PHOENIX WRIGHT ACE ATTORNEY: GLOBAL OPERATION

~~~ EPISODE 3: PASSING OF THE TURNABOUT ~~~
~~~ INTRODUCTION ~~~

"Good morning, Los Angeles. This is the 8:30 AM local newsflash.

At around 3 o'clock early morning today, a truck carrying several pieces of materials all originating from Summerbridge crashed in an underpass along Highway 29 as a result of skidding. A few vehicles traveling along the route were also caught in the accident.

Police and emergency staff arrived fifteen minutes after the emergency call and cordoned off the area. Emergency personnel quickly searched for any survivors or casualties. No other vehicles were damaged. Police quickly launched an on-site investigation on the cause of the crash. The truck's driver suffered minor injuries from the crash.

However, police recovered the body of a woman from the truck's container. The woman appeared to have been stabbed on the chest. Police officers are currently sweeping the area for clues.

This news is currently developing so this will be updated as soon as new public information is revealed."


"It was all too fast. I couldn't see the person who attacked me."

"And you lost consciousness?"

"Yes, I believe. From that time until... now."

"Do you have any suspicions?"

"... As a matter of fact, I do. Maybe this information I gained abroad will help you in the trial..."


~~~ PART 1: DAY 1 INVESTIGATION ~~~

October 2; 10:20 AM
Wright and Co. Law Offices

"Are you okay, Apollo?" Phoenix called.

Apollo Justice, one of the former workers of the offices, was working in the Kingdom of Khura'in, his spiritual home. He was working to restore the country's legal system after its years of devastation from a tyrannical rule that ill-favored defense attorneys and wrecked its justice system altogether. Currently, he was helping out in the relief efforts of a small war that recently concluded.

Since the end of the previous trial, Phoenix was calling Apollo every day. Three times, Apollo gave a video call on the state of the kingdom, thankfully not completely ruined but with visible damages.

"I'm okay," he answered. "I just returned from a summons."

"From Queen Rayfa?"

"From Amara, actually," Apollo answered.

"What was it about?"

("It's been two weeks since the end of Mercury's first trial. In a strange coincidence, a small war broke out in the Kingdom of Khura'in. According to Apollo, conflict broke out between the kingdom's army and a guerrilla coup to the north of the kingdom. Some parts of the city were in peril as the two factions clashed. The kingdom's army won but the guerrilla forces retreated to fight another day. As for the war, neither Apollo nor I know why the conflict happened.")

Apollo switched to his video mode, letting himself show in Phoenix's phone screen. Apollo seemed to be walking through the streets of the damaged buildings while a few medical workers and army offices went past him or opposite him. "She said that in order to restore fully the legal system, it would be necessary for me to return to the United States for a brief moment."

Phoenix blinked. "How come?"

Apollo was frowning. "Well… if anything bad happened to me here during relief, that would be bad for the nation."

("Can't argue with that there. It would be a joy to bring him in, even if temporarily.")

Apollo swiveled his phone so that he could let Phoenix see the façade of the Justice Law Offices, partially damaged during the confrontation. "Well, my office is in disarray right now. Thank goodness, we have computers and Internet here." He moved the phone to let himself be seen. "I guess I have no choice."

Phoenix smiled. "That's great, Apollo! So, when will you be here?"

"A few days, I suppose," Apollo answered. "Flights in and out are hard to come by."

Phoenix nodded. "See you, then. Know that you always have a spot here in the office whenever you want to come by."

"Thanks, boss!" Apollo said, showing his cheerful smile.

"We're now fellow bosses, so that doesn't apply."

"Nahyuta's coming, I better go."

"See you soon, Apollo."

When the call ended, Phoenix put down his phone and leaned back on his chair. ("I hope he's okay. The environment over there is intense.")

Athena appeared over her boss's podium. "Did I just hear music to my ears, boss?"

"That's right," Phoenix responded. "Apollo will be here in a few days."

Athena smiled widely. "That's great!" She turned around to face her other co-worker, Mercury. "Did you hear that, Mercury?"

Mercury had his earphones attached the whole time. His head was bopping up and down to the music he was listening. When he caught sight of Athena hovering over his podium, he looked up quickly and detached his earphones. "Huh? D-Did I miss something?"

"Apollo Justice will be visiting," Phoenix called. "I'm sure you have talked to each other briefly, right?"

"Uh, yeah," answered Mercury, seemingly hopeful. "But why's he visiting?"

"You know, you should start being aware of what we're talking about," Athena told him sarcastically.

Mercury folded his arms. "Well, I had to listen to music ever since you've started becoming chatty over your phone."

Athena raised an eyebrow. "Chatty?"

The light-blue suited attorney grinned. "You want him to know?"

A few days ago, Athena was under the pretense that she was alone in the office during an early evening trying to finish some work. Unknown to her, Mercury had been asleep in his desk with his cubicle lights off, giving the impression that no one would be in the office if ever one stepped into it during the early evening. Mercury overheard Athena about how she missed him and would like to have him as a partner in cases once again. Ever since that day, Mercury would use that "self-conversation" as blackmail for some petty things between them.

"You're not bringing that up in front of him," Athena hissed, her Widget necklace shining green.

Mercury snickered. "Your necklace says otherwise."

Throughout the banter, none of the two realized that somebody was at the door and Phoenix was already there.

Phoenix opened the door and was greeted by a middle-aged woman in a dark green working suit, a defense attorney's badge attached to her collar. She had an air of calmness about her as she saw Phoenix looking confused on the doorway.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Wright," the woman said and extended a hand.

Phoenix nodded as she shook her hand. ("Do I know this woman?")

"You might have forgotten about me, but I haven't," continued the woman. "May I come in for a quick conversation?"

Phoenix looked around, scanning for any possible danger. Having found none, he gestured the woman to enter the office. The woman looked around, seemingly impressed at the office layout. "Wow, Mr. Wright. This place is something not even my small office can compare."

"Excuse me, ma'am, I don't mean to be rude or anything but… have we met before?" Phoenix asked. ("Aside from the fact that you're a defense attorney…")

The woman turned around to face Phoenix. "Sorry about that."

Just then, Mercury emerged from his cubicle. "Mr. Wright, is that…?"

The woman turned around again to face Mercury. "Oh…!"

Phoenix blinked. ("Do the two know each other…?")

"Mercury, is that you?"

For a few seconds, Mercury had a look of confusion before it transformed into realization with a smile. "Yes, it is! It's so good to see you again!"

Mercury approached the woman and shook her hand.

("Well… at least it's someone Mercury knows.") Phoenix closed the door. "Mind introducing her, Mercury?"

"She's one of dad's friends and is also a lawyer," answered Mercury. "The coolest thing is that she's one of the head developers of the AidLaw program."

Athena suddenly stood up from her cubicle. "Whoa, really?"

Mercury nodded. "Let me introduce you to Devine Lopper," he introduced the woman to Phoenix and Athena. "As I said, she helped with my father develop the AidLaw program, providing him with the technical details needed for the program."

("Wow… I had no idea.")

"That's remarkable," commented Athena, staring at Devine as if she were a celebrity.

"Don't put your praises on me," said Devine. "I'm here for a quick conversation with Mr. Wright."

The two attorneys sat down on the couches opposite each other.

"To what do I owe you this please, Ms. Lopper?"

"Just call me Devine, Dev for short."

Devine reintroduced herself as a defense attorney and one of the lead developers of the AidLaw program. She had heard of the cases in which Phoenix was the lead attorney and had traveled to Kurain village to understand its culture, owing to the mechanics of the Secret Breaker app in Mercury's phone. When asked about her relation to Mercury, Devine responded that Mercury's father and her were classmates during their college years and Mercury's father, Xeus Thinker, enlisted her services in developing AidLaw.

When the introductions and pleasantries were done, Phoenix tackled the important matter.

"I'm here on another case," she told them. "Ever since Mr. Wright brought out in court the presence of cyber-terrorists, I have been plagued by a certain case. Have you heard of Summerbridge?"

"I have," Phoenix answered. "It's a tech company, right?"

"Summerbridge?" Athena repeated.

"Summerbridge is a tech manufacturing company, creating mainly electrical wirings, circuits, boards, microprocessors, and the like – you know, those things that power most of our gadgets," said Devine. "Most of the devices operating at WorldPrograms use parts coming from Summerbridge. You could say that it's the major distributor of many parts of numerous companies around the country."

Mercury approached the two of them and pulled out his cellphone. "Does this include my phone as well?"

Devine nodded and smiled. "There's a good chance there is."

"So what about Summerbridge in the case you're tackling?" Phoenix asked Devine.

Devine paused and looked around for a moment.

("Why is she always looking around?")

"I know you know your stuff, but are you updated with the Tech Agreement?"

"Tech Agreement?" Mercury wondered.

"The Technology Manufacturing, Distribution, and Sale Agreement, or Tech Agreement for short" clarified Devine. "It encompasses the production of technological materials and finished goods. There are limitations and restrictions to avoid monopoly and still ensure the highest quality of all the materials produced and products created. There are also trading regulations between countries, as well as imposition of taxes on these products."

While Devine explained the agreement, Athena scampered to her computer and did a quick search on the Tech Agreement, copied it onto a document, and printed it out. "Here's a copy," she said, handing the document to Phoenix.

Phoenix thanked her and received the document. ("It has a lot of passages, but there are some important parts worth looking into.")

Tech Agreement added to the Court Record.

"How does Summerbridge fit in all this?" Mercury asked Devine.

"There's a council that comprises of lawyers, web developers, programmers, computer scientists, and business executives that oversee tech companies and make sure that they conform to the agreement." Devine said that she was one of the members of the council. "We interview every tech company and see if what they're doing conforms to the standards of the agreement. In my interview with Summerbridge, however, things turned out a lot differently." She reached into her satchel and took out a flash drive.

"What's in it?" Mercury asked.

"Hold on," interrupted Phoenix. "How does all of this concern us?"

Devine smiled slyly. She had anticipated the question and concocted her plan. "I plan to investigate Summerbridge but I need an outside party to assist me in the investigation."

Phoenix blinked. "Outside party?"

Athena frowned. "Can't you let the other council members assist you instead?"

Devine's smile did not fade. "Listen carefully. The council's all-hands-on-deck on other matters now that a group of cyber-terrorists has emerged from the underground. However, there's a good reason for me not turning to the council." She reasoned that she did not trust many of the members of the council and suspected that corruption may be involved but quickly dismissed it as a story for another day. "I'm not inclined to let them get involved with this amazing lead."

"But how did you get your hands on that?" Phoenix asked, pointing to the flash drive.

"It's a recording from the interview I conducted," answered Devine. "You'll hear something very interesting."

Mercury whistled. "This sounds very fishy… Sounds like you're going undercover."

Phoenix crossed his arms and looked down intently. ("I'm still not getting the situation, but I admit this has gotten me curious.")

"What do you plan to do, Ms. Lopper?" Athena asked.

"Take action, of course," answered Devine without hesitation and with excitement.

("That's some energy for a middle-aged attorney.")

"Isn't that risky?" Mercury asked, concerned.

Devine took a deep breath. "I admit that it is incredibly risky. However, I suspect that either Summerbridge has linked itself with this cyber-terrorist group or the group is planning to target the company to produce parts beneficial to their objectives, whatever that could be." She handed the flash drive to Mercury.

Mercury received it and plugged it to the computer. Inside the flash drive was a single video file. The four attorneys huddled around Mercury's computer and watched the video. The video lasted for a minute and thirty seconds. When asked about the video quality, Devine explained that the camera had to be hidden but had to capture the audio perfectly. Two people were caught in the audio. One of them was definitively Devine's. The other belonged to a male. In short detail, the video recorded an interview between Devine and the man, presumably from Summerbridge, in which Devine was peppering questions on suspected activity, to which the man mostly denied.

On the one-minute mark, Devine brought up the Tech Agreement. When the topic was brought up, the man's disposition suddenly changed. The calm and composed tone in the first minute of the video suddenly changed to panic and fear based on the man's voice. Eventually, ten seconds before the video ended, the man barked at Devine to leave immediately. In the last two seconds, the camera moved, presumably being adjusted by Devine, but in a flash, the hand of a man wearing a bronze-colored watch could be seen before the video ended.

"That escalated quickly," commented Mercury.

Devine nodded. "The man whom I interviewed was the Chief Operations Officer. The actual interview lasted thirty minutes."

"Why do you only have less than two minutes of footage?" Athena asked.

"The conversation immediately shifted to commentary regarding the cyber-terrorist group," answered Devine. "I also needed information to bring to the council. After all, the council is the front line for the safety for consumers in the tech world."

("It still makes me wonder why the COO would panic regarding the agreement.")

"So Mr. Wright, are you up for investigation?" Devine asked.

Phoenix looked at the computer screen where they played the video. The video was frozen on the man's hand with the bronze-colored watch. ("In a way, our office was responsible for learning of the actions of this cyber-terrorist group. And I'm sure Mercury also wants to learn more about that trial he keeps mentioning.") Once he made his decision, he stood up straight and said, "I'm in, Ms. Lopper."

Mercury gasped softly. "B-Boss? What are you-?"

"Mercury, I've also been digging into the trial surrounding your professor's death," Phoenix told him. "I have a feeling that this case could shed some light in the matter. Call it lawyer's intuition, if you will."

Athena and Mercury exchanged looks.

Devine clapped her hands. "Well, that's that. I'll be seeing you outside the laboratory tomorrow. Bring the flash drive as well." She said her farewell and exited the office, leaving the three attorneys dumbstruck.

"She's some calm character," remarked Phoenix, still looking at the doorway where Devine exited.

"Yep," responded Mercury. "She's always like that throughout her career, so I thought."

"So, what's the plan of action?" Athena asked Phoenix.

With the flash drive still in their possession, Phoenix had an idea. "Athena, I want you to run a psychoanalysis on the video. Listen for points of interest."

Athena activated her Widget while Mercury replayed the video. When the video ended, Athena presented her analysis. "Well, Ms. Lopper was calm and composed throughout the interview. It'll be hard for me to actually determine her mood. The man's emotions were projected as normal for most of the interview."

"Most of the interview?" Mercury repeated.

"At the last part where he barks at Ms. Lopper to leave the room, there is a lessening intensity of anger and an increasing intensity of surprise."

Phoenix blinked. "S-Surprise? Are you sure?"

Athena nodded. "Seems like it. Again, it's difficult for me to actually determine the mood." She sighed. "I just hope Apollo gets here."

("Did the man see something he shouldn't have seen? What was Ms. Lopper doing at the end of the video?")

Interview Video added to the Court Record.

("Looks like a long job's ahead of me. I better do a little more research into this matter before recklessly putting myself in an unpleasant spot. I just hope Apollo arrives sooner than later.")


October 3; 8:07 AM
Wright and Co. Law Offices

After dropping off his daughter for university classes, Phoenix arrived at the office and prepared his morning coffee. Work in the office didn't start until nine in the morning, but he arrived early to work out a game plan for his investigation with Devine. While waiting for the other two attorneys, he continued his research into Summerbridge. The factory for Summerbridge was located on the other side of the city and would take a thirty-minute taxi ride from the office. He watched the video and listened in the conversation, hoping to find something new. When he found none, he stood up from his desk and brought his coffee to the couch where he turned on the television. The daily 8:30 AM news flash would be up in a few moments, but the program just showed the regular morning talk show. Phoenix went to the table and reread the newspaper from yesterday.

Mercury was the next to arrive and Athena just a few seconds after him.

"Athena, have you heard?" Mercury started animatedly when he saw her enter the office.

"Heard what?"

"There's a big traffic jam out there on the highway."

Athena put down her satchel on the couch. "It's not really concerning, to be honest. Don't we get traffic jams almost every day?"

"Nah, this one's different."

"How so?"

Mercury sat down on the couch and watched the television. The program had just entered a commercial break before the 8:30 AM local news flash appeared. "Just like that," he told her. "Maybe we'll see why."

The first report showed the massive traffic jam on the highway. The traffic officer explained that a truck had crashed in an underpass and traffic was rerouted before the crash site to other roads. The second report was connected to the first one and captured the attorney's interest.

"At around 3 o'clock early morning today, a truck carrying several pieces of materials all originating from Summerbridge crashed in an underpass along –"

Phoenix nearly spat out his coffee. The moment the word "Summerbridge" was mentioned in the news, he quickly stood up from the table and joined the two other attorneys.

"Police and emergency staff arrived fifteen minutes after the emergency call and cordoned off the area," continued the news. "Emergency personnel quickly searched for any survivors or casualties. No other vehicles were damaged. Police quickly launched an on-site investigation on the cause of the crash." The footage then showed the medical personnel tending to the truck's driver. "The truck's driver suffered minor injuries from the crash. However, police recovered the body of a woman from the truck's container. The woman appeared to have been stabbed on the chest. Police officers are currently sweeping the area for clues."

Phoenix's eyebrows furrowed. "A woman?"

On cue, the camera showed the medical officers carrying the woman's body on a stretcher. The face of the woman was blurred, but the woman's dark-green clothing made the three attorneys in the office do a double take.

"Boss, is that… the victim…" Athena's voice wavered with shock. Mercury remained silent.

Phoenix nodded, his gaze still on the news. "Yeah," he muttered gravely. "Looks like I'll need to rearrange my priorities for today." He took another sip on his coffee. ("There's no mistaking it. That's Devine Lopper.")


Author's Note: I had to change the premise of the third episode once more after failing to connect the dots with my original plan. The original plan was to have Apollo and Phoenix do an intercontinental investigation. Apollo would get the first day of trial in Khura'in while Phoenix would conclude the trial in the United States. However, it seemed trickier than expected. So, I'm back to the first part of the investigation (thank goodness I didn't go very far into the previous edit). I'm using a similar approach to that of my very first third episode (it was entitled "The Stormy Turnabout") way before the overhaul.

I apologize for the year-long update (or was it two years already?). My writing's not as sharp as it was years ago. I am not even sure if I can make regular updates, but we'll see where it goes. Anyway, the second part of the investigation will be up and running soon.

For those wondering, yes, Apollo will be here in this episode.

PowerZone