Thanks to Patty for beta reading this even though she was out of town and then hit by Hurricane Rita. You Rock! I hope you all enjoy this part of the story. Char :-)
Court Martial: Part 26:
"But what guarantee do we have that my client can even exert his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination under the lasso's influence?" Wilson Terry queried as he stood before the Tribunal. "Mr. Flores is facing quite a number of charges himself and he hasn't been given immunity or any sort of plea deal by the Bludhaven courts to enable him to testify. Thus, I motion to quash the subpoena." The elderly attorney stood before the Tribunal waving the white papers he held in his hand. He spoke with practiced ease belying the extreme case of nerves that caused his stomach to flip, his palms to sweat, and that tell tale nervous tick under his left eye to throb intermittently. He had been in many courtrooms and even, much to his wife's unending amusement, presented to a fantasized United States Supreme Court, which resided in his foggy bathroom mirror on the odd occasion. However, nothing in his extensive real world courtroom experience had rattled his nerves to a state of near law school anxiety like standing in front of this tribunal of near omnipotent beings. He knew he was up to the task, because that's what a good defense attorney knew. Either they were up to it, or they were behind a desk somewhere. He was a good lawyer with a strong winning record to support it. While this Tribunal may not be as versed in law as the judges he was used to or as familiar with the rules of Court, that did not mean they were not every bit intimidating as the real Supreme Court.
"I understand Mr. Terry's concerns and his client's right against self-incrimination. However, my client has a right to present a full defense. The charges my client is facing and the severity of the punishment proposed far outweighs the few years that Mr. Flores could be facing should anything incriminating come from his testimony," Oracle countered from behind the defense table. Her eyes sparkled with the predatory glint as she noted Terry's rigid posture. She could not and would not let Mateo wiggle off that stand, because he managed to find a very good defense attorney. Even though Barbara had not actually practiced law, she knew how the game worked. Wilson Terry was, without a doubt, the attorney Flores' hated having on the other side of a case he was prosecuting. That's why he hired him. Yet, Barbara was determined that it was not going to work. It was too important.
"But that is not the point. It doesn't matter which is more serious, what matters is Mateo Flores has an unalterable right to not be forced to testify to something that could incriminate him," the gray-haired lawyer stated forcefully and with conviction. He noted with satisfaction Green Arrow's nod and the Martian Manhunter's open posture. As his eyes met Aquaman, Terry broke eye contact and looked down at his paper, reminded of his contracts professor from many years before. Yes, definitely experts on intimidation … give him the Supreme Court any day over this ulcer-giving event.
"If the State called him. I have a right to call any witness I need to present my case," Barbara argued. She tapped her pen once on the legal papers in front of her as she saw the almost imperceptible sag in Wilson Terry's shoulders. With a predatory smile, she continued. "I'm not necessarily going to ask him about anything he did that night but if I do or the prosecution does then he can certainly take the fifth if he wants to and the Court can draw the inference from that. Wonder Woman; is their anything about the lasso that would prevent Mr. Flores from asserting his rights?"
"The lasso commands anyone within it to tell the absolute truth," Diana replied. She thought for a moment before continuing, "If you preface your questioning Oracle to things that would not incriminate him, I think the lasso will comply with the request."
"And if it doesn't?" Flores' attorney questioned.
"Then we will strike it from the record. We will ensure that your client's rights are protected while allowing Oracle to present her case in Nightwing's defense," Wonder Woman replied. Her voice held a calm, commanding tone that seemed to soothe the defense attorney who stood in their midst.
Soothed but still uncertain, Terry shook his head. "With all due respect, even striking it from the record will not remove it from contaminating a potential jury pool. I'm sure everyone here is aware of the information coming from this trial and the detail to which testimony is being scrutinized."
Captain Marvel shifted uncomfortable before speaking, "Yes. Unfortunately, we are aware that information is leaking from these proceedings despite our best efforts to limit it. We are also sensitive to the damage it has done and could do. However, I believe that with a great deal of certainty that we can make sure that before the testimony that Wonder Woman is correct." Captain Marvel nodded toward Booster Gold, "Booster step up to the tribunal table.
Booster, who had been lounging in the front row, frowned and stood. He walked past the bar and toward the bench, spreading his arms in an open gesture of innocence. "Look, I just got here. I didn't do anything yet."
Captain Marvel shook his head, "Booster hold out your arm."
As Diana carefully wrapped the golden strands around the blue and gold clad wrist, Booster smiled, "Ooooo bondage … it's a dream come true." Diana frowned. Captain Marvel frowned. Aquaman glared. J'onn looked a little more green than normal. Green Arrow smothered a laugh. Booster rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, I know I'm not the only one to think that."
Wonder jerked the lasso tight causing Booster to wince as she spoke, "Yes, but you were the one stupid enough to say it."
"Let's get on with this." Captain Marvel spoke and looked at Wilson Terry. "I'm going to ask Booster information and allow him the opportunity to defer. Hopefully, this will put your mind at ease." Terry nodded as Captain Marvel spoke, "Booster, you are basically a nonmeta. You are a normal human."
Booster grinned and spoke, "Basically… doesn't mean I'm not special though."
Captain Marvel rolled his eyes. "Just answer the questions without additional commentary, Booster. Now, as long as it will not give away anything about your true identity, please answer the question – what year were you born in?"
Booster shook his head, "Okay, well no. I'm not answering that question."
Captain Marvel looked at Wilson Terry as he spoke again, "Booster tell Mr. Terry if you could resist the first question and how did it feel different from the first question."
Booster shrugged. "I had to answer the first question, even though I will point at that nonmeta doesn't mean I'm not a hero and --"
Aquaman rapped his hand down hard on the table. "BOOSTER!"
Booster sighed, "Fine, no and it felt like the lasso wasn't on when I thought about answering the next question. I could say whatever I wanted."
Captain Marvel nodded, "Thank you, you may return to your seat Booster." Captain Marvel met Wilson Terry's eyes. "If you still feel that your client may not resist, believe me, there are ways to guarantee that no record will exist that Mateo Flores ever said anything incriminating, as well."
Wilson nodded his head in ascension as Booster walked past mumbling, "I didn't even get a Scooby Snack."
Aquaman growled and Booster quickly sat.
Diana turned to the man sitting on the front row behind the prosecution. "Mr. Flores, please take the stand. Mr. Terry, you can make your objections should you feel it necessary."
Mateo stood and walked to the stand. Momentarily, he glared at Nightwing before taking his seat and slipping his hand into the lasso loop. He had been in many courtrooms, but never as a witness. It looked different and it felt different. It felt uncomfortable. Mateo did not like it at all. He scowled at the defense attorney as he waited for her to begin his interrogation.
"You're Mateo Flores, correct?" Barbara began. She did not look up from her legal pad that lay to the right of her laptop.
"Yes," he ground out through gritted teeth.
"Catalina Flores, Tarantula's, brother?" Barbara continued as she raised her eyes, glancing up and back down to her pad, scribbling something as he answered.
"Yes," he replied. He looked out at the heroes who watched him. Eyeing him like a specimen under a microscope. They thought they were so much better than he was, than his sister. Catalina hadn't done anything they hadn't already done. She stopped Blockbuster when they hadn't. Yet, they thought they were so much better. He hated them, hated them all, especially Nightwing.
"Did you see Nightwing and Tarantula on the night that Roland Desmond died?" she asked, making eye contact and pinning him down.
"I did in my apartment."
"Did they come together?"
"They did."
"Do you know why they came? And if so, tell us?" Barbara asked as she watched the man over the rim of her glasses.
"They brought a tape that they had made of Blockbuster. Nightwing and he went a few rounds and Nightwing goaded him into talking and confessing. It was a pretty good tape. Blockbuster admitted to the Haly Circus arson and the explosion of the apartment building in Bludhaven."
"What was Nightwing's costume and general appearance in your apartment that night?"
Mateo focused on Nightwing. The intervening weeks since that night had healed most of the cuts and bruises Nightwing had when he had saw him last outside the walls of the Watch Tower. "It was pretty obvious that in the confrontation with Blockbuster that Nightwing was the one getting hit. He had cuts and bruises all over his face. There was dried blood coming from his nose. His uniform was tattered. He wasn't in tip top shape, to say the least."
Oracle nodded. "Now, you said that Nightwing and your sister came to your apartment together. Did they leave together?"
"No," Mateo answered. "No, they didn't." He remembered his fiery sister storming out the door, gun in hand, and ready to kill Blockbuster. His temple throbbed as he remembered trying to reach her. He absently rubbed it as he watched Nightwing's defense attorney.
"Who left first?" Barbara asked pointedly.
"Cat ... Catalina did. She was ... angry." She was enraged. He really did not blame her. Blockbuster was a vile, monstrous man who did vile and monstrous things. The worst of which, Mateo felt, was destroying dreams of people like his sister ... and himself. Even after Roland Desmond was in the grave, he continued to destroy dreams and lives.
"Angry with whom?" Barbara asked, her eyes never wavering from the witness, her grip tight on her pen poised over the yellow legal tablet, and her head slightly inclined to the side apparently waiting intently for his response.
"With me ... and Blockbuster." Mateo looked down. He remembered his sister's anger, but more the hurt and disappointment that had laced her eyes in what she saw as his betrayal of her. But he hadn't betrayed Catalina. Everything he did he had done to protect her. Only he couldn't protect her, not in the end. No, Nightwing saw to that.
"Did your sister say anything to you about Blockbuster?"
"She said," he wavered. Flores took one hand and rubbed his forehead as he looked at his shoes. "She said I'm thinking I should have capped that monster the first time I had a chance."
"Then what happened?" Barbara asked quietly.
Mateo's head whipped up. "Then she left. She was crazy that night. I knew she had killing on her mind." He pointed an accusing finger toward Nightwing. "You knew it too! I asked you weren't 'you going to stop her' but you didn't. You didn't do anything. You just sat there on the floor until you saw that Nightwing signal in the sky."
Barbara's voice went up a decibel from her earlier quiet style, a hard commanding edge to it. "Now, Mr. Flores, Nightwing sat on the floor because he was upset?" Out of the corner of her eye, Barbara noticed Dick had sat up at Mateo's accusation. She wanted to turn to him, lay her hand on his, but she couldn't. She was in a war of wills with the former prosecutor and she was determined to win. She couldn't lose her concentration or her eye contact with her quarry.
Mateo turned back to the red-headed attorney. "Yes, he was upset."
"Why?" she pressed, her tone insistent and demanding.
"Objection," Flores' attorney shouted.
"If it won't incriminate you?" Barbara added, almost as an afterthought. Her voice laced with acid.
Mateo's eyes narrowed and he shot her a lethal glare. "On the advice of my attorney, I respectfully refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself."
"As long as it will not incriminate yourself please answer to this question. You destroyed the audio disc that Nightwing and Tarantula had recorded of Blockbuster's confession to his involvement? The only recording that they had, isn't that correct?"
"On the advice of my attorney, I respectfully refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself," he repeated as he sat back in his chair, steepling his hands in front of him.
"Once again, if it will not incriminate yourself, wasn't it your destruction of this audio recording that put Nightwing in a near-catatonic state --"
"Objection to the phrase near-catatonic, he's not a medical expert and he can't testify to that plus that's not what he said. It's mischaracterization!" Lantern bellowed.
Captain Marvel looked at Oracle, "Could you rephrase?"
"Certainly, your honor," Barbara said with a smile. "Mr. Flores, you stated that Nightwing and your sister brought an audio recording of Blockbuster's confession to you that night, correct?"
"Yes."
"Of course, if it won't incriminate you, wasn't that audio recording destroyed by you?"
"On the advice of my attorney, I respectfully refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself."
"We'll take that as a yes -- " she smiled as Green Lantern and Flores's attorney Wilson Terry objected at the same time but she continued on as if she hadn't heard them. "And based upon the destruction of that tape, your sister exploded into this rage that left her leaving your apartment talking about capping Blockbuster. Was she armed?"
"Yes," he responded curtly. "She had a gun."
"Did she have her gun out of its holster?" Barbara continued.
"Yes." Out and ready to use, he thought. His mind flashed back to that moment in time. The gun reflecting the light of the apartment as she paced, her muscles taunt like a big cat on the hunt. An angry cat.
"And at the same time that your sister was ranting in your apartment at you and making threats to kill Blockbuster, Nightwing was sitting on the floor?"
"Yes."
Barbara felt Dick sit back in his chair. She heard him fidget, but she pressed on. "Was he saying anything?"
"No. He just sat there. He didn't do anything."
"Did he say anything while your sister was ranting around?"
"No. Nothing. He was useless." Mateo smiled. He felt good to see Nightwing squirm under the scrutiny. He had been useless that night and long before then. Wasn't that why Roland Desmond ruled Bludhaven like a feudal kingdom? Mateo enjoyed watching Nightwing sitting uncomfortably in the defendant's chair.
"Did he say anything when you were yelling at him to stop your sister?" Barbara questioned.
"No."
"Did he say anything to you at all before he left your apartment?"
"No. He did not."
"And he sat on the floor, not saying anything, until he saw a Nightwing signal in the sky and at that point he got up and left. Is that what happened?"
"Yes. That's what happened." Flores glared at Nightwing. Suddenly, he felt uncomfortable as Nightwing glared back at him. Flores looked down, breaking the eye contact Nightwing had been controlling. He was suddenly quite warm under the stares of the people ... beings ... in the room.
"That's all. Thank you." Barbara turned toward Green Lantern with a smile. Her hand slipped over Nightwing's squeezing gently. She smiled again as he squeezed back.
Lantern drew in a breath and then exhaled before he stood. "Nightwing and Tarantula came to your apartment together?" he shot out.
"They did." Why his sister was ever with Nightwing was beyond his comprehension.
"Did they appear to be working together?" Lantern asked.
"They did." Mateo nodded his head remembering Cat's glowing smile.
"Did they appear to be ... more ... than partners?" Green Lantern asked.
Nightwing's head whipped to the side to stare at Green Lantern. He heard Barbara yell objection and Marvel overrule her. Nightwing shook his head and glared at Lantern. He heard Flash whispering in his ear to take it easy and ignore it. It was hard to ignore. He wanted to get up and ram his fist down John Stewart's face.
"They seemed like more than friends. Cat was hugging him and he seemed pretty happy about it. He wasn't complaining." Mateo glared at Nightwing again. What his sister saw ... well thank God she finally had him out of her system. Even if it was too late.
Green Lantern turned, walked back to the prosecution table, and picked up a file. He looked down at something in the folder, and then back to Mateo. "Just to be perfectly clear Mr. Flores, Nightwing and your sister, Catalina Flores had an ongoing relationship."
Mateo nodded, "Yes. I knew Cat had met someone and I didn't know who. She was happy and I was happy for her until …" He sighed. "Until she showed up with him and I found out who her mystery man was."
Dick stared at Flores, his mouth open in disbelief. He felt his chest heave as his sharp breaths pierced him like tiny knives stabbing into his skin. It hurt to breathe. It wasn't true ... what Flores said. There had never been a relationship. Not between him and Catalina. Everyone had to know that, they had to understand. But ... Flores believed it. Did Catalina? What ... what did she really believe about what happened that night? About what she did? Dick shook his head, closed his eyes and brought up his hand to rub the knot that seemed to have formed between his eyes.
"You asked him for help to stop her from killing Blockbuster and he refused?"
"Yes he did. And now Cat is in trouble because of him," Mateo pointed at Nightwing. "It's all his fault."
Green Lantern's gaze followed Mateo Flores' pointing finger to Nightwing. He shook his head. "Heroes save people," he muttered under his breath. Then looking up at the witness he replied, "Thank you."
Barbara had felt the heat rise in her face. She wanted to slap John Stewart. She'd settle for taking her frustrations out on the witness. "It wasn't Nightwing's fault that your sister killed Chief Redhorn was it?"
Mateo stuttered, "No-"
"It wasn't Nightwing's fault that your sister trained with the international assassin Cheshire?"
"No, I-"
"It wasn't Nightwing's fault that your sister hired herself out to Blockbuster, was it?" Her tone was sharp, vicious, as she rattled off questions in rapid succession.
"No but -- "
"And it wasn't Nightwing's fault that your sister became enraged that night, that was your fault wasn't it?"
Mateo looked down, Catalina's shocked, disappointed face rippling through his memory. "Yes, but -- "
"And Nightwing was just sitting there on the floor when you were yelling at him to go after and stop Tarantula from killing Blockbuster."
"Yes," Mateo ground out.
"That's all," Barbara said dismissively.
Wonder Woman nodded at the witness. "You may go Mr. Flores." She watched as he removed the lasso and walked towards his attorney. The Amazon did not miss the glare that passed between the man and Nightwing before Flores and his attorney headed toward out of the Hall of Justice. She waited until the doors slid closed before turning back to the defense. "Call your next witness."
Flash stood and swiveled around. Smiling at Blue Beetle, he said, "The defense calls Booster Gold."
"What? ME? This isn't another test. I don't do so well on tests and it isn't fair to make me take more than one test per day. Nobody else had to take a --"
Aquaman's voice boomed out from the front. "Booster! That's enough."
Booster crossed his arms. "Well I did!"
Flash smiling shook his head. "This is no test. I am calling you to testify.'
"I didn't do anything! Why me?" Booster whined.
"That is a good question," Beetle said standing. "He doesn't know anything. It's Booster."
Booster scrunched his face up. "I do know some things."
"No you don't," Ted replied.
"Yes, I do."
"AHEM," J'onn loudly cleared his throat. "Booster, take the stand please. Beetle, sit and take notes. Flash, ask your questions."
Flash smiled and walked around his table. "You are Booster Gold, a member of the Justice League, and you've been part of the security detail since Nightwing has been in custody, is that correct?"
"Yes," Booster said as he sat back in his chair crossing his arms across his chest. He didn't know why Wally had called him. He didn't know anything. He just hated admitting Ted was right. Ted was his best friend but sometimes he was annoying.
"As part of that security detail, I asked you to conduct a search of Nightwing's uniform. The uniform that he had been wearing the night that Roland Desmond died, isn't that right."
Booster nodded. "Yeah, you did."
"Did you search the uniform?" Flash asked propping on the edge of the table.
"Yeah, I did. You were there watching me."
"What, if anything, did you find?"
"Just the regular stuff, all the bat stuff that they normally have," Booster thought back to that night. "Oh yeah and that tracking devise that was stuck up around the back of the neck."
Flash picked up a plastic bag containing a very small GPS tracking devise. He walked over to Booster and handed him the bag. "Is this what you found?"
"Yeah it is. See the evidence tag I signed," Booster pointed to the seal and the writing on it. "It was pretty strange, being on his back and all."
"Thanks Booster," Flash said as he handed the bag up to Ollie. "We'd ask to enter this into evidence for the defense."
"Sure thing," Ollie said, his mouth twitching up as he saw Captain Marvel looking at him. "Allowed I guess."
"Thank you. Beetle, the witness is yours," Flash said with a gesture of his arm.
Blue Beetle drummed his fingers on the table three times before standing. "When did you and Flash conduct this search?"
"It was a couple of weeks ago. It was right after ..." Booster looked down. He knew Ted and exactly where he was going with this. "... After you and John and Flash and Nightwing were involved in that little ... um ... altercation ... in the ... um hallway. The one that Superman and I were ... um ... there at."
"Could you be more specific about what was going on in the corridor?" Beetle asked.
"Well, you were spazing out just a little." Booster said flatly.
"I was not spazing out!" Beetle yelled at his friend irritably.
"Yeah, you were." Booster held up his arm with the lasso wrapped around it. "Hello, lasso of truth and nothing but the truth so help me Tribunal guys." He waggled his arm and let it flop down. "So yeah, You and John were all 'I am da law! And you will OBEY!' You were both a little out there that night --" Booster countered.
"WE WERE NOT. Hadn't Nightwing escaped custody?" Beetle's flustered voice queried.
"Not exactly. He was just talking to Flash and you spazed out when we walked out of the elevator and you saw him in the hall."
"I'm gonna spaz out with you in --" Beetle felt Jean pull him down by the arm. She whispered in his ear. Sighing to calm himself down, Beetle stood again. "Flash was with you when you found the tracking device?"
"Yes."
"He's pretty fast isn't he?"
"Well ... duh." Booster shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"And if he planted the tracking device while you were checking the uniform, you wouldn't have been able to tell?" Blue Beetle asked his friend.
"Now wait a minute, Ted," Booster sat forward, his voice going hard.
Wally's head jerked up and he stared at Ted. He did not just accuse him of planting evidence? Did he? Had he? He had. He probably should object. Wally knew that in his mind, but his mouth would not work. He just sat there in his disbelief, mouth gaping, throat going dry, shaking his head.
"Well its possible isn't it?"
"No. It's not. Because we're talking about the Flash. Will you get a grip?" Booster gave Beetle a look that asked had he lost his mind. Then he held up his hand, index finger pointing at his best friend. "Don't ... Ted, just don't."
"Well --"
"Don't!"
Wonder Woman sighed as she moved to the window in the observation room and looked out at the stars dotting the blackness of space. Her eyes searched for the familiar constellations. Images set in the stars by Zeus as a reminder of the great heroes and stories from her people's past. Stories she grew up on. Comforting images in this time of strife.
"Things are spiraling out of control aren't they?" J'onn's soft voice asked as he walked up beside her and looked out into the vastness of space.
"I fear this trial is doing more than getting at the truth of what happened that night. I fear it is ripping the league, all of us, apart," she replied sadly.
"It disturbed me ... the allegations against Flash. These weren't the first," J'onn said as he clasped his hands behind his back.
"It's his relationship with Nightwing. They are so much more than counsel and client, or even comrades in arms. Best friends. They grew up together."
"In the shadow of the League," he added.
"Yes. With my sister, Arsenal and Tempest. They are ... family," Wonder Woman said. Her heart was heavy as she thought back to those happier times. Parties on the satellite, watching the children grow. "Perhaps," she sighed. "They would do anything for each other."
"Not tampering with evidence," J'onn added.
"One would hope not," she said her mind deep in thought. Everything weighed upon her like a heavy anvil. What was the truth? "One would hope not."
J'onn shook his head. "Diana, hope does not have anything to do with it." He turned and started walking away, but then paused and spoke without turning, "I am disappointed in you Diana. They are honorable men. Nightwing turned himself in and certainly did not have to. The Titans could have at anytime removed him, but they have not." J'onn shook his head again. "If trust and honor have become such foreign concepts when we consider our comrades in arms, we are truly undone."
Wally pulled his facemask back and ran his hands through his thick red hair. His heart was beating violently within his chest. He knew he should have gone with Barbara and Dick to talk about tomorrow's testimony but he had to get away. Had to get out. He couldn't forget what had happened in the courtroom. He had been accused of manufacturing evidence. Of planting a tracking device on Nightwing's uniform.
How could they?
It was one thing for John and Ted to have accused him of assisting Nightwing's "escape" that wasn't an escape. At least he could understand why they might have thought that finding them together in the corridor. But ... this ... they could not really believe that he would be capable of that. He ran his hand through his hair again and leaned against the cool metal wall. "But why say it if you didn't think it possible?" he asked himself aloud. Did the Tribunal believe it? Did anyone else sitting in the audience? Did anyone not believe it?
"You all right, dude?"
Wally was brought out of his thoughts by the voice he knew well. He looked up into the green eyes of Roy Harper. "No," he rasped out. He felt Roy clasp a strong hand on his shoulder. It felt good. He needed the strength his friends gave him.
"That was unconscionable," Garth's comforting voice called out.
"Yeah," Wally said.
"How are you feeling man?" Vic asked as he leaned against the hall wall opposite Wally, his arms crossed.
"Numb."
"Well, I think I need to morph into a skunk a pay a visit to Kord's quarters," Gar said. The wicked gleam in his eyes told his friends that he was not joking.
Wally let out a deep breath he had not realized he was holding. "I know how I feel right now. Accused of something I didn't do. Hell I don't even know if anyone believed it or not."
"They didn't. Dude," Roy started. "They'd have to be an idiot to think --"
Wally continued, "But God, I can just imagine how Dick is feeling now. I feel like I was sucker punched with that. What the hell must it feel like to be Dick? Not only have they accused him of murder, but they're really trying to prove it and I have a sick feeling they are. There are people in that room; people we thought were our friends, who believe he's a murderer. What the hell?"
Roy looked down at his boots. He was pensive. One hand cupped his chin while the other cupped his opposite elbow. "Anyone who says that ... who believes that ... just to hell with them. They don't count."
"But what -- " Wally started to reply.
"I don't give a damn. Who or why." Roy was firm in what he said. He looked across at Vic.
All of the Titans nodded. Wally held up his hand at the sound of approaching footsteps. He listened and John Stewart's deep baritone could be made out coming up the hall. Before they knew it, Wally had zipped off toward the sound of the voices.
"Flores's testimony opened the door to disprove the rape and establish their relationship and knowledge of each other. So stop worrying, Ted," John Stewart's voice soothed from down the hall. 'Besides, you did a good cross of Booster, Ted. Don't be upset."
"It was Booster. It flustered me that they called Booster. That they used Booster to look for that tracer to start with. Why did they have to use my best friend? Why not leave him out of it?"
"Now Ted," Jean started with a slight laugh. She stopped when a red and gold streak blurred in front of them. The breeze of Wally's approach blew forward rustling papers in Jean's arms as all three members of the prosecution team found themselves looking into the angry countenance of Wally West.
"How could you, Ted? How the hell could you?"
"Could I what?" Ted retorted back.
"You know good and well I didn't plant evidence. It was sleazy of you to even suggest it," Wally said as he inched closer to Ted's face.
Jean put her hands on Wally's chest, moving him slightly away from Ted. "Calm down, Wally. It was my idea, not Ted's. If you want to be angry at someone --""
"Be angry at yourself, Speedster," John interrupted.
Wally turned angry green eyes at him. "At myself. Why?"
"Well to start with, we're only doing our job and pointing out a possibility. You're the one that is lending it credence. You're giving it all the extra weight, by reacting like this." John moved closer to Wally until they were nose to nose. "Jean came up with a good idea in that courtroom, but it was just an idea. You're the one proving it. Look at you, so angry at the allegation, you're practically vibrating. People are going to think where there is smoke … there's fire."
Wally moved closer and dropped lower. "People or do you mean you?"
John smiled. "You think that Nightwing is innocent, well I can't blame you for that. You're his friend. Maybe not the best choice in friends, but hey, we all make mistakes."
"Really?" Wally was inches from John's face as Jean and Ted tried to pull them apart. "It's a mistake to be loyal to a friend? To believe in them? Is it a mistake or is it just something that you can't understand? Maybe because you have never had any friend close enough?"
"Or maybe I can't believe how gullible someone is? Maybe I can't understand how anyone could throw their entire career away to support someone who is everything a hero isn't! Maybe your anger is at being stupid enough to get caught up in this tracking device fiasco?" Flash growled under his breath, but Stewart ignored it. "Maybe you should consider that if you didn't plant that device, that Nightwing --"
John did not get a chance to finish as Wally had slammed him into the metal wall before anyone could even blink. "I have had enough of you. I have had enough of your insinuations, your snide comments, and all of it! Were you born this stupid or did you work at it?" Wally pulled his fist back and punched his foe as Stewart connected a fist to his midsection. A collective grunt went up from the two men.
"Wait 'till I get there, Wally!" Roy's voice called as the Titans were running up to the scene. "I don't wanna miss it!"
Garth grabbed Wally pulling him away from John Stewart as Vic stepped between them pushing Stewart back.
"What are you guys doing? Don't stop them," Roy whined as Gar elbowed him in the stomach. "I wanted to be watch. I wanted to participate. I wanted to hit someone!"
Garth turned a hardened glare at Roy. "Will you shut up! We all need to just calm down." He looked at Jean. "Ms. Loring, if you would please take your colleagues and move on." Vic released his hold on John Stewart and joined Garth holding Wally on the other side of the corridor.
Wally pushed their hands off him as he glared at backs of the prosecution team who moved off away from the Titans. When they were out of earshot, he looked at Vic. "Raven know what to do?"
"Yeah. We all do," Vic replied. "If we have to."
"Good," Wally said as moved beside Roy. "I've got a feeling we're gonna have to."
To be Continued ...
