Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 46 (Charlotte)

//February 25, 2030. Happy House Carnival Underground, 12:21 PM//

By the time that we had gotten to the carnival, X was full on panicking. The noises he was making were more than a little bit concerning, so I turned to him as we stepped out of the limo. "Are you okay?" I asked.

X sighed. "Yeah... I just want Clarith back..." he whispered. I heard that one of the hostages was named Clarith, so I assumed that's who he was talking about. I didn't think that they had met before now, though... Huh. You learn something new everyday, I suppose.

"I hear that the hostages are being kept underground in the tunnels beneath the carnival. They're mainly used for supply storage, though I assume that one in the Kuranin overtook the underground recently," D told us. She locked the car via the key in her hand.

"Then let's go break in and get those guys back!" I exclaimed.

"We can't get in that easily, L," F said, frowning.

"I can hack into their security system. That way, they won't be alerted of our presence when we finally get into their new headquarters," I declared.

"Fine..." X whispered.

"You normally want to hack into all sorts of programs like this... The fact that you're bowing out so that L can do it is unusual for you. You must really miss that Clarith chick," J commented.

X didn't say anything as my fingers swiftly clicked against my keyboard. All sorts of data scrolled down the screen at a rapid pace. I couldn't read all of it, so I focused on the important stuff, such as 'security' and things that imply security.

It took three minutes for me to finish decoding everything. "There we go. The Happy House system isn't all that complex, and since the Kuranin seems to be lacking in a tech guy or tech girl, then they can't fix it in any way," I explained.

"You're making my head spin, so let's go in," J said.

I nodded and packed up my laptop, slinging it back into its bag. We all walked into the system of tunnels from the entrance, which looked rather like the entrance to an underground train.

"Where are the heat signals?" D asked.

"If we take a right and go straight for two hundred paces followed by a left, then we'll run into a series of heat signals. If you ask me, they're the hostages in their cell," I declared.

F led the way through my directions. We were lucky enough not to run into anybody, which I was mentally thankful for. I don't think I'd be able to take it if we had to fight with a member of the Kuranin. Those guys are really scary for killing all those people.

When we made the final left, I gasped. There they were, just like I had expected. Four people, all hiding in the dark shadows of the underground tunnels. "There you are!" I gasped.

X ran up to the bars of the cell and began rattling them. "Clarith!"

A white haired girl with bright red eyes took his hand. "H-help me..." she whispered, tears spilling over from her eyes and onto her cheeks.

"It's okay, Clarith... You'll be out in a matter of minutes," X told her.

The girl, 'Clarith', if I had to guess, nodded. "Thank you... I missed you so much..."

"How do we get them out? I don't see a key anywhere around here to use on the door," T frowned.

"It's simple. Nobody uses doors and keys anymore, so we do the one other thing we know how to do: kick it in!" J grinned.

"But that will create quite a racket, which will bring the criminals to attention that we are here in their lair," T told her.

The door clicked open gently, causing me to gasp. I turned to the door and saw D crouching by the lock. She had used her high heel to pick it open. The door swung open silently.

The hostages poured out of the cell. All of them greeted a different person. Kotoko hugged D while crying quietly. D stroked her head, running her fingers through the pink haired girl's locks. "It's okay..." D whispered to her quietly. "I'm still here..."

Griffin and J hugged, both of them smiling widely. "I'm so happy you're okay," J told him, hugging him tighter.

"Same here..." Griffin admitted, his cheeks becoming speckled with pink.

Finally, Clarith and X were together, hugging one another. Clarith planted a gentle kiss on X's cheek, making him turn bright red. "I was so scared that you wouldn't come for me! I don't want to die!" Clarith cried.

"It's okay... I wouldn't let that happen to you... You know that, don't you? Besides, Neptune would probably kill me if I let you die in a place like this..." X murmured into her ear.

"Let's just get out of here before the Kuranin finds us," Celosia announced. "We don't have time to stick around here and do nothing like a bunch of bumbling idiots."

I'm pretty sure Griffin gasped in offense here.

"Yeah. She has a point. We have to get out of here so that we can get the Kuranin in chains. Today is February 25th, meaning that the mysterious caller who keeps contacting Interpol is going to be meeting us at the Copen Bridge near here soon. We're already too late to meet them, but maybe we can convince them to come out regardless of our tardiness," F declared.

"Then let's get this over with and split this joint already," Celosia said.

"Follow me," I announced. Everybody nodded and traced my steps in a single file line. I took the same steps we had used to get in, not allowing anybody to fall out of line. That was dangerous.

Eventually, we broke the surface. Everybody flinched against the light, but at the very least we were okay.

"Come on. We're going to go down to Interpol to keep these four safe from the clutches of the Kuranin," D announced.

"Yeah. Let's get going," I agreed, nodding and walking towards the car.

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C A K E

-Digital