Perhaps he had been too quick in sealing up the Monarch Theater.

Victor Fries stared at the aging theater, its entrance frozen off by the ice of his upgraded Freeze Gun. The results thus far had been promising, but now he was the only one outside while the rest of his prey were inside the building.

No doubt that Batman's followers would be trying to make certain he could not enter. They were not the ones he was interested in and he could appreciate their attempts to stop him. However, they were nuisances, obstacles that needed to be overcome in order for his revenge to be complete. If they continued to stand in his way, they would suffer the same fate as the ones he truly desired.

No matter, he would make his own entrance.

Stalking up to the theater, he soon spied a nearby fire hydrant. This caused him to pause as he stared at it, an idea forming within his mind.

Oh yes, he had found his entrance.

Changing direction, he walked right up to the hydrant. With one kick of his foot, he bent the top of it, spouts of water shooting out. With another kick, he removed the top of the hydrant, a geyser of water spraying up into the air.

Resting his foot on the edge of the broken hydrant, Fries stuck both of his hands into the water. The moment he fired his Freeze Blasters, the water froze instantly, rising up into the air and taking him along with it. Adjusting his angle, the column of freezing water arch towards the upper floor of the Monarch Theater, specifically a window. He crashed right into the glass, shattering it.

And thus he had made his entrance.


Alright, this was not a good situation. Though Batman prided himself on being prepared for any situation, the re-emergence of Clayface took him by surprise. The shapeshifter didn't have many weaknesses, not to mention he could take on quite a bit of damage and recover without a scratch. At his disposal was a limitless arsenal, limited only by his own imagination.

Explosions hurt him; so did electricity; ice could stop him in his tracks. Unfortunately, all of those options were in short supply. Batman only had so many explosive shuriken in his belt. He did have his electrified brass knuckles, but that required close combat and the last time they had fought, Hagan had tried to smother him within his body. He didn't really care to experience that again.

As for ice...well…

Reaching to his belt, the vigilante withdrew a couple of small grenades, one for each hand. These were explosives designed from Fries' Freeze Gun. He had made good use of them against people that couldn't be taken down by the usual means. However, their blast radius was small, so it wasn't as if he could freeze the entirety of Clayface with just one.

Still he had to try.

Storming towards him, Clayface raised an arm up, his hand growing bigger and losing its form. Soon, a large square of bricks had formed and he threw it forward, intending to crush the dark-clad man.

Dodging to one side, Batman threw one of the freeze grenades, the small device hitting the large mud man on the shoulder. It sank into the clay-like flesh and stayed there for a moment before it suddenly blew apart, a cloud of blue mist spreading out in all directions.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Hagan cried out, flinching back a step. Ice had formed over his shoulder, its crystalized surface gleaming in the light. Clayface scowled at it before his body began to encroach on it, spreading out all over the ice and sinking it into his body. In a few moments, it was as if the ice had never been there.

"You're gonna pay for that, Batman," the shapeshifter growled as he returned his attention. "If you think you can freeze me with such a small grenade, then you're sadly mistaken. All I gotta do is absorb it into my body and let my body heat melt it."

That seemed to be exactly what Hagan had done. Still clutching the other freeze grenade, Batman did a mental count of how many grenades he had left. His best chance at winning was to freeze the entire exterior of Clayface so that he couldn't absorb the ice, or slither out at an unfrozen point. Including the grenade in hand, he had a total of five freeze grenades left. That meant he would need to hit strategical places to ensure a complete freezing.

This wasn't going to be easy.

That was when Clayface went on the offensive. Seemingly trying to perform an awkward flip, Clayface actually grabbed onto his ankles with his hands and went rolling forward, forming a large ball of mud. He picked up speed, charging towards the Dark Knight.

Batman dove to one side, the mudball racing by him. However, as it closed in on a wall, it suddenly began changing direction, rolling parallel to the wall before it pulled away. It took a curved path, but then Clayface was rolling back towards the vigilante, another attempt at running him over.

This time Batman pulled out his grapple and fired the grapple claw up to the ceiling. He then flew up into the air, Clayface passing underneath.

Suddenly, Hagan stopped his rolling, seemingly bouncing off the floor as if he had hit a bump. But as he bounced into the air, he unraveled himself, reforming into his humanoid form. He landed with a thud on his feet while his back swelled until a large spike had formed.

Then with the blast of a cannon, the spike fired out of his back and went sailing up towards the dark-clad man. No! Above him! The spike hit the cable of his grapple with incredible accuracy, severing it, and causing the vigilante to go falling back to the floor.

Activating the electric current in his gauntlet, he grabbed his cape and felt it go into glider mode. Soaring through the air, Batman headed to the other side of the theater, landing right in front of the screen. Releasing his grip, his cape went slack and fell over his body. As he turned to face his foe, his cloaked body was covered in parts of the images playing on the screen behind him.

A smirk was on Clayface's face as he marched towards him. Raising both arms this time, they began to tremble and spasm before large pincers erupted out of them. Pieces of his skin stretch out as they were flung up into the air before they were pulled back into his body. His smirk widening, Hagan snapped one of the pincers at him as he drew closer.

The moment Clayface lunged at him, snapping his pincer at his head, Batman darted out of the way while throwing a freeze grenade right at the towering mud man. The grenade sunk right into the left side of the abdomen, then promptly erupted in the freezing cloud of gas. Clayface cried out from the freezing pain even as the vigilante stuck another one in his right hip. Almost instinctively, Clayface swung his right arm at him, which Batman ducked to avoid.

Then that grenade exploded and ice began growing across his body, beginning to join with the ice that formed from the first grenade. By then, Batman was behind the shapeshift, throwing another high on his back, then quickly another one into the inner thigh of the left leg. One by one they exploded, freezing more and more of Clayface, his body flinching from each detonation. Ice crawled up and down his body, joining the other sheets as they formed as he was slowly consumed.

Continuing to circle the mud man, Batman couldn't see any other place that wasn't covered in ice, at least until he reached Clayface's front. Though his body, arms, and legs were covered in ice, his face wasn't, twisted in pain from the sub-zero temperatures. With his last freeze grenade, Batman took aim and threw it right for Hagan's open mouth.

His aim was true and the freeze grenade went right into the open maw. Instinctively, Hagan slammed his mouth shut, eyes wide open as if he had swallowed too much food.

And then the grenade detonated and a chuck of ice burst out of his face. It was rather horrific to watch, but Clayface was now under ice. There was no point in questioning results.

Waiting a few moments, Batman stared at the giant ice sculpture, uncertain if this was really it. Something wasn't sitting well in his gut, as if to say this had gone way too well for him. His previous battles with Clayface had been long, drawn out affairs, each one having the mud man learn and adapt.

Slowly, he began to back away from the ice sculpture. It was then he heard a breaking sound and something wrapping his back foot. Snapping his head around, Batman saw his foot being swallowed up in mud, more of which was bubbling up through the floor. Suddenly, a large part of the floor was shattered and a monstrous creature made largely of tentacles appeared. The tentacles whipped around wildly, one of which was gripping onto Batman's foot. The next thing he knew, he was yanked up into the air, being swung back and forth until the tentacle held him high above it.

That's when he saw the base where the tentacles emerged. The "body" if it could be called that spread the trunks of the tentacles out and an enlarged face of Clayface appeared, smirking widely at him. "Did ya really think I would go down that easily? Ha!"

Damn, and he had to use every freeze grenade he had on him. "I knew what you were up to the moment you started trying to freeze me, Bats," the shapeshifter continued to gloat. "So I burrowed into the floor right out of the bottom of my feet, leaving just enough to keep you occupied."

Batman scowled, but it was more at himself than anything. He hadn't even considered Clayface could escape that way. He had been played well by the former actor. "Now, it's curtains for you."

That was when Clayface's face changed, forming a large beak mouth much like a giant squid's. The tentacle Batman dangled from promptly began lowering him towards it, the vigilante reaching for his belt. He had to do something, anything to prevent himself from getting swallowed alive. Looking into the gaping, snapping maw below him, he didn't think he would be escaping it if he entered it.

So naturally that was when a tree suddenly burst out from the beak mouth.

A wild scream filled the theater, Batman finding himself being thrashed back and forth through the air. Then the tentacle lost its form and the vigilante was hurling across the room. Immediately activating the glider mode of his cape, he took over his unintended flight and flew down to the floor, landing moments later.

Spinning around, he saw the kraken-like creature Clayface had become changing. The tentacles were slurping back into his body, his more misshapen, humanoid form forming. However, there was a tree still in his body, entering him from his lower back and exiting out of his mouth. He wobbled on unsteady feet, two hands grabbing at the bark and trying to move the tree. Finally, he began pulling to one side, his body pulling away and shifting around it until he was finally separated. The tree fell to to the floor, bouncing right on the edge of the hole that had been made by the shapeshifter, and then sliding all the way into it.

That's when Batman caught sight of her. Standing on the other side of Clayface was Poison Ivy, a hard look on her face. She was the only one here that could have grown that tree, though why she decided to do it when he was in a precarious position was unknown. She only had eyes for Hagan though.

"You bitch," Clayface growled as he turned to look at the beautiful redhead. "What's the big idea splitting me down the middle like that?"

Ivy tossed her hair to one side. "I don't suppose you remember me, do you?"

To his credit, Hagan actually looked her over. "I think I'd remember a dame like you. What, ya got a grudge, or something?"

Ivy's face hardened. "You're the reason I'm here. Don't you recall a little incident at an insignificant lab where you held me hostage and then fed me to a man-eating plant?"

"The hell are you on about?" It was clear Hagan didn't remember, but that was mostly because he was more focused on fighting the Dark Knight at the time. Batman also knew Hagan didn't know about Ivy's man-eating plant experiment, so his confusion was justified.

That was when the redhead held her arms out and plants began to grow out of the hole and across the floor, crawling towards her. "You disappoint me, much like all the women you have in your life," she said snidely. "But I have to thank you. You see, you were the one that created me, connecting me with the Green, and I can't help but be thankful for that."

"Lady, I have no idea what you're going on about, but right now you're getting in the way of me killing the Batman." Clayface was openly scowling now. "Now either shut your damn mouth, or I'll run you through."

"Oh, I don't think I'll take either option. While I'm not opposed to you killing Batman, you're doing so for the Joker. That I will not stand."

By this point, plants and vines were growing around Ivy, forming armor around her body. She then thrust her hands towards the shapeshifter and an onslaught of vines fired off, racing towards Clayface.

With a growl, Clayface drew a hand back, a giant buzzsaw forming. The circular blade began spinning with a loud scream. Swinging his arm, the buzzsaw sliced the charging vines, slicing them into pieces.

Ivy instantly flinched, crying as her plants were cut apart. Seeing this, Clayface swung his saw from side to side, shredding any and all plants between him and the redhead. With every swing he made, he took a step closer to Ivy, slowly closing the distance between them. It was pretty clear that he wasn't going to stop when he reached her either.

Pulling out an explosive shuriken, Batman sent it flying at the mud man's back, the subsequent explosion causing Hagan to cry out. A large chunk of his back was missing, though that was fixing itself as his body began to fill out the damage. Twisting his head around, Clayface growled at the sight of him. "You're gonna pay for that cheap shot," he growled lowly.

Ivy immediately seized on Clayfaces distraction. With the vines not cut apart, she directed them across the floor to where they wrapped around the shapeshifter's feet, growing up his legs. Clayface realized this the moment he tried to turn and fully face Batman, coming to a jerking stop. "What the?"

"My plants are telling me how rich in nutrients you are," Ivy spoke, liking her lips hungrily. "How I can't wait to make a garden out of your body."

Metal spikes suddenly sprouted out of Clayface's legs, severing the vines and causing them to fall loosely at his feet. "You first," he retorted as he pointed his buzzsaw at her. That was when he began extending his arm, the saw rapidly closing in on her.

Seeing this, Poison Ivy held a hand out, her palm pointed up to the ceiling. She then swung her hand up and a large tree root suddenly burst through the floor right in time to intercept the buzzsaw. The root came into contact at the center of the flat side of the saw, piercing through the metal and emerging out of the other side. This stopped the saw cold, even going so far as to slow down its spinning.

Ivy then raised her other hand, only pointing this one to the hole in the floor. As she made the same gesture, the entire theater began to shake violently. Dust and grime on the ceiling were shaken loose, falling through the air to the floor.

That was when a large plant grew out of the hole, a Venus Flytrap of epic proportions. Opening its mouth, it let out a scream before it directed its head towards Clayface.

"Alright, my baby," Ivy cooed. "Enjoy your meal."

Clayface scowled at the towering plant, but he didn't waste much time reacting. Raising up his free hand, he formed a large, double-bladed axe, one that continued to grow and grow until it was the largest axe blade Batman had ever seen. He allowed his buzzsaw to lose its shape, circling around the enlarged root so that his hand could reform freely. But then his hand grabbed onto the root and with incredible strength broke off a large chunk of it.

That was when the monstrous flytrap lunged downward, leading with its open, drooling mouth. Immediately, Clayface hauled up the tree root , putting it between him and the plant. In fact, he stretched his arm upward until he ended up shoving the root into its mouth.

Instinctively, the Venus Flytrap closed its mouth, stopping as the root became wedged inside of it. Unable to realize what was happening, it kept trying to shut its mouth, unable to until it ended up piercing the sharp end of the roof through the roof of its mouth.

In the meantime, Clayface got to work with his ax, swinging it at the thick base of the plant's stem. The blade sunk into the green flesh, but didn't go much further. Yanking the axe out, he swung it again and again, leaving long cut marks, but not much else.

With a grunt, Clayface made another axe with his other hand and got to work again. This time he aimed higher though and found more success. As the stem rose into the air, it thinned, becoming skinnier. It was here Hagan had his best success as one of his axe blades sank deeply into the stem, chlorophyll leaking out like green blood. Hacking at it with both axes, Clayface made short work as he ended up chopping right through the Venus Flytrap's body.

"Timber!" Hagan called out the moment he finally cut through the giant plant. The flytrap let out an ear-piercing scream before it toppled over, its giant head crashing to the floor next to Poison Ivy as she too screamed.

"My baby!" she wailed.

"Don't you worry your little head there," Clayface said cruelly. "Give me a second and you can join your baby in Hell!"

"I believe I can assist in making that accommodation."

Batman felt his stomach drop, the blood in his veins freezing. That voice, distorted by a speaker giving it a distinct robotic tone—not now. Jerking his head up, he spotted the last person he wanted to see.

With one foot on the railing of one of the balconies was Victor Fries—make that an upgraded Fries as his suit was bulkier, his face nearly indistinguishable from the glass dome surrounding it.

He had been aware of Fries' break-in at Caldwell Tech. Batgirl had done the investigation, but he hadn't had time to put her findings together to figure out what Fries had been up to. Clearly it was to make improvements to his suit. Seeing a lack of a Freeze Gun was also concerning as there was no way Fries would walk into a situation unarmed.

As Fries looked down on them all from his perch, he announced, "Do not attempt to flee as you will find no such exit. None of you will escape me." He then raised up one of his arms, steam beginning to surround his hand and rise up into the air. "The icy hand of vengeance falls upon you all."


Strange could only stare up at the ceiling, immune to the violence happening around him.

His chest...his..where he had been shot. Idely, he wondered if it had been a clean shot, the curiosity for that thought dying as soon as it had been born.

It had gone wrong. Again. How? This was supposed to be his triumph. His worthiness as a titan amongst these pitiful gods and somehow he was laying here on the floor. Was he dying? Slowly bleeding out from the wound in his torso?

No. No, no no, this was not how...this was not how his design was supposed to...this…

A pair of shoes appeared in his periphery, and based on the design, he knew who they belonged to. It could be no other as the shadow fell over him, a crouched form towering over the fallen man in stolen triumph.

"Your delivery and punchline needs some work."

Naysayer. Strange felt his eyes flare, widening in anger that was as fleeting as his curiosity. There were always naysayers. For as long as he...little people with little minds content with pursuing the goals of mediocrity, such little people who always had to obstruct his way.

Strange slightly rolled his head, eyes peering up at his would-be conqueror with all his pale white skin and green hair and purple...purple costume. The jester himself. The joker. The wild card.

"I'll give you, the set up was interesting, not gonna lie," Joker continued shrugging his shoulders. "But you gave away the punchline early, like an amateur! And then, instead of moving on, you keep beating the dead horse like it was a pinata. There's no more candy, Hugy, and yet you keep hitting."

Then, Joker moved around, settling himself by the disgraced psychiatrist's head. Hand seized shoulders clad in white, and the next thing the bearded man knew, he was being supported against his adversary and nemesis. A thin- gloved hair roughly caught his chin and forced him to face the violence around them.

Batman was battling with the muddy shapeshifter while Pamela sought all in her power to save her own skin. The two were working in tandem at this point, enemies brought together against a common foe. It was sickening to know that he was not the one to set such a dynamic up. Opposite this was the arrival of Victor Fries, upgraded by all appearances, looming over them all like...like the titan he was.

"Let me show you how to beat a dead horse properly," Joker crooned. "It's the least I could do for that attempt at a joke. Gotta encourage you young up-and-comers somehow."

More attacks to his person. More strikes to his ego. Like dagger thrusts, they were deep. So deep. This was torment, torture, to have another failure shoved into his face until he couldn't breathe, or feel, or...or…

There was a slap to his face. "Now who said you could fall asleep?" the clown reprimanded. "It's rude to fall asleep in the middle of a show! You put this movie together, but you're also going to see the twist ending I added in post, even if it kills you."


Fries' first blast wasn't aimed at any one person. Instead it went right for the hole in the floor, hitting right at the jagged edge. The beam moved from right to left, leaving a flat plate of ice covering the entire hole.

Though it was a simple act, one to ensure that none of the Arkham Inmates present could escape through it, Batman saw it for the incredible demonstration that it was. The freezing beam was larger than the Freeze Gun was capable of, but Fries controlled it experly. The smoothness of the ice made it look like a frozen lake.

"You," Clayface spoke in awe and hatred. "You're the one...who...who…"

The way his voice trailed off, it was clear Hagan was losing himself in whatever internal demon was possessing him. But then his anger returned. "You did this to me! If it wasn't for you, I'd still be human!"

Fries gazed down at the shapeshifter. "Matthew Hagan, I presume. I read about your unfortunate accident while in prison."

"Unfortunate!" Clayface roared. "I wouldn't have had to go through with it if it wasn't for you damaging my fucking face!"

"I can admit that I have harmed you and I alone am responsible for it," the Iceman responded. "But all of your actions following your transformation are on you. Though your presence here is predicated on the accident occurring, every decision from then on was made by you."

"And I've decided to split you up from the middle!"

Enraged, Clayface swung one of his axes towards Fries, stretching out his arm so that it would reach him. In response, Fries fired his freezing blasts at the edge of the balcony and led it to the floor, forming a ramp of ice. He immediately slid down it as the axe ended up colliding with the balcony, destroying it into thousands of pieces.

As Fries reached the floor, jogging to slow down his momentum, Clayface lunged at him, holding his other axe high above his head. With a roar, he swung it down towards the Iceman.

In response, Fries pointed an arm up and fired another blast, instantly freezing Hagan's arm. Hagan cried out as Fries led his blast down his arm and towards his shoulder.

But then Clayface suddenly expanded his body, stretching it as wide as he could. He lost his complete form, but his malleable body reached out in all directions, causing Fries to pause. To the left, to the right, and above, Clayface surrounded Fries until he had him covered on all sides. Because of his own position, Batman was able to see Fries looking up at the mud man before Hagan closed in on him. Fries was crushed within mud, disappearing from sight.

And just like that, there was a giant, malformed ball of mud standing in the damaged theater. Its surface rippled every so often, but didn't grow bigger, or shrink.

That was when the sharp end of an iceberg suddenly erupted out of the mud. More began jutting out, which was finally joined by Hagan screaming. As sudden as the ice ripped through him, Clayface suddenly exploded, though there wasn't a ball of flames that followed it. It was more like he ripped his own body part and flung the various pieces throughout the room.

And where Hagan had once stood was a large spiked ball of ice, Victor Fries kneeling on top of it. Standing up, he hopped off of it, landing nimbly on the floor next to it. He gazed out at the many pieces of Hagan and waited calmly.

His patience was rewarded as Hagan began to pull all of his pieces together, reforming himself. The moment all of the pieces were together, the first signs of Clayface assuming his humanoid form, Fries raised both of his arms, holding them close together. Steam began to rise from his wrists, forming a large cloud.

The moment Clayface's face formed, he growled at the sight of Fries. Suddenly, he stretched his upper body up into the air, retreating towards a wall. Reaching behind him, his hand enlarged itself until his fingers were able to trip onto on of the tanks of the toxic chemical. "Time to have a bath, asshole!" Clayface roared as he ripped the tank right off of the wall and threw it.

The tank went flying through the air, but apparently the shapeshifter wasn't as strong as he seemed. The tank didn't even reach Fries, instead one end of it hitting the floor. Cracks broke out across the transparent glass that revealed the chemical. However, because of its momentum, it bounced off of the floor, flipping wildly end over end. The force of the flipping put too much strain on the growing cracks and they ended up shatter, sending a wave of the chemical flying out in all directions.

Batman gaped up at the green liquid as it reached out as far as it could. Everyone in the room was beneath it, including Fries, Ivy, the still-restrained Harley Quinn, even Strange. There was no way he couldn't avoid it, or protect the others as it hovered over them as a toxic cloud.

Fries didn't have such an issue. He immediately fired his blasters, the ice beams hitting the broken tank and stopping it cold. He kept one arm aimed at the tank, forming an ice pillar between the tank and the floor, allowing it to stand in place. With the other, he moved up, turning so that he could freeze the chemical in a layer of ice. The moment he stopped, the chemical spill was a frozen statue, quite elegant if one looked at it in the right light.

That was until another tank rammed into the top of the ice sculpture, shattering it and sending pieces of the frozen chemical throughout the room. The tank crushed down on top of Fries, knocking him to the floor. He landed on his back, his arms stretched out on either side of him. The tank came to rest on his lower body, pinning him down.

Batman then spied two more tanks approaching, one from either side of Fries. Clayface had extensions of himself wrapped around them, allowing him to swing them towards each other with the full intent of crushing Fries between them.

However, the frozen man was not helpless. Raising both of his arms, the vigilante could see his former foe glance towards either side of him before he fired his ice beams. Each one hit the approaching tanks, freezing them in seconds. The ice continued to form though, crawling up the extensions of Clayface.

Hagan immediately cut himself off, literally. Breaking off the tentacles midway, he withdrew the parts he could, leaving the rest to be encased in ice.

This battle was getting out of hand. Before too long, it was break out of the Monarch and spill into Gotham. That was the last thing Batman wanted, or the city needed. This needed to stop.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much more he could do against Hagan. He was becoming too powerful and he was out of options to take him down. Fries, on the other hand, could stop him, but he was still trapped beneath the tank. While that kept him from fulfilling his goal of killing the other Arkham Inmates, it left the Dark Knight between a rock and a hard place.

Free Fries and stop Hagan while dooming the inmates, or allowing Hagan to put Fries down and leave himself at the mercy of the inmates.

Batman sprinted forward, heading right for Fries. Leaning with his shoulder, he rammed into the tank, causing it to tilt to one side. Right now, the bigger threat was Hagan. He'd worry about Fries' threat once he was taken care of.

Pressing his hands against the tank, he continued to push. From the bottom of his eyes, he saw Fries trying to push as well. Between the two of them, they toppled the tank off of the refrigerated man.

"My thanks, Batman," Fries thanked him as he stood up.

"We need to talk, Victor," the dark-clad man replied.

"Perhaps, but now is not the time." As if to prove Fries right, Clayface landed on the floor of the Monarch, holding both of his hands above his head. Letting out a roar, he stormed towards the two, his hands clasping together, melding with each other, then forming the head of an incredibly large sledgehammer.

In response, Fries raised both of his arms up, pressing them together. He then fired his freezing blasts, the proximity of them together actually combining as an even larger freezing blast raced from his hands, hitting the shapeshifter, ice rapidly encircling him. Hagan screamed again, but fell silent the moment he was completely frozen.

Unlike the freeze grenades, Batman was pretty certain that Clayface was officially finished. Fries was as thorough as he was effective, not to mention he could create more ice from those blasters of his than the grenades ever could.

For a moment, Fries stared at the frozen Clayface, but then he set his sights somewhere else. "Now, my dear, it is your turn."

That someone was Poison Ivy.

The seductress stared in horror at him. She was cringing away from him, but the lack of fleeing meant she knew there wasn't anywhere for her to run. Because of their previous encounter at Robinson Park, she also knew her plants were of no use to her here. They would make for a weak defense.

In a flash, Batman lunged at the man, reaching out with his hands.

As the frozen man raised up his arm, the vigilante's hands collided with Fries', knocking it to one side. It hadn't been a moment too soon either as he had fired a blast, one that hit a wall and left it covered in a sheet of ice.

Fries let out a surprised grunt before he turned his head to look down at him. By then Batman had dropped to the floor, pivoting on one foot as he stretched the leg of his other out. He kicked Fries' feet out from underneath him, knocking him off balance as he stumbled backwards a couple of steps. The vigilante completed his spin a moment later, staying crouched as he faced his former foe.

Fries regained his balance shortly after that. "Batman," he spoke coolly. "You are interfering where you are not needed."

"Don't do this, Fries," Batman told him. "You don't have to kill everyone here."

Fries stared at him for a moment. "I know you know why I am doing this. I also know why you're trying to stop me again. Your effort is appreciated, but I cannot allow my wife's memory to be desecrated any further." His hands clenched tightly. "And because of this woman, there isn't any vestige of her name left."

"When does it end then, Victor?" the Dark Knight pressed. "After you kill Ivy? Or after Hugo Strange? He was the one that put her up to destroying your wife's building after all. And what about the Joker? He and Strange's animosity started all of this."

"And someone set them on the path to start this latest crisis," Fries finished for him. "I understand your argument, Batman, I really do. But you must understand that there is very little left of my wife's good name in this world. When these miscreants destroyed that building, it should have been about an attack on the charity, followed by how it would rebuild. Now it is only a footnote in relation to myself. With that building gone, no one will remember her name." Even behind the glass, the fury that had been growing within Fries was visible.

It was at that moment that Poison Ivy began to try creeping away. Seeing as the two men were focused on each other, she saw an opportunity to make herself scarce. Unfortunately for her, Fries was not that distracted and he raised an arm up, not even looking as he fired a freezing blast. The beam hit the floor in front of Ivy's raised foot, a patch of ice forming. The redhead cried out as stumbled backwards, avoiding it like it was a poisonous snake.

"Damn it, Fries!" Batman barked. "You're letting your anger cloud your mind again! You have to stop this before it gets out of hand!"

"I am angry, this is true," Fries acknowledged. "But I am not as consumed by it as I once was. This all will end tonight, I promise you this, Batman."

"You know I can't let you go through with it."

"I know and you are welcome to try and stop me."


"You really are, cheap, Hugy. You didn't even cough up for some popcorn!" Joker continued to taunt, his commentary unending. "Would you look at that! Even I didn't see some of this coming, but what a show! Fantastic! Batsy is in top form, Clayface is doing a hell of a job, and Icepop over there is doing his best to steal Batsy's schtick! You show'em, Batsy!

"Ahem, now where was I? Oh, right, you keep short selling the talent, man. Why go for so many B-listers when you could have had an all-star cast, am I right? Your movie's bombing, but hey, lucky you, I'm a man who loooves bombs. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get the coveted so-bad-it's-good label! Because everyone loves a disaster, especially one they can mock!"

Strange eyed the battle, observed the freezing of Matt Hagan, Batman's intervention to save Pamala Isley from a vengeful Fries. Mr. Freeze. Freeze. His mind was starting to wander, a side effect of the blood loss. Concentration was becoming a difficult task, something that had once been so easy, so mundane for a man like him to achieve.

Robbed from him by the cackling jester behind him.

"So exciting. Who wins? Who do you think, Hugy? A mess like this, how could anyone pull their egotistical ass out of it? We got it all, plants and ice and mud monsters, oh my! But wait, almost forgot! Someone has got to get the girl out of this deal and I'm the only one around here dressed to impress.

"I'd say it's been fun, but really, like hitting a pinata, it takes no real effort. It's only exciting when you get to hit the thing, oh! And also when the candy comes pouring out!" There was a pause. "Your candy looks a bit too bloody for my tastes, so I'm going to take a raincheck. Well, I'm off to join the bloody train of fun right over there because someone needs to add a little more pizazz to it, and I'm a guy who knows pizazz, am I right?"

Strange gave a cough, wincing from the agony that was his chest wound. The pain helped to sharpen his mind and resurrect his determination.

"No," he choked out.

"Hm? You say something, Cueball?" Joker was glancing down at him. "Could you repeat that, but only with a little less gurgle gurgle?"

"This...this isn't how this ends," Strange gasped.

"And they say I'm crazy." A roll of the eyes. "When are you...oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to. You'll never get off your high horse even if I blow the horse's head off. Silly me."

A chuckle wracked his body.

Another look from above. "What...that's what you find funny? Geez, you have weird tastes, Doc. All of it bad."

He could shake his head. That was something he could still do. "This is not how this ends."

There had to be another comment from the clown, because there would always be another comment. If Joker thought that he had a mind like his pegged, he was about to be gravely mistaken.

Strange was a man who knew how to recognize patterns. Though it was hard, he had to admit that there was a pattern of failure in his most recent endeavors. This meant he had to plan for the possibility that there would be a way to fail this latest scheme. Once you considered the possibility of the impossible, you could plan a contingency for it.

Shakily, a hand reached into his jacket. "I will not allow this...to end this way. It ends...as I deem it to."

"Have you learned a new trick? And they say old dogs can't."

His hand slipped out, his fingers wrapped around a detonator and his thumb on the button. "No one leaves," Strange rasped.

His thumb pressed down.


Below the Monarch, the explosives planted in the sewers detonated one after another, filling the underground tunnels with flames. Outside of the theater, balls of fire tore out through the pavement and asphalt around the decrepit building, damaging and cracking the ice that blocked off ground level exits.

Within, the floor splintered as the explosions ripped through the floorboards, setting all they touched aflame. There were cries of surprise and terror, the only sound not overpowered by the loud booms. The remaining tanks of the nameless green chemical began to fall from their perches, spilling their contents onto the floor and towards anyone in its path.


Watching, Strange was able form a sinister grin, full of teeth and malice.

"Everyone dies."


Fries' entry into the theater is right from Batman: The Animated Series, where he uses the same trick to get into Gothcorp while his men seal it up. I've seen commentary from guys like Bruce Timms and they gushed about that moment when discussing the episode. I couldn't help but add it to this story as well.