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Description
The culprit:

Place: Praeda Air Field, outside Gotham City

Time: 3:34 a.m.

Inside the lone bunker of the air field, The Terrible Trio are sitting down to a large meal with a table set up to the side of the runway to one of their massive planes. The Vulture is eating pheasant, Great White is dining on salmon and the Fox is feasting on steak. Meanwhile at least a dozen of their men are loading the plane with their supplies, while three are acting as waiters for the trio. All the while they listen to music over the radio.

Fox: (Looks over to see the men stocking the plane then back to the others.) How much more do they have to load?

Great White: Not much left. In less than an hour we'll be out of Gotham and sitting comfortably Miami until this whole thing blows over.

Vulture: Not a minute too soon. This whole ordeal is making me nervous.

Great White: Calm down, Voulper. Remember the deal is as solid as stone. No way our partner's going to go turncoat on us. And if he does then we just add a new entry in our menu.

Fox: (Chuckles at this before looking to the man nearest the radio.) Switch stations. Let's see if the GCPD are any closer to finding out who really stole the ice man's wife.
The man turns the dials on the radio until the news channel comes on.

Radio: This is Vicki Vale. Reporting for Gotham News. Recent developments into the kidnapping of Nora Fries, the wife of the infamous Mr. Freeze, have led to the discovery of a destroyed van used in the crime. Unfortunately no evidence could be found. (The trio toast at this.) However newer developments have occurred such as the investigation into The Stacked Deck, a criminal bar located near Gotham's East End. (They all perk up in startle and Fox even spits out his wine at the mention.) Upon investigation, authorizes discovered the body of Charles Brown aka Kite Man. Questions uncovered that Batman and Mr. Freeze, on temporary amnesty, assaulted several patrons before taking Brown outside. Commissioner Gordon denies that either Batman or Freeze are responsible for Brown's death, but charges are still on hold for Freeze's assault on the recently captured Garfield Lynns aka Firefly who was revealed to have pointed the two into investigating the bar to beginning with.

Great White: (As he and the rest of the Trio get up.) Dammit! (He and the other members draw out their pistols and load them.)They could be half-way here already.

Fox: (Looking to the hired men.) Double time it, men. NOW!

They all start to hurry as they load the last shipments into the plane.

Vulture: (Looks to five men.) Guard the doors. No one gets in until we're in the air.

They run out and the Trio all sand together watching as everything goes by while waiting till the planes is ready.

Great White: Should've know not to out our trust in Firefly. He'd squeal if all you said was "boo" to him.

Vulture: What if they get here before…

Great White: I told you before, Voulper, calm down!

Vulture: Dammit, White. The Batman is involved now. He wasn't supposed to get involved. And Freeze was supposed to be gone too.

Great White: Then we do what must be done with any variables…we take them out of the equation.

Fox: (Moment goes by before he looks back to the door.) I'm going to check on the guys outside.

Great White: (Seeing him run off.) Hurry up. We're out of here in five!

Fox: (Reaches the doorway.) Any sign of…(by the time he peers out he sees three of the men frozen to the side of the wall and two tied up. All unconscious.)…them? (Runs back to the others.) THEY'RE HERE! DAMMIT TO HIGH HELL, THEY'RE HERE!

Suddenly the lights begin to dim and fade making the bunker darker.

Great White: LOOK SHARP MEN! WE'VE GOT COMPANY!

All the men arm themselves with rifles as they search around the bunker. Great White indicated for Fox and Vulture to split up with the men and investigate. Fox and six men check the west side, Vulture takes four and checks the east while Great White and three men search around the plane.

Fox's men check near a large pile of crates. As they search, one of the stragglers is silently hoisted up into the air by a shadow.

Vultures men look around an area where some of the vehicles, such as lifts and furl tankers are parked. One of the men strays away to look near the darker area. As he looks two red eyes open and look directly at him. Before he can say anything two strong hands reach out and grab his throat and gun before pulling him in.

Great White and his men split up and to check each side of the plane. He and one other go to the right while the other two head to the left. They meet on the other side indicating they found nothing. Great White indicates for them to move back around to the front. But by the time he and his man reach the other side, the other two are gone.

Great White: (Looking up to the top of the bunker.) Where the hell are you?

Two of the men with Fox look behind more crates. While one is looking, the other is hoisted into the air by a shadow. His gun drops to the ground startling the other man.

Man: HE'S HERE! (Starts to shoot into the shadows above.) HE'S HERE!

Great White: (Sees that he and Fox are shooting into the air.) Stop, you idiots! (Once they're done he looks over to his man.) Get a light up there.

The man brings a flashlight over and shines it up to the shadows. After a moment he finds four men strung upside down and gagged. All unconscious.

Great White: Son of a…(Sees something moving near the plane.) Light! (Man with flashlight points it over to the spot and shows Batman standing under the wing of the plane.) KILL HIM!

All, including Vulture and his men, shoot at Batman. He manages to take cover behind one of the propellers as they continue to fire.

Great White: What's wrong Batman? Afraid to get iced?

Suddenly a bolt of ice freezes two more men. Standing there is Mr. Freeze emerging from behind and fuel truck.

Freeze: [Are you, Mr. White?](Great White shoots at him but the bullets bounce off of his suit.) [Childish.] (He aims his freeze gun.) [My turn.]

Great White manages to jump out of the way as the freeze blast goes past him. Fox and Vulture duck away while this happens. The other hired men aim their guns at Freeze but Batman takes the opportunity to throw a batarang at them, knocking the guns out of their hands. He emerges from behind the propeller and uses and hand gesture that says "bring it on".

They pick up pipes and hammers and wrenches and charge at him. He ducks one swing and grabs hold of another. He manages to disarm the guy and flips him over his shoulder. Another tries to sneak up behind and smack him in the back of the head,  but he ducks and turns to punch him in the ribs before knocking him square on the jaw.  Another tires to throw a wrench at Batman, but he simply moves to the side as it misses him and then throws another batarang at him, knocking him to the ground. He then turns to see Fox with a machine gun.

Fox: Eat lead, bat-freak!

He fires at him and Batman ducks behind crates.

While this is going on, Freeze manages to deal with two other henchmen. One who he freezes to the wall and the other he tosses through a widow with one hand. However, Vulture rides towards him on a small forklift. Moving towards a wall, Freeze manages to dodge being stab by the forklift but is pinned against the wall and drops his freeze gun.  Vulture pulls out his gun to shoot but Freeze manages to knock it out of his hand. Vulture leaps off and picks up a pipe and starts to hit Freeze with it.

While both of these things happen, Great White sneaks onto the airplane and tries to start it up.

Fox: (Fires more at the crates Batman is hiding behind before stopping.) That's right, Batman. Gotham's dark knight can't stand against the power of the almighty bullet, can he?

Batman peaks out for a moment to see where Fox is standing. Fox begins to open fire again but Batman pulls out remote-control batarang. He punches in a few codes until it's ready. He peers slightly from behind the crates to see Fox. He throws the it and the flies towards Fox but he ducks his head away from it.

Fox: Ha! Nice try. But I'm not afraid of your toy—AHH!

The batarang zips back around and smacks against the back of Fox's head, knocking off his mask in the process. Before he can get back up and reach for the machine gun he dropped, Batman kicks the gun away and punches him out.

Vulture continues to smack the pipe against Freeze's suit. He even manages to crack the glass covering of his helmet. Freeze is constantly trying to push the forklift away and block the attacks, but slowly starting to waver.

Vulture: Look at the big bad Mr. Freeze. *whack* Not so tough now are you, snow man. *whack* *whack* What are you going to try now, huh? *whack* What now, huh!

Before he can hit Freeze again, Batman pulls the pipe out of his hands. Vulture turns to see him and backs up right into Freeze, who holds him in a head lock. He grips him tight enough until he passes out. Freeze drops him before using the his strength to push the forklift out of the wall and away from him.

Freeze: (Raises the glass covering from his helmet.) Thank you, Batman. I owe you again.

Batman: Save it for later. Where's White? (Suddenly they hear as the engines to the plane starting and Great White in the cockpit trying to take off.) I'll try to get to White. See if you can slow the plane down.

Freeze nods before picking up his freeze gun. While he tries to make a few collaborations to the firepower of it, Batman runs towards the plane, avoids the engines and reaches the door.

He sprays a small portion explosive-gel on it and blows the door open. He jumps in and reaches the cockpit door, only to be met by gun fire from the other side. Great White has an ak-47 with him. Batman takes a few hits to the chest, but his Kevlar armor keeps him safe as he jumps out of the way.

After making the last calibrations, Freeze aims the freeze gun at the rightwing engine of the plane. A larger blast of ice slowly starts to freeze over.

Batman stands to the side of the cockpit door as he hears, Great White inside. White turns on the autopilot, pulls out a pair of brass knuckles and kicks open the door. He looks around before Batman kicks the gun out of his hand. Wearing the knuckles, Great White gets into a fist fight with Batman.

Batman: (Blocking on punch and staying in a fighting stance.)How did it play out, White? (Ducks another punch before punching him in the face.) Fisk provided the trucks, didn't he? (Blocks another punch.) You provided the boat to cover your tracks. And Voulper gave the man-power and a way out of Gotham.

Great White: (Managing to hit Batman in the face.) It was all worth it. (Ducks one punch.) Best way to get even with Freeze.

Batman: All this for revenge? (Blocks one punch but gets hit in the chest by another.)
Great White: After what he did to my face, why not?

Suddenly the plane jerks to the right, causing Great White to fall over. Outside. The plane begins to turn to the right because of the fully frozen engine. Once it's in view, Freeze tries to freeze the other engine. Before Batman can grab Great White, he manages to kick his legs out from under him, making him fall to the ground. White pulls out a knife from a holder on his ankle. He jumps onto of Batman and tries to stab him in the chest. Batman manages to grab his hand before he can. The plane begins to slow down as Freeze continues to freeze the engine. Still struggling, Great White manages to get his mouth close enough to Batman's wrist to bite it with his sharp teeth. Batman yells in pain as he feels the teeth dig into his skin. He find and opening to kick White in the stomach making him stumble back. He then punches him hard enough in the face that one of his sharp teeth out. Once the plane comes to a halt, Batman tosses Great White out and steps out to see Freeze standing close by with his gun pointed at White.

Freeze: You never learn. Do you, Mr. White? Now where is Nora?

Great White: Go suck on an icicle!

Freeze: (Walks over and punches him in the face, making his nose bleed.) I'm tired of this, Warren. WHERE IS MY WIFE?

Great White: (Wipes some of the blood off of his face before looking up at Batman and Freeze.) She…isn't here.

Batman: What?

Great White: We…were hired. It wasn't mine or Voulper's or Fisk's plan. We were just doing the dirty work. Our company's going six feet under and we needed the money. Once we knew what we had to do, we got what we needed from Firefly before making the it all happen.

Batman: And Deadshot?

Great White: We didn't hire him. Our mutual friend wanted to make sure things went as smoothly as possible so he hired some extra help. We didn't mind, just as long as we got paid…(looks to Freeze)…and I got to see you squirm.

Freeze: (Picks him up by the collar.) Who?

Great White: Grant Walker. He's in charge of... Gothcorp.

Freeze: (Drops White in realization of this.) ...Gothcrop.

Batman: The company you worked for before your accident.

Freeze: They...have my wife?

Great White: I guess you'd better hurry then. Because by now, I'll bet their getting the idea of breaking off each body part from her before melting her down to water. Ha ha ha—Uhh.

Freeze: (kicks him in the face, knocking him out and looks to Batman.) Why would Walker do this?

Batman: We'll ask him when we get to Gothcorp. Come on.

Both get into the batmoblie and drive off as fast as they can.

********************

Place: Gothcorp Tower. Downtown Gotham City.

Time: 4:45 a.m.

Grant Walker is listing to what is being said to him on the telephone in his office. He has a look of panic on his face as he hears each word being said.

Walker: White sold me out? When?(Listens.) Dammit! The police...no...Batman and Freeze they'll be here any minute. (Slams the phone to hang it up.) Got to get out of the city. (Looks at the figure hiding in the shadows.) This is all your fault. This was your plan, and now I'm paying for it.

Figure: Yet again, Walker, you only see failure as failure.

Walker: There's no opportunity here. Don't you get it? It's over.

Figure: It's not over until I say it's over!

Walker: I should never have listened to you. I should have left you in prison where you belong!

Figure: Face it, Grant, you would have been nowhere if it wasn't for me.

Suddenly the phone rings again.

Walker: (Puts it on speaker.) What is it?

Voice of security guard: We have a breach in—UHH!

Walker: (Hears as the phone goes dead.) Oh god....oh dammit to hell...they're here.

Figure: (Opens a secret door hidden in the wall.) I leave you to handle it, Grant.

Walker: What? Don't you dare leave me!

Figure: I'm not leaving, I'm just waiting until Victor deals with you. (Closes the door.)

Walker: Damn you! (Suddenly the door to the enormous office burst open. Batman and Freeze enter the room.) No...no...you don't understand!

Batman: (Walking towards him with Freeze behind.) Then why don't you start explaining?

Walker: I...I was just doing...what I thought was necessary.

Freeze: (Grabs him and pulls him over the desk.) Necessary? Steal my wife when I'm on the verge of curing her is necessary?

Walker: It was...I was...under orders.

Batman: From who?

Suddenly one of the walls to the office opens up. It reveals a dark room with what look like machines similar to in the Arkham labs. The figure, a man, is standing in the darkness.

Figure: By me. Looking back I have to say it was quiet ingenious.

Freeze: (Drops Walker and looks to the figure.) Who are you?

Figure: Victor, I'm surprised. I would think that you, or even the greatest detective here (he indicated Batman) would have figured it by now.

Batman: I had my suspicions. But I guess I had to see it to believe it.

Figure: Then let me save you the trouble of explaining, (Uses a small remote to turn on the lights in the dark room) and just get it over with.

With the room fully lit, the machines are fully seen. They are almost similar to the ones in Arkham, but have a few modifications here and there. In the center is the cryo-tube holding Nora Fries, and standing in front of it is one who both Freeze and Batman recognize.

Freeze: Ferris Boyle!