The Doctor hadn't visited New York City in some time. He wasn't sure why, but he'd never really had a good view of it after the whole ordeal a few years before with some secret organization whose name he'd forgotten. In the end it had all been sorted out. But the memory still soiled his view of the city.

"So, where do we begin?" Dean wondered, stretching as they all exited the TARDIS.

"With investigation, of course." The Doctor replied. "We need to see if anyone has any knowledge of these freak lightning storms."

"We should split up, I think." John suggested. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"Castiel is with me!" The Doctor exclaimed quickly, much to Dean's dismay, as he clapped a hand down on the angel's shoulder.

Sam smiled. "Alright then, Dean will come with me, and John and Sherlock will go together. We meet back here in three hours."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and so they parted ways. But as they did the Doctor had to wonder if splitting up was such a good idea. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, almost as if someone was watching him. But the last thing he needed right then was for his thoughts to distract him while he was walking beside someone as amazingly interesting as an angel of the Lord. So he shrugged the misgivings off and turned to ask the Castiel a question, only to see the angel's violent blue eyes locked on him already.

"You feel it too."

The Doctor blinked. "Sorry?"

"Someone is watching us."

Narrowing his eyes, the Doctor nodded. Castiel was sharper than he thought. Suddenly, surprising him, Castiel spun around, planting himself in front of the Doctor and pulling an odd-looking silver dagger-like-thingy out from beneath his coat. For about half-a-second, the Doctor had no idea what was happening, and then he saw a man standing a few feet away from Castiel. A man who, just moments before, had not been there

The newcomer was relatively tall, beating Castiel by a few inches, with mussed, light-brown hair and steely gray eyes. An odd abundance of stubble on his chin and a careless rumple in his clothes spoke of endless running – but from who or what, the Doctor could only guess.

"Balthazar," Castiel said, "What do you want?"

Balthazar smiled, putting up his hands in a sign of peace. "You saved my life before, brother. I've come to return the favor."

"Brother?" The Doctor's eyes widened. "Are you an angel too?"

Balthazar glanced at him and nodded. "Oh, but please don't lump me in with those prudes who follow Raphael. I dug the stick out of my ass eons ago."

The Doctor grinned.

"Balthazar is a rouge angel," Castiel explained, frowning as he slid his weapon back into his coat with a flourish.

"I see."

Castiel fixed his eyes on his brother, "So, what did you want to warn me about?"

"There are odd things happening here, as I'm sure you've noticed." Balthazar's gray eyes flickered. "I don't know, Cas. All I know is that I should stay away, and so should you."

"Who – or what – is making the lightning storms?" The Doctor queried. "Do you know?"

Balthazar shook his head. "All I know is that neither angels nor demons have any part in it."

Castiel's brown furrowed. "Then why –?"

"Tell me you can't feel it, Cas." Balthazar interrupted. "Tell me you can feel that innate uneasiness – that unexplainable anxiety that hasn't left even me since I entered the city. Tell me you can't, and I'll leave you alone."

Castiel's eyes lost their wary glimmer and he nodded. "I feel it."

"So do I." The Doctor piped up. "Like someone is watching us."

"Yes," Balthazar seemed to barely suppress a shudder. "I don't like it, Cas. So once I learned that you were here, I came to warn you. Something just isn't right."

"That's sort of the whole reason we came here, though." Cas offered him an apologetic smile. "Thank you, Balthazar. But I cannot leave."

"Suit yourself." Balthazar shrugged, and he was gone in an instant.

"Well, that was interesting," The Doctor commented.

Castiel frowned. "Very little frightens my brother. Balthazar is conceited and overly self-confident, at best. So to think that he is also bothered by this 'unexplainable anxiety' as he put it, is . . . worrying, to say the least."

"So, what do you want to do now?"

Castiel gave him a deadpan look. "Keep investigating."

The Doctor grinned in response. "I knew I liked you for a reason."

X X X

"Tony Stark?"

Sam nodded. "A lot of the people I questioned mentioned either him or his tower."

"Same here," Dean glanced down at the pad he'd scribbled a few notes in. "I've got at least three mentions of him out of the five people I talked to."

"You do know who he is, though, right?"

Dean paused. "What?"

"Don't you ever watch the news?" Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's blank look. "Tony Stark? He's Iron Man!"

"Iron what?"

"Iron Man! He's a genius, he created this super suit, and he's basically a superhero."

Dean scoffed. "You are such a nerd."

"Come on, Dean. Everyone knows who Iron Man is."

"Not me." Dean frowned, "Are you sure you're not mixing up reality with a TV show, or something? It wouldn't be the first time."

Sam gave him a bitchface like no other. "Look, just trust me on this, okay? I have this feeling that the lightning has something to do with him and his iron suit. Also, there have been reports of other people in the city lately – people with superpowers."

"It's your nerd dreams come true, Sam!"

Sam punched him on the arm. "Seriously, Dean."

"Alright, alright. Fine. I'll trust you." Dean shook his head. Superheroes. Ha. Leave it to my nerd brother.

X X X

"Sherlock!"

The view from the top of the five-story building gave him a better view than from the ground, and in the distance Sherlock could see it. The sky was flashing with lightning; bolt after bolt, and yet there wasn't a cloud in sight.

Amazing.

John caught up to him just then, climbing over the last rung of the ladder that led up to the roof and moving to stand beside his friend.

"Look there, John." Sherlock pointed. "Sam was right."

John's eyes widened. "No way."

Sherlock continued to stare, entranced. He'd seen many things in his life, but nothing ever as intricate or beautiful as this.

"Do you think that this was caused by more aliens?" John gasped, instantly thinking of the Doctor.

Sherlock could not reply as something suddenly caught his eye, off in the distance, where the lighting was originating. If he looked hard enough he could almost imagine that he saw a man there in the sky, wielding a hammer that seemed to be the source of the lightning. But when he blinked, the man was gone.

. . . What?

"Sherlock?" John frowned at his friend. "You okay?"

"No." Sherlock murmured, "I just saw something impossible."

"Even more impossible than a lighting storm with no storm clouds?"

Sherlock glanced at John, his eyes wide with excitement. "Yes."