Cowboys and Angels

10. Stairway to Heaven

Sam was asleep on his bed. Loud rock music played and Sam jerked awake, pulling a gun on the intruder to see that it was Dean.

Dean shut off the music. "Nice reflexes. Better hair."

"What's wrong with you? I could have shot you." He checked his watch. "Why aren't you sleeping? We got in like two hours ago."

"Not tired. And we got work to do, so put on your dancing shoes, and let's boogie."

Dean walked to the main room. Sam walked in with a cup of coffee. Dean was packing his duffel on the table.

"All right. What's up?" Sam asked.

"I called Cas," Dean replied. "She said there's something going down in Missouri."

"What kind of something?"

"She said she couldn't talk about it over the phone."

"Why?"

"Because she is a weird girl, okay? She's a weird, dorky, little girl. But she happens to have an army of angels behind her, and even though I hate to say it, if we're gonna take a shot at Metatron, she might be useful."

Dean went to put the First Blade into his duffel, but Sam noticed and hid level of concern grew.

Sam frowned. "Well, do you think we need the First Blade? Why don't we just leave it here?"

"We talked about this, and we decided that-" Dean began.

"No. In all fairness, we didn't decide. You did."

"Okay, I decided that hockey stick that can kill anything might come in handy, so sue me."

"How many times have we been around this block? Magic that powerful always comes at a price, and right now, we have no idea what that price is."

"I'm fine. I'm fan-friggin'-tastic."

Sam looked at his brother. "And I'm glad. Honestly. I'm not saying we bury this thing. I'm saying we just save it for when we really need it. Crowley. Metatron. The big boss fights. You don't have to have it with you all the time, right? I mean, just leave it. Please."

Dean set the blade to the side. "No problem."

"Thank you."

---

They stood outside the exploded Colonel Scoops. Sam and Dean approached a deputy on duty outside. They went to pull out their badges, but before they were able to flip them open, she addressed them. "Agents Spears and Aguilera? FBI?"

"Uh-huh," Dean confirmed.

"Your partner said you'd be along."

"Thank you," Sam said.

They entered and greeted Castiel, who'd been talking to the sheriff. "Thank you for coming."

"Spears and Aguilera?"

"I've noticed your aliases are usually the names of popular musicians," Castiel explained.

Dean said, "Wow."

"Come here. Take a look at this."

They approached a body on a gurney to see that her eyes were burnt out of her head.

Castiel continued. "Look. And the other bodies are the same -- burnt-out husks."

"Okay, so, what is this, some sort of mass smiting?" Dean guessed.

"I don't know what this way. Never seen anything like it. Six humans died here... And one angel."

"One of yours?"