>NIGHT SHIFTER<

Karoline unzipped the mechanics jumpsuit, revealing her dark blue skinny jeans and red tank top with a black flannel over it. She threw the jumpsuit in a heap on the side of the room and gestured for Dean and Ron to follow her. Dean changed as well before following Ron and the blonde to the manager's office. "Check behind the desk," Dean instructed as he and Karoline headed to the manager's private room. They ran back when they heard Ron yell. He was laying in a pile of shed skin. He let out a scream and jerked upright.

"What the hell is that?" Ron demanded, pointing the gun at the skin as if it were going to attack him at any moment. Dean reached over and turned the lamp to shine on the skin, illuminating it's grotesqueness.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Karoline muttered sarcastically, kneeling by the goo.

"When it changes forms, it sheds its old skin. So, now it could be anybody," Dean explained as Ron touched the skin in fascination.

"So...so weird," Ron mused, and Karoline glanced at him to see him now holding a piece of the flesh. Karoline made a face and swallowed her disgust. "It's robot skin is so lifelike,"

"Okay, Ron. Time for the cold hard honest truth," Karoline started, realizing he'd need to know that it wasn't a man-droid, he needed to know the truth. "What's in this place, its not a Man-droid. It's called a shapeshifter,"

"Shapeshifter?" Ron repeated as Karoline stood from where she'd been kneeling.

"Yeah," Dean confirmed, turning his attention from the door to Ron. "It's human, more or less. It has human drives, you know, 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, tall, short or-"

"So i-it kills someone and then takes their place," Ron broke in, putting the pieces together excitedly.

"Kills them - doesn't kill them. I don't think it really matters," Dean began walking around the room hurriedly.

"W-w-what are you doing?" Ron demanded as Dean picked up a silver letter opener from the desk.

"Nice," He commented, glancing at Karoline and nodding to show it was, in fact, all silver.

"You know the old werewolf stories where silver kills them? It came from these creatures. Silver's the only thing we know of that can kill them," Karoline explained as Dean tossed her the letter opener before turning towards the door. "Come on, Ron!" Karoline called back as Dean and her left the room. they both stopped when they heard chuckling behind them.

"What are you, nuts?" Dean asked him, frowning at the shorter man.

"That's just it," Ron began gleefully, making Dean and Karoline turn to face him. "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 man-droid thing. Thank you," He gestured to Karoline, and she gave him a wink. She was about to reply when the lights cut out, shrouding them in darkness. Karoline instinctively took a step closer to Dean, pulling out the letter opener Dean had handed to her.

"Damn it," He muttered as the emergency lights came on. "No, no, no, no, no,"

"What? What is it?" Ron asked, his voice betraying his fear.

"They cut the electricity," Karoline informed him, glancing back at his confused expression before elaborating. "Basically, they're saying 'hey, we're here,"

"Who?" Ron questioned, making the blonde roll her eyes at his naivety.

"Cops," Dean responded as they began to walk again.

"Cops?" Ron echoed in shock, making Dean whirl on him.

"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," Dean snapped, getting more irritated by the second.

"Well, I didn't think to-" He began defensively, but Karoline cut him off.

"Hang on, okay? By now they definitely have us surrounded. They cut power to the cameras, so we can't see who the shifter is that way," The blonde reasoned logically, trying to find a way out of this.

"So, it's not looking good for us," Dean finished, turning to go, but suddenly there was a faint clatter, making the three of them freeze. "Did you hear that?" Dean dropped his voice to a whisper, and Karoline nodded, glancing at Ron, who had his gun up and pointed in the direction the noise had come from. They cautiously approached the source of the noise and they whipped around the corner to find six people cowering with their hands up.

"Come on. Move!" Ron ushered them towards the vault as Dean and Karoline led them. Dean snatched the gun from Ronald, ignoring their protests as he opened the door.

"Oh, my God! You saved us! You saved us!" An annoyingly excited voice came greeted Dean as he swung open the vault.

"Actually, I just found a few more," He told her, turning to face the newcomers. "Come on, everybody. Let's go. Let's go,"

"What are you doing?" The same voice sounded crestfallen as the last of the people made their way into the vault.

"Sam, Layna," Karoline stood beside Dean to look at Sam and Alayna, the former looking annoyed and the latter just looking beyond pissed. "We have to talk to you," They stepped out of the way as Sam and Alayna walked past them, and Dean shut the door. "It slipped skins again," Karoline told them as they stopped walking and faced each other. "We don't know who it is - or where,"

"Great," Sam muttered sarcastically.

"You know, guys, you are wanted by the police," Karoline pointed out the most important part, looking from her sister to Dean.

"Yeah," Dean chuckled.

"So even if we do find this damn thing, how the hell are we gonna get out of here?" Alayna pointed out, running a hand through her hair nervously.

"I'm working on it, alright? One problem at a time," Karoline told her, running her hands down her face as she tried to think. "Alayna and I should sweep the place. See if we can find any others,"

"Good idea," Dean agreed readily. "Then once we get everyone together we can play a little game of 'find the freak'," Dean joked darkly.

"So, Ron-Ron, I'm gonna need my gun," Karoline turned to Ronald who looked at her confused. "Its loaded with Silver bullets." He nodded, scrambling to pull out the gun he had confiscated from her earlier and handed it to her then the clip. Karoline loaded it back up and clicking it shut with a spin. "Okay, deal. Let's go."

"Keep Ronald out of trouble," Alayna added as Karoline handed Sam her letter opener. "Help him manage-"

"Help him manage?" Sam repeated her words angrily, looking up to glare at the girls and Dean. "Are all of you insane?" He snapped, and Alayna glanced past him at Ron, who had looked over at Sam's raised voice. Dean flashed him a thumbs up, and Ron nodded, smiling.

"Look, I know this isn't playing out exactly how we thought it would-" Alayna began.

"Understatement," Sam interrupted, making her give him a pointed look.

"Alright, but if we invite the cops in now Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away, probably never find it again, okay -" Dean explained, and instantly knew Sam would agree; they had no other options. Sam just gestured to Ron, making Dean and the girls look at the man who was pointing his gun upwards and standing by the window.

"Ron!" Karoline hissed at him, causing him to look at her. "Get out of the light," She motioned with her hand to the side while Dean chuckled in amusement

"Seriously?" Sam snapped at them, and Alayna frowned at him, not understanding why he was being so difficult all of a sudden. They had no other options.

"Okay, so maybe Ron's game plan wasn't the best idea, maybe even a little crazy. But, right now, crazy's all we got so we just gotta roll with it, okay?" Sam didn't reply to Alayna and she turned to follow her sister away brusquely. They moved silently through the first hallway; Karoline held her flashlight and small hand gun while Alayna had the letter opener brandished like a weapon. They ducked as they went passed some big windows where light from the street casted an eerie glow on the hallway. Alayna crossed to the opposite wall as she saw an office door. Karoline followed her without question, sweeping her flashlight around the room. Alayna swept the room over quickly, turning back to see Karoline gazing at something on the ceiling. She followed her eyes to the corner of a panel that was slightly off. Her eyes then fell on the coat hanger that sat in the front of the room, and she grabbed, using it to push up the ceiling panel. "What the..." Alayna muttered as she pressed up the panel and a dull thud ensued. She shoved it more only to be met with resistance, making her frown and jiggle the panel. There was a sliding sound, and suddenly Karoline yanked her sister back, causing her to drop the coat hanger. A millisecond later the ceiling gave way and a body crashed to the floor. Alayna took a shaky breath before reaching out to pull the body to lie on its back. The throat was slit. "I'm gonna kill this thing," Alayna stalked out the door with Karoline following. They made their way back to where Sam and Dean were waiting with Ron, and they pulled the two boys to the side. "It's the tall, dark one," Alayna spoke in a low voice to Sam. "We found his body. the throat was cut,"

"You know what, Ronald?" Sam spoke, starting towards him. "He's right. We got to get this man outside," He past Ron, heading straight for the officer. "Come on. I got you," He tried to comfort the man as he helped him out of the vault.

"Yeah, I'll help you," The shifter offered, but Sam shrugged off his help.

"Oh, I got him. It's cool. Thanks," He assured the shifter before helping the officer out of harm's way. Sam gave Dean and the girls a look as he passed them with the grateful guard.

"Hey, can we talk to you for a second?" Dean asked the shifter, who glanced at the girls and him distrustingly before scoffing and shrugging.

"You have the gun, man," He held up his hands as he walked towards them. "Whatever," He was directly in front of them when it happened. One second he was causally walking and the next he slammed his hand into Dean's gut before shoving his head into the wall and shoving Alayna into Karoline making the two of them fall before sprinting off the other way.

"Stop! Come back here!" Dean yelled as Alayna tore after the creature without stopping to think. Suppressed images of St. Louis bubbled to the surface, blocking out all logic. Ron ran in front off the brunette with his gun at the ready and rounded the corner seconds before she did. He stopped running in the middle of the room, pointing his gun at the retreating creature.

"Alayna! Get down!" She was halfway to Ron when she saw the red dot on his back and heard Sam's yell. She stopped short, allowing her legs to go limp and falling to the floor just as a bullet whizzed past her head. Ron wasn't so lucky. "Alayna!" She heard Sam's shout, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from where Ron was standing. The bullet went straight through his heart, barely even slowing until it embedded itself into the wall in front of him. He hung there for a moment before dropping to his knees and finally collapsing onto the floor with a dull thud. "Alayna!" She jumped as a hand grabbed her arm, and she whirled to come face to face with Sam, who had crawled to where she was crouching behind a desk. "Are you okay? Did it hit you?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, glancing back at the body and swallowing hard. "Ron's not,"

"Hey," they glanced up as Dean and Karoline joined them, Karoline's eyes raking over Alayna to check for injuries.

"Here," Sam unwound the rope the key was on from his hand and passed it to Alayna. "Take care of the guard. Dean and I will go after the shifter," Sam took off without waiting for a reply, and Dean made to follow him when Karoline pulled him back.

"Be careful," She warned him and he flashed her a grin.

"Always am." He winked before pulling himself up to run after Sam.

Karoline waited inside as Alayna escorted the guard outside and to the police and paramedics before ducking back into the building and coming over to where Karoline was. "We are so screwed." Alayna muttered, before Karoline could respond Alayna's phone rang. She looked up at her sister before flipping open the phone and putting it on speaker.

"What's up?"

"Slipped his skin," Sam informed them.

"Are you kidding me?" Karoline muttered, looking just as annoyed as Alayna felt.

"Yeah. The thing shifts a lot faster than the one in St. Louis,"

"So it could be anyone again." Alayna summed up, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"And I think most of the employees are probably out of the vault by now," Sam added to their ever growing list of things going wrong.

"Alright," She sighed, looking up at Karoline then at the phone again. "You and Dean search every inch of this place. Kari and I will round everyone up." Alayna snapped the phone shut and stood with her sister. They managed to round everyone up, or at least who they thought were the last of them into the vault.

"Why are you doing this?" A tall red-head asked, catching their attention.

"Trust me, it'd be a lot worse if we weren't." Karoline told her seriously, before closing the door. Her attention turned to Alayna as the brunette hesitantly answered the ringing landline.

"Yeah," She answered with a sigh.

"This is special agent Victor Hendrickson." The man on the other line sounded brusque and curt.

"Yeah, listen. I really don't have the time nor patience for negotiation," Alayna spoke in a unconcerned tone, ignoring Karoline's questioning gaze.

"Good. Me neither." The man interrupted her rudely. "It's my job to bring you in - alive's a bonus but not necessary."

"Wow, I'm beginning to see why people don't like you so much. You're not like the typical special agents I've met." Alayna taunted, not phased by the mans rude tone.

"Well, you're not the typical suspects I've met, are you, Alayna?" Alayna's eyes widened at the use of her name. "I want you, Dean, Sam, and Karoline out here unarmed, or we come in, and, yes, I know about them - You all are like the Castalleneta Crime Family." Alayna grinned slightly at the analogy.

"Very true, but how did you even know we were here?" She questioned, looking around for cameras.

"Go screw yourself. That's how I knew." Alayna's eyes widened slightly at the man's churlish nature. "It's become my job to know about you, Alayna. I've been looking for you and Dean 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 Dads"

"You don't know shit about them," Alayna finally managed to speak around the lump that was forming in her throat.

"Tom was an ex-marine, raised his kids on the road with John Winchester and his boys, cheap motels, backwood cabins - real paramilitary survivalist type." Agent Hendrickson described her Dad perfectly. "I just can't get a handle on what type of wacko he was - white supremist, Timmy McVeigh, tomato, tomahto."

"Keep running your mouth, and you and I are gonna have a big problem," Alayna snapped, hating the flippant way Agent Hendrickson was describing her Dad.

"We all ready have a problem," He corrected her. "You have one hour to make a decision, or we come through those doors full automatic." There was the click of the receiver, and Alayna squeezed her eyes shut, slamming the phone down on the receiver. She turned to face Karoline who was watching her with worry and curiosity.

"They have a special Agent out there," She told her. "And he knows about all of us."

Karoline's eyes widened at the news, "We need to find Dean and Sam." Alayna couldn't agree more. Not even a full ten minutes later and Dean and Sam were coming over to where the two girls were standing guard at the vault.

"Hey," They both looked up at Dean's greeting, and by the look they gave them they knew something was wrong.

"Hey," Karoline greeted, picking up the gun. "We got a bit of a problem outside,"

"Yeah? Well, we've got a bit of a problem in here, too," Dean told her. They all shared a look before cautiously going over to the vault and opened the door to reveal most of the remaining people.

"Sheri?" Sam called to the shifter.

"We're gonna let you go," Dean took over before Sam could say anything else.

"What? Why me?" She questioned, glancing at the gun in Karoline's hand distrustingly.

"As a show of good faith to the feds. Come on," Sheri took a small step back, narrowing her eyes at them before shaking her head.

"Uh... I think I'd rather stay here with the others," Dean stepped fully into the room as she took another step back.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist," Her eyes dropped to the opener in Sam's hands that gleamed in the pale light, and she swallowed hard, her eyes shining with fear. They led her to the room with the real Sheri's body, and she looked around in confusion.

"I thought you were letting me go," She whimpered as Dean grabbed her, forcing her to stare at the corpse. She freaked. "Oh, God!" She scrambled backwards, trying desperately to get away from the body and screaming all the while.

"What is that? Community theater? Or are you just naturally that good?" Dean asked her as Sam grabbed her by the hair, and Alayna held up the knife, ready to kill the creature.

"This is the last person you kill," Alayna told her darkly, raising the knife.

"No! Oh, god!" She then proceeded to collapse into a motionless heap on the floor. Alayna frowned at her limp body before glancing back at the corpse. Karoline leaned the gun on the desk, kneeling down besides the shifter and raising the knife to finish her. Alayna put her hand on her wrist lightly to stop the knife's descent. She paused and looked up at her younger sister questioningly.

"There's no advantage to this plan," Alayna reasoned, glancing back at the corpse. "Faint now and let you kill it? How does that help?" She walked over to the corpse, crouching beside it and narrowing her eyes. Suddenly, there was a massive crash, making her head snap up. She only had a moment to debate what the noise was before she was distracted by the 'corpse''s hand around her neck. She slammed her fist into the shifter's nose, making it grunt in pain. Faintly, she heard Sheri yell in terror. "We need to get her out of here!" she snapped, managing to break the creature's grip on her throat. The shifter kneed her in the stomach, sending her flying into Sam. Alayna gasped, trying to regain the breath the shifter had knocked out of her. Sam helped her up, and she ran after the creature with Karoline following. They walked into what must've been the boiler room and heard a quiet click from the opposite door. Alayna pulled Karoline behind a wall when she heard footsteps approaching the room. They pressed themselves behind a section of the wall that jutted out from the rest, praying the cops wouldn't think to look there. Alayna and Karoline continued on silently, opening doors and looking in every place they could think of for the shifter to be hiding. Alayna heard a creak to her right and spun quickly, earning herself a fist in the face that sent her to the floor. When she looked up, Karoline headbutted the thing twice, making it reel backwards. Alayna scrambled to her feet just as the shifter caught Karoline's wrist. She took a chunk of it's arm off with her hand, making a face at it.

"Oh, gross," Karoline's face scrunched disgustedly as she spoke. The shifter used her distraction to it's advantage and slammed it's foot into her stomach, making her groan heavily before it slammed her face into it's knee. Alayna grabbed it's shoulders and hauled it backwards with all of her strength, sending it sprawling. The Shifter leapt up, but Alayna was ready for it this time. She ducked the first blow and caught the second, twisting it's arm and spinning it around before pinning it to the wall. the Shifter flipped over to face her just in time for Alayna to plunge the silver opener into it's heart, causing it to gasp and choke before sliding to the floor.

"You okay?" She questioned Karoline, who came to stand beside her sister. She nodded breathlessly without speaking. Suddenly, Alayna could hear footsteps behind them, making the both of them spin, both raising their hands in surrender. Instead of shooting them or handcuffing them, the two S.W.A.T. agents threw two sets of uniforms at their feet.

"Get changed," Alayna let out a breath of relief at Sam's voice.

"Oh, thank God" Karoline muttered and both her and Alayna slipped the uniform on quickly. The four of them made their way through the halls of the bank safely without anyone questioning their motives. None of them spoke as they all threw the guns into the back of the Impala before each climbing into their cars and driving off.

"Shit..." Alayna breathed out the only word that could sum up that night as she pushed up her mask so only her face was showing.

"We are so screwed," Karoline added as she did the same thing, pulling out after Dean and Sam.