Even Monsters have a Social 3/?

[emebalia]

Chapter 3

Nash and Hudson, if those were their real names which John highly doubted, weren't hard to find. He had gotten the connection to their phones earlier so Finch didn't have a problem tracking them.

John entered the diner and spotted his targets in the far corner. Hudson sat with his back to the wall from where he had the whole diner in view while Nash sat across from him with good view on where the kitchen, rest rooms and probably the back door was. They had changed into more comfortable clothes, jeans and various layers of shirts, and were now busy with their dinner.


Nash had a laptop at his side and a stack of papers at hand but for the moment he was focused on the plate in front of him.
Hudson seemed equally engrossed in his burger but as soon as John approached them his manner switched slightly, he sat up a little straighter without missing a beat in their ongoing conversation.

"I'm telling you, man." Nash took another bite and chewed a few times before he continued. "It's not something you can fix with some gas and a lighter."

Hudson pouted at that but nodded in agreement. Out of the corner of his eye he watched John and gave a slight nod to his partner who instantly became as wary as Hudson.

"Gentlemen." John didn't try to hide and just snatched a chair and sat down at their table. Nash, who hadn't seen him so far threw him a confused glance.

"We met at the hospital." Nash said with a questioning look at his partner. "John, right?"

"Something we can help you with?" Hudson took over the conversation. "Because we're kinda busy here."

John swore Nash kicked his partner under the table for that before he turned towards John with that open smile of his.

"Sorry, he always gets cranky if something gets between him and his burger." He said and ignored his partners growling at that. "Something happened at the hospital?"

John wasn't sure how to proceed from here. So far they seemed like nice guys who enjoyed their dinner after a long day. He could ask them about Rachel but he didn't know if they already knew it was her they were looking for. No need to put her on their radar.

"You're not CDC." John said instead and waited for their reaction.

"Why would you think that?" Nash asked before his partner could say something. Both men looked mildly surprised but otherwise gave no indication of being caught. John ignored the question and leaned in for a more private conversation. The diner wasn't that busy but there was no need to draw attention.

"What were you looking for in the hospital?"

"Just a routine check." Nash replied easily. "Like I said, nothing to worry about."

"You're not CDC." John repeated. "So what were you looking for in the hospital?" He put his police badge on the table to make his point. Okay, it wasn't technically his but Stills was in no condition to complain.

Nash and Hudson looked at the badge on the table, then at each other.

"So the police is now undercover in hospitals?" Hudson raised an eyebrow. "21 Scrubs Street? Ain't you a little old for that one?"

John gave him a stern look while his mind raced to find an angle on this. They didn't seem to be intimidated by him in the slightest.

"Mr. Reese?" Finch's voice in his ear stopped John from his response. "Leave there. Now."

The urgency was clear in his tone. Finch wouldn't interfere if it wasn't important so John followed his lead and would ask questions later.

"I don't know who you are or what your game is." John gathered his badge and stood up. "But I don't want to see you anywhere near that hospital again."

With that John turned and left. He would have liked to explicitly tell them to stay clear of Rachel but he still wasn't sure if they even knew she played a role in this.

"Jeez, what crawled up his ass?" Hudson didn't bother to lower his voice and was already chewing on something again. So much for leaving an impression.

John pushed the door of the diner open with more force than necessary and stepped outside.

"What is it, Finch?" He asked while he crossed the street and then turned to keep an eye on Hudson and Nash. By now it was dark enough for the diner to be light up so he had a good view on them without them noticing. As far as he could tell they were back to eating their dinner.

"Detective Carter was able to identify them." Finch answered. "I think it's for the best if you'd return to the library, Mr. Reese."

John hesitated at that, Rachel was still missing and these two men were their only lead, however, as long as they had their phones on them, Finch could track them down any time he wanted so there was no real point in watching them eat right now. They were animatedly talking by now, probably about him.

"I'm on my way."

When John entered the library Finch had the mugshots of Nash and Hudson already taped to the glass he used as a pin board. Actual police mugshots so they had been in conflict with the law before.

"Sam and Dean Winchester." John read the names. They looked younger, less hardened. Nash, Sam, looked like a kid who's biggest fear was what his parents would say when they found out their son got into trouble with the police. Hudson, Dean, on the other hand looked like he had fun.

"It took us a while to identify them because apparently they're dead." Finch came around his desk, his limp quite prominent because of the hurry he was in.

John raised an eyebrow and waited for Finch to continue.

"Actually, Mr. Winchester here." He tapped Dean's picture. "Officially died three times already. His younger brother Sam two times." He gave the second picture a tap and then made a half turn to crane his neck enough to glance up at John.

"You're officially dead too, Finch." John reminded him.

"Not like this, Mr. Reese." Harold returned to his desk. "The Winchester brothers, Dean in particular, are known for sadistic murders. For two of their supposed deaths they left bodies behind which apparently were mistaken as theirs. The other time they caused a fatal explosion in a sheriff's office leaving several casualties to cover their tracks."

"Why don't they keep their heads down?" John wondered. "Leave the country?"

Faking ones death was possible, even with a convenient body in place, but it was difficult and only worth the effort if the supposed to be dead person actually played dead. Which usually meant starting a new life somewhere else.

"They've been on the FBI Most Wanted list." Finch added another detail. "You're right, Mr. Reese. It would have been wise to leave the authorities under the impression they were dead."

John closed his eyes for a moment. The FBI was the last thing he wanted to get involved.

"What does Carter say to this?" He dared to ask. She should even be less keen on inviting the FBI.

"Detective Carter." Harold didn't look up from the screen in front of him but John heard the little smile in his tone. "Would prefer it if we handled this discreetly."

John nodded to that. They could bundle this one up and leave it to Carter to arrest the Winchesters in the end. Or to Fusco, that would be even better.

If they make it to the end, John thought but didn't say it out loud. What he'd heard about the Winchester brothers so far didn't make him feel like aiming for their kneecaps. And he didn't know the details of their crimes yet.

"Fill me in, Finch." John stepped in front of the mugshots, now seeing them with fresh eyes, searching for the ruthlessness, the murder in those faces. But he didn't find what he was looking for. Sam still looked like a college kid who had been caught with a joint and Dean was like a kid goofing around.

"They were both born in Lawrence, Kansas. Dean in 1979 and Sam '83." Finch started. He spoke about Dean torturing and murdering women in St. Luis where he faked his first death. A failed bank robbery in Milwaukee. They had been arrested a few times but always managed to escape, one time in that big explosion in which they officially died again. Never seen a court room from the inside. And wherever they went, they left bodies behind. The FBI agent who'd been on their case until he died in that sheriff's office, Special Agent Victor Henriksen, had pieced together the picture of a family of sadistic killers, it apparently started with their father, which had been more or less active since the eighties.

"That's only the beginning." Finch announced after he'd given John the basics.

"What else is there?" Now John turned around to look at his partner.

"Aside from the sadistic murders." Finch paused for a second, probably still comprehending what he was reading. He was a good guy and despite his handicap and his bookworm appearance no stranger to fighting in the first line if it was necessary but to no means he was as hardened as John was. And John silently hoped that would never change.

"In a confession." Finch emphasized that word. "Dean made in Baltimore, which turned out to be a distraction to help his brother escape from police custody, he expressed his belief in ghosts. Apparently the murders he was accused of where actually committed by a vengeful spirit."

"Good distraction." John had to admit. "And he might have tried to build up for a mental illness defense."

"I don't think that's the only reason." Finch tapped along on the keyboard. "On several crime scenes associated with the Winchester brothers the police found satanic symbols and they are known for desecrating graves."

"Desecrating graves?" John repeated and tried to see the men he'd met in the diner not an hour ago as the men Harold were describing. They were good at passing as normal, he had to give them that.

"They like to dig up graves and set the corpses on fire. Always with quite an amount of salt on and around the corpse so Agent Henriksen came to the conclusion it is a ritual of some sort."

"That's why you wanted me to leave them alone?" John asked, remembering the urgent tone in Harold's voice when he'd told him to leave.

"No." More tapping on the keyboard and then Harold gestured for him to come around the desk and have a look at the screen. "I was afraid something like this would happen."

The video, clearly taken by a shaky phone camera, showed Sam and Dean Winchester in a diner. What happened next could have been a scene right out of a Tarantino movie.

"All right, everybody be cool! This is a robbery!" Dean yelled and climbed on a counter with his gun pointed at the patrons. "Anybody moves, and I'll execute every last one of you!"

And together the brothers did just that, gunned down every last person in that diner. John watched in shocked silence.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey! Keep that up!" Sam came for the person holding the phone. "I didn't say you could put that down! I want the whole world to know what Sam and Dean Winchester are capable of."

The video ended with the owner of the phone shot and Sam and Dean in a close-up.

"Well, goodnight, St. Louis. You've been a wonderful crowd. Grab your socks and hose, Iowa, 'cause we're headed to you next." Dean said with a wink before the screen went black.

Chapter 4
Masterpost