Ch.63: The Judge's Fall

I hadn't even made it to the taxi stand before the alert screamed across every screen in the city.

**JUDGE HALLOWAY DECLARES TRIBUNAL "ILLEGAL"**
**MARTIAL LAW INVOKED.**

I stopped dead on the wet pavement. I looked at the massive digital billboard on the side of the Vane tower. Halloway was on a live feed, sitting at his high bench in an empty, sealed courtroom, surrounded by a phalanx of nervous-looking bailiffs.

"The events of this evening were not justice," Halloway bellowed into the camera, sweat glistening on his forehead. "They were a cyber-terrorist attack orchestrated by the defendant. I am hereby nullifying the results of the public vote and issuing a warrant for the immediate execution of Harper Vance and Julian Vane."

He was trying to un-ring the bell. He was trying to burn the city down to save his own skin.

"Turn the car around," I said to Silas, who had just pulled up in the APC.

"We need to get you underground," Silas growled. "You're exposed."

"If I run now, he wins," I said, climbing into the passenger seat. "He delegitimizes everything we just fought for. Take me back to the courthouse."

"He has the bailiffs," Julian said from the back seat, his voice weak but steady. "He has the structural security."

"He has nothing," I said. "He just doesn't know it yet."

We didn't drive to the back entrance this time. We drove straight up the front steps. The APC crushed the barricades, stopping inches from the main doors.

I kicked the door open. The crowd of Rats and citizens outside cheered, a roar like the ocean.

I walked into the courthouse. The halls were empty, echoing with the sound of Halloway's ranting voice from the PA system.

I pushed open the doors to Courtroom 1.

Halloway froze mid-sentence. He looked at me, his eyes bulging.

"You," he whispered. "Bailiffs! Seize her! Shoot to kill!"

I didn't flinch. I kept walking, my boots clicking on the marble floor. I held up the tablet Julian had recovered from the safe house—the one linked to the Nightingale key.

"It's over, Richard," I said, my voice calm, amplified by the acoustics of the room.

"I am the law!" Halloway screamed, standing up, his robes flapping like the wings of a dying crow. "I am the supreme authority in this district! Kill her!"

The bailiffs shifted, their hands hovering over their weapons. They looked at Halloway. They looked at me.

"Before you follow that order," I said, addressing the head bailiff, a man named Sergeant Graves, "you might want to see where your pension fund went."

I tapped the screen.

The massive display behind Halloway—the one he had been using to broadcast his lies—flickered.

The Nightingale protocol engaged.

New lines of data scrolled down the screen. Not Sterling's payouts. Halloway's private ledger.

**ACCOUNT: JUDICIAL RETIREMENT FUND.**
**BALANCE: 0.00 CREDITS.**

**TRANSFER DESTINATION: HALLOWAY OFFSHORE HOLDINGS (CAYMAN).**

A gasp went through the room. Not from the public. From the bailiffs.

"He stole it," I said, walking closer to the bench. "He liquidated the bailiff's union fund three days ago. He's not trying to save the city. He's trying to buy a ticket out of it."

Halloway stared at the screen. He turned purple.

"Lies!" he shrieked. "Deepfakes! It's all a simulation!"

He pointed a shaking finger at Graves.

"Sergeant! I order you to kill this woman! She is an enemy of the state!"

Graves looked at the screen. He looked at the zero balance. He looked at the man he had protected for twenty years.

"Sergeant!" Halloway screamed, his voice cracking.

Graves slowly unholstered his weapon.

I tensed.

But Graves didn't aim at me. He turned and aimed at Halloway.

"Sit down, Richard," Graves said, his voice low and dangerous.

"What?" Halloway gasped. "This is mutiny! I'll have you court-martialed! I'll have you executed!"

"You can't execute anyone," I said, stepping up to the bar.

I pointed to the public sentiment ticker in the corner of the screen. It had reactivated the moment I walked in.

**HALLOWAY APPROVAL: 0%**

"The Tribunal isn't over," I said. "We just added a new defendant."

Halloway looked at the ticker. He looked at the bailiffs, who were now all training their weapons on him. He looked at the camera drone that had silently drifted in through the open doors.

He slumped back into his chair. The gavel fell from his hand, clattering onto the floor.

"I... I was just following orders," he whimpered. "Sterling... he made me."

"Sterling is in a cell," I said. "And you're going to join him."

Graves walked up the steps to the bench. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt.

"Stand up," Graves ordered.

Halloway stood, trembling. He held out his hands.

"Please," he wept. "I'm a judge. You can't do this."

"The people have spoken," Graves said.

He clicked the cuffs shut.

The sound echoed through the silent courtroom. It was the sound of a hammer falling. The sound of an era ending.

I turned away as they dragged him down. I looked at the camera drone. I looked at the people of the Obsidian Circuit watching from their screens.

I didn't smile. I didn't cheer.

I just nodded.

Justice wasn't a luxury item anymore. It was free.