Chief Prosecutor's Office
September 6 2:30 p.m.
Edgeworth paced aggressively around his desk. This was getting him nowhere.
"Mrs. Gumshoe! I need every single detail from you!" The prosecutor asserted.
"I'm sorry, Edgeworth. I don't remember much. It was too dark!" Maggey argued back.
Maggey's composure was breaking down on the opposite side chair of the chief prosecutor's desk. Her pale and frail complexion completely opposing the the sturdy mahogany chair she sat upon. Her nails gripped the bottom armrest tight, denting the cushion along with it. Her teeth gritted in frustration the prosecutor was bestowing upon her.
"Sir, please. Take it easy on Maggey." Gumshoe humbly pleaded, his shoulders slack.
Edgeworth crossed his arms, tapping his arm in silent aggravation, "Detective Gumshoe. Understand the concept that these suspects responsible for such attacks are dangerous. Pardon my wording, maybe even as dangerous as The Phantom."
"No way, sir! They may be dangerous, but not Phantom material." The scruffy detective scratched his head in wonder.
The prosecutor let out a heavy sigh, grabbing the nasion of his nose in his fingertips. 'Maybe the detective is right… but..'
"I cannot let the threat level exceed anymore than what it already is. Do I make myself clear?" Edgeworth released.
"Clear, sir…" Gumshoe rasped.
The gray haired prosecutor contained Maggey in his view before glaring at the other idle detective. "Detective Ema Skye."
Ema broke out of her daze, completely startled from the glowering prosecutor, eyeing her in disappointment.
"Yes, Edgeworth?" Ema squeezed.
"You did not fully elaborate on your circumstances with this masked culprit."
"Sir, please… I don't want to remember."
"I must hear your part. What occurred during your encounter?"
"Edgeworth, please!"
"Detective Skye." Edgeworth slammed his hand across the desk. His patience was wearing thin. "We are leading onto dead ends if we do not hear your testimony…" He exchanged his glance to Maggey, "And Mrs. Gumshoe's."
"Okay, Edgeworth…" Ema stifled, her brown hair draped over her face, covering her eyes.
The grip on her bag tightened as she figured what the first words of her experience was. Her breathing became unsteady when she finally recollected her thoughts.
"I was sending the samples we found in Mr. Wright's office. The tech geeks there said it would be a while before they actually had the chance to analyze it. They were still working on the previous blood samples of the earlier attack." Ema's words became lower in volume as she progressed. "And then…"
Ema fixed herself in her small office across the forensic labs. The grumbling noises of her stomach made her realize she had not had a single bite to eat besides her beloved snackoos. Her feet ached from standing at the horrendous scene that looked like the blood fall scene from the Shining. Nested onto her chair, she pulled her feet up on the desk and devoured the delicious snack in her clear bag.
The dangling baggage on her shoulder was tossed onto the desk, relieving her shoulder from the weight of her chemicals. Her eyes closed shut as a heavy sigh relinquished the tension from her chest and out into the atmosphere. Ema relaxed, slacked, waiting for the geeks to finish their test results before she could begin her own investigation on the unknown substance from Wright's office apartment.
The serenity of the dimmed office was completely shattered when her office phone rang. The sudden jolt caused her to fall back onto the chair. Good thing that a cumbersome oversized file cabinet that prevented her from falling back any farther. She regained her footing, lightly still aching, before leaning forward towards her desk. The phone hummed in her hands before pressing the answer button on said phone.
"Hello?" Ema answered.
"Hey there, Fraulein." The voice emitted.
'Oh my God, why now?' Ema thought.
"Are the investigation treating you well, ja?" The voice teased her.
"Leave me alone, you fop! It's my snack time! I don't need a musician interrupting me."
"No need to be hasty, Fraulein. I want to know if my favourite detective is merely enjoying herself." The german accent light on his tone.
"I'm fine. But I'm busy." Ema blurted the words loudly.
"And what may that be? Surely, a capable person such as yourself can quickly dash over small a task?" The man beguiled the detective, but was failing.
"Forensics takes a while, oh great ex-prosecutor!" Ema bluntly announced.
A weird shuffle came from the other rooms. Ema turned to the door, peering outside the small window towards the hallway. The South hall remained empty, devoid of all life.
"That's hurtful, Fraulein Skye. I implore you that I still am able of practicing law. One performance at Themis Academy and a reunion of the Gavinners does not mean I turn to music completely… pure conjecture, detective." The german man sassed into the phone.
Ema was about to give a piece of her mind to the annoying prosecutor on the other side of the phone until she heard another weird sound behind her. She swerved around in her chair to find the door slowly closing. A breeze of cold brushed by into the room as the door finally shut upon its hinges. The frightened detective removed herself from the chair, still caressing the phone against her warm face. Her gaze remained fixed on the door as she approached the steel reinforced window. The light shining the dimmed room, yet again showing no signs or presence of visitors.
"Have I offended you, mein detective?" The prosecutor continued. "Or is your tongue caught on my argu-"
The conversation ended to a beep. Ema shoved the phone to her view. It was disconnected, however, not by her doing. A click along with a cold breeze shifted by her once more. The hairs in the back of her neck rose. A strange breathing sound reverberated into the small office. The sound of gurgling combined with a wet tongue clicking against the surface of the throat, a snarl.
The phone shook in her grasp as her fingers trembled. The fear of turning to face whatever was behind her lingered readily in her mind. Her feet no longer ached. The detective's body remained numb as she stood suspended from the unknown. Her eyes frantically moved left and right, struggling with some sort of sense on what to do next. She freezing tinge of something durable and metal scraped against her shoulder. The sensation caused her body to convulse and turn to the mystery figure.
Ema was greeted by a black bolted-eye stare, greeting her in dark bliss. Her mouth dropped to let out a scream, but was caught by a gloved hand. The grip brought her forward to her desk, causing her to lie flat on her back. This dark being with a white bird face stared at her with its black metal frame. She held the man's dark coat, trying to release herself from his strong grip. Her legs writhed to kick off this malevolent being, but were halted by his weight.
"You will remain silent, detective…" The birdman hissed. "Lest I make you silent… Here and now. Upon your own desk."
Under the mask, she heard cracking and snaps, like bones breaking. The panicked white eyes of the detective saw the horrid man unhinge two metal pieces from underneath his beak. Her frantically thrown fists came to a halt when she saw the lower piece of the mask fall.
Detective Ema Skye was greeted to an elongated black jaw, unsheathing evenly at the length of the mask, introducing her to razors of teeth. Ema squirmed in the hold of this being, compressing her. Forcing her to intake this visage that resembled the epitome of horror. However, Ema was only greeted to a fraction of what the beast could do.
His jaw hung lower, the red-fleshy flaps holding extra support, leaving strands of the thick inhuman saliva upon the jaws. She managed to get a scream passed her covered mouth, muffled under his gloved hands. The jaw began to break evenly in half. It stretched outward, expanding its diameter of reach as teeth sheathed longer, outward, towards her body. Her movements now arched backwards, scuffling away from the knives pointed towards her. Tears of desperation flowed down her face, creating a shallow puddle on her desk.
The birdman wasn't finished yet. The last, but not least piece that would wrap his entertainment towards the distraught detective was his special weapon. A red flap opened, a secondary trachea unleashed the giant snake-like tendril from its hold, slithering towards his victim. Ema's vision faded from the unsurmountable strain her body had endured. Traumatized by the physical appearance of what would be a nightmare when she saw the monstrosity wriggle towards her. A whisper away from her face, it flexed open, releasing the black daggering pincers from its flaps.
"I would find great pleasure from draining you of every precious fluid from your deliciously harvested ripe… and appetizing body. Just like those before you." The demonic being slurped before finishing. "Do we have a deal?"
The detective didn't move. She was frozen. Her response remained silent as her eyes did not blink. Her body had enough. She was mentally blocked with her eyes open. The birdman released her mouth, gaped as his fingers released her cheeks. The monstrous snout folded and unsheathed properly back into place before placing the metal hinges back in their proper section. He lifted her body lightly, removing the retrieved file from under her back. He placed two fingers over her eyelids, closing them. He softly placed her jaw back in place before walking out the door.
After some time, Ema finally convulsed forward with a hard and unsteady gasp. The air entered her stricken lungs before screaming her heart out to the point that the scientists in the North hall heard her.
Edgeworth and Gumshoe didn't know how to react. Gumshoe arched forward in complete and utter shock. The scruffy tower's composure almost solid, but frazzled when she finished her last sentence. Edgeworth was breathing heavily through his nose. He couldn't believe it. There was no way that his culprit was some freak of nature. He'd rather deal with another Phantom who acted as everyone. His grimace managed to reach his chin before addressing Ema.
"That's it?" Edgeworth asked in all seriousness.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S IT?!" The tear stained detective was completely offended. "I JUST SAW THIS EVIL THING AND THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY!?"
"Detective… there is no such thing." Edgeworth scolded.
"YOU DIDN'T SEE WHAT I SAW! I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" The emotions were speaking for the paranoid detective.
"Detective Skye. Calm yourself."
"NO!" Ema bolted for the door before slamming it. A picture frame fell from the side from the rumble. Gumshoe went for the panicked detective.
"Let her go, Detective Gumshoe...She's obviously troubled." Edgeworth reckoned.
'If Ema's story were hypothetically true, then what are we dealing with here?'
Gumshoe halted, returning to his wife. Edgeworth wasn't exactly sure how to address Maggey by what just carried out. Her expression was only half as scared as Ema's.
Maggey, lowered her head, somber along with a pale complexion. "She's right…"
