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he was entertaining strategy after strategy and rejecting them just as quickly.
    “At twenty thousand feet,” said Freeze, “the heavy hand of cold wraps you in a blanket. It slows your blood, chills your lungs. And then, at thirty thousand feet, what welcome relief. An end to rage, to pain, as your heart turns to ice and beats no more.”
    Another glance at the altimeter showed Batman they’d reached fifteen thousand feet. And still rising.
    “In such a way,” Freeze told him, “I was frozen once. In such a way I was torn from the warmth of human company. But fear not, my friend. You have imprinted yourself indelibly on the psyche of society. The world will not forget you as I was forgotten.”
    Freeze was distracted by something. Batman followed his gaze to one of the observation ports, but there was nothing to see.
    Smiling coldly, Freeze turned back to him. “Your friend Robin was with us for a while,” he said. “But he seems to have dropped off.”
    For a moment, Batman’s heart sank in his chest. Then he caught a glimpse of a dark, slender figure outside the hull—hanging on to the capsule with the help of magnets on his hands and feet. Slowly but surely, his face showing the terrible strain, Robin was struggling against the acceleration—making his way inch by inch toward the escape hatch.
    But Freeze couldn’t see that from where he was standing. And Batman certainly wasn’t about to tell him about it.
    Besides, the villain was busy with something else. As Batman looked on, Freeze stepped into the straps of a glide-wing backpack mounted on the wall. And as if he were addressing a university physics class, he went on doggedly with his lecture.
    “At forty thousand feet, the rocket’s fuel will be exhausted. This icy tomb will plummet back to Gotham in the form of a fiery missile.” Freeze gazed at Batman with something strangely akin to envy. “And you will live forever. In blessed infamy.”
    Batman scowled. “You’re insane, Freeze. There are other ways to kill me, if that’s what you’re after. If this capsule lands in Gotham, it’ll slaughter thousands of innocent people.”
    Freeze opened the door behind him, unleashing the fury of the dark and naked sky. The wind whipped at everything in the cabin.
    “Innocent people get hurt all the time,” he said with utter objectivity. “Freeze well, Batman.”
    And he leaped out into the night.

CHAPTER THREE

    F or a moment, it felt to Freeze as if he were flying. Then gravity asserted its claim to him and he plummeted toward the lurid lights of Gotham City many thousands of feet below.
    But it didn’t worry him—not in the least. Calmly pressing a stud in his silver suit, Freeze watched as a sleek wing unfolded itself from his backpack. He felt it catch the wind.
    Then, using body English, he angled himself downward in midair, using his glide wing to control his flight toward the Gotham skyline. As he descended, he contemplated a world without Batman.
    Not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.

    Batman strained against his icy bonds. Everything in the capsule was frosting over—the controls, the transparent nose cone, even the bulkheads. Just the way Freeze had expected.
    But there was one thing he hadn’t expected. As Batman watched, the capsule’s escape hatch opened and Robin lowered himself through it.
    “I was just hanging around,” Robin said, gathering his strength after his ordeal. “Thought I’d drop in.”
    Batman looked at him askance. “I thought you were going to stay in the museum and round up the thugs.”
    Robin’s eyes widened in his mask. “You thought—?” he sputtered. “How about ‘Nice to see you’? ‘Glad you’re here to save my life’?”
    “That’s not the point,” Batman replied, “and you know it.”
    His companion didn’t respond. Apparently, he didn’t see any point in it. Instead, he pulled a laser from his Utility Belt and flash-melted one of Batman’s ice shackles.
    But Batman had no intention