An Icy Beginning

by Arkham Master

Nearly two decades after seeing his parents killed, Bruce Wayne becomes the vigilante known as Batman to show the people of Gotham City that it doesn't belong to criminals. Meanwhile, a vengeful villain known as Mr. Freeze emerges to kidnap Bruce's old friend, Ferris Boyle for revenge as well as to save his dying wife. Will Batman save the day or will he be put on ice?

5. Chapter 5: Lunch With Boyle

Chapter 5: Lunch With Boyle

The next morning after Bruce's first night out as Batman, it was about 10:30 in the morning and Bruce was still sound asleep from the night he had last night. He continued until Alfred pulled back the curtains to let the sun enter the room. Bruce then slightly started to wake up and squinted his eyes. "Come on, Alfred! Bats are nocturnal!", Bruce said. "Bats may be nocturnal, but you are not, Master Bruce. It's time to get up.", Alfred said. Bruce then pushed back the covers and sat up. "You're already starting to make a name for yourself.", Alfred said as he handed Bruce this morning's paper. Bruce saw that he made a story on page 6 and it read, "MAN DRESSED AS BAT BRINGS THORNE TO JUSTICE!". "I'm not in this for the recognition by the news. I'm in it to make Gotham a better and safer place.", Bruce said. "I know, sir. I just thought you might be interested to see that.", Alfred said. "I also wanted to let you know that Mr. Ferris Boyle called and was wondering if you would join him for lunch at the Kingston Café.", Alfred told him. Bruce then looked up from the paper with an interested look on his face. "Ferris? Wow! I haven't seen him since high school.", Bruce said. "I'm well aware of that, sir. He was a pretty good friend of yours then even though he was a couple grades ahead of you. He said he was just hoping to catch up now that you're back in the city.", Alfred said. "Even though you plan to spend your nights prowling the streets beating criminals to a pulp, you still have an image to keep up as Bruce Wayne during the day and I do suggest you do just that. Not just for yourself and your image, but also for your parents' images.", Alfred said. "I know and I will. I believe people can be two things almost simultaneously. Tell Ferris I'll meet him there at 1.", Bruce told Alfred. "Very good, sir.", Alfred said as he left the room. Later on that day around 1, Bruce made it to the Kingston Café and saw at a small table outside his old friend, Ferris Boyle. Ferris then saw Bruce approaching and immediately got up from his seat and walked over to him. "Bruce! It's so good to see you!", Ferris said with a smile. "Hey, Ferris! It's good to see you too!", Bruce said and returned the smile. They then shared a quick hug and then sat down at the table. They then ordered some coffee and began to chat. "I would've said welcome back, but then again, it is Gotham after all and not many people like to come back here once they leave.", Ferris said. "It's alright. But Gotham's in my blood. And I am very happy to be back after traveling abroad for so long. And I still do hope that one day things can get back to the way they were here years ago.", Bruce said. "Right, like when your parents were still alive. And they did do much good for the city and they were quite the pillars in the community.", Ferris said. "And I hope to continue their legacy now that I'm back.", Bruce said. "And I'm sure you will. You'll make Wayne Enterprises a very successful company.", Boyle told him. "And I'm sure the same will go for you. From what I hear, you're now the CEO of GothCorp. You'll make quite the name for yourself there too.", Bruce said. "I hope to. I want to make sure that both me and GothCorp do our best to help the people of this city. That's why I gave it the nickname, The People Company.", Ferris said. "From what I remember when we were in high school, you always talked about how much you wanted to help people out and it seems like you turned that dream into a reality and I'm really happy for you.", Bruce said to him. "Yeah, I guess. So, do you have any special projects coming up for Wayne Enterprises right now?", Ferris asked. "Umm, nothing really too much yet, since I'm still pretty fresh at being CEO. But I do plan to get something going real soon. What about you? Any exciting plans for GothCorp?", Bruce asked. "Right now, our biggest project that were focusing on is cryogenics.", Ferris said. "Oh, what kind of stuff with cryogenics if you don't mind me asking?", he asked. "We're looking for ways to make plants and fruits grow in extremely low temperatures and my scientists are doing all kinds of tissue research in order to find a way to make that happen.", Ferris explained. "Very interesting. Sounds like accomplishing something like that is not easy. You would need some brilliant scientists to do that.", Bruce said. "Most of our scientists are very capable of making marvels happen. But in the field of cryogenics, there's one scientist that knows more about that topic than other guy I've seen. He's a real genius and is the head of this cryo-project.", Ferris said. "Really? What's his name?", Bruce asked. "His name is Victor Fries. Really smart guy and GothCorp's lucky to have him.", Ferris said. "Well, should we order?", Ferris asked his old friend. "Definitely. I'm starved!", Bruce as they waited for someone to take their order.