"It's been over 5 years!" "Why were you working on that trash last year?" "Wait, i thought this project was cancelled?!"
Okay, I'm sorry, there's no real excuse for this. I tried to write chapter 2 a long time ago, didn't like how it was coming out and couldn't figure out how to fix it. Next thing I knew, I stopped caring and moved on. So, why am I suddenly working on this again? Long story short, because I decided to glance over my old work and suddenly figured out why I never liked chapter 2. I probably should have reread all of chapter 1 but I wanted to pump out chapter 2 by the end of the day so I only skimmed through it. Sorry if things don't line up 100% but I tried. Also, chapter 1 is typo ridden and has conflicting statements (the 14 year old turns 16 in less than 200 days. .) I'll have to fix the whole first chapter later but I'll I got work in the morning and need to sleep. Just know that I sacrificed 8 hours for you guys!
Note: This chapter takes place in court which I've only been in once for a speeding ticket and not an actual trial. Sorry if it's not like the real world but fuck it, this is a fictional story.
Day 747
The courtroom was filled with the citizens of Lawrence as they gathered to witness "The State vs. Flamedramon". It was a highly promoted event as Digimon rarely went to trial. Most criminal digimon were destroyed immediately because of the chaos they were causing and most other incidents were misunderstanding handled outside of court. Rumors had spread they had to build a special prison for Flamedramon because they didn't trust normal prisons to hold him.
There were a number of digimon in the observer seating but at the front of the courtroom stood 2 digimon with their displayed on screens near them. Kotemon and another digimon stood solemnly with bands on them declaring them to be "Digital Bailiffs". They were on guard in case Flamedramon went berserk when things started looking bad for him.
Towards the back, a number of aloof digimon relaxed against the back wall. Some with their tamers and others clearly on their own. Among them, Rachel and Renamon stared forward with intent. Outside of the bands the bailiffs wore, all Digimon wore their traditional attire (or lack thereof). The only Exception was Flamedramon, sitting in clear discomfort in a 3-piece suit and sitting sideways in his chair to allow his tail to clear the back.
"The prosecution would like to call Mr. Brooks to the stand."
A middle-aged man stood up and began walking to the Podium. He had medium length hair in a mess above his head and was dressed in a clean polo shirt and frayed Blue jeans. His demeanor was calm and as he swore in and sat down. As he noticed, Flamedramon scowling at him from the defendant's seat, he responded with a look of disgust. The digimon tightened his grip on the table and clenched his teeth.
"Would you please state your name for the record?"
"My name is David Brooks."
"David Brooks, could you please confirm your relationship to Natasha and Michael Brooks?" The prosecutor began.
"They are my wife and son," Mr. Brooks replied. After a seconded he added, "respectively!"
"And how long have you known them?"
"I first met my wife about 12 years ago and I've known Michael since he was born. Happiest day of my life."
"And you love them, correct?"
"They were my wife and child!" David answered with obvious shock. "Who doesn't love their family?"
"Indeed. Now, how long have you known the defendant?" The subject caused Mr. Brooks' eyebrows to furrow in anger as he shot a quick glance Flamedramon.
"I think the monster showed up a little more than 2 years ago."
"And what would you say your relationship with him is?"
"We've hated each other since we first met."
"Can you recall how this first meeting took place?"
"Fairly well. I was having an ordinary day with my family. We were just sitting at home, talking enjoying the day when Firedragon appeared out of nowhere. Without saying a word, he just started beating me up. I was in the hospital for 3 days!"
A faint growling could be heard as Flamedramon tightened his grip on the table for a second time. He was only given a second before his attorney put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. For the second time, David's attention was brought to the same scowl he received when he first took the stand. Again, after just a moment, he turned his attention back to the prosecutor questioning him.
"And yet, you continued to live with him; someone who assaulted up so bad you were hospitalized?"
"While I was in the hospital I was explained that it was a misunderstanding and that it probably wouldn't happen."
"But it did?"
"5 more time! Unless you want to include the time he set me on fire about a month ago."
"What did you do after the second time he assaulted you?"
"I told him to stop visiting my house. He didn't listen though."
"Objection, Non-responsive," Mr. Anders, the defense attorney immediately called out.
"Sustained," the judge answered dryly after a moment, shooting a look at the attorney.
"Did he listen?" The prosecutor asked, quickly continuing his questioning.
Mr. Brooks looked between the attorneys before nervously stating, "No."
The prosecutor swept his hand toward the opposing attorney before asking, "So he continued to live with you?"
"No, he stopped sleeping there but…" He stopped at looked at the defense attorney.
The attorney made a gesture to go on as the prosecutor asked, "But…?"
"But he frequently followed my son home, sometimes barging into the house with him. And I frequently found him standing outside the house, staring me down any time i looked at him."
"I see. Can you please tell us what happened on the night in question?"
"Well, the day had been just like any other. Michael had come home from school and we were discussing his day just like any other. Suddenly, in the middle of dinner, he stormed into the house, angrier than I'd ever seen him. I tried to calm him down but before I knew it, he threw a fireball at all three of us. I tried to put it out but nothing was working and he was just laughing the whole time. After a while I passed out and woke up in the hospital. It was then…" His words kinda trailed off as he swallowed hard and looked down. "It was then that the doctors told me that...that…" With a loud growl and a burst of tears, pointed at Flamedramon and announced. "That that bastard killed them. I only survived because he thought he had killed me as well."
"And you're sure it was the defendant who stormed in and attacked you?"
"Unless you know of another blue dragon who shoots flames from his fists and wears orange armor. And if you do, I hear he's the only one of his kind that stopped wearing those spiked gauntlets."
"The prosecution has no further questions," The prosecutor stated as turned to sit.
Without missing a beat Mr. Anders stood up, asking. "When was the last time you held a job?"
"Objection, irrelevant," The prosecutor stated, his hand still on his seat.
"Your honor, the witness has been receiving checks because of his son's relationship to the defendant. I believe it's worth noting that he may have another reason to have tolerated my clients presence."
The Judge barely had time to process the objection before hearing it's rebuttal. "Objection overruled."
There was a brief pause before Mr. Anders reminded him, "Answer the question, Mr. Brooks; How long has it been since you've held a job?"
Mr. Brooks put on a thoughtful expression before stating, "about 4 and a half years. That's longer than I've been receiving checks for him being around."
"So you have been receiving the checks?"
"Y-yes. I just said that!"
"I see, and before that, how were you paying for a family and place to for you to live?"
Mr. Brooks looked at the prosecutor nervously before answering, "I was living off of welfare."
"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the checks for the Digital Defense Initiative were more than what you were getting from welfare?"
"The...The what?" Mr. Brooks asked after a moment of confusion.
"The checks you were receiving because Michael was Flamedramon's Tamer."
"Yes. But it wasn't about the money. I was living just fine off of welfare."
"But you were able to buy more Alcohol with the new checks?"
"Excuse me?"
"Objection, inflammatory," The prosecutor called out.
"Objection sustatined," The judge stated with a small tap of the gavel for emphasis.
Mr. Anders pause for a moment as he thought about his next question. "Was there anything you forgot when you were recalling what happened that night?"
"It was a very traumatic event; I blacked out during it."
"Okay, but he did physically beat you or throw anything on you?"
"I think he hit me a few time, yes. But who knows what he did after I went unconscious."
"You said my client assaulted you 6 times before, correct?"
"Well, that's just how many times I took him to court over it," Mr. Brooks corrected. "There were other times that were minor enough I let him go. And there were even more times he threatened to attack me."
"Did he ever provide a reason for all the threats and assault?"
"Never!"
The attorney nodded in acknowledgement as he looked at Mr. Brooks curiously. "I see," he commented as he rubbed his chin a bit. "But he never assaulted Michael?"
After a brief look of shock, Mr. Brooks answered, "No, he did."
"But you never reported that to the police?" Mr. Anders immediately asked. As Mr. Brooks froze again, the attorney added, "So, you'd rather report yourself being assaulted than report someone assaulting your own child?"
Mr. Brooks began to furiously answer before the prosecutor stepped in, "Objection, multiple questions."
"It's fine, I'll answer both." Mr. Brooks stated. The judge paused mid-motion and looked at the prosecutor. With a nod, Mr. Brooks continued, "I never reported it because he never did anything serious to him."
"Really? because many witnesses can attest to him frequently being covered in bruises.
"Michael was always a little clumsy," Mr. Brooks stated. "He was frequently bruised before Firedragon showed up."
"But you never thought to ask the police to look into possible child abuse?" Mr. Brooks shook his head. "If it wasn't about the money, then why would you refuse to report it?"
"Because...Michael liked to be around Firedragon. I figured Michael wouldn't hang around him if he was beating him."
"Did you love Michael?"
"Objection, asked and answered." The prosecutor called out.
"Mrs...Shelton, was it? Could you please read out his response to the question?"
The was a brief pause as the court stenographer pulled the notes from what had been previously said were brought up and the previous answer repeated. "They were my wife and child! Who doesn't love their family?"
"Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like an answer to me," Mr. Anders stated.
"Objection overruled," the judge agreed.
After a second, Mr. Brooks growled out his answer, "Of course, I loved my son!"
"How many time did you beat him?"
With a look of disgusted shock, Mr. Brooks answered, "I never beat Michael."
Mr. Anders stared at Mr. Brooks for a few seconds before stating. "The Defense has no further questions."
"Would you please state your name for the record?" The prosecutor asked.
"I am Miranda Jefferson, an EMT at Sacred Heart Medical." An older woman stated. She was dressed in a black skirt with teal pinstripes to match her plain blouse. She kept her greying hair in a neat bun on her head and kept her hands rested on her crossed knees.
"And how long have you been working there?"
"I've been with Sacred heart as a nurse for at least the last 20 years."
"How many burn cases have you dealt with?"
"Oh, hundreds. There's a few every year."
"Do you know how many of them were caused by digimon."
As Mrs. Jefferson spoke, She used air quotes to emphasis the official term. "I'm afraid I've never worked a verified 'digital burn' case before this one." Upon saying "this one", she held a finger up as she took a death breath before continuing. "I know the manual says there's some difference between them, but honestly, there's nothing Nurses are supposed to do differently so I never really paid attention to it."
"And how many of the burns cases have you dealt with that resulted in fatalities."
As Mrs. Jefferson answered she was visibly tearing up. "Oh, I know I could probably count them on my hands but I try not to think about them. It's much nicer to remember the ones who survived when I didn't think they'd make it."
"But you could tell Natasha and Michael Brooks were killed by the burns?"
"Objection, In-This witness it not qualified to determine how a victim died."
"Objection sustained."
The prosecution paused for a moment before asking. "I'm sorry to ask this but could you please tell us what happened that night?"
Mrs. Jefferson paused to take another deep breath and wipe the tears forming in her eyes. "W-we had received a call that there were multiple burn victims. The dispatcher said the caller was…"
"I'm sorry, but that's hearsay. Could you advance to actually arriving on the premises."
Mrs. Jefferson was confused for a moment but eventually continued. "Of Course, I'm sorry. When we got to the house, I barely had time to step out of the car before…" She seemed to struggle for a moment as she moved toward Flamedramon but she resisted pointing.
"His name is Flamedramon." the prosecutor informed her.
"Right, Flamedramon ran up to me and...shoved a...burned body in my face, Michael. He yelled, 'He's not breathing. I can't find a pulse. Save him.' I verified what he said was true and told him there probably wasn't anything I could do for him, I should probably check the others to see if there was anyone alive. He then stood aside and the EMT with me rushed inside past him.
"We found 2 other burned bodies lying next to a charred spot where the other one probably was. I checked Natasha while my coworker moved to check David. I couldn't find anything but David hissed as soon as he was touched. He muttered "Save us" to me and coughed a bit. I told Matthew to run and get a stretch while I did my best to make sure he stayed conscious. He was able to maintain a conversation and tell us where he was. He said, 'That monster did this to him' and 'he was going to pay for this'.
"As we walked outside, I saw Flamedramon talking to Officer Duke. He was still clutching Michael's body. I started to feel sad for him but when he saw use carrying David out...I've never been more scared in my life. He looked like he was going to kill me."
Flamedramon looked at the ground. His attorney patted him on the shoulder and whispered to him again but he didn't change.
"Thank you Mrs. Jefferson. The prosecution has no further questions."
"Mrs. Jefferson, can you please confirm that none of the bodies appeared to be bound in any way?" Mr. anders asked.
"No sir, though their clothes-"
"Objection, Non-responsive", the prosecutor called out.
"Objection sustained," the judge declared shooting a look similar to the one from before at the prosecutor.
"What condition were their clothes in?" Mr Anders asked.
"Their clothes were partially melted to their bodies."
"All 3 of their clothes?"
"Ye-yes sir."
Mr. Anders paused for a bit before continuing. "How was David's body oriented to the Natasha's when you found him?"
"He was laying to the left of Natasha's body."
"Now, was that your left or Natasha's left."
Mrs. Jefferson had to think about the question for a bit before stating, "My left. It would have been Natasha's right."
"Was there ever a doubt in you mind that David Brooks would survive his burns?"
"Well, his burns didn't look that bad but after seeing that his wife and child had similar burns. Once he started talking though, I stopped really worrying."
"Were there any complications you had to deal with getting him back to health?"
"Well, he had remove some smoke in his lungs from partial asphyxiation but after that, the natural healing process took care of the burns."
"The defense has no further questions."
"Would you please state your name for the record?"
"My name is Officer Duke of the Lawrence P. D." A lithe, tall man sat at the witness podium. He sat straight up in full uniform. He stared at the prosecutor with dutiful attention.
"How long have you been a member of the force?"
"Close to 2 years, sir?"
"How many homicides have you had to deal with?"
"I'm blessed to say this is only my 3rd sir."
"Now, you were first officer to arrive on the scene?"
"Yes, sir."
"Could you tell me what happened that night?"
"Well, sir, at about 20:45, I receive a message from the dispatcher that there had been an arson at occured at 1512 K street. I was the closed car on patrol so I immediate radioed in that I was en route, turned on my sirens and headed to the scene. When I got there, the ambulance had already arrived and a second one was just arriving.
"I found the defendant on the front porch clutching a burnt child like it was a baby. I began to ask him what happened but he insisted that he didn't know anything and and came home to the scene how it was. I asked him to please put down the body but he just muttered 'he's dead' and 'I wasn't here to save him'.
"About that time, the EMT's came out with David Brooks on a stretcher. As he passed by, Mr. Brooks yelled, 'he did this. He's the monster who burned us.' As I turned back to the defendant, He was staring at Mr. Books with a pure rage in his eyes. I immediately pulled out my gun and ordered him to put down the body. He snarled the whole time but he seemed to reluctantly comply.
"I was scared he wasn't going to comply. We don't have any special procedures for digimon so I just treated him like I would treat anyone else. I told him he was under arrest, read him his Miranda Rights, cuffed him, and put him in my car while I secured the scene of the crime. After Forensics arrived on the scene, I took Flamedramon back to headquarters and locked him up there."
"The prosecution has no further questions."
"Officer Duke, Have you ever dealt with a case with burn victims before?" Mr. Anders asked, standing up.
"Yes sir."
"And would you say these burns looked better or worse than other burns you've seen?"
"Objection, Calls for conclusion." The prosecutor immediately responded.
"Objection sustained."
Mr. Anders let out a deep breath thought for a moment before asking, "Did you investigate the crime scene at all prior to forensics arriving?"
"Objection, beyond the scope"
"Objection sustained."
Mr. Anders bit his lip for a moment before stating, "The prosecution has no further questions.
