Batman and the Villainous Voyage
Page 3
“It’s over,” Batman told Ivy and Mr. Freeze.
Mr. Freeze nodded coolly. “Obviously, Poison Ivy and I cannot ransom hostages we no longer have,” he said. “But there is one thing we can still accomplish that would be even more valuable to our criminal careers.”
Ivy sneered at Batman. “Yes,” she said. “We’ll make sure Batman goes down with this ship!”
Ivy waved her hands again. Suddenly, every vine and plant on the ship squirmed to life and grabbed hold of a railing, banister, or porthole.
“Pull!” she commanded.
All across the boat, the plants tore at the ship.
CREAK! A crack rippled across the ship’s hull. Water surged into the lower decks. The ship was sinking!
“Stop!” yelled Batman. He lunged at Ivy. She waved her hands and a thicket of vines wrapped around Batman’s legs. They lifted him up and slammed him into the ground with a thundering THUD!!
Mr. Freeze stepped up and fired at Batman. ZIRRRRRRT! Batman rolled to his side. The sub-zero blast hit the vines instead. CLANK! The vines froze instantly. A hard kick from Batman broke them off with a SNAP!
Batman sprang to his feet and threw a Batarang that sailed just past Ivy. The Batarang sliced into a rack on the wall of the bowling alley. CLANK!
“Ha! You missed!” Ivy snarled.
Batman smirked. “Did I?” he asked.
Suddenly, the two dozen bowling balls on the rack bounced free.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Batman jumped aside as they slammed into the villains. Mr. Freeze fell to the floor along with Poison Ivy.
Ivy was knocked unconscious. Mr. Freeze, however, quickly got to his feet, unharmed because of his armored suit. “You will have to do better than that to stop me,” said Mr. Freeze.
Suddenly, the massive ship started to slide beneath the waves. Water rushed into the room.
SPLOOOSH!
In an instant, the water was nearly knee-deep — and rising fast.
Mr. Freeze rushed at Batman through the water. ZIRRRRRT! Mr. Freeze fired his gun, but Batman rolled like a gymnast to avoid the blast.
“You can’t keep dodging my blasts forever,” stated Mr. Freeze as the water continued to rise higher.
“You’re right,” Batman said.
As the villain fired again, Batman tackled Mr. Freeze. WHAM! Mr. Freeze’s blast went off course as he fell over into the waist-deep water.
Batman leaped to his feet just as Mr. Freeze’s errant blast hit the water. Instantly, every drop of water in the room froze into rock-solid ice.
Mr. Freeze found himself encased in a thousand-ton block of solid ice! He couldn’t even move an arm to try to break free.
Batman breathed a sigh of relief — but then he saw that one of his feet was also trapped in the ice! As the water rose above his chest, Batman pulled as hard as he could. His foot moved a little, but didn’t come free.
With a resounding SPLOOOOOOOSH, the boat sank beneath the waves. In a matter of seconds, the entire ship had disappeared into the dark . . . taking Batman along with it.
* * *
An hour later on the Gotham Docks, Alfred helped the other passengers out of the lifeboats.
The sun was going down, but he kept looking out at the water, hoping to see any sign of Batman.
Instead, he saw two figures coming closer to the shore. Alfred was alarmed to see that the two were Ivy and Mr. Freeze!
Alfred worried about what they had done to Batman. Until he saw that the two villains were unconscious. A third person, in black clothes almost too dark to see, was swimming ahead and dragging the other two.
Batman!
As the weary hero climbed up onto a dark and empty dock nearby, Alfred quickly rushed over without anyone noticing. He arrived just as Batman finished tying up the unconscious villains.
“It’s good to see you, sir,” said Alfred, barely restraining his glee. “I must apologize, the cruise was not exactly what I was expecting.”
“Me either,” replied Batman. “It actually worked out a lot better than I had expected.”
“It did?” asked Alfred.
“If we hadn’t been on that boat, I doubt all the passengers and crew would have made it back safely,” said Batman.
Aflred nodded. “Quite true,” he said.
As the moon rose over Gotham, a police siren began to wail in the distance. “And we got back in time for me to go to work,” he said.
Batman raised his grapnel gun and fired a cable into the air. WOOOOOOOSH!
“So all in all, the next time you suggest we go on something like this,” Batman told Alfred, “remind me not to complain.”
Alfred smiled and waved goodbye. With that, Batman disappeared into the night.
POISON IVY
REAL NAME:
Pamela Isley
OCCUPATION:
Professional Criminal, Botanist
BASE:
Gotham City
HEIGHT:
5 feet, 6 inches
WEIGHT:
110 pounds
EYES:
Green
HAIR:
Chestnut
Born with immunities to plant toxins and poisons, Pamela Isley’s love of plants began to grow like a weed at an early age. She eventually became a botanist, or plant scientist. Through reckless experimentation with various flora, Pamela Isley’s skin itself has become poisonous. Her venomous lips and poisonous plant weapons present a real problem for the Dark Knight. But Ivy’s most dangerous quality is her extreme love of nature — she cares more about the smallest seed than any human life.
MR. FREEZE
REAL NAME:
Dr. Victor Fries
OCCUPATION:
Professional Criminal, Scientist
BASE:
Gotham City
HEIGHT:
6 feet
WEIGHT:
190 pounds
EYES:
Icy blue
HAIR:
None
Victor Fries felt lonely throughout his schooling. He was teased constantly by classmates and was sure he’d never have a friend. Then he met Nora, and everything changed. They fell in love. But when Nora became ill with an incurable disease, Victor lost hope. To say Mr. Freeze’s heart went cold would be an understatement. His indifference toward human life is now so severe that he spreads suffering to anyone within his icy grasp. That way, other people will feel his pain.
BIOGRAPHIES
SCOTT SONNEBORN has written many books, one circus (for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey), and a bunch of TV shows. He’s been nominated for one Emmy and spent three very cool years working at DC Comics. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two sons.
LUCIANO VECCHIO was born in 1982 and currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With experience in illustration, animation, and comics, his works have been published in the US, Spain, UK, France, and Argentina. His credits include Ben 10 (DC Comics), Cruel Thing (Norma), Unseen Tribe (Zuda Comics), and Sentinels (Drumfish Productions).
GLOSSARY
balcony (BAL-kuh-nee)—a platform with railings on the outside of a building, usually on an upper level
electromagnet (i-LEK-troh-mag-nit)—a magnet formed when electricity flows through a coil of wire
gangplank (GANG-plangk)—a short bridge or piece of wood used for walking onto and off of a ship
grimaced (GRIM-issd)—made a facial expression that indicates a negative reaction to something
hijacking (HYE-jak-ing)—taking illegal control of a plane or other vehicle
hull (HUHL)—the frame or body of a boat or ship
mesmerized (MEZ-muh-rized)—hypnotized or brainwashed
miserable (MIZ-ur-uh-buhl)—sad, unhappy, or dejected
nullified (nuhl-uh-FYED)—made something useless or canceled out something
proper (PROP-ur)—right or suitable for a given occasion, or stiffly formal
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Batman has his Batarangs. Mr. Freeze has his cold gun. Poison Ivy has her toxic plants and pollens. Which weapon do you think is the best? Discuss your answers.
Batman’s sharp senses help him out in this book. Find a few examples in the story where Batman puts his detective skills to use.
This book has ten illustrations. Which one is your favorite? Why?
WRITING PROMPTS
Batman counts on Alfred to help him out when the going gets tough. Who do you count on to help you? Who counts on you? Write about your helpful experiences.
The ship in this book has a pool, a bowling alley, and lots of other fun stuff. Write a few paragraphs about your dream ship, then draw a picture of it.
Write a short story where Batman faces off against two super-villains. Which criminals does he fight? How does he managed to defeat them? Write about it.
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COPYRIGHT © 2013 DC COMICS.
BATMAN AND ALL RELATED CHARACTERS AND ELEMENTS ARE TRADEMARKS OF AND © DC COMICS.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OR STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEBSITE.
ISBN: 978-1-4342-4092-7 (LIBRARY BINDING)
ISBN: 978-1-4342-4216-7 (PAPERBACK)
ISBN: 978-1-4342-6370-4 (EBOOK)
SUMMARY: A CHARITY CRUISE FILLED WITH GOTHAM’S WEALTHIEST CITIZENS HAS BEEN BOARDED BY NOT ONE BUT TWO GROUPS OF HIJACKERS! POISON IVY AND MR. FREEZE FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO RANSOM THE PASSENGERS WITH COUNTLESS CITIZENS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE. BATMAN WILL HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO PLAY ONE CROOK AGAINST THE OTHER, OR THEY’LL ALL GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP.
ART DIRECTOR: BOB LENTZ
DESIGNER: BRANN GARVEY