Good Enough

(And here's another one. Sorry about the wait: my computer got hacked and they spread a worm throughout my entire hard drive. So, the guy who fixed it had no choice but to wipe the whole thing and I lost ALL of the files and programs I had on this thing. Fortunately, I backed up my Fan Fiction folder on a flash drive, so I still have my stories. Good thing too or I would've killed something! That's FOUR YEARS worth of work I'd have lost.

Anyway, here's chapter 4. Mystery dispelled!)

Chapter 4

"Look, Mr. Edgeworth, I just-"

"I said I don't want to hear it! Get out of my office!"

"Mr. Edgeworth-"

"OUT!"

Looking a bit shaken and frustrated, the man sighed and turned to leave, closing the office door behind him. Miles sighed as well and put his head down on the desk. He had come to work in a rather pleasant mood, though he had been a bit worried about Franziska. However, he had found himself dealing with an overwhelming number of morons on this particular Wednesday morning, which had succeeded in making him very irritable by eleven o'clock. His head now rested on a manila folder that contained an extensive case file that he had been poring over all morning—in between stupid questions that is.

Just then, the phone rang. Miles growled viciously to himself, and didn't immediately move to answer it. 'I fuckin' swear to God… Whoever this is… they're about to get an ear full…"

"What?" he said upon picking up the receiver.

"Hey, Mr. Edgeworth!" came an excited female voice from the other end of the phone. "That's not a very nice way to answer your office phone; what if I had been someone important… like the governor or something?"

It took all of his self-control to keep from groaning out loud as he put his head back against the back of his chair. "Well, Maya, if you were the governor I think I'd be on the next plane back to Germany."

Maya laughed. "Oh, it wouldn't be that bad! I know stuff about politics! Come on, just ask me anything!"

Miles sighed again. "Maya, I-"

"No really! Just ask me a question about politics!"

Miles frowned in annoyance. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to be feeling. Part of him was about to explode, unable to handle the level of irritation she had pushed him to, but the other part of him was relieved to have this rediculous conversation with someone who he didn't expect efficient and professional knowledge from. "Can you even tell me who the mayor is?"

There was a long moment of silence, and Edgeworth vividly remembered the crickets he had been listening to the night before while standing in his kitchen. "Well… the mayor isn't really important," she finally replied. "Besides, I'm not from here; I'm from Kurain, remember!?"

"Sure…"

"Besides, if I just took a few classes…" Suddenly, her voice underwent a startling change, which made Miles cringe. "…I could be da' next govanator!"

Miles blinked, trying to comprehend what had just happened. It had sounded like a crude mix between German, French, and Sylvester Stallone. "Um… Please… don't even do that again… I beg of you…"

"Aw, was it really that bad?" She sounded genuinely disappointed.

"Look, I don't mean to sound rude, but why are you calling me at work?" He had almost asked, 'Why are you calling me?" and left it at that, but something told him the conversation would have extended in length if he had.

"Oh!" She had obviously completely forgotten. "Nick and I saw something on the news that we thought you might be interested in."

"Oh really…?" He frowned. "And why didn't Wright just call me?"

Maya giggled. "He said you'd just hang up on him if you happened to be in a bad mood after your fight with Ms. von Karma."

Miles' frown deepened, but he didn't say anything.

"So, he had me call. You couldn't hang up on cute little me, could you?!"

"I don't know," Edgeworth replied, his frown now becoming something resembling a smirk. "Let's find out." He began to move the phone away from his ear and place it back on its cradle, but a loud cry of "WAIT!" from the speaker caused him to reluctantly bring it back up. "What?!"

"It's really important!" she nearly whined, now sounding desperate.

"Then why haven't you told me yet?!" he inquired with frustration.

"What?! Am I supposed to just come right out and say, 'Manfred von Karma escaped from prison!'? That wouldn't have been a very nice way to begin a conversation with a-"

"Stop!" He was now sitting bolt-upright in his chair, his eyes wide and fully alert. "What… What d-did you just say?"

"Oh!" Maya laughed. "Sorry about that. I said that Manfred von Karma escaped from prison really early yesterday morning. The media didn't find out until just a few minutes ago. The lady was all like, 'Breaking news from just outside Los Angeles, California-'"

"Let me speak with Wright!" His heart was racing now, and he didn't care about how she would react to being yelled at.

"Um… Okay. NICK!!!!"

Miles cringed and held the phone at arm's length as she hollered, having not even bothered to turn away from her phone. In a moment, a male voice came over the line, sounding much less light-hearted.

"Hey, Edgeworth," Phoenix Wright greeted his companion. "I guess Maya told you the news. She seems a bit… happy, don't you think…?"

"Wright, this has to be some mistake!" He was obviously panicking. "Please… I-Is there anything you can tell me!?"

"Woah, woah, woah… Just hold on a secon-"

"Wright! This is serious!" He was standing up now. "Do they know where he is?! How did he get out!? I thought… I thought he was…"

"Panicking isn't going to help the situation, Edgeworth!" Phoenix found himself having to yell to make the prosecutor listen to him. "Just chill out for half a second!"

Miles' breathing was quick and shallow, but he tried to calm himself enough to sit down again. "Please… Is there anything… you can tell me….?"

"Look…" The defense attorney was having a bit of trouble now. "They… don't know where he is or how he escaped, but every detective and police officer in the city is looking for him. Just stay calm and don't go anywhere alone. To be safe, you and Franziska should probably head to a hotel after work so that you're not-"

"Franziska!" Miles felt as if an iron clamp had closed around his throat. "Wright, I have to go!" Without giving the other man a chance to argue, Miles pushed the button down on the cradle that would disconnect his current call and start him off at a dial tone again. He first dialed his home number, unsure if she would have left yet or not. When he got no answer, he tried her house.

With each ring his throat seemed to become drier and his chest tighter, until half-way through the fourth ring, the call was answered.

"M-Miles?"

"Franziska!" An enormous amount of relief swept over him, but he was still very tense. "Franziska, are you all right? I just heard-"

"Miles… There's… There's somebody here…" It was only now that he noticed how quietly she was speaking and how choked with fear her voice sounded.

"Oh my God…" He felt as if he would be sick. "Franziska, get out of there now. Go… Go out the back door and start running. I'll be on m-"

A sharp scream cut him off and he heard the sound of the phone being dropped. To his horror, he heard a deep, male voice yelling something in German, which he could not make out for it was muffled. The phone must have been dropped with the mic facing the floor. However, he could clearly hear Franziska's terrified screams.

"Miles! Hilf Mir! Miles!"

Without even bothering to make sure it landed properly, Miles threw the phone down and moved out from behind his desk. He didn't think to grab any of his things as he bolted out of his office, sprinting down the hallway toward the stairs and elevator. For a moment, he turned to take the stairs as he always did, but somehow logic broke through his panic. No… The elevator would get him there faster, no matter how much he hated it. Thinking solely of his goal, Miles ran into the already open elevator door, hitting the ground floor button much harder than was necessary.

As the machine started to move downward, Miles gripped the side bar with his right hand so firmly that his knuckles began to turn white. Every muscle in his body was tense and he was shaking violently. It took everything he had not to lose his balance or start hyperventilating. The ride seemed to take forever, and the other person in the lift stared at him the whole time. "Um… S-sir? Are you-?"

A light 'ding' signaled their arrival and Miles exited before the doors had even opened all the way. He ignored all the stares he received as he sprinted the last length of space between him and his red sports car. He jumped in and started it up, screeching out of the parking lot and onto the main road, not even paying attention to the speed at which he was going. If a cop decided to pursue him, they'd have to chase him all the way back to Franziska's house, and maybe then he'd have a better chance at saving her.

Her terrified screams kept echoing in his head, which he shook fiercely to clear. He couldn't think about what was happening; he just needed to get there. He barely even noticed the scenery as the vehicle zoomed along the highway, rapidly switching lanes to go around slower-moving objects that he felt were getting in his way.

"I fucking swear on my father's grave, if he harms a single hair on her head, I will slaughter that son of a bitch!"