Don't need a reason
Don't need a right
There ain't nothing I'd rather do
Goin' down,
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!
The sun beat down on the '67 jet black impala as it raced down the lonely freeway stretch, leaving nothing but dust in its wake and the ringing classic rock for all the wheat fields to hear.
Dean's head was bouncing as he sang along, left hand at twelve o'clock on the wheel, right arm outstretched to the passenger seat, typing 'anime porn' on his brother's laptop while Sam snoozed away, all the while Castiel sitting in the backseat, staring straight through the windshield as if trying to shatter it with his vision.
The sharp ring of Bobby's old cell phone burst into the car, diverting Cas's attention from the windshield to the glove box where it had been stored since the brothers lost their father. Dean, who had completed his mission to ruin his brother's inevitable awakening already anyway, reached for the glove box, and removed the flip phone. He flipped it open, releasing a "Hello?" into the receiver.
A gruff voice grunted back in response, "This Bobby Singer?"
Dean's jaw clenched and he tightened his grip on the wheel, while glaring more aggressively down the empty road. Cas's stare at Dean softened, yearning to ease his pain and help bear his burden.
"No. He's dead."
The muffled sound of shattering glass made its way to Dean's ears. The voice of hunter on the other end changed from worried to angry, and he continued,
"Well, whoever the hell you are, you ought to know there's a massive demon infestation going on in Black Eagle, Montana. You do handle this stuff, right?"
Dean scoffed, "We'll get on it." A small grin crept onto Dean's face at the idea of having a job. He hung up, and put the phone back into his pocket, before shifting gears and taking the junction to start heading north.
"Hello, boys."
Sam jumped, eyes wide at the sight that met him on his open computer screen. He slammed the laptop shut and pushed it to his feet, twisting to see Crowley, and drawing the pistol from his coat.
Castiel's stare at the demon held all kinds of malevolent intent, and he went to break the Demon's nose with his elbow, but Crowley caught Cas's arm before it made contact.
"Squirrel, control your boyfriend." Completely unamused, Dean responded by drawing his Demon-killing knife and getting ready to stab, while keeping one hand on the wheel.
"What do you want, Crowley?" Sam growled steadying his weapon against the bouncing from the car.
"Oh, not going to say hello, are we Moose?" Crowley grinned, but was only met with faces of steel. "Fine then. Straight to business," Crowley replied, unfaltering. "You're going to turn this old heap of junk around, or I'm going to…Nah, you're going to turn this old heap of junk around. I mean, no need for threats around friends, right?" Crowley's grin had been drifting and settled into a scowl.
Dean patted the side of the impala, "Don't listen to him, baby, you're beautiful."
Cas shifted in his seat, uncomfortable out of the blue. His sharp blue eyes ran over Crowley's black suit catching his uneasy expression and stopping on his questioning eyes. "What are you hiding?" The former angel tilted his head right twenty degrees, squinting as if the answers were hidden in the folds or pockets of the demon's suit.
Crowley opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the ring of his phone. He pulled it out from his suit, "Sorry, luv. Gotta take this. Hello?" The demon vanished.
Sam and Dean shared a look, "Step on it." The impala raced onwards.
Castiel looked worriedly on through the windshield, occasionally stealing a glance at Dean to see if he was okay, eyes softening in the process.
"Damn Crowley, man"
The impala pulled up the entrance path to Black Eagle, where there was a barricade made up of six adults, two men and four women. Three were in military uniform, one was a police officer, one was a firewoman, and the last was an oaf with a tactical shotgun. In a wave, their eyes turned black, and Dean swerved tossing Sam the demon killing knife while Castiel drew his angel blade and the demons opened fire on Dean's baby.
In return, Dean ran over every single one of them, knocking them down long enough for Sam and Castiel to safely get out of the impala and start ganking those creeps left and right. Three were down before any started to move again. The Oaf sat straight up just in time to take an angel blade directly through his throat. The remaining two demons shared a glance and as one stood up to continue firing on the now exposed hunters, Sam shanked it, and the other one began to exit its meatsuit and as the black smoke began to eject from the demon, Sam began to shout:
"Et Secta Diabolica, Omnis Congregatio, Omnis Legio, Omnis Incursio Infernalis Adversarii, Omnis Spiritus, Exorcizamus!"
The reverse chanting of the first half of the exorcism forced the demon to remain in its host long enough for Castiel to impale it on his angel blade. He grimaced when her blood sprayed across his face.
Dean drove the impala back down the road, and the three of them met up for supplies. Arming themselves with a few pistols loaded with devil-trap bullets and their demon killing knives, Sam, Dean, and Cas took off into the city.
"Sir. There's been a perimeter breach. The angel and the Winchesters are in the city."
The Demon did all but gulp in fear when bringing bad news to his King, and not for no reason. Crowley turned to face his minion and the demon flinched at his sight.
"Oh, that's fantastic. How about you just walk them right up to the door and draw a nice little 'X' on my heart for them to stab. Or, STOP FAILING YOU BLOODY IDIOT"
The Demon King rose, and stuck his chin out and showed his crony an extended dead stare before uttering, "Now find me the car."
Dean, Sam and Cas continued to sneak through the desolate town in search of anything other than abandoned buildings and dust. They didn't find it.
"Dean, I think that everyone in this town has been possessed." Sam anxiously remarked.
"Like no one left at all?"
"Like no one left at all."
"What would Crowley want enough to possess an entire town? I mean it isn't exactly subtle." Castiel remarked.
Dean rolled his eyes, "Oh and you're the master of subtlety, Cas."
"Dean, he has a point." Sam interjected, "Someone's going to notice if an entire town suddenly goes missing, and Crowley usually doesn't want to get noticed."
"Okay fine Sam, but-"
"Hello, boys. Mind telling me what you're doing in my neck of the woods?" Crowley appeared leaning against a pillar, scotch in hand, but quickly stopped leaning in order to brush the dust from the pillar off of his suit.
"Crowley," barked Dean and Cas in unison, both drawing their blades and advancing on the demon.
"Uh-uh-uh, you wouldn't want to do that." Crowley smirked stepping to the side of his potential attackers as they slowed to a stop. "Not without at least hearing my offer."
Crowley sipped his drink, letting Dean reach the point of being one movement away from stabbing the pompous demon where he stood before continuing, "I have something you need."
Dean rolled his eyes and the sass spread across his face, "What do you have that we could possibly need?"
"Well that god awful nightmare that you call a 'car' for one."
Sam and Castiel both stole a glance at Dean, who looked as if he were about to turn Crowley into a distant, unpleasant memory.
Cas spoke first, "You…took the baby?" spreading a blend of confused and hope that he was saying it right.
Before anyone regained the ability to speak and attempt to respond to that, Cas continued, "You aren't allowed to have the baby. Only Dean can have the baby." Cas shifted his stance to be more combat ready.
Dean couldn't let it slide, "It's not the baby Cas."
Cas looked quizzically at him, and Dean just shook his head and returned his attention to Crowley, who was still stuck with Sam staring at Cas.
Crowley shook his head, as if to wake himself from a daze, and popped his eyebrows up before remembering what he'd been speaking about, "And, I have your lives. This entire town has been possessed by my soldiers, and even those IMCOMPETANT MORONS would be able to take you down. So leave, and you can keep your car and live another day. Or I can just kill you now and destroy that disgusting pile of clutter on wheels." Crowley appeared to begin pondering to himself whether or not to continue offering their survival. Cas leaned into him and menacingly uttered,
"You don't threaten the baby."
His stare piercing where Crowley's nonexistent soul would be if it hadn't been twisted into oblivion while it was in hell. Crowley was taken aback for a moment, and then passed an uneasy chuckle and struggled for anything to say before Sam hijacked the conversation.
"If you wanted to kill us you would've done it already. No, you want us to go away. Which means there's something here we can screw up just by being here." Crowley's eyes avoided making contact with anyone else's and Sam took that to mean he was correct.
"I'm going to kill you if you don't leave." Crowley spat at the three of them in a desperate attempt to distract them. It didn't work.
"That true, huh?" Dean grinned, and sprayed the contents of the flask he'd opened when everyone was distracted by the Demon king.
The holy water scorched Crowley's skin and steam rose up off of him. He instantly vanished back to wherever he'd come from.
Dean nodded to the rest Sam and Castiel, signing that it was time to move as quickly as they could and avoid or kill any demons in the area in order to not die. They all started to run.
Back in his lair, Crowley doubled over in pain. He shook his head, flinging holy water around the room. He stalled for a moment, waiting for the pain to die down before he collapsed into his black leather portable throne, his actual one in hell was much larger and on fire, and straightened his tie.
"Whelp! Heel!" Scurrying into the room came a skinny man in full military garb, "Yes sir what do you need sir?" The fear was almost concealed on his face, but not quite. Crowley's disgust at this 'fine' specimen was barely hidden, "Who the hell are you? And how have I let you live this long?" Crowley signed to disregard the previous inquiries and continued on, "The Winchesters are running loose in the town. Find them and STOP THEM. And you've found the car, yes?"
The demon nodded, and gulped.
"Slash the bloody tires."
The demon nodded and began to turn away, but Crowley stopped him "Oh, and finally, triple the security around the site, and under no circumstances LET THEM IN."
Sam, Dean, and Cas sprinted through the town in search of any lead. Sharply turning a left around a gas station, the family reached one of the edges of town, leading straight into the deep green woods. They all stopped for a moment, staring at the trees, and then Dean started to pick up the pace again. Cas, always ready to follow Dean, began to follow but Sam was hesitant. He began to edge toward the wood, but a much slower rate than the other two. Dean noticed, "Sam what are you doing?"
"Dean, we don't know what's out there. Staying in the city and finding Crowley is a better plan of action than running into the woods."
"Really, Sam? Staying in the city and getting killed or worse by the demons that are everywhere is a better plan than getting out and circling the city until we find why they're here? No, we're going into the woods."
Sam rolled his eyes, jutted out his chin and flared his nostrils before expressing his frustration verbally, "No, Dean, getting lost in the woods-"
"We're not going to get lost, Sammy!"
"Dean's right, Sam. We can't be out here much longer without the demons finding and overwhelming us. And we can't stay here and argue about it any longer, either." Cas was pleading Sam to agree, his sharp blue eyes showing the sorrow hidden inside the angel. Sam tried to fight, but the apology laced within Cas's stare brought him down.
Dean was still staring at the two of them as if they were crazy, and was about to start yelling at them to move again, but Cas turned forward again, and simultaneously Sam shifted his weight forward and began to jog toward Dean and the forest. They ran.
Dashing between the trees, through streams and over boulders the trio raced aimlessly until the sharp sound of a car misfiring rang across the town and into the forest. Castiel mistook the sound for a gunshot, drew his blade and put his back to Sam and kept Dean within his view. Sam and Dean both recognized the sound and stopped in their tracks, standing tall and trying to identify the direction it had come from.
Cas looked quizzically at the hunters, lowering his blade and standing up, but opting not to inquire as to their actions until he had a greater understanding of the situation.
Sam and Dean shared a glance, agreeing on the direction of the sound and started to run again. Cas followed.
They approached the dirt road cutting through the forest, and slowed down, ducking for cover as the armed guards looked out, their anticipation unending. Further down the road there was a demon kicking a dirty, formerly silver truck in frustration. Sam, Dean, and Cas crept along the edge of the woods, barely remaining out of the perception of the demon guards positioned along the road, moving away from the town down the path.
The King of Hell had his legs stretched out under his desk, left elbow crammed against the arm rest of his throne, massaging his temple. In his right hand, was a glass, containing scotch that had aged for six hundred years in the hands of a family who had traversed across the Atlantic Ocean, bringing the then two hundred year old scotch with them, only to hop on a wagon and take the dangerous path across the United States, reach and then settle in Montana, become a core member of the community, and finally be completely butchered by demons because they were still holding on to that scotch. Crowley's whelp raced in, clutching a white postal box for dear life.
Crowley looked up, his disgust completely evident on his face, and then sipped his scotch. "What do you want?" The whelp appeared to be melting underneath his King's gaze, as if unable to cope with the power behind it. He wiped his dripping brow with his sleeve, almost dropping the box but managing to prevent its collision with the floor. He stood back up, box in hands, shaking as he set it down on his Lord's desk.
"M-Majesty," he stuttered, "It's here."
Crowley's eyes widened and darted to the box, downing the scotch and snatching the package, tearing it open before it even reached his lap. He stared, long and hard into the box, before sharing a cheeky grin and raising his head to face the whelp.
"Finally."
Crowley snapped his fingers and was gone.
After following the trail unnoticed for what felt like hours, Sam stopped with Cas and Dean trailing right behind him. They had reached the end of the path, which opened up into a small, circular clearing, containing only demons and encircled with massive stones that had engraved and painted with countless emblems and designs.
Cas and Sam both shot a worried glance at Dean.
Dean looked at Cas first. His face scrunched in annoyance and frustration.
"Warded?"
Cas nodded, and Dean looked to his brother, who's expression was that of approaching panic. "Yeah, I know."
He turned back to Cas, "Where are the key sigils?"
Cas turned to the ring of monoliths and pointed to a few.
"But Dean, how are we going to reach them?"
Sam butted in, "Yeah, and Dean there are still about twenty demons per rock between us and whatever is within those rocks."
Dean looked annoyed, "Really, Sam? I hadn't noticed." He directed their attention back to the demon infested ring.
Sam was undeterred, "Dean, we need a plan."
Crowley appeared in the center of the rings, clutching the package dear to his chest. He turned, unwittingly turning his back to the Winchesters.
Dean's body turned away from the ring, but his eyes remained completely focused on the King of Hell.
"Cas, we're going to need the paint from baby. Can you-" Dean was cut off by the whoosh and disappearance of Cas, followed by his sudden reappearance, three cans of spray paint in hand. He stared for a brief moment at Cas, who had furrowed his brow in worry, which Dean found to be the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.
Somehow, despite the circumstances, half a grin broke out across Dean's face when Cas landed. As if his return was a proper reminder that they not only could, but would win.
Cas held out the cans to him, and Dean grabbed two, tossing one to Sam.
"Okay Cas, you're playing distraction, kill as many demons as you can, but get them far away from the rocks."
He turned to his brother, who was focused on Crowley, who had begun chanting something almost undiscernible.
"What is he doing?" Sam inquired haphazardly, with no proper response expected.
Dean began to open his mouth, sarcasm locked and loaded, but Cas stepped forward, placing a finger on Dean's lips and listening in to Crowley's chanting.
His expression of flustered worry was quickly replaced with that of sheer and utter panic.
His now widened eyes shot over to Dean.
"Dean-" he started before pausing.
"Cas, what is it?"
"He's trying to blow open a gateway. To hell."
The brothers were confused.
Dean lead, "A gateway to hell? He can do that?"
Sam piled on, "Why hasn't he tried it before?"
Cas caught them before they continued, "He shouldn't know how. In fact, I can only know what he's doing because it's hardwired into angels to recognize it in case this ever happened."
Dean stopped them from wondering too much about the why, and got them back onto action.
"Back to the plan. Sam, you and I are messing up the warding until Cas can get it, and then we're killing this son of a bitch."
Cas nodded, appeared on the other side of the clearing, with his angel blade drawn.
"Crowley!" he bellowed, his deep voice travelling across and alerting all of the demons and Crowley to his presence.
The demons, being of such little intelligence that Crowley had placed them on guard duty, all surged at Castiel, allowing Sam and Dean to burst out of their cover and sprint fast as all hell toward the sigils they needed to take out.
Crowley took a recess from chanting, to roll his eyes at the stupidity of his followers, before yelling, "STOP THEM YOU BLOODY IMBECILES!"
The demons, if they did hear it at all, completely failed to respond and continued discharging their respective firearms at the angel while his sword slashed and stabbed through their forces.
"Oh yes, keep shooting the angel. Because obviously that works."
With two of the three sigils disabled, Crowley returned to his chanting.
Sam and Dean raced as fast as they could to reach the final sigil.
They reached it, and began to break it with the spray paint.
Castiel slashed through demons like a whirlwind, and the warding began to wither out of existence.
Unfortunately, the King of Hell is a fast chanter.
The ground began to sputter, embers exploding out of the center of the ring.
A single hand, in a crisp navy suit shot out of the fiery hole in the ground.
Crowley snickered, "Really? Cliché much?"
Castiel smote the final demon, right as the brothers finished breaking the warding. He barreled toward Crowley, blade drawn, but slowed after the demon drew his own angel blade.
Castiel stopped nearby Crowley and the suited form crawling out of hell.
"Crowley what are you doing?" The anger and adrenaline from battle was still running through his system.
"Oh yes, Cas, I get all tingly when you take control like that."
Dean responded on Cas's behalf by shooting Crowley in the back of the shoulder with a bullet that had a devil's trap carved into it.
Crowley groaned, "M, give me a hand would you?"
He grabbed the arm of the escaping suited form and yanked it from hell. Sam reacted just a moment too late, and destroyed the spell allowing the portal to remain open.
The earth snapped shut, but 'M' straightened himself, cracking his neck. He then straightened his tie with one hand and dug the bullet out of Crowley with the other. With the bullet trapped on 'M''s finger, Crowley shattered it with his blade.
"Oh please, Crowley. I like it when you use my name."
"Not now. We need to leave."
Sam, Dean, and Cas formed a triangle around the demons.
'M' grinned his cheekiest grin, and cackled, "Oh no, we can't go. The fun is just beginning."
Cas figured it out first, and shifted to attack 'M'.
It did not go unnoticed. "Eh, eh, eh, little angel." He drew a pistol from his suit and pointed it straight at Dean's heart. "Wouldn't want your little boyfriend to get hurt."
"I wouldn't want a knight of hell to escape, either."
Sam stopped moving for a moment, "What's a 'knight of hell'?"
Crowley, visibly frustrated with the Winchester's ignorance, spat, "Abaddon."
Sam and Dean tightened their grips on their weapons.
'M''s phone began to ring.
Staying Alive!
He reached into his suit pocket, "Oh I'm terribly sorry, but I'm going to have to take this."
He accepted the call and placed the phone to his ear. There was complete silence outside of the phone for a minute, before he hung up and replaced the phone into his suit.
"Crowley, it's time for us to bid our friends adieu."
Crowley was annoyed, "Who was that? Just crawled your way out of hell and you're already getting calls!"
'M' didn't respond, and simply stuck out his hand for Crowley to accompany him.
Crowley became visibly angered. "Moriarty!"
Sam, Dean, and Cas all shifted their weight back.
"What." Uttered Sam.
Moriarty pulled the trigger.