Disclaimer: I don't own SPN.
I'm not going to go into detail with too many cases, since they're just stuff that we all know and nothing much changes. And besides, I'm keen to get S2 finished and get into the real meat of the story.
And yes, this chapter title is a song title. Don't be fooled by its simplicity.
Thanks to sjwmaw for your review :)
Chapter 37. Fire
"We find out what the hell's going on, that's what," Sam said. "Dean and I found pictures of yellow eyes in Scott's closet –"
Louise raised her eyebrows because, well, nice of them to tell her and Castiel that!
"– and Ava had a dream about him? We know that my dreams always had something to do with Azazel or the other special children." Sam turned to Castiel. "Cas, d'you reckon you could – I dunno – sneak into Scott's doctor's office and grab his files for us?"
"You want me to steal?" Castiel said, looking a little disapproving.
"The files aren't gonna help anyone but us now that he's dead," Dean shrugged. "Think of it as investigating."
Castiel still didn't look happy but he disappeared with a flutter.
"You stay here with Crazy Chick," Dean said to Sam. "Lou and I are gonna go get us some food."
When the two of them reached the Impala, the sound of glass shattering made Dean and Louise whirl around. To their horror, the window of their motel room had been blown up!
"Sam!" Louise yelled. Dean grabbed her arm and pointed out a man on a rooftop across the street, holding a sniper rifle. Louise's mouth dropped. No way! Was that…?
"C'mon, Lou!" Dean pulled Louise across the street and they scaled a building behind the shooter as fast as they could, Louise hoping that it wasn't the son of a bitch she thought it was. But it was.
"Gordon!" Dean dived at Gordon Walker before he could take another shot, threatening to kill him for trying to shoot Sam, but Gordon managed to overpower him and smash him in the face with his rifle. Louise lunged and kicked Gordon's rifle away but Gordon kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying a few feet. She stood up and whirled around, pulling her gun out of the waistband of her slacks in one smooth motion.
"Don't even think about it, Louise." Louise froze when Gordon thrust an unconscious Dean in front of him as a hostage, his arm around Dean's throat. "You wouldn't want Swiss cheese for a cousin, would you?"
"Why does it always come to this?" Louise growled. "Just once, can a bad guy not use my brothers against me?"
"You're just weak, Louise," Gordon said. "Now, come with me if you want your cousin to live."
"He's. My. Brother!" Louise hissed. "I'm so sick of telling everyone this! And I literally just called him my brother two seconds ago!"
"Whatever you say, Louise," Gordon said patronisingly. "Now, I'll be taking that gun if you don't mind."
Louise reluctantly handed over her gun and then followed Gordon down to the ground and over to his car. Gordon tied Dean's hands behind his back and threw him into the back of the car, buckling him in (Louise knew that it would look a hell of a lot less suspicious at a glance if Dean looked like he was sleeping in his seat rather than lying unconscious across the whole back seat) and then he gestured for Louise to turn around so that he could do the same. Louise just raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"We can play that game if you want to." Gordon pointed Louise's gun at Dean, who was starting to stir. Louise contemplated using her powers to knock the gun out of Gordon's hand now that Dean wasn't being used as a shield but when Gordon stepped closer to Dean and pressed the gun against his temple, she knew then and there that she wouldn't risk her brother's life.
"Fine," Louise spat, turning around. Gordon pulled her hands behind her back and roughly tied them together and then he pushed her into the front seat of the car, belting her in, before walking around to the driver's seat.
"We're going for a little drive, Louise," he said. "You might want to get some rest."
She knew what was coming but that didn't make it hurt any less when the gun smashed into her head. Colours burst before her eyes and Louise blinked rapidly, before another hit made everything go black.
-LW-
When Louise came to, the first thing she did was groan through her pounding head and churning stomach.
"You okay, Lou?" Dean said straight away. Louise nodded, wincing when this action nearly made her puke.
"Good," Gordon said softly. "You're awake." He cocked the gun in his hand and placed it right under Dean's chin, making Louise gulp; one shot and Dean's brains would be everywhere! "Call your angel, Louise."
"W-What?" Louise spluttered. Gordon wanted her to call Castiel? Why? And how did he know that Castiel was an angel?
"You heard me."
Wondering just what the hell was going on, Louise closed her eyes and mumbled, "Cas? Can you hear me? Dean and I are kinda in a bit of trouble and we could use your help on this one."
There was silence for a moment. Then, with a fluttering sound, Castiel appeared. His eyes swept over Dean and Louise, who were bound to chairs, and then Gordon. His face darkened.
"I don't know who you are but you will not get away with harming Dean and Louise," Castiel threatened. He advanced on Gordon but, calm as ever, Gordon flicked a lighter open and dropped it. A ring of fire started to burn around Castiel, who whirled around and stared at it in shock.
"What the hell?" Dean burst out.
"Holy fire," Gordon said in satisfaction. "Little black-eyed birdy told me that you had an angel on your shoulder. Didn't need him coming after my ass, so I made a special trip for that stuff. Go on, Wings. Step out of the fire."
Castiel levelled Gordon with such a terrifying look that Louise shivered and recoiled.
"I can't," Castiel finally spat. "If an angel crosses holy fire, they will die."
Gordon nodded.
"Good. Now that you're secure, what do you say we have a little chat?"
-LW-
"Dean and Louise should've been back by now," Sam said worriedly. Next to him, Ava was eyeing the bullet that had shattered their window with a mixture of terror and curiosity. "And where's Cas? He just up and left!"
He was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. He immediately picked it up.
"Dean!" he exclaimed. "Where the hell are you, man?"
"Got side-tracked," Dean replied. Sam frowned. That wasn't like Dean! "This place is a real funky town, isn't it?"
Sam froze. Dean was in trouble! Was Louise with him? And was it the same person that had tried to shoot him?
"You're right about that," Sam finally said. "Listen, there's someone after me now. They tried to nail me with a rifle!"
"What? Who?" Dean exclaimed, though his voice was off.
"I dunno but we need to find out. Where are you?"
"5637 Monroe Street. Lou's with me and Cas decided to drop in. How about you meet us here?"
"Yeah." Sam hung up and groaned. "Dammit!"
"What's wrong?" Ava said, far calmer than earlier.
"Dean and Lou. And Cas. They're in trouble."
"How do you know?"
"Dean gave me a code word. Funky town. Means someone's got a gun on him – and Lou, if she's with him. And I don't know how they trapped Cas but it can't be good. Come on!"
-LW-
"You've gotta be kidding me," Louise said in disbelief once Gordon had revealed that a demon had let slip about Sam's powers and as a result, he was hunting down all the special children to prevent them from turning evil and forming an army for Hell. She once again tried to focus on unravelling her bonds but every time she tried, Gordon looked in her direction and she was forced to stop. She'd never be able to get herself untied quick enough to stop him from shooting Dean – or running Castiel through with his angel blade!
"I rarely kid. Oh, and Dean? I did warn you that I'd shoot your cousin if you tried to let on to Sam that you were in trouble. And I'm sure you found some way of telling him. You really think I'm that stupid?"
He cocked Louise's shotgun and shot her straight in the left thigh.
"You son of a bitch!" Dean roared as Castiel started towards them but halted at the line of fire and Louise cried out and tried to grab her bleeding leg. She bit her lip so hard that it bled as she attempted to hold back her tears. There was no way in hell she was going to show weakness in front of Gordon! The psychopath in question just stood up and slapped Dean across the face.
"That's my momma you're talking about, Dean."
"There's no way Sam's gonna just walk through that door and let you gun him down!" Louise forced out, trying desperately to ignore the pain in her leg.
"I know," Gordon said. "I also know that Sammy's gonna take a look around when he gets here and see me covering the front door. So he's gonna go the back way and hit the tripwire. Then –" Gordon took a grenade out of his bag, "– boom."
"As if Sam'll fall for a frigging trip wire," Dean scoffed.
"Which is why I have a second one. Look, I'm really sorry. I wish I didn't have to do this. But it'll be quick, I promise. Now, I'm going to set this up. Don't go anywhere."
Gordon went to set up the tripwire, while Louise leaned against her chair and groaned softly.
"You okay, Lou?" Dean said. "That son of a bitch! Hurry up and untie us, Jean Grey!"
"I – I can't," Louise panted. "I can't concentrate through – through my frigging leg! And by the time I get this fucking bullet out, he'll be back."
"Just rip it out," Dean said.
"Yeah and damage my leg even more?" Louise laughed painfully. "If I don't get it out right then I'll probably kill my whole leg and I don't trust my powers at the moment. How you holding up, Cas?"
"Better than you," Castiel replied, pacing around in his circle and searching for a way out. "I cannot affect my surroundings in here or else I could have smothered the flames or at least freed you."
"So, what, holy fire's like a Devil's Trap for winged dicks?" Dean said. Castiel gave a short, stiff nod.
"I'm a failure," he muttered. "I allowed myself to get trapped and now I am useless."
"You sounded surprised," Louise reasoned. "This holy fire can't be too common, right? So you couldn't have expected it!"
"Don't!" Castiel was suddenly yelling, which made Louise blink because he never yelled. "Don't try and make excuses for me, Louise! Time after time, I have failed and relied on you and Dean and Sam to help me when I should be helping you! That is the whole reason I fell!"
He clutched at his hair. The painfully human gesture made Louise's heart ache.
"And look at me. A poor, pathetic excuse for an angel, with waning powers and a laughable habit of relying on three humans to help me out of situations or fix everything when I cannot. I should have stayed in Heaven."
"What, and let those sons of bitches fuck you up like they were doing?" Dean said disbelievingly. Castiel laughed darkly.
"At least I would not be a useless failure. Naomi told me that I had a habit of never doing what I was told and making a huge mess out of everything. She was right! Look at me, Dean! Once again, I have failed and now you and Louise are in trouble and Sam is in imminent danger of dying! And I cannot resurrect him or even heal Louise because I have no connection to Heaven!"
Louise's mouth was open. How long had Castiel been bottling this stuff up?
"Shut up, Cas!" Dean snapped. "Just shut up!"
Castiel fell silent, glowering at Dean. His wings were spread out in a clear show of anger, so it seemed that holy fire couldn't affect them when they were on another plane of existence.
"You're not a failure, okay? You're just getting used to living like us humans. And you can't stop everything! We ever tell you about Chicago? Louise sensed the demons and knew they were coming and guess what? They still got the drop on us!"
Louise didn't know whether he was trying to make Castiel or her feel better.
"And then at Bobby's, when that yellow-eyed son of a bitch was in me! Louise could tell instantly! But shit still happened and people still died! Just 'cause you've got powers doesn't mean you can stop all the bad crap from happening!"
Castiel was staring at Dean with wide eyes.
"Don't you ever say that you'd be better off being tortured upstairs! Got it? 'Cause you're our friend, Cas, and we need you with us! How d'you think we'd feel if we knew you were being tortured and forced to forget all about us? Dammit!"
He tried to hit or kick something but, as his arms and legs were bound to his chair, he couldn't do anything but thrash around angrily. All Louise wanted to do was hug her best friend but she couldn't, since she was tied up and her leg was sending pulses of agony shooting through her with every heartbeat!
"We don't keep you around for your mojo, Cas," Dean said firmly, breathing heavily. "Just like I don't keep Lou around for her powers, or Sam for his nerdy brains. We keep you around 'cause you're our friend, dammit! We don't care if you're totally human and the worst shot in the world and no good at hunting! You're our friend!"
Louise prayed that Castiel got the message through his thick head. Her prayer seemed to be answered when Castiel's shoulders slumped and he favoured Dean with a wan little smile.
"Thank you, Dean," he mumbled. Dean shrugged uncomfortably.
"'S cool. I do the same to Sammy and Lou when they start bitching."
Louise shot Dean a bitchface.
"Showtime. He's here." Gordon was back and Louise sent him the biggest death glare she could muster.
"Come on, man!" Dean said. "Sammy's not a monster! He feels guilty even surfing for porn!"
"One day he will be," Gordon solemnly.
"No," Castiel said firmly. "Sam Winchester will not become a monster. He is too good for that and we will not allow it."
Gordon shook his head.
"I can't believe it. Even the angel's junkless. Look, let's say that you were cruising around in your car and you had…Hitler riding shotgun. Back before he turned into a murderer. But you knew what he was going to turn into someday. You'd take him out right away, wouldn't you?"
"That's not Sam!" Dean said angrily.
"And no, we wouldn't," Louise added. "You don't kill someone just because of what they might do someday! If you knew they were going to turn into a killer, you'd try and lead them away from that path and take them out only if they did kill people!"
"I'm sorry, you two," Gordon said. "I really am. You can't see that it's Sam's destiny and I have to do this." He pulled a strip of cloth out of his bag. "But here's the thing." He roughly gagged Dean and then did the same to Louise with another piece of cloth. "If it came down to it, your dad would have had the balls to do the right thing, even if it would wreck him. You're telling me that neither of you are even half the person he was?"
While Dean and Louise glared daggers at Gordon, the man pulled out another length of rope and cloth and crossed over to Castiel.
"Arms behind your back, Wings."
Louise growled furiously through her gag. She knew that while this was also to prevent Castiel from warning Sam, it was also a power play; Gordon could just as easily knock Castiel out but by tying him up and leaving him defenceless, it asserted dominance over the angel.
To her glee, Castiel didn't take it lying down. He willingly complied and turned around with his hands behind his back but as soon as Gordon reached over the flames to tie him up, it was game over. Castiel whirled back around, grabbed Gordon by the arm and yanked. The man went down, screaming as he fell into the fire, and Castiel used him as a bridge to step out of the circle, snatch up his angel blade and bury the silvery weapon in Gordon's back. With one last gurgling yell, Gordon fell silent and went still.
"Nobody touches a hair on Sam, Dean or Louise's heads and gets away with it," Castiel snarled at Gordon's corpse. He turned around to face a wide-eyed Dean and Louise and crossed over stiffly to free them.
"Holy crap," Louise whispered when Castiel pulled the gag out of her mouth. "Cas, that was…"
"Badass!" Dean supplied when his mouth was free. "Dude, who knew you had that in you?"
Castiel looked pleased with himself as he quickly untied Dean's wrists. While Dean bent down to free his legs, Castiel turned and undid Louise's bonds.
"I apologise that I can't heal your leg," he said but Louise brushed it off.
"Don't sweat, Cas. I've had worse."
As Castiel helped her up, one of the worst sounds in the world reached her ears: the sound of an explosion. She whirled around, nearly falling when she put pressure on her leg, and saw Dean staring in horror at the smoking doorway.
"Sammy!" Dean yelled. A second explosion answered him and Louise, feeling her legs about to give out under her, grabbed Castiel around the neck to steady herself.
"Sam!" she wailed.
There was silence for a moment in which nobody dared to move.
"He's alive," Castiel declared. Dean and Louise looked at him sharply.
"What?" they exclaimed.
"He's right," a familiar voice said. Dean and Louise's heads whipped around to see Sam standing in the doorway, grinning wearily.
"Sammy!" Dean pulled Sam into a brief, manly hug, slapping him on the back. "Don't do that again!"
Sam shrugged. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the burning, bloody corpse of Gordon behind them.
"Oh," Louise said when she noticed his line of sight. "Cas had a BAMF moment."
"A what?" Castiel frowned.
"Means you were badass." Louise shifted slightly and ended up leaning on her injured leg, which made her legs buckle underneath her in a flash of pain. Castiel caught her around the waist and pulled her back up. "Oh, come on! I'm not some damsel in distress!"
"No," Castiel agreed. "You are an injured human who requires support until your leg has been tended to."
"So let's get outta here," Sam said, his eyes flicking to the door nervously. "I may have called the cops so that we wouldn't have to kill Gordon but seeing as he's already dead…"
"Whoops," Louise laughed, seeing colours burst behind her eyes. When black started to appear at the edges of her vision, she groaned. "Great. I think I'm gonna black out. Fan-freaking-tastic."
"I think you should carry her, Cas," Dean said, looking far too smug for his own good. "Make sure she doesn't hurt herself any more."
"I agree." Louise exhaled sharply when Castiel bent down, swept her legs out from under her and supported her back with his other arm. Her grip around his neck automatically tightened.
"I'm injured! Not dead!" Louise protested. "You did that on purpose, you asshole!"
Dean smirked and winked before turning around and leaving with Sam. Louise just groaned and closed her eyes, trying to cling to the last shreds of dignity that hadn't disappeared when the angel had decided to carry her like a delicate little female.
"I hate you, Dean!"