Ace Attorney: Andrew Dalmin

 Turnabout Revival - Final Court Phase

   It was time.  I went through the door and went back to my podium, taking one last look at my cards.  Thankfully due to the chaos that ensued, everyone forgot about the fact that I had started it, so there wasn't a series of stares.  Murmuring could be heard throughout the courtroom involving this "new suspect".  Indeed, the concept of a new suspect was intriguing, especially since no reason as to why Brea would have murdered the victim had been revealed.

  However, I didn't get my hopes up too high.  The only link that had been established between this man and the crime was Jenna's testimony, which I had already proved to be unreliable.  The only reason he was being brought to the witness stand was because there currently were no other leads.  I made sure my hair was straight and pointed as usual, and put my cards in my pocket.  The judge slammed his gavel.

  "It is now time to for the court to begin once again."  I noticed he was glancing at me quite worriedly.

  "Your honor?  Is something wrong?"

  "Ehm...I'm sorry..." he said, stuttering.  "I was just worried that...um...you might...uh..."

  I sighed.  Worry, thy name is Judge.

  "I apologize to the court for my sudden outburst, but I assure you it was all with the best of intentions," I lied.  Didn't want the court thinking I was going insane or something.

  "Right..." the judge said, gathering his wits.  "Uh...where exactly were we again?"

  "After Dullmin's absolutely RUDE incident," Adrian said, more insulted by the fact that someone actually yelled at him than anything else, "the possibility of another culprit has been mentioned.  As ludicrous as this claim is, it will be quite enjoyable to see the defense's pathetic attempts at saving this clearly guilty woman."

  I glared at him.  No one talks to one of my friends and gets away with it...even if that friend tends to harm me in various different ways.  Mr. Mambony was obviously the murderer, time to turn things around.

  "Bailiff, bring in the witness!" the judge declared.

 _________________________________________________________________________________

  When you thought of a crime boss, Mr. Mambony would not be your first option.  Granted, he had the overall look about him: the prideful look, the expensive jewelry, and the black suit...but he had a large round nose, a curled mustache, and overall he was about 4 feet tall.   Seeing such a grand look on such a silly man was so ironic...not that I was about to say it out loud.

  Adrian did a small hair flip.  "May the witness reveal his WONDERFUL name and-"

  "Say that again, and you won't have a house to sleep in tonight," Mr. Mambony said nonchalantly.  I guess threats were common for someone like him.  Hilariously enough, Adrain instantly began cowering under his stand.  That was a sight I'd remember for years to come.

  "Please give us your name and occupation," said the judge, obviously freaked out.

  "Mr. Mambony.  Owner of the bar in question." he said, refining his mustache.

  "Um...first name?" the judge said questioningly.

  "Does a 'New Judge Wanted' need to be posted outside the courtroom?"  Mr. Mambony said, turning his back to the judge.

  The judge hid under his desk.  I shook my head; was I the only sane one here?

  "Give us your testimony," I said, shuffling my cards.  "Tell us what you were doing on the night of the murder."

  "Hmm..." Mr. Mambony said, his back still turned.  A minute later, he slowly turned around, arms crossed.  "Simple and to the point.  Mr. Dalmin, it appears there is someone to be respected here.  Very well, I shall give my testimony."

  I breathed a sigh of relief.  Finally, we were getting somewhere.

  "THERE you are!" said Aaron, dashing to my stand.  "Where were you?"

  "In court on time." I said, smirking.  "Where were you?"

  "Uh..." he said, fidgeting with the button on his jacket.  I rolled my eyes.  20 bucks says he was staring at Adrian's party crew.

  "S-so what was all that about earlier?" he said, obviously changing the subject.  "Wasn't that a little uncalled for?"

  I sighed, "I'll explain later.  Right now we have a cross-examination to do."

  "Oh," he said, surprised.  "Who is it?"

  Apparently I was wrong earlier.  100 bucks says he was staring at the girls.

Witness 2 Testimony

   "I saw Brea Firehawk shoot the victim.  That is all."

  Aaron, the judge, and I all dropped our jaws simultaneously.   Not only was this the shortest testimony I had ever heard in my life, but it gave next to no information.  



  "Sir...isn't your testimony a little...lacking?" I said, my brow furrowing quite deep.  His face remained as nonchalant as ever.

  "I will make this as simple as possible," he said, refining his mustache again.  "Firehawk is the one who committed the murder, and there is no way you can change that."

  Still confused, I was about to ask for a little more information, when Adrian suddenly began chuckling.  I froze.  This couldn't be good.  Not at all.

  He shook his head.  "My first non-so-fabulous witness...the one in which your outrage was upon...was proved to be quite unreliable."

  Damn, I knew that was going to come up.

 "Fact is, Mr. Dullmin, he is the most reliable witness we have."



    I slammed a card onto the desk.  "What are you talking about?  We called you up because you were the only person describes on the scene.  I'm sure there could have been someone in the bar who-"

    A gunshot rang throughout the room, and the whole room instantly fell silent.  All eyes flew towards Mr. Mambony, who had a gun pointed at the ceiling.  What he just did probably wasn't legal, but who was going to question a possible crime boss?

   "It appears stupidity still reigns in court," he said, his face same as ever.  "Tell me, Mr. Dalmin...who would be willing to testify in this court?"

   "Well..."

   I froze as the sudden realization hit me.  My hands opened wide, and the sound of many cards hitting the floor rang throughout the courtroom.

  "A...Andrew?" Aaron asked, looking worried and confused.

  He was right.  No one at the bar would be willing to testify.  Half of the people there were probably his employees, and the other half would be too afraid to talk.  Jenna didn't mention seeing any one else in the alleyway, so no one but her witnesses it from the alleyway itself.  Since I had destroyed Jenna's testimony, he was the only witness that could be trusted.

  It wouldn't matter if further investigation was released.  The change of day wouldn't matter, no one else would speak.  Also, if any evidence still existed at the crime scene, Mr. Mambony's "cohorts" would have removed them by now.

  "I....o-o-object..." I said, trying to think of anything I could work off of.  Nothing came.

  Adrian laughed.  "That's quite the pathetic objection.  Is the defense giving up?"

  By now, everyone had figured out the truth.  Everyone was silent, there wasn't anything to say.  

  "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

  I slammed my head down on the table.  I had failed, beaten for such a simple and stupid reason.  I was pathetic, so pathetic...

  Suddenly, I heard nothing but the sound of my own heartbeat.  Apparently, I had hit my head on one of the cards, and had awakened my mind's eye.  Frustrated, I raised my head to see where the card was so I could go back to normal.  For some stupid reason, I felt like I should look up, so I did.  There I saw Mr. Mambony's one card, his main point he had already presented.  Nothing unusual there.  I looked back down.

  Wait.

  I quickly raised my head back up, and focused on the card.  Hold it...something wasn't right.  The card was there alright, but it was...different.  There were lots of scratches, it was all crinkled, and the side were incredibly rough.  I massaged my forehead trying to figure what it all meant.  Wait...could it be...

  I closed my eyes and shut off all my senses.  I stood completely still, blanking out everything except my mind.  I felt like my soul had been separated from existence, and the only thing left was my conscience.

  The card wasn't usual, that much was certain.  It was damaged badly...why would that be?

  His Claim Was Weak.

 The only way that would make sense was if his one card was very shaky.   But wait, his claim was impossible to break...wasn't it?  Wait, now was not the time to fall back, now was the time to attack.  Why was his claim weak?

  There Was a Witness.

 Okay, so we have to assume his claim was false.  So wait, what exactly was his claim again?   That no witness existed, right?  But if he was simply lying, the card wouldn't be that weak.  That must mean that...

  The Witness Has Decisive Evidence.

  The witness's testimony would have to include decisive evidence to prove his claim wrong so badly.  So who is this witness?  Who would have been there at the crime scene, been smart enough to have decisive evidence, and yet despite having such power, not be considered a threat?




  BREA IS THE WITNESS.


  I fell over backwards, cards flying everywhere.  My consciousness melded with my body once more and I was back in reality.  Everyone stared at me; even the judge, just about to lower his gavel.   It was so much to take in...I couldn't believe it.

  Of course, of COURSE!  How had I not seen it before?  Brea, even though being mentally weak and depressed, was still one of the most professional prosecutors I had ever known.  She was obviously at the scene of the crime since she was found there, so she must have seen the murder.  However, mere words wouldn't have been enough, and she definitely would have known that.  She always carried a camera with her, in case she happened to stumble upon such an incident.  She would have taken a picture...

   

   All my years of experience, my raw emotion of understanding that flew through me, and the desire for the safety of my comrade came out in the loudest objection I had even uttered.  My posture was perfect, my pointing finger felt like it was blazing with fire.  I was back.

   I chuckled.  "I apologize, Adrian, I just needed a little warm up.  How was that objection for ya?"

   Adrian was sweating bullets.  Not just out of shock, but out of worry.  My sudden burst of courage was not what he had expected.

  "That was...unusual..." he said, shivering.  I smirked.  His face was priceless.

  I turned towards Mr. Mambony.  "Who will be willing to testify to the court?  I don't just think I know, I KNOW who will be willing."

  He still kept his calm look.  "You must be more absurd than the worst excuse for a prosecutor over there...who is this person?"

  "Yeah!" the judge said, shocked, but strangely excited.  "Who is this witness?"

  I raised one of my cards for the whole court to see.  On it was a picture of Brea's face.  The court went into an instant uproar.  The judge pounded his gavel continually under it quieted down a little.

  "Mr. Dalmin, why the defendant?"

  "Yeah, Andrew!" said Aaron, looking rather ambitious.  "Why!?"

  "Because," I said, grinning, "She's the most reliable witness we have.  I'm sure you all remember her history well.  Brea started out as a photographer before becoming a prosecutor.  Even to this day, she always carries a camera with her."

  I nodded to the judge.  "Let's say hypothetically, she wasn't the murderer.  If Mr. Mambony committed as Jenna Wolf claimed, she would have seen it correct?"

  The judge nodded.  "Yes...many people in the bar claimed having seen her go in the alleyway around the time of the murder."

  I straightened my hair.  "So, your honor, would Brea have watched it happen without doing anything?"

  The judge shook his head.  "No, she probably would have taken a pi-"

  His eyes opened wide.  "Mr. Dalmin, are you suggesting-"

  "I am.  The defense believes that the defendant has decisive evidence!"

  Aaron's, the judge's, and Adrian's mouths all held open.  The crowd went into another uproar.  Mr. Mambony still stayed the same.

  "Mr. Dalmin..." he said, for once not messing with his mustache, "Do you really think I would leave myself so open?  If such a decisive witness existed, they would be...taken care of."



  I shook my head.  "I argue the opposite for two reasons.  One, she was a mafia boss as well, and last I checked she still has connections.  The second you would have attempted that, her own "employees" would have counter-acted, and by that point you would become more suspicious."

  I held up Brea's card again.  "However, that doesn't mean you had to worry about her.  This is my second reason.  After the loss of...a friend, Brea became mentally unstable.  I'm sure you were aware of that, as I'm sure have spies.  All it would take would be one finger pointed at her, and she would collapse.  Once she became blamed her of murder she fell apart, and became blind the power she held in her own hands.  The bomb would never go off, you would be safe."

  Mr. Mambony looked slightly irritated, and turned to the judge.  "Your honor, give your verdict now.  This man is just wasting the court's time."

  "Y-yeah!" Adrian said, still shaking. "G-give us the verdict."

  Surprisingly, the judge shook his head.  "As much as I would like to be done with this case, the possibility of the defendant carrying such important evidence can't be overlooked.  Your testimony gave almost no information, and Ms. Wolf's can't be trusted...that means that Ms. Firehawk's testimony, with this new possibility in mind, actually has greater potential than your testimony."

  Mr. Mambony's face changed, and actually had a slight look of worry.  The judge nodded to the bailiff.

  "Bailiff, bring out the defendant!"

  The bailiff looked really worried.  "Uh...sir?"

  "What's wrong?" said the judge, confused.

  Suddenly, the door to the courtroom literally exploded.  Splinters of wood flew throughout the room and the door handle hit Adrian square in the face.  It was actually a good thing it did....what he would've seen next would have sent him running straight to mommy.

  Where the door used to be, stood a demon.  It was a woman that was about 5 feet tall, though she it seemed like she was tall as a skyscraper.  Fire seemed to be coming from her eyes, and her whole body appeared to be steaming.  In one hand, she held the biggest flail I had ever seen.  In the other hand, she held what young children would call a "Bazooka".   I swore Mr. Mambony jumped about 20 feet in the air.

  YOU...YOU...YOU BLAMED ME...ME...FOR MURDER.
MURDER.

  What was said next cannot be repeated as there are some who might find such language rather unpleasant.  However, let it be known that the originally fearless man had the facial expression of someone about to be run over by a tank, and screamed like a little girl watching a monster movie.  It pains me greatly that I can't reproduce it perfectly, and for years to come, I would almost never laugh as hard as I did that day.

  Brea was now back to her old self, and just as I had suspected, Brea had a perfect photo of Mr. Mambony shooting the victim.  The witness was taken into custody immediately, and Brea Firehawk, my old rival, was declared "Not Guilty".  I had won.

  However, the story of my revival is not over.  One more thing happened the next day that would change my fate forever...