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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Tyki was frankly rather surprised that Phoenix was so willing to trust him. Gratified, but surprised.

He stretched out the cravat and bound Phoenix's hands together in front of him, leaving a bit of room between his hands, which he gripped like a handle for a moment before letting go.

"Follow me," he murmured, his gold eyes alight with mischief as he turned away to head for the office door.

Phoenix wasn’t sure he liked that look, and he immediately wondered if he’d made a mistake in agreeing to this. Not that he could think of anything better, but…

Taking a deep breath, he hesitantly followed. “I need to get a hold of Edgeworth,” he said. “He’s been sick, and I don’t think he knows what’s going on.”

"Is that why you keep looking at your phone?" Tyki asked, opening the door and heading for the elevator.

He wasn't nearly as hot about the idea of rescuing Edgeworth, but he wasn't about to say no, either. Edgeworth was obviously important to Phoenix and though it was unlikely that anything Tyki did would make much of a positive impression on the prosecutor, it wasn't worth alienating Phoenix again just because they didn't get along.

"We'll go get him after I take out the akuma in the immediate area."

Phoenix nodded and continued to follow. “I just want to make sure he’s all right.”

As they walked through the small hallway that led to the elevator, he looked through one of the windows along the wall, but he couldn’t make out what was going on outside. Hopefully nothing, if Tyki had just told the akuma to wait, but he knew that was probably wishful thinking.

“Have they… done a lot of damage?” he wondered.

"It looked like they'd killed a couple of people before I got here," Tyki said. "But the street was pretty empty. I think most people are hiding."

The elevator rose and opened in front of them and he stepped into the chamber.

"Hopefully they won't have done too much more damage while I was up here."

“Hopefully,” he echoed.

Once inside the elevator, he lapsed into silence, dropping his gaze to the frayed carpet below while he contemplated the situation. Phoenix certainly didn’t harbor any delusions of grandeur, and despite what some of his friends seemed to think, he didn’t believe he could change the world one client at a time (though, it was a nice thought…), but he’d be damned if he said his inability to do anything didn’t bother him. Right now, his only hope was that Tyki would honor his word and do whatever he could to protect the city. His city.

…Good Lord, when had he developed such a hero complex?

Tyki was well-acquainted with the people around him feeling such frustration. Zechs was notorious for becoming obsessed and disturbed when something dangerous was going on that he couldn't do anything about, so Tyki was alert to the signs.

"You ready?" he asked as the elevator opened. "Feel free to fight me a little. It'll make it look more realistic."

Then he grabbed Phoenix by the sash he'd tied around his wrists and hauled him bodily out of the elevator, a manic, sadistic expression coming to his features.

“Uh…” Literally dragged from his thoughts, Phoenix complied by instinctively digging his heels into the ground to avoid falling over.

He supposed he was as ready as he’d ever be considering he had no clue what to expect.

Tyki glanced back at him with an evil smirk. "Be good, Phoenix," he purred. "And you won't get hurt."

"Probably."

He pushed the doors open and stepped out into the streetlamp-lit darkness.

Huge bulbous shapes hung over the street, drifting this way and that like freakish, terrifying balloons covered in gun barrels. There was one smaller standing standing on top of a parked car. Unlike the others, it was vaguely human-shaped its head shaped like a pumpkin, complete with grinning, freakish mask. Its hands were long and clawed and its feet looked like cloven hooves.

"Noah-sama!" it called, waving frantically. "I gathered all the ones I could."

Tyki jerked Phoenix forward again, hoping to make him stumble a bit. "Good," he said. "I'm taking this one to the Duke."

‘Probably’…? There was no time to voice his concern before he was dragged out of the door and into the empty streets. Well, empty except for the grotesque creatures that hovered above, of course.

Phoenix paled when he saw them. “Oh God...” It was all he could say as he stared, his wide eyes scanning the city for a moment before he was jerked forward again, indeed stumbling. His attention was immediately focused on the creature ahead of them, its clawed fingers, and its grinning, pumpkin-like head.

He probably should have protested or struggled against Tyki’s grip, but found himself stunned into silence, unable to move. Even in his worst nightmares, he’d never seen anything so terrifying.

"Your god won't help you now," Tyki said gleefully, dragging Phoenix onwards towards Hakuba's car, which was next to the one the second level Akuma was standing on.

The Akuma jumped down and approached them, cackling as it looked at Phoenix. "Ooooh, it's not an Exorcist. What do you want it for, Noah-sama?"

The Akuma reached for Phoenix, but Tyki pulled Phoenix away, covering the motion by pressing close to him and grabbing his chin to force the other man to look at him, as if he were about to force a kiss. "I thought he'd make a good toy," he purred.

Despite his words, and actions, Tyki struggled to make his eyes look reassuring, hoping Phoenix wasn't about to freak out.

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.

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