Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 112: Deliverance

'The defence calls Deliverance Steele.'

Even Jamie had no idea who that was. The only people who seemed to know her name were Harper and a member of the jury from Sunset City. Her silver-blue hair gleamed in the light falling from the ceiling dome. She faced Harper as if she waited an eternity for this moment.

'Please confirm your name and relation to this case.'

'I am Deliverance Steele. The youngest daughter of Sunset City's Gym Leader, Phineas Steele, who was brutally murdered by his own fiancée – my mom, Brynlee Booth.'

Lindsey's eyes narrowed. 'Have you ever met the defendant?'

Bowen raised a hand to request silence. He met Deliverance privately after she wrote a passionate letter to the court, although he got the impression she intended to break the rules he made clear to her. Indeed, her hand darted to her pocket. The jury found themselves looking at a photo of her father's head in its jar.

'This is all that's left of my kind, loving and selfless father who died when I was two, for the crime of trying to report his evil, abusive fiancée. Yes, you are looking at his head, preserved in a jar that she hid in a 16 year-old relative's trailer.'

Deliverance cut Lindsey off before she could question the relevance.

'No, I haven't met the defendant. After being orphaned when my mom was finally jailed – though not for long enough, because no-one had found her mass grave – my sister Charlotte and I were separately adopted. I was taken to Johto and never saw Charlotte again. Until this man killed my mother, I couldn't contact my sister or any other relatives for fear for my life, let alone return to Orre or Sunset City. Let me be absolutely clear – if he hadn't killed her, she absolutely would've killed Charlotte and me if we showed our faces here, because we knew what she was. She would've continued to kill anyone who got in her way, as she proved with Cobalt Gallego, Lapis Hexagon and Naaji Hawthorn Fayed Joyner-Massey.'

'That's terrible, but...'

'Fuck "but!" I've been silenced for long enough! My father had no choice but to be silenced! And many, many more people would have been stripped of that choice if she was still alive! I know very little about Cipher, because I was whisked off to Johto so young, but I know there was a very, very real possibility she would've killed this man if he posed any threat to her career as a serial killer. Even if the justice system isn't allowed to see it as a heroic act or necessary evil, it was absolutely an act of self-defence. Maybe you'd like to say "but" to my dad, Miss Regional Attorney? I don't think you'll get an answer!'

Bowen's gavel struck its block. 'That's enough, Ms. Steele. I understand your pain, which is why I allowed you to testify, but this isn't how a trial works. I think you've made your point.'

'Well, in case it isn't clear enough–'

A guard hesitantly took her arm. When she twisted free, colleagues joined him, but being aggressively escorted out didn't stop her shouting.

'If you charge him with second-degree murder, you're saying her victims had no right to fight back! That they just had to lay down and die!'

Harper looked like she regretted agreeing to Deliverance's request. She was the first person to explode. As understandable as it was, in legal terms it made their side look bad... and it was the closing impression.

'The defence has no further witnesses.'

All that was left now was each side's closing argument. Lindsey argued that regardless of Jamie's past and motivations, he was still a murderer guilty of all charges. Harper argued, as Deliverance did, that convicting Jamie was akin to telling him that what his abusers did was acceptable and that he had no right to fight back. She also argued that he technically wasn't guilty of second-degree murder if it was an act of self-defence; let alone that he never intended to kill anyone, so couldn't possibly be guilty of arson with intent to endanger life. If his motivation was always to stop feeling and Ardos encouraged him to take over the world, he couldn't be guilty of treason, either.