So it would seem that you guys haven't been driven away by that insane chapter I wrote (that makes me very happy. You have no idea how much it really does!). I'll be honest: I had that chapter drafted for about two months now. And from that point, I had no idea how to write out what happens next. Anyway, I was able to write out this chapter, hence why I posted it now. Enjoy!

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

Chapter 27 – Turnabout Escape

"Whoa. Are you okay?! You look like you were…" Apollo didn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah. I…honestly don't know how to explain this, but I am okay. What are you two doing here?"

"We got kidnapped. Someone brought us here," Trucy explained, relieved to see a familiar face.

"Hm…that's right. I heard the two of you disappeared. I'm glad you're okay. Mr. Wright and the others are really worried about you two."

"Daddy," Trucy sadly sighed, thinking about Phoenix. She knew her daddy was probably panicking, and hoped that Iris and Athena were comforting him.

Apollo focused on the situation at hand. "So…what exactly are you doing here?"

"I wish I knew. I guess I sort of…may have stumbled upon something that I shouldn't have, and someone figured it would be a good idea to knock me out. Do you two have any idea how we can get out of here?"

"Well, we were just going to go down that tunnel, and see where it leads us."

"Sounds like a good plan. Mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all! Let's go!"


Trucy and Apollo shared the story of how exactly they ended up getting kidnapped with their fellow hostage, and before they knew it, they found themselves in a little room at the end of the passageway. It looked just like the tunnel they walked through with the rocky walls, save for a metal door on one wall.

Apollo gripped the handle and heaved. After pushing and pulling a few times, he groaned and let go. "It's locked."

"Did you really expect it to be unlocked, Apollo?"

Apollo was going to counter Trucy, before he shook his head. "Ah, good point. But hey! At least I tried. I didn't want us to get into that situation where we just assume the door is locked, only to discover at the very last minute that it wasn't."

"That usually only happens in the movies, Apollo."

"Yeah, but at least we've established for sure that it's locked," he added, wanting to get the last word.

Serena examined the door. "Hm…it looks like we'll need a key for it. If we can find that, we should be able to get out of here."

"Now just where do you all think you're going?" The three of them spun around to see two large, burly men clad in all-black. They both had to be at least six feet tall.

"Oh! We were just taking a nice walk around, that's all!" Trucy replied sweetly, flashing her most adorable smile.

Her attempt at wooing them over with her adorableness did not work. "Heh. Nice try. You're supposed to stay here. Boss's orders."

"Who's your boss?" The oldest of the group questioned defiantly, crossing her arms and standing in front of the two youngsters.

"None of your concern, nosy brat."

Said nosy brat retreated, feeling a little intimidated by the men's deep voices and heights. She tried to figure out a plan in her head as to how they could get out of this confrontation as quickly and safely as possible, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

Argh! What do we do?! Apollo wracked his own brain for some way they could distract the men, but it was Trucy who took action.

"Hey! You want to see a magic trick?!" She asked enthusiastically.

"Trucy! Now's not the time for-" She whipped out her magic panties. Oh no. Not those things again! Does she not realize these people are out to kill us?! Apollo glanced over at the men. They didn't seem convinced, but they did watch what Trucy was doing. They seem to be just as surprised as I was when I first saw them.

"Hm! I wonder what I can get out of my magic panties today," she began, tapping her chin thoughtfully before putting a hand inside them. The first entity she pulled out was a live bunny.

"Whoa! How did you do that?!" One of the thugs asked, clearly impressed as he accepted the bunny from the magician, while Apollo struggled against the urge to roll his eyes. This was nothing new for him.

"Magic, of course!" Trucy giggled. "But that was too easy. Want to see me pull something else? Any requests?"

Has she lost her marbles?! Seriously! This is no time to be giving a performance and showing off!

"Er…um…pull out…oh! A box of pizza! We're starving!"

Hm…Maybe if we distract them by giving them something to eat, we could somehow escape!

"Pizza?" Trucy frowned before reaching inside the panties once more. "Hm…that might be hard to get…" She hadn't found anything after a minute.

Great. Just when actually I thought she had things under control…

He was rendered speechless when he saw her take out a piping hot box of pizza and handed it to the other man. "Be careful! It's hot!" She warned, grinning.

"Um…why didn't you get us any food a little while ago?! I'm hungry too!"

Trucy shrugged. "I knew you could wait. This is important."

Really?! You'll give two thugs fresh pizza, but you won't pull out some food for your own brother?! He stared at the article of clothing. Then again… His eyes landed on two men who were now sitting on the floor munching on the pizza. My stomach can wait.

"Er…Trucy. You…do have something in mind, don't you?" Serena asked quietly, not 100% sure where all of this was leading.

"Don't you worry," she whispered back. "I saved the best for last!" She cleared her throat. "Oh fellas?" They pried their eyes from the pizza and gave her their full attention. "I have one last magic trick to show you!"

"Oh, really?! Please show us!"

"Yeah! You're pretty talented, kid!"

Trucy bowed a little. "Why thank you! I perform at the Wonder Bar occasionally, if you'd like to drop by."

Only Trucy would invite our kidnappers to her magic shows…

"I like to call this little trick…" She paused for what everyone thought to be dramatic effect, "Ogafaum!"

What?! I've never heard of that before!

"What does that mean?"

Good question, buddy.

"You'll see…" She wagged a finger. "Tee hee! Okay!" She pulled off her top hat and put her hand inside. "Hm…there's nothing in my hat." She flipped it on its side and held it out for Serena and Apollo to look in. And then she showed it to the two men. "Right?"

"Right…"

"Here it is: on the count of three!"

"One…" Thug one began.

"Two…" said the other thug.

"THREE!" Trucy ended.

"AH!" A huge burst of silly string, streamers, mini fireworks and sparkles came flying out of her hat and went right at the two kidnappers, who shrieked. After a minute, they were a heap on the ground, completely covered.

"Whoa. That was…unexpected," Apollo mused after a moment of speechlessness. He turned to Serena, who was still astounded. "Er…Serena. Are you okay?"

She shook herself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little…thrown off." Her eyes scanned the room to find the keys. "Ah ha! There's the keys!" She pointed above the men to a hook which had a key ring containing three or four keys.

"You should be able to get them, Serena, no sweat. That silly string is like glue."

Trucy was right. The men were stuck in place, trying (but failing) to free themselves from the confining silly string. Serena cautiously walked over to them and stood on her tiptoes to reach the key ring. After two unsuccessful attempts, she managed to get them.

She ran over to the door and tried each ring in the whole as fast as she could, and the fourth and last key proved to work as the door swung open. "Let's escape out of here, you two!" She led the way, and Apollo followed right behind her. Trucy, however, turned around to watch see that their captors were still struggling.

"By the way, in case you were wondering, ogafaum stands for operation get away from abductors using magic!" She grinned at them. "Remember! I perform at the Wonder Bar, so you should definitely stop by if you can to see more magic tricks! Oh, but you'll probably be in jail." She dulled a little, before she came up with an idea. "Or maybe I could come do a show at the pris-"

"Come on Trucy!" Apollo yanked her by the arm.

"Bye!" She yelled.

The door led to a set of stairs, and upon climbing them, they found a door which led outside.

"Fresh air!" Apollo yelled aloud as his feet landed on grass.

"It's such a beautiful day!"

"It looks like this is a little house." They walked around to find the front door. "Hm…you two stay out here, and I'll go inside and see if they have a phone we could use to get help. If something seems off to you, run as fast as you can and get as far away from here, okay?"

They watched as she entered the house quietly, so as not to attract any attention from anyone who might be inside.

"Wait! Trucy! Couldn't you just pull out a phone from your…you know…"

Trucy nodded and was quick to do so. "Here….oh."

"Oh what?"

"This phone…it's dead."

"You're kidding right?" Trucy handed him the phone. "That' just great."

After a couple of minutes, Serena came out. "No luck. No phone or cellphone, or any means of communication whatsoever." She pulled something out of her pocket. "I did find a set of car keys though."

"Maybe they're for that white van over there," Apollo pointed out.

"You're probably right. Hm…we could use that to escape." They rushed to the white van, and with the keys from the house, she unlocked it. She spoke to Apollo. "You know how to drive, right?"

Apollo scratched his head. "Er…no, not really."

"You…don't have a license? A permit maybe?" He shook his head. "How about you, Tru- Never mind."

"You know how to drive, don't you Serena?"

"I do Trucy, but for one thing, I don't have my license on me. It's still in my office in the ER, and the more important problem here is that I don't have my glasses with me."

"Please tell me you're far-sighted." But Apollo knew that was highly unlikely.

"Near-sighted. Anyway, let's at least get inside this thing and lock ourselves in." Apollo sat in the passenger's side next to Serena, while Trucy sat in the back behind Serena. "Do you think you could pull out a pair of glasses for someone with 20/40 and 20/70 vision in their right and left eyes respectively from your p-er, your…magical…prop, Trucy?"

"…Sorry. That could take a while."

A while?! I'd be shocked if you were able to do that at all!

"Yes, I could do it, Polly. It would just take more time than we can spare, because the objects I usually pull out from them are usually very pretty huge." (AN: Not sure if this is completely accurate, but from what I read online, she can pull out objects large than panties themselves, so let's just roll with this, hm?)

How…did she know what I was thinking?

"Your face says it all. And I am your little sister, or did you forget?!"

"Er…guys? Maybe we could…get back to, you know…"

"Right." Apollo realized they were dawdling. "But wait. How are we going to escape if you don't have glasses?"

"Mm…this is risky. Very, very, very risky. But…it's not like we have another choice right now, unless of course we want to get caught." After a moment's hesitation, a heavy sigh of defeat was released. "Okay. Apollo, Trucy. I need you to be my eyes. Can you do that?"

"Sure!" Trucy was ready for this, holding up her clenched fists.

I can't believe we're doing this. "Yeah, sure. But…is this safe?" I'm pretty sure it's not legal…

"…No…it isn't. And I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do this, but…like I said, we have no other option. It'll be only matter of time before those two come outside." She started the car. "Trucy, you keep an eye in the back, and Apollo, you check the front."

Note to self: have Mr. Wright teach me to…oh. Scratch that. Sign up for driver's ED as soon as we get out of this mess.

"We should also try to remember how to get here, or find a location nearby so that the police can be directed here."

"Good thinking, Apollo. Alright. Here goes nothing. Everyone buckled up? This could be a bumpy ride." After the confirmation from everyone, the van began to move slowly, at about ten miles per hour. They pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.

"Don't you think we should go a little bit faster?" He asked the driver, who was hunched over, eyes squinting in a desperate attempt for clearer vision.

"Mm…yeah, I guess we should." They sped up to about 20 miles per hour, only five miles below speed limit.

"Unless my vision has deteriorated immensely, it looks like this is a long, straight road we're on right now, so nothing to worry about. Yet."

Apollo nodded, and he leaned back a little.

"EEK! Watch out!" The brakes were applied immediately, and they were all jerked forward before falling back against their seats.

"Oh my gosh! Are you two okay?!" I knew this was a bad idea.

"Trucy! Did you see something?!" Apollo asked as he turned around to check the back.

She pointed forward. "There was a squirrel crossing the road in front of us!"

Apollo stared at her in disbelief. "Really, Trucy? You made that commotion for a squirrel?!"

"But he was cute! I didn't want us to run it over!" She argued in reply.

"Trucy. We're trying to get away from people out to kill us, and you're worried about running over a little squirrel?" Apollo huffed. "Besides, you're supposed to looking behind us, not in front!"

"But you obviously weren't watching the road properly, Polly!"

Before the siblings could further their arguments, a throat being cleared was heard. "How about this? Trucy, you watch the front, and Apollo will watch the back every once in a while, just to make sure no one's following us. It's more important for us to watch where we're going than what's coming behind us." They both quickly agreed. After a couple of minutes, she asked, "Is there anyone behind us, Apollo?"

"Nope. Not right now."

"Good. Okay Trucy. We're getting on the main road. What does that sign over there say?"

Trucy saw the big green sign. "It says General Hospital, and an arrow to the right."

"Really? That must lead to the highway then. If we can get onto it alright, I think I might be able to get us back to safety."

"But aren't there a lot of cars on the highway? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"…Now that you mention it, it might not be such a good idea." The highway was the place where they were much more likely to get into an accident. "I guess we can keep going straight and see where that takes us."


I thought she'd keep those papers at her apartment, but since they weren't, they have to here in the office! But I've been searching for so long! Where could they be?!

A knock was heard on the door. "Sorry. Come back later. I'm busy."

"This is the LAPD, pal. Now open up." Nothing. "We know you're in there, so open this door." Still nothing. "Don't make us break it down, pal."

"Fine, fine." The door opened to reveal Detective Gumshoe, with a few police officers behind him. "What do you want?" Dr. Emilio did a once-over of the detective. "I don't have time to waste on lowlifes like you, you know."

Gumshoe gasped. "Hey! You're…you were at the police department. You worked as an officer there! What was your name…oh right! Obnoxious Otty!"

"It's Otis, and I am not obnoxious. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do, patients to see."

"Not so fast, pal. We're not here for a visit. We're here to arrest you."

"Arrest me?!" He asked, feigning shock. "Why would you do something horrendous like that?!"

"Oh hush up, pal." Gumshoe took hold of the man and pinned him against the wall. "You're under arrest for the murder of Thalassa Gramarye, and under the suspicion of murdering Dr. Sterling."

"What?! I didn't murder her!"

"Yeah, yeah, pal. Whatever you say. We're taking you down to the precinct."

"This is that prosecutor's doing, isn't it?!"

"Prosecutor?"

"Yes, that deplorable man, Edgeworth!"

"Hey! Don't say that about Mr. Edgeworth, pal!" Gumshoe's grip on the man tightened. "Mr. Edgeworth is a respectable man. You should look in the mirror if you want to see a deplorable one."

"Gr…This is preposterous. Me, Otis Emilio, getting arrested?!"

"What's preposterous is that you were once on the force," Gumshoe muttered. His grip on the criminal had weakened, and Emilio took the chance to slip away.

"Hey! Come back here!" Gumshoe ran after him. "Come on, boys! We can't let him escape!" Mr. Edgeworth will be furious if we do!


"You two see any familiar sights yet?"

"Nope."

"No."

"I was worried you might say that. You'd think there'd be some kind of store or at least a gas station somewhere around here!"

They'd been driving for a good ten minutes at about 20 miles per hour, but they hadn't spotted a single sign of civilization anywhere, other than the highway exit they passed a while back.

Apollo glanced over. She was even more hunched over, and her brows looked to be furrowed to the limit. "Are you okay? You want to pull over?"

"No, no. I'll be fine. We need to somehow find our way back to the city, and you two back to Mr. Wright and the others. Or at the very least a place where we can stop and call the police."

Apollo nodded, before turning his head to look behind them. Eyes widened, he quickly turned back. "Um…there's…someone behind us."

"There is? Who? The kidnappers?!"

Trucy checked too. "No. The police."

"Police? Hm…they could just be following us." As soon as she said that, the lights went on. "Never mind." She pulled over to the side and stopped, keeping her hands on the steering wheel and rolling down the window.

An officer came over. "License and registration please."

This was going to be a bit of a problem. "Um…you see, officer. I don't have my license on me, but…" She added quickly seeing his disapproving look, "I know the number on it." She told him the number.

"Vehicle registration please."

"Hey Apollo. Can you check the glove compartment for registration?"

He opened it, only to find it completely empty.

"Oh…see, there's an explanation for this, officer. You see, we've been kidnapped, and we're escaping from the people who kidnapped us. We sort of borrowed their vehicle in the process."

"You've been kidnapped?" The officer looked from the driver to the two younger passengers. "Give me your names, kids."

"Apollo Justice."

"Trucy Wright."

After typing their names into his handheld, he nodded. "Looks like you two have been reported missing." His eyes narrowed at the driver. "You, on the other hand, have not."

"Oh. That's…weird." She noticed that the man had a very skeptical look on his face. "Wait! You don't think that I…them?" She pointed to them. "No way! I'm escaping with them!"

"Yeah officer! She's right!" Trucy added.

"She's with us!"

"Hm…how can I believe that? For all I know, you could've threatened these kids into not talking."

"I'm an ER doctor! My name's Serena Sterling! Search me in your database!"

"What does you being a doctor have to do with anything?" Nevertheless, he did as she said, and his eyes widened. "Hold on. Serena Sterling…that's the name of the dead doctor."

"Excuse me? Dead?!" Is…this some kind of joke?!

"According to this, you're deceased."

Serena exchanged confused glances with Apollo and Trucy before turning back to the officer, responding slowly. "Um…I can assure you officer, I'm not dead. I'm very much alive."

"Hm…how do I know you are who you say you are?"

"Don't you have a picture of me? You know, like my driver's license picture?! Or something like that on file?!"

"'Fraid not. If you had your license with you, this wouldn't be an issue."

"Er…maybe you could do a Google search of my name? Surely, there should be a picture of me on the internet!" She suggested. After a quick Google search, he frowned deeply. "No…images?" She asked weakly. Maybe asking to not have my profile picture posted on the hospital's website was a not-so-smart idea after all…

"I don't appreciate being lied to." He was getting increasingly annoyed by the minute.

This was beyond outrageous, but Serena kept her calm composure. "I'm not lying, officer. I don't know how to convince you of who I am. But why would I want to kidnap these two?! What's my motive?"

"Well I'll have to bring you to the station to find that out, won't I? Now, I'll need you to step out of the vehicle, ma'am, with your hands up."

"What about Trucy and Apollo? What are you going to do with them?!"

"They'll be fine. I'll take 'em back to home. Now stop stalling."

Obediently, Serena exited the car, hands up. Well, that's a relief. At least they'll be home safe and sound soon enough. She felt the cuffs around her wrists and heard him state the Miranda rights. Looks like I'll need to call Mr. Wright to help me out yet again…

Trucy and Apollo watched as another police car pulled up, and Serena was ushered inside and driven by the officer that had pulled them over.

"I can't believe they just arrested her," Trucy said to Apollo after a minute of silence.

"Yeah, but I'm sure she'll be fine." He crossed his arms and leaned back in the seat. "I just want to get back to the office."

"Me too! And I want to see everyone! Athena, Iris, Daddy…oh, and Charley too!"

The way she talks, you would think that Charley was a human being.

A female officer came over. "Come on, kids. I'll take you back home. Where are the two of you from?"

"Er…we need you to take us to the Wright Anything Agency," Apollo directed.

"Yeah! That's where our family's probably waiting for us!"

As Apollo and Trucy were escorted into the patrol car, Apollo was engrossed in his thoughts. Our…family. That's right…our family is waiting for us, I'm sure. And boy can I not wait to see them.

Probably one of the most random chapters I have ever written, I have to say (and Trucy's little trick there? I reread that and was like, "What was I thinking?!"). One thing's for sure: this story is going to be seeing its end pretty soon. But I've got a few loose strings to tie up, don't I? Please feel free to review and/or private message me! Thanks!