Fic: Virus (4/7)
Fic: Virus (4/7)
Series: Special Projects
Summary: A stopover at Ellen's is not as restful as the group hoped it would be, thanks to computer-literate Demons.
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
Characters: Chloe, Sam, Dean
Pairing:Chloe/Dean
Rating: Pg-13
This is a part of the Special Projects series. You can find the rest of the series here.
Written for the Crossovers100 challenge. Prompt #98 Writers Choice (tech). The table is here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Harvelle’s rebuilt roadhouse had been around only long enough for a blanket of dust to have settled on everything. So when Sam pulled the boxes off of the top shelf, they slid that layer of dirt and grime onto his head.
He was considerate enough to set the boxes down before shaking like a sheepdog, and brushing the dirt out of his hair. He coughed once or twice, and wiped the grime from his eyes. Then he looked up to see Ellen smile at him wryly from the door.
He was reminded, briefly, of Jo’s smile the time that they’d gone down to Memphis to help her with her clurichaun problem. Thinking of Jo hurt a little, so he turned his back to Ellen and busied himself with her boxes.
“So where do you want these?” He asked.
“Any damn place you want, Sam.” Ellen said. “You know I didn’t really ask you back here to move some old junk.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sam sighed.
“Sam,” Ellen put a hand on his shoulder to draw his attention. “You know I wouldn’t want to pry in your business. But this thing with Jo . . .”
Sam frowned. He didn’t really want to go into it. But Ellen was Jo’s mom, so he figured she had a right to know. He lifted an eyebrow, as if to ask her what she wanted to know.
Ellen sighed. “Back when you were hurt. Chloe asked me to not tell Jo right off. Was there something between the two of you?”
Sam chose his words carefully. “I wish there had been,” he said. “Jo - She’s smart enough not to get involved with a hunter.”
Ellen nodded. “I wish I could say I’m sorry, Sam. You’re a good kid. And if you were anyone else, I’d say that Jo was a damn fool. But --”
“I know,” Sam said. “It’s not about me. Not really.”
“My baby girl worshipped the ground that Bill walked on. When he died, it hit us both hard.”
“Ellen,” Sam sighed.
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, Sam,” Ellen waved away his apology. “Bill was careful, and John was a good hunter. But shit happens. I understand that. So does Jo. When you kids got in over your head down there in Branson, I think it reminded her of that.”
Ellen sighed. “Maybe she’ll find someone with a nice, safe job. Some kind of accountant or lawyer.”
Sam smiled at the irony of that. “I was going to go into tax law.”
“Lawyer, huh?” Ellen smiled. “I bet you would have been good at it.”
“The idea drove Dad crazy,” Sam said.
“I bet John was proud,” Ellen said.
“Once you got him past the whole ‘Sam’s not hunting’ thing.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck.
“He was always proud of you guys,” Ellen said. “Even if he didn’t know how to show it.”
“Yeah,” Sam sighed. “So should I just put these boxes back up on the shelf?”
“That’s fine,” Ellen smiled at that. “I don’t even know what the hell’s in them, anyway.”
Sam heaved them back up. He shut his eyes against the dust that sifted against his face when he did so.
“Kinda wished you’d told me before I got them down.” He coughed as he wiped the dust away from his eyes.
Ellen shook her head. “Dean and Chloe needed some space. And anyway, I did have something else that I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Really?” Sam lifted an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been looking after this kid.” Ellen rolled her eyes. “Sixteen year old boy. All knees and elbows. But he wants to be a hunter. His name is Isaac.”
“He wants to be a hunter?” Sam’s other eyebrow lifted to join its buddy on his forehead. “What do his parents have to say about that?”
“They’re dead,” Ellen said. “Werewolves got ‘em.”
Sam winced. That was how most hunters got their start: with some kind of tragic encounter with the supernatural. “So he’s after revenge?”
“Damn kid doesn’t know what he wants.” Ellen shook her head. “He’s young and hot-headed, and mad at the world. I was hoping to give him a little bit of direction. Because right now - the kid is a danger to himself.”
“Ellen,” Sam shook his head. “If you want someone to talk him out of hunting - we’re probably the last guys to do that. I gave up on Stamford to keep doing this. That doesn’t exactly make me the poster child for a better future.”
“I know that, Sam,” Ellen said. “Right now I’d just settle for the kid learning a little bit of patience. He’s no Ash, but he’s good with computers. So I gave him one of the spare bedrooms. He’s been picking through the stuff that survived the fire. He really got absorbed with salvaging Ash’s old computer parts. It’s all over my head,” she shrugged.
“I hoped that would settle him down. And for a while, it did. But . . .” She sighed. “I’ve had to drag him out of a couple of fights with older hunters. He’s cocky and absolutely convinced that there is nothing we can teach him. That’s dangerous.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll have to talk it over with Dean and Chloe. But if they’re willing - we could talk to him. Beyond that - we’ll just have to see.”
“That’s the most I was hoping for,” Ellen said. “I always thought that having boys would be easier than having girls.”
“And now?”
“They come with their own sets of problems.” Ellen pinched the bridge of her nose
Sam chuckled at that. “So the kid’s a computer whiz?”
“He’s good at research. If he didn’t rub people the wrong way, they’d probably come to him to help them search for things.”
“That would actually be a big help,” Sam said thoughtfully. A short time ago, he’d given out Chloe’s Wall of Weird website to a group of hunters as a resource, along with both his and Chloe’s e-mail address. Now, it seemed that every morning, they spent a good hour fielding questions from other hunters via e-mail and telephone.
At least, the ones who trusted them and didn’t think that they’d been responsible for opening the Devil’s Gate in Wyoming.
Sam frowned at the thought. The hunters’ community was pretty polarized on that issue. The ones who blamed them, like Gordon, didn’t go into Harvelle’s roadhouses, and wouldn’t have heard about Chloe’s website. Or if they had, they wouldn’t have anything to do with it. They didn’t give that group much thought. The unspoken rule was that they had as little to do with each other as possible.
The rest of the community - they knew where Sam, Dean, Ellen and Bobby stood on matters. And they weren’t above sharing information. That was the segment of the community that Sam didn’t mind helping.
It was, as Chloe would say, good PR. As word got around that their info was good, and they could be relied on, more people swung their opinions away from Gordon and his ilk, and over to their side of things.
As far as Sam was concerned, that was a good thing. Because, if things were going to get as bad as he thought, then they would need as many friendly faces as they could get on their side. Especially with Demon-possessed metahuman clones, and the looming possibility that they would go public the way the metahumans had.
“If he’s willing to get into the research, Chloe and I could use someone to help us with the Supernatural Tech Support project that we’ve been working on.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” Ellen asked.
“You’ve heard of it?” Sam yelped.
“Word travels fast, Sam.” Ellen said. “We had the hunter’s blogs before, and that was all well and good for sharing information. But no one has ever tried to have something centralized before. Most folk seem to like the idea.”
“Yeah,” Sam smiled uneasily. “Chloe and I haven’t really said anything to Dean about it. We meant to, but things got a little out of hand.” Plus there was the fact that Dean wasn’t really excited about giving unmonitored access of that information to anyone, because some of the information there, in the wrong hands, was like a paranormal Anarchist’s cookbook.
And the way things were set up - there was no gate keeping to the information. Anyone who knew the website could find it.
“Well, I’d say something before he hears it around the bar.” Ellen rolled her eyes. “You guys don’t realize how big that website has gotten, do you?”
“Um . . . no?” Sam shook his head. “We haven’t really been charting hits. But the server hasn’t been running any slower.”
“Given Chloe’s resources, why would it?” Ellen huffed at him in exasperation.
Sam thought of Chloe’s Justice League friends, and nodded. “You have a point.” He sighed and wondered how to tell Dean. “This is going to be fun.”
Series: Special Projects
Summary: A stopover at Ellen's is not as restful as the group hoped it would be, thanks to computer-literate Demons.
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
Characters: Chloe, Sam, Dean
Pairing:Chloe/Dean
Rating: Pg-13
This is a part of the Special Projects series. You can find the rest of the series here.
Written for the Crossovers100 challenge. Prompt #98 Writers Choice (tech). The table is here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Harvelle’s rebuilt roadhouse had been around only long enough for a blanket of dust to have settled on everything. So when Sam pulled the boxes off of the top shelf, they slid that layer of dirt and grime onto his head.
He was considerate enough to set the boxes down before shaking like a sheepdog, and brushing the dirt out of his hair. He coughed once or twice, and wiped the grime from his eyes. Then he looked up to see Ellen smile at him wryly from the door.
He was reminded, briefly, of Jo’s smile the time that they’d gone down to Memphis to help her with her clurichaun problem. Thinking of Jo hurt a little, so he turned his back to Ellen and busied himself with her boxes.
“So where do you want these?” He asked.
“Any damn place you want, Sam.” Ellen said. “You know I didn’t really ask you back here to move some old junk.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sam sighed.
“Sam,” Ellen put a hand on his shoulder to draw his attention. “You know I wouldn’t want to pry in your business. But this thing with Jo . . .”
Sam frowned. He didn’t really want to go into it. But Ellen was Jo’s mom, so he figured she had a right to know. He lifted an eyebrow, as if to ask her what she wanted to know.
Ellen sighed. “Back when you were hurt. Chloe asked me to not tell Jo right off. Was there something between the two of you?”
Sam chose his words carefully. “I wish there had been,” he said. “Jo - She’s smart enough not to get involved with a hunter.”
Ellen nodded. “I wish I could say I’m sorry, Sam. You’re a good kid. And if you were anyone else, I’d say that Jo was a damn fool. But --”
“I know,” Sam said. “It’s not about me. Not really.”
“My baby girl worshipped the ground that Bill walked on. When he died, it hit us both hard.”
“Ellen,” Sam sighed.
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, Sam,” Ellen waved away his apology. “Bill was careful, and John was a good hunter. But shit happens. I understand that. So does Jo. When you kids got in over your head down there in Branson, I think it reminded her of that.”
Ellen sighed. “Maybe she’ll find someone with a nice, safe job. Some kind of accountant or lawyer.”
Sam smiled at the irony of that. “I was going to go into tax law.”
“Lawyer, huh?” Ellen smiled. “I bet you would have been good at it.”
“The idea drove Dad crazy,” Sam said.
“I bet John was proud,” Ellen said.
“Once you got him past the whole ‘Sam’s not hunting’ thing.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck.
“He was always proud of you guys,” Ellen said. “Even if he didn’t know how to show it.”
“Yeah,” Sam sighed. “So should I just put these boxes back up on the shelf?”
“That’s fine,” Ellen smiled at that. “I don’t even know what the hell’s in them, anyway.”
Sam heaved them back up. He shut his eyes against the dust that sifted against his face when he did so.
“Kinda wished you’d told me before I got them down.” He coughed as he wiped the dust away from his eyes.
Ellen shook her head. “Dean and Chloe needed some space. And anyway, I did have something else that I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Really?” Sam lifted an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been looking after this kid.” Ellen rolled her eyes. “Sixteen year old boy. All knees and elbows. But he wants to be a hunter. His name is Isaac.”
“He wants to be a hunter?” Sam’s other eyebrow lifted to join its buddy on his forehead. “What do his parents have to say about that?”
“They’re dead,” Ellen said. “Werewolves got ‘em.”
Sam winced. That was how most hunters got their start: with some kind of tragic encounter with the supernatural. “So he’s after revenge?”
“Damn kid doesn’t know what he wants.” Ellen shook her head. “He’s young and hot-headed, and mad at the world. I was hoping to give him a little bit of direction. Because right now - the kid is a danger to himself.”
“Ellen,” Sam shook his head. “If you want someone to talk him out of hunting - we’re probably the last guys to do that. I gave up on Stamford to keep doing this. That doesn’t exactly make me the poster child for a better future.”
“I know that, Sam,” Ellen said. “Right now I’d just settle for the kid learning a little bit of patience. He’s no Ash, but he’s good with computers. So I gave him one of the spare bedrooms. He’s been picking through the stuff that survived the fire. He really got absorbed with salvaging Ash’s old computer parts. It’s all over my head,” she shrugged.
“I hoped that would settle him down. And for a while, it did. But . . .” She sighed. “I’ve had to drag him out of a couple of fights with older hunters. He’s cocky and absolutely convinced that there is nothing we can teach him. That’s dangerous.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll have to talk it over with Dean and Chloe. But if they’re willing - we could talk to him. Beyond that - we’ll just have to see.”
“That’s the most I was hoping for,” Ellen said. “I always thought that having boys would be easier than having girls.”
“And now?”
“They come with their own sets of problems.” Ellen pinched the bridge of her nose
Sam chuckled at that. “So the kid’s a computer whiz?”
“He’s good at research. If he didn’t rub people the wrong way, they’d probably come to him to help them search for things.”
“That would actually be a big help,” Sam said thoughtfully. A short time ago, he’d given out Chloe’s Wall of Weird website to a group of hunters as a resource, along with both his and Chloe’s e-mail address. Now, it seemed that every morning, they spent a good hour fielding questions from other hunters via e-mail and telephone.
At least, the ones who trusted them and didn’t think that they’d been responsible for opening the Devil’s Gate in Wyoming.
Sam frowned at the thought. The hunters’ community was pretty polarized on that issue. The ones who blamed them, like Gordon, didn’t go into Harvelle’s roadhouses, and wouldn’t have heard about Chloe’s website. Or if they had, they wouldn’t have anything to do with it. They didn’t give that group much thought. The unspoken rule was that they had as little to do with each other as possible.
The rest of the community - they knew where Sam, Dean, Ellen and Bobby stood on matters. And they weren’t above sharing information. That was the segment of the community that Sam didn’t mind helping.
It was, as Chloe would say, good PR. As word got around that their info was good, and they could be relied on, more people swung their opinions away from Gordon and his ilk, and over to their side of things.
As far as Sam was concerned, that was a good thing. Because, if things were going to get as bad as he thought, then they would need as many friendly faces as they could get on their side. Especially with Demon-possessed metahuman clones, and the looming possibility that they would go public the way the metahumans had.
“If he’s willing to get into the research, Chloe and I could use someone to help us with the Supernatural Tech Support project that we’ve been working on.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” Ellen asked.
“You’ve heard of it?” Sam yelped.
“Word travels fast, Sam.” Ellen said. “We had the hunter’s blogs before, and that was all well and good for sharing information. But no one has ever tried to have something centralized before. Most folk seem to like the idea.”
“Yeah,” Sam smiled uneasily. “Chloe and I haven’t really said anything to Dean about it. We meant to, but things got a little out of hand.” Plus there was the fact that Dean wasn’t really excited about giving unmonitored access of that information to anyone, because some of the information there, in the wrong hands, was like a paranormal Anarchist’s cookbook.
And the way things were set up - there was no gate keeping to the information. Anyone who knew the website could find it.
“Well, I’d say something before he hears it around the bar.” Ellen rolled her eyes. “You guys don’t realize how big that website has gotten, do you?”
“Um . . . no?” Sam shook his head. “We haven’t really been charting hits. But the server hasn’t been running any slower.”
“Given Chloe’s resources, why would it?” Ellen huffed at him in exasperation.
Sam thought of Chloe’s Justice League friends, and nodded. “You have a point.” He sighed and wondered how to tell Dean. “This is going to be fun.”