PART ONE: RUN
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: STALEMATE
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TEAM WINCHESTER, STARLING , USA
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They sat awkwardly in the living room, Felicity and Oliver now gone. An angry silence hung about as Sam stared at the books on the table and Charlie stared at her hands. "Alright, I screwed up ok?" he finally shouted, neither of them willing to meet his eye.
"Azazel showed up and you didn't even think that that was something you should tell me. Better yet he showed up and showed interest in our sister and after everything that meant last time, you, didn't tell me?" Sam was beyond furious Dean realized and he felt his stomach drop. "Is there anything else you want to tell me now? Anything at all?" Dean opened his mouth to say something and then paused, his words failing him.
"Think carefully Dean, because so help me if our sister dies over you, you can say goodbye!"
"I figured out the Meta-wolf's riddle when we met Crowley in Stull Cemetery," that truth hung in the air like a bomb threatening to explode. Dean watched the muscle in his brother's jaw tighten and his brother's fists ball up and he knew though they didn't fight often, this might be one of those exceptions.
Sam laughed a tight, fake laugh that made Dean feel like an even bigger bag of shit. "You found out that giant tid-bit too and you didn't tell anyone about it," it wasn't a question this time though, Sam was making a statement. "Dammit Dean!"
"I had it under control, I was looking into it-"
"When are you going to get it through your head Dean that it's not always you against the world? I thought after everything we've been through you would have figured it out already - we're a hell of a lot better, a hell of a lot smarter and a hell of a lot stronger when we work together!"
Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes at his brother's damn logic - that and his own words being quoted back at him. Sometimes he wished that he would just keep his mouth shut. "Adam," Dean said calmly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"What like Adam and Eve? What does that have to do with anything?"
"No like Adam, Adam- our brother Adam, that's the answer to the riddle," He had been rolling over just what exactly that meant since figuring it out and nothing about it was coming up good.
"That doesn't even make sense 'what you have and they took - Adam,'" Sam repeated back but Charlie seemed to connect the dots. Her brown eyes suddenly growing large as she perked up and turned her focus on Sam.
"No you're thinking about it wrong Sam, the meta- wolf said it to Felicity, not to us or to you guys but specifically to her. What does she have that Adam has had taken away?" Sam opened his mouth to say something and Dean watched with a small amount of satisfaction at his brother's struggle with acceptance. He opened and closed his mouth without words and Dean could see him working it over.
"Everything," Sam finally said, and Dean looked away from the realization dawning on his brother's face his enjoyment suddenly turned sickening. "We took his life, his family, his freedom -"
"Sammy, I think Adam's still in that cage," Dean said carefully, cutting him off before he could continue the thought terrifying him already. He seen what Sam was like when he came out of there, he could only imagined what kind of monster was locked in there now. Years of torment stuck in a cage with the original nasty, that would do something to a guy. Dean didn't want to think about just what that 'something' was.
Charlie gasped and her hand flew to her mouth as she stared back and forth between the Winchester brothers. "What's stopping him from getting out?" she finally asked, eyes wide with fear. It wasn't a good look for her, he decided as he weighed the possibilities.
"The seals," Sam finished swallowing hard as if digesting the idea itself. Dean thought he looked like he might be sick.
"I thought they were obsolete after the whole apocalypse thing you know - new era, no rules?" Charlie pitched, her voice hopeful as she stared at Sam then turning to Dean when he offered no answers. Dean just shook his head and shrugged. They had no idea where to even begin. So Sam did the only thing he knew to do - pick up his computer and start searching.
They started simple, on a search for a list of seals on Lucifer's cage. The act feeling like a hauntingly familiar deja vu that he couldn't shake. He and Sam recited off the ones they remembered having been broke to Charlie who compiled their findings into a spreadsheet. But their leads fizzled out with far too many possibilities to decipher what was real and what was fake. There was an infinite amount of possibilities and none more likely than the last.
"So what, another 66 get broken and Lucifer walks free again?" Charlie finally asked, studying the chart on the tablet sitting between them all. It sat less than a quarter of the way filled and the thought made Sam blanch. They really had no idea, until the information fell into their lap the situation was utterly hopeless.
"Sam, are you sure about this? I mean this seems like a lot of work for Adam, I mean we're not even talking about prince nasty here. Adam wants out, not Lucifer - well, Lucifer always wants out but you know what I mean!" Dean finally complained, throwing his pen down on the table and leaning back into the chair he had pulled up.
Silence reigned once more before Felicity's logical voice of reason sliced through it. "So what if we just beat Crowley there? If - if Adam has been driven as mad as you say in there, then surely what's in there is just another monster, and isn't that what you do?"
Dean jumped in surprise and Sam's head snapped up to see an exhausted and emotional looking Felicity standing with a steaming mug in her hand - Oliver nowhere to be found. She stood close to him and he wondered how long she had been standing there. If she heard what he had admitted she didn't let on, as she walked around the coffee table they were stationed at and sunk into the soft cushions beside Sam. Sam looked at her expectantly as she picked up their father's journal and caressed the leather of the cover.
"What are you proposing here? We backdoor our way into the pit?" He demanded, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees as he surveyed her expression.
"Felicity's got a point Dean, what other options do we have here? There's no way we can predict all the seals on Lucifer's cage- I mean look at this list!" he said shoving the tablet towards him - their spreadsheet ledgered with notes and thoughts but none of them any better than a guess. There were just too many options to possibly consider and none better than the last.
This was stalemate.
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A/N - It's been far, far too long but hey - here's an update! Let me know what you think! I'm going to work on the next chapter and I hope to see you guys soon as I'm off for five days and should be able to get some writing in. WOOT WOOT!
Also, do you guys miss Team Flash? Would you like to see them make an appearance again or is it just a little too much with them in the mix too?
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On Borrowed Time
Fanfiction-Arrow x Supernatural Crossover- Team Winchester specializes in two things and two things only, saving people and hunting things. Not everyone can be saved though, a fact they've learned to accept. Yet, the murmurings of Kansas nights have only sol...
