Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 3: Tim, Yukie: The Uncanny Valley

Tim Drake had no idea why he was there. Sure, Batman and Robin had fought Mr. Freeze plenty of times in the past,  but that was years ago and, more importantly, he wasn't Robin then. Freeze had been reformed for years now, and he, Tim, understood that Bruce wanted to be there when Nora Fries woke up as a way of closing the books for once and for all—but he was bored out of his skull.

Batman had explained a few things on the way there, "Victor Fries was never a threat on the same scale as Joker or Zsasz, but his genius as an inventor combined with the desperation that drove him made him formidable. He only committed crimes when he needed money to continue his research or when his wife was threatened."

"How do you threaten a woman who's a corpsicle in a freezer?" Tim asked offhanded.

"You threaten to turn off the power," his mentor explained. "He could be vicious, but never without what he perceived as cause, such as betrayal, and he rarely hurt innocent bystanders beyond giving them hypothermia or mild frostbite. However, he also sold cryoweapons to whoever wanted them. Like all weapons manufacturers, he didn't care what people did with his products once they left his hands."

"Okay, that's bad. So-what happened? What made him change? The recidivism among Rogues is practically one hundred percent." Tim asked.

"As long as he confined himself to research, I was willing to leave him alone. Since no new cryoweapons were hitting the market, I turned my attention to more immediate threats, and several years went by before I thought to check up on him. I discovered he had built a new facility on the north side of the bay, so one night I paid him a visit.

"He said his research was progressing well, and since he had sold several of his patents with potential commercial applications, he had no pressing financial concerns. I didn't believe him, but when Lucius Fox looked into it for me, he discovered that a major food conglomerate was now using a patented Fries method of preventing freezer burn and a Japanese corporation had purchased the rights to some sort of remote sensor. The deals included percentages of the gross and stock dividends meaning that if the products make money for the company, they make money for Fries as well. Enough to complete the cure for Huntington's. Enough to save his wife. As Bruce Wayne, I made arrangements for clinical trials and otherwise smoothed the path for him. It seemed the least I could do."

Now they were all sitting in the waiting room, and Tim was still bored. Bruce was talking to Freeze's assistant, a woman about thirty years old. She was good-looking, he guessed, but a little weird. For one thing, she looked like she never sweated, and for another, she moved like somebody who had their reflexes and speed juiced up past the point where they could still move normally.

"Hi. I'm Bruce Wayne."

She smiled. "Yes, I know. I'm Yukime Kuwano. Please allow me to thank you for the help and support you have given Doctor Fries. I know that without your influence and intervention the scientific community would not have given his research serious consideration." She made a brief bow.

"You don't have to thank me. Whatever contribution I made is nothing compared to–well," He gestured to Nora Fries' room. "But anyhow, how can you possibly have been his assistant for the last twelve years? What did he do, recruit you straight out of middle school?"

Twelve years? And she has enhanced reflexes. Yet we haven't come across her until now. Either she doesn't fight, or she has wicked superstealth moves.

She smiled again. Her English was pretty much perfect, but she had the trace of an accent and she spoke like somebody who had learned the language through study instead of growing up speaking it. "You are very kind, but I am older than I look to most Americans. There is no great secret to it. I eat a great deal of brown rice, steamed vegetables and a little fish, drink plenty of green tea, and avoid sun exposure. I even use a parasol when I go out of doors."