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“Your Honor, as you are well aware,” I said from the podium, “the right to a fair trial is a vital pillar of our justice system.”

The Judge, wearing a frustrated look, rolled his eyes and glared at me. “That’s right, Mr Morpheus – can I call you Mr Morpheus?” He asked sarcastically.

I nodded, adjusting my mask slightly.

“Well Mr Morpheus, the thing is, the right to a fair trial has nothing to with whether you can wear a mask in my courtroom or not. I’m starting to get a little tired of this whole façade in all honestly. And I thought I told you to bring your assigned lawyer to this hearing?”

I scratched the elastic behind my ear, “yes Your Honor. I understand my lawyer was otherwise engaged today. He assures me he will be there to represent me at the substantive trial. Actually, I did have a question about that.”

The Judge waved dismissively, pulling out his cellphone. I glanced at my assistant, whose eyes were glued on my pocket with an obvious look of warning.

The Judge started tapping into his phone, "let’s get him on the phone now. What can be more important than an appearance in my courtroom?”

“Objection, your honor!” I yelled, trying desperately to grab his attention as my hand fumbled with my phone in my pocket, searching for the mute button.

The Judge slowly lowered his phone and glared at me, “Objection? Mr Morpheus that’s not how an objection works. Something you'd know if you’d brought your lawyer along.”

The Judge was shaking his head as I found the button. He put his phone to his ear as my pocket began to vibrate. I held my breath.

My assistant coughed and I realized people could hear the vibrating. I started humming an old batman theme song, eliciting strange looks from everyone in the courtroom.

The Judge placed his phone down slowly and stared at me.

“Mr Morpheus, you’re this close to being placed in contempt", he said, showing how close with two of his fingers, “and it seems your lawyer is otherwise occupied today, which does your cause no favors. We’ll take a brief recess and be back to finalize things in 10 minutes. I strongly advise you to use that time to find your lawyer.”

The Judge banged his gavel and stood to leave. “All rise,” a court attendant said.

A minute later I standing outside the courtroom with my assistant. She looked at me with concern.

“I don’t see how you’re going to get around this,” she whispered, “one way or another you’re going to have to show your face - or faces - at the trial."

“I’ve got it figured out, don’t worry,” I replied and glanced across the hall at a police officer who was staring at me angrily. I recognized him as my arresting officer and waved at him with a smile.

“Don’t worry?” My assistant said urgently, “I know you’ve mastered the whole double-head morph, but, that's going to be a little obvious in the courtroom, isn't it?”

“I’ve got a plan,” I said before heading down the hall to stretch my legs.

The gavel hit the wood as people began taking their seats, I wandered back to the podium.

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking about that other question now,” I asked.

The Judge motioned for me to continue.

“Well Your Honor, about the appearance at the upcoming trial. I was hoping that you’d be willing to accommodate an appearance via video-link for my lawyer and I,” I said, offering a disarming smile.

“Video-link? Mr Morpheus the only people we allow to be tried via video-link are those being held in detention, and I don’t think I’m about to make an exemption in this case.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that, Sir,” I said, “so I just wanted to say sorry in advance.”

“Sorry? For what?”

Just then I began morphing my arm out towards the Judge.

“What’s this about?” The Judge yelled as the arm stretched all the way to his bench.

I snatched his gavel and banged on the wood a couple of times. People gasped in shock. Within a moment my arm was retracting back to its normal size.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” I said, grinning as I flexed my arm a little.

The Judge grabbed the gavel and slammed it down furiously, “Mr Morpheus, I hold you in contempt – you will not set foot in my courtroom ever again! Take him away!”

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Submitted by RockingWren on Sun, Jul 24, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

A vigilante hero has been arrested and starts a legal battle to be allowed to keep their mask on during their trial to protect their secret identity. One complication: Their assigned pro bono lawyer is their civilian identity.