That New World Smell

"What do you mean the card is declined?" Crowley practically growled, his annoyance showing all over his face as well as his fingers, which were drumming dramatically on the ticket counter at LAX.

The airline ticket agent was just making it worse by insisting on keeping her 'customer-service' face on. The persistent, blank smile being the only answer to Crowley's anger was making his blood boil more and more rapidly every second.

"Actually, sir," the agent practically purred. "Policy requires that the card be destroyed. Annnnd..." she looked down at her screen, tapped a few keys, and finally, her smile broke. Crowley perked up, thinking that maybe they were getting somewhere now.

"Um...I'm afraid..." she squinted at the screen and looked very nervous. She turned around to her partner to her left and flapped her hand furiously for him to come over.

"Brad...!" she hissed loudly, "Can you please help me out here?" she pleaded.

"Sure thing Maggie!" Brad replied cheerily, still wearing his customer service smile. He flashed it brilliantly at Castiel, Crowley and Dean, which made Crowley tap the counter even more rapidly and harder. Brad looked at the monitor, and his smile promptly faded like Maggie's had.

"Something amiss?" Crowley asked with over-exaggerated pleasantry.

Brad looked up, and, to his credit, was able to put on a semblance of his customer service smile back on. "Sir, I'm afraid that I'll be having to check with airport security here."

"Whatever for?", Crowley asked, blinking dumbly, his voice dripping with artificial honey.

"Yes...um...it says here that we need to detain the card holder." Crowley saw that despite the nervous smile, Brad had started to sweat a bit from his temple.

"I'm sure that's an error, Bradley," Castiel smiled, leaning forward.

"Um...sir...sorry, it really isn't..."

"Fellas?" Dean broke in. "Something I should know about here?"

Crowley turned around to smile at Dean. "Kinda makes you miss the howling beasts and towering abominations looking to eat our souls, doesn't it?"

"Um, sir...sorry? But, I really don't understand that reference..."

"Of course, the knowledge that those same aforementioned beasts are all still out there howling all around our little fortress-bubble of reality just leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy when you think about it, doesn't it?"

"Er...excuse me...um...sir?"

"But what I think that Bradley here is trying to tell me is that my unlimited-funds Gold Card has been reported stolen or something to that effect, Dean," Crowley smiled. "Now wasn't that a nice little detail for Atropos to include in this new world?"

Castiel rolled his eyes. "I'm positive that Atropos had nothing to do with this..."

"Sir...?!" Bradley pleaded desperately.

"Yes, well, it doesn't really matter, as it appears our friend Bradley here has already pressed the silent alarm, and those dozen or so burly and unfriendly armed security officer are a result of that." He grinned widely and waved at the guards, who just narrowed their eyes at him and picked up their step."So, Castiel, how do you want to let this play out? Should we allow them to do their jobs, or do what I suggested that we do in the first place, and just teleport Dean here back with us to Atlanta?"

"He says it makes him sick," Castiel grumbled under his breath. He eyed the guards wearily and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, Dean, but I'm afraid I have to agree with Crowley. We need to teleport you back with us."

Dean looked back and forth between the guards and Castiel, considering. He finally shrugged. "I should've stayed back at the Resistance...ok. Fine. Crap. Do it."

"Maggie, what are they talking abou...!?" Brad began to ask. Then Castiel, Crowley and Dean promptly disappeared into thin air.

He looked up at the now very confused airport security personnel, and his smile faded again, knowing that the rest of his shift was about to become a bit more interesting than he usually preferred.

They materialized in front of Crowley's office building on Peachtree in Atlanta, Dean looking slightly green.

Crowley looked back and smiled. "See? The easy way. Now we just have to get ahold of my secretary and find out what happened with my Gold Card. And maybe get a much deserved glass of Scotch that I have stashed for just such an occasion. Not exactly in that order, mind you." He smiled and walked forward.

And snapped the yellow police tape surrounding the building.

He bent down and picked it up, looking confused.

"Uh, Crowley?" Dean said. Crowley looked up at him, saw the look on his face, and closed his eyes.

"Oh, this isn't going to be good..." he muttered, turning around slowly to look at the building.

His gaze went up, taking in the blackened and ruined girders of the office, stretching up into the sky.

"Are...you...SERIOUS?!" Crowley screamed. "She sent us back to the point to where my building has already burned down?! A week before would have been...oh...I don't know...too much to ask for?!"

"Actually, it doesn't work like that," Castiel muttered, moving past the tape and looking up at the wreck of the building. "The dimensions that she merged just had elements of their original aspects in them, like a blueprint for the whole. This just happened to be one of the details in that blueprint. The point in time wasn't really a factor."

"Well, my entire building is burned down. I have no Headquarters. I miss my Headquarters, Castiel. The Resistance, pardon my French, is a frikking dump. And more to the point, no Scotch." Crowley sighed loudly in exasperation and brushed off his sleeves. "Well, at least that explains the detectives walking over here."

"The...the what?" Castiel asked, narrowing his eyes. He turned around and saw a few police officers walking in their direction, flanking two men with shields clipped to their belts.

"That also explains the Gold Card. There are probably several agencies wanting answers from me about a major skyscraper in downtown Atlanta burning itself down to the core."

To his credit, Crowley didn't complain or try to fight when they arrested him.

"I hope they're having more luck back at the Resistance."

"No...way!" Sarah bellowed, kicking at Gabriel with all she was worth. Gabriel grunted with effort and looked helplessly up at Robert and Angela.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to help a fellow Archangel out here, would you?"

They exchanged an uncertain glance with each other and looked back at Gabriel apologetically.

"Yeah, I figured it'd be too much to ask," he grunted, maintaining his grip on Sarah's wrists.

"Well, honestly, can you blame us?" Angela asked, shrugging. "You just told us that we're going to have our powers taken away."

"You see? That's where you're wrong. They're not 'your powers'. They were never 'your powers' to begin with. You were born human. Lucifer and Michael stole those powers from a cambrion, mixed them in a blender with some other Angelic powers, and turned you all into their very own personal army." He glanced over at a side-door to the conference room as it opened as a hunter poked his head in tentatively. He nodded at Gabriel in affirmation.

"It's done."

"Thank Father for that," Gabriel huffed, moving Sarah closer to the door. She fought him as hard as she could, her feet scraping on the floor.

"I am NOT going to back to the way I was!" she hissed. "You CAN'T do this to me! I won't let you!"

"Actually, it doesn't work that way at all, " a soft voice said from the small room on the opposite side of the open door. "I just take it back. It was my power in the first place anyway. Therefore I don't need your permission to take it back."

Sarah looked up at the speaker, eyes wild.

"Screw you, Jesse!"she roared, straining against Gabriel's hold, her flying around her head. "You don't deserve it! You never did!"

Jesse stood up from where he was seated behind a long table. Trevor lay on it, unconscious. His chest moved gently up and down and he snored a bit. Two hunters picked him up from under his arms and by his legs and carried him out and further into the main hanger. Sarah watched in horror.

"You stupid, pathetic bastard!1 I'll kill you!" she shouted as Gabriel struggled to move her into the room.

Jesse looked down at the empty table, then back up at Sarah. "No, your killing days are done, Sarah."

Gabriel shot an exhausted glance at Robert and Angela, and shut the door with his foot.

Robert and Angela stared open-mouthed at the door, then looked at each other again meaningfully.

The Roman tapped his fingers lightly on a swirling table top, that wasn't actually quite a table top, just a seemingly solid service he had been able to conjure up. Another of an endless stream of manifested Old Ones was reporting to him.

But he had heard this report before. A thousand times at least.

"We can find no trace of Life, Master Cartaphilus. Anywhere. They are gone."

"Keep your opinions to yourself, creature," Cartaphilus spat. "They are somewhere. We just haven't found them yet."

The Old one shifted under it's skin, it's mouth pulled back in a horrific facsimile of a smile.

"The Universe is ours."

"Is it now?" Cartaphilus purred. "Tell me, if there indeed was no Life anywhere out there in that vast nothingness that you call home, then why are you still manifesting as physical beings? Why am I able to even speak with you? Shouldn't you be able to just go back to 'the nothingness', or the 'void' or whatever you call it? All peace and quiet?" Are you really that clueless, so non-analytical, he thought to himself. Only see what is in front of you, and nothing else. No wonder you lost the War of Creation. "No," he continued, "there is Order out there somewhere, Old One. Order that is balancing things."

The creature bristled. Cartaphilus smiled at the all too humanlike gesture. "You mock us."

"Not in the slightest, I was simply putting a question to the facts of the matter. I want them gone as much as you do, because, believe me, I am having no fun here."

"What can we do, then, Roman?" the monster asked, leaning in, it's black eyes gleaming, drool collecting under it's lips. "Where can we find them?"

Cartaphilus narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. "If I knew that, I wouldn't have to keep having you search for them, now would I?" he growled between clenched teeth. "So stop wasting my time with pointless questions and find them!"

The creature glared at him for a time, then, almost silently, blended into the shadows swirling around them. Cartaphilus looked around him, rage building.

There was no peace for him either. They had hidden themselves away. Someplace safe. Someplace secure, and trapped him here, undying and unfulfilled, his revenge, horribly, agonizingly incomplete.

He opened and eyes and looked down at his clenched fist, at the blood from where his nails had pierced his own palms.

"Damn them..." he whispered into the Dark. "Damn them all..."

Cain looked up wearily when the door to his cell opened.

"Crowley? Is that you again?" he squinted at the frame in the shadows. "What happened out there?"

The figure let out a huff. "Man, is that ever a long story..."

Cain squinted harder. "I know you, I think. You were one of the Heralds. I watched your shenanigans in Baltimore. Zombies. Nice. Real nice. How many people did you end up killing kid?"

The shadow rocked back a bit as if struck, hesitating. "Yeah...yeah...nah, you're right," Leon answered, nodding his head slowly. "I got that coming."

Cain tilted his head. "What are you doing here kid?"

Leon shrugged, moving a bit closer into the room - but not too close. "I think I need your help, if you're asking."

Cain raised his eyebrows.

"My help? Didn't you hear, kid...?" he leaned forward in his shackles dramatically. "I'm dangerous."

Leon considered him and then shook his head. "Man, after the crap that's been goin' down here, I don't even know what that means anymore."

"You should actually pay attention to that little detail, if you want my opinion on that. It could save your life someday." Cain waited for a response, and receiving none, sighed and leaned his head back. "So, you need my help. Why?"

"Nah," Leon answered, holding up a finger and meeting Cain's eyes. "I said that I think that I need your help. I'm already having second thoughts about that."

"Good instincts," Cain answered steadily.

"Whatever, man," Leon answered, turning around briskly and stepping back out of the door. "You wanna be all bad, you can stay down here."

He had almost closed the door when Cain muttered, "OK, fine. Come back in here."

Leon hesitated, turning his head slightly back around, one eyebrow raised a bit in question.

"You know who I am...what I can do...what I'm capable of doing, and you still want my help? And, if I understand you correctly, that entails me getting out of this prison cell?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah, that's about the size of it."

"Intriguing." He let out a breath. "You must be in serious trouble, kid."

"Leon, not 'kid', if you please."

Cain smiled. "Leon. OK. You have me hooked. What's the catch?"

Leon turned back around and met Cain's eyes, not flinching away.

"You can sense power on Angels and Demons, right? I overheard Castiel and Crowley saying that you were one of the most powerful trackers in the world for that."

Cain blinked slowly, considering. "Yes...that's correct."

Leon nodded. "We lost a couple of 'em."

Cain raised his eyebrows. "I'm afraid I'll be needing some more details, Leon. Who is 'We'?, and who is 'Em'?'

Leon grimaced. "Two of the Heralds. Gabriel...he thought they were cooperating, playing along, right? He was concentrating on getting one of them that...wasn't playing along, in to meet Jesse..."

"'Meet' Jesse?", Cain smiled knowingly.

Leon let out a breath. "Yeah...so, he was taking his power back from them."

"Sensible strategy. Go on."

Leon shrugged. "Anyway, he left them alone for like, less than a minute. When he came back out, they'd bailed."

Cain narrowed his eyes. "Huh."

Leon looked confused. "'Huh'?, that's all you got? Whatd'ya mean by 'huh'?"

Cain watched him carefully before answering. "I'm wondering why you're in here talking to me instead of Gabriel."

Leon shifted uncomfortably. "Because he don't know them - Robert, Angela. They're allright, man...good people, even after the power. He don't know them, and..."

Cain nodded. "I see. They're friends of yours, and Gabriel is sicking the dogs on them."

Leon watched him back for a few seconds silently, then nodded his head in affirmation.

Cain sighed. "Unfortunately, Leon, I think I feel the need to be completely honest with you, everything that I mentioned before is true. I am much, much more dangerous - to your friends as well - than anything that Gabriel can come up with. Why send me after them?"

Leon shifted again under Cain's careful scrutiny. "Because you'll find them faster. And if I understood Castiel and Crowley correctly , much, much faster. And...look, I'm going with you. I can...no, I know that I can convince them to come back without any trouble.

Cain smiled benignly, then looked down at the ground sadly. "It's your decision." He raised his blue eyes to Leon's, fixing them with a steely gaze. "I'm not going to pretend that I don't want out of here. I am also making no promises to return here like a good little boy when all of this is done. I tried to warn Crowley about the Roman the last time that we had a little talk, and he chose to ignore me. Judging by the noises that I've heard coming in here from all over the place for the last week or so, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that not taking that advice cost him. Cost everyone." He waited until he saw the confirmation of that guess in Leon's eyes before continuing with a nod. "I know that the Mark that I'm carrying is the key to the Gate, and having an idea of where I am and what I'm up to might seem like a good idea to the people that think that they're running things around here, but I'm sorry to say that I feel inclined to disagree. I've managed to stay hidden away from the Powers-that-Be for a very long time until Crowley and Dean Winchester took it upon themselves to root me out. If it's all the same for all parties involved in my life, I'd like to go back to staying out of everyone's way, and protecting the Mark the way that I see fit. It's my burden, and my call." He watched Leon carefully for any sign, then nodded to himself. "Good, just so we're clear. Also, I call the shots out there, Leon. Are we clear on that as well?"

Leon waited with his arms folded, then finally gave Cain a stiff nod.

"Good. Then let's get me out of here, shall we?"