Apartment Complex: The Next Moring

As the light shines on New York, the police surround the apartment complex and treat it very similar to one Jason and Greg died in a few nights ago. A building that was supposed to be one of the only safe places in the city has now turned into the aftermath of a Jigsaw game, and all the blues can really do right now is clean up the mess while the suits above keep investigating. In other words, no one feels any better.

"So, you were in your apartment, helping everyone else escape with a ladder, that's your statement?" The police officer questioning Y/N asks, as the guy rubs his face with one of his hands.

"Yes, that's what happened." Y/N confirms somewhat impatiently, though the cop just taps his notepad and clicks his tongue as if something's wrong with that.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Ask the others, they'll tell you the same thing." Y/N states, making it perfectly clear that he's not lying. However, he notices the way the cop makes a face as he hums. "Are you trying to suggest something?"

"Just making sure...." The cop claims with a shrug, but Y/N can see the look in his eyes. H believes the rumors, and that he might be a killer, someone who butchers innocents. "Thanks for the help, friend."

"Sure..." Y/N off-handedly dismisses with a scoff before mentally sighing with relief now that he can walk away. He sees Sam leaning against the fence leading into the alleyway of the complex, smoking another cig. He glances at the others who are all still at the ambulance before approaching her, noticing how she watches the authorities go around and get caught up with the situation. "Hey, Sammy..." 

"Hey..." Sam dryly responds as she stomps out the cigarette before slowly turning to face him. That's when Y/N's able to see her eyes, and how broken she is, it hurts him to see her this way. "Did they also double-check every answer you gave them?"

"Yeah." Y/N confirms with a slow nod before taking a deep breath, knowing that a hug isn't going to immediately fix things this time. "None of us could've seen this coming. This wasn't your fault, Sam." He tells her assuringly, though it doesn't look like it does much good.

"But it is." Sam retorts with a voice feint of being a whisper, looking incredibly guilty about letting Ghostface get the drop on all of them like that. "You called me.... and I didn't answer. And then three people died because of it." She points out. Y/N opens his mouth to protest, but knows that it'll only frustrate her, so he stays silent and lets her grief how she wants. "Someone took our knives so we couldn't fight back. I don't know who I can trust." 

Someone took the knives.... someone knew what they were and that Sam would pull it out. As if they were in the room before last night or knew her mannerisms. Like someone who loves you, has your blood..... or someone who was in the apartment when they all heard the news of Jason and Greg's murders. When your in a situation like that, there's only one thing to do.

"Then don't, don't trust anyone." Y/N strongly gives her that word of advice, making her look straight into his eyes. "Not the cops, not your friends, not Mindy, not your sister........ and especially not me." He tells her, the mention of him seems to make Sam blink, surprised that it could be him or Tara. "Back in Woodsboro, we both saw who we were on the inside......  I've killed people, and I'll happily do it again." He warns her, and his eyes tell her that he seriously means it too.

"We're not killers, Y/N. You know this." Sam retorts with the shake of her head, even if she sometimes believes it herself. She refuses to acknowledge it.

"I know that what happened to us two years ago, happened. We can't just ignore what's inside of us." Y/N tells Sam with a face that is convinced of what they are. "Richie and Chad were close to homicide. We went too far and are paying the price for it today."

"So in other words, we're 'unstable' and born killers'?" Sam asks in a venomous tone, making realize that he's crossed the line.

"Excuse me, L/N?" The new investigator of the case chimes in, breaking the very personal conversion the two are having. "I have a few more questions for you." He tells him with a professional expression maintain on his face.

Y/N turns to Sam, who stares at him waitingly. "You should go. You wouldn't want to be near a fellow murderer that could stab you in the back." Sam suggests the second he opens his mouth to apologize, her eyes making it very clear that she's pissed at him. Y/N sighs shamefully before he reluctantly follows the man.

"Just this way, Y/N."

Meanwhile, everyone else is sitting/standing around the ambulance, not bothering to say a word to break the ice, not even Mindy. During which, Ethan Laundry looks over and sees some people somehow getting permission to duck under the yellow tape and inside the still active crime scene. Michael Flanders and Emily Brandon.

"Oh my gosh..." Emily silently exclaims.

"Guys..." Michael whispers as he turns to the people at the ambulance, though they are all able to hear and turn their heads towards him. "How bad is it?" He asks them with a look of horror on his face, though it can't be helped for everyone, even the jock himself, to suspect that it's forced. 

Ethan, taking a deep breath, walks over.... before grabbing him by the neck and slamming him against a light pole.

"Ow! What the f-?!"

"Where the hell were you guys?!" Ethan interrogates his supposed friend, the silent one now incredibly loud and surprisingly showing a huge amount of strength, shocking the core four and the other collage kids. "Answer the question!" He roars as he slams Michael's back against the pole.

"Ethan! What the fuck?! Let go!" Emily demands, but Ethan holds her back with his elbow.

"No, he needs to answer the damn question!" 

"Get off of me!" Michael barks as he rips Ethan's arms away from him, his athletic build still stronger than him in comparison. "Relax, man, we were just-"

"Don't tell me to relax!" Ethan cuts him off with a nasty glare. "Where were you last night!? When all of us were getting attacked by a maniac with a knife?!"

"What?!" Michael utters, looking over at the crime scene for a few seconds until Ethan forces him to stay focused on the subject. "Dude, I had practice at campus, you know this."

"Bullshit! It was a fucking Sunday at seven PM!" Ethan calls him out, pointing a very accusatory finger towards the both of them. "One of you disappears and Tara almost gets killed!" 

"Ethan, calm down-"

"No, don't make him calm down." Mindy interjects from the sidelines as she and Tara watch the confrontation while giving the suspects a pointed look. "I want to hear this alibi..... dude."

"Dude, I was in a stadium with at least a hundred other players of various sports, you can ask any of them." Michael responds as he points to himself, sticking to his guns that he was still at Blackmore. Ethan glances between him and Emily who just kind of keeps her head down as if not wanting to say something she'll regret. He does buy it, but he can't debunk it either.

"Whatever..." Ethan scoffs as he decides to let it go for now. As he walks away, Michael in particular looks over for a better look and finally confirms the body bag in the alley for himself.

"Holy shit.... who-"

"Anika and Quinn." Tara answers for them with a blank look, getting their attention. Michael walks over with a very nervous face.

"Guys, I know how this-"

"Stay the fuck back." Mindy demands with a surprisingly scary face and tone, which undoubtably succeeds in making the guy take more than a few steps back. "You're at the top of my list." She lets him know who her main suspect is, much to his hurt. 

"I had practice..."

Before anyone can keep arguing about alibis and accusations some more, the door to the complex opens up and everyone in the group turns to see Detective Bailey stepping out, his face pale and his eyes red from having shed so many tears upon seeing Quinn's body. Y/N politely separates from the investigator, Sam stands up straight, and Tara separates from the others to go talk to him. "I'm gonna be right back."

"Yeah, no problem." Ethan assures her with a nod as she leaves the two of them by themselves.

As Wayne steps out of the complex, briefly pausing to lean onto the wall, the three folks who can empathize surround him. "I'm.... really sorry about Quinn, sir." Y/N expresses his sympathies towards him, knowing what it's like to lose a person of your family.

"We all are." Tara adds as Sam agreeingly holds his shoulder in a comforting way. 

"Thank you..." Wayne replies gratefully for a nod, sniffling as his voice sounds a little different due to all of the snot that's inside his nose. "Both my kids are gone, my.... my wife has left..... my whole family.... is gone.... " He realizes as he almost starts sobbing once again, but wipes his eyes to hold it in. "Now I'm off the case too, but I'm not going to stop until I find him." He promises, looking up at Y/N with a determined glare. "You fuck with my family.... you die." 

Y/N nods, literally understanding that look better than anyone. "Agreed, sir."

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

"Hello, Kieran..... who told you, you could wear my mask?"

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Just then, another person that seems to have involved himself in this case walks into the crime scene thanks to his ID confirming him to be a part of the media. Everyone turns to see Trevor Johnson walking in, glancing at the bodies which he surprisingly looks haunted to see. "I know you're not going to believe me for this, but..." He turns to the group, especially Wayne. "I heard about what happened to your daughter, and I'm very sorry."

Wayne slowly nods in response. "You're right, I don't believe you." He tells him with a blank expression, to which Trevor nods, having expected that reaction.

"Mind if I borrow Y/N for a second?" He requests the others, though it sounds more like he's asking Y/N and not the others, since he knows all of them will not trust him enough to say yes.

"Uh, sure..." Y/N answers for them with a nod, turning back towards the others, who all have their own version of confused to see him willingly walking away with the slimy reporter. Before they step away though, Trevor notices an obvious stare coming from Tara.

"What?"

"I'm...." Tara swallows her pride, knowing that she'll probably have to say this eventually for the sake of things. "I'm sorry for punching you in the face." She apologizes to him, to which Trevor bursts out laughing at her.

"No, you're not."

Tara smiles.

"I'm not."

"Wait..." Sam calls out, but the two males end up walking away anyway. She turns to the others, Tara shrugging while Wayne just watches them leave, blankly. The distrust for the reporter was already strong enough, but the fact that he has Y/N going with him makes them ask even more questions. 

What are they planning? 

"Ladies." Kirby Reed chimes in as she rolls up to the scene, marching towards Sam, Tara, and Wayne with a certain posture to her walk that means that she has something that will shine a dim flashlight on their very dark parade. "Good news, I've just gotten some equipment pulled from the office and I know how we'll be able to catch the bastard that did this red-handed."

"Phone tracker." Wanye almost instantly guesses exactly what she was about to think, also knowing the way they can use the killer's favorite toy against them. "You're now able to trace phone calls."

"Yes, I do." Kirby confirms with a nod, smirking when she sees that they are on the same track. "I got a big stereotypically creepy van in my garage and a lot of time on my hands, so whenever you're ready, we should-"

"Wait, how will he know this will work?" Sam cuts in, asking what she feels like is a very solid question as she crosses her arms. "I mean, yes, the killer's using Richie's old cell to cover his tracks, but how do we know that he'll pick up when I call him?"

"He wants to prove that nowhere is safe, so let's give him that chance." Wayne answers, looking at everyone else as it seems that he's already contracted an entire blueprint in his brain in a manner of minutes. "Cat and mouse, only this time... he's the mouse, and we're the cat with the trap." He phrases as he slowly nods, maundering.

"And I know the place he'll want to strike next...."

Meanwhile, a few feet away from the crime scene, Y/N follows Trevor to his news van where he's finally able to let out everything that's ben gnawing inside of him. "What the hell happened back there? I thought we had cameras watching the place." He criticizes the reporter with an understandably angry look.

"Yeah, that's what I remember too." Trevor agreeingly replies as he knocks on the back, and the cameraman steps out of the van with a very sheepish look on his face. "You mind explaining what happened after I left you in charge of surveillance."

"I couldn't just sit there watching forever with nothing to do." Jim replies with a defensive tone, which only ends up making him look worse.

"You better not tell me that you fell asleep again." Trevor calls him out with a very knowing look, which Y/N cues in as him having had these problems before. Jim opens his mouth, but ends up stuttering on his words.

"W-W-What were you expecting?!"

"Oh my gosh..."

"I'm practically on overtime at this point! I should've been home six hours ago!" Jim exclaims with a really stressed-out tone coming from being overly tired. Still, he isn't painting himself in a very good light with the others, Y/N glaring at him while Trevor face palms. "Are you seriously gonna blame me when you went off to butt-fuck nowhere? For all we know, you went off to do an orgy!" 

"Don't deflect this."

"I'm not def-"

"Shut the fuck up, both of you!" Y/N interrupts them before Jim can say another word. He turns to the cameraman. "I'll beat the shit out of you later before sleeping on your rear, but right now, I want to catch this fucker and put him in the ground first." He states, causing the two men of the media to share a look beore nodding.

"Alright, that aside..." Trevor opens the driver door and pulls out the evidence he has so far. "I read the stuff you've given me last night after....." He tells Y/N, nodding towards the crime scene since the cop knows what he's talking about. "..... that, and after running through their internet history, I finally got an address." 

"Address to what?" Y/N questions with a curious brow, to which Trevor looks up to him with an excited smirk.

"Where the masks are coming from." He reveals, getting the cop's undivided attention. "It's at some old, abandoned theater, you coming or not?" Trevor asks him. Y/N looks back towards the rest of the core four who are still talking with Wayne and Kirby. He almost shares a look with Sam's eyes, but turns away as she knows that she won't like it if he tells him. But it's now or never. 

"Alright, let's go."

_________________________________

Central Park: A Couple Hours Later

Alright, this is going to be risky, but what plan involving a serial killer isn't? Here's how it's going to go. Sam and Tara are going to 'idly' be walking around the park as if they are having some kind of bonding moment while Wayne stays on guard a few feet ahead, connected to her phone line via earpiece just like she is. During which, the others will be in plain sight in the totally-safe-looking van with equipment inside the FBI agent will use to track the killer's own phone call, catching him by surprise. 

The people that aren't involved in all of this is Micheal and Emily, because they are way too untrustworthy for this operation to be known to Them. Also, Trevor, Jim, and Y/N, for reasons that they have no clue about. They tried to call all of them, even the cameraman, but nobody's picked up.

"Sam?" Tara's been trying to call her name multiple times, but the older woman has been painfully silent ever since the started their walk cycle. "Sam!" She says it louder which finally gets her attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...." Sam replies in a monotone voice as she puts her hands in her pockets. She's been playing the conversation with Y/N constantly in her head, and it keeps making her angry because every time she does, it reminds her of Trevor Johnson's book.

The fact that it was Y/N who did it breaks her heart.

"You're a horrible liar." Tara quips with an amused scoff.

"You should have stayed with the others." Sam criticizes Tara's survival choices to change the subject, trying to help sell that it's just a casual conversation between two sisters. Once again, she acts protective, and once again, the other sister is not moving a muscle away from her. 

"That's not gonna happen."  

"There's no point in both of us putting ourselves at risk." Sam then notes as they try keeping their eyes only on each other, and in front of them. They make sure not to share eye contact with Wayne, who is just... playing with the birds. 

"I'm not, I'm your backup." Tara retorts, glancing at her once with a cheeky grin. Though there may be someone else that could help Sam feel less nervous. "Or, are you secretly wishing Y/N was here so you two could pretend to be on a date?" She teasingly guesses. "You know, hand around your waist, your head on his shoulder, his fingers crawling down your-"

"Okay, that's enough." Sam quickly stops Tara from saying anymore, to which the younger Carpenter grants her requests but not without giggling in amusement. That does bring back the question....

Where the hell is Y/N right now?

Inside the van, Kirby keeps her GPS tracker ready while Mindy and Ethan sit with her in van, pretty much being the real-life movie audience. "So we're really doing the phone tracing thing that never works in the movies?" Mindy questions as Ethan awkwardly snacks on Cheetos, trying to make himself as calm as humanly possible for the group and Tara. "It'll be all 'Keep him talking, Sam. Two more minutes, I've almost got him.' And then he hangs up just before we can get a lock."

"I can trace a call in under fifteen seconds." Kirby replies with a similar amount of sass in her expression, a small reminder from the actual law enforcement that, that whole thing is simply a plot device used to either draw out a cop show/movie's runtime so something else that's actually supposed to happen, happens.

"Well, you've got them out there as bait." Mindy then brings up as awkwardly glances between the two, now starting to question too if this plan is really going to work.

"Because the killer usually calls from somewhere nearby." Kirby replies as she gives her a look, reminding her of the plan she and Wayne proposed. She's not completely wrong, however, if Sidney were here, she'd bring up that Charlie's calls never actually took place from nearby at all, since is method was usually being away from the crime scene he already caused or at the one he and Jill were going to make.

"And you think they're safe because it's broad daylight in a public place?" Mindy questions with an obvious criticizing look. I mean, sure, using the opportunity to fake Tara and Sam being alone so they can easily ruin the cover of being amongst other suspects sound great, but the apartment attack has shown that his Ghostface doesn't really seem to give a fuck about that either.

"Look, I am here, okay? And so is Bailey."

"This is exactly how my uncle Randy died." Mindy quickly brings up, the main point she's been trying to make all along, to which Ethan looks towards her with a scared expression. "Broad daylight, public place, yanked into a van, stab, stab, stab, no more Randy."

"Huh..." Kirby hums, admittedly nodding to that argument as she finally understands where she's coming from. Guess she's got a point there, police operation, still heavy stakes against this Killer, got it. She gets back on the mic, getting the memo to make sure Sam and Tara remain alert. "Hey, Sam? Stay frosty out there, okay?"

Ethan offers his snack to Mindy, who smacks his hand away.

Back to Sam. "We're good." Sam simply replies, pretty much hinting to her that she's always frosty.... okay, most of the time, she's frosty. In the Park, Wayne watches them from a bench, looking around for his daughter's killer. The entire park is not just covered with people, but in people in costumes as well, seems that Halloween has already gotten people in that mood before it's gotten to night. (Though, personally, I also dress up in the morning on Halloween)

Then, it happens. Sam's phone starts ringing and she pulls it out see it coming from Richie's phone, just as they predicted. This time, the killer's arrogance will be his undoing. Sam exchanges a look with Tara before answering the call. "You're gonna die, you know."

"No, you're gonna die, Samantha! Choking on your own blood while I hack up your sister and pathetic excuse for a boyfriend." Ghostface barks his reply, all too ready to dish out some threats while Kirby immediately gets to work tracing the line and Wayne hears the call from his earpiece.

"Unless we find you first." Sam remarks, clearly trying to hint the trap she and the group have set for this killer who's slowly falling into it. However, the Ghostface just chuckles at her in response.

"Why are you so obsessed with me, Samantha? Shouldn't you be wondering where that piece of meat you call a lover is?" Ghostface mockingly questions, apparently able to read Sam's mind or something if he knows that bit of information. "Or maybe you don't actually care about him? Maybe you're too busy thinking about how you're going to kill me like you've killed everyone who's ever met you."

"Yeah, keep talking asshole." Sam counters verbally, refusing to let the killer's attack at her soul guilt rattle her. "Sooner rather than later, you're going to be the person that's on the defensive." She promises him, however, Ghostface still doesn't seem intimidated by her claim.

"You're not going to ask me where he is?"

"Don't try that bit, we both know you're here for me, not him." Sam calls him out, at least, she thinks she does. 

"Heh... you know, for a mastermind, you're not really bright. Waiting for me to call, desperately hoping I'm nearby so the police can grab me?" Ghostface directly spells out the group's own game plan to her, causing Sam to get goosebumps as Tara notices cracks behind her brave mask. "But I'm not nearby.... I'm a step ahead."

Wayne, hearing this conversation, looks around a little bit more with a perplexed expression as he starts to be thinking the same thing that Sam is.... that they're possibly playing themselves.

"What did you do?"

Ghostface chuckles, noticing Sam's fear in her tone. "You mean with Y/N? Nothing.... not yet. He went on a little pitstop with the reporter that's made your life a living hell." He reveals to her, which finally makes Sam stop abruptly in her tracks, along with Tara who squints at her, wondering what's happening. "And me? I wanted to come along for the ride."

"Where's Y/N? Where are you?" Sam questions him, frantically trying to figure out where this is taking place, but Ghostface doesn't provide him a clear enough answer.

"Be seeing you, Samantha."

He hangs up on her, rebuking her attempt to keep the conversation going. Hopefully though, that was more than fifteen seconds. Wayne stands up from his spot on the bench and walks over to the girls. "Did you get it?" Sam asks Kirby from the earpiece, praying desperately that she did.

"Yup, Geolocation coming through right now..." Kirby confirms as she, Ethan, and Mindy stare at the screen as it zooms into a specific location and marks it. However, this location is nowhere near the park whatsoever. "Huh, that's strange. He's on the upper west side. He's at some kind of abandoned property half-way across the city.

Just like in the previous movie with Y/N, Sam's world seems to zoom out and into her as she finally realizes what Ghostface was talking about. He somehow knew about the plan.

And this whole thing was a trap.

"Wait, are you talking about the old theater that the district is over there is named after?" Wayne guesses correctly, if the phrase Kirby uses is 'halfway across the street'. Tara and Sam begin to share a look at the combination of 'old' and abandoned. 

"Yes, but how does that-"

"Y/N." Sam finally says out-loud, relaying the situation to everyone else that wasn't able to listen to the conversation. "The killer knows where Y/N is and he's coming for him!" 

"What?!" Tara exclaims in shock. Ethan and Mindy share a terrified look, Kirby blinks rapidly, and Wayne holds onto his heart at the mention that his favorite officer's in danger. That's more than enough reason for them to haul ass as they quickly take off down the path of the park, desperately trying to make it to the parking lot as quick as they can.

"He's not picking up, it just goes straight to voicemail!" Sam tells the others with a panicked look on her face. Once again, cell phone jammer, looks like the killer took more than just Richie's phone, a page from his book as well.

"There's a Halloween party happening at that side of the district!" Tara mentions as they run, reaching for and taking her phone out of her pocket as best as she can while on the move and their bodies jiggling up and down." I could call Michael and Emily to warn them, maybe they can at least warn the police!"

"Yeah, or they could finish him and Trevor off if it's possible either one of them is the killer." Wayne points out, which the sisters have to acknowledge as correct. Y/N told Sam that she shouldn't trust anyone, and she knows better than to not take his advice on that front. 

"Fuck... we have to get there now."

"It's fifty blocks away. We don't even know if it's true." Wayne mentions, not wanting to be led into a Red Herring by a psycho of all people. "Sam! Wait! Take a minute-"

"We don't have a minute!" Sam snaps his head towards the detective.

"This is a classic case of a trap! We don't have any photos or proof that Ghostface has Y/N in his sights!" Wayne brings up, wanting revenge too, but also not wanting to the victim of a double-trick. "You have to trust me, we got to make the right call here." 

"It's fucking Y/N, we're talking about!" Sam reminds him, stressing so much that hair could fall out. "I thought you cared about him."

"I do care about him, but I need him to give us a picture of him gagged before we-"

*Honk!*

*Honk!* 

"Sam!" Tara calls out to her, and the two both turn to see her in the driver's seat of Wayne's police vehicle. "Get in." She encourages her, nodding towards the spot next to her.

"What's she doing?" Wayne questions out loud with a bewildered look while Sam instantly takes the opportunity to rush in and hop into the passenger seat of the cruiser. "Hey! Get out of my car!" He orders as he quickly runs to follow her. "What do you think you're doing? That's an official vehicle! HEY!"

The two just blatantly ignore him as Sam rolls up the windows in a way that had to be downright disrespectful before turning to her sister. "Should we use the sirens?" She asks Tara as she then buckles up her seatbelt, not wanting to break every single law tonight. 

"Hey! Sam! Tara! I'm talking to you!" 

"Did you think we were going to steal a police car and not use the sirens?" Tara responds with a very excited glee in her eyes as she looks down at the buttons and finds the one that allows them to turn on the sirens. 

"Do you even have a license?!" Wayne asks as he bangs on the doors.

"Fuck yeah." Sam says with the same amount of excitement as they take off in the cruiser right in front of the man with the badge.

"Hey, that's a cop car! You can't steal a cop car!" 

________________________________________

(A/N) New chapter back-to-back on the same day! Bet you weren't expecting that, huh?

Once again, like with my Quinn x Male Reader fanfic, I skipped the instance with the Theater. Yes, that does include some cute character moments, and you could argue that having certain characters talk would've helped, but for the sake of keeping a very strong pacing that I've realized will actually increase with this take of the story, I once again had to cut it. Don't worry though, as Y/N and Trevor exploring the theater will technically be the replacement for that scene.

Anyway, plz vote and comment, any counts as feedback, and I'll see you in the next one!