First to 1000

First to One Thousand - Chapter 2

First to One Thousand - Chapter 2

It was time for revenge! So ok, last time she had got him good and proper ... hell! How was he supposed to react to a naked Beckett on his bed ... come to think about it, she could have zapped him about 500 times and he'd have still stood there, jaw on the floor, unable to coordinate hand and eye .... Geez! He could hardly coordinate his breathing, let alone anything else.

So, one week down the line and he had challenged her to round two ... in the underground garage ... there was no way she'd strip naked in a public place ... though the idea was ... NO! Don't go there! She was capable of using her ninja mind games on him even down here .... he'd be thinking of all the possibilities of a naked Kate Beckett and an underground car park and she'd be zapping him again ... no, time to get his mind out of the gutter ..... or bed, or the shower ..... or the passenger seat of the Ferrari ... mind you, the hood was nicely curved ... CASTLE! ... Christ! He was even calling himself out Beckett style! Ugh.

He is near the lifts, she is over somewhere near the ramp to the street, or at least that was their starting positions, though with the amount of time he'd spent imagining sexy Beckett in the ... everything, she could be standing right behind him ... the lift pings behind him ...

"Aaagh!" He spins round crouching as he does, laser gun lining up on ... Mrs Kaplovsky from 3A who is staring at the apparition before her with startled eyes, mouth agape, handbag clutched to her chest with one hand whilst the other grips her walking stick, white-knuckled ...

It is Mrs Kaplovsky who recovers first; with a war cry that has Castle's blood curdling, the indomitable little lady with blue dyed hair raises her cane above her head, clutches her bag even tighter to her chest and starts swinging wildly at him.

At first he hopes that his garbled "It's me Mrs K ... Castle ... Rick Castle ... from the loft ..." will stop her from attacking him, but after the walking stick catches him painfully for a third time and her repeatedly yelled "Think you can rob a little old lady, you dirty scumbag!" drowns him out he opts for the safer tactic of dodging behind the nearest car for protection.

Unfortunately for Rick, the nearest car happens to be Mrs K's own 1970, silver grey, Mercedes 280 SL, which even the late Mr K would not have dared touch! The sight of her assailant apparently trying to steal her most prized possession escalates Mrs K's fury to such levels that not only is she chasing round after Castle with her flailing stick, but she is also wading in with a swinging handbag.

Rick doesn't know what Mrs K carries in her bag ... but an uneducated guess would be a house brick ... from the thump he receives on his shoulder as the bag connects. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, Castle opts for a quick retreat into the darker corners of the garage, ducking down between the parked cars in the hope that the sensor lights don't come on and give his position away to the still irate Mrs K who is standing at the back of her car, chest heaving, walking stick 'en garde' and handbag swinging by her hip.

Rubbing a hand over his still sore shoulder, Rick carefully edges away from the lift area, keeping a wary eye on Mrs K who is still glaring around her, daring the uncouth scum of the city to come and take a helpless old lady on ... he shakes his head, not even the Russian Mafia would stand a chance against Mrs K!

As he reaches the pillar that will hide him from his blood-seeking neighbour, he lets out a sigh of relief, shuffles round behind it and stands up ....

The girly scream that comes out of his throat even has Mrs K scuttling for the lifts in hasty retreat.

Standing before him, some four feet away, wearing Kate's purple Laser Tag equipment .... stands a grinning Creaver .....

Zap!

"Two, zero Castle ... " says the Creaver, removing her mask "As I said ... your ass is mine in every way!"