"People think that if you love somebody hard enough then everything is just gonna work out. People are wrong."

- Nathan Scott, 'One Tree Hill'

Somewhere in Gotham, Charlotte, Ivy, Oswald and Selina Kyle were at a safe house. Oswald was furious and paced around a room as he broke everything he found in his way. Charlotte understood why he was feeling so angry. After they were kidnapped by the Court, Bridgit and Victor had left, thinking they wouldn't come back.

Ivy, however, had stayed and Charlotte asked her to call her friend Selina who was also friends with Bridgit. Maybe she could help them find her. When Selina arrived she just kept staring at Oswald with an apprehensive look as he shattered everything he could.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was making coffee lattes and hot cocoa for everyone and even added a few drawing on top since she had nothing else to do. For Ivy, she drew a plant with a heart on top; for Selina, a cat, because it was the animal Selina reminded her off; and for Oswald, a penguin.

"What's he so angry about?" Selina asked.

"Oh, we hunted down these freaks to help him and Charlotte destroy Nygma and Barbara," Ivy explained as Oswald shattered a lamp into a million pieces on the next room. "We got this Freeze guy and your pal Bridgit, who does the... the fire thing".

"Wait, you found Bridgit?" Selina asked, sitting straight on the couch with her green eyes wide. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," Ivy frowned. "Charley and Pengy disappeared the other day, and she and Freeze figured they weren't coming back, so they split".

Charlotte was sad Bridgit and Victor had left after their disappearance, especially Victor. He was the first man she had been remotely interested in after she and Ed broke up. Hopefully, Selina could help find both of them.

The blonde took the newly made lattes and cocoa to the living room and placed them all on the coffee table.

"Aw," Ivy smiled as she looked at the drawing on top. I smiled back at her and gave her the latte with the plant and the heart.

Selina took the hot cocoa in her hands and smiled slightly when she saw the cat, but quickly returned to her emotionless expression. She smelled her drink and took a few sips at the edge of the cup to avoid destroying the cat.

With Oswald, it was hard to even reach him and when Charlotte did so he almost hit her in the head with a vase. He was so furious he saw nothing but red. Charlotte grabbed his hand while managing not to spill the latte all over the floor.

"Calm down, Oswald. It's just me," Charlotte spoke calmly and Oswald seemed to relax a bit. She passed him the beverage. "Drink this. It will make you feel better".

He took the cup in his hand and glanced between the penguin and Charlotte before sipping on the drink. He made a face at how hot it was but then gulped the rest of it down in just a couple of minutes. Charlotte smiled at him and sat down beside Ivy sipping on her cocoa, which had a heart drawn on top.

"Can you find her?" Oswald asked Selina after placing the cup down on the coffee table.

"Why?" Selina asked back.

"There is a war coming between me and Charlotte, Ed Nygma, and Barbara Kean," Oswald explained. "We need our army".

"What's in it for me?" Selina asked making Charlotte scoff. She remembered well when Selina helped Jim Gordon catch her and Ed. She only allowed Selina's presence because of Ivy who seemed to think all of them could become best friends forever.

Oswald knew Selina was asking for money so he smiled fakely at her. "My gratitude".

Selina smiled back just as fakely but then sighed. "Fine".

"And find Victor Fries since you're at it," Charlotte told Selina.

Selina smiled again and extended her gloved hand at Charlotte. "That's a hundred bucks extra".

Charlotte glared at the girl, but then a bang on the door, caused all of them to stand up and look at the hallway. Ivy skipped towards it and peeked at the door only to see someone was forcing their entry. She turned at her friends with wide eyes. "Uh, you guys, we got company. Not the good kind".

"Ivy, let's go," Selina commanded as she walked fast towards the back door.

"Well, I can't leave Charlotte and Penguin," Ivy said.

Selina threw her hands up in frustration. "Oh, suit yourself". Then she left the house as fast as she could.

"You do have a way out, right?" Ivy asked Charlotte and Oswald with a scared look on her face.

"Of course. This is a safe house," Oswald told her.

Suddenly a loud bang was heard and the door opened. "Oswald! Charlotte!" Screamed a familiar voice from the hallway and Ivy hurried herself to hide being her friends. Charlotte stepped ahead of them protectively.

Ed stepped into the room with his green suit on, his dark green coat and a black hat on top of his head. His gun was raised and he spotted Charlotte and Oswald in the living room. Charlotte stood ahead of them and stared at him defiantly. The Riddler walked up to her with a smile on his lips and placed the muzzle of the gun against her forehead.

"You shouldn't have come here," Charlotte stated emotionlessly, her head held high.

"No army of monsters, huh?" Ed chuckled victoriously, completely ignoring her previous statement. "Such a shame".

Butch advanced with a thirst for revenge shining in his eyes and pointed his machine gun at Oswald. "You want to kill 'em, or can I?"

"Wait," Ed grabbed Butch's gun and looked around the house, holding his own gun away from Charlotte. "Something's wrong". He looked at Charlotte and Oswald and saw how calm they were.

"Oh, Ed," Oswald mocked as he took a small remote control from his pocket. "So smart". Oswald clicked on the only button at the remote control and metal boards rolled down on all windows, engulfing the room in darkness. A red light turned on and an alarm started blaring. This gave the perfect opportunity for Charlotte, Ivy, and Oswald to escape through a secret door behind a shelf.

When Butch and Ed finally realized where the three had gone, it was already too late and the shelf had moved back into place. Butch tried moving it, but it was no use.

***

Once again, Charlotte and Oswald escaped to another safe house. There was nowhere else to go. This one was old and the roof had already started to collapse, so they sought refuge in the greenhouse beside the house.

Ivy wondered from plant to plant, making sure all of them were taken care of. Charlotte and Oswald sat in two armchairs at the other end of the greenhouse. Oswald had taken a bottle of some random alcoholic drink and both of them were drinking cup after cup.

"In the old days, loyalty meant something," Oswald said after gulping down the drink at once. "Don Falcone, Maroni, even Fish. They had their faults, but they lived by codes. Ed Nygma, Barbara Kean they wouldn't even be allowed to sit at the same table as Don Falcone. And yet, here I am, forced to demean myself to do battle with them".

"Yeah, people are dumb," Ivy stated, not taking her eyes from the plant she was taking care of. "Plants are better. You can trust them".

Charlotte put down her empty glass and saw Oswald was ready to pour more alcohol into his cup. The blonde grabbed the bottle and took it from his hands, doing the same with his glass. Oswald wasn't very happy about it and glared at her.

"I think we already drank too much, Oswald," Charlotte said and sat back on her armchair with a sigh.

Oswald sighed too. "I have no more safe houses. No monsters. I will not run from Ed Nygma!"

"Well, actually, you have one monster," Ivy suddenly blurted out.

"What?" Oswald asked in confusion.

Ivy smiled as she turned to face them. "Selina called. She found Bridgit. She's gonna bring her by". Ivy left both Charlotte and Oswald surprised since they were expecting no help from the cat-like thief.

"Did she say anything about Victor?" Charlotte asked hopefully.

"Nah, she only mentioned Bridgit," Ivy told her much to Charlotte's disappointment.

"You're joking. That's-" Oswald stood up and smiled in relief, but then a thought passed across his head and the smile faded. "Wait. Why is Selina suddenly helping us?"

Ivy shrugged. "I don't know. She was acting kind of weird. Asking where we were, did we have guns. I was like, 'we're all alone, duh'".

Charlotte took a hand to her mouth as she heard Ivy speak. "Oh, that can't be good".

Oswald's eyes widened like saucers and his face turned red with how furious he was. "You idiot! It was a setup!"

"No. No way. Selina would never do that," Ivy hurried to defend her friend, but then she thought better. "Well, unless they offered her money". Oswald threw his hands up in desperation, feeling like he could pass out right then and there.

Then as if on cue, there was a noise of a door opening and shutting. It didn't take long for Ed to walk into their line of sight with Barbara, Butch, and Tabitha right behind him.

"Hello again," Ed greeted Charlotte and Oswald.

"Ed," Charlotte spoke and Ed looked at her, clenching his teeth. He had liked how she had said Riddler on the other night and now she went back to call him Ed.

"You must be very proud of yourself, Ed, thinking you outsmarted us," Oswald said, making emphasis on the name 'Ed' just to piss him off.

Ed looked away from Charlotte and pointed his gun at Oswald's chest. "Well, frankly, it wasn't really a challenge. Now, you're gonna do one thing before you die. Call me the Riddler".

Oswald looked down at the gun and then back up at Ed with a defiant and fearless expression. "No".

"You have a choice, Oswald," Ed warned, starting to grow frustrated that Oswald never called him the Riddler. "This can happen real quick or it can take hours. Days. It will be-"

"I'll take option B, Ed," Oswald defied. "Since saying that ridiculous name would be torture itself".

"Very well," Ed nodded. All of a sudden, he took a step back, but brought Charlotte along with him and pressed her back against his chest. The muzzle of Ed's gun was pointed at her head and he glared at Oswald, who had his eyes wide open. He thought Ed would be torturing him, not use Charlotte against him. "Slow and painful it shall be".

Barbara frowned and stepped beside Ed. "Uh, hello? Do I get no say in all this?"

"See how it feels?" Tabitha asked her with anger and disappointment flashing in her dark brown eyes. Barbara glared at her and Tabitha glared right back.

A noise of car doors opening and shutting caught the attention of Butch, Charlotte, and Ivy. Who else could be coming to join them?

"Guys, you hear something?" Butch asked apprehensively.

More noise came from outside and Barbara looked between Charlotte and Oswald seeking for an explanation for what was to come. "This is a trap?"

"No, not exactly," a sudden female voice said from the entrance of the greenhouse. Everyone turned to the door again and Barbara pointed her gun at the woman who had just waltzed in with two henchmen on either side holding machine guns. She had a familiar face and everyone's jaw dropped as soon as they saw her.

"Fish," Oswald asked in shock. Charlotte was also shocked by the woman's sudden appearance.

Barbara pointed her gun up and Ed continued pointing his gun at Charlotte's head, completely frozen on his spot. Ed didn't seem so confident now in front of Fish Mooney.

Fish wore a long black, purple, and red coat that reached her feet and had purple and red fur. Her eyes were unique, one was green and the other was electric blue. Her hair was black with red highlights.

"Hello, Oswald," she greeted, appearing to be in a great mood. She pointed at everyone in front of her with a smile. "Now, see that there? That's a look of respect. Or is it fear?" When she asked the last question she looked at Butch, who had once worked for her and been her right arm.

Butch was smiling at her, happy to see her again. "Hi-ya, Fish. How you been?"

"Well, let's see," Fish said thoughtfully as she walked farther into the room, glaring at Oswald as she did so. "I was alive and then I was dead. And then I was alive. Things are looking up". Fish stopped right in front of Oswald and looked at everyone in the greenhouse. "My, my, my. Now, this is quite a gathering. You have to love Gotham. People always pointing guns at each other".

"Why are you here?" Oswald asked.

"You shall see," she answered slowly. Then she turned to Ed. "And as for you, whoever you may be, please excuse us". She looked back at Oswald and caressed his cheek, causing him to flinch at her touch. "My little penguin and I will be leaving". Fish grabbed Oswald's arm and dragged him towards the exit. When she reached the corner, she turned back to address everyone else. "Please, carry on".

Charlotte wanted to stop her, but she knew her two henchmen would gun her down as soon as she spoke a word against Fish. The blonde could only watch as her best friend was taken out of the greenhouse.

"Woman always knew how to make an entrance," Butch spoke, looking prideful after Fish.

It took Ed a while to recover from the shock and he looked at Charlotte in his arms. "Now what shall I do with you?"

Tabitha stepped in front of them and held on tightly to her whip. "How about we kill her? I can take care of that".

Ed glared at her. "Don't be stupid. We'll bring Charlotte with us". Tabitha scoffed as she glared between the two.

Ivy was growing more and more worried with her friend and finally gathered enough courage to step forward and defend Charlotte. "Let go of her, you jackass!"

Ed looked over at Ivy as if he had just noticed her presence for the first time. He thought she had to be the 'Ivy' girl the thief had been talking about. They had interrogated Selina Kyle and used her to discover the location of Charlotte and Oswald. Selina had obviously asked for money in return and also asked that nothing happened to Ivy.

"You're lucky that little friend of yours told us to spare you," Ed told her, but then he remembered she had insulted him, so why should he just let her go unscathed. "But then again why should I care?"

Charlotte's eyes widened when she saw Ed take his gun away from her head and point it at Ivy. She had to take his attention away from the redhead.

"Riddler!" Ed froze and looked at Charlotte, who was already looking at him. "I'll go with you, but leave her alone. Please".

Ed looked from Charlotte to Ivy and then to Charlotte again. "Fine".

"Charley, no!" Ivy exclaimed, but Butch pointed his gun at her and she took a step back after letting out a small yelp in fear.

Ed smiled and dragged Charlotte out of the room. Barbara followed after them and only then did Butch and Tabitha left the greenhouse, sharing a look that screamed how much they hated Ed.

***

A/N: @sugarsweet800 has made an edit for this story! Thank you so much for doing this <3