PENELOPE felt incredibly cold. And it wasn't the temperature of the room that was causing it. Despite the warmth of the nanotech suit, she could feel her legs shaking. "Bertie…? John, this has to be a mistake?"

But John's solemn expression told her otherwise. "My systems don't lie…Lady Penelope," he replied.

Penelope just couldn't understand as she looked back at the match of the fingerprint from the gun. It was Bertie Doyle's. "I…I just don't understand," she said. "My family has known Bertie Doyle for years. He has invested millions of pounds to try and get London back on his feet. He can't be responsible for this?"

"You can be as dismissive as you want," said John. "I totally get why you wouldn't believe it. But how else can you explain why his fingerprints are on the gun?"

There was a long pause as Penelope tried desperately to think of an answer. But there wasn't one. She could almost feel tears forming up inside her eyes. However she quickly stopped them. She didn't dare open up the helmet to wipe them away for they might freeze in the bitter coldness. "We…We gave him his award this very night," she said shakily. "Humanitarian of the Year…"

Just then EOS spoke up. "John, Lady Penelope, I have managed to find some CCTV of the incident," she said. "It was hidden away and heavily encrypted. But I've managed to get through to it."

"Show us, EOS."

"Coming right up."

Both John and Penelope watched on their holographic monitors and wrist-controllers respectively as the CCTV footage began to play from the night in question. It showed the lab in a much cleaner and tidier condition than it was now. A man in a white lab coat could be seen working at the computer station with a large tank mounted on it. The man was Victor Fries as his appearance matched that of the man in the photo. In the tank must be Nora. Everything seemed normal until the doors of the lab opened suddenly and Bertie Doyle came storming in with a furious look on his face. He was accompanied by two security guards.

"Is there sound?" Penelope asked.

"Negative," EOS replied.

Penelope continued to watch the screen as an argument had now broken out between Doyle and Fries. It was very clearly verbal and soon it got physical with Fries angrily pushing Doyle backwards. Doyle then pulled the small pistol out from inside his suit jacket whilst the two guards grabbed Fries by the arms. The doors then opened again and two more men entered. They didn't go up to Doyle or Fries but Doyle clearly gave them an instruction which was to remove the cryogenic tank and move it out of the lab on a gurney. All the while this was happening, a clearly enraged Fries was struggling desperately to break free of the guards' grip. He must have then called Doyle a very bad word or something because Doyle then struck Fries across the face with the pistol before kicking him backwards just as the guards released their grip on him. Fries stumbled and fell backwards onto the floor. As he did so, the cryogenic weapon that had been mounted on a stand by the window was knocked off. It activated itself and fired a blast of cryogenic liquid at one the guards, freezing him solid before it struck one of the tanks which then ruptured. The blast caused a shockwave and a burst of white steam which engulfed Fries and the other guard whilst the shockwave sent Doyle flying across the room where he collided with the wall by the doors, right next to where his gun had been left. He quickly scrambled to his feet and stumbled out of the lab, with the doors shutting behind him. He escaped just before the cryogenic steam had reached the doors. John and Penelope watched on in shock as the other began to struggle out of the lab to escape. Then Fries reappeared on his feet and stood with his hands on the window, watching as the guard escaped out before then watching the guard collapse and die in the control room. It was hard to see but it was clear that Fries' skin was already now blue like the guard was outside.

"Jeez…" said John. "That's messed up."

"So Bertie is responsible for the creation of Mr Freeze…" said Penelope.

"There's one more piece you need to see," said EOS. She then showed them footage of Fries using a variety of pieces of equipment from around the lab to build the suit that he was now in.

"His physiology must have been altered by the cryogenics," said John. "You said that guard had died from heatstroke, yes?"

"Yes," said Penelope.

"That would explain why Dr Fries has built the suit then," said John. "He saw that guard die and knew the same thing would happen to him if he left without some kind of protection."

Penelope walked over to the window and looked out into the control room at the deceased guard. She looked at the handprints on the glass. She then looked at the other deceased guard frozen in the ice. And finally she looked back at the photo of Victor and Nora as a huge rush of sadness hit her like a tidal wave. "All of this violence…" she said. "He's just trying to save his dying wife."

Penelope left the lab and headed back out into the corridor. Kayo was just returning at that exact same moment. "Ah, there you are," Kayo said. "Did you find anything?"

Penelope didn't answer. She was still trying to process what she'd learned.

Kayo quickly noticed something wasn't right. "Penny? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Penelope couldn't hold back the tears any longer as she deactivated the helmet and began to wipe them. "We've been after the wrong person," she sniffled.

"What do you mean?" asked Kayo, confused.

"Mister Freeze isn't the villain," said Penelope. "He's the victim. Bertie Doyle is the real criminal here. I just can't believe we've all been led astray by this!"

"Woah, slow down," said Kayo. "What are you saying?"

Penelope took some deep breaths and calmed herself down. "Dr Fries brought his dying wife Nora here to get treated. But Doyle wanted him to make cryogenic weapons. Fries tried to do the research himself which resulted in a fight. The lab in there is where it happened. A big cryogenic explosion has left Fries in the condition he's now in. He needs to wear that suit and keep his body temperature below zero at all times. If he doesn't…it would kill him."

Kayo was in a stunned silence. "Gosh…I'm sorry, I…"

"It's okay," said Penelope. "You didn't know. Nobody knew." Her sadness then suddenly began to turn to anger. "And to think that man won the award for being Humanitarian of the Year."

"That doesn't matter now," said Kayo. "We need to bring them both in. Doyle and Freeze both need to answer for what they've done."

Penelope was silent, but after a moment she nodded. "And if we can find and make sure Nora Fries is safe as well," she said.

Kayo pulled open a vent cover. "John's got a fix on where they are," she said. "If we're quick, we can end this now."

Without a word, Penelope followed Kayo into the vent.

They soon reached the advanced testing facility and peered through another vent grate. The room was large with a series of cryogenic tanks around in a circle. Inside one of them was the unmistakable shape of a woman frozen inside. Nora. Mister Freeze was working at one of the controls whilst Doyle was frozen in ice in the middle of the room.

"Your body temperature is getting dangerously low, Bertie," Mister Freeze was saying. "All I want is to take Nora and leave."

"I'm not giving you the code," said Bertie defiantly. "I'll see you both dead before I give you a damn thing!"

"Then join me in my fate and freeze," said Freeze coldly.

Kayo signalled to another grate nearby that stood over the walkway leading to where the tanks were located. Penelope nodded and then followed.

Despite being clearly in some discomfort, Doyle wasn't going to give in with the insults. "You're a pleb, Victor. What are you without me, huh? You've got nothing! No money. No resources. Nothing! Everything around you I built! You stole from me, Victor. You'd thought I'd just let that go?!"

"You still have time, Doyle," said Freeze. "Or are you so empty that you have nothing to live for?"

Doyle shivered heavily. But managed to get enough energy for one final insult. "You'll never save your wife," he sneered. "Look at you. You're out of ideas!"

"A few more degrees below zero and we'll see if I need any," retorted Freeze.

CLATTER! The grate cover that Kayo had just kicked away from the vent landed on the walkway and made a loud noise. Freeze spun around and blasted it with his cold-gun before then blasting the opening in the vent where it had come from. It was lucky for both Kayo and Penelope that they'd dropped down as the grate was still falling so they were not targeted by it.

"Victor!" said Kayo as she and Penelope showed themselves but their helmets were opaque to hide their faces from them. "You have to let him go."

"I'm taking my wife!" rumbled Freeze. "You can't stop me!"

"We know the truth," said Kayo. "We've seen the lab where it all happened. Doyle will face judgment for what he's done."

"I'VE NOT DONE ANYTHING!" Doyle screamed. "YOU'VE GOT TO BELIEVE ME! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

Freeze grabbed Doyle and pulled him out of the ice before throwing him into one of the other cryo-tanks which was empty. The door shut and it sealed him inside. Freeze then fired his weapon again at both Kayo and Penelope forcing them both to jump over the walkway in opposite directions. "Nothing matters, do you understand?" Freeze rumbled. "NOTHING BUT MY NORA!"

"You've endangered lives, both here and at the mansion you attacked," said Kayo. "Nora wouldn't want to see you like this!"

"You're right," said Freeze as he walked up to the tank that contained his wife. He placed his hand on the glass. "What she wants is to live a long life in the warmth of the Sun with her hand in mine." He paused and then looked around at Doyle who was punching furiously at the glass from the tank he was imprisoned in. "But because of HIM, all she will feel is the icy touch of a man whose emotions run as cold as the blood in his veins!"

Penelope and Kayo could see he was starting to look around the room trying to locate where they were. "Kayo, I hope you have a plan?" said Penelope.

"We need to disable the cryogenic tanks," said Kayo. "There's three that I can see. If you take one and two, I'll distract Freeze. Then you distract him whilst I do the third?"

"Got it," said Penelope. "I really need to blow off some steam."

Freeze's suit whirred loudly as he walked down the stairs close to where Penelope was hiding. "Where are you?" he asked. He walked around, using the infrared sensors inside his helmet to search.

Penelope was concealed behind a small metal wall. She figured Freeze wouldn't be able to see her. But unfortunately for her, he could.

"There you are!"

Penelope gasped and had to dive away as Freeze fired his weapon at her. He only just missed but the walkway through the narrow gap was now completely blocked off, preventing him from seeing whether he'd been successful or not. Before he had a chance to go any further, Kayo dropped down from above and landed on the back of his suit.

"Resilient, I'm impressed," Freeze remarked.

"Not the same person," said Kayo as she placed a small demolition charge on the back of the suit before jumping off and backflipping to safety just as Freeze turned and fired his weapon again.

BANG! The charge detonated and Freeze was thrown off his feet onto his front. "NO!" he cried. His suit's systems began wailing. But after a few seconds he was able to reboot and get back to his feet again. "First strike to you. Whoever you are," he called out, using his weapon to freeze various sections of his surroundings. "That will not happen again."

Whilst Kayo had distracted Freeze, Penelope had made her way up to the generator that powered one of the cryo-tanks. She placed a demolition charge of her own and swiftly retreated. The charge detonated and the generator was destroyed, disabling the tank.

"Warning! Tank One systems failing!" said an automated female voice.

Freeze was swiftly on his way. He pulled himself up using the power of his suit to the level where the generator was and stared at the now smoking remains. His anger rising, he began searching even more fiercely than before. "I know what you're doing," he called out. "There are two of you. One is trying to distract me and the other is trying to take out the tanks." He powered up the weapon, ready to shoot it into the air. "I will not let you-AAARGH!" Despite Freeze's guard being higher than it had been before, he hadn't expected someone to swing down from a higher level walkway and drop-kick him in the back. He stumbled forwards, broke through the frozen railing in front of him and fell down to the level below, hitting it with a loud CLANG. He lay there for a few moments whilst he regained his senses. "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Freeze growled as his suit's systems rebooted a second time. He pulled himself up and looked around. "DAMN YOU!" he bellowed as he fired indiscriminately all around him.

Both Kayo and Penelope had to use all their skills and manoeuvres that they'd ever been taught to try and keep themselves out of the line of fire.

"He's getting more dangerous by the second," Kayo said into her helmet radio.

"I have a visual on the second tank generator," said Penelope. "Perhaps it might be best to take them out in quick succession?"

"Good idea," said Kayo. "I'll let you know when I'm in position."

"F-A-B," said Penelope. She then heard the sound of Freeze's suit getting closer. She moved up to the generator and placed the charge. However she did not set it to a countdown. She needed Kayo to be in position first.

"Not another step!"

Penelope froze. Freeze had been closer than she'd realised. Slowly, she turned around to face the man in the large mech-suit. "Dr Fries. Victor?"

"Do not call me that!" Freeze growled. "Victor Fries died in that laboratory! Bertie Doyle is responsible for that!"

"I know all of that," said Penelope. "We will make sure that Doyle is made to answer for that. But…" she added with a darker tone to her voice. "I can't forgive you for attacking my house earlier tonight."

Freeze stared. "What?"

Penelope deactivated the opaque colouring on her helmet so that her face was now visible to Freeze. "I doubt you'd even remember me," she said.

Freeze continued to stare. "You were in the house earlier?" he exclaimed. "How did you survive?!"

"Charge set," said Kayo over Penelope's helmet radio.

"By not going BANG!" Penelope said and pushed her wrist gauntlet. She then dived away just as the charge exploded, the blast catching Freeze off-guard. He stumbled backwards and through another railing.

"AAAARGH!" Freeze yelled as he crashed onto the floor which damaged his suit even more. He didn't even hear the sound of the second charge going off on the far side of the test chamber.

"Warning! Tank Two systems failing!" said the automated female voice. "Warning! Tank Three systems failing!"

"What?!" spluttered Freeze as he picked himself up.

"Warning! Tank Three Test Subject, Nora Fries, is in danger!" said the automated female voice.

"No!" Freeze cried. "NORA!" He scrambled back up to the level where the tanks were. He hurried over to the tank that contained his wife.

This was the distraction that Penelope and Kayo were waiting for. Kayo jumped and kicked him over to the right. Then Penelope dropped down and drop kicked him onto his back. He tried to raise his weapon but Kayo was able to kick it out of his hand. Both then jumped away as he started to quickly get up again. Both exchanged a nod before both threw a small EMP device each which attached themselves to the opposite sides of Freeze's suit.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHH!" Freeze yelled as his suit's systems were fried and then shut down. He fell over onto his front and began gasping for air. "No…" he said hoarsely. "It…can't…be…Vengeance…!"

Kayo went over to the tank where Doyle was imprisoned and was able to release him. Penelope had put her helmet back to opaque so he couldn't see her face. She didn't want him to see her. At least, not yet anyway.

"Are you hurt, Mr Doyle?" Kayo asked.

Doyle scoffed as he brushed off his suit. "I don't know who you are, but I guess I ought to thank you for getting me out of that," he said.

"The GDF are going to be here soon," said Kayo as she began to walk away towards the exit door. "I hope you'll have a good explanation to give them for creating Mr Freeze."

Doyle's face turned ugly. "Whilst I appreciate you getting me out of that chamber and taking down this freak," he said, looking down at the defeated Freeze with disgust. "You shouldn't have poked your noses in my business!"

Both Kayo and Penelope turned around just in time to see that Doyle had picked up Freeze's weapon which he now used on them. "AAAARGH!" they both cried out as they were encased in the ice, trapping them, but their heads remained clear.

Doyle then threw the cryogenic gun away and walked back over to the tanks where he began pushing some buttons. An alarm began sounding and a red light began to flash inside the tank that contained Nora.

"What are you doing?!" Penelope asked, alarmed.

"Finishing what I should have done," snapped Doyle.

It was pretty obvious what he'd done. He'd turned up the temperature in the tank. The ice that was keeping Nora in suspended animation was starting to weaken.

Freeze had realised this, too. He tried to reach up but was too weak to get to his feet. "Nora…!" he cried, now no longer sounding menacing. Instead, he sounded desperate. "Please! You can save her!"

But Doyle wasn't having it. He picked up a piece of metal bar that had been broken off during the skirmish. He used his foot to push Freeze over onto his back and then began beating his glass helmet repeatedly with the bar. "No, Victor. She DIES!" he shouted between hits. "But I'll keep you alive long enough to see her as she goes!"

Penelope and Kayo were trying desperately to break the ice. Incredibly, Penelope found more strength in her suit than she realised. She broke free her right arm first. Then the left. And then she managed to break both legs free. She didn't even think about trying to free Kayo. she lunged forwards and elbowed Doyle away from Freeze. Doyle fell over in surprise, banging his elbow painfully on the floor.

"OUCH!" Doyle cried, wincing in pain. He was then grabbed by the coat and pulled up so he was now facing the person in the nanotech suit standing over him. He then grabbed hold of their arms with his hands as he tried to pull himself free. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" he bellowed. "I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE UNDER THAT HELMET! I'LL SEE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS!"

It was then that the helmet suddenly opened up to reveal the person who was underneath.

Doyle's furious expression instantly vanished and was replaced by one of complete and utter shock. "P-P-P-P-PENELOPE?!"

Penelope could feel the bitter cold of the room against her skin, but she didn't care. The glare on her face matched that of the coldness of both the room and Freeze's body. She could feel something in the left inside pocket of his coat. It felt like a statue or something. She quickly thrust her hand inside, grabbed the object and pulled it out. It was the golden Humanitarian of the Year award that had been presented to him.

"HEY!" cried Doyle, but Penelope stopped him from trying to take it back. She fixed him with another icy cold stare.

"Humanitarian…" Penelope said in a slow and menacing voice. "My arse!" She then swung the award around and struck Doyle over the head with it. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

Penelope then quickly walked over to the tank that contained Nora and pressed some buttons.

"Cryogenic containment restored," said the automated voice. The red light stopped flashing and the temperature inside dropped back to what it had been before, freezing up and protecting Nora once again. All the while, Freeze had been watching, unable to say a word.

Kayo had now managed to break free and joined them just as Penelope took a small pod of cryogenic liquid from one of the other tanks and brought it to Freeze. "I'm sorry, Victor," she said. "We can't give you justice. But we can give you peace." She pushed the pod into his suit which reactivated it. However it did not have the power that it had before. Freeze had no energy to get back up. Instead he looked over at his wife who to him was currently upside-down due to him lying on the floor. "Nora…" was all he was able to say.

Penelope looked down at the Humanitarian of the Year award in her hand. Then she looked over at Doyle. She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Are you okay, Penny?" Kayo asked.

It was a few moments before Penelope answered. "No, Kayo," she answered miserably. "No, I'm not."

A large Police and GDF presence was outside the front of the Doyle Industries building as several groups were busy placing both Oswald Cobblepot and all of his men under arrest and removing them from the building with the assistance of the building's security.

Scott, Virgil and Gordon along with Lord Patrick and Lady Patricia as well as Parker were all waiting outside anxiously for any word from Kayo or Penelope.

"This is taking too long," said Patrick. He turned to Scott. "Can't you do anything to help them?"

Colonel Jennings then appeared. "That's all of the Penguin goons removed," she said. "They're just bringing The Penguin himself out."

The others all looked and were both surprised and a little bemused to see four GDF officers carrying Oswald Cobblepot out still encased in a block of ice. He was cursing and swearing and calling them all sorts of vile names.

"So that's The Penguin?" asked Virgil.

"Ugh - he looks gross," observed Gordon.

Lord Patrick had a face like thunder and was about to storm over to Cobblepot but was stopped by his wife. "No. No, Patrick, please."

Colonel Jennings turned to the brothers. "Anything from Kayo or Lady Penelope?"

Scott shook his head. "No, nothing, Colonel."

But then Parker noticed something. "Look!"

Everyone turned to look. There were two figures emerging from the building. They were unmistakable. One was Kayo, who had her arm around Penelope. Penelope looked a mess. She'd clearly been crying. Her make-up was ruined by all the tears she'd been shedding whilst still inside the building.

"Penelope!" cried Patricia, running to embrace her daughter. "Oh. my God! You're safe!"

Patrick too had to embrace them both as Kayo had moved away. "Penelope, my dear," he said. "Is it over? Did you get that mad man?"

"Yeah, where is this Mister Freeze guy?" asked Gordon, confused.

It was Kayo who answered. "Colonel Jennings, if you send a squad down to the testing facility in the lower levels, you will find two prisoners waiting for you."

There was a look of confusion amongst the others.

"Two, Kayo?" repeated Colonel Jennings. "I was only told of a man in a mech-suit?"

"Freeze needs to answer for what he did to the Creighton-Wards and their home," said Kayo. "And to the other people affected by the attack. However, none of it would have happened if Bertie Doyle had caused the accident that created him in the first place."

Patrick and Patricia let go of Penelope and looked at Kayo in shock.

"What's that about Bertie?" asked Patrick.

Kayo looked at him. "Doyle's the reason Freeze is what he is."

Penelope then removed something from the gauntlet on her wrist arm and handed it to Colonel Jennings. "There is a copy of the CCTV of the lab accident," she said. "That's all you'll need to take Doyle to court. Make sure he never walks free again." And with that she began to walk away, leaving everyone except for Kayo stunned into silence.