Post by Dean Harper on Mar 12, 2024 2:18:33 GMT
Dean woke up with a start, a sudden panic about where he was, why he had passed before he saw Warren next to him. They were still on the plane. Dean sighed a little in relief. He was still safe.
Going through customs was a hassle for Dean. Warren was able to basically walk right through, the good old nice church boy look seemed to work wonders for him. Dean got questioned, searched and finally let go. Dean was just happy to be on solid ground again. He found Warren waiting near the rental car areas. Warren had secured a car whilst he waited, it was just a matter of getting there now.
“So does the car have GPS or do we have to try and read a map?” Dean asked.
“GPS, I made sure of that,” Warren assured. “This is too important to Christopher Columbus our way through.”
“My hero.” Dean smiled, “You still remember how to drive on the wrong side of the road?”
“It’s you yanks who have it wrong,” Warren got in the driver’s side of the rented Ford.
Dean laughed, “Sure. Whatever you say, lover.”
Warren punched in the details he had whilst Dean settled into the passenger side. It was still a considerable drive.
“Want to listen to anything while we travel?” Dean asked, the drug-induced sleep and unfamiliar area made him feel a little raw and nervous. He hated that. But talking wasn’t something they were very good at. Dean talked a lot, too much. Warren was great at keeping secrets and his own thoughts.
“Nah, I’m good,” Warren said, he didn’t want to be too distracted as he clicked his seatbelt in and set off. He hadn’t been to Scotland in decades, he had family here, or at least they had been before the truth of Spike was known. Dean had no idea, and Warren preferred to keep it that way.
“I’ve only been here when we were on tour before, I think.” Dean looked out the window as they drove. “You ever journey over here or just in England?”
“Just England,” Warren lied, he didn’t want a discussion about his stepfather’s side of the family, lying to avoid such uncomfortable feelings was always Warren’s preferred coping mechanism.
Sometimes it felt like trying to get Warren to talk about anything was like pulling teeth. But Dean was trying to keep things going, like he always did.
“Yeah. Before IWF I never left South Dakota.” Dean watched the countryside. “I’m nervous as fuck.”
“We’re just retrieving a tape, not confronting anybody,” Warren said. “Nothing to be nervous about.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” Dean nodded.
“So maybe the Lord's hand has graced you, Dean." Uriel smiled. "I suppose there are worse to be blessed."
Dean shook his head, tried not to think of it.
Warren tried to fight off sleep as he drove. He knew Dean was in no state to take over, this was all on him now, his to fuck up or redeem. Years of their darkest and most personal history were about to finally be brought into the light. He just hoped Dean could forgive him for being such a coward when it mattered most, in a way that Warren had never forgiven himself for his inaction and acquiescence to Uriel’s demands.
Dean watched Warren for a while, as they drove it was something he had never been great at reading what he was thinking, just admiring him. Dean let the silence drag on for a while before adjusting in his seat, “want to get coffee or something? They serve coffee here, right? Not just strong tea?”
“Sure, I need something to keep me awake, we can pull up at the next service station.”
“I’ll buy.” Dean offered. “Least I can do. Consider it thanks for letting me sleep on the plane.”
“Thank you,” Warren nodded.
“Welcome.” Dean touched Warren’s shoulder, “I’d offer to drive but I don’t think I’d be any good at it.”
“You’re fine, you should save your strength, you know prepare yourself. After all, we still need to check the tape when we find it. I don’t trust Uriel not to fuck with us even more than he already has, and I need to know you have the stomach for that.”
”Don’t be like that, Brat Prince.” Uriel caressed his face even as he tried to pull away. “Everyone deserves to see what beautiful noises you make.”
Dean swallowed the bile in his stomach, “Right…. It’s too much to hope for him to be honest.”
“I also don’t think he’s just going to have it laying around. All I have is the address, not an exact location.”
“Fuck.” Dean rubbed his temple, “Maybe we should have grabbed some bolt cutters or an axe.”
“I just don’t know what we should be prepared for, he always creeped me out, especially the way he obsessed over you.”
“I know it's my fault. I flirted back at first. Anyone would say I was leading him on.” Dean looked out the window again. “Doesn’t make it okay. But I should have been smarter.”
“He was a big part of why I wanted you to stop using bi panic as a head game in matches, Sweetness.”
“Yeah. I’ve cut it down a lot.” Dean said softly.
“Yes, you have and I’m proud of you for it.”
“Thanks, amour.” Dean looked over at Warren, “Glad you noticed.”
“Of course,” Warren said.
“…I’ve missed this. Traveling together.”
“I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“For sure, if I got to pick obviously it’d be like a Disneyland or second honeymoon instead.” Dean joked as the next rest stop was labeled ahead.
“Maybe after this, you can take Damien to Disney, I know he wants to go.”
“And you’d come with?”
“Not really interested. Seems like a place for normal families and happy kids,” Warren shrugged, “Something I never had or was myself.”
“Not like I was. Not like any family with me is. It’s about making memories that don’t suck.” Dean bit his lip not looking out the window again, “Also…I mean, we went to Disneyworld as The Pack once. We made out in the haunted mansion.”
“I don’t remember that, like at all,” Warren shrugged, “Why the fuck would we go there as The Pack?”
“Because none of us had gone as kids. Being too poor and fucking traumatized. Brooklyn’s idea. It was mostly because we didn’t belong there. It was also our first kiss.” Dean was used to reminding Warren of the big moments of their relationship, sometimes it hurt that nothing they did made an impact but he knew it wasn’t personal, just the way Warren’s mind worked. It still hurt.
“Sounds pathetic,” Warren screwed up his face, disgusted. “Brooklyn can be such a summer child sometimes. She needs to understand how life really works. Also what a stupid place to have a first kiss as an adult. I’m glad I don’t remember that,” Warren pulled into the rest stop nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just pissed all over one of Dean’s favourite experiences.
“Black coffee or something flavored? Don’t recall what’s your favorite at the moment.” Dean asked making sure not to look at Warren to keep the hurt in check.
“Of course you don’t,” Warren said. “Black.” Obviously, something about going to Disneyland with The Pack had soured his mood completely.
“Sorry.” Dean shrugged, not pushing it. “Didn’t mean to bring up painful shit.”
“This whole trip is painful shit, that’s the point isn’t it? No happiness, just pain and misery,” Warren said. “Story of my fucking life.”
”He never loved you. He only wanted you to piss off his dad. Surely you know that. You think someone like him could ever love someone like you? No. No matter what you do it will never be good enough for him.” Uriel yanked Dean’s hair back, “You should be thanking me for opening your eyes. Say thank you Dean.”
“I thought we had some happiness in there at some point.” Dean opened the car door and walked to the shop. He needed to keep his head focused on the present. Not keep drifting. He needed to stay grounded. Focused.
Warren didn’t follow, chose to stay in the car.
Half the time Dean wasn't sure why he even bothered. Nothing of their life together mattered to Warren at all except for his stupid pride. Dean returned with a large black coffee for Warren and a large fancy coffee for himself. His masculinity wasn’t in danger from having something actually pleasant to drink. He fucked guys, who gave a shit about the look the guy behind the counter gave him.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up old memories. I get nostalgic for bullshit.” Dean handed the coffee to Warren. “Thank you for coming with me even though I make shit more difficult than it has to be.”
“Yeah, seems to be the story of our relationship,” Warren accepted the coffee. “Everything being more difficult than it should be, I mean. Maybe our marriage was a mistake.”
That made Dean physically flinch, that hurt a lot. He should have just come here on his own. “Sorry you feel that way.”
“I don’t know what to fucking feel, honestly,” Warren sipped, swallowed past the bitterness of both the coffee and himself.
Dean sipped his nice coffee, trying to think of anything to say, “You’re allowed to feel whatever you do about us. That’s healthy, I’m told.”
“Sure.”
Dean let the silence drag as they got back on the way to the spot. He tried to think about what their relationship had brought them to the place they were. He felt like he hadn’t changed that much other than his sex drive, but given the circumstances…
“Turn left.” The first thing Dean had said in what was likely hours as he recognized to his hour the weird highland cow sign, “oh fuck… oh fuck.”
Uriel smirks, undoing Dean's other wrist. "Not what I had in mind. Cute that you went there, though." As soon as Dean's wrists are free, Uriel's met with a right hand. He staggers back a bit, rubbing his jaw, and nods before unleashing a massive right that sends Dean thumping back into the seat. "Bad boy. Did I say you could play like that?" Uriel shakes his head. "Disobedient little shit. I have no idea how Rowan kept you in line."
"She took me for walkies, mostly." Dean replies, wiping the blood from his lip before Uriel bashed his head into the dashboard. "And she let me cook."
"So barefoot and in the kitchen?" Uriel cocks his head to the side. "Not my usual kink, but I can work with it." He begins to work on Dean's ankles. "If you try to run, this is only going to get worse."
He reached in his pocket and rolled down the window, he didn’t care if Warren whined at him about his health right now. He needed the quick fix to settle his nerves as he felt the panic setting in he took a quick inhale of the hidden vape and exhaled out the window, “Inter-fucking-national.”
Warren said nothing about anything.
Dean breathed, rolled up the window, “We’re close.”
“Thank God, the sooner this shit can be over the better.” Warren assumed Dean was just responding to the GPS voice as it led them, to make sure they didn’t get lost, he had no reason to believe Dean had been here before. He had assumed Dean’s was raped in the US.
Dean’s leg was bouncing as he tried not to think about anything. Warren said he needed to be able to handle this He was going to be able to handle this. He wasn’t going to give Warren more of a reason to resent him. He could handle this.
“You have arrived at your destination,” the GPS announced.
It seemed like a dilapidated old warehouse in some rundown part of the city. Had Uriel fucked them over again, or was this truly the place they were looking for?
Dean was out of the car while Warren seemed to puzzle it over. He took another deep inhale of the vape as he walked the familiar steps, remembering the feel of his shoes against the road as he’d tried to keep from passing out again. It was at least one thing that the repeated nightmares might prove useful.
Dean used the edge of his shirt to keep from putting his own finger prints on the pad. He’d watched Uriel punch them in once. He’s thought it almost comical at the time it was his birthday. The door swung open first to the industrial showers.
Dean struggles against the cuffs, wincing slightly. Uriel tuts his tongue. "Don't bother. You won't be able to get out without breaking half the bones in your hand, and I already searched you for anything that could get you free." Uriel pauses, smirking. "Thoroughly."
Dean rushed back out the door and threw up.
For the first time, Warren showed concern, rushed after Dean, calling for him.
“Dean!” Warren’s voice echoed off the walls of the abandoned warehouse “Dean, are you okay?!”
Warren caught up to see Dean hurling, his voice softened, he put a hand on Dean’s back, tried to look him in the eye. “Sweetness?”
Dean braced against his knees as he caught his breath, “I’m trying. I am. I’ll get through it.”
“Maybe this was a mistake, I’m sorry,” Warren said. “We should go. If I had known it’d fuck you up this bad,” Warren had tears in his eyes. “Just because I don’t have all my memories doesn’t mean I should treat you like you don’t have yours. He brought you here, didn’t he?” Warren guessed. “This is where it happened, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t know it was here...not until the sign…” Dean nodded standing up shakily, “We came all this way. We need the tape. I can do this.”
“Okay, we’ll get the tape if it’s still here,” Warren said, “Then I’m torching this place to the fucking ground, so you never have to think about it again.”
“That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said.” Dean wiped his mouth, leaning against Warren, a sort of hug but not one Warren needed to return. Dean moved past Warren before he could reject the gesture walking back through the warehouse, back towards the showers, focused on the ground until he pushed the door open to the room that still looked more like a motel room or a porn studio than whatever it had been before.
Camera, lights, computers, TV, the bed… the bed Uriel had Dean tied to when he’d cut that promo against Warren. Why wouldn’t the worst thing in Dean’s life be just a backdrop to Uriel having a go at his at-the-time boyfriend? If things had gone differently Uriel Black and Warren Kane could have been the feud of the year after that strong-style gauntlet match. Dean leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, ignoring the smell. He didn’t blame Warren. He was simply a shortcut for Uriel to headline, he reminded himself.
Warren froze in the doorway, as a memory hit him, seeing the bed in particular.
Warren’s eyes widened with sudden recognition, “That son of a bitch, I thought it was a motel room!”
“Sorry.” Dean said softly as he walked towards the room. “You want to check the computer and I’ll check… everything else?”
“We should do this together,” Warren said softly, “Is there anything else you remember? Anything about where he kept the tape that could help us?”
Dean shook his head, “I wasn’t positive he recorded it or just said he did to keep me from telling. It wasn’t until later when he played clips of it on voicemails he’d leave I was positive he did.” Dean took a deep breath, “But together. Where do you want to start?”
Warren nodded at the computer, stirred it from its sleep. The welcome screen requested a six digit passcode. “Shit, any ideas sweetness?”
“My birthday. It was the code on the front door. Might be the code here…Or the day he kidnapped me.”
Warren tried Dean’s birthday first, miraculously it worked. “He always was an unimaginative cunt,” Warren grinned. Now he was in, he had access to everything and enough smarts to circumnavigate the OS. He found folders, with the two dates Dean had mentioned, his birthday and the abduction.
Warren opened the birthday file first, it was full of video files. Dozens of them. “Might have something here, Sweetie.”
Warren clicked the most recent. It was of someone dressed like Dean, tied to the bed. Clearly the young man had been tortured and was bleeding and crying.
Dean felt the urge to vomit again, “Turn it off.”
Warren clicked it off though there was a curiosity about what else they may find.
“How many are there?” Dean asked.
“According to the file count 966 separate video files in this folder alone. And there are multiple folders, all with file names significant to…you…”
Dean leaned against the desk, “... Skip to the end. He lets Tim go right?”
All the color drained from Dean’s face, he moved from the computer desk but only made it a few feet towards a garbage can before vomiting nothing but bile and blood. He heaven for a couple minutes as the repulsion rolled through him, as the vile smell dug its way deeper into his nose.
“Well, as much as I’d like to, we can’t torch this place, especially if bodies are here. We’d be doing him a favour by destroying the evidence,” Warren said. “Son of a bitch, that’s what he wanted me to do when he said my anger would purge us both, before he gave me the location of this place. Uriel was counting on me to lose my shit and spare him from answering for his crimes, yet again.”
Dean stood up wiping his mouth, “Can we delete at least my video?”
“No, sweetie, I understand the impulse to want it scrubbed. I do, but the authorities need all the evidence they can get, that includes what he did to you. You’re the strongest link in the chain, you survived which means only you can put him away for life.”
“It’s a bit funny isn’t it Brat Prince? She’s trained you so well to prepare yourself for pain, trained so long, practically unaffected by it. But you have no tolerance for pleasure.” Dean tried not to give a reaction, not to be affected, not to want, not to moan as Uriel brushed his lips down his neck. “The Kane boy seems to have left you wanting.”
“I just wanted it gone. I didn’t want this. I…” He bent over to try to keep from getting sick again, “That could have been me…It means I did something they didn’t… But that could have been me.”
“It could have been but it wasn’t,” Warren said softly. “If we report this, it’s just the beginning. The cops and lawyers are gonna expect us to testify, you ready for that?”
“No. But I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Not if we want justice, Sweetness. It’s long overdue.”
“I should have just killed him,” Dean muttered.
Going through customs was a hassle for Dean. Warren was able to basically walk right through, the good old nice church boy look seemed to work wonders for him. Dean got questioned, searched and finally let go. Dean was just happy to be on solid ground again. He found Warren waiting near the rental car areas. Warren had secured a car whilst he waited, it was just a matter of getting there now.
“So does the car have GPS or do we have to try and read a map?” Dean asked.
“GPS, I made sure of that,” Warren assured. “This is too important to Christopher Columbus our way through.”
“My hero.” Dean smiled, “You still remember how to drive on the wrong side of the road?”
“It’s you yanks who have it wrong,” Warren got in the driver’s side of the rented Ford.
Dean laughed, “Sure. Whatever you say, lover.”
Warren punched in the details he had whilst Dean settled into the passenger side. It was still a considerable drive.
“Want to listen to anything while we travel?” Dean asked, the drug-induced sleep and unfamiliar area made him feel a little raw and nervous. He hated that. But talking wasn’t something they were very good at. Dean talked a lot, too much. Warren was great at keeping secrets and his own thoughts.
“Nah, I’m good,” Warren said, he didn’t want to be too distracted as he clicked his seatbelt in and set off. He hadn’t been to Scotland in decades, he had family here, or at least they had been before the truth of Spike was known. Dean had no idea, and Warren preferred to keep it that way.
“I’ve only been here when we were on tour before, I think.” Dean looked out the window as they drove. “You ever journey over here or just in England?”
“Just England,” Warren lied, he didn’t want a discussion about his stepfather’s side of the family, lying to avoid such uncomfortable feelings was always Warren’s preferred coping mechanism.
Sometimes it felt like trying to get Warren to talk about anything was like pulling teeth. But Dean was trying to keep things going, like he always did.
“Yeah. Before IWF I never left South Dakota.” Dean watched the countryside. “I’m nervous as fuck.”
“We’re just retrieving a tape, not confronting anybody,” Warren said. “Nothing to be nervous about.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” Dean nodded.
“So maybe the Lord's hand has graced you, Dean." Uriel smiled. "I suppose there are worse to be blessed."
Dean shook his head, tried not to think of it.
Warren tried to fight off sleep as he drove. He knew Dean was in no state to take over, this was all on him now, his to fuck up or redeem. Years of their darkest and most personal history were about to finally be brought into the light. He just hoped Dean could forgive him for being such a coward when it mattered most, in a way that Warren had never forgiven himself for his inaction and acquiescence to Uriel’s demands.
Dean watched Warren for a while, as they drove it was something he had never been great at reading what he was thinking, just admiring him. Dean let the silence drag on for a while before adjusting in his seat, “want to get coffee or something? They serve coffee here, right? Not just strong tea?”
“Sure, I need something to keep me awake, we can pull up at the next service station.”
“I’ll buy.” Dean offered. “Least I can do. Consider it thanks for letting me sleep on the plane.”
“Thank you,” Warren nodded.
“Welcome.” Dean touched Warren’s shoulder, “I’d offer to drive but I don’t think I’d be any good at it.”
“You’re fine, you should save your strength, you know prepare yourself. After all, we still need to check the tape when we find it. I don’t trust Uriel not to fuck with us even more than he already has, and I need to know you have the stomach for that.”
”Don’t be like that, Brat Prince.” Uriel caressed his face even as he tried to pull away. “Everyone deserves to see what beautiful noises you make.”
Dean swallowed the bile in his stomach, “Right…. It’s too much to hope for him to be honest.”
“I also don’t think he’s just going to have it laying around. All I have is the address, not an exact location.”
“Fuck.” Dean rubbed his temple, “Maybe we should have grabbed some bolt cutters or an axe.”
“I just don’t know what we should be prepared for, he always creeped me out, especially the way he obsessed over you.”
“I know it's my fault. I flirted back at first. Anyone would say I was leading him on.” Dean looked out the window again. “Doesn’t make it okay. But I should have been smarter.”
“He was a big part of why I wanted you to stop using bi panic as a head game in matches, Sweetness.”
“Yeah. I’ve cut it down a lot.” Dean said softly.
“Yes, you have and I’m proud of you for it.”
“Thanks, amour.” Dean looked over at Warren, “Glad you noticed.”
“Of course,” Warren said.
“…I’ve missed this. Traveling together.”
“I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“For sure, if I got to pick obviously it’d be like a Disneyland or second honeymoon instead.” Dean joked as the next rest stop was labeled ahead.
“Maybe after this, you can take Damien to Disney, I know he wants to go.”
“And you’d come with?”
“Not really interested. Seems like a place for normal families and happy kids,” Warren shrugged, “Something I never had or was myself.”
“Not like I was. Not like any family with me is. It’s about making memories that don’t suck.” Dean bit his lip not looking out the window again, “Also…I mean, we went to Disneyworld as The Pack once. We made out in the haunted mansion.”
“I don’t remember that, like at all,” Warren shrugged, “Why the fuck would we go there as The Pack?”
“Because none of us had gone as kids. Being too poor and fucking traumatized. Brooklyn’s idea. It was mostly because we didn’t belong there. It was also our first kiss.” Dean was used to reminding Warren of the big moments of their relationship, sometimes it hurt that nothing they did made an impact but he knew it wasn’t personal, just the way Warren’s mind worked. It still hurt.
“Sounds pathetic,” Warren screwed up his face, disgusted. “Brooklyn can be such a summer child sometimes. She needs to understand how life really works. Also what a stupid place to have a first kiss as an adult. I’m glad I don’t remember that,” Warren pulled into the rest stop nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just pissed all over one of Dean’s favourite experiences.
“Black coffee or something flavored? Don’t recall what’s your favorite at the moment.” Dean asked making sure not to look at Warren to keep the hurt in check.
“Of course you don’t,” Warren said. “Black.” Obviously, something about going to Disneyland with The Pack had soured his mood completely.
“Sorry.” Dean shrugged, not pushing it. “Didn’t mean to bring up painful shit.”
“This whole trip is painful shit, that’s the point isn’t it? No happiness, just pain and misery,” Warren said. “Story of my fucking life.”
”He never loved you. He only wanted you to piss off his dad. Surely you know that. You think someone like him could ever love someone like you? No. No matter what you do it will never be good enough for him.” Uriel yanked Dean’s hair back, “You should be thanking me for opening your eyes. Say thank you Dean.”
“I thought we had some happiness in there at some point.” Dean opened the car door and walked to the shop. He needed to keep his head focused on the present. Not keep drifting. He needed to stay grounded. Focused.
Warren didn’t follow, chose to stay in the car.
Half the time Dean wasn't sure why he even bothered. Nothing of their life together mattered to Warren at all except for his stupid pride. Dean returned with a large black coffee for Warren and a large fancy coffee for himself. His masculinity wasn’t in danger from having something actually pleasant to drink. He fucked guys, who gave a shit about the look the guy behind the counter gave him.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up old memories. I get nostalgic for bullshit.” Dean handed the coffee to Warren. “Thank you for coming with me even though I make shit more difficult than it has to be.”
“Yeah, seems to be the story of our relationship,” Warren accepted the coffee. “Everything being more difficult than it should be, I mean. Maybe our marriage was a mistake.”
That made Dean physically flinch, that hurt a lot. He should have just come here on his own. “Sorry you feel that way.”
“I don’t know what to fucking feel, honestly,” Warren sipped, swallowed past the bitterness of both the coffee and himself.
Dean sipped his nice coffee, trying to think of anything to say, “You’re allowed to feel whatever you do about us. That’s healthy, I’m told.”
“Sure.”
Dean let the silence drag as they got back on the way to the spot. He tried to think about what their relationship had brought them to the place they were. He felt like he hadn’t changed that much other than his sex drive, but given the circumstances…
“Turn left.” The first thing Dean had said in what was likely hours as he recognized to his hour the weird highland cow sign, “oh fuck… oh fuck.”
Uriel smirks, undoing Dean's other wrist. "Not what I had in mind. Cute that you went there, though." As soon as Dean's wrists are free, Uriel's met with a right hand. He staggers back a bit, rubbing his jaw, and nods before unleashing a massive right that sends Dean thumping back into the seat. "Bad boy. Did I say you could play like that?" Uriel shakes his head. "Disobedient little shit. I have no idea how Rowan kept you in line."
"She took me for walkies, mostly." Dean replies, wiping the blood from his lip before Uriel bashed his head into the dashboard. "And she let me cook."
"So barefoot and in the kitchen?" Uriel cocks his head to the side. "Not my usual kink, but I can work with it." He begins to work on Dean's ankles. "If you try to run, this is only going to get worse."
He reached in his pocket and rolled down the window, he didn’t care if Warren whined at him about his health right now. He needed the quick fix to settle his nerves as he felt the panic setting in he took a quick inhale of the hidden vape and exhaled out the window, “Inter-fucking-national.”
Warren said nothing about anything.
Dean breathed, rolled up the window, “We’re close.”
“Thank God, the sooner this shit can be over the better.” Warren assumed Dean was just responding to the GPS voice as it led them, to make sure they didn’t get lost, he had no reason to believe Dean had been here before. He had assumed Dean’s was raped in the US.
Dean’s leg was bouncing as he tried not to think about anything. Warren said he needed to be able to handle this He was going to be able to handle this. He wasn’t going to give Warren more of a reason to resent him. He could handle this.
“You have arrived at your destination,” the GPS announced.
It seemed like a dilapidated old warehouse in some rundown part of the city. Had Uriel fucked them over again, or was this truly the place they were looking for?
Dean was out of the car while Warren seemed to puzzle it over. He took another deep inhale of the vape as he walked the familiar steps, remembering the feel of his shoes against the road as he’d tried to keep from passing out again. It was at least one thing that the repeated nightmares might prove useful.
Dean used the edge of his shirt to keep from putting his own finger prints on the pad. He’d watched Uriel punch them in once. He’s thought it almost comical at the time it was his birthday. The door swung open first to the industrial showers.
Dean struggles against the cuffs, wincing slightly. Uriel tuts his tongue. "Don't bother. You won't be able to get out without breaking half the bones in your hand, and I already searched you for anything that could get you free." Uriel pauses, smirking. "Thoroughly."
Dean rushed back out the door and threw up.
For the first time, Warren showed concern, rushed after Dean, calling for him.
“Dean!” Warren’s voice echoed off the walls of the abandoned warehouse “Dean, are you okay?!”
Warren caught up to see Dean hurling, his voice softened, he put a hand on Dean’s back, tried to look him in the eye. “Sweetness?”
Dean braced against his knees as he caught his breath, “I’m trying. I am. I’ll get through it.”
“Maybe this was a mistake, I’m sorry,” Warren said. “We should go. If I had known it’d fuck you up this bad,” Warren had tears in his eyes. “Just because I don’t have all my memories doesn’t mean I should treat you like you don’t have yours. He brought you here, didn’t he?” Warren guessed. “This is where it happened, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t know it was here...not until the sign…” Dean nodded standing up shakily, “We came all this way. We need the tape. I can do this.”
“Okay, we’ll get the tape if it’s still here,” Warren said, “Then I’m torching this place to the fucking ground, so you never have to think about it again.”
“That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said.” Dean wiped his mouth, leaning against Warren, a sort of hug but not one Warren needed to return. Dean moved past Warren before he could reject the gesture walking back through the warehouse, back towards the showers, focused on the ground until he pushed the door open to the room that still looked more like a motel room or a porn studio than whatever it had been before.
Camera, lights, computers, TV, the bed… the bed Uriel had Dean tied to when he’d cut that promo against Warren. Why wouldn’t the worst thing in Dean’s life be just a backdrop to Uriel having a go at his at-the-time boyfriend? If things had gone differently Uriel Black and Warren Kane could have been the feud of the year after that strong-style gauntlet match. Dean leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, ignoring the smell. He didn’t blame Warren. He was simply a shortcut for Uriel to headline, he reminded himself.
Warren froze in the doorway, as a memory hit him, seeing the bed in particular.
Uriel takes a few steps back. As he steps to the side, we can see Dean Harper is the figure tied to the bed, eyes lidded with exhaustion. His wrists and ankles bear the marks of rope burns, and his breathing is shallow. "Look what I can do when I'm motivated, boys. Save yourselves the pounding of a lifetime. Don't get between me and what I want." Uriel pauses, smirking. "Or do. Take that pounding. See what happens. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit..." He crosses himself, winking. "Amen."
Warren’s eyes widened with sudden recognition, “That son of a bitch, I thought it was a motel room!”
“Sorry.” Dean said softly as he walked towards the room. “You want to check the computer and I’ll check… everything else?”
“We should do this together,” Warren said softly, “Is there anything else you remember? Anything about where he kept the tape that could help us?”
Dean shook his head, “I wasn’t positive he recorded it or just said he did to keep me from telling. It wasn’t until later when he played clips of it on voicemails he’d leave I was positive he did.” Dean took a deep breath, “But together. Where do you want to start?”
Warren nodded at the computer, stirred it from its sleep. The welcome screen requested a six digit passcode. “Shit, any ideas sweetness?”
“My birthday. It was the code on the front door. Might be the code here…Or the day he kidnapped me.”
Warren tried Dean’s birthday first, miraculously it worked. “He always was an unimaginative cunt,” Warren grinned. Now he was in, he had access to everything and enough smarts to circumnavigate the OS. He found folders, with the two dates Dean had mentioned, his birthday and the abduction.
Warren opened the birthday file first, it was full of video files. Dozens of them. “Might have something here, Sweetie.”
Warren clicked the most recent. It was of someone dressed like Dean, tied to the bed. Clearly the young man had been tortured and was bleeding and crying.
“In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Until He returns, you will have to do…Dean!”
“My name is Tim,” the young man said, “Please, I did everything you asked. If you want me to love you, I can. I will, but please call me by my real name.”
“No, how dare you!” Uriel barked. “You play by my rules or I’ll send pieces of you back to him. You understand me, Dean?”
“Yes…yes, sir…”
“My name is Tim,” the young man said, “Please, I did everything you asked. If you want me to love you, I can. I will, but please call me by my real name.”
“No, how dare you!” Uriel barked. “You play by my rules or I’ll send pieces of you back to him. You understand me, Dean?”
“Yes…yes, sir…”
Dean felt the urge to vomit again, “Turn it off.”
Warren clicked it off though there was a curiosity about what else they may find.
“How many are there?” Dean asked.
“According to the file count 966 separate video files in this folder alone. And there are multiple folders, all with file names significant to…you…”
Dean leaned against the desk, “... Skip to the end. He lets Tim go right?”
The last file is of a shipping crate, Uriel is seen carrying something over his shoulder towards it. This was somewhere else in the warehouse from what they could see. Uriel dumps whatever he is carrying into the crate. Now the camera zooms in, it is Tim with his throat slit. Pale and most definitely dead.
“Another whose blood is on your hands, Harper.” Uriel swings the camera around, facing Dean and Warren directly now. “How many more have to suffer until you realise you were never meant for Kane, you were meant for me, Sweetness?” Uriel smirked.
“Another whose blood is on your hands, Harper.” Uriel swings the camera around, facing Dean and Warren directly now. “How many more have to suffer until you realise you were never meant for Kane, you were meant for me, Sweetness?” Uriel smirked.
All the color drained from Dean’s face, he moved from the computer desk but only made it a few feet towards a garbage can before vomiting nothing but bile and blood. He heaven for a couple minutes as the repulsion rolled through him, as the vile smell dug its way deeper into his nose.
“Well, as much as I’d like to, we can’t torch this place, especially if bodies are here. We’d be doing him a favour by destroying the evidence,” Warren said. “Son of a bitch, that’s what he wanted me to do when he said my anger would purge us both, before he gave me the location of this place. Uriel was counting on me to lose my shit and spare him from answering for his crimes, yet again.”
Dean stood up wiping his mouth, “Can we delete at least my video?”
“No, sweetie, I understand the impulse to want it scrubbed. I do, but the authorities need all the evidence they can get, that includes what he did to you. You’re the strongest link in the chain, you survived which means only you can put him away for life.”
“It’s a bit funny isn’t it Brat Prince? She’s trained you so well to prepare yourself for pain, trained so long, practically unaffected by it. But you have no tolerance for pleasure.” Dean tried not to give a reaction, not to be affected, not to want, not to moan as Uriel brushed his lips down his neck. “The Kane boy seems to have left you wanting.”
“I just wanted it gone. I didn’t want this. I…” He bent over to try to keep from getting sick again, “That could have been me…It means I did something they didn’t… But that could have been me.”
“It could have been but it wasn’t,” Warren said softly. “If we report this, it’s just the beginning. The cops and lawyers are gonna expect us to testify, you ready for that?”
“No. But I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Not if we want justice, Sweetness. It’s long overdue.”
“I should have just killed him,” Dean muttered.
Well howdy there pardner.