BASED ON ERIC KRIPKE'S "SUPERNATURAL". ALL COPYRIGHTED CHARACTERS AND STORYLINES BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
Please, please, pls review, review, review! I'm starting to think that my story is becoming boring and doesn't please you like it's supposed to.
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Cas calls Selaphiel, Adriel and Michael in a new meeting in the conference room to hear the latest news. ETA until the firewall goes down reaches 6 hours.
"So Kestine paid you a visit" Selaphiel says, chuckling "must have been interesting."
"Very" Cas completes. "She had the audacity to tell me that I should call for emergency withdrawal, criticizing that I'm blind to the entire situation."
"Sounds like the Union isn't too appreciative of our actions" Adriel states.
"Right now I couldn't give a bigger crap about the Union's desires" Cas confesses, shocking everyone in the room. "What's the status on the core?"
"Still no progress on the repairs" the fire archangel reports. "We got six hours left."
"What about Earth? Is the improvised communication system Michael installed working?"
"100 %" Michael answers. "It's pretty primitive but it's the best option we have right now."
"Any incidents so far?" the general demands to know.
"Not yet but Raphael and Noria report that the garrisons are getting quite uneasy about the whole thing" Adriel responds.
"I understand. Tell them to try and maintain calm as long as possible."
"All right" Adriel agrees.
"Michael, if there's any way you can, I want you to help Selaphiel and the techs. Your vast knowledge might prove useful in finding a solution."
Michael nods.
"All of you have your orders. Carry them out with caution. The entire future of the Host is depending on us."
The three get up and leave in a fast pace. Cas is left alone in the room. He stares out the window, watching the clouds as they move by. Once, they had a calming effect on him. Now the only thing they do is make him realize he's wasting time.
Just then, he hears a fainting voice, calling for his name. It was definitely human, male and very angry. Cas knows it can be only one person: Dean. However, he can't go to him. He's too busy to lend a hand in one of the human's petty cases. But the Winchester's voice is demanding, as if summoning him for something urgent. Maybe he should find him.
"Come on Cas" Dean yells while driving alone. The general appears in the right seat, looking at the open road. "Ah, there he is … finally deciding to show up" the Winchester mocks.
"What's wrong" the angel wastes no time.
"I'll tell you what's friggin wrong. Your ex. I want her away from me and Sam, you got it?"
"Dean, do understand she is not a part of the Host anymore. Her fate doesn't concern us."
"Oh that is so rich after she practically killed you. She's too dangerous. Can't you just snap your fingers and abracadabra her away or something?"
"Right, because whenever you ask me something, I have to help you immediately. I dealt with her Dean. If you have a problem with her, handle it yourself."
"What happened to you man? You used to be like a human once. Now it's like you changed back to your dick-self."
Cas takes a deep look into Dean's eyes which sends shivers through all over the man's body, making the Winchester to wonder if they still can call themselves friends. Dean doubts it. Partially, he was right. Cas apparently, acts like he was before rebelling. But there's something more … colder, coming from within. Dean can't quite put his finger on it.
Suddenly, Cas hears Adriel's call: Zod I rey do, no quo, abera… "I have to go" he tells the human.
"Wait a minute! Don't you go vanishing on me …"
"I have important matters to attend to. And like it or not, they don't concern you. So just shut up and work out your issues on your own."
Cas disappears, leaving a shocked Dean. "Just great" he adds while accelerating the Impala.
Castiel walks in his office and realizes all his board members, with Michael, are there. Raphael and Noria are present in the room via a hologram. "What happened" he asks confused.
"There's been an attack" Adriel slowly explains. "Several angels affected by the core were ambushed by demons. There were 3 casualties: Mefiel, Bakhatiel and Ghran."
"What? Where in heaven's name were you" the general addresses Noria and Raphael.
"Busy … somewhere else" Noria answers, touched by her leader's angered gesticulations. "When we got there … it was too late."
Castiel puts his hands on his head and sighs deeply. "Just, see to damage control" he orders.
"We didn't know Castiel…" Raphael tries to defend but is quickly cut off by the general.
"I really don't want to hear it Raphael … especially from you!" Cas turns to Selaphiel: "Any progress on the repairs?"
"No" the archangel reluctantly answers.
"No?" Cas madly repeats. "Nothing at all" shouts at everyone. "Why am I hearing only excuses? What is wrong with you? We're the children of God and we can't fix one stupid malfunction? Answer me!"
"Hey we're doing the best we can" Selaphiel intervenes.
"Well apparently it's not good enough. Do you know what this can do to us? The others are going to think that we can't handle this and we'll wake up with a riot on our hands faster than we can blink. We have 5 hours left. Get back out there and start showing me some improvements. Dismissed!"
As Raphael and Noria's holograms disappear so do the rest of the angels depart Cas's office. Passing near him, Selaphiel wishes to say something but time is pressing all of them and they can talk after this crisis is over. Right after remaining alone, Cas is disturbed by the telephone ring. He answers.
"What … Kestine I don't have time for this right now … ok how about this scenario: I'm the general and you have to do what I say!" And after saying that, Cas grabs the telephone and violently smashes it into the wall.
As explained before, the angels use the cores to empower themselves, not having individual abilities like the archangels or Castiel. After God left heaven, regular celestials discovered some of their powers were missing. As if the Almighty's presence completed them somehow, and with him gone, their power levels dropped significantly. Just like the demon-human hybrid's powers increase when Lucifer walks the Earth, so do the angel's abilities when their father is in heaven. Noticing this problem, Michael had to turn to heaven's inexhaustible energies and create special transformers, the cores, to empower his troops and to possess a satisfactory control over his native world.
4 hours left until the firewall collapses. Selaphiel and Kestine walk side by side. The archangel is clearly bothered by her but tries to show respect and be polite: "Kestine, please, I have work to do."
"That's just it. He's having you work round the clock. Don't you think this is getting out of hand?"
While the two have this passive conversation, Cas, in his office, grabs a liquor bottle and fills one of the glasses.
"You don't know what you're talking about Kestine" Selaphiel adds. "I don't know either."
The woman angel steps in front of him. "We have to face the fact that Castiel is in way over his head. He screwed up, he knows it and he's gotten all of you on this non-stop charade just so he can fix his mistakes."
After finishing the first round, Cas drinks another one.
"The truth is" Kestine continues "that this kind of mistakes can't be fixed. We both know that the angels who died down there, they're not coming back."
"What exactly are you saying?" Selaphiel asks with annoyance.
Cas decides to drink directly from the bottle. He empties it and reaches for another.
"I'm saying" back to Kestine "that he's proving himself more and more unfit for command. He's irrational, irresponsible and careless. He has personal feelings that cloud his judgment and cause him to make rash and erratic decisions. If he keeps this up, we might have another anarchy period on our hands. We have to do something about him and…"
Selaphiel, tired of her complaints, interrupts: "That is enough. I'll have you know that that is your general you're relating to. And as board member, you will refer to him in front of me with more respect, do you understand?"
"Yes Selaphiel" she says resigned.
"Good. Now we all have work to do and we'll get nothing done if we get together and whine about it all the time. Excuse me."
And with that, the archangel walks away.
3 hours left. Selaphiel sticks his head in the small opening to get a visual of the room before knocking three times. Castiel lifts his view from the desk to see who it is.
The image frightens Selaphiel to his inner core. Cas seems to have been drinking, which explains all the empty bottles on the desk. How could he do this, in a middle of a crisis? Has he grown that irresponsible? Could Kestine have been right about him all along? Is his depression over what happened with Ellen affecting his judgment so hard that he can't find the focus to lead anymore?
"What is this?" the archangel demands to know. Cas remains quiet.
Selaphiel asks again, shouting: "What in heaven's name is this? What do you think you're doing? This is how it's going to be from now on?"
The general can barely look in his eyes, unsure of what to respond.
"Oh sure" the archangel is ironic "let's get drunk. That way will solve all our problems and make all the worries go away. Is that how you plan to command now?"
"I don't know what the hell do you want from me" Cas shouts back.
Their heated discussion is interrupted by the phone. Cas answers: "What?" He puts the receiver down and heads to exit the room.
"What's going on?" Selaphiel is curious.
"The firewall's been breached" the general answers as they leave in a hurry.
Next chapter Monday!
