s Tony woke in a basement, cuffed to the rock wall. It took him a moment to remember they had been following a weak lead on a serial killer. Apparently the lead hadn't been so weak. After making sure Ziva was merely unconcious, Tony glanced around the dimly lit room and cringed. They weren't tied up in here alone; there were two civilians chained to the opposite wall. How the hell were they meant to save not only their own asses, but these guys as well?
He watched in surprise as the older looking one groaned as he woke, kicking the other's leg to wake him up. "Sammy, wake up man." He kicked him again, a little harder this time. Sammy groaned and lifted his head slowly, looking around. Happy that Sammy was awake the older one turned his head to look around the basement. He froze when his eyes landed on Tony and Ziva. Then his eyes landed on their badges and he grimaced.
"Great, not only are we chained to a wall in a basement, but we're locked down here with Feds. How bad is our luck going to get Sammy?" he went back to studying their surroundings, seemingly not needing an answer from Sammy.
Tony blinked, shocked. Normal people would have been overjoyed to be trapped with trained agents. Slowly, the tickling thought in his mind made it to the front. "Jesus, you're Dean and Sam Winchester…aren't you?" He felt Ziva tense, she had been planning to play dumb as to who they were, but Dean obviously didn't care if they knew who they were or not. Otherwise he wouldn't have voiced his disgust of being trapped with Feds.
Dean snorted in amusement. "Give the man a prize!" there was silence for a moment as Dean let that sink in. "Hey, can either of you get out of your cuffs? It would be better if you're not chained to a wall when this guy comes back…"
Tony was…speechless. Tony was never speechless, but he was now. A man who the FBI considered to be a psychopath was trying to help him get away from a serial killer. Tony shook his head. "I'm used to putting them on other people man, not picking them…"
Dean sighed, sounding tired. "Alright, Sammy, how are yours coming along?" he asked it like he would ask if a cup of coffee was ready. A moment later Sammy's hands were free; he was checking Dean's cuffs as soon as he was on his feet. "Nah man, mine have been…tampered with. Go unlock the agents, huh?"
Just as Tony's cuffs fell away from his wrists, the door to the basement bounced open and they heard footsteps on the stairs. Someone was coming, and Ziva was still chained to the wall, as was Dean. Tony didn't know what to do; they had no weapons. Sam grabbed Tony by the shoulder and hauled him under the stairs so they would be out of sight.
The man stopped and stared when he got to the bottom of the stairs and found two prisoners missing from their places. He turned on Ziva with a snarl and Tony almost launched at him. Sam's hand held him back, calm and controlled.
"Hey, fugly, you don't really want to hurt her. Her cuffs are standard; you soldered mine so I couldn't get out. I'm the one you really want to fuck with." Dean paused to smirk up at the guy. "You know there are some pretty big players who want a piece of me. You'd best hurry before they take your new toy away…"
The guy took four steps and drove his boot into Dean's ribs so hard that Tony heard the crunch of breaking ribs. Sam tensed but didn't move; he just kept his eyes on Dean and waited. Another kick to the ribs and Dean started to laugh. "Come on man, is that the best you've got? I was in the Pit with Alistair man! You think there's anything you can do to me that hasn't already been done, that isn't weak compared to the master?"
The guy was suddenly holding a knife, Tony wasn't sure where it had come from, and dropped to his knees in front of Dean. The first cut had Sam tensing, gripping Tony's shoulder tighter when the agent went to move out again. Four cuts later and the man sat back to smirk at Dean who was taking deep, calm breaths.
"It still hurts though, doesn't it? The pain still burns and the blood still falls. I can keep you in here forever Dean. I'll hurt you till you're nearly dead, then I'll heal you up again." There was a slight giggle at the end.
Dean laughed a fully amused belly laugh. "Man, you can cut on me all you like; it's all preschooler shit." The guy turned back to Ziva, but turned back when Dean continued. "The only thing that could break me, the only thing that could truly hurt me, is if you made me torture Sammy with the contents of that duffle bag that was always at his feet. That rusty old knife in the bottom of the bag. Bobby's knife. That would kill me man. Such a pity Sammy got away."
There was dead silence for a moment before Dean shrugged. "Or, you know, if you don't give me pie that would hurt too. Worst thing about the Pit, no pie." Then he started singing a Metallica song loudly, and off key.
It took a moment for Tony to realise that Sam had let him go and was rummaging through a duffle bag at his feet. Dean had told him what he needed to do. Sam rummaged through the bag, the noise covered by Dean's continued singing, and eventually pulled out an old rusty knife with symbols carved all over it. Sam's eyes widened a moment before a grin appeared. He hadn't known about the knife, but he was happy about it.
Tony was still wrapping his mind around the fact that Dean could notice the duffle, remembered exactly what was in it and where, and be able to get that message to Sam without their captor realising it. All with broken ribs and deep cuts, chained to a wall. Before Tony realised Sam was moving he had the knife buried to the hilt at the base of the guy's neck. Light flashed from inside the guy before he fell to the ground.
Sam made a move to go to Dean's side but the older brother shook his head. "Let the lady out of her cuffs first Sammy, mine will take a while…"
While Sam was working on Ziva's cuffs he glanced over his shoulder at Dean. "I can't believe you could copy Ruby's knife from memory Dean. Sure, we had it for a while, but I couldn't copy it…" Ziva's cuffs clicked open and Sam stepped back before offering her a hand to stand.
Dean shrugged, glancing away from his brother. "Ever wonder why Ruby's knife can gank a demon, Sammy?" Sam nodded slowly, not liking where this was going. "The tools used in the Pit, they're all carved up the same way. The symbols multiply the pain, but they also tie into the demon makeup – anything with those symbols will always be able to gank a demon. It's the symbols, not the knife, that do the killing."