Having removed Golo from his compound and set in motion the destruction of the Claudius family, Priscus was feeling rather pleasant.
He was never one to seek out conflict but he wouldn't shy away from retaliation against those who wronged him.
Turning to his lawyer Varo he asked about next steps.
"Do you have everything you need?" Priscus' voice betrayed his anxiety over the matter.
He was after all going against one of the great local lanista families. Their resources were considerable, to say the least.
And while systemic and imperial corruption was rendered nigh impossible due to the system's monitoring.
For low-level local affairs, there were still many ways to get out of trouble if you knew the right people.
Varo turned a small smile towards Priscus to alleviate his concernes.
"No need to worry sir," he began as he finished gathering his things to return to his office. "With the video evidence and subsequent confessions we now have on recording I am very confident going to trial."
Priscus heaved a great sigh as he relinquished control over the situation into the hands of Varo.
Fortunately, the local prosecuting firm was big on anti-corruption suits, and when contacted sent one of their senior prosecutors to handle the case pro bono.
Thanking Varo, Priscus politely escorted him out of the compound so he could return to the rest of his duties.
The training program he and Icarus had been undergoing was working wonders for both of them, and it was looking more and more like Icarus would be able to shatter his first gene lock before the games began.
Three full days had to pass before Priscus was summoned to the local courthouse to stand as a witness in the trial against Lucius.
There wasn't a whole lot of preparation required on his part as the evidence spoke for itself.
Additionally, any questions regarding Kaius' sudden illness were entirely irrelevant as the system had no data on Priscus' talent.
And therefore the incident could in no way be tied to him except for circumstantially.
Dressing in his best suit, a silver 3 piece with a black tie he got from his father on his 16th birthday. He made his way to the 3rd ring courthouse where the trial was being held.
Upon entering the historic building he was struck with a sense of grandeur. The polished marble floors and pillars gave a sense of elegance and power, while the gilded statue of Justice set in the center of the lobby dominated the space intimidating all those who entered.
A small flight of stairs wound its way up to the second floor beginning just behind the statue, splitting both ways after just 10 steps leading down separate hallways filled with offices.
At the top of the 10th step was a set of double doors embossed with symbols of justice, they swung open easily and automatically as Priscus approached them.
Staring into the empty courtroom he was forced to wonder as to just how he had ended up here.
He knew how, but the situation was only just becoming real for him.
He never expected the evidence he had to be taken so seriously, after the debacle with his father he had lost a lot of faith in the justice system itself.
The only reason he had truly submitted the evidence to try and sue Lucius was because he had no idea how to exact justice for himself.
So despite not really trusting the institution he was left with no other option.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he turned and went down the south hallway for a meeting with his lawyer.
He arrived just a moment later at the fourth office on the left which had been set aside for his use for the day.
Knocking gently on the door he heard the deep baritone of his Lawyer echo.
"Come in."
Needing no further invitation Priscus promptly entered and sat at the desk set in the back center of the room.
He took no real notice of the furnishings which were very tasteful and probably expensive. His whole focus was on the man on the other side of the desk who was about to explain what was going to, or supposed to happen in the next few hours.
"Welcome Priscus," Varo said gently extending his hand forward for Priscus to shake. "We have a lot to go over and not much time, so please hold your questions until the end okay?"
Priscus nodded his head briefly as he released Varo's hand, settling into his chair determined to absorb all the forthcoming information.
Varo opened a file in front of him, turning it so Priscus could see before beginning to speak.
"The evidence that you have collected for me via the system interface will be key in the trial. It proves conclusively that Lucius was responsible for the incident that occurred in your home 6 days ago.
The problem we are going to have is Lucius is very well connected, and the men he hired may be recorded in some obscure place not readily accessed, so the violation of section 41 may be thrown out. Unlikely but possible.
Section 7 is pretty much a slam dunk, the fact that these men were on your property without your consent and attempting to extort information from you is espionage 101. It will be nearly impossible for the defense to argue against it so they most likely won't even try.
We may be able to score additional points if we frame Kaius as a spy as well, the conversation you had with him about being poached could be spun in such a direction, and his subsequent illness could be pinned on Lucius as a cleaver strategy to frame you for misconduct.
Section 4 is also fairly easy, even if they argue that you attacked first, the video is clear that you never struck them until after they threatened you. At worst it will be reduced to a misdemeanor, at best we can wrap it into section 41 and make it a category 3 imperial violation."
Priscus had been listening silently and attentively up to this point, but upon hearing that they were pressing for a Cat 3 imperial violation he couldn't help but be stunned.
"Are you serious?" Priscus was truly flabbergasted, Cat 3's were some of the most heinous infractions one could be charged with in a lower imperial court.
As a matter of fact, if you were charged with two or more Cat 3 violations you had to go to the central court of your governing city, and depending on the severity you may even have to go to the central court of the state in which the violations took place.
Being convicted of a Cat 3 was catastrophic, and included forfeiture of assets, titles, and businesses, as well as a mandatory 10-year sentence as an imperial gladiator slave, or GLAVE as they were colloquially called.
"I am dead serious," Came Varo's quick reply. "If we get this right the entire Claudius family may crumble, but at worst Lucius will still serve a heavy jail sentence, and will also be forced to pay a heavy fine as compensation for emotional damages and defamation."
Taking deep breaths to calm himself down Priscus was able to listen to the rest of Varo's plan.
It took a full 30 minutes for everything to be explained and all of Priscus' questions to be answered. When it was over both men felt very confident about walking into that courtroom. Which as it happens was beginning in the next 10 minutes.
During the same time in which Priscus and Varo were discussing their strategy, Lucius was in heated discussions with his lawyers at the opposite end of the building.
"What do you mean there is nothing you can do!!?" screamed a nearly deranged-looking man who vaguely resembled Lucius.
So stressful had been these past few days in prison that his hair had begun to fall out, not to mention a heavy body odor had begun to emanate from the man as he had been so preoccupied proclaiming the impossibility of it all that he had forgotten to take care of himself.
"I meant exactly that sir." Came the firm reply of his counsel. A middle-aged woman with deep brown hair and eyes sat firmly before Lucius on the other side of a large mahogany desk.
She was the senior defense attorney from the legal firm which the Claudius family kept on permanent retainer.
"We sir, are up the creek without a paddle." She began her tone shifting slightly into anger and impatience. She had spent the last 3 days trying to get through the thick and self-centered skull that sat atop her client's shoulders with no luck at all.
Every time she tried to tell him how screwed he was, and attempt to come up with some kind of countermeasures she was met with only crazed decrees of, "Impossible!" or "Conspiracy!" or some other nonsense and she was fed up with it.
"You have no choice but to go into that courtroom and try to paint a picture of legal retaliation. You sent those men to interrogate the boy based on suspicion of fraud. The problem we are going to have is that the video shows Kaius leaving the Lupas Ludas perfectly healthy, and there is not a single atom of evidence that points to Priscus or any of his associates being within 500 meters of Kaius when he fell ill.
Additionally, the fact that neither of the men you sent are recorded as gladiators through legal channels makes our position even more difficult. Had I had a couple of weeks to prepare we might have been able to figure that out but with the trial being expedited our resources were severely limited!"
By the end she was shouting, forcing Lucius to listen to the objective reality of his situation.
With reality finally beginning to penetrate the cloud of ego and years of power, Lucius slumped into his chair staring at the ceiling. "Impossible.....they're going to kill me..." that was the last thing Lucius said before being escorted into the courtroom.
As can be expected the trial didn't take very long to come to a definitive conclusion.
The overwhelming evidence put on trial, as well as several older cases that had similar undertones but were dismissed for various reasons all came to bear against Lucius Claudius and his family.
Unfortunately for Priscus the judge who sat at the trial was semi-partial towards Lucius, but was constrained by his office and the system itself to remain impartial.
As a result the judge came up with the excuse that due to the many years of service Lucius had given to the empire, his crimes would be reduced to a Cat 1 imperial violation instead of a Cat 3.
Doing so saved Lucius from losing everything but it still came with a mandatory jail sentence of 2 years, as well as a heavy compensation fee of 2.5 million denarii to be paid to Priscus in full within 24 hours.
Failure to do so would automatically change the Category designation from 1 to 2 and more than double the jail time among other things.
Standing still in the courtroom after Lucius had been drug away Priscus found himself shaking hands with Varo once more.
"Congratulations sir," Varo said excitedly. "Are you satisfied with these results?"
"Results..." Priscus mused quietly still waiting to wake up from what he feared was a dream.
Turning his head slowly towards Varo who was growing worried Priscus beamed a glorious smile.
Nearly shouting he cried, "I couldn't have asked for better...Results!"