Evil cannot be halted. No matter the resistance humanity puts up, no matter how strong their champions are, and no matter how goodness they have in their heart.
It is with this thought that Dean Winchester operates on and why he also never falters nor breaks in front of any monster, he comes across. No matter how bloodied, beaten, or broken he is, he will always fight back.
Because evil cannot be halted, but it can be delayed.
As he gripped the steering wheel in his calloused hands, he thought of his encounter with the man named Richard Greythorne. He had done research on the hedonistic, sadistic son of a bastard.
He didn't like him. Not one bit, but, in deference to his brother's opinion, he'll put up with him.
"Alright, fine! Sam, fine." He yelled, smacking the horn on the wheel. "I'm not alright with it, but for you, I'll let him go with us!"
His brother gave a weary sigh. "Thank you, Dean. I promise that you won't regret it."
"Yeah, yeah." He waved him off before venting his frustration by nitpicking. "You know, why's he always in a damn suit? It's 100 degrees outside. Wear a damn shirt!"
Sam laughed at his words, shaking his head as he resumed his work on his laptop.
"Where is he, by the way?" Dean could not help but ask.
"He knew you didn't fly, so he told me to continue our drive to Guthrie." Sam responded.
"You- you didn't tell him that I'm afraid of… flying, did you?" Dean sounded out his brother, pinching his lips.
Sam laughed once more. "No, just told him that we wanted to drive."
Dean nodded, running his hand over his mouth. "That's good. Wouldn't want our future enemy knowing our… uh, you know."
"Sure." Sam replied, rolling his eyes in secret. "Are you done bitching about Richard? Want me to tell you what I found on Guthrie?"
Dean softly scoffed, but sighed and waved his free hand in reluctant acceptance. "I'm done. Tell me about Andrew Gallagher."
Sam tucked away his laptop before pulling the files that Ash had printed for them. "Andrew Gallagher. Born in eighty-three, like me. Lost his mother in a nursery fire exactly six months later, also like me."
Dean nodded. "You think Aza- damn, the yellow-eyed bastard also killed his mom?"
"Either that or it's a damn good coincidence." Sam said. "Unlike Max, though, Andrew doesn't have any files that regard him as dangerous. In fact, there's no file for him at all. No current address, no current employment. He still owes money on all his bills - phone, credit, utilities…"
"Collection agency flags?" Dean asked, perplexed by the matter.
"None in the system." Sam replied.
"So, what? They just let him go?" Dean shook his head before he looked at Sam in realization. "You don't think… he's freaky like you?"
Sam putted down his stack of paper and gazed at Dean in admonishment. "Freaky like what, Dean?"
"Didn't we have this exact conversation last night?" Dean said with a smirk on his face. "C'mon, Sammy! You're nothing like Max. Anyway, how do we find him?"
Sam let the argument bubble and pop into nothingness as he scanned his stack of papers. "Well, I got a W-2 about a year ago. How about we start there?"
●●Guthrie, Oklahoma●●●
Having arrived at Guthrie before the sun rose atop the horizon, Irwin thought it best to know the lay of the land. His mindfulness of being prepared surprised even him. It looks like Joaquin's words did something to him.
Shaking away the thoughts, Irwin pocketed a hex bag for Mind Guardian, Flaming Whip, and a pocket mirror if he needed to cast Blood Scry. The revolver holstered underneath his suit jacket and Iridium knife on his left ankle.
He exited the hotel, much to the surprise of the graveyard shift employees, and walked into the before dawn streets of the city. Unlike that of New York and even San Diego, the streets here seemed empty and desolate, free of noise and chaos, save for the barks and meows of pets and the occasional honks of frustrated drivers eager to get home, that he had been accustomed with.
It was a delightful change of pace.
His pace changed the moment the hotel left his sight, eyes scanning his surroundings for anything unusual or, more importantly, supernatural. He knew that Azazel had most certainly ordered his soldiers to gather a few of the special children, so he was mostly on the lookout for demonic signs.
About an hour into his stroll around the city, he came across a rather peculiar sight, a lewd one at that.
A blue camper van with a mural of a skimpily dressed woman barbarian atop a grizzly bear being chased by a polar bear was shaking in great intensity as moans and grunts emanated from within. The sheer loudness of it all added to the awkward ambience he had stumbled into.
Irwin back-tracked, sneakily moving away from the scene of the crime when his eyes widened in recognition of the van.
"Fuck my luck, I guess." Irwin muttered, before going to the rear end of the van and taking out a hex bag. Just in case Andrew uses his power on him.
With a quick invocation, the hex bag glowed with a green energy that flowed through his arm and into his head. If anyone had the ability to see energy or aura, then they would have seen an incorporeal green helmet lock itself on the top part of Irwin's head.
With a mind shield on, he knocked on the camper's door with gusto. "Hello!"
The shifting and moaning suddenly stopped. He could hear hints of whispering and surprise inside of the van, before the left door cracked open where a small head of a clearly glazed man peeked through.
"Oh, hey, man! W-what- what time is it?" Andrew Galghaer asked Irwin as he tried his best to open his reddened eyes.
"About 3:17 in the morning," He answered while looking at his watch. He grabbed a hold of the door and widened the crack, much to Andrew's surprise. In fact, the man tried to grab the door, but Irwin's strength was much greater than his.
Andrew was, understandably, not alone in the van as a blonde woman screamed at the sight of Irwin's forceful appearance, her heavy bosom trembling seductively as she gathered her clothes and skirred the scene.
"W-wait. Don't lea-" Andrew tried to stop her, but Irwin, noticing he was about to order her, launched a strike at Andrew's throat that caused enough damage to injure his larynx.
"It would be best if you don't use your powers on a frightened woman." Irwin warned calmly. He opened the other door and jumped into the van, sitting on its edge.
Andrew held his sore throat, rolling around his bed in pain as tears flowed down his now-sober eyes. He tried to speak at least enough words to incapacitate Irwin, but the damage continued to worsen the more he tried to move his mouth.
"Calm down, Andrew. That was a necessary strike, by the way. I wouldn't want witnesses when we have a conversation." Irwin reasoned out as he scratched the back of his head. 'Damn hotel! Did they have bedbugs? I never had an itch before.'
Andrew calmed down as the pain subsided, wiping away the tears as he scuttled to the back of his van and grabbed the nearby bong, using it as a weapon. He began to speak in a hoarse voice, "Who the fuck are you?"
"Someone who can save you from your fate," He answered.
"What the fuck that does mean, you psycho? What do you want with me? Tell me," Andrew asked once more.
Before Irwin could answer, he felt a sudden drop in the air, like the energy in the area converged into Andrew's voice and passed unto him. Like a drill, this energy struck Irwin's head, but, thankfully, the energy helmet broke the momentum of the drill and absorbed it for itself.
Irwin shook off the power and smiled at Andrew with a radiant beam. "Wrong question. It should be, 'What can I do for you?'."
Andrew was aghast at Irwin's reply, not only for its sheer arrogance, but the fact that he did not obey his command. His mind raced to find an answer as to why.
"H-how can you- what the fuck!?" Andrew nearly yelled, for he had seen no one resist his control.
"Exactly. Question why I can resist your powers." He said, taking out his phone and going on Yelp to complain about their bedroom service. Coincidentally, Irwin had told Archibald to invest in Yelp, seeing as the company was still being used in his world even after a decade.
He placed his phone down and gazed at the frightened Andrew. "Tell me, why do you have powers?"
"L-look, man. I don't know who you are, but I haven't done anything that bad with m-my powers, man." Andrew tried to calm himself as he reasoned with Irwin. The bong being tightly gripped by his trembling hands, sweat dampening his robed figure.
"I know. But you didn't do anything good with your power, either." Irwin said, confusing Andrew. "Think about it. You have this unbelievable gift and all you do with it is tell some tax collector to fuck off. What is up with that?"
Andrew was taken aback by the intruder's words, his eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. He closed his eyes, shaking his head to reel back from the existential dilemma. "I-I don't know. I-I just wanted a good life, man."
Irwin snapped his finger as if he had solved an important problem. "Aha! That's the crux of our problem. You don't want a good life, Andrew. You want an easy life. A life where every problem can be solved with nothing but a single sentence. Is that it?"
His words, although said with levity, drummed into Andrew's heart, his sweat now drying up as he lowered his bong and gazed deeply at Irwin. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because you can do better, Andrew. You can be better. But you've been coddled all your life, if not your mother, then by your powers." Irwin stood from his seat as he crossed his arm and faced Andrew with a deep glare. "All it takes is to take one step forward."
"You're crazy!" Andrew roared. "Y-you can't just barge in here and tell me to change my life. I'm not gonna fucking stop some-some bank robber just because you said so!"
"I'm not asking you to. I, too, have powers like you. That's why I could stop your control." He revealed, much to Andrew's shock. "From your reaction, you may not have known that there are other people with powers too, huh?"
"N-no, I didn't. A-are we… mutants? Like… superheroes?" Andrew speculated in the wrong direction as his eyes widened at the revelation.
Irwin uncrossed his arm as he sighed and took to his seat. "Mutants? Yes. Superheroes? No. You are a breed of human who has drank from the blood of an ancient demon. Someone capable of wreaking havoc and destruction on a scale of which you can barely imagine and their coming for you. Fast."
'Crap! Shouldn't have said that!' He regretted his words the moment it left his mouth for Andrew began to scream in place, hysterically crying then laughing, before settling in and trembling in place.
"D-demons d-don't exist. Fuck that, man!" Andrew kept saying, having easily believed Irwin's words faster than the latter thought the former would.
Irwin tried to calm Andrew as he fully entered the van and grabbed hold of the special child. "Listen to me. The only way for you to survive that demon is to be strong enough. The only way to be strong enough is to train your ability, your power, your gift!"
Andrew gazed at Irwin, chaotic eyes being calmed by his presence. "W-will you help me?"
Irwin grinned as he responded with solemnity. "I will or die trying!"