Writer's notes
Hey folks, sorry about how long it took for this chapter free time and finals don't exactly mix. I should be on the same course. Um, give or take.
Now the featured chapter
"Today we are here to conclude the trial of Carol Painwheel." The announcer spoke monotonically as he read the previous reports. "Currently the Kingdom of Atlas has charged you with: destruction of Self-Defense Force property, damage to public property, international terrorism and possession of un registered weapons. The prosecution please stand. For Judge Marisosn." A heavy-set person in full white robes came approaching the far stand he peered over his notes as he took a seat near his gavel. Finishing his perfunctory review of the notes he looked at the prosecution persisting of the Atlas lead attorney and one of the Atlas military representatives, Winter Schnee who was filling in the role for the general who had apprehended her. Across from them was a series of monitors three to be exact. Two from Vale and another from an undisclosed location. On the two Vale monitors Carol and Ozpin resided. The third one was a surprise to many, another leader from the Atlas military, Ironwood had sided with her.
"Now, where shall we begin?" the judge asked calmly looking at the two groups. He looked toward the Prosecutions "Would you like to present the current evidence that stand against the accused?"
The head Prosecutor stood up. "Indeed your honor, Our first evidence comes from several news castings from the day of the incident." He turned and flipped on another holographic scream over casting several reports that even caught her ripping a tank apart with nothing more than several powerful slashes and her bare hands. "As you can see She can take out a XRT- delta series APC, A vehicle made to combat mass hordes of medium level Grimm mind you, with nothing more than several sharp blades and pounding its armor with her own hands." He stepped from behind the desk and began to walk in the middle of the room. "In many of our scientist's years of research we have never seen anyone capable of doing such. Imagine what she could do to someone with nothing more than pure flesh and bone."
The judge sat pondering his statement "I suppose it could be a problem. Though I hardly believe that these machines are indestructible." He looked toward the defendants expecting an answer.
"That is correct sir." Ironwoods tone spoke up. "The XRT series of machines are very much an outdated line up. It is why the Atlas Special Defense Force use them primarily for civil unrests now." He remarked having watched them in action.
"Still an impressive feat for a child with little training." The attorney argued back toward the defense.
"In some cases, yes." Ozpin spoke up. "However, Carol is far from a Child with little training." He posted a full medical report of Carols Genetics in the trial room. "Notice her reports. Her face is covered in both scars and stiches of the surgical variety. The clothes that drape her are nothing more than a set of old medical cloth torn to shreds She has indeed gone under a very intense amount of surgery giving her whatever current strength she has." He took a sip of his coffee as he continued. "I'm aware we are unsure if it was with or without her consent but based on how she has acted in our care I am certain she was not."
The prosecutor got angered at Ozpin's answer as he eyed the three there. "If that's so than who did it? There are hundreds of labs in the world, one of them has yet to claim to be responsible." He stated very confidently thinking still that Ozpin's theory is nothing but a lie to save her from her punishment He looked at the three of them. Ozpin was vacant in his expression never letting his thoughts pass through his face unless he wants you to know what he is saying. Ironwood stayed quiet heavily breathing in anger toward the man's skepticism. Carol however was unique. Normally red eyes were a trait some had whenever expressing rage or anger. She however was always red. Not once had they changed nor shift away from the monitor. She was showing guilt and remorse toward something and more scary she seemed to be in conflict with something. He grinned looking at an opportunity to end this early. "Is there something bothering you Ms. Painwheel?" He asked calmly still thinking it was a fast victory.
"It was the ASGL." She said in a panic. "They did this to me. Tortured me." She began to break down into a form of undertone rage that was felt in the room emanating from her screen. "Yeah I remember who caused it. I saved my own sorry ass from being their damn puppet. Now I inhabit the same body hoping to get back the life they stole from me." This tone was in a lot more pain than the one from earlier she seemed to be teetering on a rampage. Many looked at her screen curiously.
"As you are all now aware.' Ozpin interrupted. "Carol seems to be easily angered by those that have wronged her. She generally is well behaved and very friendly if you treat her normally and not as a monster." He spoke looking at Carol sternly. "I know they were hitting a sore subject but you need to try to stay calm Carol." he was no was not certain how she was going to react. It could have been friendly or it could have been destructive. So far it seemed to be the initial prediction.
Carol nodded before bowing her head at the screen. "Please forgive me." She spoke sincerely in her tone however it seemed her anger was still boiling underneath the surface of her skin. Though it could be her showing one of the rare moments where she was in pain.
"As you can see." The prosecution spoke up. "What we have here is a kid that may be kind and innocent but she is nothing more than a girl on a hair trigger with no moral restraint." He spoke smugly as he took a button from his coat and clicked it. Another screen switched over to the streets of Vale littered with robotic parts. "This is what she was capable of doing with in the course of half a day. It took the combined efforts of several hunters and huntresses in training, and half of your own personal defense force Ironwood. Yet, you decide to defend her." His eyes targeted an unamused Ironwood.
"If you are implying that I myself am a traitor than you are more of a fool than you make yourself to be." His tongue pierced the prosecutor's ears like a hot knife. "Carol is far from the threat you plead to make her out to be, Having witnessed her true nature myself during a short interview I had with her." He began moving through his files looking for the footage from the day Carol Stayed aboard his ship. The crowd watched the entire interview Ironwood relying on traditional intimidation tactics before she erupted in a form of anger and sorrow. "While it is true that she is incredibly dangerous she clearly has an impossible amount of control over herself."
The judge leaned back in his chair pondering the question. "Is there any reason she would suddenly erupt in such a violent manner?" His curiosity getting the better of him.
"Indeed sir." Ozpin confirmed his thought. "The defense will be calling upon Officer Richard Colfax to answer questions from that day. We also have Police Radio logs we wish for you to hear. However, We request that Carol to be dismissed from the court hearing as it's played as a precaution." He finished his statement.
"Very well. Carol you are dismissed until you are resummoned." The Judge spoke as he slammed his gavel on the desk in front of him. Carol bowed her head again as her monitor disconnected.
Ozpin looked up at someone in the distance. "Carol isn't Nadia's match today?" After he asked his question a muffled female voice could be heard. "Then go root her on she is on your team after all." He turned his attention back to the monitor. "Terribly sorry, please let us continue."
A new monitor came on. The cop that first meant Carol shortly before her rampage. "Richard Colifax, roughly two weeks ago you had an encounter with this figure. Correct?" The judge asked him to examine his notes.
"Yes that is correct." He spoke calmly. "By far the most terrifying encounter of my career if I were to add."
"Care to retell the events of that day?" The judge looked at him curiously.
The man stood in a long paused state thinking on how to describe what happened that day. "We got a call for a minor disturbance what we guessed to be some run of the mill gang bang. The shot were going off from a good distance. When we arrived at the scene several shots were fired and the person in question lying on the floor dead." He took a breath and continued "suddenly she stood by up her wounds turning into scarred tissue then regular skin like she had some form of super aura. She however was muttering nonsense until I got close to her. About that time my radio picked up an unknown voice. It was dark menacing very much an evil voice." He was about to continue when Ironwood spoke up.
"Did the voice that came from the radio sound like this." He activated an audio file from that day. as it played a distorted sinister voice could be heard. As well as Carol's inane muttering. The officer nodded.
"By far the scariest voice I have heard in a long time. I have been doing this job for twenty-five years and I swear who ever made that voice could easily be called evil incarnate." He looked back at the judge to see if there were other questions.
"Thank you Officer Colifax. For now We shall take a thirty minute recess before giving out a verdict." The judge concluded as he swung his Gavel again. Everyone in the room nodded as their screens went to stand by. Winter who was in the room looked up at the prosecutor with a very angered glare.
He caught sight of it and redirected himself from her angered gaze. "Look the trial seems like it will be in our favor." he spoke up. She stood there still angry. "What?"
"You payed that judge off, didn't you?" She spoke angered.
"You can't prove it." He said smugly. As he walked off. Carelessly. Winter gritted her teeth as she watched him leisurely stroll out of the room to gather his next testament.
The arena.
"Today's first match up today is between Nadia Fortune and Blake Belladonna." Goodwitch concluded as she was reading from her tablet. "The match will be of course the same as the two previous matches.
Ruby was sitting curiously with the rest of her team looking down at the arena. To her left Wiess and Yang were sitting cheering on their team mate. Her left consisted of Peacock Cerebella and Filia all of which were rooting on the New Meridian counterpart.
Down in the arena Nadia was sitting behind the combat line looking at Yang Hand deep in her trench coat pockets. Black was doing the same both steadily observing their opponent.
From Nadia's perspective She noticed First was Blake's bow. She watched it twitched like she did in the cafeteria "(She must be whatever this worlds version of a feral is. Trying to hide it. Since I don't know what kind of animal trait she has it's safe to bet that She will hear a sneak attack until proven otherwise.)" She continued her observations toward her figure. "(slender.)" She let out a slight purr knowing what her fight style was. "(She's some kind of thief or rouge. That's going to narrow it down fast for me.)" The next two things she examined was her eyes. "(What can your past tell me.)" While she was never good at for planning often ignoring it she was glad that she did dedicate some time to practice the skills the original leader told her to as a way to honor his death. The eye trick he taught her however was very hard for her to figure out. "She let out a slight snort of disappointment. "Looks like I won't get anything from her till she takes her fist stance." More often or not she forgets to look at weapons since most the time the idiots that attack her come at her with knife and swords sometimes no weapons what so ever.
Blake on the other hand noticed Nadia's mind game and began to do the same thing. She first looked at noticeable features it was easier said than done though because Nadia brought a black trench coat with her covering most of her body. The biggest thing she could tell was she had pointed ears much like herself. "(She's a cat feral. Guess that means if what Filia said is true she may rely on her animalistic instincts in a fight.)" She then proceeded to look at her figure though that proved to be counter intuitive. "(Right she wears the coat to throw her enemies off.)" Just then her eyes widened. "(several White Fang members used this tactic to sneak into certain events. The question now is what she specialize in.)" She thought on it and wagered it was either assassin or some form of thief. She couldn't get a good view of any weapon pose or clothing so she couldn't read them to well. Her final area to look was also the eyes. Several minutes of looking into them she took half a step back in shock. "(she's crazy. How could she not be afraid of that?)" Nadia's ears twitched with confusion as she watched Blake look in slight fear.
Their mind games were finished once Goodwitch got the two's attention. "Blake are you ready?" Blake Nodded as she bent down ward into her usual combat stance. Goodwitch turned and looked toward Nadia. "Nadia are you ready." Nadia responded with a thumbs up throwing the coat off and placing her legs to the side of one another and got both of her claws ready.
Filia looked down at the arena in surprise. "So it begins."
Ruby picked up her statement. "Revolutionist of Remnant."
"Against the thief of New Meridian." Cerebella grinned as she grabbed popcorn Peacock had stashed into her top hat.
"IIIITTTT'SSS TIME FOR A CCCCAAAAATTTTT FFFIIIGHHHT!" Yang yelled loud enough to make even the combatants in the arena turn and look at her. Most looked at her with disappointment though Nadia grinned and actually began to laugh.
FIGHT!
Blake watched as Ms. Fortune as she began dashing toward her. What she learned about ferals from Filia did not betray her. She was coming at her on all fours. She jumped out of the way of her first strike watching her pause in place. She quickly scanned her in curiosity noticing the stiches on her neck. "(Why are those there?)" She immediately had a recall from the cafeteria "(Wait, what did she have from New Meridian?)" Her question was quickly answered by a flying arm into her hair. She grabbed it looked at it in confusion. She saw it twitch then suddenly poked her in the eyes quickly causing her to stumble backwards. She grabbed her pistole by the barrel end and got ready to whip the next part away. Ms. Fortune however walked up to where the arm was and jammed it into an empty socket in her right shoulder. She continued glancing at her curiously before grinning.
"Never fought the undead?" She asked as she slowly approached Blake. She threw a whipped strike at her severing Ms. Fortune's head. Ms. Fortune's body didn't fall limp since it was obvious to many that a decapitation was not exactly a big threat to her but she did kick her own head like a soccer ball into Blake's head.
Blake stumbled backwards as her head collided with the bodiless cat head. She was dazed from it but snapped out of it as the headless body tried to round house kick her head. She quickly ducked underneath and attempted to slash out at Ms. Fortune's body just to have it catch her whip with it's now detached tale.
"Wow, Nadia is quite the fighter." Wiess said in slight surprise. "Even without a proper weapon she seems to get buy just sing her de-attached limbs." The rest of the small crowd continued waiting with fixed attention.
Ms. Fortune's head looked with concern as Blake began proving to out maneuver her body. "(This ain't looking good. At this rate, she will out just out maneuver me.)" She continued putting up her body defensively to counter Blake fast quick strikes. The more she watched to more Ms. Fortune gathered her observations on Blake's combat abilities. She began to get concerned however when she noticed an unexpected detail of her combat style. "(Who trained her?)" Was the only question that circled her head as she began to get ready for her counter.
Blake continued assaulting Fortune's body focusing on other weak points on her body other than the clearly severed limbs. She hit her sides and attempted a few swings at where her head would be annoyed that her training in the White Fang was betraying her to some degree against an opponent who literally has no head. She kept striking in a rapid paste to try to tire the body out only to hear a weird noise stem from the body. She leapt back to keep her guard up thinking it was her semblance that she had.
The body kept vibrating slowly getting intense. Almost on que it broke into multiple pieces flying all over the place like a blood fueled rocket. Blake tried to watch the flying body parts with concern at the fact that these rocket limbs had no form of patter. She got slugged by the right arm as it came rapidly past her. The second limb to strike her was a leg in the middle of an axe kick. She saw the left arm flying right at her in time to parry it and sent it into the other leg. She began to take a more defendable position up against a wall watching the sporadic limbs begin to take aim at her. She took a low figure pose wanting the five flying body parts. Her ears twitched when she began to hear a familiar snicker. She looked down to see a head rocketing up ward smashing square into her chin. The other limbs went flying in colliding into Blake at once. Strangely all her limbs except for Ms. Fortune's head missed Blake and hit what could be called a very detailed after image.
Blake looked at the reforming body as it mashed into her Shadow clone. She noticed the body was beginning to retake it's shape meaning it will begin trying to strike fast. Thinking on her feet, Blake kicked Ms. Fortune's torso sending it into the ground all parts scattered.
Nadia gritted her teeth in annoyance as she watched her body fall into pieces. She couldn't reform if Blake kept bashing her body apart. She watched as her torso for a second time get kicked down yet again. She looked toward her two arms slowly crawling back to her body. Slowly though a thin blue light formed around the end of her limb. She watched curiously as the small string kept moving toward her torso. She looked down to notice the string also forming around the bottom of her neck.
Quickly all the limbs were quickly pulled toward the body. The blue strings of light going into the limbless body. Blake watched in confusion as all the limbs quickly reattached themselves. "Now." Ms. Fortune said her eyes closed as she stood back up. She opened them showing Blue Iris's that looked like a thunderstorm building inside of them. "Where were we?" She took a different pose from the one when she first started the fight instead of a slight hunched back with one of her arms crossing her body, she was down almost on all fours like some kind of animal.
Blake watched cautiously not sure what she was doing. Fortune's tail was whisking left and right like it she was a predator on the hunt. "(This must the feral instincts that Filia mentioned.)" She seemed satisfied with that theory as she straighten up and began approaching slowly.
The two circled the arena their eyes never leaving the opponent. As soon as one of them were to blink the other would try to strike. Ruby, Wiess, Filia, and Yang watched almost fixated on the stare down. Blake took her eyes off Ms. Fortune for a second and she pounced. Striking at Blake with two powerful claw scratches. She dodged left as the third claw came down kicking Fortune's head off just for the blue string to reappear and send her right back to her body. Before it reattached she head butted Blake for a counter. Fortune in a secondary retaliation slashed at her. She missed by inches getting an opportunity to get out of the corner she was. Fortune kept chasing her somehow was keeping up. "(How is she doing this?)" Blake asked her self when she turned around to be tackled by Fortune.
"Enough." Goodwitch finally spoke up. "Blake you did good. But for future reference you need to be cautious when dealing with someone that clearly has more animalistic instincts. It is a simple mistake though." She commented as she looked at Ms. Fortune who was playing with her head like it was a ball of yarn. "Nadia, You are way to reckless thanks to your special gift. Try to express caution from here on out." She did not get a reply from her to her annoyance.
Ruby ran in approaching Blake. "That was awesome the way you had to fight a whole bunch of flying body parts. And the weird Phantom string how much of a threat was she when she began going to her animalistic instincts?"
"She was, interesting. " In truth Blake had no way to describe the fight she just had with the Feline Feral. Behind everything she did it seemed to be of minimal effect. To top it off she was well aware she was reading her as much as she was.
"The final Transfer will be tested at a later date." Goodwitch spoke as she began to send the data to Oobleck. "Training for today is concluded." She said strictly as she left to conclude the results for herself.
"So, who wants to go celebrate?" Yang spoke up through the awkward silence.
"Hell I'm in." Peacock spoke up as well as her stomach growling from hunger as well.
Cerebella's eyes light up like the night sky hearing about going out for food. "Yeah, count me in to. What you thinkin? burgers, pizza, oh wait Sushi."
As soon as she rattled off her answers Ms. Fortune gagged "Anything but sushi." She hissed as she fished re-stitching one of her legs. "How about pub food? you know chips, nachos, the good stuff." Her choice of food seemed to get a positive reaction from the crowd Since they all began heading toward the exit.
Ruby turned noticing Filia and her parasite Samson looking back at the monitors lost in thought. "are you coming Filia?" her voice seemed to catch her attention since she began to look at her direction with a slight dazed look.
"Oh, sorry I'll catch up I want to go see the results of Carol's hearing." Filia's voice held major sign of concern for her long-lost friend.
Ruby could tell how much Carol meant to her. She heard stories from her uncle about people in her kind of situation. Carol was effectively the only one who knew her original self. She nodded her head. "I'll come to." She declared following Filia toward Qzpin's office.
Filia simply nodded and gestured if she would like to lead the way only to have her do the same thing.
The Trial of Carol
The judge wiped his fore head before looking at the accused. "Carol Painwheel please stand." He demanded which she responded. "The court has found you guilty of the following charges: destruction of Self-Defense Force property, damage to public property, and international terrorism. You are here by sentence."
"OBJECTION!" Winter Schnee blurted out loudly as they were giving the sentence. Everyone in the trial was caught off guard by this turn of events. "Carol shall be placed under what I give her for punishment."
The judge looked at her with utter confusion "Why I never." He began to protest.
"You have been bribed by the Atlas prosecution making any accusations here by void." Her stone tone echoed in the entire chamber.
The judge scoffed at her. "Then what do you propose she should do."
Winter looked at Carol's monitor. "Trial by fire." The entire court had their attention on her as she spoke. "Carol as of now would be facing the death penalty for the acts she has committed simply by have no limit on her own resistors. Let her prove that she is really on our side and not the White Fang."
The judge shrugged a little as he thought on it. "What mission do you think she should do?" He asked skeptically thinking she would not have one.
"That is up for me to decide." Her voice still holding the same stone from earlier.
"Very well. Starting upon your arrival in Vale Carole will have one week to finish whatever mission you believe is fit." He swung his gavel "Court adjourn."
The monitors shut off. Carol on her side of the monitor sighed with relief. Ozpin however looked at her concerned. "You don't seem to be too worried about your current predicament. Any particular reason?" His eyes watched her as she adjusted her mask which at the moment was being used like a bandana over her hair.
She turned to look at him with an innocent smile on her face. "I may not know who did this to me but I know why they did it." Ozpin's eyebrow raised with his curiosity. "I was designed to kill something more dangerous than a run of the mill Grimm." Her eyes flashed red. "I was made should the Avery unit failed."