The Power of Hope

Chapter Two

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Oh man this took me forever. I had the writer's block from hell. I think I still have it, maybe, I don't know, but here's the long awaited chapter two. In all it's forced from the writer's block glory. So, anyway, I don't know when chapter three will be out, but just cross your fingers. Please read and review.

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Hope was sitting in a cell with a large over weight Spanish man who was looking at her like she was a chunk of meat. She had long ago figured out they weren't treating her like a normal prisoner. Once out of the courthouse she'd been turned over to MPD commandos, who had dragged her to an armored van and tossed her inside. She hadn't fought, she hadn't argued, she hadn't done anything threatening but still they found the need to shove her around. The MPD building was still under construction, temporarily they had taken over a wing of the Department of Defense building and that's where they'd dragged Hope to. After being fingerprinted, photographed, they'd shoved her into the cell with this man. Hope stayed close to the cell door, praying she was in the guard's line of sight in case her cellmate went for her. She was pretty sure they'd forgotten about her, three hours she'd been in here, she had been denied her phone call and they hadn't even mentioned a lawyer. She wondered if that was part of the Mutant Restriction Act, ignoring all her civil rights because she was a mutant. Or maybe it was because they thought she was a murderer. Hope leaned her head against the bars, and sighed. How had she gotten to the point where she was being charged with murder? Oh right the giant Sentinel robot that went on a rampage and can't forget a paranoid government, they were part of this too. Lord Hope felt like breaking down again, just as she had been recovering from the kidnapping they shoved it her a face again. The world was getting back into focus for her, she had expected the trial to throw her off, but the arrest had come out of nowhere. She glanced at her cellmate and she sighed again. There was no way to escape the past, was there?

"Dr. Chandler?" A voice called, and Hope was instantly on her feet.

"In here!" She called, banging her fist against the bars, "Last cell!"

"Your lawyer is here," The guard said, flipping through his key ring, "Wonder how he knew to get here? You using those freaky powers of yours?"

"Shut up and open this damn door," Hope snarled, seconds away from clawing out of the cell with her bare hands. Once there was enough room for Hope to slide out, she went through like a greased pig, then plastered herself against the far wall, watching her cellmate the whole time.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," The guard said to the man inside, while closing the door. The man inside made kissy faces towards Hope, and she subtly flipped him off. Her temper was happily going crazy about this whole situation; she excused the childish actions as a weak moment and focused on the guard. The guard returned the keys to his pocket and jingled a pair of handcuffs towards Hope. "Gotta wear them while being transported."

"Oh for god's sake," Hope mumbled, holding out her wrists and letting the guard slap on the cuffs a little too tight. He let her lead, but pushed her along out of the cellblock to a little square room down the hall. "Daddy!" Hope started to rush forward, but the guard jerked her back and pinned her against the wall.

"Hey! Get your hands off her!" Her father yelled, stepping forward.

"I believe that's my client you're man handling," A smooth voice said, and Hope looked over her shoulder to see who the heck was in the room as well. A man, looking quite sophisticated in a three-piece suit and sunglasses was sitting a dingy table, staring at the opposite wall.

"Just making sure she doesn't hurt anybody," the guard said, easing up on Hope just bit.

"She's my baby girl, she ain't gonna hurt me," Her father growled, "I'd appreciated it very much if you'd let her go."

"And the handcuffs as well," The suit said, vaguely smiling. Hope waited until the guard took the cuffs off then stepped out of the room before slowly walking to her father and hugging him.

"Oh, baby girl, you're all right? You're okay?" He asked, hugging her tight.

"I just want to get out of here, daddy," Hope said, feeling like she was five years old again with a skinned knee. She buried her face into her father's chest, trying to hide in his comforting scent and presence.

"Well that's why I brought Mr. Murdock here," Her father held her at arms length and kissed her cheek before turning her towards the suit. "He's agreed to take your case."

"He has?" Hope asked, staying close to her father's side.

"Don't sound so surprised, Doctor," Mr. Murdock said smiling towards her, "Yours is a land mark case, and your father is a personal friend of mine, I can't think of a good reason not to take the case."

"Oh, thank you, sir," Hope blinked up at her father, "Logan called you?"

"Of course he did," Her father steered her to the chair opposite Mr. Murdock, "I told him to call Mr. Xavier as well as Mr. Fury, but Mr. Murdock said we should come get your right away."

"They, they didn't say anything about bail," Hope glanced between her father and Mr. Murdock, "Did they?"

"You have to be processed first, then when we appear before a judge the issue of bail will be brought up," Mr. Murdock said, "As this is the first time a case about the Mutant Restriction act has come before the court, I can guarantee that the prosecution will try to make sure you're denied bail, but I suggest that you agree to any condition they offer up."

"Anything, I just have to get out of here," Hope said.

"Now, Doctor, I have to tell you that the government is taking this case very seriously."

"How seriously?"

"Seriously enough that they're charging you with first degree murder and the death penalty under the new Mutant Restriction Act."

"Death…penalty?" Hope squeaked as her ears began to ring and the edges of her vision became a little fuzzy.

"Unfortunately, one of the main parts of the act is any mutant whose powers cause the death of a non-mutant is a capitol offence," Mr. Murdock kept talking, but the ringing in Hope's ears was drowning out everything else, the black was also starting to swim in front of Hope's vision. Her mind was circling around one point, death penalty, death penalty. She tried to say something, make a comment but instead her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

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Logan walked out of the courtroom a little over two and half hours later thinking he should have killed Stryker when he had the chance. The bastard and his lawyer had effectively turned everything around to make it look like Stryker was the victim in all of this. That he didn't have anything to do with kidnapping Hope, and that attacking her was self-defense. Yeah, right, Logan thought, walking away from the courtroom. The lawyer had managed to make him and Hope out to be the bad guys. Once again, yeah right. What the hell was wrong with the government? Hope wasn't a ruthless killer, she couldn't be a bad guy if she tried she just didn't have that in her. Not that the government knew that or cared, all that mattered was that they thought she had it in her. They didn't know about the guilt anyone with half a brain could see around her when she thought about what had happened, or the nightmares she still had. Ruthless killers don't have nightmares; they don't feel guilt about what they did. He fully agreed with Mr. Chandler, where did the government get the idea that Hope was a killer? Logan scanned the halls, looking for the one man who had the answer to that question. And Fury was going to answer, all right, whatever the excuse he gave. He'd called Fury right after Mr. Chandler, and demanded he haul his ass down to the courtroom to meet with him. He found Fury outside, on the steps of the courthouse, smoking a cigar.

"Fury," Logan growled, ready to give the man a reason to wear another eye patch.

"Before you turn me into Fury fillet, I've got something more important to talk about with you," Fury said when he spotted Logan.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Logan asked, flexing his fingers trying to keep his anger in check. Once they were in a less public place he wouldn't have to.

"We need to talk somewhere private," Fury glanced around, but his eyes lingered on the guards. Logan understood, though he wanted his answers now, he nodded in agreement. He followed Fury down the steps and into a waiting limo. Fury signaled the driver and the limo took off. Once they were clear of the court and weaving through traffic, Fury pulled a disk from his pocket.

"I don't know why the MPD is going after Dr. Chandler, but I'm looking," Fury started, holding out a disk to Logan, "I gave recommendations about how to handle the mutant cases S.H.I.EL.D. and specifically said prosecuting her was a bad idea. What happened up in that shed was self-defense plain and simple. I don't like that they're going after her."

"Why do you think they are?" Logan asked, taking the disk from Fury.

"I don't know, but I'd bet my rank it's got to do the Institute."

"The Institute?"

"The MPD wants information about the Institute bad, and what they have from the Sentinel disaster isn't enough."

"Yeah well, they ain't getting any information," Logan growled, "How do we get the Doc out of this?"

"I'm working on it, Logan, I talked with the man in charge of the MPD, but he's not changing his mind about this."

"I'll get him to change it."

"Violence won't help her, no matter how appealing it is," Fury leaned his head back, "Logan, this is one hell of a mess."

"Yeah, a mess you should have made sure never happened," Logan felt the anger coming back, "What the hell happened, Fury? How'd S.H.I.E.L.D. mess up this bad?"

"Stryker, that bastard told the MPD about every damn piece of evidence they're using against Dr. Chandler. We can't deny the evidence when there is an eye witness to it."

"Yeah you can, Fury, you've done it before, what was different this time? Tryin' to make friends in the MPD?"

"You want information about the MPD and it's movements? Because I do, and the only way to get it is to play nice," Fury growled, "Somethin' you'd know nothin' about right Logan?" Before he could reply the phone rang in the limo, and Fury snatched it up. Logan turned to look out the tinted window, acting like he wasn't paying attention to the phone call, but he was listening to the whole thing.

"Dr. Chandler's fainted," A man's voice on the other end of the line said, "She's being transported to the hospital. They're going to delay the arraignment a day, and her room's going to be watched by armed guards."

"All right that gives us more time," Fury said, not bothering to whisper, he knew that Logan was listening, "If something goes wrong, it'll be your rank, solider." Fury hung up the phone and Logan looked back at him with eyebrows raised.

"What are you up to Fury?"

"I think the MPD is filled with morons looking to make it big in politics, they don't care about the law or the people it affects."

"You're rigging the judge for the Doc's trail."

"I'm giving her a fighting chance."

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"You son of a bitch," Marcus growled when he spotted Fury walking down the hallway towards the room where they had put his baby girl. "You dare to show your face around here!"

"Mr. Chandler, please," Fury started, but Marcus cut him off.

"Oh no, sir, I'm not stopin' 'till I'm good and ready. You know what happened to my baby girl because you and your organization screwed up? They're trying to kill her! They're going to charge her with murder, they're gonna drag her through a trail, bringin' up all that happened to her, and if the jury finds her guilty they're gonna kill her. Now, where the hell was that help you promised me, promised her?"

Fury sighed, "Mr. Chandler, I'm trying to help your daughter, but I can't talk about that here. I came to check on your daughter, and talk with the prosecuting attorney."

"That rat's come and gone," Marcus ran a hand over his mustache and turned back to the glass window through which he could see his baby girl. She was sleeping off some sort of sedative, to keep from breaking into hysterics like she had when she came around after passing out. He'd never seen anything more terrifying then watching Hope's head tip back and her slide from the chair. Taken years off of his life, but she was getting help now, she'd be all right.

"Told me we can't take her home, because she hasn't been in front of a judge," He said, pressing a hand to glass, "Gonna keep her locked up in there all night 'till tomorrow mornin' when she's gonna make her plea. Murdock went with him, they got lawyer things to talk about, then he's gonna start workin' on her defense."

"Is she allowed visitors?" Marcus looked over his shoulder at Logan, who he hadn't noticed before.

"Boy, they ain't lettin' me see her and I'm her father," Marcus sighed, "They've all ready locked her up and thrown away the key."

"Mr. Chandler, I know you want to stay with your daughter, but there's nothing more you can do right now. Go home, you need to be with your family right now," Fury said, "I'm going to talk with the attorney, I'm going to talk with the people in charge of the MPD and I'm going to get to the bottom of this. You have my word."

Marcus shook his head, "I don't want words, Mr. Fury, I want my baby girl back."

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"Death penalty?" Logan growled softly to Fury, watching Marcus Chandler watching Hope.

"Part of the Restriction Act says that a mutant kills a human with their powers, they're eligible for the death penalty. The MPD brass decide to use that part of the act, which is why I don't like this whole situation," Fury glanced at his watch "I've got to see about getting a meeting with the people in charge of her case, I'm gonna pull a few strings and make sure she can get visitors when she wakes up as soon as possible, but I want you to keep an eye on the Doctor and Mr. Chandler."

"You got a reason for orderin' me around?" Logan asked.

"You're going to hang around anyway," Fury put a brotherly hand on his shoulder, "Call Charles, I want to see if I can get him into the meeting. I want to know what these bastards are thinking besides the lies."

"Yeah, right away." Logan waited until Fury walked out of the hospital before taking a step to stand behind Marcus. "You saw it?"

"Slid from her chair like putty," Marcus sighed, "White like a ghost, and shaking like a leaf."

"It's been hard for her lately, but she's tough, she'll get through it."

"My baby girl's always been tough boy," Logan tried not to wince at the "boy" comment, he was trying to get use to the nick-name, "She was a scrapper as a kid, would scrape her knees then run off like nothin' ever happened to her. Lately though, it's been harder for her to bounce back."

"She's done fine in her training," Logan smiled, she did just fine in training. Looked good in the training uniforms too, not that he'd mention that to her father, that wouldn't go over well. "Have you called her mother?"

Marcus shook his head, "Mary's in Paris for a close friend's wedding, when she calls tonight I'll tell her."

"Any other family?" Logan wasn't quite sure how big the Chandler clan was, outside the parents, brother and sister, there could have been thousands of Chandlers.

"Thea's running the company while I'm here, told her and she's gonna come down soon, can't tell Michael 'cause he'll over react. Always had a temper that one, gets it from his father."

"Don't worry, Fury can handle a little heat."

"I figured that man could take it," Marcus looked over his shoulder at Logan, "How well do you know him, boy?"

"He'll do everything he can to help your daughter, sir," Logan reassured him, "Fury doesn't like it when someone doesn't listen to his orders."

"You get in any trouble for what happened up there?"

"None yet, but I think the MPD's afraid of me," Logan thought about the disk in his pocket, and the call he needed to make to Charles, "Mr. Chandler, I've got to call the Institute and update Charles, if she wakes up, come get me."

"Sure thing boy." Logan strode off to the bay of pay phones, and quickly got on the line with Charles.

"If Fury can manage it, I'll go to the meeting," He said after Logan had explained the situation, "I also want to know what is going on here. Are you sure Fury doesn't know why the MPD would want information about the Institute?"

"He was tellin' the truth about that, though I think the half-pint can find somethin' if you let her take a crack at their computers and this disk I got."

"We need to work with Fury, and Dr. Chandler's lawyer. I will look into getting a meeting between us, in the mean time, we'll try and keep this quiet, I don't think telling the others would be the best thing."

"I'm gonna stay here," Logan glanced back towards the room where Hope was lying, "Just until she wakes up."

"Stay as long as you need, Logan, I understand."

"At least someone does."

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Author's Note: All right all you law buffs, if I make a mistake in this story, it's because all I know about law comes from Law and Order and a few law classes I took in high school. So, forgive the little slips. Oh and John Munch is god.

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