Why now?

[cityship]

It was the worst possible time for it. The crew was about to be embroiled in a battle for their lives. Half of them were infested with alien parasites and restrained in MedBay.

||Pod Release Protocols Initating,|| Stacy's familiar voice sounded out to all the podmates.

In the Pod Caverns, there were the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop.

Comments

[pie_bitches]

Dean just sort of lays there for a second, blinking, and then he sits up, looking grossed out. What the hell?

"... Ew." He grumbles, trying to wipe the slime off his arm.

[cityship]

He's in a huge cavernous room, that seems to go on for miles. Clusters of faintly glowing pods like the one he just broke free from are gathered in bunches along the walls and floors, and around ramps and walkways that spiral off and up into the distance. Inside each is the faint outline of a humanoid shape--although some aren't quite so humanoid.

When he starts to get feeling back in his skin, he'll realize that the chamber is muggy and warm.

[pie_bitches]

Right, so Dean's all in one piece, and very naked. He doesn't mind the naked bit, really, that's easily fixable, and even if it's not, clothes are not his number one priority anyway. Where he is, however, is what he needs to know, closely followed by where Sam is.

The glowing pods are weird, but it's mostly the warm, humid feeling in the room that creeps him out. For the moment, he ignores both that and the people around him, and shouts:

"Sam! Hey, Sam!" He pauses, then louder, "SAMMY!"

[cityship]

A hologram blinks in front of him. "Sam who?"

She accesses the crew roster. Dean is now listed on it.

"You're Sam Winchester's brother?"

[pie_bitches]

Oh, that gets his attention. Dean stares at the hologram, and he's only silent for a minute, until the protective instincts kick in, and hard.

"You know Sam? Where is he?" Dean steps forward, looking half furious, half worried. "Tell me!"

[cityship]

"That would be the problem. I don't know. This is a bit difficult to explain, but right now, we're on a massive organic spaceship. You and everyone in these Caverns have been abducted onto this ship. I'm an AI and even I was taken, kidnapped and imprisoned in the ship's computer by the main AI of the ship, Stacy. Others woke up long before you and have been active on the ship. Your brother was one of them."

Was.

[pie_bitches]

Dean's used to danger, abduction, all that jazz. He's confident he can deal with whatever happens, because he has before. Really, dying doesn't matter to him. He's died once already, and as much as he'd hate to do it again, he's not afraid.

Besides, a giant organic spaceship is not the weirdest thing he's ever seen.

But when this AI says his brother was one of them, Dean's eyes narrow. His voice comes out as a growl.

"What do you mean, was?"

[cityship]

"Until recently, your brother was an active member of the crew, but something's gone wrong. Several members of the crew started to attack other members of the crew. They seemed to be under the control of some malign entity or entities--your brother was one of them. They must have sabotaged the ship's sensors, because all sensory input cut out. I'm independent of the main AI and that's why I'm still functional, but without the ship's sensors operational, I have no way of observing what's happened since then."

[pie_bitches]

"... Shit!" Dean cusses, going straight through the hologram. She's not important anymore. He's got his info and that's all he needs. He'll find Sam himself, if he has to, and whatever is possessing Sam or hurting him or whatever will be dead very soon.

It's probably an odd sight, a naked Dean stomping off without any idea as to where he's going, shouting for Sam. Maybe if he yells loud enough, someone will take him to Sam.

"Sammy! God dammit, Sam, answer me!"

[cityship]

"Would you stop running around like a grunt?" the hologram flickers and jumps from projector to projector to keep up with him.

"I can help you."

Lights appear in glowing pustules along the floor, leading up to a ramp and a winding walkway that spirals upwards.

[pie_bitches]

Dean pauses, and stop, though he's twitchy. He needs to be in action, moving, but it said it could help. And then the lights appear, and Dean's running up the ramp and going as quickly as possible, not bothering to say thanks.

There was something wrong, and Dean had to fix it.

"Is Sam this way?" He shouts to the ceiling, or wherever that hologram is. He's not paying attention.

[cityship]

"Clothing is this way. Then your belongings."

She adds, "Including weapons."

When he reaches the top of the ramp, he'll find himself in a circular room with green-black vines dangling from the ceiling, and a metal circle on the floor that indicates where he's supposed to stand.

[pie_bitches]

"I don't need-"

But Dean doesn't finish his sentence, because yes, he does need clothes and his gun. One, nobody takes a naked man seriously, and two, a gun or weapon would be nice for killing whatever had Sam. So Dean sighs, and steps forward warily, eying the vines.

"... I don't like the look of those things." He grumbles, but he steps forward into the circle anyway.

[cityship]

"'Disgusting but harmless' applies," says Cortana. "The vines clothe you in an organic body-suit. I'm told it's uncomfortable, but not painful."

[pie_bitches]

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get on with it, I got things to do." Dean growls in irritation, hyped up.

[cityship]

"Step onto the circle then."