{Simultaneously occurring to the previous chapter's car chase}
After getting off the phone with Peter, Mary Jane decided to leave no stone unturned. While the heroes were checking out the old boat house she would check the ice cream factory, just to be on the safe side. Every reporter in the city was looking for the story. Some of the Daily Bugle's best had already taken flights to Gotham City under the assumption that Mr. Freeze would return to familiar territory.
She stood across the street, looking at the seemingly shuttered factory. The lights were off, but the air conditioning was still running. Peter didn't answer his phone, so she left him a voice telling him she was gonna check out the factory on the off chance they were wrong about the boathouse; and to call if they find anything. She crept to the window beside the back door. Inside she saw a rack of weapons where she expected to see boxes of ice cream sandwiches. She hoped Peter would quickly realize that the boathouse was wrong and call her. Noise came from inside, Tinkerer and a group of Underground troopers emerged from the basement stairwell, and got into their cars. Mary Jane ducked behind the dumpster, and listened as the four cars drove away. She looked inside again and saw the factory was empty again, and rolled under the garage door as it lowered. She did not notice as her phone fell out of her pocket onto the factory floor. No guards in sight, she headed for the basement.
In the basement Mr. Freeze stood over Dr. Connors who was hunched over a microscope. The doctor's breathing was short, and he was shivering. "It is remarkable, you have completely ceased the progression of her condition. But I fear the long term impact of her state on her other systems" he remarked.
"Your concern is noted but the fact remains that without a cure for this condition the state of the rest of her body is inconsequential" Mr. Freeze replied.
"B-but her muscle strength will be virtually nonexistent from lack of exertion. She'll be as delicate as this snow" Dr. Connors gestured to the condensation being produced through Mr. Freeze's equipment.
"Another reason why I have sought you out Dr. Connors, your work in the field of biological tissue regrowth is enlightening" Freeze replied.
Dr. Connors did not respond. Mr. Freeze had done his research but did not seem to know the horrific affect the work had had on his own body. He tried to pick up a fresh slide but it was so cold he lost his grip and dropped it. Internally he chastised himself.
"Our underground friends will soon be here with everything you requested from your laboratory Doctor. Help me to save my wife, and I will see you returned to yours" Mr. Freeze stepped into another room where a video connection had been set up for him and the Tinkerer to communicate.
Mary Jane, had been listening from behind a crate. She saw Nora Fries's frozen body, even in a subzero state she saw a kindness in her smile and a gentle beauty. It made her sad. She then saw Dr. Connors and the discomfort he was feeling in this subzero basement. When Mr. Freeze left the room and waited patiently for the sound of the door closing. Satisfied they were alone, she tried getting the doctor's attention. She pulled a hair scrunchy out of her pocket and launched it like a rubber band. It landed to his side, Dr. Connors turned around as Mary Jane waved from her hiding place.
Dr. Connors beckoned her to move closer, and quickly before Mr. Freeze noticed he had stopped working. "Mary Jane, what are you doing here?" he whispered.
"I'm helping with the search, everyone is looking for you; me, Peter, the police, even the Spiders" she replied.
"You need to leave now!" Dr. Connors spoke with urgency. "It isn't safe."
"Not without you," MJ responded.
"I can't leave yet, the Underground is coming with everything from my laboratory," he slowed and took a deep breath, his eyes shut tight.
"Dr. Connors, are you ok?" she asked concernedly.
"This whole ordeal has my heart racing. I haven't felt this bad since, since" he didn't say it; but it was night he transformed into the Lizard. "In addition to the chemicals for his wife, Mr. Freeze has promised to bring me my medicine."
"What are they making you do?" Mary Jane asked.
"Mr. Freeze thinks I can cure his wife. But there is only so much I can do here. Even if I can identify the proteins, a cure may be years away" Dr. Connors replied. .
Mary Jane raised her eyebrows, "you mean, it's possible?"
"Yes but it will take a lot of time, and resources" Dr. Connors tried to remain calm. "That's where the underground comes in. They get Mr. Freeze whatever he needs, in exchange he gives them access to all his tech and schematics. And of course the Tinkerer is more than happy to steal from the big corporations."
"But he can't keep you down here the whole time," Mary Jane objected. She froze when she heard a gun cocking and charging. Looking up she saw Mr. Freeze who was aiming his cold gun right at her. She froze like a deer in the headlights.
"He will stay as long as it takes, and now my dear, you will be here just as long," Mr. Freeze declared.
{Present}
The Batmobile did seat six. They found the factory shut up tight. Moving to the roof they saw the Tinkerer's van parked inside, and a light was coming from under a door leading to the basement with two guards posted. Spider-man webbed the skylight and pulled it open and the heroes silently entered. Miles turned invisible and grabbed the guard on the left at the same time Batman descended from the ceiling and yanked the guard on the right up and left him dangling upside down.
"We can't all just file down the stairs, they'll hear us coming for sure" Batgirl acknowledged.
"Then we're gonna have to take the cramped way. Robin said, pointing at the vent.
As they got their plan together Peter looked around and something shiny on the ground. He grabbed it with his web, and recognized Mary Jane's phone. He began silently panicking. The others noticed, but Gwen gestured for the Bats to refrain from saying anything. She went over and put a caring hand on her mentor/friend's shoulder. Even with her face covered Peter could tell she was trying to tell him not to worry. Peter shook his head, recentering himself to the task at hand. If Mary Jane was here, they would get her out safely.
Downstairs, Mr. Freeze was chastising the Tinkerer and her troops while Dr. Connors sifted through the equipment and supplies they had procured.
"Listen, we got away from the Bats and Spiders. That's all that counts right now" Tinkerer protested.
"But they are still out there. If even one of your captured compatriots talks. it will not take long for the full force of the police to descend on us!" Mr. Freeze said.
"Well how was I supposed to know your crazy Batman would follow you all the way to New York?" Tinkerer continued her rant.
Dr. Connors looked up frantically after going through the last of the boxes. "Where is the medicine I asked for?"
"Keep your shirt on doc, it must have been in one of the other vans. Probably with the police now, tough break" Tinkerer replied.
Dr. Connors started sweating, despite the freezing temperature. Mary Jane who was sitting in a chair with her wrists ziptied stood up. "You need to get that medicine for him. Send me they won't suspect me, and you can follow to make sure they don't follow me back."
"You'd like that wouldn't you red," Tinkerer sneered then turned to Mr. Freeze, "what are you going to do with her?"
"She shall remain here until my work is finished, unharmed so long as she does get in the way," Mr. Freeze explained.
"She's seen too much!"
"So long as my Nora is safe, I do not care what she sees. When my wife can once again live free of her condition the world may do with me what they please!" Mr. Freeze replied. Mary Jane was shocked by his pain in his voice.
"Well that's fine for you! But we ain't going to prison!" Tinkerer pulled out her collapsable energy rod and moved towards Mary Jane. As she moved to strike, Dr. Connors came to Mary Jane's defense trying to disarm the villain. In response she knocked him aside violently. But as she turned back to Mary Jane, her rod was pulled out of her hand.
Spinning around she was alarmed to see the rafters filled with Bats and Spiders. "Didn't your parents ever tell you if you can't play nice with your toys then you're gonna lose them?" Miles joked.
"We are discovered!" Mr. Freeze exclaimed. He raised his gun to fire but everyone jumped, missing the cold blast.
"All troops to the lab!" Tinkerer yelled into her helmet's built-in headset.
Batman dropped in between the two villains, facing Mr. Freeze. "It's over Freeze" he commanded.
"It will never be over for me Batman! Why must you insist on interfering when it doesn't concern you?"
"You involve innocent civilians in your pursuit! That makes it my concern!" But as Batman was talking Tinkerer drew a sonic rifle from her jacket, and blasted him. The force contained no bullet but the energy sent Batman flying.
"Told you he wasn't a big deal!" Tinkerer gloated. But her gloating was premature as she was struck near the wrist by Batgirl's batarang, making her drop the drop the gun, and then Spider-gwen kicked her away.
Peter had gone immediately to Mary Jane to see if she was ok. He was relieved to find she was fine. But her face was filled with anxiety. "We need to get Dr. Connors a dose of his antidote, he admitted this whole ordeal has aggravated his condition, making him feel." Mary Jane cut herself off as she looked over, it was too late. Dr. Connors was transforming.
The others all took notice as the Lizard stood up and snarled! "What the crap?" exclaimed Robin.
The Lizard lunged towards Mr. Freeze, unleashing his anger at his captor. Freeze's armor protected him from the Lizard's teeth, they barely dented it. He grabbed Dr. Connors and hurled him at Spider-Man and Mary Jane.
"Hey! You don't want an assault with a deadly lizard-man on your permanent record do you!" he exclaimed as they jumped out of the way. Batman launched a line at Lizard and attempted to restrain him. But in his mutated form their enhanced strength easily snapped the line.
"Explanation, now!" Batman demanded, turning to Spider-Man and Mary Jane. They recounted a super brief summary of Dr. Connors' experiment to regrow his lost arm and the side effect that mutated him into the feral Lizard. They watched as Lizard forced his way through the fighting between the Underground and the younger heroes and tore open a pipe running against the wall. It spewed hot exhaust from the heaters upstiars. He basked in it for a moment.
Mr. Freeze aimed his cold gun at the Lizard; Batman tried to intervene. "Freeze stop, in this state he's literally cold blooded, a direct blast could kill him!"
"This rampage could bring down the ceiling, I have not come this far to lose Nora!" But before Mr. Freeze could fire, Spider-Man webbed his wrist and pulled the gun to point straight down, encasing his own boots in ice up to the tip of the gun.
The Lizard was in a ballroom blitz with the Underground with Batgirl, Robin and Miles caught in the middle.
"We need to get his antidote, it was on one of their other trucks!" Mary Jane explained.
"I'll make a call!" Gwen replied before launching herself to the ceiling.
The Tinkerer made a break for the stairs heading for the weapons cache above them but found Batman standing in the doorway. "Alright Bat, let's see if you live up to the legend!" Her technology hardened her fists and she jumped at the dark knight. Batman grappled and she hit the wall, he then descended kicking her to the ground then swept his cape to stun her. This was a mistake and Phin merely grabbed the cape and tossed him aside. She bolted upstairs with Miles and Batgirl following in pursuit. Batgirl threw a blinking Batarang with passed over Tinkerer's head up the stairs. "Missed me!" she called back.
Miles noticed Batgirl was smiling. Then all three of them heard a small explosion. The crate of Underground tech had been destroyed by the sonic blast of the Batarang. Tinkerer cursed silently.
"It's over Tinkerer," Miles cried as he, and Batgirl made it up the stairs.
Tinkerer was not giving up that easily she scanned for anything she might use, and spotted the Batmobile. She turned to them as Batman ascended from downstairs. "Sweet ride Batman, mind if I take it for a spin!" she said before dashing to the Batmobile. The two younger heroes ran after her but Batman walked slower punching the controls on his gauntlet. Once inside the Batmobile, Tinkerer sunk her own technology into the controls. She looked out two heroes running towards but when she tried driving straight at them, her armor began glitching and her helmet retracted. "What the?" she said in shock.
Batman casually walked up beside the Batmobile. "I reversed your hack Tinkerer when you tried to access the controls it detected you as an intruder and shut down your integration." She looked up furiously at him. She then revved the engines spitefully. Batman shook his head as if to say it was not a smart idea. As Tinker tried to shift into drive the seatbelts immediately tightened locking her in place and the ejector seat launched her into the air. She screamed as the chair began falling back to earth before a line from the back of the seat anchored to the wall and left her dangling, stuck to the chair. Batgirl and Miles headed back downstairs but Batman took a moment to look up at the Tinkerer. "So, tell me, did I live up to the legend," he asked.
Down below the rest of the heroes were struggling to contain the Lizard's rampage while preventing Mr. Freeze from blasting him. The Underground lost focus after the Tinkerer failed to return, allowing for Robin and Batgirl to take the remaining members out. One of them, as they fell, dropped a special grenade that the two sidekicks failed to notice. But Peter and Mile's Spider-senses picked it up, the two Spider-men each webbed one of the caped crusaders and pulled them away before the grenade went off. Batgirl and Robin were cross as they were jerked as they saw the blast leave a gaping hole in the floor they decided not to comment. "Thanks," Robin grumbled, he didn't like being saved.
The blast caused one of the support beams to cave. "We've got to get everyone out of here, the ceiling's gonna fall in if this keeps up!" Gwen said landing next to them. They heard another crash and turned to see Mr. Freeze had been knocked over by the Lizard, his feet freed from the icy encasing. The Lizard then turned and barreled up the stairs heading for the warmth of the surface. "The antidote is on its way, we can't let him leave!" Gwen added. Batgirl nodded and the two of them ran on up ahead of the rest of them.
Mr. Freeze stood up, his glass dome had cracked like a windshield hit by a pebble kicked up on the interstate. He looked at the ceiling beginning to crack. He began blasting it to coat it with ice in an attempt to stabilize it. Peter however realized the added weight was just gonna bring it down faster. He webbed the villain's arm to get him to stop. Freeze grabbed the line of webbing and pulled Spider-Man towards him, but he did not anticipate Peter's midair adjustment to land a double kick. The villain went down.
A piece of the ceiling fell and Robin and Miles had to pull the unconscious Underground soldiers away to prevent them from being crushed. Miles then webbed them above out of the basement. They turned to Mr. Freeze who was the only one not heading for the stairs. He was near the cylindrical chamber containing his frozen wife. "Yo Freeze, we've gotta get out of here!" Robin called.
"I will not leave her!" he rebutted.
Mary Jane grabbed Peter's shoulder, as if to say, help him. He turned to her and nodded and motioned for her to go ahead upstairs, she obliged and headed up the stairs.
Meanwhile, upstairs Batgirl and Spider-Gwen were struggling to corral the Lizard. Gwen continuously tried to cocoon him with webbing, but he kept shredding it with his claws. Batgirl jumped on his back like she was on a bucking bronco and was thrown in less than eight seconds. Batman intervened, hitting the Lizard with a flashbang, making him stagger. The three of them rallied, surrounding the Lizard. The police sirens became louder as the NYPD surrounded the factory. Gwen swung out to grab Dr. Connors' medicine, leaving the Bats to contain the Lizard for just a few more seconds. Batgirl looked to Batman to follow his lead. When the Lizard charged Batman slung a batarang causing him to avert his eyes, and as the hero jumped out of the way he crashed through the wall into the alley. Now completely off balance Batman and Batgirl each grabbed one of his arms pinning him. Spider-Gwen rushed in carrying the vial. She popped the cap off and as the Lizard screamed she poured it down his throat. Everyone stood back as the Lizard riled and cringed as his body slowly morphed back into Dr. Connors. Fully human again, Dr. Connors collapsed from exhaustion.
"Call an ambulance," Batman said to the police officers.
The heroes then heard another massive crash inside the factory. Fearing for the others they rushed back inside. Half of the floor had caved in. The three of them jumped down to search the rubble, but they saw Peter, Miles, Robin, Mary Jane and wounded Mr. Freeze huddled around the cryogenic capsule the ceiling above it held in place by a mountain of webbing. "I guess that really brought the house down!" Peter joked.
The police brought in a van to take away the Underground soldiers, and after cutting down the Tinkerer they cuffed her and sent her to jail alongside her gang members. The paramedics gave Dr. Connors a sedative before taking him to the hospital for observation overnight.
Mr. Freeze was going to be trickier to transport. Captain Stacy had to commandeer a refrigerated truck to transport him. He was to be driven back to Gotham City where they had a specially equipped subzero cell for him. Mr. Freeze watched through the open back doors of the truck as another one arrived from NYU and scientists went down into the hole. Batman, Spider-man and Mary Jane came over to where he was sitting, a parka wearing guard on either side.
"They're taking her to NYU. They're to continue your work towards a cure." Batman explained.
The cold hearted villain showed genuine shock. He didn't dare exit the truck after his helmet had been removed. 'I don't understand."
"Dr. Connors would've helped you willingly if you hadn't kidnapped him. They were already going to use some of the donations from the gala you crashed towards treatments for incurable illnesses. You have our word she will receive the best of care" said Spider-Man.
Mr. Freeze began crying, the tears hardening as they dropped off his cheeks. "Thank you," he solemnly said. He then turned to Mary Jane, "and I owe you an apology for your treatment."
"Apology accepted, would you be willing to make it up to me by answering a few questions for the Daily Bugle. Our readers have so many questions about what has happened tonight, and I liked them to see this side of you" Mary Jane replied. Then looked to the guards to see if it was ok if she sat with them. After Mr. Freeze nodded, she got up into the truck to begin the interview as the two heroes walked away.
"I'd say we make a pretty good team," Spider-Man commented. Batman didn't respond. "You know it wouldn't hurt you to chill out a little."
"There are still four Gotham super-criminals unaccounted for. Now is not the time to chill out." Batman responded.
"Look, I'm not saying you shouldn't take that seriously. There's been a few times we've had to fight six villains at one time. And it was just me the first couple of time." Spider-Man replied.
Batman did not respond. But he looked over where his sidekicks were hanging with the teenage spider-heroes. It was easier to chill out at that age. When they walked up and the younger heroes looked up, Batman commended them, "you did good tonight."
"Any word on the other villains?"Robin asked. Batman shook his head no, so Dick continued, "because we're talking about getting some pizza, we haven't eaten all night."
Batman's serious look lightened and he gave his blessing, "just be reachable." Robin smiled.
"Alright! We know just the place!" Miles said and the four younger heroes left swinging into the night!
Spider-Man was speaking to Captain Stacy, so Batman took the moment of being alone to contact Alfred.
"Master Bruce, I trust Mr. Freeze is safely subdued" he asked.
"Along with his associates in the Underground. But there's still no sign of the others. The Penguin has to know more than he let on."
Alfred wasted no words, "That is an understatement sir. From the balcony I could see a pair of boats leaving his boathouse, they were flying a foreign flag. They were heading for the maximum security prison, the one they call the Raft!"