Chapter 6: Victor's Chilling Origin
Victor Fries was a pretty awkward child growing up. He always was fascinated with the subject of cryogenics even from an early age. He had a very unusual and kinda disturbing hobby of freezing whatever insects as a way to preserve them so that they never die and so that they would stay beautiful forever. He of course had no intention of harming any sort of creature at all. He was planning to eventually thaw them out. This whole thing was just a sort of experiment to Victor. But this hobby made Victor the freak in his neighborhood. Most people saw this whole freezing bugs thing as something someone who would grow up to become a serial killer would do. One day, Victor was being yelled at by his parents in his living room after they first came across his collection of frozen butterflies, millipedes, ants, and other kinds of insects. "When you stop this sick obsession of yours, you disturbed little deviant?", Victor's mother screamed at him. "All we wanted was to have a normal and successful kid, but instead we have a God forsaken little freak like you who likes to freeze bugs alive!", Victor's father yelled. "I don't mean to hurt any of them. I just didn't want them to die.", Victor weakly said. "What?!", his father angrily asked. "I just realized that when creatures are frozen in ice, they can stay alive forever. Plus, they look rather pretty when frozen.", Victor explained. Victor's father just slapped him across his face knocking his glasses off. "Now, you listen to me, and you listen good! If I catch you doing this shit just one more time, I'll send you to reform school!", Victor's father threatened him. Then both him and his mother left the room leaving Victor by himself while he was still holding his slapped cheek in pain. A few days later, Victor was doing his homework while his pet gerbil was running on his little wheel in her cage. Victor looked over and saw his pet seemed to be enjoying herself. He stopped what he was doing and went over to the gerbil. He took it out of its cage to hold him and pet him. "At least I have you, Nikki. You're the only one that doesn't yell at me in this cold, dark world. You'll always love me.", Victor said softly while petting Nikki. Then an idea occurred in Victor's head that would make it possible for his gerbil to always love him. He went downstairs and ran the sink all the way cold. He got out a tray big enough for Nikki to be put in and started to fill it up with water. He had Nikki in his other hand while softly saying, "It's going to be okay. This won't hurt a bit.". He was just about to put the gerbil in the cold water until a familiar angry voice began to yell. "What the hell are you doing?!", Victor's father yelled. Victor immediately dropped both the tray of water which spilled all over the floor and his pet, but luckily, Nikki landed on his feet and scurried away. "I was just...", Victor stuttered. Then his father slapped across the face yet again. "I warned you didn't I?! That's it! Me and your mother are sending you off to reform school!", his father yelled. A few days later, Victor was sent off to reform school. The headmasters seemed more kind there then his parents ever were and they really did help him a lot. He was still very interested in cryonic preservation, but had given up his disturbing hobby of freezing living things alive. Years later, Victor attended Gotham State University in the hopes of being a doctor specializing in the field of cryogenics. It was one day during the end of the Fall semester of his junior year when he met the one ray of sunlight that had shone through his cold, dark life. It was snowing and he was taking a leisurely stroll through the park when he noticed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life figure-skating on the frozen lake. He stopped walking and just watched her do all kinds of tricks skating. He was completely in awe of how graceful and angelic she looked while she skated. It was shortly after Victor started watching that she noticed he had his eyes on her. She slightly giggled and then skated towards him. Victor's heart started to race as she got closer to him. "Well, are you going to just stand there and watch me all day?", she asked him. Victor then started to blush and stutter uncontrollably. "I...uh...sorry. I didn't mean to stare. You were just so good at what you were doing and you also looked really pretty out on the lake.", Victor admitted. She then began to blush and started to like this young man that she just met. "I'm Nora.", she said as she extended her arm out to him. "Oh, I'm Victor.", he said as he shook her hand. "Well, Victor. Would you like to skate with me? I have an extra set of skates.", Nora offered. "Oh, I would. I don't know how to.", he said. "It's easy. I'll show you.", she said. She then grabbed an extra pair of skates and helped Victor put them on. They then went on the ice together. Nora showed Victor some basic moves while holding his hand the entire time. He tried to do the best he could, but he still ended up falling several times. But Nora helped him get back on his feet every time. "It's okay. It took me lots of practice to get it down.", she told him with a smile on her face. Part of the reason he kept messing up was that he often couldn't help but look at her and her beauty. Later on, they got off the ice and back into regular shoes. "You'll get it sooner or later.", Nora told him. "Yeah, I guess so. Well, it was nice meeting you, Nora, but I really should get going.", Victor told her as he was starting to walk away. "Wait. Would you maybe like to get some hot chocolate at the university café?", she asked him. "Uh, sure.", he said. They then walked together towards the campus café. After they got their hot chocolate and sat down, they began to get to know each other a little more. "So, yeah, I hope to become a ballet dancer one day after I'm done with school. What about you?", she asked him. "I hope to get my doctorate so I can officially be an expert in the field of cryogenics.", he said. "Oh, I see that would suit you well given how your last name is pronounced", she jokingly said. "Yeah, that is coincidental.", he said. After they finished up, Nora gave him a great big bear hug. Victor awkwardly returned the hug. "It was lovely to meet you, Victor. I hope to see you again soon.", Nora said as they unhugged. As Nora walked away, Victor spoke with hesitance. "Hey, Nora.", he said. "Yes?", Nora asked as she stopped. "I was wondering if maybe you would like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?", he asked. "Are you asking me on a date?", Nora asked. "I..uh..you don't have to. I was just wondering.", he said. "I'm just teasing you. That's really sweet of you. I would love to. How about we meet at 7 tomorrow night at the Rose Café?", Nora said. "Sure. I guess it's a date then.", he said. Nora then walked over and gave a kiss on his cheek and that made him blush so red. "See you then.", Nora said with a smile as she left. Victor honestly started to feel happy for the first time in his life. As soon as they were both done with school, they got happily married. Victor honestly couldn't be any happier with having Nora, his Nora at his side and as his wife. But their happiness didn't last long. About a year after they were married, Nora became incredibly sick and Victor wasn't sure what it was. After a visit to the hospital, Nora was diagnosed with a rare cognitive disease known as Huntington's Chorea which will eventually kill her. Both Victor and Nora were devastated to hear this, but Victor was more devastated on how his beloved wife had contracted something that's killing her. The doctors said that normally people with Huntington's die within 10 to 30 years after diagnosis. So hopefully within that time something can be figured out, possibly even a cure. This seemed to calm Nora down a bit, but Victor was still extremely scared. It was about 5 years after her diagnosis that Nora's condition got worse. So worse that she only had about a few months to live. "A few months?! There has to be something we can do!", Victor said with terror. "Honey, please calm down.", Nora said to try to comfort him. "How can I calm down when you, my angel, have only a few months left to live?!", Victor asked while shouting. He saw that he hurt her feelings a bit after yelling. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to raise my voice.", Victor apologized. "It's okay, Victor.", Nora said. "All we can do is just hope Nora is as happy as possible until her time comes. And maybe pray for a miracle to happen.", the doctor said and left the room. Nora tried to comfort her husband. "If there's nothing we can do, then we should just accept it.". "Well, I don't accept it. I can't lose you, Nora! I just can't! And maybe there is something that can be done.", Victor said. A few weeks later, he got hired at GothCorp where he met the CEO, Ferris Boyle for the first time. Both men shook each others hands when they first met. "Great to meet you, Vic. I can call you Vic, right?", Boyle asked him. "Uh...if you would like to.", Victor said. "Great! The company is honored to have you take charge of our cryogenics program and from your file, I see you know this specific field quite well.", Boyle said. "Yes. It's always been my passion. And thank you so much for having me, Mr. Boyle.", Victor said. "Please call me Ferris.", Boyle said. "Our main goal for this program is to look for ways to keep plants alive and even able to grow at extremely low temperatures. Do you think you might be able to make that possible.", Boyle asked. "I think so, given time and research.", Victor answered. "Awesome!", Boyle said. "I was also hoping to maybe do a very important side project when I have free time and if you'll fund me.", Victor said. "Oh, and what's that?", Boyle asked. "My wife has a rare disease that's killing her, so I was hoping to spare some time to look into everything there is on Huntington's Chorea.", Victor explained. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.", Boyle said. "So, will you help me? Please! She's the most important thing in the world to me!", Victor asked. "Sure. I'm sure the company can spare a little funding for your personal project.", Boyle said. Boyle then showed Victor his laboratory and where he would be working. "Just let me know if you need anything, Vic.", Boyle said. "Thank you so much, sir!", Victor thanked him. Boyle then left the room and Victor immediately began searching everything there is to know about the disease that was killing his beloved. "Don't worry, my love. I'm going to save you. No matter what.", Victor said to himself.