Batman 4 - Batman & Robin Read Online Free PDF Page B

absolute. Only one thing you can always depend on. Everything . . .”
    He lifted a tremendous diamond from the debris of the display case. It sparkled magnificently in his hand.
    “. . . freezes,” he said, completing his thought.
    Freeze held the diamond high over his helmeted head. The light lanced through it, eliciting rainbows of color, making it shine more brilliantly than any star.
    “From perfect beauty,” he announced, “I will bring back . . . life.”
    Suddenly, the skylight seemed to explode, scattering daggers of glass that made the remains of the display case look like splinters. And in the wake of that unexpected explosion, Batman came plummeting into the room, his cape a huge, outflung shadow that darkened even the brilliance of the gem.

CHAPTER TWO

    B efore Freeze could move a muscle, Batman hit the ice-covered brontosaurus and came sliding down its neck. Plowing into the villain feetfirst, the Dark Knight dislodged the diamond from his grasp and sent it skittering across the frozen floor.
    Clenching his teeth, Freeze turned his cryonic weapon on his adversary. “Bat on ice, anyone?”
    Abruptly, Batman kicked the cryo-gun out of Freeze’s hands and snatched it out of the air. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with guns?” he asked in that low, ominous voice of his.
    Moving quickly, Freeze launched a kick of his own—and sent the gun pinwheeling out of Batman’s possession. Then he snatched it in turn.
    “You’re not sending me to the cooler,” he said.
    Before Batman could respond, Freeze fired. But his enemy dodged the blast. Undaunted, Freeze took aim again.
    That’s when the front doors of the museum blew open—admitting Gotham’s other costumed crime fighter. Robin came soaring through the air on his motorbike, a grin on his face as if there were nothing in the world he’d rather be doing than risking his life.
    Freeze was so distracted by the entrance, he didn’t see Batman kick at his gun again. He just felt the impact and saw the weapon ascend in a high, twirling arc.
    At first, Freeze thought it was headed for Robin’s hand. But Batman’s protégé didn’t catch it. Sailing over Freeze’s head on his bike, he kicked the airborne gun onto the altar atop the pyramid.
    “Score!” Robin laughed. “And the crowd goes wild!”
    Then he landed, laying his bike sideways in a long, slippery slide across the floor. To keep from slamming into the wall, Robin grabbed a Roman statue of Mercury and used it to whip around in a dismount.
    Batman went for Freeze. Robin was right behind him.
    How dramatic, thought Freeze. How inspiring. His own outlook tended to be more down to earth. More succinct.
    “Grab the gem,” he told his Icemen. “Kill the heroes.”
    Until now, his hirelings had been holding back, awaiting his orders. Now they rushed forward, hockey masks in place, sticks flailing as they closed with the caped intruders.
    “It’s the hockey team from hell,” Robin wisecracked.
    He didn’t know how right he was, Freeze mused, as he raced toward the altar and his fallen gun. But he never quite got there.
    There was a rush of dark security uniforms from a side door Freeze hadn’t paid much attention to. And before he could reach the top of the pyramid, they were swarming all over him.
    It turned out to be a mistake. A big mistake—but not for Freeze.
    After all, he was their superior in every way. A living weapon designed to survive, to endure, to win —while they were doughnut-chomping nobodies off the streets of Gotham.
    With speed and precision, he began whaling on the guards. Hooks, jabs, upper and lower cuts—all perfectly delivered, if he did say so himself. And the inevitable result?
    He looked at the uniformed figures sprawled all around him. Not a single one was still conscious.
    “Cop-suey,” he spat.
    Then he remembered his gun, still atop the altar. Showing the rent-a-cops the disdain they deserved, he turned his back on them and went for