Tuesday, 10 AM, Soweiland District Court.
Casey Kane's court trial had began an hour earlier, at 9. The gray-bearded judge was staring down at Kane from his elevated seat, who was slumped over the defense desk in defeat, as the public defender assigned to him was shuffling through papers in a panic.
Over on the prosecution's side, a blue-clad, older man named P. Ross was smirking at the sorry state of the defence. Leo was also standing on the prosecution's desk, arms crossed, staring at Kane.
The jury was bored out of their minds, most of them not even seeing the point of this trial in the first place. Juror no. 4 had excused himself to the bathroom half an hour ago and he still hadn't come back.
Detective McCord was on the witness stand, giving his testimony, running on 5 hours of sleep and 3 cups of dark coffee. The attorney was in the middle of asking the detective a question when...
"Objection!" Ross yelled out. "Tsk tsk tsk, defence. You've quite wasted this court's time with your conjecture." Ross snapped his fingers at the judge.
"End this debauchery, judge!"
"I concur. Detective, you're free to go. The jury will now be sent to deliberate." The judge said, and slammed his gavel.
"Buh-buh-buh-" the public defender stammered.
"A lot of help you were, you asinine attorney!" Kane told his counsel.
"Your honour this is bullshit!" He exclaimed, and slammed his desk. "What possible reason would I have to do any of this!?"
"Sit your ass back down, Mr. Kane, or you'll be held in contempt of court!" The judge threatened him. Kane got the memo and shut his mouth.
"Has the jury reached a decision?" The judge asked.
"We have, your honour." Juror No. 1 said
"On the counts of reckless endangerment, destruction of state property, harbouring a superpowered criminal and domestic terrorism, we find the defendant-"
"Objection!" Kane exclaimed. "This is some kangaroo court! When was I charged with harbouring a superpowered criminal? That's not even a real crime!"
"Mr. Kane, control yourself." The judge glared at him.
"No, your baldness, you control yourself! I'm being charged for crimes in innocent of, and crimes that I didn't even know I'm being charged with? Does everyone in this country just do what that receding hairlined snake says?!" Kane exclaimed, pointing at Leo, who frowned about the comment on his hairline.
"Watch your tongue, Kane." Leo said. "That piece of shit fireguy came out of YOUR protest, so maybe you should think before-"
"Shut up! You don't have a shred of evidence to prove I even knew that guy!" Kane yelled in exasperation.
"You don't have a shred of evidence to prove you didn't!" Leo said, scowling at Kane. "End this junk, Ross. I'm taking a break." Leo waved his arm dismissively, before walking out of the courtroom.
"He just walked out of the courtroom, your honour! Won't you hold him in contempt?!" The public defender grasped.
"Tsk tsk tsk." Ross wagged his finger, and smirked. "The defense is wasting our time with stupid questions. Judge! Verdict, now!"
"Yes. On all those counts I won't repeat, this court finds the defendant guilty. Your licence to use the Linam City public stage will be revoked, and you will be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison..." The judge said.
"Wait. The prison hasn't been built yet." Ross stated.
"Oh yes. You'll serve your sentence in the detention center, until a cell opens up in Soweiland Penitentiary. This court is adjourned."
Immediately after the reading of the verdict, Kane slammed his head against the desk.
"Sorry, Mr. Kane, but you must understand I have many other cases to investigate..." The attorney apologised as he gathered his belongings. Kane only cursed him out under his breath in response.
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Two policemen cuffed and took Kane out of the courtroom after the trial, much to his dismay. They dragged him through the lobby, where Leo and P. Ross were discussing the trial. Leo was hunched over, his hands in his pockets, while Ross was standing up straight, holding a bunch of files under his arms.
Once they noticed Kane enter the room, they turned around to look at him, glaring directly at them.
"Please tell me you're not stupid enough to actually believe I was in cahoots with that nutjob, right?" Kane shot at Leo, who rolled his eyes.
"Maybe check who joins your Elite Team next time around, Kane. Well, in 10 years, that is." Leo said.
"This isn't the end of Casey Kane, I'll have you know. Getting rid of me will only strengthen the resolve of my men." Kane pointed out.
"Sure, buddy. Just remember that I warned you not to do anything stupid. Ross, I'm leaving. Good luck with fire guy." Leo shook the prosecutor's hand, before leaving the lobby.
"You won't get away with this, you corrupt piece of human garbage!" Kane shouted as he was dragged out the other way. "You will rue the day-"
"Shut your mouth." One officer said, jabbing Kane's gut with his baton. Kane mumbled something incoherent, as he was taken away to the transport van outside.
_____________________________________
Shortly after, Kane was in his cell in the detention center. The cell was a simple box of concrete walls, with worn out paint, a hanging bench instead of a bed, a metal sink, and a toilet.
Iron bars separated the cell from the hallway outside, and a poster of Fred Gaspar was hanging on the wall, clearly a remnant of his reign, which simply hadn't been removed. Kane made sure that thing went down the moment he noticed it.
"Make yourself at home, man." One of the officers said as they dropped him off. "The Royal Scientist is sending someone over to take a look at you, don't know what it's about. So sit tight 'till he arrives."
"The Royal Scientist!? I'm not a guinea pig for you federal fucks! I have rights!" Kane exclaimed, and started shaking the iron bars, but the officer had been long gone.
Kane sat alone for a while after that, contemplating what went wrong. The guards brought him food, and that was his social interaction of the day since the trial ended.
Of course, a couple hours later, the envoy from the Ministry of Science arrived. A young gentleman, dressed in a red pullover, gray sweatpants, a lab coat and glasses, holding a folder and a silver disc under his arm, jogged up to the cell bars and smiled at the incarcerated Kane, who could only stare back.
"Oh hello there! Sorry if I kept you waiting, this took a lot of paperwork to do..." The guy said, and quickly started unlocking his cell. "I'm George, by the way, but you can call me doctor if you want!"
"I won't, thanks." Kane muttered.
George carefully set the disc on the ground, tapped a bunch of buttons on his watch, and the thing started making a loud whirring sound. Kane stared at the device, as it formed the shape of a person, who stepped out a couple seconds later.
"You must be confused, so allow me to explain. This is Holo-Bud! You can call him my secret pet-project. I've been working on building him a new fighter mode, and so I took this opportunity to ask for permission from the council, to let me test him as a prison guard! On you!" George explained, never once dropping his smile. Kane awkwardly stared at the scientist.
"No?" He finally said. "Don't I get a say in this?"
"Well, he won't hurt you, of course, unless you do something bad." George reassured him, and patted the hologram on the back. "If you think about it, It'll be like we're cellmates, except i'll be out here, and you'll be in there with my robot."
"Uh-huh. And does tin can do anything or...?" Kane asked, walking around Holo-Bud, and trying to understand it.
"I know approximately 76 ways to spin a knife." Holo-Bud said, surprising Kane.
"Huh, it speaks too. Color me impressed." He said, than sat back down on his 'bed'.
A silence ensued for a couple of seconds, in which neither man knew what to say. George was the one to break it.
"I was there, y'know." He said, looking around the room.
"Huh?" Kane asked, perplexed.
"Your first rally. I was there. You could say I'm a fan." He clarified. "So, I don't think you're behind Inferno."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence, but it doesn't mean anything." Kane said. George's expression shifted rapidly into one more annoyed than anything.
"I just don't understand why you keep going. Isn't this what you were fighting for? A better, free Soweiland, free from the Gaspars forever?" George asked.
"I was fighting for a Soweiland in which the people get to choose their own path, and instead we got another despot to take the place of the last one." Kane explained, waving his arms around as he did.
"The people are like King Lucius, though..." George pointed out, scratching the back of his head.
"I can name a couple hundred people who don't." Kane muttered under his breath, but the comment didn't go unheard.
"You mean the criminals Gaspar worked with? The Mafia?" George asked, crossing his arms.
"Is that what you people think the Elite Devoted are all about?!" Kane exclaimed, anger obvious in his voice. "You think people join the Elite Devoted because they want to escape justice?!"
"I can name some people..." George glared at Kane.
"What am I doing, I don't need to hear this garbage! My Elite Devoted are hand-picked, perfect supporters of my cause, unlike you." Kane raised his voice, and pointed at George, who only grimaced.
"You have too much faith in a group of people with a traitor in their midst. How do you think that Inferno guy found your protest? Someone told him! Wake up!" George exclaimed, frustrated.
"That's ridiculous, nobody would-" Kane brushed him off, and waved his hand in dismissal, but George wasn't about to let that fly.
"Okay so, you did it then. Like the trial said. Is that it?" He asked. Kane turned his head away, and stared at the wall. George sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I'm only trying to help you, man." George said. No response. George decided that enough was enough, and went back to his regular duties, only leaving Holo-Bud behind to keep watching of Kane.
Kane was stuck with himself and his thoughts for a while, so he decided to give what George said some examination.
Would anyone in the Elite Devoted be scheming against him? If so, who, and why? Could someone be unhappy with the current state of the Elite Devoted, or did they believe Inferno could aid their cause?
Before he could really get into thinking about it, a guard arrived to his cell, carrying a phone with him. He had a name tag on his lapel, and it read "Parker".
"You have a call, dude." Parker said. "Some rich guy from Brazil, I don't know. Take it."
Kane took the phone from Parker, prayed the caller --who he had realised was Angelo-- wasn't too pissed at him, and said "Hello?"
"Nice job, man. You really took my only advice and ignored it completely. You're not getting paid for all this, I'll have you know. And Tiger is really pissed at you, for destroying our vacation, just as it was getting good. Not only did we have to deal with all those Xī Clan shmucks for three days, now you get arrested. I'm never trusting you with the gym again, Kane, you big fuck up you." Angelo said, calmly. There was the noise of an engine running in the background of the call.
"Nice to hear from you, too." Kane said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm coming back to Soweiland to get you out of there, alright? I've got this big-shot lawyer, he should be able to get a re-trial and get you out. Just stay in your cell until I arrive, I should be there in a couple days at most." Angelo explained.
"Thanks, I suppose." Kane said, inadvertently annoying Angelo further.
"You suppose?! I'm turning this boat around if you keep giving me that attitude, mister, and you'll be rotting in that cell all day and all night for the next 10 years! See you in 4 days." Angelo exclaimed, and hung up, leaving Kane with Parker again.
"Say, Parker? What was the outcome of fiery's trial?" Kane asked the guard once he took the phone back.
"Guilty. He'll be rotting in maximum security for life. Good riddance, if you ask me." Parker said.
"Ah, good. At least that Ross is good for something." Kane thought out loud. After that, Parker left, again leaving Kane with Holo-Bud.
"Well, robot, how's about you help a guy out with some thinking? I want you to write some stuff down, while I narrow the list of possible clowns that did this to me." Kane said, and began narrating to the holographic assistant the names of everyone he deemed suspicious enough.
This would be the extent of his activities for the remainder of the day. The coming days however, would prove to be more interesting, as visitors would start coming to see him in the detention center.