..:ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND CRIME:..

Didi attempted to look through the front window of the car to the best of her ability as her eyes peered through the metal partition that separated the back from the front seat. Her fingers fit through the small openings, with them clutched around the cool, slick surface eagerly. "You know, this doesn't suit me." She said, feeling like a criminal.

In addition, she also felt like a third wheel, as Zenigata and Barnes had been chatting openly about the case since they got back into the vehicle. The latter replayed the events of the evening in his head, with him wondering how a woman of her background, an ordinary civilian, somehow managed to persuade two cops into bringing her along. An amused smirk graced his lips, pondering if this was the same ploy she used to get Zenigata's attention. He looked up at the internal mirror, and saw Didi's intense, beady eyes attentively watching the road. "I'm not so sure of that." He teased, in which she shot daggers at the man in response.

Zenigata looked outside the passenger window, assessing every New Yorker they drove by, with his eyes now peeled looking for a suspect. A lull happened once more in the conversation, in which he attempted to redirect it back to the original subject. "How long have you been assigned to the Benvenuti case?"

"Not as long as you might think," he confessed. "I originally focused my investigation on the drug trafficking and extortion. She had a lot of dangerous friends, all of them potential suspects, and I thought if I could to find her murderer, there would have been a chance of outing more organized crime members and arresting them." He paused as he made a turn, and then continued. "I'll admit there's little evidence pointing to Narciso Gaspar being the culprit, but there's been rumors for years about his character. His rise to success came shortly after her death."

The quiet hum of the motor filled the inside of the car as the individuals inside fell silent again. Didi looked at Barnes softly, and said, "Eh, don't beat yourself up about not knowing who-did-what. Your job's already hard enough, don't make it even harder." She then removed her right hand from the gaps in the partition to rub her chin. "I remember the first time I did a paint job, I was so nervous thinking I was going to mess it up. It came out looking really good, and I even got a nice tip." She smiled nostalgically as she rambled. As he listened to her, Barnes found himself yet again wondering how she got here, but at the same time, he found that he didn't mind her presence.

The car inched closer to the Moura Encantada, with Barnes driving purposefully slow as the crowd of people huddled around the establishment came into view. With the small, unconventional team knowing they were exclusively visiting the locale over a potential investigation, he attempted to be subtle with his approach, alongside being taken aback by the crowd that was drawn in by the promises of free drinks and food. The location was used to seeing foot traffic, but this was something new. The neon lights that proudly presented the name of the club -- which was written in excessive, vainglorious cursive -- became a spotlight for the people that stood below it, a sea of clashing social standings and mixed intentions. The eyes inside the vehicle were focused exclusively on the crowd, until a booming voice sliced through the chatter that came from the potential guests.

"Everyone, everyone!" yelled one of the club's bodyguards as he extended out his large, meaty arms. The event has been canceled under special circumstances that we cannot share at this time. Everyone go home!" The man then braced himself, convinced that someone would try to force themselves into the club.

He was met with a dizzying assortment of responses, ranging from mild disappointment to burning anger. "What about the drinks and food?" "Why did you even bother to advertise?" "This is a scam to drive up business!" "Is something wrong with the club?" "It was open the other day!"

The guard readjusted the collar of his shirt nervously, unsure of what to say or do. His fear came true, as a group of people attempted to shove the man out of the way to reach the closed doors. He pushed back, making many of them stumble, but only one fell. This was misinterpreted as an act of aggression by those who were attempting to reach the door. In the blink of an eye, the disappointed masses had degraded into a riot. Didi audibly gasped as she witnessed this, with her face squished against the metal partition, hungrily watching the action she was struggling to see. Barnes found himself in a similar position to the bodyguard, lost on what their next steps should be given this shocking development. He snapped back to reality when he heard Zenigata undo his seat belt.

"This is going to get ugly fast," he said, with his eyes glued onto the turmoil and his right hand on the car door handle. Barnes attempted to grab the inspector, but the latter bolted out of the car before he had the opportunity to pull him back in. "What the hell do you think you're going to do?" He yelled, but his warnings fell on uninterested ears. Didi looked at Barnes and then asked, "Do you think the inspector can pull a punch?" She grinned, as if she had placed a bet on the man.

Zenigata entered the crowd without an iota of caution, though he managed to dodge the pushing and shoving through stumbling steps. From the highest window of the Moura Encantada, a certain goon watched the violent scene unfold with shocked eyes. Berry turned to look at the rest of the team, who were preparing to move their captives out of the building. He jumped up from his seat and ran towards the tallest of the men, "Boss, you gotta see this." He urgently spoke.

The Bear let out an annoyed, dismissive grunt in response as he watched his other three assailants readjust the ropes that were around Gaspar and Sean's wrists. The former looked at Berry, curious and fearful about the young man's question. "What's going on out there?" He cried out. "It sounds like a mob!"

The gang leader glared at Gaspar before following his hired hand. He looked out the window incuriously, "This is what I wanted." He stated plainly, then tauntingly flicked the brim of Berry's fedora. He directed his attention back onto Gaspar, who continued to fight with the ropes. He stopped suddenly as he felt the Bear's eyes on him. "The police will be too busy attending to the riot, and, if we're lucky, your employees will be a part of that mess." He grinned. "I planted some of my own fellas into the mix to keep up the fighting. Gives the rest of us plenty of time to leave without getting caught."

Despite being kept firmly in place by Bowman, Gaspar attempted to move aggressively. "Do you know what this is going to do for my club? Do you have any respect?" he yelled.

"Shut up!" The Bear roared back, which promptly made the stout kidnappee quiet. The ringleader's ears began to tickle as he heard Berry muttering profanities to himself, with the man turning to face him, only to find his employee standing next to him by the time he had finished.

The words poured out of the hired hand's mouth like spilled, sour milk. "There's a cop car parked down the street. If they haven't seen the fighting yet, they will soon!"

"Shit!" The Bear yelled once again and looked back at his gang, who were all staring at him to begin with, ready to start the next line of action. "Let's get out of here, fast!"

Inspector Zenigata tripped over a stranger's foot, making the man stumble. He managed to break his fall by clinging onto a nearby payphone. He took a moment to catch his break as he looked out at the mob of people, with the fighting still raging on. While he had yet to throw a punch himself, he looked like he had: the right sleeve of his beige trenchcoat had become torn, exposing the dark brown suit jacket underneath. The man then looked at the payphone, with his lips curling into a relieved smile. He huddled himself close to the object as he dug into the pockets of his coat, pulling out a couple of coins as he prepared to make an important call.

Moore was currently looking out one of the many windows that belonged to the 60th Precinct's headquarters, wondering what she was going to report back to the ICPO. She had been told before that, "no news was good news," but yet she couldn't help but to continue worrying about the partnership of Barnes and Zenigata. Suddenly, one of the phones in the office rang, with Foster picking it up. The woman flinched at the loudness of the voice that came from the other line.

"Zenigata?" She asked after realizing who it was, with her sounding more than a little perplexed. "Is everything okay? Where are you?"

Moore looked at the officer with marked concern the moment she heard her say the inspector's name. Foster listened intently before she removed the handset of the phone from her ear, as her puzzled look morphed into one of great worry. Moore rose from her seat and approached her hurriedly. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "But I can say it sounds like your inspector and Barnes are in need of some extra help."

In disbelief, Barnes watched his partner join the angered mass of people, whereas Didi watched the commotion like it was the world's greatest show. "Damn it," The former grumbled loudly as he removed his seatbelt. "That idiot's going to get hurt. I know riots aren't exclusively an American issue." And, with that, he left the car swiftly, completely forgetting his other, more unusual partner in the process.

The younger of the two police officers entered the crowd, moving as carefully as he possibly could, struggling to balance his search for Zenigata alongside his attempt to prevent getting into a fight. He bumped into a man by accident and promptly took a step back from him. The stranger looked at Barnes with a sneer as he cast a shadow over him. There was a devious glint in the eyes of this well-dressed brute that implied he loved the chaos that surrounded him. "Do you think you're just going to walk away from me?" He taunted after observing Barnes' actions.

"No, you're the one that's gonna back off!" said a spunky voice that came behind the cop.

Recognizing the voice, Barnes turned around to find Didi, who was in a spirited, offensive stance with her right fist clenched tightly. Without missing a beat, she threw a punch, hitting the stranger right on the mouth. The man stumbled back in surprise, promptly losing his balance. Unknown to the rest of his team, Inspector Zenigata was nearby, and was starting his call to the 60th Precinct. Through his peripheral vision, he saw the looming figure of the knocked-out man begin to fall, which made him drop the handset of the payphone in order to catch him. Zenigata's arms strained under the weight of the stranger, but because of the fall, it revealed Barnes and Didi. A look of bewilderment seemed to be permanently plastered on Barnes' fine features, while Didi looked around the scene, eager to throw her next punch.

Zenigata looked at them with a broad smile. "I called for backup!" He yelled as loudly as he possibly could, then sat the passed out man near the payphone. "They should be here any minute now!"

Barnes shook his head in an earnest attempt to refresh his senses in the midst of the chaos. He then subtly glared at the inspector, and as he was preparing to share his thoughts, Didi exclaimed, "Look out!" Despite her small stature, she managed to push both of the men out of the way, preventing the small group from being attacked. Unfortunately, this caused the three of them to fall on each other, in addition to them landing close to the paved roads, near the left side of the club.

Zenigata was the first to get back on his feet. He dusted himself off -- though it did nothing to improve his presently tattered appearance -- with the man wondering if he should thank Didi or not after his face met the concrete. As he looked up from his torso, he espied a car near the back end of the Moura Encantada: a spiffy, shiny Black Jaguar MK II. One of his eyebrows rose curiously, immediately wondering why a collector's item would be parked unassumingly in a random location. Detecting movement, his eyes then went to the stairway that was near a vehicle, witnessing a group of people leaving from the upper floor. His brown orbs grew wide as he noticed that some of the men were holding guns. Blinded by his desire to investigate further, he was about to run in their direction, until he heard Didi's voice.

"Hey inspector, is everything okay?" She asked as she helped Barnes up, who groaned after being flattened by his two partners. The woman attempted to look over Zenigata's shoulders, curious about what he was seeing.

The man paused suddenly, with him coming back to reality after hearing her voice. He turned to look at them, with Didi staring back intensely while Barnes rubbed his forehead. He liked the little team he had gained, regardless of how unusual they all were. He then attempted to swallow despite his dry mouth, and answered, "We need to get back to the car. This riot is a distraction from something bigger!"