“When I joined the APD, Riggs told me that the only way to the Eagle’s Nest was to go step by step upon the career ladder.”
“No skipping to the top. No shortcuts.”
“I may be at the bottom, but once you’re there? The only way to go is up.”
“And that’s all I ever tried to do.”
“Every case that came across my desk, every domestic dispute and assault that I had to investigate were merely rungs to grab as I began to climb.”
“It was a long way to the top, but I knew the climb would always be worth it.”
“Burglaries, murders? Even an attempt on Zeus’ life I stopped with my bare hands.”
“And I made it to the Eagle’s Nest. I was nearly at the top, I could have made captain.”
“But then I slipped.”
“What they don’t tell you about the ladder is you’re never guaranteed to stay at the step you’re at. Sometimes? You lose your grip.”
“It wasn’t because I lost sight of my goal, I didn’t develop an addiction.”
“No.”
“I slipped because the bar got covered in the blood of the innocent men, women, and children I failed to keep safe.”
“Jasper Redgrave was one of my final rungs and even though I fought for my life to hang on I failed. I plummeted from above and landed in a heap on the cold hard ground. Sent right back down to beat cop, told I would have to start the climb all over again.”
“But you know how the story goes, don’t you?”
“I began my ascension a second time, I gripped the bar until my knuckles were white and forced myself back up that ladder rung by rung. But it wasn’t enough. I got distracted, I went after Harold Attano despite being told explicitly not to.”
“And once again, I had blood on my hands. But this time it was my own bullet that caused it.”
“Benjamin Pegg was the rung I slipped on.”
“Now here I am, laying at the bottom of that ladder with all of my hopes and dreams hanging far above my head. The ladder stained with blood, sweat, and tears of the people I failed. I may very well never get another chance to climb towards the top.”
“I’m at the very bottom of the ladder, the bottom of Olympus itself.”
“And with the title hanging above the ring, this might be my last chance to ascend.”
“But once you’re at the bottom, the only way to go is up.”
“The men who share the ring with me? They think their wits and expertise can bring them to the top, that they’ll be able to simply skip to the summit. But in reality? They don’t know what it means to climb, they don’t know what it takes.”
“I’ve made the climb twice before.”
“What’s one more?”
“We’re all starting at the bottom.”
“But only I know how to get to the top.”
“Step by step.”
“Climbing again until this eagle can soar.”