"Hey! Is everything back to normal?" Chelsea said. She re-appeared in a holographic window next to Imperatrix.
"Yes... It got resolved." Imperatrix nonchalantly said, hiding the tension that she still felt from the conflict she started but escalated further than she intended.
Something had gotten over her then. She knew she should've just told Santana to tip the delivery driver. It would've made her seem much like an ungrateful a** after she summoned him to the courtroom to attest a key point in her favor, but the power may have been too enticing.
Her power as a skilled summoner. The power that was in her hands with Devourer of Injustice Fomalhaut, the sheer amount of magical power it has; how it helped her gain power over space-time along with another form of power that came from finding a loophole in the Magic Gatekeepers' rules. The power to flout the rules in front of them. All of this made her nearly unstoppable and she knew it!
"Isn't it SPACECON 5 that we should be worrying about?" Chelsea asked. She happened to arrive just as the SPACECON 2 warning rescinded and went back to SPACECON 3.
Imperatrix sighed. "We've been over this twice already." She said to Chelsea before she created a holographic screen that detailed each of the SPACECON levels and presented it to the entire courtroom.
"SPACECON: Level of alertness to Space-time threats."
"SPACECON 5: Baseline level of readiness; no risk of an incident that could damage space-time."
"SPACECON 4: A small incident or an incident with a low risk and potential impact detected. Increased level of readiness, strengthened security measures by the dimension weavers and time travelers. They're on guard."
Below this were a couple of "CAUTION!" messages in yellow.
"SPACECON 3: Further increased level of readiness; dimension weavers and time travelers ready to mobilze under the command of the Magic Gatekeepers. Moratorium on time travel is enforced."
Below this were flashing "ALERT!" messages in red.
"SPACECON 2: Severe threats are imminent. The Magic Gatekeepers are ready to mobilize at full power against the threats."
"SPACECON 1: Maximum readiness against space-time threats; space-time destruction is imminent or ongoing."
For extra measure, there was an animation of space-time cracking and exploding.
"SPACECON 5 means there are no current threats to the space-time continuum..." Imperatrix began her lecture. "SPACECON 1 means a grave threat to space-time but we'd be doomed! The Magic Gatekeepers would be allowed to fight me at their full power."
"Oh... We wouldn't want that!" Chelsea cried.
"If you f*cked around any further you were going to find that out the hard way!" Mia blurted out. Imperatrix looked annoyed. She saw that the other Magic Gatekeepers nodded in agreement with Mia.
Fully aware of the ramifications, Imperatrix tried to not look bothered and find a way to get the upper hand in front of them and everyone else.
"I'd be out-numbered by them and the superweapons they still have." She factually stated but she smiled at the end of the sentence. "I'm saying that before I could let you point it out!" She said with a laugh, noticing Mia's scowl.
"And... I'm not going to let SPACECON 1 happen, so you wouldn't be able to do anything under your own rules!" Imperatrix gloated. "The League has a vested interest in keeping space-time running or we might have nothing worth ruling over!" She confidently said and looked towards the Magic Gatekeepers again.
From admitting she had no chance against them if SPACECON 1 happened, she saved face and gained the upper hand.
"'Tis a most clever strategy I concede but since though needest me not to continue thine gloating, I shalt depart." Santana said to Imperatrix.
He cast a teleportation circle and flames started to circle around him; his cape and hair billowed in the wind from the circle. "But I shalt tip the delivery driver only because you put space-time under hostage over it!" He said before he teleported away in a burst of flames, lighting and smoke.
"I'm ready too to bid you goodbye. I already said what I wanted to you." Imperatrix said to the Magic Gatekeepers as she cast a teleportation circle. A column of pink light surrounded her, and her familiars, taking the form of glowing blue butterflies also flew around the circle.
She turned towards the group at the defendant's table, the unlucky captive audience and waved to them. "Have fun now and stay out of trouble... or not!" She said with a menacing grin before she laughed. "MUAHAHAHAHAHA!" She teleported away with these parting words.
A pink burst of light and smoke filled the room before she, her familiars and her teleportation circle vanished.
Once the smoke cleared, the Magic Gatekeepers brought something out from under their judges' stands.
An unusually cheerful Mia held up a handful of photos. "Hey... Heheheheheh... You want to see those pictures that Ms. Errington took?" She asked the group.
Unanimously the group wanted to see the photos and their excitement filled the room. "Why were you holding out on us like that?" Katt asked Camelia.
"Security reasons." Camelia flatly stated.
"That's no fun!" Kayla remarked.
Among the banter at the defendants' table, Mia passed around the photos. Camelia was the first to see them again as she remembered the night before when she took those photos.
"I didn't make up these captions." She laughed.
The first of the photos in chronological order was in the Capital Remedial parking lot near the front of the building. Two people, the perpetrators, dressed in button-down shirts with matching hats, blue denim overalls and brown boots. A security robot stood in front and shone a light on them.
Each of the photos were taken at night; the streetlights were visible in each of them.
The caption for the first photo at the bottom of it read "We're here to fix the bus for the field trip."
That photo was taken from a distance, but one of the perpetrators looked familiar. There were murmurs among the group about their suspicions and about who the other perpetrator was.
"They were trying to explain themselves to the security robot." Camelia commented. "That's not the only interaction it captured!" She chuckled as she was ready to pass around the other two photos.
The second photo showed the front of the Capital Remedial building in the background and had a close-up of one of the perpetrators; she had blue eyes, green hair with blunt bangs and her hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore a green shirt and hat with a fake mustache that was uneven. One of her fingers was trying to keep the mustache even but it wasn't working.
"One moment. My mustache is itchy!" The caption at the bottom read. Laughter filled the room as this photo made its rounds around the defendants' table.
"Oh my stars... How could she think to get into this scheme?" Ella said, sounding shocked, but she also laughed at how surreal it was to see a person wearing an outfit she normally wouldn't.
"Hahahaha! I didn't know she had it in her to carry out schemes like this!" Kayla laughed. "An effort was made with the disguise." She snarked.
"So that's what they're up to when they don't need to save the princess!" Felicity chuckled.
"The last photo is also the best!" Camelia said and passed the last photo around the table.
It confirmed everyone's suspicions; the perpetrator in the green outfit was Chelsea, and the other perpetrator in a red outfit with light blue hair was Imperatrix!
Laughter filled the room even more.
"The way she presented herself to us like a supervillain aristocrat makes her disguise in this photo even funnier!" Katt said and laughed.
In the photo, Chelsea's fake mustache fell off. Imperatrix was standing behind her, looking annoyed and pointing to her fake mustache. "Danger, Chelsea! Now they know we're not mustached mechanics!" The caption read.
These photos were just a consolation prize for this unlucky group from Capital Remedial that got stranded in time, and to the Magic Gatekeepers who couldn't prosecute Imperatrix and still couldn't take any direct action against her while she played by their rules. However, these photos let them get the last laugh this time!
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