Redacted Riddle |Edward Nygma|

Observer *R*

Ed gazed at me, his face was saturated with puzzlement. He tilted his head sideways, it didn't register with his big brain what I meant. I shook my head, I stifled a sigh. For being a man of high intellect, he was one to miss emotional queues. Why couldn't he just get it?

"Are you implying...?" he stammered.

"It doesn't matter what I may or may not be implying. Right now we have a case to give our undivided attention too".

I could tell he wasn't going to give up that quickly, he was probably calculating the risk of continuing to press me on the matter. Ed knew I could be an unmovable force when I didn't want to talk about something, but he was good at pushing my buttons until I let him in. He bit his cheek and his eyes wandered about the precinct, looking at all of the cops with files on their desk as this they chatted aimlessly about inferior criminals.

"You still haven't answered my question," he said, returning his eyes to mine.

"Which one?"

"What team are you playing for?".

"Why choose? Especially when it leads to both sides failing? It's easier to be alone" I asked.

"You've never been alone," his voice said faintly and rugged.

"I am alone. I'm different from you Ed, and I'm different from them," I said, grazing my thumbnail.

"You may think you are, but you aren't. What has this hellhole ever done for you? Make you cry? Who was there cheering you up after they treated you like nothing? Me. They're just ants working to slow the process of the inevitable, that they will lose this city."

"That's one of the reasons I've helped you" I mumbled.

"Mhm?" he asked.

"You've helped me cut my puppet strings."

He smiled, "No, you're still a doll sitting on the shelf seeping pain. You just need a tiny push to be free."

"Do you think the guy I like is ever going to like me back?" I interjected.

"You and your questions," he paused and looked towards the door, "Bullock will learn to like you".

Why can't he just understand what I meant, I thought.

"Well I'm going to go see if Jim has any news", I said slipping pass Ed towards the hallway; he didn't follow my escape from him as I reached the lobby.

"How is he?" Jim said in a low hushed tone.

I looked in direction of Ed's office, "Obsessed with the thought I like Bullock and still obsessed with Kringle... I'm worried about him Jim..."

"You can't save everyone," Jim retorted placing his hands on his hips, "Trust me I've tried."

"I don't want to save everyone, I just to save him," I knew that was kinda harsh when I said it, but it this cruel world I knew you couldn't save everyone. That some people were just a lost cause.

Jim gave me a weary look. He was pretty tense about Barbara, I knew this wouldn't help much. I mean we all were worried about Barbara, but having someone among us who was possibly dangerous... reasonably worried us more.

"Do you think he's dangerous? Madeline, you probably know him better than he knows himself at the moment."

"I don't know what he's capable of, but I believe deep down he is a good guy... Perhaps just misguided by the disrespect he receives" I said, a tear trying to escape my eye.

"You like Ed don't you?" Jim asked sticking his hand in his pockets.

I gave a stiff nod, "I've actually known Ed... For a while since I began working here. I met him a few months before starting. When I got the job we bonded. Every bad day, I would be in my office crying and he was the only person to come cheer me back up. I don't see why he's so fixated on Kringle, she treats him like dirt and can't even give him half the intellectual conversions he needs."