THE MOMENT
"I am an immortal warrior and that book disgraced my fallen comrades...," the suspect, caught in the act, sat at a table in the interrogation room handcuffed to it.
"You're just gonna open with 'immortality' huh?" Detective Carter chuckled; but, that was the extent of his reaction. The suspect had already started talking, so it was in his best interest to let the man hang himself.
"I can prove it," the man said he wiggled his hand to attract the Detective's attention, then in one forceful move, he yanked his hand out, leaving some of his skin behind. To his credit, Detective Carter barely reacted. He watched intently as the suspect held his hand up to show off the healing process. "See? Immortal," the man dropped his hands to the table and made a token effort to hold on to the cuffs as a show of compliance.
"Fantastic, thanks for establishing that," Detective Carter grinned and stood up. "I'll need to escalate this to our esoteric consultants," he smiled as he headed toward the door.
"Wait, what do you mean? I'm IMMORTAL!" he said. "Don't you want to make a deal or something to study me?" It wasn't necessarily that he wanted to be a lab rat. But, he had started the fire based on a whole host of assumptions, none of which had come true yet. He was convinced he was going to blow their feeble minds and yet, he was the one sitting there with questions.
"I want to go clock out and go home. Thanks to your immortality, I can do that now, have a nice evening," the detective waved as he walked out the door. The arsonist sat alone with his immortality for almost 10 minutes before someone else came in. He could have left at any time, if he wanted to. But, he was curious to see what exactly an esoteric consultant was or what they would tell him. Finally, the door opened and a lanky teenager in a black suit walked in with a black briefcase. He had neat brown hair and sat down in front of the criminal with a warm smile.
"Hi, Mr. Brad Trimble, my name's Alvin," he said. "You're claiming you burned those books, creating a dangerous scene and damaging property that wasn't your own because it disgraced your fallen comrades, is that right?"
"That's right," Brad nodded. "I'm immortal. I already proved it to the other guy," he nodded at the chunk of bloody skin still resting on the table. "I can prove it to you too if you want." But, Alvin shook his head.
"Whether or not you're immortal is irrelevant to the property damage," the teen said. He turned to open the briefcase but did not pull anything out. "Although, your reasoning is suspect."
"I'm telling you I'm immortal!" Brad went on the defensive. His plan had already failed at some point; but, he wasn't sure where. His goal was to make his immortality known, and this was the first plan he came up with. In his mind, he should've already been on his way to meet the president ready to discuss some sort of super-soldier program. But, Alvin smiled.
"And, I'm telling you it doesn't matter if you are. What were your friend's names?" he asked.
"Huh?"
"The ones disgraced in the book? Can you name one of your 'friends' mentioned?" he asked as he reached into the briefcase and pulled out a copy of the book. Brad recognized the cover even if he couldn't have guessed the title.
"I don't have to answer you!" Brad said.
"That's true, you don't," Alvin nodded. "Though, it is rather strange that you caused a ruckus based on the 'disgrace' of your comrades; but, you won't honor them by giving me even one of their names."
"I don't have to explain my friendship to you!" he said.
"That's also true," Alvin nodded. "So, if you're not going to answer any questions let me tell you where we are now. You're being charged with reckless endangerment, property damage, and public nuisance. And, on a personal note, I don't believe for a second that you were around to be friends with any of these people," he tapped the book to make it clear.
"I'M IMMORTAL!" Brad repeated the only answer he had.
"That doesn't actually prove anything," Alvin shrugged. "You being immortal now doesn't mean you were alive to be immortal then. According to our records you were born 36 years ago. But, it's easy enough to double-check, if you want us to be thorough." Brad wasn't a clever man; but, he could see this battle was already lost. He could have pushed them to check. He had no idea how they would accomplish it; but, he was confident that Alvin was confident. Instead, he realized he could default to his original plan, even if it was a slightly different approach than he hoped.
"I'm immortal! Can't we work something out? Don't you want to study me?" he asked.
"Study you? For what?" Alvin asked.
"IMMORTALITY!" Alvin chuckled and shrugged.
"Mr. Trimble, I thought I was being obvious; but, I'll state it clearly just for you. No one cares," he said. "Immortality isn't special, you're not that special. This isn't a science convention. You're in a police station because you committed a crime. A crime, by the way, that no one who has been alive that long would consider. I don't know how you earned your immortality; but, it's rather apparent that it was recent. So, here's a tip for your upcoming years. People who have lived hundreds and thousands of years learn to let things go; they have to."
"I'll show you how special I am!" Brad had enough. He was immortal and he didn't have to sit there for that. He had already been fiddling with the handcuff as Alvin gave him a talking to; and, it was ready to go as soon as he made his decision. Without his hand in it, it was easy to yank free and click around so that the spikey locking arm stuck out. In a swift move, he leaped forward and stabbed it into Alvin's shoulder. That was all he wanted to accomplish and he pulled back to await the rush of guards. But, none came. Alvin chuckled and looked down at the metal impaled in him.
"Well, I guess I get to take lunch a bit early so I can go change," he said as he pulled the cuff out. Then, he pulled his black blazer out of the way and tore open the shirt wider to give a clear view of the wound as it healed as fast as Brad's wounds.
"Sorry," Alvin apologized. "I shouldn't have said you weren't special. I only meant your healing gift wasn't that special; but, of course, as an individual you are very special," he said as he waved with a polite smile. "Don't worry, no harm done. I won't press any charges for this," he tapped the hole in his suit as he left the room.