Chapter 2
Earth 17
"Guys?" Syd grumbled from under the car. They all silenced their laughter from a joke Ryker had just made. Everyone looked towards Syd.
"What's up, Squid?" Kade called over from her chair at the table.
"First, don't call me Squid. Second, I need a torque wrench."
"But Squid is the perfect nickname for you." Kade got up from her chair to go find one. "It sounds like Syd but also portrays your personality."
"Why can't you get a twerk wrench yourself?" Ryker asked. Crossing her legs and turning her entire body to face the car.
"Because I'm holding the transmission together. And if I let go, well, we're all doomed." Syd said turning the towel she was holding to the base to stay at a more comfortable angle. "Ryker," Syd added, stifling her laughter. "It's torque not twerk.
"Same thing."
"No," Syd laughed, "No, it's really not."
"I can't find one." Kade walks back over empty handed.
"It's the one with the-" Syd starts to clarify.
"I know what a torque wrench look's like, Syd." Kade interrupted.
"Look in the top drawer of that tool box." Syd risked the whole job to take one hand to point to a small purple tool box.
"Ah ha!" Kade said, taking the torque wrench from the drawer. "Here you go." She crouched down and handed it to Syd. "Do you need help at all? This looks pretty hard."
"Nope." She started working again. "All good here."
Kade eyed the situation, knowing Syd was lying. "Hm, alright if you're sure. But holler if you need me later."
"Absolutely."
Kade returned to the rest of the group, letting Syd work in peace. Everything was going great. Kade, Addison, Ryker, and Max talked and laughed while Syd worked quietly on the McLaren, occasionally laughing to herself and commenting on the current discussion. Everything was normal for most of the night.
After an hour or so, Syd called out, struggling to hold the fuel system together. If she let go, she'd get drenched in gasoline.
"Screwdriver!"
The voices stopped and Syd felt their heads swivel her direction.
"I need a screwdriver, like right now!"
Kade jumped up from her seat to go look for one. Coming up empty handed, she rushed back to Sydney.
"Where?" Kade exclaimed anxiously.
"Try the back room!" She said, louder than necessary, her grip slipping a bit. Addison and Ryker both jumped up.
"On it!" They shouted simultaneously and raced into the back room. Kade kept looking around for the socket wrench in the main room. Max joined the search in the back room. Kade scrambled around in the various drawers and boxes, slamming them shut when she came up empty.
"You would think," She yelled, visibly frustrated. "That there would be more than one pair of pliers in this damned place. It is a mechanic shop for Chuck's sake!"
Finally, after having checked every nook and cranny, she stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips and turned in a slow circle for one last scan.
"Goddammit" She said under her breath.
A yell came from the back room. Kade and Syd exchanged a worried look before Kade ran into the room, the door slamming behind her.
"Kade, is everything alright?" Syd yelled, her arms were starting to tremble. No noise came from behind the closed door.
"Guys? I'm still here you know."
Silence.
"Guys?!" Syd started panicking. All at once, she lost her grip and gasoline came flooding all over her.
"Son of a bitch!" Syd yelled sliding out from under the car.
She got up and ripped the rag off the counter. She was angry, the one time she needed help they decided to mess with her. She stormed to the back room planning to find them messing around or something. She slammed open the door to the back room only to find nothing. They actually left me? She shot down that theory immediately, Kade would never do that. Plus there's no exits on this side of the building. This has to be a prank.
"Guys this isn't funny." Syd said to the empty room, scanning every shelf and corner. "Seriously the job's gonna take twice as long now. And the gas comes out of my paycheck." Nothing moved. Syd couldn't even hear breathing. "Guys, I don't have enough energy for this." Giving up, she sighed and rubbed her eyes. "You guys are so stupid." She whispered. She found the pliers herself and went to change her clothes.
Earth 3
"Dean? Dean?!"
There was a loud noise that echoed through the hallways, it was a scream. Sam flinched at the noise, but kept his eyes on his brother, checking for a pulse.
The sound of rushed footsteps sounded from behind him. Sam grabbed the gun and aimed it at the door unsteadily due to his heavy breathing, expecting to find another demon.
What he didn't expect was to see two girls who looked around twenty-years-old.
"Who the hell are you?" Sam stood up straighter, holding his gun steady.
"YOU'RE JARED PADALECKI!" The taller one, with shoulder cut blonde hair and blue eyes, exclaimed at the sight of Sam. She was wearing an excessive amount of stripes.
"Who the hell are you?!" He repeated, louder this time, but it had no effect on either of them.
The blonde girl turned to the other, she looked about a year older than the blonde and had brown hair the same length as the blonde.
"IT'S ACTUALLY JARED PADALECKI HE'S STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!" The blonde yelled again, as if the brunette hadn't heard her the first time. Sam cocked the shotgun.
Her friend put her hand over the blonde's mouth so she wouldn't get them killed.
"One more time. Who. The hell. Are you?" Sam said, aiming the shotgun at the strangers.
"RYKER! ADDISON! WHERE DID YOU GUYS GO?" A deeper voice echoed through the room. A voice that Sam didn't recognise. Footsteps boomed through the warehouse, followed by a boy running towards the two girls. He looked about the same age as the others.
"Max!" Said the brunette, her hand still keeping the blonde quiet. "What are you doing here? Did you get pulled through too? What's happening?"
"Addison, calm down, okay?" The man, who Sam assumed to be who the brunette called Max, requested. He glanced in Sam's direction, his eyes widened in fear. "He's got a gun? Okay, he's got a gun. Stay calm?"
The blonde rips the brunette's hand off of her mouth. "The French Mistake."
"The what?" Sam shifts uncomfortably, while lowering his gun a little. They ignore him and talk amongst themselves.
"No way." Max said.
"That would mean that this-" The brunette, who's name Sam guessed was Addison, gestured to him " -Is the actual Sam Winchester. Where's Dean then?"
Max points to Dean, unconscious behind where Sam is standing protectively.
Addison puts a hand over her mouth. "Oh no…" she whispers.
Sam glances back to find his brother still bleeding out.
"I got to go." Sam turned to face his brother and kneeled next to him, checking for a pulse and getting the can rack off of him. He forgot about the three strangers for a moment while he cared for his brother. Did I do this to him? Sam wondered. He couldn't remember anything after being strangled by the Succubus. He was so focused on his brother he didn't realize he had an audience. The three strangers had gathered behind Sam and were watching him silently.
Sam threw his brother's arm over his shoulder and started walking him out to the car to take him home. When he turned to see the three friends still standing there, he froze.
"May I help?" Max mumbled while the two girls were looking down somberly.
Sam gave a little nod, Max walked over and grabbed Dean's other arm to help carry him out, when Dean flinched.
"Broken ribs." Max and Sam both said.
Max lifted more carefully and together they were able to get Dean out unharmed.
"Can I drive?" Ryker skipped out holding the impalas keys she had found next to where Dean was lying earlier.
They were standing by the car, with Dean unconscious in the backseat, when water hit them perfectly in the face. Followed by salt, then Sam pulled out his iron knife.
Sam slit his upper forearm and gave the knife to them to do the same. After a few minutes of fighting and squealing, Ryker complied. When her episode was over, and the whining had begun, it was Addison's turn.
"Oh hell nah," She said, putting the knife at arm's length. "I am not gonna do a deep cut that is… unneeded." Sam started to protest but Max cut him off.
"Don't you just need to make sure we bleed red and can touch iron and steel?" he pointed out, "I mean, I don't think we need to slit our freaking wrists." Max takes the blade from Addison and pushes the tip to his finger, drawing a drop of bright red blood. He gives the knife back to Addison, who presses the blade flat against her forearm. She gives a slight smirk and makes a hissing noise through her teeth. Sam pulls a gun and everyone steps away.
A few seconds of silence pass, Addison bursts out laughing, followed shortly by Ryker.
"You should have seen your faces. Y'all looked like scared kittens!" Says Addison. Sam and Max exchange a confused look.
"Are they always like this?" Sam asks, looking concerned for the girls.
Max sighs and crosses his arms, looking at his feet, annoyed. "Yes," He says, "Yes they are."
Earth 3
Kade landed hard on her back, her head slammed against the cold stone floor. She felt a sharp stone jab into her shoulder blade on impact; it sent chills down her spine. She groans and sits up. She opens her eyes to pitch-black darkness. There was no difference in light when her eyes were closed. She hears a small whimper behind her and whips her head around, the motion sending a new wave of pain through her skull. There's a scuffling sound and another whimper to her right.
"Hello?" She whispered cautiously. She's answered by yet another muffled cry, this time with the tone of a question. As her eyes get used to the darkness, she scans the room she's in. Kade can barely see the outline of the walls, too close for comfort. One wall seems to be open to a larger room, but there was something separating the two. She slowly starts inching towards this opening, careful to not make a sound. She might have already sealed her fate when she whispered. Syd has drilled this into your brain, Kade. Never make your presence known until you know for sure there's no danger. C'mon, you're better than this, you friggin idjit.
She reaches the wall adjacent to the open one, and feels her way up until she could stand. The ceiling is just a few inches above her head. She slides her hands across the old, square cobblestone wall as she moves forward, not willing to lose her guide. The sharp corner comes up on her suddenly, Kade reaches out her left hand, keeping her right on the wall. Her fingers come in contact with a cold, thin iron bar. She tries to squash her worst fear even as it becomes more and more true.
She transfers her right hand to the metal and slides down while her left slides up. Kade feels another bar running perpendicular to the first, with a large bolt securing the two together. Oh no… No no no no no no. She was right, this is a cage, fully enclosed.
It took Kade five whole minutes to calm herself down. Something about cages made her skin crawl and her lungs shrink. She's close to her normal breathing pattern when a soft firelight comes bouncing into the room, joined by multiple pairs of footsteps.
Thinking fast, she hides behind the smaller stone wall protruding from the left corner connected to the bars. Having written a few stealth stories herself, she knows taking deep breaths through her nose is quieter than holding her breath. She keeps herself as still as possible, watching the flickering light crawl up the floor and walls of the cell. She had almost forgotten about the whimpers and cries she'd heard earlier, now she knew where they had come from.
A man sits in the fetal position in the corner diagonal to Kade. His clothes are torn and bloody. His face is framed by a rats nest that was once straight and auburn. His hazel eyes, once light with humor and hope, now wide and terrified. Lips that smiled with joy and spoke with sass are now sewn shut with thick thread. He's cut, bruised, weak and flinches when the light from the torch reaches him. His whimper tears a hole in Kade's chest, for she knows this fragment of a man.
GABRIEL, her mind screams. She thought seeing him like this in season 13 was hard, this doesn't come close. She had to be dreaming. Kade was obsessed, sure, but even she knew Supernatural was fictional. She pinches herself and squeezes her eyes shut, wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup. This has to be a nightmare.
Kade slowly opens her eyes, praying to see her Marvel posters pinned up in her room, but instead is faced with harsh reality, this is real.
Oh no… The footsteps are getting closer and Kade's heartbeat speeds up along with her breath.
"Gabriel," a deep, southern voice echoes through the room, Gabriel flinches. Kade knows this voice, and the person who owns it. Asmodeus you fu- "Lucifer's gone lookin' for your precious Winchester's, how's 'bout we have a little fun ourselves?"
Don't you dare touch him you-
"Get the keys," He orders one of the demons. "And light the rest of the candles." There's a jingling sound, then screeching as the cell door opens. Gabriel whimpers and struggles to disappear into the floor. Asmodeus struts closer to him, syringe in his hand. Gabriel tries to call out, but the stitches make it sound like nothing more than a muffled cry "Love me some Archangel grace…" Asmodeus says, and before Kade knows what she's doing, she's pushing Asmodeus away from Gabriel. She rips the syringe out of his hand as he falls to the ground, pins his shoulders down with her knees and threatens to stab his neck with her newly acquired weapon.
"Don't you dare touch him you sick fuck." She hisses, she hopes her face shows her fury. Asmodeus's expression is shocked and confused, but shifts into a smile. He laughs, deep and menacing. Now it's Kade's turn to be confused. Two demons grab her arms and pull her up, disarming her. Asmodeus stands up and straightens his clean white suit.
"I don't know how in the hell you got in here," He laughs. "But what level of stupid got you to think that was a good idea?" He turns to Gabriel, Kade struggles against the demons holding her.
"Don't!" She protests. Asmodeus faces her again.
"Why? What're you goin' to do?" He steps closer to her until their faces are inches away. "You're one human child against three demons." He smiles wretchedly. Kade wants nothing more than to punch him in his perfect demon teeth. Instead she spits in his eye and hopes it burns as much as her hatred does. He stumbles back, wiping at his eyes. Then he looks her dead in the eyes, his face pent up in wrath. "You little bitch." Suddenly he's directly in front of her again. Kade struggles to keep her confident smirk and push down the fear rising up in her chest.
She doesn't even have time to brace for the pain. Asmodeus winds up and punches her in the stomach with unbelievable strength and speed. She gasps for air, held up by the demons restraining her.
"I'll deal with you later." He sneers, picking up the syringe before turning back to Gabriel, who realizes that he's in danger again and tries to scream.
"No!" Kade gasps as he steps closer.
"Chain her up out there," He gestures absently towards the bigger room. His henchmen start dragging Kade toward the door, but she won't go without a fight.
"NO!" Kade shouted, attempting to break away from the demons. Thrashing and kicking, anything that might help the situation. The demon to her left, a burly man almost twice her size, punches her in the cheek so hard, she sees stars. Her world starts spinning as they basically carry her to a set of chains hanging from the ceiling. As she fights to stay conscious, the cuffs digging into her wrists, she can faintly hear Gabriel, trying to beg for his life through the stitches that bind his lips. Asmodeus' hideous laugh is the last thing Kade hears as he fades into darkness.