Spider-Man: Nobody Home (18+)

Chapter 6: Frozen Ambition

Peter finally reached Gotham General after swinging through the city for a while trying to find it. He cursed himself for not so much as even asking for directions. Although, this was mostly due to how nervous he was to be working WITH the Bat. Before, Batman was just another hero that he saw here and there. The only time he had ever seen him in action was when he was fighting him, himself. So the thought of working together with him brought both excitement as well as fear of embarrassing himself in front of such a high class hero.

However, he finally reached Gotham General, where Batman crouched on the ledge of a building across the street from their destination. Much to Peter's shock, he immediately noticed that the entire hospital was covered in a layer of ice, appearing as if it was teleported from a frozen tundra.

"I take it this is the place." Peter said as he slowly approached Batman's side. "Either that or they must have one KILLER A/C system in there."

"Glad to see you finally made it." Batman replied without taking his eyes off the hospital. "I was beginning to think you had gotten lost." He added sarcastically.

"Give me a break." Peter shrugged with a light hearted chuckle. "New city and all. Honestly you should feel lucky it didn't take me LONGER."

"Get over here." Batman ordered, still not taking his eyes off the hospital for a second. "We need to form a plan."

Peter nodded and went a bit closer until he crouched on the ledge right next to him and peered down at the frozen over hospital below.

"So what's this guy's deal?" Peter asked in confusion. "Why turn this place into an ice skating rink?"

"Mister Freeze." Batman informed. "Was once a brilliant and successful scientist... Until his wife became terminally ill."

Peter's eyes widened at that and he felt immediately pity for the villain. "I take it he didn't take it well."

"He was fired when he was caught embezzling money from his company in an effort to find a cure for her disease." Batman continued. "Until an accident changed his biology, making it to where he could only survive in subzero temperatures."

Peter shook his head at that. "That's awful." Then he looked back to the Bat. "And you haven't found any leads on the wife's disease?"

Batman remained silent after that, still studying the buildings entrances.

"Batman!" Peter replied, causing the Bat to snap his head around with a challenging peer. "Did you even CHECK?!"

"I have many times." Batman responded. "But the illness has no known cures... I'm afraid there's no hope for her."

Peter scoffed at that and shook his head. "Yeah, so just GIVE UP, why don't you?" He shook his head, then gestured to the building. "So what do you think he's after in there?"

"I'm not sure." The dark knight replied. "We don't have time to find out first." He looked back to Peter. "I need you to apprehend his thugs. They'll be posted all throughout the building."

Peter nodded his head at that. "Can do. And what'll YOU do?"

"I'm going after Freeze." Batman replied with a determined nod. "I'm going to do what I can to stop him, but he is very smart and has a talent for memorizing a person's tactics. So I can't use any tactics I've used in the past."

"Well isn't that just lovely?" Peter shook his head.

"Your fighting style, however." Batman looked back to Peter. "Is rather... Unorthodox."

Peter scoffed at that. "Okay, I get it. I need MORE training still."

The Bat shook his head. "What I mean is that your fighting style is sporadic and difficult to predict." Peter looked back to the dark knight with curiosity. "So if I get pinned down by him, I will need you for back up."