"The Sea is dangerous and it's storms, terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore. " - Ferdinand Magellan

• • •

"Before Dad died, he... he told me something... something about you."

"What?"

"..."

"Dean, what'd he tell you?"

"He said that he... wanted me to watch out for you... take care of you.."

"He told you that a million times."

"Well this time was different... he said that I had to... save you."

"Save me from what?"

"He just said that I had to save you, and nothing else mattered, and that if I couldn't, I'd..."

"You'd what, Dean?"

"I'd have to kill you."

"..."

"..."

"He said that I might have to kill you, Sammy."

"Kill me?... What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, he must've had some kind of reason for saying it, right?! Did he know the demon's plans for me?! Am I supposed to go dark side, or something?!?"

".."

"What else did he say, Dean?!"

"That's it, I swear."

"How could you not have told me this?!"

"Because it was Dad, And he begged me not to."

"Who cares?!? Take some responsibility for yourself, Dean! You had no right to keep this from me!"

"You thinnk I wanted this? Huh? I wish to God he'd never openeed his mouth! Then I wouldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day!"

"..."

"..."

"We just gotta figure out what's going on then, what the hell all of this means."

".."

".."

"We do? I've been thinking about this, I think we should just lay low, you know? At least for a while, it would be safer... That way I could make sure-"

"What? That I don't turn evil? That I don't turn into some kind of killer?!"

"I never said that."

"Jeez, you're not careful, you will have to waste me one day, Dean."

"I never said that!"

".."

"Damn it, Sam, this whole thing is spinning out of control! Al-alright, you're immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don't even know what the hell anymore!"

"..."

"And you're pissed at me, and I get it, that's fine, I deserve it... but we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?"

"Forget it."

"Sam, please, man. Hey, please. Just give me some time, give me some time to think, okay? I'm begging you here, please... please."

".."

• • •

The ring tone that fell from Noah's phone speaker startled him as he towel dried his hair. He walked over to the motel bed, picking up the phone. Dean Winchester. He answered.

"Hey," he said. "Hey, man, uh, have you seen Sam recently?" Dean asked him.

"What, no, why? Wh- he's not with you?" Noah questioned. "No, clearly not, Noah," Dean replied sarcastically, before sighing, "Look, I'm sorry but we got into a big fight yesterday afternoon and now I can't find him anywhere, I already called Bobby and Ellen, and neither of them have heard a word from him."

"Alright, Dean, I'll see what I can figure out, does he have his phone?" Noah inquired, heading for his computer as he slipped some pants on.

"Yes, the dumbass forgot about that and took it with him," Dean seemed to sigh in relief. "You are in luck, after Brian nearly lost his leg because I couldn't figure out where he was, I learned how to track a cellphone in minutes, give me the number, I'll see what towers it last pinged on," Noah informed him, pulling his laptop open. He felt the sudden urge to cough as his throat seized a little, so he hacked.

"You okay?" Dean asked, concerned. "I'm good," Noah wheezed slightly, ended it with a cough as he punched his own chest to break up the congestion, "I think I've got a bit of a head cold, this has been going on for a week or so, what's the number again?"

Dean gave him the number and he found the town and zoned in on the inner location. Seeing his area of where Sam was seemingly centralized, he looked closer, finding the only cheap motel in the area.

"You, my fine furry friend, need to head to Lafayette, Indiana, specifically the Blue Rose motel."

• • •

Noah jumped, sighing as he shook his head, dropping the Bowie knife that he was cleaning back into the duffel bag. "Rhett Darach, at your service."

"Hey," Dean panted through the phone, he and Sam has since gotten used to the aliases when Noah answered the phone.

"What's got you so out of breath?" The Marilynn boy asked as he went back to cleaning the knife.

"So... long story short, Gordon tracked Sam down our here, nearly killed him, kidnapped me, nearly killed him again, and then Sam got the jump on him and he is currently in custody," Dean rattled off.

"Huh," Noah nodded, he had clearly missed a lot in the past 24 hours," Well, that tells me you found him."

"Yes, I did, Thank God," Dean sighed into the phone. Noah nodded, knowing that feeling all too well.

"Alright, well I'll let you go now, let me know if anything else like that happens," Noah laughed, as did Dean.

"Yeah, alright, see you," Dean bid farewell.

"You too," Noah responded before hanging up his phone and placing it back in his pocket. He turned back to his dog, shaking his head," Those two'll be the death of me, I swear."

• • •

Noah's phone starts ringing, and he sighs to himself as he reaches into the pasenger seat, "I swear to God, if thats-" He started laughing as he looked at the caller ID, rolling his eyes before answering, "Hello, Winchester, what is it that you are seeking assistance with this go round?"

Sam laughed, "Yeah, sorry about that Noah, look we've got a shifter, and we could really use an extra pair of hands, maybe a set of paws, to help us out?"

Noah shook his head with a sigh, "Nasty sons of bitches, where are you guys at?"

"Milwaukee," Sam replied simply. Noah watched as he passed a sign saying 'Evanston', before replying, "You asshats are lucky I just worked a case in Chicago, I'll see you in an hour or two, message me you're motel."

"Will do, thanks," Sam stated. "No problem, boys," Noah fondly shook his head before hanging up the phone.

He looked into the backseat, where Delta was stretched out across the seat, "Wisconsin, here we come."

• • •

Pulling into the parking lot of the motel, he looked back down at his phone, before walking around to find their room number. He knocked on the door, and Dean opened it, motioning him inside.

"Come on, so this thing is robbing places, and they're all connected by a sewer line, there's one more bank on that sewer main, so we have got to hurry and get down there," Dean hurriedly explained.

"Alright, what's our cover? Maintenence?" Noah asked as he watched Sam pull out a pair of coveralls from their bags, he couldn't help but notice how good the hoodie he wore made him look, but he shook th ehtoughts from his head.

"Security Tech, here," Sam tosed him a pair. "Well damn, where did you get my size?" Noah chuckled before walking to the bathroom to change.

• • •

"Well we haven't had any flags go up on our system yet," the security officer said as he walked the three of them through the main part of the bank.

"No, no, this is a glitch in the overall grid, just wanna make sure the branch monitors are kosher," Dean excused.

"Better to be safe than sorry, I guess," The officer stated, leading them to the surveilance room. "That's the plan," Noah stated in agreement.

"Alrighy," He said as he opened the door, "You guys need anything else?"

"Oh no, no, no, we'll be in and out before you know it, just a routine check," Sam told him.

"Okey-dokey," the officer gave them a smile before exiting the room.

"I like him, he says 'okey-dokey'," Dean grinned childishly. "And what if he's the shifter?" Sam inquired. "Well, then we follow him home and put a silver bullet through his chest plate," Dean casually replied. The three men took a seat at the desk, observing the security monitor. Sam scanned each of the rooms with the cameras, looking at the people passing.

"Okay, got any popcorn?" Dean asked jokingly, looking to the other two. It was gonna be a long while of them sitting and watching the monitors.

• • •

An hour and a half had passed, and they had yet to see any camera flares from shifters. Noah had since snuck Delta in through the back door, and Dean had taken control of zooming and scanning. When the officer on duty turned where he was facing the direction of the camer, Dean zoomed in. Several minutes passed, and no flares had appeared.

"Well, looks like Mr. 'Okey-dokey' is... okey-dokey," Noah stated ironically. "Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean, I mean, we don't even know it's here," Sam started to doubt their chances as his anxiety crept in.

"Maybe we should just go back to the sewer and..." Sam trailed off as he and Noah realized what Dean was doing. One of the cameras was zoomed in on one of the teller's ass. Noah clipped him on the back of the head, making him reach a hand up as he grimaced in pain, shooting Noah a glare.

"Focus, Dumbass," Noah scolded, before muttering under his breath with a shake of his head, "Straight men, I swear."

They turned their attention back to the screens, looking before Dean spoke up, "Wait a minute." The bank manager, an older white man, was giving the flares to the camera.

"Got him," Sam and Noah spoek in unison as the three of them moved to stand up, however Dean noticed something else on an outdoor camera,"Uh, guys."

They turned back around, "What?" He just motioned to that camera. A younger white man with a large build and long black hair was chaining one of the doors shut, several bags in his hands, "Hello, Ronald," Dean spoke with a sarcastic smile.

"Oh God, what did you idiots do this time?" Noah groaned out.

They barely got out of the surveilance room before two gunshots fired, and the man's voice boomed and echoed throughout the entire building, ordering everyone on the floor.

They walked down the hall and Noah peaked around, "Dammit, he's got a miltary grade Ak-47." Of which Ronald was swinging around and telling people to get on the floor in the middle, firing into the ceiling multiple times.

"And you said we shouldn't bring guns," Dean rolled his eyes at his brother. "Yeah, well I didn't know this was gonna happen," Sam defended himself.

"Just... let us do the talking, I don't think he likes you very much, Agent Johnson," Dean flashed him a sarcastic smile.

The three rounded the corner, hands up in the air, Ronald hadn't noticed them yet. Noah ordered Delta to stay in the hall, he would give her the signal if her help was needed, but it was better for her to stay hidden for the time being.

"Hey buddy," Dean called out, putting a friendly and gently smile on his face, "Why don't you calm down, just calm down." Ronald turned to them ,staring agape, before pointing the rifle at them, "What? You!" Dean gave him a gentle nod, "Get on the floor, now!"

"Okay, we're doing that," Noah agreed, an the three dropped to their knees beside one another, hands in the air, "Just don't shoot anybody, okay?"

"I knew it, as soon as you two left, you ain't FBI, who are you?" he commanded from them, "You working for the men in black? Huh? Called your friend in? You working for the man-droid?!"

Sam rolled his eyes, "We're not working for the-" he was cut off. "You shut up, I'm not talking to you, I don't like you!" Ronald shouted at him. Noah looked over at him, mumbling, "Jesus, what did you do?"

"Fair enough," Sam reacted, settling back. He didn't exactly want a 39 milimeter bullet in his chest.

Noah watched Ronald, the man looked insane. The look in his eyes wasn't quite right, but at the same time, he's the one who helped them understand that it was a shifter, and what conspiracy theorist isn't at least a little crazy?

Ronald looked ot the people lined up against the teller windows, motioning to the other three with his gun, "Get over there, frisk 'em down, make sure they've got no weapons, go!"

A black man stood from the wall, walking over and frisking the three of them down. Noah was suddenly thankful that he kept his knife in a sheath strapped across his chest, where it was thin eough to not be noticed as the man frisked him. Dean however, wasn't so lucky. Because his knife was thicker, as the man frisked him, he found it tucked into Dean's boot in the back, which he then promptly handed to Ronald, who threw it down the trash chute.

Sam looked at Dean questioningly, his eyebrows raised. They had agreed on no weapons. "I'm not just gonna walk in here naked," Dean defended himself.

"We know you don't wanna hurt anybody," Dean stated as Ronald held the gun back up,"But that's exactly what's gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around, now why don't you just let these people go."

"No! I already told you, if nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've gotta do it myself," he exclaimed. "Hey! We believe you, okay? That's why we're here!" Noah attempted.

"You don't believe me! Nobody believes me," Ronald stated, "How could they?" Noah was starting to understand, this guy had probably thought out of the box all his life and been told he was wrong every time he had proposed anything out of the norm, then Sam went and gaslighted him even when they knew he was right in most aspects, and it was his breaking point.

Dean grit his teeth, he had the same thought process that Noah had, "Come here."

"What? No," Ronald answered. "You're holding the gun, boss, you're calling the shots, I just wanna tell you something," Dean reasoned, "Come here."

Ronald nervously glanced around, before hesitantly stepping over to Dean. "It's the bank manager," Dean quietly told him. "What?" Ronald asked, confused. "Why do you think we've got these getups, huh?" Dean asked.

"We've been monitoring the cameras in the back, we saw the bank manager, we saw his eyes," Noah reasoned. "His laser eyes?" Ronald asked. "Yes," Noah agreed before backtracking, "No, no! Okay, look we're running outta time, we've gotta find him before he changes into someone else."

"Like I'm gonna listen to any of you, you're a bunch of damn liars," Ronald denied. Dean slowly stood up, making Ronald hold the gun tighter, ready to fire, "Get down! I'll shoot you!"

"Take me, take me with you, take me as a hostage," Dean suggested,"But we gotta act fast, because the longer we just sit here, the more time he has to change." Ronald still looked unconvinced.

"Look at me, man," Dean started, "I believe you, you're not crazy, there really is something inside this bank."

Ronald stared at him for a moment, but Dean only stared back. "Alright," Ronald eventually agreed, "Y-you come with me, but everyone else, gets in the vault!"

He quickly lead them all in there, telling them "Come on, move, move!" When they reached it, he made sure everyone was inside, before telling Dean to lock it.

Dean moved to close the heavy door, but before it closed all the way, he told them, "It's okay everyone, just stay cool." He then shut it, and they all heard the locking mechanism shut into place.

"Who is that man?" one of the tellers asked the two of them. "He's my brother," Sam responded. He was still lost in thought, as was Noah, as they tried to figure out what was gonna happen from here. Hell, Noah was worried about Delta at this point, she could fend for herself but a gunshot is all it would take for her to go down, he cursed himself fo not putting her into the kavlar vest she usually wore on hunts for the sake of being discreet.

"He is so brave," the woman spoke in a dreamy voice. Noah rolled his eyes, "My God, lady, not the time," He stated. He didn't care if she heard him or not, at this point any filter he had dropped.

She just gave him a bitchy stare. And he rolled his eyes again, times like this he was glad he had no interest in women. Don't get him wrong, some of them were lovely. But he had no clue how to handle the bullshit some of them made you put up with.

• • •

"Has your brother always been so, um... wonderful?" the women had been asking Sam questions about Dean for the past half hour. It was beginning to grind down Noah's nerves, especially now that the power had been cut, their only source of light were the emergency lights, meaning cops were here, and with the power went the AC so it grew hotter within the small room every minute.

He and Sam had since shed their coveralls, now just in their normal clothes. Noah didn't know how Sam was surviving with his flannel still on over his t-shhirt because he was sweating up a storm.

"I mean, staring down that gun," even Sam rolled his eyes with a sigh as he leaned against the wall, he was growing sick of it himself, "And you know the way he played right into that psycho's crazy head, telling him what he wanted to hear? I mean, "She laughed, and Noah clenched his fists," He's like a real hero or something."

"Yeah," Sam stated dryly, sarcasm dripping off of the word. He was so clearly sick of it but Noah knew from the time he had spent with the Winchester that he was nothing like his brother or Noah in the regard that he would tell people to fuck off without a care in the world if they were pissing him off. No, the Winchester boy cared too much about other people for that to be the case.

That was when the vault door opened, "Oh my God, you saved us, you saved us!"

"Oh my God, will you please shut up?" Noah mocked her in a high pitched voice before scoffing, shaking his head.

"Actually, I just found a few more, come on everybody, "He motioned them in, Noah could see that he had a pistol now. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Sam, Noah, Ronald and I need to talk to you, and oh! Noah, your dog is getting pissy, she misses you," Dean looked to the two of them, as Delta came up behind him, panting with a smile. Noah returned it, whistling for her. She ran over, jumping up on him and licking his face.

The woman stared at them in disbelief as they walked out, and Dean closed the vault.

"It shed it's skin again," Dean informed them once they had reached the main room of the bank again, "We don't know when, could be in the halls, could be in the vault."

Sam nodded, "Great," before he scoffed, "You know, Dean, you are wanted by the police."

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "So even if we do find this damn thing, how the hell are we gonna get outta here?" Sam asked him. "One problem at a time," Dean sighed, "I'm gonna do a sweep of the whole place, se if I can find any stragglers, once we get everyone together, we gotta play a little game of 'find the freak' so.." he reached into his pocket, pulling out two silver letter openers.

"So here, I found another one of these for you, I don't know about.." Dean trailed off as Noah pulled the silver knife out of his sheath on his chest, flipping it in the air, "Never mind, Sam, you stay here and make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody, okay, Help him manage the situation-" Sam cut his brother off.

"Help him manage?!" Sam shouted, and Noah sighed, they were really gonna do this now, "Are you insane?" Ronald looked over in worry, and Dean gave him the 'Ok' symbol with his hand before turning back to the other two," Look, I know this isn't going the way we wanted it to."

"Understatement," Sam loudly stated. "Alright, but we invite the cops in now, Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away, probably never find it again, okay-" Dean stopped as Sam motioned towards Ronald. Noah and Dean looked over, he was standing in the light with the gun raised.

"Ron!" Dean called for his attention, "Out of the light!" Ronald nodded, backing up and turning so he was stood in the shadow.

Dean chuckled as he turned back to them. "Seriously?" Sam gaped. "Hey, Ron's plan was a bad plan, I mean it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now crazy's the only game in town, okay?" Dean stated, trying to rationalize with his brother.

Sam stared at him for a moment, but when he didn't protest again, it was like an unspoken language between the two, that he would listen. "Come on, Noah, you're with me," Dean motioned, turning round and walking off. Noah nodded, turning back to Delta, "Stay here and keep an eye on these two," before turning to Sam, "Don't get my dog killed, okay?" When Sam nodded, he walked off with Dean.

• • •

The pair had been searching for around ten minutes, scanning the halls, and avoiding windows as best they could when they entered an office, where they notced one of the ceiling tiles looked loose. Like it had been pushed up.

They grabbed a coat rack, gently pushing up. When Dean was met with resistance he put a tiny bit more force, and that's when a decent amount of the ceiling fell through, as did something with it. They took a moment to shield their eyes from the dust, until it settled, and when they looked to see what it was, it was a corpse, naked. The shifter had killed them, taken their clothes, and hidden the body.

Dean turned it over, and they could see that it was a black man. They shared a look, that man was in the vault.

They hurried back to the vault, where Ronald, Sam, and Delta were. They had opened the door to give them some fresh air, and one of the men appeared to be having a heart attack.

Dean filled Sam in, who quickly walked over and agreed to letting him out, and Sam took him form the black man who was trying to help, the shifter. Sam helped the older man, the guard from earlier, out.

"Hey, Can I talk to you for a second?" Dean requested the shapeshifter, "You've got the gun, man, whatever." He walked out, and immediately hit Dean, running out.

Noah and Ronald were quick to follow, Ronald aiming his gun at the man as Noah commanded Delta after him. It was when the reached the center of the main room in the bank that the shit truly hit the fan.

All Noah could hear was Sam shouting for them to get down, before he heard the signature sound of a silenced gunshot. He barely had enough time to register the red dot on Ronald's back before the dot was repaced with a gunshot wound.

The bullet passed through him entirely, spilling blood all over from both sides of the wound, it had even started to pool in his mouth as he fell. Noah tucked himself against the teller windows as the three of them watched the man fall to the ground, blood pooling underneath him, the sniper's laser still on his back.

He felt nothing but pure horror in that moment.

• • •