CRRREEEEEEEEK!
RUMMMMMMMMBLE!
The entire boat shook. Batman lost his grip on his cable and fell down to the deck below.
WHAM!
He landed hard on the railing, then tumbled over the side of the boat.
Batman slid down the slick hull of the ship.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
There was nothing to grab hold of. The slippery metal hull slid beneath his fingers as he fell straight down toward the sea.
CHAPTER 3
ON ICE
As he fell, Batman flipped open a pouch on his Utility Belt and unfolded one of the Batarangs inside. Just as he was about to hit the water, Batman pressed a button on the Batarang. WHIRRRRRRRRRR! A tiny electromagnet inside it hummed to life.
THUNK! Batman clamped the magnetic Batarang onto the ship’s metal hull. It held fast. Batman dangled from it by one arm, just inches above the water.
This doesn’t make sense, thought Batman as he caught his breath. The water off the coast of Gotham City is far too warm for an iceberg, especially in the summer. So why does it look like that hunk of ice is getting bigger?
Hanging from the side of the ship, Batman watched the iceberg slowly rise higher and higher — right up to the bridge on the top deck of the ship.
Then Batman saw that a man in a metal suit was riding on top of the ice. The man was making the iceberg larger and larger by freezing the ocean water with a futuristic-looking gun.
“Of course!” Batman realized as he recognized the man. “An iceberg in the middle of summer has to be the work of Mr. Freeze!”
Standing on the very top of the iceberg, Mr. Freeze didn’t notice Batman was hiding below. Instead, he lifted his weapon and focused his aim on the bridge.
ZAP! He fired his freeze gun. Instantly, the bridge’s wraparound window shattered with a CRASH!
ZAP! Another blast from the cold gun created a slide from the iceberg to the bridge. SWISSH! Mr. Freeze slid down the ice chute and into the ship, disappearing from Batman’s sight.
“I’ve got to get up there,” Batman said to himself. “It’s only a matter of time before Ivy and Mr. Freeze find each other.”
Batman fired his grapnel gun. The hook hit the slippery metal hull and fell back down. It landed in the water with a SPLASH!
Batman pulled up the hook, but there was no use trying to fire it again. There was nothing within reach for it to latch onto. He was stuck. All he could do was listen through his earpiece.
“What did the ship hit?” asked Commissioner Gordon over the radio. “Don’t do anything rash, Ivy! Just tell us what you want!”
On the bridge, Mr. Freeze grabbed the radio handset.
“What Poison Ivy wants is no longer important,” said the frosty villain. “You will only get the hostages if you agree to my demands.”
“Mr. Freeze?!” exclaimed Gordon over the radio. “I don’t understand! Who exactly is hijacking this ship?”
“That’s an excellent question, Commissioner,” cooed Ivy.
Batman heard the entire conversation over the police radio as he hung from his magnetic Batarang. Suddenly, another voice broke in over the radio with a SQUAWK of static.
“Sir, I hope this isn’t a bad moment to interrupt,” Alfred’s voice crackled over the cowl’s built-in radio. “But whatever we just crashed into seems to have Ivy’s mesmerized crewmembers worried. They are now going cabin to cabin to make sure all the hostages are where they should be. Looking through the peephole in my cabin door, I can’t help but notice that very shortly they will arrive at your cabin.”
Bruce’s eyes went wide beneath his mask.
“If they find it empty —” Batman began.
“They will throw the person in the next cabin overboard,” finished the butler in a steady voice. “And, unfortunately, it seems that person would be me.”
Bruce knew he had to get back to his cabin and fast. But there was nothing his grapnel hook could attach to. The only thing within reach was the slick surface of the hull. And the only thing he had that would stick to that was the magnetic Batarang he was hanging from.
“So that’s what I’ll have to use,” Batman decided. CLINK! He activated the release switch on the magnet and pulled it off the hull. Immediately, he started to fall. As he was about to drop into the ocean, he attached the magnet to the end of his grapnel gun.
SPLASH!
Batman hit the water hard. As he plunged under the waves, he fired his grapnel gun upward. FWIP! The cable shot up out of the water with the magnet on its end. CLUNK!
The magnet hit the side of the boat and held fast. Batman pulled himself out of the water and climbed up the cable.
“The easy part is over,” Batman said. “Now I have to get back to my cabin in time!”
Hand over hand, Batman scaled the long grapnel hook rope as fast as he could. His muscles soon began to ache with the effort, but he kept climbing. Less than two minutes later, Batman landed on the balcony outside his cabin with a resounding THUMP!
But he was too late. Through the sliding glass door, Bruce saw a crewmember was already in his cabin.
CHAPTER 4
COLD HEARTS
Dripping wet, Batman quickly ducked down and hid on the balcony. Beyond the crewmember in his cabin, Batman could see that the door to the hallway was open. Bruce saw several more crewmembers standing out in the hall. All of them wore walkie-talkies.
“There may be more crewmembers I can’t see,” worried Batman. “If I take these down, the others might sound an alarm or call Ivy.”
Batman ducked lower on the balcony so the crewmember couldn’t see him through the glass door. As he tried to figure out what to do next, he saw Alfred step out of the cabin’s bathroom.
“I say!” Alfred said to the crewmember in the cabin. “What are you doing in my cabin?”
“We’re checking all the cabins to make sure everyone’s where they’re supposed to be,” said the mesmerized crewmember. He held up a clipboard. It listed the passengers’ names and their cabin numbers on it.
“It says here that this is supposed to be Bruce Wayne’s cabin,” the crewmember said. He jabbed his thumb at Alfred. “You had better explain why you’re in it.”
“There must be some mistake,” replied Alfred. “This is my cabin. I am Mr. Bruce Wayne’s manservant. My employer is next door.”
“We’ll see about that,” said the crewmember. He signaled to another crewmember in the hallway to check the cabin next door.
Out on the balcony, Batman leaped up from where he was hiding and jumped over to the balcony next door. As he slid into the empty cabin, he looked at the door to the hallway. CREAK! The knob on the door started to turn.
THUMP! A crewmember threw open the door. He looked around the cabin and found Bruce Wayne in the bed underneath the covers.
“Any trouble?” Bruce asked the crewmember.
The crewmember just grunted and went back into the hallway. “Bruce Wayne is in this cabin,” he shouted to the other mesmerized crewmembers. “That butler was telling the truth.”
As soon as the crewmember shut the door behind him, Bruce flung off the sheets. He was still wearing his soaked Batman costume underneath. He had only had time to take off his mask before the crewmember had entered.
Batman put his mask back on and slipped back over to the other balcony. He saw that Alfred was alone and that the door to the hallway was closed.
Batman slipped into the cabin.
“Good to see you again, sir,” said Alfred. “I am very glad that worked.”
“Me too,” Bruce told his butler. “How did you get here from your cabin with all those crewmembers in the hallway?”
“The same way you did,” replied Alfred. “Over the balcony.”
Bruce’s eyes went wide. “You jumped?” he asked in surprise.
The butler sighed. He gingerly rubbed his sore knees and elbows. “Indeed,” he said. “I know that the situation is dire with Poison Ivy on board, but you�
��ll forgive me if I say that I’m in no hurry to do that again.”
“It’s not just Ivy,” said Batman. “Mr. Freeze is here now, too. We’ve got to get all the passengers off this ship.”
Bruce saw a worried look cross Alfred’s face. “But don’t worry,” Bruce reassured him. “Mrs. Fitzpatrick and many of the other passengers couldn’t climb over their balconies even once.”
“That much is true,” Alfred said. “That means we’re going to have to find some way to get them past those crewmembers in the hall.”
* * *
On the bridge, the ship’s intercom rang out with a loud CRACKLE!
“All the hostages are in their cabins,” a crewmember announced through the intercom.
“That’s nice,” said Ivy, glancing at Mr. Freeze, “but I’ve got bigger cold fish to fry at the moment.”
“Indeed you do,” said Mr. Freeze. “It appears we both had the same idea to hijack this ship, which is logical. The fifty richest people in Gotham are on board — and far from the police or Batman. Taking them hostage was a very clever, rational plan.”
Ivy smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
Mr. Freeze aimed his freeze gun at her. “However,” he stated coldly, “only one of us can ransom the hostages for what we want.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Ivy said calmly. “You may be an uninvited guest, but that doesn’t mean my party has to end.”
Poison Ivy crept closer to Freeze. She smiled coyly at him.
“In fact, you’re exactly the kind of man I like to have around. Tall, pale, and heavily armed,” Ivy added, pointing at Mr. Freeze’s cold gun.
“If you are attempting to get me to like you,” Mr. Freeze said coldly, “you should know that plan won’t work. All my feelings have been locked away in cold storage. I care nothing about you, nor anyone else on this hunk of metal.”
Ivy shrugged. “Okay, so I was right — you are a cold fish,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But we can still do this together. You can be my partner.”
Ivy slinked closer. “Well, maybe not exactly my partner,” she whispered. “More like my slave!”
WOOOOOOOSH!
Ivy blew a handful of pollen at Mr. Freeze. The pollen entered his respiratory apparatus and passed into his helmet.
“That’s the same mind-controlling pollen I used on the captain and the crew,” Poison Ivy said. “I don’t have enough to use on all the passengers, but I have just enough left for you. I think you’ll find its effects are instantaneous!”
“Perhaps I would,” replied Mr. Freeze. “If it could get through my cold-sealed suit. Unfortunately for you, neither heat nor air — nor your precious pollen — can do that. My filters have already nullified your pixie dust.”
THUMP! Mr. Freeze shoved Ivy away. “So do not think you can do to me what you did to this ship’s crew,” he said.
“Perhaps I can’t,” snarled Ivy, “for now. But let’s see what happens when I crack that suit open!”
Mr. Freeze didn’t seem concerned. “I doubt you will be able to do that,” said Mr. Freeze. “It would take an entire army to force open my suit’s pressurized titanium seals.”
Ivy simply smiled at Mr. Freeze. “Well, I may not have an army of soldiers,” she replied. “But I do have plenty of mindless sailors!”
Ivy lunged and hit the intercom button on the wall.
CLICK!
“Attention all crewmembers!” she shouted into the intercom. “Get up here and put Mr. Freeze on ice!”
SQUAWK! SQUAWK!
Down on the passenger deck, the crewmembers heard the announcement through their walkie-talkies. They all nodded and ran toward the stairs.
Bruce peeked through the peephole in the cabin door. He saw the crewmembers leaving.
“Looks like it’s time to go!” said Bruce as he started taking off his Batman costume.
Alfred was surprised. “Sir, if you’re going into action,” asked Alfred, “won’t you be needing your costume?”
“You’re half right,” Bruce said, “but it has to be the right costume for the occasion.” Bruce slipped into his Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops.
Alfred gave Bruce a confused look.
“None of the passengers has met Batman before,” Bruce explained. “They might be as scared of him as they are of Ivy and Mr. Freeze. But they do know Bruce Wayne and his butler.”
Alfred smiled. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d choose a Hawaiian shirt over your cape and cowl,” said Alfred.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Out in the hallway, Bruce and Alfred knocked on the door of every cabin. They told the other passengers that this was their chance to escape. Bruce said he had seen lifeboats near the pool. He insisted everyone follow him to them now.
At first, the passengers started to follow Bruce and Alfred.
That is, until Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s voice suddenly boomed out. “I will do no such thing!” she said. “I will not leave all my belongings behind. I need time to pack my things!”
Alfred politely reminded her that this was their only chance to escape the ship. Mrs. Fitzpatrick cut him off as soon as he began.
“Nobody tells a Fitzpatrick what to do!” she growled. “Especially some stuffy butler! I’ve had quite enough of being ordered around. I’m not going anywhere until all my bags are packed!”
The rest of the wealthy passengers started to hesitate. Hearing Dolores Fitzpatrick’s complaints seemed to weaken their resolve to escape.
Bruce shot Alfred a look. They didn’t have time for this. Dolores needed to be silenced, and quickly.
But how? wondered Bruce.
CHAPTER 5
SHATTERED PLANS
Up on the bridge, Mr. Freeze blasted at Ivy.
ZIRRRRT!
Ivy waved a hand and made the plants in front of her grow tall enough to block the blast. Covered in ice, the plants turned brittle and crumbled.
“I’m so sorry, darlings,” Ivy whispered to the frozen plants, “but it was you or me!”
CRASH!
Glass shattered as Ivy jumped through the window.
SPLOOSH! She landed with a splash in the pool on the deck below.
Mr. Freeze quickly leaped down to the pool deck.
“Put Mr. Freeze on ice, Captain!” ordered Ivy as she pulled herself out of the pool.
Under Ivy’s spell, the captain had no choice but to obey. He jumped down from the bridge at Mr. Freeze. He was still in the air when the villain fired his gun.
FWAZIP! A sub-zero blast turned the captain into a frozen statue that hit the deck with a CLUNK!
“Was that supposed to impress me?” asked Mr. Freeze.
“No,” Ivy said with a smile. “It was supposed to distract you!”
Ivy pointed over Mr. Freeze’s shoulder. The rest of the crew had arrived. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! They all pounced on Mr. Freeze, slamming him with their fists.
Ivy smiled as she watched the crew hammer Mr. Freeze with punch after punch. But her smile disappeared when she saw that none of the blows hurt Mr. Freeze at all. He was perfectly safe inside his armored suit.
WHOOMP! Mr. Freeze threw the crewmembers off him, then raised his gun. ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! He froze them all into statues.
“Were these all of the crewmembers under your control?” asked Mr. Freeze.
“That was every last one of them, and it wasn’t nearly enough to stop you,” admitted Ivy. “Still, you can’t blame a girl for trying.”
“No,” said Mr. Freeze coldly, “but I can blame you for ordering all the crewmembers up here. If they are here, who is guarding the passengers?”
Ivy’s eyes went wide. “No one,” she whispered. “I was too busy worrying about you!”
“Perhaps the most logical course would be for us to put aside our differences for the moment,” said Mr. Freeze. “If the passengers escape, neither of us will get anything.”
“I think we’ve finally found something we can agree on,” said Ivy.
Ivy and
Mr. Freeze turned toward the door that led to the passenger deck . . . only to find Batman blocking their path!
“You’re here too?!” cried Ivy. “Is there anyone who wears a costume in Gotham who’s not on this ship?”
“We are going down to check on the passengers,” Mr. Freeze said to Batman. “Step aside or be destroyed.”
“We may not be in Gotham City,” replied Batman, “but these passengers are from there. Which means they’re under my protection.”
“Enough discussion,” said Mr. Freeze.
ZIRRRRRRT! He fired his cold gun, but Batman was already running. The blast missed him and hit the ship’s swimming pool instead.
CRACKLE! Instantly, every drop of water in the pool turned to ice!
With the frozen water expanding, the ice was now too big to fit in the pool. CRUNCH! It smashed through the bottom of the pool and landed in the ship’s bowling alley on the deck below.
WHAM!
Batman rammed his shoulder into Mr. Freeze and Ivy, pushing them down through the hole where the pool had been.
The three tumbled down onto the ruined bowling alley. Upon landing, they all quickly sprang away from each other.
Ivy raised her hands. “Get out of our way!” she screamed. The vines decorating the bowling alley came to life and surged straight at the Dark Knight.
He ducked just in time. CRUNCH! The vines smashed through a window behind him.
Batman braced for another attack. But Ivy suddenly stopped, her mouth falling open in surprise.
“Look!” she cried to Mr. Freeze.
Through the broken window of the bowling alley, the villains saw a group of lifeboats floating away from them. Not only had Alfred gotten all the passengers into the lifeboats — he had gotten all their luggage on, as well!
Alfred was tending to the captain and the other frozen crewmembers in one of the lifeboats. They would be fine in a few hours, Batman knew, after they thawed out and the effects of Ivy’s pollen had worn off.
Batman and the Villainous Voyage Page 2
