milwaukee, wisconsin
one day ago

Ana is talking to the manager. "Helena was our head buyer. She... she was family, you know? She said it herself, every year at the Christmas party. She said we were the only family she had." 

"So, there were never any signs that she'd do something like this?" Ana asks the manager.

"No. Still can't believe it, even now. That night, Helena came back to the store after closing. Cleaned out all the display cases, and the safe. Edgar -- our night watchman -- he caught her in the act. He didn't know what to do, he'd known her for years. He called me at home." The manager says as Ana nods her head.

"And that's when she took his gun?" Ana asks, as Dean walked behind Ana.

"She shot him in the face. I heard him die. Over the phone." The manager says.

"Any idea what her motive could have been?" Ana asks.

"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 then go home." 

"So, you never saw the security camera footage yourself, then?" Ana asks.

"No. The police they took all the tapes, first thing." The manager says as Dean snaked his arm around Ana's back.

"Go figure." Ana grumbles, as after that Ana and Dean left, along with Sam who was talking to an employee of the store.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The three of them leave the jewelry store, as Dean drives down a dark street and pull up in front of a small house. "Five -- this is it, baby." Ana says.

"Friggin' cops." Dean grumbles.

"They're just doing their job, Dean." Sam says to his brother.

"No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it, so they suck at it. Talk to me about this bank, baby." Dean says. 

The three of them get out of the car and approach the house. "Uh, Milwaukee National Trust. It was hit about a month ago." Ana says, as Dean holds Ana's hand as they walked.

"Same M.O. as the jewelry store?" Dean asks his girlfriend. 

"Yeah, inside job, longtime employee, the never-in-a-million years type. Dude robs the bank, then goes home and supposedly commits suicide." Ana tells him.

"The guy Resnick, he was the security guard of duty?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, he was actually beaten unconscious by the teller who heisted the place." Sam says.

"God." Dean grumbles.

"Yeah." Ana says as she knocks on the screen door. "Mr. Resnick? Ronald Resnick?"

A bright floodlight turns on, as the three of them shield their eyes. "Son of a --"

Then a man comes to the door warily. "FBI, Mr. Resnick." Ana says.

"Let me see the badge." Ronald says through the screen, as the three of them pull out their badges and slap them against the screen door in unison. Ronald squints at them carefully. "I already gave my statement to the police."

"Yeah, listen Ronald, um... just some things about your statement we wanted to get some clarification on." Dean says.

"Yeah, you read it?" Ronald asks.

"Sure did." Dean says.

"You come to listen to what I've got to say?" Ronald asks

"Well, that's why we're here." Ana says.

"Well, come on in." Ronald says, as he opens the door and leads them through a narrow hallway to a cluttered room. The walls are covered with alien photos and conspiracy theory parahernalia. "None of the cops ever called me back. Not after I told him what was really going on. Uh, they thought I was crazy. First off, Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? I guarantee. See, we and Juan were friends. He used to come back to the bank on my night shifts, and we'd play cards."

"So, you'd let him into the bank that night, after hours." Sam says.

"The thing I let into the bank... wasn't Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Uh, every detail was perfect, but too perfect, you know, like if a dollmaker made it, like I was talking to a big Juan-doll." Ronald says.

"A Juan-doll?" Ana asks confused.

"Look, this wasn't the only time this happened, okay?" Ronald says as he hands Ana a file folder. "There was this jewelry store, too. And the cops a--and you guys, you just won't see it!" Ronald says as Ana looks in the folder, it looks like a Hunter's profile of the jewelry case. "Both crimes were pulled by the same thing?"

"What's that, Mr. Resnick?" Sam asks as Ronald picks up a copy of a magazine called 'fortean times' and holds it to his chest. The headline at the bottom reads 'BIRTH OF THE CYBERMEN'.

"Chinese been working on 'em for years. And the Russians before that. Part men, part machine. Like the Terminator. But the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people." Ronald says, as Dean smirks.

"Like the one from T2." Dean says as Ana shook her head a little with a small smile curling on her lips.

"Exactly! See, so not just a robot, more of a, a, a, a... Mandroid." Ronald says.

"Mandroid?" Sam asks confused.

"And what makes you so sure about this, Ronald?" Dean asks as Ronald holds up a finger, smiling a little wildly.

Not even a minute later, Ronald inserts a VHS tape that is labeled "M. N. T Camera 4 - Juan" and puts it into a player. "See, I made copies of all the security tapes. I knew once the cops got them, they'd be buried." Ronald says as Dean nods his head. "Here." Ronald then fast forwards. "Now watch. Watch. Watch him, watch, watch! See, look! Th-th-there it is!" Ronald then pauses the tape. "You, see? He's got the laser eyes.

Ana squints her eyes a little as they widen slightly as she sees Juan, facing the camera with a light-flare in his eyes. Ana along with the brothers share a knowing look.

"Yeah, that's either not normal, or we're dealing with a shapeshifter. Ten bucks if it's a shapeshifter and not normal."

"Are you seriously betting us right now?" Sam asks as he gives the redhead a glare. "We're in the beginning of a case."

"And? A girl needs money, and she doesn't get paid doing this job. A girl needs money somehow."

"You hustle pool for that." Dean says as him and Sam both give Ana money, as it is a shapeshifter and definitely not normal.

"OOO yay." Ana says as she shoves the money in her pocket as Sam is giving her the stink eye as she smiles innocently.

"Cops, said it was some kind of reflected light. Some kind of 'camera flare'. Okay? That ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm a post-trauma case. So, what? Bank goes and fires men, it doesn't matter!" Sam eyes him cautiously as he continues to rant. "The Mandroid is, is still out there. The law won't hunt this thing down -- I'll do it myself. You see, this thing, it, it, it kills a real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sorta, like, morphs into that person. Cases the job for a while until it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now, these robberies, they're, they're grouped together." Ronald says as he continues to rant as he gestures at a map on the wall. "So, I figure the Mandroid is holed up somewhere in the middle, underground, maybe. I dunno, maybe that's where it recharges, its, uh Mandroid batteries."

"Mandroid batteries?" Ana asks.

The three of them stand back up to their feet. "Okay. I want you to listen very carefully. Because I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this." Sam says as Dean smiles waiting to see what Sam says, as Ana looks at Sam. "There's no such thing as Mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. Just people, nothing else, you understand?" Dean is trying to keep a straight face but is clearly startled, as he starts to say something.

"The laser eyes." Ronald says desperate. 

"Just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. See, I know you want to believe this, but your friend Juan robbed the bank and that's it." Sam says.

"Get out of my house! Now!" Ronald says as Ana turned around and headed in the direction of the door, with Dean and Sam following her.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The three of them return to motel room, which has Tacky Wall decorations, Ana takes her hair out of its ponytail and brushes her finger through her red hair as it falls a little past her shoulders. "I think I lost a couple braincells." She says as she sat on her and Dean's shared bed, as the brothers take off their jackets. 

"You always say that." Dean says to Ana leans her head onto the bed as she stares up at the wall with a sigh that escaped her lips.

"No one asked your opinion." Ana grumbles to Dean which made him chuckle a little at her.

"That has to be the kicker straight up. I mean, you say that poor son of a bitch that -- what did you say, remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation?" Dean says as he sits by Ana as Sam grabs his computer." That's messed up." He adds, as he pulled Ana so that her back was on his chest, he had his arms wrapped around her, as he pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

Sam sits down to watch the tape. "What are you pissed at me or something?" Sam asks as he is sitting down to watch the tape.

"Nah, I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are. I mean, come on, we could have at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here." Dean says.

"Mandroid?"

"Except for the Mandroid part. I liked him. He's not that different from the three of us. People think we're crazy." Dean says as Ana looks at her boyfriend.

"Yes, you are." Ana says without hesitation as Dean turned to her with a look. "What?"

"Annie, hush." Dean says as Ana has a small pout on her face.

"Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean. 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." Sam says to Dean.

"Yeah, I guess." Dean says as Sam places tracing paper over the map and starts marking it with a red pen.

"Shapeshifter. Just like back in St. Louis. Same retinal reaction to video." Sam says.

"Eyes flare at the camera. I hate those friggin' things." Dean says, as Ana nods her head.

"You think I don't?" Sam asks.

"I hate those fuckers more than you probably do." Ana says as both the brothers couldn't disagree with her with that. (if you want a refresher, the shifter told ana stuff that she knew for a fact that dean wouldn't say to her).

"Yeah, well, one didn't turn into you and frame you for murder." Dean says as Sam traces a pattern on paper of the sewer system.

"Well, look. If this shifter's anything like the one, we killed in Missouri..." Sam says.

"Then Ronald was right. Alright, they like to layer up underground, preferably the sewer. And all of the robberies have been connected so far, right?" Dean says.

"Yeah." Ana says.

"With the uh, sewer main point. There's one more bank lined up on that same sewer main." Dean says.

───※ ·❆· ※───

A security guard leads Dean, Sam and Ana now uniformed as Securiserve Guard Service technicians, down the main hall. "Well, we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet." The guard says.

"No, this is a glitch in the overall grid. We just want to make sure the branch monitors are kosher." Dean says as he snaked his arm around Ana.

"Well, better to be safe than sorry, I guess." The guard says.

"That's the plan." Dean says.

The guard opens the door to an observation room with several TV screens showing security footage. "Alrighty. You guys need anything else?"

"Oh, no, we'll be in and out, just a routine check." Ana says to the guard as he nodded his head.

"Okie-dokie." The guard says.

"I like him. He says, 'okie-dokie'." Dean says.

"What if he's the shifter?" Sam asks.

"Well, then we follow him home, put a silver bullet through his chest plate." Dean says as the brother's sit down as Dean had Ana sitting on his lap. Not that she was complaining, he had his arms around Ana keeping her close to him. "Okay, well, you got any popcorn?"

They've been here for a couple hours as they are still reviewing the screens, as the guard is on one, and his eyes are normal. "Maybe I jumped the gun on this, Dean. I mean, we don't even know it's here." Sam says but there was no response from either Dean or Ana because they are making out as Dean had positioned so that she was straddling his thighs. Not that he was complaining either way. Because any time or any chance that he has, he will have Ana on his lap. "Dean." Sam says as he turned his head towards Ana and Dean and his face wrinkled in disgust. "Dean we're supposed to be looking for eyes." Sam says as the coupe broke their kiss and looks at Sam. 

"I'm looking." Dean says as he kissed Ana again as Sam groaned at his brother.

"We are working a case, here." Sam says to his brother.

"We're getting there." Ana says to Sam as he sighs at Ana.

"You're supposed to be the smart one."

"Nah, that's your job, now let us know when you find something." Dean says to his brother as him and Ana continue their make out session.

"You two are unbelievable."

"If and when you get a girlfriend, you're gonna do this too, so just watch for some practice." Ana says.

"You're acting like I never had a girlfriend before." 

"Have you?" Dean asks his brother.

"Yeah, Jessica." Sam says.

"Oh."

"Whatever." Sam says as on another screen, a middle-aged man turns towards the camera, his eyes flared up, just like the camera footage that Ronald had shown the three of them. "Got him." Sam says as he then heads for the door, as Dean and Ana linger behind, as Dean saw something on the screen. 

"Sam!" Dean calls out to Sam who came back towards him and Ana.

"What?" Sam asks, as the three of them watch as Ronald scurries up to the outer door with a chain and a padlock, chaining the door shut.

"Hello, Ronald." Dean says, as he kissed Ana's cheek.

───※ ·❆· ※───

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!" Ronald fires again into the air, and people begin screaming and ducking for cover. "Get down, dammit! 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!"

Ana and the brothers walk down a hallway towards the main all, a few panicked people brush past them running in the other way. "And you said we shouldn't bring guns." Dean says to his brother.

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

"Yet, you are supposed to be the smart one, College Boy." Ana says which made Dean snort a little at her comment.

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

───※ ·❆· ※───

"Now, there's only one way in or out of here, and I chained it up. So, nobody's leaving, do you understand?" Ronald asks as he holds up a key.

"Hey, buddy. Calm down. Just calm down." Dean says as Ronald looks at Dean.

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

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

"I knew it. As soon as you three left. You three ain't FBI. Who are you? Who are you working for, huh? The men in black? You working for the Mandroid?" Ronald asks as Ana rolls her eyes.

"We're not working for the Mandroid!" Sam says.

"You, shut up! I ain't talking to you. I don't like you." Ronald says.

Dean gives Sam an 'I told you so', look. "Fair enough." Sam says.

Ronald looks at one of the hostages. "Get on 'em. Frisk them down, make sure they got no weapons on them. Even the girl. Go!" 

A middle-aged black man goes over to Ana and frisks her and finds a gun in her boot, as Ana has a small smile on her face. She looks at Sam who is giving her a look. "He ain't clean either."

"Annie!" Dean says as he groans as the man frisked him also and also found a knife in Dean's boot. 

"Now what do we have here?" Ronald asks as Sam is also giving Dean a look also.

"We're not just gonna talk in here, naked!" He says to his brother.

Ronald takes the knife. "Get back there." He drops the knife in the deposit box, and it clatters.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Dean says as he 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?" Dean says.

"No! I already told you. If nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've got to do it myself." Ronald says as Ana rolls her eyes at what he said.

"Hey, we believe you! That's why we're here." Dean says as Ana looks at Dean.

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

"Come here." Dean says to Ronald as Ana furrows her eyebrows at what he said. She thought that he was crazy, then again, she is dating crazy and also occasionally stupid.

"What? No." Ronald says as he stayed in his spot.

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

"What?" Ronald asks confused.

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

"His laser eyes?" Ronald says.

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

"Like I'm gonna listen to you. You're a damn liar." Ronald says, as Dean stands cautiously, with his 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." 

"Alright. You come with me. But everyone else gets in the vault!" Ronald says as there were gasps and cries from the other hostages.

───※ ·❆· ※───

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

Dean starts moving the heavy door shut. "It's okay, everyone. Just stay cool." He says as Ana and Dean made eye contact, as she just turned away from him. He then slams the door shut.

After the door is shut another redhead, whose name is Sherry stares at Ana. "Who is that man?" Sherry asked.

"He's, my boyfriend." Ana says to Sherry.

"He is so brave." Sherry says as Ana rolled her eyes as she stares at the door like it betrayed her.

───※ ·❆· ※───

(i will be doing the scenes with ronald and dean, just so you know)

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 behind 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.

"What the hell is that?" Ronald asks.

Dean turns a lamp on the pile. "Oh, great." Dean says. "When it changes form, it sheds its old skin. So, now it could be anybody."

Ronald picks up a piece of skin and smelling it. "It's so, so weird. It's robot skin its so lifelike."

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

"A shapeshifter?" Ronald asks confused.

"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 shake it to match someone else's features, you know, taller, shorter, male."

"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." Dean says.

"What are you doing?" Ronald asked as Dean picks up an open letter from the desk and examines it. He sighs in relief.

"Nice." Dean says as he 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." Dean says as he strides out the door. "Come on, Ronald." Dean says as Ronald grimaces at the skin then follows Dean, grinning.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Ronald is following Dean down a wider hallway, still chuckling. "What are you, nuts?" Dean asked. 

"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, I was right! Except for the Mandroid thing. Thank you." Ronald says.

"Yeah, don't mention it." Dean says as suddenly the power gets cuts out, a few emergency lights flick on.

"Damn it! No, no, no, no, no, no." Dean says.

"What? What is it?" Ronald says.

"They cut the power. Probably their way of saying hi." Dean says sarcastically.

"Who?" Ronald asked.

"The cops." Dean says.

"The cops?!" Ronald exclaims.

"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 says.

"Well, I, I didn't, I didn't think t--" Ronald says as he got stopped by Dean.

"Alright, hang on, hang on, let's just take a breath for a second, alright? They -- they've probably got us surrounded. They've cut the power to the cameras so there's no telling who the shapeshifter is." Dean says as he takes a breath. "It's not looking good, Ron."

Ronald flinches at a noise and brings the rifle up. "Did you hear that?" Dean asked.

───※ ·❆· ※───

It is now dark in the vault as well, and only a few hostages are fanning themselves. Sherry is still babbling as Ana mindlessly plays on her phone, actively ignoring Sherry, and what she is saying. Moments later the door opens revealing Dean who now has a handgun. "I just found a few more. Come on, everybody, let's go. Let's go." Dean says as she stares in confusion as several more people including the guard are herded inside. 

"What are you doing?" Sheri asked, as Ana looked up at Dean giving him a look.

"Yeah, what are you doing?" Ana asked.

"Sam & Annie, uh Ronald and I need to talk to you." Dean says as Ana rolled her eyes at what he said as she walked out of the vault.

After Sam and Ana leave the vault and 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."

"Great, you know Dean you are wanted by the police." Sam says to his brother as Ana turned around to look at Dean.

"Yeah, you know that right." Ana quipped to Dean which made him look at her.

"Yeah, I do." Dean says to Ana and Sam.

"Oh, okay just making sure you knew that." Ana quipped again with an obvious fake smile on her face.

"So, even if we find this damn thing -- how the hell are we going to get out of here?" Sam asked.

"Well, one problem at a time. Alright, 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 says as he hands Sam a silver letter opener as Ana gets her knives from her handmade pocket in her ripped jeans. "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?!" 

"Yes, he is, and a pain in my fucking ass!" Ana exclaims making sure that Dean heard it.

Ronald who was alerted by Sam and Ana's raised voices, Ronald looks over. Dean looks past Sam and gives Ronald a grinning thumb-up. "Look, I know this isn't going the way we wanted." Dean says.

"If you say another stupid ass comment, imma smack you." Ana says to Dean, as he gave her a look.

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

"Seriously, are you that stupid!" Ana says to Ronald.

"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 says as he slaps Sam on the shoulder, and leaves. Sam sighs, leans back and him and Ana roll their eyes at him.

"I bet you ten bucks, he will die." Ana says to Sam as Dean and Ronald were out of earshot.

"Deal." Sam says to Ana, as he turns back to Ronald with a small fake smile on his face. "Hi, Ronald."

───※ ·❆· ※───

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

The phone rings and Ronald spins around panicked. "I don't understand. Why are you helping him?" Sheri asked. "Didn't you say he was your stupid boyfriend?" Sheri asked Ana and she nodded her head.

"Among other things right now, yes he is." Ana says. "More stupid." She says underneath her breath.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you." Sam says.

Ronald picks up the phone. "Hello?" Ronald asked.

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

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

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

"Ronald! Hang up!" Ana shouts louder than she intended as it made Sam jump.

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

"I've got to really get out of here." The guard says.

"Sir, you can't leave!" Sam says to the guard.

"--kind of a crime fighter I guess." Ronald says.

"Ronald, I swear to God. Hang up that fucking phone!" Ana yells like she is scolding a child. Which in this case, she is, it's a son named Ronald.

The guard is struggling to the door, several other hostages including a well-built middle-aged man, help him. "Look--" 

"No, I'm acting alone." Ronald says as Ana sighs and goes over to the phone and slams it to hang up. 

"Rule number one, the less the cops know, the better, kay?" Ana says as she had snapped on Ronald a little.

"Hey! I think this dude's having heart attack!" A man says.

"Get a doctor!" A woman says.

"Great. Could be our guy. Could be a trick." Sam says as Ana rolled her eyes.

"You're just going to let the man die?" The same man says.

"No one's dying in here." Sam says as he turns to Ronald. "Cover the door as he snatches the door.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The man who was helping the guard, but no one knows it's the shifter, is panicked and breathing painfully. "Come on, man, you've gotta unlock the front door. We've got to get him out of here." The shifter says.

"Both of you stay where you are." Ronald says as he cocks the rifle.

Dean whispers, inaudible to Sam, the shifter watches the brothers warily. "You know what, Ronald? He's right, we've got to get this man outside. Come on. I've got you." Sam says as he goes into the vault. He takes the guard from the shifter.

"Yeah, yeah, let me help you." The shifter says.

"Oh, I got him, it's, it's cool. Thanks." Sam says as he gets the guard out of the way, Dean glares at the shifter and approaches the vault.

"Thank you. Thank you." The guard says.

"Sure." Sam says.

"...Thank you." The guard says as Dean walks to the shifter.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Dean says.

"You got the gun, man. I mean, whatever." The shifter says coming out. 

As he gets close enough, he attacks Dean, knocking him to the ground and running into the dark of the hallways. Dean gets up and chases after him. "Stop! Come back here!" Ronald says.

Ronald races after them both, which puts him in the open again. Ana sees a laser sight on his back, in slow motion, and silence, Ana shouts at him.

The sniper fires, hitting Ronald squarely in the chest through his back, as he falls Dean grabs Ana and they duck behind a low wall, as Sam, Dean and Ana watch in horror. Ronald slumps to his knees, then to the floor. He is dead.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The hostages run out of the vault as Dean crawls behind another low wall near where Ronald fell. Sam ducks down beside him, the three of them are panting. Sam pulls out the key and hands it to Ana. "Here. Take care oof the guard. I'm going after the shifter." Sam says as he runs off, and Ana crawls over towards Ronald.

Dean takes the rifle and looks around and runs off towards the guard.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Sam approaches a broom closet and opens it suddenly, it's empty. He hears something behind him and turns. Sheri screams, she and the other hostages have gathered, trying to escape. "Please, don't hurt us!" Sheri says.

"You shouldn't be back here right now! You're in danger! Now go back to the vault. Now!"

Dean holds the guard in front of him and the rifle in his other hand, Dean approaches the front door slowly. Outside, several paramedics pull a stretcher out of an ambulance. "Everything's going to be alright."

"No, don't shoot! Don't shoot! Please!" The guard says.

"No, no, no, no, no! Don't even think about it!" Dean says.

"Please! Don't shoot!" The guard says. 

Dean looks around at the media frenzy outside. "Son of a bitch!" He says. "I said get back! Now!" Dean looks back at the guard. "Okay, go, go!" The guard stumbles out as Dean draws back inside, shutting the door and latching it. "We are so screwed." Dean mutters under his breath.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Ana has found another shed skin, she calls Dean. "Yeah?" Dean says as he picked up his phone.

"He, uh, slipped his skin." Ana says.

"What?" Dean asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah, bastard shifts fast, a lot faster than the one in St. Louis." Sam says.

"God, it's like playing the shell game. It could be anybody, again." Dean says.

"Yeah, I think most of the employees are out of the vault by now." Sam says.

"Alright, you search every inch of this place, I'm gonna go round everybody up." Dean says. "Love you, baby."

"Love you, too." Ana says as they hang up.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Dean herds the hostages back into the vault. "And I thought you were one of the good guys." Sheri says to the boyfriend of Ana.

"What's your name?" Dean asked her.

"Why would you care?" Sheri asked him.

"My name's Dean." Dean says.

"I'm Sheri." She says.

"Hi, Sheri. Everything's gonna be alright. This will be over soon, okay?" Dean says as he shuts the vault door and spins the lock as the landline rings. He sets down his handgun and answers it "Yeah?" 

"This is Special Agent Victor Henriksen." Henriksen says as he is in the command center.

"Yeah, listen, I'm not really in the negotiating mood right now, so--" Dean says.

"Good. Me neither. It's my job to bring you in. Alive is a bonus but not necessary." Henriksen says.

"Whoa. Kinda harsh for a Federal Agent, don't you think?" Dean says.

"Well, you're not the typical suspect are you, Dean." Henriksen says as Dean looks horrified. "I want you, your brother and Anastasia out here, unarmed. Or we come in. And yes, I know about those two also. Bonnie to your Clyde. Especially your little girlfriend." 

"Yeah, well, that part's true, but how'd you even know we were here?" Dean asked.

"Go screw yourself, that's how I knew. It's become my job to know about you, Dean. I've been looking for you 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 dad." Henriksen says.

"Hey, you don't know crap about my dad." Dean says darkly to Henriksen.

"Ex-marine, raised his kids on the road, cheap motels, backwoods cabins. Real paramilitary survivalist type. I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was. White supremacist, Timmy McVeigh, to-may-to, to-mah-to."

"You got no right talking about my dad like that. He was a hero." Dean says.

"Yeah, right. Sure, sounds like it. You have one hour to make decision, or we come through those doors full automatic." Henriksen says as Dean hears a click as Henriksen hangs up the phone. Dean pounds his forehead in frustration as he hangs up the phone.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Ana sees blood on the floor in front of a closet, she opens it quickly, and the half-dressed body of Sheri falls out. Her throat is slit. "That's just yuck." Ana hears behind her as she looks and sees Sam as she nods her head.

"C'mon." Ana says as Sam nodded his head as he followed Ana to the vault room.

"I'll pay you after this." Sam says to her as she nodded her head.

"Good, because I'm broke." Ana says.

Sam and Ana return to the vault room, where Dean is waiting, the vault is shut. "Hey, we have a problem outside."

"We got a problem in here." Ana says to her boyfriend.

They open the vault; the hostages flinch and look around. "Sheri? We're gonna let you go."

"What? Why me?" Sheri asked.

"Unless you don't want to leave and stay here with the others. But a person with enough brain cells would want to leave." Ana says.

"Uh...I think, I'd...I'd rather stay here, with the others." Sheri says.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist." Dean says as he approaches her. She looks at the warily. Sam is fingering a silver blade, as Ana has her silver pocket-knife in her hang. After a long pause she approaches them.

The brothers and Ana push Sheri back to the hallway. "I thought you were letting me go." Sheri says. 

Dean shoves her head forward, holding her head and forcing her to look at the body. She begins screaming hysterically. "Is that community theater or are you just naturally that good."

"This is the last time you become anybody. Ever." Sam says.

"No! Oh God! Ohhh..." Sheri says as she falls to the ground as she faints. Ana gives her a blinking look confused at what just happened.

"I vote she was in theater." Ana says as she raised her hand as Sam did the same. The brothers are baffled at what happened, then back at the other body. Dean removes the rifle from his shoulder and kneels overdressed Sheri. He raises the blade with a shrug, but Sam puts a hand to stop him.

"Dean, wait, wait, wait. What's the advantage of this plan? I mean, fainting now wouldn't help it survive." Sam says as Ana nodded her head at what he said.

Dean looks at the other body. "Huh." Dean says as he kneels over the other body, then looks up, distracted by a noise.

The body opens its eyes as a gasp left Ana's lips, as it was the shifter. It lashes out and grabs Dean by the throat. As he struggles, stabbing at it, Sheri wakes up. She screams again, Sam goes over to her, gathering her in his arms. 

Dean continues to struggle with the shifter. Sam and Sheri leave. Dean struggles with the shifter for a moment, and then the shifter knees Dean int he chin and bolts. 

After Dean recovers him and Ana, walks around trying to find the shifter. The SWAT team creeps through broken glass and into the bank. Dean and Ana ducks around a corner to avoid one. 

Dean and Ana are in the boiler room, Ana turns and gets slammed in the face by the shifter who is still Sheri. Ana grabbed her pocket-knife and stabs the shifter in the chest. The shifter falls to the floor as she is now dead.

───※ ·❆· ※───

An officer comes up behind Henriksen. "Sir? My team says it's secure. They're gone."

"You tell your team to tear it apart. The ducts, the ceilings, the furnace, everything." Henriksen says to the officer.

"I don't think that's necessary." The officer says.

"Why not?" Henriksen says as the officer takes Henriksen to a broom closet, where two men are stripped to their underwear and handcuffed back-to-back on the floor. Along with a female agent.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Two men, and what looks like a female who are in SWAT armor with weapons have exited the bank and are running upstairs on the outside of a building. They exit the stairs and turn into the deck of a parking garage, walking to a car, which is the impala. They get into the car, and they take off their masks as it's Ana and the brothers. 

The three of them take off their masks panting, and sit in silence for a moment, looking somber. "We are so screwed."

"Ain't that the truth, baby." Ana says as she pressed a kiss onto Dean's cheek.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The three of them are at a motel as Sam is asleep, as Dean and Ana are nowhere to be seen. Then again they aren't in the motel. Dean and Ana are doing what they haven't done in what feels like forever. Star gazing. Ana is snuggled against Dean, he has an arm around her keeping her close to humanly possible, even if they are as close as they can get to get each other. There is a calming silence as the couple watches the stars.

Dean wanted to go on a spontaneous date which Ana wasn't complaining as it's been a hot minute where they had time for themselves as a couple, and not having Sam with them. Dean knew that Ana wouldn't object getting food, and they finished eating not too long ago. The couple aren't complaining about the silence because it a comfortable silence.

Dean leaned down a little and pressed a soft kiss on the top of Ana's head. He softly brushes his hand through her hair with a loving smile at the beautiful girl sitting next to him. "I love you, babygirl." Dean murmurs to her knowing that she had fallen asleep. He pressed another kiss on the top of her head. "So much."

───※ ·❆· ※───

hannah speaks!

hope you like this chapter!

the ending is definitely my favorite part of the chapter 😅.

see you all in the next chapter!