Dean plays with the ring as Castiel shifts through the collection of relics, weapons and papers in Bela's office area. "Can you just kill her? Isn't there some balance thing? You know, demons and angels?"
"They tipped the scales when they started killing my friends. I'm just going to…add some counter-weight." Castiel retrieves an ancient-looking clay jar and a matchbook from a drawer and pours a little of it on the floor. He strikes a match.
The oil bursts into bright yellow-orange flame as Castiel drops the match. It's mesmerizing. Dean's not even sure what a pitcher of oil is going to do to Anna, but staring at the fire, he's pretty sure it's going to be badass.
Castiel slips the matches into his pocket and the oil into a plain black backpack. "Do you know where Milton Enterprises is?"
They park directly in front of the entrance to the Milton Enterprises office tower.
Castiel leans into Dean, as if they're about to kiss, and Dean starts to raise a protest, but Castiel merely examines the horned mask pendant hanging from a simple leather cord around Dean's neck.
"Who gave you that necklace?"
"Sam. It was a Christmas present from when we were kids."
"It's a very powerful amulet of protection. Think of it as a bulletproof vest." Castiel pulls back and shrugs on his backpack. "You're staying in the car."
Anna stares out the window as she brushes nonexistent dirt off of her pantsuit.
"Hello, Castiel." She feels her fallen brother's presence permeate the room—his Grace always burned differently, not tinted with the stench of rot the way the other Fallen ones were, but different.
"How is Lucifer crossing over, you piece of shit?"
"That's no way to talk to an angel, Castiel." She twists her wrist, and suddenly Castiel is pinned to the glass wall of windows.
"Stay in the car, stay in the car…" Dean repeats it to himself like a mantra. "Stay in the car…"
Castiel has been gone five minutes now, and that's way too long in Dean's opinion.
"Stay in the car…" He clicks the safety off of his gun and stuffs it in his pocket as he gets out of the Impala.
"Fuck staying in the car."
Anna tightens the noose of her powers she has looped around Castiel's neck. "Don't fight it, Castiel. Enjoy it. This is the righteous wrath of God."
Castiel's desperate for air now, but he continues to hunt through the inner pocket of his coat, fingers searching blindly for the hard plastic edge of the box-cutter.
At last, he finds it, grasping it tightly. Castiel's shaking badly but all he has to do is reopen the cut he made previously, if only he can hold the blade steady.
"This is the death selected for you by our Father Himself…" Anna continues to deliver her monologue, seemingly blind to the struggle of the dying Castiel.
Castiel stabs desperately at his own arm. The box-cutter falls to the floor with a clatter as he scoops up a fistful of his own blood and presses it into his stomach.
Bright white light fills the room as Anna is flung backwards onto the table, skin and hair singed. Castiel falls free from the wall. Immediately he stumbles to Anna, kneeling on the table beside her.
"You're going to Hell. I'll make sure of it…"
Castiel grins as he pulls the jar of oil from his bag and pours it around them in a circle. "True. But you're not. I can only imagine the tortures Michael will order you to suffer for helping set Lucifer free. Speaking of which, how exactly is Lilith going to break him out?"
"What are you doing?" Anna's voice is rough now, blurring with her True Voice.
"This is the righteous wrath of God, Anna. I'm handing you over to the authorities."
"Please, Castiel… You know what they'll do to me… Just kill me!"
Castiel tosses a lit match onto the oil. The flames eerily illuminate the scene as he pulls out the only other thing in his bag: a single piece of white chalk. "It will lead to true forgiveness, Anna. You will be welcomed into Heaven."
"You're not an angel anymore! It won't work!"
"Just tell me how Lucifer is crossing over and I'll kill you instead." Anna is silent. "Okay." Castiel starts drawing the Enochian necessary to summon Uriel and Michael on the table around them. He takes his time with each character, giving Anna plenty of time to reflect on her choices.
Yet Anna remains quiet. At last, Castiel is finished with the sigils and he starts to recite the chant. The walls tremble and the floor shakes as he speaks.
"Lilith… Lilith broke the seals on Lucifer's Cage in Hell!"
"How many of them has she broken?"
"Sixty-five. To break the last one, she needs the vessel."
"You know, Anna, I'm Fallen. I can't summon an angel anymore, no this way." Castiel shoves everything back into his bag and steps out of the ring of holy fire. "Enjoy your stay here."
Anna laughed brokenly. "My work here is complete, Castiel."
"Why are you laughing?"
Dean steps into the room, gun aimed at Anna.
"He was my mission, Castiel. And you brought him right to us."
Castiel pulls his angel blade from the inside pocket of his coat and stabs Anna exactly twice, blinding light flooding the room as Castiel grabs Dean by the shoulder and runs with him out of the room.
"Does this walking fast mean you found something?" Dean's in pretty good shape, but he's been running on fumes for the past several hours, and this not-quite-jog is almost too much.
"You and Sam are of the bloodline necessary to host the archangels Lucifer and Michael. You were the brothers betrayed—the eldest, who betrayed his younger brother by denying the truth—making you the perfect fit for Michael and Sam for Lucifer.
"A few months ago you were attacked by a serial killer and got hit by a truck. Medically, you were dead for two minutes. You were revived, though you were almost brain-dead and permanently comatose. And you, Dean, were in Hell.
"You picked up the razor and begun torturing souls in exchange for being spared from torture yourself. You broke the first seal of the Apocalypse. I didn't know that until now.
"I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition. I rebuilt your body and restored your soul. I was hired by Zachariah, the man who drowned himself in alcohol last night, to do it. He could hear the conversations of the angels in Heaven. He said he'd heard it that the one who brought back Dean Winchester would earn great favor in Heaven.
"And now sixty-five of the sixty-six seals on Lucifer's prison have been broken, and all because I wanted back into Heaven." Castiel presses the button for the elevator as he runs a hand through his hair.
"But Sam's dead. Why does any of this matter now? I thought you said that I was Michael's vessel."
"It's the bloodline that matters. You are more of a fit for Michael than for Lucifer, seeing your position in the brothers betrayed, but you'd be just as effective as a vessel for Lucifer. Where's the amulet?"
Dean glances down at his chest. The pendant is gone. "I don't know. Maybe it fell off?" He blanches.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. I just feel…weird."
Abruptly, Dean is yanked backwards, the plaster of the walls and metal of the elevator warping and leaving a comically man-shaped hole as he was pulled through them.
Castiel took off after him, running as fast as he could, pushing supernatural strength through his body. Electrical wires and pipes shot streams of water and sparks everywhere. It was a deathtrap.
He chases after Dean through the ruins of cubicles, meeting rooms and a bathroom, never pausing. At last Dean hit the glass window and flew out of the building. Castiel skids to a halt.