((*cuddles fatalfeline* You're fun. :3))

Bell took his time strolling along the perimeters of the warehouse. He glanced at his arm. He'd used a spare piece of cloth to tie off the bullet graze wound left by Viola earlier. It had mostly stopped bleeding by now. He grinned.

"Precious little minx," he said to himself, clucking his tongue appreciatively.

He really was a bit excited, in actuality. Here he was, all alone with two petite and lovely ladies, one of whom seemed willing to do just about anything he'd want. Of course, he still bore his suspicions, but it was best to allow her to believe he trusted her completely. That way, if it turned out she was a traitor, he'd be ready and able to draw her out into the open. After a little fun, of course. He paused as his cellphone went off.

"Hello?" he answered.

"M-Master Bell, I... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Merrie Holiday's frantic sob cut across the line.

"Merrie? Why? Why are you sorry?"

"Misora and Sident are gone..."

"What!? How could you have let that happen?" Bell growled.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Master! They discovered our plan before I could see to them and escaped."

Bell sighed. "Is the brat still there?"

"Y-Yes."

"Well, at least we can still use him as leverage. Look for the other two, but make sure he stays as he is," Bell instructed.

"I understand, Master. I will not fail you again."

Bell quickly snapped the phone shut, storming back to where he'd left Viola and Jury. The agent's head snapped up at his arrival, taking in his agitated demeanor. She decided to try and make sure he didn't lash out. Taking him by the hand, she lead him to the low stack of crates next to Viola, leading him to lay his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his fiery red hair, swirling invisible patterns.

"What's the matter, Christopher?" she asked soothingly.

"It's that woman. Apparently, I can't even trust her with the simple task of watching over my hostages," Bell grumbled.

"Hostages?"

"Yes. At the hospital; Dolores Sident, Ayame Misora, and Judge Lawright. Misora and Sident have seemingly escaped, but she still has little brother under control. And based off of what she's injected him with, he shouldn't be around much longer," Bell stated with a sigh, closing his eyes as she continued to massage his hair.

Jury giggled. "Well, you saved me a lot of time and effort. Don't worry about Ayame and Dolores; they were pretty shaken up by their encounter with you earlier. They probably won't get far."

She hadn't known Judge was in that situation. In fact, she hadn't seen or spoken to him in quite a while, now. She'd abandoned him; again. This time, it could very well cost him his life. She kept a straight face, soothing the serial killer whose head rested in her lap as she waited for the right moment. Fortunately for her, he was too content to notice the saddened look wash over her face as she blinked rapidly to rid the tears building in the corners of her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merrie Holiday paced anxiously around the room, trying to bring her thoughts together. She had to do as the Master instructed. She couldn't afford to let him down again. No, not again. She stopped at Judge's bed, watching his slumbering form. Well, maybe slumbering was overdoing it. Obviously she hadn't followed up with his post-op like she'd been instructed, so he was in a bit of trouble as it was. His fever continued to rise due to his exposure to the winter elements and the stress of his wound. His breathing was shallow and strained. It almost seemed a shame to kill a boy with such a pretty face.

With an icy glare, she wrapped her fingers around his pale neck. And squeezed. His brows knit and he wheezed, his body shuddering as he struggled against her grip to draw air. At last she let go.

"This is all your fault. You and whose women. I won't let any of you stand in my way," Merrie hissed, moving quickly from the room. She marched straight over to the security desk. "Officer?"

"Oh, yes, Nurse Holiday?" the officer asked.

"I'm afraid two of my patients have escaped. They attacked me while I was tending to another patient, and I... I... Please, they're in a very fragile mental state! If they're not recovered soon, there's no telling what could happen to them!" Merrie sobbed.

"My goodness, ma'am! You poor thing, we'll get right on it, don't you worry!"

"Th-Thank you so much," Merrie sniffled, watching as the security guards trooped off. "Problem solved."

---

The combined sight of Dolores sprinting down the hall and her current state of dress earned her quite a few alarmed stares from nurses in the hallway. A lot of the chloroform had probably left the cloth before she used it on Merrie; she probably wouldn't be unconcious for very long.

She skidded to a halt at a desk and demanded Ayame's room number, which she eventually got. She found Ayame in her room staring at her cell phone.

"Ayame, we've got to get out of here."

-----------------------------------

Viola stared at the concrete floor sadly. Viola had taken an intrest to Jury after they first met, and she found out that she had a younger brother named Judge. Losing a loved one was one of the worst feelings imaginable... Viola had experienced it several times. If it weren't for the ropes that bound her and the serial killer, she would have tried to comfort Jury in any way she could.

Bell sighed deeply. "Mm.... Jury. Do you mind if I ask you about yourself?"

---

Ayame nodded. "This won't exactly be easy since "she" is bound to send someone after us." Out of the corner of her eye, the security guards were closing in. In their hands were tazers, usually sed for self-defense or... detainment . Ayame shot a look at Dolores and grabbed the older woman's hand. "We gotta go NOW!" She almost flung Dolores and herself into the nearest elevator which was set for the ground floor.

"They'll be waiting for us on the ground floor... " She looked at the ceiling of the elevator. "Tell me Miss Sident, are you good with heights?" Her plan wasn't all that complicated and she ws sure Dolores could figure it out.

---

"No, I'm not, actually. I used to go mountain climbing when I was younger! But I don't think I'm very... well-clothed for what you're probably planning. Well, I guess it can't be helped. I'm not tall enough to reach the ceiling, I'll lift you up. We don't have much time."

She lifted Ayame so she could knock out the ceiling. Luckily the girl wasn't too heavy.

"Ayame... I'm sorry for... knocking you out earlier."

---

"About... myself?" Jury echoed curiously.

"Yes. I figured that if we're going to be spending time together, we should get to know each other. Don't you agree?" Bell queried.

"Of course, I understand what you mean," she answered. "What exactly would you like to know?"

"Everything. Tell me about your likes, your dislikes, what you love what you hate. How did you come to appreciate an art such as mine," Bell explained.

"Right. Hmm... My father was a detective and my mother was a prosecutor, so I suppose they're what got me interested in the criminal mind in the first place. It was a part of my everyday life. They made it that way. Well, as it turns out my mother ended up becoming the victim of a serial killer when I was still relatively young. My father had been working on the case and they never caught the killer. I suppose the frustration of his failure drove him slowly mad, because he disappeared some time later. That launched my obsession with trying to understand people like that man.

I wanted to understand, to be able to see what they saw. I studied oversees, I sought out and spent time with those people who might be called the most depraved members of society, all in the pursuit of my grail. Through this, I became a sort of connoisseur of fine art, if you will. I began looking for someone with an art worth studying. And your artistic skill is worth all my time and attention," Jury said.

Bell stilled suddenly. "The police."

Jury looked up. She could definitely hear them approaching. The only problem was, in this situation it wasn't something she wanted. If they were to swarm the place, there was no telling what Bell might do. How he might react. With Viola in this situation, she couldn't risk her safety. She shuffled out from under Bell.

"I'll take care of them. You stay out of site until I can get them away," Jury said, moving quickly for the entrance.

She poked her head around the corner, trying to take in how many of them there were. The police dog, Missile, was leading the way with detective Gumshoe hot on his heels. They were certainly doing a good job of tracking him in the very least. She stepped out into the open, intercepting the search team. Gumshoe stared in surprise.

"Hello, Richard," Jury greeted warmly.

"Hey, pal! Funny we should run into you, I think we're just about to nab our guy," Gumshoe said proudly.

"About that... I'll need you to call off the search," she said, shifting from foot to foot as she stood in the snow.

"What!? Are you crazy? We've gotta get this guy in a pair of cuffs and off to the detention center before he hurts anyone else," Gumshoe began. Jury held up a hand to silence him.

"I know. I understand, that, I do," Jury said quietly. "But right now, you can't. He has Viola Cadaverini as his hostage and if you were to spring upon him now, there's no telling what he might do. To her or himself. But I've convinced him that I'm on his side, if only for the moment, so you'll have to trust me and allow me to handle this myself."

"Are you crazy, pal? That guy's a mass murderer! We can't leave you alone with him!" Gumshoe protested.

Jury smiled. "I'm touched by your concern. It means a lot to me. And I wouldn't ask this of you if there were any other way, but we've both taken an oath to protect and serve... so we can't do anything to risk Viola's life. And all his victims demand justice, so we need to take him alive. Do you have one of those tracking dots with you?"

"Yeah, I do, why?"

"I'll slip one in my pocket. That way, you'll always know where he is, because I'll be there. And I can tell you when the opportunity to strike is best," Jury said.

"...I'm not happy about it, but I guess I understand," Gumshoe said with a sigh, handing over the button, which she slipped into her back pocket. "I'll call the guys off, but only if you're sure you've got this under control."

"I'm positive."

"Then... I guess we'll see you again soon, pal," Gumshoe said, shaking her hand.

Jury stood patiently by the entrance, watching as the police retreated. Even after they were out of sight, she lingered by the doorway, to make sure no one had remained behind. Turning on her heel, she retreated back into her prison.

"They're gone," Jury informed Bell.

"Excellent. That was an impressive piece of persuasion," Bell said. "We should probably move from here now. Wouldn't want to waste this marvelous chance of escape."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merrie paced up and down the hallway. There was no way they could escape, not with the guards on their heels. The sooner she could get them strapped down in their beds and heavily medicated, the better. Accidental overdoses. Mixing medication orders. Things like this were fairly common in hospitals... No one would make very big of a fuss when Lawright, Misora, and Sident were gone. Especially if you had the means to make it seem natural.

"Those wenches are causing me more trouble than they're worth," Merrie huffed moodily. "At least the brat has remained sufficiently easy to take care of..."

Speaking of which, she wondered what kind of state he was in at the moment. The cocktail she'd given him wasn't anything to sneeze at, that was for sure. Coupled with his injuries, his rising fever due to hypothermia, and his neglected post-op care, it could be downright deadly. If he woke up at all, it would have to be an act of god.

"I'll make sure those two get treated to something even worse when I get my hands on them..." Merrie hissed, walking towards Judge's room.

---

Ayame stared at the sincere face looking back at her. She her head back to the elevator ceiling, unscrewing the nails with her forceps. "You don't need to apologeize Dolores... you didn't know what you were doing." She snapped the cover off and dropped it off to the side. "Thank you. Now let me help you up." She climbed out of the elevator after cutting the power and held out a hand. "It's a little dark, but don't worry... it's not scary."

---

"...Oh dear... Um... okay, here I go..."

She waved her hands upward blindly until she came in contact with Ayame's hand. She held on for dear life and kicked off of the elevator wall in hopes of boosting herself higher. Ayame heaved until Dolores fell onto the top of the elevator.

"Whew... I made it..."

Dolores stood up and hastily adjusted her hospital gown in the dark.

"What now?"

---

Jessica slipped her phone out of her pocket and dialed Edgeworth's number. As she heard the voice of his message machine, she sighed in frustration, then began her message.
"Mr Edgeworth, sir? I've got your suit with me, though something has happened to your framed jacket."
She crossed her fingers.
"I'm not sure what happened to it, but the vase is broken too."
She just hoped Edgeworth wouldn't be too mad at her if he found out.
"I just need to make the call now. I'll come to the office after I have. Goodbye."
She pressed the red button and then dialled the hospital's number.

---

((...Do I really have to bump this again?))

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(( D< ))

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