The army vehicle came to a stop well past the giant's grabbing range from where he was chained; but perhaps he wasn't in a grabby mood, it looked like the huge man still hadn't moved from where he lay with his back to them.
Lillian sat up in the sand, frantic, as the lone soldier stepped out of the car and quietly clicked the door shut behind him. He was young with short, buzzed dark hair, tanned skin, and his uniform told her he was new and lower on the totem pole. His stopped in his tracks, eyes widening, as he saw her waving desperately at him.
"You have to help me!" Lillian cried out in a soft voice. "I think my leg was injured when the other men attacked me to bring me here and I can't move to get away!"
The man frowned with worry, casting a glance at the cliff beside them. "Uh, I'm sorry but my orders were just to check on you and – "
"Look I know you're all holding me hostage but please – can't you keep me somewhere else?!" A little bit of hysteria bled into her tone, and she internally swelled with pride over how convincing she sounded. She had only done a couple theatrical performances in high school but apparently acting was in her genes. Lillian looked over her shoulder at the mountainous form of the giant behind her, letting fear pale her face and shake her voice- that part wasn't too hard to fake when she was seeing him from the perspective on the ground. "Keep me anywhere but here with this monster – I," she lowered her voice into a harsh, worried stage whisper, "I'm afraid of what it'll do to me when it wakes up!"
The soldier threw a nervous glance up at the sleeping form of Dean Winchester, his own face paling. "You're right, this is kind of insane…" He took a slow step towards her, hand automatically going to the butt of his rifle out of instinct as he grew closer to such a huge threat. "I'm sure the general would understand."
Lillian let out a shaky sigh of relief, "Yes! Yes, thank you!" she exclaimed, watching the soldier closely as he grew near. He was still out of range, but the minute he wasn't…
The soldier made it beside her and extended a hand to help her up. "Here, I'll take you back to camp in the car."
Then the earth shook as the giant struck.
In a flash Dean rolled over and snatched the man up into an unforgiving fist, then shot up to sit with his back to the cliff so as not to raise suspicion. With that done, he looked down at the small princess beside him to check on her.
Lillian sucked in a quick breath the moment Dean's attention shot to her; she didn't mean to, he had double checked with her a couple times while they made the plan to make sure she was going to be okay with it – and she was, but still. Seeing a man a head taller than her being engulfed by fingers bigger than him and jerked into the air before either one could blink – that was a little bit to take in. But Dean must have noticed her shock because his eyes softened and his shoulders slouched a little as if to try and make himself look less intimidating to her. She gave him a little smile at that, and a thumbs up to let him know she was fine. She trusted him.
Dean gave her a little nod, inwardly grateful she wasn't going to be freaked out by him after this was over, then turned his attention to the struggling soldier in his fist.
"Don't even think about yelling for help," Dean growled before the guy could catch his breath, "because I think you'll regret it if you do." He tightened his fist a little to demonstrate – not too tight, he didn't want to accidently hurt him, just scare him. "Understand?"
The young man stilled his frantic attempts to break free of the fingers curling tightly around him, his chest heaving, and shook his head frantically yes. Dean felt a pang of guilt for using his size against someone like him, and was also acutely aware of Lillian watching, but they needed information and this was the best way to get it. He kept his face hardened as he uncurled his hand and, ignoring the man's shaking, carefully unholstered the army grade assault rifle from his side. Dean looked it over appreciatively before setting it down on the sand beside him, then curled his fist back up – a little looser now.
"Alright G.I. Joe, we have a couple questions I know you'll be happy to give us the answers to," Dean began, lifting his hand higher to keep the small man eye level. "What do you guys think you're doing if there's been peace for so long?"
"We don't really know – or, er, I mean I definitely don't but that's because I'm not in the know as much," he got out in a fast, shaky voice as he stared up at Dean with wide eyes. "Our country still has an army but it's basically boot camp to keep people prepared – I just signed up to put myself through Uni."
"I'd say this is a little more advanced then boot camp," Dean retorted. "So what's the general having you do then? Does your government even know it's happening?"
The poor little guy looked like he was going to pass out. "I, I don't know. I was told we're a chosen few to perform a secret mission for our country – I guess the general said there's evidence the place we're headed has a vast military weaponry they plan to use on us, and we're, we're supposed to strike first."
Dean raised his eyebrows at that and shot a questioning look down at Lilian, who had a matching confused look on her face. "I have no idea what he's talking about, we don't have any weapons like that at all - believe me."
The Winchester nodded; he suspected as much – the demon was just saying whatever it could to get some bloodshed going. "Well your general misinformed you, the place your about to go marching in on is full of innocent civilians," Dean told the soldier in a firm voice. "When are you planning to start this little chin-dig anyway?"
The man wiped his brow with the one hand that wasn't pinned to his side and stuttered out, "In a couple hours - he wants us to set out as soon as possible. That's why I was sent to check on you two."
Dean glanced over his shoulder at the cliff to make sure no one else was coming any time soon. If they were planning on leaving, he and Lillian needed to get out of here now to get to the city before them and find Sam. "Thanks for the information- your cooperation has been a big help. Now we just need to take care of you before we take off." Obviously, the group of soldiers would notice as soon as he got up to leave, but he was hoping to avoid a confrontation that would result with them being surrounded by tanks if they didn't get a head start.
The small man's eyes bulged, "Wait, wait what do you mean 'take care of?!'" His struggles renewed in desperation, trying and failing to thrash against Dean's clenched fist to escape.
Dean regretted his choice of words, if only to keep the man from having a heart attack. "Relax, I just mean knock you out, we can't have you running off to alert anyone before we leave." That didn't seem to help calm him as Dean surveyed the tiny man with a frown. There was no way in hell he was going to try to knock out someone so small. He glanced down at Lillian, giving her a hopeful smile as he lowered his hand with the still struggling man in it next to her. "Princess, would you like to do the honors?"
"Of course," she replied, smiling up at Dean in return.
The soldier gave her a look. "Wait, what are you-"
Before he could finish his sentence she threw an obviously well-practiced punch across his jaw, knocking him out cold.
Dean's eyebrows rose as the man went limp in his hand. He would've felt a little bad for the guy if Dean hadn't recognized his voice as one of the men who dropped her on the sand earlier. "Nice hit," he complimented, impressed and a little relieved she could do it.
Her grin grew bigger and she brushed back some crazy curls, shaking out her hand with a slight wince. "Well I am a princess, self-defense classes are a must."
Dean chuckled, shaking his head. "We can put the guy in the back seat of his car before we leave, he'll wake up with a horrible headache but at least we don't risk him telling the others." He looked down at this ankles, studying the quickest way to break them. "I just need to snap this chain, grab a couple things, and we're outta here."
