seaoftroubles | The New Girl preplay

Directly off the end of last episode! Jordan decides to murder Nathan since Audrey isn't Audrey. There's a fight and lots of running and shouting. Eventually Lexi fires into the air to get everyone to stop. Duke says he can maybe clear things up if he talks to Vince, and gets Vince to agree to not kill Nathan right away so they can make Lexi fall in love with him and kill him instead.

So basically, DUKE STALLS LIKE WOAH

Vince decides the best way to get Lexi in love with Nathan is to have her tag along on a trouble investigation like Audrey did. They head out to a case where a kid flipped his lid and tried to kill his girlfriend on a date, only to end up locked in a freezer. Nathan, Lexi, and Duke go to face him down, and see him end up slitting his own throat.

Duke ends up leading the questioning of the kid's girlfriend, because Nathan is being all strong silent type. Signs point to a hospitalized kid named Tyler being involved, he's in the hospital because he was paralyzed in a big car accident both the victim and his girlfriend were also in. Lexi just wants food. Duke is all "Nathan, come on, I know you have no game BUT THIS IS THE WOMAN YOU LOVE. SORT OF."

Duke and Nathan question Tyler while Lexi goes to get a CT scan. Tyler says that he felt like he was out of control when Katie looked at him, like she's troubled. Nathan gives the kid his card, and then Duke gives him a little "prescription" for free drinks at the Gull.

Meanwhile, Katie throws herself in front of a car. Fun!

Duke gets Jennifer to go home for awhile. If anyone goes with her, they may get to see Jordan hit on Wade. If not . . . that'll just happen off screen. I'm guessing Luce and Tavi will be stuck to Duke for most of this?

Lexi says maybe it's Tyler because Josh and Katie were clearly getting it on behind his back. They all go back to the hospital, but find a dead orderly instead of Tyler. Duke goes to find a nurse -- this is where he gets possessed, and possibly where we start to go our own way because he has actual loved ones around who worry about him in our version.

Tyler-in-Duke sidetracks Lexi and Nathan and locks them in a walk in cooler. He tries to dodge Luce and Tavi too. I'm guessing it doesn't work well.

Perhaps they take him back to the Gull? He manages to get a minute alone with Wade to get the idea to kill his own body so he can stay in Duke's. He manages to get away from Luce and Tavi somehow and heads for the hospital, possibly with a very confused Jennifer in tow.

Lexi (and probably immune Lucifer?) heads in to deal with Tyler and keep him from murdering anyone, only to at the last minute "chicken out" and let Tyler try to kill his own body. This sets off Duke's trouble, which override's Tyler's trouble, saving Duke from the possession. Hurray!

Duke manages to pull Lexi aside at the Gull to point out that Audrey totally would have known what would have happened, and she admits to only pretending to be Lexi. Show ends here. Pretty sure Duke will want to stick around to try to clear things up/get rid of Wade, and this is where Lucifer and Octavia DRAG HIM BODILY HOME IF NECESSARY.

And then it's all over but the moody moody aftermath, mmmmmm

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

betterthanaplan

Upstairs, Tyler, wearing Duke like a cheap suit, paced back and forth in front of the vault while he waited for Nathan and Lexie to appear.

Stupid meddling cops. He just needed to get rid of them and dodge the other couple -- who the hell were they, anyway? That chick was not a cop -- and then maybe hit up this guy's bar for some cash. Then he could leave town, free and clear.

Fuck you. Octavia is going to kick your entire ass. Don't think my face will stop her.

Tyler smirked faintly. If he could work out how to get this Duke guy to shut up while he did all that, that'd be great too.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's approach was signaled by the sound of her boots against the floor. She almost rushed right past the room he was in, but caught sight of him just in time.

"There you are," she said, on a little huff of relief. "What's going on?"

From:

betterthanaplan

Tyler looked up, shoving the errant lock of hair out of his face. He was going to need to get that cut soon, too, jesus. What was this guy, some kind of hippie?

Don't you dare.

"Hey," he said, giving Octavia a tight smile. "I think I've got him. Just waiting for, uh --" Shit, what was that detective's name?

I am not helping.

"-- Uh, the others to catch up with us."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia might've wondered about that hesitation, but her attention was already drawn to the closed door.

"He's in there?" A beat. "You put him there?"

This was why she hadn't wanted to let Duke go off by himself.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Yeah, I --"

"Duke?" Came Nathan's voice from the hall. Tyler looked past her.

"In here!"

Nathan and Lexie appeared in the door. Tyler shrugged. "I may have engaged a little." He gestured back to the door behind him. "He's fine."

Nathan pulled out his gun and nodded to Octavia and Lexie. "Stay back." He slowly approached the door, gun up and ready.

From:

okteiviakom

This was one of those moments where Octavia found absolutely no reason to argue with Nathan.

She stayed back, her eyes trained on the door.

From:

betterthanaplan

Tyler opened it, keeping the door between himself and the interior -- and as soon as Nathan looked in, he slammed it into Nathan's side, knocking him off balance and snatching up his gun. He brandished it at Lexie and Octavia, gesturing for them to follow Nathan into the vault.

"Move!"

Oh, big mistake, Duke thought gleefully.

Shut up!

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's eyes had gone wide at the initial move with the door, but now they were narrowed as she looked at --

Not Duke.

"Nomonjoka," she spat, because anger was always the easiest to reach for. Especially when she needed it to take over all the space that would otherwise have filled with terror.

From:

betterthanaplan

The fuck did she call me?

Yes take him down take him down Tavi you promised. . . .

"This is a trap," Nathan said, because someone always had to state the obvious. "You're Tyler."

"Surprise," Tyler said. He circled Lexie and Octavia, hand out. "Give me your cellphones. Now!"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia was slow to relinquish her phone, but she did.

The guy wearing Duke like a suit seemed a little jittery. She was trying to calculate how to best use that to her advantage.

From:

betterthanaplan

Tyler was so jittery. The angry ranting voice in his head describing the many ways that this woman could dismantle him slow and bloody wasn't helping.

"I just got that," Lexie muttered as she handed her own phone over. Tyler jammed them into Duke's pockets and started aggressively gesturing them into the vault again.

"Move. And don't try anything or I start shooting!"

From:

okteiviakom

What Octavia - who was still not moving, by the way - needed right now was a distraction.

She was counting on Nathan beginning to talk any second now.

From:

betterthanaplan

Nathan was just working with her perfectly today!

"Your trouble kicked in after the car crash, didn't it, Tyler?" he asked, voice even. De-escalating, even. "Then you figured out how you could use it to kill Josh."

Tyler scowled, the gun wavering between Octavia and Lexie. "Josh was an accident.
I was lying there in that bed, paralyzed, and then suddenly I was in Josh when he was out with my girlfriend, and I found out what they were doing. . . ."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia tuned out most of what he was saying.

(He sounded like Duke. He didn't sound like Duke.)

She was watching the gun. And watching his face, hoping Nathan kept drawing the kid's focus to himself.

From:

betterthanaplan

"So you killed them both on purpose?" Lexie asked, drawing Tyler's attention back in her and Octavia's direction.

"My life was ruined!" he cried. "And they they were supposed to be my friends." That came out so young even Duke, tucked back in the corner of his own brain, couldn't help but pity the kid. Until his voice turned dark again. "But then I realized what I could do. It was my chance. They got what they had coming."

Fuck you, kid.

From:

okteiviakom

Goddammit, Lexie.

Octavia shifted away from her as much as she dared - which was definitely not a lot. Just a subtle, slow shifting of her weight onto her other foot.

From:

betterthanaplan

"You need things, don't you," Nathan said. Tyler listened, but kept focused on the girls this time. "Objects? The real you holds on to something, and that lets you control whoever gave it to you. When you possessed the orderly, you were holding a remote he gave it to you."

"And Josh and Katie They gave you get-well cards," Lexie said, easing slowly towards Tyler -- and away from Octavia.

"Duke gave you that drink ticket," Nathan said.

Tyler looked back at him. "Right after you gave me your business card, so don't try anything."

From:

okteiviakom

This would have been a great time for a one-liner, but Octavia wasn't really that kind of person.

So she just acted, abruptly. Trying to play to the element of surprise, surging forward and grabbing at the arm holding the gun to wrench it to the side.

(A risky move, yes, but so were all moves when someone was waving a gun at you.)

From:

betterthanaplan

If it had actually been Duke in control -- or anyone else with actual gun handling training -- it might have gone a little better for her. They would haven't known better than to try to tighten their grip when she grabbed him, and wouldn't have just fired the damn thing wildly.

Lexie shrieked at the gunshot. Nathan shouted, and Tyler flinched hard. In the back of his mind, Duke went very very still. The running commentary he'd been providing cut off in to the dull, stressed static of helpless terror.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's ears were ringing. She gave a muted gasp, staggering backwards a step, grabbing at her upper arm.

It didn't hurt yet. It would in a second.

Blood seeped between her fingers.

Edited Date: 2022-03-31 02:18 pm (UTC)

From:

my_own_advocate

There had been no sign of anyone like the man Duke had described - at least, not anyone Lucifer could place as present in the room where they'd found the body. And so he had started to make his way back slowly, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, and...

...

That was a gunshot.

He broke off into a run, blind panic striking him deep inside the heart.

From:

betterthanaplan

Octavia might just be the calmest one around right this moment.

Tyler stared at the blood in panic -- and . . . hunger? -- his body swaying towards it, then jerked upright and aimed the gun at Lexie.

"That's right, I will shoot! So don't fuck with me and get in the vault!"

"Shit, okay, okay," Lexie said, hands up. She came over to guide Octavia inside, where Nathan was frowning and tugging his jacket off to staunch the wound.

"Move, move!"

"Tyler, you can't keep this up," Nathan said, voice low but full of urgency. "It was on your charts. Your real body is falling apart the more you possess people. You're gonna die."

Tyler smirked, urging Lexie and Octavia in with both the gun and the door. "Which is why I'm trading my body in for this one. Permanently."

From:

okteiviakom

There was, for the first time, fear in Octavia's eyes.

And that feeling overpowered anything else. She didn't feel her feet move at Lexie's urging, although they did. Didn't feel the pain begin to burn her arm, even though it did.

That she was standing in the vault, now, didn't even register.

She stared at -- Tyler.

(At Duke's face.)

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke hadn't recovered yet, either. Which only made Tyler smile as he shoved at the door, using it to force Octavia and Lexie the rest of the way in.

That's right, bitch. Hot pieces of ass like her fawn all over you, don't they.

I mean. Over me, now.

Duke simmered in his corner, wishing there was something, anything he could do to wipe that look off of Octavia's face.

From:

okteiviakom

The door closed with a thunk. Octavia's head whipped around as she looked at --

Four walls, far too close together. No other door, no windows.

Now the reality of the small, closed space was beginning to rapidly sink in. A wave of panic threatened to surge up, over where she was, over what was about to happen to Duke, and that feeling was hopeless.

But there was still something else, and she clung to that thought with all she had when she gasped in a breath, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Lucifer!"