Fire and Ice

The mighty War Zeppelin of Dr. Neutron floated high above Star City while the citizens below scrambled to purchase last minutes gifts for the impending holidays. Instead of plotting against them or looking down on them Dr. Neutron instead enjoyed a holiday meal with his unbeknownst to the public wife, Fuzion, and daughter Sarah. Dinner conversation had steered into the familiar territory of Dr. Neutron telling the real story of he and Fuzion's past exploits.

"How come I've never heard about you saving Mom? When did this happen?" Sarah asked between mouthfuls of chicken cordon blue.

Neutron sipped his champagne slowly. "Oh this was ages ago, long before you were born, me and your mother weren't even together at that point. You've never heard it because your wonderful mother is still embarrassed to this day by it."

Fuzion playfully scoffed. "I'm not embarrassed, I would have won with or without your help. Back then you always stuck your nose where it didn't belong."

"Don't make me laugh darling, if I hadn't stepped in you, and this entire city for that matter would have been reduced to a smouldering crater." Neutron replied snootily.

"Can someone please tell me what happened?" Sarah pleaded.

Fuzion and Neutron played rock paper scissors to determine who would be the storyteller. Neutron came out on top, again, Fuzion always picked rock.

"So a long time ago Frozen Shadow was going through a messy divorce, his wife was a bitch. I never liked her, nobody did to be honest. She hired an expensive lawyer who was going to take everything from him, including custody of his daughter, she had him by the short hairs since she knew his secret identity.

Threatening a man's family makes them do outrageous things, Shadow went after the lawyer. Froze the Star City freeway and all the cars on it. Naturally your mother swooped in, like the hero she is, to talk some sense into him. That was a mistake, you can't reason with a person going mad, Shadow shot the first shot, leading to quite a battle. Your mother had to take the fight somewhere less populated, she threw Shadow halfway across the state into an old quarry...."

"I actually threw him across state lines, hell of a toss. Bullseye'd that quarry." Fuzion interjected proudly.

"Correction, across state lines. As you know I keep an eye on all the pesky supers so I grabbed some popcorn, fired up the at the time experimental wormhole engine to watch from this old bird. A battle unfolded like nothing ever seen before. A struggle between fire and ice that shook the Earth to its core. Dear, how did he get the upper hand on you? You are magnitudes more powerful than he ever was."

Fuzion sniffled, a wave of empathy shot through her body. "He was heartbroken, and hurt. He did something a super should never do.....he lost control. A man with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous kind."

"Nobody knew how powerful he really was until that day. Up to that point his methods were fairly peaceful. He can slow down electrons on a sub atomic scale, not manipulate them like I can of course." Neutron always enjoyed throwing in some sneaky brags into his stories. "Normally he would make people really cold, cool their blood, make them unable to fight back, nothing serious. Little did we know at the time, he had some technology from beyond the stars.

A small box that could violate every known law of physics we have, create matter from nothing, produce more energy than it took to power it, and turn a super's own powers against them. I don't have to tell you this, but if your mother ever lost control of her powers it would make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like vacation resorts. That's where I come in...."

"How'd you stop him?" Sarah asked excitedly.

"Nothing fancy. Simply repelled down into the quarry behind Shadow and gently placed my hand on his shoulder. Did a little rearranging of his insulin levels, caused him to go into a diabetic coma, nothing too serious. Needed to get him out of the picture while I dealt with the bigger problem, your mother having a meltdown. I couldn't figure out how his device worked so instead of using my vast intellect, I had to go with my gut to save the day."

Fuzion rolled her eyes. "Here it comes...."

"I confidently strode up to your mother and looked her dead in the eyes, those furious orange eyes, the green flames behind them raging like a wildfire. The searing heat from her singed my eyebrows off, but I persevered through the fire and the flames to embrace her. I whispered in her ear, do you remember what I said dear?"

Fuzion gulped down a generous amount of champagne. "If you blow up I'm happy to go, as long as I get to be close to you."

Neutron smiled. "It was a gamble, but it payed off. Your mother got control of herself, no nuclear apocalypse that day. She asked my why and I simply replied......"

"I may be a villain, but I'd never let my nemesis die." Fuzion finished his sentence for him.

"Wait, wait, wait......mom never considered you her nemesis." Sarah said.

"She wasn't, Frozen Shadow was. Now that I'd defeated him and "borrowed" his advanced technology he was no longer a threat to me, he'd be more useful to me alive. It was a win-win situation. Mom got to be the hero who saved the world, and my research advanced exponentially. Also allowed us to make sure a situation like that would never arise again."

"How so?" Sarah asked.

"Your mother signed a pre-nup when we got married. I'd rather be swallowed by nuclear hellfire than have to go to divorce court."

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