Teen Titans Roster Day Off (7)

Inscrutable

Penelope Akk

The trial of The Justice League, American Division vs The Original was not taking place in a traditional court house.   Instead, all league matters nowadays took place in Metropolis in the Fallen Heroes Memorial building.

This building was made after the Great Disaster by Superman, a stark stone building made of granite. At it's entrance was a large stone figure, which a plaque declared to be "In Memorial of Batman, May Bruce remind us the True meaning of justice!"

This, along with an identical one in Gotham City were said to have been hand carved by Superman, lasting tributes to the late great Batman.

The Great Disaster had happened seven years ago, too long ago for me to remember. I would have been 6? Even Robin, who we'd left behind in LA would have been eight? Nine?

Dressed in a light version of my Supervillain costume, armour and obvious weapons left behind I marched ahead of the group, Supergirl and Sharkie in step behind me. As both an allusion to my power and a threat, the tennis ball sized orb Bootstrap floated beside me, and when Apparition greated us at the door, Vera flew up to us and chimed quietly!

I grinned, "Hey Honey, got both of you here today!" She greated me effectionately so I polished her crystal surface. "You stay with Apparition though!"

Walking into the tall stark building, our possie of mixed hero and villain children were escorted to one side of the hall where Original's trial would take place. My helmet picked up and scanned chatter and I specifically kept the faceplate blank as I listened to the news for the 'arrest'. "Martian Manhunter and Mourning Dove teamed up, but Mr Winter's has pretty strong magic. He can't directly hurt them but it took a while. They're bringing him straight in now!"

Us children exchanged glances, it had been right to keep Miss A out of this. That had been Supergirl's idea. In the past two weeks Ray had spent a lot of time talking with Marcia, and something she had said had riled him up. The suggestion to keep her out of the preceedings had happened above my head but was probably a good call.

"Inscrutable Machine and Teen Titans! A figure dressed in a black body suit and mask with curtails addressed us, "Please come this way." We followed, being led down a hall of smaller statues, the full list of founding heroes, many of them either dead or retired. Bootstrap seamed distracted, gawking at the figures and display cases underneath them. No doubt full of tech, security of some kind.

"Thank you for inviting us!" I told our guide, he'd be important. Nobody in this building was unimportant, they'd all be heroes or villains.

"You kids have impressed the league.  I do suggest not being creative here! You are guests of the league today, but only guests because you are witnesses." The masked guide had a smooth silky voice, but old. Very old and surprisingly feminine. I filed that away for later thought,  and very shortly we found ourselves seated alongside our elders in a large bold room.

The table was horse-shoe shaped! A long bench of white marble, polished smooth.  At the centre, far from where us kids had been sat were the 'Judges'.

Nightwing, a black and blue resplendent figure, the successor to Batman after his death, sat in place of a Judicator.
Alongside him was The Justice of the Peace, Irwin Hall. One of the oldest judges who still worked with the League.

Everyone sat quietly with only a minimum of coughing before the judge began. A long boring account on "Since the dark times prior to the great disaster, when Heroes worked in the dark and were almost as bad as villains. Since the days of personal vendettas that killed thousands of innocents. The need for transparency with Heroes has become paramount! If the community doesn't police itself to the full expectations of the public. The public will become their enemy!" Being the final watch phrase.

"Is Mr Adam Winters present and accounted for!" Judge Hall said at last.
In the minutes that followed the ruckus of crashing banging and indignant swearing outside ramped up! The sight that greated us was a cold one, three Truce Enforcers working together to restrain this older man!

Martian Manhunter, in her modified uniform of red cross over black body suit looked resplendent, and scary as all hell! Her fingers were pressed hard against the skin of the Original, in something akin to a mind meld! His arms and legs were bound, but he strugled all the same and was only bound cause of the combined efforts of the other two women.

One of these was literally a machine zombie, a corpse of a woman with cybernetic implants and gangreous skin, her body was wrapped in a mix of 90's street fashions and body armor, and she was the thing actively pinning the Original's limbs down, physically wrapped around him and biting into his neck.

The third woman, Zantanna, floated in behind, using a combination of levitation spell and one of those force bubbles to drag the man along. "Are you Completely sure you don't want to drop him straight into a Supermax, then perform the Trial there!"

"I Am the Most Senior of you all! You have no right to judge me like this. Idiotic Children!" It said something that The Original's rant was directed at the entire room. 

"He really think's he's all that!" I muttered out loud. Then turning back on my face-plate sensor I purposely gave the most wicked grin I could, before locking that in place. I had no way of telling which emoji was on the screen now at a glance, but it would cover for now.

"Thank you, Ladies!" The judge declared, "Then in the case of The Justice League of America, Against The Original, We lay the charges before you:

1. Gross Negligence in the course of Heroism
2. Willful Negligence in the care of a child in your guardianship
3. Physical assault of a Minor, in excess during the course of heroism.
4. Sexual misconduct in the care and raising of your ward and apprentice. How do you plead."