Mayor Jones stood from his seat and banged his improvised gavel on the table to silence the crowd. "I have to ask, Robert7, why would you offer us such a deal, especially as it would be considered a betrayal of your own people? Why should we trust that your information would be accurate?"
Robert7 was silent for a moment and looked like he was working up the courage to continue to speak, especially since the jeering continued from the people around the gallows. "I was not born in FEMA City. My people are from the Hall of Ecologists, a separate bunker system. FEMA City’s military government put us under martial law and forcibly conscripted us to fight for them."
Wilbur was already shaking his head. Jessica13 knew that if Hammerhand had been present for this, he would have been at least willing to hear the man out. But from the look of the other two judges, she could tell they would not be moved by what he said. She clenched her jaw as Mayor Jones took his seat again and folded his arms.
"The prisoner cannot be trusted," he said and used his curt voice to silence the people who had begun to get loud again. "This could be a trick. People might stand in your position and say anything we might want to hear to avoid the rope."
"We have to give him a chance!" Jessica13 protested.
"You are too close to this," Jones retorted caustically and looked annoyed by her persistence. "You are a young woman, and he is a young man. Besides, how can we possibly trust him? He is willing to betray his own people by what he says that he will give us, and so what would keep him from betraying us when the time is right?"
Heat blossomed in her cheeks and intensified, and not only from the rising sun beating down on them. The way the people reacted to seeing Robert7 in front of them seemed to light a furnace of indignation in her. They demanded more violence despite the fact that they had been through a fight for their lives. It was as if they wanted to find a way to somehow keep the wave of violence in motion since it had ended in their favor.
She wondered how they would feel if the positions had been reversed and they were on trial for following orders in a military they didn't want to be a part of.
The heat grew steadily, and Jessica13 clenched her fists. "This is bullshit and you know it!"
Miraculously, the people quieted and ceased their renewed demands that he be hanged immediately. They looked at her, startled by her very obvious anger.
"The fighting isn't over," she continued and forced herself to look away from Jones, Wilbur, and Claire. It seemed that even looking at them was enough to make her pissed again.
She dragged in a deep breath and glared at the crowd. "The Knights Mechanica, our desert-based allies, and fighters who hail from this very town are out there, fighting a war to keep this town free right fucking now. Do you think they would turn their noses up at an advantage that would allow them to win that fight? Or do you think they would allow their bloodlust to get in the way of victory? And do you really believe they would prefer to see every person here hang? And for what reason? Why does this man need to die? And if he dies, how many of our people will die fighting because you refuse any help he offers?"
Her gaze swept across all present, genuinely searching for an answer they might have for her. Maybe they understood the situation better than she did. Perhaps they simply knew better than to trust someone like Robert7 and so wouldn’t listen to her.
But if they had a reason to refuse his help, they had better explain it. She let the question hang expectantly and from the look of shame she could see in the eyes of the people around her, she knew there was no answer. They wanted him to die—wanted all of the City's fighters to die—but they had no real reason for it aside from a desire for revenge for the death and destruction of their town.
The silence in the square was deafening and the crowd around them appeared to be subdued, but the three judges looked unaffected. Wilbur smirked, and when she looked at him, she could see him clapping sarcastically. The woman at Jones' side still looked furious, while the mayor himself showed no emotion whatsoever.
Finally, he stood and took a deep breath before he spoke. "Justice must be served, and even if what Robert7 said is true, we still cannot let his willingness to turn against his own people stand in the way of the justice he deserves." She opened her mouth to speak again, but he held his hand up to silence her. "The moment for deliberation has approached, and the tribunal will confer and deliver our sentence in due time."
Jessica13 wanted to say more and even to stamp her feet and insist that they answer her, but she stopped herself. She couldn't ask for there to be a system of law in place only to become angry and insolent when it delivered in a way she didn't like.
Robert7 placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. For everything."
She tried to smile but failed utterly and made it look more like a grimace. "I'm so sorry."
Once she’d climbed down from the scaffold, she didn't feel comfortable enough to rejoin the crowd. Even though they were subdued, there was no telling what they would attempt if she was there with them. Mini had moved the Minato to the front of the group, likely in case she needed to make a quick getaway if the crowd turned on her.
But there wasn't a single man, woman, or
