Author's Note:

Man I am feeling happy about this story lately. Thank you so much for all the support and nice things you've been saying. To those of you who are new, welcome to the show and I am so pleased you're here. To my veteran readers, you know I think you're awesome already but it doesn't hurt to say it again xD

"Geez," Dean scratched his head, unsure of who he should be looking at. Cas was stiffly at his side, and for a moment Dean thought maybe he was perturbed by what he'd heard too. However Cas' hand brushed past his, shakily trying to grab hold of something. Dean caught it and held firm, Cas' arm was trembling and Dean's guess about 'perturbed' suddenly seemed too light. He squeezed gently and glanced at his boyfriend who was trying to look neutral.

Sam's eyes were dark and his expression like a stone as he listened to Desirae's recollection, Dean was worried about him too. Sam didn't take heavy news the best way; especially when a loved one was hurt. Anger was often his first reaction and afterward he'd be sad, but Dean was certain Sam wasn't there yet.

Charlie and Michael were looking at Cas with concern etched into their faces, and Dean didn't blame them for it. Hearing about how Castiel lost his mind and turned out covered in blood was a little unsettling. Dean, Sam, and Jet had seen Cas flip his shit over a photo, they knew what he did when he saw his own face so they weren't as surprised. Or, at least Dean and Sam weren't anyway. For Charlie and Michael it must've been terrifying to learn, Dean couldn't even really imagine how Desirae felt despite her explaining it.

"You were so brave," Charlie brushed a few curls away from Rae's eyes as the little one struggled not to cry.

Desirae sniffled and looked down from her perch on Sam's shoulders, "But… Jet's still-"

"Jet will be alright," Sam reassured her though it was colder than he normally was. Dean suspected it was said more to reassure Sam than Desirae. "Don't worry," Sam looked up at her, "We'll handle the rest, okay?"

She bit her lip, hesitating to say anything so she just nodded instead. Charlie reached up and plucked her off of Sam, cradling her warmly. "It's okay," she said with a sweet smile and quick kiss on the forehead, "When Jet comes home you can talk to him about all of this."

"What if he doesn't?" She wrapped around Charlie pretty easily, comfort was a big necessity for her at that moment. Dean glanced at Sam who was eyeing the door to the basement with so much intensity that Dean was starting to worry a little bit more about whether or not Sam should even go down.

"He will," Cas added to the conversation, his hand squeezed Dean's hard to try and hide his doubts. "He'll come home once they fix him up a little."

"Come on," Sam said and headed for the door, "We need to handle this."

"Wait," Dean caught his arm and received the harshest glare Sam had ever given him.

"For what? Those things are running rampant down there and if we don't do something fast they'll be up here too." The way he spat out the word 'things' made both Cas and Desirae flinch, Dean knew Sam didn't mean it to include them but sometimes that wasn't always clear to everyone in the room.

"We need a plan first, you saw Jet." Dean regretted it the moment the words left his mouth but he didn't back down. "If we don't figure out what we're doing first we'll get our asses kicked."

"You're both right," Michael stepped between them and placed a hand on either of their shoulders. Sam was tense, his arms shook as he clenched his fists but he didn't argue further.

"Fine," he looked at the door again, "Then let's see if we can figure something out with the computers and surveillance cameras. See where those things are at, get a general idea of the layout."

"That's my Sammy," Dean smiled with some relief, he still wasn't sure Sam should go at all with his current mindset, but there was probably no way to fight that. After all, Sam was pulling pretty hard on the chain of waiting they'd put on him already, telling him he couldn't go at all would not fly.

The team started heading downstairs, Cas was quick and descended first with Sam right on his heels. "Uh," Charlie stalled and Dean looked over at her, both he and Michael waited as she hesitated.

"What's up?" Dean asked before recognizing that she was looking at Desirae.

"She should stay up here," Michael instructed and immediately got a short growl from Desirae.

"I'm coming down too!" She insisted and Charlie laughed softly.

"Okay, then you can help with the computers."

Dean grimaced a little and glanced toward the basement, "You sure? I mean it's gonna get a little hairy down there."

"I'm sure," Desirae nodded firmly, "You guys are here to fight, I'll… I'll just stay in the first room."

"Works with me," Dean reached up and high-fived her. Michael still looked skeptical but he didn't push the subject, Dean got the feeling that Michael would've been more of a pain if he had higher confidence in himself. Not being around for Cas really did a number on his 'butting in and stating his opinion' attitude.

They joined Sam and Cas shortly after, the main lab was still untouched and the door on the far wall was still shut. Dean felt a shudder up his spine just imagining that the there was a scene from a horror movie just beyond that door, or that maybe more clones were lurking and waiting to get in.

"I think we've got a few minutes," Cas said from his perch by the far door that led down, "I can hear them but they sound like they're pretty far off. I think they're eating the remains I left back there."

"Awesome," Dean did his best not to imagine the visuals, but within a few seconds Sam had the cameras up on the big screens aimed right at that scene. Just as Desirae had described there was gore splattered across the entire area, even across the glass of Cas' old cage. Body parts strewn about, limp bodies, and scavengers. There were at least two clones on the screen that were alive, stuffing their faces and devouring the flesh in front of them.

Castiel kept his eyes turned away from the wall and flew up to Dean's side, "I feel uneasy," he said with flickering eyes.

"I can't imagine smelling and hearing clones nearby helps, huh?" Dean smiled in the most comforting way he could muster in that scenario. Cas seemed to appreciate it and smiled back, though it was more nervous than Dean's had been.

"Not really. But I'll do my best until we go back down there."

"Do you want to?" Michael asked worriedly, "I mean, you can stay up here if that would help."

Cas shook his head, "No, if Dee's going down there then I am too. I'm the best weapon we have."

Michael's eyes faltered and he closed them for a second to clear away any unwanted thoughts. "You're not a weapon, Castiel." He said as he opened them again, Dean couldn't imagine being in his position. Not to mention Michael hadn't been in the lab yet, this was the closest he'd been to the reality of Castiel's experimentation.

Dean wasn't sure why he wasn't doing the same as Michael and trying to convince Cas not to go. He didn't even know if he wanted to be standing there, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go down at all. But Sam was going so he knew he had to; Cas' reasoning made perfect sense to him, maybe that's why he wasn't saying the same things that Michael was. Maybe it was because he understood both sides.

"Maybe," Cas said after a pause, "But I'm the best fighter we have, so I need to go down no matter what."

"But-!" Michael cut himself off and took a breath, "Can you keep yourself together down there?"

"No," Castiel wasn't afraid to admit it, at least not right then. He stood his ground and looked at Michael earnestly, "I know it's scary but I'm certain that when I freak out like that I only hurt things that look like me. I've never harmed anyone here."

"It'll be fine," Dean jumped in to support Cas and hopefully ease Michael. "He's doing great, don't underestimate Cas."

Castiel looked at Dean with wider eyes, Dean could see with his peripheral vision but he didn't want to ruin it by being a dork. Instead he grinned at Michael who sighed and nodded.

"Sorry, I'm just…" Michael carefully chose his words more often than anyone else Dean knew, and that made him want to take Michael's filter away to hear what he really thought for once.

"You're worried about me," Cas stepped forward, a bit anxious but way more comfortable around Michael now than he was the first time. "Thank you, but it's okay." He gave Michael a hug that made his big brother's eyes tear up.

Dean moved away from them to give some space and walked over to Sam's side, looking up at the cameras as Sam flipped through them. "Got anything good?"

"I know that there are two at Cas' cage, and there were two others fighting somewhere deeper in but I don't know where." Sam brought it up and Dean stared at the two that were at one another's throats, each trying to get something away from the other.

"Is… that…" he didn't really want to finish his sentence, the two were fighting over Jet's arm, it was just sitting on the ground between them. He glanced at Sam who hadn't shifted, just stared stone cold at the image. "Are you okay?" Dean knew he'd probably regret asking.

"That's a stupid question, Dean."

Yeah, a little bit of regret. "Maybe, but it doesn't hurt to ask sometimes." He moved so he could be at least partially in Sam's line of sight. "Can you tell me what's going on up there? I'm worried."

"I'm upset." Sam said angrily and looked at Dean with a sharp inhale, "What do you think is going on up here? My boyfriend's in the hospital, he's missing an arm," he dropped his voice then with a quick glance to where Charlie had Desirae occupied, "and I have no idea if he's going to live. He might be dying, Dean. Why aren't you more upset?"

Dean's mouth pulled into a tight line and he considered the best way to answer that without getting his head bitten off by his brother. "I am upset, okay? I feel like shit because I wasn't here to help him, I get it. But this isn't something we can rush blindly into because we're pissed off, Jet got seriously hurt and he's one of the toughest guys I know. We need weapons and we need a plan, and to do anything useful with either of those things you need to be calm."

Sam looked away again, a huff escaped him but he didn't deny that Dean was right.

"Soooo…." Charlie droned in an attempt to get their attention back her way. "I found a map of the basement a while back, I can print off one for each of us."

"Good," Dean headed over to her and looked at the computer screen, Cas trotted up beside him and brushed gently against Dean as he arrived.

"What are you all going to use as weapons?" Cas asked and looked at them all.

"Well…" Charlie rolled her chair over to another computer, "We've got controls for stuff over here, and if you look at the map on the screen there you'll see a label for a weapons room. So I'm assuming that the way to open the room starts over here…"

Dean leaned in and looked at the map a little closer, "What room is the weapons room?"

"It's attached to this one, on that far wall over there." She pointed at the wall that was just past Dean and to the side of the computers. "Ah, here we go."

Just as Dean located the extra room labelled in the main lab the wall rumbled, he looked over and watched as the separate room opened up to reveal the main scene Dean remembered from the Matrix. Just shitloads of guns and other weaponry. "Daaamn," he chuckled and looked over at Charlie with a smirk, "That's pretty awesome."

"Yeah, I found a thing or two during my days down here." She grinned back and headed for the weapons casually, "C'mon, grab something you know how to use."

Dean went right for the biggest gun he could find, an ecstatic smile on his face. "Awesome."

"She said one you can use, Dean." Sam quipped and Dean scowled at him.

"I can use this, who said I can't use this?"

Cas reached over and took it from him, "I'm scared you'll blow your shoulder off, maybe pick a smaller one?"

"Here," Sam handed him a rifle and a handgun, "Take these."

Dean sighed and did as he was told, it was probably better that he didn't grab an overwhelming thing like a rocket launcher while he was underground anyway. He glanced over at Charlie who was arming herself just fine, though she had a few things on her already. "You've been armed this whole time?"

"Yeah," she looked up with a shrug, "I got used to carrying when I was looking for Cas, you never know what kinda weirdos you'll run into when hunting for a kidnapped teen."

"Fair enough."

Cas looked at the guns, his feathers ruffled and his eyes glowed a little brighter, "I don't like this room." He stated evenly and stepped out again, "I'll wait over here for when you're done."

Dean cringed a little and nodded, "Yeah, good idea." He looked at the others, "He doesn't like guns much."

"We remember Rufus," Charlie nodded and glanced over at Michael who looked neutral but was undoubtedly unaware. "A guy we tried to hire to clean out the basement almost shot Cas,"

"Kinda wish Rufus had gone down there," Dean laughed bitterly, "Maybe he'd be missing an arm instead."

"Yeah," Sam agreed just as bitterly.

Michael armed himself up too but he didn't join in the banter, he was looking over at where Cas was sitting with Desirae. He furrowed his brow and looked at the group again, "I know we're all set on going down there for one reason or another, but someone has to stay here with Desirae."

Dean turned to him and then to Cas and Rae. He wanted to say that Desirae didn't need someone to watch her, but that was irresponsible as all hell. She talked like an adult sometimes and had a higher level of awareness and understanding than most kids did. That didn't mean she was an adult, he often forgot that. Jet would murder them if they left her alone.

No one really answered so Michael continued, "Alright, I'll stay here."

Charlie looked at him, surprised she asked, "Are you sure? Didn't you want to protect Cas?"

"I do, and that's why I should stay here." Michael smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze, "While Desirae likes you better than me I think you need to go down there. You've been in this shit for four years and you never stopped fighting, you're sharp and stronger than I am. Sam looks like he needs to do this, and Dean… well Dean's as obvious a choice as Sam is. I'll be able to protect Cas by leaving him in more capable hands than mine."

"Thanks," Dean was glad that ended before it started any kind of argument.

Charlie tried to laugh it off and gave Michael a light punch in the arm, "You sure it's not just because you don't want to face terrifying clones of your brother?"

"That too, that too." Michael chuckled as he rubbed his arm. "So then what's your plan? Go in and see what happens?"

"More or less," Charlie nodded and looked at the Winchesters, "I mean I don't think we can do much else."

"It's mostly common sense," Sam said as he double checked his ammunition, "We need to be cautious, quiet, smart, and try to keep our aim a little above shit level."

"Sounds like a plan to me, do we know how many there are?" Dean looked back at Charlie who avoided his gaze and shrugged.

"Not really… I didn't get that far in the research."

"We can bet that a lot of them have eaten one another," Sam said, "So whatever's left of the clones are going to be stronger and might not attack one another. We don't really know if Cas is the only one who reacts that way to clones, after all Desirae never has."

"But nothing looks like her, plus she wasn't pitted against clones." Dean added curiously, "So we might get lucky."

"Yeah… don't count on it." Sam didn't hesitate to pop Dean's optimistic bubble.

"Alright, let's go then." Charlie walked out of the weapon space and over to Cas and Desirae. "C'mon Cas; Rae we're gonna leave Michael here with you so you won't be alone, okay?"

She looked over at Michael then back at Charlie and nodded, "Okay, kick their asses!"

"Will do." Charlie ruffled Desirae's hair and Cas gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"We'll be back soon." He smiled and ran over to Dean again. Dean wasn't surprised, Cas would undoubtedly try to stay by his side and keep him safe. It worked just fine for him, he wanted to make sure that Cas was safe too.