A rare light shining on the Gotham Police Department.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Rupert Thorne has seen better days.

He took a cluster of shots to the chest from Renee Montoya. He's weary, haggard, bandaged heavily and he's lost a startling amount of weight way too quickly.

His surgery and recuperation have been slow but steady, and the insanity at Blackgate has prevented most of the cops on duty from expediting his prosecution.

Not that it's that much in question. He shot a man in the head in front of witnesses. They've got him, red-handed, on a murder charge.

He's leaning on his elbows on the interrogation room table. Glaring at the mirror and waiting for someone in charge to come face him.

But it's not really a glare of hate or spite.

There's something else in his eyes.

Comments

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

There's a brief moment where he doesn't even respond, before he snaps back to life, leaning back in his chair.

"Always am, Captain Sawyer," he says, attempting the bravado he usually has, but it's quite apparent that it's not there.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

"Mmm hmmm." She continues to leaf through the paperwork. "We're just the first in line, you know. The feds have been barking at the door."

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

He nods to this, clenching his jaw.

"I'm not surprised. Who do they want me to roll over on?"

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

She gives a little chuckle and shakes her head, still going through the papers. "Who've you got?"

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

There's a long moment where Thorne just looks directly into Sawyer's eyes.

A perennial thorn in his side, much like he's been a perennial nightmare for her. For them.

He takes a deep breath, and twitches slightly.

Then, a long-suffering sigh.

So. Fucking. Tired of this.

"You are about to have a very merry Christmas. Get a pen."

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

She dips a hand in her skirt pocket, retrieving a pen, then reaches over and switches on the recorder on the table. "This is Captain Margaret Sawyer...." She rattles off her badge number, the date and time, and the whole rest of the litany, then looks at Thorne. "All right, Mr. Thorne. Go ahead."

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Thorne's lawyer is giving him a very peculiar look, muttering into his ear.

Thorne waves him off and mutters an aside to him. "That's your job."

He clears his throat, eyes still looking bagged and dark.

"This is Rupert Thorne. The best goddamned criminal mastermind this city has ever seen, because I don't have any goddamned tricks, gimmicks or psychoses like every other bastard in this town. I came to power before the Batman and I stayed in power after the Batman."

Another glance to the mirror.

"What I'm about to tell you is every cop's wet dream, and I don't care. I'm old, I'm sick of being shot and this game isn't worth it anymore."

It feels strange for him to even be saying this.

"I was at that funeral home because I was using it as a cover to ship arms from Volcan Domuyo into Gotham City, because this town pays through the nose for guns, thanks to all the goddamned nutjobs. It's not my usual circuit, but... there were extenuating circumstances. The Batman has gone over the edge, and he's joined the ranks of the psychos."

"I'm going to tell you everything, things you'll be able to verify and prove, so I can get you people to understand why I shot that man. Everything from arms suppliers to warehouses to that Alcana joint I had torched twenty years ago."

Another glance to the mirror. Certain she's watching. Not caring about the concession.

"The Bat made me do it, and if I'm going down, he's going down with me."

[det-montoya.livejournal.com]

Her eyes narrow. She wants into that room something bad. She inches closer to the glass, her posture insignificantly changed.

There's more. Let's have it, shit.

[sonia-alcana.livejournal.com]

No fucking way. He's talking?

He's talking. Confessing.

Sonia inhales sharply upon hearing her name. She probably couldn't move if she wanted to.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

He talks.

For two hours. In incredible detail. Perhaps amazing what he can recall in all of his time, but once he's on this roll, he's not stopping for anything.

Murders. Kidnappings. Torture. Extortions. Assault. Conspiracy. Fraud. Tax evasion. Protection rackets.

He looks sharply into the mirror when he gets there.

"The Alcana joint. It was business as usual. Nothing more, nothing less."

[sonia-alcana.livejournal.com]

Sonia's arms fold across her chest.

Business as usual. Son of a bitch.

So many lives ruined by the bastard's hunger for power.

The fact that her family was just a drop in the bucket doesn't make it any easier to stomach.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Thorne continues unabated.

"You got plenty now. I let you have all that so I could tell you this. Batman has been harassing me, non-stop, for months now. Invading my home, stalking me like a serial killer. Robbing me, sweating me, relentless. I see the son of a bitch at the supermarket, the drive-thru... everywhere. Threatening me, saying he's out to GET me - you SAW him there! He was strangling my men!"

He looks Sawyer right in the eye.

"I'm telling you, that guy has been crazy since Year One, but he's lost it. He told me if I DIDN'T shoot that man he was strangling, he was gonna kill us BOTH!"

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

"Batman," Captain Sawyer says flatly.

Sometimes she really misses Metropolis. Big Blue doesn't try to kill people, and anyone who says so is probably a signal 16.

Batman ... all the native Gothamites she knows insist he doesn't kill, but they don't love him the way those in the Big Apricot love Superman. Batman isn't about love. He's about fear.

So can she see him stepping over the line? Hell, yeah.

Not that she's going to take this hump's word for it.

"Batman, huh?" she says more skeptically. "How do I know you just haven't been fooled by someone who doesn't realize Halloween was months ago?"

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Thorne's eyes narrow.

"You think I'm just some chump rolled in off the turnip truck? You think I don't know the goddamned BATMAN when I see him? The fruitcake has finally LOST it. Mark my goddamned words!"

[det-montoya.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head, not knowing what to think. Batman doesn't go rogue. It just doesn't happen. So what the hell did she see?