Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the original concept of this story was inspired by 'To Hell & Back' by EventRider87, but I've added my own spin to things and have received EventRider87's permission to use their idea for this
Feedback: Much appreciated
The Corrupted Innocent
Standing on the roof of the building opposite the penthouse where James Nepath kept his private collection, Deanna once again reminded herself not to look down; she'd done this kind of thing in the past when circumstances required her to use less-than-legal methods of resolving a hunt, but the distance to the ground was still somewhat unnerving.
Having determined that the artefact they were looking for was being kept in one of Nepath's penthouse suites- he apparently owned three suites in three major cities- Bela had quickly come up with a plan to get it away from its current owner. Although she wasn't entirely comfortable playing the 'helpless damsel' card most of the time, Bela had made an exception in this instance; according to the plan, she would break into the lower levels by pretending that she'd suffered a breakdown nearby, knock out the guard who came to help her, and then gain access to the building's security control room on the lower level to shut down the security throughout the building. She could only shut everything down for a couple of minutes without risking attracting attention or setting off other alarms, but if Deanna could get to the roof of the building, that should be enough time for her to get into the penthouse, grab the statue, and then get out before Bela had to turn everything back on.
In preparation for the break-in, Deanna had been provided with a grappling gun, a harness and a line-launcher that would allow the user to control the direction and speed at which they went up, down or along the grappling wire. The equipment had been a surprise for Deanna, but Bela had simply explained that she had gathered some interesting tools in her past profession; she might not be a conventional thief, but she was a professional with all the tools of her trade, even if she might only rarely need to call on everything in her arsenal.
It was a simple hunt on the face of it- and it technically wasn't even a real hunt; they were just removing a dangerous artefact from a careless owner- but it was a chance for Deanna to try something new and interesting in this strange and complicated future she'd found herself in; as much as she loved the chance to get to know her grandsons, she wanted to feel like this was a second chance at life, rather than just continuing what she'd been doing with Samuel.
Taking a last deep breath to prepare herself for what she was about to do, Deanna raised the grappling gun, aimed it at the wall of the small building on top of the lower building in front of her, and fired the wire. As she felt the weapon impact on its target, she quickly launched the other end to attach to the wall behind her before she snapped the line-launcher onto the harness. Walking up to the edge of the roof after attaching the launcher to the harness, Deanna took a deep breath before she pushed herself from the edge, trying to focus only on her destination and not just how high she was right now…
As she hit the roof of the apartment complex, Deanna tried not to wince as she made contact; she might be in good shape, but she was still pushing forty, and this kind of physical activity wasn't exactly good for her age. Taking a moment to ensure that she was comfortable walking once again, she quickly headed for the door leading down from the roof before pulling out her phone.
"I'm on the roof," she said, after dialling the appropriate number.
"Good," Bela said, the younger woman sounding grimly amused at something. "I was starting to get impatient; this guard was decent enough, but I've already had to knock him out twice…"
"Just get the power off and we'll be done soon," Deanna reassured her friend, as she placed her hand on the handle of the door before her, eyes fixed on the keypad beside the handle as she ended the call. As the light above the keypad went off, Deanna opened the door and hurried down the stairs to the next level, emerging into the penthouse and quickly heading for the larger door of the room where Nepath kept his collection, the whole suite illuminated by the city lights coming through the windows while Nepath was away.
As soon as she entered the room, it didn't take long for Deanna to identify her target, currently occupying pride of place in the middle of the room as the newest addition to Nepath's connection here. Taking in the two-headed statue, Deanna smiled in relief; as they'd confirmed while studying the original photograph, while the statue was fairly large, it wasn't so big or heavy that she wouldn't be able to carry it away as they'd planned. Putting it in the backpack, Deanna made sure that everything was secure before heading back for the door, locking it behind her before ascending the stairs to the roof once again.
"Got it," she said, her phone connecting to Bela's as she emerged back on to the roof.
"Great," Bela said, the sound of a faint beep at her end of the call suggesting that the security system was back up and running. "Just get off the roof and I'll meet you back at the apartment."
"No problem," Deanna said, smiling slightly as she attached the line launcher to the wire once again; this distance might still be unnerving, but at least she didn't have to worry about making her way from one end of the line to the other thanks to this device. Setting the device in motion, she glanced back at the door just in time to see the keypad light up before she was too far away to see the light, raising her legs in time to return to her original location without injuring anything. Detaching the line launcher from the wire, she set the cable to retract back into its source, packed away her equipment into her bag, and made her way down to the ground level to meet with her 'accomplice'.
"Got it?" Bela asked, the younger woman looking at her inquiringly as Deanna walked out of the building.
"All fine," Deanna confirmed, patting the bag holding the artefact as they walked back to the car a short distance away, the older hunter holding off on further questions until they were both inside. "So, what do you want to do with this now? Keep it locked up?"
"I thought about it, but there are still options for dealing with this and making a profit," Bela noted with a slight smile. "The main problem lies in the runes carved into the statue; if we can sand those down so that it's at least harder to see what the runes say, it could fetch a decent price from some more legitimate auction houses."
"That don't mind dealing in stolen goods?" Deanna said, looking pointedly at Bela.
"I knew a few places where the individuals don't mind bending the rules a little even if the hose itself has a good reputation," Bela clarified. "Trust me, I didn't steal this just to hand it over to someone else who'll use it for themselves; it's just… well, why shouldn't we make some money while protecting people from their own stupidity?"
Looking appraisingly at Bela for a moment, Deanna finally nodded in understanding.
"Well… I suppose if we're careful about it…" she said, sighing slightly as she studied the statue. "After all, I'm going to need some money if I'm going to get my old degree back…"
"You had a degree?" Bela said, looking at Deanna in surprise.
"I was a substitute teacher, remember?" Deanna pointed out. "I couldn't exactly teach children without qualifications, could I?"
"Good point," Bela noted, looking apologetically at the other woman before she shrugged and indicated the road ahead of them. "Well, let's go."
The life of a hunter was never going to be comfortable, but if this set a precedent for her and Bela's future activities- recovering supernatural artefacts from people who couldn't be trusted with them- Deanna had a feeling that she was going to have a far more diverse lifestyle these days than she'd had back in her original time…
Still, there was something appealing in Bela's proposed strategy of 'supernatural Robin Hoods', when you got down to it; why should hunters always just react to the problems that arose rather than trying to avert them before they happened?
AN: So, does anyone have a preference for what comes next?
The immediate plan is to glance over a few other 'hunts' Deanna and Bela have gone on before they team up with Sam and Dean to save the next Seal- the murder of the Reapers, naturally- but if anyone has something they specifically want to see, I'm open to possibilities.