Freeze couldn't believe they'd fallen for it. American policemen were even stupider than he'd expected. They'd truly thought that pathetic decoy was him and with their attention distracted it would be so easy to burst in and dispose of them, just as easily as he and the remainder of his loyal henchmen had been able to eradicate the poorly concealed back up. It was all too easy.
Hearing the Lieutenant cry out his pitiful warning, Freeze nodded to his henchmen and they battered down a flimsy section of the warehouse's wall, pouring in. Freeze strode in behind them, readying the gun on his forearm. The weapon looked exactly like the one worn by his unfortunate double with the one exception that this one actually worked.
Panicked gunshots rang out, echoing crazily and felling at least two of his henchmen in an explosion of blood. Freeze paid their loss no mind, the lives of his hired help meant nothing to him. Only one life did, but that had been taken from him. He continued purposefully towards the Lieutenant, who stood cowering by a rickety table with the suitcase of money on its surface, gun jittering uselessly in his shaking hands. Freeze felt a certain clinical disgust for the man's display of cowardice.
Glancing around, the movements of his head jerky due to the helmet he wore, Freeze lifted a hand for silence. Somewhat surprisingly, he was obeyed. Weapons were lowered and eyes turned towards him. An imperial motion of his fingers saw his surviving employees coming forwards and swiftly divesting the policemen of their weapons before holding them at gunpoint. Only Lieutenant Cooper was left untouched. The understanding was that he belonged to Freeze.
"I do not see your Police Commissioner Gordon anywhere," he addressed the frightened man. "Is he perhaps suffering from cold feet?"
One of the henchmen sniggered. It was an unpleasant, growling sound.
"The – the Commissioner isn't able to make it tonight." Cooper managed, his mind dulled with fear.
"That disappoints me Lieutenant, and I am not a man who takes disappointment lightly. Let's hope the rest of the evening goes according to my arrangements, shall we? I would hate for anything else to be amiss."
He reached out with one hand and snapped open the briefcase, opening it. On first glance it appeared that it was full of the money he had demanded, but he knew better. Very slowly, very deliberately, Freeze picked up a thick wad of the notes and turned it over. The back was blank, the money false.
Cold eyes locked with Cooper's. "Why is this money fake? Has someone perhaps frozen your bank account?"
This was the moment Cooper had arranged to call in the policemen waiting outside. They had planned this to be their moment of victory. Without taking his eyes from the other man's, the Lieutenant reached for his radio and brought it to his mouth, speaking the signal into it. There was nothing but static from the other end. Panic rising up inside him like bile, he tried again. Still nothing.
"Your men will not be coming." Freeze told him emotionlessly. "They are… indisposed. I think it is time you realised, Lieutenant, exactly who you are dealing with. Perhaps them you will treat me with the respect I deserve."
So saying, he hefted the gun on his arm and aimed it at one of the policemen. Depressing a lever in his hand sent a high pressure jet of liquid nitrogen stored in the pack on his back rushing from the muzzle of the gun towards the hapless man. It hit him full force in the chest, the cold instantly freezing his heart to a halt. He was dead of shock within seconds.
"Davids!" The Lieutenant roared in grief, making to go to the body until he felt the muzzle of the strange ice gun pressing against his temple.
He would have died then, had it not been for the sudden roar of an approaching vehicle. Weapon still pressed to the man's head, Freeze turned to the source of the noise in time to see a sleek, black armoured car race in through the open doors of the warehouse. With a shout, he ordered his henchmen to open fire on it, but it continued through the hail of bullets unimpeded before screeching to an abrupt halt. There was only one person Mister Freeze knew of who drove a car like that. A cold smile twisted his face.
A moment of unbearable stillness hung in the air before the vehicle's front doors flew up like spreading wings and the Batman erupted out like a vengeful demon.
Two henchmen immediately put their captives out of commission with a swift kick to the abdomen then rushed the Dark Knight. His movements almost graceful, he whipped a Batarang towards one that tangled around his legs and took him down. Continuing with the momentum, he turned to face the other man, bringing his hand down on the side of the henchman's neck to fell him with ruthless efficiency. Teeth bared in a silent growl, he advanced, his movements assured and powerful.
Freeze hung back, fascinated by the opponent he'd known he must face if he took on Gotham. He hadn't expected to be this impressed, despite some of the things he had heard about the now-disgraced Bat, but he found himself captivated by the other's economy of movement and clinical efficiency. Two things he greatly admired.
"Get out! Move!" Batman roared at the frozen policemen. With quick movements of his wrist, a Batarang appeared in each hand like a magic trick and then struck two more goons in the back of the neck, knocking them unconscious and leaving the policemen they had been guarding free to run.
Even though orders were to arrest the wanted criminal Batman on first sight, the men made gratefully for the door. All except one, who, face clouded with fear and anger, snatched up his gun from where it had been thrown on the floor and levelled it at the exposed part of Batman's face.
Engaged in a fight with another of Freeze's men, the Dark Knight was unaware of the danger he was in. But turning to check that all his men were out safely, Cooper saw. He knew in that moment he could let no harm come to the vigilante. Despite the people they said Batman had killed, the things he had done, he had still turned up to help them. Batman was on their side. He shouted out and started to run towards the officer, but something beat him to it. Something that exploded from the gut of the Batmobile in a purple blur, screaming laughter like a banshee.
Cooper watched in horror as the Joker tackled his officer, whooping battle cries of hilarity. The bullet meant for Batman was shot harmlessly up at the high ceiling, unheeded. Batman was working with the Joker, an insane terrorist. He wasn't here to help them at all, he was here to kill them.
His mind threatening to break under the weight of the betrayal, Lieutenant Cooper turned and ran.
Getting rid of the last of Freeze's men with a well-placed fist to the jaw, Batman became aware of barking laughter. Turning, he saw the Joker viciously kicking someone down on the ground and mentally cursed. He should have known the clown wouldn't have been able to remain within the Batmobile when there was the promise of violence outside. He was about to call out when movement distracted him. It was Freeze, trying to escape.
"Joker, he's getting away!" The bat-eared crime-fighter shouted out, immediately giving chase. He didn't care if the other man followed or not, just hoped it would distract him enough so that whoever was on the floor wouldn't receive a fatal beating. Something would have to be done about Joker's violent impulses, Batman refused to have blood on his hands because of that clown, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about it – for a guy wearing that much heavy equipment, Freeze was certainly light on his feet and it was starting to look like he might make it out unimpeded.
Taking careful aim, Batman disengaged the spikes embedded in his gauntlets. They shot through the air to thunk into the concrete floor around the fleeing criminal's feet, effectively stopping him in his tracks. Batman's aim had been perfect, a couple of inches closer and he would have crippled Freeze. Still running, he watched the domed helmet look down and then turn towards him. The pause gave him enough time to close the gap between them.
"Give it up Freeze, you're finished."
A humourless smile passed across the German's face. "Oh no Batman, I think you'll find I'm only just beginning."
Batman suddenly found the freeze gun being levelled at his face.
Time seemed to slow, to break down into fragmented sights and sounds. He heard the hiss of pressure being released, as freezing liquid nitrogen began rushing through tubing and valves towards the weapon. He stumbled ever so slightly as someone brushed past him, moving as though through thick layers of sticky cotton candy.
Then his entire attention was caught by a flash of steel in a purple gloved fist and everything sped up beyond his control.
"No!" He shouted, making a grab for the Joker, but the clown was too fast, ducking beneath his hands.
Uttering a bestial snarl, Joker slashed upwards with his knife, opening up the front of Mister Freeze's suit. The fabric came apart with a synthetic-sounding rip, accompanied by the chunky pop of plastic tubing being cut through. Instead of blood, ice-cold gas came hissing through the fissures and into the faces of Batman and Joker.
Batman staggered back, instinctively lifting an arm to defend himself, but it was too late. The gas settled on his eyes, condensing into little ice fragments that effectively glued them shut. The skin around his blinded eyes and the exposed half of his face burned agonisingly with the cold. He fell to his knees, fighting desperately to keep the forming ice from blocking up his nose and mouth, suffocating him.
Even through his struggles, he could hear Freeze getting away and then his body succumbed to the shock of the cold and he knew no more.