Through the GCPD's deliberate arrangements, James Gordon was the only one of those arrested who was sent to D Block, where the serious offenders were held.
And the vast majority of the criminals there had been sent in by Gordon over his dozen-plus years as a cop.
Back then, Gordon had been young, hotheaded, and fiercely opposed to evil, disdaining to wallow in corruption with dirty cops. Not only had he boasted the highest case clearance rate among GCPD officers, he had been a formidable fighter, too. After once fighting twelve knife-wielding thugs barehanded in an alley for thirty minutes and emerging completely unscathed, Bullock had dubbed him "Gotham's One-on-One King."
But his record had been so fearsome that Commissioner Locke had nearly transferred him away. Fortunately, newspapers had spread word of his glorious deeds, and the title "Gotham's Star of Justice" had taken root in the public's minds. Upon hearing that Officer Gordon was leaving, furious citizens had attacked the Police Department and nearly burned City Hall to the ground, too.
To soothe the volatile citizens, Locke could only keep him on and repeatedly warn the gangs not to touch Gordon.
Just look-only the strong had the means to overturn the rules of the trade. Had Gordon been even a little weaker, his corpse would long since have been mixed into a block of hardened concrete and sunk to the bottom of the Gotham River.
Now, a full week had passed since Gordon's imprisonment, and that belated ending seemed about to play out at last.
Over those days, Gordon had endured inhuman treatment, including but not limited to being beaten while held by the hair, being forced to clean urinals with his tongue, and being forced to eat food that had been thrown on the floor and trampled.
But