Chapter 1: The First Chapter in the Story

A new breakthrough in prosecuting science: a fetus prosecutor.

At the prosecutor's desk: a woman with a glass dome over her stomach that tinted the interior of the womb green. It had a big metal rim with rivets in it.

Edgeworth tapped it.

"Yes, this baby has been immersed in law since its inception. It has taken the LSAT, passed the bar, all from the womb."

He turned to the jury.

"The perfect prosecuting machine."

Then he lifted a logical eyebrow and looked at the defense bench.

"Let's see how our fair Mr. Wright here deals with it."

"Don't call me fair, Edgeworth," said Uncle Phoenix.

"Hmm, yes, you and your tactics aren't always fair so it's not entirely accurate."

The fetus prosecutor woke up from its nap and spoke through a microphone suspended in the woman's womb.

"Ob... obwegtion."

"Objection!" said Uncle Phoenix. "He said obwegtion, that's wrong."

"Mr. Wright, nitpicking won't help your case," said the Judge. "Leave the poor thing alone. It's trying its best."

But then the unthinkable happened, Uncle Phoenix got diabetes!

"Urgggh... I don't feel so good."

"My logic!" ejaculated Edgeworth forcefully. "Help! Police!"

Meanwhile, in prison...

Luke Atmey sipping tea in his cell. Legs crossed, sipping tea complacently; crystal chandelier, Persian rugs, everything he could want. Except... freedom.

But he still thought he might get out someday. He tried to escape many times but the guards always caught him and beat him up. One day...

Anyway, one day a new prisoner was marshalled down the cell block in a strait jacket. He had an iron helmet with bars across the face, pitch blackness inside the helmet, and he was covered from head to toe in black psyche locks.

Phoenix Wright, prior to his diabetes outbreak, had been called in by Edgeworth for a personal meeting with the strange prisoner, who never said anything.

"Well, Wright, do you think you can break them? It's unorthodox... against regulations... but we've both seen these before and I think you have the power to break them."

"I'm sorry, Edgeworth,"

"I understand, Wright... it was wrong of me to ask you instead of John Phoenix, your superior young apprentice."

"Well, he's actually my boss now, but yes."

Meanwhile, the police were using saws and blowtorches and whatnot and jackhammers on the prisoner strapped to a dentist's chair.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," said Uncle Phoenix. "Whatever he's hiding he's hiding it so deep within himself the locks would be impossible to break."

Just a pile of secrets.

A secret...

Edgeworth also hired an army of spirit mediums. He was loath to concede there was any legitimacy to the supernatural, and it was anathema to use spirit mediums at all in the legal world, but he had his pull.

Iris tried to break them since they thought they were like trick locks but she failed. The mysterious prisoner remained locked in his shell.

Luke Atmey's interest was caught. His nose emerged from between the covers of his book like a sprouting flower as he watched the man go by.

So, he caught the attention of one of the prison guards.

"Excuse me, but who was that man just now? Why was he chained up like that? A dangerous murderer, perhaps?"

"Yeah," said the guard, with a jerk of his head. He leaned against bars didn't look at him. "Maybe you've heard about it in the papers."

Luke took his magnifying glass off and spat on it and put it back on his face.

"I don't believe I have. The outside world holds surprisingly little interest to me."

"Well, picture this. A pretty grisly scene. It happened at the district court. The middle of the trial. They call recess, right? Well, after it's over, twenty minutes go by and the judge isn't back yet. So, they try to go to the judge's quarters, right?"

"Right... said Luke.

"Well," he continued, as the other curious prisoners slunk back into the recesses of their cells, and the footsteps of condemned man the echoed down the hall, "the door is locked up tight. And they try knocking but nothing. So they force it open. And inside judge is dead. And not just him... dozens of prosecutors and bailiffs and police officers. There was lots of blood everywhere, guts on the walls, hanging from the ceiling. And in the middle of it all...this guy in the chains... just sitting there."

Snot dripped out of Luke Atmey's nose like precum.

"M-m-monstrous!" he sputtered.

The guard nodded.

"It's really scary because he kills people and killing people is bad."

"Well, let us disagree to agree, my fellow ace."

"No one knows who he is. But he must've done it. Killed all of them and then locked the room and himself up. And he hasn't spoken a whole word since."

"Like some sort of reverse escape artist," said Luke. "Hmmm... hmmmm... he committed this horrible crime, and then locked his entire personality, his being away. To hide himself away from his crimes, entirely withdrawn into himself."

"At least it was only the Canadian judge that died. If it were the American Judge I think people would've been sadder."

"The American one is sexier I mean nothing."

"What did you just say?"

"I said the American one is sexier I mean nothing."

"Yeah." The guard leaned forward leisurely and dusted himself off. "Well, I have to go home and beat my wife." Domestic violence was disturbingly common in this world. "I hope you have a goodly day."

"Hmmm... yes... a goodly day..." said Luke. "Good... yes..."

He stayed up late thinking about it.

A locked room mystery, solved yet unsolved...

Will he be able to team up with John Phoenix to solve it? Keep reading to find out.