Freeze Chapter One

Victor Von Freis turned onto the street where he lived, to see a number of Vans
parked in front of his house. The Schreck cat logo was easily recognizible from
a block away. There were at least half a dozen large men moving large crates
from the house to the Vans. The crates also had the Schreck logo printed on
them.
"Not yet." Victor moaned.
He pulled his BMW into the manicured lawn and clammored out of the car. He was dimly aware that his long time neighbors were standing in their lawns, watching the loading. One man yelled at Victor from his driveway.
"Hey, Vic! You want me to call the cops?" Victor stared at the man as though he were speaking a foreign language.
"What? ...Yes ..No." He stammered. "I'll take care of this. Just go inside."
Victor entered his home on legs filled with lead. Strange men were in his living room, packing boxes. They were all wearing coveralls with the Schreck logo on the lapel. Hired help, he passed them by. They were not who he sought. Victor entered his den, to find three men working in there. Two of them were wearing the coveralls. They, he ignored. It was the third man he approached.
The man was wearing a dress shirt and suspenders. He turned when Victor entered the room. He was a small Oriental man with a thin mustache. His bright blue tie was loosened and he held a clipboard in his arm. He looked at Victor with no surprise.
"Mr. Shirato," Victor snapped. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I think you are well aware of what is going on." Shirato said dryly. "You have been stealing company equipment for your own experiments. You are no longer in the employ of Schreck enterprises. Criminal charges will follow. I suspect this time next year, you will be cooling your heels in prison. Mr. Freis."
"My experiments were fully sanctioned by Maximillian Schreck himself." Victor protested. Shirato shook his head, as if sad.
"The Cyrogenics division was shut down five weeks ago. You were to begin in the Mutagenics Laboratory two weeks ago, Dr. Freis. Who do you think you are fooling?"
Victor felt his chest tighten, panic threatening to overwhelm him.
"You can't! Don't you see, I've done it!" Victor shouted. "I have found a way to completely stop decomposition in living tissue! I can hold a living being in a suspended state, indefinitely."
Shirato leaned towards Victor and whispered hoarsely at him.
"No one is interested in your mad Magick!" With that, Shirato stormed off.
Victor bellowed after him
"You can not stand in the way of True Science! My research will better all of Humanity!" Shirato stopped short in Victor's hallway.
"We are not in the business of bettering Humanity. We are in the business of profit, something you obviously can not comprehend!"
"I comprehend enough to know your only business is serving your dark master! Serving your Wyrm!" Victor watched with satisfaction as Shirato's mouth moved limply, trying to form words. "That's right, Shirato. I know about your company's Infernal backers. You can not keep such a secret from a Mage of my standing, a Scientist of True Science!"
Shirato shook his head with the same sad expression as before.
"You should have kept quiet, Wizard." He said evenly, "We would have left you alone. Prison would have satisfied my superiors. But, now..." Shirato shook his head, "Hell has a place for Mages, Son of Ether."
Before either could speak, a large man in coveralls spoke from behind Shirato.
"Mr. Shirato, we found a Laboratory in the basement."
"Scrap it." Shirato said, staring at Victor.
"We've already started, sir."
"Fine then, Donald, would you please escort..." Shirato stopped when he saw Victor's face contort into an awful grimace. A low noise was coming from Victor, which quickly rose to a roar of rage.
"noooooOOOOOO!!" Victor lunged towards the door that led to his Laboratory. Shirato jumped back and Donald grabbed Victor by the shoulders. Victor struggled in vain against the man's titanic strength. Victor continued to scream.
"NOOO! MARIEEE!!"
Donald slammed Victor against the wall. Victor was stunned by the force of the blow. Donald placed his forearm against Victor's throat and pressed. Victor fought for air, striking the huge man in his barrel chest. Black dots began to form in Victor's vision. Somewhere he could hear Shirato speaking evenly to him.
"The experiment is over, Mr. Freis."
Victor knew that he had only one chance. He grabbed Donald by the ears and unleashed the power he held within him.
There was a flash of blue light and a sound like an arctic wind. A thick layer of frost spread across the man's head and shoulders. It spread quickly down his torso and arms, finally stopping at his elbows. Victor heard Shirato gasp. He shoved the frozen man away and turned toward Shirato. Behind Victor, Donald struck the wall and his head shattered like a fragile ice sculpture. Shirato spun on his heel and started shouting down the hall.
"Code Alpha Blue! Code Alpha Blue!"
Victor started after him and was met by three large men nearly bursting out of their coveralls. Victor usually distained Vulgar displays of Magick in favor of his Techno-Magick, but the situation was extreme.
With a thought Victor sent a super-cooled gust of wind at the men. The men fell to the hardwood floor, breaking into large pieces of ice. Victor could feel the Paradox building up inside of his Pattern, but he could not think of that now. All he could think of was Marie and Kyle.
Another man jumped out at him, only to receive a two foot shard of ice though his heart. After three more men had met similar ends, Victor entered his Laboratory.
Eleven months ago, Victor von Freis's wife, Marie, and their twelve year old son, Kyle, were in an auto accident. The damage was bad, but they would survive. Two months ago Victor learned the truth. The impossible, according to Gotham General, had happened. Victor's wife and son had received blood tained with AIDS.
Victor knew about the impossible.
With all his knowledge of Science and Magick, Victor could not help them. So he made a radical decision. He would freeze them until the time came when he could help them. Then five weeks ago, his funding was cut. So he stole the necessary equipment and continued his experiments in his home laboratory. Five days ago he successfully placed his wife and son in suspended animation.
And now these intruders were in his laboratory, dismantling his equipment. Two men were disconnecting heavy cables connected to a large, upright, glass and metal containment unit. Victor could see Marie's slender form floating in the super cooled mists of the unit.
"Stop" Victor screamed, "You're killing her!"
Victor lashed out at the men with another blast of his cold Magick. When the men rushed at him, Victor realized something had gone wrong. His Magick had failed him.
As the men fell on top of him, Victor felt the Paradox inside of him expled out of his Pattern. Victor looked up and saw the glass of the containment unit began to crack and splinter. Cold mist began to fill the Laboratory. The sensitive control board began to crystallize from the intense cold. Victor saw what was going to happen and began to scream.
"NOOO, MARIE!!"
Sparks began to fly from the control board. The Schreck men saw the flames start and jumped to their feet, but they were too late.
The explosion shook the foundation of the house, filling the basement with the intense cold of the containment unit. Shirato peered into the mist from the basement stairs. The very foundation of the house had crystallized from the cold and the house was begining to settle.
"I told you Hell had a place for Mages, Mr. Freis!" Shirato yelled into the mists. "You should find it nice and warm there!"
A voice drifted up from the basement, chilling Shirato's heart more effectively than the mists ever could.
"You know very little of Hell, Mr. Shirato." Victor said, his voice hollow and toneless. "Hell is cold."
The mists parted and Shirato saw Victor walking leisurely towards the stairs, a shattered end of a Nitrogen hose in his right hand.Victor's dark hair was frost white. He absently ran his left hand through his hair, only to have it crumble in his fingers. He stared at the fragments in his palm, smiling coldly.
"The price of power, my dear Mr. Shirato." Victor sneered. "Paradox demands its cost, as do I."
Victor raised the hose and a ray of pure cold shot from it, hitting the ground at Shirato's feet. His feet froze instantly to the floor and began to crystallize. Shirato struggled to free himself, but it was too late. His legs were starting to crystallize, the process slow and painful.
Victor smiled at the sight.
"You tell your masters when you meet them, that their Hell will be a cold one." Victor said. "A cold Hell that Mr. Freeze will bring to them."

Chapter Two