Fowler made good on his threat. Neal hadn't seen it coming. Through Jones, he learnt that Fowler had stormed El's office, executing a warrant and claiming that she was illegally importing goods. El called Peter for help but it ended with Peter hitting Fowler. Fowler placed Peter on suspension, taking the FBI agent off the board or so Fowler believed.
Neal couldn't blame Peter. He wanted to hit the agent as well.
Fowler had come through with his anklet, the light going off and Jones reporting that Neal's GPS showed him at home. Peter seemed to believe he could use to bring Fowler down. Suspension or no suspension.
Neal thought happy thoughts so he could smile at the din of the party around him. This was an exciting chance. He was looking forward to the act he was going to pull tonight. His invitation had been attained by giving them a statue; although the Italian's didn't realise it was a forgery with a little something extra. The consul general couldn't ignore such a piece and had it moved to his office, exactly as Neal hoped. Alex was walking around with a smile on her face and with a Duke sometimes wrapped around her arm. She bumped into a guy and, even watching, Neal barely caught her lift of the man's security card.
"Nice lift," he commented as Mozzie brought them a couple of drinks on a tray.
"This'll get you through the security doors," Alex said, passing him the card.
"So, which safe is it?" Neal asked.
Alex finally told him and they were ready to get this done.
Neal held up his glass and got everyone's attention. He gave a speech about the people throwing the party and then dropped a bombshell on them.
"I'm an internationally renowned art thief. And tonight, I'm here to rob you." He held his glass up in salute. "Cheers!"
There were confused ramblings all around him as he was ushered away and the guests told he was drunk. Neal was shoved through the first security door and buzzed through the second before being shoved into the consul general's room.
They were 'questioning' him when the alarm went off. Neal grinned as they ran off, locking him in. Like a lock could stop him.
Mozzie's and Alex's distraction had gone off without a hitch. The smoke bombs had made sure Neal was left alone so he could get to the safe. Neal used the statue's hammer to break it apart and pull out the bag of safe cracking supplies he had encased within it. He then made short work of the safe.
Inside was the music box. He still didn't get why it was worth all the trouble Fowler was going to.
"Hurry up, Neal!" Mozzie called from outside. He was holding a camera up in front of the security feed, tricking them into seeing the same uneventful image of the hallway.
Neal put the box in a bag and dashed outside.
"Neal, did you get it?" Alex asked from the other door. She left herself in and walked over to Neal.
"It's not over yet," Neal reminded her. She smiled at him.
"Very touching guys but hurry!" Mozzie called from behind the security door. "They're coming!"
They could hear security coming down the stairs. Neal motioned for Mozzie to wait and turned to see Alex making off with the bag containing their loot.
"Alex? Alex!" She was making off with the music box!
"Neal!" Mozzie cried out. Between chasing Alex and getting the music box back and leaving Mozzie to be caught, Neal would choose Mozzie every time. He opened the door from the inside and just as Mozzie squeezed through, the guards appeared.
They started to run. The sounds of flesh hitting flesh sounded behind them.
"What the?" Mozzie questioned, turning back. Neal had done the same, mouth dropping open.
Standing in the middle of the knocked out guards was Damian Wayne in a guard uniform.
"What?" Damian questioned with a shrug. "Someone needs to keep your two fools out of trouble."
Neal's gut churned. "You followed us?"
"Neal, not now," Mozzie interrupted. Neal sighed but followed Mozzie. They took the planned route out of the consulate but didn't run into Alex.
"She must have taken another route," Neal suggested.
"It'll be fine," Damian said. "Stephanie has eyes on her."
Neal resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What are you doing here, Damian?"
"I already said. I'm here to keep you fools out of trouble."
"And what trouble did you see?"
"Obviously, you are trusting the wrong people. The bald guy is okay-" Mozzie muttered a sarcastic 'thanks', "but the woman was unworthy of your trust."
"She's the only one who knew where the music box was," Neal pointed out. "We had to work with her if we wanted to find it."
"And how's that working out for you?" Damian prodded.
"Who cares?" Mozzie said. "It's not like you caught her."
Damian grinned. "Wanna bet?"
When they opened the door to Neal's apartment, the first thing they noticed was golden hair brushed over a golden music box. A soft tune played, making the air heavy.
"What is she doing?" Mozzie huffed. "Neal, why are they here?"
"Could ask you the same thing," Steph commented cheerily as she stopped the music box. She waved around what looked like a small golden cherub figure. "But we're all on the same side."
"For now," Neal added. "I need the music box."
"You can't have it until Alex is done."
"I'm done," Alex announced, pushing the box over to Steph. She had a frown on her face and was resting her head against one arm. She sounded annoyed.
Neal raised an eyebrow. "It's that easy?" he questioned.
She nodded. Mozzie huffed in a way which said he didn't believe her.
"Not completely easy," Steph pointed out. "And very interesting."
"Maybe for you. I've spent my whole life searching for this thing," Alex waved a hand over the music box. "And I don't understand it. So close and yet so far."
"Understand what?" Neal and Damian asked in unison. Neal frowned but Damian walked towards the music box. "Did you break it, Stephanie?"
First names. Neal realised in that moment. Damian, who used to use surnames as much as he could, had only been using first names for him and Steph.
"I did not!" Steph said with a pout. She crossed her arms. "It's the way it works."
Mozzie glanced to Neal and he realised he would have to ask the questions for his paranoid friend.
"Way what works?" he asked.
"The music box," Steph responded joyfully. "It's more than just a music box." She banished the cherub piece and slipped it into a small hole on the top. It stood there just like the three on the other corners. "Alex had this by the way."
"Okay?" Neal shot Alex a sideways glance as Steph turned the cherub key. There was a small click and the top popped up.
Mozzie popped up next to Steph, causing Damian to jump back.
"It's a secret compartment with a secret comb," Mozzie said, carefully extracting the comb in question.
"But it doesn't do anything that makes sense," Alex sighed.
"Do you want to leave then?" Neal said.
Alex frowned at him. "I'd rather stay until they're done playing with my music box."
"'Our' music box," Mozzie reminded her as he snapped the comb in. "I'm all for cutting you out though, since you couldn't stick to the plan."
"I would have been able to get away, if she hadn't been waiting outside," Alex said, shoving a finger in Steph's direction.
"I was waiting for Damian."
"I was watching the heist," Damian finished the conversation with a shrug.
Mozzie hushed them all as he started the music box, this time with the secret comb in it. Garbled tinkling noises sounded through the room. It was discordant, nauseating and sounded nothing like music and more like a random assortment of notes.
"It sounds like someone left a baby near a xylophone, doesn't it?" Steph chirped.
Damian made a 'bleuch' sound and turned to Neal. "It's stupid. I can't believe you almost got caught by Italians over this thing."
"Fowler wants it for some reason and doesn't care who gets in the way," Neal mused. "There must be more to it."
Mozzie rubbed his hands together. "Give me a moment and I may be able to record it."
"Here," Steph said, pulling a laptop out of the bad sitting by her chair. She placed it on the table. "Use this. We brought it for Neal."
Neal hadn't heard anything about that! "I don't want it."
"Waynetech? I'll stick to my Russian surplus. Neal, how long to I have?"
"I meet Fowler tonight. At best, a couple of hours."
"Long enough. I'm going to record this. It's a code."
"It's not Morse, or at least, not simply Morse code," Steph added.
"You know Morse?" Mozzie questioned.
"We all do," Steph said, doing a motion which included Damian and Neal.
"I don't," Alex said. She leaned closer to the music box. "Do you really think you can solve it?"
"Sure!" Steph said confidently and with a smile. "It seems like fun."
"Great," Damian said in a dull tone.