Warnings: violence, swearing, drug use, implied sexual content, possible later explicit content.

"Be safe, Richard!" She said, planting a kiss on his cheek. He checked his watch; the contact was supposed to pick him up any minute now.

"I will. I'll miss you, Kori." He replied, putting his wedding band in her palm and closing her fingers around it. It would only blow his cover if he took it with him, no matter how much he wanted to. He would miss his cheerful wife, even if he knew that she would be taken care of.

"I'll miss you too, Richard." Her beautiful green eyes looked at him sadly, but her mouth was in a smile. He'd wanted this opportunity for months. This was his chance to finally go undercover and bust the drug dealers that plagued his city, and she was happy for him, no matter how much she worried.

He didn't want to leave her, but he was excited for the opportunity. His boss, after several years of paperwork and following up dead leads, had given him the chance to go undercover. This was finally the day he'd been waiting for.

Richard could still hear his boss' voice echoing in his ears. Don't screw this up.

A blue Corvette pulled up along the curb, and Kori looked like she was about to cry. Richard hated that look on her, so he pulled her into a chaste kiss before walking away and climbing into the Corvette.

"Ready to go, kid?"

"Yeah. Bye, Star." Richard waved to his wife, using his pet name for her.

"Goodbye, Richard!" She waved as the Corvette drove away, even as it rounded the corner. Kori already missed him. This was going to be a long break.

Back in the car, Richard and his contact were already at each other's throats.

"So, you ever gone undercover before?"

"No." He replied shortly, not even looking at the driver.

"Don't fuck it up." Xavier said shortly, staring at the road. A few minutes after they started driving, he turned on the radio to a rock station and started bobbing his head. Richard was already annoyed, but said nothing. His boss would rip him a new one if he pissed Xavier off, and they were already off to a bad start, if his being addressed as "kid" was any indication.

"Any tips?" He asked tersely, though if it was from his nerves or from the agitation that Xavier was feeling, he wasn't sure. As his first time going undercover, he was sure there would be some close calls, but as the driver had said, he couldn't fuck it up or he would end up dead. He would have to come home to Kori, as he had promised her the night before.

"Don't get caught, and if someone offers you drugs, take them. Shit's expensive, and it usually means they're testing you."

"I know."

"Even if it's a girl."

"Yeah, I get it." And they drove in silence after that. Xavier had turned up the radio so that they couldn't talk anymore.

Xavier annoyed the shit out of Richard, and it wasn't only because he was a criminal. Richard didn't think that Xavier was even his real name, and if it was, then it was fucking stupid. None of the informants went by their real names, and the only way to find out was to look for their file in the mess that was a filing cabinet. No one ever bothered.

The office staff who were supposed to be organizing the files never did their jobs, and instead functioned as the lead gossips in the entire police force. Anyone could get any information they wanted about anyone, for the right price. Richard had bought information on Roy the first time they'd met for a grilled cheese and greasy McDonald's fries.

The Corvette stopped at a sketchy-looking alley and turned his car off, turning to look at Richard expectantly. The other man stared back at him for moment before climbing out of the car, and as soon as the passenger door had closed, Xavier drove off like some mad man.

Annoyed, Richard's hands traveled to his pockets to make sure he still had the cash and the throw away cell he had brought with him. After a last look around, and after staring at the shitty little apartment building he was supposed to be living in for the next four to seven months, he steeled himself and walked inside.

It was about as clean as expected. Richard was fairly certain he saw some sort of insect skitter across the floor as he walked in, and there was no one at the security desk, only a sex doll in their place.

The elevator looked even worse; both up/down buttons were broken, and one of the lights wasn't even turned on, but he got inside anyway. His apartment was on the twelfth floor, and he refused to go up twelve flights of stairs.

Unfortunately, there was already someone on the elevator when he stepped into it. A girl stood in the corner, texting on her cell phone. Her thigh-length coat had ravens all over it, blending into the fabric except for one facing opposite her face on the hood.

Creepily enough, one of the birds stood on her shoulder, as if it had no other place to be. Its eyes watched Richard, and he suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to get out of the elevator.

"Yes, it's a real bird." She said suddenly, breaking the silence without looking up from her phone.

"I didn't say anything."

"I'm fully aware of that, Dick."

"That was rude." He retorted, angry at the name she had called him.

"Isn't that your name?" The girl said, amusement on her lips. She took out a cigarette, and before he could stop her, her lighter had flickered open, bouncing off of her chakra.

Soon smoke was floating out of her mouth and towards the ceiling, but the raven's eyes never wavered from him.

"Why is the bird staring at me?" He asked, staring back at the… the… the thing that sat on her shoulder. It didn't waver, just readjusted it's standing position.

The girl didn't answer him; this was her floor. He looked up at the elevator's floor indicator and realized with annoyance that this was the twelfth floor. This was his floor.

Just before the girl turned down the hall to get to her apartment, she pressed a piece of paper into his palm and he watched as the raven on her shoulder turned around to stare at him as she walked down the hall, instead of staying in position on her shoulder.

Pocketing the piece of paper, he unlocked apartment 12C and went inside. It wasn't as much of a shithole as he'd figured it would be; he only saw one roach skittering across the floor when the light switch was flipped on.

Letting his bag fall to the floor, he realized he missed his wife. Kori would always know what to say, and how to make the apartment look better. She would know how to get rid of the roaches that were bound to bother him endlessly- there was no way that there was just the one he saw- and she would know what to do about the creepy girl in the elevator.

Finally, he pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket. On it read a name, number, and instruction to follow.

Raven

649-1788

Come to apartment 12E at nine tomorrow

Raven. How ironic. So her name was Raven, and she had a raven on her shoulder. He almost groaned out loud, but didn't because he knew that he didn't want to attract attention to himself. Instead, he thought about the elevator ride again.

The girl had certainly taken him by surprise. She'd known who he was, and that was a warning sign in of itself. But she'd called him Dick, not Richard. If she'd really known who he was, she probably would have called him Richard, like most did.

"Shit." This could throw a wrench in the entire plan if she already knew. It could ruin the plans for his undercover position, but it could also get him killed in the long run, and he couldn't let that happen. He'd promised Kori. He'd promised his wife.

Fine. He'd follow Raven's instructions. He didn't trust her, but this was all he had right now, and it wasn't as if he had many other leads to follow. This was the first step.

At least, that's what he told himself.

She unlocked her apartment door and stepped inside, almost instantly dropping to pet her cat, who had come to greet her at the door. The raven on her shoulder protested the sudden movement, flying off into the main room, where the television was on.

Her roommate sat on the couch, playing a video game with his boyfriend, who sat next to him. An argument had already started between them, an argument that she knew would be her job to resolve later.

"Hey Rae." Her roommate said over his shoulder, barely sparing her a glance before he had to get back to his game. She watched them play for a moment before heading off to her bedroom. She nearly sighed once she sat on her bed and ran her hands through the fuzz of the blanket.

Thinking back on her day, she could not find too many interesting things other than what had just happened. It'd been slow, mostly because the stupid fucking NYPD had pulled off a drug bust earlier in the week, so all of the junkies were either in jail or scared.

The man on the elevator had been interesting, to say the least. Everyone in the building, except maybe herself and Vic, her roommate, was creeped out by the raven. It was a universal constant.

It wasn't even really hers. It had just settled with her one day, and if that wasn't creepy enough, it would sit on her shoulder if she didn't move too much, like a parrot. Raven fed it and let it stay, so it would stay with her, but it had just happened. It wasn't like she had any control over that.

She thought it amusing that he became defensive when she said his name. It had been an insult, but then she'd just gone with it as his name and was pleasantly surprised when she turned out to be correct. Sometimes people would say that she was a mind reader, but she claimed to have no magical ability of her own.

The annoyance was evident as they got off of the elevator on the same floor. Raven had to admit to herself: she was intrigued. So she'd hastily scrawled name, number, and instructions for the next day and gave it to him. Vaguely offended when he merely shoved it in his pocket, she figured he would check it later, or forget about it.

He looked sketchy enough; and sketchy people were Raven's forte. Vic wasn't particularly sketchy, but they'd been friends for a long time and he was one of the few people she trusted. Vic's boyfriend was another matter. That guy was an annoying jackass who could hardly be trusted to bury a body, much less keep quiet about said body.

Even though she had her suspicions about Dick, (she was 40% sure he was a cop), she would let him in anyway. If it turned out he was a cop, there was always murder. None of them were ever opposed to murder, and it efficiently solved the problem.

Raven wasn't usually too violent, but when it came to her friends, she would defend them no matter what happened. Even if they stabbed her in the back.

She would find more out about him soon enough, even if she wasn't sure if he would follow the instructions or even check the note. The bug she'd placed in his bag would tell her all that she needed to know.

End of Chapter One