Chapter 5

"Dean?" Sam crouched down and pulled Castiel to his feet. "You got him?"

"He's too strong!" Dean choked. "You gotta go. NOW!"

Dean leaped to his feet and staggered a few steps away. The pressure in his head was unbearable. He could feel Michael inside his mind, grappling for control. The archangel's hatred fueled him with terrifying strength. Dean knew this wasn't a fight he could hope to win.

The best he could do was give his brother a chance to escape.

"Cas!" Dean cried, another wave of Michael's influence slamming into him, nearly knocking him out of control. "Cas, you have to get him out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Sam protested.

"I can't fly out of here," Castiel panted. "The room is spelled against escape, everywhere but the door."

"THEN DRAG HIM OUTSIDE!" Dean yelled. His skin felt hot and overly tight, like cooking meat, like it would split open any second.

"No!" Sam shouted as Castiel gripped his arm and began towing him away. "Dean! DEAN!"

Sam struggled against Castiel's hold, but the angel was too strong for him.

As Sam was dragged away, Dean tried to take a deep breath, but his lungs just wouldn't seem to fill. The pain in his head was brutal.

"I wouldn't fight it, Dean…"

Dean looked up to see Lucifer leaning against the bars of the Cage, leering down at him.

"Seriously," Lucifer said. "Michael was a dick before you screwed up his plans and Sammy knocked him down here with us. He's more than a little pissed with you. And he's only going to take that anger out on you if you screw with him any longer."

"Shut up," Dean snapped.

"Just sayin'," Lucifer said with a shrug.

Castiel had nearly gotten Sam to the stairs, but the younger Winchester was still fighting back. Crowley had disappeared.

Another surge of Michael's power hit Dean square in the gut. He fell to his knees, gagging. He shut his eyes.

When he opened them, the chamber and the Cage had disappeared. Sam and Cas were nowhere to be seen. He was standing on a concrete floor, and looking around he saw iron plating and protective symbols carved on every surface. It took him a moment to recognize Bobby's old panic room, and Dean realized this was all in his head.

Michael stalked toward him from across the room, unadulterated fury in his eyes. Only he wasn't taking Adam's form anymore.

It was his father's. A young John Winchester, circa 1978, when Michael had possessed him during the fight with Anna.

Dean recoiled, unnerved to feel such unadulterated hatred radiating off the archangel before him.

Michael raised his hand to strike. Dean blocked the punch, but Michael followed with a vicious uppercut. Dean was knocked to the floor.

Michael planted a boot on his chest and pressed down mercilessly. Dean fought to breathe.

"Give in to me," Michael hissed. "Stop. Fighting. Me."

"Never," Dean gasped.

"I should have known you were being a dishonest little shit."

"Killing Sam and Cas was never part of the arrangement," Dean spat, trying to push the angel off of him and failing.

"Well now I'm not just going to kill them. I'm going to scrape through your memories and I'm going to kill EVERYONE you have ever cared about. EVERYONE you have ever saved. And then you know what I'm going to do? After I'm done murdering everyone who has ever meant something to you, I'm going to go find their places in heaven and cast every last one of them into the Pit and feed them to hellhounds for the rest of eternity. And it will be all your fault."

Dean listened in horror, knowing the archangel was completely capable of what he was threatening.

"Well then, Michael," he gasped. "Consider our deal broken. My consent is revoked."

With a mighty lurch, Dean knocked Michael off of him. The angel stumbled against the wall.

"NO!" Michael shrieked.

"Get out of my head!" Dean shouted, climbing to his feet.

"IF YOU CAST ME OUT NOW, I WILL TEAR YOU APART FROM THE INSIDE OUT!" the angel roared. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Dean screamed.

And then the panic room disappeared in a blaze of white light.