Louise Lincoln, aka Killer Frost II

Caitlin gagged several times in succession as the gas made its way into her lungs. She seemed mostly unaware of the fact that small hairs were growing on the back of her hand; no, she was honestly far too busy being frustrated with the knowledge that she'd likely lost her chances of healing her sickness.

"That's part of what I was trying to figure out! I thought maybe there'd be something in that serum that could cure me!"

There was an almost snarl-like tone to her voice, but she didn't seem to notice this either.

Jason’s armor grew heavier and baggier on his body. Was it getting bigger? No, his frame was shrinking. His skin was now an unhealthy pale.

“My-my voice…” he didn’t sound like himself at all anymore.

He fell backward and crawled away slightly with fear in his eyes when he heard her snarl. He noticed the fur that was growing from her skin and quickly patted himself down to see if something similar was happening to him. Instead he felt his waist was smaller and his muscles on his chest and arms deteriorated making him look much skinnier.

“Am I shrinking?!”

"Not by much. By the way, what's wrong with your voice? You sound like an angry Cinderella."

Caitlin scoffed.

She couldn't help but notice the way the now-decidedly-less-masculine Red Hood was staring at her and peered down at her hand...finally taking notice of the gray spotted fur that was sprouting from it and inching its way up her arm.

She lurched backwards a bit, clearly struggling to take it all in.

"What the hell?"

She scraped her tongue against her teeth after saying this, noting that her canines were growing sharper than she remembered...

“Whatever was in that vial did this to my voice!” he flailed his arms.

Red Hood went to retrieve his pistols and found his fingernails had turned a blue shade and elongated. His hands matched his arms as well, becoming noticeably thinner and more slender. He went to pick up his pistols but found them to be heavier than he remembered them being a few seconds ago. He holstered them one at a time.Jason folded his arms over his chest and gritted his teeth. He couldn’t see it but his skin had grown as pale as Caitlin’s was prior to the exposure to the vial. His facial features had softened and his lips turned blue as well. His hair grew out in a similar shade of blue. He grunted as his torso shifted his weight around, taking on more of an hourglass shape as his hips and chest expanded.

Caitlin gave him a curious glance.

"I'm...not entirely sure how to put this delicately, but I think you're turning into a woman."

It at least made about as much sense as whatever was happening to her...

Quite suddenly, she fell to her knees, overcome by a sharp pain in her spine, which left her clutching one hand to her tailbone as a lump began to rise from there. After a few seconds, the tail burst through, tearing a small hole in her pants as it twitched back and forth before quickly becoming covered in the same thick gray fur that now coated most of her body.

Jason winced from both the pain of his internal organs rearranging slightly and hearing Caitlin tell him what was happening. He suspected as much but hearing it verbally made him start to panic a little. He struggled to stand, using the table the vial was on for support. He looked down at his reflection in the chrome surface.

“And what are you turning into? Some kind of dog?” he used the table as support to stand. His body made one last few cracks and his change had completed. She had no idea who she had become, but she looked exactly like Louise Lincoln.

“You… you look like you’re turning into Cheetah… but… not a Cheetah…”

Her own voice was alien to her now. Her armor didn’t fit at all anymore. She didn’t want to see the changes underneath for herself.

"I-I have to get out of here," she chose to try and run for the exit since she was at a severe disadvantage. She couldn’t fight Caitlin like that or anyone for that matter. She tripped on her now excessively baggy pants and cursed.

Caitlin felt soft pads rising from the palms of her hands before her feet soon followed suit, her toes and fingers both becoming shorter and thicker. Her hands were still usable, but they'd be much trickier to maneuver due to their now mittenlike appearance. Her face stretched outwards a bit, making way for her new feline muzzle as her ears became larger and equally fur-covered. Whiskers sprouted last as her changes concluded; her thick coat of fur left her outfit looking a bit awkwardly tight-fitting.

Knowing that her former assailant was decidedly not used to her new body and likely in no condition to fight or run, Caitlin took a few steps closer to her and offered her hand...paw? She wasn't sure what to call them at this point.

"Considering we got ourselves into this mess together, I don't think it's smart for us to split up just yet."

Jason looked up at Caitlin for a second. She glanced from her to her paw and sighed. She accepted the help and she got back up.

“Gonna have to get out of here. This’ll be awfully hard to explain to the cops,” she tugged at her armor piece and looked down her shirt.

“I… also need to find some new clothes… you too probably…” she thought it’d be pretty hard to try and blend in while still in her now ill-fitting Red Hood costume. She couldn’t return to Bruce like this so she needed a plan B.

“Got a safe house or somewhere we can hide for a little while?”

She wasn’t worried about her own secret identity anymore so she took her eye mask off.

"It's not far from here. Abandoned ice cream shop with a small fallout shelter in the back. I've started staying there since I came here. I doubt it'll pick up on either of us being there considering it's supposed to be cold....Speaking of which, your hands are freezing."

It took quite a bit of effort on her part, though her eyes did at least seem curiously better suited to the dark. Still, they made it there unscathed; Jason would see that Caitlin had made herself something vaguely resembling a home in the fallout shelter- sleeping bags, a mirror, and a small table.

"The place was built in the fifties; they were genuinely paranoid enough to put one of these in an ice cream shop."

She opened a suitcase in one of the corner.

"There might be something in here that'll fit you now."

Jason followed her to her secret lair.

“An ice cream shop? Really?” she could’ve sworn Freeze had a lair like that once.

Ever since Caitlin commented on how cold her hands were, she’d been inspecting them. Her nails looked like they’d been intricately manicured and painted despite having been colorless nubs when the night began. Her palms didn’t feel cold. At least not to her.

She looked around, not really wanting to touch anything. Part of her felt guilty for getting them both into this mess. She inspected her reflection in the mirror, finally seeing her face clearly. She made a few faces and the woman copied them.

“There’s no way this is me…” she looked down at her hands then over to Caitlin to see what she was looking for. She was partially worried that she’d turn into an animal too but so far that didn’t seem like it was going to be the case.

"If I had a nickel for every time a lab accident drastically altered my physical appearance, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice, right?" She surveyed herself in the mirror as well.

"I'm a snow leopard now? Well, I guess that explains why I don't feel quite as cold as usual?"

She took a look at her now damaged pants.

"Well, the rest of these will probably need to be tailored. That, or I need to figure out where Cheetah shops..."

She handed a dark blue leotard towards Jason.

"Tried this out a few times and it didn't seem like what I was looking for. But it should at least fit you."

She sighed.

“Isn’t this the kind of thing girls wear to gymnastics?” she scrunched her brows.

She didn’t really have any room to be picky though. It was that or her ill fitting and easily identifiable Red Hood costume.

"This is going to take some getting used to..."

“I don’t think Cheetah wears clothes…”

Jason shrugged.

She was glad that Caitlin hadn’t turned feral yet. Jason took the article of clothing from her and examined it for a second. She didn’t know what she was looking at for a moment.

“Can you uh… turn around…?”

Jason wasn’t looking forward to finally seeing what her body had become but she had to change sometime. She took off her armor and stripped down, stepping into the leotard and hoisting it up her legs. Her arms slipped into the fingerless sleeves and closed it around her neck. The only thing left was that she was barefoot.

Caitlin turned around when asked to do so; there really wasn't any point in making her new roommate any more uncomfortable than she already was. It wasn't until afterwards that she noticed Jason was still barefoot. Well, her new paws weren't exactly comfortable in those boots; they just felt squeezed way too tight.

Pulling those and her socks off- with a great degree of difficulty, as she was still getting used to the adjustments to her body- she handed them over.

"I doubt I'll need these anymore. But I intend to keep wearing pants."

Jason put the boots on and looked herself over in the mirror.

“Yes, please keep your pants on,” Jason tried to make light of their predicament. This was all her fault anyway.

“How do I look?”

Jason didn’t feel quite like herself. The outfit only cemented to her that she really wasn’t Red Hood or Jason Todd anymore. If anyone could help fix this, it was Batman. But she didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of returning to him in such a state. And that was if he even believed she was actually Jason.

Caitlin tapped her chin, thinking it over for a bit. It definitely wasn't a bad look for Jason; it suited her far better than it had ever suited Caitlin.

"It's a good look for you."

She nodded.

“My name is Jason by the way…”

She already knew Caitlin’s first and last name thanks to the Batcomputer’s profile on her. What harm could giving a first name do? Saying it out loud sounded weird with her voice. She probably needed something new to go by until she returned back to normal.

"Though I can't say the name Jason suits you that well now for...well, obvious reasons."

She hoped she didn't sound too insensitive.

"I'd tell you my name, but...something tells me you already know. It's not exactly a well-kept secret."

She took a seat on the floor, looking a bit morose.

“Caitlin Snow. The Bat’s got a file on everyone he sends to Arkham.”

“And you're right. Jason doesn’t really fit…”

She looked at her reflection for a second.

“What do you think of the name Louise?”

If she had to guess the girl in the mirror’s name, Jason would be her last choice.

"Louise..? Not bad."

Caitlin agreed.

"Sorry for getting us into this mess, by the way...If I hadn't tried to steal that vial to cure my sickness, you'd still be, well, you, and I wouldn't be asking where Cheetah does her clothes shopping."

Caitlin sighed.

“No I should’ve just heard you out. If I didn’t shoot blindly then I wouldn’t have broken the vial… besides… who could’ve guessed it would’ve done all this?” she tugged at the fabric of her new costume.

“Any idea why I look like I could be your sister or something?”

Caitlin wasn't sure how to answer that question, though she did have a few guesses, at least.

"Well, I do know I wasn't the first person to go by 'Killer Frost', though granted I've been trying to drop the 'Killer' lately."

At this point she was glad she was being given anything even remotely resembling the benefit of the doubt.

“I think Killer Frost is a badass name."

Jason smirked.

"Anyway, supposedly there were two other women before me who used that name. I don't know why you would've ended up looking like either of them, but even so..."

"The good news is that from what I can tell, you don't seem to be experiencing the same symptoms I did after my first accident. If you were, trust me, we'd know by now."

“What did you experience when you changed..?”

From what she could tell the serum’s effects were unpredictable and she wanted to be mentally prepared if she too had to endure a version of the symptoms.

"Well, after my first accident, the first thing I felt...was cold. A very deep, primal sort of cold. All I could think about was staying warm. My body wasn't producing its own warmth anymore. I ended up siphoning my coworkers for their body heat, and...it didn't end well for them."

“I’m no scientist but maybe it has something to do with the same reason you were trying to cure yourself with it?”

"I've gotten it somewhat under control so it isn't fatal anymore. But I didn't want to risk hurting anyone else, so I sought a cure."

Jason didn’t understand the nature of the serum she was trying to steal. If it was capable of curing her, perhaps that also meant it was capable of making more of her somehow? Maybe Batman synthesized it using a sample of on or all of the Killer Frosts’ DNA?

“Wait, do I have ice powers now too?”

It sounded like it was a difficult subject for her to talk about; she definitely didn't seem proud of herself.

"Ice powers...? I'm not sure, but I'd assume so. At the very least it wouldn't surprise me."

Out of curiosity Jason taps the mirror and a wave of ice covers it seemingly out of thin air.

“Woah…”

“Ice powers… I have… ice powers…” she always wondered what it was like to be a metahuman.

“I mean the boobs will take some serious getting used to but it’s not all bad right? I have ice powers!”

Jason joked. She had no intention of staying a female, no matter how many powers it meant she'd get.

Caitlin smiled slightly when she noticed Jason making the best of their situation. She curled her hand- paw?- slightly, relieved to see that her powers were still intact.

"Yeah, that part is pretty cool. No pun intended."

Still, she couldn't help but sense the concern she carried.

“I think… people will start calling me Killer Frost too though… I mean look at me,” her ice powers only cemented that to be true.

"The baggage, though- being feared, everyone always expecting the worst from you... I could do without that. "

“Batman has always taught me to use fear as a tool. That bat signal sole purpose isn't just to summon him. Gordon’s got faster ways of contacting the bat. It’s really lit up as a warning to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Let’s the whole city know that Batman and company are out to play."

“The feared part isn’t what bothers me. It’s the woman part that’s going to be more of a problem,” she explained. “I imagine you’ll have a worse time than me though. I can just throw on a hoodie and some sweatpants and talk in a deep voice. You… you’ve got a tail and paws…” she felt more bad for Caitlin.

Caitlin nodded.

"I guess that makes sense. I've never not been a woman, but I can imagine it's...going to be an adjustment. But if you need help getting used to it until we can find a way to reverse the effects, I'd be more than happy to help."

It was becoming increasingly clear that she had a surprisingly good heart for a supposed supervillain.

"Personally, I don't mind if my changes are permanent as long as there aren't any...other adverse effects that I don't know about yet. But it's still going to take a lot of getting used to."

“I appreciate it…” her face reddened slightly.

“On the bright side, when we can make me normal again, then we should be able to take yours away too then right? Cure your illness?” she tried to be optimistic. She didn’t know how Caitlin could survive in society as an anthro leopard but Cheetah got along just fine. Jason stood a better chance of blending in though.

Caitlin let out a soft sigh.

"Well, my powers themselves aren't the issue. They've made it possible for me to defend myself against some pretty terrible people, and I'm slowly realizing that I might be able to use them to help others. But the hunger, the sickness...Those side effects have cost human lives. People have died because I couldn't produce my own warmth. That's the thing I need a cure for."

Her eyes widened for a few moments, as if something had just dawned on her.

"...And I haven't felt that hunger for the past few hours."

“So you think the vial had something to do with it?” she wondered.

“Could also have something to do with why I turned into a version of Killer Frost..?” she thought out loud.

Was Bruce actually trying to develop a cure for her? That explained the secrecy of the Wayne Tech laboratory. The cure was still in a trial phase which was what caused their abnormal transformations. The only thing that went wrong was Caitlin stealing it before it could be finished and Jason being dumb enough to hip fire in a narrow corridor.

"It would certainly explain a lot."

Though it was hard to tell through a face full of fur, her cheeks had flushed slightly.

"I...wouldn't worry about me too much if I were you. People didn't exactly treat me like a human being anyway, and I looked even freakier than this for a while after my first accident. I basically looked like a living ice sculpture for the first three months."

She was clearly trying to make the best of her situation; optimism probably didn't come easy to her at this rate.

"If anything, I'm more worried about helping you find a cure if it comes to that."

“There’s only one man that I think can help me…” she sighed, placing her hands on her bare hips and looking in the mirror.

“I just didn’t want him to see me like this…” she was obviously embarrassed by her new body.

“I don’t know the first thing about being a chick, let alone Killer Frost…” she sighed. She didn’t know if there was any hope of returning herself to normal. There was a voice in the back of her head telling her that this was a good thing. That she was better off like this. She chose to keep that part to herself though.

"Well, I can do my best to help you get used to both."

Caitlin gave Jason a sympathetic look and placed a paw on her shoulder.

"That said, I think you're right in thinking the Bat might not be the most receptive to this sort of, er, adjustment. At the very least you'd have a hell of a time getting him to believe you."

She sighed softly.

"We'll get through this together."

“Since I’m new to this whole woman thing, is there anything I should know? I’ll probably have to go out in public at some point…” she cringed at the thought.

“I just don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to myself… well… more attention than I’ll already draw from looking like this…”

"Well, there's the whole thing that happens once a month, which sucks but isn't as hard to deal with as people think."

Caitlin smiled slightly.

“I really hope I’m not like this for long enough to do that."

Jason laughed nervously.

"I've got enough supplies to keep both of us covered as far as that goes. As for unnecessary attention... unless you run into my predecessor I don't think that's as likely as you think. This is Gotham, after all; the fact that there's a murderous crocodile-man living in the sewers and that's considered old news is pretty telling."

“You’re right, a pale chick isn’t going to stir up any trouble."

She hoped that no one mistook her for Killer Frost.

“Winding up in Arkham over mistaken identity though would make getting this fixed a lot harder…”

"We'll definitely want to do our best to prevent that. Arkham's still better than Belle Reve, but that's not exactly saying much, is it?"

She had seen her fair share of prisons.

"I recommend we stay close together when we go out in public. If the worst-case scenario happens, they'll likely at least find it harder to deal with two of us. Plus I'm sufficiently... unusually looking enough to draw most of the attention."

“So what’s the plan then?” Jason placed her hands on her hips.

She had a hard time with adjusting her posture. No matter what she did being in that body didn’t feel right. It felt like it belonged to someone else.

“We stick together when we head out but where are we going exactly?”

"Well, we'll need to leave this place at some point. Even in the best-case scenario you'll likely end up with a bit of cabin fever. And there's...something else. I'm trying to reinvent myself. Not as the danger people know, but as someone better. Part of why I've been taking up residence in Gotham is because this place is basically Mos Eisley."

“Gotham is a cesspool of crime and villainy. That much I know.”

"Louise" turned to walk over and sit down but she tripped on the high heel of her boot and barely caught herself on the wall.

“Seriously, how do you walk in these things? Let alone fight in them?” she sighed, sitting down in an obviously masculine manner with her legs spread far apart.

"Lots of practice and lots of falling down. Part of why I didn't usually wear those was because high heels on ice are not a great combination. There's still a few embarrassing photos on the internet of Firestorm stopping me because I slipped and fell on my butt."

She winced.

"Not particularly proud of that. With heels, it helps if you walk slowly. Running in heels is hard, but taking your time actually makes you look incredibly badass."

“If it really looks badass, maybe it’s something I can get behind then?”

She shrugged.

She’d seen Batwoman fight effectively wearing the same kind of footwear so how hard could it be?

"Also, word of warning: people will tell you you're rude if you sit like that. Personally, I think it's stupid, especially because it's sometimes it's genuinely more comfortable, but I figured you should know either way."

"Sit like what? Like this?”

She raised a brow.

“This is how I normally sit, what’s so rude about it?”

She examined the heel on her boot while she listened to Caitlin.

Caitlin shrugged.

"I think it's stupid, too. My guess is it's a holdover from when women were only allowed to wear skirts, and couldn't sit like that without showing everyone their underwear. Personally, I say screw that. Sit however makes you feel most comfortable. You're already dealing with enough adjustments in life as it is."

She smiled.

"All things considered, though, you're adjusting pretty well."

"Louise" adjusted her posture slightly and crossed one leg over the other like she’d seen Barbara and Selina do. She was now sitting in a much more feminine manner.

“If this doesn’t arouse suspicion, then it’s whatever I guess. I’ve died before and was brought back to life so getting turned into a chick isn’t really all that far out there to me,” she was still adjusting but she wasn’t panicking. It was a massive blow to her pride, usually being the more brutal member of the Bat Family. Being feminine was the opposite of who she was.

The thought of being stuck like that forever made her weary, though.

"Well, based on that alone, we've both been through some pretty crazy shit. Maybe it's a good thing I ran into you and not some kid in tights."