✓ DEFENSIVE | Z. BERMAN

xi. THE TRUTH

But mostly, she was embarrassed and ashamed of herself. How could she have thought he was changing, that Nick Goode was trying to be good.

Because over the years, he had built back her trust, not enough for her to let him into her life again, but enough that it hurt.

But then, she was angry.

She was angry at herself for letting him build it again, she was angry at him for using her.

"This is how we save Sam." Deena calls softly, "How we save Shadyside. We can't kill the Devil. So... we have to kill him."

Y/N looks up at her words, a look of shock displayed at her next statement: "We have to kill Nick Goode."

But then, her breath quicken as she realizes what she's done, "I — I called him... I thought... I thought he could help." Her voice shakes with what could be perceived as shock, but it was really the overwhelming anger and resentment she now felt towards the Sheriff.

Deena and Josh share a worried look before she speaks up, "We need to go, now!"

She gets up and rushes to the bathroom, Josh going after his sister as the two older women rush after them to ensure their safety.

And, sure enough, Sam had gotten the upper hand on Deena, her hands coming around her throat. Ziggy steps forwards and grabs the knife she left on the counter and uses the handle to knock Sam over the head, her unconscious figure falling to the tiled floor.

"I wanted to do that all day." Ziggy says with gritted teeth.

.

After hopping into the stolen cop car, the four drive madly through the night. "It should be up here on the right." Josh informs them.

"Hey, are we sure about this?" Ziggy asks, leaning forward slightly from her seat in the back beside Y/N.

"Yeah, how many more people can we trust?"  Y/N questions wearily.

Josh looks between the road and the business card. "Trust me, the dude hates Goode as much as we do. Plus, we'll need all the help we can get.

Turning right onto Fier Street, the car pulls up to a house with a man sitting on the porch, the red and blue lights of the police siren illuminating his car.

The group watches as he rises from his seat and raises his hands above his head calmly. Josh chuckles to himself before letting out a slow breath and rolling down the window. "Hey!" He calls towards the man. 

"Urkel?"

"Yeah! Uh..." Josh contemplates for a moment on how to proceed before shaking his head as if to say 'fuck it,' and, much to the other three's surprise, he bluntly yells, "Wanna help us kill Sheriff Goode?"

Y/N holds her breath for his answer, watching as the man looks at them with a dazed look before nodding slowly, "Let me get my coat."

She laughs with relief and shares a quick glance with Ziggy before the group jumps at the sound of what must be Sam rolling around in the trunk.

Moments later, the man, Martin, comes back out and hops in the backseat next to Ziggy, and as fast as she can, Deena drives the group to where is all began, the Shadyside mall.

And, luckily, they had just picked up the person best equipped to helping them in that environment.

.

"As the mall's lead custodial engineer," Martin informs the group, "I ensure that all retail establishments come equipped with the StoreSafe 250." He says, walking up to a small store and displaying the locked gate. "This is the Cadillac of store gates." He informs as his knocks against the metal as if to prove his point. "Now, the 250 prevents your standard smash-and-grab, graffiti, all while complying with the 70% visibility ordinance." He pauses for a moment and rolls his eyes as he sees the group looking back at him with blank stares. "Best part..." He says with a smirk as he bends down and unlocks the gate with a simple click, "Easy to operate."

"And we can rig them for quick release?" Josh asks for reassurance.

"Little grease, these things go down faster than a Sunnyvale cheerleader." He says, smirking towards Ziggy and Y/N who both roll their eyes.

Josh turns to the four others and explains, "So, Deena's the target now, so the killers will go after Deena's blood, just like they did with Sam. And then, we use that to lure them into the store, and then..." He trials off as he turns to Martin, who closes the gates quickly with a bang.

"Welcome to the clink, motherfucker."

"The killers will be locked up," Josh continues, "then it's just us versus Goode."

Y/N nods along skeptically, starting to formulate the plan in her head when Deena speaks up, "Ok, sure, awesome, but then what? Like how do we take out Goode?"

Martin furrows his brows, "Are — are y'all serious about this?"

Looking around the space an idea forms in Y/N's head, but it seems Ziggy was thinking exactly the same thing. "Once they're down, how quickly can we get the gates back open?"

"Well, that depends, but — "

"Why would we wanna do that?" Deena cuts off Martin with her own question.

Ziggy and Y/N look to each other, identical smirks on their lips. Y/N turns back to the group and simply says, "We'll Carrie him."