AN: Not gonna lie, I'm not in love with this chapter. It got written over the course of a month, jumps all over this crazy plot I have contrived, not to mention how I almost had a really awkward flaw, and had to come up with a somewhat weak cover up for it. I'm hoping it isn't too obvious what it is that I had to fix, and luckily there are still plenty of aspects of this chapter that I do like. I am rather happy that we get to check in with just about every character I've thrown into this mess- I mean story. And of course, our Sammy is back! Let's pick this up right where we left off!
With a new sense of defiance and determination, hell, practically whole new definitions of the words, Sam stared Lucifer down.
"I remember Dean." He said simply.
Lucifer's upper lip twitched. "Yeah, I can see that."
Having gained his memories back, Sam too felt the humiliation and shame at every bit of weakness he had shown in Lucifer's presence. Not to mention how he'd said 'yes,' oh God, he'd let Lucifer possess him again! But Sam pushed away those thoughts. He'd taken down Lucifer within his own mind once before, he could do it again. He had to do it again.
"Well…" Lucifer broke the silence. "We gonna do the whole 'battle for control of your body' thing now?"
"Damn straight." Sam steeled himself.
Lucifer sighed. "Alright." In a flash, the Devil Sam knew all too well returned. "I'll start."
Before Sam could even flinch, manacled chains snapped around his wrists, and yanked him to his knees. He grit his teeth and tugged against the metal, but then more joined to lock down his feet, and a metal collar even swopped down and wrapped around Sam's throat, barely able to breathe.
Lucifer reached out and snaked a hand around Sam's jaw, tilting his head up, forcing him to wheeze in each trickle of air.
"Don't get hopeful now, Sammy. You may remember your brother now, but I'm still worlds stronger than you. This body is mine now. Won it fair and square."
"Not if I revoke my consent." Sam quipped. "Now get the hell out of m-" The collar promptly constricted, cutting Sam off. Lucifer then conjured up a strip of cloth. Knowing what he was planning on doing with it, Sam tried to keep his mouth shut, but the chains continued to grow tighter and tighter, until Sam was finally forced to try to gasp in a breath, and Lucifer immediately stuffed the gag in, and tied it around Sam's head. Sam jerked in his chains, emitting a muffled growl.
"You know," Lucifer mused. "I think it could be better this way. Now, when I rip apart your mom, Castiel, and your brother, I'll get to listen to you beg for their lives."
Sam lunged as far forward as he could in his chains, shouting what they both knew to be empty threats.
Lucifer smirked at the helpless human.
"Sit tight, Sammy. You're about to have a front row seat to everyone you love dying at your hands."
To Lucifer's amusement, Sam gave another useless shout, and then Lucifer gripped his chin.
"But before I can start the show, there's just one little thing you're gonna do for me." His hold tightened. "You're gonna tell me your brother's phone number."
"Dean." A voice called to him distantly. Dean didn't want to open his eyes. His head hurt too much.
"Dean." Said another voice. "Please wake up, we don't have time. We need to find Jack."
Jack?
Dean's eyes shot open.
Jack.
He immediately sat up, wincing at the sensitivity in his head. He reached a hand up towards it, and felt his fingers come in contact with a fairly large lump. It also felt vaguely sticky, which meant he'd hit it rather hard.
"You back with us?" Mary asked, now by her boy's side. She looked at him, because she knew better than to believe him if he said he was okay.
"Yeah, I'm okay." He answered. Mary squinted, but after she gave him another onceover she determined that he wasn't lying. "What about you two?"
"Fine." She and Castiel answered in tandem.
"How long were we out?"
"Several hours." Answered Castiel. "Jack knew what he was doing when he knocked us out."
Dean dropped his gaze. "How could he just give himself up like that?"
Castiel sighed. "It is what any of us would have done to keep one another safe. He- he really loved us."
"Whoa, take it easy." Dean stepped in. "Don't start talking about him like he's gone, we're gonna find him."
"How?" Mary asked solemnly.
"Cas, you've gotta have something." Dean practically pleaded.
Shaking his head, Castiel admitted, "Nothing easy. The best, and likely only option would be to find the location of the British Men of Letters base, and hope that that is where Jack is."
"And if it's not?"
Castiel grit his teeth, and anger flashed through his eyes. Dean didn't see that look often, but when he did, it still managed to scare him. "Then we find someone who can- who will tell us where he is."
Dean nodded. "Damn straight. Where should we start?"
"What about Mick?" Mary suggested. "He wasn't with them when they showed up at the bunker, and he never seemed fully on board with how far they took things with Sa- Sam." She flushed, wishing she hadn't brought it up, but she couldn't take it back now.
"Y-yeah." Dean gave a small nod. "That's a good idea. He gave us his phone number, didn't he?"
Mary nodded, pulled out her phone, dialed the Brit's number, and then put it on speakerphone. All three of them sat in silence, praying that he would answer. Each ring was another blow to their ever-diminishing hope. When a monotone voice finally spoke, an unsympathetic tone informing them that the person they had called could not be reached at the time, Mary ended the call. She missed the ability to slam a phone down on a receiver, now she could only flick her thumb down on a screen, no real way to show her anger.
"Damnit." She sighed.
"Did the voice tell you to leave a message?" Castiel asked.
"There's no point." Dean huffed. "If he won't answer our calls, no way he's listening to our messages."
"So what do we do?" Mary asked. "Just keep calling?"
"It's our best shot." Said Dean. "But in the meantime, we hit the books and hope one of 'em's got the location of any other bunkers here in the U.S."
"And if they don't?" Castiel asked.
Dean's jaw clicked. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Now c'mon, we don't got any time to lose."
A sudden burst of light had Jack squinting and tensing as he startled in his bonds. He shifted as his eyes adjusted to the light, and he was able to make out the face looming above him. Ketch, if he remember correctly.
"Hello." He greeted. "Did you have a pleasant ride?"
Jack frowned. He'd been cramped in the trunk of a car for several hours. How on Earth would he have been comfortable? He shook his head. His brow deepened further when Ketch just chuckled at his response.
"Come along, lad." He gripped Jack by the back of his collar, and hauled him up and out of the trunk. Jack realised too late that his legs felt- off, and he found himself unable to stand. His legs felt weak, and tingly, and they were mildly numb, but they somehow still hurt too.
He glanced up at Ketch pleadingly. He couldn't help but be afraid of what was happening to him.
Ketch just rolled his eyes at him. "Wonderful. There's just enough human in you for your legs to fall asleep."
Jack just tilted his head, a lost expression painting his face. How could his legs be sleeping? They weren't alive… were they?
Ketch gave an irritated huff. "Bloody hell, it's an expression." He yanked Jack back off the ground again, bearing most of his weight as the nephilim stumbled. "And to think Lady Bevill was actually afraid of you."
She was? But why? She'd never even met him, he'd never done anything to hurt her. Or anyone. Maybe his father- Lucifer, he inwardly corrected himself- had hurt them. Jack just never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially not his friends.
He was dragged forward again, and he was grateful to realise that he once again had feeling in his legs. He was ushered into a large building, going through all sorts of doors, and he was finally pushed into a chair in the middle of a dimly lit room. A swarm of people followed Ketch in, all holding numerous weapons.
"Now, Jack," Ketch said softly, but Jack couldn't find any comfort in his voice. "I'm going to briefly undo those handcuffs, but if you try anything, well…" He glanced towards the armed Men of Letters. "Let's just say that these weapons may not be able to kill you, but you'll likely wish they had. Understand?"
Not really. Jack was cooperating, why were they being so forceful with him? Maybe Dean had been right about them, and he shouldn't have handed himself over to these people. No. This was the right choice. If he hadn't done this, then they would have hurt, or even killed his friends, so he nodded.
"Good answer." Ketch smiled, and unlocked the cuffs only to force the link through a bar in the back of the chair, effectively shackling Jack to it. Ketch yanked on Jack's wrists, testing the stability, and he was delighted to hear the creature give a frustrated grunt.
"Comfy?"
Jack frowned again. He was beginning to think that Ketch didn't really care about his comfort at all.
Ketch turned to the people standing behind him, and waved them away.
"Sir," One of them spoke up, "Are you sure-"
"Would I have ordered you to leave if I wasn't?" He sharply cut them off. "Now go. Me and-" He paused. "Jack," He sounded almost amused. "Have some chatting to do."
The rest of the Men of Letters left, so Jack was now completely alone with Ketch. He swallowed.
"Don't seem so worried, lad." Ketch said as he moved behind Jack, untying the gag. Jack licked his lips. "We're just going to have a nice, little talk."
A talk? Okay, that wasn't so bad.
Then Ketch suddenly grabbed Jack by the jaw, and forced him to look into Ketch's cold, unfeeling eyes.
"But if you don't answer every one of my questions willingly, I have ways of making you."
Jack couldn't take this treatment anymore. He wasn't a monster, he didn't deserve this, so he yanked his head out of Ketch's grip, and stared him down. "I've never hurt anyone. You don't need to be acting like this."
Ketch chuckled, entertained by Jack's outburst. "Now that's not entirely true, is it? You hurt the ones you claimed were your friends when you gave yourself up to us."
"Because you were going to kill them." Jack snapped back.
"They were protecting a monster."
"What exactly makes me a monster? I know that I am half of my father, but I am also half of what you are, human. I came here with you willingly because I'd hoped to better understand my powers, how to use them to help people. But I'm starting to see that you don't want to help me, you just want to use me, and hurt me. So to me, it seems like the only monster here is you."
Ketch was the one who snapped this time, with a vicious backhand to Jack's face, and he quickly yanked his head up to make Jack meet his gaze.
"You are nothing but just another insect to be squashed, you are only alive as long as you are useful." He shook Jack's head out of his grip, a new rage roaring in his eyes. "And since you apparently have no further desire to cooperate, I will have to turn toward less pleasant methods of dealing with you." He turned his back to Jack, and began rifling through a duffel bag.
Jack flinched backwards as Ketch brought out a knife, much like one of the many knives he'd seen in Dean's collection. Jack had been hurt a few times in his relatively short life, and he had always healed instantaneously. He almost chuckled at the memory of the failed attempt to get him a tattoo. But he didn't really feel like laughing at the moment.
Without another word, Ketch thrusted the blade forward into Jack's shoulder, and he screamed at the sudden agony. Ketch quickly ripped the blade out, and stared at the wound, watching in awe as it quickly closed up, no trace of the injury left behind.
"Fascinating." Ketch breathed out.
Jack was confused. "Wh-what was that for?"
"An angel's ability to heal has always been an intriguing but elusive topic of interest for the Men of Letters. We've wanted nothing more than to utilise that ability for ourselves. Hunting is a dangerous profession, you understand." He turned around again, but Jack was still able to make out Ketch assembling some kind of needle. "So, if we were to harness an angel's ability to heal, well," He turned around, and had far too eager of an expression as he approached the futilely struggling Jack. "Surely you can see how convenient that would be for us."
"What is that?" Jack couldn't take his eyes off the needle. It was much different than the one the man had used at the tattoo shop, and he felt instinctively more afraid of it.
"Oh, just something one of our resourceful pencil pushers came across in one of our many bunkers. It's specifically made for extracting grace out of angels. You wouldn't mind loaning some of yours, would you?"
Actually, Jack would mind. He had no idea if he could survive without his grace. Or if he could, what the consequences would be. Would he still be able to heal himself if he got hurt? What if they took too much? Could they take out so much power that he wouldn't be- himself anymore? With all those panicked questions flying through his head, one thought rose above them all; he missed Castiel. But he couldn't run into his father's arms right now, all he could do was hopelessly shake his head.
"D-don't. Please."
Ketch only smiled at him, and then jammed the needle in, and slowly pulled back on the plunger. He didn't really have to go slowly, but the boy had started annoying him, and needed to be taught a lesson.
So when the boy, the monster, started screaming in pain, Ketch's smile only grew wider.
AN: So yeah. Clearly I'm not a fan of Ketch as a good guy. He was so much better of a character as a villain, so that's what he's gonna for however long he's gonna be in this story. Which may not be for very long… Anyway, enough indirect foreshadowing, here is your-
Sneak Peek: "But now, [Sam] was trying to keep his screwed up family safe, so he'd never give up. At least not soon enough for Lucifer's non-existent patience."
As an added bonus of a sneak peek, I'll also tell you next chapter's title: Family Reunion. Which family? Well, guess we'll just have to see. Yikes, that's like four cliffhangers all at once. That was not my intention at all, but I'm determined not to keep you waiting for nearly a whole month for it. Again, sorry about that, folks. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I personally really enjoyed the parts with Jack, that boy is just too innocent for his own good. Let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I will see you soon!
