"... Are you... Apollo, wake up!"
...
Apollo groaned, instinctively raising a hand to block out the bright light striking his eyes. He was on his back on the ground. Had he passed out? How did it happen?
He pushed himself shakily up to a sitting position.
"Are you hurt? How do you feel?"
Apollo turned. Mr. Wright was crouched next to him, watching him with concern.
"I..." he began, his reply fading as he thought things over. What had he been doing last?
The trial. He remembered the trial. A local dentist had been accused of murdering a journalist who'd written a rather unflattering piece about him for some cheap magazine. The dentist himself was no angel, but his wife didn't believe for a second that he'd killed anyone. She'd come by the Wright Anything Agency to request their help with her husband's defence. Business had been slow around the office lately, and Mr. Wright had agreed to take the case, enlisting both Apollo and Athena to assist him.
They'd won. He remembered that now. But afterward... He didn't think they'd gotten back to the office. He closed his eyes and finally visualized his most recent memory. The prosecutor on the case was an old colleague of Mr. Wright's, the esteemed international prosecutor Franziska von Karma. Following the trial's end, she'd requested to meet with them in the prosecution lobby just outside the courtroom. The very last thing Apollo remembered was pushing open the lobby's doors.
"What happened when we-..."
Mr. Wright set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not sure how to explain it. You'd better see for yourself."
Apollo hadn't really taken a look around until now.
Something wasn't right. He was sitting on a hard floor underneath a tall structure of some kind. Out from beneath the structure was a vast chamber of some sort, with walls higher than anything he'd ever...
Wait.
"Recognize the prosecution lobby, Apollo?"
Athena followed behind Trucy as they walked toward the prosecutor's lobby. Trucy had insisted on getting to speak with "Auntie Franziska" personally once she came down from the gallery after the trial. It was hard to believe that Trucy could possibly be on such friendly terms with the intimidating German prosecutor.
Nevertheless, Athena entered the lobby with the younger girl.
Prosecutor von Karma was standing near the middle of the room, alone.
Athena watched in slight disbelief as Trucy approached the prosecutor and actually hugged her. Her surprise only increased as Ms. von Karma returned the gesture.
"I am glad to see you, Trucy Wright." Ms. von Karma said. "Have you seen your fool of a father anywhere?"
Trucy didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the minor insult against Mr. Wright. "Not since the trial. I thought he'd be in here with you." she said with a frown.
Apollo didn't take long to get up to speed on their bizarre situation. He and Phoenix stood behind a tall wood pillar -- one of the legs of the bench sitting against the lobby's wall -- and watched the scene carefully.
Wondering how on Earth they'd been shrunken down to such a miniscule size would have to come later. Right now, they needed to draw some attention.
The floor was shaking beneath them as the three towering women before them approached the bench, apparently to sit down.
"OK..." Apollo said, nudging his employer's shoulder. "This is a stupid idea, but I say once they get over here, we grab onto someone's boot and start climbing. This lobby barely sees any traffic, so it's as good a chance as we're going to get."
"Agreed." Phoenix replied. "On the plan and it being stupid."
Their moment arrived in short order. Athena, Trucy, and Franziska all turned and sat on the bench overhead together, its wooden frame creaking under their weight, but in no danger at all of damage.
There were three sets of feet ahead of them, all wearing tall pairs of boots. But which to start their journey with?  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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