EXT. FOREST
A woman was suspended above someone by chains. She was bleeding from several wounds.
"I heard the rumors. I said "no, that can't be". A Winchester, one of us? But it's true, isn't it? Whatever soul you had; whatever boy scout code you cuddled up to at night; it's all gone. Leaving what? Look at you!"
Sam held a bloody knife. "Where is Crowley?"
"Eat me," Dar retorted.
Sam nodded and smirked, hesitated, stepped forward, and plunged the knife into Dar's stomach. "One more time! Where is Crowley?!"
Sam twisted the blade as Dar moaned in pain. "Where's my brother?"
"I don't know!" Dar cried.
Sam cut Dar's neck and held a cup to it to catch the blood.
"No one knows!" Dar screamed. "They won't answer!"
"Make the call!" Sam ordered.
"We're under orders!!"
"Make the call!!"
Dar was crying. "Please!"
Sam dropped the cup, grabbed Dar's face, and screamed at her. "Where's my brother?!"
He made his way back to the bunker and picked up the books, 'Demonic Possession' and 'Rituals of Human Possession'.
Sam answered his phone and spoke a little before saying, "Right, right, so, no noticeable crop failures, no mass cattle deaths, nothing?"
"No, nothing on the radar, nothing on the scope. I'd say that's a good thing."
"No... yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. I hear you, Mike. Thanks. That is a good thing. All right, well, keep me posted if anything does pop up."
"All right. Watch yourself, Sam."
"I will. You got it. Thanks."
Sam hung up the phone. He washed his face with his good hand, since one was in the sling, and stared into the mirror. He sat at the table with books, a police scanner, and researched crop conditions on his laptop. Eventually, he got up and opened the door to Dean's room and turned on the light. He picked up a folded note from Dean's pillow, which read 'SAMMY, LET ME GO'. He made his way to the kitchen, made breakfast and coffee and sat, still researching. He looked at a page. "Missing Ohio Man Found Slain in Wisconsin". He snatched up his phone and dialed.
"Sam. Hello," Castiel said.
"I think I might have found something."
"Oh good, good." She coughed several times painfully.
"Cas? You there?"
"It's okay, I'm... um... I'm okay. Go... go on." She coughed more painfully.
"All right, get this. A "John Doe" who was murdered in Wisconsin a week ago turns out to be this guy named Drew Neely who went missing from religious order in Northern Ohio... okay?"
"Yeah?" Castiel coughed again.
"Now, Drew Neely had been missing for three years. Killed his wife, his kids... just disappeared. I know it's thin, but... if this guy was possessed..."
"That would make him the first..." Castiel had another coughing fit.
"The first lead, the first anything we've seen in..." Sam stopped, hearing Castiel's constant coughing.
Castiel coughed. "Sorry."
Sam frowned. "Actually... you know what... now that I'm looking at this more, I think, I, uh... think I jumped the gun here."
"No, Sam, you said it was something."
"Yeah... uh... it's not," Sam lied. "I was wrong, sorry."
"I can help."
"Cas... we tried that."
"Sam... you can't blame what that demon did to your shoulder on me; you were out of..."
"I'm not, I'm not blaming anything on you. What happened, happened, and... you need to be worrying about yourself. I really shouldn't have bothered you."
"How are you, Sam?"
"Good. I'm all right. I'm just... tired, you know. Be better when I get him back... after... after I kick his butt."
"I miss him."
"Yeah."
"Why would he just disappear?"
"Who says he had a choice?"
"Well then, who wrote the notes? If there's any chance... any chance at all that Dean is still..."
"Still... even remotely Dean?"
Sam hung up and looked with worried and sad.
BAR
Dean sang badly, ""I'm too sexy for my love; too sexy for my love; love's going to leave me.""
The crowd booed at Dean's terrible singing, but he didn't care. He smiled at a waitress, Anne-Marie. She acknowledged him with a smile as she walked by. Crowley was sitting at a table in the bar, talking to two other men.
Dean sang even more off key. ""I'm too sexy for my shirt. Too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts. And I'm too sexy for Milan; too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan.""
"Turn it off!" a girl cried.
Dean took a swig from his beer bottle. "Everybody!"
Dean, in bed, rolled off Anne-Marie. They were covered by a bedsheet and looked very satisfied.
"Okay. Wow!" Anne-Marie breathed. "What time is it? Daryl's going to kill me if I'm late from my break again."
Dean reached over to look at the clock. "Oops. Heh-heh-heh."
Anne-Marie sat up and hurriedly got dressed. "Damn! I told you to hurry it up! But then you had to go and do that thing with the... thing."
"Oh, you mean that thing you were begging me for?"
"Begging you to hurry up, maybe."
"Well, let's not argue about good sex."
"It was good, wasn't it?"
"Mmm-hmm... just uh...don't get too excited, you know. Or too attached... 'cause I'm just... rollin' through."
"You know, there's about a million other ways you could have said that."
The door opened revealing a perturbed-looking Crowley.
"Whoa!" Dean cried.
"Whoa? What's going on here?" Crowley asked.
"What's it look like?"
"In my bed?"
"What?" Dean looked around and shrugged. "Oh yeah... heh-heh."
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
"Get a room, you," Anne-Marie said.
"Had a room... until you two soiled it," Crowley replied.
"Love you, Crowley."
"Love you more... sweetheart."
"Anne-Marie... jackass."
"Knew that."
Dean stood after pulling on his shirt. "Heh."
"Pants?"
Dean rolled his eyes and put on pants.
---
Dean and Crowley faced off at foosball against two other guys.
"Best of three," Crowley said. "Losers buy the beer."
"Lots of beer," Dean replied.
"Girl seemed nice. Slightly damaged. I could see the old you falling for that."
"Yeah, well, not to worry. She means nothing."
"Good, good. 'Cause you and I, we're rolling stones. No distractions. Lock it down! Lock it down!"
"Stop talking."
"You're bodging it!" Crowley yelled as the other team scored.
"Aw. If you'd shut up -- keep talking -- We can't play the game."
Dean was suddenly distracted by a man grabbing Anne-Marie and hauling her out of the bar. Dean and Crowley followed them outside. The man was getting rough with Anne-Marie.
"Get off me," Anne-Marie demanded.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Matt cried.
"You need to calm down."
"Where were you?"
"Stop it!"
Dean approached. "Hey, is this him?"
"There a problem?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, are you Matt?"
Dean grabbed Matt and threw him on the hood of a car and started punching him.
"Dean!" Anne-Marie yelled.
"You need to get away from here. Don't try and contact her. In fact, don't even think about her. You understand me?!" Dean punched Matt 'til he was barely conscious. He turned to Anne-Marie, gave her a look, and walked back inside with Crowley.
MOTEL
Castiel was still laying in bed when there was a knock on the door.
"Just a moment," Castiel said.
She opened the door with her robe hanging open to find Harvey standing there.
"Castiel," Harvey called.
"Harvey. I'm sensing awkwardness."
He motioned with his eyes to her open robe and she quickly pulled it together.
Castiel was getting dressed and Harvey filled her in with the state of Heaven.
"So... There's no -- no leader?" Castiel asked. "You're governing yourselves?"
"Mostly," he replied. "There's lot of meeting on rebuilding and reorganization -- lots of reconciliation."
"And Metatron?"
"Still in jail. His door has been made permanent. I would've thought we'd see you sooner."
"I would've come sooner but-"
"I'm glad you didn't. You see, I... I need your help. Heaven needs your help."
"Anything."
"Most of the angels who fell during the fall have returned to Heaven. A few have not. Some out-and-out refuse. Rogues. Two of them have killed one of our own for only attempting to bring them back home."
"Who were they?"
"Daniel and Adina. They must be found. They must be brought home, and they must be punished for the sake of all. Will you help me?"
"Yes."
---
Sam entered a police station with an officer.
"Appreciate you coming down here, agent. But I'm afraid you may have just cost Uncle Sam a tank of gas."
"Oh, why's that?" Sam asked.
"You came up here to investigate Drew Neely's murder, right?"
"Right."
"Problem is, no one's certain it was a murder at all."
"Okay, then what are we dealing with here? A suicide?"
As they stood in front of a computer, the officer said, "Self-defense most likely. Uh, the surveillance footage was corrupted. Our techies finally managed to clean up the file. Hold on a sec now..."
BAR
Dean was talking to someone. "We can do this however you want. Don't pretend I didn't see you this afternoon. Did you get a good look? You see my moves? I hope so, 'cause I sure could use the competition."
A man stepped from the shadows.
POLICE STATION
"That John Doe right there is the one you two want to keep your eye on."
The surveillance footage showed Dean in a gas station reading a magazine and book.
Sam stared at his brother and muttered, "Son of a bitch."
"Watch," the officer said.
BAR
"Well, all you Abaddon groupies are the same, you know that?" Dean asked. "You, the douche that jumped me at the gas station, you can't just accept that the queen is dead, can you?"
"Maybe we just can't accept that a douche like you was the one who killed her," the man retorted.
"Ah. Yeah, that's got to hurt, doesn't it?" Dean removed the First Blade from under his jacket and the man's eyes flashed black.
POLICE STATION
"Okay, now, porn guy's just minding his own business," the officer told Sam. "And there's Drew Neely. See the knife?"
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"That's intent right there. Now watch this."
Drew Neely jumped Dean in the surveillance footage. He was killed with the First Blade. At the same time, at the bar Dean was at, the demon jumped Dean, and was killed with the First Blade.
"Looks like a cutlass or something. I don't know what the hell that is. Problem is, we don't know if this guy is a hero or a psychopath." The officer stopped the tape on a closeup of Dean's face. Sam stared at his brother's image. "That's the image that's getting uploaded to the wires."
Sam recovered his voice. "Detective, do you mind if I, uh, take another look at this?"
"Knock yourself out. I'll be back in a few."
"All right."
Sam rewound the tape, going slowly frame-by-frame on Dean's face. He noticed something and started back when Dean's eyes flashed to black. Sam looked at the screen angrily.
---
A man worked out furiously in his house. His wife and son ate breakfast at the table in the other room. A fax came in in the office and the son brought it to his father.
"Fax, Dad," the son said.
"Who's it from, buddy?" the man, Cole, asked.
"Doesn't say. There's a picture."
"Thanks a lot, bud."
"Is it him?" Cole's wife asked.
Cole just looked at the surveillance picture of Dean, then up at his wife. She began to cry. Cole began to pack an arsenal of weapons into a military duffel bag.
---
Harvey and Castiel pulled over at the side of a highway.
"I didn't know angels could get nauseous," Castiel said.
"I just need a moment," Harvey told her.
"It's my fault. I'll take the curves faster."
"And you, Castiel? You're feeling well?"
"Oh, yes. Like a million dollars."
"That's not true."
"It's my truth."
"When you left Heaven, your borrowed grace was failing. By the looks of you, you've only gotten worse."
"I'm fine."
"You're dying, Castiel. You need more grace."
"And we have a mission in front of us that supersedes my needs -- all of our needs. Don't you agree? You're a good soldier, Harvey... And one of the best. Metatron certainly could not have been brought to heel without your bravery."
"Or yours. You must take care of yourself, Castiel."
Castiel lashed out. "And another angel should die so that I can be saved?! Is this really that hard to understand? Harvey."
Harvey got back in the car. "I'm feeling better now."
---
Sam made his way to the Gas-n-Sip to talk to Mickey, the attendant.
"Oh, yeah," Mickey said. "Porn guy was an animal. Bro came at him like, "what?!" and he was all like, "wh-a-a-at?" "say my name! Say my name! Say my name." And there was a lot of blood."
"Right," Sam noted. "Um... when the guy, uh -- when -- "Porn guy" came in, did he... say anything?"
""Where's the porn"."
Sam frowned. "That's all he said? Did he buy anything? Did he -- did he use a credit card? Nothing?" Mickey stared at him blankly. "So some guy comes in, kills another guy in your store on your watch, and you just -- you what? You just keep on keepin' on?"
"You mean when porn guy was stabbing the other guy to death ten feet in front of me, and I was having a total code-brown moment in my favorite freakin' pants because I thought I was next, did I conduct a field interview?... No." Sam rolled his eyes as Mickey pulled a phone from behind the counter. "Oh, hey. Uh, can you do me a solid? Found this wedged under the T.P. I think it's the dead guy's phone, and, uh, if you are heading back to the station..."
Sam stood outside the Gas-n-Sip as he scrolled through Drew Neely's phone. He pulled up a text message that read 'Winchester. Amherst Junction, WI Gas n' Sip B/W 11a-12p. Long live Abaddon.' Sam called the number.
BAR
A phone rang next to Crowley as he watched Dean playing darts in the bar. He looked at the ID and picked it up.
"You're dead."
"Nope," Sam replied. "Just using a dead man's phone."
"Moose. Took you long enough. Your brother and I were beginning to wonder if you'd hit another dog. You know?"
"My brother is dead, Crowley. I know you have some freaking demon parading around in his meatsuit, and trust me, you are gonna pay for that."
"Moose. Moose. I'm afraid you haven't allowed yourself to dream quite big enough here. Your brother is very much alive, courtesy of the Mark. And the only demonized soul inside of Dean is his and his alone. Wee bit more twisted, a little more mangled beyond human recognition, but, I can assure you, all his. There, now. Feel better?"
"And the, uh, Abaddon supporters you've been sending to kill my brother, how does Dean feel about that double-cross?"
"If that's what you think is happening, then you are more out of your depth than I thought."
Sam pursed his lips. "I don't know how you did this, what kind of... Black magic stunt you pulled, but hear me -- I will save my brother or die trying."
"You know what tickles me about all this? It's what's really eating you up. You don't care that he's a demon. Heck, Moose, you've been a demon. We've all been demons. No, it's that he's with me and he's having the time of his life. You can't stand the fact that he's mine."
"He's not your pet."
"My pet? He's my best friend, my partner in crime. They'll write songs about us, graphic novels. "The Misadventures of Growley and Squirrel". Dean Winchester completes me, and that's what makes you lose your chickens."
Sam narrowed his eyes. "I am going to find you, I am going to save my brother, and then I'm going to kill you dead."
"Well, that's the operative phrase, isn't it? "Find you." Good luck with that."
Crowley hung up and Sam looked at his. Sam laid the phone next to his on the hood of the car. His phone had traced the call to reveal that Dean and Crowley were at; The Black Spur in North Dakota.
---
Castiel and Harvey pulled up to a camping site. They got out and found Daniel fishing in the river.
"Daniel. What are you fishing for?" Castiel asked.
"Trout, mostly," Daniel replied. "They do love a good curlytail grub. Trick is to find that special spot just outside the run, where the big ones -- the smart ones -- are holding low."
"Do they -- do they put up much of a fight?"
"The ones who truly want to be free? They do. You're here about our brother who died."
"Does that surprise you?"
"I can assure you... Had he just left us alone, no one would've been harmed."
"His orders were to not leave you alone," Harvey told him. "And you killed him."
"And Heaven sends two more. What is it about us angels that we can't seem to get the message?"
"Perhaps it is you who has failed to get the message? All of us serve at Heaven's command."
"I suppose. But that was before the fall, wasn't it?"
"You are an angel, once and forever."
"Dropped unwillingly... Unknowingly... Into a strange land, a land that, as it turns out, celebrates the free, the individual. For the first time in thousands of years, I have choices. And with each choice... I begin to discover who I really am."
"This is nonsense."
"Because they don't teach you this in heaven? Perhaps they should. Then you would understand why it's worth fighting for."
Harvey drew his angel blade. "He's taunting us."
"And then what?" Castiel asked. "We kill him?"
"Or he kills us? There are orders."
"And there is time."
"To hear more of this?"
"To convince him to do the right thing. Besides, Hannah, we still don't even know where the other one is -- the woman."
"You'll have to stay for sunset," Daniel told them. "Nighttime around here is a revelation."
BAR
Dean was sitting at the bar with Crowley and Dean asked, "You sent those demons to kill me?"
"To keep you sharp," Crowley answered.
"Really?"
"If it wasn't for me throwing demon chum your way, what do you think would've happened? The Mark needs to be sated. Otherwise-"
"Otherwise, I turn into a demon. Yeah, yeah. I sort of got that six weeks ago."
"Just trying to help."
"You lied."
"Who do you think you're talking to here. Does the Tin Man have a sheet-metal willy? Of course I lied."
Dean got up. "Okay."
"Hey. Sit down. Sit." Crowley instructed as Dean stared at him. "I needed to keep you sharp for our future, about which we need to talk."
"Our future?"
"Our professional future. How do I put this? If I have to spend one more night in the fetid petri dish of broken dreams and B.O., I will cut off my own face."
Dean sat back down and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. 'Cause I'm good. Hell, I'm great."
"Really? How many suicide wings can you eat? How many one-hit wonders can you karaoke to death?"
"Okay, see, the deal was we howl at the moon -- no time stamp, no expiration date."
"We've howled. We've bayed. We've done extraordinary things to triplets, all of which have been massively entertaining. I will treasure our Flickr albums forever. But now it's time for us to accept what we are and go back to work."
"Pass."
"Think of it -- the King of Hell, Dean Winchester by his side. Together we rule. Together we create the perfect Hell. And all of this that's bloomed between us never ends. We're not ending the party. We're just moving the party. Out with the club circuit, in with the stadium tour. Oh. Did I forget to mention I spoke to Moose earlier?"
"What?"
"Yes. Uh, apparently, he's been tracking us for some time now. He got my text from the cell of that demon you stabbed in blah, blah, blah. It was -- words were spoken -- emotions. I realize, in retrospect, perhaps too many words, too many emotions."
"He traced the call."
"My bad. My guess he'll be here by morning -- the latest."
"You sold me out. Well, that's just lovely."
"I don't know what's going on with you. I truly don't. But I've had just about enough of it. Sold you out? Try "doing you a favor" everything I've done for you for the past six months -- the Mark, the First Blade, midwifing you back to life, offering you a seat by my side -- has been a favor, a gift, whether you see it or you don't. Take the night. Decide. You know where to find me."
---
Sam was driving down the road at night when his car died. He pulled over.
He got out and struggled to open the hood with one arm. Another car pulled up behind him and Cole got out and approached.
"Hey. Need some help?" Cole asked.
Sam nodded. "Uh... Yeah. I-I think so. It just died on me."
"Out here?"
"Yeah."
"Your ride really has it out for you, huh?"
"I guess so."
Cole motioned to the hood. "Give you a hand with that?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks."
Cole lifted the hood. "Ah... These new cars and their computerized brains, huh? One zero out of place, and the whole thing just goes kaput. Well, right there. There's your problem."
"What the hell is that?"
"Well, that's a kill switch. This here is the remote." He held it up in his hand.
Sam jumped to defend himself but since his right arm was in a sling, he wasn't fast enough to avoid Cole's knockout punch.
"Guessing you're a righty."
BAR
Dean was singing karaoke terribly and drinking heavily.
The crowd cried out various complaints. "Tone deaf! Awful! Enough!"
"You all suck," Dean told them.
Security came to remove him from the stage and Dean knocked him out.
Dean woke up in a bed, still hammered, and Anne-Marie handed him a glass of water. "Drink, tough guy."
Dean pushed the glass away. "Nah, I'm good."
"Your funeral."
"Mm."
"What?"
"Let's go somewhere, you and me."
"We are somewhere."
"No. Somewhere else."
"Sweetie... We barely know each other. And you're drunk."
"Yeah, but, uh... I-I protected your honor, didn't I?"
"Yeah. I thought so, too. Seeing you take on Matt, I was like, "wow", no one's ever done that for me before. But then you kept going and going, and I realized whatever is going on with you has nothing to do with my "honor" at all."
"Hm. You got all that from a bar fight? Wow. You're good."
"I wait tables at a roadhouse. I meet the bad guys. I meet the good guys. And maybe fore a second there, I thought you were a good guy playing bad. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Maybe you're just-"
"The kind of guy who sleeps with every skank in every small town dive that he passes through? Well, you really do know how to read people, 'cause that sure as hell sounds like me. Well, used to be me."
"Now, see? I'm so screwed up myself I'm gonna walk out of here thinking I actually deserved that."
CAMPSITE
Castiel, Harvey and Daniel were sitting around a campfire.
"What I'll never understand is why angels won't acknowledge the wisdom to be found down here," Daniel said.
"What wisdom is to be gained from humans?" Hannah asked.
"I'm not speaking to you."
"Do you understand what he's... Fine. But if you are to be free, that is to be decided by all angels."
"There's that angelic irony."
"We're not going back there," Adina said. "Not ever."
"Adina. This is Harvey and Castiel. Stow the blade, please."
"When he stows his."
"Harvey, what are you doing?" Castiel questioned.
"We'll never get a chance to argue our freedom from a prison cell."
"You should've thought of that before slaughtering one of your own," Harvey retorted.
"No, no," Daniel said. "We were talking. We were getting somewhere."
"Okay, everybody just-" Castiel was cut off.
Harvey interrupted Castiel. "You want to be free? Go ahead. Be free."
"Harvey. Stop this. No. Daniel. No!"
They fought. Harvey got hurt. Castiel killed Daniel. Adina ran away.
"We have to get her," Harvey said.
"She's gone," Castiel told him.
"We have to."
"Harvey. It's over."
---
Cole led a blindfolded Sam into a barn. He roughly shoved him into a chair and zip tied his legs to the chair.
Cole whipped the hood from Sam's head. Sam's nose was bleeding. He blinked at the sudden light.
"Okay," Cole said. "Home, sweet home. Breathe. There you go. You good, partner? How's those chicken wings?"
"Who are you?" Sam asked.
"First time I broke my arm, my older brother, Davey, had me riding on the handles of his three-speed. Decided to pop us a wheelie, look real fancy for all the little pretties outside the DQ. Well, we were looking mighty good for a little bit. And then whoop ass end over teakettle, boy. Hurt like a son of a bitch. You're Sam Winchester. I think we can each agree on that. And your older brother, Dean well... The two of us, we go way back."
"You're a hunter?"
"Sure. Yeah, we can go with that."
"I wouldn't do that."
"Yeah?"
Sam nodded. "Trust me. Look, buddy, I-I don't know who you are, all right? I don't know what you want or what my brother, did, but if you got any sense, I suggest you turn tail and run back to that army recruiting ad that spit you out in the first place. He's a monster."
"Well, he was. Yeah, he was... Many, many moons ago. But now he's prey. And I'm the monster now."
CAR
Harvey and Castiel discussed as they drove away from the campsite.
"We have to report this," Harvey said.
"And say what?" Castiel replied. "Things got out of control? Another angel has died."
"He was going to kill me, Castiel."
"They just wanted to be left alone."
"Without rules, there is chaos. Out of chaos rise angels like Naomi, Bartholomew... Metatron."
"Well, perhaps I've been down here with them for too long. There's seemingly nothing but chaos. But not all bad comes from it. Art. Hope. Love. Dreams."
"But t-those are human things."
"Yes."
---
Dean was driving the Impala in the dark. His phone rang beside him. The caller ID said Sam. He held it and answered. "I left you an open tab at the bar. Knock yourself out."
"Well hell, I just may take you up on that."
"And who is this?"
"Me? Well, I'm karma, brother."
"On my brother's phone?"
"On your brother's phone."
"Is he dead?"
"No. Not yet. And as long as you show up where I tell you to show up, your brother will be just fine."
"And how do I know he's still alive?"
Cole held the phone out to Sam. "Speak."
Sam looked at the phone with heartbroken eyes and didn't say a word. Cole punched Sam in the face and his head snapped back with a grunt of pain.
"Aah!" Sam cried.
"Proof of life," Cole informed.
"Dean!"
"Got a pen?"
Dean, still driving, said, "No, you listen to me. There's no trade. There's no meet-up. There's no nothing -- except the 100% guarantee that, somewhere down the road, I will find you, and I will kill you."
"Well, that'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother."
"I told him to let me go. So whatever jam he's in now, that is his problem."
"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to pass that on to him as I'm slitting his throat."
"Yeah, you do that, 'cause he knows me. And he knows damn sure that if I am one thing, I am a man of my word."
Dean hung up and Cole was left standing in the barn.