A/N: Apologies for the delay in posting. I have been running short of time and inspiration lately. Hopefully, this is a satisfactory chapter for you all. Thanks for all the positive reviews for the last chapter! :)
"What do you mean?" Gibbs blasted, the look on his face volatile. "You can't tell us or you won't?"
"Both," Dean grunted, lifting Sam's phone from beside the monitor. "We need a few...private minutes to hash this out. Wanna make sure what we're tellin' you is right before we go makin' assumptions." He jerked his head toward the back door, their escape from the tension that had filled the kitchen. Quickly, he fell in behind his brother as they tromped down the hallway, looking back briefly over his shoulder. "Just...keep an eye on Ziva. We'll be back soon." He faced forward again, exhaling shakily as Sam pushed open the back door, closing it securely and putting his back to it as they stepped through.
"What the hell is goin' on there, boys?" Bobby demanded through the phone which crackled slightly with the volume of his voice.
"Valkyries," Sam repeated, scratching the back of his head. "They've upped the ante...killing off military personnel by sacrifice."
"But didn't Lucifer kill a bunch of the gods at that...hotel they lead you to?" came the question over the phone as the sound of quickly flipping pages filled the air.
"Yeah, Odin included. All that were there but Kali." Dean rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets. That had been the night Gabriel, their best hope for ending the Apocalypse without sacrificing themselves, had been killed.
"Then why would the Valkyries be so hot for blood? It's not blood they need...it's souls."
"I think it's time to call Cas," Sam offered, directing his gaze toward his brother.
A second passed before the sound of fluttering wings sounded behind them and Castiel stepped out of the shadows, joining them on the small deck. "I was near," he offered by way of explanation to his sudden arrival. "You made progress much faster than I anticipated."
"Yeah, well, this team doesn't drag their feet...especially when one of their own is in danger," Sam retorted, his mind falling first on Ziva, then McGee. The latter had been the reason Ziva had been so anxious to begin the mission, and now her life was in danger because of it.
"What have you discovered?"
"Valkyries," Dean answered, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded the angel beside him. "Valkyries are making the sacrifices."
An uncomfortable look passed over Castiel's face, not unnoticed by the brothers.
"What do you know?" Dean pressed, turning fully to face the dark-haired angel.
Castiel sighed. "There have been whispers, rumors passing through Heaven since I learned of the sacrifices. The number of warriors dying world-wide has increased exponentially in the past two weeks. This seems to be the center...where the most activity is taking place."
"Odin's gone, Cas. We practically watched him die." Dean narrowed his eyes, his brow furrowed in thought.
"That's exactly the conclusion I have reached," Castiel affirmed. "The Valkyries are attempting to resurrect Odin. The souls and the blood of the warriors are needed...I am just not certain how much it will take. It seems there has been no decline in the number of warriors taken...I can only assume they are not yet finished."
Sam rested hard back against the door, gazing up at the sky, his thoughts returning to Ziva. They had let her walk in to a hive of women who were trained for nothing but battle without knowing what they were getting into. Getting her out now looked to be a slim chance.
"Cas," Dean cleared his throat, glancing over at his brother, "we sent an agent in."
The angel paused for a moment, his eyes seeming to unfocus. "Ziva." It was a statement, not a question. He could sense her presence was missing from the house. "That was the right decision, Dean. She is highly capable of doing what needs to be done."
"She's been brainwashed, Cas. We watched it happen." He settled back against the railing. "We need to get her out of there. How do we do it?"
"You sent her in without a plan to get her out?" Cas asked incredulously, his eyes widening slightly.
"No, we had a plan," Sam countered, his face reddening. "Now we need a back up plan."
It was a long moment before Castiel replied, seeming to mull over options in his mind before he offered to speak again. "Seeing a familiar face or hearing a familiar voice would most likely shock her back to the present. I would assume Ziva is not as susceptible as many others. It should not take very much to bring her back."
Sam released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, feeling a bit of hope for the first time that night.
"So what's our next move here?" Bobby ventured, slightly startling them. Caught up in the moment, they'd forgotten that Bobby was still on the line, hanging on to every word.
"Odin cannot be allowed to rise. At any cost, the ritual must be halted." Cas stared at the wooden boards thoughtfully. "Once the ritual is halted, we must ensure that they cannot try again."
"How do we do that?" Sam asked quietly.
Castiel met Sam's eyes, his gaze fixed and intense. "We must destroy Valhalla."
000086753090000
"Ariana," Leslie said quietly, holding Ziva back as the rest of the women filed out of the room, heading to the center room as they'd been instructed. She offered the Israeli a smile as she pushed the door closed, locking them in privacy. "All is...not as it seems with you, is it?"
"What do you mean?" Ziva asked, worrying her fingers along the hem of her shirt.
"I mean that you could have handled your husband's temper if you had wanted." She crossed her arms, returning to her close study of the newcomer. "You are a strong woman, Ariana. You are meant to be one of us."
"One of you?" she repeated, her confusion evident.
"Yes." Leslie smiled, stepping closer to Ziva, reaching out to take her hands. "You are destined for great things. You are meant to become a Valkyrie."
Ziva stumbled slightly, looking up in disbelief at the woman who held her hands. "A Valkyrie? Me? N-no." She blinked, shaking her head. "I am Israeli. I am Jewish. The strength in me comes from my service to my country and my people. That is all."
"So loyal." Leslie shook her head sadly. "You do have the choice, you know. You can embrace this gift and become one of us, and never have to worry about being mishandled again. We are feared, respected, even worshiped."
"I...I..." Ziva shook her head, taking a step back.
"You don't have to decide now. I will wait." She opened the door. "There's a little demonstration tonight that I think might just change your mind." She smiled, stepping out into the hallway, leaving Ziva alone.
The Israeli leaned back against the wall, her mind spinning.
000086753090000
McGee looked toward the end of the hallway, his eyes resting on the closed door. He sighed heavily, pushing aside the catch in his chest as he did so. "What d'ya think they're talking about?"
"I don't like all this secret stuff," Tony murmured. "Seems farfetched, I know, but I'd rather hear the truth...what they're thinking...so at least we're on the same page."
Gibbs grunted in agreement, his shoulder finding a hard rest against the wall.
"They probably have a good reason for, ya know, not telling us," Abby finally offered, chewing anxiously on a hang nail. "I mean, Valkyries..." she trailed off, her eyes on the monitor. "And they're obviously hot for Ziva. The Valkyries, I mean...not Sam and Dean. Well, Sam maybe, but not in the way that the Valkyries are."
"We get it, Abs," Tony said quickly, silencing the rambling from the worried forensic scientist. He couldn't, however, disagree with her. The younger brother was obviously highly attracted to Ziva and had fought to keep her from going into the shelter alone. Tony knew that, if anything, he wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize her, at least, and by proxy, the team. "How ya holdin' up, probie?" he asked instead, directing his attention to the agent by his side. "Feeling okay?"
"Honestly?" McGee looked over at his partner, the exhaustion rimming his eyes overly obvious against his pale skin, the pain lines standing out starkly as if inked across his face. The longer he was up, the worse he felt. His only relief came when he was sedated, drifting toward his end in medicated oblivion. "I'm dying, Tony." He furrowed his brow, swallowing awkwardly over the lump in his throat. "Constant pain while I'm awake...can't do anything on my own. Even sitting up takes more concentration than I have to spare."
"Should we go back to bed, Timmy?" Abby asked quietly from her seat at the table, her slightly widened eyes resting on his face. Worry was eating her alive.
"No...I need to be here," he whispered, turning his attention back to the monitor. "I swear, it's like I've seen this before."
The team fell silent, all eyes coming back to watch Ziva as Leslie held her back in the room alone. They watched with bated breath as the offer was laid on the table in front of a confused Ziva who now believed she was, indeed, Ariana. Their only comfort now was that the cover had worked, and at least two of the women believed she was indeed, only Ariana and nothing more.
Sam and Dean rejoined them a few moments later, the phone now safely tucked back into Sam's front pocket. Their return drew the attention back away from the monitor again as it appeared Ziva was walking alone among the hallways now. All eyes now rested on the brothers, waiting for an explanation.
Dean released a heavy sigh, shifting his weight as he searched for the words he needed. "Well," he began, clearing his throat nervously, "the good news is...we're about ninety-five percent positive we know what's going on."
"And the bad news?" Gibbs ventured gruffly.
"The Valkyries are attempting to raise Odin from the dead," Sam finished, an expression that bordered on sickness painted across his face.
"Odin's dead?" Tony queried, obviously surprised. First they'd learned mythology wasn't exactly mythology, and now they were being told that one of the great pagan gods was dead. "That doesn't exactly make much sense."
"We watched him die," Sam answered quietly, feeling his brother shift uncomfortably by his side. "Odin, Mercury, Ganesh, Baldur...to name a few. Lucifer killed them. He killed his brother Gabriel...the same night. Kali would have died if Gabriel hadn't stepped in."
"Lucifer?" McGee repeated faintly.
"Yeah," Dean answered, his hands finding his hips. "Look, for my brother's sake, this is somethin' that doesn't need to be discussed, okay? You guys know how the Apocalypse was supposed to work...well, it almost happened. Lucifer tore through those bastards like they were paper."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as each person fell into their own thoughts, digesting what they'd just been told, guessing at what they were soon to face and what needed to be done.
"So, what do we do?" Abby finally questioned, breaking the heavy silence.
"Research," came the answer from the younger brother. "Find a way to defeat the Valkyries...then we destroy Valhalla."
tbc...