The Punishers and The Punished
The city of Apalla was something that could only be described as confusing, strange, and fascinating. The first thing the distraught team noticed as they were lead into town was the outrageous variety of technology level. There were things from all over different time periods, ranging from the early middle ages to far beyond Earth's technology level. In one corner of the street stood a blacksmith's shop, swords and axes hanging on display outside while across the street was a store where they sold guns and explosives. On the street sides stood parked cars and wagons, horses and donkeys, bicycles and mopeds. There was even some sort of flying vessel parked farther down the street. The street itself was made out of some sort of concrete; it was perfectly smooth underneath all the animal dung and dirt that currently covered it.
The houses looked very cramped together, with doors lining the walls almost every six feet. On some areas of the street, tents were set up and merchandise lined up inside. The team couldn't catch a glimpse of what was being sold. Most people wandering the streets was either wearing long robes in one of three distinct colors, or some sort of modern attire like a t-shirt and normal looking pants. The robed people consisted of white, grey, and black. Some of the women wore long, beautiful dresses or complimenting soft garments. All of this made SG-1 rather speechless.
"This is amazing…" Daniel finally mustered up as they continued down the street (more like pushed down the street by their captors). He was taking everything in with wide, curious eyes.
"How can one civilization sustain so many different age periods at one time? This would usually be impossible; one level of society could overtake the other less advanced in matter of days. Incredible!" Sam said, sharing Daniel's amazement. Jack looked over at a group of women, all dressed in white silky robes. They glanced back at him with smiles and then burst into giggles, making Jack smirk.
"Who are these people with different colored robes?" Daniel asked, craning his head back to catch a look at Perka.
"Those are higher-class members. Most work for the government or for other powerful people in our world. The ones with the black robes are called the Punishers. We are taking you to the place where they reside now." Terk said with almost no emotion from where he was holding Jack.
"The Punishers, eh? They don't sound like a group of nice people." Jack said, tearing his eyes away from the group of women to glance over at Daniel who shrugged.
"No, they are not, but they do help keep the city in order. They are the ones that offer us protection and enforce the laws." Perka said, also distracted by the group of white robed women.
"Like the police." Sam stated to Daniel and Jack. They both nodded.
"So we are going to these Punishers so they can throw is in jail?" Jack asked with no enthusiasm. Perka burst into a short fit of deep laughter that caught the attention of many passer-bys.
"No my friend," Perka said, reaching over to give Jack a hard slap on his back, making Jack wince in slight pain. "Jail is for small crimes like not obeying orders. You will receive much worse." These words did nothing to ease the feeling of anxiety that had been slowly building up in Jack's gut.
"Great…" he mumbled, averting his eyes to the ground.
The group suddenly turned a corner and approached a large, white marble house that was magnificently decorated with golden paint and sculptures. Jack gave a low whistle at the sight.
"Is that pure gold?" Daniel asked as he studied the architecture. "It looks like it's from the Roman period, like a temple of some sort." He added.
"This is the White House. It is where the representatives of our nation reside." Terk explained, his face still bearing no emotion.
"Coincident or not?" Jack asked, waggling his eyebrows at his team mates. They both rolled their eyes simultaneously but Sam gave him a small smile. They turned sharply and their line of vision was now filled with a rather intimidating black cube with one door. A man, dressed in a black robe, stood outside with some sort of gun.
"That's where you're going." Jon said in a low and creepy voice. This was probably the first time they had heard him speak and when Sam glanced back at him, he tightened his grip on her arm, making her clench her fists against the pain. Unfortunately, Jack and Daniel hadn't seemed to notice as their eyes were currently studying the huge black cube that they were rapidly approaching. As they stepped through the door, they heard Perka mutter under his breath.
"Welcome to the Black House." Then there was a flash of white light and everything went black.
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The first thing Sam noticed when she woke up was the faint distinct sound of buzzing that usually came from some sort of technology or device. The second thing she noticed was the most obvious, the complete darkness of the room. High up in the ceiling, probably some twenty feet up, hovered some sort of disk that was giving off minimum light, telling her that at least she wasn't blind. This was definitely the source of the buzzing sound. The light wasn't strong enough to eliminate the whole room though. They also had new clothing on, some sort of t-shirt and cotton pants. The thought that someone had undressed her was disgusting. Suddenly she heard shuffling from behind her, distracting Sam from her thoughts, and she was quickly up on her feet, straining to see anything in the darkness.
"Hello?" she asked suspiciously, her voice echoing in what must have been a room of some sort.
"Sam!?" The rather surprised and relieved voice of Daniel called back to her and she could hear footsteps in her direction.
"Daniel!" Sam called out, relieved that her team-mate sounded fine. She started heading toward where she thought she had heard his voice. "Do you know where the Colonel-"her sentence was cut off as someone crashed into her, sending Sam flying backwards by the unsuspected force. She heard the unmistakable yelp from Daniel as he also crashed to the ground, landing on top of her. Sam winced as her head connected with the ground painfully. Suddenly Daniel's hand was resting lightly on the side of her face, apparently trying to identify who he had crashed into.
"Sam, is that you?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah." Sam managed to squeeze out even with the lack of air. Daniel was not a very light person.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Daniel said quickly, picking himself up from her and grabbing her hand in the process to help her up. "I didn't think it was you for a minute so I thought it was better to keep you pinned down." He explained and Sam could practically feel his embarrassment in the darkness.
"It's fine." Sam assured him as she tenderly rubbed the back of her head where it had impacted with the ground. "Have you seen the Colonel?" she said, changing the subject to what she had been trying to ask before. Realizing how stupid that sounded, they couldn't see anything anyway, she rephrased her question. "Do you know if the Colonel is here?" That sounded better.
"No," Daniel said, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder so that he wouldn't lose her in the darkness. "I just practically woke up." He added. Sam nodded and waited for his reply. When it never came she remembered that once again they couldn't see.
"Yeah, me too." She said instead, feeling foolish.
"Should we go see if there's a way out of here?" Daniel supplied, taking a couple of steps forward. Sam followed, taking on the lead.
"Just keep your hand on my shoulder so we don't lose each other." Sam ordered him as they continued walking in no real direction. Suddenly her foot impacted something round and soft, causing her to trip. She hadn't been expecting the obstacle and for a moment she tried to regain her balance. Realizing that it was pointless, she ended up trying to save Daniel instead.
"Let go!" she managed to call out before she went crashing to the ground for the third time that day.
"Forcryingoutloud, my head." moaned the obvious voice of Colonel O'Neill.
"Jack!" The pleased voice of Daniel, who had heeded Sam's advice and let go before he too had suffered the same fate as her, called out.
"Daniel, could you please tell me why you are trying to play soccer with my head?" Jack asked slowly in pain and annoyance.
"Sorry sir." Came the sincere and pain filled reply from Sam, who was lying a foot away from him judging by her voice. "That was my fault. I can't really see anything in this dark." She heaved herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her arm which she had fallen on when tripping over Jack's head. 'This is so not my day.' She thought in frustration.
Without warning, bright lights illuminated the room and the three members of SG-1 had to squint at the sudden change.
"Welcome Punished." Said a rather intimidating voice, the sound coming from the floating disc device. There was a pause before the voice was heard again. "It is time to decide your fate."
A/N: So very sorry for not having updated for a while. This was sitting unfinished on my desktop and everytime I logged on I was telling myself to finish it but I always forgot. . Anywho, here is the next chapter, and thanks to all of you who reveiwed. I need a cool/intimidating name for one of the Punishers. Any suggestions??
