Flying the Coop [Cobblepot]

[Victor Fries]

Tucked away in a hidden alley, Victor's thoughts were racing quickly. Wearing away at the back of his mind was the ever-present thought that he wasn't sure whether or not Nora was safe. He reasoned that she was probably safe, and would probably continue to be safe for at least a few days, but he really didn't know what Boyle would do or how quickly he would do it. That it would take the man a few days to decide and make his move was merely an assumption - a well-educated assumption because he knew of the logistics involved, but he didn't like it. 'Probably' was not a word that should have to apply to Nora.

Which was why he needed to hurry and make his move first. But he knew he was in a very poor position to do anything at the moment. Not merely because of what had happened to him a mere few hours ago but because he was but one man and the job he needed to do was far larger than he could accomplish alone. He hadn't wanted to leave GothCorp and further separate himself from her, but he couldn't rescue her by himself - he needed help.

A very particular kind of help - he knew that calling the authorities would be pointless. He might find sympathy and pity, but the law said that Boyle was right. And he didn't need sympathy or pity, he needed Nora. So, knowing that the law would be no help, he knew he needed criminals. But he didn't know any criminals - not a solitary one. He supposed that he might find some by going to those questionable places that most citizens of Gotham knew to avoid, but how was he to present his case without risking himself further? He was no use to Nora if he was arrested or dead.

But that was when the solution to his problem found him - because one of the places most citizens of Gotham knew to avoid were dark, unfamiliar alleys at night, and that was exactly where he was. He heard footsteps, turned, and saw a rather large man staring at him. The stare didn't surprise him - he must have been an odd sight, wearing a protective suit thrown together out of supplies at the lab. It was not much like the one he would make for himself later, but it was sufficient to keep him cool for hopefully long enough for him to get his hands on better supplies. And even so, it didn't obscure the pure white skin of his face - it honestly wouldn't be surprising if someone mistook him for some kind of an alien. Those existed, after all.

That being the case, the two stared at each other for a moment - Victor, for his part, wasn't sure what to do with a man who was clearly bigger and stronger than he was if he happened to get aggressive at this moment, but after a moment he realized that they were both about as intimidated by each other. "I mean you no ill will," he stated, to break the ice.

"Yeah, sure."

So far so good. "I am, in fact, in a most desperate situation. For the sake of expediency, would it be wrong of me to assume that someone looking like you in this alley at this time of night is accustomed to illegitimate business?"

The other man paused for a moment but smiled before he answered. "You don't look like no cop. So yeah, that's right."

"I need men and equipment, and I need it quickly," he stated, now daring to hope that this chance encounter would result in at least getting pointed in the right direction. "There'd be money in it," he added, knowing that he needed to offer something in return to get the help he needed. He wasn't completely sure how to fulfill that promise, but at the very least someone helping him could probably easily make off with a lot of GothCorp equipment in the process - and he didn't care if they did.

The mention of money seemed to definitely grab the man's interest, "Well, I know someone who could help, all right. He's in Blackgate, though."

---

About 17 hours later, Victor was on a boat. It turned out that the man who had stumbled into him in the alley was one of quite a few who had worked for Oswald Cobblepot before his most recent incarceration but had managed to not be imprisoned with their boss. None of them were particularly brilliant, but they assured him that their former boss was the brains of their operations and would certainly be able to help him with his problem.

And while at first, Victor found the idea of busting into Blackgate absurd, especially in light of the fact that he was trying to find help to break into GothCorp, he realized after some thought that Blackgate was actually much more straightforward - reinforced concrete walls and guns were all that stood in the way of retrieving a man who could simply walk out with him rather than that veritable vault he needed to get to in order to retrieve his wife, who must be moved very carefully. And beyond that, while some of the men could point him in the direction of other criminals, from the sound of things they'd be difficult to convince to actually help. It seemed that there was a lot of merit to the idea of having his introduction to the person who would help him also be one that caused them to owe him a favor.

It was a rushed plan, but not necessarily a bad one. He had the advantage that more than one of the men who'd come when he'd gathered all of them loyal enough to accept a risk to get their old boss back had served some time in Blackgate themselves. Not only did he have a map, he had some inside information about how they ran their operations - nothing up to date, but he didn't need to know which guard was on duty, he only needed to know where guards were likely to be. The most key information was which cell block the man they were after was in and what time of the day he wouldn't be locked in his cell, just to keep things as simple as possible.

The time chosen was just before the nightly lockup, when the prisoners were free to do mostly as they pleased in the confines of the cell block's common room - a time when Oswald would be virtually guaranteed to be there regardless of whatever else happened during his day. He just hoped that he didn't happen to choose a day when Oswald snapped and got himself locked in solitary. But if the man was as smart as his men seemed to think he was, Victor would wager that he was clever enough that didn't happen very often.

More to steady his own nerves than anything else, he said, "Remember the plan - we need to be fast, with no mistakes." An unnecessary thing for him to say, or at least he would hope so. While he wasn't impressed by anyone's brains in this group, he'd gone over the plan so many times that even the most foolish would probably be able to recite it in his sleep by now.

They had three small boats, all of them purposely ordinary-looking among the many that traveled around Gotham. Not that their appearance mattered for long - as they drew near to the restricted waters near Blackgate, the boats began to spray a cold mist around themselves. The fog they generated certainly didn't look natural - it was at the same time too small, too dense, and too low to the water, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the boats were shrouded and nobody would be able to see what was coming. That was only the first of the things he'd managed to cobble together over the last several hours - he'd tirelessly worked to make those and the rest of the equipment he needed for this, and especially for ways to improve his suit. If all went well he wouldn't need it to be able to deflect a bullet, but in case he did...

The fog made it impossible for them see where they were going, but one of the men knew a guy and the guy steering the boat swore that he would be able to find the island without breaking his boat. Just a few moments after the unnatural fog reached Blackgate Island, the man proved it - the boat hit into the rocks hard enough to jostle everyone inside, but not hard enough to more than scratch the hull. "Good enough," he commented, turning to the rest of the men in the boat, "Let's move!"

One of the natural protections of Blackgate Island was a forbidding shoreline, dominated by large boulders that prevented ships from coming near the outer wall of the prison. The designers did not, however, anticipate that someone could build a bridge over them in just a few moments. But that was exactly what Victor did - this first version of his cold gun couldn't shoot for very long, but he only needed to get to the penitentiary's walls. Of course, this bridge was extremely slippery and wouldn't last for very long above the spray of the sea, but ice cleats solved the first problem and they'd be back out again before the second problem became an issue, hopefully.

He led the way, flanked by two men holding smaller, portable versions of his fog machines - though he was moving quickly, he was certain that the unnatural, sudden fog would have been spotted, but he knew for a fact that they'd never seen anything like it before and it would take them some time to decide how to respond. Perhaps they were ready for someone to attempt to attack the prison by sea, but how could their snipers shoot at something they couldn't see? The men had donned bulletproof vests, just in case, but as long as they kept the fog thick he expected that they wouldn't shoot through it blindly. A few minutes of hesitation were all that he needed - he would be breaking into Oswald's cell block by then.

"The percussion drill - hurry!" he demanded when he reached the wall. He was handed the device, which carved a circular groove into the wall for a hole big enough for them to pass through. The groove was, at the same time, filled with water, which was then frozen, and the expanding ice put enough pressure on the reinforced concrete to shatter it, rebar and all. At that point, they just needed the big guy to throw a sledgehammer at it to clear it out so that they could go through. A bit of a cheer came up among the men at that point, because they'd been skeptical that the fog would be thick enough, that the bridge would work, and that the drill would work, but they knew that because everything had worked so far that the rest of the plan would likely succeed. "We're not finished yet! he practically scolded them.

By this point, the prison had woken up with alarms, but he knew that it would take some time for the prisoners relaxing in their common rooms to be convinced to go into their cells instead. As long as they continued to be quick, and only a relatively few minutes had passed since he'd made the bridge, he still had time.

"Fog first - quickly!" he ordered to get the men back on track. Now that the guards were surely running around and trying to position themselves, their need to be obscured was more important than ever. But he'd picked the point to breach in the outer wall for a reason - the conveniently short distance to Oswald's cellblock. As fog obscured his passage through the main yard, it was only a few more moments before he'd set the drill against the wall of the building.

Inside the cellblock, it would be quite a bit more chaotic than usual. The usual routine after dinner was a bit of free time in the common room - there was a TV to watch, cards to play, space to workout, people to talk to, or any number of activities to pass the time before lockup. But then the routine would suddenly be broken by the sound of alarms and a commotion outside, and the prison guards loudly announced that everyone was to go to their cells. This immediately prompted a couple of the most hot-headed inmates in the cellblock to complain that it was too early and they'd not finished their card game - those ones would probably spend the night in solitary for that. But that meant that the rest of everyone else knew that they could safely take their time to comply with the instruction - the guards would only punish those causing the most trouble, at those were definitely the ones yelling at the guard and refusing to comply.

But only a few moments later, a strange sound would be heard - the sound of cracking concrete. Even those yelling at the guards paused to identify it. Just as everyone was pointing out the strange circle of cracks that had formed in the wall of the common room to each other, they suddenly burst into an open hole. Oswald would probably be able to identify the first large man that came through as one of his own, but the second - a man strangely encased in a some sort of a suit made of metal and thick fabric, covered in all sorts of tubes and wires, was not.

Seeing a room full of surprised inmates, Victor pointed to the hole behind him and announced, "Every man for himself!" A couple of the inmates didn't need to hear another word and immediately took off running, and many of the rest began to follow as their brain caught up to this unexpected situation. A couple of the prisoners actually didn't run - mostly older inmates whose sentences were nearly up or who other just didn't like the idea of trying to escape for whatever their reasons were - perhaps they'd even get rewarded for not taking the opportunity to run.

But Victor knew that it was unlikely that anyone running would actually escape - perhaps one or two, but anyone not invited to take the route out that he'd taken in would likely not make it past the yard or slip and fall to their deaths while trying to use the bridge. What they actually were was a distraction, so that the guards would have something to do besides try to run into the fog and stop him and the men he brought with them. If anyone did try to make it down to the boat they'd ridden in on, the men left behind knew to prevent them from boarding - there would be only one new passenger on the boat, and that seat was reserved.

"Cobblepot?" he asked, scanning the men running out to be sure that the one he was looking for wasn't among them. They needed to get him onto the boat and get the boats away from Blackgate as quickly as possible if they were to get away cleanly. They were not only racing against the response time of the prison guards but also the police boats and even the coast guard. According to his admittedly minimal calculations, they should be fine, but only as long as they didn't waste a moment.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

The inside of Blackgate was almost becoming like a second home for Oswald and he hated that. His first stay had been rough and he'd had to climb the pecking order with violence and scheming. his second a little more comfortable and every time he'd ended up behind bars he bought himself a little more comfort. A few more guards in his pocket, a few more men incarcerated on his side, a few more connections to the outside world to try and keep everything from falling apart in his absence. Confinement in a cage still could never feel the same as flying free but he knew how to decorate a cage until such a time that he could arrange his way out. He was always planning some way out.

The boredom always hit fast in this place. For a man who was always working on something and meeting with someone being confined to a cell all too often left him alone with his thoughts. Books offered little distraction for an active mind, exercise never dulled his wits merely took up time and there was only so many hours plotting and plans for vengeance could take up before he'd be left to think about what happened and what went wrong. They'd never connected any of the bodies he'd left in his wake to him but the latest charges they'd managed to pin on him were for a series of robberies which were interrupted by Batman. They'd thrown many more allegations at him of course but that was what they'd been able to prove. Pitiful petty things. If they had any idea of the true extent of everything he'd done to claw his way out of the mess his mother left they would know to fear even what he could do in here.

Within prison Oswald had a small following that enabled him to walk around without the constant threat of being stabbed by some opposing mob. On the outside surrounding himself with thugs was used to keep everyone undesirable away but Blackgate was a great equaliser for the classes and it was one of the few places Oswald would socialise more people he would normally consider beneath him. He knew some of the old guys best, the young thugs were impulsive and quick to anger but the prisoners who had been there so long their crimes were myths passed down to each new guard knew how to flow through the place like they were just part of the building.

Oswald was playing a game that evening with Shaun, one of the older men in for life, unaware as the fog spread outside. Inside it was just a normal day and they were waging cigarettes over a battered game of chutes and ladders. How do you make chutes and ladders a gambling game? Prisoners find a way. Oswald was almost down to his last pack which if he smoked as much as he wanted to right now would probably last him a day. He was smoking currently and not looking like his usual sharp self. The orange jumpsuit of course was a far departure from his usual suit. The bruise on the side of his balding head marked where he'd been jumped by some new guy who'd heard you're supposed to pick a fight when you get to prison and thought Oswald looked an easy target. It had been a few days since but the scars on his fists were evidence that both the jumpee and his men who had failed to prevent it had fared worse in the end. He gave up shaving in prison because razors were better saved for other things and it was easier to escape if he was less recognisable so the beard was coming along nicely after he'd arrive three weeks ago following months of irritating dealings with courts and lawyers. They didn't even let him keep his monocle because he'd tried to use the chain to choke someone the first time he'd been locked up. These days he had to plan ahead and bring his glasses.

Commotion started fast amongst the young, easily angered inmates as the alarms went off and they protested to having to cut short their free time and go back to their cells. For some the protest was little more than posturing, swearing and shouting at the guards as they went to their cells as slowly as they could get away with it. Some of course put up a fight, refusing to move. Oswald and Shaun both knew that would delay things and keep the guards distracted for a few minutes so they had the time to calmly pack up without a rush "Your doing?" Shaun questioned as he gathered up his winnings "Not this time" Oswald replied "Perhaps the Robinson brothers are causing trouble again, payback for the incident at lunch yesterday" He didn't even have a plan in place to take advantage of the situation, how inconvenient.

Oswald's opinion on the alarms changed the moment he saw the wall cracking in a circle. He frowned, puzzled but he had the good sense to step swiftly behind one of the thugs he'd been using as bodyguards lately, using them as a human shield just in case it was going to explode. When it crumbled he peeked back around the thug and was surprised to see a familiar face followed by an entirely alien one. Shaun didn't bother running and just headed back to his cell with a shake of his head but most of the prisoners didn't need to be told twice, even those who were heading back to their cells changed direction and mobbed the guards for a chance to get out through the wall.

Cobblepot didn't run for the hole in the wall but approached the pair instead, his hunch that they were there for him confirmed when Freeze asked for him by name "Yes, though I don't believe we've had the pleasure" He would remember if he'd met someone who looked like Freeze however for all Ozzy may look a bit on the rough side right now he still spoke with his usual refinement. As he spoke he snapped his fingers at his thug guard and pointed to one of the prison guards left unconscious by the mob of escaping prisoners. The thug went to search the guard and tossed an extendable baton back as Oswald outstretched his hand for it. He'd prefer a gun but it was better than nothing. Oswald did of course have a makeshift blade hidden on him too but he wasn't revealing that until he was sure this wasn't some elaborate attempt on his life "As you appear to have gone to some effort to arrange a meeting however might I suggest we walk and talk?" he was also aware that there was a very limited amount of time before any avenue for escape would be closed off by the authorities.

[Victor Fries]

Calm among the chaos he had caused, to say that Victor looked alien was very accurate. The suit he wore looked nothing like anything anyone else had made before and looking past the suit to the completely white-skinned man inside didn't ease the perception at all. In the not too distant future his picture would end up plastered all over the media, and then the citizens of Gotham would have seen him there at least before seeing him in person. Until that happened, every new person who spotted him would do so without having the slightest idea that someone like him even existed, and he was quite the strange sight to behold.

Not that he gave that any thought - he did not have the luxury of being able to care about first impressions at this point. He did note that the man who presented himself when he asked for Cobblepot did not quite resemble what he might have been expected, but when the large man who came with him grinned and said "Hey, boss!" he knew that it was the correct individual and that's all that mattered to him. All that mattered was whether or not Cobblepot was capable of doing what his men believed that he could, not what he looked like.

As for himself, he answered the man's initial greeting by simply saying "No." to confirm that they had not met. Social refinement was an area in which he was almost totally lacking. Especially when he was immediately distracted by the need to get Cobblepot out as quickly as possible now that they'd located the man. There did need to be a slight pause at the moment because the inmates now attempting to escape out of the hole were doing so with the idea of trying to take advantage of this to make their own escape, not with the idea of filing out as efficiently as possible.

He didn't mind the delay because the reason was often that the men were securing some form of weapon to hopefully increase their odds, which was all the better for Victor because that meant that the distraction they would cause would be that much greater. In fact, he'd considered bringing a collection of guns to throw at their feet at this point, but that was an idea scrapped by the need to launch this plan quickly - the only guns he would have had access to in a hurry were the guns owned by Cobblepot's men, and he wagered that those were better off in the hands that already had them. Besides, it didn't surprise him how, in addition to robbing the unfortunate guards of the minimal weaponry they were allowed, many of them were able to retrieve a hidden shiv with only a moment's notice.

But, not wanting to delay more than strictly necessary, he only waited long enough for a gap to appear in the traffic jam at the hole for the three of them to be able to slip out before he did so. "When we reach the boat," he replied to Cobblepot as he did so. He'd be much too distracted for conversation until then.

Outside, the fog they'd created was still thick - which was good, but it made visibility poor for everyone and not just for the snipers on the walls. In fact, most of the inmates now trying to make their escape decided that being able to see what they were doing was important, so they made their way to where the fog thinned. Not only did this put them further away from the only hole in the outer wall, but it also meant that they were the first ones to run into the guards now attempting to run into the fog. It was so thick that it was difficult to see who had located who in the mist, but the sounds of fighting started to be heard all around.

Unlike them, Victor located the thickest part of the fog and announced, "This way." It was easy to become disoriented, but he knew it would be thickest in the direction they'd come from so he could orient on that if nothing else. He went forward confidently even though he could only see a few steps ahead. Meanwhile, Oswald would find that the first man he'd seen wasn't the only familiar face to come with this stranger - the men waiting outside were all old employees, many of whom were pleased to see him.

They were all geared up in an assortment of often makeshift body armor and (aside from the two holding portable fog generators) wielded an assortment of guns that were not necessarily the best for a prison break - evidence of the haste with which this plan had come together and how it had been scraped together from what was available. Though they were excited to see him, they kept their greetings brief - Victor had drilled into them just how important it was for them to be fast, and besides that, the strange man who had concocted this plan in the first place seemed far more confident about which direction the way out was than most of them and the last thing they wanted was to be left behind in Blackgate. So they quickly formed up to follow him before he walked out of view.

"You're with me, boss," announced the big guy that had come in with Victor, though he sounded almost sheepish about essentially telling his boss what to do. But then again the boss didn't know the plan and there wasn't necessarily time to explain it. He was armed only with a sledgehammer, but the same quality of brute strength that had given him that duty was also the reason why Victor had put him in charge of making sure that Cobblepot made it back to the boat safely. He'd find out why very shortly.

Heading back the way he came, Victor kept his eyes on his surroundings. Eventually, the guards attempting to penetrate the fog managed to start stumbling into their group, but only one by one and the men were quick to open fire on any who came close. None were quite as effective as Victor's cold gun, mostly because the blasts from it were quite large - similar to using a shotgun, he didn't have to hit them dead center to literally freeze them in their tracks. He didn't have much ice left, but the main thing he'd needed it for was the bridge so he might as well use all that was left to take out the guards who found them.

His navigation method proved to be effective, because it only took him a few moments to locate the hole in the outer wall, with the ice bridge over the forbidding rocks beyond.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

If Oswald could accept a man in a bat suit was trying to put him in prison he could accept that a man in a spacesuit was here to break him out. Why not? This was Gotham, it seemed to get crazier every year. The important part was that he was getting out. Whatever the man wanted in return he could deal with later and Oswald was not foolish enough to believe this prison break was for free but he was willing to pay generously for his freedom.

Clearly this was a man of few words though and that made it quite hard for Oswald to get a read on Freeze but he nodded once at his man who'd brought Freeze to him "Well done" high praise from the Penguin but he'd got this far and surprised Oswald. He deserved it, he just had to follow through and get them away.

In a way it was somewhat reassuring that Victor didn't want to chat. If the man was all business and no talk he was perhaps competent enough to actually pull this off, which made Oswald more inclined to follow Victor's lead when they didn't immediately leave and waited for the other prisoners to clear the way first. He kept the two thugs he'd been using as bodyguards from charging off too, he understood the idea of letting the others go and cause trouble first of course. He also knew they were unlikely to be part of the escape plan and were most likely just being used as a distraction but he was fine with that and really didn't care about the other prisoners.

Oswald doesn't bother with continued conversation when Victor says they'd talk at the boat. He merely nods once in agreement. He was more interested in getting out right now anyway and his mind was immediately running through all the dangers of an escape by boat as he followed out in to the fog. He was sure the weather had been clear earlier and it was hard to keep track inside but this was thicker than he'd ever seen before on the island and he a feeling that wasn't a coincidence.

Barely see a few steps ahead Oswald could only hear the guards clashing with prisoners around them or possibly prisoners fighting each other. He couldn't tell. He was uncomfortable with the level of trust needed to follow the strange man in to the unknown but he followed regardless because the desire for freedom trumped his paranoia. As he started to see figures in the fog though he raised the baton and pulled a shiv from its hiding place only to be pleasantly surprised that many of them were his own men. He grinned and laughed but quietly to avoid unwanted attention "Boys! Never have I been so happy to see you all" he's going to remember who turned up for this and particularly those who were happy to see him, loyalty was hard to find and worth keeping.

Oswald kept moving but swapped out his baton for a gun with one of his men, feeling better already now he was armed and surrounded by competent thugs. He doesn't even take any offence to being told what to do by the big sledgehammer guy "Show me" he just said as he followed quickly, keeping close.

As the guards started to find the group Cobblepot raised his gun and joined in the shooting. It might not be an umbrella he was wielding but Ozzy was still a good and fast shot, he did leave most of the trouble to the men though as he was in the middle of the group and currently didn't wish to shoot his rescue party. Besides after the first guard got frozen solid he wanted to watch Freeze fighting more. He kept his eye on the weapon, already trying to work out what he was looking at to try and figure out how it works. Did it have something to do with the suit? Protection against the ice? One thing he was sure of now was where the fog had come from. He hadn't seen anything like it and he wanted it. Freezing people dead in their tracks? Making instant fog and breaking through walls so easily? He grins as they get to the outer wall and he sees the ice bridge to get over the rocks "I don't know where you found him but I like his toys" he says to sledgehammer guy.

[Victor Fries]

The number of men Victor had brought were relatively few and didn't include everyone he'd gathered from Cobblepot's former thugs. While a certain number of them were useful to be sure that there was enough firepower when the guards started finding them in the fog, any more than that was simply an opportunity for more complications. Though it was true that he'd chosen them mainly by asking for volunteers, and only after explaining to them that it would be dangerous, so this particular group was worth noting.

They gathered by the hole in the wall, the ice bridge beyond being the last obstacle to conquer. At this point the big guy with the sledgehammer would turn to one of the thugs from the prison who'd come along and say, "Sorry, but you can't make it with us. But have some fun with this, a'ight?" He handed over the sledgehammer, as he was done with it and would need his hands free in a moment.

Meanwhile, Victor surveyed the state of the bridge. It was intact, but this was the end of a summer's day and the ocean spray nearer the bottom section of the bridge were both not good for it at all so it was melting quickly. But not faster than he'd anticipated, so that was one potential complication off the list of things for him to worry about. But there was another - the wind had picked up slightly and was thinning the fog around the bridge, unlike in the yard where the walls of the prison served as a windbreak.

So he altered his plans just slightly, turning to the men and handing out orders. "You first. Then Cobblepot. Then you - be prepared to return fire on the guard towers. Then myself. Then you. Move!" he said, pointing to the different groups, in turn, to reorder them to match the conditions. With the increased wind, he couldn't count on the handheld fog devices to shield them from sight, so he maximized their coverage by having one in front and one in back, and placed the most vulnerable people in the most protected positions - if the wind revealed anyone in the fog, it would be those who could fight back.

At that encouragement, the big guy with Cobblepot urged him to near the front of the line, and he started to hastily explain, "Right, so it'd take too long to give you these cramp things, but I've got you, boss." Not a very good explanation, especially since the word 'crampon' slipped his mind, but even as he was failing to explain he urged his boss to go through the wall right behind the guy with the fog machine and onto the bridge.

A few things would become abundantly clear to Oswald at that moment. The first was that being right behind a fog machine made it really difficult to see anything, including the rocks beneath the bridge. This was probably a good thing because the bridge itself was made of pure ice, was quite steep, and didn't have anything to help ease that like handrails. The other very important thing was that the bridge was already starting to melt somewhat, so the ice was coated with water and was very slippery. In fact, when he set foot on the bridge he'd find that there was almost no traction to speak of.

However, the purpose of the big guy behind him would also become clear at that moment - with little apparent effort, he took hold of Oswald under the armpits and used some of his considerable brute force to hold him in place on the bridge. It would probably have been much easier for him to simply carry his boss down the bridge, but he didn't want to make the boss feel undignified about it, though if he was told to change his tactics then he'd be happy to oblige. Unlike Oswald, all of the men had crampons attached to their feet - sharp spikes designed to dig into ice and snow. Winter mountain-climbing gear wasn't exactly easy to find in the city during summer, but it was also trivial for Victor to show someone how to make them for everyone.

The big guy assisting him apparently didn't consider his assistance to be limited to the physical, but also apparently figured some conversation might help. "But yeah, you're right boss. He keeps asking for all kinds of stuff and makes other stuff with it. Jake says he found him in some alley yesterday, looking strange but saying he need some help but could get us some money. So when he told him we need you, he said he could get you out. I didn't believe him at first, but when he showed how that drill works I thought it was worth a shot, and here you are!" he said, sounding far too relaxed about the situation.

Fortunately for Oswald, the pace down the treacherous ice bridge was fast but hardly a normal walking pace - though it could be done quickly, each step with the crampons needed to be carefully taken to ensure that the sharp points were well-embedded into the slick ice before the other foot was lifted. This made the whole thing feel quite methodical and controlled, at least, and it was less than two minutes of actual time before the end of the bridge appeared out of the fog along with the boat waiting next to it. There were a few shots fired from somewhere behind Oswald, but the fog hid any sight of what was happening there.

The boat was a mid-sized trawler, which was a perfectly typical boat to be seen in Gotham's waters, but that was the point. It also had plenty of space inside - or at least it seemed to until all the men that had been following behind arrived, some of them openly gasping their relief. Many of them started to immediately unburden themselves of the awkward and uncomfortable gear they were wearing, which didn't help matters, but they were less shy about infringing on each other's personal space than they were about Oswald. The mood was quite boisterous, with many of them expressing disbelief about how easy it had all seemed.

Arriving second to last, even as Victor went inside the boat - a tricky process because the door was only barely wide enough for him, if he twisted just so - it pulled away from the bridge. This boat was actually one of three - the other two were there to increase the spread of the fog and make it less obvious exactly where this one was, otherwise anyone looking for it would just need to go right to the middle. All three pulled away from Blackgate, merging into normal boat traffic before they turned off the fog emitters. By the time they slipped out of the unnatural fog, it wouldn't be obvious which of the many vessels travelling in the area had been the ones to approach the prison. The authorities might be able to pick them out later in recordings, but by then the boats would be docked and emptied. The whole process from start to finish had only taken a dozen or so minutes, and though Victor didn't know it yet he'd accomplished the first of what would be many quick break-ins he'd be responsible for.

Speaking of Victor, he too was granted plenty of space by the men as he simply walked in and collapsed onto the nearest seat. He was breathing heavily, but not so heavily that he couldn't irritably say, "Half of you get below!" Because there was another level to this boat, and it would be far less cramped if the men spread themselves out a bit. Some of them immediately complied, which greatly helped matters. There were still far more men on the boat than it was designed to house, but once everyone got settled in for the quick trip to the dock on the mainland it was actually possible to move around again.

Victor didn't take advantage of that, however, because after he addressed the crowding problem he closed his eyes and focused his attention on catching his breath, appearing to be in some minor level of physical distress.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

The bodyguards from the prison looked set to argue as they were told they weren't coming "Come on! You can't jus-" Oswald cut them off with a dangerous look. He had a gun now, the dangerous look had more weight to it. He gestured to the sledgehammer and encouraged one of them to take it "Go. Have fun. This will be remembered" they had a choice. Stay, argue, make Cobblepot angry and lose all hope of escape plus potentially their lives or take the hammer, go make a mess and trust that the Penguin's cryptic promise to remember them would mean something. They went for option two "Try to get Robinson if you see him" Oswald suggested as he gestured for them to leave. Robinson was a guard he hated, death by sledgehammer would be satisfying.

By the time they were leaving and Oswald looked back to the ice bridge it seemed it was time to move. He didn't like the idea of being near the front. He knew about the snipers and guard towers. He could see less fog out there due to the wind and was starting to doubt the plan when he saw the first man in the group was one of the ones dispensing the fog. It should at least be thickest near the source, so long as the guards didn't start wildly firing at that source. With all the prisoners running around they'd at least have their work cut out just with what they could see and getting shot out was practically an occupational hazard with jail breaks.

Oswald didn't have much time to think through his concerns anyway though, it was time to go. He had no idea what the big guy meant by cramp things but it became clear as his foot very quickly as Oswald followed through the wall and very soon after his foot slid on the ice as soon as he stepped on it. It became apparent instantly that they all had the right footwear for ice walking and that there was no way any guard was going to be able to follow them without falling.

Caught by the big guy Oswald spent the whole trip down practically dangling by his armpits. Where he could he just kept his feet still and let himself slide along, being steered by the big guy because that was slightly less embarrassing than constantly losing his footing and looking like some sort of crazed marionette. The conversation did little to help but Oswald tried to focus on it instead "Really? Did he say what he wanted?" it didn't really surprise him that Freeze was the one who arranged this and wasn't some sort of hired help the men had found.

He is glad when the ice path has finished and he's able to move under his own steam again and see the boat. Suitable enough to blend in with other boats, he agreed with that plan but at the sound of shots Oswald glanced back with a frown, pausing to check he shouldn't be firing back before he quickly boards the boat instead. Getting inside, out of the immediate line of fire and away from the door so there'd be plenty of bodies in the way if they were being chased Oswald waited and watched the other filing onboard. He was still on edge and alert while the men were starting to relax and remove gear. He wouldn't really be able to until he knew they were away.

Watching as Victor squeezed in Oswald was relieved as he felt the boat start to move. They were really leaving the island. With every escape there is always a part of him which doesn't think they'll make it and usually he uses that to watch for problems but that was harder to do when he didn't know the plan. Still he waited, listening closely over the crowded hold for any sound of guns firing on them or sirens chasing them down. Slowly he started to smile as it really did appear that they had gotten away with it and finally as half the men are ordered to another part of the ship he looks at Victor again.

Oswald kept the gun, he probably won't part with it until he needs to or has his umbrella back. He rests it casually on his shoulder though as he approaches Freeze. He can see Victor appears to be in a little bit of distress and on the one hand he's out now so who cares if the guy is ill but on the other hand the guy has ice weapons, Ozzy is curious and he's never seen anything quite like Freeze before "That was an impressive display"

[Victor Fries]

A jailbreak was inherently dangerous for everyone involved, as the snipers on the wall were authorized to use deadly force to keep the prisoners inside. Normally the authorities were only permitted to shoot someone if they were an immediate threat to someone, but escaping was different - probably because there were serial killers and the like among the prisoners, who would certainly kill again if they escaped, and the guards on the wall certainly didn't have the ability to check to see if the escapee was one of those or not. And the prisoners knowing they could be simply shot if they tried to run was also a deterrent.

But Victor had wagered that the snipers would be reluctant to fire wildly into the fog, and especially as they made their way back down the bridge and took the source of the fog with them, they had many more perfectly visible targets elsewhere. An entire cellblock running amok was a much bigger problem to the prison itself than the group trying to leave. There did come a point on the bridge when the men in the middle of their lineup became somewhat visible for a moment, but that's why he'd warned them, why he'd outfitted everyone with as much body armor as he could, and why he'd put the men with the best ability to return fire in the middle. By contrast, he'd put himself and Cobblepot in the safest positions, as this whole venture would have been pointless to him if the two of them didn't make it.

"There's this big job he wants to do and needs more men and equipment than we've got," was the only reply the big guy could give to his boss because that was as much of it as he understood. Victor had attempted to say a bit more, but when he mentioned 'intellectual property' and got blank stares, he'd resorted to simply saying that it was worth a lot of money. He just hoped Cobblepot was smarter than his men - they all said he was, at least.

When he arrived on the boat, it seemed that the whole plan had gone down more or less without a hitch, aside from a few very minor snags. Except for one somewhat larger thing... As Cobblepot approached him, he lifted his arm to look at his wrist. However, there was some condensation on the dome-like glass around his face, which he tried to wipe away, only to discover that it was on the inside of the glass - that was a bad sign... He lifted his wrist higher to where the condensation was less severe and frowned at what he saw. "Not good..." he said to himself before he turned his attention to the man he went through so much trouble to get.

His breaths were coming a bit easier, but he knew that he might be in a bit of a predicament now - he'd only just met the man before him and yet might need to rely on him far sooner than he would have wanted. To make it worse, he reminded himself that he was among criminals who wouldn't necessarily care about his sob story, and he didn't know how long he'd be able to speak so he attempted to keep his words concise. "My name is Victor Fries - I'm a scientist from GothCorp. I work for Ferris Boyle," he started. He mentioned both because his boss's sterling reputation - purchased by his many very public philanthropic activities - was more known than the company itself, which was so focused on research and government projects that the public at large didn't often hear of it.

"About a day ago he took my greatest treasure from me. When I tried to stop him, there was an explosion in the lab - that's why I'm like this," he said, gesturing vaguely toward his very visible and very white face, "I need to get into the vault - the secure room in GothCorp where all of the company's secrets are stored. I care nothing for what is inside except what is mine - the rest is yours if you help me."

He paused for a moment to breathe again, and added, "I over-exerted myself coming down the bridge, and my suit can't keep up. It may be able to catch up if I rest, but if not I'm going to pass out. I need to get to my cold room as soon as possible - the men know where it is, and we're meeting up there anyways. If I pass out, I just need to be put inside with my helmet off and I will recover." Hopefully, anyways - hyperthermia was a tricky condition with no hard and fast rules about what could be survived and what couldn't. He indicated the latch near the edge of the glass - a simple enough design meant to be near impossible to release on accident but quite easily undone on purpose. He would learn better than to do that later.

Having said that, he hoped that he could breathe somewhat of a sigh of relief. He'd greatly summarized, of course, but for the moment the important thing was to make sure that he'd said enough so that Cobblepot wanted him alive and knew how to keep him that way. Everything else could be sorted out at a less hurried pace. "But please - speak. It will help me stay awake," he added, not wanting to discourage the man from asking any immediate questions he may have. He was certain that his summary had actually caused more questions than he'd answered.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Away from the danger and apparently safely blending in with the normal boat traffic Cobblepot knew he should be feeling that relaxed sense of freedom and as happy as the men who were joking around and chatting amongst themselves already. He just couldn't. Perhaps it was because they weren't off the ship and hidden away, he wasn't comfortably in his own clothes, he didn't have his umbrella or his birds. Perhaps it was simply because it wasn't his plan, he didn't truly know where the plan ended so how could he rest until he was able to control the situation again? Oswald perhaps just had problems accepting that everything was going well. The vigilantes in this city hadn't been helping his paranoia.

Oswald had of course expected this prison break meant Freeze wanted something, the news from the big man was of no surprise but he would really have liked a little more detail. Sadly it was also of no surprise that someone typically hired to throw around a bit of muscle was not attentive to the finer details.
A big job with manpower would of course be expensive and potentially attract unwanted attention but so did everything so soon after breaking out of jail. Victor was at least clearly competent and brought his freeze technology with him. That was an advantage but if he needed help it was clearly for something very difficult.

He was keeping a close eye on Victor as he tried to wipe away the condensation. Something was must be breaking in this suit of his and Oswald was attempting to narrow down the source of the problem by mere sight. Mechanical problems were a possibility. Joint seals failing seemed quite likely in something that looked like it was made in a hurry. Oswald's speciality was more towards hiding contraptions in ordinary objects like his umbrellas but he understood a reasonable amount of engineering. He was at a loss as to how Victor could freeze things and he didn't recognise a lot of components but he was trying.

Victor's introduction at least made one thing unlikely; he was probably not an alien. Oswald hadn't been ruling it out as a possibility. Superman looked more human than this guy and everyone knew he wasn't from Earth.

"I have encountered Ferris on occasion" of course he was aware of anyone with money in Gotham. He didn't care for the man but Oswald didn't care for anyone.
He looks a little intrigued as Freeze explained something was taken from him and his appearance. The vault of GothCorp was also an interest. Any company that did research to get government projects was almost certain to have a great deal of toys in development, the plans for which could be taken, including possibly notes on Victor's freeze tech as he presumably had been developing there "I do imagine they keep a great deal of secrets which could be worth my time but what is it he can have taken to make you go to all this trouble?" he muses aloud "Perhaps just as important is why did he take it?" Freeze must have had something Boyle wanted and a paycheck wasn't getting him it.

Oswald did want more information as to what kind of mess he was getting himself in to but at the same time his mind was already adjusting to the task and considering everything he knew about GothCorp. A proper plan would require more information on the practical side but as he was musing and considering plans already Oswald was still also studying the suit and noted the catch when it was indicated "Is there anything that can be done to increase its output currently?...How is it powered?" he wasn't going to suggest something as simple as plugging it in but perhaps there was a way to give it a little boost. He didn't know enough and imagined Victor may be smart enough to think of anything first but even if there was nothing that could be done perhaps Victor might at least answer the question and provide Oswald with some additional knowledge. Maybe he'd share its workings if he thought Oswald was trying to help.

He did continues with his questions about the task though when he was prompted however "GothCorp is a business. Given your clear talent to breaking in to secure locations, what is it that makes it harder to break in to than Blackgate prison? Why is it you need me?"

[Victor Fries]

Though the suit that Victor was wearing was much more primitive than those he would create in the future, many of the features that would become standard later were already present. A dome of glass just the right size wasn't something he could just find, but he could find one that went across the front and sides. Much of it was fabric - a thick material that would probably make a very nice parka, but there was a backpack-like part that included a couple of small chemical storage tanks that were obviously a vital part of the suit, with what looked like a few controls on the chest.

There were some metal plates over the more vital parts of his body, at least where it was easy to do so without interfering with movement, making the entire suit look like some mixture between a hazmat suit, a spacesuit, and an old-fashioned atmospheric diving suit, and there were wires and tubes going in and out of it everywhere. This was not the refined suit he would build for himself later, but a rush job he'd literally thrown together just so he could break Oswald out of prison - though the fact that it wasn't pretty meant that the complexity was more or less on full display.

But though it was complex, it seemed to be working without any obvious problems - no cracks, no loose wires, no leaks, or anything of that nature. In fact, the attempt to look for such a thing mostly emphasized that in spite of the messy and haphazard construction that seemed to indicate that it was made in a hurry, it was definitely made well, with a certain meticulous eye for detail if not aesthetics. It was all wonderfully complicated, in fact, especially the tubing that connected the 'backpack' to the 'gun'.

"He is not who he pretends to be," Victor stated about his boss, anger quickly spreading across his features though he left it at that for now. He could rant and rage about what a horrible person Boyle was, but his actions would speak volumes more than words ever could about how he felt about the man soon enough.

But the expression of anger turned to one that was more uncertain when Cobblepot asked what was taken. "It's complicated..." he answered. The current state of Nora was an entire story and he didn't feel like now was the time - not when he was uncertain about how long this conversation would be because he was overheating. What was important now was to be sure that Cobblepot was sold on the idea and he doubted that learning that he wished to rescue his wife would help with that. "I'm desperate and willing to do anything - that's what you need to know," he said instead, as he figured that was more relevant, "Also, we must move on this quickly - as soon as possible. Within two days if we can manage it." He would like a proper plan too, but it wouldn't be worth much if they were too late - at least not to him.

At the questions about his suit, he shook his head and answered. "It runs on battery. Terrible idea, I know, but power is not the problem. The problem is that the cooling system is inadequate even at maximum capacity," he explained. He lifted his arm again to look at his wrist, and the frown on his face indicated that he didn't like what he saw. It was somewhat better, but still not good enough. When he let his arm down again, that wrist happened to rest so that Oswald could see what he'd been looking at if he cared to look. There was a small display positioned in the same place as a wristwatch, but instead of the time it indicated:

BT: 3.8°F/-15.7°C
IT: 22.3°F/-5.4°C
IH: 23%
ET: 76.2°F/24.6°C
EH: 67%
BP: 46%
CU: 100%
CG: 0%

A part of him thought that perhaps he shouldn't have looked - seeing the numbers only made him feel worse. And even though he was a smart man when it came to these things there was little he could think of that could help except what he'd already suggested - getting him back to his cold room as soon as possible. That was already in the works, so there was little he could do but attempt to pass this test of his physical endurance and hope that the cooling system caught up before he surpassed his limits.

Like he'd said, though, having to think helped him stay awake so when Cobblepot asked questions he forced himself to focus on answering them. "Because it's literally a vault. A prison is designed to keep people contained who presumably do not have access to advanced tools, making a wall strong is expensive, and prison walls are long structures - if they are tall and can stop a speeding truck that is considered more than sufficient. A vault, on the other hand, is designed to thwart people with advanced tools as long as possible - even the drill I used wouldn't even put a dent in it," he explained, "The data and prototypes in that vault are worth nine figures - Boyle spared no expense to protect it. I don't think much of it would be of direct use to you - agricultural, medical, and space technology - and I don't think you could sell it for what it's worth, but not all of GothCorp's competitors are so noble that they wouldn't leap at the chance to get their hands on it so that they could quietly reverse-engineer it and pretend that it is their own. Even sold at a fraction of its actual value it would be a lot of money, especially since the data can be copied and sold multiple times." With it still on his mind that it was vital for Cobblepot to be as interested as possible, he was quick to describe the sheer scale of the potential reward.

Of course, GothCorp's secrets getting out to its competitors would be such a heavy blow that it would probably ruin the company, but not only did Victor not care about it he thought that Boyle deserved it. He deserved more than that, even. Thinking of Boyle... "But that's why I need your help - I need better equipment than your men have been able to supply. And even with better equipment, I doubt we would be able to manage such an operation so quickly, so we need sufficient men to handle GothCorp's security team, and perhaps even to hold back the police. And we also may need Boyle himself - if I can't figure out how to crack open the vault, he's the only one who can open the door," he added. Setting things up so that you're the only one who can open something like that is a terrible idea - it encourages people to kidnap you.

Even with the distracting conversation, he was keenly aware of his need to get back to his cold room so he kept glancing out the window to check on their progress. They were getting near to the dock, which was a relief - that meant that they were approximately halfway there.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Oswald assumed the tanks were a key part to the freezing technology but that knowledge was all but useless without knowing what was in them. He could see the tubes going all over, plating for important parts, the controls. The guns were another thing entirely. Cooling a suit he could understand. Creating a ramp from ice was something quite different. He could only hope that during whatever plan Victor intended for them he would get enough to find out more. He could of course ask Fries but in his experience people do not willingly share their secrets.

"None of them are" Oswald replies drily to the comment about Boyle. Every high profile businessman threw a little money to charity, did the PR stunt, smiled for the cameras. It never meant they cared about anything but the bottom line and how much profit they'd made last quarter. That was business. Had Oswald been a little more flattering to the cameras it might have worked for him too before this whole getting caught and going to prison fiasco.

Oswald did not like the words 'It's complicated' in response to a question. All it meant was that they did not wish to explain and Oswald does not ask questions he doesn't expect answers to. His mouth pursed in displeasure but after a glance to their current overcrowded surroundings, of which many of the men were paying attention and listening in, he considered the point up for later discussion "On such tight schedules information is key" he merely said for now. If Victor's time line was as tight as two days he would hopefully not be so willing to waste time dodging the question when it came to planning.

"The only alternative to battery power would be an internal generator. Something which may be counter productive to your desire to minimise heat" given that pretty much any generator would produce additional heat adding to the problem.
He could see the display too and was fascinated to see Victor was not just kept cool within the suit he was actually well below freezing "May I ask how you came to need the suit?" he was just plain curious now.

Talk of the job at hand mildly distracted him from the curious puzzle of the ice man. A vault to break in to. Every thief liked a good safe breaking. This was a little more complex than that but the desire to break in to something specially made to keep you out was there. The contents of it was of course important. He would like some new toys to play with and anything could be a weapon with enough creativity but yes, perhaps most of it would be things he couldn't use himself but could sell on. He could never say no to a gigantic pile of money.
It was at this point, where he was imagining cackling with glee as his wealth grew, that he came to the conclusion that clearly he was going to be doing this job regardless of the details. He would of course still need that information but that was merely a step towards his riches. Victor could have said it was guarded by a three headed hell hound and Oswald would still have just planned around it.

There's a moment where Oswald is just thinking. What does he know of Boyle and GothCorp? Does he have a contact on the inside? What can he source within two days to break in to a vault? How hard would it be to take Boyle? "Tell me everything you know of GothCorp and its vault. Layout, guards, late workers? What about Boyle? Is he always in the office or is he more the type who leads from a holiday home until it's time to come back and take the credit" he said as he thought before he suddenly stopped and snapped his fingers at one of the men "Give me a phone" he held out his hand for it as the thug quickly fumbles through his jacket of too many pockets and eventually produces one. Oswald quickly commandeers it and is already searching information on the company site and schedule of its leader. Along with checking his emails of course and putting in the traditional 'I'm out of jail, get everyone ready' message to a few men he'd put in charge of some aspects of his empire while he was gone.

[Victor Fries]

Seeing the other man's displeasure at his answer, Victor waved a hand to both acknowledge the point and dismiss it. Yes, he knew that it was an important detail, but it was not necessary for him to explain it yet and there would be a better time. He didn't necessarily feel like he really needed to explain about Nora in any event - exactly what he was retrieving from the vault was not really Cobblepot's business anyway - though logistically he should tell him at some point if only because she wasn't easily moved around and that would be at issue at some point.

He was surprised when the other man commented on the problem of heat from a generator. That was not an issue that most people would consider so quickly but, on the other hand, he hardly knew the man and didn't know what his skills actually were except the most obvious. "I have some ideas... I will need something better for a bigger operation, but I need better supplies," he replied. That had been his primary problem when it came to much of what he'd wanted to accomplish over the course of the day - he could do all sorts of things if he had the right materials and equipment, but he had only been able to get what he could get.

Still, what he'd been able to get had gotten him this far, in spite of the hurdles. He sighed deeply when Cobblepot asked directly about what had been the biggest one - doing everything he'd needed to do while keeping himself cold. "I don't fully know," he answered, "Boyle and I got into an... altercation in the lab. A tank was ruptured and there was an explosion. I don't know what was in it - something one of the other teams was working on, I suspect. Perhaps I will be able to find out when we get there. My condition seems to be stable, at least - I have not noticed any further changes since it first happened." And beyond that he'd been far more worried about other things to have given it much thought beyond the necessity of keeping himself cold. He knew that, regardless of the cause, it wasn't a problem with an easy solution so it could wait until he knew Nora was safe, at the very least.

It was around this point of the conversation that he began to feel the heat he'd been doing his best to ignore start to really get to him. He could really only fight it off for so long. But even as he was realizing that he was getting to that point, he could see a certain extra energy in the other man's manner - he hoped it meant that he had the man convinced. He spent the momentary pause in the conversation simply breathing and trying to fight off the wave of exhaustion trying to take over his mind.

This time when Cobblepot asked him questions, he attempted to answer as before but his mind was no longer cooperating as well. "I know the most about my own department, but..." he paused, trying to focus on some of the specifics, but instead after a moment he simply said, "I'm sorry, it's difficult to think." He tried again and managed, "Boyle is somewhere in between. I don't know his schedule but I know he'll be in Gotham during our time frame at least." That was much simpler to remember and state out loud than the minutiae of GothCorp's operations.

As the other man started poking at the borrowed phone, Victor was back to focusing on staying conscious. When Oswald started to put out the word that he was out of prison he'd very quickly find out that, even beyond the men who had participated in this venture, much of his empire was already well aware that there was going to be an attempt to retrieve him this evening and they were waiting for word about the success or failure of it - or at least the parts of his empire that knew about the other parts. This meant that they'd had the better part of a day to get things ready for him - though some had taken better advantage of that time than others because not all had been fully convinced that the scientist in the cold suit would manage to pull it off. This meant that even before Oswald could finish contacting everyone he needed to contact, he'd start getting at least a couple replies back including some indicating that everyone was already ready.

Even as he was sorting that out, the boat arrived at the dock. This prompted a flurry of activity, as the boat was overcrowded and the men were quite eager to get out of it. Not that the accommodations for the next leg of their journey were much better - about all that could be said about the large rental truck that was waiting for them was that it was conveniently big enough to carry all the men and their equipment in the same vehicle while being nothing much to look at, though the back was definitely designed for cargo and not people.

When the boat stopped, Victor got to his feet, but almost immediately swayed. He caught himself, but he was clearly struggling. Fortunately, the same big guy who had helped Oswald down the bridge had ended up nearby and was quick to notice that his brute strength was once again needed. He began helping Victor off the boat and into the back of the truck, as it was questionable whether or not it was something that he could manage to do on his own.

Meanwhile, one of the other men turned to Oswald and asked, "Hey boss, do you want the front seat?" It was literally the only comfortable seat that the truck had, aside from the driver's seat, so of course nobody else dared to take it if Oswald wanted it. Of course, that would temporarily separate him from Victor, who could only fit in the back, but it certainly looked like the scientist was unlikely to be much of a conversationalist soon.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Oswald is not stupid and though his primary work is attempting to become the top businessman of the Gotham underworld he does know a thing or two about assembling technology. You can't make a couple dozen different umbrella to shoot bullets, acid, grappling hooks, or taser people without learning a thing or two if you don't want to blow your own hand off. Oswald's primary knowledge of batteries and generators comes from attempting to minimise one in to a prototype of an umbrella which could work as a short range helicopter. That one was still a work in progress with questionable confidence in his skills versus the laws of psychics.
"If you require supplies create a list and I shall make some enquiries" He was more confident in his ability to find things than that of his skill to turn whirring blades of death in to something he would be happy to hold over his head "Should their cost exceed the riches of this caper I'm sure we can come to some arrangement" he was already more than willing to start running up a bill for Freeze. Breaking in to GothCorp covered his jail break. Anything else may start to cost extra depending on how difficult it would be to get.

He listened with some interest to the description of how Freeze ended up a human popsicle. Chalk another one up for improper chemical storage "I see. Quite unfortunate...I don't imagine it is something any doctor would specialise in but I could arrange for some testing outside of the oversight of hospitals" he sounded like he was making himself useful or providing offers of other services that Victor might not know he can help with. Of course if Oswald did provide a doctor he's keeping a copy of the test results for himself but it wasn't like Freeze could just go anywhere for a check up.

As Oswald was really coming to life with a task at hand after weeks with his mind rotting in that cell Victor seemed to be losing his battle with the heat and even Oswald could see his mind was degrading. It was slightly frustrating. He wanted clear information and the man could barely think straight. It was just as well he could start getting that information on the phone "Hmm, we shall fill in the details if you can provide a rough layout to the building. Perhaps once we have arrived at our destination" he was sure Freeze wasn't going to provide any accurate drawing in this state.

Oswald was surprised, slightly impressed and a little paranoid to find that many of his men replied to his messages that they were ready and waiting. This was more efficient than he had come to expect and he had to ponder whether the big man could be trusted with the skill he clearly had to put this together. He hadn't taken over everything in Oswald's absence and that seemed to indicate he was loyal but Ozzy has trust issues so he was having problems believing it.
He set some men to tasks anyway. Discreetly scouting out the building. Finding and following Boyle. Getting a list of employees so he could find the best ones to get extra information from if he needed it. Cleaners he found to frequently be best. Security guards often worked but any sense of power attracted an ego. Cleaners had access to most if not all of the building, were poorly paid and often had little loyalty to the people they had to clean up after all day. Bribing the poor was cheap.

As the boat docked Ozzy was part way through researching building plans and trying to figure out who had been doing security for the building to narrow down what kind of vault they might find.

Oswald paused as the boat docked and tucked the phone away as he picked up his gun again just in case. Though there didn't appear to be any police waiting for them he remains cautious about these things and kept to the middle of the group as they were helping Victor off and in to the truck.
While he could acquire more information from Victor, both related to the job at hand and just to feed his curiosity, Ozzy wasn't convinced the man would remain conscious that long and then he would just be stuck, crowded in the back with everyone else. No, Oswald went for comfort. He waved to the driver to get a move on as he climbed up in to the front seat "Let us just get him there quickly" preferably before he has to add body disposal to his already busy day should Freeze succumb to heat before they get there.

The familiar streets were soothing and Oswald actually watched their surroundings instead of returning to work on the phone as they wound away from the water and further in to the city, sticking to the outskirts in the more industrialised area of the city and drawing no attention. Oswald was of course looking out for any sign they'd been spotted or were being followed but one truck among many blended in perfectly and it wasn't long before they arrived at a warehouse.
It of course looked like an ordinary warehouse. One which had been there so long no one really remembered what it did but the odd truck came and went, there was a security guard to watch the place, it looked very normal. The guard was already waving them through when they arrived and there was a crowd already inside as they opened shutters big enough for the truck to just drive on inside and be hidden from view as the shutters were brought down again.

The inside wasn't much to see. There were a number of vehicles inside belonging to the men who had come and crates of things dotted here and there. A big part of the room had been newly boxed off with Freeze's cold room having been constructed inside as fast as possible. It looked a mess but it didn't have to be pretty to work. A office room in the corner was the place Oswald claimed whenever he had come to the place but it was little more than a desk, a few chairs, tv.

Oswald of course recognised the men gathered and gave them a sly grin as he climbed out of the truck, spreading his arms wide "Boys! Today I am impressed" very high praise but it all went flawlessly and he was finally free once more. He gestured back to the truck "Help the man to his room" his eyes studied the cold room briefly but were quickly distracted and fixed on one of the men who was holding a bag, umbrella and top hat. Ozzy was ever so happy to see a change of clothes. He took the umbrella and there was a notable feeling of relief as he put his top hat on. It was real, he was definitely back.

He smiled, a big smug smile of a man who's back on top "Gather me intel and food. This orange monstrosity must go" referring of course to the jumpsuit "You have half an hour. Today we plan, tomorrow we work and the next we shall celebrate" there were on a tight schedule but he hoped half an hour would be enough for Freeze to regain his senses somewhat while providing himself with a moment to shave and change. He was also in a good enough mood to at least suggest that the grunts would also get to enjoy the rewards of a job well done if they pulled all this off.

Retreating to the office space and shuttering the windows Oswald was glad for a moment of quiet and the ability to open and then lock his own doors. It was the little things that made all the difference when it came to freedom. He could spend a lot longer than he did putting himself back normal, it was was always hard to maintain the appearance of dignity in jail when Blackgate responded better to the threat of his rage but he couldn't afford the time to stand around relaxing. There was a temptation to just sleep off the memories and a desire to worry about it all in the morning. Such lazy desires did not bring riches though so he forces himself to carry on as always. He said half an hour, he would be ready.

He made the best of his time and though it was a rush he was looking his more refined self when he returned to the room. Clean shaven, hair neatly combed with the top hat which covered the bruising on his head. Monocle, tuxedo and umbrella, everything Ozzy needs to be his traditionally recognisable self "Where are we up to?" he questions immediately as he reappears in the room, grabs a coffee to stave off the tiredness and heads for Freeze's cold room to try and peer in "How is our glacial guest faring?"

[Victor Fries]

When Cobblepot mentioned the cost of what he wanted, he stated, "They will not. And what assists me will assist you in this venture." There would come a day when the things he wanted were expensive and harder to acquire, but what he wanted now was actually quite basic in the grand scheme of things, just difficult to get quickly without the right resources. With a two day timeframe in mind, he knew that he needed to be realistic in his expectations so he was planning around that. And, as he said, with his mind currently fixated on GothCorp virtually everything he wanted right now would help both of them pretty much equally - a better suit was not merely good for him, it would also allow him to be more helpful.

He also wasn't concerned with cost in general because he knew that he'd just done the other man a very big favor by breaking him out of prison, and what could be stolen from the vault at GothCorp should more than compensate Cobblepot for anything else he was likely to want or need in the coming days. And even if that proved not to be true in the final accounting of things, as far as he was concerned he was doing something that he absolutely must do - he felt that he could not do otherwise. Whatever the price tag ended up being, he would figure out how to pay it. Still, for the moment at least, he couldn't imagine that the other man would end up having any room to argue that he wasn't fairly compensated for what he put in.

Especially since he was hardly concerned with anything beyond the next couple of days, which was reflected in his response when Cobblepot suggested looking further into his condition. "I'm probably just as capable as anyone else at understanding what has happened," he replied - he was a top-level expert on cryogenics, after all, "But it's not a problem that can be solved in two days so as long as my condition is stable it can wait." He has more important things to do than worry about right now than his health, which appeared to be fine as long as he was cold, and therefore it wasn't a problem unless it became a problem.

He simply nodded about providing a layout. He knew his workplace quite well, so that wouldn't be a problem. If only he could think a bit more clearly... Though even if he could a drawing might be a bit much to ask of him, as the thick gloves covering his hands would make doing something like that a bit difficult so either way the task was better saved for when he was in his cold room. As it was, he found himself just trying not to pass out. He strongly suspected that he'd lose that fight before they got to their destination, but even so, he knew that he would most likely be fine as long as he was returned to his cold room as soon as possible. Even so, he didn't want to pass out as long as he could help it, especially because he knew that getting him into the truck as dead weight would be much more difficult than if he could help somewhat.

Exactly what happened after that was something he would never be able to recall clearly, as it wasn't long after that when he lost consciousness completely - the effort of getting into the truck only made the situation worse for him and shortly after he was inside it proved to be too much for him. When he woke up, he was laying on his back in his cold room. The location itself was not very comforting because it was merely a shelter that he'd known for less than a day, but when he remembered why he was waking in this place he took a deep breath of relief. I'm still alive, Nora. But he only allowed himself that brief moment before he pushed himself to his feet. He had a lot of things to do and a very short time period to do them.

His cold room wasn't tiny, but it also wasn't tremendously huge - the larger the room, the more difficult it was to keep it cold enough. Especially because it included a few items that he needed to use but that also generated heat - including a desk with a computer and a workbench with some power tools. It didn't include any furnishings for comfort such as a couch because he hadn't asked for one - which was also why he had been placed on the floor.

The room also had a few external features - in addition to the door, there a window so that he could see out and others could see in, though there was a curtain he could close on his side. There was also a large box-shaped thing with a door on each side placed so that it was halfway through the wall - it was an airlock of sorts so that items could be passed back and forth without opening the actual door and letting all the cold out. There was a handmade sign on the exterior door reminding those taking something metal from Victor that they'd want to use gloves - metal cooled to his preferred temperature was not pleasant to touch without that protection.

Aside from those interruptions to the exterior and the large freezing unit to one side, the entire room was swaddled in a very thick layer of insulation, which hadn't been covered up due to the haste with which the room had been constructed and that was probably the main reason why it was unsightly. The insulation also absorbed a lot of sounds, so an intercom had been installed to make it easier to talk to Victor - there was a button to press next to the window so that it would only be on when someone was actually trying to talk to him.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious, but it was long enough that when Oswald reappeared and asked about him, one of the men on hand replied, "He woke up just a few minutes ago." Through the window it was easy enough to see that Victor was just removing the last piece of his suit and setting it aside.

He was probably yet again a strange sight - this time instead of looking like possibly an alien wearing possibly a spacesuit, he looked far more like the scientist he claimed to be - underneath it he'd been wearing a light blue collared shirt with black pants, somewhat wrinkled from the suit being worn over them. He was six feet tall but quite thin - if it weren't for the pure white skin and complete lack of hair the only thing about his appearance that didn't fit the stereotype of a nerdy scientist was his lack of glasses.

But then there was the part that made it odd - just when Cobblepot was likely about to speak to him, he reached up and scratched his head, rubbed his face, shook himself, and rubbed his arms, revealing that the pure white color of his skin had hidden the fact that apparently his skin was covered with a very thin layer of... snow? That's what it looked like, anyway. He was still brushing it off when he glanced at the window and noticed that the man he'd just extracted from prison was there. Dressed in formalwear? He thought it odd but, on the other hand, it didn't really phase him much - he cared little about the appearance of others. So he simply walked over to the window and turned on the intercom.

Though he'd insisted on installing a button that had to be held down to activate the intercom on the outside, on the inside he had a switch for his own convenience - that way he didn't need to stand by the window to talk to someone outside his room. He was certain that anyone who lived in a room like this would agree that was the only sane way to set things up. So even as he started to talk, he walked over to the desk with the computer, "I know you need to know what I know about the layout, personnel, and security of GothCorp, and also need a list of the supplies that I need. Is there anything else more urgent?"

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Oswald could appreciate that limits to Victor's suit will mean limits to their plans and he was keeping that in mind along with many other things when he was considering the best way to break in to GothCorp and complete this job.
He was also considering the difference to bank robberies. If anything the hardest part was the timeline. Vaults, guards and get aways were all things Oswald has had to deal with at one point or another but he always preferred to have the time to gather his information and plot the best way to approach things. He could plan these things in a hurry but he did have to wonder why the timeline was so tight and it was clear that would have something to do with whatever it was Freeze wanted from that vault.

Oswald had some time to consider the possibilities while he was getting changed and Victor's curious condition was top of his list. His suit and the cold room could be a temporary solution to a worsening illness of course. He never even came close to guessing the truth though.

The make up of Freeze's cold room Oswald imagined to be much like making a large fridge but it was in his warehouse so if the Penguin wanted to pick it to pieces to see how it worked later he would. Right now with Freeze awake again there were other things he needed to focus on.

Coming to the window of the cold room Oswald instantly frowned in irritation...for he could only just see inside. He snaps his fingers at a thug and pointed to a small crate "Bring that here, now" he pointed again to instruct the man to put the crate in front of the window and the to go. Keen not to stay nearby when the Penguin was having his short height pointed out by a window.

Oswald faked dignity as he stepped on to his box and tried to ignore that as he watched Victor getting out of his suit. It was quite the transformation, though Cobblepot found him a lot less intimidating like this. Out of the suit he just looked like one of those nerdy scientist sorts, thin, weak...and unusually covered in snow. He must admit that was a new one for him. Everything about the guy seemed to be cold, perhaps he shouldn't be surprised.

It took Oswald only moments to spot the intercom button and hold it down to reply "Layout, personnel, security systems, hours of operation, everything you know about this vault...and the purpose of this adventure" he wants to know exactly what Freeze is getting out of this and what better time to ask than when the man was trapped in a small room.

[Victor Fries]

The construction of Victor's cold room was actually pretty boring for what it was - it was simply a larger version of a freezer. He'd managed to get his hands on an industrial-sized freezing unit, but those can be found in any grocery store. He did have to make some alterations to it to make it more powerful, but that was only because most freezers only ever need to be kept below freezing or perhaps just a bit colder so that the space being cooled could recover easily from open doors and the like. Victor needed his room to be even colder than that, but what he did to the freezing unit was not that different from freezing units designed to be that cold in the first place. The room also had a dehumidifier hooked up to it, but that really was everything maintaining the environment in his room.

He sat down at the computer desk and turned on the computer, listening to Cobblepot as it started up. Though he didn't really let it show, he felt a bit weak after the whole ordeal he'd just endured. But he knew that he could certainly manage to sit and type for a while and, in any event, the other man would need the information sooner rather than later so that as they would be on the same page when they started to plan. Hopefully, by the time he finished, he'd recover more fully because he certainly had a lot of other things to do as well. Getting what he needed to improve his suit was only half the battle - the other half was putting it together.

Fortunately, though his body felt a bit weakened at the moment he didn't really feel tired. This was odd because he hadn't slept since... the night before last, and it was evening again. He wasn't sure if it had something to do with the other physical changes that had been made to him or if he was merely being fueled by anger and determination at this point. But either way, he could tell that he didn't need to sleep and when he had so much to do he didn't see a reason to worry about the reasons why. Or why he didn't feel hungry or thirsty either even though he hadn't attended to either of those in quite some time as well, and wasn't sure what he needed to do about that since any food and beverage at his new temperature would freeze. The laws of physics definitely indicated that he would need some sort of subsistence to maintain himself at some point, but if he could delay in worrying about it for the time being he preferred to keep his focus on rescuing Nora.

Though when the other man's asked about his purpose, his lips pursed and he looked over at him, bristling slightly. "That is no concern of yours. But because you will not believe that if I don't tell you, I will tell you," he stated. He knew, for practical reasons, that Cobblepot needed to know, but that didn't mean that he wanted to tell him. Nora didn't deserve to get tangled up in anything like this, and what she would have thought about him breaking a criminal out of prison - let alone working with criminals in the first place - was already wearing on him. But he could see no other way through this, and though he would move the world to keep her happy he would rather disappoint her than see her die. He would save her, whether she would forgive him for it later or not - he could not do otherwise.

He looked back at the computer, watching the little indicator showing the progress as it loaded as he explained. "My wife Nora was diagnosed with a rare, terminal illness called MacGregor's Syndrome," he started, his voice almost tender, "Boyle promised to help with a cure, but she was deteriorating too quickly. So just as she was about to succumb, I cryogenically froze her to preserve her in the hope that I can restore her if given enough time."

The computer finished loading, so he began the process of logging in and loading the program where he would type up the information for Cobblepot as he continued, his voice quickly becoming bitter, "But Boyle at that point was far more interested in how I preserved her than he was in curing her. So he took her from me." He paused for a moment, but though the other man would not have a good angle to see his expressions, from what he could see he'd be able to tell that Victor was feeling something he had no doubt seen in others, if not felt himself - Victor wanted to literally rip Boyle to pieces.

However, the mood passed quickly as the cold man refocused his thoughts on what was actually necessary. "Moving her is a delicate process, but I know the apparatus I need to construct to do it so that should not hamper our efforts," he added, because that was actually the one thing about this that he felt that Cobblepot actually needed to know.