Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Fun and Games

   Otis, Ed, and I walk the streets of Gotham, with Otis leading the way.

“There’re these people who snatch children and throw them into their van,” he explains, “then they bring them to a shipping warehouse on the bay. The kids are put in crates which go on ships.”

“And how long has this been going on?” I ask.

“No idea, I just followed them when they snatched my brother and some of his friends.”

“Why didn’t they snatch you?”

He looks down, “I...I was still in the apartment, looking out the window. He was hanging on the complex steps with a couple of his friends when they came offering free food. They said they were with the mayor’s homeless outreach, but we we’re homeless. There must have been something in the sandwiches they gave, because he and his friends passed out on the ground. I ran down the stairs to help, but by the time I reached the front door...they were gone.”

I nod understandably, “And you followed the van?”

“How could I not? My brother was in there but...but there was no way I could get him out alone. I was trying to get other kids from the Flea to join me but, none of them would come...” he stops in place, “we’re here.”

Ed and I look up and see a large, tall warehouse on the edge of the bay. Otis shows us to a nearby fire escape, which we climb to the roof of the building. As I jump up to reach the first rung on the ladder, Ed’s directly under me. I look down and he’s blushing for some reason. Then I realize I’m wearing a miniskirt.

I smirk, “You see something you like?”

“Just...mirid curiosity,” he mumbles, shirting his eyes around with a nervous smile.

We make it to the roof, and Otis approaches the gap between the apartment roof and the slanted roof of the warehouse.

"Pardon me but...do you expect us to jump across that?” Ed questions the young boy.

The boy nods, “It’s not that hard.”

Ed takes a couple of steps back, placing his hands in front of him and closing one eye, “By my calculations, you’d need to have a velocity-”

I take off running toward the roof’s edge, sprinting as fast as I can. I reach the end and jump up onto the ledge, leaping off of it. Flying through the air, I catch myself by my hands on the end of the roof. Hanging off of the edge, I swing my legs up and hoist myself up onto the roof.

“...like that,” Ed concludes.

Otis goes next, copying my format of getting a running start, and then jumping at the end to reach the roof. We both look up and see Ed, still on the other side. He shakes his head, “Not possible.”

“C’mon dude, it’s a five foot jump!” Otis criticizes.

I back up and run back, jumping off of the warehouse roof and catch myself on the ledge of the apartment roof.

As I stand up, Ed twiddles with his fingers, shuffling his hands together, “Please, please...you bring me closer to a heart attack every time you do that.”

“Well then, don’t make me do it again. You can do this Ed,” I tell him.

Otis is already continuing to a section of the roof where he opens up a hidden skylight and looks back, “If he doesn’t want to come, that’s fine. We can do it ourselves.”

I scrunch my eyebrows. Could I? True, it would probably be safer for Ed if he just stayed outside, but, Otis came to us for help, not so that we could wimp out at the last second.