Mia was so devastated. For the second time, Dahlia Hawthorne outwitted her.

Mia was sitting next to Diego Armando, her colleague and lover. He was still in comatose even though a year had passed after his poisoning. She wished that Diego would hold on and be strong enough to open his eyes once again.

She held his hand. It was still the rough hand which always held hers but the only difference is that the owner of the hand cannot feel hers. Mia continuously tightened her grip to his hand as tears started to form on her eyes.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

Mother, please watch over my dear Diego

Mia left the room and took her last glance at Diego. He was looking very peaceful despite his very troubled self. Despite the soft noises made the respirator and the life support devices, it was uncomfortably quiet.

Goodbye Diego

At the Grossberg Law Offices, Mia found her boss, Mr. Grossberg reading a large pile of papers on his desk.

"Ah, it's you Mia. Been to visit Diego?", said Mr. Grossberg.

"Yes, Mr. Grossberg", Mia replied.

"Any improvements?"

Mia sighed, "No, sir. The doctors said that his vitals are improving but it's quite impossible for him to wake up again".

Mr. Grossberg breathed deeply and held Mia on the shoulder. "Diego is a good friend and one of my best defense attorneys. He is very big loss to me, to the agency as well to our judicial system. Many lives who depended on him are at despair".

"Yes, a big loss , sir."

"Ah, I understand what you mean. Quite a loss. Maybe a loss that will never be replaced."

Yes, he's right. Maybe a loss that can never be replaced.

It took a while for Mia and Mr. Grossberg to recompose themselves and went back to work. Mr. Grossberg returned to his pile of papers while Mia began to work on the computer.

"And Mia…"

"Yes, Mr. Grossberg?"

"You might want to go with me to the court tomorrow. I'm defending Jessie Limmes. He's being accused of murdering his father."

Mia's eyes were wide in shock. "Father?! Did you say Father?"

Mr. Grossberg nodded. "Yes, weeping over the victim's body…I thought you might have thought of that. He's been seen…"

Mia didn't bother to listen to Mr. Grossberg. The thought of someone killing their own father was too shocking for her to take.

"…better be prepared tomorrow. Prosecutor's Manfred von Karma."

"Manfred von Karma?" Mia said, obviously clueless.

"He's a top prosecutor", Mr. Grossberg said. "He has a 40-year perfect win record, meaning, all the cases he handled got a guilty verdict, whether the defendant was truly guilty or not. Cheating, fabricating evidence and testimonies. Said he's playing dirty. I don't know. He always got the judge on his hands except once".

"Once?"

"Before the DL-6 Incident. He got the only penalty in his carrer. The judge didn't seem convinced of his evidence and awarded him a penalty. The defense attorney pointed out the contradiction in his fabricated evidence. Quite an achievement for Edgeworth."

"Edgeworth? As in the Edgeworth in the DL-6"

"Yes. Gregory Edgeowrth. Miles Edgeworth's father. I thought you might know DL-6, of course. Edgeworth was an ace defense attorney in his time. Pity he died after that short moment of glory."

Mia frowned a bit. "If Gregory Edgeworth is a defense attorney, then why is Miles Edgeworth a prosecutor?"

Mr. Grossberg shook his head. "I don't know, Mia. No one knows. After the murder of his father, Miles had been an apprentice of Manfred von Karma".

"He became von Karma's apprentice?"

"Oh yes", said Mr. Grossberg without taking his eyes off his papers. "He taught Edgeworth everything he knows. Some say he even treated von Karma like a father".

Mia was speechless.

"You mean, if Miles Edgeworth was that ruthless in court, then Manfred von Karma…"

"Makes Edgeworth look like a saint, yes", finished Mr. Grossberg.

Mia was so surprised that there are lawyers who don't care about their clients and whose only goal is to win in court. She thought that they were very selfish.

"That's horrible". Mia whispered.

"Truly, they are. I would consider it a miracle if the trial tomorrow lasts for fifteen minutes. Von Karma wants a quick trial so he can win even more trials", sighed Mr. Grossberg

"Then why don't you just hand him penalties? If he had enough penalties then the trial will be over"

"That's not easy, Mia", replied Mr. Grossberg. "The fabricated evidences and testimonies are so perfect that there are not gaping holes in it. In other words, it speaks the whole truth itself!"

"But it's really not the truth"

"I'm afraid not. The evidences were fabricated to look like the defendant committed the crime."

"Oh, how horrible! But, don't the judges notice that every defendant whose cases were taken by von Karma ended up guilty whether they were really guilty or not?"

Mr. Grossberg replied, "I think so, but the judges are too afraid to talk. He has a lot of connections, von Karma. He could always use a good blackmail".

"Blackmail?! He's also a blackmailer?!"

"Yes, He would do everything for a guilty verdict."

The thought of von Karma doing everything for a guilty verdict is totally outrageous. Mia couldn't think of any other prosecutor worse than von Karma.

"Mr. Grossberg…", said Mia.

"Yes, Mia…"

"Is it possible that ones who have received a guilty verdict from von Karma would be given a retrial? I mean…"

Mr. Grossberg suddenly stopped reading his papers and looked at Mia with wide eyes. "Don't you mean…you mean…you want them to have a retrial?"

Mia looked quite embarrassed. "Uhm, of that sort, yes…"

Mr. Grossberg was still looking at Mia. "Yes, that's very noble of you but I think you're too late".

"Late? Why?"

"Some of them were given death sentences and maybe dead by now. Others were given irrevocable lifetime imprisonment. Well, some of them are still alive, maybe in death row or in prison…"

There was an unusual silence.

"Mr. Grossberg, there might be a chance if I try…"

"Oh, my Mia, you are still a rookie lawyer. Defending large cases would be very tough…"

"But sir, I'm up to the task of overturning the verdict of those who are truly innocent but given the guilty verdict just because von Karma handled their case!"

Mr. Grossberg's eyes were still wide in shock.

"Very well, if that is what you want. But don't be so occupied with that cases of yours...you're still a lawyer at the Grossberg Law Offices!"

Mia was smiling brightly. She was delighted to hear Mr.Grossberg's decision. If she's going to overturn some previous cases, then she might as well conduct a research about them.

"I know what you're thinking Mia. And please research at the Police Archives about Mr. Jessie Lammes. I seem to have forgotten a few papers there".

"Right you are, sir".

After she finished using the computer, Mia left the Grossberg Law Offices and went to the Police Department.

When Mia arrived at the Police Department, she saw the usual commotion of he police officers there, some receiving telephone calls, some screaming while using the computers, still some other laughing hard while enjoying their doughnuts and coffee.

Quite unsure where to go, Mia approached a scruffy looking detective munching his doughnut.

"Uhm, excuse me sir…"

"Watch it, pal! Could someone eat their doughnut in peace?" screamed the detective.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir…"

"He he, don't worry, just joking, pal. The name's Gumshoe. Detective Dick Gumshoe".

A joke? You almost gave me a heart attack! "Uhm, I'm Mia Fey. Attorney at law. I'm from Grossberg Law Offices".

"Ah, you work for Mr. Grossberg, pal?"

I just told you, idiot! "Yes, well, Mr. Grossberg sent me to look for…"

The detective chuckled. "Jessie Lammes? You might want to enter that room, pal", said Gumshoe, pointing at a nearby door. "But don't you enter just yet"

"Why?"

"Prosecutor Edgeworth's in there, also looking at the Jessie Lammes file. To tell you, pal, he isn't quite in the mood today, better not bother him".

Mia smiled. "Oh, I see. I have a few cases to look myself apart from Jessie Lammes. Thank you very much, Detective Gumshoe".

"Pleasure is yours, pal".

Mia entered the room and saw the narrow aisles which separate the stack of files in the Police Archives. She could here faint sounds which resembled footsteps. It must be Prosecutor Edgeworth.

She tried to scan for some files which were handled by von Karma. She was interested in the one which had given him his only penalty in his entire career. She thought that the defendant must be innocent since von Karma left a contradiction in his fabricated evidence.

For a lead, she tried to look at the case handled by von Karma and Gregory Edgeworth.

Von Karma…Nichol

Von Karma…Stebbins

Von Karma…Adams

Von Karma…Armando.

She stared at the words blankly. Von Karma…Armado. So Deigo tackled von Karma once.

Mia was so proud of Diego fighting von Karma once. She wished she could have the guts to face someone like von Karma.

Hey, kitten, remember, you tackled Edgeworth. You almost won if just Fawles didn't swallow the bottle. That's as good as von Karma.

Did Diego speak in my ears? Mia thought hard. It was impossible. Diego couldn't have been in the Archives so she finally suspected that it must be her imagination.

She continued to look at the files. She saw von Karma overthrow some unknown defense attorney in every trial he attended.

Finally, she found what she was looking for.

Von Karma…Edgeworth.

Prosecuting Attorney…Manfred von Karma.

Defense Attorney…Gregory Edgeworth.

Finally, she managed to find the case which got von Karma his only penalty and extracted it from the cabinet. This will be the first case that she will take for the sake of those who were innocent but proven guilty by von Karma.

Suddenly, Mia heard another set of footsteps. It was quite different from the faint sounds she heard earlier. It looks like the owner of these footsteps was approaching her, judging by the increasing loudness of the footsteps. She remained rooted to the spot to see who the owner of the footsteps is.

Suddenly, Mia felt a huge shock coming from behind. She writhe like a defenseless animal and screamed madly.

And she saw no more.