Not What He Seems

Chapter 10

Riot gets left in the car again at the tattoo parlor. He stares through the back window at Sam and Dean until they come back, just to make sure they're okay.

Riot gets left in the car at the bus station. He steals some clothes from Dean's duffle bag in the trunk and follows them inside at a distance, just to make sure they're okay. The tablet isn't where Kevin left it, but otherwise, no one gets hurt, and Riot runs back to the car, drops Dean's clothes haphazardly in the trunk, and waits like he never left.

Riot gets left in the car at the police station, where they're interrogating the guy that broke into the lockers. He carefully puts Dean's clothes away correctly before shifting into fog form and heading to the door, and...

"Riot, what are you doing?"

He looks up to see both Trans walking out. He's not sure why the Winchesters decided it was a good idea to leave them on their own, but Riot knows he's probably more use watching these two than he would be following Sam and Dean and, so he lets Kevin drag him back to the car.

He gets left in the car at the pawnshop that the thief sold the tablet to. He hops out of the car and hides under the much nicer car in front of the window to watch — and, for the record, Mrs. Tran is such a badass. He can't even put it into words how much he respects her. She threatens to get him in trouble over taxes, of all things.  What an icon.

He gets left in the car again at the motel room of the man who supposedly bought the tablet, but, given that they're standing less than ten feet away from him, he doesn't feel compelled to get out of the car this time. He can see if anything goes south from here.

And it does.

"Kevin."

Riot looks through the rear window to see a Willy-Wonka-looking man in a weird striped shirt with a matching suit. He's not sure whether it's adorable or hideous, but everyone else is definitely on edge, so he decides to go with hideous.

"Who wants to know?" Dean asks.

"Don't worry, Dean," the man says. "I'm not here to steal your prophet.

Dean just looks confused, which is all it takes for Riot to have his paw on the door handle at the ready.

"Ah," the man says. "And you must be Kevin's mother." He kisses Mrs. Tran's hand. "Beau. And it is my absolute pleasure."

Mrs. Tran smiles, flattered, and that makes Riot feel a little better.

"And, Kevin," he continues. "Imagine my luck. Here I was working so hard looking for you that I never stopped to think that you might be looking for me." He reaches into his pocket. "I have something for you."

Riot's back on edge now. His daughter forced him into watching so many cop shows when he was human that he knows there's always a chance the bad guy's reaching for a gun.

"What is it?" Dean asks.

Fortunately, he just pulls out an envelope with Kevin's name on it. "An invitation, dear man, to a very exclusive auction."

"Let me guess," Dean says, exasperated. "Where you'll be selling the tablet."

"Well, when we acquire an item as hot as the Word of God, it's smart to unload it as fast as possible — and we are in such desperate need of a headliner for tonight's gala."

Riot growls. If he didn't have to worry about the Winchesters seeing him right now, he'd open this door and mail this ugly-suited man to bits.

Beau turns around to look at him. "Oh, cute puppy."

Riot growls louder.

Beau just chuckles and turns his attention back to the Winchesters.

"I hope you have three extra tickets to your eBay party," Dean says, "because the prophet's with us."

"Oh, if you're worried about the safety of the prophet, rest assured that we have a strict 'no casting, not cursing, no supernaturally-flicking-the-two-of-you-against-the-wall-just-for-the-fun-of-it' policy."

Just judging by the way he says it, Riot can only assume he's implying that he would like to do that, which pisses Riot off more. He pulls back on the door handle, and, to his surprise, he actually manages to open it with his paw. He shoves the door open and hops out, running straight for the man.

"Riot, stop!" Sam yells.

As much as Riot likes Sam, he genuinely could not care less what the guy thinks right now. He runs up to Beau...

And the dude kicks him.

Riot whimpers, lying down on the concrete in defeat. He should have seen that one coming.

Sam runs to his dog's side, stroking his head gently. That surprisingly makes him feel a little better. His ribs still hurt like hell, but he has Sam, which is nice — and he doesn't think anything's broken, either. It doesn't hurt quite as much as getting hit with a car did 

"You really ought to train him better," Beau says with a smirk. "But, since time is of the essence, I might as well add a plus-four to the prophet's invitation."

"Plus-four" Dean repeats. "You mean plus-three?"

Beau tosses the invitation in the air without answering his question up. Riot's so focused on where it lands that he doesn't even notice Beau disappear.

"Well, thank you, Mr. Peanut!" Dean yells, frustrated.

Sam sighs. "Riot, bud, you should've just stayed in the car."

Like hell he should've. That dude is setting them up. He knows it. He doesn't know how, but it's definitely a setup somehow. He couldn't just let them fall right into that trap.

"Alright, well, what do we have to bid?" Dean asks.

And apparently, they're going to fall into that trap.

Well, shit.

And, for the record, Dean seems far more upset about Sam alluding to bidding his car than he does about Beau kicking Riot across the parking lot, which just further cements Riot's opinion that Dean is a piece of shit, not that that's the most important thing for him to be focusing on.