Chapter 14

"So we've got a woman who swears the Hulk killed her husband," Dean said, taking a bite of his burger at a local diner.

"She thinks she might be delusional," Addy offered," She could be right."

"But what bear breaks down a door and runs up a flight of stairs, breaks down another door and kills a guy in his bedroom?" Sam asked.

"A very pissed off bear," she said, quoting the officer from earlier and Sam laughed as she smiled at him.

Dean looked between the two," So we should probably check out the house."

"I'll take that," Addy said.

"I'll go too," Sam said," I've got some ideas of what this thing might be."

"Sounds good," Dean replied robotically.

"I'll be right back," Sam said, leaving the table.

As soon as he was gone, Addy turned back to Dean," Hey are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked, stuffing his face with burger.

"You've been kind of quiet lately," she said with a raised brow," And we both know you like the sound of your voice way too much."

"I'm fine, Addy," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked again.

"Yup," he said, putting more food in his mouth.

"If you stopped eating for one second I could get an actual-"

"Addy, I'm fine," he said again and she looked a bit hurt as Sam sat back down and she dropped the subject.

That was a few hours ago. Now he was sitting alone in their motel room, alone with his thoughts as he cleaned his gun.

The door opened and Dean watched as Addy and Sam came back into the motel room, laughing about something. He kept his eyes on cleaning his gun and casually asked," Find anything?"

"Depends," she said, sitting down with a sigh," If you count a giant hulk sized hole just like the wife described than yes. We found a lot of something."

"You find anything?" Sam asked.

"Well, it turns out that Bill Randolph had quite the temper. He's got two counts of spousal battery, bar brawls, and court-ordered anger management sessions. You might say you wouldn't like him when he's angry," he joked and Addy snorted a laugh.

"So a hothead getting killed by TV's greatest hothead. Kinda sounds like just desserts, doesn't it?" Sam asked, thinking out loud," It's all starting to make sense."

"Hulk in suburbia is making sense to you?" Addy asked with a raised brow.

"I found something else at the crime scene and I didn't think anything of it until now," he said and pulled a pile of candy wrappers from his pocket onto the table.

"Just desserts, sweet tooth, screwing with people before you kill 'em. We're dealing with the Trickster, aren't we?" Dean asked.

"Good," she said and both brothers turned to look at her," He made me think I was going crazy and he killed Dean so many times we lost count."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Dean said with a frown.

"No, I mean are you sure you wanna kill him?" Sam asked, getting at something.

"Son of a bitch didn't think twice about icing me a thousand times," Dean said, crossing his arms.

"What else would we do with him?" she asked him.

"Talk to him?" he offered.

"What?" her and Dean asked at the same time.

"Think about it guys. He's one of the most powerful creatures we've ever met. Maybe we can use him."

"For what?" Dean asked.

"Okay, Trickster's like a Hugh Hefner type, right? Wine, women, song—maybe he doesn't want the party to end. Maybe he hates this angels and demons stuff as much as we do. Maybe he'll help us," Sam said, gouging their reactions.

"You're serious," Dean said in disbelief.

"You know it's not a bad idea," Addy said and Dean groaned," Think about it, Dean. This thing is powerful. Almost angel powerful. If we can get him on our side…"

"So let me get this straight?" he asked," You two want to be Facebook friends with a bloody, violent monster? Nice."

"The world is gonna end, Dean. We don't have the luxury of a moral stand. Look, I'm just saying it's worth a shot. That's all. If it doesn't work, we'll kill him," Sam said, laying out the plan.

"How are we gonna find the guy, anyway?" Dean asked with a sigh.

"Well, he never takes just one victim, right? He'll show," Sam said.

SUPERNATURAL

The trio exited the Impala, wooden stakes in hand outside the warehouse where the police call had been made, but had a stunning lack of police cars.

"There was a murder here, and there's no police cars. There's nobody. How's that look to you?" Dean asked as they carefully made their way to the door.

"Typical trickster," Addy said as they got to the door.

Dean put his hand on it and on his signal they charged in stakes in hand…into a hospital. They looked down to see they were wearing hospital scrubs and lab coats.

"What the fuck?" Addy asked, looking around frantically.

Two doctors walk by and both address them as," Doctor."

"Doctor," Sam says back awkwardly.

Dean goes to the door they came through and opens it to reveal a janitor's closet with a couple making out.

Dean slammed it shut.

"And I reiterate what the fuck?" Addy asked just as a brunette nurse came up to Sam and slapped him hard across the face.

"Seriously," she says angrily as Addy and Dean watch the exchange.

"What?" Sam asked in confusion.

"Seriously? You're brilliant, you know that? And a coward. You're a brilliant coward," she said dramatically.

"Um. What are you talking about?" Sam asked and she slapped him again. Addy covered her mouth to hold back a laugh.

"As if you don't know," she said and stalked off.

"Where the hell are-" Addy began but he cut her off.

"Holy shit we're in Seattle Mercy Hospital," he whispered to himself.

"Where?" Sam asked.

"The doctor getups. The, the sexy interns. The 'seriously's. It all makes sense," he said as if they would know," We're in Dr. Sexy, MD."

"That stupid soap opera you were watching this morning?" she asked as they began walking down the halls, looking confused as ever," Someone say something. Theories. Speculations. Anything."

"Uh, the Trickster trapped us in TV Land," Sam offered.

"That's your theory. That's stupid," Dean said and paused as another doctor passed them," There goes Dr. Wang. The sexy but arrogant heart surgeon."

He sees her go and pauses when she passes a man on a gurney," And there's Johnny Drake. Oh, he's not even alive, he's a ghost in the mind of…"

He trailed off as yet another doctor came up beside him," Of her. The sexy yet neurotic doctor over there."

"This show has ghost?" Sam asked," Why?"

"I don't know. It is compelling," he said with a shrug.

"Thought you said you weren't a fan," Addy teased.

"I'm not. I-" he stopped and stared at a man coming towards them in the hall," Oh boy. It's him."

"Who?" Sam asked.

"It's him, it's Dr. Sexy," he said, repeatedly hitting Addy on the arm in excitement.

"Well he's definitely earned his title," she said under his breath with a smirk as she stared at him and both brothers turned to look at her as he came to a stop in front of her and she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Doctor," he said in a low voice to her.

"Doctor," she repeated in a confused tone, looking to Dean for help. He shrugged and gestured for her to keep talking.

"You're beautifully mad," he said, caressing her face.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"A beautifully mad genius," he said, leaning in and she panicked and slapped him.

"Did you just slap Dr. Sexy?" Dean asked, looking between him and her.

"I thought that's what girls do on this show," she said with a shrug.

Dean was about to say something else, but instead he grabbed the doctor by the collar and shoved him into the wall," You're not Dr. Sexy."

"You're crazy," he said, holding up his hands in defense.

"Really? Because I swore part of what makes Dr. Sexy sexy is the fact that he wears cowboy boots. Not tennis shoes," he said.

"Not a fan my ass," Sam said.

"It's a guilty pleasure," Dean said to them as the doctor called for security," Yeah, go ahead, pal. See, we know who you are."

Suddenly, everyone around them froze and they are the only ones able to move. Predictably, Doctor Sexy morphed into the trickster.

"You guys are getting better," he said with a smile and looked to Addy with a wink," How you doin toots? Heard you're single."

"Send us back or-"

"Or what?" he challenged and twisted Dean's arm so he'd let go," Don't say you have wooden stakes, big guy."

"That was you on the police scanner, right? This is a trick," Sam said, putting the pieces together.

"Hello? Trickster," he said, gesturing to his face," Come on! I heard you two yahoos and curly top here were in town. How could I resist?"

"Where the hell are we?" Dean asked, rubbing his injured hand.

"Like it?" he asked, clearly amused with himself, "It's all homemade. My own sets. My own actors...call it my own little idiot box."

Addy scoffed," How come I couldn't sense you this time?"

"I took some precautionary measures sweetheart," he said with a smirk," You can't touch me with those little witchy powers even if you tried. This whole thing is Addy proofed."

"I could hit you again…with my foot," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Oh honey I missed your feisty," he said with another wink.

"I'll show you feisty you son of a-" she started advancing towards him, but Sam stopped her.

"Whatever. We just, we need to talk to you. We need your help," he said.

"Hm ,let me guess. You three muttonheads broke the world, and you want me to sweep up your mess?"

"Please. Just five minutes. Hear us out," Sam pleaded.

"Sure. Tell you what. Survive the next twenty-four hours, we'll talk," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Survive?" Addy repeated with wide eyes," Survive what?"

"The game!" he said, obviously excited.

"What game?" Dean asked in alarm.

"You're in it," he said happily.

"How do we play?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"You're playing it!"

"What are the ruled?" Dean asked and he vanished. The set around them unfroze and a woman walked by looking for Dr. Sexy.

"We need to find a way out of here," Addy mumbled as they began walking again.

"Can you do anything?" Dean asked as they looked around.

"Maybe if I could-" before she could finish her sentence the woman who'd slapped Sam earlier came up to her and did the same thing to her.

"You bitch!" she exclaimed.

"What the hell?" Addy yelled, rubbing her cheek," What did I do to you?"

She pointed to Sam," He won't love me because of you."

"Lady he won't love you because you're bat shit crazy," Addy yelled and the woman slapped her again," Alright that's it."

She lunged at her and punched her in the face. The woman pulled her hair and they began a struggle on the floor before both Sam and Dean went out of shock and pulled her away, still yelling after her as she ran away sobbing.

"Yeah you better run you bitch!" she screamed after her," Let's see how sexy you are after I'm done with your face!"

Dean set her down and they stared at her.

"What?" she asked angrily, crossing her arms and fixing her hair where the woman had pulled at it," She deserved it and we need to get out of here!"

"Doctor," a man said, coming up to Dean," My wife needs that face transplant."

"Okay. You know what, pal? None of this is real, and your wife doesn't need jack squat. Okay?" Dean said harshly and they began walking away.

"Hey, Doctor," he said again and before they can turn around a shot rang out and Dean crumples to the ground.

"Real," he said as Addy tries to keep him up and he falls into her arms," Very real."

"Dean," she says in shock and put her hand to the injury to see blood," Sam, we have a problem."

"We need a doctor!" Sam calls out.

"We are doctors," Addy yelled at him," Someone get me a gurney."

Before she knew what was happening they were in an operating room, standing over Dean with a bunch of medical tools neither knew how to use in hand and dressed in operating scrubs.

"Guys, I'm waiting," Dean said, panicked.

"We don't know what we're doing," Sam said, growing panicked as well.

"Oh for the love of…" she turned to the other doctors in the room," I'll need whiskey, a sterilized needle, dental floss, and tweezers."

All of them looked at her like she was crazy," Let's go people. If he dies I'll have all your asses unemployed."

They all scattered to do what she said and Sam shot her a questioning look. She shrugged and turned to see the woman from earlier mouthing I love you at Sam and kissing the glass through the door. She rolled her eyes as the supplies were brought to her and she did what she usually did when she had to deal with bullets.

In no time she got out the bullet and dropped it in a pan Sam was holding," Should have went to med school."

He chuckled with relief and they all frowned hearing a distant cheering and chanting. She closed her eyes as a bright light filled the room and the noise of a heart monitor was replaced with cheering. She reopened her eyes to see she was standing in front of a large audience.

Frantically, she looked around to see Sam and Dean standing on two platform, their feet strapped to the floor.

"Guys," she calls and they both turn to her and raise a brow," What?"

She looked down to see she was wearing go go boots and an orange stripper outfit. She feels her head to find her hair in pigtails and a devil horn headband," Fuck my life."

Double doors behind her open and a Japanese man steps out, drags her by the arm between Sam and Dean, and yells," Let's play Nutcracker!"

He pulls a card from his pocket and reads something in Japanese to Sam. A countdown begins and Addy looks between them.

"What am I supposed to say?" Sam asked her, looking around frantically.

She shrugged," I think he said something about brother and name and choose."

"You speak Japanese?" Dean asked.

"Not fluently," she yelled at him as the countdown shrunk.

"Uh, I, I don't, I don't understand Japanese," Sam tried to say to the host.

He repeated the statement.

"What did he say?" Sam asked Addy.

"What name did you choose for your demon brother," she guessed.

"That doesn't make any sense," Sam yelled," Is he screwing with me? I, I, I can't speak Japanese."

The countdown hit zero and he said something else and then," Ruby."

"Oh what was the name of the demon you chose over your brother?" Addy clarified and Sam shot her a look," Sorry."

"I'm sorry, Sam Winchester," the host said and Sam looked around frantically.

"Sorry for what?" he asked and a lever came up with a ball at the end and hit him right where it hurts.

Both Dean and Addy hissed in pain as he doubled over, holding his crotch as the host repeated Nutcracker over and over again.

"Are you okay?" Addy ask, looking at him sympathetically.

He makes an inarticulate noise and shakes his head as the host goes over to one of the other girls who has a bag of food in her hands and they begin talking. The lights on the doors flash again and Cas comes through.

"Is this another trick?" she asked him.

"It's me. Uh, what are you doing here?" he asked the three of them," You've been missing for days."

"Does it matter?" she asked angrily," Get us the fuck out of here."

He disappeared and the host came to Addy and said threateningly," No, no, no, no. Mr. Trickster does not like pretty-boy angels."

"I'm gonna put a wooden stake up his ass!" she yelled as he took out another card and began reading it to Dean.

"Countdown," he said and the clock began ticking again.

He looked to her," What did he say?"

"Something about mother, father, brother, birth," she said, throwing up her hands," I don't know."

Dean started to say something but stopped and started staring at her.

"What are you-" she looked down to see he could see straight down the already revealing top," Dean! Focus!"

"I don't know what he said!" he yelled, looking between Sam and Addy," I don't wanna get hit in the nuts."

"I don't know, I, I, uh, just, uh-wait," Sam said, realizing something.

"What?" they asked him.

"You played a doctor," he said, looking to Addy," In, uh, in Dr. Sexy you played a doctor. You operated."

She got where he was going," He said play our roles. We're in a game show so play a contestant."

She turned to Dean," Press the button and answer the question."

"What?" he asked in confusion as the clock kept ticking," I can't speak Japanese. I don't know the answer."

"Dean just press the button!" she ordered.

"Addy, I don't-"

"Damn it, Winchester press the fucking button!" she screamed at him.

"Fuck it," he said and did what he was told. The whole room went quiet and the countdown stop.

He said something in Japanese and braced for impact.

"Dean Winchester, Nutcracker champion!" the host yelled and everyone cheered. Dean sighed in relief.

"So that's it. We play our roles…" Sam began.

"We survive," Addy finished, looking between them with wide eyes.

"Yeah, but play our roles for how long?" Dean asked.

The three of them exchanged a worried look and then gave pained grins to the audience.