The world felt hazy as Spencer slowly came back to consciousness. He didn't come back with a gasp and a jerk as he had before. How sad was it that he recognized the pain that came from a blow to the head and knew that he'd been knocked out even before he was conscious enough to remember why. Experience and training had him discreetly flexing his wrists and ankles to test for any sort of binding. He found none. There was a strange crackling sound nearby, though. When he let his eyes open to slits, he found out why.
Fire.
He was surrounded by fire!
Spencer fought back the instinctive panic. What had happened here? How the hell had he ended up here? His brain was slowly waking up and the earlier events were seeping back in. The last thing he remembered was Dean Winchester's hand in his hair, slamming his forehead into the trunk of their car, and then the whole world had exploded in pain before turning dark.
He groaned against as his head reminded him of that pain. His newfound sense of empathy seemed to be as frazzled as his head and he only felt glimpses of emotions. Fear, worry, anger, disgust, determination, curiosity. All of it was mixing and jumbling together in a way that made his aching head throb even more. Spencer had been slowly practicing how to try and shield himself. What pathetic shields he'd managed so far he grabbed hold of now and yanked tightly into place.
Only when he felt the emotions around him dull down to something he could ignore did he finally dare to open his eyes the rest of the way and actually try to move. What he found waiting for him was almost enough to make him wish he was still unconscious.
He'd been moved while he was knocked out. Instead of the parking lot outside of Bennington, he was now in what looked to be a huge, empty warehouse. There was a devil's trap on the ground underneath him, as well as other protective sigils, and a circle of fire around all of that. Though fire had never really been a fear of his before, he found himself drawing back from it now, trying to keep himself in the very center of the circle so there was no chance of it touching him. The light that Spencer had always carried inside of him seemed to recoil from that fire as well. It pulled in tight and small inside of him in a way he hadn't ever felt it do before.
When he looked up beyond the fire, he got another shock.
The Winchester brothers were standing on the other side of the fire, but that wasn't what had shocked Spencer. What stunned him, what had him sucking in a breath and staring with wide eyes, was the man with them. A tall, slender man with bright blue eyes, jet black hair, and the biggest set of wings Spencer had ever seen rising up from his back. Wings! Spencer's heart thudded in his chest and he swore his whole body went still. The wings were huge and black as the night sky. As they lifted up high and wide in a display that reminded Spencer forcibly of an animal displaying dominance, he swore he caught flashes of silver in the feathers, like stars peeking through the sky.
Dean stepped forward and a cry tried to rise up in Spencer's throat when he saw the older Winchester was about to step into part of the wing. Instead of hitting it, though, he went through it. Jesus! Couldn't they see them? Was he…was he seeing things now? Things that weren't there? Or was this like the demons that he saw? No one else seemed to be able to see the true forms inside of the bodies they were possessing. Was that something like this? Spencer's brain almost stalled when it came to him what that could mean. If he saw the true form inside of someone, that would mean that what he saw here was a being possessing a person, and the only thing that came to mind….no. No.
His little silent panic attack might've gone on for a while if Dean hadn't finally broken the silence had that had fallen around them. "We've got a few questions for you, Doc."
Spencer had to work to build up enough spit to wet his dry mouth before he could speak. "Do you often put people in a flaming circle before questioning them?" For all the bravado in his words, he knew his voice gave away his fear, and he couldn't quite bring himself to take his eyes off the winged man standing between the Winchesters.
"Only the angelic ones." Dean shot back.
Angelic ones? Spencer knew his eyes had gone wide and he couldn't quite bring himself to care enough to stop it. All of his training was failing him at that moment. His eyes drifted over the other man's wings again. Angels. Angels are real. He couldn't…no…it didn't seem possible. Angels couldn't be real! Why not? His brain countered. Demons are real. Why can't angels be real, too?
Sam's voice was a lot gentler than his brothers when he interrupted Spencer's thoughts. "You, didn't know about angels?" He seemed almost hesitant in his question.
A shudder ran down Spencer's body when the man—angel, he has to be an angel—moved just slightly and his wings somehow became even more threatening. How the hell were wings threatening? He didn't understand it, yet he couldn't deny what he felt or the way his light shivered inside of him at the display the angel was putting on. "Yesterday, I would've said they weren't real. I'm a man of science; that doesn't exactly go hand in hand with faith. Now…"
"So you're telling us you have no idea what you are, then?" Dean asked him. He looked skeptical, but not combative, which was a surprise. Judging by the reputation the man had, Spencer had expected more growling, more anger. More 'ready to kill'. Supernatural things didn't exactly survive when they went up against the Winchesters. But he wasn't angry sounding. He was, questioning. Curious.
"I'm me." Spencer answered him. "I'm not anything special. Just, just a regular kid with a bit telekinesis. What is it people call it? A, a 'spoon-bender'."
"Lies. I can see the grace inside of you." The angel spoke in a voice that was like a rockslide in its low rumble. "You are a nephilim, the child of a human and an angel, and as such you are not to be trusted."
Sam, surprisingly, winced a little, and Dean actually caught hold of this angel's arm and tried to tug him back, failing miserably. "Dude, Cas, tone it down. Let us handle this."
The angel, this 'Cas', actually seemed to subside a little at Dean's request. That said a lot about the older Winchester if all it took was a single sentence for him to get an angel to back down. What kind of person was able to tell an angel what to do? Those thoughts didn't exactly help to settle Spencer's nerves. He felt shaky and jittery and utterly terrified. The only time he could remember feeling terror anywhere close to this was when a gun had been pointed at his head while a madman had played Russian Roulette in an effort to convince Spencer to pick a member of his team to die.
Spencer shoved that memory down as far as he could make it go. He'd managed to keep calm then, to think clearly, because the lives of his team had depended on it. Now, it was only him, only his life. There was no chance of someone stumbling in to save him. No camera with his team watching for him to feed clues to. There was only him, this ring of fire, two hunters and one angel. This was his worst fear coming true here. He was trapped by hunters that knew he was a supernatural something. He just hadn't expected them to have a name for him. If Spencer wanted to make it out of this alive he was going to have to keep his wit about him. Fears and insane life altering revelations were going to have to wait until he had the freedom and luxury to think about them properly. Somehow he managed to make his voice calm, though he couldn't stop the slight tremble that slipped through. "I'm not…there's no way I am what you think I am! I'm not some part angel child. My parents are both human."
"We know you have powers." Dean said firmly. A hint of a scowl twisted his features. "You threw Sammy over the car!"
"I didn't mean to!" Spencer blurted out. His hands curled into fists at his side and he drew in a deep breath. Calm. Control! "Your information has to be wrong. I think I'd know if I was an angel. For starters, I don't have wings…"
"Nephilim do not possess wings." Cas interrupted.
Interesting, and something to think about—later. "I told you, I've only ever had telekinesis! If I were what you think I am, some insanely power being, would I have a bit more than that?" He very deliberately didn't mention the powers that had been manifesting since he'd quit the Dilaudid. Since before then, really. Since that night in Georgia when he'd died and been born again. The drugs had just made him not really think about it. And each time he'd started to think again, he'd gotten high all over again and pushed those thoughts and fears a little further back.
There was no running from them now. Not with his brain pushing them at him. And not when he had Sam and Dean Winchester here in front of him throwing it all right back in his face.
"I think you know what we're talking about." Sam said slowly. He took a step forward, away from his friends and closer to the fire. His eyes were fixed right on Spencer's face and they were open and earnest in a way few people were. Even though Spencer recognized the rough technique that Sam was employing here, talking down a stressed out Unsub or traumatized victim, he found it working. It was hard to keep tense when Sam smiled at him and the warmth of his emotions were bleeding over to Spencer and spelling out calm and safety and openness, giving his words a weight they might not have otherwise held. "I believe you that you've only ever had telekinesis, but I think something happened. Something changed recently, didn't it? And you've had other things happening. Strange things. The little miracles, they weren't centered around Bennington, were they? They were centered around you."
"I didn't do anything." Spencer said. It sounded far too much like a plea for his comfort.
"Maybe not intentionally." Sam agreed. He tilted his head, watching Spencer's face carefully. "You're scared. These powers, they scare you. They're new and you had no idea where they came from, did you?"
"Is that possible, Cas?" Dean asked, turning to look at the angel.
For a moment Cas just studied Spencer in a way that made the young genius feel like he was a bug under a microscope. He looked at Spencer like he was seeing more than just his outside. Like he was staring down into him. "It is possible." He finally said, slowly. "If the angel that fathered him bound him when he was born, it is plausible that his powers could've been locked down until triggered by something."
Triggered…. "Like dying?" Spencer asked. His question brought all three sets of eyes back to him, but he looked at Cas. "I, died, recently. I was resuscitated in enough time to bring me back, but I was clinically dead for a few minutes."
The angel's wings lowered a little out of their threatening posture and became something a bit more controlled, almost contemplative. "That would do it. In the moment of death the binding would be no longer necessary. Your soul and grace would've tried to move on, but being brought back in enough time they would still be in your body only without the binding there. It is…possible." Then his expression hardened once more. "It changes nothing. The point still remains that nephilim are dangerous and forbidden. The fact that you are untrained only makes you more of a danger. You have immense power and no control. The miracles you caused here are on a small scale, with your powers just coming to life. What could be caused as you gain control—we cannot risk that. We cannot risk Lucifer getting control of that."
"Lucifer?" Spencer almost squeaked as he said it. Lucifer was real? Real…and apparently would want control of Spencer? Of his power? The terror that Spencer had been feeling grew tenfold.
Again, it was Sam who was the calm one. "He doesn't have to go bad, Cas." He told the angel in a voice that suggested he'd made this argument before. "He's a grown adult, one capable of making an informed choice. Why can't he choose good?"
Cas leaned in and his wings were lifting high again, one of them curling in towards Sam in a way that would've had Spencer trying to yank the man back if he could. When the angel got close, he almost snarled out "You didn't."
The force of his words was like a blow. Sam staggered back from them like he'd been slapped and Dean winced. It was an awkward moment in the making with undertones that Spencer knew he had no hope of beginning to understand. There was a history here, a huge one, and he was pretty sure it probably had something to do with the whole Lucifer thing that they were mentioning. It was something that Spencer knew was probably important and something he should definitely be paying attention to. However, it was getting harder and harder to keep his fear bottled up. His body kept wanting to curl inwards in a futile attempt to get away from the fire around him. Later, he was going to have to examine when exactly he'd developed such a fear of fire. So much of one that even the idea of going near those flames was enough to make his body tremble and his light pulse erratically.
"Listen," Spencer called out, drawing their attention away from each other and back over to him. "I think we've safely established that I have no wings and therefore, no capability to fly away from you, and I assume that anything I do power wise your a-angel," he couldn't help stumbling a little over that word, "would be able to stop. So, is there any way that we might continue this conversation without the fire? I find it rather hard to focus on much else beyond the potential to burn."
It looked like Cas was going to lodge some sort of protest. But, much to Spencer's surprise, it was Dean who moved forward to put it out. When he went to step on it, the angel's wings did a little twitch like they wanted to reach out and stop him, and then the fire slowly went down around Spencer. The two hunters looked to Cas, who said nothing by way of explanation.
A good chunk of the tension inside of Spencer faded away now that the fire was no longer a threat. He wanted to move out of the protective circle and away from the circle where the fire had been but he had a feeling that'd be pushing his luck. This was a moment where he should take what he could get. "Thank you." He told them earnestly.
"Don't think this means we're done." Dean warned him.
Spencer held his hands up in a gesture of peace. It was almost amusing how they all reacted to just that simple movement. Dean and Sam both leaned back a little and Cas straightened up even more like he was prepared to protect these boys no matter what Spencer did. They were treating him like he was a volatile Unsub. Realizing it, Spencer carefully and slowly lowered his hands back down. "I'm not going to try anything. I don't want any trouble."
"Yeah, well trouble's gonna find you whether you like it or not." Dean said.
Well that wasn't ominous sounding at all. "What are you talking about?" The way he said it wasn't like it was a threat. Spencer didn't feel as if Dean were threatening him. But there was some sort of underlying danger to the comment that had him tensing once more.
"Short version?" Dean hooked his thumbs in his pockets and his lips quirked up in a mocking half-smirk. "I went to Hell, Sammy banged a demon, Lucifer got set free and the apocalypse is coming. Angels take vessels like demons do, only they have to have permission. Sammy and I, we're the true vessels of the two biggest douchebags of all and they want to ride our asses and have a major showdown that's gonna destroy the planet. We're trying to stop it." His smirk turned into a full-fledged grin, one that Spencer imagined got him what he wanted quite often. "Wanna join?"
Holy shit. The uncharacteristic curse floated through Spencer's mind, the only thing he could seem to think for a moment. His brain just sort of stalled and he stared, wide-eyed. "I can't even…I don't even know where to begin to question all of that." How was he supposed to believe this? Knowing about the supernatural and about hunting was one thing. Believing that angels were real and the apocalypse was upon them…that was something else entirely!
Sam scowled at his brother. "Think maybe you could've done that a little gentler?" He asked. Dean shrugged one shoulder, a 'what're you gonna do about it' look on his face, and the younger Winchester sighed and shook his head before he turned to look at Spencer. In contrast to his brother's straightforward bluntness, Sam seemed to go for the softer route, his voice gentle as he spoke to Spencer. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in. Not just this whole apocalypse bit, but all this about yourself too. But, Spencer—this isn't something you're going to be able to just walk away from. You're powerful. More powerful than...pretty much anything we've ever seen. That makes you, vulnerable." Sam hesitated and then sighed. He looked honestly regretful. "It won't be long before someone other than us notices the kinds of things happening around you. Cas is right on one thing—power like this can't fall into Lucifer's hands. You can't begin to imagine the things he'd do to you to break you. I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to tell you this, I really do. I know what it's like to be forced into something. But right now, coming with us is the only safe choice I can see."
Wait a second…Dean's offer had been serious? They wanted him to join them? He couldn't! He had a job, a life, and friends. He couldn't just leave that behind. At almost the same time his brain told him Can you really walk away from this? From the apocalypse? If there's a chance that you going with them could save the world, are you really going to say no? Are you that selfish?
"My mom." A breath shuddered out of Spencer and he closed his eyes against the wave of pain. His mom was as protected as he could make her. He'd made sure of that over the years. But the idea of leaving her here where angels and maybe even other hunters might come looking—it terrified him.
"No one but us made the connection to you. They have no reason to come after her." Sam said soothingly.
"You want to keep her safe, this is your best bet." Dean said. "But, kid, look...once you're in this fight...You're in it till the end, win or lose."
"I need to think about this." This was too much to take in at once. Spencer always worked best under pressure and he had a mind that processed things so much faster than those around him, yet even his genius skills were having a hard time taking all of this in. It was so much, too much, and he couldn't, he just couldn't stand here and think clearly. Not with all this echoing around him, standing in what had moments ago been a fiery prison, with an angel still watching him threateningly from the sidelines. He needed to get out of here and go somewhere, alone, so he could just think for five minutes.
It looked like the older Winchester was going to protest, and the angel definitely wanted to, but Sam caught his brother's eye and they carried on almost an entire conversation in eye movements, head tilts, shoulder shrugs, and facial expressions. It was frankly impressive. Finally, Dean seemed to give in, sighing and nodding. "We'll need to hide him." He tacked on.
"Cas said his powers hide him." Sam said.
"Yeah, well, if he's not in control, let's not risk it. Cas, can you put that junk on his ribs that you put on ours?"
"Absolutely." Cas said. Immediately he moved towards Spencer and the young genius responded instinctively, stumbling back a few quick steps. He didn't want Cas coming close to him. He just knew that if he let the angel close to him, he could do anything and there would be no way Spencer could get away from him. There was this small part of him that scared him because it almost seemed like the light inside of him wanted to lean in closer towards Cas, not away from him, and he had no idea why he would want to do that.
It was enough to make Cas stop and look at him curiously. His wings weren't in that threatening pose anymore and there was nothing angry on his face. He looked more like…like someone inspecting a particularly interesting creature, waiting to see if it was going to do something interesting. It wasn't condescending or anything. Just, curious. "I am not going to hurt you."
"Seeing as how you rather recently were advocating killing me, you'll have to forgive me if I don't quite believe that." Spencer said.
That drew a snort from Dean and a smothered sort of smile from Sam.
Spencer kept his eyes locked on the angel; or, more accurately, on his wings. They seemed to be a better indicator of what he was feeling than anything else. Which was so beyond strange Spencer didn't even know where to start with that thought.
"I am not going to hurt you." Cas repeated. "There are protective sigils I can inscribe onto your ribs that will keep you hidden from the sight of angels. It will help to add a layer of protection to that which you already naturally possess."
Something reached out from Cas as he spoke, a little tendril of light that had, up until now, been rather carefully hidden. But it was like some sort of shield fell away now and Spencer could see the light inside of the human skin, one that was so much like his own. A bit of that light was reaching for him and the light that Spencer had always carried inside of him responded to it by reaching out in return. Breath shuddered out of him and his eyes went wide. The distance between them seemed to vanish; Cas was suddenly right there, right in front of him, and his light was brushing against Spencer's in a touch that screamed out home and peace and the kind of safety and sense of family that he'd been aching for his entire life.
Fingers brushed against Spencer's temple and the pain of the sigils being carved onto his ribs was nothing in comparison to the joy he felt as that light curled itself around his.
Then, suddenly, that light clenched down tight, going from soft and warm to hard in the blink of an eye. Spencer had no chance to draw back from it. It tightened around him and Spencer couldn't stop as the dark surrounded him once more and he was shoved down into it.
All of it seemed to happen so fast. One moment Castiel was reaching out to Spencer and the young genius was looking at him with something that Sam thought might be awe on his face. Then horror lit up Spencer's face before his eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped down into Castiel's arms.
A bad feeling curled in Sam's stomach. Beside him, Dean lurched forward, his own expression surprised. "Cas! What the hell happened?"
"He's fine." Castiel said firmly. He gathered Spencer up in his arms like the kid was a rag doll. "He's just unconscious."
"You knocked him out?" Sam said slowly. There was a horror he couldn't quite keep out of his voice. Castiel had gone over there to help ward Spencer and he'd…knocked him out? There were so many things that were wrong with that.
The way Castiel was looking at him said clearly that he didn't understand why Sam was stating the obvious. Dean saved an argument from breaking out between the two by demanding "I thought you were just gonna scribble on his ribs, not knock the kid unconscious!"
"He has no control over his powers. Would you prefer he rode with you and left a trail for everything supernatural on the planet to follow? Or would you have preferred he choose not to allow us to help and instead ran so that we could not find him? If you are insistent on keeping him alive, he needs to be contained until we find a way to control him."
The fact that he said 'control him' and not 'teach him control' sent shivers down Sam's spine.
"I will take him to Bobby Singer's home." Castiel said, not even seeming to notice the stunned way they were looking at him. "The panic room should have sufficient wards to hold him until he learns control." With no more warning than that, Castiel and the kid were gone.
Sam stared where the angel had been for a long moment before he finally managed to find his voice. Even then, the only thing he could say was "What the hell?"
"I don't even know." Dean sounded frustrated and tired and something else that Sam couldn't put a name to. "I think he's just trying to help."
"He tricked him and knocked him unconscious!" Sam shot back. "We just got that kid to trust us just a little bit and Cas went and pulled something like that. When he wakes up, he's not gonna trust a word we have to say to him."
Dean couldn't even deny it. He grimaced, knowing the truth behind it. "I know, Sam. But what do you expect me to do? I don't control Cas!"
Glaring, Sam pointed a finger at his brother. "He better be alive when we get there, Dean." That said, he turned around and marched away. They needed to get out of here and get to Bobby's house, now. It'd take them a little over a half a day's drive if Dean sped—which he would. There was no telling what might happen in the meantime.
They were just climbing into the car when Dean's phone went off. Even from the passenger's seat, Sam clearly heard Bobby's voice when Dean answered the phone, loudly demanding "Someone tell me why the hell Feathers just dumped a kid in my panic room!"
"Well, at least we know he's still alive." Sam grumbled.