when he got to the defendants stand, he was already showing sighs of aggression, the thing was about mr wright, he was aggressive yes, but only to people who pushed him and his limits, and he was more professional and intimidating, then reckless and impulsive, this guy, wasn't like him at all
'So... You, son, are the defendant... Wocky, are you?'
he asked, wocky jumped at him, and started giving him attitude on the spot
'I ain't your son, old man! You step to a Kitaki, you best be prepared to step strong!'
klavier, who wasn't intimated in the slightest, said
'You "step" to a public official, you'd best be prepared to step into jail'
'You got to hand it to him, Wocky sure has guts!'
trucy said, apollo however, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown
"It's not his guts I'm worried about..."
'Well then, the court will now hear testimony on the defendant's motive... ...from the defendant himself!'
the judge asked, mocky growled, but complied, as he started to testify about the crime, apollo quickly turned a page to his notebook, clicking his pen open
'I'll tell you one thing, that doctor was a quacker!, Someone had to show him what's what!, I was in his clinic 'bout half a year ago. He messed up my op something bad., And then he just lets me go, without a word. See ya later, bye!, So I gotta go in, get another doc to patch me up again!, That was the day I done figured it out. No O.G.'s gonna let that pass!, That's why I went to his pad that night, know what I'm saying!?'
apollo couldn't believe what he had just written out, this was bad, even the judge looked surprised
'You're saying you were one of the victim's patients...!?'
'Lotta stuff goes down when you're keeping it real on the street. Tru dat. I tell you one thing, that doc was wack!'
the judge just nodded
'Hmm... Very well, the defense may begin the cross-examination'
"I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing about all of this..."
apollo honestly didn't know what to question, he decided to try out the third, fourth and fifth ones, since he had the best feelings about them
'So you were a patient at the Meraktis Clinic half a year ago? For what reason?'
he asked, hoping this would lead somewhere, he didn't understand how mr wright went about cross-examinations, and then find a contradiction so fast, took him 10 minutes just to figure out what to ask
'I had what you might call a "mark of honor"'
wocky said, klavier, cool-headed as ever, asked him
'Can you explain precisely what was wrong?'
'We had a little run-in with the Rivales Family. That's when I pulled a jack move... ...and ran into an ambush. G busted a cap right in me'
he explained
'According to my sources... you "couldn't stand the stress of waiting... ...and ran in 15 minutes before the appointed time." ...By yourself'
he said, wocky got upset and glared at him, offended by his words
'Hey, I was more than a match for those guys!'
'So you were carried to the Meraktis Clinic from there?'
the judge asked
'Apparently, he was shot in the heart'
he said, apollo's eyes widen at that
"Shot in the heart and he's still alive!?"
trucy was also in awe, how can someone survive that?!
'I can catch fake bullets between my teeth! But I never learned how to catch them with my heart!'
'The bullet stopped just short of my thumper, you know what I'm saying? I woulda been golden if it weren't for that wack doc! Can't even take out a stupid bullet!'
he grumped, crossing his arms, his one fist clutching up tightly, klavier leaned over his bench
'...So, as you say, the surgery was a failure'
'That ain't all of it, homes!'
apollo thought it was best to move on from here as he asked him another question
'What do you mean, he just let you go without a word?'
'What do you think it means!? It's wack, that's what!'
he snapped, the judge looked down at him with confusion
'I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds bad...'
'It sounds as though Herr Doktor wished to hide his mistake... This is why he let the defendant go'
wocky gritted his teeth
'He's a liar, straight up! He's a badder G than me!'
apollo wasn't really sure where to lead off on that, so he decided to ask him more about the bullet in his heart, that was still crazy to him
'So, this bullet is still...?'
he trailed off, still in awe, wocky nodded, pointing at his chest
'You know it! I can still feel it... Right there in my chest, pressin' up against my heart!'
'"Your words are like a bullet shot straight into my heart." ...or something to that effect? Incidentally, that's from one of our hit singles'
klavier said
'Well, that sounds like a straightforward case of malpractice!'
the judge concluded, wocky nodded at him
'Word, J-man. Weren't no accident, that's fo' shizzle'
apollo wasn't sure on what else to ask, nothing was really giving him leads, just then, the judge banged down his gavel
'Hmm... It seems that there were issues with this doctor'
'Man, putting him down was like doing the world a favor!'
apollo sighed as he tried to keep his voice calm and steedy
'Wocky! ...Please consult your lawyer before saying things like that...'
trucy smiled as she patted his back
'Chin up, Apollo! Back straight!'
she encouraged, apollo nodded as he did as told, he didn't want to look weak, he was mr wright's co-worker
'But, why did this mistake only come to light that day?'
the judge asked,
'It was found during the Family health check-up'
klavier explained, apollo's eyes narrowed at him nervously
'The F-Family check-up?'
'That was the wackest thing of all! All us G's lining up, taking eye exams 'n' all that, Better to die young than fade away, bizzzoy!'
he made a flying hand gesture as he spoke
'...A relief to hear'
klavier commented, wocky looked over at him
'Eh? Wh-What's a relief!?'
'Oh? Did your father not tell you? That bullet you carry so close to your heart... if not attended to immediately... ...It could kill you'
apollo nearly fell over at that
'Wh-Whaaat!?'
klavier only simply nodded
'Yes, Herr Doktor Meraktis had knowledge concerning this ticking "time bomb" in you. Knowledge... that could have saved your life'
wocky, who was just as shock, was in denial
'No way! Th-That's wacked!'
'There is proof. Your check-up report'
klavier submitted the check up report at once to the court as evidence
'...How ironic that you would kill the one man capable of helping you. You're almost as careless as he was! ...Ah ha ha ha'
he laughed without any humor to it, the entire courtroom went silent, apollo was now starting to sweat bullets under from all the anxiety,
'Well, now that the place is hopping... Let's get this gig started!'
'S-Started...?'
the judge stuttered
'We've had enough of a warm-up act, ja? Time to hear from the witness!'
trucy glanced over at wocky, and noticed how off he was form before
'...Wocky sure is quiet all of a sudden'
'I'm a little uneasy myself'
he admitted
"Is this Gavin's strategy...?"
when the other witness got to the stand, apollo wasn't sure of what to make of him, he looked, ...well, if you had to put the words "philosophical" and "intelligence" into a person, they would look like the witness
'So. You will tell us your name and occupation'
klavier asked, the man simply flipped a page in his book, read it, then closed it up as he started to lecture to the court
'My name... is Wesley Stickler. By "occupation" I take it you refer to some labor that "profits" society at large, and supports a livelihood under which definition I must confess to being "unemployed" however, we mush acknowledge the meaning of "identity" which is commonly attached to this notion of "occupation", and once we have accepted this reality, we see that our confusion is not Gestalt, per se, but derives instead from the "vagueness" inherent in all representations of thoug--'
klavier was very quick to cut him off, apollo was glad he did, that alone gave him a big headache
'By which he means to say that he is a student. A junior at Ivy University if I'm not mistaken?'
he nodded once
'Yes, in the Department of Science and Engineering. Filled with curiosity for all things, I spend my days in pursuit of truth, honing my-'
again, klavier cut him off
'Herr Stickler, please direct said curiosity to the case at hand today'
the judge nodded
'Very well, Mr. Stickler. Please testify to the court about what you saw on the night of the crime'
'You ask, quite simplistically, "what I saw". However, we must understand that homo sapiens possess two eyes, each of these designed to receive and interpret data, sending images in the form of signals to the...'
apollo groaned as he went on and went, ..he really wished he had mr wright's "not give a fuck" attitude, sometimes, if he was here, he would've yelled at him to "shut the fuck up"