February 4th, 12:23pm

Gotham City Courthouse - Defendant Lobby No. 4

The tension didn't leave Athena's body until she saw Dick Grayson, in a civilian garb of a long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, walk into the room with Mr. Wright. She rushed up to greet them, and as she got closer she saw that Mr. Wright was looking worse for wear. It was clear he hadn't slept well, if at all, from the bags under his eyes, and his hair didn't have that perfectly groomed spikes, the form looking shaky with stray hairs poking out here and there. Before he could say anything, Athena gave him a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay, boss!"

When she looked up at his face, Athena could see he was smiling down at her paternally. "I'm pretty happy about that too, Athena. And I have you to thank for it. You drew out the testimony long enough to make sure the Riddler didn't have time to escape."

Another voice coughed, and the two of them looked at Dick, who was grinning ruefully at them. "Well, I think I deserve some of the credit too, don't I? I know it's like my fiftieth time taking down Nygma, but sti-" Before he could finish the sentence, Athena removed herself from Mr. Wright and hugged the superhero as well. "Oh, uh, you don't need to do that. Not that I'm complaining or anything."

Blushing from being that close Nightwing's perfect abs, Athena withdrew herself and slapped her face a little, trying to get in the zone for what came next. On that topic, Mr. Wright had some thoughts. "Well, this is it, isn't it? That footage, if it's accurate, could spell out exactly what happened with this case. It's the ultimate, decisive piece of evidence. And we have no idea what it shows..."

Instead of looking grim, as Mr. Wright was, Athena was all smiles. "Nessun problema! I'm confident that Mr. Dent is innocent, and if that's the case, the footage should make that clear to everyone else!" With that hope in her heart, Athena heard the bailiff tell them the recess was ending, and they'd need to get back into the courtroom. She and Mr. Wright went to the defense's bench, while Dick headed to the audience, where he was quickly mobbed for autographs.

February 4th, 1:00pm

Gotham City Courthouse - Courtroom No. 4

"Order! Order in the court! Gallery, stop accosting that young man!" It took quite a bit of shouting and gavel banging to bring the court to order, especially with a celebrity in the stands, but the Judge managed it anyway. Looking very much annoyed, he addressed the court. "Now then, the prior recess was done to give the prosecution time to validate the security camera footage provided by the last witness. What are the results, Ms. von Karma?"

The court, Athena included, looked over at the prosecution's bench and found that she looked...tense. One hand was clutching tightly around a shoulder, and beads of sweat were forming on her face. "The prosecution...has confirmed that this footage is, in fact, what was recorded on the night of the breakout. The court should pay close attention to it." Then, with a brisk wave a hand, a large holographic display appeared to allow the court to see what was recorded.

The footage started where the previous part of the recording left off, with the victim sitting at his desk. Nothing happened until the blackout hit, his lights turning off and leaving the room completely black, only for the power to stutter back on and show the victim looking utterly nonplussed, continuing looking away from his computer to his phone. He continued doing little of consequence for a while, until he suddenly looked towards the wall against which the bookshelf stood, the same wall where the secret hallway connected to his room.

Juan Morto's face brightened into a cheeky smile as he looked down the hallway, and he began talking. Once again, the lack of audio was an issue. There was clearly some sort of conversation happening, a back and forth between the victim listening to someone else and saying something himself. Then, Juan's grin turned into a frown, and he quickly pulled his gun out and fired it. Then, before he could fire again, the court watched as a bullet hit him in the chest and he quickly bled out. He struggled in his chair for a moment before the life leaving his face.

Then, after a bit of waiting, Harvey Dent entered the room from the normal entrance. He looked like he was in a hurry, but the second he saw the deceased, still facing the secret hallway in his swivel chair, the defendant froze. Then, he walked up to face the passage, and looked down it for a few seconds, his face impassive. After that, he went about doctoring the scene: moving the body to face the desk, closing the secret hallway entrance, then searching for the bullet and quickly swallowing it. Once that was done, he took the victim's pistol, rummaged through the drawers to get his coin and searched for the wand, only to finally give up and exit the room.

With the footage done, the court was quiet, and it felt like everyone was holding their breath. Finally, the Judge said something to break the silence. "Well, that evidence was fairly definitive. The victim was killed by an unknown assailant from the hidden hallway, not by the defendant. While Harvey Dent is clearly guilty of destruction of evidence and tampering with the crime scene, he is not guilty of murder. Do you agree with this conclusion, Ms. von Karma?"

The prosecutor took a deep breath, which seemed to steady herself enough that she was able to regain her composure. "That does seem to be the case, Your Honor. We will be indicting him for the crimes you mentioned once this trial is over, but for the murder of Juan Morto, it seems he is in fact innocent. What are the thoughts of the defense?"

The court's attention was now centered on the defense's bench, and Athena was considering what had been asked of her. Mr. Wright looked ready for this to be over. "Well, you've done it Athena. You've saved Harvey's life." But something...something was nagging Athena. The Judge was taking her silence as affirmation, and was about to give the sentence, when Athena started running through the facts of the case in her mind as quickly as she could.

Why didn't she feel like this case was over yet? They didn't know who killed Juan Morto. That loose end was nagging at Athena. Mr. Dent said he didn't "know" who the real killer was, but he'd still covered for them, and that look down the hallway...why would he go through all that trouble? The killer must be someone Mr. Dent cares about. Even if he could claim, without lying that he didn't 'know' who it was, he could still have acted with an assumption. There was something else as well, some other clue, something they hadn't taken the time to fully investigate, that was driving Athena's conscience wild. There was someone with discord in their heart.

"Hold it!" Athena shouted, just before the verdict was to be read. The whole court, Mr. Wright included, looked at her in surprise. "This trial can't end yet! There's still someone who needs to take the stand, someone who still needs help!"

Blinking in confusion, the Judge looked down at her, lowering his gavel. "Who is this person, Ms. Cykes? Who does this court still need to hear from?"

This was the moment of truth. It was time for her to name the real killer, the person who still needed the help that only Athena could give. "The defense would like to cross-examine the testimony of..." Then, she pointed to the person, sitting front row in the audience. "...Anthony Matthews!"

"Objection!" called the voice of Franziska, looking more annoyed than befuddled. "The court has already heard this witness's testimony, and the defendant has been sufficiently shown to not be guilty. There is no need to hear any more testimony, especially from someone who has already taken the stand!"

The only one looking at Athena was confidence was the Judge, of all people. "Ms. Cykes, do you think that cross-examining this witness further will further illuminate this case?" Athena nodded, grinning even though inside she felt so stressed she could puke. From the moment she realized this was what she had to do, she knew it would be an uphill battle. But that was no reason not to fight it. The Judge nodded, soothing Athena's fears a little. "Well then, while I agree with the prosecution that I would normally see no need for further witnesses, I have seen first-hand what attorneys from Mr. Wright's office are capable of, so I will allow this." Then, he banged his gavel, hard. "Bailiff, please help Mr. Matthews back to the stand!"

While that was being set up, Mr. Wright leaned in closer to Athena. "Why are you doing this?" he whispered, clearly not understanding what she was doing. "You've already saved Harvey, the Judge was about to give you the verdict."

His comment made Athena roll her eyes. "Isn't this exactly what you did in the Orca case? Just because we've gotten out defendant off scot-free, that doesn't mean we can just let the case end without helping everyone we can."

"I did what I did then because Marlon wasn't guilty either, he was trying to take the fall for a crime he wasn't guilty of. But we all saw that footage, if your new witness is the one who fired the shot, he really is guilty. You're not saving him by making his guilt evident to the court." Mr. Wright's words were spoken with a mix of confidence and empathy, he was trying to talk her out of what he clearly saw as a misguided move.

But he didn't understand why she was doing this, and she wasn't sure if he was capable of doing so either. So Athena just put a hand on his shoulder as the witness was escorted to the stand. "Trust me on this, Mr. Wright. I know what I'm doing."

Anthony Matthews looked confused, sweaty, and more haggard than he had seemed to Athena the day before. One of his hands was running through his big bushy brown beard constantly, clearly some kind of comforting expression for him. The Judge looked at Athena expectantly. "Was there any particular event you'd like the witness to testify about?"

Crossing her arms, doing her best to look like she knew what she was doing, Athena told the Judge, "No, Your Honor, he can testify about whatever he likes. But I'd like to use this as a therapy session, if you don't mind. As you can clearly see, the witness is under a lot of stress."

The Judge gave her a look that made it clear he thought she was the source of said stress, but still banged his gavel and told the witness to begin his testimony. With Widget's holographic interface up, Athena trained her ears as he began talking. "I...I don't know why you called me here, Ms. Cykes," was how he started, and she could hear his fear and surprise in the words. "Don't we all know that Harvey didn't commit the crime now?" That sentence contained so much relief and happiness it made Athena rock back from the force of it. "I've already told you everything I know about Juan's death." That ending sentence though, it had many turbulent emotions in it. Rage. Sadness. Fear. So much fear.

"Mr. Mathews, I understand why you're confused about me summoning you. I also can see why talking about Juan's murder would fill you with anger and sadness. But why fear? And why so much of it? Why are you terrified to talk more about it?" The witness winced at Athena's words, and that was all she needed to know her initial line of thinking had been correct: this was the source of the Noise still in his voice, which was even now rising from less than ten percent back up to fifty.

To her questions, the witness provided a new testimony. "I have a lot to be scared about! My job is a hellhole, and I've nearly died there half a dozen times! I'm terrified of dying alone, with no one in the world to mourn me! And...I'm terrified of you pining this crime on me! I don't want to go to jail for the rest of my life!" She'd never seen Anthony yell before, his face contorted by fear, and his voice completely overwhelmed by that same emotion.

It didn't take long for Athena to figure out what was causing the overflow of fear from the witness. "Mr. Matthews, I'm just trying to help you. And I know why you're so scared of going to jail..." With a hand motion, Athena brought up a picture of his place of work, Arkham Asylum. "You work at a place for the criminally insane, and experience clearly has made you terrified of being sent to anywhere similar to it. But you don't need to worry about that. I know you killed Juan Morto, but I don't think you'll go to jail for it."

If Anthony was comforted at all by her words, he didn't show it. Instead, he slammed his hands on the witness stand. "What evidence is there that I'm the one who killed Juan?" He was trying to look angry, but in his words Athena could still hear only his fear, now mixed with regret as well.

"I started to consider you as a suspect when I realized the Noise in your voice had never actually disappeared after your testimony, something I heard even talking to you out of court yesterday. Then I remembered that you said you'd gone to the break room after being scared out of the security office by the Joker. That room connects to the crime scene, where we now know the killer was standing. You also have a close bond to the defendant, explaining his covering up the crime scene." Then, as the final piece of the puzzle, Athena brought up a picture of the fingerprints found in the hallway. "As for actually proving this all, there is still one last set of fingerprints that we haven't identified, near the bullet hole in the wall. I think they're yours, and after taking your prints we can prove that."

The court was silent for a moment, only for the witness to collapse onto the stand, his head in his hands. "I don't understand why you're doing this! I...I can't...I'm not..." Then the tears started, as he began openly crying.

It hurt Athena's heart to know she was the one who had brought him to this, but she also still believed this was for the best. "Mr. Matthews, I'm sorry it's come to this, but you don't need to cry. Remember the footage?" She brought up the relevant portion, of Mr. Morto pulling out and firing his gun. "We know he shot at you first! It would be easy to show that this was self-defense, you wouldn't need to worry about going to jail for this!" Then, she spoke from her heart, tears in her eyes as well. "Mr. Matthews, you can't let this fester in your heart! Tell the truth, let it out,, and you'll be free!"

It was so odd, seeing his large bear of a man crying on the stand, but the tears began to slow down and finally he drew himself up again, eyes still watery, to tell the court everything. "Y-you're right, Athena. I'm the one who killed Juan. I had heard about that passage before, and I went into it to hide from any escaped patients. When Juan saw me, we talked a little. I...I didn't know that some of the guards were helping patients escape, but he thought I did, and asked me how much I was making for that help. I guess he wanted to make sure he wasn't being ripped off...I might be scared of the people at the Asylum, but I also know they need treatment, and being paid to let them run free is just...wrong.

"I asked him how he could live with himself, when so many deaths might have been caused by him helping in this scheme. He didn't like hearing that, and shot at me. I...I didn't even think, my heart was beating so hard and fast my senses were overwhelmed. It was over so quickly, and all of a sudden he was dead. I almost didn't believe what had happened, those prints were left because I'd tried looking closer at the hole to see if he really had shot at me." The court reeled from all of this, from the truth finally coming out. Anthony started crying again, and he looked around the court to Athena, Franziska, and the Judge. "I didn't mean to kill him. I'm so sorry..."

A sharp snap caught everyone's attention, the sound coming from Ms. von Karma, who was looking at the witness with steel in her eyes. "Your confession has been noted, witness. That said, based on the circumstances, the defense is correct. There will be further investigation, but I highly doubt the Gotham City Police Department will file charges against you, not with the video evidence we now have." Her words stopped him from crying any more, but he still looked conflicted, unsure.

The Judge, however, was anything but conflicted. "Thank you, Ms. Cykes, for helping this court discover the truth. Now, I can say the following without any reservation: this court finds the defendant, Harvey Dent, on one cont of the crime of murder in the first degree, NOT GUILTY." There was some light applause from some in the stands, but most of them were silent. There was no fanfare of cheering in Gotham City for the exoneration of a supervillain. "With all of that done, court is now adjourned."