Bludhaven wasn't a hub for major corporate research or scientific endeavours, but the Bludhaven University did have a somewhat competent science department. Competent enough that Richard Grayson, Nightwing, had set up an alert system to get his own notifications for any trigger of alarms in the site. He'd placed such backdoors in a number of places across town, rationalising a big break-in somewhere would still see the usual lethargic responses from Bludhaven's finest snails in blue. They would be sent along to the modified phone he carried.

And tonight, something had tripped for just a few seconds, before the systems were disabled. Maybe a false alarm, but things were quiet and he'd been trained by Batman, so paranoia was a given. Paranoia that was proven right as he saw a side door that should have been sealed lying open when he neared the campus.

His backdoor allowed him access to the security camera feed, or it should have. He looked down at his screen, the entire campus network of CCTV seemingly offline. Motion sensors, even the fire alarm was off. Either there was a massive systems fault, or there was a break-in led by someone with either knowledge of the campus security, or skill enough to get it all shut off.

He decided to first check on the main security room, slipping in the open door and about to head off when he heard the scream, a male voice that sounded to be in pain or terror before it cut out.

'Change of plans,' Dick though, quickly making his way towards the source of the yell.

He could smell something burning and hear the noise of a fire extinguisher discharging as he neared, and saw a flashlight rolling out of a door. The signs on the walls indicated it was one of the research labs, and as he got closer the smell of burning was stronger, along with the faint hint of.... pepper spray?

Peering cautiously around the doorway, he saw three shapes in the poorly lit room. One was moving, but the other two, far closer to the door, stood completely still. They appeared to be golden statues with wisps of smoke and steam rising from them, both males. The two statues stood covered in smouldering and melting remains of security guard uniforms, and heat was still radiating from the figures, to the point Nightwing could feel it even where he stood. The source of the pepper spray scent seemed to have been the canisters on the waists of the statues rupturing in the heat....

The other shape moving in the lab muttered as he put down a fire extinguisher, and was now loading things into a case.

"This is their fault. If they'd let me finish, I could have solved the exothermic reaction problem. Now they're down two security guard uniforms and a fire extinguisher...."

As he moved and caught his face in the light, Nightwing recognised him from recent news reports. Doctor Michael Dorado, a researcher dismissed after a public argument with the Bludhaven University ethics committee over his experimental 'criminal restraint' projects. Dorado seemed to be wearing a half-mask respirator, his mutterings slightly muffled by it.

"Almost a pity I disabled the security systems on the way in, a recording of the transformation would have been useful, but then again the fire systems might have activated as well and drawn attention," Dorado muttered while packing things away.

'One mystery solved,' Dick thought, deciding now was a good time to act as Dorado locked up his case.

Dorado yelped as a wing-ding hit home, dropping his metal carry case with a loud thud. Wide eyed, he looked up to see Nightwing entering the room, past the two transformed guards that still radiated immense heat.

"Sorry, you already drew attention, plus you've got two murders to your name," Dick said, expecting that a man like Dorado would sooner give up than fight back.

However, the disgraced scientist seemed indignant.

"Murder?! Not at all! Those two men are merely in a state of suspended animation, entirely reversible. All that was lacking was removing a few problems and it would have been ready for widespread use. Someone like you surely could have appreciated a way for law enforcement to lock their suspects in place even if right now the resulting statues reach high temperatures!"

"...So you think some kind of midas touch is a good solution to stop people who might not even have committed an actual crime?" Nightwing sighed, not really feeling like letting the clearly deranged Doctor explain himself.

"Not a touch, a gas!" Dorado smirked, and Nightwing realised he may have underestimated his target.

Confirmation of his error came seconds later when Dorado managed to toss out a glass amuple, smashing at Nightwing's feet. A strange coppery scent filled his nose, and then he felt himself locking up, unable to move a muscle, as his temperature rose. He felt boiling hot, as the effects of the gas rapidly occurred, but also like he was blacking out.

Dorado fumbled with a phone, Dick's frozen eyes able to see it just as he slipped into an unconscious state.

"Now, I can at least get some footage.... Given your suit is made likely of armoured materials like Kevlar it may survive the heat... ah, no, it seems you're reaching the melting point already...."

The phone captured the whole thing, as Nightwing's skin slowly turned into a shimmering gold, and his black and blue uniform began to smoulder, even the stab and bullet resistant costume unable to survive the high heat the transformed hero reached. Though fire resistant, the materials began to melt at around 400° celsius, far below the heat that the aurified Nightwing was reaching.

Parts of his costume were ablaze, as slowly, the heat of his transformation helped strip the hapless hero completely nude, kevlar and nomex weaves breaking apart and melting, bubbling off his superheated transformed body. The end result was a third nude, this time with a half molten eyemask stuck in place. His entire body lay bare, powerful muscles locked in golden stasis, like a statue of a Greek God in gilded sculpture.

"That was a close call... but with you amongst the victims I'm sure I can at least seek a hefty ransom for the cure. You cool off with your two new friends for now though," Dorado laughed, picking up his case and leaving the scalding-hot trio of statues behind to be found the next morning....