The Final Case

By: InuGhost2.0

Concept by: Vincent

Disclaimer: I own nothing that appears in this only the idea itself belongs to me. The characters and such belong to more privileged people.

A/N: Spotlights switch on illuminating a bowing individual. As the individual straightens the lights seems to dim and retreat from him enshrouding him in darkness and shadow. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to tonight's entertainment. I am your host for the evening Vincent. I will warn you that this is nothing like the other stories, so if you want sunshine and happiness then you'd best go elsewhere. This was inspired by the currently delightful weather outside which you shall soon bear witness to along with a song to set the proper mood. Remember….the darkness is your friend." He chuckles darkly as they lights dim slowly before going out.

It was pitch dark outside; the wind was howling furiously and quickly sapping away any warmth that it could find. Snow was being moved quickly around by the wind and served to drastically reduce all visibility to a mere few feet. It was a night that no one would wish to venture outside for long in without good reason. A lone figure could be seen attempting to make her way through the harsh conditions as quickly as she could.

Her eyes stinging from unshed tears Dr. Temperance Brennan forced herself to continue forward as fast as she could despite the exhaustion she felt building up in herself. The death grip she had on her coat was all that kept it from being blown away like her hat had. Finally with her chest burning from the lack of oxygen Dr. Brennan allowed herself to collapse against the side of a building and sink down to the ground. Her mind no longer focused solely on making forward progress was soon reminded of the wound in her side by a sharp stab of pain. Cursing her stupidity once again Dr. Brennan clutched harder at her side determined to stem as much of the blood flow as possible as she remembered what had brought her to this point.

Numerous bodies had been found at an abandoned construction sight and after hours of forensic work the cause of death had been figured out. Angela had determined that a group of thugs had beaten the people to death, and thanks to Booth's investigative skills the thugs' hideout had been located in the warehouse district.

With a number of FBI agents Seeley Booth and Dr. Brennan had proceeded to the warehouse district to arrest the individuals and collect any forensic evidence they could find to help lock them away forever. Traffic had slowed them down so it wasn't till well after nightfall that they arrived at the destination. It had seemed so simple a task at the time, but after they had arrived at the sight everything had gone wrong.

As if they had known the FBI was coming the thugs had opened fire before all the agents had been in position. What had supposed to be a tactical situation had shortly turned into a desperate shootout. Having seen the deteriorating situation Booth had grabbed Brennan's hand and had yanked her out from the cover of the SUV and made a break for one of the numerous alleyways surrounding the warehouse district. It had not been a moment to soon as the vehicle they had used for safety came under enemy fire and was quickly ripped apart from the numerous bullets.

After Booth felt they had reached a safe distance he quickly un-strapped his spare gun and handed it over to her.

"This is a really bad situation Bones. I'm not sure if I can protect you by myself. If you see any of those…men…I want you to shoot to kill. I know you don't like it, but from what happened back there its either them or us." After Booth had finished he pulled out some of his spare gun clips and handed them over to her.

"Can't you just call for reinforcements? I mean there might still be some agents left alive. For all we know they may have finished off the rest of those people." She was babbling and she knew it. It always happened when she was nervous and frankly this was the most terrifying situation she had been in for awhile.

"No, I unfortunately left my cell phone in the truck when we abandoned it, and my radios been shot. Besides I'm not sure if anyone is still left alive. I haven't heard any gunfire for a bit, plus I've got the feeling we're being followed. And right now your safety is my highest priority, so we've got to keep going and hopefully find a way out of this maze." Taking her hand in his he proceeded to pull her off of the ground she had been sitting on before they took off.

After that Dr. Brennan had quickly lost all track of time. It could have been minutes or hours that they had wandered in those alleys, and sadly Booth's prediction had come true. After rounding a corner they found themselves facing three of the thugs from the warehouse. The two of them managed to kill the thugs but the gunfire brought more thugs down upon them one of whom had managed to catch Brennan in the side with a bullet.

It had been there that she had lost Booth. The special agent had pushed her out of the way and taken a bullet that had been meant for her. Despite his injury Booth held his ground and had yelled for her to run while he bought her time. For once she hadn't argued with him and had taken off.

She had again lost track of time, but knew it had to have been only minutes since the gunfire eventually ceased. After that she had just kept pushing herself to keep going no matter what, trying desperately to ensure Booth's wish for her safety to be carried out. She had run heedless of direction since she had nowhere to go. The vehicles the agents had arrived in were out since they would likely be at best guarded, or at worst inoperable. The wound in her side had continued to bleed slowly but steadily and had succeeded in slowly sapping away her remaining strength.

Her pride, her stubbornness, her desire to prove she was just as capable at anything as Booth was. That was what had led her here, and she continued to curse herself softly. If only she had done something different then maybe none of this would have happened. Tears fell freely down her cheeks as she remembered the good times she had with Booth and her fellow 'squints' at the Jeffersonian. There was so much she should have said to Booth, so many missed opportunities that she could have admitted how she truly felt about him, and now he was gone forever.

Her head jerked up at the sound of crunching snow, and she glared at the approaching figure. Gathering what energy she had left within her she waited until he was close enough before she launched herself at him.

"Heh. Still fighting I see. I would have thought you would have given it up by now." Moving with surprising speed the man instantly left his relaxed stance and nimbly grabbed Brennan's incoming fist and slammed it against the brick wall beside them hard enough to break the bone.

Releasing a cry of pain Dr. Brennan sank to the ground cradling her injured arm. Glaring defiantly at the man she waited for his next move. Studying the man carefully she looked for some sign of weakness in him she saw plenty, but none that she could exploit in her weakened state.

"So…you're the famous Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian institution. It's a pleasure to finally meet you after such a long time." Despite the smile on his face his eyes remained as cold as ice. Kneeling down he extended his hand to her waiting for her to take it.

She didn't know where she found it, but she made use of what she had and spat in his face. She smiled seeing the look of disgust on his face as he wiped Brennan's spit from his face. Before she could blink the man's elbow connected with her head knocking her on her side. Despite the headache she felt forming Dr. Brennan knew he hadn't hit her as hard as he could.

Reaching down he took her uninjured arm in his and proceeded to shake it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about you from my employers. It's too bad this had to occur, especially so close to the release date of your next book. And I was so hoping to get you to autograph it. Still business is still business." Pulling Dr. Brennan up slowly he set her gently back against the wall.

Knowing an end was near Brennan was determined to defy the man to the last. "You are never going to get away with this. By now the FBI's got every last one of you up on their wanted board. Your crimes are well known by now and you'll be hunted down."

"Yes, you are likely right about that, but it doesn't matter. By now my fellow associates have hacked into the FBI's database and deleted all the data. Plus we have little to worry about. With no case file and no id's the FBI won't locate us, and who does that leave? Your associates at the Jeffersonian: Angela Montenegro, Dr. Hodgins, and Dr. Saroyan they're protection only extends as far as the Jeffersonian, and so much can happen to a person on any given day. As for your father…Max Kennan I suspect he'd be willing to leave us alone in exchange for the safety and wellbeing of his son." Smiling and shaking his head the man continued "The people who employed us wanted to send your father a message, and what better way then through his daughter and her friends."

Despite all that he said Dr. Brennan continued to glare at him defiantly whilst holding onto the hope that justice would be done. She was mildly shocked to see that the man was no longer smiling though as he placed the barrel of his gun against her forehead.

"Believe me I don't really like doing this, and if you and your agent friend hadn't played hide and go seek for so long all this pain could have been avoided. I will promise you that your body will be found, along with Agent Booth's."

Refusing to close her eyes Dr. Temperance Brennan saw the man pulling the gun's trigger before she heard any noise and she knew no more.

The End

A/N: Please review, and don't worry hopefully some more lighthearted stuff will be posted before nightfall tomorrow.