Chapter 11: Party Crasher
It was the night of Boyle's award show at the hotel and several of Gotham's wealthy individuals were all there including Bruce and Alfred. Boyle was currently on the stage and was about to receive his award by an announcer. "And it gives me great pleasure to give this well-deserved award for Gotham's Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year to GothCorp's CEO, Ferris Boyle!", the announcer said as he handed the award in his hand to Boyle. Boyle shook the announcer's hand as he took the award and a round of applause was followed afterwards. Boyle then stood at the podium and began to speak. "I can't thank all of you enough for this incredibly nice thing here. You know, people caring for other people and compassion. That's the foundation that Gotham was built on. And I have proudly built GothCorp on that same foundation. That's why we're called 'The People Company'. Thank you so much!", Boyle said as he then got off the stage and another round of applause was followed afterwards. In the audience, both Bruce and Alfred were very happy for their friend. "Mr. Boyle seems to be after your title as Gotham's biggest philanthropic industrialist.", Alfred told Bruce. "Hey, Gotham needs more people like him, Alfred.", Bruce said. Boyle then saw Bruce and walked over to him. "Bruce! Thank you so much for coming! And I also can't thank you enough for all your support!", he said as he shook Bruce's hand. "It's well-deserved. You're going to change the world, Ferris.", Bruce told Boyle. "Hey, we'll change it together, right?", he said. Alfred then walked up and said, "Pardon me, Mr. Boyle, but I believe the press is waiting for you.". "Thanks for letting me know, Alfred. See ya later, Bruce.", Boyle said as he walked away. Then the announcer came back onto the stage to say something more. "Alright, everyone. Now I believe it's time to really get this party going and...", the announcer said as he trailed off as he and the others on the stage began to feel a rapidly increasing chill. "Huh, I guess the manager forgot to pay his heating bill.", the announcer joked as the wall behind him began to become ice. Then the wall burst open with huge ice formations forming around the hole. Everyone started screaming as thugs dressed in parkas started coming in through that hole shooting guns into the air. "Party's over, motherfuckers! Nobody move and nobody gets hurt!", one guy said as all of the thugs began to point their guns at the crowd. Then all of a sudden, a blue-skinned man with red goggles in a huge mechanized suit with some kind of large gun for one hand followed after them which was none other than Mr. Freeze. Once he got off the stage, he knocked a guy into the air with one swipe of his arm from how powerful his suit was. He then used his cannon to freeze the guy in midair. He then moved forward and said rather sternly, "Bring me Ferris Boyle!". Everyone just stood still for a second after Freeze's demand. Bruce on the other hand knew this was a call to action. He snuck away and tried to communicate with Alfred with his earpiece. "Alfred, where's Ferris?", Bruce asked. But Alfred didn't respond. "Alfred?", Bruce asked again, but still no answer. Bruce then decided to sneak into the next room. But when he entered the next room, one goon hit him with the back of his gun. "Show me your hands!", the goon demanded. Bruce then put his hands up in compliance. He looked over and saw Alfred fending off a few other thugs with a crowbar. "Whoa! Butler's gone crazy!", one guy said. "What's the matter? Are you cowards afraid of an old man?", Alfred said as he swung at them and hit one. One goon knocked Alfred down with a vase smashing over his head. "Eat that, old man!", he said. The rest of the goons then turned their attention to Bruce and walked towards him. "Look at the rich boy!", one guy said. "So long, Bruce!", the guy with the gun said as he was about to shoot him. Bruce then countered the guy with the gun and knocked him out with ease. The other guys started to attack Bruce, but Bruce easily took all of them out after his years of training. Once they were taken down, Bruce went to help Alfred get up. "Are you alright?", he asked. "I'm fine, sir. What do these goons want with Ferris?", Alfred asked. "I'm not sure. They're being led by someone in some sort of mechanized suit. I need to find Ferris before they do.", Bruce said. "Well, you're no used to us dressed like that. You need to put on your other suit, which luckily I did pack in the car just in case.", he said. "Good. The emergency exit's in the next room. Let's go.", Bruce said. They then snuck out the emergency exit and got to their car. Bruce then took out his suit and went around to the alley to secretly put it on. Once Bruce was now Batman he told Alfred, "Leave now, Alfred.". "Are you sure you'll be alright, sir?", Alfred asked with concern. "I'll be fine. Just go.", he told him. Alfred then drove away as fast as possible. Batman then went back into the hotel to look for his friend. He snuck onto a perch in the ballroom and saw there were about 6 thugs patrolling the room with hostages. He saw that one was right below him and he did an inverted takedown. The thug screamed for help which caught the other guys attention. Batman darted to another vantage point before they came. Once they got there and saw the guy dangling, one said, "Oh, man! It's that Bat creep! He's here!". "Shut up! We have to find him before he takes us all out!", another guy said. But Batman did end up taking them all out before they did him and he went to save the hostages. "Hurry! Get into the next room!", he instructed them and they did as there were told. There were already some other party goers in the next room who were in terror at what was happening. "You'll all be safe here.", he told them. "We all can't thank you enough for saving our lives.", one man said. As Batman was walking past them, Vicki Vale stopped him and asked, "Wait. Batman, right? You now, you really should do an exclusive interview with me sometime. The people of Gotham want to know what you're all about.". "My actions state that loud and clear. And I'm no celebrity guest star, Ms. Vale.", he sternly told her. He then went into the room after that and saw a few goons beating on Boyle. "Please! Don't do this!", Boyle begged them before he got the wind knocked out of him as he got punched in the stomach. Batman then showed up out of nowhere. "Oh, shit! It's that freak! Get him!", a thug shouted. Batman then started fighting them and he easily won. Batman then went over to Boyle after those guys were out cold. "We need to get you out of here.", Batman told Boyle. Boyle looked astounded when he laid his eyes on Batman. "I..I heard about you.", Boyle said. Freeze then came around the corner and saw both Boyle and Batman. Freeze then used his cryocannon to freeze Batman in ice. Batman just stood motionless feeling nothing but numbing cold. "I have no quarrel with you.", Freeze told Batman. "Then you crashed the wrong party.", Batman angrily said. Freeze then walked towards Boyle with an extremely angry look on his face. Boyle almost immediately recognized Freeze just without his hair and blue skin now and was completely shocked that the man he thought died in that lab accident was alive and about to possibly kill him. "Fries?! What do you want with me?!", Boyle asked sounding scared. "I just require a moment of your time.", Freeze said as he shoved Boyle forward with his cannon. They both disappeared around the corner and then a few more thugs came around the corner to deal with Batman who was still frozen. "Aww! What's the matter? The Bat doesn't like the cold?", one guy teased. Batman then started to fight and break free from the ice and beat the hell out of those guys. He then went after Freeze and Boyle. He opened the next door and saw there was now a huge hole in the ceiling and Freeze was flying up with Boyle in a helicopter through the hole. "Damn.", Batman said to himself. He then saw about 5 more thugs talking to each other, completely unaware of the vigilante behind them. "I still can't believe we're taking orders from this Mr. Freeze guy.", one guy said. "Hey, he said he'll pay us handsomely, didn't he?", another guy said. "That's what they all say. I mean, look at him! He ain't human!", said the first guy. "As long as he pays well, I don't care if he's Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.", said the second guy. Batman then started kicking the crap out of all of them as quick as he could. He left one thug conscious so he could interrogate him. Batman grabbed him by the throat and asked, "Where's your boss taking Boyle?". "Screw you! You can't make me talk!", the guy said. Batman then tightened his grip on the guy's throat which made it harder to breathe for him. "Do you know how many thugs I have put in the hospital? I'll gladly do the same to you.", he threatened. "Okay, I'll tell you. Freeze is taking Boyle to GothCorp to get something Freeze wants. Boyle has codes that he so he can get it.", the guy admitted. "Appreciate it.", Batman said just before he knocked him out. Batman then knew that he had to go to GothCorp to rescue his friend from this chillin villain. He then made his way out of the hotel to head to GothCorp.