The Wheels On The Bus Chapter 3

iii.

The fabric of the mortal plane isn’t so much bridged together with Hell with a pencil as it is peppered with bullet holes by Chuck’s temper tantrum. 

Adam's not a nail-biter, but he thinks he would very much like to start now. 

“At this point, the universe has got to be working overtime to try and fix itself, right?” Belphegor asks. “That many bridges means the more unstable everything is. Never mind the demons, the entire popsicle house is going down.”

“Well, the Winchesters are going to mind the demons, and so is the rest of the world,” Michael says. 

“The barrier’s not going to do anything,” Jack says.

Adam leans back in his seat and pinches the bridge of his nose. This is going to make everything significantly harder. He and Michael could probably survive away from Earth, but the entire universe could collapse on them anyway. 

Jack turns to Belphegor. “Did you know?”

“Did I know what?” Belphegor asks. 

“About the rifts?” Jack gives Adam and Michael a glance each. “Did any of you?”

“When a door in a building opens, you don't know if another has done the same unless it's right in front of you,” Michael says. “No, Adam and I didn't know.”

“Neither did I,” Belphegor says. “And I didn't know how Earth was supposed to feel these days either. Did you feel the surge of energy when you came down here?”

“No,” Jack says. “I was - being The Empty might have messed me up a bit.”

“You were surrounded by latent energy and then thrown down to a place with roughly that same amount of energy, I'd say it's normal,” Michael says. “But, the problem at hand.”

“Bringing the angels back would stabilize Heaven, right? Would that help in holding the universe up, since Heaven is an important part of it?” Adam asks.

Michael thinks it over. “Theoretically. I’m not sure.”

“Good enough,” Adam says. “Besides, we’ll need all the help we can get in rounding up the demons and the ghosts. The problem is - how much time do we have and how much is the damage already?”

“Cases happen all over the world everyday, and if it's going to be seasoned demons and ghosts coming out, I'd say they'd lay a little low,” Michael says. “Keep a low profile. Fake their business. The same thing happened during the first apocalypse.”

Belphegor raises an eyebrow.

“When Lucifer was released, demons went topside and celebrated, and I assume you can imagine how that went. News only spread between those who survived their massacre,” Michael says. “But the Winchesters learned about it, for obvious reasons.”

Adam groans. “I hate this. Can I quit?”

“Not if you want to quit existing,” Michael says. 

Adam puts a hand to his chest, although he's too tired to pull a face and go ham with the theatrics. “You're my double, you're supposed to be on my side.”

“Stealing lines, are we?” Belphegor mutters.

“I am on your side, I dragged you out of Hell with me,” Michael says. “I could have left your ass in the Cage to rot.”

Adam snorts. “You'd never.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Aww.”

“Eww.” Belphegor sticks his tongue out. 

Adam smiles at him, smug. “Sucks not having friends, huh?”

Belphegor scoots closer to Jack. “I do.”

“You stole my body,” Jack says. 

“I thought we were supposed to be past that.”

“We are getting distracted again,” Michael says. “Focus if you want to keep existing.”

“Winchester plot convenience,” Belphegor says, pushing them back on track. “Can we count on that if the very thing providing it is sick and dying?”

“We might not,” Michael says. “They might need a little push in the right direction, but if we don’t know where to push them, then we’re not going to be able to do anything.”

“We can get a push,” Jack says. “There has to be something. The universe wants to keep surviving, right? Gods, maybe? Deities who know things?”

“That is an idea,” Adam says, pointing to him. “Okay, contact every single person out there with any amount of power.”

“We could try to convince Hell,” Belphegor says, suddenly.

Adam blinks. So does Michael. 

“Hear me out,” Belphegor says, raising his hands in placation. “Demons are selfish bastards by nature. If we tell them they could die by the universe just imploding, they might consider being on board. No promises, but they might just consider.”

“Okay, point,” Adam says. “Revive angels, recruit deities, recruit demons. What else?”

“Get hunters to contain everyone who doesn't want to cooperate, brief everyone who does, somehow get the angels and the demons to work together - ”

Adam pulls a face. That’s gonna be impossible.

“ - let the Winchester-universe connection work out a solution, bam. Reality patched.”

“Save for the part where we’re literally fighting the universe’s creator, and he can just tear everything open again,” Adam says.

Belphegor raises his fists. “We fistfight Chuck in the back of a Chick-Fil-A parking lot.”

“That is very optimistic, but we do need a plan,” Michael says. “As - as impossible as it sounds.”

Adam reaches a hand out to put it on his arm. Belphegor’s polite enough to keep his mouth shut. 

“What do we do about the rifts?” Jack asks. “People are noticing them. It’s gonna be dangerous if they start poking around because they think it’s just something from an earthquake.”

“We can send some hunters anonymous tips?” Adam asks. “Or, come on, they should have noticed.”

“They’re not going to know it’s because Chuck’s decided to end this world,” Jack says. “They’re gonna think it’s just a random tear until something big enough happens to connect it all together. We have to tell someone.”

“The four of us can certainly go around telling people, but the problem is what happens if the Winchesters, and thus Chuck, find out,” Michael says. “And what do we even say?”

“We heard from it from a grapevine?” Jack offers. 

“They’ll still figure out it all connects to the Winchesters eventually. Boys’ve got a reputation,” Belphegor says. “I haven’t been topside in years and I’ve heard about them.”

Michael gives him a funny look. “Because you thought Dean was cool while he was in Hell.”

“Those were the equivalent of my middle school years and no one wants to remember that, least of all me.” 

“If we say we were contacted by the Winchesters, we’re gonna have to do a lot of explaining, the news is gonna spread, and the Winchesters will know it was us. They already don’t trust us,” Adam says. “If we don’t say how we know, we risk not getting believed. If they do believe us, they’re going to be suspicious, and news will spread, which could again get to Sam and Dean, or worse - ”

“Straight to Chuck,” Adam says.

“We could invade their dreams,” Belphegor says. He motions to Michael. “Or - you can.”

“We might be able to use the plot convenience thing, though,” Jack says. “If we tell Sam and Dean, they could look for solutions faster, and the universe could arrange everything for them.”

“Still falls into the trap of catching Chuck’s attention,” Michael says.

“Can’t you fix a universal tear?” Adam turns to Jack. “You’re like, almost all-powerful because you’re a nephilim, right?”

“Uh,” Jack says, “I - I don’t really know how dimensions and tears work.” He scratches his cheek. “I don’t know much about my powers, really. I just feel like I want something to happen and it happens, sometimes.”

Adam turns to Michael.

“A rupture between two universes is exactly just a tear between two different things right next to each other,” he says. “If there’s an open bridge, there’s just an open bridge, you’re not attacking the pillars inside of each universe. The problem here is that the foundation that makes up this universe is getting eaten away, so it’s collapsing.”

“But can he fix a tear within an infrastructure?” Adam asks.

Michael turns to Jack. He looks at him for a second. 

“He can certainly try, I’ve never seen it done before. Again, this is all theoretical,” Michael says.

“How’d you even know it, then?” Jack asks.

“I was there when the universe was made. You get to listen to the technicality of everything.”

Jack turns to Belphegor. “How do you know?”

Belphegor lifts a shoulder. “Trade secrets. Can’t tell ya.”

“If he can try,” Adam says, spreading his hands out. “Why don’t we let him?”

“We risk catching Chuck’s attention,” Belphegor says. “That’s what we snag on. Every time we think of something, we risk getting Chuck’s attention and thus throw the whole plan away.”

“Our best bet for a successful operation is secrecy, although there is a possibility that there will be more casualties,” Michael says. 

Adam pinches the bridge of his nose again. This is exhausting.

“But, if we’re careful,” Michael says. “We save the world.”

“Everybody wants to change the world,” Belphegor says. “But no one wants to die.”

Adam puts his face in his hands. “Oh my god.”

“I don't understand, but I don't want to know,” Michael says. 

Jack, where he's sitting, stares at the table intently. He's left the laptop facing them, and its screen goes dark from being unused for more than ten minutes. 

He taps his fingers on the surface. 

“You look like you've got an idea, ” Michael says. 

“What if we just hint at it, give them little nudges?” Jack asks. He waves a hand. “You know, a book here, a printout there, a convenient trail way over there.” He shrugs. “If we're careful, maybe we can let them work on things without exposing ourselves. We just have to act, after all.”

“We can do the same thing with the other hunters,” Belphegor says, catching onto the idea. “Visit them around the world, fake a story, say there looked like people with black eyes running around the place.”

“As long as we stay out of Chuck's way, we should be okay,” Jack says. “We can make sure as many people as possible are alright while also giving the Winchesters hints.”

“How are we gonna do that, then?” Adam asks.

Jack frowns at the table, thinking. Belphegor clicks his tongue. 

“Well,” he says, “Nobody at the refuge center has seen Michael or Adam, right?”

-

“This is a stupid plan,” Adam says. 

“It's the only plan we can think of on short notice,” Michael says. “If we're lucky, it might go off without a hitch.”

Adam, currently in his twelve-year-old body courtesy of Jack, angrily adjusts his coat. Belphegor had stolen it from a thrift store for him. Some bastard had thought it would be a good idea to use glitter to create designs on it.

Michael, beside him, also looking twelve, has a really large pink bomber jacket with a broken zipper, but at least he's rocking it.

The stupid plan that happens to be the only plan they can think of on short notice is for Adam and Michael to infiltrate the ranks of the refuge center by posing as children who are too worried about the situation for their own good. Supposedly, before this all started, they saw the cemetery ground split wide and things come out. They'd ran. Then they were ushered into the school to hide. They know what they saw, so they'd looked it up and oh, look at that, turns out that event had happened all over the world at roughly the same time. Belphegor had pointed out that there had been a mother and a child who had been attacked by the ghost of John Wayne Gacy, of all people, and would likely believe them. They were to just happen to talk to the mother. 

Jack is to contact and ask Billie and The Empty about reviving the angels first, and then Belphegor and Jack are to scout for locations of hunters and witches and, once they've managed to find enough people near the location of the rifts, drop them hints. Belphegor can't do much with his body, but Jack's powerful enough to modify it, or at least make it look different to everyone watching, so they’ll be fine with making sure they’re not going to get recognized. They can run into the hunters, pretend to ask for help, or just talk loud enough to be overheard. If they encounter any demon, they're to talk to them and try to get them on their side. 

Adam and Michael are to warn them if the Winchesters are leaving the refuge center. If they are, one of them is to go back to the bunker to check if they're on the way home, and then that lookout is to pray so everyone can come home and pretend they'd just been asleep before either brother knows what’s going on. 

Adam's not proud of it, but - yeah, desperate measures and all. 

“Awww, lookit the widdle Milligan.” Belphegor pinches his cheek. He hisses like a cat. He's not proud of that either, but he's in his twelve-year-old body. 

“I hate you. Go away.”

His voice sounds so small.

“He's already mastered the innate hatred twelve-year-olds have for everything around them.” Belphegor nods approvingly. “You're gonna do great, little guy.”

“I am just about as old as you, I spent time in the Cage, hello?”

“You're twelve.”

Adam stomps on his foot. Belphegor, having crouched down, falls back on his ass. He slaps a hand on his mouth to prevent himself from screaming and giving away their location. They're hiding on the roof right now. 

Jack grimaces. Adam smugly backs off, straightening his oversized jacket. Michael just looks on, prim and proper somehow, arms folded behind his back. 

“You're even a little shit,” Belphegor says, standing and limping a few steps away from him. “Perfect.”

“I'm gonna commit to the role and kick you in the nuts next,” Adam says. 

“Focus,” Michael says before it can devolve into a full-out brawl. “Does everyone remember what they need to do?”

Jack nods. Belphegor gives him a thumbs up. 

“Yeah,” Adam says. There's only so many things that can go wrong but this is better than nothing. 

“Good,” Michael says. “If anything happens, remember to pray to either me or Jack.” He motions to Adam. “In a pinch, try Adam.”

“How does that work again?” Belphegor asks. “I know you've said this before, but I wasn't listening.”

“Our time in The Cage wasn't kind to either of us, and more than once, I have had to pour my Grace to patch up parts of Adam's soul. As such, my Grace is a part of him even if it is still identifiably mine,” Michael says. 

“Oh, right. You both fit in one body when you got here,” Belphegor says. “He's essentially patchwork nephilim.”

Adam snorts. Sam and Dean prefer calling it a corrupted soul, but whatever, he doesn't give a shit about what they call the state of his soul right now. 

“Make sure not to get separated,” Michael says. “Defend yourselves when you need to; safety is still top priority. Stay clear of Chuck if he somehow is there. Alright?”

“Alright,” the rest of them say in unison. Michael nods. 

“Stay alert, stay safe,” he says. He motions to the door behind them, leading to the stairwell downstairs. It clicks unlocked and swings open. “And… good luck. Since that's on the table, apparently.”