This is a relatively short chapter. There aren't really any couples in this. It's more informational really, so sorry if it's kind of boring!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ace Attorney series characters!

Chapter 24 – Turnabout Attorney

"Let me get this straight. One day, you tell me that she's associated with a crazy, corrupt and criminal family and that I need to avoid her, and now, you're asking me to defend this same person in court?! Make up your mind, Edgeworth!"

Edgeworth glared at him. "I'm not asking you to defend her, Wright. I'm just asking you to be her defense attorney." Edgeworth sat back in his seat, crossing his arms. "I know this might not be something you want to do, Wright, because most likely there will be a guilty verdict in this case, but the reason I want you to handle this case is because I want you to expose the truth, and you're one of the few defense attorney's I know and trust enough that I know that's exactly what you'll do."

Whoa. He must be serious about this if he's actually complimenting me. "What truth exactly are we trying to uncover here?"

"Ah yes. I guess that will become clear to you once I tell you everything I know." Edgeworth pulled out a file. "The victim is, as you know, the Phantom. What you may not know is that his real name is Keary Bandit, although, he has gone by the name Nemo."

"Did you just say Bandit? That means he's…"

"A part of the Bandit family? Yes, he is. He's one of the three brothers. Prosecutor Blackquill had spoken to him recently and found out this information."

"What did Blackquill need to speak to him for?"

"Did you already forget what told you about the missing documents at the police department?"

Phoenix recalled that conversation. "Right. I remember now. The Phantom got rid of them, didn't he?"

"Correct…well…almost. Prosecutor Blackquill highly suspected that he didn't completely get rid of the papers. He thought that the Phantom may have hidden the papers away."

"But where would he hide them?"

"Good question. That's what the police were looking into. Anyway, the Phantom was found dead in his cell. There were two other people at the crime scene. An inmate by the name of Thomas Guasto."

"And the other person was her."

"Ms. Sterling, yes. The detective who arrived on scene said that the inmate was standing a little ways away from the body, while Ms. Sterling was leaning over the body. She had blood on her person and her hands, not to mention her fingerprints were found on the murder weapon." Edgeworth handed Phoenix a file. "Here's the autopsy report."

Phoenix leafed through it. "Death by stab wound to the heart by a knife. Death was instantaneous." He looked up at the prosecutor. "Things don't look so good for her. But what would her motive be, Edgeworth? I mean, she couldn't have just randomly gone and killed the guy."

"There's a big motive she would have, Wright. Prosecutor Blackquill went a second time to speak with the Phantom, and he did indeed confirm to still have the papers in his possession, although he wouldn't say where. Think about it, Wright. Amongst those papers would be proof that Ms. Sterling is in fact related to the Bandits and working with them. She wouldn't want anyone to know of that, now, would she?"

"She wouldn't…but Edgeworth. Do you really think she would go as far as murdering him?"

"Wright. Even though we don't have conclusive proof, we can easily say the woman's working with one of the most illegally active families in the area. A family that doesn't care if it needs to resort to even murder if they need to get the job done or keep a secret safe."

"Alright, I see where you're going with this." Phoenix sighed. "My job is to believe in my client until the bitter end, Edgeworth. You know that."

"I do. I respect that, but Wright. I highly doubt anyone is going to take the case, especially given how much evidence there is against her."

"I'll…I'll take the case."

"Thanks Wright."

Phoenix shrugged. "Don't thank me yet. I've got a list of many favors you owe me." Phoenix smiled when Edgeworth smirked. "But joking aside, tell me more about Ms. Sterling, or what you know about her and her connection to the Bandits."

"When Prosecutor Blackquill first went to speak with the Phantom, someone passed by him, someone the Phantom seemed to know. Not to mention that when he was leaving the prison, he heard a female speaking to an inmate about how someone was visiting the Phantom. Unfortunately, a certain bird made a ruckus and caused the woman to flee. Luckily, this bird happened to snatch a piece of paper the woman dropped, and on it were the names of the victims of the last few cases that your agency took up."

"Let me guess. This woman was Serena."

"Nice deduction skills, Wright. Fingerprint analysis confirmed this. Something else that was interesting is that the inmate she visited, one Mr. Guasto, was the other person at the crime scene."

"Hm…okay. That's a lot to work with. This is going to be a tough one, I can tell. So Edgeworth. Who am I going to be dueling with in court this time?"

"Hmph. You'll be facing Prosecutor Blackquill himself. He hasn't had a case to prosecute in a while now, and it seems to have had an effect on him."

Actually, I think there's another explanation for any change in his demeanor, that explanation being Athena. She always gets pretty upset when whenever Blackquill's mentioned.

Phoenix stood up. "I guess I better get going then to meet with my client."

"Good idea Wright. I'll talk to you later."

"You can head right in, Mr. Wright," the prison guard said to Phoenix.

Phoenix was about to enter when he heard two people speaking.

"So I can take care of things for you? You're okay with that?" A male voice asked.

'I don't care what you do."

That sounds like Serena. Who's that guy she's talking to?

Phoenix stood back when he saw a man exit the visitor's room, but he stopped upon seeing Phoenix. "You're…you're Phoenix Wright! Legendary ace defense attorney!" The man grabbed Phoenix's hand. "My name is Walter Aaron, and I'm a major fan of yours, Mr. Wright! You're the reason I became a defense attorney!"

Phoenix was surprised by the man's gesture. Hm. Never would've guessed dressed so snazzy would be such a fan boy, not that I mind having fans. Indeed, this defense attorney was wearing a black dress shirt with a green vest over it, along with beige colored pants.

"Oh wow. That's…nice of you! I'm glad I was such an inspiration." Then Phoenix realized that the man had introduced himself. "You're Walter Aaron. By any chance, would you be related to Vicki Aaron?"

The other attorney smiled broadly. "Not related. She's my lovely bride. We've been married for ten years."

"That sure is a long time. Your wife is a good prosecutor, I'll say. She actually beat me in court."

The guy waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. "She got real lucky is all. I told her just that. I couldn't possibly believe that she had defeated you. But if you two were to see each other in court again, I'm sure you'd beat her!"

"Well, I don't know about that."

"Ha, ha, ha! Sure thing, Mr. Wright. Anyway, I need to get going. See you!" The man walked away.

He seems like a nice guy. He and Vicki do seem like a good pair together. It doesn't really surprise me that they've been married for so long. If only I could've gotten married when I was back in my twenties. If that mess with Dahlia never happened, I bet I would've proposed to Iris on our one year anniversary…no! I've got to focus.

Phoenix entered the visitor's room. Sitting on the other side, behind the glass, was his defendant.

"Hello Serena."

She looked up, and her eyes widened. "M..Mr. Wright? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to defend you. I'll be taking your case."

"That's nice of you, Mr. Wright."

You wouldn't think that if you really knew why I'm going to defend you.

"But I've already got an attorney."

"How about you tell me about…wait. What did you just say?"

"I said I already have a defense attorney."

"You…do?" Uh oh…I didn't see this coming.

"Yes. That man you just saw who left? He's my attorney."

"Is he now?" Edgeworth! You told me no one would take on her case! "Why did you hire him? I mean, not that I'm jealous or anything, but the agency's defended you once already."

"I owed him a…favor."

You owe him a favor? I'm not sure I can buy that. "Well then. Would you consider changing attorneys?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wright, but I can't."

"Are you sure? I mean, no offense to him, but…I really think I'd be able to get you out of this mess much easier."

"It's not that I doubt you could, Mr. Wright. But…I just think it would be best if you didn't take this case."

"But…"

"I'm sorry Mr. Wright, but…my decision is final."

It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to convince her to change her mind. Oh well. I'm sure Edgeworth will find out about this and take care of things.

"Alright then. If that's really what you want, then I guess I can't force you."

With that, Phoenix left the detention center. As he went back to the office, he thought to himself. It's not like I can make her become my client. She's probably worried that I'll find out about her secret. Too bad she doesn't realize I already know it.

The next day…

RING! RING!

Ugh. Who's calling me right now? Phoenix put down the duster and picked up the phone. "Hello. This is Phoenix Wright."

"Wright! Where are you?!"

"Hey! Don't yell! I'm at my office!"

"What?! Why aren't you here?!"

"Where's here?! And stop yelling!"

"The courthouse! You've got a trial today!"

"Edgeworth, seriously. Stop yelling. You're going to burst my eardrum, and I thought you found out that she already had another defense attorney she hired."

"And I thought that Officer Meekins would have informed you that the arrangements were changed. You're her defense attorney now."

"What?! Meekins never told me!" You trusted Meekins of all people to tell me this Edgeworth?

He heard the chief prosecutor sigh on the other line. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that man to tell you, but there was no one else available, and for some reason, I couldn't reach your cellphone Wright."

That would be because I kind of forgot to charge it, and it sort of died on me yesterday. I better make a note to myself to remember to always keep it fully charged.

"Anyway, you better get yourself here as soon as possible, Wright. The trial starts in half an hour."

"Half an hour?! Edgeworth, I wasn't even able to talk to her properly and ask her about the case yesterday!"

"Well that doesn't matter at the moment. Just see to it that you get here before the trial begins without you!"

Phoenix heard the line cut. "Ugh…Edgeworth…" He ran a hand over his head, and then walked out of the office.

"Boss. Is something wrong?" Athena asked. She was sitting on the couch with Iris.

"Not really, Athena. Unless you would consider finding out that you're going to be defending a person you thought you weren't defending the day before just half an hour before the trial begins as being wrong."

Athena stood up immediately. "I'm going to come with you, Boss! I need to be in court! Please say you'll take me with you! Please, please, please?!"

"Okay, okay. I'll bring you." Phoenix then turned to address Iris. "Hey Iris. I didn't know you came in here."

"Oh…Athena invited me to come over here with her. I hope you don't mind."

Phoenix smiled. "Not at all. Hey. You…want to come see the trial?"

"Oh…um…I…that would be nice, actually."

He motioned with his hand. "Come on then. We've got to hurry if we want to get to court on time!"

With that, the three of them ran out of the Wright Anything Agency. As they were running, Phoenix came to a realization as he watched Athena run way ahead of him and Iris. Oh no. We're going up against Prosecutor Blackquill. Gee, I really hope Athena won't be mad at me for not telling her.

This was meant to be a short chapter. The next chapter should be longer, and it's going to be focused on the trial. It's already half-written, but I don't know how soon I'll have it posted. Anyway, feel free to review or private message me. Thanks!