March 12

Courtroom No. 1

1:30 PM

Cotoli Morix

The silence seemed to stretch on for a thousand years after we asked Mr. Lent for his response. He glanced around at everyone in the courtroom before finally speaking. "How do I respond? You want to know how I respond?! You're being ridiculous! I told you time and time again that I didn't do it, but you still keep on pressing the matter! I don't understand how you can do this in good conscience... If she didn't deserve it, then I wouldn't have attacked her! She was going to hurt him! I could feel it! You're all full of crap when you say that the culprit... That I... Was wrong for doing this! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mr. Lent's voice only seemed to be getting louder, a feat that I found impressive given how loud his voice had been when he first started yelling at us.

"Witness, please calm down," Prosecutor Shield instructed, narrowing his eyes.

"I can't calm down, because you don't know what constitutes as dangerous in any situation! I'm the security guard! I've done more with my life than any of you could ever hope to try! You don't understand what I do, and you're all absolutely ridiculous for thinking that I'm the one to blame here!" Mr. Lent went on. He slammed his hand into the witness stand with each word for the sake of emphasis, and all I could really do was stare in surprise at him. I hadn't expected his reaction to be so sudden and loud.

"Please take a deep breath and step away for a second if you need to," Judge Frost told him, his gaze stern. I could tell that he didn't know what to say aside from that, so he went back to being quiet shortly afterwards.

"I've been protecting him for years! I know exactly what's dangerous for him! I couldn't fail again, so I did what I had to in order to get her to back off! You don't know what we've seen, so you have no right to even think about judging us for what's happened in the past! Back off already!" Mr. Lent was continuing to slam his palm against the witness stand before him, and I could see the stability of the podium beginning to falter.

"Explain what happened calmly, Mr. Lent," I said, not sure of what else I could do to calm him down.

"I'd never do something like that for pieces of garbage like yooooooou!" Mr. Lent raised his hand in the air just before the last word, and when he slammed it down, the hit to the stand was powerful enough to splinter it completely, and Mr. Lent was left standing there, breathing heavily in his fury. He glared at everyone, and he had the look of a wild animal in his eyes. "Fine! I did it, but if you had seen the things that I have, you would have done just the same!"

"Bailiff, please arrest the witness!" Judge Frost shouted. At those words, a set of bailiffs swarmed into the room and surrounded him without a second thought. When the bailiffs grabbed him, Mr. Lent continued to struggle, muttering vulgar words that I couldn't quite make out as he was dragged from the courtroom.

I watched as Mr. Lent disappeared from the room, and I could see that Chrysalis was doing the same out of the corner of my eye. We watched as the door shut gently, and I turned my focus to the rest of the courtroom. It seemed that nobody else knew what to do now that he had been taken in either. After all, he had dominated the space for so long, and without that figure at the center of everything, the area felt oddly empty all of a sudden. It was a good thing, don't get me wrong, but it was odd nonetheless.

Eventually, I looked up to Judge Frost, letting out a small sigh when I did so. He seemed just as surprised by the sudden outburst as the rest of us were. When he managed to fully pull himself back into the situation, Judge Frost reached for his gavel and lifted it before hitting it against the bench before him. "It seems as if we've found the truth behind this case. The culprit has been uncovered, and we can move on to the verdict of this case. Will the defendant please take the witness stand once again?"

Mr. Strann walked up to the stand, and I looked to Chrysalis out of the corner of my eye. She still didn't seem too particularly impressed with him. I couldn't blame her given the way that he had been behaving earlier, and I was right there with her in the suspicious boat. The way that Mr. Lent had talked about Mr. Strann during his final moments in the courtroom were important to think about as well. As far as I could tell, we had another mystery to figure out after this was over, and Chrysalis could see it just as clearly as I could. There was something about this whole situation that simply didn't sit right with me, and that was my first hint to investigate as much as I possibly could.

"Are there any final objections from the defense or prosecution?" Judge Frost questioned, looking down to me, Chrysalis, Prosecutor Shield, and Anton.

Prosecutor Shield and Anton looked to each other before the former turned his attention back up to Judge Frost. He shook his head. "The prosecution has no objections," he answered.

"What about the defense?" Judge Frost asked.

Chrysalis and I shared a knowing glance. In all truth, we probably didn't need to look at each other given how similarly we thought both in and out of the courtroom, but it was nice to have that extra security.

When we met eyes, I could see that she was just as determined about looking into the odd relationship between Mr. Strann and Mr. Lent as I was. We were certainly going to have to dive into this when we got the chance later on. Until then, we had to focus on the trial.

"The defense has no objections," I replied, my hands clenching into fists. Now that Mr. Lent had been exposed as the culprit, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. There was a lot more that we had to take care of, and I wanted to talk to Polly before we left the courthouse as well. Plus, there was the matter of Mr. Strann himself. Overall, there was more on my plate than I ever could have anticipated.

"In that case, I believe that it's time for me to announce my verdict," Judge Frost proclaimed. He raised his gavel up once again. "This court hereby finds the defendant, Collack Strann, not guilty. Court is adjourned!"

Everyone in the gallery began to shuffle around as they headed for the doors. I started pulling my evidence together as well, and Chrysalis did the same at my side. "Well... It seems like the case is over," I commented, a small frown on my face.

"The case might be over, but I believe that this is just the beginning of our investigation to figure out what really happened," Chrysalis told me. "There's a lot that Mr. Lent said near the end that has to mean something. He knew Mr. Strann long before this case took place, and something bad must have happened to make him jump to conclusions like he did about Polly."

"They've definitely been in contact with each other before, but I can't help wondering what those circumstances could have been about... I suppose that all we can do is try to figure it out when we get the chance to investigate for ourselves," I pointed out with a small shrug. "From what I can tell, whatever happened had an immense mental impact on Mr. Lent. It was enough to sway him into being hired by Mr. Strann despite his regularly high bar. On top of that, it pushed him far enough to make him think that Polly was going to lash out at Mr. Strann despite the fact that there was no evidence that she was going to get violent."

"Perhaps it reminded him of a similar incident from the past," Chrysalis suggested with a frown. "I don't know what it was, but I know for sure that we're going to figure it out. We haven't been stopped by something like this in the future, and we aren't going to let this obstacle get in our way now. It's time for us to figure out the truth like we always have. We're the unstoppable team, and something like this isn't going to get in our way."

Chrysalis held up one of her hands, which was closed into a fist, and smiled in my direction. "We haven't given up when something like this has happened before, so why in the world should we start now?" she asked.

I returned the smile before letting my hand turn itself into a fist as well. I bumped it up against hers before I turned back to the evidence. I finished packing it up before looking back to her. "There's no way that we'll let this stop us. Besides, we're going to have more than a few people working with us in the form of everyone back at the agency. They'd be happy to aid us through this. I'm sure of it," I went on.

"Exactly. They've done so much for us in the past, and I doubt that they're going to quit helping us out now," Chrysalis agreed. "We have to get back there in order to ask them about it though, so let's head out into the lobby and get this mess over with. I want to finish dealing with Mr. Strann as soon as possible."

"You aren't the only one," I admitted. "Something about him bothers me. If anything, his connection to Mr. Lent only makes him seem more peculiar. We're not going to tell him anything that he wants to know about the cases Oracle has been connected to. I don't think it would be a good idea to bother."

"I agree. Now, let's push through this so that we can get into everything else that we're going to have to deal with later on," Chrysalis said. She picked up the rest of the evidence I wasn't holding and headed for the door. I trailed after her silently.

March 12

Defendant Lobby No. 1

1:50 PM

Chrysalis Starr

When we got out into the defendant lobby, we were immediately met by a sudden figure rushing towards us. I realized belatedly that said figure was Anton, and he threw his arms dramatically around the two of us. I yelped at the sudden contact until I got used to it, and a small smile appeared on my face at the touch. "Hey there, Anton. I didn't expect to see you here," I remarked.

Anton giggled and looked up at me. "Thanks for helping P-Polly out!" he exclaimed as I returned the embrace. I could tell based by how red his eyes were that he had been crying over what happened, and I couldn't blame him given how easily he got overwhelmed by situations like this.

"We did what we had to in order to figure out who hurt her," Cotoli assured him, placing one hand on his head to ruffle his hair. "I'm happy that we were able to figure it out too. Now, there's nothing to worry about. She'll get better soon, and when she does, everything will go back to normal as if this never happened."

I gasped suddenly. "Hey, speaking of Polly... Where is she?" I asked. I glanced around the room, though my view was limited as long as I held onto Anton. I didn't want to disturb him, so I allowed my vision to be restricted.

Anton pulled back slightly to point over my shoulder where the couch was located. "She's been resting over there," he explained. I realized that he wasn't stammering, and I could tell that he was happy to see us through that fact alone. Granted, it was obvious given his body language and such, but it was still nice to see that from him. Anton only ever stopped stuttering when he felt happy or secure in his environment, and I was glad that we were able to bring such a joy to his life.

"Do you want to go see her?" Cotoli asked gently.

Anton nodded. "Elec didn't come by since he had some paperwork to fill out, but he said that he's happy it went well... I already texted him to say what happened," he told us. "He told me that he'd be waiting for us when we got home if we wanted to talk about everything."

"Where did Prosecutor Shield go?" I inquired as we made our way over to see Polly. Now that I was facing the right direction, I could see that she was sitting on the couch with her eyes closed. I assumed that helped with her headache at least a little bit, and if it worked, I wasn't going to judge her for it.

"He's going back to the Prosecutor's Office since he has other stuff to do," Anton replied. "But he told me that he's happy we were able to figure out everything involving this case, and he wanted me to pass on that message to you, so... I did!"

"Thank you for telling us that then," Cotoli smiled gently. "We appreciate all that the two of you did to help us find the culprit behind this case. I hope that you weren't too scared when Mr. Lent started to get mad though..."

"I-It was kind of scary, but Prosecutor Shield told me that he'd protect me!" Anton explained with a bright grin. "Everything's okay now! We're all safe!"

I nodded, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "You're right. Everything is fine now, and there's nothing for us to worry about anymore," I agreed. "Now, how about we go and see Polly? I'm sure that she's going to want to talk to us before we leave to go home."

Anton took my hand in one of his while grabbing Cotoli's with the other, and with a pull that was much more forceful than you would expect of someone so slight, he dragged us towards where Polly was sitting on the couch. I stumbled at first before finding my footing again and letting him lead me over.

Polly didn't seem to notice us at first since her eyes were closed, but Anton tilted his head to one side and spoke to catch her attention. "Hey," he said simply.

Polly's eyes opened, and a small smirk appeared on her face. "Look. It's the people who figured out the case," she remarked. "I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to you again before we went our separate ways."

"Good, because we were hoping for the same," I commented. "How are you feeling? I hope that your head doesn't hurt too much, though if it did, I don't think anyone would be able to blame you..."

"Oh, it's pounding. This headache has not gone away since I got hit. The doctors said that I should be alright with a bit of rest, and I'm not supposed to go back to work for another few days to make sure that I'm alright. It's a shame, and it means that Ghastly might slack on doing his work rather than actually try, but I suppose that I can't really object," Polly sighed. "But I think we can focus on that messiness later on. After all, we've got more important things to discuss."

"You're talking about what Mr. Lent said, aren't you?" Cotoli prompted, though he really didn't need to bother. Everyone was already sure of what the answer was.

"I can't help but wonder... Is that whole deal related to Cade Green? My investigation didn't yield any results, which is immensely frustrating. If Mr. Lent is somehow tied into this whole mystery, then that makes things both easier and harder. It's easier in the way that I finally have a lead, but it's harder because I doubt that he'll be so willing to give up his information. He seems like the stubborn type," Polly commented.

Anton frowned and tilted his head to one side. "How did you hear what he said? I thought you were out here in the defendant lobby when he confessed to the crime," he commented.

"I may have been, but he was screaming so damn loudly that I could still hear him," Polly explained bitterly. "It was like a thousand tiny ants were clubbing my head with sharpened knives. I remember everything that he said, as much as I wish I could forget it."

"At least you can use this to try and further your investigation into Cade Green," Cotoli pointed out. "I know it's not a huge benefit, and I understand that it must be frustrating to think about, but... It's something."

"It counts for a little bit, but I don't think I'm going to be celebrating until after my headache goes away. I want to strangle him for hitting me on the head, by the way. Of course, unlike him, I won't actually do it," Polly huffed.

"He did jump to conclusions when he committed the crime, but... I have to ask why that happened in the first place. It was as if he wasn't thinking properly. He must have been blinded by the events of the past to perceive danger when there was never any in the first place. However, we won't fully understand what happened at the time until we can learn how he's connected to Mr. Strann. I'm sure that will offer at least a few answers," I suggested.

"I agree in thinking that there must be a reason behind it, but I haven't the slightest clue as to what it could be," Cotoli frowned. "I'm sure that there's something out there that will lead us to the truth, but I don't know where we'll find such information. It seems that we'll have to go digging ourselves. He can tell us the truth, but I doubt that he'll be willing to do something of that nature."

"We have to try and find out something. I've been determined to solve the Cade Green mystery for a while now, and I'm not going to give up now," Polly frowned, crossing her arms as she shook her head. "But I get the feeling that you're in it for a bit more personal reason. After all, you heard the full story behind Cade Green while we were in the courtroom. It must be clear to everyone why you want to find the truth."

I hesitated at her words. She was right in assuming that we had a secondary reason for wanting to pursue this. If Cade Green was really the same person as Carson Rinko, then we had to find out more. Yuri had never mentioned having any relatives by the name of Carson, and if he was connected to her in the way that we suspected, then things were about to get serious. We were going to have to do a lot of digging if we wanted the truth, but I knew that my brother was just as determined as I was.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to find the truth for your own reasons. Nobody is going to judge you for it," Polly assured us with a light shrug. "However, we can't find that truth while we're just waiting around here."

"What are you saying? You're going to go home and get some rest until you're feeling better," Cotoli told her, crossing his arms as a stern frown appeared on his face. "I'm not going to waver on this. Go."

Polly sighed and shook her head. "I was planning on doing that in the first place... I wouldn't dare go against you when you get like this. You can be rather stubborn when you want to be, though I suppose it's part of your charm. You wouldn't be Cotoli if you weren't hopelessly stubborn," she remarked. Her gaze fell to Anton. "Let's get going, Anton. We should head back home."

Anton nodded. "I'll see you back home!" he chirped at Cotoli and me. He waved at us before helping Polly to her feet and following her out of the defendant's lobby. We watched as the two rounded the corner out of the room and disappeared.

I turned to Cotoli once they were gone, letting out a small sigh. "So... On a scale of one to ten, how much are you dreading talking to Mr. Strann?" I whispered. Admittedly, talking to Polly had been a bit of a happy distraction to keep us from talking to Mr. Strann. I didn't want to see him in the slightest. Something about him just bothered me, and I wasn't going to let him get any closer to finding out the truth behind Oracle than he already had.

Our inevitable conversation with him was likely not going to end well. I crossed my arms when I saw a figure approaching out of the corner of my eye. I didn't have to look in order to see that it was Mr. Strann. He was probably waiting for Polly and Anton to leave before approaching us. After all, he likely didn't have the best relationship with Polly after they got into their huge argument that led to a crime.

"Thank you for what you did in there," Mr. Strann told us, his voice even and deadpan. If I didn't know better, I would almost think that he was simply trying to start a conversation. I had a sneaking suspicion there was more to it though.

"We did what we had to in order to find the truth," I replied bluntly. "If you don't mind, I have a few questions for you now that the case has been resolved."

Mr. Strann seemed surprised by my sudden bold harshness, but if he had any open objections to it, he hid them well. He nodded slowly. "If you really want to ask them, then I suppose that I can't stop you. I have a few inquiries of my own that I would like to make," he said.

"What made you think in the first place that Polly was connected to the Oracle of the Law?" I questioned, keeping my voice as even as possible. I didn't want it to shake from rage and give away that I knew exactly what he was up to with all of this.

"She's known for investigating in circles both in and out of the Prosecutor's Office. She was involved in the investigation that turned up the truth about missing attorney Dee Fence just a few months. I'm sure that you remember that since your agency was involved. I figured that if anybody had done enough research to know something, it would be here," Mr. Strann answered. He kept his voice just as even as I did, and I could tell that he was onto me being up to something. As for what, I was sure that he was still clueless.

"You mentioned before the trial that you wanted to ask us about the Oracle of the Law," Cotoli said next, placing a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "You said that you wanted to know more about Oracle as well... What exactly led you to us in the first place?"

"Your agency has been involved with cases that Oracle has been tied up with as well. Out of all the cases that Oracle has been wrapped up in, your agency has the highest number. Can you blame me for being a bit curious?" Mr. Strann questioned innocently.

"What about Mr. Lent? What is your relationship with him like?" I asked. "It's clear that you two have met before the case took place, so what's the truth behind that? When did you two encounter one another and on what terms?"

"I'm afraid that information is classified. You won't be getting answers about that out of me," Mr. Strann replied, a frown forming on his face. "It would be best if you left the subject alone before it begins to cause problems for you just like it did him."

"Did you know that this crime was going to take place?" Cotoli inquired. The question simple, but it was striking as well, a loud and clear indication of our suspicions of him.

"How could I have been aware that something of this nature was going to take place?" Mr. Strann scoffed. "I believe that you're jumping to conclusions now. I didn't realize that he was going to go rogue and attack her at the time."

"You were facing Polly at the time that the crime took place. You must have seen him attack her, but you didn't say anything to the police or us," I said bluntly. "Why not?"

"Because the police wouldn't have believed me anyways. No matter what I said, they would have said that I was merely trying to pass the blame onto another. As for you two... How can I be sure that you're trustworthy? I didn't hire you myself. You just showed up," Mr. Strann replied.

"You're growing rather hostile considering the fact that you believe us to be your ticket to learning more about Oracle," Cotoli commented, his eyes narrowing.

"You've made it clear that you have no intentions of giving up any information about yourselves, so why would I bother telling you something about me? I'm fully aware of how suspicious you two are. One agency taking on nearly every case that Oracle is involved with? That's rather suspicious, wouldn't you say? I feel as if you are more involved than you are letting on, and if you refuse to tell me the truth, then I don't need to play nice. Information is power nowadays, and if you aren't willing to put some of it on the line, this conversation is over," Mr. Strann told us. He turned on his heel and walked away.

I rolled my eyes. "Not so much as a thanks for freeing him from charges of assault," I muttered.

"I get the feeling that he had other reasons for not telling us... Maybe he was trying to see if we would figure it out on our own. Perhaps it was an elaborate test of his," Cotoli suggested. "I can't think of any other reason that he would be so openly hostile and hold back on vital information."

I sighed and shook my head. "Let's just go home. I've had enough of thinking about him for one day. Polly and Anton are waiting, and Elec will be too soon."

March 12

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Unknown Perspective

"I'm back."

I jumped to my feet at the sound of that voice. "I'm so glad to hear that you're alright! We were both really concerned when we heard that you had been arrested... How did it go? I'm sorry that we weren't able to be there to see what happened, but..." My voice trailed off when I couldn't think of a suitable way to end that sentence.

He flopped into his seat and shook his head. "It's a long story, and I would rather not get into it at the moment. All that you really need to be aware of is that I'm sure they're involved with this mess somehow. We have the last piece of the puzzle we need," he told me.

"You're sure that they're involved with this," my brother said from his place nearby. He frowned at us both, and I could hear the disapproval in his voice. "You know that once you put this plan into action that there won't be going any back. This is the last chance to back off if you believe that you're going too far."

The man scoffed and shook his head. "You're being ridiculous if you think I'm going to go back on this now. We've come so far, and we can't give it all up now. For the sake of her safety and the people who aren't able to be saved anymore... We have to move now. We've waited long enough," he replied.

I hesitated at first before nodding. He knew what was best. I couldn't hope to raise an objection against him when he got like this. I didn't know much about him, but I was sure that he could be stubborn as a mule when it came to things like this. He had gone out of his way to do something deliberately risky, and when we tried to talk him down from it, he refused to listen. This was normal for him at this point.

My brother watched from a distance. He didn't say much of anything, but I knew what he was thinking. If the man really wanted to accomplish this goal of his so badly, he should come out about it and be honest rather than try to go about it through shady means. We didn't care how much power he had. That would mean nothing if he continued to take so many risks and ignore the potential of danger.

I looked back and forth between the two before looking down at the ground. There was no hope of backing out once he got started, and I wasn't going to be the coward who stepped away now. As much as I wanted to leave, I was going to have to stick it out to the end. This wasn't going to get the best of me. I was sure of that much.

No matter what happened, we were going to accomplish our goal, even if we had to go to hell and back to reach it.

TURNABOUT DECEPTION

END

Oh heck first case done

-Digital