Superman Tonight (10/?)

Jan 31, 2011 18:22

Title: Superman Tonight (10/?)
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R overall, mainly for the odd swear-word
Genre: Pre-slash, angst, hurt/comfort
Pairing:Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, implied Dean/Cas
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2557 (this part, 20554 total so far)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!

Author's Note: Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome beta for this story, of_red_clouds - you're awesome!

Previous chapters:   Chapter 1   Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4   Chapter 5   Chapter 6   Chapter 7   Chapter 8   Chapter 9


They were less than five minutes from Bobby’s when it happened.

“Stop the car.”

Dean glanced in the rear-view mirror as Sam turned to face the archangel in the back seat.

“We’re nearly there dude…”

“Stop the car.”

Dean slowed to a stop at the side of the road and fixed his gaze on Gabriel.

“Well?”

“If I said there was trouble ahead, that under no circumstances can we go to Bobby’s, what would you do?”

“Trouble? What’s wrong Gabe? Is Bobby okay…?”

Sam trailed off and Dean noticed Gabriel going for the door handle.

He slid from under Cas, lowering him carefully to the seat as he climbed to stand beside the car, and before either of them could say another word, Gabriel was talking.

“Probably not, no - Dean, get them out of here now. As far as you can as fast as you can. I’ll do what I can for your friend, you look after my brother.”

Dean stared open-mouthed as the door slammed shut, before leaning out through his open window.

“What the hell…?”

“Unless you go right now, Castiel is going to die.”

Gabriel spoke slowly, his tone precise and hard.

“I might be able to save you two idiots, and your friend, but it would mean killing my baby brother. He can’t be here - get them gone! NOW!”

Dean had to fight to avoid cowering away from the smaller man - who he currently had no problem at all believing to be one of Heaven’s most terrifying weapons, despite his small stature.

The elder hunter was many things, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew desperate when he heard it, and Gabriel was desperate with a capital D. He didn’t know what was going on, but something was wrong enough that Gabriel was worried.

The engine was running again before he even realised he’d decided to trust the Archangel.

As he turned the car, getting ready to head back the way they’d come, Gabriel called out to them.

“Yeah?”

“If this goes badly…if I can’t help him? There’s a demon named Crowley - he knows someone who should be able to do something. Him and ‘Zira are the good guys - they don’t much care for the upper management above or below anymore, I bet they’d just love Cassie!”

“Gabe, what’re you…”

“Sammy, don’t, ‘kay? I’m sorry - just…Dean, I’ll try and prevent any backlash, but your brother might need help too, worst comes to worst. Look after them.”

“Always.” Because he might not like the guy, but this wasn’t the time for that crap.

Dean might not know what was going on, but he got that it was bad, and he knew when to shut up and do as he was asked.

“Now go!”

Without further hesitation Dean hit the gas and the car raced back down the highway.

He watched in the rear-view mirror as Gabriel began running in the opposite direction at a speed that Dean guessed would probably put most professional athletes to shame.

Once he was out of sight, Dean turned to glance at his brother.

“So Sammy, care to explain what Gabriel’s last remark was all about?”

“That would be part of that longer story you got the short version of earlier…”

His brother sounded worried and distracted, but Dean pushed ahead. If something did happen, he needed to know what was going on so he would know how to help Sam, after all.

“Well, now I want the longer version then.”

“Burning the demon blood out was a lot more complicated than I made it sound…”

“Obviously, or Cas would’ve suggested it ages ago.”

“…It had side-effects…”

Dean listened as he drove, and if his hands gripped the wheel a little tighter, or his foot tried to force the gas pedal through the floor - well, at least he wasn’t interrupting or cursing or yelling, right?

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

Gabriel watched as Dean sped off, before turning and running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Damn those Winchesters anyway.

He shouldn’t be doing this - it wasn’t going to end well for anyone. Especially him.

He’d been sure his survival instinct was better than this.

The problem was, of course, that without using his Grace and risking Cas, he had no way of making them do what he said. They wouldn’t have left Bobby even if he’d taken the time to explain things, and that meant that to save Castiel, he had to go get himself killed by his brother and instead trust the younger angel’s survival to two humans, a bookshop-owning angel, and his demon boyfriend.

Fan-freaking-tastic!

As he drew closer to the salvage yard, he realised that the grace he’d been tracking was actually six distinct grace signatures - he didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or groan in dismay.

On the one hand, Lucifer he could’ve perhaps reasoned with - especially with Sam and Dean already out of reach (assuming the other angel wasn’t too pissed about the whole dream thing with Sam that was…).

Luci wasn’t an idiot after all…he would’ve seen that it wasn’t worth risking losing, not with nothing to be gained by victory beyond a dead younger brother.

Six unknown angels though…depending on who it was…

There were very few who knew he was still alive, and even fewer who wouldn’t love the chance to change that - runaways weren’t exactly popular after all.

Yup, he might not be up against big bro, but he was almost certainly still completely screwed.

He rounded the turning into the salvage yard, slowing to a walk as he took it all in.

Empty.

They were waiting inside then. He drew his sword slowly, hid it up his sleeve, and headed for the door - there was no sense in trying to be sneaky, even with his Grace under wraps like it was they would’ve felt him coming by now. They might not know what they were picking up, but they would’ve felt something.

He grabbed the door handle, took a breath, and pushed.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

“Run ya idjits! It’s a tra…”

The shout cut off abruptly with a pained cry.

Before he could take more than one step in the direction the shout had come from, the voice sounded again.

“I swear to God, I’ll kick your asses so hard you touch one hair on those boys’ heads!”

Okay. So, Bobby had guts. He could definitely see why the Winchesters liked him so much. It took a lot of guts to stand there and threaten six angels.

Gabriel rounded the corner into the room the voice had come from, and stopped short.

It took a lot of guts to stand there and threaten six angels.

It took an insane amount of guts to do it from a freaking wheelchair.

He found himself grinning slightly as all heads rounded to look at him.

“What the hell are you doing here? Angels working with Tricksters now? Damned evil sons of bitches…”

“Enough,” one of the angels - Zachariah…? Well, hadn’t he just gone and gotten all full of himself then? - said, waving a hand dismissively and sending the human flying from his chair into the wall.

“You think you’re the first piece of piss to throw me into a wall? Idjit! I ain’t listening to a word you got to say, not in my house!”

Gabriel’s grin widened - he liked this guy. He liked this guy a lot.

He was freaking suicidal, but hey, everyone had their flaws…

Of course Bobby probably didn’t realise the archangel was the cavalry, given their last encounter, so that might explain it a little…he probably figured he was dead anyway, so why not go down mouthing off at the bad guys since throwing punches was out.

It was a good plan as far as it went, but hopefully they could keep it as a plan B for now.

“And who might you be?” Zachariah asked, smiling mock-politely. As if he wasn’t choking a guy pinned against the wall two feet off the ground as he spoke.

“Me? Oh I’m your friendly neighbourhood Trickster…just popped in to sort out some business.”

“And what business would your kind,” the words were spat out like an insult, “have with a hunter then?”

“What? Oh, no, you misunderstand - my business isn’t with him, it’s with you. So if you wouldn’t mind releasing our friend over there and leaving - well, I’d really appreciate it.”

Gabriel smiled serenely, and readied himself for an attack.

“Why would we do that? Do you even know who we are?”

“Let’s see…hmmm…you’re fat, bald and stupid, and they’re your evil minions?”

Out of the corner of his eye Gabriel saw the hunter’s eyes widen comically in shock - or possibly because of the choking…yep, looked like that was becoming a problem…

“Ramiel, Tahariel…deal with this insect.”

Gabriel forced back the memories that bubbled up upon hearing the names, and readied himself even as he half whispered a soft “Please don’t…”

Zachariah’s victorious smirk was the only acknowledgement he received, no doubt adopted at what he likely assumed was Gabriel begging for mercy.

The angels set upon him, and he raised his hands, allowing his sword to drop from his sleeve at the last second to sink into the chest of one of his brothers.

He wrenched it free and spun, not watching the empty vessel as it fell, concentrating on the slightly warier angels now circling him - apparently the other three hadn’t taken too kindly to Ramiel’s death, and were now joining the attack unordered.

One of them - he realised with a pang that it was Shemael - pulled her sword and leapt for him suddenly.

He dodged to the side and threw her into the wall with enough force to shake the house. He didn’t want to kill them…if he could just injure them enough, buy enough time to get Bobby out…

He side-stepped another attack, only to catch a sword through his side from behind. He pulled free with a hiss, and glanced down in shock at the blood that ran freely from the wound.

Of course - his Grace was supressed - it wasn’t going to close, not until he released it…

Wincing he dodged another handful of strikes before Tahariel got lucky this time, landing a swipe across his shoulder that made his non-sword arm hang uselessly down the side of his body.

If he kept this up, he wouldn’t win.

Steeling himself, Gabriel struck out repeatedly, rapidly, and within a minute only Zachariah remained.

He stood as impassive as ever, seemingly uncaring that he’d just gotten five of his brothers killed - Gabriel winced at the thought…his hands were stained, and they were never coming clean again…

“Impressive. I have to wonder though - where would a Trickster get a sword like that? And why would you risk yourself for a lowly hunter, of all things?”

“It’s not important. Let him go - you’ve seen what I’m capable of…”

Gabriel let the threat hang in the air.

He hoped Zachariah was still the same coward he’d always been. His wounds were bleeding more sluggishly now, but he knew that was due more to lack of blood than any healing he might hope for.

It hadn’t been long enough yet, that was the problem. They were still too close. When Gabriel released his grace it was going to explode like a pressure valve suddenly opened, and if that hit Sam… If that hit Cas through Sam…

So he couldn’t risk it, and now he was going to bleed to death for brothers he’d ended up killing anyway.

“Hmmm…looking at you - did you know you’re swaying by the way?”

Was he? Oh crap, that wasn’t good…

“Looking at you, I think I quite like my chances. You have Castiel’s sword and you’re protecting the hunter - the Winchesters aren’t coming are they?”

“No.”

“Pity…they’re ruining my reputation back home, you know. Guess I’ll have to make do with their pseudo-daddy instead for now then.”

Gabriel watched as his brother turned to face Bobby. The hunter’s face was almost purple, and his hands clawed helplessly at his neck as Zachariah grinned evilly.

He tuned out whatever the angel was saying - it wasn’t important.

It made him physically sick, to know that this is what his brothers had come to in his absence. How were they any different from Lucifer?

*Focus!*

Apparently blood-loss was bad for your concentration…who knew?

*And again…focus!*

Bobby was going to die, unless he did something now.

He took a step forward, and froze as he felt the world tilt dangerously. He was in no shape to fight Zach - he’d lose in less time than it took him to blink.

He had only one option left, but they were still too close.

*Shit!*

He couldn’t wait - Bobby would be dead if he waited, and Cas would never forgive him for letting him live at that kind of cost.

*Double Shit! I am so sorry, brother…*

“Excuse me?”

He spoke up, cutting Zachariah off in the middle of what sounded like an utterly clichéd evil monologue.

“Aren’t you dead yet?” Zach asked impatiently.

“Not quite Zachariah.”

The shock on Zach’s face at hearing his name was a picture. He was probably trying to figure out how some nobody Trickster recognised him.

“I think I remember telling you to let him go… Oh and this sword? Not Castiel’s.”

“But then whose…?”

The other angel’s confusion was hilarious to watch.

“Oh of course!” He exclaimed, summoning up energy he didn’t have to put some life into his voice. “How rude of me! I didn’t even introduce myself when Bobby got my name all wrong!”

The hunter’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, even as he struggled to breathe.

“You can call me Gabriel,” he finished, voice hard and cold, any trace of mirth gone.

He smirked with pride as Zach’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open in a stuttered “What…?”

“You kiddies have been misbehaving while me and Dad have been away, haven’t you Zachy? It’s time for you to have a time-out.”

Without pausing to think twice - he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it if he did - Gabriel loosed his Grace, and concentrated it all into one thought.

Zachariah began to glow brightly even as he edged quickly backwards, the light getting brighter and brighter until he burnt from the inside, crumbling into ash along with the other empty vessels as Gabriel whispered a blessing for the vessels’ souls.

He pulled his Grace back quickly and harshly, tamping it back down as far as he could.

*Please Dad… please don’t let me have just killed one of the only decent brothers I’ve got! Please be alive Cas!*

A dull thud echoed through the silent room as Bobby slouched to the floor at the base of the wall, drawing Gabriel out of his thoughts.

He looked down, only to realise that he was still bleeding sluggishly - *Crap! Probably should’ve done something about that when I had the chance…* - and swayed slightly on his feet.

Spotting the phone on the wall, he staggered across to grab it, throwing it at an awestruck Bobby Singer.

“Call them! Now! Get them here, and ask them…” his voice shook as it trailed off, and he sank to the floor against the wall.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he continued.

“Ask them if he’s still breathing.”

Next Chapter:  Chapter 11

rating: r, character: gabriel, genre: pre-slash, word count (chapter): 1000-4999, genre: hurt/comfort, character: sam, pairing: dean/castiel, word count (story): 20000-29999, superman tonight, character: bobby, genre: angst, pairing:sam/gabriel, character: castiel, character: dean

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