Author's Note

Hi everyone! It's the AuthoressExtraordinaire and this is the first fanfiction I ever wrote and it's going to be the first that I post so I hope you all like it because I had fun writing it and I have plenty more fanfictions not just for Phantom but also Labyrinth, Avengers, Cirque du Freak and I'm also planning on doing a Doctor Who and Thor crossover, so keep an eye out and I would love to hear what you have to say. Whether it's encouragement or constructive criticism it doesn't matter and if you want to suggest anything, I'm all ears… or eyes since I'd be reading it. Hope you enjoy!

Baltimore 1875

In the night, a pair of heavy boots crash down upon the rain drenched cobblestone street. The owner of the boots is running, but from who? Or is it after whom? The boots come to a warehouse and run to the wall by the door and lean back against it. From within the folds of its hooded long coat, the figure brings forth two guns, ready and loaded. Two other figures came alongside the first; the first figure pulled a hat from the folds of its coat.

"Jacque, Giovanni! What the hell took you two so long? And damn it! Where's Anderson, Kinnian and the Boss?" the young woman said as she pulled off her hood and replaced it with the hat she had taken from out of her coat.

"Aggh, would you please keep your whispering shouts to a minimum." Jacque said, his voice still retaining a slight French accent.

"They said they would be waiting with the wagon ready to chase just if these men get away." "Kind of like dey did in de last city dey were in, eh." Giovanni said with a smirk. These two out of all the men not only on the Baltimore Detective Unit, but of the whole detective agency in general, could still make a joke out of the job they were doing and still get it done better than anyone else.

Jacque wore a bowler hat, always, on his head of tight, curly brown hair and was a very tall, lean fellow. Giovanni was a broad-shouldered man with tan skin and black hair. They all were in the prime of their lives and their careers.

"Always with the jokes, but now we've no time! Where did the Boss and the rest of them say they would be?" Still leaning against the building, the woman looked at the surrounding buildings. Warehouses, homes and alleyways, "Anderson said he'd be waiting in de alley, there with several officers. And Kinnian is on the other side of de warehouse in an alley there and the Boss is not far from us, each with several officers with dem." Giovanni told her, pointing out the first and last alleys.

"May I be so bold as to ask what the situation is with our devious little friends in this warehouse?" Jacque asked,

"Yes Miro, please explain." Giovanni encouraged standing farthest away from her along the wall.

"Very well, you have to know this anyway," Miro began, "First of all they've only got one hostage and two, that several people have been killed in the whole process and we don't need anymore citizens being killed. There, and are we now ready to begin this apprehension?" They nodded and pulled out their own guns, ready to enter the warehouse. Miro gave a signal and all stood in front of the closed door.

Giovanni kicked it in and the three of them rushed in. the banker they had kidnapped from the bank they had robbed was sitting, bound up in rope with a rag in his mouth, in the center. The four primary targets each took a bag of money and ran off in different directions further into the warehouse, but there was a shot fired and one of the four fell, face first to the ground and the man who fired the shot took that man's bag of money and fled. Jacque turned the man over, there was a bullet wound in the middle of his forehead. The banker promptly fainted, Jacque ran after the man who went left down the aisle the crates made, Giovanni went after the center man and Miro went after the man on the right. As they ran, they could practically taste the air; it tasted of the river water. All the warehouses were placed on the river-front and the river lead out to the harbor and then the sea few hours away.

They finally apprehended the criminals, themselves unscathed, and led them back out to where Anderson waited with the police wagon. Finally they watched the wagon roll away with the criminals, another with the banker, who was awake by that time and wore a blanket on his shoulders. And the third wagon with the body of the fourth criminal. The Boss, Anderson, Kinnian, Jacque, Giovanni and Miro all stood around,

"Good work, you all did a great job tonight." Boss said congratulating his sweat soaked team of investigators.

"Hey Boss, does 'tis mean you're goin' ta buy us all a drink?" Kinnian asked, smiling mischievously and brightly. That red haired, brown eyed, masculine looking Irish American could not only make you laugh, but take you down in an instant.

"No, it's too late for that, or should I say too early. It's already close to one in the morning." He said checking his pocket watch. "You all should go home and get some rest so you can all enjoy this nice June weather we've been having. And besides, by six in the morning, warehouse square here, is going to become East Baltimore's biggest fish market."

They all groaned knowingly and they all started to head off together. First stop was Jacque's home, next was Kinnian's, the Boss' place, Giovanni's, Anderson's and finally Miro was home. Her home was a two-story building with a flat roof with garden, a backyard and stable, and a basement. Miro willed her tired body to go up stairs and change out of her attire and ready herself for bed. That night she entered a peaceful sleep knowing she had done her job well.

There was silence for the rest of that night and through into the morning till she awoke at eight-thirty. She finally was totally ready for the day by nine. She was wearing a pair of tan overalls with a white shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and brown boots. She was walking across the threshold to the lounge when she heard a knock on the door. Going to the door she opened and found her friend Clarice standing on the step.

"Good morning Miro. I heard you finished that case you and the boys were working on over the past few days."

"Yeah we did. Come on in Clarice." Still beaming, Clarice stepped in and walked into the lounge. "You know what, I think I'll tell you about it in the kitchen," Miro said as she stood in the middle of the room.

"Why?" Clarice asked tilting her head of light brown, wavy locks, in a high ponytail and to top it off she wore a formal sunhat with a ribbon and several flowers to match her quarter sleeved dress. It was a spring green dress that brought out the color of her eyes.

"Because I haven't eaten yet and you look like you could use lemonade," Miro answered her.

"Did I come at a bad time?" I'm so sorry." Miro simply shook her head, "It's alright Clarice. Besides I enjoy having someone around here, and you know I don't mind you coming in at any time of day. Because having someone like you around keeps me on my toes." They laughed as they walked out of the other door of the lounge that lead into the dining room and another door off to the side there that lead to the kitchen.

They sat for three hours or so, the first hour of the conversation consisted of Miro telling Clarice the tale of the case of the night before and the other two consisted of other past cases when she was called away to other countries because of her skill.

"I always liked the case when you went to India and that one case where you went to Egypt." Clarice said, and then she looked at the clock against the wall, "Oh dear, I'm supposed to meet up with some friends for lunch!"

"Well then," Miro began with a giggle, "you might want to be on your way I guess. Anyway, I'm going to see Ernesto and Maria."

"I wish I could go with you. It's been awhile since I last saw them. How's Vincenzo doing?" Vincenzo was Ernesto and Maria's young son. He was often sick but every illness he had went away quickly, but that wasn't the only thing wrong with him. His foot grew rather oddly and he used crutches a lot of the time, but with everyone's support including everyone at the police station, Miro herself included, and the medication he was getting was helping. Within eleven months he would be running up and down the streets of East Baltimore.

"You know Clarice; he's been doing really well." "Sweet relief, that's wonderful!" they both stepped outside Miro's home and she locked the door.

"See ya Clarice!" Miro said walking left down the street as she watched her friend go right. "Bye!" she yelled as she turned around to wave at Miro.

A.N: If I don't post anything for awhile, I ask that you be patient with me because I've got a lot of stuff at school to do and I usually don't get home till late. And if you want to strangle me because you want to know what happens next, I understand totally. But dearest reader I will try my hardest to give you what you ask. Bye!