Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 6: The End Approaches - Part 3 (Deadly Life)

~ Ultimate Software Engineer Zachary Moore's POV ~

All of us stared in awe at Justin, who was too busy checking himself out in a mirror he pulled from his pocket. His hair and his eyes were a flaring red. He wore a long white coat over black clothes. A green bandana was wrapped around his neck.

"I think that was a pretty darn great entrance." He said, putting the mirror away. "Don't you think so?"

"S-So... you're the one who's been manipulating us all this time." I whispered, my surprise quickly giving way to anger. "You were the one who killed our friends!"

Justin held up his hands defensively. "Whoa, hey, calm down, Zach. I was just doing my job."

"Don't provoke him." Akari sighed, turning back to Justin. "Just tell us what all of this accomplished."

Justin nodded, still grinning like an idiot. "Yes, ma'am!" He exclaimed. "So... my sister and I came up with this real neat experiment. We wanted to test how much psychological pressure was needed to truly break someone."

"Why in the world would you want to know something like that?" Jordan questioned, alarm visible in his eyes.

Justin shrugged. "Pure, morbid curiosity. Anyway, after some planning, we decided that seventeen participants would be cool to start out with. But then we hit our first brick wall." He sighed, expressing mock downheartedness and pressing his two index fingers together. "We didn't know just who those seventeen participants would be."

"So then why did you come for us?" I demanded.

Justin continued, as carefree as usual. "Well, my sister said that using any regular old person wouldn't be very interesting. I agreed, so I set out looking for worthy people. Then I found your special school for special people."

None of us said anything, instead listening intently as Justin talked. "I thought, 'Wow, that's where we'll get our test subjects!'. Of course, you ended up being a bunch of kids, but that didn't matter. Heck, that would've just made things even better! So we extended an invitation to your class to visit the factory!"

"All so you could knock us out and put us in this messed up game." Jordan growled. "You people are sick!"

"Hold on," Niamh interrupted, frowning. "You keep mentioning your sister Sapphire, but... did she really help you with this? I mean... just before I was put into the game, I saw... I saw her dead."

Justin blinked, looking generally confused. "Dead?" He repeated. "Nah, she's very much alive. Do you mean that trick she pulled with the fake blood? Yeah, she made it look like someone clonked her on the head, but she was just faking it!"

"Faking it?" Niamh repeated. "So... when I saw her and Dr. Morton and Ms. Colton in that room... she was actually the only one left alive?"

"That's right!" Justin grinned. "After I carried you out, she stood right up, cleaned herself off and set to work!"

We were silent as we were digesting everything that he was telling us. He glanced around at all of us, obviously pleased with the expressions on our faces. Once the truth had sunk it's way into our brains, I spoke. "Bring Sapphire in here." I demanded.

"Huh?" Justin frowned. "You want to see Sapphire? What for?"

"You said yourself that she was the mastermind behind the entire plot." I answered. "We've spoken to her pawn. Now we want to speak to her ourselves, face to face."

"B-But she's working in the real world..." Justin whispered, his eyes beginning to brim with tears. Just before he allowed himself to cry, he shook his head madly and the tears were gone. "Ooh! Actually, there is a way that you can talk to each other!"

We watched in anticipation as Justin stepped to one side, glancing around at the broken world around us before clapping twice. Somewhere above, a huge television screen was lowered. Justin grinned as the screen turned on, starting out as static before the image focused.

The screen showed a room in the factory, although unlike the parts that we had seen, it's walls were painted black and the only light came from computer screens that were scattered here and there.

"Sapphire!" Justin called, standing in front of the screen and waving his arms around. "It's time for your dramatic appearance! Come on out!"

A woman soon appeared in the center of the screen. Her hair was long and icy blue, matching her eyes. A light blue scarf was wrapped around her neck. She wore a long white coat over purple clothes. Her expression showed indifference and apathy.

I felt my eyes narrow, my anger beginning to bubble furiously. "You," I growled. "You're the one responsible for doing this to us? All for some stupid experiment?"

"That is correct." Sapphire confirmed. "Although you may see little validity in this trial, the investigation did produce some interesting results. Because of this, your participation has not been in vain."

"Interesting results?" Jordan repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sapphire pulled a pair of black glasses out of her pocket, placing them on the edge of her nose as she picked up a small book and scanned it's pages. "Out of the starting number of seventeen participants, three of you have shown substantial mental changes."

"Three of us?" Jeff gasped, glancing around at everyone else. "Who, exactly?"

Sapphire paused, silently reading some more of her notes before her pale blue eyes turned back to us. "Ms. Hinata, Ms. Wood and Mr. Moore." She announced. "You three."

Niamh, Akari and I all looked at each other. "Us?" Niamh echoed. "What kind of changes? Are they bad?"

Sapphire's eyes narrowed, but only slightly. "You would call them 'bad'," she said. "I, on the other hand, find it fascinating."

"Just tell us what's wrong with us!" I demanded. "You better find some way to fix it, too!"

"Wow, it looks like Zach's been triggered!" Justin exclaimed. "You better calm down, kid! Or is it too late? Are the flashbacks already rolling in?"

"Shut up, Justin." Sapphire reprimanded, causing her brother to shut up immediately.

"If you two are done, I have a question for you." Jordan began. "About the others, those who died during the course of the game... when we wake up, what will happen to them?"

Akari's attention suddenly shot through the roof as her eyes widened. "Yeah! Tell us about that!" she cried. "They'll wake up, too, right?"

Sapphire's expression remained blank while Justin burst into a fit of laughter. Akari paled considerably, her whole body beginning to tremble at the response we had gotten. "No... No..."

"Akari!" Angelica exclaimed as Akari fell to her knees. The redhead's hat had cast a shadow over her eyes, although I was certain that she was just staring blankly at the ground. I fell into a kneeling position next to her, watching Angelica hug her and trying to talk to her.

Justin's laughter hadn't yet faded, but a glare from me got him to shut up. I glanced around at the world around us. The bugs and glitches had stopped. It was relatively normal.

"Is... no one coming to save us anymore?" I whispered, growing cold at the realisation.

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zach is tRIGGERED

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