Out of Place [Freeze]

[flash]

Barry Allen wasn't one to go out of his jurisdiction as a forensic scientist. Police departments tended to have their own, or some sort of contract with other PDs to do so. In his career, he had to do a lot of things- crime scene investigations, lab tests, and the like. However, right now he was acting independently of his civilian career.

You see, Barry Allen wasn't only a pretty good forensic scientist. He could also burp the alphabet, say several swear words in other languages (thanks to college, of course), and run really fast. Of course, "fast" is an understatement. Four-minute miles are fast. Italian sports cars are fast. Military jets are fast. Barry could run fast than any man-made vehicle, with the speed of light representing a milestone he passed a while ago.

Though his city of operations was Central City, he was known in the past to take a small business trip elsewhere. In Gotham, any heroes that weren't regulars were always here for one reason and one only- to see Batman. Barry wanted to discuss about the new metahumans other than those they knew of, since after the thing with the Joker... Well, who knew what the hell was happening?

Which is why the Flash was going for a stroll around Gotham late at night. He knew Batman was generally active at this time, so if he was going to catch him at any time, it'd probably be around now, if a crime was in progress. As it turned out, it was quite a quiet night, which was odd considering the recent Arkham breakout. Barry would try to help, but he knew how he'd feel if Batman started showing up in Central City and beating on one of the guys in his Rogue's Gallery. Besides, Batman had put them all away on numerous accounts before. So he knew what he was doing.

Barry stopped on the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge, not too far from the Wayne Manor and close enough to the rest of the city to be ready to respond to anything Batman might be at. He looked out over the water, thinking about this city. Despite much of the rest of the country's opinion on Gotham, Barry kind of liked it here. He'd think twice before raising kids- or indeed, even his sidekick- here, but Batman was cleaning up. There was hope... even with the infestation of villains.

[freeze]

Gotham was a city that Victor had once thought was beautiful. So had she. He remembered when they had first moved to the crime capitol of the world. Remembered standing on this bridge, looking out over the water, over the proud Wayne Enterprises building, the architecture to be found everywhere. He remembered standing in the exact spot he was now, leaning on the railing of the Robert Kane Memorial bridge, the excitement and joy he felt in his heart that he had gotten his dream job, that Nora was there with him and just as happy.

The pain of his memories would have moved him to tears, if he had any left to shed. Victor Fries' eyes were closed, and his head was bowed solemnly, though his goggles made him appear to be simply glaring in to the water. The broken light above him left only the thin blue lines of his suit and the red glow of his goggles be seen beyond his silhouette, but it was a distinctive one if nothing else. It was almost too much to bear. She was gone. This time, maybe for good. The fear that she had been taken and simply killed continued to rear its head in his mind every minute, taunting him. Reminding him of his failure. He had let her be taken from him again. He had been the one who had been so focused on a cure that he hadn't been able to protect her.

And the fear that she would be unable to forgive him... forever encased in ice, not alive but not dead, sleeping for eternity while he toiled on a cure... Victor shook his head. He could beat himself up later. When he had found her, and when they were safe back at his lab in Arkham. When he opened his eyes, he caught movement out of the corner of his vision. The Flash in Gotham? Victor didn't even bother to reach for his gun. Firing at him would be a wasted effort.

"She is a beautiful city underneath all the crime." Victor said with a sigh, turning his gaze back to the water. If Flash was going to take him back to Arkham, there was little the super criminal could do to stop him.

[flash]

Barry was almost surprised by the voice that he heard from a short distance away. One would think that he'd pay attention to his surroundings, especially in costume, as chances are in favor of a villain trying to take advantage of a hero when unnoticed. Barry had taken more than his fair share of baseball bats, lead pipes, etc. to the back of the head and didn't intend to take any more. He had received enough concussions in life already.

Barry looked over the stranger. Wearing a strange suit, head encased in a shield of some sort. Though Barry wasn't extensively familiar with any villains other than those which he dealt with often, he tended to look into those with interesting abilities or situations, which happened to be quite a few of Batman's. this guy in particular was known as Mr. Freeze. Dealt with the cold and ice-based powers.

"I was just thinking the same thing, strangely. Freeze, right?" he asked. He might normally consider taking Freeze down right here, but firstly, Freeze wasn't actually doing anything illegal- outside of being an escaped felon, but who was Barry to judge? Also, Freeze didn't seem to intend to partake in any questionable activities any time soon, so might as well talk to someone for a bit.

[freeze]

"Mr. Fries. But you are correct." Victor replied, no real emotion in his voice. It was pronounced the same way, and he had no real way of telling if the Flash thought his name really was 'Victor Freeze' or not. But then, it didn't particularly matter either. He briefly wondered if the super hero intended to take him back to Arkham, again noting that there was little he could do about it in the case that he did.

"I remember standing here years ago when I first came to Gotham. Nora and I had been married for a little more than two years when I was offered a job at Gothcorp as a researcher. She came from a small town, so a large city was a significant change. She was still healthy then; we had no idea she was sick. She was full of life and joy, she didn't care about the city's reputation..." Victor didn't quite know why he was recounting his story to the red-costumed vigilante. Maybe some part of him felt like sharing subconsciously. Maybe he was just getting older and starting to get lost in his memories.

"She's the reason for why I've done what I have in the past. Over the next few years, I watched her wither and die slowly. I've been working on a cure for her since then. My work in cryogenics is the only reason she's still alive... though the term is applied loosely, if you would call it life." He paused for a few seconds, turning his gaze back to Flash. He was admittedly a bit surprised that he was just listening. "If you're here to see the Batman, he seems to have been missing the past few days. Chances are he's searching for the other inmates; I heard some left Gotham for bigger plans. I have attempted to contact him several times with no results."

[flash]

Since Barry didn't actually see the spelling, he couldn't tell the difference. However, he didn't feel the need to argue with this man about how to pronounce his name. Chances were in favor of Freeze knowing how to say his own name. So he let it lie.

Barry listened to Freeze as he explained his story unprovoked. Though he didn't ask, he never knew much about Freeze; his activity was often overshadowed by that of other villains, namely Joker. Flash was one of the better-known heroes, but he knew that some of the others weren't very well-known. He imagined that it had to be frustrating,

"I... never knew that. I'm sincerely sorry; if something like that happened to I-- er, I mean my girlfriend... I don't know what I'd do. Maybe the same thing, who knows?" it was kind of a terrible thought, but he couldn't bear the idea of losing Iris. She was the love of his life; he couldn't live without her.

"I figured he'd be around if he was needed. To be frank, Mr. Freeze, I'm surprised that you're not off doing... whatever it is you villains do. Any of my guys would be trying to rob a bank in my absence. Of course I can be at any place in my town in a matter of seconds, so they're still cautious.