Tada, new chapter, in which we return (yet again) to the Winchesters! There are some snapshots of what life there is like after the whole supernatural revelation thing. Not a whole lot of action in this one, but we'll get to that soon enough! These snapshots are basically what hints we have of what's been happening in the SPN 'verse since Redemption. Buuuttt, I can tell you that eventually we'll have a time stamp involving Chuck getting punched! And there'll be some more info in that. Possibly. I'm not 100% sure yet. :D

In any case, super glad you guys are enjoying it so far. We still don't have a fixed number of chapters, but it's definitely more than 5! It might be 10 in the end.

Chapter 2

They landed heavily on the dirt road, barely managing to stay on their feet.

"Is it like that every time?" Rhodey was leaning on Gabriel, trying to get his breath back.

"Basically, yeah."

"Where is this?" James glanced around at their surroundings, eyeing the door set partway into the ground. "It looks like some paranoid dude's bunker."

"Well, you're not wrong." Gabriel glanced at the black car sitting in the road near them. "At least they're home."

Natasha gave the car a thoughtful glance. "I wouldn't expect anyone living somewhere like this to have such an oldies car."

"Dean would probably take that as a personal offense if you called it that to his face," Gabriel said. "So please, do. It'll be hilarious."

"I think I'll hold off on antagonizing these guys until I've actually met them," James said.

"You're about to." Gabriel headed for the door. Hopefully someone was close enough to hear him knocking.

As it turned out, someone was.

Sam looked only mildly surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what you're gonna open with, really? Honestly, Sam, I'm hurt." Gabriel could hear Rhodey snort behind him.

Sam looked unimpressed. "I didn't think anything would come up to bring you back here." He suddenly looked worried. "Nothing has, has it?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Gabriel said. "Not like last time I was here, at least."

"Oh. Good." Sam seemed to realize he was blocking the door and hurriedly stood aside to let them inside. He gave James's arm a curious look as the latter passed.

"Sam, right?" Rhodey asked as Sam closed the door behind them. Natasha and James were looking around the bunker curiously.

"Yeah," Sam said. "And you're…?"

"James Rhodes." He offered his hand, which Sam took.

"This place looks like it came straight out of 1950," James said.

"It kinda did," Sam told him. "I don't know the exact date, but no one but Dean and I have touched it in a while."

"What is this place, anyway?" Natasha asked.

"We just call it the bunker," Sam said. "It was a base for a group called the Men of Letters."

Rhodey gave Sam a moment to elaborate. When he didn't, Rhodey clearly couldn't resist asking, "Did they send each other letters?"

Sam blinked, frowning briefly, before realizing what Rhodey was getting at. "No! I mean, they did, but that's not why they're called that. They were researchers who studied the supernatural."

"So it's 'letters' because they're learned?" Natasha asked.

"Yes." Sam shot Rhodey a look. "You're his best friend, aren't you."

Rhodey looked pleased at having been found out. "How'd you guess?"

Snorting, Sam shook his head. He moved down the stairs to the lower level, not bothering to check and see if they were following.

Gabriel was pleased to see that the TV he'd snapped up last time was set up in the library with clear signs that the brothers had been using it on a regular basis.

"Don't get smug," Sam warned him. "It's the only thing in here that gets all the shows."

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. "Of course it does. Where's your brother?"

"Out."

"So I imagined his Baby sitting out there?"

"His what?" James's eyebrows disappeared into his hair.

"Cas took him," Sam explained. "He'll be back soon, and I'd rather not hear you say 'Baby' in that tone of voice ever again. What are you doing here?"

"I can't visit my favorite hunters?" Gabriel affected an injured tone that had Sam rolling his eyes.

"Gabriel, come on."

Barely resisting the urge to imitate Sam's tone, Gabriel pulled away from Rhodey's elbow jab in favor of returning Rhodey's pointed look with his own. "As it happens, we're here on business. Just doing you the courtesy of dropping by to let you know that some things might be happening."

"Things?" Sam's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What kind of things?"

"Relax, sasquatch. It's nothing that'll get you into trouble."

"But someone's going to get into trouble?"

"It's Tony," Rhodey said. "Someone's going to be in trouble one way or another."

Before Gabriel could make a half-hearted attempt at protesting this, both Natasha and James nodded their agreement.

"I'll have you know that I only cause reasonable amounts of trouble," Gabriel said, falsely haughtily.

"Reasonable for you or regular people?" Natasha asked.

"Be honest, no one here's a regular person."

There was a noise from Sam that could have been a stifled snort, but the only thing Gabriel saw when he looked was him nodding.

"As long as it's none of us…" Sam shrugged, waving a hand. "I'll let Dean know what you said."

"What makes you think we're leaving before Dean-o comes back?" Gabriel spun around and plopped himself down in chair with a perfect view of the TV, flicking it on. "I need a word with Castiel, anyway."

"Urgh, fine." Sam gave the other three humans in the room a hapless look. "Just...don't touch anything."

Gabriel pointedly poked the table. Just because.

"I set myself up for that one," was all he heard Sam mutter before the other left the room.

"You are so mature," Rhodey said, shifting his weight uneasily.

"I am," Gabriel admitted easily. He helpfully nudged a chair over for Rhodey to sit in. "Sam wasn't serious. There's nothing here that's dangerous; that's all in the dungeon."

Natasha leaned forward slightly. "They have a dungeon?"

"With chains and everything." Gabriel waved in the direction Sam had gone. "Ask Sam to give you a tour. I think I saw some torture devices last time."

While he'd put on the TV for lack of anything else to do, the news channel it had opened up on was actually pretty...interesting.

If "interesting" was the right word for watching one of his siblings try to answer questions on religion and theology and not seem to care what their answers did to the host's brain.

"Do you know who that is?" Rhodey asked after a few moments of watching the host aimlessly shuffle their cue cards while trying to think of something to say.

"Can't tell through a screen," Gabriel said, changing channels to see if anything else like that was going on.

Another channel had something like a roaring debate going on between historians and another angel as to what Babylon was really like, with his sibling taking every question and talking point literally. Then there was a documentary on Egypt with a hysterical commentary by an angel who kept saying everything was wrong.

"So…people know about you guys here?" James's brow was furrowed.

"Since the last time I was here, yeah." Gabriel changed channels one last time to a Spanish soap opera and left it there. "They seem to have adapted pretty well."

"More so in the West," Sam said, returning with a cup of coffee in hand. He gave Gabriel a look that promised pain if he made a fuss about the lack of coffee for everyone else. "There've been a lot more disagreements in other areas – the ones that aren't Christian."

"How's the reaction been to that?" From Gabriel's experience, his siblings fell into two camps with non-believers: they either didn't care or cared too much.

"Well…it's pretty hard to deny that," Sam said, making to gesture to the TV before realizing that it was currently playing a soppy love scene between two distraught lovers. "The angels, I mean. So there've been a lot of reevaluations, but there've been more discussions on the pagans and how that fits into everything. I've seen a lot of excited threads on the confirmation that the gods are real."

"The whole eating people thing doesn't worry them?" Rhodey asked.

Sam shrugged. "They seem more peeved about the fact that hunters keep killing them."

"I wouldn't worry," Gabriel said. "Gods don't go down that easily. A stake works for a century, tops – it's forgetting that really kills them."

"Seriously?" Sam made a face. "So we ganked Paris Hilton for nothing."

"Excuse me?" James was making a strange face, and Natasha looked stoic in a way that Gabriel knew meant she was doing her best not to laugh.

"I feel like I'm going to regret asking this, but why did you kill Paris Hilton?" Rhodey looked like he was dreading the answer.

"It wasn't really Paris," Sam said. "Just a god that looked like her. And she was eating people - she tried to eat us. It's not like we could've let that go."

"Who?" Gabriel asked, mentally thinking over who was likely to impersonate Paris Hilton. Of the gods that he knew, he could think of more than a few.

"Uh…" Sam looked thoughtful for a moment. "A…leshii, I think."

"So anyone you know?" Rhodey questioned, looking curious.

"I doubt it," Gabriel said. "But I'm not too surprised they turned to eating humans. The bigger pantheons had it easier than the smaller gods when it came to holding onto their worshippers."

"Right," Sam said. "I almost forgot you'd know."

"I'm almost offended that you could forget anything about me," Gabriel said. "Am I not cool enough to stick in your mind?"

"Not everyone has perfect recall," Rhodey reminded him.

"Whatever. I would've thought it'd be memorable considering you threatened me several times over with a wooden stick."

"You mentioned a stake before," James said. "I thought that was vampires."

"Yeah, no," Sam told him. "Vampires, you need to decapitate them. Pine stakes are for gods."

"I thought you were supposed to behead zombies."

"Don't you remember what I said?" Gabriel nudged Rhodey's leg. "Zombies are nuts. There are a few different ways to do them in."

"I think I missed that conversation," Rhodey said.

"No, I remember that," Natasha said, lips pursed. "It was during the Leviathan."

"Our first zombie case ended with us nailing her to her coffin," Sam mused, not seeming to see the looks Rhodey, James, and Natasha shot him. "But shooting them in the head works, too."

"So why the coffin?" James asked.

"We didn't know any better. Conflicting lore is just about the worst thing when you're a hunter, but thankfully dealing with most monsters is pretty cut and dry."

"And Hollywood movies aren't accurate," Rhodey guessed.

"We like watching them, if that's what you mean," Sam said. "They're good for a laugh."

"So, not accurate, then."

There was a flutter of wings before a bag hit the table and Dean's voice said, "If that's Gabriel, I swear to God I will hit something. I can't deal with anymore bullshit."

Gabriel looked over his shoulder at Dean. "Hit something."

"Preferably not me," Castiel said, moving away from Dean to come closer to Gabriel. "What are you doing here, brother?"

"Not even a hello?" Gabriel scoffed. "It's nothing like last time, I can promise that much."

"Good," Dean said. "I am definitely not willing to deal with more of your family."

"Well, I didn't say that…"

Sam looked constipated. "Who else are we missing? If there's another archangel up there that hates humans and wants to kill all of us, I'm calling Crowley and selling my soul."

"He's human," Gabriel pointed out.

"I know, but I can still dream." Sam put his empty coffee mug down with a loud thunk. "So that's why you're here? To pull us into it again?"

"Not angel business," Gabriel said, and Castiel relaxed minutely. "I figured you three could do with a change of pace."

"But if it's family business…" Dean trailed off, a look of horror crossing his face. "You have got to be kidding me. The pagans?"

Castiel's face scrunched into a puzzled expression. "How would that have gone?"

"We kind of ended on bad terms—"

"If you can call your ex-girlfriend trying to kill you 'bad terms,'" Dean muttered.

"—but that doesn't mean we didn't have good times while it lasted." Gabriel spread his hands. "And, well…I was Loki."

"Oh, shit," Sam said. "That stuff about Loki's kids was true?"

"You did it with a horse?" Dean asked, eyebrows flying up.

"Three seconds." Gabriel threw his hands up, slumping down in the chair. "Three seconds without someone bringing that story up is literally all I ask."

"Was there a horse involved?" Castiel glanced between Dean and Sam, confused. "How did you have children in the first place?"

Sam's lips twitched. "One of the stories has Loki giving birth to an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir."

"Yes to the horse named Sleipnir, but no to the whole 'having sex with a horse,' so don't mention that again or I will do something you'll regret." Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face. "And I didn't actually have any kids. They're adopted – all of them."

"I see," Castiel said. Gabriel could guess that nephilim had been the first thought in his head. "And – has something come up with them?"

When Gabriel didn't instantly answer, Sam did. "I think Sleipnir ended up as Odin's steed, but the others… Hel's supposedly the ruler of the Underworld, and Fenris and Jormungandr were supposed to have a hand in starting Ragnarok. I'm not too sure about Fenris, but Jormungandr is under the earth's crust or something."

"Just in the ocean, actually," Gabriel said lightly. "Underground would have been a bit inconvenient when they were trying to get him down there in the first place. As for Ragnarok, that mainly hinges on me escaping something I'm not currently trapped in, so no worries."

"So you want to bust them out?" Dean didn't look like he was at all surprised by this.

"What he wants is to have a big old family reunion," Rhodey said before Gabriel could speak, "but you'll never hear that from him."

Castiel considered this for a few seconds, then offered, "At least they aren't angels?"

"That doesn't make it easier," Gabriel said. "You might not have noticed, but angels and pagans don't get along, and I was outed. I can't just waltz in and get them out, not with the spells they're under." Otherwise he would've done so before.

"Spells?" Sam echoed, looking surprised. "Why – are they trapped there, or something?"

"As far as he's told us," Natasha said.

"It's not like they'd stay put otherwise." He was unable to keep the bitter anger out of his tone. Crossing his arms, Gabriel sighed and managed to muster a sharp grin. "They are my kids."

"Did you want our help for this?" Castiel asked.

"It's not something that requires a lot of people," Gabriel said, "though the bunker would be a convenient place to stay—"

"Would they fit?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Hey, I'm not the only shapeshifter in the family."

"What happens when someone notices what we're doing?" Sam asked.

"If it gets out that it's happening – and it will considering how frightened they were when they found out what my kids were prophesied to do – then we'll probably have a little skirmish on our hands. It's nothing that can't be handled, but I don't want the kids in the middle of it."

"So," Castiel began, "your plan is to find them, dismantle these spells, and then avoid the all too likely wrath of an entire pantheon and bring them back here."

"Pretty much," Gabriel agreed. "If they'll come."

"Back up," Dean said. "If?"

Gabriel shrugged. "They'd be entitled to be just as angry at me for lying as anyone else."

"I'm gonna stop you there," Rhodey said. "I'm also declaring that you're not allowed to get all mopey about this."

"I am not—"

"Tony, I've seen you mope. Forbidden."

Dean's cough sounded too much like laughter that trailed off into "choking" when Gabriel shot a glare at him.

Sam ignored his brother. "Look, I get that you want to get your kids out. I'm just a little hesitant in putting them here and putting us at ground zero for a showdown between an angry archangel and an entire pantheon of cannibalistic gods that hate our guts."

"Please don't get technical as to what being a cannibal entails," Rhodey said.

"If there is a showdown, it's not going to happen here," Gabriel reassured Sam. "And I doubt it will involve everybody. If you recall, Lucifer killed Odin. Asgard's not exactly going to be at its peak."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't that just mean Asgard's going to be even more pissed at seeing an angel?"

Gabriel put a finger to his lips. "Not if they don't know that it is one. I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve."

"That you haven't clarified," Rhodey said, unimpressed. "Which basically means you're winging it."

Gabriel shot him an affronted look. "What do you think I've been doing all these years?"

"Give yourself some credit, Gabriel." Castiel tilted his head. "In any case, I don't think you will be wanting my help for this. I'm too well-known." He grimaced slightly, shoulders lifting at the same time his wings fluttered. "But if you want protection, I can manage that."

"I'm surprised you even bothered to stop by," Sam said. "I would've thought you'd just drop one of them off with a note and then leave us to it."

"That does sound like you," Rhodey agreed, neatly twisting away from the elbow Gabriel tried to jab in his side.

"I'm trying out responsibility," Gabriel said waspishly.

"Try it out somewhere else?" Dean turned the TV off. "It's creeping me out."

"Dean." Sam gave him a disapproving look.

"Sam." Dean glowered at Sam for a minute before turning back to Gabriel. "Look, we owe you for what you did, so I can promise that your kids will be as safe as we can make it here."

"I appreciate that." Gabriel meant it. "This would be the part where I tell you that step one is tracking them all down."

Dean folded his arms across his chest, lips twisting. "You mean the gods didn't tell you where they locked up your kids?"

If Gabriel had even tried asking…well…things wouldn't have been very pleasant for the other gods. And his cover would have been blown.

Taking Gabriel's non-answer for the answer it was, Sam's eyes lit up. "I'll go see what the Men of Letters have on the Norse pantheon."

"I'll hit the Internet," Dean said, looking down at his bag. He actually looked pleased. "There's my excuse for not rubbing elbows with the bigwigs."

"Dealing with politicians is hardly fun," Natasha said. "Mind if I tag along? It would be interesting to see what kind of stuff exists here."

"Don't go looking up eighty articles on Baba Yaga," Gabriel teased.

"Don't be ridiculous," Natasha said. "Everyone knows Russian politicians are scarier, and I know how to deal with them."

Sam looked amused. "C'mon, I'll show you where the archives are."

"Any chance of seeing the dungeon?" James asked.

"Not unless you're a demon."

"What, no tours?"

"I can lock you in there if you want," Dean offered sarcastically, and Gabriel heard James laugh.

"Maybe next time."

The research Sam and Dean pulled up on the Norse pantheon was eerily accurate. The Men of Letters, it turned out, had really known their stuff. It was a shame that the brothers were all that remained of the organization.

Or maybe not, considering everything the organization had gotten up to.

"These gods are brutal," Rhodey said, looking rather ill as he browsed through an old text on Norse punishments.

"We all are," Gabriel said, glancing over at the pages Rhodey was reading. "Not just the gods."

"They sacrificed their slaves," James said casually. "I thought that was only the Egyptians."

"A lot of old civilizations did," Castiel said, taking the book from Rhodey. "It wasn't unusual."

"That got a little annoying after a while," Gabriel mused. "One god does it, and suddenly they assume you're all into that." It had been almost surreal the first time he'd had a person sacrificed to him - he'd gotten almost drunk on the resulting power high. Gabriel had never thought power was worth that kind of sacrifice.

"But they still did it," Natasha said, fingers tracing down the edges of the book she was reading.

"If I'd gone and disapproved, then they would've come up with something else. Or the other gods would've had a go at me." Gabriel lifted a shoulder in a lopsided shrug. "We might've been a pantheon, but that didn't mean we got along." That may have been because of all the times he'd tricked people into ridiculous and occasionally near-fatal situations, but some of those gods could have used a lesson on how to take a joke.

"That seems to be your thing," James said. "Making enemies out of gods. Is there anyone who does like you?"

"After my untimely exit from secrecy?" Gabriel grinned ruefully. "I doubt it."

"You do have your points," Castiel reassured him. "I'm sure you still have friends."

Gabriel resisted the urge to thank his brother for being so sweet. Gods weren't exactly forgiving, and the hatred for angels ran deep. Any friends he had made had very likely written him off and cursed his name the moment they'd found out what he was.

He wished he could talk to Hermes. There was no guarantee the Greek god would have understood, or taken it any better than any of his other friends might have. But he was still one of Gabriel's oldest friends – and it hadn't even been him when Gabriel had last seen him, just Mercury out to cover his own ass.

"Hey." Rhodey flicked his arm. "Don't get lost in your thoughts over there. You don't get a free pass from sifting through this pile of books."

Putting on a sigh, Gabriel went to reach for one of the books, idly flipping it open and beginning to read. He stopped two pages in upon seeing that it was about nothing but what plants the gods preferred.

At the other end of the table, Castiel was flipping through the book he'd taken from Rhodey. Gabriel glanced up when Castiel froze in the middle of turning a page. "Gabriel…" His brother's voice was too calm for the tension curling through his frame. "Could I speak with you outside?"

Dean looked up from his laptop, eyebrows raised. "Did you find something?"

"Outside, please. It…would be best."

In Gabriel's experience as a human, nothing good ever came from those words and that tone. But he followed Castiel outside, silent until the door closed behind them. "There was something in that book."

Rather than answer, Castiel gave it to him.

It might have been better if he hadn't.

Gabriel had known that the punishments the other gods came up with weren't kind. He'd had a hand in some of them himself. But he'd never gone over the top, always making sure that the punishment fit the crime.

Tyr hadn't been able to look him in the eye after Fenris disappeared, and as much as he had tried, Gabriel had never been able to get an answer out of him. He'd suspected that Fenris had ripped off Tyr's hand, but that it had happened like this.

Chained up and unable to move with a sword that pried his mouth apart, dripping out a new river that they'd had the audacity to call Hope.

Gabriel didn't realize that he'd incinerated the book he was holding until Castiel gripped hold of his wrists, jerking him back to awareness.

"Calm yourself." Castiel's fingers were tight around his wrists.

Calm himself? After what he had just found out?

Castiel didn't flinch as Gabriel's skin warmed dangerously. "I know, brother. But this is why you're here. You can fix this."

It was difficult to breathe through the rage filling him and the heat of his Grace broiling under his skin. Castiel's fingers tightened further, reminding Gabriel who was standing far too close.

He tried to pull away, but Castiel held fast.

"You won't harm me." Castiel's voice was implacable.

Castiel didn't know that. In this state…

Gabriel inhaled very, very slowly, and made a conscious effort to try and calm down. It didn't work, and he tugged again, wrenching his wrists out of Castiel's grip. "I need to find him. First."

"Of course."

If Odin had still been alive, Gabriel might have left then and there to go tell him exactly what he thought of his son's punishment.

But Odin wasn't, and Lucifer had done a very thorough job of eviscerating him.

"Your friends are here." Castiel's voice pierced through the red haze. "Would you harm them?"

"No." The word was too loud, shaking the air around them. Turning away, Gabriel pinched his nose, breathing in slowly.

Then he did it again and again, packing away his rage and grief until it was a dense ball in his core.

The air smelled like melted slag and paint, the pavement around his feet warped unnaturally.

When Gabriel didn't speak, not quite trusting his voice yet, Castiel stepped closer, one hand brushing his shoulder.

"We can do this," Castiel promised him quietly.

Pulling in one last breath, Gabriel forcefully relaxed his shoulders, looking back at Castiel. Nodding once, he pulled away, heading back to the bunker.

He had to find out where Fenris was.

…And maybe fix what he'd half-melted so no one freaked out.

"Anyone else a little worried about what was in that book?" Sam asked after the two angels disappeared.

"Not just a little." Dean was frowning at where Castiel had been. "What could have been that bad?"

"Going by the rest of this?" Barnes gave the book he was in the middle of a mildly disgusted look. "Nothing good."

There was a faint groan reminiscent of a building shifting on its foundations. A few of the books slid a few inches across the table. Everyone in the room froze, looking at each other warily.

"Definitely nothing good," Rhodey said.

"If he destroys that book…" Sam frowned.

"You're more concerned about a book than what might be happening?" Barnes sounded disbelieving.

Sam shrugged. "It's a book. Gabriel's pulled himself together before."

There was another faint rattle. The lights flickered briefly.

Rhodey's lips thinned. "You might not care, but I do." These guys had absolutely no idea what Tony had gone through. Books could be replaced; people – especially angels – couldn't.

It was about ten minutes before Castiel came back, his posture tense.

"Where's Tony?" Rhodey asked before anyone else could.

"He's coming," Castiel said, glancing down at his hands. The skin looked slightly red, but he flexed them and the color disappeared.

"What was in the book?" Sam asked.

Castiel didn't respond immediately, his brow furrowing. "The information we needed," he answered eventually, the words ominous.

"And…the book?"

"Here." The book thumped on the table, bouncing slightly with the impact. Tony came to a stop, arms crossed over his face and face stony. "We're finding Fenris first."

Opening the book, Sam raised his eyebrows. "This seems a lot…newer."

"It's the same book," Tony said curtly, "and it has the same information. I just need to find Fenris."

"Okay," Rhodey said. "Where do we start?"

"I'll take a look around Europe," Tony said. "Incognito. If I find anything, I'll be back." He was gone practically before he'd finished speaking.

"He's upset," Natasha observed. "What does that book say about Fenris?"

"Nothing that—" Sam stopped midsentence, evidently discovering what Castiel had shown Gabriel. "Oh. Uh. Actually, that's pretty bad."

"What?" Rhodey pressed.

"They, uh, apparently chained Fenris up so that he couldn't move and…put a sword in his mouth so he can't bite anything…which led to a river they call 'Hope' being created from his drool." Sam closed the book, looking disturbed.

Rhodey felt vaguely sick, and judging by the faces Natasha and Barnes were sporting, they didn't feel any better. Tony's reaction made a little more sense now, and Rhodey hoped that he was actually calm enough to keep a level head if he did find Fenris.

"Are you going with him?" Dean asked Castiel.

Castiel tilted his head to the side. "He…wishes to be alone."

"Of course he does," Rhodey muttered, rubbing his face. "That's not necessarily good."

"He is calm enough," Castiel reassured him.

"'Calm enough' meaning that he's simmering but not likely to explode anytime soon?"

Castiel considered this. "Yes," he eventually admitted. "If he does happen to…explode, I'll be there."

And that was about as good as it would get, Rhodey figured.

Sam left a few hours later to run into town and grab groceries, leaving the others to continue looking through the books for anything else on the Norse pantheon. Before he left he pulled on a hat and a shapeless jacket, clothes that Rhodey recognized as the classic "incognito" look for anyone who desperately didn't want to be noticed but failed simply because it was too stereotypical.

"That is the worst disguise I've ever seen," Barnes said after Sam left.

"They'll leave him alone if he wears that," Dean said, eyes on the computer screen. "Hollywood is good for something."

"No one's gotten used to seeing the weirdly tall guy in a hoodie in town?" Natasha asked, eyebrows raised. "I thought you'd been here for a while."

Dean just shrugged. "We're not in town all the time, and when we are we don't do anything that would draw a lot of attention. The problem's that people recognize us now, but they've gotten the message that sometimes it's not the right time."

"I guess all the attention would be a downside," Rhodey mused, "since hunting's such a down-low job. What happens now if someone catches you in the middle of one?"

"They generally try to stay and help," Castiel said, frowning as he turned a book sideways to squint at it. "Often with salt and…water pistols?" He glanced at Dean.

"And hula hoops," Dean said, "filled with salt. Then there are all the priests. I was blessed ten times in two days."

"I guess normally it's more 'what are you doing in this church,' huh?" Barnes looked amused. "What's the point of water pistols?"

"They're intended to be filled with holy water," Castiel said. "I believe so, at least. The last few people who attempted to come to our aid were…not entirely successful in consecrating it."

"It was kinda funny," Dean said. "Once you got past the whole 'a demon's trying to kill them' thing. We haven't had to buy any salt in ages at least."

"Anyone out there who still refuses to believe in all this supernatural stuff?" Natasha asked, leaning back in her chair. "I imagine it's a lot to take in, even if plenty of people already believe in angels."

"Fucking skeptics," Dean groaned. "They're the worst, insisting that there's a"—he changed his tone to a higher pitch—"'perfectly rational explanation for all this that doesn't involve the supernatural.'" His voice changed back to normal. "And because of that, they're easy marks for anything that wants to use them to get to hunters."

"There will always be dissenters," Castiel said in a calmer tone. "Not everyone believes in angels, but the revelation of our existence has also permitted other beings to come forth."

"Pagans," Dean said before Castiel could. "And ghosts. Lots of ghosts, especially in the Eastern countries like China."

"Their ancestors," Natasha noted, nodding once. "Makes sense. Anything you can think of that's not real?"

"Unicorns," Dean said immediately. "Except for that one time, but that was just some idiot witch."

"It's kind of weird that even for things that don't exist, you can think of an exception where they did," Rhodey said. "What about dragons?"

"Not anymore," Dean answered.

"You've gotta be kidding," Barnes said disbelievingly.

"There are some still in China," Castiel said absentmindedly, picking up another book. "They're revered, although modern populations are a bit low."

Dean looked contemplative for several seconds before shaking his head and turning to Barnes. "Anyway, you don't have any room to talk. Your world is just damn weird."

"How would you know?" Barnes scoffed.

In lieu of an answer, Dean turned the laptop around to a colorful image that read IRON MAN and had a red-and-gold weird looking Iron Man suit bursting out of something. "You guys are comic book heroes. In terms of weirdness, you don't have any room to talk."

"We're what?" Rhodey pulled the laptop from Dean before he could react. Upon looking more closely, that Iron Man suit seemed to leave absolutely nothing to the imagination when it came to muscles. Metal didn't hug the body that closely.

"When we had Tony here, he admitted that he's Iron Man," Dean said. "And Gabriel pulled a trick some years back when he used the Hulk."

Natasha's only reaction was raised eyebrows. "All of us?"

"You're the Black Widow," Dean said. "And judging from your buddy's arm, he's the Winter Soldier. There's only one Rhodey I know, and he's War Machine."

"I'm what?" Rhodey looked up from the screen with the horribly retro Iron Man suit.

"War Machine. You've got your own suit. One of the Iron Man ones, I mean."

"I think I'd've noticed if I did," Rhodey said.

"Gabriel being involved in this universe would undoubtedly change some things," Castiel commented. "From what I remember from my time there, his identity as Iron Man wasn't known."

"Yeah, he had this whole secret identity thing going on in the comics," Dean said. "But not anymore. It was kind of funny while it lasted."

"Funny, like…?" Natasha looked both curious and like she was totally going to tease Tony relentlessly about this later.

Dean smirked like he knew what Natasha was thinking. "He was wearing a red thong when his identity got blown to the Avengers. And he built a few suits that were actually intelligent enough to get jealous and want Tony Stark to themselves."

Barnes had zero qualms about busting out laughing. "Are you serious?"

"Deadly, dude; everyone knows about those issues."

"I thought you told Sam you didn't read them that often." Castiel looked puzzled.

"I—" Dean's expression was enough to make Rhodey start laughing, too. "Oh, shut up! I don't! That often."

"Sure," Natasha said, clearly not meaning it. "There can't be that few ridiculous incidents in these comics, though. What else?"

When Sam got back, he found the four of them laughing raucously and Castiel making an effort to understand the hilarity of whatever incident they'd stumbled upon.

"Nice to see you're all bonding," he said, dropping the grocery bags onto what Rhodey had dubbed "the map table" simply due to all the maps lying on it. "Dean, take a break from that and look at this."

Dean caught the newspaper he tossed easily. "Wow, a newspaper. I'm amazed, Sam."

"Shut up and look."

"Okay, fine. What am I looking for?" Dean scanned the front page. "Blah, blah, mayor, whatever. Some dude in an accident, security leak, politics, etcetera. What?"

"It's been a pretty busy week, apparently," Sam said. "Especially for a town this size."

"I'm still missing your point."

"None of this is natural." Sam took the newspaper from Dean to flip to the main story. "We've been here years, and I've never seen anything like this happen in half a year - let alone inside a week."

"You're not seriously suggesting that some monster decided to make this place its hunting ground?"

"Some probably still don't know what's been going on," Sam said. "But, yeah, this is a hunt."

"A hunt?" Natasha leaned forward, eyebrows raised. "The same kind of hunt you took Steve on?"

"No, that was a salt-and-burn. Simple enough until Loki messed it up." Dean made a face. "Ugh." Then, looking back at the newspaper again, Dean flipped through several pages. "My guess is this is some kind of trickster. It fits the bill from the last one we had."

"Who was Gabriel," Sam pointed out. "And these incidents aren't the same. No one's really died. It's just been a lot of—"

"Chaotic stuff. And from what I can tell, all tied up with people that had it coming." Dean looked up at Castiel. "Cas?"

"I haven't been paying attention," Castiel admitted. "There's been too much else going on, and I haven't been here often enough. But now that I know, I can keep an eye out."

"So what's the plan?" Barnes looked at each of them in turn, eyebrows scrunched together.

"More information for now," Dean said, flicking the newspaper. "If it is a trickster, we'll handle it. But going around and asking questions will tip our hand. It's how Gabriel found us out."

"And because he wasn't really a trickster," Sam said. "But our faces are too well known for anyone not to recognize us."

"I'll take a look around," Castiel offered. "I'll be back once I know more." Just like Tony, he disappeared in a rustle of insubstantial wings.

"I doubt it's going to be that easy to find a trickster," Barnes said. Rhodey had the feeling they were all remembering the incident where they'd faced Gabriel's trickster self.

"Gadreel said it was easy enough to track them," Natasha reminded them.

"Whoa, wait," Dean said. "Since when have any of you faced a trickster?"

"That's a really long story," Rhodey told him, glancing at the others.

Dean shot a pointed look at where Castiel had last been. "We've got time. Besides," he added, "we can always use some dirty info on Gabriel."

"You think it has to do with Gabriel?" Natasha's tone was unreadable.

"When doesn't it?"

"You have a point there," Barnes admitted.

"It's not really info you can use for blackmail," Rhodey said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It was just…really weird and really stressful."

"Mostly weird," Barnes said, Natasha nodding in agreement. "And it was more Doom's fault than Gabriel's, really."

"Viktor von Doom?" Dean's eyes brightened, a grin curling at his mouth. "I thought he was Reed Richards's thing?"

"He was," Natasha said. "But we checked out Latveria. There was a machine there, and we had four of Tony."

"One was a trickster," Barnes said. "Then there was Loki, Gabriel, and Tony."

"That Trickster." Natasha looked a bit like she was sucking on a lemon. Whatever else she said was in Russian but sounded like swearing.

Sam nodded sympathetically. "That sounds about right. He looks all right, though."

"Now he is." Rhodey shrugged once. "But that's why we know what's up with a trickster."

"If this even is a trickster," Sam said slowly, shooting a glance at the newspaper.

"No, it is," Castiel announced, appearing suddenly behind Sam, who flinched only minutely at the surprise. "Tricksters have a unique style of magic, and it's all over town."

Nodding, Dean closed the laptop. "Have you got blood from one of its victims?"

Rhodey's eyebrows shot up. Blood?

Sam noticed. "It's not - you need it to kill a trickster," he explained.

"And a stake," Dean said. "Which we've got lying around somewhere. We just need the blood."

"Not yet, no," Castiel answered. "If you want, I can deal with it myself."

"And like I said last time, we can do things by ourselves," Dean told him, standing to reach over and pat him on the shoulder. "Tricksters we can handle. Since we're missing the blood, that means we'll need to go into town and get some."

"We don't even need to sneak around," Sam marveled. "We can just ask."

"You know…" Dean made a face. "I completely forgot about that. There's half the fun of taking blood."

Looking at Natasha's and Barnes's perturbed faces, Rhodey was thankful to see that he wasn't the only one finding this completely weird.

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