Casey grumbled and grunted as she kicked at the ice trapping her foot with the heel of her shoe. But she barely made a dent in the solid ice. She didn't want to imagine what would have happened if the ice encased her entire body; her eyes flicked to the unmistakable shape of Oswald Cobbletpot's squat body trapped in the ice wall.
Thank heavens for small mercies. Cobblepot was facing the other way when Fries froze him so his head was on the other side of the wall. But she could vaguely hear him shouting for his men as she worked to get her foot free.
Eventually the ice began to crack and she grinned in triumph. About time; her leg was getting tired. She put more force behind her kicks and the sound of breaking ice became music to her ears. And finally, finally, she could pull her foot out of the ice.
"Oh thank god," Casey muttered as she pulled her foot closer to her. She couldn't feel her limb and so she spent several minutes rubbing it, trying to restore its feeling. She stood and walked around, wincing every time her foot hit the floor. But eventually, she felt as if she'd be alright.
"Can't say the same for you," Casey said in Cobblepot's direction. When Batman came back, Cobblepot would have his one-way ticket to Blackgate.
But nevermind that, she had to continue on. She headed over to the console where Fries had been just earlier and turned it back on. As she suspected, Fries locked the door behind him. "Obviously don't want people to find out what's behind that door," Casey surmised as she brought up a command prompt. She would bet all the money she had it was Nora Fries behind that door.
She found the correct password and entered it. Immediately, she heard the door unlock. Hesitation gripped her again and she stared at the door as if someone was going to come out shooting. What was she doing here? She thought again. How was she supposed to stop this Fries guy?
But it was too late now. She didn't come this far for nothing. She opened the door and entered. She half-jogged down the long hallway until she came to the last door. With one final steadying breath, she opened the door and walked into the room.
The room was large and filled with tanks and computers. In the center of the room was a platform with a trio of large canisters, held up by a crane, hanging in the middle. Alongside that, Victor Fries was standing there with Ferris Boyle whose arms had been frozen to one of the canisters.
Immediately as the door swung closed, Fries swung his large ice gun her way. "Who are you?" He demanded.
Casey quickly held her hands up. "My name is Casey Wilson," she said as calmly as possible. She slowly started walking towards the center platform. "I work for the GCPD."
Fries sneered, "Are you here to rescue the humanitarian of the year? Are you with him?"
Casey shook her head, coming closer and closer to the ice man. "No, I'm not."
"Not one more step," Fries warned.
"I know what Boyle did to you," Casey continued. "I saw the footage." She nodded at the canister Boyle was frozen to. "Is that her? Is that Nora?"
"Silence!" Fries boomed. "I will not hear any more of this."
"Casey," Boyle pleaded. "He's completely mad! I'm innocent in all of this!"
Casey snorted. "The list of black market weapons' dealers says otherwise, Boyle. Also I always found the cryogenics angle for food suspicious. Everyone knows GMOs are the way to go. You would never dabble in cryogenics if you couldn't find a market for it. But the market you wanted was really for the weapons, wasn't it?" She turned back to Fries. "Please, I can help you. Just let me get a hold of Jim Gordon and he can come down here and arrest Boyle for his crimes. No one else needs to get hurt."
"There is no turning back," Fries said. "All I want is to take my wife and leave Gotham but Boyle will not give me the access codes."
"I looked through the receptionist's computer," Casey said quickly. "I know the system. I can find the codes for you if you'd let me." She was at the very edge of the platform.
Victor Fries stared at her for a long time. "You would do this for me?" He asked heavily.
She nodded vigorously. "If you'll help Jim Gordon put Boyle behind bars."
"She's lying!" Boyle spat angrily. "She doesn't have my access code! I'll see you all dead before I give you a damn thing!"
Fries's head snapped to look at Boyle. "Then join me in my fate," he said somberly. "And freeze."
That didn't sound good. Casey moved to the side, trying to put Boyle between her and Fries. At that exact moment, a crate came crashing down to the floor. Fries shot ice at it, encasing it in ice, before icing the newly-made hole in the wall over.
"Victor," Batman's voice rang out, slightly muffled. The Dark Knight appeared behind the ice block. He wore some type of gray armor over his black suit, giving him a beefy look, and it covered his entire face which explained how muffled he sound. "You have to let him go," he continued.
Fries pointed his gun at Batman. "I'm taking my wife. You can't stop me," he declared.
Batman held out his arms, showing that he was merely trying to talk. "I know the truth. And so will the police. Boyle will face judgment for his crimes."
"It—it was an accident!" Boyle protested. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
That comment seemed to set Fries off. The ice man stomped over to Boyle and pulled him out of the ice imprisoning him once again. With the flick of a wrist, he tossed Boyle into an empty canister and the door shut, locking him inside. Immediately, Boyle began to pound on the glass door.
Well there went negotiations, Casey thought sardonically as she crouched down, pressing herself against the platform floor. Fries shot more ice at Batman who took cover. "Nothing matters," Fries shouted. "Do you understand? Nothing but my Nora!"
The platform shuddered as Fries hit a few buttons on the control panel and it began to rise into the air. Ohhh no, Casey thought.
"You've endangered lives all over this city. Nora never would have wanted this," Batman tried to reason.
"No," Fries said softly, sounding forlorn. He walked over to the canister where Nora was, frozen. She was a beautiful woman, Casey saw, even through the ice. She wore a white dress that looked like it flowed around her and, for a moment, Casey wondered what Nora had been doing the moment Fries froze her in cyrostasis.
"What she wants is to live a long life in the warmth of the sun, her hand in mine," Fries continued, placing his hand against Nora's container. "But because of him, she'll only feel the icy touch of a man whose emotions run as cold as the blood in his veins!"
I wonder what kind of conversation he had with her before he froze her? Casey wondered briefly before she had to roll out of the way of Fries's ice gun as he froze the edges of the platform, creating large ice spikes. But Fries paid her no mind as he called for armed men to come into the room and deal with Batman.
Overhead, Casey heard a computer generated voice say, "Warning. Containment breach in cryotank two."
"He's at tank two!" Fries cried out and ran to the edge of the platform, aiming his gun. "He's targeting the reactors!"
Casey took the moment while they were all distracted by the Batman to slide on the floor towards the control panel. She shivered when the cold seeped through her coat but she wouldn't allow that to deter her.
"Warning. Containment breach in cryotank three."
Casey pulled herself into a sitting position and glanced at the control panel. It look relatively simple. It had controls for the platform and small computer for the containers. One of which was locked with a password. Nora.
"Warning. Containment breach in cryotank one."
Hydraulics hissed around them and Casey cried out in surprise. Fries made his way over to the control panel and hit some more buttons. "Let's see how you do when the air freezes in your lungs."
Beneath them, Casey could hear more hissing and she shivered as the room became bitingly cold. She watched Fries jump off the platform to join the fight below. This was her chance. She stood up and began going through the computer.
Though Batman broke Fries's concentration with breaking the cyrotanks, he inadvertently put Nora into danger. Her vitals were slowly but surely dropping. If someone didn't act soon, Nora would freeze to death.
As if the computer knew what she was doing, the voice overhead said, "Cryogenic containment failing. Prime subject, Nora Fries, in danger."
"That's helpful," Casey snarled and she hooked up her phone. She better have saved something in there that would help. "Boyle, what are the access codes?" She asked as loudly as she could while typing away madly, trying to stabilize the frozen woman.
"Get me out of here, you bitch!" Boyle shouted in response.
"Once again, helpful," Casey retorted. Okay, if Boyle wasn't going to give her proper codes, then she would have to bypass everything all together. But unfortunately, the small computer would not allow her to bypass the codes. It was enter the codes or bust. "Oh come on!" She groaned.
And then she did the most stupid thing she could think of: she let Boyle out. "What are the codes!" She shouted over the warning sounds of the tanks failure.
Boyle smirked at her. "You think I'm going to tell you? You are sorely mistaken, Miss Wilson." He brought his fist up and slammed it into her nose. She shrieked and fell to the floor, holding her nose. Above her, Boyle was laughing as he took control of the platform.
Shaking off the pain, she looked around wildly. Movement caught her eye and she saw Fries at another computer station… and this one was much bigger. She scooted away from Boyle and towards where Fries was standing. Though he wasn't standing there much longer as Batman came up behind him and wrenched the man away from the computer.
Casey took a chance and jumped. She landed on the railings and tumbled to the ground, smashing her hip and ribs as she did. She groaned but got up as soon as she could, trying to work past the pain. And to her delight, this computer would allow her to bypass the codes with the right commands. And as she began to type, she saw Batman drop Fries to the ground. The ice man did not get up.
"Thanks for doing the heavy lifting, Batman," Boyle gloated from above as the platform came down. "But you shouldn't have stuck your nose in my business." He flipped some switches and Casey watched in horror as a stream of ice jettisoned down from above, encasing Batman who took the moment to shove Fries out of the way.
"Type faster, Casey," she said to herself. She was in the computer already, she just needed to change the codes into her own and she'd have administrator privilege.
"And here I thought I was going to have a problem explaining what happened in your lab," Boyle continued. "I mean, the police are never going to look at me after what you did! And when this bat-freak and wannabe detective are dead, there won't be anyone left to say otherwise."
"Sure, tell that to the person who can plant a worm into your system," Casey said quietly.
All the while, Fries kept crawling towards the platform where Nora's body was. "Nora," he pleaded.
"And that just leaves you," Boyle sneered at the fallen doctor.
"Please," Fries begged. "You can save her. You just have to bypass the—"
He was cut off as Boyle kicked him. "No, Victor. She dies! But I'll keep you alive long enough to see her go." He pried a piece off Fries's gun off and began to beat the man with it.
"Come on," Casey said wildly as she typed. She had admin status, she just needed to input the right command. To her delight, green began showing up on her screen. Nora was stabilizing.
"Cyrogenic containment stabilizing. Manually switch bypass protocol on."
"Manually?" Casey asked blankly. Her eyes darted to Nora's container and she saw blinking buttons on the side, right behind Ferris Boyle. "You gotta be kidding me."
But to her luck, she saw the Batman break out of his icy prison and lunge for Boyle. He grabbed the metal stick out of Boyle's hand and punched him squarely in the face. Boyle landed on the ground. But Batman leaned down and landed another punch to Boyle, knocking him unconscious.
"Hit the buttons on that panel!" Casey screamed from her spot. "It will stabilize her!"
As if heeding her, Batman walked over to Nora and hit the button on her tank. "Cyrogenic containment restored," the computer chirped. Casey sighed in relief. They did it.
"I'm sorry Victor," Batman said as he knelt by Fries's side. "I can't give you peace." He pulled something out of his belt, a glowing tube of some sort. "But I can give you justice." He inserted the tube into Fries's suit and the man let out a groan of relief as if the tube was some sort of healing device.
"Nora," Fries groaned, trying to reach out for his wife.
"She should be okay now," Casey said, walking towards them. Batman's head snapped to look at her while Fries lifted his head.
"You saved her?" Fries croaked out.
Casey came to a stop next to Batman and nodded. "I bypassed Boyle's access codes and gave myself admin rights. I'm sorry it took so long."
Fries reached for her but in a flash, Batman pulled her away from him. His hands curled around Casey's shoulders and blood rushed to her face, warming her.
Fries held his palm up in a sign of surrender. "What was your name?" He asked her.
Casey shrugged out of Batman's grip (and felt somewhat surprised he let her go) and knelt down next to Fries. "Casey Wilson," she said, smiling softly.
"Casey Wilson," Fries repeated. "I am in your debt. You saved my Nora and I cannot thank you enough."
She reached out and took his gloved hand in hers. Behind her, Batman grunted in warning. "No need to thank me, Dr. Fries," she said. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before standing back up.
Victor Fries laid his head back down. Batman walked back around Casey and took the ice gun from him and carried it back towards the computer console where Casey had been.
"GCPD will be on its way," Batman reported to Fries. "I can't promise you will go free but rest assured Ferris Boyle will pay for his crimes."
"Thank you," Fries whispered.
Batman took Casey's shoulder and guided her out of the room. "How did you get here?" He asked her.
"I drove," Casey replied.
"Where is your car?"
"Not too far from here."
Batman guided her into the room where Fries iced the room, trapping Cobblepot. The mobster, however, was still stuck in the wall but unconscious. "Uh, did you do that?" Casey asked as they walked through the hole in the ice wall.
"Yes," Batman replied. They did not speak until they entered the lobby. "Do you have any place to leave your car?" He asked her.
"Uh," Casey said blankly. "I could drop it off with a friend."
"Do that," he said shortly. "I'm taking you home."
She stared at the Dark Knight in surprise. Take her home how? But judging by how he left no room for argument, she decided not to push it. Once outside, she turned to walk towards the truck and glanced over her shoulder. But Batman was no longer there; he disappeared without a sound. She looked around, trying to see if she could spot him but couldn't.
But she'd bet he was still there, watching her somewhere. It was probably better in case someone saw her.
Casey headed for the truck, not minding the cold anymore. After what she went through inside GothCorp, the weather outside felt like the Bahamas. She climbed back into the truck and started it and while she waited for it to warm out, she brushed the snow off the windows and windshield. At least she didn't have to deal with snow in GothCorp.
The roads were still crap, she found as she drove, but devoid of other cars. Yet it still took her a good hour to get to where Rodney was. She pulled into a parking garage and turned the truck off. Hopefully a permit wasn't required here or something.
She crossed the street and into the apartment and realized something. Rodney never told her which apartment he was going to be in. And it was understandable, neither of them thought they were going to be seeing one another until later today.
She took her cell phone out and called Rodney. "Hello?" A girl picked up.
"Hello," Casey said. "I'm a friend of Rodney's and I'm dropping off his truck for him. But I don't know what apartment the party is in."
"Apartment 386," the girl said over the phone and hung up.
"Nice girl," Casey grumbled and climbed the stairs. She found the apartment door and knocked. Moments later, an African-American with thick dreads pulled back into a ponytail opened the door. He blinked at her in confusion.
"Hi," Casey said cheerfully. "Is Rodney here?"
The boy called over his shoulder, "Rodney! Some white chick is here to see you!" His words were slurred at he ambled away from the door as Rodney appeared.
"Casey?" Rodney asked and did a double-take. "Why're you here? Wayne too prudish for you?" He laughed at his own little joke.
Casey rolled her eyes. "Haha," she said sarcastically. She held out the keys. "I've got a ride back to my apartment," she said. "So I've come to return your keys."
He took them from her gingerly and gave her a weird look. "How are you getting across the bay?" He asked suspiciously.
She shrugged. "Mr. Wayne has a private boat," she lied.
Rodney's eyebrows shot up. "You're taking him back to your place? I think his place is better."
She laughed humorlessly, thinking about the destruction Cobblepot's men rained on the manor.
"There is no sleeping together," Casey said as firmly as she could. "He's merely taking me home."
Rodney laughed. "Okay then. Probably should have taken the helicopter."
"Weather's too bad for flying," Casey said cheekily. "So we're taking the boat."
He scoffed. "Damn rich people," he muttered.
"Yeah, damn them," Casey teased. "And don't try driving. You may not be as drunk as the guy who answered the door but you're pretty buzzed."
"Don't worry," Rodney said. "Kayla's got me covered. And you know my mother would kill me twice if she ever found out."
"That she would," Casey agreed. "Take care Rodney."
"You too, Casey."
When she left the building, she found Batman waiting for her in the street, the snow and wind rusting his cape. "He's got his keys," Casey reported.
"Good," Batman said. He reached over and wrapped his arm around her ribs and tucked her into his side. "Hang on."
She wound her arms around his neck, trying hard not to think about how close she was to him, as he launched something into the air. In a second, they were flying straight up. Casey screwed her eyes shut and pressed herself closer to him. But in less than a few seconds, she found herself being placed in a seat and strapped in.
They were in some kind of plane, she surmised as Batman took a seat in front of her. There were no windows by her so she was forced to either watch Batman or try to peer out the front windows. She decided to watch Batman instead.
The new armor made him look very broad and it was fitting in a good way, she supposed. But with it, his entire body was encased and she found herself missing his blue eyes contrasted with the black of his cowl.
Then she wondered why Batman was making sure she made it to her apartment. She knew she had a knack for getting into trouble when he was around but he always left her with Gordon, he never took a personal interest in her.
Except when he saved your life in Blackgate… a small voice in the back of her head reminded her. He brought her back when the Joker almost killed her. She flushed again when she remembered that he performed CPR on her. How many people could say that the Batman's kissed them? But then again, it wasn't a kiss. He was just breathing air into her; it probably meant nothing to him.
Who is the man beneath that cowl? She wondered. And what drove him to don that suit and fight crime at night, beating men to a pulp with his fists? She wanted to ask but found she did not have the courage to. And he probably wouldn't let her know anyway. A man like Batman didn't have need of close friends.
The plane slowed down and Casey straightened in her seat. It came to a stop and Batman turned to her. He undid the straps on her seat and helped her out. To her great surprise, he had landed his plane on the roof of her apartment. "Whoa," she whispered as Batman helped her down.
They didn't say anything for a moment before he said her name. "Casey." She looked at him, wishing she could see his eyes or mouth.
"Yeah?"
"What you did tonight was both incredibly brave and incredibly stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed."
Casey fidgeted uncomfortably. "It was the right thing to do," she defended.
"You walked into a building under siege with no way to defend yourself," he said harshly. "Do you know how to disarm a man? Or break his limbs or get out of hold?"
"No," she said, feeling ashamed like a child caught doing something they weren't supposed to. "I don't."
"That's right," he said. "You don't. I am not going to be around all the time to save you. So next time something happens, keep your head out of it and call Gordon. Have I made myself clear?"
She nodded. "Crystal," she said in a soft whisper.
"Good." Without another word, she watched him stride away and get back into his plane. The engines roared to life and she watched him take off.
For a long moment, she stood there shaking. On a deep level, she knew he was right. It was stupid of her to walk right into GothCorp. She had been incredibly lucky Cobblepot didn't shoot her on sight or that Victor Fries listened to her. But deep in her soul, she knew she had done the right thing.
She walked inside and headed down to her apartment. She entered quietly and locked the door behind her. She kicked off her heels, shed her coat and hat and threw them on her couch, and entered her bedroom.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled from running and her hat and there were several holes in her nylons. Just several hours ago she had felt so excited and beautiful in what felt like ages. Now, she felt like a balloon that lost all its air, just completely deflated.
Casey dejectedly unzipped her dress and shimmied out of it. Carelessly, she tossed it and her bra into her clothes hamper. She pulled a camisole on and an old sweatshirt and sweatpants and curled up under her blankets.
Just as she felt sleep creeping on, her phone went off. Yawning, she climbed out of bed and went to her couch and rummaged through her coat pockets for her phone. It was Bruce calling her.
She answered it. "Hey," she said softly.
"Casey!" Bruce said on the other end. "I was worried when Alfred said he couldn't find you after the attack. Are you alright?"
"Yeah," she said. "I'm at home. I, um, went to go find Jim Gordon after I called him. He was on the northern side of Gotham and the ferries were still running. He told me he would take care of the situation and to go home. I'm so sorry I didn't call you."
It was all a lie. Sure she did call Gordon but she didn't go home. But how would she tell Bruce what happened tonight? He'd never understand.
"It's okay," he said on the other end. "As long as you're alright. Listen, I'm so sorry about how the night went. I never expected something like that to happen. Alfred and I are working on damage control but I'd like to take you to dinner. As both an apology and for a proper date. What do you think?"
"Sure," she said. "That would be nice actually." If Batman wanted her to keep her nose out of trouble then she'd do it by making her life as normal as possible. And despite being a billionaire, Bruce Wayne was completely normal.
"Great. I can't set a date right now but I will call you when I can. Those guys did a lot of damage to the manor. But it's a date?"
"Sure," she agreed. "It's a date."
-x-
And that concludes Cold, Cold Heart and chapter sixteen! Victor Fries is definitely among my list of saddest villain stories. All he wants to do is cure his wife. Poor Victor.
But Batman sure told Casey off, didn't he? Unfortunately, trouble seems to find her more than she it. And what will happen when more villains start showing up?
Reviews, favorites, and follows are love! See ya in chapter seventeen!