Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Bancroft.

"Victor Stein doesn't have any family or known acquaintances." Kristoff sighed in budding frustration while they continued looking over the computers set up in front of them. I, on the other hand, was sharpening one of my many daggers. "Lone wolves are harder to catch." He concluded.

"Tell me about it." Elsa spoke up. My ear twitched at that statement and I slid my eyes over to where she was looking at me. Though, when teal met blue she cleared her throat loudly and blurted, "I mean, as if puppets weren't creepy enough on their own."

A secret smile tugged at my lips as I went back to sharpening. On the way over, I was surprised to see that the girl was fully dressed by the time we got to the lair Kristoff and I had set up a few months ago. I had no idea how she did it, but when our shoulders brushed on the way down, the cold emanating from her shirt was unmistakable. She had made them somehow and it was starting to bother me because I didn't know anything more about it. There was just so much I wanted to know about her and it seemed like when an opportunity presented itself, something else came up. Or we were too busy trying to save someone.

I may not have known what the deal was with her, but what I did know was that Kristoff and I had checked out one of Victor Stein's more familiar hideouts only to get a chilling call from the psycho himself. I wasn't the one talking to him, but that didn't mean I couldn't hear Stein's hella creepy voice and the terrible pleas from the woman he'd had with him. The one who sadly ended up included in his sick collection because we couldn't track him at all. It was a heavy loss and I so badly wanted it to be the last. Which was why I went to Elsa.

"Does the victim give us any forensics we can use?" Said girl asked and when I turned my attention back to them, I nearly ran Kristoff out of there because he was now hogging the stupid computers. That attitude of this towards her was starting to really get old really fast.

"It looks like CSI did a complete forensics work-up, but they sent everything out to a private lab." He answered instead which made my jaw flex to keep from saying anything.

"Can you get in?" I directed my question to Elsa who scoffed at me and motioned to my friend's massive frame sitting in the chair like I hadn't seen him there.

"Ha-ha." She snarked. "But honestly, if it's a private lab, I highly doubt they'd have a system that's accessible online. It's private for a reason." Her hands slid up into her hair and my eyes fell to the clothes she was wearing. Just awhile ago there was nothing but her crop top complete with boy shorts and now there was a shirt and pants. Even her hair was fixed from the sleeping mess it had been.

Coming back to the case at hand, I thought about what she'd said. Private lab. If that was true then there was another way to get into those files. We just had to be old fashioned and go directly to the source. "Get the name of the lab. Let's go Kristoff." I barked, sheathing my dagger before walking over to her and when I got there, I reached up to put a steady hand on her shoulder. "Can you stay here and guide us once we get in?"

"Sure." Came the quick reply. "As long as Mr. Fussy-Britches doesn't mind me touching the computer." Elsa shot Kristoff a wry look which he returned without hesitation and I bit back an irritated growl. They were acting like children!

"Breakfast is on me." I told her instead with a gentle smile. Elsa rolled her eyes, stepped away from the table she was leaning on and sauntered back over to the seat Kristoff had vacated.

"Fastest way to my heart is through my stomach." Was her cheeky reply that had me chuckling like an idiot. I wouldn't deny that.

Creed.

I guess that's a typical night for the two of them. Breaking and entering. I thought distractedly while trying not to go to town on the computer before me. Their system was way out of date and I wanted nothing more than to bring it up to speed. My fingers, my everything was itching for it. Too bad it wasn't my computer, but it did mean that I would have to erase my steps from here on out, so at least I'd have some fun backtracking later.

"You're up, Elsa." Anna's voice brought me back to the underground lair I was in and my fingers instantly worked their magic. It really was quite mystical down there and when Anna first brought me down, I nearly squealed in excitement. It was like the Bat Cave! But then Kristoff showed up too and ruined the mood with his infuriating broodiness. It wasn't my fault Anna came to me.

Hm. Pressing the button on my headset, I answered them. "All right. Got toxicology first." Several other screens popped up while my eyes scanned through the known chemical ingredients of all the makeup found on the victims. Skin cream, nail polish, lipstick, among others. While I read through the files, I couldn't help but think of the lab Anna had taken me to at first. It must be awesome to be a CSI! The guy named Tadashi who worked in that lab probably had all sorts of fun with whatever new case popped up. If only I could update his system too. Wow, I'm a nerd.

"Wait. Scroll back up." Dectective's voice spoke next, making me do just that. "That one. 'Ethylparaben Sodium laureth sulfate.'" There was a long enough pause from him that tipped me off and I didn't hesitate to turn to the other computer to type in the words he'd recognized. "I've seen this before." He stated slowly.

"It's skin cream." I answered when I found it. "Forensics found traces of it on her fingers. Most likely something she used before your psycho grabbed her."

"Okay, yeah, skin cream. Desert- something." Kristoff sounded like he was onto something, but I was already one step ahead of him and looking for a particular product. "One of the victims, she had that in her purse and I had the lab analyze it. Same formula."

"Elsa." Anna's voice prodded, causing a pleased grin to capture my lips.

"Already on it." Was my confident response as I brought up the store I found. There was a short pause that ended with me popping my fingers in nothing but satisfaction when Kristoff's stumped voice came back through the ear piece.

"How the hell could she do that?"

I cleared my throat, letting my ego calm down for a moment. "Ethylparaben and sodium laureth sulfate is Desert Rose's proprietary formula." My fingers never stopped moving and my eyes stayed glued to the screens.

"Two victims with the same taste in skin cream. That can't be a coincidence." Anna said. I could seriously listen to her talk all day. Until then. Stretching out the muscles in my back, I then continued to try to find anything helpful that they could use. The faster I got to the bottom of it, the faster I could eat.

By the time the two came back, I was engrossed in what I'd found and had decided that if I ever got to that stage of wearing any sort of skin cream, I would definitely be using Desert Rose. It even had a pretty name.

"What do we know about the product?" Anna came right over to me and pushed her hood back while Detective sauntered off to grab another chair so he could push it over. I figured Anna said something to him because he wasn't all up in my face like he was before they went to Gander Laboratories and I was just fine with that. At least I could breathe better.

"It's made from crushed mother of pearl." I began. "That's super high-end and is only carried in a handful of boutiques. And it's marketed for women with extremely delicate complexions." Leaning my head backwards, I looked up at Anna's focused face as she stood over me. She was upside down in my vision. "It looks like he picks his victims for their skin and the cream is how he finds them, right?" When she only smirked proudly at me did I sit back up to look at the computers again. "Only four stores carry it and three have surveillance systems."

"And?" Kristoff seemed to not want to be left out, so that time I spoke to him.

"I've ran facial recognition through all of them looking for Stein but come up empty."

"Facial recognition?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"What? I borrowed APD's." I gestured to the space in front of me. Considering the computers I was using weren't there yet, I mean, why would these computers have it if they were set up the way they were? Be nice. In fact, since I'd had some free time in the beginning when they left and had come across a few things about Anna and Kristoff, but that was for a later time. "Anyway, Stein must be staking out the stores from the outside." I concluded.

"So we'll do the same." Kristoff looked to Anna who was still beside me and when she returned his look, there was a seriousness about her that had me biting back a groan. Can she be any more hot?

"That could take days we don't have, Kris. He's probably out there looking for another girl right now." She nearly snapped.

And then an idea presented itself in my mind. "So that's what we give the creep." I answered, making them both turn their attention to me. "I'll go to the stores that carry Desert Rose and buy it in each one to cover our bases."

"That's reckless." Kristoff shook his head at me. "Not to mention dangerous."

"More reckless and dangerous than going under cover in a mob casino or almost dying at the hands of the Punisher?" I deadpanned. Kristoff turned away in annoyance, but Anna only continued to stare blankly at me.

Here we go again.