Castiel and Gabriel went back to having to spend time in the laboratory with Chuck and Kevin, the intern, but soon once they were finished with quick testing and wanted to go exploring, they left the lab so that the could get a look at the rest of the building. After a while of exploring, the androids managed to get into the Hunter's wing, wanting to see what exactly Sam and Dean would do throughout the day while they were working. Dean and Sam on the other hand, just got to Chuck's office after he had called them up to discuss the test results he had just received.
"Hey Chuck, so what did you find out about the chips?" Sam asked curiously, just wanting to know what had been going on with them.
"They're definitely Demon chips, and I figured out that the main objective of the chip is to interrupt their processing and it slowly works at slowing it down and interrupting their thoughts so it eventually just shuts them down."
"So, pretty much, they wanted to make it easier to take over the androids?" Dean asked, raising and eyebrows as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"That's exactly it. If they can't move and there isn't a chance of them waking up, it would make the whole process of rerouting their wiring and their basic functioning." Chuck replied with a sigh. "As long as they don't know where exactly Castiel and Gabriel are located, then they should be safe for now, but you still should take some safety precautions."
"Like what?"
"Well, keeping them here has been working, but do you really want to keep them here forever? They weren't created to just sit in a lab for the entire time they run."
"Yeah, I know that, but I want them to be safe." Dean stated.
"Maybe you can teach them how to take care of themselves then. They are very intelligent learning software, you know."
Dean and Sam exchanged looks, wondering why they had never considered that option. "That's actually a great idea, thanks Chuck. We'll call you later if anything else strange happens." Sam replied before leading Dean back down so they could find out where in the building Castiel and Gabriel had gone.
When Castiel and Gabriel got to the main office, they first spotted Anna sitting by a desk while the other Hunters went around and did their different jobs for the day. "Hello again, Anna." Castiel said softly as he sat down beside her. Anna had her head tilted, staring off into space and mumbling under her breath before she blinked and looked up at Castiel.
"Did you say something?" She asked softly as sat up a little straighter before she began writing something down.
"I only said hello. Are you alright, Anna?"
"Oh, well, hello again. Yes, I'm fine...I was only listening. You're Castiel and Gabriel right?"
"That's right." Castiel said softly.
"What are the two of you doing in here? Did Sam and Dean bring you here?"
"Technically, yes. They brought us to the building, but then they left us up in the lab and we want to explore, so we've been looking over the places that we haven't been to." Gabriel replied, plopping himself down in a chair and leaning back. "Do you know where they are?"
Anna nodded, quickly typing on the flat tablet board that took up half of her desktop. "Yes, they just barely left to go upstairs to talk with Chuck. They should be back soon, if you want to wait."
"Nah, we'll just catch up to them later. Thank you though. So what were you listening to?"
"I was just tuning in to the scanner again to see if there were any new developments on our cases. Excuse me, but I need to get this to someone." She said softly as she printed from it and got to her feet so she could head off.
"I wonder if she is always like that." Gabriel noted with a smile.
"She's always spacing out about something. She's always tuning in to the different frequencies." A man spoke up behind them. Castiel and Gabriel looked back at the ebony skinned man, seeing him standing over them.
"So she's like a police scanner?"
"Basically. My name is Uriel, by the way. The two of you don't look like Hunters, so why are you in these offices?"
"Well, Uriel." Gabriel started, looking him over. "Our clearance allows us to be back here, since we're prototypes that the Winchesters are looking after." He stated, causing the other man to scoff.
"Winchesters, huh? There's always something popping up about those two." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Well, prototypes, I'm an android specializing in fighting, so it isn't that impressive for you to be a new android. There doesn't seem to be anything that special about you, other than looking like a pretty face, so maybe you are just love toys."
"Excuse me?" Gabriel asked, raising his eyebrows. "Are you kidding me right now? Did they build you in with a giant stick up your ass, or did you just install it yourself?"
Uriel chuckled at that, watching Gabriel in amusement. "It looks like you really do belong with the Winchesters, Firecracker."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel asked, balling his hands in his fists and resiting the urge to punch him.
"Nothing, nothing. Have a nice day, prototype." He replied, smiling at the two of them before he turned around to take his leave and go back to his work.
"Well that was eventful." Gabriel replied, watching him go before he relaxed and turned to Castiel. "Come on, Cas. Let's go check out the rest of the place. Maybe if we're lucky, Sam and Dean will take us out to lunch and maybe dessert." He replied, winking at Castiel as they headed out to the lobby area.
"I doubt that." Castiel said softly, looking away from him. Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows at that look on his face, crossing his arms over his chest.
"So has Dean even talked to you? You said that he kissed you a while back, has he said anything about it?" Gabriel asked, flipping through some magazines.
"He said that we aren't supposed talk about it." Castiel replied, tugging at loose string on his trench coat.
Gabriel paused at that, raising his eyebrows and staring at Castiel in disbelief. "He didn't."
"He did." He said softly, not looking up at Gabriel.
"Do you want me to talk to him? Maybe I can get a few punches in." He stated as Castiel began to quickly shake his head.
"Please don't. If he doesn't like me that much, then there is nothing I can do about it." He said softly, even though it still hurt a little.
"No, if he kissed you and comes up with some dickhead excuse like that, then he deserves a few hits. It's rude and you don't deserve that sort of treatment. Just because we technically aren't human doesn't mean that we can't feel anything." Gabriel pointed out, more than ready to go the the Hunter offices and give Dean a piece of his mind when he returned.
"It doesn't matter, Gabriel." He said softly, not going to really other with it if Dean didn't want to.
"Don't give me that bullshit, Cas. It matters and you know it, okay? I'm not just gonna let you suffer for this all because he's being an asshole." Castiel shrugged his shoulders before he noticed Dean across the lobby, talking to one of the receptionists.
Dean was smiling widely at her as he leaned against the desk, the receptionist tucking some of her dark hair behind her ear as she smiled back at him and laughed about something he said. Gabriel narrowed his eyes, glancing back at Castiel and saw how hurt he looked before he glanced back at Dean and the woman.
"I'm gonna go tell him off, Cas. If he is gonna go around and hit on anything that moves, then maybe he should find something other than an object who can hit back."
"Gabriel, just leave it." Castiel said quietly as he got to his feet.
"No, Cas. Can I please just go and knock him out?" Gabriel groaned as Castiel shook his head.
"I guess that I'm just going to go the center to go swimming." He said quietly before he quickly took off through the main doors. Gabriel narrowed his eyes, looking back at Dean. He was so tempted to just go over and knock some sense into him.
"Gabe?" He glanced back at Sam, seeing him coming towards him.
"What's up? Did you guys get bored or something? Because I see Dean's found something to entertain himself with." He stated with a roll of his eyes as he nodded back over to where Dean was.
"Yeah, don't worry about him. Are you okay? I mean, how's the arm?" Sam asked, getting to the point.
"It's fine. It's not bugging me. Did you find out anything about the chip?"
"Yeah, it was definitely Demon technology and it was working on blocking out some of your programming so that you wouldn't be able to function correctly." Sam explained, running his finger over the mark where it had been.
"So pretty much, if it was still inside of me, I would break?"
"That's right, so Dean and I are going to teach you guys how to defend yourselves in case anything happens when you guys aren't around."
"Really? Dean too? Because to me, it like he's pretty busy." He stated, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back and watched Dean hit on the receptionist.
"Yeah, Dean and Lisa had a thing a while back."
"A while back? Are you sure it's not now? Because it sure looks like 'the flames of passion' are still in full heat." He stated, raising his eyebrow.
"At this rate, I'm not sure I even want to know."
"He hurt Cas." Gabriel said softly, rubbing the mark on his arm and staring down at it.
"What do you mean by that?" Sam asked, frowning and glancing back at his brother.
"Not physically anyways, but he hurt Cas emotionally. Dean kisses Cas, Cas likes Dean. Dean ignores Castiel's like for him and flirts with random chick. That's pretty much what's been going on lately." Gabriel explained simply, shrugging his shoulders and looking up at him.
Sam nodded slowly at that, sighing a little. "As much as I hate to say it, that's what he does. He's not big on relationships and just focuses on the physical aspects."
"Well that's healthy." Gabriel stated flatly as he plopped down on the chair again.
"Are you doing okay?" Sam asked, kneeling down beside him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to stay here and read a while. I may come down and check on you in a little bit when I get bored." He replied, smiling at him.
"Alright, I'll see you in a little while." Sam smiled back, kissing his head before he headed back down to the Hunter's area. Gabriel waved back at him, turning on his tablet so he could entertain himself.
It wasn't long before Dean was finished with talking to Lisa and said his goodbyes before he looked around to see if Castiel and Gabriel were still in the lobby. He didn't see Castiel anywhere, but when he spotted Gabriel in the lobby chair, he headed over to him and took a quick look around again. "Gabriel, do you know where Castiel is? I need to talk to him." Dean asked the android when he got over to him.
"He just went swimming. Although, I think that you are better off just staying away from now. He wants some alone time." Gabriel stated and Dean frowned a little at that.
"Why? What happened?"
"You'll find out." Gabriel replied with a shrug, glancing up at him for a moment before he looked back down at the movie he was watching.
"Fine, then I guess I'll just see you later."
"Good luck, you're gonna need it." Gabriel replied, not looking back up at him as Dean's frowned deepened. He shook his head, heading out to go to the exercise center to go find Castiel.
When he got to the swimming area of the center, he found Castiel swimming laps under the water and went to go sit down at the edge. Castiel noticed the set of legs before he could touch the wall, resurfacing so he could look up at Dean. "What's going on, Dean?" He asked softly, folding his arms to rest on the edge of the pool.
"I heard that you were upset about something." Dean said softly before Castiel quickly shook his head.
"Don't worry about it." The android said simply.
"Are you sure, Cas?" He asked, only for Castiel to shake his head again.
"Okay...Well, we found that the chip in your arm was Demon technology and that's why you were feeling so weird. You don't feel like that anymore, do you?"
"Not really. Not since we took it out." He said softly, not going to bother with telling him about his visions and nightmare yet since he didn't feel that it was entirely necessary.
"So, about the Demons. I know that they must really want you and that they are trying to get their hands on you. And I'm guessing that in the lab, they never really showed you how exactly you need to defend yourself, did they?"
"No, we weren't created to fight, so we never really needed to know."
"Well, now you're going to learn. I don't want anything to happen to you just because you don't even know how to defend yourself when I can easily teach you."
"I don't want to learn." Castiel stated, pulling away from the edge and frowning up at him.
"Why are you getting angry? All I'm saying is that it will be good for you to learn how to take care of yourself. It's not a big deal and it just means that I may be able to leave you at home again. I just want to know that you're safe when you aren't with me."
"Why do you care?" Castiel mumbled as he turned away from him so that he could ignore this conversation.
"Cas, I know that you're angry at me, but you need to know how to defend yourself better when I'm not around." Dean stated crossing his arms over his chest impatiently as he watched the stubborn android in the pool. "What's wrong with you?"
"No. I'm not going to do this." Castiel stated, scowling up at Dean before turning and pushing away from the wall of the pool so that he could have a boost to swim towards the other side to get away from this conversation and away from Dean.
"Castiel!" Dean groaned, walking around to the other side of the pool. "What's your problem today?"
"I don't want to have to fight, Dean." The dark haired android replied, folding his arms on the edge of the pool as he kept his gaze off of him. "And I don't want to talk."
"I know that you don't want to fight, Cas, but you need to realize that if you don't learn how to defend yourself and if the Demons actually take you, the first thing they are going to do is force a fighting mentality into your head. Now do you wanna learn how to do it to protect yourself or have it forced in so you hurt others, mainly innocent people?"
Castiel frowned and went underneath the water before he swam off. Dean sighed in frustration and threw Castiel's towel to the ground as he watched the stubborn android move underwater. Castiel climbed up on the other side of the pool before he began climbing up the platforms since he knew that Dean would never go up there with his hatred of heights playing against him.
"Castiel!" Dean shouted after him, more than a little annoyed by the way he was acting right now.
Castiel frowned down at down before he remembered what Gabriel would do in this situation and stuck his tongue out at him as he continued to make his way to the top of the second platform. He ignored the sounds of Dean's anger, standing at the top of the platform and staring at the water thirty feet below his feet.
You're going to be shut down. Castiel jolted, his back straightening and his jaw tightening. He balled his hands into fists, furrowing his eyebrows and keeping his eyes open.
Come on, Castiel, we're going out today. The android's eyes dulled at the sound of a woman's voice, his body staying tense as the visions started up again.
The images began to flash through his mind again in a blur, not giving Castiel as chance to process them.
Dean watched from below, seeing the android just stand there for a few long moments before he leaned forwards and started to fall. Castiel dropped head first, his arms outwards by his head as plummeted towards the water.
The sound of the slap of Castiel's back hitting the water made Dean wince and think to himself that this is why he thought practicing divers who had to hit like that over and over were nuts.
The scenery of the visions suddenly changed and Castiel's senses were filled with water. Unlike the swimming pool that he was submerged in, he was in a case of some sort with wires attached to him all over his body. Castiel looked at his hands floating in front of him, blurred by the water before he tried to look around and only saw machines. He frantically began trying to get out of the case, ramming his arms against the sides as he screamed out but the bubbles leaving his lips only blocked out his cry for help. He felt an arm tighten around his waist and the vision blacked out before a new one began.
He's responding to the treatments? Good. We'll be able to move onto the next step and test his interactions with the world. Tag him as Castiel-01. He heard a voice say softly, still feeling his back submerged in the water. How are his responses though? Have you tested him?...Then I'll do it. Project Castiel, open your eyes.
Castiel opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of the pool area. He blinked slowly before he was filled with a sense of dread and began quickly writhing and splashing the water around himself as he tried to get out of the pool as fast as he could.
"Cas? Cas, can you hear me? What's going on? Cas! I'm here, calm down!" He heard Dean's frantic voice quickly stopped before he turned his head to look up at him.
"Dean?"
"Okay, thank God. You hit really hard and I almost thought you drowned. Why are you freaking out? Are you hurt?"
"I don't think I can drown Dean." Castiel said softly, furrowing his eyebrows before looking up at Dean. "What happened?"
"You just dropped down from the fucking platforms and landed on your back."
Castiel frowned a little at that before he thought about the vision of being trapped in the water and pulled away so he could quickly get out of the pool.
"Cas, hey! What's going on with you?" Dean demanded for an answer this time as he followed him back.
"Don't put me back in the water." Castiel said softly after Dean climbed out, sitting with his knees pulled to his chest.
"What do you mean by that? Cas, what happened?"
"Don't put me back in the water." He repeated, hugging his knees tighter as he stared at the pool.
"Okay...I won't then." Dean furrowed his eyebrows, going to have to ask Chuck about this. He didn't understand what was going on with Castiel. One moment he loved swimming, and then the next...it was almost as if he was completely terrified of it.
When Castiel went into the lockers to go change back into his clothes, Dean took the chance to call Chuck to check in with him.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Chuck this is Dean. Listen, Castiel keeps having these episodes where he just freezes. He stopped for a while, but then he just had one and fell off one of the platforms. You said not to really worry about it if he starts moving again on his own, but he started freaking out when he woke up in the pool and he usually is all for swimming."
"Uh, well that is strange. I'll have to look him over in the morning if you bring him in. Did he get injured?"
"No, he's just a little red from hitting water, but other than that he is fine physically."
"Alright, I'll see if I can find out what's triggering these freezes tomorrow. Just keep an eye on him.
"Alright, Thanks." Dean replied before he hung up.
Chuck set the phone down before sighing as he looked up at the man sitting on his desk. "How was that, Zachariah?" He asked softly.
"That was perfect, Charles. The Winchesters don't need to know too much about the backgrounds of these androids, don't you think? It doesn't really concern them, and some of this stuff is on a need to know basis and I don't really think that they need to know everything about them and their programming. Don't you agree? I mean, it's not like they're going to permanently keep them anyways."
"I guess so." Chuck mumbled, just wanting the androids to be okay and for the Winchesters to be able to take full care of them.
"So, remember if the Winchesters get too curious, I want you to tell me right away. The people upstairs, well they've been keeping an eye on our new projects, and if anything happens to them, well, we don't want the Winchesters knowing everything and getting them into even more trouble than necessary."
Chuck nodded again, not looking up at him. "Yes, Sir. And I know, if anyone asks, you didn't tell me anything." He mumbled, not wanting to have to talk about his visits anyways if he could help it.
"Good, hopefully I won't have to come back down here too soon then. Keep up your work, and I'll keep up on mine." Zachariah stated before he got to his feet and left Chuck alone again.