13 - Take Down Enemies
As soon as Dean dropped the word, Sam pulled the first grenade out, and gave Ramon the earplugs he brought along. Sam only put one in his ear, because he wasn't taking out his link to the feed.
Sam primed the grenade, opened the door, and threw it inside the stairwell, barely closing the door before it went off. Even so, he felt the tremor of the flash-bang through the floor, and his ears were ringing despite the limited exposure.
Yes, they were military issue and they shouldn't have had them, but that was true of most of their weapons. It didn't have much force, hence why he and Ramon could stay by the door, but what it lacked in destructive power it made up for being far too fucking loud, and far too fucking bright. Sam had seen a sliver of the light under the door, so luminous it left black smudges in his vision. Any monster in the stairwell would be in hideous pain, with busted eardrums or temporarily blinded eyes, or both. It was a vicious attack, and yet one of the few things that could instantly level the odds. The problem was, as soon as they did it, it would blow Dean and Lyla's cover, which was why he left the decision to Dean. They'd know when was the best time to blow up everything.
Sam shouldered the bag, and opened the stairway door, pulling out his gun instantly, in case the flash-bang missed some of them. The light was limited in scope, but the sound was not.
Immediately he found a man on the next floor landing screaming and convulsing, looking as if he was trying to claw out his own eyeballs. Sam ignored him and continued on up, checking briefly to make sure Ramon was following, and ignoring him too. He was.
He found another two on the stairs, one sitting down, head in his hands, like he was afraid if he moved too fast his brain would fall out. They passed him, and he didn't seem to care. Number two was harder. Clearly blinded and deaf, he still wanted to fight, and Sam had expected some might react that way. Many monsters didn't necessarily need sight or hearing to find you and kill you. Sam put a bullet in his knee, and he fell down the stairs like a bowling ball. Another one came at Ramon, but from a bad angle, and he managed to kick him down the stairs, where he collided with his friend and went down in a bloody heap.
Sam had barely gone another four steps before a big one lunged at him and managed to tackle him, throwing him into the wall. His head hit the wall and bounced, and while it wasn't that hard, it still caused black dots to explode in front of his eyes. Sam threw a knee in his gut and when he doubled over, he slammed his elbow into the back of his head. It wasn't hard enough to knock him out, but it put him down, and all Sam had to do then was kick him off the landing. How many bodyguards did this guy have? Sam briefly pondered the size of his payroll, and how much he must have been making if he could pay all his goons. How come bad guys always seemed to have so much money?
Well, okay, yeah, stupid question. Because the universe seemed to be inherently unfair, evil seemed to be rewarded more than good. Evil probably wouldn't have been so attractive if it wasn't profitable. Man, Sam was just thinking all the wrong thoughts today. He was going to psych himself out before they even reached the penthouse.
They passed another who was down for the count, but it was about then that Sam thought he heard a noise above, and managed to duck down in time as a couple of someones on a higher floor started raining bullets down on them. They weren't looking over to aim at them, because it would have opened them up to a headshot, but still, random bullets flying everywhere wasn't great.
As Sam ducked down and slid off his backpack to grab another grenade, he wondered how Dean and Lyla were doing.
Flash-bangs were fucking awesome. Dean really wished they had them years ago. Despite the fact that it was deployed on a lower floor, he could feel a tremble of the noise through the floor. It was like someone used a catapult to throw a to scale brass elephant at the building. Sound and light as weapons. Technology could be amazing sometimes.
Lyla spun and grabbed the bodyguard closest to her, and simply swung around and bodily threw him at the bodyguard behind Dean. He only knew this because he heard a tremendous oof behind him, and suddenly books were cascading down from the now broken bookshelf where the men were partially embedded now.
Dean had taken a step towards Davis when he was gone in a blur, and suddenly reappeared farther away, back against the window, aiming a gun right at him. Goddamn ghoul super speed. He knew that was going to make this that much harder. "I thought we were on the same side here, Mark," Davis said, still attempting to be chummy.
Dean sighed. "You're not stupid enough to think that gun's gonna hurt me, do you?" Of course, it would totally hurt him, but not the Mark. And if he could bluff this guy into dropping the gun, he didn't mind playing pretend Mark a little more. He slipped a hand into his coat pocket. Davis didn't seem to notice.
"Yeah, I get that, but it's hard to maneuver in a body with damaged legs. Trust me, I know."
Dean nodded in agreement, as he pulled the trigger on the gun in his pocket. It hit Davis low, in the gut, and the bullet caused a spider webbing of the glass behind him. He dropped his own gun in shock. A bullet to the stomach wasn't going to kill a ghoul, but gut wounds hurt, no matter what you were. "Having their intestines fall out trips them up too," he said.
Davis's stare was stark, and perhaps a bit betrayed. "Dude. I heard you were a motherfucker, but I had no idea."
Dean was aware of the sound of a door being flung open, and the floor shaking with the entrance of several more bodyguards, but he was sure Lyla had those. That was the deal they made - he got the head honcho, she got everyone else. It was a play to both their strengths, although Lyla had rolled her eyes and said, "You're such a drama queen." Which felt like an insult? But to be brutally honest ... yeah, he had his moments. "I am the original motherfucker, Did you think the spirit of murder would be all sunshine and rainbows?"
Davis became a blur again, and Dean's head was grabbed and rammed into the tacky desk at a genuinely worrying speed. The edge broke off, and Dean's consciousness momentarily wavered, although the feeling of blood spilling down his face woke him up. "No, I -" Davis began, but never got a chance to finish, as Dean threw a hard elbow into his fresh bullet wound. It squelched, which was gross, but the noise Davis made was hard to describe. It was somewhere between a groan and a swallowed scream. Dean spun and threw a hard uppercut that caught him right under the chin, and sent him stumbling back towards Lyla. As soon as she saw him coming, she picked up the nearest bodyguard and slammed him right into Davis, sending him flying across the room. He hit the wall just as hard and slid down, as the boom of another flash-bang shook the floor. That one sounded a lot closer.
"Don't monologue when you're in a vulnerable position, pal," Dean said, looking around for a blunt object he could beat Davis's skull in with. He could use a gun butt, but that seemed crude. "The hitwitch did that, and look what happened to her."
Davis's eyes were slightly glazed, as he'd taken a lot of blunt force trauma from being beaten with his own bodyguard, but he was still with it enough to say, "You killed Katie?"
"She tried to kill me first. Fair's fair." Dean pulled out Ruby's knife. It was going to take a lot of strength to put it through his skull, but the blade was supernatually strong. Should work, if he could get it there. The only thing that killed a ghoul was destroying the brain or lopping the head off. He really should have brought a machete. Why didn't he? Man, the first day he decides not to overpack, and this happens.
Davis was there, and then he was not, and Dean was thrown back into the remains of the bookshelf. Davis had him by the throat, but that just gave Dean the opening he wanted, and, using all his strength, he rammed Ruby's knife through his ear and hilt deep into his skull. Davis stumbled back, dazed. "Oh, and I'm not the Mark of Cain. My name's Dean Winchester."
Suddenly Davis was shot again, the bullet hitting him in the chest and making him jerk. "You sleazy mother fucker!" Ramon, the shooter, snapped, as Sam plucked the gun from his hands. Dean honestly didn't blame Ramon, after everything that had happened. Still, a headshot would have done a lot more damage. But he couldn't have known he was a ghoul. That was one of the monsters they hadn't really talked about yet. Oh wow - they had a lot of monsters to discuss. Maybe Sam was right, and he should just create some kind of pamphlet.
Davis still looked woozy, but apparently having a knife in his brain wasn't the big problem. "What do you mean you're not The Mark?"
Lyla came up behind him, and he seemed completely unaware. She moved very lightly for a Hulk. "It means you just got outsmarted by a human, you goddamn idiot." She slammed her palm against the knife hilt, and it rocketed through his head and out the other side, where the blade hit the window and bounced off. Davis's head was entirely ripped open, and as he collapsed to the floor, what was left of his brains spilled on the carpet.
They all took a moment to catch their breath, and look around at the general carnage. Ramon stepped off to the side and vomited, which was fair. The first time Dean saw a split open head, he barfed too. It still wasn't great.
Dean felt blood running down his face, and now he was aware his head hurt. A tentative feel revealed torn skin on his forehead, and a slight bump that would probably become a purple-black mess in the next few hours. But it was cosmetic damage. Apparently his skull was thick enough to absorb a desk headbutt without a concussion. Good to know?
Some of the bodyguards were groaning a bit. Most were unconscious if not outright dead. Lyla had torn through them like a scythe through wheat. Dean bet it was awesome to see, and he wished he could have. Maybe Ramon filmed some of it.
"Okay, so ... do we burn the place down?" Lyla said.
Sam looked at her like she was crazy. "A skyscraper in downtown Seattle?"
"Well, I don't know! I've never done this before! Whatever this was, exactly."
"A revenge mission," Dean said.
"A hunting trip," Sam said, at the exact same time.
"Instant karma," Ramon said, a second later.
Yeah, that sounded like the best description. But as a stream of sunlight made the blood on the floor look like crushed jewels, he wondered what story people would tell about all of this. What could they say? A CEO with a destroyed head, and at least a dozen bodyguards dead, dying, or uncooperative.
Maybe Lyla had a point. Maybe they should burn it down.