if you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.

--Julius Caesar

I slowly walk into the courtroom. Kind of, I mean, it looks more like a big lecture hall, but I guess we all know for what purpose we are here.

I walk a little closer to Luna as we walk up to the middle of the floor. I don’t think I get intimidated easily, but with so many powerful people staring at me with let’s just say less than friendly expressions on their faces makes me feel just a bit in danger. So I make sure to start up my teleportation drive already, getting ready to disappear when things go south.

Sure, there are some people that are not looking at me with hostility, but they are few and far between. Also, that does not necessarily mean they are friendly, though. I mean fuck, there is one girl just playing with a racoon and another playing some kind of game.

In the middle of the room, a woman is waiting for us. She has long brown hair with a distinct shock of grey running down the side. Her sharp amber eyes are trailing with an emotion I can’t quite place. Most interesting of all is that she has some wrinkles, making her probably one of the few samurai who actually show their age. Her dress style is very corporate, and I am pretty sure I can see a holster hiding under her suit jacket.

The woman nods at us. “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?” I ask, a bit confused. Weren’t these the people who wanted me here?

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

“Right, I am Maniac,” I say slowly, looking around as if this is some kind of prank show.

Zealot nods, then turns to Foxfire. “Thank you for bringing her here. You can sit down now.”

Luna pauses and looks at me, and I just give her a small nod. “I’ll be just over there then,” she says as she walks away and sits down in the front row.

I turn back to the woman who is still standing by me. “So where do I sit?” I ask, waving around the hall.

“Nowhere, you are considered volatile, so you should stay here where everyone can have a clear line of sight.” She tersely answers.

I guess that is a fair point, but that does not mean I am required to stand right. I look around for a loose chair that I could move to the middle of the room. Sadly, there are only the bolted to the floor lecture chairs, so I guess I must stand.

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

I turn to her with a bit of surprise. “I guess so. Unless someone needs to pee or something.”

The woman frowns, but does not comment any further. “Today we are here to decide on a proper punishment for Maniac for the disaster of Zürich.”

“Hold up, pause, timeout, this is bullshit,” I shout out.

Zealot turns to me, fire in her eyes. “How so?”

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

The glare on Zealot’s face only gets stronger "Did you not admit that you destroyed Zürich?”

“No, I admitted that I destroyed a shield keeping me and about ten thousand civilians trapped. And destroying that shield had as a side effect the destruction of a large part of Zürich,” I explain.

“And how is that different?” Zealot asks

“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.”

“So, you had no clue the entire Undercity would collapse?” someone asks from inside the lecture hall, reminding me that Zealot is not my only problem here.

I turn to the onlookers and nod. “I mean, I am just a street kid, don’t know much about physics or shields for that matter.”

“Then how do you explain the structural pillars that were placed in the parts of Zürich that didn’t collapse?” The same voice asks. And now that I am looking for him, I see that he is an average-looking man with blond hair in some kind of knight outfit.

“Ah, right, I forgot that I did that.” I admit.

“So, you did know the city would collapse?” the man says, now standing up with a smug smile on his face

“I had a guess that things might not go well if the shield was removed, but not to this extent.” I explain.

He slightly tilts his head. “Why not?”

I feel something deep within me cool as I slowly lose my patience. “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.” I shout out.

The stupid smile finally fades from his face as he sits down, anger sparking behind his eyes. I turn back to the Zealot, who is frowning.

“Don’t you think, 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.” She asks.

“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.” My speech turned a bit into a ramble at the end, but I got my point across, I think.

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

“Yeah, I am not the one that put the shield there or knocked over the support pillars in the first place. Whoever did that should be held responsible, not me,” I am aware that I sound kind of childish, but I do really feel like whoever placed the shield should be held accountable instead of me.

People start the mutter to each other before one of them speaks up. “That might be true, but you still acted rashly. You could have just waited for rescue to arrive.”

At that, I burst out laughing. “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 ask, looking around, but no one seems to have an answer.

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

I cross my arms. "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.” I nod at that part. I guess I don’t mind that. “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.” She says, moving towards me.

“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,” I say, raising my middle finger.

Yeah, not the most professional thing I have ever done but still this entire situation feels fucking stupid just because some Samurai feel butt hurt because they fell in some kind of trap. And I have to pay for it? Yeah, no thank you.

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 experienced Samurai to act like your guardian.”

I feel my body cool down as this slowly boiling anger I have been feeling starts to boil over. Okay fuck, I know I am small but a child that is just a bit rude, don’t you think? Whatever, not important. I slowly walk up to her, using the mask projections to make it look like I am slowly growing taller.

“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.”

Just when I am about to argue that we are not an organisation, just people talented in specific fields, I notice something weird. Her right arm twitches in a way that makes me feel like she is getting ready to strike. I frown and set all my scanners on it while I use just a little bit of Jetstream to observe the situation more closely.

My scans come back with the same. Before I can stop the flow of Jetstream to ask what she is doing, she moves her right arm, flinging up with superhuman speed, to the point that I am both impressed and happy that I decided to slow down my perception of time.

I move as well, my left arm coming up to block the… grab? What the fuck? No time to consider that! I bring my right arm forward as well, aiming right at her face.

The hit connects… and well… it is something. Through my month of trudging through the Undercity, followed up with my fight with the mascot of the discount chrome browser, I feel like I am allowed to think that I am not all that strong.

But looking at how mangled Zealot's face is, I somehow doubt that would hold in court. Chunks are sent everywhere, as my gravity-enhanced punch made an impact and shattered her nose and part of her skull. The rest of her body soon followed as the impact’s force sends her tumbling.

I stop the flow of Jetstream and turn to the onlookers who are looking at me with a mixture of hostility and amazement. “Not to be the better person or anything, but she is going to need a doctor.”

The man from before stands up. "You think you can just attack other Samurai without consequences?” he shouts, sounding pissed.

I look down at Luna, who is just smiling with a hint of mischief in her eyes. I turn back to the men. “Yeah, if they attack me first, I see no reason not to.”

“You littl-” he does not get to finish his sentence as a pitch black Halberd is pressed against his neck by a… demon? At least that is what she looks like: red skin with a pair of black horns on top of his head.

The demoness smiles at the men. “I suggest you sit back down, Geoffrey, or we're going to need a second doctor.”

Okay, I think I like this one. Sadly, the thread of violence only seems to pacify some of them and stoke up the rest. As more of them get out of their seats and stand up with their weapons drawn.

I do a quick rundown of my options and decide that I would rather just go home than deal with this for a moment longer, so I quickly select home and try to teleport. But just when I am about to get out, I hear a loud bang and then a shattering sound, before I feel the familiar sensation of teleportation, only to see complete darkness.