LANKEER
CHAPTER FIVE
Ateno strode into Ferri's office. "General."
Ferri looked up, a smile touching her lips. "'General', is it, then? What's the matter, Ateno?"
"I must have words with you on your treatment of our...guests."
Her eyes narrowed. "Words?"
"Words." He leaned over her desk. "What in the name of all the gods do you think you're doing?"
"I am dealing with intruders who happen to be abominations."
"I will possibly - possibly - stand in agreement with you on the Winged One. We don't yet know what he is. But the other two are-"
"-his brothers."
Ateno closed his mouth with an audible click and slowly stood up. "Brothers."
"Yes. Brothers. They are of a kindred." She stood and leaned over her desk, facing him. "We have been friends a long time, Ateno. You know me."
He just stared at her.
"You know I do nothing I don't feel is in Lankeer's best interests."
"So you will not stop."
"There is no reason to stop. They are abominations - not human. We have an obligation to see that their kind does not pollute ours."
"Very well." He spun on his heel and moved toward the door.
"Ateno, I did not dismiss you."
"I don't care." He walked out the door and leaned against the wall. "...I thought I knew you, Ferri...now, I am not so sure."
His attention was caught by a white-faced man dashing toward the office. He grabbed his arm. "Hamu, Hamu - calm down, Hamu! What is it?"
"The-the-the..." Hamu stammered, gesturing behind him with a hand that held a machete.
"Mmm," Ateno said, wincing. "First order of business," he muttered, gingerly disarming Hamu and sliding the machete against the wall. "Now - speak."
"The-the General...sh-she ordered me to bring her the silent one's hand!"
Ateno closed his eyes, fury welling up in him. "So," he said, opening them. "Where is it?"
"Still attached to him!" Hamu went even paler, if that were possible, swallowing hard as if to keep his food firmly behind his belt. "I could not cut him! I tried both arms, and I could not cut him!"
"Show me, Hamu." When the man started frantically shaking his head, Ateno grasped his shoulders. "I will handle him on the General's behalf. Show. Me."
SPN LANKEER SPN
Sam looked up as the door opened. In walked the soldier who had tried to remove his hands, followed by a man of straighter back and unafraid eyes. "There," the first one half-sobbed. "There he sits!"
The second man nodded. "Very well, Hamu. I shall handle this." He turned and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Go to your quarters. Make yourself presentable. Then go home. I fear you have had one too many shocks today."
"Aye, Colonel. Thank you, Colonel." He spun and all but ran from the room.
Once they were alone, the man closed the door and turned to face Sam. "My name is Ateno," he said in a gentle voice. "Have you a name?"
Sam glared at him.
"So I am to call you 'Silent Man' from now on?"
Sam couldn't help it - his lips twitched at the humour.
"Ah, so there is a sense of humour behind those eyes. Can you speak at all?"
His eyes trailed toward the door.
"You are not dealing with Hamu or the General now. And for future reference? I think this is shameful."
His chin rose again, and his eyes looked at the door.
"You wish to be with your brothers."
Fox-like eyes snapped huge, and the jaw lowered as he stared at Ateno.
"I have brothers myself," Ateno said as he stepped closer. "Ferri - the General - she is an only child. I fear she does not understand what it is like to give up everything for someone you share blood with." He reached out. "But I unders-" He broke off as his hand closed over Sam's arm.
Sam stared at him in open challenge.
Ateno blinked, his fingers gently probing Sam's arm. Then his lips twitched. He stepped back, dropped his face in his hands, and let out a laugh muffled by his hands.
Sam glared at him. Dean would have recognised the look immediately.
Ateno shook his head as he got himself under control. "Hamu thinks you are invulnerable."
Eyes widened as that sank in, then Sam lowered his own head and laughed softly.
"Don't worry - your secret is safe with me." Ateno raised Sam's arm as best he could with the restraints, and slid one of the hidden knives from its sheath over Sam's forearm. "I am going to guess that the other arm has a similar one."
Sam's only answer was a small shrug.
Ateno nodded. "I understand. They were in such a hurry to restrain you they did not check for hidden weapons. Our people do not carry weapons on our arms, in any case. They would not have thought to search there."
Sam gasped softly as Ateno regripped the knife and made a single slice. Then he stared in shock as the restraints holding his arm down parted.
Ateno flipped the knife around and presented it hilt-first to Sam. "Let's go find your brothers."
Sam took the knife and cut himself loose, then made the knife vanish. His eyes eloquently asked the question.
He smiled. "As I said - I have brothers. And this treatment is wrong." He led the way to the door, pointedly turning his back on Sam. "And if anyone asks - you are my prisoner and I am transferring you under General Ferri's orders."
"Sam."
Ateno turned, his eyes wide. "And the man does have a voice. What did you say?"
"My name is Sam."
"Greetings to you - Sam. Come, I believe they are holding your brother down this hall."
Sam nodded and fell into step slightly behind him, letting Ateno lead the way.
SPN LANKEER SPN
When they came to a room with a nondescript wooden door, Ateno stepped forward to talk to the guards while Sam lingered in the shadows. After a long moment, one of the guards opened the door and another headed toward Sam, who tensed for a fight.
"Easy," the guard said, spreading empty hands. "Come on out to me. Ateno has gone to get your brother. We will lead you to the third." When Sam still hesitated, he smiled. "Not all of us agree with the General on his treatment."
"What treatment?" Sam blurted, then cursed himself for breaking his silence again.
"Bad news." But it was not the guard's voice. Nor Ateno's. It was a voice that had Sam racing from the shadows and past the guard, to taking the arm of the man shaking with rage that Ateno led out of the room.
It had been Dean's voice. Dean looked at him and nodded, curling his fingers on the back of Sam's neck. "M'okay."
"I'm invulnerable," Sam quipped, and Dean frowned deeply.
"General Ferri ordered his hands to be cut off," Ateno said, and Dean's eyes widened, shooting down to where those very intact hands were holding his arm.
Sam chuckled. "They cut above my wrists."
Dean's eyes widened in comprehension. "How many knives are you wearing?"
"Enough," Sam said, and turned to Ateno. "Where's Cas?"
"I don't know," Ateno said. "I only knew where this one was."
"I know," the guard who had approached Sam said. "This way." He took off at a jog, with the Winchesters and Ateno and his fellow guard behind him.
SPN LANKEER SPN
The scientist had not managed to return after proposing his bone-breaking experiment. So far as Cas could determine, that was nothing but good. He worked on his bonds, and managed to loosen them a fraction before he heard the distinct click of the door and saw it start to slide open.
He ground his teeth together and raised his chin, determined to not show fear - though he was very much in pain and very much afraid.
He had chosen to take the name Winchester. Time to live up to it.
But when he saw who looked warily around the door, his shoulders slumped in sheer relief - and OW, that didn't feel good on his wing - and he heard himself breathe out, "Oh, thank God..."
"Not out of the woods yet," Dean cracked as Sam produced a knife from seemingly nowhere and moved to eradicate Cas's bonds. "Might wanna hold out on the praise."
"Never," Cas smiled as he stood shakily. He closed his eyes and concentrated on drawing in his wings - and gasped as the pain snapped them wide open and turned his tan complexion to something resembling pea soup cut with milk. "I can't...I can't retract them yet," he gasped. "The right one's...still shattered."
"Don't try," Sam said. "C'mon, we gotta move."
Cas nodded. "I'll try again... in a half hour or so..." Sam and Dean both shot strange looks his way, and he chuckled. "Fast healer, remember?"
"Not that fast," Dean shot back.
"No?" Cas showed them how he could move his right wing outward. "Couldn't do that a half hour ago. They're healing. I just need time."
Ateno jerked his head down an empty hallway. "Time is the one thing we can not give you. You have till the turn of that hallway - then our truce must end of necessity."
"I hear them," Sam said. "Footsteps, coming this way."
"Thanks, man," Dean said with a smile. "We owe you." Then the three of them began a shaky run down the hallway.
As they rounded the corner and grew more steady with their feet underneath them, they heard Ateno's voice bellow, "THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED! AFTER THEM!"
Dean kicked open a stairwell and the trio pounded their way down it. "The Impala is ground floor, back entrance!" Dean informed Cas.
"Will I fit? I can't retract my wing back into my body!" Cas gasped.
"You'll fit," the others chorused, and then they saved their breath for the run.
At the ground floor, Dean pointed and they ran toward the rear of the building - pulling up short when they reached the glass-lined atrium beyond which they could see the Impala parked.
Soldiers filled the atrium. Among them was a smirking General Ferri. "Are you planning on leaving us, boys?" she purred. "You won't make it past us. Surrender now and we will make it easy on you. Continue to resist - and it won't go well. Particularly not for you, Abomination."
Cas's eyes flashed with anger as he took a step forward. "My name is Cas Winchester - not 'Abomination'. I will thank you to cease calling me that."
Ferri laughed, as did some of the soldiers with her. When it died down, she said, "Offer stands - Cas." She made his name sound even more of an insult than 'Abomination'. "You can not get past us to your transport."
"Oh, yes," Cas said with a cold smile. "We can."
"Cas," Dean hissed. "I'm unarmed and I don't know how many knives Sam has-"
"Not enough to take them all down," Sam hissed.
"Do you trust me?" Cas whispered.
"Yes, but-" Dean replied.
"Then step closer to me, and cover your ears."
They edged closer to him as if to protect him. "Why?" Sam whispered.
Cas shot him a smile that briefly reached his eyes. "I may not be envesseled..." He said, then turned to face the soldiers.
Dean and Sam both gasped when Cas's eyes turned blue-white from corner to corner and began to glow.
"...but I retain a measure of grace!" Cas snapped. Then he opened his mouth and they saw the cords of his neck snap into view.
A high-pitched whine began to fill the air.
Dean and Sam both slapped their hands over their ears, and gasped when they realised they felt that whine vibrating into their bones.
They were slightly behind Cas, and the sound emanated from Cas, pouring outward to envelop the atrium and the soldiers in it.
Cas's body was vibrating with the power he was putting into that unearthly wail. His hands had clenched into fists, and his white-blue eyes were only halfway open. Both wings were extended, up and out. Each one seemed to shield one of his new brothers from the noise.
The soldiers fell to their knees, except for one who looked blankly around and then winced, stumbling out of the room. Blood slowly appeared between their fingers and Ferri's face became a distorted mask of pain.
One after another, the soldiers toppled over, unconscious and bleeding freely from their ears. When Ferri slumped over, eyes glazed and body twitching, Cas's head snapped backwards slightly.
The sound tipped up - over the downed soldiers - and stopped as Cas sucked in a breath. Then it rippled out again, somehow louder than before.
The glass walls began to rattle in their frames.
Sam's "...oh holy God, what the hell..." was swallowed by the sound, as was Dean's "...holy flaming shit..."
With the unholy crash of a thousand cymbals all together, every pane of glass broke into splinters at the exact same time.
The wail turned into a softly moaned, "...ooh..." and white-blue glowing eyes snapped to dark, human blue as Cas's wings drooped and he sagged backward into their waiting arms.
Dean's hand carded through the sweaty curls that drooped as if exhausted across Cas's forehead. "Cas, what the hell..."
Cas smiled tiredly at him. "...angel's...true voice...screaming..." His eyes closed.
Sam grunted as he lifted Cas into his arms, letting the damaged right wing dangle. "We gotta go!"
"C'mon!" Dean led the way through the mass of downed, bleeding soldiers and gingerly stepped out of the atrium onto the street. "Careful, there's a hell of a lot of glass here..."
"No kidding," Sam said, sparing energy for a quick eye-roll as they maneuvred Cas's unconscious form through the frames together. Then Sam took over carrying him again as Dean ran to the Impala and got it open.
Sam gently lay Cas on the back seat and together they got his wings all clear of the door. Then they got into the front seat and Dean started the engine with the press of his palm against the dashboard.
He couldn't resist flipping the tower the bird as the Impala roared down the street at high speed. The faster they got off this horrible world, the better.
SPN LANKEER SPN
When Cas forced leaden eyelids to part, he found himself lying on a bed of B'shain design, with a diagnostic hood draped over the upper half of his body. Licking his lips, he turned to find Dean curled onto his side in the next bed over, sound asleep.
"Ah, awake at last." Cas turned to find Sam walking in and sinking into the chair beside his bed. He smiled and pushed back the hood, and Cas struggled to sit up.
With Sam's help, he managed to make it upright and get a little bit of water into his stomach. "What..." He looked over his shoulder. "My wings..."
"You did that all by yourself, about five hours after we got you back here," Sam informed him. "Sat right up, got that look that Dean calls your 'constipated face', and they faded back to where you keep 'em when they're not out."
Cas made a thoughtful humming noise. "They must have healed enough, then - or the pain would have woken me."
"The scanner said your wing was nearly completely healed. As was your throat - you ripped the hell out of it with that stunt."
Cas shrugged. "It got us free. That's all that matters."
Sam snorted softly. "Now I know you're a real Winchester."
"I've become a real boy!" Cas teased with a huge grin.
"You and those books," Sam laughed. "Yes, you've become a real boy." The smile vanished. "Who's 20% deaf in both ears."
Cas's shoulders slumped and he glanced down at his hands. "I kind of thought so. Things started getting really quiet once we transferred onto the MaryJohn."
"Cas." It was Dean, sitting up now. "How'd this happen?"
Sighing, Cas turned to face him and watched Sam go to sit beside him, so they both could face him. "When Gabriel left... after altering us and the Impala ... he-he said I would have a cross to bear, like every human does. He wasn't sure what it would be, himself. But he said I would know it when it arrived." He shrugged. "I suppose it has arrived."
Dean reached over and squeezed Cas's knee in silent support. Cas squirmed, making both of them laugh. "Cas!" Sam laughed. "You're ticklish!"
"Hush," Cas snapped. "...just a little bit."
Once the laughter had died down, Dean looked at Sam. "How far out from Lankeer are we?"
"We left their solar system behind two hours ago," Sam said. "We'd have been out sooner, but we've been playing 'avoid the patrols' by hiding in their asteroid field."
Cas frowned. "They've sent patrols after us?" At Sam's nod, he growled and stood up, grabbing his boots and jerking them on with a strange hopping dance as he headed toward the door muttering about "...should have woken me sooner...primary pilot, after all..."
Sam chuckled. "We're okay, Cas! The most exciting thing that happened was Bobby called growling at us in relief because we're free of Lankeer!"
Nodding, Cas paused at the doorway. "Dean?"
"Yeah, Cas?"
"I believe I would like that milkshake you promised me earlier. Vanilla is preferable." He tapped the door and smiled as he left the Infirmary.
Dean blinked after him, then shook his head and softly muttered, "Son of a bitch..." to the tune of Sam's delighted laughter.
SPN LANKEER SPN
Ateno closed the door behind him and turned to face the bed. "You wanted to see me, Ferri?"
She glared at him. "You helped them get away."
"I did not," he said. "I raised the alarm once I found them gone."
She leaned forward - as best as she could with the restraints holding her to the bed - and sneered, "Really? That is most peculiar. Since they escaped so soon after your foolish bickering with me about their treatment."
"Which I still disagree with," he pointed out.
She hummed, leaning back on the bed.
"How are you doing, Ferri? Honestly?"
Her look turned into another glare. "I am hearing again - no thanks to the Abomination. I have bouts of dizziness and I have been found unfit to command. Something about reckless disregard for safety and life? You would happen to know nothing of that, would you - General Ateno?"
"Ferri, if I could have stopped it..."
"Oh, don't even try!" she spat. "Of everybody under me - I thought you were a friend!"
"I am your friend! That's why I wanted you to stop! That's why I want to get you the help you so clearly need!"
"I DON'T NEED THIS KIND OF HELP!" she roared.
Ateno sighed and ran his hand over his nose and mouth. "I'm sorry, Ferri. Truly, I am. But this has to end." He turned to leave her room.
"Yes, Ateno." Something in her voice made him freeze. "It has to end."
He turned back, to see her sliding a hand free of the sliced-through restraints. "Ferri?"
"And it ends today." She drew a pistol from beneath her pillow.
"Ferri..." His voice held a note of warning.
"Goodbye, Ateno."
"FERRI!" He surged toward the bed.
The single gunshot sounded loud in the tiny room.
END