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Chapter 220: Loose Ends

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Issitoq tried to run, of course, but with the staff no longer in his hands and time moving properly again, he didn't get anywhere.

Danny was more or less content to let the real bailiffs (double-checked by Themis and Dike) handle Issitoq after that. As long as Issitoq wasn't going to be a problem anymore, he didn't really care who was in charge of him.

He perched on the back of one of the courtroom benches (the trial was in recess, so he could enter the room) and examined the bottom of his foot. Beads of green ectoplasm welled up and out past shards of glass imbedded in his foot. He hissed through his teeth.

He'd been human when he kicked Issitoq, even so, Danny doubted this glass was normal. Not if Issitoq had been carrying it around.

"May I?" asked Clockwork, leaning over Danny's shoulder. His age shifts were smoother than they had been earlier.

Danny nodded and moved so that he was sitting on the edge of the bench, facing out into the aisle. Clockwork knelt in front of him.

He hummed. "Could you lie on your stomach?" he asked.

"Sure," said Danny, turning. "Do you know what it is?"

"Unfortunately," said Clockwork. "It is the hourglass. What remains of it."

"Wasn't that the creepy thing with your ectoplasm for sand? The one the Observants extorted out of you?"

Clockwork sighed. "Yes. I believe it is the reason you were able to move so easily through stopped time. The exterior was constructed in much the same way as my medallions."

"Ah," said Danny. "This isn't going to have lasting consequences, is it?"

"I have no idea," said Clockwork, with a great deal more cheer than was really warranted. "But first we should get this out of your foot. It can't be comfortable."

"Hah. No."

"Are you ready?"

"Yep."

Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Ellie chose that moment to enter the courtroom.

"What happened?" demanded Sam of the room at large. She started to get several conflicting accounts from spectators who had yet to be cleared from the room, rolled her eyes, and phased past them.

"Danny," she said. "You're not dying, are you?"

"Nope. Just got some glass in my foot."

Clockwork's hands held steady, despite the interruption.

"So…" drawled Tucker. "How'd the plan go?"

"Terribly!" complained Dan, who still looked like Danny. "I didn't even get to hit him once! You said I'd be able to beat him up," accused Dan.

"Hey, hey," said Nephthys, leaning on Dan. "You know the saying about plans."

"Oh? And what was the plan?" Themis loomed Nephthys, bestowing the others with a cool regard. "What, precisely, gave you the idea that inserting an imposter into this trial was at all permissible?"

"Technically, not an imposter," said Nephthys, unphased. Dan made a valiant attempt to escape her grip, his face that of a person who had just realized they were standing next to a target for a nuclear bomb. "His name is also Daniel Phantom. Not our fault. People have to be more specific."

Themis' expression could be best described as stormy.

"Anyway, isn't the other imposter the bigger problem? You know, the one who was pretending to be one of your bailiffs?"

"Yes, which is why I am only now coming to ask you, what were you thinking? If you had knowledge of Issitoq's plan, you could have told me, instead of contaminating the trial with this—this charade."

"We weren't entirely sure this would happen, Lady Themis," said Clockwork, gently easing a glass shard from Danny's foot. "If Issitoq had not revealed himself as we believed he would, Dan would have stated his identity upon being sworn in. As it was, he never even got into the witness box."

Themis crossed her arms. She did not look at all mollified.

Another splinter of glass came out. Danny gasped and put his head down on the bench. Ow.

"You still haven't explained how you knew of Issitoq's plan."

"He's Clockwork," said one of the still-present bystanders. Normally, that would explain everything.

"We will discuss this later," said Themis, "and we will see if this trial must be restarted from scratch. With the initial committee."

Danny felt, rather than heard, the repressed groan that rose around the room.

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"What was that?" demanded Maddie. She and Jack had been among the first herded out of the room once… whatever that was ended.

"An assassination attempt," said Azalea, grimly, ushering Jack and Maddie down the hall. "Tsk… not the kind of chaos I like," she muttered.

"But, why?"

"Phantom is an important public figure with a lot of power—physical and otherwise. He's gotten a lot of enemies over time. Although, for that guy, it's probably just because he's a bigot. So lame."

"A bigot against what?" asked Jack, confused.

"Liminals. Probably humans, too. There's a reason I didn't try to be an advocate in that court. What a wreck…"

"His court?" echoed Maddie.

"Yeah. That was Issitoq, the head Observant. Well, not anymore, I guess. I heard he got kicked out recently. I didn't really pay attention. Wolfsbane, did you hear anything?"

"Hm? Oh, not much more than that," said the older-looking ghost. "It is my understanding that he and Daniel have had disputes in the past, however. I'm not terribly clear on the details."

"Is there—" started Maddie. "Can we-?" She looked back over her shoulder at the courtroom.

"It won't be allowed," said Azalea.

"Why were there two of him?" asked Jack, suddenly, sounding aggrieved.

"I have no idea."

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As it so happened, Libra did have a dungeon. Usually, it went unused. Most defendants in Libran trials were presumed to be innocent until a trial found them guilty and were afforded much nicer accommodations. The dungeons were mainly used for holding people who had been judged guilty until they could be transported to their punishments.

Or for holding those who attacked Libra.

Libra was a realm, in addition to being a place of law. One which Themis ruled. Non-Taboo crimes committed in the Realm of Libra were not tried in the same way as those brought to Libra by petitioners.

Themis stopped in front of a very particular cell.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Issitoq?"

The ghost on the other side of the bars snarled. "You doom us all by allowing that thing to live. Its very existence is an affront to the natural order! The greatest Taboo!"

Themis tilted her head. "I have never much cared for those who talk about things like 'natural order' in regard to thinking beings. In any case, I meant, do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"I have said it, and you do not listen! Again, and again. Should that thing become king, the Realms are doomed!"

"If you say so," said Themis. "But I rather doubt it. You do not deny attacking a witness, a victim under the protection of Libra, at a trial in my court, with the intent to unmake them?"

"An abomination! A thing that should not be!"

"Still a witness."

"Of course, I attacked! If you had any sense, so would you!"

"You admit it," said Themis. She sighed, a human affectation, but a cathartic one. "Then I must pass judgement. I have known you for many years, Issitoq, but I have not enjoyed them. I will not regret this."

"You cannot be serious," said Issitoq. "With that thing out there, you still—"

"Goodbye, Issitoq."

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"Where did you even get all this stuff?" asked Harriet. "Isn't this kind of advanced for a kid like you?"

"I'm an adult," protested Wes. "I'm in college." He scowled. "I was in college."

Harriet huffed. "You're a kid. But, seriously. Even when I was working in Chicago, I didn't have this kind of gear. Where did you get it?" She paused as something else occurred to her. "Why did you get it?"

Wes checked the assembly of his military surplus spy gear that he'd bought to spy on Danny and shrugged. "I don't know. Around."

"You've used it before, right?"

"A couple of times. It's been a while," admitted Wes, double-checking the camera on the drone. "You're getting this?"

Harriet nodded.

"Great. I'll start off with a sweep of the town, then we'll see what's going on outside."

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Ishiyama hated herself for not going with the others into the Ghost Zone. She missed Kwan, her baby. He should have his mother with him.

But when she became the de-facto head of state for Amity Park (and she was, regardless of what Vlad was playing at. He simply wasn't here enough to be a real leader in this crisis) she had taken on responsibilities. She couldn't just leave, no matter how much she wanted to.

"How is the farmland doing?" she asked Mrs. Hunt, who had been the math teacher when school was still a thing. "What are our numbers?"

"Well, with the addition of land originally cleared for construction in the city, we have another eleven square miles of land plowed after today. We're working on getting seeds to plant it." That statement was followed by a grimace.

Even someone with no prior experience with farming knew late fall was a poor time to plant new crops. On the other hand, it had been unseasonably warm inside the shield, almost as if it functioned as a greenhouse.

Ishiyama wouldn't rule that out as a possibility.

"We've had some success with getting potatoes from the stores," continued Mrs. Hunt. "I'm not quite sure how much, yet. We haven't gotten precise figures. Also, some regular people brought in their potatoes. A few were, uh, already pretty sprouted, so I guess that's a good thing."

The real problem, though, wasn't seeds or growing times or anything like that, it was that there just wasn't enough space under the shield. Amity Park was a medium-sized city with a couple hundred thousand residents, counting those in neighboring Elmerton and the more rural areas between the shield and the end of 'official' city limits.

There was about one and a half square miles of land under the shield for every thousand residents. If every single inch of land were to be put to use producing food, impeccable farming techniques used, and the season was right, that would just barely keep everyone from starving over the course of a year.

Unfortunately, much of the rural land was covered in trees, the land in the city was covered in buildings, and few people were any good at farming. In addition to it almost being winter.

The surprise warehouse of corn, the local foodbank, and Vlad's weird rich people food stockpile notwithstanding, it would be difficult to keep Amity Park (plus Elmerton and the people living outside town, but really it was all Amity Park at this point) fed, long-term. If not impossible.

Where were farming-Obsessed ghosts when you needed them?

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"What do you mean you think I should go back to Amity Park?" growled Sam. "We just met up again! Do you hate being near me that much?"

"What?" said Danny, looking up from his newly bandaged foot. "No!"

"Then what, you don't want my testimony at trial? It isn't going to be any different than Tucker's!" Sam seemed to realize this wasn't a good argument to keep her here and opened her mouth, but Danny cut her off.

"No! I mean, you shouldn't go until after you testify, I was just thinking about something Wes said to me… I guess not having to worry about Issitoq anymore gave me some room to relax."

Jazz groaned into a pillow. "What did the creepy stalker upperclassman say, Danny?"

"Technically, he's a lowerclassman now," said Tucker, "seeing as how he's in college. He's still in college, right?"

"Don't know, didn't ask him. Kinda got the feeling the GIW shut everything down they could, so college… eh…" He tilted his hand back and forth.

"Can this wait until we are done with this checkup, Great One?" asked Frostbite in a tone that could be managed only by long-suffering yetis. "Or at least until I finish assessing your newest injuries."

"Sorry," said Danny, sheepish.

Frostbite smiled, and picked up a stethoscope, holding it to Danny's chest. "Take a deep breath," he said. "Alright, that sounds good. How does your core feel, after all that excitement?"

"Fine," said Danny. "About the same as usual, anyway."

"Usual as in these past few weeks?" asked Frostbite, clearly troubled.

"No, like usual usual. Like, before all this started usual."

"No strain?"

"Nope. I feel fine. Other than my foot, I guess. A little tired, maybe?"

"No pulled muscles?"

Danny laughed. "No." With the rate Danny healed at, pulled muscles were a nonissue.

"I needed to ask," said Frostbite. He asked a few more questions. "In any case," he finished, "it looks like this didn't disrupt the progress you've been making towards your core being completely healed. I would advise you not to push yourself, Great One, but, well." He gave Danny a rueful smile. "That isn't terribly likely, is it?"

"I'll try to take it easy," said Danny. "Just, you know." He waved a hand. "Existence. It happens."

"So it does. I do recommend that you take a break from trying to wake your siblings, at least for today."

Danny made a face. "Fine," he said. One day probably wouldn't make all that much of a difference.

"Okay," said Sam. "Care to explain now?"

"Well, Wes was worried about a food shortage," said Danny, "and, while I think the town's probably okay in the short term, we do have a lot of warehouses and stuff like that, he had a point." He spread his hands towards Sam. "You have plant powers. I think it would be a good idea if you went back to Amity after your testimony, so you can help them with plant stuff."

"Danny, we don't even know if my powers will work outside the Ghost Zone, and they're not super stable to begin with."

"Hey, if they work anywhere outside the Ghost Zone, they'll work in Amity Park. The ambient ectoplasm levels must be whoosh." He raised his hand high over his head.

"True," said Sam. "I'll think about it, okay?