Author's Note:
Holy shit you guys, the support for these chapters was really awesome. You're all so sweet :3 I hope this one isn't a disappointment, took me a while to figure out how fast I wanted to do things but I think I got it settled.
Castiel's seething slowly calmed down as he stared at the smoking wreckage of Sam's laptop, his wings drifted down from their arched positions and he turned to look at Dean again. His eyes were fading back to normal and his mouth had closed, hiding whatever happened to his fangs.
"Holy shit," Jet breathed from across the room, his legs seemed to give out as he slid down the wall. "What the fuck…"
Sam was very still, just like Dean, unsure of what to do or say. They all just stared at Castiel who's gaze shifted between them, a questioning grunt coming from him every once in a while. Dean took a calming breath before he reached over and put his hand on Cas' shoulder, "You okay, buddy?" he did his best to keep himself relaxed, the last thing he wanted to freak Cas out. He had no idea what that was, what about Cas' photo set Cas off, or what kinds of mutations Cas was hiding but he was determined to stay on the good side of whatever Castiel was.
Castiel purred softly and nuzzled Dean's extended arm, almost as if what he'd just done hadn't happened at all.
"The fuck was that!?" Jet found his voice again and he was by far the most high-strung of the three about it.
"Calm down," Dean raised a hand toward his friend before Jet could continue his freak out, "Cas just reacted, he didn't hurt us or anything, no need to make him feel bad about it."
"I think it was instinct," Sam managed to say through a slight stutter, "It happened so fast, I don't think he even had to think about it."
"Why the fuck would he flip his shit like that over a goddamn picture!?"
"Conditioning maybe?"
Dean shook his head, "Whatever it was we should go downstairs, I know learning who Cas was feels important but we should find out what he is now. I can't help him if I have no idea what's going on with him." He stood up and headed out the door, "You guys can come with if you want."
"Considering it takes a while to navigate the files and I already know where Cas' is, I assume you want me to be there." Sam snarked as he followed, motioning for Jet to come along. Jet looked at Castiel warily but did his best to shake it off and go with. He ruffled Cas' hair as he passed by.
"C'mon Cas," he tried his hand at a smile again and Castiel reciprocated with one of his own. Jet sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Alright, you weird little killing machine, I'll be nice."
Cas grunted in response and nudged him with a shoulder.
The group descended the stairs again, this time with one extra in tow. Dean walked into the laboratory and stared up at the many screens again. They were turned off again, evidently Sam had been the last one down there because both Dean and Jet would've left them running. He walked up to the control panel and turned it on like they had the first time.
It was hard to believe that it'd only been a few days since he was last down there. It felt like much longer than that, like he'd known Cas for a few months maybe. But that didn't matter too much; his feeling didn't change how long it'd actually been. It was also a wonder to him how Cas could be so attached to him so fast; he imagined that the 4 years of captivity weren't easy. Maybe he was the first real kindness Castiel could remember? That thought made his stomach turn.
The lights flickered to life and the screens lit up, motionless bodies appeared on several of them, some were just dark, and others had some movement here and there. Dean hadn't stayed to watch the cameras the first time but he'd seen some of the creatures as he passed through the other levels of the lab. He wondered how many there were, how many were still alive and if any others were remotely as safe to be around as Cas was.
Castiel chirped softly as he wandered around the metal grated flooring, he sniffed the air and looked at Dean with a concerned expression. "It's okay, Cas," Dean smiled reassuringly, "We're not here to put you back." Whatever Cas understood seemed to be enough for him, he huffed in what sounded like relief and fluttered about without much worry.
Sam walked over to the computer units and started searching through the center one; he pulled up a chair and settled down. "Cas has quite a file compared to the others,"
"I thought you said you hadn't read it yet," Jet raised an eyebrow and earned himself an exasperated look from Sam.
"You can see file sizes without having to look at the contents, Jet."
"I knew that, just… testing you." Jet muttered and walked over to where Dean was; conveniently deciding that's where he'd rather stand. "What are we looking to figure out about him, anyway? I mean obviously it'd be nice to know what's wrong with him but I doubt it'll be that simple."
"We start by checking out the different experiments done," Sam replied without looking up from the computer, "Luckily our creepy scientist was organized, Castiel Novak – Bio, Experiment 01, Experiment 02…"
Dean hurried to Sam's side and leaned over his shoulder, "Bio, what's it say?"
"That's like looking at his Facebook, what's the first experiment?" Jet demanded and Sam agreed, opening up the first experiment file.
"Experiment 01; Human Splicing Preparation. Aim: Prepare subject for DNA splicing process. Hypothesis: If we connect-"
"In fewer words please," Dean interrupted Sam without remorse; he could sense Jet's silent agreement.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Fine, skipping past the intro and science-y bits for you two."
"Hey, I didn't say anything," Jet remarked defensively but Dean was pretty sure even Jet didn't believe he was undeserving of Sam's commentary.
"Summary notes;" Sam continued after scrolling past the medical procedure work, "Pre-Procedure: Castiel has shown resilience toward the anesthetic used for these procedures. It is unclear but he may still be conscious during the work, though his pain receptors remain dull.
"Post Procedure: Castiel's body is as perfect as suspected; it hasn't rejected any of the test DNA used and seems to be open to other types. As it stands I believe he will be the perfect subject for majority of the human based experiments."
"Resilience to anesthetic, well that explains our dream perspectives." Dean muttered and glanced over at Cas again, who was very passively inspecting different sets of equipment. Dean didn't think he'd do anything stupid, but that didn't stop an over active imagination.
"What'd they combine him with?" Jet leaned over Sam's other shoulder, scanning the page quickly.
"Preliminary DNA splicing involves adding increased senses of different species. For example, they used canines to increase his sense of smell and hearing."
Dean didn't take his eyes off Cas as Sam explained the documents to them, "What about his eyes? Do they mention why those glow?"
"There's a glossary of what Cas was all combined with at the end of his experiments," Sam paused and read through the list looking for the answer, "looks like there's bioluminescence from some fungi in him, it was added to his eyes. Seems that was the easiest part to make glow, though they tried his skin too."
"Where the fuck does it say all that?" Jet scoffed and Sam pointed at the notes section for each part.
"They added trial and error comments, looks like fireflies and jellyfish didn't quite work out…" Sam trailed off as he stared at the notes, "Wait… something doesn't make sense…"
"You mean other than all of it?" Jet snarked but Sam didn't take notice.
"They have conflicting information, like right here, it says that Cas' DNA was spliced with a firefly but it failed, subject terminated. Under the same date it says he was also spliced with the fungi mycena chlorophos, which was a success and the subject was pushed forward for further testing… Can they do that all in one experiment?"
"More importantly, does terminated mean killed? Because Cas is right here." Dean pointed over at their winged companion, "I get the feeling this is gonna take more studying than just quickly looking at a file and figuring it all out."
Sam nodded, his lips pursed and brow furrowed as he continued reading, "There are other areas where something didn't work and a subject was terminated… maybe they mean the other animal?"
"Probably," Dean agreed slightly distracted as Cas was reaching for a lever of some kind. "Cas, buddy, don't touch stuff, okay?" He hurried across the room to catch Cas' hand and lead him back to the other two. "Stay here with me."
Cas' face lit up and he squealed, startling all three of them. He hopped up onto Dean, legs wrapped around and wings flapping to keep his balance while nearly knocking Dean over.
"Whoa!" Dean stumbled about to keep himself upright, entirely unprepared for the sudden burst of energy. Ultimately he stood no chance against Cas' joy and fell to the floor, "What'd I say?" he laughed, unable to be upset about it; Cas was just too cute sometimes. It almost overwrote the horrifying freak out earlier, almost.
"Stay with me," Jet repeated, answering for Castiel with a smirk on his face. "I'm pretty sure that's what he's excited about."
"I never know what he understands and doesn't," Dean sighed and ruffled Cas' hair as Cas nuzzled him relentlessly.
Sam ran a hand down his face, "So much science jargon… Okay, so we know that Cas' senses are heightened, he's got wings, his eyes glow-"
"All shit we already knew-"
"Shut up Jet- and we know that he sort of understands what we say once in a while. Also, he's got issues with seeing a photo of himself." Sam paused and Dean knew he was reflecting on the destroyed laptop upstairs.
Dean looked at Castiel, they didn't know much about him at all despite finding all these new little things to think about. He wondered how much Cas knew, what he remembered or what he was thinking. The way Cas' face contorted and became so monstrous was terrifying at best but Dean couldn't help but think about the smiles that Cas made too. Yeah, there was something scary about him but how could anyone think he was only a lab rat or a monster when his face lit up the way it did. "You think he flipped out because he's upset about what's happened to him? Maybe he knows he's different from what he used to be…"
"I don't think so," Jet shook his head, "Maybe to some extent, but not completely. He doesn't act like a person who's aware of that kinda shit. He's learning it now, he's getting better but I don't think that's why he freaked."
"We can test it," Sam smirked, "Who wants to sacrifice their cell phone?"
Jet and Dean shared a wary look like 'you do it.' As much as Dean didn't want to do it Jet's game was a little stronger. He grumbled and took out his phone, "Fine but you're buying me a new one."
"And I'm getting Sam a new laptop, whatever, just do it."
"Cas, smile buddy," Dean smiled and aimed the camera; Castiel's head tilted a little in response but didn't seem to understand what Dean wanted. The picture was taken and Dean inched closer, he looked at the other two before handing Cas the phone with the picture displayed. He retracted his hand immediately as Castiel looked at the screen.
In a split second the room flashed blue and a screech echoed before any of them could register that Castiel had just bit the phone in half. He angrily chewed through the metal and spat it out, a high-pitched squeak following the crunching and spitting. Cas dropped the half of phone he hadn't destroyed and looked around, eyes glowing and fading slowly as he stared up at Dean.
"Still scary as shit," Jet said from Sam's side, slightly behind the chair but not too much to be noticed.
"Alright," Sam didn't seem as affected this time around, his hand thoughtfully placed on his chin, "Looks like it's photos in general, but his reflection doesn't set him off."
"He's smart enough to recognize that it's him, give him some credit." Dean felt immediately defensive, "But I guess completely still images scare him, or something…"
"I haven't read anything that explains it," Sam turned back to the computer, his eyes narrowed and jaw tense. "Though I haven't read much, so…"
"There's gotta be some video of these things," Jet grabbed Sam's chair and pulled it back to move him out of the way.
"Wha- hey!" Sam frowned and watched uselessly as Jet looked through the files. "You're not going to find it-"
"Here," Jet opened up a folder with different files of experimental footage, "Now pick one and watch."
Sam's frown didn't disappear though it looked a bit more impressed than it was originally. "Alright, just a random one then, Mr. I-Need-To-Control-Everything?"
"Ironic coming from you," Jet sneered back and Dean sighed loud enough to interrupt them. He was busy helping Cas make sure all the phones particles were out of his mouth; he didn't need to be paying attention to be annoyed by the constant bickering.
"Just pick one, okay? This whole thing is stressful, I just lost my phone, Cas ate metal, can we get on with it?"
That shut them both up and Sam, against the strong compulsion to do otherwise, chose a video from the middle of the folder.