Chapter 27

I walk out of the locker room in a blue police officer uniform, blue shirt, black pants, and a black leather jacket. Captain Essen already has a badge ready for me in her office.

"Normally I'd only give these out at police training graduation, but with our current numbers, I think I can make an exception," she concludes, pinning the badge to my shirt, "sorry there's no official ceremony for you."

Ed starts clapping loudly, beaming at me, the sound echoing through the otherwise silent room.

Captain Essen clears her throat, gesturing for Ed to stop.

"There's been a recent media leak concerning missing street kids. The public is panicking, so I'm having all officers on duty to focus on locating these kids," she explains, "I want you to cover the south side of the warehouse district, it's school time so any kids you see out there are automatically considered delinquents."

I nod as she rolls up the map, "Ed has your keys to your police car."

I turn around and see him hold up a small ring with a key and a remote attached. I smile, before thanking Captain Essen and leaving her office. I reach out to take the key from Ed, but he snatches it away from me, lifting it up so I can't reach.

"Na, ah, ah, I am going with you," he declares.

I raise an eyebrow, "What? Ed, you don't even have police training, and besides, don't you have your own work to do?"

"I pushed for you to have this job so that we could be a team once more, not so you could run off on your own and do wonderful things without me," he explains, "besides, they never give me anything I couldn't easily clear in twenty minutes top."

I roll my eyes, if only I could be as efficient as Ed, "Alright, but if anyone finds out, you snuck in the back and I had no idea you were here."

Ed pumps his fists, "Yes!"

We walk down to the main floor when we pass by two male cops. I glance over at the younger, cleanshaven one. He was the detective that interrupted Morgan's beating. But it's not him that notices her, it's the other one, heavier, wearing a hat.

"Hey Nygma, you got a girlfriend?" he chuckles jokingly.

Ed stops in his tracks, "No...not yet...that is to say, that it couldn't be a possibility in the future, or it has to be specifically with her...this is Natalie by the way," he steps aside, presenting me with both hands, "Natalie, these men are Detectives Gordon and Bullock."

"Hold on...aren't you one of the dancers at Fish Mooney's?" Gordon asks.

I shrug, trying to keep my cool, "No idea what you're talking about."

Bullock nudges Gordon on the shoulder, "C'mon, man, those girls all look the same. It's probably nothing."

I turn around and begin walking away, but Gordon points an accusing finger toward me, "I've got my eye on you kid."

I sigh as I sit in the driver's seat of the police cruiser. Ed sits in the passenger's seat, making sure to buckle his seatbelt, and reminding me with a gesture to buckle mine.

"You never told me you were a dancer," he mumbles, staring straight ahead.

Of course of all people Ed would catch my bluff, "Hey, a girl's gotta make a living somehow."

"Well you could've told me before I pushed to have you become an officer!" he exclaims, turning to her and placing his arm on the chair.

I start up the car and pull out of the police parking lot, driving down towards the warehouse district.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm not exactly breaking any laws by having a night job."

"But that could be counted as a mob affiliation!" Ed points out.

I arch my eyebrow, "C'mon, what cop doesn't have some kind of mob affiliation?"

He grits his teeth, his one bad tooth pushed back behind the others, "...point taken."

I park under the freeway, just a couple of blocks outside the warehouse district. When we stop, I take off my seatbelt and grab a small duffel bag stuck in between the seats.

"So...what's the plan?" he asks, as I unzip the bag, revealing a set of dark, raggedy clothing.

"The south side of the warehouse district includes the Flea, a hangout for street kids. If it's still around, I'm gonna head in and ask around about any missing children."

He nods, "Oh right, you've told me about the Flea, but you'd never take me-"
"That changes today," I toss him a large leather jacket and black skinny jeans, "put these on."

He looks down at the clothes, "You do know these aren't exactly...to my particular tastes."

"I know, that's not the point. The point is to fit in with the other street kids," I explain, as I start removing my police uniform.

Ed's eyes widen as I remove my shirt, briefly exposing my bra before I pull on my old fishnet shirt. I smirk, "What? You've seen me naked before."

He remains dead silent for a while longer as I change from my officer pants to a black miniskirt and stockings, "I...I actually haven't."

I look up, thinking to myself for a second, "Oh...you haven't, have you?" I finish my transformation by yanking on a pair of black boots, "Well, there's a first time for everything."

Ed quickly fumbles to change as I watch out for any approaching people. I catch quick glances of Ed changing from his work slacks to the skinny jeans I gave him. Before we'd left the precinct I'd grabbed these clothes from the clothing drop off. Whoever use to own these clothes are now in a prison jumpsuit, so hopefully they won't miss these too much.

"Do I look like a street-wise daddy-o?" Ed asks with his nasal voice.

I cringe, "Ed...street kids just talk...normally, okay?" but I can't help but examine his change in appearance, "Hang on…"

I zip open his leather jacket, revealing his shirt and tie still intact. I remove his tie,and unbutton his shirt to the point where it becomes hidden by the leather jacket. I mess up his hair so it looks far less pristine. That's better, he looks a lot more like a street kid. There's just one thing missing…

"Ah, we have to lose the glasses," I realize, taking his large, harn-rimmed glasses and slowly pulling them off.

Ed squints, his eyes appearing much smaller with his glasses. I look up at the finished product, and while he certainly has lost his geeky charm, it's been replaced by something else. He's...well, he's hot, in a much more conventional manner.

"Is this really necessary?" he questions, re-parting his hair so that it's out of his face.

"Yes Ed. If you don't wanna stick out like a sore thumb, then yes, this is necessary."

"But...won't the children realize that we're not...children? I mean...I know you're exceptionally short, and could probably pass for seventeen...but I-"

I shake my head, "As long as you don't go around saying things like 'daddy-o', no, I think we'll be fine. You're babyfaced enough to pass for a teenager as well, and besides, those kids who've been on the heavy stuff? They look like they're thirty, at least."

Ed nods, and we both exit the car.

"Hang on, I have an invention I want to try!" Ed proposes. From his discarded lab coat pocket, he pulls out a black box with a green computer screen. He sticks it to the front of the car, the machine latching onto the door as if magnetized, "It's a passcode device of my own invention. I can attach it to the car, and if anyone tries to break in," he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small remote with a singular red button. He pushes the button, and the car jumps slightly as electricity courses through the entire vehicle. While no cartoonish streaks of lightning are visible, there are some small sparks that fly out from the hood.

"You're sure that your device won't...set the car on fire?"

He nods confidently, "The rubber shocks meant for the car's breaks should protect the electricity from reaching the engine, just from the way they're manufactured."

I raise an eyebrow as we start walking to the warehouse district, "You better be right," but then I realize something, "say, what exactly is the passcode?"

He smirks knowingly, "...dynamic duo."

"Is that referring to us?" I chuckle.

He nods, before wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and raising up his other arm to sweep in front of us, "Yes, as partners in crime, we'll stop at nothing to thwart an evil doer's plot," he leans his head in close to mine, bending down to reach my level, "and with my brains and your charisma, we're an unstoppable force."

He gets up and accidentally hits the top of his head on a stop sign.

"Ouch…" he rubs his forehead as we reach the street corner, "kind of hard to see without glasses though."

I can't help but giggle a little at his misfortune, "Here, let me help you."

I take his hand, and lead him along the street, Ed stumbling along with the pull of my hand. I know how this may look to outside strangers, but honestly, Ed and I are just friends, really. But...why do I need to keep telling myself that?

Author's Note: Your responses to my "Team Edward vs. Team Oswald" question have been nothing short of phenomenal, thank you! The teams are currently tied, perhaps some more reviewers will weigh in later on, but that's how it stands as of now

Sketch1997: Team Edward it is! :D Oh, I know what you mean. I personally find Ed more attractive than Oswald, but the show makes Oswald out as the more interesting character (plus I can be more objective about Oswald, and my judgement is less clouded by fangirling)

Alesha: Hey, thanks for the super long review! I love these, when I get an email alert and I see the review is truncated for length in the email it just makes me so happy :3.

I try to keep the chapters down to a thousand to two thousand words, but if there's a song, or a bunch of little scenes in succession, it can be difficult. And thanks for the compliments on Natalie, OCs are kind of my specialty, and for Natalie especially I wanted to take some risks on her character, and hopefully those risks have paid off.

And yes, we have one for Team Oswald! Like I said to Sketch1997, Oswald has a much more interesting character (I was kind of worried when I first saw Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald. My first thought was, "Okay, I don't need to be a teenaged girl to know where this is going", thankfully, while my prediction was somewhat correct, the show, and Mr. Taylor, have subverted my expectations) than Ed, although I've been tempted to introduce some personality elements from his other incarnations to fill in the gaps, but then I might start to contradict what the show does, and the last thing I want to do is that

In conclusion, thanks so much, hope you come back to review Chapter 27!

Fuchsia Grasshopper: Another for Team Oswald! And yeah, a lot has been set up for Oswald, he will always be a major player in the story (after all, the story itself is named after a Penguin centric Batman: The Animated Seriesepisode with similar themes to the story). And yeah, while the story itself and the audience I'm catering to will make it difficult for me to keep their friendship a pure friendship, I agree that there should be more portrayals of platonic friendships between different sexes in media. As for Oswald being jealous, I'm going to wait to see if they meet up in the show first

GibbyCentral: Yes! But again, we'll have to wait for the show to give me the green light first

weirdandoutrageous: I agree, it's a hard choice, I'm undecided myself. Yes, Ed would probably be the realistic choice (well, as realistic as these kinds of things can get), and it would be interesting to see her follow him through his transformation into the Riddler, which she'll do regardless. On the other hand, yeah, I myself am surprised how well Oswald and Natalie's chemistry have worked out thus far. It was the toughest thing going into the story, but drawing influences from the show itself, Richard III, Two Gentlemen of Verona,The Phantom of the Opera(the book more so than the musical), Code Geass, and various others, I've been able to draw something that at least serves the story well.

UndercoverSkeleton: Thank you so much! And you're for Team Edward then? Makes sense, I agree that Oswald has done some pretty heinous stuff, and I wanted to show that Natalie hadn't forgiven him when she rats him out to Fish. And Ed, poor Ed, guy can't seem to catch a break. Interviews with the actor have suggested that he has some sort of "snapping point". If/when that'll occur in the first season, I don't know, but if/when it does, I'm sure it'll be...fascinating.

Thanks! :)