Cool goods at cool prices [Freeze]

[Deleted]

Warehouse 13
Outer Downtown, Gotham City. 

Salvatore Maroni and his criminal organization controlled a great deal of Gotham City, most of what they owned was downtown. However they had restaurants, businesses and warehouses throughout the city. Maroni made most of his money by illegal rackets, gambling, prostitution and the procurement and liquidation of illegal goods. The goods weren't always illegal, but they were never obtained legally. Everything from sporting goods, electronics, collectibles, science equipment and fine furniture, the connections built up by one hundred years of the Maroni family being in business meant you could get anything you wanted, and as much of it as you wanted, as long as you had the money to pay for it. The mob was a lot of things, but if you paid them what you owed and didn't rat out to law enforcement then they treated you with a certain level of respect. The bottom line was always money, it didn't matter how the money came in or who they were selling their stuff to, as long as it was paid for in full and on time. 

Warehouse 13 was one of Maroni's top warehouses, it was closer to their operations than the other warehouses they had spread throughout the city. This was a hub of sorts, most incoming shipments came through this warehouse first before being shipped out. The other warehouses served as storage, while this one never actually had any permanent inventory, it was still well guarded because of all the merchandise that passed through. It wasn't just merchandise to be sold, it was also a good transportation hub for the businesses owned by Maroni in Gotham. Wine shipments to "Maroni's" or shipments of tableware for "Goodman's" The department store purchased by Big Lou in the 80's. 

Today was a day like any other, it was mid afternoon and the sweltering heat had all of the boys working in the warehouse down to their undershirts. They unloaded trucks to the correct pallets, and reloaded trucks or cars so the goods could go to their correct destination. Believe it or not, it was very well orchestrated and organized almost perfectly. The man in charge had a manifest and contact information of every company or individual they were working with. Money was never kept at this location, it was only ever used to move product. 

"Carlo! Where's that shipment of olive oil?" Tommaso Marcano, the man in charge at Warehouse 13 looked at the clipboard in his hands.

"Uhh Idunno Boss, are you sure it's supposed to be here yet?"

"Am I sure its supposed to be here? Of course I'm sure ya cocksucker! It says right here on the manfiest... 3PM... It is..." He paused briefly to glance at his watch.

"3:10... it's 3:10... ah christ." The two men weren't able to interact much more before a truck backed up into the loading bay.

The driver approached Tommaso and Carlo with a handheld device.

"Got some primo olive oil for ya boys, sign here." It looked as if Tommaso was going to burst a blood vessel, but he signed while swearing under his breath. Carlo got back to work without waiting around to get told to do so, and Tommaso's men started unloading the truck.

"Oh marone." He wiped the sweat off his brow before returning his attention back to his clipboard.

[Victor Fries]

A plain, unmarked white van pulled up in front of the warehouse. Though it was an intentionally bland vehicle, it was one that had been at this warehouse before and so had the man inside. 'Burr' was the only name he'd given to Marcano when they'd met not terribly long ago, looking for some equipment for his unnamed boss, but that wasn't an unusual factor while doing business where discretion was so highly valued.

The heat was a welcome reprieve from what Burr was accustomed to, so the heat didn't stop him from wearing a denim shirt - not terribly professional-looking, but he knew what really mattered here was the fact that his boss had money to spend and not what he looked like. Besides, his boss was not one to put too high of a value on appearances anyways, so any upgrades to his wardrobe would come out of his own pocket - which he could afford, given how much the boss was paying him, but he had his own priorities with the money.

He parked the van outside, keeping clear of the truck that had pulled into the loading bay and trying to keep it out of the way. This was an unscheduled visit, so when he exited the vehicle and spotted Marcano he simply said "Yo!" to get his attention and waved, allowing the other man to direct him somewhere, indicate that he should wait, or whatever else he wanted to do with him. They'd only made one deal, after all, and though the money exchanged was nothing to scoff at he didn't necessarily expect the other man to just drop everything if he showed up at a bad time.

Either way, when Marcano was ready for him he'd greet the man with a firm handshake. "Hey, man, how's it going?" he asked, "Sorry for showing up unexpected but, well, everyone is a bit jumpy about phones since the Riddler thing." Not that his boss had told him to do anything different, but some of the other men had gotten fired over it so he felt the need to take his own precautions, just in case. "But I come with good news, I hope - the boss is very pleased with the..." he hesitated for a moment because it was difficult for him to remember the sci-fi sounding terms for a device when he had no idea what it was or what it did, "Neutron generator." Yeah, he thinks that's it. It was actually a very specific kind of one of those, but that was the best he could remember it on the fly.

"Anyway, so he wanted me to ask, since you guys were able to get that for him and it was hard to find someone who could, if you could get him any of the other equipment he's looking for," he added, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. He glanced at it, shook his head, and said, "I can't pronounce any of this stuff." So he simply handed over the printed list. It wasn't terribly long, but it was extremely technical and none of it was cheap. "And he's also looking to get some construction material and some less fancy equipment on the down-low, if you can give him a good price," he added, "Nothing against the law, but the law knows he needs it, you understand."

[Deleted]

Marcano looked up from his clipboard long enough to see someone was talking to him. Someone he might have seen in passing before but didn't really remember his name. It wasn't a normal occurrence for contacts to come straight to the warehouse. Usually, they called or some sort of meeting was set up. He had a point about the whole riddler business though, Maroni was a little angry about the whole ordeal. Marcano didn't see the reaction, but he remembered hearing about a very expensive table being busted up and thrown out back into the alley behind his restaurant. Your boss is happy huh? That's good to hear, that makes my boss happy." He would lower his clipboard, holding it at his side. "That business with that Riddler fella has been a real pain the ass, that's for sure. You did the right thing."

He kept looking at the man in front of him, trying to remember his name. "Sorry pal but help me out here, I don't recall yer name. Who is it you work for?" Marcano was in the business of not asking too many questions. He didn't really know what a neutron generator was or why this guy's boss wanted one, but he knew it wasn't a very easy piece to get. It was very sciency, but again Marcano wasn't in the business of asking questions and he never went to college. Science was never his strong suit anyway, he was more of a literacy guy. Marcano was then handed a list, he blinked a few times, his tired eyes focusing on the list of sciency mumbo jumbo.

"We can get everyone on this list, shouldn't be a problem... but it won't be cheap." Certain equipment could be on government watch lists, or just be expensive and in limited production. Depending on the type of item it was, it could be possible that only universities and medical institutions could get ahold of them in the first place. These items can be obtained, but it isn't always easy. An item that was "broken" or an item that "got lost in shipping" wasn't always easy to make happen. "I don't think I need to tell ya that this is one of the most... complicated requests I've ever received." He mulled over his words for a minute, still studying the list. "I think that my boss and yer boss should have a sitdown. We can get all this stuff for ya, but the bosses need to hash out what happens. This isn't a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card or a tv set like yer folks used to have. This is serious stuff, my friend." He paused for a moment, folding the list up. "Mind if I hold onta this? I can pass it on to the boss." He gave a half-smile, still looking at the man in front of him.

"So Whaddya say, pal? Can we make a sit-down happen?"

[Victor Fries]

When the other man translated the word 'pleased' into 'happy', Burr looked amused but kept the reason to himself. Saying that his boss was 'pleased' was already a stretch - more accurately, his boss seemed to be no longer troubled by his lack of a neutron generator. But that was the closest thing he's ever seen his boss to being actually pleased by anything, so that was the word he'd used. He'd certainly never seen his boss be 'happy', but eh, close enough.

He was vaguely surprised when his name wasn't remembered, but he was quick to reflect that they'd only made one deal before. It was an expensive deal, but then again he didn't necessarily know just how big of an operation Marcano was connected to, so perhaps it just wasn't that important of a deal to him. Something he could easily accept because it wasn't like he had an ego about it - actually it made some sense because it was hard to find someone able to sell a neutron generator at all, so it would seem to be more likely to be a larger outfit. And that was good, actually, because that's what his boss needed. "They call me Burr," he answered, adding, "And my boss has the sort of name you don't say very often."

Mr. Freeze wasn't the first criminal that Burr had worked for, and he knew that there was a delicate balance sometimes between trust and secrecy in these sorts of deals. Especially since he was working for a known criminal who was very, very high on Gotham's wanted list - that meant that a lot of information was strictly need-to-know, and one couldn't be too quick to ask if someone really needed to know. Sometimes people did need to know, but just as the completion of one deal hadn't been enough for Marcano to remember his name, it also wasn't enough for Burr to feel comfortable about naming his boss.

Then again, the list that he handed over was definitely something that could change things, depending on whether or not Marcano's group could supply anything else that was on it. He certainly didn't expect to be told that they could get all of it, especially in conjunction with the phrase 'shouldn't be a problem'. "...'Shouldn't be a problem', you say? Who did you say you work for?" he said, somewhat taken aback, but he recovered from that quickly by adding, "Yeah, of course - the boss knows what he's asking for." Even if Burr himself wasn't sure what he was trying to buy. "Money isn't something that's difficult for him to get, just so long as the markup is fair," he said in return.

Though if the concept of being able to finally acquire everything on his boss's list threw him for a mental loop, so did the entire concept of a 'sitdown'. He nodded when Marcano asked if he could keep the list, but the pause afterward stretched out long enough that he felt a need to hold up a hand and say, "Now, I'm not saying no. And that's fair enough - it's a big deal we're talking about here. My boss is just not normally the meet and greet, shaking hands type."

He paused to ponder the idea for a moment, but finally said, "It's doable, but there's some logistical details to work out. Needs to be in a private place - indoors, no windows, no witnesses. In fact, preferably somewhere that can be driven into so that he's never outside - there's no disguising who he is and I don't care how many you've paid off, the cops and the feds would swarm the place if he was spotted. Also, we don't have a place for meetings on our end, but I don't think he'd be shy about showing up wherever you guys were to recommend. Also, he doesn't eat, he doesn't drink, and he doesn't like to sit - so not literally a sitdown." He paused for a moment, trying to decide if that was a complete list of what his boss would want and need from such a situation.

[Deleted]

"Let's just say the man who owns this outfit has been in a seat of power for a little while." He couldn't simply give away that this was a Maroni outfit, but if this deal went off without a hitch then both sides would eventually know who worked for who. "Yeah and really its no problem, the markup is reasonable as far as I'm concerned, especially if you say that the feds are after this guy." He sounded like a veritable boogeyman, with all of the conditions that were needed just for a meeting. This along with everything he was asking for? Well, this was no normal man, no normal business partner at all. "Lemme make a phonecall pal, you mind hanging out for a stretch?" He waited for confirmation before he walked away, making his way towards his office. He opened the door and tossed the clipboard on the desk before grabbing the phone. Marcano was a bit old fashioned, he didn't really take a cell phone around because they were too easy to track down.

He dialed the number to the restaurant, waiting for someone to pick up. "Hey this is Marcano, I need to speak to the boss."

"Is it urgent? He's in the middle of a meeting."

I'd say it's pretty urgent, just trust me and get him on the phone, wouldya?

The man who answered the phone was one of Maroni's lieutenants, Alfonso Trippi phones that were meant for the restaurant business were handled by employees of the restaurant. The phone that was meant for 'other' business was usually answered by someone close to Maroni. "Alright alright, keep your skirt on. Gimme a minute." The man placed down the phone without hanging it up. He walked to the door that led to Maroni's office. He could hear talking on the other side, but he didn't hesitate to knock.

"If he knows what's good for him he'-" Maroni's train of thought in his discussion with his two underbosses Frankie Carbone and Alberto Trianti was interrupted with the knock on his door.

"Whossat? I'm in the middle of a meetin' here."

"I know Don Maroni but it's Marcano from Warehouse 13 He says its urgent sir."

"Is that so? Transfer it back here, I'll be the judge of that." An affirmative signal generated from the door as Trippi walked away to transfer the call. Maroni would pick up, holding the receiver to his ear.

"Tommaso! How are the grandkids?"

"They're great Don Maroni, getting bigger every day... Listen I'm sorry to bother you but I got a guy here at the warehouse. His boss is requesting some rare... collector's items. I told him that we should set up a meeting so you two could meet because these are some really rare... collector's items and a meeting could be beneficial due to the rarity of these items."

Maroni listened, he had a good idea of what Marcano was trying to say. "Okay, so let's meet, this guy say who he was workin' for? Is it anybody I know? Do they have a place in mind?"

"Well that's exactly the thing boss, the guy didn't give me his name. But this guy he's workin' for wants a place nice and quiet, one that you can drive into preferably. Apparently the guy's boss ain't too mobile. Can't sit, can't eat, can't drink"

"Well ain't this just getting interesting? I think I know a place that can work. Ask this guy for a number that we can reach him at and tell him we'll contact him in exactly 48 hours. I'll handle the rest."

"Okay boss, thanks for your time."

"No problem Tomasso, give your family my best."

click

---

Marcano would hang up the phone and wipe the sweat off his brow, he'd walk out of the office and approach Burr. "Alright, here's how it's going to happen. I need a number to reach you at, we'll be calling you 48 hours from now. I'd recommend getting ready to move before then. We'll provide you with instructions. I'd also recommend using a burner phone if this guy is as hot as you say he is."

There were a few parting words from the two men, both of them knew that a meeting was going to happen soon, and both of them also knew it wasn't going to be your run of the mill meeting.

---

48 hours later

The same man that dealt with Burr dialed the number provided to him. He waited for it to be answered and then said his piece.

"Abondoned Sunshine Meatpacking Plant outside of the Gotham Industrial Sector off of Birch Street, half-hour."

Once he had finished giving the instructions he ended the call.

---

30 minutes later

The Sunshine Meatpacking Plant had gone under over ten years ago, Big Lou bought the building and planned to use it someday but he never really did. It was used for storage but it was mostly empty, however, it was isolated and it could be driven into.

Maroni was already sitting in the break room, which was outfitted with some better chairs just for this meeting. It was more for him than it was for the other guy since he apparently couldn't sit. When Burr and his Boss arrived they would be able to notice 4-5 other vehicles parked around the meatpacking plant. There were sharpshooters set up on the roof of the meatpacking plant and other structures around the property. It was pretty well guarded, but it wasn't as if Maroni was looking to ambush anyone or make a statement. He just wanted to make sure this was a safe environment for him and however, he was meeting. He didn't know a lot about the guy, so it was just an act of caution.

"Well boss, they should be arriving any minute now. What are we expecting?" Marcano would comment, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Man can't sit, can't eat, can't drink. Hell if I know, I guess we'll see pretty quick here."

[Victor Fries]

"Fair enough," was all Burr said when the other man wouldn't name who he worked for either. If Marcano was a part of the big leagues, so much the better! It was Burr's opinion that Mr. Freeze had been due to get such connections for a while now, but in a world kept carefully under a veil of secrecy it could be difficult to get your foot in the door.

And though many of the men who worked for his boss were experienced criminals of various kinds, usually the reason why they worked for Mr. Freeze now is that something unfortunate happened to their previous boss, who was probably not very important - which means that the few actually important connections they may have had before had been severed by the time they were hired. And Freeze himself was a comparative novice to these things who had started with no connections at all only a year ago, even if he took to much of it like a duck to water. So their whole group was having to carefully forge connections from scratch, and this was a real find for them.

"Not at all," Burr replied with a dismissive wave of his hand when Marcano asked to make a phone call. As far as he could figure, a phone call simply meant that he was being taken very seriously. Which was good, because this was definitely something to take seriously.

Burr was quite pleased when Marcano returned with specifics about how they would coordinate the meeting. Suppressing his amusement at his boss being described as 'hot', he pulled out a small notepad to write the phone number on and said, "Yeah, we do a lot with burners." It was the smart thing to do when you wanted to ensure a certain level of secrecy.

Handing over over the number, he smiled and added, "Word of advice: Nobody ever knows what to make of the boss when they first meet him. But you just need to give him the same respect that you'd give anyone else. And that's it - he's not complicated."

---

It was nice having 48 hours to prepare. Mostly because, though it did not take the entire 48 hours for Victor to be convinced that the meeting was necessary, he really didn't like the idea and it gave him plenty of time to mentally prepare for it at a leisurely pace. Though he had improved his suit to the point that he could feel confident in most dangerous situations, any time he left the security of his hidden laboratory felt like a risk. But Burr had insisted that this was an important opportunity so it needed to be done.

Half an hour after the phone call came, a nondescript white van with no windows in the back slowed as it approached the abandoned meatpacking plant. It hesitated overly long before turning into the property from the road, but then drove forward - there was a need for caution here, but there didn't appear to be anything amiss from what was visible on the outside of the building, at least. Following the instructions that he'd been given, Burr located the proper doorway and drove the van inside. "Just like I asked for," he remarked over his shoulder.

Victor didn't reply but kept a sharp eye on what little he could see through the windshield. It wasn't much, but the more he could see of the outside while he was in the van, the more what was outside of the van could see of him, which wasn't a good thing. But he knew that Burr knew his business, so he trusted that if there was anything to see that would indicate a problem then the man would spot it.

When the van pulled to a stop, Burr parked and then quickly went around to the back to get the door. Victor wasn't the only one in the back of the van, but the other two would remain there unless things got messy - just a small amount of backup, just in case. For now, only Victor himself got out. Which wasn't easy, but he was used to it - the van was just big enough to be workable transport, so it was a bit cramped, but anything larger would be a more unusual sight on Gotham's streets and thus less discrete. When he was out, he paused for a moment to let his muscles recover from the ride and also to take a look around.

While Burr had taken the trouble to make sure that he looked presentable up for this meeting, Victor had one suit for all occasions. And it lent him a certain intimidating appearance - he wasn't, in reality, a larger man than most, but his suit definitely added both height and bulk. There was approximately one thing he could do to try to look more approachable - not wear his HUD goggles so that someone looking into the dome over his head could see that he had normal human eyes, at least. But he opted to wear them for this meeting anyway - because removing them would only help so much and being intimidating wasn't necessarily a bad thing as long as nobody tried to shoot him on sight. This would be a stupid thing for anyone to do anyway because he also didn't leave his cold gun behind, though he had it attached to his leg instead of in his hands - his equivalent of keeping it holstered.

"This way, boss," Burr said, pulling his attention away from his surroundings. Victor followed behind him as they made their way to where the meeting would actually take place. When they entered the room, Burr kept his attention on the men inside - he didn't want to miss any of the expressions on their faces when the boss came into view. Though Victor was slightly delayed by the door - he could fit through a standard sized doorway without breaking anything, but it had to be done with a bit of care so it slowed him down a little. Which gave Burr enough of a head start to say, "Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm called Burr." He gave a polite nod to the man next to Marcano, then added, "Allow me to introduce my boss, Victor Fries." He could tell by the faint sound of mechanical whirring behind him that he'd gotten the timing more or less correct.

Victor, for his part, simply entered the room and stopped behind Burr, saying nothing. It may be unusual for him to intentionally go meet someone, but it was hardly the first time and he was accustomed to the short pause that normally followed. He'd wait for them to get their bearings before he did anything further.

[Deleted]

It all made sense, it all added up, they saw this coming. This is what most people would be saying, but Tomasso Marcano and his boss Salvatore Maroni did not see it coming. The hints were there, there was enough information to discern that Burr's boss wasn't exactly normal. The fact that he couldn't sit down, the fact he couldn't eat, drink, sleep coupled with the fact that the local Gotham City police and the FBI would be very, very  interested in knowing where he was located meant there was only a small list of people that it could have been. Maroni and most of the men under him have heard of Victor Fries, but they didn't know much about him. They weren't the types that always read the paper or watched the news. So this meant they were definitely surprised when Victor Fries and Burr entered the room.

Surprisingly enough, Salvatore Maroni didn't really dwell on it, he felt that might be dangerous if he decided to gawk at the man. So he did the one thing he knew for a fact that Victor came here to do, business. "Victor Fries, a pleasure to meet ya." He knew for a fact that Victor here wouldn't really be interested in pleasantries so he didn't introduce Frankie Carbone or Alberto Trianti. He didn't stand up and offer his hand, none of that would mean anything in the long run. "I'm Salvatore Vincent Maroni. I run the warehouse you bought your goods from. You look like a man that's ready to get down to the business so that's what we'll do." Maroni paused only briefly, he had the list in his hands, the list that Burr gave Marcano two days ago.

"This list you gave my man, Marcano? Well, I can get all of it. The only thing I ask is that from here on out? You deal with me and only me. If you have other contacts, I assure you that we can get you everything that you want at very affordable prices." He held the list up, handing it to Marcano. Marcano would travel half the distance of the room and hand it off to Burr. "Our prices are next to each item on the list, I happen to think that you will believe they are very fair." Every item had a small markup, but the markup itself was lower than the markup that their first transactions they've completed. When doing business with items as hard to get like these, there was almost always a 25% mark up, but it was bumped down to 20% for every item on the list.

"Make us your number one supplier. You will get everything you need, and will never have issues finding it ever again." Maroni's words were very serious, he lowered the markup because he knew to be Mr. Freeze's supplier? That would net him a very hefty profit. He also knew that Victor wouldn't really care about the prices, but every little bit of money he did save he could just put it towards the next piece he needed. It was a showing of good faith as well, 5% less wouldn't normally seem like much but it would definitely add up.

"What do you say?" Maroni was brief with his offer, he knew better than to waste a lot of time with a man like Victor Fries.

[Victor Fries]

Even if Victor hadn't been encased in a metal suit, with its glass dome covering his head, his skin white and hairless, and his eyes hidden behind red-colored goggles, he was a very difficult man to read. He was somewhat impressed that the man he was here to meet only hesitated for a moment and immediately resorted to being polite, but did that show in his expression? Not at all - in fact, he appeared to be completely unmoved. Burr knew that was a good thing because his boss was quicker to express disapproval, but then again he'd been working for Victor for a while.

And then there was the other aspect of talking to Victor... "The pleasure is all mine," he said back, his tone completely flat. And to make it worse, because his head and therefore his voice was completely encased within his very protective suit, he'd had to set up a microphone and speaker so that he could be heard at all. But the quality of both of those pieces of equipment was only so good because it was only important to him for it to be good enough that he could be understood - his voice came out tinny and almost robotic, and that combined with his tone meant that it was difficult to detect any emotion in his voice. Was he being sincere? Sarcastic? Was he simply bored? It was hard to say.

But though it was correct that he wasn't interested in pleasantries, there was one omission that he did mind. "Who are these others?" he asked, gesturing toward the men that hadn't been introduced when it seemed that Maroni meant to continue without doing so. Again, was it a demand or idle curiosity? Difficult to say... Not that he cared about their life's story or anything, but the names of the men deemed important enough to be at a meeting such as this was potentially useful to know.

After that, however, he simply listened passively as Maroni went on to make his proposal, his expression once again remaining flat and betraying no sign of what he thought about what he was hearing. Though when Burr retrieved the paper, rather than handing it to Fries as he was probably expected to do, he returned to his boss's side and reviewed the paper himself. Then he leaned over and began to whisper into what appeared to be Fries's clavicle area. Though if they didn't notice before, they'd see that there was a bit of an indentation on his suit on the other side as well - just like how he needed a way to get the sound of his voice out of his suit, he also needed a way to get sound in and so Burr was simply whispering into his 'ear'.

And he had a lot to say. Just as Marcano and Maroni didn't know exactly who they were going to be meeting with, Burr and Fries hadn't known either. They were perhaps less surprised if only because Maroni was a bit closer to being 'ordinary' than Fries was, but that meant that there was only so much they could do to prepare. And unlike Maroni, who would have years of experience to fall back on to cope with the unexpected, Victor had only been a criminal for a year and had certainly never met with anyone this high-profile before.

Neither had Burr, but Burr had been close enough before to know what he was doing - so now he was quickly telling his boss everything he needed to know and that he knew he didn't already know to make a good decision here and that took him several moments. At one point during his whispering he glanced down at the paper again, and then he looked away as he finished. Then he stepped back, having given his two cents. Victor was silent for a moment after that, but his lips were slightly pursed in thought - the first true facial expression he'd offered thus far.

But he didn't leave everyone in suspense for more than a moment before he shifted his attention to Burr and said, "3 and 4." Burr immediately reached into an interior suit pocket and pulled out two carefully folded pieces of paper and walked them over to hand them off to Marcano. Even as he did so, Victor turned back to Maroni and said, "The list that was given to Marcano was incomplete. My men have had a difficult time locating a supplier for any of the items, therefore my expectations were low. I was told that Marcano expressed confidence in your ability to acquire the entire list of items, therefore my expectations have been raised. This is a more complete list of what I truly wish to acquire," he stated, "Though if you find it to be insufficiently challenging, I can probably give you another at a later date." And after he'd said so, an extremely observant person might have noticed that there might have been the slightest of upturns in the corner of his lips.

The first sheet of paper included the same pieces of equipment as the first, except that it indicated that he wanted two of each of them, instead of one. It also included a handful of other, even more difficult to acquire pieces of equipment - and he wanted two of each of those as well. But the bulk of it was a list of mostly more ordinary equipment, though only one of each of most of those, including a second neutron generator.

"I am also giving you a second list. Those items should be much easier to acquire, but it is known that I need them so discretion is required. This is just as important to me even if the price tag is lower," he added, his lips returning to a flat line again - if they'd moved in the first place.

The second sheet of paper was a list of obviously cold-related materials - heavy-duty building insulation, insulated pipes and wire, large storage tanks of the type that could hold liquid oxygen or liquid nitrogen, and other such items that were not that uncommon, but the items were exactly the sort of things that Victor obviously needed. Especially because he was only interested in the best of such items - he liked to keep things about 30 to 60 degrees colder than anyone else usually bothered with, so only the best would do. Anyone looking for Freeze, and they were certainly looking, would at the very least take a careful look at the destination of any shipments for such things if they got wind of them. The required obfuscation was not something that Victor could arrange, though he understood that it shouldn't be much trouble for the man he was talking to.

"Your desire for exclusivity is an easy stipulation to accept, as I can hardly buy from others if they do not offer what I need to buy, and your prices seem reasonable. However, I reserve the right, on an ongoing basis, to attempt to find a supplier who offers a better deal. Though, of course, should I find one I would inform you so that you have the opportunity to undercut them," he stated. It was all about the money to him, after all - not for the sake of having money, but for the sake of getting as much as he could out of it as possible.

[Deleted]

Shortly after the meeting started, Freeze would ask who the other men at Maroni's side were. "My my, so eager to get to business I forgot my manners. These are my underbosses, Frankie Carbone on my left and Alberto Trianti on the right." Frankie nodded at the mention of his name, as did Trianti but both of them kept silent unless they were directly addressed. "You already know Marcano and the rest of the men outside are there so this meetin' stays private.Maroni smiled after he had finished the introductions of the two most important in his organization and allowed the meeting to continue.


Maroni would nod at the notion that the list he received wasn't complete, this wasn't surprising considering who exactly this was. Maroni and his men didn't know much about him but it was clear enough that he was new to this. He didn't have pre-existing partnerships that could get him access to the parts he needed, which means he had to meet up with people to make those connections. Making those connections took time of course, Maroni's connections could be tracked back over one hundred years, around the time that prohibition inhibited the countries population from becoming inhibited. What Salvatore Maroni was doing with Mr. Freeze now was exactly what made organized crime organizations so powerful in the first place. Supply and demand, Freeze wanted something and Salvatore Maroni could supply that. "Not the full list, got it." Maroni didn't have to ask before he had the full list in his hands, this one was much bigger with some items being requested twice.

"This is not an issue, getting two of the same item might take a little more time but you will receive what you ask for. Is there some sorta... time table? A deadline for when you need certain items from the list?" Sal didn't know anything about science, he took the standard high school biology, physical science and chemistry. He was hardly in class during his rebellious youth days, but he still passed highschool with above average marks. Salvatore Maroni could earn a grade if he put his mind to it, and could have even went to a decent college if it wasn't for his birthright getting in the way. He was born a mafioso and he would die a mafioso. He did know that Mr. Freeze could have a timetable based on the type of work he was doing and he would attempt to get Mr. Freeze the items he asked for at an appropriate amount of speed.

The second list of items were now listed at this time, Maroni was peering over the list as Mr. Freeze explained how it was much easier to get these items, the only problem was that it was known that he was looking for the items on the list and large amounts would be flagged by Federal agencies that are in search of Freeze. " I assure you that they will never make the connection that it is you receiving the items on this list. I own construction companies, research firms, a pharmaceutical company..." Maroni wasn't sure if Freeze needed reassurance, but he wanted to do it all the same because this would most likely be the biggest deal of his career.

Finally came the reaffirmation that Freeze would indeed accept this deal and the stipulation of Maroni and his organization being his sole supplier. What came next was standard business practice, if Freeze got a better deal he'd go for the better deal and would give Maroni a choice to undercut, all in all something like that is along the lines of what Maroni expected and is something he has had experience dealing with. In this business there's supply, demand and proving to the buyer that you're the best and cheapest purveyor of the goods on the market. That you're their best option each and every-time they find themselves wanting a particular item or set of items. "That's understandable, as long as you give me a fair shake I'll give you a fair shake. This can be a very beneficial relationship, trust me. You'll get everything you want and possibly more, my friend."

Now that his business side was satisfied, Maroni and his men were curious and on the precipice on asking questions that may or may not anger freeze. Considering how calm, literally cool and collected Freeze was they might get away with asking a few of them. "Mr. Fries, just for the sake of curiosity... What exactly happened to you? Forgive me if this is personal, but the need for the suit and everything else... what exactly causes such a change? They'd receive his answer, if there were any but then a man who had been silent this whole time would step forward. "Forgive me if I'm speakin' out of place but I will most likely never get this chance again. Cyrosleep, could such a thing be used for space travel or is that just science fiction meant for movies and dime novels?" Frankie Carbone, a known science fiction and overall science geek asked a question that he was always curious about. Real life and fiction are always blended together, but he had the chance to ask a bonafied expert on the subject, he didn't want to squander that opportunity. Maroni looked irritated for a moment that his under-boss spoke out of turn but decided to allow it when he realized he wanted to know the answer to that question as well.

[Victor Fries]

Even though he'd asked, Victor only acknowledged the two underbosses by looking at them as they were introduced, filing their names and faces away in his mind in the event that it became relevant later. Burr, at least, gave a polite nod to each - just because his boss neglected certain social graces didn't mean that he did.

There were few things that Victor appreciated more in other people than competence. As a scientist and engineer, he liked the efficiency and reliability of machinery and electronics. They failed sometimes, but when well-designed that didn't happen very often. People were not machines and he recognized this so he naturally expected them to be flawed and to fail much more frequently. But just because he expected it didn't mean that he didn't like it and, especially since he failed to form any sort of emotional connection to anyone with the sole exception of Nora, his opinion of people hinged solely upon whether or not, how frequently, and to what degree they surprised him by being successful instead of annoyed him with their failures.

This meant that as Maroni said that the expanded list wasn't an issue, Victor felt... no longer troubled by his lack of a competent supplier - in fact, one might even say that he was pleased. Assuming that the man could deliver on what he promised, but Victor saw no reason to believe that he couldn't. "I want all of it as soon as it can be acquired, especially the second list. There is the possibility that if you have some of the more expensive items available simultaneously that the price will exceed my available funding, but that can normally be remedied within a week," he explained. If he had to rob another bank or three to fund this, so be it - the more and better equipment he could get, the faster he could do his research and the more avenues he could explore. What he was asking for was therefore on the level of a need in his opinion, not a frivolous want.

As expressionless as ever, whether or not Victor needed reassurance was quite impossible to tell by looking at him, but once someone got used to working with him they'd begin to realize that more could be read from his words than anything else. He was a man who didn't like to talk much, so he only tended to talk about things that he thought were important, and by noticing what he thought was important it became easier to tell how he felt about things. Though all he said to Maroni's reassurances was, "See that they don't. I have no need of a supplier if they do."

Both the laboratory equipment and construction materials he'd listed were somewhat delicate requests - any such deal he made was a potential security hazard because Maroni could, either accidentally or on purpose, make it much easier for someone to find him if it were mishandled. But though he was still considered new to this game he learned that there was one thing he could trust about such people, and that was their desire for money. And because money was something he could get, a certain level of trust was actually quite easy to come by.

Especially since he didn't need Burr to tell him that he was also being given a respectful deal here. Though the ability to get out of a deal that was no longer a good deal may sound like standard business practice, that wasn't necessarily the case when dealing with the black market and Victor's men had previously found all kinds of dealers in the past. Of course, Victor didn't find it that difficult to get out of a deal he didn't like - showing up personally to complain usually did the trick. So it was best to not assume. Though when Maroni agreed with what should have been common sense, he knew that it was unlikely that there would be any problems as long as actions matched the words that had been spoken. "A deal is a deal," he said with a certain finality.

That being said, as far as Victor was concerned it was time to go. However, instead of shifting to some sort of goodbye, Maroni had a curiosity question. Which prompted a long, silent look from Victor, though with such stoic expressions it wasn't exactly easy to tell how bothered he was. However, Burr - who by now was silently grinning because he was quite pleased by how smoothly was going, turned his smile to his boss. A look was exchanged between the two, and Victor folded his arms across his chest - a very normal gesture but perhaps a bit odd to see from a man in a mechanical suit.

"GothCorp was developing plants that could grow in sub-zero environments, allowing crops to be more easily grown in the polar regions and to help with the possible colonization of the Moon or Mars. To that end, they'd developed a series of chemicals that forced the cells of any plant exposed to it to adapt themselves to cold temperatures. I actually don't know much about it because I was not a part of that project. It was still experimental, and only intended for plants, but when the tank storing those chemicals was ruptured, this was the result," he quickly summarized, his tone just as neutral as ever. He knew that the overall gist of his quest to save Nora and his need to be cold had gotten to the media, but few people knew even close to that much detail about the accident.

Now that he'd resolved their curiosity, perhaps he could... resolve more curiosity, apparently. He turned his attention to Carbone, pausing to look at him for a moment. However, this time the pause was much shorter and he didn't need a look from Burr before he answered. "Science fiction simply ignores the main issue - freezing may have its protective elements, but it's also extremely destructive to cellular membranes due to the formation of microscopic ice crystals, and solving that problem is extremely unlikely to ever be reduced to the point where one can simply enter and then later exit a cryo chamber in a matter of seconds. I do not doubt that a safe solution will be found at some point, but it may never be safe, easy, or fast. That being the case, I have my doubts that it's the best solution for space travel, except perhaps in the very distant future," he answered, his tone again unchanged but this time he spoke slower and more clearly.

[Deleted]

He actually answered the questions, Maroni seemed pleased with the answers and Carbone seemed really pleased with the answers. He has the science fiction nerd in him satisfied, that isn't something he thought was going to happen during this deal. "Thank you." Carbone uttered a simple thank you, it was obvious that he wanted to ask more questions and that he was trying rather hard to resist. Maroni himself pondered a moment, thinking about what he wanted to ask next. He was all about respect but if there was one thing Sal wasn't very good at, it was reading a room. Luckily his underboss Alberto Trianti made his career in reading rooms. "So how exactly do ya-" At that moment, Trianti's hand was placed on Maroni's shoulder. Sal would stop talking and turn around slightly to see Trianti shaking his head. "...Right" He seemed to know what Trianti was implying, and figured that it was time to wrap things up.

Mr. Fries... Freeze... Is that uh your real name?" His last name sounded so close to 'freeze' Was this some kind of joke? Maroni pondered on that for a moment before moving on. He probably shouldn't have asked. "Thanks again for meeting with me." He smiled a genuine smile before shifting his gaze towards Marcano. He'd snap his finger, this caused Marcano to walk away just for a moment exactly like he knew what Maroni was asking for. "There is something I'd like you to have, as a token of our partnership in business." Another moment didn't pass before Marcano returned with a few other guys. They had a case in their possession, they would set it down in the middle of the room, taking care to not get too close. "This is uhhh... Chemistry Analyzer? I think?" He really wasn't sure, he basically picked an item from the list and got it within forty-eight hours as a gift to signify their partnership and to prove to Freeze that he made the right choice in choosing Maroni as his supplier.

"Its yours. Also if your man Burr there wants to get with Marcano we can register the men under you with him and give them credit vouchers for one thousand dollars a piece. If they want a nice bottle a' wine to impress the missus or that elusive 52 Topps Mickey Mantle card, they can get it." Maroni smiled wide once again after the Chemistry analyzer was placed in the middle of the room the men that brought it in left and Marcano would return to his designated spot. "I know you're not the kinda guy to use the phone or email or anything so we'll go through your man Burr for the most part, and it'll be business as usual. If you need anything else, just ask. The meeting was about to wrap up, and Maroni was pleased that it happened to be a success. Not that he was expecting it to go the other way, but it is nice to have a meeting such as this with no complications.

"If there's nothing else, I'd say our business is concluded. You know how to reach us, we know how to reach you... for the most part."

[Victor Fries]

Victor made no move to acknowledge the thanks, instead simply waiting to see if there would be any more questions. When Trianti intervened to put an end to them, Victor looked in his direction but didn't otherwise react.

Reading a room was extra difficult when Victor was involved, but the truly observant would note that Burr - who obviously knew his boss better than anyone else in the room - was slowly looking a bit tenser and forced with his smile when it seemed that the questions would continue even further. He'd emphasized to his boss that it would probably be well worth the effort to humor them if they didn't stick to business, but he knew the man's ability to tolerate such things was very limited - it wasn't that Victor never made any small talk, but he normally only did so when he felt like it and it was usually about his wife. Answering two questions on request was already really good, but a third might be pushing it. Or it might not, but with everything going so well why risk anything? There was relief in his eyes when Maroni started wrapping things up instead.

"Victor Fries is my real name, yes," he replied easily, as it was a very common question, "Mr. Freeze is what the media decided to call me. I assume they think they're clever. I care not what I'm called as long as I'm called it with respect." Though in fact, the media weren't even truly the first ones to call him that on purpose - it was an obvious thing, so he'd been occasionally running into people who thought they were clever ever since he started specializing in cryogenics and was already to the point of not caring even before that.

When Maroni said something about giving him something, a hint of curiosity was evident if only by the shift of his gaze to the departing Marcano. When the man returned with others, hauling a large case with them, he only waited for them to set it down before he approached - they may be shy about coming any closer to him than what they might assume is a respectful distance, but he felt no need to return that favor. But he merely opened the case to briefly inspect its contents, demonstrating that he was surprisingly dexterous with what appeared to be very thick gloves on his hands.

"Indeed," he stated, simply to confirm that it was a chemistry analyzer. He knew full well that the vast majority of people had no idea what it was or what it did, but that was why he took great care to put all the specifics of each piece of equipment he was requesting so that they would nevertheless get him the right thing. He technically already had a chemistry analyzer, but it was a small unit meant to be portable that he'd acquired several months ago when he'd robbed a medical lab and his needs had outgrown it quickly. It wasn't the most difficult or expensive thing to find from his initial list, but getting it that quickly was indeed impressive, and one could not argue with getting it for free.

Though once he'd confirmed that it was indeed what he wanted, he turned to look at Burr. There was evidently a silent question asked because Burr nodded and Victor both the equipment and the offer to his men by simply saying, "Very well." He then shut the case and picked it up, demonstrating to anyone who wondered that his suit did indeed grant him a degree of enhanced strength by doing so by himself and without apparent thought. That would have been obvious to anyone who knew just how heavy his suit was given that he could move at all, but not everyone who looked at him noticed how much metal was involved and then realized that it was more than someone could be expected to lift.

He returned to where he'd been standing before and didn't feel the need to respond to much of Maroni's final words, so he didn't, acknowledging his assumptions as correct by not correcting him. Though when Maroni mentioned if there was anything else, Victor did pause to consider that for a moment - after all, though he was eager to leave he was also already here so it would be prudent to say anything important now instead of having to pass anything along through Burr later.

And he did think of one. "I have become a specialist at breaking into secure facilities. If you hear of any opportunities that would be profitable, it would be wise of you to inform me as it seems that my profits are to become your profits in short order," he stated. This might have been obvious to someone who really thought about it, but people didn't always think about such things so it was worth stating it out loud.

Having said that, he paused for a beat to see if Maroni had anything further to add himself - otherwise he would leave to return to his van.

[Deleted]

A specialist at breaking into highly secure locations, Maroni would count himself lucky to have someone like that on his side, or at least to associated with them because Freeze was right, his profits would ultimately be Maroni's profits. Maroni thought for a moment, there were tons of banks and museums in town. Money itself was easy enough to get but collector's items could also be somewhat lucrative if they went through the correct buyer.  "I'll keep that in mind, there's the museum of natural history in Gotham with a state of the art security system. I know antiques are normally useless baubles to you but if you ever run out of banks... There is an amazing amount of 'priceless' items that collectors all over the world would be interested in." Maroni paused for a moment, he didn't go to museums but his underboss Frankie Carbone is a bit of a nerd that tends to like that sort of stuff once in a while. "Yeah that's right, next week they're supposed to be starting a temporary exhibit consisting of Egyptian Sarcophagi, the highlight of this is King Tut's sarcophagus. A very rare occurrence, it has never traveled before."

Maroni, Marcano, and Trianti glanced at Frankie, partially surprised that he knew this as well as being surprised at how big of a nerd he was. "What?" Sarcophagi were big coffins that would be hard to transport and the security on such an exhibit might be hard to crack, but someone like Freeze could be up to a challenge such as that if he really wanted to bother with trying to transport literal coffins. Money is easy since it already has its monetary value, these artifacts would take time to transport, there'd be a certain amount of time before the heat died down and you'd have to find someone to fence it for you. Lack of connections could be why Freeze hasn't tried hitting museums before, Catwoman has seemed to make a pretty penny on stealing priceless gems, there's a reason why gems don't go on tour to Gotham City anymore.

The room went silent for a moment, Maroni and his underbosses, as well as Marcano, went quiet and when neither side had nothing more to add, Freeze and his subordinates would leave with the chemistry analyzer and return to their van. "... What an interesting meetin'" Was the first thing Maroni would say after he knew for a fact that Freeze and his subordinates were gone. "'Sarcophagi'... Really?" Trianti commented, slightly amused that Frankie brought it up during such an important business meeting. "Frankie we grew up together, but have you always been this nerdy? I don't remember." Frankie Carbone would shrug with a clueless look on his face. "I like science fiction and museums alright? Would it really hurt you guys to get a little cultured?" All of the men thought for a moment before Marcano chimed in. "We're Italian ain't we? Isn't that enough?" The men nodded in agreement, realizing it was a good enough answer.

"Can we trust this guy?" Trianti seemed to be the only one that was speculative, but Maroni brushed away his concerns straight away. "His money is as good as anyone's money, yeah? Doesn't matter where he gets it, as long as he pays." Trianti nodded silently, but the look on his face spelled out that he still wasn't completely convinced.

"Anyway... how about dinner? Marcano, you have done a fine job, it is you who will pick what we eat tonight." Maroni almost bowed his head towards Marcano, which was an immense sign of respect.

"Uhhh, Chinese alright with everyone?"

"Good choice, Tommy. There's this chow mein joint on 13th that's about five minutes from here, it'll knock you on your ass." Salvatore Maroni knew a thing or two about food, he enjoyed eating and knew a lot of the best places in town to dine at.

"Sounds good to me, for some reason I could really use a hot meal... That's very spicy."

Trianti nodded in approval, he didn't need to be vocal since he only ever ate out of necessity, he hasn't really enjoyed food since being in the service.

There were almost two dozen men at the meatpacking plant, and all of them would embark together. They'd all be heading towards the Chinese restaurant to have dinner together if there wasn't enough seating then the others present might feel that it is in their best interest to leave. Salvatore Maroni would buy dinner for everyone tonight since he had just made a lucrative business deal, and it was needless to say that he was in a good mood.

[Victor Fries]

When Maroni started to talk about museums, that actually threw Victor into a moment of deep thought. He'd never considered robbing a place like that before, because as the other man said it was full of useless baubles. He'd kept his focus on banks because he needed money, the occasional laboratory if he knew it contained equipment he wanted, and every once in awhile he'd steal diamonds. Robbing a museum to resell the items was obviously a very lucrative pastime, but one that hadn't really occurred to him because he didn't have the right connections to fence the items - not just anyone knew how to quietly make items that rare and valuable disappear. But he gathered from the other man's words that the problem was now solved, which opened up new avenues for him.

Especially since the security at museums was actually quite trivial in his eyes. Yes, there were guards, sensors, cameras, and such, but none of that meant very much to him because it wasn't his style to try to slip in and out unnoticed. Museums did have vaults, but often they only contained whatever was not currently on display. No, the real challenge for him would be figuring out how to safely transport often very fragile artifacts without damaging them and managing to do it so quickly that it fit into his standard timeframe - in and out before anyone who could actually stop him showed up. But that was merely a logistical problem, and he was good at logistical problems.

Mulling all of that over, he'd not yet replied when Carbone spoke up. He listened to the idea, but commented, "That is, perhaps, overly ambitious for a first attempt at a museum." Sarcophagi are, after all, very large, and moving them in a secure fashion would be very difficult. ...On the other hand, further reflection reminded him that moving around Nora was probably even more difficult and he managed to do that whenever it was required... And he did enjoy trying to figure out a solid logistical problem if it could make him a lot of money. He would almost certainly ponder it further before deciding for sure.

Setting that specific question aside, he added, "Nevertheless, I can obtain such things if they have value to you." Though the crimes he normally committed were working for him, there were some advantages of branching out into more as long as they were also profitable. At the very least he could try it a time or two and see how well it worked for him.

In any event, Maroni had already indicated that he felt business was concluded and that was all he could think of as well. That being the case, he simply added, "Farewell." He and Burr then headed back to their van, carefully ensuring that the chemical analyzer was safely stored before they began the drive back.

"Make sure that we're not followed," Victor reminded Burr as they exited. Even if he was a criminal himself, he didn't fully trust other criminals - while he tended to be a straight shooter personally, he'd grown accustomed to the fact that many of those he worked with liked to used underhanded tactics even on those they considered to be allies.

"Right, boss," Burr replied, putting himself on alert for that possibility. It was standard procedure to never go back to their base of operations by the most direct route anyway. But he also added, "I don't think that they'll try anything like that, though - this is too good of a deal for them. And for us - Salvatore Maroni, who'd have thought? This is good - this is very good." Victor may have looked as stoic as ever, but Burr looked on top of the moon.

"This is very good if they hold up their end of the deal and if they do so competently," Victor replied with some degree of cynicism.

"There's no reason to think they wouldn't. They stand to make a whole lot of money out of this by playing it straight, and beyond that, you have a bit of a reputation yourself - they'd have to have a pretty good reason to lie to you. And a big organization like them isn't prone to making mistakes - at least those that they don't know how to quickly clean up," Burr replied, trying to make some attempt to convince him.

"I have been burned before," was all Victor said in response to that.