Yeah. But sometime later he would either witness a situation similar to one that killed his fiancee and he would be unable to help. Or some villain would be threatening one of his old teammates. You know, the one he had been developing feelings for? Then he would realize that his proper place is in his cryo-suit as a member of the Freedom Five.
Yeah, I get that feeling too… But… Think about how expensive his medical care was! There’s no way health insurance even began to cover that. And, a cryro chamber? That’s got to be ridiculous. Not to mention the suit. And is there compounding interest on that debt? If so, he’s never paying it off.
Interest, probably not, but there is upkeep, and that’s not cheap either. Think how expensive it is just to keep someone on a breather, then imagine that breather is a multimillion-dollar mobile cryogenic containment system combined with a painstakingly calibrated climate-control chamber, and all the power requirements of both.
I’m sure there’s enough hidden fees and surprise extra charges that AbZero will basically be an indentured servent his entire life. Just when he thinks he’s close to paying off his debt, they’ll tell him there was a paperwork mix-up or an accounting error and tack a couple more 0’s onto his owed amount.
Maybe in a possible timeline he goes rogue and tries to take his rage out on the government that tried to keep him a slave …
“Do you know how long $6 million bucks takes to pay off on a government salary?”
I think it’s B.S. that they’re making him pay it off anyway. He didn’t ask them to save him. They obviously wanted to test their tech and entrap him into being a slave hero for the government, and are now keeping him around by telling him he needs to pay the bill he didn’t agree to pay in the first place. He should tell them to go screw themselves and call their bluff. They won’t turn off the power. How many other cryogenic superheroes do they have to put in the suit if AZ gives it up?
Hmmmmm, I guess they can’t turn the power off. Who would re-elect the government that killed one of the Freedom Five? The balance of power has shifted and Absolute Zero can demand away (though not too much or he’ll get reclassified as a super villain).
I tend to think of it as more a term of service clause, rather than truly paying for the suit. Like a contract stating that he works with the Five for 10 years and then the suit is his.