Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 9 (Buddy)

//February 21, 2030. Interpol Headquarters, 3:01 PM//

I wasn't sure what M was planning for once we got back to HQ, but he led us all down a long hallway off offices. He poked his head into an office one time and an agent (probably the most well known out of all of us at Interpol as far as field work goes) came out.

I recognized her as D, the lavender haired agent who had taken on a variety of cases and solved them all. Her hair was long with a tiny black ribbon tied into a braid on one side of her face. She wore a white shirt under a maroon tie with a purple jacket and skirt. She also wore black boots that gave her a few more inches on me. Her purple eyes, which hid behind her glasses, stared down at me with a sense of superiority.

"D," M began. "We need your help investigating a case."

D pushed her glasses further up her nose. Her monotone voice cut through the air, sending a shiver up and down my spine. "Certainly, M,"she agreed, nodding ever so slightly. Please say that I'm not the only one who gets scared by her never changing disposition. "What is it that you need?"

"The prison break near here. I heard that you were investigating it since the escapee was on death row. Q and Griffin, too," M told her. "What did you figure out?"

"Hey! They're back!"

The voice made everybody groan unhappily. From inside another office, a light blue haired boy in his late teen years appeared. His eyes were a bright blue and his clothes comprised of a black shirt and jeans of the same color under a white lab coat that reached his knees. We all knew this boy well as Felix Griffin, commonly known as the bumbling idiot from a few years ago, when he... Oh, no big deal... Shot D off of a moving train. No big deal.

"Griffin..." D whispered tensely. "What have I told you about interrupting?"

Griffin sighed. "Sorry. But I think I found somebody who could have helped out the escapee," he apologized. "Their name and who helped them out."

"Really?!" I exclaimed in excitement. "Tell us!"

"The escapee is somebody who we think was that Pierre Giuseppe guy. Italian guy who moved to America just a year before his trial with his now deceased wife and daughter, Janelle and Lira Giuseppe respectively," Griffin told us, shuffling through his files. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as we were all convinced he was..."

"So both of them are dead?" D asked him.

Griffin hesitated. "Well, Janelle was murdered a month before Pierre was convicted. The killer was never caught. And as for Lira... People think that she was kidnapped by somebody after the crime ten years ago. She would have been eight at that point in time, actually. No body was ever found, but Lira hasn't been seen since."

"That's rather odd..." N commented. "About the case where the escapee's wife was killed... Who was arrested?"

"The victim to Pierre's crime, as a matter of fact. The murder motive was that he still suspected him as the killer and thus killed him as a form of revenge, though this isn't certain," Griffin answered.

"Who knew Griffin could be so useful?" F smirked dryly.

"A-actually, I got the information from-" Griffin began sheepishly.

"Me."

I turned to see another figure entering the hallway. A figure with dark brown hair and eyes of the same color. Their eyes were tucked away behind glasses which made them look more than a little bit nerdy. The person was wearing all black, as far as I could tell. Black jacket, black shirt, black trousers, black shoes, you get the idea. An earpiece was hooked over his left ear, which had a tiny blue light that blinked occasionally.

"Q," D said simply and curtly, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "I knew that Griffin couldn't have found that stuff on his own. I had a feeling that you were involved."

Griffin gasped dramatically and frowned, pouting. "I can't believe you don't trust me to do something like that!" he cried unhappily. "You have no faith in me, Miss Kirigiri!!"

"Do you blame her?" M asked him with narrowed eyes. Griffin shrunk away from him fearfully, causing a tiny smile to appear on my face.

A tiny meow cut us all off in our phase of talking about Griffin's quite obvious incompetence. I immediately looked to Q's feet, knowing he sometimes brought his cats to work. Two cats, one black and one yellow (who I have heard are named Marinette and Adrien respectively), curled around his ankles, purring. Adrien locked eyes with Griffin. As if some telepathic message was sent, the two cats stared at each other for a second before lunging at the young researcher.

The black cat attached itself to Griffin's face and the yellow one to his leg, biting at it in a somewhat cute way. The black cat was holding tight to Griffin's hair with its claws, biting for his nose. "Get them off of me, Miss Kirigiriiiiiiii!!" Griffin cried as he tried (and failed, let me assure you) to pry the cat known as Marinette from his features.

Q started laughing while D just smiled. I had never seen her smile, actually. It was sort of a treat to see, but I was much more focused on the fact that Griffin was still whining for help over the cats that clung to his face.

Q approached Griffin and pulled the cats from Griffin's body, making sure to remove the cat on his face second. "Sorry about that. I taught them to attack potential enemies," Q told Griffin sheepishly. Griffin pouted at him unhappily, ready to speak.

M cut him off by talking first. "Q. What do you know about the recent prison breakout?" he asked.

Q stood silently, stroking his cats gently, before giving a reply. "Follow me," he instructed before walking down to his office. We all exchanged glances before following him, Griffin at the back due to being concerned for his own safety.

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When you're trying to type but people i NTERRUPT YOU-

-Digital