Chapter 12 - Nightshifter

"Helena was our head buyer. She — she was family, you know? She said it herself. Every year at the Christmas party, she said we were the only family she had." the man working at the jewelry store explains to Addison and Sam while Dean was talking to the other employee. The mysterious death of a woman who worked there caught their attention a couple of days ago.

"Helena never displayed any signs that she'd do anything like this?" Addison asks. To her, robbing a jewelry store and committing suicide a few hours later meant that something was definitely up.

"No," the man answers. "I still can't believe it, even now. That night, Helena came back to the store after closing, cleaned out all the display cases and the safe. Edgar, our night watchman - he caught her in the act. He didn't know what to do. He'd known her for years. He called me at home."

"And that's when she took his gun," Sam asks.

"She shot him in the face. I heard him die through the phone."

"What do you think her motive was," Addison asks.

"What motive? It makes no sense. Why steal all those diamonds, all that jewelry, then what? Just dump it somewhere? Just hide and it and then go home and..." He shakes his head. "It makes no sense."

"Did you see anything out of the ordinary on the security tapes?"

"Uh, well..."

"So, you never saw the security camera footage yourself, then," Sam asks him.

"The police — they took all the tapes, first thing."

"Lovely," Addison mutters. The man stares at her. She tensely smiles back in return. Dean joins them and she notices the other employee, a pretty young woman, staring at him. Sam shoots him an annoyed look. Dean shrugs and Addison sighs, before walking out.

The small white house they pull up in front of was in an area where many of the houses looked like they were built in fifties. The front yard was fenced in. "This is it," Sam says, climbing out of the Impala. He drops the file in the front seat.

"I hate when cops make everything so difficult," Addison comments.

"They're just doing their job, Ads."

"No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it, so they suck at it," Dean counters as they walk up to the front door. "Talk to me about this bank."

"Milwaukee National Trust — it was hit about a month ago."

"Same M.O. as the jewelry store?"

"An employee who would never do it," Addison says. "Guy robs the place, goes home, and commits suicide."

"And this guy, Resnick — he was a security guard on duty?"

"Yeah. He was actually beaten unconscious by the teller who heisted the place."

"Poor guy," Addison mutters.

Sam nods. He knocks on the door. "Mr. Resnick? Ronald Resnick?" A bright light suddenly comes on. Addison holds up a hand to block the light from her face. A man with curly shoulder length hair appears behind the glass door. "FBI, Mr. Resnick."

"Let me see the badge," Ronald replies. The three of them pull out their badges and slam them against the door. "I already gave my statement to the police."

"Yeah, listen, Ronald," Dean begins. "There's just some things about your statement we wanted to get some clarification on."

"You read it?"

"Of course we read it," Addison answers.

"Come to listen to what I've gotta say?"

"Well, that's why we're here," Dean tells him.

Ronald stares at them for a moment, then opens the door. "Come on in." The house was small and was filled with science fiction memorabilia. An old TV and couch were in the living. The coffee table was covered in magazines she had never heard of. Dean sits down on the couch. "None of the cops ever called me back. Not after I told them what was really going on. They all thought I was crazy."

"Well, Mr. Resnick, just start at the beginning," Addison says.

"Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? That I guarantee. See, me and Juan were friends. He used to come back to the bank on my night shifts and we'd play cards."

"So, you let him into the bank than," Sam questions. "After hours."

"The thing I let into the bank...wasn't Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Every detail was perfect, but too perfect, you know, like if a doll maker made it. Like I was talking to a big Juan doll."

"A Juan doll?"

Ronald hands Sam a file. "Look. This wasn't the only time this happened, okay? There was this jewelry store, too, and the cops and you guys - you just won't see it. Both crimes were pulled by the same thing."

"And what's that, Mr. Resnick," Addison asks.

Ronald picks up one of the magazines. The headline read 'Birth of the Cybermen.' "Chinese have been working on it for years. And the Russians before that — part-man, part-machine. Like the Terminator, but the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people."

"Like the one from T2," Dean states.

"Exactly! See, it's not just a robot. It's more of a — a mandroid."

"A mandroid," Sam disbelievingly states.

"What makes you so sure about your theory, Mr. Resnick," Addison asks.

Ronald grabs a tape and puts into the VCR. "See, I made copies of all the security tapes. I knew once the cops got them, they'd be buried. Here." He plays the tape. The footage was grainy, but they watch as Ronald appears on the screen. Another man follows him. "Watch...watch him...watch him. Look! There it is!" Ronald pauses the tape. Juan's eyes were glowing. "You see, he's got the laser eyes. The cops said it was of reflected light, some kind of camera flare. Ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm post-trauma case. So, what? Bank goes and fires me? It don't matter! The mandroid is still out there! The law won't hunt this thing down, I'll do it myself. You see, this thing - it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide. Then it sort of morphs into that person, cases the job for a while till it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening." Ronald points to a map that was hanging on the wall. "Now, these robberies - they're grouped together, so I figure that the mandroid is holed up somewhere in the middle. Underground, maybe, I don't know. Maybe that's where it recharges it, uh...mandroid batteries!"

Addison glances at Sam and Dean. "Okay," Sam begins. "I want you to listen very carefully. Cause I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this. There's no such thing as mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. It's just people. Nothing else, you understand?"

"But...the laser eyes."

"It's just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. See, I know you don't wanna believe this, but your friend, Juan, robbed the bank and that's it."

An angry look appears on Ronald's face. "Get out of my house! Now!"

Addison flops down on the bed in the motel room. She hated wearing heels when they pretended to feds or reporters. Dean was sitting at the table, drawing on a map to find the next potential target. Sam grabs some beers out of the mini fridge. "Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up," Dean comments. "You tell that poor son of a bitch that — what did you say? Remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation? That's messed up."

"What, are you pissed at me or something," Sam asks, grabbing a chair from the table. The security tape they had taken from Ronald was playing on the TV.

"No, I just think it's a little creepy of how good of a fed you are. Come on, we could've at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here."

Addison snorts. "Mandroid?"

"Except for the mandroid part. I liked him. He's not that different from us. People think we're crazy."

"Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean," Sam says. "He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real. If he were to go up against this thing, he'd get torn apart. Better to stay in the dark and stay alive."

"Yeah, I guess."

Sam pauses the tape. "Shape shifter. Just like back in St. Louis. Same retinal reaction to video."

"Eyes flare at the camera. I hate those fucking things."

Addison sits up. "And you think I don't?"

"Yeah, well, one didn't turn into you and frame you for murder."

"Well, one didn't try to kill you or possibly rape you."

"Look," Sam says. "If the shifter's anything like the one we killed in Missouri—"

"Then Ronald's right," Dean interrupts. "All right, they like to layer up underground, preferably the sewer. Now, all the robberies have been connected so far, right?" They both nod. "To the sewer main layout." He taps the map. "There's one more bank lined up on that same sewer main."

The employees of the City Bank of Milwaukee were going about their normal routines as the security guard leads Dean, Sam, and Addison through the busy lobby. This time, they were undercover as employees of a security company. "Well, we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet," the guard tells them.

"It's a glitch in the entire system," Addison tells him. "We just wanna make sure that the branch monitors are working."

"Better to be safe than sorry, I guess."

"That's the plan," Dean replies.

They stop in front of plain door. The guard opens it and they enter the small room. Six monitors were on the wall, with two chairs in front of them. "All right. You guys need anything else."

"Oh, no, no," Sam says. "We'll be in and out before you know it. Just a routine check."

"Okey dokey," the guard says before leaving.

Addison closes the door. She rolls her eyes seeing that they had sat down. "I like him," Dean says. "He says 'okey dokey.'"

"And what if he's the shifter," Addison counters.

"Well, then we follow him home with a silver bullet in his chest plate." Addison sits on Dean's leg. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Dean shoves her off. "Dean!"

Later in the afternoon, the three of them are still in the security room. Addison was sharing a chair with Sam. She covers her mouth as she yawns. "Well, it looks like Mr. Okey Dokey is...okey dokey," Dean comments.

"Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean," Sam says. "We don't even know it's here. Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and..."

Addison slaps the back of Dean's head. He had zoomed in on of the female employee's butt. "Eyes, Dean."

"I'm getting there," Dean counters, zooming out.

"Uh huh."

"Wait a minute." Dean moves the camera over to the bank manager, who has glowing eyes on the screen. "Hello, freak."

"Got him," Sam says, standing up.

"Guys," Addison says. She taps one of the monitors. Ronald was wrapping a chain around the main entrance doors. A rifle was hanging from a strap on his shoulder.

The three of them run out of the security office. "And you said we shouldn't bring guns," Dean says.

"I didn't know this was gonna happen, Dean," Sam argues.

"Just let me do the talking. I don't think he likes you very much, Agent Johnson."

By the time they reach the main lobby, Ronald has everyone kneeling on one side of the lobby. "Now, there's only one way in our out of here, and I chained it up. So nobody's leaving, you understand," Ronald says.

"Hey buddy," Dean greets, holding his hands up. "Calm down. Just calm down."

"What? You?! Get on the floor, now!"

They kneel down, holding their hands up. "Okay. Just don't shoot anybody, especially us."

"I knew it. As soon as you three left. You ain't FBI. Who are you? Who you working for, huh? The men in black? You working for the mandroid?!"

"We're not working for the mandroid," Sam tells him.

"You, shut up! I ain't talking to you, I don't like you!"

Addison notices the smirk on Dean's face and she rolls her eyes. "Fair enough." Sam replies.

Ronald turns to the group behind him. He points to one of the bank employees. "Get over here. Frisk them down, make sure they've got no weapons. Go!" The employee walks over and pats Sam down first. Sam unhappily watches as the employee pats down Addison. They watch as the employee pats down Dean and finds a knife in his sock. "Now, what have we here?"

"I'm not just gonna walk in here naked." Dean hisses as the employee hands the knife to Ronald.

"Get back down," Ronald orders after employee drops the knife down a trash chute.

"No, no, no, no," Dean exclaims. "We know you don't wanna hurt anybody. But that's exactly what's gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around. Now, why don't you let these people go?"

"No! I already told you, if nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've gotta do it myself!"

"Ronald," Addison cautiously begins. "We believe you. It's why we're here."

"You don't believe me! Nobody believes me! How could they?"

"Come here," Dean says.

"What? No!"

"You're holding the gun, boss, you're calling the shots. I just wanna tell you something. Come here." Cautiously, Ronald walks over to them. "It's the bank manager."

A confused look appears on Ronald's face. "What?"

"Why do you think we got these get ups, huh? We've been monitoring the cameras in the back. We saw the bank manager. We saw his eyes."

"His laser eyes?"

"Yes — no, no! Look, we're running out of time, okay? We've gotta find him before he changes into someone else."

"Like I'm gonna listen to you! You're a damn liar!" Dean slowly stands up. Ronald aims the gun at him. "I'll shoot you, get down!"

"Take me. Take me with you, take me as a hostage. But we've gotta act fast. Cause the longer we just sit here, the more time he has to change. Look at me, man. I believe you. You're not crazy. There really is something inside this bank."

Ronald stares at him. "Alright. You come with me. But everyone else gets in the vault!" Ronald ushers everyone into the bank vault. Addison shares a frustrated look with Sam. "Come on, move! Move, move!" Ronald turns to Dean. "Now, you lock it."

"It's okay, everyone. Just stay cool," Dean says, then closes the door.

"Who is that man?" Addison turns to see a blonde woman behind them. The name tag on her blazer read 'Sherri.'

"My brother." Sam answers.

"He is so brave." Sherri gushes.

Addison shakes her head and sits down. Sam reluctantly sits down next to her. "I swear, I'm gonna end up in prison because of someone with the last name Winchester."

Addison was annoyed. She was hot and sweaty. She was frustrated at the turn of events. But at the moment, locked in the bank vault, she was annoyed. "Has your brother always been so…wonderful." Sherri asks. "I mean, staring down that gun. And, you know, the way he played right into that psycho's crazy head, telling him what he wanted to hear. He's like a real hero or something."

"Would you shut the fuck up." Addison snaps, glaring at Sherri. "We get it. You want to blow him for saving your life."

The vault door opens and they turn to see Dean. "Oh my God!" Sherri exclaims. Addison rolls her eyes. "You saved us! You saved us!"

"Actually, I just found a few more." Dean replies. He waves a small gun and group of bank employees enter the vault.

"What are you doing?"

"Sam, Ads, Ronald and I need to talk to you." Addison sighs and follows them out of the vault. Dean closes the vault before turning to them. He had ditched his security costume. "It shed its skin again. We don't know when. Could be in the halls, could be in the vault."

"Great," Addison sarcastically says. "You're a wanted criminal, Dean."

"Yeah."

"So, even if we do find this damn thing, how the hell are we gonna get out of here," Sam asks.

"I don't know, one problem at a time. All right, Me and Ads are gonna do a sweep of the whole place to see if I can find any stragglers. Once we get everyone together, we've gotta play a little game of 'find the freak.' So, here — I found a couple more of these." Dean holds out silver letter openers and they each take one. "Sam, stay here. Make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody. Help him manage the situation."

"Help him manage? Are you insane?"

Dean glances at Ronald, who was standing near a desk. He grins at Ronald. "Look, I know this isn't going the way we wanted it too—"

"Really, Dean," Addison snaps.

"But if we invite the cops in right now, Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away. We'll probably never find it again, okay?" Sam motions to Ronald. Dean turns to see Ronald looking out the door, his gun raised. "Ron! Out of the light!"

"Seriously," Sam states.

"Yeah, Ron's gameplay was a bad plan. I mean, it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now, crazy's the only game in town, okay?" Addison shrugs and runs after Dean. They duck under windows to avoid being seen by the police outside the building.

"Dean," Addison hisses, grabbing his arm. He looks back at her. She motions to an office.

They enter the office. "See something?" She punches him in the arm. "What the fuck, Ads!"

"That's in case I end up in prison."

"You worry too much." Dean notices the ceiling tiles above Addison as she shrugs out of her costume. One of them was crooked. He pushes Addison to the side and grabs a coat rack. Dean touches the ceiling tile. A body falls onto the floor between them.

"Dean." He looks up at her. "He's in the vault."

After quickly making their way back to the vault, they find Sam and Ronald standing by the open vault door. The security guard was panting while the shapeshifter was holding him up. Dean walks up to Sam and whispers the information. "You know what, Ronald," Sam begins. "He's right. We've gotta get this man outside. Come on, I've got you."

"Yeah, I'll help you," the shifter says.

"We've got him," Addison says, stepping up to the security guard. She and Sam lead the guard away from the vault. The shapeshifter runs past them, with Ronald following him. Ronald stops in the middle of the lobby.

Sam sees the red dot on the back of Ronald's back. "Ronald," he shouts. "Get down! Now!" A shot rings. Glass shatters. Ronald falls to the ground. Blood pools around him. Sam grabs Addison's arm and pulls her along with the guard over to where Dean is hiding behind one of the counter. "Take care of the guard. I'm going after the shifter."

Dean glances over where Ronald's body was lying. "Sorry, Ron," he quietly says, crawling over. He grabs the rifle. "You did a real good job tracking this thing, you really did." He grabs the guard's arm and leads him over to the door. He undoes the cord around the door and opens it, pushing the guard in front of him.

"Don't shoot," the guard shouts, holding up his hands. "Don't shoot!"

Dean aims the gun at the SWAT team. "No, no, no! Don't even think about it!" He sees the numerous cop cars and helicopters flying around the building. "I said get back, now!" The guard runs across the street and Dean closes the door. He puts the cord back around the door handles. "We are so screwed."

Addison looks up when Dean rejoins her behind the counter. "The guard get out okay," she softly asks.

"Yeah." He glances over at Ronald's body. "Not our fault, Ads."

"I know." Dean holds out his hand and she takes it. Together, they make their way out of the lobby. Addison's cell phone rings and she pulls it out of her pocket. "Yeah," she asks, putting it on speaker.

"Slipped its skin." Sam tells them.

"What?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, bastard shifts fast. A lot faster than the one in St. Louis."

"Great. It could be anybody," Addison replies. "Again."

"I think most of the employees are out of the vault by now."

"All right," Dean begins. "You and Ads search every inch of this place. I'm gonna go round everybody up."

"I hate this stupid case," Addison says, shoving her phone in her pocket. She starts to go down on of the hallways, but stops. "Dean." He looks at her. "Be careful."

"You too."

Addison hides under the desk. She had heard windows breaking and heavy footsteps. The office door opens and she closes her eyes. This was the moment she had always feared. Being handcuffed, dragged away, and locked up in a padded cell somewhere. She had lost track of where the boys and she shapeshifter were. And when she heard a window breaking, she ducked into the nearest office and hid. Footsteps near her. She looks up to find two men dressed in SWAT gear. One of them pulls down the mask. "Sam," Addison disbelievingly asks.

Sam smiles at her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Did you get the shifter?"

"It's been taken care of," Dean says from behind his SWAT mask. He grabs Addison's arm and pulls her up. "Be a damsel in distress."

Addison glares at Dean. "Excuse me? Do you want to repeat that, Winchester?"

Sam sighs. "Guys." He pulls down the mask. He places a hand on Addison's back as they follow Dean out of the room. None of them say anything as they pass other SWAT guys. Addison keeps her head down, pretending to be a hostage. They exit through the back door and walk up the stairs to the parking garage.

Once inside the Impala, the guys pull off the masks. "We are so screwed," Dean states.

"No shit," Addison snaps as Dean starts the Impala and they drive out of the parking deck.