说到新任总统谢尔顿先生,他其实很有能力,经验丰富,拥有广泛的人脉网络.唯一的问题是他的运气真的很差.
不,也许应该说他的运气很差.
在他的朋友提名的六位教授中,其中一位恰好是维克多·弗里斯（Victor Fries）,也被称为冰冻先生,哥谭未来的超级反派之一.
在审查了他们的档案后,谢尔顿打算雇用其中三个人,巧合的是维克多·弗里斯.
邀请发出后,只有一个人接受了哥谭大学的录取通知书,而且恰好是维克多·弗里斯.
哥谭大学真的很不幸.他们只是抓住了一个疯狂的科学家,送走了稻草人乔纳森,现在他们又有了另一个,冰冻维克多先生.
而且,维克多似乎真的需要这份工作.甚至在席勒与布鲁斯讨论如何预防之前,维克多已经到达了哥谭大学.就好像他不接受这份工作就会饿死一样.
好吧,幸运的是,就像稻草人一样,维克多目前只是一个普通的教授.
事实上,席勒知道,即使作为后来的冰冻先生,他也被认为是哥谭市比较温和的反派之一.他通常喜欢冻结蝙蝠侠,并与他进行哲学和艺术讨论.他的大部分痴迷和疯狂都源于他对妻子的爱,而不是与蝙蝠侠或哥谭对峙的愿望.
席勒看到了自己和维克多之间的相似之处.他们都符合学者的典型形象.维克多身材高大,戴着眼镜,西装的领口和袖口都一丝不苟.虽然他看起来有些疲惫,但他似乎仍然是一位知识渊博的教授.
每个教授都有自己独立的办公室,但也有一个公共聊天室.乔纳森离开后,他在聊天室的位置变得空缺.当维克多到达时,他碰巧坐在乔纳森以前的位置,就在席勒旁边.
在他们的第一次谈话中,席勒注意到维克多的目光一直盯着席勒无名指上的戒指.
过了一会儿,他终于提起了家庭的话题,问道:"看来你已经结婚了.你的妻子也在哥谭吗?
在西方国家,第一次见面就谈论某人的婚姻状况实际上被认为是有点不礼貌的.有些人可能会觉得它侵犯了他们的隐私.
很明显,维克多此刻的精神状态并不好.他似乎很焦虑,渴望被认出来.
席勒听到这个问题后犹豫了.他不知道该如何回答.他总不能说实话,说自己有个共生体,喜欢看太多肥皂剧吧?
Victor interprets Schiller's silence as another meaning.
People always like this. They tend to unconsciously seek out others who have similar experiences when they feel insecure and extremely anxious, hoping to find comfort in their shared experiences.
Victor starts to recall the remarkable experiences that Schiller must have had. He guesses, maybe among those thrilling detective stories, there might also be a love story even more tragic and beautiful.
With this sense of identification, Victor and Schiller quickly become acquainted.
During their subsequent interactions, Schiller discovers, he indeed shares many similarities with Victor. Victor loves ancient philosophy, modern art, and religious art, and Schiller also has a passion for theology and philosophy. They have a lot in common and can chat endlessly on afternoons without classes.
Schiller never expects that the first close friend he will find after crossing over to this world will turn out to be the villain Mr. Freeze.
But it must be said that this not-yet-villain Mr. Freeze is quite charismatic. He is always gentle, empathetic, and has excellent articulation and organization skills. When discussing certain matters, he has unique insights. Having conversations with him reminds Schiller of debates he used to have with experts in his previous life, resulting in countless sparks of thinking.
This moderate villain leaves a very favorable impression, which is acknowledged by everyone in the office.
As Schiller's communication with Victor deepens, he learns about Victor's current situation. Victor has used cryogenic technology to preserve his wife. However, this requires a lot of money and extremely demanding facilities.
The institute that originally funded his research refuses to provide Victor due to insufficient funding. That's why Victor has hurriedly come to Gotham University. Apart from the decent salary offered here, it is also because the Wayne Family funded the establishment of a cryogenic laboratory where he can ensure that his wife remains in a state of being frozen, preventing her condition from worsening.
If combine this with Mr. Freeze's later story, his actions might seem somewhat insane. However, most of his colleagues in the office understand Victor. During this era, many people proposed freezing individuals with incurable diseases until medical technology advances enough to treat them.
And Victor is just a pioneer among them.
Schiller believes, this version of Victor Fries, even if he hasn't suffered the experimental accident and become the later Mr. Freeze, would still be a reliable ally.
Compared to the nestling Batman, having Mr. Freeze with cutting-edge cryogenic technology and knowledge seems more trustworthy.
To permanently eliminate the trouble caused by Mr. Freeze, they first need to find a solution for his wife's degenerative disease.
Schiller accompanies Victor to visit the cryogenic vault where his wife is stored. Mrs. Fries is not particularly beautiful, just an ordinary white woman. But Victor always looks at her with a loving gaze.
In his mind, Schiller asks the symbiotic entity, "Is there a way?"
The symbiotic entity replies, "The nerve has atrophied.Very tricky."
Looking at the cryogenic vault, Victor says, "My wife's neurodegenerative disease is almost incurable. Her neurons are dying at an alarming rate. I could only manage to freeze her, but reversing the condition is impossible. Even if I can barely control the cell death, immune inflammation would still damage her brain..."
Victor squats down.Anyone can hear the despair in his tone. Perhaps he knows that freezing his wife and waiting for a solution that might never come is just self-deception.
Schiller frowns as he contemplates. He thinks, although Victor is considered one of Gotham's notable villains, he is indeed a world-class cryogenic scientist. However, professional matters should be left to professional people, such as a certain top-notch neurosurgeon.
The next day, Schiller returns to Marvel.
New York.
When Strange sees Schiller in his house, he has just tossed his coat on the nearby foyer, and he is startled, "Oh my God, you just waltzed into my house like this!"
"I haven't got even with you yet. You sold my information to some organization."
"They asked me. I had no choice."
In the confrontation with Schiller, Strange surrenders and admits defeat first. He says, "Alright, but you can't expect me to stay silent like a well-trained agent. Besides, you threatened me first."
"Let's not dwell on that. I have a way to make a fortune now. Do you want to hear it?"
Strange skeptically questions, "A way to make a fortune? If there really is such a way, why would you come to me? I heard you charged Tony Stark one million per hour for consultation, and he actually agreed!"
"When I heard that news, I wished I had gone back to university to study psychology!"
"Now, there is a woman who has a very severe neurodegenerative disease. And her husband may possess a unique cryogenic patent technology, you know, the kind that allows someone to live off the patent fees for a lifetime."
"If you can cure this madam's disease, we can share the patent together."
Strange purses his lips and sighs, "I'd say it again, I'm a doctor, not God."
"Do you think you can't cure such a disease?"
"But first, shouldn't I meet the patient instead of you, you middleman?"
"For certain reasons, I'm afraid you won't be able to meet her. But I have her complete pathological data."
With that, Schiller conjures up a pile of papers out of thin air. Strange takes them, glances roughly, and shakes his head, "Impossible, it can't be cured, give up."
Schiller is about to speak when Strange interrupts, "This is beyond the scope of neuroscience. If you want her to fully recover, the difficulty is almost equivalent to turning a fully cooked bacon back into a pig."
Then he gives Schiller a once-over, finally focusing on the ring on his ring finger. Strange dryly adds, "...Well, I was a bit too absolute in my words just now. Otherwise, you can try finding someone else. Although I don't think there's a better neurosurgeon in this world than me."
"What if you collaborate with Stark?"
Strange is about to deny it, but after thinking for a moment, he says, "Stark may have some researches in mechanics. However, his technology needs a lot of research and modification to be applied in neurosurgery. If you can convince him to put in so much effort to study this technology, then I can give it a try as well. But you better prepare a satisfactory consultation fee for me."
Before Strange could finish speaking, Schiller had already disappeared. Thinking about the ring he saw on Schiller's hand earlier and recalling his attitude, Strange obviously misunderstood something. He sighed and muttered to himself, "Ha, love... quite foolish."
Suddenly appearing behind Stark, Schiller startles him. He shouts, "I know you have this magical teleportation! But that's not a reason for you to climb more than 30 floors without an elevator! Aren't you afraid of getting stuck in the wall?"
Schiller replies, "What nonsense are you talking about? Magical teleportation getting stuck in a wall? That's too silly."
"I hope one day I won't receive a call from a repairman telling me there's a human-shaped hole in a wall of Stark Tower."
"Anyway, I came to find you for business."
Schiller takes out the pile of data again.
After about ten minutes, Stark says, "Actually, you found the right person. I have some research in neuroscience."
He picks up a pen, walks around the desk, and continues, "You know, last time I obtained a lot of data on biomechanical enhancements from Obie's database, and among them are some techniques related to neural adaptation for mechanical control."
"These techniques are dangerous, there's no denying that. But it can't be ignored that if successful, it would elevate the precision of human control over exoskeletons to an unprecedented level."
"If machinery can directly receive commands from the neural system, it eliminates the need for secondary operations and allows all suits to be truly responsive."
"So, can you do it?"
"No, not yet. Obie's research on this technology has also hit a bottleneck. There's a crucial technological hurdle that needs to be overcome. Right now, we don't have any leads."