May 14, 7:23 P.M. District Court, Defendant Lobby No. 3

Phoenix and Maya walked out of the courtroom doors, and Randall followed closely behind. Some CNN reporters and news cameras followed them down the hallway as citizens clapped loudly and shouted gloriously.

One reporter asked him, "Mr. Wright, has this case been special, or are a lot of your cases like this?"

He replied, "It was quite nerve-wracking. But I have 3 years of experience as an attorney, so I was not extremely nervous, but I did have a slight sense of fear in myself as the case progressed."

The other reports walked off, and the news cameras quit rolling, and before long, everyone had left, except for the ace attorney, his assistant, and Randall.

He said, "Mr. Wright, thanks for being my attorney. I probably would have been convicted on the first day had you not stepped in."

Maya asked, "So how much is it going to cost him, Nick?"

Phoenix answered, "Randall, you'll have to pay about $25,000 in attorney's fees, but that's it!"

They all laughed, but their joy was interrupted when an electronic ringing noise filled the air; it sounded almost like a cell phone ringing.

Phoenix looked around, and searched the area, but he could not find a cell phone anywhere, and he knew that it wasn't his ringtone. Above him, he saw a transceiver attached to the ceiling with a string of nylon rope. He ripped it from the connecting strand and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ah. So are you Phoenix Wright?"

"The one and only. So who are you?"

"Mr. Attorney, I'd like to keep that under wraps for now."

"Why is that?"

"It would kill me reveal my identification."

"The one thing I'll tell you is that your precious bundle isn't getting out in one piece."

"What precious bundle?"

"A cute, cuddly, precious bundle."

"I still do not understand what you mean by 'precious bundle'!"

"Well, think. Who do you know that is cute and cuddly, Mr. Attorney?"

"Y-You mean... PEARLS?!"

"Mr. Attorney, what matters? In the end, she'll be a nice gift to me."

"What do you mean by 'nice gift'?"

"Nothing. My time is just about over."

"No! Don't disconnect!"

The transceiver clicked. Phoenix groaned, "Dammit! If only I could have kept him on the line!"

Maya gasped, "Nick, that was the Mad Bomber! He wants to make you get all hyped up so he can lash out when you try to protect me and Pearl!"

The attorney screamed, "How can I protect Pearl if she's in the hands of the Mad Bomber?!"

Randall reminded them, "Calm down! This is a courthouse, after all. But in regards to Pearl, I think she is the key to the Mad Bomber's goal. I think Pearl has to be the key to his plan."

Phoenix thought, "What would this guy want with a 9-year-old girl in the first place? I can't think of anything. Come on, Phoenix! If I can't think of anything, Pearl is screwed! If the Mad Bomber wants Pearl, what does he want to use her for?"

May 14, Location, Time and Place: CLASSIFIED

Pearl opened her eyes slowly, and they flicked a little. When her vision came to her, she saw that she was surrounded by a large amount of men dressed in surgical scrubs. She had been strapped down to a bed, which acted as a makeshift operating table.

One man appeared to be a surgeon, and he held a scalpel in his hand. Another man had a gas container that had a face mask attached to it, and had a label that read: N2O. She knew that where she was was obviously not a hospital, because hospitals did not kidnap people.

A man, who happened to resemble a surgeon, walked towards her.

He said, "You'll be asleep for a while. It's gonna be all right, Pearl."

She thought, "Wait a minute... how does this dopehead know my name? Is he psychic?"

That was when one man placed a mask over her face. Instinctively, she inhaled.

After about 10 seconds, she began to feel woozy and felt a sensation of drowsiness pass over her body. The surgeon looked over at Pearl and raised his scalpel, placed the tip of it near the middle of her neck.

About now, as a result of the shock of the man holding a sharp instrument so close to her larynx and inhaling gases through the mask, she lost consciousness, and her head gently rested on one of the pillows of the bed. The man closed her eyelids, which were left open when she passed out.

He focused a light on her neck and heard a man say, "She's fully sedated. You can proceed."

The surgeon-look alike sighed, "I hope she doesn't hemorrhage too badly. We don't have any blood transfusion equipment on hand."

He grinned slightly as he began his first cut.