2083, [3/7]; Sam, Dean, Castiel; AU, Gen, R
title: 2083
author: monicawoe
wordcount: ~5800 total (2000 this chapter)
characters: Sam, Dean, Castiel, Zachariah
warnings: some violence, and technobabble
story summary: written for scifi_spn for this prompt:Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon bio-tech. He knows it's wrong, that it's sick, but he just can't stop. He adds little enhancements bit by bit, stuff nobody will notice. But it gets out of hand, and there's no turning back.
chapter summary: Sam visits Dean.
part 2
Angelic architecture had always been a little unsettling to Sam (hulking structures of glass and metal, honeycombed windows giving the monstrosities a hive-like appearance), but standing in front of their local headquarters, Machen, he felt absolute dread. He took a deep breath and checked to make sure his mod-dampeners were still turned all the way up. They wouldn’t do him much good once he got inside, but at the moment, all he really wanted was to get inside in the first place.
Dean would agree to see him. He would. Then Sam could tell him everything he’d learned and try to talk Dean out of making the biggest mistake of his life.
When the doors opened at Sam’s approach, his left foot twitched a little, nearly taking a step backwards. The interior of the building was so bright it hurt to look at, and it made Sam even more self-conscious of his clothing. His leather jacket was riddled with small holes, quite a few them acquired the same night he’d lost a chunk of his leg, and his pants…weren’t even his. Ruby had found a pair of Brady’s old jeans that fit Sam well enough, but they weren’t exactly new either.
Smoothing down his shirt as best as he could, he swallowed his pride and reminded himself why he’d come. Dean had to know the truth. He deserved to know.
Sam walked into the massive, pristine lobby and headed for the circular desk in the center of the floor. The man stationed at the front desk smiled when he approached and said, “Hello sir, how may I assist you today?”
Wondering if his dampeners were more effective than he’d thought, Sam smiled nervously. He looked at the little LED name-tag the black-haired man was wearing, which read 'Hello, my name is Jimmy.' “Hi Jimmy. I’m here to see Dean Winchester.”
Jimmy nodded, his smile still fixed in place. “Mr. Winchester has a very full schedule. If you’d like, I can put in a request with his office for a meeting. He should be available sometime in June.”
“That’s three months from now.” Sam said through gritted teeth, “I need to see him today. Please,” he added. “He’s my brother.”
The receptionist’s blue eyes widened ever so slightly. “Just a moment sir, I’ll contact his office.” He moved his hands over the surface of his desk, causing part of the smooth metal surface to lift up, revealing what looked like a hand-scanner, glowing with a soft white light. Jimmy slid his hand onto the scanner and closed his eyes. His LCD name-tag flickered as the text changed to read, 'Hello, my name is Castiel.' When the man opened his eyes again, he looked up from the desk curiously, tilted his head to the side and asked, “Sam Winchester?”
Sam swallowed. “That’s me.”
A third of the circular desk retracted, giving Castiel’s avatar room to exit. “Right this way,” he said, walking towards the rear of the lobby.
“Thank you,” Sam said and followed the Angel to one of the smaller hexagonal doors against the back wall.
The door slid open when they approached. Castiel stood to the side of the opening and folded his hands behind his back. “Wait in here, please. Your brother will be with you shortly.”
Sam stepped through the door and turned to thank the Angel again, but the door was already half-closed. It sealed shut a moment later.
The waiting room had a much lower ceiling than the main lobby, but it looked pleasant enough. The walls were just as white as the ones outside, but since there were no windows, there wasn’t any additional light from outside amplifying the brightness. Sam moved towards one of the couches in the center of the room, and eyed the bowl of apples sitting on the coffee table. All fruit was hard to come by these days, and even if these were synthesized (which they had to be), they still had to be incredibly expensive. He reached his hand out to take one of them - eager to remember what an apple tasted like, but stopped short when he heard the door to the room slide open again. “That was quick…”
“Those apples are for humans only.” said the man at the door. He was about twice Sam’s age, with thinning grey hair and a smug smile that put Sam even more on edge than he’d been when he first walked in.
“Sorry, I thought you were Dean.”
The man laughed. “Well, I can see how you’d make that mistake. We’re practically twins, he and I…but you can call me Zachariah.” His smiled faded as he walked closer to Sam. He stopped only a few feet away, close enough for Sam to see his eyes flash silver. “Why are you here, Demon?”
Sam felt the pit of his stomach turn to ice. “I’m here to see my brother. I just want to talk to him.”
The Angel nodded, “Oh I see. You think we’ll just let any scum come into our Sanctum and defile it with their very presence. Is that it?”
There was no good answer. The Angel was goading him on purpose, and Sam’s temper had always run on a short fuse. He forced his voice to stay calm, and answered, “I just want to see my brother. Please.”
“Let me think about that,” Zachariah said, tapping his finger against his mouth. “No. How about this instead: I throw you in a cell and leave you to rot slowly.” The Angel pointed at the ceiling adding, “You know this whole building’s one big bio-scanner. We can see every little bug inside of you, and boy howdy…” He brought his finger back down and jabbed at Sam’s chest with it. “…you’ve got a whole colony! Don’t ya?”
He’d known his dampeners wouldn’t work forever, but now he was trapped in a room with an Angel on their home turf, leaving him with only two options. Get arrested for the possession of innumerable illegal modifications and nano-bots, or try to escape. He shut down his dampeners and activated all his combat mods one by one.
“Oooh.” Zachariah said mockingly. “Looks complicated in there. You sure you know how to use all that, kiddo?”
Sam nodded, and raised his fists up slowly, getting into a loose fighting stance.
The Angel winked at him and moved nearly too quickly for Sam to see. Nearly. Thanks to the retinal synapse accelerators Sam could see the Angel moving. He stepped out of the way just in time to avoid Zachariah’s fist.
Adrenaline-plus™ flooded Sam’s system, letting all his senses function a little faster. He avoided the Angel’s punches for almost two minutes and even got a punch in himself. It felt like he’d slammed his knuckles into a brick wall.
“Unmodified humans my ass.” Sam muttered, shaking his hand until the pain receded. He could feel a twinge in his skin as the nano-bots streamed to the site of the injury, repairing the subdermal damage in less than a second. His left fist was just about to slam into Zachariah’s side, pain be damned, when he found himself quite suddenly unable to breathe.
Zachariah had his hand wrapped around Sam’s neck, and was holding him up with no sign of effort. His mouth curved into a sneer as he squeezed his fingers just a little tighter around Sam’s throat.
Sam wondered again why so many A.I.s had such a knack for cruelty. His vision started to fill with sparks, and his ears vibrated with a high-pitched buzzing sound as his brain’s oxygen stores dwindled..
“Let him go.” said a familiar voice.
Zachariah opened his hand and let Sam collapse to the floor, panting.
The nano-bots’ efforts made Sam’s neck tickle, and he brought his hand up to his throat as he sat up.
His brother was standing in front of him, wearing a pinstripe suit, and looking down at him with a weary expression. “Hi, Sam.”
“Dean…” Sam pushed himself to his feet and brushed his hair out of his face. He took a shaky breath, trying to compose himself. “Hell of a welcome.”
Zachariah scoffed as he turned and left the room.
“Why are you here?” Dean asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What on Earth made you think this was a good idea? Do you have any idea how bad this makes me look?”
Sam’s response nearly got stuck in his throat. “How it makes you look?
“I’m in the running to be Michael’s avatar, Sam.” Dean said, squaring his shoulders, “Michael. The highest-ranking Angel A.I. there is. He hand-picked me as one of the candidates, and I have spent the last year doing everything I can to make sure I get the job.”
“I just wanted to - “
“I’m not going to let you ruin everything. Not again.”
Sam bit down on his tongue to keep from lashing out. His fists desperately wanted to make contact with Dean’s jaw, but he’d come here for a reason. “Just hear me out. Give me two minutes to explain, okay?”
Dean let out a heavy sigh, but walked over to the couch and sat down.
Sam sat on the other end of the couch and tried to decide if it would be easier to talk to Dean while staring at the coffee table or the floor. “I know what you think of me. I know you think I’m…a freak, and that you probably won’t believe a word of what I’m about to tell you…but I have to tell you.” When Dean didn’t say anything for the next thirty seconds, Sam turned to look at him.
“You waiting for something? Want a drumroll?” Dean asked.
“I met some people, and they told me something about the Angels.” Sam lowered his voice (as if that would help). “About what happens to their avatars.”
“What, about how the Angels kill them when they’re done?” Dean asked. He smirked and folded his hands behind his head. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one too.”
“You’re not worried?” Sam turned to his brother, and tried to read his expression. They’d been close, once a upon a time. Back when they were kids, he’d loved Dean more than anyone. Their father had been so busy trying to track down Demons that Dean had practically raised Sam. They’d been best friends. Up until the day Dad died.
“No, I’m not worried, because it’s not true. Is that the only reason you’re here?”
Sam tried to think of something else to say. He wanted to tell Dean everything Lucifer had said about the Fifth War, but how was he going to lead into that conversation? ’Guess what? Demons have an Angel too. His name is Lucifer and we talked for a really long time while his avatar was melting in front of me…’
Dean stood up from the couch and turned towards the door. “Look, it was good seeing you I guess, but…” He shook his head. “…please, don’t come here again. I should have you arrested for at least twelve different violations.”
Sam stood up, bristling. “Everyone here has mods too.”
“Sanctioned mods, Sam. Legal ones. Not the street-hacked crap you’ve got in there.” Dean shook his head, “Not to mention we only allow three modifications per person. That’s all you need. One to sync, one to link and one to think.”
“Wow.” Sam said bitterly, “You sound like one of them.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Dean said. He looked up at Sam, and for just a moment, something like sorrow flickered across his features. “You should go, before I change my mind.”
part 4
author: monicawoe
wordcount: ~5800 total (2000 this chapter)
characters: Sam, Dean, Castiel, Zachariah
warnings: some violence, and technobabble
story summary: written for scifi_spn for this prompt:Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon bio-tech. He knows it's wrong, that it's sick, but he just can't stop. He adds little enhancements bit by bit, stuff nobody will notice. But it gets out of hand, and there's no turning back.
chapter summary: Sam visits Dean.
part 2
Angelic architecture had always been a little unsettling to Sam (hulking structures of glass and metal, honeycombed windows giving the monstrosities a hive-like appearance), but standing in front of their local headquarters, Machen, he felt absolute dread. He took a deep breath and checked to make sure his mod-dampeners were still turned all the way up. They wouldn’t do him much good once he got inside, but at the moment, all he really wanted was to get inside in the first place.
Dean would agree to see him. He would. Then Sam could tell him everything he’d learned and try to talk Dean out of making the biggest mistake of his life.
When the doors opened at Sam’s approach, his left foot twitched a little, nearly taking a step backwards. The interior of the building was so bright it hurt to look at, and it made Sam even more self-conscious of his clothing. His leather jacket was riddled with small holes, quite a few them acquired the same night he’d lost a chunk of his leg, and his pants…weren’t even his. Ruby had found a pair of Brady’s old jeans that fit Sam well enough, but they weren’t exactly new either.
Smoothing down his shirt as best as he could, he swallowed his pride and reminded himself why he’d come. Dean had to know the truth. He deserved to know.
Sam walked into the massive, pristine lobby and headed for the circular desk in the center of the floor. The man stationed at the front desk smiled when he approached and said, “Hello sir, how may I assist you today?”
Wondering if his dampeners were more effective than he’d thought, Sam smiled nervously. He looked at the little LED name-tag the black-haired man was wearing, which read 'Hello, my name is Jimmy.' “Hi Jimmy. I’m here to see Dean Winchester.”
Jimmy nodded, his smile still fixed in place. “Mr. Winchester has a very full schedule. If you’d like, I can put in a request with his office for a meeting. He should be available sometime in June.”
“That’s three months from now.” Sam said through gritted teeth, “I need to see him today. Please,” he added. “He’s my brother.”
The receptionist’s blue eyes widened ever so slightly. “Just a moment sir, I’ll contact his office.” He moved his hands over the surface of his desk, causing part of the smooth metal surface to lift up, revealing what looked like a hand-scanner, glowing with a soft white light. Jimmy slid his hand onto the scanner and closed his eyes. His LCD name-tag flickered as the text changed to read, 'Hello, my name is Castiel.' When the man opened his eyes again, he looked up from the desk curiously, tilted his head to the side and asked, “Sam Winchester?”
Sam swallowed. “That’s me.”
A third of the circular desk retracted, giving Castiel’s avatar room to exit. “Right this way,” he said, walking towards the rear of the lobby.
“Thank you,” Sam said and followed the Angel to one of the smaller hexagonal doors against the back wall.
The door slid open when they approached. Castiel stood to the side of the opening and folded his hands behind his back. “Wait in here, please. Your brother will be with you shortly.”
Sam stepped through the door and turned to thank the Angel again, but the door was already half-closed. It sealed shut a moment later.
The waiting room had a much lower ceiling than the main lobby, but it looked pleasant enough. The walls were just as white as the ones outside, but since there were no windows, there wasn’t any additional light from outside amplifying the brightness. Sam moved towards one of the couches in the center of the room, and eyed the bowl of apples sitting on the coffee table. All fruit was hard to come by these days, and even if these were synthesized (which they had to be), they still had to be incredibly expensive. He reached his hand out to take one of them - eager to remember what an apple tasted like, but stopped short when he heard the door to the room slide open again. “That was quick…”
“Those apples are for humans only.” said the man at the door. He was about twice Sam’s age, with thinning grey hair and a smug smile that put Sam even more on edge than he’d been when he first walked in.
“Sorry, I thought you were Dean.”
The man laughed. “Well, I can see how you’d make that mistake. We’re practically twins, he and I…but you can call me Zachariah.” His smiled faded as he walked closer to Sam. He stopped only a few feet away, close enough for Sam to see his eyes flash silver. “Why are you here, Demon?”
Sam felt the pit of his stomach turn to ice. “I’m here to see my brother. I just want to talk to him.”
The Angel nodded, “Oh I see. You think we’ll just let any scum come into our Sanctum and defile it with their very presence. Is that it?”
There was no good answer. The Angel was goading him on purpose, and Sam’s temper had always run on a short fuse. He forced his voice to stay calm, and answered, “I just want to see my brother. Please.”
“Let me think about that,” Zachariah said, tapping his finger against his mouth. “No. How about this instead: I throw you in a cell and leave you to rot slowly.” The Angel pointed at the ceiling adding, “You know this whole building’s one big bio-scanner. We can see every little bug inside of you, and boy howdy…” He brought his finger back down and jabbed at Sam’s chest with it. “…you’ve got a whole colony! Don’t ya?”
He’d known his dampeners wouldn’t work forever, but now he was trapped in a room with an Angel on their home turf, leaving him with only two options. Get arrested for the possession of innumerable illegal modifications and nano-bots, or try to escape. He shut down his dampeners and activated all his combat mods one by one.
“Oooh.” Zachariah said mockingly. “Looks complicated in there. You sure you know how to use all that, kiddo?”
Sam nodded, and raised his fists up slowly, getting into a loose fighting stance.
The Angel winked at him and moved nearly too quickly for Sam to see. Nearly. Thanks to the retinal synapse accelerators Sam could see the Angel moving. He stepped out of the way just in time to avoid Zachariah’s fist.
Adrenaline-plus™ flooded Sam’s system, letting all his senses function a little faster. He avoided the Angel’s punches for almost two minutes and even got a punch in himself. It felt like he’d slammed his knuckles into a brick wall.
“Unmodified humans my ass.” Sam muttered, shaking his hand until the pain receded. He could feel a twinge in his skin as the nano-bots streamed to the site of the injury, repairing the subdermal damage in less than a second. His left fist was just about to slam into Zachariah’s side, pain be damned, when he found himself quite suddenly unable to breathe.
Zachariah had his hand wrapped around Sam’s neck, and was holding him up with no sign of effort. His mouth curved into a sneer as he squeezed his fingers just a little tighter around Sam’s throat.
Sam wondered again why so many A.I.s had such a knack for cruelty. His vision started to fill with sparks, and his ears vibrated with a high-pitched buzzing sound as his brain’s oxygen stores dwindled..
“Let him go.” said a familiar voice.
Zachariah opened his hand and let Sam collapse to the floor, panting.
The nano-bots’ efforts made Sam’s neck tickle, and he brought his hand up to his throat as he sat up.
His brother was standing in front of him, wearing a pinstripe suit, and looking down at him with a weary expression. “Hi, Sam.”
“Dean…” Sam pushed himself to his feet and brushed his hair out of his face. He took a shaky breath, trying to compose himself. “Hell of a welcome.”
Zachariah scoffed as he turned and left the room.
“Why are you here?” Dean asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What on Earth made you think this was a good idea? Do you have any idea how bad this makes me look?”
Sam’s response nearly got stuck in his throat. “How it makes you look?
“I’m in the running to be Michael’s avatar, Sam.” Dean said, squaring his shoulders, “Michael. The highest-ranking Angel A.I. there is. He hand-picked me as one of the candidates, and I have spent the last year doing everything I can to make sure I get the job.”
“I just wanted to - “
“I’m not going to let you ruin everything. Not again.”
Sam bit down on his tongue to keep from lashing out. His fists desperately wanted to make contact with Dean’s jaw, but he’d come here for a reason. “Just hear me out. Give me two minutes to explain, okay?”
Dean let out a heavy sigh, but walked over to the couch and sat down.
Sam sat on the other end of the couch and tried to decide if it would be easier to talk to Dean while staring at the coffee table or the floor. “I know what you think of me. I know you think I’m…a freak, and that you probably won’t believe a word of what I’m about to tell you…but I have to tell you.” When Dean didn’t say anything for the next thirty seconds, Sam turned to look at him.
“You waiting for something? Want a drumroll?” Dean asked.
“I met some people, and they told me something about the Angels.” Sam lowered his voice (as if that would help). “About what happens to their avatars.”
“What, about how the Angels kill them when they’re done?” Dean asked. He smirked and folded his hands behind his head. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one too.”
“You’re not worried?” Sam turned to his brother, and tried to read his expression. They’d been close, once a upon a time. Back when they were kids, he’d loved Dean more than anyone. Their father had been so busy trying to track down Demons that Dean had practically raised Sam. They’d been best friends. Up until the day Dad died.
“No, I’m not worried, because it’s not true. Is that the only reason you’re here?”
Sam tried to think of something else to say. He wanted to tell Dean everything Lucifer had said about the Fifth War, but how was he going to lead into that conversation? ’Guess what? Demons have an Angel too. His name is Lucifer and we talked for a really long time while his avatar was melting in front of me…’
Dean stood up from the couch and turned towards the door. “Look, it was good seeing you I guess, but…” He shook his head. “…please, don’t come here again. I should have you arrested for at least twelve different violations.”
Sam stood up, bristling. “Everyone here has mods too.”
“Sanctioned mods, Sam. Legal ones. Not the street-hacked crap you’ve got in there.” Dean shook his head, “Not to mention we only allow three modifications per person. That’s all you need. One to sync, one to link and one to think.”
“Wow.” Sam said bitterly, “You sound like one of them.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Dean said. He looked up at Sam, and for just a moment, something like sorrow flickered across his features. “You should go, before I change my mind.”
part 4