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The result:

Batman: How did you escape from prison, Boyle? There was no report of it.

Boyle: Who ever said I "had" escaped? I've had dealings made, from the outside, at the stacked deck before, dark knight. One of which was with a certain "master of disguise." Always looking to impersonate the wealthy.

Batman: False-Face. Another c-list villain.

Boyle: Exactly. They're so much easier to use then Dent or Crane or any of the more "professional" criminals in Gotham. I've been out and still running Gothcorp for the past three years now.

Freeze: But why steal my wife? Revenge?

Boyle: Victor, you think too small. As I remember , the revenge plan was always under your department. I have something much bigger in mind.

Batman: And that is?

Boyle: I take it you don't read much into the financial news, do you Batman? Gothcorp is slowly but surely losing its profit. We've had to sell certain branches of our company to the Wayne Corporation as well as a few business in Metropolis. I've been trying to keep this company alive as much as possible, but at this point I might as well be beating a dead horse with another dead horse. But then the new spread. The news that you, Victor, had finally found it: the cure for your wife. That's when the opportunity shined. Making the right deals, i.e. White and his accomplices, and the right people...(As he says this Deadshot appears and has his guns aimed at both Batman and Freeze's heads.)...like our dear Mr. Lawton here, everything was in place. The only flaw was that we were supposed to have taken you as well, Victor. In fact, the real reason for bombing half of Arkham was for you.

Freeze: Why?

Boyle: Because of your cure. The very thing that you've finally achieved after so many years of research. If you managed to cure MacGregor's Syndrome, imagine what else you could cure. Millions of lives could be saved....for the right price of course.

Batman: So you needed him because he was the only one with the knowledge to pull it off.

Boyle: Exactly. But I knew that I would be the last man Mr. Freeze would want to work with, so I needed some...insurance. (He indicates Nora in the cryo-tube.)

Freeze: What have you done to her, Boyle?

Boyle: Why nothing, Victor. And nothing will happen....as long as you cooperate. Otherwise,(He pulls out a small controller.)I shut down the machines and she dies painfully!

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

As everything happens in the office, someone...or someones...are silently making their way through Gothcorp Tower and up to the office.

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

Freeze: No. Please, don't hurt her.

Boyle: Then do we have a deal?

Deadshot: (Sees Batman trying to reach for something from his belt.) Don't even think about it. (Keeps the pointers of the guns on his wrists aimed at Batman's head.) For here, I won't miss you this time.

Boyle: (Not paying much attention to that and still talking to Freeze.) Tell you what, Victor. Let's seal this arrangement by having you do one small favor for me...kill the Batman. Do it and I promise Nora will never be in danger again.

Freeze contemplates on this while looking down at the ground. He then looks at Boyle, then the cryo-tube where Nora is, then Batman. He picks up his Freeze gun and aims it at him.

Batman: Victor...don't do this. You always said how anything was necessary....but is everything truly necessary? Think of Nora...

Freeze: I already have. And I've made my decision. It's a shame...given the circumstances....we might have made a formidable partnership. (He gives a wink to Batman.) Sorry it has to be like this.

Suddenly he points the gun past Batman and fires. It ends up freezing Deadshot's body leaving him helpless. Batman sees Grant Walker pull out a gun from a drawer in the desk, so he reacts by throwing a batarang at him. It knocks the gun out of his hand. Freeze turns to Boyle, only to be met by a bullet on of the softer areas in his armor. It hits Freeze in the lower-left part of his chest. Freeze drops to the ground in pain and Batman tries to act but Boyle points the gun at him and holds the button on the controller near his finger, ready to push.

Boyle: Big mistake, Victor. The other mistake was thinking I wouldn't know about the weak-points in your armor. I do my homework.

Batman: It's over, Boyle. Face it. You lost.

Boyle: Maybe your right. But I always find opportunity in failure, Batman. And right now there' only one opportunity left.

Freeze: (Seeing he's ready to push the button.) NO!

Before Boyle can press the button and kill Nora, something strikes his hand making him drop the control. He looks and sees a ninja-star sticking out of his hand, now bleeding. All look to see a group of eight shadowy figures standing in the doorway of the office. Batman recognizes one in particular.

Talia: Sorry to intrude, but we have come for what was stolen.

With Talia are a group of ninja assassins from the League. Four are men while the rest are women. All a dressed similarly to stereotypical ninjas but with a mix of Greek and Persian design.

Boyle: (Pulls out the ninja-star while his hand is still bleeding.) What the hell is this? (Points his gun.)

Batman: Talia?

Talia: Give back what you have taken from my father, Batman. The League will not allow you to tarnish the name of Ra's al Ghul.

Boyle: Screw you, bitch!

He is about to shoot Talia but is stopped when a freeze-blasts that freezes him completely. Batman looks to see it was Freeze using his gun while still weak from the gun shot. Given the way Boyle was frozen and how he tries to struggle, he begins to fall back until he shatters into pieces.

Freeze: What opportunity comes from death, Boyle?

Batman: (Looks back to Talia.) Very persistent of you, Talia, but you're wasting your time.

Talia: (She walks up to him, while her assassins secure the area.) I don't care what plans you have for the blood, I only want it back.

Batman: I can't give it back. It was used in an experiment to make a cure for a terminal disease.

Talia: Then hand over this cure. I will not return to my father empty handed.

Batman: Not until it's used for what it was made for.

Talia: The properties of the Lazarus pit are not for the unworthy.

Batman: (Points over to Freeze who has made his way over to the cryo-tube and muttering to Nora.) Is that unworthy? That man has suffered through years of torment in order to have the love of his life back in his arms. For years he's been through a freezing hell because he could never bring her back. And now he finally has that chance...please, Talia, don't take that away from him.

Talia: (Looks at Freeze and then contemplates on this.) One condition, my love. After she is cured, the cure, the formula and everything involved in this experiment is to be destroyed. (Batman nods. She indicates for her guards to leave while she talks with Batman.) Don't make me regret this.

Batman: Thank you.

Talia: Don't take it too much to heart, love. I only hope you have the same devotion to my lie if it is ever in danger. (She pulls him close and kisses.) Goodbye.

She disappears with the rest of her guards out through the doors. Batman sees Walker trying to crawl away. He stops him by walking over and picking him up and tossing him back against the desk.

Batman: You're not going anywhere, Walker. (Walks over to Freeze.) The police will be here. You'll be alright.

Freeze: Just as long as she's alright.

Batman: (Kneeling next to him.) You didn't try to kill me, even with Boyle holding your wife's life in his hands.

Freeze: I guess that makes us even. (He looks to him and smiles.) You were right Batman, not everything is necessary.

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

Place: Outside Gothcopr Tower.

Time: 5:30 a.m.

The police and press are all over the front doorway to the Tower. The police have a large portion block off while the ambulance vans wheel in a few of the guards and Deadshot, almost suffering from hyperthermia. Grant Walker is pulled into a police car shouting for innocence. While Bullock is handling this, as well as the press, Gordon is talking with Batman near a darkened alleyway.

Gordon: We already have White and the rest locked-up. Walker won't be able to wiggle his way out of this, not with the charges against him. And we finally have Deadshot back in custody. (He sees as Freeze is being helped into an ambulance van. His suit is off and he's being supported by the liquid-nitrogen support system, as well as some medical equipment.) We'll do what we can for him.

Batman: And Nora?

Gordon: Techs are on the way to transport her to Gotham General, same place we're taking Freeze. They'll have a lab set up there and we'll make sure the securities tighter.

Batman: What about the cure?

Gordon: Warden Sharp has it kept nice and tight, back at the Asylum. Don't worry, we're taking extra-precautions this time.

Batman: We nearly lost her, Jim...he...nearly lost her. And he's been though too much to lose her again.

Gordon: I know Batman. I know. We'll wait until Freeze is better before we before helping Nora.

Batman: Good. He deserves it.

Gordon: And what about you? You going to be there again? (No answer.) Batman?

He looks to see Batman is gone just as the sun is slowly starting to rise in the distance.

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

Narration: Within two days Freeze was stable. He'd lost a lot of blood but managed to fight until a proper transfusion was made. It will take some time for him to adjust, but at least he'll be able to pull through. Gohcorp was completely bought out by Wayne Corporations after Walker's incarceration and Bolye's death.  What's left of it has distributed through smaller branches like the Dawson Foundation. The labs in Gotham General have been set for Nora. She's been there the entire time. And I managed to fix myself up after the skirmishes with The Terrible Trio and the Stacked Deck, and kept doing what I needed to keep the city safe.

Now I'm there, at Gotham General; in the labs. It's set up almost the same as the ones in Arkham, only the observation room is next to the labs as opposed an observation deck. And I think the setting is a better sight for Nora to wake up to.

Most of the same people who attended the last viewing are here, including Gordon and Warden Sharp. I was even surprised to see the head of Dawson Foundation here too. She seems content on seeing Victor's happiness, given what he almost did to her.

I'm waiting in the lab, with the cure in hand. It's cold, just like Arkham's but at least it's suitable. I look to see as the door to the lab open and Freeze is brought in. Two of the orderlies help him in as he's supported by a crutch. The gunshot took a lot out of him. Only four guards are inside the lab, but they have little to worry about. Freeze is still supported by his system, only now he's only wearing the rest of his support suit. He may never be able to use his armor again.

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

Freeze: (Hobbles over to Batman.) I'm glad to see you here for this yet again.

Batman: After everything we went through together, how could I miss it? (He hands Freeze the cure.) Make it count, Victor.

Freeze: (Pressing buttons that activate the air-support valve.)Every last drop.

The sequence begins where the air begins to slowly and safely heat. Within a few moment, Freeze opens the glass covering to the cryo-tube. It opens slowly as the air inside final seeps out after so many years of containment. Now Batman and Freeze can fully see Nora. Her long blond hair is draped down over her shoulders, she's wearing a light pink dress and her hands are folded on her chest and her golden wedding ring is still on her finger.
Seeing this, Freeze reaches into a pressurized pocket on his suit and reveal his own wedding ring. He places it on his finger as he finally takes the vial and put it into a injecting-device. He lowers it down and  slowly moves her arm to find the vain in her arm. Once he finds it he lightly injects the cure into her blood stream. He and Batman wait moment after agonizing moment for  a reaction. The seconds feel like minutes and the minutes seem to drag and...

Suddenly Freeze sees a twitch in the fingers on her right hand. It start to move around until he takes it in both of his hands. Her eyes begin to waver and flutter. She slowly opens her eyes. Batman and Freeze see how they almost shine in deep blue. Batman stand back as Freeze looks at her with tears forming in his eyes.

Nora: Vi...Victor...?

Freeze: Oh Nora! (He rubs her hand against his cheek.) Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Nora: (Looks around to see where she is.) Victor...where am...(She looks and sees his blue skinned faced.)...wh...what happened to you?

Freeze: It's...hard to explain...(He brings her close and hugs her.)...just as long as your safe...

Nora looking happy, yet confused, hugs him back. She looks and sees Batman standing nearby and he gives a comforting smile as she closes her eyes while hugging her husband. Batman looks into the observation room to see half the people clapping at this sight.

Batman: (Starting to walk out of the room.) Good luck, Victor Fires.

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

Place: the Batcave

Time: One day later

Batman is sitting in front of his bat-computer, talking with Oracle. Alfred is nearby and listening as he tells her about Freeze curing his wife.

Oracle: My dad called about it a while ago. He said it was such a sweet sight. He even had to clap to it, like something out of a drama movie.

Batman: I'll admit...it was...nice.

Oracle: He told me he could swear he saw you smiling too. Guess even the Dark knight can't stay stiff during a romantic moment.

Batman: I'm just worried about what will happen next.

Alfred: If I may say so, sir: I suspect things will turn out for the better.

Batman: I hope they do, Alfred. Victor had a lot of explaining to give to his wife about what he did during his years as Mr. Freeze. She was awestruck, to say the least. But he agreed to serve out the time needed in Arkham before being allowed back in society.

Oracle: And how's Mrs. Freeze taking that?

Batman: From what I heard, she's glad to know he's making up for what he did. She's going to visit him as much as possible until he's released. The Wayne Corporation will take care of her for now until she can support herself. And the Warden has now given him access to the labs so he can find a way to reverse his own condition.

Alfred: And his suit, Master Bruce?

Batman: (Indicates to where his other trophies are and shows Mr. Freeze's suit in a large glass display. Next to it is the freeze-gun in a display case.) I plan to use the technology I can from it to help advance in our technology department.

Oracle: It's still a little hard to get over but...Mr. Freeze is turning good now.

Batman: No, Mr. Freeze is dead. He died when a husband final won the fight he'd been waging against a disease for years, and felt the warm touch of his wife again. The idea of Mr. Freeze had consumed Victor Fries' heart for so long, but now the ice had melted and a whole new future awaits.

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

Place: Arkham visiting center

Time: Eight three months later

Freeze is sitting behind the glass window of the visiting area while Nora is sitting on the other side.

Freeze: It's good to see you again, my love. (He puts his hand against the glass.) I've been missing you these past few weeks. I thought you were in trouble.

Nora: (Puts her hand up to the glass where Freeze's is.) No, I'm fine. Victor...I have news...

Freeze: What is it?

Nora: (tear are forming under her eyes as she smiles.) ...you're going to be a father...

END