Chapter Twenty Four
No one really knew what to expect when they made their way back into the courtroom. After Keats's outburst and attempted retraction it could have led to almost anything. They found the man frantic and furious with a stiff and awkward Evan sitting beside him, barely looking in his direction. Keats was juddering around angrily, attempting to get the Bearded one to turn around and answer his questions but even Evan couldn't take any more.
As they took their places in the court, five shaken but determined souls knew that whatever unfolded would change their lives, one way or the other. Keats's dark influence had almost destroyed them many times over but still they stood strong.
"All rise."
This was it, the moment of truth, and the moment that Keats looked more frightened than he ever had in his life.
The judge took his position and the gathering retook their seats, awaiting an outcome that felt as unpredictable as Robin's kissing lips after a night on the booze. Slowly, impulsively, almost as one they linked hands across the row; Gene to Alex to Kim to Robin to Simon, all drawing strength from one another. It was how they had survived.
"This case closes under unusual circumstances," the judge began, "following Mister Keats changing his plea –"
"I told you to retract –" Keats began but Evan shushed him for once.
"It's too late for that," he hissed, "make the best of it."
"- the court finds DCI James Keats –"
Breath held. Hands held. Hope held.
" – Guilty –"
Eyes closed, air exhaled, hearts racing.
" – of the abduction and assault of Chief Inspector Robin Thomas, a further count of GBH and the attempted manslaughter of Chief Inspector Thomas; the abduction and rape of Detective Chief Inspector Alexandra Drake and the assault of Detective Inspector Victoria Stone."
"No!"
Keats's voice was the only one who cried out in horror as the rest were cries of relief, delight, amazement, justice. It seemed unbelievable that after all those months – years, in fact – of horror he had final been brought to task for some of the things he had done. It saddened Robin as he clutched Kim tightly in his arms that no charges had been brought against Keats for the things he had done to her. Nevertheless her evidence had brought out the part of Keats that was still somewhere inside of him, beaten down by the darkness that had led him to confess, even for a moment.
The court was awash with frantic reactions; Alex's fast embrace of Gene, Robin's mirrored reaction to Kim, Keats hissing furiously like a rabid dog and Simon, standing alone; eyes focused on Keats, conflicted between bile and fury for all he had put them through, and a lingering sadness from his desperate plea for help.
As the cacophony died down the judge continued.
"However, taking into consideration DCI Keats's admission of guilt –"
"Oh what?" Robin whined.
"Can't be bloody serious," Gene added.
"And time already spent in prison after his arrest –"
"What time spent in prison?" cried Alex, "he disappeared through the wall!"
"Along with the testimony from medical experts and psychologists that he was acting under reduced mental capacity at the time he committed these crimes…"
"Yeah, try all the time," Robin muttered.
"And the fact that he has agreed to actively seek help for his anger and violent tendencies –"
"Oh, no, no, no," Kim began to shake as she realised what was coming.
"I recommend a suspended sentence –"
"What the fuck?" cried Robin, his guts lurching at the news.
"No, no way," Alex shook her head.
"Dependent on the immediate commencement of counselling and rehabilitation…"
The smile that grew across Keats's face like ivy on a wall made Kim shake uncontrollably as he turned to eye her up.
"No, fuck no," she whispered.
"No, Gene, this can't be happening," Alex cried, "that's not right, that wouldn't happen, no one would give him a suspended sentence!"
"Bolly," Gene began.
"It's not right!" she cried, "this damn world is still protecting him!"
"Not if me and my knuckles have got anything to do with it," Gene threatened
"…And adherence to bail and curfew instructions."
"A fucking curfew," Kim could barely contain her anger and tears and she turned away, beginning to run toward the exit.
"Kim!" Robin cried, reaching out to grasp her but Gene stopped him.
"Let her go, Batman," he said, "Think she needs some space." He felt anger growing inside him, "I don't blame her.
"She shouldn't be on her own!" Robin cried as Kim disappeared out of the doors.
"She'll be back when she needs yer manly arms," Gene told him, " but for now she needs to put her head in Stringer-space. Alright?"
"However –"
The four remaining faces froze as the judge spoke again.
"What?" Keats's smile fixed and began to droop at the use of that word.
"…In light of the extremely serious nature of the charges brought against you…"
"Now what is he –" Gene began but Alex shushed him.
"…Your superiors have submitted instructions to the court that you are removed from your position with immediate effect –"
Alex's eyes bolted.
"This is it," she gasped.
"…Upon the circumstance that you receive a verdict of guilty…"
"This is it," Alex gasped again, staggering backwards, "this is what we wanted…"
"What?" Robin frowned, confused.
"…you will hand in your warrant and your identification to this court…"
"I don't get what –" Simon began but Gene interrupted.
"No title, no power, Shoebury," he said quickly, "Bolly's right, this is what we wanted."
"He needs to go to jail!" Robin cried but Alex shook her head.
"Put him in jail and he'll vanish into thin air but take away his title and he'll lose everything he cherishes."
"No…" Keats's tone showed that he understood this all too well.
"…before you leave." The judge concluded.
"That's it," Gene hissed, "the devil's had his tail clipped."
"Fucking hell," Simon swept a hand through his hair as Keats began to disintegrate in the dock.
"No, no way," he shook his head so hard that his glasses almost flew across the room, "you tell them they've got this wrong," he turned to Evan, "tell them to change this."
"Mister Keats, that's not my job," Evan hissed looking both annoyed and nervous.
"You fix this, White!" Keats barked angrily as a strangely warm breeze floated through the air.
"Perhaps if you had kept to one plea instead of trying to change your mind twice in a row this would have had a different outcome," Evan told him through gritted teeth.
"Mister Keats, I suggest you calm down before I have to add contempt of court to your list of offences," the judge warned him but Keats didn't even register his voice.
"You are not doing this," he warned the court as a couple of official-looking gentlemen began to approach him and the tiniest scent of smouldering embers passed through the air, "no way are you doing this. You're not taking my job away from me," he started backing away, "You're not taking me away from my station!"
With the last word of his sentence there was a strange sound and a strip of flame appeared across the wall, tearing apart reality, replacing justice with hell.
"Oh my fucking fuck; fire!" Even screamed, jumping on his chair like a very hot mouse was running around him.
"You are not doing this to me," Keats screamed at the top of his lungs, his words ripping away another piece of the room and replacing it with the fires that made up his world.
"Gene, what's happening?" Alex gasped, clinging to his arm as Gene instinctively grasped for her other hand, "what the hell is he doing?"
"He's having one last hoorah, that's what he's doing," he growled as panic began to spread through the room.
"Fire!"
"Everybody out!"
"Evacuate the room!"
"Oh for…" Robin rolled his eyes, "It's not real fire!" he cried but those who were unfamiliar with the perils of an enraged Keats did not agree and one of them broke the glass to set off the fire alarms and the sprinkler system decided to give them an impromptu shower.
"Oh shit," Simon tried to cover his head.
"What do we do now?" Robin cried against the din of flames, water and screaming.
"I don't know, I thought I'd stick around and have a nice swim," Gene said angrily, "I don't know about you, Batman, but I've left me rubber dinghy at home so if I were you I'd start moving towards the door before yer cape gets waterlogged!"
X
Out of the doused inferno, into the swirling throng of people sweeping by outside.
The team found themselves pushed towards the doors and out into the car park where confusion reigned supreme and a lot of wet, angry people coughed and spluttered, not from the smoke but from the sprinkler system.
"It's gone up my nose!" Simon wailed as Robin began to look all around.
"Kim?" he called a little pointlessly, "Kim? Are you out here?"
"She's probably left the grounds for some air, Robin," Alex told him but Robin didn't seem convinced.
"I'd feel better if I knew where she was," he said worriedly.
"I'm more worried about where our fire starter's gone," Gene said. There was a hint of something in his voice that put the others on high alert.
"He'd be with Evan, wouldn't he?" Simon asked. But as they looked around them they found Evan by himself with a strange contraption over his face. Headed by Robin, the gathering ran in his direction.
"Evan," Robin began breathlessly, "Where is he?"
Evan rang out his beard and replaced his facial hair raincoat.
"Excuse me?" he frowned.
"Keats!" Cried Robin.
"I have no idea, and quite frankly I don't wish to know either," Evan said with genuine hint of remorse in his tone.
"Didn't he leave the courtroom with you?"
"My job here's over," Evan told Robin, "I represented Mister Keats and did this to the best of my ability based on the facts he presented to me."
"I don't give a fuck," Robin cried, throwing his hands in the air, "I want to know where he is now!"
Evan pouted.
"Well not here," he said, "and if any of you happen to see him please inform him that I'll be looking to recover a higher fee after the trouble he put me through in court today. Plus I may well be suing for damages. My career will be heading down the drain after this and nobody warned me my beard may be subject to fire, flood and impact damage!"
"Well I can supply the impact damage," Gene offered but Robin pushed past him almost sending him flying. "Oi! Just because you've got yer underpants on outside of yer tights doesn't give you the right to treat me like a skittle!"
Alex, who'd stayed a little way back to keep her distance from Evan, re-joined them.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I've got a very bad feeling," Robin muttered as he marched around, looking in all directions.
"Robin, Kim could be anywhere," Simon began, "she'll be at home or something, probably getting something pierced or sinking a large scotch, if I remember correctly."
"Keats has disappeared," Robin frantically told them, "I'm sure you can see my problem here."
"He can't have gone far," Simon tried to reassure him but Robin wasn't listening.
"There's no sign of him," he flapped, "come off it, you know exactly who he's going to be looking for. He's obsessed with her, he's been drugging her and now she's just secured him losing his title."
"But Robin, they've taken his power away," Alex began, "He might have spread the flames one last time but by now he could be as human as you or me."
"Then that scares me more," Robin whispered and Alex felt a shiver travel down her spine.
"Why?" she whispered.
Robin swallowed,
"Because if he's lost his power but still has the darkness," he shuddered, "there's nothing stronger than human rage."
Alex felt her heart speeding up as she took in his words. She started to turn her head, looking left and right.
"Alright," she whispered, "alright, Robin, we'll split up, we'll look for them both."
"She can't be far, me bloody pride and joy is still parked up there," Gene aimed his finger up to the first storey of the car park. The tiniest hint of yellow could be seen.
"Gene, how can you even tell?" cried Simon, "that could be anything!"
"Me cars have a certain aura…" Gene began but the apparent aura of the Fiat was forgotten by the movement beside it that caused a few loose pieces of paint to flake from the outer wall and a slight cry to come from above.
Robin didn't need to wait to see any more. His heart knew already.
"Oh god," he gasped as his legs began to take him towards the stairwell.
"Robin, what –" Alex began but as she looked upward the blonde hair of the shaking head pressed against the barrier filled in the blanks. "No, god no –"
"Kim," Simon swallowed, "what the fuck do we do?"
Gene wasn't sure what was happening, what Kim was doing there or how Keats had even found her but he knew one thing for sure – they had to move fast.
"It's time to do our best Robson and Jerome impression" he said to a sea of blank faces. Rolling his eyes, he sighed. "Up on the roof!"
One moment everything had been as near to perfect as Damnit, the next everything hung in the balance once again. Justice had not yet been done.
~xXx~
A/N: The next chapter will probably be up on Saturday :P