Choice of Prisoner chap 15
A shit show. An absolute fucking shit show of a night. Break outs. Break ins. Discharged weapons and it hadn't even hit 5 o'clock. His radio squawked, phone ringing off the hook, with texts incoming from official and unofficial channels. Responding to the Bats to keep them off his back, the mayor to keep him of his back, and then to Bruce Wayne.
Commissioner Gordon slammed the door to the car shut. "McNabb, get me to the scene ASAP."
Peeling into the streets with the siren deafening in his ear, he opened his laptop and answered his phone. "What's the situation, Rally?"
"We're still waiting for confirmation that all Arkham prisoners have been accounted for. Nightwing says that the escape method can't be used by anyone who doesn't have cold related powers."
"The Joker?" He braced himself as McNabb spun them through traffic with the skill and mastery of an ex-drag racer turned taxi-driver, turned professional driver who Gordon kept on retainer for these situations while the man studied the mechanics of Formula 1 cars.
"Under surveillance and armed guards, sir. The warden was being visited by Bruce Wayne. Mr. Wayne is safe and currently under surveillance and guard as well."
Bruce had to be hating every minute of this. Trapped and unable to assist and wouldn't know what was going on until the gunsmoke cleared. "Good. Make sure he stays safe. And the scene?"
"Holding Steady Research Institute was attacked by Victor Fries about an hour ago. He made it to the main laboratory. We're not clear on the details but Daniel Fenton showed up and about 5 minutes ago there were confirmed shots from Officer Martin."
Jim had been around the block too many times to swear; but he could feel the urge rising like gorge from his stomach. Squeezing his eyes shut as he breathed past the rage. In the driver seat McNabb was doing his best to scrunch into himself. "Rally?"
His assistant hesitated. "Daniel Fenton is receiving medical attention for his wound by the EMTs who've arrived at the scene. He was shot."
"ETA five minutes." McNabb whispered over the twin growl of the commissioner and engine.
"Fatal?"
"Unknown, sir,"
"Damn, keep an ear out. How many people did Freeze shoot?"
"Twelve. No deaths."
Miracles could happen on a night like this. "How? Those ice prisons are deadly."
"Unclear, sir. They're collecting witness testimonies but most of them are in shock."
"I'll see when I get there." He growled. The car jolted around a bend and stopped just before a police barricade. Ambulances cycled their lights, a few inching past the crush of people to inch onto the roads for a quick delivery to Gotham General. The scene was a mess as it always seemed to be for these supervillain attacks. Not a bat in sight. "I'm here. Call me if you have any more details." He hung up, slipping out of the car as soon as it rolled to a halt.
He paused next to an ambulance waiting for the stretcher being wheeled from the building through a new door made from shattered glass and steel. EMTs barked at each other at the driver, and for everyone to get out of their way. Jim forced himself to stand very still as he caught a glimpse of the small figure they were working over. Small, pale. Shallow cuts across his face bled sluggishly. The Arkham uniform dirtied and bloody and he caught just the barest glimpse of the worn skin around his neck where a collar once lay. When the door slammed shut and the ambulance wooped to clear it's path; Jim's stomach twisted around bile and ice.
People were collecting eye-witness accounts. Taking a measure of the scene, keeping rubberneckers out, and all the while trying to figure out what the hell had happened. He moved around talking and assessing until Sergeant Zale approached with the rapid, careful footsteps of man with bad news.
"What's the news, Zale?"
Zale put his head down, whispering. "Nora Fries coded, sir."
Jim congratulated himself on being someone who didn't react badly to such news. He'd thought he'd gotten over the worst of Gotham had to offer. Only sheer force of will kept him walking. "How?"
"The running theory is that her pod was without power for too long. She wasn't hit by one of the bullets thought there are several shots embedded in the pod. A witness states that her life support failed before Officer Martin was on the scene."
He wanted a cigarette. He wanted a cigar. He wanted to sleep. "Forensics?"
"They're getting there, sir. Fenton is on his way to the hospital."
"I saw him leave. Social worker?"
"Called, but if he doesn't survive...and sir." They paused just within the building.
Ice littered the hall. Blood trailed in thin streams over the floor. To an untrained eye, chaos. Jim could pick out the routes of different people. Victor's violent assault on the building. Remains of ice which would have once encased a person, and more. "What happened to the people Freeze shot?"
"Alive, sir. Being treated for shock and exposure and frostbite. Sir. there's...another thing. Victor Fries."
"Please tell me he's in custody." Jim rubbed at his forehead, scanning the shards of ice. Who had broken them? Someone had to have come with a tool or some power. A dragging, heavy silence pulled his attention toward Zale. More bad news. Worse news? Could there be worse news than anything he'd gotten today?
"Victor Fries is dead."
#$#$#$
Nightwing stepped through the heavily guarded door to find Bruce slouched over the one of the office chairs and flicking through a magazine with apparent boredom. He had his phone on his lap and was reading his head on his hand to hide the earpiece.
"Warden. Oh, Mr Wayne, hello."
"Nightwing! How are you?" Bruce's smile might have illuminated a moonless night.
"I've been better. Warden I."
"Two of them are missing," Warden napped at him and everyone in the room. "Victor Fries and Danny....Fenton."
"Did Victor kidnap Danny?" Bruce closed the magazine. "Is he okay?"
"We're still investigating, Mr. Wayne." He told his father who dutifully played his part.
"If Victor kidnapped him then."
"He probably escaped with him. At least he didn't kill anyone on his way out. Holy shit. Fuck!"
One of the secretaries peeled into the room, breathless. "Warden! We've got media swarming the place!"
"Standard procedure. Fuck, with this response time we should make them the guards." Ni"ghtwing was impressed by the speed which the man gave orders. Securing the island and trying to find where Fries had gone. When his comm cackled to life he took a step back.
"Go."
"Mr. Freeze attacked the facility where his wife was. I've got security of him breaking in and Fenton following right after him." Richard listened to her tight, unhappy voice laying out the news. Bruce's expression grew more tight as he spoke. When she fell silent it was Jason who spoke first.
"Fucking cops."
"Agreed. Ahki, we must deal with this fool."
"I'd love if this were a productive conversation." Tim added. "I don't see any more imminent break outs on the outside, Nightwing."
"End of the tunnel." Cassandra's voice wafted over the line in a huff of exertion.
"It's a nice tunnel." Tim admitted.
"Don't you mean it's an ice tunnel?" The joke fell flat over the comms. "Sorry. Bad timing." He glanced at Bruce who was just managing to keep his expression under control as the warden turned his direction.
"Mr. Wayne, we're going to need your statement and."
"Is Danny okay?" Bruce stood up, pulling out his cellphone and texting furiously. Only Dick would see he'd reached out to his lawyers. "What happened."
When the warden pinched his lips Bruce's expression only grew more troubled. "We're still confirming the details, Mr. Wayne. We'll need an official release."
More likely he didn't want to explain to Wayne that something had happened to his latest project and teenager he was clearly gearing up to foster. Someone explaining that Danny had been shot would have to deal with a lot of grief.
"He's still in theater and the vital signs are all over the place."
"If he does not survive I will have Officer Martins head." Damian growled. Richard couldn't help but agree.
#$#$#$#
With her headphones protecting her from the listening to her roommates project planning, Jazz watched the recorded lecture through glazed, half-closed eyes. She yawned reaching for her friends cat as it staggered sideways and snuggled into her arm.
Conditioned by the particular chiming on her phone, she dragged it out from under the cat and swiped to open. She'd set up alerts for her brother. In the early days of his trial she'd suffered through and endless number. It had trickled to a near-standstill; only still necessary to monitor the hit-pieces which Vlad arranged.
"OW! SHIT!" Her head collided with the underside of the bunk; cat skittering out of bed and toward safety. Her laptop folded and her phone slipped out of her hand. Jazz fumbled out of the bed, trailing twisted blankets, holding her head, and swearing.
"Jazz, are you okay?"
"Ow! Fuck! My phone! My phone!'
"Jazz!" Someone approached.
Her first glimpse hadn't been wrong! It was...true...her brother! Danny! "Oh my god! Oh my God!"
"JAZZ!" Someone crouched down beside her to help her up. Her roommate came into focus. "Jazz?"
Everything was too loud. Too quiet. Her legs couldn't stop shaking and more hands guided her to the couch.
Danny! Wasn't it bad enough he was in Arkham? Wasn't it enough that Vlad had gotten what he wanted?
"Jazz. Answer me. You're scaring me. Please. What's wrong?"
Jazz burst into tears.
#$#$#$#$
Staring at the television screen with something like a smile, Vlad Masters swirled his drink a few times before downing the rest of it.
If Daniel wanted to suffer the consequences of his own actions then so be it. He had refused Vlad's helping hand again and again. He'd back-talked, belittled, and beaten Vlad one too many times. The collar design was perfect and would keep Danny from recovering any faster than a normal human. He could wallow in a substandard prison hospital.
Vlad poured himself another glass. Danny would beg him to help or come crawling back.
He ought to send that officer a thank-you gift.
$#$#
Jim stared at the sheet which was now draped over the remains of Victor Fries...Mr. Freeze. A terror unto Gotham. Obsessive. Clinically insane. Brilliant and a mad scientist
Such a staple of Gotham; Jim's head swam faintly as he watched the forensic crew pick through the remains of the shattered, bloody pod. He couldn't have imagined or expected....but since it had already happened he wished Danny would have been kept out of it.
Victor Fries hadn't been a friend. He hadn't been an ally; but Jim's stomach roiled anyway.
And Nora! Nora had gone to sleep one night and never got to wake up again. Suspended animated for decades; missing life and death. He'd never met the woman when she was alive...now he wouldn't get the chance too.
Jim's eyes tracked back toward the spot Danny had been shot; first by Freeze and then again. His eyes skittered to a halt over a broken strip of metal being picked up by a CSI. "What's that?"
"Not sure, sir. It's stamped with the Big Dipper. I'm tempted to think it might be part of his power suppressing collar; but we'll have to confirm." She handed the baggie over. Jim turned it out and around; the silver plated constellation cheerfully reflecting the flood lights overhead.
Chapter 14
