Animal ||Edward Nygma|| [3]

Chapter Three || Auction

"I cared a lot once," she admitted wryly. "And it ruined me. So now I don't care for much at all. I work in extremes like that."
- S.Z.

"Another excellent night of business!" Oswald exclaimed happily as he entered his club followed by Charlotte and Victor Zsasz.

The last two exchanged a knowing glance before Zsasz just decided to blurt out the news of what had happened that night at Gotham's docks. "Except for the part where a couple of thieves tried to rob your shipment".

Oswald stopped in his tracks and spun around to face them with an angry expression. "What?"

"They tried to steal one of the crates containing an embalming knife," Charlotte explained to him.

"Relax, boss. Our men stopped them before they could get their hands on anything," Zsasz told, making Oswald sigh in relief.

He turned to look at Ed inside the block of ice. "You see what I'm dealing with, Ed?"

Zsasz glanced at Charlotte and then stared at Ed as if asking why Oswald was talking to a frozen man. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, knowing the knife was safe, stored in a warehouse by the port surrounded by high security.

"That shipment is full of black market items I am auctioning off tonight to Gotham's elite," Oswald reminded, thinking about all the money he would make. "I stand to make a killing. I cannot do that without the items. Where are they?"

"At the warehouse," Zsasz told him.

"Take me," Oswald ordered as he looked between Charlotte and Zsasz. Then he turned his back to them and started walking towards the exit. "I want to be sure it is all accounted for, and once I do, bring everything back here for safekeeping".

It took a while for Charlotte and Oswald's men to load everything into the truck. Once it was all ready, they returned to 'The Iceberg Lounge'. However, when they arrived, they were presented with an even bigger problem than a couple of thieves trying to steal an old embalming knife.

Only half of the block of ice that decorated the center of the club was standing in its place while the rest was scattered all over the place. Ed was nowhere to be seen.

"No. No!" Oswald shouted at the top of his lungs.

Charlotte entered the room after them, not having seen what had happened yet. "Oswald, why are you..." her voice faded as she finally saw what was going on, "... screaming?"

"This cannot be happening!" Oswald yelled while staring at the broken piece of ice still standing.

"I don't know. Kind of opens up the room," Victor commented with a shrug as he observed the club seemed to be more spacious now.

Oswald turned to Zsasz and a still shocked Charlotte with wide eyes full of fury. "Whoever did this, I want them found. I want them dead! And I want Ed back here today!"