Leo didn’t give them a chance to think about it, firing another point.
"As for my third point, he claims my brother ’hurt their people.’ My brother, Leo, once apologized to a chair after bumping into it. The idea of him assaulting ard operatives is not just a lie; it is an insult to his well-docunted lack of strength!"
"My brother was just as weak as ! He was a human, with no special abilities. When he was arrested, he didn’t even have a single weapon to protect himself. In fact, he had willingly surrendered!"
"You’re claiming that a weak man like that, had managed to break the chains, escaped the prison, beat up these powerful n, and managed to escape from the ship?"
"Did he take an escape pod? If he did, what’s the maximum speed of that pod? What’s the maximum speed of the main ship? How could they not catch up to him?"
"And if my brother wanted to run, why would he surrender himself in the first place? He could’ve used our army, or our bank employees to delay the Watchdogs and escape. Why would he choose to escape from a ship while being shackled?"
"I’m not even going to highlight the sudden lack of any footage of my brother escaping as I’m not interested in hearing more lies that make fun of our collective intelligence."
The gallery erupted into a mixture of snickers and confused mumbles. High Priestess Vanila was visibly shaking as she tried to hold in her laughter, while the original dictator in the back row simply tilted his masked head, seemingly fascinated by this masterclass in public gaslighting.
Leo suddenly stopped pacing. He turned back to the Watchdog representative, the image of the grieving brother lting away for a split second to reveal a sharp glare.
"And finally," Leo said, his voice dropping the sadness, replacing it with the cold, hard edge of a billionaire who owned half the room.
"The defense just openly threatened to raid Alpha Corp in front of the highest legal authority in the galaxy. If this is their definition of ’patience,’ I would hate to see their definition of ’harassnt.’"
"But let remind my dear friend. They are always welco to visit Alpha Corp. But if they want to harass us using the law of the land as a weapon, then we might have to go a step beyond as well."
"After all, I’m not just the owner of Alpha Corp. I am also the Lord of Earth, a mber of the Galactic Union! If the Watchdogs look down on the Union, and think they can push us around, then I wonder what kind of misery his own fate would hold..."
He moved closer, whispering sothing in the man’s ears so that only he could hear.
"I dare you to try it. The last person who made a move on the Alpha Corp, has already lost everything. And still it’s not the end of misery for them. If you want to make the list longer, then I would welco you with open arms."
Leo hadn’t just highlighted the flaws in the other side’s story, but he had also dragged his biggest advantage in the open, the galactic union.
It was different if the Union wasn’t openly ntioned, but now that he had ntioned them, the union also couldn’t outright ignore him, to protect their own dignity.
He walked back to his table, leaned over it, and stared directly into the Chief Justice’s multiple glowing eyes.
"I don’t just want compensation for my emotional trauma, Your Honors," Leo declared flawlessly. "I just want them to return my brother. That’s all!"
The Watchdog representative’s smug smile instantly vanished, replaced by a cold look.
Trent couldn’t help it. He actually smiled.
Checkmate.
Leo didn’t place any evidence, or any recording. He didn’t have to prove his innocence. He only had to poke holes in the other side of the story and then everyone against them to the point that even the courts couldn’t protect them without openly showing their bias.
As Leo took his seat, he moved closer to Trent.
He asked Trent, "Whisper sothing in my ear back."
Trent didn’t know why, but he followed the instructions and whispered, "What do you want to whisper?"
As soon as Trent finished speaking, Leo exclaid out loud. "What? How dare you assu such things? I can’t believe you said that since the Watchdogs are close to the Intergalactic Court, the court would protect them at the cost of justice!"
Leo’s voice was so loud that it echoed in the entire hall. It even reached the ears of the judges, whose lips twitched.
"Don’t talk nonsense. The judges aren’t corrupt. They won’t make such a mistake. So what if the Watchdogs are close to them, and they have a complicated relationship with the Union... They won’t be biased against because of that, right?"
"As I said, the justices are clever people! They are one of the most intelligent people in the universe. It’s not as if they have the brains of pigs, that too in their knees, instead of their heads. They will definitely side with the truth, instead of siding with their friends! I have full faith in them!"
Leo placed a hand on his chest, as if he was really offended that Trent could even think of such things.
anwhile, Trent had gone completely pale.
’When did I say such things? Wait, I did say such things outside, but I didn’t say them here. If you want to aim at soone, why use my shoulder? What if I’m punished by the judges!’
Trent was at a loss of words. He could only think in his mind, while his lips remained open.
’Don’t worry. Just having your apprehensions isn’t a cri. They won’t do anything to you. If anything, they will do the complete opposite. You won’t understand.’
Leo winked at Trent, trying to ease the man’s worries. anwhile, he also took a subtle glance at the judges, whose faces had gone pale in sha and anger.
Even if many people knew such things, to ntion it out loud.... It was beyond anyone’s expectations.
Leo was literally playing with fire, trying to use every tactic that he could.
"Your honor, I want to-" the man from the Watchdogs Headquarters stood up, seeing things turning sideways. He wanted to speak more, but the judges weren’t in the mood anymore.
"Silence!" One of them shouted, his anger bursting on the n from the Watchdog Agency.
They couldn’t believe that they were indirectly called pig brains and they couldn’t even complain since it was done in such an innocent way.
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