>NIGHT SHIFTER<

"So, what's it like?" The woman asked Dean and Karoline as she came out of the office with the papers they had asked for. "Being an FBI guy?" She specified further, turning her full attention on Dean and completely ignoring the blonde beside him. Karoline rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to make the snarky comment that was just begging to break free. They were working a job, which meant no distractions, no breaking cover.

"Well... it's dangerous you know," Dean started, glancing at Karoline hesitantly before giving his attention to the girl. "And secrets we got to keep - oh, countless secrets," He snuck a glance at Karoline again, giving her a wink and a small grin. Karoline's lips twitched up into a small smile before returning her attention to the files in her hands. "But, mostly it's dangerous."

"I so know what you mean," The woman, whose name Karoline didn't even bother to remember, looked at Dean with wide eyes and Karoline rolled her eyes once more.

"I'm gonna go see if Agent Johnson and Collins need any help," Karoline told Dean shortly, before heading over to where Alayna and Sam were interrogating the Manager across the room.

"He called me at home." The manager was saying and Karoline instantly understood who the man was talking about; the guard who had died.

"And that's when she took his gun?" Sam prompted the grieving man, who in turn nodded heavily.

"She shot him in the face."  He confirmed, no longer meeting anyone's eyes. "I heard him die over the phone.

"Do you have any idea what her motive was?" Karoline stood back while Alayna questioned the man. The man's face twisted into disgust at the girls question.

"What motive? It makes no sense. Why steal all those diamonds, all that jewelry, and then what? Just dump it somewhere? Just hide it and go home deciding to commit suicide?" The man looked between the three, looking, hoping for an answer that none of them had.

"So you never saw the security camera footage yourself?" Karoline asked, all three ignoring the man's rhetorical questions.

"The police - they took the tapes first thing." The manager told them.

"Of course they did." Karoline said blandly, glancing at Dean who had just joined them

"We should get going." He informed them. The four thanked the manager before leaving the bank. They drove for half an hour before they finally reached the house they were looking for. The home of the only witness.

"This is it." Deans voice came through Alaynas phone that was set up on the dashboard of the Buick. Alayna quickly hung up the phone, getting her stuff together and stepping out of the car.

"Freaking cops..." Karoline grumbled curses under her breath.

"They're just doing their job." Alayna smiled at how easily annoyed Karoline got when it came to cops. Karoline and Dean were both pissed about the cop thing, how the police where hovering over the four like a looming threat.

"No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it so they suck at it." Dean stated plainly from behind Alayna making the smaller girl jump and Karoline nod along with Dean, Sam just rolling his eyes and stepping onto the sidewalk. "Talk to me about this bank." He returned to the hunt.

"Milwaukee National Trust - it was hit a month ago. Same M.O. as the jewelry store, inside job, long time employee, suicide." Alayna informed him, having gone over the files multiple times, knowing almost everything by heart.

"Yeah, dude robs the bank and then goes home and supposedly commits suicide." Sam added as Dean and Karoline took in the information.

"And this guy Resnick was the security guard on duty?" Dean checked while they ascended the steps to Resnick's front porch.

"Yeah, he was beaten by the robber. The cops found him unconscious in the morning." Karoline recalled as Sam knocked on the door.

"Mr. Resnick!" Dean called impatiently, wanting to get the case over with. Suddenly, a bright, blaring light shined around the corner, making everyone but Alayna wince back because they were all standing infront of her, which inturn blocked her from sight as well as blocking her from the light. Alayna peeked around Sam, holding onto his arm to help her keep her balance. When she looked, a short, chubby man with bushy, black hair came to the door to get a better look at the four. Not that he could really see Alayna though.

"FBI." Alayna called out from the back.

"Let me see the badges." The man demanded. Dean, Sam, and Karoline pressed their badges against the back door. Just as Resnick went to speak, Alaynas hand shoved through the three, flashing her badge before pushing her body to the front of the three so she could see and be seen, huffing in frustration. Resnick raised an eyebrow at her but then narrowed his eyes at the four, looking between them distrustingly. " I already gave my statement to the police."

"Yeah. Listen, Ronald, um, just some things about your statement that we wanted to get some clarification on." Dean explained, and slowly but surely some of the distrust in the mans eyes lifted.

"You read it?" He questioned cautiously.

"Sure did." Alayna said with a small smile, her eyes widening with kindness and understanding.

"Come to listen to what I've got to say?" He questioned in hopefulness.

"That's why we're here." Sam spoke.

"Well... Come on in." Ronald Resnick opened the door for them and let them in the house. "See, none of the cops ever called me back. Not after I told them what was really going on. They all thought I was crazy." They all made their way to the living room but stopped short in surprise. Taped all over the walls a giant collage of newspapers and magazine clippings. "First off, Juan Rallis never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? That I guarantee. See, me and Juan were friends. He used to come back to the bank on my night shifts, and we'd play cards."

"So you let him into the bank that night, after hours." Sams tone was slightly accusing, making Alayna shoot him a sharp glare as a warning to either calm down or shut up. Or both.

"The thing I let into the bank... wasn't Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Every detail was perfect, but too perfect. You know, like if a doll maker made it. Like I was talking to a big Juan doll." Karoline and Alaynas eyebrows shot up at his words.

"...Juan doll?" Karoline's voice was more confused than anything else.

"Look," Ronald shoved a file at the small girl. Alayna shot Sam a confused look as she felt him stiffen up behind her. "This wasn't the only time this happened, okay? There was this jewelry store too, and the cops and you guys, just don't see it." Alayna opened the file, scanning the pictures and newspaper clippings that were inside, Sam pressing into her from behind to get a better look at the documents. Everyone but, Sam noticed the growing blush and small tremble Alayna showed but chose not to comment. "Both crimes were pulled by the same thing."

"Which is?" Karoline prompted, raising her eyebrows at the man. In response, Ronald grabbed a magazine and pointed to the cover picture of a robot that vaguely resembled a man.

"Chinese been working on them for years, and the Russians before that - part man, part machine, like the terminator, but the kind that can change itself. Make itself look like the other people." He elaborated enthusiastically.

"Like the people from 'T2'." Dean helped him out with a grin, Sam flashing him a withering look and Alayna and Karoline stifling laughs.

"Exactly! See? So not just a robot, more of a.. a... Man-droid!!" Ronald finished while smiling widely at his work. The four couldn't help but be slightly impressed. He was practically spot on if you disregard the man-droid thing.

"A man-droid?" Sam repeated doubtfully.

"What makes you so sure about this, Ronald?" Dean questioned with a small smile tugging on his lip. Ronalds face broke out into a big grin, and he pointed at Dean excitedly. A minute later, they were all seated on the couch - Alayna and Karoline practically sitting on the guys since they didn't have much room to work with - as Ronald pushed a tape into his VCR.

"See, I made copies of all the security tapes. I knew once the cops got them, they'd be buried," He explained shortly, grabbing the remote off the top of the television. "Here." He rewound to the middle of the tape. "Now watch." It began to play and they watched as Juan came into view, seemingly laughing. "Watch. Watch him. Watch. Watch. See, look! There it is!" He froze the tape and Alaynas muscles tensed as she saw 'Juans' glowing eyes. Karoline shot Alayna a quick, worried look. Sam low-key half wrapped his arm around the girl, squeezing her side gently, which seemed to calm her down. "He's got the laser eyes! Cops said it was some kind of reflected light, some kind of 'camera flare'. Okay? 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. The man-droid is still out there." He pinned another article to the wall before turning back again to face the four. "If the law won't hunt this thing down, I'll do it myself. You see, this is the thing. I-it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sort of like morphs into that person, cases the job for a while till it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now these robberies, they're grouped together, so I figured the man-droid is holed up somewhere in the middle." He pointed to the red circles he'd drawn on his map. "Underground maybe - I don't know. Maybe that's where it recharges its man-droid batteries." Karoline was impressed to say the least. In fact, she was all for telling him the entire truth right now. He had basically solved the case for the four. Maybe he was a little (a lot) obsessed, but he'd done a damn good job.

"Okay." Sam started, pausing for a moment as the other three looked at him. Alayna shook her head, already knowing what he planned to say. They all stood up from the couch. "I'm about to tell you the gods honest truth about all of this." Karoline and Dean agreed with Sam until they heard his next words. Alayna held a hand to her face, blowing out a long breath of air as Sam spoke. "There's no such thing as a man-droid. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. It's just people. Nothing else. You understand?" Karoline and Dean looked surprised at Sams apathetic harshness. Alayna took one look at Ronald before blowing out another breath of air in exasperation. She couldn't understand why Sam couldn't just tell the poor guy the full truth.

"The laser eyes," Ronald protested, pointing to his own eyes.

"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." Alayna almost screamed out in frustration as she watched Ronalds expression go from shocked, to sad, to furious in just a matter of seconds. Alayna turned and began making her way to the door, the other three staying rooted in their spots.

"Get out of my house!" He yelled, pointing to the door that Alayna had just reached for. "Now!" He screamed when Alayna paused in her process of opening the door because the others hadn't followed.

"Sure. First things first." Karolines lips parted in an attempt to speak but never got the chance as Sam began calmly. "We need you to remand the tapes you copied. You understand, of course. It's classified evidence of an ongoing investigation." Sam didn't wait for Ronalds reply as he walked over to the T.V. and ejected the tape, before turning and making his way to the door, where Alayna was standing with her arm crossed and her leaning all her weight onto one leg, her other leg positioned out at an angle. Overall, she looked like a mother getting ready to reprimand her child. She just had that look in her eyes. The car ride back was quick since the motel they were staying at was only ten minutes away, and Dean and Karoline parked in front of the rooms. They had checked themselves in earlier that day, so they didn't need to bring anything in except the tapes Sam had confiscated from Ron.

"Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up," Dean finally broke the silence as he handed Karoline a beer before cracking open his own can. "When you told that poor son of a bitch to - what was it?"

"Remand," Alayna supplied Dean from where she was sitting at the table, quirking an eyebrow at Sam as she continued. "He asked Ron to remand the tapes he'd copied,"

"Yeah," Karoline agreed, remembering what Sam had said. "'Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation'? That's messed up Sammy, and this is coming from me," Karoline commented as Dean sat down beside her on the bed to look at the maps she'd laid out.

"What are you guys, pissed at me or something?" Sam questioned, sounding pretty pissed himself.

"No," Dean answered before Alayna could speak up. "I just think it's a little creepy how good of a fed you are," Sam turned back to the TV where he was watching the recordings.

"We could have thrown him a lifeline back there," Alayna added, knowing Dean and Karoline felt the same. "I mean, he pretty much solved this case for us," Sam scoffed in answer to her suggestion.

"Man-droid?" He pointed out, and she shrugged in acknowledgement of his point.

"Except that," Alayna admitted.

"I liked him," Karoline confessed with a shrug, focusing her attention on the maps in front of her.

"Yeah, so did I," Dean agreed, pulling the overlapping map up to check the bottom one. "He's not that different from us. People think we're crazy,"

"Yeah, except he's not a hunter, guys," Alayna looked up at Sam as he spoke, suddenly realizing why Sam had been so harsh on Ronald. "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,"

"Mm-hmm," Karoline nodded in agreement as she created a small, red dot with a sharpie and began tracing the lines of the sewer system with the recent robberies.

"Yeah, I guess," Dean muttered, not sounding that convinced.

"Shapeshifter," Sam scoffed, pausing the TV on Juan and his laser eyes. "Just like back in St. Louis."

"Same eye flare," Karoline noted tensely, trying to stem the memories of the shapeshifter in St. Louis.

"I hate those freaking things," Dean's voice gained a deadly tone.

"True that." Alayna agreed leaning forward in her seat to high-five Dean.

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

"One didn't turn into you and frame you for murder." Alayna pointed out, and Dean nodded along.

"If this prick is anything like the one we faced in Missouri then looks like Ron was right," Karoline spoke up. "Okay, so the past one liked to live underground. I'm thinking this one does too. All the robberies have been connected by the sewer main layout, right?" Karoline continued, not waiting for Alayna or the boys to answer her question. "Well, there's another Sewer lined up on that sewer main. City Bank of Milwaukee," She circled the bank on her map before slipping on her shoes and standing to see Sam had pulled something out of his bag.

"Oh no," Dean groaned as Sam grinned. In his hands, Sam held a mechanic's outfit. Thirty minutes later they were heading towards the array of camera feed with the security guard filling them in on what had been happening. They were wearing the mechanics' outfits that Sam had insisted on. Of course, they altered them slightly, so they now said SECURISERVE GUARD SERVICE across the back.

"Well, we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet," The old, short officer was telling them as he led them through the bank.

"No, no, this is a glitch in the overall grid," Dean explained easily, and the guard seemed to accept it. "Just want to make sure the branch monitors are kosher,"

"Better safe than sorry, I guess," The officer commented, shrugging.

"That's the idea," Alayna agreed as the man opened the door for us.

"Alrighty. You guys need anything else?" He asked them, and Sam took that question as the girls took a seat to look over the monitors.

"Oh, no, no, no. We'll be in and out before you know it. Just a routine check," Sam replied, turning to the man.

"Okie-dokie," The man spoke cheerfully, before leaving with the door closing softly behind him.

"I like him. He says 'okie-dokie'," Dean commented, laughing slightly as he sat next to Karoline.

"What if he's the shifter," My gaze darkened as Sam spoke.

"Then we follow him home and put a silver bullet through his brain," Alayna answered promptly.

"Okay," Dean sighed as he relaxed next to Karoline, getting comfortable. "You got any popcorn?" He asked, glancing over at the blonde.

"What makes you think I have popcorn?" She asked, though she already had a pretty good idea on why he thought that.

"Because you have everything in that bag," Dean gestured to her Hobo bag and she tugged it closer to herself. "You're like freaking Mary Poppins." Karoline cracked a smile at that, but didn't say anything as she turned her attention to the screen. "So... no..." Karoline peeked out of the corner of her eyes at him before sighing in defeat. She pulled out a bag of Caramel Corn and handed it to him. "Seriously?" He looked at her ins disbelief.

"What?" She shrugged innocently.

A half hour past and they had nothing to show for it. "Well, looks like Mr. Okie-dokie's "Okie-dokie," Dean grinned as he zoomed in on the guard's face. No flare. Karoline frowned as the guard headed their way.

"I'll go stall him. You three try to find our guy," she told them, getting up and leaving the room. Karoline had been gone for a few minutes, and Sam nor Alayna missed the way Dean's eyes flicked back to her screen every couple of seconds, as if she might disappear. She was walking through the halls with the guard towards the manager, for she'd said there might be a problem with the cameras and had to talk to him privately. They needed to find this thing fast otherwise they'd all be screwed.

"Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean," Sam spoke up, breaking the silence. "I mean, we don't even know it's here. Maybe we should just go to the sewers and..." He trailed off as he saw Dean zooming the camera in on Karoline, who was helping a woman pick up some papers. He zoomed in closer to bring the camera to focus on Karoline's ass.

"Dean!" Sam and Alayna snapped, and Dean made no reply. "Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes," Alayna continued with a reprimanding look.

"I'm getting there," Dean told him, zooming out as Karoline stood and handed the papers back to the woman who'd dropped them. Her and the guard continued to the manager, who turned to face them, showing the camera his eyes. Both the boys and Alayna jerked upright as they saw his glowing eyes. Dean had his phone out faster than Sam thought possible.

"What wrong?" Dean's muscles relaxed fractionally as she picked up.

"It's the manager," He knew there was no way the shifter would make a move on her in broad daylight in front of everybody, but it didn't stop him from worrying.

"Great," She sighed. "I got him." She glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room.

"We're coming to you," Dean informed her, and she nodded to show she understood. Sam and Alayna were already walking towards the door, and Dean stood as he spoke the words, but something caught his eye. "Wait,"

"What?" Sam questioned, not sure if Dean was speaking to him and Alayna or Karoline or all three.

"What?" Karoline's voice echoed Sam.

"Hello, Ronald," Dean gestured to the screen as he spoke sarcastically. Ronald Resnick was locking the doors from the inside with a chain and lock.

"Ronald's here?" Karoline asked in disbelief. Suddenly, there were gunshots and people screaming from her end of the line. "Son of a..." She swore softly as Ronald shouted in the background.

"Kare?" No response. "Kare!" Dean snapped her name, needing her to answer.

"I'm here. I'm going to go talk to him." She told Dean and continued before he could protest. "Hurry up and get here."

"We're already on our way," Dean promised her as Sam shut the door behind them, worry and unease clawing at his stomach.

"Get down, dammit!" Karoline turned to find the bank manager, only to see he'd slipped away in the confusion.

"Great," She muttered, mentally cursing Sam for advocating against bringing guns on this trip as she made her way to the middle of the room with the other hostages.

"Now there's only one way in or out of here, and I chained it up, so nobody's leaving, you understand?" Everyone around them nodded. "Hey, I know you," Karoline looked up at him, making his eyes widen and his gun train on the blonde. "Your one of the FBI agents!" She lifted herself off the floor slightly. "Stay down!" Ron yelled at her, causing her to drop to her knees again.

"Alright. Let's just calm down," She spoke slowly to him.

"Are those other three with you? You're not a fed, are you?" Her eyes slid past him to focus on the boys and Alayna coming out of the door to the far left. He cocked the gun when she didn't respond. "Answer me!"

"Hey, buddy," Dean spoke as the three came into view, and Ronald whipped around. "Why don't you just calm down? Just calm down,"

"What? All of you?" He stepped back, directing the gun at them and then at Karoline again. "Get on the floor now or I'll shoot her!" Karoline nodded at the three to listen, knowing Ronald wouldn't shoot her, but she also knew it was best to let him think he was in control of the situation.

"Okay, we're doing that," Dean agreed, sinking to the floor with Sam at his side. "Just don't shoot anybody, especially us," He gestured to himself, Sam, and the girls.

"I knew it - as soon as you four left. You're ain't FBI! Who are you?" He glared at Karoline as he yelled the words. "Who are you working for, huh? The men in black?" Sam scoffed, rolling his eyes, and Ron turned the gun to aim at Sam. "You working for the man-droid?"

"We're not working for the man-droid!" Sam yelled in a condescending, annoyed tone.

"You shut up! I ain't talking to you! I don't like you!" Dean gave him an 'I told you so' look while Alayna fixed him with a 'do what he says' look.

"Fair enough," He muttered quietly, taken aback by Ronald's outburst.

"Get over there," He commanded a man who was sitting by the desks with the others. "Frisk them down, make sure they got no weapons. Go!" The man hurried to Sam and Alayna, who were clean, before going to Dean. Dean threw Karoline a nervous, apologetic look, and she instantly knew he had something on him. The man frisking him pulled a silver knife out of his shoe. "And what have we here?"

"I'm not just going to walk in here naked," Dean defended himself against Sam's incredulous look.

"Give that there," Ronald took the knife and pushed it down the shredder despite Dean's protests. "Her too," Ronald ordered, and the man frisked Karoline down to find a small handgun in the holster around her ankle. Sam and Alayna shot her a look as well, making her give them a defensive shrug. He took the small gun and tucked it in his bag after unloading it.

"Listen, Ronald. You don't want to hurt these people, okay? But that will happen if you don't listen to us. You need to let these people go," Alayna tried to reason with him.

"No!" Ronald shouted his response. "I already told you, if nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've got to do it myself!" He pointed the gun at Alayna as he shouted.

"Hey, we believe you! That's why we're here," Dean tried as well.

"You don't believe me! Nobody believes me! How could they?" Karoline frowned slightly.

"Ronald, why don't you come here a second," Ronald frowned at the blonde as did the boys and Alayna.

"W-what?" He asked, the anger now replaced with confusion.

"You're holding the gun, okay? I'm not going anywhere, I just want to tell you something," Karoline reasoned calmly, ignoring the other three's warning glances. Ronald came closer to her hesitantly, pointing the gun at her forehead in case she tried to make a move. Karoline leaned towards him as he moved closer still. "The man-droid, it's the bank manager." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" He questioned confusedly.

"Why do you think we're dressed like this?" She asked, gesturing to herself, Alayna and the boys. "We've been monitoring the cameras, and we saw the bank manager's eyes,"

"His laser eyes?" Ronald whispered, his own eyes widening at the thought.

"Yes, his laser eyes," She agreed, nodding. "Look we're running out of time here. We have to find him before he turns into someone else," Karoline urged Ronald to let them go.

"How do I know you're not lying?" He asked, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. She glanced at Alayna and the boys for a moment before she rose to her feet slowly. He instantly raised the gun, aiming it at her chest.

"I will shoot you! Get down!" He yelled at her.

"Kare," Both Ronald and her glanced at Dean as he spoke her name, his voice tense with worry. Her blue eyes widened slightly as he raised himself slowly to his feet as well. "Take us," Ronald lowered the gun slightly in confusion as Dean spoke. "Take us as hostages, but she's right; we have to act fast,"

"The longer we just sit around here waiting, the more time he has to change," She agreed with Dean, and Ronald's eyes flicked between them rapidly for a moment before he lowered the gun. "Look, we believe you. You aren't crazy, okay? There is something inside this bank, and we need to find it,"

"All right," He agreed finally, and they let out a breath of relief. "Y-You two come with me, but everyone else gets in the vault!" His voice rose to a yell as he raised the gun and gestured to the innocent people cowering by the desks. Everyone got up and hurried to the vault with Ronald ushering them from behind. "Come on, move!" He urged as everyone filed into the vault. Sam and Alayna went in, and Ron stopped Karoline by placing the gun across my chest, making Dean, who was walking behind her, freeze as well. "Then you two lock it up," Dean and Karoline pulled the vault door, pausing before it was shut to look in at the people.

"It's okay, everyone. Just stay cool," Karoline met Alayna's gaze as Dean spoke, and she nodded slightly to her.