The City of Shadows

Author's Note: I've been waiting to do this chapter since I started the story. I should warn you (spoiler alert!) that Shadow is not human, and if you don't like that idea, then you don't have to continue reading this story (the main reason for this being that I'm experimenting with this character for another story I haven't started writing yet). Just don't send me any flames, because I will ignore them-or thank you for supplying me with my entertainment for the week.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my character.

They arrived at The Frog club, to see the building next to it (because the body was found in between the two buildings, and I just couldn't bear to burn down the club) engulfed in flames. There was a crowd surrounding the building (at a safe distance) and firefighters were already at the scene.

There was a lone figure leaning against the wall of the building on the opposite side burning one. Tony recognized her immediately and headed over to talk to her. The others were confused (except maybe for Gibbs) and followed him.

"Nice to see you back in DC, Miss Callie." Tony said to the girl watching the growing fire.

"Hello again, Agent DiNozzo." Kisa Callie responded, never taking her eyes off the flames. "I came to collect Shadow. I heard she's been getting herself into mischief again."

"You're Shadow's sister?" McGee asked, although he was pretty sure of the answer.

"I am," she told him, turning to look directly at him. "And you're the one she never shuts up about." This statement, said so casually, caused Tim to blush. Gibbs, however, didn't waste anymore time.

"Where is she?" Kisa nodded in the direction of the burning building. "She's in there?" Gibbs asked in disbelief.

"Not 'in,' above. She's on the roof. That's how the fire started."

"Why would she start a fire?"

"Shadow didn't start it. She did."

"Who is 'she'?"

"Stick around and you just might find out." With that, Kisa straightened up and walked down the alley toward the back of the building, all the while, watching in the direction of the roof.

"I wonder what she meant by that." Tony mused. He turned to make a comment to Tim, only to find him gone. "What the-?" He looked back down the alley and saw Tim's back retreating around the corner.

At the back of the building, Tim found himself alone. Kisa had disappeared. Suddenly, something-or someone-fell off of the roof, hit the ground on their feet, lost their balance, and rolled backwards into a stand. This strange person looked vaguely familiar to Tim, but he had-to his knowledge-never known anyone with cat ears and a big, fluffy tail.

"That was some fall. Oh, hey Tim." The cat-creature didn't have a mouth-it looked like she had a mask over the bottom half of her face (for any Naruto fans out there, think Kakashi-sensei)-but Tim got the impression she was smiling. He also thought that the voice sounded a lot like Shadow's, but he knew that it couldn't be (or, at least, that's what he tried to convince himself of).

"How do you know my name?" He asked stupidly. The cat-creature tilted its head in confusion.

"What's that suppose to mean? And I thought we had something special." She said sarcastically. "Seriously Tim, think about it."

"…Shadow?" Tim asked cautiously.

"Yep, that's me." Shadow held up her hand in a waving gesture, but quickly retracted it to behind her back when she noticed Tim looking at it strangely (more strangely than he already was looking at her) and looked herself. The 'skin' was completely gone from her entire forearm and hand. All that was left was what looked like some sort of 3D digital structuring.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she answered just a bit too quickly. "It's nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing."

"Well, it is nothing."

"It looked to me like you're hurt."

"So what if I am? Unless you've got a cell phone on you, there's not much you can do about it."

"Why do you need a cell phone?" Shadow didn't answer, just held out her hand-her non-injured hand. Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Shadow took it from him and held it near her injured arm.

Tim watched in amazement as the 'skin' repaired itself, first as a blue layer, then a red layer, and then a final black layer, which matched the rest of her body (he figured that was why she was always wearing black in her 'human form,' he just hasn't figured out how yet). Shadow looked at her arm-once it was fully healed-as if examining the patchwork.

"What are you?" Tim couldn't help but ask. He felt kind of bad when Shadow-again-tilted her head at him.

"I hope you don't mind if I counter that with a question. Have you ever heard of Digimon?"

"Yes, it's a video game, a card game, and a TV show. What does that have to do with it?" He asked, not understanding the reference.

"What if I told you…" She paused for a moment, thinking over how to put it. "That Digimon are real, and that all of things you mentioned about them…were created to cover up the truth?"

"Any other time, I would call you crazy, but…right now…I think I'd believe you."

"Surprise," she said awkwardly. "My real name is Shadowmon, but I'd prefer if you still called me Shadow. That is-if you still want to be friends. I'd completely understand if you didn't."

"That would explain a lot of things, but…why didn't you tell me before?"

"You didn't know Digimon are real, why do you think that is? Nobody is supposed to know. I couldn't tell you."

"I don't understand."

"I know, and it's better if you don't. I might be able to explain later, but I've got to go. Kisa's still up there," she gestured toward the roof. "With her."

"You mean the real killer? Is she a Digimon too?"

"Yes, a very dangerous one. That's why I didn't want you involved, but you just couldn't stay away, could you?" Suddenly, there was another explosion and the rooftop burst into flames once again. "Whoops, that's my cue. Let's talk about this later, shall we? Don't worry about finding me, I'll find you."

With that, she was gone. Well, she wasn't really gone, because Tim knew exactly where she was, but she had gotten there (the top of a building, at least six stories up) with one jump. He wasn't exactly sure what to think, but he was determined to find out. There was no way he would just leave it alone, after learning so much about something he had never known.

A/N: Well, that was a strange chapter. Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, if you don't like where this is going, you don't have to read it. For anyone that actually does care, the next chapter will have some action scenes, as well as a lengthy explanation. So, be prepared…