Hitting An Iceberg

[flightlessfelon.livejournal.com]

Even on the quietest of nights, the Iceberg Lounge never falls short of ostentatious. The Penguin lives for his bling, and in stark contrast to the other throbbing, rhythmic nightclubs of Gotham City, his Iceberg Lounge has a rather more subtle, subdued atmosphere. Pandering to the upper class as always, the Iceberg Lounge is a glittering monument to excess. Tuxedoed men romance their dates, serenaded by a dapper chamber orchestra. A few infamous faces sit among the airbrained elite.

High in his private balcony, Oswald Cobblepot sighs contentedly, swirling a martini gently in one hand and listening to the orchestra play. He's kept his beak more or less clean, and it's served him well. He's well aware of the nasty business going on with the Black Mask, but even Cobblepot won't shed a tear for that man's demise. Roman has done nothing but make business difficult for everyone.

He has a special quest in the Lounge tonight. Captain Cold has come all the way from Albania to share a drink with him. Snart isn't his usual choice of drinking companions but Cobblepot has been expanding his network. There's no sense in having friends in just Gotham. After all, no one can say what tomorrow holds, can they?

Comments

[jla-undead.livejournal.com]

The vampire is far too fast for that. He leaps deftly into the air over the quarterstaff, and bowls into the body of the Boy Wonder, howling with joy as he raises his claws to start ripping at the the young hero.

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

Cold knocks a block of ice free from his makeshift igloo, and sees the battle raging around him. "Oh, Christ..." Kicking another block out, he slides from underneath the structure and sees the vampire attacking Robin.

It's simple math, really. Try and run, and get potentially eviscerated by one of these nasty critters. Side with the guy you know won't kill you, and stand a better chance of living to fight another day. 1+1=2. Or something.

"Hey, asshole!" He fires off a blast of cold power towards the vampire attacking Robin, hopefully allowing the hero to escape the immediate danger.

[snarkyboywonder.livejournal.com]

The vampire's a lot stronger than Robin, and his body armor can only protect him from so much. The situation is looking particularly grim, and then, just as the vampire is reaching for his throat, it jerks, blasted in the back. Dropping Robin, it turns to face the new attacker, allowing Robin to see for the first time his unlikely ally. And, to his great surprise, it's not Mr. Freeze.

Robin opens his mouth to ask who the newcomer is but thinks better of it. Now really isn't the time. And he sees a vampire poised on the balcony above the man, ready to leap down on him while he's distracted.

"Watch out!"

The Boy Wonder flings a bola batarang, intending to trip the vampire up and keep it from doing more than crashing to the ground next to Cold. At the same time, he's reaching for a different sort of batarang, hoping that the old adage about vampires being vulnerable to light has some truth to it.

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

Cold dives out of the way of the falling vampire, and is then temporarily blinded by the flash of intense light that emanates from Robin's second batarang. The vampires fare worse; some of them rolling on the ground clutching their eyes, clearly under the impression that they've been exposed to daylight.

[snarkyboywonder.livejournal.com]

Robin doesn't waste time on the vampires. He runs straight to Cold, just in case run of them might have managed to shut its eyes in time.

He has no idea who the man is but he looks vaguely familiar. Not especially threatening, though, and he helped him before, so Robin has no reason to believe he's anything but well-meaning.

"C'mon, I don't know how long they'll be blinded by that." He eyes the man's gun briefly, but thinks better of it. He'll recover his sight soon enough.

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

Captain Cold does a double-take, but realises that clearly this boy doesn't recognise him from adam. Figures. You go away for a few years and suddenly even the *heroes* forget about you. That will have to be corrected at some point, but right now? "Yeah, whatever. I'll freeze the entire place into a glacial block while you keep the pathway to the front door clear."

"If any civvies get caught in the ice they should be able to get thawed out without suffering from anything except mild hypothermia." And possible brain damage from having oxygen cut off, but hey, you can't make an omelette...

[snarkyboywonder.livejournal.com]

"Right." Robin agrees, turning with quarterstaff in hand.

He's got more cryo capsules on hand for any stray Gothamites who might get frozen. But Cold's dismissive attitude towards the innocents does not go unnoticed. He makes a mental note to ask this guy a few questions after they get out of here.

Right now, though? 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

Cold unleashes a blast of ice cold air, spreading the beam across the entire interior of the nightclub. He doesn't notice the vampire that was somehow clinging onto the ceiling above him before it leaps down and cuts him nastily across the face.

"You sonofabitch!" Snart turns the cold gun onto full power, and aims it at the vampire's head. In a matter of seconds the monster falls to the ground, and Cold brings his foot down onto its face, shattering the skull into small shards of ice.

[snarkyboywonder.livejournal.com]

Robin whirls at his unlikely ally's yell, ready to help, but Cold has already dispatched his attacker.

Whoever he is, he's good. Robin's going to have to find out who he is once this is all over.

"Are you all right?" He returns to Cold's side, quickly assessing his injury. Mostly superficial. Fortunately, the vampires don't seem to be able to pass on their curse - otherwise both of them would have been turned already.

Holding his quarterstaff in front of him defensively, Robin looks around, noting with growing suspicion that their attackers seem to be gone. It can't be that simple...

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

"Fine." Cold wipes the blood running down his face away with the back of his sleeve, staining his blue parka and turning part of the arm a nice purple colour.

"Listen, kid. You're all right, as far as capes go. I'm going to just walk straight out of here and out of your crackpot city back to where vampires aren't runnin' around. Okay?" Cold keeps his gun in his hand, just in case.

[snarkyboywonder.livejournal.com]

Robin barely hears him. He's scanning the Lounge and realizing for the first time - where the hell is Cobblepot?

"I've gotta go find the Penguin. The police'll be here soon. There don't seem to be any of the vamps left but keep an eye on the survivors just in case." He's gone at that, heading towards the back doors Oswald Cobblepot ran through, having no time to consider the idea that the new face who helped him might do anything but just what he asked of him.

[a-cold-front.livejournal.com]

As Robin turns his back, Cold is tempted to blast him with his gun, and levels it at the Boy Wonder.

"Screw it." With the hero gone through the back door, Captain Cold heads out of the front and away from the scene of the crime.