Back to the Trial (Finally!)

Ororo, Xavier, Jean and Hank were with Evan's parents watching the Prosecutor at the trial. He was interviewing the latest witness against Evan. "State your name and occupation for the court," The Prosecutor said.

"Mark Joelson, I'm a security guard."

"Did you work at the Power 8 Plant?"

"Yes for nearly two years."

"Were they eventful years?"

"Pretty quiet, until those Morlocks showed up and started to attack the plant."

"Did you have any contact with them?"

"Not at first but I saw what they did to one of the other guards," Joelson's face hardened. "Froze him like some kind of statue."

"Have you seen the defendant before?"

"Yes."

"Can you describe the first time you saw Mr. Daniels?"

"Yeah," Joelson nodded. "After that last attack we stepped up security. We caught the defendant and his freaky friends pouring some kind of stuff to gum up the plumbing. We fired tasers at them and stunned one of 'em. However during the racket the electric wiring got hit and caused a huge explosion. The plant was destroyed. We were lucky to get out of there alive."

"There was a lot of damage?"

"Yeah us guys were picking those spike things that mutant shoots out all over the plant for over a day! It was a mess."

"So you saw the defendant attack the plant before?"

"Yes."

"At the night of the murder where were you?"

"In the lower section of the processing plant. We nearly got overrun with those things."

Joelson was describing the fight with the mutants. "It doesn't look good," Jean whispered to Hank.

"Have faith Jean," Hank told her. "Jack said he'd introduce the evidence Frost found."

The Prosecutor had finished his case. Jack was starting. "Mr. Joelson, did you see Evan Daniels on the night of the murder?"

"Well…no."

"So for all you know he may not have even been there."

"Come on he was there! Spears had one of those sticks in his belly!"

"But that wasn't the cause of death now was it? We know Spears was poisoned. In fact his organs looked like they were destroyed with some kind of acid."

"Well maybe Daniels poisoned him then stabbed him," Joelson said.

"You said that after the attack you collected several of those spikes with your fellow officers," Jack said. "What happened to them?"

"Spears ordered us to take 'em to the lab to be analyzed."

"All of them?"

"Yeah…no wait, I remember he took one. Said he wanted it for his office. Some kind of trophy thing I guess."

"Did you see it again?"

"No I never did, must have taken it home or something."

"But all the other spikes were locked up tightly?"

"Well they were in the lab on a shelf somewhere."

"On a shelf? They weren't locked up?"

"Well I mean nobody wanted to touch those things anyway. Kind of creepy knowing those things came from a mutant's body you know?"

"How many spikes did you collect?" Jack asked.

"Dunno, couple hundred I guess. Didn't really count them."

"So basically anyone could just go down to the lab and get one of those spikes and no one would know one of them was missing?" Jack asked.

"I guess…" Joelson shrugged.

"Did Dr. Grippin work in the lab?"

"Yeah he was there all the time. In fact he was there the day before the murder."

"Really? How do you describe his mood?"

"He was angry," A stir was heard in the courtroom.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Well he'd been fired a few days before and he tried to get back in," Joelson explained. "I was just coming back from lunch and I spotted him in the lab. Spears had warned me that Grippin might do something so I had to escort him out of the building. Left before I called the cops."

"Interesting, what was Spears so worried about?"

"Grippin was always going on how Spears cheated him out of a lot of money. Said if he didn't pay up he'd get revenge."

"How would he get revenge? Anything specific?"

"Well he did say he'd kill him a couple of times yeah…"

"In other words Dr. Grippin made several threats on Spears' life and had access to the spikes as well as poisons," Jack produced a picture. "Mr. Joelson I have here a picture taken on the night of the murder from some security posted outside. It's blown up to a larger scale for identification purposes. Can you identify the individual?"

"Yeah that's Grippin," Joelson nodded.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked. "I mean his face is covered by a stocking."

"That's him all right," Joelson confirmed. "You can pretty much tell what he looks like due to the picture. Besides I recognize his van. I saw him ding up Spears' car with it once."

"Really? Could you tell the court about that incident?"

"Well I was walking Spears to his car with some money he was carrying. Suddenly Grippin turns round the corner sharply in his van and nearly clipped us. He scrapped Spears' car and yelled, 'Next time I won't miss'."

"So even though Dr. Grippin made several threats against Spears, was there the night of the murder, had a motive as well as access to poisons and the excess spikes and even committed an act of violence against Spears…" Jack asked. "You still believe Mr. Daniels was the only one to commit the crime?"

"Well…if you put it that way," Joelson coughed. "I guess it's possible someone else did it."

Jack nodded as the room reacted to this information. "Another thing, you said that the Morlocks attacked for no reason. Wouldn't trying to save their lives be a reason?"

"But it's just a soft drink. The stuff is harmless," Joelson said.

"Not to mutants," Jack looked at him. "And you know it. Your honor I would like to call into evidence exhibit F-7, a videotape made at one of the Power 8 labs. It documents exactly what effects Power 8 has on mutants."

"I hardly see the relevance of this video," The Prosecutor sniffed.

"It's proof that Spears knew about the dangers of Power 8 on mutants," Jack told the judge. "That's the whole reason the Morlocks started attacking the plant in the first place."

"I'm going to allow it," Brooks said. "I want to put to rest once and for all the question if Power 8 is dangerous to mutants."

"I must warn you this tape is a little…disturbing," Jack sighed as he turned it on.

The tape played. There were several scientists in lab coats. Joelson was also on the tape with another security guard strapping down a strange bird like mutant with black feathers. "Jackdaw…" Evan whispered.

"You know him?" Jack caught what Evan said.

"Yeah…" Evan's face grew hard. "I knew him."

On screen the crowd reacted as they saw the Power 8 first being thrown on Jackdaw's skin and he screamed. Then they gasped in horror as they watched the scientists shove the contents of three bottles of Power 8 down his throat.

"Oh my god…." Jean gasped watching Jackdaw's death throws.

"Thank god we didn't bring the kids this time," Hank snarled.

"Oh my god no…" Vi gasped. "This is awful…"

Jack stopped the tape at a key place. "Mr. Joelson is that you in the corner?"

"Yes…"

"Can you identify the man on the left?"

"Yes."

"Who is he?"

"Guy Spears," The crowd reacted in shock.

"Order, order!" Judge Brooks pounded the gavel.

"MURDERER!" Evan shot out of his seat screaming. "YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!"

"Order! Order!" Judge Brooks shouted.

"And you psychos call me a murderer?" Evan shouted. "You people are the real monsters here!"

"Bailiffs restrain the defendant," Judge Brooks shouted. "And I'm ordering Sgt. Joelson to be held under arrest for murder and conspiracy."

"SO THAT'S WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!" Evan struggled as he was being restrained. "WE FOUND HIS BODY ALL CUT UP AND HIS ORGANS GONE! THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED! YOU USED HIM LIKE A GOD DAMNED LAB RAT! HE WAS A PERSON! A PERSON!"

Evan was eventually dragged away. "Obviously we've seen some powerful evidence," Judge Brooks stated. "Court will have a ten minute recess so that the defendant may compose himself."

"Come on," Jean said. "We have to go see Evan."

"Hold on a second," Carl glared at Xavier. "You knew this stuff was dangerous to mutants right?"

"Yes," Xavier sighed. "I assumed that Spears would shut down production once he knew…"

"You assumed?" Carl asked. "You mean you didn't check?"

"No I…"

"I do not believe this!" Carl threw up his hands. "You know Xavier the more I hear about this, the more I am convinced you don't know what the hell you're doing!"

"Carl!" Ororo chided.

"Well look at the evidence! Not to mention all the craziness around the Institute!" Carl snapped.

"This isn't helping anyone," Hank said. "Especially Evan."

"Maybe if you people helped him more he wouldn't have had to leave," Vi glared at him.

"Not this again…" Hank sighed. "I'm still recovering from the memorial service two days ago!"

Not much longer they visited Evan in his cell. "Evan I'm so sorry what happened to your friend," Xavier sighed.

"So that's what happened to Jackdaw," Evan sighed. "We kind of figured when we found his body, but this…" He shook his head in anger. "He didn't deserve that!"

"Did you know him well?" Hank asked.

"Well enough," Evan said. "He didn't have any powers. Just looked different. Disappeared shortly before Spears started up production. They must have caught him when he was topside scouring for food. By the time we found him…"

"Evan…" Jean began.

"Save it," Evan stopped her. "You people still think you're making a difference? Now you know why I left. Somebody had to do something."

Xavier conferred with Jack. "Well at least this puts to rest any suspicion about how dangerous Power 8 was," Xavier asked.

"You also have to agree it's a pretty powerful motive to kill Spears isn't it?" Jack said.

"I know…" Xavier sighed. "I have a feeling the worst is yet to come."

You have no how right you are Xavier! Next: More shocking courtroom events! Don't miss it!