Burned, torn and frayed

Chapter 17 - Dean

"Does anyone see anything strange?" asked Diggle when the gala had officially started

"Nope" answered Dean from where he was near the bar

"Nothing here either" added Sam

After a few seconds, Dean asked "What about Robin Hood?" as Oliver Queen passed by him, followed by a pretty brunette.

It was Diggle that answered instead "He's busy with someone"

"Yeah, I found someone with who I could be busy too" smirked Dean as he eyed the millionaire's companion as they engaged in a conversation with a fireman in uniform.

"Dean, focus would you." chastised Sam before something caught his eyes "Hey, aren't the firemen supposed to be in their ceremonial uniforms tonight?"

"Yes, why?" asked Diggle

"Then I think I've found our guy. He's heading right to the bar!"

Dean tried to find him but an explosion nearby made him reach for his gun instinctively. "Evacuate everybody!" Diggle ordered on the comms

Dean cursed but begrudgingly left his pistol in its holder and started shouting "Out! Everybody out!" while gesturing to the doors

"Go, go, go, go, come on" Sam was saying, pushing the guest towards the exit alongside Tommy Merlyn.

"Laurel? Where's Laurel?" he asked, looking around frenetically "Hey! Finish evacuating! I'm going back in!"

Before Sam could process that he was talking to him, Tommy was already running inside. "Damn it! Dean, Tommy Merlyn just went back inside to find his girlfriend!"

"He's nuts! I'll get them! Finish evacuating the guest!" he said, running back inside the building. Among the flames, he briefly saw Oliver Queen run toward the back of the building, almost directly toward... the door to the secret lair. 

But he was caught out of his thoughts when he heard someone say "Laurel?". He quickly changed his direction and ran toward the voice, hearing the man repeat the same name twice.

From afar, he also saw the beams that were about to fall right on the couple as they reunited. He went into a dead sprint, only catching the man say "we can't leave him" before he literally rammed into them. 

All three of them landed hard of the concrete mere seconds before three heavy steel beams felled right where they had been a few seconds ago.

Dean took a second to catch his breath and winced as got to his knees. Beside him, the one who was probably Tommy Merlyn was knocked unconscious while the brunette he had eyed earlier grunted and flickered her eyes.

"Owww..." she winced as she sited slowly

"Hey! I'm sorry about that but we have to get out of here!" Dean said, getting back into warrior mode "Can you walk?"

"Y-yeah. But-Oh my god! Tommy!"

"Hey, he'll be fine alright? He's unconscious! But we will all die if we don't get out of here okay?"

Dean got up to his feet and took Tommy on his shoulders and turned toward the exit "Follow me!" he ordered Laurel, taking her hand in his free one. "Keep an eye out for anything else that might fall down on us okay?"

"Sure," she said, letting him guide her as she tried to focus her mind on anything that looked like it was about to crumble down. Slowly but steadily, they made their way toward the door, where firetrucks were already arriving.

As they finally got out, however, a gunshot was heard. "Sam?" he asked, letting go of Laurel's hand

"He and the Hood are taking care of the killer," Diggle said on the comms

Dean didn't have the time to reply as paramedics rushed to them with a stretcher. He tried to be as gentle as possible when he laid Merlyn down on it, starting to answer the paramedics' questions

Later, after being cleared by the medics, Dean walked up to Diggle, who was talking with a police officer, if the badge clipped to his belt was to tell anything

"Damn Queen, always putting my daughter in danger" the man was grumbling when Dean arrived

"Oh, Detective Lance, this is Dean Winchester. He's the one that pulled Mr. Merlyn and your daughter out of the fire"

"Really? Well, thank you, Mr. Winchester! For saving my daughter's life! If there's anything I can do to thank you, let me know!"

"It's all in the job, sir."

"If only everyone around Laurel thought the same way and tried to keep her out of harm's way. I have to go. I got this pyromaniac to book, back at the station" he said, jerking his head toward his car, where Garfield Lynns had been cuffed in. "Until next time Mr. Diggle"

When the police detective was gone, Dean chuckled "He seems like a cheery person"

"You don't even know..." Diggle sighed before turning toward Dean "He might not say it so I'll do it, just to be sure, let me say thank you for your help tonight. You and your brother saved a lot of lives tonight"

"Yeah..." Dean nodded, turning his head toward where Sam was shaking Cheif Raynes' hand. "It was a good warm-up before jumping back into our life"

"Your life? What is it that you do? I mean, the Hood checked and you almost don't have any background, except for your brother's studies"

"We huh... Hunt monsters" Dean said, smiling as he was sure that Diggle wouldn't believe him

"Monsters? What, are you mercenaries?"

Dean chuckled at that but found it the most normal thing his companion would probably believe "Yeah... Something like that"