CONTINUING TRANSMISSION...
KIDS NEXT DOOR MISSION
OPERATION:
F.A.R.R.A.H.
Family
Acquaintance
Returns
Reporting
Alarming
History
TRANSMISSION EIGHT:
TRIAL AND NO ERROR
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
It was the day. The day it would all come together. All over town people readied. In her motel room, Farrah dressed for what was to come, expecting to lose forever what she cared for most. Father was anticipating total victory, what was his would forever remain in his possession. The Kids Next Door weren't sure what to expect. Whether they won or lost today would depend completely on factors they had set up but were now beyond their control.
The place these peoples' hopes would convene was far from the Suburbia that they were used to. This battle would have a whole new field, the city municipal divorce court. Father, through his legal maneuvers and "donations" to the causes of certain city officials, has managed to wrangle the opportunity to finally break himself off completely from his weak-willed ex-wife. The only contact she had had with him for a long time now had been through court hearings regarding the custody of their five children. She had fought constantly to win the children back, despite the fact she was fully aware he had turned all five of them against her. She still kept going, she couldn't realize she was beaten. It had been only a minor nuisance, but she had started making moves in desperation recently. Making Father realize it had to end.
The Kids Next Doors' involvement had been the last straw. Their kidnapping of his daughter was going too far. Farrah had to be put down for good, and this day would be when it happened. Today, full custody of the children would be his, and a total loss of parental rights would be hers. The stupid fool had actually given him ammunition to use. It was simply a matter of getting Abigail to testify that her mother had hired someone to kidnap her. Obviously, the exact details of what happened would have to be avoided, but his lawyer was good enough that any attempts to do so from Farrah's attorney would be met with objections. Not that the details would be believed anyway.
Father checked his clock. It was time.
Numbuh Five checked her watch. It was time.
She stood in a hallway in the city courthouse, dressed a bit more smartly than usual. A dark blue dress as opposed to her usual dark blue t-shirt and red shorts clothed her today. She had her usual red cap atop her head. She stood outside a courtroom. She wasn't allowed into the room where the custody hearing would be held but that didn't stop her from finding a way to listen in.
Inside the courtroom, on the ceiling, in a corner, was a small device, the E.A.R. (Eavesdropping Audio Recorder). A device similar to it rested in Numbuh Five's ears, disguised as a set of headphones so that nobody would be the wiser. Five listened to the voices in the courtroom. She had so far heard at least nine people speak. Father, Farrah, their attorneys, the courtroom judge, and four of the Delightful Children. Five had heard each child say some horrible things about Farrah. They were obviously coached, and Farrah's attorney had called them on it. But the judge had let each child testify fully and completely. Five noticed he also allowed objections by Father's attorney, cutting down the questions Farrah's lawyer could ask.
Finally, it was the moment Numbuh Five had been waiting for. Father's attorney called for Abigail to take the stand. Obviously, Father was going to have Abigail testify to her kidnap attempt and get the girl to blame it on her mother. But if the Kids Next Door had gotten through to her enough, that wasn't about to happen today.
Abigail sat in the witness stand, her hands were shaking. She balled them up into fists to try and stop them. She bore the blank look on her face that the Delightful Children always carried. Father had personally done all in his power to ensure that she would have that look now. In the time between her rescue by Father and the court date, Abigail had been subjected to procedures to try and make her what she had been before being captured. She had managed to be Delightful enough quickly enough that the treatments hadn't lasted very long. But they still left Abigail hurting.
Abigail looked at Father, he looked much different than usual. Seeing as how men of living flame were usually frowned upon in courtrooms, he wore a specially made, synthetic body suit which made him look like a normal human being. He looked just as he did before he gained his power, a well-dressed adult male with dark brown hair like Abigail's and blue eyes like her mother and siblings.
Father's attorney approached, and began asking her questions. Abigail tried to answer as best she could. It was hard, trying hard to give the answers she knew would please Father. She had to hold out a bit longer. If she flubbed her testimony too soon she'd get pulled off the stand before she could fulfill her obligations. Soon though, after several questions regarding her kidnapping, the moment arrived.
"Abigail," said the attorney, a shady looking man with slicked back hair, "Tell me, did your mother engage the services of a group of people, in order to kidnap you?"
This was it. Father, Farrah, Numbuh Five, and the other Delightful Children, waited with eagerness, fear, and worry, for the girl's answer.
"No."
Father's attorney seemed to falter. Abigail had rehearsed this testimony time and again. There was no way she could've forgotten something as simple as saying "yes" instead of "no." Father and Farrah both had a wide-eyed expression of surprise on their faces.
"Abigail. I'll ask again. Did your mother hire people to kidnap you?"
"No, she did not."
"You do realize, miss, that you've sworn to tell-"
"-the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that's what I am doing. My mother never asked anybody to try to kidnap me."
The attorney was looking angry now. This was messing up his plan. Father's expression mimicked his lawyer's.
"Then how do you explain the fact that you were kidnapped?"
"My 'kidnappers' were a group of children such as myself, who like to be spies. Obviously they simply took their game too far this time."
"Permission to lead the witness." said Father's attorney to the judge.
A cry of "Objection!" suddenly came from Farrah's advocate. The judge sustained the objection. Left with nothing else, the attorney ended his line of questioning and sat down. It was now time for Farrah to question Abigail. She and her lawyer were whispering to each other in deep conversation. They both realized that this was exactly the opportunity they had been waiting for. Farrah's lawyer, a stocky older gentleman with graying hair, stepped up to the witness stand and began his cross-examination.
"Now, Abigail, I'm going to ask you a few questions about what your life with your father is like."
"Very well." said Abigail, fully prepared to truthfully answer each and every single question she would be asked.
Outside the courtroom, Numbuh Five listened in on the E.A.R. as Abigail described every single atrocity Father had ever performed on her and her siblings. Numbuh Five almost wretched right there in the middle of the corridor as she listened to some of it. Abigail had told Numbuh Five about most of Father's abuse, but she had never gone into specifics with her. However, Farrah's lawyer had to get every little point out there. Everything had to be exposed. So he asked Abigail for details, and Abigail, with barely a waver in her voice, provided them. Numbuh Five thought she heard small gasps and whines over the testimony. She realized the other Delightful Children must be having a fit over this betrayal.
They weren't prepared for the exposure of their treatment. The revelation that their father was a power-mad control freak, more concerned with keeping his children under his heel than caring for them, seemed to be too much for the Delightful Children. Five felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach as she listened to the moaning, the crying, the bubbling.
Bubbling? Five wondered.
She didn't wonder long though, as suddenly the courtroom doors next to her were blasted right off their hinges, smashing into the opposite wall. Five jumped into the courtroom to see Father standing up in his side of the courtroom, flames consuming his body. The heat was causing his disguise to bubble and melt. As glops of the synthetic substance that kept Father's true face hidden dripped onto the floor, he raised a hand up and pointed the palm at Abigail.
A ball of flame began to form in it.
END OF TRANSMISSION EIGHT