CHAPTER 8

When he got to the roof Oliver stopped, turned back to the warehouse , he could get a decent view of it from this location. He grabbed the infrared goggles and put them on, instantly he was blinded when he looked at the walls of the warehouse. They glowed red hot, like the walls themselves were emitting heat. He ripped off the goggles and turned to face the brothers.

"Here look through these. Can you explain this? " He handed the goggles to Dean who peered through them.

" Damn! That's some serious spellwork. " Dean said and handed the goggles to Sam so he could take a look.

" Well, that's something we haven't seen before. I guess it makes sense that rituals would emit some sort of heat or energy. You can pick up spirits on cameras but not always see them. We should start packing these, be nice to know if we are entering a magically protected or possessed building before we get attacked for once. " Sam said.

"What does this mean? " asked Oliver. Sam and Dean looked at each other, they knew what was going on inside the building but they weren't sure how much the Vigilante would believe what they would have to say. As if he sensed the reason for their hesitation he spoke.

"Look, you gentlemen seem to be the experts here. Those things are afraid of you and you have a weapon that stops them. Just tell me what it is, even if I don't accept what you have to say as reality I will suspend my skepticism to help stop this. "

"Well that's a first." Dean said, "If only all the people we had to help were as willing to listen as you are. Fine, they are trying to open a gate to hell and release more demons. The kids are a sacrifice to pull it off. Major rituals like this require major amounts of blood, pain and death. Lillith, that's the queen bitch demon, is coming here in 2 days to pull it off. Your little man made earthquake adventure brought out a lot of rage, anger, hate and pain in this city. All that stuff attracts demons like hyenas to a carcass. If she opens the gate, what this city suffered during that earthquake will look like a picnic by comparison. "

Oliver turned away from Dean and bowed his head, another wave of guilt and frustration at his inability to stop the Undertaking poured through him. He heard Sam's voice behind him.

"You tried to stop it didn't you? "

"Yes, tried and failed. 503 lives were lost, including the life of my best friend" Oliver replied. Once again Dean was surprised at his brother's intuitive leaps. Oliver looked over his shoulder at Sam. Sam's eyes were haunted but filled with understanding of loss. Sam pushed his hair back from his face in what appeared to be a nervous gesture and somehow Oliver knew that these two men would be some of the few people who could understand what he felt and dealt with.

"Look. " Sam continued "We've all been there. The past is the past though and we have to stop this now or those 503 lives will be just the beginning. "

" I know. " Oliver took a breath and continued. " There are 20-30 kids inside, and as I said about 39 demons from what they said. . I got access to the most recent of the blueprints to the building. My plan tonight was to try to see the layout of where the kids and the guards were by using the goggles but that doesn't seem to be an option with this spellwork or whatever blocking out everything. " Just then he heard Diggle in his ear.

"Oliver, I got a look inside the place. I have a rough idea of the layout and you're not going to like it at all. I'm heading back to the where I parked. Meet you where I dropped you off in 20 mins. "

"Correction. " Oliver said " I have a contact who got a look inside. He's meeting me in 20 minutes. Let me see if he is ok with meeting you two. " Oliver walked away from Dean and Sam and spoke to Diggle

"Are you ok meeting the Winchesters? Did you bring anything to disguise yourself? " Oliver said.

"Yeah if you trust them. I am not worried about being recognized I don't think they will be hanging around after this is over. "

" Ok, your call. Meet you there. " Oliver turned to walk back to the brothers and noticed they seemed to be in the middle of an intense conversation.

"Sam really? This guy may be good but he's an amateur when it comes to this. He'll only get in the way. " Dean said

" Dean, look 39 demons and 20 or 30 kids. We need the help, he has information and he sure as hell won't let us do this alone. Most importantly he's willing to listen and at least hear us out. How often has that happened to us before a bunch of people died? Besides we are on a deadline. He has more to lose than we do here." Dean realized Sam was right and was going to be stubborn about it. Dean just didn't want to get another amateur killed or worse. He shook his head and turned away signaling that although the conversation had ended he didn't like the result. The Vigilante was walking back to them.

"My contact is willing to meet you. We have about 20 mins to get there. " Oliver said and then started heading across the roof.

"Hey Arrow guy." Dean called " We have a car. How about we do this using modern technology? " Sam winced. Oliver realized that he and Dean we're going to have to have a conversation and fairly soon. Well, no time like the present.

"Dean, I'm going to assume that you are incapable of having a civil conversation with anyone other than your brother and your idea of diplomacy or tact is stuck in the same place as that Colt you carry that dates from the Wild West era. It's either that or you are just an impertinent asshole that needs people to prove their worth to him. If it's the first I'll ignore your constant tactless remarks, if it's the second I'll prove my worth to you in 60 seconds or less. " Oliver put his bow down and faced Dean head on. A huge grin split Sam's face and he backed away from Dean clearing space. This would be entertaining. Dean got a lopsided grin on his face.

" I think I'm going to like you after all. However since you offered. Show me what you got. " Dean handed the Colt to Sam and turned back to face Oliver and he saw that under the hood the Vigilante was also grinning a bit.

Both of them were too experienced to rush in and start throwing punches, Oliver backed up a bit to get Dean clear of the ledge, he didn't want to accidentally throw the guy over. Dean closed first and threw a right hook at Oliver's face. Oliver easily dodged the blow, grabbed Dean's arm, capturing it in a joint lock which bent Dean over, as Dean was heading to the ground Oliver circled behind him, hit the nerve clusters in the back of Dean's leg with his knee. As Dean's leg collapsed he twisted throwing Oliver off balance and used a hip throw to get his arm free. Oliver rolled onto the ground and popped up facing away from Dean, he spun around and threw a kick at Dean's head. He pulled it so as not to injure him, Dean's head wasn't there though. Dean had crouched low and ducked the kick while launching forward to try and tackle Oliver. Oliver completed the kick and used the momentum to twist enough to break Dean's hold and brought his fists down on the back of Dean's neck once again pulling his power. Dean rolled forward and Oliver hopped out of the way and took a fighting stance behind Dean.

"Well well, not too shabby there Arrow. " Dean said as he turned around and shook his head a bit. He could tell that the Vigilante was pulling his speed and strength quite a bit. He had been as well since this was just a sparring match but still, in that few seconds of fighting he could tell he was outclassed when it came to martial arts. Sure he and Sam could hold their own in a fight, but they were brawlers, this guy had had some serious training. He wasn't even breathing hard, he was relaxed, completely balanced on his feet and had some serious body control. Dean hadn't even gotten a hit on him and had been nailed twice in spots that, if this had been a serious bout, would have left Dean incapacitated for sure.

Oliver was also sizing up Dean. His first impression had been right. These guys were brawlers, tough to be sure, strong and fast for their size but no real match for him. He knew though that Dean was going to be the one he had to win over. For whatever reason Sam already trusted him to an extent. Dean however, was protective and suspicious of anything new in his world it seemed. Oliver couldn't have Dean doubting him when the fight started.

"Well Dean. Do we waste more time here or do we get this job done? " Oliver asked. Dean walked past him back to Sam.

" We have a job to do Arrow, let's go. However I am not hopping rooftops all night with you, that's just ridiculous. Our car is parked on the other side of this alley let's go already. "

Oliver was hesitant to be hiding in the back of someone else's car, he felt somewhat foolish at the thought of that. He hesitated. Sam came to his rescue though.

"Look, how about you meet us somewhere with your contact? You'll probably want to fill him in more on what's going on." Sam said.

"Good idea. There's an abandoned church on 5th Ave and Peach St called St Michael's it was deemed unsafe after the quake. It's about 2 miles away we can meet there. "

"Wait a second, it's abandoned? " Sam asked.

'Yes. " Oliver replied "Why?" he asked as he picked up his bow and put his arrows back in his quiver.

"It's a trap." Ruby said from behind Oliver. Oliver whirled and had his arrow pointed straight at Ruby's heart in a second. Dean and Sam were impressed with how fast he moved.

"Who are you? " Oliver asked

"She's our very own demon oracle. " Dean said. Sam sighed.

"This is Ruby, she helps us sometimes, she's a demon but says she isn't as evil as the rest. That's still up for debate. " Sam said. "Oh and she sort of appears out of thin air, you get used to it. " Dean huffed in exasperation.

"Thanks for the oh not so flattering introduction. That Tara chick was a demon trying to get you here. So you may want to relocate your gathering. A bow and arrow. How cute. " Ruby said. Oliver was getting rather tired of being called cute and quaint. "Anyway, don't go there. I can't be much help to you this time, if I get much closer to that building they will know I am here and I don't love you boys enough to take on that many demons with your usual plans. I can tell you though that there are some in there that the Colt will not affect, so think with something other than the gun in your pants Dean. It will only hurt for a little bit I promise. " Then she disappeared.

" Ok then. Abandoned warehouse 3rd and Mill 1 mile south of here. Get your phone out and I'll tell you the address so you can find it. " Oliver said. Sam got his phone out "2322 West Mill Ave, there's a sign on it that says Queen Consolidated Warehouse 2 . We will meet you there in about 30 minutes. The door on the west side should be unlocked. " Then Oliver turned, jumped back down onto the wall and towards where Diggle had dropped him off.

Sam and Dean watched Oliver fade into the shadows.

" Well, that was different. " Dean said.

" Yeah. " Sam replied, then smirked and looked at Dean, " He so would have kicked your ass."

" Would not have. I was going easy on him. " Dean retorted in an injured tone. "Get that grin off your face. I didn't want to hurt his ego. Any guy that has to wear a costume to fight crime or whatever must have a self confidence issues. " Sam bust out laughing and hopped down onto the wall and he and Dean headed back to the Impala.

"Seriously though. What do you think? "Sam asked Dean.

" Of what, the fucked up situation or our new ally? "

" Both I guess. "

Dean sighed "I think Arrow guy will be an asset and he seems to be shooting straight and telling the truth. " Dean glanced up at Sam who just gave him a "you had to go there" look. Dean smirked "As far as the job, let's see what this guy's contact says. If he can give us a good idea of the layout maybe we can get this done without it turning into amateur night. I really don't like kids as hostages though. Too many things can go wrong in the panic, we need to get them out first somehow. "

"I agree. Well let's head to this warehouse and see what the guy says. "

The two of them made it back to the Impala and headed out to the address Oliver had given them.