Amy had tied her hair back into a tight and high ponytail using her scarf, but that was about as professional as she was going to look. They had no clothes for women in the bunker, and they certainly didn't have time to go shopping, well, except for a really cheap camera which now hung around her neck so that she wouldn't forget it anywhere. There was a clip-on badge with her picture and the words "Crime scene photograph" hanging proudly on her chest, clipped onto the plaid red shirt. She looked so out of place that it was almost painful, but they had been forced to come up with some kind of cover for her.
Castiel had flown them over to the mall, where the investigation of the massive crime scene was still in full swing. This wasn't something that happened every day and it was obvious that the town had poured all its resources into finding out exactly what had happened. It was futile, of course, but these people didn't know that. Ducking in under the perimeter tape, Dean lead the group towards some officers, casually holding up a badge along with his brother, a bit more slowly followed by Castiel.
"Good morning, I'm agent Thomson; these are my partners, Tyler and Willis." The sheriff only glanced at their badges, satisfied with them being genuine.
"I suppose the feds couldn't keep away from this one, huh?" Dean let out a polite chuckle, shaking his head as he put away his badge. "No sir, that we couldn't. Not every day we come across something like this." The man let out a huff, turning around to walk them towards the center of the scene.
"Tell me about it. Ain't ever seen anything like it in all my days. And I've been on the job for 24 years." It was only now that the man noticed the girl following them, eagerly taking photos of everything, the light of the flash flickering with each photo taken. He frowned, glancing at the federal officers who somewhat awkwardly grinned. "Don't let her appearance fool you; she's got quite the talent." Dean stated with confidence, and the officer glanced off at the girl again.
"Is she… Barefoot?" Sam blinked and then nodded with a smile, trying to act as though it was completely normal. "Yes, yes she is. A kind of medical condition, can't wear shoes, never let it stop her." That didn't seem to completely pacify the man, but the term medical condition was enough for him to steer away from that conversation, focusing on briefing them on the case instead. Dean glanced at Sam and grinned, giving him a very discrete thumbs up in approval of the improvisation, but Sam nudged his head towards the crime scene to get his brother to focus on what was important.
The officer went over much of the same that they already knew. He explained how it appeared that a kind of gang fight had broken out, but the weird thing was that it had been between completely normal people, several of them from the town itself, with no history of violent behavior. The scientists they had gotten to look at the floor had been just as baffled as they had been; no one understood how not only the marble, but the concrete and earth underneath as well could have turned completely black. He spoke of how terrible the event was and how they had no clue where to go from there, or if it was simply over, as it looked like all the involved people had been killed.
"Though the bodies, man, I've never seen anything like it. It looked like their insides had been completely fried!" Castiel opened his mouth but Dean managed to elbow him in the arm before he said anything about how it was the way that angels died.
"We would like to see the bodies, if we may." Sam spoke softly, looking down at the officer, who hesitated only for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Let me write you a note so you can get the coroner's report as well."
"And the list of witnesses? We'd like to conduct our own interviews." The officer nodded and left them to go write that order down, coming back after a few minutes to hand it over.
Amy had obviously never been at a coroner's office before, and she was surprisingly unalarmed at the amount of dead bodies on display. There were five people working, desperately trying to find plausible causes of death, struggling to find answers to the strange way that some of them had died.
"It's been hell of a day" the head coroner sighed out, looking up at the agents with a frown. "I've never seen anything like it."
"What can you tell us about the bodies?" Sam smiled politely, looking down at the brunette. She heaved another sigh, adjusting her glasses, looking down at her clipboard. It was apparent that she had pent up frustrations about the case, and they couldn't blame her. It had to be difficult, not being able to make sense of someone's death, when it's your entire job description to find those kinds of answers.
"Well, the ones that got dragged into the fight were easier than the actual fighters. Multiple accounts of trauma, injuries sustained through being thrown through windows, the occasional stab wound to the gut. Then we've got the strange ones." Moving over to a group of metal tables with bodies stripped of clothing on, it was clear to the hunters that those were vessels of now dead angels. However, Amy zipped forward to take pictures, as she had been instructed to do. The coroner glanced at the girl, who was oddly dressed for an official crime scene photograph, but then returned her gaze to the agents. "Their eyes and mouths, along with most of their insides, look as though there was a fire raging inside of them, almost like an explosion. Which is impossible, but that's what it looks like." She took a breath, walking off to another group of tables, where two other people were working frantically with examining their bodies.
"Then… We have the weirdest ones. They have no account of actual trauma besides the burnt out eyes and mouth, just some bruising and minor cuts." All three of the fake agents frowned as they moved closer, looking over the body that she was currently standing by. "Their insides were burned like all of the others, but then there's this.." She heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose, forcing her glasses up before she looked over at the agents again.
"Their insides are not only burnt, but black. Just like the marble floor, except it stops just shy of their skin." Sam blinked and looked over the body before glancing at the chief coroner.
"You mean, their flesh is black?"
"Not just their flesh! Their skeleton, their bone marrow, their blood, everything is pitch black. Looks completely normal, considering everything, just, as black as night. We've been running tests but we can't find anything out of the ordinary. The tox screens are clean, there are no anomalies in their white nor red blood cell counts, and we've hit a complete dead end." Hugging the clipboard to her chest, she frowned with concern in her eyes.
"We have no idea what killed them."
The autopsies hadn't made them much wiser, and now they were heading out to interview witnesses. Dean and Sam questioned the decision of bringing Amy along this time, seeing how there was no need of a photograph during interviews, but Castiel had insisted. Eventually they all agreed on removing the clip-on badge from Amy to simply call her an intern who's only there to watch and learn. They could probably get away with it, or at least they hoped they would, since the angel wasn't giving them much choice in the matter.
"We were just heading to the restaurant, and they started fighting out of nowhere!"
"They had really weird knives, but I didn't see much else, I just ran like hell. Crazy fucking people..!"
"Oh god, it was awful! The blood, the bodies, I don't know how I got out alive..!"
"They killed my husband, that's what I saw! How am I going to live without him..?!"
The witnesses were difficult ones to interview. Everyone had the same general story to tell; it had been a regular day and then the horrors had ensued, leaving them shaken and desperate for something to believe in. Most of them also got agitated with them prying for more answers, but they had to ignore their feelings to get at the facts. It took almost the rest of the day, but then finally, they stumbled upon a person who could help them.
"Did you see anything else, sir?" The three of them were tired and about to give up this whole case; it wasn't providing them with any leads. The man frowned and stroked his chin, thinking deeply about what else he could have seen.
"Well" He began, thoughtfully looking down at his feet. "I did see a young man there, walking towards the fight." Dean perked up and took a step forward, pen in hand.
"What did the man look like?" A grunt left the man as he tried to remember. "I don't know.. Blonde, I guess? Like, really blonde, super pale blonde." Castiel frowned and stared at him, determined to find out more.
"Tell us more of what he looked like." The guy threw a slightly concerned glance at the intensely staring agent. "Uh, I guess he was white..? And had some kind of, light blue shirt on? I don't know, sweater or shirt, something like that."
"We need more information." The raspy, tense voice was clearly beginning to intimidate the man who held up his hands slightly.
"Look man, I was kinda' busy running for my life, I just took notice of him, alright? It's not like I stopped to paint a portrait."
"Of course you didn't, that would be a ridiculous thing to do."
"Anyway" Sam interrupted the angel before he could say anything he'd regret. "Thank you for your help, Mister Phillips. We'll be in touch if we need anything more from you." The man gave them a nod, leading them out to the door and closing it behind them. Walking along the path towards the car, they idly discussed who the man could have seen.
"You know" Amy said as she looked up at the sky, tipping her head to the side in thought. "That kind of sounds like someone I've seen." Looking down from the sky, she peered up at the others. "I just, can't quite place it." The three got their hopes up to the point it was visible before Dean heaved a sigh, shaking his head.
"I'm sure you've seen plenty of blonde white guys in light blue sweaters, Amy." Dean pulled the car door open, sliding in. Having been reminded of how small the chances were of Amy actually having seen the guy they were looking for, Castiel and Sam sat down in the car.
"No, it was definitely a shirt." Amy said as she slipped into the car, closing the door behind her, sliding down to sit in her usual way.
"And it was sky blue, not light blue." The engine roared to life as they pulled out into the street, heading back to the motel. Dean hated having to drive rented cars, but it was the price of having been flown there by Castiel. It was a convenient way to travel, but he really didn't like leaving his baby behind.
"It is highly improbable that you would have seen this man before, Amy." Castiel spoke with defeat in his voice. He wished to believe that they had a lead in Amy, but it was simply too unlikely. Amy puffed out her cheeks only to smile moments later, looking out the window with her hands resting gently on her abdomen.
"You'll see. I'll remember where I've seen a man like that, and you'llall thank me when I do."