Reborn as Richard Castle in Criminal Minds

Castle was certain that the two sneaky individuals who had broken into his warehouse were undoubtedly sent by Vincent Adler to investigate his movements. Despite Castle being a major troublemaker, the only people in New York interested in his actions at this time were Beckett and Vincent Adler. However, even if Beckett had questions about Castle's recent activities, she wouldn't resort to such methods. Her terrifyingly sensitive sixth sense was already enough to give Castle headaches.

Castle firmly believed that if Beckett truly decided to extract some information from him, he wouldn't be able to escape her relentless questioning without revealing something. Therefore, the only possibility for these two intruders was that Vincent, the old fox, had sent them to keep an eye on him.

Castle's assumption was correct. These two were indeed sent by Vincent Adler. Vincent, upon returning to New York to begin the long-anticipated project of salvaging the submarine his father had sunk, harbored a significant unease—Castle, who had suddenly appeared and caused Vincent to experience a rare setback.

Both Vincent and Castle knew well that the previous truce, prompted by Vincent's bounty on Castle that forced Castle to offer an exchange for peace, was merely a temporary measure. Castle aimed to avoid being hunted by the killers attracted by Vincent's bounty, while Vincent had more pressing matters—salvaging the submarine. This fragile truce could break the moment either party was prepared or unrestrained.

Now that Vincent's plan had entered a critical phase, it was only natural for him to closely monitor Castle's movements. Hence, it was no surprise to Castle that Vincent had sent two skilled operatives to track and surveil him.

These two had started tailing Castle since yesterday. They had followed him from the chubby guy's house to Zeus' hardware store. Consequently, they were unaware of the chubby guy's existence and only knew that Castle had bought a large batch of parts from a hardware store in a Black neighborhood yesterday afternoon and had spent the night alone in a warehouse tinkering with something. Because Castle had been busy all night and had installed surveillance equipment around the warehouse, the two operatives hadn't risked approaching the warehouse until this morning, only to find it spotless with no clue about what Castle had been doing. They overlooked the fact that Castle had bought many parts but now none were in the warehouse.

This oversight was a lucky break for Castle, as he hadn't considered this gap in his story. He had simply stowed the parts in his personal space without realizing it would leave a conspicuous absence in the warehouse. Fortunately, Vincent's operatives weren't highly professional, sparing Castle from having his oversight discovered.

The two had scoped out the surveillance blind spots around the warehouse yesterday, giving them the courage to sneak in this morning. However, they hadn't anticipated that Castle, influenced by the paranoid Tony Stark, had installed hidden cameras inside the warehouse as well. Thus, Castle saw their supposedly covert actions as he recharged himself.

Castle was pleased to confirm that Vincent was indeed monitoring him. He had anticipated this and had everything prepared for Vincent's actions. The more Vincent focused on him, the less attention he'd have for other threats, allowing Neil, Moz, and the chubby Harry to monitor Vincent undisturbed.

Castle was slightly surprised that Vincent had waited this long to deploy operatives against him. Was he underestimating Castle, or did he think Castle posed no significant threat? Castle chuckled to himself. Vincent Adler had no idea what was coming. Not only did Castle know Vincent's plans, but he was also ready to deliver a lesson Vincent would never forget.

Watching the footage from the hidden cameras, Castle saw Vincent's men leave the warehouse in confusion. This made Castle chuckle in satisfaction. However, it also made him more cautious. He had just finished building a drone and hadn't tested it with the chubby guy yet. If Vincent's men discovered this, it could cause unnecessary complications. Castle decided he needed to shake off these tails before testing the drone.

While eating a burger to recharge, Castle mentally mapped out the next few days. Once he was full, he packed more food and returned to the warehouse. As expected, he noticed Vincent's operatives' car at the intersection near the warehouse. Castle smirked and ignored them. Today, he only needed to write the drone's control code, with no mechanical work, so even if they watched him all day, they wouldn't understand what he was doing.

Castle knew the operatives would be suspicious after their fruitless search and might risk sneaking in again to see what he was up to. He intended to exploit this, spending the day coding while letting them see him seemingly lost in endless lines of code, misleading Vincent into a misjudgment.

Satisfied with his plan, Castle started typing out the drone's control code. Despite the drone's apparent simplicity, its control code was a massive task. Fortunately, Castle's system-awarded top hacker skills made typing second nature to him, so the sound of his keyboard filled the warehouse.

Castle was right. The operatives, unsatisfied with their earlier search, decided to risk sneaking in again to see what Castle was doing. Through the hidden cameras, Castle saw them approaching the warehouse.

Castle sighed at their audacity. They dared to sneak in while he was inside? Vincent must be quite the leader.

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