Michael wasted no time. He swooped down with a roar, flaming Roman's forces before skimming along the ground to attack the armored vehicles. Gabriel was keeping low, claws and teeth terrifying those on the ground. With Roman's forces facing outward toward the now-vanished illusionary enemies, it was taking some time for them to turn around to face this true threat. Michael and Gabriel were taking full advantage of the time they had to destroy as much of the enemy's firepower as they could. Meanwhile, Castiel was flying back over top of the building with Raphael. Raphael landed on the roof and raced along it, targeting the electronic defense and surveillance systems as well as the satellites. In another minute, the base would be blind, deaf, and dumb.

At the moment, Arthur Ketch could not be bothered to care. "Spread out!" he ordered over the radio. "Everyone get back to their assigned positions. You can't stay clustered together like that, or Michael will…!" He grimaced as the massive emperor dragon swooped down, breathing his flames on the biggest clump of anti-aircraft vehicles. Then he had to dive for cover himself when Castiel, still up on the roof, started tearing into it, head down and tail up like the world's strangest dog. Bits of the roof and its supporting structures rained down on Ketch's position. "Castiel!" he roared. "Stop that at once and come down here! Warrant Officer James Novak, that is an order!"

To Ketch's surprise, the dragon didn't even flinch. It barely paused long enough in its continued assault on the roof to raise one back leg and send a stream of urine onto Ketch's open-top jeep. All Ketch could do was curse and throw his arms over his head while his driver hastily drove out of range of the offensive liquid.

"Looks like that dragon needs neutered, huh Ketch?" a nasally voice called over the radio. "I hear that works great on dogs who spray."

Ketch clenched his teeth and forced himself to ignore the taunt. Alastair had always been a cocky bastard since the day Ketch first was introduced to the man. Ketch didn't care much for his methods, but he couldn't deny the results. Until today, Michael had been completely obedient. Ketch knew Roman anticipated similar results with the other dragons, but the idea of that was a bit unsettling. If Alastair confined his "training sessions" to the beasts, that would be one thing. But Ketch had heard of what the fanatical trainer had done to Milligan. Considering he, Ketch, would soon be bonded with Gabriel, Ketch couldn't help but feel uneasy. Ketch had his own plans for Gabriel. Those plans may or may not coincide with those of Dick Roman. Somehow, when the trainer smiled at Ketch shortly before this fight, Ketch couldn't help but suspect Alastair knew, or at least guessed. He didn't know what Alastair would do with the information. Just looking at the gaunt man made Ketch feel cold.

Tearing his thoughts away from Alastair, Ketch focused on his dragon. Gabriel's tactics seemed mostly to consist of dropping heavy objects from above. It was effective. Large branches, rocks, and chunks of debris pelted the men toward the east side of the compound. It was forcing them to desperately race for cover and frequently resulting in more damage from collisions than from the actual dragon. The east side was all but out of business until… Wait, that wasn't right. Ketch could hear shouted commands over the radio to avoid the illusion dragon's attacks on the west. Now he could hear them from the group at the gate. Ketch craned his neck and spotted three, no four, different copies of Gabriel, all flying around, dropping things and creating chaos. "Illusions!" Ketch barked into the radio. "Focus fire on Gabriel and figure out which is the real Esau. But for pity's sake, don't do too much damage to my dragon, or I'll have blood, brains, and balls for it!"

As Ketch finished speaking, he saw the group near the gate focus fire on Gabriel. Sure enough, the illusionary dragon winked out of existence. The other versions suddenly began flying much more evasively, trying to avoid the fire from below. "That's it!" Ketch called excitedly. "Keep…"

The world suddenly went sideways. A powerful blow struck Ketch's jeep, sending it sideways and skidding along the ground. The driver had time to let out one painful cry before getting dragged beneath the vehicle. Ketch, who had been partially standing in order to see the battlefield, was thrown from the jeep. He slid painfully along the ground before rolling to a stop. Groaning, Ketch managed his hands and knees.

A shadow fell over him. Hot breath from above caused him to look up. Castiel stood, front paws on the wrecked jeep, sapphire eyes fixed on Ketch. "Castiel," Ketch gasped. He smiled, gingerly getting to his feet and raising his empty hands to the dragon. "I'm so sorry, love. You must understand, everything I did, it was for you. So we could be together."

The dragon made a noise that could only be a scoff. He climbed over the wreck of the jeep and stalked toward Ketch.

Ketch took a hasty step back, looking anxiously around for help. The grounds of Roman's compound were chaos. Bodies and destroyed machinery littered the ground. The air was filled with smoke. Flames were everywhere, some containing still moving bodies that thrashed their way about before finally, mercifully falling. Castiel growled and Ketch looked quickly back. "Don't," he pleaded, raising his hands again. "Please, Castiel, I love you! Don't burn me, please!"

Castiel shook his head, and Ketch breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said, daring to lower his hands. "I am sorry about this. I'll just leave, and…"

The dragon roared, rearing back on his hind legs, wings flaring. Ketch could only look up in horror as the great paws came crashing down.

Alastair noted Ketch's death with only a passing interest. Apparently, the dragon hadn't found it necessary to even waste his fire breath on the likes of Ketch. He found it fitting, although he would have preferred the bastard died when Castiel hit the jeep. No matter. He was gone now, meaning Roman wouldn't have the lieutenant's annoying quasi-English accent in his ear countermanding Alastair's own advice. Now it would be only Alastair, quietly training the dragons to follow his commands until the day Alastair was ready to make his move. It would be him, in full control of all four dragons. In control of whatever he wanted, for as long as he wanted.

Meanwhile, he couldn't help but be proud of his greatest achievement. Michael was truly a magnificent beast. It had taken hit after hit and had largely shaken them off. Meanwhile, it had done the lion's share of damage to Roman's troops. The fight was all but over, Roman's troops scattered, leaderless, and demoralized. Michael was the unchallenged king of the battlefield.

Perfect.

Alastair's target was ahead. Either he'd forgotten the tracking device Alastair had implanted in his body, or he'd been too far out of it. That had been a particularly memorable training session, after all. It didn't matter. Alastair had been easily able to track his prey. Now he had no problem walking right up to Milligan's position.

The young lieutenant, occupied with taking pot shots at Roman's men, never saw him coming. He had no idea of the danger he was in until he was suddenly on the ground, writhing in pain. Up above, Michael suddenly shrieked and dropped like a stone. He hit hard, massive body gouging a trench in the ground. Milligan cried out in negation, only to scream again as Alastair once more triggered the implant.

"You've been a very naughty boy," Alastair scolded, smiling as he watched the young man writhe. "Now, you tell Michael to bring me the other bondmates. I know Gabriel's has to be alive somewhere. I've no doubt you know where."

"No," Milligan groaned.

"Aww, what a shame, you've forgotten your lessons!" He triggered the implant again, chuckling at the resulting screams. The emperor dragon roared with him. Still smiling, Alastair pointed to it. "Michael! This will continue until you bring me the other dragons' bondmates. Do it, Michael!" he ordered, seeing the dragon shaking its massive head in negation. "Do it, or I'll…"

There was a loud pop. Alastair froze. He coughed, feeling something gurgle deep in his chest. Looking down, he stared at the bloody hole on his chest. He swayed, managing to turn his head to stare in disbelief at the disheveled older beared man in stained work clothes and a battered baseball hat walking closer, smoking pistol in hand. "You know, I always hated a bully," the man announced. The gun fired again, and Alastair fell.

Bobby reached down and helped Adam to his feet. "You ok, kid?"

"I'm ok," Adam panted. "That bastard, he must have put something in me. I had no idea! He would have made me…"

"Only thing he's going to do now is feed worms," Bobby declared. "Good riddance. That's the bastard that hurt you?" When Adam nodded, Bobby's bearded face broke into a smile. "Well, now! If Lanette and Dean managed their part, this could turn out to be a damned good day!"

Dean anxiously looked around, watching for trouble. Already, they'd had to fight their way through several guards despite the mess outside. He shook his head and kept going, focusing once more on his companion. Lanette was in the lead, one hand on the wall, focusing on the electrical lines. "There's definitely a lot more power," she reported. "I think we're close."

"'Close' only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons," Dean said. "You need to be sure! We've only got one shot at this."

"No pressure," Lanette sighed. She kept moving, walking quickly through the halls, following the power lines.

Dean immediately felt bad about pressuring her. He was about to apologize when he realized that the sounds of fighting outside had grown considerably less. Alarmed, he reached out to his dragon. "Cass, is everything ok out there?"

"We had one bad moment when Alastair made a play for Adam," Castiel reported, "but Bobby handled it. Now it's up to you and Lanette."

Right. Dean looked hopefully at Lanette and saw her brighten. "Here!" she declared. "This is it."

"Alright, perfect. Now let's get that door open!"

"I got it!" Snarling, Lanette drew back a foot and let loose with a mighty kick. The door bowed inward under the force of it. A couple more kicks and the door flew off its hinges, clattering across the floor.

"Nice," Dean admired. "Remind me not to piss you off. Nothing sexier than a tough woman."

Lanette gave him a flirty wink and strutted in. Dean grinned and openly admired her as he followed.

Sure enough, they'd found Roman's server room. Massive servers stood in neat rows, filling the room. Powerful fans hummed, keeping the room cool. "Son of a bitch," Dean laughed. "Sammy and Gabe were right! Roman really does keep all his dirt on his enemies in one place, despite what he said."

"Makes sense," Lanette argued. "After I took out all the satellite links on the roof, he had no way to offload anything, and he's too paranoid to link into the hard lines. This base really is self-contained, producing its own power and using Roman Enterprises satellites for all their communication off-base. We take out these servers…?"

"…And we take out all the leverage Roman's got on everyone," Dean finished gleefully. "No more strings to pull to make people dance. Then all those people he's had over a barrel, everyone who was after us, including the bastards like Ketch who've been playing both sides against the middle? They'll all slip their leads."

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

Dean whirled around, seeing Roman step out from between the rows of servers. He quickly pushed Lanette behind him, only to realize they were surrounded. Roman had apparently hidden a group of mercenaries in here. Now they were heavily armed, weapons pointing squarely at Dean as he tried desperately to keep his body between them and Lanette. "Roman, you can't win this!" he called. "These bastards start shooting, there go your precious servers."

"Which would be a great inconvenience, yes," Roman called. The man was standing casually with his hands tucked into his pockets, smiling his familiar smile from his TV ads as though he hadn't a care in the world. "The thing is, I can repair them. You, however? Well, if you die here, then it's bad news for your dragon, isn't it? And you, my dear Raphael? Whatever you're thinking of doing with your hands all lit up with lightning, I suggest you reconsider. Or are you alright with Winchester's death on your hands?" He started walking toward them, still smiling his trademark smile. "After all he's done for you, are you really willing to let him go down now?"

Lanette whimpered. Dean clenched his fists. "You son of a bitch," he called helplessly.

"I've been called that," Roman admitted. "I've been called considerably worse. But the fact is, I figured out fast what you were doing when you were so intent on taking out all the satellite dishes. Then, when Castiel came digging through the roof, well, I have to admit, that was quite clever. I doubt Ketch or even Alastair noticed that you never came down from the roof." He chuckled and shook his head. "Castiel opened up the way for you to go human and follow Winchester back into the building, undetected. The only reason you'd want to do that is this." He raised his hands, indicating the stacks. "My servers. It was clever, I'll admit. But unfortunately, not clever enough."

Dean and Lanette looked at each other. Then, they both burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Roman demanded, all traces of his smile suddenly gone.

"What's funny is you, standing there monologuing again, giving us all the time in the world," Dean announced. "That's the best thing about people like you, Roman. You never, ever change!"

The pair blurred, joined together and expanded. Servers toppled over in showers of sparks as a set of massive black wings spread. The dragon roared, seeming to laugh mockingly at the panicked mercenaries firing desperately at it.

Roman backed up quickly and turned to run. His world exploded in stars. "That's for ruining my brother's chance at a normal life with his girl," Dean snarled, drawing a fist back for another blow. "That's for the Finnermans. And this? This is for everyone else you fucked over, Dick!"

Dean's final punch had all the strength of his dragon behind it. Roman flew backward. His head impacted with the wall before his body slid down it and stopped moving.

Dean turned to help Castiel, but the dragon had already dealt with those mercenaries who hadn't bolted out of the room. Cass looked inordinately pleased with himself.

"Whatever," Sam groaned, coming forward with Lanette. "I still say Gabriel won the day by literally pissing on Ketch before stomping him flat."

"And I still say I cannot believe anyone actually thought that was Cass," Dean retorted. "He's got way more class than that."

"I'll admit, that's not something I'd normally do," Castiel agreed, returning to his human form. "But for Ketch, I might consider making an exception."

Dean gave him a betrayed look.

"Gentlemen?" Lanette called, stepping carefully into the middle of the fallen servers. "Right now, these servers are still recoverable. We all agreed that I've got the best chance of making sure no one can ever get anything useable from Roman's blackmail material again. So if you don't mind? I strongly suggest you step back."

Dean quickly ran out of the room with Cass and Sammy. Once outside, he couldn't keep himself from hugging his brother. "You did great," he admitted. "You and Gabe both! You're really awesome with those illusions. Gabe kept his Castiel disguise and still had four other versions of himself flying around, and you let all four of us walk right out from under Roman's nose. That was even better than what you did back at the bar!"

"And I've got the migraine to prove it," Sam grumbled, awkwardly patting his brother's back. "Now I really think we should move back a little further?"

Good advice. Sam and Dean hugged the far wall down the hall, Castiel standing protectively in front of them. Back in the server room, Lanette changed into her dragon form and breathed lightning all over the servers. Soon, smoke was pouring into the hall. Castiel quickly jogged back to the room and assisted Lanette out. Then, they were heading outside to join their friends.