"You're... Professor Victor from the Physics Club? How did you end up like this?"
Caitlin stared in disbelief.
"It's a bit complicated," Victor replied helplessly.
"You two know each other?" Hardy asked curiously.
He'd never heard of any connection between Mr. Freeze and Killer Frost.
"I worked at Hard University for three years. Later, Gotham University received funding from Wayne Enterprises, giving me a better research environment, so I moved to the cryophysics lab at Gotham University.
While I was at Hard University, I was the faculty advisor for the Physics Club. At that time, Snow was an undergraduate there. In my final year, she even served as vice president of the club. She was one of the smartest students I ever met at Hard University," Mr. Freeze explained to Hardy.
At that moment, Alice brought over several steaming cups of coffee and handed them out to everyone.
But when it was Mr. Freeze's turn, he declined.
"Thank you, but I'm sorry—I can't drink this. If I drank coffee, it would probably freeze into a block of ice in no time, which could cause a stomach perforation."
"Well, I've seen a lot of strange things in recent years, but this is definitely a first," Alice shrugged.
Just then, Wally West returned the stolen jewelry to the store and zipped back to the lab in a flash of yellow lightning.
Cisco immediately introduced everyone to Wally.
Mr. Freeze then turned to Caitlin.
"Snow, I need your help operating the equipment. We need to work together to thaw Nora. To prevent low temperatures from damaging her cells, I'll need equipment capable of nano-scale precision."
"That requires a special cryogenic physiological solution. Can you tell me what's wrong with Nora?" Caitlin asked curiously.
"Congenital neurodegenerative disease. It was originally recessive, but due to radiation exposure in the lab, that part of her genetic traits was expressed, causing protein misfolding. Her nerve cells gradually degenerated and lost their function."
Caitlin frowned.
That was practically incurable. Even as a top biomedical PhD, she couldn't think of a suitable treatment.
Mr. Freeze immediately understood what Caitlin was thinking.
"Don't worry, Snow. Walter has a miraculous supernatural healing ability. I've seen him completely heal a gunshot wound in under a minute. As long as we have an MRI machine capable of cellular-level imaging, we can greatly slow Nora's condition and extend her life."
Hardy helpfully demonstrated by condensing a wind blade on his hand and slicing open his own arm. Then, he switched to healing magic, pressing his glowing green hand to the wound.
A dozen seconds later, the wound was as good as new, with only a trace of blood left behind.
"Wow, man, we've never seen you show off that ability before," Cisco whistled.
"It wasn't this effective before—basically just a fast-acting bandage. And I never had a chance to show it off," Hardy laughed, then joined the others in wheeling Nora's cryogenic chamber to the medical room.
An hour later, Caitlin and Mr. Freeze had prepared the cryogenic physiological solution.
As the cryochamber was opened, a blast of bone-chilling cold swept out, forcing those in short sleeves to take a few steps back.
Caitlin pressed a button, injecting the cryogenic solution into the chamber.
This would help prevent tiny ice crystals from piercing Nora's cells as she was thawed.
Mr. Freeze was visibly excited, but remained steady and meticulous as he directed Caitlin in operating the equipment.
He had rehearsed the thawing process countless times in his mind and dreams—he knew exactly what to do at every step.
"To avoid harming Nora's body, the thawing process will take eighteen hours. If any of you get tired, feel free to rest," Mr. Freeze said gently, fitting a special oxygen mask to Nora's face before turning to the others.
"Especially you, Walter. I hope you'll get some good rest so you're in top condition for Nora's surgery."
"Alright," Hardy nodded seriously to Mr. Freeze.
But just then, the lights in S.T.A.R. Labs flashed red and an alarm sounded.
"Guys, looks like we won't be getting any rest," Wally said, arms crossed as he looked around.
Two minutes later, everyone except Mr. Freeze—who had to stay and monitor Nora—gathered in the main hall, staring at the central monitor.
A fully armored Japanese samurai was flying over Central City, wreaking havoc.
"Whoosh!"
Wally West vanished in a streak of yellow lightning.
As a master of puppetry, Hardy could tell at a glance that the samurai wasn't human—there wasn't anyone inside. It was a puppet-like robot.
"Need a hand?" Hardy asked Cisco.
He was mainly interested in studying the robot.
"Thanks, man!" Cisco opened a portal.
Hardy reached out to his suitcase in the corner of the hall. It instantly broke apart and assembled itself onto him in two seconds, transforming him into the White Samurai.
"Cool! I knew you were the one who stopped the Gotham missile incident!" Cisco looked excited and charged through the portal first.
But as Hardy followed Cisco out, he immediately saw Wally West lying defeated in the street, having been knocked down by three shockwave attacks from the Japanese samurai.
"Looks like we're up against a tough one," Cisco said, just as the mechanical samurai—
The warrior extended a hand, and in the blink of an eye, Hardy surged to the front of the mechanical samurai, brandishing a high-voltage electric sword.
"Breath of Thunder, Second Form: Inazuma!"
At the same instant, the mechanical samurai raised its blade, releasing a peculiar pulse of electricity from it, clashing head-on with Hardy.
In that split second, an intense shockwave burst out between the two, shattering the glass along the street.
Hardy controlled the white-armored samurai to flip the high-voltage sword and delivered a side kick to the mechanical samurai.
With the immense power of the pneumatic device, even though the mechanical samurai reacted quickly to defend itself, it was still inevitably smashed to the ground, sparks flying, and ceased moving.
"Excellent design, but limited functionality, and the material strength isn't sufficient."
Hardy gave his assessment of the mechanical samurai.
This thing is good for bullying the inexperienced—like Wally West, who's only just mastered the Speed Force and lacks much combat experience.
But faced with a truly strong opponent, it could barely hold out for a few moves before being dismantled.