Chapter 10: Revenge Is Best Served Cold
Victor laid down on the frozen lab floor seemingly dead. His skin had turned icy blue, his hair was now completely gone, and his body temperature was greatly decreased. All of a sudden, Victor woke up and began to get up. Victor looked at his hands and saw they turned blue. He scratched his head and felt that his hair was gone. He was able to see his reflection in the ice and saw what he looked like now and immediately became shocked with terror. He then looked over and saw that Nora's chamber was gone. He became enraged about that since he figured Boyle stole her from him. "That cold-hearted bastard!", he angrily said. He then started to run out of the lab, but then he felt like he was having trouble breathing as he got out of the super-cooled lab. To the point that he felt like he was gasping for hair as he felt extremely hot and felt like heat stroke was hitting him even though it was still pretty cold in the hall, but not cold enough. Victor collapsed and begin to crawl while gasping for air. He then decided to turn around and crawl back to his lab when he couldn't go any farther. As he got closer to the lab again, he began to feel normal again. He regained his composure once he got back in the lab and wasn't sure what just happened. He looked over at the thermometer and noticed that the explosion that had just occurred in here which made him look like how he is now had reduced the temperature in here to negative 20 degrees below zero and he didn't even feel the slightest bit cold. He felt like anyone normally would at room temperature. He then began to think things through and realized that the chemicals that exploded all over him from the tank must have caused some kind of cellular change in him that would make only be able to live in severe hypothermic conditions. Not only that, but in addition to that bastard Boyle stealing his wife from him, Victor no longer began to feel any emotion at all. Not pain, not sadness, and not even love for his beautiful wife. The only emotion he felt anymore was anger. Victor silently vowed to himself, "I'll rescue you, my love! And Boyle will soon learn that revenge is a dish best served cold!". A week after the accident at GothCorp, Boyle was being recognized as Gotham's Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year and would receive his award tomorrow night at the Gotham Royal Hotel. He had his driver take him out to Wayne Manor to personally invite his good friend, Bruce. When he got out of his car, he walked up to the front door and knocked. Alfred answered the door a few seconds later. "Ah, Mister Boyle. What a pleasure to see you, sir.", Alfred said. "Hey, Alfred. Is Bruce home?", Boyle asked. Alfred then began to get nervous as Bruce was down in the Batcave working on some new gadgets while still in his suit since he was just out doing his nightly routine. "He is. I'll call him for you. Make yourself at home.", Alfred said as he walked out of the room. Alfred then began to call Bruce on his cell phone which he had with him down in the cave. Batman stopped what he was doing and answered his phone. "What is it, Alfred?", he asked. "Sir, Mister Boyle is here to see you. I suggest you get changed and come upstairs.", Alfred said. "Tell him I'll see him in 5 minutes.", Batman said and hung up. Batman then took the elevator out of the cave and back up the manor and snuck into his room to get changed. Bruce was out of his suit and walked into his living room to greet his old friend. "Hey, Ferris. What's up?", Bruce asked as both men shook hands. "Not much. Uh, what happened right there under your lip?", Boyle asked as he noticed Bruce had a cut under his lip from when some thug got a lucky punch on him earlier in the night. "Oh, it's just a shaving cut, that's all.", Bruce lied. "Oh, well be careful. I've gotten shaving cuts way worse than that. Anyway, I wanted to come by and personally invite you to my ceremony tomorrow night at the Gotham Royal Hotel. I'm being awarded as Gotham's Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year.", Boyle said. "That's awesome, Ferris! Congratulations! You deserve it! I know how hard you've worked to make sure GothCorp does all it can to help the city!", Bruce congratulated his friend. "Thanks. I appreciate it. So, will you come?", Boyle asked. "Of course. And thank you for the invite.", Bruce said. "No problem. Why don't you bring Alfred too? I'm sure the old bird could use a fun time.", Boyle suggested. "Okay. I'll let him know. See you tomorrow night.", he said. "See you then.", he said. Alfred escorted Boyle out and then went back to the room where Bruce was in. "A shaving cut? Nice save, Master Bruce. Although, I do wonder what kind of excuse you'll make when someone knocks your teeth out.", Alfred said. "No. That's what I do to them.", Bruce said. "I didn't mean to offend you, sir. I know you have a good heart and you want to help this city after all the Hell it's gone through. I just don't want you to get lost inside of this persona.", Alfred said. "I know. And I am using this persona to help this city just like my father did, but in my own way.", Bruce said. "I know. So, shall I get your suit ready for tomorrow evening?", Alfred asked. "Yeah. That would be good. Thanks.", Bruce said as he left the room and went back down to the cave to finish what he was doing. Meanwhile, at GothCorp, Victor had been living in his lab for the past week since he knew leaving the super-cooled lab would kill him. Boyle had the lab quarantined thinking Victor was dead, but never bothered to check or even get his corpse. This provided Victor with all the time possible to plan out his revenge on Boyle and to get Nora back. He had hacked into the intercoms of the guards and he found out that Boyle had Nora under observation in the Cryogenic Testing Facility because Boyle wanted to know how he put her into suspended animation. But Boyle had codes to get into that sector that he had to get from him. Victor couldn't wait to see the look on Boyle's face when he sees that he's not dead. Or was he? Victor felt like the accident killed the man he was before and the cold-hearted and emotionless man he is now was born when that same accident happened. Victor was lucky he packed enough food to last him the entire week since he couldn't leave the lab. He was even comfortable with eating things cold now. But his main focus was building a super-cooled survival suit that was powered by a special kind of coolant that would keep his temperature subzero. He gathered all remaining parts in the lab he could scrap to build it and at last, it was done. It was a highly weaponized and mechanized armored suit with cooling tanks, a glass dome so that he could still breathe in the frigid air, but still see the outside world and the finishing touch was his cryocannon that was attached to the suit's left arm that could freeze anything in his path. He also had a radio so he could listen to both the news and music while he was working. The radio started to talk by saying, "And in other local news, GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle will be receiving the Gotham Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year award tomorrow night at the Gotham Royal Hotel. Most of Gotham credits Mister Boyle and his company because of their outstanding effort, hard work, and dedication to making Gotham a better place. As well as Mister Boyle being a very compassionate and charitable man. This is Vicki Vale reporting for Gotham Insider.". Victor couldn't describe the anger and heartbreak he was beginning to feel after hearing what those idiots called that monster. "Compassionate and charitable?! They wouldn't think that way of him once they see what he did to me! To her! To us!", Victor cursed. He then decided it was finally time to put his suit to good use. He got into it and turned it on and immediately felt the cool air comfort him. It did feel heavy at first, but he quickly got used to it. He then looked over and saw the ballerina figure that he made of Nora out of ice that he chipped at. He turned it on and held it while admiring the icy and miniature form of his wife dance like the ballerina that she was. Music began to play as the sculpture spun slowly in a circle. Victor then began to feel sadness. "There's nothing to fear, my Nora. I will find you and rescue you. And then I will find a cure so that we may be together once more. But first, I must settle the score with Boyle, but I can't do it alone. I must require help.", he said. Victor knew that most of Gotham's low level street thugs who were always looking for work regardless of who would hire them hung out at the My Alibi nightclub. The guys that were currently there right now were either drinking booze, playing pool or cards, or listening to the juke box. One guy felt really hot and sweaty. "Hey, Lucas? Can you turn on the AC? It's hot as Hell in here!", he said. "Alright, Frankie.", Lucas said as he began to go towards the AC. Frankie then began to feel cooler and said, "Thanks, man.". Lucas looked back and said, "What are you talking about? I didn't even touch it yet?". Then everyone in the room began to feel extremely cold to the point that they were shivering. Then, a huge pissed off looking bald, blue-skinned man with red goggles in a giant robot suit blew in with his cryocannon causing ice to form over a decent portion of the room. All the men looked in terror at the figure. "Who the hell are you?", Frankie asked while his teeth were chattering. "My name is Freeze. Mr. Freeze. And I am going to require assistance from men such as yourselves. I understand that you are all looking for some type of criminal work to do and I have the perfect job for all of you.", Freeze said to all the guys in the room. "What kind of job?", Lucas asked. "I need Ferris Boyle to get me into a private sector in Gotham where someone very dear to me is being held there. But he has codes I need to get in there. Tomorrow night, he will be at the Gotham Royal Hotel. Meet me there and we will capture and have him take us to GothCorp. So, will you join me?", Freeze explained and then asked. "What's in it for us?", Lucas asked. "I will see to it that all of you will be generously rewarded by having some of GothCorp's funds which I plan to deplete also as a part of my revenge.", Freeze said. All the guys looked at each other and seemed to like that idea. But Frankie didn't like it. "I don't think so. Sure, I'm desperate, but I don't want to work for freaks like you.", Frankie said. Freeze turned to Frankie and said, "Very well. Then you have sealed your fate.", Freeze said as he pointed his cryocannon at Frankie and then fired it. A powerful blast was emitted from the cannon and froze Frankie completely in ice. All the other guys looked in horror at what was going on. Freeze the broke the now Frozen Frankie into dozens of ice shards. "Anyone else refuse me?", Freeze asked threateningly with his cannon pointing at them all. All men shook their heads in unison. "Good. Then we must make preparations. We have much work to do.", Freeze said.