4. Chapter 4
Colonel O'Neill was having a very bad day. Oh, it had started out all right; he'd avoided his paperwork, gotten in a little R&R in with his team, and then, just when everything seemed peaceful, everything had gone all to hell. First, there was the possible foothold situation. Granted, that seemed to be a typical Friday night around these parts, but then Daniel just HAD to step into the middle of it. You'd think that after all this time, the geek would have more sense than to wander around with his nose buried in a book, but NO, he just had to walk into the middle of a shootout and get hit. What was really galling was that it was Jack's own bullet that had gotten his favorite geek, albeit repelled back from some strange energy shield. For a few minutes there, it had seemed like SG-1 would lose one of its own. Luckily the alien intruder had turned out to have wacky alien powers or Daniel would have almost certainly ended up in the morgue, undoubtedly soon followed by the alien. No one hurt one of Jack's team without consequences.
As it was, they had all ended up in the infirmary after all. Daniel was being subjected to many large needles and undoubtedly painful tests, all trying to discover what had happened to him, and what was causing the silver handprint on his chest. Lt. Stevens, or the alien posing as Lt. Stevens, was in the next bed over, unconscious and restrained. Guards were posted nearby, just in case. Jack was on his guard, ready to interrogate the man as soon as he regained consciousness. A low groan told Jack that he wouldn't have to wait much longer. Slowly, the prisoner opened his eyes, blinking in the bright light.
"So," Jack began, "I am Col. Jack O'Neill. Who are you? I mean, you look like Lt. Stevens, but you obviously aren't human. Why'd you break into the gate room?"
Sleepy eyes blinked at him. "I have no idea what you mean," came the sleepily-mumbled reply. "I was just walking around. I wasn't looking to hurt anyone."
Janet walked over and handed Jack a file, whispering in his ear. He raised an eyebrow, and flipped through the report. "Well, would you look at that. You're definitely not human; no human has blood like that. And since everyone here gets blood tests far more often than necessary," he mock-glared at the doctor, "either you are pretending to be Lt. Stevens, or you really are him and just got into something alien that changed you. Mind telling me which one it is? I have to tell you, the only reason you're here and not in the brig is that you didn't really TRY to hurt anyone. You saved Danny's life when you fixed that gunshot, so I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself."
* * * *
On the bed, Max sighed. His energy levels were far below normal, and there was no chance of fighting his way out through the whole base. The fact that he'd woken up in a medical facility, not drugged or behind bars, put this place a step above Agent Pierce and his goons. "I really didn't mean any harm. I had heard rumors of the alien technology in this place and needed to investigate. I wanted to know if any had come from my planet. I would have just taken a look and left, but the guard tried to stop me. I didn't think I'd get another chance. Is your friend all right?"
The Colonel nodded. "Yes he is, despite the shiny silver handprint on his chest .When will that go away? Is it going to do anything funky to him?"
Max winced. That handprint was a definite link back to his family, if word got out to the wrong people. "It will go away soon, it is just a side effect of the healing. As for funky side effects, well, um, in a few years he might develop some telekinesis, or maybe telepathy. Everyone's different. It shouldn't be a big deal." He picked at the sheet under his bound hand. "Hey, could you let me out of these cuffs? They are kind of uncomfortable."
The Colonel snorted. "Yeah, sure, youtbetcha. Maybe after you tell me who you really are, and what happened to Lt. Stevens." He crossed his arms.
Looking earnestly at his captor, Max tried to project sincerity. "He's alright. I just put him to sleep for a while, and left him tied up. He should be able to get out of it sometime this morning, um, is it still nighttime?" At the Colonel's nod, he continued. "Yeah, he'll be alright. I didn't hurt him."
"Uh, huh. And how come you look like him? Don't tell me you're a clone?" At Max's almost imperceptible wince, he raised an eyebrow. "Really? You mean you really ARE an alien clone? Bet that's freaky."
"I'm not a clone!" At Jack's look of disbelief, he quickly amended, "Ok, so I am a clone, I'm just not HIS clone. I just kind of copied his face for a while. I just needed to make sure that I could get into the base without being noticed, so I left him asleep where he wouldn't be found very soon. If the alarm hadn't sounded, I would have been in, out and on my way without anyone ever noticing." He sighed and lay back, tugging slightly on the straps. Sure, he could melt the bed under him, make enough room to pull his hands out, but what then? Try and get past the armed guards?
Jack interrupted his musings. "So what's your name? And if you just copied the Lt.'s face, what do you really look like? If you cooperate, maybe we can help each other. We are always looking for new allies here. "
"I don't really want to be experimented on, thank you very much. If you want me to show you what I look like, you will need to let me out of these straps." Max gathered his strength and sent an urgent message to Liz through their link. He quickly detailed the situation.
" We're not going to experiment on you! Geeze, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. Anyway, you need to give us back the real Lt. Stevens, cause holding a hostage is not the best way to get anything out of the Air Force." He reached forward and undid the strap holding down one arm. "No funny business now," he warned.
"Of course not." Max reached up, his hand glowing green. He passed his hand over his face, the skin rippling as it passed over, features blurring…
TBC…
