A/N - i dont own DP, but i do own whatever you don't recognize. and, for the last chapter, i don't own Star Wars either.

well, there wasnt as negative a reaction as i thought there might be to the last chapter so yay!!! i DID get some threats to update...sorry - i forgot:s

Two: Sapphire

"The Rose Sapphire?" Maria asked.

"Yes. How did you know?"

Maria shrugged. "How many other priceless pink sapphires are there?"

Tony grinned. "True."

Sam held out her hand for the file, a smile still twisting her lips. A priceless pink sapphire. It sounded too much like something out of a fairytale. Danny and Edward read over her shoulder as she scanned the pages. She read out key information for the team.

"It was stolen between eight and midnight last night, from the home of Gerald Monk."

Edward looked up. "I've heard of him. He designs machinery for the army. He's been doing so for years now - he's one of the best there is."

"So, why did he have the gem?" Marilyn asked.

"He was keeping it for the night for the museum. It was being transferred from the Smithsonian to the Mirage Museum and Gallery for a one week exhibit that was supposed to begin in three days' time.

"Mr Monk is incredibly wealthy and owns a state of the art safe - the best in the city, according to this. He used it to hold his deceased wife's most expensive jewelry, and often information from his work as an inventor. The sapphire was supposed to have been well protected in the safe."

"Well, how did the thief open it?"

"He blew it up. That was the only thing the safe was unprotected against."

"What?" Danny said, incredulous, throwing his arms into the air. "Who the hell makes a safe that you can just blow open?"

"What model was it?" Edward asked.

"A Jorgensen FH12I60 Mx," Sam read, stupefied by the complicated name. "Why can't they just give it a normal name?" she muttered, so only Danny heard her and laughed quietly.

"Yes," Edwards said, nodding as if he had some idea what she was talking about. "That model is exquisite – filled with technology. If it were made of bomb-proof material, it could not have any of its other functions."

"But still – unprotected against something so simple?" Maria said, removing her glasses and holding them against her shoulder.

"The safe is designed to go with an extensive security system." Edward informed her.

"Which was?" Marilyn asked, looking to Sam, who searched through the file.

"Monk owns the top three floors of the Mirage Tower; he lives on one, one is, like, one huge guest suite, and the whole top floor housed the safe. Okay, aside from security cameras everywhere, the halls were patrolled by four armed guards and one guard dog from six p.m. to midnight. There was a combination door to get through before you were even in the same room as the safe, completely bulletproof glass on all the windows - which were also protected by steel shields that are activated when any alarm is sounded, steel reinforced walls and, to top it all off, moving motion-detecting lasers filling both rooms. Each of the systems required a different code to shut down."

"Wow. Someone was overprotective."

"Not protective enough though, it seems," Maria said, replacing her glasses and holding out her hand for the file. Sam set it gently into her palm and crossed her arms over her chest.

"So how did this person get in?"

"They don't know."

"It seems to me," Danny said, folding his arms. "We're just going to have to visit the crime scene."

Sam rolled her eyes at him.

They arrived at the Mirage Tower an hour later, staring up at the sixty floor skyscraper. Danny whistled as they stared up at it, reaching for the clouds.

The team exited the elevator a while later onto the fifty ninth floor – the safe floor. Police tape decorated the whole place, adding the only color to the otherwise stone grey room. It was bright with fluorescent light, shining off its chrome, black marble and steel interior.

"I'm hoping the lasers are off," Danny said warily as the team entered the room, eyeing the terminals all over the ceiling. Sam smothered a laugh, but Marilyn was not so discreet.

Her cackles echoed in the cavernous space, catching more than one odd look from the police.

Sam stared at the safe-room. It was large and square, a corridor edging the other, smaller square room in the middle, in which she knew was the safe. The door to the smaller room was on the side facing them, and it was shut. However, there was a large messy rectangle burned out of the middle. It looked as though someone had gone at it with a welding torch.

"You think that's how they got in?" Danny asked.

Again, Marilyn let out a loud laugh, frightening Danny enough for him to jump towards Sam, who patted his arm reassuringly.

"Is she part hyena, do you think?"

She shook her head at him. "Wow, you're clueless."

He cocked his head in confusion. "What?"

"Can't tell you – that'd spoil the fun."

He crossed his arms and stalked over to a policeman. Sam heard him ask the man if they had any idea how the thief had gotten in. The man shook his head, and Danny walked back to Sam.

"How did the guy get in? They've found no way he could have."

"So far."

Sam looked at the windows. The metal barrier had slid over them, probably when someone raised the alarm, covering the glass behind. She shook her head. They were almost sixty stories in the air. You'd have to fly to be able to get up.

Her eyes narrowed. Someone who could fly. She turned on Danny.

"You think Phantom had something to do with this?"

Danny started. "Uh, no. What would he want with the Rose Sapphire?"

"What would anyone want with it? You couldn't sell it anywhere without being caught - even the black market wouldn't buy something so easily recognizable. Whoever wants it just wants it so he can say to himself that he stole it. He just wanted the thrill of the victory. And everyone's favorite meddler does seem to like the thrill. Why else would he interfere in dangerous police cases?"

"To help?"

"So join the police!"

Danny fell silent. "I guess he could have done it."

"I guess he could have too." She turned to a policeman walking in their general direction. "I want to see the windows."

"Miss, we're over sixty feet in the air. I doubt anyone's gonna be coming in through the windows."

She gritted her teeth, controlling herself. "Please let me see the windows."

He sighed insufferably at her, and spoke as though he was doing her a great service. "Alright."

He walked to a keyboard near the elevator door, punching in an eight digit code as he read it off of a sheet of paper in his hand. The metal sheaths on the windows slid back into the corners clunkily and noisily, flooding the room with natural light.

And exposing a large, circular chunk of glass missing from one of the panels.

"Hell!" the officer shouted, eyes wide. "What's that!?"

review please!!! and, again, sorry for the long delay!!!

FunkyFish1991