The Utonium Trials
Chapter 7:
The Devil You Know
The family was escorted out of the max security wing and into a room. It was the prison's interrogation room. Apparently Mrs. Bellum was waiting for them there. It seemed like a strange place to meet. Bubbles was eager to get out of the prison as soon as possible. It was dark and unfriendly. She would definitely list it on her list of dislikes, even if it served a good purpose.
When Jeremy was kind enough to open the room for them, the professor and girls were able to see who else was saving them from imprisonment. Bubbles was mildly disappointed. Both the man and Mrs. Bellum were standing on the other side of a plain table. Mrs. Bellum didn't smile until she saw the girls, and Bubbles sensed some tension in the air suddenly shift as the door opened to reveal the Utonium family. Bubbles had been hoping the second person would be Mrs. Bellum's husband. Bubbles liked Mr. Bellum. He was not here now. Instead, there was someone else. Bubbles had never seen this man before.
He had an arrogant but intelligent face, and a smile like a shark, maybe entering his early forties. He was wearing an expensive, charcoal-colored, three piece suit and carried what had to be a custom designer briefcase. His black hair was oiled and combed back, just long enough to form the beginnings of a pony tail at the back of his head. His skin was tanned and he was nominally handsome, though there was something about him that put Bubbles on edge. He nodded his head to them, and spoke, "Come in. Come in. We can't start until we have complete privacy." He gave a pointed glance to Jeremy, who raised his hands, obviously ready to leave once the door closed.
Once the family all filtered in, and the door was closed behind them. The man placed his briefcase down flat on the table in the room, and there was a double click of latches opening. He opened it, and pulled something out, showing some silver metal device to them, before pressing a button, a red light winking on. A high pitched whine filled the room, just at the edge of Bubble's range of hearing.
The man spoke again, walking around the table to face the girls; no… to face the Professor. "Ah, much better. Just a little insurance. Greetings. It is a pleasure to meet you Dr. Gary Utonium. The second I heard about your issues, I flew in straight from Los Angeles to offer my services." He offered his hand to the Professor.
The Professor was taken aback, but took the man's hand and shook it, saying, "Well. Yes, though I prefer to be called Professor rather than Doctor. I am afraid I don't know who you are though, Mr.…?"
The grinning man laughed a little, saying, "Ah, of course. No surprise. Unless you are interested in such issues, most don't know my name. I am Marcus Loks. I am a lawyer who specializes in defense of those who have allegedly violated the Neo-Tokyo Protocol." His grin grew wider, if that was possible, "Actually, if I am able to be perfectly honest. I am the lawyer who specializes in this field. If you want, I can cite cases I have taken on the defense of those who have allegedly exceeded the Protocol. I even have a thirty percent success rate; nearly triple the rate of my fellow colleagues in the field."
The Professor started to speak, "Well, I-" before Blossom cut him off, "You got Dr. Ivan Kriegor off on the charge that he was trying to recreate some of the Nazi experiments with reanimating the dead, right? I remember the news." She blinked, and looked up to the Professor, "In all probability, this man is the one who can drop these charges. And keep us from being locked up like the Rowdyruff Boys."
Bubbles frowned, wondering if Blossom knew more about the boys than she had told them, but the Professor spoke first. "Oh. Okay then." He looked from Blossom to the lawyer, Mr. Loks. "Well, there obviously need to be some details worked out, but for now… I would be happy to hear what you have to say. But first…" The Professor looked to Mrs. Bellum, "Hello, Sara. How are you? You are looking glorious as usual. How is Michael doing?"
Mrs. Bellum laughed and rolled her eyes, "Professor. Good. But I will be doing better once this shadow passes over our fair city. I am sure the same could be said for you. Michael is good. He has been working nearly as hard as I have lately, though not today. The mayor is beside himself, unsure of how to handle it all."
As the two spoke, Bubbles saw that Mr. Loks seemed be appraising Blossom, as if some animal had started to speak. In fact, Bubbles didn't think that the lawyer had looked at the girls once, when they entered the room, and had stared only at the Professor. It wasn't until Blossom spoke that he acknowledged her presence. He still hadn't looked at either Bubbles or Buttercup.
Bubbles wasn't sure what was happening. She went ahead and broke the ice that the others hadn't noticed yet. "Hello Mrs. Bellum! Hello, Mr. Loks! It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope you can help get us out of this trial. I don't think the Professor should go to jail." Bubbles felt as cheerful as she could, but the high pitched whine was starting to grate on her ears, even starting to hurt.
The lawyer glanced over at Bubbles, breaking the staring match, or whatever, and stood up straight, as Mrs. Bellum replied, "Hello Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup. We are going to everything we can to prevent that. How are you girls holding up?"
Bubbles smiled brightly, "Good! This is all happening to fast for me though."
Blossom glanced to Mrs. Bellum, "Fine, thank you."
Buttercup finished, saying, "Okay." Her voice was muted, probably trying to hide her previous outpouring of emotion, but didn't quite manage it. She had been looking down or away from the others since she got into the room, probably trying to hide her slightly reddened eyes.
Mrs. Bellum, one smart cookie, picked up immediately, "Are you okay Buttercup?"
Buttercup scowled, "Of course. I am fine. Shouldn't we be talking about the case or something?"
Mrs. Bellum seemed determined to press the issue, but Mr. Loks spoke up, sounding a bit agitated. "Yes, yes. There is the impending trial of Dr. Utonium here." He blinked, rolled his eyes quickly, and said, "Sorry, Professor. Professor Utonium. Now. Everyone can take a seat…" he looked at the table, still bearing his briefcase and the annoying device that was making the incessant buzzing noise. The table only has three chairs.
Bubbles smiled, "No worries. We can sit on the table." She floated her way to the table, and sat down on the edge, near Mrs. Bellum, who was sitting on the same side of the long table as the Professor. She figured this meant that Buttercup, who still might need the comfort of her father nearby. Buttercup took a spot on the table next to the professor, and Blossom sat next to her, closer to Mr. Loks.
He seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Well... So, the first thing we must cover is why you are on trial, and what statutes you are being persecuted for violating. They are pulling out all the stops, activating Article five, nineteen, and seventy-four. You are being tried for ten violations of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol in just two-"
The Professor interrupted, "What? Ten? How am I accused of ten violations? I only made the girls." He looked confused, like trying to figure out how someone could have added two and one together to make ten.
Blossom interrupted Mr. Loks before he could answer, "They are counting Mojo Jojo as one." Their constant evil monkey villain had been an accident. The chimpanzee had been created into a super genius when making contact with Chemical X, during the monkey's days as Professor Utonium's lab assistant.
Buttercup chimed in, "Dynamo, too, Professor, even though you dismantled it." She referred to the giant robot created by the Professor, piloted by him to help his girls fight monsters, so he could feel more involved with their lives. He took it apart after seeing the accidental destruction it caused.
Mr. Loks nodded, and continued, "Any anything your creations created. That is covered under Article five."
Blossom continued, counting on her small hand, "So that also includes the Rowdyruff Boys. That's eight total." The Rowdyruff Boys, a creation of Mojo Jojo then later resurrected by Him, were formidable foes but soon grew tired of being beaten by the sisters. They traveled to another city to try to claim it as their own. They were captured, and are now being held in a maximum security prison for super powered humans.
Bubbles knew who the last two were. She sighed, and finished for them. "Bullet too, and… Bunny."
While those in the know drew silent, the lawyer broke in, "What is Bullet and Bunny? I know about all of the others."
Blossom chose to explain, "Bullet is a squirrel Bubbles found and gave Chemical X to keep it alive. It gained powers similar to ours." She paused, "Bunny… was all three of ours fault. We wanted to make another sister, to help out with everything… but did a poor job of it. She was… mentally deficient and chemically unstable. She died a few hours after creation."
They would probably have liked a moment of silence, but the lawyer simply stated, "Oh good. We can say it had a built in self-termination element." Buttercup gasped in anger, while everyone else was simply stunned at his crass comment.
Buttercup knew exactly who this man reminded her of. As he smirked down at his papers, a bastard in all forms, his grin was just like that man from the hallway from the Citysville PD. The two men looked nothing alike, but they both had that predator's grin.
Ignorant of all of their anger, or just ignoring it, he spoke up, "So, like I was saying, you are up for 10 counts of Protocol violation, and the case is due to start in two weeks. Before you interrupt me, yes, I know that is too soon. They are enacting one of the latest additions to the Protocol, where a faster trial occurs because of some sort of time issues, like the scientist's work is loose and hidden, and they need authority to use more extreme information extraction techniques only allowed after a guilty verdict."
He rolled his eyes, "This is clearly a complete violation of the amendment's purpose, and we will gain some advantages because there is such a short time to prepare. Also, they have pulled all of your… daughters' enemies out of their various prisons."
Buttercup was surprised, "All of them? Including the Rowdyruff Boys?"
He nodded, "All of them. Except for… Him." He suddenly sounded less confident, concerned even. "Him… hasn't every shown up in court ever, or in any jail for long." He swallowed, and showed a moment of weakness, looking over their heads saying, "Him appears at every graduation of every law schools. Just to mess with lawyers, I think. It's pretty hush hush, and they trying to capture him at one but…" He shook his head and returned his gaze down at papers coming out of his briefcase. "Anyway, we have several things to go over, so let us be-"
He was interrupted by Bubbles, who asked, "What time is it?"
He looked at his wrist, looking at the time, obviously frustrated. "It is four forty-five. Why, is something more pressing happening soon?" He looked at Bubbles in an annoyed gaze Buttercup wanted to beat off his face, but she remained still.
"Well… I, ah, need to be at Ms. Sylvia's Dance school at five fifteen. I am helping train the five year olds and younger. A new class starts today" She looked abashed, saying, "Sorry, No. It's okay. They will be fine without me."
The Professor spoke, "Shouldn't you be in higher classes by now?"
Bubbles looked away, "Well, The older girls thought I looked strange being in their class, and so I was asked to help with the younger ones so that- It's okay, Professor, I enjoy it!" She added the last part to sooth his worries about her being unable to be in older classes.
The Professor looked about to speak, but the snake of a lawyer spoke first, "Oh, that's good. We can use that. That might actually be a good idea for you to go. The press is waiting outside, and we should meet them soon. It sounds good for you to go off and live your life as if nothing was wrong. We should talk about all of this stuff in the safety of a more secure meeting room and after we discuss my payment."
Buttercup watched as he gathered up his papers and clicked off the silent metal device with nothing more than a blinking light.
The lawyer quickly had all of his stuff collected; he spoke up, "Let's go meet the press, shall we?"
