NYPD 14th(Midtown South) Precinct

Donnie was one with the pencil. Its sharp, thick piece of lead was aimed at a 45-degree angle towards an empty cup of morning joe. He slid another pencil underneath and perpendicular to the first one, creating a little catapult contraption he loved to construct every now and then just to annoy his partner. After taping part of a staple to his end of the pencil and placing a small, crumpled piece of his notebook in the area between the staple's two prongs, he eyed his partner inconspicuously. He rotated the pencil catapult to the left a little, and with a quick drop of his fist on the eraser end, the piece of paper went flying into the eye of the 28-year-old, 124-pound detective third grade who sat in front of him. He put down the case file he was looking at while rubbing his left eye. His face was a deep shade of red.

"Fuck you Marks!" He fumed. "That was the third time this week!"

Donnie remarked sarcastically. "Charlie if you had any sense of humor, you'd be detective second grade by now"

"Marks I might as well charge you with repeated assaults against a police officer you piece of white shit." He retorted.

"Look all I tried to do was insert some humor into that miserable thing you call your life"

Just as Donnie said that, a black, female officer dropped off a case file on his desk, marked "Classified".

"The hell is this?" Marks asked with an annoyed tone to his voice.

"It's direct from One PP." She said proceeding to walk away. "that's all I know honey."

Marks flipped open the soft, manila cover revealing several documents pertaining to Dr. Gordon Amherst. We had put surveillance on him after his speech at some campus, raising several red flags especially after the Dark Winter exercises. Donnie had read some of Amherst's work before, as he was an avid enthusiast of learning. Like many others, he was outraged at Amherst's dark, radical mentality yet could understand his motives and various viewpoints. Apparently, the NYCP had lost sight of Amherst three days ago.

"Wow… we're in the deep shit now." Donnie said skimming through the case notes. "One step away from a real life Dark Winter."

"Yup, sounds 'bout right" Charlie agreed. "What'cha think Donnie?"

"Let's go catch this son of a bitch." Donnie said with a grin. "I know where his apartment is."

Both men stood up, holstering their Glock 19s and putting on their business coats. Heading down the stairs to the outside of the precinct station they raced towards their vehicle. Their black, unmarked Dodge Charger was parked on a sidewalk nearby. Snow began to fall lightly. Marks got in first, turning on the police radio with Charlie following close behind him.

"Damn Marks you got a head start!" Charlie panted as he ducked his head down to get in the vehicle. Marks ignored him, only talking into

Donnie shifted the gear to drive once Charlie got into his seat, and the car lurched forward and onto the lane as he stepped on the peddle.

15 minutes later

Donnie turned the left blinker on. The traffic was terrible as per usual, and Charlie was fast asleep with his head leaning against the passenger window. Donnie admired the beauty of the city, especially its vastness. Those gigantic buildings near Times Square made him feel so small, and he debated in his head whether that was good or bad. He turned left around a nearby gas station, the apartment complex was within sight.

Then suddenly the car halted, causing Charlie to jerk forward violently and papers to fly everywhere. An eight-year-old girl was holding the hood of the car, a confused look on her face.

"The fuck?" Charlie, who was now awake and agitated, punched Donnie's shoulder. "You almost killed her! Where'd you get your license? India?"

The mother of the girl ran up to her, pulling her away from the street and checking if she's okay. Upon seeing this Donnie began to bang his head against the steering wheel, the loud honking of the vehicle attracted pedestrians who soon began to take videos. Charlie pat Donnie's shoulder before getting out of the vehicle to deal with the other people.

The father of the girl tapped on the driver's seat window, a furious look on his face. Donnie opened the door, getting up and facing the dad who was around 4 inches taller than he was. He had a thick, but short beard and he was wearing a plaid shirt with slate jeans.

"Listen sir, this was clearly an accident, and now one was hurt." Donnie reasoned. "Why don't we all walk away from this peacefully."

The father exploded, shoving Donnie back a little. "You listen here you SON OF A BITCH. You almost killed my daughter! Why don't you LOOK where you're driving, huh? You really New York's finest?"

"Sir, I'm gonna need you to get your hands off of me" Donnie ordered.

"What if I don't wanna huh? Come on you and me, you PIG. You wanna kill my daughter? Guess who's gonna return the favor!" The father was fuming.

The father attempted to head-butt the experienced detective but was countered by an elbow swing to the face, forcing him to stumble backwards. Donnie took this opportunity to tackle him to the ground and to lay him on his stomach. While he was on the ground, Donnie climbed onto his back and pulled both of his arms together. He then grabbed the handcuffs from the back of his belt, slapping it on his wrists. Afterwards, he pulled him up and proceeded to slam him on the hood of his Dodge Charger.

"Assaulting a police officer like that is a class D felony in the state of New York." Donnie explained as he patted him down. "You got any weapons?"

The father flipped him off despite his incapacitation. Sighing, Donnie finds and opens the man's wallet, seeing his ID.

"Sit tight..." Donnie squinted as he looked at his name. "Travis..."

Charlie ran up to Donnie, a look of doubt and concern easily discernable on his face.

"What's wrong Charles?" Donnie asked. "Simple APO collar, anything I did wrong?"

"No Marks," Charlie argued, sympathetic to the father. "But come on, you almost killed this guy's daughter. And now you're doing this in front of her?"

Donnie looked at the child crying profusely on the sidewalk, the mother desperately trying to calm her down. He then looked at the father, who had stopped squirming and was now lying their silently. Would he really do this to the family? After deep contemplation, Donnie unlocked the handcuffs.

"Get outta' here." Donnie muttered. "Don't make me think twice about my decision."

The father nodded, going back to his family and walking away. The mob of people soon left the scene to do whatever they were doing prior to the incident or to follow the family. The two detectives looked at each other and then looked at the large apartment complex in front of them.

"Charlie park the Charger," Donnie said while walking toward the gate, the ends of his coat flapping in the wind. Charlie nodded, and he ran over to the car, moving and parking it parallel to the edge of the sidewalk.

Inside Amherst's Apartment

"The hell is this?" Donnie said appalled. The blackboard paint on the walls had equations written all over them in chalk. Books and papers were littered across the floor. The window was open, with the curtains waving in the breeze.

Charlie was looking at several centrifuges and vials filled with viral specimens. "Is our guy fucking Lex Luther?"

Donnie had put on some latex gloves, eyeing a drawer with several glasses of beer. The amount of beer in each glass varied dramatically. He picked one up, observing the temperature: cold.

"It's still cold." He deduced. "Left very recently. Tell forensics to get prints on those."

As Charlie nodded, the bathroom door burst open, and a figure cloaked in a black hood emerged aiming a .38 revolver at Charlie and firing causing him to collapse onto the rug. The figure then shoved Donnie to the ground and proceeded to jump out of the open window and onto the roof of another building.

Donnie stared in horror as blood poured out of his partner's abdomen, staining the rug from green to a dark shade of red.

"G-Go... kill that son of a bitch..." Charlie muttered. "I-I'll be f-fine..."

Donnie screamed into the radio "I need a bus over here at the apartments at the corner of 23rdand 15th! And put a fucking rush on it!"

He gripped his dying partner's hand before jumping out of the window to pursue the suspect. Covering his eyes from the blinding sun, he surveyed the area. He found the suspect climbing up a ledge to a higher part of the roof.

"Stop!" He screamed while drawing his gun. "Stop! NYCP! Son of a bitch!"

He fired 3 shots at the fleeing suspect, and he saw the figure stumble slightly before successfully climbing the ledge and limping away.

He was wounded.

Donnie sprinted toward him, jumping over hedges, chairs, and AC ventilators. The cold, morning breeze hit his face to the point where it hurt. Pushing through, he reached the ledge the suspect had climbed. He stepped back and then ran forward pushing his foot up and grabbing onto the top of the ledge. Letting go of his firearm, he hoisted himself up just to see the suspect enter a fire escape.

He yelled again. "STOP! NYCP!"

Getting up, he sprinted towards the fire escape, swinging himself around he lunged at the suspect limping down the steel stairs.

They collided into the railing, with the suspect almost toppling over the edge. Donnie grabbed the suspect's back and then slammed him onto the floor of the fire escape. Turning his head to the side, Donnie took off the suspect's hood. Taking out a picture of the fugitive scientist, he compared both of their faces.

It wasn't Amherst.

Hoisting him up and dragging him to a secluded area of the rooftop, he started his interrogation. The wailing sirens of arriving emergency personnel echoed in Donnie's ears. He had handcuffed the suspect to a nearby railing.

"Tell me who the fuck you are" He aimed at the man's head. "Or it's bye-bye world for you, you son of a bitch."

"I-I can't… he'll kill them… I can't… I- "

"Who's he? You work for Amherst?" Donnie raised his voice. "Who's them...?"

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck" The suspect screamed in frustration.

"We got witness protection for a reason dumbass, whatever you got you better fucking spill." The detective negotiated. "Or you could take the second way out." He pushed his pistol into the man's forehead.

The man sighed, defeated and broken. "My bag... check my bag... on the fire escape..."

Donnie ran to the fire escape. The bag was dangling off the ledge, and he snatched it off searching its contents. Finding a note, he read it carefully.

Stores:

-Broadway Emporium

-Bergdorf Goodman

-Bloomingdale's

-Pharmacies

-Fast Food Stores

Distribute dollar bills evenly through each store. Give some to beggars, I don't care. Just make sure people get them. If I find out that the job is not done, your family will be killed slowly and painfully. I expect it done by the end of today.

-GA

Donnie dug through the backpack further, discovering a jar with stacks of dollar bills within it. A post-it note labeled it as "Bloomingdale's". He frantically searched the backpack for the other jars but couldn't find them. A gunshot rang out sending Donnie running back to the man's location clutching the note and the jar. When he arrived, he found his corpse on the ground, a blood splatter on the wall behind him. A hole can be seen on his forehead, with a thin vapor rising out of it.

"Fuck…" Donnie leaned against the wall with his head to his palms. "I'm so stupid…"

ESU units had moved onto the roof in heavy body armor, armed with M4A1 carbines they began to sweep the rooftop. An ESU officer turned the corner and found the distraught detective and the corpse of the man surrounded in his own blood. Donnie had been staring at the jar of dollar bills on the ground, pondering its implications.

"Identify yourself!" The ESU officer yelled, aiming his carbine at the detective.

"It's fine… NYCP..." He shined his detective's badge. "Got the shield to prove it."

The officer lowered his carbine. "Sorry 'bout that." He said apologetically. "And uh… sorry 'bout your partner. Medics got him in critical condition last I heard."

"Fuck…" Donnie muttered to himself. The news hit him like a bullet to the gut.

Another man turns the corner along with an NYCP lieutenant. He was dressed in a white collared shirt, red tie, and khakis. Donnie immediately notices his interest in the jar.

The lieutenant spoke first. "Donnie, this is Special Agent Luke Farris… FBI. He will be taking over the investigation."

Donnie stood up outraged. "The Feds? Come on lieutenant… you know better! They're gonna screw everything up!"

"Sorry Marks, but this comes straight from the White House." The lieutenant replied, clearly agitated. "Now you better comply or that shield is mine."

The FBI agent calmly, but with a slight sarcasm. "The investigation is in good hands, detective…"

"Good hands my ass…" Donnie bickered. "My partner is lying on a fucking operating table because of this case lieutenant! At least let me finish it!"

"Sorry Donnie, my hands are tied as of now." The lieutenant said sympathetically. "You can take it up with the Commissioner."

"We need to get to the bottom of this," Donnie warned. "Or people will die."

The FBI agent assured him. "Don't worry, we'll get this guy. You have my word."

Donnie nodded reluctantly and walked away. As he approached the door to the apartment, he could see men in DCD hazard suits wandering around the apartment.

"The hell's going on?" Donnie wondered, clutching the note in his hand.