[Fiction] Timeslip's Trial: Terms of Justice

[Long]

The trial had gone as most had predicted. It took two weeks; Hher defense of reacting in self-defense was completely invalid. She had already engaged in action against other moembers of Team Tomorrow in a hostile manner and when reinforcements arrived on scene they sought to put an end to the conflict. Excavator had been preparing her Ground Trap ability to imprision Timeslip when Timeslip had lashed out and killed her. The verdict wasn't in question.

"It is the finding of this court that you, Angela "Timeslip" Hideyoshi, are guilty of the murder of the member of Team Tomorrow, Excavator. As Excavator was serving in official capacity as a member of a UN-sanctioned peacekeeping force, we hereby sentence you to death by appropriate means. You are remanded into the custody of Team Tomorrow until the fifth day of June when your sentence will be carried out. Do you have any final comment you would like to add at this point?"

Timeslip looked up at the Tribunal her face unreadable. "No, what must be said has already been said." She wore a special collar that kept her loaded up with enough mox to keep her from using her powers and two golden suited members of Team tomorrow took hold of her arms and led her oustide. The throng of people gathered out there cheered when she emerged shackled like a criminal, and began throwing things at her. The two Utopians made some moves to shield her as was required, but they were half-hearted at best.

In her mox'ed state she couldn't possibly react to the shifting air fast enough. Blood geysered from her right collar bone and then again from the center of her chest, splattering both Utopians and the nearby crowd. The third shot the Tomorrowite to her left managed to intercept but the damage was done. The three reports of ultrasonic rounds echoed across the plaza, stunning everyone. Then madness ensued as the crowd panicked. Timeslip felt herself falling backwards. Blood was streaming down her sides and her vision was fading. Darkness crept up around her and her eyes began to close. "Yokiko." The name of her daughter, of her smiling up at her, of her last happy memory, played before her mind as a slight smile curled her lips and her eyes closed. She lay there as the crowd fled and the two Utopians actually tried to ressuscitate her. It was a grand spectacle.

A mile away, on the top floor of The Amherz building, the sniper was rapidly disassembling his weapon and preparing for rapid evacuation. The contract was done now all he had to do was survive to collect the rest of his money. He had no personal grudge against the young nova, even if she was a rascist bitch. All he cared about was the money. His client had provided him with a state of the art Zeus rifle by Browning and special tungsten-steel shells to ensure the target's termination. They'd even provided some form of psychic scrambler to keep his mind off the market from Utopia's two telepaths on-scene.

"Funny. You thought yourself so superior to us "baselines" yet one of us armed with a rifle is all that was needed to take you down." He caught himself as he finished putting away the rifle. "Careful, can't feel too superior, or else I'll end up like her. So full of my own self-worth that I don't see the little guy with a bead on me." He made his way downstairs with the small suitcase and climbed into his inconspicuous little car and drove away. Five kilometers outside of town the emitter connected to two shaped C-6 charges and a trio of thermite charges recieved the signal and detonated. There was nothing left of the driver, the rifle, and there were only a few mostly melted and charred parts of the car scattered in a twenty meter radius of the blast site. The authorities would later rule it as catastrophic engine failure and were thankful no one else was around when it happened. They questioned the three other motorists who had been on the road and seen it, and all of them said the vehicle had started belching smoke just before and had pulled off the road. Then it exploded.

From his vantage point Agent Jason Myer reported in. "Yes, Madam Director. There are no remains and no one questions our people on the road. Everything went off without a hitch. The blame for all of this is being shifted to Excavator's brother, the shipping magnate. He hired a sniper and has the resources to procure all the tech nesscessary to make the hit successful. The killer is still at large and this will give us broader power to continue our opperations. I understand, thank you Ma'am."

Agent Myer thought to how easy it had all been. Arranging the sniper, getting the equippment, and shifting the blame to the innocent. All it took was money, a few words to the right people and a well-thought plan. Part of him knew it was wrong, but the other part looked down and rubbed the red stain on his suit. It was worth it all to see the look on her face when she died gunned down like the dog she was. Humanity wouldn't let novas dicate terms to them so freely. She got a trial on her terms, but be damned if she died on her terms. She got the justice she deserved, put down like the rabid dog she was. Humanity would fight back, and they would win. After all it was six billion against at most thirty thousand, the novas never really had a chance.