Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 12 (Connor)

//February 21, 2031. Local Prison, 4:32 PM//

"Milan!" I cried once we had all caught up with the young girl. She brushed a few pieces of dirt from her knee and looked up, her eyes shining in the light of the setting sun.

"That tunnel was really crazy!" she exclaimed, running up to me. "You wouldn't believe it!"

I couldn't resist wrapping my arms around her and pulling her into an embrace. I guess she just kind of reminded me of June... I hope she didn't leave me like June did, though...

Vesgate and Celosia caught up with us soon after. Celosia sighed. "Going through  a suspicious tunnel. Great going, Milan," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"That could have been used by the prisoner to escape!!" Milan cried. "He could have dug it to get away!"

"Hey, guys."

X's voice interrupted Milan's theorizing. F, M, and N followed not far behind, all of their expressions as stony as ever. X seemed a little bit more lax, running up to us before pulling out his laptop.

"We found out a little bit about the escapee!" X cried, opening up the device and clicking away at it. "We think his name was Pierre Giuseppe."

"I remember a case where the Giuseppe family was mentioned a lot. It was years ago, but sure enough, it did happen," Vesgate recalled.

"Wasn't that Pierre guy the defendant in the case all of the victims were somehow linked to?" I asked. "And some of the people who died before the Kuranin appeared? Like June's mom and Milan's father?"

"Yeah. That's the one," M nodded. "He broke out of prison with help from some alternate accomplice, though we aren't really sure who helped him out."

"The tunnels!" Milan exclaimed.

"Tunnels?" F echoed, raising an eyebrow. She looked rather intrigued by this thought. "What are you talking about?"

"We found some tunnels that connected to Giuseppe's cell. If he did have help, the tunnels would probably connect to another cell nearby," Vesgate suggested.

"I personally think that we should cut off our investigation here and pick it up again tomorrow," X suggested.

"You're the main investigator, so I guess your wish is our command," M nodded. "Everyone here tomorrow at nine sharp. Got it, everybody?"

"Yeah, whatever," I agreed, not wanting to show how worried I was already.

"Wait. No ending the investigation yet, got it?"

We all turned to see the video chat screen open on X's computer. X himself looked shocked, his face the color of a sheet. "Who are you?!" he demanded, a fire igniting in his eyes. "What do you want with us?!"

"And what's with all the threats you've been sending us?" M scowled, glaring at the screen. "Why are you sending them?"

"Maybe I want attention. A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N."

"That's a stupid reason to threaten to blow up the city!" I shouted, feeling anger bubble up in my core.

"I have my reasons. Gosh, just relax and think straight for a second. Maybe I'm not as rotten as you take me to be."

"How can we mistake a criminal for being 'not as rotten as we take you to be'?!" N yelled. I thought I saw tears glass over his eyes. "You're a member of the Kuranin! You helped to kill all those people!"

The person on the other side gasped, as if offended by N's accusation. "Me? A criminal? A killer, no less? I'm insulted that you think this of me. I'm not like those low life monsters who surround this city and those involved with you all."

"Do you really blame us?" F growled.

"Okay. I know this may make me seem like a creep, but I know all of your names. X, M, N, F-because I respect Interpol securities personally, unlike some other bums who think that etiquette is pointless-followed by Celosia Quell, Vesgate Lawton, Connor Clever, and Milan Tsumi. See? I do my research."

"How do you know us?!" I yelled, wrapping an arm tightly around Milan's shoulders, as she had pulled herself closer into my body. It took no observation skill to notice that she was scared of whoever spoke from the other side of the video chat. I didn't blame her. She was so young... Too young for something like this.

"I do my research. And by that... I mean that my... Somewhat allies... Yeah, that's something like the terminology... Looked into the people digging into the affairs of the Kuranin. You eight. Got together this morning, correct?"

Nobody replied, too shocked at how much this mystery person knew about us.

"Oh, yeah. You lot still don't know my name, do you? I guess that mistake is on my part... My name is quite complicated, and foreign, as a matter of fact, but I will give you some way of identifying me."

"Then get on with it!" M yelled, looking ready to crush the laptop on whatever he could find that would break the technology into a billion pieces.

"Hm... Let's go with... L. That sounds nice enough, does it not?"

"Just tell us why you called!" Vesgate exclaimed.

"We don't have all day!" Celosia yelled, following up on Vesgate's shout.

"I just wanted to say that you only have until February 25th before I step in and get into the investigation, possibly getting myself killed. But the explosion thing still stands. Fail to come to me with an answer on that day at the Copen Bridge and everything goes boom. Sorry about that."

We all opened our mouths to ask some sort of question about what she was talking about and why we suddenly had such little time, but before any of us could say a word, the call was ended from the other end.

"Investigation over," M scowled, turning away dramatically. He took N's hand and stomped back to his limo. F dashed after him while X closed his laptop, preparing to look into the matter further when he had the chance.

Milan, Vesgate, Celosia, and I all stood in silence. Nobody said a word as we all split and went our separate ways, going for somewhere more comforting than where we had been previously investigating the Kuranin.

I was glad to get out of that place before fear could tear me apart.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I started the planning for the sequel and the other sequel and who knows?

Maybe I have a few things planned out that you all will like~

Celosia: "In other words, us characters are going to be tortured."

Annie: *disapprovingly shakes head*

DIGITAL USED RUN

IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE

-Digital Who Is Running From Disapproving Annie