#mentioned Tyrell Badd

[alynnl]

My Take on Gumshoe's Backstory

I played through the Ace Attorney trilogy as well as the Investigations duology, and noticed a blank spot in a lot of characters' back stories. Since he's important to Edgeworth and I love him plenty on his own, I'll be focusing on Detective Dick Gumshoe and what his past might have been like. Part of this (but probably not all of it) will end up in a fanfic I've been taking notes for here and there.

In the beginning, Gumshoe lived in his family home with his parents and two younger siblings (one brother, one sister.)

His mom and dad owned a convenience store. (In the present day, it's run by his younger sister and her husband.) Overall the family isn't the richest one on the block, but they're happy to share a home together.

Gumshoe was an energetic child who got along easy with others. He became close with an older family friend, Jay Walker - an auto mechanic who seemed like he could fix anything.

Gumshoe's love of gadgets comes from his Uncle Jay, who was always working on something in his garage at any given moment. It was not unusual for the two of them to spend their evenings tinkering with various tools and electronics.

Jay made the offhanded remark that Gumshoe knew his way around a toolbox, and he'd make a great apprentice. This was something the boy took to heart, making him want to sign up for shop classes once he got into middle school.

When he was twelve years old, Gumshoe became involved in a murder case that would later be known as the YB-5 Incident. It began when he was walking home after a night at the arcade with a couple of his classmates. He stepped onto his block just in time to witness a drive-by shooting. He hid as the car sped further down the street.

Gumshoe went to check on the victim, realizing to his horror that it was his Uncle Jay who had just been shot. By the time the paramedics arrived, it was too late. It was later said that Jay died instantly.

The following week, the police and the investigating prosecutor swept Gumshoe's neighborhood from top to bottom, questioning everyone as to what they saw and heard that Friday night.

The lead prosecutor on the case was Manfred von Karma. He informed Gumshoe's family that the boy would have to testify in court as a witness if they are to give their neighbor's murderer the guilty verdict he deserves.

During the investigation, it's revealed that Jay used to be "Detective Walker," and he was trying to live a peaceful life after retirement. But a criminal from one of his previous cases decided to take their revenge on the night of the YB-5 Incident, since the former detective broke up his gang of weapon smugglers.

The investigation wrapped up, and the trial began. Von Karma emphasized how important it is that Gumshoe give the perfect witness statement, and didn't care much about the boy's feelings or grief he might be experiencing for his family friend.

Gumshoe gives his statement. Even after that, the trial dragged on for months and he isn't given any sense of closure. A verdict is reached merely one day before Jay Walker's funeral was planned to take place.

Gumshoe is left with an emptiness inside even after the guilty verdict. He doesn't feel like this was a victory because the verdict doesn't bring back his friend and mentor.

Then patrolman Tyrell Badd gives the boy some encouragement, saying how he was brave to give his statement on the witness stand. "I've seen grown men break down and cry when they were giving their testimony, but you didn't shed a tear. You have courage, kid. I think old Jay would be proud."

Tyrell's words gave Gumshoe a different idea of who he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to protect people, and be there for the survivors left behind just like him. From then on, he had his sights set on joining the police academy, but never gave up the hobby of tinkering with machines in his spare time.

[sailor-tri]

[landfilloftrash]

was rewatching jello play AAI2 a bit ago; decided to draw a couple of the little segments that were my favorite

[askaceattorney]

Dear Anonymous,

No. The man gained custody over Prosecutor Edgeworth legally... and did so a few years after Gregory passed away.

Not to mention I'd have taken in Gregory's kid had I known he had one.

- Tyrell Badd

[ask-the-ace-attorney-culprits]

The person in the footage is dressed head to toe in a green jumpsuit. What makes you think it's me?

-Annie

[OOC: Badd is gonna die soon. Don't reveal that shit to the culprit!]

///Badd is just casually repeating what happened in case 2-3-and 4 of the first ace attorney game

Tyrell Badd: “the body of the person in the jumpsuit and you are the same, not to mention that if we obtain the jumpsuit we can get fingerprints off of it so yeah, I got proof.”

[gobspeaks]

Out of your OCs you mentioned, the ones who are a canonical character’s relations, who are all their parents/people they’re related to?

ooooooo okay!!

Liesel is the adopted daughter of edgeworth in 2019 (and also phoenix around 2027) meaning edgeworth and phoenix are her dads, trucy and kay faraday are her sisters, then noah and sebastian debeste are her brothers

noah's family is the same as mentioned (but he isn't adopted until post-aj trilogy, ~2029)

sammy is obviously a debeste but he was 4 when blaise went to prison and was adopted by justine courtney. he considers john marsh to be his sibling along with sebastian and kay but that's as far as his consideration goes in terms of the wrightworth fam

of the vk twins, technically only beatrix is my OC, but they're twins so their family is obviously the same. they're technically franziska's niece & nephew, but after tragedy strikes and their parents die (as is common in ace attorney), they end up being adopted by her & maya

adelaide is obviously a decendant of the man the myth the legend herlock sholmes himself (on her dad's side)

nat is the son of detective tyrell badd and an unnamed wife (i will name her eventually but for now she simply exists)

rose is an accidental feenris kid, as i mentioned before (happened during the time iris was posing as dahlia so it was completely chance) and was raised at hazakura by her mom & bikini with her cousin lily (who was an accidental kid as well of dahlia w doug swallow. she kept the kid with the full intention of trying to manipulate him w it but then when he died she gave the kid to iris to take care of bc she didn't want to be a mom)

[steelsamurailover]

i have an illness it's called brainrot

[aquilamage]

“Court will adjourn for a thirty minute recess.”

Even with standing the moment the judge’s gavel sounded, Badd still had to wade through a crowd to get from his spot on the aisle of the first row of the gallery to the stairs outside. Fortunately, once out in the hall, the guards standing at the defendant lobby stepped aside to let him in without a word. The door clicked shut behind him, blocking out the murmur of the countless voices outside.

In contrast, this room was almost silent, save for Sebastian’s crying. He sat in the middle of the couch, curled up on himself, shaking with big gasping sobs.

To one side of him, Kay dropped another tissue in his lap. She looked up as Badd approached, gave him a smile that only reached as far as the corners of her mouth. “Hey.”

He nodded back at her. Then, he sat on the free end of the couch. It was impossible to tell if Sebastian genuinely hadn’t noticed his arrival or simply wasn’t responding, but either way it left Badd at a loss for what to do. He’d had a substantial amount of practice over the past few weeks, but it would have been much easier if he could simply hold him, like he does with Kay. At least that would be easy enough.

“Seb?” Kay waved her hand in front of where he could see. “I’m going to get you something to eat. Then I’ll be back, okay?” When he didn’t respond, she leaned forward slightly. “Okay?”

There was a long moment between, but he raised his head up enough to nod at her.

This time her smile had more substance to it.

He stared at the ground until the door closed again, and then a bit more, breathing still heavy but a little steadier. Slowly, he turned to look at Badd, blinking back tears. He opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say caught in his throat, and he pressed his hand over his mouth.

Shit, the kid was an absolute wreck right now. He’d been holding up remarkably well during the trial today, and maybe he should have been suspicious of that. If this was the cost, Badd wished he would’ve shown how upset he was sooner. Sebastian wrapped his arms around himself, hands grabbing at the fabric of his sleeves. It was strange seeing him out of his school uniform. The plain button-up made him look smaller, or that might have been in his posture.

Well, there was a thought. Badd sighed. “Here.” He slid the jacket off his shoulders and, watching Sebastian carefully for a reaction, draped it over him.

His expression didn’t change at first, but then he relaxed marginally, pulling the edges around himself like a blanket. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he murmured.

They lapsed into quiet again, Badd searching for something to say. The kid responded well to the right words, he’d seen that several times over with Edgeworth and Courtney. The key, though, was right, and most of the thoughts swirling around Badd’s head at that moment were of the sort about Debeste that he would not repeat to Sebastian under any circumstances, much less these. ……Yeah, maybe leave his father out of things completely for now. Find something else that could be reassuring and meaningful. Finally, he said, “You...did a good job in there.”

Immediately, Sebastian shook his head. “No I...I didn’t.” He wrapped his arms even tighter around his knees. “I kept messing up the words, and forgetting things, and,” he choked back a sob “and then I started crying. I was just a big idiot.”

It was technically true that Edgeworth had to talk him through parts of his testimony, with a few long pauses, but… “How many trials have you seen?”

He blinked. “Huh?”

“Have you ever actually watched a trial, before?”

“Um,” he appeared to give it some genuine thought, wrinkling his brow. “I think when I was little with- with Pops, but…”

Badd nodded, then reached over to grab the box of tissues for him. “I’ve seen plenty. You’re far from the first witness to cry on the stand. Especially one who’s been directly affected...by the culprit. And you won’t be the last.”

“But what if I messed everything up?” In the absence of anything else to fidget with, he started to run his fingers along one of the buttons of the coat. “If I did something wrong, and that means he doesn’t get-” He bit his lip, tensing his whole face.

“Hey.” He put as much weight behind the word as he dared, trying to keep his voice soft. “Listen,” One hand went to a spot on the couch next to Sebastian, close as he dared. “You told the truth, right? And everything you remember?”

Eyes red and still liberally teary, he looked over, and finally nodded.

“Between Courtney, Shields, Gumshoe, and Kay, you have someone backing up...most of your testimony. And Edgeworth’s the one who has the responsibility of prosecuting. You trust them?”

Another nod.

“Then just keep doing that, and we’ll…” get him convicted was the first thing to spring to mind, and while it was true, it’s what they all want (and the bastard certainly deserved it), again, not the right thing to say now. “We’ll make sure everything turns out right.”

Sebastian managed a weak smile. Readjusting the jacket, he took a few slow breaths. “Can I-” the words were so quiet as to almost be inaudible.

“Hmm?”

He startled. “Never mind!”

“No, what is it?”

Frowning, he turned his head fully away from Badd before he spoke. “Can I lean against you?”

The hesitancy, and even the twinge of outright fear in his voice didn’t surprise him, but it did feel like a hand was squeezing at his chest. With claws. He shouldn’t have even had to ask. Badd nodded before remembering himself. “Yeah. Of course.”

Sebastian made a tiny high sound, a messy breath that certainly heralded more crying, but shifted over until his head was rested against Badd’s shoulder, tucking the rest of himself in to follow.

Neither sad anything after that. This time was a more comfortable quiet, though, without the expectation of do something weighing down on him. Despite his earlier worry, Sebastian was hardly crying at all, the rhythm of his breath even against his side. This was the kind of situation he was used to. Kid didn’t even run anywhere near as warm as Kay, which helped that he wasn’t immediately overheating.

Speaking of: Kay walked back in, arms full. She paused for an almost imperceptible moment upon seeing the two of them, but kept going. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I got a little of everything.”

Badd raised an eyebrow at her. At a glance, he would guess that she’d ventured down to the cafeteria instead of relying solely on the vending machines, but even that wasn’t a cheap option.

She smiled and shrugged, and dumped all of it on the table. “Hey, help me move this over,” she said, already tugging on one end.

As he did, he gave her another look.

From her bag she produced a wallet, which she flipped open to show an id with Edgeworth’s picture on it. Grinning, she put it back. Once the table was in place, Kay immediately turned her attention to Sebastian, scooting everything into his reach. “Help yourself.”

Blowing his nose one more time, Sebastian nodded. He accepted a water bottle, opening it to take a long drink before starting to go through the food.

They ate in relative silence. The food wasn’t bad – mostly packaged, but the sandwiches were fresh, even if they did taste and feel of having been in the fridge overnight. Sebastian had initially sat back on the middle cushion, pulling himself in to touch the others as little as possible. Until Badd murmured “I don’t mind...if you want to sit like before.” Then he carefully leaned against Badd again, angled better for eating. It was nice. Peaceful enough that you could almost forget where they were. He could only hope it was the same for the other two.

As he balled up his food wrappers, Badd checked the time. “Six minutes.” Beside him, Sebastian started to tense.

With a loud crackle of plastic, Kay tore open a packet of Swiss rolls. Carefully, she extracted one and held the second one out, wrapping-first, toward Sebastian. “I know today’s been hard, but we’re here for you, okay?”

Sebastian managed a smile, although his eyes had started to water. “Okay.” Then, smaller, as he took it, “thank you.”

Huh. Unless they’d had a conversation Badd didn’t know about, he wouldn’t have understood the full meaning behind Kay’s gesture. Not that it mattered. Her sentiment had still been made perfectly clear.

And as she broke the remaining Swiss roll in half and handed one piece to Badd, he realized it wasn’t meant only for Sebastian. He reached over the back of the couch and ruffled her hair, and she smiled.

By the time they finished eating, it was just about time for the trial to start. Kay swept the rest of the food into her bag, except for a full water bottle that she handed to Sebastian. “Mr. Edgeworth is pretty sure you won’t need to testify any more, so if you’d rather not sit down here again, you can go up in the gallery with Badd.”

(He remembered before the trial yesterday, when they’d mentioned that Sebastian could stay out of the courtroom when he wasn’t specifically needed. He’d never seen anyone yell that emphatically while crying before.)

“No.” He stood to his full height, a single tear rolling down his face. “I want to be there. It- It feels right.”

She nodded, and held her arm out for him.

Just as they got to the door, though, Sebastian skidded to a halt. “Oh! This is yours.” He reached to pull off the jacket that was still on his shoulders.

“Keep it on. If it makes you comfortable.” For a couple hours, he wouldn’t miss it, and he already suspected that something about the extra weight was comforting to the kid. Among other things.

He stared, wide-eyed. And then slowly, he pulled the jacket back securely into place, smiling.

“You’ll be fine, Sebastian. See you...in a bit.” With that, Badd left the two of them to head back into the trial.

[bindingties]

(( idk but i had this image in my head of like badd getting released from prison at some point and him and miles talking & miles mentioning that he’s trying to quit smoking but the cravings being A Lot esp with the fact his mouth has nothing to do and badd just... producing a wrapped lollipop Like He Does

bonus if kay sees this good exchange & miles being genuinely grateful and just ‘!!! family!!!’ ))

[ultraviolet-ink]

Aight, so it’s Pride Month, Time for Headcanons– Detectives/Police Officers/Interpol Agents

Dick Gumshoe- Biromantic Demisexual Cis Man (He/Him) Tyrell Badd- Gay Cis Man (He/Him) Shi-Long Lang- Gay Cis Man (He/Him) Ema Skye- Biromantic Asexual Nonbinary (She/Her) Daryan Crescend- Bisexual Cis Man (He/Him) Bobby Fulbright- Gay Trans Man (He/Him) Damon Gant- Gay Cis Man (He/Him) Jake Marshall- Straight Trans Man (He/Him) Angel Starr- Straight Trans Woman (She/Her) Maggey Byrde- Bisexual Cis Woman (She/Her) Honorable Mentions- Kay Faraday, because Private Investigator Kay lives rent free in my head- Aromantic Asexual Agender (She/They) Token Cishets- Candice Arme, Bruce Goodman, Valerie Hawthorne, Dustin Prince, Mike Meekins These are just mine, but I can’t wait to see some more if you’d like to interact! ^-^ Tomorrow, I’ll do the miscellaneous Attorneys!

[lunawritesaa]

Headcanons for detective badd realizing he has romantic feelings about his detective partner after they are injured during a confrontation with criminals and are recovering?

mentions of injuries/hospitals, but nothing serious!

——

tyrell badd

Badd takes his job very seriously, and often doesn’t think too much about personal feelings when trying to solve a case. He knows that he cares for you as a partner, but hasn’t given the depth of his feelings much thought.

Until, you get seriously injured one day from a run in with some criminals. For once he’s slightly panicking as you’re taken away by the medical crew. Are you going to live? What will he do if you die? It plagues him as you’re in the hospital.

Its only as he’s ruminating over this situation that it hits him in the face just how much he cares about you. Not just as a friend, but he really loves you. More than anyone else.

When he learns that you’re fine and that you’re recovering smoothly, he’s quick to be by your side in the hospital. All while making up a plan to officially ask you out.

——

[20elements]

Episode posters for Miles’ 2nd game Prosecutor’s Path, only this time, the characters are chosen from the 1st game’s posters. The exception is Kay Faraday who was already featured on The Forgotten Turnabout’s poster. So instead, not only am I using Franziska for that episode, I’m letting Tyrell Badd in. I think it’d be cool for him to make it on a poster as he is a returning AAI (not to mention a candy fan).

[detectivegumshoepals]

Title: Turnabout Dishwasher

Chapter 8: Turnabout Hurricane: Gale Force

Chapter Summary: As Ray grew older, he built up a reputation as someone who took on clients of all kinds, with “We Welcome Everyone” as a slogan. He hoped Gregory would approve, but there was no way of knowing.

Author: hufflepuffsenpai (detectivegumshoepals)

Genre: Romantic comedy, comedy, drama

Pairings: Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth, Apollo Justice/Klavier Gavin, Simon Blackquill/Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, mentions of past Miles Edgeworth/Shi-Long Lang, mentions of past Apollo Justice/Clay Terran

Characters important to Chapter 8: Raymond Shields, Tyrell Badd, Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma, Mia Fey

Current Total Word Count: 83,100

Warnings: Spoilers for BOTH Investigations games

Parts of this fic are very dialogue-heavy, and use Ace Attorney game style text boxes in place of dialogue.

This chapter is Raymond Shields-centric

[askaceattorney]

Dear Anonymous,

Sounds like a pretty tall order, but...

This happens to be one of my favorite cases as well, for a number of reasons: we get to learn more about the history of a few established characters -- Gregory Edgeworth, Manfred von Karma, and Tyrell Badd -- as well as the history of a new one, Raymond Shields, we find out some of the details of the case that led to the DL-6 incident, and the characters are...

...quite charming, I have to say.

The meaning behind the title becomes clear right away when Raymond shares his plan with his former mentor.

If this case was just a standalone game (which it very well could be), it would be easy to think that Raymond was its main character.  He’s the one with a dream of finishing what his mentor started, after all.  But as it turns out, he plans on enlisting the help of someone he just recently warmed up to -- the titular character, Miles Edgeworth.

Besides being a capable prosecutor, Edgeworth has a strong connection to the events of 18 years ago as well, and anyone who played through the original trilogy (or even just the first game) already knows a few things about that incident.  Thankfully, Uncle Ray is here to fill Edgeworth (and us) in on all the details.  He temporarily becomes the narrator, sending us back in time to the glory days of Defense Attorney Gregory Edgeworth.

Knowing how this tragic substory ends doesn’t make it any less intriguing.  Right away we’re introduced to a rather entertaining and pleasant client -- the kind most defense attorneys can only dream of.

I can’t say I was expecting this case to start on such a happy note, can you?

The details of the case are also pretty bizarre -- Jeff Master has been accused of murdering a chef by the name of Isaac Dover, whose body was found inside Master’s chocolate treasure chest during the "Great Dessert Contest.”  If one didn’t know better, they might think this was all happening in Candy Land rather than L.A.  Except for the murder part, of course.

After the short discussion with Master, we’re introduced to another, equally fantastical character -- Master’s maid and assistant on “Piece of Cake,” Katherine Hall.  Not surprisingly, she also likes to express herself through song and dance.

Things quickly get real from there, however -- Ms. Hall tells Gregory and Raymond that she was the first one to discover the victim’s body, they make their way to the crime scene (a tasty-looking crime scene, but a crime scene nonetheless), and then they’re introduced to good ol’ Detective Badd.

If anyone knows how to bring people back to reality just by showing up, it’s this guy, am I right?

After some investigating, we run into a slightly less fantastical character.

Like most culprits who aren’t revealed at the very beginning, Mr. Gustavia does a good job of acting like an innocent bystander -- he introduces himself as a pastry chef who can make candy sculptures in a split-second, but whose design needs some work.  Thankfully, he plans to do some studying in Zheng Fa once this ordeal is over.  Sounds innocent enough, right?  If nothing else, you have to admire his dedication to his craft.

Little do Greg and Ray (as I’ll now call them) know just how far that dedication goes.

Gustavia also shares a possible motive for Dover’s killer -- the winner of Master’s contest would earn the title of “World’s Greatest Pastry Chef”, as well as his treasured “Angel’s Recipe.”  Could it be someone wanted to forcefully prevent Dover from winning this coveted prize?  It may sound like a strange reason to want to kill someone, but as mentioned by Gustavia, the dessert business isn’t always the sweetest one.

Gregory proves himself to be the skilled and perceptive lawyer his son would later describe him as by identifying another potential suspect within a few moments of starting his investigation.

Some fingerprints found on all the chocolates in the room point Greg and Ray toward a new pastry chef, but before meeting her, they learn who the prosecutor for Master’s case will be: someone we know all too well.

The foreknowledge of how things shake out between Gregory and von Karma makes this first encounter between them even more daunting for us, but Gregory doesn’t seem to be deterred by von Karma’s reputation and perfect win record.

But first...another chef who came straight from Candy Land.

She even indicates that she’s from England, where she’s known as “Ms. Delicious.”  It’s hard to get more fantasy-like than that, wouldn’t you say?  And we haven’t even gotten into her castle made of cream.  Speaking of which...

He may not be part of the decor, but he certainly speaks like a fantasy villain.

In other words, he’s the same ill-tempered curmudgeon we know him as from the first game.

It turns out he not only looks down on defense attorneys, but also on detectives.

Luckily for Gregory, this means he and Badd have an enemy in common, making it easier for the two of them (and Ray, of course) to do some investigating on their own.  Another quick investigation reveals a number of details, all of which seem to cast suspicion on “Ms. Delicious.”  Could she truly be Lord Licorice (or in this case, Lady Licorice) in disguise?

Gregory’s first debate with von Karma seems to shift the blame back toward Master, rendering the whole investigation pointless, until Badd reminds Gregory of one unexplained piece of evidence.

Gregory then takes things a step further by pointing out Delicia’s bad habit of lying -- specifically, about who she really is.  Thankfully, her identity isn’t a secret she’s willing to keep at the risk of being a murder suspect.

The reason behind Delicia’s lies turns out to be her sweet tooth for Master’s desserts.  It sounds like an anticlimactic-but-somewhat-hilarious sort of ending to her story, and it still leaves the question of the gloved fingermarks unresolved, but then...

In true Ace Attorney fashion, another, much more baffling mystery appears with the disappearance of the victim’s sherbet statues.  Who let them melt, for what purpose, and how does it relate to Dover’s murder?  Unfortunately, we’ll have to tune in next time Uncle Ray feels nostalgic to find the answers to these questions.  Speaking of which, the recurring transitions between past and present happens to be one of my favorite things about this case.  Where would the fun be if we just went through both of them linearly?

Back in the present, Master’s mansion, now a museum, is exhibiting the “Sherbet Salon” in the Winter Palace, which Raymond believes could be the last opportunity to uncover the truth of 18 years ago.  His investigation -- or rather, his reluctant friend’s investigation -- starts out as a simple nostalgia trip (including a cameo from the DeLites for our nostalgic pleasure), complete with a selfie of Raymond and his late mentor’s son.

Clearly, the nostalgia is only being enjoyed by one of them, but even so, this photo is sure to bring about the fondest of memories.

Before they have a chance to explore the other palaces, however...

Not one, but two familiar faces show up -- one from Edgeworth’s past and one from Raymond’s past...and not under the most pleasant circumstances, either.

Edgeworth and Raymond both detect poisonous gas emanating from the room Gustavia just came out from.  It’s situations like this that make you want to go, "Slow down, game, slow down!” but that’s just part of this game’s charm.

As Gustavia recuperates from his poisoning, Edgeworth and Raymond fill each other in about their mutual acquaintances.

Our favorite hopeless romantic is back, and still going by his new name, Laurice Deauxnim.

I’d just like to give a big virtual high-five to whoever came up with that line.

Luckily, another new/old face shows up before any of Larry’s butziness has a chance to rub off on Uncle Ray, and...

Oh, my...

None of Ms. Hall’s charm, beauty, or grace was lost during her master’s imprisonment, it seems.  If anything, it’s multiplied at least ten times over, plus she even still has her golden singing voice!  8 D

...Sorry, where was I?

Ms. Hall has now left the stage and become the curator of the museum, but she shows off her special brand of courtesy to Raymond and Edgeworth, the same as she did with Greg and Ray, complete with fancy dishes and high-quality Ceylon tea.  There’s one distinct difference between then and now, however...

This minor detail seems to be just that, but the difference in temperature becomes a vital clue later on.  But more importantly...

Aside from von Karma and Badd (and Dover, of course), everyone involved in the IS-7 case has found their way to the building in which its victim was murdered.  Is it sheer coincidence, or could there be a reason for it?

Spoiler alert: There’s a reason for it.

To make a long story short, someone felt the urge at some point to do the wrong thing for the right reason, as they say -- in an attempt to catch the true culprit of IS-7, they set a trap in the Autumn Palace that would poison them.  Sure enough, their plan ended up working, but we don’t learn about this until a certain English chef finds herself in the hot seat once again.

This time around, she seems even more likely to be the culprit, as the only person among them who could easily obtain the Megatoxin X that was used to make the poisonous mixture.  She wasn’t, however, the only person who could possibly obtain it...

With this in mind, Edgeworth begins putting the pieces together, until...

An unexpected guest arrives, and not a moment too late!

Erm...  Sorry, poor choice of words.

How did the body of Isaac Dover suddenly make itself known, as well as remain perfectly preserved seven years after his death?  And as if that mystery wasn’t enough...

History repeats itself as the sculptures in the Winter Palace are reduced to formless puddles, leaving Edgeworth and company with even more questions and less evidence, much like the situation with his father.  Thus a clear connection between past and present is established, and thanks to that...

Here we go again...

Traveling 18 years back, we learn something rather interesting about Kate, which ties into the overarching theme of parents and children in this game: she was apparently an unwanted child, left on Master’s doorstep. 

As sweet as this unique relationship between them is (even bringing tears to Gregory’s eyes), her love for Master ultimately leads her astray, as she herself foreshadows.

In the meantime, Greg and Ray encounter a number of mysteries soon after the sherbet incident from before: the lyre in Dover’s Gemini sculpture is missing its strings, Kate seems to know more about Dover than she lets on, and Master’s camera somehow ran out of film before he was able to take pictures of everyone’s artwork.  And the cherry on top?

As always, every clue the defense picks up leads them closer to the truth.  After discovering Dover’s true identity -- the renowned French sculptor Pierre Hoquet -- Greg and Ray solve three mysteries in a row: Kate knew about Dover because she recognized him as a favorite artist of hers, the camera’s film ran out because of the pictures she took of his works, and the sculptures melted because her foot happened to hit the power cords by accident...or so she claims, at least.  There’s still the matter of the disappearing lyre strings, though.  Delicia admits to having eaten one of them, but says it was too salty for her to eat the rest.  Thus we’re given another clue that comes in handy later.

In the meantime, poor Master is looking a little less...masterful.

As if being accused of murder wasn’t enough, Master has been through a long and harsh interrogation by von Karma and his lackies.  Fortunately, Greg and Ray’s newest ally, Detective Badd, is there to prove that he isn’t always as “Badd” as he looks by getting him out of it a bit sooner than was planned.  On top of that, Greg and Ray happen to have a quick sugar pick-me-up made by Kate!  Giving things to prisoners is against the rules, but thankfully, Badd is there to (reluctantly) show his sweeter side.

And just like that, Master is back to his old sing-songy self.

Huh...  Seems like I’ve heard that somewhere before.

Things pick up quickly from there when Gregory makes the same discovery as Edgeworth the Younger: 

We also learn that he had financial troubles, which may or may not have something to do with his murder.  (Spoiler alert: It does.)

Another mystery is solved when Master informs Greg and Ray that he ate the lyre strings, but his experience was very different from Delicia’s for some reason -- in fact, he says the strings were delicious.  This difference is easily explained, however.

As someone who only eats sweets, Master was unaware that he had this illness.  One has to wonder how things might have turned out differently had he not decided to focus his efforts on desserts alone.  And as always, this seemingly random piece of trivia ends up becoming the key to the entire case.  In the meantime, it points us to another interesting discovery.

What would a recipe like that be doing in a famous chef’s house?  We don’t find out just yet, but we do learn a bit more about Master and Kate’s close relationship and the struggles therein.

One can hardly blame her for feeling this way, considering literally she owes her life to him, but as her foster father, he wishes to protect her from wasting her life doing things to please him.  As a father himself, it’s no surprise which one Gregory sympathizes with the most.

Back at the crime scene, things take a bit of a strange turn.  Von Karma has refused to let Greg and Ray investigate anywhere outside the patio, and he still hasn’t received an autopsy report for Dover.  But hey, when have restrictions ever been a problem for an ace attorney?

Thus we come to (quite literally) Gregory Edgeworth’s final investigation.  In it we learn that the coveted “Angel’s Recipe” and the aforementioned recipe for curing hypogeusia are one and the same, and that Master is the only heir to the Chairman of the “Master Group,” a famous pharmaceutical company.  This brings Greg and Ray to the reason why Master held the contest in the first place -- the book was left to him as his inheritance, and had been sought after by many as a ticket to fast wealth.  In order to put an end to it, he decided it to give it away to someone, but not without them earning it first.  If nothing else, you have to give him points for creativity.

They also learn the reason why Delicia entered the contest -- the Master Group, which felt differently about giving the book to an outsider, sent her to win the championship and retrieve it.  At this point, you have to wonder just how many secrets that woman could be hiding, am I right?

Then, after discovering blood in the fountain belonging to Dover, Gregory finally starts getting close to the truth about this case:

And as fate would have it, von Karma shows up to answer Gregory’s questions about Dover and Gustavia...in his own condescending way.

During their debate, Gregory points out that the two desserts are not only of the same quality, but apparently have the same flavor, the same composition, and very similar designs.  This leads him to conclude that Dover and Gustavia collaborated on their desserts.  Being the pompous jerkwad he is, von Karma already knew this was true, but didn’t feel like sharing it with the defense.  He also claims that they only collaborated during the semifinals, but not the finals.  While Gregory is struggling to find proof of their connection, young Raymond is hit by a stroke of genius.

Dover was somehow able to have sherbet ready to use and create two sculptures with it in the limited time he had, but how could he have done so on his own?  Thanks to this idea, Ray receives some praise and we receive some foreshadowing (if you can call it that in a flashback).

The only plausible explanation is that Gustavia prepared the sherbet in advance for him.  Yet for some reason, he didn’t do anything in return for Gustavia.  Could their relationship have become sour, so to speak, thus creating a motive for murder?

The only proof Gregory has that points to Gustavia as a suspect is the fact that he snuck into Dover’s room during the contest, but von Karma is quick to provide an explanation -- he claims that Gustavia went there to steal a photo revealing his acquaintance with Dover.

Not only did they know each other, but their respective sons went to the same school.  This unfortunately brings the debate to a screeching halt, but then Gregory notices something else that’s strange.

Despite having all the evidence he needs to prove Master’s guilt, von Karma is still investigating things rather than preparing for the trial.  In our final moments of Gregory’s story, we see him piece this together with the evidence and discover that two vital parts of this case are missing: a body and an autopsy report.  And as it turns out, he’s familiar with the same strategy we know from Mia and Phoenix.

This leads to a disturbing final conclusion: von Karma isn’t hiding information about the body at all -- he has no information to begin with.  How does a prosecutor make a case without a body or an autopsy, you may ask?  Well, if you’re Manfred von Karma, it’s simple -- you create a fake one!  This realization is what finally pushes Gregory over the edge.

Von Karma refuses to admit it, but the results of Greg and Ray’s tireless investigating point to the likelihood that no one found the body, including von Karma.  Just when they seem to have backed him into a corner, he refuses to say anything until the trial begins.  Nonetheless, Gregory makes a promise right then and there:

Sadly, much like Phoenix’s promise to tell Mia about him and Larry, this was a promise he wouldn’t be able to keep.

Before his unfortunate end, he was able to expose von Karma’s questionable interrogation methods with some help from his newest ally, but the happy ending of this story would have to wait until a new attorney showed his sweaty face in the courtroom.  Greg and Ray ended up losing to von Karma, Master was sent to prison, and a great defense attorney was lost to the world.

Thus the truth was lost fore-

Oh, right, I forgot!  We’ve still got Miles’s story to finish, don’t we?  While not a defense attorney, he has the same skill and integrity as his father, if not more, but does he have it in him to solve a nearly-18-year-old case and discover the one truly responsible for killing Dover, getting an innocent man sent to prison, and causing a court case to end in the worst possible way for everyone involved, Miles included?  (And that’s only the beginning of the collateral damage caused by him.)

Is it even a question?  And now comes the sweetest part of this case -- the part where we tie up every loose end from IS-7 and the poisoning incident.  Ready for some rapid-fire resolutions?

Mystery One: How did Dover’s body turn up out of nowhere, still perfectly preserved?  In order to solve this mystery, Edgeworth first uncovers what happened to the sherbet statues 18 years ago.

It turns out the statues weren’t melted, but were instead carried away by Katherine out of love and admiration for Dover’s final works of art and kept hidden in the mansion’s freezer.

Mystery Two: How did she steal the statues without anyone noticing?  To answer that, we have to take another brief glimpse into the past.

It turns out the saucers from which Greg and Ray (hah...I already miss saying that) took their high-quality Ceylon tea weren’t chilled as part of any tradition -- they were, in fact, sitting on an ice sculpture disguised as a service tray.  And in order to make it look like the statues had melted, she melted two blocks of ice where they had been standing.

This brings us back to Mystery One: Where did Dover’s body come from?  And this is the part the really caught me off guard -- his body was hidden in plain sight all along!

With the use of a fluorescent lamp and a rainbow light device, the body was made to look exactly like a sherbet statue by the killer, and thus went undetected for 18 years.  Once Ms. Hall discovered this, she stuck the body in a hollowed block of ice and dumped both it and the cloth into the fountain, where they were both eventually discovered.  Man, how do those writers think of these things?

Mystery Three: Who made the poison gas trap, and for what purpose?  Luckily, Ms. Hall is nice enough to answer that for us, now that Edgeworth’s already figured out so much.

In a desperate attempt to prove Master’s innocence, she set a trap for the true culprit of IS-7, even at the risk of murdering them.  This brings us back to their relationship which, sweet as it was, ended up causing more trouble than she ever intended.  And the worst part of it is, by accidentally hiding Dover’s body, she was partly responsible for Master’s Guilty verdict.  One can only call it a cruel irony, but as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

One good thing came from her actions, though -- the real culprit ended up taking the bait, just as she’d planned.  Even so, Edgeworth still has some hoops to jump through -- proving Ms. Hall's innocence to a stubborn Judge Courtney, figuring out whose blood was found in the fountain, and waiting for Gustavia to recover (assuming it’s even possible).  Luckily for him, all three issues are settled at once by Gustavia’s miraculous recovery.

Through this stroke of luck, the culprit is delivered right to Edgeworth and company, but he doesn’t go down without a fight.  Not to mention the only evidence Edgeworth has against him is the fact that he fell for Ms. Hall’s trap.  Nevertheless, by using his father’s (and a certain friend’s) tried and true method of turning his thinking around and considering what evidence should exist if Gustavia is the culprit, Edgeworth combines the unsolved mysteries of the past with those of the present to finally unearth the motive behind Dover’s murder: a taste disorder.

During Edgeworth’s Logic Chess battle, Gustavia first claims that his son had an illness, and that the Angel’s Recipe had a cure for it, thus explaining the glove marks on the book and the missing photos from Master’s camera.  In other words, he dealt with the same fatherly feelings shared by Gregory and Master.

That’d be a pretty sweet way for this case to be wrapped up, wouldn’t it?  Too bad that’s not the final plot twist.  The one with the disorder is, in fact, Gustavia.  And as for his son, he was nothing more than a taste-tester to help him ensure that his desserts tasted correct, and whom he deserted (no pun intended) the moment he found a cure for his disorder.

In other words, he ended up gaining two titles: World’s Greatest Pastry Chef and World’s Worst Dad.  One has to admire that level of dedication, but the level of apathy that comes with it would raise any decent person’s eyebrows.  And as we learn later, the consequences of his selfishness are pretty far-reaching.  The question remains, though -- did he also sacrifice Dover’s life for his dream?  Let’s ask our local showing-up-at-the-last-minute expert, Detective Gumshoe!

According to his analysis, Gustavia’s blood somehow ended up in the sherbet sculpture next to the body, as well as a fair amount of salt, thus explaining the “salty lyre strings” mystery.  All right, time for some more rapid-fire resolutions!

Mystery Four: Where did the salt come from?  The only place possible, naturally.

Someone apparently decided to use part of the rock salt lamp as an extra ingredient for part of the sculpture.

Mystery Five: Why was the salt mixed into the sherbet?  At the time, it was no ordinary salt -- the culprit’s blood was on it, and they had to remove it before the police showed up.

Mystery Six: Who was the culprit?  We have a suspect already, but how can Edgeworth get him to admit to his...

...Oh.  Okay.

Mystery Seven: What was his motive?  

While attempting to find the cure to his taste defect, Gustavia was interrupted by Dover, who had already refused to collaborate with him any further, but was now aware of his darkest secret and prepared to use it for blackmail -- something he could never allow.  Gustavia attempted to strike the first blow, but was instead struck by Dover and went flying into the rock salt lamp, leaving some blood on it.  In the end, however, it was Dover who received his “just desserts.”  Thus the entirety of IS-7 is finally revealed...but why would Gustavia admit to it so quickly?

It turns out there’s one more plot twist -- much like a certain Allebahstian ambassador, Gustavia is protected by a few technicalities.

Dover’s murder happened 18 years ago, and the statute of limitations for murder happens to be 15 years.  Kind of makes you want to shake your fist at the Goddess of Law herself, doesn’t it?  So, how does one fight technicalities?  With technicalities!

Gustavia was nice enough to travel to a foreign country for exactly three years after his crime, meaning the statute of limitations still applies!  How about tha--?

DANG IT!!!  *flips over desk*

Edgworth is equally frustrated by this stroke of bad luck, but thankfully, he has a coolheaded ace attorney there to help him cross the finish line his father was unable to reach.

Looks like it’s time for one last trip down memory lane...

Having not attending Master’s trial, Gustavia is unaware the he was found Guilty of being an accomplice to murder, rather than an actual murderer.  On top of this, it took one year to reach this verdict, which finally brings the statute past the 18-year limit...and puts the final nail in Gustavia’s coffin.

But hey, look on the bright side -- he became a confectioner unparalleled in both taste and design.  And now he’ll have the opportunity to make good use of those hard-earned skills...

...in prison.

Talk about sweet justice.

One has to love how the suspense was built up through the investigations conducted by Gregory and Miles, the number of possible suspects, the repeating plot twists, and the numerous hurdles that had to be overcome at the end before finally reaching the oh-so-satisfying conclusion.  It’s almost like a Danganronpa game in that sense, just without the over-the-top sadism and creepy bear.

And now we come to my favorite part of this case: the bittersweet fate of Jeff Master and Kate Hall.  While Kate’s crimes ended up helping to prove Master’s innocence, they also landed her in the same place he’d been kept for the past 18 years.

Thus their reunion would have to wait a bit longer, but if nothing else, her actions proved to her foster father just how much she loved and cared for him.  And with Uncle Ray willing to represent her in court, the wait is unlikely to last very long.

And speaking of Jeff, his prison sentence, while unjust, had a very positive side effect for him, as well as everyone else in the prison.

It turns out life doesn’t have to be fair in order for someone to be happy or make others happy.  Or, as I once heard it put, what the devil meant for bad, God made for good.  Just thinking about it is enough to make your heart melt like chocolate on a block of ice.

Oh, and guess what?  Those pesky technicalities create yet another plot twist -- since Jeff’s Guilty verdict will likely be overturned, Gustavia probably won’t end up going to prison after all.

DANG IT AGAIN!!!

We never find out exactly what happens to him (he gets parole in my headcanon), but one thing’s for sure -- no one’s ever going to munch on any of his sweets again.

Thus ends a case full of sweet reminiscence, sour relations, salty crimes, bitter endings, and spicy plot twists.  Once again, I think it’d make a great standalone game (or even a movie, for that matter), but Edgeworth and company still have some more adventuring to do before all is settled.  Not to mention he still has a decision to make about which path he should take next.

In the meantime, Gregory’s final case, inherited by his son, has finally come to a close in a way that would undoubtedly make him proud.

I can’t say I expected the case leading up to DL-6 to be quite so involved, but I’ll be dipped in chocolate if it didn’t rock my world.

All right, I’m gonna go eat something sweet now.  Take care!

-The Co-Mod

[stardoopy]

top 5 aa characters

#1 SEBASTIAN DEBESTE (the rest have no order lol)

- Hugh O’Conner - Miles Edgeworth - Tyrell Badd - Kay Faraday (honorary mentions: Klavier, Phoenix and Gregory Edgeworth)

[aquilamage]

AA Prosecutor Week Day 6 - Mistake

It’s been a past 24 hours and I happened to leave editing etc for this to the last minute, so you all get the edition here but are gonna have to wait for the fic site versions (I’ll put the links in a reblog)

Faraday brain yet again, this time the result of me thinking about what the combination of Byrne having yelled at Gumshoe for being late on his first day and the fact that both Kay and Badd got very close to Gumshoe just by the end of Reminiscence might turn into in an au where Byrne didn’t die and had to deal with this conflict of opinion.

content warnings for vague mentions of recovering from injury, some cussing, and aai2 spoilers for a character (if you want to skip that, it’s the part right after a scene break, starting with “Tyrell had been underestimating” and ok to start at the paragraph beginning “He’d had all of ten minutes”)

“You’re not authorized to be back yet,” Badd said without looking up.

“Not yet,” Byrne agreed, leaning on the corner of the desk and over his shoulder, “but the doctor says I’m cleared to start work on Monday as long as I don’t do anything too strenuous.”

“I hope they only mean physically, or else you’ll still be out for a while.” He didn’t actually sigh, but that sentiment was readily apparent in his voice. “Considering how much of a fuss they’ve been kicking up about the incident, they’re only going to be giving you even more hell once they’re allowed to bother you again.”

He grimaced. He already knew that – being the detective in charge of both the court case and investigating Yew’s attempted double murder, Tyrell had shouldered the brunt of the questioning from both of their supervisors (not to mention actually investigating, watching Kay while Byrne was in the hospital (and even after, simply adding on helping Byrne out around the house and driving (despite his insisting that he could just take a taxi, it wasn’t a big deal)), and worrying over the Faradays and the dire implications of Yew’s betrayal on their future). Byrne was sure if it had been any detective other than Badd, he would’ve been harassed as soon as he’d regained consciousness.

A light nudge stirred him out of his thoughts. “What are you doing here?” Badd frowned.

“I came to pick up my daughter,” he said in a playfully accusatory tone.

Badd ignored the way he drifted further into his personal space, going through forms. “I’m done  in...an hour, and I would have dropped her home then.” (It would hardly have been “dropping” her off, since Badd was still too paranoid to leave them alone for so long. Byrne had been tempted more than once now to tell him that if he didn’t start going back to his own apartment for more than an hour at a time, he might as well move in, considering how long it had been since the incident.)

“Yes, but considering that lately you’ve been watching her more than I have, I figured you were due for a break.” Pausing for a second, he looked around unnecessarily. “Although it seems you’ve already taken care of it.” More casually, he added, “who has her this time?”

“Marshall.” Badd stood, leaning away from Byrne rather than jostling into him like he normally would. Byrne never would have thought he’d miss that so much. As long as he didn’t keep treating him so delicately as he recovered, he could live with it.

But when they got to Detective Marshall’s desk, she was nowhere to be seen or heard.

“She finished all her work up,” he explained, “and I’m swamped, so she was getting bored, so I handed her off to-” He perked up, looking at a spot behind the two of them. “Hey, Angel. Just in time to drop off the kid.”

Turning around, he quickly noticed that once again the only person in sight was the other detective, and she was frowning heavily.

“Would be, if I had her. I’m just here to get some documents, since-”

“Detective Starr!” A shrill voice cut her off. “You can socialize with your colleagues later. We have an important case to-” As Payne walked through the doorway, he immediately flinched. “Ah, Detective Badd.” His tone had quieted, if not really softening, as he tapped his hand to his forehead. “A new case has popped up, and I figured one of your detectives would be up to the task.”

Badd nodded impassively.

Payne stood there for another moment, somehow expecting more of a response. When he finally realized that he wasn’t getting one, he turned, noticing Byrne for the first time. “Faraday. Weren’t you…?” he waved his hand vaguely.

“Yes, I was,” he said flatly. He supposed the other could have been more tactless, but not by much. “I’m just here for my daughter today.”

At that, the other prosecutor’s expression soured (more). “Well, now that you have more time on your hands, maybe you can teach her some better manners. She very rudely interrupted me to comment on my voice, and then had the audacity to say that she ‘has volume control issues too,’ whatever that means,” he scoffed.

“Did she now.” It took a great deal of effort not to laugh. “I’ll be sure to discuss that with her later.” And he meant it, even if not in the way Payne was thinking. Apparently she’d called von Karma scary to his face (he both wished he could’ve been present to see his reaction and knew it was for the better he wasn’t, because that was a case where he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from laughing), and while his coworkers certainly deserved the (frankly, ridiculously light) teasing, he’d prefer Kay not attract any more of their attention than absolutely necessary. Then he looked over to Starr. “Goodman, then? Or Skye?”

She shook her head, and he was about to give a ‘did you guys lose my kid again’ quip when Payne butted in again. “She’s with that new detective, whatshisname that you were training.”

“Gumshoe,” she said, taking advantage of Payne facing away from her to roll her eyes. “Should still be in 217.”

Something about the name felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Giving her a quick thanks, Byrne headed down the hall to the other office, Badd following.

This time, Kay was actually in there. Perched on a desk with her legs dangling off the edge, she stared down at the spread of Pokemon cards in her hand. Opposite her in one of the chairs sat a rather scruffy man in a beige trenchcoat, also holding Pokemon cards.

Ah, yes, that was where he knew the name from. Byrne crossed his arms, frowning as he recalled the detective and his egregious lateness to their meeting.

The movement must have finally caught his attention, because Gumshoe looked up, immediately freezing, eyes wide. He moved to salute, cards flying everywhere. A fraction of a second after he began that motion, he also scrambled to stand, tripping over the wheel of the chair. “S-Sir! Mr. Badd, M-Mr. Faraday!” He glanced frantically between them. “Kay is all safe and accounted for, so I’ll, uh...get back to work?” As the sentence trailed up into a question, he stared firmly towards Badd. When he nodded, Gumshoe left at a speed just slow enough not to be called running.

Byrne looked over from the closing door to Badd, who was shaking his head. He shot him a ‘we’ll discuss this later’ look before turning to meet his daughter.

She’d been watching with the ghost of a frown, but it quickly turning into a beaming smile. “Hi, Daddy!” Hopping down, she rushed over to hug him, gently (the first couple times, especially their reunion in the hospital, she’d gone a little too enthusiastic, but now was remembering herself pretty well).

“Hey kiddo.” He ruffled her hair, reminding himself not to lean over. Tension he hadn’t even realized he was holding released, and he hummed softly. “How was school?”

“The fire alarm went off during lunch, so I barely had any time to talk to Seb today.” She made a face. “But other than that it was okay, I guess. Are you doing ok?”

The persistent ache was mostly ignorable, unless he moved wrong. The main problem was the itch of healing. “About the same as this morning. The doctor says I’ll be almost done healing in a week, though, so then I should be able to start doing more again.”

She pressed her face against his side. “Does that mean you won’t be home a lot again?”

He sighed. “Yes, I’m going back to work. But,” he nudged her to look up at him, “I promised to stop working evenings or nights, remember?”

“Yeah.” She grinned. “And Uncle Badd promised to yell at you if you try.”

A laugh escaped him. He couldn’t even bring himself to pretend to be mad as he looked to Badd. He’d promised the same back – and besides, it wasn’t as though they were capable of acting as the Yatagarasu anymore anyway.

That didn’t stop Badd from giving him a meaningful look as a reminder. “Do you need...a ride home?”

He smiled, half exasperated, half fond. “No, I have a taxi set up already.” When Badd nodded, he took Kay’s hand and headed out.

---

As they were getting inside the house, Kay looked up at him, then away. After a moment, she said, “Hey Daddy, why were you acting so weird around Gummy earlier?”

He paused halfway through turning the key in the lock. “...Gummy?”

“Yeah. Detective Gumshoe.” She was giving the same concerned frown as when she’d watched the detective leave.

The nickname gave him a tug of unease, but then again Kay had always been extraordinarily quick to get along with people, so he let that point go for now. “It caught me by surprise. I’ve only met him briefly, so seeing you alone with him…” Reaching over, he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” she said, and nudged him to open the door. “But if he wasn’t ok, I would have gone back with Ms. Angel and found one of the other detectives.” She was quiet as she took off her sneakers. When she stood up, she put her hands on her hips. “Badd’s been teaching him for a while, and he said we can trust him. And he’s been friends with Ms. Angel for like, forever.” In a smaller voice she added, “And he’s really nice.”

Byrne huffed. To cover it up, he shook his head. “He’d better be. Now, did you actually finish all of your homework?”

“Yes,” she said, but after he kept watching her with gentle skepticism, she crumbled. “Can I have a snack first?”

“Badd will be here in less than two hours, and we’re having dinner then.”

“But I’m hungry now.”

He sighed. “Get started on your work, and I’ll bring you something small.”

“Yes!” She tore off.

Once she was out of sight, he let himself slump, running a hand through his hair. He still wasn’t happy with the situation, but the frustration that had been simmering in him was mostly abated, and the remainder wasn’t anything for her to be bothered about.

---

He’d just put Kay to bed (eventually she’d go back to tapering into being too old for it, but for now it seemed they were both still a little too shaken), and he came down the stairs to the living room, running into Badd.

Silently, he gestured for them to sit on the couch. As they did, he looked away, gathering his thoughts. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said a moment later.

Before he could go further, Byrne lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Kay told me a bit. That he was one of the new detectives you’ve been training.” From what Badd had been mentioning, it had started shortly after his getting stabbed, which was plenty long enough a time frame to evaluate someone. “That you’ve decided he can be trusted.”

“And you don’t believe me.”

He sat forward abruptly. Grabbed at his chest when it ached like the world’s worst bruise. After a couple seconds, he steadied himself enough to shrug off Badd’s arm and look directly at him. “I didn’t-” He stopped, realizing that even if that wasn’t how he’d been thinking about it, that was what his remark had meant. “...It’s just hard to reconcile that with-”

“With the piss-poor first impression he gave you?”

That dragged a dry laugh out of him. “Yes. I can tell he’s hardly about to choose to become one of Debeste’s cronies or whatever, but carelessness will fuck us over just as badly.”

Badd was silent for a while. Then, “I can’t exactly say he’s the most competent guy. You’re right, and I don’t plan on giving him anything too big. But his heart’s in the right place, and he cares enough that I think he’s worth the hassle.”

“If you say so,” Byrne murmured, leaning away. “I’m still upset with you.”

“About?” Badd said flatly.

“I understand why you decided to let him watch Kay. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me about it. You knew I would want to know as soon as it started happening, and you sure as hell knew I would find out eventually.”

He’d stiffened as soon as Byrne’s voice took an edge. When he finished, he closed his eyes, sighing heavily. “I don’t have a good answer. When it first happened, I- I knew you weren’t going to be happy about it, and you were still doing pretty rough in your recovery. ...I didn’t want to give you more stress.”

With an unsteady inhale, he tried to stifle the anger that flickered up. It felt like he was getting more energy in the moment, but he knew it would drain him after. He was exhausted enough already. “We’ve been over this, Tyrell. I’m not made of glass.”

“...I know.” He looked just as pained as Byrne felt. “I’m sorry.”

And that was just the thing, wasn’t it. They both knew the conversation that could follow, since they’d had many variants of it over the past few weeks, so what was the point in keeping on when both had said the parts that mattered? It didn’t extinguish his being upset, though, and he muttered as much as he laid out more comfortably on the couch.

Badd nodded in understanding, and switched on the tv.

---

Tyrell had been underestimating his coworkers’ response, unfortunately. Right as Byrne was unlocking his office, he was notified that he was needed in the Chief Prosecutor’s office. At first it seemed to just be an exchange of paperwork, but when he took the forms, Debeste didn’t let go.

“Y’know, it really is a shame, what happened. After all, you spent what, three years, trying to find the Yatagarasu? And she was under your nose this whole time.” He made a sympathetic tut, but did nothing to hide the grin on his face. “It’s good to see you back. After letting her trick you and get away like that, a different prosecutor would have resigned. But you’re nothing if not stubborn, Faraday, I’ll give you that.”

“Thank you, sir.” They both knew the threat behind the words, but one of them had to be the bigger person. Besides, out of all the people’s buttons he could push, the Chief was the only one where it felt like any one could be a self-destruct switch in disguise. “Was there anything else?”

“No,” he said, dropping the hint of fake sweetness to something merely bored.

But as Byrne strode back across the room, it came back full force. “Oh, of course, I almost forgot. How is that little girl of yours? I heard she was there for part of the...incident, and I know those things can be quite upsetting.”

Ice in his stomach, Byrne willed himself not to react, grateful he wasn’t facing him. “She’s fine.”

“Good. Good.”

He’d had all of ten minutes to himself after that before he’d been drawn into a seemingly endless parade of meetings. Questioning him on the events of that day despite him covering it over and over and then some with the actual investigation team. Discussions of the new state of the Yatagarasu case, which while practical in name, mainly amounted to a contest over who could heap the most implications of failure on him, sprinkled with more expressions of fake concern. It got to the point that when on day two von Karma stopped in the hallway to call him an imbecile and a fool for several minutes straight, Byrne actually walked away feeling better.

By Thursday the only thing that kept him from screaming was the news that he’d finally been assigned a case (and with Badd, thank everything). Normally he left Badd alone on the investigation part unless he was specifically asked for, but since the alternative was more time in the Prosecutor’s building (even if he could close himself in his office under the premise of working), he wasted no time in showing up.

He found Badd on the large back patio of the event venue. “Afternoon, detective.” Sticking his hands in his pockets, he stretched, inhaling deeply. “Lovely place, isn’t it?”

Badd watched him for a moment, impassive. “It’s a murder scene...Faraday.”

“Oh come on, it’s just the two of use, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, voice turning up just at the end.

“Exactly. Besides, I’ve probably said worse with company.” He definitely had, he thought, turning around. “I know I’ve said this so many times already, but I’m sick to death of the office already. It’s going to be nice to finally do some real work, with someone whose company I can stand.”

“Yeah, about...that. I have-”

“Mr. Badd! I got all the stuff you asked-” Detective Gumshoe barreled through the door, skidding to a half barely an inch from slamming into Byrne. “Oh, geez, sorry about that pal, I- Aah! Mr. Faraday, sir!” He snapped to attention, pressing his face into an attempt at seriousness.

“Yes, well.” Taking a breath to steady his heartbeat, he stepped back, hands going back in his pockets. “Next time, be more careful about watching where you’re going.”

“Yes, sir!”

It took a considerable amount of effort not to sigh. He turned to Badd with a look of ‘what the hell?’

“Like I was about to...explain,” he said, a hint of strain to his voice, “Detective Gumshoe is going to be working alongside me on...this case, as part of his training.” Directing his attention to Gumshoe, he added, “It depends on the prosecutor...how much they’ll show up at the investigation, to supervise or direct things. You have to be able to work independently...being in charge of everything, and under orders.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gumshoe nod attentively, posture otherwise still rigid.

“So, let’s see...what you got.”

He hesitated for a second, wavering between them as for who to give it to until Badd held out a hand.

Byrne stepped over to Badd’s other side to watch as they reviewed the documents. There was a map of the venue grounds, a list of all the guests and employees who had been present, some abbreviated statements, and the autopsy. The wounds were indeed consistent with blunt-force trauma you’d expect from a serving platter, Gumshoe explained, but there’d been something off with his blood, so they were waiting on those tests to see if there was anything suspicious in that.

As he finished his report, he glanced over to Byrne. “Uh, if I may, sir, it’s good to have you back. I know everyone was really worried for a while, so I’m glad to see you’re healthy and healed!”

Yeah, of course you are, he thought, digging his nails into his palms. “Thank you,” he said, curtly. Then, “I’m going to do a walk-through,” and he strode off.

It was a large building, which gave him plenty of time to steady himself as he walked around. Conveniently, it also allowed for the forensics team to arrive for a sweep of a room they hadn’t thought relevant previously. They served as a good buffer as he returned to actually consider the case.

He wouldn’t say he spent the afternoon avoiding Gumshoe, but he also didn’t linger near him unless it was necessary. After a while, he noticed that he tended to follow Badd around. That made his not-avoidance simpler, at the cost of not being able to talk to Badd.

For the most part, at least. Later on, he noticed Badd instructing the other detective off to check on something, and made his way over.

“...and then make sure you get...the seating chart for the reception.” Badd held himself at ease as he talked, tone a firmer version of how he was with the likes of Marshall or Starr.

Gumshoe nodded with earnest enthusiasm. “You got it, pops!”

Once he’d turned and left, Byrne sidled up next to Badd, scrunching his eyebrows in a ‘what was that about?’ look.

He shrugged, the picture of tired indifference. Or he would be, if the almost-smile in his eyes didn’t betray him.

He chose not to comment on it. Instead, he dove into the particulars of the case. The suspect pool was low, but there’d been so much interpersonal drama within the wedding party and tension between them and the staff that untangling everything was a chore. With Badd, though, most anything could be tolerable, and Byrne only realized how badly he’d lost track of time when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Gumshoe hanging back in the doorway. He stopped halfway through a sentence. “Something the matter, detective?” he called.

Flinching, he swung to face them. “No, sir! Sorry, sir, I just didn’t want to interrupt, so I tried to be somewhere I could see you but not look like I was trying to eavesdrop or anything. Because I wasn’t!”

To keep himself from a knee-jerk reaction, Byrne took a long inhale. “I see.” Then he glanced at Badd with a look of ‘you deal with it’ and, as he stepped forward, swept off to an adjacent room to check on something.

That wasn’t too long before they were due to be done for the day, so after a couple minutes he made his way back over.

Badd was the only one there, going over his papers at one of the tables.

He walked to him, and leaned over his shoulder. Considering their height difference, it wasn’t something Byrne normally got to do.

Other than shuffling things around so he could see as well, he didn’t react. “Wasn’t much else...to do, so I sent him home.”

“Mm.” That was good, considering how tired he was, he thought, resting a bit more of his weight against Badd. All he had to do now was figure out what and how he was going to argue in court, and everything else was tomorrow’s problem.

---

When he arrived at the courthouse the next morning, both detectives were already in the lobby. He paused in the doorway as the low murmur of Badd’s voice became comprehensible, realizing he was giving the other detective a pep talk. Ducking back into the hallway, he rested against the wall.

When Kay had heard about Gumshoe working the case with them, she’d asked to come along. They’d both said no. She’d missed enough school already for this early in the year, and she didn’t have to be there. Besides, even if there was no reason to think that anything would happen, with it being Byrne’s first trial, he and Badd were a little jumpy.

He knew he was probably being petty, but he couldn’t help the twinge of annoyance over how close Kay and Tyrell were with the detective, considering...how he was.

The background of Badd’s voice had disappeared, so he walked back around.

Badd looked his way as soon as he entered – he’d probably noticed him the first time – and nodded. Then for Gumshoe’s benefit since his back was turned, he said, “Morning, Faraday.”

“Badd.” As the other turned, “Detective Gumshoe.”

“Uh, good morning, sir!” He lifted his arm as if to salute, but stopped himself, simply sitting up properly. “Everything’s ready for the trial.”

“Mm.” Byrne walked over to the couch Badd was on, leaning with his hands on its back. “And you have all the evidence files?” Badd’s insistence that Gumshoe be the one responsible for them felt like when Kay was little and wanted to help him rewiring the kitchen, so he’d given her a pile of screws and nails to sort, but he let it go. Ultimately it was Badd’s decision and responsibility.

“Uh. Yeah!”

It was all he could do to keep his expression flat as the detective started emptying his coat pockets, narrating what he was taking out as he went. He must have missed whatever it was that endeared this man to the others, but he supposed he would try to be patient with him at least, for their sakes.

---

“...and he confused the head chef with the bride’s mother!” Byrne waved his arms as he paced the living room, as if the whirlwind of motion would be enough to put a dent in his furious energy. “It was an embarrassment to the capabilities of everyone on our side, and frankly insulting if taken as a reflection on my teaching. I’d think he was doing it on purpose – for whatever reason – if he wasn’t so blatantly sincere about all of it!”

“...Are you done?” Badd had been watching him rant from the couch, and he asked calmly, patiently, but with just the edge of tiredness in his voice.

While he didn’t have anything else to say, he didn’t feel anywhere near done. Letting out an incoherent noise, he threw his arms down and continued pacing.

“Faraday.”

He was going to have to endure another day of this nonsense tomorrow, and if things kept going like they had been, it would definitely end up a three-day trial. Was this on purpose? Another shot at trying to get rid of him from the office?

“Byrne.”

He flinched away from Badd’s touch, hissing.

Badd let him go, but didn’t back away any. “Sit down, Byrne,” he sighed. “Please.”

He glared him down for a while, but Badd knew how most anything he could say would set him off at this point, so he just stared back. Finally, Byrne crumbled. Huffing, he dropped onto the couch with more force than necessary, and, still frowning heavily, curled his legs across Badd’s lap when he sat next to him. “I’m not wrong.”

“You’re not wrong to be frustrated,” he said sternly as he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over them. “Gumshoe’s heart’s in the right place, but he’s not always the brightest.”

Since it was just the two of them, he rolled his eyes.

“He’d be competent enough under the right circumstances; it’s a matter of figuring out how that works. I just haven’t quite gotten there.”

“Hm.” His emotions still roiled within him, but the combination of warmth, the weight on him, and the way Badd was slowly rubbing circles on his shoulder was gradually calming them.

After a few minutes, Badd took a slow, deep breath. “And...I don’t expect you to be friends, but you could stand to be less hard on the guy.”

Annoyance spiked in him for a second, resting back to just slightly higher than before. “I wasn’t. You’ve seen what I’m like when I’m giving someone a hard time.” And then, because he was apparently still more worked up than he’d thought, “Why do you care all of the sudden? You didn’t say anything after the first time we met him, and then I was actually upset.” He still would’ve argued with Badd over it, but at least it would’ve made sense. This time, he’d been so careful not to allow a hint of anger to lash out. “How did he get you and Kay so invested in him?”

Byrne had expected an even-tone explanation on how the other detective had slowly grown on him during the training process, maybe even a nice story about him getting along unexpectedly well with Kay. What he hadn’t expected was for Badd to freeze for a moment, something like guilt flashing through his eyes.

“What?”

“You’re not...going to like it.”

Of course not. He crossed his arms and waited.

Badd looked at him, soft, wary. “Let me finish before you say anything.” When Byrne nodded minutely, he continued. “Gumshoe was there when- the day Yew attacked you. We thought he did it, for a while, after we figured out that you and Rell attacking each other was staged. But that was only because he was lying about what he’d been doing.” Fondness crept into his tone. “He was talking to Kay, and didn’t want her to get in trouble.” He shot Byrne a warning look as he’d started to open his mouth. “It wasn’t anything serious. I already talked to her about it.”

He could live with that. Even though Tyrell was generally more lenient with Kay, he never really contradicted Byrne, except in a couple very rare instances, and all of those were with genuine reason. As for the overall situation...he could see how that would win Badd over. Even he had to grudgingly admit it improved his opinion. Still not happy, but if anything that was on him for letting Kay wander the courthouse alone. Badd had made it sound much worse.

“...And then when I got shot, Gumshoe was the one watching her until they got done fixing me up.”

“You what.”

“Byrne,” he said warningly

“No! What were you think-”

He put his hand over Byrne’s mouth. “Shut up and let me finish.”

Out of old sibling instinct, he licked his palm. When he didn’t react, he simply glowered at him.

Badd watched him for a moment, still. Then he growled, “I was thinking, that I had just gotten shot, and you were dying, as far as I knew. I was scared-” his voice almost broke on the last word “and I didn’t have the luxury of choice.” Slowly, he moved his hand away from Byrne’s face, letting it drop onto his leg. “Gumshoe at least had shown a willingness to protect her already.”

The pressure that had been built so high in him sunk, leaving him dizzy and empty. The only part of him that felt real and not lost, floaty, was the spot where Badd was touching him. Trembling, he placed his hand over his. “I’m sorry.” There wasn’t anything else to say about this that they hadn’t already talked over in the more immediate aftermath, so he simply left space for the emotions, both of them sitting together silently.

After a while, Byrne squeezed his hand, catching his eye. “Are you alright?”

He nodded.

“Ok. I still- I get why that all happened. I don’t like it, but I guess that’s my problem. But what did you mean when you said I was being too hard on him? I thought I was doing a perfectly good job of keeping my emotions in check.”

“Yeah, and you went around the other side with it, to the point where you’re acting like any of the other prosecutors in the office.”

The comparison made him flinch. “What do you…?”

Badd frowned at him wearily. “I mean the part where you’re nothing but sharp and cold at him, like you resent him for existing but don’t care enough to do anything about it. He’s terrified of you, Byrne.” At his surprise, he shook his head. “Thought you would have noticed how jumpy he was at least. I was...a little worried myself. I’ve never seen you get like that.” His voice softened, and he looked down for a moment before resuming. “But he’s...he doesn’t know how to deal with it and it’s messing with his head. This morning he told me he showed up an hour before we were supposed to start to make sure he got everything right.”

“Oh,” was all he could breathe out, mind still scrambling to process.

Nodding, he shifted to let Byrne lean against him, throwing his arm over the back of the couch behind him. He didn’t say anything else. He’d made his point; the rest was up to Byrne.

He took a few deep breaths, and started to think.

---

“Good morning, detective.”

Gumshoe, predictably, startled a bit. Byrne hadn’t intended to sneak up on him, but he’d been so caught up in though that it was impossible not to. “Good morning, sir!”

Now that he was looking, it was impossible to miss the nerves brightening his voice, locking his body at attention. He kept the sigh internal. “You can relax, detective.”

“Yes, sir!” He didn’t.

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday,” he said, deciding not to push it.

At that, he crumpled. “Yeah...I’m real sorry about that, sir.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he mumbled,” I really thought I’d gotten everything memorized, too.”

“Gumshoe,” he said, trying to put as much warmth in his voice as he could while still sounding genuine, “will you sit, please?”

He hesitated, but after Byrne sat in a chair, he sat right in the middle of the couch, hands wringing in his lap.

Now for the hard part. He resisted the urge to cross his arms, keeping his body language as open as possible. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, detective. I’ve had...some doubts about your capabilities, since our first encounter. And I was disappointed in your performance yesterday. However. That doesn’t excuse my behavior towards you. I was unprofessional and rude, and for that I apologize.”

Gumshoe had been watching him with increasing confusion and surprise and now stared, mouth open eyes barely squinted. A few seconds later, he blinked and shook his head. “Oh, that’s not- uh, I mean, I...uh.” He looked down at where one hand was picking at a loose thread. “Thank you?”

“Yes, well…” He did cross his arms now, the urge to fidget prickling at him. Nothing particularly intelligent came to mind to add, so he gave up. “I’m going to see if Detective Badd has arrived.”

He was already here, Byrne knew. They’d arrived at the same time, and Badd had wordlessly taken up a spot near the lobby door, nodding to him as he pushed it open. But getting up to ‘check’ let him exit the situation, especially since otherwise Badd wouldn’t be coming in until the time they absolutely needed to be getting ready for the trial. He closed the door gently behind him, and practically fell against the wall next to Badd with a long haggard sigh.

“That...terrible?”

“I don’t know,” he groaned, rubbing his temples. “I still don’t know how to deal with him.”

“But you said...your piece?”

“Mm.” Then, he reached subtly over towards the pocket he knew Badd kept extra lollipops in.

Without looking, he slapped his hand away. “I can work...with that.” As he walked to the door, he pressed a lollipop into Byrne’s hand. Root beer.

---

Gumshoe didn’t suddenly transform into a stellar detective, but he was certainly better. Byrne wasn’t sure if it was his apology making him less nervous or the fact that he and Badd had given him a crash reminder course on how to talk on the stand, but he wasn’t going to be choosy.

It had cleared his head, too, since an hour into the trial he realized there was no way the wedding planner, the current accused, could have done it. Fortunately, the defense attorney was competent enough that they reached the (correct) verdict by early afternoon.

As they got out, Gumshoe had started apologizing, seemingly because he thought he’d lost them the case.

“No, detective. In this case, the defense was correct.” And then he’d ended up having to explain the last third of the day’s trial. “You were there.”

“Yeah.” He hung his head. “But I was so nervous about what I was doing, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

He sighed. One thing at a time, he supposed.

“So...now what?” Gumshoe looked from him to Badd, who had just caught up to them.

“One of the groom’s parents,” Badd said, unwrapping a new lollipop.

Byrne nodded. “They both clearly resented the victim for encouraging their son to break up with his old girlfriend, and our reports of their movements during the night are spotty.”

“And all the catering staff mentioned how they both...walked into the kitchen...to complain about the food. Even if the platter wasn’t used that day, they could still have gotten access to it.”

Gumshoe stared at them openly. “Whoa. How did you do that?”

“What, figuring that out?”

“Well, yeah, but- I never saw you talk to each other, so how did you get the same answer?”

They looked at each other and shrugged. “We’ve worked together for a long time,” Byrne said.

“Oh.” His puzzled frown only partially dissipated. “So, now what?”

“We start asking some...new questions while Faraday does the trial paperwork, and then...we meet up to figure out a new plan of attack.”

It was practical, but, more importantly, gave Byrne a break from Gumshoe. He nodded, and headed off, letting Badd handle whatever other question had started brewing in the other detective.

---

“...we understand that they don’t want to reschedule the honeymoon. We’re working as quickly as we can,” Byrne said to the officer as evenly as he could. Despite being quite sure of the culprit now, the past few days had been such a series of problems that they’d barely gotten anywhere. A mix-up at the forensics lab, several lengthy arguments with the wedding party, and today, the photographer’s camera had gotten dropped down a few concrete stairs into a puddle. And of course she didn’t have any kind of backups, so he was going to have to find time to try and salvage that, or they’d be down some potentially crucial evidence.

He’d just turned to the forensic officer when there was an “uh, Mr. Faraday?”

“In a moment, Detective Gumshoe,” he said with strained politeness as he tried to read the scribbly lab tech handwriting. They knew there had been something in the victim’s system, but it hadn’t  been anything obvious, and since neither chemistry or biology was his science, deciphering these notes gave him headaches at the best of times.

“Excuse me, sir.” It was one of the secretaries from the Prosecutor’s Office, who barely waited for him to turn his head before continuing. “The Chief Prosecutor needs to speak with you about your case from last month.”

“The Chief Prosecutor can-” he disguised cutting off his instinctual reply with a cough. Forcing the tension out, he said, “The Chief Prosecutor is going to have to wait a moment.” He looked at the report again. If he was reading it right, they’d at least figured out it was something plant-based, but-

“Mr. Faraday?”

“What?” he snapped. He regretted it instantly as everyone flinched. “I’m sorry, Detective,” he said, politeness stretched over tension, “unless your question is urgent, please go bother Badd about it.”

“Oh, it’s not a question. I, uh. I fixed the camera.”

That knocked the swirl of thoughts out of his head. “I beg your pardon?” he asked on autopilot.

“Yeah.” He retrieved the device from one of his coat pockets. The viewing screen was still cracked, but it was clean and significantly less dented on the side. A press of a button and it powered to life. “I didn’t have the stuff to fix the screen,” Gumshoe explained as he handed it to Byrne, who took it automatically, “so we’re still going to have to pay her for breaking it, but it connects to a computer just fine!”

Sure enough, he could cycle through the features and the album well enough, just not with much visibility. “This is- How did you do this?” He hadn’t thought it would be unsalvageable, but that was for himself. It had barely been a few hours.

Under the staring, Gumshoe turned his head to the side, fidgeting with his collar. “Well, I drop my phone in water all the time, and this was way easier to take apart to dry out. Then I talked to one of the guys in IT – he was real nice – and he let me borrow some of his tools, and…” He shrugged. When Byrne didn’t say anything for a moment, he shrunk a bit more. “Did I mess up, sir?”

He shook his head. “No.” Words came slowly as he dragged himself out of shock. “Next time, ask permission before you tinker with evidence like that, but this is...very good.” Then, genuinely, “Thank you, detective.”

Now it was his turn to stare, although Byrne didn’t think he’d been so wide-eyed. “Wow, really? I mean, thank you, Mr. Faraday.”

He couldn’t help a tiny smile. “You’re welcome. Now, if you can keep being useful,” Byrne handed him back the camera, “get all the pictures from the day, and start going through them with Badd.”

Gumshoe accepted the camera with reverent care. “Yes, sir!” He saluted, the intense energy behind it coming not from nerves this time, but from brimming over with excitement.

Byrne nodded and waved him off. Well, that was one considerable weight off his shoulders. He was still looking forward to when this case was over, but in the meantime, between his eagerness to be helpful and surprising adeptness in multiple areas, it seemed Badd had been right about Gumshoe having potential after all.