Anita

They didn’t fight, not there, not in front of crowds of witnesses. Anita knew she had to be on her best behaviour in public. They couldn’t have people afraid of Guardians again.

“Robert Conwell has been dead for 10 years,” Meriam argued, clutching Diaxel tight against her chest.

“There’s no statute of limitations on crimes committed by Guardians, especially when we have a recording of one admitting to it,” one of the guards said, his voice calm.

Meriam clenched her teeth, he was right, they hadn’t gotten to that point yet in giving Guardians rights, it hadn’t been a priority.

Anita glanced at Meriam, who shook her head. “We’re cooperating,” Anita said, raising her hands slowly. “There’s no need for anyone to get hurt.”

“On your knees, with your hands behind your head,” someone shouted.

Anita complied, resisting every urge in her body to fight, to protect her family. As she sat on her knees, she shot one more look at Meriam. “Call Powell, have him help you find Teagan. I love you.”

Meriam nodded, tears in her eyes, but she knew as well as Anita did that there was nothing they could do here. The most important thing was ensuring Diaxel had someone to take care of him, that wouldn’t happen if they got into a fight they couldn’t win.

The guards cuffed Anita’s hands together and pulled her to her feet. They formed a loose circle around her, and escorted her out of the store, into a dark SUV with tinted windows. Well this is certainly familiar, she thought, as they shoved her inside.

~

“It doesn’t look good,” Powell remarked to Meriam, flipping through a folder. “Someone leaked Anita’s entire history on the internet, including the tape of her interrogation where she admitted to killing Robert. The public is outraged that a Guardian got off the hook for murder, when we offer the death penalty to humans who do the same.”

Meriam froze, the mug she was holding shattered in her hands. “They’re pushing for the death penalty?” Hot coffee dripped down her fingers, and she swore. Powell leapt out of his seat to help clean up the mess.

“Yes,” he said as he swept up broken glass. “They want her dead, and the HCU is perfectly willing to go ahead with that, since it makes it easier for them to take Diaxel.”

Meriam smashed her bloodied fist on the counter, then held her head in her hands. “Fuck. We should have run when we had the chance.”

Powell put a comforting hand on her back. “We’ll figure something out. She still has to have a trial. Why did Anita tell you to find the Keeper Teagan? Keepers are the last people I would expect Anita to want at her trial.”

“Anita said Teagan was opposed to the abuse, so she tried to stop it. I guess she might have proof of how they treated her? Would that help?”

Powell shrugged. “It’s the court of public opinion, get the right jury and highlight how much the Guardians suffered at the compounds and maybe you’ll sway them enough to vote it was self defense? You only need 3 jurors opposed to avoid the death penalty now. They stopped re-trying these cases since the appeals dragged on so long, but if they vote in favour… they usually carry out the sentence within days.”

Meriam sighed, she wasn’t a criminal defense lawyer, but she spent enough time in courtrooms to know that many people were out for blood nowadays, and no amount of information would sway them. 3 jurors, and Anita would be safe.

~

“You’re awfully calm considering the circumstances.” Anita didn’t look up at the voice. She stayed seated in the center of her cell, focusing on her breathing. She wasn’t calm, she was absolutely furious, but that wouldn’t help anyone.

“According to your file, you’re prone to fits of violent rage and disobedience,” they continued. “Not exactly a fit parent for a 10 year old.”

Anita clenched her teeth. She wouldn’t lose her temper, wouldn’t prove them right.

“Come on, show me that fire that turned you into the most famous Guardian in existence.” A long stick poked through the bars of her cell and pushed against Anita’s shoulder.

Anita opened one eye, exhaled slowly, and gently moved the stick off her shoulder. “What do you want?” she said through gritted teeth, ice curled up her fingers, then melted.

“It speaks!” Anita rolled her eyes, she was used to being referred to as an “it”. “Show me some magic.”

Anita huffed out a breath and went back to her breathing exercises. Meriam had taught her, back when they first got together and everything ‘normal’ had been ridiculously difficult to complete. Even washing dishes had been a challenge the first few months. She was too strong and the crystals on her fingers left scratches in anything she scrubbed.

So they had worked on deep breathing exercises to keep calm. A fact she was extremely grateful for, as the stick prodded into her shoulder again. “Come on!”

Is everyone in this place either a sadist or a child? She thought, once again moving the stick off her shoulder.

“Quiet down back there!” Someone snarled in the distance and Anita sighed with relief as the guard with the stick moved back to his post, grumbling under his breath about boring duties.

~

“You have a visitor,” a gruff voice dragged Anita from her slumber. Not the obnoxious kid this time around.

“Okay.” Anita rolled off the stiff bed and approached the cell door, sliding her wrists into the gap. Handcuffs slapped around her wrists, Anita backed up a few steps as the door opened. The guard latched a chain to the cuffs and she followed a few steps behind him as they walked to the visiting area.

Meriam and Powell were sitting at a table waiting for her. Anita resisted the urge to run over to them, keeping pace behind the slow moving guard.

“No touching,” he barked as Meriam stood up. Meriam hesitated for a moment before returning to her seat.

The guard fixed Anita’s chain to the table, then left them alone, or as alone as they could be in a prison.

“Are you okay?” Meriam asked, reaching out a hand, then drawing back as she remembered the guards warning.

“Fine,” Anita said. “I’ve been in worse prisons.” She turned to Powell, “Did you find Teagan?”

“Not yet, the Keepers are a secretive people, but I’ll keep trying.”

“Is Diaxel okay?”

Meriam shook her head sadly. “He doesn’t understand why you’re not there to tell him stories at bedtime. He cries until he falls asleep.”

Anita clenched her hands into fists. “There’s a journal in our closet with some of the stories I’ve told him, maybe you could read those to him? Tell him I love him, and I’ll be home when I can.”

Meriam’s breath hitches. Powell shakes his head.

“What?” Anita demands.

It’s Powell who answers her. “Anita, they’re pushing for the death penalty.”

Anita sucks in a sharp breath. “Oh.”

“The good news is that you only need 3 out of 12 jurors to oppose it to be safe, the bad news is … that still leaves you in jail.”

“Fuck,” Anita growled. She didn’t want to think about her son visiting three graves to talk to his family.

“I’ve heard they’d be willing to drop the charges in exchange for Diaxel,” Powell continues, but the look in his eyes says he knows they won’t consider it.

“Absolutely not,” Anita hissed. “I will go to my grave before they get their hands on him.”

“How will he feel if you die Anita? Is that what you want for him?”

“Of course not! I don’t want any of this for him.” The leash she kept on her rage slipped, and she shouted, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. “This was supposed to be over, he was supposed to have a normal childhood. They can’t wait eight more fucking years for him to grow up?” Anita clamped her jaw shut as a few guards turned their way, sinking back into her seat.

“Just breath,” Meriam muttered. “We’ll figure something out.”

“I’m sorry.” Anita held her head in her hands, closing her eyes and trying to calm down.

~

The day of her trial, Anita paced rapidly in her cell. Fear shivered up her spine, they hadn’t done enough, hadn’t found Teagan, hadn’t found any evidence to save her. Meriam had done her best to dismiss jury members that were too prejudiced, but the selection process had dragged on so long the judge had insisted they choose the remaining 6 at random.

Her trial was early in the morning so she didn’t wait long before a couple guards banged on her cell door. Anita presented her wrists for the cuffs, arms trembling slightly, and followed the guards to the courtroom.

Meriam sat at the defendants table, wearing one of her fancy suits. Her wife didn’t look up as Anita sat beside her. Anita noticed she had a white knuckled grip on the edges of her seat. “It’ll be okay,” Anita tried to soothe her quietly.

Meriam looked up at her then, eyes wide and fearful. “Whatever happens, I love you. I wouldn’t trade these last 10 years for anything.”

Anita squeezed her hand under the table. “Neither would I.”

Meriam allowed herself until the judge entered the room before putting her lawyer face back on, hastily wiping the tears from her eyes, until she was just a stoic and unfeeling machine.

Anita frowned slightly at her, but didn’t comment. They all had their armors.

As one, the courtroom stood until the judge ordered them back to their seats. Anita didn’t listen to the opening discussions, their introduction of the jury. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her hands were sweating profusely. She kept wiping them on her pants.

“The defendant, Anita Hayes, stands accused of murder in the first degree. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.” Meriam had gotten over her nerves and spoke strongly. The trial went by in a blur, she knew they were arguing for self defense, that Robert had been a threat not only to herself, but also other Guardians.

Eventually they called Anita to the stand, snapping her back to attention. They had her state her name, swear to speak honestly, and then played the tape of her interrogation that first night she had escaped.

“I’m Agent Powell. Is it Annie?”

“Anita.”

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“Left the compounds and killed a Keeper.”

“Right. So you’re not denying it then?” Silence and then, “Can you tell me why?”

“He deserved to die.”

Anita winced at her own voice, utterly cold and full of hatred, she had condoned herself with that one interaction.

“You acknowledge the person on this recording is you, Anita Hayes?”

“Yes,” Anita replied, throat dry. Lying would do no good here.

“So you admitted to killing Mr.Conwell because he ′deserved to die’, yet you now claim it was in self defense? Cause it sounds a lot like premeditated murder.”

Anita froze, words abandoned her and she stared at her hands.

“No further questions, your honor.”

“Mrs Hayes.” Anita’s head snapped up at Meriam’s voice. Meriam gave her an encouraging nod. “Tell us why you killed Mr. Conwell.”

Meriam held her gaze, willing her to find her words. Anita swallowed thickly. “Self defense. I was afraid he was going to kill me.”

“And why is that?” Meriam pressed.

Anita outlined Robert’s daily abuse, going into more detail than was probably necessary, but the look on several of the juror’s faces spurred her on.

Meriam held up a stack of papers. “Let the record show that we have 14 signed statements from other guardians who witnessed either the abuse itself, or the resulting injuries. We also have written reports from the medical team from the compound, documenting the injuries, and we have pictures.” Meriam pulled up the images from the day Robert had hit her 20 times with the bat. The worst one, by far, but the images were effective as the jurors muttered under their breath.

“These reports confirm the beatings happened over eight hundred and ninety five times during the defendants four years under Mr.Conwell’s stewardship. With varying severity. That is more than every second day. Let it be known that had this level of abuse happened to a non-Guardian human, they would have died, many times over.”

“Objection,” the prosecutor growled. “Mrs. Hayes is not a doctor.”

“No,” Meriam agreed,” but many doctors had their hands in these reports.” Meriam turned to the court. “When a victim of domestic abuse finally lashes out against their abuser, we do not call them murderers. They are victims, like the defendant was a victim of this man. There may not have been immediate peril when it happened, but we have 895 reasons why the defendant feared for her life. No further questions.”

Anita returned to her seat, Meriam squeezed her hand.

“This is all very touching,” the prosecutor said, ”but we also have reports indicating that these incidents were all provoked by the defendant. She has a history of violent outbursts, disobedience, and we have reports signed by other Keeper’s that the defendant refused to follow the most basic rules.”

“Getting out of bed 10 seconds late does not justify a beating of this severity, and that’s ignoring the fact that the Keepers were proven to be illegally abusing their power over the Guardians and were shut down because of it,” Meriam growled.

“I think all of us might go a little far if we were constantly threatened, disrespected, and attacked by one of our charges. I think 2 warnings to follow the rules is more than enough, let alone almost 900. Conveniently, your client is the only Guardian that was under the victim’s stewardship to have these kinds of injuries reported.” The prosecutor was smug as he looked over the jury. Many who had been sympathetic to Anita before, now looked like they agreed with him. “It sounds to me like your client was the problem right from the start.”

They didn’t have a rebuttal. Anita had provoked Robert, intentionally, often enough.

The judge called for them to be silent, unless they had another witness to call. Meriam grit her teeth. They didn’t have anything else. They were going to lose.

The doors to the court slammed open, startling the entire court. Anita turned to look and smiled, just a little. “Teagan.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Teagan said, strolling down the aisle. “Had some trouble finding these.” She held up a stack of documents.

Meriam stood up. “The defense calls Teagan Mallory to the stand.”

Teagan’s testimony was beautiful, and brought horror back to the jurors. She described her time working with Robert. As it turned out, she had been actively logging Robert’s behaviour in an attempt to get him removed from the compound. She had recordings of him beating other Guardians, incidents that never got reported. She had audio files of him ranting, unhinged ramblings about wanting to kill some of them, Anita included.

Teagan had everything. She had been a Keeper, had been required to spend time with him, had shared dorms with him at one point, though she had requested to change rooms after his attempts to flirt with her.

She even provided proof that the setup with the Betas, where Anita had been tortured for a month upon returning to the compound, had been set up by him. That he had used it on other Guardians, who had quietly been squirreled away when they didn’t recover. Anita felt sick at that. That other Guardians had been forced to suffer that fate.

Teagan pulled away all the blinders and revealed him for the monster he was.

And yet, it wasn’t enough.

The hopeful smiles Anita and Meriam wore faded away as the jurors announced their results.

“On the charge of first degree murder, we find the defendant guilty.”

“And the death penalty?” The judge inquired.

“10 out of 12, in favour.”