Night and Day (TAG: OUTLAW)

[Sam Guthrie]

The city that never sleeps.

That was one of many cliches Sam kept himself from uttering. While it was true in many ways, he refused to believe the implications of such a statement. To Guthrie it meant that good would never prosper, that evil will run rampant for as long as it is allowed, that there will never be an end to this ongoing struggle between mutant/human relations. It inspired many to fall into depravity, as if it was okay to leave rarely slept-in beds at home in search of vagrancy. It pulled criminals out of their hiding spots in order to seek out victims to take advantage of. Such a cliche went against everything he believed in. And he needed to believe that they were fighting towards an end.

However, it was never truer than it was on that night.

Rain beat down on the city like a street performer banging on drums. The chorus of raindrops flooded small alleyways and streets, soaking those unlucky few out and about without an umbrella. The city appeared to lose its color on the drive over to the docks. Such a vibrant spectrum replaced by the greyish hue that came from a dull black and white. Calls this late never ended at Denny's and they rarely had the perfect outcome showcased in several cop shows on TV. Crime never had a soft spot for the squeamish but a night like tonight, where stormy clouds covered the full moon as though blinding GOD from the acts of the malcontent and heaven's tears blanketed the grimy streets in a futile effort to cleanse the wicked, it tended to call for the worse.

No conversations were to be had on the drive over to the docks. Sam sat behind the driver's wheel of his state issued vehicle. He preferred his motorcycle over this but recently he'd acquired a new partner. An acquisition the Southerner wasn't keen on. Especially since his last one ended up dead after a search for vengeance caused Sam to turn his powers against him. A story for a later date. Tonight he would be "showing the ropes" to a very attractive female that smelled like cherry blossoms. He didn't know what she could handle or not but he would soon find out.

Sam stepped out of his vehicle and was immediately approached by what X-Force considers a patrol man. Much like those in the NYPD but without goofy cop blues on. Most of them with low level mutations and no respect for the chain of command. "Sir, some really f***ed up s*** going on around here." He held the umbrella over Sam while his partner got the shaft, left to get soaked. Seniority over beauty it seemed. "We've dealt with some pretty messed up stuff before but man this one takes the cake." For the most part, Sam did his best to ignore the fumbling Barney next to him. How bad could it possibly be...

And then he saw it.

Teenage girl, naked, her limbs separated from the joints as though a small kinetic charge separated bone from muscle. Besides the obvious dismemberment, the crime scene looked clean. No blood splatters, no equipment. "No evidence was found by the first responders. Whoever did this was precise, clean, surgical. Her name is Julia..."

"Was"

"Sorry?" The deputy looked confused after being cut short by Sam, who simply shook his head as he placed loose strands of blonde hair behind his ear..The sight of the youngster laid out in such a way would never be forgotten by Southerner. He joined X-Force to try and prevent such actions but apparently he wasn't doing a great job. Another detail he would never forget as carried this burden on his shoulders as though he was to blame.

"Her name was Julia. It ain't no more." Sam dropped down to a knee to examine closer. Most of the time, District X criminals did not go to such lengths to put on, in many ways, such a masterful display. It was damn near art and this fact did not go unnoticed by Sam. "Poor girl". He couldn't help but see one of his sisters laying there instead of her. It could've been anyone and in some way he was selfishly happy it wasn't Joelle, Melody or Paige. Still, the memory was engrained in his brain and he could still see the sad sight of this young girl sprawled on the floor like a dummy on display in a window shop.

"What did this to you?"

The words echoed as the scene froze into a black and white grainy picture. Color returned to the world as suddenly nightfall's rain was replaced by a sunny day. The picture sat in Guthrie's hand as he sat at his desk in the XFO. The office was busy with movement, people working crime scenes of various types. It wasn't as big as your conventional police department but it suited the needs of X-Force plenty. He'd been up weeks now trying to solve this case. Something told him another victim would be found soon if he didn't.

He didn't know then that he would be right.

He was lost in a daydream of memories from that night until a woman placed a hot cup of coffee in front of him. Sam was too busy looking out the window as though the answer would be written in the sky to notice. He heard words uttered from her mouth but he unintentionally ignored her as he was lost for the moment. Finally coming to only after she found him with an insult that snapped him out of his revery.

"Wut in da hale are ya yappin' 'bout now?" His thick southern accent was present but his charm was nowhere to be seen as he stared up into the eyes of his partner. He was angry. Not at her but at himself. Attempting to recover from his nasty morning greeting towards his partner he smacked his lips in frustration, looking away to compose himself before turning back to her with a smile. "Ah mean, good morning, Inez." Yeah, that will fix things.

[Inez Temple]

Inez groaned and rolled over in the bed in her small, one bedroom, apartment in what was commonly referred to as Sanctuary within District X. Nowhere within the mutants only district of New York City could truly be considered to be upscale, but this section of the District was considerably less dingy than other areas.

Still, the phone continued its incessant ringing on the blonde woman's nightstand. Inez retaliated by taking one of her silk encased pillows and cramming it down over her head so that all that was visible from underneath the pillow was a billowing mass of mussed blonde hair. It was almost as if the pillow and woman had formed some kind of odd dandelion. Almost.

Still, the phone continued on beginning its third rendition of You Are My Sunshine. Inez flung the pillow across the room and scowled at the phone in the darkness. Then she flipped it the bird. Yet, it rang on. There was nothing for it when the phone began ringing for a fourth consecutive time she snatched it angrily from the bedside table and jabbed a finger down on the talk button.

"What," she asked groggily into the phone. She listened to the southern accented voice on the other end of the line for several moments in silence. Really, that voice was the only good thing about her partner. Some people may have called Inez a redneck behind her back, she was fairly sure they did. But, Sam took the cake when it came to hayseed hicks. She had been mildly surprised to discover, in their first meeting, that he had all his teeth.

"Fine," she mumbled into the phone, hitting the disconnect button. Groaning, and swearing, she rolled out of bed and settled her bare feet on the rather threadbare carpeting of the apartment.

Her ice blue eyes cast about in the darkness, spotting the lamp and flicking it on. She hissed at the brightness of the light in her eyes as the light bulb flicked on. Glancing about the room she spotted things to pull on. It was two-thirty in the morning and she was not going to put a ton of effort into her appearance.

Peeling off her nightshirt the statuesque blonde stood, nude, for just a few seconds before pulling on undergarments, a pair of tight fitting boot cut jeans, and a shirt with the Dallas Cowboys logo across the chest. She couldn't have cared less if the Giants were the team of choice in New York. f*** the Giants.

Yawning she half stomped through the small apartment into its even smaller kitchen. She rummaged around in drawers and cabinets for a few seconds before producing a package of instant coffee and a stainless steel travel mug that glinted in a manner that was entirely too cheerful given the time of morning. The Texan's eyes narrowed at the mug but she dumped in the contents of the packet, added water, and then threw the whole thing into the microwave.

While the drink was heating she searched around in the coat closet and pulled out a floor length brown leather duster and shrugged into the coat. It was raining outside, heavily, the drops beating a steady staccato beat on the roof of her top floor apartment. Once she had buttoned it up she pulled her hair back into a simple pony tail and grabbed a brown leather Stetson and pressed it down onto her head just as the microwave beeped and her phone began to ring again, at almost the same moment.

Pulling the phone from a pocket on the duster she glanced down at the face plate. Sam, just as she'd expected. Angrily she jabbed the talk button and held the phone up to her face.

"Keep ya damn shirt on, Hayseed," she snapped, abruptly ending the call and slipping the phone back into her pocket as she slipped into the kitchen. After retrieving the mug from the microwave, dumping what seemed like a gallon of sugar into it, and throwing a lid on it she slipped out of her apartment and down the stairs before sliding into the passenger seat of the car.

She shot Sam a sulky sideways glance she buckled herself into the seat. Slowly she sipped at the drink in her hands as Sam drove them silently in the direction of the docks. The instant coffee was nasty, but it did what it was supposed to do in helping her to wake up and feel more alert. Still, Sam seemed content to ride in silence and that suited the still sleepy Texan just fine.

"Sir, some really f***ed up s*** going on around here. We've dealt with some pretty messed up stuff before but man this one takes the cake."

'What am I, chopped liver,' Inez thought to herself as Sam was greeted by a street officer at his door, with an umbrella no less, while she was left to slip into the rain without even the courtesy of a report from anyone. Typical. Because she was a leggy, busty, and blonde woman she was expected to be a ditz.

Turning up the collar of her duster and pressing the Stetson down a bit tighter on her head Inez emerged from the car and wandered over stand next to Sam and listen in on the conversation silently, for the time being. What she did not do was slip under the umbrella with him. Women fawned all over the Kentuckian, if that fiasco at the club was any indication, but she would not. So, instead she stood in the rain as droplets of water pelted down on her hat and duster and rolled off the leather. What did she care if she soaked the car when she got back into it? The car was issued to Sam, not to the Texans bombshell.

"No evidence was found by the first responders. Whoever did this was precise, clean, surgical. Her name is Julia..."

'Or the rain washed it all away,' Inez thought to herself, remaining silent and looking down at the rather grisly scene. She had to admit it was a bit different to see this sort of thing in person, and if there had been blood it might have been worse, but she felt as if she'd been prepared. After all, she'd been hunting almost since she was old enough to handle a rifle. This wasn't that much different, at least on some levels.

"Was"

"Sorry?"

"Her name was Julia. It ain't no more. Poor girl. What did this to you?"

====================================================

Inez hid a yawn behind her hand as she sauntered through the X-Force offices with a pair of coffee cups in her hands. Why she had taken the time to get Sam a cup of the black liquid was beyond her. She wasn't his damned secretary. Still, she was the rookie and there were certain expectations of rookies. For a little while at least.

"Here, you Hayseed Hick," Inez said, slipping the cup of strong black coffee in front of Sam. How anyone could stand the stuff without a ton of sugar was beyond her, it was much too bitter otherwise. "Jus' remember, redneck," she continued, sipping from her own cup and jabbing a finger in Sam's direction, "we're partners. I ain't ya damn secretary."

"Wut in da hale are ya yappin' 'bout now? Ah mean, good morning, Inez."

"Good mornin' yerself, Hayseed," the Texan said, slipping into her seat and not caring one bit that it was mighty ironic for her to be making fun of anyone for being from the Southern backwoods part of the country.

"What's on deck today," she asked, leaning back in her seat and tipping the ever present leather stetson back just a bit as she threw out her chest ever so slightly in Sam's direction. She'd opted for a shirt today that left just enough revealed to be enticing, but not quite enough to be distracting. She took another sip on her drink and waited for Sam to fill her in. He was the lead detective, after all, this was his show.

[Sam Guthrie]

"Hayseed?" A scoff escaped his lips as he threw down the photo on his desk and leaned back in his chair. His hands brushed through his hair, staring at the coffee on his tabletop and immediately realizing how much he needed a picker upper. "Ya continue to perplex, Inez. Ya of all people should not be commentin' 'bout my strong Southern roots. Have ya forgotten where ya come from?" The coy smirk was meant to pick on the irony thrown back in his partner's face. His hand reached for the cup, studying it over before shooting Inez a raised eyebrow. "This ain't poisoned now is it?" He jokingly asked as he took a sip. If it was then it'd be too late for him.

Inez was a bit of conundrum. Sam had yet to figure out her reasons for ending up at XFO. She was young, intelligent, incredibly attractive as was noted by the boys in the office constantly praising her "good work". She could have anything she wanted but she chose the hard life that came with this type of work. However, Sam was not so easily impressed with her choice or her looks and he would be damned if he let beauty take over responsibility. So far they hadn't really had to deal with super powered crazed mutants which meant he wasn't sure what she'd be bringing to the table. Sam understood her powers but had yet to see them in action in the real world when it mattered.

"What's on deck today," she asked curiously while inadvertently flashing her assets in his direction.

It was hard for Sam not to take note of her fine frame but he would catch himself before his eyes went from straying to lingering. He thought about mocking her in some way before deciding against it and answering sincerely. "Ah've been goin' over these crime scene pictures for days now and all Ah seem to be gettin' is a giant headache." The Southerner put the coffee cup back down on the table as his hands rested one over the other in front of him. "Ah hafta believe we missed somethin' out there. The rain was heavy, probably washed away what little shred of evidence remained but Ah got this gut feelin' dat... Ah'm thinkin' we take a drive back out there and see if we can't sort this thang out before it happens again. Wat ya think, Barbie?" The question was asked with a condescending smirk that followed as he waited for his partner's response.

"What do you think happened here?"

Day turned to night once again, rainfall beating down on the mutilated corpse of a young girl. Guthrie knelt down before her sorrowfully. He was truly sympathetic, almost wishing he could piece her back together again and tell her everything would be alright but he couldn't and it wouldn't. Sam turned to the patrol man whose name he couldn't remember at the moment. "Ah don't think this happened here at all, man. Ah think she was moved here, put on display in such a manner so as to be seen by a certain someone."

"Seen by who?" The guy continued to ask and continued to get under Sam's skin.

"Ah don't know. Just a thought. Did anyone find any sort of identification on her?" Sam asked as he pulled out two sets of latex gloves.

"Not a thing. I told you. The only thing anybody found was her." The patrol man shot Inez a flirtatious look, checking her out. Sam noticed it and thought about calling him out on his disrespect but then figured Inez should take care of it. The last thing he wanted anybody to think was that he was protecting her sensibilities. That was for her to sort out. Besides, it wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last time people saw a curvaceous blonde instead of a detective.

After, Sam handed a pair of latex gloves to Inez who was now standing nearby. "Tell me, Inez. Have ya ever seen anythin' like this before?" The gloves were snapped unto his hands. "Hope ya ain't squeamish, Detective Temple." Then he proceeded to carefully pick up a hand that was attached to a forearm but separated from everything else. "Her elbow is completely missin'. Judgin' from this wound her joints have been precisely incinerated by some kinda flame or lazer or energy beam. It looks like the wound cauterized immediately after."

Sam rotated the dismembered limb in his hands at an angle that Inez could also study. He kept looking for imperfections of any kind. "Her flesh also looks clean. There are no marks of any kind. No smudges... To make matters worse, her fingertips have been seared off, makin' identification damn near impossible." Sam put the arm back down on the ground and then rose back to his feet, snapping the gloves off and then waving over the CSI responsible for the science side of things to take over. Of course they had other methods among X-Force that could be used but Sam remained loyal to the old school tactics and would only refer to them as a last resort. "Ah don't think whoever did this is done yet."

"Hope ya haven't got plans any time soon, cowgirl." He teased, slapping the brim of her stetson. "We ain't gonna be sleepin' until we solve this thang. Can't be havin' this happen without justice to be had."

[Inez Temple]

"Hayseed? Ya continue to perplex, Inez. Ya of all people should not be commentin' 'bout my strong Southern roots. Have ya forgotten where ya come from?"

"I'm from the Republic of Texas," Inez replied, punctuating her remark by tipping her stetson down over her eyes and taking a sip of her coffee. "We're not Southern, we're a breed apart. Texans. Everyone knew that the best kind of American, hell the best kind of person, was a Texan. It went without saying.

"This ain't poisoned now is it?"

"Hayseed, if I was gonna kill you I'd just crush your head like a tomato can," Inez said dryly in answer to Sam's query, sipping on her cup of coffee which was again packed with so much sugar that it was barely recognizable as coffee. One of the hidden pleasures of a healing factor, even a low level one like hers, was that you couldn't get diabetes.

'Put that in your pipe and smoke it Wilfred Brimley.'

Inez watched Sam's reaction to the way she was seated from under her stetson. She was well aware of the affect she had on men any time she went outdoors and she knew how to amplify that natural affect. Most men only saw a lot of blonde hair, shapely leg, and big boobs. It lulled them into a false sense of security making it easier for her to strike and sink her claws in when the need arose. All the same, though, she didn't want Sam to get any other ideas. Enough of the guys around the office already had those kinds of ideas.

"Hayseed," she said, whistling and tilting back the brim of her hat to look the southerner in the eyes. "My eyes are up here," she continued, making a gesture with her hands that indicated Sam should raise his gaze as she took another sip of the sugar laden coffee.

"Ah've been goin' over these crime scene pictures for days now and all Ah seem to be gettin' is a giant headache. Ah hafta believe we missed somethin' out there. The rain was heavy, probably washed away what little shred of evidence remained but Ah got this gut feelin' dat... Ah'm thinkin' we take a drive back out there and see if we can't sort this thang out before it happens again. Wat ya think, Barbie?"

"I think I wouldn't call me 'Barbie' again unless you wanted your face rearranged," Inez answered sweetly. It wasn't that the name wasn't fitting. It most definitely was. Anyone could see that. But, to be taken seriously around this office, as a knockout woman in a man's world, she couldn't take any guff like that from anyone.

"I also think you're thinkin' with the head in yer pants and not the head on yer shoulders," Inez continued. This seemed like it should be such an obvious case to her. Who did they know that liked to cause trouble? That also had the right mix of fire and explosive powers? That liked to cause trouble for trouble's sake? And, last but not least, that were extremely territorial? The answer was painfully obvious, but Sam had gotten involved with one, or for all Inez knew both, of those particular women.

"How about them two bimbos from The Red Door that ya were chattin' up a storm with when ya shoulda been doin' yer job," Inez asked, her lips curling back in a predatory smirk that was aimed Sam's direction. "I say we pay blondie and her friend a visit and do some investigating."

====================================================

"What do you think happened here?"

"Ah don't think this happened here at all, man. Ah think she was moved here, put on display in such a manner so as to be seen by a certain someone."

"Seen by who?"

"Ah don't know. Just a thought. Did anyone find any sort of identification on her?"

"Not a thing. I told you. The only thing anybody found was her."

Inez noticed the look that the patrolman shot her as he was talking to Sam. When her Southern partner wasn't paying attention she responded to the look with a crude gesture and a "Fuck You" look. A guy could dream, and many of them did dream about the bombshell blonde. But one of the patrolmen? No, just no. She punctuated her non-verbal response by whipping off the stetson and showering the plain clothes officer in the face with a spray of water before returning it to her blonde head just in time to accept the gloves from Sam.

"Tell me, Inez. Have ya ever seen anythin' like this before?"

"Only in textbooks," Inez admitted, snapping the gloves on her own hands and kneeling to examine the body as well. It certainly was a... creative crime scene. No doubts there.

"Hope ya ain't squeamish, Detective Temple. Her elbow is completely missin'. Judgin' from this wound her joints have been precisely incinerated by some kinda flame or lazer or energy beam. It looks like the wound cauterized immediately after."

"I've field dressed more deer than you can count," Inez replied in a dark tone. Of course, there were times when she wasn't totally sure that Sam could count much higher than ten, so the claim might not have been that interesting. However, his speculation about missing joints, flames, and cauterized wounds was interesting. As interesting as his lack of carrying that line of thinking forward to a certain Italian woman he knew and her brunette friend.

"Her flesh also looks clean. There are no marks of any kind. No smudges... To make matters worse, her fingertips have been seared off, makin' identification damn near impossible. Ah don't think whoever did this is done yet."

"No, someone put a lot of thought and effort into this," Inez agreed, water from the rain dripping down off of her hat as she examined the body more closely. "They'll strike again," she agreed, nodding her head before standing up properly and throwing her shoulders back to stretch them after having been crouched down in that hunching position for several minutes.

"Hope ya haven't got plans any time soon, cowgirl. We ain't gonna be sleepin' until we solve this thang. Can't be havin' this happen without justice to be had."

"We ain't gonna be sleepin' ever," Inez said in a dry tone, mocking Sam's accent. She had to admit that he was less of a pig than some of those around X-Force, but in some ways he was still a pig. She peeled the gloves from her hands and disposed of them as the CSI team moved in to begin doing their job.

"Not much else we can do 'round here," she said in a low tone, lacing her fingers together and cracking her knuckles as she moved back to the car, "But I could use a bite to eat since we're gettin' an early start on the day, apparently." It would take the team awhile to get all their work done, and there wasn't much the two detectives could really do to continue the case until the preliminaries came in, at least.