Lone Wolf

Chapter 18

Addison's life had become nothing but court dates. After her return to her lonely Maine apartment, she immediately got calls from lawyers who believed that she had a case against O'Healey Studios. She didn't want to be bothered for the first few weeks, but after exhausting the money in her savings account and nowhere in her city nor neighboring cities wanting to hire who do to "who she is", she figured the financial compensation that one attorney claimed she could get out of Max O'Healey would be worth it.

She had meeting after meeting with Sturgill Burger, the lawyer that she decided to let pursue the case. He offered to work pro bono, but should they win the case, he would receive ten percent of any financial earnings awarded to her.

"Don't get your hopes up but think positive," Sturgill would say after almost every 'there's a chance' scenario he would give off. His office wasn't the nicest or cleanest, in fact, it was pretty much a pig sty. His office was in an old building without indoor plumbing. If anyone had to go to the bathroom while they were there, they had to walk next door to the small hardware store. His office had papers everywhere despite the fact that he owned multiple filing cabinets; all of which were empty. He was disorganized, but he was confident. Eventually, Addison was evicted from her apartment due to not having any income. She ended up sleeping at Sturgill's office before taking a temporary position in a secretary-type role to help him clean his office in order to at least have enough money to eat. The case he was laying out for Addison seemed to make sense, and after months of planning and prepping and Sturgill having to get registered to practice law in the State of New York, the pair returned to New York City for court.

Addison hadn't left Maine since the end of Redemption Isle. She leaned her head on the window of the taxi, watching the beautiful skyscrapers slowly creep by as they made their way through the slow New York traffic.

"You nervous?" Sturgill had asked at one point, but she simply shook her head, "You'll be okay. Keep your head up."

They were in New York for almost a little over a month, and as said before, Addison's life had become nothing but court dates.

Sturgill was trying to get compensation for Addison with a case based around emotional trauma, physical harm, torture, Addison being forced to unknowingly and unwillingly take the lives of others, and the PTSD that she developed after the show ended.

The PTSD made everything feel like it was happening all over again. Every now and then she would have dreams similar to the one that she had in the holding cell at the studio, which she later learned was due to a serum that was being mixed into the rice that forced her brain to experience fear. Max admitted that in court, but after reviewing the contract that was approved not only by the courts but also signed by Addison herself, it was clearly stated that the serum was going to be used. In fact, it was that contract that ended up ruining the case that Sturgill had built.

He had received a copy of the contract months prior, but when he was continuously telling Addison, "Don't worry about the contract. I've got it handled." He was really meaning, "I'm going to try to argue morality because the same court that we are going to is the court that approved everything in this contract in the first place."

The argument didn't hold up in court, and while the case seemed dead on arrival, Max's lawyers wanted to drag out the case, and that's what they did. They smeared both Sturgill and Addison, who didn't need more heat on her than she already had, but that's what they did, and O'Healey Studios covered the entire case on their website which had slowly turned into a news site, especially with the rising popularity of Wayne Sizemore in the Presidential Race.

"Don't listen to that shit," Sturgill would tell Addison when they were at the hotel, and she would be watching the O'Healey broadcast on her tablet, "That's what he wants. For you to keep getting pissed off and eventually lose it in court."