Woman of Letters: We want to apologize for the long wait! A lot has happened, and both of us have received a heavy duty "Sh*t's just got real" research paper we have to worry about. So, needless to say, Chapter 10 won't be updated until much later. :/ Sorry! Don't hate us! We promise to work on it when we can.

Chapter 9

~Supernatural~

-New Orleans-

The afternoon sun shone bright over the city of New Orleans. Dean, Vincent and Catherine strolled down Bourbon Street after eating lunch, bought with the Mikaelsons' money, at a café somewhere in the French Quarter. Dean decided to take his dessert to go and it couldn't wait till they got back to the plantation house. Dean lifted the delectable, crumbly piece of peach pie that sat gently on the plastic fork to his mouth. He smiled before taking a bite. "Mhm" was all he said. The pie was heaven in his mouth.

Vincent and Catherine looked at Dean who appeared a little too happy with his pie. "You," Vincent paused as Dean's eyes rolled upward in delight, "You all right there, man?" Vincent asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dean nodded. "Hellyah" he said with a full mouth. "Thish shtuff ish fweykin' amazshing! Besht damn pie I evah tashted!"

The couple laughed. "I think he's found his heaven," Catherine commented, causing Vincent to smirk.

The trio continued to walk, this time in silence. The sights and sounds of people crowding the New Orleans street as well as the smells of jambalaya, gumbo and alcohol rising from the bars they had passed, gave the city a more ethnic feel, and Dean didn't have a care in the world. In this moment, he was with his new friends; all the reasons they had come to this place were behind them. Everything that had stressed Dean out was, at this point, behind him. The angels, Crowley, Abaddon...Sam...All of that, in the mist, at the back of his mind. Dean finished his pie and tossed his trash in a trash can in front of a bar. He wiped his hands on his shirt. "Oh God that hit the spot. If I was sitting on death row and they offered me sex or pie as my last act, I would definitely choose pie… this pie." Dean said grinning with delight. "That was damn good pie…"

"Do you always eat an entire dish of pie whenever you order it from a restaurant?" Catherine asked as she looked at Dean, who had a little bit of whipped cream decorating the corner of his mouth.

"Well," Vincent said before Dean could answer, "Before we left New York, he did eat JT's last slice of blueberry pie...so I'm thinking he'll just eat pie at any chance he gets."

Dean smirked. "Did you not just hear me? I'd choose pie over sex… Which is surprising because usually I choose sex if presented and if the chick is hot."

"Sounds like he would get along just fine with Evan if it weren't..." Catherine's voice suddenly faded. Dean looked at Vincent and could tell that the beast automatically knew what the detective was trying to say. However, the elder Winchester brother was at a total loss.

Suddenly, something in the air changed. Dean felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something wasn't right. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around. When they noticed that Dean wasn't beside them. Vincent and Catherine stopped to turn and look at Dean. He put a finger to his lips as he reached for his gun, which was tucked neatly under his plaid shirt at the small of his back. Dean looked Vincent in the eyes and could tell that he could sense it too. Something wasn't right.

Dean looked towards an alley to his right and saw a figure. The figure was advancing towards them in a very determined manner. Dean tightened his grip on his gun, and kept it hidden. He saw Vincent tense up, prepping for Beast Mode. The figure slid from the shadows into the afternoon sunlight. It was Klaus. It was an angry Klaus. Dean gave a slight sigh of relief. There were a million different things the figure could have been, all would have been threatening, but it was just Klaus. The Original Hybrid didn't scare him...not in the daylight anyways.

"Did you honestly think you'd be able to get away with this laughable charade?" Klaus frowned as he neared the trio.

Dean smirked. "Really? Did you think you'd be able to keep us locked up in a musty old house? We're humans-" he paused and looked at Vincent. "-Well, most of us-not animals. You can't expect us to be trapped."

"And you can't expect me to be so generous while you're living in my home. I'll forego this once, but mark my words; all three of you are to stay within the confines of my quarters. If you even attempt to step outside its boundaries, I won't hesitate in making all of your lives a living hell. T-"

"-Could have fooled me." Catherine suddenly mumbled, causing Klaus to look at her in annoyance.

"As I was saying," He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing his thoughts. "Two of you, as you have stated Dean, are indeed human. That gives me quite the advantage. Now, do I make myself clear?"

Dean noticed that Klaus seemed on edge...or in a hurry. As the Original spoke, he continued to look at the trio and then past them at the crowd behind them. Someone was there that he didn't want to see him. Dean shrugged and looked at Vincent. "I could use some back up."

"Klaus, you may have few advantages, like never being able to die, but from where I stand," Vincent suddenly chimed in, "I'm sure you can still feel a hell of a lot of pain. Now, I advise you to step aside and leave us be, or things might just get ugly. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"You really think location matters to me in regards to a showdown?" Klaus chuckled nervously, "Look around you; you're surrounded by vamp-" Suddenly, his voice cut off when his eyes caught something...or someone. Dean, Vincent and Catherine turned to look behind them, and there was a young, dark-toned man standing in the middle of the street with his arms crossed against his chest, his eyebrows furrowed and he was staring directly at Klaus.

Dean turned back to Klaus. "Who's that? A friend of yours?"

"No one you need to concern yourself with." Klaus replied but didn't remove his eyes from the man standing in the streets.

"He seems to be pretty focussed on you," Dean observed. "We don't like secrets to be kept from us so start talking." Slowly, the man started walking towards Dean and company. Before Dean could even blink, Klaus had disappeared from his line of sight. "Does anyone else think that was weird?"

"Yeah…. It was." Catherine nodded. They watched as the stranger made his way over to them, wondering why Klaus would disappear so quickly.

"I wasn't aware that the great hunter, Dean Winchester, was in town," the dark skinned man proclaimed as he came up to the group.

Dean looked at the man, trying to figure him out. "What's it mean to you?" he asked.

"Look. I don't know what lies that manipulative Original has told you, but this is my Kingdom. When someone as legendary as you comes walking into my turf acting like they own the place, I've gotta set them straight. I. Am. The. King. Now, what are you doing here?"

Dean rolled his eyes. This must have been the guy Benny had been complaining about. The guy that 'ruled' New Orleans. "Marcel, I'm guessing? I'm on a hunt." He glanced at Vincent and Catherine. "A shifter's on the loose and causing trouble. Thought I'd put it out of it's misery. Looks like her." He gestured to Catherine. "The son of a bitch knocked her out, took her identity and her boyfriend decided to get a hold of me and my brother."

Marcel walked up to Vincent and raised his eyebrow. "Really? Because he don't smell human."

Dean sighed. "He's human alright. He's a human on steroids." He smiled. "He's got a medical issue so his doctor put him on steroids." He added.

"What am I? Twelve? I know what steroids smell like, and that ain't it. There's something different about him…, but I just can't put my finger on it…" Marcel frowned. "What exactly are you?" he looked at Vincent.

"Just a guy with a lot of anger issues." Vincent replied sarcastically. "So, if you don't want the sociopath to come out and play, you better step three large steps away from me. I'm not a lab experiment, you know."

"He's the Incredible Hulk. Turns green and grows in size when he's provoked." Dean said matter of factly.

"Yeah, and I'm a happy, dancing munchkin when I sing." Marcel rolled his eyes. "Really, what are you?"

"Trust me," Vincent said as he absentmindedly tightened his grip around Catherine's waist, "you don't want to know."

~Beauty & the Beast~

-Starling City-

The Hatchback rumbled along the street. The buildings around it were old; most of them were vacant and graffitied. Occasionally, they passed houses and several apartment buildings that looked inhabited, but very worn down. Old papers and other trash blew across the street like tumbleweed in a ghost town. Teenagers stood in sketchy small groups on the street corners; the hoods of their jackets pulled over their heads. Sam had read the map earlier, stating that they were in a part of the city called The Glades. Something happened here. As they drove on, they found rubble as if an earthquake had struck.

"Pull over." Sam ordered JT, who sighed, as they drove near what looked like a night club.

"Verdant…" JT read slowly. "What's so special about this joint?"

"Because," Sam started. "It's owned by Oliver Queen and there are security cameras. We can check them… the legal way…" He took his fake FBI badge from his jacket. "Sort of…"

"Puh-lease," Tess rolled her eyes. "Amateurs," she muttered before unbuckling her seatbelt and exiting the Hatchback. JT and Sam watched Tess as she strutted towards Verdant.

"Is Tess always this sassy?" Sam asked JT as he raised his eyebrow.

"More than you know," the professor smirked with a tiny laugh. "But, she's a damned good cop; she gets the job done."

"I see." Sam nodded, "All right, well I guess we should just follow her then. She apparently knows what she's doing."

"Sounds good to me." JT replied before pulling the keys out of his ignition. "Let's go."

Tess didn't care if Sam or JT were watching her; she needed to prove a point to Sam that sometimes, impersonation-or, rather, felony-wasn't always the answer. Whether or not the Winchester brothers pass their fake IDs along from state to state wasn't her problem; however, as long as she was flashing her credentials, she wasn't going to be caught dead with a fake. Her brothers would make sure she would never hear the end of it.

"May I help you?" a tall, sexy, brown-haired man asked as he walked up to her with arms crossed over his large biceps.

Tess pulled out her badge, and held it up in the air. "NYPD Detective Tess Vargas. I would like to speak to the owner of this joint. Would that happen to be you?"

"What's NYPD doing in Starling City?"

"Long story. Look, I don't have all day so let's cut to the chase. The 125th is working on a special crimes case, and our biggest lead guided us to this comic book world. I could give you all of the nitty gritty details about our murder case, but that could take hours because there's a hell of a lot of gorey information. I don't know about you, Muscles, but I'm pretty sure hours and hours of brutal, ear-burning details won't be good for the business. Since this place is a dance club, and I'm sure the club gets a lot of psychos, I'm betting someone knows something for the case I'm working on. So, unless you want the club to be closed for an open investigation that could take almost three days, I suggest you lead me to the Big Guy in charge."

"Who're you talking to, Roy?" a girl around seventeen years old, with long dark hair asked as her Versace heels clicked across the floor when she approached.

Roy shrugged innocently. "An NYPD cop."

"What's an NYPD cop doing here in Starling City?"

"Honestly," Tess sighed, "I'm the one that's supposed to be asking the questions."

The girl stared at Tess as she placed a hand on her hip, not wanting to deal with anyone's snark. "Are you going to explain why you're here? I have a club to run, I don't have time for cops to waltz right in here and take their good old time to give me an explanation for their presence."

"You want an explanation? I'll give you an explanation! Just jump off your high horse, and give me a damn minute, will yeh?" Tess replied as she rubbed her temples. "What is it with city people, these days? Yeesh!"

Roy hardened his jaw. The girl rolled her eyes. "That wasn't an explanation." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was getting there," Tess crossed her arms against her chest, and leaned a little forward on her right toe as if she was trying to intimidate Roy and Miss Prissy Pants with her female kick-ass charm. "Like I was telling Muscles over here, I work for the 125th in New York City. I'm in charge of a special crime's case, and a lead led us here. Now, my colleagues and I believe a sketchy group of people passed through Starling City not too long ago. Just give the geek man in the glasses over there," Tess pointed towards JT, "access to your surveillance system. He'll do his techy-stuff, and we'll be out of your hair in no time. No harm, no foul. Got it?"

The girl didn't look impressed. "Do you have a warrant?"

'Crap!' Tess thought, but recovered quickly. "Why? My badge not good enough for you guys?"

"What my partner means to say is, no we do not," Sam jumped in. "But, we're running out of resources. We've been on these guys' tail for a while now and this was the best lead we had. We saw your camera's and thought that you might be able to help, warrant or not."

The girl sighed. "All right. Roy can show you back to the security booth." Roy looked at her with an annoyed expression that read,"Do I have to?"Immediately, she responded with a stern nod.

Sam smiled. "Great! Thank you."

"Show off," Tess muttered towards Sam before smiling at Roy and his slave owner.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Really? I've been around this block a ton of times."

"So have I!" Tess countered. "Hello, I get paid for this; how do you make your money?"

Sam was quiet for a minute. "Credit card scams and poker games."

"You know, if you weren't trying to help my best friend, Cat, right now, I'd so arrest you." Tess whispered loudly, not realizing that JT was walking away from the two of them to follow Roy into the security booth.

Sam shook his head. "I've been arrested before because of what my brother and I do. I've gotten out of jail for the same reason. I dare you to try."

"Is that a challenge?"

Sam scoffed. "No. I was being sarcastic."

"We'll see about that," Tess sassed, suddenly noticing that she and Sam were the only ones still standing inside the entrance of the club. "Where is everyone?"

"Obviously on the way to the security booth." Sam pointed behind Tess to JT and Roy.

"Obviously," Tess rolled her eyes, and walked away from Sam to catch up with JT and Roy. She led the way, following Roy and JT through the main hall of the dance club and up a flight of stairs to the right of the DJ's table at the front of the room. Once up the stairs, she turned right, listening for Sam's heavy footfalls behind her. A moment later, she found a partially cracked door, marked "SECURITY," and opened it before walking inside. Upon entering the small room, she stared at all of the cameras and the wide keyboard that rested on the desk. She took a few steps, and stood behind JT who was already in a rolling-chair, messing with the controls. Roy stood in the back corner, probably to keep an eye on them. As she watched JT fast forward and rewind the many videos on the screen, she marveled at the amount of expensive technology they could fit inside a tiny, walk-in closet-sized room. Suddenly, she felt someone bump into her, causing her to fall into the back of the rolling-chair JT sat in, making him slide out of control. When she caught her balance, she turned around to find that it was Sam who had bumped into her. "Watch it!"

Sam caught his balance. "Sorry… I was just...looking at the tech…" He cleared his throat and walked over to the desk.

"Um...before you crash-landed into me, I was looking at the surveillance first." JT piped in as he stood up, brushed his knees and picked up the chair. "Now, move aside, if you will."

"Look, if you guys are done fooling around, I'm going to go back to doing my job," Roy said, slightly annoyed. Something had him on edge. "A position that doesn't involve babysitting a bunch of lame ass cops."

After Roy had left, JT sat back down in his chair, and resumed to his work. "How far back do you think I should rewind the footage?"

Sam set his hands on the desk and leaned towards one of the screens, looking with concentration. "Probably two or three days."

"On it, dude." JT said as he started to rewind the security footage.

The three of them stared at the screens as they watched the images flash before them. There seemed to be an abundance of cars, people and stray animals-an uncertainty began to grow in Tess's mind that they would never be able to find the specific van they were looking for.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Tess threw her hands up in the air, "It's been thirty minutes and we still have no lead! How are you nerds able to sit and do desk duty like this for so long? I'd rather be out there, and handcuffing someone right n-"

"There!" Sam exclaimed, suddenly pointing to the top right screen. "Zoom in and go back a few seconds."

'Of course,' Tess thought as she rolled her eyes while JT followed Sam's orders. "Just because you think you see something that could be useful, doesn't m-"

"Oh! Yeah, yeah! There it is!" JT exclaimed as he paused the screen, and pointed to a white van making a left at the end of the street. "One cryptic, Albino van coming right up!"

The door opened behind them, Tess turned around ready for anything, but found a tall man with short dirty blonde hair in a grey suit. "I'm assuming you're the cops my sister was talking about?"

"Correction," Tess replied as she pulled out her badge, waving it in front of the man's gorgeous face, "Cop. The other two are helping me with the nerd stuff."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?" There was something about him-it was like he was giving off some sort of suspicious vibe-was he on to them?

Sam cleared his throat and straightened the tie he wore. "I'm Agent Pine, with the FBI, intelligence and this is Detective Tess Vargas with the NYPD. And that man over there is JT Forbes, a tech advisor with the FBI. We're following a lead on a drug cartel that started in New York, bringing us here to Starling City." The younger Winchester extended his hand to the attractive man in the suit.

The man in the suit smiled, and took Sam's hand and shook it. "Oliver Queen. Can I assist you in any way?"

"Unless you have eyes and ears all over the city, I don't think you can." JT stated. "All we have is a possible image of what we're looking for. There could be a gajillion places Muirfield could be right now. For all we know, they could be boarding a plane to the Bahamas as we speak!" JT threw his hands up into the air before digging into his pocket to pull out a bottle of TUMS.

Sam smiled and looked at Mr. Queen who seemed to be thinking the same thing as Sam, but didn't want to admit it. "Uh, JT, this is Oliver Queen. His family is listed as one of the wealthiest families in the world. I'm sure he has his eyes and ears within the city."

"Then what're we still sitting in here for?" JT asked, "If Mr. Queen is as rich as his last name is, I'm sure he has better equipment than this place does."

Tess looked at Oliver. He looked conflicted now-like he wanted to tell them something and help, but couldn't. What was with this guy? He licked his lips and folded them in as if he was going to hum. He seemed deep in thought.

"Look," Tess finally said, "For what it's worth, I know you're hiding something…. You've got that look all over your face. Whatever's going on, just spill it; it's better to let it all out now because if I find out about whatever you're hiding later, I might not be so cooperating next time." Honestly, as hot as this man was, she had no time to deal with wusses. Sometimes, she just wished she could be out of the Supernatural loop, and still be working on normal cases rather than working on these freak-a-zoid ones.

"Sorry," Sam apologized, "She can be a little...snippy at times. What she means to say is: if you can find a way to help us out, that would be great."

Oliver smirked. "I've got-a friend, who might be interested in helping you. Where are you staying?"

"Yes, good question. Where are we staying?" JT asked as he glanced over to Sam and Tess.

Sam looked at Tess. "One of you two are paying. I only stay at motels, and I'm not sure JT will feel safe in a motel...No offence."

"None taken, dude." JT replied. "Still, that doesn't answer my question…. Where are we staying?"

"Tess?" Sam said.

"Do I look like I grow money in my pockets?" Tess asked, throwing her hands downwards, "Normally, when I'm on a case that leads me away from home, the NYPD pays for my lodgings-and normally, everything is prepaid...so I don't have to worry about spending money I don't have."

"Then call Gabe." Sam interrupted.

"Honestly, I don't get paid enough for this." Tess mumbled as she pulled out her phone. "No guarantees Gabe will come through." She walked away from the group to the furthest corner of the surveillance room. After pressing all of the necessary buttons on her phone, she placed her mobile device against her ear, and waited for the ADA to answer her call.

"ADA Gabriel Lowan."

"Gabe, it's Tess. Look, I don't mean to sound desperate, but is it possible for you to pull off one tiny favor for your favorite detective?" Tess knew she was a little overboard with the begging antics, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"And what would you like me to do, Tess?"

"As you know, JT, Sam and I are in Starling City following a lead on the hybrid case. Anyway, it looks like we're going to be staying in the city for a few days at the most...depending on when or if we gain another lead. When it comes to money, Sam is useless and JT has a teacher's salary. You and I both know I don't get paid enough as it is. So...would you mind making reservations to a hotel in Starling City for us? Or, you could wire over some money, and we can pick and choose a place depending on how generous you are…" Tess bit her lip, and waited for Gabe's reply.

"Say no more. I'll make reservations immediately. Give me five minutes, and I'll text you the hotel's address and room number."

"Really? You're actually considering this?"

"Of course! I want the people who are responsible for stealing that hybrid's body behind bars. If that means I have to spend some extra cash for your group-or even Catherine's group-in order to incriminate Muirfield, I'm going to do just that."

"Thanks….I owe you one…"

"Don't mention it." Gabe replied.

Tess nodded, and ended the phone call before making her way back to the group. "Good news, everyone. ADA Lowan has generously approved our proposal. We'll have a place to stay for a few nights in a couple of minutes."

Oliver nodded. "You know what, I've actually got to get back to work. My friend will find you. Expect him sometime tonight. It was nice meeting you all. If you need anything else don't hesitate to call." He handed Sam a business card. "Take all the time you need in here. Just tell my sister, Thea, when you're done, and she'll have someone lock up the room." With that, he exited the room as he pulled out his cell phone. Before he was out of earshot, Tess heard him speak into his phone, "Felicity, you busy? I think we have company."

"Is it just me, or does it seem like he has a huge stick up his ass?" Tess asked after the door closed. "He seemed...like he was trying to hide something…."

Sam just smiled and leaned on the desk, once more looking at the computer screens.

-Hotel-

"So this is what it's like to be Gabriel Lowan…" Tess spoke in awe as she, Sam and JT walked into a dazzling hotel suite. While the group was expecting to stay in two ordinary rooms (Tess having her own while JT and Sam share one), they never imagined staying in a royal suite. To the right of the door, there was a small kitchen with a fridge and a pantry. Beyond the kitchen, there were two doors that led to two different bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms. Another room was to the left of the common room, its design mimicking the the other two bedrooms. Although the suite looked like a simple design, it was padded with furniture fit for a king. "Now this is a hotel room."

Sam laughed. "So this is what a hotel suite looks like…," he said as he marveled at the hotel suite.

"Something tells me Gabe is trying to suck up to us…. Why else would he spend a fortune...or rather, a small fortune according to his financials, on us?" JT asked as he placed his duffel bag on a smooth, tan velvet chair.

"Only you would complain when someone goes out of their way to make us feel like royalty." Tess rolled her eyes.

"So sue me for being suspicious." JT replied. "Even if he paid a princess to feed me with a spoon, and gave her a tip to say "Ah" as she does so, I still wouldn't trust the guy."

Suddenly, the lights flickered in the suite before violently shutting off. Sam and Tess grabbed their guns and cocked them as JT picked up his duffel bag, preparing to swing it if necessary. The glass doors to the deck flung open and a hooded figure with a quiver of arrows on his back, and a bow in his hand, stood in the doorway. "You're following the white van," the hooded fellow said, his voice masked by a voice altering device. "And you want to know where it went. I can help."

"And what do you think you can do to help us, Cupid?" Tess asked as she leaned her hip to one side, still pointing her gun at the hooded man. "Did Ollie-Ollie-Ollie-Get-Your-Adverbs-Here send you?"

"I have resources. But you're going to need to put your weapons down."

"Says who? For all we know, you could be trying to rob us." Tess snapped, not letting her guard down for an instant. "If you want us to lower our weapons, you're going to need to convince us you're on our side."

The Hood sighed. "What is it with you cops and thinking vigilantes are the bad guys?" he muttered before raising his bow and nocking an arrow. In the blink of an eye, he took aim and pulled back the string and loosed the arrow that flew at high speed and skimmed Tess's hand forcing her to drop her gun to the ground. The arrow imbedded itself in the wall behind them. "Do I have you convinced now?" He nocked another arrow and pointed it at Sam, who dropped his weapon. "As it so happens, I seem to be working the same case."

"I think we should do what the guy with the killer arrows says," JT said as he tossed his duffel bag back onto the velvet chair. "I for one do not have "be impaled" on my todo list today."

Tess shook her hand as she tried to air out the sting from the arrow's nick. "Last I checked, good guys don't try to shoot at the good guys."

"To be fair," JT added, "You did shoot Vincent last year."

"That's different! Vincent...wasn't exactly a typical suspect. But that's beside the point!"

The Hood lowered his bow. "I don't kill. Not anymore...but that doesn't matter now. We need to exchange information. My team tracked your van to a warehouse. The address is 1340 Washington St."

"How can you be so sure? We didn't even have a license plate to go off of." JT stated. "What makes you think the white van is the same mole we're trying to whack?"

"I spoke to our mutual friend. He was able to identify the van on the security monitors, then my team was able to hack into the data and we went from there."

Something was fishy about the hooded man standing in front of them. First of all, Tess could have sworn their mutual friend barely had enough time to get a good glance at the security monitors back at the club. Heck, she barely even remembers what was on them. The whole idea of a hooded man with green arrows seemed too surreal for Tess. It felt like her life had suddenly jumped into a comic book series, or that she had just signed a contract with DC Comics. Sure, knowing about a world of beasts was one thing-but, her life had felt like a messed-up Disney fairytale. Now? Learning about a world of Supernatural creatures and learning that there is more than one crazily-weird vigilante out in the world was just...too bizarre for her. "What's with the eco-friendly get-up, Robin Hood?"

Once more, the man in the hood raised his bow. This time aiming at Tess. "I don't appreciate your attitude, Vargas." He paused. "We're on a bit of a time limit, which means we need to move. If my associates are correct, the van will only be at the warehouse for another hour and a half, and personally I would like to meet the owners, so enough stalling. What information do you have to share that might help us?"

"The people," JT started, "we are looking for supposedly work for a top-secret governmental group. They call themselves Muirfield. Basically, it's a faction that likes to remain all hush-hush by tying up loose ends if you know what I mean. Anyway, if you're looking for an abridged version, Muirfield destroyed my best friend's life by making him into a beast. We went into hiding, this and that happened, he got caught, more this and that happened, we saved him, he was reunited with the love of his life, yatta yatta yatta, found this dead hybrid whatchyoumacallit in the woods, bumped into the Winchesters-the youngest brother to my left, bumped into a vampire-a ruthless, freaky hybrid vampire, that is, Vincent-the guy I told you whose life was messed up by Muirfield-and his girlfriend along with Sam's older brother, Dean, were forced to go to New Orleans for some other supernatural drama, we stayed behind in NYC to look for Muirfield's van, and the last lead led us here." JT took a deep breath, and added, "Now, are you up to speed or completely lost after everything I had just said?"

Once more, the Hood lowered his weapon. "Beast? Hybrid? Vampires?" There was confusion in his voice.

Sam glared at JT. "Way to blow my cover." He sighed. "According to JT, Tess and company, a beast is a person who has been genetically altered from a super soldier experiment gone wrong...kind of like a Hulk, if you will. Hybrids are half vampire-half werewolves. There's a whole supernatural world that exists that most people don't know about, it's all real. Don't worry you'll catch on."

The Hood was silent for a moment as if in thought. "That sounds consistent with the bodies the police have been finding stacked up within a forty mile radius of the warehouse...The bodies have all had fangs and other traits of a hybrid."

"You don't seem too surprised by all of this." Sam pointed out.

"Let's just say I've seen my fair share of things that shouldn't exist for a lifetime." The Hood responded.

"Like what? A flying superboy?" Tess shrugged, giving the hooded man a raised eyebrow. For some reason, The Hood seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Without seeing his face or hearing his voice, she didn't think she would ever figure out why he seems so familiar.

"More like someone literally returning from the dead as a result of a serum."

"Jesus Christ!" Tess groaned as she slapped her forehead, "That's it! I'm convinced! We are in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse!"

"Not you too…" Sam muttered.

"Not me too, what?" Tess snapped her attention to Sam. "Got a problem with something I said?" Honestly, Sam Winchester was definitely starting to get on her nerves; if she could go back in time and choose which Winchester brother would go with her team, she would much rather choose Dean at this point. The older brother may be a lustful letch at times, but she could handle that much more than Sam's attitude at the moment.

Sam didn't say anything.

"Come on, out with it already!" Tess pierced her lips together, waiting for Sam's response.

"We don't have time for this!" The Hood exclaimed.

"What Robin Hood said!" JT replied in agreement. "I opt we listen to him! Like I said, I don't want to get impaled, and I would much rather be helping Vincent right now. You two need to just set aside your damn egos for once, and focus on more important matters! Now, kiss and makeup so we can get out of here! I don't know about you, but I have a class to teach on Monday concerning hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions, and would actually like to show up this time instead of making the TA do all of the work. For now, can you two just agree to disagree at the moment?"

Realizing why they had originally arrived in Starling City, Tess nodded. Not only did Vincent's life ride on this investigation-assuming Muirfield had plans to re-capture him again-but her best friend, Catherine, was caught in the middle of it as well. The faster they catch those bastards, the faster they can all return home and act like nothing had happened. "You're right, JT. Let's catch those sons of bitches."

"Thank you," JT gave Tess a smile. "What about you?" He asked as he looked at Sam.

"Let's do this." Sam said with a nod.

"Okay; now let's go kick us some Muirfield booty!" JT exclaimed as he punched the air. "Now…," He looked at the man with the hood, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Meet me at the warehouse, and we'll go from there." The hood guy instructed before disappearing.

"That guy sure knows how to get around." JT stated. "Where did he go? Jump out the window?"

"Impossible, we're on the 45th floor of the hotel; he'd be a pancake right about now if he had jumped out the window." Tess said.

"Wouldn't be the first time we encountered a specially gifted vigilante before." JT shrugged. "He probably used one of his arrows to transform into some kind of flying scooter like the Green Goblin from the Spider Man saga. Or, maybe he has a ring like the Green Lantern, and he just creates some sort of glowy floating essence!" JT smirked as he showed of his obvious nerd stench.

"Or," Sam said as he looked out the window, "he simply shot an arrow with some rope to the nearest building or something and used his bow to slide down it. Seriously, haven't you guys ever picked up a Green Arrow comic?"

"Nope; I was a video-game-gal growing up. Loved those games where I got to shoot the bad guys." Tess smirked.

"I have, but I haven't read those comics in ages. I am more of a Marvel fan if I say so myself." JT replied. "Now, if we had encountered Thor or Captain America or hell, even Iron Man, I'd certainly have a field day."

Sam sighed. "It was a rhetorical question. Anyway, if we want to catch up with The Arrow, we're going to have to leave now."

"All right. Let's go." Tess nodded as JT stood up, and pulled out a bat from his duffel.

Sam and Tess gave him a strange look, and he shrugged, "What? I like to be prepared."

"You have a tranquilizer gun attached to your hip, JT," Tess stated with confusion.

"It doesn't hurt to have a Plan B, you know." JT mumbled as he walked out of the hotel suite, leaving Tess and Sam inside.

"He does realize Muirfield's going to be equipped with guns, right?" Sam raised his eyebrow. "A bat isn't going to be much help."

"Let him be," Tess replied, "If he feels safe with it, we shouldn't stop him from bringing it with him. JT may seem like a marshmallow, but he's gotten stronger over the year; his reflexes are better than ever. I think he has Cat to thank for that. One time, I heard Cat whooped him in the ass pretty damned good sometime last year. I think he used that as motivation to learn how to defend himself."

Sam nodded, and grabbed some extra ammo from his duffel. "There could be anything there… I was just saying…"

"Just let JT worry about his own ass, and you worry about your own. If he needs assistance, I'll give it to him. Other than that, let's just see where this takes us, and hope to God we're not walking into some kind of trap."

Sam nodded with uncertainty. "Right."

Just as they were about to leave, they heard JT shout from outside the suite and around the corner, "Are you two love birds coming, or what?! I'd would love to have some backup, you know!"

Sam and Tess nodded to each other and left the hotel suite to follow JT out to the car. Whatever lied within that warehouse had everyone on edge, but they knew it was too late to turn back now. They were so close, they just have to get through the fire first. Hopefully, they wouldn't get burned along the way.

Woman of Letters: Please let us know what you thought of the latest chapter! We enjoy writing this fanfiction very much! :)