Very much NSFW fic continued from yesterday:
Fracture Forty-Six: Damning Testimony
Kurt’s face went almost completely emotionless as he sat. Raven, under the guise of Risty Wilde, didn’t let her fear show. She just took notes, as she always did. She’d need this material to drive Hess so insane that she’d never harm another child ever again.
Matt Murdock stood and traced his way around the table. “Mister Wagner, how long have you known Frau Hess?”
“Objection!” Mason stood. “Events that occurred overseas have no relevance in this particular case. We are trying Frau Hess for crimes committed in America.”
“Your Honour,” said Murdock, “I’m attempting to establish a pattern of behaviour.”
“I think we’ve pretty much done that already with the videotape and witness testimonies. Objection sustained.”
Murdock nodded. “Very well. Let’s focus on events in the states. How long did it take you two to recognise each other?”
“Objection! Speculation.”
“Sustained.”
Murdock tried another tack. “How long did it take you to recognise her?”
“Quite a while. She’d changed her face since I last met her.”
“And how long is quite a while?”
“A little short of half an hour. I went through gym class normally. It was afterwards that I had the first encounter with her in years.”
“What happened during that encounter?”
“First, she established my identity as one of her favourites. Then she came onto me. Aggressively so. I backed away until I hit a wall. She pressed up against me. Kissed me. Brushed up against my crotch…” There was a brief struggle in his face, as if part of him was trying to emote, but another part was restraining him.
“And how did this encounter end?”
“I bought forward RagDoll - one of my personas. He’s catatonic, so he’s not much fun for the predators.”
“One of your personas?” Murdock asked, strictly for effect. “You're one of the survivors with Multiple Personality Disorder, aren’t you?”
“That is correct.”
“So, who am I actually talking to, right now?”
“I am the persona known as the Archivist. I keep all the memories, because they have little impact on me.”
“Yet you were just talking about the memories of Kurt. I’m curious; how can *you* testify to the actions of another persona as if they were your own? Surely you weren’t *there*. You weren’t - ‘out’, as it were…”
_Clever,_ Raven thought. _Asking the wrong questions before the defence has a chance to._
“Regardless of who is 'out’, I remember *all*. On the outside, I am Kurt Wagner. On the inside, we are a team.”
“So, on the *inside*, was it you or Kurt who 'bought out’ RagDoll?”
“Kurt chose him.”
“I see. So what happened after that?”
“Hess realised what had happened as soon as I stopped responding to her.”
“As soon as *RagDoll* stopped responding,” said Murdock.
“Yes. As I said, RagDoll is catatonic. He doesn’t *do* very much. He doesn’t react. A predator can’t play with RagDoll for very long. He’s no fun.”
_Now *that* was just plain chilling…_
“So, how long did Hess 'play’ with RagDoll?”
“No longer than two seconds. She realised very quickly what I’d done.”
“How did she react?”
“She was upset. Angry. She grabbed me by my hair, and the back of my neck, and lead me outside. She was looking for my friend.”
“You’re certain of that?”
“Yes. Because when she found Evan, she threw me at him and said, 'Bilden Sie ihn richtig, Schwarzeschmutz aus, oder ich jage Ihren vollstandigen Stamm unten’. That means, 'train him correctly, negro filth, or I’ll hunt down your entire tribe’.”
“And that was all she did, that day.”
“Yes.”
“Yet 'RagDoll’ didn’t immediately go back. Why?”
“On the inside, we didn’t feel safe enough. We were still in an area where a predator was.”
“And that was on a Thursday, correct?”
“Correct.”
“When did Hess try to contact you again?”
“The following Monday.” Kurt’s hands were flexing in and out of fists. "That was when she abducted me from the school.“
"Did you know what she intended to do?”
“Yes,” said Kurt. “She said she was going to keep me.”
“And you knew what that meant.”
“Yes. It was a threat.”
“Was Hess planning to do some of the things described in prior testimonies?”
“That and more. I was her favourite; so I got special treatment.”
“I see. That was also the Monday you leaped out of a moving car and wound up stuck on the Bayville Expressway, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Somehow, I don’t think RagDoll was responsible for that. Who *was* in control, that day?”
“A persona named Flight, sir.”
“Does he fly?”
The court tittered.
“Objection, your honour. What is the *relevance* of this line of questioning?”
“Merely showing the levels of control Kurt has over his personalities,” Murdock breezed. “And establishing a who’s who, as it were.”
“Overruled. Witness will answer the question.”
“No. Flight’s job is to run to a place of safety.”
“Which happened to be the middle of the Bayville Expressway.”
“I got turned around after the truck threw me off. I couldn’t tell which way to run to get back. I didn’t know anyone who was there. I *had* to do what I did that day.”
“You mean *Flight* had to do what *he* did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We were afraid of what she’d do to me.”
“You were *certain* of what that was.”
“Yes.” He glared at Hess. “I know how she thinks.”
“And the last time she abducted you? You *knew* what she was going to do?”
“Yes.”
“What *was* Hess going to do?”
“Objection!”
“Overruled.”
“She would start by making me watch her torture Kitty or Bluebelle. Then she’d use me to - 'initiate’ - Kitty.” Everyone knew what that meant, by now. “Then she’d torture the three of us. Possibly for weeks. Possibly for more.”
“And how do you know this if it didn’t actually happen?”
“I know because it’s what Hess usually did when I was with her.”
“Thankyou.” Murdock sat. “Your witness.”
Mason stood, and paced back and forth a few times, apparently mulling over the mysteries of the universe.
“Are you absolutely certain that this is the same woman who abducted and tortured you in Germany?”
“Yes.”
“Are you absolutely certain that the abductions here in the states were going to lead to the same result?”
“Yes.”
“You knew this, even though you escaped her twice before waking up in her basement?”
“Yes.”
“Are you *certain* that Hess had set up her basement for the purposes of torture; rather than - say - an elaborate joke. Or a home-made movie?”
Kurt suddenly looked - angry. “Have you ever been in a room 'decorated’ with human blood, Herr Mason?”
Mason was so shocked he actually answered the question. “No, I can't say I have…”
“*I* have - always at the hands of Hess or her little minions. I can tell you, mein Herr; it’s a stench you never forget.” He steadied himself into calmness once more. “People *had* been tortured in there. Every object in that room had human blood on it. The air was *thick* with the smell. If we hadn’t escaped, we would have been next to put our blood on things.”
“None of you wanted to wait and see if it was true?”
“Would *you* stay in a room with a tiger - just to see if it *might* attack?”
“No. I suppose I wouldn’t.”
“Exactly my point. Hess and her kind are predators. Plain and simple. They live to hurt children.”
“And you’re certain you remember everything, as the Archivist.”
“It’s what I do. I remember *everything*.”
Mason toured back to his desk, and turned his briefcase around so Kurt could see inside it. “Do you see my briefcase?”
“Yes.”
He closed it, and returned it to its place. “What was in it?”
“The bottom contained, left-to-right: One stack of legal documents, faces down. A wooden ruler, turned on its edge. One plastic lunchbox containing a half-eaten sandwich, a whole apple, and a candy bar - black wrapper, red writing. I couldn’t make it out. Near the lunchbox were approximately ten pens held together by a rubber band. The top held a tax return, three holiday pamphlets, a spiral-bound notebook and a recent Action Man comic.”
The court giggled.
Mason paled, and opened his briefcase for a look. He swallowed. “Let the record show that the witness was one hundred percent - correct.” He sighed and sat back down. “No further questions.”