Mangle woke up to someone shaking their shoulder. “Sirdam? Excuse me, sirdam?”
Mangle’s head lolled up to a normal position and they looked at the nurse smiling down at him. “Your daughter’s waking up.”
Mangle sat up immediately. “She is?! Thank you so much for telling me, really. Could we...uh...have a moment alone?”
The nurse nodded. “I just replaced her morphine, so she’s going to be a bit loopy, but she’s done with the blood transfusions. Thankfully, she needed less than a pintful.”
Mangle nodded and the nurse left as It opened her eyes. “Hey sweetheart,” Mangle whispered. “How’re you feeling?”
It groaned. “Like I got shot.”
Mangle chuckled. “Yeah, well, that’s to be expected. The morphine helps with that, though.”
“I feel funny.”
Mangle chuckled. “And that’d be the morphine,” they said.
It looked at Mangle, scandalized. “Milbridge shot me!” she yelled.
Mangle nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, he did. And when I see him next, it’ll take all my control not to shoot him back.”
“He’d better get charged,” she grumbled.
Mangle nodded. “I’m sure he will.”
The police outside guarding the door walked in when they heard the noise. “Excuse me, sirdam, we’re here to talk to you about the incident.”
Mangle nodded. “Yes, of course. As you can imagine, I will be pressing charges.”
The police nodded. “2 accounts of attempted assault, then, 1 of attempted murder…”
“Hold on,” Mangle said. “1? Milbridge held that gun at both my head and my daughter’s.”
“Your...daughter is not considered a human, sirdam. It can be considered for a kidnapping, but not murder.”
Mangle frowned. “Are you crazy? Look at her! Of course she’s human!”
The officers shared a look. Mangle grew increasingly mad. “You have to charge Milbridge with 2 counts of attempted murder! 2!”
The officers laughed. “We don’t ‘have’ to do anything if we’re not dealing with a human.”
It was sitting up by now. “I am too human! If I wasn’t, why would someone be recording this conversation behind us to keep a record?!”
The officers turned around to see the nurse smiling at them. “Smile, boys! You’re on Candid Camera!”
It was all over the news the next day. Two officers refusing to treat It as a human. When asked for a statement, the police department stood by its officers’ decisions. Mangle announced that morning after they read the paper that unless Milbridge was charged with 2 counts of attempted murder, legalizing It as a human, they would be suing the police department for racial discrimination. The department said nothing. Mangle hired a lawyer. The news blew up at the thought that humanity could be redefined, and that such a big case could be in their time, on the scales of the Scopes Monkey Trial or the legalization of gay marriage. Despite all the publicity, the police station stood by its reasoning.
The lawyers gathered up evidence, including the nurse’s video, statements by all involved, It’s DNA records, and other things Mangle couldn’t remember. They were put off by how much the proceedings were rushing forward. It was recovering out of the hospital, Mangle taking care of her PT in-house. Everyone was looking forward to the court date. Bethany and the surrounding towns were packed, everyone trying to secure seats in the courthouse. The date was 2 weeks away. Mangle’s family had all flocked to the beach house. “Are you sure about this, Jess?” their mom asked them. “Really, properly sure?”
Mangle nodded. “Of course. I want the best for It, and if the police refuse to see her as a human, I’ll make them see reason.”
“You’re asking for trouble, sugar,” their aunt piped up from across the room, where she was knitting quietly. “You’ll never have a normal life after this.”
Mangle shrugged. “Very good thing I don’t want one of those, then.” They held up a blouse about It’s size and carefully cut holes in the back, knowing after precise measurements where her wings would come out. “I just want her and her children and her grandchildren to be treated like the humans they are.”
It walked in the room. “That’s awfully nice of you, Dad. I thank you kindly,” she said in a fake Southern accent.
Mangle chuckled. “Your blouse for the case,” they presented.
She pulled it on and flapped her wings around in it. “Nice room,” she said. “Are you going to make me wear a skirt to make sure I’m suitably uncomfortable?”
“Pencil skirt,” Mangle informed her.
She groaned. “Why?”
“Professional look,” Mangle replied.
“Not a professional.”
“You are in the field of debating what it means to be human.”
It sighed. “...Fine, I’ll give you that, but that doesn’t mean I have to wear a pencil skirt!”
Mangle just laughed, and went to fetch it.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and others! Allow me to reintroduce two people who you probably know by now, Bethany and Jess Mangle. We are here, dear gentlepeople of the jury, to determine whether or not Dr. Aaron Milbridge attempted single or double murder on the premise that Bethany Mangle is not, in fact, human. I am here today to prove to you that she is, indeed, worthy of the second murder attempt charge, by condemning the police department that claimed she wasn’t with racial discrimination charges. Now, gentlepeople of the jury, this charge is serious indeed, and I hope that you will make the correct decision in this trial when the time comes. But first, I must prove to you that we are indeed in the middle of a grievous mistake…”
Mangle tuned the prosecutor out. Yes, this may be the case of the century, after the other cases of the century, but it was still. So. Boring. Important, absolutely. But the people droned on and on, and they could tell even people in the audience were waiting for this whole thing to be over and done with. It seemed about as bored as they were. It was only 1 in the afternoon. “The prosecution calls to the stand Dr. Jess Mangle.”
Mangle got up and walked to the witness’ bench. They were sworn in and the prosecutor walked up to them. “Look at this TV please, sirdam. Can you tell me what is on it?”
“That would be the video of the police officers denying It is a human,” Mangle said slowly. “At least, I am unaware of any other video evidence from that day.”
The prosecutor nodded. “Can you verify what happened on this video is what happened in that room?”
She played the video and Mangle nodded. “That is exactly what happened that day. It’s one day I won’t soon forget.”
“Thank you. Can you say, in your own words, what happened?”
“Starting when?”
“When you woke up in the hospital.”
“Right. Well, It, um, Bethany and I were talking, and the police came in, talking about pressing charges. Of course I wanted to, so they listed what would be charged...and they said double assault and one attempt at murder.”
“Just one?”
“That’s what they said. ‘One charge of attempted murder’.”
“So they definitely said only one charge. Directed at you?”
“Yes. I tried to correct them, and they ‘politely’ told me Bethany was not a human.”
The jurors and people watching started muttering to themselves. They all seemed shocked. Everyone seemed to think that it was a human. A small but vocal few group of protestors, Mangle thought with a wry smile.
The judge banged her gavel and yelled, “Order in the court!” She nodded at the prosecutor. “Continue.”
“No further questions, judge.”
Mangle leaned back and the defense came up. “Now, Dr. Mangle, it is correct you instigated Dr. Milbridge into coming to attack you, correct?”
“Objection! Leading, your Honor,” the prosecution called.
“Sustained,” said the judge.
The defense shrugged. “Apologies. Did you instigate Dr. Milbridge?”
Mangle shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure if I did or not. Sure, I said I’d fight him if he came to me, but that’s not the same thing as an invitation to come over and shoot my daughter. For the sake of your question, I guess I’ll say no. It’s the closest straight answer I have.”
The defense tensed up. “Do you believe that the police were correct in calling you the only human who was attacked that day?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Well, to me, Bethany is a human. Sure, she’s got a little different DNA. Everyone has those sorts of variations, and we consider everyone else human even though we are not a facsimile of one another.”
“So you are suing the police department based on beliefs that not everyone holds?”
“ They are beliefs I have a right to, though, yes? You can’t arrest someone for being Jewish, likewise you can’t excuse someone from the law because they attacked someone who is Jewish. This works on the same principle.”
Everyone was looking at one another in surprise. The defense seemed to be arguing against itself! “Dr. Mangle, you worked on the Dragonborne Project. You know Bethany doesn’t use all human DNA in her cells!”
“Who are we to say what is human DNA? For a while, African Americans weren’t considered human, because their skin was different than a caucasian’s, and guess what? That’s a DNA variation! Just like the one that It has.”
It smiled at Dr. Mangle. The defense was red in the face. “No more questions, your Honor,” the defense bit.
Mangle stood and went back to waiting everything out with It. She hugged them. They hugged back. Several cameras flashed. “The defense calls Bethany Mangle!” the defense called.
Everyone started. It was prompted to be a witness, sure, but she wasn’t needed in the prosecution, and they had doubted that she’d be used by the defense. It flew up to the witness stand and stood on the chair. She was sworn in and the defense asked, “Now, Bethany, I just have one question for you: Do you believe you’re human?”
It bit the inside of her cheek and thought. “That’s a good question, sir. Um...I...believe I am, yes. It seems complicated until you look at it the way I did before I was released: I thought and talked like a human, walked like a human, learned like a human, did everything like a human. So what if I could fly? If something walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck, right? So I must be a human, since I walk and talk like one. This human just so happens to fly. So, yes. Yes, I am a human. And if that isn’t enough for you, I was birthed by a human. I am, at my base, a human body. If I’m not ‘human enough’ you’re still admitting I’m partially human. And if I’m partially human, I started entirely as a human. I am human,” she nodded.
Everyone in the benches cheered for her, despite the judge's orders to calm down. Orderlies were sent in but they still couldn’t calm the crowd. “The defense...rests,” the defense said.
Everyone was evacuated from the courthouse. Reporters were screaming into their cameras that it seemed the biggest case of the century was already won. It was indeed a human, by birth, by DNA, by everything. Once everything had calmed down, everyone went back inside to hear the results. The honorable members of the jury found the police department...not guilty. Not one person could fathom why. The lawyers appealed and said they would go to the supreme court over it, but...no one could believe it, least of all the prosecutors. It looked to Mangle. “I...why…?”
Mangle gave her a look that said they clearly didn’t know. They made to exit the court, and even though they lost, there was a rally around them.
Could you talk to my group at this time?
Any words of advice?
You two were amazing!
Mangle smiled grimly through it all. It moped, but enjoyed whenever someone would say she looked pretty.
Several people came up with a petition that they wanted Mangle and it to sign, about giving rights to all humans, regardless of “purity” of their DNA. Mangle and It readily signed, and the people explained they were going to take it to Congress. It grinned when they said that, her mood just elevated enough that she wouldn’t mope. Mangle smiled down at her. “We’ll win the next one,” they said with conviction.
It nodded noncommittally. “Uh-huh.”
“We will. You know why? The jury won’t know anyone on the defense, and we’ll both have a testimony for the prosecution.”
It looked up. “Are you the ethos and logos appeal in this plan while I’m the pathos?”
“You look up that with the lawyers did you?” Mangle teased. “That’s exactly what I plan on doing.”
It grinned. “I’ve been trying to learn to cry on cue,” she volunteered.
“Uh, how about no. Explain why you feel you’re a human, and stick to that, okay?”
It rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
ns 15.158.61.6da2
