I had this chapter written for a long time, but I had to add the little details before I posted it. I hope it's somewhat interesting. I can guarantee the next chapter should be much more interesting! Please feel free to leave me review and let me know what you think and/or if you have suggestions! Thanks!

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

Chapter 2

March 5th, 1:15 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Trucy's at school. Iris is in class right now at the university, Athena's going to Europe, and Apollo's gone to send her off. That leaves…

"Looks like it's just you and me, Charley." Phoenix Wright glanced down at the plant, which of course did nothing.

I need to get a life…no. I have a life. What I need to get is a case.

After the case Apollo and Athena took on, the Wright Anything Agency hadn't gotten any defense requests, much to the owner's dismay. It had been nearly a month since Phoenix received a case.

The attorney sat down at his desk and began rearranging some papers. As he finished, his gaze fell on his wallet. Hm…maybe I'll stop by Mr. Eldoon's again and buy some noodles for lunch.

He picked up his wallet and made his way out of the office room. Grabbing his suit coat, he shut the door behind him as he stepped outside of the agency. He took in a deep breath and exhaled. It's nice to get some fresh air in my lungs.

Phoenix began walking in the direction of People Park, where the noodle vendor would be awaiting his business. Hm…what kind of noodles am I going to get? Wait. I should consult my wallet and find out what kind of noodles I can get. Pulling out his wallet, he opened it up, expecting to see some cash sticking out.

What? I don't have a single dollar in here. Heh. I guess I was right when I told Apollo this morning that I was broke. I better stop by the bank and get some money.

The defense attorney continued his walk, but with a different destination in mind. He turned onto the next street where the bank was located. C. T. Zen Bank. I haven't been there in a while now. I wonder what's new. Oh…maybe they still have that coffee machine. I could use a free coffee right now.

As he got closer to the bank though, Phoenix noticed a vehicle parked in front of it. That's weird. I thought that was a no parking zone. On closer inspection however, he realized it wasn't just any vehicle. That's…a police car. Hm…I wonder if Gumshoe is stopping by to get some money. I'm pretty sure he banks here, or maybe he's going to get a coffee too? It is free.

"Please! It wasn't me! I swear, I didn't do it!" A male's voice cried out.

What's going on? Who's yelling, and what does he mean that he didn't do it?

Two officers came out of the bank doors with someone in tow. It was a man, donned in a white dress shirt that was covered with a gray suit coat, although his plaid tie managed to make its way around his neck. Judging from his face, Phoenix was sure the man was at least in his mid-forties, if not older. There wasn't much else too notable about the man. He was a little shorter than Phoenix with short.

He's got handcuffs on him. Is he a bank robber? He isn't dressed like one.

"Why won't you listen to me?! I told you I didn't commit the crime!"

"Yeah, yeah. Save it for court," one of the officers said as they opened the back door of the police cruiser and ushered the man in.

Intrigued by the situation, Phoenix approached the officers. "Excuse me. What happened here?"

One of the officers who was writing something down looked up to Phoenix. "In the bank? Oh, the manager got murdered. This guy here's our prime suspect." The officer motioned with his head to where the man was inside the police car.

"The bank manager got murdered?!" Wow. I wasn't expecting that.

"Yeah. A nasty hit to the head did him in. Now if you'll excuse us." The officer nodded before entering the car.

Phoenix watched him get in the car and then looked into back seat. The suspect of the murder was staring right back at him. The attorney averted his gaze for a second, only for it to return to meet the man's gaze. The police car soon rolled away, and Phoenix maintained eye contact with the man until the car was too far away.

He turned to look at the bank. Yellow caution tape was wrapped around the handles and taped to the door. It was dark inside the building, so Phoenix went up to the glass and tried to look inside. It's way too dark for me to see anything. He pulled away to see his reflection in the glass of the door. As he stared at himself, he was surprised to see the image slowly morph into the face of the man in the police car.

His straight-lined lips curved downwards, his nose became pointier, and his hair lost its signature spikiness, replaced by blonde hair that was combed back and appeared to be kept in pristine condition with hair gel. Furrowed brows were further furrowed, but what really caught Phoenix's attention was the change in eyes. The eyes that stared back at him were confused, sorrowful, helpless.

Shaking his head and taking a few steps back from the glass, the attorney began walking away from the bank. Prime suspect, huh? I wonder what led them to believe that.

March 5th, 1:45 PM

Detention Center – Visitor's Room

"You can go in now, Mr. Wright." The prison guard held the door opened for the attorney.

Thanking the other man, Phoenix entered the room, which was furnished with two desks against the wall and a chair in front of the glass partition. He stopped for a second when he saw the suspect sitting on the other side of the glass. The attorney opted to stand rather than sit in the chair, waiting for the other man to lift his gaze and acknowledge his presence. When he did, Phoenix introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Phoenix Wright. What's your name?"

For a moment, the man just stared at Phoenix. …Um…did he not hear me? Should I speak louder? As he went to open his mouth and reintroduce himself, the man finally spoke.

"Mr. Wright. A…pleasure to meet you, although meeting in the detention center isn't exactly a pleasure. My name is Robin Banks."

Robin Banks. That's an…interesting name.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Banks. So…do you work at the C. T. Zen Bank?" Maybe not. I don't remember seeing him there before, but then again, I haven't been to the bank in a while now.

Robin nodded. "I do. I'm a bank teller there. I worked at another branch just outside the city up until a couple of months ago, when I got transferred here."

That explains it. "I see. I'm not sure if you've heard of me, but I'm a defense attorney."

Robin's eyes widened at that tidbit. "You're…a defense attorney?" He asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Yes, I am." Ah. It's that time again. Boy, did I miss doing this. It's been too long. Phoenix had to hold back a large grin as he presented his golden attorney's badge. "Here's my badge to prove it."

Robin took a look at the badge and nodded. "It looks like it could be a coin. You haven't mistaken it for a coin and nearly put it in a vending machine, have you?" He asked curiously.

For a moment, Phoenix was speechless. Then, he lifted his hand to scratch his neck, an awkward smile on his face. "N-no. That's never happened to me before." But now that I think about it, it could happen, if I put my badge in my pocket. I better be extra careful with it. Making sure to re-pin the badge onto his lapel, he returned his attention to Robin, who had his head bowed down. "Mr. Banks. If you don't mind my asking, could you tell me what happened today?"

It took Robin a few moments before he started speaking. "I was working today at the counter. We closed up for lunch at 11:30. Some of the other accountants went out to eat lunch, but I stayed behind, since I packed my own lunch. Once I was done, it was already 12:55, so I put away some papers." Robin paused, his shoulders slumping.

"I went into the bathroom to wash up and get ready for when we reopened the bank. I came back and…and I found him…Mr. Monet."

"Monet?"

"Macon Monet. The bank manager, my boss. He was…on the floor, in front of the coffee machine. I didn't see him breathing, and he didn't respond when I called out to him, so I did all I could think of doing and called 911."

"Wait. You called 911?" Phoenix asked to clarify.

"Yes, I did."

If he called 911, why would they arrest him? "So the police came once you called 911. Were you the only one in the bank at the time, besides your boss?"

"That's right. It was just the two of us. He was behind the counters when I went to the bathroom."

So he was the only one at the scene of the crime. Still. That doesn't seem like a good enough reason to have him arrested. "Do you have any idea why the police were led to believe that you're the prime suspect?"

"Other than the fact that I was the only one there when they came, no. I don't know why they arrested me." With that, Robin let out a sigh. "Now here I am, under arrest for the murder of my boss, with no means of escaping the guilty verdict."

Wow. This guy's given up already when nothing's even started yet. Clearing his throat, Phoenix spoke up. "Mr. Banks. I know this question is going to sound…not so great, but I need to ask you. Did you kill Mr. Monet?"

Robin fixed his gaze on Phoenix, making sure his green eyes were staring into Phoenix's as he stated firmly, "Mr. Wright. I did not kill Mr. Monet."

Either he's telling the truth, or he's an excellent liar. I'm going to go with my gut on this one. "Since that's the case, I'd be more than happy to take on your defense."

"You…you want to defend me…in court? But there's no other suspect besides me, Mr. Wright."

Phoenix shook his head. "That doesn't matter. You told me you didn't kill him, and I'm going to take your word for it."

"But I'm the only one the police found at the scene of the crime at the time. No one else was there, save for that one patron."

"One patron?" Phoenix leaned closer. This should be interesting.

"Yes. A man came in right when we opened up, and he was waiting to withdraw some money. He wasn't there when I found Mr. Monet though."

Phoenix nodded. "Hm…did you tell the police about this patron?"

"I was too shocked by their accusing me of killing Mr. Monet at the time when they arrested me, but when they questioned me here, I did make sure to mention it. The police said they were going to try to locate the man and question him, although they still believe I am at fault."

"Right. Well, I guess the game plan would be for me to go investigate the crime scene and see what information I can gather from there for your case."

"Mr. Wright. You're…you're really going to take on my case? You weren't joking?" Robin asked in disbelief.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Because you literally just met me. Before today, you didn't know who I was. Even now, you still don't know who I really am, besides that I'm a bank teller and was arrested for the murder of C. T. Zen Bank's manager. I mean, I could be lying to you right now."

Phoenix smiled. "My mentor warned me about that. She told me how we never really know if our client is actually innocent or guilty. All we can do is believe in them. Right now, I see no reason not to believe in you."

Robin considered his speech, and for the first time since Phoenix arrived, he smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Wright. I leave my fate in your hands."

"Thank you. I'm going to go to the crime scene now, but I might come back in and visit. If not, I'll see you before your trial begins." With a quick wave of his hand, Phoenix left the visitor's room.

Alright. To the C. T. Zen Bank to investigate! It'll be fun to do some investigation.

Ah yes. More name puns. I thank (or maybe blame) Ace Attorney for making me love name puns so much. The temptation to write the scene where Apollo sends off Athena is lingering, but it wouldn't necessarily add much to the story, save for probably some Justicykes fluff. If you guys want me to write something for it, please let me know, because I would be more than happy to do it! Otherwise, stay tuned for Phoenix's investigation! :)

Another note: In the story I wrote before this, Justicykes wasn't a couple, but I had a change in heart while writing, and as a result, I ended up shipping Justicykes super hard! (I even wrote a one-shot for them called Turnabout Confession, if you'd like to read that.) Speaking of ships, Feenris is my main AA ship, so you can expect there to be little sprinklings of them here and there. Nothing huge though.

I didn't mean to reference Mia so early on, but I felt it fit in there. That, and considering I don't have plans at the moment to actually include her in the story, I'd like to at least have her be an influence. And yes, even though there was a character named Robin in the series already, I couldn't possibly pass up on this name pun. Sorry (not really)!