December 25, 10:45 am
The door to the private conference room shut with a click behind Agent Sheila Ash after she’d gestured Robert inside, and she had ushered him over to the table in the center to offer him a seat.
“Thank you for agreeing to have a little chit chat, Detective…it’s nothing bad, I promise.”
“I’d hope not, Agent Ash,” Robert said. He couldn’t deny that being in the conference room alone with her made him a little anxious. Surely he hadn’t misjudged. Surely she wasn’t–
Bobby cut off his anxious thoughts with a broad smile to the woman. “Or do you prefer Sheila, since we’re not working? I assume. Uh, actually for all I know this could be work related!”
You’re so terribly awkward, Bobby.
The woman stared at him from a moment as she leaned on the tabletop across from him. She’d slipped out of the coat and had it draped over one tan and freckled shoulder, the red dress body hugging and daring enough to be the talk of any ballroom event.
The sultry dignity of the dress was somewhat broken when she started laughing again.
“PFFFFT!!! HAHAHAHAH” she laughed, holding her stomach for a brief, brief moment before she managed to press her hand to her face to stifle it.
“You’re so funny, Detective Halblicht! Snrk–…” she swallowed her laughter, but the grin remained “you sound like a stuttering schoolboy. Call me Sheila.”
She leaned against the table with a sly edge to her smile. “…and what should I call you?”
Bobby let himself down into the chair, as awkwardly as he spoke, flushing both from the agent’s laughter, and from Robert’s remark.
Am I really that awkward? I am, aren’t I?
Someone must think it’s charming, Bobby.
He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned over at Sheila. “Ah, Bobby’s fine, under the circumstances.”
“It’s a pleasure, Bobby.” She finally settled opposite him in the chair, tossing her hair over her shoulder before she leaned on her elbows with her hands tucked under her chin.
“I want to thank you for your work in exposing the spy in my ranks. While I had my suspicions…having your help in cornering her was …well. It was invaluable.”
He snapped a salute to her and smiled again. “Well, it was my pleasure, honestly, ma’am. Quite the unjust little pickle we picked apart today.”
“It always is when spies are involved.” She chuckled again, seeming to catch herself before it became a full on laugh. She idly saluted him back, before she went back to tenting her fingers. “You always need a spy to catch a spy, making the whole thing…tricky. Especially in the eyes of Lady Justice.”
He grinned a little slyly.
Can I say it, Robert?
She’s baiting us, Bobby. Just go ahead.
“I suppose we’d both know a little something about that!”
Another round of laughter spilled from her lips and she lightly slapped the table with a grin.
“You did know. Hah! I knew it!!” She grinned widely enough to show her eyeteeth again. “Takes a spy to know a spy, after all…I’d been hoping.”
“I’ve seen your file,” he nodded, leaning on his hand. “Well, the Calisto Yew file anyway. And Agent Badd happened to say something that put it in my mind when we had a little chat the other day. It wasn’t hard to spot.”
“Well, for me, anyway,” Robert clarified. “I’m sure most people would have no idea.”
Sheila’s eyes closed.
“Was it his little ‘second chances’ speech?” He really is a sweetheart under all that gristle, isn’t he?” She put her finger to her lips “It’s true…it’s an open secret among the inner circles, and an information blackout beyond them. But, given you’re on a similar boat, I felt confident we could confide.”
She winked at him. “It’s a liberating feeling, isn’t it? Being free of the g..” her lips twitched, and there was a brief note of…something…in her eyes as she stifled a laugh. “…the job.”
“Liberating,” Robert tried the word out on his tongue. “I suppose that I’d agree with that, yes.”
Picking his own suits. Deciding what he’d have for breakfast. Taking a shower because he wanted a shower.
Even if it was shared with Bobby– it was liberating, wasn’t it. The freedom to choose.
“Back when I was a dog of Cohdopia…” her expression darkened for the briefest moment, “I was nothing but my service to Alba and his international crime ring. Like you, I didn’t even have a name. It was the Great Game of Espionage and I was a pawn.”
She tapped her nose. “I’ve read your file too. Lang had me listen to your interviews. So I know you understand, or…will understand, just how…freeing…choice can be. The feeling of escape when you finally slit your former master’s throats… metaphorically or literally, of course.”
Robert smiled thinly. He hadn’t imagined it before. Hadn’t dared to. It was such an impossible idea.
Robert…. metaphorically…
He banished the thought from their mind.
“Metaphorically,” he nodded, “of course. So, we’ve both read one another’s files. We have… a fair amount in common I suppose. If not in specifics, then in broad strokes.”
“Enough to find a kindred spirit!” She laughed out loud, lightly smacking the table. “Or something of its nature.”
She leaned back on her hands “they took your emotions from you, or at least stamped them down, right? They absolutely shattered and distorted mine with a cruel little trick.”
He adjusted his glasses and nodded, “That’s what they tell me, yes. I suppose I’m still… grappling with it.”
“I’m definitely still grappling with it,” Bobby said more firmly. You are absolutely still grappling with it. “But what do you mean? About you, exactly? I didn’t see anything specific in the file, although…”
“It’ll take some getting used to.” Sheila said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “Having people around who understand, or are willing to try, will do wonders…but it’ll likely always be a bit of a struggle. I genuinely wish you luck.”
She tilted her head, before she smiled and framed it with her fingers.
“Weaponized unreality, my friend. ‘The only reality is the mission and your obedience’. ‘You have no name, only a part to play in The Game’. ‘The Mission is reality, and everything else is a game’. If it’s bashed into you enough, your brain clicks and sees everything outside the mission as unreal. Fake. A game. And they told you to laugh at it. That’s what my handler said, anyhow.”
She started to snicker, covering her mouth. “Because it’s all a big joke. It’s all a fun pantomime . It’s empty, meaningless, and laughable. Except!” she struggled down the laughter and finished “the mission. That’s important. That’s reality.”
“Ah,” Robert nodded in understanding. “That’s certainly a different tactic than we were trained under.
He didn’t say better. He had no idea whether it was more effective or not.
“It certainly made killing easier,” She leaned on her hand with a tired smile. “Until it didn’t. But despite our differences, we wound up in the same place. Former weapons learning to be a person.”
She stared him down. “I’m admittedly curious about you. What your plans are, now that we’re unraveling the organization string by string.”
“It’s flattering of you to assume that I have plans,” he said. “At the moment, I’m just surviving day to day.”
It was the truth. Maybe Bobby had plans. He had hopes, certainly. Robert just wanted to keep going.
Sheila nodded thoughtfully, smiling thinly despite the slight huff of what was probably an aborted laughing fit.
“That’s all you can do, I’m afraid. I’d have been in the same boat if it wasn’t for Shi-long and Tyrell giving a direction to point myself in after my grand escape.” She gestured towards him with fingers spread. “Here’s hoping that it becomes more than just survival, day by day.”
“Here’s hoping,” Bobby agreed with a little smile. He wrung his hands together. “Shi-long and Tyrell– they’re interpol agents, aren’t they? Tyrell is Agent Badd?”
“That’s right,” Sheila flashed her wolfish smile. “Agent Tyrell Badd, and Agent Shi-long Lang…the two people closest to me in the world. I may not be great at being a person, but it’s thanks to them I managed at all.”
He leaned on his hand, and idly drew circles on the table between them. “Agent Badd– he said you cut his heart out. You guys must have some serious history, huh?”
Robert listened in passively– maybe even a little bit embarrassed by the raw obviousness of Bobby’s emotions.
Sheila Ash seemed to have noticed, especially with the way a note of amusement wrote itself into her voice and her smile.
“You could say that. Way back when, in one of my more intensive cover identities, we were part of the same cadre of ‘Great Thieves’. Two of three legs of the Yatagarasu. The connection went deep…deeper than just thievery to reform the legal system and uproot organizations like the one I was secretly owned by.”
Her fingers twined through her hair, wrapping a strand around her finger as she smirked.
“He, my lover Byrne Faraday, and I…is it any wonder feelings began to blossom? Of course, at the time…” She started to snicker again, physically clenching over her chest. “I was convinced it was nothing but the part, and that the whole thing was really, really very funny.”
Her eyes flicked to the side. “I cut his heart out when I drove my knife into Byrne’s on my master’s command. He was getting too close. The truth came out, and the man was left the sole leg of the Yatagarasu and with the seeming truth that it’d all been a cruel joke.”
Bobby’s eyes widened and Robert could feel the hot sting of tears beading at the sides of them.
“Oh no… Miss Sheila, that’s terrible… they forced you to… oh lady justice…” He wrung his hands under the table again. “I’m sorry. But it sounds like you and he, eventually…”
“What’s done is done. Our daughter avenged his memory by taking down Alba with that hilarious fop of a prosecutor,” Sheila’s own eyes were half closed, and despite the dismissive wave of her hand and the quiet laugh it seemed to weigh heavy on her.
“And eventually…yes.” she tucked her hair over her ear. “It wasn’t easy, Bobby. Whether I had the choice or not, I stole the life of someone we both cared for…but eventually..” she smiled a little more genuinely. “He said he was going to try to trust me again, even after everything. He gave me another chance, one I don’t intend to waste.”
Bobby dabbed at his eyes, and nodded. “I’m happy for you, Miss Sheila. I don’t intend to waste mine either, though I don’t know if I’ll be as lucky as you.”
Lucky’s one word for it, Bobby. Did she say she has a daughter? Hell of a trick to pull off.
“Oh, you never know.” Sheila’s dark red eyes stayed locked on his. “Make amends, bring down the people who’ve hurt you, and remember that the ice we walk on may be thin but the promised shore is worth the risk.”
She laughed , though she kept it restrained.
“Thanks, Bobby…who knows,maybe your ‘special someone’ is just waiting for the moment to make amends.” She snickered into her sleeve. “They can’t be any more stubborn than Tyrell…or Shi-long for that matter.”
He chuckled a little. “I suppose we’ll see. But I very much hope that you’re right. Though I intend to make my amends and this all down, no matter what else does or doesn’t happen.”
“Good man,” Sheila leaned back in her chair with an approving nod. “I’ll give you my number, hmm? Keep in contact, let me know how it’s going. If you need to talk to someone who ‘understands’, or if you need a job, or whatever.”
The smile crawled onto her face again. “Like a support group for the unglamorous life of ex-espionage escapees.”
He chuckled. “Hell of a support group, but really, I’ll take all the help I can get!.”
December 25, 11:00 am
Simon and Athena had chatted for a little while more in quiet voices as he dried his eyes, and continued to thank her. But eventually he’d asked for some time alone to think, while they had the chance, and Athena headed down to the dining room for a snack to calm her nerves.
It’d been a long day–a day of sharp lows and strange highs. The fight with Apollo followed on the heels of the first morning to feel almost normal since the moonlit trial where everything had fallen apart. The horror of the investigation gave way to the unexpected rush of solving it by Simon and Halblicht’s side…the synergy in the hunt for truth that led to an uncomfortable conclusion.
Another child beaten into someone deadly and nameless currently in Interpol custody.
It was a day of ups and downs…her heart hadn’t stopped racing, not even through the expected yet still surprising conversation with Simon. She’d said she’d always understand…and she would.
But the whole thing weighed on her shoulders and nerves all the same. It carried her in a haze all the way to the dining room on plodding feet.
“Hey, Athena!” The voice that greeted her as she headed in was a familiar one– her boss, in fact. Phoenix Wright was seated at a table in the corner with a cup of coffee, and waving her over.
“Wuh?? Huh??” Athena jolted out of her own thoughts…the spiraling confusion of her own feelings sitting heavy in her chest as they were forced to a stop. “Oh!”
She flashed her brightest smile and waved. “Hey Boss! How’s it going!?”
“Not too bad! Come and take a load off, I heard you had a busy morning!” He leaned on his hand. “If I know you, you’re gonna need more than just a cup of coffee, too.”
Athena rubbed the back of her neck with a nod of her head as she settled in across from him.
“Honestly, I think I might.” She shook her head “I didn’t expect to be rooting out a spy in Interpol’s midst when I woke up this morning!”
Wright chuckled. “I know, some Christmas, huh? Feels like it’s never quite normal at the Wright Anything Agency, I guess.” He handed her the menu from where it lay on the table.
Athena took it and started scanning it curiously.
“…that’s right, it’s Christmas.” she mused with a shake of her head “Justitia…I guess not, huh? Weirdness never takes a holiday!”
“Sure doesn’t. 11 years at this time I was getting ready to defend Edgeworth from a murder charge. Now he’s the chief prosecutor. Wild, isn’t it?”
Her boss; emotions were a lot more even today than the last time she had seen him– and more even than she had worried, given the circumstance. It could have been the resolution that had evened him out– or it could have been the case itself.
Athena laughed.
“Time has a way of changing everything. 11 years ago…I was near mute and my only friends were…well. Mostly robots…and Simon.” She looked up at him with a half smile, “but I think you like it when it’s not some humdrum holiday. I’m right, yeah?”
He chuckled, and sipped his coffee. “I guess you caught me there. We were your backup by the way, today. Me, Edgeworth and Gumshoe. Hope the info helped.”
“I thought it mighta been you.” Athena laughed as she decided to start with some coffee. “It helped a lot. We’d been piecing things together, but Kelso leaving the airport, and the evidence from the car helped us tighten the trap.”
She grimaced, the memory of the young woman raising the gun to her head flashing through her mind. “So…so thanks. Genuinely.”
He nodded with a smile. “I gotta help out my protege, right? It’s a good boss’ duty.”
The waitress came around a moment later and took Athena’s order, after which, Phoenix leaned on his hands.
“So how are you holding up, protege? Really. I know there’s a hell of a lot on your shoulders. You’ve been having one of those Wright Anything weeks.”
“Where anything and everything tries to put you down?” Athena laughed. “Yeah, sir… I sure have. Is it bad that I’ve almost forgotten I got accused of murder?”
She hadn’t forgotten…not even once. That night was etched in her mind as the world turned to moments of sharp clarity interposed with a strange haze of dissociated time that didn’t quite feel real.
“It happens,” Wright chuckled. “I think everybody in the office has been accused of murder– except maybe Apollo…”
“Oh, I’m sure his time’ll come.” Athena shook her head with a wry laugh. “…especially if he keeps on trying to beat the life out of Robert every time he sees him.”
Phoenix grimaced. “Oh, heck– what? Did that happen?”
“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Athena theatrically grimaced, tugging at her ponytail. “this morning we tried to tell him what was going on, and when Robert tried to stop him from yelling at me over it, he started beating the crap outta him.”
Phoenix’s grimace grew more horrified, and she could feel the anxiety and anger wafting off of him. “You’re kidding! Miles didn’t tell him? And then– oh for Justitia’s sake!”
“It…We got him to stop, and I think Gumshoe went off after him, so maybe he got him to calm down?” Athena held her hands up. “I thought you knew, boss! I’d have said something but…but …but Miss Kelso came to get us for the investigation right after.”
He took a deep breath and sighed, putting his hands on the table firmly. Athena could feel his emotions steady, but the anger and anxiety didn’t go away completely.
“I’ll have to talk to Miles about it. Thank you for bringing me into the loop. Damn though…”
Athena nodded.
“I thought maybe someone might have told him too…but the more we talked the more I realized nobody had.” She looked down “I can’t blame him for being upset, but I couldn’t let him hurt Robert more than he already had. He hit him right on the wound, you know. It was like he was a different person.”
Phoenix rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Well… Apollo’s going through a lot right now. He has a fresh wound too, and I’m sure that looking at– Robert– tears it right open again. I’ll be honest, I’m really surprised you’re holding it together as well as you are. Not that I don’t think you should, just, wow, you know?”
She could sense his confusion. As far as Phoenix was concerned, Apollo was having a much more normal reaction than she was.
That wasn’t a surprise to her– Athena had always been a lot of things, but ‘normal’ had never been one of them. Her entire life, her emotions and the way she reacted to them, and the way they reacted with her hypersensitive hearing…
She never reacted to anything the way people expected, which was exactly why he’d worked so hard to pretend for years. She remembered the confused faces of some of Cosmos’ ancillary staff when they met the strange ‘princess of the cosmos center’ for the first time. Felt and heard their judgment in every word, even as they smiled and told her she was cute, or a good kid.
The last week had been chipping through her careful mask little by little…and now she didn’t have the energy to react with the same anger Apollo felt…that most expected she should feel. She wondered, distantly, if it made her seem cold.
And then she realized she hadn’t said a word for a solid minute.
“Oh ah…” Athena flashed a smile at him. “…it’s not as if I’m not struggling…It’s just..”
He put his hand on the center of the table toward her, and smiled a little. “Hey, Athena, it’s okay. We all react to things differently. Some people it’s easy to see when they’re struggling. Others, not so much. Just do me one favor, okay?”
“Yeah, boss?” She asked with a softer smile.
“If you’re hurting, and you don’t know what to do, and you think the answer is to just disappear– come see me first, okay?” he smiled a sad little smile. “I won’t try to stop you or anything, but, I’d like a heads up. I had a friend once who was hurting, and he just disappeared one day– and I don’t think I’m over it.”
Athena’s eyes widened
“Oh..” She bit her lip thoughtfully. “That sort of thing can leave a scar that’s hard to heal…” she looked up with a pump of her fist. “I promise boss…I’ll tell you, alright? But I’m not going anywhere. I’m just…”
He huffed a soft, self-effacing chuckle. and nodded in thanks, waiting for her to continue what she was going to say.
She trailed off quietly before she said. “I wish my mother was here to tell me what she thought of all this.”
“Your mom, huh… I can relate to that in a way. Whenever I’m messed up, or feeling cornered, I wonder ‘what would Mia do’.”
Athena nodded slowly as she sipped her coffee. “And then what?”
“Well, uh–” Phoenix’s emotions had shifted. Now he was embarrassed, but happy, and a little nervous. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly? I’m lucky, because… sometimes I get to ask her.”
Athena looked up from her coffee with a furrow of her brow.
“What? Like that case you had once where you had to talk to a ghost?”
He nodded awkwardly. “Like that, yeah. You know my old partner, Maya. She’s a spirit medium like little Pearls– well, not so little now– like Pearls is.”
Athena sipped her coffee with a furrow of her brow. She’d heard of Maya…it was impossible to work at the Wright Anything Agency without hearing about her. Despite being, as far as Athena was aware, very much alive…she haunted the place like a ghost with how often she came up. She was as much a legend in its walls as Charlie was.
“And you could ask her to speak to Mia and she just…could?” She leaned on her hand.
He nodded slowly.
“Yeah. Maya could just–” he snapped his fingers, “and suddenly Mia was there. Pearls can do the same thing. It’s… I won’t lie. It’s a lot. I don’t know if it would help you at all, Athena. But while Pearl’s with us– it’s possible, if you wanted to ask her.”
Athena’s heart skipped a beat as the last time she saw her mother flashed in her head and the coffee took on the coppery edge of blood from the phantom scent of the Robotics Lab.
She brought it to her lips anyway, and took a long sip.
“I…might want that.” She said slowly “I ..I’ve been wondering if she’d be happy with me.”
“I know she would, Athena. You’ve grown up to be a pretty amazing person. But if you want to hear it right from her, ask Pearl.” He nodded, seriously. “But don’t do it if you think it would just upset you more, okay?”
Athena flushed, smiling sheepishly up at him from her spot hunched over her coffee mug. “Thanks Boss… I really mean that.”
She nodded once. “…I’ll think about it. I’ve got a lot I wanna ask her…” she bit her lip “…Can I be honest, boss?”
“Of course. I hope you’ll be, Athena.”
Athena ran her hand through her hair.
“…Robert killed her in cold blood. He took her from everyone, and even if…even if I sometimes fought with her about the headphones or…or her work…she was a wonderful person.” Her fingers curled around her ponytail, tugging it fitfully. “I should hate him. Apollo clearly does. It’s what an average person should feel, right? Hurt and angry.”
“I think that’s a reaction that a lot of people would have, yes…” He gave her a soft, sympathetic look, and she could feel the concern for her radiating off him.
“I’m hurt…” she admitted, “I am. I miss her every day, and it hurts that she’s gone.”
She looked down “but I’m not….I’m not angry at him. Even more than that, boss…I think I understand him.”
“Well… you’re a very empathetic person, Athena,” Phoenix said gently. The concern for her didn’t waver in any way. “If anyone could have empathy for someone like that, of course it would be you. And forgiveness is never a bad trait– as long as you don’t let people take advantage of you.”
Phoenix Wright was a good man. A good boss. He cared about Athena a lot, and Athena could feel that care and concern radiating through him. But he didn’t understand why Athena felt the way she felt. Maybe of anyone Athena knew, Phoenix was the one who most often mistook her mask for her face.
He was a kind man, with a warm heart and a good head on his shoulders…but he couldn’t see the seams. She smiled in that bright and sunny way she’d practiced for years, and nodded.
“You’re right, boss! I’m not going to let anyone take advantage of me, I promise…I just…” She bit her lip. “I can’t be angry at someone who never had the chance to choose…anything.”
It was true. Beyond the empathy, beyond the strange mirror between their emotions, that was another of the looming reasons why that hung in her mind’s eye.
It was the reason she could count on Phoenix Wright to understand, even if he couldn’t understand the rest.
Phoenix nodded. “When you put it that way, I can get it. But you’re definitely a bigger person than a lot of us for extending that understanding to someone who hurt you that badly. I’ll have to try to get on your level.”
He chuckled and adjusted his tie, playing it off as if it were a joke, but she could tell that he was serious. He felt a little ashamed of his own lack of empathy.
Athena waved her hand.
“Trust me, Boss. You don’t gotta,” she said, projecting bright cheer. “…people understand others in all sorts of ways. It’s not easy to forgive or understand someone who hurt you…most people wouldn’t.”
She closed her eyes with a smile “I’m just…a little different than most people. Not in any way better or worse…other people’s emotions are just much, much stronger to me.”
Phoenix smiled warmly back. “Well, Athena, I guess if I have a problem that involves figuring out emotions, you’re the first person I’ll come to.”
Athena snapped a salute, an unconscious mirror to the man she’d been spending far more time with the last few days than in the weeks past “You can count on me, boss!”