Aug. 27th, '15: Neighborhood Watch - Part XIX (2)
Title: Neighborhood Watch - Part XIX (2)
Author: SweetChi
Rating: PG-13
Crossover: Castle
Word Count: 1607
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Castle, I am making no money from this and am doing it purely for enjoyment.
Summary: The hunt begins and some answers are found.
“We’re going too,” Beckett said, pulling a card and sitting on the table. “If anything happens or you get any leads, call.”
“Be careful with Slaughter,” Xander said, getting up and pocketing Beckett’s card. “He’s at least as strong as a Slayer. Who knows what kind of power Wolfam and Hart beefed him up with.”
“Are we sure he’s not the one responsible for what happened to Buffy?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t think so,” Dawn said. “It more seems like they don’t want anything to do with us. I think they know getting on our bad side could end up getting pretty messy for them. Killing the top Slayer would cause more problems than it would solve for them.”
Top Slayer, huh? Kevin felt a little burst of pride at that. His girl was better than all the rest.
“Besides I don’t think Angel would let them do anything like that. But I’m not sure he even really knows what’s going on here anymore…” Dawn finished.
Right, Angel… The ex that was head of one of the largest branches of a multi-billion dollar law firm. Dating an NYPD detective was a little bit of a downgrade. Pushing that thought from his head before he got discouraged, Kevin stood up.
“Okay, I’m going to talk to Ms. Stridecker,” he said. “What about you guys?”
“Nap time!” Dawn grinned. At his incredulous stare, she continued. “We’re going to ruffle some monster-y feathers tonight. Figuratively and maybe literally. You never know. So we’re going to get some rest before poking New York’s underbelly with some pointy weapons.”
“Can I go?”
Kennedy snorted while the other two looked back at him uncomfortably.
“Well, no offense, but you might be more than a little bit of a liability,” Kennedy said.
“I’m not super-powered like your, or trained to deal with monsters, but I can handle myself,” he said, prickling.
“I’m not sure that’s-“
“Yeah, you can come,” Xander said, then shrugged at the others. “Everyone’s gotta start somewhere. Our team’s a little low on manpower and it couldn’t hurt to have a cop along if things get sticky. At least he has a gun.”
Dawn looked at him in concern. “Okay, but make sure you get some rest, too. You’re looking a little on the pale and sickly side. We’ll come get you at sundown.”
Kevin nodded and left with a little wave. How in the world they expected him to sleep after hearing all that, he had no idea. The drive back to his apartment was full of paranoid glances at every odd sight - which in New York was a lot. There had been another world all around him all this time and he’d never known. How many cases? How many people? How many cops? Slaughter had been there for years.
As he made his way to the elevator, he debated on what to tell Castle. If they were worried about him being a liability what would they say if he had Castle join them? Castle’s perspective on things, while sometimes off the wall, was also really insightful a lot of the time. He could be an asset. They’d never have known about Buffy’s friends if he hadn’t taken it on himself to see what Slaughter was up to. With the thought that he really owed Castle and how disappointed the man would be if they went on a monster hunt without him, Kevin called. He didn’t answer so he left him a voicemail letting him know to be at his place when the sun set. When was that anyway? He’d have to look it up…
His apartment felt like a sanctuary after the day of weirdness. He had a feeling he would have to take some real time off when this was over and process all of this. Do like Beckett said, just lock himself in and process. Or try to anyway. Hopefully Buffy would be back by then and could play Guide to the Underworld.
Holding onto that lighter thought he was able to actually lay down and get a little sleep. It seemed like he’d just closed his eyes when the alarm on his phone went off. He slapped at the phone with a hand that had unfortunately fallen asleep under his pillow, numb fingers taking forever to poke the right spot to get it to shut up.
He grabbed a quick shower and headed upstairs. He still had about an hour before the others would be there - plenty of time to question Ms. Stridecker. Stepping out of the elevator upstairs he paused, seeing more workmen and the building manager at Buffy’s door.
“You and me, we’re gonna have a problem this shit happens again,” the manager said as soon as he laid eyes on Kevin.
Walking closer and seeing they were once again repairing Buffy’s door and frame he shook his head quickly. “I didn’t do that. Well, this time. I did it last time, but just that once, I swear.”
The manager gave him the stink eye for a moment longer before shrugging and mumbling about installing cameras. Kevin wandered back toward Ms. Stridecker’s door, mentally agreeing that cameras were an excellent idea. It was probably Dawn and the others, but he’d have to ask them to make sure. He wanted to check the apartment, make sure nothing was missing, but he doubted the building manager was feeling generous enough to let him in right then…
“Oh, Detective Ryan,” old Ms. Stridecker said, opening the door after his knock. “You didn’t do that again, did you?”
“No, ma’am. I guess that means you didn’t see who it was?”
“No, I was out doing my shopping. Saw it when I came back.”
“What about the night I kicked in the door? Did you see or hear anything strange that night? Besides me?”
“No, sure didn’t. I was watching that Matrix show though, had the volume up real high because I don’t quite hear like I used to. Didn’t hear a thing until you kicked that door in, and that was only because it was a quiet part where they were whispering. Would you like a piece of caramel?”
“No, thank you,” he smiled weakly, disappointed in the lack of new information.
“That handsome writer is the only bit of excitement I’ve had around here. You think you could get him to sign a book for me? I did enjoy those Derek Storm novels.”
“I’ll be sure to send him by,” he said. “Thanks for your time, Ms. Stridecker.”
Back downstairs in his apartment he made sure his gun was loaded and he had extra ammunition, then decided he’d look for his dad’s old hunting knife as well. He was pawing through his closet when his phone rang.
“Ryan,” he answered, holding a stack of sweaters from collapsing off the shelf on top of him with one hand.
“Kevin, it’s Lanie.”
“Hey, Lanie. Sorry, I was going to call you. That stuff I brought you, it’s not really a priority anymore.”
“Oh, well, that’s good. Because it’s gone.”
“Gone?” Kevin asked, losing the battle with the sweaters in his surprise.
“Yep. I went to take some samples to be sent out and it was gone when I came back.”
Kevin’s brow furrowed. “Don’t worry about it Lanie, like I said, not a priority anymore.”
“But, that’s weird, right? Don’t you want to know where they went?”
“Oh yeah,” Kevin said, stepping out of the pile around him. “I plan to.”
“This just keeps getting weirder. Am I ever going to get any explanations for all this?”
Kevin huffed out a laugh. “Careful what you wish for, Lanie. Thanks for the heads up.”
He hung up before she could question him further, not sure what answers to offer. He did want to know where those samples disappeared off to. Was it Willow trying to cover their tracks? He dialed in the number of someone that could check for him.
“Javier, hey, are you at the station?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Lanie had some stuff I brought her disappear. Can you check the security feed, see if you can find anything?”
“Sure, bro. Give me a few, I’ll call you back.”
He was still digging for the hunting knife when he heard someone come in. Extricating himself from his pile of crap (he seriously needed better organizational skills) he leaned back to see Castle making his way down the hall towards him.
“Hey, you’re early,” he said, standing and pushing everything back into the closet with a foot. He’d deal with that later.
He gave a crooked smile as Castle came in and he saw he was wearing a new brown leather coat.
“Dude, do you have everything in multiples? Like a Castle Uniform? I guess that means I get to keep the one Slaughter took if I can get it back, right?”
Before Castle could answer, Kevin’s phone rang.
“Yo Javi, what’d you find?”
“Bro, it was Castle.”
“What was Castle?” Kevin asked in confusion as he headed for the dresser to continue his search.
“The evidence, Kev. Castle was the one that took it.”
What? Why would he…
“Castle?” He questioned turning to face the writer. “You took the evid- uggggh…”
Breath rushed out of Kevin and pain rushed in. Castle was way too close, his eyes, eyes that just weren’t right somehow, only inches from his own. He blinked at him stupidly for a second, then looked down slowly between them to see the very hunting knife he’d been looking for wedged in his stomach.
“Nor what the potent victor in his rage can else inflict, do I repent or change…”
Castle twisted the blade.