing her hand at the bottom of the door, Batgirl could feel an unnatural cold draft wafting from inside. She quickly imparted this information to Raven, who immediately triggered her communicator.

"Raven to Oracle. We believe we have found one of Mister Freeze's henchmen. We've cornered him in a small building at the docks, near the" here Raven paused to glance up at the nearest large warehouse "Kelperman Rug Importers warehouse. It seems unlikely that Mister Freeze himself is here, so we are going in. Do you have any instructions?"

"Oracle here." Came the reply. "No special instructions- capture the henchman and interrogate him. Freeze rarely shares any of his cryotechnology with his goons, but be alert for conventional arms. Report back to me once you've questioned him. Oracle out."

"All right, let's go in." Rave said, closing her communicator and lowering her hood.

"Both?" Batgirl replied quizzically. "Think it better if we split up- I go in to capture him, you wait outside in case he runs. Or has back up."

Raven shook her head. "Batgirl, if the last few months have taught me anything it's that it can be dangerous to underestimate an opponent. For one thing, he may be well-armed or have partners waiting inside. For another, something about this doesn't seem right."

"What you mean?" Batgirl asked as she sized up the door and reached into her utility belt for a lock pick.

"I mean, why is that building so cold?" Raven asked. "The only answer that makes any sense is that Mister Freeze himself is in there, but from what the files told me it's far too small for his needs"

Batgirl paused in the act of inserting her lockpick. "That's…true." She said. "Not thought of it that way. Okay. Together. But carefully and quietly."

The lock offered a few seconds resistance and the door opened onto a nearly pitch black room. The two girls linked hands, too avoid separation before entering. Their first step carried them onto a woven rug… which vanished as the floor slid away beneath their feet, depositing them on a sharply angled ramp leading underground. The sudden shift in angle, combined with the thin coating of ice which covered the ramp, caused the young heroines to lose their footing and slide helplessly down into the darkness. Above, the floor slid back into position, sealing the exit.

Raven couldn't tell how long she'd been sliding down the ramp. Her mind told her that it couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen seconds, but her body insisted that- as cold and sore as it felt- it must have been much longer than that. Nevertheless, eventually the ramp ended and the two girls crashed onto the floor in a heap.

"Batgirl?" Raven said, rubbing her head and looking around for her partner "are you okay?"

"Be fine" Came the muffled reply. "Soon as you get your butt off my face."

Raven scrambled to her feet and forced down her embarrassment. "Sorry." She said as soon as she felt in control. In an attempt to change the subject, she raised her communicator to her ear.

"Raven to Oracle, we'" She was cut off by a tremendous burst of static from her communicator which set her hair on end. Clicking the device off as fast as possible, she turned to her partner. "What's wrong with it?"

"Probably blocked." Batgirl replied as she rubbed her shoulders. "Titans communicators not made to go too far underground. Would use mine, but it broke in crash. Someone landed on it. Someone who needs a diet."

Raven blushed and scowled at the same time, but couldn't get too angry. Batgirl's tone indicated that the quiet girl was trying to lighten a bad situation with humor- albeit poor and insulting humor- and that no actual harm was meant. "So what now?"

Batgirl shivered and blew on her hands. "First need to do something about cold. Must be below freezing here. Forty below at least. This my summer uniform- can't handle that sort of cold."

Raven concentrated for a moment and a thin layer of dark energy enveloped the pair. Immediately, they both began to warm up. Opening her eyes, Raven gave Batgirl a nod. "There. That should be enough to protect us from the cold all night if need be- it doesn't take much energy for me to hold it up. Now what? I could teleport us out, if you think that's wise."

Batgirl shook her head. "No. Freeze knows we're here. If we leave, he'll move his base. May not be able to find it again so easily. Better to proceed." The girls looked around them to get some idea of where they were. They seemed to be in the middle of a very long corridor. The path ahead and behind them both seemed to stretch on forever. Batgirl held up a hand and pointed behind them. "Breeze coming from that direction. As good a way as any."

The pair proceeded in silence for some minutes until Raven spotted something. Putting out a hand to stop Batgirl, she pointed to where someone had written something on the wall using what looked like black marker. It read:

Don't go this way it's a ded end. Just a big fan. This place is a mays.

-Davey

Raven glanced at Batgirl and tapped the message. "Do you think it's real? Or a trick?"

Batgirl considered this before shaking her head. "Why bother with trick? We're trapped. Assume it's real. Go the other way."

Turning around the girls walked on. Eventually they came to a place where the corridor branched off into three paths. Raven turned to Batgirl, who shrugged and pointed to the right most path. "Good a choice as any."

However, they'd gone no further than ten feet before spotting another message on the wall.

This paths no gud. It circles around and the second corridors the exit. Left choice seems best.

-Davey

The girls headed back and began down the left most path. As they went, Raven asked a question that had been bothering her for a while. "How did Freeze build a maze this big under the city in so short a time? Why did he even bother?"

"How is easy" Batgirl replied "Gotham built on top of Gotham. During Cold War, government built lots of secret bunkers all around the city. Forgot them afterwards. Easy enough to fix one up. Why is also easy. Perfect defense. Intruders get lost and freeze to death. If not, Freeze has plenty of time to be ready for them."

"So we're walking into a trap" Raven said, matter-of-factly.

Batgirl gestured to the winding corridor behind them. "Not much else we can do. No way out. Can't stay here. Need to go forward and hope we're ready."

The girls continued through the winding maze, aided by periodic notes from the mysterious 'Davey', warning them about dead ends and wrong turns ahead. Though both girls were in good shape, the hours spent walking the massive labyrinth began to take their toll and they could feel their physical strength beginning to wane. Eventually, they came to a long straight corridor. Slumped against one wall was the frozen corpse of a vagrant. His skin was puffy and blue, while his fingers were black with frostbite. Above him a final message was scrawled.

Theres a door ahead but its lokked. I cant turn back and I cant go on- im just too cold. Tell my famly im sorry. I dint mean to hert them- I just wasn't strong enuf to stop

-David Cooper

"Poor man. Probably wandered in for shelter. Got lost. Remember the name- we'll inform the police later." Batgirl said, breaking the icy crust on his skin to close his eyes. Turning to Raven, she saw the empathy rubbing her head. "You okay?"

"I- I don't know" Raven answered. "It's getting harder to use my powers, like something was draining them away. I think Freeze's presence is interfering with my powers. If we're going forward, we'd better do it now."

Batgirl nodded and approached the door. After a quick check to ensure that it wasn't reinforced she kicked violently at the upper right corner, where she estimated the hinge to be. Immediately, the door's hinges – weakened as they were by the extreme cold- snapped completely. The doorcrashed to the floor, revealing a large and well-equipped laboratory, much colder than the rest of the lair. Ice covered much of the floor, and thick icicles hung from numerous places on the ceiling. The room was lit by bare fluorescent lights which caused a harsh glare from the icy room. On every table were copies of Freeze's trademark weapon in various stages of disassembly.

The two heroines had only a split second to take in this detail however, as a coruscating beam of blue energy lanced out from the far corner of the room. Raven was hit almost immediately, and within a second her body was encased in ice up to her shoulders. Batgirl, drawing on her long experience in battling Mister Freeze, was able to dodge for a few moments but eventually her fatigue and the cold of the chamber caused her to slow, and the beam encased her in ice as well.

It was then that Raven noted something that should have filled her with fear- she was unable to use her powers. It wasn't a question of being unable to assert control of them, as had occasionally happened before. Nor was it a case of her emotions being too strong and chaotic to be harnessed, as occurred in her encounters with the Joker. It was as though someone had flipped a switch and turned off both her powers and her emotions. She was unable even to feel much fear at this prospect. She could only watch with mild anxiety as a tall figure made its way across the room, its heavy metallic footsteps resonating like thunder.

"So, there are only two of you. It was exceedingly foolish of you to venture into my domain alone." Mister Freeze said, and Raven noticed that his voice was utterly devoid of any feeling whatsoever. "I must know what brought you here. Certainly, I have done nothing as yet to warrant the Bat's attentions. Tell me, now, and your deaths will be swift."

Raven decided to answer- which was in itself a struggle, as the intense cold was beginning to slow her thoughts and set her teeth to chattering. "W-We n-n-need information on Sc-Scarecrow. H-h-he kidnapped one of the T-T-Ta-Titans."

"Ah." Freeze said, nodding his head as though confirming something. "I see. So. That is what Crane was bragging about."

"Wh-What?" Raven said, forcing herself to focus. "Y-You know something?"

"I know many things." Freeze replied. "For instance, I know that soon you will be dead. In approximately twenty minutes, the cold in this room combined with the ice encasing your body will cause you to experience hypothermic shock. Your body will slowly shut down, eventually causing your heart to stop. None of which is my concern."

"P-please!" Raven begged, defying the cold and forcing herself to speak clearly. "If you know where h-he took my… friend, then you must tell us!"

"No." Freeze replied, his voice as icy and flat as ever. Turning away, he holstered his weapon and strode towards a work bench. "I owe you nothing girl, and your suffering is no less than what you and the whole world deserve. Besides, I have seen the news reports- the Titan reported as missing, this Beast Boy, is nothing but a fool and a clown. The world is better for his loss."

"NO!" Raven cried. As the cold began to overwhelm her brain, she found herself babbling more to the frozen fiend than she ever wanted to. "He's more than that! He's a brave friend and a good man! He reaches out to everyone and treats them equally no matter what! He… he reached out to me, and became my friend, my lover, despite what I am. He- he makes me feel alive, and warm, and loved. He, he…"

"He brings the spring into your life" Freeze said, quietly. For the first time, Raven could hear a trace of emotion- envy? Regret? Sadness? All of those at once?- in his voice. Turning back towards her, he strode forward until he was only a foot away. Leaning forward, the blue skinned former scientist said: "Be very still. This will likely hurt a great deal."

Latching on to the ice that encased much of the gray girl's body, Freeze dug the fingers of his metal suit into the ice and pulled. With a crack, the icy cocoon split in two, freeing Raven from its grip (and tearing off what felt like a layer of skin. The young empathy collapsed to the floor in a shivering heap. Freeze strode over to a locker and pulled out a battery powered heater. Returning to Raven's side, he switched it on and knelt down beside her.

"Listen to me carefully girl. I, too, once had someone who brought spring into my life- a warm-hearted Persephone to my cold-hearted Hades. She is lost to me now, lost forever, but it is not too late for you to save your own. Because of this, I will aid you." Freeze paused for a moment, and when he spoke again it was in his previous emotionless tone. "Crane told me that he would be staying off the streets for some time, as he had a project which would be keeping him very busy. Moreover, he asked me where he might find laboratory equipment of exceedingly low weight. When I asked why, he replied that his current lair could not support a great deal of weight. Wherever he is, I believe he will be somewhere high up, and I believe that he will be well hidden. That is all I can tell you. I will free your friend and then I will depart. Tell Batman of this lair if you wish, by the time he arrives I will be long gone."

Raven nodded and then focused on warming herself in front of the small (but surprisingly powerful) heater. She heard the sound of shattering ice, and noticed Freeze dumping Batgirl in front of the heater. Forcing herself to stay awake, she heard Freeze's footsteps retreating from the room, taking with him (presumably) his various weapons.

Almost as soon as he departed, she felt her powers beginning to return, as well as her emotions. Fear, happiness and embarrassment warred within her psyche, but she dominated them by pure will. Reaching over to Batgirl she saw that the masked girl was in fair shape, and that she herself had suffered little in the way of physical trauma. After healing a few spots of frostbite, she closed her eyes and focused on the Batcave and with a burst of black energy, the two girls teleported away.

Alfred had been in the Batcave doing routine maintenance on the Batwing when he heard a sound like the cry of some monstrous bird. Racing into the main chamber, he found Batgirl and Raven collapsed on the floor, their clothes sopping wet and their skin dangerously pale. Raven turned to him and managed a weak smile.

"Glad it's you. Freeze got us pretty bad. Need… need to…" Raven trailed off and, her strength spent, fell forward into unconsciousness.

Alfred wasted not a moment, but sprang into action. Knowing from firsthand experience just how deadly Mister Freeze's ray could be, he hurriedly carried the girls to the medical bay. Once there, he prepared the heated bath units designed for precisely this purpose. Once that was done, he began to prepare the girls- first removing their wet clothing, then toweling off their skin (to remove any ice particles and to restore circulation) before placing them in the baths. That done, he headed upstairs to prepare some nourishment before contacting the others.

Raven awoke from a typically dreamless slumber to find herself lying in a warm bath, her head resting ona a thick layer of padding. Although everything below her neck was covered by the bathtubs metal lid, it wasn't long before she realized she was naked. She blushed momentarily at the implications of that, but reminded herself that the Englishman had been right to do just as he had done. Beside her, Batgirl sat in her own tub, sipping from a mug of tomato soup. Seeing her friend was awake, Cassie gestured to a mug of soup beside Raven's own tub.

After a few sips of soup, Raven offered her friend a small, sad smile. "SO that could have gone better."

"True." Cassie replied "Have a question. What happened to your powers?"

"Mister Freeze happened." Raven replied with a grimace.

"Like with Joker?" Cassie asked. Following the Joker's defeat, Raven had told her friends the truth about his effect on her. Despite a little anger, the Titans had accepted that Raven had been too embarrassed to tell them the truth at the time and the only consequences were a lecture on honesty (from Robin) and some light ribbing about the dangers of addiction (from Cyborg).

"No" Raven said, shaking her head and drinking some more soup. It really was quite good. "No, nothing like that. How can I explain it? Um. When I was first learning to use my powers in Azerath, my tutors compared them to a bonfire fueled by my emotions. IF I let the fire have too much fuel, it would burn out of control. If I give it too little it burned low. Being around the Joker was like having someone shoot gasoline onto the fire- my emotions got too strong to be controlled. Being around Freeze was like throwing a bucket of water onto the fire- it doused both my powers and my emotions."

"Interesting." Came a voice from the other side of the room. Whirling her head around, Raven was surprised to see the Dark Knight seated in a chair in the far corner of the room.

"How long have you been there?" She asked sharply, feeling exposed despite the fact that her body was sealed from sight.

"Long enough to be sure you were both all right" Batman replied. "Now, report"

A/n

Longish.

Hypothermia victims are often given hot baths as soon as their wet clothing can be removed. I have no idea if this is standard practice, but the ones I saw were indeed kept lidded to maintain a constant temperature, with just the victims head being exposed.

I can see Mister Freeze doing what he did in this chapter. After all, the only thing he cares about is his wife Nora, so an appeal from someone in a similar position might just work.

No, neither Batman nor Alfred are perverts, they're just doing what they felt was necessary.