Lambs for Slaughter Part 2

Chapter 11

"Seeing as though Auntie Amara is a powerhouse, we're going to need all of the backup we can get," Lucifer explained with a manic grin. "Lucky for us, there's an entire host of angels up in heaven just waiting to get on their knees and present."

Dean forced himself out of his frozen stupor and cleared his throat. Having Cas' bright blue eyes on him, but not feeling the warmth and love behind them was not something Dean ever wanted to experience again, but found that he had no choice in the matter. "How do you know they'll follow you?"

His quick, sharp laugh had Dean wincing, but he held his ground. "Because they won't have a choice," Lucifer told him with glee. "They'll either march to the beat of my drum or I'll destroy them all. It's that simple." He let out a put-upon sigh and placed a hand on his hip. "Now, while I'm up there doing all of the hard work, I'm going to need you all to pull your weight down here in the trenches."

Dean swallowed hard, exchanging a glance with Sam. His brother coughed and brought himself up to his full height. "What do we need to do to defeat Amara?"

"So glad you asked, Sammy-boy!" Lucifer gave him an approving nod, which was almost as disturbing as his unnatural laugh. "You need to get Crowley and Rowena here. King Douche will need to figure out where your boy hid the First Blade because," he knocked his knuckles against the side of his head, "Cassie won't give up the info. Apparently it wasn't 'part of the deal' and is keeping his trap shut for now."

He shrugged as if Cas' defiance wasn't problematic whatsoever. "Red will need some help figuring out how to restore the Mark, so Moneybags over there," Lucifer stuck his chin out towards Stark, "will need to round up the rest of the Avengers, including Stephen Strange and that little spiderling you're so fond of."

Lucifer paused just long enough for Stark to give him a jerky nod, his face dangerously pale, before clapping his hands together again and stepping closer to Dean. Sam snapped his hand out to latch onto his brother's sleeve, and Dean stiffened, but ultimately knew better than to back away when Lucifer brought his hand up to caress a line along Dean's stubbled chin.

"You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to seeing the real you, Dean," Lucifer hissed, his voice betraying the excitement beneath it. "Be good for me while I'm gone." And then his lips stretched too wide, leaving Dean shivering as he disappeared from thin air with a flutter of wings in his wake.

Dean choked out a gasp and crumpled to his knees, with Sam, Reid, and Hotch following him down with surprised shouts.

The next moment, the conference room door slammed open with a crack as it hit the back wall, and a tall, imposing black man dressed in dark clothing and an eye patch stormed through the threshold with a small army of SHIELD agents behind him. Their weapons snapped upwards and trained on the Winchesters and BAU agents in the blink of an eye.

"What the damn hell is going on in here?" The man roared, taking in the absolute devastation of the room before him. Rivers of blood and sickening chunks of body parts slathered every inch of the carpet, table, and occupants, including the Avengers themselves, who looked nothing less than terrified.

"Stand down!" Rogers, Captain America himself, ordered with a fierce growl when the agents stepped closer to Dean and his team. "Don't touch them!"

"Explain yourselves, now!" The man demanded again, and this time Agent Coulson stumbled forward, drenched and looking harried.

"Nick," he croaked. "Let them go. We've got a lot to discuss."

XX

Once they had all been allowed to clean up in the SHIELD locker rooms, scrubbing the dried blood from their skin and donning stain-free standard-issue clothing, Tony pulled a handful of strings to have them all transferred to the Avengers Tower in downtown New York City for a bit of comfort after such a traumatic experience.