Chapter Two
Of all the things Miles had expected to see when he reached the bottom of the stairs, it certainly hadn't been this tall, grinning man. Under normal circumstances, his clothes would have been nice – a black button-up jacket with an undershirt – if it weren't for the enormous bloodstain across his chest. Casually, the man wiped his hand on his jacket and held it out to Miles.
"Hi. My name's Captain Jack Harkness."
Warily, Miles shook it. "Miles Edgeworth, attorney at law."
As he shook his hand, Jack gave him an... almost seductive wink? Miles cast the thought out of his mind. Of course it wasn't seductive – it was merely a wink between manly men.
Closer to Jack now, he noticed that a good portion of his hair was spiked with dried blood. Following the trail of blood with his eyes, he found that the blood was spewing out of an enormous, potentially life-threatening gash in the man's head.
"Er, Mr. Harkness, may I ask how you're conscious and speaking to me right now?"
Jack grinned. "What do you mean?"
Miles was about to indicate the gash… and realized that it had completely disappeared. He also noticed that Captain Jack still had a tight grip on his hand.
"E-Excuse me, sir, but would you kindly let go of my hand –"
"Stop it, Jack!"
The Doctor appeared from behind Miles, looking irritated. Jack reluctantly dropped Miles's hand and turned to stare at The Doctor.
"Might I ask what you're doing here, Doctor?"
"Oh, you know, traveling…" said The Doctor absently, not meeting Jack's eyes.
"I mean, maybe it's just me, but it's awfully convenient that you happened to show up just in time for a murder to happen."
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, when it comes to murders, this universe is in the ninety-eighth percentile."
Miles gave The Doctor a questioning look. "Exactly what do you mean by this universe –"
He was quickly cut off by The Doctor. "How about you, Jack? Why exactly are you in this…prosecutor's building…thing…?
Jack sighed. "It's a long story." He paused, then glanced around. "But you're not going anywhere, and" – Jack gestured to the cadaver – "he's certainly not going anywhere, so we're good!" Jack leaned an elbow against a nearby wall, taking care not to stick his elbow in the still-wet blood splatter. "A few days ago, I got a little drunk –"
"I'm guessing it was more than a little," The Doctor interjected.
"…Okay, really drunk. So, I met this pretty girl at a bar, and we talked, and we drank, and drank, and drank…"
"We get it, Jack. You drank," grumbled The Doctor impatiently.
"You're a real killjoy, Doctor. Well, anyway, she came back to my place, and everything after that was kind of a blur. Next thing I knew, she'd turned into a giant monster and proclaimed she'd kill everyone in the multiverse. So, Torchwood says I've gotta chase her down. It's a pain, really."
Privately, Miles wondered exactly how drunk this man had been.
"You do realize, Mr. Harkness, that a bloodstained man casually standing next to a corpse while spouting nonsense about the multiverse does look a tad suspicious."
Jack took a deep breath, and turned to Miles. "Are you a prosecutor?"
"Yes… Why do you ask?"
"Okay, Miles, I know this looks bad –"
"Mr. Edgeworth will do, thank you."
Jack ignored him. "But no matter how stupid my explanations sound to you, I can swear to you that I didn't do it."
An old part of Miles, a part he'd rather forget, was yelling, "You're a prosecutor! Prosecuting's what you do! He'll be an easy case – what authorities are going to believe he was chasing some monster through dimensions? Criminals are bad, Miles!"
But the other part of him, the part that he'd learned to embrace, said simply, "If he's innocent, you'll know."
Miles took a step towards Jack, looked him square in the face and said, "Mr. Harkness, did you kill this man?"
Jack stared back, his gaze firm and unwavering. "Whoever this guy is, I swear on my life, I didn't kill him."
Words came into his head, words he vaguely remembered saying long ago. It was a lesson he'd taught Phoenix without even knowing it, and a lesson that Phoenix, in turn, had taught him.
"A lawyer is someone who stands up for those with no one on their side."
Miles exhaled. "I… I believe you."
For a split second, The Doctor met Miles's eyes. He thought he could see a spark of… admiration? No, that couldn't be it. He cleared his throat and continued.
"I'm no defense attorney, but I'll do everything in my power to uncover the truth behind… whatever this is."
The Doctor grinned. "Fantastic! Now we can get investigating." He pulled out a device resembling a screwdriver and dashed off. Miles could hear strange buzzing noises from where he'd gone.
"By the way, Mr. Harkness, just to be certain, what is your alibi?"
The Doctor's head popped out from behind a wall. "Jack is a very… special fellow."
Jack shrugged. "Yeah. I'm immortal. Really, it's not as great as it sounds. Kind of boring, actually."
Miles blinked, then blinked again.
"Ex-Excuse me?"
"To make a long story short, after I was killed fighting aliens, an old friend of mine absorbed the heart of the blue box that appeared in your office and brought me back to life – permanently. So, if I get killed, I wake up alive again."
A yell sounded from the hallway. "Come on, Miles! We've got murdering to investigate!"
Miles hid his face in his hands.
"Bloody hell, what have I gotten myself into?!"