hoodie_time | Supernatural/Paprika Fusion: While I Lay Dreaming (6/?) (Reply)

Series: While I Lay Dreaming
Chapter Title: nobody knows they're lining up to go insane
Author:

felicia_angel
Characters: Hendriksen, Chiba, Tokita, the Chairman, Dean, Michael
Series Summary: AU from "Swan Song" and "Jus in Bello" - Dean checked into the Institute because of insomnia. Now, his friends and family must attempt to piece together what has happened and save him and the world from a darkness.
Chapter Summary: Hendriksen investigates Shima's death, the theft of the DC Mini, and tries to help Dean as best he can. Meanwhile, Michael may have a potential ally...

AO3 link

Nobody knows/they’re lining up to go insane
- Little Drop of Poison

mid-August - October 2010

“You mind repeating what you just said,” Hendriksen growled as he watched Chiba and Tokita work, “but in English?”
This brought Chiba up a bit, before she sighed, sitting back. “The DC mini prototypes are gone. They were stolen last week.”
Hendriksen glared at her as Tokita began to look like a kid that just got caught trying to hide a pet from his parents. “So they’ve been gone a week. Why not tell us, considered most of the patents here are part of that experiment?”
“One of our researchers also disappeared,” Chiba said, “he was having problems, and all signs pointed to him. We were going to look into it before calling in the police, but then...”
“But then Shima died.” It was yet another thing that the Institute had attempted to hide. The Chairman wasn’t being cooperative either, even if he hated the DC machines, and now their Chief Psychiatrist had just jumped out a fourth-floor window while yelling about a ‘grand parade’ of some sort. He hadn’t survived the fall, and considering that some of the money was government-based for treatment of veterans, not to mention they were holding Winchester, Hendriksen was understandably pissed at them.
Hendriksen slowly sighed before saying, “Ok, turn over everything you have. Who’s the guy that went missing?”
“Harris,” Tokita said quietly before starting to work on giving over the information. Chiba, however, frowned and looked at Hendriksen with a calculating look.
“Considering we know him, and how important this work is, what makes you think you should handle this?”
“You held out for a week,” Hendriksen pointed out, his anger growing, “and because of that, one of your top psychiatrists - one of the FBI’s top psychiatrists as well - is dead, and who knows how many others are compromised? Unless you’ve made headway into finding Harris, or how he got to Shima while he wasn’t connected to the Mini anyway, I’m taking over.”
Tokita didn’t argue this, and Hendriksen called for some backup from local officials when he had the information. But his gut told him things wouldn’t end pretty. Considering the last time his gut had told him this, Reidy ended up dead, he was going to trust it.
--
Hendriksen isn’t sure why he goes to visit Dean, but suspects its for the same reason he’s going down the list of those that Thomas had contacted before his death. That, and he’ll be the one to make the final medical call when Dean’s body and mind finally give up on living.
It’s a sobering thought, on that makes Hendriksen unhappy. Moore is equally unhappy, Hendriksen thinks, but it’s because her case will never see trial, and because her time helping Dean is coming to an end. She’s dealing with others right now, and on a case that is eating up enough of her time that she can’t stop by to visit Dean either.
When Hendriksen looks into the Isolation room they have him in, he’s a bit happy about that. Dean’s body is wasting away, looking more and more like photos of anorexics or starving kids in Africa. He’s in a corner of a room, his pale skin marred by lines made from self-inflicted scratch marks, especially along one arm. Another problem that came up, possibly from the DC Mini. Considering the footage of him as the ‘Archangel Michael’, Hendriksen isn’t surprised.
“Hey,” Dean manages as Hendriksen comes in, “what brings you here?”
Hendriksen contemplates telling Dean the truth, and figures he has no real choice in the matter. “Shima died.”
Dean looks down, as if he expected it, but then...well, something seems to click, and he looks up. It’s the same look that Hendriksen got when he had a lead on Winchester and his brother, or the few times Dean’s spoken about ghosts and stuff.
“What happened?”
Hendriksen sits on the floor, not holding a file or anything that might leave something for Dean to hurt himself with. “He jumped out a fourth-floor window. Thing is, he wasn’t sounding like himself when he did. Also doesn’t help that he, Chiba, and Tokita were hiding the fact that their DC Mini prototypes got stolen, possibly by Harris.” Dean frowned, considering. Hendriksen had found, during some of his talks with Dean, that the boy was much smarter than ever given credit for. If he had been given the right home environment and encouraged in his schoolwork, Dean would’ve been a fine agent.
“Have you gone to Harris’? I mean, guy lived nearby, he was just...insecure.”
Hendriksen recalled that. “I didn’t. Chiba and Tokita did, the idiots. They’re lucky they didn’t remove anything or contaminate the crime scene.” Dean managed a small smile. For a guy who could easily go away for impersonating various officers of the law, Dean did know enough procedure to work with cops if needed. “Apparently Chiba was...’attacked’ there.”
Dean’s frown returned. “Like Shima was?”
“Yeah, but they figured she got only a small dose because she’s the one that normally works on the DC therapy machines. Shima did too, but to a lesser extent. It left her open to intrusion, but also meant she could snap out of it before anything bad happened. Still, she did almost hurt herself.”
Dean suddenly shivered, digging a hand into the shoulder with the odd burn-mark that caused any number of theories for those who tried to unravel Dean Winchester’s new file, and he began to take in deeper breaths. “Sorry...just...bastard won’t shut up.”
Hendriksen was silent as Dean attempted to get under control, the younger man finally grounding out, “So the...gah...Harris, Harris wasn’t home?”
“Looked like he hadn’t been for about two days before they broke in. They were trying to locate him, or even figure out his reason for stealing the things, when the Chairman found out about the theft. He told them to contact me, and that’s when Shima...got compromised.”
Dean shivered again, his eyes closing in an attempt to focus, then opening and focusing on Hendriksen. “Guy can’t be far...still in--damnit, still in town, then?”
“We’re working that angle.” Hendriksen slowly stood, “I need to tell the others. They could be in danger.”
Dean nodded, his face paler now and starting to get covered in sweat. Whatever was going on, Dean was starting to lose to the other thing in his head. Considering it’s whole demeanor and way of speaking, there was no doubt that Dean had an alternate personality, one that was fighting for control.
Hendriksen was almost out when Dean’s voice, only a bit deeper and with a quality of power that Dean didn’t have anymore, said, “that machine...can’t reach into their mind without a physical connection.”
Hendriksen whirled as Dean let out a gasp and attempted to fight back, the other side gaining control again and looking at the FBI Agent. If Hendriksen had thought Dean was faking...whatever this was...that thought went out the window now as he looked at Dean’s eyes. The look was of pure malice, a holier-than-thou attitude that was much, much more than the few who’d pulled it on him before had ever tried, and despite Dean’s weakened body, it appeared now to be radiating power, something that hadn’t been there before. Still, there was a bit of pain in those eyes, like it was still fighting Dean and had barely won this victory, and now it smirked at Hendriksen.
“The people who used the machine aren’t in danger from that,” the other-Dean said simply, “but from something else, darker.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Hendriksen asked, pulling what Reidy called a ‘Dean’, where he acted tougher or more in-control then he really was. He’d hated that nickname, but figured this time, it was appropriate.
The smirk vanished, replaced by anger. “Don’t patronize me, worm. I am Michael, the first, Father’s Hammer and Sword. I am the leader of Heaven’s Armies.”
“Yeah, and you’re stuck in a mental asylum,” Hendriksen retorted, seeing the fight in Dean’s eyes start to change, the look now more...Dean...then this imposter.
If he’d been around when Hendriksen had first found Dean, then this side would be the one responsible for the murders, or Dean’s delusions. But Hendriksen knew this, like the mark it kept trying to scratch off that Dean fought with it over, was new.
The other-Dean (Hendriksen refused to call it Michael or justify it’s twisted thoughts) glared at him a moment before saying, “I’ll make you an off--” it suddenly cut off, choking as Dean slumped forward, Hendriksen moving to hold him up as he saw that the real Dean had gotten hard-won control, gasping and muttering, “no, no, you sonuvabitch, you don’t do that. you’re not getting him into some deal. j-just as...bad as the demons, asshole, y-you,” Dean suddenly winced and let out a low, sad laugh, one that nearly broke Hendriksen’s heart. “yeah, bastard, you’re just as bad as they are. worse, you holy-roller...”Another gasp and shuddering, Hendriksen managing to get Dean to bed and call for a nurse to strap him in. About now, Dean tended to claw and tear at his skin or face, or even attempt to escape. It surprised and terrified a few, as he wasn’t normally so strong in his weakened state. Dean jerked a bit against the restraints, the other-Dean briefly appearing to glare balefully at Hendriksen before Dean’s own, pained eyes reappeared, pleading.
“don’t,” Dean muttered to Hendriksen before he left, a hand reaching out for his and squeezing it weakly, “don’t you dare deal with any of them.”
“I can figure this out, Dean,” Hendriksen told him as he managed a squeeze of reassurance back and let go, “No matter what that bastard thinks.”
It got a smile out Dean, before the pain overwhelmed him and the mental fight began again.
--
September, 2010

Despite what the television shows want you to think, thefts were not always cut and dry. This one in particular was even less so because of the fact that Chiba and the Chairman were doing all they could to obstruct it.
Yes, Hendriksen got that the DC Mini was a prototype and thus required more work. He got that Harris had disliked Tokita and been a repressed gay man or something, to the point where it was a bit sad. All that Hendriksen and the others could tell about that was that Harris might have been manipulated - he disliked Tokita but didn’t completely hate him, and was not harassed by anyone at work. If anything, it gave him less motivation to steal the Mini. Of course, the odd e-mails that Harris had attempted to delete also confirmed that whoever was manipulating the poor bastard, had done a bang-up job of it.
But this got them back to Chiba and the Chairman. Chiba was trying to find the Mini and continue her work, to help the others and make sure that nothing like what happened with Dean occurred again. When Hendriksen and the FBI profilers and psychiatrists had asked for records of the sessions, she’d nearly gone rabid. The court order on that was almost finalized.
The Chairman, meantime, was doing all he could to block attempts to show Harris’ face on local TV, or even have anyone besides the FBI and local police know about the theft. A few of the shareholders were attempting to work with the man and get him to see reason, but this probably would require some work as well.
Hendriksen’s final problem were those that had been exposed to the DC Mini or the regular DC machines. So far, a few had noticed a ‘parade’ but it hadn’t entered their minds. All trials had been suspended and a few were attempting to get melatonin pills or something to help them sleep. Of course, Chiba was trying to block that, due to the subjects having to detox afterwards, but it was a case of patient safety over her trials, which were already hurt.
Dean was...well, a problem within the many problems, and unluckily connecting them all. Despite the near-constant battle between the other-Dean and regular-Dean, his body and mind were healthy...ish...as healthy as it could be, to say the least. Dean had been connected to a feeding tube and IV after the other-Dean had attempted to get out again, and if he wasn’t in bed restrained, he was now in a straight-jacket. The fighting that manifested physically, and the other-Dean’s obsession with destroying the burn-mark, or scratching up as much of Dean as he could, meant that it was for Dean’s own safety.
But the medical confusion was over the fact that Dean had stopped dying. Nearly a month ago, he’d been given little time. Now, no one was sure. Notes that the other-Dean claiming responsibility for the new ‘health’, and Dean was obviously upset by it, found their way into the reports, along with other, odder things that one of the nurses, a somewhat religious woman, had seen or heard. Dean initially fought the feeding tube but relented when he simply got too tired to keep fighting the doctors and the other-Dean. Moore was officially off his case unless something legal came up that Hendriksen wasn’t authorized to deal with.
Hendriksen was beginning to wonder as well. What the other-Dean had said panned out when Tokita managed to make another DC Mini for the analysts to go over. There was no way that the DC machine or the DC mini could send or trap someone in a dream if they weren’t dreaming or didn’t have it on.
They did, however, find out what the parade looked like. Shima, or what was left of him, was part of it, as crazed and nonsensical as the rest. One identified it as beginning in one of the earlier test subjects, who’d died, and apparently having eaten up Shima’s mind and images.
But the question that Hendriksen had now was what really let the parade in to basically ingest Shima and his memories into this chaotic thing, and would they be able to save anyone else?
--
early October 2010

Hendriksen is a phone call away from arresting everyone at the Institute. He’s serious this time.
They have yet to find Harris, who must have a place in-town because there’s really nowhere else for him to go with the stolen technology. The fact that no one else, including competitors, were talking about said tech also meant it was at least safe.
But the people in the Institute kept attempting to cover it up, or deal with it on their own. Chiba had to be given multiple count-orders to hand over evidence that came to light after one of the patients let it slip about a possible free agent, who went by the nickname Paprika. The Chairman considered her responsible for this whole mess, but with no proof, she was simply a person of interest, one that the Chairman had worked, in his own ways, to hide. As much if not more than Chiba had.
Hendriksen had seriously considered moving the patients to another hospital altogether, the way things were going. They were only just making inroads to put out a larger search for Harris, and while no one had any leads, everywhere but inside the town, or with someone from the Institute, had been ruled out.
What really worried him was Dean. Well, it was a continued worry, but it could be expected. After all, Hendriksen was technically Dean’s next-of-kin, at least legally, and the rabbit hole for finding out what happened, who to tell, and what to do when Dean finally died was a long, extensive one that he’d not been able to thoroughly research like he’d wanted to. He knew about Hunters, knew that they kept close so getting into the community would take some deep undercover work, and a long amount of time that no one really has. He’d asked Dean about it a few times, when he’d been in control or semi-lucid, and the younger man was even more reluctant to speak about it then he had been before.
Dean’s health is erratic now, as are the times when he’s either lucid enough to talk or even in control. Despite the other-Dean’s condescending attitude, he’s also weak and apparently trying to be helpful. It would be helpful, too, if it wasn’t mostly about the supernatural or attempts to get Hendriksen to ‘deal’ with him. That usually meant Dean and other-Dean fought something fierce, to the point where they’d have seizures or he’d end up speaking in tongues. It freaked that one nurse out enough that she almost called in a few priests, or tended to cross herself before going in to check on Dean.
Hendriksen sighed as he passed the nurse again, noting she had a small candle with an image of St. Raphael, one of the ones you could get in a store. He was going to talk to Chiba and give her Hell about Paprika and keeping the information from them. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, as whoever this person was, Chiba was attempting to protect him or her. If anything, it’d take his mind off the lack of movement they’d gotten, and the fact this was rapidly turning into a cold case.
--
Suzi Duran supposed she had her mother and grandparents to thank for her healthy appreciation of the supernatural. It was in her blood, she’d learned after a summer with her grandparents, one in rural California and another in Japan. She’d learned to wake early, to give the right offerings, and to recognize others touched by the spirits and angels.
So seeing and hearing what Winchester said was something of a trial, but then she’d been helping with the DC trials for a while now. Truthfully, she’d been worried about him since he came in and given her a weak smile, seeing the rosary that she had and when she’d first been caught saying a prayer over him.
Still, Suzi knew that things were turning out bad, and she hoped that maybe she could get the help of Dean and the Angel within him.
So she enters the room, looking over to see that Michael is the one upfront today, and, straightening under his look, says, “I want to help.”
--
October 31, 2010

Hendriksen is not surprised that he gets a call on the 31st, saying something’s happened at the Institute. He is a bit surprised, however, when he arrives to find that Nurse Duran, who’d been working with Dean and apparently managed to get through all the “Duran Duran” jokes he’d come up with, and Doctor Dietrich, one of the others who worked with the DC machines, are now off their rockers.
Ok, that’s not the technical term, but considering that they’re unable to speak in coherent sentences, have only the brainwave patterns of people who are asleep, and that Nurse Duran has tried to break out and go to ‘the place of the trapped angel’...which is not at Dean’s room but outside of the Institute...
Hendriksen sighs and works what he can, but there’s little to go on. Both were either asleep or at work when it happened - Nurse Duran had attempted to cross traffic, heading East, while Doctor Dietrich was on night-shift when he tried to leave as well.
Hendriksen is worried, however, as he sees that both have been working in certain areas. Dietrich was attempting, with Tokita, to figure out where Harris and the missing DC Minis were, and may have found an answer. Duran was spending more time with Dean, getting him and the other-Dean to open up, and giving them more information for Dean that might help with locating other Hunters or cross-referencing locations with deaths that law enforcement pinned on him or someone else, especially the odd deaths.
Hendriksen paused by Duran’s desk, noting that the Raphael candle had been used up and the glass apparently smashed. To one side, he saw something about a strange language...Enochian?
He got what he needed before heading to see if Dean was alright. He was in luck that Dean was the one in charge, but also noted that he looked like Hell, like his body was starting to waste away again.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Hendriksen finally said, uncertain of what else he could offer.
“it’s always my fault,” was all Dean would say. The other-Dean appeared, apparently not as upset as Dean, instead annoyed.
“She was going to find Raphael,” he told Hendriksen, “and then...this.”
Hendriksen didn’t have an answer for that, but he instead asked, quietly, “What’s Enochian?”
The other-Dean seemed briefly reluctant before saying, “It’s our language, the language of the Angels. I told her something that would...let Raphael know she came from me, came at my behest. I can’t tell you more on that.”
Hendriksen slowly nodded before starting to turn, then hearing the other-Dean say, “I saw who controls the parade, and Harris. It’s the Chairman.”