A/N: Now is when posting begins to get tricky. The end of the semester, there is a lot of school work to do and then added assignments on top of regular course work. So updates might be a little stringy until after exam time, but I won't forget, don't worry!
On another note – I hope everyone had as great an adventure on Hallowe'en as Charlie is you-know-where!
Disclaimer: I still don't own this wonderful show. Although I do own Lizzie, David, and Cassandra!
Airport:
There is a tropical background – it seems nice and relaxing.
"Uh. Is anyone else really confused?" David asked.
"A little," Lizzie agreed.
The fact that it was a really calm setting made them nervous – what was going on? As the view opened up and they saw that it was only a backdrop there was a collective sigh of relief and excitement.
A nervous man in a suit checks his ticket and goes into the bathroom.
"Thank you for flying United Britannia Airlines" the intercom says.
"Nervous flier?" another man asks.
"That obvious, huh?"
"You know, what are the odds of dying in a plane crash? I mean, what? Twenty thousand to one?" With that bit of advice, he leaves.
"Wow. That's uh, really reassuring. Thank you."
"I'm glad he's not telling me that," Cassandra shuddered.
A cloud of black smoke comes through the vent and wanders down towards the man. He sees it and stares. It goes into his eyes.
"Oh my gawd," Lizzie gasped. All of the previously possessed went pale.
"What is it?" Jess asked, her heart pounding. By their expressions, she felt she already knew the answer though. And that cloud had been too sinister to be anything other than –.
The group turned to Mary for validation.
"A demon possession," she confirmed. "You're about to see yet another demon doing its dirty work. This time though, it's not directed at any of you, or the boys."
"But they're still there! It can get them!" Jess started to panic.
"Not all demons are on the same page. There are so many of them – some just like to wreak havoc and make a mess of things," Mary reassured them. "It can still kill them, yes, but that's not the intention here, I think. We'll have to see what happens." Mary had already seen this, but she didn't want to give it away.
On the plane, a flight attendant is checking tickets and directing passengers. The man from earlier enters and the attendant wishes him a nice flight. He turns and his eyes are completely black. The attendant shakes it off as a hallucination as he goes to his seat – 20C.
After forty minutes are up, the man gets up and goes to the back of the plane. Another passenger yells to him as he opens the door and goes flying out, ripping half a wing off too. The plane goes down and the oxygen masks deploy.
"I can see what you mean by wreak havoc," Cassandra shivered. "Those poor people."
"I hope they make it out okay," Jess put a hand to her mouth in horror.
There is a rustling sound and a door being unlocked.
Everyone tensed. Dean was capable of handling himself, but he was apparently sleeping and Sam hadn't been shown yet.
Dean is seen sleeping, but as the noise starts he shifts. The door opens, and there is a shape in the doorway. He reaches under his pillow, and Sam steps around the corner holding two cups of coffee and probably breakfast.
"Good morning, sunshine."
"Oh my gawd Samuel, don't you ever scare me like that again!" Jess shrieked.
The others were relieved it was just Sam, and David even chuckled at Sam's greeting.
Dean groans. "What time is it?" he asks sleepily.
"Oh it's about five forty-five."
"Ugh. I'd probably shoot myself if I was awake that early. And if someone woke me up, I'd shoot them," Lizzie glared vehemently.
"I believe it too," David shuddered. "I half woke you up after a party once and you smoked me in the face. You went right back to sleep after."
"I don't remember that."
"I do."
Lizzie smirked at him.
"In the morning?"
"Yeah."
"Where does the day go?" Dean rolls over to face Sam. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Well he's taking it calmly," Brady observed. "Better manners than you," he directed at Lizzie. She stuck her tongue out at him while everyone else laughed.
"Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours."
"Liar," Dean accuses. "Cause when I was up at three, you were watching the George Foreman infomercial."
"I think I'd rather lie in the dark than watch T.V. after midnight. There's never anything on," David complained.
"What can I say? It's riveting T.V."
"Liar," Jess accused. "He absolutely hates them." Her voice softened. "If he felt he did something wrong and couldn't sleep, he'd make himself watch them." She hoped that whatever he thought he had done wrong, he was shaken out of it. As far as she could tell even from watching what they had so far, he was a hero.
"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?"
"I dunno. A little while I guess? It's not a big deal."
"Yeah it is."
"He doesn't like it when people worry over him," Jess interrupted again.
"He's always too busy looking out for everyone else," Cassandra agreed.
"Look, I appreciate the concern –"
"Oh, I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp." Sam nods.
Jess laughed, surprised. Dean had managed to handle playing off the concern well. As an afterthought she realized that surprise shouldn't have been there. Dean knew Sam better than anyone, she was finding out.
It's true, he can't argue. "Seriously. You still having nightmares about Jess?"
Sam walks over to the other bed, sighing, and sits across from Dean.
"Yeah."
Jess had conflicting emotions over hearing that. On one hand, she didn't want Sam to suffer. He needed to be happy and not worry about what had happened. On the other hand, she was pleased that Sam hadn't forgotten about her and that he was still thinking about her. She thought he loved her, but watching this she sometimes wondered if he did or if he loved the normalcy of their relationship.
Sam hands Dean one of the cups. "But it's not just her, it's everything. I just forgot, you know, this job, man it gets to you."
"I forgot that he was really doing it," Cassandra spoke up softly. "Just watching it here, it seemed like a story – some random T.V. show. But Sam and Dean are really out there doing this stuff and people are really dying. It's not just some horror show."
"It seems really cool," David agreed, "But seeing how much it's affecting Sam is kind of… disturbing. It doesn't seem real, but it seems even more real, ya know?"
"I don't know about the rest of you, but even when I was possessed it didn't seem real. I couldn't control anything, only watch. Sometimes I wondered if I was already dead," Brady stated. "I couldn't believe what was happening, what I was doing."
"Well you can't let it, you can't bring it home like that."
"So how is Dean dealing with it?" Jess wondered.
"So, what? All this, it never keeps you up at night?" Dean shrugs.
Jess raised an eyebrow.
"Do most hunters deal like that?" Cassandra asked Mary.
"Some. Some resort to other means. Most hunters are in it for revenge of a loved one. Those are the ones who spend most of their time finding creatures and killing them. There are some families who make it 'the family business' though and it's passed on through generations. They are a huge source of information because it's not just about finding the monster; it's about doing as much as possible for the greater good."
"Never? You're never afraid?"
"No, not really."
Sam laughs and reaches forward, pulling a knife out from under Dean's pillow. He holds it up as evidence.
"He got you!" David crowed.
Dean makes a face before taking it back. "That's not fear. That is precaution."
"Liar," Lizzie laughed.
"He could have a point, after what they've been through," Brady cautioned.
"All right, whatever. I'm too tired to argue."
"It's the end of the world as we know it," David sang. As much as David was joking around, he was nervous that Sam and Dean were about to face a demon, and he knew the others were the same.
Dean's phone rings and he stares at the number before answering.
"Dean. It's uh, it's Jerry Panowski." Dean gives Sam an odd look, no sign of recognition. "You and your dad helped me out a couple years back."
Realization comes to Dean. "Oh, right, yeah, up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, the poltergeist thing. It's not back, is it?" Dean asks, concerned.
"No, no. Thank God, no. But it's something else, and uh, well I think it could be a lot worse."
"It is," Brady agreed, serious.
"What is it?"
"Can we talk in person?"
"Thanks for making the trip so quick," Jerry says, leading Sam and Dean through the hanger. "I ought to be doing you guys a favour, not the other way around. Dean and your dad really helped me out," he says the last part to Sam.
"Yeah, he told me. It was a poltergeist?"
A man in the background thinks they're talking about the movie. "Nobody's talking to you – keep walking. Damn right it was a poltergeist. Practically tore our house apart. Tell you something, if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive."
Dean looks at Sam, smug.
"Your dad said you were off at college, that right?" Jerry asks Sam.
"Yeah I was, um, taking some time off."
"You know, he was real proud of you, I could tell. He talked about you all the time."
"Woah," Lizzie was surprised. She didn't talk about her family and she was fairly certain they didn't talk about her. And didn't Sam say that his dad had told him to never come back? That they weren't the 'Brady's'? She was suddenly jealous that even though Sam had been kicked out, his dad still cared about him enough to talk about him, and to let other people know he was proud of him.
Jess was fuming. John was so two-faced! From what she could tell, he hadn't been close with either of his sons. He hadn't shown them the love and kindness that he should have. He hadn't been there for them, instead focusing on revenge. He even told Sam to stay gone if he was going. And then he turns around and other people – strangers – know that he's proud, but his own son doesn't?! That just wasn't right.
"He did?"
"Yeah, you bet he did." Jerry turns to Dean. "Hey, I tried to get a hold of him but I couldn't. How's he doing anyway?"
Dean exchanges a look with Sam. "He's um, wrapped up in a job right now."
"I guess he didn't want Jerry to worry about the fact that a hunter like him was taken down," David guessed.
Brady nodded. "From what I vaguely remember, John was pretty high up in the community." The other demons had been given orders, but they didn't have the kind of clearance Brady's demon had. He knew things the others didn't.
"People who come into contact with hunters either respect all hunters, but particularly the one who saved them, or they hate all of them for making them aware of what's out there," Mary clarified. "So Jerry is going to want John, and Dean because he was a part of what happened, to be there to help him now. While he'll respect other hunters, he won't ask them for help like he will Dean and John."
"Well, we're missing the old man, we get Sam. Even trade, huh?" Jerry and Dean laugh while Sam just smiles and looks away.
"Nah, not by a long shot," Sam disagrees.
"He still thinks so well of his father too," Lizzie said wonderingly. What had happened to her family?
Jess let out a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a huff.
Mary just wished that she could make Jess understand, could make her see things from John's point of view.
"I've got something I want you guys to hear," Jerry walks ahead.
"Okay, I listened to this," he tells them once they're in his office, "And, well it sounded like it was up your alley." He puts a CD in a drive. "Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours." The recording starts. Dean and Sam listen intently.
'Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485 – immediate instruction… may be experiencing some mechanical failure…Wooshing sound'
"Took off from here," Jerry tells them, "crashed about two hundred miles south. Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive."
"Christ," Cassandra murmured. The others were in stunned silence. They knew it was bad, but seven out of a hundred.
"When demons want to cause chaos, they certainly know how," Mary said sadly. She wished there was a way to put all demons back where they belonged for good.
"Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh, well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."
"You don't think it was?" Sam asked.
"No, I don't," Jerry says with confidence.
"Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, um, a list of survivors…"
"Right, and, uh, any way we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean asks.
"The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage… fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."
Dean frowns. "No problem."
"Why does that worry me?" Lizzie asked.
"Probably because it should?" David responded.
Dean comes out of 'Copy Jacks', holding a couple of new cards.
"You've been in there forever," Sam says from his position against the car.
"You can't rush perfection," Dean argues, holding up the cards.
"Homeland Security?" Sam asks him in disbelief. He takes one of the cards. "That's pretty illegal, even for us."
"Okay, there is no friggen way they can pull of Homeland Security. That is some pretty high up stuff," David argued.
"I bet they'll make it," Brady said. They had to at some point right? So why not when they're doing the worst one yet?
"Okay. I bet it's immediate. There is just no way."
"I bet real Homeland Security shows up just after they do," Lizzie interjected. Mary fought to stifle a laugh, glad that David had snorted at the same time. Only Jess and Cassandra had noticed her put her hand to her mouth.
"Oh, you guys are on."
"Yeah, well, it's something new. You know? People haven't seen it a thousand times." They get in the Impala. "All right, so what've you got?"
"Well, there's definitely EVP on the cockpit voice recorder."
"Yeah?"
"Listen," Sam plays a cleaner copy.
'No survivors'.
Dean raises his eyebrows. "No survivors? What's that supposed to mean? There were seven survivors." Sam shakes his head.
"What if there weren't supposed to be any? I mean, a demon just wants to cause as much death and destruction as possible without alerting hunters, right? So besides wanting to kill everyone just for fun, they wouldn't want to leave witnesses either," Brady reasoned.
"I like it," Cassandra agreed. "So what's next? It's going to go after the survivors maybe?"
"I guess so."
"Got me."
"So what're you thinking? A haunted flight?"
"There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes, and ships, like phantom travellers. Or uh, or remember flight 401?"
"Right, the one that crashed and the airline salvaged some of its parts, put them in other planes, and then the spirits of the pilot and co-pilot haunted those flights."
"That's what happened?!" Jess asked, shocked.
"You'll find that a lot of these 'random' or 'natural' events are actually caused by the paranormal. Some hunters actually bet on what people will blame these disasters on."
"Right.
"Yep."
"Maybe we got a similar deal?"
"All right, so, survivors. Which one do you want to talk to first?"
"Third on the list, Max Jaffey."
"Well that was easy." Lizzie blinked.
"Why him?"
"Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."
"What is he, psychic?" Jess laughed. "How does he even know that?"
Brady gulped, and Mary bit her lip. Each of there were determined not to say anything.
Dean looks at Sam. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, I spoke to his mother. And she told me where to find him."
The boys visit him at the 'Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital'.
"Oh," the group said in varying tones.
"I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security."
"Right," Dean says. "Some new information has come up, so if you can just answer a couple of questions…"
"Just before the plane went down, did you notice anything… unusual?"
Max shakes his head. "Like what?"
"Strange lights, uh weird noises, maybe. Voices," Dean supplies.
"No, nothing." They sit down.
"Hm. Mr. Joffey –"
"Jaffey."
"Jaffey," Dean corrects himself, "you checked yourself in here, right?"
Max nods.
"Can I ask why?"
"Oh, you know. No reason. Just a change of scenery. Oh wait, I was in a plane crash where a black eyed bitch crashed us and there were only seven survivors!" Lizzie said sarcastically, her voice rising at the end.
David looked warily at her.
"I was a little stressed. I survived a plane crash."
"Uh huh," Dean doesn't believe him. "And that's what terrified you. That's what you were afraid of?"
"I – I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"See, I think maybe you did see something up there," Dean pushes. "We need to know what."
"No. No, I was delusional. Seeing things."
"Seeing things," Dean repeats to Sam. Sam nods back towards Max. Dean looks away, frustrated.
"It's okay," Sam takes over. "You can tell us just what you thought you saw. Please?"
Max contemplates for a moment before resigning himself.
"Damn. I need to practice that look!" David threw his hands up. "I bet Sam could go up to you and just make you tell him your biggest, darkest secret with those eyes. He could convince you to do anything."
Jess laughed. "Pretty much."
"There was this… man, and uh, he had these… eyes. These uh, black eyes. And I saw him, or I thought I saw him…"
"What?" Dean prompts.
"He opened the emergency exit." Dean raises his eyebrows in surprise. "But that's impossible, right? I mean, I looked it up. There's something like two tonnes of pressure on that door."
Dean thinks about it and kind of nods.
"This man, did he uh, seem to appear and disappear rapidly?" Sam asks. "He would look something like a mirage?"
"What are you, nuts?" Sam tilts his head, looking confused. "He was a passenger. He was sitting right in front of me."
"Okay, so completely stupid then," Lizzie sighed.
"No," Mary reprimanded gently. "Normal. They don't want to see what's out there; they don't want to see the paranormal. You can't tell me that before all this happened, before you were possessed, that you would've seen a black eyed demon and thought something of it. You would've brushed it off as a hallucination too."
Sam and Dean look at each other again.
Dean pulls the Impala up in front of a house.
"So here we are. George Phelps, seat 20C," Sam confirms.
"Hm. Man, I don't care how strong you are," Dean says as they get out of the car. "Even yoked up on PCP or something, no way you can open up an emergency door during a flight." They look at the house.
"Not if you're human." Sam says from his side of the car, turning to face Dean. "But maybe this guy George was something else. Some kind of creature, maybe, in human form?"
"Uh, closer, but still way off the mark. How were they so good in the other hunts but not so much this one?" Cassandra asked.
"This was their first demon encounter. John never let them go on hunts if a demon was involved, never even imagined it. He didn't want them to deal with that. He did teach them some basics, but nothing major. So here, they're very unprepared. It's above and beyond what they've ever done. Especially without their father," Mary stated.
"Does that look like a creature's lair to you?" Dean asks him.
Sam turns back to the house, which looks very ordinary.
Inside, Sam picks up a picture of the possessed passenger, George Phelps. "This is your late husband?" he asks gently.
"Yes, that was my George," Mrs. Phelps confirms.
"And you said he was a dentist?" Dean asks.
"He was headed to a convention in Denver," Mrs. Phelps replies. Dean looks at Sam. "Do you know that he was petrified to fly? For him to go like that…"
"How long were you married?"
"Thirteen years," Mrs. Phelps answers Sam with a smile through her tears.
"And all that time, did you ever notice anything strange about him? Anything out of the ordinary?"
"Well," Mrs. Phelps starts. Dean looks at her, attentive. "He had acid reflux, if that's what you mean?"
"Yup, that's exactly what they mean," Lizzie rolled her eyes.
Dean and Sam share a look.
"I mean, it goes without saying, it just doesn't make any sense," Sam tells Dean as they walk back to the car.
"A middle aged dentist with ulcer's not exactly evil personified. You know, what we need to do is get inside the NTSB warehouse and check out the wreckage."
"Okay," Sam accepts. "But if we're gonna go that route, we better look the part."
Sam and Dean exit 'Mort's' wearing rental suits.
Lizzie whistled appreciatively. "Why didn't you tell us Sam could dress up?" she accused Jess. "And damn, Dean."
"I'm with Liz for once," Cassandra spoke up, looking at Jess. "What happened to 'friends share'?"
Jess laughed. "I never saw him that dressed up. And we saw him in that dream just before the second hunt wearing a suit." She couldn't deny that there was something different about this. Here he wasn't about to cry. Here, he was with his brother, focused on a task.
"Ugh," Lizzie just said.
"Man, I look like one of the Blues Brothers," Dean gestures at his suit. Sam is pulling at his collar.
"No you don't. You look more like a seventh grader at his first dance."
Dean looks down at himself. "I hate this thing."
"Hey, you want into that warehouse or not?" Sam asks him. Dean just pulls at the suit.
The suits and badges work and they're soon looking at the wreckage.
David let out a sound like a wounded dog.
"Just you and me then," Brady says to Lizzie.
"Oh, I know it's my time to shine, buddy."
Dean pulls something out of his pocket and puts the headphones connected to it in his ears.
"What is that?"
"It's an EMF reader," Dean replies. "Reads electromagnetic frequencies."
"Yeah, I know what an EMF reader is, but why does that one look like a busted up Walkman?"
"Cause that's what I made it out of," Dean smirks, proud. "It's homemade." He holds it up.
"That's actually… pretty impressive," Cassandra admits.
"Yeah, I can see that."
Dean looks a little hurt and turns away to start scanning.
"Well that was rude," Lizzie noted.
Everyone had to agree.
Nothing is detected until he reaches the emergency door handle. Dean brings it to Sam's attention.
Dean runs his finger along it. "What is this stuff?"
"One way to find out," Sam scraps some of it off with a knife. Dean wipes whatever it is on Sam's suit.
"Pleasant…" Cassandra sniffed.
Two Homeland Security workers present their I.D.'s to the front desk. It's quickly realized that the others are imposters. They pull guns and run to the evidence room.
"Hah!" Lizzie shouted. "I got it, I got it! That's twice in a row!"
"Okay, next time, we change things around," Brady decided.
"I'm with him. I'm not losing again," David added.
Cassandra and Jess just shook their heads while Mary tried to remember when they were discovered in their next case.
Sam and Dean, who have what they need and heard them coming, have just stepped out the back door. The security team doesn't see the door close.
"Wow. That was just plain dumb luck," Jess acknowledged.
The brothers look cautiously around a corner and the alarm goes off as they start walking. Dean throws his jacket on the barb wire at the top of the fence and they jump it easily.
"Did anyone else find that incredibly hot?" Lizzie asked.
"Yup."
"Definitely."
"We should really learn how to do that," David whispered to Brady who just rolled his eyes. Yes, that would be very helpful in their current situation.
"Wow, these money suits really do come in handy," Dean says to Sam, holding up his jacket. They run for it.
Jess rolled her eyes. It was a nice suit.
"It's just like getting back on a horse," a co-pilot says to Chuck, the surviving pilot from the crash. "Only in this case, a little twin engine. Not even a horse, more like a pony. I'll be right there with you, too. Anytime you feel like you don't want the wheel, I'll take over." Chuck nods. "Look, Chuck, we don't have to do this today. I'm not trying to rush you."
"No, the waiting is worse," Chuck replies.
"Okay," the co-pilot says, looking over his shoulder. "They're filling up the tank. Then we go." He leaves.
Chuck takes a sip of coffee and a black cloud comes out of a vent and into Chuck's eyes.
"So I was right," Brady nodded to himself. "It's going after the survivors."
"Yeah, yeah, good for you," David rolled his eyes.
"Huh," Jerry is looking into a microscope. "This stuff is covered in sulphur."
"That's weird," Cassandra said.
"Not really," Mary laughed. "Demons leave it behind. That's one of the signs hunters look for."
"I never even noticed," Lizzie said astounded.
"Me neither…" Brady added.
"You sure?" Sam asks.
"Take a look for yourself." There is some yelling outside the office. "If you fellas will excuse me, I have an idiot to fire."
David snickered at that.
Dean looks in the microscope. "Hm. There aren't too many things that leave behind a sulphuric residue.
"Demonic possession?" Sam looks at Dean. Dean makes a face.
"Finally!" Cassandra said, exasperated.
"That would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."
"If the guy was possessed, it's possible."
"Yeah but this goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup. I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?"
"You ever heard of something like this before?"
"Never," Dean shakes his head.
"Oh gawd, they really are going in blind," Cassandra started biting her nails again. "I mean, I know you said they were," she directed to Mary, "but I didn't think they really were. Not that I thought you were lying, but –"
"I understand," Mary laughed. "It is kind of unnerving."
"A little," Cassandra agreed.
"They're going to make it out though. They can't die," Jess said assuredly.
"What makes you say that?" Brady asked curiously. He knew vaguely about Dean going to Hell and Sam's death in the yellow eyed demon's game.
"They'd be here, with us, watching this. They'd be in Heaven if they died. They're heroes. They save lives. There's no way they wouldn't be here. And Mary would want to be with her sons." Jess looked at Mary for confirmation.
Mary found herself speechless. "I – uh – I – yes, of course. They would be here," she finally got out.
"There. See?" Jess smiled. "Nothing to worry about."
Brady and Mary glanced at each other, deciding to say nothing. They would figure everything out later, during Azazel's games.
Chuck and the co-pilot get into the small plane. Chuck is no longer acting nervous.
"How're you feeling?" The co-pilot asks in the air.
"I feel great."
"You'll be back to flying jumbos before you know it."
"Hope so. How long have we been up?"
"Uh," the co-pilot checks his watch. "About forty minutes."
"Wow, time really does fly." Suddenly he points the plane down and his eyes go black.
"What are you doing?!" the co-pilot yells. Chuck knocks him out and they crash.
"Poor Chuck," Cassandra shook her head.
"Yeah. Now he's just ground chuck," Lizzie laughed. Everyone looked at her, confused. "It's a meat joke. Like ground beef is made out of chuck? Come on guys, doesn't everyone know that?"
"No," David shook his head slowly. "They don't. You know the weirdest things."
"Yeah," Jess said slowly. Cassandra nodded while she, Brady, and Mary just stared at her.
In the brother's motel room, there are piles of open books and pictures all over a wall. Sam is typing away on a laptop while Dean reads a book.
"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it."
"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this."
"Well, that's not exactly true," Sam debates. "You see, according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease."
"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean sounds skeptical.
Sam shrugs, unsure.
"Ah, why not?" Brady said sarcastically.
"All right, so, what?" Dean comes over to Sam. "We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?"
"Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Dean snorts and turns away. "What?"
"I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here." Dean scratches his head.
"Yeah, me too."
Jess harrumphed.
Dean's phone rings. "Hello?"
"Dean, it's Jerry."
"About Chuck," Cassandra said sadly.
"Oh, hey Jerry."
"My pilot friend, Chuck Lambert is dead." Dean looks at Sam, concerned.
"Jerry, I'm sorry, what happened?"
"He and his buddy went up in a small twin about an hour ago. The plane went down."
"Where'd this happen?"
"About sixty miles west of here, near Nazareth."
"I'll try to ignore the irony in that."
"A little insensitive," Jess rolled her eyes. "Maybe a little too soon."
"Yeah, six seconds is a little soon," Mary agreed.
"That is kind of funny though," David admitted.
"I'm sorry?"
"Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon." Dean hangs up.
"Another crash?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
"Where?"
"Nazareth."
As they approach Nazareth, a huge cloud of black smoke is rising up.
"Oohh. That does not look good," Lizzie noted.
"Oh, I thought it was a party," David quipped back.
"It is. Just not one I'd want to go to," Brady intercepted.
"Sulphur?" Dean asks Jerry. He nods in confirmation. "Well, that's great," he says sarcastically. "All right, so that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert," he says to Sam. "This demon sounds like it was after him."
"With all due respect to Chuck," Sam says to Jerry, "but um, if that's the case, that would be the good news."
"Oh, good," Lizzie sighed.
"What's the bad news?" Dean asks him.
"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes in the flight. And, get this, so did flight 2485."
"Forty minutes. What does that mean?" Jerry asks, confused.
"It's biblical numerology. You know, Noah's Ark, it rained for forty days. The number means death," Dean explains.
"I went back and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in."
"Any survivors?"
"No. Or not until now, at least. Not until flight 2485 for some reason." Dean nods. "On the cockpit voice recorder, what the EVP said."
"No survivors," Dean realizes. He licks his lips. "It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."
"I could've finished this hunt ages ago," Brady boasted easily.
"Oh shut up," Lizzie replied. "You're just cheating."
Dean is driving while Sam speaks to someone on his cell. "Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey and if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam flips his phone shut.
"I would totally hire him to call people," Cassandra stared at the screen.
"I'd hire him to do –" Lizzie started.
"Hey!" Jess said, as Mary claimed that she didn't want to hear it.
"All right, that takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They're not flying anytime soon."
"So our only wildcard is the flight attendant, Amanda Walker."
"Right. Her sister, Karen, said her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm. It's her first night back on the job."
David whistled. "That's going to be tough to make."
"That sounds like just our luck."
"Dean, this is a five-hour drive, man, even with you behind the wheel."
"Why don't you call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass."
"I already left her three voice messages. She must have turned her cellphone off. Gawd," Sam checks his watch. "We're never gonna make it."
"Oh, we'll make it," Dean is confident.
They make it to the airport and immediately check the Depatures.
"There," Sam points. "They board in thirty minutes."
"Okay, if I wasn't already dead, I would never get into a car with Dean driving because he'd probably kill me," Lizzie stated. "How fast was he even driving?!"
"Pretty damn fast," Brady answered, astounded.
"Okay, we still have some cards to play. We need to find a phone," Dean starts looking around. Finding one, he picks up the receiver.
"Airport Services."
"Hi, Gate thirteen," Dean answers.
"Who are you calling, sir?"
"We're trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight 424."
"Amanda Walker, Amanda Walker you have a phone call. White courtesy phone, Gate thirteen," the PA system announces.
Amanda approaches the gate. "Come on," Dean says, impatiently. She picks up the phone.
"This is Amanda Walker."
"Miss Walker? Hi, this is Doctor James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital," Dean says.
"Really?" Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I feel like this isn't going to work."
Sam gives him a 'what the hell' gesture. "We have a Karen Walker here."
"Karen?"
"Nothing serious, just a minor car accident, but she was injured so –"
"Wait, wait, wait, that's impossible. I just got off the phone with her."
"And that's why," Lizzie finished.
Dean pauses. "You what?"
"Five minutes ago. She's at her house, cramming for a final. Who is this?"
"Um, well, must be some mistake." Sam is trying to get closer to the phone to hear what's going on. Dean turns away from him again.
"And how would you even know I was here? Is this one of Vince's friends?"
"Guilty as charged," Dean lies, taking the exit she offers.
"How is he so friggen lucky?!" David cursed. "If I tried that, I'd be found out for sure!"
"Wow, this is unbelievable."
"He's really… sorry," Dean replies, uncertainly.
"Oh, I'm sure," Cassandra snorted.
"Well you tell him to mind his own business, and stay out of my life. Okay?"
"Yes, but he really needs to see you tonight, so…?"
"No, I'm sorry. It's too late."
"Don't be like that. I mean, the guy's a mess. Really, it's pathetic."
"What? How is he even –? You know, never mind," Jess decided.
"Really?"
"Oh yeah."
"Look, I gotta go. Tell him to call me when I land." She hangs up the phone even as Dean protests. Black smoke comes out of a vent as Amanda walks through the gate.
"Damn," Brady cursed. "So close."
"Dammit," Dean is frustrated. "We were so close."
"That was kind of weird," David looked at Brady.
"All right, I think it's time for Plan B. We're getting on that plane."
Dean holds out his hand. "Just hold on a second."
"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board and if we're right –" Sam lowers his voice, "that plane is gonna crash."
"I know!"
"Okay, we get on that plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll go get the tickets, you just go get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever will make it through security. Meet me back here in five minutes." Dean looks nervous. "Are you okay?"
Dean contemplates telling Sam. "No," he finally says. "Not really."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh," he makes a moving gesture with his hand.
"No way. There's a demon on the plane, and the plane is going to crash and Dean has a problem with flying! Great, just great," Jess freaked.
"Flying?"
"It's never really been an issue until now."
"You're joking, right?"
"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?"
"All right, uh, I'll go."
"No. No way are you gonna do this on your own," Jess scolded.
"What?"
"I'll do this one on my own."
"What are you, nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash."
"Good," Jess said, smiling. Of course Dean wouldn't let him go by himself. She was slowly learning that Dean would place Sam above everything else.
"Look, Dean, we can do it together, or I can do this one by myself. I'm not seeing a third option here."
"Come on! Really? Man…"
On the plane, Sam looks calm while Dean is nervously looking at a program.
"Just try to relax," Sam advises.
"Just try to shut up," Dean replies. Sam laughs. Dean holds on as the plane picks up. His eyes go wide as the wheels go up. He's obviously trying not to panic.
"You humming Metallica?" Sam finally asks.
"It calms me down."
"Interesting choice," Lizzie said, amused.
"I guess it depends on your mood," Mary shrugged. "I probably wouldn't listen to calm down though…"
"So, since he got his taste in music from you, maybe he's thinking of you when he thinks of the music, and that's really why it calms him down?" Cassandra suggested. "It's a connection to you."
"I never thought about that," Mary admitted. She felt her eyes start to burn with tears.
Sam shakes his head. "Look man, I get you're nervous all right? But you gotta stay focused."
Dean nods. "Okay."
"I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down or whoever it's possessing anyway, and perform a full on exorcism."
"Yeah, in a crowded plane, that's gonna be easy."
"Walk in the park," David agreed.
"Just take it one step at a time, all right?" The boys look ahead. "Now, who is it possessing?"
"Well, it's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know? A chink in the armour that the demon can worm through. Somebody with an addiction, or some sort of emotional distress." Dean looks down the aisle to see a flight attendant.
"Not always," Mary argued. "If the demon is powerful enough, it can just choose anyone. The fact that this demon had to target nervous people means that it's a lower level demon."
"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up." Dean hums in agreement.
"Excuse me," he asks the flight attendant. "Are you Amanda?"
"No, I'm not," she smiles.
"Oh, my mistake." She moves on. He looks back down the aisle and finds Amanda. "All right," he says to Sam. "That's gotta be Amanda back there," Sam looks back, "so I'll go talk to her and uh, I'll get a read on her mental state."
"Oh, that's a great conversation. 'Hey Amanda, I was just wondering, since you were in the plane crash, and there's a demon on the loose trying to bring down this plane, I was just wondering if you were nervous or anything?'" Lizzie said sarcastically.
"All right. What if she's already possessed?" Sam questions.
"I've got it," David volunteered. "'So, Amanda, since you were one of the survivors on that crash the other day, I was just wondering if you were nervous and if you're now being possessed. If you're not Amanda, say 'I''."
"There's ways to test that," Dean answers. He opens the duffle at his feet and pulls out a bottle of water. "I brought holy water." Sam grabs it from his hand and puts it in his sweater.
The group laughed.
"That's not exactly inconspicuous," Brady offered.
"No. I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."
"Oh, nice." Dean unbuckles his seatbelt.
"Hey," Sam calls him back.
"What?"
"Say it in Latin."
"I know."
"Hey!" Sam calls him back again.
"What?"
"Uh, in Latin, it's 'Christo'."
"Does anyone feel like he didn't quite remember?" Brady asked.
"Or that Sam's kind of treating him like an idiot in this one?" Cassandra added cautiously.
"Yes to both," Mary decided. Dean was really brilliant in this hunt – sometimes he thought of himself as just a grunt, but a person could really see the brilliance behind that pretty face. Unfortunately, she had the idea that he probably had forgotten that little detail. Dean had grown a lot since they had separated, and Sam seemed to forget occasionally that Dean could do these hunts on his own, that he hadn't had backup all the time and that he had had to rely on himself.
"Dude, I know, I'm not an idiot!" Sam watches as Dean makes his way to the back. The plane shudders and Dean stops for a moment, holding onto the seats.
"Hi," he greets Amanda, where she's stocking a trolley.
"Hi! Can I help you with something?"
"Oh, no, I'm just a bit of an uneasy flier. Makes me feel better to walk around a little bit."
"Oh, it happens to the best of us."
"Of course, you being a stewardess, I guess flying comes easily to you."
Amanda laughs. "Yeah, you'd be surprised."
"Really, you're a nervous flier?"
"Yeah, maybe. A little bit."
"How is it that being a stewardess, you're scared to fly?"
"Kind of a long story," she replies.
"All right, I'm sorry for asking."
She holds up her hand in an 'all right' gesture. "It's okay."
"You ever consider other employment?"
"No. Look, everybody's scared of something. I just, uh, I'm not going to let it hold me back."
"Huh." Dean pauses. Her mental state is obviously good. "Christo."
Amanda looks up, her eyes normal. "Sorry, did you say something?"
Dean looks sheepish, but tries it again. Nothing happens.
"But it has to be on that plane," Cassandra said, confused. "She's the only survivor of the last crash that we know about who's on a plane right now and a potential target. The demon wouldn't just pass her up."
"It's gotta be another nervous passenger then," David spoke up. "Other passengers – like the first guy that we saw – are afraid to fly too. Not just the ones who were in crashes."
Dean tells her not to worry and walks away. Sitting back beside Sam, he tells Sam that she's very well adjusted. Sam reveals that since it's not in Amanda it could be in anyone on the plane, anywhere.
After more turbulence, Dean finally snaps a little, "Oh come on, that can't be normal!"
"Hey, it's just a little turbulence."
"Sam," Dean turns panicked eyes on his brother. "This plane is going to crash okay, so quit treating me like I'm friggen' four."
"He's got a point," Lizzie added.
"You need to calm down."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping."
"Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now," Sam finally tells him.
"So does Sam," Jess breathed in, eyes going wide. None of them had thought that it would possess Sam or Dean, but Sam had just reminded them that it was possible.
Dean realizes he's right and breathes slowly. "Good. Now I found an exorcism in here that I think is gonna work. The Rituale Romanum."
"What do we have to do?"
"It's two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest. Which actually makes it more powerful."
A sarcastic, "oh good," followed that statement.
Dean gives Sam a look. "More powerful?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"Well it doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own."
"Fantastic."
"Oh, yeah," Dean nods. "Why is that a good thing?"
"Well, because the second part sends the bastard back to hell for once and for all."
"First thing's first, we gotta find it."
Dean walks down the aisle with the EMF reader, getting odd looks, but no readings.
"That would be kinda weird," David agreed with the passengers. "Here, let me just put this weird, Walkman thing up to you slowly and get a reading on you."
Sam suddenly appears and claps him on the shoulder. He jumps.
"Ah, don't do that."
"Anything?"
"No, nothing. How much time we got?"
"Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody?"
"Not much time to find out," Jess bit her lip.
"Maybe the thing's just not on the plane?"
"You believe that?"
"Well, I will if you will." Sam gives him a disbelieving look.
"Worth a try," Lizzie shrugged.
The EMF reader spikes. The co-pilot exits the bathroom and moves towards the cockpit.
"What? What is it?" Sam asks Dean.
"Christo," Dean says in response.
The co-pilot turns to face them. His eyes are black. He goes into the cockpit and Dean looks at Sam.
"Oh damn!" David yelled.
"It's going to be so hard to get him!" Cassandra fretted. "And in front of all those people, too."
Sam and Dean head to the back to talk to Amanda. Sam knows she won't believe it, but they only have twelve minutes left. Sam closes the curtain to give them privacy to talk. They explain what they know about the previous flight – that she was on it, and that something that wasn't a mechanical failure brought down the plane. They need her help so it doesn't happen again.
"Please believe them," Jess pleaded.
She tries to leave and Dean stops her, pleading for her to listen. They inform her that Chuck died in another plane crash. Sam appeals to her senses – maybe she sensed something wrong. She tells them about George's eyes and they confirm that it was real. They ask her to bring the co-pilot back, to do whatever it takes, they just want to talk to him. She does it at the risk of losing her job – she believes them. Amanda and the co-pilot start walking back.
"Okay, good. Now please let the exorcism work," Jess changed her plea. The other laughed slightly – everyone but Mary nervous about the boys getting out of this one unscathed.
Sam pulls out the holy water and Dean hands their father's journal to Sam, who opens it. When the co-pilot walks in, Dean punches him hard enough to bring him down and puts duct tape over his mouth.
"Wait, what are you doing? You said you were just gonna talk to him?" she asks in horror.
"We are gonna talk to him," Dean splashes holy water on him and it sizzles. The co-pilot writhes.
"Oh my gawd. What's wrong with him?"
"Look, we need you calm. We need you outside the curtain," Sam suggests.
"Well, I don't underst – I don't know –"
"Don't let anybody in, okay? Can you do that? Can you do that? Amanda!"
"Once again, just, wow. Sam really knows how to get to you," Lizzie said again.
"Are you going to say that every time it comes up?" David asked her.
"Eh, probably."
"Okay, okay," she steps outside of the curtain.
"Hurry up, Sam. I don't know how much longer I can hold him."
Sam starts reading the exorcism. "Regna terrae, cantata Deo, psallite Domino –"
The demon breaks free and hits them both until Dean knocks him down again. Sam continues reading and the demon knocks Dean off and pulls the tape from his mouth. He grabs Sam. "I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning!"
Jess stared at the screen.
"Oh my God," Lizzie gasped.
"That's – that's really weird," David burst out.
"It was really important, your death" Brady said to Jess. "Rumours spread like wildfire. Not all of them true."
"But why?" Jess asked.
"It'll be explained soon enough," Mary answered her. "And I'm sorry, sweetheart."
Jess smiled sadly at Mary. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."
Mary just wished that were true.
Dean pulls himself up and hits the demon. Sam sits there, stunned.
"Sam!" Dean calls.
Sam recovers and begins reading again. He puts the book down to help Dean restrain him and the demon kicks the book down the aisle.
"Wouldn't it have been better if he had just kept reading?" Cassandra asked tentatively breaking the silence. "Now they don't have the exorcism, and I'm pretty sure the demon is up for crashing the plane."
"Probably," David replied. "Sometimes I think Sam forgets what he should be doing – he focuses on the details and loses sight of the bigger picture."
"I got him," Sam says. The demon leaves the body and disappears into a vent. "Where'd it go?"
"It's in the plane. Hurry up. We got to finish it."
The plane dips and heaves violently. Dean flattens himself against the exit door, screaming while Sam tries to reach the book. Finally grabbing it among the chaos, Sam reads the exorcism. An electrical charge runs through the plane, which then levels out.
"Thank God that's over," Jess sighed in relief.
"That was terrifying," Lizzie agreed.
"Wasn't that a little too easy?" Brady asked.
"It was a lower level demon, don't forget," Mary reminded them.
"Ah, right."
Amanda sighs in relief, Dean leaves the door Sam stands up.
At the airport, the passengers are herded into an area with uniformed agents to be checked over. The co-pilot and Amanda are being questioned. The co-pilot doesn't ever remember getting on the plane. Amanda sees the Winchesters and mouths 'Thank you'. They nod and turn away.
"That was nice of her," Cassandra smiled.
"Let's get outta here. You okay?" Dean asks Sam.
Sam turns to him. "Dean, it knew about Jessica." Dean looks unsettled for a moment.
"Sam, these things, they – they read minds. They lie. All right? That's all it was."
"Yeah," Sam doesn't sound like he believes him.
"Don't worry Sam, I don't believe him either," David tried to assure him.
"Come on," Dean leads him out.
"Nobody knows what you guys did, but I do. A lot of people could have been killed." Jerry shakes their hands. "Your dad's gonna be real proud."
"I love it when people actually thank them for being heroes," Jess said. "With all the lies and the deaths that happen too, I guess it can be forgotten that they're saving a lot more."
"Same here," Cassandra agreed. "And they should get some recognition from all the good they're doing."
"We'll see you around, Jerry," Sam says.
"You know, Jerry," Dean calls back.
"Yeah?"
"I meant to ask you. How did you get my cellphone number anyway? I've only had it for like, six months."
"Your dad gave it to me."
There was a collective "What?!" from the group.
"What?" Sam asked.
"When did you talk to him?" Dean asked next.
"I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him, but uh, I called his number. His voice message said to give you a call. Thanks again guys." Jerry leaves.
"This doesn't make any sense, man." Sam and Dean are sitting on the Impala outside of the hanger. "I've called Dad's number like fifty times. It's been out of service."
"Wait, what?!"
Dean dials John's number. When the voice message begins, he turns so Sam can hear it.
'This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 785-555-0179. He can help.'
Sam is fuming as he gets in the car. Dean follows, looking upset, and they drive off.
"So he can volunteer them for hunts but he can't even show up to tell them where he is?! And he won't give them a chance to get in touch with him, but he will random strangers?! What the hell?!" Jess was angry.
"That's not right," Cassandra agreed. "Why won't he at least tell them he's okay? Give them an idea of what's going on? Why did he have to leave?"
"He had his reasons," Mary defended him. "You'll see it later."
"You keep saying that," Jess accused, "but so far, we haven't seen much good that he's done."
"You don't know the whole story," Mary argued. "You have to know the whole story. He's doing what he can. I don't agree one hundred percent with what he's doing, but he think he's doing the right thing here. He's doing it for them." She pointed at the screen, indicating Sam and Dean.
"It's not right! They're alone, and they don't know what they're doing! They're trying to find their father and he doesn't even want to be found. He's leading them on a goose chase! They're not going to give up! And he's destroying their lives!"
"It's not his fault!" Mary denied. "There are other powers at work here. Greater powers than that of one man. He's gone missing, but much of this would have happened anyway. Everything here is years in the making. I can't explain it to you now – it's too much information all at once. There are things you need to understand first. You need to trust me. And you need to trust that John is trying to do what's best for those boys."
Jess and Mary stared at each other, willing the other to understand. Suddenly Jess broke into tears.
"I just don't want to see him hurting any more. Or Dean."
"I know, love, I know," Mary said, pulling her close. She rubbed Jess' back as she cried.
The others looked at Jess sympathetically. They knew she loved Sam, they knew that she just wanted him to be happy, so did they.
Finally Jess pulled away, wiping stray tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down.
Mary put her hand under Jess' chin, lifting her head up. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'd probably feel the same way if I was in your position. I know you love him. I know you want to see him safe and happy." Her eyes were soft. "This isn't going to be easy, watching their lives. I don't know if they're destined for a happy ending," she warned. "I just want you to at least know what they're doing, where they ended up, and why. I just want you to have some peace of mind, and to know that none of this was your doing. Any of you," she looked around the room. "All of this is so much bigger than any of us."
"Thank you," Jess said sincerely. "I really do appreciate it."
"And I think I speak for all of us when I say 'me too'," Brady added.
"Then let's continue," Mary suggested. "We have a long way to go, and I know you're all itching for answers."