09x24 - Evolution - Part Four: Clock
Episode number: 09x24 of Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)
Title: Evolution
Subtitle: Clock
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word Count: 2,020
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, language
"The map I have isn't that detailed," Dean said into his phone. "Charlie, just, slow down and enunciate."
Dean leaned over his map of the United States. He'd marked four points that Charlie read out to him on the phone, but his handheld map didn't have exact longitude and latitude. So they were improvising.
"Small words," Dean insisted. "General vicinity of... what city?"
"There isn't a city in the general vicinity," Charlie said. "Seriously? Where is Sam? I could just e-mail him a pinpoint map."
"Sam is out," Dean replied.
"No, he's not," Sam chimed in as he entered the war room.
"Hold on, Charlie," Dean said. He covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "Did you reach Jesse?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "We spoke, but he wouldn't hear me out. He took my message, but I don't know if he'll listen to it. No idea if I got through to him at all."
Denali, Alaska. Kull pushed his way past Therion's special guard, comprised almost exclusively of dragons. While Kull never particularly enjoyed Eve's mutant offspring, he had to admit that her dragons were highly valuable warriors. Not only were they difficult to injure and kill, but they were also crafty bastards.
"I take it there's bad news," Therion observed from his entrance.
"Our little spy is finally dead," Kull replied. "But relayed one final message: Sam Winchester failed to stop the cambion."
"Then we need to get out of here," Therion said.
"You go," Kull said. "Take your guard out, and I'll give the order to move."
"We should do this together," Therion objected.
"I am one of the only things on this earth that a cambion isn't a match for," Kull replied. "If he catches up with us, he needs to meet me first. Now, go."
Therion smiled widely as she signaled her dragon guard to carry her out.
"Charlie? Sorry. Sam just got back in. See if the two nerds can make things work," Dean said before he passed off the phone.
"The term nerd isn't right. Awesome is more like it," Charlie said as Sam put his ear to the phone.
"Hey, Charlie, it's Sam."
"Sam! Great, I've got something. Not sure what. But it reminded me of something in one of the Supernatural books. Can't remember which one, though, and at first I was ready to read through them all again, but then I thought. Hey, I know those dudes. Maybe I should run it by them."
"Okay, you sent the e-mail yet?" Sam asked.
"Sure did. Titled Pin Push," she replied. "Thought it was a strong code name."
"Code Pin Push, nice," Sam said as he opened the file attached to the e-mail. "How did this remind you of those damn books again?"
"Something about the five points. They were a pattern or a shape or something. Made of iron."
Sam didn't need the file to finish loading. He asked, "Five points? Shaped like a Devil's Trap?"
"Holy crap," Charlie replied. "Yeah."
"What's going on?" Dean asked.
"Charlie, why are you asking about this?" Sam asked.
"There were, you know, things happening," Charlie hedged. "Nothing to worry about. You know?"
"Charlie," Sam said. "What?"
"Just, you know, omens."
"Omens?" Sam repeated.
"Omens?" Dean echoed. "That can't be good."
"Specifics, Charlie. Come on!"
"Odd weather patterns. Flocks of dead birds. Forest fires. Electrical failures with no know cause - legit unknown cause, because I checked... you know, the usual."
"So these points have been lit up with omens?" Sam asked.
"Pretty much," Charlie replied. "Crap, now I remember what that book was about."
"The Devil's Gate in Wyoming," Sam said.
"That's good," Dean said.
"What?"
"Well, that Devil's Gate needs a key, and we've got it packed away," Dean said simply. "So let'em go after that one."
"Dean," Sam began as patiently as possible, "Samuel Colt made a door to lock that Devil's Gate to keep demons out. But now we've got monster-demon mutts who Colt didn't account for, not to mention at least one jerk of a Leviathan. We can't count on that door staying shut."
"That sounds bad," Charlie said.
"Damnit!" Dean muttered as he left the room.
"Sam?" Charlie asked.
"Sorry, yeah, Charlie. It's bad, but Dean and I are on it."
"Okay, where are we meeting?"
"Actually, Charlie, we need someone to coordinate," Sam said. "Garth's with Kevin now, but we might need some backup on call."
"Hell no, you're not leaving me out!" Charlie protested.
"No, no, we're not," Sam said. "But we could run into anything. Anything. If we need some last minute knowledge, it could be the difference between life or death."
"You jerk, pulling a 'life or death' line on me," Charlie replied fondly. "All right, but keep me in the loop, okay? And be safe. I'll be monitoring for other omens just in case the movement shifts somewhere else."
"Thanks, Charlie," Sam said as he hung up. "Dean!"
"What?" Dean said as he ducked back in. "I'm packing your truck."
"So we're going?" Sam asked.
"We can't just let them walk up and open the damn door, now can we? I locked the Colt up; we head out to Wyoming. Hopefully the giant Devil's Trap is still keeping the douchebags at bay, so we can set supernatural booby traps or something."
"When have we ever been that lucky?" Sam asked. "I know you're against it, but I think we need to get Castiel to zap us there."
"So we're just gonna popup in the middle of a graveyard?" Dean asked.
"No, but close."
Lucifer felt the cambion leave after Gabriel. He hadn't expected that. Jesse Turner's wrath was so pleasantly reassuring, just what Lucifer needed to wheedle into his life. Maybe he couldn't rely on his best weapon to wipe out all of Therion's forces, but he didn't need to. He had witches for fodder and plenty of demons yanked out of the pit.
Unlike monsters, demons were strong. They didn't have their own corporeal bodies; they shed their meat suits and found new ones. Only a fair few had the ability to kill demons, like Leviathan, angels, or especially unfortunate cases like the Winchesters. And Lucifer knew that only a handful of Leviathan would bother with the likes of Therion. He still had the upper hand.
Paimon appeared nearby.
"You may approach," Lucifer said loudly. He loved the attitude of the older class of demons, all deference and obedience.
"Therion's forces are moving again," Paimon said. "And the front guard is nearly done. We're infiltrating the area now."
"Excellent. Tell me, Paimon, " Lucifer began. "You set aside forces under the command of a witch, I believe."
Paimon didn't like it when Lucifer paid such close attention to the details. "Yes, sir, I did."
"To what end?"
"The witch is one of the few who has managed to keep the reapers leashed without incident. The others I set aside have exhibited a propensity for subtlety. I thought it prudent to set up an auxiliary guard against hunters."
"You're worried about the Winchesters?" Lucifer asked.
"I assume they'll be waist deep in blood and guts," Paimon replied patiently. "But there are other hunters, and I've never been fond of surprises."
"Very well, you can keep you private little army of ten," the archangel said. "Move the rest of the forces in."
Rawlins, Wyoming. Castiel teleported them to a men's bathroom in a gas station.
"Seriously?" Dean asked. "No one's here."
"That's the point," Sam said. "Come on."
He shouldered his duffel bag and led the way out. They landed near the middle of the town because it bordered the old cowboy graveyard. It seemed better than popping in.
They walked to the cemetery, and the town was silent.
"Something's very wrong," Castiel observed. "There were nearly ten thousand people in this town."
"Were?" Sam asked.
"This place is empty," Dean added. "But it doesn't look like there was a fight. Or not much of one. Don't see any blood or bodies."
"No," Cas replied. "Sulfur is everywhere."
"So what? Everyone here was possessed?" Sam asked skeptically. "Come on, they couldn't have pulled that many demons through Purgatory."
"Possessed or turned," Castiel replied. "Yes, everyone. Look."
A child was standing sentry outside the cemetery. As soon as the Winchesters looked at her, she ran off into the graveyard.
"Awesome," Dean commented. "Just... awesome."
"So, our plan remains the same?" Sam asked. "Get in, kill Satan and Therion and apparently this entire town and hope the world doesn't burn?"
"And live," Castiel added.
"Right, wouldn't want to forget that," Dean said.
"It would certainly be preferable," Cas said. "But there is every possibility we'll be ripped to pieces."
"Speaking of... why aren't they attacking?" Dean asked.
"They're here to fight each other. We're just distractions," Sam said. "Neither side wants to waste forces on us."
"Then let's make them," Dean replied with a cocky smile.
Outside of Rawlins, Wyoming. Gabriel appeared with the sound of wings.
"Jesse?" he asked.
"Gabriel. I thought you were dead."
"I was trapped," Gabriel replied. "And I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Jesse said. "You can't stop two armies full of monsters and demons and angels."
"That's no excuse," Gabriel replied. "I said I'd protect your parents, and I failed you."
"Why are you here?" Jesse asked.
"To ask you to stop."
"I can't."
"Yes you can," Gabriel said. "It's never too late. I won't give up on you. Come back with me, and we'll start again."
"You don't understand," Jesse said.
"I don't understand?" Gabriel repeated, dumfounded. "If anyone understands, it's me. I spent years running away from who and what I was, Jesse. Using my power in all the wrong ways for all the wrong reasons. I had hundreds, thousands of chances to turn back and never did because I told myself every time that it was just too late. I had done too much. And plenty of times I thought that was true, I honestly believed it. But it wasn't. I was just being a coward, avoiding doing the right thing. Believe me when I say that I understand. I'm telling you, it's not too late. But if you go into a battlefield like the one you're next to... Jesse, coming back from that... parts of you will get lost forever."
The sincerity of the archangel's voice resonated with Jesse, but he couldn't just leave. He was the reason that these forces were gathering here and now.
"I'm a lost cause," Jesse asserted. "You did everything right, but I'm half-demon. The only thing worse than that is being half-human. Easily lured. Easily tempted. Easily broken. You can't fix me, Gabriel, because this is what I am. All I can do is stop what I've started."
"What does that mean? Stop what you started?"
"Sam Winchester jumped into Hell to trap Lucifer," Jesse replied. "I can't do that because that's not what I am. But who I am is close enough."
"You're not making sense."
"You should go home," Jesse replied. "Helping me might've been part of Heaven's plan, but now? You're running again."
"This is important to me. You are important to me. And believe me when I tell you that I don't say things like that, kid. I just don't."
"I know," Jesse replied. "That's how I know you're running." Then he added more sharply, "Sincerity really doesn't suit you. You can't stop me. There's no need for you to die. Go."
Gabriel could feel Jesse's deception; he didn't mean the archangel any harm. But he wasn't lying about his intention to fix something.
"Why are you here?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm not running anymore."
Suddenly Gabriel was disoriented. He staggered sideways and crashed headlong into someone familiar.
"Gabriel?" the man said.
"Joshua?" Gabriel asked. "Wait, when did you come to earth?"
"I didn't."
Gabriel realized where he was, the Garden in Heaven. Jesse must've sent him here, back home.
"Gabriel?" Joshua asked. "Are you all right?"
"I, uh, wasn't expecting to be here so soon," Gabriel replied. "But I guess I'm home now."
<<< Previous Part:
Part Three: Phantasmagoria
Next Part: >>>
Part Five: Brink
Primary Post: 09x24 Evolution
Primary Post: Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)
Title: Evolution
Subtitle: Clock
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word Count: 2,020
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, language
"The map I have isn't that detailed," Dean said into his phone. "Charlie, just, slow down and enunciate."
Dean leaned over his map of the United States. He'd marked four points that Charlie read out to him on the phone, but his handheld map didn't have exact longitude and latitude. So they were improvising.
"Small words," Dean insisted. "General vicinity of... what city?"
"There isn't a city in the general vicinity," Charlie said. "Seriously? Where is Sam? I could just e-mail him a pinpoint map."
"Sam is out," Dean replied.
"No, he's not," Sam chimed in as he entered the war room.
"Hold on, Charlie," Dean said. He covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "Did you reach Jesse?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "We spoke, but he wouldn't hear me out. He took my message, but I don't know if he'll listen to it. No idea if I got through to him at all."
Denali, Alaska. Kull pushed his way past Therion's special guard, comprised almost exclusively of dragons. While Kull never particularly enjoyed Eve's mutant offspring, he had to admit that her dragons were highly valuable warriors. Not only were they difficult to injure and kill, but they were also crafty bastards.
"I take it there's bad news," Therion observed from his entrance.
"Our little spy is finally dead," Kull replied. "But relayed one final message: Sam Winchester failed to stop the cambion."
"Then we need to get out of here," Therion said.
"You go," Kull said. "Take your guard out, and I'll give the order to move."
"We should do this together," Therion objected.
"I am one of the only things on this earth that a cambion isn't a match for," Kull replied. "If he catches up with us, he needs to meet me first. Now, go."
Therion smiled widely as she signaled her dragon guard to carry her out.
"Charlie? Sorry. Sam just got back in. See if the two nerds can make things work," Dean said before he passed off the phone.
"The term nerd isn't right. Awesome is more like it," Charlie said as Sam put his ear to the phone.
"Hey, Charlie, it's Sam."
"Sam! Great, I've got something. Not sure what. But it reminded me of something in one of the Supernatural books. Can't remember which one, though, and at first I was ready to read through them all again, but then I thought. Hey, I know those dudes. Maybe I should run it by them."
"Okay, you sent the e-mail yet?" Sam asked.
"Sure did. Titled Pin Push," she replied. "Thought it was a strong code name."
"Code Pin Push, nice," Sam said as he opened the file attached to the e-mail. "How did this remind you of those damn books again?"
"Something about the five points. They were a pattern or a shape or something. Made of iron."
Sam didn't need the file to finish loading. He asked, "Five points? Shaped like a Devil's Trap?"
"Holy crap," Charlie replied. "Yeah."
"What's going on?" Dean asked.
"Charlie, why are you asking about this?" Sam asked.
"There were, you know, things happening," Charlie hedged. "Nothing to worry about. You know?"
"Charlie," Sam said. "What?"
"Just, you know, omens."
"Omens?" Sam repeated.
"Omens?" Dean echoed. "That can't be good."
"Specifics, Charlie. Come on!"
"Odd weather patterns. Flocks of dead birds. Forest fires. Electrical failures with no know cause - legit unknown cause, because I checked... you know, the usual."
"So these points have been lit up with omens?" Sam asked.
"Pretty much," Charlie replied. "Crap, now I remember what that book was about."
"The Devil's Gate in Wyoming," Sam said.
"That's good," Dean said.
"What?"
"Well, that Devil's Gate needs a key, and we've got it packed away," Dean said simply. "So let'em go after that one."
"Dean," Sam began as patiently as possible, "Samuel Colt made a door to lock that Devil's Gate to keep demons out. But now we've got monster-demon mutts who Colt didn't account for, not to mention at least one jerk of a Leviathan. We can't count on that door staying shut."
"That sounds bad," Charlie said.
"Damnit!" Dean muttered as he left the room.
"Sam?" Charlie asked.
"Sorry, yeah, Charlie. It's bad, but Dean and I are on it."
"Okay, where are we meeting?"
"Actually, Charlie, we need someone to coordinate," Sam said. "Garth's with Kevin now, but we might need some backup on call."
"Hell no, you're not leaving me out!" Charlie protested.
"No, no, we're not," Sam said. "But we could run into anything. Anything. If we need some last minute knowledge, it could be the difference between life or death."
"You jerk, pulling a 'life or death' line on me," Charlie replied fondly. "All right, but keep me in the loop, okay? And be safe. I'll be monitoring for other omens just in case the movement shifts somewhere else."
"Thanks, Charlie," Sam said as he hung up. "Dean!"
"What?" Dean said as he ducked back in. "I'm packing your truck."
"So we're going?" Sam asked.
"We can't just let them walk up and open the damn door, now can we? I locked the Colt up; we head out to Wyoming. Hopefully the giant Devil's Trap is still keeping the douchebags at bay, so we can set supernatural booby traps or something."
"When have we ever been that lucky?" Sam asked. "I know you're against it, but I think we need to get Castiel to zap us there."
"So we're just gonna popup in the middle of a graveyard?" Dean asked.
"No, but close."
Lucifer felt the cambion leave after Gabriel. He hadn't expected that. Jesse Turner's wrath was so pleasantly reassuring, just what Lucifer needed to wheedle into his life. Maybe he couldn't rely on his best weapon to wipe out all of Therion's forces, but he didn't need to. He had witches for fodder and plenty of demons yanked out of the pit.
Unlike monsters, demons were strong. They didn't have their own corporeal bodies; they shed their meat suits and found new ones. Only a fair few had the ability to kill demons, like Leviathan, angels, or especially unfortunate cases like the Winchesters. And Lucifer knew that only a handful of Leviathan would bother with the likes of Therion. He still had the upper hand.
Paimon appeared nearby.
"You may approach," Lucifer said loudly. He loved the attitude of the older class of demons, all deference and obedience.
"Therion's forces are moving again," Paimon said. "And the front guard is nearly done. We're infiltrating the area now."
"Excellent. Tell me, Paimon, " Lucifer began. "You set aside forces under the command of a witch, I believe."
Paimon didn't like it when Lucifer paid such close attention to the details. "Yes, sir, I did."
"To what end?"
"The witch is one of the few who has managed to keep the reapers leashed without incident. The others I set aside have exhibited a propensity for subtlety. I thought it prudent to set up an auxiliary guard against hunters."
"You're worried about the Winchesters?" Lucifer asked.
"I assume they'll be waist deep in blood and guts," Paimon replied patiently. "But there are other hunters, and I've never been fond of surprises."
"Very well, you can keep you private little army of ten," the archangel said. "Move the rest of the forces in."
Rawlins, Wyoming. Castiel teleported them to a men's bathroom in a gas station.
"Seriously?" Dean asked. "No one's here."
"That's the point," Sam said. "Come on."
He shouldered his duffel bag and led the way out. They landed near the middle of the town because it bordered the old cowboy graveyard. It seemed better than popping in.
They walked to the cemetery, and the town was silent.
"Something's very wrong," Castiel observed. "There were nearly ten thousand people in this town."
"Were?" Sam asked.
"This place is empty," Dean added. "But it doesn't look like there was a fight. Or not much of one. Don't see any blood or bodies."
"No," Cas replied. "Sulfur is everywhere."
"So what? Everyone here was possessed?" Sam asked skeptically. "Come on, they couldn't have pulled that many demons through Purgatory."
"Possessed or turned," Castiel replied. "Yes, everyone. Look."
A child was standing sentry outside the cemetery. As soon as the Winchesters looked at her, she ran off into the graveyard.
"Awesome," Dean commented. "Just... awesome."
"So, our plan remains the same?" Sam asked. "Get in, kill Satan and Therion and apparently this entire town and hope the world doesn't burn?"
"And live," Castiel added.
"Right, wouldn't want to forget that," Dean said.
"It would certainly be preferable," Cas said. "But there is every possibility we'll be ripped to pieces."
"Speaking of... why aren't they attacking?" Dean asked.
"They're here to fight each other. We're just distractions," Sam said. "Neither side wants to waste forces on us."
"Then let's make them," Dean replied with a cocky smile.
Outside of Rawlins, Wyoming. Gabriel appeared with the sound of wings.
"Jesse?" he asked.
"Gabriel. I thought you were dead."
"I was trapped," Gabriel replied. "And I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Jesse said. "You can't stop two armies full of monsters and demons and angels."
"That's no excuse," Gabriel replied. "I said I'd protect your parents, and I failed you."
"Why are you here?" Jesse asked.
"To ask you to stop."
"I can't."
"Yes you can," Gabriel said. "It's never too late. I won't give up on you. Come back with me, and we'll start again."
"You don't understand," Jesse said.
"I don't understand?" Gabriel repeated, dumfounded. "If anyone understands, it's me. I spent years running away from who and what I was, Jesse. Using my power in all the wrong ways for all the wrong reasons. I had hundreds, thousands of chances to turn back and never did because I told myself every time that it was just too late. I had done too much. And plenty of times I thought that was true, I honestly believed it. But it wasn't. I was just being a coward, avoiding doing the right thing. Believe me when I say that I understand. I'm telling you, it's not too late. But if you go into a battlefield like the one you're next to... Jesse, coming back from that... parts of you will get lost forever."
The sincerity of the archangel's voice resonated with Jesse, but he couldn't just leave. He was the reason that these forces were gathering here and now.
"I'm a lost cause," Jesse asserted. "You did everything right, but I'm half-demon. The only thing worse than that is being half-human. Easily lured. Easily tempted. Easily broken. You can't fix me, Gabriel, because this is what I am. All I can do is stop what I've started."
"What does that mean? Stop what you started?"
"Sam Winchester jumped into Hell to trap Lucifer," Jesse replied. "I can't do that because that's not what I am. But who I am is close enough."
"You're not making sense."
"You should go home," Jesse replied. "Helping me might've been part of Heaven's plan, but now? You're running again."
"This is important to me. You are important to me. And believe me when I tell you that I don't say things like that, kid. I just don't."
"I know," Jesse replied. "That's how I know you're running." Then he added more sharply, "Sincerity really doesn't suit you. You can't stop me. There's no need for you to die. Go."
Gabriel could feel Jesse's deception; he didn't mean the archangel any harm. But he wasn't lying about his intention to fix something.
"Why are you here?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm not running anymore."
Suddenly Gabriel was disoriented. He staggered sideways and crashed headlong into someone familiar.
"Gabriel?" the man said.
"Joshua?" Gabriel asked. "Wait, when did you come to earth?"
"I didn't."
Gabriel realized where he was, the Garden in Heaven. Jesse must've sent him here, back home.
"Gabriel?" Joshua asked. "Are you all right?"
"I, uh, wasn't expecting to be here so soon," Gabriel replied. "But I guess I'm home now."
<<< Previous Part:
Part Three: Phantasmagoria
Next Part: >>>
Part Five: Brink
Primary Post: 09x24 Evolution
Primary Post: Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)