The Rossini trial was on its third day. It was a standard superhuman assault case with Jen just observing in the gallery and taking notes for a similar case she was working on.
A man appeared in the middle of the courtroom in an expensive suit and black wings folded against his back along with a calm expression.
"Sir, you can't..." the bailiff said, moving towards him.
"Everyone stay seated. I've planted a device beneath the judge's bench. The explosive kind. I will detonate it if anyone tries to leave or call for help," Sophist said.
Chaos erupted, people screaming in panic. A man rose from his seat and was preparing to run, but when he turned, the man appeared before him.
"I believe I told everyone to stay seated. Sit down," Sophist demanded.
The authority in his voice and presence made everyone freeze before slowly sitting back down.
"Thank you. My name is Sophist and I'm here to conduct a little game for my amusement. Cooperate, and you'll all be able to walk out alive. Resist and you die. Simple, right?" Sophist said, walking to the witness stand and sitting down.
"Whatever you think you're doing..." the judge spoke. An older woman who had seen her fair share of courtroom disruptions found her voice.
"I'm here to test a hypothesis about how a certain celebrity status is used to divert justice and influence legal outcomes. May the real Jennifer Walters please stand up? Tell her if she's not here in ten minutes, I start killing hostages," Sophist interrupted.
Jen was already transforming, rising from the gallery.
"I'm already here. Let these people go and let's keep between us," she said. Her voice was controlled.
"The She-Hulk. You arrived faster than I thought. Excellent," Sophist replied, looking at her.
"I said let them go."
"No. They're necessary for my game. Please come to the witness stand, Ms Walters. We have a case to discuss," Sophist answered while standing up.
"You have five seconds to release everyone, or I'll put you through the wall," Jen said, not moving.
"I am holding a dead man's switch. If you put me through the wall, everyone will die. However, if you cooperate, we play my game, and then everyone can leave unharmed. Sounds fair?" Sophist responded.
Jen's fists clenched, and every part of her wanted to punch the man, but if she did, everyone would die from the bomb. She walked to the witness stand and sat down, hating all of it.
"Thank you. Now we can start discussing the Morrison case. A superhuman with enhanced strength who was accused of second-degree murder. You were his defence attorney two years ago," Sophist said, pulling up a file on his phone.
"That case is sealed," Jen replied, her eyes narrowing.
"Nothing is sealed from someone with resources like mine. Morrison was accused of killing David Dobrik during an altercation at a bar. The prosecution argued Morrison used his superhuman strength to inflict fatal injuries, while you argued self-defence. Morrison ended up being acquitted," Sophist continued, displaying the case file on a holographic screen for the whole courtroom to see.
"Because he was innocent. Dobrik attacked first, and Morrison defended himself. The jury agreed," Jen interrupted.
"The jury believed your narrative. That's different than Morrison being innocent. Let's examine evidence you convinced them to ignore," Sophist continued, pulling up crime scene photos.
He projected the images on the screen. The body, the injuries and the scene.
"Dobrik suffered seventeen distinct impact injuries, and forensic analysis showed at least eleven occurred when he was already unconscious. The medical examiner testified to this," Sophist spoke.
"The ME's timeline was flawed, and I demonstrated that during the trial," Jen countered.
"You demonstrated doubt, and that's not the same as proving it wrong. Dobrik's blood alcohol was 0.04. He was barely buzzed. Morrison's, however, was 0.16, significantly higher than impaired, and yet your defence portrayed Dobrik as the aggressor and Morrison as the defender," Sophist continued while pulling up more documents.
"Witness testimony supported..."
"Witness testimony from Morrison's friends who were at the bar. You didn't call a single neutral witness and didn't present testimony from the bartender who told the police Morrison had been 'looking for a fight all night'. You also forgot to mention his two prior assault charges that were dismissed," Sophist said.
"Those charges are inadmissible. The judge ruled..." Jen tried to counter.
"The judge ruled they couldn't be presented to the jury, but you knew about them. You knew all this, and yet you got him acquitted. Why and how?" Sophist interrupted again, looking at Jen directly.
"I won that case because the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. That's how the system works," Jen replied, now standing.
"You won because you're She-Hulk, a celebrity superhero. A media darling. You walked in that courtroom with a reputation for being a hero of justice and morality that influenced the jury before the trial even started," Sophist responded.
"That's not..."
"Jury selection records show three jurors mentioned on social media about how 'excited' they were to be in a trial with She-Hulk. They also mention 'trusting' you because you're a hero. You didn't strike them. You used your celebrity status to bias the jury in your favour," Sophist said, pulling up the jurors and their social media posts.
"I used my experience as a lawyer..."
"You used your status as a superhero to manipulate the outcome. The bartender's testimony, let me read it for you. 'The big guy (Morrison) was drunk and aggressive all night. He started multiple arguments before Dobrik. Dobrik tried to calm him down when Morrison grabbed him and beat him to death. I will never forget the amount of blood that was on the floor when they took away the body.'
The courtroom was silent, with every eye watching Jen.
"You knew this existed, but you convinced the judge to exclude it on technical grounds and convinced the jury to ignore forensic evidence," Sophist continued.
"The system worked. Morrison deserved a defence, and I provided one," Jen said, her voice less certain.
"I agree that he deserved a defence, but did David Dobrik deserve justice? Did his family deserve the truth? Do you remember what his mother said?" Sophist asked, showing photos of Dobrik's family.
Jen's jaw tightened. She remembered.
"She said, 'My son is dead and his murderer walked free because his lawyer made the jury care more about her than justice.' Was she wrong?" Sophist said, putting his phone down.
"I did my job. I defended my client to the best of my ability," Jen replied.
"You used your hero status to bias the system in your favour. That's not justice," Sophist responded.
Jen felt something cracking, the same loss of control from her Titania fight. Her rage was building.
"You know nothing about the law and how defence works. About the presumption of innocence," Jen rebuked.
"I know you've won 93% of your cases. That's 37% higher than when you weren't She-Hulk, three years ago. I know juries trust She-Hulk, and your final statements carry more weight because you're a superhero. You've built a career on being famous first and your competence second," Sophist continued relentlessly.
"That's not true..."
"Morrison killed again. Six months after being acquitted, he got into another bar fight and killed again. The victim was only nineteen. Morrison is now serving a life sentence without parole," Sophist said, projecting the new case file.
The words were a physical blow for Jen.
"You couldn't have known..."
"I knew. I read the evidence and saw the pattern. I understood he was dangerous, and I'm not even a lawyer. You had the expertise I lack, and yet look what happened. You had a responsibility to pursue truth, and those were your own words you've used numerous times for your victory posts," Sophist replied, his tone harsh.
"My responsibility is to my client."
"Your responsibility is to justice, yet instead of pursuing truth, you use it to increase your fame. You use your status to bias the jury and inflate your ego and win rate so you appear a better lawyer than you actually are. You used your status to free a killer so he could do it again," Sophist replied, standing up.
Jen's hands were shaking. Her rage was building and building.
"Shut up."
"David Dobrik's death is one of the justice system's failures, but that nineteen-year-old? That blood is on your hands," Sophist said.
"SHUT UP!"
She-Hulk moved faster than thought and grabbed Sophist by the throat, lifting him up. His phone clattered to the floor, and the dead man's switch was released.
The courtroom held its breath. Nothing happened. No explosion because there had never been a bomb in the first place.
Sophist looked at Jen calmly despite her hands around his throat.
"There it is. The rage. The loss of control. The exact thing Titania exposed three days ago," he said quietly to her.
Jen stared at him and at the phone on the ground. Then she looked around to the courtroom of people who just watched her lose control again.
"You... There was no bomb?"
"There was never a bomb. Just a threat you believed because I showed enough confidence. I needed you to believe there was a bomb, and you performed exactly as I predicted," Sophist answered.
Jen released him and backed away, looking at her hands. She lost control again.
"This was just a test?" She said, her voice hollow.
"Everything is a test. Life is continuous in that department, but yes. This was designed as a test, and you gave me the answer I believed you would," Sophist answered, straightening his suit.
"You manipulated evidence. Cherry-picked facts to make Morrison look worse than..." she tried to defend herself.
"Everything I showed you was real. He killed again, and you excluded the bartender's testimony. You do benefit from your celebrity status. I forced you to look at what you've been deliberatly ignoring," Sophist said while dusting his shoulders.
Jen wanted to argue and defend herself. To prove he was wrong, but he wasn't. Morrison killed again, and she used her status to influence juries. All true and her fault.
"Why do this? Why test me?" She asked quietly.
"Because you're breaking. Titania exposed your control issues, and I'm exposing everything else," Sophist said simply. He started walking towards the door. "Your rage isn't the issue. It's a symptom. You're frustrated because you've been compromising your principles. You prioritised winning over truth," Sophist added.
"I didn't..."
"You did, and until you accept that and process your emotions instead of burying them, you'll keep losing control," Sophist said.
Jen stood silent in the courtroom as everyone watched.
"I helped people. Saved Lives. Made a difference," she said.
"You did. Admirably. But you also used your status to free at least one killer who killed again, and you've carried that guilt ever since but refuse to accept it. Here's my advice. Stop pretending the rage is foreign and stop treating She-Hulk as a separate person. That anger is yours. That guilt is yours. Accept you made mistakes. Process those emotions. Own them. Learn from them. Or else you'll keep losing control," Sophist replied before disappearing.
He was gone. Jen was left standing in a courtroom full of hostages who were never in danger in the first place.
"Someone call the police and a bomb squad to check if there actually was a bomb." The judge finally found her voice again.
There wasn't. Sophist was telling the truth about that. Jen powered down and walked out of the courtroom without talking to anyone.
Two hours later Jen was sitting in her office, and the news was playing with footage of the courtroom incident. Morrison's second victim already issued a statement saying She-Hulk killed their son.
Her phone wouldn't stop buzzing. She ignored all of it and sat in the dark, thinking about what Sophist had said.
He was a villain who took a whole courtroom hostage, but he was also right. Jen pulled up the case file and read through it.
"Accept the guilt," she said aloud, echoing Sophist.
Her hands were shaking again from the realisation that a villain had given her better advice than any of her friends. Her hero friends saw the controlled She-Hulk. Sophist saw Jen. The flawed human.
She hated him for it.