Title: Report 83646

Author: PapayaK
Category: Hurt-Comfort, Angst, more Hurt – a hint of team, cause I can't leave them out of anything.
Spoilers: Abyss, Tokra
Summary: A report on a mission. Colonel O'Neill, (and friend) is captured, tortured and manages to escape in a rather unorthodox way. By the way – it's a dumb name – I couldn't think of anything better. Can You?

Warnings: Torture, Blood, Gore – Much darker than I usually like. Be prepared. It freaked ME a little when I went back and read it, and I wrote it. I'll explain where this all came from after you've read it.

As always – Please Feed the Writers!!

(we're always starving for it)

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Just having fun.

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A.N:
Okay - Here's a speedy update. I'm going to the fireworks tonight, so I don't think I'll have time to post. (Happy 4th!!) Here's where you get your 'darkness.' But it is blood and gore - no rape or anything like that, and don't worry, isabel, I do subscribe to the "You break Jack, You fix him" school of thought. But I intend to do a thorough job of 'breaking' him first. - Enjoy!

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The next session I endured, was by far the worst.

I broke.

The pain that I caused, for Colonel O'Neill, for so many others that I care about, and ultimately for myself far exceeded anything she could do to me in that torture chamber.

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Report 83646 – Chapter 4

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This time when I regained consciousness he was busily tying a tourniquet around his secured arm as high as he could reach. He had removed a bootlace, and was using his free hand and his teeth to make it tight.

When I questioned him in some alarm, he almost seemed angry.

"Jesha!" he protested, "She's not supposed to be awake yet."

Jesha responded calmly, "Colonel, she is strong. And she needs to know what is coming, what she will be called upon to do."

"What?" I gasped, "What will I be called upon to do?"

He just looked at me as Jesha explained.

Then he actually managed to grin at me and said, "THIS is gonna make a great story! 10 o'clock news! Headlines! Well... it would… if… you know. And besides - Jesha promised me one of those healing devices!"

"Colonel!" I cried in spite of Jesha's explanation as he pulled out his shiv and, unbelievably, began to cut into his wrist between the bracelet and the tourniquet.

He pulled the shiv away from the small slice that was dribbling blood down his arm and looked at me sympathetically, "Hey kiddo, this is probably going to be worse for you than it is for me. My arm has been numb for days. I won't feel a thing," he lied.
"Arsay is going after the Tok'ra just as soon as she can get her army on the move. We gotta get there first. And besides that, I have no interest is seeing you meet 'ole Bocce Ba'al either." He took a deep breath to continue and coughed as his broken ribs protested. "We're leaving, just as soon as I can get us out of here.
The ONLY job you have is…" he smiled wryly, "Well, I need you to hold my hand."

And with that he turned and very calmly began to saw away at his own flesh and bone.

"WHAT?!" I screamed at him. I wanted him to stop. Nothing was this desperate. He would certainly die.

Jesha calmed me down before our rather bored Jaffa guards could react and began to explain the situation. This was what they had been discussing late that night. Both she and the Colonel had realized that things were getting desperate. Desperate measures were called for. The Colonel knew, and Jesha had learned from me, the story of the hiker, trapped with his arm caught under a boulder. He had chosen amputation rather than death. Was this any different?

Jesha then comforted me by pointing out that there was so much more than one man's life at stake. Plus, Jack had an advantage the hiker didn't. If we brought his severed hand with us, there was a good chance that it could be reattached through the use of a healing device.

"That hiker was an otherwise healthy person." I angrily pointed out, "Can you say the same?" The man who was to be my savior had broken bones, internal injuries, probably a concussion along with several more exotic injuries caused by various Goa'uld implements of torture.

"And," I continued, my voice taking on a hysterical edge, "He didn't have to fight his way out of that canyon."

The Colonel, for his part, only grunted, as he continued to work, blood spattering all over the wall and himself. The sound of metal grating against bone and the resulting crack was almost enough to make me throw up.

Jesha would have stared me down if she could have.

In their silence they were both asking me, 'Do you have a better idea?'

I didn't. I had better 'suck it up' and quick.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he sliced through the last bit of skin and collapsed to the floor breathing hard. He faced away from me, his shoulder against the wall, his arm cradled tightly against his body. Blood still flowed from his wrist in the bracelet above him, running down the wall and dripping onto him. I swallowed against the nauseousness.

Tears streamed down my face as I wished for some way to help him. All I could do, finally, was NOT be a burden to him.

I watched him carefully, and even from behind I believe I could see it as he allowed himself a moment to be weak, and then straightened his shoulders against his coming task. That physical action portrayed the internal one as he forced his considerable pain to the background and ignored it. He then slowly stood, still facing away from me, and forced himself to lower his arms to his sides, focusing instead on what his next obstacle would be.

I stared at the horrific stump. At least his tourniquet seemed to be effective as he was barely bleeding anymore.

When he turned to me his face was a mask of cold determination. So, I hoped, was mine. I must have succeeded in part because I saw a glimmer of approval in his eyes.

He took two shaky steps over to me. "One." He spoke, his voice gravelly, "I take out those guards, get the key and come for you. Two. We find the ring room and get off this ship. Three. We go help your Tok'ra buddies pack and you can put Humpty back together again."

I nodded, simply assuming he knew how to do all that one handed, and he moved to the cell door. He concealed himself just out of sight of the guards and nodded to me. I screamed long and loud enough to bring the guards out of their bored stupor. I screamed the truth. It was a catharsis for me, and I actually may have overdone it because I didn't stop until the Colonel put his good hand over my mouth.

"I think that did it, Gina." His eyes twinkled a bit, a cold shadow of their former energy. He reached up and unlocked my bracelet. I hugged him (gently) in celebration. Then I pulled off my overtunic, a loose shirt I wore over a stretchy one piece garment. Glancing at him, (he was not watching) I turned, reached up and trying not to cringe, gently worked the pale and mistreated appendage out of its restraint. I wrapped it carefully in my shirt and tucked it inside the waist of my undertunic. Turning back, our eyes met and he took my hand and pulled me to the still empty gateway.

Once he determined the way was clear, he turned to me, "Can you find the ring room?"

I nodded. That was easy. "What if there isn't a planet in range?"

He looked at me, exasperated, "Carter? Did Carter teach you to think like that? Or maybe Daniel! Yeah, that's it." He guided me ahead of him and pushed me down the hall, still muttering to himself, "yeah – Carter hardly ever does that to me anymore, must be Daniel."

We made it to the ring room fairly easily. As prisoners, we had not proved much of a threat so far, and Jaffa off duty on their own ship are not terribly wary. The Colonel, I learned was just as good at avoiding the enemy as he was at confronting them.

As we approached the ring room there were two Jaffa on duty; much more alert and problematic than the others.

The Colonel drew me back a ways, "I'll take out the Jaffa. You find us a planet and just let me know when it's time to be in the circle."

"Find us a planet?" I asked incredulously.

"Find us a planet." He said simply, giving me an Other-people-may-think-it's-impossible-but-I-know-you-can-do-it look. Guess that must be why he's a Colonel – he made me believe I could.

"Okay."

As I found out, we had already entered the system where Ba'al had taken up residence. It would be a simple thing to gate to the only planet within range: Ba'al's home world.

I entered the coordinates and looked up to tell the Colonel. I was just in time to see the remaining Jaffa pull a knife from the Colonel's side. As he collapsed, I let – more like screamed for Jesha to take over and she used the element of surprise and a double booted kick to knock the Jaffa clear out of the room.

We grabbed the Colonel and pulled him into the circle just in time to be ringed down to the remotest part of Ba'al's palace.

TBC

ohhhh nooooo!