Together out of hell
Sam could not believe what she saw in front of her eyes. There was a motionless body that breathed so shallow that it was hard to the acknowledge it. His face was swollen and everywhere she looked, she could see small scrapes and gashes where dried blood had spread. She had to admit, if she had not known that it is her CO, she had not recognized this man before her as such. Janett had overcome her first shock and her doctor mode took over everything. That was the only important thing from now on. This person in front of her needed help and that very quickly. Nobody knew how long he had been here and what had been done to him to put the body of one colonel in such a stadium of pain and torcher. With precise instructions, all four Air Force tenants managed to roll Jack onto a mobile stretcher and push them into the back room of the van with which they had come. Janet sat with Jack and quietly prayed for him. She could not do much here than what she had already done. From his right-hand, a small port peered out, which was connected to an infusion bag. Sam picked up her cell phone and told General Hammond what they had found and that he should prepare everything in the infirmary that they had as quickly as possible and to make sure when they coming with the colonel that they had access to the station without much difficulty.
Jack moaned softly but did not open his eyes. Janet was not even sure the Colonel would make it this time. She had seen him in many predicaments when he been tortured, but this time was by far the worst. She had put a blanket over him and hoped that the light weight was not too much for him. Except that there was nothing she could do for him or give him now to ease his pain. She first wanted to do all her test and then decide what to administer to him so it would be the right amount of medication without further straining his stressed physical system.
For Sam it seemed like an eternity until they finally arrived at the cayenne mountain complex and they could bring their CO into the infirmary. A team of nurses and doctors was already waiting for the Colonel and everyone was shocked at the sight of the man now lying in front of them. You could hear how everyone held their breath for a few seconds and then pushed it out again. Jack was popular here; everyone knew how to take him, and he was always in for a joke. Everybody knew you should not be tempted to piss him off unless you wanted to finish with a stupid job like cleaning your toilet. Jack had a reputation that earned him one of the strongest air forces available. No matter what you gave him he took it, made the best of it and laughed the devil still in the face.
Sam was sitting collapsed in front of the room where she knew that Jack lay and struggled for his life. Daniel and General Hammond came around the corner at that moment, inquiring about the well-being of their friend. Sam now had red rings around her eyes and tried not to show that much. If it had gone after her, she had given Jack already I piece of her mind and had ordered him to come back to her, back to his friends and back to the Air Force. But she also knew if this stubborn colonel had made up his mind, there was no force on earth to get that one changed. Sam did ask herself Why could he never be left alone? Jack had his own Facade and loved it to keep it up. Only very rarely did he let people look behind it. He was the strong man of whom everyone expected to be the winner of every situation. She knew better. She knew about his soulful side. His human and vulnerable side. She was one of the few people on this planet who knew Jack O'Neill from his other side. Sam came back to reality and could hear voices from the room behind the closed doors. Commandos and orders flew like arrows through the air. Daniel had sat down next to Sam and gently took her in his arm. He wanted to reassure her and tell her that everything is going to be okay. But how could he bring it over his lips if he was not even sure himself?
Jack had now lots of cables and pipes connected to his damaged body. The machines observed everything, recorded and registered all and announce changes in his well-being immediately. The cardiac monitor flexed at irregular intervals and Janet had already given him a high dose of adrenaline. She realized that Jack was not taking anything on board they were trying to do here. To save his life. It seemed to her as if he had given up. a long tone reached her ear and the heart monitor displayed the zero line. Janet could not believe that she had to fight for her favorite colonel. "Dam it Jack, start fighting. You are always so tuff. Now it would be time to show it, too." She tried to encourage him while charging the electro pads. The first shock lifted his damaged body and a glance at the monitor showed her no change. With an increased dose she tried again with the same result.
Sam was able to listen to Janet's words forwards Jack. She knew he was in great danger, but everything just became to much for her and she tried to keep her ears closed. It did not sound good and she was so desperate. She felt so helpless.
Janet gave the third shock but Jack still had not decided to fight. She repeatedly wondered what he was doing. What had broken his will so much that he still managed to ask his friends for help but now no longer wanted to fight. How much had his body hurt and Janet knew that she had not even seen everything of him. The fourth attempt also had no effect. She was about to give up and declare Jack for dead when she got another idea. She raced to the door and ordered Sam into the room. She told her friend to take the colonel's hand and talk to him. If he was still there and heard her voice, maybe it was the spark he needed to make a living. Jack's heart has not beaten for more than 5 minutes and the hopes disappeared that he came back again. Sam took the lifeless hand of her friend and supervisor in both her hands. She swallowed hard and began to speak softly in a quavering voice. With every word that came over her lips she became stronger and more passionate. It seemed to her like an eternity and slowly her ideas and arguments why he should choose his life instead of death run out when the zero line indicated a spike. Janet urged her to continue to speak to him and in the end all the staff around cheered to them both to fight. It was not long before Jack had an irregular heartbeat. But at least he had one.
Here it is, it's warm and it's good. He wants to stay here. Jack woke up for a moment only to find out that he was found by his friends. He could not see anyone but heard voices in the distance. He heard orders flying and he felt like he was connected to many machines. His brain did not know what to do with it and was very mystified. The only thing he knew from the last days was violence and torture. Jack had no desire for this sadistic game and decided to let it be. If he did not wake up anymore then they could not hurt him. Easy as that. He felt pain. His battered body screamed for a break. Ah, that was it. He saw the warm yellow light again. So, he was going to see his son again. Better late than never he thought. He felt his body rise in the air. These pigs, even now as lifeless as he was, they had to torcher him. Just why nobody could leave him alone. He decided, if he don't want to, he did not have to play this sick game. It was his life. He could finish it when he wanted. Then there was the second shock. Why could not he just be left alone? He did not want to know about this brutal world anymore. He had decided and who knew him knew that he would not change his mind no matter what. The third shock and then the fourth. Why was he so tortured? He always tried to do the right thing. He had his own rules he lived by and now it was over. He could hear how it calmed down. Did they finally lose interest in him? Oh, someone took his hand. Why would someone show affection to him? He did not deserve it and he certainly did not want to stay here to find out what was next. There it was, the voice of an angel. His angel. His ears tried to catch what she had said, and his brain began to process through the fog. Jack realized it was Sam talking to him. His hand was caressed all the time and love been shown to him. Oh god, when Sam was here, he finally realized that he was safe. That's means she saw him and his body. She was not allowed to see him like that. He had always wanted to be strong for her. Jack tried to make his way closer to the voice. She would show him the light and do him good. He heard jubilation and applause. What did that mean? Did this mean for him that he was still there? That he had chosen the right direction? He smiled at himself and congratulated himself that he did not let his torturer win. He was still there. He was Jack O'Neill.
Janet put a hand on Sam's arm and smiled at her. The values of the Colonel were finally in the stable area. This does not mean that he was already over the hill, but for now it had to be enough. Sam left the room quietly and with renewed hope. Her two friends were still waiting for the update what she had to give now. She swallowed and began to tell that they had almost lost Jack. She asked the general for permission to drive back to the place where they found him to see if they were any signs or track of what was going on there. She had to find out, for his sake.
1 week later
Janet was checking the values of Jack, who had fallen into a coma. She knew he would wake up if he thought it was right. She wanted to give him all the time in the world he needed to heal his body. She found herself back in a flashback on that day when he been found. They had almost lost him and only thanks to Sam he was still here. She remembered when they examined his body. In the end, she wondered how anyone could survive such a thing at all. The list was so long and included, among other things, both shoulders dislocated, all rip been broken, one hip was broken and the other bruised. His two knees were shattered, and his feet were not what they should be, she had found scabs on his wrists and his ankles where his bare skin been. There he must have been bound. A thick black line wound over his upper body around his chest, lots of little tiny scratches going along with the bruise. He had several lacerations on his head and a cut on his right side. She did not know if there was a healthy stele at all. When they turned him around and were able to examine the back in more detail, they had noticed that this was also blue and violet from beating. A shoe print in the kidney area on his spine told her what they had done to him. So, it was no wonder that he did not want to wake up. Wherever he was, he probably had no pain. Janet again gave him a painkiller to keep the level quite high. Every abrupt movement he made could make him even longer in need of recovery. 'Oh Jack, how are you getting into this mess. I wish I could help you feel better quickly. ` Janet thought to herself and another recollection came back to the moment when they tried to rebuild the two shoulders. It was a hard job to put them both back in to place without doing any more damage to the colonel. he had not shouted at all or had he even tried to scream but she could see the pain in his face which was shining with little sweat pearls. Nobody should experience something like that. He was extremely dehydrated, and it needed some IV packs to fill him up again. She sat for a moment at his bed and gently stroked his motionless hand. "Jack, you should know that you have friends here who are here for you. Take time to process everything you need and to heal but please do not take too long. You are painfully missed here ... " she stroked a hair from his forehead and then left the room.
Sam had received the permission and had driven with Daniel to the place where they had first discovered the Colonel. She looked around and found a few traces of crawling marks. She remembered how dirty Jack looked on his stomach and decided to follow the trail back. Not far behind a bend she saw a warehouse. Daniel followed her and when they both entered, they saw an empty building with dried blood on the floor. Sam slowly walked over to it and had to suppress her tears. What had her CO must have gone through here? She did not dare to pretend in the least she would understand. Her eyes fell to the roof of the building and she saw a ring that contained a rope. It seemed to her a rather thick rope like that of a sailing ship. Her eyes slid down the rope and she found a small machine that looked like she was rolling up or rolling down the rope. Daniel followed her gaze and had to master himself here not to surrender to his sick feeling in his stomach area. Without touching the buttons Sam pressed a pen on the dashboard to let down the rope. When she saw it and could see clearly, she left the warehouse and distributed her stomach contents next to the entrance. The roping was a sling that had accumulated a lot of dried blood, she had seen small pointed metal pieces that had sparkled. If her CO was in it, it made sense, why his whole upper body looked like the way it was. Daniel was still standing next to the rope and tried to understand what had happened here. He looked anxiously at Sam, who was standing next to him again. "Daniel, I will request our people. We need a search and everything else as ala csi. I want to grab the idiots that did this to Jack. For me, he had never had a chance. But we will only know when he wakes up and then there is still the question if he talks. As I know him, he will probably turn on stubborn and pretend that nothing happened. "So, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and made the call. This was a few days ago and they had not really come with anything significant. Although the forensic team had fingerprints so far nobody been found to whom they belong. Every day, she sat next to her friends' bed for hours, patiently waiting for his awakening. She often talked to him and stroked his hands. She told him in her technobabble from her experiments, hoping he would just wake up and tell her to shut up, and she started to get frustrated. Janet had told her that the body of the colonel had suffered a strong trauma and it could take a while until he came to. She knew his bones and joints were reset and that it had cost him an incredible amount of energy. It had to be more torture for him than he had the feeling his friends wanted to help him. So, the hours passed, and hours became days and days became weeks.
It had been three weeks since Jack was found. The first cuts and small abrasions began to heal. he also got his skin back to normal color more and more every time when Janet check up on him, he looked better. Jack was still lying motionless in the bed and Sam barely recognized him again. He had lost so much weight and muscle mass that he no longer looked like the handsome, proud officer who had dedicated his life to the Air Force. Here was a broken man who was still struggling to process his experience and find his way back.
She sat next to him as usual and held his hand as she felt it. His thumb had moved slightly and stroked her hand. Unbelievably, she became excited by this sign and when she saw his eyes move, she belled for Janet. She came immediately and had prepared for the worst. A relapse or something else her favorite patient could give her. As she entered, she saw how sweetly Sam stroked Jack's forehead and cheered him on. She saw his eyes rolling wildly under the eyelids before he opened them. Slowly but steadily until his eyes were completely open, he fought so hard for that moment. His brown eyes wandered around and clung to her. He seemed disoriented and without power. She smiled at him and then made room for the doctor to examine him more closely. "Welcome back, Jack, that's it was we are been talking about. what it feels like now we have you back with us. Not to say that it was time." She also smiled at him and wrote down his values. These were not the best, but let's face it, this stuff the colonel was made to go through it was no wonder. She left the two officers alone and disappeared in her office to call the general and bring the good news to him.
Jack just stared in the direction of Sam. He opened his mouth, but no word wanted to escape. He grimaced in pain. His body was still in such a predicament that he just wanted to run away from it. How a little child runs to his mother and gives her the responsibility with all the problems to go and solve them. He closed his eyes again and Sam could see a single tear saying goodbye to his eye. with the whole situation in front of her she felt overwhelmed and did not know exactly what she should do now. Her CO was back with them. The question was at what cost. She sat down again without even leaving him alone. All the time she stroked his hand.
After Jack had looked at her, he closed his eyes again. Time passed and the colonel had a very restless sleep. His head turned wildly from left to right and his eyes rolled uncontrolled behind his eyelids. He began to groan and scream, trying again and again to run, but his dream had captured him too firmly. He could not run away from his new demons who were forever in his head. Sam tried to wake him up, which turned out to be harder than she had first assumed. When she had succeeded, she could only hear a soft sob what came from the man in bed. The nights became a hell trip for Jack. Every night he was back in the warehouse. Every night he experienced the violence that was committed on his body and the helplessness and despair that spread throughout him. Every night, a nurse woke him up and helped him into a new dry shirt. For how much longer? How long were his demons chasing him? How long could he stand it without going completely crazy? He did not know the answers but knew he did not want to end up like this. Life went on and he had to find his way. Every day his friends came to visit him, and was nice, he cracked one joke after another and showed his friends that he was fine. The world was all right for everyone. He held his facade up and did not let anyone into the interior of Jack O'Neill. That was his sanctuary. Here he had everything under control.
The next day came and Janet wanted to see what the physical movements of her patient looked like. He had been lying in bed for four weeks, with only one of them where he was awake. She thought it was progressing well. Knowing the colonel, she knew how inpatient he could become. She knew that he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and just go home. With a happy smile on her face, she welcomed her patient, who greeted her with a sloppy salute. "So, Colonel, today we'll see exactly where it hurts everywhere, so far you have not been able to answer that question so please try today, otherwise I'll have to hold you here even longer than you want to." With a serious face she looked at her patient and challenged him. After everything was ok with fingers, arms and shoulders, Janet begun to examine Jack`s upper body, across the Colonel's chest was still a dark strip to see where the rope has lived for far to long. Many small wounds were healing where the metal tips had torn his skin. Everything seemed to be ok. Janet also liked the progress of how his rip healed. She knew that he was one lucky son of a bitch to have no internal bleeding from all the abuse he received. She shuddered at the knowledge because suddenly she was aware that he would not be here today. She reached his hips where everything seems to be fine and moved on to his legs. She pinched both legs but got no answer. "Colonel?" She gave him a stern look, telling him to pay his full attention to her. Jack looked at her in surprise. "I'm just waiting for you to continue Doc. I cannot say anything if I have to wait for you." He grinned at her. Irritated, Janet turned back to her patient's legs. Still full of blue bruises. Some of them meanwhile green or yellow. She stroked his leg along until she reached his sole of the foot. An expectant look in Jack's direction told her everything. He glared up to the ceiling and was still waiting. "Jack, we have a problem here." She started to share the bad news with him. "I do not have a problem doc, I'm just waiting patiently here until you finally get something done, it's not like I have planned anything, but I would love to have my rest somewhere on this day today." He replied without looking at her. "Colonel, that's exactly the problem. I think you do not feel your legs." Janet said quietly. Jack raised his head and did not know if that would be a dreadful sarcastic joke on his account or if this was dead serios. But he knew that the doc was not able to do such stupid jokes around him. "That means I am disabled. I will not be able to walk anymore." With deep resignation it sunk into Jack's consciousness. Janet wanted to say something as he asked her to leave him alone. He needed his this before he exploded. These pigs have ruined his life. His career and his legs and all for a little fun and to see how long he would last. Jack was mad at himself, why had he had to fight like that. Why had not he just given in, and it would have been over much faster. He had not to undergo humiliation for a week from dawn to dusk. The violence and mental rape committed on him. Now everyone could be glad that he could not get up. He was so charged and frustrated that he probably forgot his manor on the next best man who would have run across his path and would have given them a dress down. Pictures of his torture crawled back to his inner eye. Now even during the day. Would he have no rest at all? At the thought of the scene pain crossed his face. He felt again the strong kicks he had received on his spine. He remembered how his legs did not want to obey after that. He had still feelings in his legs, but he could not move them anymore. What had he done to him? The kids were such cowards. They had just felt strongly while he was tied up in the air and they could hurt him. One after another had tried on him. A young man was particularly bad, if he remembered correctly, he was denied joining the air force to participate in a training program and now this guy was thinking it was his lucky day with an air force colonel all for himself. No wonder that the idiot had lost his nerves and had let go of all the bottled-up frustration at him. The fit he had to endure had cost him all his rip which weren't broken at the time, his legs had it and his head also got his fair share. He could not even scream; they had thought of everything. During the week, they took everything that makes a man a man. How could he ever get back to his old self? And now he was also been told that he was paralyzed? He was vegetable and that meant that he was finished with the air force. He made a mental note that he wanted to ask Sam if they had found these beasts. He remembered that she had mentioned that the search for the gang was going on.
There was a knock on the door and his 2IC made an appearance. With a smile she entered and sat down next to him. She knew from Janet what had come to light today and she thought that if she was showing no sign that she knew, at least a little company could help him before he fell into depression or been eaten by his anger and frustration. Jack was very calm and quiet. Sam felt more like a solo entertainer as Janet rushed into the door. With a portable X-ray device, she glared at Jack. "Colonel we'll do another x-ray. I'll let her know later why." She did not even wait to see if Jack had any complains about it and so it was just a matter of getting it done and over with. Janet disappeared again with the machine and Sam could her shouting from the door that she will be back in a couple of minutes.
"Jack, we have good news" After a few minutes, Janet returned to the Colonel's room and waited until she had his full attention. "Ah" He let his head fall to the side so he could better look at her. She had earned that respect. "Colonel, you will be able to walk again. On the x-ray image is nothing to see on your spine, which looks like permanent damage. I assume, that by the many beating you received always on the same area, that fluids accumulated, and this must now slowly subside with the swelling. And before you ask, I have not a clue how long that will take. you have been here for a month now. when I think about it, I would go with three to four weeks until we hopefully see some response in your limbs. "Janet watched Jack closely and let him time to digest what she just said. After all, this was about him. Sam started to smile over her whole face. What for good news. "Hey, Colonel, that means you have to throw a party at team night and when you walk again, we could even hunt your new friends together. I'm sure they will not be able to hide anywhere." Sam offered it to him on a silver platter, got up and left the room. From Jack came so far, no reaction what's so ever and Jante asked herself if he got the message about his legs. She turned to the door to also leave the room and give the colonel his private space when he called softly. "Thank you" she heard him, such a small short word and yet it meant right now so much more for and to the colonel. He was never a man of many words when it comes to serios stuff. He just never got his mouth shut when it came to fabricate silly jokes and marking the class clown. She nodded slightly and then left his room.
Two weeks later
Janet picked at the colonel's legs and watched as he grimaced. "Colonel? Did you feel that? "She looked at him questioningly. For a week she made every day the test to see if his feeling comes back and so far, she has not seen anything. Every day a nurse helped jack to do some exercises to stay flexible and accelerate the healing process. With a slight grin, he confirmed her guess. Finally, the time had come that he could try and see if he would be able to walk again. He missed going with his team off world and he missed having the team night at his house with BBQ, he even missed all the boring briefings with his scientists' geeks. He just wanted to go home. The nightmares still came every night to torture him. He had never talked to anyone before about what had happened during this week of hell and he had not the intention to share it with others now. This was his secret and he did not want to share it with anyone. He knew that the nurses and Janet knew a bit about what was going on in the head of his, but he was not willing to share it. That was his problem and he had to deal with his demons his way. Like he always did. All his private demons who loved him so much, ended up in a draw in a cupboard deep down in his brain and he throw away the key to it. But right now, they still came to visit him every single long night. He was lifted in the air and been dropped, beaten and kicked and nearly drowned.
He awoke the next morning and found a new power in him. He turned that anger and frustration around and used it as his drive to get out of here. From that night on he slept better. His demons locked away safely.
Another couple of weeks and jack managed to do his first step without any help. Still weak and unsteady on his feet he managed it. Sweat formed itself on his forehead but he was happy. Now the hunting could start. He would get these morons and rip they asses apart One by One
He was and is still Jack O`Neill
The end