Chapter 4
It's such an "Ice" Day (part 2)
Outside of Burton Corp, the KND, and Tommy, were waiting for Batman to show up, seeing as they needed something to crack the security system to get inside. "Remind me why we don't just break into this place?" Numbuh 4 whined, to which Numbuh 2 replied with, "BECAUSE we don't want to cause more trouble then we have to." "Spoken like a true Dark Knight," Batman replied as he stepped out of the shadows, "Sorry I'm late: had to stop a crime in progress a few blocks back." "Yeah, whatever," Tommy said indifferently, to which Batman retorted, "For the record, I'm NOT imitating you Tommy, or do you prefer THE Tommy?"
"How'd you…?" Numbuh 5 began, to which the Capped Crusader scoffed, "The reason that I said that your sector's tech operative was 'a true Dark Knight' is because I can tell he and I share the same common interests AND have similar means of solving problems: hard as it may be to believe, your brain will get you out more jams then your brawn. Simply put, I'm not just a crime fighter: I'm ALSO a detective." Turning to Tommy, Batman stated, "Not sure exactly what inspired YOUR costume, but there was a time where bats actually frightened me, and I wanted my enemies to share my dread." "You wanted to strike fear into those who prey on the fearful," Numbuh 3 summarized, having discovered some new-found respect for the vigilante, which only increased when Batman nodded and stated, "I ALSO wanted to keep a promise I made to a couple of people I cared for."
"That's nice and all but…" Numbuh 1 stated, to which Batman nodded. "I'll get the door open," he remarked, pulling out a small devise from his belt. As he turned the dials on it a few times, the electronic lock eventually registered that the door was open. "Stay close to me: I'll keep you safe," the Dark Knight insisted. Fanny wasn't sure why, but she found herself agreeing to it.
(space bump)
A few minutes later, they came across a catwalk above what looked to be the industrial section of the building. "So where do we…?" Numbuh 5 began to inquire, only to be silenced by Batman. "Listen," he commanded. Quieting down, they heard voices below them. "Give me Boyle or I'll freeze this entire room," Mr. Freeze declared, to which they heard someone give a raspy chuckle. "No, I don't think you will," the mystery person declared, "Ferris has the codes you need, and I'm not giving him up unless I get what he's giving you." "What's behind this door is of no interest to you," Freeze declared, to which the same person declared, "Then how come I feel that you're hiding something of value from me?" "This is NOT the deal we made, Roman," the former Burton Corp employee deadpanned. "Yeah, well then sue me, AFTER I get what's behind that door," the apparent voice of Black Mask declared. "I don't WANT to hurt you, but I WILL if I have to," the rogue employee declared.
"Stay here: I'm going to stop the apparent Mexican stand-off before things get ugly," Batman declared jumping from the ledge they were on. Deciding to take the stairs down, they were startled by the sound of gunfire, which suddenly slowed down. "Now, you belong to me," Freeze suddenly declared. Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding when they heard Batman declare, "I'll give you one chance to come quietly." As they started to enter the room, they saw Victor hold Ferris in a hostage position and declare, "You shouldn't bargain with someone with a frozen heart." With that, he aimed his freeze cannon at a propellant tank and fired.
"GET DOWN!" Batman yelled out just in time for the tank to explode, creating a large wall of ice blocking the way. Fortunately, none of the team was caught in the blast. "YOU IDIOT!" Black Mask, who was currently had his head sticking out of an ice block, yelled out, "Do you realize what you've done? Boyle's got the code's to some sort of super weapon or something and now YOU'VE let that frozen freak have it!" "That ice is the only thing stopping me from simply shutting you up," Batman deadpanned, inspecting the wall. "Don't bother," Roman declared, "Blasting through there would take too long. However, rumor has it that one of the labs has some sort of cryo-drill: one that the snowman worked in."
"If that's true, why didn't you just take it with the rest of the weapons you've stolen?!" Rachel demanded. "First off, because I didn't think my men would need it," Sionis declared, "and secondly because the lab was under quarantine after some kind of accident. I wouldn't go near there if my life depended on it." "Fortunately for you, I'm not as paranoid as you seem to be," Batman declared, heading off in the direction of the lab, the KND close behind.
(space bump)
As the group entered the control room of the lab, the first thing they noticed was how cold it was: they could only guess that the lab itself was even colder. The SECOND thing they noticed, however, was even more disturbing: a guard was lying on the ground dead, but his skin had the same blue coloration as the rogue employee. "There's more going on here than a simple accident," Batman stated, his hand to his cowl, "This guard is showing signs of having died of heat stroke, but the room doesn't show signs of overheating." Bending down next to the guard's feet, he grimaced, "There's a crystallized cryo-chemical on this guard's boots that seems to lead back into the lab." "What's so special about THAT?" Numbuh 4 demanded.
Turning to them, Batman replied, "This particular chemical is usually handled inside HAZMAT suits, which means there SHOULD be a container for this stuff back in the lab." Heading back into the lab, Numbuh 2 noticed some palm marks on the window. "Seems someone must have watched the security guard die," he surmised. Taking a closer look, Batman nodded, "Your right, and he was affected by the chemical as well." "And I think I know why," Numbuh 1 replied, pointing to a container that had been turn open from pressure build-up, "I wonder how many people were affected by the resulting blast." "Not that many," Batman remarked, studying a man that had been frozen solid, "This man was frozen BEFORE the tank ruptured." Picking up some ice on the ground that had flakes of red on them, he stated, "And judging by this frozen blood on the ground, I'd have to guess that it was the result of a mounted freeze cannon being knocked over, which would ALSO explain how the tank pressure went up so quickly."
"But there WAS somebody else affected by the blast," Numbuh 2 remarked from the corner, to which Rachel walked over and stated, "Not exactly: seems that there's a gun here with traces of blood on it, but I don't see any residue on it." Studying the gun, Batman growled, "I don't believe this." "What's wrong?" Tommy asked, to which Batman replied, "I've run a search on the fingerprints on this gun and there was a match: Ferris Boyle." "Uh, Batman," Numbuh 3 nervously stated, "I think you'll want to see this."
Coming over to the computer council the Japanese girl was at, he stated, "It all makes sense now." "It does?" Numbuh 4 inquired, having only barely followed any of this. "Seems this computer holds some e-mail transactions between Ferris and Victor Fries," Batman replied, "It ALSO is showing some data on someone who had been diagnosed with Huntington's Chorea." "I've heard of that," Numbuh 5 stated, "It's a terminal disease that slowly eats away at you from the inside." "You're correct, and apparently Victor's wife had contracted the disease a while back," the Dark Knight replied.
"So, you're saying that…?" Fanny began, to which the Capped Crusader nodded. "It seems Boyle hired Victor to help with some of the top secret cryo-technologies within Burton Corp; in exchange, Boyle would help Victor find a cure for Nora Fries' Huntington's," Batman summarized, "but just based on what I'm seeing here, Boyle was more interested in the unique way that Victor had put Nora into cryostasis." "Victor must have realized that Ferris had no intention on following through on their deal, since it seems he started to do the research himself," Numbuh 2 replied, to which Batman nodded, "At some point, Ferris brought some men in here to transfer Nora's body into another room, which started a struggle that caused an accident that, if I had to guess, altered Victor's metabolism, along with the guard we found outside."
Walking over to a work station that held some seemingly random parts, he stated, "The suit he wears appears to keep his core body temperature sub-zero, as without it, even standard room temperature will kill him." "All this violence," Numbuh 3 said with a sniffle, "and he was just trying to save his wife." "He still is," Batman declared, "Think about it: why else would Victor go to so much trouble to keep Black Mask out of that room back there?" "He's right!" Numbuh 2 realized, "Nora must still be in this building!"
Picking up what looked like a large coil, Rachel simply stated, "I take it we won't be needing this then?" "Actually, we will," Batman declared, "We can't let Victor kill Ferris, for Nora's sake." Picking up a small container, he stated, "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared: if I had to guess, this contains the super coolant in Victor's suit." "So what: you're planning to sabotage it or something?" Tommy inquired, to which Batman shook his head, "I'm going to sending an anonymous tip to the police and to the nearby hospitals: there's been ENOUGH bloodshed tonight." The others nodded as they exited the room.
To be continued…
