-
Dean couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He knew he should after all he had been through but after being pulled into the digital frontier things went a little weird for him inside his head. The one thing he thought he would never see again was the familiar human visage of Gabriel, the one he had grown to know as the trickster, but there was no doubting that hairstyle, the smirk or the way he arched his eyebrow.
“Gabriel,” Tron said in a surprised and happy tone. “You survived that.”
“Was there any doubt?” Gabe asked as he held out his hands. He was holding that glass horn in one hand.
“You-your restored?” Dean asked as he gestured to Gabe. “You are fully restored now. You have all your powers and abilities back?”
“Not all of them,” Gabe said and breathed deeply. “I just got back my morphing abilities.”
“Morphing?” Tron blinked.
“He can change his form to look like anyone,” Dean explained. “Gabe, what happened back there?”
“I played this horn.” Gabe said as he held up the treasure.
“But that’s not your horn.” Dean pointed at the treasure. “Cas has your horn in a safe location, away from your douchey mutant turtle brother.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Raph is a bit of a douche. There are several things you have to know. One that was a minor explosion, two anyone can cause damage when they play my horn and three I can cause some pretty decent damage when I blow any horn.”
“What would happen if you blew your horn?” Tron asked.
“Like crossing the streams,” Gabe said. “Ultimate cosmic power in a single note and best not to think about it.”
“You destroyed all those guards back there?” Dean asked.
“Were any of them Users?” Tron asked.
“Yes I did and no there weren’t,” Gabe answered. “I destroyed all of them that was within a quarter mile radius, including my digital body, but by sacrificing myself to save your butts I was able to resurrect it back and now I can change my appearance again.”
“So the more good deeds you do the more of your old powers comes back?” Dean asked.
“That’s pretty much on the instruction manual,” Gabe said.
“I have one more question,” Dean said and pointed at Gabe’s coat. “Why that outfit.”
“Because dusters are cool and I just had to go with that classic look of the coat flying in the breeze with an explosion behind me.” He turned to Tron. “Was that kind of impressive?”
“I thought it looked amazing,” Tron said.
“The results have been achieved,” Gabe said as he held up his hands.
“We better go before more soldiers arrive,” Tron said as he pointed at the opening.
The three of them crawled down into the underground pathway with Dean and Tron assisting Gabe who refused to part with that damn horn. The second they were all inside Dean helped Tron with the floor panel.
“What happened back there?” Yori asked.
“Who is this?” Lia asked as she pointed at Gabe.
“My dear pretty program,” Gabe said as he did a sweeping bow before the two ladies. “It is me, Gabriel, or you can still call me Gabe or Skip.”
“Gabriel?” Lia gasped as she looked at him. “This is really you?”
“Of course,” Gabe said as he shifted back into the form of Skip Chinchilla. “It is.” He changed back into his familiar human form. “Just had one of my many talents returned.” He walked up to the spear-carrying elf and gave him back his horn. “Sorry I had to borrow this on short notice.”
“You can change forms?” The elf asked.
“But of course,” Gabe said as his features, body and clothes changed. He was wearing all black and had black eyes and long greasy black hair. His face had taken on the appearance of Alan Rickman. “That will be twenty points from Gryffindor. Mr. Potter.”
The kids voiced their admiration and clapped while Gabe changed back.
“I’m happy that you have one of your favorite skills back,” Dean said as he placed a hand on the shoulder’s hand. “But we have to get these kids to safety.”
“Ah yes,” Gabe sighed. “Work now and play later.”
-
They had returned to the shelter the same time as Sam and Castiel’s group had returned and like Dean’s party they were able to rescue a few reprogrammed Users along the way.
“Gabriel?” Sam blinked when he saw the angel. “You have your old body back?”
“It’s the same body,” Cas said as he studied his brother. “He just changed his appearance.”
“Don’t worry everyone,” Gabe said as he held out his arms. “Still me, still Gabe or Skip if you prefer. I can change my appearance now.”
“Yeah he’s got that going for him again,” Dean said as he looked around. It seemed that those programs that took the main group of Users back to the laptop have returned. “I guess our next move will be to get these guys back.”
“After Cas treats them,” Tron said and pointed at the still sleeping Users.
Cas said nothing as he walked over to them. He touched their foreheads, two at a time as he said the same words in Enochian as he had before.
“We’ll try to get them out of here and return as fast as we can,” Jolt said. “Do you know how we are going to carry everyone to the Master Control Demon?”
“We can use a solar sailer,” Yori suggested as she smiled at Tron. “That was how we were able to transport to the first demon that tried to take over.”
“A sailer would be able to transport all of us,” Quorra agreed.
“A sailer,” Dean repeated. “That’s like a boat right?”
“More like a train,” Sam Flynn told him.
“A train is also good.” Dean felt relieved that he wasn’t going to be traveling through the air. “It runs on tracks on the ground.” He noticed the weak smiles the others were giving him. “God damn it.”
“You have to be strong, Dean,” his brother told him.
“I’ll hold your hand again if you want,” Lia said in a soft tone.
“Not a sailer,” Tron said. He had his hand over his mouth and chin with a finger over his lips. “Dean, you seemed comfortable in that large air craft where we were held captive.”
“Yeah I was,” Dean said and shrugged. “It didn’t feel like a plane or anything like that.”
“Where are we going to get such a craft?” Lia asked.
“I know just the place,” Slash said as he cracked his knuckles.
-
“What happened?” Kruz asked as he stared at the visual screen. The camera was located just outside Game Simulation Dome 4. They had the programs that Master Control wanted and then the doors closed. His soldiers worked hard to have them pried open and when it was opened it was just that game sprite. The others were gone. The sprite blew on the crystal horn and everything just blew up.
“It seems like activating the horn was a trigger for something,” the soldier said. “The sprite may have been covered with explosives.
“Covered?” Kruz repeated. “Do you see where he could hide explosives on his body? That sprite is not wearing very much.”
“I am not certain sir, unless he had did something to the horn on the way back from the goal.”
“That had to be it.” Kruz rubbed his chin.
The time is not going good for him. First he was informed of the players being freed from their cells and then he was told they were trying to break out those that were still in the middle of the games. He had watched the footage of each group as they took out the guards that were stationed in front of the Game Dome and Lightcycle arena. He was baffled as to why they didn’t derezz certain ones and took those as prisoners instead.
“Waiting for further orders, sir,” the soldier said.
“Replay and slow it down,” Kruz commanded. “We are going to watch everything frame by frame to see if there is anything that we missed.”
“I’m on it.”
“This is what you are doing?” Sark’s voice was heard behind him. “We have several rogue programs running around, freeing prisoners and you are watching visuals?”
Kruz bit his tongue to keep from seething as he turned to face Sark. “I am looking for clues if you do not mind.”
“Of course I mind,” Sark said.
“That is because you do not understand.” Kruz held up a finger before he pointed it at the screen. “I have sent a hundred soldiers to capture some of them. As you can see the doors open and they are there. They close the doors and when they opened again it was just the sprite.” He tapped his finger against the screen. “Now watch this.” He watched as the game sprite brought the horn to his mouth and blew it. The screen filled with a brilliant white glow before everything went dark. “There.”
“I am aware of the explosion,” Sark said in an annoyed tone. “I am also aware that you have wasted several soldiers.”
“I wasted?” Kruz blinked. “I had no idea that was going to happen. No one did.”
“You have been informed about the one Master Control calls tricky.”
“I have kept an eye and ear out for him, but no one has informed me of his identity. You are the one who speaks with him on a constant basis now, not me.
Sark’s glower grew even more intense as he grabbed Kruz by the jaw and lifted him off the floor.
“Do not place the blame for your mistakes on me, commander,” Sark said. “There is a reason you have been demoted.”
“Uh captain I would like to-“ the soldier tried to speak but Sark cut him off.
“Do not speak to me unless I’m speaking with you.”
Kruz felt his feet touch the ground and the pressure from Sark’s touch had lessoned. “Sir, do forgive me. We will seek out those programs immediately.”
“You better,” Sark said. His glower did not soften as he blinked and turned around to walk away.
-
There was an actual shipyard in this freaking world. There were several ships, probably similar to the ones that Dean was in, and he would have gotten a good look if he wasn’t cowering in the middle of the light jet.
“I wonder which one we are going to take,” Sammy said as he studied the ships that resting along the ground. Some of them looked like sea fairing vessels and a few look like large hybrids of jet places and submarines.
“Hopefully one of those,” Dean said as he pointed at one of the sea ships. He would feel better in one of those. He stepped away from his brother when he heard someone approach him.
“We found what we are looking for,” Lia said. “I hope you won’t feel bad.”
“I’ll feel better once we get rid of this demon,” Dean said as he followed after her and Sammy.
The others were gathered around what looked like a large rectangular box with a sloped square head. It was pale blue-gray in color and was not the biggest in size but it will do, even if it is one of the ugliest looking ships in the yard, although appearance is not what they are looking for.
“What is that?” Sammy asked.
“This is the ship we are taking,” Yori explained as she gestured to the ship. “I know it does’t look like much but with a little User touch she will run smoothly.”
“Halt,” a voice shouted as a single program walked towards them. His circuitry was glowing blue and he had a multi faceted blue sphere following him. “What do you think you are doing?”
“Sai?” Sammy asked as he recognized the program.
“Hey buddy,” Sam Flynn greeted the program. “Just running some security checks.”
“That is a lie,” the sphere said as it spoke in a robotic voice and shifted in multiple shapes.
“Security checks have been completed,” Sai said as he placed his hands on his hips. “And don’t try to tell me you are double checking it. Everything had a recent and thorough check.”
“You are all going to be in serious trouble,” the sphere added.
“You want the truth?” Flynn asked. “I’ll tell you guys the truth. We are taking this ship to Master Control’s mesa and we are going to kill him. The system will be free and you will no longer have to worry about stepping on any eggshells.”
“Really?” Sai said in a skeptical tone.
“That is correct,” Tron said.
“Do you think I’m going to let you steal this ship?” Sai asked. “I could be derezzed for that. I could probably be derezzed for speaking with you and not turning you in.” He blinked. “In fact I am going to turn you in right now.” He turned around and ran right into a small gathering of programs that was right behind him. Cas had even grabbed the sphere.
“We are not stealing the ship,” Tron told him.
“We are commandeering it,” a program that looked and sounded exactly like captain Jack Sparrow told him. “Commandeering, it’s a nautical term.”
“Johnny Depp,” Quorra gasped and seemed to brighten up at his image. “How did he get in here?”
“Gabriel,” Cas answered and gave his brother a look.
Sparrow sighed and rolled his eyes before he shifted back. “You guys I swear, don’t want me to have any fun.”
“How,” Sai said as he pointed at Gabe. “How did he do that?” His eyes widened. “Is he…is he a User?”
“He’s not a User,” Dean said. “But my brother and I are.” He placed his arm around Sammy. “The same goes for Sam Flynn and Quorra.” He would of added Tron to the list but he knew the former program wanted to keep his new status a secret.
“What is he then?”
“He and I are both angels of the lord,” Cas answered.
“And you are all going to take on the master control,” Sai said.
“Yeah we got angel and User power,” Dean said with a smile. “And we have the legendary program, Tron with us.” He nodded towards Tron. “Think we have a shot?”
“There is no doubt,” Sai said. “If anyone asks I’ll say a group of rogue programs came along and destroyed it, but you better get on it and get out now. The real security will be here soon.”
“Can I borrow him?” Cas asked as he held up the sphere and released him.
“I would be pleased if you took him away,” Sai said as he nodded at the ball. “But it’s all up to him.”
“I will gladly follow an angel,” the sphere said as he followed after Cas.
“Why does Cas want that byte?” Sammy asked.
“I have no idea,” Dean said and shrugged. So the thing was called byte. That was interesting.
“We are going to need everyone with User abilities to climb aboard,” Lia said.
Dean and Sam followed after her, along with Flynn, Quorra, Tron, Yori and the angels. Dean wasn’t sure of what he was supposed to do but he watched as the angels along with Flynn and Quorra kneel down and placed their hands on the surface.
“What are we doing?” Dean asked as he just pressed his hands on the deck. “Sammy?”
“I’m not sure,” Sammy said as he rubbed his fingers across the surface. “Maybe they are looking for a type of code that they can weave around and reshape.”
“Didn’t you take a programming course?” Dean asked as he tried to visualize a more aesthetic appearance for the ship.
“Yeah just the one and it only lasted a semester,” Sammy answered as he rubbed and tapped his fingers.
“That’s still one more semester than me,” Dean answered as he looked around. Sam Flynn seemed to know what he was doing and so did Quorra. Cas and Gabe did not need to know any code. Tron also seemed to be mimicking the same finger gestures as the others.
Something seemed to be working. The dull metal took on a new sheen as it turned a glossy black and white in some large square shaped areas. Levels rose and flattened and reshaped themselves while circuit lines ran through the ship and took on a soft blue glow.
“Now that is a ship,” Dean said when they were done.
“I’ll go let the others know that we are ready,” Lia said and ran over to the edge.
Dean walked over to Tron. “So how do you like your new abilities?”
“Still getting used to it,” Tron said after he had finished staring at his hands.
“You and me both.”
Several programs raced up the gangplank into the ship as the sounds of struggle took place on the ground.
“We have to go now,” Jolt said as Slash and Lia practically jumped onto the ship. “They are here.”
“Everyone below deck,” Yori commanded. “I’ll take her out.”
“No matter what you still have great gal who loves you,” Dean said as he and the others raced below deck.
“That I do,” Tron said as he smiled.
-
A/N: The title is based on the video game Mass Effect and it’s sequel.