A/N: Hey, everyone! I was going to update this last week, but I'm stupid and in gym I forgot the number one rule of volleyball: DO NOT HIT THE BALL ON YOUR EXPOSED THUMB. I tried to hit it on my arm but volleyballs are impervious to Jedi mind tricks and it hit my thumb. My gym teacher said it looked like I dented it. It swole up then became a whole rainbow of colors varying from red to brown to purple to blue to green and so on. I couldn't move it properly for a week. Hence why this wasn't updated til now. Thought I might have sprained it. My doctor said it wasn't broken... thanks doc. I already knew it wasn't broken, you nimrod! If it was, I'd be in a lot more pain and wouldn't be able to move it at all! He was no help. Sorry this so short, but my thumb (and hand) is still sore and doesn't want to type a lot, but I wanted to get this one out there. BTW, MERRY(belated) CHRISTMAS!

Chapter One: In the Alley

Rain poured down onto the dark dim lit street. Wet, pounding sounds rang out in the night

Clunk, splash! Clunk, splash!

Neat black dress shoes were being ruined in the watery black puddles. Loose dampening papers tried to escape the tight grip that held them, but shaking hands put them in their place.

Clunk, splash! Clunk, splash! Clunk, splash!

Trembling lips parted in a harsh pant as the ruined dress shoes took them forward still. They reached a corner and skid at the sight of flashing lights and ran towards it. They stopped before crashing into a wall of cotton and muscle. The wall turned to the source of the sudden impact and grey eyes looked down.

The wall held a black umbrella over his head and was attired in a beige trench coat unbuttoned to expose his grey button-up and black pants held by a leather belt. His face was stubbled and black hair stood in a crooked scythe behind a pair of goggles that rested on his head. He had a scar from his left brow that went alongside his eye and ended at his cheekbone.

Before the grey-eyed wall, hunched a panting and exhausted looking blonde, clutching a stack of papers to his chest as though it would attack if let loose. A water-stained grey suit donned this young man of no more than twenty. His spiky locks were glued to his face with rain and eyes were scrunched together as the man tried to regain his breath.

The wall made a small chuckle around his cigarette and his grey eyes lit up in mirth.

"Did you run here all the way here from the Department?"

At the deep sound, blue eyes snapped up to laughing grey ones and the blonde scowled.

"I wouldn't have had to if someone hadn't crashed my car a week ago. "

Large shoulders shook in contained laughter.

"It's not my fault that your car was the only one around when our suspect took off."

"But it is your fault, that you jumped out of it at the last second to jump onto his car only to let mine crash into a dump truck!"

"Hey! That was an awesome stunt and you know it!"

"Ladies!"

Blue and grey eyes turn to a black-haired woman in a dark grey knee-high skirt and a matching jacket. Purple eyes glared over her rectangle glasses at the two men.

"Quit your bitching and hurry it up before the corpse rots."

She turned on her heel rolling her eyes and walked towards a dark blob on the cement.

She scrutinized the figure as she pointed the flashlight at the corpse. The body was that of a young teenager, but the skin was sickly pale and shriveled like a mummy while the hair looked dead and bleached. The eye sockets were empty and the face was pulled back into a horrified expression and the arms were frozen in a defensive position over the face. It wore a black jacket over a white button-up with a loose navy tie and black slacks. Something white caught her eye and she flashed the light over it. With her gloved free hand, she gently pried it out of the coat pocket. She sighed heavily at what it read.

"Another student, huh?"

She looked over her shoulder to find the crouched brunette looking down at the student ID with a grim expression.

"Yes. It's another student."

A/N: CLIFF HANGER!