Hello! I'm so sorry for this lateness! I've been terribly busy, but this is my last chapter before the real action starts. AH! Let me know what you think!

Is it too late to change Harkness's name? People seem kinda turned off by it, and if ya REALLY are too distracted by it to enjoy the story, I'll go back through this and Cold and Broken to change it. Let me know what you think about that, and give name ideas if you want.

I own nothing.

Enjoy!

I was really dazed... My grace was still revamping itself after the whole dying thing, so I guess I wasn't quite 'all there' yet. All I knew was that I was somewhere in a forest in the U.S, and I was somehow just... back. Call it luck, destiny, or curse, but I was resurrected.

And then it all went to Hell.

They came up behind me and restrained my wings- which weren't strong enough to be shrouded with grace yet- with some barbed chain that dug in like teeth, and swept my legs out from underneath me. They were so strong that, at first, I didn't even think they were human. There must've been 5 or 6 of them, all big, burly guys and I could smell the gunpowder and blood on them. I didn't even consider the possibility of them being hunters- I'd been chased by those types all too often in my trickster days- they were just too... savage.

My grace wasn't powerful enough, and- while I could still push them off pretty well- I didn't really stand a chance. They collared and bound me up. It... it was so terrifying, and they squeezed that damn collar so tight. Blood got everywhere when the barbs dug in, but the really scary part wasn't that the blood- it was the feeling.

My legs got more shaky, I was light headed and stars popped in front of my eyes. The pain bloomed through every part of my body, and it just hurt so badly... I- I felt so... so human.

The collars don't just restrain you from using your grace; they bind it to the vessel and make pain stronger and healing very, very slow going.

My heart was racing, I flailed and fought- took out a couple with my wings- but still ended up in this dirty old root cellar or something. They beat me and th-there was... blood all over the ground, soaking into the dirt. It was angel, but it was NOT mine,and I- I don't know... I blacked out, I guess.

T-The next thing I remember is being in some sort of old van or car. I couldn't see anything- I was blindfolded and gagged and there were chains all over me, I could just feel them- as they yanked me out and into a crowded, loud place. I couldn't see, but I could feel the other restrained graces around me...

There were thousands.

Everything hurt everywhere and the smell of holy oil and death were thick.

I was moved through a line and manhandled a little, before I was pushed down this long hallway. The sounds from the rooms were loud and I could still hear the fizzing electricity and clanging metal and- and the screaming carrying down from the floors above. There was the sound of creaking metal right next to my ear and I jumped back a little but-

The volts seared into my skin and I felt like I was being cooked alive or something. The shock itself only lasted a second, but the chattering in my teeth seemed to echo as I felt a rough shove on my back and I could see again.

Well, I would've been able to see, but there was absolutely no source of light in the new, tiny metal room as they ripped the blindfold off and slammed the rusted door closed. The shadows began to develop against the darkness, and the wings were the first things I really noticed.

Angels were packed in like sardines, all with wings manifested and naked as the day their vessels were born. Some wings were bent at awkward angles, or pulled tight to their bodies like they could protect themselves from the vicious cold and pain.

Some didn't even look alive.

Most of them I didn't recognize- it's been a long time since Heaven was home, and graces were still blurry and.. whatever. I'm just making excuses for myself. The important thing is that everyone seemed to be there. Men, women, and children.

And they were all dying.

Gabriel managed to get through the story of Inias and the holy fire- Dean gripped Castiel's hand as firmly as he could at the young angel's name-before it was enough. The archangel had been slowly falling apart as he told them everything, but he finally broke down, his voice breaking like a dam in a flood as he whimpered for Sammy- who was never farther than a few feet from the angel's side.

"Okay... shush, Baby.. it's okay.." Sam wrapped him up close, propping his chin up on Gabriel's head as the archangel laid his ear over Sam's heartbeat.

If it kept the dude calm, Dean was in no place to judge him.

"Yeah. I guess we could say we have good news, but it depends on your view of 'good'..." Dean started, feeling his usual discomfort at the intimate moment between his baby brother and their resident archangel. It wasn't that he wasn't happy for the two- he was completely ecstatic; Sam needed someone, they made each other happy, and it never hurt to have an extra angel on your side- but he hated the feeling that he was intruding on them.

"Nothing about anything is 'good' in this situation" Cas stated hollowly, staring intently down at their linked hands before looking up somberly at the other two. "but we believe that, in the long run, this information could benefit us." Dean felt the ghost of a sad smile quirk his lips and he shifted a little closer to his own angel. Discretely.

"Well, we made it to the bunker in one piece..."

We had taken a short cut straight through the woods- cutting through reeds and shit and even passing by an old campsite (it was long since abandoned)- to this clearing out by the river. The bunker was set deep into a hill.

It was nothing but tin and dirt hidden in the ground and barely peeking out through the weeds.

"Sammy, there had to've been at least two times the files there as there were in that farmhouse..."

The first room- that's right: first of multiple. Some folks had been doing some renovations, apparently and they were verging on the clinically insane- was damn near completely empty. Except for a chain link little cell sectioned off in the corner, there was nothing but dirt and a battery lantern. Strange hooks were shoved into the ceiling. There couldn't possibly be a good reason for that- especially when they were rusted over with blood and slight, downy feathers.

Walking back further, there were four rooms total carved into the ground under the hill. The back three were full of nothing but files, filing cabinets, and boxes of more files. There were photographs, too. Angels were naked and chained- wings spread behind them on painfully familiar hooks- stared back from the pictures with bruises and dull humiliation in their eyes. Cas looked shaky and pale; kinda like he would throw up.

"Cas?" I asked as gently as I could, slowly approaching him "Cas, if you wanna go back up, you c-"

Read one of them."

"W-What?"

He slapped a numbered file down on the dirt floor.

"Read one of the files, Dean." he sounded sick, scared, and gravelly as someone that swallowed nails. Like there wasn't a single thing in the world to make him more silently, violently angry.

He growled almost like a full blown animal, his shaking limbs turning to full body vibration and his entire being seemed to tense up. With a wild snarl, one of the file cabinets dented with a bang. Cas kicked it over and over again like it was the only thing responsible for every terrible thing in the past lifetime of earth.

"Cas. CAS!" I cried out, knowing that even though he could heal himself, he wasn't immune to pain. "Come 'ere, Feathers, calm down..." I figured there was no harm in the pet name. He liked it, and it seemed to calm him down.

Only for a second.

"W-WHERE'S MY FATHER!" he suddenly screamed out at the sky like the dirt would open and give him his answers. It physically hurt as my heart clenched, watching my calm and put together angel break down into sobs, and I shushed him gently and wrapped my arms around him. Just like it could keep us both somewhat collected and calm. " He- his ch-children are dying... he t-told us... told us to love humans, but- but why!? For what purpose, if all we get i-in return is SLAVERY a-and MED-ICAL EXPERIEMENTS a-and..." he dissolved into tears.

How are you supposed to respond to that? I've never been good at these emotional heart-to-hearts' -that was more Sammy's department- and I just held him close to me, trying to mimic how Sam held Gabriel after an episode.

Rocking slowly back and forth with my arms full of angel, I took a deep breath... Why would you love humans? Sounds like a pretty stupid thing to love... they're selfish and hypocritical and greedy.

Greedy.

"What did you mean by 'selling' you, Cas?" I said it as quietly and carefully as possible, kissing the top of his hair for good measure.

"T-This bunker, this... this farm and house a-are for t-trafficking..."

"An angel trafficking ring?"

Dean noddedgravely at his brother.

"But, we think we know how to stop 'em. And the great thing about this is: Grayson was the leader of the actual trafficking, answering only to our boy, Harkness. Grayson's dead, and no one's fully stepped up to take his place in the ring, and with Crazy Doctor as the only link between the two..."

"Take down the doctor, take down everything." Sam murmured like he was just grasping the idea.

There was a moment of complete silence as everyone processed the fact that this could actually end. They could stop the genocide and slavery and death, even after a month of hard fighting to no avail. Sam chewed the inside of his cheek. He opened his mouth, brow furrowed-

"When do we start?" Everyone looked over at Gabriel. "What?" he scoffed, smirking lightly and maybe a little bit tiredly.

"Tonight."