Morix: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Masquerade, Part 19

November 23

Courtroom No. 6

1:45 PM

Deirdre Brigit

For a long time after the declaration was made, Mr. Strann refused to say something. When his outlook finally did change, he looked up carefully, his eyes settled on his youngest daughter. He hadn't openly admitted the truth quite yet, but I could tell that this was where it was going. "You... You've grown to be a fine young woman even in my absence," Mr. Strann told her simply. When he shook his head, I could see something prideful in his eyes, and part of me wondered if I was actually seeing tears well up or if it was just my imagination. "I didn't expect you to have come so far while I was gone, but here you are... So strong and bright."

"Is this your way of confessing?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke questioned carefully, his eyes narrowing. "You're acting as if she truly is your daughter, and given all that has happened up to this point, that implies that the assumption that you're the culprit is correct."

Mr. Strann hesitated before nodding carefully. "After all this, I'm forced to surrender by someone who I thought would have been on my side," he commented with a light chuckle. "Who would have expected that? All of this has been because I wanted to be able to be with you again, and yet... Now, I know that can never come to be. The defense revealed the truth of my identity, and that will tear us apart even if my crimes have not."

"You were once idolized by many within the legal community," Prosecutor Burke remarked. "You could have done anything with the power that you were given, and yet, you chose instead to go against everything that you should have stood for. Do you remember the case where you had someone attack me?"

"How could I forget?" Mr. Strann questioned with a hollow laugh and a scoff. "I was desperate to learn anything about Oracle that would possibly be able to push me in the right direction to find the truth behind all that had happened in the agency while I was gone. I thought that if the truth about Oracle was revealed, I would be able to use that as momentum to shatter the group that had done so much to tear my family apart." 

"You know... I don't know what to think about you," Yuri suddenly said, and all eyes fell to her. "You did all of this because you said that you wanted to protect me, and yet... In the end, you wound up doing the exact opposite. You were hoping that it would keep me out of the line of fire, but it didn't wind up working out that way. You shouldn't... You shouldn't have gotten involved. That's the reason that we're in this situation in the first place. If you had backed away and known when to stop..."

"In my eyes, the agency and its involvement with Oracle had killed two of my daughters. I wasn't about to let it take away something else from me," Mr. Strann told her, his eyes narrowing. "You have every right to disagree with my choices, but... I was so sure that there was a connection. I would have done anything to find it and keep you safe. I wound up being wrong, it seemed..."

"Our agency has taken on many cases related to Oracle, but it can hardly be considered proof of a decisive connection," Victoria told him. "There's never been a link between us and Oracle. If we knew anything about Oracle, it would be quite the scandal, but I promise you that this isn't the case. We're just a group of people trying to resolve the corruption within the legal system."

"I suppose so," Mr. Strann commented. "After all the work that I put in to try and make it clear that I would be saving my daughter from Oracle... Everything fell apart and wound up being wrong. Who would have expected something like that?"

"You shouldn't have gotten involved," Yuri repeated. "I'm going to be perfectly honest here. You can call me rude as much as you want, but I don't care. It has to be said. You have no right to come in here and claim that you know what's best for me or any other person that you've abandoned. Even if you claim that you didn't have a choice, you could have found a way. You can't just walk around as if you have every authority on what's for the best when that simply isn't the case. You were never there for me, and you have no way to say conclusively what I should or should not be involved with."