A/N: Another Phoenix Wright Kink Meme fill. The prompt was simple enough, anon wanted Phoenix to punch Roger Retinz in the face, "taking him down with one hit". It was actually really fun writing this, especially since we know that Phoenix can get violent when it comes to someone he loves being badmouthed, it's just very very rare. Slight spoilers for 6-2.

Phoenix found himself employing Apollo's mantra all the way back to the States. Apollo would be fine! Trucy would be fine! The office would be fine! Everything would be absolutely fine! He did trust Apollo to take care of proving her innocence, he really did, but it just didn't feel right to stay in Khura'in Kingdom while his little girl was being tried for murder back home. He knew he wouldn't make it in time to be her lawyer himself, but he could at least try to make it there for part of the trial, to offer moral support to both Trucy and Apollo. Maya's training wasn't due to be finished for a few days still, so she wouldn't even miss him if he made the flight home and then returned once he knew Trucy was okay.

By the time he made it to the courthouse after landing, he knew the trial would have been underway for a few hours already. He had no way to know how it was going while on the plane or in the taxi from the airport, so he was decidedly nervous as he tried not to sprint down the halls to the defendant's lobby. He accidentally knocked one woman over in his hurry, and managed to stop himself long enough to help her up.

She recognized him. Most people in the courthouse recognized him nowadays. "Oh, Mr. Wright! You're here! Your daughter's trial just let out for a recess. Something about not knowing the correct time of the murder or which weapon was used."

A recess. That was good, it meant the trial was still ongoing at least, and a verdict hadn't been reached. "Thank you for letting me know, and I'm sorry for bumping into you. I'm in a hurry."

She waved a dismissive hand. "I understand, and I'm fine. You should hurry along, it was only a fifteen minute break." He nodded thankfully at her and this time he did run.

The tension inside the lobby was so thick that no one even turned to see who had come in when he entered. Athena, Apollo and Trucy were standing in front of some man, who he assumed was the Roger Retinz Apollo had told him about on the phone. He was levelling a camera straight at Trucy's face, and she was turning away from it, obviously uncomfortable with the attention. Phoenix only caught the tail end of what he was saying.

"-online can't stop talking about you! They're calling you a real witch out there. Could this be the end of Troupe Gramarye?"

Phoenix Wright was not a violent man. He didn't even get angry that easily. In fact most people that knew him would say he was a really nice guy and relatively easygoing. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever gotten physical with someone, and he'd never been in an all out brawl of any kind. A shove or a slap usually got the job done, and it was always shocking to both the other party and to Phoenix himself. When he lost his cool, there was never any warning to it. He could be conversing with someone who would have the misfortune of saying the exact wrong thing to set him off, and before he would even realize what he was doing they'd be on the ground or holding their cheek where he'd struck them. Hearing Trucy be slandered like that, while being filmed by some creep no less, was enough to push him into that state of unthinking.

Athena was yelling something at Retinz, but Phoenix couldn't even register it as he took a few long strides over to where the group was standing, his right hand automatically curling into a fist. He wasn't thinking about the possible ramifications of assaulting a witness; he wasn't really thinking at all.

Apollo saw him first, and gasped something out in surprise, but was cut off when Phoenix moved in front of them and shoved his left hand against the camera being pointed directly at his daughter. Retinz, who had still been focusing on Trucy through the camera lens and hadn't even seen Phoenix coming, took a surprised step back as the camera's eyepiece dug painfully into his eye.

"Hey, what-"

Retinz was silenced when Phoenix's right fist slammed into his jaw. His sunglasses flew off when his head snapped around, and he dropped to the floor, his camera with him. Trucy gasped, and then there was silence in the room as everyone else processed what had just happened.

"Hoh my God." Athena was the first to break the silence, and she sounded more impressed than anything else. Apollo was still gaping down at Retinz silently. Phoenix was just as shocked as everyone else was, but also felt a strange sense of self satisfaction knowing he'd managed to one-hit KO the other man. He really hadn't meant to use that much force, but as per usual, he hit without thinking first, and hadn't been able to tell himself to pull his punch even a little. He shook his hand. Nothing was broken, but he could feel pain in his knuckles and radiating up his arm from the force of the blow, and there was a small cut on one of his knuckles that a trickle of blood was leaking from.

Athena rushed forward to grab the camera Retinz had dropped to stop the recording. She rewound and played it again, and was relieved to see that he'd never actually caught Phoenix on camera. Even the hand Phoenix had shoved against it had been so quick that it wasn't even recognizable as a hand. It simply looked like Retinz had fallen, and only Trucy's feet were in the shot as the camera slid across the floor.

Phoenix looked guiltily at the bailiffs standing at the door to the courtroom. They approached, and one of them sighed as if only slightly annoyed. "Another one for the sick ward, then?"

"Um…" Phoenix rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. "Sorry."

The closest bailiff shrugged. He too recognized Phoenix. "It's okay, Mr. Wright. I'm sure he won't remember anything after that hit. We'll tell him he tripped and hit his face on this table here. He deserved it anyway."

The other man nodded. "He was saying some pretty awful things to your daughter, and I can't blame a dad for standing up for his kid like that. Our lips are sealed."

Together they hefted Retinz between them and exited to bring him to the sick ward. Trucy leapt forward to wrap her arms around Phoenix. "Oh Daddy, you're here!" She sniffled, trying and failing to hold back her tears at seeing him. She buried her face in his chest to hide them.

He held her against him, letting her cry into his shirt. "Of course. I'm so sorry I'm late, but I got here as soon as I could."

Athena was unable to hold back her grin as she and Apollo approached. "Damn, Boss! I had no idea you had such a mean right hook. You should come to my gym and do the boxing class with me!"

"Er, no, I'm good, Athena. Actually, I'm not used to hitting people. At all. Or that hard. I just couldn't stop myself when I heard him saying those things to Trucy."

Apollo nodded, digging out a handkerchief from his pocket and giving it to Phoenix to wipe the blood from his hand. "Well, I'm glad someone put him in his place. I would have liked to have given him a good smack but I didn't want to get thrown off the case." Phoenix, having had firsthand experience at being punched in the face by Apollo Justice, knew that Apollo had his own mean right hook and was willing to use it. If Apollo wasn't Trucy's lawyer Phoenix had no doubt he would have been happy to do the deed himself.

Trucy wiped her face back and forth against Phoenix, effectively wiping her tears off on him before turning back to face her friends with a small smile. "Thanks, Polly. And thanks, Daddy. Are you staying for the rest of the trial?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Apollo's gonna get you through this, okay? But I'll be in the gallery."

A bailiff from inside the courtroom poked his head out. "Mr. Justice. Court is about to reconvene."

They reentered the courtroom together, and later on when Retinz was called as a witness, it was impossible to miss the swelling on the left side of his face, or the fact that he was missing a tooth from the bottom row. Athena scoured the defendant's lobby for hours after Trucy's Not Guilty verdict was handed down and Phoenix headed out for another long flight back to Khura'in, but she never did manage to find that missing tooth.