A Clever Fascination

Chapter 19 - Into the Lion's Den

The car ride over to Oswald's territory was long. Not because of the distance, because of Jim's need to talk Harvey and Kit through every step of what was about to go down. According to him this was a simple in and out job so why he'd been talking for so long was unknown. As if the mastermind criminals were just going to present their wrists for the cuffing and go quietly. Yeah right. Harvey hadn't been listening for a good ten minutes anyways.

"Jesus!" Jim exclaimed as a body slammed on the hood of the car and rolled off onto the pavement. Kit and Harvey let out their own noises of shock, repectively.

"It's raining men." Kit mumbled, mostly to herself considering she had been the one subjected to the back seat of Harvey's old-as-dirt junk mobile. Subjected because Kit was 90% sure the back seats hadn't been cleaned or maybe even used since at least the late 80's.

The splat of the body was a clear sign that this was the place. That and the hordes of riot mobs and general destruction.

"Throwing a grenade at this place would be a kindness." Harvey commented, climbing out of the vehicle and instantly socking some guy in the face that had run at him with a bat. Even after all this time, Bullock was touch as nails and still had witty one liner to match. Despite the exhausting lifestyle, Kit knew that the old Detective would stay in the job as long as he could, this had become all he knew and he was still really damn good at it.

"Cobblepot and Nygma have to be in the centre of this mess." Jim leaves the car too, looking back to check Kit was in one piece before leading the charge, with his two best Detectives hot on his heels.

The three of them passed people smashing windows, fighting in the street, and setting fire to abandoned cars. It was a scene that would have shocked Kit if she didn't have to deal with cases in worse places like The Narrows all the damn time. Despite his watchful eye on the young Detective, Gordon knew that she could handle herself. A good shot with a gun and reasonably tough in unarmed combat, Valentine now only needed her wits about her and she certainly had those.

"You know the drill. In, make demands, arrest Tetch and try to take Nygma, then out. No funny business, any attempts and we shut it down." Jim decided to brief the two once again as they approached what could only be described as a mansion. The door was slightly ajar and voices echoed from inside. Harvey and Jim, being the rough and tough guys they were, didn't hesitate for even a second and burst in the door.

Nygma, Tetch and Cobblepot occupied the room. The two former inmates still adorned their black and white uniforms.

"There was an opening and I stepped in, you cannot blame me for your arrest! That isn't my fault, it's-"

"Mine. Hello boys, pointing fingers?" Kit quipped almost as soon as she walked into the room, standing between Gordon and Bullock. She folded her arms and looked between the criminals that were staring back at cops that had entered their territory.

"Hello Jim, have you missed m-"

"Shut up, Tetch. I thought better of you, Penguin. We were under the impression that you were capable of controlling all those fine people." Jim's gruff voice taunted the short man in the suit after shutting down the Mad Hatter.

"Now now James, I was running things quite smoothly before Edward waltzed in here."

He hadn't. The riots had been ongoing for nearly two weeks and showed only very few signs of stopping with Oswald in charge.

"My borough needs its real leader back, you can hear their anger." Edward stated. As irritating as the three cops may have found it, Nygma was correct. That was why his people were still rioting so much. The Riddler's people didn't want to work under The Penguin, just the same as The Penguin's people wouldn't want to work under The Riddler. Business owners would have to work out possibly less beneficial deals. Legitimate protection tax would change. People didn't to lose what they had by their borough changing hands.