TANDEM waited silently in the gloom of the forest, awaiting their next command. Bright blue, glowing eyes pierced the darkness as they stared straight ahead at their target: The Wayne Manor. Then, at Dr. Fries's command, they stood and slipped away. The two shadows moved quietly through the brush, out of the woods and across the yard towards the mansion. It seemed that the security protocols were offline to accommodate guests. The two cyborgs slipped across the yard unnoticed. T2 reached the side of the house first and bent over with his hands cupped. T1 charged forward, placing his right foot in T2's hands to be hurled onto the roof. T2 then straightened up and quickly slunk along the in the shadows towards the back balcony. While T1 went along the roof, lining it with small explosives, T2 scaled up the backside of the home to reached the overlook. The balcony was just big enough for him to hide off to the side of the glass doors. He waited, gun ready, for T1's signal. Only a short moment later, it came. T1: Stage one of attack is complete. Commence stage two. T2: Affirmative. T2 whipped around and kicked in the door. The force of the blow shattered the glass, spraying it at anyone who stood too close. A few screams met him as he stalked into the home, cold eyes glaring at the guests. He scanned the crowd, searching for the faces in his database.

Cassandra looked down at her adopted family members and saw they were talking to a redheaded ma-- no, a woman, wearing a tuxedo. Odd. She knew of pants suits for women obviously, but she had never seen a woman dressed in a full tuxedo. The loud sound of shattering glass and the terrified screams of party guests immediately snapped Cassandra from her train of thought. She bit her lip in frustration with herself. Of course an event such as this would make a prime target for criminals. All of Gotham's wealthiest and most influential sons and daughters were here all in one place. At first it was hard to see the figure whom had broken in the balcony door. But, after the people starting franticly running away from him, Cassandra got a decent look. A male about six feet in height. Pale, sickly pale skin. Shaved head except for the bit of blonde on top. Body encased in armor. The most eerie feature on this invader wasn't large weapon he carried. It was the glowing eyes. The young woman hopped up on the handrail and slid down to the end of the stairs. Much faster than walking. As she came to stand near her family the young began to tearing at her gown, ripping off the expensive material below her knees and then up the side half way up her thigh for easier maneuverability. Discarding the torn material. "One male, body armor, large gun, glowing eyes," describing what she saw quickly to Tim, Stephanie and Damian as wedding guests panicked all around them. Singling out Damian she added, "No one dies," referring more the scrambling party-goers than she was the party crasher. With her last words spoken, Cassandra began pushing her way through the mob trying to get to the attacker as fast as she could. Secret identities were not important. The lives of innocents did. No one dies...

It was always right when you decided to do something you were sure you'd regret that some assassin decides to kick in the door to your favorite balcony. No? Just the select few children chosen for the world's coolest, or most horrifying, internship program? Well okay then. But the point still stands. Jason had barely opened the door from his chosen hideaway when the distinct sound of shattering glass rang throughout Wayne Manor's main hall, followed by screaming, gasps, and all manner of expletives from the members of Gotham's high society. No sound he hadn't already heard a thousand times, of course. Being sidekick to Batman exposed one to all sorts of things you'd never see otherwise. Like a dwarf maniacally obsessed with Alice in Wonderland to a photosynthetic plant woman. You could see it all in Gotham. And you thought Metropolis was bad. Jason didn't take long to react to the situation. Bruce and the others would probably be evacuating the civilians and getting into their respective suits long before they dealt with the imminent danger of a man holding what appeared to be an automatic rifle. What was odd about it was that the man hadn't fired off any warning shots or ordered a retreat, he just stood there, staring. It didn't take long to guess as to who the man was looking for, though the glowing eyes certainly didn't help Jason's mood. That just meant he either had cybernetic enhancements, was some kind of demon, or had lazer vision. Jason was really hoping for the former. At least he could deal with a robotic hit-man. It'd only taken him about three seconds to get into a dead sprint along the walkway towards the now desecrated balcony door, benefits of having nobody around him and not wearing loafers. He noticed the assassin noticing him and ducked under the wooden railway as the man reacted by firing a few rounds at him. It'd been awhile since Jason's blood rushed like this. Probably because he hadn't had to evade gunfire for nearly a year. Honestly, could he have one day back in Gotham without immediate threat of death? Re-death? Grabbing one of the wooden posts at the end of the walkway he was on, Jason used his momentum to spin around into a routine kick to the jaw. While the mysterious stranger reeled back for a second, Jason definitely felt a twinge in his right foot. Steel-toed boots and that still hurt. It was like kicking titanium. Any non-vigilante human would probably have broken every toe in that one motion. Well, that settled it, definitely some kind of cybernetic. "If you're looking for the husband and bride to be, you're not doing a very good job." That's it Jason, just keep him distracted and hope he doesn't have lazer eyes. That would suck.

T2 scanned the crowd as people scattered. His eyes locked on a woman who was approaching him. Behind his retinas, scanners popped up to analyze her face and body structure. But before he could finish, a man descended on him. T2 reeled back from the blow, which he had barely reacted to in time. His arm was raised just fast enough to catch the kick, but the force still made him take a step back. That alone was fairly impressive, considering that T2 was not exactly light weight. T2 recorded the man's face and sent it to T1, along with a rundown of the attack. The man began shouting jeers at him, but T2 had already looked away. He focused on the woman, who he was sure was one of his targets. The cyborg raised his gun, his cybernetic eyes locking her in his sights. He wasn't very mindful of the room full of people. The robotic man began firing off rounds into the crowd, people running every which way. He was bound to hit the woman as she approached. Maybe. As T2 singled out the female, T1 swung in through the broken window to face the male. He landed surprisingly light on his feet. The cyborg eyed the man, already having received information on the attack from T2. He cocked his gun and, without hesitation, began to fire at the target.

Christmas Day-Day of the Wedding, Wayne Manor, Gotham Gordon hated Gotham winters they always felt so damned bone-chilling cold, almost made him miss the jungles of Vietnam this time of year. Jim fidgeted with his tie as he stood outside the prestigious Wayne Manor, it had been at least a year or so ago…or at least when Barb started dating Detective Grayson. In all honesty Gordon didn’t want to come to this event, it didn’t have anything to do with him save for Barb, and all of these black tie events always made him feel so uncomfortable. One of the few perks of being the Commissioner, Gordon thought sarcastically, when the Mayor says you’re needed you have to go. Jim had planned to get a hold of Detective Grayson the night before to question him about his run in with the Jane Doe murder case when he had several other calls that required his attention, including a rather interesting call which included a burning building and a battered arsonist that swore up and down that he had been assaulted by a “giant bat with huge tits.” ”Guess HE’S an equal opportunity employer…” As Gordon laughed to himself, he turned to see several squad cars pull up in the “security” designated parking, something that Gordon actually was rather perturbed about. As Gordon’s hand-selected group of officers walked up to him in their Sunday best he flicked his cigarette out into the gravel as he motioned everyone to gather round. He had experience in guarding these events and he knew what had to be done and he knew it was always better to have more than one group of officers in waiting. As the officers gathered around him Gordon laid on his cold steel eyes over the twenty or so men gathered there in their parade uniforms, and knew that these men were the best that he had. Even still, he wasn’t sure if he could truly trust them. ”Alright, listen up. We’re guarding the biggest wedding this city has ever seen and as such I want to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I don’t want so much as a button on your jackets out of place, I want constant communication everyone checking in every five minutes… ”Come on Commissioner, it’s just a wedding of a couple of blue-bloods…what’s the worst that can happen?” A quick look of frustration silenced the new officer, obviously he had never witnessed the horrors that can come from these events. ”I don’t care if it is a wedding…you will each be posted at key positions around the manor with emphasis around the wedding staging area. Those of you not in the ceremony will be making rounds around the out-lying areas in PAIRS. No one is to go anywhere alone…understand!” The resounding ‘yes sir’ filled him with a little bit of confidence as they all walked into the manor with Gordon leading them like soldiers going into battle. Once they were all inside Gordon proceeded to commence with the small talk with the rich and powerful that Gotham had to offer, a sad lot filled with rotting old men and women who had grown too comfortable with the life they had established, something that he was not ever really comfortable with. As Gordon perused through the crowds he saw all of the Wayne ‘children’ going through the same routine that he was going through which led him to wonder where his daughter was, probably with Grayson he supposed. The overwhelming sense that something was wrong barraged him, like something was creeping up behind him with their hands about to grab his throat. Moments later the sound of shattering glass and screaming guests told him that his instincts were right, Gordon called all of his men in from the rafters as it were guns blazing and engaging the enemy with extreme prejudice. His first priorty was to find Bruce and Seliena and keep them safe from any harm, although he assumed that they could take care of themselves, his secondary task was to ensure the safety of those around him and watched as two gunmen (TANDEM)began targeting members on the guest list. Drawing his 9mm and aiming it at the direction of the two hitmen and shouted to them in his most commanding voice, ”Hold it right there, drop your weapons and put your hands over your heads!” Gordon knew damn well that they most likely wouldn’t listen to him but if nothing else Gordon had to follow protocol before firing on people.

YES! FINALLY! It probably wasn't the most tactful thought to have when hitmen burst in on his father's wedding and threatened people with assault rifles, but as fun as it was watching Drake feel even more uncomfortable than himself and insulting him consequence free to the amusement of Gotham's high society, if Damian had to act like an amusing ball of idiotic sunshine for the entire day he would have died. To say nothing of the horrific fallout that would have occurred had the old harpy next to Kate Kane or the woman herself dared to pinch his cheeks. Unfortunately before he could run off and change to join the fray as Robin or just jumped in undisguised and counted on the chaos to conceal himself Cassandra came sliding down the railing in full combat mode and started rattling off orders and descriptions of the attackers. At the end before charging into the crowd she seemed to single him out specifically with "No one dies." As if he needed reminding not to kill when it was something he'd been practicing every day. Glad to be free of the need to keep up his pointless 'normal child' disguise he muttered something about getting to a panic room just loud enough to throw off suspicion before preparing to bolt to the nearest hidden entrance to the cave and change into the only 'suit' he actually felt comfortable in. Maneuvering through the crowd was hardly a problem for someone of his size and training and Gordon and his alleged 'police force' would likely see to the evacuation and free the rest of them up to fight the assailants- Except that one of the hitmen was already holding his gun poised to fire directly into the crowd and a few of the city's wealthiest sheep hadn't had the sense to get out of the way. He probably should've just allowed them to be shot. They were doubtlessly societal parasites like the rest of Gotham's elite and they were no concern of his when there was a fight to be had. But... "-tt- Fine. No one dies." Gritting his teeth in frustration Damian quickly altered his path and leaped to tackle the innocent idiots down and out of the gunsel's line of fire, making sure to get as many people clear of the shooter's potential trajectory in the one act as he could before the hitman could open up on them. It might not get him found out, it might just look like a frightened child had gotten turned around in the crowd maybe tripped or panicked, and sent a bunch of socialites sprawling. Provided it didn't get him killed he didn't particularly care, though he could tell it had already earned him a few new bruises. If he didn't die right about then he would disentangle himself from the mess and slip unnoticed into the chaos to make his way down to the cave. Then he would change and beat these attackers to within an inch of their deaths for making him do this.

Luke stood calmly among Gotham's most fortunate, occasionally walking around or even catching up with old friends he met at his private school. He felt odd about being around all the wealthy guests, although he himself was counted among their numbers, he knew this was because he had inherited his money. A few minutes later Lucius, Luke's father, made an entrance and an announcement directing the wedding guests. Luke like most of the guests followed Lucius's directions, Luke gazed as his father wondering if he should even speak to him, but that ceased to be Luke's concern as the front entrance of the manor exploded inwards followed by the glass surrounding it. Screaming erupted as a man stormed through the door, taking the glass down with him, Luke couldn't tell what exactly was going on but he knew it was trouble and took this as his chance to leave the crowd. There's no telling if Batman even knows about this, but right now I've got to do something. Glancing around Luke attempted to spot his father, unable to find him Luke hoped that he had already evacuated or fled into a safer area in the mansion. Still looking around Luke attempted to find something to hide his identity, if he could hide his true self he would but time was of the essence. Having spotted a fallen serving tray Luke picked up a square piece of fabric, the fabric had previously held the place under the glass cocktail drinks, picking it up Luke tied the fabric tightly around his face. With the cloth now covering up a majority of his face Luke turned back around at the intruder, now intruders. Remembering his training Luke scanned the attackers, he could clearly see the rifles, but he could also see what looked to be mechanical joints.Cyborgs? Androids? Can I even take them without the suit? As another man kicked one of the intruders with what looked like some success Luke shook himself into action. Although Luke was curious about the man's identity, that would have come later, taking aim at the gunman currently shooting Luke threw the silver tray at the weapon, hoping that it would knock it out of it's grip allowing him to come closer.

Of course, both cyborgs completely ignored the police as they swarmed. T2 gave the commissioner only a second of attention to fire at him, reload his gun, and go back to aiming at his other attackers. T1 took notice of Luke rushing towards him, and held his fire to spin and catch the silver tray lunged at him in mid-air. The cyborg crushed the tray in his hand, dropping it and turning on Luke to fire at him.

Jason Todd came out of nowhere. Any other time Cassandra would question why he was not dressed appropriately for attending the wedding. But, she had others things to worry about at the moment. 1) How easily the invader batted Jason away after taking a spin kick to the face. 2) The appearance of a second attacker. The first gunman, after shrugging off the attack from Jason, turned his attention to Cassandra as she hurriedly removed her jacket. Taking aim he fired at her, showing no concern for the innocents running for their lives. Bullets flew. Unlucky bystanders who had the unfortunate luck to move in front of her were hit. Part of her wanted to stop, to get the injured far away as possible. But, Cassandra knew the only way to save the majority those poor panicked people was to take the fight closer to them. Close quarters, make them drop the guns. One bullet hit it's mark. Two more inches to the left and it would have taken out her shoulder completely. The impact only slowed Cassandra down for a mere second. The pain and injury would have to wait. ”Hold it right there, drop your weapons and put your hands over your heads!” Commissioner Gordon freed himself from the mob, and now stood in the open. out of the corner of her eye Cassandra saw a flash of silver. Someone had apparently thrown a serving tray at the second intruder, who caught it with ease and crushed within his hand. The blonde one turned his attention towards Gotham's Finest and fired a few rounds. It was all the distraction she needed. As she ran full speed at the first gunman [T2] Cassandra flung her jacket at his head in an attempt to temporarily blind him, and then threw herself low, trying to take out a knee with a missle dropkick.

When the call for the wedding was made Tim moved to the main ballroom where the ceremony was to take place. He took up his position up at the front as one of the grooms men with the ring in his pocket. While not the best man he was asked by Bruce to keep an eye on the rings. It may have been the most nervous Bruce had even been in Tim's lifetime. He was happy it was him who was asked, but he figured this was because the others for some reason or another were uninterested. Still the box was weighed down with more than just a diamond the size of a small car. Ice That is what is running through the veins of every member of the bat family. It is the only way to describe them. After all how many people jump into action as fast as them when armed hit men storm into a room full of people. For Tim it took all of a second to understand the situation. This wasn't a robbery. If it was it was missing the classic Gotham flare for a show. It didn't start with someone shooting the chandelier and begin the age old 'This is a robbery' tag line. Instead it was fast betting on the element of surprise. There was the quarter second between the arrival through the window and the men scanning followed by them firing at... Cassandra who was already jumping into action by literally running at the barrel of a gun. Get people out of here. They have weapons distance and disarm. The plan was already mapped out in Tim's head. The chaos of panic made it difficult to organize the people, but he didn't have to. With a panicked crowd they were easy to understand. Moving to the wall he started typing into the smart board, a computer that controlled most of the house. After the last key stroke every door of the ballroom swung open. The crowded didn't need to be asked to leave. They rushed whatever door was closest. The risk of someone being trampled was there; however, the decision was easy for Tim to make. A crowd able to escape an armed killer was better then a crowd trapped with an armed killer.

When Kate thought the party needed some excitement she was thinking a band or DJ, not armed assailants that weren't quite human. Compared to Killer Croc and Clayface, these guys were something else. They looked cold, emotionless, soulless. They didn't ask for money or make a grand political statement, they just killed with frozen hearts. Kate didn't bring a batarang or anything of that nature, carrying that stuff on her person is just asking to be caught red handed. Basically, she brought a whole lot of nothing to a gun fight. Usually Kate wouldn't be one to stray from a fight, but as stubborn as she is she isn't dumb enough to charge at a guy with an assault rifle; at least not without the cover of night and a mask. Apparently her grandma had the same idea as she sprang out of there like a jackrabbit, looks like those aqua pilates classes paid off. Kate had the same idea of living to fight another day, except there were some brave and bold and brainless heroes who thought they'd stop the bullets with their fists. Great, now she had to stick around and make sure they don't get themselves killed. "Steph, grab Damian and get somewhere safe. Don't wait for me. Go NOW!" As much as she'd like to stay by her friend's side, dealing with the gunmen would be just as effective in assuring their safety. She found a table and flipped it over with a loud thump, crouching behind it and hoping they weren't using armor piercing rounds. A guy tried to attack the gunman with about as much success as Kate would expect from a random dude who by the looks of his attire wasn't invited to the wedding. Who the hell was he and why was he there? Questions for another time. Another guy thought he was Captain America and threw a plate. And then a girl tried giving the bad guys a drop kick. They had resolve, she'd give them that. But strength is about fighting smarter, not harder. Judging by the magazines those guys were carrying, they had about 30 rounds before they had to reload. The bastards already wasted at least 10 of those spraying and praying. Be patient. Wait 'til they're out. Sometimes best course of action is to take none.

Dick let his brothers and sisters deal with the gunmen, he had no doubt in his mind that they could handle them. He and Bruce used there intuition and helped guide the civilians out of the lavishly decorated grand hall. There was no way even in this chaos that Bruce could slip away unnoticed and become Batman, he would just have to trust his children and hope they could handle it. As he and Selina did their best to help everyone down the icy paths towards freedom, a pair of dead blood red eyes stood in their way, holding Lucius Fox in his large armoured fist. “Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put on. They do suggest at first with heavenly shows. Gotham….is full of devils under heavenly guises. This city, corrupt to its very foundation. Built upon stolen Earth, evil seeps from the dirt and into the hearts of all that cross it’s threshold. I came to this city, a young man in love. This city has taken everything from me. My career, my health, my love….I cannot take any of that back. Tonight, it will take the only thing I have left. Not before I take a few things with me. You all have all made people grovel for your money, people far less fortunate than you, people who could use that money for essentials or for medical breakthroughs. You humbled and humiliated them. This time you will be the ones that beg, you will be the ones on your hands and knees in the dirt. Victims of your own greed, wallowing in the muck of avarice….For my Nora, I sentence Gotham” Freeze in one swift motion, reached into Lucius’s chest and ripped out his beating heart, dropping it at the feet of Bruce Wayne and his bride. Overcome with rage, Dick charged the frozen villain only to be thrown with tremendous force through one of the gazebo’s on the snow covered grass. Bruce lunged towards the murderer but was flung back by an icy blast from Freeze’s wrist mounted ice gun. With the blood of his victim seeping into the snow, Mr Freeze delivered a message to his tandems to clean up the rest before departing into the nearby woods.

TANDEM paused their attack at their master's command. T1 brought the bombs up on his retinal screen, making sure they were all undisturbed. T1: Affirmative. Bombs set to detonate in 30 seconds. That would give them enough time to make sure their targets were dead. T1 set T2 the information, the countdown popping up on T2's screen. He put it off to the side just as one of the females flung herself at him. An article of clothing landed on his head, and shortly after, the entire weight of the woman's body was against his right knee. The cyborg went down on one knee and ripped the jacket off his head.

Bruce cradled his fallen friend as he lay drenched in blood on the snow covered lawn. “Lucius” The man had been a father and a grandfather to everyone who at any point in time had stayed at Wayne Manor. His quiet nobility, his fierce intellect, a dedication to justice and the nurturing love only a man such as he could possess. All of it snatched sway by the heart of ice beating inside Victor Fries. There was no time to mourn, not yet. There was work to be done. Selina knew this and continued to usher the stragglers out of the property and to safety away from the mechanical maniacs the good doctor had brought with him. Bruce took off his black tuxedo jacket and draped it across his faithful companion, hiding his face from the cold. He would be honoured soon enough. Barbara had already made a swift exit into the cave, watching the battle from afar. It didn’t take her long to figure out what to do about their attackers, it was all down to how long it would take for her to make the adjustments. Of course, the young Miss Gordon may have been a hacker extraordinaire but she was also a bit of a whiz with Batman’s assorted tools as well. After some technical tampering and a little luck, she was finished and soon was back up top, handing Bruce his weapon of choice. “I’ve increase the range of the EMP, get this between the gruesome twosome and their going down” Bruce launched his EMP batarang with extreme precision. Striking the centre of the ground, the blast struck the tandems as well as their stashed away bombs like a car hits a wall. Within seconds it was all over, the TANDEMS were down, the bombs had been disposed of unknowingly and Bruce had showed everyone in a second why he was the bloody Batman. A short but sweet moment was taken as Lucius was lay in a safe place. His body would be returned to his family soon but first his other family had business to take care of. Bruce brought everyone down to the cave, including Kate as he revealed he had been well aware of her identity for quite some time. In the midst of their sadness and anger, Dick took it upon himself to finally reveal Mr Freeze’s real motives for the attack that day. What had often separated Fries from the other rogue’s was his code of ethics. He was first and foremost a scientist and never wished to take a life and he never did until this fateful Christmas day. After years at war with the Batman and in his desperate search for a cure for his wife Nora, Victor finally made a break through. Unfortunately fate stepped in. On the run with Nora in the back of his truck, Freeze was speeding out of Gotham only to be stopped on the Robert Kane Bridge by Batman. Soon enough a wave of Freeze’s goons descended on the old red bridge, Batman was overwhelmed until Dick appeared amongst the fray and helped Batman fight off his attackers. During the course of the fight, Batman forced the cure into Victor which surprisingly cured his biology from its icy infection and made him a regular human once more. In the midst of the chaos a bullet was fired and deflected by Dick using his bo. The stray bullet lit up a gas tanker and the frozen Nora was blown into the river where she was forever lost. Grief ultimately destroyed what was left of Victor’s soul and turned him into what he never wanted to be. A killer. It was after this particular event that Bruce and Dick parted ways. Both blaming the other for the death of Nora. A man of few words, it was obvious what Bruce was going to say and for one time only, even Dick was going to agree to the next two words to leave his mentors lips. “Suit up”

As the batarang hit the ground, the two cyborgs paused to look down. By the time they had identified the threat, it was too late. Both bodies hit the floor like a sack of bricks. But instead of just shutting down and going into sleep mode, the two began to quiver and convulse violently. With their cybernetic organs shut down, the two could not survive. [System] ERROR. INITIATING REBOOT. [System] REBOOT IN PROCESS T1 gasped painfully, helpless to fight or defend himself. T2 curled in on himself. Their system would only take a few seconds to reboot, but the wait was excruciating.

It was only a matter of time before something went wrong. Batman getting married? Please, the universe would collapse in on itself before something like that was allowed to happen. Though Mr. Freeze being the party-crasher was a far less expected turn of events. The robot assassins? Not so much. If Bruce would've just worn his utility belt under his suit Jason probably wouldn't of been thoroughly kicked down a flight of stairs. Honestly, what's with the human body? It can survive falling straight down from multiple stories, yet stairs were potentially lethal. Jason couldn't help but linger at the back of the crowd when Bruce all but ordered them into the Batcave as if they were a flock of ducks. The news of Kate Kane and Luke Fox caused a raised eyebrow and a curious glance or two. He'd have to keep an eye on Luke for the next few days. Or weeks. Jason tried his best to stifle a chuckle when Dick gave everyone the incident report regarding Freeze. It made sense that the second someone had something resembling hope, fate would go out of its way for things to go tragically wrong. In this case a deflected bullet. Jason didn't much care for the fallout. Both Bruce and Dick were acting like idiots. Was he the only one that could accept freak coincidences for what they were? Bruce was a founding member of a group consisting of a martian and an amazonian who fought intergalactic warlords on a regular basis, but he couldn't accept an accidental explosion? The formerly deceased Boy Wonder was already on his way to the ramp when Bruce gave his order, grabbing a communicator from a case while he walked. Unless Bruce kept guns and a crimson helmet in the basement, he'd have to be on his way, and he wasn't about to put on a pair of spare pixie boots. He didn't want to be there anyway, he'd always been weary of new people, not to mention the overbearing sense of awkwardness that came with being in the cave again. "You know what channel." Jason had caught his eye on an all too familiar group of vehicles. Taking a seat on the first motorcycle he came across, Jason placed the helmet on the ground next to him before thanking a higher power that the key was still in the ignition. "By the way, I'm taking this. Have the kid ride in the Batmobile or something." and before Bruce could give him a patented stern glare or try to get him to stay, Jason revved the engine and rocketed his way out of the cave.

Damian had opted not to change into Robin and instead act on Cassandra's orders that no one should die by aiding in the evacuation of the manor as best he could, not that he had particularly liked the task. But now that the battle was over, he was already starting to suit up before his father had even halfway finished with this "Dr.Freeze"'s particular sob story. The important part was that now Gotham was being terrorized by killer cyborgs and an iceman in a powered suit had killed one of theirs. Whose fault it was and some ancient argument between Father and Grayson over a freak accident were both irrelevant as long as the murderers went free and unpunished. At least Todd seemed to have the right idea, if they hit the streets now then- "Wait...Did...did Todd just steal my R-Cycle?" If it wasn't completely beneath him Damian would have been slack-jawed in disbelief. As it was he merely froze in shock with his Robin suit halfway on. At this point Damian couldn't tell if stealing from him made the former Robin admirably bold, lethally stupid or just utterly unfathomable. Whatever quality it was, nobody had ever had enough of it to try such a thing before. On the other hand, at least the rumors about him didn't disappoint. He was certainly nothing like Drake or Grayson. Damian covered up his obvious surprise and hurried to get dressed, checking each section of his utility belt as he clipped it on and making sure his mask was properly adhered. "If I have to go in the car, I'm driving. It will be faster like that anyway." That much was true enough, at least. Damian was perfectly capable of operating all manner of vehicles even if he had to use hand-controls for many of them, but if they did things the way one of the others would they would be slowing down to swerve around every obstruction that was idiotic and/or slow enough not to move out of the way of the Batmobile. There was no time to waste on ridiculous things like 'safe driving' and 'watching for pedestrians' when there were criminals to stop anyways. He doubted anyone would let him swing by himself either if it came to that. He didn't need leashes or babysitters and he would move faster and stealthier on his own, but nobody ever listened to him on either point. Ah well, as long as he didn't get partnered up with Drake or the Brown girl he likely wouldn't be rendered too ineffective. Although he had his doubts when it came to Kane and Fox even if their wasn't time to argue against them being let in on things so soon, and Cassandra would likely look at him as if he were radioactive the entire time. So in summary Grayson and Father were the only capable partners available. He supposed Fat-girl might not be utterly useless if she would stop blabbering constantly but that was about as likely as Father getting him a pet as part of these bizarre holiday customs he'd heard about and speaking of... "Where's my sword? We're fighting robots or cyborgs, I deserve at least one sword!"

Bruce Wayne, one of the richest most powerful men in Gotham, spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. Kate was wrapping her head around this realization as she was led down into the Batman's secret HQ under Wayne Manor, appropriately built into a cave. The huge cavern, filled with gadgets, vehicles, computers, and souvenirs from past triumphs, made her little hidden garage look modest in comparison. Even their Batarangs featured a fancy spring-loaded folding design, compared to Kate's which were nothing more than sharpened shards of steel. There was way more people involved than she would've thought. She knew there was a Robin and a Batgirl, she didn't know there were multiple of both. When she thought about it, Wayne being the Batman kinda made sense. Wayne has the motive and the means, and it follows that his sidekicks would be people close to him. Most of them she either didn't know or only knew about impersonally. But just looking at them she could believe they were either masked vigilantes or gym rats. Damian looked too young, but if he was the Batman's son maybe he had metahuman powers or something. The only one she never in a thousand years would've guessed was Steph. There was a moment when all Kate could do was stare and blink. No matter how hard she tried to imagine it, she just couldn't see the blonde cupcake jumping off rooftops in the middle of the night. Does this mean the only reason they were friends was because Steph was keeping an eye on her? The more she thought about it the less she wanted to, so she just played it cool like she always did. "I didn't know you were such a badass, buttercup. Maybe you could take me for a ride in the Batmobile sometime." Apparently at least Wayne knew her identity. She knew she would get the Batman's attention when she put a big red bat on her chest, but she didn't think he'd figure out her identity so easily. After all, Kate had years of practice hiding who she really was. She wondered what else he knew about her, not much she hoped. On the flip side if he knew and didn't stop her, he must trust her to a degree. Having the Batman as an ally is pretty damn handy. Maybe he could introduce her to Wonder Woman. The greetings didn't last long (she didn't even get most of their names) since there was business to attend to. Icy business. Before she had time to really grasp the fact that the Batman and his cohorts just revealed their secrets to her, he was giving them a sitrep and telling them to suit up. Kate wasn't sure what they were expecting from her, but she wasn't about to join their militia. Last time she enlisted in something she was kicked out for telling the truth. "I'll lend a hand this time. But, no offense, I'm not about to join your club."

"You joined the club when you put that Bat on your chest." Stephanie had been scarce when the bullets started to fly, only reappearing when the group came together down in the Batcave. When chaos erupted, Steph had simply, calmly, walked down to the Cave. There was a checklist when Wayne Manor and/or the Cave were attacked, and someone had to go through each step. Steps to ensure secrets weren't compromised during the attack. Then she began pulling all information about Mr. Freeze from the single greatest information gathering system the world had ever seen, the power of knowledge focused into the screens of the Batcomputer. Yet for some reason, Steph felt like she was preparing the Batcave for war. "Kate, follow me?" She half expected the red head to decline. Fortunately for them both she didn't, instead following Steph down a few levels connected by narrow, steep, steel stairs. "My father is Arthur Brown, the Cluemaster. He enjoyed a fantastic successful crime spree in the city until this demon in the dark called the Batman ended that ride shortly after it first appeared in the city." The stairs ended at a great metallic door; it may have looked more like a blast door, but in truth it was a vault door. One of several in the Cave, this one the most recently added. Impossibly thin rays of brilliant blue light came from what appeared a single pen sized lens above the door, one single perfectly straight line expanding into three, then nine, then eighteen, and on it went until Steph's body was completely encased and scanned. The entire thing took all of five seconds, the ground shaking as the massive door began to open with surprising quickness. "He promised to return to my mother and I. He never stayed; lesson learned. Depend on no one but myself." The first image revealed past the door? The purple armored suit of the current Batgirl standing upright in the polished steel stand. The vault had twelve such vertical stands, all the others closed tight. Steph moved to the one just next to the one holding her suit, manicured and high glossed fingernail tipped fingers dancing over a touch pad, unlocking it so tiny hydraulic motors moved to open the stand, revealing a Batwoman suit that appeared just like Kate's own. "I became a costumed vigilante to stop the Cluemaster; the Spoiler, I called myself. A vigilante on my own, with my own methods and rules. Supported by no one--and I never wore a Bat, point of pride." When Steph's big blue eyes rose to finally look at Kate, they might have been shining just a little brighter than normal. "What a joke. It was futile, of course. Somehow, someway, we all end up in the shadow of the Bat. If you want to fight it, fight it. We all walk our own roads. He understands that. So long as you don't become a problem, he's happy to let you walk it." With just the barest of hints at it upon the corners of her mouth, Steph smiled. "Let me guess...surprised your secret wasn't so secret? Don't be. What began as a cutting edge crime fighting computer in this cave has grown to be the best network for information collection and analysis; augmented by unknown billions, his own unmatched genius, and even alien technology........so with that in mind," Steph felt herself grin, her hand motioning to the suit. "It may look like yours, but improvements have been made. It's lighter, and better armored now. Ditto the utility belt; more durable and also lighter. Small arms fire, melee weapons, all better protected against. I spent a week scanning you in class to make sure the physical measurements would be exact. To be honest, Bruce didn't know about this suit until recently...I was planning on revealing myself and offering this as a gift. You know; so you wouldn't die, and I wouldn't lose one of my only friends." Before the emotion there became too obvious in her eyes, Steph turned away from Kate, looking at the Batwoman suit displayed instead. "I didn't change the design, though Lord knows you could use a splash of color." It was a gentle, if honest, tease. "The belt's empty, the pull out drawers built into the back of this space house most our arsenal of belt gadgets. I guess 'pick with Freeze' in mind goes without saying."

The last thing Gordon expected when he woke up that morning was to be assaulted by gunmen led by the villainous Mr. Freeze while wearing his Sunday best, but that was Gotham. As the bullets fired from the automatic weapon assailed his makeshift barricade Gordon began to have a flashback to his tours in the jungles of Vietnam fighting the enemy that couldn’t be seen. Quickly shaking the thought off, the sound of a reloading clip brought him back to the present moment alerting him to the opportunity that it was time to retaliate. As he jumped up and fired a quick succession of rounds in the direction of the gunmen that fired at him, Gordon watched as kids began attacking the other gunman. ’Crazy kids, gonna get themselves killed…’ As Gordon prepared to move up and aid the reckless young ones, a random object struck the ground between the two gunmen causing some sort of electrical explosion dropping both of the gunmen in one fell swoop relieving the need to attack them anymore. Upon closer inspection of the object itself Jim’s face turned pale white as he looked around for Batman, instead finding only Bruce Wayne carrying what appeared to be a body off somewhere.