It took a while, but here it is. The next one might take a while too, but I won't give up!
-drops of jelly
Standard Disclaimer Applies
Third Turnabout
This time, the victim had been taken to a dusty old warehouse.
Miles Edgeworth arrived at the scene at 6 pm. He turned on his voice recorder function on his phone as a precaution. He carefully and noiselessly waltzed in the warehouse and looked for any signs or traces of Phoenix Wright.
Ema directed me here, but I see no signs of him… Am I in the wrong place? He thought as he started to walk around the empty place.
It was a high building, with high walls and huge crates and boxes stacked around, but one exit door stood out. He slowly neared it until he heard a sudden sound.
Crash!
He heard the sound of something that had just fallen and broken into pieces. He presumed it was china. He hurriedly approached a wall from where he heard the sound from.
He felt his phone vibrate.
Franziska's in the next room, if you heard the sound I just made, tap the wall from where you heard it from.
He immediately did as he was told. He made an audible yet discreet tap on that same wall.
After a minute his phone vibrated once more.
From where I am, she is in the room adjacent to mine to the right. As to how I was taken here, they tied me up and covered my eyes, but I suspect that they took me to this room by a secret passageway and elevator. As to the secret passageway, I can only think of one place considering all of the observations I made- The Borscht Bowl Club. The memo in my blazer, my suspicions were right all along.
Judging from the location indicated by Phoenix, Edgeworth tapped the other side of the wall where he suspected would be Franziska's wall.
Franziska, in the room, still tied together, mouth and eyes covered, terrified to her bones reacted to that tap.
She was tied to a chair, shaking her whole body until she fell onto the floor with the chair still tied to her. She frantically wormed nearer to the source of that faint sound she heard.
"…It's me. You've got to listen to me and do everything I say no matter what." Miles Edgeworth hissed, hoping the walls did have ears and that Franziska heard him.
"Mmmmf!" she responded discreetly.
"Answer my questions with yes or no, er I mean, Ah or Ummm."
"Ah." She replied.
"Find anything in the room to untie yourself with. Try to get up and untie those ropes. When the signal comes, you have at most two minutes to get out of your room and run to the nearest staircase."
She searched the room for a sharp edge and began to make an effort to have it cut through the ropes, rolling to that area- of course not without hurting herself.
The blackout should happen right about now… Edgeworth instructed a certain hacker to hijack the area's settings.
*JAN*
The lights all flashed off. Of course it caused quite a stir- luckily the doors were electronically operated, so the sudden power outage unlocked all the doors.
Franziska took advantage of this moment. She untied herself successfully and struggled out of her trap. She frantically dashed out of the room, tears streaming from her face.
I knew you would come for me… you fool. But she smiled.
Miles Edgeworth's lips trembled as he sighed, waiting for her to get out into on exit he found earlier. He knew causing a blackout would put all of them, even himself in the most vulnerable position and worst case scenario. But, he had to take a chance with that blackout. Luckily, Ema Skye didn't just explain to him the directions, but also the nature of the building. Edgeworth was given that idea of having a professional hacker help him.
It was completely dark. He was scared, all alone in one corner, hidden, desperately praying to be kept hidden, and begging that Franziska would bust out of the door he found.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The next minute, he felt a tight grasp, restraining his limbs, and a handkerchief of diethyl ether covering his nose and mouth.
He couldn't recall the moment he had lost consciousness.
O-o-O
No… No… Nooooooooooooooooooooo!
It can't end like this! Wright… Franziska!
Am I just going to die like this? Isn't it… a bit unfair, even for a sinner like me?
He couldn't' tell where he was, and he was worried sick of what could have happened to Franziska, whom he had sent to escape on her own. He was nervous of what could have become of Phoenix Wright as well, though he knew Phoenix Wright had not an intention to escape.
He needed to know if Franziska was able to escape, or hide from those criminals.
He needed to know if she was alive.
*Plunge* *Splash*
Miles Edgeworth was suddenly awakened by the impact of being thrown into the water. He quickly flashed open his grey eyes and darted them around. It was a swimming pool, with yellow lights illuminating the floor. He tried to squirm to swim, but found out that his hands were tied together and his left foot was chained onto a weighted ball that was heavy enough to sink him lower. He estimated the pool to be about 7.5 feet deep.
Knowing his strength was depleting, he took his chances and exerted his best effort to spring to the surface and grab the edge of the pool.
He was fortunate enough to reach the surface, and with adrenaline rushing throughout his body, he swung the ball and chain tied to his feet onto the cemented surface as well.
He gasped for breath, not knowing what was going on, but desperate to live. He untied himself by running the rope several times on a sharp edge of a fence. He thought the trouble was over. He was about to be thrown into a watery grave, but survived somehow.
He then, remembered Franziska when he saw a familiar figure being sunken into the same pool on the opposite side over that same fence. Several bubbles started to surface from that spot.
He panicked and jumped over the fence. He didn't care about the ball and chain restraining him; he carried those with him as he ran.
Very much luckily, as he ran, his shoe was shaken off and his foot came loose off the cuff that chained him to the weighted ball.
He frantically jumped into the pool to her rescue, hoping it wasn't too late to save that person.
O-o-O
As he had feared,
It was Franziska von Karma who was drowning on that opposite side of that 7.5 foot pool.
Miles Edgeworth continued to gasp for air. He was scared to the end of his wits, and fatigued from being dragged down the water and ground by a weighted ball almost heavier than he was. He had recovered her drowning body, now unconscious, and laid her on the side of the pool.
First of all, he was terrified of her situation. He didn't know where they were and his phone wasn't on him. He couldn't call for help and leave her alone for even just a minute!
He performed a standard CPR measure on her, a couple of abdominal thrusts rapidly with fear in his eyes. He laid her on her side waiting for a few seconds groaning and swearing out of frustration. His hands trembled, tilting her head upward. He pinched her nose and gave her two quick breaths through her mouth; then again, he tried to clear her airway, and laid her onto her side.
He was so scared of losing her. He didn't care about his surroundings. He just wanted her to live.
He suddenly heard her cough out a lot of water and groan in pain. He immediately turned to her with the dumbest and most vulnerable look on his face.
"Miles Edgeworth…" she muttered, tears starting to stream off her face. She didn't have the strength to present him with the usual stubborn, rebellious look.
He untied the rope on her and took her foot with the cuff to the same kind of ball and chain on it.
"They were going to drown you too… These men lack creativity." He tried his best to calm her and himself down with another of his famous sarcastic remarks.
As soon as Franziska shook her hands untied, she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, sobbing softly onto his chest.
Despite the awkwardness of the situation, they didn't care anymore. They were glad to just be alive. He returned her embrace with a tighter, more masculine one.
"I thought I lost you." He blurted this line.
"I… I'm such a useless woman… So weak… So foolish… If only I was stronger… More perfect…" she sobbed.
"Being perfect won't get us off the hook or anywhere for this matter." He replied.
Her body was still numb from the ether she inhaled. She couldn't quite remember the recent events lately, but she remembered being drugged.
"They drugged you too…" he asked her.
"I think so…" she pulled away but sat not too far from him and hugged her legs, still cuffed onto the ball and chain.
"Do you have a hairpin on you?" he asked, remembering he had experience in picking locks.
(A/n: Reference to Miyako Chinatsu-san's fic xD)
"I think I do…" she slipped one off her pearl blue hair.
He took her right foot with the cuff and located the keyhole. He inserted her hairpin's slim end and started to pick the lock.
*click*
The cuff slipped off her ankle like a charm, however revealing a violet spot on it. She had been injured.
"Your ankle… it's broken." He nudged the area softly with his thumb.
"Ouch! Cease that at once Miles Edgeworth!" she exclaimed, which cheered him up a little and made him give her a naughty smirk.
"It looks like I'm going to have to find us where we are…" He looked around, seeing nothing but the huge pool and a dimly-lit one-story building at the top of a cement staircase that peeked out of a hill that led to where they are.
"!..." he suspected it to be a normal citizen's residence.
The corpses of the serial killings were usually found in the suburbs, or at an office building, like how Wright found the most recent victims. This was so that the blame of the murders would be the owner of the area- precisely like Phoenix Wright's client.
The next targets, presumably them were drowned in the residence of another innocent citizen.
"There's a house over there. We can ask for some help. We can also contact the police." Edgeworth motioned his eyes over to that house.
"Finally…" she sighed full of worry.
The wind was furiously blowing, and it was a terribly cold night. Edgeworth's clothes were dripping wet, and Franziska's weren't any drier either.
Still, he picked her up, scooping his hand under her knees, lifting her upper body, seating her bottom onto his thigh, then lifted her upper body along with her legs into a sweetheart's carry.
He held her closer to catch her warmth and to give away some of his in that cold night. He climbed the stairs slowly, suffering the resulted fatigue of his body after that sudden adrenaline rush.
When he finally reached the summit of the hill, he almost faltered, when he tried to prevent himself from doing that. He continued walking up to the front door.
He pressed the doorbell, sighing with relief. Franziska looked at him with an expression of thanks… slightly blushing.
"… Oh good heavens! What happened to the two of you! You're both soaking wet! How can I help you?" a late middle-aged woman answered them.
"She's injured. We both encountered a dangerous criminal and almost got drowned in your pool. We both survived miraculously. We need help immediately." He respectfully explained their situation.
"Oh, you poor things! Please come in and warm yourselves by the fire. I'll have a room and a change of clothes prepared for you both." She kindly led them in.
"Thank you very much, Madam." Franziska bowed her head a little in respect.
"Thank goodness… Somehow we got out of it all." He sighed to her, then pat her head after putting her down on the soft carpet by the fire.
to be continued
O-o-O
Whew! I'd love it if you'd drop a review! Thank you very much!
-drops of jelly