Supernatural: No Exit
A/N: I'm back! And boy am I looking forward to tomorrow since this has been a long week for me, especially since two days ago, I attended my grandmother's funeral, and today I babysat my nephews for a few hours and I'm exhausted. _
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural or Criminal Minds. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER ONE: JO'S CASE
"Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother."
Deuteronomy 22: 1
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Three weeks ago…
It was nighttime in one of the first major cities of the United States, and in one of the apartment complexes, a tenant was having troubles with the lights in her flat.
The young blonde woman, who was attending the local college, was pacing under the flickering lights, and was talking on the phone with a very annoyed tone.
"I checked the fuses," she told the landlord as she sat down on the couch. "They're fine. It's the wiring. Look, you promised the place would be ready when I moved in. No. You come up now! Please. Thank you."
Huffing, she clicked the cordless phone off and set it aside; she then grimaced at something on the table, she reached out a finger and dabbed at a strange thick black goo that hadn't been there a second ago.
"Gross," she groaned, quickly wiping it on a paper napkin. Just then, more goo dripped on her shoulder. She looked up at the ceiling, but couldn't find a source, and she was now getting scared. Standing, she went over to the light switch by the wall, and discovered that more of the goo was oozing thickly out of it.
"What the hell?" she muttered as more of the goo dropped onto her shoulder again; creeped out, she looked deeper into the light switch. A creepy, bloodshot eye appeared, and she screamed, backing away.
Present day…
The Winchesters were heading for Philadelphia; a few days before, they'd promised Ellen that they would go to the city to look after Jo, who'd run away to work a case that she'd been researching for a while now, and they'd promised to bring Jo back to the Roadhouse safely once the case was done.
"So, what'd you got?" Dean asked after passing a sign that informed them that they were halfway to their exit, and nodded to the file that Sam was looking through.
"Well, I have to give Jo some credit," Sam commented. "She's done her homework. Anyways, according to this: three weeks ago a young girl disappeared from a Philadelphia apartment, and it turns out that she wasn't the first. Over the past eighty years six women have vanished. All from the same building, and all were young blondes. Only happens every decade or two so the cops never noticed the pattern. So we're either dealing with one very old serial killer, or –"
"Or we're dealin' with something that likes blondes," Dean finished. "Which means Jo's setting herself up as bait."
Liz tsked. "Good thing we don't have Penelope or JJ here with us."
"Same here," Sam agreed, still looking through the file. "I think I'll send all of this to Garcia and see if she can do more research for us while we track down Jo and figure out what we're dealing with," he suggested, getting positive agreement from Dean and Liz.
Jo didn't like arguing with her mom and even running out on her like this, but she was determined to work this case herself, and prove that she could be a great hunter just like her late father.
'At least mom isn't blaming Dean, Sam, and Liz for what happen to my dad and their dad all those years ago,' she thought as she used her charm on the landlord in order to gain access to the apartment that the woman had disappeared from three weeks before.
"Oh, it's wonderful," she gushed as she entered the flat and pretended to admire the place, which was fully furnished, and turned to smile brightly at the man waiting in the doorway. "I'll take it." And was about to pay him-
"Hey, honey," Dean said, side-stepping the surprised landlord and strode right over to Jo, who was doing her best to hide her own shock, and wrapped an arm around her waist while both Sam and Liz waited in the hallway. "So, you're gonna get this sweet place?"
"Of course, sweetie," Jo responded as she accidentally stepped on his foot. "This is my boyfriend Dean and I'm sure that his buddies Sam and Liz are waiting out in the hallway."
The landlord nodded, getting over his surprise. "Good to meetcha," he responded. "Quite a gal you've got here."
"Oh yeah, she's a pistol," Dean agreed, smacking Jo's ass.
"Oh…um, Ed, when did the last tenant move out?" Jo asked.
"Oh, about a month ago," the landlord answered. "Cut and run, too. Stick me for the rent."
"Well. Her loss, our gain!" Dean declared, smacking her ass again. "'Cause if Joanna loves it, it's good enough for me."
"Oh, sweetie," Jo asked while mentally vowing to kill him for using her full name; she then pulled out a wad of cash. "We'll take it."
Once the landlord was gone and they'd gotten all of their gear into the apartment, Jo confronted the Winchesters, who were now using EMF readers to search the apartment.
"What are you guys doing here?" she demanded angrily.
"Your mom sent us," Dean answered as they continued searching. "You getting anything?" he asked his siblings, getting two negatives.
Jo frowned. "What, to drag me back to her?" she asked.
Dean shook his head. "Nope, to help you with this case, and then take you back home once it's solved."
Jo rolled her eyes. "Of course, she doesn't think I can do a simple hunt on my own."
Liz sighed. "Jo, we don't know what we're dealing with just yet," she pointed out. "And until we do, I don't recommend calling this case a simple hunt …it might be a bad one."
Sam was checking the walls and was running his reader over the light switch, when it started purring. Positive that he had something, he leaned over to examine the light switch and saw something strange. "What's that?"
"What?" Dean asked as he, Liz, and Jo joined him.
Unsure, Sam reached out, touched the goo, and held up his fingers to examine it; after a few seconds, he realized what it was. "Holy crap."
"That's ectoplasm," Dean realized, showing some of the goo to Liz, who grimaced, and Jo. "Well, Sam, Liz, Jo, I think I know what we're dealing with here. It's the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, I've only seen this stuff, like, twice," he pointed out. "I mean…to make this stuff you have to be one majorly pissed off spirit."
Dean nodded, fully agreeing with that statement. "All right, let's find this badass before he snags any more girls."
Soon, the Winchesters and Jo were cleaning their weapons and going over blueprints and pictures that Penelope had sent their way, adding to what Jo had managed to find either on her own or with Ash's help.
"I'll flip you for the sofa," Jo told Dean teasingly, and the oldest Winchester rolled his eyes, cleaning his handgun.
"Where'd you get all that money from, anyways?" Liz asked.
Jo smiled. "Working, at the Roadhouse."
Dean had a hard time believing that. "Hunters don't tip that well," he pointed out.
Jo smirked. "Well, they aren't that good at poker, either." She then sat down at the table and began flipping a small knife as she gestured to the blueprints and photos. "This place was built in 1924," she explained while Dean began pacing. "It was originally a warehouse, converted into apartments a few months ago."
"Yeah? What was here before 1924?" Dean asked.
Jo shrugged. "Nothing. Empty field."
"So, most likely scenario, someone died bloody in the building, and now he's back and raising hell," Sam suggested.
"Ash and I already checked," Jo informed him. "In the past eighty two years, zero violent deaths. Unless you count a janitor who slipped on a wet floor." She then looked at Dean. "Would you sit down, please?"
Reluctantly, Dean sat down. "So, have you checked police reports, county death records…?" he began.
"Obituaries, mortuary reports and seven other sources," Jo interrupted. "I know what I'm doing."
Dean didn't look convince. "I think the jury's still out on that one. Could you put the knife down?" he requested, and she reluctantly did so.
"Nice knife, Jo," Liz commented.
"Thanks."
"Okay! So, uh, it's something else, then," Sam said, thinking. "Maybe some kind of cursed object that brought a spirit with it."
Jo brightened up. "Well, we've got to scan the whole building. Everywhere we can get to, right?"
Dean nodded. "Right. So. You and me, we'll take the top two floors," he told her.
Jo frowned. "We'd move faster if we split up."
Dean shook his head firmly. "Oh, this isn't negotiable."
A while later, Jo and Dean were walking down a dim hallway with EMF readers.
"So. You gonna buy me dinner?" Jo inquired.
Dean frowned at her, not understanding. "What are you talking about?"
Jo smirked. "It's just if you're gonna ride me this close it's only decent you buy me dinner."
Dean scoffed. "Oh, that's hilarious. If you think I'm letting you out of my sight…I don't know if you've noticed, but you're kind of the spirit's type."
Jo grinned. "Exactly."
"You wanna be bait?" Dean asked, shocked.
"Quickest way to draw it out and you know it," Jo teased.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh."
"What?" Jo asked.
Dean groaned. "I'm so regretting this."
Jo stopped walking and faced him, annoyed. "You know, I've had it up to here with your crap."
"Excuse me?" Dean asked.
"Your chauvinist crap," Jo snapped. "You think women can't do the job."
"Sweetheart, this ain't gender studies," Dean retorted. "Women can do the job fine. I mean, look at Liz; I've seen her cut the head off a vampire without even wincing. Amateurs can't. You have no experience. What you do have is a bunch of half-baked romantic that some barflies put in your head."
Jo rolled her eyes. "Now you sound like my mother."
"Oh, and that's a bad thing?" Dean asked. "Because let me tell you…" but he didn't finish the sentence.
"What?" Jo asked.
Dean shook his head. "Forget it."
Jo wasn't about to let him off the hook. "No, you started this."
Dean sighed. "Jo, you've got options," he finally told her. "No one in their right mind chooses this life. My dad started Liz and I in this when we were so young…I wish I could do something else. And so does Liz."
Jo frowned. "You love the job."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, but I'm a little twisted."
Jo chuckled. "You don't think I'm a little twisted too?"
Dean sighed. "Jo, you've got a mother that worries about you, who wants something more for you. Those are good things. You don't throw things like that away. Might be hard to find later."
And they resumed walking; while Dean turned the corner, Jo stopped in front of a grate. She was so focused on her EMF reader, that she didn't notice a dark hand sliding through the holes towards her legs; feeling a sudden chill down her spine, she turned around, gasping.
"What?" Dean asked, halfway down the hallway.
Jo shivered, despite her jacket. "I'm not sure."
Dean rejoined her and his nose twitched as something in the air caught his attention. "You smell that?"
Jo sniffed. "What is that, a gas leak?"
Dean shook his head, frowning. "No. Something else. I know it. I just can't put my finger on it."
Jo crouched by the grating, and her EMF reader began purring.
"Mazel Tov," Dean said, putting away his own EMF reader. "You just found your first spirit."
Jo nodded. "It's inside the vent."
Dean crouched next to her, shining his flashlight through the grate for a few seconds, and then handed it to her. "Here." He pulled out a screwdriver and unscrewed the grating, pulling it off the wall, having spotted something. "There's something in there. Here."
He then reached his arm inside, feeling around; he pulled his hand out, holding a clump of bloody, blond hair. "Somebody's keeping souvenirs."
Meanwhile, another young blonde woman entered her apartment, carrying mail; she dropped her bag on the counter and started opening a letter, muttering to herself. While she was reading the letter, which was an invite to a party, some black goo dripped from the ceiling onto the paper; grimacing, she crumbled up the paper and tossed in the garbage. Just then, the lights flickered; looking up, she saw a large crack appear in the ceiling.
"This building, I swear to God," she grumbled.
A loud scraping sound pulled her eyes back up; a long crack was moving across the ceiling. Panicked, she ran and picked up the phone, but got only static.
"Screw it, I'm out of here."
She ran to the door and tried to open it, but it refused to open. Hearing a new noise, she looked down by a grating near the floor; a pair of creepy slimy hands suddenly reached out and grabbed her legs. She screamed as they pulled her to the floor.
A/N: The evil spirit strikes again! R&R everyone!