Victor's struggle with this duality that existed inside him was not one he had to face in his life. Before this, before becoming who he was in this moment, Victor considered himself a relatively honorable citizen of Gotham. He never wanted to be on the wrong side of the law and found himself fearing the thought of going against what society deemed morally wrong. He feared even entertaining the mere thought of doing something so misconstrued, as doing anything such brought back memories of being punished by his loveless father. This fear kept him from taking that step from the morally righteous side until his life took a turn for the worst only just after he had a taste for what a life filled with bliss could feel like. His short-lived happiness was taken from him faster than it had taken him to feel such warmth. He wanted that happiness back as the chill of his hopeless melancholy threatened a return.
For much of Victor's life, he had felt nothing but the empty pit of loneliness and misery. His parents, not knowing how to deal with him as a child, neglected and ignored him. They refused to foster any of his interests and the only reinforcement they seemed to give him was negative to punish him when he was deemed to be. The young Victor could only find solace and affection from the tame wildlife and neighborhood pets that surrounded his home. Fearing the only kindness and attention he received would be gone forever he took to encasing some of the smaller animals and insects in ice, keeping them frozen and preserved in the basement freezer. It did not take long for his parents to discover this innocent, yet horrific practice. Fearing their child was too much of an oddity and would bring unwanted attention and give them a reputation, they sent their only child away to a boarding school.
Though the school offered Victor a new beginning and more opportunities than he was privileged to before, he quickly became an outcast. His social awkwardness and insecurities made him an easy target that the cruel, richer boys preyed on. Victor once again found himself alone, this time only with his studies to keep him occupied and entertained between his sessions of torment and ridicule. He excelled at his school work and upon graduating he was accepted into Gotham University's medical science program. There he furthered his knowledge into cryogenics and its applications. It was also there that his depressed existence blossomed into something else, as it was there he met and fell in love with a ballerina, his future wife, Nora.
Nora was a beacon of hope for the forlorn Victor. She was the pleasant warmth in a world of frigid bitterness which was all he had known before. With her, he felt seemingly cured of all his anxieties and troubles that plagued him before. Upon receiving his doctorate, the two wed and Victor, for the first time in his entire life, felt whole. This happiness was only a facade as Nora was soon diagnosed with Huntington's disease, a rare, incurable, and fatal genetic disorder that gradually kills brain cells. This, only coming days after his hiring at the Gotham City Science Laboratories soon became Victor's drive.
His revolutionary developments in the field of cryogenics earned him great recognition, but his breakthroughs were not coming quick enough as Nora's health declined sharply. With no other viable options, Victor secretly brought Nora to his lab and froze her, to preserve her before her state worsened. His transgressions were soon discovered and one night, while working late, a Gotham City Science Laboratory security team was sent to his lab to escort him off the premises for he was to be terminated and his experiments were to be shut down. During this incident, there was an accident as a cryogenic generator ruptured and cryogenic coolant fluids engulfed Victor and the security team. While the guards did not survive this chilling encounter, Victor was transformed, changed at his chemical level. The cryogenic fluid fused with his flesh, which caused his body's temperature to drop dramatically. He now could no longer survive in temperatures above sub-zero.
Hiding out in an abandoned warehouse in the Docklands district, once purposed for cold storing fish from the now obsolete fishing industry of Gotham, Victor continued his work. There, in the decaying innards of the once fish filled refrigerated storehouse, he constructed a new chamber to sustain his beloved. He also fashioned an armored cryogenic power suit to house himself so that he may survive outside of his necessitated refrigerated lair. It not only protected him from the heat of the outside world, but it also increased his strength, as it was required for his mobility. It was after the forging of this that his life began the downfall into criminal activity. In his invention of this mechanical casing it required massive amounts of power, ones in which his funding was not able to continuously sustain. Requiring the use of diamonds to power his cryo-suit, he struggled with his eventual decision to turn to the life of crime.
Victor's logic told him that in order to survive his morality must be sacrificed for he was not only fighting for his survival, but also for his beloved and he needed her. Fabricating himself a weapon that used his cryogenic coolant as a means to stop those that opposed him, he began his first heist on one of the many jewelry stores that populated Gotham's shopping districts. He didn't want it to come to this but he found himself in a position that had no other alternative. This was to be his life now.
"Hey!" an authoritative voice shouted over the shrill klaxons bringing Victor back to his present situation. "You there! Uh . . . Hands up!"
The once revered scientist turned in the direction of the voice, his solemn visage not breaking as he now gazed upon the riot gear clad Gotham Police officer who raised a gun, pointing it directly at Victor. Other officers began to flood the entrance of the shop that Victor had forced himself into. He then slowly turned himself completely standing at attention, his massive armor was an intimidating sight for the law enforcement officers. Their anxieties upon seeing this massive figure began showing as they all raised their rifles unsure of what to make of this. Though not completely uncommon to find criminals of Gotham wearing such lavish and ridiculous attire, it was not common to see them clad in mechanized armor.
"I said, hands up . . . And freeze!" the officer repeated himself, his voice muffled by his riot helmet.
A slight curl at Victor's azure shaded lips appeared, as he could not help acknowledge the irony of that order. That nearly undetectable smirk, however did not last long, as his goggled gaze fell for a moment as he was about to commit himself to a life of misdeeds he never envisioned for himself. His eyes became tear-filled as his thoughts drifted to his Nora. He now mourned for the final time for the person he was, as he would now never be that person again. A single tear broke from the dew that was forming and instantly froze at the corner of his eye as he whispered to himself. "Nora . . . I am sorry."
Victor raised his cyro-gun, bracing himself for the recoil then fired upon the officers, now feeling nothing inside his now frozen heart. This is who he was now. This is who he needed to be. This is who he needed to become, for her.
