“...So…Mr. Hart…” Judge DuVall says to Love in a deep and booming voice. “...Please tell the court about your encounter with Maximillian Midas…”

 

Love tried to think about how she could try to use her words to get Maximillian Midas arrested, but the words were escaping her at the moment.

 

Before she was called up to the stand she had some ideas of what she wanted to say, but now that she was here all of those thoughts have now completely disappeared…

 

…Instead, all she can think about currently is how many people were staring at her and expecting her to speak…and that terrified her…

 

“...Mr. Hart? Are you alright?” The judge questions.

 

‘No…not now!’ Love thought to herself.

 

She was about to have a full on panic attack in the front of the courtroom.

 

Seemingly out of nowhere she started hyperventilating. Tears followed soon after this.

 

The people seated in the gallery obviously noticed this and started to talk amongst themselves. They were saying things such as what did that man do to elicit such a response and that they now thought that Midas was obviously guilty of something.

 

“Order In the court!” DuVall slammed his gavel down on his desk a few times.

 

Everyone who was previously talking quickly stopped doing so to pay attention to the judge.

 

Duvall then turns to Love.

 

“...It seems like whatever you have been through has been a lot Mr. Hart…Would you like us to take a brief recess so that you could put yourself together before we continue?”

 

Love gives a small nod.

 

“...Alright…We shall be having a brief recess…Everyone, be back in this court in exactly thirty minutes…no more, no less…” DuVall says as he slams his gavel down on his desk again.

 

As everyone was filing out of the courtroom, Violet decided to go and check on Love who was still relatively close to the podium that she froze up at.

 

“...Hey Love…Are you alright?”

 

Love briefly looks towards Violet and shakes her head no.

 

“...Do…do you want to talk about it?”

 

Love doesn’t immediately respond. She Just hugs Violet and cries into her chest.

 

After a couple of minutes Violet was able to get Love to calm down a bit.

 

‘...I’ve got an idea…’ Violet thought to herself.

 

She walks over to Judge DuVall who was looking through some paperwork on his desk.

 

“...May I have a moment of your time, your honor?” Violet asks.

 

“...Make it quick…” He says as he puts down the papers and folds his hands.

 

“...You see…My friend has really bad social anxiety…and…uh…he often freezes up when he has to talk to a lot of people in public…Would it be alright if…he…tells me what happened in private and that I speak for…him…when everyone returns to court?”

 

Violet felt bad about misgendering her friend so many times, but she knew it was for the greater good in this situation.

 

DuVall looks around Violet and towards Love before looking back at Violet again. She was done crying now, but she was still shaking a little bit.

 

“...Fine…on one condition…You may speak for your friend…but he must also be at the podium as you are sharing his story with the courtroom so that we could make sure what you are saying is absolutely true…Are these terms agreeable?”

 

Violet looks over at Love who gives a small nod.

 

“Yes.” Violet responds. “That would be fine. Thank you.”

 

DuVall nods and looks back down at his paperwork.

 

Violet and Love go outside of the courthouse and into a nearby alleyway to talk. Love tells Violet everything…except she leaves out the part with her and Andy.

Everyone was now filing back into the courtroom.

 

After everyone was seated, DuVall slammed his gavel down.

 

“...The case of Maximillian Midas will now continue…”

 

Violet and Love walk up to the podium, but when they get up there Love is trying her best to hide behind Violet.

 

“...Since Mr. Hart was unable to tell the court about his experience on his own…I allowed one of his friends, Miss Violet Newton, to recount this story for him…”

 

The judge folds his hands and looks towards Violet.

 

“...You may begin…”

 

“...Alright…Thank you, your honor…” Violet looks at DuVall before turning her attention towards everyone else who is currently sitting in the gallery. “...People of Central City…I am here to reveal to you the misdeeds of Maximillian Midas and why it would be in our best interest to make sure that he is put where he belongs…in Iron Wall prison behind bars…”

 

Violet looks towards Love before she continues recounting last weekend's events.

 

“While it may be true for the others that they didn’t specifically see Midas give his subordinates direct orders to attack us, what…my friend…has revealed to me tells me that he absolutely did do exactly what he is being accused of…Apparently after the rest of us were knocked out by Midas’ underlings…Lev…witnessed everything else that happened…So…right after the rest of us we beaten unconscious…he…saw Midas give a man with gray hair tied back into a bun and a suit the command to kill Mr. Adams, which the man followed through with immediately…After this Midas gave an order to kill not only the other heroes that were in the building, but all of us kids as well…Chief McHail arrived on the scene soon after that and arrested Midas and his underlings…”

 

Violet looks towards Love who gives an affirmative nod of confirmation.

 

“...And there you have it…If you ask me that is more than enough information to get Midas convicted…” Violet crosses her arms as a smirk appears on her face “...I don’t know this next part for sure, but one could also easily assume that Midas gave the order to kill Mr. McKennedy as well…”

 

Love immediately freezes up again. Violet turns around to look at her friend.

 

“...What is it…isn’t that what happened?” Violet questions with a confused look.

 

“...Well…yes…but…”

 

Miller Mercury quickly takes notice of what is going on and raises his hand.

 

“...You may speak Mr. Mercury…” DuVall tells the Hermes wannabee.

 

“...Now…I might just be me seeing things, but did anyone else notice how tense Mr. Hart got when Miss Newton mentioned Mr. McKennedy?”

 

There were murmurs of confirmation of this happening around the courtroom.

 

“...If everything happened just as you said, Miss Newton, then why would such an innocuous thing give Mr. Hart such a visceral response?”

 

“...I…I don’t know…” Violet felt herself starting to get worried. “...Everything before that point I can assure you was the full truth…but to be honest I was just making an educated guess with that last sentence…I can’t confirm nor deny what actually happened to…Mr. McKennedy…”

 

“...Interesting…” Miller strokes his chin as a devious smirk appears on his face. “...How very…incredibly interesting…”