Where Fire Meets Ice

Frozen Heart

  She had never loved before. Not like this, anyway. Not the kind of love when all you want to do is help the other person. She loved Waller, but she viewed Waller as a mother figure. She hadn't meant to freeze the ship. That had been a horrible accident. She had just been trying to push herself away from Chato but when she had iced the wall behind him, she knew he was right. They couldn't be together. Everything and everyone she cared for got iced or hurt because of her. When she had seen his face, stricken with panic and fear, she had known he was not afraid of the monster within him, but the monster within her. With that thought, her heart froze. She couldn't hold it in and screamed. In order to stop herself from icing the squad, she had made a hole in the floor. At least with a crash they had a chance of survival and Chato would be safe. Now she was flying from the city, away from the squad and away from anything or anyone she could hurt. 

  She wasn't watching where she was going again and it felt like she had been going for hours. She realized she was following the coastline. She wasn't sure how long it had been but the dawn was beginning to break over the ocean. Up ahead, she saw a lighthouse. It looked abandoned. She quit making the ice bridge and began to walk. She climbed up the lighthouse steps and opened the door. It was dark inside and she thought it looked a little creepy. She stepped inside and shut the door. Just as she sank to the ground, a creaky old voice cackled softly from behind her, "Hello, My pet! I've been waiting for you!" and suddenly she fainted. As she lay on the floor, a pair of old purple slippers stepped near her head and the tip of a cane rolled her face over. The same voice laughed and whispered, "Home again, home again. Jiggity jog."

  The squad was still following the trail when the sun rose. Just as they reached the edge of Gothem, a dark shape dropped in front of them. Deadshot fired a shot so fast no one had time to blink. The figure grunted and turned around. "I guess having a bulletproof mask was a good idea after all, Alfred."

  In side the mask, a hidden intercom crackled to life. "Master Bruce, I do hope you didn't need it!"

  "Well, let's just say that that idea was a very good one." The big man smiled a little. He turned to the small crowd staring at him. Deadshot was shaking with fear and rage. "You sick f-"

  "Batsy, Batsy, Batsy." Harley chanted sarcastically.

  "That's the Batman!" Captain Boomerang gasped, clutching his pink pony. Croc grunted and shoved his hands in his jacket. Diablo was standing quietly off to the side. He hadn't said much but looked sideways at Batman and sighed as he examined his finger nails. The rest of the squad was trying to subdue Deadshot as he was struggling valiantly to get at Batman. Finally, twenty minutes later, Deadshot finished his tirade with a final, "You are so dead when I get my hands free!" 

  "So what did you drop in for?" asked Rick with a slightly annoyed, quizzical, and wary look.

  "I am looking for the newest threat in Gothem: The Sorceress."