Intrusive
“…” The Supreme Justice Minister looked down at Fox, standing up as some chatter commenced from the right and behind her. The left side of the glass window was also chattering, but much quieter. She declared before sitting up, after bringing all attention to herself. “This trial will continue… with the proposed procedures… by the president. It has been enough time, and I now call upon a rest for 15 minutes.”
Armando released a sigh of relief in his mind. The notion was thrown to the President’s authority, but it was better than being targeted by the judicial branch in the future, although he was now with the President.
The room had some movement, mostly from the right and the Supreme Court Ministers behind Vanessa. A few on the left exited the room, but most remained in place, with Elega looking at her phone intently, grinning from time to time. Armando wiped his sweat nonstop.
The only ones that didn’t move and should have were Fox and Vanessa. Fox remained at the podium, while Vanessa flipped through some documents and occasionally glanced at him. After a while, she felt a bit awkward, that she should maybe leave, but it seemed improper, and a third of break time was already over.
Fortunately, Fox hung his head, resting but not appearing tired. Saving both an awkward, unwanted staring contest. Again, he gave an image of being surrendered, but now, after his detailed story, what he didn’t speak of before, he also seemed afflicted.
Up until Riverlye’s appearance, his life was… quite something. They couldn’t even imagine what would come afterwards. It also didn’t help to tone the situation down that many netizens crazily investigated and gathered some curious data, like a Forzt’s connection with him.
While the netizens bombarded each other with intrigue, demonstrating just how many people in Lýmoca alone are awake at these hours, time slowly passed. Before the last minute went out, Fox lifted his head, gaining every single pair or single watching eye on him.
He looked at the attendants around Vanessa’s seat, all sitting like in AO’s times where servants eating twice a day was a most luxurious lifestyle just below fighting for a noble or royalty. Vanessa looked at him as well, but she only noticed where he was staring after a little while. Just as she felt morally attacked by his polycoria eyes, people returned to the courtroom like a flood.
Within a few seconds, the people sat at the stands again, and the Supreme Court Ministers, who arrived a little later, walked down the stairs before reuniting with the Supreme Justice Minister.
“We will continue with this trial. Now, as per requested before, continue explaining until you found out your target had become the vice president.” Vanessa tapped her desk and announced before facing Fox. Sitting back down, she breathed deeply in before Fox began.
“I accepted immediately. There, I learned a lagj’s methods for…” Fox began speaking of what was already known in the secret world, and didn’t really matter in the ordinary world. The tunnels Riverlye once had now belonged to PSD, or rather, the government.
Fox spoke of the people he met in Riverlye, albeit not that much, mainly mentioning Layo, Teon, José, and Pheli. He tried not to focus too much on Pheli, but the ministers were bent on knowing the utmost limits of his relationship with her. He didn’t have to spill everything out, but it felt like he did. Fortunately, he wasn’t questioned endlessly, only taking about an hour because of them before arriving at the matter of saving Lesly Rivera’s life, who was no longer in the courtroom.
“I found miss Lesly in a tired state, but she still reacted and almost… threw me a couple of cushions,” said Fox. His words left an awkward silence, propagated to the viewers, until he added, “She had a sharp mind, and could have hit me in the head twice.”
There were snickers and some incredulous reactions. The courtroom became a little noisy before the Supreme Justice Minister tapped her desk lightly. Another Supreme Court Minister stood up and questioned Fox, “Now, describe everything that happened in your mass murder of the guards in the building!”
“… At first, I only incapacitated them. I was rough, but I did only that. It wasn’t until one of the guards killed each other that it changed…” Fox began explaining again, impassive from the minister’s words. From how he started his way down the long, long stairs, to the moment the tragedy began.
With his previous explanations of what happened before he arrived to the top of the building, everyone understood why only the stairs were available, and that there was an ambush outside if he wanted to jump.
When Fox finished telling how he killed the last Artista and lost his arm, there was silence again for a bit. Fox frowned for half a moment. He wasn’t asked how he still had a perfectly well-looking arm connected to his left side, nor did they ask more things that he thought they would before. Clearly, they were ‘keeping’ it for later.
Fox gave Armando a look, who suckled his lips into his mouth and looked back at him with wide eyes. Armando nodded at Fox, indicating he realized too, but this was something that had to be traversed by Fox himself, nothing more.
“I’d like to know the happenings from the moment you left the building’s block to when you escaped before the information you supposedly gave to the authority was validated through the vice president. What happened before the national guard and police forces arrived?”
“I entered Riverlye’s HQ expecting a fight, but it wasn’t so, at first. While I was being betrayed by Riverlye first, and away, inside…” Fox retold some of the things he lived as he went into the HQ, to the moment he met with Pheli, and when he fled with her corpse in his arms.
The people were stunned with these words about a lagj organization having more than 1 available, perfectly functioning cryobag. Fox stopped soon after, not saying how he met with the Forzts, who watched him deliver their lost daughter back to her old bedroom from when she was younger.
From then on, it became a duel between the Supreme Court Ministers and Armando Peña, as they got closer to Fox’s and his lifestyle in the Piya Sanctum District.
“When were you back to the government’s secret project, then?” - “The accused will not answer that question as it is invalidated by the agreed procedures!” — “Why were you not selected to become a public figure immediately?” - “The accused won’t answer that question because it is a fault to the President’s reminder of this court’s responsibilities to the nation!”
Over and over again, Armando stood up to intervene for Fox in the name of his defense, who listened to everything the lawyer had to say. It was his lawyer, after all. Fox slowly advanced, taking over 3 hours to talk about his work during the past year. There were another 3 breaks of 15 minutes, but none of what was happening could be considered boring.
There were already many clips taken by the blessed internet, showing ridiculous but funnily enough entertaining edits. Nevertheless, with all the tense, repetitive, and continuous face off, the trial was reaching its final point, at least for this ‘way’ of the 2-w c-e.
“… We have gone through all the questioning necessary for the interrogation of Phesx Caolia, alias Fox, public servant of the current government and the president of the political party National Front.” Vanessa gathered some documents and tapped their lower end against her desk and looked at Fox before Armando could say something, “We will now begin the final step of this process. Phesx Caolia, you will be interrogated directly based on the facts you have dutifully shared with this court.”
“Understood,” Fox tilted his head to the right and sent his eyes to the corner of the same. Vanessa nodded, not even bothering to wait for him to answer, writing on her desk and then extending a screen from below it. She passed the documents on the screen, digitalizing them before looking backwards at both sides of the ministers and finally back at Fox.
“This last step will be overseen by Supreme Court Minister Javier Laran and Supreme Court Minister Jennifer Paws, besides me, the Supreme Justice Minister Vanessa Valyer.” Vanessa announced. Fox nodded, though she didn’t look, and untied a pile of documents. Both mentioned ministers walked to her and grabbed some documents before returning to their seat.
“It’s been a… long night so far, and it’s nearly the first rays of the day. Let’s wrap this up, so everyone can get to rest the following night, alright?” Vanessa Valyer did a pause as she wrote a few more things. She even smiled at the crowd before her, looking sympathetic.
Even though it’s already past 5 AM, and everyone had been awake since at least yesterday’s late morning, the face of the judicial branch was inexhaustible. She wore an energetic expression. Not even casual, ordinary, or bored countenance. An energetic expression.
Those who didn’t watch these things, which is most of the Lys, with not a point of difference compared to the rest of the world; seemed to feel like being such a public servant was more than a different style of job.
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“Ah, your Justice, as a matter of fact— I would like to advise postponing an over extended session for the first turn of the 2 ways. It is more beneficial to employ this process with-” Armando stood up when he heard the Supreme Justice Minister speak those words.
He didn’t dare to act right away, considering things, but decided to do so in the end anyhow. However, before he could continue, with the staff watching from the control room, Vanessa swung her extended sleeve and muted Armando’s glass microphone. “Dismissed.”
Armando was taken aback, a little embarrassed. Fox looked to his left and watched this happen, frowning without a care to who might see it. He saw Elega turn to him, just staring at him with her water-clear light brown eyes, to which he shook his head imperceptibly.
Elega shrugged a bit, staring ahead as Armando returned to his seat after giving the Supreme Justice Minister a frowning, confused look. Fox also looked at her, returning his face to the front. He spoke after a strange silence surfaced from this ‘little event’.
“I’d like to finish this fast, too.” Fox’s words took the attention from anywhere else to himself. Vanessa looked down at him before nodding, awkwardly stopping her head from coming back up. “I… will begin.”
“Just a reminder,” Vanessa narrowed her eyes, looking down, before adding, lifting her chin. Fox lifted his eyebrows for a bit. “The Supreme Court Justice will not abuse their power, and shall this session be considered enough for the conclusion of half the process, it will be allowed.”
“Now, Mr. Caolia,” Vanessa seemed relaxed after saying that, although she didn’t even look at Armando a second time. “When you killed that comrade of yours for Priscila’s sake, did you enjoy it?”
“Excuse me?” Fox stared up at the Supreme Justice Minister with unchanging polycoria eyes. Vanessa adopted a stern expression, resting her forearms and elbows on the desk with her hands atop one another, “Answer the question, Mr. Caolia, or Mr. Fox. When you planned and assassinated a soldier from the same encampment as yours, for the so-called ‘safety’ and ‘sake’ of a prostitute, did you enjoy it?”
Fox inadvertently formed a grin, from ear to ear, although it lasted half a second, “I did.”
“Would you still enjoy such an act?” Vanessa asked, lowering her gaze with her left hand lifting a pen between her index and middle fingers. Fox shrugged, slightly shaking his head, “Specify?”
“Would you enjoy the murder of a person for threatening the livelihood of a prostitute?” Vanessa lifted her chin again and stared deeply into his eyes, almost as if berating him. Fox felt a bit weird, but he blinked, understanding. “No, I don’t think so. But I’ll still do it, gladly.”
“…” Vanessa frowned when she read through Fox’s tone, and sure enough, a but came right in. Nevertheless, after hearing him, her expression helplessly calmed, and she looked at Fox’s, momentary grin at the end with newfound compression.
Her visage was a little curious in the eyes of anyone else, as Fox stood there, waiting for the next question, eyes fully set on the Supreme Justice Minister, well-behaved. Vanessa woke up and licked her lips inside her mouth before resuming.
“Is there a possibility you orchestrated the assault to your platoon when you moved to install defenses on that bridge?” She asked, to which he answered with a flat ‘no’. Vanessa looked down at her document and continued, “Could it be possible that Paul’s death was orchestrated by you when you saw the possibility of leading into a massacre where you could kill everyone?”
“No,” Fox replied, almost coldly. Vanessa seemed to dwell on it for a few seconds before asking again. “Is there truly not a chance you wished for everyone with you to die, and more so someone close to you, as it is the case in the future, time and again?”
“It is not. It has never been. It will not,” Fox stared at the Supreme Justice Minister sharply, straight, and unmoving. His polycoria impenetrable black pools seemed dead, but the vessel holding them was more than alive.
“It seems you were very offended and hurt when these events happened. Did you expose your then encampment’s information for any enemy to take it over?” Vanessa asked. Fox’s previous stance smoked away, calmly answering, “No, I did nothing of the sort. And many people died there… Soldiers were fewer than the victims…”
“Did you enjoy killing hundreds in the battle for the Centralized Parliament?” Vanessa asked, and Fox nodded with a simple ‘yes’, his eyes a little bit lost. Vanessa continued, “Did you have sexual encounters from an early age? Presumably starting between 13 and 14 years old?”
“Yes,” Fox blinked a few times before responding, and a few more afterwards. Vanessa nodded, speaking with her head lowered, so much her hair covered her sides, and her smooth, flawless forehead hid the rest of her face to those in front, even when she was a few steps above them. “Did you engage in forceful or dubious sexual activities where you were the perpetrator?”
“No,” Fox’s voice turned a bit cold this time, straight out in the open. Vanessa followed suit, “How about as a victim?”
Fox blinked. He gulped softly before opening his lips, sounding his voice without coldness, “No.”
“In a war, something like this could be considered quite lucky, even for the typical male soldier without significant aesthetics,” Vanessa commented, unnecessarily. Fox felt his breath quicken, and in a really bad way. Vanessa seemed to feel the gaze had changed, or the electricity behind those eyes in the brain, maybe everywhere else. But she asked after awakening from a brief stupor, “When did that flock of hair turn white? According to this, it is a genetic… phenomenon.”
“Around… when I lost…” Fox shut his eyes for half a moment, opening them impassive yet imposingly half another moment after, “When I suffered the betrayal of Riverlye.”
Fox blinked many times when he spoke those last few words. Vanessa scrutinized his face with a serious expression and her left backhand supporting her whole chin. She looked down at her documents and up at him before resuming again, “Did you want to leave Preut when the borders between Preut and Lýmoca opened?”
“… Not really,” Fox thought for a moment before replying. Vanessa asked; informally. “Because of your mother? To search for her?”
“No, but I did go back for her intentionally.” Fox shook his head a bit. Vanessa breathed deeply in and reclined on her backrest before asking, “Did you harbor any feelings to destroy, kill, rape, or abuse your learned skills when, before, or after leaving Preut?”
“No,” Fox rolled his eyes and answered. Vanessa immediately asked, out of nowhere, “Did you assassinate the generals of the 3 encampments before looking for your mother?”
“…” The crowd, the livestream channels, and Fox himself were startled. His eyes looked up at Vanessa without suspicion or hostility, only impassiveness. “Yes, I did. It only took me several days… I was about 15 at that time.”
“This was after training under a special force’s team, right?” Vanessa went on. Fox nodded and voiced ‘yes’, before she asked one last time. “But none of them taught you how to evade any detection from these 3 generals and assassinate them without being found out.”
“Yes, but now it seems I wasn’t that good, when everyone knows it…” Fox replied. Vanessa nodded, even wearing a little, thin smile before gathering her documents. “My turn has concluded. Now, I will grant Jennifer Paws the use of her voice to proceed with this last step.”
Now, it was laid out before the country. Fox was able to evade the detection of several generals’ security and assassinate them without being traced or found in the slightest. News of such things at the moment were nothing, but now that the history behind it was exposed… Just what kind of monster this Phesx Caolia, Fox, and who knew what else, was before Lýmoca?
“Haaaee~,” Fox exhaled in a bit of a complaint as the ministers spoke with each other. Then, a young woman with brown skin and youthful intelligence passed documents by her desk’s screen before staring at Fox with an excited, little smile. “Thank you, your Justice.”
“Phesx Caolia, you said something about never letting those close to you die. Then, let’s start with this. How did Pheli die in your arms? Pheli Forzt, the daughter of the Forzt’s family head and one of the most influential Lys.” She went to attack without showing her claws, only her paws…
“Riverlye had a few D/LM weapons in their storage. They grabbed some, and I was unable to save her.” Fox replied emptily, his eyes truly without focus now. Jennifer Paws’ smile continued amidst the crowd’s shock, her voice going half a pitch higher, “And why would you not save her? Did you not wish to keep a woman with you? Or was the promise of a life together, something unknown, just not good enough for you? Perhaps you just let her die conveniently.”
Fox didn’t respond for a while, a long while, a very long while. Vanessa, who rested in her seat, sobered up at last and tilted her head after sitting straight. Her eyebrows knitted a bit. Jennifer Paws blinked, gulping as she was brutally ignored. Just as Vanessa was about to say something to Jennifer Paws…
“I… wanted her… I… wished nothing but to be with her,” his eyes were dropped and his eyelashes stagnant, yet seemingly fluttering. “Planed to get somewhere… after Riverlye’s matter. And even go to her father so we could start to make money more easily.”
“A couple we knew, farmers, had a pregnancy before the assignation in that building. So, the matter came so smoothly— we wanted to try that, too…” Fox slowly lifted his eyes. Not knowing why, he first looked up at the Supreme Justice Minister before staring at the young brown woman. “When I heard the incoming danger, those vastly powerful weapons coming to me, to us, to her… I moved my arm to push her, about to tackle her down…”
The crowd listened attentively, even those to his right. Fox unnaturally lifted and lowered his chin, trembling while doing so, “I motioned to my left arm, but it didn’t move. It had been cut off… She was shot a few times by these. All I avoided was her brain getting hit. I received bullets into my back. Each made me feel my vision was turning black… but when I fell on her… she was pale.”
“… … …” The crowd silently stared, listened, thought; gulping sounds echoed from the ministers’ seats. Vanessa looked at Fox with calm eyes. She analyzed him fully, eyes barely showing a twinkle, at most.
“Ahem, what were your first missions as a government’s special agent?” Jennifer Paws spoke several seconds later. Fox looked up at her after almost feeling like sleeping, warm and cozy… numb all over.
“…” But instead of acknowledging the minister, Fox stared at Armando, who seemed to debate with himself before thumbing up and nodding at him. Fox wordlessly returned his polycoria eyes to the minister, “The first was in the ‘fruit of nature’…”
The trial continued a little more. Fox was irked left and right, with every person known to the public appearing in their words, their filthy, uncaring lips and teeth. Their moving tongues like they were proud of knowing how to use it, not to degrade themselves, but others, and without even touching them. Fox saw their brains while gazing into their mouths from beginning to end. These people weren’t any different from one another, like a hive mind.
For the first time in his life, as the trial ended, and Vanessa Valyer of the judicial branch’s highest position of the Supreme Court Justice, the Supreme Justice Minister, was announcing the process’ end. Fox developed his first thoughts, and side, regarding the important matters of a country, his country, Lýmoca; in politics.
The Supreme Court Justice should change. It smelled bad. It treated them… her… as it should have… never.
…