Frostbite

Chapter Twenty-Four - Court

So, my nightmare only seemed to have gotten worse. The Tawrion official department of investigation was also hunting down my father.

I sat in my bed, dressed in some decent clothes for a public adventure, a button-up shirt with some black slacks and dress shoes. Aaron had told Aleks and I that we were going to be heading into the capital to attend a hearing.

I had no idea what hearing it was, but I knew it had to be important if I was being dragged along. I eventually heard footsteps coming down the hall, two sets of them clicking on the tile floor.My door swung open and I saw Stephanie, and Aaron standing on the other side, both dressed in what you would expect for a courtroom. "You ready to go?" Stephanie asked me, as I quickly put on my cross-body bag and got up. "Yeah! I'm good to go." I said dusting myself off as I approached.

I walked out of my dorm room with Aaron and Stephanie to each side of me. Aaron looked sleep-deprived, while Stephanie looked like she had injected caffeine straight into her bloodstream with how chipper she was. "Can I be honest with you two?" Stephanie broke the silence after a bit of walking down the hall.

Aaron and I glanced over at her, giving her attention so she knew that we were listening. "I have never been to a courtroom..." Stephanie admitted to us. I was surprised, considering the disappearance of her sister, I assumed she would have to at least be somewhat involved."This would not be my first time," Aaron commented, obviously Aaron had been in a courtroom plenty of times, he had a government job that involved being a policing force. "This is not my first time either," I admitted as well. "Hey, look on the bright side, you are in good hands with us, we have experience."

Aaron seemed to quirk an eyebrow at me in response to me admitting my experience. "Why were you in a courtroom Rivera?" He asked. I was not sure how wise it would be to explain my situation, as the case matter involved the Mantis.

I had kept my arms covered for fear of being questioned or scolded for tattoos, but I had a feeling Felix suspected that something was up, so I decided to attempt to change the subject. "It was something from my childhood, is Indi or Felix joining us?" I asked, looking back up at Aaron.

"I believe Felix might, but the last time I checked on Indi, she was asleep. I did not want to disturb her." Stephanie answered for him, to which Aaron gave a confirming nod.

Okay, so where was he then?

I watched as we made it toward the entrance lobby of the compound. I turned to my left to see a disheveled Felix running over to join us. He was frantic, luckily he did not trip on his way to us, but instead put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"What's the matter with you?" Stephanie asked with a concerned tone, gently helping Felix stand up and regain his composure after running. "Okay so, I was walking down the hall to meet you guys, when I saw Stormrider and Enigma talking in the hallway that connected to the back lobby."

"I wanted to try and greet them to explain where I was going and that I was fine, considering I had been recovered from a hostage situation not too long ago-" He said, bringing one of his arms to his mouth to cough into his inner elbow, before lowering his arm once more."I heard them talking about your dad Kerran," Felix said.

I blinked, a bit concerned and confused at the observation. "He's a missing person right now, along with my sister. Perhaps they are talking about possible leads or searching for ideas?""That's what I thought at first but then I heard them talking about some kind of mutation thing going around, where he was last seen- I think it was the-" Felix was trying to make his thoughts into more of a coherent sentence.