Batgirl's curvaceous body is completely lined with frost and ice. Her boots are obscured by a block of ice at her feet. Batgirl's legs and arms are both perfectly straight, legs frozen together, arms frozen to her sides.
Late at night on a pleasant, clear, early spring evening in Gotham City. All appears normal at the loading dock of the Gotham Museum of Natural History as the last specimens of archaeopteryx are carefully secured along the inside walls of a semi-trailer truck. Appearances can be deceiving, however, as a cold front of crime is about to blow into Gotham!
The workmen close and lock the doors of the semi. The driver starts up the big rig. Security guards in an unmarked car lead the truck out onto the deserted streets. Another security auto follows closely behind.
The parade of three vehicles has barely gone four blocks when an explosion erupts from a manhole as the cab of the truck passes over it! With difficulty, the experience teamster is able to drive the truck safely to a stop.
The chief security guard from the car behind sprints up to the driver's side window of the cab. "What happened!?!"
"I don't know," answers the truck driver shakily. "There was some sort of explosion in the middle of the street. We took quite a jolt."
"Well, I'd better check in the back to make sure the exhibit is OK," the security chief replies.
The security chief, along with the driver and the rest of the guards, make his way to the rear of the truck. The chief hops up, undoes the lock and swings back the doors.
The jaws of the security chief, the driver and the guards all drop open in astonishment. The trailer is completely . . .
empty!
The following morning, Commissioner Gordon, Chief of Police O'Hara, Batman and Robin are gathered at Police Headquarters. Chief O'Hara is fumbling with a VCR, as Commissioner Gordon is speaking:
". . . The archaeopteryx exhibit had just completed a successful run at the museum. It was on its way to Metropolis . . . but, Batman, how could the fossils be stolen from a closed truck? The credentials of all the security guards are in perfect order. Their chief of security has fifteen years experience with a spotless record. He swears he saw the exhibit still inside the truck as the doors were closing! How was it done?"
"I don't know, Commissioner," Batman replies, "but perhaps this security tape can give us a clue. Here, Chief O'Hara, let me give you a hand." Batman reaches over and turns the television set to Channel 3. Immediately, the snow-filled monitor clears into an image of the truck being loaded.
The quartet of crime fighters watch the tape for a few moments. The picture is a long shot that shows the workmen carrying boxes into the back of the truck and leaving empty-handed.
Suddenly, Robin shouts, "Holy Familiar Faces! Batman, run the tape back a bit, freeze when that short workman is facing the camera and zoom."
Batman, running the remote control, does as Robin suggests. As the workman's face comes into clearer focus, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara exclaim in unison . . .
"Penguin!"
"Darned good observation, old chum!" Batman compliments his young partner. "Now we know who stole the fossils, though we still don't know how."
"But why would Penguin want a bunch of old bones?" the Gotham City Police Chief asks.
"Because," Robin explains, "archaeopteryx was a dinosaur with fully developed feathers and wings. Most scientists classify them as birds. They provided the first solid evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs."
"Besides, Chief," Batman adds, "the specimens Penguin stole included the first archaeopteryx fossils found during the 1860's in Bavaria. Not only are they of incalculable value to science, but an unscrupulous collector would pay millions for them."
"Penguin won't stop with just one crime," Commissioner Gordon contributes. "I wonder what's next."
It is a Friday night back at the Gotham Museum of Natural History. On Fridays and Saturdays, the museum remains open until 8:45 p.m.. A large crowd is gathered just inside the main entrance, in the Woodrow Roosevelt Rotunda. The centerpiece of the Rotunda is a Barosaurus, a dinosaur more than ninety feet long. Many visitors stand in amazement at the display, which depicts the Barosaurus rearing up to protect its young from a fierce, attacking Allosaurus. The skull of the Barosaurus towers more than forty feet above the people below.
Chuck, a young, blonde, security guard, wanders over to the ticket booth. The line for tickets has finally dissipated. For the past few weeks, he has been trying to strike up a friendship with Trina, an attractive African-American salesperson stationed at the far end of the admission counter.
"Hi, Trina," Chuck calls. "Big crowd tonight."
"Yeah," replies a bored Trina. Then, with sudden interest, she says," Say, Chuck, what do you know about the robbery?"
"Not much," Chuck answers, disappointedly. "Nothing like that ever happens on this assignment! The most excitement I ever get is chasing kids down off the exhibits."
Suddenly, the lights go off! For a few seconds the Woodrow Roosevelt Rotunda is completely dark. Then, the emergency lights flicker to life.
A gasp of astonishment rises from the crowd. Unable to believe their eyes, Trina and Chuck look at each other. "The . . . Barosaurus," Chuck stammers. "It's . . . gone!"
Early Saturday morning , a Gotham City Police Department forensics team is on hand to make a thorough examination of the crime scene. Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara are already present, when the Dynamic Duo arrive.
Commissioner Gordon greets the Dark Knight Detective with, "Batman, we haven't been able to find any clues as to how The Penguin managed to steal ninety feet of Barosaurus bones in seconds."
"Not bones," corrects Batman. "This skeleton was composed of casts made from the real bones, which would be too heavy to support as mounted. Still, the display is worth a fortune."
Looking around, Robin remarks, "Doesn't it seem dustier in here than usual? The curators of the museum have a reputation for maintaining a clean building."
"We noticed that, too, Boy Wonder," responds Chief O'Hara, "but an analysis of the dust showed that most of it came from the construction on the street out front. The museum set a Friday attendance record last night. The visitors tracked a lot of dirt in with them."
"Did any of the witnesses have anything useful to offer?" Batman asks.
"Not really," Gordon replies. "A couple said they thought they heard a strange sound while the lights were out, while another fellow stated he experienced a chill in the dark."
A few hours later, Barbara Gordon calls out to one of her assistants at the Gotham City Public Library. "Myrtle, I'm going to take my lunch break now. If you need me, I'll be in my office."
"OK, Barbara," Myrtle answers cheerily.
Barbara walks into her office, closes and then locks the door behind her. She then proceeds to the computer at her desk and activates its connection to the Internet. "Time to check out Batgirl's e-mail," she thinks.
Since Batgirl doesn't have a direct line to Commissioner Gordon's office and since it would be suspicious if she hung out too often at her father's workplace, Barbara decided she needed an alternate means of communication. With the cooperation of the police department, she established an e-mail address of Batgirl@batgirl.gov. Before long, she had become pretty adept at filtering legitimate tips from various other proposals and propositions.
"Here's one that looks promising:"
"Not likely that a love struck admirer or someone trying to lure me into a trap would send Batgirl to Police Headquarters!" Barbara decides.
Shortly before 7 p.m., the beautiful purple figure of Batgirl surreptitiously enters the deserted office of Police Commissioner Gordon. Within moments, the telephone rings. Answering it, she says, "This is Batgirl."
The Caped Crimefightress carefully listens to the message, while analyzing how the words are delivered. Batgirl concludes that she has never heard the voice on the other end of the line before. The speaker has a cultured, British accent, certainly not the harsh tones of The Penguin or of the type of goons he usually recruits.
The information imparted, the man hangs up. Batgirl guesses that perhaps the tipster is seeking revenge against The Penguin for some past wrong. In any event, she quickly departs her father's office, following the lead.
Meanwhile, it is dinner time at stately Wayne Manor. Batman and Robin have spent almost the entire day in the Batcave, trying to figure out not only Penguin's next move, but how he accomplished the two spectacular robberies at the Gotham Museum of Natural History. Even with all the fabulous equipment in their subterranean base, they have had no success.
Now, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson join Dick's Aunt Harriet at a sumptuous meal prepared and served by the family's faithful servant, Alfred. Bruce and Dick are distractedly picking at their food when the conversation turns to one of Aunt Harriet's favorite subjects: the activities of Batman and Robin and their adversaries.
"It's a shame that Batman, Robin, Batgirl and the police don't have more time to watch television," Mrs. Cooper pronounces.
Dick's ears perk up at this odd statement. "What do you mean, Aunt Harriet?"
"Well, it's just that I know how The Penguin stole those fossils from the truck and made the Barosaurus skeleton disappear," Aunt Harriet says with uncharacteristic smugness.
"Oh, you do?" Bruce says between bites, trying not to sound condescending. "Please tell us."
"All right, I will." Aunt Harriet dabs at her lips with a napkin and then sets the serviette on her lap. "The fossils never left the truck. Somehow, he dropped false walls down in front of the specimens to make it appear as if they had been taken."
Bruce and Dick stare at each other in astonishment. Alfred is so startled he almost drops the tray of dirty dishes he is carrying.
Extremely pleased with herself, Aunt Harriet continues, "The Barosaurus skeleton was stolen long before last night. A holographic image that could be turned off or some other substitute that could be destroyed in seconds was left in its place."
Dick, with new found respect for his parent's sister, asks, "How in the world did you ever figure all that out!?!"
"I told you," Aunt Harriet begins, slightly embarrassed, "I saw it on television. Banacek solved cases exactly like these."
Bruce and Dick's amazement soon gives way to anxiousness. Suddenly, Bruce exclaims, "Great Scott! I've forgotten that we have two tickets for the performance by the dance troupe Pilobolus tonight. Dick, if we hurry, we can just make it!"
As Bruce and Dick leap up from the table, Aunt Harriet says meekly, "I'd like to go."
This freezes the two males in their tracks. Thinking fast, Bruce turns around and says, "You know, Aunt Harriet, you're right. You should get to go, but since we only have two tickets -"
Bruce pivots to face Alfred. "Alfred, would you please take Mrs. Cooper to the theatre? Dick and I will finish cleaning up."
A bit taken aback, the Englishman quickly regains his composure, "Very good, sir." Alfred extends his arm to a bubbling Aunt Harriet. "Madam."
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson collect the plates and silverware and take them to the kitchen as Alfred leads Aunt Harriet out to the Wayne family limousine. "Gosh, Bruce," Dick asks, "Do you think Alfred will be able to get two tickets?"
"I'm sure Alfred will think of something," Bruce replies as he puts some leftover food into their huge refrigerator. "Besides, I don't think he'll have too much trouble getting a good seat for the aunt of Bruce Wayne's ward at the Wayne Centre for the Performing Arts."
"Now . . . to the Batpoles!"
Bruce and Dick make their familiar way to Bruce's study, where Dick flips back the head of the bust of William Shakespeare to reveal the switch concealed within. As usual, Bruce takes just a second to remember his martyred parents, before flipping the switch that reveals the Batpoles and leads to their change into . . . Batman and Robin!
Robin: "Turbines to speed, atomic battery to power."
Batman: "Roger, ready to move out."
As the Dynamic Duo's incredible vehicle roars out of the Batcave, Batman remarks, "I'm a bit disturbed that we didn't deduce that the fossils never left the truck."
"Gee, Batman, it is pretty fantastic. I'm sure we would have figured it out eventually," Robin replies, somewhat defensively.
"I just hope we get to the Police Impound Lot before Penguin has removed the specimens," Batman grimly states.
Moments later, the Caped Crimefighters whiz past the Wayne limo somewhere on the fourteen miles of road between Wayne Manor and Gotham City.
"Look, Alfred! The Batmobile!" Aunt Harriet cries.
"Really, madam? I didn't notice," says Alfred drily.
"Oh, Alfred!"
In less than twenty minutes, the Batmobile pulls up outside the gate of the Gotham City Police Department Impounded Vehicle Lot. A chain link fence surrounds the facility. Batman opens his driver's side door and gets out of the Batmobile, while Robin, as is his custom, vaults over the top of his door. The Boy Wonder runs around to the gate.
"Closed, but not locked, Batman!" Robin declares.
"Yes, Robin. Someone has obviously picked the lock, but closed the gate behind them so that nothing would appear out of the ordinary. Let's be careful," the Caped Crusader says, as he motions his young partner to follow.
The heroes work their way through a maze of late model recovered, stolen automobiles, trucks used in burglaries and old abandoned cars. Hearing voices, they drop low for cover behind King Tut's Royal Bark. Peering around the corner, they see The Penguin and his men, leisurely unloading the specimens from the back of the trailer truck into a van.
Batman holds up three fingers. Silently, he counts one, two and . . .
"Hold it, Penguin!" Batman announces as the Dynamic Duo jumps into view. "We're putting a period to your plunder of paleontological prizes!"
"Batman and Robin! Quack!!" Penguin rasps. "Steggy, Apato, Iggy, Albert, Edmont! Get them!"
The ensuing melee is violent, but brief. Like a well oiled machine, the Dynamic Duo takes out their more numerous opponents, left and right.
Robin, standing by an old convertible, opens the door right in the path of the onrushing thug called Steggy, knocking the wind out of him. He then pivots and avoids The Penguin's umbrella, as the top-hatted villain tries, for the umpteenth time in their many battles, to skewer the adolescent on the brolly's razor-sharp tip. The Boy Wonder then sends The Penguin flying with a well-placed kick.
Meanwhile, Batman is dispatching foes in classic form, disabling Penguin's henchmen with a series of knockout punches. In less than a minute, all resistance seems at an end.
"All right, Penguin, it's over," Batman declares.
"Pfaw!" Penguin spits out, as he straightens himself. "You're wrong, Batman! It's barely just begun!" "Sarah!" Penguin calls. "Bring out the Bat-Doll!"
In response, from around a far corner, comes a young woman pushing a dolly. On the dolly, completely snow-white, except for part of her black mask and the lower part of her face, is the frosty figure of . . .
"Batgirl!!" yells Robin. Batgirl can only stare back at her teenaged friend, a look of terror frozen in her eyes. "What have you done to her, you pudgy . . ." but before the Boy Wonder can complete his epithet at The Penguin, he hears the familiar, chilling sound of the quick-freeze gun of . . .
Mr. Freeze!
Instantly, both Batman and Robin are frozen in place! Mr. Freeze emerges from his hiding place in the back of a nearby panel truck. He is wearing his original spacesuit-like outfit to keep his body temperature at fifty degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. He approaches The Penguin.
"Since a penguin comes from a frigid climate, it was inevitable that you and I teamed up, Dr. Shivel," Penguin crows.
"Whatever you say, Mr. Cobblepot," says Mr. Freeze in his refined voice through the speaker built into his suit.
The uneasy allies stare at each other in silence for a moment. Then The Penguin breaks the ice by saying, "Your cold gun destroyed the fake Barosaurus skeleton in seconds, leaving behind just a thin layer of dust. My compliments."
"Never mind that, Penguin. Just have your men put Batgirl in the back of my truck and I'll be on my way," Mr. Freeze icily demands.
The Penguin lets out a little quack as he sucks on his cigarette holder. "As you wish.
"Steggy, help Sarah load Batgirl into the back of Mr. Freeze's truck. Everybody else, help me put the Dynamic Ice-Cubes in the van."
Examining the well-frozen features of Batman and Robin through his monocle, The Penguin turns to his cold-hearted accomplice. "Say, Mr. Freeze, are you sure you had your gun on low enough power so that these two won't freeze to death?" Penguin waves his cigarette holder in the Dynamic Duo's general direction. "I have my own plans for them, you know."
"Ah, don't worry about that, Penguin. My gun was on the exact same setting for them as it was for Batgirl. They'll recover in plenty of time for whatever you have in mind."
With that, seeing that Batgirl has been secured in the back of his panel truck, the evil scientist makes his way behind the wheel of his conveyance. He drives off through the now-opened impound lot gate.
Batgirl's curvaceous body is completely lined with frost and ice. Her boots are obscured by a block of ice at her feet. Batgirl's legs and arms are both perfectly straight, legs frozen together, arms frozen to her sides.
As he drives to his super air-conditioned hideout, Mr. Freeze begins a one-sided conversation with his captive. "Batgirl, in the event you can hear me, I want to tell you exactly what is going to happen to you.
"In the beginning, after Batman condemned me to this icy existence, all I wanted was revenge . . . on Batman, on Robin, on Gotham City.
"Now, however, I realize that revenge would still leave me cold and empty inside. What I really want is someone to share my existence with me.
"I was a fool to think I could get Miss Iceland to love me by lowering her body temperature, by simply encasing her in a block of ice . . . and although she was beautiful, her body was weak, her mind vapid."
"That brings me to you, Batgirl. Not only are you gorgeous, but you are strong and resilient as well. In addition, you have the mind of a genius!
"So, my dear, what I'm going to do is re-create the circumstances that led to my condition. Once we get back to my laboratory, I'm going to pour a beaker of my Instant Freeze solution on you!
"Oh, I'm sure you'll resent me for what I've done to you at first . . . but after a while, once you realize that there is no other person on Earth besides me that you can touch without putting them or yourself at grave risk, I think you'll come around. After all, you'll find that I can be quite . . . charming."
Sometime later, at The Penguin's latest roost, Batman and Robin slowly regain consciousness. The Dynamic Duo finds themselves in a large, bare room, the size of a small gymnasium. Batman is on a table, pinned under some sort of machinery. His body is completely covered by a metal press, with his head sticking out from one end. His arms are also out from under the press, hanging uselessly off each side.
Robin's situation is no less dire. The Boy Wonder is spread-eagled some ten feet in the air, with his head directly above Batman's. Robin is manacled at the ankles and wrists. The heroes are aligned so that their partner's face appears upside down in front of them. Their utility belts are gone.
"Ah, Batman, I see you've finally thawed out!" observes The Penguin, standing about ten feet from the pinioned Caped Crusader.
"What is the meaning of this, you waddling foul fiend?!?" Batman demands.
"This," Penguin responds, waving his hand first at the machine pinning Batman and then at Robin overhead, "is the last death trap you'll ever have to worry about, my dear Doomed Duo! One of the reasons that you've escaped all the dire dilemmas that I and others have place you in is that you are both willing to sacrifice yourself for the other. Well, this predicament turns that predilection against you!"
"What do you mean?" Robin asks from above.
"You will each get to be your own torturer! Observe. . . Apato! Iggy!" Penguin bellows.
The goon with APATO written on his black turtle-neck shirt appears and places an upside down V-shaped object, like a grip strengthener, in Batman's right hand. From a hatch in the ceiling above, Iggy, another henchman, lowers an identical device on a rope down next to Robin's right hand.
Next, The Penguin removes a switch box from his tuxedo jacket pocket and depresses a red button. "The machinery's been activated. A millimeter at a time, Batman, the press will weigh down on top of you . . . and you, Bird Boy, millimeter by millimeter, your chains will be stretched apart.
"Now, if you squeeze the controls you've been given, you will cause the pressure on your partner to slacken . . . however, by doing so, you will increase the tension on yourself! Quack! quack! quack!"
Sure enough, as Batman experimentally tightens the grip of his right hand on the object, he sees that Robin's body sags a bit above him in response. At the same time, however, he feels the pressure on his chest increase.
Seeing Batman wince in pain, Robin grabs the device dangling next to him. Quickly, he squeezes the control. Batman then gets some relief, but Robin's arms and legs are consequentially stretched tight.
The Penguin is besides himself with glee as he watches his old enemies struggle, taking turns delivering pain to themselves while giving relief to their partner. "Waah! waah! waah!"
Meanwhile, miles away, Batgirl is also slowly coming to wakefulness. She discovers that she is lying, unrestrained, on a bed. As The Dynamite Dare-Doll opens her eyes and starts to sit up, she is concerned that something has happened to her vision. Everything appears cloudy, as if a white mist fills the room.
Batgirl is startled to see Mr. Freeze standing over her. Then, she reaches a horrible conclusion as Batgirl realizes that Mr. Freeze is not wearing his super air-conditioned suit!
Mr. Freeze reads the look in her eyes. "Yes, my dear . . . that's right. You are like me now - living comfortably at a temperature of fifty degrees below zero!"