Batman: A Maroon in Midnight Blue (Wattpad Edition)

CH 13.2: The Fox and The Coon

The man staring at me scowled, so I scowled back. I wasn't interested in disguising my opinions of him and people like him, and I found myself in one of those rare situations where I could be a bit more honest about my feelings without it jeopardizing my goals. He scowled at me, and I scowled right back, and the two of us sat like that for quite some time.

"Am I under arrest?" He spat out, forcing each word out of him with an intense fury he just barely managed to contain. I saw a twitch in his nostrils, noticed his hands were clenched tightly, and recognized the tell-tale bob of a man's Adam's Apple—he was scared, but he was playing tough. Just as I'd expected.

"Have you done something illegal, Mr. Fox?" I shot back.

"I don't think I should speak any further without my lawyer present. Might I please have use of a phone to contact one?"

I smiled, "I assure you, you will have no need of it, Mr. Fox. You see, everything you say here is protected. You have my word on that."

He shook his head, "Somehow I doubt that, Ms. Waller."

My name was emphasized when he spoke it. Just as in any other context, it carried weight. He shot it at me, hoping that it would cause damage or at least make me recoil. But only a fool is harmed by her own weapon. And I am no fool.

"I am not surprised that you know who I am, Mr. Fox. Afterall, we have some mutual acquaintances, don't we?"

His greying beard wiggled as his face tightened. The eyes behind his large, square glasses narrowed at me suspiciously. The moles on his face jumped in agitation, as if he were preparing a physical assault but trying to hold himself back. There lay the great secret of Mr. Lucius Fox; he portrayed the stoic man in every board meeting, and the friendly mentor when he met with our mutual acquaintance. But the very moment you put him in an uncomfortable situation, it was all over, and Lucius Fox became a man as any other.

"I would reiterate my desire to not speak without my lawyer present." He responded, placing an extra, spitting emphasis on the last two words.

I learned forward in my chair, "That's fine. I'll talk, you listen."

His shoulders sunk a bit, and I took that as reluctant acceptance of my conditions.

"Mr. Fox, I'm concerned that you don't quite understand the position that you're in. You have your finger in quite a few different pots all at once, and I'm beginning to wonder if you can manage them. For years, I've chosen to overlook your work with our mutual acquaintance, for no reason other than both of you were too minor to be concerned with when compared to the grander scope of my offices. And yet, I turn on the news one day and see that you've been behaving irresponsibly."

His eyebrows lifted and his right hand unclenched. I reacted by reaching into my pocket and retrieving a phone. The video was already queued. I pressed play.

Lucius Fox was on the screen, but this one was some days younger than the man sitting before me. He stood in front of a podium embossed with the official seal of Gotham's chapter of the NAACP. His face was smooth and austere, but his fingers twitched slightly as he gripped the edge of the podium. Each word he spoke was flat and uniform, as though passing through a series of checkpoints between his brain and mouth.

"I will say this now and I'll be clear: The tragedy of those riots were a direct consequence of the hero worship towards Minstrel that we've allowed to remain unchecked! I know it's not all of us, I know it's not even most of us, but too damn many in our community validate this individual, and it was these types of people that exacerbated the violence of last night."

Mr. Fox reached across the table to pause the video.

"I fail to see, Ms. Waller, how anything I said during our town hall event would warrant a visit such as this."