( THE TRICKSTER )

FLASHBACK

CAMPUS
[ ☾]

      A Research Scientist leaves a campus building, heading towards the street. He sees something shiny in the gutter and stops. He looks around cautiously, then gets down on hands and knees to see it better. It is a gold watch.

      He gets all the way down and sticks and arm through the gutter bars, trying to reach it. He struggles. Close on his face as something grabs him. He begins screaming and struggling as blood spatters on his face.

MORGUE
[ ☾]

      A window latch slides aside as Sam opens it from the outside with a small knife. Flashlights in hand, Sam crawls through the window. "Hey." Dean tosses his flashlight to Sam, then climbs through.

      Dean opens a body drawer and shines his light through. He grimaces. "Well, this ought to be quick."

      They slide the drawer out and gingerly peel off the bloody blanket, revealing extremely mangled remains. "OK, That is just nasty." Elena says.

      "Uh, yeah." Sam says.

      "Mutilated?" Dean asks.

      "Looks to me like something was hungry." Elena says.

      "They identify him yet?"

      "Yeah. A research scientist at the college. Guess where his office was, by the way. Crawford Hall, Same as the professor." Dean says.

      "That's right where the frat boy had his close encounter." Elena says.

      "Yeah. Hey, grab me that thing, would you?" Dean slides a magnifyer/light over to Sam, who peers through it at the corpse. "Thanks."

      "What is it?" Dean asks.

      "Looks like a... A belly scale?" Sam questions himself.

      "A belly scale? From what?" Dean asks.

      "Uh... An alligator?" Sam says.

      "An alligator in the sewer. Come on." Dean says.

      "What? Well, Dean, it's a classic urban legend. A kid flushes a baby gator down the toilet, and it grows huge in the tunnels." Sam says.

      "But no one's ever really found one. They're not real." Dean says.

      Sam shrugs. "Neither's alien abduction, but something chomped on this guy." He says.

      "This couldn't get any weirder." Dean says.

      "Maybe we should get some help. I'll call Bobby. Maybe he's run into something like this before." Sam says.

      "Oh, I'm sure he has. Just your typical haunted campus, Alien abduction, alligator-in-the-sewer gig. Yeah, it's simple."

      The flashback pauses and we appear in he present. "We decided to search the sewer anyway, so we split up, each taking one end of campus." Sam says.

      "Did you find anything?" Bobby asks.

      "Yeah, I found something, just not in the sewer." Dean says.

FLASHBACK

CAMPUS
[ ☾]

      Dean emerges from the sewer and enters the alley where the Impala is parked. All four tires are flat. "Son of a bitch!" Dean yells. He circles the car and finds a money clip on the ground, engraved with "S.W." "Sam!"

HOTEL ROOM
[ ☼ ]

      Sam is reading a book and Elena watches TV as Dean enters. "You think this is funny?" Dean asks.

      "It depends. What?" Sam asks.

      "The car!" Dean yells.

      "What about the car?" Elena asks.

      "You can't let the air out of the tires. You're gonna bend the rims!" Dean yells.

      "Whoa, wait a minute. I didn't go near your car."

      "Oh, yeah? Huh. Then how'd I find this?" Dean holds up the money clip.

      Sam pats his pocket, stands. "Hey, give me back my money." He says.

      "Guys you're being ridiculous." Elena says.

     "Oh, no, no. Consider it reparations. For, uh, emotional trauma." Dean says.

      "Yeah, very funny. Now, give it back."

      Sam reaches for it, but Dean pulls it back. "No."

      "Dean, I have had it up to here with you." Sam says.

      "Yeah? Right back at you!" Dean yells.

      Sam reaches for the money again; Dean avoids. Sam grabs at him again, tackles him to the bed. They struggle. "Get off me!" Dean yells.

      Elena moves to the bed and tries to take the money clip out of their hands. "You guys are so childish!" She yells.

      "Give it back!"

      In the present, Bobby shakes his head. "Okay, I've heard enough." He says.

      "You showed up about an hour after that." Dean says.

      "I'm surprised at you two. I really am. Sam, first off, Dean did not steal your computer." Bobby says.

      "But I-" Sam starts.

      "Shh, shh, shh, shh! And, Dean, Sam did not touch your car."

      "Yeah." Says Sam.

      "And if you two bothered to pull your heads out of your asses, it all would have been pretty clear." Bobby says.

      "What?" Elena asks.

      "What you're dealing with."

      "Uh..." Sam starts.

      "I got nothing." Dean says.

      "Me neither." Sam admits.

      "You got a trickster on your hands."

      "That's what I thought." Dean says.

      "What?! No, you didn't." Sam accuses.

      "I got to tell you... you guys were the biggest clue."

      "What do you mean?" Elena asks.

      "These things create chaos and mischief as easy as breathing, and it's got you so turned around and at each other's throats, you can't even think straight." Bobby says.

      "The laptop." Sam says.

      "The tires." Says Dean.

      "It knows you're onto him, and it's been playing you like fiddles."

      "So, what is it? Spirit, demon, what?" Elena asks.

      "Well, more like demigods, really. There's Loki in scandinavia. There's Anansi in west africa. Dozens of them. They're immortal, and they can create things out of thin air. Things as real as you and me. Make them vanish just as quick." Says Bobby.

      "You mean like an angry spirit or an alien or an alligator." Elena suggests.

      "The victims fit the M.O., too. Tricksters target the high and the mighty, knock them down a peg, usually with a sense of humor-deadly pranks, things like that."

      "Bobby, what do these things look like?" Dean asks.

      "Lots of things, but human, mostly."

      "And what human do we know who's been at ground zero this whole time?" Dean asks and Sam frowns, thinking, then gets it.

JANITOR'S HOUSE
[ ☾]

      The Janitor is flipping through a copy of Weekly World News. "Oh, that's a good one." He says.

      We pan out to see the Janitor, a.k.a., the trickster, in a tacky swinger's pad: velvet armchair, wildly patterned walls, huge mirrors. He's wearing a white tank top and red satin boxers.

      He calls to a small, energetic dog, who comes bounding towards him. "Come here. Could you eat? I could eat. Come on." He gets up and circles to the kitchen, holding a champagne flute.

      The kitchen table is covered in lavish sweets. "Something's missing." Two scantily clad women appear behind him: one blonde, one brunette; he takes whipped cream on one finger and holds it out; the brunette on his left licks it off. "That's better."

      "Mmm!"

      The Janitor/Trickster locks a gate with a key attached to his belt. Sam, Elena and Dean follow him up a staircase. "Sorry I'm dragging a little ass today, boys. Had quite the night last night. Lots of sex, if you catch my drift."

      "Yeah, hard not to. Listen, we won't be long." Dean signals to Sam behind Trickster's back. "We just need to check a couple offices up on 3."

      "No problem."

      "I, uh, forgot something in the truck. You know what? I'll catch up with you guys." Sam says.

      "Okay."

      Sam waits until they're out of sight, then hurries back to the locked gate, pulling out his lockpicking tools. He enters, and rummages through lockers until he finds a copy of the Weekly World News in one.

      Later, Sam, Elena and Dean exit the building. "Just 'cause he reads the Weekly World News doesn't mean he's our guy. You read it, too." Sam says.

      "I'm telling you, it's him." Dean says.

      "Look, I just think we need some hard proof. That's all." Sam says.

      "Another thing Bobby mentioned was that these suckers have a metabolism like an insect, a real sweet tooth." Dean says.

      "I didn't find any candy bars or sugar. Not even Equal." Sam says.

      "Probably missed something."

      "I don't miss things."

      "Oh, right, 'cause you're Mr. Perfect." Dean says.

      "What? Are you really still pissed at me 'Cause of what the trickster did?"

      "You been a tight ass long before that trickster showed up."

      From an upper window, Janitor/Trickster is watching them. "Look, just...stay here, keep an eye on the janitor. I'll go to his place to see if I can find any actual evidence before you go barging in and staking the man! Just wait till I get back, okay? Okay?" Sam says.

      "Okay!" Dean yells and Sam leaves. Dean paces.

CRAWFORD HALL
[ ☾]

      Dean and Elena are still waiting impatiently. "Eh, screw this." He says.

      "Where do you think you're going?" Elena asks as she follows him.

      "Inside." Dean and Elena enter the building. Dean begins poking around cautiously with his flashlight. As he goes up the last staircase he puts the flashlight away and pulls out a large wooden stake.

      He hears something behind him, tucks the stake into his jacket, and enters the theater. On the stage is a round red bed with tacky canopy and a slowly rotating disco ball.

      The two women the Trickster materialized earlier are sprawled on it seductively. As he gets to the stage, they crawl towards him. "We've been waiting for you, Dean." A brunette says.

      "Y-Y-You guys aren't real." Dean says.

      "Trust me, sugar, it's gonna feel real." She says.

      "This is slightly disturbing." Elena says.

      Dean laughs nervously. "Come on. Let us give you a massage." The Blonde says.

      "You know, I'm a-I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Really, I am, but...I-I'm gonna have to pass." Dean says.

      He trickster sits in the audience. "They're a peace offering. I know what you and your brother do. I've been around a while. Run into your kind before."

      "Well, then you know that I... can't let you just keep hurting people." Dean says.

      "Come on! Those people got what was coming to them. Hoisted on their own petards. But you and Sam-I like you. I do. So treat yourself... Long as you want. Just long enough for me to move on to the next town." The trickster says.

      "Yeah, I don't think I can let you do that." Dean says.

      "I don't want to hurt you. And you know that I can."

      "Look, man, I -- I got to tell you, I dig your style, all right? I mean..." Dean chuckles and Elena elbows him. "I do. I mean... and the slow-Dancing alien-"

      "One of my personal favorites. Yeah." The trickster says.

      "But, uh, I can't let you go." Dean says. "Elena go wait outside."

      "But-"

      "Go." Dean says firmly and Elena scurries out of the theatre.

      "Too bad. Like I said, I like you. Sam was right. You shouldn't have come alone."

      "Well, I'll agree with you there." Dean says as the door slams shut.

      The trickster looks back up the stairs to see Sam, just entered, with a large stake of his own. Bobby stands at the top of the next aisle, also with a stake.

      "That fight you guys had outside-That was a trick? Hmm. Not bad. But you want to see a real trick?" The trickster asks as A masked man with a chainsaw appears near Sam and attacks. The brunette attacks Dean.

      The trickster watches, entertained, as Bobby and Sam grapple with Chainsaw Man and Dean fights the two women. They throw him into the seats near the trickster.

      "Nice toss, ladies!" He says and stands. "Dean... Dean, Dean, Dean." Sam tosses a stake to Dean. "I did not want to have to do this."

      Dean stabs the trickster in the chest. "Me neither." As Dean grinds in the stake, the women and Chainsaw Man disappear. Dean pulls the stake out, and the trickster falls, apparently dead, into a seat.

      Sam and Bobby approach. "You guys okay?" Dean asks.

      "Yeah. I guess." Sam says.

      "All I got to say... he had style." Dean groans, and they stagger outside to meet up with Elena.

      "Bobby, thanks a lot." Sam says.

      "Hey, save it! Let's just get the hell out of dodge before somebody finds that body." Bobby says.

      "Yeah." Dean agrees.

      Sam pauses at the car. "Look, Dean, um... I just want to say that I'm, uh... Um..." He starts.

      "Hey. Me too." Dean says.

      "You guys are breaking my heart. Could we please just leave?" Elena asks. Sam and Dean exchange a look over the top of the car, get in, and drive away.

CRAWFORD HALL THEATER
[ ☾]

      A figure approaches the trickster's body and stands by it. The body shimmers and disappears; the figure is the trickster, who bites into a chocolate bar and smiles.