A/N:
I just want to say a sincere thank you to all the people who PM'd me, encouraging me to continue with the story, despite having previously revealed the plot in a separate post (which I've since removed).
I just lost the will to write anything. I'm trying to get excited about it, but it's kinda forced, so hopefully this chapter isn't too sucky.
Also, the wonderful Morrismsteph has not beta'd this chapter. So read at your own peril.
Warning: I'm being willy-nilly with the demon's people-flinging ability. I haven't pegged it perfectly. Sorry!
Few and far between were the moments when the supernatural inspired so much awe that the Winchesters were stopped in their tracks and rendered speechless. In their horrifying life of experience, the supernatural tended to serve up dread with a complimentary side order of bone-deep, world-weariness. Surmised to say, they've seen a lot of shit they'd rather forget. However, seeing Thor, the god of thunder, take out a demonized Hulk using a bright-ass rainbow beam was not on that particular shit list. In fact, when he kicked the bucket for the final goddamn time, Dean is fully expecting this awesomely insane moment to be on his reel of greatest hits in Heaven.
"Comrades!" Bellowed with a borderline inappropriate amount of joviality given the situation, Thor's greeting ignited the rest of his teammates into motion. Tony was the first to surge forward with an ecstatic "Pointbreak!" quickly followed by a rush of Avengers who all glomped onto their reunited member. (Bucky would later maintain that he did not glomp because glomping was the action of sentimental marshmallows. He did, however, deliver a hearty back slap, which Thor had then turned into a full body glomp.)
"Oh my god of thunder, it's Thor," the slightly hysterical stating of the obvious had Sam and Dean looking to their right at a mind-blown Spiderman. Clearly suffering a system overload, he was hopping from foot to foot like he had to pee and spastically flapping his hands like they were malfunctioning.
"Man, relax before you wet your spandex," Dean instructed, his tone ripe with judgement.
Sam scoffed at his hypocritical brother, "Yeah, cause your insides aren't doing the same weird spaz dance his outsides are doing."
"Dudes, it's Thor," Peter's hands stopped flapping in order to point directly at the god in question. As if Sam and Dean had somehow missed the last two minutes of life and were blind to the great clump of hugging Avengers not 20 feet away. Then, seemingly speaking to himself, they listened as he exasperatedly muttered, "No, I'm pretty sure now is not the perfect time to show Thor my impression, thank you very much."
Dean uncharitably observed the guy was losing his damn mind.
Sam, not one to judge a minor mental breakdown, ignored Peter's mutterings and instead focused on something else alarming, "Excuse me, Spider…man, but how old are you?"
Dean straightened at that question, realizing that Sam was right – Spiderman sounded much more like a Spiderboy.
Spiderman's suspiciously quick assurance of "I'm old enough – don't worry about it" was undermined by the sharp crack of an octave jumping midway through his words.
Sam's expression turned to mush at that pubescent voice crack, obviously picturing a baby-faced, puppy-child underneath the mask.
Dean rolled his eyes at his brother, absolutely refusing to acknowledge the slight mush-like consistency of his own internal response. He watched as Sam opened his mouth, no doubt to spew kittens and rainbows at the apparent youth, only to be (thankfully) interrupted by the terrifying sounds of a possessed Hulk slowly regaining consciousness.
At hearing the ominous sound, the assemblage of Avengers de-glomped and quickly made their way back over while Sam and Dean crouched down to collect weapons from their bags.
Retrieving a couple guns and the knife, Dean turned to Sam, "We agree that now is not the time to trap and interrogate, right?"
With an ammo belt full of rock salt shells strapped to his bare chest, Sam cocked his shotgun and nodded, "I'll keep him distracted. You just focus on stabbing him where you can reach."
"Shoot and stab - that's your big plan? What the hell do you think we've been doing for the last 30 minutes?" Tony looked at the brothers flabbergasted.
Dean waved the knife as he said, "Magic, demon killing knife, remember?"
There was a quiet smattering of 'oh, right' from the group and one heartfelt, 'I hate magic' from Tony.
Knowing it was only a matter of seconds before the demon fully came to, Sam quickly asked, "Dr. Banner isn't affected by what happens to the Hulk, right?"
Appropriately concerned for his science sibling, Tony answered warily, "He's generally indestructible, but just because it hasn't been accomplished, doesn't mean it isn't possible. Especially if magic cutlery is involved." He paused to give the knife the hairy eyeball, "How exactly does that thing work?"
"Cliff notes: the mumbo-jumbo carved into the blade ensures the knife kills the demon, but it also has the shitty side-effect of killing the person being possessed. Usually not an issue since demons typically kill their host before we come along with the pointy end," with his usual sensitivity and tact, Dean mimed 'coming along with the pointy end' by vicious stabbing the air in front of his own face.
Tony's face grew ashen as he took in Dean's performance. Up against their run of the mill villains, Tony's money was 112% on his Hulky Bruce coming out unscathed. Up against supernatural weaponry designed to kill something that was, arguably, already dead? Tony was not prepared to make the same wager.
Attempting to mask the worry in his voice, Tony said, "Okay, so great 'Plan Z'. Truly stellar work. Makes me real excited to hear all about 'Plan A' now." Quietly, he tacked on a small, but sincere, plea for an alternative route other than Bruce's probable death, "Please."
"Listen, we know it's not ideal, but our only other option is exorcism which poses the logistical issue of keeping him in place long enough for us to read him his rites," Sam understood and was sympathetic to Tony's fear for his friend, but they really didn't have many choices. "We'd normally just trap or tie the demon down, but our usual methods aren't going to work with this hulked-out version."
Dean added, "We can't risk jolly green running off or having the demon leave Dr. Banner just to possess some other poor bastard."
"Physically keeping him in one place won't be a problem because of Thor's hammer," Steve stated, like Sam and Dean were just supposed to accept that illogical logic.
"Yes, that darkness is most definitely not worthy of the mighty Mjolnir," Thor intoned.
Not understanding how a glorified tool belt accessory was going to help in this instance, but not willing to waste any more time, Dean just said, "Right. Cause obviously. Let's go, Sam," and ran towards a now awakened Hulk approximately 70 feet away.
The closer they got, the more apparent it became that the thing was well and truly stuck. They stopped 10 feet away from it just to stare because the struggle was real. Lying on its back with the hammer pinning it to the ground, the demon was ineffectively tugging on the handle with both hands and had yet to notice its audience….until Sam shot it in the neck.
Yelling out in pain and realizing the Winchesters had arrived, the demon's efforts to remove the hammer doubled as it let out an extremely frustrated cry of, "What the hell is this thing?!"
Dean, ignoring the demon, turned to his brother, "Hey Sam, know what time it is?"
"…if you say 'Hammertime', I swear to –"
"-IT'S HAMMERTIME!" Dean quickly yelled over Sam, futilely trying to prevent his nerd brother from ruining his punchline. "Come on, man!"
Having given up trying to remove whatever the hell was on its chest, the demon just groaned as it was subjected to the Winchester's idiot rambles, "This angry, green asshole is such a sweet piece, but I'm out. Dealing with you two wads was not on the agenda."
The Hulk's mouth stretched open painfully wide as a plume of black rushed to escape. Barely a second into the demon's evacuation, Sam speed-recited the counter exorcism and everyone watched as the struggling smoke was seemingly pushed back down into the Hulk by an invisible force.
"Nice work, Sammy!" Dean complimented.
"Yeah, nice work, Sammy," the Hulk's deep, guttural voice mocked. "I know you want me to stay, but I don't have any dolla dolla bills, y'all, to shove down those hotpants. Why don't you take this hammer off and maybe I'll find something fun to do to you for free."
Shuddering at the perv factor of those ominous words, Dean immediately started the incantation to send it back to Hell. Before he could say more than, "Gross dude. Exorcizamus te-", the demon flicked its wrist and he and Sam were sent flying.
The Avengers watched in horror as their only real hope was bashed into a concrete wall.
"Shit! Cap, game plan?" Clint had an explosive arrow nocked and was ready to let it lose on Cap's word.
Steve was saved from having to come up with a plan by the shocking sight of the Winchesters immediately getting back up from their crash. Sam, due to his overexposure, was bleeding quite heavily.
"That doesn't look good, Sammy. You alright?" Ignoring his own throbbing shoulder, Dean watched as Sam hissed in pain, twisting to look at his damaged side. Visible through the oozing blood were large pieces of gravel imbedded in his skin.
Kicking himself for being such a jerk earlier, Dean took off his flannel button down and handed it to his brother, leaving himself in a black, short-sleeved t-shirt. Unfortunately, Sam still looked ridiculous. In a buttoned up red and black flannel that fell a bit past the end of his shorts, he was just a tower of hair, flannel, and legs.
From their spot, Dean once again tried the exorcism, making it only as far as, "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis" before the demon roared and he and Sam were again sent flying. This time they were launched towards the Avengers like bowling balls towards pins.
Captain America, Spiderman, and Thor immediately stepped forward to catch them. While they did technically succeed, they were more like glorified landing pads as the brothers' momentum knocked them all on their asses. The five of them took a second to recover from the collision.
"Thanks. I guess," Dean groaned.
Tony grabbed Dean's arm and hauled him up, "So, Plan A? Not great. Needs work. What's Plan B?"
"Who feels like being a distraction?" Sam asked as Steve helped him to his feet, careful of his injured side which was bleeding through Dean's shirt.
"Ooh! We do! Pick us, pick us!" Clint's hand jumped into the air, hauling Bucky's metal arm up along with it. He waved them around like an idiot, while Bucky just stood beside him looking resigned as his arm was flailed around.
A familiar scream tore through the air before anyone could tell Clint he was a moron. They looked and saw the Hulk had somehow once again gotten his hands on the tiny Spiderman wannabe. The child was sobbing as the demon had him pinned to the side of a building.
"What?! Spiderman, I thought you dealt with this little idiot? Where are this kid's parents?!" Tony silently lamented today's youth.
"I did deal with him, Mr. Stark!" A confused Spiderman stated, "I left him with a group of police officers. I dunno what he's doing back here."
Tony immediately blasted into the air towards the kid while the other Avengers and Spiderman followed suit on ground. Sam and Dean stayed back.
"I'm over this shit. We're summoning Crowley tonight," almost nothing pissed Dean off more than demons preying on kids.
Sam, equally pissed, pointed out the silver-lining, "At least we've got our distraction."
Dean nodded, "Stay low and we'll make our way over so we come up behind its head."
"Let's go."
They were in the middle of the road, a good 70 feet away from the Hulk. Staying low to the ground, they were able to make their way to the sidewalk and creep their way up behind. During their trek they watched as every single Avenger was pinged away like a gnat. After playing with his food, the demon had launched the bite-sized Spiderman down a side street. There was no way an adult, let alone a child, could survive being thrown that far, but Steve immediately raced after him on the off chance the kid wasn't a mangled splat against the pavement. Clint was set up on a rooftop across the street, launching explosive arrows directly at the demon's face. When he had been tossed at the building, he had managed to get enough of a foothold to scale up the face of it using balconies and ledges. Everyone else was too close to the demon be able to do any real damage. The second they landed a hit, they were immediately thrown. Natasha and Bucky were both lying unconscious 30 feet down the street. Ironman's suit had seen better days – both repulsors kept blinking out, making Tony's flight uncoordinated and jerky. It looked to be only a matter of time before they gave out completely. Spiderman had a huge gash across his stomach and was limping. His webbing stores depleted. Thor had a few scrapes, but was otherwise fine; laughing and goading the demon to focus solely on him. Not wanting to remove Mjolnir, thus unable to conduct lightning, Thor's main goal was to be annoying. Physically he was strong enough to break Hulk's arm, but as he figured that wouldn't stop the demon from using it, he didn't want to needlessly damage his friend.
Seeing the Winchesters come up behind Hulk's head, the remaining fighters doubled their attacks to ensure the thing stayed focused on them. It wasn't until the first strands of the twice-failed exorcism began that the demon remembered it had something more dangerous than the Avengers to worry about.
"You stupid sonofabit – AAHHH!"
The demon's words ended in a scream as Sam let loose as many rock salt rounds as he could right in Hulk's face. Dean continued reciting the incantation, the demon thrashing against the pull, until unexpectedly, a gigantic green hand grabbed Sam and begun squeezing. Sam couldn't suppress his pained cries as the chunks of gravel dug deeper into his side.
"SAM!" Distracted by Sam's capture, Dean stopped exorcising.
"Keep going!" Sam's words were barely audible through his pained screams as the demon squeezed harder.
"Screw this," Dean forwent the exorcism in favour of grabbing the knife out of his holster, rushing forward, and stabbing the demon in the thigh. The knife would kill the demon regardless of where the knife was stabbed. Dean was hoping a thigh-stabbing wouldn't result in Bruce's death. Risking Bruce had been the last resort, but he wasn't about to risk Sam's life.
Sam was dropped to the ground as the demon screamed and tried to grab the knife.
Just like the day before, the Avengers watched as the demon lit up like it was being electrocuted, screaming in agony the entire time. Flashing between forms, they watched as the Hulk finally shrunk down revealing an unconscious Bruce, covered in bruises and blood.
Thor rushed to remove Mjolnir from Bruce's fragile chest as Tony and Nat checked his vitals.
When he couldn't find Bruce's pulse, Tony felt his own heart stutter and stall only for it to jumpstart into overdrive a few moments later when a panicked Natasha stated, "He's not breathing!"
Without exchanging another word, Natasha and Tony quickly began CPR as everyone else gathered around and silently watched. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, both Sam and Dean were praying to anyone who'd listen. Considering Cas was M.I.A., they didn't truly expect an answer. They had burned a lot of bridges among the angels, some before they were even built.
"Bruce!" Steve approached the group, the front of his uniform covered in blood.
Bucky immediately went to check him over, looking for the source of the blood. Steve pushed his hands away and said solemnly, "It's not mine."
Looking at the sorrow on his friend's face, Bucky said, "It's not your fault the kid didn't make it, Steve. There was nothing we could've done."
At his words, Steve grew frustrated, "That's the whole point, Bucky! We're completely useless. Without the Winchesters, we'd all probably be dead right now."
"Rogers, mind shutting the hell up about dead teammates right now?" Tony sharply ordered from where he was doing chest compressions on an unresponsive Bruce.
Uncharacteristically, Steve cursed, "Shit. Sorry."
Realizing his calls were never going to be answered, Sam abandoned praying and tried to figure something else out. If they killed Bruce Banner/the Hulk, he'd never forgive himself. "We need a defibrillator. Did anyone call the paramedics?"
"Of course," Clint answered, almost insulted that Sam took them for utter incompetents. "I comm'd SHIELD right after Bruce was stabbed. They're on their way."
Looking around, Sam didn't see Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He saw a group of people watching a loved one die. Silent except for Tony's compression count, they watched, faces drawn and serious. It was especially strange seeing even Thor motionless and hushed. The god of thunder had been boisterous and downright jolly up until that point. Sam's eyes widened in realization. God of Thunder.
"Uh, guys, isn't Thor basically a walking defibrillator?"
"Thor is basically a walking bomb." Still doing compressions, Tony elaborated, "He harnesses too much energy. Direct exposure would kill Bruce." Tony's face froze and his hands fell away from Bruce, clearly some sort of lightbulb moment was happening.
"TONY!" Natasha yelled at him to continue administering chest compressions.
"Clint, take over for me." Without arguing with Tony, Clint immediately took over. Tony stood up, went to his dead suit standing open a few feet away, and climbed inside. "Thor, I need you to zap me with everything you got. The suit is completely dead, but once you juice it up, I can modify hopefully modify the reactor to act as defibrillator if I can get at least one of the repulsors partially working. I can't believe we didn't think of this before. This isn't even a genius idea. We're all just idiots."
It was a testament to their love for Bruce that all rationality seemed to fly out the window when faced with losing him.
Thor was in the process of manually closing Tony's suit shut, essentially trapping him inside, when a smooth, feminine voice stopped him, "That won't be necessary, Thor Odinson of Asgard."
Shocked, the group turned towards the newcomer.
"Who the hell are you?" Tony belligerently inquired.
Before she had a chance to respond, Sam's exasperated voice shouted, "Really, Dean?! Really?! Have you learned absolutely nothing?"
Dean shrugged, unrepentant, and greeted the new arrival, "Hi Billy."
A/N:
Hopefully you enjoyed that chapter.
I know I said Season 12 wasn't included, but for the purpose of this story, I'm going to reference what we know about Billy from more recent seasons and include Billy and Dean's weird relationship. Just ignore the presence of Mary in the series.
FYI the first – for my sanity, I'm just gonna ignore the 2 supernatural episodes that mentioned Odin and Thor's hammer: "Hammer of the Gods" and "Tiger Mommy".
FYI the second – I truly appreciate any feedback! Seriously, I had to reread your comments to even get through this chapter.