"Devron?" Anna echoed the name back. Seems she was unfamiliar.
"Yeah he's down on South. Been with the cult for years now. And he's a good choice for information. The people in the cult seem to deal with him, rather than enjoy his presence. Chances are we'll be able to capture him for interrogation with relative ease," Dean clarified.
Sam knew who Devron was, "Dude's bat shit loco. Didn't he get charged with cannibalism a few months back?"
"Yeah. It said he was acquitted a few months back when a witness came forward at the last-minute," Dean replied.
"Probably another cult member," Anna quickly caught on to the conversation.
"So what do we know about his location?" Castiel asked.
"I know where he squats at. I say, Anna and I smoke in and scope the building out. Then we can decide the best way to take it. I'm willing to bet there won't be any more than three baddies in there. Between all of us that should be easy," Dean clearly had thought this out before this conversation came up. He took out his pistol and set it to condition III in preparation for bed.
Castiel looked a little awkward. This is a subject he wasn't familiar with. All of it was sneaky and subversive. He is always straight forward. This includes combat. He's never relied on tools to defend himself either. His own strength and god given grace was all he'd needed.
Dean felt himself smirk. Looks like was going to get an answer to his earlier question. "Cas, if we do this there will be guns," Dean made eye contact wanting to see his reaction, "Can you handle a weapon? Do we need to worry about you?"
That ruffled Castiel's feathers. His pride bruised at the idea that he was less than capable, "I am proficient in combat."
Castiel could hear Sam rise even though the Winchester tried to remain silent. The priest knew the brothers would want a demonstration of his capabilities before they trusted Cas with their lives. He pretended to act unaware of Sam and responded to Dean, "I have no need for a gun."
Sam took a swing at Cas. Without looking the priest caught Sam's fist. Castiel squeezed, using impressive strength to twist Sam in his grip. The tall man stumbled and landed on his knees. Cas kicked his shoulder hard enough to knock him over onto his back. The priest felt Dean's hand clasp on his shoulder, barrel of the pistol was pushed against his head.
Castiel reacted. He flashed to Dean's right and seized the gun's pistol grip. Cas noticed the pistol had it's safety on, and Dean's finger was straight along the barrel. So this was a test as he'd thought. Quickly he twisted and applied force to Dean's wrist. Now the weapon was under Castiel's control. Dean's arm was trapped at an awkward backwards angle, bent so his elbow and shoulder were useless. The angle forced his shoulders downward a little, making him lean forward unnaturally.
Calmly Dean instructed, "Now that you have positive control, disarm the weapon." His tone was conversational and didn't appear strained.
Okay this part wasn't his strong point. Normally he'd just remove the weapon and that was it. He'd never rendered the weapon useless before. He did recognize the magazine release button, and hit it. Expectedly the magazine dropped all the rounds on the floor. Then he froze. Unsure of the next step.
Sam stood and smiled at the priest, impressed. Sam is a big guy. It's not an easy feat to make him buckle. Anna rose from her seat, "Okay me and Sam will get a few hours rest. You can review basic weaponry with Cassy. We'll all be up by 0530?"
Still in a prone position Dean replied, "Yeah, see ya." He was trying to surreptitiously free himself while the priest was distracted. He was failing.
Anna was already out the door, eager to sleep. Dean spoke up just before Sam departed, " 'Ey Sammy, don't get her pregnant ya hear?"
Sam gave a quick quirk of a smile at the jibe. His mixed eyes darted to Cas pointedly before saying, "Be sure you don't get pregnant either."
Dean realized his incapacitated position wasn't exactly manly and finally tapped out against Castiel's hand. Once released he stood straight he threw out, "Bitch."
"Jerk," Sam grinned. Both brothers were amiable as the door shut. All of that night's fighting washed away and forgiven.
The complexities of the Winchester's relationship eluded the priest. How were they happy about insulting one another? Before he could address the questions he formed, Dean started talking again, "We'll go over the pistol now, and then again in the morning. If we have time I'll also go over the shotgun later."
Cas still has reservations about handing guns. Much less learning the intricacies of their mechanics. On the other hand, he knew that it was good information to have anyways. Especially if his companions were going to utilize them. Dean grabbed a towel from the bathroom and laid his pistol on it's side on the bed. Castiel could see the safety was on, and the load indicator showed a round was chambered.
Both men sat opposite one another, the pistol pointed away from both of them. Dean took a moment of silence before he field stripped it as quickly as he could. It startled Cas at how many parts were actually involved with such a small firearm. It wasn't many, but at the same time it was more than he'd anticipated. When finished Dean smirked to himself, proud of his efficiency.
The two men spent the next 45 minutes slowly reviewing each piece, it's purpose, and how to assemble it. Then after practicing with an empty mag. they moved on to stripping the weapon. Castiel was a fast learner and was able to strip the weapon almost perfectly the first time. It took only 15 minutes before he proved himself proficient.
"Good, Cas," Dean praised. "How's about we sleep now, and in the morning we'll do a quick review. I'll show you a few of the best ways to strip a weapon when in combat."
That idea Castiel could more than agree with. It was nearing 0100, and they needed to be up in 4.5 hours. It seems Dean has the same drive for mission accomplishment that Cas does. Sleep is only a necessity, and not something to be indulged. Castiel grumbled some sorta response that came across as an agreement.
Dean re-assembled his pistol. He chambered a round and left the safety on as he placed it under his pillow. Neither man was concerned with appearances. Each stripped to a t-shirt and boxers and hastily climbed into bed. Despite the poor condition of the beds, and the somewhat strange smell of the room both men fell asleep quickly.
Neither man dreamed, it was a dark exhaustive sleep that claimed them both. An alarm on Dean's phone broke the silence. The shrill and unpleasant noise startled the two awake. Each man had strong responses to the noise. Dean drew his gun and pointed it at the phone. A part of his mind wanted to pull the trigger, even after he'd identified it as his own. Castiel's reaction was to flash himself out of bed, and directly next to the door. Allowing himself the opportunity to quickly exit. There was a moment when both men felt silly as Dean reached to disable the aggravating noise.
The day's first words were Dean's, "If you don't start walking you'll get flabby," He addressed Castiel as the priest returned to his small bag of items.
The priest gave Dean an unpleasant glower before shuffling into the bathroom for a morning shower. He snagged the free conditioner and shampoo and cleaned himself. He took the time to align his thoughts for the day. Mentally he reviewed the things Dean had taught him. He also steeled his resolve for probable combat. He stepped out of the hot shower after only a few efficient minutes to shave, brush his teeth and dress in his usual clothing. He mentally sent Anna a small prayer thanking her for cleaning his clothes. He didn't receive a response but that was okay.
When he stepped out Dean was already dressed, opting to skip the shower. Dean quickly addressed Cas, "Let's review the pistol until Anna and Sam are ready." Castiel assumed food would come into play once everyone was up and moving.
Castiel quickly stripped and re-assembled the weapon correctly on the first try so they moved on to applying the information in combat. Dean took the position of a more average baddie. Slowly, step-by-step the two practiced what the best steps were. The first thing Castiel needed to remember was to move the muzzle away from himself, and to be sure he doesn't re-direct it towards someone else. All the time avoiding getting bitten by the slide should the baddie fire in surprise.
Next he needed to see the load indicator to see if a round was chambered, and usually it would be. If so then he'd have to eject the round and remove the magazine. It's a lot of steps. So to make all of them easier, he needed to just assume full control of the weapon, then take the steps to disarm it. This was unless, and Dean stressed this point, he wanted to use the weapon himself in which case he could skip the disarming steps and merely assume possession.
Castiel never agreed to anything and instead absorbed the information as it was given to him. Dean clearly had lots of exposure to firearms and it's handling. Castiel added weapons proficiency to his list of 'Things Dean Can Do That I Can't And Am Slightly Jealous Of' list. The rate at which that list was growing was a bit concerning.
It took them about 20 minutes to fully explore the basics. Castiel really was a quick learner. It was 0530 as they finally moved on to shotgun basics. Seeing as how the priest understood the pistol well enough, a shotgun would be even easier. The only kind Dean had in his bag was sawed off, but the functions weren't affected by that fact.
Cas just wouldn't get a real feel for the weight of a normal shotty or get the feel for the kick back without firing. At least he could get an idea of it's functions. "This'll have to do," Dean said as he passed the weapon over.
"What's wrong with it?" Castiel felt the need to ask.
"Nothing, you just won't get the ability to experience this properly. We can't really fire it here," Dean explained.
Castiel figured this was a good segue to introduce him mentally. "Then just think of the last time you fired. I'll observe it," Castiel explained simply. He would enter Dean's thoughts and not only obtain information, but also allow Dean's mind to accept his presence. For some reason this seemed important to the priest.
Dean looked a bit wary, but closed his eyes and did as instructed without complaint. It helped that he'd been introduced to mental intrusion by Anna. He seemed to keep forgetting Castiel had the same capability.
Castiel reached out and gently touched the man's forehead. He didn't have to, but it provided a clearer link. Castiel saw himself in Dean's memory. They were in a dirty broken down building and Dean had a furious green eye man charging at him. In slow motion he placed himself in Dean's position and felt himself pull the trigger. The weapon pulled upward and buried itself into his shoulder, right into space between his socket and collar bone. The feeling was not comfortable, but not horrible.
He saw as the projectile scattered into smaller fragments before it buried itself into the enemy. The force of it knocked the man back. Several puncture wounds made itself present on the man's chest. Dean's mind didn't supply a name for the target. As the memory faded he pulled back out of Dean's mind a little and allowed himself to just remain as a non-threatening presence. He tried to convey, without words, the idea that Dean should be familiar with him so that way if he reached out to Dean in the future it wouldn't be such a shock.
Dean seemed to accept it for a little while. There was silence between the two. Each adjusting to the others existence. There was little other way to explain it. There's a lot that composes a person, even in a general sense, these few moments were like reading a resume. Each man got a general idea of one another. The seconds passed and they pulled away at the same time. Opening their eyes to the world again.
It was a peaceful feeling and smoothly they moved into the more detailed steps of handing the shotgun. Just as they were reviewing how to combat load and it's advantages, Sam and Anna entered. Both seemed a bit groggy, but fully dressed and ready to go.
Sam smiled fondly, "Combat load? Saved my life a few times."
Dean nodded but cut off the training and changed the subject to food, "Ready for breakfast? I think there's a diner between us and Devron."
He walked away from Castiel like he was never there. Something stirred in the priest, but he smothered it. No time for feelings now. He'd deal with that later. Right now they have a job to do.
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So the group's about to go into ass kicking mode. I'm assuming from the show that the boys get as much sleep as I normally do. So until they catch a break, they're gonna have long days.
Hope you enjoyed, drop a review before you go!