Chapter 5

Lucifer sits up slowly, the cracking of his long abandoned vessel carrying easily in the dead silence of the room. He flexes his hands and balls them into fists a few times, watching the movement with a small smile. He rolls his head out, his neck popping with every movement. Slowly, he rises to his feet, looking around at everyone else standing in the room.

"Hey guys," he says with devilish grin. "I'm back."

"And under my control," Crowley adds.

Lucifer just rolls his eyes. "That was so half an hour ago. I'm over it." He raises a hand in the demon's direction, and, with a simple flick of his fingers, Crowley is sent flying across the room. Lucifer turns to Team Free Will. "So, thanks for the release, but I'm kinda sick of you guys meddling in everything, so, uh, bye."

He raises a hand towards them, but stops at the sound of Crowley's voice. "Not gonna happen."

Lucifer turns around slowly, incredulity on his features. "You think you can stop me?" He scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure. You know what?" He spreads his arms in a "come at me, bro" position. "Go for it. Take your best shot. And then it's my turn." He cracks his knuckles loudly for effect.

Crowley stands up, his posture conveying his confidence. He raises a hand, not towards Lucifer but just in front of him. Lucifer watches with a bemused smile, which turns into a cry of pain when Crowley snaps his fingers. Crowley does it again, this time sending Lucifer to the floor in pain. He looks up, his face showing a mixture of suffering and awe.

Crowley puts his hands in his pockets, looking down at the angel with an air of superiority. "You're under my control now, so I suggest you play by my rules."

"And if I don't?" Lucifer challenges.

Though nothing else seems to change, he cries out in pain once again.

"This right here? Just the tip of the iceberg," Crowley tells him. "I could do so, so much worse to you, and trust me, I would love every second of it. For your sake, I suggest you play along with whatever Moose, Squirrel and his little lovebird there have planned for you."

Lucifer glares at him, and, for the first time since Castiel met him, he can see... weakness. Lucifer drops his gaze to the floor, his heavy breathing easily audible in the now otherwise silent room. He stands up slowly, his head not held quite as high as it used to be, as if Crowley just drained the confidence out of him. Any semblance of the quirky, humorous in the most annoying way Lucifer is gone, replaced by a majorly pissed off but powerless archangel.

Castiel glances around the room to gauge the others' reactions to this new Lucifer. Sam appears relieved, which he can understand. He went through most of the trauma Lucifer inflicted on the group, and knowing that Crowley has complete control over him must be a big comfort. Rowena is glaring daggers at her son; her infatuation with Lucifer clearly hasn't waned in recent months, seeing as Lucifer hasn't snapped her neck in this reality.

Dean just looks amused at the whole situation. Castiel can't blame him; Crowley is just a demon, yet he can control Lucifer, an archangel, like a dog. It's a rather amusing concept, if slightly terrifying at the same time. They can only hope Crowley values their existence as much as he claims, because between him and Lucifer, they easily have enough power to wipe out Team Free Will.

Lucifer takes a moment to glare at Crowley, then makes a noise that's almost a growl in frustration. "I don't particularly want to spend the last days of my life with you, so let's hurry this up, 'kay?"

"Trust me, hanging out with you is not high on our bucket list," Dean snaps, clearly agitated already and their time with the archangel has barely begun. "Come on."

~~

"Woah, is there a party goin' on?" Gabriel asks.

It makes sense for him to believe that; only Sam, Dean, and Castiel left the bunker, and now the three of them are back, accompanied by Lucifer, Crowley, and Rowena. Crowley wasn't thrilled to be forced into coming, but as he's essentially a remote control for Lucifer, it was necessary to bring him along to keep the archangel in check. Rowena just came due to her unending obsession with Lucifer, and refused to take "no" for an answer. It was Sam that finally broke and let her join them; as a witch, she could be useful in stopping the Darkness. No one was excited for her to join them, but Crowley was the most expressive of how much he despised the idea. 

"If it is, it's going to be the lamest one I've been to," Jo adds, taking a swig of her beer and sizing Lucifer up. If this world is like the real one, she likely hasn't seen him in about seven years, Castiel reasons.

"You wouldn't be wrong," Dean tells her. "Everyone here knows everyone, right? Because if we're all gonna be stuck together, we might as well learn names."

"I have absolutely no idea who either of them are," Balthazar announces, looking between Rowena and Crowley. He doesn't really seem to care, though, if his disinterested expression is anything to go by.

"I second that," Gabriel adds.

This seems to be the first time Lucifer lays eyes on his younger brother, and he looks away quickly when Gabriel returns his gaze. It's a casual movement, not showing fear of his brother or shame, but rather that he just doesn't want to talk to the archangel. Gabriel doesn't comment on it, which is likely the first time in his excessively long life that he has noticed something and not felt the need to make a sarcastic remark about it.

It's Dean that makes the introductions, quick and to the point. None of them seem very happy to meet each other, but no one expected any different. Balthazar at least gives them a semi-polite head nod in recognition of their existence, but that's about the extent of their interaction.

"So..." Lucifer says after a few moments of silence. "Are we gonna do something, or did you just pull me out so Crowley can pretend he's more than your faithful mutt?"

Crowley shoots him a glare, and Lucifer groans as he's hit with some sort of invisible attack from the demon, doubling over in pain. Balthazar cocks an eyebrow and Gabriel fights back a laugh, while Bobby, Ellen, and Jo just look confused. Lucifer puts a hand to his chest, clutching it as if shot as he straightens up, panting slightly.

"Heart attack?" Gabriel asks teasingly.

Lucifer raises his gaze to meet his brother's, and the younger angel is flung across the room. Lucifer grips his head from the pain that Crowley inflicts for this.

"Seriously, Crowley. Quit it," Lucifer snaps.

"I'll quit it when I damn well feel like it," Crowley replies.

Suddenly, Lucifer is on the floor, letting out a cry of pain. Crowley just watches with a smug smile.

"That's enough," Sam interrupts after a few seconds in which he seems to enjoy watching Lucifer in pain. "We do still need him in working order."

Crowley sighs. "So demanding, Samantha."

"'Samantha'?" Balthazar repeats with an amused grin. Sam doesn't bother responding.

Gabriel walks over to Lucifer and offers him a hand. The older archangel just looks up at him warily. Gabriel rolls his eyes and thrusts his hand forward once again.

"Chill, Luci," he says with a small smile. "Just giving you a hand up."

Lucifer hesitates, then evidently decides against trusting his brother and he pushes himself to his feet on his own with a soft groan. Gabriel frowns at the brush off, undoubtedly remembering the times when they used to be good friends, but doesn't mention it.

"Lucifer's right," Dean says, then adds as an afterthought, "for probably the first time in his life. As much as I love watching Lucifer get hurt, and I really do love it, we have other priorities. Any ideas on how to stop the Darkness?"

Crickets.

"Anyone at all?" Dean adds, looking around the room at the group of clueless individuals he surrounds himself with on nearly a daily basis. "Great," he mutters under his breath. "Just great."

"We'll figure something out," Castiel assures him. They just need to get Chuck down here, and everything should work out, right?

Dean sighs and rests his head on Castiel's shoulder. "I hope you're right, but I'm getting less and less sure by the day."