Trials
[movie-verse] A peek at what's going through the thoughts of a few of the participants as The Hood's trial gets under way.
This story is based on the 2004 Johnathon Frakes movie 'Thunderbirds', produced by Working Title, which was based in turn on the 1960s television series of the same name, created by Gerry Anderson. Of course, I don't own any of these characters or concepts, and respect the copyright and intellectual property of their creators.
This is less of a story and more of a series of six vignettes, each looking at what's going through a different character's mind six months after the end of the 2004 movie, as The Hood's trial comes to court.
Like the movie, I know my stories have their good points, but could probably be better realised. Nonetheless, I hope they keep you entertained. Many thanks to my beta reader, Spinkle22, for helpful comments and advice on this one. Any remaining faults are, of course, entirely my own! Feedback or reviews of any kind – even a two word 'liked it' or 'hated it' – would be very welcome indeed.
Part One - Scaling Olympus
I stand quietly as the charges against me are read out. No fewer than seventeen counts of attempted murder of International Rescue personnel, either by myself or at my order, and another dozen or so of endangering lives with the intention of causing death or serious injury. Besides those, the other charges - theft of property, criminal damage, even one of trespass thrown in, one can only assume, as a weak joke - pale into insignificance.
I hear the horrified murmurs in the court, from the carefully vetted jury and the highly restricted viewing gallery. Their contempt of me is tangible as the prosecutor continues to read the charges. Three of the attempted murder counts are against the same boy. The brave boy. The bold boy. The boy that everyone in this courtroom is praising as a hero.
He's here somewhere, waiting to give evidence. Even with the blindfold around my eyes robbing me of my strongest powers, I can sense his presence. Jeff Tracy's youngest treasure.
Does it feel good, Alan? To see 'justice' done? Are you reveling in your revenge, or just wishing you'd let me drop?
He reacts as if he'd been slapped, and the image of a side room not far from here snaps into sharp focus. I'm in his head, watching, as his eyes widen.
Oh yes, Alan. I laugh. You didn't expect me to be here, perhaps?
In the courtroom, I'm told to sit, and I do so proudly, offering no word in my defense. The man who tried to kill International Rescue has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. These great heroes are untouchable – gods on their pedestals. No one wants to listen to one of their victims.
Despite the blindfold, I look directly up towards one of the court cameras with a smile that's all confidence and no apology. It will get out sooner or later, I'm sure. They'll be recording, although it's obvious they can't broadcast live. The privacy injunctions slapped on this case have been matched only by the curiosity surrounding it, both unprecedented in British legal history.
Wishing we were in an American court, Alan? I throw the thought out on a whim. Wishing you could call for the ultimate sanction and watch as I writhe in the pain of a legal murder?
I feel him whimper, and he screws his eyes tight shut. He doesn't want me to see his brothers as they cluster around him, demanding to know what's wrong.
Leave him alone! It's not so much speech as a wordless rush of emotion. This time it's my turn to snap my head back as if slapped.
I'd forgotten about my oh-so-talented niece. Untrained perhaps, her mind unfocussed as the chemical surges of adolescence do their worst to her body, but she's far from weak. Oh, what I could have done if I'd found this one earlier! Another thing to hate Jeff Tracy for: stealing her heart from me. She could have stood beside me as we conquered the world. My heir. My soul's child.
Even if she tries, she can't hide her revulsion at the thought. She stands between me and Alan like a defiant tigress defending her cubs... or her mate.
"Mr. Belagant, this is your last chance to answer a plea before the first witness is called."
The defender assigned to me is a weak child of a man. His voice is an irritant I am forced to endure, nothing more. Nonetheless, even I must yield occasionally to frustration. If Alan is protected from me then I will hurt his father in whatever way I must. The time for silence is over.
"Did Prometheus offer a defense when he scaled Olympus to steal fire from the gods?" I ask. I smile as my words are stricken from the court record. Everyone here heard them, and that was my only intent.
My fate is assured; I know that. But even petty revenge is better than none. I will force Jeff Tracy and his family to relive every second of that day. And as I rot in the deepest pit these pillars of justice can find for me, I'll know that on their island Olympus, the Tracy boys will never escape their memories.
My specter will haunt International Rescue. I couldn't steal their fire, but my taint will linger inside each of them whenever it is lit.
And perhaps there, at last, I have my justice.
