6856/City Fall: Who Judges The Judges

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City Fall: Who Judges The Judges
Date of Scene: 11 March 2019
Location: The domicile of the Hon. Judge Franklin Veers, NYC
Synopsis: The Shadow speaks to a judge, and gets a coin out of it.
Cast of Characters: Shadow, Shredder
Tinyplot: City Fall


Shadow has posed:
    Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

    Something is rotten in the Tri-State area. A new strain of corruption worming its way into the heart of civilization, subtle enough that it can hide itself from most prying eyes among the already existing crime.

    But even the best camouflage is only effective against the eyes its makers knew enough about to account for. The sudden change in the Hon. Judge Franklin Veers' standards for convictions may so far have eluded the notice of his superiors and peers in law enforcement... But The Shadow Knows.

And they want answers.

Shredder has posed:
    The home of Franklin Veers is not the fanciest to ever be seen, but it's still quite nice. As a judge he makes a good income. The condo is modern, upper east side with a long and thin design to it. It's just him and his wife, his children have long left the nest.

    Sitting on the fourth floor, it has a moderately nice view of the city from their vantage point, one wall fully covered in glass. Lights shine out from the well decorated interior, a sleek glass coffee table with cream colored sofas. The dining area is visible as well, in fact, most of the condo can be seen from the outside, save for the bedrooms, which lie on the interior wall. The 60 year old judge can be seen sitting in the office, presently, reading glasses on. He pours over a plain vanilla colored envelope and it's rather thick contents as his wife mills about the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner.

Shadow has posed:
    The first hint that he's not alone in his office is the sinister laughter that seems to come out of thin air, echoing off the walls until it's impossible to even begin to gauge where its source is standing.

    "Admiring the wages of your work, Franklin?" a voice asks mockingly. "Releasing criminal scum is such hard work, after all. Did you think no one would find out? That I wouldn't KNOW?"

Shredder has posed:
    Judge Veers eyes shift up. He's not immediately alarmed, it seems. A reaction that is not necessarily common for most people who first hear the Shadow's voice. However, as the Shadow continues to speak, the expression of someone who is hearing a casual conversation changes as it is asked whether he thought anyone would find out. A shade of uncertainty crosses his face, as if he realizes the voice does not belong to the person he thought it did.

    His hand slips into the pocket of his suit jacket that rests on the back of his leather executive chair.

    "I'm sorry?" he says, glancing around the room in an attempt to mask his alarm and remain nonchalant.

Shadow has posed:
    A blurry black-gloved hand closes around his wrist before he can reach whatever he was going for, not /quite/ squeezing hard enough to break bones, but hard enough to convey the warning that broken bones are very much an option. "Oh, no. You're not. But you /will/ be."

    The hand yanks yard, pulling him bodily out of his chair and sprawling him over his desk, his face pressed into the envelope he'd been pondering.

    "Answers, Franklin. Who paid you to spike those sentences? How do you determine who gets a sudden case of your 'mercy' and who doesn't?"

Shredder has posed:
    The man's gray eyes turn to look at the glove that grips him, and he struggles to release it, but his strength is limited. "Hey now!" he contests. "Just because you don't like a sentence does not give you a right to come harrass me. I've done this for twenty-five years! I've done my best for this city!"

Shadow has posed:
    Mocking laughter answers him. "You have -- until a month ago. How much were you paid to change your mind?"

    "John Harvard knifed a man in front of six witnesses and you dismissed the case. Kevin Marks and Don Tremell's blood still tested positive for cocaine and alcohol even though the hit-and-run wasn't tracked to them for eight hours and you dropped the case. The list goes on and on and on and I. Know. Every. Single. Name. You can lie to your superiors. You can lie to the press. You can lie to your wife and you can even try to lie to yourself. But you cannot lie to me..."

Shredder has posed:
    "Let me go," Veers answers. "Were you in those courtrooms? No, you only know what pieces of paper tell you. You are one of those vigilantes, is that it? Go around and blackmail people into surrender, commit crimes," he says, glancing at his arm, "Like /assault/, and then tell people you are in the interest of justice? You hide in shadows but claim to be pure? Kathy!" he calls out. "Kathy call the police!"

Shadow has posed:
"Oh, I have /never/ claimed to be... 'pure'," the Shadow replies. "And I'm afraid your wife isn't going to be part of this... Discusson. Do you really want her to? What will you tell her when she asks where your sudden influx of money has come from? Why you suddenly decided to turn your back on the oaths you swore when you were nominated?"

    The Judge is tossed back into his chair with an almost contemptuous flick. "And I /Know/ a great deal more. Why do you think I let you go on this long? Do you really think I wasn't paying attention? Even the court reporter was shocked when you tossed three corroborating witness statements on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to provide the fourth. She just hasn't spotted the pattern... Yet."

    Shadows twist and flow, and one eye-watering moment later a tall, cloaked figure is glaring at the Judge, blue eyes blazing with an inhuman will and no mercy whatsoever. "You sold out your honor and your soul, Franklin, and you /will/ tell me the name of your buyer..."

Shredder has posed:
    "What are you talking about?" Veers says in genuine confusion. "I never took any payout for anything. Every trial that I run, I want to see justice served appropriately." There's a certain honesty in the statement, even if he is hiding something. He'd pass a lie detector test. "The only thing I want to buy is justice for this city. Nothing less!" It seems to have struck a nerve with him. "Let me show you something. I need you to let me go."

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow's head tilts minutely. "Very well. Show me." There is a degree of menace in the voice, an unspoken warning of a dire fate awaiting an unsatisfactory explanation or attempt at deception...

Shredder has posed:
    Veers gets to his feet, and takes a second to straighten his shirt and glasses, and then turnst to face his accuser. He looks over the Shadow, defiantly dignant while hiding a fear. He walks to his book shelf. It's coated in law books of various sorts. Rulings and precedents. He passes all of them to take one small book, worn by years that are probably beyond the man's own, and gently takes it from the shelf on its place next to an old black Bible.

    "Pilgrim's Progress." He holds it up in one hand. "Perhaps not to your liking," he says. "But it has been a source of wisdom to me for many years." He opens it, and turns through the pages to a location that is clearly familiar to him, and reads:

    He mumbles through a few words. "-Ah here. And they made their way through the town of Vanity. They shere set up a fair, wheren should be sold all sorts of vanity-it goes on to name several-" he says with an aside, then clears his throat to continue. "And came Christain, Faithful, and Evangelist. And sayeth to them, "What silver and gold would you buy my sirs? What delights? All that is fair is here that you may find your desire. And sayeth Christian to these, 'Our ware shall be truth, purchase it always we shall and for naught shall we sell.'"

    He closes the book. "It's a quote that has dominated my life," he gestures vaguely, tiredly. "Whoever you are. I am no traitor to this city. Every case I try to do the best I can." He points at the case on his desk. "I will not pretend that I have never made an error in judgment, but by God as my witness, I try. You hear me?" He shakes a finger in critique back at the Shadow. He means this with his very fiber. "You come here condemning, you come here in assumption, but you no nothing about me. So if you have come here to kill me, you can do that, but know that I will not bend my judgment on any case because you or anyone else does not like the outcome."

Shadow has posed:
    "A lovely speech. I see you even believe it. But if so, then tell me - who were you expecting me to be before you realised I wasn't?"

    The Shadow continues, "And it isn't just you. Several of your colleagues in this district, and many others, seem to have had a sudden... Change of heart, you might say. A marked uptick in cases dismissed where even their own history would argue would have been an open and shut case. Markedly reduced sentences even in cases where guilt was incontrovertible. Not all the time, not every criminal, but noticeable to someone who looks for patterns. And in the underworld, mention of a 'coin'..."

    The Shadow trails off, then resumes. "You believe in justice. So do I - and I believe something is corrupting it."

Shredder has posed:
    "Who was I expecting?" he says, seeming confused. "I..." he stops and considers his response, realizing that she's correct. "I don't know," he says with an arch of his brow. "Something was familiar about hearing an unknown voice. I can't say." He seems to have calmed a little as the Shadow's guile lowers. "You aren't wrong that there have been several cases that have been dismissed. I won't speak ill of any of my fellow judges," he warns, "But...some of them, I believe they could be easily compromised. I've been a judge a long time. Retirement is probably overdue, but these days, judges aren't paid as well as lawyers. And you have to be a lawyer to become a judge." He shrugs, "Usually means that only bad lawyers become judges." He waves his hand dismissively. "A coin?" he asks, the alert coming to his attention as if a note had been struck. "Exactly what kind of coin?"

Shadow has posed:
    "That is, at the moment, all I know of it. Merely the question 'Do you have a coin?'. It is a lock I do not yet have the right key to open..." The Shadow replies, then looks more intently at the judge. "... It is possible someone has been interfering with your memory to make you forget instructions you were given. I might be able to do so; I prefer not to because the risk of lasting harm is... high."

Shredder has posed:
    "A coin," the man echoes. He seems to wander his hands across his desk, which clearly lacks a coin, and then looks back at his jacket. "Coin..." He rounds the desk, reaching into the previous pocket, and pulling a gold coin, slightly larger than a silver dollar. The emblem of the Foot Clan is on either side of it, and he examines it. "I don't know where I got it," Veers explains. "It's strange." He looks at it like something that has a certain draw. "I am not even sure when it appeared here."

Shadow has posed:
"... Interesting," The Shadow murmurs, eyeing the coin before reaching out. "May I?"

Shredder has posed:
    The man holds out the coin, retracts it again, as if hesitant, then places it resistantly into the Shadow's hand. "It's quite lovely, really," he comments. On the surface, it is clean, and as lovely as any other gold coin, but it seems clear that there is more of a draw to him than its simple appearance.

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow regards the coin dispassionately for a moment before closing their fingers around it, hiding the thing from the judge's view. "... /Very/ interesting," they comment. "How many cases are you expecting to hear tomorrow?"

Shredder has posed:
    "Tomorrow?" Veers says, his eyes following the coin until it disappears. "Today was motion hour, so I saw none today. Usually I hear no more than one or two, but," he gestures at the mysterious disguise. "With all due respect, just because you have stopped threatening me, it does not mean I feel I can trust you, given our introductions. It is something you can look up at court like everyone else. With your real name."

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow responds with what was probably meant to be a chuckle. "You misunderstand. I suspect that in each of the cases where I question your judgement, the defendant was carrying a coin like this one in their possession. I will be very interested to see who will be surprised at judgement not going their way tomorrow..."

    Blue eyes narrow. "... Or someone else might decide to visit you to investigate why their coin stopped working. You may be at risk."

Shredder has posed:
    The coin does have a certain attractiveness that seems to present. It's slight, almost imperceptible, but there is something about it. Unlike most items, the awareness of its presence seems difficult to forget. It would be likely a difficult item to pickpocket.

    "I've been threatened in my position more times than I care to count," he says. "There is always someone ready to threaten, or attempt to bribe, or whatnot," Veers explains. "In the end, if one of them gets me, they'll get me while I do the right thing." He gestures again. "I may not be a violent justice seeker like yourself. I do not fear retribution of the evil for knowing my face when they are served their justice." Perhaps a little condescending, but he seems the sort of man who says what he means, and isn't about to quibble about it.

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow lets out another chuckle. "Well said," they reply, nodding their head in a gesture of respect even as they fade from view until only a shadow on the wall remains -- and then not even that as the light suddenly cuts out. "Until tomorrow, then. And may justice prevail."

    Laughter echoes in the dark, slowly fading... Until the Judge hears knocking on his office door. "Dinner's just about ready, dear. Are you coming out?"