Author's note: Thanks a lot to the wonderful Ghastly Eternity for beta-reading. Also, thanks so much to Maknatuna, Mello18, L. Greene, midnight0211, BloodyRosie, Maddy Love Castiel, ShinigamiMailJeevas, Kid'sDarkWolf and Dust to Dusk for last chapter's reviews. You guys are awesome!
26
Castiel was walking up to the building next to Crowley. His hands had been cuffed with silver bands that had a very elaborate design of sigils on them. The demon had initially protested against changing the symbols slightly, thus rendering the binding magic useless, but the others had insisted that nobody was going to notice the little changes.
As things were, Castiel was wearing one of the most expensive and hard to come by pieces of crap in existence, as Crowley had put it. The angel would do nothing to let the demon know that his fading powers made the handcuffs an inconvenience anyway, even if their greatest power had been broken.
Of course, Dean had protested that Crowley didn't have to pretend he had caught Castiel to get into the building. He could have done the job just as well! The demon however had made the rather convincing argument that basically all of Lucifer's minions would kill Dean at sight. Furthermore, they would call Lucifer the moment Sam showed up and that Crowley had gotten his hands on an archangel and was not only still alive but had also captured him was just too unbelievable.
It gave Dean all sorts of bad feelings about the entire situation that this was the only plan they had and that the plan called for them to trust the demon. It didn't help that he knew for a fact that Castiel could neither lie nor act to save his life. Then again, he only had to look like he hated being close to Crowley and being brought into an old asylum that had a lot of demons and Pestilence in it, so there was no need for a lot of acting.
"Try to look like you loathe me," the king of the crossroads told the angel next to him in a hushed tone.
Castiel just looked at the demon with his stoic expression that was darker than usual, though. He really didn't like having to work with Crowley this closely or at all, really. He understood that all this was a part of the plan, but that didn't make having to bear the demon's presence any easier. It helped a little that he was meant to look uncomfortable anyway, however.
"Alright, that works as well," Crowley shrugged and then changed his expression to one of complete and utter smugness as they came closer to the door and thus to the demonic guards.
"Your boss will love to see this!" the demon addressed the others and gave the chain attached to Castiel's handcuff's a hard yank that caused the angel to glare at him angrily. If the angel had been any better at acting, Crowley wouldn't have had to force him into showing the right emotions, he still might have done it just for the heck of it, though.
The other two demons looked Castiel over and got a dangerous snarl when they attempted to touch the angel. They chose to keep their distance after that.
To his credit, Crowley also pulled Castiel slightly backward and away from the demons, just in case. After all, he wanted this to go over as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Bitten off fingers or wild kicking didn't fit that description. A damaged angel didn't as well, however. Not to mention what it would do to his health and general wellbeing, if he returned Dean Winchester's pet-angel in any other condition than the one he had borrowed him in.
The two guards finally stepped aside and let Crowley and Castiel enter. Step one had gone exactly as planned. Too bad that this had been the easiest of all the tasks that would still come their way before the night was over.
This time, not even Gabriel liked he plan they were working with.
That might have given Dean some satisfaction if not for the fact that he absolutely hated the plan himself. This seemed to be like a requirement for all their plans these days, however. Actually, he started to think that all their plans had to meet two standards. First of all, they had to be the only option available at the time and Dean had to dislike them.
"Tell me that Cas is still on your radar!" the older Winchester demanded from the archangel once he saw the angel and the demon enter the building.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "No worries, Dean-o, I know exactly where your girlfriend's at," he smirked, but it wasn't quite as heartfelt as it would have been usually.
Their plan lived and died with the archangel's ability to monitor Castiel's location at any time. Sure, Crowley had told them, that there might be wards against angels, but there surely wouldn't be anything blocking an archangel's powers. Lucifer would barely tell anyone how they could make him more vulnerable, after all. While Gabriel had agreed with the demon's reasoning, he still couldn't help thinking that knowing where Castiel was, wasn't quite the same as knowing that he was okay.
It said a lot about how worried the older Winchester was that he didn't find a scathing reply for Gabriel's comment. Sam gave Gabriel a reprimanding look, however. The archangel didn't look overly apologetic, but the younger Winchester hadn't expected him to be, anyway.
He would probably just have to get used to the idea that his brother and his boyfriend – at this point Sam supposed calling Gabriel anything else would just not cut it – would never get along. Maybe that should have bothered him, but as long as they weren't actively trying to kill each other – no doubt about who would win in such a case – he just didn't. The younger Winchester thought that it was a good thing that his brother and the archangel were nearly evenly matched as far as throwing stupid comments at each other, too. It kept him from having to take one side more clearly than the other, anyway.
"They're still moving," Gabriel interrupted Sam's musings.
They had to take their chance to get to Pestilence and Crowley had argued – successfully – that the Horseman might just up and leave at the first sign of them coming for him. They had already taken out two of his brothers, after all. So, instead of taking out a bunch of demons on the way in and surely alerting Pestilence of their presence that way, Crowley would pretend to bring a captured angel to the Horseman while Gabriel was monitoring his brother's exact whereabouts and brought himself and the two humans inside once they were close enough.
The biggest problem with the plan was that the archangel didn't actually know whose presence Castiel was in at any given moment. He'd just have to make his move once the angel wasn't walking anymore and hope there was no other reason for him to stop for a longer while than the fact that he was standing in front of Pestilence.
Maybe, maybe Castiel would get a chance to take the Horseman out himself, which would be the preferable option, even if it was unlikely.
You knew you were in trouble when your best plan was hinging on hopes and maybes.
The first floor of the building had been basically empty, except for the two guards and some furniture that had been left to rot when the asylum had been closed down.
Crowley had been given directions to bring the angel to the second basement floor and this far it didn't look like they were in danger of being stopped or exposed even.
If the guards had been Crowley's men he would have skinned them alive for falling for their little ruse, but as things were, he was quite happy that they were brainless enough not to question him.
Of course, his own guards had fallen for an archangel in drag. Good people just were damn hard to come by these days.
They were greeted by pained moans and muffled screams once the elevator stopped. It was the first time that the angel looked worried and if Crowley used a lot of imagination, maybe even a little sickened.
No demons were to be seen, but judging by the noise the floor had to hold quite a lot of people and the king of the crossroads would bet his title that most of them were humans. It didn't take too many demons to keep a bunch of humans in check, after all. Especially not if they were in as much pain as they sounded to be.
"What is this?" Castiel asked, even sounding a little unsettled. It did nothing to ease his nerves that he couldn't actually see any of the people those sounds were coming from, it made him feel even more apprehensive, in fact.
"I told you Pestilence was working on biological warfare," Crowley replied untouched, "What did you think he was testing the stuff on?"
The angel did not answer. To tell the truth, he had not spared the question what exactly Pestilence would be doing too much thought. There was absolutely no doubt that he was infecting people with all sorts of diseases, probably just for his own sick amusement. The glimpses Castiel caught of the effects those illnesses had on the victims through little windows in the doors made something in the angel cringe and lash out furiously at the same time. None of these feelings made it to Castiel's expression or general posture, though.
They reached the end of the corridor not a minute too early. The demon would never admit it, but he had been kind of unnerved by the constant noise, as well. There was a reason he was into sales, after all. Oh, he could enjoy the sounds he could get out of someone on occasion, but only when he was the one calling the shots, as a rule.
"Interesting operation you have going on here," Crowley greeted the Horseman who was standing at the other side of the room.
Pestilence was wearing a white lab coat that was matching the surroundings they were in. If they hadn't known better, he would have looked like a doctor. Or a mad scientist, which was closer to the truth.
"Humans are fascinating," the Horseman spoke in a voice that sounded much too nice for such a despicable being, "There are so many possibilities for their own body to betray them, really. I fear there might be too little people on this planet to even try all of them."
At least the disappearances of War and Famine were giving him a wider population to work with. Pestilence had never really liked having to share with his brothers.
"Too bad that the boss is only interested in quick results," he mused before he even took a closer look at the two newcomers. He had been informed by one of the demons guarding the entrance that he was going to have a visitor bringing a gift.
"Crowley, was it?" the Horseman asked, "Why do you bring me a defective angel?"
First of all, it seemed unlikely that a demon like Crowley would manage to bring an angel at the top of his powers down without extensive damage done to both of them, even if he had the right equipment at his disposal. Also, the vibes the angel gave off were not as strong as would have been expected from a full-blown angel.
"It never hurts to be prepared," Crowley answered smugly, "Who knows, once Lucifer is done with Earth he might want to cause some chaos in Heaven."
To be honest, Crowley wouldn't give a damn about all of Heaven dying slowly and painfully, he didn't really give a damn about them being there as long as they kept to themselves - as they had for the longest time - either, though. His main concern was that Earth remained more or less in the state it was in now. He hadn't fought his way to the top to get out of Hell to have Earth turn into Hell! He could have remained in the pit, if he had enjoyed anything about it.
Not to mention that Crowley still thought that Lucifer was by far more likely to wipe out all demons than he was to destroy all angels, but he was pretty alone with his opinion there.
"I sincerely hope you weren't trying to collect bonus points with the boss. This sorry specimen will not be of any help, even if Lucifer should plan anything alike," Pestilence stated thoughtfully, approaching the other two men, "Look at him! Barely an angel anymore and not much stronger than the vessel he's in."
If anything, it would be interesting to find out what sort of disease it would take to infect the vessel of an angel in a way that would affect their grace as well, but this one was very close to succumbing to his human body, as was. Pestilence's very presence seemed to be hard on the fallen angel already.
Castiel prepared himself to break the handcuffs, reach for the knife hidden in his coat and try to cut a couple of fingers off the Horseman's hand, but intense feelings of nausea and fatigue were making it hard for him to concentrate.
When Pestilence finally stood close enough to touch, the angel was too weak to even try and break his chains. He managed to reach for the knife, but the Horseman got a good grip on his hand before he could have done anything with it. Castiel's eyes widened for a moment before he fell to his knees coughing and shuddering.
"Playing with a toy that's already broken isn't very entertaining, Crowley," Pestilence stated wiping his hands on his trousers, "I think the two of us could have much more fun."