"I'm sure you've got questions, and many of them, we unfortunately can't answer," Stephens began. "What we do know, we mostly have from folklore and art."

"Art?" Dean asked, puzzled.

"Yes, art, but not what you may think." Picking up a controller, Stephens clicked it, bringing up an image. Dean had been expecting a fire-breathing dragon. He was surprised to be looking at the image of a winged angel. "This is Castiel, the angel of Serenity," Stephens explained. "We picked that name because, of all the subjects, ours was the least prone to violent outbursts as a hatchling. But all of the subjects were given angel names because, near as we can tell, they are the origins of images like this one."

"Um, what?" Dean asked. He shook his head. "Sorry, but how the hell did anyone look at something like a dragon and then decide to make a chick with wings?"

"This image depicts a man."

"Same question."

"Because the majority of their lives are spent in human form. Let me explain." A drawing of a dragon's anatomy appeared on the screen, with that of a human next to it. "The dragon form that you saw earlier is the base being," Stephens said. "The scientific community believed they were myths, despite the fact that many highly-diverse cultures all over the world feature dragons or dragon-like creatures in their legends. But obviously, at least some of those legends are based in fact. The species was thought to be extinct, and will be after this generation unless someone else finds a well-hidden nest. The one we found was hidden in an ancient temple in Norway."

"Norway? Like, Vikings and stuff?"

"We think it's very likely that the Vikings actually looted the nest," Stephens explained. "Either they didn't know what they had or they didn't know how to hatch the eggs because they remained intact until they were discovered." He clicked the control, bringing up an image of a set of golden sheets with weird etching on them. "Plates like these were found in multiple locations, but these are the most intact and detailed. They detail the care and training of dragons. By using these instructions, we were able to hatch the eggs."

Dean raised his hand. "I have to ask. Just how stupid are you people?" Ignoring the look he received, Dean rushed to explain. "We are talking about actual, giant fire-breathing lizards here, just like the one that apparently absorbed my friend. But why hatch those eggs instead of destroying them? Why would you want dragons running around? Didn't you ever watch 'Jurasic Park?' If they're all but extinct, then the smart move would be to let them go extinct. These things are not meant to be breathing air."

"On the contrary," Stephens retorted. "Think again about the first picture I showed you. While the legends of them devouring maidens and being slain by a handsome knight may actually be based in the actual process that you and your friend have just experienced, the truth is that these are not monsters. As I mentioned, dragons spend most of their lives in human form. By appearing and acting human, they have, for centuries, gone out among the general population with their chosen partner. While obviously there have been cases where the partner's actions were less than honorable, which resulted in the horror stories of fire-breathing dragons? It seems the dragons were usually very good at finding good, decent people who just wanted to help their fellow man. We believe that many people believed to be saints were actually the guiding partners to dragons who used their abilities to help and protect them."

"Guardian angels," Dean guessed.

Stephens smiled. "Precisely. Dragons aren't the enemy, they're man's best friend. We believe that the traditional depiction of angels with wings was the artists' way of indicating the true nature of these beasts. As you've seen for yourself, at least in this particular strain of dragon, their wings are fully feathered."

"Like birds?" Dean nodded. "I'm back to 'Jurassic Park.' I still think you're crazy to hatch these things."

"Your thoughts are duly noted," Stephens replied dryly. "Moving on. Once the dragons reach a certain level of maturity, they are able to swallow a human in such a way that it somehow allows the mind of man and beast to meld together. This is the first of the currently unexplained abilities that the dragons possess."

That made Dean sit up with interest. "Dragon magic?"

"There is more likely a rational, scientific basis for the phenomenon," Stephens said, strained patience showing in his features. "We simply don't know exactly what it is yet."

Dean nodded sagely. "Dragon magic."

Stephens rolled his eyes. "Whatever helps you understand, Private. At any rate, the resulting personality has many of the memories of the human. The dragons can swallow a human any time from the point where they are large enough to do so. However, there will come a time, shortly before the creatures reach full maturity, when their eyes start to glow. That is when they start seeking a guiding partner, one their new combined personality feels a strong emotional attachment to."

"Which is why you said no to Novak, because he didn't have anyone he felt a strong emotional attachment to?"

"Precisely."

"Ok, I have to ask this," Dean began. "Jimmy Novak was a great guy, but he was just a lowly MP. It's not like he was a war hero or something. Why did you want him?"

"I'm glad you asked," Stephens declared. He brought up a picture of Novak, one that made Dean's heart ache. "Warrant Officer Novak is a decorated member of the military police. He has distinguished himself on several occasions, showing bravery and valor beyond the call of duty for which he's been decorated. He's not afraid to fight, especially to protect someone else. That's why he was on the fast track for promotion, especially after he risked his own life to protect that of his fellow officers."

"Wow," Dean admired. "I didn't know anything about that."

"His superiors have nothing but praise for him. As you've described yourself, he also has a good heart. He was the perfect mixture of a good, valiant soldier and a good, decent human being. That's why he was originally our first choice for this project. Our second choice, the man we ended up choosing because we didn't know about you? He was a Lieutenant who had already distinguished himself as a soldier. Like Novak, he had a promising future ahead and was the logical choice when we passed on Novak. But unfortunately, that did not work out and our third choice was simply too far away. There was no way to get here on time." He frowned at Dean. "Which left us with you."

"Glad to be of service," Dean said. "Yeah, I get it, I don't measure up. But I'm what you've got, so let's make the best of it. Moving on. How many eggs did you find?"

"Five including the one that hatched your new partner. The first egg we hatched we named Lucifer. Unfortunately, it was believed that letting it swallow a live human was a form of ritual sacrifice from ignorant pagan beliefs and not actually necessary. We gave it a cadaver instead, but the dragon refused to touch it. It likewise refused any other cadaver we offered it. No means we tried to coerce it into cooperating were effective."

"You mean you tried to torture it," Dean said flatly.

"We tried what measures we felt needed to be tried," Stephens said evasively. "It reached the point where its eyes started to glow and, when twenty-four hours passed, that regrettably resulted in the dragon going into a beastial rage and destroying a significant part of the facility it was housed in before it was finally put down."

"Well, at least you got the name right," Dean grumbled. "Guess you guys turned out to be the ignorant pagans, huh?"

That earned him another stern look. "For the second egg, we followed the instructions exactly and supplied a live human volunteer. We understand the ethical objections," Stephens continued, seeing Dean's expression. "It's why all of our candidates from that point forward had to have minimal connections, unmarried, no children, no close family and preferably only one close friend."

"Yeah, that's me alright," Dean grumbled mostly to himself. Even if his father hadn't made his opinion of Dean blatantly clear tonight, Dean had known for a long time that, especially since his father remarried, Dean was more of an embarrassment to his father and stepmother than anything else. Sammy was away in school. The last time he'd spoken to Dean, he'd held back no punches about what he thought of his disappointment of a brother. The two hadn't spoken in months. With no real friends to speak of, Dean finally realized that he was as isolated as Jimmy Novak had been. The thought of his friend made him clench his fists. "So that's why you couldn't just pick anyone with the right qualifications, huh? They also had to be super isolated except for one person?"

"Precisely." Stephens brought up a picture of another dragon, this one a more golden color than the previous or the one that had swallowed Novak. "This is our second subject, Gabriel. Based on the disaster from the first attempt, it was believed prudent to follow the directions exactly, note the results, and make changes accordingly. This was a success. The dragon grew large enough to swallow a human and immediately swallowed and linked with the volunteer. As this was done well before the dragon itself was mature enough to start its bonding cycle, it needed several more months before it would accept a guiding partner. This was intentional, as it allowed us time to study the subject. We were all very hopeful. But at the time, unfortunately no one had considered the problem of having an emotional link with a guiding partner. We simply introduced it to multiple candidates, hoping the dragon would bond with one of them and eventually accept them as its guiding partner once it matured. But again and again, the dragon seemed to reject the candidates. They would attempt to interact with Gabriel, and it would largely ignore them. There was some concern that it would go into its bonding cycle before it found a compatible partner, so we increased our efforts. We were rapidly going down our list of potential candidates, hoping the dragon would take an interest in one. But before that happened, it seemed to grow weary of the entire process, managed to trick its handlers and escape."

Dean gave him an incredulous look.

Stephens cleared his throat. "The dragon had proven itself to be, well, lacking in discipline, despite the fact that the joining partner was selected specifically because of his devotion to duty," he explained. "The new dragon personality seemed to have much of the volunteer's knowledge, but was more interested in playing pranks than in the training. We hoped a strong, stable guiding partner could help. But as I said, it grew weary of the process of trying to find that partner. It had been kept in a standard warehouse in a cage big enough to contain it. When the dragon started sulking and ignoring potential candidates completely, the decision was made to let it alone to calm. Unfortunately, what the dragon was really doing when it appeared to be curled up and sulking was waiting until night when staff was at its lowest. We did not know that it would be able to shift into human form, nor did we expect it to burn out the cameras."

Dean gawked. "It was smart enough that it figured out what a camera was?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Stephens sighed. "The dragon apparently retained a significant portion of the joining partner's memories from the military. Gabriel seemed fine one moment. The next moment it was spraying fire all around its enclosure, forcing the immediate evacuation of all personnel. While no one was hurt, in the resulting chaos and smoke, it shifted into human form, unlatched the personnel door we'd been using to bring candidates in and out, and started running. No one could stop it because it knew all of the security codes and its prints, which were of course those of the joining subject, were still active. It simply opened up all the doors it needed and ran outside. Once away, it, well, gave the finger to the outside camera, shifted back into dragon form and was gone."

To Dean's credit, he tried not to laugh. He attempted to disguise the sound by coughing into his hand, but Stephens did not appear to be fooled or amused. Dean shrugged. "Sorry, I just think you named that one wrong," he explained sheepishly. "Especially since you found those eggs in Norway? You should have gone with Loki for a name for that trickster!"

"Are you finished?" Stephens snapped. "I see nothing funny about an unbonded dragon loose in the world. We spent days searching, expecting it to go into a rage like Lucifer when it didn't find a guiding partner. The only good thing in all of this was that it didn't happen. We can only surmise that the dragon somehow found a compatible partner on its own and is living quietly hidden somewhere. However, at any given time, it can certainly raise its head and become an unacceptable threat. That, Private, is no laughing matter."

Dean forced himself to be serious. "Sorry, Sir, I understand. So what happened to the other eggs?"

"The idea to use two subjects who already had a strong bond with each other was developed for the next egg. The two we eventually selected were best friends, practically brothers." An image of two men in uniform came up on the screen. "Another alteration in the plan had to do with the discipline problem. It was clear that the joining partner's personality had been strong enough in Gabriel to show the trickster side of the subject, rebel against its training, and come up with an escape plan. None of those traits were in line with what we needed from these dragons. Therefore it was decided that in order to keep the next dragon more docile, it would be necessary to destroy a portion of the frontal lobe of the joining partner."

For a moment, Dean was sure he hadn't heard properly. "You lobotomized the guy?!"

"Nothing that crude. We simply severed the neurons in part of the subject's frontal lobe," Stephens said, as if he wasn't describing a lobotomy. "The result, the dragon we called Michael, met or exceeded all our expectations. We believe that it would have formed a profound bond with its guiding partner…"

"Wait," Dean called, raising a hand for silence. "What do you mean you 'believe' that this would happen? What went wrong this time?"

Stephens clearly did not want to answer this question. When Dean narrowed his eyes at him, the colonel frowned. "We again allowed the joining partner to be swallowed well before the dragon was mature enough to accept a guiding partner. The plan was to study and train Michael, keeping its guiding partner away until it matured. But the base was attacked and the dragon was stolen before that happened. Also taken was its intended partner, Lieutenant Adam Milligan, and the fourth egg, whose dragon we were going to call Raphael. Castiel's egg was fortunately still being studied at another facility at the time."

Dean blinked. "Who has the kind of firepower needed to attack a military base?"

"There are several. Do you understand now why it was essential that we get Project Castiel up and running?" Stephens exclaimed, irritated. "For our final subject, we decided not to introduce a joining partner until the subject was mature enough to also take on a guiding partner. But by the time we were able to hatch Castiel and grow it to be mature enough to form the link, Michael was already being put to use."

The colonel began flipping through pictures. Dean stared, awestruck, as image after image of burned, destroyed buildings and vehicles appeared on the screen. When it finally showed a blurry image of the dragon itself, he let out a low whistle. "Damn, Michael's a big son of a bitch, isn't he? How big do they get?"

"Castiel is currently around thirty-five to forty feet long and around fourteen feet high, about the size of a city bus, but not yet fully grown. Michael is closer to fifty feet long and twenty feet high."

Dean swallowed hard. "What happened to Milligan?"

"He's been seen and positively identified around the dragon when it appears in its beast form," the colonel reported, his expression serious. "He's always seen in the company of a group of men. Members of the group have varied, but there are three always present with him. We believe they are his handlers. Either through force, some other manipulation or simple brainwashing, they're forcing Milligan to order the dragon to attack. What you saw was the result." He narrowed his eyes at Dean again. "We believe that this is further proof of what we already observed, that it is difficult to impossible to control a dragon without the assistance of its guiding partner. That is why you will not be permitted to leave this base. No, this is not optional," he continued as Dean opened his mouth to protest. He clicked the control again, showing another dragon, this one slightly darker than Michael but seemingly just as big. "This dragon we believe is Raphael. While it has not been known to have attacked any military institutions, it was captured on film attacking targets in an open field. The dragon is fully developed and being trained. By the time we get Project Castiel in action, we'll likely be facing two enemy dragons. This is not the time to fool around!" He pointed a finger so close to Dean's face it made Dean's eyes cross. "You are the last person in the world that I would have selected for a job this important. You're lazy, you're insubordinate, you were about to be drummed out of the military altogether. But when Warrant Officer Novak shot himself, the damage from the bullet was exactly what we needed for the joining partner."

"You mean he lobotomized himself with a bullet," Dean said, scowling.

"Call it what you will, it was precisely the sort of alteration we required and it happened the night our dragon's eyes began to glow," Stephens confirmed. "Naturally, we had the selected pair on base, already in training. Within hours, our candidate for the dragon's joining subject was in the operating room. But something went wrong and the candidate died."

That got Dean's complete attention. "You killed the guy trying to lobotomize him?!"

"Brain surgery isn't simple," Stephens sighed. "The patient apparently threw a clot and died before anything could be done. But Castiel reached this level far faster than the other dragons. We were not adequately prepared with a redundant set of joining and guiding partners. Novak was the closest available secondary candidate. Thanks to his suicide attempt, he was already in the correct physical state. With only hours remaining before we'd lose the dragon completely, we had no choice but to use him. Unfortunately, that means you were all we had for the guiding partner." A finger jabbed Dean in the chest. "You will follow your orders. You will not behave in the manner you are used to behaving. Your friend will eventually be facing at least two other dragons and that will be difficult enough. If you fail to help him train, if he doesn't meet our expectations? Then he stands no chance and our only option will be to scrap the entire project, toss you into the stockades, and put him down. Am I in any way unclear?"

Dean was more rattled than he cared to admit. He swallowed hard and shook his head. "No, sir."

"Good." He leaned back, looking at Dean. "You look more than a little exhausted, Private. Go get cleaned up, get some food in you, and try to get some rest. It will be a few hours before your new partner wakes up."

Those were orders Dean was happy to follow.