"I didn't realize how much filth was on the streets 'til we were huntin' for it." Murphy leaned against the rough brick wall as he lit his cigarette, looking over sideways at Connor as he offered him the box.

"With any luck when they keep dyin' it'll be a lesson ta the rest of them." Connor took the offered cigarette and stuck it between his lips. "A man can hope." He mumbled, fumbling through his pockets for a lighter until Murphy took pity on him and lit it.

"Hit the jackpot tonight though, lotta scumbags with nowhere to go once we got in." Murphy laughed darkly, taking a long drag he grinned. "Much better than workin' in a meat packin' plant for sure."

"I do think we found our callin' in life Murph." Connor chuckled, throwing an arm around his brothers' shoulders.

"We outta get home, two blokes covered in blood 'round here's awful suspicious."

"Anyone covered in blood is suspicious no matter where you are." Connor ground his cigarette under his heel, Murphy followed suit as they both adjusted their guns and set off.

Click.

Murphy thought he heard a sound, a camera maybe, never mind that was ridiculous.

Click.

Murphy paused; there it was again, was he hearing things, who would be out in this area at night with a camera, or at all. He looked around suspiciously, had they been caught. Connor noticed Murphy wasn't at his side and looked back.

"C'mon Murph, what're you even doin'"

Murphy took one last look around as a precaution, still not totally convinced he had been imagining the sound and jogged up to meet up with Connor.

Click.

"Do you hear anything Connor?" Murphy leaned forward and muttered in Connors' ear.

"Like what? We're the only one's out here, relax."

Murphy looked over his shoulder one more time.

Click.

Right outside the door to their building Murphy heard it again, he saw Connor turn to look behind himself as well he must have heard it too, they slipped into the building and closed the door behind them.

Click.

"Did you think you heard anything on the way home?" Murphy asked as he pulled his shoes off.

"Nah we're just hearin' things Murph. I've been pretty paranoid lately, just comes with the territory." Connor stripped casually and laughed off Murphys' concerns. "Whataya want to eat I'm starving."

The Next Night

"Another beer Doc." Murphy yelled from the end of the bar.

"Aye me too." Connor seconded, both tossing back the last of their current drinks in unison.

The front door chimed, every head in the bar turned towards the sound, the arrival of another regular always a cause of excitement and the arrival of a stranger even more intriguing. Not a soul in the bar had ever seen the man who now stood in the threshold before, he glanced around nervously unsure of why everyone had fixated their gaze on him, slowly everyone returned to their own business. Grabbing a beer he sat down directly next to the brothers despite the plethora of empty seats throughout the bar.

"There an issue with strangers 'round here?" He asked the back of Murphys' head.

"Nah it's just unusual, most people just breezin' through prefer nicer places." Murphy looked over his shoulder as he responded, taking in the details of the man, severe features, medium hair, well dressed, entirely too well dressed for the area. The clothing if nothing else should have tipped him off to be on high alert but he had drank just enough to overlook it.

"Yea there's a lotta talk about a couple vigilantes down here, rough area?"

"Well unless you got somethin' ta hide vigilantes shouldn't be much of a concern." Connor leaned forward on the bar, slightly more observant and astute than Murphy.

"Fair enough." Laughter boomed, overly loud, "But you gotta keep an eye out for the ones they're hunting. I'm Carson by the way."

"Connor, this one is Murphy." Connor extended a hand and shook firmly, the way they were being sized up somehow slipping past him.

"So what do you guys think of these, what is it they call 'em, The Saints?" Carson did his best to appear nonchalant, sipping his drink delicately, needing his wits about himself. The way the one had introduced both was an interesting tell; he filed it away to add to the information they had already gathered.

"Worlds a fucked up place, we need 'em." It was a weird question, an addition to a weird conversation in a weird general situation. Connor caught Murphys' eye, the look passing between them speaking silent volumes, suspicion, curiosity, guard up.

"We really should get going." Murphy downed the last of his beer and stood, the tiniest glance directed at Connor asking if he had understood properly. Carson saw it flicker across his face, interesting how one of them deferred to the other. This might be even easier than they thought.

"Damn I need cigarettes." Connor groaned as he pulled the empty pack out of his pocket, "Guess I'm runnin' out real quick, you need anything Murph?"

"Nah I think I'm good." Murphy called from where he already lay on his mattress, rolling over onto his back "Don' get into any trouble without me."

"Wouldn' dream of it." Connor laughed as he closed the door behind him, the doorjamb clicked into place and he shivered an intense sense of dread washed through him, trying to rationalize the sudden fear he equated the click of the door with the click he was sure he heard after their last hit only serving to intensify the feeling of general wrongness. He almost turned and went back into the loft; he could get his cigarettes in the morning. But he would already be most of the way to the convenience store if he would just get his ass moving, not to mention he didn't want to explain to Murphy he was too afraid to run to the store by himself. Still trying to convince himself he was just being irrational he paused only a second more before getting in the elevator, unable to truly shake the feeling.

"Could they have made this any easier." The clear feminine voice echoed through the alley clearly unconcerned with being heard. "It's like they just want something bad to happen, they're setting it up for us." She threw her head back in wild laughter as she watched Connor walk down the street alone, which meant only one thing, he had been foolish enough to leave his brother alone. "You boys know what to do now." She caressed the arms of the two men with her as she shoved them forwards toward the building.

"That was fast." Murphy mumbled as he heard the door open, rolling over to face away from the light that filtered through the door, assuming it was only his brother getting home. He heard footsteps approach where he lay, still not unusual, knowing Connor he was about to throw a stray cat at him or ice or something along those lines typically. But he didn't recall Connors' footfalls being so heavy. Hands were wrapped viselike around his biceps, a strip of filthy fabric shoved between his teeth and tied just moments before he realized what was going on. Another strip of fabric fastened around his eyes, forced to his feet, he needed to stay calm he needed to think logically about what could possibly being going on and how to get out of it, Connor should be home any moment now if nothing else. Shoved into moving forward, stumbling unable to see where he was going. He grabbed for something to steady himself, his grasp found their rosaries where they hung on the wall, he yanked his off of its hook and let it fall to the ground, hoping it would tip Connor off that something had happened. It felt like the elevator was moving downward, a crisp breeze blowing meant they were now outside should he fight back now or would a better opportunity present itself, shouldn't Connor have been home ten minutes ago. It was the last coherent thought that passed through Murphys' mind as he felt a needle slide in to his shoulder and promptly fell forwards into waiting arms.

"Hey Murph, sorry it took so long." Connor dropped his keys on the table and pulled his shoes off. "Murph? You sleeping?" Connor asked out of instinct realizing as he said it how ridiculous it was to ask. Until he set his bare feet on the ground, his toes encountering the smooth round beads of the rosary. He was sure both had been hanging on their respective hooks when he had left, not to mention Murphy would never have left it discarded on the floor. He bent over and lifted it carefully off the ground then finally forced himself to flick the lights on. Nothing else in the apartment appeared to have been touched; there was no sign on anything having happened. Except Murphy was gone. Fuck.

Connor threw his jacket back on and jammed his shoes back on, reaching for his rosary he hesitated a moment then slid Murphys' over his head instead, shoving his own into his pocket as well. Reaching for his phone the screen lit up with an icon he had never seen before. Praying it was unrelated he slide the screen to open it.

Dim lights flickered on one by one, it looked like a video stream, Connor brought the device closer, straining to see. The last of the lights clicked on and Connors' breath caught in the back of his throat.

Murphy was tied to a chair in the center of an otherwise empty room, naked with the exception of his underwear, his head lolling as he seemed to struggle to focus.

Connor had absolutely no idea where he could possibly be or who could have taken him. There were plenty of people who surely had something against them and he didn't even know where to start. Blind panic began to rise, he had to find his brother, god only knew what they would do to him, any one of the sick fucks related to any of their victims could have taken him and god only knew what twisted things they would do. He tapped the screen frantically, praying one of the functions displayed at the bottom would make it possible for his brother to hear him. "Murphy can you hear me? Do you know…" The feed of Murphy suddenly disappeared only to be quickly replaced.

She was easily over seven feet tall, impossibly slim, long dark hair a sleek sheet framing a delicate yet cruel face, blood red lips broke into a wolfish smile.

"Hello Connor." Her voice was ice cold. "I trust you enjoyed our preview of the events yet to come. I can hear you by the way." She tapped a tiny earpiece. "Would you like to know what's going to happen tonight, or for as long as I need."

"What the fuck are you doing with my brother?" Connor snarled. He had never seen this woman before in his life; he had no idea what could have started this, any theories he had were now trash.

"Just relax and I'll tell you exactly what's going on Connor."

"I will not fucking relax." Connor thought the phone was going to shatter under his grip.

"Very well then. It really is touching the relationships between twins, you take the weaker twin and the other is putty in your hands. Take little brother and big brother will break." She stretched luxuriously, Connor strained to remain quiet, he needed all the information he could get out of this woman, and to get that he needed to listen.

"Your brother is completely at my mercy and I am not a merciful person Connor MacManus. So I suggest you behave yourself unless you want him to suffer for your insolence. You shall know me only as Raven; my real name is of no concern to you and I suggest you make no effort to learn it. And you and your lovely brother slaughtered several of my men recently, which is of the greatest inconvenience to me as I am currently involved in something they were quite essential to. So I'm afraid I need you to replace them yourself if you want both you and your brother to survive the coming week or so. I or my men will be in constant contact with you and you will follow our directions exactly as you are told, do not think about straying from them or attempting to search for your brother as I will have surveillance on you at all times. And for every misstep you make something will happen to your brother, truthfully your brother will suffer no matter what if for no other reason than to keep you on track. And should you manage to my satisfaction I will allow you to attempt to save him once I'm through with you. You will receive an address shortly, you need to go there and you'll find a large box labeled illicit. You will need to retrieve it without anyone else knowing and deliver it to the second location you will receive. We will continue from there. And remember his life now depends on you." Raven smiled again, her frigid blue eyes glittered with the thrill of her new game.

The image faded back to Murphy, his whole body convulsed, Connor could just barely see what appeared to be the wire of a Taser. Screaming savagely he drove his fist into the wall. Who the fuck was this woman coming in and doing this? He didn't want to be a pawn in her twisted fucking game but he couldn't see a way to get around it especially if all her threats were true. He had no choice but to do whatever this woman asked of him or lose his brother. He wracked his brain for what could have possibly have been her men and came up blank, all of their recent hits had been tied to groups they already knew of, there were no shadow groups as far as knew. His phone buzzed, the address. "I'll find you Murph. I won't let her do this to you. I'm gonna find you and then I'm gonna fucking kill her."

Author's Note- First chapter of my new Boondock Saints fic, please let me know what you think of it so far.