Chapter Three

CAUGHT BETWEEN A SHARK AND A HARD PLACE

The good thing about preying on gangbangers and lowlives is that you get to know all of their hangouts in a week or two. It really was like taking candy from a baby, Shark thought to himself as he walked up to the young man standing on the corner, with his hoodie pulled down as far as it went over his mohawk, and a biker half face skull mask covering his own very memorable metal half face.

"¿Qué pasa hermano? ¿qué tu quiere? ¿crack? ¿coca? ¿putas?"

("What's up brother? Whatchu need? crack? coke? pussy?")

"...Meth."

"Mira grandulón, si tu quiere la meta, muestrame la plata, puto drogo maricón"

("Look, biggie, if you want the meth, show me the money, you fucking faggot, junkie")

The dealer replied with a shameless grin plastered across his face.

Shark glanced over his shoulder right before he leaned in a little closer to the wannabe gangsta's face.

"Toda mi plata...se la di a tu hermana por dejar que me la cogiera por el culo, los tres dólares completos, hermano."

("I gave all my money...to your sister for letting me fuck her up the ass, the whole three dollars, brother.")

King Shark spat back in a flawless Spanish, an amused glint in his eyes. Oh, and the dealer's expression when he heard Shark's retort was priceless, his eyebrows shot so far up they were almost at hairline level, and his gaping mouth turned into a perfect "O" making him look kinda like a surprised emoji for a moment, right before he remembered who the fuck he was, that this was his corner and no Shrek looking motherfucker was gonna step up to him like that.

"¡Serás hijo de la gran puta! ¡Yo a ti te parto el culo cabrón!"

("You motherfucker! I'm gonna chop your ass off, you fucker!")

Before the dealer could reach for his piece, King Shark reached for his neck and snapped it like a twig, he then proceeded to empty his pockets. He took his wad of money, his stash and as he was about to step back he noticed a brand new pack of Red Apple cigarettes and took them as well.

He dumped the body in a nearby dumpster, no need for the cops to find him right away, but what he really wanted to do was to eat him whole. He hadn't eaten since the day before and that had been just a quick bite in the middle of a shootout, and now he could feel his stomach beginning to complain, but no dice, he still needed to make two more stops before heading back to the house.

"Oh, well, I've been eating too much junk food lately anyway."

Shark started walking eastbound, next stop Saint Mary Magdalene's.

The church's large black bulletin board read in crooked white plastic letters:

"Monday's N.A meeting 08:00 P.M. God welcomes all of his children without judgment."

Shark stood outside, with his hands stuffed in his hoodie's pockets, waiting. Every now and then people would walk into the church for the meeting, he would look them over and then go back to standing around. He knew that under any other circumstance he would look suspicious as hell, but the people walking in had enough problems of their own to pay much attention to him, besides an addict that's not sure he's ready to go into a meeting is a common sight outside every meeting place in the U.S. if not the world.

As the minutes dragged on into a half an hour Shark started to get impatient, he didn't like playing games, the direct approach was more his style, but he knew that after all they went through, the last thing they needed was for him to bring attention onto himself. He promised Louise he would keep her safe and uncaged, and he meant it.

"Ah, Louise..."

Since she came back into his life, his memories of her and in the flesh, something within him he thought lost started to stir awake and with it to shed months of lethargy away.

Looking back now, he realized he had been searching for something these past few months, his memories of course, but even as those had started to come back to him, he still felt like there was something missing, he just couldn't quite put his finger on what that was, but the things that had always made him happy before, like hunting, brawling, causing mayhem, etc. just didn't seem to bring him the same joy anymore, and he wondered if maybe that was a side effect of having his head blown off. But then, Louise came along and stirred everything up, like a gust of cool wind shaking him out of his trance, and for the first time in months, he began to feel like his old enthused self.

He didn't understand how someone whom he barely knew could have such effect on him, there was just something about Louise, he thought to himself as he reminisced on how she had fought with tooth and nail the day before, not letting anyone subdue her.

He could tell she wasn't a trained fighter, more like a scrapper taking whatever opening she could find to inflict pain on her opponent, but what she lacked in technique she more than compensated with feist and viciousness, alternating jabs, somersaults and kicks with her ice wielding powers, Killer Frost indeed.

Shark closed his eyes for a moment and visualized her standing over a burly man, one of the deputies sent in to take them down, now cowering at her feet. Covered in the blood of her would be captors, now turned victims she basked in the man's fear, kicking him in the ribs playfully just to hear him scream, much like a cat playing with a wounded mouse, right before delivering the final blow.

Shark's breath hitched in his throat at the memory of the Valkyrie standing by his side, laying waste to their enemies in a bloodbath, and swallowed as his mouth started to water.

"Ah, Louise as soon as you get better, you and I are gonna have so much fun together..."

Shark's train of thought was suddenly derailed by the incoming sound of high heels clacking against the pavement.

She was a skinny little thing, five feet tall minus the heels and a few pounds shy of a buck soaking wet. Her pasty white skin made the dark circles under her eyes pop out in contrast. She had long, greasy, thin, ash blond hair and wore a red tank top, skinny blue jeans, cheap red pumps and a worn denim jacket.

As she walked up to the church, she seemed nervous, like she wasn't quite sure if she should go in.

"There's my girl."

"Hey..." Shark spoke up as he stepped out of the shadows, "You gotta light?"

The tiny junkie actually jumped a little, startled at the sight of such a massive man, and instinctively clutched her purse tighter.

"Hey! Hi...Hey, I didn't see ya there...sure big guy, here you go." She blurted out, handing him a small plastic yellow lighter with a green pot leaf on it.

"Great, she couldn't have a metal zippo lighter, I hate these damn plastic tic-tacs!"

Shark thought to himself as he turned from her, pulling down his half mask and tried to light the damn cigarette, which only worked at like the eighth try.

He handed the open pack to the young woman, and she gleefully took a cigarette alongside with her lighter.

"Keep Em" He said, trying to suppress a cough.

"Wow! Really? Thanks, man! That's mighty decent of ya, Red Apples are my brand."

"Yeah, well I'm trying to quit."

"Well, you came to the right place then." The woman said, shooting a sly smile in Shark's direction.

After that, she seemed a lot friendlier. They talked for about twenty minutes, or more like he let her do all the talking. Her name was Gwyneth, like the actress, and people told her all the time how they even looked alike, but she wasn't an actress, she was a dancer, who had to strip to pay the bills, but she did it in a classy way, like the girl in Flashdance.

She was from a little town near Wisconsin and came down to Florida with her boyfriend when she was fifteen, he was in a band and was gonna be the next Tommy Lee, with her at his side as his Pamela, but things didn't go as planned and they fell into hard times, which in turn led to hard drugs, then her boyfriend started dealing to pay for their habit and ended up selling a few grams to an undercover cop who busted him.

He got a dime at Florida State Pen. After that Gwyneth decided to get clean, get her G.E.D and then go to beauty school so she could one day open up her own shop, but kicking the habit had proven to be more difficult than she though.

King Shark listened politely, while Gwyneth told him her sad life story, nodding every now and then, and turning away from her to take the odd drag of his cigarette.

"Bleh, how can people actually like sucking on these things?"

"But, where are my manners? I've been chewing your ear off all this time, nonstop and I don't even know your name. Are you here for the meeting too?"

"My friends call me...Mark" Said Shark "and I am here for you."

"Oh, is that so...Mark?" She said, licking her lips, cat-like.

"Sure, I have something, just for you."

"Oh Mark, now you're just saying all the right things...are you sure you're not an angel waiting for me outside of church?" Gwyneth asked while making googly eyes up at him.

"More like someone who sees that you've been through a rough patch and wants to help you... take the edge off, but first I need you to do something for me."

"Wha-whaddya mean?"

"Maybe you haven't been able to kick the habit because you never got…"closure", like when you break up with someone and you sleep with them one last time so you can get them outta your system and move on without looking back, you know what I mean?"

Oh, she knew what he meant alright. Gwyneth was now looking up at him like he was the devil, but...she didn't walk away.

"And I just so happen to have some "closure" right here." Shark said as he showed her the little bags of crystals in his large right hand. Her eyes locked on them like they were the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

"Ok man, ok, I know how it is...do you have a car where we can do this at?"

"We don't need a car for what I want from you."

Shark said as he handed her a folded piece of paper. She stared at it like she had never seen one before.

"Take it, it won't bite."

Gwyneth took the paper from him, unfolded it and proceeded to read its content.

"Can you understand the handwriting?" Shark asked.

"Uh, yeah, bandages, gauze, antiseptic, Advil…" She read out loud, giving "Mark" a puzzled look.

"Good. There's a Walgreens a couple of blocks from here, we're gonna walk over there, I'm gonna give you some cash so you can buy all of the items on the list, while I wait for you right outside and watch you. Then you're gonna walk over to the bodega next door and you're gonna buy the food items on the list. Once you're done you're gonna walk outside, hand the bags over to me and then, and only then will you get your payment. Do you understand?" Shark made sure he spoke as if he were talking to a three-year-old.

The young woman slowly nodded as she looked up at him.

"You want me to...do your shopping for you, and you're gonna pay me in meth?...Wait, you a cop? Cause if you are, you gotta tell me if I ask you."

King Shark actually chuckled a bit at the sound of that.

"That's just an urban myth, undercover cops don't have to tell you jack, they can and will lie their asses off to your face...but no, I'm not a cop."

Now she looked confused "Ok, but... you just said that underco-"

"So you're not interested? Ok, in that case I guess I'll find someone else who-"

"NO! I mean, no, I-I didn't say that I...wait...ok, I'll do it, but if you put a fucking finger on me I'll scream rape, got it?"

They started walking away from the church "You were gonna go down on me in the back of my car to get the meth in my pocket, so I really don't see what all the fuss is about."

"Yeah, well, blowing a guy for a fix is normal, doing his shopping while he watches for ten times the worth of the shopping list in meth, is just...weird."

"It takes all sorts to make the world go round."

"Yeah, sure, whatever floats your goat man."

They walked in silence for the first block, Shark's thoughts wandering back to Louise, he hated leaving her injured and by herself, but he knew he needed to get medical supplies and food. Ironically, thanks to his habit of eating people Shark had collected a pretty extensive knowledge of human anatomy and a basic understanding of emergency medicine, but Louise being metahuman made it harder for him to assess her injuries properly, and that worried him.

Out of the blue Gwyneth broke the silence "You don't look injured." She said looking him over while they walked.

"What? I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've got plenty of first aid essentials on the list, plus the painkillers, but you seem fine…"

There was an implicit question in that statement that lingered in the air, and Shark's instinctive reaction was to tell her to mind her own damn business, but on second thought it wasn't like she was going to live to tell anyone what she heard.

"They're not for me, they're for my...friend. We had a run-in with the cops and she got hurt."

"Oh, that explains why you don't wanna be seen around town, cops looking for ya. Well, you don't have to worry about me, I don't talk to no cops."

"Goody for me."

"It's really decent of ya, what you're doing, you know? Instead of bailing out on her you're sticking around and helping your injured girlfriend. She's a really lucky girl…" As Gwyneth spoke, her chipper demeanor faded and was replaced with a note of nostalgia in her voice and a far off, distant look in her eyes.

"Girl-what girlfriend?! Lou-she's not my girlfriend, she's just a friend who happens to be a girl-woman! ...You talk too much." Shark wasn't used to having personal conversations with his food, it felt jarring and awkward as hell.

"Ok man, whatever you say...it's still really nice of ya. Can I ask you something else?"

"No. What?"

"If your girl-friend who happens to be a woman is hurt, shouldn't you take her to a hospital?

I mean, I know you are hiding from the cops and all, but if she's hurt bad, isn't it better to get medical attention, even if it means getting locked up?"

Shark stopped for a moment and looked down at the girl, and she really was a girl, nineteen or twenty tops. "You've never been locked up, and I don't mean getting pinched for a misdemeanor and spending a few nights in the slammer, I mean doing real time in a real prison, locked away for twenty-three hours a day in a small, cold, bare concrete room, all by yourself. Well, have you? Yeah, I didn't think so, cause if you had you wouldn't be saying that."

Gwyneth dropped her gaze and they started walking again, this time in silence until they reached the pharmacy, but as they arrived and before Gwyneth could walk in, Shark grabbed her by the arm and pulled her hard enough to let her know he meant business.

She started to protest "HEEEEY! Get your fuckin-" but he cut her off with a single predatory glare.

"Run away, tell anyone what you're doing or ask for help and I will catch you, and what I'll do to you will make giving head for loosies feel like heaven, got it?"

She looked up at Shark, genuinely scared, and nodded vigorously.

"Good, here's the money, now go. I'll be watching you from across the street."

He watched her go into the pharmacy, now he just had to wait.

Shark took in his surroundings, the ATMs right outside the store with their cameras and the traffic camera near the stop sign in the corner, electronic eyes everywhere and a million ways to screw up and get caught, but not this time, this time he had a thought out plan, this time he wouldn't be flying by the seat of his pants, because this time he had Louise to get back to.

He runs through his checklist one more time:

"1) Get meth. Check.

2) Get meth head to do the shopping. Check.

3) Get the medical supplies and groceries from meth head and go home. Soon.

4) Eat meth head and leave no witness?..."

It took Gwyneth little over fifteen minutes to get the medical supplies. Shark could see her through the Walgreens windows, picking out stuff, there were only a couple more people in the store and so far she was following his instructions to the letter.

She paid and left the store with the bags in hand, which she waved over her head at him when she got out, he in turn nodded in approval and jerked his head towards the bodega next door, reminding her that she still had one more stop to make before she could claim her payment.

Another ten minutes passed and Gwyneth came out of the second store, this time she had so many bags on her, she could barely keep them off the ground. Shark made his way across the street and took the bags from her before she collapsed under their weight. He went through their contents to make sure everything was there, while Gwyneth awaited expectantly.

"Looks like everything's here…"

"Well, duh. I can follow simple instructions, you know?" She said sounding almost offended.

"Yeah, good for you."

"Here are your receipts and your change."

Shark looked down at her extended hand and its contents, a bit confused, he really didn't expect her to bring him back his change.

"An honest junkie, who knew? Uh, thanks...keep it, consider it a tip for a job well done."

She smiled back "Thanks…"

"Oh, and here's your candy" Shark said as he fished the little bags of meth out of his pocket and handed them over to her.

Gwyneth took them right away and then just stared at him like she really couldn't believe there was nothing more to it.

"So…? That's it?...you really don't want me to blow you?" She sounded almost disappointed or maybe it was she just couldn't believe her good fortune.

"Yeah, maybe next time kid. Take care." and with that, Shark grabbed the bags, turned around and started walking away from her.

He had considered Gwyneth's offer, just so he could take her somewhere more secluded and eat her once she was done eating him, but eating people with whom he had some sort of relationship, it was...awkward, and the girl had been nice to him, giving him his change and all, and it's not like she knew anything about him that if questioned could lead back to him. Besides, it was late and he figured it would be past midnight when he finally got back to the house as it was, and he didn't like the idea of leaving Louise alone for too long.

Back in its heyday, the manor must have been the pride and joy of her bourgeoisie owners, a statement to their wealth and social status, elegant and secluded, hidden behind a wall of willow trees, and right on the water. But now, it looked more like the postcard for decay, a decrepit withered specter, standing alone and forgotten in the middle of a sea of tall dry grass, slowly rotting away.

The interior looked like Vincent Price and Tim Burton decide to decorate the Blair witch's summer house. Boarded up windows, water damage Rorschach stains, cobwebs dangling from every corner and peeling wallpaper gave testament to how far the mighty had fallen.

What few pieces of furniture remained were covered up with yellowing sheets, like bargain bin ghosts.

Killer Frost stirred in bed, torn between her desire to get up and the fact that every inch of her body throbbed in pain, but at least she was pretty sure nothing was broken, which was some kind of a miracle considering what she had been through in the last couple of days.

She had no idea where she was or what time it was, but from a quick glance at a nearby window, she could see it was dark outside and realized she had slept through the whole day. Slowly, thirst, hunger, and other bodily functions began stirring as well, demanding her attention, so she sat up, sighed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands.

This was the second time in less than forty-eight hours she had woken up beaten and bruised after a run-in with the law and it was getting old real fast.

"Shark?"

She called out and was surprised at how feeble her own voice sounded, so she cleared up her throat and tried again, a little louder.

"Shark, you there?"

Her calls were met with dead silence, which meant that either he was in another room where he couldn't hear her, perhaps downstairs or he was...not there, suddenly the realization of being injured and stranded in a strange place hit her and made her stomach turn into a tight knot, and she had to remind herself

"Shark wouldn't leave me alone in danger, not after all we've been through."

She remembered how the world had turned on itself and fallen apart around them and how he looked at her right in the eyes and asked her to trust him, even though trust was a commodity rarely traded amongst the likes of them, but he had assured her he would get them out of that death trap and would keep her safe, and so far he had made good on his word.

"I'm still alive and in one piece, that's all that matters." Frost reminded herself.

As her sight gradually adjusted to the darkness she was in, she started making out shapes around her. She was pretty sure she was in the master bedroom of a fancy old house, or at least it smelled like an old house, musty and unaired, like an attic.

She didn't hear traffic or any other man-made sounds for that matter, so to her, that meant she was in a rural area, outside of town.

"First thing's first, I need to find a light, a flashlight, a candle, something."

Frost had a hunch there was no working electricity in the house, an educated guess to be exact. She was no stranger to squatting in abandoned buildings, and from personal experience she knew that services like electricity and running water were the first ones to go when a building was abandoned, but still mostly out of habit she reached out towards where the nightstand should be and was surprised when her fingers almost knocked over what felt like a vase or some kind of lamp, but it didn't have an opening like a vase would, and it didn't have a cable coming out of its bottom like a lamp should.

"What...the hell is this?" She wondered out loud as she explored its surface. It had a bulbous body of what seemed glass, a metallic handle on top and on its flat metal bottom it had a small knob…

"A lantern! It's a lantern Louise, duh."

She pulled the lantern close to her and turned the knob all the way and as she did, light filled the room and for the first time, she was able to take a good look at where she was.

"Ooookay...I guess I should be expecting Shaggy, Velma and the rest of the gang to come in and bust me at any moment."

Frost had been right, she was in the dilapidated master bedroom of, judging by what was left of the decor, a fancy old manor. Not even when this house was brand new and shiny would she have liked it, it was too pretentious and frilly, too much of "Barbie's dream house" for her taste.

"More like Barbie's nightmare on Elm Street house now. Ha! Why is it am always funny when there's no one around to appreciate it?"

But at least the bed she was in, a canopy bed, of course, seemed clean...ish?

Not really, now that she was shedding some light on it, she noticed that the bedding looked old, tattered and mismatched. Also, it was covered in some kind of grind, and there was a scrap of paper on the pillow beside hers.

"Ew...I'm grateful for the shelter Shark, but you could have cleaned up a bit, at least thrown out this old wrapper." But as she picked up the paper to toss it out of the bed, Frost realized it wasn't a piece of trash at all, but in fact, a handwritten note addressed to her.

"Louise, I went out to get supplies.

I'll be back soon.

Shark"

No one could ever accuse her friend of not being succinct.

"Okay, that answers one question." but the note didn't say when "soon" was, not that it really mattered because she had no way of telling what time it was. Frost sat on the bed and pondered her options, while she scratched herself.

"Great, bedbugs, the perfect icing on the crap cake that has been my life lately." Louise growled.

Her options as they were, were to stay in bed with the bugs or get up and explore, and now that she was fully awake and in possession of a lantern, the prospect of getting out of bed and wandering around was becoming more and more appealing by the second.

Frost leaned over the bed, and with lantern in hand scanned the surrounding area for her boots.

"Cause there's not a snowball's chance in hell I'm walking around this dump barefoot."

It took her a minute to find them, they were by the foot of the bed but were covered in so much dirt and so many scuff marks that they were almost unrecognizable, nonetheless she picked them up and slipped them on, but as soon as she stood up the room started spinning around her and her legs wobbled and gave out on her.

"WOAH!"

Each nerve ending came alive with a blinding pain. It hurt so much it made her feel dizzy if she had even a scrap of food in her stomach she was sure she would be throwing it up right now. For a while all she could do was try to breathe through the pain, sprawled beside the bed like a broken doll, she gasped and wheezed trying her best not to pass out, all the while thinking how lucky she was that Shark wasn't here to see her like this, weak and pathetic…"NO! That's not me, not anymore, never again!"

Frost forced herself up by sheer will power, and with every shaky step she took her body felt like it would shatter and fall apart, but still, she put one foot in front of the other, slowly, greeting her teeth into a grimace.

"I'm alive and in one piece, that's all that matters. In a day or two, I'll be good as new."

She reassured herself over and over again, like a mantra.

When she was confident that her legs wouldn't fail her again, she took a hold of the lantern again and started making her way across the room, which was rather large, easily one hundred and eighty square feet.

Come to think of it, the bed she woke up in was a full king size.

"This must be where Shark sleeps. A king bed for a King Shark, how appropriate"

She thought, mildly amused by her play on words.

As large as the room was, it looked even larger due to the lack of furniture in it. Besides the canopy bed there were a couple of small wooden crates turned on their side playing the part of nightstands, an old dresser partially covered by a yellowing sheet, with a few old paperback novels, some scattered batteries, probably dead resting on top, three or four garbage bags filled with who-knows-what were piled between two windows.

One the windows had a makeshift bedsheet curtain which hung haphazardly from a rusty curtain rod, her twin, lacking a rod to call her own had several old newspaper sheets scotched to the glass surface.

"How crackhouse chic."

Frost cautiously peeked outside one of the windows, but all she could make out in the dark were willow trees and a field of tall grass, so she stepped away, and as she turned she came face to face with an intruder.

He or she stood in the doorway, the light from his/her lantern obscuring his/her features.

It took Frost less than two seconds to go from completely startled to her fight or flight response kicking in, which in her case was almost always fight.

Still holding the lantern in her left hand, her right hand went up, a reflex, and icicles shot from it, impaling themselves in the door frame, missing her target by just a couple of inches, probably because of the gut wrenching pain that burst from her hand and travelled up her arm the second she used her powers, which made her double over and gasp in pain, but instead of letting go of the lantern she dropped to her knees, making herself smaller, and only then did she release the lantern, making sure it didn't shatter when it hit the floor.

It's amazing how many thoughts can run through a person's mind in just a couple of seconds, ranging from "Who the hell is that?!" to "Fuck, fuck, fuckitty fuck, it hurts so baaaaaad!" and "Whatever you do, don't drop the lantern, but the light is a dead giveaway, what do I do? Do I kill the light? But if I do, I'm left in the dark...god, that was a shitty shot. I know, drop to the floor, that way the lantern is safe, and then duck for cover, and then...oh no, I think I'm completely tapped out, I need to find some kind of weapon, a blunt object or something. Shark, where the hell are you?!"

All of them at the same time, all the while knowing that the next decision you make will determine if you live or die right then and there.

"But he/she doesn't know I'm empty...fuck it.

Freeze asshole! The first one was just a warning shot, make one move and I will put an icicle through your gut and watch you die slowly!"

There she crouched, trying to look as menacing as her words sounded, trying not to pant and not let her hands tremble while she pointed them at the intruder.

Maybe it worked, because he or she had dropped to the floor and frozen in place, until she couldn't keep her right hand up anymore, the feeling of pins and needles too painful to bare, she had to drop her hand and pull it close to her body, only then did the intruder move, ever so slightly.

"Who are you? What do you want?" But the intruder didn't answer, he/she just stared at her in silence.

Another tense moment stretched between the two of them until Frost waved at him/her with her left hand.

"Hello?"

Although she couldn't really see the intruder well, she saw movement that resembled her own, then she slowly began reaching for her lantern so she could shed some light on this creep, never taking her eyes off the person standing in the doorway.

The intruder moved again, it was just as slow and cautious as her own movements, which was actually quite nerve wrecking, and although she always did and always would consider herself a rational person, despite what other people might think of her sanity, now that she found herself in this creepy, abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, facing a faceless intruder who seemed to only want to mess with her head, instead of openly attacking her, she was beginning to feel very much like she was in an interrupted state of reality, in which she somehow became part of a horror movie.

"Oh, did you pick the wrong girl to mess with buddy, I'm no scream queen, I'm the one that makes the Mike Myers and the Jason Voorhees of the world scream and wet themselves...now if I could just see your face…"

Her fingers were ice burnt and sore, and the simple task of grasping the handle of the lantern became tricky, but Frost pushed through the pain as she always had, she grabbed and dragged the lantern towards her, right at the same time the intruder pulled his/her own lantern as well.

Frost tilted her head slightly to the left "What the...fuck?"

Acting on impulse she pulled her lantern over her head, in perfect unison with the intruder.

"You gotta be..." Then to the right, again in unison...

"Freaking..." And then to the left, in unison again...

"KIDDING ME! IT'S A MIRROR?! IT'S A GODDAMN MIRROR?!"

Frost stood up, lantern in hand and walked over to the door with her other hand extended until it touched the cold glass surface of a full-length mirror attached to the face of either a bathroom or a closet door.

"Ha...haha...AHAHAAHAAA!"

Frost had to put down the lantern before she knocked it against the mirror, that's how hard she was laughing, and for a moment everything else, the fact that she was in an abandoned house all by herself in god knows where, that she was hungry and hurt, and that in the last twenty-four hours she had not only escaped police custody but also managed to level an entire police station, just faded away, and she laughed uncontrollably.

She couldn't remember the last time she laughed so hard, one arm on the door's frame to steady herself and the other holding her midsection.

"HAHAHAHA! It's a mirror, I-I HAHAHAHA! I was just in a-a HAHAHA Mexican standoff with my own HAHAHA reflection! AHAHA...Oh, ah...need...to...breathe..."

Her belly started to ache from the intense bout of laughter, and she tried her best to catch her breath.

"Ha...ow...haha...ah...ha...ohoho, ok, ok...hahaha."

But she just couldn't stop laughing, It was like the floodgates had been opened and now she couldn't for the life of her stop.

"Maybe HAHAHA I'm HAHAHA having a HAHAHA nervous breakdown HAHAHA..."

That made her think of Harley Quinn and she wondered how the little psycho-doormat managed to laugh like that all day long and not die of exertion.

Oddly enough, thinking of Harley did the trick and she was able to stop laughing long enough to breathe and wipe away the tears running down her cheeks.

"Oh, man, I must look like some kind of a mess right now."

Frost pulled up the lantern beside her face and took a good look at herself in the mirror, but the woman who looked back at her she did not recognize.

"No wonder I freaked out at my own reflection..." All the mirth gone from her now quickly replaced with shock.

Her usually feathery and exuberant silver blue hair was now a matted, dirty mess, which she couldn't even run her fingers through.

The rest of her was in no better shape, covered in different layers of filth, ranging from dried blood, hers and from other donors, soot, sweat, mud and all kinds of dirt, all plastered on top of an extensive road map of cuts and bruises covering the length of her body.

"No wonder I felt itchy..." She thought as it dawned on her that the filth on the bed she woke in actually came from her.

Frost traced her fingers over her face following the trails her tears had made in the dirt, which only made her look more helpless and pathetic.

"No. No. No! this isn't me...this is what a victim looks like, not...not me..."

Louise shook her head and looked away, wanting to escape her own reflection she turned the knob, pushed the door open and walked into a big lavish bathroom.

Well, once upon a time it had been a lavish bathroom, now it just looked like the kind of room you might wake up in after a bender, in a tub filled with ice, missing a kidney or two, next to a telephone and a note telling you to call nine one one.

The large mirror above the peach colored quartz vanity greeted her with the same dismal image. She walked around the bathroom past the also peach colored bidet and the peach corner bathtub which was covered in some kind of dark brown substance, probably just rust and gunk, but really it looked more like someone had dismembered and drained a body there, and knowing who was staying here, that might very well be the case.

That's when she stumbled upon a remarkable discovery in the toilet. Because it lacked a lid, the light from the lantern reflected on the water.

"Wait, there's water? Of course, there's water, Shark's a shark, he needs water. He didn't reconnect the power because lights in an abandoned house would attract attention, but he did reconnect the main water supply...oh, Shark, I could kiss you right now."

Frost put down the lantern, unclasped the high neck of her leotard and pulled it down to her knees, followed by a masterful rendition of the "Dive-club-bathroom-hover-over-toilet-to-pee" maneuver. She saw no toilet paper, but in her current deplorable state she didn't care much, besides, life is always better with an empty bladder.

"Now, that's gotta be a bumper sticker."

She pulled her leotard back up and pulled the lever down, and much to her satisfaction it flushed without a hitch.

"Well, if something was gonna work for me today, I'm glad it was the toilet."

Her spirits mildly lifted thanks to her unencumbered bladder, Frost decided to push her luck and walked back over to the vanity, lantern in hand which she placed by her side before she turned the faucet on.

The red or hot water handle didn't work, but the blue or cold water handle did, although only a weak stream came out, she was able to wash her hands, and was contemplating on how she could go about washing the rest of herself this way, when something in the mirror caught her eye.

This time it wasn't an "intruder", but the reflection of the shower that was right behind her, and the red bath sheet that hung over the shower door, which made her turn around and walk over to it.

She touched it, it felt dry. She pulled it close to her face, it smelled clean…

"I hope Shark doesn't mind me using his towel."

Frost looked inside the shower, it was dingy and had missing tiles, but at least it didn't have any brownish mystery gunk in it, also in one of the corners she discovered a generic brand bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap. She had all the elements she needed to take a shower, all except hot water.

Now, no one could ever accuse Killer Frost of being frail or soft, but everyone has weaknesses, even her, and although she is the undisputed Ice wielder (suck it Captain Cold!) what most people don't understand is that her powers don't come from thin air, they in fact came from heat, meaning that she needs a heat source to fuel her powers, and if she finds herself in a depleted or injured state, both of which she is in now, cold water might in fact harm her.

"On the one hand, I have showered in lock up and survived, and that's real cold water, so how much harm can this do to me? On the other hand, the showers in lock up were brief and I suspect intended to keep me weak..." As Frost tried to make up her mind, she glanced back at the mirror and took another look at herself.

"Screw it, I'm not looking like an extra from The Walking Dead a minute longer."

She reached into the shower and turned the faucet on. After a couple of seconds she heard the pipes moan and groan like she had just kicked the old house in the balls, but nonetheless, water began to pour out, and Frost started to undress.

She tossed her sleeves and leotard in the sink behind her leaving her boots and stalkings by the shower door, next to the lantern, and then she stepped into the shower.

The water was cold, not freezing cold, this was Florida after all, but she still winced when it hit her skin, so she pulled away from the stream and began lathering herself quickly while she bounced and huffed in place.

She tried not using her nails at first, but the grime was like painted on her, the blood clinging to her limbs, and the cold water wasn't helping, so she had to scrub to get it out, and every cut and bruise on her body came alive at her harsh touch. She tried gritting her teeth, but it's hard to do when they're chattering. Then she focused on her hair, and as many times before was grateful to herself for keeping it short.

Frost had wondered now and then how other women in her field managed to wreak havoc and still have the time to maintain their long hair. She didn't know each and every female super criminal in the US, contrary to popular belief they weren't some kind of sorority, and didn't hang out together, but she did know some of the more renowned ones, and most of them kept their hair long and splendid looking.

She, on the other hand, cut her own hair, and as long as it didn't get in her eyes or become a hassle to care for, she would let it be, just washing it, drying it with a towel and using a really great coconut leave in conditioner to keep it in line.

"So, either there's a metahuman Pantene power I got screwed out of, or these women are spending waaay too much time on their looks...I on the other hand, lacking my leave in conditioner am gonna look like the Pink Panther after he comes out of the dryer...wait, was the Pink Panther a he or a she?..."

Frost entertained her shower thoughts while she finished with her hair and braced herself for the misery that would be rinsing herself off.

"Just think warm thoughts Louise, wildfires, erupting volcanoes, rivers of lava...the surface of the sun..." Frost told herself as she stepped under the water stream.

She was glad to notice, when she looked down, that the sudsy water being shed was coming out brown, which meant that she was getting clean.

"Unless..."

Frost cupped her hands together under the shower stream and examined its content for a moment, it looked clear and potable enough under the dim light, and for a second she considered drinking it, but on second thought...

"I have enough on my plate right now without adding water-borne illness to it."

"Ok, I'm done, this is as clean as I'm gonna get without hot water."

She declared, turning the faucet off and reaching for Shark's ginormous towel, which felt nicer and cleaner than she would have expected it to be. She stood shivering and huffing while she gently patted herself dry.

Now that she was clean, she could appreciate the full extent of her injuries, so she stepped closer to the lantern and started assessing the damage.

She did look and feel a lot better now, but she also could see the roadmap of cuts and bruises stretching all over her naked body clearly.

Because of her particular Metahuman composition, when hurt she didn't bleed much or even bruise that much for that matter, and under the right circumstances she would heal quickly, the downside to this was that it was easy to underestimate the severity of her wounds, so she prodded and poked with her fingers the nastiest looking cuts to determine their depth.

The pain of her torn flesh brought back half processed memories of how her injuries came to be, like out of a dream, no not a dream, a nightmare in which she was buried alive under tons of rubble.

She knew the only reason she could still count herself amongst the living instead of being buried alive or being transferred to Belle Reve was because of King Shark, who had kept his word and kept her alive and safe, to the extent that one of the worst cuts on her wasn't from the cave-in, but the one she made herself to her inner thigh to help sell her performance to the deputy back at the sheriff's station, so she could escape her cell. And now she started to wonder how much pain did King Shark have to endure to make sure she was almost unharmed.

"How much of the dry blood I washed off myself was your blood Shark?" Louise whispered as she recalled the color of the water at the bottom of the shower.

Not happy with her current train of thought, Frost stepped out of the shower, still wrapped in Shark's red bath sheet while she ran her fingers through her damp hair over and over again, only stopping to pick up her stockings and examine them against the light.

"Well, these are a total loss, just like my sleeves." She unhappily sighed "The thermal strips are completely ruined" and balled them up, and tossed them in the sink with her sleeves and leotard, which she next examined by holding the elastic fabric against the light of the lantern.

"I might be able to recycle these strips and the battery looks...Oookaaay."

She assessed the Wigner–Seitz cell like construction which encased a blue round crystal on the front of her leotard.

"But I really should try to clean it up a bit before I put it back on, or my shower will have been for nothing."

Frost placed the lantern next to the sink, then walked back to the shower to pick up the bar of soap, and walked back to the sink, turned the water on and carefully began splashing water on her leotard and gently rubbing the bar of soap against the impermeable fabric.

She stood there trying to salvage her trademark leotard, she had others of course back at her place, but if you're in the super-criminal game you need to look the part, which means either you become very skillful with a sewing machine, which she wasn't, or you deal with the fact that you are gonna spend tens of thousands of dollars on outfits and accessories over the span of your career.

Now, her outfit looked simple enough, just your average leotard that you might find at the local sports store in the figure skating or gymnastics section, right? Wrong.

First of all, the material is a memory fabric, ideal if you want to wear something that fits you like a glove and doesn't ride up or chafe. It's also waterproof, and cryo and thermal-resistant, and to top it off, her stockings, sleeves, and leotard have a framework of thermal strips embedded all over them and connected to a battery at the center of her chest, that harness and distributes heat, in other words, not cheap.

There are no Macy's for super criminals, which means that if you didn't make it yourself, you need to buy it from a very specialized provider, the kind of person who not only has the skills and discretion necessary, but also doesn't mind working for some of the most dangerous, deranged and depraved members of society, in other words, even more not cheap.

"And people think I make a killing robbing banks and doing merc work, ha! I should be that lucky."

Slowly the dirt started to wash off and Frost had to remind herself that she couldn't just soak her leotard, not if she wanted to wear it right away and gave out an exasperated growl, she wasn't known for her patience.

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!" she quoted Lady Macbeth in her best affected English accent.

She held up her leotard focusing on another stain and couldn't help but think of how it got there, and like that, her thoughts wandered back to the day before again, when she had been sure it would be her last…

She sat on Shark's lap inside the smoke filling cell and tried her best not to fall apart in the face of certain death.

Shark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Look at me, Louise. I promise you this is not the last time we see each other, we're gonna get out of here, alive and...maybe not unharmed, but we are gonna make it."

She really did want to believe him, but she couldn't see a way out of this one.

She looked up into his dark eyes and asked: "How?"

Half expecting his comforting words to be just that, words with no means of backing them up.

"The way I see it...we only have one chance of getting outta here alive, we stick to our original plan, you freeze the ceiling in here and I wreck it apart."

Frost stared at him wide eyed and shook her head.

"No! You don't understand, I already compromised the structural integrity of the ceiling out there, if I do it again in here the whole building will come down on us, and I'm no architect, but I'm pretty sure that's a load bearing wall behind me. Besides, I don't think I have it in me to do it again...No, no, I won't do it!" She stressed by crossing her arms as to brace herself from being coerced.

"Listen to me Louise, this is the only way to get outta here alive" He spoke to her gently.

"You don't understand! If I do this we will either be crushed to death or buried alive."

Frost waved her arms in a downward spiral motion as she spoke as to emphasize her point.

"No! We won't, I know I can survive the building falling on us, and I will protect you with my body."

Frost hesitated and bit her lower lip "I...No...I... It doesn't even matter because I can't do it again." She sounded so tired as she spoke the last part.

"You have to if you want us to live to see another day you need to push yourself beyond your pain and fear and bring this building down on those fuckers out there. If you do that, I will do the rest and keep you safe, I promise.

I know you can do this, the question is, do you trust me to keep my promise and keep you safe? Do you? Louise…?"

Right then and there it came to her, the memory of that time at Arkham, the walkway, the SCU pricks shooting at them and Shark putting his life in her hands...

As on cue, another blast hit outside the now very hot metal door, the whole cell trembled and the only light in the room went out.

Shark couldn't see her face in the dark and after a while, he wondered if maybe she was quietly crying, but was surprised instead to hear a dry titter coming from her.

"Fuck it. If it were easy anyone would do it. Hell yeah! Let's go out swinging."

Frost stood up and stepped over Shark's legs, walking into the dark with her arms extended in front of her.

"Ok, let's get to it. How's about a piggy back ride?"

She sounded almost cheerful like they were about to move some furniture around and then share a pizza, instead of trying to collapse a whole building on themselves.

"If this is how I go out, I am at least taking every goddamned, worthless, good ole boy, cowboy wannabe cop in this police station shaped toilet with me to hell."

Frost thought bitterly as she pushed her fear out of the way to make room for her wrath, but her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of Shark's large hands firmly wrapping themselves around her waist and hoisting her up like she was no heavier than a house cat, he then once again carefully placed her on his shoulder.

"You can see me in the dark?" Frost wondered if that was another one of his many strengths, he was such a predator.

"No, not 'see', I can just sense your movements. Are you ready?"

"Not even a little bit, but let's do it."

Frost poured every ounce of herself into her task, trying hard not to think of the outcome.

"I...I don't regret seeing you either" Shark's awkward voice broke the silence.

"Huh?" Frost glanced down at the out of context comment.

"You said before that you didn't regret seeing me one last time, and I told you, this won't be the last time we see each other, but still, I don't regret it, seeing you I mean."

"Oh...ok. Shark?"

"Yeah?"

"I do trust you."

"...Oh. Ok."

And to her surprise she really did trust him, as much as she was capable of trusting someone, sadly it didn't keep her from feeling terrified and exhausted.

As she tried to funnel the growing heat around them into her powers she soon began to feel overwhelmed and lightheaded.

"Shark?"

"Yeah?"

"It's working, but I-I might..."

"Faint?"

"I don't faint. I might...pass out."

Shark's only response was to hold her tighter, pressing the side of his face against her hip.

After a while, her lightheadedness turned into a strange kind of buzz from the lack of oxygen and the exertion from intaking heat and immediately out-taking freezing cold.

She suddenly felt very light, like she was filled with helium, and even a bit giddy. Her head fell backward and was about to let herself go and float away into a warm sea of darkness when she was jolted back into reality by Shark's firm grasp on her, who as soon as he felt her faltering caught her before she could hit the ground.

"I got you. Ok, that's enough."

"Mmmm, no, not enough, I mean not yet…" She whispered, pressing her right hand against her forehead trying to keep herself awake and coherent.

"Louise…" Shark began to say in a scolding tone...

"Hey! I don't tell you how to scare the crap out Richard Dreyfuss, so don't you tell me how to do my job...just prompt me up against, well yourself and let me finish what I started…besides, I don't think I wanna be awake for what's coming."

Shark hesitated, but complied and once again pulled her up, but this time, holding her up by the waist like a doll.

Frost looked up and stared at her reflection again, she was gonna have to trim her hair to fix the burnt edges and even it out.

"I can't believe I'm still alive. I wonder how many more by the skin of my teeth escapes I have in me..."

She shook her head like a wet dog, trying to shake away those unhappy thoughts. Without her leave in conditioner she thought she looked kinda like a dandelion.

She really hated reminiscing about close calls, the whole idea behind becoming metahuman was to never feel powerless and vulnerable again, to live her life on her terms, and to do right by a friend, of course, her only friend.

"You said before that you didn't regret seeing me one last time, and like I told you, this won't be the last time we see each other, but still, I don't regret it, seeing you I mean."

A smile crossed her lips, not her only friend, not anymore, she thought as she remembered Shark's voice in the dark encouraging her while she sat, perched on his broad shoulder.

Her recollections after that, were hazy, which was fine with her, a building collapsing on her was one of several memories she didn't need to hold onto, if only she could forget about Amanda Waller, the Suicide Squad, the bomb in the back of her neck, and Arkham Asylum the same way.

The image of Shark's head being blown off flashed through her mind and she involuntarily flinched at the uninvited thought.

"Stop it! All that is blood under the bridge, it can't hurt me unless I let it...besides, Shark's alive and well, and...alive, how is he alive after having his head blown off? And is it me or is he taking forever? I just hope he remembers to bring food...the non Soilent Green kind."

It was almost one in the morning when Shark made a beeline across the tall grass field leading up to the old abandoned manor he was squatting in. While he trotted he sang at the top of his lungs:

"IIIIIII'M A SHARK, I'M A SHARK, I'M A SHARK...I'M A SHARRRRRRK! HA!

I'M A SHARK, I'M A SHARK, A MOTHERLOVING SHAAAAARK!"

Until he reached the back door.

Once inside the manor, he piped down, not knowing if Louise was awake and not wanting to wake her if she wasn't.

The house seemed just as he left it, dark and quiet, and on his way to the main staircase he picked up one of the flashlights he kept around the place. As he climbed up the stairs, two steps at a time the boards creaked beneath his feet and threatened to give in under his weight, but he didn't mind them one bit, he was too happy to be home with the supplies Louise needed, and soon she would be a-ok, and then...

"And then...what?"

Shark never had much use for plans on the count of him being more of the "spur of the moment" kinda guy. If hungry he would hunt and eat, if in need for a place to crash he would either find an abandoned building like this manor and squat in it or stay in some fly bag motel, if he needed money he would steal it from his prey, or if bored or in a pinch he would do some merc work, his life was uncomplicated and untethered and he liked it that way. But now there was Louise, and she complicated everything.

He could tell she was stubborn and used to getting her way, she also needed things like antiseptic, bandages, painkillers, food and water, the kind that you need to buy at a store, she was...fragile.

The thought of Louise kicking him in square in the balls, every time they met crossed his mind, and how she held her own against the sheriff's men as well.

"No, not fragile, just...complicated, but never fragile."

And now he found himself wondering what she would do once she was strong enough to do as she pleased, probably go home, but where was home? Was she just passing through Florida when she got busted or were they somehow neighbors?

But the question that was really eating him up was:

"Would she like a partner? Cause I could move...Nah, don't get your hopes up Shark, Louise seems like the kind of gal that has her own plans, emphasis on the "s", as in a plan A, plan B, and a backup plan C just in case, and likely not a huge fan of playing it by ear.

She probably doesn't need some shark cramping her style...sigh."

Shark pondered all of this as he walked into the master bedroom which was as dark, if not darker than as when he left. He shone his flashlight towards the foot of the bed and slowly made his way up not wanting to shine a bright light on Louise's face and startle her awake, but to his surprise the bed was empty.

He looked closer and noticed that the lantern he left for her was gone as well, the beam of light traveled across the headboard and pillows and he saw that the note he left her was now in a different place.

"Louise found the lantern and my note, so she knows I went out to get supplies."

Shark dropped the bags on the bed and shone the light around the room.

"She wouldn't have gone out to look for me, Would she? Maybe she was more hurt then I thought, maybe she woke up and was disoriented and went out...?"

The idea of Louise wondering gator country in the middle of the night, hurt and all by herself was alarming, to say the least, no matter how much of a badass she was.

Louise held her leotard up once again and took a good look at it.

"Nice. My patience really paid off. It's still a bit wet, I really should wait before I-what was that?"

It sounded like creaking floorboards and footsteps, there was someone walking around the bedroom.

"It must be Shark..."

But just in case, she decided to wait and make sure before announcing her presence, being low on cryogenics and naked, it seemed like the sensible thing to do.

"No, Louise is too smart to do that, maybe she's somewhere in the house.

Louise, I'm back, where are you? LOUISE YOU THERE?! LOU-"

Shark's heart sunk into his stomach, as his flashlight shone against the bathroom door he could see a couple of icicles embedded in the wood next to the mirror, glistening under the light.

"LOUISE!"

All sorts of horrible scenarios crossed Shark's mind in the span of two seconds. Sure, the room looked just as he left it, there was no blood, no other signs of trouble, but the icicles were a clear indication that something had gone down.

Stealthy like a shadow she glided towards the door, senses sharp like razors, lantern in hand…

Then his gaze dropped to the floor and he noticed a slit of light coming from under the bathroom door. "Someone's in there, and if it were Louise she would have answered as soon as she heard me calling, and here I was thinkin I was gonna miss dinner…"

Relief washed over her as soon as she heard Shark's guttural voice calling her name. She opened her mouth to call back while she reached for the door, but right then she felt a tug that pulled her towel almost completely off.

"I'm in he-the hell?!"

She turned and realized her towel got caught on the edge of the shower door when she slid over to get closer to the door.

"Damn it!" Frost hissed as she tugged on the fabric still holding the lantern, and tried to wrap it around her naked body once more, and just as she fumbled with it, the bathroom door blew wide open, or to be more accurate, it was blown to pieces, just inches away from her left side.

It all happened so fast, bits of wood rained down on her, as she winced and pressed herself against the cold tile wall. She dropped the lantern and it shattered into a million pieces as it hit the floor, her hand went up in a heartbeat ready to blast whatever ice she had left in her, not even stopping to think how much it would hurt if she tried, her other hand clutching her towel in place around her chest, when she realized that the massive figure leaping into the bathroom belonged to King Shark, her hand immediately recoiled…

His predatory instincts taking over, he kicked the bathroom door open like it was a movie prop and as the bits flew everywhere he jumped in sideways, ready to tear apart anyone who got in his way.

Shark was out for blood "If you hurt my Louise, I'm gonna introduce you to a whole new universe of pain..." but before he could finish his thought a startled yelp made him turn around, claws first, and face…

"Louise?"

"SHARK IT'S ME DON'T-!"

Louise cringed, closing her eyes half expecting to be shredded before she could finish her sentence...but there was no pain, and as she clung to dear life and to that towel, she opened her eyes and looked up, realizing that she was pinned under King Shark, her back against the wall, between the shower and the bathroom door. Shark stood over her, panting, his weight resting on both his hands, like two pillars which were prompted on both sides of herself encasing her between them.

She stared at him, wide-eyed, well aware of what a close call this had been.

"Talk about being caught between a shark and a hard place."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Red Apple cigarettes are a nod to the Quentin Tarantino Universe because when I started writing this fanfiction I wondered if a universe were hyper-violence was so common it was even mixed with comedy and yet people still managed to live in it without freaking out about it was possible, and then I remembered the Tarantinoverse.

When reading the part about King Shark singing it might be helpful to know that the tune that inspired it is the map song from Dora the Explorer.