If Xena had thought the night before was rough, the following day was much worse.

Every news outlet in the country seemed to be talking about the Governor's son that had been murdered just earlier that afternoon at the NYU campus. It had happened right in the middle of the school day. People had been around, he was even escorted by two bodyguards, but yet, the boy was still murdered.

It was no secret who was behind this- Richard Mascetti himself, and it was no doubt that it was that prestigious Assassin of his that had carried out the hit. Xena felt her blood boil as she parked her car at the NYU campus.

The remaining classes had been cancelled for the rest of the week, now the campus was filled with law enforcement as well as the media which Police Officers were now struggling to keep behind the Police line.

"Agent Vale."

Xena looked up and was instantly face-to-face with Agent Daniels. He still looked just as Xena had remembered him the last time she saw him, he even still had the same stupid haircut.

"Agent Daniels." Xena said, shutting her car door behind her. "It's been a while."

"It has. I was closing up on a previous case the day you arrived, so I couldn't give you a warm welcome then."

There wasn't anything necessarily "warm" about the welcome he was giving her now, but Xena didn't say that.

Agent Daniels stretched out his hand and Xena shook it as they both walked side by side to reach the rest of law enforcement. Xena would have liked to think of herself as being different from Agent Daniels, but in reality, that was not the case. As Agents, they were most similar in the manners by which they operated; it was no surprise, seeing as Agent Daniels was the only other Agent that had been trained by Agent Fox. Personality wise, they could barely stand each other.

None of them ever brought up talk of their training, but this was something they both knew. It was a silent feud that seemed to exist between them.

"So, it seems the Assassin has stuck again." Xena said, ending the silence between them.

"It appears so." Agent Daniels replied, "he is very meticulous. Got away, a clean escape."

Xena nodded her head as she listened to him speak, that was expected. The fact that he could even get close enough to his target whilst surrounded by not one, but two bodyguards showed just how advanced in skill he was. As much as Xena hated to admit it, she found herself getting intrigued. Just who was this Assassin? She felt a shiver go through her, she was determined to find out.

The commotion once they arrived on the main campus was a lot. There was so much happening all at once. Everybody was in a state of frenzy. A Governor's son being murdered by a gang leader definitely was not a good look for law enforcement. It made them appear inadequate, less than at their jobs. No doubt, everyone, including Xena was feeling the pressure from the Public. They needed to find this Assassin, and they needed to find him as soon as possible.

"Can I see the camera footage?" Xena asked.

Agent Daniels nodded as he began to lead her over to a Police tent.

"I've looked through the videos myself, but couldn't find anything out of place." Agent Daniels now said.

Xena knew that this was his subtle way of telling her that there was no point looking through the videos, after all, if he hadn't found anything how could she find something. This was something else Xena disliked about Agent Daniels, he thought he was better than her, but rather than just saying this outright he was passive aggressive about it.

It was the covert jabs at her intelligence that did it for her, it almost sent her to the edge.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt for me to look through them too." Xena replied, forcing a tight-lipped smile unto her face as they arrived at the Police tent.

She didn't wait for a reply from Agent Daniels as she walked over to one of the Officers and asked to see the camera recordings.

Xena watched the footage back. Just like Agent Daniels had said, there was nothing on any of them that was incriminating or seemingly out of place. Everything appeared to be in order, it looked like how a normal everyday college campus would appear to be. Xena re-watched the videos, looked at cameras from different angles, even reduced the video's playback speed so it played in slow motion.

But yet, nothing to be found.

It was crazy. It was almost as if the killer was completely invisible. As if he did not exist all. But yet, they all knew that was not the case.

Xena leaned back in her chair as she ran a frustrated hand through her short hair. Once again she felt the familiar gut feeling that she was missing something, that something was just out of her grasp, but no matter how hard she tried to think, she couldn't figure out what it was.

Xena asked the Police Officer nearby for a copy of the crime scene report. He handed it to her and she began studying it meticulously, trying to find anything that she might have missed or overlooked.

From the blood splatter in the images, it was clear to Xena that the victim had been shot from a close range. The Assassin had managed to get really close, possibly right next to him. There weren't multiple bullet shots, only one. It was clear that this Assassin knew exactly where to aim to take his target out, and that was exactly what he did.

Xena swallowed hard as she studied the report. She had been seated in the same position for hours but it had all been futile, a dull headache was coming up but she couldn't find anything. She was grasping at strings and coming up completely empty.

"Able to find anything?"

Agent Daniels had reappeared beside Xena, she was aware of the fact that he knew the answer to that. Xena guessed that asking beforehand was his way of being considerate.

"Not yet."

Agent Daniels nodded beside her. "I got you some coffee, we'd probably be here a while."

Xena mumbled a quick thanks as she took the mug from him. She wasn't usually a coffee drinker, but he was right, she would need the caffeine.

Xena now sipped from her mug in silence as her brain tried desperately to put any pieces relating to the case together.

"Was there anything you managed to find?" Xena now asked, swallowing her pride.

As much as she hated to ask Agent Daniels. She had to admit, he was one hell of an Agent and if there was anyone that had caught onto something, it would most likely be him.

There was a short pause then Agent Daniels shook his head. "Nothing."

Xena could tell that it hurt Agent Daniels' ego to admit that he too had come up empty-handed, just as much as it had hurt hers to ask him in the first place. A relief flowed over her knowing that Agent Daniels was in exactly the same position as she was.

Even though they were working together for this case, Xena knew there was no way they weren't going to be competitive about it. There was no point pretending, even though they never said it out loud, the competitive atmosphere between the two of them was strong in the air. They didn't have to vocally acknowledge it, it was present in the passive-aggressiveness and mild hostility in the manner by which they interacted with each other.

"Detectives carried out a couple of interviews on some students that were in the library at the time. But nothing helpful came out of it." Agent Daniels said.

Xena nodded her head as she listened to him. "Did they interview the bodyguards as well?"

"Briefly." Agent Daniels replied, "one of them is facing charges for firing a gun in a library filled with students."

"He began shooting in a library?"

"Just once. He shot at someone he suspected to be the killer, but luckily for him, he missed so his charges probably wouldn't be something too serious."

Xena nodded her head as she rubbed her palms together, thinking deeply. No doubt the bodyguards were currently in dip shit with the Governor for failing to carry out their job, but that wasn't something Xena was going to worry about at the moment.

"What about the person that was shot at? Were they interviewed?" Xena now asked.

"No." Agent Daniels replied, "they were spooked by the bodyguards and ran off so we didn't bother."

Xena wished the answer she was given was suitable for her. However, even though she knew that it was probably nothing, she wanted to cover all her bases to be sure.

"Tell the Police to find the person that ran off. We need to interview them as well, they might have seen something that could help us."