“This isn’t about immunity,” Juniper cut in, her voice carrying the fierce tonality of a woman who’d been underestimated one too many times. Even seasoned litigators shifted in their seats. “This is about the integrity of sworn testimony.”

The space around the bench felt polarized now, the packed stands and jury box leaning in as one organism, hungry for the ruling. Finally, he spoke: “I’ll allow limited questioning about the dates, Ms. Valenca. But keep it focused.”

As they returned to their tables, Roma’s confidence seemed to crystallize into something harder. He knew what was coming - they all did. But before Juniper could begin her cross-examination, he played his final card.

“Your Honor, given this development, the defense requests a brief recess to collect additional documentation that may clarify these technical discrepancies.”

Judge Donahue nodded. “We’ll reconvene in twenty minutes.”

The gallery erupted in whispered conversations as Roma’s team filed out. Daniel leaned close to Juniper, his voice pitched for her ears alone: “He’s going to try to explain away the timestamps. We need to-”

“I know,” she cut in, her mind already racing ahead. “Sophia, can you pull the cCak-3 verification logs? If they tried to modify the records…”

But before Sophia could respond, a commotion at the back of the courtroom drew their attention…

Martinez had finally returned, cutting through the gallery with the kind of stride that turned marble floors into catwalks. Necks swiveled as she passed, tracking her path whether they meant to or not. The weight of whatever had kept her away was evident in every step.

“We have a problem,” she said without preamble, her voice low and urgent. “The Central delegates are challenging our standing to bring certain claims.”

Juniper’s blood ran cold as the implications sank in. Roma hadn’t just been building a defense - he’d been laying groundwork for something much bigger. The API logs, the training records, even O’Connor’s testimony - they were all pieces of a larger strategy they hadn’t seen coming.