Character assassination

"Bullshit! You can't just arrest us and claim we're guilty of shit we didn't do like some dictator!" I fumed.

"You want due process? ... Very well. The security footage then," Silas shrugged.

Huh, that was easy. But he better not have some shenanigans in play with that pen thing of his.

The guards stood me upright and walked me over to the security console where all the surveillance footage was stored. There, one of the guards began rewinding the footage to two days ago, just after my last shift ended.

"Hmm, so far... Nothing amiss. Well congratulations, Momo, your innocence has just been proved, but you're still out of a job," Silas snickered.

"And why is that?"

As if all this was scripted from the start, Silas tapped the screen with an ordinary pen, drawing my attention to what was being shown. Some employee was excessively restocking and performing maintenance on every UFO catcher machine we had. But what shocked me more was the face I saw when said individual finally came into focus.

"... Ivy?"

"Ivy Rigu, the mayor's daughter, yes? Well naturally this is no surprise. Now, recognize this?" Silas asked as he held up a figurine box.

"Yeah, that's a prize in the arcade."

"And you saw Ivy not only rigging things, but restocking things as well, yes?"

"Yeah?"

With a smirk, Silas opened the box and pulled out the figurine within. Nothing seemed off about it, but then Silas slammed it down hard on the edge of the table, snapping the figure's head off.

"ARE YOU-"

"Quiet, the real show is about to start," Silas snickered as one of the guards procured a plastic zip-seal bag.

Holding the headless figure as if it was a wine bottle, Silas tilted it into the plastic bag. To my surprise, white powder came pouring out of the figure.

"Cocaine. That's what this is. And not just this, all the stuff you and Briana Spearmint "won" was full of this stuff too."

"N- No way... This isn't real. We got those figures from the companies so-"

"Ivy swapped them out with her personal products. Momo, do you really know Ivy?"

What kind of question was that? Of course I knew her! Bitch had been bullying me since like what, elementary school? She was a wannabe gangster, always acting tough, blasting people with bibi pellets, but a drug mule? No.

"She must have gotten mixed up in-"

"She's the dealer, not just some sap that got blackmailed into being a drug mule."

"How do you-"

"Watch, and see the truth for yourself," Silas smiled as he shoved his phone in my face.

A video began playing of what appeared to be Briana and Ivy, taking place in what looked to be a living room.

"Ivy! How could you! I thought you had changed! Why are you distributing drugs again!?"

"Um, profit? You think I'm stupid? This shit's the most high-paying job on the market, and it makes the town my double bitch. So why are you so upset?"

"IT'S WRONG AND ILLEGAL!"

"And? I'm above the law."

"Nobody is above-"

Bang!

Briana's eyes widened as she stared down and stared at the blood beginning to pour our of her chest. She let out a cough of blood, but the carnage wasn't over as Ivy unloaded her entire cartridge into her.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "This is some AI Deepfake. Ivy's got a bibi gun, not a real one. Nor would she ever-"

"But she just did. Briana Spearmint's corpse was found earlier this morning, and with the exact same bullet wounds as in the video. That right there, is solid proof. Ivy Rigu is a drug dealing murderer."

My heart began to thump as a sickness roiled in my stomach. This couldn't be real. I knew Ivy better than that. She was a bitch, yes, but all this? No... Something's off. This guy must be using his pen to mess-"

"How about we see Ivy ourselves. She's been arrested and currently being tried," Silas stated.

I couldn't even get in a word before Silas whipped out his magic pen thing and the scenery changed to that of a courtroom. The room was packed, though I had somehow ended up in a seat in the front row, allowing me to get a good look at Ivy, who was lounging with a smug grin on her face in the witness box.

The sight is honestly relieving. That's her "Even I with my one braincell can tell this shit is bullshit" face, so she must have an alibi or some hardcore proof to get out of this.

"Now your honor, begin the trial," Silas smirked as he paced towards Ivy.

Um, excuse me?

"Ivy Rigu, you're accused of not only running a nationwide drug trafficking ring, not only distributing said deadly narcotics to the greater populace and upending lives, hijacking pubic places and corrupting them into secret distribution centers as well as coldblooded murder round out the list. And before you plead, we have some movies of you I'd like to share with the court and jury."

First, the surveillance footage from the arcade played, then the footage of the murder.

"And this is only the most recent stuff. Remember the heinous murder of the Gimon family that took place a week ago, but has yet to be solved? Well, here's some video proof of Ivy Rigu in the act."

The jury began to murmur nervously amongst themselves as a really violent video began to play. All the while, Ivy didn't bat an eyelash, though her grin appeared to widen ever more.

This all HAS to be bullshit. Yet there's been an uncomfortable feeling about all this within me ever since I saw the footage. It's just an AI deepfake, Ivy would never do such horrible atrocities, right?

Then Ivy spoke.

"Huh? The hell is that censored crap? Couldn't properly see all the blood spewing out of that freak's head."

Ivy...

"I was loading that bitch with more lead than an x-ray vest!"

Gasps... Gasps were all I could hear, and all I could do.

"Ivy, you realize-"

Bang!

I froze, my eyes slowly rolling down into the direction of my arm, which now had a bullet lodged in it. Then the pain hit and I was on the ground screaming.

Why!? WHY!? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON!"

"Even had a gun on you. You're feeling confident you won't be convicted," Silas chuckled.

"Because I'm above the law."

"Really now? Your honor, members of the jury?"

"Guilty."

"Guilty."

"Guilty!"

"You hear that?" You've been convicted of the crime."

"And?"

The pain in my arm stopped, allowing me to focus in on Silas' widening evil grin.

"The sentence for your crimes is death."

"TRY ME! I'M INVINCIBLE!" Ivy delusionally declared as she leapt out of the witness box with gun in hand.

But all the gun would do was click, allowing the big muscly guard to restrain her with ease and shove her into what appeared to be an electric chair.

No, no, No! Something is wrong!

"IVY! SILAS IS DOING SOME SHIT, HE-"

"Momo, would you shut the fuck up? I'm pissed off you of all people brought my drug empire crashing down. Shit was my sole investment, and now I gotta start over. Well, guess I can just rob a bank, kill someone on the street for some pocket change, or puppeteer the city government and police to be my bitches as always."

"Ivy... WHAT ARE YOU SAYING! THIS ISN'T YOU! YOU MAY BE A BITCH, BUT YOU'RE A SWEET GIRL UNDER ALL THAT BITCHINESS, NOT SOME COLDBLOODED DRUG DEALING MURDERER! AREN'T... Aren't we friends?"

Disgust, venom, and hatred all mixed together in Ivy's eyes as she glared down at me. "No, you were nothing but a pawn, a means of stress relief. I only beat you up whenever a deal went south, or some Interpol fucks cut into my profits. Fuck you Momo, I wish my shot had hit your heart as intended."

"W- Why?"

"Because then you'd die, but by slowly bleeding out. Though maybe that arm of yours will bleed you to death anyway."

There was no warmth, no tsundere, just coldblooded evil oozing from Ivy's eyes and voice. And then, the electric chair turned on, and Ivy was electrocuted to death. Ivy Rigu, bitch, bully, my... former... friend... was dead. And then, the pain returned and I was on the ground screaming and clutching my arm again.