FLYING SOLO

huck is sitting nervously in a chair. His Copilot is giving him a pep talk. "Listen, Chuck. It's like getting back on a horse. Only in this case, a little twin engine. Not even a horse, more like a pony. I'll be right there with you too. Anytime you feel like you don't want the wheel, I'll take over. Look, Chuck, we don't have to do this today. I'm not trying to rush you."

"No, the...the waiting is worse." Chuck says.

The copilot glances over his shoulder. "Okay, they're filling up the tank. Then we go." The Copilot gets up and leaves. Chuck takes a drink of coffee. Behind him, a cloud of black particles exits a vent and rushes into Chuck's eyes.

erry looks at the yellow stuff through a microscope; what the microscope sees is replicated on a screen. "Huh. This stuff is covered in sulfur." He says.

"You're sure?" Sam says.

"Take a look for yourself." Jerry encourages. There are banging sounds from outside the office. "You effin' piece of crap...If you guys will excuse me, I have an idiot to fire." As Jerry leaves, Dean goes over and looks into the microscope. "Hey. Einstein. Yeah, you. What the heck you doing? Put the wrench down-"

"Hmm. You know, there's not too many things that leave behind a sulfuric residue." Dean says.

"Demonic possession?" Sam suggests.

"It would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."

"If the guy was possessed, it's possible." Sam says.

Elena closed her eyes and scrunched her brows. "So demonic possession is real?" Sam nods. "Great."

"This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup. I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?" Dean says.

"You ever heard of something like this before?" Elena asks.

Dean turned to looks at her. "Never." He says.

The copilot is waiting by a small plane; Chuck, looking cheerful and relaxed, approaches. "I'm ready. Let's do this." The copilot laughs and follows Chuck to the plane.

"How you feeling?" He asks.

"I feel great." Chuck says confidently.

"You'll be back flying jumbos before you know it."

"I hope so." Chuck says. "How long we been up?"

"Uh...almost forty minutes."

"Wow. Time really does fly." Chuck says. He suddenly dives the plane towards the ground.

"What are you doing?" The copilot says.

Chuck elbows him in the face. His eyes are black. A tractor is trundling by as the plane suddenly appears, crashing into a telephone pole and then the ground.

ean and Sam are in full research mode, with images and articles taped to the walls and strewn across the beds, and Sam is looking at something on the computer. Dean is reading something on one bed while sitting on the other.

"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it." Sam says.

"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this." Elena says.

"Well, that's not exactly true. You see according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease." Sam says.

"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean gets up. "All right, so, what? We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?"

"Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Sam says. Dean snorts, turning away. "What?"

"I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here." Dean says.

Sam makes a sad expression. "Yeah. Me too." He says.

Dean's phone rings and he answers it. "Hello?" He says.

"Dean, it's Jerry."

"Oh, hey, Jerry." He says.

"My pilot friend...Chuck Lambert is dead." Jerry says.

"Wha-Jerry, I'm sorry. What happened?"

"He and his buddy went up in a small twin about an hour ago. The plane went down."

"Where'd this happen?" Dean asks.

"About sixty miles west of here, near Nazareth."

"I'll try to ignore the irony in that." Dean said into the phone.

"I'm sorry?" Dean sounds confused.

"Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon."

Dean hangs up. "Another crash?" Sam asks.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"Where?" Elena asks.

"Nazareth."

he Impala drives past a road sign reading Nazareth 3. Black smoke is visible in the near distance. Jerry is again looking through a microscope.

"Sulfur?" Dean asks and Jerry nods. "Well, that's great. All right, that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. This demon sounds like it was after him."

"With all due respect to Chuck, if that's the case, that would be the good news." Sam says.

"What's the bad news?" Elena asks.

"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight. And get this, so did flight 2485." Sam says.

"Forty minutes? What does that mean?"

"It's biblical numerology. You know Noah's ark, it rained for forty days. The number means death."

Dean and Sam were clearly up to date with their research. "I went back, and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in." Sam says.

"Any survivors?" Dean asks.

"No. Or not until now, at least, not until flight 2485, for some reason. On the cockpit voice recorder, remember what the EVP said?"

"'No survivors'." Dean thinks. "It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."

ean is driving while Sam is talking on the phone. Elena had fallen asleep in the back. "Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey, And if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam hangs up. "All right. That takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They're not flying anytime soon."

"So our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker." Dean says.

"Right. Her sister Karen said her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm. It's her first night back on the job." Sam says.

"That sounds like just our luck." Dean says sarcastically.

"Dean, this is a five-hour drive, man, even with you behind the wheel." Sam says.

"Call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass."

Sam sighs. "I already left her three voice messages. She must have turned her cellphone off. God, we're never gonna make it." He says.

"We'll make it." Dean says and Sam looks at Elena in the back.

"Dean, we haven't really talked about her we're gonna do with Elena." He says.

It was Dean's turn to sigh. "Honestly, I don't know. I promise, if we ever have a free day, we'll find out who she is and what she knows."

Later that night, Dean and Sam had woken up Elena and drove to the Airport. Now, they rush into the airport and check the Departure board. "Right there. They're boarding in thirty minutes." Sam points.

"Okay. We still have some cards to play. We need to find a phone." Dean says and picks up a courtesy phone.

"Airport Services." A voice says.

"Hi. Gate thirteen." Dean says into the phone.

"Who are you calling, sir?"

"I'm trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight, um...flight 4-2-4." He says.

"Amanda Walker, Amanda Walker, you have a phone call. White courtesy phone, gate thirteen." Meanwhile, Amanda approaches the gate, hearing the announcement. She picks up the phone.

"Come on." Dean mumbles.

A click is heard on the other end. "This is Amanda Walker." She says.

"Miss Walker. Hi, this is Dr. James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital. We have a Karen Walker here." Dean says.

Elena goes to the older Winchester brother and eavesdrops on the conversation. "Karen?"

"Nothing serious, just a minor car accident, but she was injured, so-" Dean says.

"Wa-wait, that's impossible. I just got off the phone with her." Amanda says frantically.

Dean pauses. "You what?" He asks.

"Five minutes ago. She's at her house, cramming for a final. Who is this?" She says.

"Uh, well...there must be some mistake." Dean says nervously.

"And how would you even know I was here?" Sam goes around Dean to try to hear what's going on. "Is this one of Vince's friends?"

Dean goes along with it. "Guilty as charged." He says.

"Wow. This is unbelievable."

"He's really sorry." Dean lies.

"Well, you tell him to mind his own business and stay out of my life, okay?" She says.

"Yes, but...he really needs to see you tonight, so-" Dean says.

She sounds like she's in a hurry. "No, I'm sorry. It's too late." Amanda says.

"Don't be like that. Come on. The guy's a mess. Really. It's pathetic."

"Really?" Amanda asks, yearning.

"Oh, yeah."

"Look, I've got to go. Um...tell him to call me when I land."

Amanda hangs up. "No, no. Wait, Amanda. Amanda!" She heads for the plane, greeting coworkers. "How are you? Hey, Bob." The black cloud comes out of a vent, then goes back in.

"Damn it! So close." Dean says.

Someone starts to talk overhead. "Thank you for flying United Britannia Airlines."

"All right, it's time for plan B. We're getting on that plane." Sam says.

Dean goes ballistic. "Whoa, whoa, now just hold on a second." He is wide-eyed.

"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane is gonna crash." Sam says.

"I know."

"Okay. So we're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll get the tickets. You get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever that will make it through the security. Meet me back here in five minutes."

Dean just looks at him anxiously. "Are you okay?" Elena asks.

"No, not really." Dean replies.

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asks.

Little beads of sweat began to form. "Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." Dean says.

"Flying?" Elena asks.

"It's never really been an issue until now." Dean confesses.

A smirk begins to form on Sam's face. "You're joking, right?" He questions.

"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?" Dean asks and Elena can't help but laugh. Dean looks at her in anger.

"All right. Uh, Elena and I will go." Says Sam.

"What?"

"We'll do this without you." Sam says.

Dean scoffs. "What are you, nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash. Plus, she's not even useful." He says.

"Hey, I'm standing right here."

"Dean, we can do it together, or Elena and I can do this. I'm not seeing a third option, here." Sam says.

"Come on! Really? Man..." Dean says.

On the plane, the intercom comes back on. "Flight attendants, please cross-check [something]before departure."

Dean, in the aisle seat, is anxiously reading the safety card. "Just try to relax." Sam says.

"Just try to shut up." Dean says. The plane takes off, with Dean jumping at every rumble and sound. Elena smirks. Dean is leaning back, humming to himself. Sam looks over.

"You're humming Metallica?"

"Calms me down." Dean says. Elena has decided to take a seat behind Sam. She was currently seated next to an old lady who was trying to lean on her shoulder.

"Look, man, I get you're nervous, all right? But you got to stay focused." Sam says.

"Okay." Dean says.

Sam leans back in his chair. "I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down, or whoever it's possessing, anyway, and perform a full-on exorcism."

"Yeah, on a crowded plane. That's gonna be easy." Dean says.

"Just take it one step at a time, all right? Now, who is it possessing?"

"It's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know, a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through. Somebody with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress." Dean says truthfully.

"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up." Sam says.

"Mm-hm."

Dean turns to a Flight Attendant, who is not Amanda. "Excuse me. Are you Amanda?" He asks.

"No, I'm not." She says.

"Oh, my mistake." Dean says.

"Mm-hm."

Dean looks to the back of the plane to Amanda. "All right, well, that's got to be Amanda back there, so I'll go talk to her, and, uh, I'll get a read on her mental state."

"What if she's already possessed?" Elena asks.

"There's ways to test that." Dean says. He goes into his bag and comes out with a Virgin Mary-shaped bottle of water. "I brought holy water."

"No." Sam snatches the bottle and tucks it inside his hoodie. "I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."

Dean speaks up. "Oh. Nice." He turns to go.

"Hey." Sam says.

"What?"

"Say it in Latin."

"I know." Dean leaves again.

"Okay. Hey!"

Dean turns back around. "What?!" He asks.

"Uh, in Latin, it's 'Christo"."

Dean looks offended. "Dude, I know! I'm not an idiot!" He makes his way to the back of the plane, thumping a seat once after the plane shakes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your first officer speaking..." The copilot says. Amanda is fussing with the drink cart and napkins.

"Hi." Dean says.

"Hi. Can I help you with something?" Amanda says.

"Oh, no. I'm just a bit of an uneasy flier. It makes me feel better to walk around a little bit." Dean says, knowing part of it was true.

"Oh, it happens to the best of us."

Dean smiles awkwardly. "Of course, you being a stewardess, I guess flying comes easy to you."

Amanda laughs. "You'd be surprised." She says.

"Really? You're a nervous flier?" He asks.

"Yeah, maybe, little bit."

"How is it that, being a stewardess, you're scared to fly?" Dean asks.

"Kind of a long story." She answers.

"Right. I'm sorry for asking." He says.

Amanda smiles. "It's okay." She says.

"You ever consider other employment?" Dean suggests.

"No. Look, everybody's scared of something. I just, uh...I'm not gonna let it hold me back."

"Huh." Dean says.

"So..."

Dean says quietly, "Christo."

"I'm sorry. Did you say something?" Amanda says.

Dean hesitates. "Christo?" He questions.

"I-I didn't, I didn't..." Amanda stutters.

"Yeah, nothing. Never mind."

Dean returns to his seat. "Okay." She says.

"All right, well, she's got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet." Dean says as he went back to Sam and Elena.

"You said 'Christo'?" Sam asks.

Dean nods. "Yeah." He says.

"And?"

"There's no demon in her. There's no demon getting in her." Dean says.

Elena speaks up. "So, if it's on the plane, it can be anyone. Anywhere." The plane shakes.

"Come on! That can't be normal!" Dean yells.

"Hey, hey, it's just a little turbulence." Sam says to try and calm his brother.

"Sam, this plane is going to crash, okay? So quit treating me like I'm friggin' four." Dean says.

"You need to calm down." Elena whispers.

"Well, I'm sorry I can't." Dean says.

"Yes, you can."

"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping."

Sam shifts his body to Dean. "Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now." Dean takes a long, slow breath. "Good. Now, I found an exorcism in here that I think is gonna work. The Rituale Romanum.

"What do we have to do?" Dean asks.

"It's two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful." Sam says.

"More powerful?" Elena asks.

"Yeah." Sam asks.

"How?"

"Well, it doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own." Sam says.

Dean scoffs. "Oh. And why is that a good thing?" He asks.

"Well, because the second part sends the bastard back to hell once and for all." Sam says.

"First things first, we got to find it." Dean walks slowly up the aisle with his EMF meter, getting odd looks but no readings.

Sam suddenly claps him on the shoulder, and Dean jumps. "Ah! Don't do that." He exclaims.

"Anything?" Sam asks.

"No, nothing. How much time we got?" Dean asks.

Elena moves to follow Sam. "Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody." Sam says.

"Maybe the thing's just not on the plane." Elena says.

"You believe that?" Sam asks her.

"Well, I will if you will." She says just as Dean looks down as the EMF meter spikes.

The copilot exits the bathroom and heads towards the cockpit. "What? What is it?" Sam asks.