RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC123: Turn (Heroes)--2

[This book is almost done, I promise. Maybe another 10-15 chapters or so.]

The others all returned to their own homes and resumed their normal activities.

Except that they had trials to conduct.

Most of the team's witness reports were secondhand or not as detailed about the main bandits as they would have wished, and they submitted them by email, not in person.

But Emerald, Mercury, Cinder, Royal, and Kate all were asked to give recorded accounts of what happened for the court to use.

Hypnosia and Mino also gave reports.

Watts was questioned, and he seemed to cooperate this time with no attempt at trickery.

It took Robyn weeks to sort out the testimonies from the bandits themselves who were captured. Most of them tried to lie, and she had to work hard at how she phrased things to get real answers.

Some of them, as time went on, and the Grimm had been removed from them forcibly, began to feel some remorse as their minds cleared from the Avarice influence, and they began to realize, truly, what they'd done.

Sadly though, half of them didn't even remember all of it. They had basically been doped up while in the cavern, and after a while, Robyn began to think their assertions that they had no memory of many events were just the truth. No matter what she asked, they never answered differently. But even what they did remember was enough to get them sentenced to death for the most part.

The trials were begun about a month after they were captured. Minerva Athens had speedrun the process because the Council was worried that the culprits would escape or some hidden allies would come for them.

But in the interim, the bandits ratted out some conspirators they had, in hopes of getting leniency, and the team had no issue capturing them. Mala's death meant the Grimm had mostly stopped assisting any of them, and they didn't put up as much of a fight.

There might still be some out there, but they would be weaker ones.

Ali? He recovered slowly from his shock and was starting to tell them more of what happened to him and just how much involved in the Menagerie attack he'd been, that he could remember.

The bandits had tortured him and brainwashed him into doing it, and a lot of it he couldn't recall clearly now, but he was deeply ashamed of his part in it.

The Council, however, acquitted him of any guilt after hearing his story. They couldn't believe anyone who was so torn up over it had really done it on purpose.

Mino and Hypnosia were harder. They confessed to many crimes even before they were brainwashed, but they had helped bring Mala down, especially Hypnosia.

In the end, the Council sentenced them to house arrest at the base, with community service, provided they would consent to wearing Aura-blockers on them at all times, so that they could not escape.

If they behaved well in that time, they would be reconsidered later for a pardon.

Until then the base soldiers would guard them closely.

This was the best they could hope for, really.

Watts? Well, he got sentenced to death, as predicted. Though he cooperated with questioning, the Council was livid that he'd double-crossed them all, and Vacuo's council brought plenty of charges against him also, and witnesses, including Victoria's own witness account.

Victoria herself had narrowly escaped being convicted because Robyn was able to confirm she'd not known about any of this, but she did lose her access to more high clearance areas of the lab.