Author's Notes: Well guys, here's a new story I'm going to try out. This first chapter is basically a premise on what's to come later on, so I hope you like where I'm taking it!

Title: Mad World

Summary: An incident occurs, many questions are left unanswered, and the determination of one man can lead him down a long and hard road.

Rating: PG-13

Special Thanks: To Cody (CCA) and Laurie (Laurie Lasagna) for helping me! You girls are great. Also, to all of you who have supported me on my other stories, thanks so much! (

Chapter One: Questions With No Answers

Feedback: Greatly appreciated, please tell me how I'm doing so I can make this story the best that it can be!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, these characters don't belong to me and no money is being made off of this so please don't sue! This is for entertainment purposes only!

Mad World: Chapter One; Questions With No Answers

Bosco ran his hands over his face as he sat in the RMP, waiting on Monroe to do whatever it was she was doing in the gas station they were parked in front of. He looked at the entrance to the small store, growing impatient with every second that passed.

A few moments later Monroe came out, walking down the concrete steps and into the car, a huge smile painted across her face. She was holding a bag of Doritos and a Sprite Remix. She noticed his glare and her smile suddenly faded to a blank expression.

"What is wrong with you?" She tossed him the bag of Doritos. "Want some?"

He just stared at her as he turned the key in the ignition. "What are you so happy about?" He put the car in gear and proceeded into traffic.

She crunched some chips between her teeth. "Oh, I saw an old friend in the store. A guy from high school. You'd like him, he acts a lot like you do." She sipped on the clear soft drink and waited to see if Bosco would reply.

He kept his eyes on the road but before he could speak a huge explosion rang out on the street, sending a rumble through the whole borough they were in. Bosco immediately pulled the car over, looking behind them to see the gas station they were previously at was now up in flames, as well as the buildings next door to it and the vehicles that were in the area.

Monroe grabbed her radio. "Central, we need all available units at 123rd and King, there's been an explosion. Call FDNY also." She got out of the car and watched as the neighborhood was sent into chaotic mode.

Bosco's first instinct was to run towards the route of the problem, and that's what he did. Monroe followed, their adrenaline pumping from the events that were taking place right in front of them. Bosco turned to look at Monroe who stared in awe as they got as close to the building as they could.

Reality struck for Monroe at that moment. She realized her friend hadn't gotten out of the store in time, and he was among the dead bodies that were scattered everywhere. She looked at the huge flames and then at Bosco, swallowing hard. "Boz, what in the hell...happened?"

~*~

Bosco ran cold water from the locker room sink over his face, enjoying every drop that trickled over his face. They still hadn't put the pieces together on the fire; they had no clues as to what had happened, or even the death count. He just knew it wasn't good, no matter what the cause and effect was.

Monroe walked in; her once good mood shattered in the seconds it took the explosion to take place. She walked to her locker, it was evident she was on the verge of tears. Bosco grabbed the nearest towel and wiped away the excess water, and then made his way to the distraught police officer he called partner for now.

He sat by her on the bench. "Monroe, I'm sorry about your friend." He was never good at being "nice" about things so he let the silence set in.

She nodded, wiping a few stray tears off of her cheek. "I just want to know what happened. Why it happened." She turned and put a red scarf around her neck.

"We'll find out. This isn't over in the least bit." He got up from the bench. "Even if the detectives give up, I won't."

"Thanks Bosco thanks a lot."

Bosco looked down at her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He then nodded. He wasn't exactly sure what to say to her, but for the life of him this would not go untouched. If they would've waited just a few more minutes they'd be dead too, and that hit Bosco like a fist to the stomach. This wasn't over.

~*~

When he got home he had one message waiting on his answering machine, it was his mother just checking up on him like she did from time to time. He picked up his phone, contemplating on whether or not to call her but instead he set the phone back down on his coffee table and turned on his TV. He was expecting news of the explosion to be on but the news was already over for the evening, he had missed it. That's probably why his mother had called him tonight; she probably just wanted to make sure that he wasn't involved in it.

He decided to reassure his mother that he was okay so he dialed her number. She picked up after three rings. "Hello?"

Bosco switched his phone over to his left ear as he muted his TV. "Hey ma, you called?" He kept his voice light as he waited for her to respond.

She sighed. "Yeah, just checking in, wanted to see how you were doing." She exhaled some cigarette smoke.

Bosco leaned back on his couch. "Oh, so you saw the news huh?"

"Yeah, I saw that. Did you go to that call?"

He arched his eyebrow as he switched the phone over again. "Yeah, you could call it that I guess. I'm fine, don't worry about me." He then walked to his kitchen and grabbed a beer, savoring its flavor as he drank it down as if it were water. He tended to do that after a stressful day.

Rose licked her lips. "Ok, I love you Maurice. I'll see you later."

"Love you too." He hung up the phone and threw it on his kitchen cabinet. He closed his eyes and envisioned the explosion he saw in the rear view mirror of the RMP. He could even feel the huge vibration from whatever caused it.

He quickly opened his eyes and wiped the sweat from his brow. He hoped that whatever happened would be sorted out by the morning, if not he was on his own in doing it.

~*~

Bosco went into work an hour early, just to see if he could get anything out of Swersky before the shift started. He slowly walked up the stairs to his door, and gave a light knock. Swersky waved him in, but continued to look down at some paperwork in front of him.

"What is it Boscorelli?" Swersky didn't look up, but scanned through the thick packet.

Bosco stood in front of his desk. "Sir, I was just wondering if the detectives or anybody found out anything about that explosion that happened yesterday." He ran his hands over the back of the chair he was standing next to. He just couldn't stand still for some reason.

He had grabbed Swersky's attention, because his eyes averted from the stack of papers to Bosco. "Why do you want to know?"

Bosco looked down at his shoes and then back to his superior. "Because Lieu, we would've been dead too if we would've just waited a split second longer." He lowered his voice. "And besides, Monroe had a friend in that gas station that didn't get out before it went to shit. I just want to know, for the sake of our mentality."

Swersky folded his arms over his chest and kept a straight face towards Bosco. He could tell Bosco wasn't lying about it; hell it would be a very bad thing to lie about in the first place. "We do know it was an intentional bombing, there was no accident in the matter. Someone planted C4 in the men's bathroom and set it to a timer. That's all we know as of right now, there have been no suspects lined up."

Bosco nodded. "Sir, I want to help with this investigation."

Swersky continued with the same look he had before. He was like a brick wall, showing no emotion to anything that Bosco had said. "I think the detectives have it under control, they don't want anyone getting in the way."

He gritted his teeth. "Boss, I won't get in the way."

"No. Just keep an eye out for suspicious activity, continue your normal routine. We have it under control, Boscorelli."

Bosco ran his hands over his hair. "Yeah, whatever." He turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. What was the harm in letting him help out? More manpower meant they'd solve it faster. He didn't care what Swersky said, he was still going to work it, what Swersky didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

~*~

Bosco could tell that Monroe hadn't got much sleep the night before. She just wasn't herself. She had dark bags forming under her eyes, she wasn't smiling, and she hadn't said much to him at all. Every small corner gas station they passed made her wince like she was afraid it would blow at any time.

"How'd you sleep last night Monroe?" He decided to break the ice before he went crazy.

"Let's just say I didn't know nights were so long." She yawned and closed her eyes. "How about you?"

"I never sleep good." Bosco then turned down the same road that the incident occurred on yesterday and parked the car about a block away from where the gas station once stood. He got out of the car and walked towards it.

"Boz, what are we doing?" Monroe followed.

"I'm going to take a look around. Swersky doesn't want me helping with the case but screw him. I won't rest until we know just what happened." He crossed under the yellow police tape and ran his boots through ashes that were scattered over the vicinity of the area.

Monroe looked uneasy as Bosco tried to sift through what was in front of them. There wasn't much he could see of course, there was nothing left. He looked up at Monroe. "Yeah, this is why they say arson is one of the hardest crimes to solve." He shook his head as he stood up.

They didn't know it but someone behind a set of binoculars from an apartment across the street was watching them. The person zoomed them in right on Bosco and Sasha, a small grin forming on their lips.

The watcher turned to look at the other person in the room. "They don't know it yet, but they just stepped in a pile of shit. This is going to be fun."

The other person nodded, both of them giving out a raspy laugh as they continued to watch from their fourth story apartment window.