Notes: This is a bit of a short chapter but I thought two short chapters would be better than one really long one. Also, be warned for huge squickiness, the murder was very brutal and there's lots of descriptions. If you can't handle this chapter, you might want to reconsider continuing with this fic, as it will be just as bad further on. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Two

When the call was sent out on the police scanner, Jamie scribbled down the address and found the others. They were on their way in less than a minute and the mood inside the van was tense, no one speaking, each trying to prepare themselves for whatever it was they were about to encounter. Michelle was huddled up in her seat, legs tucked up to her chest and staring blankly out the window. She hadn't said much since she left the infirmary, but there were lines of worry marking her face and she was chewing almost constantly on her bottom lip. Occasionally she would shudder or make a small whimpering sound, but no one dared ask her what was wrong.

Rogue drove slowly around the corner until the right street came into view, and she sighed when she saw that the road was swarming with police cars, the lights flashing and painting blue and red splotches on the sidewalk and houses.

"Cops," Kar muttered darkly. "I fucking hate cops."

"And they hate us," Ivy growled, glaring out the window.

"We don't have to like each other, they just have to let us do our jobs," Rogue said, pulling up to the curb and shutting off the engine. "This is our first major crime scene, let's try to be professional-don't move anything unless the forensics guys have documented it and stuff, no starting fights, try not to use your powers. Has everyone got their badges and gloves?"

After a round of affirmative noises, Rogue nodded and pulled her own badge out of the glove compartment, hooking it onto her jacket pocket. She took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping out into the bright sunlight and hearing her team doing the same, though Michelle stayed in the car. Glancing around and taking note of where everyone was standing, Rogue walked towards the yellow tape with a confidence she didn't entirely feel.

She put her hand on the cool tape and was about to lift it up before someone's hand descended on her forearm. She bit back the urge to punch the person, and looked up coldly. He seemed to be a young officer, fresh to the job, and was looking at her with a faintly worried grin.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but you can't come through here-it's a murder scene."

Rogue rolled her eyes and held up her badge so that she could see it. "I'm Rogue Summers, with the Mutant Control and Defence Agency. We suspect mutant activity and have chosen to investigate. Now step aside."

The officer stared at her blankly for a moment before sweeping his eyes over her body. She knew that she didn't look like an official person-her attempt at being professional meant that she was wearing a rather wrinkled suit with the tie undone, and her now shoulder length hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, leaving one white strand hanging in front of her right eye. Envee said that she looked trendy, but she didn't really look professional.

After a minute of watching the poor officer try to decide what to do, Rogue took pity on him and suggested he go find the captain. After he had gratefully scurried away in search of his boss, Rogue and her team ducked under the tape and walked further down the street. No one else questioned their presence, assuming that if they'd been let under the tape then they had the right to be there, and they'd come within two feet of the right house before a voice shouted out for them to stop.

Rogue blew out a heavy breath and turned to see who had shouted. She was acutely aware of her friends shifting slightly, giving themselves more room to manoeuvre, and she thought briefly of telling them to relax but realised that she was doing the same thing.

The captain was a large, heavy man with a red face and a thick, bushy moustache. His suit was crumpled and he looked as if he'd been up for too many hours dealing with too much stress. Rogue found it hard to find any sympathy for the man and waited impassively as he strode towards her.

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are?" he demanded, glaring at her and deliberately invading her personal space. "You can't just waltz into my crime scene! This is police business and-"

"Actually it's our business," Rogue snapped coldly. "We suspect mutant involvement and we have the jurisdiction to investigate any crime where we suspect mutants are involved, that's the whole point of our job. So back off and if we find out that no mutants are involved, we'll leave. But until then, we're in charge, so shut up and deal with it."

Then Rogue turned and lead her team into the house, leaving the captain and various police officers staring at them in a mixture of emotions ranging from anger to bewilderment to mild amusement in a couple of cases. Kar grinned and winked at Envee, who smirked back at him, their faces hidden from the police. They heard various mutters and comments about Jamie, people wondering if they should stop her from entering, but that was stopped when Jamie merely looked down at the body and sighed before pulling on her latex gloves and kneeling down in a pool of blood.

It was barely recognisable as human now and it took a moment for Rogue to figure out just what she was seeing. It had been a man once, late thirties maybe, judging from the grey speckling his brown hair. His chest and stomach was just a huge red cave, the flesh ripped apart to reveal the organs, which had then spilled onto the floor. One of his lungs was still inside his body, and a few scraps of intestines, but everything else was gone. The thick stench of blood and meat and urine filled the air and Rogue automatically started taking quick, shallow breaths, helping to keep the smell at bay. The man's face was a gruesome mask of fear, his mouth open and his eyes staring in horror at the ceiling.

"Did a human do this?" Rogue asked quietly, not taking her eyes off the man's face. There wasn't an answer for a minute as Jamie prodded at the edges of the man's wounds, running her fingers along his shattered ribs and picking up a small piece of what liked his stomach.

"No," she eventually said. "This was done by claws, large and brutal. Someone dug their hands into his chest and literally ripped him open. This was a mutant."

Rogue turned her head to look at the captain, who was standing in the doorway watching them in sick fascination. "There you go-it's our crime scene now."