Lt. Gordon looked over the not-exactly young uniformed officer standing at attention across from his desk in the Major Crimes Unit. Thirty was a bit old for a newly minted police officer, but then this officer was anything but average.

"Officer Wayne, you may have won your court case, and you may have gotten top marks at the police academy, but you've still got a lot to prove," Gordon began. "Now do you mind telling me why a billionaire would put all of his money into a blind trust for the chance to walk a beat?"

"I want to serve the public, sir," Wayne replied.

"Last time i checked, the Wayne Foundation gave away almost half a billion dollars to charity last year," Gordon said. "How is placing your life at risk by going out onto the streets helping any more?"

Wayne seemed to consider this seriously for a long moment. "Sir, that's just handing out cash. Anyone can do it. Walking the beat, serving the public directly, that means something. If there had been a cop..." He seemed to catch himself and shut up.

"Your parents, I know the story. So this is some form of penance for not being able to protect them?"

"No, sir." Wayne paused, gathering his thoughts again. "I had... a lot of foolish ideas... when I was travelling overseas, about how to extract vengeance from the predators that hunt innocent victims out there. I finally came to the conclusion that I'd prefer to help the cause of justice, rather than pursue some form of purely personal satisfaction. Otherwise it could have been a very long and lonely war."

Gordon lifted his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Officer Wayne, if you're imagining yourself becoming some sort of white knight to the citizens of our fair city, allow me to remind you of a few civic facts. We've got a 15% unemployment rate, a 30% drop in population in the past 25 years, and a 50% dropout rate from the local high schools. There's a heroin epidemic in Old Gotham, our last two mayors were arrested for taking bribes, and the FBI just rated the GCPD as the second most corrupt police force in the country after Los Angeles. We're the city Detroit looks to so they can say, 'At least we're not doing that bad.' Now what is going to me make think that after a year, or maybe a month, of going up against that, that you won't just think better of it and move back into that mansion of yours to host a retirement party for yourself?"

Wayne stiffened, a cold look entering his eyes. "I will not quit, sir. My parents believed in this city. I believe in this city. And I've never given up on anything I've started."

"Do you think city will believe in you, Wayne?" Gordon asked. "I've met enough people in this town to know they probably won't. The ones who aren't scared of the cops think we should be beating up the ones that are. Neither of them trust us, and we haven't given them much reason to."

"I understand that. I'm not blind, sir." Wayne focused his gaze on the detective lieutenant. "If you really think this town isn't worth saving, why did you move here yourself?"

Which was a helluva question for a rookie cop to ask a detective, but Gordon was honest enough with himself to give an answer. "I didn't have any choice. I'd run out of options"

"There are always choices, and options," Wayne replied. "You're a smart man, I've read your files. There are a lot of jobs you could be doing besides police work."

"Police work is the only job I want to be doing."

For the first time, Wayne cracked a small, intense smile. "Exactly, sir."

Gordon paused, then let a short laugh. He held out his hand, "Welcome to the Major Crimes Unit, Officer Wayne."