PART ONE: FAMILY VALUES
CHAPTER TEN: YOU SUCK
TEAM WINCHESTER, STARLING CITY, USA
Dean rubbed the leather upholstery affectionately as they sat across the street from the massive night club. It was subconscious Sam was sure, but he had caught him doing it at least twice. Rather than call him out for it the third time he let his brother be and decided to change the subject. "So tell me again how you got out of there. How are you alive?"
"I told you, it was Cas," Dean said casually, as if angels were as common as dogs.
"But Dean, I watched you burning alive. I seen your skin bubbling and- and-," Sam shifted uncomfortably in the passenger's seat as he remembered the sight. Dean froze, about to take a gulp from the large pop he had gotten with dinner. He cleared his throat awkwardly and replaced the cup into the holder and gripped the steering wheel despite the fact the car was turned off and they weren't moving.
Dean recalled the wash of acceptance as he had laid there thinking he would inevitably die. He remembered every scorching second of it. He remembered the feeling like his eyes were being burnt out of his head with a cattle prod, that the flesh of his face was being torn off his bones. He remembered praying to Cas to take care of his little brother. He remembered reaching for Sammy, reaching and reaching and meeting nothing but dirt but knowing he had to be there.
He woke up some time later, Cas hovering over him, a blank expression on his face as he peered at him with bright blue eyes. The smell of smoke and burnt flesh that seemed to cling to him was still sharp in his memory even after multiple showers. He remembered immediately trying to find Sam but he was already long gone. He had made Cas take him to the motel, but their things were cleared out and there was no indication to where he might have gone. They had mentioned Seattle before but Sam was dust in the wind nowhere to be found, they searched everywhere between the two towns. He was nowhere, until now.
"Cas pulled me out just like before," Dean said lamely.
"And then what? You just showed up in my motel room? I don't think so."
Dean let out an aggravated sigh and grabbed his drink, taking long gulps before he answered anything more. "He pulled me out, used his angel mojo to heal me and then we went looking for you."
"No demon deals?"
"None."
"You didn't make a deal with Crowley, or with Death?"
"Sam, I told you! Cas did it, that's it. Now can we please just focus on the situation at hand?"
Sam frowned at the explanation and remained silent as he stared out the window, waiting for a sign of Oliver or his crew. Though they had followed them here it didn't make sense, they were going to pursue research at a night club? "Are we sure they're here and not, I don't know, in a side building or something?"
"We watched them go in the front door Sam,"
"Still, doesn't it seem odd to you?"
"This whole thing is odd Sammy," Dean sighed and jabbed the eject button before flipping the Journey cassette over and turning the music up louder.
Sam dropped the topic and just stared out the window towards the nightclub that had a giant glowing sign on it proclaiming it 'Verdant'. Not his style, but he wondered if Dean had ever frequented nightclubs in his younger years. Probably not, he rationalized as he listened to his brother passionately sing along to 'Wheel in the Sky'. Definitely not.
He was starting to wonder if this stakeout was a bust when he spotted the familiar silhouettes climbing down the fire escape. "Dean," Sam urged, swatting at him to get his attention. Dean's singing stopped abruptly, much to Sam's relief and he leaned across to get a look out the window. The pair climbed down the metal escape swiftly, both with their heads on a swivel. Suspicious if there was ever a picture of it.
"And here comes the breakfast club,"
"Dean, that doesn't even make sense," Sam reasoned, as they watched the duo get into a car. They didn't dare start the car until they saw them begin to leave the parking lot.
"Sure it does!" he exclaimed, but his focus was drawn to Oliver Queen as he started the Impala.
"How?"
"Well, there was the nerd, that Charlie wannabe-"
"Felicity," Sam corrected.
"And then there was the athlete -"
"Oliver," Sam suggested, seeing where his brother was going.
"See you get it, makes sense Sammy."
They fell into silence as they followed the SUV, keeping a large distance between them. At one point even letting a car in ahead of them. They knew Baby, that's how they had managed find him in the first place. Sam made a point of trying to tell Dean that, but Dean was too eager to see his beloved Impala to care.
They followed Oliver until they began to recognise where they were. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Dean said as their motel came into view. They watched as Oliver and Diggle pulled up to the curb and parked across the road from the motel. They cut their engine and turned out the lights, obviously stopping to stake them out. Dean pulled the car in a block back and parked to watch the oblivious spies.
He cast Sam an amused look, and Sam chuckled as they eyed the vehicle. Dean turned the stereo up again and reclined his seat, his hands going up behind his head as a pillow. "Wake me up when they realise," he yawned. Sam shook his head in disbelief but grabbed his laptop from the backseat and connected to the motel's wifi. At the very least, he could get some research in.
Three hours later and Sam had found some valuable information. Firstly, he found out that Mr. Righteous was former billionaire Oliver Queen of Queen Consolidated. He also found out that he had been accused of being the 'Starling City Vigilante'. Judging by the pictures of the pair of them, he had to admit they looked quite similar, even with the face obscured. He found out that Verdant was in fact originally owned by Oliver himself, but had been sold to his sister. Things were starting to piece together.
There were numerous articles smearing the Queen name and one in particular that caught his eye - 'Oliver Queen Alive After Five Years'. Apparently a yachting accident with his father had left him stranded on an island for five years until he was finally rescued. Dean scanned the screens now, holding Sam's laptop in front of him awkwardly. He frowned at the screen and moved the cursor slowly about the screen. Sam couldn't believe that to this day Dean still had some sort of old school aversion to learning more than tech basics.
"Still no movement?"
"Nope," Sam responded automatically, taking the computer back as Dean passed it across.
"Well, it's time to put an end to this. I gotta piss," Dean declared, throwing open the door and stepping out into the street. Sam hastily snapped the screen of his laptop down and scrambled out of the car after his brother who was already approaching the black SUV. He caught up and fell in step with him easily, Dean silently signalling for Sam to take the passenger's side. They split and Sam waited for his brother's lead.
Casually, Dean glanced in the window to see both of the occupants fully distracted. He rapped on the window sharply and the brothers watched in amusement as Oliver and Diggle jumped. After a moment, the windows slid down and Dean leaned into the door of the Suburban and smiled. "You boys find what you were looking for?"
"Tell me did you ever think to use your mirrors?" Sam asked with a fake innocence as he leaned in on the other side. Dean eyed Oliver coolly as he watched his jaw twitch, the look of loathing only broken by the chime of his phone going off. Oliver looked down to the phone and then smirked, the opposite reaction Dean had hoped for.
"I know that you've been accused of murder on," his finger started swiping across the screen and Dean watched as familiar articles flickered in and out of view along with the occasional mug shot. "One, two-" He couldn't stand this douche bag any longer. He yanked the door wide and grabbed Queen by neck of his shirt and hauled him out of the car. Diggle made to move but Sam was already there, holding him back by the point of his knife.
Dean slammed Oliver against the side of the car and pulled the gun out of his waistband. He held it mere inches away from the pretty boy's face, his hand braced in his chest. "Let's get something straight, huh? We're only here to save your girlfriend's ass, so why don't you show a little respect? You want us to help you, you stop treating us like criminals Robin Hood. You've killed a lot more people than we have."
He watched as the smirk disappeared from Oliver's face and become a stony and impassive mask. The mask itself said enough about the matter and Dean smirked.
"I am not Robin Hood," Oliver growled through clenched teeth.
At least they were right about one thing, Dean thought. "You send us away, people die. Do you get that? This thing that's out there, it won't stop. It's just a destroyed car now but you wait, give it a day or maybe two more. A beast like that gets hungry and then Starling City's on the menu." Oliver tore himself free of Dean's grip and glared but didn't move to attack him. Instead, he began to climb back into the vehicle and slammed the door hard behind him, forcing Dean to step back.
Feeling confident that this was the last they'd see of Queen for a while, Dean stepped back further and tucked his gun back into his waistband. Sam took the hint and relaxed his grip on the struggling Diggle. "And by the way, you suck at stakeouts." Sam added, giving the door a reassuring pat as Oliver started up the SUV and he stepped away.
As the Suburban pulled onto the street and began to drive away the brothers waved, fake smiles plastered on their faces. When it disappeared, their hands dropped in unison and their smiles with them. "Well, we know who the vigilante is."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking then?" Sam wondered aloud.
"That night club has something to do with it, and I want to find out what."
"I was thinking we've got another monster on our hands, but yeah, that too. You think he's got some kind of base?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out Sammy," Dean said clapping him on the shoulder and then heading off to their room, Sam not far behind.
A/N - I feel like writing this chapter went by super quick, so I'm now afraid that it's because nothing much happens. Either way I thought it would be nice to get some Dean action in. As always, let me know what you think!