Chapter Seven – Trio Tops a Deuce

"This is a bad idea," muttered Andrew as he, David and Justin pulled up to the old Blue Snowman Ice Cream factory. "We should wait a bit longer, before doing this."

"We waited long enough," replied David. "We need to get rid of the ice and Freeze will pay good money for quality diamonds."

"Or he could just freeze us solid and take the diamonds from us," noted Justin as he turned off the rental car, a Kord Reliable.

"Chill out will you guys," David told them. Andrew and Justin gave him a look. "Okay, maybe not the best choice of words no come on. Put on your masks and let's get rid of these diamonds." The three put on their masks and pulled their winter coats tight against them as they walked toward the factory. When they got to the door, they heard a beep as a camera zoomed in on them.

"Identify yourself," commanded a robotic voice.

"Err, it's Shark, Fox, and Vulture," said Shark nervously. "And um, we're here with the um diamonds. The ones you wanted to buy?"

"Enter," stated the sentry. "Follow the hallway to the end to the lab." The door unlocked and the Terrible Trio followed the sentry's instructions and came to Freeze's main lab. As they walked in, the frozen air hit them like a baseball bat. Victor Fries sat at a giant computer going over some scientific mystery. His famous freeze suit was in the middle of the room, looking like the space suit from 1950's sci-fi movie. Freeze was dressed in a black body suit with a white doctor's coat over it. Freeze looked up at the Terrible Trio with a look that was both annoyance and amusement on his blue-gray face.

"The Terrible Trio I presume?" asked Fries.

"That's correct," replied Fox. "And we brought the goods." Vulture poured the diamonds onto a lab table. Fries pulled a device from the pocket of his lab coat and scanned the diamonds. When he was finished, Fries looked up and nodded.

"They are acceptable," he said. "How much for all of them."

"Ten mil," replied Fox. "If that's too much for you, we'll take the diamonds and find someone else." Fries's eyes narrowed at that comment, making Shark and Vulture tense up. Fries then pulled another gadget that looked like a handle for something from a different pocket. Pressing a button, a long needle shot out of the handle making the Terrible Trio each gasp slightly. The tip of the pick started to glow red, and Fries walked over to a wall safe. He punched in a code, opened the door and stabbed whatever was in it with the pick. Fries return the trio and threw a few stacks of bills onto a table. The trio including Fox finally let loose their breath.

"Ten million," Fries said as he collected the diamonds. Shark grabbed the cash and put it into a sack. Fries put the diamonds in the safe and started to get back to his work. As the trio started to leave, Fries called out to them. "Mr. Fox, a word of warning. Be careful how you speak to potential buyers, some might get offended. Those who do are not the type you want to offend. Now please leave the way you came in." Fox started to say something but instead remained silent until he and the others reached the car.

"Holy shit," whimpered Andrew as he pulled off his mask. "I thought Freeze was going to kill us for a minute."

"Same here," Justin sighed as he slid down in the seat. David, on the other hand, couldn't keep still.

"I know, wasn't that a rush?! Best high I've ever gotten!" David said enthusiastically. Andrew and Justin stared at him in shock.

"What!?" asked Andrew dumfounded.

"Come on guys, don't tell me you don't get a thrill from this?" David replied. "We just stole ten million dollars' worth of diamonds, and made a fool out of Great White, the cops, and the Bat."

"Really, because that's not how I remember it," snapped Andrew. "I remember that the Bird kicked our asses on White's yacht, and the only reason we didn't end up sitting in GCPD lock up because Robin got distracted before he could cuff us."

"He didn't kick our asses," David said before Justin cut him off.

"Yes, he did," Justin stated. "Look, guys, this is the best thrill we've gotten. I mean we've done it all. Skydive through raging storms, hunted lions from hot air balloons, scuba dive in shark infested waters; all gave us a thrill until it didn't. However, with what we are doing now, we must be careful David. Don't let success go to your head or it will cost us all our heads."

"Fine, alright we'll be careful," David relented before breaking out into a massive grin. "But wait until you hear about our next job."


Hell's Gate Waste Disposal and Legal Services, also known as Hell's Gate Disposal Services for short, provided jobs for ex-cons as well as legal support. It was also the front for Two-face's gang and in it was Two-face's prize possession, the statue of Michael and Lucifer. Made of white marble and jet, it was worth about two million dollars. Though anyone who tried to steal it was either daring or foolish as Vulture pointed out.

"Don't worry we can do this," snorted Fox as he loaded the harpoon gun. "All we got to do is zip line onto the roof, get in and grab the statue, and get out. Simple."

"That's what worries us, Fox," replied Shark. "It's too simple, it doesn't cover what to do should something go wrong."

"No, it's not," snapped Fox. "Come on let's go." Fox pointed the harpoon gun to the roof of Two-face's hideout and fired. The harpoon anchored into the building and after making sure it was secured, the trio zip lined across. Once the three touched down, Vulture went to a vent and pried the covering off with a crowbar. Fox crawled in first followed by Vulture, then Shark squeezed in last. Fox pulled out his phone and brought out the blueprints of the building to navigate the maze of air ducts. As the Terrible Trio crawled toward Two-face's office, they could gang members talking.

"Roscoe, any idea what's the boss planning?" asked a goon.

"He's racing against Black Mask, Penguin, and the Riddler to grab up Great White Shark's turf now that White is in the can," replied Roscoe Chiara, aka the Black and White Bandit and Two-face's number two. "No idea what the Joker is up to, but all I do know that Two-face doesn't want to start a war."

"Why? Did his coin turn up heads?" asked another.

"If we go to war, how are we going to make any money?" sighed Chiara. "War means we lose guys to violence or to the cops or the Bat. Nobody wants that."

"So, get more land and make money, not war. Great plan," pointed out a goon before a door opened.

"Everyone, the boss is calling for an audience," said Tommy Terror. "Mandatory attendance." Grumbling and muttering grew as the people left.

"Come on. Now's our chance to grab the statue," whispered Fox. The trio made their way into Two-face's office. The statue was sitting on a bookshelf next to a picture of Two-face's ex-wife, Glida. Vulture and Shark gently placed it in a special case that was aligned with soft, protective foam. Fox, on the other hand, place something on Two-face's desk.

"Fox, what is that?" asked Shark.

"Something that will keep Two-face and his boys busy while we escape," replied Fox gleefully. "Come on we have to go now!" The three shimmied up into the air ducts and onto the roof. Shark shouldered the case that held on the statue and the three climbed down the building into a nearby alley.

"What the hell was that you left behind Fox?" asked Vulture as the three raced to their car.

"A bomb," replied Fox as he started the Kord.

"A bomb!" gasped Shark and Vulture in unison. Then a thunderous explosion came from Two-face's lair. People raced outside as fire bellowed and glass covered the street. Fox gunned the engine and drove past the coughing gang members.

"A gift from Black Mask!" he hollered as the three drove away.


Batman and Robin landed 20 feet away from the scene of the fire. Firefighters from Station 17 fought to put it out while police kept reporters and pedestrians away. The dynamic duo walked toward Commissioner Gordon talking to Fire Chief Raymond Underhill.

"From what we can gather, the fire was started from an incendiary device," stated Underhill.

"So, a bomb?" asked Gordon.

"Most likely," replied Underhill. "We'll know more once the fire dies down, but it looks like that is the most likely reason."

"Jim. Ray," greeted Batman as he and Robin made their presence known. "What happened."

"Batman. Robin " replied the two. Jim replied, "It appears the Terrible Trio detonated a bomb in Two-face's lair. Dent got away with most of his crew. We got five dead and three critical that are on their way to Gotham General. On top of all that, the trio claimed that they did it for Black Mask."

"Unlikely," snorted Robin to Gordon and Underhill's surprise. The two were surprised to hear Batman's sidekick speak with such authority. "These guys work for themselves. Most likely they claimed they worked for Black Mask to avoid retribution from Two-face."

"So instead they may have started a mob war," growled Batman.