Tcr 36

The Mice got to do their testimony over the internet.

What the hell? I had to come in for what could be weeks of sitting in this courtroom with recesses, continuances, legal jargon, cross examinations, and they get to line up in front of a tablet to work a touch screen while a webcam films them.

Dressed in their Wizard of Oz outfits from Matrix's school project.

Which she placed in. The Geniuses that don’t get disqualified for meddling in things man was not meant to mess with tend to win those kinds of things, so third place was pretty good.

I guess they thought the brightly colored costumes might make them more appealing, or they thought it was funny. Algernon, the half of the Mice group mind that wanted to be my official sidekick had gotten a little quirky since separating from the more conservative side of their of their group mind.

While the group up in my attic had become less social. I think I should suggest an exchange program between the two colonies.

The two sides in court brought in expert witnesses, psychologists, and so called futurists. As well as religious experts. I had thought Core lawyers were supposed to be taking a fall?

Hallows explained it. "The more they bring up and get covered in this case, the harder it will be to challenge the judge's decision.”

Oh. Good work lawyer guys.

However, the longer the case went on, the more attention it was getting. The steps out front had people waiting for me now.

Not reporters. Protesters.

There were a lot of supporters as well. Including some Super Animals with Genius Ranks which allowed them to be people smart, or better, including the ability to use language.

I was glad I had kept up with my sign language studies, it helped when meeting the representative of the Skull Island colony from the artificial island Core had raised in the Caribbean. Nice ape, he even joked about me being one of the few “Dirty stinking humans." he was glad to shake hands with.

It was a bit awkward when he showed up at my house later that day to talk to the Crows and Chester about immigrating to the Isle and I got upwind of him.

Mr. Bolger’s head snapped around and he gave me a long stare before winking and going back to arranging transportation for a few of the birds that had taken an interest.

The Mice told me later that night they had been in contact with the Isle for years, but it was too soon for them to split their colony again. As for leaving, [ This is our home Scott. You are our family.]

I broke open a few bottles of cider, as well as a bag of corn chips, and stood up on the pulldown ladder for a few hours to hang out. It was nice just to chat with my friend again for a while.

The Isle did not have any interest in recruiting Khan. The ape ambassador shuddered at the thought. “No apex predators, thank you very much. They can get Core to make them their own island if they want.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Scorn also wanted a play by play breakdown each night as we sat on the porch on the glider. She was sympathetic to animals, other than the ones she ate. “I wish I could be there. But it’s too many people. Too much… feelings.”

I rubbed my chin for a moment. “You know, there is a camera and external microphone on my helmet. You could watch a recording of the trail, or watch it live.”

That got me a long cold look. “You didn’t think to mention this earlier?”

I nodded, “I’m not the mind reader Honey.”

She slowly sat upright and raised an eyebrow at me. “Honey?”

Clearing my throat to buy some time. I came up with. "You're sweet if I'm willing to risk getting stung."

After considering that she gave me a thin smile. “Acceptable. But don’t call me that so much you end up saying it in front of anyone else. Especially Emma.”

The next day in court I got a text from the Mice.

After reading it twice, I leaned over to whisper to my lawyer. “Hallows. Please get me a recess.”

She gave me a questing look. I shook my head a little. “There was an attempt to kidnap my mom, and no one can get a hold of my grandparents.”

My lawyer froze in place for a moment, then stood up. “You honor? May I please approach the bench?”

It was right in the middle of some professor guy’s testimony for the defense, but Judge Dia must have picked up on Hallow’s expression and allowed it.

We got our recess.

The head lawyer for the defense, who had also walked up to the bench, stepped across the gap between the tables to lean over ours. “I won’t protest the recess for the rest of the day if needed. Then ask for a continuance if you need more time. We’ll let them think you’re still in court for as long as possible.”

A lawyer and a decent man. I should try to remember his name.

I was… A little off balance. I cut off Scorn’s call since she was watching my feed from my house along with the Mice, and some of the Crows. I hoped she would understand.

The Mice did. They redirected all the information they had to Shimmer and Clovis, our digital intelligence over at our base.

The Mice were good at multi-tasking, but an AI was smarter, and better at hacking.

“Mort? Scott? Are you with us?”

I jerked my head up. We had gathered up in a briefing room, and Shimmer had been saying something. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

She gave me a concerned look. “Your sister was with your Dad when two men tried to grab him and pull him into a car. She beat both of them so badly that the police had to call in ambulances to take them to the hospital. She then chased down the car, jumped through the rear window feet first, and forced it into a lamp pole. Then she dragged the driver out and began to beat answers out of her until she had to be pulled off by four security guards.”

I nodded my head. “She triggered when Gains tried to visit the hospital I was in. She’s always been pretty protective. Brute 1, Genius 1 in advanced fighting skills. She retired from active duty to teach combat arts to the low Ranked Brutes that sign up for the military after she had her second kid.”

Everyone on the team was staring at me. Fable finally spoke up. “Your sister would have been around eight at that time, and she went after a Brute 4?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like she really won, he just wasn’t fighting back.”

Whoever was involved at least didn’t go after her husband or the kids. It seemed they were too smart to try to kidnap people living on a military base specialized in training Super ranked Marines.

Or come after someone living in Concentric City.

Talking was enough to get me thinking again. How did they know I’m Orpheus?

I called the Mice. “Get me up to date. And please fill in Scorn.”

They didn’t get my Mom, which I knew. Probably due to mom going to the mother daughter Tai Kwan doe lessons for several years. But they did get both of my grandparents. Their front door was found wide open, with a broken glass with blood on it in the living room. Like it had been pitched from the kitchen.

Even throwing underhand, Grandma always had a pretty snap throw.

I turned to Fable. “Can you do the crystal ball thing? Please?”

She reached out to me for a moment, then hesitated. Yeah, I wouldn't want to try to hold the hand of an emotionally distraught Brute either.

“Of course, but Shimmer was my strong connection to Coaltrain. You can be the connection to your family, but your house, their home. Trying there will make it an even stronger connection.”

I got rid of the armor and took a walk out a side door. No one put together a random guy leaving the building and Orpheus.

A block away, Manifest caught up with me and opened a portal to my home.

On the other side, Scorn rushed over from the porch, stopped just short of me, and then stepped up to hug me right in front of other people.

I needed that. Not just the hug, but her caring enough about me to risk getting teased by her sister and Fable later on.

I whispered in her ear as I pulled her in. “Sort of falling in love with you Honey.”

She nodded into my shoulder after a moment and gave me an exasperated sigh. “Same here Deadman.”

Then she added. “Now let me go because Fable is trying to take a picture.”