Ice World Problems [Joker]

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

Black Mask, The Joker, and Cobblepot - what a terrible selection! Especially since he has immediate suspicions about the latter - even he had heard something about the man running for mayor, so why does the man also have some sort of a group here in this prison? Either it's a sham or the man has managed to pull it off, and either way he needs to get himself better situated before he investigates that situation. As for Black Mask, he doesn't really know the man. Just because they're both Rogues doesn't mean that they've ever had overlapping interests. As for the Joker, he's... well, the Joker. And he doesn't suspect that this prison has changed the man in the least. But right now he needs a sure thing, and ironically enough the Joker is the closest thing to a sure thing that he has.

It isn't very hard to track down the clown - given the dire consequences that usually accompany running into the man by accident, whispered rumors of which part of the city you should definitely not go are abundant. And it isn't very difficult to get people to repeat back what they've heard when you're in a suit that makes you much, much bigger and stronger than they are. Though in hindsight he probably should have guessed where the Joker would be without any help at all - of course the man would choose the old amusement park. He only chooses it for his hideout every other time, after all.

Heading for the park, he makes no attempt to conceal his movements - there are no police to hide from or vigilantes for him to worry about here that he's aware of. There's only the prison guards and they don't care about what anyone does as long as they don't try to escape, and that means that the number of people within the walls of the City who dare face him are very few indeed. Everyone knows what will happen if they get in his way - and everyone knows that there's probably no need to get in his way in the first place. He's quite clearly passing through on his way to somewhere else, and the wisest course is to let him do so. He'd felt a bit naked without his cold gun at first when it was taken from him shortly after his arrival, but since then he's come to realize that here his suit alone is enough - since nobody has any guns and the worst weapon someone can have is usually a heavy club of some sort, he really doesn't have much to worry about.

And when he draws near enough to his destination that it becomes clear that he's going to the amusement park, it probably becomes perfectly clear exactly what his business is. Why else would he come here if not to talk to the Joker? So he expects that he'll either be escorted to the man by some henchman if not greeted at the door by the clown himself. If some fool instead asks him who he is and what his business is, he'll stare coldly at them until they realize just how stupid of a question they asked really is.

[The Joker]

Joker was having fun with some henchmen, not his own, but some other henchmen that had trespassed. There was a big pit in front of him and he was looking down. The pit had been filled with water, clear water, but it was all bloodish now and there were bodies in the pit. Of course, Joker had found all of that funny, but the henchmen had fallen in there by mistake. Oh, well. It was a funny mistake so it was all good.

He was laughing like a mad man while the henchmen were looking at each other. They had seen Freeze, but none of them wanted to inform Joker of his presence. It wasn't because of Freeze, Victor was welcome here so the henchmen weren't afraid of bringing bad news, they just didn't want to piss their boss off. That was what they were afraid of. They had learned the hard way that Joker had his moments, in some moments it was okay to bother him with information or what not and other moments it was better leave him alone if you didn't want to be the next one in the pool of blood.

The henchmen knew that it was better leaving Joker alone at the moment, he was laughing, having a good time so they would better not disturb him. The clown noticed the little group of henchmen staring at him so he walked towards them. The henchmen tried to stand still as much as possible to not upset their boss. Joker put his arms around two henchmen, still laughing, tears coming down his white cheeks.

"Splash!" he laughed like he had just said the funniest joke in the world while pointing at the pool. The henchmen laughed too but it was a forced and awkward laugh "Hahahaha" they tried to smile too, but their boss scared them. Luckily for them, it seemed that Joker hadn't noticed, wrong, he noticed it, but he didn't care, his laughing was putting him on a good mood.

There had been some trespassing recently. Joker got annoyed by it, but he also saw an opportunity to have some fun. Well, the clown could see an opportunity to have fun everywhere, but still. Then, suddenly, the laughing stopped and Joker used one of the henchmen's sleeve to wipe the tears off. Joker could see that his henchmen were up to something, they were there because they had news, not just to admire his laugh "So...tell me!" the henchmen rose a brow, sometimes they thought that their boss could read their minds "Mr. Freeze is here" finally one of them said when they noticed their boss becoming impatient.

A smile showed up on the clown's face and he straightened up the purple suit he was wearing then passed a hand on his green hair. Joker walked towards the gate and made a gesture with his head to one of the henchmen, the gates opened. Joker saw Freeze's silhouette cut by the metal bars of the gate, then the gate opened completely so Freeze was entirely visible now. Joker reached him "Welcome to Joker's Funland!" and kissed the glass hood of Freeze's suit "Ooops!" there was lipstick on the glass now, but Joker wiped it off cleaning the glass.         

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

It seems to Victor that the amount of time that he has to wait for the Joker to appear is a bit longer than it should be, but he's not an impatient man and he won't complain about it. After all, when dealing with someone like the Joker, you have to accept the fact that the Joker operates the way that he operates. So when the Joker appears, he's simply standing there as stoic as ever.

But though he hardly reacts, that doesn't mean that he's not doing anything - when he appears to be doing nothing he's usually thinking. In this case he's noticing that for whatever reason The Joker doesn't appear to be surprised to see him. Since he only very recently arrived in Arkham City that's surprising - has word of his arrival already spread. That could mean something - or it could mean nothing. After all, the Joker is... erratic. Or perhaps the other rogue had assumed that he would be caught at some point.

The other thing he notices is that apparently the Joker has lipstick, which strikes him as somewhat strange - after all, Arkham City is very much lacking in what he would consider to be basic goods. On the other hand, just how many people in this place would be concerned with obtaining lipstick when getting the basics for survival isn't exactly easy? But considering the fact that his own needs are, on the whole, rather different from what anyone else here needs perhaps it's a good sign that the Joker has something that to anyone else would be entirely frivolous.

Still, he greets the lipstick smeared on the glass with a very unamused frown. But instead of mentioning it, he simply says, "We have a lot to talk about." After all, whether the Joker is surprised to see him here or not, the fact that he's here now changes things - for himself, especially, but that surely matters to the Joker as well. Or at least it should.

[The Joker]

Joker couldn't help but smile at Victor's reaction to the lipstick on the hood that Joker had cleaned it off completely by now. The clown put an arm around Freeze's shoulders when he said that they needed to talk "Right to business, eh? I like that about ya! I hope it's not a we need to talk speech..." Joker joked while walking inside the Funland, bringing Freeze with him. Some henchmen were fishing out some dead people from the pool.

There was a building with a very egomaniac entrance because it resembled Joker's face, the mouth was open and henchmen were coming in and out from there. Joker brought Freeze inside that building. There was a red carpet leading to a throne and the throne was on a stage, red curtains were covering part of the stage. If it had been another visitor, then Joker would have let the henchmen bring them to him while the clown would be sitting on the throne. But, it was different with Victor.

Joker snapped his fingers and the henchmen walked away, leaving Freeze and the Joker alone. The clown stood in front of Victor and tilted his own head, his green eyes locked into Freeze's "An ice cube for your thoughts" the clown joked, but didn't smile or laugh.

Meanwhile, the henchmen outside were taking care of the pool, but some of them fell down, there was a burst of laughter from the henchmen that reached the inside of the building. Joker would have paid attention to that, laughing was always a good method to attract his attention, but this time he kept looking at Freeze paying attention just to him.

There had to be a good reason why Freeze was here. Joker was curious. Other people might have been worried too if Freeze was gonna ask for a big favour or something like that, but Joker wasn't worried. The clown was too crazy to worry.

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

As always when the Joker tells a joke that would be pointless for him to respond to, Victor doesn't reply. Instead he merely allows himself to be led through this 'Funland'. He does give the scenery a passing glance as they go, but none of it really holds any interest to him. A pool full of dead people has absolutely nothing to do with him, after all.

And the entrance to the building? Not aesthetically pleasing in the slightest, and without any sort of additional functioning it's merely a way into the building and nothing more. The same could be said of the interior - a carpet, a chair, and nothing that he would find impressive at all. But he's not here to look at an uninteresting building, he's here to talk to the Joker - and he does appreciate the fact that it serves the function of giving the two rogues some privacy.

Because there are certain things that he'd rather not say in front of the Joker's men - he doesn't trust them. Not that he trusts the Joker either, but he trusts that the Joker won't do anything stupid. Well, not unless the stupid thing was a joke, but that's a different form of stupid than what he would expect of the sorts of criminals and crazies that would work for the Joker - he doesn't trust those men to not make an incredible annoyance out of themselves the same way that King did. He expects better than that from the Joker - who he doesn't trust to not betray him in some way. But the other rogue won't do it for stupid reasons and in stupid ways - he can appreciate that much.

Which means that what he has to say is somewhat... sensitive information for him to talk about. Because there's a lot of stupid, annoying things that someone could do with it. The Joker wouldn't though - or at least he's pretty sure - but his men might. Or his men might spread rumors to other people. So it's better to keep this conversation just between the two of them. Though when the Joker's men leave the room and the Joker prompts him to speak, he needs no further coaxing. "This 'city' appears to be rather lacking in resources," he states, once again getting straight to the point and keeping his words concise.

After all, it shouldn't be very difficult at all to follow that line of thought to directly what he needs to discuss. The last time the Joker saw him, what did Victor want? Diamonds. And not because they're valuable or pretty, but because they are a fuel source for him - they power his suit. The suit that keeps him alive when he's not inside his hideout. So it's very important for him to have a regular supply of diamonds, and there's not likely to be very many in Arkham City - it wouldn't be very difficult to convince almost anyone in Arkham City who has a diamond to give it up in favor of something like food to keep them alive, but diamonds are valuable to the people who left the city before the walls were finished so there probably isn't that many of them just laying around.

And diamonds aren't the only thing that Victor needs. The Joker has been into his hideouts enough times to know that he's a genius at mechanical engineering - give him a few tools and some scrap medal and after awhile he'll be surrounded by all sorts of mechanical devices. But while there's many, many buildings worth of scrap medal that he could use in Arkham City, it's the tools that are the problem. He's a modern day craftsman who is accustomed to using modern power tools if not sophisticated equipment to do his work, not a blacksmith or potter who doesn't need electricity to do their work at all. Not that he's helpless without better tools - in fact, he could probably build all of his own tools from scratch. But that would take a really, really long time. It would be much faster to try and find at least some pieces of equipment in Arkham City so that he doesn't have to make it from scratch. And he doesn't need these tools just so that he can make things that are fancy and nice, he needs them so that he can do things that are very basic to him - such as keep his hideout cold.

[The Joker]

Joker rose a brow "It is always lovely to have conversation with you" the clown joked after Freeze's only sentence. However, that sentence was enough. A smirk appeared on the porcelain face while he was reflecting. The Iceman here wanted diamonds of course, and not the ones in the rough. He needed the nice stuff. Also, he needed tools and whatnot to make a proper cold hideout. However, resources really lacked in this city.

Joker moved up his arms pointing at the room where they were in "Do you see how sad this room is? Of course you do...the only funny thing that makes this room better is my beautiful face at the entrance!" a theatrical sigh, Joker was never modest especially about himself "It's because I don't have enough material to have fun with" Joker shook his head "I have enough men to have fun with, but..." that sounded weird, but of course he meant that he had enough men to kill "...not enough material, I found lipstick though" Joker smiled pointing at Victor's glass on his head.

"Anyway, we can arrange things, there are places that we can go to find what we want, there will be consequences like Strange getting really mad and trying to kill us..." Joker frowned "...actually, that would be fun" he burst into a laugh. Joker didn't need a map, he knew how this city was like, its streets, buildings and underground passageways, he had been using them enough in his schemes to learn.

Joker felt excitement for what might happen next. He had already worked with Freeze and the man could be real cruel sometimes. Stuff had to come into the City somehow and Joker had been lurking enough to know how. They had just to follow the drop of supplies "How much power left?" Joker asked pointing at the suit with a gesture of his head. He needed to know how much time they had to plan things out, or they could just go and do whatever, Joker would like that too, but he wasn't sure that Freeze would enjoy it that much instead. 

This place needed more material to make it as Joker wanted it. Also, the clown was always up for some mayhem, unless he got depressed or something then he would be one of those sad clowns. Joker passed a white gloved hand through his green hair while looking away from Victor for a moment. Joker got lost in though for few seconds, he wouldn't ever do it with an enemy in front of him of course, he would be extra vigilant, but it was different with Freeze, sure Joker wasn't completely un-vigilant ever so not even now. However, Victor was an ally for now, or at least he behaved like one.

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

Always conservative with his words, Victor doesn't respond to the clown's commentary - it's not necessary. He said everything that he needed to, after all, and of course it would be pointless to try to argue that point with someone who clearly enjoys talking too much. In his opinion it's simply inefficient to ramble on and on when you don't need to - there are better uses for his time. There are also better ways of using his time than to wait for the clown to actually say something worth responding to, but that's out of his hands - he suspects that if he told the other Rogue to get to the point it would actually end up taking more time to have that conversation than he'd save by simply waiting it out.

When the Joker indicates the room around him, he idly glances at it. He certainly wouldn't say that the room is sad. Partly because rooms are merely a space inside of a building and don't have the capacity to feel emotion at all, but mostly because rooms in general and including this one don't inspire him to feel any emotion in particular at all. To him this room is simply... spacious. Which is only a good or a bad thing depending on what you need and want. If you want a lot of space, then this room is perfect. If you want the space to be filled with other things, especially if you want it to be filled with things you do not currently possess, that's definitely not ideal. But sad? No. So the other Rogue's point is not taken. However, what matters is that the Joker wants something similar to what he needs, so it's in their best interest to work together. And he'd suspected that something along those lines would be the case, which is why he's here. "So we will work together," he says, verbalizing his thoughts.

Though when the Joker asks him how much power his suit has, there's a slight pause before he answers. Mostly because that's a bit of a personal question, because it's exactly like asking him how long he has left to live. And he's merely allies with the Joker, not his friend - he trusts him, but only to a degree. So his answer is vague, "I'm in no immediate danger." Which is the truth - at the moment he has enough diamonds to last him for a good, long while. It's fortunate that their business with King happened so recently - that had netted him a nice sized cache of them.

Of course, even so he'd be a fool to not start to address the diamond problem immediately. It actually doesn't matter to him if the diamonds are rough or cut, and the quality of them doesn't make much of a difference either - as long as it's made mostly out of diamond molecules, he can make use of it. Still, diamonds of any kind are likely very rare, and considering the fact that they're the only way for him to stay alive right now, that's a very big problem. Even if he manages to make a suitable hideout for himself to keep himself cold without his suit before he runs out of diamonds, that doesn't completely solve the problem - he still won't be able to leave that shelter without the suit, and if he ran out of diamonds at that point he would be stuck inside of a hideout that he can't leave.

So his need for advanced machinery is quite important in contrast to the Joker's desire for... fun. Still, allies are allies and he isn't fussy about who they are as long as they get the job done. In fact, that's his only consideration - he'd drop the Joker as an ally in a heartbeat if he ceased to be useful, and he'd even take as much advantage out of that situation as possible. He doesn't have his reputation for being cold for no reason.

"You have been here longer - how do you suggest that we proceed?" he asks now, because he's only recently arrived and has has only a short amount of time to gain an understanding of Arkham City and he assumes that the Joker has not been idle.

[The Joker]

Joker tilted his head to the left while listening. Well, there wasn't much to listen though, Victor never talked too much. Joker liked talking, but mostly because he liked hearing his own clownish voice. Joker was narcissistic, but also a good partner in crime if you knew how to work with him and Victor knew it. Joker was crazy, but that didn't mean that he was stupid.

Joker knew that Victor could be useful, he had saved Joker's life after all. So, the clown was very careful when dealing with Victor. He knew what the Iceman liked or not, he knew what he enjoyed. For example, Joker knew that Victor didn't like chit chat or useless talking, something that instead Joker liked to do, he liked talking, but he wasn't going to change that during his conversations with Victor. After all, someone had to talk, Victor didn't talk much.

Joker listened to the only three sentences that Victor spoke. Of course he wouldn't be too specific about how much power he had left, but Joker had to be sure that Victor could handle hard work if necessary. Things could go either way, pretty easy or very hard. Joker hoped for the second one, but he didn't know how much Victor could handle without diamonds. It was actually strange that...Dr. Strange...had left Victor without diamonds because the bad doctor knew that Victor would die without them.

There are to be diamonds somewhere, Strange wanted to study the psychos and not kill them. Or maybe not kill them right away or Victor wouldn't be even wearing a protective suit, Strange would have just taken it. Joker had just to find them "Yes, we will work together, you wouldn't be talking to me otherwise...if this can be called talking" Joker adjusted the gloves around his hands "I don't have blueprints of this place...because I don't need them. I know Gotham well enough and the rest was just exploring" the clown shrugged "There are places that are heavy guarded, but these places store...goods" Joker tried to explain himself while still being himself so explaining things but not really "We'll need to take these guards down and enter the building....mhhh...saying it like this makes everything really boring, but you'll see that it will be funnier than it seems" 

Joker surely didn't need to explain how the Arkham City's part of Gotham was like because Victor had been living in Gotham enough to know it, however Joker had to bring Victor to the building and help him fight the guards "Will you need...normal...guns? Not very entertaining" Joker was talking about Victor not having his freezing guns, but maybe Victor had some ice hidden in his sleeves that he could use. Some hidden guns or gadgets. 

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

The Joker may complain about his short statements all day, but that won't encourage Victor to say any more than he would have otherwise. Which isn't to say that he never speaks at length about anything - indeed, he's been guilty of the occasional 'villainous monologue' - but he only does such a thing when he sees the point of doing so. At the moment, he and the Joker are discussing something quite obvious to the both of them, so not much actually has to be said. Which obviously doesn't stop the Joker from saying it all anyway, but Victor is a different matter.

Listening as the Joker explains his familiarity with the area, he thoughtfully considers what the man is saying. "I am not entirely unfamiliar with this part of Gotham - in fact I have more than one shelter within its walls. But each has been discovered - or at least portions of them have been found. Whether or not the discoverer knew that it belonged to me is not something that I can determine," he says first. As an extra security measure, he likes to keep the hideouts that he's not currently using as inconspicuous as possible - they're not cooled and he makes an effort to hide the fact that there's anything abnormal about their insulation, at least as much as he can without also making it possible for him cool it down to a temperature that he can survive in as quickly as possible in case of an emergency. "In each case, all of the key pieces of machinery and equipment had been removed, and I suspect that the people responsible are the administration - it seems that we are not meant to have such things. In fact, upon my arrival I was informed that I have been granted an exception of the rules in order to maintain possession of my suit, though they demanded that I surrender my cold gun. If such restrictions in technology are indeed systemic, I do not anticipate that much has escaped their notice. However, it is to be expected that anything they missed that has been found by other prisoners would end up in the hands of the most powerful groups, and that these things of value would be guarded..." he adds, nodding to himself about that vein of logic and further proving that he's capable of speaking for longer stretches of time when there's a reason for it. In this case, that reason is because much of what he's saying are things that the Joker may not already know.

Though he hasn't realized that he's unintentionally said something that the other Rogue is likely to notice - if he was asked to surrender his cold gun then he'd had it with him when he came into Arkham City, but the way he spoke about it seems to imply that he gave up the weapon when asked, which doesn't sound like Victor. True, the Joker is probably well aware that when the TYGER guards show up they tend to be in very large groups, and any group attempting something as dangerous as getting Mr. Freeze's cold gun away from him was likely quite massive, but it's still strange that he didn't even try. After all, he's already in Arkham City - what did he have to lose by at least trying to fight back? He might have managed to kill a few of them, at least, and Victor's usually the type that would put up some kind of a fight.

But regardless of the reason, he doesn't have it now. Though he doesn't imagine that it would be very difficult for him to take on the guards of some prison gang - he may be without his gun, but his suit alone is a weapon of sorts and if these guards are like anyone else he's seen inside these walls, they won't have guns. Even if they had guns his suit would do much to protect him, but without them defeating the guards should be child's play. But though that's the answer to the Joker's question, that's not what he says - instead he notices what the Joker implied with his words. "Do you have normal guns?" he asks, because he'd be slightly surprised if so. After all, nobody else seems to have them, but then again if anyone could get their hands on such a forbidden item he's not surprised if it would be the Joker.

[The Joker]

"Mhh....parts of it" Joker frowned while listening to Victor talking about his hideouts "We could use that" the parts that hadn't been discovered yet at least. They could use those to go around the guards back and...surprise! Hahaha! Joker smiled finding something fun to do already. But then Victor kept talking...wow "Yes, goods are heavy guarded, I've already told you that, keep it up...are your neurons finally freezing?" Joker here seemed a little bit annoyed, he didn't like when people didn't listen to him, much more if those people wasted his time by saying things that the clown had already said or he already knew. He had asked about the freezing gun because he needed to know if the suit had other weapons or gadgets, not because he didn't know about the machinery and whatnot...the clown knew about that, he had been in Arkham City for much more time than Victor.

Suddenly, Joker's crazy mind thought about Victor's wife. Joker hadn't forgotten about her, but she couldn't be in the Arkham's part of the city...could she? Also, the clown didn't know that she was fine now. Joker didn't bring the subject up of course, but just kept listening. The psycho clown just shrugged at Victor's question about the guns. Joker had said that he had killed guards and those guards had been armed. So, yes, Joker had guns, but...he couldn't use them. Nope. Some kind of lockup...only the original owners of such guns could use them. Usually, the Joker would have made the Penguin help him with the matter, Ozzy knew how to deal with guns, but Joker was stuck in Arkham City.

Sure, Joker imagined that they had taken the freezing gun away, but still, he knew what the Iceman was talking about so the clown didn't add anything else about that. However he wanted to talk about the hideouts "It seems that you are finally in a chatty mood, my frozen friend" Joker smiled "So, let's talk about your hideouts, the parts that they have not found yet" the clown tilted his head, a lock of green hair moved over his eyes and Joker passed a hand through his hair to put the lock of hair back in place.

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

When the Joker complains about the mere fact that he restated that the things that they are looking for would be guarded, not because he wasn't listening but to confirm that he'd been listening, Victor frowns just slightly - he's mildly annoyed by that. See, this is why he doesn't usually talk very much - if people are going to complain about how much he does or doesn't talk anyways, then he'd rather that they complain that he doesn't talk enough. His annoyance puts an end to his 'chatty mood', assuming that he had been in one to begin with.

Though not enough to make him refuse to speak about his shelters, or what's left of them anyways. "They're useless," he states first, but then clarifies by adding, "They found the generators and computers - these are missing or destroyed. They did leave behind a few mechanical odds and ends, but without electricity... useless. What they left undisturbed was... living areas... storage... one of my smaller labs... Nothing that I need. A pity that none of my better hideouts are within these walls." Most of what he has around here are mere hiding holes - given just how quickly he can die from exposure, he'd thought it wise to scatter a number of places where he could seek refuge if, for example, his suit became damaged in a fight. They were not meant to do more than give him a place where he could survive long enough to figure out what to do with whatever predicament he'd found himself in. But without electricity or any backup generators, they are no use to him now.

Now if he'd been really thinking ahead he would have noticed when they announced Arkham City that he didn't have one of his larger and better equipped hideouts in the area and, realizing that perhaps he might end up locked up in the new prison, done something about it before the walls sealed up the area. But given the fact that he simply doesn't care about anything outside of his own interests he was one of the last to know about it, and even when he did hear about it he dismissed it too quickly - if the government wanted to change the prison system that doesn't matter to him. Until, of course, he's found himself in it. Only now does he look back and wish that he'd had a few more contingency plans, but even then he hadn't anticipated that they would find and remove the most important components of the refuges that do exist in her.

Then again, to a certain degree, his lack of preparation only matters so much. He's a survivor, as evidenced by the mere fact that he's alive right now. This isn't the first time that his condition has threatened to lead to his death, and he did what he needed to do in order to live then and he'll do it again now. He's always been one to hold onto his life with grim determination, so even if things look dire he can be counted on to use his genius to find some way around whatever is in his way.

And whatever might threaten his wife, of course. So it's no surprise that the Joker may wonder about her now, even if he doesn't know that she's been cured. In fact, Victor's complaints about the lack of electricity might remind the clown that Nora's frozen chamber requires a lot of energy to maintain it - something that he no doubt discovered at some point during their years of interactions. Which means there's only a few possibilities about the current status of Nora. It's possible that she's not within the walls of Arkham City. Or it may also be that Victor is being untruthful about the fact that he has no access to electricity - but perhaps he only has enough to sustain his wife? Another possibility is that he found some other way around that problem - he is a genius, after all - but whatever the solution was it wouldn't involve making the chamber use some other form of energy because one can't simply take something requiring that much energy suddenly require less or none without the tools that he said that he doesn't have.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Nora is now even more dead than she used to be, but that would seem unlikely because he seems to be just as sane as he usually is. Which isn't completely sane, but his mental health problems have always been those considered to be more along the lines of a severe personality defect and not the sort of psychotic madness that one typically thinks of when they call someone 'crazy'. And given just how devoted he is to his wife, it's difficult to imagine that he'd be able to carry on normally without her so it's reasonable to assume that wherever she is, she's in one piece.

[The Joker]

Joker was known to think creatively and in a very crazy manner so it was actually positive that Victor couldn't always follow Joker's line of reasoning. The clown rolled his green eyes "I don't want to use the junk in your hideouts, I want to use the hideout! No, I already have mine, I don't want another hideout, I just want to make our special path into their building through your hideout so that we can all scream: surprise!" Joker laughed "That's why I asked, tell me where these hideouts are so that I can see if we can make a path into their building" and by building he meant the place where the goods were stored, some of them, Strange wouldn't ever put all his goods in one place of course. But still, that building was well furnished.

"If we can't do that then we have to try the sewers, but those are almost closed...we could open our way in, but the guards would notice and we would be stuck in the sewers, surrounded" Joker smirked "Don't get me wrong...I'd love some exercise" and by that he meant killing the guards "However, that would put our plan on hold and we don't want that" Joker shook his head, putting an arm around Freeze's shoulders then he turned his head to look directly into the other man's eye, it seemed like the clown was studying the Iceman.

Of course Joker didn't trust Freeze, the clown didn't trust anybody...not even Harley sometimes. However, Joker liked working with Victor, sure Freeze was as boring as a melting icecube, but still. It said a lot that Joker wanted to keep working with Victor even though he found him boring most of the time, the clown hated boredom more than anything but he was still willing to work with Victor. And no, Joker didn't find himself forced to work with others, he never did something that he didn't want to do, even if it meant more troubles. After all troubles made life more exciting! Oh well, keep in mind that Joker was crazy.

Joker let go of Freeze and tilted his head, waiting for Victor to answer about the location of the hideouts. They really needed to hurry up, Joker wasn't sure that Freeze could actually last for too long and the clown didn't want the Iceman to melt. Not yet, anyway. Joker was known to change his mind pretty often. Joker believed that Victor had to be desperate to come asking for help. It was like making a deal with the devil...oh great, Joker wanted to dance with Victor now...you know, because of all that have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight thing. Joker liked the sound of it. But of course, Joker didn't initiate any dancing, even though he started tapping his right foot on the floor and humming while waiting for Freeze to reply.

[Victor Fries - Mr. Freeze]

Thanks to the roundabout way that the Joker tends to talk, even when the rogue begins to explain more specifically why he's so interested in Victor's shelters it takes almost the entire explanation before Victor understands what the man actually means. Well, if that's why he's asking, why didn't he say so to begin with? "There is no point in telling you where they are, none of them are that... elaborate. Even if one of my larger hideouts were accessible, they are not identical and don't have the same features," he explains. So no, he doesn't have any convenient ways into the sewers within the walls of Arkham City, though by this point he can't be too bothered by that. It seems like nothing has been easy since he arrived in Arkham City, so that he has to inform the Joker that this won't be either doesn't surprise him at all.

Having said that, he doesn't bother to comment upon the rest of what the Joker said, because there is no point. If the only other option is to open the sewers, then that is what they'll have to do. Then again, given the Joker's grim assessment of that course of action, he suspects that there is another option that neither of them have thought of yet that would be better. But he doesn't pause to ponder the question because he's somewhat distracted by how the Joker is staring at him. He looks back, having no trouble meeting the other rogue's gaze and his face is rather expressionless as he does so.

Victor has a reputation for being unemotional, and it's well deserved. Which means that he doesn't have to try to hide his emotions, because they simply aren't there - or at least not very much. So even someone who is really, really good and insightful about reading someone's expression can't get much out of him most of the time. Right now, for instance, his expression is nearly blank - if you stare at him carefully enough you might be able to tell that he's slightly worried, but given his current troubles that's to be expected. In fact, most people would be a lot more worried than he is. The only thing that really stirs his emotions is his wife - usually the strongest emotions that the Joker ever sees in him is anger, like how he reacted to King, and annoyance if the Joker does something so irritating that even he can't overlook it.

[The Joker]

Joker was gonna reply to Victor when loud noises and screams coming from outside caught Joker's attention. The clown smiled and ran outside, there was fear in the air and also death. Grenades had been thrown and some of Joker's henchmen had died. The guards were here "My, my....why the honour of this visit?" Joker tilted his head when some guards walked towards him. They had entered Joker's hideout and they were also doing some cleaning it seemed.
 
Joker smiled again when the guards tried to shoot at him, tried because Joker had expected that so he had reacted. One of the guards had his hood broken, because Joker broke it, and he was using the guard as a human shield now. The other guard screamed to call backup, but Joker threw the dead body at him and then started punching the crap out of the guard.

Sure, it had hurt his hand, it was still hurting, but it was worthy. Joker looked at his hand and noticed some blood on his knuckles, he licked it away while running back inside hoping that Freeze was still in there "Buddy...!" Joker laughed without saying anything else and then ran towards the wall. Apparently, the clown wanted Freeze to follow. Joker tapped something on the wall and that opened so Joker ran inside of it and then kept running, after awhile he was outside of his hideout and onto Arkham's streets.