Endgame (1/11)
A/N: I had planned to get this out before the new seasons started, and all my plotting got thoroughly jossed. But that didn't quite work. Oh well, we all knew this was AU anyway.
Fic: Endgame (1/11)
Series: Special Projects
Summary: The end.
Author: pen37
Beta: Strangevisitor7 and Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
Characters: Chloe, Sam, Dean, everyone else.
Pairing:Chloe/Dean Sam/Sarah
Rating: pg
This is a part of the Special Projects series. You can find the rest of the series here.
Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 9, Ch. 10, Ch. 11& Epilogue
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Ch. 1
Gabe Sullivan flinched as his door bowed under the weight of an unknown adversary. He had been on his way home from the factory when some invisible, big freakin' dog - as his son-in-law would say - jumped out at him.
Since Christmas, he'd been running. Both to get in better shape and keep up with the hunters that he spent his free time finding for Chloe. Now he used that little extra speed to get home and put down lines of salt.
Then for good measure, he added some of the dirt stuff the Chloe had sent. He wasn't sure how gophers were supposed to protect him from giant invisible dogs, but if Chloe said they would, then they would.
Provided that the door held.
He knelt beside the couch and pulled out a wrought iron poker from under the dust ruffle. After a practice swing, he held it like a Louisville Slugger and eyed the shaking door with a determined stare.
Abruptly, the pounding ceased.
Gabe heard a yelp of pain, followed by a meaty thud.
An uneasy silence followed, in which he was convinced that his heart would burst from his chest like a bad sci-fi effect.
“You needn't worry; it's quite dead.”
Gabe jumped at the sound of the soft, feminine voice. He whirled, swinging his poker wildly. Each stroke was blocked expertly with a silvery sword.
“Calm yourself, A stór. I'm here as means of salvation.”
Gabe blinked myopically at the speaker. She reminded him a little of Chloe - Short and blonde, with green eyes. But there was an air of timelessness about her that seemed otherworldly. She was dressed like something from a fantasy movie - long hair, flowing dress, chain mail and sword.
She smiled affectionately at him and caressed the side of his face. “You remind me very much of Seamus.”
His jaw dropped as he realized who she was. “You're --”
“A wandering star,” she said. “Much like the rest of my kin.”
He shook off his amazement and looked nervously to the door. “What's happening?”
Her face turned stony hard. “You've been targeted by our enemies, Nephew. “I've come to guide you to a place of safety.”
“What were --”
“Hellhounds,” she said shortly. “My husband has taken care of them.”
“Hellhounds,” Gabe said thoughtfully.
Just then, the door creaked open. A tall thin man who looked like a cross between Elrond and General Maximus stood there with a blood-drenched sword.
“Come!” he commanded imperiously. “Time is short and our enemies will soon return in force.”
“My uncle?” Gabe hazarded a guess.
“Of course,” she smiled lovingly at Mad Maximus.
Gabe nodded at that. Chloe had looked at Dean that way last Christmas - Love really must be blind. “Where are we going?”
“We will rejoin your daughter in a place of safety,” she said. “To us - the trip will take a fortnight. But to this world it will pass in the blink of an eye.”
Gabe looked regretfully at his apartment. He'd long since cleared out anything valuable - Just in case of demon attack. But that didn't mean he wouldn't miss the place. “Sounds like an adventure.”
“That's what I said,” she smiled at him enigmatically.
#
Senator Martha Kent pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly and tried to focus on her aide, Joanna Beth Harvelle, as she read off a list of statistics. Outside the window of her limo, the Potomac River reminded her of Smallville - although there was very little about it that looked anything like Crater Lake.
She missed the quiet of he former slower paced life. Never had to worry about potential demonic apocalypses then.
Oblivious to her musings, Jo summed up the stats she had been reading. “The figures are clear, if you know what to look for. The rise in violence over the past few months: senseless looting, random shootings. This is how demons on furlough act. They were congregating here, in DC. Then suddenly, everything stopped.”
“Like they're waiting for something,” Martha said.
“Yeah, how did you know?” Jo's eyebrows lifted in a surprised expression.
Martha smiled at the younger woman. “You learn a thing or two about waiting when you manage a farm.”
Just then the limo lurched, skidded sideways, and stopped.
Jo and Martha looked at each other in concern. Jo's hand strayed to the back of her suit, where Martha didn't doubt that she had that cold iron knife of her father's hidden.
Martha shook her head, and placed a calming hand on Jo's shoulder. Then she reached for the button to lower the partition between them and the driver. “George?” she called out to him.
George sat with his hands on the wheel, still staring straight ahead as if he were driving. But the car was motionless on the side of the road. When she repeated his name, his shoulders tensed as if he were receiving a rebuke.
“What's wrong?” Martha asked.
Slowly, he turned to face her, revealing coal-black eyes, and a malevolent grin.
He's posessed! Martha recoiled away from him as she recognized the signs that Jo had described to her.
“Christo!” Jo shouted as she reached into her jacket. Martha was surprised when the young blonde girl pulled out a bright purple water pistol and fired it on the demon-possessed driver. He flinched away, hissing in pain as steam rose from the spots where the water touched him.
Martha figured that it was holy water in the gun and marveled at Jo's ingenuity, even as the safety measures that Jo had drilled into her kicked in and she flung herself to the floor of the limo.
#
Jo dove into the front seat and rolled down into the passenger floor boards. Then she kicked out, snapping the demon's head back under the force of her blows. She then lunged for the CD player, and turned on the mix she'd loaded into it that morning.
Track seven was a recording of Sam Winchester reading from the Rituale Romanum. The demon screamed in response and tried to cover its ears.
In response, Jo fired again. The holy water had the desired effect, immobilizing the demon so that the ritual would take effect and drive him out. Soon the driver was regurgitating smoke like a 57 Chevy with a bad oil ring. It seeped out the cracks along the windows, and the air conditioning vents. George slumped over the steering wheel, and was still.
In the back seat, Martha peeked over the divider with eyes wide in concern. She started to reach for George, but Jo shook her head. “Stay back.”
The senator drew her hand back, but her motherly expression stayed with the driver. “Is he . . .?”
Jo reached up to feel for his pulse, and was relieved to find one - albeit thready.
“Jo!” Senator Kent's voice raised in alarm. Jo looked up to see that Martha's expression had changed from concerned to alarm as her attention focused on the exterior of the car. Jo followed her gaze - and inhaled sharply as she saw four more demoniacally possessed people standing in front of the car, staring in with their demon dark eyes.
She cued up the CD again and tried to wrestle George out of the driver's seat. A sinking feeling filled her as she pulled at his dead weight. She wasn't going to be able to get them out of their before the demons got to her. She'd been asked to watch over Mrs. Kent, and she'd failed in the job.
Her hand strayed back to her daddy's knife, and she gripped it harder. If she was going to go out, at least she'd go out swinging - just like her dad.
In the space between two breaths, Superman was there. Before Jo could even blink, he was throwing demons around like rag dolls. When they vacated their hosts and tried to swarm him, he blew their sticky black smoke away from him as if they were nothing more than children's bubbles.
Jo cranked up the radio and rolled down the windows. Sam's exorcism, in conjunction with Superman's super breath, sent the demons fleeing.
“Clark!” Senator Kent cried out in relief. Then she got out of the car and ran to him.
Jo scratched at her head. Clark was the senator's son and that was . . . Oh! Her eyes widened. She's Superman's mom!
Clark looked at Jo in dismay. “Senator!” he whispered in singsong. “Not in front of your staff.”
Mrs. Kent looked back at Jo. Judging by the look on her face, that was probably the first time that she'd ever gotten careless with that little bit of information.
Jo tried to give them a reassuring smile and a wave. “Demons,” Jo said. “They cause you to say all kinds of crazy things.”
Mrs. Kent and Superman both looked grateful to her for the out she'd given them. Immediately, Mrs. Kent's attention focused back on Superman. “These men should be taken to the hospital.”
“Your safety is more important,” Jo argued. “I can wait with them for an ambulance, but Superman should get you out of here. Obviously our enemies are done with the waiting, and now they're trying to take you out.”
“She's . . . right,” Superman said. And for a moment the larger-than life facade slipped, and Jo could see the little boy in the superman costume.
“Don't be silly." Martha scoffed. “I'm not leaving until these people receive medical attention.”
Superman nodded once. His face took on a look of steely-hard resolve. Then he blurred, and seemed to vanish, along with George. In the next few seconds, each of the four demon-possessed civilians vanished as well. Finally, Superman returned.
“I've done as you wished, Senator. Now we really should get you out of here.”
Martha nodded. “Alright. Where are we going?”
“Right now, the Justice League is trying to bring in all our operatives. Even the ones tangentially affiliated with the operation. Gabe Sullivan appeared at The Hall a few minutes ago with some of the Sullivan-Winchester allies. He was attacked in his home in France. That's where we're taking you.”
“What about the operation?” Jo asked. “This is obviously a ploy to disrupt it.”
“The demons don't know everyone involved,” Martha said. “At most, they're trying to take out the head, and hope the body will fail. And in that ,they failed. I can still co-ordinate the international resistance from The Hall.”
Jo nodded at that. Then she let Superman loop an arm around her. In the next moment, they were airborne.