Chapter 5
AN Enjoy. :)
"Demons" Sam says as he turns down the music, getting a mock glare from Dean as he does so.
"Yeah, I figured. Been leaving a trail of mangled meat-suits behind" Dean replies, his breath catching as he tops the hill before the bridge to Gotham City, and he sees his home city.
Sam looks at him questioningly, but Dean just shrugs it off, clearing his throat and telling Sam to get on with the case.
"The latest body to drop was a few hours ago, meaning that police might still be on scene, but we should still go check it out" Sam says, closing the lid of his laptop as they enter Gotham.
"Cool, we can change once we find a motel" Dean says, his voice rough as he tries not to look around at the familiar buildings, buildings that haven't exactly changed since he last lived there.
"Dean?" Sam questions, looking over at his brother.
"Hmm?" Dean answers, keeping his eyes firmly on the road.
"What's going on with you? Ever since we took this case you've been acting weird" Sam says.
"Nothing, this isn't the nicest place to be though, why do you think dad turned down all the cases that were in Gotham?" Dean says, turning the radio back on, this time turning it down so that it plays softly in the background.
"I don't know, he always acted really weird whenever Gotham was brought up" Sam says, looking over at Dean for answers.
"It's dangerous, lot's of fucking psychos call this place home" Dean answers simply, not wanting to tell Sam the truth.
"We hunt monsters Dean, we stopped the apocalypse, locked Lucifer back up in hell. We've both died. Dangerous doesn't bother you any more than it does me. Don't lie to me." Sam says, shifting in his seat to stare incredulously at his brother, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
"It's nothing, this place just has me on edge" Dean says as he pulls into the parking lot of a motel, ignoring Sam when he scoffs, obviously not believing him.
A few minutes later they have their bags in the room and their monkey suits on, FBI badges in their jacket pockets, and are on their way back to the car.
Dean turns the radio up when they get in the car, and Sam leaves it as they drive to the crime scene, obviously not happy with Dean.
The crime scene does nothing but confirm their demon theory, with sulfur around where the body was found, and internal injuries being the cause of death, they are certain that Gotham has a demon problem.
Dean doesn't miss the man tailing them, him specifically, but Sam does. It's past ten when they get back to their room, having stopped at a bar to ask a few questions, and at a diner to get dinner, so Sam isn't surprised when Dean changes back into his regular clothes and tells Sam that he's heading back to the bar they were just at.
"Be careful, please" is all Sam says as Dean walks out the door, Sam being long used to Dean leaving Sam to research while Dean leaves to get drunk.
Dean just chuckles as he slams the motel door closed behind him, but the smile fades from his face as he turns from the door, and he ducks his head down as he starts walking along the sidewalk, knowing exactly where he's going.
He keeps track of the man following him as he ducks down side streets and alleys on his way to the abandoned park that him and Jason were at the day they were arrested.
It takes him about a half an hour to walk there, but he likes the quiet, the dark, the time spent without having to wear his mask, and although there is somebody tailing him, they don't seem to be currently malicious, so Dean absorbs as much of the peace as he can.
A sad sort of smile makes its way onto his face as he stops at the entrance to the abandoned park, which is a fuck-ton more overgrown than it used to be, but he can still make out parts of the sign, and the playground when he looks through the vine covered fence.
All it takes is a few minutes of cutting vines with his pocket knife to be able to open the gates, and when he does, he moves easily over to the picnic tables located near the back end of the park, and although the park is pitch black, he's been walking in darkness for a while, and his eyes are already adjusted.
He almost laughs when the wood of the table crumbles beneath his fingers as he grasps the edge of the table.
He decides instead to sit on the damp grass beside the tables, laying back onto the ground a few moments later, finding peace in watching the stars like he used to do so often with his brother.
His hand twitches towards his gun when the man that's been following him moves closer still, this time standing in the shadow that the trees cast, a more full dark encompassing the man than the one surrounding Dean.
"You know, i'm not sure who you are, but if you aren't here to kill me, I would appreciate if you would just come out and talk to me. If you are here to kill me, same offer really, come out and try, I hate the suspense." Dean says from where he lays, tilting his head towards the shadows where he knows the man is standing.
"You aren't FBI" the man says as he steps out into the moonlight, and Dean's eyes widen on the black and red suit, mechanical looking wings tucked in behind the man's back.
"You're Red Robin" Dean replies as he pushes himself to sitting.
"How'd you know I was following you?" the man asks, tilting his head to the side.
"You're not the first person to follow me. Why are you following me though, you don't seem like you wanna kill me or anything" Dean says, leaning back against the bench of the picnic table as Red Robin stands a few feet from him.
"Why did you come here? It's odd for someone posing as an FBI agent to come stargazing at an abandoned park, especially because you knew exactly where this place was, and you didn't have directions on you" Red Robin replies, not answering his question.
"Can you keep a secret?" Dean asks, tipping his head back to lay against the bench, his eyes closed.
"It depends" Red Robin replies, wondering where exactly this is going.
Dean chuckles, having expected that answer.
"That's good enough for me" he says as he calms his laughter.
"I was born here, not this park, Gotham City. I had a twin brother, have? i'm not sure really. We didn't know anything about our father and our mother was a junkie, lots of abusive boyfriends. Anyway, we spent a lot of time living on the streets. When we were eight, we got arrested and separated. I got adopted by our biological father and his wife, and Jason disappeared. I haven't been able to find him since, my step mother died in a fire when I was nine. My father sacrificed himself to save my life a few years back, and I have a baby brother, who doesn't know that one, he's technically my half brother, and two, that he might have another half brother somewhere. He keeps asking me why i'm acting weird, and I don't know how to tell him that it's because I still feel like half of me is fucking missing, because I have a twin that he knows nothing about. That i'm adopted, that neither me or our father ever told him the truth. And to answer your question, i'm in this park, because it's where me and my brother were hanging out a few hours before we were arrested and I never saw him again." Dean says, cracking an eye open when he gets silence in return.
He sees Red Robin staring down at him, concern marring his features, even covered in a domino mask.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asks after a moment.
"I don't have anyone else to tell, why not the vigilante who's been following me around the last couple hours? Besides, who are you going to tell? Batman? Not like he can do anything about it, not like he cares, not like you do either. You were following me because i'm not really an FBI agent, you're right, i'm not. I'm working a case though, there are things in the world that you don't want to know about. Those things are my job, I won't be causing you any trouble. I just wanna finish this case and get the fuck out of this city." Dean says as he pushes to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets as he exits the park, and Red Robin lets him go, not sure about what to do with the information he's been given.
AN Thoughts? Good? Bad? Meh? Lemme know what you think. :)