As she drove further and further into Gotham, Casey regretted her decision more and more. She had no idea what she was going to do when she reached GothCorp. She didn't have a gun or any formal martial combat training. Hell, she didn't even have a can of pepper spray. All she really had was her wits.
She parked into an open lot by GothCorp and cut the engine. For a few minutes, she sat in the seat, debating with herself. She could turn right around and go back to the manor or the GCPD. But something reckless inside her told her to go in and confirm the suspicious she had since reading about Ferris Boyle and his company.
Casey squared her shoulders determinedly and undid her seat belt. She slid out of the truck and locked the door behind her.
The GothCorp building was not the biggest of buildings in Gotham but its bright sign out front gave it away. And to her genuine surprise, she found the front door unlocked. Inside, she was hit by a strong blast of chilly air.
The lobby was large with displays of different freezing machines on either side of the room. But in front of her was the receptionists desk complete with computer. She hurried over to it and felt pleased to find it still working.
GothCorp's system was a little outdated and she felt strangely happy about that as she gave made override commands for the locks around the building. Normally she'd have an easier time doing this in the security room but she didn't have time to find it. Just as she unlocked several doors all over the building, she heard voices and footsteps coming her way. Working quickly, she put the computer on sleep mode and hid under the desk.
"'As everyone been rounded up?" She heard someone ask in an English accent.
"Yes, Mr. Penguin," another responded and Casey's arms tightened around herself. Oswald Cobblepot. Not long ago she was helping shut down a part of his weapons dealing business. If he found her... she didn't want to imagine the consequences.
"Good. Make sure they're nice an' comfortable," Cobblepot sniggered.
Casey heard them walk past the desk and she closed her eyes, praying that no one would come over the desk and see her. And to her immense relief, no one did and the footsteps faded away.
She peeked around her hiding spot and found the lobby empty. Gathering her wits before she could chicken out again, she turned the computer back on and downloaded the building schematic for GothCorp and sent it to her phone. Her phone chirped in response.
She turned the computer off and took out her phone, silencing it before accessing the files. Boyle's office was on the top floor, she noted. That was where she needed to go.
Casey stowed away her phone and headed down a hallway set off the side. It would be suicide to try an elevator so her only option was the stairs and already she felt her body whine in protest at the thought of climbing fifteen flights of stairs.
Thank God this building isn't as tall as Wayne Enterprises or something, she thought as she jogged up the stairs. Her breaths came out in short puffs and her legs felt like jelly by the time she reached the top floor. As quietly as she could, she opened the door and looked around. There was no one.
She opened the door wider and entered the hall. Strange, she thought. I thought this Fries guy and Cobblepot would want Boyle in his office where his personal computer is. But the entire floor was deserted. She found Boyle's office with not problem and felt pleased again to find the door unlocked.
She slipped inside and shut the door, locking it behind her. Sitting down at Boyle's desk, she turned it on, finding it password protected. "What's to bet he made a simple password?" Casey asked aloud. She typed in sample passwords like 'password' and 'abc1234' and was both happy and frustrated when an error message flashed across the screen.
"I should carry more of my equipment on me," she mumbled as she began opening drawers and searching through them. With an incredible stroke of luck, she found a phone charger with a usb plug.
Immediately, she connected her phone to the computer and pulled up a program she had saved in there. Within minutes, her program entered Boyle's password ('cyroweaps152') and she had access.
"Okay Boyle," Casey said and began opening files. "Let's see what you've been up to."
At first glance, he only had GothCorp's various figures from sales and its stock but when Casey began running searches, she found things that were not on the company's advertisements. It seemed that not only was GothCorp experimenting with cyrogenics but also cyroweapons. She found blueprints of ice guns, not unlike the one the blue guy was wielding.
A frown grew on her face as she found contracts with weapons dealers for the weapons, Cobblepot's name being at the top of the list. Boyle was seeking out potential buyers for his weapons once they were reading for mass production. But what Boyle intended to do with them, Casey never found out because a different file caught her eye. It was labeled 'V. Fries.'
She clicked it. An image of a bald man came up on her screen and even without the obscuring goggles and blue skin, he was an exact copy of the man with the ice gun. 'Doctor Victor Fries,' she read. He was a Mensa certified genius with a degree in cyrogenics.
What was a guy like Fries doing working for a man like Ferris Boyle? Casey wondered as she read. And she found the answer: in exchange for developing weapons for Boyle, Boyle was supposed to be working on researching a cure for Huntington's Chorea.
"Oh," she said sadly as she read the rest of the file. Nora Fries, Victor's wife, had been diagnosed with the disease. She had been given three years at best to live. But instead of giving up on his wife, the file said, Victor put Nora into flawless cyrostasis. Neither alive or dead, Nora's body was in perfect condition until a cure for her disease was found.
But Boyle reneged on his deal as Casey found a video and opened it. To her horror, she saw Boyle taking away a large case which she assumed held Nora's frozen body as Victor tried to protest. There was a flash of bright blue light and then nothing.
Perhaps that was the accident that turned Victor's body blue, she surmised. It didn't matter. She had seen enough. She needed to get this to Gordon. And to think, she thought Boyle deserved the Humanitarian of the Year Award just earlier!
Immediately, she began downloading the files onto her phone for safekeeping. And on a second thought, she made copies of the files and hid them on a ghost server just in case someone managed to erase the files on Boyle's computer. She just got her clearance from Internal Affairs; there was no need to get eyes back on her now when she could lead Gordon straight to the source.
Just as she finished downloading the files, the doorknob of the office door turned. Casey's head snapped up and she froze in terror.
"Hey, this door's locked," she heard someone say on the other side.
"Then just break it open. The Boss wants passwords or something in case Freeze tries to stiff us."
Casey wrenched the plug out of her phone and bolted for a door to her right, which led to a private bathroom. She closed it just as she heard the shattering of glass. As quietly as she could, she backed into the dark corner and hoped they would take what they needed and leave.
She turned her phone off and slid it into her coat's inside pocket and held her breath.
"He'd be stupid to try and double cross the boss," the second man said.
"Well Penguin doesn't want any loose ends. The moment he's got those weapons, Freeze is going bye-bye."
She heard them walk around the office and her heart thudded every time they came close to the bathroom door. Please don't come in here, she chanted silently. Please don't come in here.
"Damn," the first man said. "No passwords. Looks like we'll have to beat it out of Boyle."
The second man snickered. "That'll be fun."
Her blood roared in her ears as the bathroom doorknob jiggled. She forgot to lock it.
"What're you doing?" The second man asked.
"Gotta take a leak," the first man grunted.
It was too late for Casey to do anything as the door opened and light from the office streamed in. She was blinded as the man flicked the light on. For a moment, they stared at one another, Casey squinting at him and him blinking in confusion at her.
"Hey!" He shouted and darted forward. "What're you doing in here?"
His hand encircled her upper arm and he dragged her out of the bathroom, tossing her onto the floor. "We missed one!" He exclaimed.
The second man picked up Casey and she tried to shrink back but found the first man standing right behind her. She was trapped in between them.
"Must be his secretary," the second man said, looking her up and down and taking in her fancy attire. "She looks like a secretary, doesn't she?"
"Please don't hurt me," Casey begged softly.
The guy behind her chuckled. "We ain't gonna hurt you sweetheart." She felt his hand trace down her exposed neck and she shuddered violently, images of purple glove-clad hands wrapping themselves around her throat.
"Don't touch me!" She cried, slapping his hand away.
"Quit being a jerk," the man in front snapped and shoved the other guy back. "We take her to the boss first. Maybe he can get some information out of Boyle when he starts torturing his lil' secretary."
As they escorted her out of the office, an urge to run overtook Casey and she sprinted down the hall. But unfortunately for her, she forgot she had on heels and took a misstep. She tripped and fell unceremoniously to the floor. The moment her face met the floor, she felt a hand take a hold of the back of her coat and yank her upright.
Brown eyes were narrowed at her angrily behind the penguin mask. "Don't try that again," he said. "Or I'll put a bullet in that pretty little head of yours."
Her escape attempted failed and Casey found herself being hauled along and into an elevator, sandwiched between the two men. They thought she was Boyle's secretary and she didn't feel inclined to correct them. If they found out she wasn't an employee of GothCorp but in fact of the GCPD, she could kiss her life goodbye. Cobblepot wasn't known for his love of the police. Even if she wasn't a cop, she knew the mobster wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in her. Or torture her until she begged him to kill her.
Chills that had nothing to do with the cold building erupted throughout Casey's body. She hugged her body tightly, thankful that at least the men weren't talking to her as they pulled her through several hallways and into a large chamber.
"Give me Ferris Boyle," she heard a mechanized voice say.
"Oh no," she heard a voice drawl. "I ain't handing him over until you let me into that lil' room over there."
The scene before her was chaos. Cobblepot's men were spread out on one end of the room, shooting at Fries who was currently taking refuge behind a large control panel.
"Give me Boyle or I'll freeze this entire room," Fries said again.
"I know you won't," the same person chortled. "Boyle's got the codes you need, an' I ain't givin' 'im up 'less I get what he's givin' ya."
"What's behind this door is of no interest to you!"
"What I'm interested in is the weapons I was promised!"
As they rounded the corner, Casey could finally see Boyle who was currently being used as a human shield by none other that Oswald Cobblepot himself.
"Boss," the man on Casey's right called.
Cobblepot's head snapped in their direction. Though Casey had seen pictures of him before, this was her first time seeing him in the flesh. He was short and rather unattractive with a receding, dark hairline and a sneer on his face. "'Oo is this?" He said, looking Casey up and down.
Boyle cautiously turned his head and Casey saw his mouth drop when he saw her.
"We caught her in Boyle's office," the man on the right explained. "Figured she was Boyle's secretary."
"Is tha' so?" Cobblepot said thoughtfully. Then he grinned. "Well Boyle, maybe you'll be willing to talk after I 'ave a lil' chat with her."
Casey's stomach dropped to hide with her lower organs and she shifted. But at that moment, Fries took the opportunity to poke his head out and send a blast of ice their way. Cobblepot cursed loudly when one of his men took a hit and fired his gun back at the ice man who quickly ducked back under cover.
"Playin' dirty!" Cobblepot shouted.
At that exact moment, Casey heard grunting from behind them and all of them turned to see Batman on the catwalk above them and two unconscious goons hitting the floor.
Cobblepot snarled and turned Boyle around, using him as a shield against the Batman. "You again!" He howled in rage and opened fire.
The two men escorting Casey let go of her and picked up their own guns, following their boss's example. And Casey took that moment to back away quickly, cowering against the railing. But a revving sound caught her ear.
She had a split moment when she saw the ice gun light up and dove for the floor. When she looked back up, Cobblepot, his men, and Boyle were all frozen. Fries passed Casey, not even looking at her and grabbed Boyle around the neck.
"No!" Boyle protested as Fries wrenched him out of his ice prison.
"Now you belong to me," Fires said.
"I'll give you one chance to let him go." Casey allowed herself to smile as she watched the Batman stride towards them.
Fries merely placed Boyle in front of him and pointed his gun at the CEO of GothCorp. "Threats are meaningless to a man who has lost everything," Fries replied. And he shoved Boyle back and fired his gun.
Ice exploded all around them and Casey covered her head as cold enveloped her. She head Boyle cry out and footsteps fading away. When she glanced up, Boyle and Fries were gone. She looked behind her and found a massive ice wall separating her from Batman, whom she could barely make out on the other side.
She tried to stand but found herself unable to. She looked down and let out a groan. Her left foot had gotten caught in the ice. She was stuck.
-x-
This night was not how Bruce wanted it to go. He expected a nice evening at his award ceremony, celebrating Boyle's accomplishments, and getting to know Casey better (maybe even getting a dance by the end of the night.)
He did not expect Penguin to storm his manor and take Boyle hostage. Nor did he expect to see Casey being held by members of Penguin's gang. But to be honest, he should have expected it when Alfred told him she disappeared from the manor.
But what actually made fear and anger coil inside him was that Casey had been separated from him yet again. This time by a thick sheet of ice spanning the entire room. If he was lucky this Freeze person would pay her no mind. Except when had he ever been that lucky?
Steeling himself for the worst, he exited GothCorp and launched himself back into the Batwing. He needed to get to My Alibi and fast.
-x-
And that concludes chapter fifteen! One last chapter for Cold, Cold Heart. Hopefully Casey's New Year does not go too horribly but her track records says otherwise.
Reviews, favorites, and follows are love! See ya in chapter sixteen!