10x02 - Bad Rain - Part Four: Streaming Life
Episode number: 10x02 of Season 10 Fan Fiction (S10FF)
Title: Bad Rain
Subtitle: Streaming Life
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 2,384
Rating: PG-13/Teen
Warnings: language, graphic descriptions of violence, medical scenarios, sexual innuendo
Now. Castiel and Dean inspected the motel room. Dodge had left luggage behind, but Sam hadn't. And his truck wasn't in the lot.
"Something was in the bathroom," Castiel said. "Shifter, ghost, werewolf, vampire."
"So four monsters?" Dean asked.
"I am uncertain."
"What does that mean?"
Cas replied, "It means that I can sense all four, but only traces from one individual. Do you think this is because of The Serum?"
"I don't know, but we need to figure it out," Dean replied more loudly than he intended.
Cas raised his voice to match Dean's. "Didn't Sam tell you where he was going? How can we work a case with him and Dodge without the appropriate information?"
"He said they'd be here!"
That's when the door came crashing in. Castiel saw a woman, gun at the ready, moments before she spoke.
"FBI! Show me your hands!" she yelled.
The angel grabbed his hunter and teleported back to the Impala.
"What the hell just happened?" Dean asked from behind the wheel.
"I believe the FBI is looking for Dodge," Cas remarked.
Dean turned the key and drove off immediately. Whoever broke into the motel room didn't run back to her car to follow them, which the hunter took as a good sign.
"There was a strong smell of bleach in the bathroom," Cas added.
"Yeah, Cas, I noticed."
"I believe Sam tried to remove any evidence of the creature from the room," the angel said.
"Cleaning up?"
"Yes. Perhaps one of the monsters followed them back to the motel, and they were forced to kill it."
"We need to figure out where Sammy is," Dean said. "Gotta warn him that the FBI is busting down doors looking for his girlfriend."
Dodge waited with Sliver until he woke up.
"You got a poker face," Sliver said. "How am I doing?"
"The doctor's got something to try but no guarantees. I've got a question for you," she said. "Why did Crosby stick you with us?"
"I don't know. Maybe he wanted you to watch me die, so you could see that the EDA isn't killing people."
"We've got evidence that says otherwise," Sam said as he joined them. "Video footage of a group beating one of the victims before he was found dead."
"Not everybody keeps their word," Sliver replied sadly. "Can't blame them. It's hard to sit in the shadows, waiting to die. When one of us goes rogue, all the EDA can do is try to cover it up. Make the deaths look as human as possible."
"Crosby could've told us all this without kidnapping us or knocking us out," Dodge said.
"He doesn't trust outsiders," Sliver explained. "And he's not known for his kindness."
"We need to put the patient through an MRI," Natalie interrupted. "Sliver? Can you keep yourself still?"
"Not without a chemical restraint."
Marie received a call from one Stanley Cooper, the lab tech that handled the goopy sample from Dodge's bathroom.
"Stan?" she asked. "You found something?"
"This is some X-Files crap you sent me, Marie," Stan replied. "You got DNA that can't be categorized as human or animal. Preliminary tests, of course, but they're pretty damn confusing. Any idea what that sample is from?"
"No, it was bagged but not marked," Marie invented quickly. "Thanks for letting me know. If you find anything else, give me a call."
"Sure will, but don't hold your breath."
She hung up and stared at the composite sketches in front of her. She had asked a computer artist to put them together, and she wound up with eight facial images, all based on the two men she'd seen earlier that day.
She could run them through facial recognition, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. And this wasn't something she could keep on the down-low, either. People would ask questions, the kind she couldn't invent a good enough lie about.
Then she received a text message:
FROM: Dodge
MESSAGE: Sorry for not picking up. Got a minor concussion and laid up in the hospital. Doc's insisted on bed rest. Will call as soon as possible.
A concussion that prevented her from answering the phone? Did Dodge really expect her to believe that?
Her mind made up, Marie called in a long-overdue favor with Mac Greer, one of the IT forensics guys. He could run facial recognition labeled as a random test or something, which was as good as it gets for keeping stuff like that off the books. Then she made an official request for the GPS coordinates of Dodge's phone.
Come hell or high water, she was going to figure out what her partner was wrapped up in.
Natalie, Dodge, and Sam stood in the veterinary MRI control room, waiting for the scan to complete.
"So, you do this a lot?" Dodge asked.
"Mostly treating hunters," Natalie replied. "I studied medicine before switching to veterinary work. I was raised as a witch. Guess you can say I was groomed for this."
There was a brief pause as she flipped through the images on the screen. Then she added, "From what I gathered, the others became incredibly violent, attacking people at random for hours or days before dying. You mentioned forensics from other bodies. Do you know what they died from? Clinically, I mean."
Sam replied, "Internal decapitation."
"That might explain this," Natalie said, highlighting a portion of one of the scans. "The top three cervical vertebra have an anomaly. Supernatural entities sometimes have hidden or transformative physiologies. It could be that the Purge's transition introduces a physical change like this that puts the individual at a high risk of internal decapitation."
"You lost me," Dodge said.
"Basically, this is not normal anatomy. Sometimes abnormal anatomy can put people at risk for certain kinds of injuries. For example, someone with weak ankles might sprain a knee or hip while performing tasks that the average person performs without injury. This particular variation of the cervical vertebra raises the likelihood of a fatal injury resulting from trauma that would otherwise only result in minor neck pain."
"You're saying that this stuff makes them simultaneously violent and vulnerable," Dodge said. "More vulnerable than they've ever been in their entire lives."
"That's why they all died the same way and why they all appeared to be human," Sam said. "After death, I mean. The serum made them human... it basically cured them to death."
"We need to paralyze Sliver," Dodge said.
"What?" Sam asked.
"A temporary paralysis from the neck-down could prevent him from dying during the last part of the transition," Natalie said, agreeing with Dodge. "Doctors use this technique for people with uncontrollable movements when they need to do an MRI or medical procedure. The patient is awake, aware, but can't move, voluntarily or otherwise. That would certainly prevent cervical injuries."
"So, let's do it," Dodge said.
"It's not something we can shoot him up with indefinitely," Natalie said. "We need to wait as long as possible, at least a few hours for me to get the right drugs. We wait until he becomes violent again, then we paralyze him."
"What about in the meantime?" Sam asked.
"You and your friend here will have to keep him still by holding him down or tranquilizing him."
Dodge nodded. "I'll be right back, I've got to make sure my partner doesn't come looking while we're here."
Sam and Dodge took turns holding Sliver down whenever he began to buck the restraints. For the most part, his outbursts were from pain and fear, though a few times the movements were involuntary.
After about eight hours, vampire teeth descended and wouldn't retract. Werewolf claws appeared soon after that, but he remained docile and confused. Then his skin started to slough again, which made holding him down damn near impossible.
They were struggling to tranquilize him when someone barged into the room.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Sam turned and saw Agent Acevedo, dressed in a suit and absolutely furious.
Dodge asked, "Marie, what are you doing here?"
"You need to leave," Natalie added. "You have no right to be here."
"What are you doing to that man?" Marie demanded.
"We're trying to save his life," Sam replied.
Sliver snarled. His eyes turned from fearful to vindictive, and he began to rip at his restraints, howling and hissing.
"We have to do it now," Natalie said. "Put that away," she ordered when Marie drew her gun.
"Help us hold him still," Dodge said to Marie.
Marie obliged, but Sam could tell she wanted answers, especially when the skin started slipping off in her hands. Natalie administered the shot, and just a few seconds later, Sliver became still, though the vengeful look in his eyes remained.
"What the hell?" Marie said as she pulled away from Sliver, hands covered in skin slough. "Dodge, what is going on?"
"I, uh, need to make a call," Sam said abruptly, sensing the two partners needed to speak. "I'll be at the truck."
With that, he left and tried to call Dean again. When that failed, he prayed to Castiel.
"Uh, Cas, it's Sam. I'm just praying because I can't call. I'm okay. So is Dodge, but we've run into her partner, and she just saw some stuff... it's not good. Anyway, I'm okay, and sorry for not thinking of this sooner. You guys should keep away as long as Acevedo is here."
Marie couldn't believe what she was hearing or seeing.
"You said you had a head injury," Marie said.
"I do," Dodge replied. "His issues were more severe."
"You mean the fact that his skin is molting and he has claws and teeth like a carnival freak?" Marie asked.
"That's part of it. He's like the five victims in New Jersey."
"I've seen their bodies. They're nothing like this," Marie replied.
"Stay and watch. See for yourself. We think that paralyzing him will protect him from the injuries that killed the others."
"You're serious?"
"Yeah."
"I want you to tell me what's going on," she said. "I mean it, Dodge, no double speak or half truths."
"Fine. But you won't believe me."
"Try me."
"This guy's called Sliver. He was born a shapeshifter. That means he can transform into other people. That stuff on your hands? It's his skin. He sloughs it off when he shifts into someone else."
"Right, and the teeth and claws are him pretending to be a jackal?" Marie said sarcastically.
"No, he's been trying to become human. The treatment he took is doing this to him. The muscle spasms, the rage, the teeth, the claws."
"That's the opposite of becoming human."
"No kidding."
Marie bit her lip, but she couldn't hold back. "Dodge, if this guy had the ability to become anyone he wanted, why would he give it up?"
"Once he gets through this, he can explain that to you," she replied.
"What's 'this'? What is happening to him?"
Dodge said, "All our victims died of internal decapitation. We think it happens during the last phase of the treatment, uncontrollable movements. So we've paralyzed him from the neck down to protect him."
"You've finally lost it," Marie said.
"Marie, I - "
"Don't, Dodge," Marie interrupted. "I just... just don't. Okay?"
"You sure he's okay?" Dean asked.
"He assured me of such," Cas replied.
Dean was pissed that his brother took his sweet time replying, but at least he was all right.
"What should we do now?" the angel asked.
"Nothing. At least until Sammy calls asking for backup."
"I was referring to the fact that we are being followed," Cas said.
"What?"
"That blue car has been parked at three of the last four lots," Cas explained. "And now I see it behind us."
"Maybe we should meet this guy," Dean said.
"What if it's the FBI?"
"Then you zap us outta there, got it?"
Dean pulled up to the next diner he saw. He took a seat near the window so he could watch the parking lot.
Sure enough, the blue car Cas pointed out circled the block a few times before parking nearby. The driver, a woman, got out and came into the diner.
She saw him looking right at her, and she smiled. Then she walked over to their table.
"Can I join you fellas?" she asked brightly.
"Werewolf," Cas whispered to Dean.
"Sure, just remember that I know what takes you out. Silver to the heart," Dean replied.
"No need for that," she said. "I'm Sharvari."
"Howdy, Sharvari. I'm Dean, and this is Cas. Why aren't we shooting you dead right now?"
"I was looking for the tall guy and the woman, but kept running into you two. You know them. I can smell it. So I figured I could give you two a message."
"What's that?" Dean asked.
"Six-one two-one Garden Square, Hemlock, New Jersey," she replied.
"What's there?"
"Proof that there were more than five," Sharvari replied.
"Five what?" Castiel asked.
"Victims. Of the Purge."
"Yeah, we heard all about that sob story. Monsters wanting to be human and dying for it. Why should we believe it?" Dean asked.
"Because it's true," she replied. "And because the EDA is for monsters who just want to live. We've got rules: no killing, no maiming, no turning people, and no media attention. The Purge has ruined us, after nearly four years of safety. Hunters don't listen, but I convinced some folks to let me at least try. You do know the tall hunter and the woman, don't you?"
"Yeah, we know them," Dean said. "We don't know you."
Sharvari smiled. She said, "Six-one, two-one Garden Square, Hemlock, New Jersey. Tell the tall hunter and the woman it's from Crosby."
"Who the hell is Crosby?" Dean asked.
"I'll be going now. Don't follow me."
She stood up and left. Dean wanted to follow, but Castiel held him back.
"You're just gonna let her go?" Dean demanded.
"She might've just given us the address where Sam and Dodge are. What's more important? Knowing your brother is safe or following a random werewolf?"
"Fine, but if I see that bitch again, she's not just gonna walk away from me."
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