AN: I want to thank everyone who reviewed thus far!
The shock of fresh air made Alexis gasp. She hadn't been in direct sunlight in days and she'd forgotten it completely. Looking over, she saw similar thoughts on Esposito's mind.
With most of the windows covered over for secrecy, they hadn't had a good look outside since they had worked on the roof together. Esposito had taken over the outside duties.
Snow was everywhere, melted to mush and refrozen without having been run over by traffic or sweepers. Trash had piled up on the streets... and so had the bodies. Everywhere they looked was another reminder of the devastation. On the towers along the skyline, Alexis could make out makeshift banners, calling for help. Down the far end on a brickstone, Alexis could see wild graffiti that prophesied the end of the human race, and she wasn't so sure it was wrong. The other way she saw lines of cars, most of them parked, some of them crashed. but all of them had their petrol caps open. They'd been siphoned.
But by far, the most horrifying details, were the things that were totally normal. The same billboards that Alexis had seen the last time she'd walked this street. The same commercials for Christmas sales, decorations lining the windows, even the ones with bulletholes...
"Well. Shall we?" She started walking.
"That's West. The 12th is this way." Esposito pointed the way he was going.
"I know. But Grandma is this way." Alexis pointed the opposite direction. "Once you hit the subway line, it's not that far out of our way, Detective."
"Not that far when you have a working car." Esposito returned. "But for us? Six blocks could be the difference."
"Well, look at it this way, Detective." Alexis returned. "Either I check on my Grandmother, and we go tell my dad what we find, or we go straight to my dad, and his first move will be to go try and find her himself."
Esposito sighed under his breath. "Fine." He turned to follow. "And thank you for not threatening to go alone."
"I think we both know better at this point." Alexis agreed. "I would go alone, if you forced me to, but I don't think either of us would make it far." She smirked. "Well, you would, I guess."
"Don't underestimate yourself, kid." Esposito said honestly. "You were more ready for it than anyone else in the street. More prepared than most of New York, as it happened."
They found Martha's apartment. Alexis pulled her spare key, and they let themselves in, donning their masks. "Grandma?"
The room was cold, dark... The knick-knacks on the shelves were covered in a light layer of frost. Esposito searched the rooms, leading with his gun. One of the windows was broken. The bed was rumpled. There were drops of blood on the pillow.
"Detective!" Alexis called in worry, and Esposito hurried to join her.
The front door had been spray-painted. A yellow cross with numbers in the quadrants. In the dark hallway, they hadn't noticed. With the light from the windows inside, they saw the peeling paint clearly. "What does this mean?"
"Search and rescue marker." Esposito said darkly. "They put them on rooms that have already been searched... I'm sorry, Kid."
Alexis throat worked. "The marks say they found a body."
Esposito nodded. "Yup."
Alexis slumped. "She was all alone."
There was a hissing sound, and the smell of smoke and fuel came soon after. Alexis ran to the window and looked down at the street. There were people dressed in fireman jackets and gas masks... But they weren't carrying hoses or extinguishers. They were carrying flamethrowers.
But that wasn't what Alexis noticed.
It was the huge stack of body bags that they were torching, methodically setting them all ablaze.
Grandma is somewhere in that pile. Alexis wanted to weep, but she needed to keep her eyes clear. Alexis was still staring, when Esposito grabbed her and threw them both to the ground. An instant later, the windows smashed in a hail of gunfire.
"They saw us!" Esposito hissed. "They'll be watching the doors! We need another exit!"
Alexis chewed her lip. "Through the ground floor windows, there's a ventilation shaft in the alley, leads down to the subway tunnel. My dad put it in one of the Nikki Heat books when Gram moved in here."
Esposito considered it as they crawled back to the hallway. "Trains have all been shut down. Electric is out... Should be safe enough. But that alley is going to be one hell of a blind spot. How far from the window to the ventilation shaft?"
"Ten or twelve feet. But we'll have to get the cover up."
They made it back to the stairwell, and looked down. Fire was gathering, pooling at the ground floor. "They're not just burning the bodies. They're burning everything!" Esposito hissed. "We'll have to be quick!"
"I must admit, as depressing as the view can be, I'm glad to have natural light back in the 12th. I missed having the windows."
"Me too. But speaking of the view, we have a problem." Castle declared, and Beckett came over to join him at the window. "See that guy with the red ink on his jacket?"
"Gang sign." Beckett observed. "What about him? Looks like he's just asking those people for food."
"He is. And in twelve minutes, he's going to be coming around the corner, offering it back to them when they're sitting on that corner 'just asking for food' themselves. They've been handing that bottle of water and granola bar back and forth for the last hour."
Beckett's face hardened. "They're doing recon on the corner."
"They're taking notes on who's coming and going, now that we've opened up the quarantine, and whatever fortifications they can see."
Kate swore under her breath. "There's another attack coming."
Esposito and Alexis came out of the tunnel at a subway station. He checked the station name. "We are... near the Museum. Not bad. We skipped more than a few streets; but we're a little further to the north than I'd like."
Alexis climbed up onto the station platform and went to the vending machines. "They're empty. Smashed out." She looked up the stairs. "The security gates have been forced. What are the odds they've moved on?"
"Could have been looking for food." Esposito nodded. "Or come to that, they could have been looking for a safer way through the city. As risky as the tunnels are, it's got to be safer than the streets. We used the tunnels for the... same..."
Esposito looked at Alexis. She looked back. They both had the thought at the same moment.
"They've made us!" Someone shouted and suddenly there was a war on, with people boiling out of hiding places all over the place.
"Go!Go!Go!" Esposito yelled, and they took off running up the steps to street level, with half a dozen Raiders on their heels.
Alexis hit the street first and scanned about. The nearest building was the Museum. It was their only option for cover. Esposito apparently agreed, pulling her along, his gun barking fire back at their pursuers.
The front doors were chained, but there were other ways in. Alexis found a smaller, regular sized door that had been forced and ran inside. The instant Esposito followed her, they both threw themselves against it, trying to keep their pursuers out.
The half dozen people rammed the other side of the door, and managed to get it a few inches open for a moment, and then the wrestling match began. Esposito put his gun against the door and put two shots through the wood. Whoever was on the other side scattered immediately, and Alexis found a chair to ram against the doorknob.
They both took a moment to breathe.
"Is this what life is going to be like from now on?" Alexis groaned.
The Museum was wrecked. Every exhibit ripped up, every glass case smashed. "Ohh, it's a good thing dad isn't here." Alexis snarled under her breath. "He loves the Museum. He'd mourn this place more than he would half the people out there."
"As a cop, I gotta say, I hate vandalism." Esposito shook his head. "I understand theft, I understand revenge... I don't get vandalism. Why just go out and destroy things?"
Alexis sighed. "Because it's the only thing left that you can do. Heaven knows I wish I had something to strangle this week."
The two of them moved through the building for a moment. The elevators were all locked open, the stairs were barricaded. Someone was taking refuge up on the second floor. "We can't stay long."
"Agreed. Let's find a way out of-"
SMASH!
"They found a way in!" Alexis hissed.
Esposito caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and grabbed her, skidding them both across the tile floor to the stairwell, where they took cover, just as a bullet whistled past his ear.
"Listen!" Esposito called across. "We both know that bullets are hard to come by; and I don't know you, but I'll bet your lives that I'm a better shot."
Beat.
"Bullets are hard to find, but food is harder." A voice called back coldly. "There's four of us, and two of you. Sure you wanna roll the dice? Because if you're a better shot, it just means there's less mouths to feed."
"You willing to risk being one of them?" Esposito dared.
"Are you?"
Esposito checked his ammo. "Four of them? Long shot." He said under his breath to his new partner. "If they lasted this long outside, they won't spook and run."
Alexis chewed her lip and reached into her bag. She pulled out a water bottle, and unscrewed the cap. "Fight or flight. Your call, but either way, get ready."
Esposito nodded.
Alexis threw the water bottle. It arced high, visible to everyone on both sides, and when it splashed down hard on the floor, water flowing out. Someone screamed, as though Alexis had just thrown a newborn baby.
"Get it! Get it!" A voice hissed, and the shooting started. Someone on the other side started giving covering fire, and Esposito pushed Alexis away from the bullets, putting himself in front of her. She didn't look back, but heard his gun bark twice, and someone fell to the floor behind her.
She caught movement, and tried to change course. "Esposito! One here!" She called, and dove in the opposite direction, trying to find cover. A hand caught her hair and Alexis felt her scalp wrench with a cry. She came up with her pepper spray, and tried to hit him with it, but he moved faster. There was the sound of metal sliding on metal, and fire raced up Alexis' arm. Her assailant had a collapsible baton, with a weighted end. She was lucky he hadn't shattered her bones.
Esposito sailed in and freed her, shoving Alexis away. She ran, and got three steps before tripping on something.
Alexis skidded across the marble floor on her knees, and slid into a dead body, where she found an unexpected prize.
A rapier. The sword was old, but polished and sharpened enough to gleam. What was once an exhibit from the age of pirates was now a salvaged weapon, clutched in the hand of a dead woman. The sword was already stained with blood, but it hadn't saved her from a bullet.
Alexis pried the sword from her fingers. "I'm sorry, whoever you are; but I need this more than you do."
Esposito's gun had clicked empty, and he was surrounded. The man with the rifle was reloading, and the three men with hand weapons were closing in. Clubs, crowbars, axes... The collapsible baton was a police weapon. Esposito knew they'd flay him open...
And then Alexis strode down the corridor behind them. "Drop the weapons, and walk away. You can even keep the water bottle."
The one with the crowbar turned to face the young redhead, and slashed at her face.
Schwing!
Quick as a rattlesnake, Alexis brought up the sword and blocked the attack.
For a split second, it was harder to tell who was more surprised. Esposito, or the gang.
The other two men with clubs forgot about Esposito instantly, and turned on Alexis. Her strikes were quick and efficient. Without a wasted movement, she had blocked both attacks, swept one crowbar away, and opened a neat slice in the nearest thug's face, tracing his cheekbone in blood.
The man with the gun swore and fumbled, searching his many bags of salvage for another ammo clip. Esposito lurched upright and promptly put him in a devious sleeper hold.
Alexis swept the sword back up again, taking a finger with it. Her attacker howled and ran for it, the other backing away quickly; hands up in surrender.
Alexis did the math in her head. There was one she'd lost track of...
She caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, and spun, bringing the sword up on sheer reflex...
Esposito released his victim, who slumped to the ground, out cold. Esposito picked up his weapon, and scanned for Alexis. The girl was standing, sword extended, and one of their attackers was on the end of it, impaled through the chest, mid-lunge.
For a frozen moment, nobody moved.
And then Alexis pulled the sword back, and let the body drop.
"She got Alex!" Someone shouted as their attackers ran away. They let them go.
Esposito watched her reactions carefully. Her eyes were wide, and her face was ashen. Her breath was coming in quick, short gasps... But she was trying to slow her breathing. Almost automatically, the sword flicked, up and then down again, in a perfect fencing salute. "Detective, we have to get out of here!"
"Yes. We do." Esposito agreed.
Alexis licked her lips. "Um... the back door is where they were gathered, and the front door is where they've built their barricades... Maybe, um... the windows? No! The fire escape! Elevated position, some cover."
Esposito was impressed. She was already preparing escape routes, figuring out possible alternatives, and dismissing options that wouldn't work. A lot of people would have been trapped in brain-lock. This girl was cool enough under fire to keep thinking. Now test her recall. See if her memory works under stress. "Where's the Medieval Exhibit in here?"
Alexis jumped, startled by the shift. "What?"
"You got that sword from one of the exhibits. You think it's worth looking for more?"
Alexis struggled to think. "No. Everything we might be able to use is on the upper floors. I got this from someone who'd already stolen it and didn't get far. Um... The upstairs level is probably more fortified. If there are people up there, they'll be coming. Best bet is to run while we still can."
Esposito was pleased, but not letting his expression show. "I agree."
When they came down the fire escape, they made it four feet before half a dozen more jumped them. They all wore the same colors, and Alexis recognized gang graffiti, though she didn't know for sure which gang it was.
Esposito didn't even hesitate. He threw himself into the middle of them, fists and feet and elbows flashing back and forth, faster than she could follow them. The detective that had always given her such an easy grin, and had relaxed around her dad's couch for two weeks was suddenly a human pile-diver, completely demolishing six crazed survivors in less time than it took her to recognize what she was seeing.
That's not the way a cop fights...
Alexis was staring, with her jaw hanging open, when the hissing sound of fire became audible. Flamethrowers.
"They found us?!" Alexis blurted in disbelief.
"Impossible." Esposito hissed, dragging the girl behind cover. "There's no way they got here on foot without taking the tunnels..." He looked darkly at her. "There's more of them than we thought. The Factions are all over the place."
Four men with flamethrowers and fireman gear in front of them, cutting off their escape. Six men with rifles and bandannas behind, boiling out of the museum. Two factions, and Esposito and Alexis trapped between them with three bullets and a chipped antique sword.
"Well." Alexis said softly. "What now?"
He didn't have an answer. They were dead.
"Heads up!" A voice called. They both looked up, and at the top of a fire escape, there was a figure in a full face gas mask and gloves. The figure tossed something down to the ground. The instant it hit, it unfolded into, of all things, a mounted gun turret.
"MOVE!" Esposito yelled, pulling Alexis out of the way, just as the turret opened up, spraying gunfire toward the men with flamethrowers.
Alexis hugged the wall and saw a door. It was a big thick basement door, down below street level. There were no windows on either side, and the door was padlocked.
The figure slid down the fire escape swiftly and tossed a handgun to Esposito. The figure had a rifle, and both fighters started giving Alexis cover. The young woman dove for the padlock and pulled one of her hairpins out swiftly; picking the lock.
"Hurry, Alexis!" Esposito hissed.
"Patience is a virtue, Detective." Alexis grit her teeth and tried to focus on the lock.
There was a whoosh of flame, and the automatic turret exploded like a firecracker.
"So is breathing!" The masked figure shouted back.
Esposito reached into his bag and pulled out something that looked a lot like a silver baseball. He pushed a button and it glowed bright green, before he tossed the thing out into the street. Focused on the padlock, Alexis almost didn't notice, but the ball was rolling... and it was guided. It was turning left and right to get around cover...
Something clicked and Alexis called. "Got it!"
The strange device suddenly exploded in a burst of brilliant white light and thick, sticky smoke. The Firemen all grabbed at their eyes and ears, as Alexis was hustled into the basement.
"They're going!" The mysterious stranger said from the door. "The Gangs are chasing the Firetruck guys."
"Good." Esposito coughed. "Kid, you hurt?"
"My jacket is a bit singed, but I'm okay." Alexis was still getting her breath back. "What was that thing you had?"
"Me? What about you? Where did you learn to pick your way through a padlocked door?"
Their masked ally with the turret gun rose and took off her gas mask. "I taught her." Hayley Shipton said with a grin. "Her father thought it would help with PI business. Or he would have, if we'd told him."
"Oh, why am I not surprised you're still alive?" Esposito said with a grin. "I thought I recognized that ass, but I was otherwise distracted at the-" He broke off mid-flirt when he saw the watch on her wrist. "Shipton? You?" Espo was stunned.
"Surprise." She grinned, looking to Alexis. "I knew you'd remember. You thought I was going too far, getting you to learn lock-picking while I played rock music loud enough to rattle the windows; but it just payed off, didn't it?"
"Hayley, what the hell is going on?" Alexis demanded.
"Alexis? Did you just use the word 'hell' as an expletive? I'm impressed. The last few weeks have really broadened you, haven't they?" Hayley smiled like it was just another day. "Glad to see you safe, Esposito. I mean, I knew Alexis would figure it out, but I had no idea that you were-"
"One of us?" Esposito said coolly. "It's about damn time someone got around to debriefing me. I sent ISAC the alert over a week ago!"
"Politics is politics, I guess. I wasn't activated until yesterday."
"Me neither. Which means neither of us were deployed with the First Wave, which means it's as bad as it sounds." Esposito nodded grimly. "Have you heard anything from off the island in the last five days?"
"EXCUSE ME!" Alexis put herself between them. "You're both people that I greatly admired for their confidence and talent. Would one of you mind sharing with the rest of the class? Because that turret that Hayley had wasn't something a PI can buy on the market, or my dad would have six of them. And that grenade thing that Detective Esposito had wasn't NYPD issue, or even the military. That was some sci-fi Juju, and I want to know what's going on!"
Both of them looked at her, and their faces softened.
"She's right." Hayley said quietly. "We should tell her."
"She's not cleared."
"So what? If we're activated, you know it doesn't matter any more." Hayley countered. "Look, this isn't really the time for this, but... I've had my eye on this one. She's good. In fact, I wanted to recruit her."
"Alexis? She's not a soldier."
"Neither am I. Only a third of the Division is a straight up combatant." Hayley wasn't concerned. "Besides, she ain't a greenie. Nobody alive in New York is soft any more. If she isn't curled in a ball sobbing, she's passed the first initiation test. Survivors survive."
Alexis still didn't know what they were talking about, but some of the pieces suddenly fit together. "Hayley... You've been sort of... training me, haven't you?"
Hayley nodded without taking her eyes of Esposito. "Yup. She's got the kind of face that can talk its way into any group. That's a rarer gift than anything you could do with a rifle." She looked hard at Esposito. "And we both know that if we're going to finish the mission, we're going to need that particular skill."
"What Mission?" Alexis pounced. Esposito was looking at her with a look that she'd seen on her father's face a hundred times. A look that said: 'she's a little baby girl, why is she in the middle of this?' and her face hardened. "I can handle it."
Esposito let out a breath hard. "Well... Out of respect to my history with your father, I vowed I'd never involve anyone he knew; and you in particular. But Hayley's right. It doesn't matter any more." He held out a hand to Alexis. "Kid, I will tell you everything, but I also have to tell Captain Beckett, if she's alive. We're less than three blocks from the 12th. Can you wait that long?"
If Kate was alive, her father was almost certainly with her, and Alexis nodded. "For that, and that alone, I believe I can wait, yes."
They started walking again. The fighting had moved down the street, and the hungry refugees were starting to poke their heads back out, like frightened prey animals once the predators had passed.
"Your radio still working?" Esposito asked.
"Yeah, but I couldn't bring it with me when I had to abandon my safe house." Hayley nodded. "Last I heard, there were suspected cases in Newark, Chicago and Des Moines. I had a Ham Radio in my car, and it looks like they've managed to get it contained..."
"But they've decided to leave New York to itself."
"I don't think that most jaded minds in the Division expected the wolfpacks to form this fast." Hayley nodded. "Javi, listen... I was only just activated. I'm not your handler. I'm your Fireteam. Which... I guess, makes you my boss, for the moment."
Espo snorted. "I figured, otherwise I'd be hitting on you right now."
"And I'd be slapping your unfortunately attractive face right about..." She checked her watch with a smirk. "...now." They approached the corner and she moved ahead a little quicker, to do a quick scan of the next street. "Clear!"
They moved up. Alexis hadn't even noticed it at first, but she had started moving like Esposito. She knew exactly where the nearest cover was, and how thick it was, and if it would protect her from bullets, or fire... She broke off the thought, and noticed Hayley looking at her. Her suddenly mysterious friend had seen her sizing up the street like a pro.
"You said that Alexis wasn't cut out for it." Hayley observed to Esposito. "But we need a complete Team. We're the Sleepers, which means our Support won't be here until we make a place for them. The First Wave obviously didn't succeed. Who did you have in mind?"
"Give you two guesses." Alexis observed dryly. "And if you need more than one, I get your boots."
Hayley smirked. "What is it with the men of the 12th worshiping at the Shrine of Katherine Beckett?"
"Women too." Alexis chimed in. "Besides, I'm the wrong one to ask. She is my Stepmother now."
"Beckett's impressive, I agree." Hayley allowed. "But she can't let anything go. When we come in, it's because it's time to make a Hail Mary play. Beckett got bounced from the AG's Office because she was way too black and white to work at that level. She'd never accept losses."
"How do you know about that?" Esposito was intrigued.
"When Beckett was offered the Captain's Exam, she also got offered a chance to run for Senate... And you submitted a recruitment report. I was the nearest agent, and I was asked to double-check your work."
"That's why you showed up in our lives suddenly?" Alexis grinned.
"No, but it's why I stuck around. I was a Sleeper. I made my living, and waited for the call. It was a coincidence that we met, but it turned out to be a lucky one. Beckett pushes too hard on the wrong fights. She wins those fights, but she doesn't notice the cost to herself."
"I think that's what Esposito likes about her." Alexis offered.
"Sure, but ask any CDC agent: The most important person to keep healthy is the doctor." Hayley countered. "Beckett will go to war over one person, but she won't see the whole board. Makes her a good cop, and an even better person to have on your side, but she can't accept the hard losses."
"You think I can?" Alexis put in.
"I think you've never had to make a call like that before in your life." Hayley said. "Beckett has. You're trainable. She's got too many bad habits."
"Bad habits? Like saving lives?"
Hayley shrugged. "You wanna help people? Okay. Where do you want to start?"
Alexis looked around. She had walked these streets a thousand times. But now they were clogged with garbage, chalk outlines, piles of bodies and human waste, eight feet deep. There were rats crawling over everything. There were three people off to the side, wrestling madly over a tin of sardines, and dozens of others wearing scarves over their mouths, holding out their hands beseechingly for anything, water, food, aspirin... "I take your point." Alexis sighed sadly. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"
Hayley rolled her eyes. "Going to have to work on that confidence." She sent a glance at Esposito and pulled a small box out of her many pockets, holding it out to Alexis. "Here. Think you can put these in?"
Alexis opened the box. "Contact lenses?"
Esposito whirled like he'd been shot. "Whoa-whoa-whoa! No!No!No!"
Hayley looked him square in the eye. "Give me one reason why not, and don't mention her father. This kid's one string is that she's more worried about her dad than she is about herself. What if Castle is dead? What if we keep her in the dark when we needed her, and it turns out it was for no reason?"
They heard gunfire.
"Is that coming from the 12th?" Alexis demanded.
"I do believe it is." Hayley nodded, drawing her gun. "Put your contacts in, and let's do this."
Esposito swore and pulled out his backup handgun again, offering it to Alexis. "Decide fast!"
Alexis took the gun with gravity. The two Agents ran for the street, and she let them get ahead of her... While she put the contact lenses in. She had no idea what they were for, but...
Her vision lit up. There was a whole new overlay on the world. She could see precise locations on her friends, right down to their postures. She could see outlines of the buildings, even through the snow. She could see ice drawn on the road, and warning markers on the infected bodies.
And then Esposito did something, around the corner, and her gaze lit up with a strange pulse that left behind the shapes of people drawn in red on the next street. People who were grabbing cover...
Enemies. Alexis thought. I have enemies. They're attacking my father.
She gripped the gun. It felt cold and ugly and terrible in her hand. She crept around the corner, being very small, and got a look at the battlefield. The 12th had apparently built barricades. She saw blood and bullet-holes on them. Whatever policemen had been outside during the quarantine had held their posts to the end.
The two Agents were moving back and forth between cover like a well oiled machine. They had each other's backs, even without looking at each other. They always knew where the other was, and when one moved, the other fired, keeping the enemies at bay. With her new eyes, Alexis started to see the battlefield differently. The 12th still had defenders, but they were pinned at the doors.
But now Hayley and Javier were flanking them, driving them closer together. Alexis saw Hayley dive behind a barricade and toss one of Javier's magic grenades. It rolled back and forth between cover, and Alexis tracked it with her new eyes. Her Overlay showed her what the grenade was armed with. It was a stun grenade.
It exploded in the middle of the attackers, and the majority of them went rolling around on the ground.
"BECKETT!" Esposito roared. "Front Door's Clear!"
Alexis was a few meters back from the main fight, perched behind a burned out police car, and had a perfect view of the moment the doors to the 12th flew open, and half a dozen police officers came charging out, taking full advantage.
The invaders with the gang marks were scattered, the ones that weren't incapacitated were moving away from the middle of the fight, trying to circle around.
A few of them made berserker charges, two at Esposito, one at the Precinct doors. People that were too pumped up on hunger and adrenaline and fear to show common sense. From her vantage point, Alexis could see that one of them was about to flank Esposito. He hadn't noticed.
Alexis brought up her gun quickly without thinking. She fired. Missed. Fired again. Missed. The second bullet ricochet, close enough that the berserker noticed her and broke off his attack to lunge for her, trying not to be so surrounded. Hayley caught the movement and tried to help, when Esposito pulled her back behind some cover.
Squeeze, don't pull. Alexis told herself frantically. Squeeze the trigger, don't pull.
She fired again, and nailed him in the leg. He dropped, groaning.
What do I do now? Alexis worried. Do I tie him up? Will he let me do that? Do I shoot him dead now, while he's down? Am I allowed to do that? Is he going to surrender? Do I have to feed a prisoner? Should I try and save his life?
She looked back to the Precinct... and just for a second, she thought she saw her dad. Her new overlay didn't give her much, but just for a second...
And then Esposito must have pulsed again, because she suddenly saw another enemy hiding behind the door, armed with a wicked looking blade. "Dad! Look OUT!" She tried to scream...
Bang! The attacker suddenly dropped, inches away from cleaving her father in two.
Kate Beckett had stepped out of her precinct with her teeth bared and her eyes blazing. One shot. Two shots, and every attacker between the barricades and the front door suddenly dropped.
The attack was routed, with people falling back. The Battle for the 12th Precinct was fought and won.
Hayley looked at Esposito expectantly. Alexis had covered his flank and saved his life, and they both knew it.
"The Kid did alright." Esposito agreed. "But she hasn't volunteered."
"She will." Hayley nodded with certainty. "She'll want to edge her way into accepting it, but she's already in. Just wish we had more time to train her."
"Time is our enemy now." Esposito nodded. "So if she does decide to join up, and if - And I Wanna Stress The IF - I decided to sign off on recruiting her... She'd need one hell of a Mentor."
Hayley smirked.
"Don't smile. Convincing me will be hard. Convincing her father will be harder."
Kate coughed a little, into her elbow. "They'll be back." She said immediately of their attackers. "Get those barricades repaired, and start reloading!"
Castle was looking at her proudly.
She demurred a little, her color returning. "Turns out it was the flu after all."
Castle smirked. "Was there ever any doubt?"
A familiar face strode up. "Captain."
Beckett let out a sob. "Espo!" She pulled him fiercely. "Now there's a face I really needed to see."
"Sorry it took me so long to get back." Esposito reported. "Traffic was murder." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I don't know what your policy is, but we've got prisoners."
Beckett smiled when her gaze went past him and settled on bright red hair. "Alexis?"
Castle spun to face his daughter, both of them seeing each other for the first time in forever.
"Alexis!" Castle let out a sob, and his weapon dropped as he ran to her.
"DAD!" Alexis powered past everyone and slammed into her father's embrace like a missile. She pulled back. "How are you not dead?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing."
"Clayton Forrester." Alexis said simply. "But what about you?"
"Barricade those doors!" Beckett barked at her people. "Rebuild those Gun-Points, right now!" She turned to Alexis. "Good to see you, Sweetie. Are you three clean?"
"We're not infected." Esposito reported. "Listen, Captain... There's no easy way to say this: I'm taking command of your Precinct."
Dead silence. Castle and Beckett turned to stone. Everyone in earshot stopped what they were doing to gawp at Esposito, and those that hadn't heard noticed the sudden halt in activity and turned to look.
"In my office, please." Beckett said with eerie politeness.
Esposito and Beckett spoke privately. Castle lead Alexis over to the stairwell, so that they could speak with each other and compare notes.
"I found Grandma." Alexis reported. "Dad, I'm sorry."
"I am too, kid. Looks like Jim Beckett didn't make it either. There was a few days when I thought Kate had it." Castle sighed, numb to it. "We had thirty people when this started. Now we've got eight."
"You should see it outside. Body bags stacked everywhere, ten people deep." Alexis sighed. "Dad, I killed a man this morning."
He hugged her tightly, so that she couldn't see his face fall in open regret. "Not like in my books, is it?"
She shook her head, face buried in his chest.
He sighed hard. "I'm sorry you had to do that. I should have been there. I'm the dad. It's my job to fight scoundrels and fiends."
"I thought that was Prince Charming's job?"
"Prince Charming doesn't deserve you." He stroked her hair a bit. "Did he give you a choice?"
"I don't... no. No he didn't."
"We weren't the ones that threw the rules away, sweetie. It isn't on us."
"I know. In my head, I know that. My heart says it's a cop out." She sniffed. "Am I... Do I look different? I don't feel different. Is that bad?"
Castle pulled back and looked at her. Her skin was a little paler, making her hair seem darker. Circles under her eyes, but that was true of everyone now. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and held down with hairpins, and her clothes didn't match, chosen purely for function. "You look... ready."
"I didn't feel it." She confessed. "The last week and a half, I've been getting my head in the right place to be a survivor. I think in a few days, I'll be able to look around the city, and not think of it the way it used to be. I hope that I can say the same thing about the lady in the mirror too." She pressed her face into his shoulder a little harder. "But right now, I'm content to feel like I'm six years old again."
Castle chuckled and pulled her in tightly. "I got caught up in a few firefights over the years. You know it's about to hit the fan when Kate hands me her backup piece. She was in danger. I aimed for his head, and missed completely. Got him in the leg."
Alexis snorted. "I used a sword."
Castle stroked her hair. "That's my girl."
"Don't you believe a word of it." A voice chimed in.
They both turned, to see Hayley come over. "I don't mean to intrude, but I couldn't let that pass. Mister Castle, your kid was more ready for this than half the emergency services out there."
Castle looked to his daughter with pride. "I know it."
"A few years ago, she was abducted." Hayley observed. "I took the liberty of looking into the police reports for that case. It sounds like Alexis had been trained in what to do when taken prisoner."
"Storm Search." Alexis explained. "Dad's third biggest seller before Nikki Heat. A wealthy teenage socialite gets taken prisoner, and Derrick Storm has to find her." She smiled impishly. "I spent a few days locked in my room while dad figured out how to rescue me."
"And that's just one book." Hayley pressed. "She had most of the know-how and a lot of the skills she needed already. A lifetime of laser tag games, fencing matches, and following you around like a puppy has given her the accuracy of a gunfighter, the reflexes of a knife-fighter and the brain of a valedictorian and forensic expert. I checked her college transcripts a few months ago. She's scored off the charts for the kind of keywords that most intelligence services look for. She's not trained the way I was, but working as your proof reader through every bestseller, and then as your apprentice P.I.? She learned plenty of investigative tricks. She interned as an M.E. with the 12th, under Doctor Parish. And then there's the stuff I taught her, just to see if she could learn it..."
"Wait a second, what are you saying?" Castle tried to interrupt.
"Why were you looking at my college transcripts?" Alexis added.
"AND, most important of all, when the killing started, she didn't freeze." Hayley said over him. "Seriously, Rick; that's the most important part. We can train and test and weigh people up, but there's just no way to know who's going to panic in a firefight. Alexis could have spooked and flattened herself against the ground until it was over, she could have run away and left me and Esposito to die, she could have panicked completely and just frozen up like a deer in headlights. But she kept her cool, and her brain kept working."
Alexis put herself into the conversation. "Hayley, what are you trying to recruit me for?"
At that moment, the door to The Captain's office opened, and Beckett and Esposito both came out.
"Alright people, listen up." Beckett called to the room. The Bullpen wasn't nearly as crowded as it once was, but those that stayed were quick to obey. "Detective Esposito is going to tell us what's going on. Give him your full attention please." Her tone was polite, but Castle had known her long enough to see a set to her jaw. She was furious about something.
Esposito looked each person in the eye, until he was sure he had their complete focus. He had worked at the 12th for years, and he knew all their names.
"Here it is." He said powerfully. "In 2001, the Government began a series of war games to test our response times to a variety of threats. We discovered that we were shockingly vulnerable. All public services, when under sustained pressure, would last less than a week. By now, everyone realizes that, I'm sure."
There was a rumble of agreement to that.
"In response to this, the President signed Directive 51. An Executive Order that decreed what to do in the event of a massive attack, resulting in extraordinary loss of life. In the event of a threat to the entire United States, or the world as a whole, Emergency Powers would be activated, which immediately suspended all separation of powers. What this means, is that the Executive Branch of the government takes direct command at every level. In that event, the Strategic Homeland Division is Activated. An elite team that is given authority to carry out whatever operations are needed to make sure that civilization keeps spinning on."
"Never heard of it." Castle put in.
"Good." Hayley put in. "Because the whole point of The Division is that you only call us when everyone's given up and you've got nobody else you can call. Division Agents are scattered across the country. We're trained, we're tested, and we're equipped. Our mandate was to go about our lives just like every other person, and when the order came, to save whatever was left when every other agency in the world had failed."
"As you've probably guessed by now, Shipton and I are Division." Esposito declared. "I was activated this morning. My Orders are to do whatever I have to in order to restore order and City Services; and prevent an Extinction Level Event. I am empowered by the Presidential Order to use whatever means I see fit." To make his point, he went over to the wall with one of Alexis' maps, and unrolled it, putting it up on the wall. It should have been the whiteboard, but he wasn't about to disturb the memorials. "Here's the most up to date data we have."
"What's your first move?" Beckett asked, eyes blazing at him.
"To take a staging area." Esposito strode over to a map. "There are several sections of the city that we just don't have any eyes on. For all the authority I have, I can't retake the whole city alone. The good news is that I don't have to." He gestured, handing over the briefing. "Shipton."
Hayley stepped to the map and took over. "We all know there's a Dark Zone where we're blind from The Flatiron District to Times Square, and total anarchy everywhere else. We're leaving it alone until we can get backup. Our best bet to get the rest of The Division in? The Hudson. I've had a piece of the Hudson Docks under surveillance, across from Chelsea Park. That's our first objective. Second objective is to establish an operating base. The 12th is great, but we all know it's not big enough to run logistics and Ops for the entire Island."
"Where did you have in mind?"
"First Priority is the Beachhead." She tapped the map. "This section of Hudson Docks is perfect for what we need, but I've been watching it for the last week, and it's currently overrun by Raiders and gangs that have been picking apart the cargo ships for supplies." Hayley reported.
"Guys, we all know Espo." Beckett put in. "Obviously, not as well as we thought, but well enough to know that he's someone you can count on."
"Then where has he been all week?" Someone groused, but none of them saw who.
Beckett answered anyway. "He's been outside Quarantine, and alive. Not a lot of people can say the same thing. We're all taken aback by this, and me more than most. But whatever else it means, the most important thing is that there's still someone fighting to save the city. Someone with training, and skill and resources and legal authority. These are all things that we've been without for a week. I don't know who 'The Division' is exactly, but if they're the only ones willing to send reinforcements, then they're the best we've got."
"The best anyone's got." Esposito put in.
"The best of what's left, anyway." Beckett put in, just loud enough for Alexis to hear it, but nobody else. There was a hard tension building between Beckett and Esposito, and Alexis wasn't sure why.
"First step is recon." Esposito ordered. "I can teach you how to avoid infection. Those of you with badges, keep them hidden and get yourselves some civilian clothes. I want rotating surveillance of the Chelsea Piers area, and some idea of who's there. Run the faces through the database. Everyone alive is a danger now, but even before all this, the city had its predators. A look at the files will tell us which ones are most likely the ringleaders-"
Beckett held up a hand. "Hang on, James Bond. We don't have our databases. The backups are still there, but we're shut down. Can't even run the lights, let alone the computers."
Esposito glanced at Hayley and gave his former Captain a nod. "All right. First priority: Get the power back on. Let me check your generators."
Hayley sidled up to Alexis. "While he's doing that, let's see what you've got, Rookie."
"Are you okay?"
In the break room, Beckett was trying to work a camp stove with a packet of instant coffee. "Not yet." She groused. "Castle... He didn't tell us."
"There are any number of things we didn't tell him over the years."
"That's different. That was personal stuff that we kept to ourselves. How many lives could he have saved if he'd come in and told us everything on Day Zero?"
"I don't know, and neither do you." Castle reminded her.
"The reason we don't know? Is because his masters told him to hide out for a week and let everyone die."
"I've written this twist before, love. When a character suddenly becomes something totally unlike what he's been in the book so far? The way to do that right is to make it seem inevitable when you re-read it. Makes the reader surprised without feeling betrayed."
Kate put the cup down hard. "I feel betrayed. Don't you?"
"Look at his life, Kate." Castle said reasonably. "No close friends but us and Ryan. No romantic connections other than Lanie. No political or social causes that expect him to be around. He never talks about his past beyond the fact that he was in the service. He never volunteers anything about himself, but he's got a lot of military skills and connections, and he's always the first to volunteer for the most dangerous parts of any assignment. Kate... I tried to write someone like him into Nikki Heat, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he wasn't some secret agent in disguise." He looked at her hard. "But why don't we talk about what this is really about?"
"Meaning?"
"Espos's got things he hasn't told you, and suddenly it's in your face." Castle spelled out. "That's happened before."
Beckett almost responded to that. She was silent a moment before blowing right past it. "So you're okay with this?"
"More than you are, it seems."
She almost smirked. "You remember you said that when you see Alexis next."
"Meaning?"
"She and Hayley have had something of a cool-aunt/mentor relationship the last year or so. I know for a fact your kid's been learning tips and tricks from her..." Beckett pointed out.
"Oh come on, that was just for fun." Castle shook his head.
"And what about now? Are we still having fun?" She challenged. "Alexis and Espo have been locked away together for a week. Where's Hayley and Alexis right now?"
Castle froze, suddenly realizing they weren't in sight.
In the Precinct firing range, the lights were off, like everywhere else. But there was a torch shining on the target and that was enough for Hayley to consider it a fair test.
Alexis fired off three rounds at time, and after each three, Hayley would go and get the paper, unable to get a proper look at it in the dark.
"Not bad." Hayley took down the paper target. "Better than the first grouping."
"Silencer threw me off a bit last time." Alexis nodded, carefully pointing the gun away from herself.
"You'll be using them more often than not out there." Hayley told her. "Do you wear contacts or anything?"
"No. Well, not until half an hour ago."
"Good. Where did you learn how to shoot?" Hayley asked, bringing it over for her to see herself.
"Laser Tag. Then Dete- Agent Esposito." Alexis offered. "Once I learned how to handle the recoil..." She broke off instantly.
Hayley turned to look. Richard Castle had just walked in. His gaze was pure iron. "I told Beckett not to read anything into it." He said calmly. Too calmly. "I told her, and myself, that you used to teach her things back in the old days for fun."
"The old days? You mean two weeks ago?" Hayley kept smiling, but Alexis had seen her make that face even as she targeted the right spots to swing for in a punch-up.
"You're training her." Castle said flatly, and he was right.
"You don't want her knowing how to defend herself?"
"I'm all for my daughter being taught how to survive, but you're not teaching her survival. You're training her for your Division."
Beckett came into the room, very aware of the rising tension. Alexis was not looking her father in the eye, even as he came over and pointedly took the gun out of her hands.
Hayley took a breath. "Castle, I unders-"
"You want my daughter on the front lines?!" Castle said dangerously.
"Look, this isn't the time." Beckett put herself between them. "We wait for the rest of your Fireteam, and-"
"They're dead." Hayley said simply.
The mood in the air changed dramatically.
"Dead?"
"We got jumped by those freaks with the flamethrowers four days ago. I've been living in an overturned dumpster ever since. When the Activation signal came, I was cooling my heels in a Speakeasy on the corner of Chelsea Park and FDR."
"What were you doing on FDR?"
"Watching Chelsea Piers. I figured if reinforcements were coming, they'd have come in from the East River." Hayley shrugged like it should be obvious.
The lights suddenly came on. Beckett and Castle actually ducked away from them for a moment. It was the first time the lights had been on in an eternity. "Esposito got the generators working."
Hayley nodded and blew out the candles. "Next step is to contact our Division. They'll send in their forces, once we get a place secure enough for them to land."
"Reinforcements. Because the team you were meant to have is all dead. This is the business you want my daughter in?" Castle said dangerously. "No. Not a chance!"
"Dad-" Alexis started to say.
"Alexis is over eighteen." Hayley spoke faster. "It's her choice. If she doesn't want to, I won't force her."
"Really? Agent Shipton? Because so far, your Division has conscripted everyone alive that I know!" Castle attacked.
"Beckett's a city employee. She volunteered to work for us in times of trouble the moment she put on that badge." Hayley fired back, meeting him head on. "Alexis is a civilian. If she-"
Beckett slipped quietly over to Alexis, who was looking back and forth between them like she was watching her parents having a custody battle. "Sweetie, this fight is kinda my fault, so tell me now: Who's side are we on?"
"I volunteered for training." Alexis whispered back. "Hayley's saved my life twice, dad's more than once. Yours too, and she's helped both of us with cases, conspiracies... I owe her enough that I want to help her get her backup into the city."
Beckett nodded at that, and stepped in between the two combatants. "Babe, go to my office. Alexis, go with him. Fight it out there, without me or Hayley."
"There's nothing to fight about!" Castle insisted dismissively. "There's a war going on outside, and I get that we can't just go into hiding, but my daughter is holding a gun, and you can't expect me to sit back and watch when-"
"I SAT BACK AND WATCHED FOR EIGHT YEARS!" Alexis nearly screamed.
Stunned silence. Sweet, gentle Alexis had just let out a roar that came from somewhere a lot darker and colder than the state of the world. It was an eruption that had been growing for a long time. For a moment, it was hard to tell who was more stunned; Hayley, Beckett, Castle... or Alexis herself.
Beckett spoke first. "Babe, go to my office." She said again to her husband. "Alexis, go with him."
Without a word, Castle turned on his heel and walked to the Captain's Office, in no particular hurry. Alexis was a pace behind him, pretending that she didn't notice every single person in the bullpen staring at them.
As soon as the door closed, Castle spun, getting the first word. "You can't let Hayley-"
"Hayley didn't draft me. You did." She interrupted.
"Ex-Cuse me?" He was stunned.
"The instant you got smitten with Beckett, I became a Cop's Daughter." Alexis snapped. "I spent my entire High School and College life with a constant low key dread. And nothing I could say would have stopped you. I love Beckett. She's an amazing person, and I'm proud to be part of her family. But like it or not, you went into her world with no training and no warning. I've got both."
"It's not the same thing!"
"Damn right it's not!" She didn't let up. "You got into it because you had a crush on the hot lady cop. I'm getting into it because the world has ended!"
Castle didn't have an answer to that.
"'Just a few weeks' you said." Alexis kept going. "'For book research' you said. And in the eight years that followed, you've come home with bruises, you've been taken hostage a dozen times, sometimes by serial killers, you've been shot at once every month or two... To say nothing of the time you vanished without a trace!" She pointed out at the bullpen. "Beckett got shot. She nearly died, and you walked around like a zombie for six months, and the second she snapped her fingers you went running back for more! And it's not just love, because you're married now! She'll come home to you every night, whether you're there getting shot at or not." She took a breath. "But I swallow it. I swallowed it every single time your phone rang, because I love you, and I trust you, and I know it's where you want to be." She spread her hands wide. "Nowhere's safe. Not any more. But I'm more ready than you were when you started, because like it or not, this is the family business now! Rick Castle, Associate Cop and PI, Kate Beckett, the 12th's secret weapon, and Alexis makes three."
"Please, for the love of Edgar Allen Poe, don't tell me that you're trying to follow in my footsteps!"
"This isn't teen rebellion, dad! We've all got skin in the game now! My whole life you've been telling me that I can do anything. If you meant 'anything except grow up' then you should have said so."
"That's not even close to rational, and you know it!" He was right in her face now. "I'm trying to keep you alive and safe, and you're fighting me on it?"
"Dad, tell me where 'safe' is. Show me on the map, where to find 'safe' and I'll go there!" She fired back.
"You have no idea what you're signing up for!'
"Dad, I have a better idea of what's outside this building than you do!" She retorted. "How much do you know about what's been going on outside in the last ten days? I've been on three different radios charting the factions on that map Esposito hung up, and I've playing tag with the wolfpack's outside all day... And I've already killed one and taken another prisoner. You've done none of these things." She let him chew on that for a moment. "It's going to be all hands on deck, and what if Hayley's right?"
"Right about what?"
"What if I do have some natural talent for the job? If she's even a quarter right about me, then I absolutely have to step up. And for reasons a lot more noble and honest than the ones you had when you started. I don't know if I'll ever be Division. But I want to be ready, just in case, and..." She hesitated for a split second before she said what she was thinking. "...And at least Hayley asked me to volunteer."
Castle looked very unhappy. "Kid, why didn't you tell me you felt this way? Eight years, and you never... okay, you did, once or twice, but... Why didn't you tell me?"
Alexis winced. "I... I liked you more when you were with Beckett. You went whole years without taking a stripper to the Hamptons, you lasted almost fourteen months without getting arrested. A new personal best. You wrote a few bestsellers in there too."
Castle snorted, but she could see the tiny smile, and she knew they'd be okay.
"Alexis, the first Rule of Parenting, and I mean The Law, carved in stone by the right hand of God; is to protect your babies." He said seriously. "I know you're all grown up, and you're smart and you're brave... But you're still my kid, and Rule Number One is written on the inside of my eyelids."
"Especially after mom took off." Alexis observed.
"Especially then."
"I've got you, I had gran, I have Beckett, I have Hayley, and Esposito... Dad, I'm surrounded by good people who want to show me how to be brave and strong and smart." She held out a hand and he took it. "I'm not signing up. But Esposito and I have kept each other alive and sane this long, and... I guess he's in my foxhole now. His backup is all on the other side of the Hudson, and he needs a team to get them back. After the last week... I saved his life. Did he tell you that? In the Museum, when I picked up that sword, I saved his life. Then he saved mine, then Hayley saved both of ours. I have to go at least as far as the first mission. I can't not."
Castle stared hard at her for along moment. "Oh man. It's happened. I thought it was when you brought Pi home, but it's happening right now, right before of my eyes. You've turned into me."
She gave him a dazzling smile and hugged him tight. "Better you than... Well, anyone else I know."
He hugged her back. "Well. I guess I'm in too."
"You were in the moment Beckett was." Alexis snorted. "But as it happens, I think there's a much better way."
"What do you mean?"
"Word around the Soup Pot is that you have a marker. A favor, owed to you by Dino Scarpella?"
He froze. "Whoa. My baby girl is actually setting up to take over the whole city." A frozen moment passed, before he smiled broadly. "The worst part is that I am so freakin' proud of you!"
They both laughed, and hugged tighter.
"It's a bad business, Alexis." Castle made one last effort. No anger, no yelling. Almost a plea. "Hayley is recruiting you because the team she was meant to have has already been swallowed by the Jungle out there. No father wants his daughter to be in danger."
"Dad, a month ago that would have been reason enough." Alexis nodded. "But we're all in the Jungle now. This isn't some war on the far side of the world. This is our city. Our home. More than that, it's our family. Beckett, Esposito... I want to help them."
Castle had no answer to that. "Well... I figure I can't really tell you you're being reckless. You've been the responsible one in this family since your third birthday."
Silence. He hugged her tightly, as though trying to turn back the clock.
"Dad?" Alexis said quietly once they broke the hold. "What Hayley said, about how I hit all the right keywords? I already knew that... because they did try to recruit me."
"What?"
"On campus. I got approached by a man from the Government. He said he was a talent scout of sorts, for the FBI. He said they were impressed with some of my essay responses, and wanted to know if I ever thought about working in Law Enforcement. Analysis and Logistics, they said. Possible field work if I passed the physical testing."
"You're kidding." Castle was stunned. "What did you say?"
"I've read enough of your books to see spies under the bed, dad. I don't want a life where everyone's watching everyone else and nobody can remember what side they're on."
"You know that's mostly my inventing plot points for a mystery thriller, right?"
"I know. But... I wanted to do something else. Something that didn't involve... well, all of this." Alexis gestured around. "I never wanted to be a cop daughter. But that was a week ago. A lot of things can change in a week."
"A lot of things." Castle nodded grimly. "As much as I hate to admit it... I still haven't been more than five feet outside."
Beckett and Hayley were sitting quietly in the bullpen, not looking at each other or anyone else.
"Hayley..." Beckett said finally. "I haven't been as 'hands-on' with looking after Alexis as I maybe should have been. She had her head on straight long before me and her father became... anything worth involving her. But if she dies out there..."
"I know." Hayley said quietly.
"Good. Because you either come back with my stepdaughter, safe and sound, or you bring me the head of whoever hurts her, on a silver platter." Beckett said, so matter-of-factly that they could have been discussing the weather. "If you come back with neither, just keep walking. In fact, run."
Hayley gave a smirk that could cut glass. "Esposito wanted it to be you instead of her."
"Agent Esposito and I have a number of matters that need to be settled." Beckett bit out. "But that's not important right now. I'm NYPD. You wanna fight back extinction, that's a pretty good goal. But my job is to serve and protect the public, and uphold the law. And if you think that's small time, just remember that I only became a cop because someone didn't 'serve and protect' enough for my family."
The door to her office opened, and the Castles came out.
"Hayley." Rick said firmly. "Get back to work. I want my daughter so ready that you're taking lessons from her."
Shipton smirked again. "Yessir."
AN: I hope this was in character. Enough to get away with it at least. It's hard to know how some of these characters would react. I'm planning to end this story with the game; at least where the beta began. Consider it an origin story for some of the agents.