More Than You Think You Are

Chapter 13:

Let's go Phoenix Wright!

"Scruffy you foolish fool—"

"Come on, Franziska! We don't have all day!" Phoenix said.

She turned and glared at him and spoke into her phone, "Try another one."

Phoenix crossed his arms and shoved himself hard into the seat of Franziska's silver Camry. They were still parked behind Edgeworth's car in the storage complex. So far Franziska's tracker had been successful in showing them Edgeworth's car (twice), his office (also twice), his apartment (six times), the country club (once), a sandwich shop and café near the courthouse (Hey, I've been there!), and his mom's house. Apparently, Franziska had a lot of these little trackers, and Edgeworth seemed to be very skilled in shedding them in random places.

"Are you taking into account the fact that he probably showers and changes his suit once in a while?" Phoenix said.

"We haven't managed to get one implanted under his skin yet," Franziska said matter-of-factly. Phoenix shuddered slightly.

"No, that one is going to the office too," Franziska said into the phone, "Try the next one."

Phoenix rolled his eyes. He was itching to get a move on, but where would they go? Edgeworth could be anywhere by now. And he was bleeding.

Yeah, this was serious.

"Who the hell are you?" Marlow leaned against the doorframe and glared down at Larry and Jilly. He ran a hand through his dark hair pushing it out of his eyes for a moment before it fell back into place.

Larry grinned, "It's me, man. Larry Butz."

"I'm not going to repeat the question," Marlow said and crossed his arms. He eyed Jilly with the same casual disinterest he showed Larry.

"I'm Jilly Baxter," she said, "We're here to help Phoenix Wright."

"Phoenix Wright isn't here," Marlow said, "I haven't talked to him since he gave me that coupon for that creepy French place and the waiter gave me patchouli oil to rub on my feet. That was not cool."

"Dude, is that what that smell is?" Larry said suddenly distracted.

"Marlow," Jilly cut in before the two of them went too far off on their segue,

"Phoenix is in trouble, and he told us to try and get a hold of his Uncle Jack. He said you—"

"Are you really Jilly Baxter?" Marlow asked. He blinked at her as if he hadn't really noticed she was standing there.

"Of course I'm—"

"Dude, she's the real Jilly Baxter," Larry said, "Tell us where Uncle Jack is!"

"Why?" Marlow said, "What are you two up to?"

"It's none of your business, man!" Larry said.

"Phoenix is trying to find his friend Miles Edgeworth—something's happened—"

"Jilly, don't tell—" Larry started.

"Miles Edgeworth? You mean the prosecutor? The guy with the—" Marlow wagged his fingers under his chin to imply waving ruffles.

"Yes—" Jilly said.

"Dude, why are you stalling? Just tell us how to find Unc—"

"That Edgeworth guy is a tool," Marlow said, "Why is Phoenix looking for him?"

"Because Edgey's his—" Larry began.

"Lover," Jilly said.

At the same time Larry finished with, "Brother."

Larry looked at Jilly and she glared back at him.

"What?" they both said. Marlow started laughing.

"Phoenix is in love with that prosecutor guy—gross. And they're brothers? Double gross!"

Larry and Jilly looked at him and said "What?" simultaneously.

Marlow scratched his head, "I don't know—I got work to do. I'll see you guys aroun—"

Marlow turned back into the small office suite and started to close the door, but Larry shoved forward and blocked the door with his arm and leg.

"Hold it!" Larry said, "We're not leaving until you tell us how to find Uncle Jack!"

Phoenix found himself glaring at the speedometer again. 56 miles per hour.

"If he's bleeding, he'll be dead by the time we get there," Phoenix said.

Franziska didn't acknowledge him, but her speed climbed to 59 and then 63. So she was worried about Edgeworth.

"You can go like five over without—"

73 miles per hour. Wow, she was really worried about him. At least she'd stopped driving like an old lady.

Phoenix leaned back in the seat and put his hands behind his head.

"I hope he's okay," Phoenix said.

"He's fine," Franziska said.

She gripped the steering wheel so tightly the leather of her gloves creaked. She refused to look away from the windshield.

"He's fine,' she repeated.

He better be, Phoenix added silently.

He must've passed out at some point, because he didn't notice the change in speed when the car left the highway. Now, the car was stopped. Based on the light it was either nighttime or they'd parked indoors. They'd left him there in the back seat.

Edgeworth had blood on his hands.

He was sticky with the stuff. In some places it had started to dry and crumble so there was a sandy, grimy feeling as well. A sharp jab of pain shot through him when he tried to move and he stopped. He lay there panting and closed his eyes against the throbbing pain.

After a minute—or ten, he couldn't tell—he brought his hands up to his throat and started to undo his cravat. He had to find a way to stop the bleeding; to stop his life from pouring out of him.

"Just what do you think you're going to do when we get there!" Franziska shouted but she never turned from the windshield.

"Yeah, but," Phoenix started, "What if the police show up lights flashing and guns blazing and they kill Edgeworth and run off? I'd rather take a stealthy approach—"

"Don't be stupid. This isn't a movie. You're not—I don't know… Batman! It would be dumb and dangerous so cast all daring aside you fool!"

She's right. But he wasn't going to say it out loud. Honestly, aside from just finding Edgeworth's location, he had no idea what he was going to do.

Jilly Baxter drove some kind of crossover with a Japanese make. Larry and Marlow sat in the back seat and acted like she wasn't even there.

"So what are you going to do when we get to Jack's place anyway?" Marlow asked.

"I don't know," Larry said, "I guess I'll call Phoenix. All he said was 'find Uncle Jack'!"

"So what about me?" Marlow said, "Did he say anything about me?"

"Um," Larry said, "He just said you'd know how to find him. He wasn't really looking for you."

"Typical," Marlow muttered as he dug around in his jacket before popping a slightly crushed cigarette into his mouth.

"You can't smoke in here," Jilly said.

"I'm not—" Marlow glared at her reflection in the rearview mirror, "Everybody's a freaking expert…"

"This is kind of fun," Larry quipped, and he grinned.

"If you're lame," Marlow said, "I guess you have to get your kicks somehow…"

"Hey man," Larry said suddenly angry, "I just had my heart broken! I'm vulnerable right now."

Marlow stared at him. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled before putting it back.

"Her name's Audrey," Larry began.

"Oh Gawd," Jilly said. Marlow raised an eyebrow.

"She's an actress," Larry said.

"Every other chick in this town is an actress," Marlow said.

"She was something. She really had a gift," Larry said, "I was in love, man! Love!"

Marlow took his cigarette out of his mouth and wagged it in the air between his fingers. Larry was sobbing in the seat beside him.

"It's all Nick's fault man! First he goes around all excited and says he has important news, so I went to go hang with him. Then he goes off to England and I'm stuck with Edgeworth—except Edgey's busy hanging out with little girls. Now we're dealing with this drama… Audrey I wanted to be there for you!"

Marlow frowned at him, "So what's going on? You broke up with your girlfriend because you wanted to hang out with your friends?"

"She said he was her bodyguard!" Larry shouted at the seat in front of him.

"What?"

"Dude! Marlow!"

"What?!"

"What the heck is up with your family anyway?"

"Hey," Marlow held up his hands, "Don't go knocking the whole family because Nick's weird."

"Dude, it's not just Nick," Larry said.

"Larry you're not making any sense," Jilly said.

"You. Drive," Marlow said, "Larry?"

Larry was crying now. Tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Audrey, why? His job was to protect you, and he crossed that line! Then he had to go telling people I was suspicious just because I sent her a couple of love letters. Excuuuse me for being a romantic!"

"Wait," Jilly said, "I watched that movie with my mom last weekend. With that song… 'I Will Always Love You'?"

"Waah," Larry said, "I will always love you hooo Audrey…"

"I'm confused," Marlow said.

"Slow down!" Phoenix said gripping the seat in terror as Franziska skidded around a corner. They were at one of the commercial piers. She was careening through a maze of conex boxes stacked up and waiting to be moved somewhere inland.

"He could be anywhere in this mess!" Franziska said.

"Calm down," Phoenix said, "The last thing we need is to get ourselves lost or trapped. I wish I knew what these people were about… All I know was that Greg Edgeworth was involved in some… heavy… stuff."

"Miles' father? I thought he was a defense attorney?" Franziska said.

"Yeah," Phoenix said, studying her GPS and the map on her phone where Edgeworth's tracker blinked, "So did I. That looks like the warehouse complex. You can see it over—"

She dropped the car into reverse and drove straight back speeding up to the point Phoenix thought he was going to be sick. She turned the wheel sharp to the left and then jerked it quickly to the right and shifted back into drive. The car had turned 180 degrees.

"What the…" Phoenix said, "Where'd you learn…"

Franziska smiled at him, "Miles taught me. He learned it on YouTube."

"YouTube…" Phoenix was awestruck, "He learned it on… Hokay…"

"You know, Phoenix Wright," Franziska said, "Maybe some of these things that you seem so surprised about… Maybe you should ask him… He is your brother. Yet you know nothing about him."

Phoenix frowned at her, "We gotta make sure he's all right before we start worrying about bonding…"

The pub was called 'The Never Ending Donkey'. The picture painted on the quaint wooden sign hanging above the entrance was indescribable. But there was a donkey on it.

Larry and Marlow went in while Jilly went to find a parking space.

"Hello, welcome t'da Never… em welcome t'da pub," the young man at the bar had a distinct Hebridean accent. He smiled at them.

"Where's Uncle Jack?" Larry asked.

"Do we have time for a pint?" Marlow said.

"Er…" The barkeep said, "Dinnae no any Jack, mate. A'ye shirr ye innae rrae pub?"

Larry and Marlow stared at him blankly, completely at a loss as to what he'd said with those charming rhotic notes.

"Jason Wright?" Marlow said.

"Ah," the barkeep said and he turned and went into the back.

"Okay," Marlow said, "That wasn't weird at all."

They walked up to the bar and sat. The place was empty otherwise. Surely, a chintzy place like this with its rustic décor would be popular with the tourists. Even if, and it didn't look like an accident, the pub menu had quesadillas along with your standard pub fare.

"I wasn't expecting you two so soon," he was a bearded man with a shock of brown hair that was starting to grow a little shaggy. He smiled congenially at them, "I'm Jason Wright."

Marlow looked spooked. Larry's eyes went wide, "Um, Uncle Jack?"

"Yes," he said, "Zeus said you'd probably come looking for me."

"Uncle Zeus?" Marlow asked, "He's in town?"

Uncle Jack narrowed his eyes at Marlow, "Phoenix? You're looking a little rough around the edges…"

"Huh?" Marlow said.

He turned to Larry and grinned, "So you must be Miles. Glad to finally meet you."

"Who's Miles?" Larry asked.

Uncle Jack frowned, "You're not—?"

"Uncle Jack," Marlow said, "It's me… Marlow?"

"Where are the twins then?" Uncle jack asked.

"Well," Larry said, "that's why we're here."

Gumshoe's beat up Crown Vic was parked outside of the second warehouse when they arrived.

"Is that—?" Phoenix asked.

"I asked him to meet us," Franziska said.

She parked beside him and got out of the car. Phoenix followed her.

"I just got here, Miss Von Karma," Gumshoe was saying, "It's been quiet though. But he's inside, or at least, one of the trackers you had on him is inside."

Phoenix walked away from the cars and started toward the building. His face was a mask of silent determination.

"Hey, Pal," Gumshoe said and grabbed his arm, "I'll go in. Unarmed civilians need to stay out here."

Gumshoe pulled out his gun and went into the warehouse. Phoenix looked at Franziska. She had one perfect little eyebrow raised and held her whip taut in her hands.

"I didn't know he had a gun," Phoenix said.

"Neither did I," Franziska said.

"Are we going in after him or what?"

"Let's go Phoenix Wright!"

A/N: Thanks for reading! Oh no!

Yeah Phoenix! You're not Batman…

I apologize for the rather obscure movie reference—somebody was joking about that movie at work. If you can tell me what movie it was I'll give you a prize.

You can totally learn how to do a J-turn on YouTube…

Review! Please! Or don't… This chapter was probably more fun for me than it was for anyone else…

You hated it didn't you? (I hate 13… 13 always sucks…)

Special thanks to ProbableImpossibilities for Marlow Fernicker, and Never-Ending-Donkey for Jason Wright (Uncle Jack).