Chapter Text
“Thanks for this Sam,” Claire smiled, following the Winchester into the bunker, “Alex and Patience wanted to start expanding our library and develop some sort of database.” Standing in the library she took a deep breath and looked at Donna, “Don’t know why one of the geeks couldn’t come and help with this themselves.”
“You know why Claire,” Donna wrapped an arm around the younger blond, “They have day jobs and we are too beautiful for that.” Donna winked at Sam making the tall man laugh.
“Well, you guys have full run of the library. So far everything is catalogued in the shelf over there, so if you are looking for something specific, use the top shelf, if you’re looking by author, use the bottom shelf, if you’re wanting to go by the title, use the bottom shelf.” Sam walked back, “Don’t read anything aloud, to be on the safe side, don’t know if you’ll cast or summon anything, and nothing in this library is cursed. That stuff had been boxed, locked and warded away. So as long as you are using the texts from this room, you’ll be fine. If you are needing something specific and can’t find something, give me a call.”
“Where’re ya headed to?” Donna asked shrugging out of her coat.
“Salty, Texas, demons. Ironically.” Sam chuckled.
“You need any help?” Claire straightened up.
“Not on the road but stay by the phone in case it isn’t demons and we need you to research.” Sam watched Claire deflate, “Claire, I need someone familiar with hunting to think quickly in case it’s not a demon, I need you to know lore to move fast in case it’s life and death for us. If we are in the middle of something and it’s a matter of switching out regular bullets for silver bullets, we need to know that.” Sam walked up to the younger hunter, placing his hands on her shoulders, “I trust you Claire, with my life. Just as if we were in a room facing down Werewolves together.”
Looking up at him, Claire blinked before taking in a slow breath before nodding her head.
“Besides, look at this opportunity to learn more about the supernatural world and how to kill them.” Donna smiled brightly.
“Exactly.” Sam offered a hand.
“No, it’s fine. It’ll be cool, reading all of these books, breathing in dust. Totally awesome.” Claire smirked.
“Wheels up in 20 Sammy.” Dean bellowed.
“And hello to you too, hot stuff!” Donna called out.
“Hey Donna. Claire, glad to see you made it.” Dean hugged both women after walking into the library.
“Hiya Dean.” Donna grinned widely.
“So, coming to play geek huh?” Dean looked at Claire.
“Woot.” She said unenthusiastically.
“Hey, it might just save your life.” He raised his eyebrows at her.
“When was the last time you read any of the lore books, Dean?” Sam asked, crossing his arms.
Looking at his brother, thinking, he shifted his weight. “I read.”
Sam merely shook his head and huffed.
“Well, we better get started on this. I know we aren’t going to be done with it overnight but we have a lot of ground to cover.” Donna rolled up her sleeves.
‘Save me.’ Claire mouthed to Dean, hauling a duffle bag behind her.
Dean replied by sticking out his tongue. The ladies began setting up a scanning station and laptops, logging in to the wifi and hooking up two scanners, one flatbed and one handheld that you dragged down the page yourself. Chatting briefly, the women decided that one would start on one side while the other would start on the other side of the library and they would meet in the middle.
“You two need anything?” Sam asked, walking around the corner with his duffle and garment bag.
“This to be over with.” Claire snarked, opening to page one in her book and running the handheld scanner down the page.
“We’ll be fine Sam.” Donna smiled.
“If you want to play some music, Dean set up some speakers and a system, over there.” Sam motioned towards a low bookcase.
“There’s plenty of food in the fridge, netflix on any of the tvs, and the warding is all in good order. You should be fine.” Dean walked in, bag in hand.
“I’ll make sure to keep the male strippers down to seven.” Claire, flipped a page.
Dean sighed and pinched his nose. Shaking his head Sam turned Dean around and pushed him down the hallway towards the garage.
“Claire-” Donna turned towards the younger woman.
“Let’s just do this.” Claire continued with scanning the book in front of her.
Several hours rolled by, music had been turned on and pizza procured. The scanning was going by and though Donna tried to keep Claire’s spirit up, it was a tedious task at best. Once a book was completed, they would email it to an email account they had set up. Someone back in Sioux Falls would take it and start highlighting important words for the database. Still, for Claire, it sucked. Epicly.
“Okay, how about, dream hunt?” Donna spoke up, “Hunting the Loch Ness Monster with Gerard Butler.” Donna grinned.
“How about Fuck, Marry, Kill?” Claire retorted. “Sam, Dean, Cas.” Claire turned and walked her book back to the bookshelf to grab another one.
“Oh! That’s… wow, that’s…” Donna’s cheeks pinked.
With the music as loud as it was and Claire snickering sitting back at the table, watching Donna sputter over her little scenario, both women missed hearing the door open or the steps of someone coming into the bunker.
“My my, this is an interesting sight, I come looking for two men and I find two lovely ladies.” A voice cut through the music.
Instantly both women were up and had their guns drawn at the man standing before them.
“Who are you, how did you get in here?” Claire demanded.
The man grinned, hands held up by his shoulders, “Arthur Ketch, friend of the Winchesters. And who might you two be?”
“None of your business. Now how did you get in here?” Claire replied.
“Well, if you’d recognize my name, you’d know the answer to that already. But I happen to have a key.”
“A key?” Donna glanced over at Claire, “Call them.”
Moving her pistol to one hand, Claire pulled out her phone and dialed Sam, knowing Dean would be driving, and moved to turn down the music. After two rings Sam picked up.
“Please tell me the bunker isn’t on fire already.” Sam chuckled.
“Arthur Ketch.” Claire kept her eyes on the man.
“What about him?” The change in Sam’s voice alerted Claire that Ketch and the Winchesters weren’t as chummy as he’d like them to believe. A shudder ran up and down her spine.
“Accio dirtbag.”
“Seriously? He’s there?” Sam caught the Harry Potter reference which she was thankful for, even though she was trying to keep her voice down. “You’re on speaker phone, I just told Dean.”
“Look, Claire, he used to be with the British Men of Letters, he’s a psychopath. We’re currently working with him to deal with Lucifer and Michael and to help find Mom and Jack. But it’s a grudging relationship. Remember Mick Davies? He worked with him and he’s the one that killed Mick.”
Claire looked over to Donna before looking back to the man standing in front of her.
“What are you here for Art?”
The man winced.
“Please, it’s Arthur, Mr. Ketch or Ketch. And I’m here for Sam and Dean. I have some vital information for them.”
“What sort of vital information?”
“Information that had to be imparted in person.”
“Well, you missed them, they’re halfway to Texas. Art.” Claire kept the phone near her face as she spoke, hearing the roar of the engine of the Impala in the background.
Ketch clenched his teeth and looked away, his brain ticking over, “That’s no good, this is time sensitive.”
“What’s he saying?”
“Time sensitive.”
“Do we need to come back?” Sam asked.
Looking back at Ketch, Claire took a breath before looking at Donna again. Claire remembered Mick Davies and how she begged him to kill her when she turned into a werewolf. He didn’t. But he was dead now, at the hands of this man, apparently. That made him dangerous. And in thinking, she had remembered Jody and Donna talking a little about the man, trading stories about the British men of letters when the shit was going down. He supposedly was some hitman for them. But used to be? That’s interesting. More than books. Dangerous was what he was and Claire had a thing for dangerous. Seemed the man knew it too by the smirk on his lips.
“No, we’re fine here. Just wanted to make sure we didn’t need to salt and burn a body while you’re away.”
“Claire. I’m not kidding, the man is dangerous. He almost killed me.” Dean replied emphatically. That made Claire pause. Dean and Sam were immortal in her eyes. This man nearly took Dean out? That just made him more interesting to her.
“Okay, got it.”
“Claire-” Dean started.
“I said I got it. Dangerous.” She made eye contact with Ketch. Who merely smirked back. Donna shifted her weight. Claire knew she was not happy with the way things were going. “Thanks guys.” Claire hung up before they could say anything more and put her phone on silent.
“So, you’re dangerous and working with the Winchesters regarding Lucifer and Michael. What’s going on and how can we help?” Claire lowered the phone and gun and watched Ketch.
Donna took a breath but lowered her gun, looking between Ketch and Claire. Mistrust and confusion on her face.
Ketch lowered his arms slowly but did not move forward, “The Winchesters are aware that I am working for the current King of Hell, Asmodeus. I have recently learned that he has the Archangel Gabriel imprisoned.”
“So?” Claire crossed her arms.
“So, he also possesses an Archangel’s blade that once wielded by an archangel, can kill another. He plans to use Gabriel to kill Michael and Lucifer.” Ketch looked between the women.
“I’m failing to see the problem here.” Claire tilted her head.
“Are you a Winchester too, miss?” Ketch stood for a moment before taking a half step forward, “If he can control an Archangel with that blade, imagine what else he can kill. That blade wielded in that hand can kill anything. And I do mean anything. He would be unstoppable. Not to mention have access to all of Gabriel’s powers as an archangel as well.”
“So, what are you suggesting?” Donna asked.
“I’m suggesting a rescue attempt. We free the Archangel Gabriel, bring him here and protect him from Asmodeus.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to get the blade?” Claire asked.
“Probably but he’d still have access to the archangel power,” Ketch took a breath and looked down, “And you didn’t see the state that the angel is in.”
“Bad?” Donna asked, scrunching her face up.
Ketch nodded.
“Is Gabriel a good guy or a bad guy though?” Donna looked at Claire.
“He’s the angel that told Mary she was knocked up. That’s all I remember from Sunday school. And I think he killed Dean a bunch of times.” Donna blinked at Claire, “He told me once while we were miniature golfing. Some of it was really funny though. Maybe he’s not too bad.”
“But he killed Dean.” Donna looked perturbed.
“Yeah but he brought him back.” Claire thought for a moment. “I’m Claire, this is Donna.” Claire looked up at Ketch. “Okay, what’s your plan for rescuing this angel?” Claire sat down at the library table and looked up at the two others, waiting for them to join her.
“We’re going to need Castiel.” Ketch sighed.
“Okay.” Claire looked at him. There was a lull as everyone sat.
“He doesn’t answer my prayers or phone calls.” Ketch stated.
Claire stared for a moment before closing her eyes and praying to Castiel to join her at the bunker. It took a moment before her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“I don’t have wings anymore, Claire. Are you okay? What are you doing at the bunker?” Castiel’s distinct monotone voice made her smile. He wasn’t her father but he was something special to her.
“I’m fine Castiel, it’s… I’m with Donna and Art and we need your help.”
“Art? Who’s Art?”
“Ketch.”
There was a loaded pause, “Claire I want you and Donna out of the bunker now, get into your car and get as far away from him as you possibly can-”
“Cas-”
“-dangerous man, he’s killed many humans and supernatural beings-”
“Castiel-”
“-I am not sure even I can protect you from him-”
“It’s about Gabriel!” She cried out.
“Gabriel?” Castiel stopped ranting for a moment.
“The Archangel. Some douche of Hell has him. Ass-mode has him and plans to cock fight him against Lucifer and Michael.”
“No. That’s… That’s impossible. Gabriel… he’s dead. He’s been dead for years. Lucifer killed…. Killed him.”
Claire looked up at Ketch.
“That is interesting” Claire put the phone on the table and turned on speakerphone, “Castiel says Gabriel is dead Art. What do you have to say?”
“No, Castiel, I saw him with my own two eyes. He was in a cell in Asmodeus’ palace, he was beat up and dirty and his lips were sewn together.”
Claire and Donna exchanged glances.
“Well if anyone held Gabriel prisoner, they would sew his lips shut.” Castiel muttered. The line going silent for a moment. “I would require proof that it is Gabriel before assisting in any sort of rescue mission.”
Ketch sat silently before nodding, “Of course.”
“Ask him what was the last time he and I saw each other.” Castiel figured that if the Metatron visitation was just a dream or spell, then seeing his brother in the ring of Holy Fire would be fine. Then he would know it was Metatron using God-like powers.
“His lips are sewn shut.” Donna said softly.
“I’ll get a way for him to communicate with me.” Ketch assured her, “But we must act fast, Asmodeus plans to use him as a weapon to strike first. We need to start coming up with a plan now.”
“I’m heading back towards the bunker. I’ll be there in seven hours.” Castiel informed them.
“Anything we can do until then?” Donna asked the phone.
“Read up on the Princes of Hell and their magic.” the seraph suggested.
Looking at the library, Claire pursed her lips and frowned, there was so much information here that it seemed like there were other avenues to explore too.
“We’ll see you then Cas.” Donna ended the call.
“Right, well, there’s me off, and my phone number.” Ketch had scribbled it down on a notepad. Tearing a piece of paper off, Claire scrawled out hers and handed it to him.
“Let us know what happens.” She said low. Ketch nodded before turning and heading up the stairs quickly. Once he was out of the door, Donna spoke up.
“I think it’s safe to say that Fuck, Marry and Kill all applies to that man.”
Claire smiled over her shoulder, then looked up at the walls of books, “Let’s get started.”