Chapter Text
[ May 16, 1:30 PM ]
[ The TWRP Household ]
Loud sirens alarm through the area. Police tape surrounds a house as onlookers gape at the sight. Mutters and whispers, rumours and gossip, all the while Detective Gumshoe struggles to push back the crowd.
It’s only a regular cul-de-sac but the mob of neighbours, journalists and other individuals made it feel smaller and packed, like that of a mosh pit but less angry and more confused.
Phoenix and Maya stand at the edge of the rabble, quietly watching the mass of noise and confusion enclose around the seemingly normal house. White picket fence and neatly painted home with a nicely kept lawn.
Phoenix sighs, realising he’s going to have to go through the crowd to be able to get to the crime scene. “Hey, Maya.” Maya lifts her head inquisitively. “You might want to hold on to my sleeve while we go through the crowd.” She nods and smiles.
As Phoenix and Maya travel through the crowd they hear a range of different conversations.
“I heard they kept someone locked up in their basement…” One whispers to their friend, loud enough for Phoenix to hear but quietly enough for it not to cause an uproar.
Another asks, “Wait, isn’t that the house of those aliens?” They look towards their friend for consultation but all they received was a shrug.
And one person states, “The cat one can do some pretty sick bass riffs, not sure about the furry aesthetic but whatever.”
“Excuse me, sorry,” Phoenix mutters five or six times while shoving his way through the small crowd. Maya grips tightly onto his sleeve as the two traverse through the public.
When they’re close to the house, they hear an angry, “Release Sung! He didn’t do anything!” Directed to no other than Detective Gumshoe, who continues to encourage people to step away from the scene. The person who yelled it, it’s hard to make out their face. Crazy hair splayed all over the place, that was all Phoenix could make out.
“Hey, pal! Unless you have hard evidence, I don’t wanna hear a peep outta you!” He stubbornly responds.
‘Classic Gumshoe.’ Phoenix can’t help to think and judging by Maya’s confident sigh, she’s thinking the same thing.
Gumshoe’s head perks up with a grin. “Hey, I notice that over-gelled up hairstyle anywhere!” He says when Phoenix and Maya finally make it to the police tape. “Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey!” He laughs. “Let me guess, you’re defending Doctor Sang?”
“Er– Sung.” Phoenix corrects. “And, yeah. I guess I am.”
Detective Gumshoe grins confidently. “Well, hate to tell ya, pal, but the case is practically open and shut!” His voice booms, his boldness makes it louder. “Doctor Sang–”
“Sung.” Maya this time.
“– Sung is the murderer of the crime, pal!” He asserts. “Mr Edgeworth’s got this case in the bag.”
‘Of course, Edgeworth’s prosecuting.’ Phoenix mentally groans. ‘He’s going to give Sung hell…’
“So, what do ya need, pal?” Gumshoe finally asks.
“Could have started with that…” Phoenix mutters before clearing his throat. “Do you think we can go investigating around the house, Detective?”
Gumshoe lets out a stern hum. “Hmmm, I don't know about that, pal.” He says. “Mr Edgeworth’s been getting very strict with my paycheck…”
“Aw, c’mon Gumshoe.” Phoenix clasps his hands together. “I have to get this case together and so far you’re the only guy I can talk to.” Gumshoe makes a strangled kind of sound, like he doesn’t want to disappoint them but there’s nothing he can do about it.
“What if we struck a deal?” Maya asks. Phoenix gets a bad feeling.
“A deal?” Gumshoe repeats.
“If you let us in and investigate, then Phoenix will get us lunch at the burger junction down the road!” She smiles.
Phoenix furrows his eyebrows. “Wait–”
Gumshoe, on the other hand, looks delighted, as if he’s about to cry at the thought of eating a burger. Geez, was Edgeworth that harsh about his salary? “You’d really do that, pal?”
“No–”
“Yes!” Maya affirms. “He’ll get whatever you order!”
“I won’t!” Phoenix makes a big X with his arms.
“C’mon, Nick!” Maya whispers loudly to him, it’s a wonder Gumshoe can’t hear. “Take one for the team! We have a chance to investigate the house and then when we buy him food we can ask him questions!”
Phoenix knows all of that but Maya’s three burger surprise from before left his wallet lighter than a feather. Still, he sighs and says, “Yeah, I’ll order you a burger if you let us go around the house.”
Maya and Gumshoe cheer, they hold each other’s hands and start jumping on the spot. Phoenix can feel onlookers judging them so he embarrassingly covers his face. “Thank you, pal! Thank you!” Gumshoe runs over to Phoenix and squeezes him with a hug. Phoenix wheezes.
As they tour the house, Phoenix and Maya start to feel like something… isn't right.
Well, the house is normal, walls are painted white (except for the bedrooms which are painted in a variety of other colours depending on the room, Phoenix guesses the yellow room at the end of the hallway belongs to Sung), wooden floorboards which emit a squeak when you step on it, the living room is carpeted, the house is clean. Really what makes Phoenix and Maya feel off is how normal the house is.
That’s until they find little interesting knick-knacks, sprinkled all over the house. Of course, they couldn’t thoroughly investigate the place, the police surrounded the area but didn’t seem to mind Phoenix and Maya’s presence.
Nunchuck collections, colourful posters of “LADYWORLD” and other planets all hang on the walls of the comfy adobe. Here and there you can find plants, Phoenix swears he hears one sing a few notes before wiping it away from his mind.
In the living room, there’s a punching bag with a label that reads ‘The Stress Bag’. It’s extremely worn out to the point where it looks sad and limp. Knives are sticking out of it, violent claw marks stretch throughout the shrivelled bag and alongside all of that, black singe marks cover most of the thing.
Beside the living room is a kitchen, it’s clean and pretty standard save for the exotic fruits. On the kitchen counter, there’s a single half-empty bottle of ranch. It's really big, and has a post-it note that says ‘space ranch’. It sparkles for some reason and the colour feels off, a little more of a desaturated blue than the standard creamy white.
Phoenix emits a quiet, “Huh…” as they look around the house. It was so boring yet so intriguing.
Gumshoe clears his throat. “Now, I don’t know how long I can have you two here for, so I say we should go down to the basement.” Phoenix and Maya nod before following Gumshoe to the basement door.
It’s not easy to find, if it was closed then it would be camouflaged in the wooden floorboards somewhere in between the kitchen and the living room carpet. Luckily, the hatch was left wide open for free investigation.
The basement completely contrasts the stunningly ordinary state of the house. It was so bad that from the outside it’s easy to tell how unkempt and disorderly it was left. The basement’s dusty leaving it an almost sickening dark brown, spider webs stretch throughout the chamber and groups of mouldy food in bags were left just lying around. The sight of the basement from the outside left an almost ominous feeling like something would crawl out and latch onto their legs.
Gumshoe grabs a flashlight conveniently hiding in his pocket and starts climbing down the stairs. It creaks wearily when accommodating for the sudden weight. Phoenix sharply inhales before following the detective, then Maya follows behind him.
It feels like the three took a trip into a horror movie with no warning, Phoenix can practically hear the sinister soundtrack playing as they all make their way down into the basement. All that was needed was for someone to suddenly shut the trapdoor behind them.
Gumshoe flashes the light to the chalk drawing of where the body was. “So… there was the body.” He states the obvious, probably to relieve tension from being inside a gothic fiction basement wonderland. “You two can walk around, take the flashlight.” Gumshoe hands the flashlight to Maya. “Just don’t tamper with the crime scene, pal.”
Phoenix nods. He can’t make himself talk, it just so happens that creepy, hidden basements make him shut up.
From above someone yells, “Detective Gumshoe?!” and Gumshoe immediately jumps. “Well, that’s my time to go! Remember no tamperin’, pal!”
“Okay, Gumshoe!” Maya finally says as the detective walks back up the stairs. To be honest, it’s more like running to escape whatever demon lives in the basement. As soon as he leaves, Phoenix swears some of the items on the shelves begin to glow unnaturally, it makes Phoenix shiver.
Maya plays around with the flashlight for a bit, she shifts the light across the room before stopping at a particular spot on the ground. Phoenix looks where the flashlight stopped to see a piece of purple cloth. Phoenix approaches the fabric and picks it up, defying the detective’s rule.
“Do you think that could have belonged to the murderer?” Maya asks.
“Maybe…” Phoenix brings his hand up to his chin. “It could just be old fabric but it could be evidence.”
[ Scrap of Purple Fabric added to the Court Record. ]
“They really cleared out the place,” Maya says to fill the silence, she waves her flashlight around a bit more. “Wait… Look over there!” Something glistened, a thin line with a wavy form.
Phoenix walks towards it to discover that it’s a thick metal string. When he picks it up, he immediately takes note of the texture, it’s mildly rough but it’s still noticeable. As he slides his fingers through the string he notices something. “Hey, Maya,” He says, walking towards his friend with the string on hand. “This string’s definitely brand new, right?”
Maya takes a look at the silver, sharp string and nods. “Yeah, it looks like it was bought just yesterday.”
“What if it was bought just yesterday?” Phoenix asks. “I think someone’s trying to frame our client, Maya.”
“Boy, when do we get a case when someone ISN’T being framed?” Maya rolls her eyes.
[ Strange Cord (?) added to the Court Record. ]
Phoenix just hums in response. He takes another round of the room, checking every nook and cranny. He looks through the shelves, shuffling things around until a photo flies off the shelf and onto the ground.
Phoenix examines it as Maya comes around to light up the picture. Before they can properly depict what’s in the photo the door opens back up. “Hey, pals!”
“Shit!” Phoenix barely whispers before ungracefully sliding the photo in his pocket. He works his best smile and turns around, sweat threatening to begin dripping down his forehead. “Ah! Detective! How are you?”
“Eh, I’m doin’ fine, pal! Thanks for askin’!” Gumshoe practically announces, he only walks down five steps before stopping. He really is scared of the basement. He laughs weakly, “Hey pals, I can't help but feel a bit hungry.” He says, very blatantly referring to a certain deal.
Maya smiles. “Is it time for lunch?” Phoenix can’t help but shoot Maya a glare.
The detective twiddles his thumbs and looks off. “I mean… if you guys want to eat now, I’ll do whatever you want, pal.”
Phoenix huffs, slumping his shoulders just a bit. ‘Just say you want food, Detective.’
“Don’t worry! We’ll eat if you want to right now.” Maya says, switching off the flashlight and walking towards the stairs. “C’mon, Nick! Food’s awaiting and the detective's stomach is empty!”
Phoenix furrows his brows then shoves his hands into his pockets. He twitches when he feels a cold and smooth object in one of the pockets but relaxes when he remembers it’s just the photo.
“C’mon, Nick! Hurry it up!” Maya is already waiting at the door.
Phoenix sighs, walking slowly. “I’m coming.”