Chapter 1
“Name?”
“Stevie Nicks.”
“Stevie Nicks?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t believe that to be true.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but it is. Blame my mom.”
“It’s just, I’ve got your file here. And it says your real name is Y/FN Winchester, not Stevie Nicks. So would you like to try again?”
“Oh, you’ve got my file. What else does it say in there?”
“For starters, on this long list of things that are, in my opinion, terrible, let’s start with your brothers being serial killers. Both of them. Doesn’t seem like you were opposed to that judging by the rest of this list, so I’m assuming you helped?”
“I wouldn’t always believe what you read, Agent…what was your name again? I didn’t care enough to pay attention earlier.”
“Coulson. Phil Coulson.”
“Well, Phil, you should probably get your facts straight. We aren’t serial killers, but we are heroes. The only difference between us and your ragtag group of military issue action figures is that we don’t get paid for it. We even have our own little fortress of solitude.” She leans forward, her elbows on the table, and locks eyes with Coulson. “Maybe you should start with a different question.”
He clears his throat again and raises an eyebrow, “Okay.” He leans forward too, pushing a folder towards her as he goes. “Care to explain the incident that happened in New York two days ago?”
“That’s more like it, Phil Collins.”
“It’s Coulson-”
“Whatever. So it actually started about a week ago…”
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
Dean looks up from his laptop and spins it around to give Sam a better look, then taps a finger against the screen.
“What, your computer has the ability to look up something other than Asian cartoon porn?” Sam grins and Dean glares at him.
“No, smartass, look at the headline.”
Sam looks at the screen again, and his brow furrows. “‘Missing persons count continues to climb, cops baffled by the sudden disappearances.’ That’s weird, but not necessarily our thing.”
“Keep reading.”
“‘Steve was…different…before he disappeared,’ Steve McClaran’s wife Nancy said in an interview on Monday. ‘He was Steve, but there was something off; he would disappear for hours at a time, he didn’t sleep or eat. He even quit paying attention to our dog, Pepper. He loves that dog. And now he’s just…gone.’
And their story isn’t the only one that follows that same pattern. In the past two weeks, twenty people have disappeared from this small, New York suburb, and all of them exhibited strange behaviors before they vanished.” Sam pulls out the chair and plops down, scrolling through the rest of the article. “So it might be our kind of thing.”
“What’s our kind of thing?” Sam looks up as Y/N walks out of the bathroom.
“Multiple disappearances in a short span of time, odd behaviors leading up to them vanishing…the usual.”
Y/N drops into the seat next to Sam and skims over the article. “What do you think it is?”
Dean grabs his laptop and slams it shut, “I dunno, but I’m in the mood to gank some sons of bitches, so let’s go.” He pushes away from the table, grabs his bag, and disappears outside.
Sam stands up and looks at Y/N with a shrug, “I guess we’re going to New York.”
“I said no, Y/N. What part of that is difficult to understand?”
Y/N crosses her arms and glares at Dean, while Sam awkwardly looks at his phone. “It’s not difficult, just stupid. Why can’t all three of us go? I’ve got my FBI outfit with me.”
“When have you ever seen three FBI agents together at the same time? It looks weird. Also, you look twelve. It’s not going to work this time, not with all three of us. You can explore the city while we check on some stuff.”
“Ummm…every time you drag Cas along, actually. Explore the city? Mr. ‘You can’t ever leave my line of sight’ Winchester is suddenly okay with me just wandering New York City alone? I’m twenty-six years old, Dean. This isn’t my first rodeo and I don’t look twelve. At least, that guy last night didn’t think so-”
“Excuse me?! What guy? What the hell are you talking about?”
Sam steps between the two of them, unsure of who is going to snap first, but convinced it isn’t going to end well regardless. “That’s enough, both of you. Dean, Y/N is an adult that makes her own choices, there’s no need to judge her. You’ve had your fair share of…questionable encounters.” Y/N grins at Dean and he rolls his eyes, but the moment is short lived when Sam turns to Y/N, “And Dean’s right, three agents will be weird for this, we need to handle this one, and I need you to research some more. If this is as big as we think it is, we have to split up.” It’s Dean’s turn to grin at Y/N, and she flips him off as Sam turns back to him. “Now, if you’re both done, let’s go to the station and see if we can’t get some answers. Y/N, we’ll meet you back at the hotel.”
Dean spins his keys around his middle finger and winks at Y/N before turning to follow Sam, and she glares at their retreating backs until they disappear around the corner.
“Look twelve…I don’t look twelve,” she grumbles to herself as she straightens the shoulder strap to her messenger bag and begins walking in the opposite direction. She trudges along, only vaguely paying attention to her surroundings as she goes, and wonders how long it’s going to take her two brothers to realize she’s not incompetent. Though she hadn’t grown up with them, she did grow up with a hunter mother, and is just as well versed as they are in all things revenge and supernatural related.
Y/N looks up and realizes that she’s in a part of town she doesn’t recognize, and after a moment of contemplating, decides to cut through an alley as a shortcut. She slows down when she hears footsteps echoing behind her and her hand slips into her jacket pocket as she turns, her fingers wrapping around the smooth antler handle of Ruby’s knife that she’d stolen from Dean’s bag earlier that morning. No one is there, and after a long pause to look around, she turns to continue her current route. Instead of walking, though, she runs face first into someone who gives Sam a run for his money; the man is gigantic.
“Oh, fuck me,” she groans as she stumbles backwards from the impact. The man looks down at her and grins, his eyes flashing black before returning to bright emerald green.
“That would be nice, but not exactly why I’m here, sweetheart.”
Her fingers tighten around the knife handle as she glares up at him, “Alright, Jolly Green, listen. I don’t have time for this. So either you let me just kill you real quick so I can be on my way, or we can do this the hard way. Personally, I’m leaning towards the real quick plan, I’ve got shit to do.”
“I figured you might say that, baby Winchester, but unfortunately I can’t just let you kill me. I enjoy this meat suit, and I don’t think the big guy downstairs would like that, anyway.”
“Big guy downstairs…Lucifer? I don’t know if you and your little pals have heard, but he’s out of the game. He’s in the cage, and there’s no getting out of there. We made sure of that.”
He shrugs and takes a step closer, “There’s nothing certain about hell, demons get out all the time. What makes you think God’s favorite son can’t just climb out whenever he wants?”
She doesn’t answer, and instead takes a step back. Her back hits another wall of muscle and she groans when she feels a hand dig into her shoulder. She takes a deep breath, makes a mental note to avoid telling Sam and Dean about this encounter, and squares her shoulders. “I think Lucifer is a dumb piece of shit, and that if he’d been able to get out of Hell, he would have done it already. I also think God might be a little disappointed in his prodigal son, so the whole ‘favoritism’ thing is probably out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some demons to gank.”
She slams the heel of her boot into the toes of the demon holding her and the shock of it causes him to let go of her. She swings around, and in the same movement, swiftly knees him in the groin. She grabs him by the hair and brings her other hand out of her pocket, stabbing him in the throat. She shoves him away from her as his life flickers out, and turns to face the original demon, who’s scowling. “See, he gets it. What about you?”
Suddenly, Ruby’s knife is hot in her hand and she drops it, just as she’s thrown against the brick wall. “You just killed my brother, you bitch,” he growls, moving closer and closer.
Y/N struggles against her invisible bonds, “Oh, that…that’s too bad. I know…how important…family is to you.”
His large hand wraps around her throat, “Do you really think sarcasm is going to save you?”
“No…but this might.” She kicks as hard as she can, and although still restrained, manages to connect with his crotch. His grip on her falters and she struggles free, scrabbling across the wet pavement. She scoops the knife back up, but as she approaches him, he strikes out. His closed fist hits her in the knee and she tumbles to the ground. “Sonuvabitch!”
“I will kill you!” the demon snarls, and she makes another mental note; even if you’re a demon, getting kicked in the nards still hurts.
“Now, is that any way to treat a lady?” She looks up to see someone standing at the end of the alley, red and gold metal shining brightly. Even the demon seems confused as Y/N looks on in confused awe.
“This isn’t your business, robot.” The demon struggles to his feet and takes a few uneasy steps towards their new friend.
“I would normally agree with you, but you just so happen to be near my place of business, and you’re beating up on a person much smaller than you. That’s at least two strikes, buddy.” He holds his hand up and Y/N sees a familiar glow in his palm.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” she groans as she stands, “Listen, I’ve got this. I was just finishing up here, and then I’ll be on my way. I don’t really need any help.”
The knight in shining red armor tilts his head and even with a mask, Y/N can feel the raised eyebrow he shoots her way. “I can’t say I believe you, kid.”
“God, are you my brother? Because you sound like him. I told you,” she says as she bends her knees and squints at the still distracted demon, “I got this.” She jumps, throwing herself across the remaining distance and lands on the demon’s back, jamming the knife into his neck. The giant man collapses and she releases him, landing nimbly in front of the suited up stranger.
“Was stabbing them absolutely necessary?”
“Only because I didn’t want to die. How much you spend on that cosplay, Tin Man?” She wipes the blade off on her jeans and stows it in her pocket, “How about you take off that mask so I can see the man behind the curtain, huh?”
The suit whirs quietly, and the mask pops loose with a soft click. The man reaches up and removes it, and it’s Y/N’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “You look younger in person…no offense.”
“Thanks…I think.” He looks over Y/N’s shoulder, “I hate to break it to ya, but you just killed a man. Which means I’m going to have to bring you in, kid. I can’t let that stand, even if it is self defense.”
She rolls her eyes, “First of all, stop calling me kid. And second” she looks over her shoulder at the body, then back at her would be jailer, “that’s no man, not anymore. That was a demon, and you should be thanking me for saving your ass.”
“Demons aren’t real, kid-” he stops as she glares at him, and takes a deep breath. “There are no such things as demons. It’s all part of a mythology-”
“Oh, you mean like Thor? Or perhaps Loki? Hmm…I guess aliens would be out, too…”
“Alright, alright, I get your point.”
“Good. Because, Mr. Stark, that one demon is small time compared to the storm that’s coming. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
“And you do?”
“Like I said, you have no idea.”