July 29

Courtroom No. 5

10:45 AM

Pieter Fury

"Your Honor!" KJ cried as soon as he arrived in the courtroom. He gave Judge Frost a salute, out of breath but still smiling to himself. "My apologies for interrupting the trial."

"You should be sorry," Judge Frost agreed with a frown. "What could possibly be so important that it merits an outburst like that?"

"The investigation team has concluded it search of the file room, at least for the time being," KJ began. "We were able to figure out which files had gone missing from the scene of the crime. It's not much, but I believe this will help considerably when it comes to uncovering who was really behind this."

The explanation of why KJ was there immediately cooled off Judge Frost's temper, and she nodded to him. "Go on and tell us then. What files went missing from the scene of the crime?" she asked, her excitement spreading no matter how much she tried to keep it under control.

"It all came back to a few people," KJ went on with a small frown. "I can't say for sure why they were targeting these three people specifically, but one of them is in this room with us now." He looked over to the prosecution's bench, eyeing Prosecutor Wood specifically. Her eyes went wide with shock as her shoulders pressed together in tense anxiety. "Prosecutor Niamh Wood was one of the three though."

The gallery began to buzz, but Judge Frost silenced them all with a quick slamming of her gavel. "Order in the court!" she demanded. "What do you believe the criminal could have possibly wanted with this information?"

"I haven't the slightest clue, I'm afraid, but I was told to pass on a message from Detective Erikson about it," KJ replied. "He wanted me to point out that the Emsthorpe family has had it out for the Wood family for quite some time. To think that they would target a member of the Wood family isn't surprising in the slightest. In fact, it proves our previous theory about the Emsthorpe family being behind this, if anything."

All of us shared anxious looks with one another at the defense bench, and I was sure I was going to be sick. As if we needed more reasons to think an assassin was behind all of this. Granted, I didn't need any reasoning at this point. I already knew exactly what was going on, and I was going to make sure everyone knew it as soon as possible.

"I suppose that's true," Prosecutor Lin said slowly. She had already known Neptune was right when she believed the Emsthorpe family was behind all of this, but it seemed as if admitting it was a task she hadn't been prepared for. I couldn't blame her at all. The idea of the assassins targeting her daughter was too much for her to think about, especially when we were already in the midst of another case. We had too much else to think about, and this was... It wasn't what we had wanted to see."

"I have one more fact to add," I announced, and everyone looked over in my direction. I didn't want to have to explain this, but I knew it was necessary. If nobody else did, then it wasn't going to end up being said, and this was important. "I believe I know exactly who the witness is, and this piece of information is going to change the course of the entire case from here on out."

The gallery once again started to buzz, and Judge Frost let out an exasperated sigh when she raised her gavel this time. "Order!" she repeated, getting tired of having to say this over and over. "What are you talking about? What do you think is going on with the witness?"

"I believe the woman before us is a member of the Emsthorpe family, but not just any member," I went on. I swallowed back my nerves, knowing that if I didn't say this now, it just wasn't ever going to end up being said, and that was one thing I couldn't allow to happen. "In fact, I'm sure of it. The woman on the stand before us is a member of the Emsthorpe family that I've met before."

"You've met her?" Lily asked, her eyes wide with surprise. "But when would you have had a run-in with the Emsthorpe family?" I could tell by the look on her face that she was jumping to the worst possible conclusion. She was sure I was talking about running into the assassins before I joined the agency. I was glad that wasn't the case though. After all, this encounter had been much more recent than that.

"It was back when they killed someone else to keep their criminal activity hidden," I explained. "There was a murder in a park not far from here, and I believe the one on the witness stand is the same person as the criminal in that case. It took me a moment to get a grip on my thoughts, but I believe I recognize this woman... The two of them are one and the same."

"But how is that even possible?" Judge Frost murmured. She thought about it for a moment, and the pieces started to click together for her. "I suppose the criminal behind that case was able to escape from the police, and if she could get away from the prison before her trial, then... It would have been fully possible for her to come back now."

Ms. Grange was tense as she looked down at the floor in front of the stand, and I could tell she was trying to hold herself back before she said something she regretted. As far as I was concerned though, it was just a matter of time before something snapped in her corner of the courtroom. We were getting closer to pinning her down for this case once and for all, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I think we should analyze the witness' features and compare to them the picture we have on hand of Raelynn Clayton from that last case at the park," I went on. "It would be a perfect way to prove the two of them are one and the same. On top of that, it would establish our current witness as a member of the Emsthorpe family. She would have had a motive to commit the crime, and we've already shown that she had the perfect time to do it. All of this is adding up just a little bit too well, and I believe we all know what it points to as well."

The gallery's onlookers whispered to each other, but Judge Frost didn't give them the time of day as she reached for her gavel and slammed it down wordlessly, not even bothering to call for order when she knew the people in the gallery probably weren't going to want to listen to her in the first place. "It seems as if we've started to grow closer to the truth," she remarked as she turned her attention down to Ms. Grange. "Witness, what do you have to say for yourself? Are you going to defend yourself from these accusations... Or are you going to admit to what you've done?"

Ms. Grange didn't say anything for what felt like an eternity, eventually just clasping her fingers together in a fist. She slammed her hands against the podium before her, and I knew that was her way of admitting her guilt. She never spoke the words out loud though, instead just looking up to face the rest of the courtroom. "You've made a mistake here today," she started carefully. "You might have escaped the full force of our wrath, but now... Well, whatever happens from here is your own damn fault."

I looked over to Lily and Sky at that, and they both shifted uncomfortably with her words. I had no idea what the Emsthorpe family was planning, but I could say without a shadow of a doubt that it was nothing good. As long as they were involved, it had to be awful. If only I knew how we were supposed to face something like that... But none of us did. We were just going to have to wait for the day they finally struck while hoping with everything we had that it wasn't too late already when the moment arrived.

"So you admit to your guilt," Prosecutor Kalles said, her eyes narrowing in Ms. Grange's direction. "You confess that you were the one who killed the victim of this case. Is that correct?"

Ms. Grange looked down at the podium for a few heavy beats of silence before she laughed and shook her head. "You take this so seriously... It's almost funny," she admitted. She rubbed a tear from her eye, though I knew she was just being dramatic for the sake of getting under everyone's skin. "You act like this system is something that actually helps anybody. You pretend that you know what you're doing to hide the fact that you're just going to bring about the destruction of everything you've ever known and loved. This is a broken world, and you're all just symptoms of the disease... Sickening, each of you to the last."

Judge Frost pointed to the witness carefully, not at all surprised about Ms. Grange's sudden change in character. "Bailiffs, arrest her," she instructed simply. I could tell by the way she was carrying herself that she was trying to prepare for a sudden assault from the gallery. After all, if the previous cases were anything to go off, then it was just a matter of time before another member of the assassin group struck and tried to end the trial before the culprit could be arrested.

Ms. Grange seemed completely unbothered by all the bailiffs trying to converge upon her though, instead holding up one hand to earn the silence of everyone in the courtroom. "I have a message for you all," Ms. Grange went on. "You can't stop what has already been started. This is going to be where your farce finally ends. I suggest you prepare... Because the Night of Calamity is coming, and you will never be able to stop it."

When the bailiffs finally grabbed at Ms. Grange, she didn't bother to fight back at all. Instead, she just allowed them to drag her out of the courtroom. I could only assume that she had some other plan in mind to get away if she was letting them pull her around. She always had a plan. No, the Emsthorpe family as a whole always had a plan. They probably didn't care at all when it came to one of their own being arrested for their crimes. As long as Ms. Grange was able to get out before this so-called 'Night of Calamity,' nothing was going to matter to them.

As Ms. Grange was pulled out of the courtroom, I stared with wide eyes in her direction. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to wrap my head around this Night of Calamity story. It certainly didn't sound like anything I had heard about up to this point, not that this should have been too surprising. They probably wanted to keep it a secret for the sake of surprise, but as long as Ms. Grange had been caught... Well, it was the perfect time to gloat, as much as I hated to admit it.

Once Ms. Grange was gone, the doors to the courtroom tapped shut. I let out a heavy sigh and looked off to the side. At long last, this case was over, but I knew there was more to it than that. The Emsthorpe family was still planning something, and there was nothing we would be able to do to stop it. We didn't know enough to push back against them. For the time being, we were able to intervene thanks to Ms. Grange being behind bars, but I knew better than to think that would last long. Of course it wasn't going to last long. The assassins knew what they were doing, and we couldn't push back against them easily, not as long as they had the wool over our eyes.

"That ends that then," Judge Frost announced. She looked around the rest of the courtroom at the others below her. "I believe there are no objections from the defense or prosecution to reading the verdict and declaring the defendant's innocence, yes? It seems rather clear that he wasn't the one behind this case."

It took a moment for Prosecutor Wood to snap out of her trance after Ms. Grange left the courtroom behind. She shook her head as she tried to ground herself, but I could tell her mind was still a million miles away. "N-No... No objections from us," she said, though I could tell as soon as the words left her mouth that she had regretted speaking. The assassin on the stand had declared her as being a target of their information gathering. Well, KJ had said it, but the fact that Ms. Grange hadn't bothered refute his words made it clear just what was going on here. The Emsthorpe family was looking after her, and they were desperate to get their hands on her in some way. It was impossible to say how it all came together right now, but it was still something for her to worry about.

Judge Frost hummed to herself when she looked over to Prosecutor Wood in full. The small prosecutor practically shriveled away from her gaze, desperate to be just about anywhere other than there. "I have to wonder... Do you know anything about why the family would have targeted you specifically?" she asked. "I understand the Emsthorpe family has a grudge against your family, but I don't think they gathered information about the others in your bloodline... Only you."

Prosecutor Wood shook her head, trying to find the words but ultimately falling short. Her throat was clenched shut from pure fear, and Sora wrapped a careful arm around her daughter's upper body. Prosecutor Wood gladly fell against her side, relieved to have someone there to comfort her through all she was enduring. "I believe it would be for the best if we declared the verdict and left this case in the past," Sora announced, not missing a beat in caring for her daughter. "Prosecutor Wood knows nothing, and we need to move on with the rest of the trial. There are other matters that merit our attention now, such as the trial for the one who was revealed to be the real culprit."

Judge Frost watched the two for a few heavy moments, trying to glean any information she could from the pair, but she ultimately decided she wasn't going to be able to find anything. "I understand," she murmured with a nod. "Defense, do you have any objections to the declaration of the verdict?"

I didn't need to ask Sky and Lily for their confirmation to know they wanted this trial to end just as much as I did. I just nodded up at Judge Frost, the relief at the idea of the trial ending finally starting to sink in. "The defense has no objections," I replied. I surprised even myself with how easy it was to make myself seem confident despite my nerves rattling desperately in my stomach. I never wanted to think about this again, but I knew I wouldn't have that luxury. I would never have that luxury as long as the Emsthorpe assassins were out there.

Judge Frost nodded, unsurprised by this outcome. "In that case, I now pronounce the defendant, Buddy Bradshaw, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" Down came the gavel, and the gallery began to chatter all over again. The instant Judge Frost was no longer getting down on them, the onlookers were thinking about what Ms. Grange had said just before she was arrested. I wanted nothing more than to sink into the earth, not wanting to think about it at all if it could be avoided, but I already knew I wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter.

The Emsthorpe assassins were here to stay, and there was nothing any of us could do about it.

July 29

Defendant Lobby No. 5

11:15 AM

Pieter Fury

Out in the defendant lobby, I let out a hefty sigh as I glanced over to Lily and Sky. We had won the case, but I couldn't tell if it really felt like a victory or not. All things considered, we should have called it that. We had gotten one of the assassins up at the stand and managed to confront her without mass chaos breaking out or without one of her other friends deciding to come in and ruin the trial. That should have been a victory for us. Still, my stomach had sunk all the way down to my toes and refused to come back up again. I was too wound up to even think of celebrating at the moment, and I was sure the others all felt the same way. This was too much. Everything was too much.

"I'm glad that's over," Sky sighed as soon as he was able to find functionality in his voice once again. "I don't know about you two, but I would be perfectly content to never have to put up with something like that ever again."

"You wouldn't be the only one," Lily agreed with a shake of her head. "But we can think about what happened today another time. I think we should try to relax a little bit. That was a long, frustrating trial, and it seems like there's still so much we don't understand."

"I don't know if we're going to have time to relax at all," I pointed out with a frown. "You heard what she said just before she was arrested, didn't you? She talked about something known as the Night of Calamity... I don't know what that means, but given the fact that it came from the lips of an Emsthorpe assassin, I know for a fact that it's not going to be anything good. We need to be ready for that, whatever it's supposed to mean. We can't let our guard down."

"I know that you're scared, but working yourself up over it isn't going to help much when we don't know enough to do anything," Lily countered, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You're afraid, and I know that. Still, burning yourself out because of that fear isn't going to do much to help you. We're going to find a way to work through all of this together, and you don't need to act like you're the only one facing it in that scenario. We're all here, and we're going to figure it out as a team."

I nodded at her words, not saying anything in response because of the massive knot in the back of my throat that told me I wouldn't ever come close to convincing her. I knew she had a point. At the same time though, I wanted to do more to defend everyone as long as the assassins were planning something. We couldn't just leave them be when there was so much on the line. The Emsthorpe family had to be planning something big, and they were confident enough in it that they had bragged about it openly. The last time this had happened, it was when one of them had infiltrated the agency with hopes of taking it out from the inside. That incident had ended in disaster as well, and the idea of repeating that made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Hey, everyone!"

Neptune's voice rang through the air, and she walked over to us with a bright smile on her face. I could tell she was keeping an eye open for KJ by the way she scanned the area out of the corner of her eye, getting ready to run the second she saw him. Even if she had asked him for help with increasing the security, she was still afraid of him. I didn't know what was going on with her, but I was going to task Chrysalis to talk to her about it as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Neptune deserved better than this, and I was going to make sure she knew it.

"Hello, Neptune," Lily smiled to her. "I'm glad to see you're still in one piece after that trial. I was starting to get a bit worried when I realized the assassins weren't causing any open problems back there. I guess I was convinced they were going to try something when everybody else's backs were turned."

"I was surprised they didn't do anything either," Neptune confessed, her smile slipping ever so slightly. "I was sure they would at least attempt something, but I guess I was wrong... Now, I have no idea what they're up to. Still, it must mean they have a plan if they were willing to let one of their own get arrested without much protest or objection."

"They're planning something with this Night of Calamity she talked about," Sky frowned. "I'm sure of it. Whatever that means, I'm confident it's not going to be good."

"But we can think about that a little bit later," Lily cut in as she looked past Neptune at the entrance to the courtroom. A pair of new figures had come walking out, and I realized it was Clarith walking with Buddy. The two were talking quietly and animatedly with one another, unable to hold back their joy and excitement that they were really free from this case at long last. I smiled at the sight of them, glad to see at least someone out there was able to keep themselves chipper after this trial. I should have been happier about it all, but instead, all I could do was sit there with my sinking dread wishing there was something more I could do to change all this.

"Hey, you two!" Neptune exclaimed at the sight of Clarith and Buddy. The two froze upon being called out, and Clarith looked away from the other boy nervously, pushing a few threads of her white hair behind her ear. "I'm glad to see you're having a nice time... Though I think you should still leave room for me in your little hugs, okay?"

"You're ridiculous," Buddy murmured. He eventually opted for ignoring Neptune to look up at me, Lily, and Sky. "Thank you for everything you did back there. It really means a lot to me, and I... I have no idea where I would be without you, but I don't want to think about it either. This was incredible. Thank you so much."

"Of course," Lily smiled to him. "Everything is fine now, and we'll make sure of that."

"I'm sure the family will pay you handsomely for this one," Neptune remarked with a lopsided grin. "They've got a lot of cash from that business of theirs, and I have no doubt they'll be happy to hand it out to someone who helped one of their favorite secretaries get away from murder charges."

Buddy flushed once again, and I was getting the feeling this was a regular part of their dynamic. Neptune, overbearing and dramatic as she was, always seemed to know of the perfect ways to embarrass her friends. "Yeah... Thank you again," he murmured.

"Do you want to tell them about your theory?" Clarith asked, looking over to Buddy with a nervous gleam in her eyes. "I feel like that's something they should hear about."

Buddy hesitated, and I cocked an eyebrow in his direction. "A theory?" I echoed. I couldn't tell if I liked the sound of that or not, especially after everything that had happened. Still, if he thought there was something else going on, we at least had to hear him out. I was hoping it wouldn't go anywhere given everything else that had already happened, but there was no harm in listening to him for a moment.

"I think there's something more to the idea of evidence being stolen from the crime scene that day," Buddy began. "It wouldn't surprise me if the culprit-whoever she really is-was really targeting the back room. She probably didn't know that was what she was looking for until after it was already too late, but I get the feeling she was trying to get information from that place rather than just the regular shelves. She didn't realize that she had messed it up until after I was already locked inside, and she couldn't fix that since I was the only one with a key and was already inside."

"What files are you talking about?" I asked with a tilt of my head to the side. "Is there something back there in particular you think she would have been interesting?"

"That back cabinet... We keep a lot of our most important files in there, and that includes information about crucial cases like the Emsthorpe assassins' track record," Buddy explained. "It's exclusive only to those who are high up in the company. Normal people can't just come in and buy the rights to access that or anything. This is... It's something we have to keep a secret."

"I guess it makes sense that you would keep that information hidden away... The assassins are dangerous people," Sky murmured. "If she was targeting that information, then she was probably fairly disappointed when she didn't find anything in the rest of the stacks."

"I'm glad she didn't get her hands on it, to say the least," Buddy said. "But I have a bad feeling about all of this... I don't know much about who they were trying to learn about, but I get the feeling there's a lot more to it than meets the eye."

"I might be able to shed some light on that."

KJ entered the room a moment later. KJ shot us all a salute, and Neptune deliberately looked away from him. KJ glanced in her direction for a brief flicker of a moment, but when he realized that she wasn't buying it, he turned his focus back to the rest of us, trying to hide how downcast and dejected he looked. "I can tell you who they were trying to learn more about," KJ went on when he was sure he had all of our attention. "They were trying to target three people."

"Who were they after then?" I asked. I could tell by the look in his eyes that it wasn't going to be anything I wanted to hear, but this... It was something we needed to be aware of if we were going to try and change all of this for the better. My stomach twisted with anxiety, and I tried to force myself to continue the conversation despite how much I wanted to once again hide in a corner until it was all over.

"The first was Prosecutor Niamh Wood, who I mentioned during the trial," KJ said. "The second was the chief prosecutor of the district, Ghastly Bespoke. The third is a member of your agency, Chrysalis Starr. I don't know for sure why anybody would want to target all three of them, but... Well, that was the information taken."

"What?!" I roared before I could hold myself back. "You can't be serious! Why would they want something about my sister?!"

Lily placed a hand on my arm to try and calm me, but my nerves continued to rattle around in the pit of my stomach regardless. "I don't think he knows anything about that either," Lily frowned. "All we can do for now is keep all of this in mind and try to learn more about this Night of Calamity the assassins spoke about."

"Speaking of the assassins, don't you think it's strange?" Clarith cut in, desperate to change the subject before my stress levels could mount even more. "I would have thought that we would have heard something about the son of the family by now, but... We have nothing about him. It's like he doesn't exist at all."

"I'm sure he's out there," Buddy frowned. "I can't say for sure where he is or what's going on with him, but he has to exist somehow. We're going to find him one of these days too. As long as he's with the rest of the assassins, that's the least we can do for ourselves."

I nodded my agreement, though I didn't like the idea of tracking them down at all. Following assassins had ruined my life and destroyed everyone I had loved up to that point. The idea of tracking another one made me sick, even more so than I already had been. We didn't have much of a choice if we wanted to end this nightmare, and I already knew that, but... Damn it, this was so much more complicated than it needed to be.

"Hey... Where do you think the prosecutors are?" Sky suddenly asked, once again desperate to change the subject before I could get any more stressed. "I would have thought they would come by to visit us by now."

"We're right here."

Sora and Prosecutor Kalles appeared in the doorway a moment later, and I could tell by their stormy expressions that they had heard the same news about Ms. Grange's targets even before coming in here. "Niamh isn't with us though," Sora said before anybody could ask us about her absence. "She's talking with the rest of her family."

I nodded my understanding. I felt awful for Prosecutor Wood after all this. She deserved better than to suffer through so much. She had seen enough pain because of this trial, and she was still so young. At least she would be able to speak with her blood family for the first time in over a decade and a half now. Maybe that would do something to help her feel at least a little bit better.

At this point, I just hoped somebody felt better about this than I did. That was the most optimistic I could get.

i am so hot

-Digital