The Assembly of a Turnabout
Author's Note: Is there anyone else still reading this except TheNextAlice?
Speaking of Alice, a valedictorian is the person that's first in their class. Remember him. He comes in later.
(Next day) Hey! This is up! I mean, sure, I should be doing the pile of homework I need to turn in this Thursday, but I wanted to write this and IT WAS UP! IT'S A SIGN!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Ace Attorney series.
Chapter 11
"Can you drop me off here, Eric?" Everyone looked outside at where we were. The buildings of downtown L.A. still surrounded us, and we were nowhere near the suburbs where all of us seemed to live.
"Okay Raven, I know you don't like to be dropped off directly at your house, but this is a bit ridiculous."
"I'm not going home," I replied as I got out of the car. "Good job, guys!" Before they could question me on my destination, I shut the door and walked towards the building in front of me.
I entered through the parking garage. That's how lots of people entered, even though they did so with cars (I had more fun dodging the guard who was often reading teen fiction. For the past few days, it had been 50 Shades of Gray.) The elevator brought me to the floor I wanted, and the receptionist knew me so well that she just threw her head in the direction of the hallway. I opened the door and closed it quietly. After a moment, I grinned and did my common announcement of arrival.
"OH MR. EDGEEEEWORTHHHH!" Then, before the other prosecutors came out to yell at me, I ran down the hall and rocketed inside his office. Gummy and Mr. Edgeworth were already waiting for me.
"Is it necessary to do that every time, Kay?" the prosecutor questioned. Not wanting to answer him, I turned my attention to the detective instead.
"Hi, Gummy! Any new cases?"
"Not right now. There just hasn't seemed to be anyone committing murder, pal!" he responded with a laugh. Mr. Edgeworth glared at him. "How's that friend of yours?"
"Oh, Ian?" I asked, deciding how to go about explaining it. Well, enforcers of the law, he's been very focused on hacking into corporate systems so that the Yatagarasu can prove their corruption. "He's been... working with computers a lot. That's the field he wants to go into."
"Who?" Mr. Edgeworth asked curiously.
"A friend of mine from school," I replied. "I knew him before the whole Alba thing."
"Well that's good," he said with a grin. "I was beginning to think that you spent too much time here to have any other friends." Oh, silly Mr. Edgeworth. "How do you know this boy, Gumshoe?"
"I met him when I went to her high school," Gumshoe replied with his big smile. "Some records were stolen." Mr. Edgeworth raised his brow and I tensed a little bit.
"Records? You mean student records?"
"Yes, sir!" For a split second, his eyes flashed to me.
"I see. And were they ever found?"
"Not that I know of." This time, the eyes rested on me. I didn't look at them.
"Interesting." Mr. Edgeworth sat up in his seat and looked at me more closely. "Say, Kay, you usually come here right after school. It got out two hours ago. What were you doing?"
"Hanging out with a couple of friends," I answered immediately. This time, I looked him straight in the eye.
"And what were you doing with these friends?"
"Just driving around. The driver could legally drive us, if that's what you're wondering." From the look on his face, I knew that wasn't what he was wondering at all. But I also knew that he wouldn't question me further right now.
"Well, that's nice, Kay. I hope you enjoy more time with friends such as those."
"Don't worry, Mr. Edgeworth," I assured. "I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time with them." I began to edge out the door, wanting to leave now. "Sorry to just drop in, but I've got senior project stuff to do. I just wanted to say hi."
"Bye, Kay," Gummy said, sounding sad that I was leaving so soon.
"Have a good week, Kay," Mr. Edgeworth said as well, continuing to look at me. Yeah. He saw right through me. I left hastily, not wanting him to see anymore.
Riah seemed a bit offended when everyone all admitted, scratching their necks and not looking her in the eye, that they'd never read one of her comics in the school's newspaper. In fact, no one paid much attention to the paper at all. I mean, I did, and I'd read one of her comics too, but no one seemed to acknowledge that. However, after the look on her face, we all decided that we'd go out of our way to see her work and praise her for it. Cody and I just happened to meet up on the way. Together, we walked up to the stand were they were kept and picked one up, giving the newspaper person a couple of dollars as she lazily drank her coffee.
"Something about senior projects... Funny article on singles on Valentine's Day... Hey, these aren't that bad! But where are Riah's comics?"
"There they are. Hey, wait a sec..." I read through the comic quickly- a quick thing about ducks making teenage girl faces-, but Cody seemed focused on the artwork.
"What's up with you?" I questioned. He was looking at the comic with more intensity than I'd seen in him before, kind of like he was about to go on a tangent about it.
"OH. MY. GOD." Taken aback by his sudden exclamation, I stepped back and took the paper with me. Cody didn't seem to approve, because he snatched it right back.
"Seriously, what's the matter with you?"
"This style!" he yelled, forcefully poking the picture. "It's so distinct and familiar! It's the style of Ethan Ryder, one of the most famous comic book artists of all time!" There was a pause.
"... What?"
"Ethan Ryder!" he said, exasperated. "He's a famous comic book artist known for his crime graphic novels! I've read, like, all of them! His also famous for his distinct style and the fact that no one knows anything about him. Don't you see, Kay? Riah's totally Ethan Ryder!" I sighed.
"Cody, just because her style's a kinda similar OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT." It was in that moment I remembered her senior project: a crime graphic novel. The reason she joined the Yatagarasu. "That makes perfect sense! There's absolutely no way that she couldn't be."
"Couldn't be what?" Cody and I turned around and saw Ian, not blushing (wwwhhhhatttt?) and waiting to get a paper. "What are you talking about?"
"Ian, check it out!" Cody thrust the paper in his face and thus ended the longest non-blushing streak of Ian Cain.
"Um... okay..."
"This is Ethan Ryder's style!" Cody continued, a bit irritated that he had the same reaction I did.
"Well... okay?"
"Ian! It makes perfect sense!" I said for Cody. "Ethan Ryder's known for his crime comics. This looks exactly like his work. No one's ever seen his face. And, finally, Riah's senior project is to write a crime comic!" Ian looked at Cody and I, then sighed.
"Don't you think you may be... I don't know... jumping to conclusions?"
"What?!" I exclaimed, appalled. "Ian Cain, I never jump to conclusions!"
"Right... Seriously, though, what if Riah just looks up to this guy? Maybe she based her style off of him and decided to just write a comic like him, too." Cody and I looked at each other, his eyes all squinted, my mouth in a thoughtful pout.
"Nope. She's definitely Ethan Ryder." Ian sighed at Cody's reply. "C'mon, Kay! We need to investigate!"
"Right!" At that moment, the warning bell rang. A couple of kids started to make their way to class, but most just stayed where they were. "But what about class?"
"Screw class, our detective might be a best-selling comic book artist!" Cody exclaimed, pointing dramatically at the ceiling. A lot of people looked at us, but when they saw it was Cody they just turned around, a couple probably muttering "Freshman..."
"C'mon, guys... Just go to class..." Of course, Cody and I ignored Ian's plea and started towards the newspaper room. "Oh no..." And, a bit to my surprise, he didn't follow us but instead went to where he was supposed to go.
I'd never been in the newspaper room. I wasn't much of a writer. I'd have to get someone else to write out whatever the Yatagarasu sent to the press. Anyway, the room was basically just a bunch of computers with a board to write down ideas. I didn't look at them, but I bet they sucked.
"May I help you?" I snapped out of it and looked around. Not seeing anything, I looked down. A girl, even shorter than Cody, looked up at me, her arms crossed over what looked like an expensive, gray trenchcoat type thing with a pretty black pattern. It flared out a little under the hips and showed a pair of what was certainly designer skinny jeans and black, also expensive looking high- but not that high- heels. (She was in heels and still that short?) But her hair and her face seemed untouched. Red, maroon, yellow, gold strands fell gracefully from her scalp in nice, natural waves. Her face was dotted with little brown freckles that proved no make-up and her spring green eyes were framed by blonde, mascara-less eyelashes. But the way she talked... she sounded welcoming, but you could also tell that she was busy and a bit impatient.
"Yes," I replied, eyeing Cody. He was examining this girl closely. "Where's the editor?"
"Delilah Chiseler, Editor-in-Chief," she answered with a smile. "Once again, may I help you?"
"Hey, you can't be editor!" Cody objected. Delilah spun on him and cocked her brow.
"Oh yeah?" she challenged, looking him straight in the eye. I could see Cody getting uncomfortable just looking at her. "And why's that?"
"B-Because you're in a couple of my classes," he answered, but he certainly didn't sound as confident now. "You're a freshman."
"Says the boy who is always telling people not to push him around just because they're older," she countered, this time with a grin.
"Oh ho ho, Cody, she's got you there," I teased. He blushed, looked away, looked back, then looked away again. "Anyway, I was wondering about Riah Blake, your comic book artist."
"Oh, her," Delilah said, scratching her pointed chin. "I can tell you a little bit about her, but I just got promoted a couple weeks ago. She was already here by then. If I can recall, the newspaper ratings were plummeting miserably, and they wondered if a comic section would boost readers. They went into the art room, and I think they said that no one would do it so Riah volunteered, calling them something along the lines of 'bloody, uncreative wankers'...?"
"Gotcha," I answered, being able to confirm that that was definitely Riah. "Do you ever see her drawing them, or-" At that moment, the bell rang, and Delilah eyed us suspiciously.
"Shouldn't you be in your own classes?"
"How about this," I proposed, really wanting to get information on Riah but also not wanting to get into trouble, "I'm in the mood for gambling. You say very few people have been reading your paper, right?" Delilah shuffled uncomfortably.
"I guess so, yeah..."
"Okay. You finish telling us about Riah, and wait a bit to tell on us. If the number of readers you have increases by your next issue- or at least a day after your next issue-, you won't tell. If they don't you can rat us out to your heart's content." A bit to my surprise, Delilah seemed pretty interested. So she was a gambler. That was good.
"Okay," she replied. Looking at all her older underlings, she nodded towards a boxed off area. We entered what appeared to be her office. We kinda just stood there for a moment while she sorted through a couple of files. "Here we go. Riah Blake. You can look at the comics while I look at the record, if you want." Cody caught the file that she threw his way, and he began to excitedly sift through the comics. From the look of them, I could tell that they all looked like Ethan Ryder, just as the one today did.
"Is there anything new?" I asked the editor, though I was looking at the comics and not her.
"There are some comments left by Reggie Hoth, the old editor. However, she had quite the potty mouth, so I shall replace all of the curse words with the names of characters in classic literature." She ahemed and began in a stoic, business-like voice. "'That mother-Tom Sawyering Jane Eyre never even shows up in the Mr. Darcy room. I just get here and her Quasimodo comics are on my Jim Hawkins desk. How does the British Catherine Earnshaw even get in the room? So much for this school and its Jean Valjean keys. When does she draw these? The rest of the Rhett Butler artists in this Cedric Errol school can't draw in a stick figure in a week, and here she is with an entire Scheherzade strip without even showing up! I mean, what the Alice Liddell?!'"
"Your censory skills are impeccable, Miss Editor!" I praised excitedly.
"Yes, they are," she said as she took the file back and placed the sullied papers back inside. "Well, is there anything else you need to know?"
"We're probably good for now," I replied, looking at the clock. We might be able to bluff our way into class if we left now. "Thanks."
"No problem," she said as she plopped down in her rolly chair and we began to take our leave. "But remember, if I don't get more readers by next issue-"
"Or the day after the next issue," I corrected. "You need room for flexibility." Delilah's eyes narrowed but she continued anyway.
"Right. Day after next issue, for flexibility. But if I don't have more readers by then, I'm reporting you."
"Yeah, I know." With that, I grabbed Cody's arm and we dashed out of the room.
"What all that day after crap?" he asked as we scurried to class.
"We have until the next issue of the newspaper to rob Blue Screens, get rid of evidence, and send it to the media." Cody's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"Because we're not just sending evidence to the New York Times. We'll be sending it to the Myren Bugle, and almost every other newspaper we can think of."
Author's Note: I eventually had to pull out my 100 Classic Books DS game in the middle of that, because I ran out of classic literary characters to think of off the top of my head. And Cody and Kay's little investigation will continue on to the next chapter, and it'll probably only be one or two chapters after that until the robbery. After all, thanks to Kay and her brilliant ideas, they only have a week XD
Thanks for reading and please review! (Seriously, please review. I love you Alice, but it'd be nice if someone else reviewed, too.)
