1. Happy Fourth, for those of you who care. I spent mine in NYC's Central Park... yay!
2. This section wraps up the Mr. Freeze plot arc, but I'm not done yet, so if anyone was worried, don't be. Still more to come.
3. Just for the record, the original source material was broken into two plot arcs. The first, GC: In the Line of Duty was two comic issues. That's the arc that's finishing up here. The second arc, entitled "Gotham Central: Motive" was three issues and focused on the case that Driver and Fields were working on when they stumbled into Freeze: the kidnapping of one Bonnie Lewis.
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Roof
Gotham Central
“If you don’t mind, Commissioner, I’d like to do this myself…”
Commissioner Akins shook his head and gently ushered Enara away from the enormous spotlight. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Detective. The G.C.P.D. cannot officially touch the Bat-Signal, or in any way acknowledge the existence of Batman.”
She frowned at him. “So we’re calling him in to take down Mister Freeze, but we can’t admit he’s real?”
Akins gave a tired, resigned sigh. “It’s a fine line. I know.” He nodded his head to the third party on the precinct rooftop. “Go ahead, Stacy.”
The flip of a single switch sent a yellow-white beam stabbing into the night sky, throwing up a blindingly bright image that could be seen for miles in every direction. The gray clouds that seemed to perpetually inhabit Gotham’s sky were tinged with the red-orange hues of the setting sun, and set upon that stage was a giant yellow circle surrounding the black silhouette of a bat – a shadow that looked darker than even the night itself.
“So you’re okay with this, then?”
“No, Commissioner, I’m not. But I’m a cop in Gotham. I can’t afford to live in denial.” She stared out over the edge of the roof, for a moment, watched as a dozen or so unmarked police vehicles tore out of the garage. Behind them were two vans full of G.C.P.D. Q.R.T., the best equipped and most highly trained officers in the city.
It wouldn’t be enough. Everyone knew it. No one admitted it. No one could afford to.
“I’ve never actually been here for this… how long does it usually take for him to show?”
Akins favored her with a half-smirk. “With him, it’s always sooner than you-”
“Talk.”
-----
Miller Auditorium
Gotham State University
Both shifts of the G.C.P.D. Major Crimes Unit had been called in to investigate the murder of one of their own. Both shifts had spent the better part of the morning and afternoon chasing down every lead, looking into every possibility, in their desperate search to find Victor Fries before he added more names to his already sizable list of victims. Now, with the sun setting over Gotham City, the group of plainclothes detectives had been deployed to Gotham State University. They’d quietly inserted themselves into the ranks of university faculty, staff, students, and excited family members all waiting for the festivities to begin.
There was plenty of… lively… banter on the police band… lively, despite the faint, though noticeable, underpinnings of tension and anxiety hidden beneath the cheerful veneers. “He’s certainly not gonna just walk in the front door with the rest of the crowd,” Detective Romy Chandler commented over her radio.
On patrol outside, Detective Nathaniel Patton voiced a thought he’d been having. “You think Freeze is just going after… you know… him? Or maybe he wants the whole damn room?”
Chandler cracked a joke into her mike. “Well, that’s a comforting thought,” she said. “Keep me warm at night.”
Patton groaned. “That’s very funny, Romy.”
The gruff voice of Lieutenant Oliver Henelly, leader of the QRT forces on station at the university, cut into the conversation. “Henelly to all units. Everyone shut up.”
His request was met with total silence.
“Thank you. All posts, confirm positions. Green Teams?”
“Green One, good. South entrance is secure.”
“Green Two is good. Parking lot is clean.”
“Green Three, we’re good. Backstage is secure.”
“Confirmed. Red Teams?”
“Red One, rooftop is secure.”
“Red Two, subbasement is all clear.”
There was a brief lull in the torrent of status reports. “Red Three?” Henelly called out over the comm. “Report in, Red Three.”
“Sorry, Lieutenant. Just making a final sweep of the ground floor. All side exits are still locked down tight. Rooftop access stairway is empty.”
“Understood, Red Three…” The Lieutenant muttered over the still open communications channel. “No sign of Freeze. Where the hell is he?”
Headed back towards the main floor of the auditorium, Officers Cala and Mlynarski, the two members of Red Three, exited the staircase connecting the roof and the ground floor, and locked it behind them. Neither of the uniformed patrolmen had noticed the slight hint of frost on the banister three floors up.
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“… Where the hell is he?”
Up on the roof were two members of the G.C.P.D.’s Quick Reaction Team. Officers Dolan and Vecchione were veteran cops and expert marksmen. Both had previously served in the armed forces, and were well versed in urban combat operations.
Vecchione was on point, leading Red One’s patrol around the rooftop. Dolan was right behind him, his HK-MP5 submachine gun held at the ready, and the clear, plastic face-shield attached to his helmet flipped down to protect his eyes. Light from the nearby streetlamps was causing a bit of glare to form on the officer’s protective face-shield, but he was still able to catch a glimpse of the shadow that looked to be sneaking up behind him. There was a heavy sound, like a metallic footstep, and he whirled around, his finger convulsing on the trigger of his weapon.
He and Vecchione were dead before they could draw another breath.
-----
“Sawyer to all units. They’re starting the ceremony.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the forty-third commencement of Gotham State University. We will begin with remarks from this year’s distinguished guest… a man known to us all as a dedicated public servant. He is this year’s recipient of the J.K Manning Award for service to the community… and has just been conferred an honorary doctorate in the field of Criminology… may I present to you Gotham City’s former commissioner of police…”
“Sawyer to Montoya. See anything?”
“Nothing, Captain… nothing at all.”
The older gentlemen nodded graciously as he took his place behind the podium. He smiled at the abundance of applause. “Thank you…” he began, once the room had settled down some, “thank you very much… I, uh… I’ve been away for a long time, but I have to tell you this is a hell of a way to be welcomed back home. I don’t have much else to say, though, I’m afraid, so you kids are getting off easy. I’m going to be brief.”
The mild joke was met with polite chuckles from the gathered audience.
“It’s a big day for you. Going out after this, you’ll have parties, you’ll celebrate your accomplishments. Well, you should. You’ve earned it. After this, you’re gonna go out in the world and make a difference. Whatever you do, remember that: you’re going to make a difference. A lot of times it won’t be huge, it won’t be visible, even… but it will matter, just the same. Don’t do it for praise or money, that’s what I want to tell you. Do it because it needs to be done. Do it to make your world better…”
Montoya was standing by one of the exits, watching the man who’d been like a second father to her, give his speech. She felt proud, proud to have known him, to have been his protégé, but she was worried about him, too. He’d never quite been the same after the loss of his family, never quite been the same after he’d given up his post as Chief of Police… and now, someone was planning to kill him, and she had no idea where the killer was-
“It’s finished.”
She spun around, almost reaching for the sidearm belted at her hip, but by the time she’d turned fully around, there was nothing to see… just his voice, seemingly coming from all around her. “He’s on the roof. He won’t be a problem.”
-----
Outside
Corner of 9th Street and University Place
“Enara?”
“Yeah, I’m here. No sign of Freeze. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone walking along this entire street in the last half hour.”
“Yeah, I know. Freeze is in custody.”
“I’m sorry, my hearing aid’s on the blink. What?”
“He was on the roof, trying to alter the air conditioning system. Guess he was planning on freezing everyone present. You-Know-Who stopped him.”
Enara ground her teeth together. “Big surprise.” She sighed. “Thanks for telling me, Renee… I uh… I guess I’ll go home now, try and get some rest.”
“You do that…”
There was a brief and awkward pause.
“Renee? What’s wrong?”
“One more thing. We just got an update on the Lewis kidnapping… it’s… it’s a homicide investigation now…”
Enara pounded the heel of her hand against the steering wheel of her car. It hurt. A lot. She didn’t care. “Damn it all to hell…” she said, sagging in her seat and letting her head drop to her chest.
A faint shadow, just barely visible out of the corner of her eye, drew her attention. She looked up and saw a flowing, black cape brush past her car door. The figure’s eyes made contact with her own as he walked by.
“And damn you, too…”
