It's been forever (again) since I last updated. So instead of boring you with my usual talking before the next chapter, I'm just going to jump off a cliff and let you read while I'm doing that. *runs and jumps off a cliff!!* ENJOOOOYYYYyyyyyyy . . .!!!~~~

Even after all that had happened, however, Zack insisted on continuing with the case they were working. However, it took him some time to reassure Zagar, Kennedy, and Smith that they were all perfectly okay. When Zack mentioned about being careful from this point on, the majority of his team started to laugh at him.

" You? Careful?" Kennedy giggled and shook her head. " That will be a first for you, Chief." All but Zack and the Black Order members laughed at this.

" Come on, Chief, you have to admit it's funny." Connell insisted to him. " Of all of us, you're the most reckless." That was very true. So much so, Zack couldn't even begin to deny the comment. It was a fact, really.

" That's what we like about you, Chief." Smith put in, seeing Zack's displeased face.

" Things always turn out for the best, especially when you throw yourself into work." Zagar agree with a grin.

" That's all the time, Zagar," Connell replied turning to the Black Order members, who'd been quietly listening to the conversation, saying," you should have seen what happened a year or so ago. We had this target and Chief was waiting for him in a crowded bar, see?" he spoke vigorously, throwing his arms here and there to gesture out the story.

He made a gun with his thumb and pointer finger then as he continued. " Guy comes in, starts waving his gun around. Chief's undercover and by himself, mind you. Gets nearly everybody out of there, more then 50 people were smuggled out right under our target's drunken nose." He then holds up his index finger to show the number one. "Only one person gets shot, and do you know who that was?"

Nearly laughing, Connell points at Zack, who's face has turned some what red at this point in the story. The employee only keeps grinning along with his co-workers at Zack's embarrassed expression. " This guy right here. He tackled our target and wrestles him until the guy shoots him in the side. Then he twists the gun out of the target's hand and keeps the target subdued until back up shows up and saves his ass." Zack didn't meet the eyes of anyone at this point, too embarrassed by the story to look up at first. Then his gray eyes come up with a frowning face.

" Its my job to bring justice for our dead and their loved ones." he stated in reply to them all, still flushed as he spoke these next words with great intensity. " Why shouldn't I want to keep the life alive before there's unnecessary blood shed?" this sobered the light mood that Connell's heroic story had brought to the room and Zack turned away for a moment to pick up the file from his desk.

" Meanwhile, we've got a case to work now, kids." Zack continued and everyone began to get back on track of what they needed to do now once again. A smile played across his face as he moved around his desk and flicked on his radio. The team members smiled and laughed as Zack turned back to them, smiling too. " What've you all got for me, my little Indians?"

" I've confirmed the cause of death," Zagar was the first Indian to speak up," wrong about one thing though." He held out a file for his boss to take from him. " The actual thing to kill her was her neck being broken. So, in a way, we were right and wrong with our earlier theory." Zack nodded, but Zagar had more to say by the frown on his face.

" What else, Zagar?" Zack's voice was unreadable, making it hard to tell his mood.

" The order of the injuries," he said slowly, still frowning greatly," her neck being broken was the last one." The Black Order members looked lost between the investigators who all had gotten the picture by this simple statement. They glanced at each other and then to the people around them, until Connell noticed their confused faces.

" It means she felt all of those other injuries before she died." Connell murmured, putting a hand on his hip as he smiled at his leader. " Also meaning the person responsible earned themselves a one way ticket to hell on earth from Chief, right?" Zack's gaze flicked to Connell, darkly.

" You know me too well." he replied, and Connell nodded his understanding of that.

" On another note," Zagar added, lightening the feeling in the room instantly, " interesting fact about her?" he prompted the question, but Kennedy was the one who gave Zack the page with the information.

" HIV positive," Kennedy finished for her co-worker," Smith found it after Zagar gave us some of her blood work. Girlie here had herself a squeeze."

" Or two." Smith added, softly.

" Apparently he felt like SHARING the love." Zagar grinned, laughing at his own dirty joke. The rest sighed, finding this the most inappropriate time for this kind of joke. Zack turned abruptly to the Black Order members.

" She sleep around a lot at work?" he asked, very blunt and to the point.

" How would we know?!" Kanda snapped at him, his face turning red. Zack grew a clever grin, seeing how Kanda and his two friends seemed uneasy with the topic of sex, or so it appeared.

" Looky here, Indians," he said, grinning madly at his employees over his shoulder, " we don't get many prudes around here, wouldn't you say?" Zagar and Connell hooted while Smith and Zack chuckled. Kennedy gave a new meaning to the words " laughing my ass off" at that time, only getting everybody else laughing harder along with her. That laugh of her's was a bit contagious when she got giggling too much.

" Kid," Connell began, throwing his arm over Kanda's shoulder," you gotta understand. We really don't get many prudes around here. Sex is a common thing to bring up in this place. So forgive our laughing. We sometimes forget sex is supposed to be an awkward subject to most people." Kanda gave him the worst glare Connell would ever recall for the rest of his life then, jerking his shoulder out from Connell's reach. There were a few mild chuckles from Smith and Zack at that reaction, but nothing more.

" Was there any rumors of her sleeping around at work?" Smith asked again, knowing that it would be bad to stay off topic much longer. " Anybody who mentioned they caught her half naked with a boss or something like that?" he prompted for an answer to this question, and nobody else was saying it was a joke.

" Not that we know of." was the only reply they offered. After a few long moments of silence after that, Zack threw his arms up in the air, making a loud noise of frustration. Right then and there, he started pacing in front of them.

" Useless Black Order bastards! Can't tell us anything, it's like having dead weight around!!" Zack hissed and muttered to himself, but loud enough that everyone heard him. For the moment he seemed to have taken to ignoring them all and focusing on only thinking over what to do next.

" You wanna start something-?!" exclaimed Daisya, getting angry. Connell threw his arm out in front of Daisya to prevent him from going any further. Zack's team knew that Zack pacing meant he was going to be thinking out loud. He was bond to start cursing and insulting somebody. It was just the way he was, after all.

" Sh!" Connell hushed to Daisya, who just didn't get it. There was no hope that he would understand it or that he ever would understand the ties these very different people had to one another. Zack wheeled on his heels again and walked a few steps, then wheeled once more, constantly in motion while he thought.

" No crime scene, no home address, no witnesses, no friends or loved ones we know of, nothing, nothing, Nothing dammit!!" his thoughts streamed out in a list rather then a in sentence format. " The only sign of a crime is the body itself. Having 'God Matter' carved into her back means this is a hate crime. Hate crimes develop over time and involve, in most cases, someone who was close to the victim. . ." Now his pattern ended as he turned and pointed at the Black Order members.

" Take me to where she lives and works." he commanded, abruptly.~~

Well, to say this was awkward situation for the exorcists didn't feel like a strong enough expression of this demand to enter the Black Order head quarters. Still, they somehow found a way to do so, by telling Komui that both Connell and Zack were exorcists. Getting Connell and Zack to understand what this meant was a whole different story, however.

They had only begun to learn how stubborn Zack DeRoy could be. Only two of them were allowed to come to the order, which was okay by Zack, because he only planned on bringing Connell with him from the start when it came to the work side of things. Zack had one thing to protest in all of this, however.

" We're not bringing the girl or your friend along!!" Kanda snapped at Zack.

" Bull shit, I'm not leaving them here." Zack snapped right back at him. Folding his arms, Zack's face set into a determined frown at Kanda and his exorcist friends.

They were all ready to go, they as in the exorcists, Connell, Zack, Luke, and Cara. Zack simply wouldn't leave them behind, but the exorcists couldn't take them unannounced either. It was a rather strange situation to say the least and it was delaying them.

Luke and Cara were doing as Zack had told them earlier. Keeping quiet. Zack had been sure he could win out the argument, all he told them to do was wait it out quietly.

" Damn you stupid pest, this isn't up for negotiation. They Can't Come."

" I'm not going anywhere without them." Zack replied, stubbornly as ever. Connell smiled and laughed, Marie looking pretty happy himself.

" They're getting along well." he mused aloud, getting Connell laughing again. Luke stared at the two of them.

" That's getting along nicely?" Luke inquired, laughing a bit too. He knew Zack, this was just like his friend. " I'd hate to see when they're not getting along well. This seems bad enough by itself."

" They'd probably be at each others' throats," Connell kept right on laughing, grinning, " like they were the first time."

" No doubt." Marie agree, just as the boat got ready to pull out. NO more time to delay.~~~

-oooooOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYY!! *lands on something soft* Huh. Well. That was anti-climatic. Anyways, we'll find out who stays and who goes, so to speak, next chapter. Until then, REVIEWS!! I ENJOY THEM!! Remember that when you're sitting around bored with some of those other silly stories out there. Have a good day!