SPN/DA Fic: With a Bang part 4 of 15
Further evidence that I can be talked into anything. lomer asked and so I did it. ♥ In the spirit of fast & fun (and no time for craiji epics) this fic will be: in small installments, flying without a beta, and basically flash-fic of the most flashy kind. (even more flashy for me)
Title: With a Bang - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7 - part 8 - part 9 - part 10 - part 11 - part 12 - part 13 - part 14 - part 15 & Epilogue *Completed*
For all other stories in the bang!verse go: here
Author: Mink
Rating: SPN/DA Crossover - PG - Gen - AU in the year 2020 clap your hands and believe!
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: SPN & DA & characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: Two worlds collide and all three explode.
In the year 2009 everything had changed.
Alec had only been ten years old for the largest terrorist attack in history but he remembered the lights going out like it was yesterday. He'd been locked away in Manticore at the time but they allowed their children to watch society's collapse from the safety of their own censored news casts.
The Pulse they'd called it.
It hadn't been a pandemic or even a nuclear device. Nope, instead of wiping out the human race with viruses and radiation, it had just been a bunch of hackers. They detonated an electromagnetic pulse high enough in the atmosphere to annihilate almost every computer and communications system in north America. When the entire network went dead a panic stricken population had swarmed to the big cities. The government promised that the law was still firmly in place within all major the metropolises. It was supposed to be where all the water and electricity were working and life could gradually return to normal.
But it all hadn't quite worked out that way.
“Alec?”
“I'm right here.”
Alec winced when the bright flashlight was pointed directly into his sensitive eyes.
“Keep up,” Dean warned from ahead in the murk. “Unless you wanna get lost in here.”
Alec wanted to tell him about a hundred other deeper holes he'd walked in with no fear of losing his way. However, instead of lagging back he picked up his pace to keep the Winchesters in sight. They were the ones with the guns after all. And besides, he hated to go on long walks all alone.
“This way,” Sam was whispering. “She knows we're here.”
They passed a fractured row of sewer pipes that had been converted into a catacomb for the deceased members of the underground den. Considering the turnover rate for the junkies, the makeshift tombs were crammed past capacity.
It reminded Alec of the crowded chaos of topside.
The post-Pulse reports of harmony in the cities was all a load of crap of course. Government reassurances usually were. But that hadn't stopped millions from fleeing overnight into spaces built to support less than half that number. Within a year the economy collapsed in on itself, the world market exploded and almost every country on the planet dipped to third world status. Needless to say, the rules didn't change.
They went flying out the fucking window.
It didn't take long for organized crime to come back in style. A handful of lucky corporations boomed into mega-conglomerates when suddenly left to operate in a competitor free environment. The shaky government quietly followed suit. That left the average citizen to get busy finding income and shelter wherever they could make it work.
And sometimes the two necessities went hand in hand.
“You holdin'?” a woman in a filthy red dress asked. “You got anything good?”
Alec had been asked that often enough but never down in a pit like this one. Sam ignored her, swinging his flashlight around like a divining rod. However, Dean was doing as well as Alec in the 'not staring' department. She only had one high heel shoe on and a plastic bag on her shoulder like it was a fancy purse.
“I don't have no money,” she told them as she ran greasy hands through what was left of her hair. “But I'll do you both. I got tested last year. I'm clean.”
Dean handed her a creased dollar bill.
It was a cozy crack den in a hideous kind of way. There were as many candles as there were people holding the smaller orange glow of their pipes. It lit the vaulted basement ceilings that rose and dipped in concrete arches like a weird church. An enormous drainage pipe thundered raw sewage like a water fall down into another tunnel that had caved in below it.
“There ya go,” Dean jerked a thumb at the idealistic scenery. “Now that's the kind of shit they should put in the Seattle brochures.”
“You holdin'?” the woman repeated with dull eyes.
Alec swallowed nervously when he realized her dress wasn't actually red. The fabric was just covered in old blood. He was more than happy when Sam finally picked a direction so they could start moving again. The air got harder to breathe as they walked deeper into the subterranean dwelling, the acrid pipe smoke curling and churning through the beams of the flashlights. All the swag burning up down here was laced with more household chemicals than even the transgenic could name.
“This is awesome,” Dean coughed harshly into his fist. “L-Let's get a timeshare here.”
“Do you see it?” Sam was making his way through the maze of people. “There it is.”
Alec wasn't sure what he was expecting. Perhaps a throne made of polished hubcaps surrounded by an entourage of the nobly homeless. Maybe some old piece of classic sculpture that used to sit in a park hauled down here for grand décor.
What he wasn't expecting was one smelly over sized refrigerator box.
“Your friend is in there?” Alec didn't try to mask the disappointment. “I'd say it'd be smart to check if she's still alive first but I think it's safe to say that smells like bad news-- hey, wait!”
Sam had lifted a dirty flap of cardboard and was crawling inside.
“Dean, make 'em stop!” Alec appealed to whatever sensibilities Dean might have owned that his freakish brother didn't. “Tell him to get out of there. This is where the crazy homeless people live! Not the nice normal dumpster kind you see upstairs everyday, oh no, these fuckers are 'stab you to protect their unicorn' kinda crazy-- Dean? Oh, come on.”
Alec was left standing alone with a stinky box. The thing was pretty big but not big enough to fit both Winchesters and some lady. Cursing the fact that his hands were still locked together, he dropped down on his knees and flipped up the flap door.
“Hello?”
He had to move in a few inches to comprehend why no one was immediately answering. The flap opened up not into a cramped abode, but served to disguise the entrance over a flight of narrow descending stairs. Alec slid down the first few steps and tried to look down through the metal grates to see where he was headed. By the time he reached the bottom, he knew from the scorching heat and reek of oil that he was in a boiler room.
The Winchesters were there, weapons stowed away and odd looks of relief on their faces. It smelled a lot better down here but the rank humidity made Alec's head swim.
“Missouri,” Sam said. “This is--”
“It's your Alec,” she breathed. “My God in heaven, it's him.”
A woman with dark skin and dark eyes rose to meet him. Despite the temperature she was wearing several sweaters and a red silk scarf wrapped tightly around her head. Spreading her ample arms wide, she made to embrace him like they were old friends and not complete strangers.
Alec backed away and fell onto a sofa.
Missouri had no throne but she had a battered leather couch. It was propped up against the massive furnace with a coffee table sitting beside it.
“You uh, you sell drugs here?”
“I sell lots of things,” the woman grinned. “But most times folks just pay me for some peace of mind.”
Alec stared at the rows of bookshelves neatly stacked with texts. The grimy floor was covered in an even more grimy throw rug, and part of the heating pipes had been diverted to a make-do kitchen. Besides being located in the belly of a crack house, the place was a lot nicer than to be expected. It was better than nice because it was also a secret. Alec suddenly saw the wisdom of the location and felt himself relax a little too. Until the woman sat down beside him and took him into her arms.
“My god, my god. I thought you were lost child,” her fingers touched his hands and face. “Lost to us, lost to your parents, lost to the world.”
“I don't think I'm the guy you're lookin' for, ma'am,” Alec had to admit that she did smell pretty good. Like fresh apples and baked bread. “These guys here, they've mistaken me for someone else. I-I don't have any parents.”
“I think the kid might believe in the stork," Dean snorted. "And cabbage patches."
“Shush Dean,” Missouri waved a hand at him. “Lemme work for a second.”
Alec watched Dean shrug and take a load off in one of the comfortable chairs nearest the glowing boiler. However, Sam remained standing. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched them with an expectancy that made Alec shift uneasily in his seat.
“When were you born, baby?” she asked.
Alec looked uncertainly between Sam and the oddly imposing woman. He didn't know why the man's nod of approval made him feel better about talking to her but it did.
“I don't know my exact uh, birth date, but I do know my first set of trial vaccinations were in December 2000--”
“You don't know so let me tell you,” she went to the old kettle steaming on her stove. “You were born on November 2nd, 1999.”
“That's not possible,” Alec shook his head. “I've seen my records and--”
“Just listen for a bit child,” she poured the water into mismatched tea cups. “You were born on the same night your mother died.”
Alec stilled as an image flashed unbidden behind his eyes. It was the pale haired girl from his dreams.
Jessica.
“She died in a fire,” Missouri said. “And we all thought her baby died too.”
Sam's low voice interrupted them.
“I didn't know about you, Alec. Not until ten years ago,” He dragged a sleeve across damp eyes and sagged down into a chair beside his brother. “I didn't know you survived. No one could find you after that fire. There were no remains. There wasn't anything left--”
Dean's hand on Sam's arm quieted him.
“They must have picked Alec up that night,” Missouri nodded. “Packed him up and headed for the nearest gate.”
“Gate? What gate?” Alec yanked at his trapped hands in annoyance. Everyone was talking too fast and no one was making any fucking sense. “Everybody just shut up. Just stop for a second...”
“Ya know that thing they keep callin' The Pulse?” Dean asked. “It's all a lie.”
“I said shut up,” Alec ordered weakly.
“Electromagnetic Pulse. Hell's Gate. Same thing.” Dean held out his hands. “Your Manticore friends out in Wyoming? They built their lab on a nice big gate out there and they figured out the only way to open it was with kids like you. So they cracked a door to hell back in 2009. And kaboom.”
Dean made a sweep of his arms that didn't just mean the mess of the boiler room they were sitting in. The man meant the street above and the ruined city beyond. He meant the country and the entire shattered world.
“It almost worked,” Sam added. “But they didn't get it quite right.”
Alec found the first stair behind him and stepped up onto it. These people were worse than insane, they were delusional. They really believed the shit they were saying. And they wanted him to believe it too.
His head was aching with the heat but the sweat down his back felt icy cold.
“The Pulse was a terrorist attack,” he recited what he'd been taught since the age of ten. “I-It was a military act designed to disable every major infrastructure on the planet.”
“That's just a story,” Missouri chided. “And stories are made to sooth frightened children.”
“There was an attack!” Alec shouted. “Everyone knows that, it-it wasn't a gate. It-it was--”
“Okay, yes Alec,” Sam came towards him slowly. “You're right, there was an attack, but not the kind you 're thinking of.”
“Let me just show the boy,” Missouri was rolling up her sleeves. “It will make this all a lot easier.”
“I dunno,” Dean stood up and stepped in front of Alec in a protective gesture. “That shit you do? It's not nice. In fact, it kinda hurts--”
“Let her do it,” Sam said firmly. “It'll be okay.”
Alec decided not to hang around for any more votes on what should happen to him next.
“Well, uh...” he climbed backwards up the steps. “This has been a lot of fun but I think I really should get going now. Thanks for the hugs and everything, its b-been great but... I- I...”
Alec's legs folded underneath him.
“..shit..”
He wanted to get up. He wanted to start running up the stairs and get far away from here. But he couldn't move. All he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears as Missouri came closer. The warm smile of her apology wasn't much of a consolation as she began to rub her hands briskly together. As Alec's vision tunneled, the anticipatory gesture reminded him of a surgeon preparing for the cut.
“D-Dean?” Alec tried his last best hope. “Whatever she's gonna do, I-I dun wanna, I dun wanna do it--”
“It'll be quick,” Dean didn't sound very happy. “I'll be here the whole time.”
Alec couldn't see much but he could feel strong arms close around his body and lift him up off the stairs. It felt right to be held so tightly, like a fierce wind was about to blow.
When the dreams hit it took a moment for Alec to realize that he wasn't sleeping.
This time all his nightmares came out to greet him for real.
tbc
go to part 5
Title: With a Bang - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7 - part 8 - part 9 - part 10 - part 11 - part 12 - part 13 - part 14 - part 15 & Epilogue *Completed*
For all other stories in the bang!verse go: here
Author: Mink
Rating: SPN/DA Crossover - PG - Gen - AU in the year 2020 clap your hands and believe!
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: SPN & DA & characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: Two worlds collide and all three explode.
In the year 2009 everything had changed.
Alec had only been ten years old for the largest terrorist attack in history but he remembered the lights going out like it was yesterday. He'd been locked away in Manticore at the time but they allowed their children to watch society's collapse from the safety of their own censored news casts.
The Pulse they'd called it.
It hadn't been a pandemic or even a nuclear device. Nope, instead of wiping out the human race with viruses and radiation, it had just been a bunch of hackers. They detonated an electromagnetic pulse high enough in the atmosphere to annihilate almost every computer and communications system in north America. When the entire network went dead a panic stricken population had swarmed to the big cities. The government promised that the law was still firmly in place within all major the metropolises. It was supposed to be where all the water and electricity were working and life could gradually return to normal.
But it all hadn't quite worked out that way.
“Alec?”
“I'm right here.”
Alec winced when the bright flashlight was pointed directly into his sensitive eyes.
“Keep up,” Dean warned from ahead in the murk. “Unless you wanna get lost in here.”
Alec wanted to tell him about a hundred other deeper holes he'd walked in with no fear of losing his way. However, instead of lagging back he picked up his pace to keep the Winchesters in sight. They were the ones with the guns after all. And besides, he hated to go on long walks all alone.
“This way,” Sam was whispering. “She knows we're here.”
They passed a fractured row of sewer pipes that had been converted into a catacomb for the deceased members of the underground den. Considering the turnover rate for the junkies, the makeshift tombs were crammed past capacity.
It reminded Alec of the crowded chaos of topside.
The post-Pulse reports of harmony in the cities was all a load of crap of course. Government reassurances usually were. But that hadn't stopped millions from fleeing overnight into spaces built to support less than half that number. Within a year the economy collapsed in on itself, the world market exploded and almost every country on the planet dipped to third world status. Needless to say, the rules didn't change.
They went flying out the fucking window.
It didn't take long for organized crime to come back in style. A handful of lucky corporations boomed into mega-conglomerates when suddenly left to operate in a competitor free environment. The shaky government quietly followed suit. That left the average citizen to get busy finding income and shelter wherever they could make it work.
And sometimes the two necessities went hand in hand.
“You holdin'?” a woman in a filthy red dress asked. “You got anything good?”
Alec had been asked that often enough but never down in a pit like this one. Sam ignored her, swinging his flashlight around like a divining rod. However, Dean was doing as well as Alec in the 'not staring' department. She only had one high heel shoe on and a plastic bag on her shoulder like it was a fancy purse.
“I don't have no money,” she told them as she ran greasy hands through what was left of her hair. “But I'll do you both. I got tested last year. I'm clean.”
Dean handed her a creased dollar bill.
It was a cozy crack den in a hideous kind of way. There were as many candles as there were people holding the smaller orange glow of their pipes. It lit the vaulted basement ceilings that rose and dipped in concrete arches like a weird church. An enormous drainage pipe thundered raw sewage like a water fall down into another tunnel that had caved in below it.
“There ya go,” Dean jerked a thumb at the idealistic scenery. “Now that's the kind of shit they should put in the Seattle brochures.”
“You holdin'?” the woman repeated with dull eyes.
Alec swallowed nervously when he realized her dress wasn't actually red. The fabric was just covered in old blood. He was more than happy when Sam finally picked a direction so they could start moving again. The air got harder to breathe as they walked deeper into the subterranean dwelling, the acrid pipe smoke curling and churning through the beams of the flashlights. All the swag burning up down here was laced with more household chemicals than even the transgenic could name.
“This is awesome,” Dean coughed harshly into his fist. “L-Let's get a timeshare here.”
“Do you see it?” Sam was making his way through the maze of people. “There it is.”
Alec wasn't sure what he was expecting. Perhaps a throne made of polished hubcaps surrounded by an entourage of the nobly homeless. Maybe some old piece of classic sculpture that used to sit in a park hauled down here for grand décor.
What he wasn't expecting was one smelly over sized refrigerator box.
“Your friend is in there?” Alec didn't try to mask the disappointment. “I'd say it'd be smart to check if she's still alive first but I think it's safe to say that smells like bad news-- hey, wait!”
Sam had lifted a dirty flap of cardboard and was crawling inside.
“Dean, make 'em stop!” Alec appealed to whatever sensibilities Dean might have owned that his freakish brother didn't. “Tell him to get out of there. This is where the crazy homeless people live! Not the nice normal dumpster kind you see upstairs everyday, oh no, these fuckers are 'stab you to protect their unicorn' kinda crazy-- Dean? Oh, come on.”
Alec was left standing alone with a stinky box. The thing was pretty big but not big enough to fit both Winchesters and some lady. Cursing the fact that his hands were still locked together, he dropped down on his knees and flipped up the flap door.
“Hello?”
He had to move in a few inches to comprehend why no one was immediately answering. The flap opened up not into a cramped abode, but served to disguise the entrance over a flight of narrow descending stairs. Alec slid down the first few steps and tried to look down through the metal grates to see where he was headed. By the time he reached the bottom, he knew from the scorching heat and reek of oil that he was in a boiler room.
The Winchesters were there, weapons stowed away and odd looks of relief on their faces. It smelled a lot better down here but the rank humidity made Alec's head swim.
“Missouri,” Sam said. “This is--”
“It's your Alec,” she breathed. “My God in heaven, it's him.”
A woman with dark skin and dark eyes rose to meet him. Despite the temperature she was wearing several sweaters and a red silk scarf wrapped tightly around her head. Spreading her ample arms wide, she made to embrace him like they were old friends and not complete strangers.
Alec backed away and fell onto a sofa.
Missouri had no throne but she had a battered leather couch. It was propped up against the massive furnace with a coffee table sitting beside it.
“You uh, you sell drugs here?”
“I sell lots of things,” the woman grinned. “But most times folks just pay me for some peace of mind.”
Alec stared at the rows of bookshelves neatly stacked with texts. The grimy floor was covered in an even more grimy throw rug, and part of the heating pipes had been diverted to a make-do kitchen. Besides being located in the belly of a crack house, the place was a lot nicer than to be expected. It was better than nice because it was also a secret. Alec suddenly saw the wisdom of the location and felt himself relax a little too. Until the woman sat down beside him and took him into her arms.
“My god, my god. I thought you were lost child,” her fingers touched his hands and face. “Lost to us, lost to your parents, lost to the world.”
“I don't think I'm the guy you're lookin' for, ma'am,” Alec had to admit that she did smell pretty good. Like fresh apples and baked bread. “These guys here, they've mistaken me for someone else. I-I don't have any parents.”
“I think the kid might believe in the stork," Dean snorted. "And cabbage patches."
“Shush Dean,” Missouri waved a hand at him. “Lemme work for a second.”
Alec watched Dean shrug and take a load off in one of the comfortable chairs nearest the glowing boiler. However, Sam remained standing. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched them with an expectancy that made Alec shift uneasily in his seat.
“When were you born, baby?” she asked.
Alec looked uncertainly between Sam and the oddly imposing woman. He didn't know why the man's nod of approval made him feel better about talking to her but it did.
“I don't know my exact uh, birth date, but I do know my first set of trial vaccinations were in December 2000--”
“You don't know so let me tell you,” she went to the old kettle steaming on her stove. “You were born on November 2nd, 1999.”
“That's not possible,” Alec shook his head. “I've seen my records and--”
“Just listen for a bit child,” she poured the water into mismatched tea cups. “You were born on the same night your mother died.”
Alec stilled as an image flashed unbidden behind his eyes. It was the pale haired girl from his dreams.
Jessica.
“She died in a fire,” Missouri said. “And we all thought her baby died too.”
Sam's low voice interrupted them.
“I didn't know about you, Alec. Not until ten years ago,” He dragged a sleeve across damp eyes and sagged down into a chair beside his brother. “I didn't know you survived. No one could find you after that fire. There were no remains. There wasn't anything left--”
Dean's hand on Sam's arm quieted him.
“They must have picked Alec up that night,” Missouri nodded. “Packed him up and headed for the nearest gate.”
“Gate? What gate?” Alec yanked at his trapped hands in annoyance. Everyone was talking too fast and no one was making any fucking sense. “Everybody just shut up. Just stop for a second...”
“Ya know that thing they keep callin' The Pulse?” Dean asked. “It's all a lie.”
“I said shut up,” Alec ordered weakly.
“Electromagnetic Pulse. Hell's Gate. Same thing.” Dean held out his hands. “Your Manticore friends out in Wyoming? They built their lab on a nice big gate out there and they figured out the only way to open it was with kids like you. So they cracked a door to hell back in 2009. And kaboom.”
Dean made a sweep of his arms that didn't just mean the mess of the boiler room they were sitting in. The man meant the street above and the ruined city beyond. He meant the country and the entire shattered world.
“It almost worked,” Sam added. “But they didn't get it quite right.”
Alec found the first stair behind him and stepped up onto it. These people were worse than insane, they were delusional. They really believed the shit they were saying. And they wanted him to believe it too.
His head was aching with the heat but the sweat down his back felt icy cold.
“The Pulse was a terrorist attack,” he recited what he'd been taught since the age of ten. “I-It was a military act designed to disable every major infrastructure on the planet.”
“That's just a story,” Missouri chided. “And stories are made to sooth frightened children.”
“There was an attack!” Alec shouted. “Everyone knows that, it-it wasn't a gate. It-it was--”
“Okay, yes Alec,” Sam came towards him slowly. “You're right, there was an attack, but not the kind you 're thinking of.”
“Let me just show the boy,” Missouri was rolling up her sleeves. “It will make this all a lot easier.”
“I dunno,” Dean stood up and stepped in front of Alec in a protective gesture. “That shit you do? It's not nice. In fact, it kinda hurts--”
“Let her do it,” Sam said firmly. “It'll be okay.”
Alec decided not to hang around for any more votes on what should happen to him next.
“Well, uh...” he climbed backwards up the steps. “This has been a lot of fun but I think I really should get going now. Thanks for the hugs and everything, its b-been great but... I- I...”
Alec's legs folded underneath him.
“..shit..”
He wanted to get up. He wanted to start running up the stairs and get far away from here. But he couldn't move. All he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears as Missouri came closer. The warm smile of her apology wasn't much of a consolation as she began to rub her hands briskly together. As Alec's vision tunneled, the anticipatory gesture reminded him of a surgeon preparing for the cut.
“D-Dean?” Alec tried his last best hope. “Whatever she's gonna do, I-I dun wanna, I dun wanna do it--”
“It'll be quick,” Dean didn't sound very happy. “I'll be here the whole time.”
Alec couldn't see much but he could feel strong arms close around his body and lift him up off the stairs. It felt right to be held so tightly, like a fierce wind was about to blow.
When the dreams hit it took a moment for Alec to realize that he wasn't sleeping.
This time all his nightmares came out to greet him for real.
tbc
go to part 5