5 - Here comes the storm

Michael was out of patience. Hell, he had been out of patience for too many weeks, now. He slammed the end of his lance into the ground and closed his eyes to focus a bit. When he opened them, he was looking right at Castiel. And was about to say something, when his eyes drifted to the others. Especially Dean.

A wicked grin grew on his lips. "Corvus? Sam and Dean Winchester? Oh, Castiel. I could almost forgive you for having me run around for so long. What a treat!" He walked towards them, taking it slow. And opened his arms with a mocking grin. "Boys, come to daddy."

Sam finally moved. He gulped down his fear, his anger, and quickly signed to Corvus, with his eyes still on Michael. "We need to create a diversion. He comes for my brother. His vessel."

Corvus followed Sa's quick and nervous signing with a lot of difficulties, but managed to get through it. She glanced at Dean, deeply scared herself. Sad to say, the man was completely useless in that moment. "Tell me you have some matches", Corvus signed to him carefully. "If you do, get them out. Light one. And when I yell, throw it in front of you."
She turned slightly to her right, as if to cover in fear, while she was actually discreetly fishing something out of her pocket.
Holy oil.
It would have never stopped an Archangel for long, but they could gain a little time, since said winged nuclear weapon was not in his own, real vessel.
She turned to Castiel. Castiel. So that was his name, uh. She tried to get his attention. 'I hope he can fly us out of here when this goes down.'

Sam nodded at Corvus' words, and took a deep breath himself, getting ready with his match, that he discretely lit up.
But Castiel was not looking at Corvus. Nor at the others. He was looking straight to Michael, and stood between him and Dean.
Michael stopped. And laughed. "Oh, right. There's a reason you lead me to him, after all. Sweet." his smile vanished suddenly. "Move," he snarled, readying his lance.

Corvus bit her lip, frustrated about not being able to catch Castiel's unwavering gaze. But she kept moving slowly, and even managed to untap the flask she had pulled out from the inner pocket of her mantle. Something startled her for a precious second, though.

"... you fucking son of a bitch-", Dean (suddenly awoken from his shocked state) tried to launch himself towards Michael, anger and fear moving him all together and making him disregard completely the fact that what was in front of him was neither human, nor his father.
And that it was holding a lance. Thankfully enough maybe Castiel could keep him from jumping forward!

Eileen cursed, and threw her flask against Michael. "The match, Sam!", she said out loud.

Everything went so fast.
Sam threw the match at Michael, according to Corvus' plan, and then wrapped an arm around her and Celine, who was close enough to them.
Castiel had turned around slightly to prevent Dean from walking too close to Michael, and now had a solid grip on his arm. Now that his grace was free, he was fast to think. He smelled the holy oil the moment the flask broke against Michael's chest, and he reached for Sam as well, intending to fly them out of there as fast as possible, readying his grace to be sealed once more while still flying, so that the archangel would have no clue as to where he was headed too.
Castiel was fast.
Michael was faster.
There was no need to worry about being followed: the moment the archangel's lance broke into his side, he knew it was only a matter of seconds before he collapsed on the ground from the pain, his grace shut down for him to agonize squirming like a worm on the ground. He had seen too many angels dying by the archangel's hand in the past to know exactly how it would go. The agony would last for hours, but he would lose his powers almost immediately. He clenched his teeth to muffle a yell while he extended his wings.
He got the luxury of seeing the bunker's main door in front of them, everyone's safe, and Michael's screech only a mere echo in their minds.
Castiel's mind went numb and blank before his feet stopped carrying him.

Everyone fell on the ground with a loud 'thud', probably in painful positions, as Castiel losing his powers so suddenly made it impossible for the landing to be soft. Corvus grunted, and managed to get up, feeling arush of relief when, counting the heads around her, she could see all of them. 
The angel had managed to get everyone away. "Get inside - quick!", she said out loud, hastily opening the doors to the bunker, and holding out her hand to Sam. "Help me bring him inside. He lost consciousness", she added, gesturing for Castiel.

There was a split second during which Sam briefly wondered why Dean wasn't already helping Castiel himself, but then it hit him. He nodded at Corvus, and helped her carry Castiel up, and inside the bunker. He still looked around, to make sure Dean was following them and, most importantly, was unharmed.

Dean was indeed following them, and was unharmed. This, however, did nothing to cover the deep hatred that burned in his eyes at that moment, and how his mouth curled when he glanced at Castiel's unconscious body. He moved almost mechanically, from the moment he got up from the ground to when he let himself flop down on one of the chairs in the common room, gaze lost in the void, jaw tense.

Corvus motioned for the couch, and laid Casiel down along with Sam. "I will be frank", she said, after losing some precious seconds of silence to calm down her still franctically beating heart - it felt like a crazed, scared bird, thumping wildly against her ribcage to get free. "I don't know what happened." She looked towards Celine, carefully.

Celine hesitated. She threw a glance at Dean, because she hand been inside both his and Castiel's head. She knew what kind of relationship they had. "There was a seal inside of him. When I finally managed to scrap it a bit, it just broke loose. And the angel grace that was behind it just filled his body, and I was kicked out of his mind. I have no idea what happened to the human soul inside there. Or if there was even one at all."

Sam gulped down, and looked up when he heard footsteps coming their way. Because of course, all of this commotion had alerted Bobby, who came to check on them.
"What the bloody hell happened to y'all?"

Dean didn't even answer. He just got up and rushed away, stomping out of that room.
He needed to be alone. Alone and away from his brother's worried glances, Celine's sympathetic ones, from Bobby's potential questions. From Castiel, or whatever was his name, and all his dirty, terrible lies.

Corvus didn't make a single gesture to stop Dean. She could see he was out of himself - and trying to keep him among them when he was so clearly angry and wounded was definitely not the best idea. She did answer Bobby, however, and recapped the situation to him, quietly signing so that everyone could follow her.

Bobby frowned, and looked at Castiel. "So, what. He's been an angel all along, fucking with us, or did the rogue angel hide in his body and erase his memory of it?"
"I couldn't know for certain," Celine replied to him, calmly. "I couldn't read his mind now without risking permanent damage, since the angel part of him is awake."

Sam sat on a chair, and looked at Castiel, without really looking at him. He kept on thinking about Michael. Michael's vessel, more specifically. He was fast asleep when John Winchester left he and Dean alone for good, at Bobby's place. But he knew his brother had to watch their father go, and had to learn from Bobby earlier than him that John had passed away. He couldn't even begin to imagine how that must have felt for him.

Corvus was only partially following Celine and Bobby's exchange. Her gaze was on Sam, in that moment.
She didn't know what had shocked him that harshly - of course, learning that someone he considered a friend had been either lying to them all along or thoroughly bran-washed must feel terrible, and even beyond that. But, remembering the way both him and his brother had frozen, and the deep terror and horror that had twisted both their expressions, when they had seen Michael...
No. Not Michael. His vessel.
She gently touched his shoulder, to get his attention. First of all, she said nothing. She simply rubbed his skin soothingly, trying to convey that he could calm down, for the moment. She was there for him. Then, finally, she signed, a bit shyly, "Don't you want to tell me what happened, back in the tavern? When you saw Michael?"

Sam looked up to Corvus, and forced a smile at her. "I'd like to. But later. First, we need to know what to do with him. He is hurt," he signed to her, before he looked back at Castiel. "And he will be in pain when he wakes up. Yet he might also have lied to us."

Corvus sighed, and nodded to him, her gaze drifting to Castiel as well. "He might have lied to us, yes. But personally, I feel indebted to him. He did save our lives - I'd like to save his, before thinking of kicking him out." She seemed pretty sure of what she was saying.
Well, she had found herself in a situation akin to that one in the past already.

Sam nodded. "Is there maybe a... room, in which we could have him lie down on a bed and lock the door, to make sure he doesn't flee before answering to some of our questions?"

Corvus seemed to think about it. "I have a security chamber. Or... well, let's say a panic room. Heavily warded. I've never used it to keep something inside, as opposed to outside, but... we can always apply a sigil on him as well. So that he won't be able to leave that body."

"... The panic room seems like a good option," Sam said after thinking about it. "We should bring him there. And take a look at his wound. It might be nastier than just a cut, if he lost consciousness."

"I am definitely sure it will be worse than a regular cut", Corvus observed, her expression grim. "Remember. We are talking about Michael. They say horrible things about his weapons - his lance, particularly. It's said to have you die in an agonizing pain and after a long agony, if you aren't a corrupted soul. And, well... we are talking about an angel, here."

Sam pressed his lips together, and nodded. "Alright. Let's carry him there, first. I'll have Bobby help me carry him, show us the way." He called Bobby like he said, and even though his friend protested a bit, he soon agreed. After all, he had come to consider 'Alaskan' like one of his boys. He couldn't be completely mad at him.

Corvus nodded, and silently guided them down a corridor, and down a long row of stairs. The panic room was heavily protected, and the door itself was heavy and difficult to open, even having the right combination. Inside, it did look like a regular room, just built round instead of square. A bed had been placed next to one of the walls, and candles were placed around. There was a shelf with books, some papers scattered over a table. And wards upon wards carved deep in the walls.
It looked kind of creepy, to be honest.
"There", Corvus said, nodding towards the bed.

Sam nodded and, with Bobby's help, they placed Castiel on the bed. Sam then took his coat off, and tore off his shirt before he winced when the wound was revealed to their eyes.

Bobby cursed. "Rotten flesh. So what they say about that bastard's lance is true," he muttered.

Corvus grimaced underneath her mask, almost tempted to look away from the disgusting sight of the blue and black skin that was basically falling apart around the wound. But she took a deep breath, and in the end, she looked at it anyway.
"I don't know how we can reverse that process", she said out loud. "He will be soon awake because of the pain. And then it will be matter of a couple of days."

Bobby gritted his teeth, and crossed his arms, thinking. "Pica and Valdyr," he started. "I mean. From the little I've heard, they say elves and dwarves could brew the best medicine back in the day. Do they know anything about it, or would you have books regarding such remedies in your library?"

"Valdyr could know some notions of medicine, yes. Pica has been away from her tribe since long time, but I bet she remembers something. If I am not mistaken, someone in her family used to be a herborist", Corvus replied. "With the help of the hundreds of books I have, I am sure she will remember some useful things. We have to try." She seemed to think about it. "Maybe your friend Sus could help as well. Some shamanic rituals done in orc tribes are fairly powerful."

Bobby winced. "I'm not sure Sus is going to be thrilled about that idea. I think that we need to tell them all what we know anyway, before he wakes up. That way, they can... make up their own mind, I s'ppose." He sighed. "I'll go warn Sus." Well. Horknath was one of his boys too now, after all.

Sam nodded, and looked down at Castiel one more time. "I'll stay here until he wakes up," he signed to Corvus, "so that you can warn the others. But- I'd like to tell you something before you go. About what you asked."