Killer Frost nears the shore, grim purpose dominating her features. Her emotions changed so quickly now. What did that boy ever do to her to deserve such a harsh end.
Remember back at the plant. He gave you flowers, expected you to fall to your knees worshiping his manhood. He’s no better than the others.
Frost’s mind hardened again, and The Ice Maiden increased her speed.
About fifty foot distance from the shore, her ice flow explodes, launching chunks of ice and Frost herself into the air as Firestormshot like a missile out of the water and into the sky. Without pausing, Firestorm creates a huge spring-loaded boxing glove from an icy boulder, and with a high-tension ‘
Booiinngg!!’, slams Frost and drives her inland. She lands hard and rolls across a beach-side parking lot near a small industrial area. She rises, a thick silvery substance dripping from her nose and mouth, and scowls at her tormentor.
“Why won’t you just die,” she shouts.
“That’s what Freddy asked Jason,” Firestorm joked, “Try a little originality, will'ya?”
“Always with the humor,” she cries, attempting to trap him again.
This time Firestorm simply lowered his density and let the ice go through him, smiling at his adversary all the time.
“Smirk if you want,” Frost tells him, “I’ll bet you can’t attack while unsolid!”
Firestorm adjusts his flight path and turns the ice flow into confetti, but Frost moves quickly. As soon as she notes the shift in his activity, she creates a huge bat and smashes it down on Firestorm’s shoulder with a meaty thunk. The flaming hero crashes hard, his forward momentum causing him to tumble across the ground right up to the side of an old auto repair shop. Frost pursues like a dog after a squirrel, not wanting him to catch his breath. In defense, Firestorm transforms the tarmac beneath her into a puddle of glue.
<<
We need an offensive strategy,>> Stein advised.
“How about this,” Firestorm says, creating a simple tennis ball launcher out of a concrete parking barrier.
As Frost freezes the adhesive and frees herself, he peppers her with hard rubber balls. She erects a shield of ice to protect herself from the painful assault.
“A ball thrower,” she spits at him, “Can’t you ever be serious?”
With a shattering crunch, a six-foot tall bowling ball rolls through her shield and knocks her to the side.
“You just don’t realize how difficult this is, Frosty,” Firestorm explains, “I can transform matter but I have to watch what I create.”
He floats over the remains of her ice wall, creating and dropping several large sandbags on her.
“I’m not trying to make fun of you, I’m just trying to find something effective without damaging the neighborhood or killing someone.”
“You talk to much,” she growls, firing sharp icicles at him.
“You know I can melt these,” Firestorm says confidently.
Something rock hard blasts into him from below. The remnants of Frost’s shield had rejoined beneath him, and now they smashed him again. Stunned, Firestorm had the presence of mind to phase through the auto shop wall and land clumsily within the building.
<<
Ronald, I have an idea,>> Stein begins, <<
If Killer Frost absorbs heat...>>
“Then maybe we should try the opposite,” Firestorm finishes.
The auto shop overhead door blows inward. Firestorm leaps up, changing the door to a weighted net and reversing its direction, neatly trapping Frost as she enters the structure.
Not for long, however, as she freezes the net strands and breaks them apart. She attacks quickly and strongly, firing bolts of cold and ice that barely miss the hero.
“Need to practice, Frosty. Your aim is a bit off,” he scolded.
“Really,” she replies sarcastically, grinning as she attacks and again misses.
Creee-aaaakk! Firestorm hears above him. He glances up as the icy stalactites separated from the ceiling with a sound like a falling tree. Even as he dodges the falling debris, a chunk of ice fired from below strikes him painfully in the thigh.
I hope this works, Firestorm thinks as he redirects a large stalactite at Frost and transforms it into Freon. As the liquid splashes her, the rage on her face changes to agony, and she wails as the substance takes her heat away.
<<
I know how the Thermafrost is designed. Use that knowledge,>> Stein suggests.
Rapidly, Firestorm strengthened the walls of the shop even as Frost pursued him. He turned the place into a steel cell, then turned to look at his adversary, whose scowl spoke of total and complete hate.
“You’re not paying attention, boy,” she states,” Even steel will not keep me long,”
Firestorm fires two atomic bursts, which narrowly miss her, and she laughs a pained, cheerless, coughing laugh, saying, “I guess your aim is as bad as mine.”
“Or as good,” Firestorm remarks.
Frost turns and looks around at the new fixtures on the wall and ceiling.
“You meant to miss,” she whispers, “You’ve changed this place into a Thermafrost unit.”
“All we need is a power source,” Firestorm adds, flying out of the shop and transforming the exit into a steel door with a reinforced window. Another burst connects the structure to the city power grid, turning on the Thermafrost. Almost instantly the temperature within drops. Frost raises her hands and smashes them against the reinforced window, but her strength had already started to fade. The window didn’t even crack.
<<
It seems to have worked,>> Stein stated.
“Good thing,” Firestorm whispered, “I didn’t have a plan ‘B’.”
“Firestorm, please don’t do this to me,” she pleads quietly, suddenly calm and serious. “When I was trapped in the Thermafrost before, I could not move but I was aware. Do you know what that is like?”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, now face to face with the glass between them, “I don’t.”
“It is horrible. Please. I will cooperate.”
Firestorm thought about it for a moment. A long moment. Fists clenched, fighting himself mostly, he looks into her eyes.
“I can’t,” he tells her, “You’ve killed too many, and I don’t know if I can contain you again.”
“You’re just like the other men,” she hissed weakly, “You care about no one but y...” Killer Frost stops moving. Firestorm turns away with a heavy sigh.
<<
You did what you had to, Ronald,>> Stein assures, <<
She is far too dangerous.>>
“Yeah, Professor, but right now, that really doesn’t make me feel any better.”
The End...
