Tourniquet

Disclaimer: I still don't own the Phoenix Wright games or characters, but Phoenix Tilea, Ares Taylor, and Brad Sanders are all my original characters.

Chapter 9

7:29 pm

"Goddamn… Okay, there." Franziska finished adjusting her necklace and straightening up. She scrutinized herself in the full-body mirror in front of which she stood, tilting her head this way and that to get a better look. She was not used to seeing herself dressed like this; it had probably been about five or six years since she had dressed this formally.

A navy-blue velvet dress flowed eloquently around her ankles and was held up by a single strap that tied around her neck. A string of pearls hung around her neck as well with a dark blue gem on the end of it that glimmered brightly when the light hit it. Her earrings matched with a smaller version of that same stone dangling an inch below each ear. Around her waist was a shining silver belt with yet another set of dark blue stones spaced evenly all the way around. The outfit was made complete with a pair of black high-heeled shoes. She had somehow managed to French braid her own hair--which she had been letting grow out lately--and also wore a silver headband presenting the last set of gems.

7:30 pmf

She jumped slightly as the sound of the doorbell resounded throughout the house. 'It'll have to do,' she thought as she made a mad dash for the front door. Her heart was beating like that of a humming bird with nerves and excitement.

She pulled open the door to meet Miles Edgeworth, wearing a black tuxedo and carrying half a dozen roses in his right hand. He had taken extra care with his appearance as well and looked more appealing than usual. The smell of his cologne that wafted to her nearly made her swoon and she lowered her head to hide the blush on her cheeks.

Miles was stunned at the sight of her. He had felt sure he would be surprised, but he had never imagined this. "Hello," he said with a playful smile on his lips. "Is Miss von Karma home?"

She laughed and stepped across the threshold, placing one hand on the flowers and leaning forward to give him a quick kiss. "You look gorgeous," he said, giving her the flowers.

"And you look even more handsome than usual," she said, kissing him again on the cheek. "I'll go find a vase for these." She turned and headed back inside, moving rather quickly. Miles stepped inside as well, but lingered in the entrance hall to wait.

After a moment, Franziska returned with the flowers in a green and gold vase, placing them on a table near the door. She then turned back to Miles. "Are you sure… we should be going together?" She looked a bit concerned.

"That's entirely up to you," he replied, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Personally, I've stopped caring what the rest of them think."

"I'm just not thrilled at the thought of how the tabloids will exploit this," she stated as she came to stand in front of him. "You know how talented they are at turning something so harmless into a major ordeal."

Miles nodded. "Well, this is a closed party. Unless somebody brings a reporter as a date, I don't think we should have any problems."

"I guess it doesn't really matter anyway," Franziska finally concluded. "After all, we've both dealt with much worse."

"Damn straight!" Miles replied, the grin returning to his face. "Ready to go?" His keys were now in his hand.

"Yes."

"You're sure this time?"

Franziska laughed again. "Yes, I'm sure this time."

"Okay." They exited the house, Franziska locking the door behind her. Miles opened the passenger side door of his red sports car for her and then proceeded to take the wheel. He expertly steered the car down the long driveway and onto the street beyond, estimating that this drive would take about twenty minutes.

As they rode in silence, Miles kept glancing over at her briefly, still unable to believe what he was seeing. He had never expected her to appear in public like this with him. Normally, she would be so concerned about how people would view her that she would have flat out refused to go as his date; she had expressed some doubt back at the house, but had been easily convinced it was no big deal. It seemed that without even trying, he had completely changed her personality. Or maybe, this was the real Franziska von Karma, and the heir to Manfred von Karma was truly nonexistent.

They arrived at the auditorium with ten minutes to spare and drove around for a bit looking for a decent parking spot. Miles finally had to settle for something in the back, giving them a little while to walk. He hadn't expected there to be so many people here and had to conclude that the prosecutors weren't the only ones invited.

The doorman checked their names on the list when they reached the front entrance and they were allowed to enter. As they had expected, this place was full of people. Most were sitting down at one of the many four-person tables set up all around the ballroom. They saw plenty of couples, some groups of businessmen, and a few groups of women sitting together, all chatting casually with glasses of wine or soft drinks before them.

"Let's see if we can find a table," Miles suggested, already scanning the room.

"If we must share a table," Franziska began, "I'd rather sit with someone we don't know."

"That's probably for the best," he agreed, not wishing to be gawked at by their colleagues the entire time. However, before a place to sit was scoped out, a familiar voice sounded from behind them.

"Hey, Edgeworth!"

'You've got to be kidding me,' Miles thought as he slowly turned his head. Sure enough, he saw Phoenix Wright coming through the crowd of people that had just entered. He was also wearing a black tuxedo and had obviously tried to flatten out his normally spiky hair, though it hadn't really worked all too well.

"Hey there, Edgeworth," Phoenix greeted him when he finally approached them. "I was hoping you'd come. You look like you're feeling better." His eyes then traveled a bit lower to the woman with a hand on Miles' arm. "And…" His speech got caught in his throat upon recognizing Edgeworth's date. "M-miss… v-von Karma?" He kept staring, unable to believe his eyes. "Y-you look…"

"Put your eyes back in your head, Wright," Miles warned him. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh," Phoenix suddenly looked embarrassed for his reaction. "Uh, well, Gumshoe invited me."

Franziska gave a short, almost haughty laugh. "I suppose no one else here would ever talk to that detective for an extended amount of time."

Phoenix gave a nervous chuckle, trying to hide his blush. "Heheh, I guess so."

Miles looked upon his rival harshly. "Wright, don't you feel a bit…surrounded?" As he said this last word, he looked around momentarily, indicating that the majority of the party's attendants worked at the prosecution offices.

"Neh," replied Phoenix with a wave of his hand. "This isn't court or anything; it's just a little get-together, right?"

Miles frowned slightly. "Sure…"

"Um, well…" Phoenix scratched the back of his head. "I…think I'm going to go… do…something… I'll leave you two alone." With that, he was gone in a flash, disappearing among the many black-suited men standing around.

"I think I see a table," stated Franziska, obviously having been looking around while Miles talked with Phoenix. "There aren't any empty ones, but I don't think I've ever seen those two before."

Miles looked where she was pointing, then nodded. They started heading toward the back of the high-ceilinged room, weaving between the many tables to reach one that sat in the back corner, out of the way of too many prying eyes. Two people already occupied it. There was a young man with dull gray hair that was styled a bit like Edgeworth's only with shorter bangs, and it didn't seem that he had put as much care into it. Across from him sat a young woman with flaming red hair that fell to the middle of her back, and her bangs also parted in the center of her forehead. They both appeared to be around Franziska's age, the man wearing—like most of the male guests—a black tuxedo and the woman wearing a black pants suit with a black leather, rhinestone-studded belt around her waste. They had been deep in conversation, but looked up as the other two approached their table.

"Pardon us," Miles spoke up, "but would you mind at all if we sat here?"

The two young adults didn't respond immediately, but it didn't take Miles long to notice that the man was staring at Franziska. Rather irritated, he cleared his throat, giving the stranger a reproachful look.

"No, we don't mind at all," came the woman's voice, deep and professional-sounding. She didn't seem disturbed at all by her companion's staring.

Apparently, Franziska hadn't noticed anything strange either, for she didn't hesitate in taking a seat beside the red-headed girl. Miles, however, took a bit more time in pulling out his chair and sitting across from her, watching the boy out of the corner of his eye. He then cleared his throat again, trying to summon his manners. "Um, thank you," he said, feeling an introduction would be politest. "My name is-"

"Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth." It was the woman who had finished his sentence for him, her speech very mature for her age.

"And," came the young man's voice, very soft and even a bit raspy, "Prosecutor Franziska von Karma. Yes, we know exactly who you two are."

Miles looked from one to the other, taken aback by this. "S-so…" he began, trying to keep his usually calm and collected attitude. "…You watch court trials then?"

"Occasionally," the woman replied. "However, it's our assignment to know who you are."

Franziska stared at her. "Come again…"

With a swipe of her hand, the woman pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Agent Tilea," she said, indicating herself. "Head of Field Ops. for the Federal Borough of Investigation."

"Agent Taylor," added the young man. "On-site Tactical Coordinator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Both prosecutors stared in shock at the others. "You two are… FBI agents?" Franziska asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Miss von Karma," replied Agent Taylor. "I apologize for staring; I wasn't sure if I recognized you."

Miles kept looking back and forth between them. "I don't… mean to sound rude, but… aren't you two a bit young to be field agents?"

Tilea shook her head. "If I'm not mistaken, Miss von Karma began her career as a prosecutor at the age of thirteen."

"True." Miles looked across the table at Franziska, whose expression was unreadable. She looked half interested and half ready to get the hell away from these two. "Well, why exactly were FBI agents sent to a function like this?" This troubled him slightly, as if something here wasn't right.

"No reason," Tilea replied with a smile. "We just thought we'd come and enjoy ourselves." Something about the way she said it made it seem much less true.

"Are you two…together?" Franziska asked, trying to figure out if they seemed a fitting couple.

"No," replied the young man. "We're just good friends and we work closely with one another." He then paused. "You know, I wasn't aware that you two were a couple."

"Oh, it's a…recent thing," Miles replied, now turning his attention to the open wooden floor at the front of the room. The DJ had just arrived and there were a few couples slow dancing already.

"Don't even think about it, Miles Edgeworth," said Franziska, following his gaze.

"What?" He was grinning. "You never know until you try it. You might enjoy yourself."

She stared at him coldly. "And you're speaking from experience?"

Miles pushed back his chair and stood up. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend every Saturday night poring over case files."

She looked at his outstretched hand. "Well… I don't really know how to…"

Miles shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just follow my lead and you'll do just fine." With that, he pulled her from her chair and they left the table, making their way to the front of the room.

The other two watched them go, making sure they were well out of earshot before turning to each other. "Phoenix," the young man addressed Agent Tilea, "this could really complicate things. We didn't count on them being together."

The woman appeared to be deep in thought. "Well…" She turned her gaze to see that Miles and Franziska had made it to the dance floor. "There is a possibility that we could use this to our advantage, Ares. This means we might have a little more help in case things get ugly."

"I think I saw Mr. Wright here as well," Ares stated, leaning forward so that he could speak even softer than normal. "He might not be close with her, but he and Mr. Edgeworth are friends, and Mr. Wright is the helpful type."

She nodded her head. "Now, let's just hope we can apprehend him before the situation can get to that point."