It had been a year, a full 365 days he and Cas had been stuck in that shithole named Purgatory. The bad thing about it wasn't that they had to fight for their lives every day, no. It was the fact that, when he got out, Sam told him that he hadn't been looking for him. Sure they had told each other countless times, when one of them died, to not look for the other one. But due to their strong bond and their love for each other they would do it anyway. This time though, Sam had not done any of that.

Dean felt like he had been abandoned and betrayed. After the argument in Rufus' old hunting cabin he had decided to drive around for a little bit, clear his head from his anger. Sam had said that he could take as long as he needed, probably not expecting his brother to stay away for much longer than a few hours. But purgatory had changed the oldest Winchester, made him feel strong and pure. Back then. In a weird way he had liked his time down there, living only for the chase and the kill.

He didn't even consider calling Benny. No, he needed something to do, something to distract himself from Sam and satisfy his need to kill something.

A big sign at the side of the road caught his attention. Maddy's diner was written in big green letters. A diner huh? Dean's stomach growled loudly. Damn he could use a decent meal after this long. He guided the Impala into the parking lot and checked his jacket pockets for cash. Luckily he had snagged a few bills from a gas station owner a few miles back. Guy had been an ass anyway.

With big but cautious strides he entered the diner. A few people glanced his way when the doorbell rung. Some shady guy in the back made Dean's fingers itch for a knife. He sat down in a booth in the other corner in the back, so he had an eye on the door and the shady guy.

It didn't take long for the waitress to notice the new customer and she walked over to the hunter. "What can I get you sir." she asked in a happy voice while combing a strand of dyed red hair behind her ear with a pen.

Dean looked at the menu. "A half pounder steak, medium rare. Oh and some black coffee." he sent the woman a charming smile.

"Alright, I'll bring it in a minute." She blushed and hurried away to deliver the order to the kitchen.

About ten minutes later Dean got his meal. He thanked the waitress, giving her a smile that sent her scurrying away with a bright red flush on her face. The steak wasn't the best he had tasted, but it was better than the rubbery dry crap that he normally ate.

"Did you hear about those strange murders? Who kills their own family?" a girl said.

"Yeah. Are those families going crazy? Three families, I mean … man that's just fucked up." Her friend replied.

Dean slowly sipped his coffee while listening in on the conversation. He wrote some things down on a small notepad that he carried in his inner jacket pocket. The couple discussed the weirdness of the timing, that maybe the families had planned a mass suicide. Maybe this was a case worth looking into.

The hunter paid for his food and drove into the next town nearby. Checking in at a motel in the centre of the city he went out and got a newspaper. Apparently he had stumbled upon a series of strange murder cases. Not only were three entire families murdered, but there were cases of a single person killing their friends and swearing that they didn't do it. It sounded an awful lot like a shapeshifter, or a demon. But considering that there were no demonic omens it was most likely that it was a shifter.

After telling his brother that he had a possible case and that he would be gone for a few days he gathered some more information about the cases. They were all linked together, there was no denying that. But something made it seem too easy to catch the fugly. All the evidence pointed towards an empty warehouse at the edge of town. Everyone of the victims had some kind of connection to the building.

The eldest Winchester gathered the things he would need for the hunt. He was on his way shortly after that, aware that he might probably run into a trap. But the job needed to be done that was for sure. Since it was day he didn't expect the thing to be 'home' anyway.

The cold and moist air stung Dean's skin. He took in the sight before him as he exited the Impala and got his hunting gear. The warehouse stood at the edge of the city, close enough to reach from various locations, yet far enough away to not seem suspicious for the police.

He walked the rest of the distance towards the backdoor. A bad feeling was starting to creep into his gut. There was definitely something wrong here. The year in Purgatory had sharpened all his senses, so he took out his silver blade and stalked into the building as prepared as he could ever be.

Like a deadly predator he crept through the shadows. It was true that he was ready for any physical attack, but he didn't count on a tranquilizer gun. He caught the glimpse of the shifter holding a gun. With as much speed as he could muster he tried to dodge the shot that was fired at him. Yet it was a fruitless effort. The dart from the tranq gun dug itself into Dean's neck, releasing the chemical it held inside.

"Crap!" Dean managed to growl out before he lost the ability to speak and see clearly.

The shapeshifter came closer. The stolen face of the latest family 'murderer', the shady guy from the diner, looked down at the Winchester. "Already thought there might be a hunter on my heels." It smirked. "Guess you guys don't expect monsters to use weapons, do you?"

Dean growled at the blurry form in front of him. His body had become too heavy for him to hold upright, leading him to sink to his knees.

"Oh, come on now! I think this was a pretty nice trap. I'll have lots of fun wrecking havoc on the city with your face." The shifter laughed and pulled the now unconscious Dean out to its own car. Maybe it should add a little company for the hunter. A police officer maybe? No, that would be too easy. A federal agent sounded sufficient.

It would get one of the agents investigating the deaths of the navy family it had murdered. The one with that annoying broad grin would do. It would wipe that stupid smile of his face. It hated people that constantly joked around and smiled like there were no problems in the world whatsoever.

-=o0o=-

It was dark. The hard concrete floor started to hurt his body. Cold slowly began to seep into his bones until they felt like they were set on fire. Of course he was the lucky one to be captured by the unsub, again.

Why had the culprit captured him and dragged him into a warehouse? And what was with the strange talking about taking his place when he was done with the other one? For all he could care, he had to remind himself to keep his mind clear. "Think Tony, you can find a way out." he thought aloud. To his surprise he heard a groan and shifting beside him.

" So that fugly got you too? Do you by any chance have a knife with you?" the stranger asked.

Tony was a little baffled at first. Why hadn't the guy spoken earlier? "Got a knife in my belt buckle, but I can't reach it with my hands bound behind my back. Who are you anyway and how did you end up here?"

"Name's Dean. How I got here is none of your business, you wouldn't wanna know." Dean answered.

Tony could hear the strain in his voice. What was the guy doing? "What are you doing?" he tried to look behind the bar he was bound to, seeing the shape of a man.

"M' trying to free myself Einstein. It would be much easier with a knife, but since I don't have one in my reach it'll take longer." Not too long though. The room fell silent after that, except for an occasional grunt or curse from Dean.

"So, how long have you been here already? I mean the guy kills once or twice every three weeks." Tony asked, he had already tried to free himself, obviously without success. He heard the man on the other side still for a few seconds.

"Bastard got me in the afternoon, I woke when he brought you in, so I'd guess I'm here for at least six hours since it's dark outside." the hunter started fighting with the ropes again. He was about halfway through, it wouldn't take much more and he would be able to rip off his boundaries, free the other guy and end the fugly. Maybe he would get them out of there without a fuzz, but knowing his luck he doubted it.

"How do you even know about the murders?" Dean really hoped he wasn't trapped with a cop.

"Oh, I'm very special agent Antony DiNozzo from NCIS. How do you know about the murders?"

"Ah, a navy cop. I'm a PI, mother of one of the victims hired me to find out who killed him." damn his nonexistent luck. Working with cops was bad, but trying to hide the truth from a federal agent? This was bad, really bad.

Somewhere in the back a door slammed open and shut. Heavy footsteps sounded in their ears. "Somebody's gonna get killed." the man coming closer hummed cheerfully.

"Hey, don't do anything stupid okay? Stay calm." Dean hoped this DiNozzo guy wouldn't freak out when confronted with the son of a bitch. Speaking of it, the hunter couldn't see a damned thing except for the stars that shone on the other side of the iron bars that closed off the small openings in the wall.

"Define stupid." the agent hissed out.

Before Dean got to answer their captor grabbed a hand full of Tony's hair and pulled back his head. Well, as far as that would go with a wooden support beam in the back. The agent couldn't really see the face of the suspect, but he could see angry green eyes glaring at him.

"If it wasn't for you I'd have been out of town long ago. But no, you had to snoop around just when I was gettin' rid of my tools." the monster bowed forward, noses almost touching. "And guess what? I think I might just slip in your role and ruin your life. Play a little 'corrupted agent'. How's that sound?" the shifter had abandoned the thought of catching the agent, but as fate had wanted it he had seen him.

Tony stared at the guy, he could now see a small portion of his face. It was enough to make him shiver, he remembered that face. Better not say anything.

"Hey, leave him out of this. This is between you and me you bastard!" Dean wriggled in the ropes. Just a little more.

"Shut it, I'll end you soon enough!" the captor pressed his other hand on Tony forehead. Said man gawked at what he saw next. The man started to shift, skin loosening and peeling off. Muscles reshaped themselves under new grown skin and bones shifted into another form. Within minutes a doppelgänger of Tony was standing in front of him.

"Man am I lucky you guys have the same size, I don't have to waste time stripping you guys when I change to steal your clothes."

Tony watched as his clone smiled a wicked smile. Ew, he felt like puking.

"Now I'll put you someplace cold and wet. The downtown sewers maybe. Who knows what nasty stuff is down there? And while you search for your way out I'm going to have loads of fun slaughtering your friends."

"Don't you dare touch them!" the agent growled.

"Or what, you'll kill me? I doubt that."

"I won't kill you-" Tony was cut off by Dean.

"But I will!" the hunter gave one last tug at the ropes as they gave away and the hunter shot up and practically flew at the criminals throat. He tackled the shifter to the ground, landing some pretty nasty punches in its face and torso.

The shifter however didn't plan on being beaten so he, it, fought back. Back to its feet the monster pulled up the hunter by the collar and punched him in the temple.

Dean cursed his senses, he wasn't able to see the fist flying his way until it was too late. His vision blurred and he could feel himself sway on his feet. Agent DiNozzo's voice reached his ears, but he couldn't understand what the man was saying. Another punch hit him. Pain bloomed behind his eyes and his sight blackened for the slightest second.

C'mon man, get yourself together and fight the guy. Kill the monster! Dean shook his head, stumbling back a few steps. He blinked his eyes open, straining to see in the dark. But the darkness stayed black, hiding the monster that was playing with him.

C'mon! The hunter pressed his eyes shut again .Come on! Silver flashed before his eyes as he opened them. He could see his surroundings, see the special agent bound to the support beam and most importantly, he could see their captor hiding in the shadows.

"What's wrong? Had enough already? I thought you might be more of a challenge, since you're a hunter and all." the shifter said, charging at Dean. The creature faked a swipe at the Winchester and tackled him instead, sending him crashing through a wooden plank that covered one of the bigger holes in the wall.

The plank broke and splinters dug themselves into Dean's skin. But he ignored them and got back up to his feet with a groan. Light from a far away streetlight streamed into the room, making the hunter a dark silhouette and casting a looming shadow into the chamber.

"I'm not done with you unless you're dead." the Winchester held the small silver knife, that he retrieved from his belt buckle, in his right hand. The metal glinted in the sparse light.

"That won't happen." the shapeshifter said. He ran into the back of the chamber to get a weapon with Dean hot on his heels.

Tony tried struggling free of the ropes like the other man had, but his efforts remained fruitless. He ceased his fight with the restraints and concentrated on the fight. A shiver ran down his spine when he looked at his 'clone' fight the other guy. What had he called him, hunter?

He cringed in sympathy as the hunter went flying and crashed into the wooden plank. When he stood up again, Tony could've sworn the guy's eyes glinted in the light like a cat's, but he shook it off as an illusion. He had been kidnapped after all. And who knew what their creepy captor had given them?

The senior field agent was startled when the unsub swung a discarded metal pipe around and hit the hunter square in the face. Tony was rather surprised to see the man stumble back and curse a blue streak while holding his bleeding nose. One would imagine that the guy would've been knocked out after a hit like that, but apparently he had a pretty hard skull.

Tony stared when the guy kicked their captor in the chest and the shifter slammed into the wall.

"I'm gonna gank you son of a bitch!" Dean slammed the small silver knife into the shifter's chest, electing a grunt of pain.

"That knife isn't nearly long enough." the monster cackled.

Dean tore the slim metal pipe from the doppelgänger's hand and brought its end down on the handle of the knife. The blade was pushed down into the muscles of the shifter's heart, killing the monster.

The Winchester let go of the metal and inhaled deeply. "One less fucker people have to fear." he sighed. His eyes fell on the agent still bound to the wooden beam.

"You gonna cut me lose some time today?" Tony asked cautiously. The guy had just killed that criminal, with a one inch knife, that he impaled the guy with after pushing it into his chest with a metal pipe! Either this was a crazy good PI, or he was some psycho that got himself captured to kill the murderer. A damn serial killer! Tony thought in panic as he saw who was walking towards him. It was freakin' Dean Winchester. One of the FBI's most wanted criminals.

"Don't get your panties in a twist man. We'll be out of here in no time. Just wait a sec." Dean looked around the room, searching for something that he could use to free the agent.

Tony tried to ignore the giant piece of metal the other man was advancing with. He couldn't help but flinch as he felt the cold metal graze his wrists.

"Done." Dean threw the metal to the side and watched how the federal agent stood up.

"Gosh, what the hell is this?" DiNozzo dusted off his clothes as best as he could. The dust and grime coming from the fabric made his hands feel sticky.

"I don't really wanna know. Are you okay? C'mon, let's get out of here." The Winchester walked up to the hole in the wall. The surroundings of the warehouse weren't exactly what he had pictured. But he didn't really care if the building stood in a city between skyscrapers or in a desolated place in the middle of nowhere. All of a sudden he felt a sharp sting in his back, making him cease his movements.

"Don't move. Put your hands above your head!" Tony shifted the insanely sharp piece of metal he had picked up.

"Chill. What's this about?" Dean did as the federal agent told him.

"I know who you are. You're Dean Winchester, one of the FBI's most wanted in the past until you faked your death."

"Okay, that's the truth. …. What do you plan on doing? You can't arrest me, you don't have handcuffs." Dean turned his head to look at the other man. "Why don't we just leave this place and go our separate ways?"

Tony scoffed. "Leave? So you can kill more 'monsters'? Don't think so. You're a dangerous delusional mass murderer!"

Dean dared to try his luck and fully turned around. "Seriously?" he pointed at the corpse of the shapeshifter and its skin. "You think that is delusional? You have to be shittin' me! You saw that guy change from me into you."

"No, that must've been a trick of the light or something." Tony laughed in denial.

"What light exactly? It was pitch black in here before that fugly tossed me through the wall!" Slowly the Winchester let his arms sink.

"He kidnapped us. Who knows what funky stuff he gave us?" the agent shook his head.

Dean sighed, his patience wearing thinner and thinner by the second. "Do you feel like you've been drugged?"

Tony stared at the Winchester. "No. But that doesn't matter, you're a criminal and need to be arrested!"

"Oh, for god's sake!" Dean walked over to the pile of discarded skin. He grabbed a handful and held it out in front of the agent's face. "This look like normal skin to you?"

Tony made a face as he saw the skin turn into a slimy goo and dribble down the hunter's hand. "What the hell is that?"

"Shapeshifter skin. Can we get out of here now?" Dean let the slime fall to the ground and stepped forward.

"Woah, stop! How do I know if you won't kill me?" Tony held the piece of metal tighter.

"You have to be freakin' kidding me!" the Winchester paused. "Man put down that scrap metal and let me help you, you're bleeding like a pig for slaughter."

The agent was confused by the sudden empathy of the Winchester. Now that he said it, he kinda was starting to feel cold and dizzy. He involuntarily let go of the metal as his hands started to become too weak to hold onto it. "What? No, I'm fine."

"Your arm has a freakin' deep cut in it. You're not fine. Drop the damn agent-suspect act and let me help you, damn it!" Dean kicked the piece of metal away and advanced on the agent.

Tony tried not to flinch away from the other man's hand that latched onto his shoulder. He felt himself being pulled outside. His arm pulsed with pain as the two of them stepped through the Dean shaped hole in the wall.

Said hunter stalked towards the car of the shifter. The thing had to work since that fugly had used it to transport him. He glanced inside only to see that the key lay on the drivers seat. A try to open the doors came away fruitless. Apparently the shifter possessed another key, but he didn't have time to search the monster for the tiny item.

"Stay back." he instructed and slammed his right elbow into the side window. A second hit later and the cracked glass shattered, sending splinters and shards everywhere.

"You can't just steal a car! You don't even know who it belongs to." Tony protested.

Dean reached inside the car for the key. "Car belongs to the shifter." He unlocked the vehicle and opened the door. With a few swipes of his hand he cleared away the shards from the seat. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to walk all the way back into town."

DiNozzo looked at the distant lights of the city. If he would have to walk back, who knew how long it would take him, or if he would even reach it before he bled out. "Okay, you're right." the agent looked at what the Winchester was doing. "Looking for something?"

"Yeah." Dean grumbled out. He kicked the back door shut. "What car doesn't have a first aid kit?"

"Obviously this one." Tony cradled his injured arm.

"Well, duh! Thanks for enlightening me." Dean scowled. "Get in the car. Your arm needs to be treated."

DiNozzo settled down into the passenger seat after having brushed away what little glass had landed on the fabric. "Where do you plan on going?"

The sound from the engine almost drowned out what Dean said. "I'll get my car and drive to my motel so I can patch you up."

"Wait, what?-" the agent wanted to say more, but the speed with which the Winchester tore down the dirt path took away his breath. The bumps and rocks made the entire vehicle shake. Though it seemed that the other man didn't really care.

"You wanned to say somethin'?" Dean glanced to the side.

"Just hope we'll get there in one piece. Your driving is worse than that of my boss and my colleague. And that should be impossible." DiNozzo flinched at a particularly large hole they drove through.

"Unless you want to bleed out I'm not slowing down." Dean left no room for arguments. He let the agent stare out the passenger window. There wasn't much they could talk about then without leaving it a ridiculously awkward moment. He could only hope that he wouldn't land himself in prison with that stunt he pulled off.

-=o0o=-