When Phoenix fails to show up for their night out, Edgeworth receives a call that will tell him that he isn't dealing with someone sane. His Nemesis is not only clever but he will do anything to get the revenge he seeks..and he's not about to let anything or anyone stand in his way. What makes things even worse is that Edgeworth will come to recognize just who his Nemesis is and realize that a very bitter voice from the past is stalking him, seeking to destroy him by whatever means necessary..
Here is chapter two for your reading pleasure and I do apologize for the wait. I hope you enjoy it! This is the first time I've ever written Edgeworth in first person so I hope that I have his voice just right. :) As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. :)
Thanks to ShadowSuzaku & Lyrical Rawr once again for their invaluable insights and help. You two are the best and I can't begin to thank both of you enough for all your help. :) Thanks also to everyone who posted their comments on Court Records, to all of my readers and special thanks to my husband for his support and nagging. :)
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October
16
7:30
P.M.
Miles
Edgeworth's Office
I sat in my chair, looking quietly out the window into the darkness beyond. The cup of tea that I had been enjoying sat almost as an after thought on my desk, my face cupped in my hand.
There was something about dark Fall nights that had often depressed me in the past-not that I would have admitted it at that point in time, to myself or anyone else-and still had an uncomfortable effect even now.
I didn't really know why that was but I suspected that it had its roots in the DL-6 incident when I was trapped, along with my father and Yanni Yogi, in the elevator during an earthquake.
I pushed that uncomfortable thought out of my mind as quickly as I could; the last thing I needed was another reminder of my father's death. I had much happier things to think of instead of revisiting the long dead past.
I looked at my watch again for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. 7:30. Where was he?
With a sigh, I lifted the cup to my lips, taking a small sip of the hot, fragrant liquid, savoring the tea's delicious aroma and taste as I swallowed, placing the cup gently back onto the saucer.
Leaning back, I closed my eyes, reveling in the sweet and soothing flavor as it coursed down my throat, warming me inside and lifting my spirits. It was something that I had always enjoyed doing and, more often than not, was enough to calm me no matter what kind of day I was having.
'I suppose he's gone off to his office to finish up some last minute things before he comes over for our date,' I thought, reaching over absently and picking up the half-full tea cup, a crooked grin on my face, 'that would be just like him.'
Thus revitalized, I leaned back and waited for Phoenix to arrive, a smile upon my lips. I couldn't wait to see him again; it had been far too long since our last Date Night back in July and I was looking forward very much to our night out together.
'I wonder if we'll have snow soon?'
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It seemed like hours had gone by in this Stygian underworld but it couldn't have been more than half an hour or so since I'd been put here. The thought of simply pulling the chains that were attached to the manacles from the back of the wall had occurred to me but I realized in a short time that this wouldn't do me any good.
The manacles held strong and sure and I soon gave up the fruitless endeavor of trying to pull them out of the wall from which they were solidly ensconced. I sighed in frustration and sank prone once again, my fist pounding the hard ground beneath me.
'What was the point of it all?' I thought in despair. 'I don't know who this person is or what they want, much less why I was brought here.' My head started to throb once again and I closed my eyes, wishing that it would go away.
In the course of a few minutes, my life was turned upside down and inside out by person or persons unknown and I found that to be damnably unfair; I'd complain about the unfairness of it all if I knew who to complain to.
I felt tears prick my eyes and I did my best to try and keep them back as well as the self-pity I could feel welling up in me; neither would do me any good right now.
I was in a terrible situation and I needed to think of a way to extricate myself from it though, on the face of it, it was clear that escape from here at the present was definitely not a possibility.
It was still all a mystery to me and I wished I could sort out my muddled thoughts; half remembered images, blank faces and voices kept up a steady stream in my consciousness though I had no idea who any of these people were but one thing seemed consistent–they all were connected to me, somehow.
That was the only thing clear to me at this time, but I couldn't help wondering who they were and what their connections to me were. That they were important was very clear, but the why of it was not.
I had to keep thinking, to keep the line of questions going. I had to find out who these faces were; maybe, just maybe, these faces out there were missing me, perhaps they were even looking for me. I could always fall back on that hope, but I needed to know who these people were and why they were so deeply embedded in my consciousness.
The shape-this is the name I had given to my abductor since I couldn't tell for sure, given the relatively brief time and on account of the Stygian darkness inside my prison, if it had been a male or female-had said something about my supposed lover, someone named Edgeworth, who would, presumably, do anything for my safe return.
I turned that bit of information about in my mind for a little bit, slowly digesting it and only stopped when I could no longer bear the ache it caused in my head.
It was, at this point, a wasted mental exercise since I was no closer to discovering WHO Edgeworth was, WHY he was important to me, and HOW I was connected with him. Were we, as the shape insisted, really lovers or was that just a ploy?
If so, for what purpose? What could the shape possibly gain by it if it wasn't true? My head hurt from the implications.
I didn't know all the answers but the questions themselves kept coming in an seemingly unending flow as I laid my head back down on the ground, unable to bear the pounding in my head any longer.
'What was going to come of this?' I wondered again and, as I closed my eyes, a terrible thought came into my mind. 'And will I survive it?'
I definitely didn't like the direction this was going in.
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8:30 PM
It was now 8:30 and Phoenix still hadn't arrived. I was worried by this time since he'd never been late on a date night before. I tried going over in my mind all the places where he might possibly be, wondering again why he hadn't called. Normally, when he was running late, he would always call to let me know.
'Where is he? Why hasn't he called? This isn't like him to miss Date Night!' Frowning, I stood up and started to pace back in forth in front of the window, peering out every few minutes into the pitch black darkness. What was I hoping to find or, for that matter, see?
I was trying not to, but I had to admit at this point I had crossed the line from concern to outright worry. Something had to be wrong or he would have been here by now.
Knowing him as I did, intimately and otherwise, he would have at least called to let me know, not wanting to worry me. This was what kept nagging at me; the lack of a call. This was completely out of character for Phoenix.
I paused in my pacing before the window, looking out into the inky blackness of this cold October night, my brow creasing with worry.
'Where are you, Phoenix? Where ARE you?!'
Pacing the floor relentlessly wasn't the answer so I reluctantly sat back down behind my desk, pouring myself another cup of tea. I jerkily lifted the cup to my lips, my shaking hands spilling some of the tea on the saucer.
Cursing softly, I held the tea cup as firmly as I could in my hands, my thoughts wandering as I looked out of the window once again. 'Where are you? What's keeping you?'
No answer was forthcoming from the night.
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The ringing of my cell phone a few minutes later was enough to jolt me from my reverie and I nearly dropped the tea cup on the floor in my surprise. I did manage to save it and set it on my desk without any further problems. Or any further affront to my dignity.
'I swear I'm going to kill that man if he doesn't have a good excuse for being late,' I thought grumpily as I fished in my jacket pocket for my cell phone. 'He should have called and let me know he would be late, damn his hide!'
I flipped open the phone and pressed the talk button. I had meant for my opening words to be calm and rational but what came out of my mouth was anything but.
"Wright, where the hell are you?!" I practically yelled into the phone, anger coursing through me. "If you were going to be late, you could have at least called to let me know!! Get your backside over here now or I'll–"
I stopped as a grating, though uneasily familiar, voice chuckled on the line.
"How quaint, Mr. Edgeworth," it said chidingly with a hint of malicious humor that chilled me to my marrow. "I have your lover and all you're doing is yelling." A droll chuckle emanated on the other end of the line. "What do you think your precious Mr. Wright would make of that if he knew, Mr. Edgeworth?"
I stopped cold on those words, a chill quickly spreading through me. 'Where have I heard that voice before..and why is it so familiar to me? I'm not certain that I heard him right but did he just say he...has...Phoenix?'
"Who is this?" I asked coldly, trying to suppress the fear I could feel starting to spread through me. The voice sounded familiar, somehow, which only increased my concern level; I didn't like the tone of voice nor the voice itself with it's cold and calculated menace.
Whoever the voice belonged to on the other line said that he-I was sure it was a male voice-had Phoenix and I didn't like the implications in that sentence. It was anything but benign.
"Let's just say that I am your.." A slight pause. "...Nemesis...Mr. Edgeworth and leave it at that. For now." Another droll chuckle; my fingers tightened around the cell phone until my knuckles turned white and sat down quickly, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.
Nemesis.
Avenger. Distributer of Divine Justice. Retribution.
My mind spun. 'Avenger?' I thought in confusion, my eyebrow raising. 'Avenger...for what, exactly? What is he talking about? What is going on?! Where is Phoenix?!'
I didn't know the answers to the questions racing through my mind and this bothered me greatly. Something was very wrong: the phone call coupled with Phoenix's being really late was really worrying. Slowly, it was starting to add up and I didn't like the direction it was heading in.
The caller said that he had Phoenix; was he bluffing or did he mean what he said and really have Phoenix, holding him against his will? It made terrible sense and I had a really bad feeling about this.
"I don't believe you," I said coolly, trying to control the wave of panic that threatened to engulf me, "you're bluffing."
'God, I hope so! I hope this is nothing more than a really bad joke by a petty colleague seeking to settle a score although I can't imagine for the life of me why any of them would stoop so low and do something like this.'
"Now, now, Mr. Edgeworth," that irritating voice said, a laugh bubbling up from his invisible lips, "I didn't go to all of this trouble just to try and bluff you. I really do have your lover and, if you wish to have him returned to you in one piece and very much alive, you'll do as I ask."
I winced at the biting and menacing tone of that last sentence. "I really do have your lover and, if you wish to have him returned to you in one piece and very much alive, you'll do as I ask." I realized, in that moment, that this wasn't a joke and the caller meant every word he said; any doubt had all been swept away.
The harsh truth of the matter made itself all too clear to me in that instant. The caller really did have Phoenix and he had threatened to kill him if I didn't cooperate in whatever game it was that he had in mind. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I wasn't about to gamble my lover's life on it, a fact that the caller was all too aware of. Just how he knew was a mystery.
'Damn it.'
"I'm waiting..Mr. Edgeworth," the voice from the other end snarled, bringing me back to the present. "I really don't like to be kept waiting, as you should well know. I have the upper hand here as I am sure you now realize and I fully intend to use it if you force me to."
I bit my lip. 'As I should..know? What do you mean? I don't even know you! How do you know me?!'
I'm sorry to say that I lost my temper at that point, my fear and anger bubbling over.
"Damn you to hell, you miserable bastard!" I screamed, standing and clutching the side of my desk with my hand since I still wasn't too steady on my feet. "If you harm him I'll–"
"You'll do what, Mr. Edgeworth?" the voice asked mockingly, taunting me. "Find me? I wish you luck! Hunt me down? I don't think so...not if you want your precious Mr. Wright back alive and in one piece." There was another pause while I trembled with suppressed rage, trying to force myself to calm down.
'He's right, damn him! I can't do anything without endangering Phoenix! What am I going to do?!'
A satisfied grunt sounded on the other end followed by another dry chuckle. "I see you finally understand, Mr. Edgeworth, in just how precarious a position you really are. I hold all the cards and I will play them as I see fit. However, one question does remain: what will you do to make sure that Mr. Wright is safely returned to you?"
I gritted my teeth. I was in a no-win situation and I knew it.
"What do you want?" I hissed, scrunching my eyes tightly shut.
"Now you're being reasonable. I like that, Mr. Edgeworth. You can plainly see that further resistance is detrimental to your interests, not to mention mine as well." A small sigh resonated at the other end. "You see, 'A wrong is undressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.' "
I raised an eyebrow at the literary reference.
"Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," I said, "but I hardly see what this.." I stopped cold, understanding rushing over me. "You wouldn't..!"
The voice laughed. "Of course I would, Mr. Edgeworth! You know very well I would which is the only reason you're even continuing this conversation with me. You know I have your lover and you will do what it takes to get him back safely, wouldn't you?"
'Damn you. You know I would, without a second thought.'
"Yes," I said, swallowing hard, my voice barely above a whisper.
Another droll chuckle came to my ears. "Excellent! Now we can negotiate, Mr. Edgeworth." The voice sounded very happy and I marveled at the quick switch in mood that the caller had, wondering briefly what it was that had caused the change. "You're very wise and I commend you for your prudence."
"Cut your blathering and get on with it!" I snapped, my temper ragged from fear and worry, "and stop wasting time! Tell me what you want!"
"Temper, temper, Mr. Edgeworth!" the voice cat-called while I grimaced with annoyance at my helplessness. "Remember–I control whether or not you see your precious Mr. Wright again and you would do well not to make me angry. If you do, something just might happen to your precious lover that you don't want to.." The voice trailed off again as my eyes widened with horror.
'My god, he's serious! He's really serious!'
"I am very serious, Mr. Edgeworth," the voice continued briskly, "and I will do what is necessary to prove to you just how serious I really am." He paused again for a moment to let this sink in. "Now, to business. I have what you want and you have what I want. It seems logical to me that we should effect a trade, should we not?"
"A..trade?" I asked dumbly, unable to believe my ears. "What kind of trade? What do I have that you could possibly want?"
A slight pause followed that, to me, seemed to stretch on for hours. "Respect, Mr. Edgeworth," the voice spat angrily and I could feel the seething rage in those words bubbling just under the surface. "Respect that rightfully belonged to me which was given to you!"
My brow furrowed at the vehemence and anger in those biting words, trying to remember, if I could, who the caller was. He was familiar and I wished I could remember where I'd come into contact with this individual.
'Wait! That...voice... I remember now!'
A few moments later, a memory that I had forgotten many years earlier surfaced. With it, came the terrible realization that, not only did I know now who the caller was, but I also remembered very clearly where I had seen him before.
'No..no, it can't be! It CAN'T be!'
My face went white as I realized just who it was on the other end. Someone who had haunted my dreams for months in my early years as a Prosecutor and who I hoped I'd never see again.
It was Kaine Mayhew.
