Apollo pounced on the opportunity.
"Ms. Cykes, you said you...stabbed that man in the hand? The man that killed your mother?"
Athena nodded, and the young defense attorney closed his eyes.
As much as I hate to admit it, Ms. Blackquill does have a point. He thought. If that man did escape the Space Center, it would be a devil of a risk to bomb the Hope Capsule, let alone come anywhere near the Space Center again. It would be much safer to just keep a low profile and hide. There is nothing about the moon rock that would justify...the rock...the...
Behind Apollo's eyelids, an image flashed before him; Blackquill's shaking fist.
No...could it...it would be absolutely insane...but I guess...no crazier than everything else I've seen since the day I became a lawyer...
"Mr. Justice?" The Judge stammered.
"Mr. Justice?" Blackquill growled.
"Apollo?" Phoenix's eyes narrowed.
"Boy?" Aura snapped.
Gradually, Apollo opened his eyes. He cleared his throat. He did his best to ignore the sweat on his forehead.
"The defense has a theory to offer." He spoke plainly. "Ms. Cykes did not merely succeed in stabbing the criminal at the Space Center seven years ago. She left a trail...a trail that the criminal had no choice but to brush away the second he had the opportunity."
"Where are you going with this, boy?" Blackquill scowled. "What are you suggesting?"
"I'm not suggesting anything, yet." Apollo shook his head. "I am musing. Ms. Cykes...would you say you got the criminal pretty bad? Was there a lot of blood?"
Athena nodded, and Apollo snapped his fingers. "So, it's reasonable to guess that at least some of such blood might have dripped right on the moon rock...the very rock that was to be loaded onto the Hope Capsule and launched into space that day..."
"Mr. Lawyer..." Fulbright gaped. "Surely you aren't suggesting that..."
"I am." Apollo slammed his fists on the table. "There is only one thing that would have made the culprit of the crime of seven years past return carry out the crimes my client, Clay Terran, and Ms. Cykes, have been accused of...by Mr. Simon Blackquill."
"You..." Blackquill's eyes widened.
"And, furthermore, Your Honor, and Ms. Blackquill," Apollo continued. "It's safe to say that even with the explosion, some fragments of the moon rock held in the Hope Capsule might remain."
"Oh, I think..." Fulbright snapped his fingers. "Wait! I think our guys and gals might have kept them in the back room of evidence storage for safekeeping!"
"So it stands to reason, then," Apollo pointed outwards with his finger, trying to quell the tremor in his body, "...some residue from the blood may remain on the fragments!"
Blackquill clenched his fist.
"Mr. Blackquill! The defense requests that you undergo a blood test!"
It was then that Blackquill lost his patience, and his nerve. With a sudden burst of movement, he began a mad dash towards the door of the courtroom. But he did not get far. The prongs of a taser hit his back, and after a few seconds of electrical agony, he collapsed to the floor.
Fulbright, shaking but still standing upright, dropped the taser he had drawn, and pulled out some handcuffs.
"P-please, do not be alarmed, everyone. I will take care of this. In justice we trust...in justice we trust..."
Phoenix was as shaken as anyone else, but he did his best to remain calm as he resumed his testimony.
Contrary to what everyone had been led to believe, the man known as Simon Blackquill had been dead long before the start of the trial. He had been murdered in an engineered bus crash, and had been impersonated by the phantom, the very specter that had been responsible for the Space Center attacks. It was inconceivable, so the veteran defense attorney said, that anyone but the phantom could have committed the murder of Director Cosmos and the bombing of the Hope Capsule.
Against his will, Apollo could not help but intermittently look to the side even as Phoenix described the tragedy. Apollo could not see a flicker of the Aura he knew in the TV screen.
She seemed hollow; there was no other way to put it. Her jaw was limp, her shoulders sagged, her eyes were lightless. She did not bother to move a muscle as the bound judge shifted away from her.
It was on odd thing, really, that Apollo felt full of the one emotion he had never expected to feel towards her; pity.
"How is Mr. Blackquill...er, his imposter?" Phoenix said.
"He should wake up soon." Detective Bobby Fulbright cleared his throat. The attack on the Space Center seven years ago, the murders of Metis Cykes and Yuri Cosmos, and all the rest of the myriad of crimes that have tormented so many citizens for so long...under suspicion of all of these things, the spy known as the phantom has been put into custody."
The detective looked towards the TV screen, which was now black.
"And as for Ms. Blackquill, she has surrendered herself to our care as well. Mr. Wright, you said you got a phone call from His Honor?"
Phoenix nodded. "I did. On his behalf, I would like to say that Ms. Athena Cykes is now cleared of all suspicion. And as for the defendant, Mr. Clay Terran, he has been declared...not guilty."
-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 54; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.