Thunderstruck

by supernaturaldarkangel252018

A reimagining of Supernatural (season 1 and some of 2 so far) with a teenage Alec thrown in the mix.

32. Chapter 32: Nightshifter

Chapter Thirty-Two: Nightshifter

He leaned against the wall by the door to the jewelry store, trying to look like he wasn't paying attention to anything. He'd already noted the security cameras, and he hoped that Sam or Dean could get their hands on the security tape. If they couldn't, then he would break in after a few hours and steal them. He'd do it right then, but Dean didn't want to risk it.

The young woman Dean had been talking to walked back out from an office with some papers in her hands. Dean leaned against the counter and smiled. He rolled his eyes; if Sam caught Dean flirting while they were on the job, he'd be pissed.

"So, what's it like, being an FBI guy?" the woman asked.

"Well, it's dangerous," Dean replied. He snorted to himself; he was really laying it on thick. Dean didn't even like pretending to be FBI. "And the secrets we've gotta keep…oh. God, the secrets. But mostly it's…it's lonely."

"I so know what you mean," she said.

"Yeah," Dean said.

"I bet," he mumbled to himself.

Across the store, Sam was talking to a middle-aged man, who he was pretty sure was the manager. It looked like Sam was taking notes on what the guy said, so at least they'd get some information. He doubted Dean would get very much from the pretty lady.

The manager shot him a suspicious look, probably thinking he was going to try to steal something. The guy hadn't asked Dean about him, but most people assumed he was the little brother that was in trouble a lot and had to tag along. Which was probably why the guy kept shooting him dirty looks.

"Helena was our head buyer," the manager said, looking back at Sam. "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."

"So, there were never any signs that she'd do something like this?" Sam asked.

"No. I still can't believe it, even now," the manager replied. "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 asked.

"She shot him in the face. I heard him die…over the phone," the man said.

"Any idea what her motive could have been?" Sam pressed.

"What motive?" the manager asked back. "It makes no sense. Why steal all those diamonds, all that jewelry, and then what? Just dump it somewhere, just hide it, and then go home and…"

The guy made a good point, but he was rambling, and he was tired of listening to him. He glanced over at Dean again, who was still talking to the lady.

"She killed herself?" Dean asked.

The woman leaned closer to Dean, and he noticed that she made sure to make her cleavage pretty obvious. Dean would have to be blind to miss it. "Well, the cops said she dropped the hair dryer in the bath and fried herself. They should know, right?"

"Yeah," Dean agreed before he said, "Well, thanks, Frannie, I think that's all I need."

"Really?" Frannie asked, sounding disappointed. "Because I've got more…You know…" She looked around and he rolled his eyes again. "If you wanted to interview me sometime…In private?"

Dean shot a look over to Sam to make sure he wasn't paying attention. "Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. You're a true patriot, you really are." Dean got a piece of paper out of his pocket and slid it towards her on the counter. "Why don't you write your number down there for me. That'd be good."

He looked back over to Sam. "So, you never saw the security camera footage yourself, then?" Sam asked. Dammit, he'd missed something important watching Dean flirt.

"No. The police…they took all the tapes first thing," the manager said.

Sam thanked the man for his time and nodded to Dean that he was done. They left the jewelry store and headed to the next guy's house. He wasn't sure he wanted to go in and talk to this guy, but he wasn't going to argue with Dean. He didn't want to hunt another shapeshifter. He'd argued with Dean before they headed to the jewelry store that he didn't think they should hunt this thing, but Dean said people were dying and they needed to stop it.

"Alec, you don't have to hunt if you don't want to," Dean said, glancing back at him, knowing he still wasn't happy about this.

"I'm hunting," he stated, glaring out the window. "I just think it's dumb to hunt a shapeshifter again. That's all."

"We know more what we're doing this time," Sam reasoned.

"And people are dying," he said before Dean could. His brother shot him another look, but he ignored him.

"This is it," Sam said.

Dean parked, and then grumbled, "Freakin' cops."

"They're just doing their jobs, Dean," Sam said.

"No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it, so they suck at it," Dean said.

"I could still steal them from the cops. It's not a big deal," he said.

"No," Sam and Dean shot down at the same time. He grumbled to himself and went back to glaring out the window.

"Talk to me about this bank," Dean said to Sam.

Sam and Dean got out of the car, and he reluctantly followed them. "Uh, Milwaukee National Trust. It was hit about a month ago," Sam said.

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

"Yep, inside job, longtime employee, the never-in-a-million-years type," Sam said. "Dude robs the bank, then goes home and supposedly commits suicide."

"The guy, Resnick, he was the security guard on duty?" Dean asked.

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

"God…" Dean muttered.

"Yeah," Sam agreed before he knocked on Mr. Resnick's door. "Mr. Resnick? Ronald Resnick?" He flinched when a blinding light suddenly snapped on. It was so bright, he had to turn away and cover his eyes with his hand.

"Son of a-" Dean started, also blinded. But he figured Sam and Dean would still be able to see. It was going to take a few seconds to get his sight back. Heightened senses were great until he could be blinded by a bright light. He blinked a few times and squinted, seeing the blurry outlines of his brothers. The light was still on, and he was seriously considering shooting the damn thing.

"FBI, Mr. Resnick," Sam said. Dammit…he still couldn't see very far since he couldn't see Ronald.

"Let me see the badge," Ronald said. Sam and Dean moved, and he assumed they were getting their badges out, so the guy could see. "Who's that? He's too young to be FBI."

"He's my little brother," Dean said. Dean turned to look back at him, and he didn't need to see to know Dean was looking at him in concern. "Uh, Ronald, any way you could kill the light?" Dean asked. He breathed out in relief when the light was shut off. He still had to squint to see, but it was better.

"I already gave my statement to the police," Ronald said.

"Yeah, listen Ronald, um…just some things about your statement we wanted to get some clarification on," Dean said.

"You read it?" Ronald asked.

"Sure did," Dean said with a nod.

"You come to listen to what I've got to say?" Ronald asked defensively.

"Well, that's why we're here," Dean easily replied.

"Well. Come on in," Ronald said.

He followed Sam and Dean inside, and almost immediately wished he would've just stayed in the car. This guy was a nut job. His house was cluttered worse than Bobby's, and it looked like Ronald thought that aliens were real. He didn't want to stay, but he couldn't exactly leave without getting into it with Dean again. He didn't want to argue with his brother. He hated arguing.

"None of the cops ever called me back," Ronald said once Sam and Dean were sitting down on the small sofa in the very cluttered room. He stood at the doorway to the hall. He didn't like feeling closed in like this. "Not after I told them what was really going on. Uh, they all thought I was crazy." He could see that. "First off, Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, ok? 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 that night, after hours," Sam said, sounding like a hardass. Ronald might be crazy, but he felt bad for him. He probably got fired for letting Juan into the bank after it was closed.

"The thing I let into the bank…wasn't Juan," Ronald said. "I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Uh, every detail was perfect, but too perfect, you know, like if a dollmaker made it, like I was talking to a big Juan-doll." Well, the guy might be crazy, but he'd known when he'd been around a monster. He might not know what that monster was, but he knew it wasn't human, so that was something at least.

"A Juan-doll?" Sam asked.

"Look. This wasn't the only time this happened, ok?" Ronald said, passing a folder over to Sam. "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." Now he was a little impressed.

"What's that, Mr. Resnick?" Sam asked.

Ronald picked up a magazine and held it up. The bottom headline said, 'Birth of the Cybermen'. "Chinese have been working on 'em for years," Ronald said. "And the Russians before that. Part men, part machine. Like the Terminator. But the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people."

"Like the one from T2," Dean said with a smirk.

"Exactly!" Ron said, excited that Dean got it. "See, so not just a robot, more of a, a, a…Mandroid." Now he was less impressed.

"A Mandroid?" Sam asked, his eyebrows raised.

"And what makes you so sure about this, Ronald?" Dean asked.

Ronald held up his finger and smiled. He definitely looked a little crazy when he smiled. He put a VHS into a player and turned on the TV. "See, I made copies of all the security tapes," Ronald said. "I knew once the cops got them, they'd be buried." He saw Dean nod, and he had to agree that this made things a little easier. They wanted to see the tapes, and now he didn't have to break into the police department to get them. He could do it, but this would just save time and keep him from arguing with his brothers. "Here," Ron said as he fast-forwarded the tape. "Now watch. Watch. Watch him, watch, watch!" He was never going to watch a movie with this guy. He probably did this the whole time. It was super annoying. "See, look! There! There it is!" He paused the tape, which showed a man whose eyes were flashing. "You see? He's got the laser eyes."

He caught Sam and Dean sharing a look, which definitely meant this was a shapeshifter. He'd been really hoping it was anything else. The last shapeshifter had shifted into him. It had shifted into Dean too and had tried to kill a woman, which had started their problems with the cops. If this one shifted into him, it might decide to stay him and hurt his brothers.

"Cops said it was some kind of reflected light. Some kind of 'camera flare'. Ok? Ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm a post-trauma case. So what? Bank goes and fires me, it don't matter!" Ron went on, missing Sam and Dean's looks. He had gotten a lot of it right, but for his own good, he should stay out of this. He did feel bad still that the bank had fired him. "The Mandroid is still out there." He was right about a lot of it, but so wrong about the Mandroid. Kind of a fun name though, he'd give him props for that. "The law won't hunt this thing down…I'll do it myself. You see, this thing, it, it, it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sorta, like, morphs into that person. Cases the job for a while until it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now, these robberies, they're, they're grouped together." Man, he'd really gotten a lot of it right. They were barely going to have to do anything on this one. So, at least there was that. Ron got up and pointed to a map that was tacked to his wall. "So, I figure the Mandroid is holed up somewhere in the middle, underground, maybe. I dunno, maybe that's where it recharges its, uh, Mandroid batteries."

Dean nodded, but then Sam stood up, so Dean followed his lead. "Ok, I want you to listen very carefully. Because I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this," Sam started. He looked at Sam in surprise since he didn't think they should tell Ron the truth. They should try to keep him out of this, not feed into his fantasy. "There's no such thing as Mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. Just people. Nothing else, you understand?"

"The laser eyes!" Ron tried, pointing at his eyes. Now he felt bad. He was pretty sure Sam could've been a little nicer about letting the guy down. He totally understood not telling him the truth, but he didn't have to crush him entirely.

"Just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. See, I know you don't want to believe this. But your friend Juan robbed the bank and that's it," Sam said.

"Get out of my house! Now!" Ronald yelled at them.

He started for the door, but apparently, Sam wasn't done yet. "Sure. First things first."

He left once the yelling started again. Ronald was not happy about Sam confiscating his security tapes. Dean quickly followed him out, leaving Sam to it. He wasn't surprised when Dean grabbed his chin and tried to check him over. "You ok? Can you see?" Dean asked.

He knocked Dean's hand away, "I'm fine. As soon as the light was out, I could see again. It was just 'cause I wasn't expecting a spotlight."

"Your head hurt?" Dean asked.

"I'm fine," he said.

Sam came back out carrying the security tapes. Ron slammed the door behind his brother, giving them all a glare for good measure. He got in the car before Dean could say anything else to him. Dean drove back to the motel and quickly changed out of his fed suit and into normal clothes.

"Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up," Dean said. "I mean, 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?" Dean chuckled, "That's messed up."

Sam popped the tape into the player and settled in to watch. He walked over to the bed and lounged across it. He didn't think they needed to watch the tapes since they already knew what they were hunting, but he didn't say anything. "What are you, pissed at me or something?" Sam asked.

"Nah, I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are," Dean said. He could agree with that. "I mean, come on, we could have at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here."

"Mandroid?" Sam said knowingly.

"Except for the Mandroid part," Dean relented. "I liked him. He's not that different from you or me. People think we're crazy."

"Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean," Sam said. "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," Dean said.

"You could've been a little nicer about it," he mumbled. Sam and Dean both looked over at him, so he said, "I agree we should keep him out of this, but did you really have to take his tapes? The guy just got fired and his friend is dead."

"He's got a point," Dean said as he rolled out some tracing paper over a map that was already on the table. He started marking it with a pen, while Sam just watched the tape. Sam paused it when it flashed, which they already knew. Maybe he should sit out…he was in a really bad mood. And if he sat out, then the shapeshifter couldn't use him against his brothers. But then he wouldn't be there to help his brothers either.

"Shapeshifter," Sam muttered. "Just like back in St. Louis. Same retinal reaction to video."

"Eyes flare at the camera. I hate those freakin' things," Dean grumbled. "And I know Alec hates 'em. He's been arguing about this hunt ever since we took it."

"You think I don't?" Sam asked.

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

"Well, look. If this shifter's anything like the one we killed in Missouri…" Sam said, trailing off.

"Then Ronald was right," Dean said. "Alright, they like to lair up underground, preferably the sewer. And all the robberies have been connected so far, right?"

"Yeah."

"With the, uh, sewer main layout…There's one more bank lined up on that same sewer main," Dean said.

At least they knew where to start.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alec was definitely in a mood. He'd almost suggested that he stay down in the lobby while he and Sam watched the security cameras for the shifter, but he didn't. For one, he knew that was a good way to seriously piss his little brother off. Two, he was worried that if he left Alec alone, the shifter might find him. He wasn't going to let another shifter get his little brother if he could help it.

But Alec was still in a mood. He didn't even need to pretend to be a moody teenager.

"Well, we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet," the security guard said as he led the three of them through the lobby of the bank. He and Sam were dressed in their jumpsuit getups, while Alec was in his normal jeans and a t-shirt with a hand-me-down jacket. Alec loved his hand-me-downs even more than the thrift store clothes he could get for him.

"No, this is a glitch in the overall grid," he explained. "We just want to make sure the branch monitors are kosher."

"Well, better to be safe than sorry, I guess," the guard said.

"That's the plan," he said with a nod.

The guard let them into the security room, which had several TVs showing the security feed. Even though he wanted to keep Alec out of this one, his little brother would be able to help them watch out for the shifter.

"Alrighty," the guard said. "You guys need anything else?" This guy was cool. He hadn't cared a bit that Alec was with them.

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

"Okie dokie," the guy said.

He smiled as the guy left. "I like him. He says 'okie dokie'."

"What if he's the shifter?" Sam asked, trying to rain on his parade.

"Well, then we follow him home, put a silver bullet through his chestplate," he stated. He looked back at Alec and motioned to the chair next to Sam to see if his little brother wanted to sit up by the screens. Alec shook his head no and just moved to the back wall and sat on the floor. He sat down, but he made sure to scoot to the side slightly, so Alec could see a little more. "Ok. Well, you got any popcorn?" he said because this might take a while.

He was bored almost immediately, but he tried to stay focused. He entertained himself by moving the camera around. He would tell Sam he was just being thorough if his brother asked what he was doing.

He caught sight of the security guard on the camera a while later, so he zoomed in on the guy to prove to Sam that he wasn't the shifter. "Well, it looks like mister okie dokie is…okie dokie."

"Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean," Sam said. "I mean, we don't even know it's here." Sam glanced back at Alec, but Alec looked like he was about to fall asleep. He knew he was still watching, but his little brother was just as bored as he was.

"Maybe it only steals stuff on Sundays," Alec said.

"Mmhmm," he hummed, suddenly finding something very interesting.

"Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and…" Sam trailed off.

"I vote no to the sewers," Alec said.

He zoomed in on a very attractive young lady, who just…happened…to be bending over. Sam sighed, finally catching onto what he was doing. "Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes."

"I'm getting there," he said.

"Oh yeah?" Sam challenged.

He started to look back at Alec to share a smile, but his gaze caught on one of the other screens. "Wait a minute…" There it was. The eyes of a middle-aged guy flashed as he turned toward the camera. "Hello, freak." He was pretty sure it was the bank manager now that he got a good look at the guy.

"Got him," Sam agreed.

Sam got up and started for the door, so he turned around and gave Alec a hand up. "We've got another problem," Alec said as he stood, looking at a different screen. He turned to see what was wrong, and he sighed when he saw Ronald chain the outer doors shut.

"Hello Ronald," he muttered.

They didn't have the volume up, but Alec could read lips as long as the person was facing the camera. "Well…he shot his gun, told everyone this wasn't a robbery, but then ordered everyone to get down on the floor," Alec said before he mumbled, "I take back every nice thought I had about the guy."

"We gotta get down there," he said.

"How're we gonna stop him?" Sam asked as they hurried from the room.

"Well, we're just gonna have to talk him out of whatever crazy idea he's come up with," he grumbled. They walked past some people running the other way as they headed toward the lobby. Maybe there was a backdoor these people could leave from. "And you said we shouldn't bring guns," he complained.

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

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

"I could-"

"No," he and Sam cut off before Alec could suggest he do something stupid. It wouldn't necessarily be stupid, but it would be dangerous, and he didn't like his little brothers doing dangerous things.

Ronald was holding up a key, showing it to everyone that was cowering on the floor. "Now, there's only one way in or out of here, and I chained it up. So nobody's leaving, do you understand?"

"Hey, buddy," he said with a smile as they walked in. "Calm down. Just calm down." Ronald spun around, waving the gun around with him, which made him wary.

"What the- YOU! Get on the floor, now!" Ronald yelled.

"Ok, we're doing that," he said, getting down to his knees with his hands up. He barely glanced over at Sam and Alec to make sure they were following his lead.

"This is so stupid," Alec grumbled under his breath.

"Just don't shoot anybody," he continued. "Especially us."

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

"We're not working for the Mandroid!" Sam said.

"You shut up!" Ronald snapped. "I ain't talking to you. I don't like you."

He looked at Sam, who huffed since he knew he was silently telling him 'I-told-you-so'. "Fair enough," Sam relented.

Ronald looked over at one of the hostages, motioning with his gun, which made everyone even more nervous. "Get on 'em. Frisk them down. Make sure they got no weapons on them. Go!"

The man frisked Sam first and didn't find anything. He frisked Alec next, and he was shocked that the guy didn't find anything on Alec. He didn't think there was a time Alec was ever unarmed. And they were hunting a shapeshifter, which meant Alec would never walk in here without anything. Alec kept a straight face until the man moved away from him and Ronald was turned away. Then his little brother smirked for just a second before his face cleared again. Ok, so, not unarmed.

Maybe the guy would miss the knife in his boot since he missed whatever Alec had on him. But of course, he couldn't get that lucky. The man found the knife in his boot and pulled it out like a moron. He could've just left it, but no, he had to be the good little hostage and take out one of the only weapons they had.

The guy handed his knife to Ronald, "Now what have we here?"

Sam was giving him a look, so he defended, "I'm not just gonna walk in here naked!"

"Get back there," Ron said to the hostage before he walked over and dropped his knife into some kind of shredder thing.

"No, no, no!" he complained. Come on! That was a good knife! He sighed; he was just going to have to get over it and hope that whatever Alec had on him was silver. "We know you don't want to hurt anybody. That's exactly what's gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around," he said to Ronald and then suggested, "Why don't you let these people go?"

"No! I already told you," Ronald said. "If nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've got to do it myself!"

"Hey, we believe you," he said. "That's why we're here."

"You don't believe me. Nobody believes me! How could they?" Ronald said. He really did feel bad for the guy. This was a bad way to go about this, but he wasn't crazy.

"Come here," he said with a nod.

"What? No," Ron said, confused.

"You're holding the gun, boss, you're calling the shots. I just want to tell you something," he said. "Come here." Ronald finally moved over to him, keeping his gun out of his reach. That was ok. The gun wasn't what he wanted. "It's the bank manager," he whispered.

"What?" Ronald asked, even more confused now.

"Why do you think we've got these getups, huh?" he said, deciding to go for the truth. They should've just told the guy the truth back at his house. Maybe they could've avoided this whole situation if they had been honest from the start. Ronald knew most of it already anyway. "We've been monitoring the cameras in the back. We saw the bank manager. We saw his eyes."

"His laser eyes?" Ronald asked.

"Yes. No! No, look, we're running out of time, ok? We've got to find him before he changes into someone else," he urged.

"Like I'm gonna listen to you. You're a damn liar," Ronald said, moving away again. He slowly started to get up. He had to figure out a way to get through to this guy. "I'll shoot you! Get down!"

He held out his hand, more to warn Alec to stay put than anything else. "Take me, ok? Take me with you as a hostage. But we've gotta act fast. Because the longer we just sit here, the more time he has to change," he said. At least Ron was thinking about it. Or, at the very least, he hadn't shot him yet. "Look at me, man. I believe you. You're not crazy. There really is something inside this bank."

Ronald hesitated for a few seconds before he finally made his decision. "Alright. You come with me. But everyone else gets in the vault!"

He knew his brothers weren't going to like that, but this would keep people safe, while he had a chance to try to figure out what to do next. He looked back at his brothers, but they looked about as happy as he'd been expecting. Ronald started yelling at the hostages to get them moving, so he trailed back with Sam and Alec.

"Just go with it," he whispered. "I'll take a look around, try to keep Ronald under control…"

"This is stupid," Alec muttered.

"It's gonna be fine," he tried to convince.

Alec sighed, but then said, "I have a silver knife in the heel of my boot. You give me just a second, I can get it."

"Don't," he said. "Don't give him a reason to shoot us, ok kiddo? You keep it. You might need it later." He felt better knowing Alec had a knife on him. If, by some chance, the shifter ended up in the vault with his brothers, then he wasn't locking them in there with the thing defenseless. And if he couldn't find anything to use against the shifter, then he'd come back to get Alec's knife.

"How are you gonna kill the thing without a knife?" Alec asked.

"I'll figure something out," he said with a smirk.

"This is stupid," Alec said again.

His brothers went into the vault without arguing, even though he was pretty sure Alec had been about to just grab the gun out of Ronald's hand when he walked by him. He caught Sam grabbing Alec's arm to keep him from doing anything, so even though Sam didn't like this plan, he was going along with it.

"You close it," Ronald said to him once everyone was inside.

"It's ok, everyone," he reassured as he started to close the door. "Just stay cool."

He gave his brothers one more look before he shut the door completely, and then locked it. He sighed as he took off his jumpsuit, thankful that they hadn't gone with the fed routine here since he would've been stuck in a suit this whole time.

He went with Ronald through the offices, looking for any sign of the shifter. "Check behind the desk," he said once they were in the bank manager's office. He walked over to a side door in the office, but then stopped and ran back over to Ronald when he heard the guy yell and hit the ground. Ronald looked to the side, and then screamed before he scrambled back up to his feet, pointing his gun at a pile of goo.

"What the hell is that?!"

He flipped on the desk lamp to get a good look at the goo. "Oh great…" He looked over at Ronald and explained, "When it changes form, it sheds its old skin. So, now it could be anybody."

Ronald actually touched the goo and smelled it. "It's so…so weird. Its robot skin is so lifelike."

"Ok, let's get something straight," he said, tired of the Mandroid routine. "It's not a Mandroid. It's a shapeshifter."

"Shapeshifter?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I mean, it's human, more or less," he explained. "Has human drives…and in this case it's money. But it generates its own skin. It can shape it to match someone else's features, you know, taller, shorter, male…"

"So, it, it kills someone and then takes their place," Ronald said.

"Kills them, doesn't kill them, I don't think it really matters," he said.

"What are you doing?" Ronald asked.

He picked up the letter opener that was on the desk and held it up to the light to get a good look at it. He smiled, "Nice." At least now he had something he could use against the shifter if he found the thing. "You remember the old werewolf stories? Pretty much came from these guys. Silver's the only thing I've seen that hurts them." He walked out of the office, but then turned and said, "Come on, Ronald." They walked down the hallway, and he was trying to decide where to look next when he realized that Ronald was chuckling. "What are you, nuts?" he asked.

"That's just it. I'm not nuts," Ronald said with a smile. "I mean, I was so scared that I was losing my marbles. But this is real! I mean, I, I was right! Except for the Mandroid thing. Thank you."

"Yeah, don't mention it," he said, embarrassed. The lights suddenly went out, and he internally groaned. "Dammit! No, no, no, no…"

"What? What is it?" Ronald asked.

"They cut the power," he said. "Probably their way of saying hi."

"Who?"

"The cops," he said. Was this guy serious? He'd fired shots in a bank and chained the door shut. Yeah, the cops were here.

"The cops?!"

He stopped walking to face Ronald. "Well, you weren't exactly a smooth criminal about this, Ron. I mean, you didn't even secure the security guard. He probably called them."

"Well, I, I didn't, I didn't think…"

"Alright, hang on, hang on, let's just take a breath here for a second, alright?" he said. He needed to think. "They…they've probably got us surrounded. They've cut the power to the cameras so there's no way of telling who the shapeshifter is…" He took a breath and let it out in a huff. "It's not looking good, Ron."

He looked over when he heard something. Ronald heard it too, swinging his rifle around. He really needed to get that thing away from him. But he had bigger concerns right then. He wished Alec was with him. His little brother would probably be able to tell what exactly that noise had been and where it had come from.

He sighed when he realized there were more people hiding. This was going to be a really long night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Has your brother always been so, um, wonderful?" Sherry asked. She wouldn't stop going on and on about Dean. Alec was amused by the constant stream of how wonderful Dean was since Sherry just wouldn't stop and it was driving him nuts. "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, I mean…he's like a real hero or, or something."

It was hot in the vault. It was hot and boring, and it was starting to smell. There were a lot of people in here, which made it stuffy. He wanted to know what was going on outside of the vault. He was hoping Dean would come get them soon. They needed to get out of here before the cops showed. He really hoped they could get out before the cops showed…

He moved back over to Alec, who was looking at the door of the vault like he was trying to figure out how he could escape from here. "What are you looking at?" he asked.

"I'm trying to figure out if I can unlock this thing from in here," Alec said.

"Y'know, you can't let all these people out even if you can figure this out," he whispered.

"I know," Alec easily replied. "But I still wanna try it. I think it would be really hard to do without some kind of explosive. The next best option would be the floor, but I'd still need some tools to be able to do anything." He smiled and messed up his little brother's hair. "I'm so bored, I almost wish I had the tools just for something to do."

"I hear ya," he agreed.

"You think Dean's found anything?" Alec whispered.

"I hope so. Or if he hasn't…I hope he can convince Ronald to let us all go," he said. "Sooner would be better."

"You think the cops are already here?" Alec asked.

"With our luck…yeah," he said.

"Great…" Alec muttered.

Alec perked up suddenly, which meant he could hear something on the other side of the door. He smiled when the heavy door opened, and there was Dean, only now his brother had a handgun. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten that from.

"Oh my God, you saved us! You saved us!" Sherry said excitedly.

"Actually, I just found a few more…" Dean said. "Come on, everybody, let's go. Let's go." Dean ushered more people into the vault, including the security guard that had let them into the security room. He was guessing that was where Dean had gotten the gun.

"What are you doing?" Sherry asked in confusion.

"Sam, look, uh, Ronald and I need to talk to you," Dean said, nodding over to the side. "Alec, you too." He and Alec left the vault, and then Dean shut the door again. "It's shed its skin again. We don't know when…it could be in the halls, it could be in the vault."

There were flashing lights outside, which meant the cops were definitely here. And the lights were out. Not good. "Great," he grumbled. "You know, Dean, you are wanted by the police."

Dean nodded as he ran his hand down his face, "Yeah…"

"So, even if we do find this damn thing…how the hell are we gonna get out of here?" he asked.

"Well, one problem at a time. Besides, if we get taken in, then Alec will just get us back out," Dean said. "Alright, I'm gonna do a sweep of the whole place, see if we can find any stragglers. Once we get everyone together we've got to play a little game of find-the-freak, so…here." Dean passed him a silver letter opener and kept the other one for himself. Alec already had his knife out of his boot. "Found another one of these for you. Now, stay here, make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody, ok? Help him manage the situation."

"Help him manage?!" he asked incredulously. He did not want to help Ronald manage his insanely stupid plan that was going to put them all in jail. "Are you insane?!"

Ronald looked over at them, so Dean smiled and gave the guy a thumb's up. "Look," Dean whispered, turning back to him and Alec. "I know this isn't going the way we wanted…"

"Understatement," he and Alec said at the same time. He caught Alec smiling to himself, happy to have said something at the same time as him.

"But if we invite the cops in right now, Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away, probably never find it again, ok?" Dean said without missing a beat. He sighed when he saw Ronald looking out one of the windows in plain sight of everyone outside. He gestured to Ron, uncertain how he was supposed to help this guy manage this since he was a complete idiot. "Ron!" Dean whisper-yelled. "Out of the light!"

"Seriously?!" he said.

"Yeah…Ron's game plan was a bad plan, I mean, it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now, crazy's the only game in town, ok?" Dean said.

Dean clapped his shoulder and started to walk off, but stopped when Alec said, "I'm coming with you."

"No, stay here with Sammy," Dean said.

"You're gonna search this whole place by yourself? Yeah, that's smart," Alec said. "And if the shifter turns into you? What are you gonna do then?"

Dean sighed, and he chuckled since Alec made some really good points. "Alright, c'mon," Dean finally relented. Alec smiled and ran off with Dean to check the rest of the bank. He realized too late that if Alec went with Dean, then he would be left alone with Ronald.

"Hi Ronald," he muttered once his brothers were gone.

He waited a little while before he decided he should probably open the vault slightly since it had been stuffy before, but it was probably getting really uncomfortable now with more people in there. He opened the vault and told the people inside, "I'm going to leave this open. Give you guys some fresh air, alright? But no one leaves this vault."

He heard the bank phone ring, but he ignored it.

"I don't understand," Sherry said. "Why are you helping him?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said.

"Hello?"

"I think I gotta get out of here," the security guard said, clutching his chest. Great.

"Look, I'm very sorry, but you're just going to have to stay put, alright?" he said as gently, but still firmly as he could.

"What? What do you mean, demands?" Ronald asked.

"Ronald! Hang up!" he snapped. Seriously?!

"No, I, I'm not a bank robber, I, I-"

"I've got to really get out of here," the guard said.

"Sir, you can't leave," he stressed.

"-Kind of a crime fighter, I guess," Ronald continued.

"Ronald!"

"No, I'm acting alone," Ronald said, not listening to him at all.

He sighed and walked over. He snatched the phone out of Ronald's hand and slammed it back into the cradle. "Ronald, the less the cops know, the better," he said. He couldn't believe he had to explain this.

"Hey! I think this dude's having a heart attack!" one of the hostages yelled.

"Get a doctor!"

"Great," he said. "Could be our guy. Could be a trick," he said to Ronald.

"You just going to let the man die?"

"No one's dying in here," he yelled back. He looked at Ronald and said, "Cover the door." He really wished Dean was down here. He didn't want to deal with this. He wanted to grab his brothers and sneak out of here while they still could. This was so stupid. He grabbed the phone though since he couldn't just let the guy die. If he wasn't the shifter, then he'd be letting an innocent man die because Ronald was an idiot.

The detective that answered the phone asked a lot of stupid questions even after he tried to explain what was going on without giving them too much information. "Can you tell me how many hostages this guy's taken?" the detective asked.

"Look, one of the people could be having heart trouble. You need to send in a paramedic," he said…again.

"Just stay calm," the detective replied. Seriously? He was calm. This guy was annoying, and he was going to make him very agitated very quickly if he didn't stop with the stupidity. "We'll have you folks out of there."

"Just send in a paramedic, ok? And don't try anything else," he said, and then added, "Please."

"Paramedic? We don't have time for that, man!" one of the guys in the vault said.

"Listen, I, I, I'm sorry, ok? I am," Ronald said. "But nobody's getting out."

"He's dying right in front of you," the same man said.

"Help!" the guard said weakly. The man moved forward and helped the guard stay up. The guard was breathing heavier now, and he was sweating a lot.

"Come on, man, you've gotta unlock the front door. We've got to get him out of here," the man stressed.

Ronald cocked the rifle, which so wasn't helping, and then said, "Both of you stay where you are."

He breathed out in relief when Dean and Alec showed up again. Dean walked over to him, while Alec stood back slightly, but was looking in the vault. His little brother locked in on the guy holding the guard up, and somehow, he knew just from that who the shifter was. Alec stayed back by the far stairs, probably to cut off the shifter if he tried to escape. Dean walked over to him and whispered what he'd already figured out. The guy was the shifter.

"You know what, Ronald," he said. "He's right. We've got to get this man outside." He walked into the vault and helped the guard, "Come on. I've got you."

"Yeah, yeah, let me help you," the shifter offered.

"Oh, I got him, it's cool. Thanks," he said.

He helped the guard further out of the vault, nodding to Dean to get the shifter. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Dean asked the shifter.

"You got the gun, man. I mean, whatever," the shifter replied as he slowly stepped out of the vault.

He stopped to make sure Dean and Alec could handle the shifter. He'd been expecting the guy to make a move, but it still surprised him when the guy hit Dean and took off running. Dean got up and started after the guy, but then so did Ronald.

Ronald yelled at the guy to stop as he ran. But he ran back out into the open. He saw a red dot appear on Ronald's back. Everything felt like it slowed down. Distantly, he heard the glass break as the gunshot from the sniper outside went through. The bullet hit Ronald right in the back.

He blinked, and then frowned. Ronald's body wasn't where he'd been expecting it to be. He knew the bullet had hit Ronald. He expected Ronald to be facedown on the ground, but he was a few feet away. And he was moving? What? That wasn't right. Where he'd been shot, he should be dead…

It felt like his heart stopped when he saw Alec moving out from under Ronald. His little brother was holding his left side with his right hand, and he was dragging himself away from Ronald slowly. Ronald wasn't moving anymore. Alec…Alec had tried to move Ronald out of the way before he could get shot. But as fast as Alec was, his little brother wasn't faster than a bullet.

Alec collapsed and he suddenly realized that Alec had been shot!

He let go of the guard and ran over to his little brother, nearly colliding with Dean to get to Alec as fast as he could. The bullet had gone straight through Ronald and into the left side of Alec's chest. He was guessing his lung was punctured, and he was losing a lot of blood.

He turned Alec over, who groaned at the rough movement. Dean shrugged out of his overshirt and quickly folded it up to press against the gunshot wound. Alec cried out in pain, and Dean started to let up on the pressure since he knew he was hurting their little brother. He pressed his hands against Alec's chest instead, pressing hard even though he knew it hurt.

Hostages were running out of the vault, and he knew the shifter was probably going to turn into someone else. They were losing control, but at this point, he really didn't care. Alec was hurt, bad.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dean asked angrily. He knew Dean wasn't really mad at Alec. He was scared. Ronald was dead and Alec…he couldn't even think about Alec dying. They had to get Alec through this. But he had no idea how they were going to get out of this now. They needed to get Alec to a hospital.

"Is…is he dead?" Alec asked breathlessly. He was still aware, so at least that was something. He pressed harder against Alec's chest, hating how his little brother's blood felt on his hands.

"Dean, we need to get control of this," he said. He would let Dean decide if he meant they needed to get control of Alec's bleeding or control of this situation again. He wasn't even sure what he meant. They couldn't lose Alec. The shifter could be anyone by now.

"Sorry…" Alec slurred. "Thought…I could…get there…in time…" Tears leaked from the corner of Alec's eyes and slid back into his hair. His little brother was pale, and his blood had soaked through Dean's shirt already. They needed to do something, and they needed to do it fast.

"Hey, stay with us, ok kiddo?" Dean said, gently patting Alec's cheek.

"Dean, go get the guard out of here," he said. "The guy was about to have a heart attack or something."

"Sam-"

"We need to get this over. We have to get him to a hospital," he said. "Take the guard, we'll get the bleeding stopped, find the shifter and kill him, and then we'll figure out how to get out of here and get him to a hospital."

"No, forget the shifter," Dean said. "We need to get him out of here now."

"The best way to get him out of here is to finish this," he said. "We have to stop the bleeding anyway. Get the guard out of here. He shouldn't have to die. This situation sucks enough already…we can't let him die."

"Alec, you listen to me," Dean said sternly. "You better be alive when I get back or else I'm gonna kick your ass. Stay awake and stay alive." Dean looked up at him suddenly and said, "You yell if anything happens, and I mean anything. If he even flinches, I wanna know."

"Go," he said. Dean reluctantly moved over to Ronald and grabbed the rifle before he went to help the guard up again. He waited until Dean was far enough away that he couldn't hear before he said, "Tell me what to do. You gotta stay alive until we can get you to a hospital, so tell me what I gotta do." Alec looked like he was trying to figure out what he'd said, so he tried again. "You were a trained field medic, right? When you splinted my wrist, you said you'd been trained as a field medic, remember?" Alec sort of nodded, so he continued, "Tell me what I need to do to keep you alive."

"He's dead…isn't he?" Alec asked, tears filling his eyes.

"Alec, focus!" he snapped. "You did what you could, ok? You got yourself shot trying to help him."

"He shoulda never been here," Alec said as the tears fell back into his hair again.

He looked around to see where Dean was, hoping his brother would be back soon from getting the guard outside. Alec wouldn't answer him, so he needed Dean's help. He needed to make up some kind of bandage to keep Alec from bleeding to death while they figured out how to get out of here.

He looked back at Alec and felt his chest tighten with panic when he saw that Alec's eyes were closed now. "Hey! Alec, hey, look at me," he said, shaking his little brother slightly. He breathed out in relief when Alec's eyes fluttered open again. "You gotta stay awake, ok? Either tell me what I need to do to keep you alive or tell me what we should do about the shifter."

"I'm sorry, Sammy," Alec breathed.

"You need to stay awake," he said again. "Try to talk to me. You can talk about anything."

"Hard to breathe," Alec admitted.

"Tell me what to do," he tried again. "I don't know how to help you."

"Gotta stop the bleeding," Alec said. Ok, good, Alec was talking to him now. At least that was something. "Bullet didn't go through…We'll have to go somewhere after we get outta here."

"There's nothing I can do right now?" he asked. Alec shook his head no, but then looked to the side. He felt better when he saw Dean heading their way.

"Hey kiddo," Dean said with a forced smile.

"You get the guard out?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dean replied.

"I think everyone left the vault," he said. "Which means the shifter could be anybody…"

"We gotta get out of here," Dean muttered as he looked around.

"You should let them in," Alec whispered. Somehow, Alec looked worse than he had two minutes ago. "Let 'em in, you two sneak out the back."

"What?" Dean asked with a frown.

"They gotta treat me," Alec said. "They'll take me to a hospital…You two can break me out later…"

"No," he and Dean said at the same time. Alec was too tired to argue with them. Alec had a good point though. The cops would have to get him to the hospital. They would have to help him. But he couldn't stand to let that happen to his little brother. Alec couldn't go to the hospital without them.

"Alright, here's what we do," Dean said. "I'll go round everyone up again and get them back in the vault. You stay with him."

"Are you crazy? We're still hunting this thing?!" he asked.

"This was your fucking idea two seconds ago!"

"I didn't think you'd go along with it!" he admitted. "I was just trying to get you moving."

"We gotta move you, ok kiddo?" Dean said, ignoring him. "We're too exposed here. And that way we could get you somewhere more comfortable or something, ok?"

Alec nodded, but he wasn't done with this conversation. "Dean."

"Yes, we're still hunting this thing," Dean said. "What else are we going to do? We can't just walk out of here. This thing might kill us while we're just waiting around. You and Alec come up with a way to get out of here, ok? I'll go find everyone else."

"I don't like this," he said.

"I don't like it anymore than you do," Dean said.

Dean messed up Alec's hair before he got up again and headed down the hall. He hoped Dean would go fast. He wasn't sure how long Alec could hang on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He rounded up the hostages as fast as he could and herded them back into the vault. He looked over and saw that Sam had been able to move Alec closer to the vault, which was good. Sam had gotten Alec's jacket and shirt off, using his shirt as a bandage with his belt keeping it in place, and his jacket over him like a blanket. He'd found a pillow somewhere, and it looked like Alec was sleeping, but he wasn't sure from where he was standing.

"And I thought you were one of the good guys," a woman muttered.

He reluctantly looked away from his brothers. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Why would you care?" she asked back.

"My name's Dean," he said.

"I'm Sherry," she replied after a moment.

"Hi, Sherry," he said. "Everything's gonna be alright. This will all be over soon, ok?" He really hoped that was true. He shut the vault again and started back over to his brothers to check on Alec but stopped when the phone rang. He walked over to the phone instead and picked it up, "Yeah?"

"This is Special Agent Victor Henriksen."

Great. "Yeah, listen, I'm not really in the negotiating mood right now, so…"

"Good," Henriksen said, cutting him off. "Me neither. It's my job to bring you in. Alive's a bonus but not necessary."

"Whoa. Kinda harsh for a Federal Agent, don't you think," he said.

"Well, you're not the typical suspect, are you, Dean?" Shit. "I want you and Sam out here, unarmed. Or we come in. And yes, I know about Sam too. Bonnie to your Clyde." Ok, so this guy knew about them. But he didn't know about Alec. Or if he did, he was keeping that information to himself.

"Yeah, well, that part's true, but how'd you even know we were here?" he asked.

"Go screw yourself, that's how I knew." What a dick. "It's become my job to know about you, Dean. I've been looking for you for weeks now. I know about the murder in St. Louis, I know about the Houdini act you pulled in Baltimore. I know about the desecrations and the thefts. I know about your dad."

"You don't know shit about my Dad," he said coldly.

"Ex-marine, raised his kids on the road, cheap motels, backwood cabins. Real paramilitary survivalist type," Henriksen said. "I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was. White supremacist, Timmy McVeigh, to-may-to, to-mah-to."

"You got no right talking about my Dad like that. He was a hero," he said.

"Yeah. Right. Sure sounds like it," Henriksen said. "You have one hour to make a decision or we come through those doors full automatic."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Apparently, things could get worse. He hung up the phone and walked over to his brothers.

He cleared his throat and said, "Hey, um, how 'bout you do a sweep. See if you can find anything I missed…I'll stay with Alec."

"Who was on the phone?" Sam asked.

"Special Agent Victor Henriksen," he said. He hesitated, but then admitted, "We're in real trouble."

"Dean, we need to start thinking of a way to get out of here. We have to get Alec to a hospital," Sam stressed.

"Just do a sweep of the place. I'll try to think of something," he said. He sat down by Alec, who was pale and breathing shallowly. His eyes were closed, but the bleeding had slowed, so maybe he really was just asleep. Sam reluctantly got up and walked away, but he looked back, clearly worried about Alec. "How're we gonna get out of this one, huh?" he said as he ran his hand through Alec's hair. He didn't expect his little brother to answer him, but he was still going to talk to him. He couldn't lose Alec. "Cops are here, so we're surrounded. Even if we could sneak out…we gotta get around cops and feds. This would be tricky under normal circumstances, but I'm not sure how we're gonna pull this off if I've gotta carry you outta here."

"The cops…they'll take me to the hospital," Alec whispered.

"I'm not leavin' you with the cops," he said. "You're not goin' to the hospital by yourself. And, there's a fed here. He knows about me and Sam, but he didn't say anything about you. He might not know about you, and I wanna keep it that way."

"I'm sorry…I just…I thought I could get there in time," Alec said, getting upset again.

"I'm not mad," he quickly reassured. "I just want you to be ok. We'll get out of here and get you checked out. Everything's gonna be ok."

"Dean…just leave me here," Alec pleaded. "I can't be the reason you get caught."

"We're not gonna get caught," he said. Alec tried to move, so he gently put his hand on his chest to keep him where he was. "You need to rest. We're gonna need you if we're gonna get out of here. I'll call Bobby once we're out. He'll know where we can take you that won't turn us in. And then we'll head to Bobby's where you can recover. We needed to stop by there soon anyway to dump your books in your room."

"All of 'em?" Alec asked pitifully.

"Yeah, all of 'em," he said with a smile. "Can't get you more if there's no room in the Impala, right?" Alec sort of nodded, so he continued, "Besides, you love that room at Bobby's house. Maybe Bobby can scrounge up a bookshelf for you." Alec closed his eyes again, content at the thought of his room. "We'll get out of this. Don't worry."

He kept his hand on Alec's chest to reassure himself that Alec was still alive. He was hurt, badly, but he was alive, and he was hanging on. He wasn't sure yet how they were going to get out of here, but he was going to make it happen. And Alec was going to make it. He didn't care if he ended up in jail, he would do whatever he had to do to save Alec.

He could see movement outside, which meant something was about to happen. Whatever they were going to do, they needed to figure it out now.

He forced himself up once he saw Sam coming back over. Good timing.

"Hey, we've got a bit of a problem outside," he said.

"We got a problem in here," Sam replied. Great. "It's Sherry. I found her body upstairs."

"Seriously?" he asked. Sam gave him a look, so he sighed and went over to the vault. He opened the door, and then said, "Sherry? We're gonna let you go."

"What? Why me?" Sherry asked.

"Uh, as a show of good faith to the feds, come on," he urged.

"Uh…I think I'd, I'd rather stay here, with the others," Sherry said. Yeah, he bet she would.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist," he said. Sherry hesitated, but then finally walked out of the vault. "Sam, we need to move Alec. They're gonna come in soon, so he needs to come with us."

"I'll grab him," Sam said.

He heard Alec groan as Sam got him up. He pushed Sherry forward, toward the back hallway.

"I thought you were letting me go," she said when he had her go further into the bank. He pushed the shifter into the room where Sam had found Sherry's body. His eyes widened when the shifter started screaming hysterically at the sight of the dead girl.

"Is that community theater, or are you just naturally that good?" he asked. What the hell was this?

"No! Oh God! Oh…" the shifter collapsed suddenly, fainting right next to Sherry's body.

What the hell?

He looked back at Sam, who was standing in the doorway, supporting Alec. He knelt down next to the shifter and raised up the silver letter opener, ready to plunge it into the shifter's heart.

"Dean, wait, wait," Sam stopped him before he could follow through with stabbing the shifter. "What's the advantage of this plan? I mean, fainting now wouldn't help it survive."

He looked over at the dead girl, who was wearing lingerie, then back over to the shifter who was fully dressed. "Huh…" he muttered. He moved over to the dead girl since it couldn't hurt to stab her first just in case. It wasn't like he could kill her twice if she really was Sherry. He was just about to stab the dead Sherry when he heard something break. He was about to tell Sam to go check it out when the dead Sherry grabbed him around his throat. He tried to stab at the shifter, but the damn thing was strong.

The real Sherry woke up and screamed again when she saw her supposedly dead double trying to choke him to death. He shoved her back.

"Sam!" he said, trying to tell his brother to get Alec out of there.

Sam was already moving, so he turned back to the shifter. At least he hadn't killed the real Sherry.

The shifter hit him hard before she darted out of the room. He shook his head to clear it, and then followed her. He slowed down when he spotted a guy in S.W.A.T. gear sneaking around. Dammit…this had just gotten so much worse. He just had to trust that Sam could help Alec and could hide until he could get to them again. He wasn't about to just let this damn monster go.

He followed the shifter into the boiler room. He grunted as she punched him hard across the face. He quickly shook it off and faced off against her, holding the blade so he could swing it at her. She jumped back when he swung at her, and then she swiped back at him. She grabbed him suddenly, so he headbutted her twice. Not his best idea, but it got her to let go.

He tried to get her with the knife again, but she grabbed his arm and wrenched it up. He grabbed her arm but gagged when her skin came off in his hand. "Gross."

She kicked him while he was distracted, and then punched him in the face a few times. He grabbed her leg, and then shoved her against the wall. They both went down hard, but he managed to get on top of her and stabbed the silver blade into her chest.

He was breathing hard now, but at least the damn thing was dead. This whole thing wasn't for nothing.

He flinched when he heard something behind him, expecting the S.W.A.T. team to be there, ready to arrest him. His heart sank when he saw the tall man in uniform, holding a gun while shining his flashlight at him.

He breathed out in relief once he realized it was Sam. He wasn't sure how his brother had done it, but he was in full S.W.A.T. gear. That would work.

"Where's Alec?" he asked.

"He's in the hallway," Sam said. "C'mon, get dressed. We're getting him out of here."

"Henriksen's gonna stop us when he sees him," he said. It was a good idea, but he didn't think they were going to get around everyone just by carrying Alec out. They could pretend he was a victim, but Alec looked just like him, and he was fairly confident that every cop knew what he looked like.

"I found some glasses and a hat for him," Sam said. "It'll have to work."

He quickly got dressed in the S.W.A.T. gear, and then grabbed Alec under his arms while Sam grabbed his feet. Alec was unconscious, and Sam had gotten his jacket back on him along with a pair of glasses and a hat, so he looked like he could just be another victim.

They made it to the lobby without a problem. He was just starting to think they'd make it out of the bank without anyone stopping them when a man with an FBI jacket walked through the front doors. His jacket said Henriksen. He walked over to them and nodded down at Alec. "What d'you got?" Henriksen asked.

"18-year-old male, GSW to the chest," Sam replied.

"Still alive?" Henriksen asked.

"Yes sir," he said.

"Carry on," Henriksen said.

He and Sam carried Alec the rest of the way out. Paramedics swarmed around them, and instead of arguing, they got Alec into the back of the ambulance. The paramedics looked confused when Sam got into the back with Alec.

"Henriksen wants us to accompany him to the hospital. He wants us to question him as soon as he's conscious," he said. "I'll be riding up front."

The guy thankfully didn't argue with him. He felt almost relieved once the ambulance was in motion. He waited until he heard something in the back before he hit the driver hard with the end of his rifle. The ambulance swerved, so he quickly moved to grab the steering wheel. He kicked the guy's foot off the gas, and then stepped on the brake.

"Sam!" he called out.

"We're good," Sam called back. He couldn't see back there because of some compartment, but he trusted Sam. He threw the ambulance into park and dumped the paramedic out of the cab, mumbling an apology before he went to the back and opened the doors. Sam passed him the other unconscious paramedic, which he dumped next to the other guy. "Are we going to the Impala or a hospital?" Sam asked.

"The Impala," he said. "We'll call Bobby and he'll know what to do."

"I'll grab some stuff that can help," Sam said.

He nodded before he shut the doors and went back to the cab. He drove to the garage where he'd parked the Impala, hoping he was doing the right thing for his little brother. He thought about turning on the lights and sirens to get there faster, but he didn't want to draw attention to themselves. It was bad enough that they'd stolen an ambulance in the first place. It wasn't like it was an inconspicuous vehicle. People tended to notice when an ambulance went by.

He parked as close to the Impala as he could, and then opened the back doors again.

"He's getting worse," Sam said. "Whatever we're doing, we better do it fast." Sam had gotten Alec on oxygen and had gotten him on fluids, but they needed to get him somewhere that could get the bullet out. And they needed that place to be cool with not reporting a gunshot wound.

They moved Alec to the backseat of the car, and Sam stayed back there with him, still in his S.W.A.T. gear. "How's he doin'?" he asked as he rummaged through the glove compartment to get one of his extra phones. It was going to be too much work to get his phone out with all this gear on.

"He's barely breathing and…he's bleeding again," Sam said.

He dialed Bobby's number, just praying he knew someone close by that could help them.

"Yeah?" Bobby answered.

"Bobby, we're in trouble," he said, not even bothering to sugarcoat it. "Alec's hurt, bad, and we were on the 6 o'clock news. We need somewhere close to Milwaukee that can help. Alec needs surgery. He was shot in the chest."

"It's about seven hours to my place. Can he make it here?" Bobby asked.

He looked back at Sam, "Seven hours?"

"Try seven minutes," Sam said.

"Need something closer," he said to Bobby.

"Take him to a hospital, Dean," Bobby said.

"They'll lock me and Sam up if we go to a hospital, and then he'll be alone. That's not gonna help," he said.

"Alright, remember that guy your Dad used to go to when he needed stitched up?" Bobby asked.

"No…not really," he replied.

"Dr. Robert," Bobby said without missing a beat. "He's about four hours east of my place, so he's between you and me. He's up in the top floor of a shop…I think it's a grocery store or a butcher shop, I can't remember. But he does medical crap off the books."

"Is he gonna help?" he asked. This didn't sound good. They didn't have a lot of options, but he didn't want to take Alec somewhere that would just make him worse.

"He's good," Bobby said. "You know I like the kid. I wouldn't suggest him if I didn't think he could help."

"Alright…can we crash with you after we get Alec taken care of?" he asked.

"'Course you can, ya idjit," Bobby grumbled. "Let me know how it goes. I'll send you the address."

"Thanks Bobby," he said before he hung up.

"Bobby find a place?" Sam asked.

He took a deep breath, "Yeah…" He just hoped this was a good idea.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you serious?! We're not taking Alec here," Sam stubbornly refused when he parked behind the grocery store.

"It's cleaner than it looks," he said.

"Dean, no," Sam said, putting his arm protectively over Alec's chest.

"We don't have a choice. Alec's lips are blue. He needs surgery and this guy agreed to take the bullet out," he said. "He doesn't care how it happened. He said he would do this, and Bobby sorta vouched for him. Dad used to come here. Now, c'mon, Alec needs help, and we can't help him."

"I don't like this," Sam said.

"I don't either, but I'm not losing him," he said.

Sam finally agreed, so they carefully got Alec out of the car. Alec was a dead weight in his arms, and even though they'd found someone who agreed to help, they might be too late. Sam opened the back door, and then hovered as he went up the stairs. Alec was seriously heavy, and he was a little worried that he was going to drop him or fall back down the stairs.

"See, it's not so bad," he muttered once they were in the room where Dr. Robert was going to do the surgery. He gently laid Alec down on the table, and then motioned for Sam to come help him. They got Alec's jacket off and undid the belt that was holding the bandage.

"You two shot up," Dr. Robert said as he walked into the room. He walked over to a sink and started to wash his hands. "It's been a long time since I last saw your Dad. He used to show me pictures of you two." He just nodded since he didn't really know this guy. "Alright," Dr. Robert said as he came over to Alec. "Huh, didn't know John had three boys."

"Yes sir," he said. He really hoped this guy wouldn't ask too many questions.

"You boys probably don't want to stay in here for this," Dr. Robert said. "I have an assistant on the way, and she'll be able to help me. Family doesn't normally do well with something like this."

"We want to stay," he said.

"Ok, I'll get prepped, and then get started in a few minutes," Dr. Robert said.

He nodded before he gently held Alec's hand and whispered, "We're here with you, ok kiddo? Dr. Robert is gonna get that bullet out and patch you up, and then we'll head over to Bobby's. You just hang in there, ok?"

"Dean…" Sam said.

"He's gonna be ok," he said. He desperately needed Alec to be ok.

He reluctantly let Alec's hand go as Dr. Robert came back over. This was going to be one of the hardest things he was ever going to have to do. He didn't want to just sit here and watch as someone else helped his little brother. He hated putting the care of his brother's life in someone else's hands. Alec could die, and all he was going to do was watch.

"He's gotta be ok," he said to Sam once Dr. Robert started to set things up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everything hurt. A lot.

He must have made some kind of sound since someone gently squeezed his hand.

"Hey kiddo, can you hear me?" Dean whispered. He swallowed and tried to reply, but nothing came out. He got his eyes open though, so that was good.

"Try to drink something," Sam said on his other side. They were at Bobby's house…in his room. He wasn't sure how they got here, but he was too tired to ask. Sam moved the straw to his lips and looked at him expectantly until he took a few sips. The water helped.

"What happened?" he forced out. His voice was rough.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Dean asked back.

"We were still in the bank," he breathed. He was so tired. He kind of didn't want to know right now what happened. Whatever happened, it didn't really matter. They weren't in jail, they were at Bobby's, and he wasn't dead, so what did it matter? But Sam and Dean looked exhausted, so they had probably been pretty worried for a while. He could try to stay awake for a little bit.

"We found the shifter. Do you remember that part?" Dean asked softly.

"Pretty fuzzy from everything after I got shot," he said to make things easier. He'd nearly ruined everything. He made things so much worse than they'd already been, which was saying something since things had been pretty bad already. And it didn't even make a difference. Ronald still died.

"We got the shifter," Dean said as he ran his hand through his hair. "Sam took down a couple S.W.A.T. guys and took their gear. We dressed up in their gear and just carried you out."

"Seriously? That worked?" he asked.

Dean chuckled, "Yeah, it worked. We walked right by Henriksen. He even stopped us to ask us some questions. The guy had no idea he was talking to the same guys he wanted to arrest." He had no clue who Henriksen was, but Dean seemed pretty happy to have outsmarted him.

"Then we stole an ambulance," Sam said.

He smiled a little and breathed, "That's awesome." He shifted slightly, but quickly froze and forced himself to relax again. "Who'd you find to do the surgery?" he asked, trying to distract himself from the pain.

"A guy who used to patch up Dad," Dean said. "His shop was over a grocery store."

"We have antibiotics for you to take," Sam added. "The room he did the surgery was clean…mostly…but it wasn't sterile. I know you've got a super-immune system, but we're not taking any chances here."

"'M I gonna live?" he asked, slurring a little now.

"Yeah, you're gonna live," Dean said. "We're gonna stay at Bobby's for a while, ok?"

"That sounds good," he whispered.

"Go back to sleep. We can tell you more later," Dean said.

That sounded good to him too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Has he eaten anything yet?" Bobby asked.

"No, not yet," he said, running his hand down his face. He was exhausted. It'd been two days since the bank and Alec's surgery, but Alec was in and out for the most part, and Sam was freaking out that the cops were going to track them down. He wasn't sure what their next move was, but his plan for right now was just to get Alec healed up.

"Maybe he'll want somethin' when he wakes up again," Bobby said, putting a bowl of something in the fridge. He hid his smile since Bobby had waited up for them to get here. The old hunter had ordered him and Sam to get some sleep but had promised to sit up with Alec just in case he woke up.

"He talked to us for a few minutes," he said. "He, uh, he couldn't remember much, but he seemed ok…all thing's considered." Bobby nodded, looking relieved to hear that Alec woke up and talked to them.

"C'mon, I picked up somethin' to add to Alec's room," Bobby said after a moment. He followed Bobby out to the shed, and then chuckled when he saw the bookshelf. "What?" Bobby grumbled. "You brought a bookstore to my house. And the kid doesn't like things cluttered."

"Turns out he does like books," he said. Alec would read anything and everything. He would have teased him, except he wanted Alec to do anything that he liked doing. He didn't want to screw up one of the few things Alec had shown an interest in besides hunting. Sam was doing a great job showing Alec new things he could try, like that computer stuff he'd shown him, so he wasn't about to mess this up.

"What kind of books are his favorite," Bobby asked.

"Oh no, we're not playing this game," he said. "You saw how many books he has. He doesn't need you buying them for him too." He was pretty sure no matter what he said, Bobby was going to do whatever he wanted anyway. And really, it would be good for Alec to have someone else trying to give him things. The kid had never had any presents, so he had a lot to catch up on.

"I'll buy the kid anything I wanna buy him," Bobby muttered.

"You're gonna spoil him," he warned.

"So?" Bobby challenged. "'Sides, ain't nothing compared to you spoiling him."

"I don't spoil him," he argued. He totally did try to spoil Alec as much as he could.

"Sure you don't," Bobby agreed before he said, "Except, I seem to remember you spent the whole night last night scrubbing blood out of a threadbare jacket, and then hand-stitching a patch over the hole in it instead of just buying the kid a new jacket."

"I was saving money," he lied.

"No, you were fixing his jacket since you know it's his favorite," Bobby said.

"He likes his clothes, sue me," he said defensively.

Bobby chuckled, "You're a good brother, Dean."

He picked up one end of the bookshelf as Bobby picked up the other side. "Yeah, well, if I was a good brother, I woulda listened to him and we would've never been at that bank," he said.

"More people woulda died without you boys there," Bobby pointed out.

"Just wish I could drill it into his thick head that he doesn't have to save everyone," he grumbled. Damn, this thing was heavy. Alec was spoiled.

"Wonder where he gets that," Bobby sarcastically replied.

"He's trying to make up for the things he had to do back at Manticore," he said. They were almost to the house now, so they needed to wrap up talking about Alec. He was probably still asleep, but they still had to be careful.

"Well, I'm guessin' you already told him he doesn't need to do that," Bobby said with a grunt as they went up the two steps to the porch. "Not a lot else you can do 'sides that."

"Except next time he might get himself killed 'cause of it," he grumbled.

Bobby let it go once they were inside, and he wasn't sure if it was because he knew Alec would be able to hear them now, or if he needed to save his breath so he could help him carry the large bookshelf up a flight of stairs.

"Dude, why didn't you tell me you were doing this," Sam muttered, peeking out of Alec's room.

"He-man here thought we could get this thing up here," he said. "He didn't mention it weighed a ton." He nearly lost his grip on the thing, but luckily Sam came down the stairs and helped Bobby with his end. "He still asleep?"

"For now," Sam said. "You keep makin' all this noise, he's gonna wake up."

"Bobby thought he'd want his books up off the floor," he said.

They made it up the stairs and into Alec's room, and surprisingly Alec was still asleep. He stayed asleep the whole time the three of them maneuvered the bookshelf against the wall. But he woke up the second one of his books fell to the floor.

"Alec, everything's ok," he said when he caught Alec looking around in confusion. "Bobby got you a bookshelf. Sorry we woke you up." Alec mumbled something he couldn't understand, but his eyes closed again, and he was out. Sam started to put the books that were on the floor onto the shelves, ordering them alphabetically. He patted Sam's shoulder before he walked back over to Alec and sat down in the chair he dragged from the kitchen. "You wanna grab that soup from downstairs?" he asked Bobby. "He might be able to eat some of the broth."

"Sure thing, kid," Bobby said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He groaned when Dean gently lifted his shoulders from the bed and slid another pillow behind his back. He did not like sitting up. He was still mostly laying down, but this was considered sitting up for him right now.

He made three trips to the bathroom each day, and one of those trips included getting washed up as much as he could. Each trip really took it out of him, so he slept most of the rest of the time. When he wasn't sleeping, he was trying to pay attention to Dean since his brother would read to him when he was awake. He was too tired to hold the book himself. When Dean didn't want to read anymore, then Sam would get his laptop and play downloaded movies for him. He usually fell sleep about 30 minutes in, but Sam would always pause the movie once he saw that he was asleep, so he could pick up where he left off when he woke up.

"I know you don't want soup, but you gotta eat something and you can't survive on water," Dean said. So, that was why he was forced to sit up.

"Soup makes my stomach hurt," he complained. Everything made his stomach hurt. And he was cold all the time because of the blood loss. He had four blankets piled on top of him, but it still wasn't enough. Dean sat next to him sometimes when he was shivering so badly that the bed would shake. Although sometimes he would shake because of the pain. His insides were being held together by thread and the painkillers weren't strong enough to really help. Healing was slow outside of Manticore. Apparently, transgenic blood was the way to go for traumatic injuries.

"Sam's making you a smoothie," Dean said. He made a face since that sounded worse than soup. "It won't be so bad. Besides, you like fruit, don't even pretend that you don't." He scowled even though it was true. He grew up with a very balanced diet. He loved trying all the new foods that Dean showed him, but there wasn't a lot of fruit or vegetables that were edible at the diners they stopped at. Sam had been getting salads more, even though Dean teased him, and he had started stealing from Sam's plate more and more often. Dean never teased him, and Sam never told him to stop, so he didn't.

"What all's in it?" he asked.

"I think he said something about strawberries or pineapple…something like that," Dean said.

"But it's gonna be cold, right?" he asked, dreading anything that would make him colder than he already was.

Dean took a deep breath before he nodded, "Yeah, it's gonna be cold. But I'm gonna sit with you and Sam sent Bobby out to find a space heater that works."

"Oh…ok," he said since he wasn't able to find anything else that might be wrong with this situation.

"But I'm gonna change your bandages first," Dean said quickly. He scowled again because he really didn't like getting his bandages changed. That was a lot of movement and moving was bad. Dean usually freaked out afterwards too since he had trouble breathing any time he moved. He always had to use extra oxygen after he moved.

"How am I gonna drink any of that smoothie if I'm unconscious from you changing my bandages?" he asked when it became obvious that Dean wasn't going to budge.

"We'll just wait until you wake up again for you to drink the smoothie," Dean said. He just kept staring, hoping if he waited long enough, Dean would change his mind. "C'mon, you know we gotta do this. I gotta make sure you're not bleeding and that the stitches still look good, aren't getting infected, all that good stuff."

"I'm taking the antibiotics," he said. He thought the antibiotics were dumb, but he didn't argue with his brothers about it. He'd freaked them out, he'd almost died, and apparently, he'd had surgery in a grocery store or something, so he didn't argue. But Dean was still worried that he was going to get an infection.

"Alec, I'm changing your bandages, kiddo," Dean said, leaving no more room for argument.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, but there was nothing else he could say or do to convince Dean to leave his bandages right where they were. Dean pushed the covers down, taking that as his permission to go ahead. Dean unzipped the hoodie he was wearing, apparently convinced that he couldn't do anything for himself anymore. He just sighed and closed his eyes again to try to fall asleep.

"I'm just going to wake you up again if you fall asleep before you drink this smoothie," Dean warned.

"That's ok…" he said.

He did fall asleep while Dean changed his bandages. From the outside, his injury didn't look that bad. He had an entry wound from the bullet, but there was no exit wound. The real problem was inside. Apparently, the bullet had bounced around a little, causing a lot of problems that were going to take a while to heal. He could admit that he was lucky to still be alive.

He groaned again when Dean gently scooted him over on his bed. He grumbled a little when Dean sat down next to him, but the grumbling didn't last long since now he had someone to lean against. "C'mon kiddo, time for a smoothie," Dean said.

"Is there any bargain I can make where you just agree to let me sleep?" he mumbled.

"How 'bout…you drink this smoothie and I'll leave you alone and let you sleep," Dean said, a smile in his voice.

"You're mean," he complained, which made Dean laugh.

"C'mon, sooner you wake up and drink this, the sooner you can go back to sleep," Dean said.

He sighed, but he knew Dean wouldn't stop, so he opened his eyes and took the glass with a shaky hand. Dean wrapped his arm around his shoulders, letting him lean against him more.

"Alec, we gotta talk about something," Dean said. So, that was why Sam had dropped off the smoothie and booked it out of here. Dean wanted to talk about something, and it was going to be one of those talks that he didn't like. He took a sip of the smoothie to avoid answering. He hated that he actually liked the dumb drink. It was cold, which felt good on his throat, and it was sweet and yummy. Unfortunately, he was going to have to admit that he liked the dumb drink, so Sam would make him another one. "I get that you want to try to save as many people as you can. I get it because I wanna save as many people as I can too, and so does Sammy. But you were almost killed trying to save Ron. You gotta think before you do something like that."

"I did think," he said. "I thought I could make it in time. I…miscalculated."

"Your miscalculation almost got you killed. If you were even a half a second faster, the bullet could've hit your heart. The guy we got to do your surgery couldn't believe you were still alive once he saw the damage," Dean said.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I just want you to be more careful with your own life. I can't lose you, Alec. You're my little brother…"

"I thought I could get there in time. I didn't mean to get shot, but I didn't want Ronald to die. He shouldn't have been there in the first place. He was right and…we let him down," he said. "I know he made a bigger mess for us, but he was trying to help."

"I know," Dean said.

He hesitated, but then said, "I can agree to be more careful…but I can't agree to stop trying to save people."

"I'll stop grilling you and let you enjoy your smoothie if you can tell me one thing," Dean said. "Are you doing this because you like saving people or are you doing this to make up for what you had to do at Manticore?" He didn't say anything since Dean would ask more questions if he answered him honestly. "Alec, I wanna know."

"You won't get mad?" he asked.

"No, I won't get mad," Dean replied.

"Both," he said, looking out the window and taking another sip of his smoothie.

"Alright, guess I'll just have to work on that," Dean said.

"No more questions?" he asked.

"No more questions," Dean agreed. "Drink your smoothie, and then get some more sleep."

He leaned a little more against Dean. "Are you going anywhere?"

"No, I'm gonna stay right here," Dean said.

"I like the dumb smoothie," he mumbled.

Dean chuckled, "I figured you would."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Pills; painkillers, tryptophan, and antibiotics," Dean listed, setting each bottle on the coffee table in front of him. His brother wasn't talking to him though; he was giving Bobby a rundown of everything he could possibly think of.

"How are you going to get back upstairs?" Sam asked him. He was laying on the sofa down in the living room, but Dean or Sam always helped him go up and down the stairs. It had been almost two weeks since they'd gotten to Bobby's house, and his brothers were driving him nuts. He'd begged Bobby to find them something to do, and thankfully, Bobby hadn't disappointed. Sam and Dean were going on a hunt down in Texas, but he wasn't going with them, which was why his brothers were freaking out.

"Bobby will help me go up and down the stairs and to the bathroom," he said. They'd already gone over this more than once. "Remember? We already talked about this, and Bobby helped me down here this morning and I didn't die."

"Alec," Dean said, giving him a stern look.

"Well, I didn't," he said.

"We'll call you every few hours to check on you and to keep you in the loop," Sam said.

"Don't call me every few hours to check on me," he said.

"Alec," Dean said again.

He sighed, "How am I gonna sleep if you're calling to check on me every two hours."

"I didn't say every two hours," Sam said in exasperation.

"You said every few hours," he said. "You can call as much as you want to update me on the case, but don't call every few hours to check on me."

"Text him to check up on him," Bobby said. "Now would you two get goin'? We'll be fine. I got a list of approved foods and drinks, we can handle moving from one room to another, the TV is clear, I got books he can read if he gets bored. You two need to quit stalling and go. I'll call you if anythin' happens."

"You better answer your phone," Dean warned.

"Or what? You gonna drive up from Texas to make sure I'm just napping?" he challenged.

Sam chuckled, "He's starting to feel better."

Dean rolled his eyes, but then messed up his hair before he grabbed his duffle bag and headed for the door. That was Dean's way of saying goodbye. "Get your ass in gear, Sammy," Dean said as he walked out the front door.

"He likes strawberry the best in his smoothies," Sam said to Bobby. "But you have to make sure there aren't any big chunks-"

"Get," Bobby interrupted.

Sam shot Bobby a glare, and then looked back at him. "Take your pills, ok? I know the painkillers don't last long, but you need to take them when it gets bad. And we are going to call you, but if you don't answer, we'll just send you a text and you answer it once you wake up."

"Ok," he said. Sam fluffed his pillow and pulled his blankets up a little higher. "Sam, I'm ok," he said. "And I'm gonna be ok until you guys get back. Go hunt. You don't need to sit here and watch me sleep. I'm gonna be fine. And I know if I really need something, I just have to call you guys and you'll drop everything and run. But I'm ok." Sam took a deep breath and nodded. "You better go out there. Dean's gonna be pissed if he has to come in here and drag you out."

That got his brother to smile. "Alright. We'll be back soon."

He smiled and waved as his brother left the house. Bobby waited until the sound of the Impala was long gone, "You gonna be able to sleep with all this quiet?"

He chuckled, but quickly stopped since that hurt. "I'll turn on the TV for some noise."

"You holler if you need something," Bobby said. "I mean it. If I find you tryin' to walk around by yourself, I'm gonna call your brothers."

He rolled his eyes, and then got more comfortable. He was going to miss Sam and Dean, but he was going to sleep as much as he could, and then hopefully, he'd be able to go with them on the next hunt.