Disclaimer: These characters and places belong to CBS/Fox/FX/Scifi. They are not mine, never will, until I kidnap Daniel Jackson. Then only he will be mine. Forever, Muahahaha!

Tribute: A special thanks to my awesome Beta, Cybrokat. She is often my right and left hand when it come to spelling, grammer, ideas, muses, and whatever else is needed in a fanfiction writer. Yeah Cybrokat! You rock!

A/N: This is my first time attempting any t.v. show fanfiction. This was a personal challenge issued to me by my Beta so if it is too wacked out for you, blame her. Hope you enjoy and please review. Thanks.

Chapter 1

"I wouldn't be surprised if this guy jumped trying to escape this heat," Catherine said as she looked down at the body of the man who lay sprawled on the pavement below the skyscraper.

Looking up the length of the skyscraper Greg responded, "That rush of air was probably very refreshing, right up to the point he hit the ground."

It was one of those record temperature hitting days in Las Vegas. Heat waves could be seen rising from the dark pavement. Catherine had just arrived on the scene with Greg as an assistant. As usual, she was short staffed again and had to pull in a graveyard CSI to help.

"Well, one of us needs to have a look up there," Catherine said as she joined Greg in looking up to the top of the skyscraper. "A witness said that he fell from the roof, so I think that you should go up there and have a look around and I'll start down here."

"Sounds like a blast," Greg responded in a very sarcastic tone.

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Greg stepped out onto the roof and took a quick look around before moving around an odd looking structure to the area where the jumper fell from. He walked up to the ledge and began looking around. At first glance he could tell from the sticky roof tar that there were two different sets of foot prints up here. One appeared to have been pacing, while the other was widely spaced and looked like the owner had nearly walked backward off the edge of the building.

Greg turned and followed these footprints back to the structure that he had rounded to get to the ledge. He noticed something slumped against the structure that was partly in shadow. Upon approaching, he realized that it was a body of a very strongly built male. he wore dress slacks with a button down white shirt.

"Hey guys, " He radioed as he knelt down beside the body, "I got another body up here."

"Ok Greg, Catherine and I will be right up," Brass radioed back.

He then noticed a discolored patch at the man's forehead and was curious about what it might be. He reached into his kit and pulled out his rubber gloves and attempted to put on what felt like liquid latex. He leaned over the body and picked a bit at the edge of the discoloration. He found that it pealed back to reveal a strange tattoo of some sort.

It was at that point that Greg noticed a movement under the guy's shirt around the stomach area. Leaning over, he reached to unbutton the area. Suddenly a snake like creature with four razor sharp inch long fangs sprang from between two of the buttons and launched itself at Greg. He grabbed at it as he fell back, but it broke from his hold and wound itself around his neck. It quickly burrowed into the back of his neck as he reached back to try and fend it off.

As soon as the snake had disappeared into Greg's neck, he went completely limp and dropped to his knees as a flash of light showed in his eyes. As if in a trance, Greg began searching the body of the man in front of him and found an odd gun-like object concealed in a pants pocket. He put this in his evidence case and continued to quickly search the area. Then, noticing a another strange looking weapon that resembled a stylized staff, he reached over and grabbed it. Pushing a release button, the head of the weapon opened up to reveal the small green glowing object could be a power source. Quickly he pocketed this and put the staff weapon back where he had found it.

It was then that Brass and Catherine rounded the corner and saw Greg looking over the body.

"Nice work Greg," Catherine commented as she set her own evidence case down next to Greg's and pulled out her own gloves.

Greg suddenly became more animated again and swayed a second as he placed a hand to his temple.

"You alright?" Brass asked.

"Yeah, must be the heat. Got a killer headache and I'm feeling a bit dizzy."

"I don't blame you. This heat is enough to knock out a horse. I wish people would pick more convenient days to die," Brass joked.

Managing a weak smile, Greg nodded and walked a few steps away from the body to allow Catherine to take a closer look at the patch that had been covering the man's tattoo. "I have no idea what this is," Catherine said while looking closely at the patch. "I don't think I have seen anything quite like it." She reached into her case and pulled out a sample jar and quickly put the patch inside, sealing the lid tightly then identifying it on the label.

She continued to process what she could while they waited for David to show up and pronounce. She found the staff weapon but didn't know what to make of it.

"I've never seen anything like this. Whatever this guy is, he sure has strange things. Have you ever seen a tattoo like that before?" she asked turning to Brass.

"Nothing I've seen, but the placement is interesting. It almost seems tribal or maybe something occult."

"But what is a seemingly nicely dressed business man doing up on top of this building with this strange piece of equipment and an occult tattoo on his forehead?" Catherine asked.

It was then that David showed up. Catherine relinquished her position next to the body to the coroner and walked a few paces off with Greg to further examine the staff.

"I can't even place what type of metal this could be," She commented to Greg.

"I'm not sure either. I guess we'll just have to wait to run some lab tests on it to determine that. This looks like some sort of trigger here," he said as he reached for the firing mechanism. He pushed it, but nothing happened. "Well, that was pretty pointless."

"Ah, you guys might want to take a look at this," David's voice sounded from over by the body.

Both CSI's walked back over to the scene and looked down at what David was pointing at. "I was taking the liver temp when I discovered this." He pulled the shirt back a bit to reveal a gapping cross section wound on the man's stomach. But this wound had no trauma, no evidence that it had bled. It was simply a hole cut into the man.

"What is that?' Greg asked, repulsed.

"I have no idea, I have never seen anything like it before," David replied.

"That seems to be a reoccurring theme today," said Brass.