Organizations

Two groups with experience in dealing with shady organizations meet. Both are less than happy about it.

The System Lords were being relatively quiet, the Earth was not in danger, nothing was in imminent danger, and things were generally coasting along well at the SGC. Which was why Jack O'Neill wanted to leave before something happened to make all this lovely normalcy go away. And he was taking his team with them, because God knew Sam and Daniel needed to see their own planet's sun every once in a while, and Teal'c would spend the entire time they had off hanging around the training rooms and spooking off everyone who knew better than to try to spar with him. Just to make sure they actually showed, they were all going in the same car.

That was Jack's first mistake.

Put one sarcastic Colonel, one socially inept, science geek of a Major, an alien who still finds your culture to be utterly ridiculous, and an archaeologist that gets more like the sarcastic Colonel every day, into the same small car, and you get an awkward silence punctuated by Jack trying to make conversation and Daniel's dirty looks. Jack had had to drag the man away from his rocks. Sam was being a bit better about it all, but probably only because she was in the military and used to following orders she didn't really want to. And Teal'c... was as unreadable as ever. He could be fuming under all his Jaffa stoic-ness, and they'd never know it.

In reality, Teal'c found this whole situation to be very amusing. Though he wasn't looking forward to the 'fishing' Jack most likely had planned.

The car ride up to Jack's cabin was uncomfortable, but Jack was sure that once there things would cheer up a bit. Sam had already admitted to liking the peacefulness of fishing, and Daniel would grill Teal'c about Jaffa life. Everyone would be happy.

Jack's second mistake was honestly expecting things to go as planned.

It started with a tree across the road, not half a mile from his cabin. They weren't getting over it, or around it.

"Oh well. Looks like we can't go after all. So sad. You'll just have to take us back--"

"Shut up, Daniel. We can walk the rest of the way." Jack near-snapped at him, but without any real anger. Would the man just accept that he was going through with this and get over it already?

Jack could see Daniel holding in a disappointed, yet knowing, sigh. He rolled his eyes.

The four went around to the trunk, got their bags--one each, they knew how to pack light--and were off. Thankfully, the open air was more stimulating to the conversation than the car.

"Looks like rain."

"Will you stop being so negative?!...And did you really just start with a comment on the weather?"

All those missions where they had to stay undetected had given all four a near-silent walk, and it had become habit. Because of the tree across the road, their noisy car was parked a half a mile back. And conversation had died down by the time they reached the cabin.

Each of those things could be directly blamed for their capture. Seeing as their captors were a bunch of runaways, the kids would probably have scattered if they'd made a bit more noise about their arrival.

What Jack couldn't understand was how a teenage girl had taken down Teal'c. It was unthinkable, impossible. It just couldn't be.

It had all happened very quickly. Jack turning the key in the lock and not feeling the slight resistance of the bolt turning, throwing a look over his shoulder that told them all 'We've got unwelcome company' and then bursting through the door with guns already drawn. At first scan, there was nobody home, but a second look showed him poorly hidden bodies. And he didn't have time to confront the owners of such bodies, because then kids were jumping from everywhere. Sam and Daniel went down instantly, and Jack got off one shot before he was knocked out too. His last sight was of Teal'c being clubbed upside the head by a blond teenager with both her hands clenched together into a powerful fist. And his only consolation was the thud of a bullet hitting something fleshy.

Then he woke up tied to the rest of his team, in the spare bedroom of his cabin.

"Max!" A child's voice called from somewhere to his left. Turning his head carefully, trying not to let whoever it was know he was awake, he saw a little girl, maybe six or seven years old, sitting on the bed. She was looking directly at him.

In a quieter voice, she told him, "I know you're awake."

Jack opened his eyes fully as the door to his right flew open, revealing the blond girl who'd taken Teal'c down. "Angel?" She asked the girl.

"One of them's awake." The little girl, Angel (and she really did look like one, Jack thought), nodded her head to him.

She skirted around the tied up group of four, to look at him. Then she got the same face those System Lords did when SG-1 had managed to screw up their plans again, except it might have been even scarier on her. He thought it was probably the mother's fury in the glare. System Lords didn't have that.

"You're the--" A quick glance at Angel, a shrug "--bastard who shot Nudge."

Jack tried an apologetic smile, and silently hoped it was nonfatal and that these kids were smart enough to take this Nudge to a hospital. "Ah, sorry? But you did sort of attack us."

"You were trying to capture us! And the only reason we aren't far away by now is because I want to know how you jerks keep finding us!" Max said angrily. She was intimidating, but Jack was pretty immune to intimidation by now.

"I think you've got the wrong people, girl. This is my cabin, we're up here for a vacation." And he added under his breath. "Which we're probably not going to get now...." In a slightly whiny tone.

Max eyed him suspiciously, but then Angel spoke up again. "He's telling the truth, Max. All of them have connections to the military, but none to Itex or the others."

Jack took a moment to be confused. Here were some kids who looked like runaways, and acted like they'd been running away from some very dangerous people for a very long time. It could be group insanity or teenage angst over-dramatising everything, but Jack looked into Max's eyes and thought both options were unlikely. But what would Itex, whatever that was, or other people, want with some kids? Jack resolved to be watchful.

"Don't the military have some sort of training in first aid?" Max asked speculatively.

"Yeah...." Jack said, getting a really awful feeling about where this was going.

"Can you remove a bullet safely?"

"No, not here." Jack said, hoping that once this option was taken away these kids would get their Nudge friend to a hospital.

"He's lying. He can do it." Angel said.

Jack cursed and began to wonder how the little girl knew all these things.

"Angel, can you--?"

"I think I can." Angel said with a worried, trustful smile at Max.

Jack realized the two were like some sort of screwy mother-daughter thing.

"We'll test it first, 'kay? And don't worry if you can't."

Jack wondered what they were planning, and why the little girl seemed to be able to know things she shouldn't.

"You're going to take the bullet out of Nudge." Max said to him in a tone that screamed 'This is the leader's final verdict, do not argue!'

Unfortunately, arguing was what Jack did best. "Take your friend to a hospital, where she can get the care she needs. I'm not doing it."

Max literally growled at him. "Last time we went to a hospital, we wound up in another experiment. I don't think so. Now, I think you're an honorable man, and I'm stubborn, and Nudge is shot in the leg because of you, so you're going to fix her up and we'll be gone. You won't ever have to see us again."

And this time, Jack did not argue, because he knew she was right. Max was obviously not going to a hospital, and if he didn't take out the bullet, well, who knew. They might just try it themselves and accidentally kill Nudge.

Before he could answer, another kid called "Max!" and the blond girl was standing.

"Total!" She called, and a mutt dog came trotting in. "Guard." She pointed at SG-1.

The dog looked at them, then at Max, then gave a put-upon huff and made his way to lay on the bed. Angel and Max walked out.

Jack sighed. "This is kind of demeaning." He told Total. "I've never been kept prisoner by some kids and their pet dog before."

The dog might have rolled its eyes, but Jack was probably just imagining it.

I really doing have a problem with Nudge. I killed her off in another story, and in this one I got her shot! But I meant for it to be Max at first, and then I thought, wait, Max would keep the Flock around potential enemies just for herself.

So, for clarification: Jack thinks they're runaways, Max thinks they're some new Itex goons until Angel says otherwise, and Total doesn't like being treated like a guard dog. Also, this story is in no way related to my other ones, and I don't know when in the series it's set. That everything?

No, one more thing. There will be more! (Chapters, that is)