Episode 8: Back in the Saddle

Sam looked at me kind of strangely.

"What?" I asked.

"You want to... to kill Hades and steal the jar?" He asked incredulously. I nodded. "Last week you were kind of scared to go hunt some vampires. You don't just go from that to killing a Greek God."

"The situation has changed." I shrugged. "The safest place for Pandora's "box" is here in the bunker, encased in cement. And in order to get it, we need to either kill Hades, or somehow get his ass planted back in the Underworld where he belongs." I said matter of factly.

Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know we can't let you anywhere near Hades, right?"

"You'll need all the help you can get."

"What we'll need is a fucking army." Dean said from the doorway. Sam and I looked up, startled. "And we'll need to see how strong Crowley actually made you."

Sam looked at Dean. "Dude, taking her with us, on what is probably a suicide mission by the way, would be like handing her directly to him." He held up his hands. "I need to start looking for people to recruit and where Hades even is. But Mina isn't going."

"I agree. You aren't going." Dean said to me. I flicked my wrist and the door slammed in his face.

"Mina IS going." I said loudly. "This whole time, this whole thing, has been because of me. If Hades catches me, I'll have one in the chamber I've saved for myself." I looked Sam dead in the eyes. He didn't break the gaze, but he looked very upset at that statement. I just continued. "People have died because of me, Sam. If I can help take this ass-hat down and keep the world safer, I need to do it."

He nodded slowly. "Even if it means your own life. And needlessly putting yourself in danger to actually do the thing you're trying to stop."

"I won't let it get that far."

"We've heard that before!" Dean hollered through the door. "Are you two done with your little domestic dispute, or should I keep standing out here with my thumb up my ass?"

I motioned back towards myself, and the door opened. Dean and Sam both looked at each other, then back at me. "You didn't even have to try to do that." Dean stated. I shook my head "no."

Truth was, I felt powerful, but I still wasn't feeling well. Something inside of me was fighting itself. I shut down a wave of dizziness, and leaned back against the pillows, closing my eyes. The brothers looked concerned.

"Mina, are you all right?" Sam reached for my hand, apparently forgetting that we were in the middle of a pretty heated argument.

I put a hand to my head. "I... I don't know." I admitted. "I'm really disoriented."

Dean looked at Sam. "It's Crowley's blood. Could it not be mixing with hers right?"

Sam shrugged. "I have no idea. I'll try to find something about it in the texts... but this is kind of new territory."

Dean nodded. "I'm gonna call Garth. Something tells me we'll need him to help with R&D on this one. And Cas. See if he knows any more Greek Gods.

I looked up at them. They'd apparently been talking while I'd been passed out. "Who are you trying to get into your "army"?" I asked.

They looked sheepishly at each other. Then Dean stated bluntly. "If we're gonna take out the bad seed, we need the help of his brothers. So, Zeus and Poseidon."

Another wave of dizziness washed over me. "Zeus and Poseidon?" I asked. "Where the hell are we going to find them?"

Sam still had a firm grasp on my hand. He squeezed it. "That's what Garth and Cas and Dean are going to try to find out. I'm on weapon detail- what can we use against Hades."

I nodded. "I have an idea for another to add to the list." Sam raised an eyebrow. "Athena, the Goddess of War."

Mina was pretty much wiped out for the rest of the week. Garth showed up two days later, having enlisted another hunter to watch over Mina's brother, and joined Sam in his research. Cas took off to start asking the right supernatural beings the hard questions, and find himself some Gods. Dean helped with the research as much as he could. He was, truth be told, sort of taking over for Sam while Sam investigated what was wrong with Mina. Dean had never been a great researcher, but he was getting the hang of it.

Each night Sam would come into Mina's room, usually late, and sleep beside her, holding her ailing body close. She would wrap her arms around him and bury her head in his chest as the room spun.

On Saturday, Dean, Sam, and Garth were all in the kitchen eating breakfast when Mina finally joined them. They all looked surprised. Nearly overnight, the illness had dissipated. But before they could get used to that idea and try to figure out what powers Mina now had, there was a knock on the door to the bunker.

Dean went to answer, and returned a few minutes later with a small redheaded woman. The woman smiled, hugged Sam, and proclaimed "Whats up, bitches? You called?"

"Mina, this is Charlie Bradbury. Charlie, Mina Miles." Dean made the introductions. I put out my hand. Charlie gave me the up-and-down that I'd seen Dean give hot women a dozen times, and shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled at me, winking.

"That's Sam's girlfriend." Dean cleared his throat.

"Shit." Charlie set her bags on the table. "Oh well, no harm in trying." She turned to Dean. "So what exactly am I here for? You were really cryptic on the phone, and you know I hate when you do that."

I was beginning to smile. Charlie was like the female version of Dean.

"Information. We're looking for Hades." Sam answered.

"Hades, like the Greek God?" She raised her eyebrows. "First monsters, now Hades? What the fuck is wrong with you two that you keep stumbling onto this crap?"

"Hades has Pandora's box. Mina is the only being who can open Pandora's box. We need you to find out where Hades is. Because he took a sabbatical from the Underworld and is somewhere in the USA. By way of Cairo, where he stole the jar." Dean summed it up quickly.

"Jar?" Charlie asked him.

"Pandora's box is actually a jar." Sam said. "It was translated wrong."

"Of all the things I figured it might be, a jar was not what I was thinking." Charlie sighed the innuendo under her breath. "That makes it much less interesting." She picked up her bags. "Where can I set up my stuff? And I'll need a list of search parameters." She followed Dean out of the kitchen and into the library.

"Charlie is so pretty." Garth said, staring after them.

"You will definitely strike out with that one, Garth." Sam told him.

"Why? She doesn't like little guys?"

Sam shook his head. "She doesn't like guys."

"Bummer." Garth shrugged. "Oh well. Gotta keep my head in the game, anyways." He got up, deposited his plate in the sink, and went into the library as well.

Sam turned to where I was now perched up on the counter top, my legs swinging. He approached me, standing directly in front of me. He took my chin gently in his hand and turned my head this way and that, looking at me. "You're feeling fine? Like completely better?" He asked me incredulously.

I nodded. "I feel good as new." I said.

He let his hands fall to my shoulders, then to my hips. "Thank God." He said. "I was really worried about you, and there is nothing to research about it. Demon blood would kill a normal person half the time..."

I smiled, fighting off some residual dizziness and nausea that I figured would go away eventually. Why tell him? "I'm fine." I pulled his face towards mine for a kiss. We were just getting into it when Dean walked in.

He cleared his throat. "Um, if I'm not interrupting anything, Cas is back, and he has an interesting, er, person, with him."

Sam smiled down at me, helped me off the counter top, and we followed Dean. Cas was in the library, and with him was a tall, dark haired woman. She wore tan battle fatigues that were stained with blood, and a red and white checked scarf around her neck. She carried a large assault rifle.

"Mina, meet Athena." Cas said. We both nodded at each other, sizing each other up.

"Make it quick, Cas. I'm a little busy fighting at the moment." Athena looked at him, her beautiful features sharp.

"We need help fighting Hades. We can't find Zeus or Poseidon." Sam admitted. "Frankly, I'm surprised we found you so fast."

Cas spoke. "I called in a favor to a friend."

Athena raised her eyebrows. "Cas explained some of this. When the battle comes, I'll help you. My uncle needs to remember his place. His place is not above ground, and he can't be allowed to disrupt the order of things." She sighed and continued. "As for Zeus, that drunk is probably whoring himself around St. Tropez right now. And Poseidon went on a walkabout, thirty years ago. No one's seen him since."

The whole room got sullen. Athena looked at each of their crestfallen faces. "I may know where his trident is though." We all perked up. "That would be useful when threatening Hades." She ran a hand through her luxurious hair. "There's a small museum on the island of Crete. It's in their collection. They don't know what it is. It just looks like an old metal trident covered in barnacles. If you get it, bring it to me. It's disguised. I can fix it for you." She turned back to Castiel. "I need to be going. Fighting for the free world takes a lot of time. Contact me when the plan is set in motion." With that, she vanished.

I wish I could say that I was getting used to seeing Goddesses appear and disseappear at random, but this was awesome, and I was definitely not getting used to it.

That night, laying in Sam's bed beside him, I dreamed of Paris. He and I had retreated early to his room, for "some sexy time" as Charlie put it as we retreated down the hall.

We'd both carefully peeled each others clothes off, and worshiped each other slowly until we couldn't take it anymore. The love making became frantic, and when it was done we had fallen asleep tangled up with one another.

I dreamed I was at the Eiffel Tower. I looked back and Sam was taking a photo of me, with the tower in the background. I smiled, wrapping my coat around me, and the wind whipped my hair all over the place. It was chilly.

I felt myself coming out of the dream, and opened my eyes. It was sunny. That was weird. I sat up, and looked around, and the first thought I had was "Oh, shit." I was on a park bench, and in the distance was the Eiffel Tower. I was in France. Thank God I'd put on some pajamas.

Sam awoke to his phone ringing. He reached over, careful not to roll over onto Mina. He noticed she wasn't there. Shaking his sleepy head, he grabbed his phone. She must have gone to the bathroom, he thought. He peered at the number. He didn't recognize it.

Picking up, a voice asked if he would take a collect call. He agreed. As soon as it clicked over, he heard Mina's frantic voice. "Sam, Sam, fuck, Sam, I'm in France! You need to get Cas to come get me."

Sam woke up really quickly. "What? France? You were just in my bed."

"I know." Mina continued, still sounding scared. "I was dreaming about France, and I woke up in France."

Sam was pulling on his lounge pants as he spoke to her. "You aren't naked, are you?"

"No, thank God. I put on my pajamas a few hours ago."

"Alright. Where are you exactly?"

"I'm at a pay phone on the south side of the tower."

"Hang on then." Sam covered the phone, and went and pounded on Deans door. Dean answered it groggily. "You need to call Cas."

"Why?" Dean asked. "What time is it?"

"It's like 2 am. And we need Cas to go get Mina. She's in France."

"How the hell is she in France? Weren't you two just-"

"Yes, Dean, we were. And then she fell asleep and dreamed about France and now she's in France." Sam let out a long sigh. "Just call Cas."

I sat on the couch in the bunker, wrapped in a blanket. Charlie had made me some tea. Sam had his arm around me. Cas was pacing back and forth.

"You appear to have the ability to teleport." Cas said to me.

"You think?" Dean gave him a look.

Cas held out his hands, palms up. He shrugged.

"Sorry. It's just pretty obvious dude." Dean said.

"As I was saying," Cas continued, "You can teleport, but you can't control it."

"Now I'm afraid to go to sleep." I said. "What if I wake up on Mars?"

"I can give you a dreamless sleep until I help you master this power." Castiel nodded at me, then raised his brows. "If, of course, you give me permission."

I nodded. He placed two fingers on my forehead. I felt white hot light erupt through my brain, then it subsided. "You won't dream until I reverse it." He said. "You should go back to sleep now. We'll work on it in the morning. Once you learn to control it, you shouldn't leap anywhere by accident anymore."

I nodded again, drank my tea, and Sam and I wearily made our way back down the hall to his room. I wanted my bed, and I wanted Sam in it with me, but Charlie was crashing in my room. So I snuggled up with my man giant, and fell into a dreamless sleep, just as Cas had promised.