CHAPTER 19: "No, You Definately Screwed Up"

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*Mr. Freeze, 25 Miles East of Gotham Harbor, Unknown Island

"Could you say that again?" Freeze asked.

James shrugged, "I screwed up."

Due to his condition, Freeze suffered from a lack of many common human aspects. One was not being able to survive without sub-arctic temperatures keeping his core cool. The other was a near nullification of any emotional response. The cryo-genetic accident not only failed to provide a meaningful cure for his Nora but had the added cruelty of ensuring his cruel existence. He had discovered in time that his accident had the added negative effect of stopping his aging, he was in effect, immortal, doomed to his icy-cold existence for all time.

When he had free time he sought measures to cure his condition, but alas, it was permanent. His very DNA was changed, and for a time when he thought Nora was lost, he went off the deep end. A life of crime and revenge was all he sought, many had felt his wrath and suffered for their part in his misfortunes. The thought of never again walking on a summer's day with the hot wind in his face and a warm hand to hold... Oh yes, he'd kill for that!

Some meaning returned when he discovered his precious Nora alive but cryogenically frozen, keeping her in perfect stasis. Acquiring her containment unit and secreting her away was easy, but finding a cure for her disease had proven anything but. At least till now.

The young man... his partner had come washing up on the shore of his secret island almost 6 months ago. Nearly dead but with a hint of a healing ability never before seen by Freeze, he had been ecstatic to unlock the mystery of the boy's blood. This would be the key to finding a cure!

Alas, it would turn out not to be. But through failure, other advantages were gained.

"Yes," Freeze said irritably, amazing considering his emotions to be locked off. Only Nora could awaken his positive emotions enough that they could bleed through his cold interior.

But the boy sure was good at getting his negative emotions to leak out.

James stood up from the stool he had sat at and began picking up the beakers and test tubes he had knocked over. "Ya, the crew is still alive and I forgot to grab the grabble hook before I left."

Putting that last of the beakers back in their places James said, "Somewhat defeats the purpose to hide a thief's involvement but we should be fine, nothing ties directly back to us."

Freeze spoke quietly, displeasure in every word, "The whole point was to avoid attention! I care little for the Batman, he will not find us, what I care about is the owner," he gestured to the reactor, "finding out we specifically stole from him."

His partner snorted, "Luthor won't ever know it was us, plus this is such an insignificant item that he won't even notice. He is probably too busy dealing with the alien in his city and selling arms to some third-world country."

At that, James began walking out of the lab, pausing for a moment he said with his back still turned, "I am heading to the hospital, call me if you need me."

Freeze merely hummed in response as he watched the boy walk out of the cave. He was surprised to say the least, James had put together a plan to eliminate potential witnesses and crash the ship to make it look like a freak accident. But now even the police would know that something is up, which would lead to a closer look at the inventory and eventually to the discovery of the missing reactor.

"No, you definitely screwed up," Freeze said softly.

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*James, 6 Months Ago, 25 Miles East of Gotham Harbor, Unknown Island

Dreams are strange.

While James slept he kept drifting into oblivion to sometimes flashes of his life. From a young boy crying while staring at the stars, to getting kicked to the ground by his laughing Sensei, to his 12th birthday party, to slitting the throats of the arsons. It seemed to have no rhyme or reason where he was taken, at one point he even thought he had woken up to find himself in a cave being watched by a ghostly-looking man. But that must be his concussed mind playing tricks on him... right?

He was not sure when he became fully coherent, only that it started slowly. It was hard to explain. Sometimes he would be almost wide awake and blinded by a large overhanging light, other times he was groggy and so weak he could not open his eyes. It was at one of his coherent moments when he was weak when he heard the voice.

"You should be stable now, to check some of your basic functions are still operating properly can you please say your name, age, and where you are from?"

The voice for lack of a better term, was cold and stated in a monotone that provided no clue if the figure was happy or sad to see him waking up.

"Where am I?" James' throat croaked.

"Not important, answer the questions. Name, age, and where you are from?"

Perhaps he should have been more careful, perhaps he needed to take more care about giving out his name. But the combined grogginess, painkillers, and general confusion had James on the back foot.

Swallowing what little saliva he had to soothe his dry throat he said, "James, 16, I live in East Gotham... where am I?"

"Hmmm, cognitive abilities seem fine if those answers are correct, now can you open your eyes?"

James found the request doable if a little irritating as his eyes blinked to adjust to the bright lights. To his surprise, he was in a bed in a lab of some sort, with walls and the roof indicating his location being a cave. And standing above him was a man with almost glowing blue eyes and white-bluish skin that made him look like a ghost.

"Am I dead or in hell?" James muttered.

This would be the first interaction James would have with Mr. Freeze, or Freeze as he preferred to be called.

The next half hour was an interrogation over his genetic makeup, how his healing powers worked, if he was alien, and so on and so forth. As the questions continued and James became more coherent he realized two things. One, he felt physically awful. And two, he was losing his patience very quickly.

It did not help that the lab was freezing cold. Despite the multiple blankets, he could still feel that the lab was being maintained at a temperature akin to a freezer.

"Have you ever been part of a mystical ceremony that can explain your ability..."

"ENOUGH!" James yelled, his patience spent.

Around the entire lab test tubes, beakers, microscopes, and other tools began to shake in place. The lights themself began to flicker with fluctuating flurries and even some small rocks from the cave roof fell down. The air itself began to constrict from the unseen force of James' power.

But then as quickly as it came it vanished, and James slumped back into bed, his burst of energy wiping him out.

Freeze calmly looked around at all the mess, to his credit he did not look perturbed but rather more intrigued.

"Interesting," Freeze said, "When I ran the sequencer you came up negative for the meta gene, yet you are showing powers... could be magic I suppose but I seriously doubt that as well."

James felt nauseous from releasing his power, with no food in his stomach though, he felt the awful sensation of dry heaving.

Freeze meanwhile had walked over to a table at the far end of his lab where several aged books and strange stone items lay. Examining them, he nodded before walking back to James' bed.

Glancing back at the books and stone items he remarked, "Yes, magic seems to be one thing we can cross off the list."

"Can you tell me what the hell is going on!" James snarled.

Freeze stared at him for a long moment before turning around and began to clean up the fallen test tubes and other tools James had knocked down in his earlier outburst.

"I keep to myself," Freeze began, "I avoid the general underworld save for times when I need equipment or money to further my research. I do keep track of the events though."

Putting the last of his lab back together he turned back to James, "I am not ignorant and your recent display has reinforced my suspicion. Young, teenager with telekinetic powers... you are the Penguin's Hound."

James just stared back at Freeze, refusing to respond or give any acknowledgment of the accusation.

"This also helps," Freeze says as he tosses a newspaper onto James' bed.

Glancing down the headline stood large, 'East Side Gotham Burns.' Subheadings listed the fighting at the Narrows, Penguin's arrest, and finally 'Criminal Meta "The Hound" Dead.'

"Supposedly you were injured right before you decided to dive off a cliff into a raging river. Not exactly what I would recommend for someone's health but I suppose it worked." Freeze said matter of fact.

Staring at the headlines brought a flash of memories... sirens, burning, reading their names, rage, finding the arsons, Batman, and then...

He could still remember the sensation as he slit their throats... it felt so good.

Freeze watched James carefully as he was going through his memories, "You do not seem to deny it, in which case I have a proposal for you."

"How long have I been out?" James asked quietly, his voice trembling, this time not with rage but with sadness.

"Not too long, now as I was saying I have a proposal..." Freeze tried to explain before being interrupted.

"Please," James said, "Please, how long?"

Sighing with impatience Freeze said, "It has been a week since the fires, now please... wait what are you doing?"

Hearing how long he had been out had caused James to immediately throw his covers off and tentatively sit up over the side of his bed. He needed to get to the hospital and see Jane and Crystal, to make sure his surviving family was alright. But his body would betray him as soon as he tried to stand his legs gave up and he collapsed to the ground.

Freeze just stood there watching, many would find the scene comical or sad, but for him, it was simply annoying.

"You cannot expect to start dashing off back to Gotham at your current condition, even with your healing factor you need at least another week or 2 in order to recover," Freeze said.

Crouching down he grabbed James and with effort lifted him back to sitting on his bed, "If you bare with me though I will make a proposal that will prove beneficial to the both of us."

Just trying to stand James breathing heavily, in between his gasps he asked, "What sort of proposal?"

Freeze nearly grinned at that, "It is simple, your ability to quickly heal..."

"I don't have healing powers," James interrupted irritably.

"Ohhhhh," Freeze said slowly this time smiling, a ghastly sight for most, "You do have a healing ability, but based on your reaction one that you have yet to realize. I mentioned before running your blood through a battery of tests but each one proved negative to the key of your unique abilities. According to all the tests I know you are nothing more than a human, but we both know that is not true."

"Help me with my experiments, and I will pay you most handsomely. Also, consider it repayment for me saving your life..."

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*James, Current Time, St. Hope Hospital

Standing outside in the noonday sun he looked up at the large lettering of St. Hope Hospital. 6 months ago it saw the worst of the victims of the Eastside fires, it was swamped for months with patients and concerned families all trying to squeeze into the limited space.

Now 6 months later it had finally calmed down, and most patients had been moved to other hospitals in the city to accommodate the limited space. Only the most severe stay at St. Hope because moving them would be too dangerous.

One of those patients was the reason James was here today.

Wearing blue jeans, running shoes, and a polo shirt he felt that he was inconspicuous. The only visible sign of his injuries was a faint scar that ran down the top side of the left side of his head to his jaw. Ever since that night, he had worried his identity had been photographed or recorded somewhere, or that people could recognize him without his mask. Some comfort had been gained when in the news stories his alter ego, the Hound, was reported dead. Not likely that heroes or villains would be looking for him if they all thought that.

The other relief came when he had gotten a message from the Boss. Penguin, since that night had been indicted and sentenced to Bella Reve prison. Having any communication with him was a tall order, but luckily one police officer on the take was still working for the mob. A little cash here and an anonymous letter was sent securely to Penguin. It took less than a day for the cop to drop off the response letter, a sealed envelope tossed into a trashcan making it look innocent.

Penguin's response to what James had sent was carefully written, it read:

"Dear Boy,

"Your message warmed an old man's heart, glad to hear you are on the mend after your school field trip.

"I sadly will not be available for the foreseeable future to help you with homework. I know you would like to come visit me or help me come visit you but for the time being, I am stuck where I am at. Let me reiterate, I will stay where I am for the time being, I will not change my mind on that.

"Reading the news I was surprised to hear of all the various villains that died in the fighting. It is a sad situation but one beneficial for Gotham and perhaps you, fewer distractions and dangers now for you. Best let the dead stay dead, causes less problems.

"I am sorry to hear what happened to your aunts, they were amazing women who deserved better. Don't worry about funerals or anything, I will take care of it. I am trying to think of the best thing to write to you, I know well enough that you blame yourself. Don't! Those responsible have been punished, and those who got away will be punished, I promise you that!

"Do you remember the conversation we had together? Where we talked about you going to college? I recommend getting back on track toward that and finishing your GED. Check with Jane, I tucked away a little graduation money for you, not enough for you to live on for the rest of your life, but enough to cover you for the first few years of college.

"This will be the last time we talk for a while, know that I do not hold you responsible. You warned me, my pride proved to be my undoing. Either way, stay safe, the next time we talk we need to have a discussion about your parents."

It was signed simply as "Old Man," the nickname James occasionally referred to Cobblepot as, mostly because it irritated him.

James originally had not taken the letter well when he received it... he did not take anything well after the fire...

His injuries had forced him to remain on Freeze's island for at least 2 weeks before he was able to return to Gotham. During those weeks he was not ashamed to admit he cried, he cried for his lost aunts, he cried for his first murders, and at other times he cried simply because he felt like it. Freeze while expert at healing his body had remarked he had no experience with the mind, and simply left him alone for the most part. To Freeze's credit, he had helped by sending his letter to Penguin, and he had helped when James requested a bit of time outside where he stargazed. Out on this island, the heavens were beautiful, lack of light pollution allowed such a sight of the cosmos, and just like when he was a child, it brought peace to him.

After recovering sufficiently for 2 weeks James left the island and returned to Gotham where he immediately got into contact with Jane. Never before had he heard her cry harder than she had when they met face to face, her tight hugs reminded him that he still was fairly injured with even some bones mending themselves.

They spent an hour checking each other for injuries and comforting one another after the loss of Violet and Sarah.

Finally, James asked the question, "How is Aunt Crystal?"

Since that day James made it a point to visit Crystal twice a week, Jane would visit on the days he couldn't. Crystal's condition was a delicate situation that he had no idea how to help. She was stable, but would never be the same again. He had even had Freeze take a look at her situation, there had even been some sympathy when he said he could do nothing for her.

James made his way to the long-term patient quarters of St. Hope Hospital, his footsteps echoing on the cold floors as he made his way to Crystal's room.

Pausing for a moment, he knocked on the door and waited till a soft weak voice beckoned him inside.

The room was spacier than most, Penguin had sent some extra money their way so Crystal could be as comfortable as possible. The TV was playing some telenovela quietly in the background as James came around to the side of Crystal's bed. He gently reached down and caressed her bandaged hand, her eyes focused on him and a smile graced her face.

Crystal was covered in white bandages from head to toe to cover the burns she had received. When escaping the apartment, a large timber had fallen pinning her to the ground. It was a miracle the firefighters were able to rescue her in time before the flames took her. But there was a cost. Much of her upper torso skin had turned black from the burns, her hair was completely gone and the flames had completely seared her face. One of her eyes had lost eyesight completely, and her mouth only thanks to recent surgeries had been stitched back together sufficiently for her to talk. A few spots here and there showed the once beautiful tan skin she had, but that stood in sharp contrast to the majority of skin, red and black scorched portions. A passing nurse had commented that she looked like a crash dummy from an artillery strike, an apt description but one James put the fear of God in to make sure the nurses never again said.

The doctors said that she would survive, but that recovery to walk, eat solid foods and even leave the hospital was very questionable. She was an invalid now.

Standing there holding her hand and hearing her soft soothing words to James despite her own condition made the tears roll down his face.