CASTIEL TRAVELED WITH STARK ON HIS CAR, they had to make their way to meet Rhodey at a diner or a bar, Castiel couldn't remember exactly what it was, Tony had told the angel that his friend could give him information about what they just saw on the television. James Rhodes was working with the government for years now, and since the Iron Man news came to light, Rhodes had his own suit made for him and take to work, protect those who needed the most, and gather the information that would be extremely necessary for the president.

Castiel entered the bar behind Tony, people looked at them, amazed by the presence of the Avenger, Castiel felt ignored but he understood, he knew the impact the hero had caused with the people around them. there were moments that Castiel could feel eyes filled with anger on them, people who have lost their loved ones during the battle in New York and blamed the Avengers instead of wanting to thank them for saving the city from the aliens.

James Rhodes waved them from a table, catching their attention and their way towards him, the pair smiled and headed over to the table, James kept his eyes on the angel, this was the first time for Castiel and James to properly meet, of course, the angel had known about Tony's friends, Castiel knew everybody Tony was close to. This may sound like an obsession, but when Tony's life ended up in danger before due to his companionship, Castiel had to be extremely careful and protect.

"Now Tony, who is this?" James asked, his hand stretched out for the other "James Rhodes at your service sir." Castiel took the hand on him, gripping tight but not too tight, greeting the soldier back.

"This is Castiel, he's my new security, he works with Samuel, from the British cooperative, I need more protection now that Happy is helping Pepper." Tony explained, sitting down across from the Rhodes, Castiel took the seat on the other side of the table, the angel looked around and saw the diversity of TV's, all playing something different, but one of them caught the attention of every single man in the table.

The image of the president appeared as he talked about the danger and how he had his own soldier to help the government. The blue, red, and silver iron suit came into the picture, it had to be James Rhodes, Castiel saw the smile on the soldier's lips when he appeared on TV. The news got changed into another channel, Castiel's eyes looked away from the screen to the two friends who started talking again but this time about the new suit.

"It tested well with focus groups alright?." James explained, Castiel looked at Tony who mimicked the name of Iron Patriot with a funny voice, the angel hid his smile as he knew that maybe doing so would give a wrong impression to the other.

"Listen, War Machine was a little too aggressive," Rhodes spoke out "alright, this sends a better message." Castiel could see the point James was talking about. If this is a new image inside the government a soldier with a similar suit that Iron Man wears and kids look up to, it needed a new name, something more family-wise. Tony sighed, he didn't look at James for a moment before he could start talking about more serious topics before he could address the elephant in the room.

"So what's really going on? The Mandarin?" He hadn't looked up to his friend yet, James had his drink in his hand, Castiel's fingers were ripping a piece of a paper he hadn't noticed he had grabbed but it was keeping his vessel entertained. "Seriously, we're talking about this guy?" Tony took off his glasses and leaned forward, James set down his drink after taking another sip, both of them looked around the place, checking if anyone was looking at them or trying their best to hear their private conversation.

Castiel didn't say a word, he was there to listen and look after the hero, there were no signs of danger around them, Castiel was relieved to know that he wasn't in danger in this universe but he also kept his eyes opened in case Naomi sent down angels ready to fight Castiel and take him back to heaven.

"It's classified information Tony," James whispered at Tony who had leaned closed to his friend in hopes of getting news "okay, there've been nine bombings, the public only knows about three, but here's the thing, nobody can ID the device, there are no bomb cases." Rhodes continued to explain until Tony interrupted saying he could help them.

"Just ask, I got a ton of new tech." Tony started to talk about the new suits and devices he had created and things that Castiel had seen him do but the expression from Rhodes changed, the serious look changes to worried eyes and hand over his lips.

"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?" James Rhodes asked his friend, Tony just looked away from his eyes for a second. Castiel could've answered that question quickly and say he hadn't slept in months, but if he said it out loud, Tony would probably tell him something later on.

"Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did." Tony responded with such ease as if not sleeping was something to be proud of.

"People are concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you." James looked at Castiel and back at Stark "Samuel is worried enough about you that he had to send Castiel to protect you, look after you, and," James looked back at the angel "And I am happy to know someone is looking after you, Tony." Castiel nodded his head.

"You're going to come at me like that?" Tony sighed, Castiel looked behind the hero and saw two kids making their way towards them, a girl and a boy, one shorter and younger than the other. Castiel looked at Rhodes, indicating him the appearance of the minors now behind Tony.

"No, look, I'm not trying to be a dic," James cleared his throat "tator." His posture changed, straightened up, and moved back, shifting in his seat.

"Do you mind signing my drawing?" The young girl asked, the piece of paper in her hands was now placed on the table near Tony.

"If Richard doesn't mind." Tony's hand pointed at the soldier, his chuckle was a response that he was okay with it "Are you all right with this, dick?" He jokingly asked, James just agreed on it. Tony looked up at the girl, smiling at her "What's your name?" He asked with the red crayon on his hand.

"Erin." She smiled back at him

"I loved you in a Christmas story, by the way." Tony leaned close to the smaller boy, Castiel looked at the kid and chuckled, he didn't understand what Tony meant but he imagined it was something funny.

James Rhodes kept on talking to Tony about how dangerous it was starting to get, how things have changed after the New York attack, Castiel could see a sudden change in Tony's body language, even though his face showed a smile to the kids, his eyes were lost, his hands trembled on the paper but Tony hadn't noticed the force he was putting on the crayon.

Castiel looked down at Tony's hands, the sudden sound of the crayon breaking put the man in some sort of worry and the angel wasn't the only one to have noticed this, James Rhodes placed his hand on his back, asking if he was okay, Tony was sudden to put his hand on his face, his breathing suddenly got heavy.

"I broke the crayon" He whispered, Castiel leaned forward at the hero, the kid whispered something to Tony that the angel couldn't hear but whatever he had said really made Tony terrified, he jumped in his seat, James called out his name but got no response. Castiel jumped on his seat too, he followed behind him, pushing people aside, the angel looked for Tony between the crowd, he was faster than him at this moment and the angel saw how the other man got into his suit, kneeling down.

"Castiel, what is happening?" James appeared beside him, the only response he could give his was a shaking head and shrug, James got close to Tony knocking on his helmet. "Come on, man, this isn't a good look. Open up." He said looking behind him. He was right, people were staring at the armor.

"Castiel." The whispered voice of Dean was heard around the angel, Dean wasn't there but he was, he was calling him for help, people were too interested in the scene between Tony and James to notice the trenchcoat man standing between the crowd. So he vanished, he disappeared in the group of people. And now he was standing in the New York apartment the Winchester siblings were living in thanks to SHIELD's help.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel smiled, the older Winchester was seating by the bar stool in the kitchen, Sam was in the living room, a grin on his face as he greeted the angel as well.

"Cas, please tell me we can go back home, as much as I like being here, we have things to do in our universe, I have tried calling for Gabriel but he hasn't answered any of our callings." Dean turned to look at the angel. Castiel sighed, Gabriel had been off the angel radar, and even though Castiel had tried to contact him with the help of either Aria or Samuel, they haven't gotten lucky.

"I have been talking to Fury about our situation, things seem to be complicating as time passes, everything has been different but I will have a solution to our problem soon." Castiel said, he took a few steps forward, his eyes looking at both brothers who weren't too sure about the words Castiel spoke.

"So you're telling me Castiel, that there's no way we can go back right now?" Sam questioned the angel who nodded his head in response to him, the older Winchester sibling placed down the coffee cup on the counter, looking at the angel in disbelief of what he had said a few moments before. "But you, we thought that we had an opportunity now, how is that possible?"

"Ever since the New York attack things have changed and they have been very weird, with you guys coming here, seems like it has altered something in our and in this universe too. I think we're going to be stuck here for a while, but, I will be in contact with Fury, I will make sure to see if we could help him in SHIELD, you guys could do something there." Castiel explained looking at the brothers who weren't convinced by this.

"Cas, we hunt ghosts and demons, we don't know anything about this stuff, we kill those monsters." Dean answered back at the angel.

"I know Dean, but your knowledge of hunting could help them in some way, how? That's for you two to find out, I'll be keeping you guys posted in any further notices." Castiel apologized again for not having a solution, he could feel the impatience in them and he wouldn't lie, Castiel wanted to return to his universe, he felt responsible for bringing them here, the least he could do is have them entertained, distracted from their problems. Castiel had teleported to their New York apartment, just to try and talk to the brothers before he headed back to Malibu and help Stark in any other task.

"Well, thank you Cas, I better get going, I have to do some things, oh and Cas," Dean looked at the angel "Tell Fury I will help him in any way." Dean picked up his jacket from the chair and left the apartment.

"Sam, if you need to speak to me for anything or just want to talk, you are welcomed to visit me in the Stark house, the one in Malibu, just contact me." Castiel said looking down at Sam, the younger brother grinned and waved him goodbye, seeing the angel disappear from the room.

"Yeah, just place it on here please," Tony said as he saw a moving truck enter the home, somehow they had managed to fit inside without any problem. "That's perfect, thanks guys."

"What is going on here?" Castiel asked as he walked beside Tony, he looked at him and then back at the door, seeing the truck making a stop, the doors opened wide showing a big bunny. Castiel was confused at the sudden change in Tony, it wasn't too long ago when he had experienced something that triggered him and now he seemed okay as if nothing had happened.

"Castiel, nice to see you back, where did you vanish to? I mean I know I left without notice but, where did you go to?" Tony asked, with crossed arms he turned to look at him. Castiel hadn't thought of what answer he could give, he just couldn't say he vanished and went to New York since that wasn't believable.

"I had work to do with Samuel, he brought me here." He cleared his throat, Tony bought it and nodded his head, Castiel looked back at the big bunny "Is this for Pepper?" He questioned, Tony, nodded his head again the angel just turned his attention back to the hero. "Is there a problem going on?"

"Maybe, but I hope this bunny could be a solution to avoid bigger problems once she gets home, come on Castiel, you are going to help me with some suits." Tony patted his back and headed inside, Castiel was now more confused about the sudden change of mood.

"Tony, don't you need to rest? You have to sleep, it has been days since you slept over two hours, you need to get your energy back."

"Castiel, I don't to sleep, I need to work and I need your help, so stop going all security guard on me and be a partner, help me downstairs before Pepper gets here." Castiel didn't say another word, he sighed and followed him downstairs. Castiel had to keep him safe and now, he was feeling like he was part of the problem.