December 25, 6:45 am
Miles had requested one of the hotel conference rooms so that he could bring Phoenix up to speed on the case– given the lack of time or appropriate space to do so any earlier. He’d sent Kay to go fetch some bagels and coffee for the meeting, and he flipped through the paperwork from his briefcase, adjusting his reading glasses.
There was a knock on the door, and the man behind it didn’t wait for a ‘come in’ before he invited himself.
Phoenix Wright swaggered in, in his shirt sleeves and suspenders, with his signature blue coat tossed over one shoulder. His hair wasn’t gelled back yet, hanging instead in untidy damp locks around his face and over his eyes.
He yawned, clicking the door closed behind him. “Morning, Edgeworth.”
“Good morning, Wright.” Miles looked up at him rather appreciatively, leaning on his hand and taking in the view. “I see my request caught you just out of the shower.”
“Hey, you jump, I ask how high, eh?” Wright walked over and put his arms around Miles’ shoulders, leaning over him from behind the chair.
Miles laughed and nuzzled his face against Phoenix’s warm, freshly shaved cheek, the gentle scent of his aftershave and shampoo mingling. “You most emphatically do not do that, Phoenix. But you smell nice, so that’s something.”
“Well, as long as I’ve got something going for me, huh?” He smiled that big, stupid smile of his, and Miles grabbed his chin and pulled him into a rough, insistent kiss. It was the first one he’d managed to steal in days, and he was determined to enjoy it. Phoenix’s tongue tasted of peppermint, and he made a soft noise as Miles bit and sucked at his lips.
When he finally released him, Phoenix took a deep breath, and batted his eyelashes. “Why, Mr. Edgeworth, how terribly scandalous!” he cooed in a falsetto.
Miles rolled his eyes. “Every time, Mr.Wright. And worth the potential scandal every time.”
Phoenix leaned on him. “You spoil me, Miles.”
“After the way you’ve behaved lately? I absolutely think I spoil you. You’d better be ready to really earn that badge I got back for you.” He traced his fingers over Phoenix’s jaw softly. He’d been hurt– terribly hurt– when Phoenix had said he wouldn’t go to bat with him on this case, after everything Miles had done for him. But he could never stay angry at Phoenix long. It was that puppy dog look of his.
Phoenix leaned into Miles’ touch and nodded, closing his eyes. “Consider me ready, Miles. But you already have the others here, what exactly is the plan?”
“For starters, I’m keeping you on a leash this time. You’re going to help me investigate some of the more behind the scenes elements here.”
“Oooh, investigating is my favorite part,” Phoenix grinned.
“Don’t think I don’t know it,” Miles chuckled. “Really, you would have made a better detective than a lawyer, Phoenix.”
“And what about you, Miles? I’d say the same.”
Miles adjusted his glasses, and smiled, bashfully. “Yes, well, we all have our roles to play, don’t we? What use is playing detective if it’s for a corrupt system?”
They’d talked about it before. About washing their hands of the whole thing and doing something like joining interpol, or opening a detective agency. But Miles couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t bring himself to give up trying to piece back together the broken shards of their legal system.
One day. One day he could retire and leave the politics behind, and just do the fun part. Maybe he could even get Phoenix to come with him.
“So you say, Miles,” Phoenix murmured. He nuzzled him like a cat– and they both froze when there was another knock at the door.
The door swung open, and in walked Kay Faraday, her arms laden down with a few paper bags and a balanced tray of three coffees in cheap, but sizable, paper cups.
“Gotcha the coffee, boss! And bagels. Hope you like onion, it’s all they had le–” The young woman paused, before flashing a grin. “Knew you’d probably show up, Mr. Phoenix. Got you a coffee too!”
Miles flushed, and pulled away from Phoenix, who did the same, straightening his tie. Kay knew about him and Wright of course, but that was no excuse for such unprofessional behavior.
Miles cleared his throat and smoothed his hair. “Ah, yes, thank you, Kay. I appreciate the effort. We’re just about to go over the facts of the case.”
Phoenix grinned, tugging at his cuffs. “Hey, Kay. Been a while.”
“Been a long time, Phoenix. How’s the office? Still run in the tyrannical grip of your daughter?” Kay asked with a snicker as she dropped the bags on the table along with the coffee.
She’d changed over the years…even if she was still ever the playful thief, she’d still grown up in a lot of ways. She had her hair in a loose bun today, pinned down with a pair of ornate sticks..
“I didn’t miss the brief?”
“Not at all,” Miles said, spreading his hands. “It was just… smalltalk. Have a seat.”
“The smallest,” Phoenix chuckled. He pulled out a chair for Kay on Miles’ right side before sitting down at his left.
Kay Faraday took a seat, leaning onto her hands as some of her dark hair fell across her eye. “Guess it’s time to get down to business, eh? So you can have some more time for smalltalk later.”
December 25, 7:00 am
Miles coughed as Kay teased him. “Yes, ah, anyway… the best place to start is with the dead agents.”
She watched as he pulled a folder out of his briefcase.
Kay Faraday glanced at the folder with a low sigh. She’d gotten long used to bodies, they’d always seemed to crop up wherever she and Miles had gone together. They never got any easier to deal with, or any less sad to see…but she was used to them.
“Got any names for us, boss? Or is Lang keeping them hush?”
“That’d be pretty inconvenient if so,” Phoenix mused, leaning on his hand.
“Hardly,” Miles rolled his eyes and presented to glossy photos– one of a tan skinned man with glossy ringlets of black hair, the other blond, blue eyed and clean cut. “Agent Angelo St. John, and Agent Layton Fish. They were the closest agents here in Cauli when Lang sent word to watch the airport.”
“Bad luck. Guys are sleeping with the fishes and running with the angels at the same time. One bad job, ” Kay murmured. She leaned over to look at the pictures thoughtfully. “what’s the scene look like?”
“Not good.” Miles set his jaw and showed another picture. Two vehicles, both burned and twisted almost to unrecognizability.
Phoenix whistled. “I’ll say. Did they find any bodies?”
“Two. Interpol has their forensics working on dental records. I’m planning to have Ema lend us her expertise at the scene.”
“So we don’t even know if these are our guys,” Phoenix said.
“Not one hundred percent, no. But Agent Kelso has confirmed that one of the vehicles matches– well, matched– the car that the agents left in.”
Kay’s eyes lingered on the damage from the fire. “So it’s pretty likely, unless someone’s playing one heck of a trick on us. “
Phoenix weaved his fingers together. “We’ve seen some pretty good tricks. But there’s always evidence.”
“There’s always evidence,” Miles agreed. “I’m sending most of our people to the scene to look in person today, while some of us take a different tactic. I’d like to do some investigating at the airport itself and see if we can get anything from the security people.”
Kay nodded seriously, leaning on her hands with a grin. “Might turn up something. Might turn up more if you let me slip in there and dig around their security files.”
“Kay, don’t even suggest anything illegal to me today,” Miles said firmly. “We’re here by the grace of interpol. We do things by the book– that goes double for you, Phoenix.”
He held his hands up and grinned. “What, me? Do something unethical? Never.”
“And who from Interpol’s here?” Kay puffed out her cheeks. “I mean…Agent Lang always let me do my thing. And it’s not like either of his subordinates are gonna give me crap for unconventional tactics.”
Miles crossed his arms. “if you clear it with Lang you can do whatever you want, Kay. If you clear it with Lang. His favorite agents are with him too, if you’d like to give wheedling them a shot. Meanwhile, Phoenix and I are also going to be following up on our main target.”
“Ooof.” Kay grimaced. “I mean, Badd’s a pushover when it comes to me, but…” the other one…she had some complicated history with. Besides, she’d probably just laugh the request off.
“Yessir. “ She sighed, and grabbed a bagel “sounds like you got a day chock full of adventure.”
“Adventure is one way to put it,” Miles murmured. He pulled out another picture. It was a wide shot of the airport’s baggage claim, the same one they’d been in last night. “This is the picture that Agent Kelso sent back before the disappearance of her fellow agents. It was just enough to make a positive ID.”
“A positive ID, huh?” Phoenix rubbed his chin, and squinted at the picture. There was a pair of figures circled in red marker. A blond, bespectacled older man meeting with a slim, dark haired figure in large sunglasses. The older man’s face was turned toward the camera, and his features were visible.
“So that’s the guy, huh?” Kay whistled low under her breath “…and the person in the shades, that’s the one Kelso had been tailing?”
Miles nodded. “The one in the shades is the one Kelso followed from LA to Cauli, yes. The bomber at Fulbright’s apartment. And the other– the blond– we think that’s the one that the Phantom referred to as ‘specs’ during questioning.”
“Specs, huh?” Phoenix asked. “You said you got a positive ID from this picture?”
“Interpol ran the data for hours,” Miles nodded. “It came up with a man named Gaius Lovelace. Dual British and Zheng-Fa citizenship. He runs a consultancy business and manages a hedge fund.”
“Bet he’s hedging his bets that we aren’t going to find him and kick his ass six ways from Sunday.” Kay grumbled, before quickly adding. “with the law, I mean!”
“With the law,” Miles agreed. “We’re going to see if we can pick up his trail here in Cauli somehow, while Interpol is investigating his residence in England.”
“Sounds like a hell of a case, Edgeworth,” Phoenix said with a little smile.
Edgeworth smirked back. “I knew I could get you interested, Wright.”
Kay stretched as she stuffed her bagel into her mouth. A moment later, she dared to ask the question. “So what should I do, boss? Given it’s date night for you two.”
The noise Edgeworth made was hilarious.
December 25, 7:30 am
Halblicht caught his breath as he watched Apollo’s receding figure leave the cafeteria. Everyone was staring at them. The staff were staring at them.
That was a disaster.
Simon’s hands were on his shoulders, and he looked up to see the prosecutor’s gaze following Apollo as well. And Athena was still interposed between himself, and the world.
It could have gone worse, I suppose.
“Still with us, Half Bright?” Simon demanded, glancing down at him.
“For the moment.” He fixed his sunglasses. “Ms. Cykes, you didn’t need to do that.”
“No, Robert.” Athena’s voice carried a tremor that was hard to identify the root of, but she stayed standing between him and the retreating Apollo.
“I did. You’re my patient. I promised to help you, right? Part of that’s not letting my friend beat you to a pulp because he’s lost control of his emotions.” her voice dropped into a quiet murmur “…it wouldn’t be right.”
Bobby reached out, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Cykes, I accept your commitment as a staunch fellow ally of justice– but he could have hurt you.”
Their eyes watered and Robert almost staggered under the weight of Bobby’s wave of concern and gratitude.
When Athena turned towards him, there were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face that didn’t quite reach them.
“He already did, Bobby. Didn’t even have to land a punch.” She shook her head, and her shoulder shook under his hand “…it was a risk I was ready to take. I’m stronger than I look, I could have taken it. I didn’t want him to hurt you anymore…or to hurt himself doing something he’d regret..”
They rubbed their chest. It ached. Apollo had hit them right in the same place that the bullet had.
“I appreciate it, Athena, but…”
Simon scoffed. “What’s done is done. Athena threw herself into harm’s way for, perhaps no good reason. But who among us can say we’ve never done the same.”
“I suppose,” Bobby murmured.
Is he including us in that?
I have no idea.
They glanced across the table. Investigator Skye had been there when this began– was she still?
Ema had shot up in the confusion, and was halfway across the cafeteria as Apollo vanished. The last sounds of her calling out to him died in a low growl as she ran her hands through her hair.
“Great, fan fucking tastic. Great. Awesome.”
Simon frowned deeply, as he followed Halblicht’s gaze.”Well. I suppose we have the table to ourselves now. And Mr. Justice is aware of the situation. So whatever else may be the case– mission accomplished.”
“Yeah..” Athena’s voice was hollow as she pressed her hand to her face. “Mission accomplished.”
“…” Ema tugged at her hair just a little bit ahead, hissing under her breath. Eventually she stormed off to a table, where she grabbed a bag of complimentary chips “I’m getting ready for the damned investigation.”
“I guess we all should…” Bobby sighed heavily and finally seated himself as well– noticing that only now did Simon take his hands off him. The prosecutor didn’t acknowledge it, merely sitting down next to him. “I’m sorry about the scene…”
It was inevitable, really.
Maybe, but I’m still sorry. I hope Mr. Justice can… calm down, at least.
Ema vanished out the door, and Athena dropped into a chair.
“…it’s my fault,” Athena sighed,”I should have explained it better…or just bitten the bullet and dealt with Miles being angry with me and told him sooner.”
Robert pushed their glasses up. “Frankly, Ms. Athena, we probably should have gone to Mr. Edgeworth and let him handle it. but what’s done is done.”
“What’s done is done,” she echoed, looking at the door. “But I think I’m out an investigation partner for the day.”
“Well, it’s irregular,” Simon said, leaning on one hand and starting to pick at his breakfast again. “But this is an irregular situation. Why don’t you just investigate with us?”
Athena looked up at them with a blink “…the defense and the prosecution working together, huh? Not a bad idea…”
Bobby smiles. “You two do make quite the impressive team. And anyway, we don’t even know who you’ll be representing yet, Ms. Athena. I’m sure there’s no harm in it.”
“That’s true.” Athena finally smiled again, rubbing the back of her neck. “no harm at all…and anyway, the prosecution needs to start learning to share anyway.”
“True enough,” Simon agreed with a smirk. “Much as I enjoy mysterious ways, now that the dark age of the law has started to crack, things might change.”
Bobby stood to get himself some coffee. It already felt like things were changing.
Charging in had definitely been the right thing to do.
“Where are you going, Half Bright?”
They stopped frozen and turned toward Simon.
We should probably have asked permission…
“Ah, just to get some coffee, sir.”
They waited for the rebuke.
“Good, get me another cup.”
Bobby wasn’t the only one who felt a small sting of relief.
December 25, 7:30 am
Trucy and Pearl had slept in a bit compared to everyone else. Trucy had woken up to a message on her phone from her Daddy to go and have breakfast without him, because he was in a meeting with Mr. Edgeworth.
“Looks like we’ve gotta go it alone this morning, Pearl.” she’d said as she tied her hair into its usual low ponytail. “Daddy’s busy with Mr. Edgeworth, so we’re gonna have to scrounge for ourselves.”
Pearl had put her own hair back up in it’s complicated coiffure the night before after it had dried, and she was sitting on the end of the bed, kicking her feet, and watching as Trucy finished getting ready.
“You say scrounge as if there isn’t a whole hotel restaurant, Trucy,” she giggled.
Trucy fluffed her hair, letting the cluster of locks fall down to frame her face in a curl on one side, before she turned with a sweep of her cape as she fastened it over her shoulders.
“A whole hotel restaurant for us to scrounge and forage in…only us, our wits, and daddy’s hotel tab between us and a good balanced breakfast.”
Pearl giggled and hopped up to her feet. “I think it might actually be Mr. Miles’ hotel tab in this case. Or maybe even Klavier’s!”
“You know what that means, Pearl.” Trucy offered her hand with a grin “…we don’t have to worry about going ham. Daddy’s broke, but Mr. Edgeworth is loaded.”
Pearl giggled and took her hand. “Let’s go ham then! Or at least get ham. I don’t want to be stuffed to the gills when we go meet Klavier, after all!”
She giggled and tugged her toward the door.
Trucy followed her with a laugh. “That’s true, that’s true. Alright, we’ll make sure to at least get ham and maybe something sweet on the go, and then get going to see Klavier. I’d like to be able to dance, at the very least.”
“Dance huh?” Pearl asked as they hurried down the hall. “You think he’ll invite us to?”
Trucy squeezed her hand. “I mean he’s a musician, I think he’d be offended if we didn’t wanna!”
“Truuue, but I didn’t know if he was gonna do anything actually musical in this commercial,” she mused. She paused waiting for the elevator. “You said it was for a brand of soft drink, right?”
“You…” Trucy rubbed her chin. “you think he’d agree to do it if he wasn’t gonna get to rock out? What? Is he gonna prosecute someone in it?”
Pearl stepped into the elevator. She mirrored Trucy’s gesture, rubbing her own chin. “Well I mean I kind of just thought he was going to open a soft drink 80 different times in 80 different takes and go ‘ahhh, so refreshing!’ or something.”
Trucy stuck out her tongue. “Blehhh… First of all, he’d get a stomachache. Second of all, that’d be lame. There’s no pizzazz in that. Where’s the magic? Where’s the light and sound? Nobody’s gonna wanna drink their stupid soda if it’s just a guy opening it, looking sick because it’s his hundredth soda and going ‘yum, it’s good, buy it, dummy’, you know?”
Pearl rubbed her neck as the elevator descended. “Um, I super agree with you Trucy, but I’m not sure that’s how commercials work. I’m also not sure why I know more about commercials than you…”
Trucy flushed a brilliant red, huffing. “I…I…every commercial I’ve ever been in’s been exciting! That’s all! Geeze!”
The elevator stopped at the first floor.
“Have you been in a bunch?”
“I’ve been in one.” Trucy waved her hand back and forth in the air, still holding Pearl’s. “It was for the Wright Anything Agency!”
“Ooooooh. Well, then it’s no surprise it was exciting!”
The door opened and she tugged Trucy out and toward the dining hall.
Trucy followed close behind, grinning as she went .
“We didn’t have food, either, but if we did I wouldn’t have wanted to waste it, you know? So obviously someone’s gotta drink the sodas that Klavier doesn’t….maybe he actually gives them to the crew so he doesn’t get sick? I dunno.”
“Ooooh, maybe. That’d be nice, right?” She pushed the door to the dining room open. “After you!”
Trucy dipped into a curtsy with a grin.
“why thank you, Pearl.” she winked “you know how to make a girl feel special…” With that and tip of her hat, she slipped into the dining hall.
Slipping into the dining room, Trucy realized there was almost nobody in there. A couple of people off to one side Trucy didn’t recognize, and Athena sitting with Simon Blackquill and some other guy.
And that was basically it. No Kay, no Gumshoe. No Apollo.
“Uh…..” Trucy stopped short with a raise of her eyebrow under the brim of her hat. “…where the heck is everyone? Polly shoulda been here by now. He never misses breakfast.”
Pearl rubbed her neck. “More breakfast for us I guess? Maybe he already ate and got going?”
Trucy watched her look around the dining hall, and her gaze come to rest on the mystery man sitting with Athena and Simon.
She leaned on Pearl’s shoulder, staring along with her with a puzzled tilt of her head. “Who’s that guy?”
Pearl chewed on her thumb, and looked distracted. “Gosh, um… that’s a good question…”
“He kinda looks familiar…like I saw him somewhere recently.” Trucy mused with her chin against Pearl’s shoulder. “..what’s up, Pearl? Do you recognize him?”
“Um….” Pearl chewed on her thumb again. “Why don’t we get some breakfast.”
Trucy glanced between Pearl’s expression and the mystery man tugging at the edge of her memory.
“…Yeah uh.” She eased Pearl towards the breakfast buffet tables, “let’s maybe do that and we’ll sort it out together.”
December 25, 7:45 am
As they were finishing up with breakfast, Athena noticed Trucy and Pearl pause in the doorway, before they headed over to the buffet area.
“Hmmm,” Athena’s brow knit as she nibbled down a piece of bacon. “Why…are Trucy and Pearl here?”
Simon looked up. “I’m sorry, what?”
Athena pointed to them at the buffet table with her slice of bacon. “…Trucy and Pearl. They’re over there. They were staring right at us for like….3 minutes before they wandered over there. Why…why are they here in Cauli?”
Halblicht looked over his shoulder curiously as well. “Trucy Wright, yes? And the other girl… wasn’t she involved in the orca case?”
“Yeah, that’s right! She was the penguin whisperer…because she fell down in a bunch of fish.” She laughed into her hand. “She’s a spirit medium from Kurain , I’m pretty sure. She’s really great.”
“A… spirit medium?” Halblicht’s expression was unreadable, but Athena felt a brief flicker of odd, twisted emotions from him anyway. “How unusual.”
“Yeah…her cousin was part of that whole case back in the day that proved the existence of ghosts, you know.” Athena mused , leaning on her hand. “She was possessed by the vengeful spirit of a multiple murderer..”
The restaurant’s door slammed open, carrying with it a cheerful, if very sleepy sounding, salutation.
“G’morning, fellas!” Agent Kelso called out, as she adjusted her sunglasses in her hair. “Can the Edgeworth party come with me?”