Day 4

Evening

(Central Chamber)

Wally and Tim were the last to arrive as everyone else was standing before the sealed entrance together. Jason broke off and questioned the reason for their tardiness, but the doors began opening before either could respond.

Nothing seemed to have changed except for the center platform. There was now a metal circular railing that came up to just above most of their waists and encompassed the Overseer's monitor.

"Welcome back."

The doors closed as everyone stepped inside. Afterwards, sixteen more holographic monitors at varying heights appeared around the Overseer's, each bearing one of their names in large bold letters.

"Please take your respective stands."

Wally found his place between Kaldur and Connor. Starting from his left, he watched the rest take up their positions: Megan, Roy, Artemis, Zatanna, Jason, La'gaan, Gar, Tim, Cassie, Jaime, Bart, and Virgil. The only empty spot was...

"And allow me to fill in the gap."

Suddenly a life-size and blue-tinted hologram of Dick in his Robin attire materialized in front of the monitor with his name. Both Virgil and Kaldur as well as a few others shrunk back.

"What the hell!?"

"For those of you who may not already know, Richard Grayson enjoyed a double life as Robin, the Boy Robin."

"Okay," said Zatanna, "but why'd you put a hologram of him there instead of just shrinking the circle? It's not like he can do anything anymore..."

"Ditto," said Cassie. "And that cheery grin is really creeping me out. It's like he's a ghost watching us or something..."

"My original intention was to have it serve as a reminder for why you're all here. However, I suppose you can also interpret it as having Richard here in spirit and participating in this trial."

"That...just makes it even worse," said Virgil.

"I say keep it there," said Jason as he slowly eyed each one of them. "Who knows? Maybe it'll feed into your guilt?"

"Now then, let's begin with an explanation of the trial."

Everyone's monitors switched to an enlarged screenshot of the crime scene, the accompanying autopsy report beside it in a smaller window, and a panel of icons along the bottom with everyone's portraits on them including Dick's. Wally and some of the others were quick to begin experimenting with them.

The monitors acted as moveable touch devices. The screenshot of the crime opened a rotatable 3D model of the library, also allowing one to toggle between the room's original and ruined state as well as zoom in and highlight specific locations. The autopsy report window simply opened the aforementioned document in a larger format. The panel of portraits opened profiles of all sixteen of them. However, the information was relatively bare-boned, nothing that they didn't already know about each other except some rather revealing medical information that Wally immediately closed when absentmindedly looking through Artemis' profile. Finally, all of this could be fed into the main monitor, although the Overseer's silhouetted image took over when he spoke.

"One of you is guilty for the murder of Richard Grayson. Your job is to figure out the one responsible. You may discuss this amongst yourselves and present your arguments until you've come to an agreement. But in the end, you will need to vote on whoever you believe is the culprit. The majority will be your collective choice."

"Pick wrong and the killer gets off scot-free," said Roy, "but what if we do get it right? The killer stays and you just expect us to tolerate him?"

"Of course not. If you choose correctly, the guilty party will be executed for his crime."

Jason scoffed, "Death penalty, huh? Serves him right..."

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Megan asked worriedly.

"This is first-degree murder we're talking about! And don't you dare pull the 'Maybe it was an accident' card!"

"I know that! But…we're all being pushed here. We've all done things we really didn't want to do before, right?"

"That still doesn't excuse you for doing something like this!"

"But of course, if you choose incorrectly, the killer goes free and everyone else is executed instead."

"Now hold on!"

"We all get executed for picking the wrong person?" asked Virgil. "What kind of messed up logic is that!? And if you already know who did, why don't you just get it over with already?"

"This is your punishment for letting yourselves be deceived. Attempting to convict an innocent party and letting him receive undeserved sentence makes you all just as guilty as the culprit. And hosting another trial would be redundant at that point."

"That's still messed up!" said Wally. "We're human! We make mistakes!"

"And how many innocents have suffered because of those mistakes? You may be able to forgive and forget, but it's not always that simple."

"Yeah, but-!"

"Tell me. What if you believed someone was the person who murdered your best friend and you executed him for it? But later you learned he was innocent and another person was actually the one who committed the deed. How would you respond? You cannot possibly take it back at that point."

"No system is perfect," said Tim. "There'll always be flaws, but it's still our responsibility to make the best out of it."

"Nevertheless. Those are the rules here. Failure to comply will be met with similar consequences."

"It's not like a have choice," said La'gaan. "We're all pretty much being held at gunpoint anyhow, right?"

"Okay," said Cassie, "so how do we start this thing? The trials you see on TV obviously don't go like this. Was that intro our opening statement?"

"Even if it was," said Kaldur, "let's review what we already know." He brought up the autopsy report. "The victim was Rob-I mean...Richard Grayson. Time of death: 3:14 AM. The cause appears to have been severe head trauma judging by the wounds."

"Obviously someone bashed his head in." Jason placed his hands on the railing and leaned forward. "Let me say this now, I will find out who did it and he will pay. Nobody messes with Dick! You hear me, you bastard?! Nobody!"

"And how do we know that you're not playing innocent and trying to throw us off?" asked Zatanna. "Last I checked, you were the one who attacked him on the first day."

"That was just a misunderstanding! You all know how confused we all were! Besides, even if I did decide to kill someone, Dick would've been my last choice."

"Good to know..." said Virgil.

"Okay," he said crossing his arms. "For those still doubting me, let's say I did kill him for a sec. How stupid would I have to be to do that so soon after our little fiasco? It would be too obvious! I might as well be wearing a shirt that says 'I'm the killer' in big obnoxious flashy-colored letters! Even a kid could understand how idiotic that would be. Right, Logan?"

Gar looked around before replying. "Um...I guess?"

"Besides," said Tim, "he has an alibi. I was with Jason in his room around the time when the incident occurred. Both of us were awake."

"Can we ask why?" Roy said raising an eyebrow.

"Huh," said Bart, "I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff, Tim."

"That's not what we did!" Tim shouted. "I just...wanted to ask him a few questions. I assure you, what we talked about has nothing to do with this case. Jason can attest to that."

"Just personal stuff about what I did before we got here," said Jason. "Seriously, Tim? Did you really have to wake me up in the middle of the night for that? Couldn't it have waited until breakfast or something?"

"I was anxious. I couldn't sleep without getting answers."

"Whatever," he said while looking away. "It's not like we could've saved him either way..."

"Okay," said Jaime, "so Jason and Tim are innocent. But what about the rest of us? Bart and I were also together last night so we're clear, right?"

"Not exactly," said Roy. "The killer could still have an accomplice."

That statement earned him some looks.

"What? But that's an awful thing to say!" said Megan. "Two of us killed Dick? That idea is just too cruel..."

"I'm with her on that," said Wally. "And how do we know the killer is one of us? For all we know, the Overseer could've killed him and lied to get us to turn on each other!"

Part of Wally still refused to believe one of them was guilty. No one would've resorted to killing. No one would've been that desperate to escape. No one would've betrayed his friends like this.

They were all friends, right?

"Sorry, Wally, but you can't deny the possibility. We already have a body. And we all saw our motive tapes. Who can't say two or more people worked together to make the escape condition easier on themselves? After all, letting at least one other person escape is better than none at all."

"And just how many people?" said Artemis. "By that logic, all fifteen of us could've worked together and we're just pretending to not know the 'culprit' for the sake of formality."

"While that idea sounds very interesting, only the person who committed the deed may leave."

"But what about striking Dick's head at the exact same time?" said Cassie. "That seems like it would be a pretty big loophole to that rule."

"Maybe," said Bart, "but I think you can always exploit how you define 'at the same time'."

"What's there to define?" asked La'gaan. "English isn't my native language, but 'At the same time' is...'At the same time'."

"I mean is it really possible to do things at the same time?"

"You're not making any sense. Is this some kind of future science we haven't discovered yet?"

"What? No! You guys are thinking about this all wrong! Crash that mode! You should get what I'm saying. Right, Wally?"

Wally repeated Bart's words to himself. "Crashing...our mode?"

"Y'know. As a fellow speedster, you should notice it every day."

"...Are you talking about limits?"

"Is that what they really called it? Huh, simpler than it I thought." He shrugged. "Never bothered checking if that was the actual name, just the concept."

"What's a limit?" asked Gar.

"I don't want to go too far into math theory, but an example would be a number getting smaller and smaller but never reaching zero. Like radioactive isotopes and their half-lives, although those technically aren't the best examples. But if you apply the concept to time, I guess you can argue that two events practically never happen at same time. They'll almost always be a fraction of a second off. It's like how they use playback footage at race tracks to determine who won when it looks like a tie. Though when your senses are enhanced with super speed, you notice this stuff all the time."

An altered perception of reality was one of first things Wally had to adjust to after acquiring his powers. While it technically only took a few days, it personally and literally felt like weeks. It also didn't help that it still triggered subconsciously for some time afterward, making English and History classes even longer and more boring than they needed to be.

"So only one person could have delivered the killing blow," said Connor. "That's not difficult to figure out."

"Okay," said Zatanna, "but not all of us are math or science buffs here. Who would even think about a technicality like that?"

"Yeah," said Virgil, "And I'm pretty sure even my friend, Richie, would agree that something like a nanosecond difference isn't enough to shift the kill cred from Person A to Person B."

"That doesn't matter," said Roy. "What matters is that whoever helped the culprit now knows he isn't getting to leave with him."

"Assuming there is one."

"If there is an accomplice among us, you better rat out your partner now. Are you really going to take that gamble? At best, you'll only have a fifty percent success rate. If you're going down, you might as well take the other one down with you."

The room fell silent. Piercing glares were exchanged. And then the Overseer let out a hearty laugh.

"Hahaha! I was going establish that there are no accomplices, but I found your speculation quite intriguing and informative. Well done."

"Yeah," said La'gaan, "thanks for wasting our time, Roy. Now we're back to square one."

"Hey, if you want to solve a case, you need to approach it from all possible angles and eliminate them until there's only one left. It's the only way to find the truth...or at least I want to believe that's what Dick would say."

Silence again when Dick's name was said. Wally noticed Jason and Tim wincing. Kaldur was stoic, but Wally thought he was just reigning his emotions so this trial could proceed smoothly.

"How about we go back to the alibis?" said Jaime. "Anyone else able to prove that they're innocent?"

No response for a while.

"It was pretty late," said Artemis. "I'm pretty sure the rest of us were asleep in our rooms...which we can't exactly prove unless any perverts would like to make themselves known."

"Then let us discuss the crime scene instead," said Kaldur. "When we all arrived at the library, Cassie was the first to discover Dick's body trapped underneath the fallen bookshelf if I recall correctly."

"I'm surprised I didn't freak out more than I did…" she said. "Probably because I didn't see a bloodied face..."

"Was the bookshelf pushed on top of him?" asked Megan. "He had a broken leg, right?"

"I wouldn't deny the possibility," said Tim, "but if that was the case, then both of his legs should have been broken. Or at least the other one should've suffered notable damage. Yet the only other afflicted areas were his abdomen and forehead."

"So he got into a fight then?" asked Virgil. "But you all saw his reflexes on the first day. If one of us did fight him, both people should at least have some scrapes or bruises on their bodies, right?"

"Just putting it out there before someone suggests it," said Artemis, "I am not stripping unless you can prove absolutely it's the only way to catch the culprit."

"He could've been jumped," said Jaime. "Not everyone plays fair, y'know?"

"But my question," said Kaldur, "is who would be able to accomplish that? I mean no offense, but my first suspicions would have been Jason or Tim given their previous displays. However, they obviously can prove each other's innocence."

Roy turned his head towards Tim. "Well? Care to enlighten the rest of us?"

Tim averted his eyes. "I believe it's highly probable that Dick let his guard down. I spoke with him before he met with the girls. He had complete faith in every person here."

"Just like that?" asked Zatanna. "That makes his death even more heart-breaking…"

"Why was he even going to the library?" asked Cassie hastily as she turned towards Wally. "Was he one of those people who reads themselves to sleep? Why else would he have gone there instead of sticking with Zatanna or me?"

Actually, Wally wondered about that too. He rarely, if ever, learned about Dick's personal quirks during his home life. Even if he wanted to, it would've been impossible when Wally himself technically wasn't supposed to know the Dick-Robin connection in the first place. He wasn't even sure if Batman caught on to it already.

As he was about to explain this, Tim spoke up before him.

"I…" He was wincing again. "It was my fault. I told him about some books and where he could find them."

"And you swear you never told anyone else about this?" asked Roy.

He nodded. "As far as I know unless someone overheard us."

"Even if someone did," said Zatanna, "he still would've had to walk past either me or Cassie. And we can assure you that it never happened!"

"Unless one of you is lying," said Connor.

"Excuse me?"

"I can't hear anyone's heartbeat right now, but I can still raise the possibility that one of you could be lying."

"That's ridiculous!" said Cassie. "Why would either of us lie about where we were?!"

"Well," Megan said hesitantly, "there's what was shown in your videos..."

"Are you serious?! Sure, I love my mom. She's the only family I have left—who bothers to be around anyway. And I really want to know what happened to her, but I would never resort to murder!"

"That goes double for me," said Zatanna. "I wouldn't even be able to face my dad if I did something like that."

"Connor does have a point though," said La'gaan. "I mean…I don't think any of us can prove you were where you say you were."

"And that's reason enough to suspect us?"

"N-No!" he said waving his arms. "I'm just saying it's hard to say where each of us were if the only thing we have to rely on is each person's own testimony!"

"Which I'm pretty sure brings us right back to where we started," said Artemis, "no closer to figuring out whodunit…"

"Even so," said Kaldur, "we still have more room for discussion." He brought up the ruined library model. "Let us address the state of this room. I, for one, highly doubt it was the result of a fight."

"Everything's all over the place though," said La'gaan.

"And that's the problem," said Jason. "Everything's been tossed onto the floor. If a riot broke out, that could explain it, but a one-on-one would be tidier than that."

"Huh?"

"Assuming a prolonged fight did take place," said Tim, "at best there should've been a 'path' or 'sequence' of events to follow, but the layout is just too chaotic. I highly doubt both Dick and the culprit would exhaust every single option to attack or defend themselves. However, even if it were true, there are still glaring issues with this scenario. First off, why didn't Dick just run away and call for help? The entrances presumably shouldn't have been blocked off yet. And if they were, the openings should've been enough for an acrobat like him to get through."

"He had a broken leg though," said Artemis. "How would he be able to do that, let alone get away from the culprit in time who apparently didn't get a scratch on him?"

"Okay then. That leads to my second point. So Dick's movement was handicapped? Why then would the culprit take so long or need to chase him throughout the entire room? I know Dick was resourceful, but his options were limited, especially at his disadvantage."

Wally remembered Dick's injuries, particularly how he had experienced some of them himself. A broken leg was not easy to move around with, if not just painful to endure. As sidekicks, they were trained to have some pain tolerance. But combining a freshly broken leg with a few heavy punches to the gut wouldn't sit well with either of them. If anything, Dick should've been lying on the floor clutching himself for a bit before he even considering getting back up. And that would mean…

"He was dead before it all happened…" Wally said aloud.

Tim nodded as he zoomed in on the broken bookshelf. "While Dick was immobilized, the culprit presumably emptied these specific shelves, grabbed his head, and smashed it against them. The force was enough to kill him instantly."

"But why go through all that trouble to wreck the library and move the body under the bookshelf?" asked Zatanna. "It's not like it changes anything. Besides, he practically sealed himself in that room. How did he get out? Everyone else was together before we found the body."

"Think again," said Roy. "There's actually more to where he died." He took over the monitor, shifted the view to the next shelf, and zoomed in on some books. "There, that book labeled 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'."

"That thing?" said Jason. "Can't say I'm a fan of that one."

"There's a mechanism that opens a secret passage if you try to pull it out."

"Oh, wow! So they really do have that kind of stuff in real life," said La'gaan.

"Bart, Jaime, and I scouted it out. It's pretty much an entire network that can take you anywhere throughout the building. And guess where one of the exits is…"

"I ended up in the storage room down the hall from our rooms," said Jaime. "Bart already beat me to it and was in the middle of scarfing down some Chicken Whizees."

"They were delicious I should add," said Bart happily rubbing his belly. "Helped myself to a couple more last night too!"

"Moving on," said Roy, "the culprit already had a nice and handy escape route. Which means he could've killed Dick and easily went back to his room without anyone noticing. The ruined library was likely created to lure us away from discovering it. You're welcome, by the way."

"So now the few alibis we had are now useless," said Artemis. "Great…"

"Wait," said Wally. "why would the culprit know about the secret passage in the first place?"

Nobody else here seemed like the studious type except for Tim and apparently Jason. And even if they were, what would be the chances of them selecting that one book out of thousands? Probability wasn't his forte, but he was sure that those facts did not add up.

"Tim?" Roy said again expectantly.

All eyes were on the future Robin who was grimacing.

"It was…one of the books I recommended," he said. "I swear I never actually touched it before the investigation! I only saw it while glancing through the library's collection the day before. I made a mental note of its location since I already read it before."

"The more this goes on," said Jason, "the more it's starting to sound like you deliberately set him up…"

"I wouldn't! You should know that more than anyone else here!"

"Kind of hard to do that when I can't deny the possibility that everything you said to me last night was a lie. Now that I think about it, it is pretty convenient you got on my good side…"

"At least let him explain further," said Kaldur. "Why in particular did you recommend that book?"

Tim paused as if he seemed genuinely stumped for the first time ever, the thought having never crossed his mind. "I'm not sure. I just saw it and…thought it was interesting?"

"That isn't helping your case," said Jason. "The fact you unwittingly gave Dick a death sentence is making your suspiciousness skyrocket."

"I remember you saying that you and Jason were together last night," said Connor. "What time was it exactly?"

"3:21 AM," said Wally without thought. Before realizing the implications of what he had just said, Connor spoke again.

"Dick died at 3:14 AM. The time frame fits: You murdered Dick and went to Jason's room using the secret passage immediately afterward so you would have an alibi."

"Then how would you explain the library's current state?" asked Tim. "I won't deny that I could pull that off, but when would I have found time to actually do it?"

"You went back after you were done talking. Going from Jason's room, yours is down the same hallway as the storage room, right? And didn't someone say you were the one waking everyone else up to hurry to the library this morning?"

"Y-Yes, but only because I discovered that the entrance was blocked. I wanted to get something new to read before breakfast. I just assumed the worst and ran for help."

He was silent for a moment before crossing his arms. "It's still pretty convenient…"

"What about Bart?" asked La'gaan. "You said you were awake last night eating Chicken Wizards, right?"

"Whizees," the speedster corrected him as he started counting. "Yes, I was eating them. No, I didn't know about the secret passages before now. Finally, I…don't exactly know what times I actually went to the storage room."

"You went more than once?" asked Kaldur.

"It's a come-and-go thing for me. I scarf down a bag, take a few back to Jaime's room, finish them there, wait until my metabolism kicks in—which is not long by the way—and head back for more. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and I never saw anyone else if you're going to ask."

"Wait," said Cassie, "wouldn't that mean Bart was also blocking the culprit from going back to his room like me and Zatanna did?"

"His movement was too sporadic," said Tim. "I'm leaning towards it just being a coincidence that the culprit emerged from the secret passage while Bart was still in Jaime's room."

"What if he was invisible?" asked Virgil. "Megan, you can do that kind of stuff, can't you?"

"Camouflage is completely different from invisibility," said the Martian. "And I still need to practice that ability."

"But you can also phase through objects," said Roy. "Some of us saw you do it while trying to escape this place."

"Density-shifting takes a lot of concentration for me though. And it requires knowledge of the material's composition. I still have a hard time figuring out what the walls are made of. There are too many different elements in it.

"But you still could've done it," said Jason. "Killed Dick and wreck the library with some easy telekinesis, then camo and phase back to your room like nothing happened."

"N-No! I mean…I guess I could if I used my-Wait, no! I wouldn't have! Dick was nice to me! I would never do that to him!"

Megan's breathing hastened as more eyes were drawn to her. She slowly stepped back, gripping her arms and muttering incoherently to herself in presumably Martian language. Artemis quickly left her stand to console her as Jaime, Zatanna, and a few others tried to calm her down from afar to no avail.

"Wait!" Gar suddenly shouted. "She couldn't have done it! M'gann goes to bed at eight o'clock!"

The room went silent again, Megan included although clearly still distressed and sniffling.

"Say that again?" said Roy. "Sorry to doubt you, but you're not exactly…um…"

Gar ignored the unintended insult and took a moment to think. "Well, eight's usually been my bedtime. My mom always gets angry if I'm not in bed by then because we get up early a lot to tend to the animals."

"Uh, I hate to break it to you," said Jaime, "but we don't really pay much attention to bedtimes. You break it more often than you don't, actually…"

"But M'gann acts almost exactly like the main character from an old TV show my mom was part of: Hello, Megan."

"Never heard of it," said La'gaan. "And that should mean something when Atlantis' surface world media collection is really outdated."

"Probably because it was super obscure even for its time," said Zatanna. "I only know about it because I found some of my dad's VHS tapes while cleaning our attic."

"And you watched them?" asked Roy.

"I just put on a few episodes as background noise so I didn't really remember too much." She then turned to Megan and examined her more closely. "But now that I think about it… Yeah… Ignoring the green skin, you're a dead ringer for Megan!"

"Hoowee... And I thought I was an obsessive fanboy," said Bart.

At this point, it seemed that Megan had finally calmed down, nodding and urging Artemis to return to her stand.

"It…It's true," she said. "Megan…was an inspiration for me back on Mars. When I came to Earth, I thought looking like her would help me fit in. And it seemed to work too because most of you have been nice to me."

"I just thought your quirks were a Martian thing," said Cassie. "Never really thought you were trying to act like someone from an old sitcom."

"They're still getting our old broadcasts," said Wally. "Some of them are apparently real hits."

"Exactly how much of 'Megan' is an act then?" Roy said turning and staring her down.

"Like I said," said the Martian, "Megan was my role model. I essentially saw her as…well…a human version of myself. The only main challenge of adjusting here was going to bed earlier than others."

"You're dedicated to your goals," said Tim, "with a desperation of being accepted by your peers. Enough that I find it hard to believe you'd break character. Ergo, I don't believe you're the culprit."

"Then who is it?" said La'gaan. "We've been going back and forth and still haven't gotten anywhere! Most of us can't even prove we were sleeping!"

"Let's start from the beginning again now that we've establish some new information. Was this premediated murder? Doubtful. The culprit's success hinged on using the secret passage. If he didn't, he'd risk being discovered. Sure, it was the middle of the night, but you can never be too careful. Plus, the passage's existence was presumably only discovered just before the murder. It was a now-or-never moment."

"So isn't the key just figuring out who could've wrecked the library like that?" said Roy.

"But that still doesn't help much considering what some of us are capable of," said Connor. "Like we said earlier, M'gann could've use kinesis, Zatanna could've used magic, and a bunch of us could've used our enhanced strength."

"Connor," said Megan, "you still doubt me…?"

"…I'm only stating the facts."

"If so," said Tim, "then you don't deny that it's possible you could've done it?"

"Huh? Well…yeah. I don't think any of us can have alibis anymore because of that secret passage."

"That is true. Well then, why don't we talk about that a little more? There's one thing about it that still bothers me. But first, I want to know something else." He turned his attention to Kaldur and Jason. "What was the result of the room search?"

"Didn't find nuthin'," said Jason with a shrug. "I can guarantee you that we were thorough."

"I would also like to add that we searched the rest of the facility," said Kaldur. "However, we did not find anything out of the ordinary either."

"So what's still bothering you?" asked Roy. "If you were hoping that one of us found something, then I think it's safe to assume you believe something was taken from the library. You would be the highest authority on that considering how often you've been there."

Tim nodded as he took over the monitors again and zoomed in on the broken bookshelf, specifically the blood stains. "The blood was wiped, but we never found anything that was used to do so."

"So if we find that," said Virgil, "we have our killer?"

"But what did they use?" said Artemis. "You said that for them it was 'now-or-never', right? So they had to use something in the library."

"Was there anything else stained with blood?" asked Cassie.

Tim shook his head. "There were a few pages near the body. However, none of them were wrinkled in a manner to suggest being used like a cloth."

"I can't think of anything," said Wally, "but whatever it was, couldn't they have gotten rid of it by now? They had plenty of time to do it without anyone noticing."

"Well, can you offer any possibilities for destroying the evidence? Jason and Kaldur already attested to finding nothing throughout the entire facility."

"You can always eat it," said Zatanna. "Gross, but I've been accused of doing that with my props before."

"And can you really be sure that we searched everywhere?" said La'gaan. "This place is kind of big after all."

"You sayin' I did a crummy job?" said Jason.

"No! I just… What if they hid it in plain sight?"

"You have a point," said Kaldur. "But can we assume the culprit was willing to risk wandering the facility hoping nobody else would catch him?"

"He couldn't have known when Zatanna and I would go back to our rooms," said Cassie. "If I were him, I'd try to hide it ASAP."

"Something that was at the crime scene," said Bart, "but easily disposable without anyone noticing…"

The group continued exchanging looks, struggling to come up with plausible explanations. One by one, suggestions came up only to be shot down by someone else.

"Couldn't he have burnt it?" asked Artemis.

"We already said Zatanna was in the kitchen and living room area," said Jason. "The only other place you could burn something is the science lab, but none of the equipment capable of that had been used recently. Plus, you'd still have to get rid of the ashes."

"Flushing it down the toiler?" asked Virgil.

"Nothing in the sceptic tank," said La'gaan eliciting some disgusted reactions. "Blame your waste disposal centers dumping stuff into the ocean and desensitizing us to the more common smells."

"Washing it in the laundry room?" asked Jaime.

"The only people who've used the machines were the ones who got food all over them during dinner the other night," said Kaldur. "That means you, Wally, Connor, and Virgil. Wally's clothes are still in his room, while the rest of your clothes, and only the stained ones, are still in the machines. The rest are empty."

"This is useless," said Connor. "We're never going to figure this out until we have something more concrete."

That drew even more looks of distress. Yet his words rang true. Without anything else to go on, all they could do was guess. Even if they did know what was taken from the library and how it was disposed of, would it even make much of a difference? Most of them were equally as capable of doing it.

The uncomfortable silence persisted. Until…

"…Then why were you out of your room last night?"

"What?"

Tim's stare grew colder. "You don't remember? I distinctly remember you walking down the hallway last night. Right past my doorway."

Connor hesitated as his eyes grew wide. It was brief but just long enough for suspicion to fall on him. "W-Wait! Hold on! You didn't mention any of this earlier! Why now?"

"Answer. The. Question."

Conner's body grew tense, tightly gripping the metal railing as he stared down Tim.

"…"

Strength beyond the capabilities of any normal man…

No…

"Or at least prove that I'm lying. Like Wally said earlier, I was with Jason until sometime after 3:21 AM. The murder occurred at 3:14 AM. Additionally, you claimed I had the opportunity to murder Dick given the timeframe. However, let's reverse that. I could've just as easily seen or heard the culprit coming back from committing the deed."

"…"

A person who was the spitting image of the most beloved hero on this planet…

He didn't…!

"Let me be more specific. My room is a few doors down from Jason's while yours is in the opposite direction. Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable to expect running into each other if we both just happened to be returning to our rooms in this scenario. What's more, one of the secret passage's exits is the storage room which is exactly in the direction of where you would've been coming from…"

"…"

Someone Dick had no reason to distrust…

"It was you!" Wally finally shouted, grabbing the clone by the collar of his shirt. "You sick bastard! Why!? Why'd you do it!?"

"I didn't! You're wrong!"

"Prove it then!"

"I don't need to prove anything! Tim could be making that story up just so you'd have someone to blame!"

"I kept my door slightly open," said Tim. "I couldn't really go to sleep after my talk with Jason so I was reading a book at my desk. That's when I heard the sound of a door shutting closed. A few seconds later and through the crack, you walked by and returned to your room."

"Let's give him the benefit of the doubt," said Jason. "By the way, I was bluffing when I doubted Tim earlier. I was only trying to bait the culprit into making accusations and maybe let something slip. And whaddya know? You jumped right on board and tried pinning the crime on him earlier. Isn't it also convenient that you were the one who tried casting suspicion on the girls too?"

Connor had no response.

"I'll ask again," said Tim. "Where. Were. You."

"…I was hungry."

"You weren't in the kitchen," said Zatanna. "I might've not heard you, but I would've definitely seen you pass by."

"I meant the storage room! There're tons of snacks in there!"

"That's ridiculous!" said Bart. "I've been keeping track and I was in there just before coming here. The only things missing were the Chicken Whizees I've been hoarding for Jaime and myself!"

"There's plenty of them! You probably just miscounted!"

"I don't lose track when it comes to things needed to survive!"

"They could've been restocked!"

"Then how many did you take?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Four? Five? Why would I even remember that?"

"Those numbers don't even remotely add up!"

"Connor," Tim said now solemnly. "If you did it, please just tell us... I don't want to drag this out any further than I already have..."

"Hold on!" said Megan. "Connor couldn't have done it! We've been together every single day since we've been here and he never left my side!"

"Not even overnight?" said Roy. "Do I need to remind everyone that Gar vouched for your innocence earlier when he pointed out that you turn it in early? Are you now saying he was wrong?" He then shifted his attention to Connor. "If Megan wasn't asleep during the murder, then she had to be with you. But she wasn't, was she?"

"…She wasn't," he said grudgingly.

"Well then, the tide's turning against you. You have anything left to fight back with?"

"All you're doing is pointing out possibilities!" He turned to Tim. "I still say you're lying! Don't forget that it could've been you just as much as me!"

"I hate to say it," said Virgil, "but he's right."

"You're actually taking his side!?" said Cassie. "That's practically an implied confession right there!"

He shook his head. "Like some of the worst crooks back home say, 'You can't prove anything!'… What I mean is that the only way you'll get him to fess up is hard evidence…"

But he got rid of it! Where the hell did he stash it!?

"Artemis," said Tim, "may I ask you something?"

"As long as you're not gonna to try pinning the crime on me," she said waving her hands defensively.

"Do you remember what you said earlier towards the beginning of this trial?"

"Um…that all fifteen of us could be guilty at once? I'm really doubting that's the case now."

"No, you said that you were, and I quote, 'not stripping unless you can prove absolutely it's the only way to catch the culprit'."

"Uh, I was kind of joking when I said that…"

"Well, as it turns out, you were right. It is the only way now." He slowly turned towards the prime suspect. "Connor. Take off your shirt."

Wally felt the clone tense up again.

"W-What!? Why!? What'll that prove!?"

"Nobody pointed it out so far—they may not have even noticed it at all—but the Superman logo is strangely absent from your shirt. And I think everyone else here can agree that you've been wearing the same outfit every day. What a coincidence that you suddenly decided to change it up…"

"S-So? What does my shirt have to do with anything?"

He sighed and looked away. "Kaldur, Jason. What was inside Connor's closet?"

Jason smirked. "Black t-shirts, all identical with the Big Ol' Boy Scout's symbol of hope."

"Now then, what's the likelihood of that shirt you're wearing being the only one that's different from the rest of them?"

Connor only grunted.

"Extremely low. The only alternative is…you're wearing it inside-out. And why are you doing that, exactly? Well…I think we may have figured out how you disposed of what was missing from the crime scene."

"You wiped up the blood with your shirt!" said Roy.

Tim nodded. "Now if you would just turn your shirt inside-out again and show us that there aren't any traces of blood on it, then this would prove your innocence. Granted, you could've washed some of it out by now, but you couldn't have possibly cleaned all of it without utilizing the laundry room and creating more evidence against yourself."

Again, no response.

"If you're not going to do it," Wally said coldly with a tighter grip, "I'll do it for you…"

After a short stare-down, Connor finally but silently relented. The scowl he wore vanished as he slowly pulled Wally's arms away from himself. He then grimaced as he followed Tim's demands and held out his shirt with the logo now correctly facing towards them. Wally was quick to swipe it from him.

"…It's stained."

Connor continued to avoid looking at anyone else, instead choosing to stare at the floor with clenched fists.

"Just…why?" asked Zatanna. "Did you really hate Dick that much?"

He shook his head. "No. He was just…in the wrong place at the wrong time. He came up to me in the library and started talking. He asked me to keep him company while he grabbed some books Tim had recommended. I couldn't bring myself to refuse. Then he grabbed the rigged book…"

"And that's when the crime took place?" asked Kaldur.

"He said he wanted to check it out, but I convinced him to go tell the others first. While he was focused on watching the bookshelf slide back into place, I…stomped on his leg. I think you know the rest…"

"You really wanted to get out of here that bad, man?" asked Virgil.

"…Cadmus…is my home. It's all I've ever known."

"Cadmus?" asked Cassie.

"Wait a minute," said Jaime. As others turned towards him, the boy repeated the word "Cadmus" to himself multiple times. "The newspapers! You're the one who left them out on the table!"

Connor nodded.

"Explain," said Roy.

"I didn't it was important back then, but… One of the articles was about a fire breaking out at a research facility in D.C and one of the buildings collapsing because of a rampaging monster. That place's name? Cadmus Labs…"

"You believed your home was in trouble," said Kaldur. "Your family may have been victims..."

"I think I should also mention that Cadmus was put under new management after the incident revealed that some illegal, if not unethical, experiments were being performed there."

"I needed to know what happened," Connor continued. "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"

"But did you really have to resort to murder?" said Kaldur. "Did you not say that you were created to replace Superman? If so, do you not aspire to live up to his ideals and everything he stands for?"

Connor finally raised his head, clearly shaken by those words.

"Ask yourself, 'What would Superman do?' Would he really approve of what has transpired here?"

The clone only looked down in defeat, soon clutching his head in full realization of what he had done.

"It appears you have come to a decision. Now, let's proceed with the voting process. On your screens are portraits of your fellow peers. Simply select the one you believe to be the culprit. As I said earlier, the majority will be your collective answer."

Everyone's monitors expanded to show the full selection. Some were quick to make their selection while others were hesitant. However, it was clear that they all made the same choice. All except the culprit who didn't pick an option at all.

"Fourteen votes for Connor Kent. One vote undecided."

At that moment, the monitors lit up as a celebratory animation of confetti raining down began to play. It was accompanied by a similarly cheerful tune, yet no one was smiling.

"So," said Artemis, "are we really executing him?"

"Those are the rules."

"Please!" said Megan. "Can't we just…lock him away somewhere he can't hurt anyone anymore?"

"What do you think this place is?" asked Jason.

"The culprit knew full well the consequences of his actions. Therefore, he shall be punished accordingly. Now then, let us begin…"

With those words, the room turned pitch-blacked. A few of the group began calling out for each other. Wally himself felt Kaldur grab his arm, but it seemed nothing else was happening.

"Hold on!" said Jason. "Make sure that bastard didn't make a run for it!"

Wally quickly put an arm out to his left only to grab still air.

"He's gone!"

He urged Kaldur to let go and moved forward with his arms out. By the time he found another person, the arms were much too skinny to be Connor's.

"Megan? Is that you?"

"Y-Yes. I believe so. What happened to Connor?"

Before he could answer, the lights came back on and Wally found himself gripping the Martian's wrist and elbow. Everyone else was partially scattered around the circle. Yet when Wally let go and turned around, all he found was an empty space where the clone had been.

"He got away!" said Jason.

"Um, I don't think so," said Gar. "He's on the screens."

Everyone quickly returned to their stands if they weren't already there. A seemingly live video feed of a still shirtless and confused Connor was now playing. A message was briefly overlaying the screen.

Connor Kent has been found guilty

Commencing execution…

The camera slowly zoomed out to reveal Connor having being placed in some kind of research lab. The boy himself was trapped inside a liquid containment tube with multiple electrodes attached to his body. He was desperately banging on the glass, apparently unable to breath. Yet the glass never shattered. Connor's struggling only made things worse as the wires became even more tangled and restricted his movements.

At that moment, an alarm began to sound as the lights turned red. A hatch in the tube flew open with the liquid pouring out and dragging Connor along with it. The clone coughed as he pushed himself up and started removing the wires still wrapped around his arms and legs.

It was then he looked up to the sound of another hatch opening. The camera zoomed out to reveal dozens of tubes surrounding him, each of them containing another version of Connor.

These clones were different. The most obvious difference was what they wore, a white skin-tight jumpsuit bearing Superman's logo. While some were perfect replicas of Connor, most of them had some kind of deformity or unique feature. Some were shorter than the rest, others had a missing limb, and more than a few of them had the wrong skin or hair colors. Nevertheless, the clones much calmer as they waited for the liquid to drain before stepping out. Once free, they began gathering around Connor.

Connor himself drew a defensive stance. It was then that a black-eyed clone attacked him with a roar. They exchanged a few blows, but neither ever landing a solid hit. They seemed to be evenly matched, but as soon as Connor managed to toss his opponent aside, another clone joined the fray. It didn't take long for the others to follow.

Eventually, Connor found himself pinned to the floor and at the receiving end of an endless stream of punches and kicks from all directions. His only form of release was the sound of a different alarm going off. However, this one had a more direct influence on everyone present.

The lights had turned bright green.

PROJECT "KR" HAS BEEN COMPROMISED

PROTOCOL OMEGA INITIATED

ACTIVATING KRYPTONITE SUPRESSION FIELD

When Connor could see again, his assailants were staggering back trying to shield themselves from the radiation. However, they were clearly more affected than he was. Most were barely able to stand while other were crying out in pain. A few of them made no movement at all.

Connor slowly pushed himself back up and looked around for an escape route. Just ahead was a set of double doors. He limped towards them while carefully avoiding the other clones desperately reaching out to him. Just before he reached the exit, Connor collapsed. As he laid on the floor, he started to crawl. When he could no longer manage that, he dragged himself.

Despite the hard struggle, Connor finally made it as the door's sensors registered his presence and slid open. The clone summoned the last bit of strength to toss himself through. When the doors closed behind him, Connor seemed able to pull himself together again. However, he was still heavily exhausted, only managing to sit himself back up against a nearby wall.

He was panting heavily and examining the severity of his injuries. He was bleeding and some injuries were already swelling, but he should've been fine as long as he received immediate medical attention. His sigh of relief was short-lived however, the sound of footsteps perked his ears.

Connor didn't even bother looking up, apparently too tired to do so. He waited until the approaching figure stood right in front of him, and even then Connor only saw his feet. After a few more deep breaths, he started to look up.

Whoever he was, he wore red boots, a red cape, red trunks, and printed on his blue suit was…

Connor could only stare back in both horror and bewilderment. He didn't resist as the Man of Steel silently propped him back up and spun him around. He didn't move as hands wrapped around his head. Finally, he didn't speak as his body dropped to the floor, eyes still bearing that initial stare.

The room was silent once again as everyone stared at the monitors in shock. The only person who seemed to have been spared from witnessing the brutality was Gar whose eyes were being shielded by La'gaan. Megan had broken down in tears and collapse into Roy's arms. The others were looking at their screens with either wide-eyed or jaw-dropped expressions.

After what just happened, there was one thing they could all agree on.

Connor Kent was dead…

14 Heroes remain