On Borrowed Time

30. Winchester Arrogance

PART TWO: BREAKOUT

CHAPTER THIRTY: WINCHESTER ARROGANCE

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TEAM WINCHESTER, TENNESSEE, USA

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The look on Felicity's face had been enough to make Dean livid. His brother had omitted truths and conveniently forgot to mention other things before, and it hurt, but it was him. They had a long and complex past that delved beyond that of a normal brotherly relationship. The Winchester family was by no means normal, and Felicity, though not entirely normal herself, certainly wasn't as abnormal as them and that delayed truth had hurt her. Dean could only hope it hadn't wrecked their relationship with their sister altogether.

Charlie of all people had been the one to speak up and address the situation that was forming outside. He hadn't been entirely sure what the other trio had been using as a distraction but judging by the screams that had come and the flurry of people running, he assumed it was something entirely dangerous and absolutely stupid. Drastic times call for drastic measures he supposed, but that wouldn't excuse Sam's ignorance, there would be a Winchester family meeting if they all survived through this.

Nothing was said as Charlie and Felicity made towards the doors, cooking up what he could only hope was a delay extravagant enough to let them open the gate. As soon as they were out of earshot, the entire lecture Dean had prepared fell flat as he realised that he didn't really want to talk to his brother. So he bit his tongue and glared at Sam, his lips pressed into an unimpressed line he knew his brother could read. His brother ignored it.

"You need the blood of the dying right?" Sam asked Persephone, getting straight to the point. She eyed him up and down and Dean resisted the urge to scoff. Gods he wanted to stab this bitch. Persephone said nothing but nodded once. Sam took that as enough of an affirmation to fish his blade out of the inside of his jacket and cut straight to the chase.

Dean did nothing to stop his brother from slicing his hand open, the gash was deep and the blood came fast as Sam sauntered towards the shield at the base of Athena's feet and let it splatter across the gold front. Not seeming satisfied he rubbed his hand across the metal for good measure before stepping back. Almost as fast as he applied it the water was washing it away. He squeezed more.

Barry seemed to notice this too and slammed the button on the lightning generator. Dean was suddenly more than happy to see that both he and his brother were wearing thick soled boots to protect from whatever electrical current might jump to them. Barry on the other hand only had Converse, but he had taken off running, becoming a crimson streak before the lightning had even jumped from one-half of the device to the other. Dean supposed that meant he was relatively safe, he still couldn't say if they would be though.

Dean half closed his eyes, expecting a shock as the arc of energy connected with the metal of the shield. It never came and Dean slowly dared a look, widened his eyes at what he was seeing. The shield seemed to be absorbing the lightning and the metal was beginning to glow as if it was sitting in a forge. He glanced at Persephone to read her expression, unsure if this was how it was supposed to happen. She didn't let on anything to suggest what they were seeing was wrong, but she didn't let on anything to the contrary either. The woman was a blank slate.

Dean slowly stepped forward and grabbed the back of his brother's jacket. Asshole or not, Sam was still his brother and he didn't want to see him drop dead today. He pulled his brother back, moving slowly, though he couldn't entirely say why- it was just a feeling. Long ago Dean had learnt to trust his feelings as they had saved his hide on a number of occasions. He wasn't about to take the chance on ignoring them today.