likely_evil | Haven't we played this game before?

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Haven't we played this game before?

Sam was on his motorcycle, racing across the city as he followed the magical tracer that was leading him to where the Triad was holding the reapers. Ruby had taken her sweet time trying to break through their magic, but she had and they knew where their main base of operations was.

Now Sam was on the trail of a magical orb of light, guiding him to the location that Ruby and the other demons had already gone ahead to scout out and prepare for him. The other human hunters, including his son, were all safe in the complex and working to defend it if this was a trap.

The Triad were the worst that Sam faced in this new world, and he didn't take anything they did without considering every faucet of the plot they could have. And with the demons at the location, he had more than enough protection to be able to protect himself.

After all, he might be immoral, but he wasn't a Highlander. Sam was pretty sure a well placed cut or explosion would be the end of him, and he wasn't about to give the Triad a chance to test that.

Ruby, I'm almost there. Five more minutes.

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Okay. We're ready when you get here.

She glanced over the soldiers and they equipment they had once more, before looking up at the warehouse. She knew this wasn't going to be as easy as things looked -- nothing with Stolas ever was, but at least they managed to find the right place. Now it was just a matter of getting in, getting Dean, and getting out. She just hoped that they had made it in time.

Alec paced, very much the leopard trapped in a cage. He hated cages. He hated Stolas as well. He had thought, at one point, he'd be content to walk away once someone cut him and Dean loose. But that was before Stolas had drug Dean off. And away from Alec.

Now he paced around the confines of the trap, fingers trailing and burning along the invisable wall holding him in. Now he wanted Dean back and he was more than willing to kill Stolas and the others to get him. He just needed a chance.

The motorcycle skidded to a stop and Sam got off, hooking the helmet on the handlebar. He took a moment to stop, opening his senses to find where his warriors were - where Ruby was - before starting for the door and then kicking it down.

His foot kicked at the salt line there, letting the demons follow behind him in as he scanned the room with his eyes, taking everything in quickly.

Ruby made her way into the room, eyes peeled as well, before she spotted a body moving on the other end of the room. She gripped the knife in her hand, moving closer when she spotted familiar features, before tilting her head to the side slightly as she studied him. He looked like Dean, that much was true, but there was something that wasn't quite -- right.

"Dean?" she asked slowly. Two hundred years as a reaper could account for some changes, that much was true.

He stopped moving and looked at her, head tilted, considering. He didn't know her, but at this point he did know a demon when he saw one. It was pretty clear that she wasn't on Stolas' and Phoenix's side. And that knife, that would need watching. It had more than a sharp edge to it. "Sorry to disapoint."

His gaze shifted to the other person. A very tall other person. And not someone to screw with he would bet. "Let me out." Most of Alec's patience and good nature had been worn away at this point.

Edited 2009-04-26 05:43 (UTC)

Sam walked over, looking at Alec carefully. It was amazing, how much he looked exactly like his brother. Oh, Sam could see the small differences - height, the way his face wrinkled with his angry glare, and his stance. More catlike where Dean was almost more of a bulldog.

"You must be Alec," Sam said. "Nancy and Tessa told me you would look like him, and they weren't kidding." He looked down at the lines on the ground, then to Ruby. "Make sure there isn't a second trap connected before we break it. Won't do any of us good if letting Alec free only traps the rest of us."

He looked back at the reaper. "Where did Stolas take my brother?"

Ruby did as she was told, making her way around the trap and doing what she could to figure the thing out. As soon as she was certain that this was the only trap in place, she crouched down and used her knife to break the line, rendering the trap ineffective.

"Sam I take it?" Hearing about Nancy and Tessa easied a little of his tension. He felt the walls holding him fall away and he stretched and rolled his shoulder, like he was shrugging it off. He couldn't have stopped the move even if he had wanted to. He hadn't quite realized just how much it had been pressing down on him.

He then took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming himself so he could sense Dean. If they were close enough they could always find each other. He shuddered and bit his lip. He felt like all of his fur was being rubbed the wrong way. "I can't find him. This place. . ." His fingers flexed. "It's still fucking me up. I can tell you which way they took him, but that's it."

Edited 2009-04-26 06:10 (UTC)

"If it's screwing with you, then you need to get out of here. I'll have one of the demons take you back to the complex. Nancy's waiting for you there. Just tell me which way."

He was a businessman, and he didn't have time to deal with babysitting a reaper if he wasn't going to be of use to him.

"Screw that. And screw you. I've have just about enough of demons taking me anywere, thanks. Nancy knows I'm not coming back without Dean. Just because I can't sense him doesn't mean I don't know how to do things the old fashioned way."

He didn't need the attitude. Not when he was angry, restless, worried beyound words for Dean, and wanted to hunt.

"And I've been doing this a damn long time, kid." Sam just gave Alec a look, letting the reaper's anger roll off his back. Words didn't phase him much like that anymore.

"You're worried and pissed. I get that. But you're telling me that you're feeling magic aiming against you, and that makes you a liability. For all we know, they've got a plan up their sleeves and it'll involve you being with us. Otherwise why leave you out in the open right by the front door?"

He hadn't stepped out of the trap. They could easily reseal him in for his own safety. Sam would hate doing that because it left him as a sitting duck, but he didn't have time to deal with a difficult reaper when Stolas had his brother somewhere.

"Dude, for starters I was like 80 when I was killed. Second, I'm a God damned original run X5. You've seen your battle feilds. I've seen mine. None of the people they're wearing are Familiars so I'm in the clear there. Give me a gun and lets get this show on the road."

His foot slid, scuffing the trap, and he did it on purpose. Both because he could think around corners and would bet Sam could as well. They wern't going that route. Second it was to make sure he could still be corporial here if he put in the effort. "My nose is better than yours."

Edited 2009-04-26 06:42 (UTC)

"And I'm almost three hundred and still alive. And I'm well aware of the X series as we have had generations of them come through the Initiative. You're good fighters, I'll give you that. But you're not psychic and fighting with me isn't going to get us anywhere but further from Dean."

He looked at Ruby, annoyed and wanting to just find Dean and not deal with this reaper and his smart mouth.

Ruby looked back at him, before rolling her eyes and turning back to Alec. They were losing time by arguing about this, and if Stolas had Dean elsewhere and didn't take Alec with him, that didn't exactly mean good things for Dean. But if the kid wanted to help, it didn't hurt to use another nose.

"Alright, look, we don't have time for this," Ruby sighed, before turning to Alec. "You want to help, fine, but if you slow us down, you're getting grabbed by the nearest demon and taken right back to base, understood?"

The kid obviously cared about Dean. As far as Ruby was concerned, that couldn't hurt.

Alec grit his teeth because telling her she could taker her threats and shove them wouldn't help. She was being more of an allie than Sam at the moment. He knew when to shut up. He and Maxie hadn't put a small nation together, and held it relatively steady by not being able to bite his tongue on occasion.

Shutting up also meant he didn't have to agree or lie and say he agreed. He knew damned well that is just wasn't wise for any entity that could be bound to make agreements they didn't believe in.

His lip curled in a silent snarl. The trouble was that now that he didn't have to ever pretend to be human, more telltales snuck through before he could catch them. Especially when he was irritated.

He turned and headed for the hallways Dean had been taken through

Edited 2009-04-26 07:22 (UTC)

Sam shook his head, his lips becoming a thin line before he took off after Alec. Damn reaper obviously didn't know how to take care of his own self and felt he was more important than the safety of this mission.

He hated when people felt they were better; they knew more and obviously had to be in charge. And he was fully aware of the irony that he was the exact same way, but he had earned that position in his life.

But fine, the reaper wanted to play hero, Sam would amuse him. The second he got in the way he would be out of there, and Sam wouldn't apologize in the least.

No wonder this Alec and Dean got along so well. The personality traits went along with the facial similarities.

Stolas had taken Dean deep into the annals of the factory set-up. Dean really was -- inconsequential to the whole thing. The point of the matter was that Stolas wanted to test a new toy. It had taken him some time and effort to come up with, but he'd done it, and all he needed was the right bait to make sure that it worked. And, boy was it a masterpiece.

Dean smacked against the cement wall of the room and cried out as he felt a rib crack. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in there, but it had been enough for Stolas to beat him up pretty well. The room had some kind of enchantment on it, and any abilities he would have had to defend himself were gone. He was practically human again, and he really, really didn't like that feeling. But there wasn't much he could do about it, and while he had done his best to fight back in the beginning -- he still had all those years of practice and training at his disposal -- Stolas had worn him out relatively quickly. He had the practice, but he was out of it.

The room seemed fairly normal-looking, aside from four lines across the front of the door: salt for demons, your basic white line for a trap for a reaper, goofer dust for hellhounds, and one mixture that was a bit of something new, intended to ward against human with a little demon in the cocktail. He had the bait, he had the trap -- now he just had to see if it worked.

Dean and Nancy were right. Being corporial was hard. It sapped energy. The little things were easy, having you body recognize the floor or the physical form of a chair. He thought that it wasn't even actually beng corporial, but just sort of faking it, mostly for the peace of mind of their charges.

He'd done it before. The real deal. So he could play the piano or so if he took the form of a cat people could pet him. They took comfort in it and it meant they didn't have to be alone when the end came. Normally a reaper's job started only after the last breath, but sometime he did what he thought of as overtime.

What he was doing now though was harder. This was forcing himself to be just as solid as he had been the day he died. Total and complete. He needed to be an X5 here, not a reaper.

Because in that respect Sam was right. A reaper was a liability. But an X5 was an asset, dispite Sam's apparently massive ego. Because he knew Dean's scent. And that his kitty nose could follow.

He did wait for Ruby and Sam though. They had the fire power. He wasn't stupid enough to run off with out them. "I've got his scent. Whatever they have going on here isn't messing with my senses. Just the reaper stuff." He lead the way as fast as he could while making sure they stayed with him and that he didn't loose the scent. "This place is a friggin maze."

Eventually he pulled up short near an open door. "Way to easy." Yeah, he was nervous. Only a moron wouldn't be. He sniffed purposefully, and then pinched his nose to stifle a sneeze and looked back at them. "Uh, not to have you look down you're nose at me even farther, but I'm a little knew at this whole supernatural thing. Salt I get, and the trap that scream Reaper Danger, but pepper and sulfur? And not demon sulfur either, before you ask. And iron? But that might be me. There's a lot of bare metal holding this place up."

Edited 2009-04-27 01:43 (UTC)

Sam walked into the doorway, then stopped short of the lines. Four lines. "Gopher dust," Sam explained the Alec as he looked into the room, seeing Dean beaten up and a small snarl came to the side of his mouth.

"You really just want to get to the top of my hunting list, don't you?" Sam sneered as he glared at Stolas. He moved his foot to swipe at the lines. He went through the gopher dust and salt easily before he felt resistance and almost like he had kicked a wall.

He couldn't hide the confusion from his face as he looked down at the line, then at Ruby. What the hell?

"Touch-down!" Stolas said with a happy cackle, before turning back to where Dean was sitting in a heap on the floor, grabbing him by the hair pulling his head back. "I knew I could do it, didn't you Dean-o? I told you that sooner or later, your brother was going to cross that tiny little line between smooth sailing and preventable."

As he finished the statement, he slammed Dean's head back into the ground. Dean reeled from the blow his hand coming up to brace his face as he rolled away from the demon, but Stolas wasn't interested in him anymore. He wanted to go rub a few things in little Sammy Winchester's face.

"How does it feel, Sam? To not have all the doors opening for you for a change?" He bounced his way across the floor, stopping in front of Sam and giving him a grin. "See, I knew -- that if I waited long enough and worked hard enough, I could come up with a mixture to keep you out. Only a matter of time, and look at this. Now I have a shiny little AntiChrist proof room. How do you like that?"

Alec watched Stolas through narrowed eyes and then calmly knelt, and carefully patched the salt line and broke the line that seemed to slow Sam. He kept clear of the the burning sensation he could feel from the trap. "Cut that last one for me and I say we kick his ass, take Dean and leave him to rot." That would be why he patched the salt line. He grinned at Stolas. A distinctly predatory and feral expression.

Problem was, with the salt line intact, Ruby couldn't come in with him. And Alec, while he might be Dean's new partner in crime, had not earned Sam's trust enough to let him have his back.

This is why Sam didn't like working with people he didn't know. Because they were on two different mindsets and would only butt heads.

"No, I have a better idea. You get Dean and get out of here. I can handle Stolas." While Stolas had been doing his little monologue, he had reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, The pocket was actually padded and had a wire form to keep it from collapsing easily, and he pulled three tiny water balloons out. He looked at Ruby, then nodded.

It was something his son had developed when he was younger that Sam had made easier for hunters. Michael had joked about water balloons filled with holy water that Ruby would be able to carry and throw over salt lines at other demons. Of course, there was always the fear that it would break on her, which would be bad.

That's when Michael went to work on paint gun bullets with holy water in them for her, and Sam stuck with the water balloons.

The first balloon dropped on the line, the holy liquid dissolving the salt as well as washing away the chalk on the reaper line. All four were broken.

In the same movement, Sam rushed in and threw the other two balloons right at Stolas' face. The impact wuold coat him in enough water to distract and cause pain, enough for Sam to tackle the demon to the ground, then funnel his power as he let his hand glow yellow.

It had to be fast and quick otherwise Stolas would get away again and frankly, Sam was getting tired of him kidnapping family members to get at him.

Two balloons of holy water really just weren't what they used to be, and Stolas -- well, he'd always been one for pain. He was a Fallen however, so two water balloons mostly just tickled, and when Sam tackled him to the ground, he managed to get his legs up and under him pushing into Sam's stomach and physically tossing the man over his head. He may have been impervious to most psychic attacks, but he had a center of gravity just like everyone else.

Dean, on the other hand, was making a very valiant effort to get himself on his feet. It wasn't working too well. Instead, he wound up slumped against the wall, slurring something about Stolas staying away from his brother, and not making very much sense. The room spinning probably wasn't helping. It'd been a long time since he had taken a beating like that, and he really would prefer to be passing out now, thank you very much.

Alec wanted to throttle Sam. Seriously. Way to check the plan.

Alec went for Dean though. Dean was his first priority. Trouble was he knew Sam would be Dean's. At this point he knew how Dean was. Alec pulled Dean to his feet and tucked himself under Dean's shoulded. "Suppose you want me to go back for Sam next, right?"

"Ruby!" Sam shouted as he rolled to his feet, not planning on staying on his pack for more than a second. She was his partner now, not Dean, and not Alec. They worked together and were good at it.

He might not trust Alec to have his back, but he sure as hell trusted Alec to take care of Dean. They were partners and that's what they did.

Sam didn't look back to check on his brother, instead focusing completely on Stolas, a smirk on his face. "Oh, come on, Stolas, you wanted me here, and you got me. Don't tell me because your little line didn't work as well as you hoped, that you've got no backup."

At that point, with a good portion of his forces IN the room, one of his demons redid the salt line, staying outside with three others as a sentry against anyone coming from the other direction.

And all of the sentries had earplugs in, working in tandem to the psychic connection with Sam. They had been up against Stolas enough times to work around his powers now as much as they could.

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