attorneyatlol | [RL: - Thursday, February 19; Midday | Phoenix; Tyki; Edgeworth later?]

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Current Location: Wright and Co. Law Offices - Los Angeles, CA

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[RL: - Thursday, February 19; Midday | Phoenix; Tyki; Edgeworth later?]

Phoenix stared blankly at his computer monitor, idly tapping his pen against the desk. Thus far, the offices of Wright and Co. Law had been relatively quiet. It was a welcome change from the last few weeks, which had seen a steady flow of potential clients (a few had panned out, some of whom even paid), but while he was still up to his neck in debt, it was nice to have what seemed like a long-awaited break. In fact, looking out the window where he could see the Gatewater and the fading evening light behind it, he thought he might lock up early. There were only a couple hours left in the day, after all, and people rarely stumbled in any later than 2pm on a Wednesday, anyway.

Standing up, he lifted his arms above his head, wincing until he heard a satisfying pop in his back and then dropped his arms with a sigh. The whole being an average lawyer in Los Angeles thing was starting to take its toll on him. He couldn’t wait to get home, kick his shoes off, and enjoy some mindless television on the couch, a soda and warm TV dinner in hand…

…Or maybe not.

He nearly jumped at the sudden appearance of a gangly figure standing awkwardly in his doorway. Clearing his throat, he quickly smoothed his shirt and suppressed a sigh. (There went the rest of his day…)

Still, he smiled earnestly and said, “Hi,” holding out his hand in greeting. This was a rare occasion; people usually barged in and did the talking for him. “I’m Phoenix Wright.”

The man didn’t say anything in return. As a matter of fact, the man had yet to acknowledge Phoenix’s presence at all, which was a bit unsettling and caused Phoenix to frown. His arm sagged a little.

“Er, did you need a lawyer…?”

The man lifted his head slightly, then took an unsteady step toward Phoenix. He was shaky and he was limping, and his face appeared to be twisted in pain. He took another step and muttered, “I need… I need, I need…”

Phoenix swallowed and stared for a moment, his hand going for the phone. This guy didn’t look good at all… “Are you okay?” he asked, his brows furrowed. “Do you need me to call someone?”

“I need... I need to…” The man stopped about a foot away from Phoenix’s desk and dropped his head into his hands, shaking it back and forth. “I need to…”

“Hey…” Phoenix reached out as if to steady the man, but the distance between them was too great; he held his hand up in a placating gesture while his other hand grabbed the phone and lifted the receiver to his ear. “Just… hang on a second, okay?” He tried to sound reassuring. “I’ll get some help.”

Then the man suddenly looked up. For a brief moment, they locked eyes, but before Phoenix could possibly know what was happening, he suddenly found himself staring down a thick barrel aimed right at his face… a thick barrel that was coming out of the man’s forehead straight through his skin. Phoenix stepped back and dropped the receiver. “What--!?”

There was a strange sound, like the cocking of a gun, but Phoenix didn’t wait around to see what it was. It was a good thing, too; he jumped to the side just in time to hear the bookshelf with his law books (Mia’s formidable, mocking law books) be blown to smithereens, the aftershock of which nearly sent him sprawling. Without looking back, he scrambled to the bathroom and immediately slammed the door shut, already fishing for his cell phone. He an idea of what was going on, but God, what could he do?

Dialing without thinking, he used his free hand to pile whatever he could in front of the door (it wasn’t much: a wastebasket, a few towels, and a mop) which probably wouldn’t be very effective, but at least it was something. While the phone rang on the other end, he eyed the small window above the toilet. There was no way he’d be able to make it out of there, and he was on the second floor, anyway. Which, in short, meant he’d basically trapped himself. Fantastic.

He couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the door, but that probably didn’t mean anything. He stayed as far away as he could, wedging himself between the toilet and the sink, and proceeded to make a phone post.

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Phoenix tensed as the akuma approached, and when it made a grab for him, his first instinct was to somehow get away, but whatever move he was going to make was cut short when he was unexpectedly jerked to the side. Finding himself nearly nose to nose with Tyki, with a hand firmly gripping his chin, was enough to shake Phoenix out of his stupor. He blinked, bewildered as he stared into the man’s gold eyes for a moment, but realization was fortunately quick to dawn.

Although he understood what Tyki was doing, he figured struggling to get free was an appropriate reaction. Making it look convincing would be no trouble at all. “Let go of me!” he cried, trying to shove him away.

Tyki laughed aloud, as if Phoenix's struggles were only amusing to him. Certainly his strength was enough that they were rather ineffectual, and his fingers tightened on Phoenix's chin, sliding down towards his throat.

"Be good now," he purred. "Or I'll give you to it." He jerked his head towards the second level Akuma.

"Ooooh, yes, yes, please Noah=sama!" the Akuma trilled, clapping its claw-like hands together. "I want to see if it dies like the rest. Do you think its blood is red? It's an alien."

Phoenix continued to struggle, shoving at Tyki and trying to pull away from his grip as he took a deep breath and held it (he had no idea how far Tyki was going to take this, but he’d rather not find out by suddenly being choked). An involuntary shudder escaped him when he heard the akuma speak, and he looked his ‘captor’ in the eye and silently pleaded for him to please get them to the car soon.

Tyki shoved Phoenix back, forcing him to walk backwards as he pulled keys out of his pocket. "I told you, he's mine," he tossed back over his shoulder at the following Akuma. "The only one who's going to see the colour of his blood is me."

He pinned Phoenix against the car with one hand as he unlocked it with the other.

"Yes, Noah-sama..." the Akuma said sulkily. If there had been eyes in those empty jack-o-lantern sockets, they would have been looking hungrily at Phoenix.

Phoenix bit back a cry as his back hit the car, and he reached up with his still bound hands to pull at Tyki’s wrist. If he were more certain that the akuma wouldn’t attack him despite Tyki’s warnings, Phoenix would have put up much more of a fight; for now, he’d have to hope that his reaction was believable enough.

“You won’t get away with this,” he choked, yanking at Tyki’s hand as hard as he could. “The people in this city outnumber all of you!”

Tyki yanked the rear door open and shoved Phoenix into the back seat. The Akuma was laughing loudly, covering the sound of Tyki's hissed words. "Keep your head down, and close the door as soon as you can. Stay in the car."

Then he let go of Phoenix and straightened up, turning towards the Akuma.

The high-pitched laughter was cut off by a choked cry of shock, confusion and pain as Tyki formed a large ball of energy in his hands and shoved it straight down the laughing Akuma's throat. There was a massive explosion that threw Tyki back against the car again, almost pushing him down on top of Phoenix.

Scrambling to get the door closed, Phoenix did his best to ignore the pained cries coming from the akuma. He barely had enough time to grab the handle, however, before an explosion shook the car and sent Tyki flying back, nearly hitting him.

He jerked back. “Tyki!?” he called, reaching up to steady the man. “What happened?”

"It's okay," Tyki said, straightening up. He clutched his arm as he staggered away from the car, but he was upright. "Damn thing wasn't as tough as I expected. Close the damned door."

Confused first-level Akuma were gathering around, bringing their guns to bear on Tyki, and he gathered another ball of energy in his palms.

At the same time, dozens - no hundreds, maybe thousands - of black teases began to emerge from Tyki's body. They swirled around as if in a tornado, turning the sky black.

As the teases swirled towards the gathering Akuma, they began to explode, one by one.

Seeing him stagger, Phoenix was about to ask if Tyki was sure he was all right, but as soon as the akuma began closing in, he quickly reached for the door and slammed it shut. He ducked down and covered his head, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the window, unable to tear his gaze from the impending chaos. It wasn’t the most ideal vantage point, but one hardly needed to have their face pressed against the glass to see the sky suddenly fill with black, insect-like creatures. Phoenix lifted his head a little.

They were butterflies, he realized, and they were emerging from Tyki himself. Phoenix watched, momentarily transfixed; it was like something out of an edge-of-your seat action movie, and he was right in the middle of it, literally sitting on the edge of the car seat. It was almost surreal.

…Until the explosions happened. Then it was real again. He turned away and ducked between his legs.

There was a rattle of gunfire, and Tyki leaped into the air. He climbed the air itself as if it were as solid as a flight of stairs, avoiding the gunfire that surely gouged chips of concrete out of the street and peppered Hakuba's car with holes.

Yet it did none of these things. Tyki avoided the bullets, but they didn't do any damage. The bullets would only hurt a living creature.

The dance took only seconds as he whirled through the air, throwing balls of white, swirling energy at the furthest akuma and directed streams of insects at the closest ones. Then finally the street was silent once more.

Tyki landed and strode to the car, yanking the door open. There was a wild, manic look in his eyes, and he was still smiling that evil smile, but it was fading. There was also a bloodstain on his arm, where a large piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in his bicep.

"You still alive in here?"

Edited 2009-02-24 13:46 (UTC)

“I think so,” he answered a bit breathlessly. Lowering his bound hands, Phoenix slowly sat up and gave himself a brief onceover, surprised that nothing had hit the car considering the amount of gunfire he’d heard. He looked outside and could see smoke and bits of metal littering the street, but much of his view was blocked by Tyki, who, Phoenix noted as he raised his gaze to meet the other man’s, seemed disturbingly pleased with himself.

Unsettled, Phoenix drew back slightly, and he quickly looked somewhere else, his eyes instinctively drawn to the dark stain on Tyki’s sleeve. It took a second to process, but his eyes widened and then narrowed. “Jesus, your arm!”

"I'm okay, hang on," Tyki said, reaching for Phoenix to try to stop him from pulling away. He reached to catch the scarf binding Phoenix's wrists, to untie it and free him, but winced a little as he moved his hurt arm automatically.

"Though if you could bind it up, that'd help keep the blood from dripping all over Saguru's car," he said wryly. "I'll heal quickly, though. It's nothing to worry about."

Phoenix held still and allowed his hands to be untied, helping as best as he could by rotating his wrists and slipping them free. He kept his eyes on Tyki’s arm, frowning. “Ah, shouldn’t we, uh… remove the shrapnel first?”

"Yeah," Tyki said, straightening up with the cravat in his hands. "But I didn't want to bleed even more until we were ready to bind it up."

The manic look in his eyes was fading, replaced by a deep exhaustion. It was hard to concentrate to use his powers, to maintain that focus constantly to ensure that he didn't get shot, and kill the akuma, without anything fizzling. And he had been awake, doing this with few breaks, for two days now.

He closed his eyes and his brow furrowed for a moment, and then the piece of shrapnel fell through his arm and clattered to the ground.

Phoenix watched him, relieved that he didn’t look quite so feral anymore, but he wondered if the concentration it took to remove the shrapnel was a cause for concern. He remembered how effortlessly Tyki had been able to pass his arm through the wall a few months ago…

He slid out of the car a bit and looked around, briefly surveying the damage before he beckoned Tyki to kneel down in front of him so he could wrap the wound. “Do you think there are more?” he asked. “Maybe you can rest a while…”

Tyki hesitated, then knelt down in front of Phoenix and shrugged out of his suit jacket. The white shirtsleeves underneath were stained red and the stain was spreading, but he wasn't too worried.

He started to roll the sleeve up, but it was awkward to get it high enough. "I think there might be more on your world," he said with a sigh. "And on other worlds, too. Every minute I spend, people are dying."

He gestured with his unhurt arm towards a pile of dust resting on the sidewalk. There were clothes in and around it, as if the person wearing them had literally fallen to dust in seconds and the clothes had simply deflated. Which was precisely what had happened.

The implication was disturbing. Phoenix glanced at the sidewalk but quickly looked away, trying not to think too hard about what could have happened in the office if Tyki hadn’t arrive sooner… or what could be happening to other people if he stopped now.

He wavered for a moment and then reached for Tyki’s sleeve and helped him inch it a bit higher, doing his best to ignore the blood smearing his fingers. When it was high enough, he took the cravat and began wrapping it around the wound.

“It won’t do anyone any good if you completely wear yourself out, though.” It could cost more people their lives, Phoenix thought, including Tyki’s own.

"Yeah, I know," Tyki said quietly, holding his arm still as Phoenix wrapped the wound. He gazed at the mound of dust, feeling a strange sense of guilt and sadness at the sight. He frowned faintly, hating the feeling, yet unable to dispel it.

He had never felt guilty over the things he'd done, or allowed to be done, before. And he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

"I'm not used to juggling this kind of stuff," he admitted. "Fighting and knowing that there was more to do. Knowing that things are time sensitive. I would ask Zechs how he coped during the war he fought, but I know he doesn't do it very well." He shrugged. "I always just tried to live my life and only did what I was told when I was called in by the Earl."

Phoenix made sure the cravat was snug enough before tying the ends in a knot. “I don’t think there’s any surefire way to cope,” he said, dropping his hands to his sides as he looked around. “Not for something like this, anyway.” Not that he was any expert on the matter, of course. Although he’d had his own share of time-sensitive crises, they didn’t come close to anything like this.

He turned back to Tyki and sighed, offering him the only advice he could think of. “Sometimes it might be enough just to keep your goal in mind, though. Knowing that it’ll all be worth it in the end.”

Tyki glanced at him, his expression inscrutable. He wanted to snap a little, to point out that Phoenix had probably just gone through the most frightening, dangerous experience of his life, and that the only goal that Tyki really had in mind was not disappointing his lover, who believed this was right.

But the words died on his lips and he just nodded.

"Maybe you're right." He got to his feet and pulled his coat back on again with a bit of difficulty. "I would probably be telling Zechs to sleep right about now, so I might want to do that. But first, you wanted to get Edgeworth."

Phoenix watched him for a moment, but the mention of Edgeworth derailed his train of thought. He looked at the sidewalk again, tensing at the sight of dust on the ground, and then immediately slid back into the car. “Right…” He went for his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, relieved to see that he finally had signal. “I should probably try calling again.”

Tyki circled the car to get into the driver's side door. "I have no idea where he lives. Give me directions and call him as we go," he suggested.

He was no longer staggering, but he was still favouring his left arm, holding it stiffly as if it pained him and he didn't want to jar it accidentally or use it too much.

He slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.

“Go straight and turn right at the third stoplight,” Phoenix instructed, looking out the window. He could hear sirens in the distance, and it sounded like they were getting closer. It was probably a good idea to get out of there as quickly as they could…

After hitting ‘send’, he held the phone to his ear and waited for it to ring, hoping Edgeworth would pick up. “I’ll tell you the rest as we go along.”

Edited 2009-02-24 23:59 (UTC)

Tyki nodded, glancing in his rear view mirror as he heard the sirens and taking off. He drove with the careful recklessness of someone who hadn't been driving all that long but wasn't a naturally cautious person, though he would have said he was being careful, as this wasn't his car.

He darted looks at Phoenix every so often, waiting as well.

Phoenix instinctively gripped the armrest on the door; after growing up with someone like Larry, he was more than accustomed to reckless driving. His grip grew tighter, however, as the cell phone rang once, twice, three times, until finally dropping him in Edgeworth’s voicemail after the fourth. His stomach sank as he pulled the phone from his ear, hit ‘redial’, and tried again.

“After this turn, you’ll be going straight again for a few more blocks,” he said, an undeniable note of concern in his voice.

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