Dracula vs Freeze...

The next day Dracula stood on the roof and looked at the city. In many places he could see smoke or hear explosions. Talia stood by his side and followed his gaze. She was not able to interpret the face he was making. His gaze wandered unstable before he raised his voice.

"Talia. I wish an appointment with the Lord of the House."

"Master, of course. I suppose you want the appointment immediately" she asked and when he nodded to her she went off.

Dracula was sure that Talia would be very convincing and went back to his room to change. When he came out of the bedroom and closed his suit, Talia was already in the room. Her hands were full of blood and yet she smiled. Zatanna sat amused in a long black robe on the sofa grinning.

"Cobblepot postponed an appointment. We can go to Him now." Grinned Talia wide and stood up to accompany Dracula. Zatanna also walked along his side and was well aware of the attention.

When the three undead arrived at the penguin's office, Dracula could see the 4 corpses on the ground and simply walked over them.

"The next time it's enough for this little bitch to say something," Penguin hissed just to be thrown out of the chair in the same breath. Talia had swung over the big desk and kicked him out of his chair. Only to take a sit on his seat and look down at him. Since his bodyguards had already been killed on her first visit, he just growled angrily at her and wanted to reach for one of his umbrellas, but it turned into a snake. Hastily he pulled his hand back and stared anxiously at Zatanna who was now grinning at him.

"What... is that?" he said angrily but without any further attempt to attack.

Dracula walked slowly towards Him and enjoyed how this misshapen worm was adorning himself on the ground in front of Him and tried to get away from Him. Dracula knelt before him and looked at him amusedly.

"I have a request to make Mr. Cobblepot. I wish to speak with other people. My love. Would you be so kind?" he smiled with an ice-cold expression on his face.

"My darling wishes a meeting of the bosses of Gotham Penguin! And YOU will invite them. Otherwise it would really annoy my beloved and we don't want him to be annoyed, do we?" Zatanna smiled at the man lying on the floor. Her eyes glowed and Cobblepot screamed in panic and crawled into a corner. He had already had to learn that it was not good to play games with this man but that the women were also such monsters shook him to the core. When his two secretaries went to Dracula's side he realized that he had lost. This man, whom he had so naively invited to his estate, had taken everything from Cobblepot.

"What if I refused? So only hypothetically" he tried to sound important, which he only partially managed.

"Then I'll spend the rest of the century torturing you every night," Talia laughed. "Please do me the favor and defend yourself well! I will surely have a lot of fun cutting you into strips and making you whine!

Corpse pallor the penguin looked at her and tried to get even deeper into the corner. "Okay... Okay... a meeting of the bosses! Sure... I... call right away and... take care of it..."

"Thank you very much. I'm looking forward to it. And now I apologize for wasting your time. I expect an answer from you soon. Don't let me wait too long," Dracula smiled and stood up. Without paying attention to anything else, he and his brides left the office.

"Master? I don't understand what you're up to," Talia asked when they were among themselves again.

"Quite simple. I've seen enough of what's going on out there. It's time for the citizens of this town to be protected."

"They are humans! We are so far above them! Why should we take care of them? They are only food for us." Talia said and Zatanna nodded to her.

"I have to agree with Talia, dearest. Why do you care so much about these people? We have killed dozens of them. Hundreds of them. Why protect them now?"

"You still haven't understood it, have you?" Dracula smiled and drew his two wives to him. "We hunt people because they feed us. We hunt them to show them that we are superior to them. We hunt them to punish them. But we don't hunt them because we enjoy it. We are superior to them yes, but we also need them. I have done a lot in my life but..."

His voice gained in sound and strength and his aura became more and more intense.

"I have always protected my people! And by I I also mean MY wives! I hope we understand each other there?

"Not really, no. But we don't have to do that to fulfill your wishes." Talia smiled and grinned. "And I think I know exactly what you want now!

The next day Dracula was informed by Candy that the meeting would start soon. This time, however, he did not go to this meeting with his two wives as he had a special assignment for them. Candy accompanied him and gave him an overview of what to expect. As he entered the room he could already see the self-proclaimed kings of the crime.

Some he already knew. The penguin sat on an opulent chair at the end of the table, next to him sat the man he had already met. Two Face with his 2 secretaries. On the other side sat a man with a black skull mask. What struck him immediately, however, was that one of the chairs had remained empty. Candy whispered something in his ear and Dracula nodded.

"So you are the weirdo who's making a fuss here?" the man in the skull mask asked him quite brutally but Dracula just smiled and turned around on the heel and left the room without saying a single word. He ignored the angry screams behind him and smiled at Candy. "Take me to this... Freeze."

It took 2 hours for Candy to get Dracula to a decommissioned zoo. He informed Candy that he no longer needed her services and walked through the park. He had apparently been abandoned many years ago and was largely decayed. However, it was not particularly difficult for him to find his destination. As he entered the catacombs below the wildlife enclosures he could feel an icy breeze coming towards him through the narrow corridors. After a few meters he could see a larger chamber in which many modern devices whose purpose was completely alien to him. He could also see an almost 2 meter tall man standing at a chemistry table shaking a test tube in one hand. Meanwhile 3 more men came running towards Dracula. They wore thick winter clothes and even if the cold didn't bother Dracula he could still perceive them.

"You must be the one called Mister Freeze," Dracula asked after ripping the third attacker's throat to pieces.

His counterpart looked up from his reagent and looked at him from top to bottom before turning back to his glass.

Dracula could feel the rage rising in him. Not only that this worm had dared not to follow his request. No. This man was so arrogant that he completely ignored Dracula. But what got him most upset were the words Mr. Freeze now addressed to him.

"If you would be so kind as to close the door on your way out. That would be very kind."

"HOW DARE? Dracula hissed and felt his blood boil. "Do you know who I am?"

"Do they know it yourself?" asked Freeze calmly and disturbed Dracula a little. But just when he had caught himself again Freeze turned to him and looked at him for a long time.

"Oh another one of those fools who don't know fear" Dracula laughed as he looked into the man's cool face. "Are there only fools in this city? Maybe it's time for an example," Dracula growled and raised his left hand. At the same time the pools of blood behind him began to float in the air.

"You mean the kind of example you did to Nigma, Mr. Tepes? Although I don't think that name fits very well." Still said Freeze and turned his back to Dracula to continue experimenting with his fluids.

"I will tear you apart in the air! I will inflict upon you torments that hardly any human has suffered before." Growled Dracula and walked angrily towards this arrogant pig.

"I would be careful sir. Some of these experiments are volatile. I would appreciate it if you would not interfere with a colleague's research.

"Colleagues," Dracula hissed angrily and grabbed Freeze by the throat with one hand. He could feel his hand being caught in an unnatural cold and the blood in his veins froze. But before he lost complete control of his right hand, he could hurl Freeze through half the room. A little impressed, Dracula looked at his right hand which was frozen up to his ankle. "Nice trick" he hissed. "But do you really think that will stop me?"

"Why should I think that?" asked Freeze who slowly rose again. "If you're the one I think there's nothing in this town strong enough to stop you. Maybe not even on this planet." He said quietly.

"Hypocrisy. That won't help you now either," said Dracula and threw the table, which between the two stands carelessly to the side. For the first time since Dracula faced this blue-skinned worm there was a reaction. But not the one he had expected. Freeze hastily pulled a pistol and fired a bluish jet at the table. This was immediately turned into a block of ice and frozen in place with the ground. But it wasn't the experiments that got Freeze so excited. Dracula could clearly see that Freeze almost panicked and stared at a big curtain. Whatever was hidden behind it was the Achilles verse of Freeze. Dracula would destroy this worm... but before that he would thwart all his ridiculous plans. Uncertain, Freeze looked at him if he had noticed anything and Dracula grinned wide and shook his right hand which slowly thawed again.

"Forgive me Mister Freeze... I forgot to ask! What is your goal? World domination? Money? Power? What ridiculous ambition drives you?"

"That is none of your business! Go away at last or kill me" growled Freeze in the hope of distracting him. But Dracula just disappeared before his eyes and he turned around in shock. Dracula stood right in front of the curtain and tore him out of the wall.

"Let's see what it is" Dracula laughed and stood astonished in front of a large tube in which a woman was stored in eternal ice. "What in the Name of the scepter of Rah?" it escaped him. Then he whirled around when he saw Freeze running on him. The man looked like a changed man. Where he had just seen a cold, analytical scientist, he could now see a wild berserker storming him. Throwing away his weapon, he grabbed Dracula by the collar and threw him aside. Dracula was surprised at the sheer power Freeze possessed. Under normal circumstances he would have been smashed pretty hard in the wall but Dracula rolled his eyes only as he paused in the middle of the air and turned so that he landed comfortably on his feet.

Freeze took another run-up but Dracula was prepared for the power. He could also feel the suit frozen on his neck. This man's touches were extremely dangerous. If he were a human being. Dracula simply avoided his attack and stood next to the tube again.

"Move only one step and I tear this body to pieces" he threatened and saw Freeze immediately standing still.

"Please! She did nothing to you! He begged and Dracula recognized something new in the man. Fear.

Could it be that this Mister Freeze was more afraid of losing this woman than of messing with Dracula? It was definitely interesting.

"Do I see fear in your eyes?" Laughed Dracula amused and drove with one hand over the glass tube and left deep scars in the glass. It was clear that Freeze had to swallow his anger but he managed to respond with scientific coolness.

"Fear is something I can't afford." Said he and raised his pistol and aimed at Dracula's head but before he could even think of shooting, Dracula was already next to him and crushed the pistol in his hand. Throwing away the strange weapon, Freeze tried to grab him but he reached into the void. Then he felt him being grabbed by the neck and an insuperable force pressed him to his knees. He tried to defend himself but it was impossible to escape the grip.

"I ask that now only once. Who is the woman" Dracula asked the helplessly zapping criminal. After he had pressed harder he could feel that the resistance was overcome.

"My... wife" growled Freeze.

"And why is she in this tube? SPEECH" he screamed.

"Because she is terminally ill and only this tube keeps her alive." He gasped as he suddenly felt the pressure in his neck ease and Dracula let him go. As he struggled to get back on his feet, he saw Dracula looking at the reagents and shaking some in his hand.

"So you're trying to heal your wife?" he asked and looked at the bluish liquid. "How long have you been trying to do that?

"12 years, 9 months, 19 days, 19 hours and more precisely it is not necessary under these circumstances. Why?

"12 years. A long time for a man." Dracula admitted. "How far are you?"

"Not a step further than the first day. I am not able to cure her illness. But I will not give up."

"Interesting. Dracula admitted and took one of the clipboards and leafed through the papers.

"I think I could use some of your expertise. I suppose you've gained a lot of knowledge in your long life."

"What makes you think I'll live long?" Dracula smiled and pulled up a brow.

"Because unlike the others, I'm not stupid. You may be impersonating Vlad Tepes... but that's just one of many roles, isn't it?" said Freeze as he investigated the state of the sentence clamp.

"And if that were so?

"Then I would be a fool if I refused this knowledge."

"Why exactly should I help you?" Dracula asked cold-heartedly.

"Because you know exactly what it is like to lose one's true love," said Freeze and risked to arouse the man's anger with this statement.

"Where do we start" asked Dracula.