Wilson swore as he hauled Maxie Zeus into the Interrogation Room in handcuffs. When he came back out, he was still scrubbing his face with his sleeve.
"Fuck, that stink soaked into my body armor!"
He shouted at the colleagues watching from the hallway, "Which of you will swap shifts with me tonight? Please, I'm begging you. I need to go home and shower."
Nobody answered. They all pinched their noses and backed away.
Maxie Zeus was a fairly burly man wrapped in a filthy white robe, leaning on a rust-covered steel pipe as though it were a scepter. He held his head high, his gaze passing over everyone as if he were inspecting an invisible army.
Li Jie leaned against the Interrogation Room's doorframe, watching him with his arms folded.
"Uh... Mr. Zeus."
He ventured a question. "You... accepted a commission to assassinate Mr. Cobblepot at City Hall?"
Maxie slowly turned his head. His eyes held none of the usual panic or cunning of a criminal, only an almost sacred fervor.
"Assassinate?" His voice was hoarse but booming. "No, Sheriff. That was a purification."
"Purification?" Li Jie repeated in confusion.
"Cobblepot," Maxie declared solemnly, "represents the rotten old order. Money, power, filthy deals... His existence contaminates Gotham's soil. My mission is to bring that soil new life."
"With your... uh... holy relics?" Li Jie reminded himself that he had professional training and tried to keep his expression from cracking.
"Exactly!"
Light blazed in Maxie's eyes. "Through ascetic practice and meditation, my body has become a sacred vessel. My excrement contains the energy to transform barren land and cleanse corruption. Those three warriors went to perform his preliminary purification. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the core."
Li Jie took a deep breath, feeling that he had moved another step closer