Fic: Endgame (5/11)
Fic: Endgame (5/11)
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
As they moved back toward Chloe's workstation in The Hall, Dean's mind was on the problem of Lilith and what the demon had told them. But hearing Chloe's voice raise stridently drew his attention like a magnet draws iron filings.
Dean looked up and narrowed his eyes. His pace quickened as he pulled ahead of Sam and Sarah, to the door of Chloe's office.
Inside, Queen knelt before her chair in a pleading pose, while Wayne stood over her - as if adding subtle, physical intimidation to whatever question the Green Arrow was posing.
Judging by Chloe's own face - whatever they were asking of her didn't make her happy in the least. Rage twisted Dean's features.
“What the hell are you two trying to talk my wife into now?”
Chloe looked up, her face morphed from surprise to concern. She stood from her chair, and moved to stand between him and the two billionaires.
“It's no big deal, Dean. They just had a job for me.”
Over the top of her head, Dean glared at Wayne and Queen.
“Couple of brave heroes - waiting until I'm gone to gang up on Chloe like this. Askin' for Sarah's help behind Sammy's back. You two aren't much better than Luthor. You know that?”
Wayne replied with an arched eyebrow. “Last time I checked, Watchtower and The Collector were both capable of making their own decisions.”
“This ain't a feminist empowerment love-in, Wayne, and you know it.” Dean's eyes narrowed. “If Queen had gone behind your back with an assignment for . . . “
“Robin,” Chloe prompted.
“Robin,” Dean nodded. “Then you'd be pissed, too. I ain't sayin' that Chloe doesn't have the right to make her own decisions. But what she decides affects the rest of us. We gotta right to weigh in.” He turned his glare toward Queen. “And I told you that back in South Dakota.”
Chloe put her hand on Dean's chest. “Look, this isn't getting us anywhere.”
Dean looked down at Chloe in anger. “Whatever they want you to do, they can forget it.” With that he turned, and stormed back down the hallway.
As Chloe ran after him, they moved past Sam and Sarah. Sam looked at him in confusion. “What's going on?”
“Get your stuff, Sam. We're leaving.”
“Dean!” Chloe yelled as she grabbed his hand, and tugged on it. “Would you just listen?”
“No, Chlo. If they're not willing to play cards with the whole team, then they can deal us out! We'll figure out this apocalypse on our own. ”
She gave his hand one final tug, and then darted around him, blocking his exit.
He scowled at her. “Don't make me move you, Chlo.”
“Try it, I dare you!” Chloe said angrily. “It's going to get real cold in the backseat of the Impala tonight if you do.”
“What? I don't even rate the couch?” Dean asked.
“Not if you're too pigheaded to listen to reason,” she retorted.
Dean ran frustrated fingers through his hair, and then threw his hands up. “Fine! Start reasoning.”
Chloe sighed, and dropped her head. Then she surprised him by putting her arms around him and pulling him to her. She looked up into his eyes, and he was surprised by the depth of the tenderness that he saw there.
“We're on the same team here, you know,” she said. “If you walked in about a minute sooner, you would have heard me say the exact same things to them that you did. That I'm not doing anything without you.”
“Yeah?” Dean felt his sour expression melt into a half-grin.
“Yeah.” Chloe smiled in response. “Didn't I promise? I'm not going anywhere you can't follow.”
“Damn straight,” Dean said. “So when can we blow this Popsicle stand?”
Her lip twisted. “As nice as that sounds - we've come too far, Dean. We've got to see this through.”
Dean rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “I hate it when you're right.”
“I'm always right.”
“That's debatable.”
“This time - I am right.”
He grunted at that. “So what do Tweedledum and Tweedledee want?”
Chloe grinned triumphantly and pulled away to face Sam and Sarah. “First - what did you guys find out?”
“Nothing we didn't already suspect,” Sam said. “The demon admitted that Lilith plans to open the gate in a place that was already cursed.”
“Which fits with what I was thinking,” Chloe nodded. “I pinpointed the probable location. It's a set of standing stones near Little Round Top called Devil's Den. The area has seen battle activity through almost all the major domestic wars, and prior to that - there were rumors about occult connections.”
“Sounds like the perfect place for that demon bitch to open up a gate,” Dean said. “So what brilliant scheme did the dimwitted duo think up?”
Chloe rolled her eyes at that. “We know that Lillith's plan is threefold: open the hellgate, posses a set of clones, and seize control at the seat of government. Bruce came up with a three-pronged defense that takes into consideration who our allies are - and what strengths they posses.
“They want to pool the vigilante resources on cleaning up Washington, the UN, and their counterparts in other countries. Meanwhile, they want the hunters and my faerie cousins working on the devil's gate.”
“Which was where they wanted to send us,” Dean concluded. “But what about you?”
“That's the part that they sprang on me right before you walked in. Bruce is thinking that there are going to be demons that get out, no matter what. And he's probably right.” Chloe shrugged. “No matter what else he is, Batman is a master tactician. Add to that that Lilith is still out there. Even if we win this battle, we could still lose the war. But not if we end this permanently.”
Dean's eyes widened in comprehension. “They want to do what you did in Houston, don't they? Turn every clone in that warehouse into a demonic roach motel. Demons check in, but they don't check out?”
“You caught on faster than I did,” Chloe grumbled.
“What else could it be, darlin? The Colt's a useless antique. Bobby tore it apart and put it back together. He never figured out what makes it tick. So the obvious answer is you and that Asshole Mac. Just like in Houston, what I want to know is how they plan to kill all those demons without killing you in the process.” A dark look crossed his face. “Or are you an acceptable loss?”
Chloe's mouth compressed into a thin line. “Remember the way Isaac gave my powers a boost back when I came out of the wall?”
Sam shook his head at that. “Isaac is just a kid. And they want to send him into battle? Wayne's got a pair, I'll give him that.”
“It gets better,” Chloe chuckled mirthlessly. “They want Lex to lead this little mission.”
“Well, it's official.” Dean nodded solemnly. “Batman took the brown acid.”
“It's a risky gamble,” Chloe said. “But they're giving me a lot of credit - assuming I can hold it together and achieve the objective. They must figure that the payoff is worth it.”
The four of them exchanged uneasy glances, Dean and Sam telling Chloe with their eyes that they didn't like the plan.
“Hey, if anyone has a better idea, I'm on board,” Chloe said out loud. “Not looking forward to walking into Laney's Lab-o-doom with my worst enemy at my back.”
“He's not going to be at your back, darlin,” Dean said. “That's my place. I want him out front, where I can shoot him if I have to.”
“That goes for me, too,” Sam said. “We're family. We're in this together.”
Chloe smiled in response, and threw her arms around Sam's neck. Her eyes drifted over to Sarah. “What about you?”
The brunette arched an eyebrow at them. “Last time I checked, I was part of the DC task force. I started a job there, and I intend to see it through. You just . . . keep Sam safe for me.”
“Like I don't already do that,” Dean grumbled.
* * *
Dean shifted uncomfortably in the back pew of the Hall's tiny chapel. Finally, Dean leaned over to whisper to Sam. “Why are we here?”
Sam shot Dean a well duh look. “Because Chloe wanted to take communion before we do this?”
Dean shrugged at that as if to say so what? “I mean, why are we here?”
“Moral support,” Sam said. “If it makes Chloe feel ready for this, then humor her.”
“What about you?” Dean whispered. “You're religious. Why aren't you up there?”
“Because I don't need the ceremony,” Sam shrugged. “I said a prayer, and that's enough. Chloe and those hunters from the Vatican, they want a little more mental armor.”
Dean nodded and continued to stare at the back of Chloe's head thoughtfully. He shifted again, prompting another eye roll from Sam.
“Any chance we could hurry this up?” Dean leaned over and whispered.
Sam shot Dean an annoyed look. “Dude! Enough!” He got up and crossed to the other side of the chapel. Then he sat down, and stared straight ahead.
Dean squinted at Sam in confusion. Then shrugged and leaned back. The pew groaned beneath his weight.
“You seem a bit restless?”
Dean looked up to see a man in a clerical collar standing over him. He shifted his gaze forward again. “No offense, Padre. But God isn't really my thing.”
In response, the priest raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You fight demons, but you don't believe in God?”
“I believe in him,” Dean shrugged. “I just don't have much use for him.”
The priest let out a low chuckle.
Dean looked at him in annoyance. “Something funny?”
In response, the priest shook his head. “Maybe I'll tell you someday.”
“Laugh riot. Ha. Ha,” Dean muttered.
“So why are you here, then?” The priest asked.
In response, Dean nodded toward the blonde who sat in the front row. “That girl up there? She promised me that she wouldn't go anywhere that I couldn't follow. I figure - maybe God would let me into Heaven if I'm following that angel.” He smirked up at the priest. “Sorry if that's blasphemy.”
The priest chuckled again. “You think I've never seen anyone avoid a subject before?”
Dean's smile melted away. “Fine. Let me ask you something. Do you believe that God is good?”
“I wouldn't have taken up the calling if I didn't,” the priest said.
“So if he's so good, where is he when bad things happen?” Dean looked down, and then up at the priest again. “I've faced down demons and seen people die. Families torn apart. How can a good God let that happen? Why doesn't he do something?”
The priest shrugged. “Which evil do you want him to fix? Evil in the demonic sense? Or evil in the Jerry-Fallwell, Telletubbies-are-evil sense? Who gets to pick and choose the evil?”
Dean raised an eyebrow at that.
“You asked me what I thought was so funny earlier. I'll tell you. You sit here, a man who doesn't have a lot of use for God. Yet it seems to me that God very much has use for you.”
At the front of the chapel, the services started to break up.
The priest smiled at Dean - one of those broad, Cheshire grins that cause one's eyes to crinkle at the corners. “It looks like your little blonde angel is about done up there. I'll leave you to her. Besides, there are shells to pack, rounds to consecrate, holy water to bless. You know how it is.”
He patted Dean's shoulder, and then wandered off down the pews,leaving Dean sitting there with a perturbed expression on his face.
Chloe squinted in confusion as she walked up the aisle. “Are you okay?”
Dean shook off the feeling. “Yeah. Can we go now?”
She glanced around the chapel for Sam, spotted him, and waved him over. Once the youngest Winchester rejoined them, she nodded to Dean. “I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to get.
“Good,” Dean said. “Let's get this show on the road.”
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
As they moved back toward Chloe's workstation in The Hall, Dean's mind was on the problem of Lilith and what the demon had told them. But hearing Chloe's voice raise stridently drew his attention like a magnet draws iron filings.
Dean looked up and narrowed his eyes. His pace quickened as he pulled ahead of Sam and Sarah, to the door of Chloe's office.
Inside, Queen knelt before her chair in a pleading pose, while Wayne stood over her - as if adding subtle, physical intimidation to whatever question the Green Arrow was posing.
Judging by Chloe's own face - whatever they were asking of her didn't make her happy in the least. Rage twisted Dean's features.
“What the hell are you two trying to talk my wife into now?”
Chloe looked up, her face morphed from surprise to concern. She stood from her chair, and moved to stand between him and the two billionaires.
“It's no big deal, Dean. They just had a job for me.”
Over the top of her head, Dean glared at Wayne and Queen.
“Couple of brave heroes - waiting until I'm gone to gang up on Chloe like this. Askin' for Sarah's help behind Sammy's back. You two aren't much better than Luthor. You know that?”
Wayne replied with an arched eyebrow. “Last time I checked, Watchtower and The Collector were both capable of making their own decisions.”
“This ain't a feminist empowerment love-in, Wayne, and you know it.” Dean's eyes narrowed. “If Queen had gone behind your back with an assignment for . . . “
“Robin,” Chloe prompted.
“Robin,” Dean nodded. “Then you'd be pissed, too. I ain't sayin' that Chloe doesn't have the right to make her own decisions. But what she decides affects the rest of us. We gotta right to weigh in.” He turned his glare toward Queen. “And I told you that back in South Dakota.”
Chloe put her hand on Dean's chest. “Look, this isn't getting us anywhere.”
Dean looked down at Chloe in anger. “Whatever they want you to do, they can forget it.” With that he turned, and stormed back down the hallway.
As Chloe ran after him, they moved past Sam and Sarah. Sam looked at him in confusion. “What's going on?”
“Get your stuff, Sam. We're leaving.”
“Dean!” Chloe yelled as she grabbed his hand, and tugged on it. “Would you just listen?”
“No, Chlo. If they're not willing to play cards with the whole team, then they can deal us out! We'll figure out this apocalypse on our own. ”
She gave his hand one final tug, and then darted around him, blocking his exit.
He scowled at her. “Don't make me move you, Chlo.”
“Try it, I dare you!” Chloe said angrily. “It's going to get real cold in the backseat of the Impala tonight if you do.”
“What? I don't even rate the couch?” Dean asked.
“Not if you're too pigheaded to listen to reason,” she retorted.
Dean ran frustrated fingers through his hair, and then threw his hands up. “Fine! Start reasoning.”
Chloe sighed, and dropped her head. Then she surprised him by putting her arms around him and pulling him to her. She looked up into his eyes, and he was surprised by the depth of the tenderness that he saw there.
“We're on the same team here, you know,” she said. “If you walked in about a minute sooner, you would have heard me say the exact same things to them that you did. That I'm not doing anything without you.”
“Yeah?” Dean felt his sour expression melt into a half-grin.
“Yeah.” Chloe smiled in response. “Didn't I promise? I'm not going anywhere you can't follow.”
“Damn straight,” Dean said. “So when can we blow this Popsicle stand?”
Her lip twisted. “As nice as that sounds - we've come too far, Dean. We've got to see this through.”
Dean rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “I hate it when you're right.”
“I'm always right.”
“That's debatable.”
“This time - I am right.”
He grunted at that. “So what do Tweedledum and Tweedledee want?”
Chloe grinned triumphantly and pulled away to face Sam and Sarah. “First - what did you guys find out?”
“Nothing we didn't already suspect,” Sam said. “The demon admitted that Lilith plans to open the gate in a place that was already cursed.”
“Which fits with what I was thinking,” Chloe nodded. “I pinpointed the probable location. It's a set of standing stones near Little Round Top called Devil's Den. The area has seen battle activity through almost all the major domestic wars, and prior to that - there were rumors about occult connections.”
“Sounds like the perfect place for that demon bitch to open up a gate,” Dean said. “So what brilliant scheme did the dimwitted duo think up?”
Chloe rolled her eyes at that. “We know that Lillith's plan is threefold: open the hellgate, posses a set of clones, and seize control at the seat of government. Bruce came up with a three-pronged defense that takes into consideration who our allies are - and what strengths they posses.
“They want to pool the vigilante resources on cleaning up Washington, the UN, and their counterparts in other countries. Meanwhile, they want the hunters and my faerie cousins working on the devil's gate.”
“Which was where they wanted to send us,” Dean concluded. “But what about you?”
“That's the part that they sprang on me right before you walked in. Bruce is thinking that there are going to be demons that get out, no matter what. And he's probably right.” Chloe shrugged. “No matter what else he is, Batman is a master tactician. Add to that that Lilith is still out there. Even if we win this battle, we could still lose the war. But not if we end this permanently.”
Dean's eyes widened in comprehension. “They want to do what you did in Houston, don't they? Turn every clone in that warehouse into a demonic roach motel. Demons check in, but they don't check out?”
“You caught on faster than I did,” Chloe grumbled.
“What else could it be, darlin? The Colt's a useless antique. Bobby tore it apart and put it back together. He never figured out what makes it tick. So the obvious answer is you and that Asshole Mac. Just like in Houston, what I want to know is how they plan to kill all those demons without killing you in the process.” A dark look crossed his face. “Or are you an acceptable loss?”
Chloe's mouth compressed into a thin line. “Remember the way Isaac gave my powers a boost back when I came out of the wall?”
Sam shook his head at that. “Isaac is just a kid. And they want to send him into battle? Wayne's got a pair, I'll give him that.”
“It gets better,” Chloe chuckled mirthlessly. “They want Lex to lead this little mission.”
“Well, it's official.” Dean nodded solemnly. “Batman took the brown acid.”
“It's a risky gamble,” Chloe said. “But they're giving me a lot of credit - assuming I can hold it together and achieve the objective. They must figure that the payoff is worth it.”
The four of them exchanged uneasy glances, Dean and Sam telling Chloe with their eyes that they didn't like the plan.
“Hey, if anyone has a better idea, I'm on board,” Chloe said out loud. “Not looking forward to walking into Laney's Lab-o-doom with my worst enemy at my back.”
“He's not going to be at your back, darlin,” Dean said. “That's my place. I want him out front, where I can shoot him if I have to.”
“That goes for me, too,” Sam said. “We're family. We're in this together.”
Chloe smiled in response, and threw her arms around Sam's neck. Her eyes drifted over to Sarah. “What about you?”
The brunette arched an eyebrow at them. “Last time I checked, I was part of the DC task force. I started a job there, and I intend to see it through. You just . . . keep Sam safe for me.”
“Like I don't already do that,” Dean grumbled.
* * *
Dean shifted uncomfortably in the back pew of the Hall's tiny chapel. Finally, Dean leaned over to whisper to Sam. “Why are we here?”
Sam shot Dean a well duh look. “Because Chloe wanted to take communion before we do this?”
Dean shrugged at that as if to say so what? “I mean, why are we here?”
“Moral support,” Sam said. “If it makes Chloe feel ready for this, then humor her.”
“What about you?” Dean whispered. “You're religious. Why aren't you up there?”
“Because I don't need the ceremony,” Sam shrugged. “I said a prayer, and that's enough. Chloe and those hunters from the Vatican, they want a little more mental armor.”
Dean nodded and continued to stare at the back of Chloe's head thoughtfully. He shifted again, prompting another eye roll from Sam.
“Any chance we could hurry this up?” Dean leaned over and whispered.
Sam shot Dean an annoyed look. “Dude! Enough!” He got up and crossed to the other side of the chapel. Then he sat down, and stared straight ahead.
Dean squinted at Sam in confusion. Then shrugged and leaned back. The pew groaned beneath his weight.
“You seem a bit restless?”
Dean looked up to see a man in a clerical collar standing over him. He shifted his gaze forward again. “No offense, Padre. But God isn't really my thing.”
In response, the priest raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You fight demons, but you don't believe in God?”
“I believe in him,” Dean shrugged. “I just don't have much use for him.”
The priest let out a low chuckle.
Dean looked at him in annoyance. “Something funny?”
In response, the priest shook his head. “Maybe I'll tell you someday.”
“Laugh riot. Ha. Ha,” Dean muttered.
“So why are you here, then?” The priest asked.
In response, Dean nodded toward the blonde who sat in the front row. “That girl up there? She promised me that she wouldn't go anywhere that I couldn't follow. I figure - maybe God would let me into Heaven if I'm following that angel.” He smirked up at the priest. “Sorry if that's blasphemy.”
The priest chuckled again. “You think I've never seen anyone avoid a subject before?”
Dean's smile melted away. “Fine. Let me ask you something. Do you believe that God is good?”
“I wouldn't have taken up the calling if I didn't,” the priest said.
“So if he's so good, where is he when bad things happen?” Dean looked down, and then up at the priest again. “I've faced down demons and seen people die. Families torn apart. How can a good God let that happen? Why doesn't he do something?”
The priest shrugged. “Which evil do you want him to fix? Evil in the demonic sense? Or evil in the Jerry-Fallwell, Telletubbies-are-evil sense? Who gets to pick and choose the evil?”
Dean raised an eyebrow at that.
“You asked me what I thought was so funny earlier. I'll tell you. You sit here, a man who doesn't have a lot of use for God. Yet it seems to me that God very much has use for you.”
At the front of the chapel, the services started to break up.
The priest smiled at Dean - one of those broad, Cheshire grins that cause one's eyes to crinkle at the corners. “It looks like your little blonde angel is about done up there. I'll leave you to her. Besides, there are shells to pack, rounds to consecrate, holy water to bless. You know how it is.”
He patted Dean's shoulder, and then wandered off down the pews,leaving Dean sitting there with a perturbed expression on his face.
Chloe squinted in confusion as she walked up the aisle. “Are you okay?”
Dean shook off the feeling. “Yeah. Can we go now?”
She glanced around the chapel for Sam, spotted him, and waved him over. Once the youngest Winchester rejoined them, she nodded to Dean. “I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to get.
“Good,” Dean said. “Let's get this show on the road.”