Chapter Twenty-Five: In Which Mary Is So Not in the Mood for Everybody's Crap
"Chiquitita, it's been too long."
"I'm dreaming, aren't I?"
Mary took in the neatly trimmed garden and freshly painted gazebo, a place that she probably wouldn't find herself while waking. Her companion smirked at her.
"Give her a gold star."
Gabriel was usually more disheveled then his brothers and sisters, but now he was completely a mess. Half-moon dark circles were stamped beneath his eyes, his shirt collar stuck straight up and his hair flew in wayward wisps around his face.
"You look awful," Mary told him, point blank.
"Thanks for that."
He scrubbed a hand over his face, but it didn't do anything to help his appearance.
"You want to hear why I'm here or not?"
Mary quickly surveyed the rest of him. One pant leg was ripped, the other singed and his torso was a little bloodstained.
"Shoot," Mary said wearily.
"I don't have long. He's after me."
Mary looked around, alarmed. "Lucifer?"
"No, Batman. Of course, Lucifer!" Gabriel snapped. "Mary, tell me you still have Famine and War's rings."
They did, squirreled away in the back of the Impala, warded every way they knew how. They hadn't been able to figure out how to use them or destroy them, so there they would stay for the foreseeable future.
"Well, Mount Doom wasn't readily available, so yeah."
"Good. You need to get Pestilence's and Death's."
Oh, great. A literal brush with Dean. Mary shook her head.
"Are you insane?"
The dream world shifted suddenly, the golden-soaked landscape greying. Gabriel closed his eyes.
"Maybe a little bit. Look, you muttonheads were right. You can't just bury your head in the sand when it comes to family."
The ground beneath them shuddered. Gabriel pulled an angel blade from the inside of his sleeve.
"If you unite the rings, you can open the door to the Cage. Toss him in there, throw away the key and you don't have to worry about the apocalypse."
"And how, exactly do you propose we throw him in?" Mary asked. "In case you hadn't noticed, he's basically unstoppable."
"I'm pretty sure you can figure it out."
The ground lurched, throwing them both to the dirt. Wind whipped around them. Gabriel scrambled forward a few feet, still on the ground, closing the distance between them.
"He's coming. Wake up, Mary. Wake up!"
Mary's eyes shot open to Sam, twisted around in the front seat, shaking her. Beside her, Lisa slept on, face contorted slightly in an emotion Mary couldn't quite identify.
"Look, we just got a call from Cas, he's all right. Human, but all ri—are you okay?"
Okay? They'd lost Ben to Michael and they currently had his civilian mother insisting on coming along for the ride. Okay didn't even come close to what she was feeling right now.
"Gabriel's on the run."
The look she was getting from Sam suggested that he didn't think this was a bad thing. Mary couldn't blame him. If she hadn't seen Gabriel herself, she probably wouldn't have felt bad for him.
Dean swiveled around, ignoring Mary's mumble of protest to keep his eyes on the road. "What do you mean, on the run?"
"Lucifer's after him. But that's not important. He told me how to open the Cage."
Sam looked at her warily. "And you trust him?"
"Do we have any other options?" Mary asked. "Not to alarm you or anything, but we're getting a little close to the end of days here."
They both nodded, hesitantly. Mary reached over slowly so as not to disturb Lisa and pulled her cellphone out of her bag.
"The Four Horsemen's rings are the key. If we bring them together, we can throw Lucifer back into the Cage." Ignoring both of their protests, she dialed Bobby's number into her phone. Putting the phone up to her ear, she said, "I need you to find Pestilence and Death."
"Decode this ancient Sumerian text, Bobby. We need a spell or Sam's going to get eaten, Bobby. I need you to find Pestilence and Death, Bobby," Bobby mimicked. "Would it kill you to say hello first?"
Mary sighed. "Bobby, really not the time."
She could almost hear him rolling his eyes over the phone. "I'll do my best. Call you when I have an idea.
/
"How'd he come up with this place, anyway?" Sam asked as they approached the hospital Bobby had directed them to.
"He said, and I quote: internet."
Mary was admittedly a little suspicious about it, but now was not really the time to be questioning anything. She'd take whatever Bobby had to give them. Shrugging, Sam led the way into the quiet lobby.
A few feet behind Mary, Lisa trailed along anxiously, hands clenched around the gun Mary had given her. She wasn't sure if Lisa knew how to shoot or not, but she figured that if it wasn't sharp and the safety was on, Lisa would be all right.
"You don't have to do this, you know," she said quiet enough so that the boys wouldn't hear. "You didn't exactly sign up for this gig."
Lisa shrugged. "No, I didn't. But Ben's out there somewhere, alone and afraid. The faster we get this over with, the faster he gets back to me."
Mary had seen that look in her own eyes too many times to argue with her.
"Stay close," she said instead.
Hospitals, even hospitals at night, were never this quiet. There was no movement in the emergency ward and no one manning the reception desk. Mary shrugged and together, they made their way up the steps. Somehow, it didn't seem quite right to take the elevator.
"So we're just going to sneak in there and cut his ring off?" Lisa asked.
"That's what we did with War and Famine," said Sam.
For some reason, it didn't seem to reassure her very much. As they ascended, the heavy, stale scent that accompanies sickness overpowered the sterile cleanliness of a hospital. Mary was the first one to cough. It came from deep in her chest and seemed to rattle her ribcage.
"Want to bet we're close?" she asked, giving her chest a good whack.
Soon, they were all coughing. Sam stumbled into the wall, and when Mary reached out to grab him, he was practically radiating heat.
"Come on," she slurred, tugging him back to his feet.
Dean was the next to go down. (Back in their school days, her boys had gotten sick if someone else so much as sneezed on them). Lisa was the one to seize him by the armpits and haul him back to a standing position.
"Almost there," Sam said, steadying him a bit.
One of the nearby doors swung open thanks to a pretty brunette nurse, undoubtedly possessed. She smiled kindly at them and beckoned them in. Mary felt her knees give way. She collapsed to the ground, another round of coughing wracking her chest.
"Ah, come right in. The doctor will see you now."
Blearily, Mary saw the demon coming towards her. She couldn't do anything about it as she grabbed her arm and dragged her into the room. Had she been able, Mary might have laughed at the sight of all four of them collapsed in the ward.
"My own special cocktail. Bit of scarlet fever, bit of the measles, just a tad of the flu. You're probably experiencing some discomfort. Why don't you tell me about your symptoms and we can start work on a treatment plan?"
Mary had had enough of villainous monologuing. Thankfully, Sam had, too. He pulled Ruby's knife out and held it with trembling fingers. Pestilence strode over with quiet confidence, looking down at the knife much in the same way Mary might have had someone attempted to kill her with a toothpick. Just as calmly, he brought his foot down on Sam's wrist and ground it down into the ground.
He shouted in pain and dropped the knife. Pestilence settled his thin glasses on his nose, grabbed a fistful of Sam's hair and quickly examined him.
"Pathetic," he said softly, releasing him. "God's favorites. Please. Humanity's nothing. Just one puny little germ and you all fall down."
Before he could continue with the whole weakness of humanity speech that was going to drive Mary insane at some point, the door flew open.
"Cas?" Mary croaked out, though he probably couldn't hear a word she was saying.
"I took a bus," he said wearily.
There was something different about him, though Mary couldn't quite put a finger on it. The sickness was affecting him, too. He was half doubled over, his left hand placed protectively over his torso. Pestilence smiled.
"Fascinating. Occupied vessel, but not a speck of Grace in you. Oh, I'm going to have fun with you."
Castiel staggered forwards a few steps before his knees gave out entirely. He landed hard next to Lisa.
Lisa, who had somehow gotten her hands on the knife.
"It might be a more than a speck."
With that, he surged up, Ruby's knife in hand, and brought it down on Pestilence's ring finger. The Horseman yelped in pain, but didn't do anything to stop him as Cas pocketed the ring.
"It's far too late, anyway," he said casually. "It's started."
/
"What the heck are you doing here?"
It took Mary a few seconds to register the scene in Bobby's living room. Ellen sat perched on the desk, arms crossed and a deep scowl etched into her features. Bobby was steadfastly ignoring her, indignant. And standing in the middle of the room, arms wide as if he were accepting applause, was the demon, Crowley.
"Wonderful to see you, too," he said, nodding in her direction. "Where's the pretty blonde?"
Ellen made a growling noise in the back of her throat.
"Dead," Mary said coldly. "Thanks to you. The Colt didn't work."
Crowley rolled his eyes. "So I guessed when the apocalypse didn't just stop. Pity. I had a party planned and everything."
Oh, that was it. Mary held out her hand to Cas, who understood what she wanted without her having to say a word. He placed Ruby's knife in her hand with a quick nod. Mary stalked forward, seized Crowley by the collar and dug the point of the knife into his throat.
"Careful there, love. It's sharp."
"Tell me why you're here."
"Ask your friend over there."
Slowly, Mary turned to Bobby, knife still in hand. A lesser man might have turned and run at the expression on her face.
"We needed the information on the Horsemen."
"Gosh darn it, Bobby!" Mary dropped the knife and closed the distance between them. Crowley massaged his throat, throwing her a wounded expression. She didn't know whether to shake Bobby or hug him. "How long?"
He avoided eye contact with absolutely everything he had. Mary blew a puff of hair out of her eyes and waited. Ellen was the one to answer.
"Ten years. Standard, apparently."
Mary rubbed at her eyes. This was the last thing they needed on top of everything else. If everything went pear shaped today, Bobby wouldn't even have the chance to live out his ten years and they wouldn't have the chance to save him. And Mary did not want to have to see another member of her family go through that.
"Did you kiss him?" Sam asked unexpectedly.
"Sam!" Dean snapped. Then, "Was he any good?"
"I have a picture," the demon offered.
"Shut up," Mary and Ellen said at the same time.
Lisa, standing in the back of the room, just looked utterly confused. Ellen, perhaps sensing it, got up and led her out of the room, talking quietly, her 'civilian voice' in full effect.
"All right," Bobby said, holding up his hands. "Not my best move. Agreed. Did you get the ring?"
Cas pulled it out of his coat. "Yes."
"Good. Now spill." This was directed at Crowley.
"You want the big problem or the little problem first?"
Everyone present glared at him.
"Chicago's about to go up in smoke. Death's in town, and he's not pleased." Having sufficiently garnered all the attention in the room, Crowley went on. "Oh, and Niveus Industries is about to unleash the Croataon Virus on the world."
Well, sugar.
/
In the end, it was decided that Ellen, Dean and Sam and Cas would accompany Crowley to Chicago to get the ring, Bobby would stick around home base in case things went haywire, and Mary and Lisa would go stop the virus from being distributed.
Just before Mary and Lisa headed out, Sam pulled her aside.
"Mom, we need to talk."
That was never good. "About?"
He moistened his lips, deliberately not catching her eye. Mary crossed her arms.
"I…I've been thinking about how we're gonna get Lucifer into the Cage." Her blood ran cold. "And I, uh. Well, you can overcome possession, right? So what about an angel would be different?"
The words were out of her mouth before she even realized they were coming. "No. Absolutely not. There's got to be another way."
There wasn't. They had no way of tricking Lucifer into the Cage and they definitely couldn't force him in. But if Sam broke through…
"You would have to jump," Mary said dully.
He flinched marginally. Mary bit down so hard on her lip that she tasted blood. It had been bad enough for four months knowing that Dean was in Hell. She couldn't even comprehend the horror of the Cage.
"I—no. We can't. We'll find another way. There has to be one. We're not giving up."
She wouldn't let Sam do it. No matter what it took. Mary bridged the gap between him and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes.
"I'm proud of you."
After their goodbyes, the groups broke up. Mary and Lisa left in her van. As much as Mary was fond of the Impala, there was something calming about being in the drivers' seat again. And besides, the van would probably be better in the event that they had to ram down a door or something. ("Is that…likely?" asked Lisa).
"How did you get into this?" Lisa asked after a while of silence, broken only by Mary's CD (converted to cassette so it could actually play in the Villager).
"Taylor Swift? I don't know, her lyrics are good and her songs are catchy—oh. Hunting?" Mary changed lanes. "My parents were hunters, actually. Sort of a family business, I guess. I wanted out for a really long time and then—and then I didn't anymore."
Thankfully, Lisa didn't ask anything else. Mary had been thinking more about John in the last few days than she had in years, since she'd killed Azazel. What he would think of this mess, of Sam's suggestion, what he would do. Panic, probably. He was a civilian, after all. It wasn't like it mattered, anyway. He was dead.
"We're going to get Ben out of this."
Lisa offered her a watery smile. "I hope so."
They arrived at the Niveus warehouse about an hour before the trucks, according to Crowley, were supposed to leave. Mary scoped out the area, looking for any weaknesses. Thanks to Bobby, they had enough explosives to level the building. She hoped to leave Lisa in the car, but the other woman didn't look as if she was going to listen.
"Uh, Mary? There's a truck leaving."
"Oh, fudge. Change of plans. Stop it!"
With that, the two women rocketed out of the car. Any of Mary's doubts about Lisa's ability flew completely out of the window. Lisa beat her to the gate, slamming her fist down on the big red button to shut it. When the driver looked out of the truck, Lisa grabbed him by the shirt collar and smashed his skull with the butt of her gun. With the guy confused, she reached inside the cabin, pulled the lock, yanked open the door and dragged him out. He hit the ground with a thud.
"Christo!" Lisa snapped, landing neatly beside him.
She continued chanting the word over and over, keeping him incapacitated while Mary rattled off the exorcism.
"That was amazing."
"Girl Scouts," Lisa replied with a shrug. "Are we doing this or what?"
/
"Lisa, I need you to do something for me."
The plan had been building in her mind for the last couple hours and now, with the warehouse that was supposed to house the Croatoan virus in flames behind them, it was time to execute.
"Take the van back to Bobby's. Tell them—tell them Sam's plan will work, that they need to unite the rings." She bit her lip. "And tell them that I'm sorry. Sam and Dean especially."
Lisa looked at her, wide-eyed. "What are you doing?"
"What needs to be done."
Mary took a deep breath and headed for one of the adjacent warehouses. Behind her, the familiar sound of the Villager's engine revving drifted away as Lisa pulled out of the parking lot.
She'd pulled just enough supplies out of the back to do this. Making sure she was alone, Mary set about the summoning. She wasn't sure what would work on angels, but she'd learned enough from Pastor Jim and Bobby over the years to construct a rudimentary ritual. Striking a match and saying a quick prayer (to where, she didn't know), Mary dropped it into the herbs.
"Hello, Mary."
Exhaling a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding, Mary lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.
"You're looking well," she said sarcastically, glancing up and down the vessel. Nick, or whoever he was, seemed to be fraying at the edges. "Moisturizing?"
To her surprise, he smiled. "I've been trying."
Lucifer strode forward until they were standing barely an arms' width apart.
"I could kill you right now," he noted.
"But you won't," Mary said, more confident than she felt.
"No. I'm curious."
He cast his gaze around the empty warehouse (and, distractedly, Mary wondered why it was always warehouses) as if he could pluck Sam out of the darkness. Mary squared her shoulders.
"You're so tiny. But yet, you stand here as if we're equals."
"Ego. It's a bit of a problem."
He tilted his head to the side. "I see where Sam gets it. Snarking in the face of danger. Not particularly smart."
She bristled, the very mention of her son enough to make her want to jump across the space between them and strangle him. Something told her that would not go over well.
"You don't get to talk about him," she said instead, voice barely managing not to shake.
Lucifer continued as if he didn't hear her. "We're very much the same, you and I. The family wanted us to be something, we said no, and yet, here we are. What they wanted all along." He smiled at her, and if she hadn't known any better, Mary might have been reassured by it. "And, of course, we want what's best for Sam."
Mary's hands clenched into fists at her sides. "You just want what's best for you."
He pouted slightly. Every instinct in Mary's brain screamed at her to get out of there, but her legs wouldn't move. She didn't know if it was the resolve or the fear.
"Sam and I are destiny, Mary. You can't fight it."
"I don't believe in destiny."
"I do." He shook his head, looking almost sad.
Enough talk. Mary had business to attend to.
"The boys went back in time a few months ago. Met me, John. I don't remember it. But they told me something interesting. When he needed to, Michael was able to possess John."
Lucifer nodded. "Direct blood connection."
"Which got me thinking. Nick here, I looked him up. He's my second cousin, once removed. A Campbell, but not in name. He's blood, but he's distant. Ben Braeden, on the other hand, he's one step removed. Michael's got you beat, unless..."
The nerves in her stomach fluttered again, but Mary pushed them away. She looked up, locking eyes with him no matter how badly she wanted to look away.
"Unless?"
"Michael came from John's side of the family. You, on the other, hand, come from mine. One step removed."
He smiled, slow, the way a snake might. Mary swallowed.
"Yes."
His eyebrows danced up. "Are you agreeing to be my vessel, Mary Winchester?"
"You want a fair fight? You'll take this offer, or Michael will grind you into the ground. Yes."
That was all it took.
Mary Winchester closed her eyes.
Lucifer opened them.