Izujiro - The Batman

Chapter 28 - Alright everyone, chill

Batman left Penguin encased in the enormous ice wall so that he could explore Gothcorp to find the supercoolant he needed for the cryo drill without fear that he would slip through his fingers. To find the supercoolant he needed to search in Victor Fries' lab in the cryogenics division, maybe he would find some answers as well as the coolant. The schematics of the building showed the location but also cautioned that an accident had occurred and the lab was under quarantine. Regardless, he had to go in there and get what he needs. He needed to stop Mr Freeze and save Boyle.

Izuku eventually made it to the lab, with most of it being encased in ice and covered with frost. Most technology had stopped working but some machines were still operating as usual. Not being in there long though, Izuku found a dead body. A Gothcorp security guard, lying face down on the floor sprawled out like a starfish with...blue skin. Just like Freeze. He determined that whatever caused this man's metabolic alteration was the same cause of Mr Freeze's creation. He inspected the body, colder than ice. Creating a crime scene would help determine what happened here.

'There are hand and foot prints behind the guard leading back into the laboratory. His body seems to have shut down due to heat stroke but the lab didn't overheat. His altered metabolism must not have allowed him to survive the regular conditions.' Izuku concluded, deciding to follow the trail. There was a wall of ice blocking his path though so he powered up his thermal gloves and shattered the ice with a punch.

After making his way into the glacier called a lab, he discovered some more evidence.

'Looks like the signs of a struggle. The set of footprints here match the ones of the guard. He ran out of the lab and then died. There's also some palm prints on the window looking out to the body. They are a direct match for Victor Fries, he must have saw the guard die.' He looked around the lab more, finding prototypes of cryogenic devices and other items.

'Looks like he pieced together a survival suit. That would explain the fridge look. He must need the suit to keep his core temperature at subzero, something he would be able to do without the supercoolant. The pressure in a tank must have built up and released a plume of cryo-vapour, that might explain the iceberg coming out of it. The outtakes are sealed by ice so this would stand to reason. This could have been caused by Freeze's ice cannon but there is some blood preserved by the ice. It matches Victor Fries, someone assaulted him with a weapon and knocked over the cannon by accident. There's also a dent in the wall by the door. The assailant must have been knocked clear by the shockwave from the blast. Given that I can't find any other victims, the assailant likely escaped without exposure. Now, if I find the weapon they used then I could learn more about them. I should check by the entrance.'

Batman was right and his status as World's Greatest Detective was paying off. He checked the area near the entrance only to discover a gun lodged in a small space of the wall. The type of space one wouldn't be able to reach into . However, he didn't need to. Batman used his detective scanners to analyse the weapon and found two sets of DNA.

'The blood sample on the gun and pattern indicates it was used to bludgeon Fries. The fingerprints however belong to... Ferris Boyle?' He took a step backwards, a little in shock and confusion. He then heard the crack of some ice below him so he looked. There was some tracks preserved by the ice, possibly the tracks of a gurney or operating bed. It looks like it was wheeled out just before the tank eruption. Any earlier and the tracks wouldn't have been preserved. They led to a machine which looked as though it was doing research into Huntington's Chorea with the subject being Nora Fries. It was clear what was going on here now.

'Boyle had hired Victor to secretly advance the cryoweaponry program in exchange I assume for devoting resources to curing Nora's condition. From the looks of things, Boyle seems more interested in how Victor had placed Nora into cryostasis. Got to admit, that's pretty impressive. Anyway, Fries must have found out Boyle had no intentions of honouring their deal and decided to do the research himself instead. But Boyle clearly didn't like that and assaulted him, causing the accident and then escaping ahead of the plume only to have the lab quarantined. After surviving, Victor knew leaving the supercooled lab would kill him so he made his suit and an organic supercoolant to stay at subzero temperature. All his hatred, all this violence. All he's trying to do is save his dying wife. I understand his pain, but I have to stop him.'