Dean/Cas Big Bang - I Do(not) Want to Set the World on Fire 3/10
Part 1: Worldly Acclaim (I've Lost All) | Part 2: I'm Dreaming of (the Goal)
Dean runs. He’s killed Azazel and managed, barely, to escape the compound. He had been held since he found Dad trying to stop them from continuing Project Purity. Dad was so obsessed he lured Dean into the insane Vault 112, and tried to get the robots to kill them when Dean managed to get out of there.
Yeah, he doesn’t care what Braun said, the man was twisted and could rot in his self-made prison. Of course, he isn’t expecting Dad to be outside, willing to kill if it meant stopping the project Doctor Li wants to continue, in the name of a long-dead man and his deceased family, dead in the fire that took Mom as well.
Dean stopped the thought as he ran, trying hard to only focus on escape. Shots rang out around him, a few bits of Enclave-stolen tech and other energy weapons that had come into the hands of that group. He was lucky that they were crap shots, or that Alastair wanted him alive.
Dean stumbled as a shot got close, nicking his leg, and just as whatever damned drugs Alastair had been shoving into him were wearing off. Yes, Dean had gotten addicted to Mentants once, and running the DC Ruins meant he got a bit addicted to Jet as well. And…well, Buffout was really helpful when he went into a few places and needed the caps, ok? Not to mention how much alcohol he found or used to cope when things turned bad. Which was a lot, until Ellen started paying him for it, so now it’s down to manageable levels…kinda.
This wasn’t like coming down from those, or when any of the Docs (or Dean himself) flushed out his addictions with those pre-war chems. He’d had headaches, but right now his whole body felt like it was too cold, his muscles burned from the painful stretching and cuts that Alastair inflicted earlier and the drugs had dulled, and focusing was suddenly very hard to do.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered, dodging to the side and falling to one knee, wincing in pain as the shots either continued to one side or stopped as they looked for him. His left arm is bleeding heavily from a chunk that one of the lucky blasts took out, the lack of burns suggesting a high-caliber gun and not some tech-gun.
Dean managed to focus enough to hope that what he saw in front of him wasn’t a Yao Guai, though with his luck, it was more likely to be a mature, hungry Deathclaw.
Instead, in front of him was something that made him blink, confused by what he was seeing and pretty sure he was hallucinating. Another headache spike and blurred vision, though, didn’t change the image he was getting either, leaving him to gape a bit.
An intact, huge-ass church loomed in front of him.
Dean swallowed, caught between the possible traps in the church, or Alastair. Really, this was a no brainer.
Dean ran for the church.
--
Samandiriel finds the radio shortly after Inias is allowed back near the Gates. His wings are still hurt, but otherwise he seems alright, so long as he stays near Hathor. Their sister was not as badly hurt as some of them, and obviously cares for Inias and his moments of depression. Naomi had said they’ll pass, so long as he has things to do, and so far she’s been proven right.
The radio is odd, but they manage to get some of the news from it, at least. There are two active stations, though Samandiriel manages to find a few others. There’s an odd signal from a man named Wehner, another signaling a river boat is nearby, and some smaller ones, including one with a violin. Mostly, though, the main signals are from a place called Galaxy News Radio and another group called the Enclave. The voice of Three Dog and his co-host, a man named Loki, seem to, at least, date the show while the other is harder. It feels old, or from a time right after the War, but at the same time, it probably comes from somewhere.
Because they dislike the Enclave’s inability to give news, or even to see that the world cannot be so easily changed, GNR is what they listen to, when no one is looking. Uriel is, at first, skeptical but eventually enjoys the songs that he hears, working to not hum along to them. Inias has less bad days, and Hathor, while unhappy at the news, still likes the voices. Rachel and Samandiriel fall for The Adventures of Herbert “Daring” Dashwood, Samandiriel nearly falling out of his seat at the last adventure in Rockopolis.
Castiel finds the whole of it interesting, but ultimately can’t really focus when the signal gets very weak for a few weeks before suddenly becoming strong.
“We’re back, children!” Three Dog’s voice comes through the radio, clearer now as they pause to happily listen to the news they hadn’t heard, “That’s right, from Rivet City to the Republic of Dave, from Canterbury Commons--,”
“Which,” Loki interrupts, “just got rid of their costumed freak problem, and in a spectacular way.”
“Loki, the People need to hear about how we’re back on and not going away!”
“If the Republic of Dave can hear you, they know you’re back on, Three Dog. But welcome back to the channel that doesn’t involve bowing to a lord and master! We got lucky, that Righteous Wanderer of the Wastelands is good with a gun and a wrench.”
Three Dog sighs dramatically, “You gonna tell the story you weren’t here for, or should I?”
“Sorry, go ahead. I’ll give the news from Canterbury after.”
The story tells about a young man that came out of a Vault near a main trade city called Megaton. The man was looking for his father and brother, stopping by GNR when Three Dog mentioned meeting his dad. The young man, who remained nameless and only went by the Lone Wanderer, or the Righteous Wanderer, traveled into the DC Ruins, a place filled with all sorts of baddies, and fixed the satellite that was sending out the radio transmissions.
When he’s done, Loki launches into his own story, about what was going on in Canterbury Commons and reports that, after stopping the ‘masked vigilantes’ from destroying more of the town, the Lone Wanderer ran over to the Temple of the Union for a bit.
“For those not in the know, they’re a group that’s ready to help out slaves, and who are very happy to kill a slaver or ten. I’m just waiting for news of when Paradise Falls suddenly becomes a smokin’ crater. Think our boy will drop a bomb on it?”
“Well, he fixed the one in Megaton, but that Church of the Atom might have somethin’ to say if he took it out.”
“Too bad,” is what Loki says, sounding sad. After that, more and more news slowly comes in. Castiel finds himself surprised and drawn to the strange Righteous Wanderer, as Loki dubs him, and what he does. What little news and story comes from him is a sad one, but also paints his life as that of a hero, a knight or Paladin (“Not the Brotherhood of Steel type,” Three Dog says when it’s first mentioned, “but the whole Fight the Good Fight type.”).
Balthazar doesn’t think the use of the term ‘righteous’ is a coincidence. After what happened before, with the monsters (Super Mutants, they suspect, from Three Dog and Loki’s talk about them) and Michael, some of the Garrisons are wary of Michael. Despite that, and the smaller number in their Garrison compared to others, they are able to function well enough, and understand that some things are dangerous, in the House and the Wastes.
The Gates are breached again, and when they go out, they find two men there. One is holding a weapon, a knife that looks like the ones they wield, and the other has a gun, a deadly smirk on his face and his soul tainted to the darkest black. The tainted one runs when he sees them, as if knowing what they are, but the other man doesn’t lower his weapon. Castiel approached him cautiously, blinking and looking at him as he reaches a hand out to heal the other man, touching the worst wound he can see. He feels a mixture of emotions, so deep and frightening that it almost makes Castiel flinch back and stop the process.
Instead, he finds himself drawn to the man’s eyes, colored a strange green that shifts with his emotions.
Castiel’s power is coursing through the man easily, as if accepted, and Castiel is amazed at what he feels, the various pains and suffering that the man is in, the chemicals trying to poison his body...
Then the man reaches and grabs Castiel’s arm with his other hand, making a strange circuit between the two. His hands are calloused but he’s not gripping tightly, simply holding on. Castiel’s own eyes widen as his power flows through the circuit, becoming energized as it finishes healing the man and returns to Castiel. No one but Inias has healed anyone, and if this was why he saved the two, Castiel could understand, suddenly, how it was Inias became so saddened and a shadow of his former self after they ended up dying.
As he continued to heal the man, though, Castiel saw brief glimpses of the man’s life. He saw a home of fluorescent lighting and coldness, a brother and father, a strange city of metal with an undetonated bomb in the middle. He sees a black dog following the man as he attaches an antenna somewhere, a man speaking to another (arguing, angry) about purified water...
“When the Righteous One comes, he will bring news of the Waters of Life and of Deceitful Men. Of alliances that should not be, and of the Wasteland blooming once more. Guard him well, for he shall lead you to Paradise.”
Castiel hasn’t realized he’s spoken, or that they’re both speaking, until it’s said. He hears the others muttering and somehow, he hears/sees that they might not be ready. He sees the Raiders in their evilness, the Super Mutants as they drag away screaming people who cannot defend themselves, a town full of things that hiss and cut through all armor. His family knows of the dangers, but might not be able to face all of them.
“Castiel,” he hears Uriel’s voice, and then Balthazar’s, as he continues to heal Dean. Dean is the Righteous One, the Righteous Wanderer that Castiel heard of on the radio. Though the Waters of Life are not flowing yet, there are still the ones who hurt him, the man who ran (Alastair) and all that are trying to hurt him. Alastair and the others are the Deceitful Men, who tried to destroy the Righteous One and failed.
“Go,” Castiel says, not able to take his eyes away from Dean, afraid of what will happen if he does. They’re still holding each other’s arms, the connection is still there and flowing, “tell them that I found the Righteous One.”
“Castiel, they won’t believe us,” Balthazar says, moving to try and be in Castiel’s line of sight, “Michael will punish us, you know that.”
“No,” Castiel says, sure of himself, “He needs us to watch the Gates. He has no other Garrison to do that, even if he pushes.”
There is a long pause before there is silence. A few mutter and talk before there is the sound of the Gates closing. He manages to look away, feeling Dean slump a bit at the loss of eye contact.
They were alone, his brothers and sisters having gone back to Heaven. Some part of Castiel was grateful for that - he knew that if they remained, if they tried to rebel against Michael, that something bad would happen. He doesn’t know what, only that it will happen, and end up hurting them even more.
Castiel paused to look over at Dean again. Physically, he’s healed but there are mental and soul-rending scars in him, ones that demand Castiel’s attention, more so then the closing of the Gates and his expulsion from his home. He frowns when he notes that the place his hand gripped Dean now has a burn mark on it, the hand-print exact to his own. Dean’s body is healed, at least, but he appears unhappy in the clothing he’s wearing, shivering as if cold.
Castiel shifts to pick up Dean, the human opening his eyes and looking at him, confused but also not focused. As if coming down from the amounts of Grace put into him. “Castiel?”
“We need to go,” Castiel says. He’s not sure how long it will take before Alastair or someone else comes after them, and he cannot protect Dean while carrying him. “Where will you be safe?”
Dean blinks slowly, putting a head on Castiel’s shoulder before an image appeared, of a city of rusting, broken metal and cars, a bomb in the center but undetonated, a house with a strange mechanical thing.
“Megaton,” Dean manages, murmuring and closing his eyes again. Castiel doesn’t think of what it means, that Dean knows his name already.
The house is metal, and the thing nearby starts to threaten Castiel but stops when it notices Dean. It appears confused, and Castiel ignores it, instead heading upstairs. A radio turns on, changing to the GNR radio station and a soft song as Castiel puts Dean to bed, taking a seat nearby to watch over him.
--
“I can handle a leaky pipe,” Dean insisted, frowning at Dad when he protested Dean going around, “Hell, me and Jonas cleared this place out.”
“I don’t care if you went and already cleared out the damned Mall, you’re not qual--.”
“Considering that I’m in charge of the project, I think I should be the judge of that,” Doctor Li told Dad, glaring him down. Dean shifted uncomfortably, disliking being the center of attention before his Dad relented. “Fine. I’ll stay here, then.”
“No,” Doctor Milligan said, pushing some electrical equipment towards Dad, her own eyes a bit angry, “we need to figure out some of the other problems, and we need someone nearby to protect the team. None of them are really fighters, and if I have to send you both out, we’ll be unprotected. I need you both to hurry.”
Dean nodded, Dad appearing torn between arguing or giving in before nodding as well and the two headed off in opposite directions. Dean knew what Doctor Li and Doctor Milligan were doing - both were still royally pissed at Dad for the whole thing with Vault 112. Dean was too, in a way. Not because he got trapped as a dog, but more because Dad had known what was going on in the Vaults, and that 112 was set up to keep Braun alive and with a group of damned guinea-pigs. Dean didn’t have any problems with leaving the sadist alone after activating the failsafe.
Dad appearing and threatening him, leading Dean fight back, and Dad saying he followed on the pretense of ‘keeping him safe’.
What also hurt was that Sam wasn’t there, and Dad wouldn’t tell Dean anything about what happened to his little brother. It’s a distraction, something constantly nagging the back of Dean’s mind that threatened, at times, to overwhelm his thoughts if he examined it too much.
The man-sized pipe that Dean goes into is open in some areas, allowing for him to look outside as well as find and activate the valve Doctor Li mentioned.
Of course, that was when the damned Vertibird or whatever landed. Dean fell into a crouch the moment he heard it, pulling out the energy-weapon that Harkness had given him, sneaking further along the pipe to where it would dump out before seeing a woman with dark, curling hair and the Enclave power-armor walk up and tap the other guy on the shoulder. Lucky Dean, neither noticed him.
“Meg, stop that.”
“Oh, don’t be such a pansy,” the girl, Meg, muttered as she looked around, a strange knife in her hand. “Where is everyone else?”
“Upstairs, securing the area for Colonel Autumn and Major Alastair.”
“So, just you and me?” she asked, her voice lowering to a purr that the man doesn’t even acknowledge.
“Yes, and we’re on duty, Meg. Lay off.”
“Of course,” Meg said as she moved, sticking the knife into the back of the guy’s neck, in a small space between the power armor’s helmet and main body. “Spoilsport.”
Dean swallowed, hoping that this meant he would have to deal with dead Enclave or them fighting each other, when he saw Meg glance over to the pipe and give a wink.
The hell?
He waited for her to disappear before dropped down to the next level, thankful for training and the few times he’d had to do that after sniping a camp of Raiders or setting up a trap for the others that were coming by. It was easy to get back upstairs, and the screams from outside seemed to cement the fact that something was going down with the Enclave.
Just don’t draw me into this, was all Dean could think as he moved to the Rotunda, where the main tank was and, thus, were Dad and the others should be. Doctor Li spotted him first, and Dean was quick to put a finger to his lips as he heard the argument in the main room.
“-says it doesn’t work, it doesn’t! The hell else do you need?” Dad was yelling, Dean slowly moving up, sneaking a look to see that the Enclave soldiers were around, but that Doctor Milligan and another guy was being held, Dad standing in front of a tall, thin man with salt-and-pepper hair and a look that made Dean uneasy.
“I heard it doesn’t. But I would think you’d at least have some…incentive. And after he ran off to Vault 112?” a dark chuckle. “I know all about his little trip in, and that your wayward son ran in to play hero. How is little Dean-o, by the way?”
“You damned sonuvabitch, leave him out of this!”
“No can do now. He heard about what we need, and that makes him key.”
“Alastair, when we get back, I-“
“You’ll what, Augustus? Report me to Eden? Court-martial me? How cute.” Dean saw the guy, Alastair, hit Augustus so hard that he was reeling, hardly able to stand except for the soldier holding him up. “I never did like you or your lot. The Vaults, those sounded fun, but you never really got the right…people…to deal with them. Braun and his little group? Simple-minded, really. So very simple. Lovely results, but not what I’d have liked to see.” He glances back at Dad, the only one who didn’t have a soldier on. “You were given an order, Winchester, and I thought you’d at least follow through with it. Now, dear Dean-o. Where is he?”
The questions he had were pushed back, with the pain of not knowing Sam’s location, with the questions about Dad leaving the Vault when he did, about all of Dean’s life, and Dean managed a growled, “here” before taking out the two soldiers holding Doctor Milligan and that Autumn guy. Dad and the Autumn guy managed to get out, but Doctor Milligan instead hit a button, closing them in as Alastair grinned, smirking at Dean and the rifle pointed at his head. “What’re you gonna do, Dean? Shoot me? You know that won’t solve this. Too many questions…or are you a good little soldier? Daddy always said you were good at taking orders.”
“KATE! DEAN!” Dad yelled before Dean said, “yeah…I guess I am. Wanna know what dad ordered me to do last?”
There was a flash and a loud bang as Dean shot the equipment. Doctor Milligan turned to stick him with something as Alastair choked, also injecting him with something as the radiation started to overwhelm him. Dean looked over at Doctor Milligan as she coughed once, blood coming up while they both looked over at where Dad was being held back by Doctor Li and some of the others who’d escaped the Enclave.
“KATE! DEAN!”
Dean managed to stay on his feet long enough to stumble to the glass, seeing his father’s horrified look before managing to say, “get out of here” before the radiation overtook his body and he blacked out.
Part 4: Believe (me)
Dean runs. He’s killed Azazel and managed, barely, to escape the compound. He had been held since he found Dad trying to stop them from continuing Project Purity. Dad was so obsessed he lured Dean into the insane Vault 112, and tried to get the robots to kill them when Dean managed to get out of there.
Yeah, he doesn’t care what Braun said, the man was twisted and could rot in his self-made prison. Of course, he isn’t expecting Dad to be outside, willing to kill if it meant stopping the project Doctor Li wants to continue, in the name of a long-dead man and his deceased family, dead in the fire that took Mom as well.
Dean stopped the thought as he ran, trying hard to only focus on escape. Shots rang out around him, a few bits of Enclave-stolen tech and other energy weapons that had come into the hands of that group. He was lucky that they were crap shots, or that Alastair wanted him alive.
Dean stumbled as a shot got close, nicking his leg, and just as whatever damned drugs Alastair had been shoving into him were wearing off. Yes, Dean had gotten addicted to Mentants once, and running the DC Ruins meant he got a bit addicted to Jet as well. And…well, Buffout was really helpful when he went into a few places and needed the caps, ok? Not to mention how much alcohol he found or used to cope when things turned bad. Which was a lot, until Ellen started paying him for it, so now it’s down to manageable levels…kinda.
This wasn’t like coming down from those, or when any of the Docs (or Dean himself) flushed out his addictions with those pre-war chems. He’d had headaches, but right now his whole body felt like it was too cold, his muscles burned from the painful stretching and cuts that Alastair inflicted earlier and the drugs had dulled, and focusing was suddenly very hard to do.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered, dodging to the side and falling to one knee, wincing in pain as the shots either continued to one side or stopped as they looked for him. His left arm is bleeding heavily from a chunk that one of the lucky blasts took out, the lack of burns suggesting a high-caliber gun and not some tech-gun.
Dean managed to focus enough to hope that what he saw in front of him wasn’t a Yao Guai, though with his luck, it was more likely to be a mature, hungry Deathclaw.
Instead, in front of him was something that made him blink, confused by what he was seeing and pretty sure he was hallucinating. Another headache spike and blurred vision, though, didn’t change the image he was getting either, leaving him to gape a bit.
An intact, huge-ass church loomed in front of him.
Dean swallowed, caught between the possible traps in the church, or Alastair. Really, this was a no brainer.
Dean ran for the church.
--
Samandiriel finds the radio shortly after Inias is allowed back near the Gates. His wings are still hurt, but otherwise he seems alright, so long as he stays near Hathor. Their sister was not as badly hurt as some of them, and obviously cares for Inias and his moments of depression. Naomi had said they’ll pass, so long as he has things to do, and so far she’s been proven right.
The radio is odd, but they manage to get some of the news from it, at least. There are two active stations, though Samandiriel manages to find a few others. There’s an odd signal from a man named Wehner, another signaling a river boat is nearby, and some smaller ones, including one with a violin. Mostly, though, the main signals are from a place called Galaxy News Radio and another group called the Enclave. The voice of Three Dog and his co-host, a man named Loki, seem to, at least, date the show while the other is harder. It feels old, or from a time right after the War, but at the same time, it probably comes from somewhere.
Because they dislike the Enclave’s inability to give news, or even to see that the world cannot be so easily changed, GNR is what they listen to, when no one is looking. Uriel is, at first, skeptical but eventually enjoys the songs that he hears, working to not hum along to them. Inias has less bad days, and Hathor, while unhappy at the news, still likes the voices. Rachel and Samandiriel fall for The Adventures of Herbert “Daring” Dashwood, Samandiriel nearly falling out of his seat at the last adventure in Rockopolis.
Castiel finds the whole of it interesting, but ultimately can’t really focus when the signal gets very weak for a few weeks before suddenly becoming strong.
“We’re back, children!” Three Dog’s voice comes through the radio, clearer now as they pause to happily listen to the news they hadn’t heard, “That’s right, from Rivet City to the Republic of Dave, from Canterbury Commons--,”
“Which,” Loki interrupts, “just got rid of their costumed freak problem, and in a spectacular way.”
“Loki, the People need to hear about how we’re back on and not going away!”
“If the Republic of Dave can hear you, they know you’re back on, Three Dog. But welcome back to the channel that doesn’t involve bowing to a lord and master! We got lucky, that Righteous Wanderer of the Wastelands is good with a gun and a wrench.”
Three Dog sighs dramatically, “You gonna tell the story you weren’t here for, or should I?”
“Sorry, go ahead. I’ll give the news from Canterbury after.”
The story tells about a young man that came out of a Vault near a main trade city called Megaton. The man was looking for his father and brother, stopping by GNR when Three Dog mentioned meeting his dad. The young man, who remained nameless and only went by the Lone Wanderer, or the Righteous Wanderer, traveled into the DC Ruins, a place filled with all sorts of baddies, and fixed the satellite that was sending out the radio transmissions.
When he’s done, Loki launches into his own story, about what was going on in Canterbury Commons and reports that, after stopping the ‘masked vigilantes’ from destroying more of the town, the Lone Wanderer ran over to the Temple of the Union for a bit.
“For those not in the know, they’re a group that’s ready to help out slaves, and who are very happy to kill a slaver or ten. I’m just waiting for news of when Paradise Falls suddenly becomes a smokin’ crater. Think our boy will drop a bomb on it?”
“Well, he fixed the one in Megaton, but that Church of the Atom might have somethin’ to say if he took it out.”
“Too bad,” is what Loki says, sounding sad. After that, more and more news slowly comes in. Castiel finds himself surprised and drawn to the strange Righteous Wanderer, as Loki dubs him, and what he does. What little news and story comes from him is a sad one, but also paints his life as that of a hero, a knight or Paladin (“Not the Brotherhood of Steel type,” Three Dog says when it’s first mentioned, “but the whole Fight the Good Fight type.”).
Balthazar doesn’t think the use of the term ‘righteous’ is a coincidence. After what happened before, with the monsters (Super Mutants, they suspect, from Three Dog and Loki’s talk about them) and Michael, some of the Garrisons are wary of Michael. Despite that, and the smaller number in their Garrison compared to others, they are able to function well enough, and understand that some things are dangerous, in the House and the Wastes.
The Gates are breached again, and when they go out, they find two men there. One is holding a weapon, a knife that looks like the ones they wield, and the other has a gun, a deadly smirk on his face and his soul tainted to the darkest black. The tainted one runs when he sees them, as if knowing what they are, but the other man doesn’t lower his weapon. Castiel approached him cautiously, blinking and looking at him as he reaches a hand out to heal the other man, touching the worst wound he can see. He feels a mixture of emotions, so deep and frightening that it almost makes Castiel flinch back and stop the process.
Instead, he finds himself drawn to the man’s eyes, colored a strange green that shifts with his emotions.
Castiel’s power is coursing through the man easily, as if accepted, and Castiel is amazed at what he feels, the various pains and suffering that the man is in, the chemicals trying to poison his body...
Then the man reaches and grabs Castiel’s arm with his other hand, making a strange circuit between the two. His hands are calloused but he’s not gripping tightly, simply holding on. Castiel’s own eyes widen as his power flows through the circuit, becoming energized as it finishes healing the man and returns to Castiel. No one but Inias has healed anyone, and if this was why he saved the two, Castiel could understand, suddenly, how it was Inias became so saddened and a shadow of his former self after they ended up dying.
As he continued to heal the man, though, Castiel saw brief glimpses of the man’s life. He saw a home of fluorescent lighting and coldness, a brother and father, a strange city of metal with an undetonated bomb in the middle. He sees a black dog following the man as he attaches an antenna somewhere, a man speaking to another (arguing, angry) about purified water...
“When the Righteous One comes, he will bring news of the Waters of Life and of Deceitful Men. Of alliances that should not be, and of the Wasteland blooming once more. Guard him well, for he shall lead you to Paradise.”
Castiel hasn’t realized he’s spoken, or that they’re both speaking, until it’s said. He hears the others muttering and somehow, he hears/sees that they might not be ready. He sees the Raiders in their evilness, the Super Mutants as they drag away screaming people who cannot defend themselves, a town full of things that hiss and cut through all armor. His family knows of the dangers, but might not be able to face all of them.
“Castiel,” he hears Uriel’s voice, and then Balthazar’s, as he continues to heal Dean. Dean is the Righteous One, the Righteous Wanderer that Castiel heard of on the radio. Though the Waters of Life are not flowing yet, there are still the ones who hurt him, the man who ran (Alastair) and all that are trying to hurt him. Alastair and the others are the Deceitful Men, who tried to destroy the Righteous One and failed.
“Go,” Castiel says, not able to take his eyes away from Dean, afraid of what will happen if he does. They’re still holding each other’s arms, the connection is still there and flowing, “tell them that I found the Righteous One.”
“Castiel, they won’t believe us,” Balthazar says, moving to try and be in Castiel’s line of sight, “Michael will punish us, you know that.”
“No,” Castiel says, sure of himself, “He needs us to watch the Gates. He has no other Garrison to do that, even if he pushes.”
There is a long pause before there is silence. A few mutter and talk before there is the sound of the Gates closing. He manages to look away, feeling Dean slump a bit at the loss of eye contact.
They were alone, his brothers and sisters having gone back to Heaven. Some part of Castiel was grateful for that - he knew that if they remained, if they tried to rebel against Michael, that something bad would happen. He doesn’t know what, only that it will happen, and end up hurting them even more.
Castiel paused to look over at Dean again. Physically, he’s healed but there are mental and soul-rending scars in him, ones that demand Castiel’s attention, more so then the closing of the Gates and his expulsion from his home. He frowns when he notes that the place his hand gripped Dean now has a burn mark on it, the hand-print exact to his own. Dean’s body is healed, at least, but he appears unhappy in the clothing he’s wearing, shivering as if cold.
Castiel shifts to pick up Dean, the human opening his eyes and looking at him, confused but also not focused. As if coming down from the amounts of Grace put into him. “Castiel?”
“We need to go,” Castiel says. He’s not sure how long it will take before Alastair or someone else comes after them, and he cannot protect Dean while carrying him. “Where will you be safe?”
Dean blinks slowly, putting a head on Castiel’s shoulder before an image appeared, of a city of rusting, broken metal and cars, a bomb in the center but undetonated, a house with a strange mechanical thing.
“Megaton,” Dean manages, murmuring and closing his eyes again. Castiel doesn’t think of what it means, that Dean knows his name already.
The house is metal, and the thing nearby starts to threaten Castiel but stops when it notices Dean. It appears confused, and Castiel ignores it, instead heading upstairs. A radio turns on, changing to the GNR radio station and a soft song as Castiel puts Dean to bed, taking a seat nearby to watch over him.
--
“I can handle a leaky pipe,” Dean insisted, frowning at Dad when he protested Dean going around, “Hell, me and Jonas cleared this place out.”
“I don’t care if you went and already cleared out the damned Mall, you’re not qual--.”
“Considering that I’m in charge of the project, I think I should be the judge of that,” Doctor Li told Dad, glaring him down. Dean shifted uncomfortably, disliking being the center of attention before his Dad relented. “Fine. I’ll stay here, then.”
“No,” Doctor Milligan said, pushing some electrical equipment towards Dad, her own eyes a bit angry, “we need to figure out some of the other problems, and we need someone nearby to protect the team. None of them are really fighters, and if I have to send you both out, we’ll be unprotected. I need you both to hurry.”
Dean nodded, Dad appearing torn between arguing or giving in before nodding as well and the two headed off in opposite directions. Dean knew what Doctor Li and Doctor Milligan were doing - both were still royally pissed at Dad for the whole thing with Vault 112. Dean was too, in a way. Not because he got trapped as a dog, but more because Dad had known what was going on in the Vaults, and that 112 was set up to keep Braun alive and with a group of damned guinea-pigs. Dean didn’t have any problems with leaving the sadist alone after activating the failsafe.
Dad appearing and threatening him, leading Dean fight back, and Dad saying he followed on the pretense of ‘keeping him safe’.
What also hurt was that Sam wasn’t there, and Dad wouldn’t tell Dean anything about what happened to his little brother. It’s a distraction, something constantly nagging the back of Dean’s mind that threatened, at times, to overwhelm his thoughts if he examined it too much.
The man-sized pipe that Dean goes into is open in some areas, allowing for him to look outside as well as find and activate the valve Doctor Li mentioned.
Of course, that was when the damned Vertibird or whatever landed. Dean fell into a crouch the moment he heard it, pulling out the energy-weapon that Harkness had given him, sneaking further along the pipe to where it would dump out before seeing a woman with dark, curling hair and the Enclave power-armor walk up and tap the other guy on the shoulder. Lucky Dean, neither noticed him.
“Meg, stop that.”
“Oh, don’t be such a pansy,” the girl, Meg, muttered as she looked around, a strange knife in her hand. “Where is everyone else?”
“Upstairs, securing the area for Colonel Autumn and Major Alastair.”
“So, just you and me?” she asked, her voice lowering to a purr that the man doesn’t even acknowledge.
“Yes, and we’re on duty, Meg. Lay off.”
“Of course,” Meg said as she moved, sticking the knife into the back of the guy’s neck, in a small space between the power armor’s helmet and main body. “Spoilsport.”
Dean swallowed, hoping that this meant he would have to deal with dead Enclave or them fighting each other, when he saw Meg glance over to the pipe and give a wink.
The hell?
He waited for her to disappear before dropped down to the next level, thankful for training and the few times he’d had to do that after sniping a camp of Raiders or setting up a trap for the others that were coming by. It was easy to get back upstairs, and the screams from outside seemed to cement the fact that something was going down with the Enclave.
Just don’t draw me into this, was all Dean could think as he moved to the Rotunda, where the main tank was and, thus, were Dad and the others should be. Doctor Li spotted him first, and Dean was quick to put a finger to his lips as he heard the argument in the main room.
“-says it doesn’t work, it doesn’t! The hell else do you need?” Dad was yelling, Dean slowly moving up, sneaking a look to see that the Enclave soldiers were around, but that Doctor Milligan and another guy was being held, Dad standing in front of a tall, thin man with salt-and-pepper hair and a look that made Dean uneasy.
“I heard it doesn’t. But I would think you’d at least have some…incentive. And after he ran off to Vault 112?” a dark chuckle. “I know all about his little trip in, and that your wayward son ran in to play hero. How is little Dean-o, by the way?”
“You damned sonuvabitch, leave him out of this!”
“No can do now. He heard about what we need, and that makes him key.”
“Alastair, when we get back, I-“
“You’ll what, Augustus? Report me to Eden? Court-martial me? How cute.” Dean saw the guy, Alastair, hit Augustus so hard that he was reeling, hardly able to stand except for the soldier holding him up. “I never did like you or your lot. The Vaults, those sounded fun, but you never really got the right…people…to deal with them. Braun and his little group? Simple-minded, really. So very simple. Lovely results, but not what I’d have liked to see.” He glances back at Dad, the only one who didn’t have a soldier on. “You were given an order, Winchester, and I thought you’d at least follow through with it. Now, dear Dean-o. Where is he?”
The questions he had were pushed back, with the pain of not knowing Sam’s location, with the questions about Dad leaving the Vault when he did, about all of Dean’s life, and Dean managed a growled, “here” before taking out the two soldiers holding Doctor Milligan and that Autumn guy. Dad and the Autumn guy managed to get out, but Doctor Milligan instead hit a button, closing them in as Alastair grinned, smirking at Dean and the rifle pointed at his head. “What’re you gonna do, Dean? Shoot me? You know that won’t solve this. Too many questions…or are you a good little soldier? Daddy always said you were good at taking orders.”
“KATE! DEAN!” Dad yelled before Dean said, “yeah…I guess I am. Wanna know what dad ordered me to do last?”
There was a flash and a loud bang as Dean shot the equipment. Doctor Milligan turned to stick him with something as Alastair choked, also injecting him with something as the radiation started to overwhelm him. Dean looked over at Doctor Milligan as she coughed once, blood coming up while they both looked over at where Dad was being held back by Doctor Li and some of the others who’d escaped the Enclave.
“KATE! DEAN!”
Dean managed to stay on his feet long enough to stumble to the glass, seeing his father’s horrified look before managing to say, “get out of here” before the radiation overtook his body and he blacked out.
Part 4: Believe (me)