Turnabout Technology
September 3rd
9:34am
District Court - Courtroom No.3
"Order! Order!" The Judge slammed down gavel in a vain attempt to gain control over the court again.
"No way...! I refuse to believe this!" breathed Phoenix Wright staring at his client who sat ridged in fear in the defendants' chair.
"As you can plainly see, no one else but Mr Justice could of committed this terrible deed" the annoyingly squeaky voice of Gaspen Payne made itself known at the Prosecutors' bench.
Phoenix slammed his hands down at his own bench.
"There is no way he could of done it! He has no logical motive!" Phoenix struggled to find a flaw in Prosecutor Payne's deductive reasoning. This was one case he could not afford to lose, for Apollo and to lose to a Payne.
"Can you topple the evidence?" Gaspen smugly tapped his oversized toupee "I can finally seek vengeance for myself and my brother!"
Phoenix glanced desperately at Apollo and the evidence laid out messily on his bench.
'Maybe if I revise the case again, I might find something that will help?' Phoenix thought hastily as he examined and tidied his evidence.
Phoenix's understudy, Apollo Justice, had been convicted of murdering Gigi Byte; an old collage friend of his who specialised in computer hacking. Gigi's body had been found in a local library's computer corner slumped in a chair with the words 'AP0LL0 JU$TIC€' typed on the screen. It didn't help that Apollo's fingerprints where found on the murder weapon, a computer mouse cord used to strangle the victim, but an eyewitness presented itself at the start of the trial. Unfortunately, that witness turned out to be Gigi's brother, Terri Byte, who wasn't on the best of terms with Apollo as Terri was highly obnoxious and couldn't handle losing to Apollo in a chess game; a game that Apollo was just a rookie at. To top it all off, Apollo was caught entering the library with the victim on the entranceway security cameras an hour before the victim was murdered.
"Uhm, hellllloooo?! I'm still here, ya know?!" Terri angrily yelled as he was starved for attention.
Terri Byte himself was the very aspect of 'stuck up snob'. His dirty blonde greasy curls were combed back, with thick spectacles sitting on his crooked nose, which covered his real shade of eye colour. He wore a white jacket that had two pockets that each contained some sort of newfangled gadget. Terri's pant's were a disgusting shade of green but proudly bore it's ridiculous price tag dangling from the side. His beige sandals clapped noisily as he tapped his foot impatiently.
"I could of gotten as old as Nana Byte turning the time it took you, Analog Lawyer, to notice me!" remarked Terri snidely, he pulled a thin toothed comb from his left shirt pocket and combed back his unkempt hair.
"I was just momentarily think-" Phoenix was interrupted by a calculator thrown at his face which expertly crashed against his forehead and slithered down his face.
"No excuses! Stupid Apollo is guilty! Stop trying to save him from his fate!" Terri barked waving another calculator threateningly.
"Hmm... I'm sorry, Mr Wright, but I do agree with our witness here. Mr Justice is obviously guil-" the Judge was cut of by a loud "OBJECTION!".
"Whew! Looks like we made it in time!" The courtroom doors flew open to welcome Athena Cykes and Trucy Wright.
"What a way to enter!" giggled Trucy oblivious to the many pair of eyeballs in her direction.
"Boss! I've got the evidence you requested!" Athena called as she jogged to Phoenix at his bench.
"Great, thanks!" Phoenix answered cheerfully while mentally adding 'I hope we don't get charged for contempt of court while we're at it'.
"Excuuuuuuse me! What evidence?" Gaspen inquired adjusting his jet black glasses curiously.
Athena turned and frowned at Gaspen before swinging Phoenix's briefcase like a pendulum.
"Evidence that gives Terri-ble here a run for his money!" Athena poked her tongue out at Terri.
She undid the lock on the briefcase and laid it out on Defenses bench before opening it.
Athena was careful to put on gloved before extracting the important item from the shadowy bowels of the brown briefcase.
"Ta da! The true murder weapon!" Trucy chimed in and did her jazz hands.
"The true..." Gaspen began.
"Murder weapoooon?!" finished Terri nervously throwing random junk from his shirt pockets onto the courtroom tiles.
A long red bow dangled from Athena's gloved fingertips precariously.
"Remember how before Mr Wright found it peculiar that the victim's hair bow disappeared? Well, it was 'cause it was the real murder weapon" Athena explained placing the string back into the briefcase and sliding it to Phoenix.
"OBJECTION! B-But the computer mouse was the only thing that could of killed Ms Byte!" spluttered Gaspen.
"OBJECTION! Take a look at the crime scene photo! Particularly around the victim's neck" Phoenix retorted confidently.
'Could this be all the proof I need to free Apollo?' Phoenix asked himself and took one quick glance at Apollo who was studying Phoenix's expressions carefully.
"What the defense claims is true! The hair string marks match the one on the victim's throat!" the Judge thoroughly examined the photo of the hair bow and crime scene before raising his eyes.
"I... Aha!" Gaspen snapped out of his phase and confidently tapped his toupee.
"...What?" Phoenix knew that Gaspen had something up his sleeve.
"That doesn't change anything; the fact that the bow was the true murder weapon doesn't prove the defendant's innocence one bit".
"...Actually, that's where you're wrong" Phoenix stared Gaspen straight in the glasses "Because, this piece of string contains different fingerprints!".
"Gah!" Gaspen had waterfalls of sweat gushing from his wrinkled skin.
"Who do these prints belong to?!" the Judge could feel his beard quivering in excitement.
"...Killian Byte, our victim's younger cousin".
Sudden shuffling of feet and grunting spurted from the gallery as a tall, thin silvery blonde headed man got up and rushed for the exit.
"Bailiff! Go after that new suspect!" yelled the Judge slamming his gavel down to silence the murmurs from the gallery.
"I've got 'em, Mr Judge!" chirped Trucy as she swiped a rope from her cloak that came seemingly from nowhere.
She spun the rope like a lasso a few times in quick succession before throwing it at Killian.
It hooked right around his pointy chin and dragged him to Trucy.
"Gotcha!" Trucy threw the tangled Killian into the Bailiff's arms.
'Isn't that Apollo's line?' Phoenix thought to himself and studied Apollo's face for any telltale signs that he thought the same.
But Apollo was sunk in the defendants' chair and was clawing his throat as he made awful gasping sounds.
"Apollo! Are you alright?!" Phoenix sprinted from his bench and over to the shaking young adult.
"Heh... your 'friend' is suffering from dry battery poisoning" chuckled Killian squirming in the Bailiff's arms.
"What is the antidote?!" To Phoenix's surprise, Gaspen Payne was genuinely concerned for Apollo's wellbeing.
"Morons! There is no cure! He needs emergency treatment but..." Killian cut of slyly and pulled a silvery lock from his eyes.
"But what?!" cried Athena rapidly rubbing Apollo's back to soothe him.
"It is too late, he is suffocating as his throat has closed due to the poisoning. He will die...!" Killian collapsed and whispered "...And so will I...".
The Bailiff and Athena were the only people that heard Killian whisper and exchanged a look of shock.
The entire court was buzzing and the situation was spiraling out of control, the people in the gallery pushed and shoved to exit and left the Judge, Bailiff, Trucy, Gaspen, Athena, Killian, Phoenix and Apollo in the courtroom.
Athena ran over to Killian and shook him violently.
"Did you poison him and yourself?! Do something!" Tears flowed from Athena's eyes and onto Killian's jacket.
"N-No..." he murmured "It... wassss... Megan Byte..." after the culprit's name was uttered Killian lost consciousness. A mixture of saliva and blood dripped from Killian's mouth and stained the courtroom tiles in a gruesome fashion.
September 3rd
2:41pm
Hickfield Clinic
Athena Cykes sat glumly in a flimsy hospital chair with her hands gripped together tightly in her lap. Widget, her robot necklace, displayed deep blue on it's face screen along with an unhappy face.
"Ex-Excuse me... Are you Ms Cykes?" a timid voice made her jump.
A meek looking nurse with mousy brown hair popped into view, quaking in her spot while clutching a green clipboard.
"Uh, yeah! So is Apollo okay?!" Athena leapt from her seat and faced the nurse who was slightly shorter than she was.
"H-He is in a c-critical b...but stable condi-tion" the nurse stammered "W-Would you like to s-s-see him?".
"Of course! Which room is he in?!" Athena asked a little too loudly and made the nurse even more frightened.
"J-Just follow me!" she squeaked and rushed over to one of the hospital door out of the many and gestured nervously to it.
"Mr J-J-Justice is currently r-resting, b-but you are f...free to see him" the Nurse turned the door handle with a shaking hand and waited until Athena had entered before slamming the door behind her.
'What's up with- Oh! Apollo!' Athena mentally screamed to herself before racing to Apollo's side.
His spiked bangs drooped as the result of the lack of gel and the rest of his brunette hair was sticking out in random positions. Athena could only make out a glimpse of the hospital gown he was wearing through the over hygienic bed sheets. Around Apollo was a bouquet of roses and 'Get well soon!' cards; Athena assumed that they were probably from Mr Wright and Trucy who had visited him earlier.
"Apollo..." Athena whispered and touched his arm, but her hand recoiled due to Apollo's frosty skin.
"Please wake up, Apollo" she struggled to keep her sadness out of her voice as she spoke to him.
Athena searched his face for any sign of Apollo listening to her, but his face was relaxed with a large breathing tube visibly down his throat.
Athena sighed and checked her surroundings; the sterile environment didn't bear much other than Apollo's heart monitor and his hospital report hanging teasingly from the end of the bed.
"What do we have here...?" Athena reached over and plucked the report from its place and flicked through it.
- Hospital Report for Apollo Justice -
Given Name(s): Apollo
Surname: Justice
Age: 23
Blood Type: A+
Cause of Hospitalization: Has ingested Alkaline Dry Battery Cell, which caused a difficulty in breathing for a total duration of 2 Minutes and unknown amount of seconds.
Treatment Given: Injections were received to relax the muscles in the throat to enable the Bronchoscopy camera and tube to enter and remove the offending Alkaline Dry Battery Cell blocking the respiratory tract.
Athena snapped the report closed upon hearing approaching footsteps and scrambled to clip it back where it was hanging.
"Athena?" a familiar voice called uncertainly.
"Mr Wright! I didn't know you were going to come here again!" Athena covered Widget to prevent her boss from seeing her anger upon not being able to read the rest of the report.
"Yeah... me neither, until I heard that Killian Byte died from the battery poisoning" Phoenix Wright ran his hands through his spiky hair while letting out a long sigh.
"So... Did this 'Megan' girl really do it? Or was it Killian?" Athena asked coolly as she released Widget.
"Huh? Megan Byte? Oh, right! She is currently being hunted by the police force as her whereabouts is not known" Phoenix placed his hand on Athena's tensed shoulder.
"It's okay now; the court knows Apollo didn't do it and that evidence was fabricated" Phoenix chuckled softly.
"That girl has a lot of guts to poison Apollo! How did she manage to get him to eat it, anyway?" Athena flicked her crescent moon earring in thought.
"HOLD IT!" Phoenix yelled unexpectedly "Did you read through Apollo's hospital report?!".
"Erm...!" spluttered Athena as she hastily struggled to make up an excuse.
"Yes! Until she heard you walking down the hall!" Widget chirped happily.
"W-Widget!" scolded Athena as she tried to smother her necklace with her hands.
Much to Athena's surprise, Phoenix merely chuckled.
"I read through it as well... much to our jittery nurse's disapproval" Phoenix rubbed his hand behind his head embarrassed at his honesty.
"So is this trial still going to continue?" Athena glanced down at the sleeping Apollo sadly.
"After Megan Byte is caught the trial will reconvene" Phoenix began to play with Apollo's hair antennae by poking them down and waiting for them to rise before poking them again.
"...Boss... You and Apollo... You were pretty close, weren't you?" Athena watched Phoenix play his hairy game.
Phoenix stopped playing momentarily before replying.
"Yeah... I was his childhood hero and all..." Phoenix let a tear roll down his cheek.
'You have no idea how close we were...' he silently added.
"Please don't cry...!" Athena half begged half cried herself.
"...Athena, can you please wait outside?" Phoenix made sure not to make eye contact with her as he gestured to the door.
"S-Sure boss... I was thinking of heading back to the office anyway" Athena wiped her tears as she exited the room.
Phoenix leaned over and planted a modest kiss on Apollo's exposed forehead before slumping into the chair by his bed and letting all of his tears out.
"M-Mr... Wright?" a raspy voice called out nervously after a few minutes.
Phoenix looked up at the person calling his name and his heart swelled with joy.
"Mr Wright... I'm... I'm not fine..." and with that, the heart monitor let out one long echoing beep.