Chapter 16

"No Fear Among Evil"

While we were doing final preparations for the trial, Captain Hopkins arrived at the prison library the next morning to see the prisoners gathering the clothes that they would be wearing for the trial. In fact, to make the prisoners feel at home, she had decided to abandon her military uniform and put on a plain brown suit with an A-line knee length skirt below the knee, tan stockings, cream blouse buttoned up to her pretty neck with sensible black high heels that looked modest enough. Underneath she wore her cream lace trimmed full slip, lace bra, panties and garter belt as she liked full underwear, the way her mother had always insisted. It was technically her way of making the prisoners feel welcome while at the same time, looking professional from her days before joining the U.S. military. She was only 28 and she had a bright future ahead of her and she viewed this as a way of becoming a part of history.

As she sat there watching the men and women gather their clothes, she saw one prisoner, Sabrina Saffron, the former Saffron City gym leader, putting on her high heels the wrong way.

"Sabrina," said Jessie. "You've put on the wrong foot."

"What?" she asked confusingly.

"The shoes," said Jessie and she removed them off of her feet.

"I know that," Sabrina huffed impatiently. From a distance, Maxie and Cyrus were watching close by and taking note of Sabrina's behavior.

"Saffron seems completely mad," remarked Maxie.

"Relax," replied Cyrus. "It is an act, she is being clever."

"If she was so clever," said Maxie. "She wouldn't have spent the last four years in an English Prison and instead continue to be leader of the Saffron Gym."

The two men laughed as Captain Hopkins looked over to see Dr. Fuji looking forlorn and full of grief, knowing that he was being regretful for the crimes he had committed.

"I turned over my diaries to the Americans, voluntarily," he said while not looking at Captain Hopkins. "They will see what was in my heart and how I did what I did."

"And yet," said Captain Hopkins. "You did those things, Dr. Fuji. You created Mewtwo and oversaw the creations of powerful Pokemon similar to it with the intent of attacking cities across Europe."

Dr. Fuji sighed heavily and finally turned his attention over to Captain Hopkins. It seemed that maybe talking to her was the best way to get the grief out of him.

"Sometimes, I wish," he said. "That I wish that there were two sides to me. The evil side was the Dr. Fuji that attacked Pokemon and created powerful ones to take their place and the other is the one you see before you. My life went into disrepair after my daughter died and my wife left me. Every day since then, I guess the only way to escape the grief is to resort to evil and unleash your aggression on those with whom you never had any problems with."

"I can understand your pain," remarked Captain Hopkins. "But, here you are, fighting for your life when you really didn't want to."

But before Captain Hopkins could say another word, Giovanni came forth and stepped into the center of the room.

"Friends, remember when we begin this grotesque farce on Monday," he announced. "Remember that we are here for one reason and one reason only: we lost the war."

He then looked towards Captain Hopkins and stepped forward towards her. Normally, a woman would be afraid of a man's advances like the one Giovanni was doing now, but she stood her ground.

"Doctor," he asked. "What do you see before you?"

"I see a group of people who are innocent until proven guilty for crimes that they had committed for the sake of their own," replied Captain Hopkins. "But, I see that this is your way of hiding your true fears."

The room went dead silent upon hearing those words and Giovanni walked and leaned forward towards her, grabbing her knee.

"Do you think I show fear, doctor?" he whispered, clutching her stocking leg. "I have no fear and I never will have any fear. You will see my point throughout this trial. We built this organization on no fear and if we die, we die without fear."

But, Captain Hopkins showed no emotion as Giovanni released his grip on her leg and walked back towards his comrades.

"Remember as well, my friends," he said. "Never forget that Team Rocket and your other organizations were built on no fear and if there is the moment where we die, we die without fear. In time, a grateful world will remember what we have done for the common good of the world. The attacks on the towers, the center of the American Military and those nine airplanes over the Atlantic will show the world that we did what did in an effort to make a better world for us all."

The defendants all cheered at the sounds of those words and Captain Hopkins got up and left the library as the cheers grew louder and louder. The young army psychologist was going to be in for a tough battle with these men and whatever happened from here on in was going to change history from here on in.

Later that night in my office, she spoke with me in private about what she witnessed in the library and that I should know about what to expect first hand.

"They show no fear, Jeff," she said. "The only one who I think shows remorse is Dr. Fuji and he created Mewtwo with the intent of spearheading attacks against cities in Europe."

"As well as capturing Pokemon illegally," I replied.

"When you do your opening address on Monday," added Captain Hopkins. "You need to say that while some may be innocent, you must convince the judges that all of them are guilty until proven otherwise. Either way, it's going to be an uphill battle that you are going to fight."

I sighed heavily as I sat back in my seat, knowing that what Captain Hopkins was saying was indeed true, I was going to stick with what I had always done in my cases and that was stick to my guns.

"Captain Hopkins," I sighed. "The only way that I am going to prove what you say is true is to not let them get the best of me. I've made several mistakes in my career that resulted in certain prisoners going free and I never take anything for granted. Your job is to single out those whom you think is innocent and just like what Colonel Andrus said, you'll report everything to me so that I know who to attack more. Is that clear?"

"It is, Mr. Schneider," she replied and got up, shutting the door behind her as I closed up for the night. As she walked back to her car, Captain Hopkins could not help but think of what she was going to go up against. She knew that I was right about one thing, not everyone is guilty, but I was expecting to convict 40 terrorists in the name of all victims of terrorism.

Of course, she was going to have to convince me otherwise…