Fire In The Hole!

Strength In Numbers

Ch. 5 – Fire In The Hole!

Summary: What happens when a group of people are cornered and think they have no allies? What if they do have allies that they just don’t know about?

Note: Number of characters saved: 3

Pairings: Dawn/Alec, Faith/it’s a secret

Disclaimer: I definitely don’t own any of these characters.


They all watched the Familiars retreat carefully. They were so focused on what they considered to be the greatest threat that they all but forgot about the military blockade, until it was too late. They heard the whistle of incoming artillery and, knowing that there wasn’t time to truly escape the blast, even with their transgenic speed, they took cover as best they could. When no explosion happened, one by one, they stepped out of their hiding places to see Dawn staring intently at the shell.

With her blood still seeping, Dawn had the unique advantage of feeling the missile headed for them before anyone could hear it. After watching the transgenics move around all day, she had picked up the rhythm to their walk and also to their super-speed, so as Alec blurred toward her, she didn’t really think. She just reacted, stepping out of his path a half-second too late for him to adjust his trajectory. Using every bit of magical strength she could muster, she gripped the incoming missile with invisible fingers. It took several terrifying nano-seconds for it to stop, but when it did, the shell hung in the air, frozen.

“Anyone mind getting the hell out of here before I melt my mind and we all go ‘splody?” she asked.

Buffy ran over to her side and followed her line of sight, “Oh, crap!”

“Way to understate,” Dawn replied, accepting her sister’s hand to draw some strength in holding the artillery at bay.

She knew that the military must be getting antsy. The barrier had fallen but the veil of fog she had managed to cast when the Familiars charged in was still in place. Fog was common in Seattle, but they were far enough away from the water that it wasn’t exactly typical for Terminal City. They wouldn’t be able to see inside the barrier, but they would be expecting to hear the impact and devastation. One dud missile they could explain, but it wouldn’t take them long before they would try again and Dawn knew that she didn’t have enough strength to hold back more than one and still keep the portal open.

Next to her, Buffy squeezed her hand, “You realize that you are never allowed to watch Grey’s Anatomy again, right?”

Dawn snorted, then sobered at the thought of what happened to the bomb squad guy after Meredith let go of the bomb. She wasn’t about to let Buffy die for her, not again. She glanced around and was glad to see the transgenics and Slayers piling through the portal to safety. Max was directing traffic, and arguing with Alec, who by the hand gestures he was making was refusing to leave until Dawn was safe. He finally grabbed Max and pushed her through the portal, taking up the station himself.

Dawn turned to Buffy, “Go with them. It’s my turn this time.”

“Wait! I have an idea,” Sam Winchester announced as he jogged up to them. “What better way to make them stop chasing them than if they think the whole lot of them are already dead?”

Dawn could see where his line of thought was headed, but she and Buffy seemed to come to the same conclusion simultaneously and Dawn had to wonder if it was because she was still drawing on Buffy for strength.

“They’ll realize the transgenics aren’t dead when they don’t find any corpses,” Buffy pointed out.

The last of the people were through the portal, save for Alec, Sam, Buffy and Dawn. Dean had reluctantly agreed to supervise the exodus on the other end and had already called to tell them that Max arrived in Cleveland and had some very colorful things to say about Alec.

Now that everyone else was gone, Alec moved over to the trio. His enhanced hearing had allowed him to listen in on the conversation and his eidetic memory latched onto a piece of information that he heard in passing earlier, helping him to form a plan. He smirked at the others as told them, “Then, we make sure they don’t expect to find any…and that they’re too shit-scared to come looking for any. At least for 20 or 30,000 years. There are some highly radioactive materials in a building on Oak Street. Should be just enough to really make this place unlivable, but not bleed over into other sectors.”

Sam looked at Alec, seeming to size him up. Finally, after a long moment, Sam nodded to Dawn and Buffy, “This place is not inhabitable by anyone else anyway. The plan is solid. We’ll go locate the materials to give Dawn an exact location to send the missile.”

“You can come with me, but you need to stay at the top of Oak Street. I’m immune to the radioactivity. You aren’t,” Alec informed Sam.

Sam’s eyes narrowed at Alec and Dawn could almost hear her friend call the transgenic out with just a look, but then Sam visibly reigned in his own newly developed big brother instincts and nodded his head in agreement to Alec’s terms.

“He really is just like Dean,” Buffy commented as the newfound brothers ran to verify the location of the radioactive materials.

“Poor Dean,” Dawn lamented on behalf of the brash hunter, “He’s not going to be here to spank his inner pyro today.”

“Willow’s going to have to hack into the satellite feed anyway, so we can let him see it before she corrupts the images,” Buffy told her.

“It’ll make a nice early Christmas present for him,” Dawn smiled, adjusting her grip on Buffy’s hand.

“Dawn…”

“No, Buffy,” Dawn interrupted her.

“Don’t ‘no, Buffy’ me. You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Buffy scolded.

“Sure I do,” Dawn replied with a huff, “You’re going to tell me that I need to be the first one out of here and that’s just not going to happen. I am the only thing keeping the portal open. It’ll be a close call, but I think we’ll be able to make it.”

“Damn, you’re right. We’ll send the boys back through first then,” Buffy reasoned.

“No, you and Sam are going first,” Dawn informed her. Before Buffy could reply, Dawn arched an eyebrow at her and continued, “Nope; I’m not hearing it. The last time, I let you have your way and look where it got you. This time, it’s my turn. You and Alec are probably around the same speed and I don’t trust you not to try to save me if things go more sideways than they already have. Besides, I’ve been sapping your strength for a little while now. He’s got a full tank of energy still.”

“You’ve been thinking about this, haven’t you, even while we were trying to come up with a plan?” Buffy asked her.

“I multi-task well,” Dawn smiled, then looked down at her blood-soaked hand, “I’m really going to be glad when I can stop bleeding.”

Sam and Alec returned from Oak Street with determined looks on their faces. Alec informed them, “You need to turn the missile fifteen degrees southwest and angle it down another five degrees. That will put it right in line with the explosives I laid on the radioactive materials.”

“Anyone bring marshmallows?” Dawn asked as she set about to following Alec’s instructions.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Alec smiling at her comment. Now, that’s a sight worth living through this to see again, she thought as beads of sweat formed along her hairline. Finally finished with the trajectory path, Dawn looked over at Buffy, who was giving her a knowing smile. Damn, this telepathy had better be temporary!

Dawn drew the last bit of strength that she could from Buffy and then Buffy dislodged her hand, motioning to Sam on the way, “C’mon, Sam. Speedy McDowell over there will bring Dawn right behind us.”

Sam and Alec shared a long look before Alec nodded slightly and told him to go with Buffy. As they moved toward the portal, Dawn could see Sam’s fists balled tightly and Buffy patted him on the back, “Yeah, I hate it, too. We’ll make them suffer for torturing us later.”

“We? I’m totally telling Dean it was your idea,” Sam kicked back to her, “If he’s going to kill someone, better you than me.”

After they left, Dawn looked over at Alec. He was watching her with a bewildered expression on his face.

“What is it?” she asked. She was beginning to feel the loss of Buffy’s strength, but knew that they had to kill another moment or two for Buffy and Sam to completely clear the portal and get everyone out of the way before they could leave, so she might as well enjoy the company.

“You chose me to stay with you,” Alec told her.

His brow crinkled in confusion. Adorably, Dawn’s brain added. She took pity on him, “Yes, you were the best choice.”

“But, your sister…”

“Never mind my sister,” Dawn interrupted, “You are here because I trust you to get us both out of here as soon as I let go of this baby.”

Alec nodded at her, and she could see the acceptance of the responsibility in his eyes as he spoke, “So, do we have a plan by any chance?”

“Yes,” Dawn replied. “I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think the best thing to do is back me up until I’m almost at the portal, but not touching it. Then, you get a running start and grab me through the portal as you run like hell. At the end of the portal, you’ll need to turn left or you’ll hit the wall on the other side of the hallway. Buffy is supposed to be putting up a mattress on the left side, though, so that when you hit that wall, it will be cushioned and hopefully no bones will be broken.”

“That’s the plan? For real?” Alec questioned.

With the most innocent smile she could muster, Dawn shrugged, “Hey, I got us this far, haven’t I? I’m not just a pretty face, you know.”

“I don’t know - the face isn’t hard to look at either,” Alec commented, but before Dawn could respond, Alec was already putting her plan into motion. They carefully moved her backward to the portal entrance so she that she wouldn’t lose her grip on the missile and then Alec moved far enough away to give her enough time to let go the missile and get a good running start.

“On three,” Alec told her, then counted it out.

Exactly as he got to three, she let loose the missile and a fraction of a second later, she felt her feet leave the ground. All she could do was hold onto him as he blurred through the portal. Although the passageway was rapidly closing behind them, some of the explosion had managed to make it through and was closing in fast. Dawn just held on tighter as Alec picked up speed, thankful that the only time she ever got sick on amusement park rides was after she stuffed herself full of junk food.

The end of the passageway was nearing and Dawn braced herself for the impact. She felt Alec turn and the flames shot out right behind them as he slammed into the mattress. He had extended one hand out in front of him to catch himself, but underestimated his speed. His hand went straight through the mattress, the spring catching on his sleeve, and his body pressed Dawn into the surface as well, his extended arm the only thing that kept her from going straight through the mattress as well.

Dawn gurgled pathetically even as a small part of her brain cheered at the fact that she was flush against Alec, her legs wrapped around his waist. Unfortunately, the bigger part of her brain had just gone into shock on the impact, cushioned as though it was. She heard a snap and white hot pain shot through her, but as Alec her upright for Buffy’s inspection, she noticed the red spot that had appeared on Alec’s collar where she had gripped him as he ran.

“I got blood on you,” Dawn noted. Drawing in the breath for the short sentence seemed to have been her mistake because right after she spoke, the world swirled violently and the pain became excruciating. The darkness that enveloped her was nothing short of blissful as she passed out in Alec’s arms.

-------

Dawn was taken to the Infirmary, where they examined her and concluded that she had a broken rib. She had woken up briefly, but was in a bit of pain, so they sedated her as quickly as it was safe to do so. Alec felt guilty for not being better able to control his speed and did not want to leave her side, but he was forced to do so when Faith barged into Dawn’s room and announced to him and Buffy that she was done playing referee between Dean and Max and if they wanted the school to still be standing, one of them had better go separate them. Buffy volunteered Alec for the job.

When he found them, they were arguing over whether he had done the right thing by shooting Ames White. Max was telling Dean that the only thing that separates them from animals is their self-control. He could see the damage that would ensue as soon as he heard Dean retort that he could be both one hundred percent pure-bred stallion and still have self-control.

“Okay, that’s it,” he interrupted them, catching Max’s fist as she swung it at Dean. A jolt of pain hit him and he realized that he must have pushed away the pain in his worry over Dawn, but there was a distinct possibility that something in his hand or wrist had broken when he hit the wall behind the mattress. He choked back the sound as Max pushed against his hand and held firmly, “Separate corners, both of you.”

“I don’t answer to you, Alec,” Max informed him, shrugging out of his grasp.

“No, you don’t,” Alec agreed. “But, I think there has been enough violence for one day, so why don’t you two fight about this some other time, like when my wrist isn’t broken?”

Dean immediately dropped the bag he was carrying and took hold of Alec’s wrist before he could protest. While Dean examined him with the smooth efficiency of a field medic, Alec examined Dean. They certainly looked alike, that was a given, but only time would tell if there were any other similarities between them. He could almost feel the older man’s ‘back off’ vibe as Max tried to get a closer look at his injury. His feline self understood the signal for what it was and he had to admit that he was a bit confused by it. Dean was claiming him as pack, but he could tell that the man was completely human. He shouldn’t even know how to do what he was doing, but when Dean met his eye, Alec could see the knowledge of his actions staring back at him.

Then, Dean turned to Max, “Don’t worry about this one, Sweetheart. I’ve got him covered.”

“You don’t think that I’m just going to give over one of my injured people to you, do you?” Max demanded. Alec could see that she was losing patience. She was in a war for dominance with Dean and, although he couldn’t believe it, everything in him screamed that Dean was winning.

“Not at all,” Sam called as he met them in the hallway. “Alec McDowell is all yours.”

Alec didn’t know how to feel at the sudden rejection. In the first place, he had never truly expected the Winchesters to accept him, despite his DNA. But, after his few conversations with Dean and Dawn, he had allowed some modicum of hope that he might find some connection in the world to creep into him. Now, with Sam’s announcement, all hope left him along with the breath in his lungs. They must have found out about what I did to survive when White stuck that bomb in my head…or about the scams I pulled…or how I helped to poison Logan under Manticore’s orders…no wonder they don’t want to lay claim to me.

Beside him, Dean called out to Sam and Alec realized that he was confused. Now, he’ll tell Dean and Dean will tell me what a screw up I am and that he wants nothing to do with me. Alec braced himself for the inevitable.

“Come on, Alec,” Max ordered, gripping his arm and starting to pull him toward the other transgenics.

Alec started to follow her and Dean looked entirely pissed off when Sam stopped them. He looked at Max first, then at Alec as he spoke, “Alec McDowell is yours. Good luck finding him. This here is Alec Winchester and he’s ours.”

As he spoke, Sam pulled out a freshly printed identification card. He recognized the picture from his Jam Pony ID, but that wasn’t possible. He reached into his back pocket to find where he would normally keep his ID empty. He looked up at Sam. How did he manage to pick my pocket? No ordinary could do that, Alec realized.

Alec didn’t realize that he had spoken out loud until Dean wrapped his forearm around his neck and pulled him close in a half-hug, his other hand coming up to clap Alec on the chest. “Why would you ever think Winchesters are ordinary? We may be human, but ordinary is not something anyone sane would ever call us. Just ask your girlfriend.”

The casual touch threatened to undo him as he found himself not rejected after all. In fact, the opposite was true. I think I’m being adopted. His mind caught up to the last sentence Dean had said and he immediately refuted it, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

Dean was already halfway down the corridor, headed back toward the infirmary. He didn’t see where Max had disappeared to, but he knew that he would have to talk to her eventually. Sam was gone, too, and he came to the conclusion that he had effectively distracted Max from both him and Dean.

“Sure, she’s not,” Dean called behind him. “You can tell her that while we get your wrist casted.”

TBC

P.S. Thank you to Feekh for the Rec!

Next Chapter: Daytime Television