Ch. 14 We Interrupt This Program...
A/N: Changing Channels
Dean leaned into the motel fridge and returned several items on shelves. When he shut the door and swung around to the table, he eyed a huge sandwich stacked almost a foot high with meat and cheese. He widened his eyes in amazement.
"Woah, I need to grow another stomach."
Laughter erupted throughout the room as Sam swept through the door.
"Hey Sam, what's going on?" Dean asked with a jovial expression.
Sam shrugged casually as he hung his hands on his hips.
"Not much, the usual, impending doom that'll kill everyone on Earth."
Laughter thundered through the room as Sam glanced at the tall sandwich in awe.
"You're gonna need to grow another stomach."
"I was just thinking that!" Dean gasped.
Sam and Dean waited for the boisterous laughter to settle down before picking up their conversation.
"So, did you get any research done?" Sam asked.
Dean passed off a casual look.
"Uh, yeah, I got all of it done," he said. "Stayed up the whole night."
Sam raised an eyebrow in doubt.
"You did? Really? Even the scientific stuff, you know, the chemistry and biology..."
"Oh yeah, that was my favorite part of the research," Dean said with a sly smirk. "I tested the chemistry and explored the...biology...ALL OVER...I was very, very thorough..."
The bathroom door swung open and Buffy emerged in a skimpy navy bikini. She leaned in the doorway and threw a lock of her tousled hair over her bare shoulder.
"Um, that was an interesting...research exercise Dean."
Sam glanced at Buffy curiously as wolf whistles and cat calls erupted in the room. Dean shaded with a guilty look as Sam folded his arms across his chest and drew a scolding frown.
"Research huh?"
"Uh...dammit," Dean muttered.
Off the laughter flooding the room...
Flashback to three days earlier:
Wellington, Ohio
Dean leaned over the sink as he brushed his teeth. After he spit and rinsed, he froze when he felt an odd sense behind him. He threw his eyes over his shoulder to see Buffy perched under the doorway. He stumbled back in startle and flashed in irritated frown.
"God, will stop doing that?! You're getting to be like Cass," he moaned.
"Where's Sam?"
Buffy crooked her eyebrows as her face knitted with an all business look.
"Where is Sam?" she repeated.
Dean wiped his mouth as he took a longer study of Buffy. She had a deep gash on her forehead that was dotted with dark blood.
"He went out to get breakfast," he said. "Are you okay?"
Buffy heaved a breath of exasperation as she charged out to the bedroom. She sat down on one bed as Dean strolled out and gauged her extremely agitated mood.
"What's going on?" he asked with concern.
Almost a half hour later, Buffy wrapped up the details of her report. Dean let out a deep breath and gawked with disbelief.
"So you spent a day and a half with a demon and got nothing?"
"Not a thing," Buffy groaned. "He's really hoping Lucifer's gonna promote him to Evil Dick number one...whatever, the point is, 'ol Lucy is up to something if the demons are pecking at each other now."
"But you don't have any clues?"
Buffy blew out a breath and shook her head.
"Giles and Andrew and I were up most of the night but we don't really have anything solid."
Dean soaked in her deep disappointment as Sam walked in. He took in the somber mood as he dropped a takeout bag on the table.
"What did I miss?"
After being recapped, Sam blew out a long breath as he absorbed the news. Buffy paced anxiously around in the room as her mind spun with scenarios. She became so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed the boys unfolding their FBI suits. As Sam slipped into the bathroom to change, Buffy rubbed her arms and furrowed her brows in deep reflection.
"I'm too antsy, I'm gonna go for a walk," she informed. "I'll be back later."
Dean switched on the TV set and sat down on the end of the bed, fussing with his tie.
"So you don't want in on the headless dude they found?"
Buffy shook her head as she pulled the door open.
"I need to clear my head," she said. "Let me know what you find out. Oh and leave my bag before you take off."
"Will do."
After Buffy exited, Dean flipped through the channels until a show caught his eyes.
Sam plucked the bathroom door open as he picked up his toiletry kit. He frowned when he heard a strange exchange of dialogue.
"...you are brilliant...and an idiot..." said a female voice.
Sam bounded out of the bathroom to see Dean completely engrossed in the television program.
"...a brilliant idiot..." the female voice continued.
"Uh, what show is this?" Sam asked as he slipped into his coat.
"I don't know...some medical show about doctors and stuff. I think it's called uh...Sexy Something...Dr. Sexy yeah..."
Sam snorted with amusement when he noticed Dean didn't take his eyes off the television to acknowledge him.
"Well, when did you grow 'old lady parts'?" Sam taunted with a smirk.
Dean scowled up at Sam.
"Shut up, I was just flipping through channels until you..."
Dean paused as his eyes were drawn back to the television. Sam snickered in his throat as Dean absorbed some dramatic revelation playing out on screen.
"Gee, am I interrupting your favorite show Dean? Should I do this interview by myself so you don't miss anything?"
Dean scoffed sharply as he got up and switched the TV off.
"Like I watch this crap," he grunted. "Let's go already."
A few hours later, Buffy strolled through the motel room door, heaving breaths of exertion. Dean glanced at the time as she peeled off her jacket.
"That was some walk," he gasped. "Where'd you go? Next state over?"
"Mmm, not really sure, I just kept walking until I decided to turn around and come back," Buffy answered casually.
She took a seat on one of the beds and then started pulling off her shoes.
"So, what's the sitch on your headless guy?"
After Sam and Dean finished updating Buffy on the details of their latest case, she stared at them in mass disbelief.
"The...Incredible Hulk..." she said incredulously. "Are you kidding?"
"No, apparently not," Dean replied.
"A big, angry green guy with a bad haircut mowed down the front door and ripped this guy's head off?"
"It's looking that way," Sam stated.
Buffy shifted her eyes from Dean to Sam, expecting one of them to burst into laughter. When the moment never arrived, she widened her eyes in complete amazement. She sucked in a breath as she mulled over the details again.
"Okay, so, you have a theory on why Mr. Anger Management reject got cut down by...Mr. Mean Green Angry Machine? I mean it sounds sort of like something is dishing out a plate of screwy poetic justice...maybe it's a vengeance demon."
Buffy glanced at Dean who seemed to be lost in thought while Sam exuded a spark of recognition.
"I think I might know," he said.
Sam dug into the pocket of his jacket and yanked out several balled up wrappers.
"These were all over the house," he remarked.
Buffy stared at the handful of wrappers on the floor as Sam yanked out another batch from a different pocket.
"So our demon likes candy?" she posed.
Dean frowned deeply when a suspect registered vividly in his mind.
"Oh. A candy loving, just desserts serving, mess with ya a lot before wasting 'em kind of demon? Sounds a lot like the Trickster, doesn't it?"
"The Trickster?!" Buffy gasped. "The ass that tried to kill you like a thousand times?"
"I'd say he's our best bet behind this," Sam acknowledged.
"Well, lucky for us," Dean grumbled. "I've been looking forward to wastin' that sonofabitch since he pulled that friggin' Groundhog Day stunt."
"Oh, he is SO dead," Buffy snapped. "I still can't fathom why you guys never managed to catch him."
Dean scoffed with offense as the discussion veered sharply off topic.
"Uh hello, he's called the Trickster, he's tricky," he reasoned.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "That's no excuse."
"I'm not saying it is. I'm saying he's known to..."
"Give you the slip in a different form, creates illusions to deceive you, yeah, yeah, but still, I would have caught him."
"Not all of us have built in freak detectors like you do."
"That's no excuse..."
Sam cleared his throat to snap the growing tension between the two.
"Maybe we want to try a different approach."
Buffy and Dean shifted their attention to Sam.
"Other than killing him?" Buffy said.
"Right. Messin' with him first before we kill him," Dean posed. "Yeah, I'm on board with that. Good thinking Sam."
Sam let out a sigh and shook his head.
"I meant, maybe we shouldn't kill him."
Buffy and Dean exchanged looks before drawing their disbelief on Sam.
"That menacing little bastard wasted me a thousand different ways for kicks and you want to...give him a pass?"
Buffy crinkled her brows as she studied Sam.
"Are you feeling okay Sam? I mean, he got this woman's husband KILLED, he must be stopped."
"Yeah, I realize that, I agree we have to stop him...but maybe first we should..."
Buffy and Dean deepened their curious looks on Sam.
"Should what Sam?" Dean pressed.
"Maybe we should try talking to him first."
Dean cocked an eyebrow as his mouth curled with a disgruntled frown.
"Talk...to...him...he tried to kill me," he said sharply. "And you want to just talk to him?"
"Just hear me out," Sam pleaded. "The kind of power he has, we've never seen anything like him before, he might be useful to us."
"As a punching bag, yeah," Dean stated.
"Or, something else," Sam continued. "Look, the Trickster's a party type with his women and wine and treats...so it's likely that he might not want to see his lifestyle end you know? He might be on board with helping us out in that sense."
"Are you crazy?"
"Think about it Dean, it makes sense."
"You want to ally with that bastard?"
"He might be willing to help."
"He dishes out bloody plates of revenge to people for FUN and you want to be his BFF? THAT'S good thinking," Dean grunted derisively.
Sam let out a breath of exasperation as he absorbed his brother's heavy look of dismay.
"The end of the world is looming," Sam said grimly. "This isn't the time to hold onto grudges. We need all the help we can get. All I'm saying is that we at least put it out there and if he isn't on board then...we take care of him then."
Dean stared at Sam, his face thick with reluctance and cynicism. He steered his sights to Buffy and gauged her reaction.
"Well, what's your vote?" he asked.
Buffy glanced at Sam, taking in his determined expression before regarding Dean.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to hear what he has to say about it all," she replied. "I mean, there are a few demonic creatures that have aligned with us in the past."
"Yeah, I know just how well they've 'aligned' with you in the past," Dean chided.
Buffy rolled her eyes as Sam quickly cut in.
"So we're going to talk to him?"
Dean heaved a huge sigh. "Yeah, alright, but, we don't even know where the hell he is."
"We'll just wait for him to strike again, remember that he doesn't hit just one person," Sam pointed.
Several hours later, as Dean sharpened a large wooden stake, Sam was settled at a table staring at a police scanner while the echoes of grunts could be heard outside.
Dean caught a glance of Buffy's shadow through the motel curtain as she threw a series of air punch combos outside.
"Buffy seems a little...tense," Sam remarked.
Dean paused in his actions to meet Sam's questioning eyes.
"Oh she's downright pissed," Dean imparted. "The demon she was interrogating...killed the host before Giles could finish the exorcism."
Sam glowed with surprise as he spied a look at Buffy out the window.
"She didn't mention that part," he said.
"She didn't have to...she had this look in her eyes...I could tell...anyway, it's best not to say or do anything that'll piss her off any more..."
"You mean, you're not going to say or do anything to," Sam cracked.
"Right."
"It might be a little too late for that," Dean muttered very softly.
Sam frowned with wonder as Dean lingered on a very recent memory.
"What."
Dean shook away the blaring memory as he felt the weight of Sam's stare.
"Uh, nothing."
Buffy was finishing up the last of her training exercises when she heard the door open behind her. She swung her eyes over her shoulder to see Dean clutching a sharp stake in his hand.
"Hey, we got something," he said.
Buffy sank the last of her water and bounded back into the motel room.
After a long drive to the crime scene, Dean, Sam and Buffy climbed out of the Impala and looked around. All three frowned with wonder when the scene was vacant of any medical or law enforcement crowds.
"Are you sure a murder went down here?" Buffy asked Sam. "Where's the yellow crime tape and the squad cars?"
"Yeah, where the hell is everyone?" Dean added. "Does this seem off to you?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. Very."
As they cautiously approached the warehouse, Dean shot a glance at Buffy.
"Spidey senses tingling?"
"A little," Buffy answered. "Kind of vague."
"Vague is good enough for me."
Dean yanked out two stakes and handed one to Sam as Buffy extracted her own. As the boys yanked the warehouse doors open, they leveled their flashlights into the darkness and crept inside.
Sam and Dean squinted sharply as the darkness suddenly shifted into a bright environment. As a whir of sounds and sights flooded their senses for a second, Sam and Dean exchanged equal looks of bewilderment when they noticed each other wearing dark blue surgical scrubs.
"Uh...what the hell?" Dean uttered with wide eyes.
Dean whipped his sights around a long corridor before he noticed several people in scrubs and white coats emerging from a set of elevators.
"Where's Buffy?" Sam asked.
A blonde doctor and an Asian American doctor strolled by Sam and Dean, nodding in acknowledgment.
"Afternoon doctor," the blonde one said.
Sam cocked an eyebrow in wonder.
"Uh...afternoon...doctor," he replied.
A brunette doctor drifted over to Sam and Dean, nodding at both. She wound her hand back and smacked Sam hard across the face. Sam howled and rubbed his face.
"Come on, seriously?!" the brunette doctor said.
Sam shaded with puzzlement as he continued to rub the sting from his cheek.
"Huh?"
"You are SERIOUSLY brilliant," she said. "And SERIOUSLY a coward at the same time. Seriously brilliant. Seriously a coward."
Sam scratched his head in wonder.
"Uh, I really don't know what you mean."
The brunette doctor smacked Sam in the face again.
"Yeah right, like you seriously don't have a clue!"
As the brunette doctor charged away, Dean gawked at her in immense awe.
"Woah," he gasped. "Do you realize who that was?"
"No, who was it?"
"But it can't be," Dean marveled. "It can't...but it is..."
Sam blew out a breath of impatience.
"Dean," he said. "Who was that?"
"Ellen Piccolo, as in Dr. Ellen Piccolo."
Sam frowned in confusion as Dean took a second look around the hospital floor.
"She's one of the doctors at..."
Dean paused on the sign hanging behind the receptionist's desk.
"Uh, I don't believe it."
Sam shifted his sights to follow Dean's.
"Seattle Mercy Hospital? Does that mean something to you?"
Dean stared deeper at the sign and the staff members lingering around the waiting area.
"Oh, oh man, I get it now, the white coats, attractive interns, the serious delivery of 'seriouslys'."
"Well, want to clue me in?"
"We're in the show man," Dean revealed. "Dr. Sexy."
Several minutes later, after roaming through the hospital corridors, Sam and Dean continued studying their environment.
"Okay, got any ideas?"
Sam shook his head. "Not really."
"Well, throw something out, anything man."
"Okay um, the Trickster and his sick sense of humor decided to stick us in a TV show."
Dean frowned cynically. "Right, that's ridiculous."
"Oh really? You called it that we're in Dr. Sexy."
"But that's a TV show, with scripts and sets and actors and craft services but we're not seeing any of that here, it's like it's..."
"What?"
"Real," Dean finished.
Sam sucked in a breath and scratched his head.
"But how is that even possible to be IN a TV show?" he posed.
"You got me."
A female doctor swaggered by and nodded in acknowledgment to Sam and Dean before continuing down the hall.
"Huh, Dr. Wang, the attractive yet obnoxious and gifted head surgeon."
Dean watched Dr. Wang disappear around a corner, passing by a man sitting on a gurney.
"Well, that dude over there is Johnny Drake but...come on, he's not a real person..." Dean moaned. "He's a damn spirit..."
Dean noticed another attractive female doctor emerging from a door. She leaned against the gurney where 'Johnny Drake' was sitting. Dean shook his head in disbelief.
"In her mind, that hot, yet annoying resident..."
Sam stared at the female doctor and man in immense wonder.
"Uh, why does a medical show have ghosts?"
Dean shrugged as his face knitted with intrigue.
"I have no idea but it makes for fascinating television," he confessed.
"Uh huh, 'Mr. I Don't Watch This Crap'," Sam snorted.
Dean threw a heavy glare at Sam.
"I don't."
Sam shot his brother a doubtful look.
"Right."
"Seriously, I don't," Dean repeated firmly.
Dean looked passed Sam and burst his eyes wide in recognition.
"Woah," he gasped.
Sam glanced curiously in the direction Dean was looking.
"Wow," Dean said.
"Wow what Dean?"
A young, ruggedly handsome doctor ambled down the hallway. Sam glanced back at his brother, who had a goofy grin on his face.
"Oh my god, it's Dr. Sexy himself," Dean whispered.
As 'Dr. Sexy' pivoted in their direction, Dean widened his eyes even more.
"He's coming over here," Dean squeaked softly.
Dr. Sexy perched in front of Sam and Dean, eyeing them briefly. Dean dropped his sights when Dr. Sexy met his eyes and acknowledged him.
"Uh, hey, doctor," Dean muttered.
Dr. Sexy nodded at Sam, exchanging the same casual introductions.
"You touch me with your wrinkly, liver spotted hand again gramps and I will make your head spin for decades, if you even have that long!"
Buffy clenched her fists and growled at the geriatric man in a wheelchair. He simply grinned up at her with his toothless mouth.
"Which head you talkin' about darling?" the old man posed in a raspy voice.
Buffy grimaced deeply as she reluctantly flashed on a wrinkly piece of flesh.
"Ewwwww," she moaned.
The old man licked his lips and rolled his wheelchair after her as she charged out of the senior care ward.
"I didn't get my sponge bath Nurse Barbie!"
Buffy widened her eyes as three more old men in wheelchairs took chase after her. She checked her Slayer instincts and sighed in disappointment when the wily old men turned out to be humans.
"Gross old men," she moped.
A few minutes later, after evading the old men, Buffy wandered along a corridor eyeing the medical staff milling around. She spotted a lone lab coat draped over a chair and discreetly snatched it. It was too long in the arms but she didn't care considering her state of dress at the moment. As several medical staff acknowledged her, she threw casual waves and nods while honing her senses for anything out of the ordinary. When a brunette haired female doctor lingered at the nurse's station, Buffy stared at her for a long moment. Her brain tingled with faint recollection but she couldn't seem to figure out who she was.
"I've seen you before," Buffy muttered.
Buffy continued down another corridor, searching for Sam and Dean.
Sam snickered and grinned as Dean had Dr. Sexy pinned to the wall.
"Nice detail Dean, for someone who doesn't watch 'crap' religiously, huh?"
Dean snapped his sights to Sam and frowned.
"I don't watch it religiously, just...on occasion...when it's on, okay?"
Dr. Sexy flagged a nurse walking by.
"Get security up here," he barked.
"You do that," Dean snorted. "But you know what? The jig is up pal, cuz we know it's you..."
Dean threw a knowing look to the imposter. Dr. Wang, a few other medical staff and a security guard approaching the brothers suddenly froze in their tracks. Sam and Dean blinked in surprise when time seemed to stop as everyone around them was in pause mode.
'Dr. Sexy' grinned before morphing into the familiar face of the Trickster. He grinned mischievously.
"Hey guys! Wow, I'm impressed. You've certainly improved since our last encounter!" he roared.
"Take us out of wherever the hell we are," Dean growled.
The Trickster cocked his head, bleeding with arrogance as Dean tightened his grip on him.
"And if I don't?"
The Trickster gripped Dean by the neck, threatening to choke the air out of him.
"You probably didn't bring a stake with you, huh?"
"I brought this," said a voice.
The Trickster turned to see a blurry fist as it hit him hard and fast in the face, blowing him back several feet. He crashed into a counter and rubbed his cheek as Buffy advanced on him, coiling a hand around his neck. His eyes raked over the skimpy candystriper's outfit peeking from beneath the buttoned up lab coat.
"Slayer!" he cheered. "Well, I take it you had fun in the geriatric ward where I dropped you off?"
The Trickster grinned bombastically as Buffy wound her fist back to strike.
"Oh, yeah, it was so much fun being groped by a bunch of perverted grandpas," Buffy groaned.
The Trickster widened his grin. "Nice touch, huh?"
Sam and Dean gathered around the Trickster as Buffy threw her fist toward his face. The Trickster waved his hand, freezing Buffy's fist in place. Buffy tried with futile effort to break the Trickster's invisible hold. She rolled her eyes and bore an icy glare at him.
"I REALLY hate you," she barked.
Buffy dropped her eyes to her outfit.
"And was it really necessary to slutify me up?"
The Trickster grinned in response as Dean curiously rolled his eyes over Buffy. He discreetly lifted up the back of her lab coat, to see a very bare leg. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the skimpy nurse's uniform, comprised of a white bikini with a red cross emblazoned over the bottom piece. Buffy rained her glare onto Dean when his ogling lingered. Catching her wrathful glare, he dropped the hem of the coat and cleared his throat.
"I take it there was no dispatch call on the police scanner then," Sam deducted with a frown. "You just tricked us into coming."
"Oh, smart Sam," the Trickster snorted derisively. "I'm the Trickster, DUH. I got wind that you guys had blown into town and I thought, why not?"
The Trickster hitched his head back and laughed.
"It never gets old," he said.
"You want to tell us just where the hell we are?" Dean demanded.
"What do you think? Looks pretty authentic huh? The sets, the actors, all made by yours truly."
The Trickster took a long admiring look at the frozen actors and sets as Buffy narrowed her eyes on him.
"When my fist is back in action, I'm gonna pound your head into paste! Get us out of this boob tube now," she growled.
The Trickster ignored Buffy, deepening his smirk at Sam and Dean.
"Well folks, that's going to involve a little more than threats by Miss Perky Peaks RN here."
Buffy fumed as she tugged furiously at her frozen fist. Sam intervened, stepping in front of Buffy.
"Look, we want to discuss something with you," Sam stated.
"Gee, I wonder what about? Chucklehead and Gargantuan Boy snapped the bookends on the apocalypse and you're here to ask if I want to help clean the crap you made,' the Trickster said snidely.
"All we want is a few minutes, five," Sam stressed. "Just listen to what we have to say."
The Trickster shrugged with a flat smile.
"Maybe I will, IF you can get through the game, I'll let you bend my ear," he challenged.
"The game?" Sam asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean added.
"The game you're in at this very moment," the Trickster explained.
Buffy poked her head around Sam and drew a scornful frown at the Trickster.
"You want us to play a game?"
"You already are," the Trickster said as he pumped his eyebrows.
"What's the objective of the game?" Dean asked.
The Trickster merely grinned before vanishing into a ripple of static. The medical staff shifted out of their immobile state and went about their business. Buffy felt the weight of her frozen fist dropping to her side as a female doctor shrouded with confusion.
"Dammit," Dean grumbled.
"Have you seen Dr. Sexy?" the female doctor asked a nurse.
Buffy gasped. "Oh. My. God...we're IN Dr. Sexy, MD?"
Sam scoffed. "You're kidding. You watch too?"
"Not as much as your brother did back in the day," Buffy revealed.
Sam eyed Dean with a smirk.
"Not just back in the day."
Buffy burst out into a loud laugh as she settled a goofy grin on Dean.
"You're kidding, you still watch that show with it's cheesy 'seriouslys' and 'oh, you're so brilliant and sexy yet an idiot' shtick?"
Buffy shook her head as her grin deepened.
"Hey, it's escapist television alright?" Dean moaned.
Buffy and Sam laughed together at Dean's heavy scowl.
"Whatever," he groaned. "Great plan Sam, making nice with monsters did us diddly squat."
"So we're trapped here until we play his stupid game," Buffy said with a disgruntled glare.
"He said we're already playing," Sam remarked.
"Well, I say game over," Dean grunted as he pivoted toward a door marked exit.
Sam and Buffy followed behind as another wash of bright light cut into their sights.
Sam and Dean blinked rapidly as their sights adjusted the brightly lit sound stage, the roaring crowd in the stands and the older Japanese man in a suit being escorted from the wings by two young spokes models. Sam and Dean exchanged looks as they recognized one of the young women in vinyl hot pants and skimpy bikini top with hot pink pigtails.
Buffy widened her eyes at the audience as they cheered and whistled. She frowned when she took in her new outfit and the weird pink wig as the strange Japanese man sputtered something to her and the other similarly dressed girl next to him. The Japanese man gripped a microphone and smiled out at the audience.
Buffy eyed Sam and Dean as they took notice of her. Her sights wandered over the boys as their feet were cemented into a platform in the center of the stage. Buffy looked off at the three cameras stationed in different angles as the Japanese man worked up the audience.
"It's time for Ball Smasher!" he cheered.
Buffy blinked with astonishment when even though the man was speaking in his native language, she had understood him.
"Oh, this is NOT good."
Buffy gasped wide when she heard a low warble tumbling from her mouth instead of words. The older man glared at her, pressing a finger against his mouth.
"Shhhh," he scolded.
The audience shouted and whistled as the man yanked a small card out of his jacket. The audience settled into silence as the man walked up to Sam's side of the platform.
Sam watched the man narrow his eyes as he read off the card. He glanced off at the crowd to see everyone staring at him expectantly.
"Uh..."
The man pointed to an LED screen displaying the number twenty. As the seconds ticked away, he repeated his question to Sam.
"Uh, I...I don't understand you," Sam gulped.
Sam eyed Dean apprehensively.
"What...what did he say?"
"Like I understood him?"
Buffy shouted the answer at Sam but only heard that weird drone rolling out. Sam and Dean whipped their eyes at Buffy as she blistered with frustration.
"What?!" Sam asked frantically.
Buffy repeated her words as the countdown to zero approached. Dean shot his eyes wide with confusion.
"Why the hell does she sound like Charlie Brown's teacher? That makes no damn sense!"
The host addressed Sam while pointing to the five seconds on screen. Sam sputtered with panic. Buffy tried to launch off her feet but felt a force field holding her still. She looked up toward the ceiling and glared.
"Trickster," she warbled.
"I don't understand you!" he howled.
A loud buzzer blared through the air when the screen reached zero. The host looked out at the audience and read the answer off the card. He looked at Sam with a sympathetic expression. Sam gulped with trepidation.
"What? What's going on?" he cried. "What's happening now?"
Sam shot his eyes to Dean for any clue. Dean shrugged as the host clapped a hand over his mouth, stifling a laugh. A pole shot up from the slot on Sam's side and quickly snapped back, smashing him hard between the legs. Sam bellowed forward and squeaked in agony as Dean looked on in horror. The crowd roared at a deafening pitch.
"Ball Smasher!" the host yelled over the noise.
While a replay unfolded several times from various mounted televisions, Dean glanced at Sam with concern. Sam wailed inaudibly as the host strolled over to the other girl dressed in hot pants. She smiled and waved a bag of shrimp chips for everyone to see. Buffy saw the camera trained on her as the host chatted in Japanese. Buffy grumbled under her breath as the camera remained trained on her face.
"Get that camera off me," she groaned.
As only static echoed from her mouth, Buffy took notice of everyone staring at her. She heaved a deep sigh and reluctantly picked up a bag of shrimp chips. She forced a grin over her face and noticed her teeth glinting under the stage lights. Her counterpart grinned with equal enthusiasm while speaking into the camera.
Sam and Dean noticed lights flashing around the stage before Cass appeared through the sliding doors, looking more intense than usual.
"Oh thank god," Buffy muttered.
Cass temporarily drew his eyes to the strange warble coming from Buffy's mouth before he met Dean's probing eyes.
"You got stuck in this game too Cass?"
Cass frowned as he looked around the sound stage.
"What game?"
"Are you real or an illusion?" Sam asked.
"I am real," Cass answered flatly. "Why are you in this...strange environment?"
"We'll explain later, for now, whisk us out of here!"
Cass nodded. "Yes."
"Hey, don't forget me!" Buffy warbled.
Cass perched by the platform as he studied Buffy.
"I do not understand this dialect she speaks," he intoned.
"It's Charlie Brown," Dean cracked dryly. "Hurry up Cass."
Cass raised his hands toward Sam and Dean's foreheads but before he could complete his actions, he vanished into a ripple of static.
"Where'd he go?" Dean asked as he searched the stage.
The host shook his head and pulled out a new card. He approached Dean's side of the platform and read a question off the card.
"Oh no," Dean moaned.
As Buffy heard the question, she tried to fervently nod her head but was met by great resistance. She heaved a sigh as she could only watch Dean frantically trying to evade a hit by the ball smashing contraption. Dean stared at the dwindling seconds and shuddered with panic.
"Oh god, oh god, what the hell did he ask? Help me Sam, come on!"
"How? I didn't fare any better...unless..."
"Unless? What, what? I've got fifteen seconds!"
"Then answer," Sam stressed.
"What?"
"We're supposed to play the games, play the roles we're dealt so...give an answer..."
"But I don't even know what the question was!"
"Well, just guess."
"Oh Jesus," Dean groaned.
As two seconds remained, Dean bounced anxiously in his glued shoes before he hit a red button in the center of the platform. The ticker stopped as the host regarded Dean expectantly.
"Uh..."
Dean scratched his head as all the cameras trained on him.
"Hi," he answered.
After a tense moment of silence, the host glanced at his card and then Dean. Dean gulped with apprehension as he stared at the slot beneath his feet. The host pointed to Dean and grinned.
"You have won Ball Smasher!"
The crowd thundered with applause and cheers as Japanese captions flashed on a screen. Dean blew out a deep sigh of relief as he was released from the shoe traps. As Sam and Dean stepped off the platform, the cameras closed in for a group shot with the host, Buffy and the Japanese spokesmodel. Buffy casually strolled over to Sam and Dean as the audience continued to cheer.
"How did you know the answer?" Buffy asked.
When she heard her real voice, she sighed in relief.
"I guessed."
"Great, so we play along, get out of the game," Sam assessed.
"Okay, but how long is the game?" Dean posed.
"Who knows."
Buffy looked scornfully at her outfit as she tried yanking her pink wig off. She growled in her throat when the wig seemed glued to her scalp.
"What exactly am I playing here?"
As the cheering began to fade, the environment shuddered and rippled into static.
"You gotta be kidding," Sam grumbled.
Dean shot a basketball toward the hoop as four other guys trotted around the outdoor court. He bounded off the court and patted Sam on the shoulder.
"You said we had to play along," he said.
Sam heaved a breath as Dean went back to the game.
"I suffer from...erectile dysfunction," Sam continued. "Nothing gets me going no matter what I do."
Buffy rolled her eyes when she found herself surrounded in a crowd of bikini clad girls exercising on the grass. When all the girls started doing jumping jacks in front of Sam, Buffy shook her head.
"This is REALLY getting annoying," she muttered as she reluctantly joined in on the senseless bouncing.
Sam watched the buoyant girls and remained stone faced.
"Then I discovered Biagrall," he continued. "It's the guaranteed solution for men who suffer from this same dysfunction. Just one a day allows me to feel more like a man."
A buxom, attractive brunette skipped over to Sam and latched an arm around him. She smiled coquettishly as Sam didn't break from his icy look.
"Biagrall changed my life for the better."
Back to the present:
As laughter sputtered in the motel room, followed by applause, Buffy stood in the doorway of the bathroom trying to act sexy. She heaved a sigh of exasperation and broke out of her role.
"Okay, I can't do this anymore," she moaned.
"We don't have a choice," Sam muttered. "We have to keep playing."
"For how long?" Dean asked through a forced smile.
"Til it ends."
"That's not the answer I wanted to here," Buffy growled.
"Till...we die?" Sam revised.
Laughter motored through the motel room as Dean glared resentfully at the live audience.
"Oh, you think that's so hilarious huh? Buncha sick bastards."
Dean was met by more obnoxious laughter as the door flew open. Cass bounded inside, sporting a few minor cuts and bruises on his face. Applause echoed around him as Sam, Buffy and Dean reluctantly ignored the studio audience.
"Cass, what happened?" Dean asked.
"I escaped."
"Escaped what?"
"I do not know for how long," Cass stressed. "There is something very strange going on Dean. You are dealing with something that has more power than it's supposed to."
"The Trickster, well we know we haven't faced anything like him."
"No, I believe he is more than a simple trickster."
Cass suddenly hurled through the air and crashed into a wall as the door swung open. The Trickster drew a smug smile.
"Well, the gang's all here!"
The live audience cheered and applauded as Cass pushed himself up, his mouth now duct taped shut.
"Castiel, what's up dawg?"
The Trickster waved at the glaring Castiel, blowing him away into static.
"I take it you know each other?" Sam asked.
"Bring him back," Buffy commanded.
"Oh, he'll be fine," The Trickster remarked dismissively. "I think."
As the audience ripped with laughter, Dean glared directly at them in heavy annoyance.
"Okay, enough! I'm sick of and tired of this puppet show," he barked. "It ends now! We get your point."
"Oh do you? And what do you think that is?"
"Playing along with what we're dealt, that's the objective of your sick little TV land game, right?"
The Trickster cocked his head. "Mmm, that's only part of it."
"And the other part?" Sam asked.
"Playing along with what you've been dealt in THE world."
Dean heaved an impatient sigh. "Which means, what exactly?"
"I thought you said you got the point," the Trickster snorted. "Big brother Dean takes on Michael, little brother Sam as the misunderstood Lucifer...it's game on for the big high powered battle between sibs. That's what you have to play out boys."
"No way," Sam grunted.
"Yes way!" the Trickster roared.
Buffy charged over to the Trickster and gripped him by the collar.
"No," she snapped. "Millions of people will die."
"Right, well, who do we have to thank for that, huh?"
The Trickster threw a snarky grin at Sam.
"Lucifer got sprung from his prison and the end is inevitable. It's begun so quit your whining and just play along, let it all fall into place."
"Oh come on, you can't be a neutral party, when it goes down, whose side are you playing for?" Dean posed sharply.
"Neither," the Trickster said.
"So you don't care whether you live or die?"
"I told you, you stupid, stubborn ass, Michael, Lucifer, they can have it out and I don't care one bit!" the Trickster snarled.
Dean picked up on something very subtle and snorted derisively.
"I think you do," he said.
The Trickster suddenly glowered at Dean throwing him into a wall with the flick of a hand. Buffy wound her fist back but the Trickster hitched a finger at her.
"Careful there little Bunny," he warned.
Buffy glared murderously at him.
"It's Buffy."
"It doesn't matter who you are, or what your name is, your role is pointless, why do you think I dress you up or rather DOWN in every show? Because nothing you do matters in the grand scheme of things. You're just a nice thing to look at, that's the only reason why I let you play in my world instead of sending you far, far away. So just play your useless little role and stand on the sidelines and let these two deal with their destiny."
"We're not going to say yes," Sam growled.
The Trickster lifted out of his fury and grinned.
"Well, then, like you said Sam, you're all going to be here until you die. It's Friday night and I'm channel surfing..."
The Trickster snapped his fingers, making the environment shudder and fade into static.
Sam and Dean blinked rapidly as several police officers cordoned off a crime scene with tape. They glanced over the squad vehicles emblazoned with the words Miami Metro Dade Police.
"Oh, give me a goddamn break," Dean grunted.
Sam shifted his eyes to Dean as he took notice of his clothing.
"Aw, what the hell man..."
Dean fidgeted in his white suit, a neon pink tee shirt and matching white loafers. He rolled his eyes over Sam's bluish gray suit with v-neck gray tee shirt and bluish gray loafers.
"Jesus Christ, I'm wearing LOAFERS WITHOUT SOCKS," Dean moaned. "What person actually does that huh? I'll tell you, douche bags who want to look cool."
"Dean, just cool off," Sam admonished softly.
"Gee, with my greasy slicked back hair, I couldn't BE any cooler."
Dean shifted in his stance and drew a grimace.
"My feet are sweaty," he groaned.
Sam fidgeted in his own sockless loafers as his eyes focused on a particular person in a crowd of onlookers.
"Looks like someone has a weakness for candy bars."
Dean whipped his sights to the crowd to see a young guy in a Hawaiian shirt stuffing his face with a Zagnut bar.
"Well, that's got to be our prime suspect, huh?"
Sam and Dean strolled toward the crowd being watched cautiously by a uniformed officer. The officer nodded at Sam and Dean as they approached the Hawaiian shirt guy. Dean took an authoritative stance in his ridiculous white suit, eyeing the guy with heavy suspicion.
"Hey you, we want to ask you some quest..."
The guy widened his eyes and bolted out of the crowd. He stumbled into a few people while barreling down the boardwalk.
"Yeah, that's not suspicious," Dean muttered as he glanced at Sam. "I guess we gotta go after him now."
"Guess so."
Sam and Dean shook their heads as they hopped over the crime scene tape and bounded through throngs of beach going people.
The Hawaiian shirt guy darted and weaved through oncoming crowds without looking behind him. Caribbean, jazz and blues music traveled from various clubs lining the walk as Sam and Dean kept chase on their suspect. Dean grimaced as he felt a juicy sensation in his sockless loafers.
"Dammit, my feet are sweaty and my shoes are squishy! I hate this stupid game!"
The suspect mowed down several more people before running across a street. Sam stayed on the walkway while Dean glided over the hood of a parked car to get to the street. He launched himself off the car and slammed his legs into the suspect just as he passed by. The suspect tumbled forward as Dean pinned him to the ground. Sam caught up to Dean as he wrestled with the suspect.
Sam heaved a breath before raising a tree branch he had snapped off during his pursuit. He stabbed the branch into the suspect's heart as Dean kept him propped against the pavement. The suspect writhed in pain, gasping for breath as Sam kept his eyes on him. Dean scoped the crowds of beach goers strolling by, but no one seemed to pay any attention to what was going on. He narrowed his eyes when a familiar bikini clad girl on roller skates emerged from a crowd.
"That's not the one you wanted, morons."
Sam and Dean followed the voice to see a police officer chuckling as he morphed into the face of the Trickster.
"Oh, whoops, our bad," Dean cracked, hiding his smug smile. "Or...not."
The Trickster blinked in surprise as Buffy rolled up and staked him from behind. The Trickster gasped and fell face first into the pavement.
"Game over!" Buffy growled as she glared down at him.
As static burst through the air, the environment shifted back to the warehouse. The Trickster laid lifeless on the ground as Sam, Dean and Buffy scrutinized their surroundings and attire. A few minutes later, Buffy and Dean emerged from the warehouse and into the daylight. Buffy frowned when she noticed one Winchester missing.
"Where's Sam?"
Dean swept his sights around and frowned.
"Cass isn't back either."
"Maybe they're at the motel," Buffy replied.
Dean shrugged as he fished out his car keys. He took out his cell phone and dialed Sam's number.
"Hey Sam, guess who, we're here but where are you? Call me back."
Dean collapsed his phone and stuffed it away as he unlocked the car doors.
"Hello? Dean, is that you?"
Dean paused after swinging the driver side door open.
"Yeah...Sam?"
Dean frowned with confusion as he looked around the area for Sam.
"Where the hell are you man?"
"Uh, I have no idea."
Dean climbed into the driver seat as Buffy slammed her door shut.
"Ow!"
Dean frowned with bewilderment when he heard the voice.
"Sam?"
Buffy widened her eyes in startle as Dean took notice of a red light on the dashboard.
"For some reason, that hurt."
Buffy whipped her sights all around her as Dean watched the red light flashing in time to Sam's response.
"Sam?" Buffy said with wider eyes. "You're...you're IN the car?"
"I think Sam IS the car," Dean deduced.
"What?! But...I staked the Trickster! I ended the game!" Buffy roared in protest.
"Apparently not," Dean said.
Buffy growled under her breath. "Are you kidding?! We're still in the stupid game."
"I guess that really wasn't the Trickster you killed," Sam said.
Dean gunned the engine and veered back onto the open road. As Buffy grumbled deeply in her seat, Dean mused with Sampala.
"Alright, so why didn't the stake work?"
"Cass said what we're dealing with was more than a trickster," Sam recalled. "He said a trickster can't be this powerful."
"Right and didn't it seem like he recognized Cass?"
"Yep, also, he wasn't too happy when you mentioned choosing between Michael and Lucifer."
"Yeah, he didn't like having to choose sides..."
As a realization popped in his mind, Dean slapped a hand on the steering wheel.
"Oh that tricky sonofabitch..."
"Ow," Sam moaned.
A little while later, Dean veered onto a dirt lot surrounded by wilderness. After a few minutes, Buffy got out of the car as Dean opened the trunk.
"Uh, careful with the door Buffy, please," Sam pleaded.
Buffy drew a sheepish expression as she clutched the door.
"Right," she said.
She gently pushed the door shut.
"Thanks," Sam said.
Buffy gawked in awe as she regarded the car.
"Uh...no...problem," she muttered.
Buffy stared at the car for another minute before joining Dean.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked.
Dean shrugged as he rummaged through the contents of the trunk.
"You said it made sense. Besides, what else have we got to go on?"
"Not much," Buffy sighed.
"Uh, Dean," Sam cut in.
"Yeah?"
"Whatever you're doing, could you um...stop? It uh...it feels...awkward..."
Dean picked out what he needed and shut the trunk.
"Ow," Sam moaned.
"Alright, let's do this," Dean grunted.
He walked toward the front of the car and hitched his eyes up to the sky.
"Okay you sick bastard! You win! We'll be destiny's butt monkeys!"
The Trickster blinked in front of the car and beamed a smug grin.
"Hey Sam, check you out, nice rims man."
"Go to hell," Sam snapped.
The Trickster chuckled as his eyes glanced at Buffy.
"Hey Sugar Pop, I almost didn't recognize you in, you know, CLOTHES," he snorted.
Buffy curled her hands into fists, about to pounce with fury until Dean threw her a look. She blew out a deep breath and brushed off the Trickster's annoying grin.
"Alright my brothers, let's get this show on the road."
The Trickster raised his hands in preparation for transport as Dean backed away.
"Hold on a second," Dean interjected. "We're not leaving until you turn Sam back into a biped."
"Does it really matter Dean? Lucifer's still gonna jump his bones."
Dean hardened his icy glare until the Trickster rolled his eyes.
"Oh fine," he sighed.
The Trickster snapped his fingers and the red lights on the Impala bleated out. The passenger side door flung open and Sam climbed out, immediately glowering at the Trickster.
"There you go, I put right what once went wrong," the Trickster chimed. "Now, shall we?"
"Just, one last question," Dean pressed. "How come the stake didn't work?"
The Trickster merely shrugged and drew a cocky smile. He pivoted toward Buffy and threw her a wink.
"Maybe you got the lore on tricksters wrong," he said. "Ever think of that?"
"Actually I have wondered," Dean acknowledged. "And I thought, maybe it's not the lore we got wrong, maybe it's you we got wrong."
The Trickster narrowed his eyes curiously on Dean until he heard something crack behind him.
Buffy deliberately fumbled with a lit match, watching it fall to the ground.
"Oh, whoops," she said.
After the match hit the ground, a ring of fire blazed around the Trickster.
"Woah, neat," Buffy said with a sly smile.
"You see," Dean continued. "Maybe your real deception is that you're not an evil bastard who pulls vicious, bloody pranks on people but just a whiny, mopin' dick with wings."
The Trickster stared at Dean incredulously before bursting into laughter.
"You think I'm an...angel? Oh, that's hilarious! Did you get a little baked in one of the seventies shows I popped you in?"
The Trickster folded over with more laughter as Dean remained stone faced.
"Okay, if I'm wrong, why don't you just hop on out of there and we can get back to business. After all, if you really ARE the Trickster, Holy Fire can't harm you, right?"
The Trickster abruptly stopped his amusement and glared at Dean as Sam and Buffy flanked him.
"So, are you going to come out and play?" Dean posed gruffly.
After a second, the environment shuddered into static. Dean, Sam and Buffy took in their surroundings, finding themselves in another warehouse as the Trickster applauded and whistled within his fiery trap.
"Bravo," he exalted. "Nice play boys and...girl. Tell me something, where on Earth did you manage to get the juice to make holy fire huh?"
"Oh, you could say that it was among the junk in Sam's trunk."
"So where did I go wrong huh? When did I show you my cards?"
"Well, for one," Sam started. "You kept warding off Cass and not too many things can do that."
"Plus, you used that invisible Angel force that 'ol Zachass uses to thwart me," Buffy added brusquely.
"The biggest clue though was how you went on about the Apocalypse," Dean imparted.
"What do you mean?"
"You could say, it takes one to know one," Dean remarked. "Watching you, hearing your tone, seeing how pissed you got about Michael and Lucifer. You said you didn't care but really, you do, and why? Because you're a part of that screwed up family, right?"
"That makes you who, Grouchy, Wheezy, Clumsy..." Sam cracked snidely.
"More like douche baggy," Buffy snapped.
The Trickster folded and sighed in surrender.
"Okay, okay, I'm known as Gabriel," he confessed.
Sam reeled back on his heels. "As in...Archangel Gabriel?"
"That's me."
Buffy rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Greeatttt," she groaned. "More cocky dicks in the mix."
Buffy shook her head and strolled around the warehouse, half listening to the rest of the discussion.
"So Gabe, how did you get this trickster gig huh?" Dean asked.
Gabriel shrugged casually.
"Call it a self-designation, a preservation tactic," he revealed. "I slipped away from home, took on a new face, made a name for myself over, I was very comfortable and content being in my little niche on Earth, but then you two came along and made a big mess of things."
Buffy scoffed loudly as she returned to the boys.
"So you ran away and went into hiding for fear of your daddy's scolding?" she queried.
"Daddy never scolds," Gabriel replied.
"Well, why did you leave Heaven then?" Sam asked.
Dean scoffed this time. "Why the hell wouldn't he? His siblings are major ass hats."
Gabriel fumed. "You shut your trap boy! You have no idea what you're talking about. I love my family. All of them, I've always loved them but when my brothers started warring, what was I supposed to do? Just stand there and let them go at it? Rip each other apart? There was just no way...I couldn't take it. So yeah, I ran off...but now...now you two have rebooted the whole blasting thing again."
"So help us then," Sam stressed.
"There is no point. What's been started can't be stopped," Gabriel replied gloomily.
Buffy stormed up to the edge of the fiery circle and glowered at Gabriel.
"Who says? Who says it can't be stopped? Your father? Your brothers?"
"Yes, it is what is written."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Well you and everyone up in Heaven can take what is written and shove it up their Holy asses!"
Gabriel deepened his fury, drawing his icy glare at Sam and Dean.
"I just want to see the end!" he barked. "I don't want to see my brothers rip each other apart again but now I'm forced to because of you two stupid buffoons!"
"You don't have to let it end that way," Sam stated. "There must be some kind of loophole."
"You really don't have a clue," Gabriel retorted. "Armageddon to you was just a typical family get together for me. No matter what you do, who you think can help, it's all for nothing. I'm not talking about the end of the world, I'm talking about the true bottom line, what it all boils down to - two brothers, who loved and then betrayed one another. You and Sam of all people should have found some symbolism behind it all."
"What?" Sam asked as he frowned in bewilderment. "What symbolism?"
"You stupid, stubborn bastards," Gabriel griped. "Don't you realize WHY you got tapped to be vessels? You got big brother Michael, the loyal, blindly obedient son to an absentee dad..."
Gabriel threw a knowing look at Dean before shifting his sights to Sam.
"Little bro Lucifer, the defiant one, who didn't like what dad wanted for him. It's the same thing with you two, don't you see it now? It's why you're the true vessels of my brothers, because you were born to fulfill these destinies. As it came to pass in the Heavenly land, it shall now come to pass here on Earth. Brother versus brother. One shall live, one shall die. There is no loophole, no way out, no one to help you change it."
Gabriel glared at Buffy before regarding the brothers.
"That's why I've kept such a close eye on you," he replied. "Because it was always gonna start and end with you."
Buffy studied Sam and Dean, trying to gauge their confidence. She watched them drop their sights before meeting each other's eyes. As the silence thickened in the air, Sam opened his mouth but couldn't find the words to respond. Dean simply shook his head fervently as he frowned contemptuously at Gabriel.
"Screw that," he barked. "We're changing it up."
"You can't, I'm sorry," Gabriel sighed. "This isn't TV where you everything is wrapped up neatly in one hour. The reality is, all of us are gonna see death, some quicker than others, but all bloody and nasty as hell. That's the cold, hard truth."
After another second of lingering silence, Gabriel gave a flat smile.
"Well, what now? We have a stare down for oh...forever?"
Buffy picked up a broken pipe with a jagged edge.
"I could poke you in the eyes with this – forever," she grumbled. "Especially considering how you treated me in TV land."
Gabriel threw Buffy a dismissive smile.
"I was just showing you the futility of your efforts to help these boys," he taunted.
Buffy raised the pipe like a bat and prepared to take a swing. Dean gently tugged her back as he addressed Gabriel.
"What happens now is that you return Cass from wherever the Hell you sent him."
"And if I don't?"
Dean glanced at Buffy and took in the immense rage flickering in her eyes as she still gripped the pipe in her hands.
"Well, if you think the Incredible Hulk is scary when he's mad, you haven't seen anything like the She-Hulk here when she's as pissed as all Hell, trust me man. Of course, after she's done with you, Sam and I'll drop you in a vat of some more holy oil, light you up and roast marshmallows from your burning flesh. Sound good?"
Gabriel soaked in the collective fierce glares from the three before he swiftly snapped his fingers. Cass appeared in the middle of the warehouse, sporting more minor injuries. Dean looked Cass over as he approached.
"Hey Cass, you alright?"
"Yes," Cass answered.
Cass narrowed his distant eyes on Gabriel.
"Gabriel," he said.
"Yes, it is me brother," Gabriel replied. "I heard you're looking for pop, how's that going, huh? I think I can answer that for you. No luck, right?"
Buffy chucked the pipe from her hands and rolled her eyes.
"Will you shut up already? Let's get out of this god forsaken place," she groaned.
Buffy pivoted toward a door and yanked it open. Sam, Dean and Cass angled after her, ignoring Gabriel in his burning circle.
"Wait a minute," he said. "What about me? You're leaving me here like this?"
Sam and Cass filed out the door as Dean stopped and turned around to face Gabriel.
"We would if we got kicks out of screwing with people like the sonofabitch you are," he pointed sharply. "By the way, you got it all wrong. It's not about the ultimate fighting championship in your screwed up family or sucking up to destiny. It has to do with you being a whiny little bitch who's too chickenshit to take a stand in all of it."
Dean yanked on a fire alarm next to the door. As the siren blared, the sprinklers above Gabriel rained water over his fiery circle.
"There, now you owe me," Dean grunted.
Gabriel bore his eyes into Dean.
"See ya," Dean added as he bounded out the door.
Dean strolled over to the Impala where Sam was leaning against the passenger door while Buffy hang back with Cass. Buffy glanced off at Sam and Dean as they conversed quietly.
"You know Cass, your brothers are REALLY annoying," she groaned. "And at your next family reunion, you can tell them all I said that."
"Okay," Cass said.
"I'm kidding."
"Okay," Cass replied.
Buffy absorbed Cass's typical distant look before bursting into a bout of laughter. She patted Cass on the back as she walked over to the car.
"It's hard to believe you're related," she said.
Buffy glanced up curiously at Sam and Dean.
"You guys didn't believe any of that propaganda right?"
Taking in the hint of uncertainty in their eyes, Buffy shaded with apprehension.
"Well don't," she demanded. "Because I'm living proof that you can change destiny and as long as I'm around guys, I'm not going to let either of you forget that."
Sam and Dean eyed each other as Buffy got into the back seat of the car.