September 19; 7:33 AM
Wright and Co. Law Offices

A few days later, Mercury and Athena had the unfortunate phone call from Phoenix requiring both of them to arrive in the office an hour before usual. Athena, speaking from experience, knew that something big would be coming. Mercury steeled himself for some impactful announcement.

("Why the heck would Mr. Wright bring us to the office on this ungodly hour?") Mercury put down his bag on the couch and waited for Athena to arrive. The smell of coffee was lingering in the office – Phoenix must be brewing the same Khura'inese coffee delivered by a former worker. Trucy wasn't around, Phoenix said, as she was attending her classes in the university.

Athena arrived ten minutes later when Mercury was halfway into his coffee. She also wore the similar mood Mercury had when he entered the office.

"I swear someone here doesn't get enough sleep and still manages to start early and end later," Athena said grumpily.

Mercury shrugged. "I guess I'll be getting used to it."

A few seconds later, Phoenix emerged with a large tray with a kettle full of coffee and three mugs. "Glad you came," he started.

Athena sat down beside Mercury – the former looked cranky while the latter seemed anxious.

After Phoenix poured and distributed the coffee, he settled on the chair across them and began. "The case you're looking for…" Phoenix pointed at the folder on the table in front of him, "… is in that folder. However, that's not the biggest concern." He pushed the folder towards them.

Mercury accepted the folder and skimmed the file. The file he received was a summarized version of the case. ("It's the very same case where I was involved in.") As he skimmed through the file, faces of witnesses and people involved and the words of testimonies and arguments flooded his head. The words were quickly drowned as he focused on the people involved. One person, in particular, stood out.

The prosecutor. Mercury remembered this prosecutor. The youthful face remained stoic in the events that unfolded. She was early twenties at the time and had a budding prosecutorial career. Mercury remembered that she did not flinch or bat an eye. What could she have been thinking, Mercury mused.

Phoenix cleared his throat, making Mercury snap out his journey down a gloomy memory road. "The case you're holding right now… could be related to this case that's unfolding. I hope you watched the morning news."

Athena still did not look pleased or ready. Mercury shrugged and set aside the case file.

Phoenix sighed. "I hope you get updated with current events." His eyes lit. "Mercury, I take it your phone is connected to the Internet, right?"

Mercury knew what Phoenix wanted him to do. "Right… current events." Using his phone, Mercury searched for anything that happened within the day and found an online article. "Wait… what's the meaning of this?"

Athena became curious. "Let me see."

The online article bore the title: "Murder in World Programs Inc., programmer arrested."

Mercury and Athena read on. The article was in development, but a few facts related to the case had already been revealed. When they read the name of the suspect, Mercury's heart sank.

"It's… it's your father," Athena muttered.

Mercury shot a panicked look at Phoenix.

Phoenix gave Mercury a look that wanted him to take the case. "It's your father we're dealing with," Phoenix told him. "If there should be conflict of interest, I'm afraid I will have to bar you from…"

Mercury stood up immediately, cutting Phoenix off. "I'll take the case."

Athena gasped. "M-Mercury, you can't just…"

Mercury clenched a fist. "Mr. Wright, the client you told us a few days ago turned out to be my father. He bore me the responsibility of finding out what happened in that trial." His voice became passionate and fearless. "I intend to find out what's going on… even if I have to go back there and discover the truth."

Phoenix still sat there but looked away for a moment. He was thinking of the repercussions of having his subordinate take the case in which his father would be the defendant. Then he remembered that he used to do it multiple times in which the defendant was someone very close to him. Was it time for Mercury to fight his first battle?

When he finished gathering his thoughts, he looked at Mercury. "It's going to be your first case as a lawyer. Are you fully prepared for the repercussions?"

Athena gripped Mercury's arm. "You're going to put a lot of things at stake, Mercury. I really hope you consider this carefully."

Mercury closed his eyes. ("That's right. It's my first case. If I fail, not only will my father be found guilty, but I'll be shaming myself for failing him and living up to his expectations.")

"I defended my best friend in my first trial," said Athena. "And honestly, it wasn't a very pleasant experience at first." She let go of Mercury's arm. "I just hope you won't be having a tough time going through all of it. But if you continue to do this…" Athena pumped herself up and pulled off a bright face, contrary to her disposition a few minutes ago, "… I'll be helping you out in any way I can!"

"Let's do this!" Widget chirped.

This made Phoenix smile. "Mercury, if you really insist on taking this case, I will not stop you. But please… don't hesitate to ask for anything that could help."

Mercury took a deep breath. He had already made up his mind. Whether it was because the defendant was his father or that Mercury had a few more questions about the case he received, Mercury felt obligated to discover the truth and believed his father to be innocent. He studied the courtroom and investigative methods of Phoenix and Athena when handling cases. However, in full-scale investigations, he had yet to fully try it out for himself. But when he gripped his cellphone, Mercury firmly believed that he could do it.

Phoenix advised Mercury that the detention center was usually the first place to go during an investigation. Mercury would need all the preliminary information to build his case. He also told them that he would file the paperwork for the trial as soon as Mercury would be able to request his father's services. The trial would likely begin the next day, so there was very little to lose.

"Go get a move on," Phoenix told them. "And while you're at it, I'll also look a little more into the case."

"Thanks, Mr. Wright," said Mercury.

("Now that we have Mr. Wright's blessing, it's time we get started.")

September 19; 8:22 AM
Detention Center; Visitor's Lobby

Mercury had been inside the Detention Center once when he accompanied Phoenix, who was visiting a prisoner. He was surprised at the decency of the facilities. A prisoner or suspect would be escorted into their chair from the other side of the bulletproof glass, where Mercury would have his first talk with his first potential client. He calmed his nerves, knowing fully well that he would be breaking down at the sight of his father in cuffs.

The door at the other side opened and the guard escorted Xeus Thinker. Xeus looked miserable and half-spirited, but still managed a weak smile when he saw his son on the other side of the glass.

Mercury, however, was fighting to hold back the tears. He knew that it was business, but he couldn't just leave his emotions resigned. Athena, sitting close by, wanted to help and keep Mercury in check. But it was his battle, and Athena would be there to assist him in the investigation.

"Dad," Mercury muttered once Xeus sat down.

Xeus had seen better days. He was still wearing the fancy white attire that he used in his line of work. The hair however was more unkempt that before.

("For my sake, I hope you still keep your health in check.")

"Mercury," Xeus started, his voice deep and unwavering but still kindly, "I am deeply sorry for you to see me like this."

Mercury tensed up. He had to say something. He wanted to get his father out of there. He wanted to prove that his father was an innocent man. But these words to express were caught up by the doubts he harbored. ("Did you really do it? Please tell me.")

"Mr. Thinker," Athena started on behalf of Mercury, who was still beside himself with frustration, "we're here to listen what you have to say regarding everything that happened that led you to this."

Xeus's eyes lit. "Son, is this true?"

Mercury still looked away.

"Mercury?" prompted Athena, her hand over Widget.

Mercury still did not budge.

"Please tell me what's wro-" but Xeus was cut off.

"I hate this! I hate this, all right?" Mercury suddenly outburst, silencing his co-worker and his potential client. "I hate it that you gave to me this unwanted burden of a case and only to see you end up here for some reason!" He couldn't hold them back anymore. The tears started streaming down and dripping down. The guard at the other side of the partition was hearing it all, but he did not budge an inch.

It took a while for Mercury to regain his courage, which Athena and Xeus did not say anything else. When he did, he rubbed his eyes with his arm and faced his father across the glass. "Father, tell me you didn't do it, did you?"

Without hesitation, Xeus replied, "I did not do it."

("Is he really telling the truth? I wish I could believe him.")

Athena pat Mercury on the shoulder. "Mercury, can we talk a little bit outside?" She turned to Xeus, who nodded.

Outside the cubicle, Athena turned to Mercury and softly squeezed his arm. "Mercury, Mr. Wright always told me that our belief in our client will be our greatest weapon. I can sense a lot of discord coming from you, and I intend to do a bit of psychoanalysis before we proceed. Is it okay?"

Mercury sighed. "Yes, Athena."

Athena nodded as she prepared her Widget. The holographic screen showed up, allowing Athena to playback the conversation between him and Xeus and look at Mercury's emotional inconsistencies. After a few seconds, Athena found an emotion that was out-of-place. "Mercury, it's plainly obvious that you're grieving. When I probed deeply into your emotions, I initially thought it was your father that was the cause."

Mercury did not reply.

"However, you're also feeling a hint of happiness and that's what's out-of-place, especially when you said about the 'unwanted burden of a case,'" she told him. "Happy to see your father. Is it because of this?" She pointed at Mercury's attorney's badge.

Mercury almost gasped. He knew he couldn't hide his feelings from Athena. "It's true," he admitted openly.

"You're happy that you could prove yourself to defend your father in Court," Athena said reassuringly, "and I said that I would help you in any way I can." She looked back at the holograph. "So what is it that's causing your overwhelming grief?" She looked deeper into the screen and then found out something. "Ah! So that's what it is."

Mercury blinked. "W-What is it?"

Athena snapped. "Mercury, I'm going to request something that's a bit unorthodox. Hopefully, it's going to help you when you do your interrogation."

The two of them stepped back inside the cubicle. Xeus was still seated patiently.

"Whatever happened?" Xeus asked curiously.

Athena stood up. "Guard?"

The guard responded. "Yes, miss?"

"Is it okay if you remove the handcuffs?" asked Athena.

"B-But it's against the rules, ma'am," replied the guard.

"I promise not to do anything," Xeus said reassuringly. "I have nothing to hide."

The guard thought about it for a moment.

"Just this once?" Athena said, almost squeaking.

The guard took a deep breath. He moved forward and took out his keys and uncuffed Xeus. "Make no mistake, sir," he warned. "Any suspicious behavior out from you, and the list of charges will be added."

Xeus nodded. "I understand, sir. Thank you very much."

When Mercury saw the handcuffs released, he felt a small wave of relief come over him. He was admirably impressed with Athena's psychoanalysis that he felt more confident to face his father.

"Thank you, Athena," Mercury told her. "I'll take it from here."

Athena gave him a thumbs-up. "Any way I can, Mercury."

Mercury turned to his father, sitting gently. "Dad, I am both happy and sad at the circumstances. But I intend to repay everything you've done for me – for allowing me to get into law school even against your wishes at the beginning." With these words that boosted his morale, Mercury said confidently, "Dad – no… Mr. Thinker, please let me be your defense attorney."

Xeus smiled, this time fighting the tears that were about to well from his eyes. "My son, I am very proud as a father. That even against my wishes, you managed to defy the odds and still make me pleased. And I wouldn't want to have it any other way." He stood up straight. "Very well, I accept your services, Mercury. I am confident in your abilities."

Mercury smiled. ("The battle finally starts. With dad's blessing, I feel like I could take on anything!")

"Now you see why Mr. Wright fully believes in his clients," Athena told Mercury.

Mercury nodded. "I see it well."

"Now, what can I help you with?" Xeus said, getting ready to answer the questions thrown at him.

Mercury started off by asking about the nature of his father's job. He knew his father's profession by heart, so it was simply for formality. Mercury wanted Athena to know a little more about the rather complicated profession so that it could help her in the case as well. Xeus was a computer programmer in World Programs Inc. He had been the brainchild of many computer programs and operating systems existing in the market, AidLaw being one of them.

When asked about the victim, Xeus said that he did not know the victim personally but had seen him going about the areas occasionally. He said that he was arrested simply because he was the only one on the 12th floor when the murder occurred. This information gave Mercury an idea that the site of the crime was the very same floor they were in just a few days ago. It also gave him a head start to find a way to disprove the detective-in-charge's claim: either prove that the murder happened somewhere else or prove that another person could have been in the floor when the murder occurred. Mercury's mind was racing.

"I was working on another project," Xeus said when asked for his alibi. "I was in my office and doing work even late into the night. My office was even put in do-not-disturb."

("There would be no sound alert in case someone wanted to enter the office.")

"What kind of project was it?" asked Mercury.

For the first time, Xeus did not answer.

"Dad?"

"It's a project that is none of your concern," said Xeus slowly. "You know very well that I make a lot of computer programs."

The phone beeped, and Mercury knew what it meant.

Xeus smiled. "Mercury," he said. "I know I'm testing you. I want to know if you can put your effort into practice." He told him to look at the Secret Breaker app, which, to Mercury's surprise, showed one lock around a 3D-image of Xeus.

"What could the program have anything to do with this case?" Athena wondered.

("Can't you just tell me what it is? I'm not exactly the kind of person who needs to make a lot of effort to search for the answer.")

Xeus's Computer Program filed in Secret Breaker. A list of secret breaker prompts could be selected when Mercury accessed the app. When he would be ready to break the secret, he would press "attempt to break" and begin his interrogation. Mercury knew he would need to investigate since there wasn't any useful piece of evidence.

"I'm afraid that's all I can say for now," Xeus told them. "Do not worry about me, Mercury."

Mercury looked up.

"If there's anything interesting about a piece of evidence you can show me, I might just be able to speak my mind," Xeus told Mercury reassuringly.

"We'll have to go back to WPI if we want to know more about the case," Mercury told Athena.

"I'll be back soon with the answer," Mercury told his father. With those words, he and Athena left the detention center and headed for the World Programs Inc. building on the suburban community.

September 19
World Programs Inc.; Reception Area

Unlike five days ago, the reception area was filled with police officers scurrying around and questioning people at the site. Mercury was shocked to see the action unfold before him. The cacophony in the reception area almost nauseated him.

"Hmm, I wonder who's the detective-in-charge?" Athena said.

Once Mercury got a hold of himself, he took out his phone. "Well, I'll use the 'Witness Search' to find out. This person should stand out from the rest, so it might be easy." The witness search showed many speech bubbles hovering over people, mostly bearing ellipses ("They're busy in conversation," explained Mercury) or question marks ("They're too uninterested to do anything," explained Mercury; ironically many of those question marks came from police officers).

Athena was giggling. "You look like as if you're taking a video," she remarked. "Someone's going to find you suspicious."

Mercury shrugged, continuing the witness search. ("I'm already suspicious in my own right, thank you very much.")

The search continued for another six minutes as Mercury and Athena paced around the reception area, looking for anyone with an exclamation point hovering above their head. Once, Mercury nearly tripped over an unaware police officer, who sheepishly apologized – Mercury was relieved that the officer did not recognize him and Athena being defense attorneys. The search ended when they found one exclamation mark… belonging to the receptionist.

("Huh… how did I not see the exclamation mark over the receptionist earlier?")

Mercury approached the receptionist, her ID showing her name as Chastain Thymes. "Er, um… Excuse me, where can we find the detective in charge of the investigation?"

The receptionist looked up at Mercury with beady eyes. "Well, he's up in the twelfth floor. I'm afraid it's off limits."

Mercury showed his attorney's badge and displayed his swagger. "I'm a defense attorney."

Chastain cringed for a moment but regained her composure. "One moment." She moved aside and spoke into a holographic intercom. "Excuse me, can the detective-in-charge come to the main lobby for a moment? Two strangely-clothed people with badges are looking for him."

("Stangely-clothed? Why I'm gonna…") To be fair, Mercury's attorney get-up bore the most unusual color combination: a light blue silky vest over a light pink long-sleeved shirt, green slacks, and brown leather shoes. ("Well… I admit it is strange. But I like it myself, that way…")

Athena was giggling.

When Chastain was finished, she turned back to them. "He'll be here in a moment. You can wait over there in the hovering chairs."

Athena's eyes sparkled as she squeaked excitedly. "H-Hovering chairs?"

("I wish I could tell her that the chairs are just strongly magnetically-charged, but I wouldn't want to spoil the fun.")

Sitting on the hovering chairs felt like being suspended in the air. Their bodies felt lighter and slightly more relaxed.

"I could sit here all day if I wanted to," Athena said, relieved.

Mercury chuckled. "Too bad we'll have to get back down to earth once the detective comes."

"I wonder who it could be," she said wonderingly. "Detective Skye is in another country, and the only other detective I know… well, he turned out to be…"

Before Athena could finish her sentence, a soft buzz echoed across the hall. Athena and Mercury turned to the elevator, which opened and let out three people: two officers and a scruffy-looking person who may as well be the detective. Athena and Mercury watched cautiously as the scruffy-looking person in the khaki trench coat approached the receptionist, exchanged a few words, then began walking to their direction.

"Stand aside," the scruffy-looking detective in the khaki trench coat motioned a police officer as he approached the two lawyers.

Mercury could feel his heart race. Was this detective friendly? Would he be able to help them out knowing that the detective worked for the prosecution? The detective had an air of unpleasantness around him, almost seemingly that he would leave a curse for bad luck for anyone who would try to follow. As he approached them, his eyebrows furrowed even more, making him look all the more intimidating.

Once the detective was in front of the lawyers, who already stood from the hovering chairs, he flashed his badge and introduced himself, "Name's Dick Gumshoe, detective-in-charge. Whaddya want, pal?"

Author's Note: The lovable Detective Dick Gumshoe is back! Well, for my story anyway. In the original story, I was supposed to have Detective Tyrone Ketchum fill in the role, but I felt his character development went nowhere by the time my first third episode ended. Unfortunately, I scrapped Detective Tyrone Ketchum (I loved working with his dual-personality trait) to use a familiar character - of course, I will continue to build Detective Gumshoe's role. However, I wanted him to have a more significant role and not simply to work for the prosecutor. And since Detective Gumshoe is here, we're expecting Miles Edgeworth to be around as well... but not in this case.

Also, Xeus Thinker was supposed to be the victim, but I felt it would be too heavy for Mercury (my original character) to handle especially that this is his first trial. Of course, motivations gotta move the plot. Athena's Mood Matrix would be very handy come court time, because I'm planning to add something to it as well.

Anyway, many thanks to those who reviewed and gave suggestions, which I will also take into consideration. If you'd like, you can drop yours as well... but please make it constructive.

PowerZone