"Gangsters don't cry

Therefore, therefore I'm

Mr. Misty-eye, therefore I'm

Can you save

Can you save my

Can you save my heavydirtysoul?"

- 'Heavydirtysoul' by Twenty-One Pilots.

It took a while for Ed to finally regain back consciousness. He had a huge headache and groaned when he sat up straight on the back seat of the police car. Sirens had awakened him and the high-pitched noise painfully pierced his brain like needles.

"He's awake," Oswald said in a sing-song voice. "We were getting lonely".

Ed looked at the other side of a net of metal that separated him from the driver and passenger's seats. There he saw Charlotte and Oswald smiling at him through the review mirror.

"How was your nap, Eddie?" Charlotte asked. She had stopped the car when she heard the police sirens getting closer.

Ed was going to take a hand to his head, but his hands were cuffed behind his back. "You hit me in the head with-"

"What do you call a tavern of blackbirds?" Charlotte interrupted with a smirk, reminding Ed of the time he asked that same riddle to Pinkney, the strike force officer.

Ed huffed. "... A crowbar".

"That would have been me," Oswald interjected, quite satisfied with himself.

Charlotte chuckled. "Karma is a bitch".

Ed glared at her through the review mirror. "If we're going to talk about karma then you have a lot to answer for too".

"But I already got shot, didn't I?" Charlotte asked rhetorically and turned around in her seat to face him. "Your turn".

Ed broke the eye contact with Charlotte and looked outside to see where he was, but he didn't recognize his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Oh, we ran into a police blockade," Oswald explained. "Charlotte had to hunker down a minute".

"Where are you taking me?" Ed asked.

"We don't know. We're sort of improvising here," Oswald told Ed, the satisfied expression never fading away. "Why? You have someplace you have to be?"

"Does it matter? I imagine you're planning on dragging this out," Ed glared at them from above his glasses. At the same time, he struggled to take off his gloves.

Charlotte chuckled once more at how right Ed was and she kept on looking out for the cop cars that were still passing by. She had to make sure they were all gone before she started driving again.

"There are so few moments of pure joy in one's life, I feel compelled to savor this one," Oswald grinned happily.

Ed rolled his eyes at Oswald. "You mean gloat?"

"Yes, I do," Oswald answered.

"It was always one of your least attractive qualities, Oswald," Ed stated and the grin on Oswald's face faded. Ed was trying to get to Oswald, but he had the upper hand now and there was nothing Ed could do against it. Things would go according to his and Charlotte's plans. Ed would never again get the better of them.

"It's killing you, isn't it?" Oswald asked.

"What?" Ed asked in return.

"To know that you are not as smart as you think you are," Oswald asked, knowing Ed would get all riled up. "All of that planning to drive me crazy, strip me of everything I had, revealing yourself with a 'ta-da', and shooting both me and Charlotte by the river".

Ed leaned forward on his seat while Oswald put on the hat he had taken from Ed. "That plan was perfect and you know it".

"No, it wasn't," Charlotte laughed amusedly when Ed glared at her. "If the plan was as perfect as you say, you wouldn't have failed as miserably as you did and you wouldn't have found yourself in this predicament".

Oswald laughed too, making Ed narrow his eyes at them. Oswald was having too much fun and decided to piss Ed off even more. "You failed. We are still alive, and you are handcuffed in the back seat. And now you will never be able to correct your mistake".

While Oswald gloated, Ed had managed to slip one hand in between the seat and he searched for something which could help him free himself from the cuffs. The corners of his lips turned up in a smile when he finally got a hold of something, a pin of some sort. "I guess not".

It had been a few minutes since the police cars had stopped passing by and Charlotte decided to continue driving down the road. From time to time, she would look at Ed through the review mirror to see him struggle in his seat. Meanwhile, Oswald hummed a happy tone as he looked through the window.

"Don't you get tired of making the same mistake over and over?" Ed asked with a cocky smile on his lips.

Charlotte and Oswald shared a knowing look. The blonde turned to focus on the road and it was Oswald who spoke back at Ed. "You think we're making a mistake?"

"Instead of killing me when you had the chance, you've decided to feed your ego," Ed stated.

Those words caused Oswald to snort. "You want to talk ego? Riddler?"

"You two will always fail," Ed continued and Oswald smiled. "Because you will always let your base emotions drive you. Hate, anger, fear,... love".

Once again, the smile on Oswald's lips dropped. "Shut up".

"You want to know why I can not love either of you?" Ed asked and Oswald glared at him through the review mirror. Oswald warned him to stop, but Ed did not. Charlotte just kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead with a clenched jaw. "Because you two are spoiled children who throw a tantrum any time they don't get what they want. Especially when what they want doesn't want them back".

Charlotte drove to the side of the road and stopped the car so suddenly that the three of them were thrown forward in their seats. She took out the keys and turned back to face Ed. "Being a bit hypocrite, aren't you, Ed?"

Oswald nodded in agreement and also looked back at Ed. "You're right. We shouldn't have waited. But, unlike you, we are in the position to rectify our mistake". Oswald pulled out the gun he had taken from Ed. "Prepare for one massive tantrum".

Charlotte and Oswald stepped out of the car. Oswald was going to open the door for Ed, but Ed kicked it and Oswald was shoved to the ground, letting the gun fly from his hand. Charlotte hurried to the other side of the car, but Ed grabbed the gun and pointed it at her. She froze and Ed was going to make a move to search her for any weapons.

"I'm not armed, I swear," Charlotte told him. "The cops took away my gun and knife".

Ed smiled, thinking he was victorious and pointed his gun at Oswald.

"No!" Oswald shouted furiously. "That is not possible! It is my turn! It is my turn to kill you!"

"Like I said, you will always fail," Ed repeated. "Because you'll never change".

"Maybe. But at least I know who I am," Oswald told him. The rage in his voice was evident and the vein on his forehead became prominent with each word he spoke. "That day, by the edge of the river, that was the moment you were reborn. And that was a lie! Your entire persona is based on a lie! And there is nothing you can do to change that!"

While Ed was being shouted at, Charlotte noticed the hand holding the gun tremble. However, once Oswald was finished, Ed smiled. "Actually, maybe there is". Ed turned to Charlotte and pointed his gun at her once more. "Get in the car".

Charlotte did as he said and got in the back seat, but made sure she never turned her back to him. Oswald got in beside her and Ed got in the driver's seat. The whole drive was silent this time and it didn't take long for them to arrive at a familiar place. The same pier where Ed had shot them.

It had started to rain again and a few lightning bolts illuminated the cloudy sky every once in a while. Ed opened the door for Charlotte and Oswald to get out and followed close behind as they made their way to the end of the pier.

"Here we are. Again," Ed spoke, looking at the view of the chaotic city. "Wow. I have to tell you, this feels really great".

Charlotte and Oswald turned around to face him. When Oswald spoke he was calm. "Glad I could help".

"Any last words?" Ed asked.

"I'm fine for now," Oswald told him.

"I just wanted to say thank you for making mine and Oswald's friendship stronger," Charlotte said with a small smile on her rosy lips as she looked at Oswald. "I found someone I can count on". Oswald smiled back at her and intertwined his fingers with hers. "I'll tell the rest I want to tell you later, Ed".

Ed was taken aback by their calmness and the way they seemed to think they weren't going to die right then and there. "I beg your pardon?"

"We'll wait," Oswald told.

"I'm going to kill you. There is no later. If you have something to say, now is the time," Ed warned them, growing frustrated.

Oswald nodded in reply. "Duly noted".

"Oh, whatever," Ed shrugged and pointed his gun in between Charlotte and Oswald. "I'm not letting you ruin this for me. You don't have anything to say, but I do. Goodbye, Charlotte. And goodbye, Oswald".

Ed pointed his gun at Oswald first and pulled the trigger, thinking it was finally the time he'd get rid of the Penguin once and for all. However, the gun clicked to show its empty clip. It wasn't like Charlotte and Oswald hadn't expected this outcome, but Ed wasn't so he tried again. Nothing happened, except for the clicking sound of the gun.

At that moment, Charlotte finally revealed the concealed weapon she had taken from the cop back at the GCPD. A Smith & Wesson Model 39.

"You really should have searched me, Ed," Charlotte spoke and Ed gasped when he saw the gun pointed at him. And Charlotte had made sure that one was fully loaded. Not that she was going to shoot Ed. For him, she had something better kept in store.

Oswald took out the bullets from Ed's gun out of his pocket and Ed gasped again. "No".

"Yes," Charlotte smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I actually wanted to give you a chance to not shoot us a second time. But you didn't take it. You had to go and be this predictable".

"I removed the bullets when you were knocked out," Oswald told Ed calmly and then pointed behind Ed. "Right before Charlotte called them".

Ed looked back to see Ivy Pepper and Victor Fries. He gritted his teeth in anger and glared at Victor, who placed his red goggles over his eyes, ready to freeze Ed if Charlotte told him to. He didn't even notice the glare coming from Ed, because his eyes were trained on Charlotte and a small smile appeared on his lips.

Charlotte smiled at him too and then along with Oswald, she traded places with Ed. Only when they faced Ed again did Charlotte and Oswald let go of each other's hands. The gun went back to being pointed at Ed.

"Freeze," Ed growled at Victor.

Victor tore his eyes away from Charlotte to look at Ed. His smile dropped and he stared at Ed with an emotionless expression. "That's Mr. Freeze to you".

Ed gulped and looked at Charlotte and Oswald. "In the backseat, the pin I used to unlock my cuffs?"

"My tiepin," Oswald explained. "I thought it should be personal".

"You were just trying to make me think I had the upper hand," Ed finally understood everything that happened had been meticulously planned.

Oswald chuckled. "It all fell into place".

"How did you know that Barbara would show up at the warehouse?" Ed asked in confusion.

"We didn't," Oswald let out another chuckle in amusement.

"If it wasn't for Barbara, Butch, and Tabitha, Gordon would have turned us to you," Charlotte explained. "But I already had this gun. I stole it from one of the cops at the GCPD. I was planning to shoot you right there. Because of Barbara, you got to live a few more hours".

Ed couldn't believe he had fallen in their trap. "You said you called them after you knocked me out. You knew that I'd bring you here".

"Like I said, predictable," Charlotte repeated.

Oswald left Charlotte's side and stepped closer to Ed. "We know you, Ed. We may be driven by our emotions, but you are driven by something much more predictable: a desperate, compulsive need to complete what you've started in exacting fashion".

"Why didn't you just kill me?" Ed asked, his heart racing inside his chest.

"You were the one time I let love weaken me, and I want you around as a constant reminder to never make that mistake again". Oswald smiled at Ed one last time before he turned his back to him.

Victor saw this as the sign to do what he had been wanting to do since he first heard of what Ed did to Charlotte. He prepared his freezing gun and Ed sent one last look at Charlotte as if begging for her to reconsider. She looked at him emotionlessly and at that moment he knew everything he thought about her was wrong. She held no romantic feelings for him anymore. Charlotte turned her back to him and stopped beside Victor, placing a hand on the cold material of his suit that covered his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, all right!" Ed shouted in a last attempt to save himself. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Charlotte". The blonde looked at the floor for a moment as she heard him speak. "But I need you. Please, don't do this to me... to us. I... I love you".

Charlotte looked back at Ed over her shoulder. "I loved you too".

All hope slipped away from Ed when Charlotte faced Victor again. She sent him a nod and Victor stepped forward.

Ed only had time to hold his hands up in Charlotte and Oswald's direction. "No!" But it was too late and the helium from Victor's gun hit him straight in the chest. The ice spread quickly, leaving Ed completely frozen inside a block of ice.

***

A/N: Only one chapter left before the end of this book! Thank you to everyone who read this far. I love every single one of you <3