Chapter Text
The sound of wailing police sirens were piercing Benrey's ears by the time he was finishing up stopping some goons from stealing materials from a warehouse. They sounded too close for comfort. He was going to get caught.
He has been all over the news as of recently, stories of the police chasing this "bat man" all over Gotham's television screens and newspapers. Well, with sirens that loud, the police are about to get their wish. Benrey can't think straight and make a getaway with all this noise. If the Bat had one weakness, that was it.
After tying up the knocked out criminals, he attempted to go out through the back door to escape, before tripping over a cord and falling flat on his face. He knew one day his heightened senses would come back to bite him in the ass. Dammit. Benrey scrambled back up to his feet, being careful to not trip over the cord again.
That's when the police burst through the door he was trying to run through.
"FREEZE!" an officer barked.
Benrey hurriedly tried to evade the cops, but it was too late. He got shot in the back with non-lethal rounds, and was incapacitated by the time he hit the ground. He tried so hard to resist the sheriff handcuffing him, but it was a fruitless endeavor. At long last... the elusive Batman has been caught.
The car ride to the station wasn't very enjoyable, to say the least. Benrey barely moved in the back seat, let alone talked. The policeman took it as the Bat knowing his rights, but in reality, it was because Benrey was ashamed. He failed. All because of his stupid sensitive hearing.
Sitting alone in the GCPD interrogation room felt like torture. Zero stimulation. The walls were off-white, with grey baseboards and a white tile floor. The table he was sitting at and the chair he was sitting in were both made of steel. And of course, to his left, a huge one-way window. The atmosphere was not friendly at all, though he figured that was the goal anyways.
The grating sound of the handcuffs tied to the chair made him feel like a fork was being shoved into his ear. I only need one person, he thought. One person to come in here and blabber on about something so I can get my mind off of that noise.
His wish came true shortly after. A tall person with a long, curly ponytail, a bit scruffy in appearance, shuffled into the room and leaned over the table Benrey was chained at. They were glaring at him over rimless sunglasses. The Bat could only stare back in silence.
“Do you know how many crimes you’ve been charged with?”
Silence.
The person, who Benrey pieced together was the police commissioner based on the badge on their trench coat, leaned in towards his face. “Answer. Me.”
Benrey made a slight shrug. “I dunno,” he mumbled very quietly. “Prolly a lot based on how close you are to me.” He couldn’t bring himself to be any louder.
The commissioner finally got out of his face, now standing at their full height. “Why don’t I jog your memory for you? Assault, breaking and entering, evading arrest, resisting arrest, property damage…”
The words all started to blend together in Benrey’s mind. He was too dissociated to focus on what the person interrogating him was saying. The shame he felt in the car was starting to return, trickling into the back of his mind. He couldn't help but beat himself up over it again and again. He failed. He failed. He failed.
He got jerked out of his self-deprecating daydream when the commissioner slammed their fist against the table.
“Explain yourself!” The person in the trench coat demanded.
“Those guys, um, needed to be put up. Don't you know? I’m helping you. Tyin’ ‘em up ‘n stuff. Fighting ‘em for you,” The Batman explained under his breath.
“The officers that serve this city go to academies for years,” the sunglassed person scorned. “And you think you can just- what, dress up like a lunatic and run around armed to the teeth!?”
“Well, when you put it like that-”
“What other way could I put it!? A random person, whose identity is unknown to the police, running around an already crime-ridden city, claiming to be ‘serving justice’ to its citizens?” They let out a stressed laugh. “Do you know just how, like, ridiculous that sounds?”
Benrey didn't answer. He knew his rights, though he had probably already screwed himself over by admitting he ties up criminals a little bit ago.
They continued to drill him, asking him many questions about his behavior, what motivated him to go around stopping criminals while dressed as a bat, et cetera, et cetera. But Benrey never answered. The shame was getting too much for him. He froze in a way that left him unable to answer any further questions.
The commissioner sighed. “This interrogation is to be continued another day,” they said. “But you’re staying the night here. You're still in custody.”
The Bat did not move as the person exited the room, waving in other officers to come and escort him to the GCPD building’s holding cell. He did not resist as the officers jostled him around, uncuffing him from the chair he was chained to but still keeping him contained… The reason why?
He was already formulating a plan.