Chapter 28: Carry On My Wayward Son
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Dean sat outside of the tower nursing the remains of his beer-flavored energy. He wondered what he was going to write down in the journal he formed. He wondered what he was going to tell Bobby when he called him and if he ever comes across Lisa again what should he tell her? He smiled at the idea of Ben asking if he could go inside cyberspace and knowing the kid he would want to access all of the porn sites.
There was not much left for him to do here. Those that were pulled in were brought back from the secure laptop. The Flynns and Quorra were able to reconfigure the light beam in the tower and they did contact their friend who was on the outside.
Dean was pretty much alone. Castiel insisted on being with the programmers for some reason. Gabe was with Sam and they were talking with a few of the other programs and Tron was with Yori. He had wondered what the former program was going to do now that he was human. Was he going to stay here with his girlfriend? Was he going to come back out with him? Dean wouldn’t mind if Tron came out with them so he could treat him to one last meal, not to mention finish that reel of film and have it developed for him.
“You will be going home soon,” Lia said as she approached him. She sounded a bit crestfallen.
“Out there you mean,” Dean said as he stood up. “My brother and I don’t really have a permanent place of residence.”
“There are more Users for you to save,” Lia said and nodded.
“Hey don’t get me wrong this was different. It’s another successful hunt, another demon we helped destroy, but we never did it here before.”
“But there are still more out there and they need you and she needs you.”
“She?” Dean raised his eyebrows.
“You have a User in your life that is special to you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Someone like you deserves someone special. You are brave, handsome and you have a good spark inside.”
“I do or at least I did,” Dean said as Lisa appeared in his head. “I love her and I always will and I know she feels the same way. She deserves someone better than me.”
“Who could be better than you?”
He closed his eyes. “Someone who will always be there for her and her son, Ben, someone with a stable job, someone who is normal.”
“Why would anyone want someone like that when they could have someone like you?”
Dean couldn’t keep from smiling. “The best part about coming here was getting to meet you, Lia.” He grabbed her hands.
PROGRAM CREATED The feminine voice was loud enough to cause an echo.
“What the?” Dean asked as and he and Lia released their hold on each other.
“A new program has been created,” Lia explained.
“I figured that out.”
PROGRAM DESIGNATION: VESSEL. The same voice before boomed out.
“His or her name is vessel,” Lia said.
“I’m not sure if that is a real name,” Dean said as he glanced over towards the tower.
The brilliant blue beam that connected the tower to the sky was replaced by a cascade of blazing white for a few seconds.
“That I can’t explain.”
“What just happened?” Sammy asked as he and Gabe ran up to them.
“Dean, Sam,” Tron called out to them as he and Yori raced up to them. “I heard a new program was created and I saw a change in the beam.”
“I think we are about to find out,” Dean said.
The doors to the tower opened. Quorra along with both Flynns came walking out along with a young man who was staring at everything with round green eyes. He had hair the color of honey that was cut short and slightly wavy. He wore a gray suit with a black belt, gloves and boots.
“Kevin,” Tron was the first to speak. “What happened?”
“Where’s Cas?” Dean asked.
“Who is this?” Sammy asked and pointed to the new guy.
“Just like last time,” the new program said as he skipped towards them. “It’s more advanced, but it’s just as beautiful.” He ran up to Gabe. “Hello, brother.”
“Ramiel?” Gabe asked.
“Another angel?” Lia asked.
“This is Ramiel,” Gabe said as he pointed at the angel. “What are you doing here?”
“Let me explain,” Kevin Flynn said. “We figured this system would be safe now that Gabriel will be here for a little while longer and he had some more of his powers back.”
“I’ll try,” Gabe said as his younger brother gave him a large hug.
“I asked Castiel if he had another brother who wouldn’t mind watching over my Grid,” Kevin Flynn said.
“And Ramiel volunteered,” Sammy said.
“This is the one that loved this world,” Dean said as he remembered what both Cas and Gabe had told him.
“And held onto Kevin,” Tron added.
“He’s sort of the closest thing I have to a guardian angel,” Kevin said as he pointed at Ramiel.
“Even though I failed you,” Ramiel said softly. “I wasn’t there for you when you were trapped.”
“It’s okay,” Kevin told him. “I’ve been informed of your uh, family situation.”
“I promise to look over your Grid and protect its denizens and fight for the humans, like my brothers.”
“Speaking of which,” Dean said when he still hadn’t seen his friend emerge from the tower. “Where is Cas?”
“On the other side,” Quorra said as she pointed back to the tower. “He went through the beam with the Users that were pulled in. He said he is going to bring everyone home.”
“I should have checked with Alan about that,” Kevin said as he rubbed his chin and chuckled. “We are going to have a lot to talk about.”
“Alan and I ordered everyone in the lab to leave for at least an hour,” his son said.
“Good thinking,” Kevin said and gave his son a pat on the shoulder. He looked back towards the direction of Ramiel. “Happy little seraphim aint he?”
“You made all his dreams come true,” Gabe told him.
“You will watch over him?” Kevin asked. “Make sure he relearns everything there is to know here until I upload him to my Grid.”
“I’ll take him under my wing,” Gabe said.
“You will be returning to work on your Grid?” Tron asked.
“Once things get settled,” Kevin said. “I need to spend some time with my son. Figure out what to say to the world. Tron, I’m not going to ask you to come with me to Grid, not after what happened last time. I want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” Tron said as he smiled at Yori. “I’m happy to be will all my friends.”
“You should go with them,” Yori said. “Their world is your world.”
“I want you to come with me,” Tron said. “Become a User.”
“I’m not sure if I’m ready for that,” Yori said and looked down. “Lora still needs me. The Users need me in here. You don’t have to serve anyone anymore.”
“Unpaid that is,” Kevin said. “Tron you come out for a bit and I upload you during the day. You do your job keeping things secure and at the end of the day you come out and I’ll sign your checks.”
“He gets weekends off right?” Dean asked.
“Weekends off,” Sam Flynn confirmed. “Wherever he wants to go.”
“To live in both worlds,” Tron said as he inhaled. “As a User.”
“The choice and decision is all yours,” Sammy said.
“Team Free Will,” Dean added.
“I will need time to think about it,” Tron said. He turned back to Yori and held her and. “I will think while in the User world and I’ll be thinking of you. I hope you will still think about crossing over.”
“I will,” Yori said. “I will never stop thinking about you.”
The two of them kissed. Their lips locked for nearly a full minute before the stepped apart and stared into each other’s eyes for another minute.
“Take care, Gabe,” Dean said. “And nice to meet your Ramiel.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you all,” Ramiel said.
“Nice to see not all of you guys are jerks,” Sammy added.
Ramiel shrugged. “Just be glad you are not related to them.”
Dean chuckled and turned to Lia. “I will be thinking of you.”
“I’ll never forget you,” Lia said as she embraced him.
Dean bent down and kissed her. “Something else to remember me by.”
“Thank you.”
He took one last look of her, Yori and the two angels before he followed his brother and others into the tower. They walked past the pulpit. Dean gave Dumont a small wave and the priest like program smiled and waved back. They climbed through an opening in the back and through a small hall that led to an area that was full of flickering and flashing light.
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The compressed feeling in Dean’s chest lasted only a second along with the numbness and the darkness. He felt air return to his lungs when he felt the floor under his feet. He opened his eyes and saw they were in a large room on a metal scaffolding and somewhere in between an odd laser and a computer terminal. Looking around he could see more of the metal catwalks, stairs, large pieces of equipment and more computers.
“Hey Alan,” Sam Flynn said in a casual tone to an older man with a head full of silver hair and black rimmed glasses.
The other man just stared at them for a few seconds before he dropped the phone that held to his ear. His mouth was hanging open.
“K-Kevin?” The man sputtered.
“Alan,” Kevin Flynn said softly to him.
Dean stepped back to allow the older Flynn to run past him and embrace his friend. It was easy for him to understand. He could picture Bobby giving his father a hug, right before possibly decking him, although at this point he would not be exactly certain what his father and Bobby’s reaction would be.
“Sam told me you died,” Alan said once they stopped hugging each other.
“I was,” Kevin said. “I got better thanks to the angels.”
“The angels,” Alan removed his glasses. “Of course the—you said angels as in plural?”
“Yeah Castiel and Gabriel brought me back. Sam, Quorra and I made a program to serve as a vessel for Ramiel.”
“There is more than one here?” Alan asked and replaced his glasses.
“Where is Cas?” Dean asked. “They said he would be here.”
“He just went to take the rest of the missing teens back home,” Alan explained. “He said he-“ He paused when Castiel appeared. “Be right back.”
“Everyone is back home,” Cas said.
“This must be Dean,” Alan said as he pointed at Dean. “Your brother was quite worried about you.”
“He was the youngest player who got my score on Space Paranoids,” Kevin said in a proud tone.
“That’s the boy?” Alan asked and chuckled. “I did notice when he and his brother stopped showing up.”
“We have another surprise for you,” Kevin said.
“Another?” Alan asked. “Are you certain my heart could take it? I’m not a young man anymore.”
“You always were a bit of a tease,” Flynn said and stepped back. “Congrats you are a daddy again.”
Tron stepped forward and stared at Alan. “Alan-one.”
Dean blinked and stared at both the former program and Alan. It was eerie how much they sounded alike and Alan did look like an older Tron.
“My god,” Alan gasped as he stared at Tron. “Kevin, did you have me cloned?”
“You created me Alan-one,” Tron said and swallowed. “I’m your independent security program.”
“Tron?” Alan whispered.
Tron got down on one knee. “Alan-one, my creator, my User. I fought for you and all Users. You put a special code on my disk and told me to get it into the core of the MCP and we would not be able to communicate again until I succeed.”
“I did,” Alan said as he grabbed onto Tron’s hands. “My best program ever.” He tilted his head as he studied Tron’s face. “I didn’t know they can grow facial hair.”
“They can’t,” Dean said. “Or they don’t.”
“Cas brought him out,” Sammy explained. “He was with us for a few days and the exposure to our environment for that period of time was enough to turn him human.”
“You’re human?” Alan blinked.
“I am a User, like you.”
“This is going to take some getting used to.”
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Tron looked around the room he was in. He was in Alan’s office. It was a good size with blue-gray carpet and silver-gray walls. The desk was dark and there were a couple of chairs placed in front of the desk and a large leather chair behind it and in front of the large window. There was some counter space that had an odd looking device.
“Thank you for waiting,” Alan said as he stepped inside.
“Kevin is in Sam’s office?” Tron asked. Alan and the others managed to get to the elevator and ride it up and sneak Kevin into Sam’s office before anyone could see them.
“Everyone is there,” Alan said. “Sam is talking about writing a check for your friends.”
“In the road trip over here they said they don’t usually get payment for what they do.” Tron looked out of the window. “They did not explain about how they made their money.”
“You all managed to destroy a demon that resided inside our system.”
“Two demons,” Tron corrected as he smiled at his User. “That Master Control Program was a normal program that was fused with a demon.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Alan chuckled. “Tron, I am pretty sure this change to humanity is odd to you and I want to help you with this adjustment. I know Sam had offered letting you stay at his place, but he is going to have a handful with his father and trust me I know that Kevin can be a bit of a handful.”
“He was always larger than life,” Tron agreed.
“I have plenty of room at my place.” Alan walked over to his desk and held up a picture of himself a woman who looked like an older version of Yori and another young man with glasses and dressed in a blue robe with a hat that looked like flat square on his head with a tassel. “My wife is away in Washington with our son.”
“I would like to stay with you Alan-one.” Tron frowned. “I mean Mr. Bradley.”
“You can call me Alan.”
“I can’t call you my User. Humans don’t do that.”
“If you want to, you can address me as father. Seeing that in a way I am your father.” He smiled. “I am glad those boys took care of you, but I can’t help to wonder if they fed your right or was it all burgers fries and beer?”
“There was soda,” Tron said. “Chicken strips, steamed vegetables, soup, pie, pancakes, eggs sausages, donuts, coffee, juice, Mcgriddles, and fajitas as well.”
“How about tonight I make everyone a nice home cooked meal. I’m not a five star restaurant chef but I do make a decent pot roast.”
“That does sound good.”
“They also told me another detail,” Alan said as he held up a finger. “Red Justica is the name of a bright red flower that grows in Brazil. About five years ago I was on a business trip to Rio. The Red Justica tripped up my allergies. I have never suffered from an allergy like that. I sneezed, was stuffed up, my nose and eyes itched.”
“That’s what happened to me in that glitch patch.”
“It does appear we have a lot in common,” Alan said. “You’ll probably end up hating Pop-Tarts as well.”
“What are those?”
“I’ll show you so you can avoid them,” Alan said as he placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m also going to explain everything to Lora and she will convince Yori to step out and become a User like you.”
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Alan was right. He did make a good pot roast. Tron couldn’t believe how fast he was eating. His newly dubbed father had cooked the roast in a mix of beef broth, wine and various spices that Tron could not remember. Alan had also put in mushrooms, carrots and onions.
“More wine?” Alan asked as he refilled the glass for Quorra, and Sam Winchester.
“When did you learn how to cook?” Kevin asked before he took another bite of the fried potatoes. Their meal also had a fresh tossed salad and bread rolls with butter.
“I self taught myself,” Alan said as he topped off Dean’s glass. “I got tired of always having to order out.”
“I got to be the one to taste test all of his experiments,” Sam Flynn said. “Besides Jet.”
“This is really good,” Dean said after he swallowed.
“I bet you boys don’t get this kind of meal often,” Alan said before he sat back down.
“No we don’t,” Sam Winchester said. “Thank you.”
“The least we can do.”
“Least you can do?” Dean asked. “You gave us a hundred thousand dollars.”
“You should be paid more often,” Quorra said. “You deserve rewards like that.”
“Where are you two going?” Kevin asked. The brothers have already informed them that Castiel had gone back to heaven and they have no idea when they will see him again.
“We talked to a friend of ours,” the younger Winchester said. “Thinks there might be a shape shifter in Oregon.”
“Will you ever come back?” Tron asked. He hated having to say goodbye to his new friends, but he understood what their line of work entails.
“Sure,” Dean said. “There will be another case around here. A ghost, witchcraft, vampire, or a ghoul and we will come back.”
“What about just for a visit?” Kevin asked. “You guys need a break from hunting and come crash with us for a while. Games at the arcade will be on me.”
“I think we can manage that,” Dean said and glanced at his brother. “What do you think, Sammy?”
“I’d love to come back.”
“I would like to propose a toast,” Alan said as he held up his glass. “To a success in destroying a demon, resurrecting my old friend, me getting a new son and to new friends.”
“To everything,” Sam Flynn said as he held up his glass.
“Friends and everything,” everyone said as they held up their glasses and clinked it together.
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The End
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A/N: I had to use that song for the last chapter title.
Alan’s hatred of Pop-tarts is based on the Tronblr Roleplay on Tumblr.
I want to thank everyone who has been reading, reviewing and faving and putting this story on alerts. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
XspriteyX Thank you. Flynn lives. I figured the I/O towers were hallowed ground places in the first one.