Invalid (Supernatural)

3. Glitches

One Month Later... 

Tabbris hadn't been doing much. It was making him restless. Naomi had been keeping him close ever since he had returned from Purgatory. He had made a few easy retrievals, a couple reprograms, and had seen Cas pop in a few times for updates and reprimands. Other than that, he had been bored. Worst month of his existence. Then things got a bit interesting. 

Apparently, the Winchester boys and Castiel were getting close to finding the angel tablet. Naomi was getting even more irritable than usual and her impatience was beginning to show. She had been waiting a long time for that tablet. She had even recalled Castiel. He was in Heaven in Naomi's own personalized training compound. Tabbris had checked in there every so often. It was a funny sight. Always the same scene, a brainwashed Castiel forced to murder the same human over and over again. Tabbris didn't understand it. He didn't think all the training was necessary. How hard could it be to kill one human? 

 That day, out of boredom, Tabbris decided to check in on the training process. He stolled casually into the warehouse facility with its florescent industrial lights and cold concrete floor. The whole place was covered in blood. It was on the floor, the walls, and, of course, on Castiel. Tabbris walked up and stood next to Naomi who was watching Castiel kill another Dean Winchester intently. Tabbris watched as the fake Dean begged Cas to stop, he watched as Cas ignored him and plunged a blade into Dean's chest. Dean choked and coughed as he fell down in a pool of blood dead. 

Naomi walked up behind Cas to look over his shoulder and said, "No hesitation. Quick. Brutal. Everything's back in order." She smiled at Castiel. "Finally. You're ready." 

Castiel looked at her blankly. He didn't respond. She snapped her fingers and he was gone. 

Then she turned to Tabbris. "You enjoy these little sessions?" 

"There is nothing else for me to do," he replied simply. 

"When we get the tablet there will be," she said. "Castiel is ready. I have returned him to Earth to find the tablet. We will have it soon." 

Then she disappeared herself.

Tabbris groaned in irritation. Then he went off to where he'd been spending most of his time: the garden. For him, it was a wide open field with nothing but long grass that swayed to a wind that wasn't there. He found the place peaceful. He was standing there in thought when Ion found him. Ion had been around a lot lately. Tabbris figured Naomi had grounded him too. 

"Hello, Tabbris," Ion said as he took a position standing to Tabbris's right. 

"Ion," Tabbris nodded in aknowledgement. 

"Getting restless," he said. A statement not a question. 

"Aren't you?" 

"Waiting for the tablet has gotten tiresome," he admitted. "But soon the wait will be over." 

"Yes," he repied. He paused uncertain for a moment before saying, "I don't understand." 

"What?" 

"I don't know why I have been stuck here. Why I am not out doing something useful," Tabbris explained. 

Ion shook his head, "I'm sure Naomi is just saving you for when we have possession of the tablet." 

"I do not need to be saved for anything," Tabbris scoffed. 

"I know that, my friend, but Naomi does not think like you and I. She is a leader, we are the soldiers. Sometimes we may not see the whole picture," Ion said acceptingly.