"Freeze." Pulsade reiterated emphatically. "F-R-E-E-Z-E. Freeze. Got it bloody memorized?"
"Yeah!" Her bald accomplice piped up. "What other Freeze do you know?"
"Actually, I once met a fella named Wyn-"
"Freeze?" Robin asked the villains tersely, cutting me off. "Victor Freeze?"
"That would be the one." Michael muttered.
I glared at him.
"What's his connection to Fraust?" Robin demanded.
"Besides the fact they both have ice powers?" Simon said obviously.
Robin ignored him and looked at Pulsade.
"I dunno the details." She said. "Except that Freeze considers Fraust his adopted daughter. He's Fraust's ultimate trump card."
"That's a hell of a card." I whistled.
"Do not pass Go." Michael smirked. "Do not collect two hundred dollars..."
WHUMP!
I kicked him in the side of his leg.
"You shush. You're the one heading directly to jail. And don't think I done forgot you owe me a bike and a hat!"
"And you owe me the Director's Cut of Brokeback Mountain."
"Woo hoo." I drawled sarcastically. "Real clever one there. How did you ever come up with it?"
"Enough, guys." Robin turned away, thinking hard.
We watched him dumbly.
"We have to get to Starfire as quickly as possible." He finally decided, driving a fist into his palm. "Freeze is extremely dangerous."
Noir waved his hands. He signed.
Robin looked at me.
"He wants to know what we're gonna do about them." I jerked my thumb at the three metahuman bandits.
Robin looked at them closely.
"...You said you wanted to help your friend? Fraust?"
"That's right." Pulsade said.
"You're going to get your chance. Come on."
I nearly spit.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I waved my hands wildy. "Wait a cotton pickin' minute here! There ain't not way on God's green earth that I'm working with him!" I jabbed a finger into Michael's face.
Robin turned away from me and started walking, expecting us to follow.
"Find a way."
I stood there, smoldering.
Michael jumped to his feet and smirked at me.
"Sorry about your bike, man. If it's any consolation at all, feel free to sit on my shotgun barrel and rotate."
"...Shut up."
TTTTTTTTTT
Water dripped from somewhere in the dark cave, measuring the seconds. Static and Starfire, side by side, were encased from the neck-down in shimmering ice. The two shivered, but Static put on a brave face.
"Yo, man! Let us go! You're gonna pay for this!"
Victor Freeze peered at him from behind the glass globe that separated him from the world. The red of his goggles were piercing...and cold. Static flinched despite himself.
"Perhaps." Mr. Freeze intoned. "But neither you nor your companion will be alive to see it."
"Victor, no!" Fraust stepped between them. "Please. T-they helped me when no one e-else would."
Freeze stopped. They all watched as his emotionless face calculated.
"...Very well." He said with a logic as cold as he was. "They helped you once. Now they shall help you again." He looked at Static and Starfire. "You will follow my orders immediately as I specify them. You will not argue. You will not disobey. For this I will free you. Do you agree?"
Static glared-
"Yes." Starfire whispered.
"Star-!"
"And you." Freeze pointed at Static. "Do you agree?"
Static grit his teeth. He looked at Starfire who gazed back.
"I..."
"Virgil, please..."
"Yes." Static forced out before he could change his mind. "I...do."
Freeze's facial expression never changed.
"Wise decision."
