A/N: I'm here with the tenth chapter of this story, if you include the prologue. How fitting that this chapter is the one where we first enter court. And given that we're in court, I think we should enter the head of a new viewpoint character. Its time for femslash!
Chapter 9: The Shadow's Game
December 22 2030. Time: ?
Location: ?
All actions have consequences. Even if the payoff isn't until a long way down the road, what you've done will catch up to you.
If you aren't prepared, your life will be swallowed by the abyss.
Date: Feb. 09th, 2028
Time: ?
Location: ?
"In this world, there are certain kinds of people. People so inherently selfish and rotten that they will destroy everything around them just to get what they want. Watch out for these people, and stay away from them if you can."
"I think I understand now. I've met one of those people, and she's already stolen quite a lot from me. But I can't just stay away. If I'm ever going to reach my dream, I need to take things into my own hands. And with this, I will finally be rid of her!"
February 11, 9:00 a.m.
District Court - Defendant lobby No. 3
Athena Cykes strode down the halls of the courtroom, headed towards the lobby where Robin and the rest of their friends would be waiting.
Unfortunately, not much progress was made since yesterday. All attempts to track down Logan Sullivan proved to be futile, only for it to turn out that he was holed up in the Prosecutor's office and wasn't accepting visitors. Likewise, she had investigated the crime scene briefly but couldn't turn up any clues. It didn't help that Apollo and Mr. Wright were still busy with cases of their own.
Things looked pretty bad. But as the Boss always said, the worst of times were when a lawyer had to force their biggest smile. So when Athena reached the door to the defendant lobby, she stopped briefly and drew in her breath.
Athena burst dramatically into the lobby, a mile-wide grin on her face and and spring in her step. She faced everyone inside and declared at the top of her lungs,
"Alright, everyone! Who's ready to bust the Shadow and put a stop to him once and for all?"
She was promptly ignored by everyone inside. Robin was sitting in a chair muttering something under her breath, sweating profusely. Juniper sat in a chair next to her and comforted her girlfriend, holding her hand and whispering encouraging things in her ear.
Myriam and Hugh were huddled in a corner going over something in their hands, frustration clear on their features. It said something about their situation that Myriam wasn't even wearing her box.
"Hey now, don't everyone answer all at once," Athena said, almost feeling hurt.
This caught everyone's attention. "Oh, good morning Thena." Juniper said. "We're not exactly ready yet. But now that you're here we might have some new info to work with."
"Yeah...I really don't have anything."
Athena then explained her investigation and the results she got, or lack thereof.
Hugh and Myriam stood up and joined the rest of the group.
"At least that matches up with what we got," Hugh quipped as he handed Athena all the papers they had. It turned out to be all the evidence they had collected so far on the Shadow. "We asked around Themis yesterday about Logan, but no one would tell us anything."
"Logan has never talked with anyone in the three years he's attended Themis Academy," Myriam continued. "However, I dug around some old back issues of the Themis Herald and did find something new, sss sss sss."
"Please and thank you, Myriam," Athena said, desperate for any new information at this point.
"I interviewed him once when he was a freshman. As a scholarship student I thought he was hiding a good story, so I started by asking him why he was attending Themis."
Robin looked up for the first since the conversation started. "What did he say?" She asked.
Myriam smirked. "You'll find this really interesting, Kahk-Kahk. He told me he wanted to become the top student in all of Themis Academy, because he had to become Chief Prosecutor. It was all he would tell me."
"That reminds me," Juniper mused aloud. "When Logan and I talked the other day, he introduced himself as the top student of the Prosecutor course. I didn't really notice it because I was thinking about my Grandma at the time."
"I'm still the top student," Robin corrected. "But why would he introduce himself like that?"
A silence hung over everyone as they contemplated the new information. Many questions remained, but Logan looked more suspicious with every passing minute.
"Well enough of that!" Athena said. "There's nothing left but to take the evidence we do have and go charging forward. And we'll start with a jog around the courtroom!"
"Before we do that, anything else we need to know?" Robin asked.
"Nothing much. The Prosecutor is still Simon Blackquill. We do have judge I haven't see before, but I have heard of her. Her name is Justine Courtney, I think."
Both Juniper and Robin instantly sat ramrod straight, with Robin paling noticeably.
"Are you telling me that the Chair of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee is presiding over my trial?"
When Athena nodded in response, Robin swooned then passed out in her chair.
"So she's the judge," Hugh said. "This might be a problem."
"If this lady is so important why is she here?" Myriam asked.
"Ms. Courtney serves as both Chair of the P.I.C. and a Judge," Juniper said. "Robin and I study her a lot because of it. She has a reputation of being stern and unyielding during trials."
A sensation of despair began to overtake Athena. So the judge is someone very strict who's probably going to be very hard to sway. That's just great.
"Someone wake up Robin," Athena said. "We need to go over our strategy one last time before the trial starts."
Feb 11, 9:30 a.m.
District Court - Courtroom No. 2
Day 1
Court is now in session
All rise
The familiar buzzing of people in the stands filled Athena's ears, with the prevailing emotion being one of curiousity. Athena looked around her, taking stock of her surroundings. Her old phobia of courtrooms made the atmosphere disquieting to her, but Athena did her best to manage it.
Right next to her was Robin, in her usual red jacket and sweatpants combo. She appeared to have control of her nerves and now had a look of determination on her face. Robin had opened her jacket, revealing a white t-shirt with a cute teddy bear head on it, presumably as a charm offensive.
Across from her was Simon Blackquill, rigid and impassive. Taka sat on his shoulder and he wore his usual Prosecutor's outfit. A careful observer would notice that he had less bags under his eyes, and his skin wasn't as pale as before.
At the judge's bench was Justine Courtney in all her glory. While her outfit was unchanged aside from some gold trim, she exuded authority. Judge Courtney proudly displayed her thirty-three years, her brow furrowed as one would expect someone who served as both a judge and in recent years as the Chairwoman of the P.I.C.
In the stands was the moral support. Hugh, Myriam and Juniper all sat in the same row, with Hugh and Myriam tapping their friendship bracelets when they saw Athena. Athena tapped tapped her own bracelet on her right forearm in response. Juniper smiled at Athena and Robin, clutching a bouquet of flowers she had picked from her garden to celebrate a not guilty verdict. But one look in Junie's eyes told Athena that Junie was fretting internally about her girlfriend's fate.
This reminded Athena that her own girlfriend, Ema Skye, was the detective in charge of the trial Apollo was the defense for in another courtroom. Dealing with their separate cases, the two had only had a chance for a quick greeting earlier this morning.
Ema...I know I can't be there in person. But if someone dares to give you trouble, leave enough for me for when I get to them!
Judge Courtney slammed down her custom gavel, and Athena realized that only a couple minutes had passed since they had all entered the courtroom.
"Court is now in session for the trial of Robin Newman," Judge Courtney said. Her voice was surprisingly soft for a woman of her reputation. "The defense is ready, I presume?"
Robin effortlessly switched from serious to perky. "Ready and raring to go! And may I just say what an honor it is to have you presiding over my trial, Your Honor."
"I go where the Goddess of Law needs me," Judge Courtney responded simply. "Is the prosecution ready?"
"I am ready for battle, Your Honor," Prosecutor Blackquill answered. "Though I don't imagine this battle will take very long."
Athena slammed her hands down on the bench without thinking. "Oh, this battle won't be long alright. But only because Robin will get herself off the hook in no time at all!"
"Cykes-dono. Its always good to face off against you. As for you…" Blackquill looked straight at Robin. "I believe this is the second time we meet in a duel of wits."
"Heh heh heh. Nice to see you too, birdman." Robin said, instantly throwing Blackquill off his game. Athena couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Simon doubled over.
The sound of the gavel striking the bench called everyone's attention. "The defendant will refer to the Prosecutor by his proper title."
"Awwww mannn. Yes, Your Honor." Robin said, thoroughly chastised.
This is going so well already.
Athena had been afraid something like this would happen. She had agreed to let Robin lead her own defense because they didn't have much to lose at this point. But if Athena didn't guide her well enough things could fall apart really quickly.
"Prosecutor Blackquill, your opening statement."
A smirk formed on Simon's lips, and Athena knew what would happen next. "Actually, being someone of such prestige as yourself, it would be fitting if you were to do the opening statement."
"Thank you for offering, but the Goddess of Law has assigned the task unto you."
"No, I insist that-"
Judge Courtney's expression hardened, and her voice became harsh. "Perhaps you didn't understand me the first time. Your opening statement, Prosecutor."
Simon appeared to have no rebuttal, and so instead he had Taka hold some papers in front of him.
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen someone reign in Simon so well. This judge is something else.
"On the morning of February 10th, the police received a call from a student of Themis Legal Academy telling them that some of the school lockers had been vandalized." Simon said. "The constabulary that arrived at the scene of the crime confirmed the student's account. Here is are pictures of the crime scene."
Taka delivered a photo first to Judge Courtney, then to Robin and Athena. Both girls looked down at the photo in front of them and studied it.
Crime scene photo added to the Court Record.
Athena had seen the crime scene yesterday, and it hadn't changed since then: someone had painted the words, "Face me, you coward!" Rather violently across several lockers in bright red paint. Furthermore, that person had painted several arrows all pointed towards a specific locker, the door of that locker having having a large dent in it. On the floor in front of the lockers was a stained paintbrush and a small hammer.
On the other side of the courtroom, Prosecutor Blackquill continued his opening statement.
"When we saw the paint brush and hammer on the floor, we immediately sent them off for analysis. Not only were these items used in the crime, but they also had the defendant's fingerprints on it. Even the paint used in the crime was found to be from a bottle found in the defendant's locker."
Once again the evidence was passed around. Judging by the Robin's reaction the hammer and paintbrush did indeed belong to her. She turned to Athena and whispered, "I was wondering where these had gone. When I checked my locker yesterday I noticed these were all missing except for the paint bottle."
Athena took this new information with what she already had and the Shadow's plan slowly began to take shape in her mind. It seemed that they had gone out of their way to forge as much evidence as possible that pointed to Robin in order to get her convicted.
The sheer nerve of this man! To go so far to just to get rid of Robin!
"Slimy coward!" Widget declared.
"The court accepts these into evidence." Judge Courtney, who seemed to not hear what Widget had said much to Athena's relief.
Robin's paintbrush added to the Court Record.
Robin's hammer added to the Court Record.
Robin's paint added to the Court Record.
The two girls once again took the time to study the evidence in front of them before the bailiff took it away. Clearly marked was where forensics had found fingerprints: on the grip of both the paintbrush and the hammer.
"So what how do you think your fingerprints got on these?" Athena asked Robin.
"I think the Shadow took them out of my locker knowing full well my fingerprints would already be on these," she answered, echoing Athena's own thoughts on the matter. "Since I brought these from home, its makes sense that-huh? What's that?"
Athena looked at where Robin was pointing. On the area just below the paintbrush's head were very faint smears. On the head and lower part of the handle of the hammer were some similar smears.
"Good eye, Robin. Let's keep these in mind for later."
Odd markings added to the Court Record.
"Given the evidence, it is the Prosecution's opinion that no one else besides the defendant could have committed the crime," Prosecutor Blackquill finished, smirking once again.
"This case does seem to be clear cut," Judge Courtney said. She gestured to the defense with a graceful flourish. "Unless the defendant has something to say for herself."
"I have just one l-i-t-t-l-e question." Robin said. "Why would I do any of this? The Prosecution seems to believe that I committed the crime, then did absolutely nothing to hide it."
"Who knows what thoughts dwell in the minds of men?" Simon said, tapping his forehead. Given the wording of the message on the lockers, you were calling out to a specific person."
"And who does the Prosecution believe this person is?" Judge Courtney asked.
" It seems that our fair lady wanted to challenge someone to a duel, though who that person is I don't know."
Judge Courtney slammed down her gavel. "The defendant fought with a fellow student, and it escalated to this. Such a shame that one so young would throw away their future, but as the case stands now there is no room for argument."
It took about a moment for the judge's statement to sink in, after which Robin and Athena began to panic. "Wait. You're already going to pass a verdict?" Athena said.
"There is no evidence to point to a different conclusion," Judge Courtney said. "Unless you have a piece of evidence you'd like to share with the court?"
Robin grabbed the Shadow's notes from where they were laying on their bench, and before Athena could stop her she held them above her head. "I do have evidence to show to the court. TAKE THAT, MAAAANNN!"
An awkward silence followed.
"And what am I supposed to make of this?" Judge Courtney asked.
"Well, if you'll let me explain-"
"SILENCE!" Prosecutor Blackquill shouted. "Its clear that the defendant wants to delay her fate by waving around meaningless trinkets."
"Is that so? Then the defendant can have a penalty."
"Maybe you shouldn't have been so hasty, Robin." Athena said, starting to feel a headache coming on.
"Ah ha ha ha," Robin said sheepishly. "Sorry, Athena."
"The Goddess of Law is patient, so I will give you another chance to change my mind. Do you have a piece of evidence to share with the court?"
"What do am I supposed to present, Athena?" Robin asked.
Athena wracked her mind until she hit upon an idea. "Remember what you noticed on your paintbrush and hammer?"
"Ah!"
Robin turned to face the courtroom at large and projected her voice. "If I may direct the court's attention the my paintbrush and my hammer. I was looking over them earlier when I noticed something else was on them besides my fingerprints."
"What?" Simon looked over the evidence in question and his eyes widened. "What is the meaning of this?"
Athena crossed her arms and smiled over at Simon. "The court will notice on both pieces of evidence blurry markings that someone clearly tried to erase. I'm guessing no one noticed them because they were focused on Robin's clear prints. Perhaps these are fingerprints as well?"
Judge Courtney slammed down her gavel. "I demand that a test be run on these markings at once!"
After a brief wait the results were delivered to Simon. "A fingerprint test reveals that-"
He doubled over abruptly, clearly shocked. "The markings on the paintbrush and the hammer! They're glove markings!"
Odd markings updated to Glove Markings in the Court Record.
The people in the stands erupted into chatter, with Blackquill trying to recover and Judge Courtney narrowing her eyes.
"I think this evidence makes it perfectly c-l-e-a-r-" Robin slammed her hands down on the bench. "That I'm being framed!"
"SILENCE!"
Prosecutor Blackquill put one of Taka's feathers in his mouth, then took a strange stance. He spat the feather out, and just as it floated in front of Robin he swung his arm.
Robin felt something pass within inches of her face and the feather split in two. "Eeeeekkk!" she exclaimed as she dropped to the floor.
"Prosecutor Blackquill!" Judge Courtney glared down at the unfazed Prosecutor. "I don't know what you did, but I don't approve of violence in my courtroom."
"Hmph. I was merely putting the defendant on notice." He turned his back to the proceedings. "Framed? A likely story. For all we know one of the forensics could have mishandled the evidence and wanted to cover up their mistake."
Simon reclined on the bench and looked over his shoulder with a smug smile. "And besides that, there is a witness. A colleague that observed the defendant the day before the crime, and came upon the crime scene the morning after."
Judge Courtney became pensive. "What the prosecution has suggested is a distinct possibility. Let us hear from this witness, then."
"The Prosecution calls Logan Sullivan to the stand."
So that's Logan Sullivan.
Athena gave a once over to the dark-haired teen that had taken the stand, who seemed to be more focused on the worn textbook he had open in front of him than his surroundings. He was in the Prosecutor's course uniform, which had been pressed clean at some point previously. Another detail that Athena picked up was the slight bags under his eyes, barely noticeable behind his thick, round glasses.
"Name and occupation, witness."
Logan looked up from his textbook and smiled gently. "My name is Logan Sullivan, a senior and the top student of the Prosecutor's course at Themis Legal Academy. I also work as a janitor at Themis, and I hope I can become a practicing prosecutor."
"Actually, I'm the top student of the Prosecutor's course," Robin said.
Logan turned to face her, and his expression became a lot more neutral. "Oh, Mr. Newman. I guess you're technically right. I'm the second top student."
Athena covered her ears as Logan's tone stabbed into them. Underneath a lot of discord was an undercurrent of contempt and anger.
Where is all this negativity coming from? I could use the Mood Matrix now...but it would be better to wait until his testimony to see what we can be pick apart.
"Oh! Did I call you Mr. Newman again?" Logan's expression became rather embarrassed despite the insincere tone. "Sorry. Its a bit jarring to think of you as a girl after almost three years of hearing the exact opposite."
I don't buy that for a second.
Prosecutor Blackquill slammed his hands down on the bench. "Cease this inane chatter, and get to your testimony."
"I'd be honored to, Prosecutor."
Testimony: An Odd Sight
I am a classmate of Newman's, so we share a lot of the same classes.
This includes the last class of the day.
On the day before the crime, the last class had just ended so I was going home.
But then I noticed Newman, who seemed really wound up about something.
She just kept looking around her, like she was being watched.
Then instead of heading towards the school exit, she went towards the school lockers.
I didn't think much about it until the next morning, when I came upon vandalized lockers.
As I was calling the police, I guess my mind made a connection between the two events.
Then I heard I she got arrested because of decisive evidence against her.
Given this, there was no other reason why she would heading towards the lockers the other day.
End Testimony
"I see. I suppose it would be natural to suspect the defendant after comparing her actions with the evidence we have." Judge Courtney said.
Athena reviewed the testimony in her head and found that all the discord from earlier had vanished.
Darn. Did I miss my chance?
Meanwhile, Robin was starting to look rather nervous.
"I did go to my locker the day before the crime," Robin said to Athena in whisper. "But it was to collect my school stuff and check to see if the Shadow had left another note. There wasn't one, until the next day at least."
"But the way his testimony fits with the prosecution's case, that's when you went to go 'commit' the crime, and you have no way so far of proving otherwise."
"I guess we just plow on anyway," Robin said, her posture and tone becoming determined.
"Judge Courtney looked over to Robin. "You may now cross examine the witness."
Both girls went over Logan's statements. The main problem was that Logan himself, by his own admission, did nothing expect see Robin for a few minutes and then come upon the crime scene the next day.
"HOLD IT! So what you're saying is that you just happened to come upon the crime scene? What were you doing that morning?"
Logan shrugged. "I was going to class. Like I was supposed to know you would paint the lockers."
"OBJECTION!" Athena shouted. "The witness is leading the courtroom!"
"OVERRULED! There is evidence pointing to the defendant's guilt, so I don't believe his statement is leading."
Woah, I didn't know Judge Courtney could be that loud. Where did that come from?
"Please continue your testimony, Mr. Sullivan."
Robin contemplated which statement to dissect next, then hit upon one that sounded weird on closer inspection.
"HOLD IT! You say I acted like I was being watched. But why were you watching me to begin with?"
"Ah! Well, you see-"
"SILENCE!" Prosecutor Blackquill looked rather unamused. "It matters not why the witness was observing you, just that he happened to catch you as you headed towards the crime scene. Regardless, he already said it was because your behavior had caught his attention."
"That's it. Thank you for catching that, Prosecutor. I'll keep going with my testimony then."
"We're going nowhere fast with this," a frustrated Athena grumbled.
"No, I think I see what their strategy is," Robin said perkily. "Which is why I think I can say with full confidence-OBJECTION!"
All attention immediately focused on Robin, who seemed unfazed by this. "Logan, you said that the only reason I went to the lockers was to commit the crime. But I actually went to my locker to try to catch someone else in the act of a separate crime, then I went home."
"Oh? Pray tell, what figment were you chasing?" Prosecutor Blackquill asked sardonically.
Robin lay the Shadow's notes in front of her. "For the past couple of weeks I've been harassed by someone who hides behind these notes. If the court will let me I'd like to submit them."
The notes were handed over to Judge Courtney, who perused them. As she read each note her eyes grew wider with horror, finally resting on the photo that had come with the first note. "These notes-they are a clear threat against the defendant!"
The courtroom erupted into chatter again as the notes were next passed to Prosecutor Blackquill.
"What? Why is this the first I've heard of this?"
As Judge Courtney quieted the courtroom Athena observed Logan, whose face had become impassive again.
Robin, meanwhile, was the picture of innocence with her hitching shoulders and the way she was rubbing her eyes. "We haven't had a real lead until recently so the police couldn't do anything. But on the day of the crime, all I did was check my locker briefly for a note. I then went-"
"SILENCE!"
When Blackquill had everyone's attention he smirked. "Ah. So this is the foe the defendant had in mind when she committed the crime," He said.
Robin went into a panic when when she saw where this was going.
"Wait, that's not what I meant-"
"By that logic," Logan interrupted, "The person whose locker was vandalized might be the person behind the notes. Who owns the locker that got hit with the hammer?"
"The owner of that particular locker...is one Hugh O'Conner."
To be continued.
A/N: All evidence that will be submitted has been submitted. The stage is set for a showdown. Will Robin and Athena catch the Shadow? And if so, what evidence will light the way to the truth? All will be revealed next chapter. Since this is my first fancase constructive criticism is much appreciated! Update those court records and feel free to speculate in the comments! See you next time! Please review.Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my corner of Romance.