Summary: AU of "Lockdown," season 8. Jack doesn't get to Daniel before he goes through the Gate with SG-11. Jack, Sam and Teal'c have to save Daniel from Anubis.
Against Protocol
PenPatronus
Jack was too late. He reached the control center just as the last member of SG-11 walked through the Gate. "Don't shut it down!" he barked at Walter. Then he grabbed the nearest radio and called for Daniel over it. "After we turn off the Gate, dial back right away and report to the infirmary!" Jack listened to static, then called again, "Daniel!"
"No interference on our end, Sir," Walter reported.
"O'Neill to SG-11. Paris, come in! Daniel!" Jack pocketed the radio and grabbed a sidearm from a nearby guard. "Send Carter, Teal'c and SG-9 after me," he ordered. Then, ignoring Walter's protests, Jack ran down the steps, across the Gate room, through the wormhole and onto the planet.
He tripped onto it, actually. Colonel Paris lay face-down in the grass with a gunshot wound in his neck. Jack tripped over his still form and almost landed on the second-in-command's body, sprawled spread-eagled in front of the DHD. Just then a third body sailed over Jack's head as if thrown by an Olympic shot-putter. Jack peeked over the dialing device and saw Daniel, armed, with the fourth airman between his hands. Before Jack could raise his gun or even open his mouth, Daniel gripped the man's head and twisted. Jack heard the neck break in one sickening crunch.
"Daniel!" Jack yelled. Keeping the DHD between them, Jack pointed his weapon at Daniel's shoulder. "Drop the gun! Drop it!"
Daniel didn't put the gun down, but he didn't raise it, either. Instead, his lips slowly twisted into a smile that Jack had never seen before. He looked like a wolf...a wolf wearing glasses.
"Daniel's not available right now," said whoever or whatever was using Daniel's mouth and voice. "Now tell your people to shut down the Stargate so that I can leave."
Jack swallowed air and gripped his gun tighter. "You killed four of my men," he spat. "You're not going anywhere." He noticed then that one of the airmen had gotten off a lucky shot. Daniel was injured with a gunshot wound in the right side of his stomach, directly below his ribs. The thing inside him must not have felt the pain because it hadn't even tried to staunch the bleeding.
"Either I go through the Gate, or Daniel Jackson dies." Daniel raised his gun to his own temple and cocked it. "I can just as easily inhabit your body and order your people myself."
Jack stared at Daniel's trigger finger and felt sweat splash down his back. "Lower that gun and we can talk about letting you go."
"Lower yours or he dies."
"In case you didn't notice, that body you're in is bleeding. Even if you get through the Gate, you won't get far."
"Yes, he is injured," Anubis agreed. "Which means that if you shoot me, he will surely die."
More sweat dripped down Jack's back. "Who the hell are you?"
The wolf smile stretched Daniel's lips so tight that they drained of blood and turned white. "Your god: Anubis."
Jack didn't know who or what he was expecting, but it wasn't that. In fact, that was the very last thing he expected. Anubis was supposed to be space dust, not holding a gun to Daniel's head with Daniel's own hand.
Before Jack had the chance to express his shock, the radio in his pocket crackled and Carter's voice said, "We're coming through now, Sir!"
This distracted Jack for half a second, just long enough for his grip to loosen and his gun to lower by a degree. Just long enough for Anubis to swing his weapon around and aim it at him. The gun went off once, twice, three times, each bullet flying inches past Jack's head to hit the DHD or the Gate behind him. Jack heard heavy footsteps as boots rustled through thick leaves. When he looked up, Daniel was racing away through the trees.
"Sir!" Sam suddenly crouched beside him, her hair disheveled and her vest unzipped. "General, are you OK? Where's Daniel?"
"Zat!" Jack snapped at her. He rolled to his feet, told the four members of SG-9 to take the fallen SG-11 back to the SGC, grabbed Teal'c's zat gun and sprinted after Daniel into the forest. Carter and Teal'c caught up with him after a dozen strides.
"O'Neill?"
"Sir, what's going on?"
"Anubis has Daniel."
Both Teal'c and Sam slowed down to a jog, before they snapped out of it and sped up again. Sam hurried beside Jack, "Sir, he kidnapped Daniel? Does he have a ship on this planet?"
Jack spotted a thigh-high bush on the left that was slick with blood. Daniel must have run by. O'Neill changed direction. "Anubis is in Daniel. Possessing him or something."
"How is that possible? He was in orbit—you mean the Goa'uld survived and Daniel is his host?"
Jack turned right, following Daniel's boot-prints along a stream. "Carter, I don't know the details. All I know is that Anubis killed SG-11, he's escaping in Daniel's body and Daniel has a gunshot wound in his stomach."
"If Daniel Jackson is injured, he will not get very far," said Teal'c.
"I'm counting on that. If you see him, zat him and we can sort this out—"
Just then a bullet shot between Jack and Sam and another between Jack and Teal'c. All three hit the dirt and immediately rolled behind boulders and trees. Jack peeked around a trunk and saw Daniel standing at the foot of a cave. It was tall, with a wide mouth that was as tall as a garage door. The stream they were following flowed past the entrance.
Blood ran down Daniel's right leg, over his shoelaces, and turned pink in the water. As Jack watched, Daniel's knees buckled. His body was failing, out of Anubis' control. Daniel fired another shot at Jack's head.
"Carter, now!" O'Neill yelled.
Sam stood up from behind a pyramid of boulders and fired her zat. She hit Daniel square in the chest. He crumpled immediately onto his back. And Jack, though he thought it was a trick of light, saw a shadow rise from Daniel's chest, hover there for a moment, then drift away.
"Teal'c? Did you see that?"
Teal'c was peeking over a large boulder. "An apparition."
"Was that...Anubis?" Sam wondered. "In Ascended form?"
Jack stepped forward. "Both of you go after that thing. Track it but don't let it touch you. I'll take care of Daniel." Sam tossed Jack a pressure bandage, then she and Teal'c took off.
Cautiously, Jack approached Daniel's body and leaned over him. He checked for a pulse, then confirmed that Daniel was breathing. Jack pocketed his handgun and started unbuttoning Daniel's uniform. He peeled the younger man's t-shirt up to reveal the wound. Blood bubbled out, soaking Jack's hands and the knees of his pants. The moment Jack pressed the bandage against skin, Daniel stirred. He gasped and reached for his gut but Jack intercepted his wrists and held him down. "Easy," he said, "don't mess up the bandage."
"Jack?" Daniel's eyes widened, then glazed over like he was about to pass out, then widened again as more pain flared in his stomach. "Jack what—what's going on?"
"You're hurt, and I'm going to get you home."
"How—where are we? How did I get here? The last thing I remember..." Daniel blinked, closed his eyes and left them shut. Jack gently patted his cheek.
"Daniel, stay awake. Daniel!"
Sam returned, jogging down the hill. "The apparition disappeared, sir. We think it went through the cave wall. Teal'c is checking out the other side of the hill." Sam knelt behind Daniel and gently positioned his head in her lap, angling it so that he could drink from her canteen of water.
Daniel blinked up at her. "Sam. What's going on?"
She smiled at him and briefly pressed her cheek to his forehead. "Let's talk about that after we get you home."
"Just tell me, please."
Carter looked at Jack, who was busy adjusting the bandage to keep from meeting their eyes. "Anubis," he said. "Anubis was inside you. He spoke to me. We zatted you and now he's gone."
"What?"
Teal'c returned then, just in time to hear Jack's statement. "If Anubis entered Daniel Jackson's body, can he not enter another?" Teal'c asked.
"Not on this planet," said Sam. "We sent Daniel with SG-11 to examine some ancient ruins, but the UAV confirmed that there's no human life on this planet anymore."
"This is PZ-452?" Daniel muttered. "I was looking forward to seeing the temples..."
"So if Anubis can't find another human to possess...then what?" Jack wondered. He sighed, then patted Daniel's shoulder. "OK. You with me?" Daniel nodded. "I need Carter on point and Teal'c watching our asses for Goa'uld ghosts, so it's just going to be you and me, OK?"
Daniel licked his lips. "Jack, I'm not sure I can stand up..."
"I'll help you. I can see the Gate. We're less than a hundred yards away, on a slope, so it's an easy stroll downhill."
"Easy stroll," Daniel mumbled drowsily.
"Ready?"
Daniel nodded. Jack crouched behind him, gripped him under the armpits and stood up with Daniel leaning back against his chest. "Oh wow," Daniel groaned. Daniel tried to keep his balance but could barely stay on his feet. "Jack, I..."
"I gotcha," said Jack. He pulled Daniel's left arm across his shoulders and wrapped his right arm around his waist. "Just—there ya go—lean against me, I gotcha."
"Dizzy..." Daniel's cheek bounced against Jack's shoulder, almost knocking his glasses off.
"We'll get you home soon, Daniel." Jack took a few experimental steps forward, then a couple longer strides when he got his footing. And just when Teal'c took up position behind them and Sam in front, a low-pitched growl filled the air.
All four of them looked over at the cave behind them. An animal slowly padded out of the cave and splashed across the stream. The creature looked like a snow leopard, only three times as long and thick, blue stripes instead of gray and not one but two heads. Jack watched, awed, as the leopard raised its paw to its left head and folded three of its four claws. It pointed the last one like the barrel of a gun. It was the exact same suicidal pose Anubis had made Daniel hold only minutes before.
"Oh. For. Crying. Out. Loud," Jack hissed. "Anubis is in that thing?"
The giant cat grinned with both mouths, then opened them and let out twin roars that made Jack's hair stand on end. And then it pounced right at them. Jack didn't have time to draw his weapon, only to shield Daniel's body with his own.
P-90 fire interrupted the creature's roars. Sam slowed the leopard down just long enough for Teal'c to tackle it. The Jaffa wrapped a thick arm around each neck and dropped them both to the grass. Unfortunately the beast's long white tail whipped around and knocked Jack and Daniel off their feet. Jack lost his grip on Daniel as he tumbled head over boots down the rocky hill. Jack slammed headfirst into a boulder and lay on the ground, dazed. When the stars disappeared, Jack rolled onto his stomach and crawled around the boulder. Daniel lay face-down a few yards away, unmoving. The pressure bandage had torn off and a fresh trail of blood muddied the dirt around Daniel's still body.
"We're almost out of ammo!" Carter yelled from where she and Teal'c were herding the monster away.
"Catch!" Jack tossed his sidearm to Teal'c. "Carter, get to the Gate and dial home!" Sam sprinted past him and the fifty yards to the DHD. Jack turned his attention back to Daniel. There was no time to be gentle. The Gate was dialing and Teal'c was barely keeping the creature at bay. Jack pulled his friend to his feet and across his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Move it, T!" he yelled. Jack ran at top speed, then dropped Daniel at the foot of the dialing device. "Carter, stay with him."
"Sir? What are you going to do?"
"I, Carter, am going to be bait. If the vacuum of space didn't destroy Anubis, maybe the wormhole splash will."
"Jack!" Daniel grabbed Jack's arm before he could get away. "If you get caught in the kawoosh—"
"Just stay down, both of you." Jack ran back to Teal'c, who was scratched down both sides of his body from the leopard's talons. While the leopard was distracted, Jack slid under it like a baseball player and kicked it in the shin. The creature immediately turned his attention from the Jaffa to the human, and roared.
Jack only stood still long enough to think, well, this was a bright idea. He ran perpendicular to the Stargate, then back the other way in a zigzag motion. The leopard bounded after him. Jack had only one advantage. The creature couldn't handle sudden changes in directions, and slid across the ground like it had turned to ice every time Jack made a sharp turn.
Jack heard the Gate powering up. He counted one turn, two, three and four, five and six. The chevrons all lit up and he ran towards them at full speed. The leopard raced behind him. Jack felt hot breath from one mouth on his left ear, and the other on his right. O'Neill felt a talon slice across his spine at the same moment he heard the last chevron engage and lock. He heard the splash of the wormhole, and then the pain in his back overwhelmed him and he passed out.
Jack woke up with most of his face against a pillow. The smell of the infirmary reached him, telling him where he was before he opened his eyes. His sight was foggy for a moment, but then the scene in front of him materialized. Daniel lay in the infirmary bed beside him, the bottom half of his body underneath an infirmary blanket and the upper half bandaged. Tubes and wires crisscrossed his body. His eyes were open, though, and he was looking at Jack.
"Anubis was destroyed in the wormhole splash," Daniel said before Jack could ask.
"Are you ok?" Jack whispered.
Daniel nodded. "I'll be fine. So will you. You shouldn't have come after me, Jack. That was against protocol. You're a general now. You're supposed to order other people to do that."
"Like I give a shit about following protocol, especially when it comes to your life..." Jack felt the deep scratches on his back and sleep nagged at him again. He reached his arm out, stretching it as far as possible. Daniel did the same. The fingers caught and pulled their palm together. Each man squeezed the other's hand with all of his might, communicating in the gesture what they wanted to say with words, but were too tired to.
The End