Microstory 787: Justice Clerk

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In 1791, the United States Constitution was placed into operation, establishing the foundation of the nation’s laws, including those of the Adjudicative Branch of government. Many legal systems were proposed, the one that survived being an amalgamation of practically all of them. These are the parameters, as originally set forth by the administration, some of which has been amended over time. In every court, no matter how small, or how large, there exists one licensed adjudicator, and two independent arbitration panels of five individuals each. Known as arbiters, three of these are average citizens of the country, called upon to represent the people’s voice during deliberations. They are theoretically unbiased actors, charged with executing justice fairly, and without preconception, though this would be an unrealistic fantasy. And so each panel also has two arbitrators, who have undergone formal training in all matters of law. They study a variety of fields that fall into the four major departments of humanities, communications, government, and law. They are meant to serve as a sort of bias police, to ensure the arbiters are staying on track and keeping to the facts, as well as explain to them how law and policy work. Educated arbitrators serve an incredibly important role in the process. With no prerequisite of ethics training, it would be itself unethical and irresponsible to rely on an unqualified peer acting as an arbiter to be impartial during a trial. The separation of panel deliberations ensures as well, an ethical outcome to the court proceedings, by preventing undue influence, which could lead to a form of contamination called adulteration. If all has gone well, both panels, and the adjudicator, will reach the same conclusion regarding the case separately, and this is referred to as absolute accordance. Each case is defined by an accused, who is opposed by their accuser in the form of an alleger, which may or may not be a prosecuting body. If the latter is true, they are allowed to act as the adherent attorneys during the trial. They are thus opposed by one, or a team of, advocates, who argue for the rights of the accused. In order to maintain fairness in the trial, each side must maintain a balance of attorneys with the other, by at most a ratio of three to one. If, for instance, the adherents would like a team of seven, they must procure at least two more advocates to oppose them. This prevents a client with too much social or financial power from subverting the best interests of the state. Beyond these individuals, the court requires a certain number of other parties. For the protection of all, there must always be two court marshalls present, whose job as well is to manage any attestants. Attestants are called upon to testify in court if they have some level of background knowledge pertinent to the specifics of the case, or the crime itself. Lastly, an attendant (formerly known as a justice clerk) is responsible for handling the administrative duties of the court; documentation, scheduling, attestants, etc. As previously stated, many particulars have historically been determined to help create the best adjudicative system in the world, and these are only the basics that the founding fathers came up with over two hundred years ago.

Microstory 178: Straton Giles

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One thing about Bellevue was that it was conceived, not as merely a super team composed of people with special abilities, but as an organization. The purpose of this organization was not always clear, but its founder envisioned it being international, and used to help the world in a myriad of ways. That the majority of original members were anomalies was always intended to be more a jumping off point, and less of an archetype. The perfect example of the founder’s ideas was Straton Giles. He had no special ability, and was not related to someone who did. He had a prior relationship with Milo Chombers, but this was a coincidence that was not known to others until his first day. He was removed from prison by the powerful Basil Ploutos through a series of threats, legal loopholes, and fraud. The Keystone knew that if they were going to establish something that in any way resembled a law enforcement agency, they would need to learn unorthodox skills; bonus points for finding someone who didn’t need to be paid. Straton fell into a life of crime as a natural progression from living in poverty his entire life. He never hurt anyone, and he only ever stole from the corrupt, but the older he became, the bolder he became. It was only a matter of time before he was caught, and this happened about a year before Bellevue’s founding. He kept his head down while locked up, and didn’t start trouble with the other convicts. He was actually friends with Hector Cubit; rather, he was as close to a court marshall as a criminal possibly could be. There was some resistance to Straton joining the team from its other early members; especially Cosmo Drexler. Jaklyn Simonds was ordered to lock him in the astral plane every night, which was impossible to escape. But he eventually endeared himself to the others, and proved himself worthy of being part of the group. Though his position was later replaced by more educated professionals of the non-academic fields, he worked well as a proof of concept, showing that learning street skills was just as important as understanding how anomaly abilities worked.

Microstory 148: Hector Cubit

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Hector Cubit started out as a prison guard for the court marshalls. When there is a prison break, a marshall in the fugitive department will choose a guard to accompany him or her on the investigation. Hector was that one when Straton Giles was unlawfully released from, though not technically broken out of, prison. Leads dried up rather quickly, but Hector was still recommended to transfer over to the fugitive department. He served with honor, and caught a number of high-value criminals for the marshalls, but he gave it all up to go back home. His hometown never quite approved of him leaving to pursue his dreams, but after his breakup with Donna Belmonte, he felt like they needed to put some distance between each other. After years, however, the wounds had healed, and the town needed him. The sheriff was getting too old and it was time for him to retire. They couldn’t trust anyone else to protect Donna’s secret that she could donate an endless supply of her own organs, and Hector was the only one with any law enforcement experience. He returned and accepted the position, keeping Donna and everyone else safe from the prying eyes of the outside world. He discovered something interesting from his new job. The organization that took his first fugitive out of prison ended up in his town, looking for Donna. He was very protective of her, but surrendered to her wishes to join the movement. He joined along with her, with some conditions. It was he who suggested that Bellevue come out of the shadows and announce itself to the world. They were worried about backlash, but he assured them that the only way to earn the trust of the people was to start early, before too many bad things had happened behind closed doors. And he was right. The world quickly accepted and relied on them. Hector continued to protect anyone who needed his help, eventually becoming the first agent of the new Bellevue. He even died once.