Chapter 13 – Winchesters, Ho!
Though only minutes, it felt like forever to John before he and Bolster received a signal from Clive and Sera. They had successfully secured Erksine and the surveillance lab and were making their way to Victor's office to hopefully release the binding spell on Sera. John and Bolster then set out, each with their own mission: Bolster would rendezvous with the others and find a way out; John would track down Sam and Dean, then get them out, but not before setting up a little take-down action of his own.
During their stay in the weapons cell, John had packed a duffel full of explosive charges and detonators. Every third corridor on his way to the main chamber, he set one to full detonation to be sure that, when he got through with the compound, not a brick would be left in tact. Compound map in hand, he continued on to the main arena and, hopefully, his sons.
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Continuing along the shaft, Sam was frustrated by his need to proceed slowly. Every few moments, he'd have to stop and freeze, seeing guards in the corridor below. They all seemed to be heading to the same place, chatting up with great excitement what was sure to be "the match of the century." Some were even placing bets on "the kid pulling a major Balboa."
Dean.
Screw stealth, Sam thought to himself, on the move once again. If he was right, his brother was going to need him, and fast. He continued on, the thunderous cheers growing louder up ahead.
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Sera and Clive got into Victor's office surprisingly easily. Seems everyone was off to watch Vic's latest contest.
"Imagine that, a match working in our favor," Clive commented as he shut the door behind him.
"Not in John's, I would imagine," Sera answered. "His son is the main attraction."
"Crap," Clive said, and hurried about searching for the binding charm.
As luck would again have it, he didn't have to look long, for Sera went right to a small, unassuming corner cabinet.
"Uno," she said with a smile, opening the lid, light shining on her face from within.
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Dean tensed and stood at the ready as he watched the massive iron door before him slowly slide upward and open. He swallowed deep as he heard a thunderous roar come from the other side and knew that whatever was behind that door could not be good. He glanced around for anything he could use as a weapon, his eyes falling on a particularly large white bat-like staff. As he picked it up, he realized it was a bone. A human leg bone.
Swallowing again, he dared a look back to the door which was now nearly open to the top.
That's when he saw it.
It was ginormous. Had to be at least 20 feet high and 10 feet wide. Solid, massive, hairy, talons like giant sickles, in all ways grotesque. And it looked mean. Very mean.
Somebody has definitely seen Return of the Jedi one too many times, Dean thought as he pitched his eyes upward to behold the face of the … troll? … before him. He caught sight of the two black, beady eyes staring down (okay, way down) at him but just couldn't take his eyes off the creature's enormous jowl filled with oh so very many large, sharp teeth. Oh, jeez, I think its actually smiling at me. Where the hell's Luke Skywalker when you need him?
Dean's thoughts drifted worriedly to Sam, always Luke to his Han. Dean had no idea what had happened to his brother after losing sight of him by the river. One minute they were hot on their father's trail in the woods, the next Dean found himself falling into a dirt chute underground, coming to a jarring stop at the bottom – the large round chamber in which he now found himself, apparently about to do battle with the monstrous creature before him and having no clue how the pathetic human club he held was going to get him through this.
Options, options, I need options Dean chanted in his head. David, he took Goliath down with a stone. Looking at the creature's head, which looked to be made of solid rock, he didn't think that would work. Plan B. Okay, Return of the Jedi, Luke used the door to crush the beast. Dean looked to the chamber behind the troll and didn't count out the possibility. As he contemplated a Plan C, the creature advanced on him. By instinct Dean backed up until his back hit the wall. Suddenly he couldn't think of anything but the enormous claw reaching for him.
Well, this sucks, Dean chuckled at what could quite possibly be his last thought in life.
Suddenly the creature reared its head back and cried out in what Dean would swear was pain. As he looked around, he caught glimpse of a figure standing behind it with something in its hands. I'd know that figure anywhere. Sam! Dean's mind screamed.
Sure enough, Sam had come up behind the creature and stabbed it in the leg with what appeared to be a large sword.
"Dean, get out of there!"
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Turns out Sam didn't have much further to go and before he knew it, he was right above the far corner of the outer chamber to the main arena. What he never expected to find – and took a moment to believe what he was seeing below him – was the largest, most monstrous creature he'd ever seen, heard about, dreamed about and/or only seen in movies. He was only feet above its head and could feel intense warmth radiating off it. It was grumbling and looked … impatient? … like it really wanted to get to whatever was on the other side of the giant door before it.
Whatever, my ass. Dean's on the other side, Sam knew without question.
As he tried to figure out how to slip out of the vent and below without alerting the creature, the giant door suddenly began to open, the muffled cheers beyond it growing in clarity and volume. The creature bellowed out a ground-shuttering roar that echoed deafeningly throughout the chamber. Sam took advantage of the noise, opened the vent and dropped down to the jagged ledge just feet below him.
Making his way carefully to the ground, he pulled the two swords sheathed to his back and looked between the creature's giant legs into the adjacent arena. And, for a flash, saw Dean, who had his back against the far wall, some kind of club in his hands. Yeah, like that would work, bro, Sam chuckled.
With a centering breath, Sam, sword at the ready, charged at the creature's leg.
"Dean, get out of there!"
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The moment Dean heard Sam shout his name, Dean was on the move, taking advantage of the momentary distraction to run beneath the creature to his brother's side. Sam handed Dean a second sword and both men braced themselves as the now seriously pissed off creature turned to face them.
"What the hell took you so long, Sundance?" Dean asked with a laugh. He couldn't help it. The scene before them was beyond absurd.
"Traffic was a bitch, Butch," Sam replied, adding his own chuckle. They'd been in some crap situations before but this was just plain ridiculous.
The creature howled at the pain in its leg and looked down at the two tiny insects beneath it. He watched as they backed up in unison, raising sharp, pointed things toward it in a united front. It let out a horrifying sound that the Winchesters would swear was its form of a laugh.
With a small nod to each other, they readied themselves against the beast. "On three?" Dean asked, sword pitched upward. Sam, his own sword in hand, complied.
"One, two …"
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John reached the arena and opened the cell door before him. It was one of the viewing rooms above the main floor and beheld several spectators in, of all things, business suits. Too surprised by John's abrupt entrance, they had no time to react before John laid them all out unconscious. He ran to the glass and looked down, horrified to see his sons, armed only with swords, standing before a giant – make that enormous – beast. He had only seconds to act, so he fired his rifle at the glass, shattering it, then linked a grenade to his crossbow arrow, pulled the pin and fired it point blank at the creatures head. The arrow penetrated the head in the back and a second later, the grenade detonated, blowing half of it away with a large, suckling boom.
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"One, two …"
Suddenly, from up above, Dean and Sam saw heard glass breaking and a moment later, heard a large blast and watched as half of the creature's head explode.
"Hang on to three, I think we may be out of this!" Dean yelled, backing up and pulling Sam with him just as a shower of troll-head rained down before them.
They watch as the creature groaned in its last moment of life, then list and fall sideways, crashing against the side of the chamber and slumping to the ground. The boys looked up and there, standing in one of the cells above, stood John Winchester, crossbow in hand. The three men looked at each other with smiles, frozen for just a moment, basking in the glory of their reunion, before realizing none of them were safe just yet. Dean and Sam watched as John retreated back into the cell, then turned their attention back to the creature before them.
Fortunately, when it fell, it hadn't blocked the entire doorway and Dean and Sam bee-lined for the exit. The cheers above had turned to screams of chaos and fear, though Dean could swear he heard a prominent yell of "NOOOOOO!!!" from Victor.
Take that, chuckles, Dean beamed as he followed his brother out of the chamber.
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