when the witness got on the stand, the only thing that athena could describe hi m was "odd", he dressed like an officer, but had some sort of wired helmet on, and a keypad on his arm
'Witness, your name and occupation, please'
the man started to type on the keyboard, the judge looked at him, bizarred by this
'W-Witness?'
'NAME: TED TONATe, OCCUPATION: BOMB DISPOSAL SPECIALISt'
'..what the fuck is this?!'
phoenix muttered, questioning if this was some sort of wired dream, the judge blinked, amazed yet dumbfounded by the machine
'Oh, my! What a strange, robotic voice you have!'
'SPEECH SYNTHESIS VIA TYPING. IT IS THE SAME AS ME TALKING'
athena looked at her boss, who was just as confused as she was
'He sounds exactly like a robot...'
'a robot, i was gonna say he sounds like a dumbass'
'Can't you speak in a normal manner?!'
the judge asked, to their surprise, the man nodded
'I can'
but he immediately went to his keypad
'BUT I DO NOT LIKE TO SPEAK. SPEAKING IS INNEFICIENT. ENERGY EXPENDITURE: SPEAKING > TYPING UNDERSTAND?'
'Hmm.. What an odd witness'
the judge said, phoenix sighed as he rubbed his head, he could already feel a migraine coming, athena sensed a lot of annoyance coming from him
'Mr. Tonate was in charge of the bomb for that trial and was there when it went off'
'Being a bomb squad specialist, do you have any relation to the defendant?'
the judge asked
'NEGATIVE. I FIRST MET THE GIRL WHILE ON THIS JOB. MANY PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED BY THE POLICE. I KNOW ONLY A FRACTION OF THEM. HOWEVER, I WAS SHOCKED WHEN I FIRST DISCOVERED THE BODY OF THE VICTIM'
'Shocked?'
'I WAS THE FIRST ONE ON THE SCENE AFTER THE EXPLOSION. I WENT THERE TO ENSURE SAFETY, BUT I ENDED UP DISCOVERING A DEAD BODY'
athena glanced over at this boss and noticed him note-taking, she flipped to a page and followed his pace
'He is here to testify about the circumstances surrounding the moment of the explosion'
payne explained, the judge nodded in understanding
'Very well. The court will hear Mr. Tonate's testimony. But at the very least, show this court some respect and remove that faceguard, Witness!'
phoenix looked over at athena
'okay get ready to write and write fast'
she nodded as she flipped a page in her notebook and began to write
'THE BOMB WAS ORIGINALLY DISARMED BY ME, THEN TRANSPORTED HERE AS EVIDENCE.
BOMB NAME: HH-3000 OPERATED BY TIMER OR WITH A REMOTE
I WAS WATCHING FROM THE GALLERY WHEN I SUDDENLY BECAME ALARMED.
I SAW THAT THE BOMB'S TIMER WAS COUNTING DOWN'
while athena was finishing up her notes, phoenix glanced at the witness suspiciously
'So even though the bomb was supposed to be disarmed, it got switched on?'
'PRECISELY. ACTIVATING THE TIMER IS VERY SIMPLE. 1. CONNECT WIRES 2. SWITCH ON TIMER
A MONKEY COULD DO IT. I AM SURE EVEN YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO, MR. WRIGHT'
phoenix glared at him
'don't be a fucking smartass with me!!, every other fucker who tried that with me ended up with broken bones!'
he huffed as he crossed up his arms
'the defense will now begin their cross-examination--'
athena noticed how he stopped talking and how his eyes turned wide, she looked in his direction and nearly ran out the door, their next to the witness was a bomb, the judge's eyes widen as he nervously asked
'Mr. Tonate...! What is that?'
'HH-3000... AKA: A BOMB'
before athena knew it, phoenix had wrapped his arms protectively around her, acting like a shield as everyone else started to panic in the court
'Mr. Tonate! I-I demand that you disarm it this instant!'
the judge yelled from underneath his chair and benched
'Disassembly complete. HMPH. 5.3 SECONDS. 0.2 SECONDS SHORT OF MY PERSONAL BEST'
'Are you trying to give me a heart attack?! I'm not exactly a spring chicken, you know!'
the judge cried out
'THIS IS AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE HH-3000. IT IS USED TO PRACTICE DISARMING BOMBS. DISARM = SUCCESS. EXPLOSION = FAILURE'
'An exact replica of the bomb that exploded, is it? So that's what it looked like'
'I SUBMITTED A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE REAL BOMB TAKEN JUST BEFORE THE TRIAL. DIMENSIONS: 10" H x 10" W x 10" D WEIGHT: 12 LBS... A PERFECT REPLICATION'
'Your bomb does appear to be a very good copy, indeed'
the judge shakily said, gripping onto his gavel tightly from the anxiety
'YES, HOWEVER I COULD NOT REPLICATE THE DETONATION MECHANISM. IT HAS A VERY PUZZLING WIRING SETUP. IT IS REGRETTABLE I COULD NOT REPLICATE IT'
the judge banged down his gavel, hard
'Witness, that's enough! There's no need to replicate anything here!, And now if the defense would begin their cross-examination?'
honestly, if phoenix had been so keen on protecting athena, he would've cussed the shit out of the witness for trying that, he looked around and saw nothing was destroyed and that everyone was now relativity calm, he let go of athena but checked her for anything
'you okay?!, is anything hurting?!, do you have any injuries?!'
The rational part of him new athena wasn't hurt, but the protective fatherly nurturing side of him was acting out of instinct, athena nodded, shaking her head out of her daze to clear her head
'Okay, Mr. Wright! Let's get to work!'
'you sure your okay?, mental wise?!'
he asked again, she nodded, but then widget betrayed her
'She was about to bolt!'
Athena frowned
'Hey, put a sock in it, Widget!'
Phoenix blinked with half lid eyes but choose not to say anything
'Now, let's see... Where were we...?'
she asked, phoenix pointed to his notebook
'We were at the "cross-examination"!'
'Oh! Cross-examination! Of course!'
he noticed how disoriented she seemed, from the shock of the bomb and from the nerves from earlier
'hey, humour me, how do you do a cross-examination?'
athena looked up at him for a moment, getting her head clear as she started to answer
'a cross-examination is where we listen closely to the witness's testimony to find contradictions, if we find contradictions we provide reasons and evidence to prove our thesis is correct, the best method is to write down everything, and compare the written testimony, to our findings from investigations, along with court information, and evidence'
phoenix grinned
'well-done wisdom!, now just follow my lead and observe carefully'
she nodded as she watched her boss begin the cross-examination
'you saw the bomb's countdown right?'
he said, changing from his fatherly nurturing side to his now "don't fuck with me" side
'OF COURSE. I CLEARLY SAW IT COUNTING DOWN TO ZERO'
he typed, phoenix glared right into his eyes
'and i say and that you are a fucking liar'
'WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?'
'it would've been impossible r you to have seen the bomb's timer, the bomb was concealed inside a stuffed animal'
Tonate slightly jumped at that as phoenix laid into him
'How can you claim to know the bomb was about to go off, when you couldn't even fucking see the damn timer?!'
Tonate started to nervously type on his keyapd as payne cried out in alarm
'AAAAAAAGH! BUT THAT IJLS KDSOI EDJMB9I A LAJ72Z OIQE AKCXW!'
'Wh-What?! NOOOOOOOOO!'
the judge nodded in agreement
'That does seem like a glaring inconsistency, indeed! Witness, how do you explain this?!'
Tonate stammered on his typed words
'WELL... I... I...'
Athena grinned ear to ear
'Ooh! That was great, Mr. Wright! You found a contradiction right off the bat!'
'remember wisdom, When you find an inconsistency in a witness's testimony, there's always a reason behind it. It could be a lie, a hidden meaning, a secret, anything, and it's up to us to find it
'And pointing out every contradiction we find is the best way to do it, right, Boss?!'
he nodded in approval, she went back to focus his attention on the witness
;WELL, LET ME SEE... I... UH... NO, NO, NO. THERE MUST BE SOME MISTAKE... OH, YES! YES, OF COURSE! I REMEMBER NOW! THE SOUND! I KNEW BECAUSE OF THE SOUND!'
phoenix rolled his eyes as the judge stared at the witness
'Sound? What sound?'
'WHEN THE TIMER OF THIS TYPE OF BOMB IS SWITCHED ON, IT BEEPS SOFTLY. BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... IT IS THE SOUND OF THE BOMB COUNTING DOWN'
'A beeping noise, you say? I suppose it would be possible to notice that, even with the bomb inside the stuffed animal'
'I SIMPLY MADE A MISTAKE. MY BAD'
'OBJECTION!!'
phoenix yelled out
'that's fucking bullshit, how the hell did you hear that tiny ass sound all the way from the gallery?!'
'LISTENING FOR THE SOUND OF A BOMB'S TIMER IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF MY WORK. I CONSTANTLY UNDERGO TRAINING SO THAT I WILL NEVER MISS IT'
he scoffed
'i very much doubt that "training" would help you hear something that soft from so far away'
he pointed out, donate gawked at him as he typed furiously
'ARE YOU MAKING LIGHT OF THE FINE SCIENCE OF DISARMING BOMBS? IT IS A SOLEMN MISSION THAT I PUT MY LIFE ON THE LINE TO PERFORM. WHAT KIND OF SPECIALIST WOULD I BE IF I COULD NOT HEAR A BOMB TIMER? It's not like disassembling a toaster, you know!'
he said, phoenix flipped him off with his middle finger, as payne spoke up
'You keep asserting that the sound was too tiny to hear, but the only tiny thing here, is your skill as a lawyer! Being suspicious is not an attractive quality you know'
'and nether is your ugly-ass stale wig, your fucking deformed face and squeaky-little bitch voice but you don't see me fucking pointing that out huh?!'
athena put a hand over her mouth to keep her from laughing to hard, she nearly bent over laughing when she saw the look on payne's face at the savage comeback he received, the judge even had to hold back a laugh
'Mr. Wright, do you have proof that Mr. Tonate did not hear the sound?'
phoenix grunted in annoycne as he shook hi shead
'no i don't your honor'
'very well, If I have this correct, the prosecution's argument is that... ...someone reactivated the bomb before it was brought into the courtroom. What I don't understand, Mr. Payne, is why you believe that person to be Ms. Woods'
payne was quick was jump to his arrogant persona
'That's simple, Your Honor: Mr. Tonate happened to be there when it happened. He was there when the defendant rearmed the bomb'
the judge's eyes widen
'What's this, now?!'
'IT HAPPENED BEFORE THE TRIAL STARTED. IT WAS WHEN DETECTIVE ARME AND I WERE TRANSPORTING THE BOMB. WE BROUGHT THE BOMB TO THE LOBBY FOR THE DEFENSE. BOMB = EVIDENCE. THE LAWYER WANTED TO SEE IT BEFORE THE START OF THE TRIAL'
'Looking for a chance to get at the bomb, Ms. Woods was already there in that lobby. Her goal was surely to rearm the bomb and steal the remote switch'
payne said, phoenix narrowed his eyes
'The remote switch?'
'YES. THE SWITCH THAT CONTROLS THE BOMB REMOTELY. DUH. IT HAS BEEN MISSING EVER SINCE THE INCIDENT'
athena quickly added that to the court record as tonate continued talking
'I AM PARTIALLY TO BLAME. I LEFT THE BOMB AND REMOTE ON TOP OF THE TRANSPORT CASE... ...AND THEY WERE REARMED AND STOLEN WHILE I WAS TALKING WITH THE LAWYER'
'The defendant then used the remote from inside the courtroom to start the timer'
payne finished off, but that wasn't good enough for phoenix
'OBJECTION!!, How can you just fucking assert so unequivocally that the bomb was rearmed in the lobby?!'
payne grinned as he twirled his hair in his one finger
'The bomb was safely secured in the transport case. The only time it was outside of the case was in that lobby. Therefore, that was the one and only opportunity anyone had to meddle with it'
'it's possible that someone other than Tonate could have opened the case and taken the bomb out'
phoenix argued, tonate however, shook his head
'IMPOSSIBLE. THE TRANSPORT CASE IS ASSIGNED EXCLUSIVELY TO ME. DO YOU SEE THIS NUMBER HERE? THAT IS MY IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. AND I HAVE THE ONLY KEY THAT CAN OPEN THE CASE'
phoenix added that to the court record, as he glared at both the witness and the prosecution
'Regardless!, Payne's assertion is nothing more than conjecture! You have no proof that it was Ms. Woods who stole the remote switch!'
payne smirked as he hmphed
'And by the same token, you have no proof that it wasn't her. But what I DO have is a piece of evidence that proves the defendant handled the bomb'
phoenix groweld as athena eyes widen
'AH! That TAIL!'
she cried out, as tonate wired eye machine activated
'FIVE MINUTES, TWENTY-FOUR SECONDS, TWO POINT THREE DECISECONDS. THE DEFENSE'S ADVANTAGE LASTED A MERE FIVE MINUTES'
'AND YOU ARE GONNA LAST ONLY FIVE SECONDS BEFORE I GO OVER THERE AND BUST YOUR FUCKING KNEECAPS OPEN!!'
the witness shuddered and said nothing else, as the judge nervously banged down his gavel
'I-It appears we will have to hear from the defendant herself once more'
payne nodded
'I wholeheartedly agree, Your Honor. I would like to recall Ms. Woods to the stand'
the judge looked over at the defense
'I trust you have no objections, Mr. Wright?'
phoenix crossed his arms as he went into deep thought
"..i don't want her in court if she's not well, that will put stress on her, but we need her testimony, but it's not worth risking her mental and physical health over and-"
'...I can read your feelings you know, Boss'
athena said gently, showing her soft smile, phoenix's eyes slightly widen, he had nearly forgotten about athena's special ability
'Don't worry, I know we need her testimony. But if anybody picks on her again, they'll pay, that and I know you'll be gentle with her, i know you'll stop the proceedings before you let anything bad happen to her'
she knew her boss, and she trusted him, phoenix nodded once as he said aloud to the court
'The defense has no objections, Your Honor'
'IN THAT CASE, I WILL TAKE MY LEAVE. BUT BEFORE I DO, THERE IS JUST ONE MORE THING. MR. WRIGHT... IS IT?'
'what asshole?!'
he said, glaring at him
'DISMANTLING BOMBS IS MY JOB. DISMANTLING THE CASE IS YOURS. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE IT? I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU TRY'
phoenix glared right into his eyes behind his machine
'and i look forward to kicking your ass'
everyone in the courtroom shuddered, they all knew when he spoke in that terrifying angry voice, he meant business, tonate lost his confidence quickly after that
'N-NOW IF YOU WILL EXCUSE ME...'
he quickly left, nervously tripping over on his own feet, the judge then called out to the bailiff
'Bailiff! Please go out to the lobby and bring back the defendant!'