Chapter 7: Game Plan

A while after the interruption caused by the False Face Society, Jacob's birthday party had ended not as pleasantly as Arendelle had planned it to. It was around 10 at night when Jacob was in his room in the castle where he pulled out the files he had on every single one of Batman's rogues gallery. He sat down at his desk and looked through the bin he had them in and past through the files on villains such as Killer Croc, Firefly, the Mad Hatter, Maxie Zeus, the Ventriloquist, and others until he got to the one he had on Black Mask. He opened up the file which had everything Batman compiled on Gotham's former crime king and began to read out loud to himself. "Roman Sionis a.k.a. Black Mask. Born into the wealthy Sionis family who were the CEOs of Janus Cosmetics company. Growing up, Roman showed signs of mental instability and pent-up aggression which most likely was the result of the abuse he suffered by his parents on a regular basis. The Sionis family often went out socializing with other rich families in Gotham City where they pretended to be as upper class and stuffy as they can be to have better relationships with the city's wealthy elite such as the Wayne family, whom they tried to get Roman be friends with Thomas and Martha Wayne's son. However, he felt like they were wearing masks of a sort when they did this as they pretended to be people they were not. When he hit his 20s, he began to work for his family's company where he fell in love with a young model named Circe whom his parents forbade him from being with her. Not too long after that, his parents died in a fire at their estate which started under suspicious circumstances that led people to believe Roman set the fire as a means of revenge for keeping him from being with Circe, but was never confirmed to be the cause of the fire. After inheriting his family's company and fortune, Roman ran Janus into the ground by selling a dangerous product that led to a disastrous lawsuit and potential bankruptcy. It was at this time, Circe also left him that sent him into a downward spiral. The company was saved by a buyout by Bruce Wayne which made Sionis hate Wayne. He became fixated on the concept of masks and made one in the shape of a skull from his father's black coffin. He then put together his criminal empire with the help of his gang called the False Face Society. He was the king of Gotham's crime world for years and had many corrupt cops in his pockets along with setting up several other businesses as a front for his criminal activities such as his steel mill and meatpacking plant. He also found new love with other girls throughout his time as the top boss in the city. All this changed when the Joker came onto the scene and destroyed his empire from within after killing one of his girlfriends and masquerading as him in order to destroy Batman. He never fully recovered from that, but is still a clear and present danger to the good people of Gotham.", he read the villain's bio. Once he was done reading out loud, he looked to the door and saw Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf standing there. "Oh, sorry. I never told you I have a habit of reading out loud to myself, but only when I think I'm alone.", Jacob said. They were holding in small giggles over this, but Anna chimed in and said, "No worries. I used to do the same thing when I was little and no one else was around. It was actually kind of helpful to hear all that so we know who we're dealing with and what this guy's deal is.", Anna said. Elsa took a look through Roman's file herself and saw some shocking facts. "No wonder this guy's messed up. It says here he was apparently bitten by a rabid raccoon as a kid and even was dropped on his head as a baby.", the queen said. "That's some pretty messed up stuff.", Kristoff said. "From what you said, this guy is obsessed with masks, which I guess is why he's called Black Mask. Jesus, it seems like every villain in that city is obsessed with some random thing and makes a weird identity based on that obsession. Scarecrow was obsessed with fear and dressed like a scarecrow, Riddler was obsessed with riddles and wore clothes covered in question marks, Poison Ivy was obsessed with plants and has plant powers. Now, this Black Mask guy comes along with his masked gang. I wonder if there's a villain in Gotham that's obsessed with...", Anna trailed off as she was looking for some random object as an example. She saw a kite with polka dots on it that gave her an idea on what to say. "A villain that's obsessed with kites or polka dots.", Anna said. "Actually, there are. There is a Kite-Man and a Polka Dot Man who Batman has fought before in Gotham.", he said. "Are you serious? There are villains that are obsessed with the littlest of things. What about one that's obsessed with pillows or something?", she asked as she looked at the bed and saw the pillow on it. "No, not yet. I wouldn't be surprised if someone like that pops up eventually.", Jacob said. "I think we should be talking more about how exactly we are going to deal with this situation instead of what you guys are talking about.", Kristoff said. "So, this guy used to be like the big crime boss of Gotham?", Sven asked. "From what I was told by Bruce, yes, he was. Until Joker came along and destroyed his empire from within. If I'm not mistaken, Joker dressed himself up as Black Mask and hired some assassins to kill Batman which is how their rivalry began. As far as Mask, he never recovered from all that and has been struggling ever since. I guess he just lost interest in Gotham which is why he wants to rule here instead.", Jacob said. He then had that guilty look on his face when he began to say, "And he probably wouldn't even know about this place if I didn't get you guys involved in my shenanigans in that city.". "Hey, Jake. Just like we've said to you before, don't blame yourself for what bad guys do.", Kristoff said. "He's right. Besides, I kinda think all this stuff really adds excitement to our lives. I mean, this kingdom was dead for so long until last year when Elsa was coronated and we met you. Despite all the life-threatening adventures and psycho villains, it's really exhilarating; at least to me.", Anna said. "No matter if it adds excitement to our lives, Anna, we can't let this guy force us out of here.", Elsa said. "She's right. But I mean, Elsa has magic powers. This Sionis dude won't stand a chance against her.", Kristoff said. "Maybe, but the last thing I want to do is to turn this castle into an icy fortress just to keep out criminals from taking over. We'll have to find him and take him and his gang down as easily as we can.", Elsa said. "Looks that way, but he said we have 48 hours before he comes to take the throne by force. That's not much time.", Olaf said. "I'm sure we'll pull it off. We pulled off stopping those other guys.", Sven said. "I think we should all get some rest and we'll deal with this problem in the morning.", Anna said. "Sounds good. After a long day of partying, this snowman needs his beauty sleep.", Olaf said. Everyone except Elsa left the room as she had more to say. "Hey, Jake. I'm really sorry again how your party ended up getting ruined by that masked punk. It's just like how my illness got in the way of making Anna's birthday perfect.", Elsa said. "Don't apologize, Elsa. It's not your fault. Believe me, I've learned nothing can go perfect. It was still the best birthday I've had in years. I can't thank you enough for it. I'll see you in the morning.", he said to her. They shared a goodnight kiss and then parted ways as everyone in the castle went to bed.