PART ONE: FAMILY VALUES
CHAPTER TWELVE: VERDANT
TEAM WINCHESTER, STARLING CITY, USA
"What the hell is a goddamned meta-human?" Dean shouted into the small space of the Impala. He re-gripped the steering wheel tightly as he looked into the rearview mirror where Oliver and Felicity now sat in the backseat. He was angry, angry that they hadn't been told half of the story and angry that this thing had just got away. Oliver glared back at him but Felicity cleared her throat and leaned forward, her voice shaking.
"A couple of years ago a particle accelerator exploded in Central City," she started and Sam's interest was piqued, he turned around to look at her. Dean stared forward, growing angrier by the second as he seemed to be the only person in the car who didn't understand what a particle accelerator was.
"So what?"
"So after the particle accelerator exploded it sent a lot of energy into the air. And then people started showing up, people who had been just regular people suddenly had powers like-" she stopped short and glanced back at Oliver who gave her a warning look. "Powers like inhuman speed and weather control they became-" her hands went up as she searched for the right words, "superheroes!"
Sam's eyebrows raised in surprise and he turned to look at Dean. "Do you think it's possible that this might not be a werewolf?"
"Absolutely not, come on Sam, you seen that thing!" Dean was right, they had all seen it and this time under the bright lights of the diner. It was clear someone or something had attempted to attack it before but had failed just as they had tonight. It had looked exactly like a werewolf but it didn't act like one, changing on it's own accord consciously hunting someone down - Felicity, it would seem. This thing was more conscious than most of the creatures they hunted and it wasn't right.
"I know but Dean-"
"Whatever you did to it, it hurt it more than the exploding arrow," Oliver finally spoke up, looking unhappy about this conclusion as he turned to stare out the window.
"Silver," Sam said calmly, "only way to kill a werewolf."
"Except this one," Oliver pointed out.
"Except this one," he agreed.
"Exploding arrows?" Dean demanded, "Oh, this just keeps getting better!" A silence fell around them and Felicity took in a deep breath as if she was going to say something and then just stared out the window.
"What?" Oliver prodded, "Felicity, I know that look. What are you thinking?"
"What if it's not a werewolf and it's not a meta-human? What if - what if it's both?" The air was electric with tension as her idea sunk in, unsettling every ounce of testosterone in the vehicle. Sam thought the idea over, his eyebrows raising as he considered the possibilities. He weighed the options as he replayed the events of the diner in his head.
"Impossible," Dean responded automatically, but Sam sensed it was more because of Oliver's presence than anything causing the auto-reaction. Dean had seen himself the way that thing had charged into the silver bullets, screeching yes, but not falling.
"But Dean, she might be right. What if a werewolf bit a meta-human? What if that's what we're looking at? We've never encountered this before, this could explain what's going on."
"Well our best bet is to look at that footage then, if we can get ahold of it then I can-"
"We can get ahold of it," he responded coolly and the car lapsed into silence again as they pulled up in front of Verdant. Oliver got out and Dean immediately followed, motioning for him to go first up the fire escape. He watched as Oliver's jaw tightened and he slowly turned to lead the way. They followed closely behind, Dean obviously annoyed not only by them but by the raging dance beats that were bumping through the night air.
When they reached the top Oliver stood waiting, and Dean still bristling with pent up anger locked his own jaw in discomfort. "Shouldn't you be out running around with your bow and arrow?"
"I have a team that will do just fine without me for tonight," he responded evenly and Sam was impressed, interested to see the headquarters of this operation. Dean on the other hand put on a false smile and gestured for him to lead the way again, before turning to Sam and giving him the 'I can't stand this guy' look he had grown accustom to reading on his brother's face.
Felicity approached the large door at the end of the hallway confidently, working on a touchpad to the side. Within seconds the sounds of locks releasing could be heard and the door popped open. Felicity pushed it open and smiled over her shoulder at them. "Welcome to the Arrow cave."
"I told you, we aren't calling it the Arrow cave," Oliver mumbled.
"Oh, it's definitely the Arrow cave," called Barry Allan's voice in return, a large smile on his face. Felicity and Oliver descended easily down the stairs to stand amongst the weapons and computer screens. Dean stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs, taking it all in while trying to keep his unimpressed facade.
"This is pretty impressive," Sam complimented, slowly making his way down the stairs. He eyed the racks of arrows and the mannequins dressed in equipment. He noted that there only seemed to be two of four that held anything, the two other display cases held empty silver bodies. He made a note to question that later, maybe when they were all on better terms.
"Next right," Barry commanded and Sam's head turned to see him tracking someone, guiding someone. "Half a mile ahead on Alpine," he directed, giving Sam a quick smile of acknowledgement, before bringing his eyes back to the screens. "You should be coming up on the truck now," and he watched as Barry enlarged traffic footage to show a flurry of action as a trio closed in on a truck. Sam looked up to continue looking around and was met with Oliver's intense gaze.
"Like I said, I have a team." Sam nodded in acknowledgement and then looked over his shoulder to his brother who seemed to be taking this in a little more slowly than himself. Sam frowned as he noticed his brother's discomfort, not used to seeing this side of the mighty Dean Winchester. He couldn't believe this was the same guy that went to hell swinging. He tried instead to lighten the mood, divert his brother's attention.
"This is incredible. Dean, could you imagine if we had something like this for hunters?" He scoffed at his own thought as his eyes flickered to all the different screens. Facial recognition, police databases, security footage- the bounds were limitless. "We could clear the country of monsters. We could force the gates closed with this technology behind us. If Charlie saw this-"
"You can't show anyone this, you can't tell anyone about this, don't even mention it outside this basement. Do you understand?" Oliver's voice filled the room and Sam's words fell dead on his tongue.
"Yeah, we get it. You and your merry men are top secret," Dean answered, finally coming down the stairs and making his own way over to look at the screens.
"I am not Robin Hood!"
"Enough already! Can we just focus on what happened tonight? There is a monster, a creature out there that could be attacking innocent people as we speak! Can we please just work together on this?" Felicity shouted, tears on the verge of pouring from her eyes. The five men in the room shifted uncomfortably and Oliver sighed, finally pulling up a chair next to hers and looking at the screens Barry had just vacated.
"Alright, Barry, did we talk to your team? Do they have anything for us on this thing?"
"From the tissue sample we got off of the table we got an answer," he looked at them all in turn but the expression he wore wasn't promising. "All it concludes is that it's like nothing they've seen. The deoxyribonucleic acid shows matches on human and canine in a combination we've never seen before. While the epidermis shows incredible regenerative properties and energy absorbing abilities very much like the majority of the meta-humans we've seen. Together this compounds to create something we've never observed before. They're still running tests at the lab to see if they can figure out how this creature transforms."
"Which means?" Oliver prodded, and Dean was relieved to not have to be the one to ask. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable, out of his element. Gone were the days it seemed that he could just get by ganking sons-of-bitches because they killed people. There was far too much science involved here, too much technology and not enough books. Where were the journals about these things? The personal accounts and handwritten notes? It was too much for him, he was too far and gone from his element.
"Conclusively, we can't say what it is until we've got more evidence to go by."
"We need that footage," Felicity reasoned, spinning slightly from side to side in her chair.
"So how do we get it? I don't want to be breaking into crime scenes," Oliver quipped, like a smart ass. Felicity however, turned to look at the pair of them. Slowly the rest of the eyes in the room came to fall on Sam and Dean.
"I'm going to pretend I'm not hearing this," Detective West put forth, before standing and making for the stairs.
"You can do it, can't you?" Barry asked, looking concerned. Sam couldn't help it and he laughed, tears nearly coming to his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to control himself as he noticed Oliver and barry looking at him without amusement. Felicity on the other hand looked mildly amused along with the brothers, she knew they would have no problem getting the footage.
"Well Sammy, you bring your suit along?" Dean smirked, and looked to his brother.
"Never leave town without it," Sam responded, his hands in his pockets as him and his brother shared a knowing look. It was time to do what they did best- investigating. This crew had done their work with their labs and computers and now it was time to show them how the Winchesters did business, the goodold fashioned way.
A/N- Blaaahhh! I feel like the end of this chapter is a little choppy. :/ This chapter had me experiencing some writers block so I hope it's turned out ok! Random question: Which chapters do you like better, Team Arrow chapters or Team Winchester chapters?