Chapter Text
“ Geez, I can’t believe I came all the way out here for a visit and you’re still in here cleaning toilets. You never change, do you, Nick?” Maya complained, collapsing onto the couch that’s intended for clients.
“Well someone has to do it around here. Normally it’s Apollo, but he’s out investigating a case of his own right now.” He’d love for this to be someone else’s responsibility. How was he the boss and still stuck doing the worst jobs?
“I already told you Boss, I’m working on important paperwork from my last case.” Athena said, as if he didn’t know how long paperwork took. ‘Plus it’s gross.’ Widget amended, only to get shushed by Athena. He might’ve only just barely gotten his badge back, but that didn’t mean that he was by any means new to this.
“You can’t even take a break to visit your oldest and dearest friend?” Maya dramatically sighed, feigning pain with her arm draped across her forehead.
Before he could even say something snarky back about how she was the one that showed up unannounced during the middle of a work day, and that they get a lot more work now than they did back when it was Wright and Co. Law Office, his phone rang. That just proved his point for him, and he didn’t even have to snark even a little bit. How about that?
He slid off the gloves and set them to the side. He gave his hands a quick wash and answered his phone.
“This is Phoenix Wright, defense attorney, how may I help you?” He said, ignoring the obvious pout on Maya’s face. Something just never changed, did they.
“You gotta come quick, pal! They arrested him! You gotta get here right away!” He knew that voice. He knew that pal.
“Gumshoe, you gotta slow down. What happened? Who got arrested?” He wandered out from the bathroom and over to his desk. Maya followed behind, already knowing that something was up and the day was about to get more interesting.
“Mr Edgeworth! They got him all locked up like a criminal!” Edgeworth? That didn’t sound right at all. How the hell would Miles of all people not have an alibi?
“What do you mean, Edgeworth? What did they arrest him for?”
“They’re trying to say he’s a murderer, pal! You gotta get down here right away and get him outta this mess!” Well, it was Edgeworth, so this was going to be easy. He probably already gave his story to the police, and he’s probably going to meet him outside the detention center.
“Alright. I’ll be right over.” He hung up, and put his phone back in his pocket. “Well Maya, wanna come help me with this case like old times?”
“Well first you gotta tell me what’s going on with Edgeworth?! What’s he been arrested for?!” Maya asked, blocking the way between him and the door.
“I think you already know.” How else did any of his cases end up? He had to have been cursed at some point.
“Wait they think Mr. Edgeworth killed someone?!” Athena stood up at her desk, any “paperwork” she had left now ignored. “What are we doing standing around here then!? We gotta go!”
“Don’t worry about it, Athena. We’re more than capable of handling this. You’re still not finished with your last case. Or were you lying to get out of doing office chores.” He knew exactly which it was, but it didn’t stop this from being funny.
“Y-yes sir.” She sighed, sitting back down. ‘Party pooper.’ Widget complained.
“We won’t be long. It’s impossible that this won’t be an open and shut case. Come on, Maya.”
“You’re not still riding that bike, are you Nick?” Maya said, freezing him in place. The snort from behind him was not lost. He’d get you back for laughing, Athena.
“I’ve gotten a new one since then. There’s no time to argue about this. It’s time to get moving!” Like he was moving along the conversation.
“Nick! I can’t keep riding on that bike with you! I’m not a kid anymore. And besides! I’m a guest! You need to learn to treat your guests better, Nick.” She scolded. Almost made him want to get his license.
Almost , but not quite.
“Fine. I guess I can get us a cab this time.” Hopefully this case wouldn’t have them going all over town. Knowing Miles it probably wasn’t that far from the detention center. Unless this was related to a different case, Miles didn’t really go to that many places. He was the one that should’ve had a bike.
But he was getting off topic. He’d call the cab, and he’d hope for the best. Today could end up being a very expensive one, and hopefully Miles would pay him back a little for this. What was a few cab fares between friends, right?
Unsurprisingly, when he got there there seemed to be tons of people. Edgeworth was the chief prosecutor now. It was only natural that there would be tons of people here trying to figure out what happened and others trying to pick up the pieces until he’s back.
He’d just have to push past the crowd to get to the exhausted guard who was presently in charge of visiting hours.
“Hello, I’m here to talk to Miles Edgeworth. Detective Gumshoe sent me. I’m the defense attorney who’s going to represent him in court. ” Unlike everyone else here, Phoenix had an upper hand here. He was going to be taking this case and he needed to get information from his client.
But before the guard could respond, a man on his way out of the visiting room chimed in. “Detective Gumshoe sent you? That’s weird, when Miles said he wasn’t going to accept my offer, he never said he had someone else in mind.”
That… wasn’t someone he knew. It was jarring hearing someone talk about Edgeworth so casually. Even he only called him Miles when it was just the two of them.
“Uh, whether he knows or not is a different issue. He’s just an old friend of mine.” Maybe it was an undersell, but his and Miles’ relationship was their own private matter. And he respected him enough to keep his mouth shut about it.
“Come on, Nick. He’s not just an old friend. You’ve been rivals for years! Besides, you’ve saved him before. I’d say that’s a lot more meaningful than just old friends.” Maya butted in. So she managed to follow him in the crowd. He was just going to find her before he headed in, but this worked even better. Even if her comments weren’t entirely necessary.
“Saved Miles… no kiddin’. Wait…” The man’s brows furrowed. “You’re the one that got von Karma arrested for the DL-6, aren’t you.”
That was a case he hadn’t heard in a while. It really was like the old days. Minus Maya being too good for his bike now.
“Well, it’s not like I can take all the credit for it. I had a lot of help. And besides, Edgeworth might’ve been a lot of things back then,” a lot of things someone who’s about to accept his case to defend him shouldn’t say, “but murderer was never one of them. And Edgeworth’s only gotten better from there.”
“This whole time I’ve been talking to the Turnabout Terror himself. And I guess it’s only fitting that he’s got a cute assistant too. How ‘bout a hug?” He held his arms out. He gave a look to Maya, reminding her that she had better not. This guy might’ve known Miles, but they definitely didn’t.
“I think we’ll pass.” Maya stayed silent, knowing that Phoenix was watching her from the corner of his eye.
“Alright. Suit yourself.” He shrugged, putting his hands back in his pocket. “The Turnabout Terror taking little Miles’ case. Guess I don’t gotta worry about him. But if you ever need a hand, just give me a call.” The man gave him a tip of his hat, handed him a business card, and disappeared into the crowd.
“Come on, Nick. He seemed nice enough. I am an adult you know.” Maya pouted, taking the chance to argue with him now that the man had disappeared into the crowd.
“You get into more trouble than anyone I’ve ever known. We don’t need you hugging strange men.”
The guard pulled them aside, making sure that the crowd stayed and only they followed him. The hallway was long enough that he could get a glimpse at the card. Immediately something caught his eye. Edgeworth Law Offices? Since when was there an Edgeworth Law Office? He was a prosecutor, not a defense attorney. He didn’t watch him every hour of the day, but even that felt like something too big for him to hide.
But those were questions that were going to have to be put on hold for a bit, as now they were sitting in the visitor’s room as Miles stared at the wall.
Phoenix honestly hoped that he would never have to see him like this, but at least he looked better from last time. Certainly a lot less likely to accuse him of coming to laugh at him, that was certain.
But Miles still refused to meet his eyes.
“What happened?”
“I should think it’s pretty obvious. A man has died, and I have been accused as the culprit.”
“Yeah, but why? ” Gumshoe had told him as much over the phone. Phoenix was hoping that he’d at least get a little more information.
“These are details that are to be shared with my attorney , Wright.”
Oh good , they were doing this . Out of all the innocent people in the world, Phoenix wasn’t sure that any of them acted more guilty than Miles. A little cooperation would be nice…
“Edgeworth, you know I want to defend you, and I’m going to do everything in my power to do so.” If anyone should know his credentials, it’d be Miles.
Well, and Maya, but she wasn’t presently on trial.
Knock on wood.
“Yeah, You should know better than anyone how good at finding the truth Nick is.”
Miles kept staring off at the wall, grimacing ever so slightly. “That’s exactly why I’m refusing.”
“Come on, Miles. I already know you didn’t kill that man.”
“You have none of the details, Wright. You couldn’t possibly know that.”
Sometimes Miles was the worst. He dug his heels in, even if it was to his advantage. This was only one in a long series of standoffs from Miles “I’ve Chosen to Die on this Hill” Edgeworth.
“I’ve defended without my memory. I could pull it off.”
“I’m not asking you to defend at all. So this doesn’t concern you.”
“Come on, Edgeworth… You really think Nick is going to give up? The longer you hold out, the more hijinx are going to ensue in order to get you to cooperate.” Maya grinned.
Phoenix would admit to being a lot more outlandish than he was in his early days, but he still resented it.
The look on Miles’ face soured as he thought about it. He already knew that all eyes were on him, so Maya might’ve had a persuasive argument. This was the other reason you did outlandish things like defend an orca. Phoenix now had a reputation, and he was fully prepared to use it to his advantage.
“Fine. But only focus on the facts related to the case.”
“Are there things adjacent to the case that I should know about?”
The words barely left his mouth, when the chains flew in, obscuring a good portion of Miles, before five locks sat firmly in place.
It was never easy with this man…
“There are many things adjacent, but the trial’s tomorrow, so you had better not waste your time on pointless separate endeavors.”
So the answer was that Miles was hiding something . It was almost certainly going to be related to the case at hand, and Phoenix was going to have to pry it out of him.
Hopefully he’d get some clues, because the sooner they found out, the sooner all the pieces would come together. Miles should know at this point that just because events seemed unrelated, didn’t mean they didn’t have anything to do with each other. That was practically the most important part in learning to turn your thinking around.
“So tell us what happened.”
There was still a moment of hesitation before Miles spoke. It wasn’t a long pause, but Phoenix could recognize him picking his words carefully. “I was out doing some errands, when there was an earthquake. I ducked into an alleyway to collect myself, when I lost consciousness.”
It was a pretty nasty earthquake. Phoenix had sent him a text checking up on him, and he really should’ve been more suspicious of the delay between him sending the text and receiving it.
“So how does that make you the prime suspect?” Because passing out near a crime scene is far from suspicious, especially if it’s a public setting like this.
“I awoke to a gun in my hand, and the screams of a woman. The next thing I noticed was that there was a dead body.”
“That felt like a pretty big detail of the story…” Why he stopped when he did was a mystery.
“So you’re saying you were framed?” Maya asked.
“Most likely.”
“Well, at least you had the sense this time not to pick up the murder weapon on your own?”
That earned a hard stare from Miles, and honestly, it was kinda deserved. He would admit that it was mean spirited.
“Regardless, given my role as Chief Prosecutor and the previous people to hold such lofty titles, my word unfortunately means little.”
That was definitely true, and Phoenix couldn’t help but feel bad over the fact that this was no doubt going to leave a stain on Miles’ record, even when he was proven to be completely innocent.
“There’s no shortage of drama over there, is there?”
For all the trouble that came with finding work as a defense attorney, he had to appreciate the fact that when one defense attorney got busted, it usually meant that the rest of them got more work.
Granted there weren’t a lot that came to them because of the fact that they didn’t have a traditional name, and there were still a lot of people wary of Phoenix since the incident almost a decade ago.
If only the public opinion had any sort of statute of limitations.
“Well Blaise Debeste of the PIC getting arrested wasn’t an incredible look. It’s hard to take a profession seriously when the chair of the ethics committee was arrested on multiple counts.”
That was a case that Phoenix didn’t really get the opportunity to look too deeply into. By the time any of that came to light, he was in the midst of adoption and finding out how to cope without his badge.
“Yeah, I could imagine.” Miles had told him it was a headache and that he should consider himself lucky that he didn’t play a role in that debacle. “So where did this crime even happen? We should probably go check out the crime scene.”
“It was the alley next to an establishment called “Poppy’s Flowers”. It shouldn’t be hard to guess which side, as it’d be the one with the investigation.”
“I could probably figure that out…” Good to know Miles was at least still himself. It was nice to know he trusted him so much to make jokes at Phoenix’s expense.”
“ Oooh , were you getting flowers for someone, Edgeworth?” Maya teased.
Miles scoffed. “If I were to get flowers, why would I get it from a place like that? ”
Good to know it had such high praise associated with it.
Also something that Phoenix was going to have to make note of if he was ever in the market for flowers.
“But we should get going. There’s only so much time before the trial.” He understood the urgency of getting this resolved, but couldn’t they give them just a little more time? This was kinda important.
“I’m sure you’ll have no issue. I’d be concerned for someone who’s been investigating as long as you have to struggle.”
Phoenix was going to correct him, but then he realized that he had been investigating a long time. Even if he had no legal business doing so, he did put all that work in uncovering the Gramerye trial and the incident with Kristoph, and the depths of which he was willing to sink to get praise and take care of loose ends.
With a wave, they were on their way.
Granted, the guard had to escort them out through the backdoor. Everyone wanted to know exactly what was going on with the chief prosecutor, and they were all ready to get their stories out to tear him to shreds.
As they were in the taxi on their way over, something bugged him, and he couldn’t figure out what.
“It’s weird that so many people know already, right?” Maya asked, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean?”
“Like the PIC incident, no one knew until days after when the trial was already held. As chief prosecutor you’d think Edgeworth would get the same treatment.”
That was probably what was bothering him.
He was so lucky to have Maya’s input on trials again. It really helped out a lot.
“You’d think that they’d keep quiet about it, because once suspicions are cleared, it’d be like nothing ever happened.”
“And now the whole public knows, and they’re giving him trouble over false charges.”
“Probably won’t help when they find the guy who lost his badge over forgery changes is his defense attorney.”
That was a mistake on his part, but you’d think after being cleared of those charges and helping arrest an international spy that people would be talking about that instead.
“Like you aren’t already a part of Edgeworth’s image.” Maya teased.
“I’ve only been to a few parties with him at his request. They weren’t even that big.” Mostly just Christmas parties with big wigs that Miles refused to attend alone.
“Still, any damage you would’ve done to his name is done.”
“I guess that’s true.” The DL6 did get a reinvestigation after he lost his badge.
Nothing came from it, but as one of the most notable cases in his career, Phoenix couldn’t blame them for being suspicious of it.
They pulled up to the location, and it was covered in security and police.
Guess with all the press on this, they can’t be too careful.
They tipped the driver and got back out. Hopefully Miles would be willing to pay him back for all the trips today and they could call it part of his legal fees.
After showing his badge, ID, and the required documents, they were let onto the scene. The cops that let them in still kept a close eye on them, but again, with the information leaked, he couldn’t really blame them.
Standing at the scene were two notable characters.
A woman with an oversized trench coat full of bullet holes with her hair up in a high pony, and a man with short hair with a strand that seemed defiant in its need to stick up and curl into a question mark.
If he were to guess, he’d say there was a conductor at the scene and the detective was questioning him.
If he hadn’t seen a lot weirder, Phoenix would consider it odd for a conductor of all things to be in the area.
“Maybe he was in the flower shop getting flowers for his band?” Phoenix spitballed.
“Or he could be just off work and was getting flowers for a date.”
Before they could muse about it further, the conductor looked up at them and scowled. “What are you doing here? This is a closed crime scene.”
This was the perfect opportunity for it, so he’d show him his badge. “I’m defending Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, so I’m here to examine the scene.”
The detective, despite being shorter, leaned onto the conductor. “This is probably the guy that Mr. Shields was telling us about.”
The conductor looked like he ate something sour. “So he really isn’t defending him? Out of all people, why would he choose the “Turnabout Terror”.”
“I’m standing right here…” He didn’t think that there was anything particularly wrong with who he was.
“Let me make myself clear, Mr. Terror. My cases are first class in all aspects. I won’t put up with any foolishness in my courtroom. I hope you’re on your first class behavior as well.”
“ You’re the prosecutor?” Maya asked, because while prosecutors tended to dress flashier, this man was basically just dressed as another job.
“Yeah, he’s as first class as they come!” The detective slapped the “prosecutor”s back. For someone dressed as intimidating as her, she seemed just as jovial as Gumshoe. So he could consider himself lucky.
Hopefully.
The prosecutor bowed. “Prosecutor Debeste, here to find the truth whether you like it or not.”
Debeste… There was no way this kid was related to the former chair of the PIC.
And there was no way he of all people was giving him a hard time about it…
“Phoenix Wright. Now if you don’t mind, we’d like to do some investigating.”
“We’re preparing to thoroughly investigate the crime scene right now, so come back later. If not, you’re welcome to hear our findings in court tomorrow.”
Phoenix could already tell where this was going. This was the classic “revenge for your involvement in my loved one’s arrest”. This kid was going to be out for blood, and given his father’s connections, Phoenix was going to have to be wary of any dubious evidence and updated autopsy reports.
“Are there at least any witnesses we can talk to?”
“There’s the woman who saw the murder when it happened. She’s inside her business right now.” Prosecutor Debeste brushed off, before turning back to the scene, drawing his baton and conducting to himself.
Definitely more of a conductor than a prosecutor.
“Thanks, I’ll check in later then…”
Fortunately it wasn’t too far of a walk, because the back door that led into the building was still open. They should probably still go through the front doors.
Or that would be the plan, but unfortunately Maya was already walking right through the door.
“Maya!” He hissed in a quiet whisper as he followed her. “You’re definitely old enough to know better.”
“What? It’s not like she’s open. Her front door would be locked and there’s police blocking the entrance. What other option is there?”
She was right… But that still didn’t mean she should just waltz back in there.
The back seemed pretty barebones. For a florist he kinda assumed the back would be more… vibrant . It was a little depressing, honestly.
On one of the tables, sat a pile of letters. She wasn’t around so it probably wouldn’t hurt to peak.
From the looks of it, the back being so barebones as it was was an issue of finances. The pile was almost nothing but bills. Aside from a letter from a place called O'Shea's. It felt like it rang a bell.
“Oh! You must be the witness the prosecution sent us to talk to!” Maya said, loudly enough for Phoenix to notice on the other side of the room. He quickly put down the letters and went to join her.
This was why it was important to travel in packs. For when you were doing something borderline illegal and you needed someone to distract.
“Are you the lawyer hired to defend that man from the alley? I hear he’s the chief prosecutor.” Her voice seemed bubbly, and at this point Phoenix knew to be wary of her. He already knew she was going to be a nightmare on the stand. Her type always was.
“We are, my name’s Phoenix Wright. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?”
She hummed. “I don’t know… Helping you would be helping a murderer. I don’t think that I want to help someone like that get away with something scott free.”
Oh good, she was one of these types too… “Look we’re looking for the real culprit here. The reason we’re here is so a murderer doesn’t get away scott free.”
“If you were, then why are you helping him? I saw him shoot poor Sig!”
Unbeknownst to her, psyche locks came rushing in, three of them, so while not the worst, it was still a pretty important secret. He had a feeling he knew the answer to what she was hiding, but the issue circled back to something else instead.
Who was the one she really saw shoot him?
It had to be a third party, because there was no way that she would be playing this fast and loose with her own fate like that.
“Right… But could you tell me about the victim?”
The witness dabbed at her eyes, Phoenix restrained himself from rolling his. “Oh, Sig worked for me since I opened up my store. He was always such a sweet guy, hardworking too… He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
Phoenix had no idea how real any of this was, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor woman. If she meant what she said, then Sig sounded like he was fairly close to the victim.
“I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure this is a hard time. I promise we’ll make sure that the culprit sees justice.”
“Then drop your case. If no one defends him, then he’ll go to jail for sure!”
This lady was a mixed bag…
“Like I said… We’ll make sure the culprit sees justice.” He sighed, she did give them something, he supposed. “Can you tell me anything else about the day of the murder? Anything unusual?”
“Of course I’ll tell you about the day of the murder.” She beamed.
And Phoenix waited.
And she stared back at them.
“Are you going to tell us?” Maya asked.
“Of course I am! When I’m at the stand tomorrow!”
Phoenix rolled his eyes.
Witnesses… No matter the case, they never seemed to change.
“Come on, Maya. We should go see if they’re done outside.”
Maya wasn’t subtle about the sour face the witness left her with.
But he was proud that she was able to keep her mouth shut, until at the very least the cab on the way back to the detention center. The last thing they needed right now was to have Maya be arrested for disorderly conduct.
As they left the scene, they were greeted by an unusual scene.
Miles was standing there, with a gun, pointing down the alley at a man he’d never seen before.
How did he get out here, he was supposed to be at the detention center! Who was this? Where did he get that gun??
The door seemed to open through them, despite being already open, and the gun was fired.
“And that’s the distance the autopsy report said it was?” Prosecutor Debeste asked.
“Should be. It was close, but not so close.”
“And you’re sure that’s the angle the victim was at? The entry wound was at an odd angle.”
Phoenix hadn’t even heard anything of the autopsy report yet… This was all important information. How much more could they get by staying quiet?
Maybe he could figure out what’s going on…
“I could try moving the victim, but this is where it looked like he was standing at the time of the incident. He died instantly so he couldn’t have moved.” The detective mumbled, and inputted some things into a little device.
The unidentified man rotated.
“This doesn’t feel right either because this…” She hit more buttons, and the man was on the ground and bleeding out…”Was how he was found.”
This felt vaguely familiar… The visuals at least.
Standing where he was, felt a lot like when they were testing the MASON system.
So why was it here at the crime scene being used by the detectives?
Phoenix knew that this case was going to be trouble, but he didn’t think it was going to raise this many questions.
Like why Miles had more psyche locks than the woman actively lying about a murder she may or may not’ve witnessed.
“Hey! I thought I told you to get out of here!” Prosecutor Debeste crossed his arms.
“The witness told us to leave, so we did.” Maya explained coolly.
“Well now all the information we’ve discovered will be kept a secret until the trial! I hope you’re proud of yourselves!” He continued to scold.
“Can we at least have the autopsy report?”
Prosecutor Debeste scowled at him, before turning away. “Detective Faraday, give him a copy.”
The copy was put in his hand. “There, but don’t do anything funny with it.”
What could they possibly think he could do with an autopsy report? Did they even know how hard it’d be for a defense attorney to credibly do that?
“Thanks, I’ll see you in court tomorrow.” He stashed the autopsy report to check out later, and he’ll get out his phone to call a cab.
“And I look forward to seeing the truth.” Prosecutor Debeste smugly quipped as he refused to turn around. His attention fully on the scene in front of him.
Tomorrow was going to be such a headache. He already knew Miles was innocent, but that wouldn’t stop the prosecution and witnesses from being giant pains in the ass.
But Prosecutor Debeste did have a point. The truth would come out in court, and Phoenix looked forward to serving it.