The Detective Arrives Back Home

Daniel knew something was wrong as soon as he pulled into the parking lot outside his apartment. From his window he could see several flashes go off from inside, as well as hear the distinct sound of gunfire.

"Damn it," he cursed. The detective instantly knew that whoever was having a shoot out in his apartment, they were killing each other over the briefcase and the other objects. He quickly dashed out of the car, his pistol already in his hand.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he thought. He should never have left such dangerous items unguarded. But how did anyone know he even had them? Could there have been people watching him? Who the hell had the clout to be able to put a tail on a Miami police detective?

He silently climbed the back stairs up to his third floor apartment. Although he had the rubber band, he remembered that there was still an object from the pawn shop that nullified the effects of all the others; therefore the paperclip, band, and ring he had just gotten from Bachman would all be useless. When he got to the landing for the third floor and looked down the hall, he saw something surprising. There were two men watching the hallway, but they were both identical. Not like twins, the two were completely the same. They were tall, beefy hispanic men in a pair of identical expensive blue suits. They had the same slicked back hair, the same face, even the same small scar on their chins. They even moved the same, and looked to be armed with the same type of pistol.

"Hold it!" He told them as he stepped out of the shadows, gun aimed straight at them.

One of the men looked up in surprise, then raised his gun and fired. Daniel grunted, feeling the bullet impact his shoulder, but strangely enough he felt no pain. He opened fire with his own weapon, shooting twice. He put a bullet in between the eyes of the man who fired and, taking no chances, put another in the back of the head of the other man, who had turned to run. Both collapsed onto the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

Daniel quickly checked his shoulder, and to his surprise found no wound. That was strange, the rubber band's power was still working. How was this possible? Could someone have already gotten to the items? No, if they had, they'd be long gone and wouldn't still be around fighting for it.

His attention was soon brought back to the two corpses in front of him, as they suddenly began to fade and turn to smoke. Well, that explained the twins, somehow. They were obviously products of another one of Hunter's items. How many of these damn things were there?

There were more gunshots heard from inside his apartment, which caused Daniel to move. Now that he knew his abilities still worked, he did not bother with caution. He stepped into his open front door and saw a man, identical to the two he had killed in the hall, begin shooting a shotgun into his bedroom. A part of him flinched upon seeing the destruction these thugs had caused to his clean, tidy home, but he pushed it down. He had more important things to worry about.

The detective moved swiftly and efficiently, stepping up right behind the man and putting a bullet in his head. The goon collapsed, then dissolved into smoke like the other two. There was movement behind his bed, and Daniel saw that speckles of blood had stained his once pristine sheets.

"Miami police! Step out where I can see you!" He ordered, gun aimed towards the bed.

"Federal agent! Don't shoot!" called out a female voice. From behind his ruined bed limped out a woman, her hands held in the air. She had dark hair and was attractive, though she looked pretty beat up. Her smart pantsuit was all but in tatters, especially her trousers which looked to have been hit by several shotgun pellets. Daniel frowned when he saw her wounded flesh push out several pieces of lead before sealing up.

"Neat trick," he told her, his sights still directly aimed at her head. "Who are you?"

"I'm going to reach into my pocket and pull out my credentials," she said slowly. Daniel nodded and she reached into her suit jacket and pulled out a small wallet, opening it to show him the FBI badge inside. "Special Agent Sarah Knight, FBI. Detective Sihn, we have a big problem."

Daniel narrowed his eyes. Shit, the feds. He knew instantly that they were after his items. The briefcase, the paperclip, the rubber band, all of it! Those bastards would take everything he worked so hard to get, then probably seal it up in some vault never to see the light of day. It wasn't fair! He could do so much good with it! So much good. Like when he killed that racist bastard, Bachman. Or those goons in the hall. With this items, he could protect the innocent. He could uphold the law so much better than he ever could just as a simple cop. He'd bring order to this city, hell, this country, and put the filth and trash in the ground where they belonged.

No, these items were HIS. No one was going to take them away from him.

The woman suddenly had a frightened look in her eyes, shouting, "Behind you!"

Suddenly there was gunfire and Daniel felt the soft impact of bullets smattering his back. The detective slowly turned his attention behind him and saw two more of the identical men in his living room, guns smoking, and looking very shocked at the fact that he was still standing. Daniel nonchalantly aimed his gun at both of them and fired, putting a bullet into each of their heads. He then turned back to the female agent, his gun trained on her once more.

"And what problem might that be, Agent Knight?" he asked her, taking up their conversation from before as if two armed thugs hadn't just snuck up behind him and shot him.

The woman shook off her shocked look. "So, you figured out what the artifacts can do. Well, since you have, you know how dangerous they are. We need to get them off the streets, lest another 22nd street incident happen."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Daniel said as he came closer. The detective grabbed her badge and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Oh please, detective. Don't play dumb, you're not, I've read your file." Sarah flinched when the man began to pat her down, his hand moving over her body searching for weapons. "Those two clones just put five bullets in you and you're still standing."

"I'm wearing kevlar," Daniel lied. He pulled the agent's pistol out of its holster and put it into his pocket. "You, on the other hand are under arrest for breaking an entering, disorderly conduct, and felony vandalism."

"What? Are you kidding me? Ow!" She attempted to struggle with the detective as he cuffed her arms behind her back, but his strength proved to be too much. "I'm a federal agent!"

"Working for the federal government does not entitle you to breaking into a private citizen's home," Daniel informed her. He moved towards his closet and checked inside. "Unless you had a warrant?"

The agent's silence told him she didn't.

The detective sighed in relief when he saw his safe was undisturbed. He wondered if it was the thick steel that prevented whatever was nullifying the other items to do so now. It had to be, it was the only explanation. His sharp eyes spotted a small bronze key on the floor next to the safe, and he reached down and picked it up.

"This yours?" He asked the woman. Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Is it another one of these 'artifacts' you mentioned?"

The agent didn't react, but he saw the small twitch in her left eye. That was a yes. To Sarah's horror, she watched him pocket the key.

"Miami Police!" came a shout from the front door. "Put your weapons down and get on the floor! Now!"

Daniel recognized the voice. "Genevisi, is that you?"

"Detective Sihn?"

"Yes, I got everything under control."

Two confused uniformed officers entered quickly appeared in the bedroom's doorway, guns drawn. They saw Daniel leaning against the closet doorway while a brunette woman had her arms cuffed behind her back.

"Detective! What are you doing here?" asked the policeman with "Genevisi" on his name tag.

"I live here," he said.

"Shit," the other cop stated, a young black man named Taylor. "What happened to your place?"

"This crazy woman broke in here, tried to rob me," Daniel told them, which caused Sarah to sputter in shock. "When I walked in on her, she pulled a gun and started shooting up the place. I managed to subdue her."

"Christ," Genevisi and Taylor looked extremely angry and sent dark glares towards the cuffed agent. They obviously didn't appreciate anyone taking shots at one of their own.

"He's lying!" Sarah all but screamed, fury evident on her face. "I'm a federal agent!"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Really? Where's your badge?"

"Y-y-you took it!" Sarah gaped. What the hell was this fool cop playing at?

"Okay, that's enough, ma'am," Taylor stepped forwards and grabbed Sarah's arm, leading her out of the bedroom.

"No, wait! I'm telling the truth!" Sarah protested, but the young policeman ignored her and began reading her her rights. "Detective! Detective Sihn! You won't get away with this! You have no idea what you're playing with! Detective!"

Eventually, her loud voice vanished as she was lead out of the apartment.

"Crazy bitch," Daniel stated, mostly for Genivisi's sake.

"Yeah, you got that right," the officer laughed.

Daniel handed him Sarah's gun. "Here, do me a favor and take this to evidence. And also, if you can, lose her in the system for a bit, maybe till morning. The bitch almost blew my damn head off today. I don't want her calling an expensive lawyer and getting out in a few hours to make a second try at me."

"No problem, Detective," the young man smirked. "I'll make sure she's locked in a solitary cell, and that her paperwork isn't processed 'till morning."

Daniel smiled and shook the man's hand. "You're a pal, Genivisi."

The officer stayed for a few minutes more, talking on his radio and alerting dispatch to the situation. After giving the all clear, the two policemen shook hands again before the uniform left the apartment. Daniel closed the front door, then sprung into action.

He had to get somewhere safe, some place where he could hide the items, at least until he knew what all of them did. It wouldn't take Agent Knight long to get out of lockup, though with Genivisi's help she wouldn't have until at least morning to make her call to her superiors. He'd pack his things, close his bank accounts since he'd have to pay with cash now since they could track his credit cards, then get to a motel somewhere where he could think.

Daniel packed some clothes, along with some personal paperwork as well as all the files he had pertaining to the Edward Jewel case. He then stuffed all the items from the evidence box he had hid under his bed into the same suitcase. With all that done, he turned to the safe.

The detective put in the combination to the lock then opened the door. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the suitcase was still inside. So, it seemed as if the heavy, thick steel of his gun safe did block out the nullifying effect.

Daniel took the suitcase out, then got a large gym bag and began packing his guns. He'd need them in the days to come. Although he was all but invincible thanks to the rubber band, he wasn't stupid enough to rely solely on it. If one of the objects could nullify the effects of the other objects, then why couldn't another one do the same? He knew too little about the artifacts to rely completely upon their power.

He packed the gym bag with two 9mm pistols, his .44 caliber revolver, a shotgun, as well as his M14. He then stuffed as much ammunition as he could with them, then zipped up the bulging bag with some difficulty. It probably weighed a ton, but with the ring he lifted it with little difficulty.

With two bulging bags and a suitcase, Daniel took one last look at his apartment, then quickly left. He would probably never see the place again, but it hardly mattered. What mattered now was the future, and how he would shape it. He was about to become a fugitive, but it was a sacrifice he would gladly take. He would bring order to Miami, protect the innocent from the wolves that prey on them.

He stuffed the bags into the trunk of Jim's car, then headed off to the nearest ATM. He'd probably need to ditch the car later, but he had until morning to do so. Daniel popped open the dash board and pulled out a slip of paper, the list of names from the pawn shop. Tonight was a big setback, true, but not one he couldn't bounce back from. No, he would continue. He still had work to do.