A Break-In at Star Labs

"There's been a break-in at STAR Labs. Their rep wouldn't tell me what the eggheads are cooking up over there, but they don't want it in the wrong hands," Jim sighed.

"Whatever it is, it's dangerous and my guys are spread thin enough as it is tonight."

"I'll take care of it, Jim. Focus on maintaining order in the city."

"Alright, you know where to find—"

Jim turned around to see Batman had vanished.

"...me."

Batman pulled the schematics of the building on his way. Oddly enough, the wing that reported a break-in wasn't present on the blueprints. The batmobile slowed, Batman ejecting and gliding to a rooftop adjacent to STAR Labs. He narrowed his eyes, his cowl zooming in and picking up numerous heat signatures.

The place was crawling with armed thugs, the security staff nowhere in sight. He made a mental note to rescue them if they were still alive.

The Dark Knight stealthily grappled to the roof, quickly taking down a couple armed men. The cryo weapons he found pointed to this being Freeze's gang. Two-bit gangsters that only followed Fries for the advanced tech.

Batman made his entrance through a shattered window, slowing his descent by flaring his cape outward. He maneuvered his way through the labs, following his virtual map of the building and quietly incapacitating goon after goon along the way.

The Caped Crusader snuck into the lab, quickly spotting the pale faced man in a refrigerator sized suit of armor. He analyzed each of the henchmen in the room and proceeded to make each of them disappear, pulling them into chokeholds, hoisting them up from the rafters, or yanking them down into the vents beneath their feet. He moved silently yet methodically, Freeze blissfully unaware of Batman's presence, data glinting off his crimson goggles and his fishbowl helmet as he worked.

Bruce took note of the strange metallic ring in the center of the lab as he dispatched the lowly gang members. Wires jutted out of the sides, large cables running into the walls. Even his algorithm couldn't crack Whatever this thing was, why was it so secretive that even the police couldn't know what it was? More importantly, why was Freeze after it?

"It's over, Victor."

Batman announced his presence, Freeze snapping to look behind, only for two batarangs to fly into his computer screen. The vigilante glided his heel right into Freeze's face, causing him to stumble away from the damaged controls.

"No! No! You don't understand!"

The unhinged scientist drew his freeze ray, unleashing a beam of cryo energy towards the stalwart hero. Batman slid under it and somersaulted behind a panel to safety.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Victor. I can help you."

He had gotten close enough to establish a link between his WayneTech and Freeze's suit. He just needed to buy himself some time, then he could immobilize the villain.

"You can help me by staying out of my way, Batman!"

Freeze scowled, charging up a series of ice picks and launching them right through Batman's cover. He slammed a smoke pellet down, grappling upward.

"We can save her, Victor. We can save Nora."

"How dare you speak her name!"

Victor plugged his suit's holographic interface in to the lab's console and hit a series of activation prompts. The ring in the center of the room whirred to life, neon lights glowing as power coursed through the strange machine.

"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

Batman swung toward Freeze. A batarang landed in the barrel of his gun just as he went to fire it. The weapon exploded, Freeze angrily tossing it aside. He continued to type with one hand while attempting to fend off the Dark Knight with his other. The heavy plating and the sheer strength of his suit were the only things giving him an edge against the hero.

The Dark Knight went blow for blow with the mad scientist. Just a little more time. He slashed one of Victor's tubes with his triangle bladed gauntlet, severing the coolant flow to his arm. Freeze cried in agony. They both knew he wouldn't last long without patching that leak.

"I know exactly what I'm doing!"

Freeze grabbed Batman and threw him over the railing. He rolled with the fall and recovered, but just as he rose, the center of the ring burned a blinding light. Wind suddenly whipped through the laboratory. Bruce ducked as debris flew by, yanked into the vacuum. He fired his grapple hook and held on tight, his tool becoming the only thing preventing him from being pulled in too.

"Victor, I know what it's like to lose people you care about! Whatever your plan is, this isn't the answer!"

Bruce desperately tried to appeal to the doctor's humanity. If there was even any left.

"Nora is beyond saving! You know it as well as I do!"

Freeze grimaced.

"Every single trial, a failure. This is my last resort!"

Batman pressed the button on his grapple but a small puff of smoke spurted out the side. Damn. Motor gave out. Frowning, he determinedly grabbed his zipline and began to heave himself closer and closer, inch by inch. The pull from the machine grew more and more intense by the second.

"No one. Is. Beyond. Saving!"

Even Freeze glanced away from the controls with a baffled expression. How had he not been sucked in yet? He plucked an ice pick out of one of the panels and pressed the edge to Batman's line.

"Goodbye, Batman. Safe travels, whenever you wind up."

Without another word, Freeze cut the grapple.

"FREEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!"

The Dark Knight whaled as he was sucked into the portal.

Neon lights strobed across his vision as he felt every molecule of his being pulled apart and put back together.