Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Buddy Cops

    I enter the GCPD, a small crinkled piece of paper in my hand. Traversing the GCPD lobby, I weave through the hurrying clerks and officers to reach Detective Bullock's desk. In the middle of pushing my way to my destination, I spot Ed striding toward Kristen Kringle. He sneaks up behind her and leans into her shoulder.

"Ms. Kringle," he mumbles, startling her as the officer she'd been talking with walks away as quickly as he can.

"I believe you left this on my desk," she keeps her head down as she daintily hands him something that's been covered with a napkin.

"It's a riddle," he explains with enthusiasm.

She pulls up a napkin on top of her stack of files, revealing a red velvet cupcake with a bronze bullet stuck in its side, "It's a cupcake with a live bullet sticking out of it."

Ed looks up at her, confused as he repeats, "It's...a riddle."

"It's menacing, and weird, and inedible," her light, feminine voice doesn't hide her growing impatience. She crinkles up the napkin and dumps it in his face before walking off.

Ed remains silent as she leaves, his face unmoving as he stares off into space. I twist my lips, I wish there was something I could do to help him...

I continue up the steps to Bullock's desk, where he's going over the facts of the case with Captain Essen and Detective Gordon.

"This Buchinsky dude and his partners pulled four successful bank robberies, killed six along the way before the GCPD caught him by accident. He never named his accomplices," Bullock informs Essen and Gordon, reading off of a file on his desk.

"He's in prison, he hears Arkham is opening its doors, so...he uses his connections and he gets himself a new identity as the mental patient Gruber," Gordon figures, now back in his detective garb.

Captain Essen chuckles, "He must have good connections."

"Right," Bullock continues, "when the rest of the nuts get transferred to Arkham, wallah!"

Captain Essen leans back against the railing as I climb the final steps, "So...he had...partners, huh?"

"Yeah, GCPD never identified them. They're still out there," Bullock sighs.

They must be talking about Maroni and his men. Should I tell them? Bullock already knows I'm working for Oswald...hmm, but Captain Essen, my boss, is right there as well. And confessing would just prove Gordon's theory that I'm just a corrupt cop.

"Yep. Find them, we'll find him," Gordon nods as his head remains focused on one spot.

I realize that Gordon is staring right at me. Did Bullock tell him about me and Oswald? Or is he just being paranoid and overly suspicious as usual? Just to be on the safe side, I hand my note to a nearby officer.

"Could you do me a favor and hand this to Detective Bullock?" I ask quietly, before skirting away.

The officer has little time to react as I disappear into the nearby dark hallways, "Huh...but...he's right there! Ugh..."

Rolling his eyes, the officer walks over to hand Bullock the note, "Detective."

Taking the note, Bullock stands, "A hit!"

    I'm part of the investigative crew that's sent out to the location Oswald gave me: Irwin's Electronics. Keeping the gathering crowd back, I pull out the blue DO NOT CROSS tape, taping off the nearby areas close to the building. Gordon and Bullock head inside as other officers including myself, keep crowds back and redirecting the few cars that try to pass through.

When Gordon and Bullock come back out, Bullock takes off his hat and whispers to the first nearby officer, "One dead guy in front, and some nutjob in the back who won't stop scribbling, looks like another one of Buchinsky's victims."

The officer nods, as he and a forensic officer head inside. I tilt my head toward the back as I'm approached by the sound of footsteps, expecting it to be Bullock. Instead, I raise an eyebrow as James Gordon approaches me with a very stern expression.

"So it was you who gave us the hit," he grumbles, his hands in his pockets.

I roll back my shoulders, "I admit nothi-"

"Don't lie. It was you," he immediately points his finger at me, "you used your mob connections to find this place. But the question is...who? Penguin's working for Maroni, does Buchinsky have connections to him as well?"

I stand my ground, shifting my weight from side to side, "Hmph...I help you, and your first reaction is to start pointing fingers? ...Oswald speaks very highly of you, I'm disappointed you don't meet my expectations."

Gordon chuckles, "Oh, 'Oswald', is it? Is that how you refer to your psychopathic, murdering loverboy?!"

"You, of all people, should not be scolding me on how to conduct my love life!" I snap back.

He crosses his arms, "Oh, we're going to bring Barbara into this? Fine, then maybe you can start by telling me where she is."

"You know perfectly well where she is," I retort, twisting my lips.

My eyes widen as I scan his blank expression. Oh my gosh...he has no idea, does he? Or maybe he just doesn't care to know. Maybe that's for the best.

"Well...if you're too dense to figure it out, then I'm certainly not discussing it with you. Good day, sir," in a huff I turn away from him.

"Slow down there," a hand lands on my shoulder.

I turn around to find Detective Bullock, in the middle of chastising Gordon, "Let's put our differences aside for one sec here. Officer K. here just helped us find our perps last local. No doubt we'll find something to help catch him. So stop being such a namby-pamby and say 'thank you'."

Gordon rolls his eyes, "...fine. I guess you did help."

"And who knows, we might need your help in the future," Bullock shrugs, a twinkle in his eye.

I raise an eyebrow, is Bullock playing me? What's his deal?

I watch as Gordon and Bullock walk away, as the two of them whisper among themselves. Quite the odd pair, the two of them.