Turnabout Heroics-Part 1.1
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"Captain Hero?" I asked while picking up the newspaper that Maya had dropped on the coffee table in front of me. "Is this the sequel to The Nickel Samurai?"
"No Nick, he's a real life hero!" While she rapidly flipped through channels on the TV, Maya kept her attention partially in my direction too. "Since a couple weeks ago he's been showing up all over the city, stopping bad guys and averting disasters! You know, hero stuff!"
That was a bit hard to swallow. Picking up the paper, I flipped to one of the center pages that she had marked by folding it partially. The featured article in the local section had a picture of someone hidden by shadows as they ran down an alley.
"The Mysterious Captain Hero"
-The last couple of weeks our fair city has had a helping hand from a surprising source. Leaving a mysterious red plastic H, his calling card, everywhere he helps, the man calling himself Captain Hero has been waging a 'one-man war against injustice.' The previous quote is from the hero himself, recorded by a man that caught one of these acts on video and had asked the helmeted Captain Hero what he was doing. His deeds range from rescuing kittens out of tree to even helping to catch some purse-thieves. Since the Police Department has declined having any involvement in Captain Hero's appearances, it's clear that they may have their work cut out for them thanks to the help of one masked man. So keep an eye open during the night for Captain Hero, since I guess he has a day job like most of us."-
("This is remarkable,") I thought while shaking my head at the article. "So there really is a guy running around acting like a hero every night…that's amazing."
"Isn't it though?" Maya looked absolutely ecstatic. "Hey Nick, let's get a kitten!"
"Let me guess," I replied, already knowing what she was getting at. "You want to put said kitten in a tree so that you can get Captain Hero's autograph when he saves it?"
"Bingo!" She chimed out before returning her vision to the television. Apparently she was kidding about the kitten, though sometimes I can never be sure when it comes to Maya and her crazy ideas.
Returning to my daily staring into space, I sighed and tried to count the days it had been since I'd had a case. I gave up when I reached fifty.
Suddenly I was deafened as Maya turned up the sound on the television as loud as it would go. "What are you…"
"…And the police have not yet given out the name and identity of the victim, but the suspect has been arrested."
("A murder?") I stood up and walked behind her, looking at the television now.
On the screen a picture of a black-haired Asian man around twenty-four or so appeared on the screen, grinning widely in a way that didn't seem like something a murderer would do. "Hiro Goodman, aka the local Captain Hero, has turned himself in to the police on the charge of murder. More details to come as they arrive."
Maya pressed the mute button on the remote and then dropped it from her fingers. "Nick…" Leaping to her feet, she grabbed the collar of my shirt and started shaking me. "We have to do something!"
"I get it! Stop shaking me!" I saw this coming too the moment I heard the name Captain Hero. Every once in a while these kinds of cases just presented themselves, the kind that made it seem like they were fated to be taken by me.
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Detention Center
June 15
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Even though it was a rather claustrophobic room with a wall of clear bulletproof glass separating us, the Detention Center's rooms for meetings still felt like home. It should, especially since both Maya and myself have been here all the time, and have even been on the other side of the glass too.
The door on the other end of the room opened and that man shown in the news broadcast walked in, his head lowered and his shoulders slumped. His orange jacket and running pants stood out quite a bit, mostly because they resembled a convict's jumpsuit…not a good sign.
"Mr. Goodman, thank you for seeing us on such short notice." I remembered Mia's words of advice to me concerning clients, so I tried my hardest to smile. However with the depressed and defeated look on his face it was kind of hard to seem upbeat.
"I'm sorry to waste your time, but you'll probably want to pass on taking my case, Mr. Lawyer." His voice was soft and rather submissive, which made it hard to believe he was any kind of hero. "After all, I did turn myself in willingly…"
I had to admit that he had a point…
"But you're a hero of justice!" Maya lifted her voice's volume from beside me. "You didn't do it, did you!?"
Hiro laughed quietly and sighed. "I did not, but after a bit of investigating I found that I would have to take responsibility for this or else all future heroes would only be viewed as dangerous vigilantes."
("They're viewed like that anyway, or at least that's how I view them.") I frowned and leaned forward a little, my smile having faded a while ago. "Can you tell me what you know about the case? I haven't even a clue where the crime scene is…"
"I suppose I'll tell you that much, if just to make sure you understand how pointless my case is." He cleared his throat and straightened up. "As Captain Hero I wanted to make a difference in people's lives. Of course if I ran around in the daylight people would be rather leery of my help, so I decided that from 9 to 11:30 in the evening I would patrol the nearby neighborhoods and city streets to fight injustices."
This was hard to simply agree with, like it was common sense. ("Next time you want to make a difference in your community, go work at a homeless shelter!")
He continued: "Yesterday evening I started off about five minutes earlier than normal and patrolled the local neighborhoods until 11:14. At that point I received a call…"
"A call?" I had an image of a Captain Hero Signal and had to stop myself from cracking a smile. That wouldn't be a very good thing to do in front of a client.
"Yes, on my cell phone." He looked kind of confused at my wavering smile. "It was from a good friend of mine that had helped me make the Captain Hero costume and some of the 'gear' I used. Her name was Joann Robin, and she was my best friend."
"Let me guess…" I could see the situation unfolding in my mind. "When you got there she was already murdered?"
"No, she was badly injured." His brow furrowed tightly and he looked very upset. "I ran to her immediately, and just then she was killed from above by an H-Disk."
"An H-Disk?" It was starting to feel like I had been pulled into a comic book now.
"Yes, a metal throwable dull-edged diskette about the width of an apple. I would use them to stop criminals that tried to run from the scene of the crime." His knuckles turned white and he started to flush red in the face. "It…it came from somewhere in the rafters of the warehouse and it had been sharpened to a razor's-edge…she died painlessly, the disk hitting her neck. In the process through there was blood spray that dirtied the front of my uniform."
"Did you pursue him?" I could tell he was torturing himself remembering this, but I needed to know everything I could.
"Yes…" Now he looked enraged, his earlier meek disposition completely gone. "I actually managed to catch up to him just outside, where he was trying to steal her car. He and I exchanged blows momentarily, and then he punched my chest. I felt a painful shock and was left dazed…when I awoke the police sirens could be heard. Checking my watch I saw I had been out for about ten minutes or so."
"Do you know if she called the police?" This entire story was bizarre enough to be something a bored comic book writer might come up with. "If she didn't then who did?"
"I can't tell you, I don't know." He closed his eyes and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "All I've told you is all I can remember, even after stewing over it for the last few hours. This is my Letter of Request for a lawyer. It's up to you, sir. Accept or decline."
"I'll tell you in a few minutes." I turned and headed out the door, my brow tight and my mind brewing. ("He didn't tell me the location of the warehouse, meaning that the police told him not to tell me.") I'm sure that wasn't legal, but then again there was no time to check. His trial was tommorow…
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Outside Detention Center
June 15
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The moment we were outside those doors Maya sprang into action. "We have to take this case, Nick! You saw just how torn up inside he was! If we don't do something about this then what kind of enforcers of justice are we!?"
"We aren't enforcers of justice." I'd learned, back during the Nickel Samurai Case, that the only miracle I could possibly bring out was one with the help of someone I trusted on the opposing side. In that case it had been Edgeworth, and even though I didn't know the details of this case, just from what I'd learned about it through Mr. Goodman it would be horribly complicated. That wouldn't have been a problem, but the warehouse's location was unknown to me and Mr. Goodman had been told he wasn't allowed to give me the location.
("If I take this case then the first trial day would be me going empty-handed against a fully-loaded Edgeworth. No secret weapons, no ace in the hole, no potential miracle unless he slips up and presents something I can use for my case.") Knowing Edgeworth, the chances of that were rather unlikely. If he could go down to the crime scene maybe he could find something that would be overlooked by the police, but as mentioned earlier…
"NICK!" Maya screamed into my ear, leaving me stumbling and rather deaf on one side of my field of vision. "We're running out of time here! The Detention Center closes in about an hour or so!"
I knew that, hence why I saw no point in rushing anywhere. "You didn't happen to figure out where that warehouse might be just from looking at it on the TV, did you?" When she shook her head I sighed in disappointment. ("I won't turn him down, but this case seems like another suicide waiting to happen.")
I looked down at the Attorney's Badge attached to my chest and closed my eyes. ("I can do this though, because I know all too well what it's like to have no one on your side. That was what Mr. Goodman was like. He was ready to give up in there, because someone had labeled him a killer of his best friend…")
I felt Maya's hand on my shoulder. "Nick? Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, feeling just chipper." I laughed half-heartedly and headed back into the Detention Center. ("I'd better laugh while I can. I'm going into the lion's den tomorrow with nothing but my bare hands.")
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