His shivering woke him up this time.
Red Arrow sat up slowly and realized his whole cell was covered in glittering ice.
"What…" his breath came out in puffs of steam, and his hands and chest were still shaking. He hugged his knees to his broken chest painfully.
But this time no Green Arrow came through the small window.
He didn't need him anyway.
A brief thought passed through the young man's mind that this was merely a trick; an illusion. He stood up carefully, testing the glossy surface with a cautious footstep.
He almost fell over.
Catching a nearby wall for balance, Red shivered as the ice melted under his hand and seeped through his gloved palm.
This must be their next test, he thought as he held his icy hand. They couldn't beat me without risk of losing my body; so now they'll try and weaken it with cold.
Another shiver ran down the young man's spine.
"I'm going to freeze to death." He concluded aloud.
Suddenly, his gaze fell upon an irregularity in the ice. He took another cautious step forward before realizing that that would not be an option. So he eased himself to his hands and knees, slowly, and then began to slide across the ice painfully.
As he grew closer to the thing, one crawl at a time, Red realized that whatever it was it had been buried by the new layer of ice. By the time he had reached the thing, he was shaking uncontrollably.
With trembling hands, Red Arrow scratched and dug and clawed at the ice, trying to free the restrained thing.
For some strange reason, he felt like it might be important.
When he had finally finished retrieving it, Red Arrow's fingertips were turning blue and he could no longer feel them. He shook from cold and pain as he clutched the thing close and examined it.
It was small, cylindrical, and made of light metal; the outside was freezing but it didn't feel cold all the way through.
Red turned it over and found a small note taped to the back.
"This will keep you warm."
The handwriting had become smudged by the wet ice around it. Even now, the paper was just barely holding together.
Red Arrow ripped the paper off, hoping the actual object might clue him in as to who it was from. That's when he realized the note had been hiding a tiny switch. After a quick glance around, Red pressed it in.
Instantly, the metal cylinder came to life with buzzing electricity. Red dropped it in retaliation, though the object was already hovering in midair. There was a tiny brilliant flash of light before a scarf fell out of the air.
Red Arrow caught it, realizing the brilliant green color hid electromagnetic heat.
The warmest of all energies.
Immediately, the red color came back to Red's hands and he felt the feeling come back to his ear tips and nose as well.
He smirked, feeling the warmth seep into the rest of his body. Quickly, Red Arrow wrapped the engineered piece of clothing around his neck.
It was like a breath of warm air in his blood.
After a few moments of reveling in the ingenuity of the device, Red picked up the small metal pieces still left on the floor.
I wonder who sent this. Could it have been Batman? I wouldn't deny the genius behind something like this.
Red Arrow knew he couldn't expect answers right away. But when he did find who had done it he'd be sure to thank him or her.
The archer looked back at the barred window leading into Green Arrow's cell and wondered if he had been dropped one too.