MissJudge

"You don't look very happy to see your boyfriend," he joked. "Let me guess, brain fart?"

She was too stunned to say anything.

"Yeah, probably a brain fart; hate when those happen. For remembrance's sake, let me reintroduce. I'm Richie, and you're Kelli, right?"

Richie's outstretched hand remained in the air as long as it took for Kelli to take a composing breath, and even begin to assess how screwed she was. The flight instinct kicked in enough to look around for escape opportunities. In sharp glances, she could see men at both ends of her row that looked like plain-clothed hitmen in dark sunglasses; one in a leather jacket with a balding comb over was doing a terrible impression of looking innocuous, but very alarming with his stoic look towards the ball field, as if ready to pounce on someone coming his way. Effectively boxed in, she shook the offered hand, resigned to waiting for whatever might come.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" She spoke slowly, with shaky confidence.

"'Owe' might be one of those operative words today. Remember when you took my briefcase by accident that day? I had some important papers in there. You haven't seen them recently, have you?"

"I hope all can be forgiven if I can remember where they are, and I think I can."

"Oh, you're already forgiven, sweetie. But we're past forgiveness, and now we're just in the 'impressed' phase."

"...'impressed?'"

"Damn right, impressed. How someone like you always seem to find things other people need or had, it's really a gift. I hope you believe me as I tell you how gifted you are, like that show about that girl with the sticky fingers; can never remember what it's called, or if it's on Netflix or whatever."

"Anyway, I love that episode where she meets the guy she stole from, he confronts her, and they ended up having so much in-common. It was like she was stealing from herself."

"This...sounds familiar, I mean it really does, though you have really weird taste in shows still." Despite all the danger and subterfuge, she could help but throw some sass his way. "What happens in that episode?"

"The way I remember it, someone talks about their backgrounds, how young they both took to crime, how exceptional they both were at it, and how they just took different paths, but still ended up in sort of the same place."

"How mad was the guy who had his stuff stolen?"

"The way it was stolen, who wouldn't be really, really mad at that? But hearing more about the how, the way it was stolen, made the guy really, really curious. I mean, who steals and makes the victims forget that anything was stolen? Apparently this girl. And even saying it out loud makes me feel like I haven't praised that character's skills enough."

"She certainly sounds like quite the character."

"You don't know the half of it; by the end of the episode, she actually gets a judge in her power or something. It ends up being a judge that they have in-common, a judge that is facing him in court for something he supposedly did, and had faced her for something she did a long time ago, and got a really harsh sentence from. This judge, Kowalski or whatever the name was, really didn't like smart kids in her tenure."

"Kowalski" was a name Kelli had hated for more than half her life, thanks to the one judge that was arguably very instrumental at putting her down the path she was on. It was an exciting path that she loved being herself on, but it was also one she made the best of, with her choices deeply restricted over the years. This judge had a reputation of a cast-iron bitch, just short of outright cruelty within the bounds of the law, and probably put dozens or hundreds of people in peculiarly harsh positions.

Kelli herself blanked out from memories of that the last image she had of the judge, the smarmy smile she always thought about lashing out towards.

"So..."

"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to see what had happened to the judge; what I would've paid to see it first hand." Richie talked and ate so much that his small bag of popcorn was gone before long. "Man, these used to be more filling. I feel like getting some more, what about you?" Richie gestured with his hand for her to hopefully come along; Kelli was impressed by how much he made it seem like there was actually a choice. Leaving her seat, noticing through peripheral vision the man in the leather jacket was getting up to follow, she followed her "boyfriend" through the concession crowds, looking for exits, knowing she wouldn't get far, or her cops wouldn't make it in time to save her. It scared her how genuine this Richie seemed, as if that was all he wanted from her.

"This shitty show aside, I suspect you want something very specific done to this judge, for something do to with you."

Richie smiled, a much more authentic smile than he successfully could fake as a clueless boyfriend. "You suspect correctly; there's a pending case that's up in the air. Kowalski's presiding over the trial, and she due to rule on some evidence soon. My lawyer isn't hopeful, but I have a little more faith. In you."

"She's in the skybox?"

"Yeah, maybe exactly where you planned to get to me."

She ignored her original plan being embarrassingly exposed. "You realize that whatever you want me to do isn't that simple; it can't be just a one-time thing, I would need to keep working to convince her how to...correctly apply the law."

"Would the weekend suffice?"

Kelli actually thought about the logistics, thorough brainwashing lasting a full day-and-a-half. Feasible, but still a long shot, something Richie probably knew.

"If you really managed to pull it off, you can consider us square." He extended his hand for agreement. She wondered if he knew what kind of vulnerability he placed himself in doing that. She wondered how much he actually knew about what she could do, and if trying what she wanted could be a gigantic mistake. Then her thoughts thought about Kowalski's smarmy smile from years ago, and an opportunistic vengeance took the reigns, shaking his hand in agreement.

"Just me in there. And like I said, time is needed, and next to no interruption once I've got her, alright?"

"Fine by me."

"Once I have her, I can at least start to weave some of what you want into her thinking. Okay?"

"Sounds perfect," she nodded lightly to his agreement, and walked away towards the skybox, trying not to look visibly flustered.

***

Trekking up to the skybox was a glacier's pace compared how quickly she'd thought she be moving to ambush Richie. A sluggish energy lathering her muscles, she sometimes stopped on her way, with Lou waiting faithfully, silently next to her. He was to be used to gain entry into the exclusive stadium suite; if more conscious of it, he realize how much he wasn't used to such a deflated hypnotic mistress second-guessing herself, especially when it came to getting her charms deep into a new target. Her mind kept racing, analyzing exit strategies, using Lou and whomever to get by Richie and his leather jacket enforcer, and fend them off if need be, but the amount of desperation surprisingly didn't change with whom she was targeting, but what was more surprising was the added layer of confliction. She never imagined working for the man she thought was trying to kill her, but she always dreamed about what she would do to the likes of Judge Rose Kowalski, the utter humiliation and various forms of payback she'd gleefully inflict; but now she was hesitant, for a myriad of reasons.

She wanted to curl up in a ball for long minutes to get a stable low-center of gravity, or find someone, something she could punch her fist through. Putting those options aside, she pulled out the special gold lighter from her pocket. Instead of a cigarette to calm her nerves, she began flicking it open and shut without looking at her motions, successfully lighting it each time. Perfecting her new trick helped not only to calm her nerves, but slowly turned them back to steel yet again, confidence brimming inside her, even with her original plans awry. She stood against the wall of a long corridor, keeping herself from banging her head against it with thoughts of how she'd take the judge. The memory of her youthful conviction was quite clear, with lots of legal jargon sticking out, and the sickeningly-sincere final words from the judge before an adult sentence was passed for an admittedly-manipulative 16-year-old. All of those thoughts blended into a strategy she found useful, and quite motivating.

Standing tall again and composing herself, she flicked the lighter open one more time, staring at the flame, telling herself that she was the flame, and everyone else around her would get burned if they weren't careful. Walking with purpose to the skybox, with Detective Giatti increasing his walking gait to keep up, the hypnotist let conviction blaze an invisible trail to her next target.

***

Rose Kowalski sat in a row of box seats, intentionally a few seats away from everyone. Most people lately have become cumbersome and annoying, from her law clerks, to even her college kids and their mediocre grades. It didn't help that she had a nasty habit of being hard on and expecting better from everyone around her, which made for a pretty harsh judge to sit in-front of and have judgment passed down onto. Truthfully, she was only half-interested in the game, and treating the outing like a tropical getaway from the stupidity of others; envisioning a bottle of 15-year-old scotch in her future to drown out the rest of the world out later, she barely noticed a young woman taking a seat near her, even further from the other patrons.

Peripheral vision got her to turn her attention to a young woman in glasses, looking confused and in her direction. Judge Kowalski's look was confused too, bordering on anger.

"I'm sorry," Kelli quickly apologized, "but are you Judge Rose Kowalski?"

"I am," Rose responded, not dropping the evident look of her defensive demeanor.

"I'm really sorry, I don't mean to stare, it's just that...it's an honor to be sitting to one of the best judges sitting on the bench today."

The flattery only got Rose to drop her defensiveness a small amount.

"And whom might you be?"

"I'm Kelli. Kelli Kenderson, it's nice to meet you Judge Kowalski," Kelli extended her hand to Rose, crossing the few empty seats between them to sit next to her. Rose took her hand, the last name Kenderson echoing in her head, known as a wealthy, influential clan in their city and part of the country, the kind that could easily contribute to a paltry campaign for staying in power as an elected judge. Sitting before a young relative of the Kendersons that actually liked admired her for some reason got her to drop the rest of her defensiveness, and even not realize how long she'd been shaking Kelli's hand, or staring at a pointed, intensifying look.

There were a few words spoken before a peculiar hand jolt that stole her consciousness away momentarily; Rose swore one of those words was "sleep," but she was too busy letting a sleepy sensation waft over her, before coming back to herself almost immediately, blinking as if she hadn't fallen asleep with her eyes open. Kelli still smiled at her as if nothing wrong transpired, much to Rose's delight as she was happy to engage and converse with the young woman, wanting to give as much attention to her as she did in any case she took a passionate interest in.

"So, I was wondering your honor..."

"Please, call me Rose."

Kelli grinned widely at that. "Okay, if you wish, Rose. I know this might not be the an irregular time to do it, but a double-major keeps students like me so busy that I barely have enough time for sleep, something I hope a great woman in your position doesn't have a problem with."

"Thankfully, not at all," Rose was happy that Kelli found that answer worthy of another big grin. "What did you say you were majoring in, Kelli?"

"Law and Psychology. Much more interested in the former, but lots of people say I have too much of a knack for the latter, especially my professors that suggested I do a combined thesis of sorts. Very unorthodox, but actually very interesting."

"That does sound very unorthodox, but I sense a woman of your pedigree can easily manage. What is your thesis?"

"It has to do with the psychology of a trial, everything that's supposed to be going on in people's heads, from the jury, to the prosecutors and defense, even the judge. My professor is very interested in the judge's rulings, thinking there's a subconscious pattern they follow that makes their decisions pre-determined. It's something I'm disputing, but my professor challenged me to prove it disputable."

Rose found the professor's thinking quite disputable as well given her professional standards, and wanted to help prove Kelli right.

"I'd be happy to help disprove such ridiculousness, by all means. How can I help?"

"Well..." Kelli pulled out a notepad and pen. "I have a series of objections listed, both from the defense and the prosecution, and you're supposed to reply to all of them with the same ruling. In this case, the ruling of 'sustained.' No matter what the objection, the ruling has to be the same. And after, I'm supposed to get an account from you on how you're feeling after that, judging the dispassion a judge is supposed to have."

Rose gave the explanation considerable thought. It was an intriguing study, that she honestly feared could undermine the public perception of judges; that thought never seemed to overcome the willingness to help Kelli.

"I can do that."

"Thank you very much, your honor," Kelli spoke, the last few words spoken with tone one could mistake for contempt.

"To start, the prosecution objects to a witness for the defense speaking of second-hand information heard at a bar."

"Sustained," Rose stated without issue.

"The defense objects to a toxicology report admitted into evidence because it makes their client look bad."

That struck Rose momentarily, but she remembered the tenets of the study. "Sustained."

"The prosecution objects to defendant yelling out at the top of their lungs, 'I'm innocent!'"

"Sustained," Rose did and would stated staunchly.

"The defense objects to a diamond pendant on a chain being admitted into evidence."

"Sustained."

"The prosecution objects to the defense showing the diamond, dangling the diamond on a chain in-front of a witness for identification."

"Sustained."

"The defense objects to the witness having claim over that diamond, like the diamond has claim over the witness."

"Sustained," the word grew softer, but still with purpose as if the repetition was keeping the rapt imagery clear in Rose's mind's eye.

"The prosecution objects to the witness wanting to stare listlessly at the diamond, claiming they're being non-responsive."

"Sustained."

"The defense objects as the witness can't help themselves as they hold the diamond pendant up by the simple chain, as everyone becomes a witness to the shiny facets."

"Sustained."

"The prosecution objects as the judge bears witness and high suggestibility while looking at the diamond, twirling, flashing soft lights all over, into fascinated eyes."

"Sustained."

"The defense objects to the notion that there is a defense against the light, that anyone whom looks at the beautiful diamond long enough finds they can't help but become subject to the most confident voice gracing their ears, the voice that feels like it's speaking from inside your head, dictating your thoughts."

"Sustained."

"The prosecution objects to their being a defense against the voice that speaks, that each word is like a flash of light from the crystal, that as long as you stare, as long as you listen, you must listen, you must stare, you must obey."

"Sustained," the judge almost softly whispered, taken by the diamond-hard will whose words were priceless to her illuminated mind still set on repeat.

"You must obey, Rose, because judges obey the law, and the law is made by those with authority, the authority that makes you say that one word your lips know, the words you have to speak out loud."

Kelli avidly watched as some form of recognition noticed the change in what was going on, searching for something to grasp onto, but finally settled into easing facial muscles, and a word her lips were all too familiar with.

"Sustained," Rose surrendered to, with glassy eyes and a placid expression.

"That's right Rose, because there is no objection to my words, no defense to them. I am the word of the higher court, and your decisions and will answer only to me. You cannot misjudge me anymore, but I can...heh, I can certainly MissJudge you, Rose, can't I?"

Knowing no other response to give, "sustained," easily left her lips.

"Correct, Rose. You are sustained. Your will is sustained by my will. Your thoughts are sustained by my words. Your appearance is sustained by my suggestions. The only overruled you can imagine is when MissJudge overrules anything she wants to of you, Judge Kowalski."

"Sustained," Kelli wolfishly smiled at how the word that probably unfair sunk most of her viable defense at her own trial was now the work that sunk the lost judge deep into MissPlacement's power.

"For example, MissJudge overrules anything that separates the connection between my diamond pendant, my words, my will, and my beautiful spiral nail design," Kelli held out her hand for Rose to take, looking to anyone surrounding as if she was just admiring her nail polish, never realizing the depths of that truth. "Just a glance at this nail, and you spiral down, deep into this perfect hypnotized state, where everything is as I say it is. You want it this way, you need it this way. You need to be deeply hypnotized, often wanting to beg for it, and will do whatever you have to please me so that I may graciously bless your mind with my power. Feels addictive already, doesn't it?"

"Sustained," Rose nearly gasped in pleasure at that. Kelli deeply desired the need to finish her off dramatically, tapping that nail to her forehead to plunge her inexorably down into trance, but she still had to keep up appearances.

"Everything you want, that you need can be sustained Rose, if you act as awake as possible, still deep in my power, and follow me out in a moment."

Rose, for her subdued part, didn't know the context of anything worth paying attention to, except the young hypnotist getting up from sitting next to her. A long, lingering grin filled Rose's head with endorphins, leashing her body to Kelli's as she followed a few paces behind her from her seat, slowly exiting the skybox, taking her towards Kelli's spellbound officers, a deeply ecstatic Richie McClung, and a weekend of sustained, hypnotic obedience to look forward to.