Chapter 12 The Trial
Mainframe The Convention Centre
They held the trial in Mainframe's largest hall. Even so the place was packed as practically all of Mainframe sat down in the hastily made up pews. After all, the greatest trial in history was about to start. Though the hall had been redecorated in sombre blues to serve its present function Bob recognised it as the room where Dot almost married Megabyte who was disguised as a healthier, cockier version of Bob at the time. The Guardian sincerely hoped that this trial was not to be another fiasco.
The deafening babble of hundreds of voices stopped as Phong the acting judge entered the courtroom. The entire crowd stood up in respect for the elderly sprite as he rolled up to his desk at the front. He wore a black robe for the occasion as he banged his gavel to signal the trial to begin. He signalled for Hexadecimal to be brought forward.
The young virus looked the part of a criminal. She still wore the large grey prison uniform provided for her. The girl was not well. Her eyes were glazed and she swayed slightly due to the drugs she took to make her fit for trial. The guards had to guide her to the podium where a small grey statue of Justice balancing the scales sat. Bob noticed that this Justice was not blindfolded like in other systems' courtrooms he visited.
"Hexadecimal?" called out Phong. The girl did not respond. "Hexadecimal! You have been charged by this system for numerous crimes, theft, and destruction of property and not in the least murder of at least 2000 counts done in the course of your lifetime. The most recent being when you merged with your brother to form Gigabyte. How do you plead? Hex how do you plead!"
Slash rolled up to the front this time to rescue her, " We plead not guilty by reason of insanity your honour."
"Then the trial can begin, Matrix you have the opening statement," said Phong.
Matrix walked confidently up to the jury. He wore what would have been a conservative grey suit if it weren't for the fact that the sleeves were ripped out. He turned to the jury, Hack and Slash had chosen as best they could making sure that the lucky dozen weren't in any way employed by Dot.
"Members of the jury we are here to see justice done after being long denied. For days Hexadecimal has terrorized us with her antics. Do you remember being turned to stone, having Mainframe repainted or worst of all the deaths we have all suffered as she and Megabyte merged to become Gigabyte? I will prove to you what we all know. That this virus is a dangerous ticking time bomb and should be put down."
Now it was Hack's turn both robots had polished themselves so they shined. "Your Honour, members of the esteemed jury we are here to see justice done. What is justice? Seeing Hexadecimal suffer? No. All her life Hex has suffered from one form of insanity or another. Her perceptions and views of right and wrong were warped. If she had been born a sprite she would have received the care she needed. Instead the only one in Mainframe who even bothered to help her was Bob. Are we denying the terrible things she did? No we won't, but we will prove that she was not at fault and now is no longer capable of harming anyone again."
Hexadecimal's mind
While the trial was going on Hexadecimal was by no means passive. Hack and Slash's defence impressed the young girl but she was realistic. Hex knew that however the outcome the verdict would probably be guilty. And so she prepared.
Her multiple personalities would have normally fought for control of her body but this time threatened by outside forces they cooperated. While the nulls could not reach due to the barriers set up around the prison and courtroom she could reach them.
Her powers were mostly gone, forgotten but she did retain her power to control nulls. Reaching them with her mind she instructed the more intelligent of them to break into the principle's office through the maintenance shafts. Unnoticed they set to work on the power systems.
"Soon my little surprise will be ready, and we will be vindicated," thought Hex.
Mainframe the Courtroom
"I now call Bob to the witness stand," called out Matrix.
When Bob had sat down Matrix continued, "Bob you'd describe yourself an expert on viral behaviour wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I would," replied Bob.
"Did you yourself not describe the virus, Hexadecimal as an evil creature?"
"Yes but that was before."
"That's enough!" Matrix raised a read me file in his hand. " Your Honour, members of the jury I have here, from the Supercomputer, a read me file written by Bob himself describing a psychological profile of both viruses infecting Mainframe. It describes Hexadecimal as irredeemable, I submit this to you." He turned to Bob and asked "Tell me what made you change your tune and show pity on this thing?"
"I began to recognize the symptoms of schizophrenia in Hexadecimal."
"And how did you know that, do you have a degree in Psychology?"
"Yes, as I matter of fact I have a Master's degree in it!"
Matrix's face fell as he realised the error he made. Frowning he turned to Bob "And this degree gives you the right to play User to test your theories? Why didn't you follow procedure and try and delete these viruses in the first place?"
"Because correct procedure in this place required that when a virus as powerful as Hexadecimal is found in a small system, like Mainframe is that the entire system be destroyed, you should know this Matrix if you bothered to remember your code."
Matrix shooed Bob away. Then it was Hack and Slash's turn. They called up Dr. Chandra to the witness stand.
Holding a thick brown file in his hand Hack turned to Dr. Chandra, "Tell Doctor what is this I have in my hand?"
"It is Hexadecimal's medical and psychological records. They describe the girl's physical and mental condition as well as her medical history," replied Chandra.
Slash meanwhile had been reading the file in question. "Hex made her moves on Bob wearing a burn stocking and -oh yes!" Hastily he put the files down and continued his questioning. "Dr. Chandra in these many files I came across a term called schizophrenia toxaemia. Tell me what is that?"
"And what does that mean?" asked Hack.
"It means that because of the toxins found in Lost Angles Hexadecimal suffered from several mental diseases. This caused her to experience hallucinations, mood swings, dementia and the inability to distinguish fantasy from reality among other things. As time went by these symptoms would have become more and more acute resulting in her eventual death."
"And who else experienced these symptoms?" said Slash.
The witness replied, "Anybody who took up residence in Lost Angles has experienced this in one form or another. The toxins made them a danger to themselves and others."
"One more thing Dr. Chandra, who defeated Gigabyte?" said Hack.
"Hexadecimal, did she forced a separation," replied the psychiatrist.
"But before she did Gigabyte killed hundreds of people. Why didn't she stop before?" asked Slash.
"Hex wasn't aware she had the power to initiate a separation, I merely made her aware of it. Its part of my format," answered Chandra.
The pair thanked Chandra. Now being Matrix's turn he called up Hexadecimal to the stand. The young virus did not look well; she or rather they had had a sleepless night. She stumbled just before getting into the stand as the personalities tried to control the body they shared. Basic tasks were becoming harder and harder for her to do.
"Hexadecimal," he said harshly. "In Lost Angles you set up several traps around your Lair didn't you?"
The girl took a quick breath, her face shifted as one of the personalities took control, "Yes I did, they kept me safe even after Bob cured me."
"So the poisons are just another kind of trap aren't they?"
"No! I had no idea they were there. We, I wanted to have Bob live with us, no me. I- I tried to make the place nice." She stammered with tears in her eyes. " After what he did for me I would never hurt Bob. Well not unless he was in to it!" The slut persona was in full swing now. The virus winked at Bob.
Incensed Matrix grabbed Hex by the collar practically pulling her out of witness box. "Don't lie virus I know your kind. I think you poisoned the land itself so you'd have no neighbours. You always were protective of your home making it unusable for the rest of us would have protected you, wouldn't it?"
Tears welled up in the girl eyes she shook her head in denial. Matrix continued, "You were too basic; you ended up poisoning yourself as well! Confess you Bat, confess. Little Chartreuse is dead because of you!" He shook her roughly, causing her head to snap to and thro.
Hack and Slash had to pry him away from the now sobbing girl. Matrix shoved them away and dusted himself off. "Your honour I would like to call in character witnesses."
Over the second the court heard from several witnesses that both the prosecution and defence produced. From them the citizens learned that before Hexadecimal merged with Megabyte she had never really deleted anyone what she did was far more creative. Usually she turned people into things such as penguins or cookies. Hack and Slash at the end of the day produced copies of Hex's memories to the judge and jury in the hope of swaying sympathy but it did not look good.
All this time Hex sat in her seat holding herself, ignoring the rest of the world.
Al's Diner later that Night
Later on Hack and Slash sat in booth with Mouse trying desperately to woo her. They shouted partly to be heard over the din of other customers in the packed restaurant and partly out of desperation. Mouse casually cleaned one of her sword blades appeared not to be listening.
"Mouse please, all we're asking for is some information retrieval from the logs. It's for Hex's defence," pleaded Slash.
"Yeah, we'll pay you anything, we know where some of Megabyte's secret stashes are," added Hack.
"Guy's for the thousandth time no! Ah don't care about money and Ah certainly don't care about a low clock speed virus." With that Mouse stormed off leaving them alone.
"Now what are we going to do?" moaned Hack.
"Plea bargain with Phong?" guessed Slash.
A shadow fell down upon the pair in the booth they shared. The two robots looked up. There in a shaft of light in the dusty bar stood AndraIa looking for all intents and purposes like an angel.
"I hear you boys need some help in data retrieval," said the girl.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Hack.
"I wasn't impressed with the way this trial is going, in fact several people aren't. I want to see justice done properly!" she replied.
Slash looked around the bar. Normally people here knew how to keep their mouths shut but just then he saw Bob and Dot come through the door.
"Look if I don't proceed with this trial, Mainframe will have another riot maybe even a civil war. Bob listen to me please it's out of my hands, please" begged Dot.
Slash nudged Hack pointing to an exit. The other robot nodded. "Meet us at these coordinates we'll explain exactly what we want you to do," said Hack quickly.
The Principal's Office the Next Morning
Early the next morning Hack and Slash rolled out of the quarters they shared in the Principal's office feeling far more confident than they did the night before.
"This is great I really think we stand a chance," babbled Slash. He was looking at the stats instead of what was ahead of him so he bumped into the large form of Matrix.
The robot hastily apologized to sprite and tried to go past him. It didn't work. Matrix still blocked his way.
"Excuse me we have a trial to go to," said Hack.
"You're going nowhere, traitors. I don't like robots who aid the enemy, or see my girlfriend behind my back," with that Matrix cocked his gun.
"Calm down, act professionally, look its our job to help Hex in anyway we can. We merely had a business proposition. It wasn't personal. you can talk it over with AndraIa yourself," said Slash. He glistened in the light as if he was sweating. He knew what was going to happen next.
"I know in fact I will have a talk with her myself," said the renegade. He smiled peacefully then. With a normal person that would signal the all clear, danger over but not in Matrix's case. The resulting gun blast blew apart the robots scattering their parts over the corridor. Matrix turned heel and left the pair lying there.
Hack and Slash, however weren't hurt. They had been blown apart many times in their life and did not feel any pain.
Tapping the ground with disconnected hand. The head of Slash turned to the head of Hack and said "That went rather well, don't you think?"
The Courtroom
The trial was delayed until the afternoon as repaired crews reassembled Hex's defence team. After apologizing for being late to an unimpressed Phong, the first thing the pair did was call Dot Matrix to the witness stand. She sat confidently in the witness stand as Slash rolled up to her.
The blue robot handed her a small organiser and asked, "Do you recognize this?"
"It is a record of the Mainframe's basic support system over the entire two years."
"And that includes waste processing and disposal?" asked Hack.
"Objection" shouted out the prosecution. "What is the relevance to this to Hexadecimal?"
"Sustained," agreed Phong. "What is the relevance Hack, Slash?"
"We're getting to that," said Hack.
"Just wait a nano you'll see," said Slash.
"I couldn't help but notice that Mainframe's waste processing facilities are quite small too small for this system. Why is that?" asked Hack.
"I don't know," lied Dot. She shifted in her seat.
This time Slash spoke, "Oh but you do Miss Matrix, according to this log you've been diverting core waste to Lost Angles for most of Hex's life. You've diluted it just enough so that it wouldn't be possible to detect. You've been responsible for letting the environment there become toxic even after Bob cured her."
"No wonder why you were so afraid to go to Lost Angles," said Hack. " You knew that we would all become psychotic because you've been poisoning Hexadecimal all this time."
Dot stood up in anger, "She's a virus, a filthy dangerous virus! She caused so much suffering for all of us- "
"No you did" interrupted Slash.
" So all that insanity, all that pain was really your fault. You tired to kill Hex by poisoning Lost Angles instead you merely made her nuts!" said Hack.
"That's not fair. I did my duty I tried to delete a virus. If it was any other virus you would be thanking me! Bob should have let her die when he removed her mask then none of this would be happening," said Dot shuddering in fury.
Slash countered, "Then why didn't you tell Bob this in the first place when he first came? This is a loathsome cowardly act, your brother has accused Bob of playing User but you are the one who played with our lives, you are the one who poisoned a powerful virus and didn't stop when she didn't die."
"Enough!" roared Phong. " I speak now as the former command Dot com. I approved of this action, I allowed Dot to release our city's toxins into Lost Angles. I could sense that Bob wasn't going to do his duty by us and delete Hexadecimal so I decided to do it myself. You two will stop this line of argument now." The elderly sprite banged his gavel and ordered a short recess.
A few micros later it was time for the final arguments. Hex sat down behind her lawyers quiet and withdrawn. The girl seemed to be on another world.
Meanwhile Matrix and his prosecution team, strutted confidently to their seats sure of their eminent victory. It was time for the final statements and Hack and Slash were to get first word.
Slash rolled up cautiously to the front, " Your honour the persecution,"
"That's prosecution!" said Hack.
"That's right my Freudian slip was showing. Anyway as I was saying the prosecution has argued that Hexadecimal is a dangerous time bomb ready to explode at any minute. That is not so. Was Hexadecimal dangerous? Yes but not now. Now she's hurt and maimed from the injuries she received rescuing us not once but twice. All we are asking is that you give Hexadecimal a chance like Bob gave her the first time and when he did look what happened.
"He got a loyal friend willing to risk her life and sanity to save him. Imagine people if we gave Hexadecimal a chance on our own. It wasn't her fault what happened she was poisoned by people who wanted her dead and we all saw what happened when we lived just a few seconds in her home. Quite frankly Hex was lucky to be alive. Knowing what you do now there is only one verdict you can give - not guilty."
With that Slash returned to Hack and Hexadecimal. The jury sat silently, apparently unmoved by Slash's speech. One of them was cleaning his nails. Now it was Matrix's turn the Renegade strolled up and began his speech.
"The defence has argued we should forgive all Hexadecimal's crimes because she was insane at the time and despite what she put us though she never deleted anyone but that is not true. As soon as she was born she deleted and assimilated every living thing in Mainframe's Twin City. Her multiple personalities that she carries like trophies are proof of that. Her birth caused their deaths and unless she somehow brings them back I can never forgive her and neither should you.
"Now I'm not forgetting how she saved the Net and Mainframe but she did it to save Bob not us. It was not a noble and selfless act not matter how Hack and Slash say it is. After all how can you seduce someone if they're deleted? You can't, Hexadecimal is a selfish being and not worthy of our gratitude. You must ignore her so called good deeds and find her like I do guilty."
The Phong smiled smugly and turned to the jury, "You will be given one night to decide the verdict. First thing in the morning we will convene and enforce your decision. Choose wisely my friends."
Mainframe The Convention Centre
They held the trial in Mainframe's largest hall. Even so the place was packed as practically all of Mainframe sat down in the hastily made up pews. After all, the greatest trial in history was about to start. Though the hall had been redecorated in sombre blues to serve its present function Bob recognised it as the room where Dot almost married Megabyte who was disguised as a healthier, cockier version of Bob at the time. The Guardian sincerely hoped that this trial was not to be another fiasco.
The deafening babble of hundreds of voices stopped as Phong the acting judge entered the courtroom. The entire crowd stood up in respect for the elderly sprite as he rolled up to his desk at the front. He wore a black robe for the occasion as he banged his gavel to signal the trial to begin. He signalled for Hexadecimal to be brought forward.
The young virus looked the part of a criminal. She still wore the large grey prison uniform provided for her. The girl was not well. Her eyes were glazed and she swayed slightly due to the drugs she took to make her fit for trial. The guards had to guide her to the podium where a small grey statue of Justice balancing the scales sat. Bob noticed that this Justice was not blindfolded like in other systems' courtrooms he visited.
"Hexadecimal?" called out Phong. The girl did not respond. "Hexadecimal! You have been charged by this system for numerous crimes, theft, and destruction of property and not in the least murder of at least 2000 counts done in the course of your lifetime. The most recent being when you merged with your brother to form Gigabyte. How do you plead? Hex how do you plead!"
Slash rolled up to the front this time to rescue her, " We plead not guilty by reason of insanity your honour."
"Then the trial can begin, Matrix you have the opening statement," said Phong.
Matrix walked confidently up to the jury. He wore what would have been a conservative grey suit if it weren't for the fact that the sleeves were ripped out. He turned to the jury, Hack and Slash had chosen as best they could making sure that the lucky dozen weren't in any way employed by Dot.
"Members of the jury we are here to see justice done after being long denied. For days Hexadecimal has terrorized us with her antics. Do you remember being turned to stone, having Mainframe repainted or worst of all the deaths we have all suffered as she and Megabyte merged to become Gigabyte? I will prove to you what we all know. That this virus is a dangerous ticking time bomb and should be put down."
Now it was Hack's turn both robots had polished themselves so they shined. "Your Honour, members of the esteemed jury we are here to see justice done. What is justice? Seeing Hexadecimal suffer? No. All her life Hex has suffered from one form of insanity or another. Her perceptions and views of right and wrong were warped. If she had been born a sprite she would have received the care she needed. Instead the only one in Mainframe who even bothered to help her was Bob. Are we denying the terrible things she did? No we won't, but we will prove that she was not at fault and now is no longer capable of harming anyone again."
Hexadecimal's mind
While the trial was going on Hexadecimal was by no means passive. Hack and Slash's defence impressed the young girl but she was realistic. Hex knew that however the outcome the verdict would probably be guilty. And so she prepared.
Her multiple personalities would have normally fought for control of her body but this time threatened by outside forces they cooperated. While the nulls could not reach due to the barriers set up around the prison and courtroom she could reach them.
Her powers were mostly gone, forgotten but she did retain her power to control nulls. Reaching them with her mind she instructed the more intelligent of them to break into the principle's office through the maintenance shafts. Unnoticed they set to work on the power systems.
"Soon my little surprise will be ready, and we will be vindicated," thought Hex.
Mainframe the Courtroom
"I now call Bob to the witness stand," called out Matrix.
When Bob had sat down Matrix continued, "Bob you'd describe yourself an expert on viral behaviour wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I would," replied Bob.
"Did you yourself not describe the virus, Hexadecimal as an evil creature?"
"Yes but that was before."
"That's enough!" Matrix raised a read me file in his hand. " Your Honour, members of the jury I have here, from the Supercomputer, a read me file written by Bob himself describing a psychological profile of both viruses infecting Mainframe. It describes Hexadecimal as irredeemable, I submit this to you." He turned to Bob and asked "Tell me what made you change your tune and show pity on this thing?"
"I began to recognize the symptoms of schizophrenia in Hexadecimal."
"And how did you know that, do you have a degree in Psychology?"
"Yes, as I matter of fact I have a Master's degree in it!"
Matrix's face fell as he realised the error he made. Frowning he turned to Bob "And this degree gives you the right to play User to test your theories? Why didn't you follow procedure and try and delete these viruses in the first place?"
"Because correct procedure in this place required that when a virus as powerful as Hexadecimal is found in a small system, like Mainframe is that the entire system be destroyed, you should know this Matrix if you bothered to remember your code."
Matrix shooed Bob away. Then it was Hack and Slash's turn. They called up Dr. Chandra to the witness stand.
Holding a thick brown file in his hand Hack turned to Dr. Chandra, "Tell Doctor what is this I have in my hand?"
"It is Hexadecimal's medical and psychological records. They describe the girl's physical and mental condition as well as her medical history," replied Chandra.
Slash meanwhile had been reading the file in question. "Hex made her moves on Bob wearing a burn stocking and -oh yes!" Hastily he put the files down and continued his questioning. "Dr. Chandra in these many files I came across a term called schizophrenia toxaemia. Tell me what is that?"
"And what does that mean?" asked Hack.
"It means that because of the toxins found in Lost Angles Hexadecimal suffered from several mental diseases. This caused her to experience hallucinations, mood swings, dementia and the inability to distinguish fantasy from reality among other things. As time went by these symptoms would have become more and more acute resulting in her eventual death."
"And who else experienced these symptoms?" said Slash.
The witness replied, "Anybody who took up residence in Lost Angles has experienced this in one form or another. The toxins made them a danger to themselves and others."
"One more thing Dr. Chandra, who defeated Gigabyte?" said Hack.
"Hexadecimal, did she forced a separation," replied the psychiatrist.
"But before she did Gigabyte killed hundreds of people. Why didn't she stop before?" asked Slash.
"Hex wasn't aware she had the power to initiate a separation, I merely made her aware of it. Its part of my format," answered Chandra.
The pair thanked Chandra. Now being Matrix's turn he called up Hexadecimal to the stand. The young virus did not look well; she or rather they had had a sleepless night. She stumbled just before getting into the stand as the personalities tried to control the body they shared. Basic tasks were becoming harder and harder for her to do.
"Hexadecimal," he said harshly. "In Lost Angles you set up several traps around your Lair didn't you?"
The girl took a quick breath, her face shifted as one of the personalities took control, "Yes I did, they kept me safe even after Bob cured me."
"So the poisons are just another kind of trap aren't they?"
"No! I had no idea they were there. We, I wanted to have Bob live with us, no me. I- I tried to make the place nice." She stammered with tears in her eyes. " After what he did for me I would never hurt Bob. Well not unless he was in to it!" The slut persona was in full swing now. The virus winked at Bob.
Incensed Matrix grabbed Hex by the collar practically pulling her out of witness box. "Don't lie virus I know your kind. I think you poisoned the land itself so you'd have no neighbours. You always were protective of your home making it unusable for the rest of us would have protected you, wouldn't it?"
Tears welled up in the girl eyes she shook her head in denial. Matrix continued, "You were too basic; you ended up poisoning yourself as well! Confess you Bat, confess. Little Chartreuse is dead because of you!" He shook her roughly, causing her head to snap to and thro.
Hack and Slash had to pry him away from the now sobbing girl. Matrix shoved them away and dusted himself off. "Your honour I would like to call in character witnesses."
Over the second the court heard from several witnesses that both the prosecution and defence produced. From them the citizens learned that before Hexadecimal merged with Megabyte she had never really deleted anyone what she did was far more creative. Usually she turned people into things such as penguins or cookies. Hack and Slash at the end of the day produced copies of Hex's memories to the judge and jury in the hope of swaying sympathy but it did not look good.
All this time Hex sat in her seat holding herself, ignoring the rest of the world.
Al's Diner later that Night
Later on Hack and Slash sat in booth with Mouse trying desperately to woo her. They shouted partly to be heard over the din of other customers in the packed restaurant and partly out of desperation. Mouse casually cleaned one of her sword blades appeared not to be listening.
"Mouse please, all we're asking for is some information retrieval from the logs. It's for Hex's defence," pleaded Slash.
"Yeah, we'll pay you anything, we know where some of Megabyte's secret stashes are," added Hack.
"Guy's for the thousandth time no! Ah don't care about money and Ah certainly don't care about a low clock speed virus." With that Mouse stormed off leaving them alone.
"Now what are we going to do?" moaned Hack.
"Plea bargain with Phong?" guessed Slash.
A shadow fell down upon the pair in the booth they shared. The two robots looked up. There in a shaft of light in the dusty bar stood AndraIa looking for all intents and purposes like an angel.
"I hear you boys need some help in data retrieval," said the girl.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Hack.
"I wasn't impressed with the way this trial is going, in fact several people aren't. I want to see justice done properly!" she replied.
Slash looked around the bar. Normally people here knew how to keep their mouths shut but just then he saw Bob and Dot come through the door.
"Look if I don't proceed with this trial, Mainframe will have another riot maybe even a civil war. Bob listen to me please it's out of my hands, please" begged Dot.
Slash nudged Hack pointing to an exit. The other robot nodded. "Meet us at these coordinates we'll explain exactly what we want you to do," said Hack quickly.
The Principal's Office the Next Morning
Early the next morning Hack and Slash rolled out of the quarters they shared in the Principal's office feeling far more confident than they did the night before.
"This is great I really think we stand a chance," babbled Slash. He was looking at the stats instead of what was ahead of him so he bumped into the large form of Matrix.
The robot hastily apologized to sprite and tried to go past him. It didn't work. Matrix still blocked his way.
"Excuse me we have a trial to go to," said Hack.
"You're going nowhere, traitors. I don't like robots who aid the enemy, or see my girlfriend behind my back," with that Matrix cocked his gun.
"Calm down, act professionally, look its our job to help Hex in anyway we can. We merely had a business proposition. It wasn't personal. you can talk it over with AndraIa yourself," said Slash. He glistened in the light as if he was sweating. He knew what was going to happen next.
"I know in fact I will have a talk with her myself," said the renegade. He smiled peacefully then. With a normal person that would signal the all clear, danger over but not in Matrix's case. The resulting gun blast blew apart the robots scattering their parts over the corridor. Matrix turned heel and left the pair lying there.
Hack and Slash, however weren't hurt. They had been blown apart many times in their life and did not feel any pain.
Tapping the ground with disconnected hand. The head of Slash turned to the head of Hack and said "That went rather well, don't you think?"
The Courtroom
The trial was delayed until the afternoon as repaired crews reassembled Hex's defence team. After apologizing for being late to an unimpressed Phong, the first thing the pair did was call Dot Matrix to the witness stand. She sat confidently in the witness stand as Slash rolled up to her.
The blue robot handed her a small organiser and asked, "Do you recognize this?"
"It is a record of the Mainframe's basic support system over the entire two years."
"And that includes waste processing and disposal?" asked Hack.
"Objection" shouted out the prosecution. "What is the relevance to this to Hexadecimal?"
"Sustained," agreed Phong. "What is the relevance Hack, Slash?"
"We're getting to that," said Hack.
"Just wait a nano you'll see," said Slash.
"I couldn't help but notice that Mainframe's waste processing facilities are quite small too small for this system. Why is that?" asked Hack.
"I don't know," lied Dot. She shifted in her seat.
This time Slash spoke, "Oh but you do Miss Matrix, according to this log you've been diverting core waste to Lost Angles for most of Hex's life. You've diluted it just enough so that it wouldn't be possible to detect. You've been responsible for letting the environment there become toxic even after Bob cured her."
"No wonder why you were so afraid to go to Lost Angles," said Hack. " You knew that we would all become psychotic because you've been poisoning Hexadecimal all this time."
Dot stood up in anger, "She's a virus, a filthy dangerous virus! She caused so much suffering for all of us- "
"No you did" interrupted Slash.
" So all that insanity, all that pain was really your fault. You tired to kill Hex by poisoning Lost Angles instead you merely made her nuts!" said Hack.
"That's not fair. I did my duty I tried to delete a virus. If it was any other virus you would be thanking me! Bob should have let her die when he removed her mask then none of this would be happening," said Dot shuddering in fury.
Slash countered, "Then why didn't you tell Bob this in the first place when he first came? This is a loathsome cowardly act, your brother has accused Bob of playing User but you are the one who played with our lives, you are the one who poisoned a powerful virus and didn't stop when she didn't die."
"Enough!" roared Phong. " I speak now as the former command Dot com. I approved of this action, I allowed Dot to release our city's toxins into Lost Angles. I could sense that Bob wasn't going to do his duty by us and delete Hexadecimal so I decided to do it myself. You two will stop this line of argument now." The elderly sprite banged his gavel and ordered a short recess.
A few micros later it was time for the final arguments. Hex sat down behind her lawyers quiet and withdrawn. The girl seemed to be on another world.
Meanwhile Matrix and his prosecution team, strutted confidently to their seats sure of their eminent victory. It was time for the final statements and Hack and Slash were to get first word.
Slash rolled up cautiously to the front, " Your honour the persecution,"
"That's prosecution!" said Hack.
"That's right my Freudian slip was showing. Anyway as I was saying the prosecution has argued that Hexadecimal is a dangerous time bomb ready to explode at any minute. That is not so. Was Hexadecimal dangerous? Yes but not now. Now she's hurt and maimed from the injuries she received rescuing us not once but twice. All we are asking is that you give Hexadecimal a chance like Bob gave her the first time and when he did look what happened.
"He got a loyal friend willing to risk her life and sanity to save him. Imagine people if we gave Hexadecimal a chance on our own. It wasn't her fault what happened she was poisoned by people who wanted her dead and we all saw what happened when we lived just a few seconds in her home. Quite frankly Hex was lucky to be alive. Knowing what you do now there is only one verdict you can give - not guilty."
With that Slash returned to Hack and Hexadecimal. The jury sat silently, apparently unmoved by Slash's speech. One of them was cleaning his nails. Now it was Matrix's turn the Renegade strolled up and began his speech.
"The defence has argued we should forgive all Hexadecimal's crimes because she was insane at the time and despite what she put us though she never deleted anyone but that is not true. As soon as she was born she deleted and assimilated every living thing in Mainframe's Twin City. Her multiple personalities that she carries like trophies are proof of that. Her birth caused their deaths and unless she somehow brings them back I can never forgive her and neither should you.
"Now I'm not forgetting how she saved the Net and Mainframe but she did it to save Bob not us. It was not a noble and selfless act not matter how Hack and Slash say it is. After all how can you seduce someone if they're deleted? You can't, Hexadecimal is a selfish being and not worthy of our gratitude. You must ignore her so called good deeds and find her like I do guilty."
The Phong smiled smugly and turned to the jury, "You will be given one night to decide the verdict. First thing in the morning we will convene and enforce your decision. Choose wisely my friends."