Batman: Genesis

Chapter Seventeen - Interrogation

[Jim]

Jim sat across the table from a rough-looking man who was handcuffed to his chair. On the table in front of the man was the mask he had been wearing when he had shot the guy on 25th street. Behind Jim stood Harvey, who was glaring at the man.

"I'm only going to ask you this one more time," said Jim. "Who are you?"

"I'm only going to tell you one more time," replied the man. "Eat dirt."

Jim leaned back in his chair and sighed. "So you're going to be stubborn, huh. That's fine. We'll figure out your name eventually. Until then, the Batman has informed us that you're part of the Black Mask's team. What does that mean?"

"If I were you, I'd be interrogating Batman instead of me," said the man.

"We'll see about that for ourselves, but apparently at GCPD we focus on one case at a time. Besides, he's not the one who just shot a man in an alleyway. So for now it's your turn to talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

Harvey leaned in. "Look here, you sorry excuse for a--"

"Harvey," Jim said, "I can handle it."

Harvey leaned back, though he didn't look happy about it.

"So it's obvious you're not going to tell me anything I don't know," Jim told the man. "So let me tell you what I do know. This is Gotham, and shooting a man isn't a crime that will keep you locked up for too long, especially if you don't actually kill the man."

"Wait, he's not dead?"

"No," Jim answered. "But as I was saying, injuring one man with a bullet won't keep you held up."

"You're right," snarled the man. "I'll be out in no time."

"Let me tell you what else I know, though. Two other men were shot recently in alleyways. I looked into it, and the suspect who shot those men also wore a mask. And coincidentally, they used the same exact gun. So whereas shooting one man won't do the trick, killing two men will definitely keep you in the slammer for at least a life sentence."

Harvey cleared his throat like he wanted to interject, but Jim put his hand up to silence his partner.

The man in front of Jim shifted uncomfortably. "Those men were killed by people wearing masks, but I didn't kill them."

"Multiple people wearing masks and killing people?" Jim asked. "That seems unlikely, and I doubt it will hold up well in court."

The man sighed. "It's like that Batman said. We're part of Black Mask's team. We call ourselves the False Face Society."

"That's pretty," Harvey said.

"Give us names," Jim ordered.

The man shook his head. "No way. You can question me all you like, heck you can even torture me, but you won't get anything."

"You can go free," Jim said.

"What?" Harvey spluttered. "Jim, you can't..."

"You can walk out of here free," Jim repeated. "Just give us names and locations."

--

Jim walked out of the interrogation room, with Harvey close on his heels.

"What just happened in there?!" Harvey exclaimed as soon as the door was closed.

Jim turned to Harvey calmly. "I remembered what you said about me being in Gotham now. This city doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else. I figured that the only way I'll be successful here is to go off the books a little."

"So... what?" Harvey asked. "That means letting criminals go loose?"

"For now, yes," Jim replied. "It was either keep him and let the rest of Black Mask's team roam free or let him go and get the drop of the rest of them. We'll arrest him again, especially now that we know where Black Mask is going to be."

"Okay," said Harvey, "but how did you know that he even had a team, and how did you know that they were the ones that killed Diaz and Johnson?"

Jim shrugged. "Educated guess. I didn't really, but if the man in there thought I did, he wouldn't have any reason to tell me otherwise. Especially when I gave him the perfect chance to put the blame on someone else. Turns out I was right. They're the False Face Society, and they actually were the ones who killed Diaz and Johnson. I knew those cases were related."

Harvey couldn't help but look impressed. "Maybe I misjudged you, Gordon. Maybe you are a fit for Gotham after all. I didn't know you had it in you to go off-book."

"It was necessary in this situation," Jim said.

"So, what's next then?" Harvey asked.

"We confront Black Mask and his goonies," Jim said, "at Wayne Manor."