if you must break the law, do it to become a fox: in all other cases observe it.

--(not) Julius Caesar

(Luna)

It is still amusing to think that they wanted Maniac to be here so badly that they completely forwent getting an actual courtroom and instead are using some borrowed lecture hall.

I walk up to the woman standing in the middle of this room. She is a real hard ass and out right bitch of a person. Zealot, though not as bad as some of the Family’s members but also definitely not one of the good ones.

Zealot looks at Maniac who has chosen to hide behind me. “Hello, I am Zealot one of the members of the family here to make sure the trial will proceed smoothly, and you are?”

“You don’t know?” Maniac asks, tilting her head slightly, showing her confusion.

“I do know, but for the record, please.” Zealot answers.

I wonder what record she’s talking about. It’s not like any of this is in any way official..

“Right, I am Maniac.” Maniac says looking around the room, seemingly having lost all interest in Zealot.

Zealot, in turn just faces me. “Thank you for bringing her here, you can sit down now.”

I raise an eyebrow. Do they want to separate Maniac from everyone? I take a glance at my charge trying to discern any emotion, but it’s hard when she is wearing that mask. Then she just nods, and I take that as my cue that she should be fine.

“I’ll be just over there then,” I say, pointing to a seat in the front row.

“So where do I sit?” Maniac asks as soon as I sit down.

“Nowhere. You are considered volatile, so you should stay here where everyone can see you.” Zealot answers.

So much for the supposed neutrality. Plus, seriously, she might be a bit weird, but she is not as dangerous as people make her out to be. If you don’t attack her first, she won’t attack you either.

Maniac, for her part, doesn't seem to care overly much and just starts looking around again

“Are you ready?” Zealot asks in an annoyed tone.

Maniac turns back to her. “I guess so unless someone needs to pee or something.”

Seeing anyone have to deal with Maniac is a kind of treat in its own right. She always seems to be just on her own wavelength.

“Today we are here to decide on a proper punishment for Maniac for the disaster of Zürich.” Zealot announces.

And before she can comment any further, Maniac has already jumped in. “Hold up, pause, timeout! This is bullshit!”

Zealot, apparently having not expected Maniac to immediately disagree, turns to her. “How so?”

“Well, I did not commit any crimes, nor have I been convicted of one, so giving me punishment for a nonexistent crime is just you power tripping.” Maniac explains.

My dear, this entire “trial” is power tripping. You only have to show them you won’t play along with them, that is all.

“Did you not admit that you destroyed Zürich?” Zealot asks, glaring hard at my daughter.

With my strong hearing I hear Maniac let out a deep sigh “No, I admitted that I destroyed a shield keeping me and about ten thousand civilians trapped. And destroying that shield had the side effect of destroying a large part of Zürich,”

Zealot just crosses her arms. “And how is that different?”

“The difference is that I was set up. I was just trying to get people to safety and had no idea that the entire city would collapse.”

I somehow doubt that is true, but I also think that she had her own reasons for destroying the shields.

“So, you had no clue the entire Undercity would collapse?” someone behind me asks.

I quickly pull up this guys’ records, and he is nothing big besides being a Vanguard for a while. He hasn’t done much with it, using it more to gain fame than to go out there and kill aliens.

“I mean, I am just a street kid, don’t know much about physics or shields for that matter.” Maniac explains, and I have to do my best to hold back a snort. She is a lot of things, but stupid is not among those things.

“Then how do you explain the structural pillars that were placed in the parts of Zürich that didn’t collapse?” he drones on like he actually got her or something. Maybe I should pay him a visit later and take him on some hive control missions just to show reality is different when you’re out there instead of on the red carpet.

“Ah, right, I forgot that I did that.” Maniac admits.

“So, you did know the city would collapse?” the guy says, and I can almost feel the pathetic self-importance drip off him.

Maniac shrugs. “ I admit that I had a guess that removing the shield could be destructive, but not to this extent.”

“Why not?” he dumbly asks.

Of course, because she had more important things to worry about, you stupid fuck.

I can see Maniac head twitch in that almost imperceptable way when one of her headmates switches “Why not? Has your brain fermented from all the gardening? We were neck deep in the knock-off veggietales after-dark show. So we neither had the time nor the resources to create a proper plan.”

That is one way to put it

“Don’t you think that as a Samurai you have a responsibility to the people? To make sure what you are doing is not going to cause even more damage.” Zealot asks, seemingly wanting to continue hammering this point.

“Maybe if you have been a Samurai for a long time, but I hadn’t even been a Samurai for a month when I fell into that shit show. As for the other Samurai that were there, they were even newer, so no, I don’t think that.” I nod along with Maniac’s speech. Expecting anyone, let alone new Samurai, to be perfect is a fool’s errand.

“So, you want to absolve yourself of any responsibility?” Zealot asks.

“Yeah, I am not the one who put the shield there or knocked over the support pillars in the first place. Whoever did that should be held responsible, not me,” Maniac answers, and she is right. I should really look into that as well. There is no way that none of the governmental bodies of the city didn't know what was going on

People actually wake up a bit after that, asking each other if any of them know who placed the shield, then one of them speaks up. “That might be true, but you still acted rashly. You could have just waited for rescue to arrive.”

Without pause, Maniac just burst out laughing, taking several seconds before her response. “Wait for help? You mean wait even longer than the month that I was already in there? I mean, I don’t know how many Samurai were here, but did any of you even consider looking at what was underneath the shield?”

I smile. That’s a good point. Nobody realised they were standing on it, so judging her for that seems unfair.

Zealot sighs. "Taking that into consideration, I think we can reduce Samurai Maniac’s sentence by a decent bit.

Maniac crosses her arms, seemingly not on board with the idea. "What do you mean, reduce?”

“Zürich is still destroyed, so I think it is more than fair that you would help with the reconstruction of the city.” Zealot starts, which might sound reasonable, but for a new Vanguard, that is a serious time investment. “In addition, you would be required to register your biological signature as well as take off your mask. Having a secret identity makes you less likely to consider the consequences of your actions.”

I shake my head, trying my best to be quiet. That is not the real reason, you just want the ability to control her. If you’re going to be an ass, at least be honest about it, for fox sake.

“Yeah, no thanks, that is just a load of mulched antithesis. While I don’t mind helping with the rebuilding, you must be another kind of damaged if you think that I am just going to reveal myself like that,” Maniac finishes off her statement by raising her middle finger at Zealot

Zealot's eyebrow twitches. “Listen here kid, I don’t know what kind of life you lived before, but you are a Samurai now so you have to act more like a responsible adult, and if you can't do that, I am sure that we can find a more expired samurai to act like your guardian.”

Aaand we have officially reached the point where I have to buy drugs to keep myself from bursting out laughing. She already has me as a guardian, and I am pretty sure Magenta is also making sure she doesn't do something too outrageous.

This is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to gain control of PsyCo through her. And then from there potentially use that to gain a foothold over here in Europe for the Family. I am very tempted to just stand up and declare ‘Alright, consider it done, I’ll keep her out of trouble.’

Maniac also doesn’t appreciate it; using her tech to make herself look taller as she walks up to Zealot. “First off, I am not a kid. Second, it is none of your business what kind of life I lived beforehand. And third, and this is the most important part. I will never wear a leash, so stuff that guardian crap up the Protector's ass for all that I care.”

“You should back off,” Zealot says. “You are representing all the Samurai out there, and you are making us look bad.”

Huh. I must have missed that memo. Apparently all of us Vanguard are a coherent group? In all seriousness, if Maniac represents anyone it’s the people in PsyCo, and they all should have known what they were getting into. I fail to see the problem.

I see Maniac pause suddenly, and before I know it, I see Zealot's hand fly up, seemingly ready to rip her mask off. I get ready to intervene, but it seems like Maniac has got a handle on this with her left arm. She blocks Zealot's arm, and raising her right, as she gets ready to punch.

As her punch connects with Zealot's face, I notice a release of gravitational energy similar to Maniac’s hammer coming out of her arm. Ripping Zealot's face off as she is knocked to the ground.

“Not to be the better person or anything, but she is going to need a doctor.” Maniac breaks the silence with an impish tone.

The nuisance from before think that it's his time to shine. "You think you can just attack other Samurai without consequences?” he shouts, sounding pissed.

Maniac looks at me, and I just give her a big smile, then she turns to the man. “Yeah, if they attack me first, I see no reason not to.”

“You littl-” before he can embarrass himself even more, someone else jumps in to stop him. Putting her weapon to his throat. I am pretty sure she is one of Mother’s brats. I think her name is Apocalypse or something. I wonder what stakes she has in this mess.

The girl smiles, showing all her sharp teeth. “Why don’t you sit back down, Geoffrey, or we're going to need a second doctor.”

Yep, definitely one of Mother’s.

Sadly, not even that is enough to calm everyone down. I get out of my seat, ready to interfere. That is when I hear a shot, but it’s not from inside this room, it’s too far away for that. The wall behind Maniac explodes, and she just disappears, leaving behind a massive gash of torn space that destroys the surrounding area.

Alright, that’s enough then. I immobilize everyone, by freezing their clothes in time, and then take my sweet time, getting up and casually walking to the podium. No one here can touch me, so it’s time I acted like it.I turn to face the crowd. "Alright everyone, calm down. Trust me, you do not want this conflict to escalate to violence."

“Has it not already become violent!” someone shouts.

I look at Zealot who is coming to. “Some gen one Vanguard getting their ass kicked by a newbie when they try to attack them is not what I call violent, it’s more fuck around and find out.”

They don’t seem all that convinced, but that is their problem.

“Anyways, it just so happened that I decided to adopt her earlier, so don’t worry, she will be in good hands. And do remember that not one person who has laid hands on my family has had a short or pleasant death.”

With that said, I let them all go. Luckily, they seemed to have got the message. Maybe we should have just started with this.

I slowly leave the room, being followed closely by the demon girl.

“Uhm, miss Foxfire?” she asks, “Where did Maniac go?”

I am about to answer when I receive a call from the person in question, “I am about to find out. "

I open the call. “Hello this is Foxfire,” I say, trying my best to not have the smile on my face come through in my tone.

“Uhm, Mom can you come pick me up?” Maniac’s voice says on the other side.