The Darkness Before Dawn

Promotion

Pein stood in the threshold of the open door, his fingers absently running over the rim of his police chief's hat. Today he had been promoted, with great fanfare, to Mayor of the City. He hadn't been promoted because he was deemed capable of the job; he had only been promoted because of the contingency plan that came into effect with Mayor Obito Uchiha's death. In short, he was Mayor because Obito died.

Konan had attended his inauguration ceremony but she remained as cold and distant as ever, choosing to stay with the media rather than be by his side. The District Attorney, Madara Uchiha, had grudgingly shaken his hand, mostly for the cameras, but everyone knew he had wanted the position.

Pein sighed and walked over to the overstuffed leather chair and sat down heavily. He rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes. His City was terrified, demanding answers to the outbreaks of disease, the sudden falling of the financial markets and the increased murder and crime rates. He had no answers for them.

His Task Force was working diligently to find answers and in the meantime, he was left trying to placate the citizens.

Loud confident footfalls announced someone had entered his new office. They didn't even bother to see if Pein was alright or even listening before they launched into their spiel.

"Doctors have finally gotten the Black Virus under control but reports from your office suggest that the perpetrator of the other crimes has yet to be caught. Why?" Madara demanded.

Pein finally raised his head to look at his supposed colleague who was more likely his adversary. "We're working as fast as we can to build a DNA and psychological profile. Once we have those then we can compare our forensics and our suspects" he explained patiently as if explaining something to a small child. Madara stiffened at the tone and bristled, responding back, "have you even considered bringing in the NIVC?"

"No," Pein said, shaking his head, "they're too busy with the terrorists in Iwa. They told me they had no free agents." Madara scowled at this answer and crossed his arms. "You need to do something" he stated.

Pein's patience for the man broke. He stood to his feet and slammed his hands on the ornate desk. "You think I don't fucking know that?! I've been dealing with this since it broke out! Where were you?! On your pleasure boat with your latest whore! Either contribute something worthwhile or get THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Madara, taken aback, was silent and eventually turned on his heel and stormed out of the office. "Fucking great" Pein sighed as he slumped back into his chair. "Just fucking great."

"So, what do we know?" Sasori asked the others as Hidan threw a dart, it landing in one of Pein's eyes. No one answered him and Hidan stood to fetch his darts from the wall where they punctured an official portrait of Pein. "I'll start," the coroner said to the silent room, "the latest virus has been more or less cured, the mutilations continue and our DNA profile is incomplete. Correct?" "Yeah," Kisame answered, "we need a sample from the perp if we're going to nail him down."

"What about from the woman?" Kakuzu asked. "It's an odd profile but we have it and she has a name you know" Kisame said, slightly offended. Kakuzu waved off his complaint and looked at Itachi. Itachi cleared his throat and spoke, "based on recent information from the other Nations, I don't think this is a stereotypical lone male wolf anymore. I think we're looking at a group of sophisticated individuals-" "You mean terrorists" Kakuzu interrupted. Itachi gave him a small glare before continuing, "it's likely a group of women as that has been the traditional members of this group. They've changed names, identities and objectives over the years but the core remains the same: commit crimes to cause a Nation to become unstable and reap the rewards of such instability."

A rookie cop shyly entered the room and handed Kakuzu a folded note. He took it, opened and read its message and cursed. He tossed the note onto the table where Hidan snatched it and read aloud. "You're the new police chief?! What the ever loving fuckity fuck fuck?!" The rest of the group paused to look at Kakuzu who grimaced but made no comment.

A sudden flurry of excited energy and blonde hair burst into the room. "I'm here, yeah! I'm not too late, un?" Deidara asked. "You are late but we'll forgive it this time" Itachi intoned. "What is your report?" Sasori demanded.

Deidara stood time his full height, which wasn't much, and snapped the piece of paper he had in his hands. "The IEDs are standard ANBU make and date from the Yusa-Kumo War, hm. They're pathetic devices, yeah, that aren't as spectacular as the new makes and-"

"Do you get off on explosions? Like, do you touch yourself? The boom makes you go boom?" Hidan cruelly teased. Deidara began stuttering, his anger causing his speech impediment to amplify. Hidan smirked as he saw that he was getting under Deidara's skin and pressed harder. "Women don't do it for you? Hmmm? Do you fuck your bombs? Slide your tiny needle dick into a hollowed out block of C4?"

"HIDAN! ENOUGH!" Kakuzu roared, bringing order and silence back to the room. He turned to the whiteboard that had all the case information scribbled on it. "Itachi; see if other Nations have any forensics they can give us; Kisame: compile all DNA and gene work into a database that we can compare new samples to; Sasori: look back through your case files. Make sure their victims are their victims; we need an accurate count. Deidara: good work on the explosives. Cross reference parts and find out where they came from. Hidan: come with me."

The group broke up and Hidan followed Kakuzu as he walked to his car. "Where are we going?" Kakuzu slid into his rich leather seat and turned the ignition, pressing down on the gas pedal to listen to the engines roar. "We need to see him." Hidan's eyed widened in shock, "awww fuuuuuuck. That asshole? Really? He creeps me the fuck out!" He whined. Kakuzu smoothly slid the car into traffic, "yeah but he might have answers."