Angel Warrior

Grunting, Hunter sliced through the last Croat, the sick sound of a body hitting the forest floor reminding her of her tour days - being in Georgia didn't help the memories being at bay either, the heat alone made her think of Iraq. Stepping over the bodies, she flung some of the brain matter and blood off her sword and continued on into the woods, beheading any Croat that came her way, eyes skirting around the ground in search of any kind of animal tracks - hell, she'll even take a squirrel at this point. Yet, it seems like all the wildlife just disappeared overnight, she didn't even hear any birds.

"Hello Hunter," Her shoulders slumped at the familiar gravelly voice and she tilted her head back, the last days sun-ray warming her face through the trees.

"Hey Cas, got any news for me?" She asked, turning around to greet the angel with a rare smile; Castiel returned it with his own awkward one.

"The Earth's population dwindled down from high five thousands to low two thousands," Cas reported, walking closer to Hunter until he was a couple feet away; she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Not exactly what I wanted to hear but okay, great, anything else?" She asked, exhaustion clear in her voice. She had been on her own since the beginning, since her base got overrun, having gone days without sleep and now that game had been scarce lately, she's on the brink of starvation and had actually gotten used to the stomach cramps.

"This virus, it is the Croatoan virus but it's been altered," He paused, looking like he was trying to figure out how to find his words, "Some of the infected are smarter in ways to get food but there is no life left inside. Everyone is infected with it, not just the bitten or bled on." She threw her arms up in defeat.

"That's just great! Is that what Pestilence meant by it being "too late"?" At his nod, she sighed in frustration and tugged on her dirty hair.

"There's one more thing," He muttered, hesitant and shifted his weight on his feet.

"What is it?" She groaned, dragging her hands down her face before letting them fall to her sides as she stared at the uncomfortable angel. He cleared his throat and steeled himself, looking straight at her as he relaxed his face muscles into his "angel business" expression.

"We have a mission for you," He stated, tilting his head a bit as he watched her. She raised her eyebrow at him, scoffing as she looked away and crossed her arms.

"A mission, huh?" She laughed lightly, "What sort of "mission"?" A weary smile made it's way onto her face and Castiel knew she was close to snapping.

"A little girl, she got separated from her group and if you don't find her within the next few hours, she will die. She's a couple miles due west, she's up a small oak tree. Bring her back to her group and convince the leader to let you stay, your mission continues onto the group - you must protect them." An incredulous laugh interrupted him, making Cas look at Hunter with a slightly offended face.

"Excuse me?" Hunter asked, her voice a dangerously low and her gaze was deadly; Castiel shifted uncomfortably under her stare and cleared his throat.

"There's someone very important in that group and we can't watch over them constantly anymore, which is why I ask you of this. You are the only Angel that can walk freely and know exactly what's going on and what to do. They need you." He tried to convince her, a pleading tone under his assurance.

"Why can't one of my brothers do it?" Hunter asked, gazing off into the trees, ignoring most of what he said, desperate to get out of this mission - she didn't do well with other people, especially kids. She noticed Castiel's pause and looked over to see the guilty and sympathy shine in his eyes, the obvious frown marring his face.

"Oh c'mon!" She groaned, dropping her head back to face the sky. "That's great! Just...great. I get to spend who knows how long with my brothers - who don't even know they have a sister! Do they even know about this yet?" Hunter gave him a pointed look and he bowed his head, shuffling his feet again like a scolded child. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Fucking hell, Cas. Go tell them and if they agree, bring them here and we'll get the show on the road. While you do that, I'll look for the girl, maybe I'll even call my favorite archangel," She raised an eyebrow at him and with a defeated sigh, he left with a flutter of wings.

Sighing, she twirled her sword and walked around aimlessly, calling out towards the sky, "Yo, Gabriel, get your ass down here," Looking over at the dead bodies, she figured she'd search their pockets to see what they've got while she waited for Gabe. Hunter was going through one of the jean pockets on her second body when a flutter of wings sounded behind her.

"Well, hello there," Hunter looked over her shoulder to send a wink and a smirk towards the archangel; it was a thing between them, the harmless flirting - they didn't deny that the other was attractive and had acted one day on impulse, the tension too much for them. However, in the middle of kissing, they couldn't help but feel like they were kissing one of their siblings and had a proper laugh about it. They still have the occasional kiss and, of course, the flirting but it was more like sibling banter. Gabriel was more of a brother to her than her biological brothers.

Hunter opened her mouth to throw a taunt at him but her hand brushed against something hard and square. Hoping beyond hope that it was what she thought it was, she let out a breezy laugh of pure joy when Hunter pulled out a brand new pack of smokes. Standing up, she waved the pack at Gabriel with a bright smile, "Jackpot." He rolled his eyes and chuckled a little when she came skipping towards him, eagerly tearing into the pack, sticking one of the cigarettes in her mouth as she searched her fatigues for a lighter.

Gabriel watched as she lit the cigarette and took a deep inhale, wondering why inhaling smoke brought a pleased, almost serene expression when he knew that it was burning her throat and lungs. Hunter could feel him staring at her, could feel his gaze follow her hand as she lifted it to take another drag; a tiny peak at him out the corner of her eye said everything to Hunter - he was curious about her smoking habit. She chuckled and took another drag before holding the cigarette out for him to take, raising an eyebrow at him challengingly while blowing the smoke out of her nose.

He scoffed and snatched the cigarette from her fingers, taking a deep drag and inhaled - only to promptly sputter and cough up the smoke, nearly dropping the cigarette before Hunter snatched it back, laughing heartily the whole time. She patted him on the back roughly, still chuckling as he gathered himself together; Gabriel just glared at her through his watery, red eyes. Hunter smiled at him cheekily before patting his cheek lovingly and flicked the now dead cigarette away.

"C'mon, Golden Angel, I got a little girl to find," She called back towards him, having gone a few meters before she noticed that he wasn't with her. He rolled his eyes and jogged to catch up with her. They walked in silence for a bit, Hunter thinking over what Castiel had told her and she frowned when she realized what he had said. Glancing over at Gabriel, she figured he would know - hopefully.

"Hey Gabe?" He hummed in acknowledgement. "Cas told me something earlier and it's bugging me. I was wondering if you could explain to me what it means?" He sent her an amused smirk and bumped her shoulder.

"I can't tell you what it means if you don't tell me what it is first," Hunter rolled her eyes and sighed in playful exasperation before shoving him lightly.

"He said and I quote, "You are the only Angel that can walk freely," What exactly did he mean?" She watched him, noticing how he stopped dead and just stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could utter a word and if Hunter was honest with herself, it was a first for her to see an Angel go speechless.

"I - I can't," He took a deep breath and looked around, "Look, I will tell you everything but not now and not here. Sophia is a few feet that way and you need to get the highway before it gets dark. It's not safe to be out in the open after dark, even for you. I gotta go, I'll see you soon, promise," He said in a rush, coming close to kiss her on the forehead before disappearing with a flutter of wings. Hunter sighed heavily and closed her eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of her nose before setting off in the direction that Gabe pointed out to her.

Sure enough, a small oak tree came into view with a pair of small green tennis shoes dangling from a branch. Before Hunter could call out to the girl, a flutter of wings and quiet cursing came from behind her and she knew that Castiel had convinced her brothers to join her - how, she didn't know nor did she want to.

"Hunter," Cas called out quietly, taking a few steps away from the two brothers towards the woman. Dean nor Sam knew who she was other than that she was a hunter and needed their help with something. From the back, they could tell she was quite tall, probably a couples inches shy under six foot, armed to the teeth, and probably had been living in the woods for some time, judging by the state of her military uniform and dirty hair. To be fair, neither of them were fairing too much in the shower department themselves but neither were ever in the state of dirty that she was in.

"Did you tell them, Castiel?" She asked him, surprising the shit out of the brothers by how deep and husky her voice actually was - they haven't seen her face, since she had yet to face them, but they had assumed that she would have sort of a high-pitched tone, more feminine. They noticed how Castiel hesitated and shifted his weight on his feet, as if he was uncomfortable or afraid of her and what her reaction would be to his answer.

"I wanted to wait until they came to you," He finally answered after a pregnant pause, making her tense up and nod curtly. She finally turned to face them and the brothers had a hard time trying to school their expressions to not show their shock - she looked almost like an exact copy of their mother in her twenties. Dean had to catch himself when he almost blurted out "Mom?". Hunter gave them a sly grin, cocking her hips to the side as she crossed her arms, looking them both up and down with observant and teasing eyes.

"Hello, boys. It's nice to finally meet my little brothers," She grinned at them, only having to wait a slight moment before all hell broke loose - she could only watch on in slight amusement as the boys rounded on Castiel, wanting to know why they never knew of her, why Cas didn't tell them, etc. When Castiel's panicked eyes met hers over the boys' shoulders did she intervene - that and the shouting match was attracting quite a few Croats.

Sighing, she took care of the Croats easily with a few practiced and well aimed swings. Hunter glanced over at the three, still arguing, the brothers not even noticing that they were almost Croat food. Rolling her eyes, she looted the bodies and grinned with joy when she came up with a couple more packs of smokes - looks like it was her lucky day. Pocketing the packs, she snuck up behind her brothers and whistled sharply, taking great joy when they both jumped with startled yelps.

"As much as I'd love to continue this family reunion, we have a job to do, so can we please?" Hunter asked, waving her sword impatiently towards the tree that Sophia was still up - only she climbed further up the tree after hearing the three men squabble. Dean sighed and scrubbed his face angrily before gesturing her forward, a silent 'go ahead'; Hunter just rolled her eyes at him before turning tail and stalking up to the oak tree.

Looking back at Castiel, she motioned him forward as she sheathed her sword. Furrowing his eyebrows, he came to stand next to her as she removed and handed him her weapons; the two swords strapped to her back, the machete on her thigh, her chest holster with the double Desert Eagles, and her Bowtech Compound bow. With a nod to him, she started to climb the tree, her combat boots finding purchase to the bark easily, making her closer to Sophia in record time. Before long, neither of the three could see her in the tree and Castiel sighed, turned to lean against another tree next to the oak, gently setting Hunter's weapons on the ground next to him.

"Now, we wait," He said gravely, moving to sit on the ground as well. The brothers shared a look and a shrug before going to sit on the ground in front of Castiel.