Author's note: I want to say thank you to dancers of the night for giving such an incredibly sweet review; I honestly didn't expect such raving for only my first fanfic! Well, here's what you've been waiting for…

Prologue: Easy Heist

At a small museum located in an out-of-the-way town in Japan, a weary nighttime security guard sat at the front desk, passing the time by playing solitaire. After managing to beat himself for the fourth time in a row, he took a glance at his watch.

Five minutes until midnight, he thought. The Copycat should be here at any minute.

Just that day, a note had mysteriously appeared on the door to the museum. It simply read:

Tonight I shall steal the Eye of Horus.

The signature was the Copycat's typical insignia: a picture of a cat drawn entirely in red.

Upon discovery of the note, action had been taken almost immediately. The Copycat was already wanted in various towns throughout Japan for theft, and catching him had become top priority for almost every police station. Now, surrounding the entire parameter of the museum were dozens of police officers, attack dogs, and a couple of squad cars. The guard took a glance at the security camera monitors beside him and saw that around a glass case which held the Eye of Horus stood some of the police's toughest, brawniest men, looking ready to kill.

There's no way that he'll be able to get away this time, he thought, grinning to himself.

He started setting up for another game when he heard a noise from behind him.

Before he could react, a cloth drenched in a sweet-smelling liquid was suddenly slammed over his mouth. The guard tried to get away, but the assailant's grip was too much for him, and he soon passed out cold.

Five minutes after midnight, the chief of police decided to call his men inside, wanting to see if the Copycat had been true to his note.

"Any sign of the Copycat yet, men?" the chief spoke into his walkie-talkie.

There was no response.

"Men? Hello?"

Still nothing.

Suddenly, alarm signals blared from within the museum. Cursing, the chief dashed up its steps and into the front lobby. There, he found that the front desk was completely unoccupied.

"Where the heck is that nighttime guard?!" the chief screamed.

Enraged, he dashed through the museum towards the room which held the Eye of Horus. There, he was met with a stunning sight: his toughest men were lying on the ground around the Eye of Horus' case, battered and dazed. The case itself was empty and the glass smashed, as was a window near the top of the room.

The chief shook one of the men awake. "What happened here?!" he yelled directly into his face.

The man moaned, "Sir, we were standing around the case when the nighttime guard came in at midnight and said he wanted to check on the Eye. He suddenly yelled that he saw some figure dashing past the window. We turned to look, and the next thing we knew we were under attack."

"Under attack?! By who?!"

"It almost didn't seem human, sir…it was covered with fur, and so dang strong…it tossed us down like rag dolls…"

Just then, one of other policemen came in and said, "Sir, we've just found the nighttime security guard inside of one of the janitor's closets."

"Trying to hide, was he, after being an accomplice to the Copycat?" the chief snarled.

The policeman stared at him. "No, sir, he had been stowed in there. Security cameras show that some person dressed entirely in black had knocked him out, bound and gagged him, and left him in there five minutes before midnight."

Now it was the chief's turn to stare. "What?! How the heck could he be stuffed in the closet and in here at midnight?"

Outside of the museum, a black-clad man was standing above the smashed window, taking in every word which the policemen said. Upon hearing the police chief's last comment, he sneered and muttered, "How, indeed...What an impossible feat…" He gazed down at a gold Egyptian eye with a blue sapphire in its center clutched in his hand. "It's such a pretty and expensive Eye of Horus, yet it wasn't even a slight challenge for me to obtain it. Ah, well…perhaps in Domino I'll find something which would actually be difficult for me to take."

The man then closed his eyes. His form suddenly quivered; brown feathers grew all over his body, his mouth became a small, curved beak, and his eyes changed color into a fierce yellow.

With a small hoot, an owl flew off of the roof of the museum and soared away into the night, the Eye of Horus gripped tightly in its talons.