//------------------------------//
// Cold Bat 
// Story: Batmare Beyond 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

Bruce sat down to breakfast with Rarity, the morning after Terry's first solo excursion as Batman.  Rarity could feel Bruce watching her carefully, obviously trying to find a way to say something.  Unwilling to be patient, Rarity decided to break the ice.  "You don't approve," she said bluntly.

Bruce set down his tea cup.  "I didn't say that," he countered.

"You didn't have to," Rarity replied.  "From the minute I first went out with Terry as Batman, you've had the same uncertain frown on your face whenever you look at the new suit.  What have you got against him taking up the mantle of Batman?  Unlike me, he was able to learn everything you had to teach in the ways of the arts.  He's as physically capable as Batman as you ever were in your prime.  He's your top student, and you're practically a second father to him!  Even Warren said so.  So what do you have against him donning the cape and cowl?  ...well, cowl at any rate."

Bruce sighed.  "Why Batman?" he asked finally.  "Couldn't you have given him the mantle of Robin?  Or Nightwing, if you feel he's too old for Robin?"

"And why would I relegate him to a sidekick?" Rarity demanded.  "He's a partner in crime fighting.  Much as you are like a second father to him, he is like a brother to me."

"But what about those who don't know that he's your student in this regard?" Bruce demanded.  "Someone new to Gotham might think you're the sidekick, if not the mascot!"

"Good."

Bruce stared at Rarity in shock.  "What did you say?"

"I said good," Rarity replied.  "I want the bat signal to shine brightest on Terry.  As Batman, he will protect the city as you did before.  With us able to take turns out on patrol, neither of us will be so overworked by 'night work' that our daily lives will suffer.  That's the main lesson I took from Richard: have backup you can rely on."  She sipped her tea.  "It's why the first few major villains I faced I arranged to rehabilitate instead of incarcerate.  At the time I didn't realize Terry would seek the mask as well."

Bruce nodded.  "I understand that.  What I don't understand is why you want Batman to have more attention than Batmare."

"Because that way no one will notice when Batmare slowly fades into the background before disappearing altogether," she replied softly.

Bruce froze.  "What do you mean by that?"

"I read your private files regarding your speculation of how I came to be here," she admitted.

Bruce frowned.  "How'd you crack my security?"

"'Pennyworth' wasn't that difficult a password to guess once I started thinking like you," she replied with a smirk.

He glowered at her.  "I don't know whether to be disappointed that you tried to break into my files or proud that you succeeded."  When this only resulted in Rarity giggling, he sighed, shaking his head.  "Alright, I suppose I can't fault your reasoning.  But where did you get the suit?"

"I sent Victor the specs for the suit mine was made from and asked him to upgrade it with the most advanced tech he had at his disposal without altering the essence of it," Rarity replied.  "The cloaking field will now extend to wielded weapons, the kinetic dampening field now reduces the force of impact five times as much, while the kinetic amplifiers give twice as much of a strength boost."

Bruce stroked his chin.  "I'm not sure how I feel about others knowing the design of the Bat suit..."

"Victor's already deleted the files from his hard drive, with the only copy of the specs on a flash drive stored here," Rarity replied.  "Same as the designs for the magitek I've used to upgrade my suit."

Bruce paused.  "Do I want to know what you've put into your suit?"

"Probably, but I won't tell you," Rarity replied in a teasing voice.

Bruce chuckled.  "So what did you send Terry out to take care of last night?"

"Someone's been dumping radioactive waste into the ocean," she replied.  "Terry was investigating - and putting a stop to - that.  He reported an all clear, and that the man in charge of the operation had Derek Powers on his speed dial."

Bruce frowned.  "Well, I suppose-"

His words were interrupted as the TV turned on, having been keyed to automatically turn on for news broadcasts including certain key words.  Bruce stared at the man visible on the TV.  "...Victor Fries," Bruce said in surprise.

"That doctor you fought when he was villainous?" Rarity asked in surprise.  "I thought he couldn't live outside his cold suit?"

As they listened to the broadcast, Bruce frowned.  "It seems Mr. Powers found something that could fix that."

"And I'll just bet he offered it to the good doctor out of the goodness of his heart," Rarity growled.  "I'll be in work investigating this."

"I think Terry should tail Fries," Bruce pointed out.  "He wasn't exactly stable in the past."

Rarity frowned, but nodded.  "Alright.  Tell Terry to keep track of him...but he might not necessarily be villainous now.  He might actually need protection."





Rarity's attempt at an official investigation into what Derek had used to rejuvenate Victor Fries proved to be just a little too slow.  By the time she'd gotten a hold of the scientists who did the work, Mr. Fries had started to relapse, and one scientist - on indirect orders from Powers - had tried to kill him for a postmortem examination.  However, Rarity had made preparations when she learned about the start of the relapse.  She had an idea of how to fix things.

By the time she caught up to Terry in costume, however, she saw Batman and Freeze in battle with Derek Powers...although Powers now resembled a glowing green skeleton.



Thankfully, Terry's Batsuit had heavily upgraded protections against radiation, so he was actually able to do a good job holding off the mutated foe.  Rarity - as Batmare - went straight to Freeze.  "You have been badly mistreated, Doctor," she said simply.  "I want to fix that."

He simply stared at her.  "How will you fix that?  Not even a new body is immune to what I have become."

"What if I could give you a body that didn't have to be immune in order to let you live amongst others?" Rarity offered.

Freeze stared at her.  "Don't taunt me with impossible miracles," he scolded.

"I don't," she replied, holding up a transparent jewel.  "I offer magic.  Unshield your hand."

Uncertain what she had planned, Freeze pressed a button on the arm controls of his cold suit.  The armor over his hand retracted.

She set the jewel into his hand, and it began to glimmer.  "Pretty, isn't it?"

"Yes..." Freeze said, his voice trailing off.  The jewel suddenly filled with a blue light, and Freeze slumped over, dead.

Taking the soul stone in her magic, Rarity handed it off to Terry.  "Take this to lab 42, and call Dr. Roth.  I'll take care of..."  She glanced towards Derek Powers.

"He calls himself Blight," Terry explained, before taking the jewel and flying off.

Blight glowered down at her.  "Do you think you won't wither at my touch?" he demanded, hunkering down to lunge at her.

Rarity stared at him for a time, then noticed something stuck to his clothing.  Nightmare, I have an idea...  She quickly explained her plan to Nightmare.

Nightmare whistled in her mind.  Clev~er, Miss Wayne, she mused.  But your magic isn't strong enough to carry it out.  ...but mine is.

Rarity smiled.  "Gone, begone, child of Light.  Now you face the Darkest Night!"

The swirling dark magic blasted Blight back, and two beams of magic lashed out from the swirling miasma.  One plunged straight into Blight's chest, the other focused on a bit of plastiskin still clinging to his shirt.  The plastiskin fragment erupted, expanding uncontrollably until it fully encapsulated Blight, leaving him visibly Derek Powers again.

"Pleasant dreams," Dark Night whispered, the transformation reversing.  He's all yours.

Thank you, Rarity replied silently before walking up to Derek Powers.  "You're probably wondering what just happened."

Derek was staring at his hand.  "The skin...it's not dissolving."

"No," Rarity replied.  "I used magic to alter its composition.  It now absorbs the radiation you give off, using it to strengthen itself.  No matter how angry you get, no matter how strong your radioactive nature becomes...you will never become Blight again, Mr. Powers."

Derek looked up at her.  "T...thank you-"

"Don't thank me, Derek," she replied angrily.  "You've used your power, money, and influence to profit off of others, not caring who you hurt or who suffered, for too long.  It had been my thought to simply destroy you professionally with all the records I'd gathered...but it seems that won't be enough to end the blight you are on the world.  So that's what the second spell was for.  Your radioactive nature sustains you so you cannot be killed, and now you cannot kill yourself because of my spell...but from this day forth, no one will believe a word you say.  No matter where you go, you will be greeted with derision, scorn, and hostility.  Never again will you know the safety and comfort you have stripped from so many for your own profit.  Simply put, Mr. Powers..."

Rarity pulled her mask off, her eyes glaring icy daggers at him.  "You're fired."

Derek stared at her in confusion, fear, and rage before scrambling off.  Rarity donned her mask before turning to leave the collapsing building.

You sure that spell will do what you said? Nightmare asked.  It's not one I'm familiar with.

It's a modified form of the ancient "Mark of Cain", Rarity explained mentally.  I researched it as a way of protecting my secret identity should I get unmasked.

What brought that on? Nightmare wondered.

Rarity was silent for a time.  The night before I offered Terry the role of Batman - after saving him and his family - I had a nightmare.  I...dreamed I was kidnapped by a group of splicers obsessed with snakes, and who planned to revert the world to a prehistoric state - like the time of the dinosaurs - by dropping a nuke into a volcano.  To protect myself from being spliced with snake DNA, I woke you while unmasked...which made them all realize I was Batmare.  To protect that secret - and the world - you dropped them all into the volcano after disposing of the nuke.  You told me I'd signed their death warrants by chanting your release while unmasked, without providing any means but death to protect our secret.

Nightmare was silent for a time.  ...that actually sounds like something I'd do.

That's why I researched the spell, Rarity explained.  For an alternative for death to protect the secret.

...remind me to explain memory spells to you sometime, Nightmare growled in resignation.  Secretly, however, Nightmare was delighted.  She liked this side of this Rarity...





A few days later, Rarity smiled across her desk in her office at the former Victor Fries.  "So, Doctor, how's the new body?"

The scientist glanced at his hand.  "It's...amazing.  I can feel the icy nature still, but it isn't overpowering!  I can feel both warmth and cold, and I can expend the cold that fills my body at will.  How is this possible?"

Rarity smiled.  "The same technology that saved you before...but combined with magic.  Instead of trying to create a human body for you to inhabit, I produced a male yuki-onna body...a yuki-otoko, if you will.  After all, the cold in your spirit is right at home in the physical form of a snow sprite."

He smiled.  "And transferring my mind and spirit via soul stone instead of technology smoothed over any details," he agreed.  "And I suppose the new identity is-"

"A clean slate is best for a new life," Rarity replied easily.  "And a job at Wayne Enterprises helps even more."  She had purged the Powers name from the company shortly after firing Derek.

"True," the former villain replied.  "But...the name?  Really?"

Rarity gave him big, dewy, begging eyes.

He sighed.  "Allow me to introduce myself," he said, pitching his voice slightly different.  "I am Akira Frieza.  I am a travelling improv artist.  Let me give you a demonstration.  My powers will be a drunken sailor, and that statue will be a baby seal.  And, go."  Pointing his hand, a beam of cold shot forth, freezing the small statue until it exploded.  "And, scene."

Rarity burst into peal upon peal of laughter.

Dr. Frieza rolled his eyes.  "If anyone but you starts making those jokes, I'm going to be a bit absolutely livid," he added, deepening his voice to a menacing level on the last two words, but finishing with a smile.  He watched as the late adolescent unicorn fell back in peals of giggling laughter.