Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or the characters in it, but I do own the plot. Happy now?
A/N: Wow! It's been less than a month, and I'm updating! I am so psyched! Anyway, this chapter is kind of short, I realize that, but the end is coming. This was an enjoyable chapter; I hope you like it too!
Chapter 10: Interrogation
Police Station, Wind Colony, Central Continent of Delpoi, Planet Zi – September 13, 9:00 PM
After Irvine had finished recording the Saix' memories of that afternoon, he had taken them to Dr. Dee. The doctor (or crazy scientist as Irvine liked to call him) had been able to extract from Irvine's recording of the Saix and his translation of said words into English the entire story (not including Moonbay's confessions; those Irvine left out). He was currently in a backroom of the police station in the Wind Colony, one of the few places that had a computer that could put up with someone like Dr. Dee. Translated, it meant that the computer would not shut down when Dr. Dee tried to do ten things at once and surf the newly created ZiNet... while looking for pictures of scantily clad women.
"Done!" Dr. Dee exclaimed gleefully, wheeling his chair away from the computer console in satisfaction. With Irvine looking on, Dr. Dee pressed a button and Irvine's translation of the Saix' growls were heard, along with questions asked for clarification. Irvine's voice remained steady on the recording, betraying his confidence in his Saix' memory to anyone who listened to it.
Dr. Dee nodded. "Excellent job, Irvine. Maybe you missed your calling; instead of a mercenary, you should have become an interrogator." Dr. Dee began to laugh, but stopped when Irvine glared at him.
"Not a chance, old man," Irvine snorted.
"I am not old! Just a handsome doctor," Dr. Dee corrected Irvine, leaning back so that he could put his hands behind his head. He yelped when he felt the chair move, and once he regained his balance glared at Irvine, who was smirking. "Stop trying to kill me!"
Irvine shrugged. "Wasn't me, old man."
Dr. Dee glared at Irvine, who merely smirked back, and finally threw his hands in the air, effectively giving up; for the moment, that is. Dr. Dee turned back to the computer and began typing in several different commands, burning the Saix' story onto a small disk that he placed in his pocket. He stood up and stretched, making sure to get all of the kinks out of his shoulders. He had been at the computer for a little over thirty minutes, but the pressure he'd been under had been amazing. He was interrupted from his thoughts when one of his assistants poked her head in.
"Dr. Dee, Major Generals Shubaltz and Hermann wanted me to inform you that Mr. McMann's lawyer has just arrived, and he wants to speak with you," the assistant said, her expression serious. Dr. Dee sighed and, muttering a curse under his breath, walked towards the door, grabbing a portable disk player as he left. Just when Irvine thought he could sneak away and go back to sit at Moonbay's side, Dr. Dee snatched him by the arm of his still torn tuxedo and dragged him out of the back room.
"Let me go, crazy old man! I'm not some child that you can lead around, ya know!" Irvine snarled, wrenching his arm out of Dr. Dee's grasp.
Dr. Dee turned to Irvine and, looking at the ex-mercenary, said, "Irvine, I'm not going to lie. We need you to come with us to defend your translation from the Saix. This lawyer is going to try his best to discredit the audio recording, and I need you there to back it up. If you don't, and this recording is thrown out, then McMann will go free and will most likely get back at both you and Moonbay. Do you really want that?"
It didn't even take Irvine five seconds to make up his mind. "Absolutely not. No way in hell is that bastard even going to get a chance to walk free. He will pay for what he did."
Dr. Dee smiled grimly, and he and Irvine followed his assistant down a hallway and to the sole interrogation room in the police station, where they found a number of people, both inside and outside. The two newcomers pushed their way into the room and received grateful looks from Van, Fiona, Karl, Thomas, Rob Hermann, Jake O'Connell and Ryss, while Raven stared at them from his position up against a wall. McMann, seated at the table, was glaring daggers at Irvine, and another man to his left, who was McMann's lawyer, remained impassive. He did stand, however, to greet the two newcomers.
"I am Benjamin Dean, and I represent Mr. McMann," the man greeted, and as Dr. Dee greeted Benjamin Irvine looked him over. Dean was a little taller than Fiona was (the blond-haired Zoidian clocked in at about 5 foot 4 inches tall). He had dark colored skin, black eyes, and meticulously combed hair and was dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and pale blue tie. As Dean put out a hand to Irvine, the ex-mercenary took it reluctantly, making sure to keep his emotions in check.
'Wouldn't do for the damn lawyer to get the idea that I'm doing this out of spite,' Irvine thought to himself. 'Then again, that is what I am doing this for...'
"Well then, now that we're all acquainted, let's get down to business," Rob Hermann said, taking the lead. He took a seat in front of McMann, causing Van and Fiona to move towards Raven to stay out of the way. Hermann folded his hands in front of him and looked at McMann briefly before focusing on Dean. "Your client, Mr. Dean, is accused of the assault of two Imperial officers, one Guardian Force member, trespassing, harassment, bribery, stalking, attempted kidnapping, and attempted murder of a Guardian Force member. He has done all of this, according to him, to win back a woman who had been engaged to him in the past, but broke off said engagement years ago."
"I see," Dean replied his face dead serious. Looking around, he asked, "Excuse me for asking, Major General, but why are all of those people here? Surely not all of them are required."
Rob nodded his head and said, "Actually, many of the people here in the room were either witnesses to your client's actions or helped interrogate him. Two were even victims." Pointing out each person, he continued. "Major General Karl Shubaltz and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Shubaltz were the officers that your client assaulted. Lieutenant Colonel Van Flyheight was witness to several of your client's crimes and Colonel Jake O'Connell was witness to your client's assault and attempted kidnapping of the woman. Raven is one of our interrogators, Dr. Dee has some evidence for us, and finally, Irvine is the owner of the Zoid that your client attacked and heard your client, first-hand I might add, admit to stalking the victim."
"Very well, but what about the two women? You didn't mention them," Dean pointed out.
Van stepped forward and said, "I see your point, Mr. Dean." Looking towards Fiona and Ryss, he pleaded with them via his eyes to leave silently. The two women nodded and moved quietly, leaving the room. They then got into a position to watch the rest of the interrogation.
"Thank you," Dean nodded, and sitting forward clasped his hands together. "Now, let me get this correct, Major General. All of these people here are either witnesses or have evidence against my client, correct?" On getting a nod, he continued, "Yet since I arrived, I haven't heard one piece of evidence except for accusations against my client."
Rob nodded, and, motioning to Dr. Dee, said, "I agree with your statement, Mr. Dean, and to appease you, we have here a disk that details how your client attempted to murder the young woman earlier." Dr. Dee plugged in the disk player, placed the recently burned disk into the machine and played it. The disk then proceeded to divulge its contents; the audience heard the Saix' growls and Irvine's translation. Both of these were then followed by some questions for clarification. Irvine watched Dean's face, and saw nothing to either encourage or discourage him.
When the recording had ended, Dean stayed silent for a moment, then turned to Irvine and said, "You are the owner of the Lightning Saix, correct?" At Irvine's nod Dean continued, "How is it that you were able to understand what the Zoid's growls meant? I do hope that you didn't just make up this story with your Zoid's growls in the background to make your case against my client stronger."
Irvine resisted the urge to glare at Dean, and responded calmly, "Before I answer your question, Mr. Dean, let me ask you a question: Have you ever piloted a Zoid?"
"Actually, I have. It was a few years ago, and it was a ZaberFang," Dean replied. "However, I don't quite see where you're going with this."
"When you pilot a Zoid, you become like one; you and the Zoid are one creature, moving and breathing at the same time. You also learn to understand what your Zoid is telling you, and oftentimes the Zoid can and will save your life, especially if you can understand them. I was able to understand my Lightning Saix because he and I are partners for life. What I translated from my Saix is the truth; he would never lie about something like that," Irvine said, leaning against the door.
"And why did you not access the memory bank of the Lightning Saix instead of relying on a pilot-Zoid translation?" Dean asked.
Dr. Dee took the question. "The reason, Mr. Dean, is that Irvine's Lightning Saix refused to allow us to access his memory bank because he was afraid that we would mess around with it. The Lightning Saix has suffered damage to his memory bank in the past, and therefore just wants to ensure that it will be protected. The Lightning Saix, therefore, told Irvine that he still wanted to help, and Irvine came up with the solution of recording and translating the Lightning Saix' words for you."
Dean nodded. "I see." He then turned to Rob and said, "Very well. May I listen to the other evidence?"
Rob nodded, and as Dean listened to the rest of the evidence, Irvine felt that Dean was on their side. He didn't know how, but he just knew that McMann was going down.
Once all of the evidence had been presented, Dean opened his briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of papers. Pulling out a pen, he shuffled through the papers, making marks here and there with his pen. McMann remained quiet, glaring in hatred at Irvine, who ignored him.
After a few moments, he slipped the papers over to Rob, who looked at them and nodded respectfully. "I see. Well, I think I'd better let Major General Karl Shubaltz handle this, considering that your client is a citizen of the Guylos Empire." Rob got up and nodded as Karl took his seat.
"What am I looking at exactly, Mr. Dean?" Karl asked, emerald eyes roving over the papers in front of him.
Dean folded his hands again and replied, "A request that we make a deal for my client here and now rather than go to court." Dean took in all of the surprised looks and remained silent.
McMann exploded. "How dare you side with them?! I hired you to protect me and make sure that I do not go to jail! I am not guilty, Dean, and I can prove it!"
"How?" Raven questioned, his voice drawing Dean's attention. "How can you prove yourself innocent, little man, when you vehemently protest your lawyer's actions? Your outrage and anger at him just proves that you are guilty." Raven's eyes probed McMann's own, daring him to retaliate and he smirked when McMann lowered his eyes.
"I am innocent!" McMann proclaimed again, and, ignoring Dean's attempts to shut him up, jumped out of his seat and rushed at Raven, who watched him coming silently. McMann went to throw a punch, only to have Raven duck out of the way and move behind him, grabbing his arms and holding them behind his back. Once Raven had McMann's arms restrained, he moved the prisoner back to his seat. He held him there until Hermann came over with a pair of handcuffs, which allowed Raven to back off and resume his current position.
"Let me go! I order you to let me go!" McMann demanded, struggling with the handcuffs.
Dean shook his head and, looking at Karl, said, "I apologize for my client's behavior; I can see now why you had Raven as an interrogator. He is very effective." Sending a nod at Raven, he continued speaking, "Now, Major General, do tell me what the deal is so that I may return home to my family, considering I had to leave my daughter's birthday party to come and defend my client."
Karl nodded sympathetically and was about to open his mouth to tell Dean that he had to clear his proposed punishment with the Emperor as McMann had assaulted friends of said figure when the door was slammed open and a breathless Maria stood in the doorway.
"Maria? What's wrong?" Van asked, his eyes meeting Maria's own.
"She's, she's awake. Moonbay's awake!" Maria said, her eyes showing her happiness. She glanced at Irvine and added, "Irvine, she wants to see you."
Irvine glanced at Van, who nodded, and with a nod at Dean, ran out of the room, almost colliding with Fiona and Ryss as he did so. Dean looked at the people gathered in the room and asked, "I assume that Moonbay is the name of the young woman that my client almost murdered?"
"I didn't know it was her! I swear!"
Dean looked at McMann and replied, "I feel for you, McMann. I really do."