Post by Victor Fries on Aug 20, 2020 17:41:56 GMT -7
Roland Manning was relaxed, just playing a little blackjack to finish off his evening after a long day. Officially, he owned a very small chain of auto repair shops known for their low, low prices and poor reviews on Google. You get what you pay for, after all. Especially since his attention was not focused on his legitimate business but his chop shop hidden in Sommerset - that's where the real money was.
Especially since he'd started to branch out from more typical cars and would occasionally process less typical and larger vehicles - there wasn't as much of a demand for parts found only on a semi-truck or something, but if you could find someone who wanted it then you could make more money out of the deal. And since he'd started to become more known as a man who could handle such items, that part of his business had improved quite nicely. So much so that he was starting to think of himself as somewhat of a big shot, at least in his own corner of the black market.
What he didn't know was that was about to bite him. "He's here, boss. He's at the blackjack table, center of the building, black suit with a blue shirt, to the left of a blonde wearing purple," Victor's man described over their private frequency, scouting out the situation. It would be a lot of trouble for no benefit if the man he wanted wasn't there as expected, after all, and while some people rarely deviate from their routines it's best not to assume when going out in public is such a risk.
But much less of a risk than many of his other public appearances, or at least he assumes so. The Stacked Deck may attract a range of very seedy customers, but that was actually in his favor. That meant many of them would be quick to decide that what was happening was none of their business and be slow to call the authorities. But if anyone did decide to immediately call the police, that was no matter - he expected this to be extremely quick. After all, there was no vault between him and his goal.
The van paused in front of the establishment just long enough for him to jump out of the back, before driving off again - it would circle around to be ready to pick him up again the moment he indicated he was ready to leave. When he stepped right through the front door he appeared to be alone, though more than one of his men were currently blending in with the other customers - if all went well, he wouldn't need them, but having a backup was always a good idea.
His sudden appearance caused an immediate stir, a hush falling over everyone as those who hadn't noticed his arrival was quickly informed of it by those who had. His eyes quickly flickered over the crowd to note reactions, but he ignored most of them. Not unexpectedly, a good proportion of the crowd immediately indicated that they were armed, legally or illegally, and some didn't merely rest their hand on their gun but actually pulled it out. Which was fair enough, really, because Victor was holding his cold gun - not aimed at anyone, but clearly at the ready.
Fortunately, nobody was actually stupid enough to take a shot at him just for appearing. Instead, there was a thick moment of tension as everyone wondered what he was doing there and they weren't sure what to do until they found out. He didn't let that tension last for very long, however, because when he saw that the only ones giving more of an immediate reaction to his presence were the staff at the front, and they could be easily ignored, his attention went straight to the man he was here to see. "Manning!" he stated when he spotted the man at the blackjack table, immediately walking toward the man.
"Me?!?" the man said in reply, just as surprised as anyone to see the infamous Mr. Freeze here, and even more surprised that the frozen man knew who he was let alone seemed to possibly be upset with him. He wasn't completely sure because Mr. Freeze's expression was near impossible to read, though it all became very clear when he was suddenly lifted out of his chair by the front of his shirt, and the cold gun was pointed right at his face at point-blank range. Yes, Mr. Freeze was upset with him.
At this time, the reactions of the crowd were mixed. Mr. Manning wasn't particularly powerful or popular, so a lot of people simply didn't care. There were a few, especially the staff, who did care but were more concerned about their personal safety than they were about trying to actually intervene. Others decided that this counted as a good show. Some realized that regardless of what happened the police would probably show up soon so they should probably pay their tab and leave immediately. But as long as nobody did anything that actually got in his way, Victor ignored them in favor of the man he was here to see.
Especially since he'd started to branch out from more typical cars and would occasionally process less typical and larger vehicles - there wasn't as much of a demand for parts found only on a semi-truck or something, but if you could find someone who wanted it then you could make more money out of the deal. And since he'd started to become more known as a man who could handle such items, that part of his business had improved quite nicely. So much so that he was starting to think of himself as somewhat of a big shot, at least in his own corner of the black market.
What he didn't know was that was about to bite him. "He's here, boss. He's at the blackjack table, center of the building, black suit with a blue shirt, to the left of a blonde wearing purple," Victor's man described over their private frequency, scouting out the situation. It would be a lot of trouble for no benefit if the man he wanted wasn't there as expected, after all, and while some people rarely deviate from their routines it's best not to assume when going out in public is such a risk.
But much less of a risk than many of his other public appearances, or at least he assumes so. The Stacked Deck may attract a range of very seedy customers, but that was actually in his favor. That meant many of them would be quick to decide that what was happening was none of their business and be slow to call the authorities. But if anyone did decide to immediately call the police, that was no matter - he expected this to be extremely quick. After all, there was no vault between him and his goal.
The van paused in front of the establishment just long enough for him to jump out of the back, before driving off again - it would circle around to be ready to pick him up again the moment he indicated he was ready to leave. When he stepped right through the front door he appeared to be alone, though more than one of his men were currently blending in with the other customers - if all went well, he wouldn't need them, but having a backup was always a good idea.
His sudden appearance caused an immediate stir, a hush falling over everyone as those who hadn't noticed his arrival was quickly informed of it by those who had. His eyes quickly flickered over the crowd to note reactions, but he ignored most of them. Not unexpectedly, a good proportion of the crowd immediately indicated that they were armed, legally or illegally, and some didn't merely rest their hand on their gun but actually pulled it out. Which was fair enough, really, because Victor was holding his cold gun - not aimed at anyone, but clearly at the ready.
Fortunately, nobody was actually stupid enough to take a shot at him just for appearing. Instead, there was a thick moment of tension as everyone wondered what he was doing there and they weren't sure what to do until they found out. He didn't let that tension last for very long, however, because when he saw that the only ones giving more of an immediate reaction to his presence were the staff at the front, and they could be easily ignored, his attention went straight to the man he was here to see. "Manning!" he stated when he spotted the man at the blackjack table, immediately walking toward the man.
"Me?!?" the man said in reply, just as surprised as anyone to see the infamous Mr. Freeze here, and even more surprised that the frozen man knew who he was let alone seemed to possibly be upset with him. He wasn't completely sure because Mr. Freeze's expression was near impossible to read, though it all became very clear when he was suddenly lifted out of his chair by the front of his shirt, and the cold gun was pointed right at his face at point-blank range. Yes, Mr. Freeze was upset with him.
At this time, the reactions of the crowd were mixed. Mr. Manning wasn't particularly powerful or popular, so a lot of people simply didn't care. There were a few, especially the staff, who did care but were more concerned about their personal safety than they were about trying to actually intervene. Others decided that this counted as a good show. Some realized that regardless of what happened the police would probably show up soon so they should probably pay their tab and leave immediately. But as long as nobody did anything that actually got in his way, Victor ignored them in favor of the man he was here to see.