Twisted Malevolence

Chapter 4: Adjudication and Dissemination

Cell had realized ahead of time that many people were going to show up at the courthouse before he arrived.
He knew they'd want to be there early so that when he did arrive they could personally let him know how they felt.

He did not expect, however, to see quite as many people as he did.

'There must be hundreds of thousands of them,' Cell thought to himself. He was looking out the right window of the armored car as it approached the courthouse.

In fact, almost half a million people had come to show how angry they were. They had gathered on the courthouse's extensive grounds, all united in one specific purpose, to see that the ultimate justice was served upon the world's ultimate villain.

Cell could hear thousands of voices cursing his name, and saw through the tinted window a rather large and rather clever banner that 30 people were holding up in the air. The banner had an abbreviation, "PAC," followed by the words, "We don't need a Political Action Committee to show we're People Against Cell!"

The crowd would have rushed forward toward his car had it not been for the numerous legions of soldiers who had formed an extended barricade, keeping back those who wanted to take direct action.

There was to be order not just inside the courthouse, but outside as well. The last thing the authorities wanted was for a riot to ensue that could cause unnecessary injury.

The armored car halted so that the length of its right side lined up almost perfectly with the start of the two-kilometer walkway that spanned the distance from the armored car to the main doors of the courthouse. The walkway was made of marbled tiles, and had been constructed with its considerable length to fit a symbolic purpose, enabling those responsible for crimes to have time to reflect upon their misdeeds while considering how a clear, direct path of living with a sense of justice and integrity could have prevented them from having to have others force justice upon them.

Meter-high walls of marble flanked each side of the walkway, and the walkway had remained relatively clear up until this point because the legions of soldiers had emphasized that the walkway, unlike the grass on either side, was not presently open to the public.

Four armored vans full of soldiers had accompanied the armored car Cell had traveled in, and two had been parked in front of the armored car, while two had been parked behind.

The doors of those vans opened suddenly, and soldiers rushed to surround the armored car.

One soldier went to open the door on Cell's right while the other soldiers huddled around the car.

As the door opened, the two soldiers who had volunteered to sit on either side of Cell during the ride mobilized to action. The soldier next to the opened door quickly grabbed Cell's wrists, which were still bound by two sets of handcuffs, while the soldier on the other side pointed his gun at Cell's back, beckoning him to move.

Cell complied, exiting the car and almost instantaneously inciting the roaring voices of the crowd even more. The shouting that was emanating from the crowd intensified in its ferocity, and Cell saw a group of the soldiers refortify their positions in order to keep a flank of protesters near the left side of the entrance to the walkway from jumping over the meter-high marble wall that separated the walkway from the grass where they had been standing.

It was around 1:00 p.m., and as such the sun's accent on the rather cloudless sky was one of bright midday.

Cell, however, felt the gloom the crowd wanted him to feel as he somberly reflected upon his misdeeds during the 2,000-meter walk down the marble path.

Out of the hundreds of soldiers on the courthouse premises, 60 of them, armed with the latest and most effective personal weaponry tax dollars could buy, surrounded Cell as he walked down the path. Two of them were grabbing Cell by his arms in an effort to further safeguard the protesters by further restraining his movements.