The gallery quieted down as the Judge slammed down the gavel three times.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Ms. Vera Misham."

Apollo did his best to stand up straight. He could not help but swing a look towards the defendant's chair. Vera was curled up in it, not daring to look up. The young attorney winced. He had heard the details of her upbringing while he was preparing for the trial, and for this to happen on top of all of that...

"Mr. Justice, I ask again, is the defense ready?"

"Oh, oh...yes!" Apollo snapped back into focus, and then sunk under the imaginary bricks crushing his back. He did not feel ready, in spite of his attempts otherwise. His practice with his Chords of Steel did not stop his voice from breaking as the Judge called his name, and the cool metal of his bracelet did not make his body feel any less overheated.

The Judge shook his head, but followed it with a nod. He cleared his throat.

"Is the prosecution ready?"

Miles Edgeworth, as self-assured and stern as ever, stood resolutely behind the prosecutor's stand. Apollo watched him carefully. The attorney was not as big a name as he had been since his days as the Demon Prosecutor, but that he was still kicking around seven years after his own trial and with no big losses was something else.

"More than prepared, Your Honor. The prosecution would like to establish the facts of the case by bringing in the lead detective on the case."

"Oh? So sudden," the Judge blinked. "What does the defense say to that?"

Apollo himself blinked. Phoenix had given him the crash course the day before.

"Edgeworth's a hard case, always presses the attack no matter what situation he's in. Trial, chess, doesn't matter. But he's got the final flaw of overextending himself. Let him work, then sidestep him."

Phoenix had told him this as he had bobbed his youngest girl in his lap while his son was talking to Trucy in the corner. How someone could go from ace attorney to bumbling piano player to father, and sometimes mix it all up, Apollo might never know.

"The defense has absolutely no objections, Your Honor."

The scruffy, twitching, bulldog-faced detective towered over the witness stand, clearing the wrinkles out of his khaki coat. Like Apollo, he shot a furtive glance at the defendant's chair before averting his eyes.

Miles Edgeworth cleared his throat. "Witness, state your name and profession."

"As I've done a buncha times before, and I'll be proud to do a million times more." The detective managed a chuckle. "Dick Gumshoe, Chief of Homicides." He paused, then broke into a self-satisfied grin. "Why don't we skip the details and go straight to my testimony?" He cleared his own throat.

"The incident took place in the Hope Springs Airport. The victim and the defendant were both found in a truck outside the airport, with a cargo container attached to it. It had been locked from the outside, so that no one could have left it. The accused was found with a stab wound in the chest. The switchblade has been recovered."

In another second Apollo was flipping through the papers, desperate for any retort before Edgeworth could get his word in. He failed.

"The facts are clear."

Edgeworth cleared his throat.

"Vera Misham was kept alone in the house of her father, the forger Drew Misham. One day, for reasons the Prosecutor's Office are investigating as we speak, the man known as Zak Gramyere, real name Shadi Enigmar, got his hands on Ms. Misham and tried to smuggle her away in a truck to the airport. The defendant acted in self-defense, dealing her kidnapper a fatal wound. Again, the prosecution demands some leniency for this action when His Honor deals the verdict. But with the cargo container locked from outside, and neither the defendant nor the victim possessing a key, there is no possible scenario other than the one I have described."

Despite his piercing voice and strong words, no one in the gallery seemed eager to cheer Edgeworth on. Vera Misham, despite her spot in the defendant's seat, seemed to hide into herself more, as if she could make out what the anguished and confused people were saying.

Apollo did not stop looking through the papers. Then one name flashed to his eyes: Dick Gumshoe. There was another name right below it. Holding the paper in his right hand, he thrust his left arm forward and pointed his finger.

"Mr. Edgeworth! Shouldn't there be someone else on the stand?"

Edgeworth looked startled for a split second before resuming his poised expression. "No one else is required to be here except for Detective Gumshoe."

Huh? Apollo paused. His left arm seemed taut all of a sudden.

Or was it his forearm?

The sensation left as soon as it had come. Regardless, he pressed on.

"Are you sure?"

This time, Edgeworth walked out from behind the stand and in front of it.

"I assure, you no one else..."

Then it came again. And this time, Apollo realized what had happened. His bracelet...it was tightening around his forearm, somehow. He found himself squinting. He could not explain the sensation in words, but it hit him that there was only one detail that really mattered.

Edgeworth's hands were clenched into fists.

The Judge hesitated. "Mr. Justice, are you alright? It looks like your eyes are bugging out..."

Edgeworth shook his head. "It would serve the court best if we just..."

"OBJECTION!"

Apollo brought all the fire to his voice that his Chords of Steel could provide.

"Your Honor, the defense requests that Kay Faraday be brought to the stand alongside Detective Gumshoe!"

"OBJECTION!"

Edgeworth raised his own hand. "There is no need! Detective Gumshoe had read the report word for word already! There is no need..."

"OBJECTION!"

"Your Honor, please!" Apollo felt the energy flow. Nothing would make him back down now.

-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 9; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.