( SHAPESHIFTER )

GUARDROOM
[ ☾]

The Guard opens the door to an observation room with several TV screens showing security footage. "All righty. You guys need anything else?" He asks.

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

"Okie-dokie." The Guard says and leaves.

"I like him. He says "Okie-dokie."" Dean says as Elena comes in and closes the door behind herself.

"I had to sneak in, but I met the guard, he's nice." Elena says.

"What if he's the shifter?" Sam ask someone.

"Well, then we follow him home, put a silver bullet through his chestplate." Dean says. They sit down to watch the screens. "Okay. Well, you got any popcorn?"

Later, still reviewing the screens; the Guard is on one, and his eyes are normal. "Well, it looks like mister okie-dokie is...okie-dokie." Dean says.

"Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean. I mean, we don't even know it's here." Sam says.

Dean looks distracted. "Mm-hmm."

"Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and...and..." Elena starts.

Dean is zooming one of the cameras in on the ass of an attractive young woman who is bending over. "Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes." Sam sighs.

"I'm getting there." Dean replies.

"Oh yeah?"

"Wait a minute." Dean says. On another screen, a middle-aged man turns towards the camera; his eyes flare. "Hello, freak."

"Got him." Sam heads for the door, but Dean lingers behind, looking at another screen.

"Sam!" Dean yells.

"What?" They watch as Ronald scurries up to the outer door with a chain and a padlock, chaining the door shut. "Hello Ronald."

In the main bank hall, Ronald runs inside and down the stairs. He has an assault rifle, and he brandishes it and fires once as he gets to the bottom of the stairs. "This is not a robbery! Everybody on the floor now!" He yells.

Ronald fires again into the air, and people begin screaming and ducking for cover. "Get down, damnit! Come on! On the floor, on the floor! In the middle! On the floor in the middle! In the middle, on the floor, come on! Hurry up, come on!"

Dean, Elena and Sam walk down a hallway towards the main hall; a few panicked people brush past them, running the other way. "And you said we shouldn't bring guns." Dean says.

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

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

In the main hall, Ronald is holding up a key. "Now, there's only one way in or out of here, and I chained it up. So nobody's leaving, do you understand?" He asks.

Dean enters slowly. "Hey, buddy. Calm down. Just calm down." He says.

"What the- You! Get on the floor, now." Ronald says to Dean.

"Okay, we're doing that. Just don't shoot anybody, especially us." Dean says.

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

"We're not working for the mandroid!" Sam yells.

Ronald points the gun at Sam. "You, shut up! I ain't talking to you, I don't like you." He says. Dean gives Sam an "I told you so" look.

"Fair enough." Sam says.

Ronald turns to one of the hostages. "Get on 'em. Frisk them down, make sure they got no weapons on them. Go!" He yells. A middle-aged black man goes over to Sam and Dean and frisks them; he finds a knife in Dean's boot. "Now what have we here?"

Elena gives Dean a look. "I'm not just gonna walk in here naked!" Dean yells.

Ronald takes the knife. "Get back there." He drops the knife in the deposit box. It clatters.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Dean yells when Ronald this action and winces. "We know you don't want to hurt anybody. That's exactly what's gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around, and why don't you let these people go?"

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

"Hey, we believe you! That's why we're here." Elena says softly.

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

"Come here." Dean says.

"What? No."

"You're holding the gun, boss, you're calling the shots. I just want to tell you something. Come here." Dean says. Ronald approaches cautiously and leans in. "It's the bank manager."

"What?"

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

Ronald looks surprised. "His laser eyes?" He asks.

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

"Like I'm gonna listen to you. You're a damn liar." Ronald says as Dean stands cautiously, hands out. "I'll shoot you! Get down!"

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

"All right. You come with me." Ronald says and looks at Elena. "You too. But everyone else gets in the vault!"

"What? Why me?" She asks and gets up.

"I'm more confident when there's a pretty girl." Ronald says and grabs Elena's arm.

A Policeman paces outside, then goes around the corner where several police cars are waiting. "Come on, move, move!"

Ronald ushers the hostages, including Sam, into the vault. "Come on, move, move! Move, move!" He turns to Dean. "And you lock it up."

Dean starts moving the heavy door shut. "It's okay, everyone. Just stay cool." He shrugs at Sam in apology, then slams the door shut.

A young redhead, Sherry, stares after him. "Who is that man?"

"He's my brother." Sam says.

"He is so brave." She says and Sam very nearly rolls his eyes.

Ronald precedes Dean into a series of offices; Dean has removed his uniform jacket to reveal a flannel shirt. "Check behind the desk." Dean says. As Dean checks a back room, Ronald falls, yelling. Dean comes back out, eyes darting. Ronald is lying on the floor next to a slimy pile of skin. He screams and stands, pointing his gun at it.

"So much for confidence." Elena mumbles.

"What the hell is that?" Ronald asks.

Elena turns a lamp on the pile. "Oh, great." She says.

"When it changes form it sheds its old skin. So now it could be anybody again." Dean says.

Ronald picks up a piece of skin and starts smelling it. "It's so, it's so weird. Its robot skin is so lifelike." He says.

"Okay, let's get something straight. It's not a mandroid. It's a shapeshifter." Dean says.

"Shapeshifter?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's human, more or less. 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." Dean says.

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

"Kills them, doesn't kill them, I don't think it really matters." Elena says.

Dean strides over to a desk. "What are you doing?" Ronald asks him. Dean picks up a letter opener from the desk and examines it.

He sighs in relief. "Nice." He says and turns to Ronald. "You remember the old werewolf stories? Pretty much came from these guys. Silver's the only thing I've seen that hurts them. Come on." Ronald grimaces at the skin, then follows Dean, grinning.

A helicopter, a S.W.A.T. police vehicle, and the Channel 8 News van join the scene outside. A red car pulls up, and a middle-aged man in a suit and long coat gets out.

He goes into the command van, where several other officers are seated around monitors. A uniformed officer is stirring a cup of coffee. "How we doing?" The Detective asks.

"Another day in paradise."

"No one's come out yet?" The detective asks.

"This guy locked himself in. First thing he did."

The Detective chuckles. "All right. Cut the power."

In the bank hallway, Ronald is following Dean down a wider hallway, still Chuckling. "What are you, nuts?" Dean asks him.

"That's just it. I'm not nuts. 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." Ronald says.

"Yeah, don't mention it." Suddenly, the power cuts out; a few emergency lights click on. "Damnit! No, no, no, no, no."

"What? What is it?" Ronald asks.

Elena crosses her arms. "They cut the power. Probably their way of saying hi."

"Who?"

"The cops."

"The cops?!" Ronald yells.

Dean stops. "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." He says.

"Well, I, I didn't think to -" Ronald starts.

"All right, hang on, hang on, let's just take a breath here for a second, all right? 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." Elena says.

"It's not looking good, Ron." Dean says. Ronald flinches at a noise, bringing the rifle up. "Did you hear that?"

It's now dark in the vault as well, and a few of the hostages are fanning themselves. Sherry is still babbling at Sam; he continues to roll his eyes. "Has your brother always been so, um, wonderful? 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." She says.

"Yeah. Yeah." Sam says. The door opens to reveal Dean; he now has a handgun.

"Oh my god, you saved us! You saved us!" Sherry yells.

"Actually, I just found a few more. Come on, everybody, let's go. Let's go." Dean says.

Sherry stares in confusion as several more people, including the Guard from earlier, are herded inside. "What are you doing?" She asks.

"Sam, look, uh, Ronald, Elena and I need to talk to you." Dean says and Sam leaves the vault.

Dean shuts the door behind him, shrugging apologetically. "It's shed its skin again. We don't know when - it could be in the halls, it could be in the vault." He says.

"Great." Sam says. "You know, Dean, you are wanted by the police."

"Yeah." Dean says.

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

"Well, one problem at a time. All right, 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 hands Sam a silver letter opener. "Found another one of these for you. Now stay here, make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody, okay? Help him manage the situation."

"Help him manage? Are you insane?" Sam asks.

Dean looks past Sam and gives Ronald a grinning thumbs-up. "Look, I know this isn't going the way we wanted..." Dean starts.

"Understatement!" Sam yells.

"But if we invite the cops in right now, Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away, probably never find it again, okay?" Dean says.

Ronald is peering out the window, in plain view, and Sam gestures at him in exasperation. "Ron! Out of the light!" Elena yells.

"Seriously?!" Sam yells.

"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, okay?" Dean slaps Sam on the shoulder and leaves.

Elena trails behind. "I'm covering your back." She says to him.

"Yeah alright, come on." Dean says.

Sam sighs, leans back, and rolls his eyes at Ronald. "Hi, Ronald." He says.

In a hallway, Dean creeps along the dark hallways with a flashlight, listening for sounds and watching for movement.

The hostages are fanning themselves again, and Sherry looks angry. The Guard begins clutching his chest and breathing hard. "I'm going to leave this open. Give you guys some fresh air, all right? But no one leaves this vault." Sam says.

The phone rings, and Ronald spins around, panicked. "I don't understand, why are you helping him?" Sherry asks Sam.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He says.

Ronald picks up the phone. "Hello?" He calls.

"I think I gotta get out of here!" The guard yells.

"Look, I'm very sorry, but you're just going to have to stay put, all right?" Sam says.

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

Sam turns to Ronald in frustration. "Ronald! Hang up!" He yells.

"No, I, I'm not a bank robber, I-" Ronald starts.

"I've got to really get out of here." The Guard days.

"Sir, you can't leave!" Sam yells.

"Kind of a crime fighter, I guess." Ronald says into the phone.

"Ronald!"

The Guard is struggling to the door; several other hostages including a well-built middle-aged Man, help him. "Look — " Sam starts.

"No, I'm acting alone." Ronald says.

Sam sighs and goes over to the phone, slamming it to hang up. "Ronald? The less the cops know, the better." He says.

"Hey! I think this dude's having a heart attack!" A Man says who is helping the Guard.

"Get a Doctor!" A woman yells.

"Great. Could be our guy. Could be a trick." Sam says.

"You just going to let the man die?" The Man asks.

"No one's dying in here." Sam says and turns to Ronald. "Cover the door." He snatches the phone.

The plainclothes Detective is on the phone with Sam; the officer is in the foreground, listening. "Can you tell me how many hostages this guy's taken?" The Detective asks Sam.

"Look, one of the people could be having heart trouble, you need to send in a paramedic." Sam says.

"Just stay calm, we'll have you folks out of there."

Sam sighs heavily. "Just send in a paramedic, okay? And don't try anything else. Please."

"Paramedic? We don't have time for that, man!" The Man yells.

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

"He's dying right in front of you."

"Help!" The Guard yells.

Dean and Elena are stealthily walking down the hallway with silver weapons. "What exactly are we looking for?" Elena asks.

"Any sign that the shapeshifter has been here, like some skin or a body that they stash somewhere." Dean stops and looks up, seeing a ceiling panel askew.

He picks up a coat rack and begins poking it. He dislodges it and a naked body falls to the floor. He turns it over; it is the Man who has been helping the Guard.