Chapter Text
Author's notes: Authors Note: This is episode 21 in the Sam, Dean and Theo stories, if you are new to this a little background info is in order. Basically Theo was an Angel on parole and his parole officers were Sam and Dean, they were also his penance. If you’re curious now about how this came about go back and read “Tremors” that way you can at least get some background story information on Theo. If the archives no longer have this story and you’re interested please email me and I’ll send a copy. By the way for those who haven’t read my earlier work, I do have God himself popping in from time to time, the near apocalypse basically warned him that he’d been a bit focused in other direction than in keeping an eye on the worlds smaller frame of people. And to get a mental image of God, I usually describe him a nattily dressed, mussed haired young man, someone who would fit in a crowd; actually he would stand out because I picture him as the Doctor in Dr. Who with David Tennant as the Doctor. ;^) Hope you enjoy.
Story:
It was winter now; the snows was crisp and clean over the earth in their little part of Idaho, but on a certain spot in the back yard, in a little circle around a rose bush no snow gathered. Dean was standing at the sink filling the coffee pot and preparing to make the first pot of the morning when his eye caught the site and he immediately had to look away, it had been six months but the emotions that were part of that plot of earth were as raw now as then, it only needed a little impetus to set them off.
Pouring the water into the reservoir of the coffeemaker he proceeded to scoop out some of his favourite coffee, plain old Maxwell House, he put a heaping scoop into the filter then added a pinch of salt, his own special ingredient. Closing the basket he started the water heating. He felt warm hands encircle his waist and he leaned his head back to meet the forehead of the one he knew liked to do this kind of wake up call.
“Morning baby bear.”
“Papa bear…” He paused and looked out seeing what caught Dean’s attention. He leaned forward then nuzzling his lover’s neck. After a long moment they broke and he turned his attention on Dean, “You’re up early.”
“Got my nap in.” Dean said leaning his forehead against Theo’s.
“You slept all night.” Another voice said from the hallway. Dean looked up to see Sam entering the kitchen now.
“Yeah, the Verinol is helping. My dreams aren’t near as vivid as they used to be.”
Their repose was interrupted by a knock at the back door. They opened it to see Crowley standing there looking nonplussed at being exposed to the cold. Dean bent down and lifted the mat from the door and moved it out of the way and let him enter.
“I’ll make this quick mates. One of the marksmen has been spotted up in Portland, Oregon. In a suburb south of the city proper.”
“Thanks.” Dean said soberly. He pointed to the pot, “Care for a cup?”
“Normally I would but there is work to be done patching up this bullshit that Azazel pulled. However, I owe you boys some thanks this has pretty much cemented my place in the niche of “King of Hell.”” Crowley said with pride.
Sam smirked, “Hardly our work went into that.”
“Hey, I’m sorry about your mate Bill out there, that wasn’t my idea. I have no vendetta against angels as long as they carry no vendetta against me.” He shook his head, “You lads have been moping about for 6 months now, it’s time to let go and get on with life. It’s too short as it is.”
Dean nodded, “You’re right we should let go, but it’s a little hard to, especially knowing what he know.”
“Yeah and you’ve brought down two of the shooters that only leaves 10 more. Happy hunting kiddies. Ta.” And he was gone. Sam shut the door and replaced the mat onto which had been etched a devils trap.
“Well at least this time we don’t have to drive cross country. Just across state.” Sam said with a grin.
Then a rumble filled the air like the sound of a jet passing overhead and at the same moment Michael materialized in their kitchen with them.
“Adam.” Dean said with a grin.
“Dean, Sam, Theo glad to see you all up and awake. I heard about the hunt you’re on, it’s bad enough you having to hunt now anyway, but well, I thought this might help.” He gave each of them a coin. It was rough minted gold with the image of a flaming sword on one side and a rooster on the other with some scribbling of an arcane sort on each side. “Some of my own marker coins, the bearer is protected from harm. It may seem unfair but these people who are targeting angels are hardly being fair either.”
“So is there any word on Bill and Charlie?” Sam asked.
Michael smiled, “You mean Hammael and Cassiel? No, God is not pleased with having any of his angels killed, but he is judicious in resurrecting them as well.”
Sam nodded his understanding. Then he turned to the coffee pot to pour, “Can you stay for a cup?”
Michael smiled and nodded, “For a change of pace I do happen to have some free time accumulated and I would very much like to…well let me let Adam say what I’m trying.”
The archangel’s eyes defocused for a moment then refocused and the demeanor and talk was that of a younger man. “What he’s trying to say is that he would like to hang out with you guys for a while. Michael has had way little actual contact with humans in a one to one fashion so he’s still learning how to interact with them.”
“How’s it going for you?” Dean asked.
“Great I’m having a ball.” Adam said then, “Oops, Michael wants charge again. See ya.” The defocus and refocus happened again. “I think that’s one of the things I like best about Adam, he is very energetic and he has to be to keep up with my schedule.” Sam offered him a mug of coffee.
“So we’ve got a heads up about a possible rifleman in Oregon. We’re going to leave to check that out this afternoon.”
“Good, it’s about time you caught some breaks regarding these characters.” He sipped at the coffee then looked at Dean. “What’s your take on them?”
“Amateurs, they’re just in the game for a one shot deal. They think that hunting angels is a hoot. Most of what we’ve seen so far out of the two we’ve tracked is that they are way over confident.”
“Theo?”
“I’m with Dean on this, the one we bagged in Tennessee was a dead ringer giveaway, he fundamentalist Satanist to start with, plus he was sure that his kills would get him some big perks in hell. We had to open his eyes to what Hell was really like.”
Michael grinned a bit now, “I take it you made an impression.”
Theo grinned in return. “Oh yeah, scared straight. And yes we confiscated his round, that plus the ones from the hunt we had in Massachusetts brings the total to 18 rounds recovered, well 26 rounds counting what we got from that dick that shot Bill.”
“Excellent. Good work guys, I know it seems hardly fair for anything to be asked of you and we try to keep our requests to a minimum.”
Sam started a second pot of coffee; he knew they were going to need it. He looked out in the back yard again. Then in a small voice, “It’s a shame really.”
Michael looked up, “What’s that?”
“That angels don’t have souls.”
Michael laughed a bit, “We are part of God’s memory and an extension of His power. We don’t need to be burdened with a soul.”
“Burdened? Is that how you look at it?” Dean asked curiously.
“That’s how some of us look at it. Me, a soul is an interesting commodity but it can be distracting.” Then he drained the last of his coffee and stood. “This has been a rare treat; I hope to be able to do this again.”
“So do we.” Theo said smiling. Michael stood waved and was gone. They looked around then Sam nodded towards the stove.
“We got a choice I can fix breakfast for us, or we can load up and catch a bite on the way out of town.”
Theo raised his hand, “I vote for the latter. Love your cooking mama bear, but well, I want to bag as many of these motherfuckers as we can get.”
Dean nodded, “This is a simple enough run, let’s do it.” They went in and packed up their duffels with a couple of day’s worth of clothes and then loaded up Theo’s Shelby at his request.
“We seldom take her out any more, she needs a chance to open up and run for a while.” Theo argued.
“Okay, let’s just get this hunt over with, man that would be a great Christmas gift, to bag three more of these bastards.”
“Ambitious aren’t we?” Sam said.
Dean looked at him levelly, “I want each one of these sorry pricks to feel the sting of what they are doing.”
Theo looked at him appraisingly for a moment then smirked, “Not feeling at all vindictive are we?”
Dean scowled to no one in particular as he replied. “I’m feeling very vindictive after having planted Bill because of these shits.”
Theo nodded sober now, “I know Dean, I was there too. So yeah the avenging side of this angel wants to see them groveling just for permission to breathe.”
“Didn’t know that you were allowed to be angry.” Sam said looking up for a moment.
“Oh righteous anger is almost a class in and of itself.” Theo said with an evil grin. “Come on we’re burning daylight.”
Brunch was had and they were soon on the road heading through Northern Idaho towards Oregon. Dean sat back thinking and plotting as he drove.
“Theo, is there a possibility that you could maybe get a closer look in on where exactly we’re looking at this shooter being located?”
“Dean, we’re not going to put him to risk.” Sam said coolly.
“Sam, it’s okay, I’m wearing my Kevlar, if they wing me that’s cool, and I can deal with that, it’s just a heart or head shot that’ll kill. And something tells me the rest of these yokels are less talented that the guy who nailed Bill.” Theo said, and then sat back in thought for the moment, “I’ll take a look; get in close as safely possible. But I’ll be careful I promise.” With that he vanished.
“Theo!” Sam blurted. “Damn! We should have all been in on this.”
“I know but he has a better chance of seeing and reporting back than Bill did, he’s got a lot more years under his belt as a hunter.”
“And that means that a hunter is invulnerable?” Sam said heatedly.
Dean shook his head, “Don’t get your panties in such a twist, it took me a long time to get up the courage to ask him to do that.”
They drove in silence for several more miles until at last they heard a pop of air and a panting Theo appeared in the back seat. He was pale as a sheet and bleeding out of his right arm. Dean gassed up and took the next exit while Sam leaned over the seat trying to stop the blood flow.
Once pulled off the main road, Sam immediately got into the back seat where he was able to look at the wound.
“A through and through thankfully.” Sam said putting pressure on the wound while Dean prepared a field dressing from their supplies.
“Found em. There are three of them holed up in a house in Beaverton, Fairmount drive. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“How can you be so sure?” Dean asked then his eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”
“Fused the locks to the doors and windows also wrapped the house in a bubble of air. They can try to break out the windows but they’ll just be hammering glass that ain’t gonna break.” Theo said with a smile.
“What else, I know that’s not all.” Sam asked.
“Oh yeah, Michael showed up on the scene and was about to take them out when I pointed out that you have dibs on the shooting of the bastards. He reluctantly agreed and said that he would stand watch. He did cut lines of communication into and out of the house as well. We got them pinned down good.”
Dean shook his head a moment as he applied the dressing to the now clotted wound. “There is just no way we can be this lucky.”
“Well they can try to shoot their way out.” Sam offered.
“Not necessarily.” Theo said grinning through the pain. “See it’s kind of like bullet proof glass, at that range shooting the stuff will be like playing Russian roulette with all chambers loaded.”
Theo lay back against Sam as the dressing was cinched down. Sam got him to prop up a moment to get his shirt off of him which they burnt. Then grabbed another of his shirts from the back he was dressed and laid out on the back seat.
“Try to get some rest.” Dean ordered. “Wait,” He had parked in the parking lot of a convenience store to the side where they’d be out of view. He got out of the car and ran into the store and came back out shortly after with a sack. Passing a bottle back to Theo, “Drink, you’ll need to replace fluids to help get your blood loss checked.”
Theo gratefully cracked open the bottle of Gatorade and drank deeply. Now that he was tended, Dean cranked up, put the car in gear and got back onto the interstate. Once across the state line he grabbed up highway 20 and put his foot to the floor, they stopped a couple of times for Sam to check the dressing, and make sure he wasn’t bleeding through. When finally Theo sat up and pulled his arm out of the shirt and stripped off the dressing, the bullet hole was gone, only a slight dimpling to mark where he’d been shot. They threw the dressing away and continued on with Theo alternately sitting and lying down. It was into the late afternoon, early evening that they had pulled into Bend, they wasted no time but found Fairmount Drive and the house was easy enough to find, it was a house currently lit by the various emergency vehicles that were trying to put out the blaze.
“Aw shit.” Dean voiced as they pulled up to the police picket.
“Sir, you’ll have to turn around, there is no outlet here and that’s a pretty bad fire we got going on up there.”
Dean fished out a card and presented it to the police officer identifying him as The Rev. Dean Winters. “Was there anyone hurt in the blaze?” He asked.
“We just got the fire under control. You’d have to talk with the lead firemen about that.” The officer said politely.
“May we, after all I’d like to offer last rites if there any survivors are critical, and comfort to those who may just be injured.” Dean said.
“I’m sorry Reverend; I just can’t let you through.” Suddenly his radio crackled to life. He listened a moment and then nodded. “You don’t have to worry about last rites or anything; we found three bodies in the blaze. It would appear that they fired off a gun too close to the gas hook up for the fireplace. Can’t understand why they just didn’t force the door and escape that way.” He shook his head. “Well they got it under control you can go through now if you like, just be careful and watch for the hoses.”
“Thank you officer you’ve been most helpful.” Dean said politely in return. They drove down the street then took a side street after seeing the leveled building. “That means the crime lab will probably be called in on this, or at least the fire marshal. If they find the bullets…” Theo’s eyes defocused for a moment and he went limp.
“Theo!” Sam barked. Then the young man sat back up and looked around startled.
“What happened!?” He barked.
“Easy Theo. It’s gonna be okay?”
“Theo!? I’m William, William Reece. Where’s…what happened?” Then his eyes defocused again and he blinked. “Sorry about that guys, I shot into a fireman real quick and surveyed the area, found two of the three clips and pocketed them, got that address information as well on the fireman, so we can pay him a visit this evening.” Theo said looking more depressed than ever.
“Hey man, what’s wrong?” Sam asked.
“Just such a waste, if they’d not panicked we could’ve been in and out with the bullets in tow and they’d just be put down temporary. Nothing this final.”
“Theo they made their own bed.” Sam said.
“Yeah but I was the one that basically locked them into the house. It’s my fault that they panicked like that.”
“Man if you hadn’t of locked them in there is a good chance they would have blown cover and run for it. Then we’d be in an even worse shape than we are now.” Dean noted.
“Doesn’t make the guilt go away?” Theo said remorsefully.
Sam looked at him, “No but you and I both know that in a hunt you can’t always walk away with a happy ending.”
Theo sighed and sat back, “Should’ve been some other way.”
“Well we’re down to seven shooters.” Sam commented. “That’s better, but still not the best. And we can’t afford to continue hunting them if you’re going to end up getting hurt on the hunts.” Sam said to Theo who actually looked hurt for a moment.
“Hey that’s part of the hunt.” Theo said his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry that you see it that way but that is part of the hunt.”
“I’m sorry Theo; you’re just too valuable to us for us to waste you on such. I guess I’m obsessive that way, I don’t want to risk you.”
“That’s sweet Sam, but there are hunts and times when you’ve risked me before.” Theo pointed out.
“Yeah, but the shooters weren’t firing bullets that could kill you either.” Sam returned.
“Good point.”
They drove on in silence until Dean saw a hotel in the distance. He pulled up and booked them a room, after getting their bags and themselves settled Dean turned on Theo.
“Sam’s right. You’re too valuable an asset to risk like that. Plus I’ve kinda grown attached to you. So in the future we take it a little more cautious, okay?”
“Okay man. Sure.” Theo said his voice betraying his hurt.
“Hey no pouting dude, you did a bang up job on this, and you put yourself in harm’s way something serious. We want to keep you alive a while longer.” Dean said getting a bit brusque with him.
They sat around looking at one another until at last Sam got up restless and dug out his laptop. He started keying in some parameters into the search engine and came up with a little data, then he started sifting what he did find. He was amazed in some ways to find out that there was available data on the net regarding these shooters. They were going under the name “Angel Warriors” as if that wasn’t pointed enough, they also were scattered across the Midwest and into the South. He also found out that they were a growing group of vigilantes and that the state police was on the lookout for them. There were comparisons to them and the Earth Liberation Front as both being homegrown terrorist organizations. Theo sat on the bed massaging his wounded arm a bit and then he lay down. Concerned Dean bent over him checking his arm out as well.
“I’ll be all right, just a bit tired.” He told Dean.
“Theo,” Dean sat on the beds edge. “I know we stepped on your toes with those comments. It’s just you are more than an angel to us. You are a friend and lover; I wouldn’t want to risk Sam under those circumstances much less you.”
Theo nodded his head soberly. “But you have to give me credit and let me choose when and where to act as well. I’ve been a hunter long enough to know when the call is good to go into a situation.”
Dean nodded, “Okay, I can accept that as long as you report in if the situation is a bit too hairy then we can all make the decision on how to approach this, okay.”
“Sure.” Theo agreed with a slight smile on his face.
Sam looked up and shook his head sadly, “We got a hell of a hunt on our hands guys, and it seems that these shooters have got organized in a short time. They have formed cells across the country where they’re training killers. The Feds are on the lookout for them and are concerned as well, but they don’t know what they’re looking at.” Then Sam laid out the gist of the information he’d gleaned and was glad to see that they were paying especially close attention to what he was saying.
He knew the data he harvested would be of interest but he also knew that it would also be a pain in the ass. Especially considering that now the groups that formed made it that much more difficult to find the shooters. Thankfully they noted that there was no further word from Castiel or Crowley about the possible addition of more of the angel killer rounds into circulation.
“Just to let you know, the fireman is expecting me to come around to the station this afternoon and collect those bullets. He doesn’t know you two from Adam, so I’ll go do that myself a little later okay?”
“Sure, Theo sounds like good plan.”
Then there was a shift in the room’s atmosphere for a moment and Michael appeared. “Well, that was an unexpected twist in the situation.”
“Yeah, my bad.” Theo admitted.
Michael looked at him a moment and nodded. “Yes, you made a bad call and pinned those shooters down too good, however, the alternative would have been for you to have taken them on directly and that would put you in an even tougher spot.” Then Michael looked at the others, “learn from it.”
“Well we know you didn’t just pop in to ream us a new one.” Sam said tartly.
Michael gave his a momentary look. “No reaming intended, the facts are plain, you screwed up and you have that mark against you if you will. However, you’re in good company another hunter and crew down in Mississippi tracked down one other shooter and let him escape because they had a momentary attack of conscience.”
“You mean they were going to be … merciful?” Dean said.
Michael nodded again, “Yes, they confronted him and demanded his clip. He panicked, fired on the group then popped a smoke grenade and disappeared.”
“Great. So we’re down to 7 shooters, what I’m curious about though is that one of those stakes measures what about two feet in length, and they’re about one inch in diameter, excluding the taper to the point. That means that there should have been a hell of a lot more than just 12 shooters times 9 bullets, 98 bullets.” Dean mentioned.
Michael nodded yet again, “You’ve voiced exactly what a lot of our folk are concerned about, and technically they should have been able to get over 200 bullets out of one stake.”
“Somebody is sitting on a cache of ammunition out there.” Sam said looking troubled.
“Which means our work is just really starting.” Theo mentioned.
Michael looked around the room a moment then settled on Theo, “You and me outside now.”
“Yes sir.” Theo said looking tense.
He got just past Michael when the archangel reached up and grabbed Theo by the neck, “Move faster boy.”
“Sir.” Theo said double timing his step. Dean started to intervene by Sam grabbed his forearm and shook his head furiously. The door closed behind them, leaving Dean and Sam to wonder just what exactly was going on.
“I was hoping that the reaming we got earlier would have been the extent of what was going to be coming down the pike.” Dean voiced.
Sam shook his head, “Looks like there are some that take what Theo did very seriously.”
Outside Theo was marched down the path and out in the side lot of the motel. He finally was released after tripping on a root. He fell sprawling in the dirt spinning he looked up at Michael with mixed emotions.
“Boy, do you have any idea what problems you’ve caused because of your wreckless behavior?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea.” Theo answered.
“I don’t think you do. Let me put it in perspective for you.” Michael starting ticking off points with his fingers. “You were to go on reconnaissance only according that the orders that I overheard. You were to look, spot, and report back, that is the essence of recon. But instead you get there and after spotting their hideout you fused the locks, created a barrier around the house, and reorganized the basic structure of the glass in the windows. Then you left to report your findings. The three shooters in the mean time panicked, tried to shoot their way out of the house, and had one bullet ricochet and strike a gas pipe starting the fire. Because they were in a house that was bubble wrapped and lock fused, they were in a death trap. You completely took away their chances of exercising free will.”
“They had the opportunity to commit suicide.” Theo said sourly.
“BOY, THE LAST THING YOU NEED TO BE RIGHT NOW, IS FLIPPANT WITH ME!” Michael roared. “You are walking a very, very thin line and you better keep this mistake in the foremost of your consciousness so that in future when you are given specific orders you follow those orders. It doesn’t matter if they are given by me, another angel, or your paramours back there. The fact that your actions terminated three shooters is the only saving grace at this point. I expect you to use your common sense when acting, and I expect you to use some initiative, I do not expect you to endanger yourself or others in the execution of your plans.”
“Excuse me a moment, but that is the essence of what a hunter does, that’s what I’ve done the last 20 years.”
Now Michael was tired of arguing and he sighed, “Yes, this is true, but the stakes were never this high. We need to approach this war with subtlety not some bravado laced theatrics.” He waved absently at the sprawled angel, “Brush yourself off and stand up. You look pathetic down there in the dirt.”
“You mean I get to keep my wings?” Theo asked totally serious.
“Of course, but you are being groomed to be my assistant one day and I don’t tolerate failures well.”
“Your assistant?” Theo asked.
“I didn’t stutter.” Michael said looking into the distance.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to imply.”
Michael reached out and grabbed Theo by the bicep. “Boy if you want to be my assistant you better grow a set. I expect you to be straightforward with me, but don’t blow smoke up my ass and don’t apologize all over the place. I don’t have time to have to listen to you try to say I fucked up in 40 words. Just say ‘I fucked up.’ I won’t hold it against you but I will hold you accountable.”