Prodigy: New World

11) Reuniting with Evelyn

"Evelyn!!" Hino exclaimed. His niece dashed towards him and jumped into his open arms, giggling madly.

"I knew you'd save me, Uncle Hino!" Evelyn exclaimed. "I kept telling myself that you would! Even when I was so afraid, I'd keep believing in you!"

Brooklyn smiled. "Aww..." she whispered. "That's so cute." Jeremy, who was stood next to her, nodded in agreement.

Once Hino had released Evelyn from the hug, the girl stared at the group of teenagers that had gathered to watch the scene. "Who are all of you?" She asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"These kids are Prodigies," Hino began. "I knew that something fishy was going on with this place, so I gathered these kids up to help me investigate. Besides, doesn't a Prodigy on Prodigy fight sound pretty exciting?"

Evelyn nodded rapidly. "It sure does!" She nodded in agreement. "But... is the bad person the girl with the brown and blue hair?"

Alpha nodded. "That would be Seraphim." She replied. "She's the one who's trapped us all in here to play her demented little game."

A look of unrestricted sadness crossed Evelyn's face. "She seemed kind of nice when I saw her..." she murmured. "She let me go because she didn't want me cooped up being a prisoner."

"Really, now?" Hino gasped, his eyes wide. "It sounds like Seraphim's beginning to doubt this strategy of hers. Bringing in Juno perhaps wasn't the best idea, either."

"Do you think he'll turn on her?" Scorpius asked.

Hino nodded. "He's never been the type of guy to be loyal to a single person for long. Once he sees that there's no longer a benefit in working with her, she'll have herself a new enemy."

"But we mustn't forget that this is Seraphim we're talking about." Light began. "She's a Prodigy Inventor. If she has a problem, it won't take her a long time to build something to counter that problem."

"You're right..." Hino nodded. "In that case, we'll just have to convince Juno that there's no benefit to working with her anymore."

"But there is still a benefit!" Yui exclaimed. "He wants to kill you!"

"I suppose next you're going to tell us that we'll have to convince him to not want to kill you?" Edward sighed with a roll of his eyes. "You know it's not going to be that simple, right?"

Hino glanced up at Edward, about to respond, when he suddenly stopped. He held up a hand to stop the others from speaking as he listened. "Seraphim." Hino realized. "She's talking to someone in the lab next door. Let's go."

"Maybe she's talking to her father," Jeremy suggested. "Shouldn't we leave them alone?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Hino replied. "But I very much dislike being a hostage, so speaking to her would get us closer to our escape."

The group departed from the lounge and Hino led them to the lab, throwing open the door with a smile. "Apologies for the intrusion," he apologised. "But I just couldn't help overhearing a conversation and decided to join."

Seraphim, her face visible on a computer screen, rolled her eyes. "Fine, okay, I guess you can stay." She decided. "I see you got your niece back."

"I did," Hino nodded. "Thank you very much for that, by the way. Because I got my niece back, she told me something rather interesting."

Seraphim frowned, for a split second. "Interesting?" She repeated. "Okay..."

"From what my niece has told me, I think you're starting to waver." Hino explained, beginning to pace the room. "Lose confidence, basically."

"Lose confidence?" The inventor echoed. "Why?"

"There are a multitude of reasons why that could be." Hino continued. "For starters, you feel guilty. Evelyn stated that she noticed you feeling guilty for holding her as a hostage, and that's why you let her go."

"I-I just didn't want her to be alone." Seraphim rebutted. "It's... a horrible feeling, after all."

"Well, that's very noble of you." Hino complimented. "So why, Seraphim? Why turn to this... to this plan? You know what will happen once this ends, right?"

Seraphim stayed silent, her eyes wide, so Hino continued speaking. "This will just get you into unnecessary trouble with the police." He said. "Kidnapping is a crime that can't normally be excused."

"C-Crime?" Seraphim repeated, her voice quivering. "Y-You mean... they'll arrest me?"

Hino shrugged. "Probably."

Seraphim simply stared, horrified, as the truth sunk into her mind. The others watched as they saw her comprehend this truth before the television screen suddenly switched off.

"H-Hey!" Edward exclaimed. "She's gone!"

"I guess she just needs a little time to think." Hino suggested. "We should continue looking for a way out."

"But if she's feeling so guilty about all of this, then why doesn't she just let us out?" Edward asked.

Hino paused before shrugging, a smile on his face. "I'm always up for a challenge, and this time is no exception." He chuckled. "Now, how about we continue this challenge?"

Edward rolled his eyes with a sigh, sick of the detective's antics. A small click distracted Edward from that train of thought. He spotted a black envelope laying on the workbench to his left. "Something just dropped out of that air vent." Edward declared.

"So it did." Hino replied, noticing the envelope. "Evelyn, would you be so kind as to fetch that envelope for me?"

"Okay!" Evelyn nodded, dashing towards the workbench in a heartbeat. She reached up, dragged it towards her, and ran back to Hino, holding it out to him.

"Thanks," Hino said, taking the envelope from her. He broke it open and allowed the envelope to float to the ground as he stared at the paper stored inside. "Hmm," He muttered. "Now that is interesting."

The Prodigies gathered around Hino, all peering over his arms to read the single line on the paper.

'Zoksz Wzimvoo rh Hvizksrn'h hkb'

"Wh-What is that?" Brooklyn blinked. "It's just a huge bundle of letters."

"It may look like that, but it may also be a sort of code." Hino deduced. "Judging by the structure, I'd say that we're going to need the Atbash Cipher for this one."

"I know what that is...!" Angela gasped. "Here, can I take a look at it? With enough time, I should be able to decipher what it says!"

"You know, I was just about to suggest that you handle this." Hino commented, giving her the code. "Great minds really do think alike."

Angela set her laptop on top of the workbench and eagerly waited for it to fully boot up. Light, on the other hand, had his eyes on something completely different. He was staring at Saito, watching the swordsman stare at the ceiling. "Is something wrong?" Light asked.

Saito didn't respond immediately. "Something is approaching," he announced. "Something... aerial."

"Aerial?" Light repeated. "You mean... it's flying?"

Saito nodded. "Be on guard. It could be the enemy sending a minion of sorts to ambush us."

At that moment, the door flew open. Saito and Light spun with a gasp, the former gripping the hilt of his sheathed sword, prepared to take down whatever enemy had stepped into the room.

Floating in the doorway, possessing small yellow lights for eyes, was a helicopter drone.

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deciphering that code can give you early access to a later plot twist

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AceAttorneyFan over and out!