Author's Note: Just wanted to write this to say rest in peace Kevin Conroy. Thank you for giving me my childhood, and a hero to look up to. The main reason I got into Batman in the first place was because of you and your portrayal of the character. To me, you will always be the best Batman of all time. I'm going to miss you. Thanks for everything.

Cold.

That was the best way to describe it. She was cold, but not in a bad way. Strangely, she felt relaxed. She felt a wave of calmness wash over her, keeping her safe. She couldn't even feel the sickness anymore.

Victor watched her, frozen in time inside that cryogenic chamber. He looks at her in sadness, wishing he could release her. And he will, but he needed one man to do that. Whether he wanted to or not.

Don't worry Nora. I will fix you, and make Boyle pay.


"People caring for people."

It was New Year's Eve. A time for celebration for the coming year, and what better way than with an award ceremony? Wayne Manor was hosting an award ceremony for the Humanitarian of the year: Ferris Boyle. Ferris stood on top of the stage in front of the podium, with a wide screen tv behind him showing him and Bruce Wayne holding a giant check. In his hands was a golden statue of a woman holding a diamond heart above her head.

"Compassion. That's the foundation Gotham was built on." As he spoke, the crowd in front of him started clapping in approval.

"And I have proudly built GothCorp on that same foundation. That's why we're called, The People Company." The crowd began to cheer as he finished. "Thank you so much. Please. No, thank you"

In the crowd was the man himself, Bruce Wayne. Next to him was the Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth.

"Mister Boyle seems to be after your title as Gotham's biggest philanthropic industrialist." Alfred noted.

"Gotham needs more people like him." Bruce responded.

Just as Bruce finished talking, Ferris walked over to him. "Bruce!"

"Hey!"

The two shook hands. "I am blown away by your support." Ferris thanked.

"It's well deserved. You're going to change the world, Ferris."

"Hey, we'll change it together, right?"

"Mr. Wayne, Mr. Boyle. Would you mind if I get a picture?"

Bruce turned to see who had spoken, and to his slight surprise, it was Peter Parker.

"Sure." Bruce said as he and Ferris posed for the picture, smiles on both their faces while Ferris showed off the trophy.

"Pardon me, Mister Boyle, the press is waiting. This way, please?" Alfred said before leading Ferris Boyle away.

"Peter! So good to see you!" Bruce said as he and Peter shook hands. "Glad you could make it."

"It's my pleasure! Not every day you get invited by The Bruce Wayne for a New Year's Eve party."

"How was your flight?"

"It was fine, thanks for the first-class seats by the way. But getting here was the hard part. I had to beat an old lady with a stick just to get through the front door."

Bruce chuckled at the joke."You taking pictures for the Bugle?"

"Actually, one of the news outlets in Gotham was offering five hundred dollars for best pictures at the Wayne New Year's Eve party. So I figured, why not make a few extra bucks?"

The conversation was interrupted when the female presenter got on stage to give the big announcement. "Well, I'd say the future is looking very, very bright for Gotham. Now it's almost midnight and you all know what that means." The pianist begins to play a tune in preparation.

"Now let's get this New Year's Eve party going with a…"

A sudden chill filled the room. People could suddenly see their own breaths, and the wall behind the presenter started to freeze and turn to ice. "Forget to pay your heating bill, Bruce?" The presenter joked through chattering teeth as she tried to warm herself up.

Peter's Spider-Sense started going off right before the wall behind the presenter suddenly blew open, knocking everyone off the stage. Some were unlucky enough to get frozen in ice before they hit the ground. Ice filled the room as people start panicking.

"Happy New Year everybody!"

To make things worse, Penguin's men emerged from the whole. All were armed with guns as they did crowd control.

Suddenly, a man in a giant mech suit came storming in. The crowd near him scrambled away. Unfortunately, one poor soul couldn't move due to the ice. The man in the suit smacked him away before freezing him in mid-air.

"Bring me Ferris Boyle."

Bruce and Peter looked at each other before nodding. While everyone was distracted, they started moving to the exit. As they walked, Bruce tried to contact Alfred.

"Alfred. Where's Ferris?" No response. "Alfred?"

As they walked through the door, Bruce was hit with the butt end of a gun.

"Hold it right there! Both of you!" One of Penguin's men shouted.

Both men raised their arms in surrender. "Yeah, Got'em!"

To their left, they saw Alfred trying to fend off more of Penguin's guys with a fire poker.

"The butler's gone crazy!"

"Are you cowards afraid of an old man!?" Alfred exclaimed as he hit one of them in the head.

"Just take it easy!" Another said. Unbeknownst to Alfred, a Penguin thug was right behind him with a vase. Before he could react, the thug brought it down on his head.

"Hope that vase wasn't worth somethin'." He said as Alfred hit the floor.

"What do we got over here? The rich boy and a scrawny kid." One of the thugs said as they walked over to Bruce and Peter.

The armed thug went to hit Bruce but was countered with an elbow. While dazed, Bruce took the gun and hit him with it, following it up with a knee, and finishing with a punch to knock him out.

The thugs were shocked to see a millionaire like Bruce Wayne be able to fight. Though their egos led them to believe it was nothing more than a fluke. They scrambled to get their hands on him while Peter checked on Alfred.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, concerned.

"I've been through worse." Alfred responded as he got up and rubbed the back of his head. "Shouldn't you be helping him?"

"Knowing Bruce, He should be done right about…" Suddenly a thug slid towards them, out cold, "Now."

"Alfred, you alright?" Bruce said, walking towards them.

"I'm fine. These are Penguin's men. What do they want with Ferris?"

"I'm not sure. They're being led by someone in a mechanized suit. I need to find Ferris before they do."

"Well, you two are no use to us dressed like that. You'll need to put on your other suits."

Bruce nodded, "Peter, did you bring your-"

"Got it right here." Peter said as he lifted up his dress shirt, revealing his Spider-Man suit underneath. "Never leave home without it. Your's in the cave?"

"Yes, I'll have to go through the study to get there."

The three walked towards the end of the hallway towards the study. As they entered, they found that a few of the partygoers had taken refuge there.

"There's Bruce. He'll help us!" A woman said.

Among the civilians, there was a certain news reporter Bruce was familiar with: Vicki Vale.

"Bruce? Bruce, do you have a minute? Someone said an iceberg just appeared- exploded, in the ballroom. I need details. What happened? Who do you think-"

"Where's Ferris?" Bruce interrupted.

"He never made it to the interview. Wait. You're not going out there alone, are you?"

"Stay with Alfred, he'll keep you safe."

"With these guests about, perhaps you should look for that… item in the wine cellar." Alfred whispered to Bruce.

"Right."

"What do you want me to do?" Peter asked quietly.

"Stay here and keep Alfred and the others safe."

"Alright, just need a place to change first."

"Follow me."

Before the two could move through the next door, Alfred stopped them. "Be careful passing through the library, gentlemen. Penguin's men have infiltrated the entire manor."

"I'll have Peter stay here to keep you all safe, no more heroics."

"These animals don't frighten me."

"Alfred."

"You'd better get to the whine cellar before I have to take on Penguin's entire gang myself."

"Not if I get them first." Spider-Man joked.

The two walked into the library and found more of Penguin's men, all armed. The two took the out silently as they moved through the room.

"Don't forget, I called dibs on those pearls. I'm taken'em before we torch the palace." One of Penguin's men said as he walked up to a buddy. Peter silently crept up behind the thugs, knocked both men into each other, and webbed them to the floor.

As he looked up, he saw the pearls the criminal was talking about. There was a pearl necklace inside a display case in the center of the room.

Are those…? Peter wondered as he approached the case.

"Stay here and change. I'll be back." Bruce called out before exiting the room.

"Yeah, you got it."


Bruce had to deal with more of Penguin's guys before he was able to reach the whine cellar. Activating the secret door caused the whine cabinet to split, revealing an underground tunnel.

"Watch yourself in that tunnel, Sir. It's still suffering from the damage our… visitor did on Christmas Eve." Alfred cautioned.

Bruce maneuvered around the wreckage and hopped on the elevator. As he descended, Alfred called again.

"Gentlemen, I caught a glimpse of our mechanized-man. These hooligans are calling him Mister Freeze. Master Bruce, you might consider donning your Extreme Environment suit."

"You're what suit?" Peter interrupted.

"Extreme Environment suit, or the XE suit. It's supposed to be able to withstand cold temperatures, but it's not ready for deployment."

"Oh dear, I hear helicopters. More Penguin brutes. Do hurry!"

"Don't worry Alfred, I'll deal with them." Peter assured him before the call ended. Bruce made his way over to the suitcase, seeing the XE suit waiting.

"I don't have time to prep the XE Suit for deployment. I'll need Alfred to put the finishing touches on it." Bruce noted before pressing a button on the case, causing the wall the suit was resting on to flip and reveal the other bat suit.

I need to get back to the manor and find Ferris before Penguin's men do. Batman thought to himself as he went back to the elevator.

"Sir, before you ask, the formula we used for your glue grenades was unstable. What's left after Christmas Eve has degraded into dust." Alfred told Batman as he ascended. Once the elevator got to the top, Batman walked down the tunnel before the lights turned off. Thankfully, the backup generator turned on, causing the lights to glow red.

"Alfred, what happened to the power?" Batman asked, worried.

"Sir. You must hurry. They are setting the manor ablaze! Master Parker was able to hold them off while I got most of the guests into the east and south wings, but-"

"Hey it's the butler!" An unknown voice shouted from the other side of the call before communications were cut off.

"Alfred? Alfred!"