Author's Note:
Hey guys, sorry this one took a little longer! I hope you enjoy it :D
They stared at the first door they decided they'd open and all of them realized that they didn't have the keys to do it. Dean ran his hand down his face and dropped his head against the wall for good measure, "Goddamn it."
"They're probably with Jet," Sam sighed in frustration and looked at the handle with contempt, like it was entirely responsible for their situation.
Charlie looked at the two Winchesters then down the hall to where Cas was sitting, wings splayed out on either side of him and a miserable look on his face. She furrowed her brow as her gaze dropped to the trail of blood on the floor and the amount splattered around the single open door. "Well let's check out over there first, then. We don't know what's all in the one door that is open, right?"
"Yeah," Sam nodded, he seemed to be happy with something to do so Dean didn't argue. They followed the trail back to where Cas was sitting, curious eyes fixed on them but no questions were asked. And though Dean would've wondered about the silence, he remembered that Cas probably heard their conversation.
The area past the door was very gory in contrast with the sleek design of the halls. Each door was carved open, undoubtedly by the last clone that Dean took care of. There were bodies of other clones strewn about, ones that lived in each of the rooms that were invaded. None of the corpses were in one piece, most of them were scattered and others were just half devoured on the spot.
"Looks like a battle royale went a little wrong," Charlie commented as she went further inside, no hesitation whatsoever. Dean stayed next to the main door where Cas could still see him, his handgun felt a little heavy now that he'd actually shot something with it.
"One of them was strong enough to break out, I guess it went for the closest food source." Sam said as he peered into one of the busted open rooms. "These cells are much more… cell-like than the other enclosures."
Dean looked over at Castiel again; he was so calm considering where they were. Maybe that was a good sign; Dean could relax a little bit too.
"I think the rest are still in their rooms," Charlie called from further inside the area, "All these clones are dead, that one guy was pretty busy."
"So we do need to open the doors," Sam sighed and looked over at Dean, "Think we can shoot the locks?"
"Maybe," Dean smirked, "But I am curious about how they got the clones to cooperate, I mean if these things are just roaming free then how did they ever get them anywhere? I'd bet there were some scientist deaths."
"It was drugged food, mostly," Cas answered from his spot in the hall. "What I can recall, anyway."
Dean looked back at the gentle expression on Cas' face and he felt kinda shitty for asking. "I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?"
Cas smiled at him, "Not unless you intend to do the same."
"No thanks, I'm all 'evil-scientist'ed out."
"Well let's pick a door and see if we can bust it open," Sam said as soon as it seemed the two lovebirds were done making goo-goo eyes at one another. He chose one that was close by and Charlie moved right along with him, the two leaned against either side of the door and Dean went to take out the lock. He'd seen it done in movies; maybe it'd work for him in real life.
He took a deep breath and exhaled to steady himself before firing the shot. It rang loud and only then did Dean fear the idea of a ricochet. Luckily for them no one was hit by it but Dean's heart had jumped and his abdomen felt like a massive brick was dropped on it.
"Okay," Sam breathed out just as unsteady as Dean had, "I guess maybe that's a bad idea."
Dean looked over at Castiel who had ruffled feathers and a perturbed look on his face, "Sorry babe,"
"It's fine, just pay attention to the room you opened."
Cas had a good point, Dean looked at the door that hadn't swung open but he was pretty sure it wasn't locked anymore either. He grabbed onto the handle and pushed; it didn't move. Dean frowned and pressed his whole body against it and nothing.
"Are you serious?" He grumbled and stared at where the bullet had bounced off, a mark was left but ultimately it wasn't open or unlocked. "It's probably got some special lock or something, goddamn it…"
"You think Jet really has the keys?" Charlie looked at Sam who opened his mouth to answer but stopped and contemplated.
"Actually, I don't see why MacLeod would have that sort of thing on his key ring… Do we even know what kinda locks these are?"
"No," Dean frowned deeper as he glared at the handle just as Sam had moments before. "But we might have to go get any keys he might have on him, right? I mean it's possible, old people do weird things to make sure they don't forget anything."
"Dean," Sam looked at him disapprovingly and Dean tossed his hands up.
"What? They do!"
Charlie leaned down to look at the lock, "Maybe I can open it…" she muttered as she messed around with it, Dean stood back and watched with the hopes of seeing magic happen. After a few moments of staring and watching Charlie's expression remain determined, Dean started to think that maybe they weren't going to be getting inside.
"Well we killed the only thing that could break through these doors," he kicked the metal surface and silently regretted it. "What's the plan now? We can't get rid of all these things if we can't get inside."
"Here," Castiel walked up beside him and lifted one of the arms of the four-armed clone.
"Uh," Dean looked at it questioningly, "When did it lose an arm?"
"Just now," Cas held firmly to it and wound back, "Excuse me, please."
They got out of his way pretty quickly, watching in awe as Cas beat the door down. His strength combined with the piercing claws of the disarmed clone made quick work of the metal as if it were made of clay. Dean whistled low as Cas made room for them to fit through, "Wow, that was impressive." He looked at Cas' side as concern swept over him again, "But you should be resting…"
"Well we can't do this without me breaking the doors in," Cas shrugged, "and I feel alright now, so it's okay."
"If you say so," Dean furrowed his brow, "But you better not push yourself, we can take a break whenever you need, okay?"
Cas looked at him for a moment, his eyes quickly shifting focus between Dean's. He leaned in and kissed Dean on the cheek, "Thank you, Dee. I'll tell you if I need a break."
"I appreciate it," Dean kissed him back and turned to follow Sam and Charlie inside past the broken door. It led to a small hall with more doors; just like the set up of the other area with the dead bodies, except in this one everything was intact.
"We're gonna have to do that with every one of these?" Charlie groaned and looked at Cas apologetically, "You've got your work cut out for you, I'm sure this part of the basement has dozens of these."
"Yeah," Cas placed his hand over his side; Dean knew it had to hurt like hell. He wished he could do it, or that he could just carry Cas out of there.
Dean watched as Castiel went to the first cell door, his heart rate was increasing as he expected to see his boyfriend jumped by the next clone. At the rate he was going his heart would give out and he'd be dead before he got to Bobby's age.
Cas wound up and broke a hole in the door, not big enough for anything to fit through but enough to see inside. Instead of a sudden reaction from a menacing clone trapped in the room, they were greeted by a horrible smell and a lifeless body on the floor. Dean pulled his shirt up over his nose and tried to ignore the sudden pang in his chest.
Sam and Charlie were similarly silent; all Dean could hear was a soft sound of disgust from where Castiel was standing. He didn't envy that sense of smell.
"That's nasty," Cas uttered and moved away from the hole he'd made, "Oh god I'm sick of these smells…"
Dean rubbed his back sympathetically, "Maybe wrap something around your face, it might help."
"Good idea," Cas pulled up the collar up and sighed, "It doesn't save me but it helps."
"Better than nothing," Sam added with an attempt at a helpful smile though he clearly didn't believe his own words.
Cas moved to the next door and did the same, just opened a hole to look inside. A set of bright eyes met them the second time around and a high-pitched whine pierced their ears. Cas had moved his head away so as not to see what was inside, Dean imagined it was to keep his wits about him. However it didn't seem to work terribly well, Cas crouched on the floor and seethed, breathing heavily and trying to keep himself still.
"You okay?" Dean touched his shoulder and Cas moved away from him with a sharp hiss. "Whoa! Okay, sorry," he raised his hands in surrender as Castiel's eyes blinked back into focus.
"I'm sorry," he stammered and shuffled away, "I didn't mean to do that,"
"It's okay," Sam reassured him comfortingly just before the clone smacked into the door and tried to reach through. Its arm swung wildly and just barely missed Sam's face before the team moved away from its reach.
"You don't have control over how you react to your clones, it's alright," Charlie knelt down next to Cas but still given enough distance to keep Cas' comfort level up. He didn't flinch that time so she touched his shoulder gently. He sighed and nodded, glancing back at Dean with the guiltiest expression.
Dean didn't know what to do but smile in return, "It's okay, Cas." He said and watched the little spark of life in Castiel's eyes. "I totally get it, you don't need to worry about it." He paused and had to think for a moment.
"Cas, can you keep opening the doors or did you need to take a break?" Sam asked as he looked at Castiel's side with some concern.
"I'm fine," Cas was stubborn but it was getting a little too clear that he wasn't doing as great as he said he was. Dean could tell that Cas looked a little paler and he moved slower than normal. It made him anxious and he wasn't willing to just let Cas keep going because they were all scared about what was in the basement.
"I have an idea," Dean stated and took Cas' hand as a means to stop his boyfriend from trying to attack the doors anymore, "These clones are pretty obviously locked in here, they wouldn't have gotten free if Desirae hadn't opened the first door, right? If we leave them be for a little longer it wouldn't be such a bad thing, that way we can all recuperate."
"We don't know how long they'll stay in here," Cas looked at him worriedly, "What if they get out? We can kill them all now and be done with it."
"I don't think they'll get out," Dean was willing to argue that point, he grabbed one of the handles and pulled at it for emphasis, "It doesn't budge and only one of them was strong enough or had the ability to break it open."
"That we know of," Cas pushed as he looked around at their little team, "I think we need to take care of this as soon as we can."
"It'd be better if we could just open the doors," Sam folded his arms over his chest, "that way we wouldn't have to rely on Cas when he's injured."
"I dunno," Charlie surprised Dean when she spoke up, he looked at her with a furrowed brow and almost demanded she explain before she continued. "Breaking a hole just small enough to aim a gun through should be all we need, right? If we open the doors all the way we give these things a chance to hack us up, tactically it's smarter to keep at it how we've been doing it." She paused and looked at Cas' injury, her eyes weren't nearly as concerned as Dean thought they should be.
"Do you want Cas to kill himself doing this?" He blurted out angrily, unable to control the outburst though really he didn't care to do so anyway. "He's hurt! He needs medical help or it's gonna get worse."
"I read about Cas' abilities, apparently he should heal faster than an average person," Charlie explained, "Their reasoning was that they wanted him to heal quicker from surgeries, though I don't know how long it'll take for a gash like that to get better."
"I feel fine," Cas said again but Dean didn't buy it.
"I'm not going to let you do this to yourself," Dean frowned and tightened his grip on Castiel's hand. The response he received was a sharp light in Cas' eyes and an angry expression.
"I've decided I want to do this, Dee. I want to keep all of you safe, I'm not doing it because I'm trying to look cool or for some stupid martyrdom. I know my limits and I know I can handle this, I need you to trust me. Unless my decisions for myself no longer count when you say otherwise?"
Dean froze up as the accusation hit him square in the chest. His hold on Cas' hand loosened and Castiel pulled away from him but held his gaze firmly, waiting for an answer of some kind. Cas' speaking had gotten phenomenally better and that moment was the first time Dean really noticed. Castiel didn't stutter anymore, his pacing was normal and he barely had to stop mid-sentence unless he was actually interrupted. The fact that his speech patterns was completely normal, and Cas' behaviour showed almost no signs of ever being experimented on made his words more potent than ever.
Dean lowered his head and looked away, "I didn't mean it like that," he felt awful for letting that kind of thought get into Cas' head, if he were more careful with how he spoke then maybe it wouldn't be there.
"Then trust me," Cas' tone was far softer and brought Dean's gaze back up. Castiel's eyes were gentle now and he'd extended his hand to Dean's again.
Dean nodded and grabbed Cas' hand firmly, "I'm sorry," he moved forward and hugged Castiel, appreciating every bit of pressure he received in return.
"I forgive you," Cas kissed his cheek and stepped back again, "Now let's get this over with so we can go and see Jet."
"Sounds good." Dean nodded and got out of Cas' way. He wouldn't say it out loud again but he still didn't like to see Cas struggle so much for their sake. He wished he had super strength to do it instead. Part of him considered getting Desirae but he knew he couldn't do that to her either, it'd be unethical on top of the fact that Sam and Jet would skin him.
He'd realized that he'd heard the same statement about trusting Cas over and over again, ever since they met there was a question of trust. Dean always said he did, it was easy to say and it was the right thing to say. But the more that he thought about it the more he questioned it; he realized that saying he trusted Cas wasn't the same as actually doing it. He trusted many things about Castiel, he trusted that Cas loved him and that Cas would protect them. But when it came down to making the right choices at the right moment he was a little fuzzy.
Saying it wasn't enough, Dean knew he would have to actively make an attempt to think about it, to make sure he understood it. He didn't want to be all talk, he wanted to honestly trust Castiel's judgement and that would take actual work.
Dean watched Cas closely as he beat open the doors, just enough to shoot any vicious clones waiting on the other side. Dean's ears were ringing with each shot and his stomach hurt as stress settled there. Cas was still going, he didn't look any worse but he didn't look any better either. Dean kept his mouth shut.
It felt like an eternity, watching Castiel swing a severed arm and listening to it clash with the metal door. Another shot echoed. It was Dean's turn to shoot next so he stepped closer, waited for the peeling metal and aimed into the hole.
Another shot echoed. Dean stepped away again, it was Sam's turn.
And then Charlie's. And his. And Sam's.
It went on like that. Some rooms were completely empty, showed no signs of anything inside so they moved on. Some rooms were occupied by corpses, no need to waste shots on those either.
Dean kept watching Cas and thought that maybe he'd worried for nothing, Castiel didn't have to exert himself all that much and he'd even gotten a bit faster. Charlie was right, Cas healed faster than the rest of them would have. That wasn't to say that Cas' wounds didn't hurt, but it made sense. It explained why Cas was still alive after his lack of food or water, it explained why some of the clones were still alive too. At least, that's what Dean decided to attribute it to.
It was his turn again, he'd gotten so used to it and he knew they were close to the end he'd relaxed about each room. Hell, he'd even gotten used to the smell that he didn't need to keep his shirt over his face. Cas still did, but they all understood why.
"Sorry I doubted you, Cas." Dean said as his boyfriend wound up for the hundredth time, Cas paused and looked at Dean with a smile. It was all he really needed to do in response, Dean smiled back and that was the interaction. Everything was okay between them, he could feel it.
Dean aimed his handgun inside as soon as Cas stepped out of his way, he could hear a growl but he couldn't see the clone this time. "It's ducked down by the door," he grumbled because it'd happened a few times now. He kicked the door but that didn't do much, so he decided to aim the gun down without knowing exactly where the clone was. A sharp cry reached their ears but the thing didn't sound dead.
Careless behaviour brings careless consequences, a hand grabbed Dean's wrist after the shot. It was so fast, the clone climbed up his arm, as if the thing no longer had enough strength in its legs. Dean pulled frantically in that split second but he couldn't pull free, the others only barely realizing something had gone wrong.
The clone's face appeared in the hole, it looked like Castiel if he'd been starved for a few more weeks beyond what Dean had originally seen when they'd met. He heard Cas' voice behind him, felt arms on his torso and watched as the clone opened its mouth. Dean expected it to bite but instead he noticed an odd smell and the space between their faces suddenly became hazy.
There was a high pitched whine and another gunshot that exploded into the clone's face, blood splattered and Dean could only see red. He tried to spit but realized that his lungs were seizing up, red blurred into black and he struggled to breathe.
Focus faded fast, he felt strong arms around him and heard distant voices.
He couldn't understand anything anymore, he couldn't figure out where he was or how time was moving.
He tried to speak again, he wanted to say Castiel's name but he couldn't tell if it came out or if it was all in his head.
He felt like he was moving, there was air rushing past his face.
Before numbness started to seep in he felt his skin burning, his face hurt but not as much as his lungs.
His consciousness slipped away from him, he didn't even have the chance to be terrified about it.