Edgey/Misa PSL

[sensitiveapple]

She doesn't know what happened. She doesn't understand. One moment, she is doing the hair of one of the other ladies, and the next there are people yelling, people with guns, and everyone is afraid. Nina had pinned her to a wall, and put herself in front of her, protecting her in the only way she could.

Freema is led out in cuffs. The Cook is yelling back that everything will be alright, poppet, just trust the men. No. Never trust men. Her time here at the House has taught her that.

Nina is pulled away and now she's scared. She doesn't know these people, she doesn't trust them, and they're taking away her friends.

"NINA!" Misa screams, when one of the men reach for her. She's quick enough to evade the hand, and grabs her knife from her thigh, wedging herself into a corner.

"We're not going to hurt you."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She yells, too scared, too panicked to do anything but slash at the air.

The large man in the trenchcoat with the bandage on his nose crouches in front of her. "Now, listen, little miss. We're not going to hurt you." He says gently, not reaching out a hand. Probably smart, because she'll cut anyone that tries to touch her. One of the others whispers something in his ear and he nods, not taking his eyes off of her.

What is going on?!

Comments

IT'S A SATCHEL! INDIANA JONES HAS ONE!!

[turnaboutson]

"When people say things like that, they usually have an ulterior motive," Miles says, more to himself than to her. Textbook narcissistic abuse. Textbook. And it made sense, didn't it? An abuser like this 'Mistress' would want her people to trust her, and only her. Don't talk to outsiders. Don't trust outsiders. They'll never understand.

He lets go of his arm - he hadn't quite realized he'd been holding it until Franziska had cleared her throat and started to speak. "It's possible," she said. "Likely, even. But if he did no wrong, he won't be charged with a crime."

Miles is still only half-present, thinking. "I know it's difficult to believe, coming from a strange adult," he says, as soothingly as possible. "But nobody will ever hurt you again. I can promise you that."

ITS A MURSE A MAN-PURSE

[sensitiveapple]

She stares at him. "With Jeff around, no one ever touched me." She snaps at him. "No one." Not even the Mistress - who didn't believe in corporal punishment anyway. The Mistress hadn't wanted to damage the merchandise, after all.

She looks past him at the door all her family had been lead out of, in cuffs. The children from the kitchen had been lead out that way too. She is probably never going to see them again.

"Where will you take me?" She asks, miserable. She's never getting away from these people. All her hard work, all her desperate study hours, wasted, gone, all because these people decided that someone did something wrong and deserved to be punished.

[turnaboutson]

"Good," says Miles, knowing that there are more ways than physical abuse to hurt someone, and that this child is clearly exhibiting signs of them. "That's a point in his favor, then."

"The hospital first," says Franziska. "That's where all of the children and those who have been held here are going."

[sensitiveapple]

She looks up at the woman who seems to be in charge of the man in charge of ripping their family apart.

"I don't need the hospital," She mutters mutinously. "Just put me wherever you took Freema and Jeff." She wants her family back. She has no mother, no father, so she's sure there's no one else to come for her.

Then, she stands up, squares her shoulders. Time to stop acting like a child. The Mistress would be horrified at her current behavior. "Take me wherever you wish."

[turnaboutson]

(Franziska? In charge? Miles would debate that. He's not pretending to be her subordinate this time!)

Well, at least she's being a little more cooperative now. "It'll just be a standard check-up," he says. "We need to ensure that you're healthy." He doesn't say that the results of all the checkups will determine the extent of the ringleader's charges. Degree of neglect, and so forth. Not that the charges will be good in any case.

Franziska snaps her whip in Gumshoe's general direction. "Scruffy! Do we have an available ambulance?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Good. I shall accompany this girl to the hospital." Franziska isn't stupid. The girl seems to be a lot more comfortable around women than men.

[sensitiveapple]

Misa holds her head high and her shoulders square as she walks out of the house where she'd spent the last nine years of her life. Outside is a cacophony of lights. Ambulances, police cars and even firetrucks have assembled to watch the destruction of her home. Not to mention the people behind the barricades, who are watching and filming on their phones.

Misa almost makes it to the ambulance, when she hears her name. She whips around and sees Jeff struggling against four men that are trying to cuff him. She races over to him and wraps her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. He gets one arm free and wraps it around her. "Easy, poppet."

"Jeff, they took everyone," she whispers brokenly into his neck.

"I know, kiddo, I know." He whispers. Then, he switches to rapidly whispered Japanese. "You be the Little Mistress, alright? Do not let them see you cry, and never forget that I will always come for you, no matter what. Do you understand?"

She nods and lets him go, her makeup still perfect, still in place. She doesn't want to lose her friends, but seeing Jeff made her feel better.

"And another thing, Little Mistress," he says, straightening up as they put cuffs on him. "Never forget who you are." HE says, softly, in Japanese, and then meekly follows the police, putting him into a car.

She takes a shuddering breath and then walks back, sedately to the ambulance. "I'm ready."

[turnaboutson]

Neither Miles nor Franziska intervene as young Misa runs to her guard. Miles at least knows the pain of being ripped from a familiar situation, and Franziska is trying to win her trust. They don't try to listen in to the whispered conversation...

...but Miles catches what Jeff says in Japanese as he's led off, and he logs it away. It's a language he keeps in his back pocket, and he's not going to tell anyone why he knows it. Signal Samurai merch is difficult to find in the States, after all.

Franziska guides her to the ambulance and climbs in with her. Time to go to the hospital.

Miles watches the ambulance go, thinking to himself about the whole situation.

"Lang Zi says: Wayward cubs need guidance from an alpha who is up to the challenge," a rumbling voice says from next to him.

"Agent Lang...if you would kindly put a Kong toy in it."

"Aiya!"

[sensitiveapple]

Misa is silent in the ambulance as they get vitals, and some basic readings from her. She answers their questions with monosyllables, and stares at her perfectly manicured fingers.

They're met at the hospital by a social worker, and a nurse who'd been told what is going on. The nurse is a forensic specialist, and had worked with a couple of the other children, all untouched, thankfully.

She walks up to the ambulance as the backdoors open. "Hello, Ms. Von Karma. I wasn't expecting you." Molly Bear, the nurse, had worked on a couple of cases with the prosecutor in the past and liked the woman. But she's surprised to see her with one of the last children from that... place.

Misa looks at Ms. Von Karma and waits to be told what to do. It is not for men - the EMTs - to tell her where to go.

[turnaboutson]

Franziska nods at the nurse as she approaches. "I was one of the leaders of this operation, and this young lady preferred to have a woman with her as she came to be examined."

She looks at the girl - Misa - and gestures to Ms. Bear. "She will take care of you now. I'm not equipped to deal with...the rest of this." Then, as an afterthought, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a business card, presenting it to Misa. Franziska von Karma, Prosecutor, it says under the INTERPOL seal.

"If you need to contact me, my office and business cell phone numbers are on here," she says. "Miles Edgeworth, Agent Lang, and I will be checking on all of you in the next few days."

[sensitiveapple]

Molly is surprised. She's never seen Von Karma as a particularly warm woman, but then with her father who could be?

Misa drops out of the ambulance landing easily, still wearing the heels she'd been in this entire time. The paramedics had attempted to get her to take them off, but she'd just ignored the request. She takes the card from the woman with the whip and curtsies. "Thank you Ms. Von Karma." She says, almost robotically.

Molly waves off the paramedics. "I'll take it from here guys, thanks." She looks at the young child and hates her job. Tonight is definitely a 'go home and drink a bottle of wine' night. Her husband will understand. "What's your name?"

"My name is Misa."

"And your last name?" The social worker asks.

Misa just shrugs. She's never had one, for as long as she can remember.

Gently, Molly herds the young lady into the hospital. It's going to be a long night.

[turnaboutson]

It's a long night, to be sure.

There's paperwork, so much paperwork, and while the girls have been checked out at the hospital, Miles goes to speak to Jeff, who is currently in custody. How much did he know? How much had he participated in the ring? The more he told them, the lesser his sentence would be.

"Mr. Garret," he says, sitting in the interrogation room across from the man who'd been ever so close to the girl who'd tried to knife his men - and him. "I doubt you'll want to exchange pleasantries, but nonetheless - how are you doing?"

[sensitiveapple]

Jeff Garret, 39, white male, tattoos on both arms, six foot about 220 pounds. He's not a huge guy, but he can take on more than one opponent at once, and had proven that, when the cops had tried to take him in, when he'd been trying to get to Misa.

"Where's Misa?" He asks, immediately, trying to stand and his cuffs rattling against the table. "What have you done with her?" He demands. His comfort doesn't matter. He needs to get to Misa.

[turnaboutson]

Edgeworth isn't fazed at all by Garret's display of anger. Still, he makes a mental note about how concerned he seems to be for her well-being.

"She's at the hospital," he said. "It's standard procedure to take minors there when they're recovered from these situations. I've no doubt she'll be kept overnight for observation at least. I assure you, she won't be coming to any harm."

[sensitiveapple]

He slumps in his chair, knowing she won't be alright. A strange place, with strange people. She'll be terrified. "Where's Freema Dangali? The cook that you took." He explains. "Misa is going to be terrified. She's never been anywhere without one of us with her." His hands jerk against the cuffs again.

"Please." He says, softly. "I'll tell you whatever you want. But let me stay with Misa. She's not going to handle this well." He knows that. "She doesn't know anyone, she's never been out of the House's influence, since she was four." He raises scared blue eyes to the prosecutor. But they aren't scared for him, but for her. "Please."