December 23, 7:30 am
Two hours after his conversation with Maggey, Dick Gumshoe found himself at LAX , waiting for the rest of his party.
He whistled cheerfully, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face as he ticked down the minutes with pleasant distraction. People watching, mostly, wishing people well in his mind’s eye as they went off on what were sure to be easier vacations than his.
From within the morning crowd, he finally heard his name called with familiar snappy cadence.
“Gumshoe!” It was Mr. Edgeworth. He was pushing his way through the airport with a rather dubious entourage– what looked to Gumshoe at first glance like a pair of stormclouds, revealed themselves quickly to be Prosecutor Blackquill, and detective Fulb–Halblicht.
Dick recognized him immediately– mostly because he’d been the one to bring the clothes to the hospital early that morning.
“Heyy!” Gumshoe clapped his hands together with a broad grin on his face “About time you fellas showed up! I see we’re all feelin’ real great today. Love the suits, love the suits.” He felt underdressed as could be in his wrinkled dress shirt and old, well loved trench coat.
He watched as Prosecutor Blackquill awkwardly fidgeted with his scarf and nodded.
“Good to see you this morning,” he murmured. He didn’t seem to be taking his eye off Detective Halblicht– which made sense.
Halblicht however, smiled. “Thanks for your help this morning!”
“Hey anytime, pal. Us detectives gotta look out for one another, right?” He make a joking nudge towards Edgeworth. “what with how these fellas love dockin’ our pay and all.”
“Ha ha,” Edgeworth drawled. “See this case through, and you might actually be looking at a pay raise, Gumshoe. You’re the senior detective here– and I expect you to take that position seriously. I have to go take care of some final preparations at the office before my own fight. Ema Skye will be taking my seat– she should be here at any moment.
“Yessir. Miss Faraday stuck you on the other plane, eh? I’ll be thinkin’ of ya till we land, sir.” He snapped a salute. “you can count on me to keep the new guy in line. And Skye and I get along well, shouldn’t be any issues with subordination there, pal.”
“Good.” Miles nodded sharply. “I’ll leave you– and you too, gentlemen– to, then. I’ll see you in Cauli.”
Edgeworth’s tone was clear. He was expecting Gumshoe to keep an eye on Blackquil and Fulbr– Halblicht for him.
As Miles left the three of them in the airport, Simon bowed, and Halblicht saluted. It could make a guy feel inadequate.
Gumshoe reassured himself with the reminder that he and Mr. Edgeworth went way back…way beyond the need for too many formalities and the distance of a salute. Absolutely.
Still, he saluted the man’s retreating back.
“So ah, how you fellas feeling?”
He hoped Skye would show up relatively soon. She was maybe the only one in the department more lax in the ‘fancy pants department’ than him.
December 23, 7:40 am
Ema wasn’t running late as she hurried into LAX– but it felt like she was. Probably because she hadn’t even known she was going anywhere, until Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth called her at 5 o’clock that morning.
It would have been nice if he’d given her a little fucking heads up, but of course in classic pompous prick prosecutorial style, the woman on the ground had to be the last to know. As she stormed into LAX with a bagel in her mouth and her long coat fluttering behind her, she adjusted her prized armband reading ‘Forensics’ with the same hand that held her half full cup of shitty corner store coffee.
“I swear I should break both his knees for this.” she was already dying for a cigarette…or a drink…or if work demanded her sobriety and lack of lung cancer…a big back of snackoos to chomp her displeasure through.
Maybe she could grab some at the overpriced LAX shop.
“Hey!! Detective Skye!!” Detective Gumshoe’s voice rang out as she stormed through the waiting area, and she saw the big man flagging her down with the desperation of a man who’d been lost for a year on a deserted island.
Ema’s eye twitched as she stormed forward like a tidal wave “….Forensic….Investigator…Skye, Detective Gumshoe. Passed the exam, remember?”
The look on his face made it clear he understood her current mood. Or maybe he was scared for his life. Who knew?
The wave of desperation at least explained itself when she saw the two other men that Gumshoe was standing with. It was Prosecutor Simon Blackquill on the one hand– and he looked in fine form today with a scowl like a thunderstorm, and on the other hand a tall, stony-faced and broad shouldered man in a black pinstripe suit. Blackquill’s bird Taka was sitting on pinstripe’s shoulders, messing up his hair.
The tension in the area was thick enough that you could cut it with a spoon.
Ema took a long sip of her coffee, squinting her dark-circled eyes at the two men in pensive curiosity.
“Prosecutor Blackquill. Good to see you, sir. Who, pray tell, is your friend?”
Gumshoe chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck “…Good to see ya, Skye. Sorry, just a mouthful, you know? ‘Forensic Investigator Skye’.”
He looked at her with the sort of ‘please help me’ look that took her back to his longsuffering attempts to train her when she first got lumped in with Homicide.
Simon smiled– and it was a mean, uncomfortable smile like she often saw from him in court.
“Investigator Skye, meet Detective Robert Halblicht. He’s joining us on this investigation from another department.”
The big man saluted her, and a trace of a smile came to his stern expression.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Investigator Skye.”
“Robert….” She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing into a near squint as she looked over his features. “…Halblicht.” She crossed her arms over her chest, coffee sloshing nearly over the edge of her cup. “From another department you say. Fascinating.”
“Yes, sir, Investigator Skye.” The man smiled a little bit wider as he lowered his salute.
It was incredible how familiar he was.
Simon’s big, mean smile was twitching. And so was his eyelid.
She cheerfully turned to Simon , before she leaned in close with a sharp whisper “…I didn’t know we were accepting transfers from Justitia-damned heaven, Prosecutor Blackquill. Or did I get drunk enough I didn’t remember putting a bullet in my brain last night and this is his idea of a funny welcoming goof?”
Halblicht’s smile had gone cold, but Simon’s just twitched a little more.
“Oh, Investigator Skye, I assure you, we don’t accept transfers from heaven. Hell maybe. And I suppose that’s where we all could be.”
“Uh huh.” Ema rubbed her chin…and then rubbed her forehead “I need a goddess damned drink.”
“I think there’s a drink cart on the plane, Ema!” Gumshoe tried to offer, only for her to hold up her coffee.
“I blew my paycheck.” She didn’t want to tell them on what. It wasn’t a good look to say ‘hey, I’ve been on a three day bender’ to a group of detectives, prosecutors and assassins. Her eyes returned to ‘’’’’’Halblicht’’’’’’.
“Let’s not play ‘comic book mystery man’ here. I expect a full briefing, even though I can already guess what’s going on here. Good to see you, Bob. Try not to cause an international incident.”
“Doing my best, sir.” He saluted again and this time his smile was a little bigger. “Um, could you not call me ‘Bob’ though? Robert or Bobby is fine…”
Simon looked like he wanted to bury his whole face in his hands, but he was doing an admirable job of staying completely rictus instead.
“I’ll brief you on the plane, Investigator Skye,” he said. “I had a feeling that nothing would miss your keen gaze.”
“There’s a reason I got promoted to Forensics, Simon.” Ema crossed her arms. “I’m the modern day Herlock Sholmes. With less cocaine. That you know of.”
She nodded sharply to Halblicht “sure. Bobby. Why not.”
“Hoo boy.” Gumshoe muttered under his breath. “Classic you, Miss Skye, sir. Let’s keep the jokes like that till we’re away from the TSA, alright? We don’t got time to be frisked.”
Somehow, she expected she wasn’t the saving grace he was hoping for. Probably because she hadn’t even finished her first cup of coffee.
The trip to Cauli was off to a fantastic start.
December 23, 7:20 am
Athena found herself at Apollo Justice’s apartment, standing in front of the front door with the keys in her hand.
It always felt odd walking into someone else’s house without them there, but he’d asked and she was happy to do what she could for him.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside, internally wondering just what she should pack for him anyway. She’d hardly ever seen him outside of the vest and rolled sleeves combo he wore in court.
She pushed the door open, and entered the small, studio apartment. All the curtains were pulled shut, and the place was dark– hidden in gloomy shadows.
It smelled like someone had been burning incense.
As she walked in, her hand touched the wall in search of a light switch, sniffling gently at the incense scented air. “…hm…”
She stumbled over some loose piece of furniture, but caught herself at the last minute, and found the lightswitch on the wall. Flicking it on, the single room was illuminated– and it was decidedly not glorious.
It was a mess. It looked like it had been ransacked. The couch was shoved at an angle. There were boxes on the floor. The closet was hanging open. There were books stacked on the kitchen area’s counter. The bed was unmade, and the blankets were on the floor. There was no evidence of open food– but there were a number of empty cans of coffee.
Athena’s eye was drawn to an area against the wall where several messy cushions were roughly arranged, and there was an open circle of floor. At the center of the circle was an incense burner, and a photo frame.
A shrine, a makeshift shrine. She didn’t have to look to know who was in the photograph “..oh Apollo…”
He was taking this hard…not that she could blame him. Back when her mother died, she’d shut down…she’d stopped eating and drinking until she was all but forced after the horror of the trial…even her muted emotions stopped manifesting beyond the single pinging note of grief.
So seeing this, all of this from the mess to the makeshift shrine, was a stark reminder of just how bad that hurt really was…and just how close him and Clay really had been.
“I’m sorry.”
Looking at the collection of boxes on the floor– it was clear that there was no place to store them properly in the apartment–they were new. She suspected that they must have been boxes of Clay’s things.
Athena looked at them for a long moment, the box of her mother’s stuff flashing in her mind for a moment before she shook it off and eased past Clay’s things.
“I need to get Apollo to sit still with me for a bit…he may need someone to talk to, and a little therapy..”
She tried to pick her way towards the closet to look for a bag and clothes.
There was a fading old red luggage suitcase jammed in one corner of the closet. Several more boxes were stacked by the closet, but most of these were empty.
It looked like Apollo had put a bunch of Clay’s clothes in his own wardrobe– judging by how crammed together the hangers were.
He may have needed a lot of therapy, really. Everyone dealt with grief differently, but the constant reminders couldn’t have been easy– or maybe they were a comfort in and of themselves? She’d have been more inclined to believe it if Apollo hadn’t seemed so adrift and lost in his own head lately.
She shook her head, and the thoughts of psychoanalysis away, before she started rustling through the closet and grabbing whatever looked like it might be nice to wear…she had no idea what was Clay’s and what was his.
The mixture of clothes got tucked away in the old, faded suitcase. As she stuffed the front of it with socks, she noticed all the wear and scuffed edges on the luggage. It seemed like it had gotten a lot of use over the years. There was charm hanging off of it, and Athena recognized it as an old one from the Cosmos Center gift shop. Earth and the sun. A metal disc of the globe, with the halo of a sunrise peeking over the edge, as if seen from space.
“….” She felt a hitch in her throat, and the welling of tears in her eyes as she zipped it up and lifted the Cosmos Center charm in her fingers.
“You really made an impact, didn’t you?” she murmured quietly to it “who’d think Apollo and I would share a connection to the same place…”
She rubbed the charm for a moment before she let it go.
“I wish Mr. Clay could have gone to space with Starbuck…I wish Apollo coulda seen the liftoff and wished him well. Maybe seen a firsthand photo of the sun rising over the Earth just like that.” She lifted the bag and hefted it slowly towards the door.
“Why’s the world got to be so unfair?” she whispered softly.
The somber, incense scented mess of an apartment didn’t answer. It stood a quiet testament to grief as she departed it.
December 23, 8:05 am
Athena did not have any time to give Apollo his luggage before she headed to the airport. It was just going to have to go on with hers. She was going to be close to late as it was.
It was how it always went it seemed. Try as she might to be on time, or as prepared as she could be, life conspired against her to set her back.
So as the cab pulled to a screeching stop in front of LAX and she hauled two large bags behind her in as fast a run as she could, she hoped that she didn’t miss anything.
She especially hoped Simon wouldn’t snark at her about it.
“Ah, Cykes-dono, I see you’ve decided to join us,” Simon drawled as she finally spotted the group near the boarding gate.
Ema and Gumshoe were there with him, as for another man– whom she couldn’t help but immediately recognize as “Bobby Fulbright” but in a different suit with a new haircut.
Athena felt the blow immediately, grimacing in frustration as she skidded to a stop by the group.
“Geeze, Simon.” she huffed “you didn’t have to pack for your coworker! It’s not my fault I’m a little behind!”
Ema Skye looked up from where she was lazily chatting with Gumshoe to look her over.
“ah, Cykes. Good to see a slice of the WAA here on our side.”
Gumshoe chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck “Mr. Edgeworth wanted an Attorney on the job, but ah..” he waved his hand. “I’m guessin’ Phoenix said no.”
Athena was sure it was probably the fact that she and Simon were working on this case with ‘Bobby Fulbright’ , rather than being the second string pick– but who knew the machinations of Miles Edgeworth’s mind?
“He must have,” Simon drawled. He smirked at her. “Cykes-dono, if I’d known you were planning to play errand girl, I’d have had you get my luggage as well.”
Athena flushed hotly, and stomped her foot “I’m not the Errand Girl, Simon!” she huffed “Apollo’s just …he ..he was running late and..”
“Hey, hey, easy there, Athena” Gumshoe waved his hands placatingly. “ain’t nothing wrong with being an errand boy, I mean…I carry Mr. Edgeworth’s things all the time!”
Athena pressed her hand to her face with a groan. She could see Ema cackling at her, on top of hearing it with her too sensitive ears.
“And anyway you didn’t ask, Simon. I figured you had someone else take care of it for you.” she huffed.
Ema’s laughter appeared to be contagious, because now Simon was laughing at her too, and slapping his knee.
Detective Halblicht, however, stepped forward. “I can carry the bags if they’re troubling you, Miss Cykes.”
Athena’s head shot up to meet the amber-tinted sunglasses of Halbricht with a brief note of exaggerated surprise on her face before she shifted “they’re not exactly heavy, I can carry them but..”
She glanced at the detective and prosecutor currently laughing at her expense before looking back to Halblicht with a sheepish grin. “I wouldn’t say no. Thanks, Bobby.”
She offered him Apollo’s bag.
Ema snorted softly as she finished laughing. “I never thought Apollo Justice would have it in him, giving someone else at the agency orders. Good for him.”
“And yet I don’t see him with us either,” Simon said, narrowing his eyes. “I heard Edgeworth-dono mentioning a separate flight– is he on this one or that one then?”
Halblicht meanwhile gave Athena a salute, and took custody of the red luggage. “Happy to help, Miss Cykes.”
Athena saluted him back with a little blink of her eyes before she hefted her own.
“I think he’s on the other flight. I was supposed to run him his luggage but…”
She’d gotten distracted by Clay’s shrine and the memories the old Cosmos Center charm had overwhelmed her with. The haunted look showed through her face before she shook her head “I was running late, so I’ll just have to take it with me.”
“Oof, poor bastard. Hope that don’t lead to any trouble at customs. Nothin’ worse than being far from home with nothing to change into. I’d know.” Gumshoe murmured, absolutely genuinely.
“We’re all going to the same place in the end,” Simon drawled. “It probably doesn’t matter.”
Still, Athena noticed Simon’s eyes linger on the suitcase– or maybe just on Bobby holding it. The sun and earth charm glimmered as it caught the early morning light from the big airport windows.
She gave Simon a smile. Sympathetic and understanding as she could. She was certain, absolutely certain, it brought about the same or similar memories in him as it did for her.
“That’s true…next stop, Cauli.”
“I’ve never been.” Ema stretched. “..It’s been a while since I’ve been out of the country, too. Should be a treat…is what I’d be saying if it weren’t a Justitia damned job.”
“Hardly a vacation,” Simon agreed. He stroked his chin, and Athena became sure he was absolutely refusing to take his eyes off Halblicht. Maybe he was worried that the detective–the spy?– former spy?– would take off into the airport at any moment.
“Could still be a nice change of scenery though, right?” Halblicht offered with a smile.
It was a valid concern, she supposed…but Halblicht didn’t seem all that keen on running at the moment anyway. Nonetheless, she kept her ears open and her eyes down in case of any heavy fluctuations in mood from anyone there.
“I think a change of scenery can do wonders for the psyche.” she mused.
“My Psyche’s fine.” Ema smirked. “it’s the rest of these people you have to worry about.”
“Think we’ll have time to hit the beach?” Gumshoe chuckled. “ ‘cause I didn’t pack my trunks.”
“Detective Gumshoe,” Simon drawled, not bothering to look at the other detective. “I promise you it’s not as warm in Cauli as it is in Cali right now.”
It wasn’t that warm in Cali at the moment anyway. Definitely not beach weather.
“Damn.” Gumshoe sighed with a shrug of his heavy shoulders. “and here I thought Mr. Edgeworth’d be nice enough to send me somewhere warm for once.”
Ema snorted again, before it turned to a full on snicker “look at a map sometime, Gummy.”
“We could always hope for a sauna instead,” Halblicht murmured.
Before the discussion on the merits of the suggestion could begin, the loudspeaker announced that their plane was now boarding.
Athena gathered up her bag, the surface laden with stickers and old travel stamps, and hefted it up. With another glance at the team around her…at Ema Skye eyeing the snack shop with amused disdain, Gumshoe frantically trying to usher everyone to the plane like a herding dog, Simon and Halblicht standing like a pair of storm clouds in their dark suits…
She resolved to herself that she’d make the most out of the trip.
They’d solve the murders of the interpol agents–bring proper justice to those responsible, and peel back the layers of this organization until they could finally be stopped, and all the while, she’d make sure the ‘’’Phantom’’’ Bobby Halblicht got the therapy he needed and deserved.
“Allons-y, everyone!!” she announced with a projected outpouring of cheer. “Lady Justice is out there, and I don’t wanna keep her waiting!”