Death Games

Chapter One:

FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth stepped into the Jeffersonian , a manila file-folder clutched tightly in his hand. He had just received the latest case from Cullen, and upon reading it over, concluded that this would be a job for the squints. He immediately hopped into his black SUV, and was off to see his favorite Forensic Anthropologist. Walking into the lab, he was greeted by the squints, but, being a man on a mission, he got straight to the point.

"Where's Bones?"

Angela smiled at him, as per her usual perky self. "She's in her office," she replied, before taking a sip of her coffee.

He grinned back, and headed over to Brennan's spacious office, walking on in as if he owned the place.

"Hey, Bones", he said.

"Booth, I don't have time for another case," she responded, predictably, not even bothering to glance up from her computer, where she was so intently working.

"You say that every time, Bones," he told her, smiling.

"And I mean it every time. My boss just makes me go anyways."

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. "And we both know that the same thing will happen this time, just like always. I ask for you to join me on a case-"

"-demand me to join you on a case", she cut in.

He ignored her. "You say no-"

"-rather adamantly."

"And Goodman makes you do it anyways, for the good of humanity, and puppies, and mostly, for the lab's reputation. So why don't we just skip that part, since we both know how it will end, and go straight to the you helping me bit."

Bones looked up from her computer at last, to ask him "What do puppies have to do with anything?"

He grinned. "Come on, Bones, grab your coat. We've got a murder to investigate."

--

The drive to the park was relatively short, and was made even shorter by Booth's quick driving. When they arrived at the scene, Booth flashed his badge, and held the 'CRIME SCENE' tape for Brennan to duck under. They walked quickly over to a large oak, and stopped dead (no pun intended) at the gruesome sight before them. The body was strapped to the tree with thick rope, it's limbs splayed out in all directions. But, what made this sight particularly difficult to stomach was the fact that all of the flesh was missing from the corpse, down to the eyelids, leaving the hazel eyes constantly staring back at Booth and his partner. He shuddered.

Undeterred, Dr. Brennan quickly donned a pair of latex gloves, and walked right up to the corpse. Studying it, she announced, "Caucasian male, aged twenty-three to twenty-eight. Can't have been dead for more than a few hours." She studied the body a bit more closely. Her forehead creased in thought.

"What is it, Bones?"

"None of the muscles or tendons seem to be damaged."

"So this isn't just your hack-and-slash kind of killer."

She shook her head in the negative. "Whoever did this knew what they were doing. It wasn't random."

"Great. Just great," Booth replied, sighing. He pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his coat, and pressed speed dial. "Cullen, this is Agent Booth. It looks like we may have a serial killer on our hands."

--

Back at the lab, as Bones continued to study the body, she asked Booth "So what makes you think it's a serial killer? There's only the one body. Maybe somebody just had a grudge."

He watched as Bones squinted at something, and began to make small incisions in the side of the corpse with a scalpel. He cringed, and took a step back. "Not likely. Typically with grudges it's an act of brutality. It's messy and disorganized, no matter how 'well planned out' the person may think it is. This person knew what he was doing, you said so yourself. He waited until the park was empty, and he left the body where it would easily be found. If it was about a grudge of some sort, they would want the person dead, not hung up as some sort of trophy."

Dr. Brennan finished removing the small stitches she had noticed, that had been carefully placed in the side, and extracted the misplaced rib. She quickly cleaned the fluids off of it, and inspected the bone. "Not a trophy," she told her partner. "A message."

She held a magnifying glass up to it, as Booth stepped up behind her to look over her shoulder.

Inscribed into the Ivory of the bone were the words 'Let the games begin.'

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A/N Please Let me know what you think! Should I continue or not? My first Bones fanfiction, feedback is very much appreciated!