The Batmobile halted in a shadowy derelict alleyway a few blocks away from Barlow street. Batman and Robin emerged from the car and fired their grapnel launchers skyward and scaled the side of an old factory building. They dashed from one rooftop to the next, their capes fluttering against the heavy dark blue of the moonlit sky. The approach from on foot was far more subtle than rolling down the street in the Batmobile. It didn't take long to reach Barlow street, and with Detective Vision activated they scanned the north and south ends of the block. At the southernmost end, right by the water, there was a building secured by armed men with automatic weapons. No other building in the area had security like that. Bingo. That was the spot.

There were two men on the roof near the stairwell access and another man at each corner. Two men on the east and west adjacent roof tops. Two vans in the side alley, both with men behind the wheel. One was smoking a cigarette. With Detective Vision, the heavy artillery each man was carrying was illuminated with a soft red glow to indicate the weapon was active. A running count of each man was kept at the corner of the digital display while Detective Vision was switched on.

Batman tapped a button on the mini-computer built into his gauntlet, altering his digital view of the building to pick up emergency access tunnels, air vents and glass windows, etc. These objects came to life with a blue outline, and there weren't many of them here. The glass skylight was too heavily protected. Each door was covered. A grate to the air ventilation sat in the outer wall just under the roof between where two men were keeping look out.

That's the way in.

Batman disengaged Detective Vision and turned to Robin. "You stay here and be my eyes on the door," he said.

"Batman, you see how heavily guarded that place is. You need me in there watching your back."

"It's too dangerous. You're out here. That's final." Batman turned toward the edge of the roof and drew a grapnel launcher.

"You gotta learn to start trusting me, Batman. I'm ready too–"

Batman turned back to Robin and put his face in front of his. The quickness of it startled Robin.

"This isn't about trust. Let me make that clear," Batman said. "I trust you. I trust you to do your job out here. I trust you to be my eyes out here. I need you watching my back from out here so only I have to take a risk. I can handle myself inside. You stay out here. That's the plan."

Robin held his ground and said, "If something goes sideways in there, I'm coming in."

"No you're not," Batman said. "We follow the plan. We never deviate. If you deviate from the plan you put lives at risk. Yours, mine, and innocents. We never deviate from the plan, is that understood?"

Robin had only ever known Batman to be a deeply serious and intense guy, but there had only been a few times where he was extra serious and extra intense, and this was one of them.

"Understood," Robin said.

Batman turned and ran for the edge of the roof. He dove off into the night. Robin switched on his Detective Vision and watched Batman move through the darkness. He made his way to the air ventilation grate, gently removed it, leaving one corner still hanging by a single bolt, and disappeared inside. The gunmen were oblivious.

As Batman crawled through the air shaft he could feel the temperature dropping. The heads-up display in his mask read 49 degrees. It was 71 just outside. He came to the other end of the shaft, now deep inside the building, and met another vent cover. Unscrewing one of these air vent covers from the outside was easy. Doing it from the reverse position required a bit more help from a universal tool he kept in his utility belt. In 10 seconds he had it removed.

Batman found himself near the top of the storage facility, close to the ceiling. Above him was a section of steel rafters. He overlooked a dimly lit wide open floor space where a few rusty shipping containers were stacked along the wall below him. There was an office area on the opposite wall. The lights were on inside. In the center of the building's floor were at least 50 4x4 wooden crates. A couple of them had their lids removed revealing the stolen goods. A cold fog wrapped around the room. The gadget's blue glow made the room look arctic. It was oddly deserted inside.

"Find anything interesting?" Robin asked via the comm.

"The stolen Freeze Tech. And lots of it," Batman said. "But no one is guarding it from the inside. I wonder why."

Batman saw the light inside the office fluttering with shadows. He focused the microphone in his cowl toward the office and listened.

"What do you mean impossible?" Rupert Thorne shouted. "Doctor Chan, with the amount of money I'm paying you, you need to make it possible!"

Batman recognized the voice. He dropped down to the floor, following the darkness along the north wall where another shipping container sat. He watched Thorne argue with a bald man in a white lab coat. A pair of Thorne's muscle, Rosco and PeeWee, looked bored as they watched their boss give the riot act to the Doctor.

Batman felt something shift near him. Something just moved, he thought. He turned and instantly had a Batarang drawn. He looked into the shadows waiting for more movement, but it didn't come. He engaged his Detective Vision for just a moment but spotted nothing. He lowered the Batarang back to his utility belt and returned his attention to the men inside the office.

Doctor Chan's brow glistened with sweat. He held up one of the Freeze Tech Emitters in his hand. "Mister Thorne, these research notes are unlike anything that exists in known science," he said. "This is a brand new technology. It would take me months with a whole staff to correctly assess and replicate these little batteries as weapons."

"Unacceptable!" Thorne said. He snatched the FTE out of the Doctor's hand. It was round and the size of a can of soda. It was plated with polished grade five titanium. Swiss cheese-like holes made up one side of the device, revealing the crystal blue cold based energy source inside. A slide switch on one side could adjust sensitivity and temperature. Thorne threw it against the wall. There was an explosion of blue light and out of thin air a four inch thick layer of solid ice appeared where the FTE made contact. "You're going to figure this out Doctor, and quickly. Or soon it'll be you who's on ice, you get me?"

Rosco and PeeWee chuckled nervously to each other.

"Sir," Alfred said via the comm. "Traffic cameras are showing several armored vehicles heading in your direction, coming from 27th street."

"Robin. Do you have eyes on them?" Batman whispered.

"Not yet."

"Still a few minutes out then. Lets–"

Batman was suddenly grabbed by something in the darkness. His arms and chest were being squeezed, so much so that his hands couldn't reach his utility belt. The air in his lungs was leaving him. He choked at the smell of hot rotting meat pushing against the back of his neck. There was a growl next to his ear. He felt the rumbling of it against his spine.

The growl turned into a raspy voice. "I've got your scent, Batman!"

Batman felt iron clamp down on the side of his neck. He let out a wail of pain. Whatever this thing was, it was biting him, but not for long. The assailant got a taste of 50,000 volts. A countermeasure built inside the cowl in case the wrong person ever tried to remove it.

The behemoth spit Batman out onto the floor.

"Batman?" Robin said over the comm.

Now Thorne's men were alerted. From different corners of the warehouse, men came running. A flood light came to life above Batman. He counted three AK-47s and two AR-15's now trained on him. He turned to look at what grabbed him, and he almost couldn't believe what he saw.

"Well, well, well, Mister Jones, you waste no time in earning your worth," Thorne said. Rupert walked toward the comotion with Rosco and PeeWee flanking him, each aiming a Beretta. "Batman, meet Killer Croc. My new personal bodyguard. I'm surprised you found the place, Batman. How did you know about it? It makes me wonder if we have ourselves a rat problem in our inner circle. Boys, keep your buttholes puckered."

Batman was hunched on his forearms and knees, heaving to catch his breath. His eyes met Thorne's and didn't leave them.

"But we'll have to take care of our little bat problem in front of us first," Thorne said. "Mister Jones, you look famished. Would you enjoy a treat?"

Killer Croc was nearly seven feet of muscles, scales, and bad attitude. He was framed like a normal human, but Batman couldn't tell if he had a bad skin condition or was mutating into something prehistoric. Croc grinned and showed his teeth. They were like jagged and rusted daggers.

"How about a bit of fun, first, eh, boys?" Thorne said. He reared back his $1500 loafer and aimed it at Batman's chin.

Batman caught the oncoming kick with both hands. Before he had the chance to twist his foot and break Thorne's ankle, Croc was on top of him. A massive right arm slammed down on the back of Batman's neck and a knee crashed into his kidney. With his left arm, the monster delivered two hard body punches into the ribs. Batman howled and Thorne pulled his foot away.

Thorne staggered, but Rosco and PeeWee were there to steady him. He laughed.

"Sir, can you hear me?" Alfred said in Batman's ear. "Are you injured? Please respond!"

"Hold him up," Thorne said. Croc pulled at Batman's neck and lifted him upright from his knees. Batman had no choice but to comply. Thorne drew a custom Luger 9mm from his jacket. He pressed the gun against Batman's forehead and Batman couldn't help but notice his jewelry glittering in the light. A pinky ring and a silver charm bracelet. "Mister Jones, you just became a very rich man."

There was the popping sound of gunfire just outside before Thorne had a chance to pull the trigger. Everyone paused at the noise to listen further. Tires screeched. There was a crash of a vehicle slamming into another. The popping of gunfire increased.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Thorne said.

The opposite wall of the wearhouse exploded. The entire bottom half of the wall collapsed. Dust filled the air. Three black SUVs pushed in through the rubble, and a swarm of men with guns and black ski masks emerged and began firing.

Thorne's gang returned fire. Everyone scattered for cover as bullets whizzed through the air and shell casings danced across the floor. A few of them hit the Freeze Tech emitters, causing little bursts of snow storms and the chilly white haze that already lingered in the room got thicker.

Thorne rushed to the other side of a shipping container and readied his weapon. Suddenly Batman wasn't his biggest problem at the moment. He noticed black and white bird markings on a few vests and leather jackets of the intruders. "Damnit! It's the Penguin!," he said. "How the hell did he know about this place?"

Croc lifted Batman and hurled him toward the shipping container nearest to Thorne. The half man-half monster crawled along the floor at terrifying speed, avoiding gunfire, and joined his boss.

"Make sure he's dead," Thorne told Croc, pointing at Batman. "Then let's get the hell out of here!"

Croc grabbed Batman by his neck and lifted him. His maw opened and his jaw unhinged. strings of slobber clung to the roof of his mouth and his tongue. He was about to try for a second bite at Batman's head, but before he had the chance a green boot struck his chin.

Croc was staggered. It was a feeling he was not used to. Not many men were fast, brave or lucky enough to land a solid blow to Croc's face. He shook the stars from his eyes and focused on what hit him.

Croc's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe it. This was just a kid!

Robin stood between Croc and Batman's limp body.

Thorne pointed his gun at the boy, but with the quickness of a blink of an eye, Robin drew a batarang and hurled it at the weapon and knocked it from Thorne's hand. Thorne howled and pulled his hand into his chest.

Robin scooped a pellet from his utility belt and threw it hard against the floor at his feet. Robin and Batman were consumed by a cloud of gray smoke.

Croc coughed and waved away what smoke he could. He dove into the gray, but found nothing. Batman and the boy had vanished.

All the while, one hell of a fire fight was still taking place. Bullets collided with steel and flesh. The Penguin's men pushed further into the warehouse and Thorne's gang had no choice but to fall back. They were not expecting nor prepared for such an onslaught.

The Penguin crew closed in further on the Freeze Tech Emitters. One hooded Penguin thug took cover against a wooden crate filled with the devices. He poked his head and gun up and opened fire. A stray bullet knicked one of the devices near him, and a white spray shot directly into his face. The thug caught a lung full of the experimental chemical and he immediately began to choke and heave. He dropped his gun and grabbed at his chest and throat. His face turned blue, his eyes turned red, and he collapsed.

Later, his autopsy report would show his lungs had completely frozen.

On the opposite side of the FTE crates amidst the chaos, Rosco kneeled on both knees and held the limp body of PeeWee in his arms. He cradled his friend's head and wept. With all the might in his large body, Rosco shouted to the heavens, "REVENGE!"

It didn't take Croc long to see how this fight was going. Time to cut bait. He grabbed Thorne and held him with one arm around his plump waist. Thorne kicked and resisted like a small naughty child caught by his mother.

"What the hell are you doing, you moron!" Thorne said. "Put me down!"

"We're leaving," Croc hissed. With his meal ticket in tow, Croc ducked around the arrangment of shipping containers to a fire exit door. God help anyone on the other side of it.