The Villain Wrangler

Cool Demeanor

Danny huffed, but admitted the man had a point. "It's not a joke. I take my job seriously; the happiness of these kids means a lot to me." He shrugged. "You might enjoy it too- Poison Ivy did." He shook his head to refocus himself. "Point is, this kid idolizes you and wants to meet you. What would you lose from visiting him?"

"Ask yourself that when the cops show up. Or worse, that damned speedster."

He'd thought of this one already. "Then visit him during the nighttime, outside of regular hours." Neither said anything for several minutes, but Danny was patient. Not to lie, he was also mentally praying to every deity he could think of for Cold to say yes.

The rogue turned away, and began to walk out of the alley. "Midnight, tomorrow; side door of Keystone Medical. You're not there, your loss." Cold turned the corner and disappeared, file still in hand.

Danny considered it a success.

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It was 11:55pm when Captain Cold had the back entrance to Keystone's main hospital opened for him.

"I wasn't about to let you break the lock on a hospital's door," Danny chuckled as the man walked into the building. His eyes went directly to the suspicious sack the criminal was carrying, but decided against asking about it. "This way- he's on the fourth floor. I told his nurse to have him awake about ten minutes ago."

Cold didn't really care- he was just glad that there was no music playing in the elevator as they rode it up. "Come on, then."

Danny held out an arm to stop him. "First: ground rules." Cold sighed in annoyance. "No attacking or using weapons on people, no swearing, no hypothermia. Got it?" He took his silence to be affirmative. "Good." Danny glanced into the bright room. "Hey, Hayden." The two men entered the room, the boy's attention already on them.

Hayden gasped in delight. "You really came!" He cried excitedly, rolling his wheelchair over to rest in front of his 'hero.' "You're the best! Like ice is so cool and then you went and made a freeze-ray-gun that's better than Mr. Freeze's and it's okay that you steal stuff because you're actually nice and don't hurt a bunch of people and you have cool glasses too can I try them on?" Danny tried to stifle a laugh at the bemused look on Cold's face as the boy delightedly rambled.

"Don't go telling everyone that," he said gruffly, contrasting his action of taking off his goggles and bending down to put them on Hayden. Danny decided the two would be fine and moved outside to keep watch from the hallway.

It was a good thing he did. Several minutes later, a red blur came bursting from the stairwell and skidding to a halt in front of the hospital room, a delayed breeze brushing against Danny's skin as he recognized the arrivee to be none other than the Flash.

Oh no. Nobody was going to get involved in his 'World of Wishes' child's meeting. He quickly but quietly shut the door, cutting of both of their view's of the room. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

The Flash gaped at him, but Danny didn't budge. "Are you crazy?! Captain Cold's in there with a child! You have to let me in to-"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "To what? Save him? I think you're forgetting, the Rogues don't harm women or children. Try again."

The speedster's eyes narrowed slightly. "Cold is a criminal, and I need to take him in-"

"Cold is not doing anything illegal, and is in fact fulfilling a child's wish right now. You can continue your... disagreement with him some other time."

The superhero apparently had enough, for he blurted out an apology before speeding around Danny, opening the door, and running into the room. Hayden, who had been laughing in amazement after a display of Captain Cold's gun on a water bottle next to his bed, quieted as the two turned to face their uninvited guest. Cold subtly inched his way to stand in front of the boy.

"Flash."

"Cold."

"Why is the Flash here? I like Captain Cold better, that's why I asked for him," Hayden muttered in confusion. His comment drew an astonished and slightly hurt look from the Flash.

"Alright, Mister... Flash," Danny said coolly. "A word outside, it you please." His gaze gave no room for discussion, and the hero found himself complying with the request, albeit reluctantly. Once the door was shut again, Danny rounded on him. "As far as I'm concerned, the only one causing a problem here is you. I'm only going to ask you one more time: leave."

The Flash had never heard so much venom in a civilian's voice when aimed at him, and had especially never seen one standing up for a villain. He couldn't help but admit the other man was right though; Cold wasn't doing anything wrong that he could tell. With one last look at Danny, he sped out of the hospital.