In the Midnight Hour [Yuki/Teagan]

[Aiden]

The sun was setting, the orange sky burning through the doorway as Aiden entered the main room of the tavern. A light sweat covered his brow, courtesy of the afternoon's hunt. Both Teagan and Yuki had been at the tavern all day, or so far as he knew, and he'd gone out chasing a lead for a shape shifter. He took a seat at the bar, getting a drink from Lori, a young bartender of merely twenty one. He pulled his laptop over, pulling open his normal browser and clicking over to the Portland news, and other surrounding areas. The tavern was empty, aside from Lori was was busy taking inventory. After finding nothing interesting on the Portland Daily News site, he was about to move on to Salem when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Readjusting his shirt as he pulled the phone out, he glanced at the caller ID before sliding it open and answering. "Bobby?"

"Aiden, yeah. Look, I've got something that you should check out."

"What's that?"

"A distress call came out from outside your town there. A hunter went down, a shifter by the sounds of things. Take your girls over there and check it out, find the hunter."

"Sure thing." He took down the address, and then proceeded to grab his jacket, and move to the stairway leading up to the rooms. "Teagan, Yuki, we've got a job!" Within minutes, they were in the Camaro, driving to the edge of down. By the end of the ride, the moon was rising in the sky, and the abandoned warehouse sat shrouded in darkness, the metallic gate closing it off. Ruffling through the trunk, he grabbed a gun loaded with silver bullets. "One of you grab the knife, and both of you need a flashlight. The building looks pretty big, so we're going to need to split up," he said, approaching the gate and quickly scaling it.

Once inside, Aiden motioned to the stairs. "There are only two floors, but there is some sort of scaffolding on the second floor, and there is also a lower level. Let's all take a level, I'll take the basement." He threw the two walkie talkies, and pressed the button. "Easy enough, press the button and talk, we're on channel nine."

[[Things you can find on your floors include blood, skin, nails, teeth, clumps of hair, maybe some clothing, and a gun missing its clip.]]

[Teagan]

“Stop worrying, Yuki. He won’t hear us if we’re quiet!” Teagan was about ready to stuff a sock in the girl’s mouth and wrap a long strand of duct tape around her head if she didn’t stop talking. “We’ll be done in a moment, so shut it!” With a glare, she returned back to the task at hand.

It had seemed like a fun idea to spend some quality time with Yuki. Aiden had taken the day to follow up something or another, leaving the girl population of the Portland faction with severe boredom issues. Well, on her part, anyway. Teagan had nothing to do beside catch up on reading, but that had consumed the entirety of the previous day. And without Aiden to practice her staff with, and most of the guns tucked safely within his trunk, it wasn’t like she could practice much. Or effectively.

So, in complete and utter boredom, Teagan decided to do what she did best: prank. The only problem was that Yuki had chosen to reside in her room for a majority of the morning, so she couldn’t very well just sneak upstairs and pull it with the chance of being caught. And she wasn’t keen on rigging something downstairs, the toaster incident showing signs of scarring on most of the staff. Whoops.

There was only one plausible way to pull herself out of boredom and successfully nail Aiden: invite Yuki to help.

Turned out to be easier than she thought. Remembering that her faction mate had a thing for competition, all Teagan had to do when Yuki refused was to infer the Japanese girl was neither competent nor capable enough to pull such an “immature stunt”. Hook, line, and sinker. Within ten minutes the duo sat at the wooden table, carefully scheming.

The prank had occupied the entire afternoon, both girls putting their skills to the test. They had head Aiden’s car pull up a good fifteen minutes earlier and started wrapping up the final touches. Teagan, keeping calm in the midst of discovery an innate talent, had not anticipated that Yuki, the one who was the living definition of the word, could not keep cool.
“Please don’t let her screw this up,” she begged of Yuki to the heavens. While Aiden would probably bust Teagan just for setting up the prank, if he found out she had dragged the usually neutral member in as well…solitary confinement would not be used as the last resort. Determined to make this the most epic event in the history of Portland, Teagan tightened the final screw. “There. We’re done.”

The girls both stiffened as Aiden’s call echoed through the hallway. Was he coming? In an instant, Teagan threw all of their supplies back into her pack and slung it over her shoulders. With a quick glance to make sure the room looked undisturbed, she threw open the door and rushed out. “Remember Yuki. Not. A. WORD.” Teagan paused at the top of the stairs, voice low. “He doesn’t know a thing about it. So don’t mention it. Don’t hint at it. In fact, pretend you didn’t do anything and don’t think about it. Save your thoughts until after his reaction. The look on Aiden’s face will leave you preoccupied for weeks. So not a peep, got it?”

The picture of innocence, Teagan headed out to the car and took her spot in the backseat. She made sure to sit directly behind Aiden so he wouldn’t see when she glared at Yuki to warn her not to approach the subject. A dozen close calls later, Portland arrived at an abandoned warehouse.

“You already have a knife, Yuki, so I’ll take this one,” Teagan responded to Aiden’s offering of the weapon. No need for her to walk about defenseless in the cold building. Testing the flashlight to make sure it worked, she gave a nod to the others and followed them into the building.

“First floor,” Teagan bid, catching the radio. That way, if Yuki even thought about sneaking down to warn Aiden, she would be able to intercept her.
The floor she had picked in the building was completely dark, without windows to allow the light of the moon to guide her path. Thankful for the flashlight, she let the beam scan every inch of the offices she searched through, caressing each nook and cranny available. Nothing but a lot of dust, Teagan noted as she rubbed her freezing arms. She really should’ve brought a jacket.

Speaking of…the light landed on a midnight black coat precariously tossed on one of the desks. Psh, the place was abandoned, right? Finders keepers. Teagan happily put on the jacket, pleased to find it was slightly warmer than the air. Must retain heat well, she thought. Much more content, Teagan continued the search.

[Yuki]

Pranks were childish, true. Immature, foolish, a waste of time and a useless way to spend one's life. However, Yuki viewed them in a completely different light when presented to her in the form of a challenge. At first, she had refused. And quite persistently, too. But then Teagan implied that she was not strong enough to execute one of these traps. The insolent child implied she was weak. As much as Yuki believed that these games of hers were utterly pointless, she could not shy away from such an implication. And so, after spending a bit of time on a rather elaborate set-up, Yuki showed the girl that she was more than capable of setting up one of these "pranks."

That being said, when she heard the sound of Aiden's car in the driveway, her senses increased ten-fold and she stopped what she was doing. She somewhat regretted complying to the girl's demands. What would happen if Aiden came in and caught them in the act? How would they explain that to him? And she would share the blame this time with that...child. Yuki shuddered at the thought. She would not be put in the same category as Teagan.

Aiden came in, declared that they "had a job." From the time they were in the cabin to after a few minutes inside the car, Yuki was completely absorbed by the fact they were on a mission. However, after some time had passed, Yuki's thoughts drifted to the prank that awaited Aiden at the tavern. Had they cleaned up the flour? Did they put the bag away? And then the honey...the honey. Had they used enough? Yuki could feel Teagan's eyes glaring at her from behind. Of course she wouldn't tell him anything. And have him accuse her of commiting such a childish deed? Blasphemous!

Still, it was hard to keep the prank out of her mind. How could she not think about it? When they arrived at their destination, she was still pondering the entire ordeal. Shaking the thoughts aside, she decided to take the upper level, as Teagan declared she would take the first one.

Flashlight in hand, Yuki explored the second level. Aiden had said there would be scaffolding, and he was correct. It would take time to execute the proper search. Cautiously, she made her way across the floor, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, or anything that could attack, supernatural or otherwise. The warehouse held nothing of special interest at first sight. She saw a plastic bottle on the floor, and flashed back to the bottles that now resided in the tavern. Had they put those away, too?! They better have. Otherwise, they would be a bit conspicious.

And then, next to the bottle, she spotted the red coloring on the floor--the all-familiar liquid. Yuki crouched down and shone the beam of light upon her finding. With one finger, she swiftly stroked it and felt the substance between her fingers. There was no mistaking it--it was blood.

[Aiden]

Aiden was unaware of any prank, for he had remained strictly downstairs in the main tavern area. He went from researching to getting ready to roll as the call came in, closing the laptop and stowing it away before calling the girls and clambering into the car. The girls seemed oddly ready to leave, and he let Teagan slide into the back, and Yuki into the passenger seat before pulling out, and taking off towards their destination. The ride there was silent, no talking, no music, just the purr of the engine, and their steady breathing.

After carefully handing Teagan the knife, holding it by the hilt and careful not to touch the sharp blade, Aiden tucking his own gun away. Yuki could use her knife or her gun, he didn't really mind, whatever got the job done. Once the girls had called their floors, or rather that Teagan had shoved the second floor on Yuki, it was only then that Aiden realized he failed to tell them what exactly was going on. "Oh, wait wait wait. Here's the thing, don't go shooting blindly. A hunter went down, and it's a shifter that's got them. Be careful," he said. He took the lead, climbing up the fence and jumping over, turning on his flashlight, and holding it beneath his gun.

Whoever said that the building was abandoned was wrong, because in the basement where Aiden headed, the pipes for the boiler room were loud and running, full of steam, for one area up ahead in the hall, the pipe was cracked and steam was shooting out. It was warm in the basement, unlike where Teagan was, and as he looked around, he noticed the mess that had been made; hair, teeth, nails, shreds of clothing...blood. Pulling his walkie out, he pressed down on the button. "Hey guys, looks like the shifter has been here a while, there are multiple colors of hair, rotting...things...I don't even want to know what that is..." he trailed off.

[Teagan]

Leaning against the ground for a better view, Teagan stretched her arm under a desk. Her hands groped the cold floor, reaching for the metallic object her flashlight had located moments before. Hopefully it wasn't just a loose cable or something, because the last thing she needed was to get shocked right then. As he hand tightened around the item, the radio in her pocket crackled to life, Aiden's voice filling the silence of the room.

"AH!" Jumping in surprise, her head banged against the top of the desk. A throbbing sensation overcame every other sense, and Teagan ignored the new discovery to ensure that she wasn't bleeding or about to pass out. "Don't do that to me again!" she glared at the radio.

With a sigh, she pressed the button on the top. "There's not much on the first floor. Just-" Teagan returned her attention to the object in her hand. Woah-not what she was expecting. "Scratch that-something on the first floor. I found a gun, I think." A creak came from behind her, causing her to tense. "Uh-oh...."

Teagan stood warily, taking the rest of the room in a new light. A gun wasn't something someone just left in an abandoned building. Whomever had done that might still be inside. Another loud creak broke the silence of the room. Might still be in this room. She placed the evidence and radio in the large pocket of the jacket before carefully reached behind her for the knife Aiden had handed her earlier. "I know you're there-come on out."

[Yuki]

There wasn't much else in the room of the second level of the building. Perhaps she would find more when she explored the scaffolding. Cautiously, she got up, listening for any hint of movement around hear. After all, the blood was relatively fresh. The shapeshifter could attack any one of the hunters at any minute. Clutching the flashlight in her left hand and the walkie talkie in the other, she was about to press her finger down to tell Aiden and Teagan of her finding, but then Aiden's voice came through the contraption. Apparently, he had found a variety of "items" belonging to the shifter. Filthy creature.

As soon as Aiden finished, Teagan began talking before Yuki had the chance to do so. She frowned at the walkie talkie, thinking angry thoughts towards the girl. She hadn't found anything...oh, yes, she had. A gun. Odd. Why would a shapeshifter need a gun? Then, Teagan's voice got quiet as she muttered a low, "Uh-oh." Yuki listened carefully to the walkie talkie for further information, but none came. Had Teagan encountered the shifter? Yuki thought of asking if she was still there, but then if she had indeed encountered the being, it would be alerted the presence of other hunters aside from Teagan. "Kuso," Yuki whispered under her breath. ...What now?

[Aiden]

He moved slowly in the basement, gun held out loosely in front of him, and the beam of light catching the particles in the air and almost solidifying the beam of light in front of him. The steam made a high pitched whine in the pipes next to him, and behind him now, billowed out and dissipated into the air. That made it damp, dank, and with the red light from the bulbs, all the more creepy.

He turned around and made his way back the way he came so he could explore more, stepping into the darkness. He waited for the girls to respond, and when they did, something seemed to be happening.

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The noise Teagan heard did not repeat after she called it out. From behind her, it’s gaze locked on her. No breath escaped its nostrils or mouth; it was held still, waiting for her to carry on. Attacking now would do no good. Already crouched down, it released the small rodent from its hand, and let it scurry out in front of Teagan. The prankster had just been pranked.

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Aiden waited a few minutes, waiting for contact from Teagan. It wasn’t a good idea to alert the shifter to other hunters, though, if it had been stalking Teagan, than it knew there was at least one more. “Teagan, what happened?” he finally asked. “Alright, you know what? Meet up at that main desk by the door we entered through, doesn’t look like we’re going to find this thing alone,” he added, moving to the staircase.

[Teagan]

Her senses heightened from fear, Teagan's eyes darted left and right. If something was coming, she would be ready. Sweaty hands gripped the knife tightly, bringing it up to a defensive position in front of her chest. Bring it on.

A dart of motion to the right caused her to jump back and swing the knife out. Closer and closer the figure came, causing Teagan to adjust the hold of the weapon. Just a few more steps and it would come into the faint moonlight and-

Teagan blinked twice as a tiny brown fur-ball scurried across the floor. It flew right past her feet and underneath one of the older looking desks. That was what had caused her to freak? Wow, she felt stupid. Sending the critter a glare, she jabbed the knife in it's general direction anyway. Dumb thing. Over the radio, Aiden requested that she returned to the front. How would she explain this? They'd laugh at her for weeks!

Grumbling as she filtered quick ideas from her mind, she made her way back to the front of the building. Her hand never left the knife by her side.

[Yuki]

As Aiden's voice came over the walkie talkie, Yuki got up, getting ready to head for the main desk, where he had directed them to meet. Not much time had transpired between the time they arrived and that very moment, and yet already they were regrouping. they did work more efficiently as a team, but she rather enjoyed working alone. Biting her bottom lip, Yuki stared absent-mindedly at the blood on the ground. The scaffolding remained unsearched. However, it was clear that something was amiss. The hunters had found a few clues, but nothing that revealed the shapeshifter's location. If it was waiting to reveal itself, what was it waiting for?

Yuki sighed and took one more look around the bland room. The air was cold and the odor was musty. Although there was nothing of interest, a chill ran down her spine. She turned around to head out the door and towards the entrance, her flashlight illuminating the particles of dust that floated in the air. Clipping the walkie talkie on the side of her skirt, she drew out her gun from the inside pocket of her jacket. A shifter surely couldn't present too much of a problem, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

[Aiden]

He bounced on his heels as he waited for the girls to return to the main entrance, the desk where he had indicated. He was the first one back, seeing as the others weren't there waiting for him. The air was cool against his skin, for once he was wearing a short sleeved tee rather than a jacket or long sleeved shirt--the jacket he'd brought remained in the trunk of the car, now. His eyes swept over the place, looking for various methods of escape should something happen, finding a few that were of his satisfaction. He rubbed his hand against his arm, trying to generate some warmth. Couldn't the girls hurry up?

When they did show, Aiden's eyebrow cocked upwards at the sight; Yuki holding her gun out, and Teagan her knife. Jeez, were they really that cautious? He waved his hand at them, both motioning them closer, and motioning for them to stow their weapons. "There isn't anything lurking here, if there was, it would have attacked me by now," he said, taking another glance around the room. He looked back to the youngest of them, questioningly. "What happened up there? See something?"

Before she could answer, a loud bang came from beneath them, the basement. Crap, not now! he thought, and he drew out his gun. "Come on guys, looks like we found our monster." He took silent steps down the stairs, with the girls in tow, pausing at each corner and checking for their target. Another bang came from up ahead. Here goes nothing, he thought, and then kicked in the door, revealing the source of the banging. In front of Aiden...sat Aiden, wrestling out of binds that held him to a chair.

[Teagan]

"What happened?" Teagan's face burned red as the question hung in the air. She could not think of any way to respond off the top of her head without making a laughingstock out of herself. She had opened her mouth hoping a decent story would come out when a loud crash from the basement interrupted the conversation, alarming the group. Had the Fates taken pity on her?

Her knife remained in her hand, despite Aiden's earlier suggestion to put them away. Now Teagan was thankful she had ignored him. She followed Aiden to the basement, Yuki trailing behind her. They slowly worked their way down the halls, Teagan making sure to check behind them after turning each corner. What if the shifter used the sound to lure them in?

Aiden opened the door in front of them and stopped suddenly. "What is it?" she asked, eyes still watching the group's back. When no answer came, Teagan turned and caught sight of something she never wished to see in her life.

Two Aidens.

"Holy crap," she gasped. Given, yes, two Yuki's would be worse, but Teagan knew that that possibility only existed in the realm of dreams. Who in all of creation, supernatural and humani alike, would dare to copy that girl? Duplicating Aiden was clearly the lesser evil. But, evil, nonetheless. Blinking, Teagan returned her focus to the problem at hand. Two Aidens...only one solution presented itself. She traded a look with Yuki, and then bolted over to the copy of the faction leader bound to the chair.

Instead of untying him, she put the knife at his neck. Back at the door, she heard a soft click as Yuki aimed her gun at the heart of the the Aiden still standing.

On the bright side, they had found the shape shifter.

On the other, not so bright side...Teagan couldn't tell which Aiden was the real Aiden. Physically, they looked nearly identical: dark hair and eyes and the same general style. Except two different shirts...Teagan mentally cursed when she couldn't remember what Aiden had worn when they entered the building. And he hadn't been in her sights the entire time, so it was entirely plausible that the Aiden she held the knife to was indeed the real one. How the shifter had managed to tie him up without him giving a loud fight was beyond Teagan, but she had to keep in mind that she and Yuki needed to be a hundred percent certain the one they killed was the shape shifter. Otherwise?

...Aiden would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Hell no. Teagan looked down -not that far down, seeing as Aiden in a chair only fell a couple inches shorter than herself standing up- at the Aiden below her. "Start talking. Now."

[Yuki]

Meeting Aiden and Teagan at the main entrance, Yuki kept her gun out and her eyes searched the room. Aiden motioned for them to put their weapons away, but she merely lowered the gun to her side. One could never be too careful. Wasn't he the one who had warned her and Teagan to take such precautionary measures during a hunt? Suddenly, a loud noise was heard from somewhere in the building. Raising her gun once more, she followed Aiden, with Teagan following closely behind, ready for anything that could attack them.

However, when they arrived at their destination, Yuki was confronted by that which she did not expect, in the least. She blinked in an attempt to reassure herself that she was merely hallucinating, but the being before her was no vision--it was Aiden, tied to a chair. A duplicate Aiden.

Quickly realizing what the situation implied, Yuki gave Teagan a brief look, and simultaneously, both girls bolted. Yuki rapidly turned towards the Aiden that they had followed, cocked her gun, and aimed the weapon square at his chest. Glancing over at Teagan, she saw that the girl understood what was happening. Then, she turned back to face "Aiden" and gave him an icy glare.

"Provide sufficient information to prove that you are indeed the real Aiden, or else I shoot."

[Aiden]

A typical reaction, though, one might have thought there would have been a little more time standing around and blinking in confusion before they sprang into action--what, had the girls gone and gotten telepathic on Aiden? Either that, or he had trained them well, to say the least. Just as the Aiden untangling himself from the chair spit the ribbon of cloth in his mouth out, a knife was being held to his neck; just as the Aiden standing in the door registered what was going on, a gun was being pointed at his chest. Talk about not wasting time. Then again, these girls were hunters, so they knew vaguely what to do. How effectively, well, they'd find out.

"Whoa, whoa, guys, calm down," said the Aiden standing, or for the sake of things, Aiden #1.

"Wait, hold on a sec'," said the Aiden that was sitting, or Aiden #2.

Both sighed at the same time, in the same fashion, which caused them to both look at each other. If only it were a cartoon, some sort of same motion, same hand, same everything probably would have occurred for comedic value.

After a moment of silence, Aiden #1 finally spoke. "Okay, Teagan, your gunshots are off three feet to the left," he said, holding his hands in the air as Yuki's gun pointed at his chest.

"Teagan, I chased after you in the rain in Keystone," #2 countered.

"You pissed the cook off with the toaster prank," #1 shot back.

"Itching powder, ink, and mystery potpourri on the first night in the tavern."

"Yuki exorcised the demon on our first run."

Needless to say, discerning which was which would be a challenge.

[Teagan]

The edge of the knife slowly backed away from Aiden #2's neck as he mentioned Teagan's little issue with aiming a gun. So he was the real one? She hoped she hadn't broken any ski-

Wait, the other one mentioned Keystone.

And then the toaster prank.

And then one listed the successes from her first day in Portland.

"Was that quite necessary?" Teagan glared at the one who had listed all of her pranks. "I do take pride in subtlety. That doesn't mean you go blurt out everything I've done." The knife returned to its previous position. She was still entirely unsure as to which Aiden was the real one. Obvious the shifter could access Aiden's memories, which would prove to be an issue. No bluffs would trick it, no insider secrets would make it pause in confusion. How on earth were they supposed to know?

"You," she said harshly, looking at the copy in the chair. "What's your story? How'd you get into the chair?" If he was the shifter, could he really have tied himself up in the chair? Or gagged himself, for that matter. Teagan shot a pleading look to Yuki, unsure of what to do next.

[Yuki]

Needless to say, Yuki had never been a situation quite like the one she now faced. As she listened to both Aidens go back and forth, listing multiple truths, and personal ones at that, she mentally cursed. The shifter had knowledge of Aiden's life, which would make interrogation on the basis of history nearly impossible. They would need to take a more logical approach to this. Posing hypothetical questions could possibly come in handy, although if they gave them same answer, then the questions would be of no use. Keeping the gun pointed at the Aiden in front of her, she looked over at Teagan, who began interrogating the one on the chair.

The child's words sparked a steady train of thought in Yuki, though she was uncertain how well the idea would function. If both copies gave an account as to what had transpired--how each had ended up in their respective positions, as Teagan stated--then perhaps their words could be analyzed for miscalculations or continuity errors. It was their best shot. At first, Yuki pondered isolating both of them from each other during their interrogations, but if either decided to attack--well, it would be better for her and Teagan to be in the same room if that were to occur.

"Alright, listen up, both of you. This is what's going to happen. You are each going to answer the questions posed by Teagan. Hesitate in your reply, and you shall be placed under immediate suspicion. To the real Aiden: Rest assured, we shall solve this conundrum. Just answer honestly. And to the shifter? You may know a lot about Teagan and I, but believe me, you don't know the half of what we're capable of."