In the distance, Mr. Freeze, clad in his incredibly stylish and distinctive suit of armor, noticed their retreat. A hint of a smirk played on his lips as he raised his cryogenic gun and pulled the trigger. A deluge of freezing mist surged toward the heroines.
Lady Firefly, unwilling to be outdone, also raised her flamethrower and unleashed a barrage of fire at him.
During the battle, neither of them exchanged words, but anyone with eyes could see that they were evenly matched. There was an unspoken challenge—a standoff where each believed they had the upper hand.
The collision of freezing mist and oil in the air created a spectacle. The mist turned to water, only to evaporate rapidly, while the fire was continually consumed by the icy blasts. Neither could gain an advantage over the other, and the situation entered a stalemate.
"Can we go help them?" Barbara, ever loyal, automatically included Miss Pike in their ranks, even though they hadn't exchanged a word.
The one she asked was Thea, who was well-versed in technological weapons.
Thea was genuinely curious about this ice-wielding adversary. She heard that his gun used the principle of low-temperature ammonia to cool down. It was somewhat similar to her freezing arrows, as she used liquid nitrogen. Both achieved similar cooling effects, so it was hard to say who was more advanced.
Her liquid nitrogen was colder, resulting in a stronger freezing effect, but there was more energy loss in the air. His ammonia gas could undergo certain reactions inside the gun before being fired, resulting in relatively less loss. However, he could continuously extract ammonia gas from the tank behind him for firing, while she had one arrow less for every shot.
Comparing the two, she was at a slight disadvantage. But she would never consider carrying a chemical tank on her back to fight villains; that was far too risky.
The method to deal with him and Lady Firefly was straightforward: locate their gas tanks, aim for them, take them down from a safe distance, and then happily go over to loot the bodies.
Facing Barbara's question, Thea answered confidently, "Of course, watch me take him down!" Her tone was full of certainty because she had already noticed the protrusion behind Mr. Freeze. This guy had some brains, knowing how to protect his gas tank with armor. This made him much better than Lady Firefly, who had no protection at all.
Aiming at such a big target was almost effortless for Thea. She was only concerned about whether her arrows could penetrate the sci-fi looking armor of Mr. Freeze. Additionally, the ongoing exchange of fire and ice between the two also caused some slight interference with her line of sight.
Thea left the group and found a vantage point with a better view. She aimed at Mr. Freeze, who was currently engaged in a fiery battle with Lady Firefly.
With a self-satisfied smile, she released the bowstring. The Armor-Piercing Arrow barely accomplished its mission. The ten-centimeter arrowhead only penetrated less than half, making Thea anxious. Thea waited anxiously for two seconds, observing the cold air continuously escaping from the gaps in his armor. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
"Let's go!" Who knew whether this guy's gas tank was pressurized, how much pressure it could withstand, or whether it would explode from the inside? These were all unknowns. She swiftly returned to the side of the other women, calling out to Selina and Barbara, and amidst Bridgit's puzzled expression, she grabbed her and ran outside.
Seeing the group about to escape, Mr. Freeze was slightly puzzled. He didn't understand why the person who was evenly matched with him would run. However, without thinking too much, he assumed her fuel canister was empty, so he prepared to take them down by pulling the trigger.
Instead of the expected mist, two muffled sounds rang out. Theoretically, the mist should have appeared, but it didn't. While he was wondering what went wrong with his gun, he was suddenly knocked unconscious by a powerful impact.
What Thea and the others saw was the entrance of the asylum being replaced by a huge block of solid ice in an instant. The freezing spread rapidly in all directions.
The four women wished they had a few extra legs to run faster and sprinted as fast as they could. Thea and Selina, being faster, each supported Bridgit—one with an arm around her. Bridgit, burdened by the weight of the large canister, moved slower than an average person. Occasionally, Barbara gave her a push from behind. Together, they finally managed to dash out of the main gate.
"Next time, if you're going to make such a big move, at least give us a heads-up," Barbara, nearly out of breath, complained.
"Well, isn't this great? Mr. Freeze is finally dealt with!" Thea felt that dealing with such a high-impact adversary was worth the effort this time.
Barbara and Selina exchanged glances. Barbara, ever straightforward, spoke up: "Mr. Freeze is immune to freezing. His body temperature remains below zero all year round. Theoretically, freezing won't kill him."
Immune to freezing? Those words struck Thea like thunder. How could this guy have such an unscientific advantage? And why didn't anyone tell her? She turned to Bridgit. According to certain world settings, was this girl immune to flames? No wonder she was so fearless, carrying around the pressure tank everywhere—there was a reason behind it.
Although it was a blunder, Thea's character was to never admit her mistakes. This trait persisted from version 1.0 and continued into the current version 2.0.
After contemplating her knowledge of various chemical and physical facts, she confidently said, "Haha, of course, I knew that! We may not be able to deal with him this time, but it will take him a lot of time to thaw out and recompress the gas. Don't worry! Everything is under control." She patted Bridgit's chest while assuring the others.
Selina, not well-versed in science, couldn't make heads or tails of Thea's words. Barbara, with a degree in Library Science, had no interest in physics or chemistry and couldn't judge the correctness of Thea's statements.
Bridgit had never interacted with Thea before and, observing her confident tone, chose to believe her words with a somewhat doubtful attitude.
Realizing that her acting had successfully fooled the three, Thea breathed a sigh of relief. In her mind, she started thinking about how to deal with Mr. Freeze. Since shooting at the tank was ineffective, were there other tactics?
His freezing ability was indeed formidable. Even if attacked with a rocket launcher, it would likely cause the rocket to extinguish or even freeze completely within the range of his freezing gas. Moreover, his armor's protective capabilities were top-notch, rendering ordinary firearms almost useless.
After repeated consideration, she couldn't come up with a good solution. This guy was unexpectedly difficult to deal with, and Thea felt a bit worried about the current situation.
The Court of Owls, Mr. Freeze, the large number of enhanced humans created by bio experiments—problems piled up one after another, causing Thea's eyebrows to unconsciously furrow.
If all else failed, she could only resort to using a Hellfire missile, but this decision was not easy to make. Even if Amanda agreed, given the woman's character, she would likely shift the blame onto her afterward. This could only be used as a last resort.
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