"Dean?"

It was Cass's voice, but it wasn't in Dean's head. It was the gravelly voice of the human form of his dragon. That didn't make sense. Dean forced his heavy eyes open, still fighting the effects of whatever he'd been drugged with, and managed to focus on a set of worried blue eyes looking at him from some distance away. Two sets of bars with a narrow hall between them separated them. Cass was indeed in his human form. He had some sort of weird mittens on his hands, attached to heavy shackles on his wrists. Thick chains dangled from the shackles and attached to the wall behind the dragon. Overall, it seemed their situation had not improved.

Dean shook his head, trying to clear it. He only succeeded in making himself dizzy. He waited a spell for the dizziness to pass before gingerly sitting up. The room spun again and his stomach briefly considered emptying. Fortunately, everything stayed settled. Looking around, Dean saw that he was in yet another cell. Through the bars to his right he could see Donnie Finnerman in the next cell. The man was still snoring softly with his mouth open, sprawled on a bunk like he'd been thrown there. The cell on Dean's right contained another man, but this one Dean didn't recognize. The stranger was around Dean's own age, blonde with distressed blue eyes. The man was sitting on his bunk with his legs up and his arms wrapped tightly around them, chin on his knees in the fetal position. As Dean watched, he continued to gently rock back and forth, eyes staring straight ahead at nothing. Dean looked back toward Cass and realized there were two more cells across from him. In the cell to the right of Cass's was Lanette Finnerman, also back in human form. She was quietly sitting on her bunk, her red-rimmed, teary eyes fixed on the unconscious form of her husband. She too had odd mittens locked onto her hands, although hers seemed to be made of black rubber where Cass's were some sort of silvery material. The cell on Cass's left contained Jack. Jack also had silvery mittens locked onto his hands, identical to Cass's. He was sitting on his bunk smiling softly, eyes fixed on the man to Dean's left.

Dean looked at his dragon first. "Cass, you alright?"

"I'm not injured," Cass replied.

"Good, that's good," Dean said. He looked to the next cell. "Lanette?"

"I'm not injured either," she said softly. "Donnie seems to be alright as well. I believe he'll wake up soon."

"Also good." Dean turned his attention to the third dragon. "Jack, are you alright?"

Jack smiled at him. "I'm good. I'm very happy to be here with Adam. I haven't been able to see him much lately. I'm glad he's here, although I wish I could touch him."

"I know, buddy," Dean sighed. Bracing inwardly, he turned to the man on his left. "Adam Milligan?"

Adam paused in his rocking, freezing like a mouse caught in the gaze of a snake. His wide, frightened eyes locked on Dean.

Dean managed to smile. "Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Dean Winchester, but I suppose you already know that. Don't worry, I don't hold any of this shit against you. We're brothers, after all."

"Brothers?" Lanette echoed. She frowned. "I'm so sorry to hear your brother was dragged into this too, but I thought you said his name was Sam?"

"That's our other brother," Dean said, not looking away from Adam. "We just found out about Adam. Adam, your father is John Winchester, my father. Your mother is my stepmother, Kate Winchester. They, um, never told me about you."

Adam made a small sound. "Don't hurt me," he whispered. "I swear, I didn't know about you. When Mom got married, she said John had other sons but it would be awkward for us to meet and I was doing so well in the service now and… And…" He moaned and covered his head with his arms. "Please don't hurt me?"

Dean raised his hands. "I have no intention of hurting you. I'm glad we finally found you, although this is not exactly the time and place for a family reunion." He hesitated. "Um, can you or Jack tell us where we are?"

"Oh, that's easy," Jack replied. "We're at the main base. Dick said we'd all come here once he caught my fellow dragons." He frowned. "I'm surprised we're here, though. Dick said we wouldn't be brought here until he had all four of us. But the last cells are empty, so Gabriel and his bondmate are still out there, right?"

"I can't really answer for what happened to Gabriel, buddy," Dean replied truthfully. "But you said Dick told you we'd come here? That wouldn't be Dick Roman, would it?"

"Yes." To Dean's surprise, it was Adam who spoke, although his voice was barely above a whisper. "Dick Roman's behind it all. He's got his own private army, and now he's got three dragons." His rocking increased, his voice rising in agitation. "He makes me order Jack to do whatever he asks. I had to force him to do things, terrible things. He'll do the same to you. If you don't do what he says, he'll call Alastair, and he'll hurt you real bad!"

"Alastair, huh?" Dean said. "That's the bastard they had torturing you to make Michael fire on innocent civilians in a bar? Er," he corrected, seeing the look on the faces of both Adam and Jack, "sorry. I know neither of you wanted to do that. I get that you were forced. I figured that out a while ago. Like I said, I'm not holding it against either one of you."

Jack gave him a small smile, while Adam eyed Dean suspiciously.

"So this is what we have to look forward to?" Lanette asked, miserable. "Forced to destroy our own souls to keep those we love from being hurt? This is no kind of life."

"No," Adam whispered. "It's not. I just don't have the strength to end it yet."

"Don't say that!" Jack exclaimed, lunging forward. "You can't hurt yourself, Adam, you just can't!"

Dean looked anxiously at the emperor dragon. The chains holding Jack were creaking alarmingly as he strained toward his bondmate. Adam apparently noticed, too. He quickly got up and moved to the bars, reaching a hand toward Jack. "Jack, it's ok," he soothed. "Don't hurt yourself anymore. I'm sorry. I'm just upset. I couldn't hurt myself because I know what it would do to you."

"It's going to be better now," Jack insisted. "Dick said it would be better if I brought him the other dragons, and here they are."

"And where is Gabriel?"

Dean got up and moved to the bars, looking out and down the hall. He saw a sleezy-looking man in an expensive suit approaching, Italian leather shoes tapping on the bare cement of the floor. But it was the man with him that really caught Dean's attention. "Ketch!" he spat. "You motherfucker, I should have known you were behind all this."

"Ketch?" The betrayal in his dragon's voice made Dean wince. "Why?"

"It was all for you, love," Ketch crooned, quickly moving to Cass's cell. "From the moment I saw you, I knew we were meant to be together. I believed Tapping's formula would do it, but when I found out it actually made you sick?" He shook his head. "I cannot tell you how that made me feel." He reached through the bars as though to touch Castiel, although the dragon made no move to come closer to the bars. "I'd give anything, anything at all, to be your guiding partner," Ketch admitted. "For me, it was simply a matter of which group could make that happen. I thought it would be the Army, with Dr. Tapping. But when she failed, well, then it was a matter of who could help us the most." He smiled, letting his hand fall to his side. "All I ever wanted was you."

"I'm not your dragon," Cass snapped. "I never was. I never will be. Let us go!"

Ketch seemed taken aback. "Castiel, I would never hurt you. Surely you understand that Winchester was never meant for…"

Somehow, Castiel managed to turn his back to Ketch despite the chains. Dean couldn't help the snicker at the expression on the lieutenant's face. "I do believe that would be 'fuck off,' Ketch," he called.

"Now now, let's not get excited," the smarmy man called, raising his hands as he walked between the row of cells. "Let me introduce myself."

"I know who you are," Donnie groaned. Dean wasn't sure when the man had finally shaken off the effects of the drug, but he was awake now and struggling to his feet. "You're Dick Roman. I recognize you from the Sucrocorp commercials."

"That's right," Roman agreed. "Nice to meet a fan."

"I'm not your damned fan," Donnie spat. "You drove a lot of good people out of business, cost a lot of jobs, all for what? A damned monopoly on the sweetener business? Now, what, you're expanding into dragons? The hell do you want with us?"

"That's what I'm here to explain." Roman gripped one wrist behind his back and began to pace up and down the narrow hall. "Sucrocorp is my best known business, but it's not my primary source of income. I'm in the business of intelligence gathering. My company is one of the largest producers of security devices in the world."

"You sell video cameras to the U.S. government, as well as state and local," Dean recalled, already annoyed with the monologuing. "How the hell do you go from traffic cameras to dragons?"

"Because I don't just deal in traffic cameras," Dick explained cheerfully. "I create some of the most sophisticated spy devices on the planet. My cameras are in satellites, used by security and espionage companies, maybe even in your cell phones. I'm watching and listening all over the world. And as I'm sure you've heard, knowledge is power." He smiled. "I've been able to use the things I have seen and heard to gain influence in some of the highest offices of finance and government. As a result, I was able to create, maintain, and direct my own private army. It's not just my tech, either." He indicated Ketch, who was still staring wistfully at Castiel. "Ketch is hardly the only agent I've got in highly-sensitive programs. I'm the one who pulled strings to get him and his friend chosen for Project Castiel in the first place, after all. But unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances led to you and Novak stepping in to those roles instead. You," he pointed accusingly at Donnie and Lanette, "interfered with the other dragon that I'd collected for my own use as part of my private army. That left them." He spread his hands, indicating Jack and Adam. "I'll admit, for an exemplary soldier, Milligan proved quite poor at following orders. It took quite a bit before he learned to fall in line. But once he was fully under control, Michael performed beyond my wildest expectations. Even Raphael showed promise despite the less than ideal circumstances of its bonding," he continued, looking back at the Finnermans. "Unfortunately, due to some inexcusable incompetence on the part of those responsible for that project, Raphael and its bondmate were lost." He beamed at Dean. "I understand I have you to thank for them coming back into the fold."

Dean clenched his fists and glowered at Roman.

"Fuck you," Donnie called. "Come a little closer and call my wife 'it' one more time, huh?" Turning to Dean, he said, "Don't listen to him. We're not your fault and we know it. Nice try," he spat at Roman. "You're not going to turn us against each other that easily. Dean had no way to know you were tracking him to us or to Gabriel."

"Ah yes, Gabriel. Gabriel was always a wild card," Roman sighed. "I'll admit, I overplayed my hand there. Arranging for it to have a joining partner with experience in espionage was quite likely a mistake. Once it got out, it kept its head down, never showing up on any of my many eyes I had looking for it." He brightened. "Even so, the exceptional level of skill it displayed was beyond valuable for my purposes. The beast lacked the raw fighting power of the other dragons, but the powers it did have?" He gave a low whistle. "I immediately saw its potential and made plans to collect it. Unfortunately, the beast managed to escape and then keep itself hidden. Maddening!" He slapped his fist into the palm of his hand, looking profoundly irritated. "Of all the dragons, Gabriel was the one I wanted most. But I understand it unfortunately passed." He frowned at Jack. "You should have been more careful."

"He had no idea," Adam defended, seeing Jack flinch.

"No idea?" Roman kicked the bars of Adam's cell, causing the traumatized young man inside to flinch violently back. "Gabriel was the most high-value dragon of them all! The illusion dragon's recapture was the biggest reason I delayed recapturing the others. The whole point was to have one of them rouse Gabriel. That is precisely what happened. Michael was supposed to capture Gabriel, above and beyond all other concerns. Instead, its incompetence, your incompetence, resulted in the loss of the most valuable dragon of all!"

"No, it didn't," a voice called. "Incidentally, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Everyone looked. Coming down the hall, completely unarmed and with his hands in the air, was Gabriel. He looked just like Dean had first seen him at the Roadhouse, same mischief-filled eyes and wry grin. He walked with a limp and had a nasty-looking bruise on his face, but he was very much alive.

Dean looked quickly to Cass. "That's another of his illusions, right?"

"I'm afraid not," Cass replied. The dragon's face was getting red. "I have no idea what he's doing, but that is definitely Gabriel!"

Apparently, Roman and Ketch were thinking along the same lines as Dean. Ketch raced forward and took a swing, his fist impacting solidly with the illusion dragon's face. Gabe frowned at him. "Ow? I already have one bruise, why are you trying to mark this pretty face up even more?"

"It seems quite real," Ketch declared, wincing and shaking his hand.

Roman turned to Jack. "Michael, is it real, or just an illusion?"

"He seems pretty real," Jack offered.

"He's real," Cass confirmed. "Unfortunately."

"Gabe, what the actual fuck?!" Dean exploded. "You were the only dragon that wasn't locked up down here. Now all four of you are here?"

Gabriel shrugged, apparently unconcerned about the shouting armed men racing to chain him up. "I wanted to be with the cool dragons," he explained with a smirk. "I was getting a little tired of being the odd lizard out, you know?"

Dean let him know exactly what he thought of that. Gabe only laughed, the maddening dragon not resisting at all being restrained and forced into the final cell.

Dick Roman appeared to be right on the verge of dancing with joy. "Finally!" he whooped, clapping his hands. "All four dragons, mine at last!"

"Dammit, Roman, what the hell do you want?" Donnie roared, pounding a fist against the bars.

"What I want is power," Roman explained. "I have no desire to be the public face. I've always been content to be the man behind the curtain rather than the wizard. But certain people in high places have grown tired of answering to me, especially those with access to the military. They were trying to take down my operations, disrupt my plans, and retrieve certain valuable pieces of information. While the last has always been unsuccessful because I'm not stupid enough to keep my sole copy of information in only one place? The first two have proven quite bothersome." He pointed at Jack. "They have now learned to fear Michael. Striking at me will only result in being attacked. With three dragons, I was even more powerful. But of course, now that my true prize is here?" He moved to smile at Gabriel. "An illusion dragon, capable of producing illusions so powerful that it's nearly impossible for a human to tell the difference between them and reality. Do you have any idea what I could do with that power?" The man seemed on the verge of dancing with excitement, looking at Gabriel as though the dragon was made of solid gold. "Nothing and no one will be able to keep me out now," he gloated. "I can hide in plain sight or imitate anyone. With an illusion dragon, I can gain access to the most secure and secretive meetings of business, government, military…" He laughed. "I could start or end World War Three!"

Gabe's smile dimmed considerably. "Oh, finally someone appreciates me? Nice to meet a fan," he said in unknowing repetition of Roman's words. "There's just one problem. See, you killed my guiding partner and nearly killed me. I have literally nothing left to lose. Why do you think I came in here?"

"I honestly do not care," Roman replied pleasantly. "If your guiding partner is dead and you're still alive, that means you'll be able to form a new bond."

"Yeah, no," Gabriel retorted. "Even if you were my type, which I assure you, you are not? You don't have the equipment to tickle my sweet spot, Roman. I couldn't bond with you to save my own life. No dragon could!"

"Oh, I'm aware," Roman replied. "And again, I don't care. I'm no animal lover and never had any intention of locking myself to a beast like the four of you." He turned to Ketch and indicated Gabriel. "Ketch, meet your new dragon. Now that Tapping has her synthetic hormone, I see no difficulty in you forming a bond with it."

"Um, sorry, he's not my type either," Gabe called. For the first time, the cocky dragon seemed uncertain. "I didn't like him to start with because of what he did to Cassie. Now I don't like him on principle. Frankly, you both give me the creeps."

"Still don't care." Roman turned to Ketch, who had moved to look speculatively at Gabriel. "Get to know your dragon a bit. According to the records of Winchester's interrogation, it took several days with a doubling of the dose to trigger Castiel's bonding cycle. You'll certainly have time with Gabriel. We can start the dosing schedule on it immediately."

"Of course." Ketch was looking at Gabriel in wonder. Gabriel eyed him back.

Dean waited until Roman had left before shaking the bars. "Gabe, I seriously want to kick your ass right now! How the hell is this any better?"

"Never mind him, Gabriel," Ketch crooned. "Look at you! I understand you're not nearly as large or as strong as Castiel, but the things we will do together?"

"No thanks," Gabriel called, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I'd rather bond with a bare-assed baboon."

"Oh, I suspect you'll feel quite differently once Tapping's formula takes effect," Ketch declared. "When your bonding cycle kicks in, you'll be desperate for a guiding partner. You can rest assured, I'll be the only one here capable of helping you. I'll finally have my dragon!" He chuckled and shook his head. "I'll admit, I never thought much about you. I'm trained as a fighter, after all. But your powers?" He gave a low whistle. "And here I thought Michael was the most powerful dragon. It's been you all along! No wonder, of all the dragons, you were the one Roman wanted the most."

"Yeah, nice to be noticed," Gabriel mumbled. His amber eyes were shifting, his face pale and shining with sweat. Clearly, whatever he'd been planning when he strolled into the cells, this hadn't been it. He anxiously twisted his wrists in the shackles and immediately winced. While he lacked the mitten-like restraints that confined the other dragons, it seemed to Dean that Gabriel was finally feeling just how trapped he was. "Seriously?" the illusion dragon complained. "You're a bunch of sadistic fucks here, aren't you?"

Ketch moved closer to the bars. "Don't worry, darling," he crooned. "You'll learn to like me well enough, and I'll take good care of you. We…"

Alarms suddenly started blaring. Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally! Geez, it took long enough."

Ketch frowned and started out. "I'll be back," he called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, don't rush on my account," Gabriel grumbled. Once the man was gone, he looked around at his fellow prisoners and grinned. "Ok! What do you all say we get the hell out of here?"

"Gee, we'd love to, Gabriel," Cass called crossly. "But it seems we're all a little tied up at the moment."

Gabriel looked at his shackles as though just noticing them. "Oh yeah, these. We're going to need our human friends across the hall to get us out of them." He snapped his fingers impatiently. "Come on, folks, get with the rescuing?"

"Dean, what is wrong with this guy?" Donnie complained.

"I don't know, maybe getting crushed by Jack affected his brain?" Dean suggested.

"Hey!" Jack protested. "I didn't…!"

"Relax, bro, no one is blaming you, at least not for that." Gabriel pointed at Adam, who'd gone back into his ball and was once again rocking back and forth. "You! Milligan! Kindly stop with the rock 'n roll and get moving?"

"Gabe?" Dean warned. "What, exactly, do you expect him to do?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. His face, Dean noticed, was still showing signs of strain, flushed and reddened. Apparently, the dragon had a touch of claustrophobia. "You do it, then," he ordered. "You won't have as much firepower as he does, but you should still be able to melt through that lock. Get on it, would you? I can't keep this shit outside up forever!"

Suddenly, Dean realized with a start why Gabriel seemed so distressed. It wasn't claustrophobia that was affecting the enigmatic illusion dragon. Gabriel hadn't brought the Army with him after all. The sounds of fighting and explosions Dean could hear outside were caused by an illusionary attacking army. Now Roman's men were racing to fight against enemies that weren't even there. By the sound, there were a sizable number of helicopters, armored vehicles, and troops, but every one of them were figments of Gabriel's imagination. No wonder he was feeling the strain. Dean had no idea how long he could keep the illusions up. They needed to act fast. Dean sprang to his feet and pressed his hand against the plate of the lock on his cell. "Cass, how do I do this, buddy?"

Cass was up, too, obviously having realized the same thing Dean had. "Focus," he instructed. "Picture the heat flowing through you to your hand and make it happen."

Dean nodded, closed his eyes, and focused hard. He imagined waves of power traveling down his arm and into the lock. Soon, he could smell the acrid odor of hot metal. He gritted his teeth, focusing hard, and dared to peek at the metal. Sure enough, it glowed red-hot under his hand. But even as that thrilled him, he realized it wasn't enough. The metal alloy was too strong for the heat he was able to generate to melt through. "Son of a bitch!" he snarled. "Cass, gimme all the mojo you can."

Cass did. The heat grew stronger, but it still wasn't enough. Didn't matter. Cass had told Dean that he'd be able to lend Dean his strength. That was what Dean needed now. Drawing back his hand, he curled it into a fist and pounded at the heated metal. His mind pictured a blacksmith's hammer, smashing against heated metal to shape it. That was exactly what happened. The metal bent beneath the force of his blows until the door flew open.

"That's how it's done!" Gabe whooped. "No, not Cassie," he warned as Dean rushed toward his dragon. "Sorry, Dean-o, but there isn't time to get him loose and the lovely lady and I couldn't tolerate you heating these shackles like that anyway. Get Donnie and Adam and find the keys!"

"Right." Dean quickly moved to Donnie's cell. A minute later, that door was opened, too. Dean turned to discover Adam was already in the hall. "Hey, nice work," he complimented his wayward brother.

Adam gave him a weak smile. For the first time, Dean could see a hint of fight in the other man's eyes. "I-I'm sorry that I didn't do that earlier," he said, his voice still quiet. "Any time I used any of Jack's powers, they… They would…"

"Hey, I get it," Dean soothed. "They really did a number on you, didn't they? No, you don't have to answer that," he amended, seeing Adam's face pale. "Don't worry. If there's any fighting to be done, I'll do it."

"Me too," Donnie called. "I'm so ready to give a little back for what these fuckers did to us. You got any idea which way we're going, though?"

Adam nodded. "They've had me at this base for months now. I don't know most of it, but I know where they keep the keys for the restraints they made for Jack."

"You can do it!" Jack encouraged. "I know you can."

Adam smiled at him.

Dean waited long enough for Donnie to whisper and receive words of encouragement from his wife. He looked hard at Castiel, seeing all he needed to know in the blue eyes looking back at him. Then he looked at Gabriel. "Gabe, you going to be ok?"

"Long as you move quickly," was all Gabriel would say. "Nothing to worry about here, you dig? Also, I burned out the cameras on the way in here, but audio I have no idea about. So be careful what you say."

That was good advice. Dean glanced up at the camera, awkwardly tapped Donnie on the shoulder, and moved toward the door.