Author's Notes: A bit of A/N before we proceed. I'm currently replaying Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice as I'm writing this part. I'm still on the search of creating at least one outlandish character for every case I have. I did it with Birdie Flynn in Episode 1, though he was more panicky than outlandish. Should I have some sort of outlandish revelation for one of my witnesses? If so, for whom? Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed. You are the best! We're not done yet with the investigation, but a new revelation will come at the end of this chapter. Read on!
September 19
World Programs Inc.; 12th Floor, Programmers' Hall
When they returned to WPI, Mercury and Athena noticed that the reception area was completely devoid of police officers and private investigators. They thought that they were finished with questioning the people in the area that time. The receptionist, Chastain Thymes as found in her ID, was behind the desk, apparently pecking onto a holographic screen. There was no point in disturbing her, Mercury thought, so they proceeded to the 12th floor.
This time, without trailing Detective Gumshoe, Mercury familiarized the floor's layout a little more. He was able to find his father's office the first time because of the nameplate on the door. But with his father claiming that he never left the office, Mercury had to retrace his steps to the crime scene and find any discrepancies.
"There's a built-in app that helps me keep track of the things I have to figure out," Mercury told Athena as he whipped out his cellphone. "While I'm new, it's a must for me to know the priorities of this case." He told her that he had been jotting down notes into his phone through an application called "Sort and Organize." The list of evidence, profiles, and things-to-do were arranged in the app in which Mercury could move the list around to suit his convenience.
"That's very handy," remarked Athena. "I do hope the technology will really suit law enforcement."
Mercury felt excited. "It'll be a breakthrough if we can use technology successfully for this trial!"
There were a few notes under the things-to-do part of the app. On the top of the list, Mercury would need to figure out the discrepancy on his father's truthful testimony and the circumstances in which the body was found. For the other items on the list, Mercury would need to peruse the blue book once more, to examine the defective holographic screen in the 12th floor conference table, and to look for any witnesses for the case. Mercury would not leave the floor unless all these tasks were completed. He firmly believed that there was evidence somewhere in the floor overlooked by the police. All these objectives pointed to a single goal: prove his father innocent in court.
"So where do we start?" Athena asked, looking around the hallway.
Mercury had three options in the list. He could go back to the place where the victim was found and have a look at the blue book once more. However, curiosity got him. "Let's look at the hologram in the conference table."
The conference table occupied a spacious area in the floor. Mercury was able to get a few details about the conference table through a passing worker, who explained that workers in the floor would have meetings in the table. Meetings would usually be updates or simple get-togethers if someone celebrated a birthday. Upon asking about the hologram, the worker said that the control panel was below one of the chairs, usually occupied by the head of the floor. The head of the floor was nowhere to be found for the meantime, probably off-duty. After thanking the worker, Mercury and Athena proceeded to the chair with the control panel.
("Hmm… I dunno. It's just a bunch of random buttons.")
The control panel had numerous colored buttons of varying sizes. Mercury spotted a large red one and believed it to be the power for the hologram. He pressed it.
Above the table, beams of green and red light shone from the projector and onto the table. Inside the prism of beams, a hologram appeared.
"Look at that," said Athena softly.
Mercury observed that the hologram was showing the map of the twelfth floor; this was probably the default program it would show when the hologram would be activated. The hologram showed the location of the offices, other facilities, the conference hall they were in right now, and the two elevators – one at the back of the conference hall, and the other one at the end of the hallway where they entered upon entering the floor. Mercury glanced up to confirm the location of the second elevator. The elevator seemed to be functioning.
Mercury's finger was almost touching the hologram. "Dad's office should be somewhere… wait."
"What's the matter?"
Upon observation, Mercury noticed that the upper part of the hologram looked blurred. He couldn't make out completely the names of the occupants of the offices for that area because of the blurriness. But he was sure that his father's office and the room where the victim was found were somewhere in that area. Mercury stood up and estimated that the blurred part of the hologram was in line with his chest. "Did something probably happen?" Mercury muttered.
"Maybe you should try to turn it off and restart it," suggested Athena.
Mercury turned off the hologram and turned it back on. Unfortunately, the hologram still had the blurred portion.
"Can we ask something?" Athena suddenly blurted, causing Mercury to jump.
The same passing worker from earlier stopped in his tracks. He was trying to get to the elevator on the other side.
"Why is this part of the hologram blurry?" Athena asked.
The uninteresting-looking worker leaned close to the hologram and observed it. He frowned. "Hmm, this wasn't here yesterday. Usually, some, er… how should I put it… severe outside interference would disrupt the hologram, causing it to be this way."
"So if I hover my arm like this," said Mercury curiously, testing the hypothesis as he lifted a hand and waved it slowly through the hologram. To his amazement, the hologram blurred… for a few seconds. He waved his hand through the seemingly perpetually-blurred part of the hologram, hoping to fix the problem. It did not work.
"So something did happen here," concluded Athena.
Hologram added to the Court Record.
The worker nodded slowly. "Hmm, I guess I will have to ask the floor head to resolve the problem."
"Where can we find them?" Mercury asked.
The worked frowned. "The floor head… hmm… He should be just down the hallway. Look for a green sensor." He walked off and past them without receiving any acknowledgement or thanks.
("Does this guy know about the case? Judging by his lack of motivation, I guess not.")
"Should we find this person?" Athena asked.
Mercury nodded. ("Well… that's one priority in the list checked out. The floor head could probably be a witness, so I'll be updating the to-do list. What should we work on next?") They could re-examine the blue book in the crime scene, but there was a possibility that Detective Gumshoe could still be in the crime scene. "Let's look for the floor head," answered Mercury. "If they'll turn out to be a witness tomorrow, we'll know immediately because they won't answer our questions."
The floor head's office was located at the end of a hallway. Contrary to other offices, the door sensor shone a green light. Was it to distinguish the position of the occupant from the other workers in the floor?
Mercury pressed a finger to the door sensor, alerting the person inside. The sensor was not in a "do-not-disturb" mode.
"Is this really an open-and-shut case?" Mercury asked Athena.
Athena fiddled with her earring. "To prove your dad innocent, you would need to find some avenue that the body was moved from someplace to the office."
Mercury could feel his head throbbing. ("The situation just gets complicated the more I think about it. Dad was working in his office the whole time. So why is the crime scene labeled as his office?")
Before he could speak his thoughts, the door opened to reveal an imposing man wearing sparkly white clothing like that of Mercury's father. He was a balding man looking to be in his late fifties. The wrinkles around his face and the gray goatee spoke of his age and his attitude. The fierce gaze he gave the attorneys at first glance looked as if he was ready to pounce on them like a lion's next meal. When he spoke, his voice was deep and commanding, intimidating Athena.
"What do you want?"
Mercury, however, did not feel intimidated. He knew this person.
"Uncle Loonie?"
The man raised an eyebrow and focused on Mercury. He adjusted his glasses for a moment as he wore a facial expression that read: how do you know me?
"You don't remember me anymore?" Mercury said, pleadingly. "Xeus Thinker's son."
When Mercury reintroduced himself, the man's expression changed from suspicion to realization. "Oh! M-Mercury, right?"
Mercury smiled and extended a hand, which the floor head shook. "It's been a very long time." ("Five years, in fact.")
While the man looked fierce and intimidating when he had to be serious, he looked docile in moments of pleasantries, evidenced by his welcoming smile.
"I apologize if I scared you. I did not want to be disturbed again."
"Again?" Mercury inquired.
The man grumbled. "The detective's been wandering down the halls for hours ever since it happened. He's also been pestering the other people for the sake of his investigation."
"But that's what the detective's supposed to do."
"Bah! I just hope he gets through with it soon!"
("Same Uncle Loonie. Grumpy, pleasant man.") Mercury introduced Athena to him and said that they were lawyers of Xeus Thinker. "This man is Lunix Metsys," Mercury said to Athena. Athena and Lunix shook hands. "He's not actually my real-life uncle, more like an uncle by association." Mercury explained that Lunix Metsys and his father were long-time close friends and had worked together on the AidLaw project. Lunix said that Mercury used to hang out in his father's office for a long time until he reached high school, to which Athena giggled.
"You've heard what happened to dad, right?" Mercury asked.
Lunix sighed. "Yes, yes. It is unfortunate." He looked around the hallway. "Come in, come in. This is no place to be holding a conversation."
September 19
World Programs Inc.; 12th Floor, Floor Head's Office
Mercury and Athena followed Lunix into his office, which looked befitting for a flood head. Lines of books and other pertinent documents filled a shelf above his working table, which had a built-in computer and other functions that operated the room such as the lights and the "do-not-disturb" feature for the door. A couch was also there, together with an aquarium with (thankfully live) fish and artificial corals. Soft jazzy music was playing in the background; Mercury knew this was Uncle Loonie's kind of music. It was slightly larger than Xeus's office but more welcoming and action-packed.
"This is an impressive-looking office," muttered Athena, trying to catch her breath.
Lunix chuckled. "I take that as a complicated. Do take a seat. I'll prepare tea."
"Is it Khura'inese?" Mercury asked.
"As a matter of fact, it is," answered Lunix as he accessed a semi-hidden panel on a wall and took out a glass jar full of tea powder. "Some hotshot lawyer gave it to his friend who then gave it to me and the other workers."
Mercury had an idea who that lawyer was. "Could that lawyer have been Phoenix Wright?"
"I think it is. How do you know him?"
"Uhh… I work for Mr. Wright," he said sheepishly.
Lunix nearly dropped the glass jar he was holding. "Y-You do?"
"Y-Yes. Is something wrong?"
Lunix took a moment to compose himself as he continued to prepare tea. "No, no, it's nothing. It just shocked me that you'd be working for a legendary defense attorney. The very same who ended Manfred von Karma's prosecutorial reign over ten years ago."
("Wow… I didn't know Mr. Wright achieved such legendary status. I guess that confirms he's a god in the world of lawyers.")
After a few minutes of pleasantries and catching-up over tea, Lunix proceeded to the serious part of the conversation. "So, what brings you back here?"
Mercury and Athena introduced themselves as the lawyers for Xeus Thinker and hoped to ask a few questions and get some meaningful answers to build their case. Although it was unorthodox for defense attorneys, it was how Phoenix Wright would do it, Athena explained. Thankfully for Mercury, Lunix Metsys would not appear as a witness since he had very little involvement in the case.
"I wasn't here last night," he explained. "I was only informed the next morning that Xeus and the victim were the only ones to use the office floor once I arrived for work."
("Completely corroborates with dad's and the detective's claims. Looks like it to be the truth.")
"The hologram outside seems to be damaged," said Mercury, also explaining that restarting the hologram did not repair the blurriness. "What could have happened?"
Lunix feel deep in thought as he rubbed his goatee. "Well, I imagine something must have interfered with the hologram, causing it to be that way."
"I was able to move my hands through the hologram," said Mercury. "It blurred for a few seconds before returning to normal."
Lunix nodded. "I see. I'll have a look at it again later."
The fact-finding conversation then turned to the topic about the victim. To find out more about the victim, Mercury had Lunix retrieve a database of the 12th floor workers in the computer. As the floor head, Lunix would be able to keep a login and logout record of his workers, which was recorded in the front desk near the reception counter. Since only Xeus and the victim did not have a logout record the previous evening, the name of the victim would not be found on the record, which would be compared to a master list of employees in the 12th floor.
After three minutes, Lunix announced. "I got it. The only other person aside from Xeus who didn't leave the office is Marco Shaft."
("The victim…")
"Marco Shaft is a rookie programmer," answered Lunix when asked for details about the victim. "He's been with the company for two years and has helped out in some projects. Other than that, I can't come up with a motive for Xeus to kill him."
("That's right. It just doesn't fit.")
"Be careful, Mercury," advised Athena. "Whoever the prosecution, I'm sure they'll find something to fill in."
Mercury thanked Athena. "So it seems that Marco Shaft was also working on something. He was killed in dad's office… or so it would be." ("Looks like the security cameras should have recorded what happened that evening.")
"But it still doesn't answer the strange mix-up," said Athena.
Mercury pressed a finger to his forehead. He thought to reconsider the version of events according to what he knew. ("If there's a mix-up, does it mean that we've also mixed up something about the case?") He thought back, his mind racing on every bit of the investigation he could remember. ("Have we mixed up the crime scene?")
Lunix sighed. "I'm sorry if I haven't been helpful. I'm doing what I can on my end."
Mercury took a deep breath and exhaled mightily. "It's okay, Uncle Loonie. I think we know where to look next."
Athena was the first to stand. "So… should we get going?"
Mercury nodded. ("If there's a mix-up of the events, then there should be something else that was mixed up. Time to put the hypothesis to the test!")
The two lawyers thanked Lunix for the tea. Mercury promised to return once the case was done to catch up with the good times. When the lawyers left, Lunix set his office to "do-not-disturb." He had a lot of work to do.
September 19
World Programs Inc.; 12th Floor, Programmers' Hall
"At least the conversation had some insight," Athena told Mercury optimistically.
Mercury smiled. The investigation was going smoothly, contrary to what Phoenix had told him when he entered the office. However, Mercury learned to never lower his guard. "Uncle Loonie gave us a clue. We should check out the very layout of the floor itself." They returned to the conference hall and reactivated the holographic map. The blurry portion was still there.
"Hmm, the entrances to the offices are slightly slanting," observed Athena. "The offices also follow a symmetrical position."
Mercury nodded. "This means that there should be an office directly across one. So, if we use that there…" Mercury pointed to the offices in the hologram below the blurry area and counted them. "There should be fifteen of them."
("I see… with that many offices, is it possible that the culprit misled us into thinking that the body was found in Xeus's office? What mechanism could have been used, if so?")
"Fifteen of them," repeated Athena. "If I had that many bedrooms, I would be sleeping in one and waking up in the other."
Mercury fought the desire to laugh. ("If I had that many bathrooms, I would be taking a shower in one and going out the other.")
Hologram updated in the Court Record.
Of the fifteen offices, only one of them was open: Xeus's office (or at least Mercury disputed) where the body was found. Detective Gumshoe was still inside, monitoring a forensic investigator who was spraying the floor using a bottle of liquid.
"Detective Gumshoot," said Mercury.
The detective nervously scratched his head. "It's Gumshoe, pal. Get it right."
("I don't think the detective has ever heard of getting into good terms.")
"What's he doing?" Athena asked, eyeing the investigator.
"Oh… right, pal," said Detective Gumshoe. "He's just checking for any other traces of blood."
"Blood?" Mercury wondered. ("Haven't they found the traces already?")
Athena realized what Detective Gumshoe meant. "Luminol?"
Detective Gumshoe blinked. "Oh, so you know that too, huh."
"Yep," she said somewhat enthusiastically. "We used to help Mr. Wright on those things." Athena explained briefly to Mercury that Luminol could detect blood on solid surfaces even if the blood has already dried off or wiped off before it was dried. It could even detect traces of blood as far as two years ago.
"So is there any reaction?" Mercury asked.
Detective Gumshoe looked at the investigator, still busying spraying and investigating the sprayed area while wearing pink-framed glasses. "None yet. Well, pal, what brings you here? If it's anything to do with what we found, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything."
("Thanks detective. That's the second time I felt most welcome.") Mercury eyed the blue book he needed to retrieve. The blue book was still on the shelf when he took it out earlier. Then something about the book reminded him.
"Detective, did you check the adjacent rooms?" Mercury asked, not wanting to give away the strategy.
"What about them?" Detective Gumshoe asked.
("I know I'm talking to the enemy. Better choose my words carefully…") Mercury cleared his throat. Sounding innocently, he asked, "Can we examine the next room?"
Detective Gumshoe frowned and looked at the two attorneys. He scratched the back of his head, which was becoming a tic of his. "I don't see why you need to. There might be another person in the room."
"I don't think so," countered Athena. "Only the victim and the suspect were here in the floor on the night of the incident, you said so yourself. So if you guys responded immediately following the incident, no one should have been here, right?"
("That didn't stop Uncle Loonie and the other worker to be here.")
Detective Gumshoe grumbled something incomprehensible, then told them, "All right. You got a point, pal. I'm not sure how it opens up, though."
"Thanks, detective!" Athena thanked him.
The two attorneys stepped out of the crime scene and began to look for the door with the victim's name. The name belonged to an office that happened to be right next to Xeus's.
The door sensor was lit red. Mercury knew from his experience that a red sensor meant that nobody was inside. To access the room, only the rightful owner of the room could access it with their ID, or have the floor head use their own ID card that worked as a master key. Mercury said all this to Athena.
"Looks like you have some advantage," Athena said to Mercury. "Knowing the layout and the function beforehand kinda gives you the edge."
Mercury nodded.
"But when you go to other places, you'll have to see newer perspectives if you want to achieve victory," Athena told Mercury.
("I'll be sure to keep that in mind.")
Lunix was still in his office. Mercury asked to investigate the room with the victim's name on the door. Lunix used an ID card to access the sensor, which lit green. Once the lawyers thanked him, he went back to his office.
Mercury was the first to step in the empty office. The lights were dimmed, probably to conserve power. After all, Xeus was arrested in the wee hours of the morning and probably did not have time to tidy the mess. But Mercury knew of his father's office routine. And he was aware what his father would be doing at that time. He didn't need to see clearly into the empty room. Mercury had to smell.
"So what is it?" Athena asked. "I don't see anything interesting."
"You smell it?"
Athena sniffed the air. "Yeah. It's the same tea we had before. Which reminds me…"
*FLASHBACK – PART 1 INVESTIGATION*
"This is very, very impressive for a workplace," Athena remarked.
"Do sit," Xeus gestured. "I'll prepare some Khura'inese tea."
*FLASHBACK END*
"There's no scent of any tea in the next room where the victim was found," said Athena.
("That's right… The office where the victim was found is clearly NOT dad's office.") Mercury nodded and smiled. He could feel the case going to his advantage. "This is dad's office," he said. "That would mean that the two names on the doors were deliberately switched. Someone is trying to pin the murder on dad." His smile faded, replaced with a look that thirsted for revenge, a look he chose not to let Athena spot. ("Whoever did this, I will find you, and I will bring you to justice.")
