This chapter has been bitter sweet for me.

"Team two's in position." The radio crackled lowly.

"That's everybody." Another voice sounded.

"We start in six minutes." Said a third.

"When this is all over I'm eating a mountain of candy." A fourth voice said with longing in his tone.

"You can eat as much candy as you want as long as you do your job." Snapped the first voice.

"I always do my job."

"Gabriel, Bela, a little less chatter please?" Harry's voice called interrupted. "It won't do us much good to have ambush positions if they can hear us coming."

The radio stayed silent.

"That's six minutes by my watch." The second voice said a minute later.

"Then team one is go." Harry responded marking his map with an X. "Remember your escape points people."

There was a rush of static and Harry silently hoped they'd all make it out alright.

"I can leave you to the rest of it to you then Anna?"

"Of course." Anna replied calmly. "Team two head out."

Harry glanced up to the people gathered around him. Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Bobby were watching Harry's exchange over the radio torn somewhere between amusement and determination. Their part would come very soon. Tefnut sat to the side with a map covered in colored pins. Three radios sat in front of her too as well as a box of markers.

"Yes, I have it under control." She said when she noticed his gaze on her. She was the designated coordinator for this little shindig. She'd be keeping track of where everyone was and when they made it out… if they did. The blue pins on the map were allies, the red were possible enemies as estimated by the counted number taken earlier that week. They'd be sweeping in from three angles in teams of two and one. Gabriel would be taking center the make sure those swept out by the others didn't try to flee in the wrong direction. They didn't want the hordes of demons to converge on the primary target a small duplex containing Lucifer.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked one last time. "No potty breaks. Make sure you have what you need."

Sam flashed a wicked looking dagger that Harry recognized as having belonged to Ruby. Bobby just grimaced, and Dean rubbed a spot in his coat where Harry was sure the colt was hidden, not that it would do anything to Lucifer. Harry was pretty sure he was bringing it just because it made him feel secure.

"Let's go." Harry reached out and touched Bobby's arm while the brothers were treated similarly by Castiel.

They touched down in Detroit. Wind whipped the alley as Cas landed just beside Harry. The group took a moment to orient themselves. Across the street a neon sign glowed unassumingly.

"Now what?" Dean asked when Harry didn't move.

Harry didn't answer. He kept his eyes focused on the door directly next to the neon sign. Lucifer was in that building and he'd certainly felt them land.

Dean snorted as the door flung outward and slammed into the wall. Two suited demons strode out looking somewhat less dramatic than they'd probably hoped to.

"Good evening." Harry said with a smile. "I believe your daddy is home. Would you mind fetching him for me?"

The larger demon's chest puffed out and he looked ready to try smashing Harry's head into the concrete. His smaller counterpart stopped him with a slap to his chest and a nod in Sam's direction. The giddy look that spread over the demon's face was almost sickening to look at. He bolted back into the building eagerly.

It was less than a minute later that Lucifer sauntered out of the same door trailed by two more demons, the one that had run back and another. In the elapsed time Dean had taken the liberty of shooting the remaining henchman through the skull with a quickly drawn colt. Lucifer barely spared the downed demon a glance as he instead surveyed the ragtag group.

"Good evening. It's nice to see you Sam… although, I can't say I was expecting to."

Dean bristled from behind Harry. You could feel the tension leaking off of the hunter.

"And Harry," Lucifer turned his attention there next. "I'm somewhat less pleased to see you but then you did try to kill me last time we met so I think it's justifiable. Still, bygones. Did you bring me good news?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna ram my foot up your ass." Dean barked out.

Harry shot him a raised eyebrow. Lucifer didn't even give the shorter Winchester a reaction. His attention remained solely focused on Harry. He knew Harry was their impromptu leader. As far as the Devil was concerned Sam and Harry were the only ones that had shown up on his doorstep tonight.

"Did you come to fight me? Really?" Lucifer scoffed. "Why fight? We were meant for each other."

"Oh, have we made it to the cheesy pick up lines already?" Bobby asked gruffly.

Lucifer's eye contact with Harry broke for the first time since he'd stopped eying Sam. He gave Bobby a quick once over before offering a charming smile.

"Alright, that's enough witty banter for me." Dean said taking a few steps forward. "Say good night."

A gun shot rang through the street and Lucifer went down quick, taken by surprise.

Anna, like other angels, wasn't prone to human reactions like sweating or crying, but she was pretty close to both of those at the moment. She watched the light fade from another human host's eyes as her blade tore through the demon's skin. These people may be possessed, but she was still killing them and that fact was nearly driving her mad in and of itself.

She shrugged the woman off of her and the corpse hit the floor with a loud thud that ripped through the silence ominously. Anna bit back her apprehension as she waited to see if she was heard. Part of the ruse was not to let the demons realize just how few people they had on their side at the moment. If they walked in on her in a room by herself that plan was shot to hell in a second.

She quickly checked the hallway to make sure she had a few moments and then set herself to work.

She pulled two large tape recorders from her bag and set them side by side before adjusting their volume to max. Ares slipped through the window she had and made his way over. He'd stayed outside taking out the patrol demons as they'd passed by one by one.

"Find somewhere high to place this one." Anna handed him one of the recorders. "Make sure it's out of sight."

Ares nodded and started away to find a place to hide the device. They had six of them in total, courtesy of Harry's never ending financial supply. They would hide them everywhere they could, and when the time was right they'd activate the recorders letting out a mass exorcism.

It was a plan that was mostly adapted from something the Winchesters had done several years back. The only differences were the lack of a PA system, the quantity of demons, and the end result. They wanted to drive off dozens of demons not exorcize them. Sure, exorcism might be the better option, but they were a bit short on the resources to do such a thing.

"Bela," Anna hissed quietly. "Have you gotten your devices in place?"

A few beats of silence reigned over the radios and Anna's heartbeat sped up just slightly with worry. Then the earpiece crackled and a familiar British lilt graced her ears. "We're working on the last few. Ran into a few of the buggers where they shouldn't have been and had to improvise." Bela said almost cheerfully, but Anna could hear the strain in her voice. "How's your end love?"

"Nearly done." Anna replied placing the last of her devices. She just had to wait for Ares to make it back now. "Are you injured?"

"It's just a scratch." Bela deflected.

Anna didn't push the issue instead focusing on something a little more worrying. The sounds of a struggle were coming from up the hallway.

"Radio silence." Anna hissed, just in case Bela had been on the verge of saying anything. The radio remained quiet as she edged to the door and eased it open.

She was greeted by Ares struggling with two very large demons. They had knocked the borrowed angel blade from his grasp and he was grappling with them bare handed. He was clearly losing badly. He was a fair distance off and as she made to help him something greeted her vision that was completely unexpected.

Striding out of the shadows was a smiling Jesse.

She tripped over her own feet and landed hard knocking the wind from her. Pushing herself back up she saw the child she'd taken care of for months now slide his fingers almost lovingly over the dropped angel blade before picking it up. Hope ran through her.

He'd escaped, they'd captured him and he'd escaped, and now he had a weapon. He could help!

The blade arched up and then swung down into Ares' chest with precision. She faltered.

"Jesse!" Anna screamed in confusion and distraught. The same blade that had just pierced her ally's chest went sailing in the flash of an eye. She cringed as a sharp pain ripped through her, but her eyes stayed fixed on Jesse. She watched his expression morph from satisfaction to horror.

She followed his gaze down slightly and was surprised to see the handle of the angel blade wedged quite deeply in her rib cage. She was about to die. Her mind dully noted the fact. She had moments to live. She needed to send the signal. She had the transceiver. If she didn't do it no one could.

The slap of feet against pavement rang around her as she hit her knees and tilted backward. "Gab… Gabriel…" she pushed out scratching for the button to talk. "Gabriel."

"What?" Gabriel shot back with annoyance immediately.

"C-code…" but her finger couldn't depress the button anymore. She could feel her grace building behind her eyes. She reached into her pocket and found the transceiver.

"Anna?" asked a confused voice on the earpiece.

Jesse was just feet away but he seemed to be moving in slow motion.

An ear piercing scream rent the hall as Anna's grace burned from her body. The force knocked Jesse to the side with a yelp as searing pain blew through him. Jesse opened his eyes with a hiss to see scorch marks spread out from Anna's body in the shape of wings. The right one ended across Jesse's chest and he was sure the pain he felt meant the image had been burned into his flesh.

He stared in shock at the woman, clearly dead, that now laid beside him.

Gabriel paced from side to side listlessly. He wanted something to do, but he also wanted to be anywhere but here. The thought of facing Lucifer, of facing his brother again after what happened last time… it made him edgy.

So he listened to the radio silence, and he paced. That was all he could really do unless the demons decided to head his way. Heading in meant blowing everyone's cover. There was garbled static over the radio for a minute and Gabriel wasn't sure what that was about.

There was an awful lot of movement coming from the direction of group A though. Movement the set the warning bells in Gabriel's head off. He watched suspiciously as a few more demons headed into the building.

Another garble of gibberish sounded on the radio but it was definitely a feminine voice speaking. He knocked his knuckles against the earpiece twice hoping it would somehow make it work correctly.

"Radio silence." Anna barked quite clearly, startling him. He sent a glare in the general direction of Anna's group.

He kicked a flat stone over with a petulant huff. He'd never really questioned joining up with Harry. It had been the smart choice. But at this particular moment in time he was certainly disliking where that decision had taken him. He'd had little to no fun since joining up with the overly serious wizard and he'd had to start killing other angels to boot. He figured he deserved a nice moment of self pity.

"Gabriel…" Anna's voice called weakly over the radio.

Hadn't she just declared radio silence not two minutes ago? "What?" he snapped at the interruption.

"C-co-" the radio was breaking up again.

"Anna?" he said with confusion. "What's going on? I didn't get that."

All the speakers the two teams had set up blazed to life at once. Sam's voice burst through them reciting an exorcism at break neck speed.

Something must have happened. Shit.

"I think it's about time you guys pulled vanishing act." Gabriel addressed Bela's team.

"What's going on?!" An irritated Bela replied. "These bloody things weren't supposed to go off for another half hour."

"I don't-" A beam of light erupted from the building Anna had been in. "Not good."

"What was that?" Shu's voice interrupted, but only came in half clear. The god had clearly screwed with the mic's positioning again.

"That was Anna." Gabriel replied staring at the building the grace had flew from. "You need to get out of there."

"Working on it." Bela said tensely.

Two more gun shots rang through the alley and the last of Lucifer's demon henchmen fell in lifeless heaps to the ground. It didn't seem Sam would need to use his knife tonight after all. Still, best to err on the side of caution.

"Quickly." Harry nodded in Sam's direction. The Winchester pulled the rings from his pocket and threw them at the wall behind Lucifer. He began to chant the short spell to activate them. They wouldn't have a second shot at this. Lucifer wasn't going to allow them to keep shooting him in the forehead no matter how temporary the results were.

Sure enough, just as Sam uttered the last word of the spell and the portal activated Lucifer was pushing himself up and regarding the group with something akin to murderous rage. It was moments too soon. They had hoped for just a second longer. Enough borrowed time to activate the rings and shove Lucifer in.

"Ow." The angel said quite simply.

They might have lost the easy way but still, Harry had to try. Taking one glance to each side to make sure none of his impromptu allies were in the way Harry unleashed a blast of magic, pure and unaltered, toward the Devil. Lucifer, not having any more of this 'surprise' business immediately retaliated by slapping the blast to the side. Not giving Harry a chance to try a second time he moved right up into the wizard's personal space and flicked him in the forehead. Harry barely kept his feet and slid back into the building behind him clutching his forehead and giving a grunt. That had hurt quite a bit.

Dean stood to the sidelines, gun aimed at Lucifer's head. He pulled the trigger. The resounding bang with loud, but the bullet didn't find its target. It stopped mid air halfway to Lucifer before stopping and redirecting to Dean instead. He barely missed dying by the bullet he'd loosed as Sam tackled him down.

"What do we do?" Sam asked watching Harry and Lucifer trade blows Lucifer seemed to have a slightly upper hand, but Harry seemed to be holding back. His magic didn't seem anywhere near as strong as it had at the Elysian Fields Hotel.

"Dude, what can we do?"

Harry took a particularly nasty hit just then and crashed into the opposite side of the street right near the portal. He'd narrowly missed a one way trip to the cage. Lucifer pushed his advantage but Harry threw up a hastily made shield even as Lucifer swung his direction and whatever malicious magic the angel had intended to use deflected off of it barely hitting a building far down the street. Harry nursed a dislocated shoulder with a wince.

Having felt thoroughly useless Bobby stepped in with his pistol to buy Harry a few moments to regroup. He fired thrice before Lucifer turned his hateful gaze that way. With a twist of his hand Bobby lay dead.

"Bobby!" Sam cried in horror.

"Castiel!" Harry met the angel's eyes. He'd been staying out of the fight because of his promise to Harry to save the Winchesters. If he'd drawn his brother's ire he would have been as dead at this point as Bobby Singer. Castiel knew what Harry wanted in that moment. He could see it in the way the wizard's eyes flicked from the brothers to Singer and back again. It was time to fulfill his promise even if it meant abandoning their ally.

He vanished from his point to the side and landed next to the brothers. Without a word Castiel laid a hand upon both of them and they vanished together.

They hit the floor of Bobby's house easily. It was almost as if they hadn't moved at all, but the sudden change of scenery was jarring to the brothers who weren't expecting it and they spent moments gaping at the familiar living room before turning on the angel in confusion and anger.

"What the fuck Cas?!" Dean let out first.

Sam fully supported the short question. He felt it was the most adequate summary of his feelings at that moment.

"I apologize, I made an oath to remove the two of you if things did not go according to plan."

"What the hell are we going to do from here?" Dean ranted throwing his arms in the air.

"You have to take us back Cas." Sam reasoned. "We can't just leave Harry there."

"I'm fairly certain that would go against my promise." Cas replied.

"Screw your promise!" Dean butted in. "Who the fuck did you promise anyway!? Who would tell you to shazam out of the battle just as it gets going?"

Cas took a long moment to stare at Dean before responding with one word. "Harry."

"You promised Harry you'd take us out of that fight?" Sam asked with confusion.

Castiel nodded.

"Why?"

Castiel wasn't sure if he should tell the Winchesters Harry's reasoning. Was it a secret? He'd never really understood secrets. "He felt that you would be more capable of finding another way to defeat Lucifer if you weren't dead."

Dean approached Castiel and stopped two inches in front of him. He dug a finger into Cas' chest. "You get your feathery ass in gear and bring us back there right the hell now."

"I'm sorry Dean, I can't."

"What do you mean 'you can't'?" Dean shot back.

Cas just leveled a stare at him.

"You don't leave people in the middle of a fight Cas!" Dean bellowed.

"Castiel, please, you have to take us back." Sam pleaded. "There's no telling what could happen if you don't."

Castiel didn't appear overly shaken by their arguments. He did seem worried behind his normal, emotionless façade though.

"I'm afraid that's not possible Sam."

Dean kicked a chair in annoyance and stalked out of the room to find his keys. If the angel wouldn't take him to the fight he'd drive. He may not make it in time but he'd feel a hell of a lot better trying to get there at the very least.

Sam focused his eyes on Cas and gave him the biggest, most pleading eyes he could. "Cas, please, we can't leave him there alone."

Cas seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"This is all my fault." Sam gestured around. "You've said that yourself."

Castiel seemed genuinely invested in what he was saying now.

"So let me fix it."

"Sam…"

"Cas please."

Castiel hesitated. That was all Sam needed to know he could press his advantage.

"We know Harry can't die." Sam added. "What happens if Lucifer gets his hands on him? What if he loses? This could be a lot worse than me dying again Cas."

Cas shifted uncomfortably. His eyes darted upwards where they could hear Dean's scuffing footfalls. The angel was conflicted. What Harry had said made sense, but Sam was making a strong point too.

"We don't have to bring Dean." Sam pressed. "If something happens, he'll still be here."

Harry took a small sigh of relief as Castiel and the Winchesters disappeared. So much for their plan… Harry'd have to use brute force to get the Devil back in the box and they definitely didn't want to be around for that.

He pushed himself off the pavement and gave Lucifer a hate filled glance.

Lucifer had stopped his attack when he realized that Sam had vanished. He was giving the spot Sam had disappeared from a thoughtful glance.

"It really is a shame." Lucifer said with a frown. "I'm not entirely sure why all of you are so set against me. I thought for sure when the boy showed up, you'd be soon after despite his hateful words."

Harry felt his insides turn to ice. "What boy?"

Lucifer gave him a knowing smile. "The cambion of course. It was only a matter of time I'm sure you know. His blood makes him lean towards demons." Lucifer spat the word demon as though it were distasteful to him.

Harry felt like he'd been doused in cold water. Jesse hadn't been kidnapped? He'd come willingly to the other side? No… Lucifer was most likely lying. He was trying to unnerve Harry. It wouldn't work. He couldn't let it.

The portal was still open but Lucifer was obviously staying as far from it as he could while remaining within talking distance. Clearly he wasn't overly afraid of the thing or he'd have fled from here already. That meant he didn't think Harry had the power or will to put him back in. It was an underestimation Harry could use to his benefit if he could distract him long enough to maneuver him in front of the hole.

"Jesse's not really the type." Harry countered.

"You'd be surprised what children are willing to do when they feel shunned. You should know at least some of his pain." Lucifer offered him a pity filled glance. "Little Harry Potter who grew up unloved and all alone in the cupboard under the stairs."

Memories so long buried Harry could barely remember them accurately scratched their way up from deep in his subconscious and he scowled. "I haven't been that child in eons."

"Perhaps not, but everyone retains a part of their past self in them. Even I retain sympathy for my brothers despite what they've done for me. I feel love for this world despite what the humans have wrought on it. And I felt compassion for your people."

"Your murdered my people." Harry reminded him with a cold voice.

"And I wept for it." Lucifer said with a scrunched brow. "I will never understand how my father could turn against your kind, yet he allowed humans to live. If my father has one flaw it is his judge of character."

They had circled slightly but only just and Lucifer wasn't near enough to the portal to make a move, but from the look of the Devil's face he wouldn't allow the conversation much more length.

"Ah, clever." Lucifer cut off his thought. "You were trying to trick me back into my cage." Lucifer wagged a finger. "We can't have that."

And then he struck and they were grappling for the upper hand. Waves of power rolled off the both of them stronger and stronger as they wrestled to push one another. Harry started to slip and after a rather intense blow from Lucifer he was cast in the direction of the hole.

He barely maintained his ground.

Harry was holding back. He didn't know if Lucifer knew that, but he was certainly pressing his advantage like he did. Harry was scared of what would happen if he released everything he could. Sure, he would force Lucifer back to his hole, but at what cost? He could scorch the world just as badly as the angels planned, worse even.

Did he have a choice though? If he didn't do this the world would definitely see an apocalypse. At least if he tried there was a chance of salvation.

Harry took a deep breath and he let his instincts guide him.

Sam and Castiel landed not far from where they'd departed. Sam instantly whipped to the side as pure energy rushed into them like a strong wind. To the right Lucifer and Harry traded blows stoically.

Lucifer delivered a particularly devastating hit and Sam winced as he stood. Harry had smacked into the side of the building and was just righting himself seemingly lost in thought.

Now that he was here Sam wasn't entirely sure what he could do.

Before he could make a decision the atmosphere changed. Sam's eyes snapped to Harry who was standing perfectly still, and then to Lucifer who was regarding the wizard with fascination and suspicion. Then Harry was moving, lightning fast. He darted forward and he and Lucifer were locked again in battle. Wind whipped in every direction and Sam found it hard to keep his feet. A glance to his side showed Castiel was having similar issues.

Was it just his eyes or did the wind almost seem to have color now? A sickly green seemed to almost be leaking from Harry who was striking at Lucifer relentlessly. Lucifer was matching speed but obviously on the defensive. It seemed the magic Harry was directing at Lucifer was entering the air.

Harry himself was acting odd, his moves didn't seem cool and calculated as usual. They were brash, almost barbaric in nature. The excess magic in the air was striking the buildings around them now, destroying them slowly. Stone rained as the buildings crumbled.

That couldn't be intentional could it? Sam stared wide eyed at the wizard.

Still they fought and then Harry got a lucky strike in and Lucifer went skidding towards the hole. Harry pressed the advantage a bit too enthusiastically and Lucifer fought back with a vengeance.

The angel landed a blow himself and Harry edged back a bit angrily, and then more magic than ever was flowing from him and it made the air heavy almost un-breatheable. Sam struggled to his feet as the buildings around them collapsed. Those buildings had contained people, human occupants that had just died. He was horrified. Harry wasn't even flinching at the destruction.

Still the magic surged and in the sudden clearness all around them Sam could the destruction it was causing. Theirs hadn't been the only street to collapse. For blocks the same had happened. Harry had leveled half a city in this fight already and still the effect was spreading. It had to stop.

"Harry!" Sam yelled, afraid to draw his attention away from the fight even if he needed to. "Look what you're doing! You have to stop!"

But Harry barely seemed to even hear him. And then it happened. Harry delivered a heavy blow Lucifer flew back, but not before latching onto the wizards arm. They flew together through the air heading for a very specific landing point. The portal.

Sam felt his stomach drop. Without a second thought he darted forward fighting hard to keep his feet in the still raging windstorm. He caught Harry's arm just in time.

He stopped the dark haired wizard from falling through the portal but by holding him back he was holding back Lucifer as well. The portal drew on them all and Sam let out a cry of anguish as his grip on the wizard burned him to the core. Perhaps it was some sort of defensive magic, but it seemed to burn his very soul growing worse as he kept his hands locked firmly on the mans bicep.

"Harry wake….up damnit!" Sam said frustrated and in pain. His feet slipped a bit closer to the portal. Familiar arms held his shoulders then keeping him from sliding any closer Castiel was making use of himself.

Harry shook his head a little as if snapping out of a daze. The wind was dying down now but Harry was getting further inside the portal. Harry looked left, then right, and finally glanced at the Winchester holding him. He took in the situation quickly shooting only a quick reprimanding look Castiel's way but he didn't linger on it. Instead he wriggled in Sam's grasp.

"You have to… let go." He got out through a hiss of pain.

"I'm not letting you go in there." Sam replied through gritted teeth.

"Let go!" Harry yelled and then everything happened quickly, so quickly that no one was quite sure what happened. There was a flash of light and the portal closed leaving Castiel and an unconscious Sam on one side of it along with a twitching hand. The rings that acted as keys spun for a moment in their place before falling with a heavy thud to the ground. They lay there completely inconspicuous and then, just as everything seemed to be done one of the rings shattered and the hand that had laid just inches from Sam's foot began to wither.

A small shop in Baton Rouge lay completely silent other than the soft chewing sounds of its one live occupant. The sickly looking man dabbed at his lips as a sudden ping rang through him. It was a shockwave not many would have noticed.

A contract had just been severed. His contract.

He honestly hadn't expected Harry to pull it off. Yet, somehow he had. He finished his bite and politely pushed the plate away though no one was there to observe his manners.

He supposed he owed Harry Potter a secret now.

Farewell, my friends. This is the end.

Generally speaking I'd write an epilogue after this, but with me knowing this story will have a sequel I'm not sure I'm going to do one. I dunno… There might be one if I feel it needs one later.

Yes, I left you with quite a few cliff hangers. I'm aware. Yes, I will address the majority of them in the next story. No worries there.

I want to thank each and every one of you who have come this far with me. It's been a privilege writing for you.

It's been quite the trip indeed and as one of my favorite writers used to say after his Author's Notes, Hobey Ho Let's go!

'Til next time guys.

~Kanathia