July 6, 10:00 AM
Detention Center~ Visitor's Room
There were many things that Iris and Pearl didn't expect to happen today. For one, they didn't expect that the actress Violet Shade, who played the titular heroine in Pearl's new favorite show, would get arrested for murder. Thet also didn't expect that said actress would call them specifically to defend her in the upcoming trial.
But the biggest surprise came when they finally arrived at the Detention Center and visited Ms. Shade. Pearl shuddered at the sight of the strange sinister young woman that had a dark aura surrounding her, as well as a thick bandage around her head. Her black hair was long and hanging against her neck and the sides of her face. She wore a long black dress with a white collar and a thin red ribbon wrapped around her neck.
This is Crystal Crusader Rose?! Pearl questioned, eyeing at this evil-looking woman. There's no way she can be her!
"G-good morning. Ms. Shade, I presume?" Iris asked authoritatively, hiding her wariness in regards to this woman, who nodded in response to the question.
"A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Ms. Hawthorne," Ms. Shade said, her voice low and dark. Iris' skin crawled just by hearing it.
"L-likewise," Iris said. "I've heard of your work, Ms. Shade. My..." she trailed off, trying to think of what to say. "My little sister is a huge fan of your show."
Ms. Shade blinked in response, staring at Iris for a second before focusing on Pearl. The woman displayed an unnerving smile as she studied the little girl.
"Hello there...hee...hee...hee..." she giggled in a child-like yet frightening manner. "Aren't you the cutest little girl..."
Pearl whimpered and hid behind her older sister. Iris motioned her hand behind her back so Pearl can hold it for support while she talked with this strange woman. Once Pearl took hold of her hand, Iris tightened her grip.
While Iris didn't want to automatically assume Ms. Shade was guilty, any person who would dare hurt or scare her little sister deserved any misfortune that fell upon them. But for now, she had to keep it cool. This woman, while peculiar, was still her client; and it was her duty to defend her in court.
Iris opened her mouth to speak but turned to Pearl when she tugged at her long purple skirt.
"B-Big Sis..." Pearl whispered, her head peeking out from behind her older sister. "A-are you sure that this is Rose?"
"Well, she IS named Violet Shade," Iris pointed out. "She said it herself."
"But still..."
"Is there something wrong?" Ms. Shade asked Pearl, her tone lower and more on edge but Iris was the one who spoke.
"There's nothing wrong here, Ms. Shade," Iris stuttered, trying (and failing) to sound assuring to her new client. "My sister is just surprised is all. Haha..."
Ms. Shade frowned, letting out a glum and disappointed sigh. "It's alright..."
"Huh?" Iris and Pearl raised their brows, curious about what those words meant.
"I'm scary looking, aren't I?" Ms. Shade asked rhetorically, glancing away in shame. "That's why I wear a wig and a mask when I play Rose. I didn't want any of the kids watching to be afraid of the hero, after all. Hee...hee...hee..."
That bitter chuckle she let out should've sounded unsettling, but Iris and Pearl knew that she was trying to hold back tears.
"I told Don Powers to not credit me as Rose, at least until the show ended," Ms. Shade continued. "I didn't want the kids watching to know their hero looked like this. It would wreck their dreams...and now with what's happened...I'm pretty sure I just shattered them..."
Ms. Shade choked, letting out a mournful whimper as a few teardrops swept down her cheeks. She sniffed. "I'm nothing but a disappointment to them now, aren't I...?"
"That's not true!" Pearl exclaimed, releasing herself from Iris' grip, stepping forward, and slamming her hands to the metal desk in a clear attempt to emulate her sister. Iris and Ms. Shade blinked in surprise, looking at the suddenly determined child. "Big Sis!"
"Y-yes, Pearl!?" Iris stuttered, caught off guard.
"Ms. Shade is a good person!" Pearl declared. "She didn't do it!"
"I-I'm glad you think that way, Pearl," Iris chuckled. You sure changed your opinion fast, little sister. Haha...well, if Pearl thinks she's innocent, I suppose I have nothing to worry about with her
Iris then took a seat and postured herself formally in front of Ms. Shade. "If it's alright with you, Ms. Shade, I'd like to start discussing with you in regards to your case?"
"Of course...hee...hee...hee..." Ms. Shade's sinister chuckle quickly became light-hearted the more Iris and Pearl heard it. "Where do we start?"
"From the beginning," Iris said. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"It happened on the day before yesterday. The cast had come to the Winter Cloud Building to film the final episode of Crystal Crusader Rose," Ms. Shade said. "We spent the whole day doing nothing but film various scenes from 10:00 AM to 10:30 PM. Don Powers was directing us throughout the whole process, so there weren't that many problems...
"When the next day came around, though, we couldn't find Don Powers anywhere. We looked around, but he was nowhere at the Winter Cloud Building; so we decided to continue the filming without him. We went through a few action scenes at 9:30 AM. There was going to be a rehearsal at 5:00 PM, but that's when most of the cast found...Don Powers on top of the building..."
Ms. Shade cringed, that last sentence tasting like spoiled milk. "He...he fell off the building...and fell to his death. They saw that he had been impaled by the Crystal Sword..."
"The Crystal Sword?" Iris asked.
"Yes, it's the main weapon of Crystal Crusader Rose..." Ms. Shade said, matter-of-factly.
"Um...is it alright if I can ask what exactly is this show about?" Iris presses further, earning a shocked gasp from Pearl.
"Big Sis, how could you say such a thing!" Pearl scolded her older sister before turning to apologetically bow at Ms. Shade. "I'm sorry for my sister, miss. She's new to this and doesn't really know that much right now."
"Hey!" Iris scoffed, narrowing her eyes at Pearl.
Ms. Shade just chuckled. "No, no, it's alright. Crystal Crusader Rose is popular kids show about a young girl who's actually the reincarnation of a majestic space queen whose world was destroyed by the Evil Emerald Empress. Once she discovers her powers, she tries to unlock the truth of her past while fighting off the Empress' forces..."
"Don't forget about Shining Mask!" Pearl added enthusiastically.
"Ah, Shining Mask...the last soldier of the queen's forces, wandering the earth in search of her reincarnation," Ms. Shade made a sly smirk. "Whether or not they get together has always been a big question for fans...hee...hee...hee..."
Pearl leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. "Do that mean they really do-!?"
"Um, I hate to interrupt, but can we focus on the matter at hand?" Iris said. "Ms. Shade, you said the rest of the cast saw Don-I mean, Mr. Power's body. If that's the case, where were you on the day of the murder?"
"Oh, it involved this..." Ms. Shade said, gesturing at the large bandage around her forehead. "We started working on the final episode on June 30. We were working on an action scene at that time I was supposed to be hoisted up in the air with wires and then I'd swoop down, striking the Emerald Empress with one powerful attack...
"Suddenly, the wires broke while I was still being hoisted up. I woke up later in the hospital, and they said I had to rest for a week or so, but I didn't listen. After a day, I checked myself out of that hospital and headed right back to work..."
"Going back to work a day after a large injury like that is reckless, Ms. Shade," Iris said, gesturing to the bandage.
Ms. Shade glanced down in shame and sighed. "That's exactly what Don Powers said. He told me that I shouldn't be working, but I had to see the final episode though, so he let me continue acting so long as my head injury didn't get strained further...
"Yesterday, we scheduled filming of some scenes at 9:30 AM. Things were going fine until I felt a stinging feeling in my head and I ended up tripping during an action scene...it gave me a sprained ankle..."
Iris winced. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be, it's my own fault. I still had that stinging feeling in my head and when you add it with my sprained leg, I couldn't continue working on those scenes anymore. I went to my dressing room to rest and thought I'd go back to work at the 5:00 rehearsal; but when I woke up, it was already 5:00...I rushed to the rehearsal and...everyone looked at me like I did something wrong...they arrested me on the spot..."
"So you were sleeping the entire afternoon of the murder?" Iris asked to clarify, to which Ms. Shade responded with a nod. "I believe that should do it."
Iris stood up from her seat and politely bowed to Ms. Shade. "Thank you for the information, Ms. Shade. I'll put it to good use in defending you in court. I'll head over to the crime scene now to investigate."
"The abandoned Winter Cloud Building," Ms. Shade said. "It's right behind Global Studios. You'll need to through it to get through there..."
"Alright then," Iris said, turning to Pearl. "Let's go, Pearl."
"We'll prove that you're innocent, Ms. Shade!" Pearl declared, balling her hands into fists. "We promise!"
Pearl then turned to her older sister and they both made their way to the door.
"Wait...!" Ms. Shade said, raising her voice slightly to catch their attention. "Do you have a paper with you?"
"Um...yes, why?" Iris said, taking out a piece of bond paper from her briefcase.
"You'll need a letter of request to get in," Ms. Shade said as she wrote on the paper. "You'll be needing this to get past security. Especially with her in charge of it..."
Iris raised a brow when she noticed the visible disdain on Ms. Shade's face. Who's her?
. . .
July 6
Global Studios
"Hey, you no-good youths! Just what do you think you're doing!?"
Iris and Pearl jumped in surprise. They were only three steps away from the gates of Global Studios when this strange figure rushed out of the security station near the gate and almost pounced at them. A lanky old woman to the point where the two sisters could see the bones through her skin. Her hair was gray and combed down in a gaudy hairstyle, as well as having three buttons on them. Finally, she wore a blue security uniform that gave Iris the indication this woman was the security guard of this place, but she couldn't help but wonder why. This woman seemed too old to defend a place like this...
"Weren't you two listening!?" she shouted, glaring at the two girls, Iris specifically. "What are you doing here!? To cause trouble, I bet!"
Oh, so this is what Ms. Shade spoke of... Iris sighed. She and Pearl just got to the Studios and they were already having trouble. Oh well, it's time for Iris to talk her way out of this.
"W-we aren't looking to cause trouble, um..." Iris's eyes narrowed as she peered at the woman's nametag. "Oldbag?"
Oldbag fumed in pure rage. "Old!? You're calling me an old bag, you no good, disrespecting cretin! I'd oughta throw you out and feed you to the dogs!"
"B-but it's on your nametag-ugh!" Iris groaned before taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Look, I'm Violet Shade's lawyer and I'm here to investigate the murder that happened here."
"Oh, sure you are," Oldbag said sarcastically. "And I'm the security! And it's my job to make sure gawkers like you stay OUT!"
"G-gawkers?"
"Gawkers! Sightseers! News reporters and media rats! I know your kind. You heard about the commotion going on in this studio and if you think you can just barge in and see what's inside, then think again! I've already had to deal with troublemakers like you snooping around and I won't let any of you in just to please your curiosity. You little brats think you're soooo privileged because of your age! It's kids like you these days that are the problem of this society, why my own son hasn't called me in days and-!"
"M-miss, I really am Ms. Shade's lawyer!" Iris interrupted, taking out the letter of request from her briefcase and nearly shoving it into the old security woman's face. "We have this letter from her to prove it!"
"Hmph...!" Oldbag huffed as she snatched the letter from Iris' hands. She read through it speedily before turning back to the lawyer and her sister. "Yes, yes. I recognize the fancy cursive."
She put the letter down and took a good look at Iris, then scowled. "To think she would entrust her fate to some punk like you..." she stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Not like it matters now. That woman was trouble the moment she came here and it's now other people are starting to see it."
"You think Ms. Shade was the one who committed the murder?" Iris asked.
"Who else? Just because I've been standing here all day doesn't mean I don't have eyes and ears everywhere! As the security of this studio, I got access to all the security cameras in the whole building!"
Iris blinked. "Security cameras?" she repeated as she glanced from behind Oldbag and noticed the computer inside the security guards' station.
"Don't get any ideas, missy!" Oldbag shouted as she saw Iris peeping at her computer. "That's for employees only!"
"I wasn't even-never mind..." Iris muttered, getting a headache. "Does that mean you saw Ms. Shade murdering the cameras?"
"What's with all the questions! I already permitted you to enter, didn't I? So go bother someone else!"
"Does this mean we can pass?" Pearl asked, and the old woman turned her attention to her and smiled.
"Why, of course, you precious little cutie~!" she cooed, patting Pearl's adorable head. "You're free to pass, but you can only go left toward the studios, but no going to the Employee's area on the right and that scary Winter Cloud Building, okay? The police are checking some stuff there."
"Okay, Miss," Pearl said with an innocent smile. "Thank you!"
"Thank you as well, Miss," Iris said with a bow.
Oldbag crossed her arms and huffed, glaring at Iris. "You better not cause any trouble or I'll throw you out like the troublesome brat you are, got it!? Now SCRAM!"
Iris just stared at Oldbag incredulously before walking around her, keeping her eyes on this...deranged senior. Oldbag just stared back at the lawyer with malicious intent, making sure she wouldn't do anything twisted like she suspected her to. However, when she noticed Pearl waving goodbye to her, she giggled and waved back. That child was such an adorable little sweetheart!
. . .
July 6
Studio Entrance
"Pearl, how did you get that guard to like you that fast?" Iris asked. And more importantly, can you teach me? That could be really useful in cases. Pearl shrugged. "I don't know, Mystic Iris. All I did was ask nicely. Maybe that's all it takes?"
"I wish..." the rookie lawyer sighed. "Well, we're here now. Where should we-?"
whp-CRACK!
"AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEE!" Iris cried out in pain, clutching her rear as she felt a familiar stinging sensation.
"Well, well, if it isn't the little rookie herself," a voice with a thick German accent said. "I figured you'd come here, Ms. Iris Hawthorne..."
Iris growled and turned to glare at the pompous prosecutor, Franziska von Karma. Brandishing her whip, von Karma smiled at the sight of her rival's pain.
"REALLY!? You had to hit me THERE!?" Iris exclaimed, blushing red as she still felt the pain in her rear. "Owww..."
"You deserve far more painful lashings for ruining my perfect record!" von Karma snapped. "I've never faced such a humiliating defeat in my life! Because of you, there has been a stain in the von Karma name!"
"You nearly sent my cousin to jail for a crime she didn't even commit!" Iris shouted back.
"Oh, please," von Karma rolled her eyes. "She got arrested. Surely she did something in the past to warrant it."
"What sense does that-!?"
"Ms. von Karma!" Gumshoe interrupted, sweating nervously. "Shouldn't we go back to investigating the crime scene?"
"...yes," von Karma said, putting her whip aside...so she could point dramatically at Iris. "Mark my words, Ms. Iris Hawthorne! You might have defeated me once, but that was only a fluke! Soon, I will savor the satisfaction as I crush you beneath my heel!"
With a "harumph!", von Karma stormed off and headed to the scene of the crime. Once she was gone, Detective Gumshoe turned to Iris and Pearl, then sighed.
"Sorry you had to deal with that, pal," he said to Iris. "She's been like this ever since you beat her in court."
"We noticed..." Iris muttered bitterly.
"Is your butt okay, Big Sis?" Pearl asked seriously, causing the older sister's face to flush in embarrassment.
"Y-you shouldn't ask things like that in public, Pearl!" Iris exclaimed with a pained whimper.
"S-sorry...!"
"It's fine," Iris said before turning to Detective Gumshoe. "So, I take it you and Ms. von Karma are working on the same case."
"That's right, pal," he said. "The moment Ms. von Karma heard you were working on this case, she jumped right in the opportunity. Something about reclaiming family honor and stuff like that, it's...all confusing to me."
Iris was about to reply but paused when she noticed a security camera hanging from the studio's walls. "There's a security camera."
Gumshoe turned to where the security camera was located and chuckled. "The whole studio's filled with them. It takes photos of people all around the studio. All you have to do is look at the data and you can see who went where! It's a good thing there are literally hundreds of them in this building! Otherwise, that nice old lady would've never given me that photo of the suspect!"
I wouldn't call her nice, Iris thought angrily before saying to Gumshoe, "So that security officer gave you evidence."
"Yup, and if it weren't those hundreds of cameras around this place, we wouldn't have gotten, pal!" Gumshoe laughed.
"That seems like too many cameras for this one building," Pearl pointed out, and Iris silently agreed with her.
"It does look like overkill, but after what happened last year, I don't blame them for putting in extra security."
"Last year?" Pearl asked. "Did something bad happen here before Ms. Shade got framed?"
"The victim of this case, Will Powers, was accused of murder last year," Gumshoe explained. "He was-"
"Defended by Diego Armando in court?" Iris finished for Gumshoe, who looked surprised. "Sir told me about his cases when I was still being mentored by him. He mentioned that he defended an actor in an old children's show. To think he became the victim of this case..."
Gumshoe frowned, his head drooping. "It's a shame Will Powers died. Mr. Edgeworth's gonna be devastated when he hears about this..."
Mr. Edgeworth? Iris thought, her eyes widening as that name echoed in her mind. Edgeworth. Edgeworth...
Miles Edgeworth!
"Detective, do you-?"
"Hey! Scruffy Detective, get back to work!" von Karma's voiced shouted in the distance. "Or do you want another cut from your SALARY!?"
"Eek!" Gumshoe jumped in fright, sweating bullets as his eyes widened to the point they bulged out of his skull. "Sorry I can't keep talking to you, pal! Just take this Autopsy Report! See you in tomorrow's trial!"
As soon as he shoved the Autopsy Report onto Iris' hands, the Detective made a mad dash to Ms. von Karma.
"Detective, wait!" Iris called out, still needing to talk to him about something, but it was already too late. He was gone.
Without hesitation, Iris began to walk forward to follow him but stopped when she heard the sound of a whip being used...and Gumshoe's agonized screams.
whp-CRACK!
"AAAAAGH!"
"You were colluding with the enemy, weren't you!?" von Karma said from far away. "Giving her that autopsy report, revealing that we have decisive evidence...!"
"Actually, I didn't say it was decisive-"
whp-CRACK!
"AAAAAAGH!"
"SHUT UP! It was your job to help me investigate and you already botched it up by colluding with that attorney! You deserve to be punished for your betrayal!"
whp-CRACK!
"AAAAGH! I-I'm sorry, ma'am, I was just talking to her-!"
whp-CRACK!
"AAAAAAAAARRGGGHHH!"
Pearl frowned and shook her head. "That poor Scruffy Detective..."
"Yeah," Iris muttered as she stared at Will Power's Autopsy Report. After a few minutes of skimming through it, she carefully placed it in her briefcase and turned to Pearl. "But he did manage to give us some useful intel. This place is crawling with security cameras, so we need to watch out for them."
Pearl nodded. "He also said that it was the lady from the entrance who gave him evidence," she said. "We need to go back and talk to her."
"Ugh, do I have to?" Iris said with an actual whine. She'd rather burn in Hell than talk to that old nuisance again!
"You have to, Big Sis," Pearl said with a huff. "We need to do this for Ms. Shade's sake, so we can save Crystal Crusader Rose!"
Iris groaned in response. "You're right, you're right..." she muttered grumpily. "Do it for our client, Iris...do it for our client..."
Court Record:
Evidence:
1. Iris' Attorney Badge
2. Letter of Request
3. Security Cameras
4. Will Powers' Autopsy Report
Profiles:
1. Pearl Fey
2. Violet Shade
3. Franziska von Karma
4. Detective Gumshoe
5. Will Powers
6. Wendy Oldbag