A/N: Another Janaverse fic! And here I said I was working on Turnabout, I Do and Turnabout of the Night. I mean... I kind of was... and then I got sidetracked by some Brothers Karamazov crossdressing slash fanfiction... which I haven't even finished yet even though I want to finish it by the time my friend gets back from Russia... /sob
Anyway, here you are! And this time, we have AN ACTUAL COURT CASE.
By the way, it'd be a really good idea to head over to my profile and check out the other fics in my Janaverse series before you read this one.
February 14 (2054), 7:30 PM, Gavin Estate
Valentine's day.
The very words can strike fear into the hearts of even the most stalwart men, assuming the word 'stalwart' here meant 'averse to going on dates'. Because going on dates was exactly what everyone was doing tonight. For example, Maria Fey-Armando and Ace Gumshoe were at that awful, overpriced "French" chain restaurant, Kristoph Gavin had gotten one of the numerous Feys to channel Dahlia Hawthorne, and Watson Justice was visiting someone in prison.
And Franziska von Karma and husband (that is, Klavier "Whipped" Gavin) were out at a significantly better French restaurant than the one previously mentioned. Leaving their kids - Jana and Alois, ages 15 and 17, respectively - home alone on the agreement that they wouldn't throw any parties, wouldn't order takeout on either parent's debit card, and would go to bed by eleven. Not that either child was the house party type.
Nonetheless, the doorbell was ringing.
"Who is that?" Jana said, putting down her PlayStation 23 controller.
"How am I supposed to know?" Alois said, immediately pulling the controller towards him with his foot and picking it up. "Go check the door."
"You do it."
"Ich glaube nicht."
Grumbling, Jana picked up her riding crop and walked over to the door as Alois started his turn on the game she had just been playing.
To her surprise, she found Miguel Fey-Armando holding a cat.
"Are you allowed to have cats?" he said instead of a greeting.
"Uh… Alois?"
Whether he was summoned by Jana calling him or the sound of Miguel's voice (or omnipresent smell of coffee), Jana wasn't sure, but Alois stuck his head into the entrance hallway a half-second later. "Ja?"
Miguel held up the cat in his arms a bit higher. "Kitten, kitten?"
Alois raised his eyebrows. "Wo… how long have you had that…?"
Miguel shrugged, scratching the little cat behind its ears. "Last week he was a stray on the side of the road, and this morning I found out that pets aren't actually allowed at my apartment." He shoved the cat into Alois' arms. "I named him after you, kitten. Happy Valentine's day."
Alois blinked rapidly. "You named it Kitten?" Jana said, confused.
Miguel rolled his eyes. "I named it Alois, obviously."
"That could get confusing…"
"He's only called me anything other than 'kitten' maybe two times in my whole life," Alois mused, "so ich denke it wouldn't be confusing to Miguel." He blinked again. "His kitten is Alois and Alois is his kitten."
"Now you've got it," Miguel said with a brilliant, toothy grin.
"Is that all?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Have fun with Alois."
"…I cannot believe that you had nothing else to do on Valentine's day," Jana said, frowning. "You did not get a date?"
"Nope."
How? Jana screamed at the handsome prosecutor in her head, but wisely decided not to do it out loud.
"Anyway," Miguel said, half-turning around, "I'm going to go down to the movie theatre to pick up girls who got stood up by their dates tonight. See you, kitten, filly." He walked off, and Jana closed the door again, and turned to Alois the human, who was still holding Alois the kitten.
"I'm renaming it," Alois said immediately, holding it out at arms' length to get a closer look at it.
"Good," Jana said. She looked at the door, frowning again. "That was… random."
"He was definitely checking up on us," Alois said, "remember last month?"
Jana scoffed. "Mama and Papa trust us on our own, even after that."
"Mama and Papa don't think that anything weird happened then. Miguel does. Naja," he said, putting Alois the cat on the floor, where it immediately started rubbing up against his legs, "why do you think Miguel named it after me?"
Jana crouched down to look at the cat. "I am sure that he thinks that it looks like you." It was a small, exceptionally fluffy Russian blue with a black ribbon tied to its collar.
"…ja, I suppose that the hair and eye colors do match," Alois said, also crouching down to pet the kitten. "Do you think it matters, specifically, that it's so klein?"
"Probably."
"But I'm taller than Miguel."
"You are much… narrower than he is, in the shoulders…"
Alois stood back up, his angry/pouty face on. "I get it," he said, "und sowieso, we need Mama or Papa or Onkel Kristoph to get back before we can go get food and litter and Zeug."
"I wonder why Miguel did not bring…" Jana trailed off. So that was why Alois assumed that he was really here just to check on them. He probably was so focused on that aspect of it that he forgot to bring along the cat-keeping necessities. In fact, he'd probably be back to drop them off later. "Well. In the meantime, we may as well go back to our game."
"Gute Idee."
February 14, 7:45 PM, Los Angeles Central Hospital, Psychiatric Ward
Ares wasn't going to question the way he had woken up, just minutes ago, to the door to his room (cell, just call it what it is) being slammed and to a sleek, flat tech device and his leather jacket - confiscated weeks ago - folded up on the foot of his bed. Attached to it was a typed note.
"Ares:
"At 7:45, you will have five minutes.
"Leave.
"Head towards eastside. Destroy this note.
"- Huitzilopotchli"
He wasn't going to question it. He immediately ate the note, letting the thin paper melt in his mouth (was this rice paper? Had Huitzilopotchli known he was going to choose this way to destroy the note? Did Huitzilopotchli want something with him? But what? And why?) while he examined the tablet. As it looked like a more polished version of Watson's time travel device - or at least what he assumed that would look like based off of the blueprints, which were ultimately the only things he had seen of it so far - he could easily surmise what this thing was.
And then 7:45:00 struck, and nothing obvious happened - no explosions, no powerouts, no sudden uptick in activity among the nurses who always seemed to be bustling around. Undaunted, Ares shrugged his jacket on, glad to have it back, and walked casually out of his room - the door was unlocked, although as far as he remembered it really should have been, especially since the doors on these rooms (cells) locked automatically - and down the hallway - the emergency exit door was also unlocked, going through it set off no alarm, and he passed no one. Just on the outside was a set of clothing - jeans, a button-down white shirt, a red tie, gray loafers, even a pair of sunglasses, which he had also sorely missed - which he quickly changed into, conscious of the fact that he only had about 50 seconds left. He didn't know if he was supposed to worry about the external security cameras or not, but erring on the side of caution, by the time 7:50:00 rolled around, he was already off-campus and heading West.
He followed roads for a while, until he got tired somewhere in Hollywood, and managed to find some mansion with a backyard, or rather a small, park-like garden behind it. Even though the sun had set almost three hours ago, most of the windows were dark, except for a few on the bottom floor. Maybe the living room. Whatever, they probably aren't going to notice me, Ares thought, hopping the fence and settling with his back against a convenient tree, facing away from the house. He pulled out the tablet, inspected it, then flicked it on. It looked vaguely like a cannibalized, upgraded version of the MASON system, although right now the only things it offered him were CURRENT LOCATION (UTC): 14 FEBRUARY 2054 CE | LN α α | 20:14 and underneath, CURRENT LOCATION (WGS86): 34.1000° N, 118.3333° W. There was empty bar underneath that, like the kind that a password or PIN number is entered into.
Ares thought back to Huitzilopotchli's note, wondering if any of it was a clue or riddle or something that indicated a password. Maybe that was something he could have expected to get if he had actually followed all the instructions? But then again, he had seen enough of the Teotihuacan Foundation to know that they couldn't be trusted, even if (in his opinion) they seemed to have a few fewer screws loose than the Tula Group. Regardless, he tapped the input bar and was surprised to find, instead of a demand for a password, a window that said "HEAD TO PRESET LOCATION?" above a yes and a no icon.
A cat suddenly pressed up against him and meowed and he almost jumped a foot in the air. He pushed it away without looking at it, but it persisted. He finally glanced at it, surprised - it was an itty-bitty Russian blue with a black ribbon tied to its collar. It meowed again.
"Go away," he muttered to it, and returned his attention to the time travel device. Preset location? Where? When? The kitten meowed again and head butted the device.
"Go away," Ares said, a bit louder now, as he pressed the yes icon. "I hate cats." There was a brief flash of colored light from the device, and a semi-transparent gaseous-liquid-looking orange and blue plane of light flickered into existence about a meter away from where he was sitting. That must be the door, Ares thought. He didn't think it'd look like this. He glanced at the tablet again. He'd been hoping that opening the door when tell him exactly when and where it would lead to, but no dice.
The kitten meowed again, and then ran through the door.
Ares stared. That… that wasn't supposed to happen. Little thing was probably in huge trouble now - who knew where and when it was? For all Ares knew this whole thing was a trap and the unnamed cat had been deposited in the air over a live volcano, or in a Roman coliseum, or at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Poor thing was as good as dead. "Whatever," Ares mumbled, looking away from the door it had just disappeared through. "Stupid cat. Got what it deserved."
He sat like this for about two minutes, frowning, then stood up, his breath hissing out through gritted teeth. "Stupid cat," he said again, loudly this time, and stepped through the door himself.
February 14, 8:20 PM, Gavin Estate
"Was war das?" Alois said, pausing the game. "Is there someone outside?"
"Probably a homeless person," Jana said, shrugging.
"…they sounded close," Alois said, tilting his head. "We locked the doors, ja?"
"I think so, but maybe you should go check," Jana said, grabbing the controller from his hands.
"Ja, ja," Alois said irritably, standing up and looking around. "Where's the cat?"
"I do not know."
Sighing, Alois made a round of the bottom floor, checking the doors and windows and also keeping an eye out for their new pet. Maybe it went upstairs? he thought as he reached the backdoor, and was immediately set on edge as he saw that not only was it unlocked, but it was also ajar. "He, Jana," he called cautiously, "I think I found where our cat went."
"It is your cat, really," Jana said, wandering over, "Miguel gave it to you… oh, the backyard." She rolled her eyes.
"Schau mal, that door should have been locked," Alois said, frowning at her.
"…sorry."
"Und I don't want my new cat to run away before we can actually ask Mama and Papa if we can keep it," he said, striding out into the garden, then stopping so suddenly that Jana, who had followed him out, rammed into him.
"What is your problem?" Jana snapped, then followed his gaze to the blue and orange lights bathing the bushes.
About a meter behind the sole tree in their backyard was a time door. Alois and Jana groaned simultaneously.
"Who is responsible for this?!" Jana whined loudly, stamping her feet.
"Hm," Alois said, ignoring her and looking around the garden, "tja, Jana, eigentlich, I think the cat went through the time door…"
"What."
"It's not, äh, here. And now. Ich glaube."
Jana stared at him for a few moments, and then they both turned to the door. It wavered back at them.
"I do not want to," Jana said, whining again.
"I didn't want to first," Alois said. "Jedoch, I don't want to lose my new cat either."
They stared at the door for another few moments.
"…although we should make absolute sure that it isn't anywhere else in the house first."
August 5 (2001), 8:00 AM, Houzuki Discount Motel, Room #0006
Ares looked around as he tried to rub the tingling sensation out of his arms. Where was that blasted cat? The door led to a specific point in time, everything exiting it should be right… here… I suppose that would lead to trying to stick more than one thing in the same place if more than one thing went through the door, he thought, frowning at what horrible and possibly fatal things that could result from trying to put two objects in the same physical space. It was only the subject of two hundred B-list sci-fi movies, after all. There's probably a delay function, so that if the cat went through the door two minutes before I did, I probably got here at… at… He checked the tablet. …was it set to send me here to 07:58?
He cautiously looked out the door and, seeing that the hallway was empty, stepped out into it. He headed off in an arbitrary direction, puzzling over the time coordinates. Was it just a matter of imprecision? Or did whoever pre-set the coordinates do so with the knowledge that something would be going through before Ares did?
Speaking of something, Ares' head jerked up when he heard a now-familiar meow. He pivoted on his heel, turning in the direction of the noise: room no. 0010, the door to which was slightly cracked.
As much as he would have liked to, Ares couldn't deny the sense of relief he felt when the wayward feline slipped out from behind the door, or the sense of horror when upon picking up the cat he noticed that it was covered in blood.
"Oh gods," he said out loud, frantically checking the cat over for injuries. Why did he feel so responsible for the stupid thing? It just meowed complacently at him.
Finally, satisfied that the kitten wasn't injured, Ares held it close to his chest (partially tucking it under his jacket - they may be in August now, but they had just left February and Ares could still feel the chill) and peeked into room 0010. That blood had to come from somewhere, and it was probably human.
Definitely human, Ares thought, stepping carefully into the room. He noted how similar the layout was to Watson's apartment, and then noted the dead man lying face down on the floor and seeping blood everywhere. There were some paw prints leading out of the puddle of blood. Ares looked at his feline companion.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you about preserving the crime scene?" He smirked at the kitten's adorable mewl in response.
Well, better get out of here before I get accused of murder again… or close enough to again, anyway, Ares thought, turning quickly towards the door, but then stopping as he noticed that the light was on in the kitchen, too. Unable to resist his curiosity, and never having been famed for making good decisions, Ares picked his way around the corpse and into the kitchen. There was a lot of blood in here, too, but what was more interesting was the fact that every surface in the kitchen was covered in food. It was like the dead guy had been in the middle of clearing out his fridge, which, speaking of, was on its side, although it was closed, plugged in, and apparently on.
Ares and the kitten exchanged a glance before Ares reached out to grasp the handle and-
"Freeze! Police!"
So what can you expect from this fic, besides the stuff in the summary? Getting more into the politics of time-travel, for one thing. And for another: the (proper) introductions of some fairly major (series-wide) characters.
Please review and feed my delusion that people actually care about my wacko sci-fi next-gen AU!
German translations! Including the obvious ones.
Ich glaube nicht.: I don't think so.
Ja?: Yes?
Wo...: Where...
ich denke: I think
Naja,: Anyway,
klein: small
und sowieso,: and anyway,
Onkel: Uncle
Zeug: stuff
Gute Idee.: Good idea.
Was war das?: What was that?
He,: Hey,
Schau mal,: Look here,/Take a look,
Und: And
tja: yeah
eigentlich: actually
äh: (a filler sound)
Ich glaube.: I think.
Jedoch,: Although,