This chapter contains Roy Crocker and Stan. Minor mentions of violence.

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Chapter 1: Roy Crocker

He blinks up at the dim ceiling. He doesn't hurt. Bitch must have missed.

Roy Crocker springs to his feet, knife in hand, and blinks at the empty basement.

Nada.

The décor has changed, Sarah Vernon is gone, the surprise grandson and his grouchy friend are gone too, and Jesus Christ where did all this dust come from?

Roy grimaces, not sure how to handle this sudden change. He puts the knife back in his boot, looks for his gun- also gone, but by this point he's not surprised- and sets off up the stairs.

He is going to find Sarah Vernon and destroy her, no matter what it takes. He is not going to die today. He won't let Simon grow up without a father.

The door at the top of the stairs is locked, so with shaking fingers he pulls the vial of blood out of his shirt and pulls out the stopper. Roy breathes out deeply, letting a drop of blood fall from the vial and onto the banister. He plugs the vial and replaces it in his shirt. His eyes fall closed as he touches the drop, waiting for the rush…

Nothing happens except a damp feeling on his finger.

Roy looks at his finger and frowns.

This makes no sense. It's Maddox's blood, payment for Roy's work for the Guard. Maddox is definitely Troubled- Roy's seen it in action. Maddox's blood should still give Roy what he needs.

Roy groans aloud. "Duke," he mutters. If Duke had killed Maddox, taken the blood for himself before running to the hospital, then that would explain why the blood isn't working now. If the Maddox curse is dead… It's the only explanation.

Damn psychopathic grandson.

But that's not important right now. He has to find Sarah Vernon before she finds him. He tries to kick down the door, but he's too weak without the blood rush.

Roy swears under his breath and knocks loudly. "Hello? Hello, I'm stuck! I can't get out!"

"What was that?" someone says from the other side. "Hello? Is someone in there?"

"Yes! I need help!"

"This door hasn't been unlocked the entire time I've worked here," she mutters. "Hang on, someone's going to get the key."

Roy doesn't bother ask why she thinks he needs to hang on- the floor's not falling in or anything, after all- as he honestly has more important things to concern himself with.

"How did you even get in there?" she asks.

"A woman was trying to kill me," he replies, which might in all honesty might not be a direct answer to that question, but he figures it's close enough.

"Who?" the woman asks, alarmed.

"I don't know," he lies, because he can't let the police get to her first. He can't let Sarah Vernon live.

"Okay. I'm calling the cops," she says.

"No. No, don't- I can't identify her. Just let me out," Roy begs, but he can hear her talking to dispatch through the door.

Just in time, he hears the key grind into the door. He pushes it open, nearly knocking over the doctor releasing him, and sprints out. "Sorry!" he yells over his shoulder. "I've got to find her!"

He doesn't really know where to look- she was wearing a nurse's uniform, but he can't stay here, not with the cops on the way. Then again, the other man there was a policeman… No, nonsense, dying in a shootout is no better than being killed by the woman.

Roy ducks into a bathroom, scaring some male nurse with the wild look on his face. Roy acknowledges that he looks like a maniac. He figures it's fair. It's been ages since his last blood hit and it's been a hell of a day. He splashes water on his face, breathes slowly, tries to force thoughts through his syrupy mind.

Duke. Duke is his grandson, displaced from his own reality, with nowhere to go but the bar where Roy works. He can find Duke, and he can use Duke to find her.

Roy nods to himself, steps out of the bathroom, and nearly runs headfirst into a cop.

"Roy Crocker?" asks the cop kindly. "My name is Stan."

"I… yes. Listen, she's trying to kill me!"

"Sarah Vernon, you mean?" Stan asks.

Roy stops. "Yes, her. She's dangerous!"

"That she is. Listen, this is gonna be hard to understand, but the year is 2014. She succeeded; she killed you," Stan-the-cop says. "We're having a Trouble that is bringing people back from the dead. I need to take you into the police station now."

"I… what? No. You don't understand. I can't die. I can't let my son grow up without a father…" Roy says slowly, but god, it makes sense. The difference in the contents of the basement, the fact that it was locked and so very dusty…

"Look, come down to the station and we'll work it all out," Stan wheedles. "We've got… a surprising influx of dead people today."

"If I'm dead, how did you know my name?" Roy demands suddenly.

"My boss hung up the phone and said, 'That was the hospital. There's a guy locked in their basement ranting about some lady trying to kill him. I think it's Roy Crocker. Go.'"

"Your boss," Roy repeats. "The grumpy cop?"

"Well, he's not technically my boss. But… yeah."

"So I'm in his timeline. My grandson. Duke Crocker."

Stan looks surprised, but not by nearly as big of a margin as seems reasonable. "Yeah, he's around. Busy, right now. Look, I'll take you to the station and you can talk to him, all right?"

Roy huffs out a long breath, because he's still not exactly thrilled about the whole dead thing and Duke definitely played a role in it all- and don't tell him that Duke couldn't have prevented it, because Roy's been involved in plenty of murders, and he can tell. But he can't go after Sarah Vernon- whoever the hell she was, she's gone or ancient now. He can't go back to his life. The only thing he can do here is sate his curiosity about what became of his family.

"All right."