Striving For Perfection

Chapter 12:

The Depths of Perfection

Author's note: Okay…you know the drill. I don't own Phoenix Wright games or characters…and if I did, I'd be swimming in my own pool of money (which would be shaped like a dollar bill!) However! I DO own Marty Cruss, Herr Volker, Guido and Anya Trin (who are, like old movie mobsters used to say: "swimmin' wit da fishes!"). For all of you just joining in on this story...you might want to go read Limits of Perfection first...it might get confusing otherwise.

Ah yes, and Scheiße means "shit" in German.

TO MY REVIEWERS!

Tilea: Thank you! I figured out that the whole little brother and big sister thing was a literal translation from the Japanese version and there, it's more of a term for respect, right? So I wanted to put some emphasis on it.

Indochine: Yay! Thank you! I always appreciate comments!

LazyCatfish27: Well you're about to find out, aren't you? heheheheh

AND NOW TO THE STORY!


40...50...55...60...

Miles watched the speedometer climb out of the corner of his eye as his foot pressed harder on the gas pedal. Luckily, he knew that Franziska never deviated when she told someone she was going somewhere. Miles knew he could find her either at the precinct, or if worse came to worse, at her office. He couldn't help but think that in the back of his mind, how lucky he was to know that every cop that could have stopped him for speeding and given him a ticket, was out on a manhunt and/or body search. A smirk formed on his face and he chuckled bitterly. "What do you know? Being a servant of the law actually paid off." he muttered.


"SCHEIßE!" Franziska swore as the light in her office blew out. The thunderstorm had done its part to create an ultimately eerie setting and had, in turn, created a rather pissed off, and frightened, prosecutor. Franziska hadn't felt this nervous since her childhood days, when the lights went out and her father was more concealed...and Franziska had no chance to escape him if he caught her walking around at night. Some times she wondered if he was just lying in wait outside her bedroom door to release his anger on her tiny frame.

"Miles..."

Some how, just uttering his name made her feel calmer. Of course, she knew she had him to thank for her very existence. If it had not been for the day that he stood up to her father, perhaps there would never would have been a "Franziska von Karma, child prodigy" in the courtroom. The blue-gray eyed woman sighed and shook her head. Speaking of Miles...she was sure he was still laid up in bed, waiting for her to get back to the apartment and order their Chinese take-out that she had promised. Determined to leave behind whatever work she had intended to do in her office, and head back to Miles, Franziska stretched slightly in her office chair, and then proceeded to get up, until a sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. It was...pounding...no...more like a steady rhythm...like someone walking up stairs...

And as soon as it started, the noise stopped and Franziska heaved a sigh of relief. More than likely, it was just the harshness of the rain hitting the building and she was just imagining things. Thinking that if it was raining that hard, she would need some shelter, Franziska grabbed an umbrella she kept in one of her desk drawers for such an occasion and stood up, pushing her chair in as she walked out of her office. With her keys in one hand and her umbrella in the other, Franziska stood by her door to lock it when she heard it. The one sound that can make anyone's blood run cold.

It was the simple click of someone cocking a gun.
She felt the cool metal on the back of her neck, and swallowed hard before speaking.

"...am...am I speaking to Marty...Cruss...or...Matthew Crosse?"

There was silence for a moment, and if it wasn't for the fact that she could feel the metal, Franziska probably would have believed herself to be imagining things...until a low, sickening chuckle came from the man behind her.

"Matthew Crosse...honestly I don't believe I've heard someone call me that for quite some time now...but I take it that you know everything considering you've found my real name." Marty Cruss commented with a wry smile on his lips. "I take it you know what sort of scheming, bastard father of yours did to me?"

"...yes..." Franziska replied calmly. "...and...and I believe you-"

"DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT SYMPATHY CRAP! You think you're going to weasel your way out of this mess by taking my side? If you really think I believed that, why on earth would I be up here, holding a GUN to your head!?"

Well...he had a point. Franziska would give him that. But his last sentence made her shudder...

"How did you get in here?" she questioned, attempting to stall the madman behind her. It was making her even more nervous and scared, to know that she couldn't see what he was doing...it scared her to know that at this moment, she was...helpless...

"Well...since you happen to be so curious...I suppose I could divulge to you the large plan that's been going on behind the backs of the entire judicial system. If you must know...it was all planned out when Anya Trin, Guido, and I decided to team up in order to get me out of prison and make sure I could not be tried again. Working in the prosecutor's office here, Anya had access to everything of yours...she had even suggested that we poison your drinks or food...but I diffused the idea quickly. It would be too convenient...a rookie prosecutor comes into the office and takes over the "Cruss case" and then the victim suddenly ends up poisoned? No, that wouldn't do at all."

Franziska swallowed hard at this confession. She had no idea that every time Anya had come into her office with that cheery demeanor, her real intention had been to scope out something to poison...she felt sick to her stomach at the very thought.

"So of course with her working here, she had to have a key of course...and the one I had when I worked as a defense attorney 20 years ago...when I used to come by here often and chat with some of by closest friends...well, you can imagine after I was arrested that they changed all the locks. So Anya went and made a copy of her key and then gave me the copy."

That explains how he got into the building...

"Then I take it you're the one who split my computer cord?" the German woman asked coolly, trying to slow down the rapid beating of her heart.

"Well, you're not Manfred's brat for nothing are you, now?" Marty replied snidely. "Yes, Ms. von Karma, that was me."

"How did you get into my office? That's what I really want to know. No one has access to that office other than myself and perhaps the cleaning crew..." the prosecutor froze in mid-sentence and turned around quickly, now facing the barrel of the gun head on, her eyes wide with fear.

"You didn't..." she whispered hoarsely, dropping her umbrella in the process.

"Oh...did I forget to mention that I got a job when I got out of prison?" Marty Cruss commented with an evil smirk sliding onto his demonic features. "Yes, Anya was so kind to get me a job here...as a janitor. I have to admit...your office was a hard one to find...no nameplate outside the door...no corresponding key number to your door number...it was tricky...but when I entered this one...I knew instantly this was it."

"W-what about it is so distinguishable?" Franziska stalled nervously.

"...oh! They didn't tell you when they gave it to you?" Marty asked, his grin widening as Franziska slowly shook her head 'no'. "This was your father's office almost twenty years ago!"

She felt as though some one had just punched her in the stomach...
weak and with the wind knocked out of her...
She wouldn't believe it.
Some sick bastard had given her the office that her father had once called his?

"Like father...like daughter...right...Franziska...?"

Marty Cruss grinned like the Cheshire Cat. If his evil smile had been any wider, it would have enveloped his whole face. He had found Franziska von Karma's weak spot...but...not in the way he thought he had. Not knowing the history behind the hatred that enveloped the family, and figuring that Franziska was just as proud and stubborn as her dear old dad, Marty thought that bringing up her deceased father would fill her with sorrow for his death. For Marty had assumed that Franziska loved and cherished her father's memory and was proud to be the von Karma heir...but he couldn't have been more wrong.

The result?

The same effect...but for a different reason.

Just as Marty felt like laughing in a gloating manner, he heard something that etched a scowl deep into his face...a car door being shut...no...make that several car doors being shut. Not wanting to take any chances, he turned quickly back to Franziska, who was staring dumbfounded at the door to her office, and pressed the gun hard into her temple.

"Unlock this door." he growled menacingly, to which Franziska almost jumped in surprise. Panic was starting to set back in as she fumbled for the keys and quickly unlocked the door as Marty Cruss had demanded her to do. Knowing her last hope relied on whatever was making the madman spooked, she rushed into her office with Cruss right behind her.

...leaving the fallen umbrella outside her closed door...