843. Chapter 843

After Headhunters

Episode 4.21

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Listen! Slaughter should own Castle, see? Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: This is a sequel to chapter 825.

With the sudden and bloody death of both Ryan and Esposito, the other officers in the bullpen froze. Commander Kate Beckett of the 12th Precinct took the redheaded girl's arm and strode to the elevator, her gun still drawn. The other cops kept their hands well away from their weapons, thinking that this was just another attempted coup by lower ranking officers that had failed fatally.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Beckett grabbed an odd looking device from her pocket. She didn't know if the damned thing only worked in elevators or not, but those were the only times she knew it worked. She pushed the button and held her breath. The elevator started down.

"You okay, Alexis?" She asked.

"Esposito hit me pretty hard, but I think I'll be okay. It hurts like hell right now, though."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Let's see if this thing worked."

They stepped out into a very different lobby. The officer behind the desk, wearing a blue uniform, not cammies, and carrying only a pistol and not an assault rifle, just waved at her. "Goodnight, Captain Beckett." Then he looked at Alexis. "Is Miss Castle okay?"

"It's just that time of the month." Beckett said, trying to smile.

Once outside, they saw how things had changed. There were no fortifications or heavily armed police around the precinct. The streets were full of cars and the sidewalks were jammed with people. The people were well dressed, happy and not the least bit intimidated by walking past the infamous 12th Precinct.

"Jesus." Alexis said. "It's just like he said it was. What are we going to do?"

"The other Castle said he lived in the same place. We'll head for there." Kate stopped and cursed. "Damn it. Our money is worthless here. And my police ID won't get us a ride, I bet. We'll have to walk. Can you make it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Kate and Alexis headed towards Castle's loft.

About twenty minutes after Kate and Alexis came down the elevator, three men exited the elevator. The desk sergeant nodded to them. "Didn't see you come in, Detective Slaughter." He looked at the other man. "Been juicing there, Demming?" He asked jokingly.

Demming turned to the sergeant, but Slaughter grabbed his arm. "Not now, moron. We have work to do."

Kate and Alexis finally reached the loft and ducked inside while the doorman was busy getting an elderly tenant out of a cab. Alexis tried her key to the loft, but it didn't work. Kate knocked nervously on the door.

It opened and she saw herself standing there. "Alexis, did you forget your…." The other Kate said, then stopped.

Kate pushed her aside and dragged Alexis in with her. "You're Captain Kate Beckett of the 12th Precinct? Your husband is a writer named Richard Castle? His daughter is exactly like Alexis here?"

Kate nodded just as Rick came out of his office. "Beckett, who was at…"

"Mr. Castle? Do you remember me? You came to my world several years ago. I was Lieutenant Beckett and we thought you were Richard Castle from the Ministry of Propaganda. Please tell me you remember."

"I remember." Rick said.

"You remember another me and another Alexis?" Kate asked. "Really? And you never mentioned it to me?"

"I thought I was hallucinating, or something."

"Will someone explain this to me?" Kate asked, looking at her husband and then at the two women.

As quickly as she could, Commander Beckett explained her world to Kate and how Rick had somehow entered it. "I'd been working with the resistance for a couple of years before I met Mr. Castle. Alexis was my contact with them. Earlier today she was brought in by Sergeants Esposito and Ryan. I knew they'd torture her until she talked and then send her to the Basement where she'd become a zombie. I did the only thing I could. I shot both of them and grabbed Alexis. The resistance had managed to copy a device that Chief Montgomery used to make people disappear. I guessed that it sent people from our world to here and I was right. But I'm afraid I'll be followed."

"Who would follow you?" Castle asked.

Before his guests could reply, something smashed into their door, cracking the wood. Then the door shattered inward and a huge man stood in the doorway. "Demming!" Commander Beckett screamed, drawing her Glock. She fired into Demming's chest, but he just kept coming. She backed up and continued to fire round after round into the enormous man. Alexis tried to grab his arm, but he punched her, knocking her across the room and rendering her unconscious.

Demming batted the gun out of Kate's hand and picked her up by the throat with one hand. "Kill you, bitch." He growled.

"Not on my watch." Rick's wife said, firing her Glock point blank into the back of Demming's head. To her surprise, the first shot didn't faze him, nor did the second. After five shots in the head, he turned to face one Kate, with the other Kate still held in one massive hand. "Kill you, bitch." He said and collapsed.

One Kate took great gulps of air while the other checked that Demming was dead.

"Are you okay?" Alexis asked her friend, groggily.

"I will be." She stood up shakily. "We have to run. There will be others."

"Wait until I get my other weapons and ammo. "Kate said, running into her husband's office. She came out quickly with two more pistols, spare magazines and boxes of 9mm ammo. She handed her back up Glock to Rick and gave a box of ammo to the other Kate.

"I need a gun, too." Alexis protested.

"Pumpkin, you don't know how to shoot."

"The hell I don't. I'm a member of the resistance, remember?"

Rick and Kate exchanged a look, then Kate handed Alexis another Glock.

As they left the loft, the elevator doors opened and a gigantic LT emerged. He began to walk slowly towards them, his face blank. Once again, Kate opened fire with the same results. LT just came on no matter how many rounds hit him.

"Shoot for his knees." Castle yelled. All four began to fire at the knees. After five or six steps, LT collapsed, but continued to crawl towards them.

"We'll use the freight elevator in back." Castle yelled.

They came out in the garage and Castle quickly got everyone into his Mercedes. "Do I own a bar called the Old Haunt in your world?"

"I've never heard of the place."

"Call Ryan and Espo. Tell them to meet us there."

"Can you trust them?" The other Kate asked.

"We can."

When they got to the Old Haunt, they found someone waiting for them. "Sherlock! You own a bar? Why didn't you tell me? I'd bring all of my friends here."

"That's why I never mentioned it." Castle said softly.

"Everyone stay calm and none of you locals will get hurt."

Slaughter turned around at the sound of his own voice coming from behind him. "Who the hell are you?"

The new Slaughter laughed. "I'm the tough version of you, punk."

"Yeah? Put down that piece, and I'll show you who's the tough one around here."

The other Slaughter just laughed. "You're the dumb one, too, I see."

Distracted by his double, he didn't see Castle draw his gun and fire. Again, firing for the new Slaughter's head, he hit his gun. As the gun went spinning away, Slaughter attacked himself, or so it seemed. It quickly became apparent that the new Slaughter had spent too much time beating up terrified civilians as opposed to gang members who could fight back. As Slaughter rammed his head into the bar, the new Slaughter suddenly went limp.

"What the hell? He's dead, Sherlock. Where the hell did he come from? What's going on here?"

"He came from me." Chief Roy Montgomery said. Standing beside him were two over-muscled women who had once been Hastings and Karpowski.

"Hastings! Karpowski! Grab the chief." Beckett yelled to her bodyguards. But women stood still, holding their assault rifles on everyone.

"As the Chief of Police, I can override the brainwashing that they do at the Basement. I'd have thought you'd have figured that out, Beckett. How did you get a copy of my little enemy remover?" He asked laughing. "No, matter. I have a better one here." He held up a small device no bigger than a small cell phone. "I send my enemies here, but about a thousand feet in the air and well out to sea. That's where you'll soon be. All of you."

Hoping for a miracle, Kate pushed the button on her device and threw it to Montgomery. Surprised, he caught it. "Damn you!" He screamed and disappeared.

"Karpowski! Hastings. Stand down." Kate commanded. Both women lowered their weapons.

"Sherlock, you had damned well better tell me what the hell is going on here. A copy of me, a dead police captain showing up, two Becketts, and the Steroid Twins over there. This had better be good."

"Tell you what, Slaughter. You can have answers that no one will believe, or you can have twenty percent of the bar."

"Fifty percent."

"Twenty five."

"One third. "

"Thirty percent and that's my final offer."

Slaughter nodded and turned to the bartender. "How about some of that good Scotch now?"

Rick turned to his wife. "I need to call Vinnie the Scar for a little clean up."

That evening, they all sat in Rick's loft having a drink. "No one heard the shooting here?" Alexis asked.

"No." Kate replied. "The building is quite soundproof and it turns almost everyone is on vacation. Only old Mrs. Benning on the first floor was here. She didn't hear a thing."

"What about Karpowski and Hastings?" The other Kate asked.

"Vinnie the Scar found them jobs on the Mexican wrestling circuit. It's probably the best we could do for them."

The other Kate took a deep breath and took Alexis' hand. "What about us? I can't be a cop here, someone would notice I'm an exact copy of Captain Beckett. I really don't have any other skills and the US police forces can't really use my skills."

"How did things end up like they did in your world, anyway?" Rick asked.

"I don't know. We don't get taught any history in school. We're just told that this is the way it's always been. No one knows any different. But, what can we do here?"

"I have lots of money. I can take care of you until you can find your place here. Vinnie the Scar can help with fake IDs, but you can't stay in New York."

"I can go to college, I guess." Alexis laughed. "None of my course work will transfer. I'm going to be a freshman again."

"I guess I could try college, too." The other Kate said. "My parents were engineers….until they disappeared. I think I became a cop because I was afraid of disappearing, too." She laughed, sounding slightly hysterical. "And now I have disappeared."

"Speaking of disappearing, where did Montgomery go?" Alexis asked Kate.

"I have no idea. I hope it was far away."

Elsewhere, Chief Montgomery finally managed to pull himself out of the water and staggered up the beach and collapsed. He was woken by three men in NYPD camouflage uniforms. He rose slowly to his feet. "I'm Chief of Police Montgomery. You need to take me to One PP at once."

The three men just looked at him. "I don't think Chief Bracken will like giving up his new job so soon, asshole. Put your hands behind your head."

Montgomery reached for his enemy remover and pushed the button. Nothing happened as the salt water had shorted it out. One of the cops stuck him across the face with his rifle butt. The device fell into the water and remained here as Montgomery was hauled off in handcuffs.

"We should probably just take him straight to the Basement." One cop said.

The other two cops agreed.