Super Angel Chapter 3

AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'll try not to mess up the vibe! Hopefully you'll all enjoy this next chappie!

Max stepped out of the elevator to the ground floor of Logan Cale's building. She was running late to meet Joshua and Alec. It was never a good idea to leave them alone together too long, especially with Alec having his weird identity crisis.

Riding her bike through the streets, she noticed a familiar figure in a crowd. What the hell was Alec doing over on this side of the city? Max sighed to herself; the brat had probably ditched Joshua again. Vaulting off her bike, she walked over to him as he was facing away. She caught a glimpse of his barcode as he turned suddenly to meet her face-to-face; he had a weird look in his eye.

"Alec, what the hell? You were supposed to meet with Joshua over an hour ago!" Max said snippily. "And a fat lot of good it did you getting your barcode lasered off the other night, I told you it would just grow back!"

Ben met Max's gaze with a mixture of confusion, anger and wonder. Max, his 'sister' at Manticore. She had killed him, he remembered that. Broke his leg first, then snapped his neck so he couldn't be captured. She clearly thought he was somebody else. The Other. This might work to his advantage. Flipping his collar up to conceal his barcode, he masked an expression of apologetic acknowledgment.

"Sorry, Max. Joshua's place, huh? Where was that again?"

"Damnit, Alec, you know where it is and I already humoured you by drawing you a map this morning! If you wanna keep this stupid game of yours going, you can bite me."

With that, Max huffed and jumped on her bicycle and pedaled away. Ben tried to follow her from a safe distance, until she went through a Sector Point; he would need a pass to get through. A minor setback. The Blue Lady would provide.

Alec meanwhile, back in 2008, was sitting on the end of a hotel bed watching Bobby draw a chalk symbol into the floor around the unconscious body of Ruby. Sam sat next to him, watching in distress but unable to do anything to help her; Alec made sure of that.

With a grunt, Bobby finished the outer circle on the Devil's Trap and turned to Sam, smouldering fury in his eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sam? You run off after Dean dies, straight into the arms of a demon?"

"It's not just any demon, Bobby! It's Ruby! She's the one who gave us the knife, remember?" Sam replied.

"Yeah, well last I heard you tell, Ruby had been captured by Lilith again. Pray tell how she managed to get out of Hell without an open Devil's Gate?"

"She managed to convince Lilith she was loyal to her! She came and saved my life, Bobby!"

"At what cost, Sam?! I haven't heard from you in weeks! You think just because Dean's dead, you can just have the run of the mill, no bars held? You don't work with demons; you hunt them!" Bobby yelled.

"You think I don't know that? Not all of them are bad! Ruby is different!"

"That's what she wants you to think!"

"That's what I know!!!"

Sam tried to stand up, but Alec forced him straight back down again. Struggling slightly, Sam looked at Alec with an annoyed glance.

"And who the hell is this guy? He looks just like Dean, and you're telling me he's not? Where do you get off, Bobby, teaming up with a guy who you don't even know?"

"I thought you had something to do with it, Sam! Are you telling me you didn't try to make a deal to get Dean back?"

At that, Sam went limp. His head fell into his palms, as he breathed heavily. Bobby calmed down, and moved towards Sam to put a hand on his shoulder. As soon as Bobby's touched him, Sam threw him off angrily.

"No! You don't know anything, Bobby! I've killed more demons with Ruby in the past few months than you, Dad and Dean combined ever have or ever will! It's war out there, Bobby, so don't tell me what I can and cannot do!"

Sam tried to rise again; Alec glanced at Bobby questioningly, who motioned for him to let Sam go. Sam stood, and looked over to Ruby's unconscious body in the middle of the Devil's Trap. He made as if to move towards her, but Alec stepped in his way.

"Sorry, dude. Bobby says you can't grab squid-eyes over there," said Alec.

Alec and Bobby stared Sam down. After a long pause, Sam turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Bobby let out a long sigh.

"I'd better go after him. Talk some sense into the boy. Can I trust you to keep watch over the demon? Don't break the circle. If she wakes up, spritz her with the Holy Water until she tells you what the hell she's doing with Sam."

"Yes sir," replied Alec. He wasn't one to take orders from just anybody, but at the moment he was pretty freaked out and totally not where (or even when) he should be. Guard duty would give him time to clear his thoughts.

With that, Bobby grabbed his coat and went out after Sam, leaving Alec alone with the girl with the freaky eyes.

Meanwhile, in the future, Dean was having one of the best lunches in his life. Well, not really, but he was hungry enough that it was almost true. Joshua mostly knew how to microwave Mac'N'Cheese. He had a lot of that stuff around. Dean wolfed down almost as much as Joshua did; somehow it had turned into an eating contest. Halfway through their thirteenth serving, there was a knock on the door. Joshua went to go get it.

As Joshua left the room, Dean took a look around the place. It was mostly sparse, with some old wooden shelves about and a second hand microwave in the corner. He could also smell something like paint in the air; weird. Looking across the table, he saw a flyer being used as a placemat of sorts. But what caught his eye wasn't the urging of people to use Jam Pony for all their mailing purposes; it was the date printed.

Dean snatched the flyer out from under Joshua's microwaveable bowl and looked closer. August 2021? What the hell was going on here?

Max strolled in with Joshua, chatting inanely about something, stopping short when she saw Dean again.

"Alec? How did you... did you run here after I bumped into you?" Max's expression was puzzled.

"Run here? I just walked. Followed the map you gave me. And it's Dean."

"Your hair! It's shorter again! And you still look older, Alec!"

"Dean. And I have no clue what you're talking about." Dean held up the flyer. "Why does it say it's August, 2021 on this?"

"It's from last month," Max replied off-handedly. "How did you..."

Max moved around the table, looking at the back of Dean's neck again.

"What... there is no way you had time to run here and get your barcode lasered off again, Alec. What gives?"

"I swear, if you call me 'Alec' one more time, lady, I will hurt you. Now what the hell are you babbling about?"

Dean returned to his Mac'N'Cheese, reading through the flyer to see if it had any more clues. Max walked back to Joshua in the next room, and he snuffled slightly.

"That, not Alec. Alec smell more like cat. Dean smell like normal." Joshua stated.

"What? Joshua, are you telling me that this guy isn't Alec?"

"Woman, I'm telling you I ain't Alec!" Dean called out from the other room.

"Shut the hell up! Joshua?"

"No, not Alec. Not Manticore, no cat in his cocktail."

"What the hell is going on here?" Max wondered aloud, slightly dizzy from the confusing news.

"That's what I'd like to know, sweetcakes," Dean replied, entering from the kitchen.

Dean held up the flyer, and pointed at it with a serious expression on his face.

"Now would either of you geniuses mind telling me why the hell it says it's 2021?"

Meanwhile, in the past, Jason Teague walked into town, dirty and disheveled. First off he had to get his bearings; then he could hunt down that alien impersonating him, the one he could see in his mind's eye. Taking care to remain low profile, he ducked into the busy coffee shop known as the Talon. He had to find Lana.

The hustle and bustle would work to his advantage. Jason surreptitiously made his way to the front counter, looking about to see if he could spot his ex-girlfriend. He didn't recognise the girl behind the counter, so he asked her nicely where he might find Lana.

"Sorry, Lana Lang doesn't own the Talon anymore."

"Is she still renting the room upstairs, maybe?"

"No, as far as I know, her friend Chloe lives up there now. Did you want me to get in contact with her for you?"

"No, no thanks, I just had a letter to slip under her door."

Jason flashed a charming smile, and the girl behind the counter thanked him and moved on to the next customer. Jason turned, the smile already gone, and walked up the stairs to the apartment. The door wasn't locked; he let himself in.

"Lana, Lana, Lana," Jason muttered to himself under his breath, searching through the mail. Nothing. She'd probably already left this town. He would just have to continue on anyway. Spotting a set of keys, Jason grabbed them off the counter and exited the apartment.

Ten minutes later Jason had found Chloe's car parked out back behind the Talon in an alleyway. Getting into the vehicle, Jason started the car and began to drive. Pontiac, Illinois. To find the alien impostor, and kill him.

Alec paced around the room, straining his mind. It really was 2008. That alone was hard to get his head around. Time travel! That was insane! Psychics, dog-men, super-soldiers, mermaids; hell, even demon-girl didn't compare to this! Alec groaned in frustration. If he couldn't even figure out how he got here, how could he expect to figure out a way to get back?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Ruby's breathing change slightly. Looking over at the woman lying in the Devil's Trap, to the eye she seemed still unconscious. Alec knew better; she was faking, pretty well too.

"All awake now, eh? How was your nap?" Alec smirked.

Ruby's eyes opened, still inky black, and she sat up, sneering.

"Pleasant. Let me out."

"You forgot to say 'please'."

"Please," she stated.

"'Pretty please.'"

"Pretty please," she echoed.

"'With a cherry on--'"

"Oh shut up."

Ruby sighed, and got to her feet. Taking her hands, she extended them outwards, testing the barrier. Bobby hadn't been forgiving; she barely had any room to move. She surveyed the room, turning to Alec, eyes clearing to a normal colour.

"You look just like him," she quipped.

"So they say," Alec replied. "You wouldn't know why, would you?"

"Not a clue. I'm one of the good guys, you know. I've been helping Sam; Bobby doesn't understand that."

"Uhhuh. I'll bet you're just misunderstood; troubled childhood, all that mumbo-jumbo."

Ruby laughed quietly at that.

"You're more similar to Dean than you think."

"Well he's just as dashingly handsome, so why not the charming personality too?"

"You're not a part of this, are you? Hunting. You don't know what's at stake."

"Why don't you enlighten me, Squid Girl Sally?"

"Lilith, you know who she is, right? Major bitch demon. She's breaking the sixty-six seals, one by one, to free Lucifer. I'm helping Sam stop her."

"Who's Lucifer?"

"Who's-- what?!" Ruby asked incredulously.

"Lucifer. What kind of sissy name is that?"

"Lucifer! Bringer of Light? Prince of Darkness? Father of all demons, champion of Hell, God's first Angel, exiled and sealed for standing up to the Almighty!"

"...Nope. Never heard of him. Is he like that Rastafarian dude, the Almighty Jah?"

"Lucifer transcends any idiotic religion you pitiful humans have deluded yourself with! When Judgment Day comes, the world will be cleansed of your filth and our Lord Lucifer will storm the Gates of Heaven and crush the Angels! Heaven and Earth will be ours for the taking!"

"It doesn't sound like you want to stop him being released, now does it?"

Ruby's eyes widened as she realised she'd said too much. Glaring at Alec, her eyes turned inky black, her lips pursed. Alec smirked again.

"Six months in Psy-Ops. I can read you like a book."

"You're going to pay for that. Now I'll have to kill you."

"You're welcome to try, once I tell Bobby what I've just found out."

Alec strode to the phone on the bedside table, Ruby following him with her glare. Picking it up, he paused with his finger above the number pad, a look of awkwardness passing over his face. Turning to Ruby, he asked embarrassingly:

"You wouldn't happen to have Bobby's number, would you?"

Dean sat down heavily. It really was 2021. Max and Joshua had looked at him like he was crazy when he insisted it was 2008. This was terrible! The last thing he remembered was dying; assuming he'd been resurrected by somebody, it had happened to him thirteen years later. Sammy was in his late thirties, approaching his forties, if he was even still alive! Dean couldn't comprehend what his little brother must have gone through in the years without him.

But the strangest thing was that he wasn't himself in this future. Somehow he had taken the place of someone who apparently looked like a younger version of him. That wasn't how crossroad deals worked, if that was what this was. He shouldn't have woken up in someone else's life, and if he had; why did he have his own body? Dean groaned from the headache he was getting.

"None of it makes any sense!" he muttered. Joshua patted him on the back reassuringly. Max had gone out to find a payphone to ring Logan up; apparently he had connections. If he could maybe find Sammy in this time, it might explain things more.

Dean looked up to see Max coming back in. She didn't look like she had any good news to tell him.

"I called up Logan. He's searched the records but there is nothing relating to a Sam Winchester or Robert Singer in the United States. No death records either."

"How about the other names I gave you?" Dean asked, somewhat in shock.

"No Wedge Antilles, no Kurt Cobain, no Fox Mulder, no Fred Jones..." Max read on the list she had in her hand, each one negative, of alias' that Sammy might have used. Dean's mood became darker with each passing moment.

Max stopped reading when she noticed Dean shaking. It looked as though he wanted to cry.

"Look, Deke," she started.

"Dean." He corrected half-heartedly.

"Dean. If this guy was around before the Pulse, chances are any records of him on file were erased in the Pulse. Logan did say that you might find something in the archival written documents that could help you. You should probably go over there and follow up on that."

Dean was silent. Max exchanged a glance with Joshua, who was observing the situation passively. They had to be careful with this guy. Since it was obvious now he wasn't a transgenic, he didn't have anything to lose by revealing her or Joshua's secret. As long as they had something he wanted, they could avoid that happening, until his loyalties were clear.

"Hey, cheer up, I'll give you a lift to Logan's place and we can stop for--"

"No. No, I need some time to think. Just mark it on the map; I'll find my way there."

Jason arrived in Pontiac some time after dark. He stopped by a weapons store and bought ammunition for his shotgun. He was mildly surprised that his money still worked; the Teague Family Trust account hadn't yet been closed, probably because his father was a deluded old hermit who had left to satisfy his fantasies years ago.

He ate a meal at a diner, chewing methodically on his burger. His mind's eye was nearly ringing with clarity; he could feel the alien close by. Best to keep up his strength. To be prepared.

He finished his meal and left.

Ben sat in the pews, looking up at the statue of the Blue Lady. He still had the picture of her in his pocket, close to his heart. This wasn't the same church he had delivered his gifts to last time, but it didn't matter. The Blue Lady was with him always.

Earlier on in the day he had made the journey out of Seattle to his warehouse on the outskirts of the city, near the forests. All his equipment had been left untouched; likely because no looter would be able to find this place even if they were looking for it. The ink was ready, to tattoo his next test with his own mark. The weapons, for them to choose amongst to defend themselves with. The chains, that he would place around their neck, adorning them with the mark of the Blue Lady, to bless them as they tested their faith, as he was testing his own.

The statue looked down at him, as if to say:

"Prove your faith."

"I will," Ben whispered, as he bowed his head.

Alec splashed Ruby with the Holy Water again. She screamed, holding her face as it turned to steam upon contact with skin.

"I'll never tell you!" she spat, eyes turning black again.

"Give me Bobby's cell phone number!" demanded Alec, splashing her again.

Ruby screamed again. Alec sat down on the bed, looking at the bottle in his hand. Empty. Now what? He didn't know when Bobby would be back, and the information he had was more or less urgent. If Bobby knew that Ruby was deceiving everyone from the start, he could make a proper case for Sam to come back. That got Alec one step closer to solving his immediate problems.

Frustrated, Alec stood up and threw the bottle at Ruby's head. The bottle made an appreciable thunking sound as Alec had thrown it with all his strength, practically ziplining Ruby so that she flipped over, hit the barrier, bounced off, hit the other side of the barrier and fell to the ground. She groaned in pain, but got over it quickly. That wasn't nearly as bad as the holy water had been. Sitting up, her nose bleeding and a bruise beginning to form on her forehead, she looked up at Alec, who was pacing about impatiently.

"What are you? You're stronger than the average demon!" she asked.

"I'm a freaking transgenic, and I shouldn't technically exist yet! Nobody outside Manticore even hears about us until 2021! I'm only ten years old in '08!"

Picking up a Bible off the counter, Alec turned to Ruby and held it up.

"Now tell me Bobby's cell phone number, or I'll use this on you!"

"You're no hunter! You couldn't exorcise me if you tried! And even if you did, I'll just keep coming back; Lilith will see to that!"

"Then how about this?"

Alec threw the Bible at Ruby as hard as he could. The Bible caught Ruby under the chin, whipping her head back as she practically somersaulted backwards from a sitting position, landing painfully with her legs propped against the invisible barrier, face on the floor.

Ruby righted herself with a groan. She could take plenty of pain, even lethal doses, but it still didn't feel good. The bruise on her forehead had already healed, but now there was another forming on her neck and chin where the heavier Bible had struck her. She looked up to see Alec contemplating a crowbar thoughtfully, and she flailed her arms out.

"No! Wait! Please! I don't know his number!" she sputtered, the words coming out croaky.

"I don't believe you," said Alec as he hefted up the crowbar.

A sudden knock on the door stopped him mid-swing. Ruby let out a small sigh, looking towards the door. If she could just find a way to talk her way out of this, Sam would still be on her side.

Alec strode to the door, assuming it was Bobby. Opening the door, he felt it being kicked in as it banged against his nose painfully. Falling flat on his butt, he gripped his nose, rubbing it. It wasn't broken, but it still hurt like a bitch. Glancing up to look at who had come in, he looked up into the barrel of a shotgun, the wielder silhouetted against the bright hallway lights. As his eyes quickly adjusted, Alec peered to see...

Himself?

Dean took Max's offer to use her bicycle to pedal his ass over to Logan's place. Dean really missed his Impala. He would've given almost anything to be sitting in it right now, instead of weaving about the sidewalk unsteadily on a bicycle with a seat too small for him. He'd never really learnt how to ride a bike properly. That was one of the thing's he'd missed out on growing up as a kid; he had barely begun riding without training wheels when Yellow Eyes had taken out his mother, and their normal lives with it.

"Whoa, whoa, outta the way!" Dean yelped, waving people aside. It was less tiring than walking but he couldn't very well pretend to be a bike messenger without a bike. Making it through the fourth Sector Point, Dean had finally arrived in the area where Logan Cale lived. Dean didn't know the guy, but had been given the impression he was more or less the ultimate supreme being in the world, the way Max's eyes would light up when she talked about him. Blech.

Dean looked back down on his map again. Perhaps he'd taken a wrong turn. He approached a nearby Sector Cop, who was working a booth checking out permits. The Sector Cop barely looked up as Dean showed him the map, and dismissed him bluntly.

"This ain't an information booth, get out of here."

"Seriously, man, just tell me how to get here, it's not like anybody's waiting on me."

The Sector Cop looked up at Dean, his mouth open to tell him to shove off, suddenly freezing at the sight of Dean's face.

"What are you staring at, am I that pretty?"

The Sector Cop glanced over to the side of his booth; Dean followed his gaze. There was an old notice up, a Wanted poster, with a sketched face. "Wanted, for nine counts of serial murder." And unfortunately for Dean, the sketch was of his own face. Perhaps a bit younger.

Dean bolted. There was no way in friggin' hell he was going to take the fall for whoever's life he had replaced, Alex or Malek or whatever it was. The Sector Cop yelled at him to halt, then radioed in for backup. Two Sector Cops patrolling down the street received the signal, turning to see Dean running towards them. Yelling and pointing, they moved towards him.

"Crap," Dean thought, sliding to a halt and turning into another alleyway. He sprinted through and made another turn, coming to a busy bazaar full of grubby stalls and customers. Diving into the crowd, Dean began moving through, looking around to see if he had lost the Sector Police.

They were still coming towards him, but they didn't know exactly where he was. Dean ducked down slightly, squeezing his way through the crowd, towards another alleyway on the other side of the bazaar. Once he was free, he turned a corner, jumped a fence, and continued down another street.

Ducking behind a street-side newspaper stall, he surreptitiously watched as a couple of Sector Cops came dashing out of the alleyway. Looking about, they searched for Dean, but luckily enough they saw a similar guy with blondish hair disappear around the corner in the other direction. Dean let out a sigh of relief; he had lost them. He turned on his heel and weaved into another alleyway.

He didn't see a figure approach him from behind. A swift blow to the back of his head sent Dean unwittingly into blackness.

Ben looked down at Dean. This was Him. The Other. A gift from the Blue Lady. She had brought Ben back so he could have one last chance to prove himself. The reflection of his inner demon.

The final test.

Castiel stood at the very back of the formation. He had been demoted horribly after his latest mistake, becoming one of the lesser soldiers. Uriel had taken his previous post; it was he who was leading this current garrison. The formation of fourteen Angels prepared itself to enter Terra Firma. They had just received word; one of the Seals was about to be broken.

The Rising of the Witnesses would begin soon.