Another little crossover plot bunny/tidbit with my Classic MacGyver AU. I hope you enjoy!
Foom. Whoosh.
The formal conference room has a pretty impressive view of the newly-activated Stargate as it goes through its opening moves, MacGyver has to admit.
Becky eagerly leans against the observation window (though also gingerly, as she's only a few days out from surgery). Her eyes widen. "Oh, wow," she breathes, in a reverent tone Mac's heard her use for libraries, stargazing nights and clifftop views of the Pacific. "It's a wormhole generator. I like the way it looks, too. Like sunlight on water, very pretty."
Behind him his twin brother utters a faint snort of amusement. Mac turns to him, glares. Jack shrugs in apology. Their niece is too enthralled by the action going on on the other side of the window to notice their byplay.
"So you go through that all the time, Uncle Jack?"
"Yep."
"Visit other planets? Meet aliens, all that stuff?"
"Yep. Sometimes kick their butts, too, if they deserve it."
"Wow." Takes a lot to impress Becky, even despite their recent hardships.
Mac finally tears his gaze away from the shimmering blue circle swallowing up personnel and supplies. "So how long have you been doing this with your team?"
Jack's rocking back on his heels, mouth twitching in a slight smirk as he takes in their reactions. "Several years, now. Couldn't tell you guys a thing, of course, and if I did I'd have to kill you." The smirk enlarges ever so slightly.
Mac rolls his eyes at his brother's teasing. He knows he's not the only one in the family who's done classified work. Jack's had all kinds of missions over the course of his military career. Even their sister Allison had top secret clearance, for her dream research.
But this is another level entirely.
So yeah, he's definitely impressed.
(Not that he'll ever admit it publicly to his twin, of course. He'd never hear the end of it.)
The Stargate snaps back to its normal empty state, the metal iris swirling shut. Becky spins away from the window, clasping her hands in delight. "That was awesome. I can't believe how lucky I am."
One of Jack's eyebrows lifts in curiosity, a common expression in their family. "Can't argue with you there, Short Stuff. But lucky how?"
She's too ecstatic to respond to the hated nickname (which Jack never fails to use whenever possible, for maximum teasing effect). "Well, there's Uncle Mac, and all the secret agent stuff he does for the Phoenix Foundation. And then there's you, traveling through space to other planets, having adventures. It's like every sci-fi story I've ever read. Only loads better 'cause it's all real. Which leads me to the only possible conclusion."
Mac raises an eyebrow of his own. "And that is...?"
Her smile's positively beatific. "You guys are the coolest uncles. Ever."
Jack's openly grinning now; Mac can't resist doing the same at her youthful enthusiasm. "She's got a point, don't you think?"
"Yeah. Guess that makes you the coolest niece ever, then."
Becky's grin falters slightly, a faint blush tinting her pale cheeks at the unexpected compliment. "Um, well, I guess so. I only meant..."
The brothers steal a glance at each other and chuckle. "Yeah. We know what you meant," Mac agrees.
"So c'mon over here and give your cool uncles a hug, huh?" Jack adds, opening his arms wide.
A spark of mischief lights her eyes, the same winter-sky-blue as their older sister's. "You giving me an order, Uncle Colonel?"
"Hey Jack," Mac chimes in with a wink to her, "isn't it true a princess always outranks a colonel in your book? Maybe she should be giving the orders around here, instead of you."
Jack groans. "Knock it off, willya? God knows what General Hammond would say if word ever gets out. So, you want this hug or not? This offer expires in five seconds."
As Becky is happily enveloped in between her hero uncles MacGyver silently considers what his brother soberly told him a couple days ago, while she was still unconscious.
The Earth is dying.
The massive earthquake and tsunami which had engulfed L.A.- along with the rest of the West Coast- a couple months ago is potent proof of that, along with increasingly violent seismic activity all over the planet. The whole Yellowstone volcanic complex is due to erupt within either a few months or at any time, according to the seismologists on the base.
That would definitely be the end of everything. And no way to stop it, even with every engineering or scientific trick at his disposal.
Mac shivers at the thought, his arms tightening further around the remaining members of his family.
The only means of escape for them- along with other survivors gathered under Cheyenne Mountain- is through that Stargate outside the conference room window. A gigantic carved circle of a substance not native to Earth, left by a mysterious race known only as the Ancients.
An alien artifact that can generate a wormhole to anywhere in outer space. Or through time and even parallel universes, according to Doctor Jackson and Major Carter.
As impressive as this whole setup is, Mac's normally quick and flexible mind is still having a little trouble coming to grips with the notion. Not entirely surprising, given his usual inclination towards skepticism.
(He suspects the same for his twin brother as well, even though he'd never admit it.)
A Latin phrase comes to MacGyver, something they'd heard when they were teens, around the time of the first moon landing. Which had been the inspiration for Jack to eventually join the Air Force.
Per aspera ad astra. Through hardships to the stars.
Towards an unknown destiny, halfway across the universe on New Earth. A pleasant planet according to preliminary reports, though not without its unique dangers.
No guarantee of their survival either way. Yet he knows that whatever happens, the three of them will face it together. An ingenious troubleshooter, an intrepid Air Force Colonel, and their ever-helpful niece.
Or as Jack would, without a doubt, soon refer to their family as The Coolest Uncles Ever and Their Princess, with tongue firmly in cheek.
That's all right, Mac thinks. He doesn't mind his brother's twisted brand of sarcasm.
(Sometimes it's eerily similar to his own, in darker moments.)
They're gonna need that kind of humor to cope with the impending end of the world, soon enough.