Bring 'em Back Alive Part 1

Apocalypse World

Dean and Ketch came through the rift and landed in the snow. The two men stood up and looked around.

"Ah, well… here we are."

Dean looked around, confusion evident on his face. "Yeah."

"You do know where we are, don't you?" Ketch raised his brows. "Because, not to be a nag, but we've only got 24 hours before—

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Dean dismissed him. "Just give me—give me a minute."

"—The rift closes." Ketch finished.

"Look, we just got spin-cycled through space and time, okay? And yes, this is… different than my last drop-by. And what's this 'we' crap, hmm?" Dean questioned. "You came here to save yourself, so… go so yourself, somewhere else."

"Well, actually, I thought I could help," Ketch suggested.

Dean stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

"Find the boy and Angela's father. And your… mother." Ketch replied. "She's in danger. I owe her that."

"You know, she sees you, she'll probably kill you. Again."

"Perhaps," Ketch nodded in agreement. "But you don't know where you are or what's out there or even… You get the picture. Would having a little bit of backup really be so bad?"

Dean conceded and the two of them continued on together, walking alongside a river and underneath a bridge.

"Well, this is quite the vacation spot, isn't it?"

"Yeah. If you had your heart set on Mai Tais, well… sorry." Dean muttered when he spotted movement on the bridge. "Down. Down. Down. Down. Down."

A group of soldiers walked onto the bridge with three prisoners, whose heads were covered with hoods.

"Is this everyone?" the Commander questioned.

"Yes, Commander."

The Commander nodded. "For high crimes of fomenting rebellion against the archangel Michael, these humans shall be executed."

One of the soldiers ripped the hood off of a woman while another soldier placed a hand on the woman's forehead, smiting her.

"Freakin' angels," Dean grumbled as he reached for a weapon.

Ketch immediately stopped Dean and gave him a warning look. "Not smart."

Dean watched as the second prisoner was executed in the same manner. The hood was removed from the third prisoner, but the Commander stopped the angel from killing her.

Dean's eyes flashed with a spark of recognition. "No."

"Wait." The Commander ordered.

"Charlie?" Dean breathed out in disbelief.

"I know you," the Commander noted as he looked Charlie over. "You're not the usual human scum."

"Not the slickest hook-up line, Captain Charm." Charlie sassed.

"You're with the Resistance," the Commander sneered. "Inner circle. She's met with the Nephilim and the other-worlders, Mary and Robert. Michael will want her at the Northern Camp, for interrogation."

"Champ, when the Resistance crushes you, I'm gonna be there to shred your feathers and grind them into dust."

The Commander grabbed Charlie by the throat and Dean moved to help her, but Ketch stopped him yet again.

"Dean…"

The Commander released his grip on Charlie and smirked darkly. "Looking forward to it."

The angels disappeared into thin air, while Dean and Ketch looked on from their hiding spot.

~/~\~

Lebanon, Kansas

Sam, Angela, and Castiel were walking through the corridors of the bunker. Sam was carrying a tray while Angela carried Henry.

"Look at you," Angela cooed at her son. "You are getting so big! Yes, you are."

"Ba-ba." Henry smiled a gummy smile at his mother.

"Dean is in Apocalypse World, alone?" Castiel questioned.

"No, he's with Ketch, so he's not alone," Sam answered.

Castiel rolled his eyes. "Because that makes it so much better."

"Cas, he wanted to go solo," Angela replied.

"And you both let him?"

"I…" Sam sighed in exasperation. "He didn't give us much of a choice. Anyways, Dean's right. As long as he's over there, and we're here, we need to be taking care of Gabriel, getting him right again."

Sam, Angela, and Castiel walked into one of the pitch-black bedrooms. Castiel flicked on the light.

"Gabriel?" Sam looked around the room.

Gabriel was huddled in a corner of the room. He was still in his torn, bloody clothing, and his face wasn't healed yet.

"You didn't tell me it was this bad," Castiel whispered.

"Yeah, well, years of isolation and torture and Asmodeus draining his grace," Sam replied. "Come here. Help me out."

Sam, Castiel, and Angela walked over to Gabriel. Sam set down the tray and knelt down in front of the archangel.

"Hey, Gabriel. Hey, pal." Sam greeted and the angel recoiled in terror as Sam touched him. "Mm! Okay. Oh—just… gonna get ya to bed, all right? Let me, uh, help you up. It's okay. It's okay."

Sam and Castiel assisted Gabriel onto the bed and the archangel continued trembling in abject terror.

"It's okay," Angela assured softly. "Gabriel, it's Angie. You always used to call me 'sweetcheeks,' remember? Do you remember me?"

"I don't think he does," Castiel murmured after a beat of silence.

"Gabriel, it's Sam Winchester. Remember the video you sent to my brother Dean Winchester, Angie, and me after you… supposedly died? You told us how to stuff Lucifer back in the Cage."

"Sam, he doesn't—

"I know he doesn't." Sam interrupted Castiel. "I'm just… trying to see if anything's going on in his head. All right, well…" Sam lifted the lid of the tray to reveal a tube of angel grace. "Gabriel's grace. Ketch brought it. Maybe if he's juiced up, it'll help." He offered Gabriel the grace.

Gabriel immediately groaned and recoiled from Sam. "Mnh."

"Gabriel, it's okay," Angela promised. "We're not here to hurt you."

"I don't think he's gonna open up and let the choo-choo in," Castiel commented.

"What?" Angela's brows furrowed while Sam just looked at Castiel in disbelief.

"It's a technique I often see you use while feeding Henry," Castiel replied. "And… I think a little coercion may be necessary."

Sam and Castiel tried to hold Gabriel down, but he immediately started to thrash and yelp. He broke free and rushed to another corner of the room.

"Yeah, coercion worked great," Angela muttered sarcastically as she handed Henry to Sam. "Gabriel," she walked towards him cautiously. "Gabriel, we're sorry. We didn't mean to scare you."

"Aah! Aah! Aah!" Gabriel whimpered in fear.

Angela turned to look at the boys and just shook her head. Sam and Castiel looked dismayed and startled by how Gabriel reacted to them.

~/~\~

Apocalypse World

Dean and Ketch were walking through the snowy landscape. Dean looked around when he noticed that Ketch had disappeared.

"What's the hold-up?" Dean shouted in frustration.

Ketch stepped out from behind one of the trees. "Oh, just practicing stealth. You know, the art of infiltrating a hostile and unfamiliar environment whilst remaining undetected. Hence, 'free.' Hence, 'effective.' You, I see, prefer the bull-in-a-china-shop technique."

Dean rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No, I prefer the 'let's find Charlie before the angels turn her inside-out' technique."

"Remind me again why we're risking everything to find this girl?"

"Because she's seen my mom and Robert. She's seen Jack." Dean reminded sternly. "We need her."

Ketch squinted at Dean in suspicion. "And you're sure that's what this is about? You're sure it's not… personal?"

Dean just glared at Ketch and glanced at his watch. "We're running out of time. Let's pick up the pace."

The two of them continued walking and Dean groaned in a mixture of frustration and annoyance when Ketch disappeared again. Dean stopped and looked around, anger simmering inside of him.

"Ketch?" he shouted. "Come on."

Suddenly, a man dressed in camouflage gear appeared out of nowhere and shot Dean in the shoulder. Dean immediately collapsed backward and groaned in pain.

Dean saw the man coming his way and attempted to crawl towards his weapons bag, to no avail. The man grabbed him and began fastening Dean's arms behind his back as he struggled.

"Oh, you're a strong one!" the man exclaimed. "Angels'll pay double for you. Most of the slaves is a mite scrawny."

Ketch came in from the side and tackled the man, easily throwing him to the ground. "Where were you going to take him?" he held a knife against the man's throat. "You do want to live, yes?"

The man managed to push Ketch off of him and wrestled with Ketch, trying to take the knife away from him. Dean broke out of his binds and rose, firing his gun in the air. The man released Ketch and held his hands up in surrender.

"You heard him." Dean glared. "Where were you gonna take me?"

"You think I'm gonna tell you?" the man asked, earning him a shot in the leg. "Aah!"

"Let's try that again," Dean ordered.

"The silo." The man answered.

"What silo?!" Dean roared.

"P.O.W. camp. Four, five hours from here. Follow the road."

"Okay. Thanks." Dean knocked the man unconscious, holding his injured shoulder in pain.

~/~\~

Lebanon, Kansas

"Sam! Angela!" Castiel bellowed as he took in the Enochian scrawled all over the walls.

Sam and Angela rushed into the room and they both looked around the room in amazement and shock

"What is this?" Angela breathed out. "Is—Did he do this? Enochian?"

"It's his story," Castiel answered. "Starts with his death. Or… what appeared to be his death. 'Per usual, my brother has doubly my brawn and half my brains. He assumed the counterfeit me was what vanished that night, and he thought that he'd stabbed the real thing. The truth is, the thing Luci skewered was a fake. There are plenty of fakes to go around. Everyone believed Gabriel was gone. And suddenly, I was free. No obligation to God or Heaven, or mankind. And so, I did what anyone would do—I moved to Monte Carlo and shacked up with porn stars.'" Castiel read. "Well… he goes on and on for quite a while about porn stars and, uh—

"Cas, please." Sam urged him to continue.

"Okay, so Gabriel was captured and delivered to Asmodeus. 'For years, I knew nothing but endless torture. Asmodeus, once the weakest of Hell's princes, grew strong by feeding on my grace.'" Castiel read. "Well, obviously, his intellect is intact."

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "So, why isn't he talking to us?"

"Would you want to talk to anyone after going through that?" Angela murmured as she stared at Gabriel sadly.

"Maybe he can't," Castiel suggested.

"Angie's right," Sam replied. "Maybe he thinks it's safer that way."

~/~\~

Apocalypse World

"That hunter may've been a bumpkin," Ketch started as he inspected the man's bullets. "But his weaponry is cutting-edge. These I don't even recognize."

"Yeah, that's… Angel-killing bullets." Dean replied. "Might wanna hang on to those."

"Mm." Ketch nodded.

Dean grimaced in pain and adjusted his bag. "Ah."

"You don't look good," Ketch noted obviously.

"Yeah, well, you're not my type, either." Dean sassed. "I'm fine."

"We'll take a break. Your wound may be more serious than we thought."

"Aw, he barely hit me." Dean waved him off. "Come on, we don't have time for this."

"Eh, by all means. What was it with you and this Earthly 'Charlie,' anyway?" Ketch questioned. "Old girlfriend? Let me guess—she broke your heart."

As Ketch spoke, Dean grunted and collapsed against a nearby tree.

"Dean." Ketch knelt down in front of him and felt his forehead. "Oh, God, you're burning up. Let's take a look at that wound."

"No, no, I'm fine," Dean mumbled. "We gotta keep moving."

"Do shut up. Huh?" Ketch ordered as he ripped Dean's shirt. Ketch frowned at the festering wound on Dean's shoulder.

"How's it look, Mom?" Dean muttered.

~/~\~

Lebanon, Kansas

Castiel stood next to Gabriel, who was sitting on the bed and had a hand on his head. Sam and Angela watched on in concern.

"I must reiterate—it's not possible for an angel to heal an archangel," Castiel explained. "I'm just trying to jolt his mind into thinking straight. Even then… Gabriel… it's—it's possible that he's lost."