The Wheels On The Bus Chapter 7

God it has been a long while. 

Sam and Dean clearly would have liked it more if they were sent back to the bunker, but they currently have a shaken civilian with them and they need to get to the school fast, so they all end up at the school. That, and, well, if they’d been told to go, they’d just fly to the school instead anyway. No one had tried it, thankfully.

Instead, Belphegor’s just dragged a loveseat from the principal’s office and has brought it to the staff break room they’d been told to hole up in, Jack’s listlessly scraping imaginary stains on the table, and Michael is patiently waiting for one of the Winchesters to finally return.

Adam stands at the head of the table, arms behind his back. “Damage report.”

“I’m thinking,” Belphegor starts.

“That indeed is an alarming damage report,” Adam says. “Jack’s poor former brain.”

“Never say that again,” Jack says.

“Shut the fuck up,” Belphegor says, to Adam, “I’m thinking - Chuck’s weak. And that’s like, an advantage but at the same time it’s also not, because if Chuck’s weak, and Jack keeps sending out power flares like that, he can be threatened, and if he’s threatened - “ He waves a hand, and then waits for Adam to pick up the thought.

He does. “He can lash out,” Adam says. “If he’s got enough juice for it.”

Belphegor nods. 

“Do you think Chuck would have felt that?” Jack asks. 

“There’s no telling. We don’t know how weak he is right now,” Michael says.

“Well, let’s just hope,” Adam says. “That seems to be the only thing we have going for us right now. Anything else?”

“We’ve got one civilian who knows about us,” Michael says. “And they’re bound to tell others.”

“If Sam and Dean tell the rest of the civilians what’s really going on, we won’t have to worry about it,” Belphegor says. “And you’ve started making people look into it themselves, anyway, so that might pressure them into telling the truth if enough people start asking.”

“But that plus the trauma of our guy from earlier might mean a more hostile confrontation,” Adam says. “You know how it goes in movies. Civilians side with civilians. The guys who generally know more about the situation are immediately sus. If push comes to shove, you know how people form cliques over it.”

“Yeah, which is why we should convince them it’s a better idea to just tell people,” Belphegor says. “This is a all-hands-on-deck situation, even the civilians need to be on board for this.”

Michael opens his mouth, thinks better about it, and makes a ‘nevermind’ motion with his hand.

“No, wait, what is it?” Adam asks.

“It’s, well,” Michael pauses again, hesitating. “Faith. That can be a weapon for the civilians. Lesser deities exist and thrive off of faith. We were planning on contacting deities weren’t we?”

“Oh, yeah,” Belphegor says, “If they don’t agree with the first point of them also ceasing to exist if the universe murks itself, we can bribe them with worship.”

“If we get the civilians on board,” Michael says. “Remember there’s been literal wars over this.”

“Yeah, true.” Belphegor huffs, disappointed, sinking back into his seat. “Shame.”

Adam sits on the edge of the table, sighing. “Yeah, shame,” he says. “The urgency of the situation might make it easier, but, yeah, we don’t need infighting right now. Best to just keep everyone else safe right now.”

“Mm, and another thing,,” Michael says. “Say Chuck’s felt Jack’s power - it’s not the first time he’s used it but it might be the first time it’s risen beyond low levels that it can be felt as a nephilim’s energy or can be seen as a threat. If nothing happens in a few days, and if Chuck’s still strong enough to wipe Jack out but he’s not doing anything about it, then what do we do?”

“Isn’t that a windfall?” Belphegor asks.

“Not if it’s Chuck. If he’s strong enough to wipe Jack out but isn’t doing anything about it despite the fact that Jack feels like a threat, then something’s up,” Michael says. “And last I’ve been briefed, he’s on good terms with my aunt right now.”

“Oh, shit, I missed that, when was that?” Belphegor asks.

“You were sniffing the scented gel pens you stole from the store because you thought the glitter looked nice, probably,” Adam says. “We asked Sam and Dean when were were trying to get a feel for what was going on since we’ve been in the Cage.”

“Ah, okay.” Belphegor pauses. “The fucking Darkness is out?”

“Yes,” Adam says.

“Nice. Not alarming at all if she’s apparently on good terms with Chuck now,” Belphegor says. “So we’re fucked after all?”

“We might be,” Michael says. “In which case, we need a contingency plan for it.”

“How many plans are we going to need for this?” Belphegor asks. “Not that I’m complaining, I know you’re the war general here, but you know.”

“As many as it’s going to take,” Michael says.

“It’s fumble through it with too many plans and survive or just die with a snap of someone’s fingers,” Adam says, shrugging. “It’s not like we have much of a choice.”

“That’s a lot, though,” Jack says. “The universe is collapsing and we don’t even have a plan for that.”

“No one ever has a plan for these things. Whatever you have is only applicable for scenarios you can imagine but everything else is just up there, don’t feel too bad,” Michael says. “Besides, if Winchester luck prevails, everything will go a lot smoother than we think it’s going to be.”

“God, I fucking hope so,” Belphegor says, and then winces. “I shouldn’t say that, shouldn’t I?”

“Definitely not,” Adam says.

“Yikes,” Belphegor says. “That’s just inconvenient.”

-

“So are you telling everyone?” Belphegor asks, as soon as Sam has finished briefing the other hunters as to what’s happened, Dean has made sure security around the school is still in good shape and Cas has made sure the civilian from earlier has calmed down enough to stop staring into space for hours. 

“We haven’t talked about it yet,” Dean says, closing the door behind him.

“Well, talk about it, I guess. It’s not exactly something you can deliberate on for as long as you like,” Belphegor says, because there’s several feet between him and Dean as he’s on the other side of the room.

Dean gives him a flat look. As if Belphegor expects him to not know that.

He doesn’t, but it bears repeating, he thinks.

“We can’t risk a panic,” Castiel says. 

“We can’t risk the civilians turning against you from paranoia when they find out that something’s going on either,” Michael says. “You have one civilian survivor who knows what’s going on. He’s going to start talking if he thinks everyone will be safer for it. Maybe he won’t spread the news now, but if he somehow comes to the conclusion that hiding this is going to cause more problems, or if something happens to shake whatever sense of safety he’s created? He will tell.”

“And come on, you know how this goes in movies,” Belphegor says. “They always go ‘oh, how can we trust you when you’ve lied from us from the beginning’ when you, well, lie from them from the beginning.”

“Since when did you have time to watch enough movies to say that?” Dean asks. 

“You literally make us stay in the bunker for days on end and I don’t need to pretend I’m dead for eight hours every night.”

Sam turns to his brother. Dean concedes with a nod.

“We have movie marathons,” Adam says. 

“But the point stands - it happens,” Belphegor says, “And people right now will be paranoid. The more you keep them in here and the more you keep saying vague shit, they’ll be paranoid and they’ll be curious, and they’ll think they’re being brave uncovering your ‘secrets’ when they’ll just be putting themselves and you in danger.”

“Yes, but if we tell them, we risk panic that way as well, and that might put them and us in danger,” Castiel says, sighing a little. “Some will try to leave.”

“Why not just let them?” Jack asks.

A pause among all of them as they direct their attention to him.

“If it’s as far away from the town as possible, why not let them?” Jack asks. “Isn’t that technically safer as long as they’re away from a literal portal to hell?”

“Yes, well,” Sam starts, and does that thing where he smiles and grimaces all in the same second. “About that. We might have a problem.”

“We already have one, don’t we?’ Belphegor asks.

“There’s more rifts,” Sam says, “All over the world. News about them is cropping up everywhere.”

Stir up low level unrest successful. 

“Oh,” Belphegor says, pretending his best to be surprised. “Well, shit.”

“That means all of this is literally for naught,” Adam says.

“Not exactly. If we can find a way to close the rifts as soon as possible, we’ll be able to return everyone to their homes safely,” Castiel says, in a voice that says he and the Winchesters have had a conversation, and he’s not very happy with the conclusions, but he knows it’s necessary for the safety of everyone else. 

Belphegor shoots Jack a look, who shoots Michael a look, who shoots Adam a look.

“Which is why we’re asking Jack for help,” Sam says.

Shit. That sort of conclusion.

“If he can close the rifts, we might be able to bring everyone home,” Sam says. “He might be strong enough to.”

“Might,” Belphegor tries. Because if Chuck decides Jack’s a threat and smites him (again), they might be on the losing side for good.

“That and we have Michael,” Dean says. “A nephilim and an archangel. We needed as much firepower as possible to go against Chuck’s sister, so we’re assuming if we go against him it’s roughly about the same. Save this time, we’re not going against Chuck directly, we’re going against rifts he made.”

“And if that catches his attention and makes him want to step in with us trying to fight the end?” Michael asks.

“Then we’re gonna have to cross that bridge,” Dean says. 

“Without the right firepower,” Michael says, standing. Belphegor leans back in his seat a little, because Michael’s mostly been calm since he’s gotten topside, and this is the most he’s been verbal about something.  “You’re right. It took all four of us Archangels and Chuck himself to imprison Amara. And we don’t have anything even close to that right now. Let’s argue that Jack’s around the same as Chuck’s level. Where’s the other three archangels to fill in the power gap?”

“We haven’t exactly figured that out yet,” Sam says, “But Jack’s been literally hunted down by demons and angels because they thought he could restore order to Hell or Heaven. He’s got enough mojo for them to come looking for him. If the Darkness can go toe to toe with Chuck, Jack might be able to. He’s all we have right now. All the other archangels are dead.”

Michael pinches the bridge of his nose. Belphegor thinks about starting an apocalypse reaction bingo card.

“I get that you’re used to going up against apocalypses and powers that be scraping by with the skin of your teeth, but this is not some everyday end of the world this time. You are literally going against the one person who can wipe out this entire universe with a snap of his fingers,” Michael says, “And who can turn you against each other if he wants it.”

“Free will is bullshit,” Belphegor mutters.

Michael motions a hand towards him to make his point.

“Look, we had a whole angstfest argument about this,” Dean says. “I’m not in the mood to repeat it.”

“Then listen to the rest of what I’m saying. You have no plan. You have no contingencies. You have no weapons. If Jack closes the rifts and Chuck shows up afterwards, that negates it. He can do it again. He can kill Jack again. He can just kill all of us instantly this time because the joke’s gotten stale.”

“Then we’ll find our firepower,” Sam says. “We’ll find our firepower, and we’ll find our contingencies. But if we can’t, then we’re going to have to make do, and we’re going to have to hope like hell it’s enough because like you said - it’s the end. For real this time. We know that, Michael.”

Michael looks like he’s about to say something. 

But he doesn’t. Instead he just nods. There’s not really much he can say aside from that, not when it’s risky with Sam and Dean around. If they’re around, Chuck’s watching. If they’re around, Chuck’s sure to know. 

Puts a damper on the whole ‘working with Winchester luck’ thing.

“In the meantime, I really suggest telling your civilians,” Belphegor says to break the silence. “Just...break it to them gently. And then maybe, they’ll cooperate, or at least they’ll know what to do and what’s out there, in case shit goes wrong.”

Sam turns to Dean, who turns to Cas. 

Well.