Batman 4 - Batman & Robin (29 page)

Unable to stop themselves, Robin and Batgirl went tumbling down its length, rolling toward the end and a dizzying drop to the ground below. Batman tumbled as well—but he stopped himself after a moment and spun around, cape billowing behind him.

Freeze was climbing toward the main control console. Batman had to stop him or Gotham City was as good as dead.

But at the same time, Robin and Batgirl were near the end of the telescope.
They
needed his help, too.

There was no way to get to both Freeze and his crime-fighting partners. No way to be in two places at once. Batman had less than a heartbeat to make his decision.

Clenching his jaw, he went after Mr. Freeze.

A moment later, he felt the subtle tilt that told him Robin and Batgirl had slipped off the end of the telescope—and were dropping toward the icy streets of the city. He tried not to let it slow him down.

Up ahead, Freeze was working at the telescope controls. Before Batman could reach him, he hit a switch.

Instantly, the crime fighter realized what his adversary was up to. Freeze was disabling the telescope’s target lock. Up in space, thrusters would be quitting. The satellites Batman had realigned would be halting in mid-turn.

With renewed determination, the Dark Knight struggled up the slope of the telescope toward Freeze. Seeing him, the villain pulled the control lever around, causing the telescope to tilt and spin madly.

By then, Freeze’s machine had frozen the moisture right out of the air, creating a snowstorm right there in the observatory. It only made it that much more difficult for Batman to hold on.

Slipping, sliding, with nothing to hang on to, the crime fighter lost his perch and fell. As he dropped, he reached out.

And caught hold of the telescope frame.

A
s Robin plummeted toward Gotham City, his first thought wasn’t for himself. It was for Batgirl, who was falling below him.

The wind was whipping at him mercilessly, numbing him, trying to slow him down. Still, he managed to take a Batgrapple out of his Utility Belt and fire it over his head. Before his eyes, the grapple shot up and secured itself in an icy overhang.

As his line began to play out, Robin reached down for Batgirl. She was reaching up for him at the same time. A fortuitous gust of wind brought her closer. His hand was inches from hers, the city coming up fast.

Just a little farther, he told himself. A little farther . . .

Batman used his grip on the frame to flip himself back up onto the wildly spinning telescope. Flattening himself against it, he slithered toward Freeze and the control console.

He tried to distract the villain, take his mind off the conflict at hand. “Millions will die so you can save on air-conditioning. Isn’t that taking self-help a little too far?”

But Freeze wasn’t easily distracted. He drew a cryonic pistol and grinned savagely. “We aim to freeze!” he cried. And he fired.

But Batman deflected the blast with his suit armor.

“That’s new,” observed Freeze.

It was, too. But the crime fighter had known he would need a defense against Freeze’s cryo-weapons.

“Let’s swing,” the villain sneered.

Then he smashed the joystick forward as far as it would go. The telescope’s spin accelerated, forcing Batman to cling for all he was worth.

But it wasn’t only
his
life on the line. The two scientists, who had finally thawed, were in danger as well. They were standing on the tower platform in pools of water, the massive telescope careening toward them.

And Batman was in no position to do anything about it.

Freeze hadn’t actually
intended
to destroy the scientists.

The truth was he’d forgotten about them. All he’d wanted when he hit the joystick was to send Batman flying off the telescope—so he could smash himself on something hard.

On the other hand, Freeze wasn’t going to go out of his way to
avoid
hitting the scientists. He would just as soon have worried about an insect as those bespectacled fools.

“This just isn’t my day,” groaned one of the scientists, as the telescope swung his way.

As it turned out, it didn’t hit him. But it
did
crash into the tower a few rungs below him, causing the structure to topple.

Two things happened then. First, the scientists leaped and somehow managed to land safely on the swinging telescope, where they hung on to the tensioning bar for dear life.

Second, as the tower platform crumpled under the force of the swinging telescope, it fell into the rail of the floor-level telescope platform—the same telescope platform where Freeze was revolving around the room in accordance with the telescope’s gyrations, one hand still on the joystick.

Taken by surprise, he was thrown off his feet by the impact. And perhaps more important, he lost his grip on his gun.

Cursing himself for his clumsiness, Freeze scrambled for the gun. Just as his fingers were about to close on it, he saw a dark apparition loom in front of him.

A dark and unfortunately
familiar
apparition.

Batman didn’t get there in time to beat Freeze to his gun. But when the villain aimed it at him, he was quick enough to kick it out of his hands.

Weaponless, Freeze leaped at him and the two of them began to wrestle on the twirling telescope platform, pitting strength against strength and spirit against spirit.

It was a battle of titans, of men possessed—though by very different demons. Batman’s demon was his hunger for justice, for balance. Freeze’s demon was his need to make the world over in his own frigid image.

“You’ve turned Gotham to ice,” the crime fighter grunted—and socked Freeze in the head with a vicious right hook. “You’ve endangered millions of lives,” he snarled—and smashed Freeze with a devastating left.

“But this,” he rasped, “is where the Ice Age ends.”

Gathering all his strength, the Dark Knight hauled back and delivered a mighty blow, hurling Freeze onto the back of the telescope. Then, before he could recover, Batman turned to the console and began typing out commands.

On the monitor, he could see graphic representations of the satellites flashing green. The word “targeting” strobed in red above them.

According to the clock, it was 11:58.

Two more minutes. Batman typed even faster.

With agonizing slowness, the targeting mirrors overhead opened and began to glow with ambient sunlight. Freeze screamed hideously at the searing touch of the emerging light—

—and plowed into Batman, stunning him, sending him sprawling into the opposite rail. Dazed, Batman looked up in time to see Freeze’s fist. The next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the telescope barrel.

As he tried to climb off it, the villain kicked him hard in the face. As the telescope pitched, Batman fell backward and rolled down its barrel again. He clawed at it, seeking a handhold.

But this time there wasn’t any. The frame well out of reach, he continued to slide toward the opening and the cityscape of Gotham many stories below.

Stretching his fingers out as far as they would go, Robin took hold of Batgirl’s hand—just as she fired a Bat-grapple from her wrist.

A moment later, Robin’s tether pulled tight, wrenching horribly at his shoulder. But somehow he found the strength to hold fast—both to Batgirl and their lifeline.

The two of them dangled over the frigid city, suspended by a tether thinner than his finger. “I’ve got you,” he told her.

Robin had saved her. Just as Dick had saved Barbara when it looked like she would go over the side of that bridge, back at the motorcycle race.

But then, that’s what he did. It was his job. He saved people.

He was still thinking that when his grapple ripped loose from the melting shelf of ice high above them—and suddenly, they were plummeting just as fast as before. For a moment, Robin thought they’d had it.

Then Batgirl’s grapple hit the metal roof near their heads and held firm, jerking her upward. At the last possible fraction of a second, she reached out and grabbed him by the wrist.

Now it was Batgirl’s tether that pulled tight against her supple strength, her hanging on to it their only chance of survival.

He could see her grimace as she felt his weight drag her down. But she wasn’t letting go. He could see it in her eyes.

“No,” she groaned as they dangled there. “I’ve . . . got . . .
you.”

Then, with a mighty effort, she pulled him up to eye level. He grabbed her and held on for dear life, his face inches from hers.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he told her.