Ethan sat in the interview room occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall which ticked forward slowly; several hours had passed since his conversation with Detective Harper and now he waited for the social worker whom the police had contacted to arrive, and escort him to temporary accommodations that the system provided for minors in his situation.
Ethan shifted in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
He sighed.
This development annoyed him in a way that he could feel building inside of him, it made him tap his fingers on the table surface with a rhythm that matched his growing frustration.
The requirement to involve child services complicated his plans which he had laid out so carefully and it forced him into a position where he depended on others for his immediate movements.
However, that inconvenience would not last indefinitely, his birthday fell in a few months.
Once that day arrived and he turned eighteen, he would gain the legal freedom to choose his own residence without interference from authorities or guardians who no longer applied to him.
Ethan leaned back in the chair where the backrest pressed against his spine and he allowed his mind to wander toward the sequence of events that had led him to this room.
He was annoyed with himself.
The fact that he had overlooked the possibility that Iron Row might have connected him to the death of Creedence Upshaw was an amateur move.
In his planning which he had executed almost perfectly, he had accounted for police investigations and potential witnesses but he had not fully considered the internal networks within the gang that could trace actions back to him.
This oversight gnawed at him.
The annoyance shifted gradually from self-directed criticism to a broader resentment toward Iron Row as a whole; he felt a surge of ideas forming in his mind on how he could dismantle the organization entirely.
He needed to preserve his anonymity which he valued above all other considerations.
So he could not allow the gang to expose his activities to the public or the authorities in a way that compromised his position.
If the situation demanded that he eliminate every member of Iron Row whom he identified as a threat, then he would pursue that course without hesitation.
Ethan’s line of thinking broke suddenly when he noticed the camera in the corner of the room, he observed that the red light which indicated recording had turned off.
He raised one eyebrow in response to the change and moved his hands under the table where they rested out of sight.
With a subtle motion he palmed a shard of glass from his sleeve which he had concealed there earlier as a precaution.
He heard the door handle make a sound, then it turned with a click before the door swung open inward.
A large man with a hat and a trench coat walked inside, Ethan immediately recognised him as Detective Harvey Bullock.
The man walked inside the room and closed the door behind him with a firm push.
Harvey looked at Ethan who remained seated at the table, he greeted him with a nod, “Hey, kid, you remember me?” He asked.
Ethan returned the greeting, “Yes, I do remember you, Detective Bullock, it was you who interviewed me at Gotham Academy,” he replied.
Harvey nodded in acknowledgment as he stepped further into the room and pulled out the chair across from Ethan before he sat down in it.
He leaned forward slightly with his elbows on the table, “I’m sorry about what happened to your parents, you have my condolences for the loss,” he said with a sympathetic look.
“Thank you for that, Detective,” Ethan said giving him a small fake smile.
Harvey adjusted his position in the chair which creaked under his movement, “This whole ordeal has been pretty crazy for everyone involved…
and to be honest with you I can’t help but find itstrange that a whole hit squad would go after a couple of people who used drugs.”
He paused for a moment before he added, “They must have owed a lot of money to Iron Row for that kind of response.”
Ethan shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner, “I wouldn’t know about the details, Detective, and I tried to stay away from that part of their lives.”
Harvey smiled in response though the expression held no genuine warmth, “Of course, that was a smart decision on your part, I wouldn’t expect anything less from a student at Gotham Academy who knows how to handle himself.”
they weren’t there for your parents at all.”
Ethan maintained his composure, he feigned confusion in his expression, “What do you mean by that, Detective?”
Harvey grinned though the gesture carried no humor in it, he reached into his coat pocket where he pulled out a file that he placed on the table.
He pushed the file forward toward Ethan and he opened it to reveal a photograph inside when he said, “Do you know who this man is?”
Ethan looked at the picture which depicted Creedence Upshaw and recognized the face immediately from the encounter he had, “It looks like the same guy you showed me at Gotham Academy, I believe his name is Creedence?”
Harvey tapped the photograph with one finger as he explained, “Correct.
He’s a member of Iron Row who held a high position in their operations, as you know it was his murder that we were investigating at the time.”
Ethan tilted his head slightly, “I don’t see how this relates to the murder of my family, Detective.”
Harvey laughed in a way that filled the room briefly and leaned back in the chair, “I don’t know if you were made aware during the initial interviews, but the reason we focused on Gotham Academy was that we found a ripped piece of blazer at the scene of the crime.”
Ethan nodded along with the explanation as he listened without interrupting.
Harvey leaned forward again with his eyes fixed on Ethan, “Now, do you want to know what I think happened?”
Ethan didn’t reply verbally and just stared at Harvey across the table.
Harvey continued without waiting for a response, “I think that you killed Creedence Upshaw, and I think Iron Row found out about it, and I think while you were trying to divert the police from your trail with that bombing and the kidnapping of my partner, you walked right into their trap which led to this attack.”
Ethan squeezed his fists beneath the table where they remained hidden from view, but he kept his face calm, “That’s quite the theory, Detective, but it seems rather circumstantial and very unlikely to me, that piece of blazer could have come from any student at the academy.” He added after a brief pause, “It’s much more likely that a couple of degenerates who struggled with addiction failed to pay their debts and faced the consequences from their dealers.”
Harvey raised eyebrow, “That’s pretty heartless of you to say that about your own parents, kid.”
Ethan shrugged again, “I’m sure you know better than most people that my parents weren’t really parents to me in the way that term implies.”
Harvey hummed.
“That could be the case,” he said while stroking his chin.
Harvey suddenly stood up and threw the table across the room where it crashed against the wall.
He grabbed Ethan by the collar with both hands and slammed him into the wall behind them, “Alright, you little psycho, you might convince everyone else with your act, but you can’t trick me for a second,” he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.
He pressed closer with his face inches from Ethan’s, “I know it’s been you behind everything, the murder, the bombings, now you better fucking tell me where my partner is right now!
What have you done with her!?”
Ethan pretended to struggle in Harvey’s grasp as he twisted his body slightly, “Did something happen to your partner, Detective?
You have my cond—”
Harvey slammed his fist into Ethan’s face which cut off the words midsentence, “I’m not playing around with you, you little fuck, if you don’t start talking right now, I’ll make sure you regret every lie you’ve ever told.”
He tightened his grip on the collar, “I’ve broken tougher people than you who thought they could outsmart me, I’ll fucking make you wish you were dead.”
Ethan however didn’t say a thing in response, he just faintly smiled at Harvey despite the pain from the blow.
Harvey punched him again with force that snapped Ethan’s head to the side and then again before he threw him to the ground where Ethan landed on the floor.
Harvey stood over him, “It doesn’t matter if you stay silent now, kid, I may not have been able to catch you out with the blazer the first time around, but you’re fucked now.”
“The tailor that Gotham Academy uses keeps a digital record of all their uniforms, meaning I just need to bring in the blazer piece and I can connect you directly to the scene of the crime through the serial numbers or whatever they track.”
There was a slight shift in the air when Harvey said that.
For the first time since their conversation started, Ethan let his mask drop completely and Harvey faced the presence of someone who showed no emotion, no guilt and no problem slitting his throat right there and then.
Ethan stood up from the floor where he had fallen and looked around the room where he saw that the cameras remained off.
He then approached Harvey slowly with steps that closed the distance between them.
“Do you want to end up the same way as Renee, Detective?”
“You Fucking—” Harvey swung his fist toward Ethan again, only he didn’t get a chance to connect as Ethan slammed his own fist into the man’s stomach which doubled him over.
Ethan followed with a kick to the side of Harvey’s knee that buckled the joint and sent him staggering.
Ethan sighed as he stepped back slightly, “I apologize, Detective, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it seems you’ve enraged me beyond my capacity for logical thought…
but in all fairness it’s been a tough night, I just keep being reminded of my mistakes.”
Harvey reached for his gun which holstered at his side, only for Ethan to kick it out of his hand where it skidded across the floor.
Ethan then grabbed the detective by the neck with one hand and he lifted him off the ground and into the air with strength that surprised even himself in the moment.
“You ever have a really bad day, Detective?” He threw Harvey back into the wall where the impact echoed in the room and he dusted off his hands afterward.
Ethan walked over to Harvey who slumped against the wall, he checked him over carefully with probing touches.
Ethan noted the condition od the man and nodded, “Good, no broken bones from what I can tell, and very little bruising on you, meanwhile I have a bloody nose and a black eye from your actions.”
“So while we could cause a scene and bring this in front of the commissioner, I doubt it would end well for you in the review that follows.”
Harvey growled at him from the floor and shoved Ethan back with one hand as he pushed himself to his feet though with a little difficulty from the pain in his knee.
He stood up fully and glared at the younger man, “I’ll catch you eventually, kid, that’s a promise I make to you right here.”
Ethan smirked slightly in response but he didn’t say anything further and just sat down in the chair again while he watched Harvey exit the room through the door which he slammed shut behind him.
Ethan remained seated in the chair after the door slammed shut, and closed his eyes for several seconds.
He forced his breathing to slow into a regular pattern.
He unclenched his fists one finger at a time until the tension left his hands completely, he rested his palms flat on his thighs while he regained the calm state that he preferred.
The confrontation had escalated faster than he had expected; the fact that a single detective had pieced together so many elements of his activities disturbed him in a way that he rarely felt.
There should have been no logical path for Harvey to reach the conclusions that he had just stated aloud, yet the man had walked into the room and came uncomfortably close to the truth.
‘Damn it,’ he thought to himself with a quiet exhale that barely moved the air in the room.
One more person now stood in his way, and that person happened to be a detective who refused to let go of the threads he had grasped.
In the end, though, the obstacle remained inconsequential when he measured Harvey against his own capabilities.
Several methods already formed in his mind for removing the problem permanently, and one of those methods involved arranging a reunion between Harvey and Renee Montoya that would serve multiple purposes at once.
The corner of his mouth to lift slightly at the thought before he smoothed his expression again.
(AN: Ethan has spent his entire life with only logic and reason to guide him, because of this he is incredibly vulnerable to the emotions he is now starting to feel.
Honestly id say they were his biggest weakness.
The biggest mistakes are made based on the emotions.
Support if ya want.