บท 116: VICTOR AND NORA

[Base]

Batman introduced Victor to the rest of the team. Everyone was in their suits, hiding their identity from the new addition to the group. Except for Diana. She was in her usual armor and did not need to hide her face. Oliver was busy with some business, so he couldn't attend the meeting. While Barry was busy with his office work. Selina, Ivy, Diana, and Deadshot were the only ones in the room.

Everyone's attention was on the cryo pod in the room. The woman inside was sleeping peacefully. Batman scanned Nora's body with the nano-bot and calculated her chances.

"Do you think you will be able to cure her?" Victor asked with a glint of hope in his eyes.

"There is a way to cure her," Batman replied, which made everyone's interest piqued. "But even the problem is the cryo. Her altered biology caused her skin cells to become storage units for the cold to help her body chemistry to be comfortably chilled, allowing her to become both entirely immune and adapted to sub-freezing temperatures, and anything her skin comes into contact with will freeze. In short, after she's cured, she'll have to live her life in a cryogenic suit."

"Is it possible to..." Victor's voice trailed off. Batman could understand where he was coming from.

"Curing a subzero physiology... Humm..." Batman began to walk around the room, deep in thoughts. Everyone held their breaths in anticipation. They can see the seriousness of the situation. The girl in the pod was hanging between life and death. After a few minutes of silence, Batman stopped his walk and took in a deep breath. He walked over to the pod and touched the glass. "Selina, prepare a cryo room for the starter. The temperatures below minus 238° F. How long will it take?"

"Around two days minimum," Selina replied after taking a deep breath.

"Do it," He turned around. His gaze was intense. His eyes were darting with some sort of wild enthusiasm that no one had seen before. "I can cure her heart disease within two or three months, maybe. But her condition... It will take some time. But, not impossible..."

"I'm... Thank you..."

"In exchange, you'll turn to a new leaf and be a hero, a good person, so that when she wakes up, she's proud of you and would not have to think twice about returning your love. Do you understand that?" Batman warned.

"...yes... Thank you..." Victor tried not to lose his composure. "I'll do what you say. I'll never go back to the crime world, you have my word. Although my words don't have any value or trust, I'll gain that trust. I swear on my Nora that I will become a better person, someone she would be proud of."

Batman just nodded.

And so, Nora's treatment began...

While Selina was preparing the cryo room, Batman got all the treatment infos that Victor had performed or planning to perform on her body. From what he could say, it would have worked for the short term, but in the long term, his treatments would have eventually been useless. Luckily, apart from technology and martial arts, Bruce in his past life as Tony Stark, has also mastered the fields of genetic and biological manipulation as well as the human body and its anatomy. So, with proper instruments, a lab, and some rare resources, Batman could successfully get her cured without any sort of consequences or permanent damage to the body.

Two weeks passed...

Bruce has begun to program his nanites, giving them an upgrade and turning them into nano-doctors, as Selina would name them. It was really hard for him to make them since the bots had to function at a subzero temperature, but such a challenge invigorated him. He spent most of his day studying the case and devising a plan for the cure, using his 'knowledge' and skills. He and Pamela, together worked day and night with a bare minimum of sleep, and finally, at the end of the second week, they managed to create something impossible, something that was way beyond their time and science.

Bruce and Pamela stood before a rectangle glass container, around the size of a medium fish tank. Inside were the nanites, swirling like a group of mosquitoes hovering over a potential prey.

"Self-learning nano exoskeleton, capable of healing and curing, even regenerating body parts and internal organs, fully capable of functioning in below subzero temperature, unblemished and can't be manipulated by foreign bodies or mutation. Now this, this is something... impressive..." Pamela spoke softly. Even though she could go without sleep or food for days, if not forever as long as she got sunlight, it was all about the mental pressure. Working tirelessly on the project was physically taxing even for her. She slumped down on the chair and leaned her head back, looking at the ceiling with a satisfied look on her face.

"So?" Bruce sat beside her, "How are you feeling after this impossible achievement? It would have been impossible to develop them in such a short time without your prior research notes... We can now heal anything and everything."

They used some parts of Pamela's research notes that she performed on those thugs while experimenting on cancer cells and different medicines.

"Yeah, feels like a dream. But, given the nature, I'm afraid if the news of such things gets out, the world will be in an uproar. People will come after it, Bruce," Pamela gave her thoughts.

"That's why this must remain between us for now. We can decide what to do with this data later. For now, let's focus on Nora's health, yeah?" Bruce reminded her about the patient.

Two months later...

The nanites did their job brilliantly. Nora, who was frozen in ice for years, finally woke up from her long slumber inside the cryo room. She slowly opened her blue eyes and blinked a few times. Her blue hair was shining under the white room's light. The whole room was an enormous fridge with a small operating table and medical tools placed inside.

She was confused and shocked at first.

Cold!

But when she moved around her body, she realized she wasn't cold despite being inside an arctic place. Her entire body felt cold. As if her entire body was now a freezer of its own. It felt so weird and unreal. There was only a guy sitting inside the room with her in a lab coat, watching her with a shocked expression.

Nora tried to speak, but due to the lack of proper moisture in her vocal chord and lungs, she coughed badly for a few minutes, clearing her throat. Finally, she could speak properly, her throat not burning anymore.

"Victor?!" She muttered with a very surprised look. Then her expression changed. It was happy, shocked, and excited all in one kind of emotion. "You... Victor! How... How is that you... What happened to you?" Even though she just woke up and noticed her condition, the very first thing she did was worry about the man before her. Her beloved.

"Nora!" Victor's legs and hands trembled as he slowly walked toward her. "I... How are you feeling, my dear? Does everything hurt? Oh my god, I can't believe you are finally awake."

As they hugged each other after a long, painful time of separation, Bruce and Pamela decided to let them have some privacy. They silently walked away from outside the door. Victor has finally got what he has always wanted. Something money can never get for him, the person who matters most to him.

****

[3 days later]

The nanites will heal Nora's condition in a couple of months. Pamala became her full-time doctor, taking care of her. She kept Bruce updated. Seeing her condition improve over time, Bruce decided to cure Victor too, of his condition. And so, both husband and wife are now under intense treatment.

Bruce was happy for them. In the comics, Victor went through too many hardships, yeah, some of which were his fault, but still, Victor and Nora never got their happy ending. However, this time, he will create a happy ending for them. He would make sure that both of them get their old and happy life back once again, that he made a promise to himself, not as a Bat, or Bruce Wayne, but simply as a human being.

****

[Monday] [Noon] [R&D office]

Selina was busy attending Maggie's cooking show, so, in her place, she appointed a temporary secretary for Bruce. Now, it was supposed to be a secretarial work. No personal activities with the boss. Selina made it very clear to that girl the consequences of trying to seduce or even look flirty at her man, in a joking manner, of course. It's not like she threatened her with an experimental, newly modified, improved whip... Not at all.

No, not at all, but... Yes...

"Good morning, sir!" A sweet voice snapped Bruce out of his work mode.

Bruce raised his eyebrow and looked at the lady in question.

"Yeah," He looked at the brunette. She was wearing a black and white suit. The outfit accentuated her features pretty perfectly. Her brunette curly long hair was bouncing all around the place.

"There's someone outside urging us for a meeting with you. Apparently, she tried to get an appointment last week, but your schedule was so packed, you couldn't accommodate her."

"Show her in, will you?" Bruce thought for a moment and checked his memory. The week has been nothing but cramped schedules of meetings and taking care of Victor and Nora. It must have slipped his mind.

"Of course!" Her reply came instantly and with a happy tune, and she walked out.

After a minute or two, she entered the room again and followed another lady. Bruce's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly composed himself and asked the secretary to leave.

"Bruce Wayne," He extended his hand toward the lady.

"Talia Al Ghul," She shook his hands.

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Next, Ch: 117: Talia vs Bruce

Ch: 118: Leap of faith

Ch: 119: Interlude: Missing events

Ch: 120: Deadshot and Waller

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AN: I won't be continuing with daily release this week. The reason is simple> Barely 208 ps last week. [5chs this week] So, I think I'll go back to 3 chs/week release rate again.