Turnabout Lockdown

By Cyberwulf

Rated: T for murder, violence and some strong language.

Summary: SPOILERS for everything up to and including the end of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Apollo is roped into defending Kristoph Gavin on a charge of murdering his cellmate...Diego Armando. Written for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme. Prompt: A fic similar to the original games, featuring an investigation and trial.

Enjoy, and bear with me - this is gonna be epic.

***

May 17

State Penitentiary

12.20 AM

The deafening shrill of the fire alarm couldn't drown out the coughing and cries for help of the men housed on A Wing. Choking black smoke billowed up the staircase at the end of the corridor. The fire itself remained unseen but not unheard – an ominous roaring noise coming from the laundry room. Bars rattled as some of the inmates desperately tried to force the cell doors open. From one of the cells closest to the inferno came the sounds of a struggle.

"What the hell are you doing? …Don't! You'll choke –"

"Let go of me!"

*CRACK*

*BANG*

May 17

Wright Anything Agency

11.30 AM

"Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix Wright speaking." The former defence attorney flipped to a clean page in the notebook next to him and picked up a pen. "How may I direct your call?"

He abandoned the pen on hearing the voice on the other end of the line. "Oh, hi, Maya." He frowned. "Is everything all right?"

"Nick…" Phoenix heard her sniffle and a cold feeling of dread washed over him. "…Mr. Armando's dead."

He didn't press her for details, just waited until she was ready to continue.

"There was a fire at the prison last night, but…but that's not how he died. They – they said another prisoner killed him." Maya sniffled again over the line. "Nick, I – I have to go and…and pick up the…"

Phoenix nodded instinctively. "Maya, don't go anywhere. I'll hire a car and come pick you up." He wasn't sure what he'd hire it with, but he'd scrape the money together somehow. There was no way he was letting Maya take a train when she was this upset, let alone go look at Armando's body by herself. "Okay?"

"Thanks, Nick," Maya replied, and Phoenix could picture her tearful smile. There was a pause on the line before she said softly, "I visited him just last week…"

"Maya, I'll be there soon, okay?" Phoenix assured her. "Don't go anywhere. I'll call you back in just a little while."

"Okay, Nick. Talk to you soon."

Phoenix let Maya hang up first, then replaced the receiver and reached under the desk for the phone book. He flipped to the section on rental cars and was about to pick up the phone when it rang again.

"Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix Wright speaking," he said, hunting for his notebook. "How may I direct your call?"

"…Herr Wright."

Phoenix frowned. "Prosecutor Gavin?"

"J…Ja. I was hoping to speak with Herr For- Herr Justice. My…brother wants to see him."

Instantly Phoenix was on the alert. Whatever Kristoph Gavin wanted with Apollo, it couldn't be good. "What for?" he asked.

There was a pause on the line. "Herr Wright, my brother is being charged with murder. They say he killed his cellmate last night…during a fire."

Phoenix closed his eyes briefly. "Did they tell you the victim's name?"

"Of course not," Klavier replied snappishly. Phoenix let it go, and waited. Klavier sighed. "My apologies, Herr Wright. I just…I can't believe Kristoph would have the balls to do this, and then ask Herr Justice to defend him."

"So you think he did it?" Phoenix asked.

"Of course he did it," Klavier said wearily. "Forget I called, Herr Wright. Let the public defender deal with him."

"I'd prefer to let Apollo make up his own mind," Phoenix answered. "Where is Kristoph now?"

"The State Penitentiary, in the hospital wing," Klavier replied. "He's being treated for smoke inhalation."

"Okay," Phoenix answered. "Where are you?"

There was a pause on the line.

"With him." Phoenix heard what sounded like a sigh, and imagined Klavier looking away, playing nervously with his bangs. "Even after everything that's happened…he's still my brother."

"Apollo will meet you there in a couple of hours," Phoenix promised.

"Ja. Thank you," Klavier replied shortly, and hung up.

Phoenix leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. He was almost certain that the man Kristoph Gavin was accused of killing was Diego Armando…and already one or two things about that scenario didn't make sense. He grabbed the notebook and began to jot down a plan.

*

"No!"

Apollo and Trucy entered the Wright Anything Agency office, back from the mid-morning day-old donut run. "There is absolutely no way you're strapping me to a wheel and throwing knives at me!"

Trucy pouted and went to zap the slightly stale donuts in the tiny microwave. "You're no fun." She smiled as Phoenix emerged from the back room with a determined look on his face. "I guess I'll have to ask Daddy."

Phoenix paused in his tracks and glanced at her in confusion. "What?"

Apollo frowned at him. "Is something wrong, Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix stared at him for a couple of seconds, then recovered his train of thought.

"Apollo, I need you to meet Klavier Gavin at the State Penitentiary," he said. "Trucy, go with him."

"Right now?" Trucy asked in disappointment, taking the now warm donuts out of the microwave. Phoenix grabbed one from the plate she was holding.

"Have your donuts first," he clarified. "Just be there by…" He glanced at his cheap watch, checked the slightly broken office clock, and made a guesstimate. "…one thirty. I'll see both of you there. Right now I have to go to Kurain."

"Kurain?" Apollo asked. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Phoenix answered. "Trucy, I need to dip into the emergency fund."

"Sure thing!" Trucy whipped off her hat, held it upside-down in front of her, and waved her hand over it. "Alakazam!"

She reached into the hat and handed a familiar-looking leather wallet to Phoenix. Apollo quickly patted his pockets and let out a yell of indignation.

"Hey – that's mine!"

"Sorry, Apollo," Phoenix replied, relieving the wallet of most of its contents. "I'll make it up to you." He tossed the wallet to the young attorney and darted out the door.

Apollo grimly thumbed through what was left of his money – just enough for train fare for both of them, if they lied and said that Trucy was a tall twelve-year-old. He directed a glare at Trucy, who wilted.

"Sorry," she mumbled through a mouthful of cake-y goodness.

Apollo heaved a sigh and reached for the last donut. Times like this almost made him wish he were still an only child.

*

Phoenix was relieved that driving to Kurain didn't involve anything more difficult than following the highway and watching out for the signposts. On the other hand, a more complicated route would require more concentration. As it was, he had an uncomfortable amount of time to think – especially since the radio in his rental car didn't work.

The return of the jurist system meant the anti-death penalty groups got one of their old arguments back. It was one thing to send a man to his death based on hard evidence, they said, but on the word of six strangers? There was such potential for the ordinary bias and prejudice that went with being human to play a role; what if an innocent person was convicted and executed? Eventually they got their way, and the death penalty was outlawed. Every convict then on death row had his or her sentence commuted to life imprisonment, which in most cases amounted to thirty years. That included Kristoph Gavin.

Diego Armando had been spared the death penalty at his trial eight years ago. Now it seemed that someone had carried out the sentence anyway. And the story was that that someone was Kristoph.

Except it just didn't ring true.

He reached the outskirts of Kurain and found a safe place to park the car. Phoenix made his way into the village, smiling a little at the familiar streets and buildings. It suddenly hit him what a strain the last eight years had been; raising a little girl on a shoestring budget, playing at being a bum so the psychopath who set him up wouldn't suspect anything, trying to uncover the truth with the ghosts of Mia and Gregory Edgeworth as stark reminders of how badly it could go wrong. Tears pricked Phoenix's eyes and he wiped them away. Maya needed him, and he was glad she felt she could still pick up the phone and call him after all this time. These weren't ideal circumstances for a reunion, but he vowed to rebuild the connection he'd had with her, and with Pearl.

He knocked once, and found himself enveloped in a double hug. Both Maya and Pearl had been crying.

"It's good to see you, Nick."

Phoenix hugged them both tighter. "It's good to see you too."