James returned about ten minutes after Esther left the interrogation room. As he was about to enter, Esther said, "Watch out. He's very relaxed."

"Is he?" James asked, mildly amused. "Let's change that, shall we?"

He entered the interrogation room to find Bannister in the exact same position he had been in when Esther had come in. "Comfy?" he inquired.

"Yep," replied Bannister, yawning.

That made James angry. He hit the table hard with his palms, creating a loud noise that made Bannister jerk upright. "Don't play games with me," James snarled. "You could have killed every BOWCA agent in this facility. Why?"

"Why what?" Bannister asked calmly.

"Why did you almost kill every BOWCA agent in this facility?" yelled James. "Why did you use the two machines and why did you attack me in the corridor?"

"I would have thought the last one was obvious," said Bannister, looking at his nails. "You were about to discover my plot."

"So you used night vision goggles to fight me, literally destroying any chance that had of being a fair fight."

Bannister frowned, looking genuinely confused. "Why would it be a fair fight? I'm a villain."

"No kidding," scoffed James. "Okay, so let's work backwards: why did you use the wind machine and the tremor machine?"

"I wanted to spread terror and do some damage at the same time." Bannister shrugged, a smug grin on his face. "Looks like it worked, didn't it?"

"You killed someone!" James yelled suddenly.

Bannister's smug look vanished and he sat up straighter, frowning. "What?"

"Connie Cutler. She was a nurse, working in the hospital when it collapsed."

"The hospital collapsed?"

"The ceiling caved in, trapping people who were in there." James felt a lump rise in his throat. "Connie was hit by a falling piece of stone and killed instantly."

Bannister looked away at the wall in shock. "I-I never meant to…to kill anyone…"

"What did you think was going to happen?" James shouted angrily. "You set tremors loose on the building! It was a miracle no other ceilings collapsed!"

Bannister looked like he was having an existential crisis.

"I hope you realise her blood is on your hands," James snarled. "It's because of you that she's dead."

Bannister looked back up at James and a smirk came onto his face. "You liked Connie?"

"I didn't really know her but that's beside the point," James snapped. "You killed a person, and that's what I'm furious about. Why did you do it?"

"It's a secret," grinned Bannister.

James glared at the evil scientist. "Why is it a secret?"

"Because everyone needs secrets." Bannister raised an eyebrow, still with the smug look on his face. "Right, Agent Seven?"

"What do you-?" James suddenly took a staggering step back like he'd been punched in the stomach.

Esther, who was watching outside, frowned. "What does that mean?" she asked aloud.

"Beats me," said Robin, shrugging.

"Maybe Bannister knows something about James that we don't," Zero suggested.

"But what could that be?" Esther muttered.

Back in the cell, James slammed his fist on the table. "You don't get to mention that."

Delighted to have unnerved James, Bannister pressed, "But it eats at you, doesn't it? What you did."

"That's enough," James snarled.

"It sometimes keeps you up at night, doesn't it?" Bannister continued relentlessly. "The fact that what you did caused the death of a person."

James suddenly grabbed Bannister's collar and pulled him over the table, his other fist drawn back like he was about to hit Bannister. "Don't ever mention that again," he said softly and dangerously. "Or I will personally make sure the rest of your miserable existence is a living hell."

James flung Bannister back into his chair. The evil scientist was still grinning, to James's severe annoyance. "Don't forget, I could tell everybody. I know exactly what you did. What would they think of you then?"

"What do you want?" snarled James.

"I want to be let go and given immunity from the law until the day I die."

"Not going to happen," James replied sharply. "I don't care if you tell everybody. I'm not having your psychotic butt roaming the streets free."

With that, he turned and stormed out of the interrogation room. Everyone else tensed when he came outside but all he did was take a deep breath and let a look of part-relief part-terror settle on his face.

"Are you okay?" Zero asked him.

James nodded. "I'm fine. He just…caught me off-guard."

"At least we know why he did it," Gretchen offered.

Everyone stared at her. "What?" said Ferb, confused.

Gretchen frowned. "Didn't he say he wanted to spread terror and do some damage at the same time?"

"I thought that was just the answer for why he used the machines," Esther said with a puzzle look at James.

"If you think about it, it's also a reason as to why he attacked us," Agent Seven said thoughtfully. "I mean, he's a villain. He doesn't need a strong reason to attack us. To spread terror is enough for some villains."

"So we're agreed, then?" Esther said. "We know why Bannister did what he did?"

Everyone nodded or made noises of agreement.

"Then if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and write up a report about the interrogation," James said.

He headed off down the corridor. Esther jumped up and hurried to catch up with him. She stopped him at the other end of the corridor, well out of earshot of the others.

"If you're going to ask me about the secret Bannister mentioned-."

"I was going to say that I respect that you have secrets," Esther interrupted. "There probably isn't a single BOWCA agent who doesn't have some kind of secret in their past, me included. All I wanted to tell you is that if it ever becomes too much and you feel you have to tell someone, I'm here and I will listen and I will not judge you. Okay?"

James didn't seem able to look her in the eye. "Thank you, Esther. Your friendship is very valuable to me."

Esther smiled and walked back down the corridor to the others. James watched her go, wishing with all his heart that he could tell Esther his secret, but he knew that she would hate him if he did.

...

WHAT IS JAMES'S SECRET? I hear you yell I:} don't worry, we will find out before the end of the story I:}