TAPESTRY

Tony herded everyone into the living room. It was a large open room with a bar in one corner, a large-screen TV dominating one wall and the promised spectacular view filling up the entire length of another. Couches and armchairs of various sizes littered the room, tastefully arranged so that a small group could have an intimate conversation or a large group could relax and chat. The large coffee table in the centre of the seating area was simple and sturdy, yet elegant, and made of dark wood.

Pizza arrived ten minutes later while they were comparing stories about events at the museum.

"So do we even know who this guy was?" Tony asked as he grabbed a slice of pizza. "I sort of didn't let him monologue before I shot up his fancy-looking gun so I actually have no idea."

"Someone who couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a ninja or a knight," Daniel suggested before biting into his own pizza.

"I was thinking Evil Papa Smurf," said Clint, looking thoughtful from where he was perched on the back of a leather loveseat. "But I can see that too."

"Does it matter?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow up at him from the same loveseat.

Clint shrugged. "Probably not. Guy was pretty lame anyway."

"And colourblind," Tony added. "Though, granted, the armor does look interesting. Brucie you'll help me analyze it later, right?"

Bruce blinked at him. "Uh, sure. I could do that."

"Cool!"

Someone's cellphone went off. Daniel started and then patted his pockets down before taking out a Blackberry. He looked at the caller ID and groaned.

"Uncle Jack?" Cassie asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"Yeah," said Daniel. He sighed and answered the phone. "Hi Ja–"

He pulled the phone away from his ear and the rest of the room faintly heard the words '-the hell have you been?'. Daniel rolled his eyes and put the phone back to his ear as soon as there was a pause in shouting.

"Jack, relax. Yes, we were at the Met when the strange blue guys attacked; no it had nothing to do with me. I'm sure the NYPD are investigating. I'm fine. Cassie's fine. We're fine... No I'm not just saying that... Yes, I'm sure Jack, the paramedics looked me over and said I was good to go... Oh for–"

He pulled the cellphone away from his ear and thrust it at Cassie. "Here, you tell him we're fine!"

Cassie giggled and took the phone. "Hi Uncle Jack. Yeah, I'm alright and so's Daniel and yes, the EMTs really did check him out. He's gonna have some bruises from leaping out of the way of a bunch of bullets, but otherwise he really is fine."

She put a finger over the speaker and looked to Daniel. "He says he's in shock," she said quietly. Daniel glared at the phone.

She returned back to the conversation with a grin. "You should've seen him, Uncle Jack, he totally busted out some special ops moves back there. Disarmed one of the guys, took his gun and then shot down another. Then he had to jump out of the way of the third guy's bullets, but he managed to take him out afterwards too. It was terrifying, but pretty cool. You taught him well."

Next to her, Daniel's face took on a slightly pink hue that had the rest of the room chuckling. Skye turned to Coulson. "She's right, it actually was pretty cool," she whispered.

Next to her, Trip nodded. "Knew how to use that gun like a pro."

Coulson acknowledged the information with a tilt of his head, his face not betraying any of his thoughts.

Cassie handed the phone back to Daniel, who said good-bye to his friend and hung up. "Well, that could've gone worse," he said as he pocketed the phone. Then he yawned and sighed. "Thank you for dinner and for getting us out of the way of reporters and everything, but we should probably head back to our hotel now."

"I'm all for that," said Cassie. "I wrote my last exam yesterday afternoon and then flew up from Nevada this morning... I'm beat."

"Hey, hey, what's this about leaving?" Tony exclaimed. "Remember the part where I mentioned guest rooms and how I have a lot of them? Seriously, stay here tonight. I've got soap, towels, spare toothbrushes. You name it, I've got it and if I don't have it, then JARVIS can get it for you."

Daniel looked to Cassie, who held her hands up. "Hey, your call. I went to the museum direct from the airport; all my stuff's in my bag."

Daniel turned to Tony. "Then thank you, we'll happily take you up on that offer and make it an early night. It's been a bit of a long week."

Tony grinned. "Excellent! JARVIS will show you to your rooms."

"JARVIS?"

"I will be happy to assist you when you are ready to retire, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel's head snapped up. "Oh, you're the voice from the elevator."

"Indeed. I am a fully functional AI and I maintain and oversee building operations."

"An AI?" Daniel's eyes widened, the tiredness vanishing from his face as he stood up. "Fully functional: does that mean you have the capacity for independent thought or just that you control all aspects of the house's systems?"

"Both statements are correct, Doctor Jackson, however fully-functional refers to the way my programming mimics human mental pathways, allowing for the capacity to learn and adapt to new information independent of the initial programming."

Tony stared at the archaeologist. "Uh, you realize the guy who made him is right here? If you have any questions about JARVIS you could just ask me."

Daniel frowned, his look disapproving. "But if JARVIS is right here and fully capable of answering questions about himself. It would be rude of me to ask someone else as though he weren't."

Tony gaped, while a few people snickered. Even Coulson's eyes shone with amusement.

Meanwhile, Cassie stood up with an exasperated sigh and retrieved her backpack from the hallway. Hefting it over her shoulder, she then linked her arms with one of Daniel's. "Goodnight everyone," she said before linking her arms with Daniel and dragging him away towards a newly lit-up corridor. They disappeared from sight just as Daniel was starting to ask JARVIS about whether independent thought meant being able to create opinions on music, movies and books, whether he was able to enjoy such things.

"JARVIS, there's no need to lock them in or anything, but let us know if either of them come back down to this floor," said Tony once their voices became too faint to hear.

"Understood, sir. And sir, if I may, I do not believe Doctor Jackson is ruthless enough to be Hydra."

"Hydra?!" said Bruce. He turned to stare at the others. "You think he's Hydra?!"

His eyes flashed green and the last word carried an echo of a second, deeper voice. Bruce immediately closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. The others watched him warily. Tony was the only one not disturbed by the scene. Instead of watching Bruce, he turned cold eyes on his fellow Avengers and Coulson's team.

"Daniel is Hulk's friend," he said quietly. "So you'd better have some really solid evidence to support that accusation."

The young woman with Coulson swallowed (she had an unusual, airy name... Skye, that was it, her name was Skye). Her eyes darting nervously towards Bruce before she steeled herself and met Tony's eyes. "He's the perfect candidate for Hydra recruitment. Orphaned at a young age, brilliant, a loner, never married, no family connections except for a crazy grandfather who's disappeared off the face of the earth, and looked down upon by everyone in his chosen profession because of his, uh, unorthodox theories. Unorthodox, slightly out-of-this-world theories."

Tony winced. "Well, when you put it that way, it does sound a bit suspicious. And I know he's got government and military connections 'cause he pulled those strings to get the Hulkbusters disbanded."

"He's certainly involved with something," Natasha admitted. "But I don't think it's Hydra."

"For what it's worth, he doesn't act like an evil Nazi," said Clint with a shrug.

"He could be a very good actor," said Coulson.

"He gave the Hulk cake."

All eyes turned to Bruce at his soft words.

"He gave the Hulk cake," said the Asian woman sitting next to Coulson. Tony thought her name was May... something May. "And that's relevant how, exactly?"

Bruce smiled. "I don't remember any of it myself, but I have read the report. The Hulk helped Daniel Jackson save Cassie and then Daniel Jackson helped save the Hulk. What isn't in the report is that before the Hulk left, he gave him a bag with three bottles of water and a giant chocolate cake. I'm assuming he had them in his car. It was with me when I woke up in a cave."

"Basic human kindness," said a new voice and they all turned to the sight of Steve Rogers.

He looked tired, worn, his left cheek sporting a deep purple bruise and there were bandages peeking out from behind a navy blue t-shirt. He was leaning on a crutch, an African-American man Tony assumed was the mysterious Sam hovering just behind him. He moved carefully, like someone in a lot of pain even though none of it showed on his face.

Tony winced, knowing the super soldier might heal faster than anyone else, but his pain threshhold wasn't any higher than the average human's. Rogers carefully lowered himself down into the spot recently vacated by Daniel and leaned his crutch against the side. Natasha leaned over and pushed a box still containing some pizza slices in his direction.

"So, Agent, you and your people had better have a really good story here," said Tony, turning his attention back to Coulson. "And don't think we've forgotten about how you've been pretending to be dead for the past, what, two years?"

The corner of Coulson's mouth twitched. "It's Director now, actually."

Tony blinked.

"So the rumours are true then," said Natasha with a smirk.

"That depends on the rumours."

"Agent Coulson," Steve Rogers cut in, his voice low and tone easy, but his eyes held an edge of steel. "I may not have seen any of your evidence against Daniel Jackson, but I did spent some time with him in the museum and he seems like someone who tries to help people, not hurt them. And before you start accusing anyone of being Hydra, maybe you should start by explainin' why we should be trusting you. Modern technology has come a long way: how do we know you're really Phil Coulson?"

Rogers' jaw visibily tightened. "You coulda been brainwashed for all we know."

Coulson looked Rogers in the eye. "I suppose you don't."

"Why didn't you tell us you were alive?" Clint asked.

Coulson's eyes flicked over to the archer, before returning to Rogers. "Fury's orders."

Rogers nodded.

"But Fury's dead and you're apparently the new director, which means you get to make the – alright, what is that look for Capsicle?" Tony glared at Rogers, having seen the startled expression that passed over his face. He thought back over what he'd just said. "Wait. Son of a – Fury's not dead?! That man's an over-inflated, one-eyed cockroach is what he is."

Rogers winced. "Er, sorry, I figured you'd know. I mean, I thought Maria would've told you."

"Maria? As in Maria Hill?! That former SHIELD deputy-director that's currently on my payroll? You have got to be kidding me!" Tony glowered at Coulson. "Did she know you were alive? Oh, what am I saying, of course she did."

He stood up, suddenly needing to do go build something, or blow it up, or build something he could blow up. Or – oooh analyse.

"Hey Green, wanna go take apart some garishly blue armour and see what makes it tick? Well, metaphorically tick, 'cause there aren't any actual mechanisms in it anywhere and therefore no literal ticking."

Bruce was stone-faced when he unfolded his legs and stood up. "I think that's a good idea," he said.

Coulson sighed as he watched them leave. "Well, that could've gone worse," he said. Then he turned to Natasha. "I realize I owe you all an explanation and I will tell you what I can of it in a moment – and please keep in mind when I do that even I don't know all the details. I am, however, curious as to why you seem so convinced Daniel isn't Hydra. I'm assuming you have something we don't."

Natasha nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I overheard a conversation between him and Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill," she said. "He mentioned that morale at the SGC was bad because of New York. It sounded like they had the means to help and weren't allowed to because it would mean exposing the project. His exact words were: 'side-lined in the name of maintaining secrecy'."

"I've heard the recording of the conversation," Clint pipped up. "He did not sound happy about it."

Natasha nodded. "He also mentioned a threat bigger than Hydra."

Steve's eyes widened. "Something worse than Hydra?" he said. "And something the government, apparently, knows about."

"Yes. Daniel Jackson said that something called the Ori were preparing a large-scale attack and that right now, we have no way to defend ourselves."

A moment of stunned silence filled the room.

"Well, that's not good," said Coulson.

It was just past midnight and Daniel couldn't sleep.

Part of him was exhausted: mentally, physically exhausted. It had been a long day. The other, unfortunately much louder, part of him was tugging at the bit to get started on that tablet. He'd only needed a glimpse to recognize the familiar lines of Ancient script. And to realize that it wasn't normal Ancient writing. A new dialect? Or perhaps a code? Someone had hidden the tablets inside a statue of all things: had they intended to come back for them? Had they been hidden from someone or for someone?

He turned over and sighed. Just outside his bedroom, the tablets were burning a hole through Cassie's sweater, which they were still wrapped in, calling to him like sirens in the night. Forget beautiful, inhuman enchantresses from Greek myths, these tablets were a far more seductive temptation. They were a mystery waiting to be solved.

But he needed sleep. Needed to be rested. What if Jack magically managed to convince someone that the alien armada was a problem that needed a solution sooner not later? Miracles could happen. And he was tired. So, so tired. He needed to sleep...

Daniel gave up.

A short while later he slid out of his guest suite wearing a pair of jeans and a borrowed bath robe, sweater-wrapped tablets held securely under one arm along with a blank, lined notebook he'd found in the suite's desk drawer.

He made his way down into the communal living room, blinking when the the lights turned on automatically as he entered. Shaking his head in amusement, he walked over to the kitchen, this time expecting the lights to turn on and grinning when they did.

"Thanks, JARVIS," he said. "I'm assuming that's you."

"Indeed it is, Daniel Jackson." Daniel smiled. The AI sounded amused. "May I inquire as to what you are doing up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get started on this project I picked up at the museum."

Checking the coffeepot, Daniel made a triumphant sound when he found it still had coffee in it. A quick check of the cupboards above the pot and he had a mug. The coffee was not only the same amazing blend Tony had served him earlier, but it was still warm. Which meant that either he wasn't the only person who couldn't sleep, or the machine had one hell of an amazing thermos.

Daniel hummed happily to himself as he took a sip of his coffee and moved back out into the living room. He stood in front of the coffee table thoughtfully for a moment.

"JARVIS? I don't suppose that somewhere in these endless corridors of rooms there's something like a conference room – with, like, whiteboards and stuff – that Tony wouldn't mind me using?"

"There is indeed a briefing room just down the hall and, given that sir seldom uses it himself, I do not believe he would mind if you were to use it."

"Great! Thank you, JARVIS."

"My pleasure, Daniel Jackson. If you would follow me."

Tony yawned as he wandered blearily into the kitchen. His mug made a dull clunk when he placed it on the counter, exhaustion and alcohol making his movements clumsy. He reached for the coffeepot and frowned. It felt lighter than it should have. Sure enough, there was only half a cup inside. He could've sworn there'd been more in there the last time he'd come up for some. Bruce maybe? Except Bruce was still in his lab and he had a kettle there (Pepper had no problem with Bruce having a kettle, but she wouldn't allow Tony to keep a coffeemaker in his lab: it was so unfair).

"JARVIS, where'd all the coffee go?" he asked as he stared forlornly into his half-empty mug.

"Daniel Jackson helped himself to some earlier. He's currently working on a translation in the Avenger's briefing room. Perhaps you might like to go check on him."

Tony blinked. "Translation of what?"

"I am not certain. Daniel Jackson seems to be in possession of two stone tablets. I took the liberty of scanning them and they appear to be a minimum of three thousand years old, however I am unfamiliar with the language and the script is not found in any of my databases."

Tony gulped down the coffee he had and put the mug down on the first available surface before going to check on Daniel.

The briefing room was something Tony had built on the theory of 'it could come in handy', but the room had yet to be used by anyone except Pepper when she'd been planning last year's Maria Stark Foundation Charity Gala. So walking into the room to find half the whiteboards lining the walls covered in print – some of it was English, some of it could've been Klingon for all Tony could tell – came as a bit of a shock. An open notebook lay on the table, next to an abandoned coffee mug and a bright red sweater that was laid out flat with two rectangular stone tablets on top of it.

A blown-up holographic projection of the tablets hovered in the air above them. And wow, JARVIS apparently really liked the guy if he'd decided to be this helpful. Or, Tony thought as he walked over to get a closer look at the lettering from the original tablet, he was curious about this tablet and the language that his encyclopedia of languages couldn't identify.

Daniel was working at one of the whiteboards, carefully copying a line of the unknown script onto the board, leaving room beneath each line for, presumably, an English translation.

"JARVIS, how long has he been at this?" Tony asked quietly.

"Daniel Jackson began work at 12:42, sir," came the equally-quiet reply.

Not that it appeared to matter, because Daniel didn't seem at all aware that he wasn't alone anymore, his eyes intent on the translation he was working on. Tony wondered if this was how he looked when he was absorbed in calculations. Tony glanced at the digital clock on the wall. It read 5:56. He blinked. Okay, he hadn't realized it was that late, er, early.

Tony cleared his throat. "So, Daniel, you've been busy I see."

"Not now Cam," Daniel replied absently. "I'll eat something later."

Tony's eyebrows rose and he blinked. That reply had sounded automatic; in fact, Daniel hadn't even paused in his work to think about it. Tony grinned. It seemed that he and Doctor Daniel Jackson were cut from the same mould... only from different sides of it. Tony walked over and leaned against the whiteboard next to Daniel, careful not to smudge any of the writing.

"Sorry, Daniel, 'fraid I'm not Cam," he said with a cheerful grin. "On the plus side, I'm totally not here to drag you away and force you to do so-called healthy things like eating and/or sleeping."

Daniel blinked and looked over to Tony, looking confused for a moment. Then he looked to the marker in his hand and up at the ceiling.

"I was wondering why my office was so bright," he said, sounding befuddled, like he couldn't quite remember how he'd gotten where he was. "Smelt wrong too..."

He trailed off, his gaze falling back to Tony again. He blinked once, twice, and then his eyes widened slightly in realization. "Oh, you're a scientist, right?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Engineer, technically, but–"

"–That means you know some physics right?"

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I know some physics, I'm a gen–"

"–Good, I need you to take a look at this part over here."

Daniel grabbed him by the arm and didn't seem to notice Tony's sputtered a protest against the manhandling. He stopped in front of a different section of the whiteboard. This section had already been translated into English.

"I've translated it as much as I could, but technical jargon can be a bit tricky, because it develops differently than the rest of the language and knowledge of the specific field in question becomes important." Daniel let go of Tony and indicated a section in the text. "For instance, this part here talks about energy, but I can't quite tell if it's talking about energy in the form of electricity or some other sort of outside source, or an inner core that creates the energy."

"Woah, woah, hang on!" Tony waved his arms in front of him to make Daniel stop. It worked. "Daniel, buddy, I thought you were translating a couple of three-thousand-year-old tablets?"

Daniel blinked. "I am. Wait, how do you know about – oh right, of course, Skye probably told you." He took a deep breath, not noticing Tony's surprised expression. "Yes, this is from those tablets. And... well, I think it's describing an engine."

"An engine?!" Tony stepped up closer to the whiteboard and began reading.

"Or possibly a power source... I'm not an engineer so I'm not entirely sure."

"JARVIS, bring up a blank project template. I don't think this is an engine exactly... are you sure this part here is accurate?"

Daniel took a closer look at where Tony indicated. "Hmm... like I said, jargon can be difficult; is there something else that would make more sense?"

"You know I'm not even sure."

Fifteen minutes later, Bruce shuffled into the room, having been attracted by the light spilling out into the hallway. Daniel was at one end of the room working on some sort of translation and Tony was on the other, reading over a translation it looked like Daniel had already made, a holographic display to his left. He kept looking between the translation and the holographic contraption he had started building.

"Hello, what's going on here?" Bruce called to them.

Daniel ignored him completely, but Tony looked up with a grin. "Brussel Sprout, come over and take a look at this. Daniel translated it from a couple of tablets he apparently found at the Met. It's fascinating... and I'm trying to figure out if it's even possible."

"What is it?" Bruce asked, walking over to Tony's side to take a look.

"It's describing an energy source, I think, and then possibly a type of device that uses said energy source." He paused and grinned at Bruce. "Sadly it's all theory, but the math... the math would be beautiful. Like, mind-blowingly beautiful. Seriously, take a look at this. I think it's talking about folding space, or folding space molecules... and over here, there's a bit about pulling energy from emptiness..."

Bruce put his glasses on and began to examine the translation. "Emptiness? You mean like empty space?"

Tony froze, his eyes widening comically. "Daniel said technical jargon can be difficult to translate correctly." He looked at Bruce. "You're thinking it's supposed to be 'vacuum' instead of 'emptiness', aren't you?"

Bruce nodded as he continued to read. "That's certainly one possibility."

Cassie had been puzzled to find Daniel missing from his 'guest room' (apparently Tony Stark's idea of a room was very different to everyone else's definition of a room). Then she'd noticed that her sweater and the tablets were missing and was no longer quite so surprised.

"JARVIS, do you know where my uncle is?" she asked.

Following the AI's instructions led her to what looked like a conference room. That had, apparently, been taken over by a trio of mad scientists. Well, two mad scientists and a mad archaeologist.

She'd heard Tony and Doctor Banner arguing from the hallway about whether or not something was possible – whatever they were arguing about was clearly light years away from the material covered in her third year physics course that she didn't even bother trying to follow the conversation. Besides, they were arguing in half-sentences and short, cut-off phrases. Daniel was quietly working on a translation, oblivious to the noise.

She shook her head in amusement. Scientists.

Well, at least she knew one way to get their attention.

"JARVIS, is there a coffee machine nearby?" she asked.

"Indeed, there is one in the kitchen, Miss Fraiser."

"Uhg, can't you just call me Cassie?" she asked as she turned to leave.

"I'm afraid that is against my programming, Miss Fraiser."

"You know I'll bet you do a lot of things that are against your programming. Like World of Warcraft, for instance. Pretty sure Tony didn't input that into your programming, but I definitely heard you tell Uncle Daniel that you play in what passes for your spare time."

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Uh huh, sure you don't."

Just then the elevator on the other end of the hallway pinged. She turned in time to watch the doors open. Steve stepped out and she caught a glimpse of Sam in the elevator before the doors closed.

"Good morning, Steve," she called to him.

He looked to her and smiled before limping towards her. "Good morning, Cassie," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Should you be walking on that leg? I heard you got shot. Tony said they were going to have to dig the bullet out. In fact, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't even be out of hospital yet."

Steve blinked at her, looking surprised. "It's mostly healed already. Still twinges a bit, but I'll be fine by tomorrow. Super-serum." He added the last as an after-thought.

Cassie gaped at him. "Wait what? My mother was a doctor, I know that bullet wounds take longer to heal than that. A lot longer. How could you possibly be fine by tomor – oh." She stopped as something suddenly occurred to her and she felt at once stupid and excited. "I don't know why I didn't make the connection sooner: you're Captain America, aren't you?"

His features settled into a sort of half-smile. "Yes, I am." He frowned. "You mean the others didn't tell you?"

"They probably figured we already knew. Which is probably a fair call, except that while Daniel is a genius, he can also be fairly oblivious when it comes to things that are less than two thousand years old." She grinned. "You're way too young for him, Steve."

Steve chuckled. Just then the voices from the conference room grew in volume again and Steve glanced up at the sound, looking worried.

"Don't worry," said Cassie. "They're busy arguing the science of something Daniel translated. Trust me, you're not getting anywhere near that without ammunition."

"Ammunition?" Steve asked, looking amused.

The ammunition worked, because the moment Steve, Cassie and the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee entered the room, it went miraculously silent. Until Tony nearly tripped over himself in his rush to get around the long conference table. Even Daniel surfaced momentarily from his work in order to hurry over to grab a mug of hot, caffeinated gold.

"So, what exactly are you three working on?" Steve asked as he sipped his own coffee. "Loudly, I might add."

"Hmm... the language on the tablet is a derivative of Latin, but it was written in code, which is why it didn't look familiar," Daniel answered. "Took me a while, but once I realized the conjugation looked almost Greek, the rest of it was just a matter of working out how much of it had been altered and how much was technical jargon... It's fascinating really, how simple and elegant the code is and how it's been weaved subtly into the original language almost creating a language of its own–"

"–Which is fascinating, I'm sure," Tony interrupted. "But the really interesting part is this bit here where it's describing some sort of machine. At first we were thinking it's a vehicle of some sort, but I'm pretty sure it's not. Whatever it is, it looks like it's, uh, trying to destabilize its molecules and make them vibrate out of sync with the molecules around it."

"You know, I'm not sure that 'vibrate' is an appropriate description of what its doing," Bruce pointed out.

Tony threw his hands up. "Well how would you describe it then?!"

Bruce looked thoughtful for a moment. "More like phasing out of sync."

"Which means what exactly?" Coulson asked from the doorway. They all turned at his sudden appearance, his expression giving nothing away about how long he'd stood there.

Tony opened his mouth to reply.

"Do mean shifting out of phase through solid matter or into another dimension?" Daniel suddenly asked.

Tony closed his mouth. He and Bruce looked to each other and then to Daniel.

"That's... a very good question," said Tony. "And not one I would expect from a non-physics major."

Daniel shrugged. "I work around physicists and engineers; some of it was bound to sink in eventually."

Bruce's expression was suspicious, but he nodded slowly anyway. "We don't really have enough data to know for sure either way, although I'd personally been thinking of an invisibility cloak."

"Creating an invisibility cloak wouldn't require the kind of power they're talking about here,"said Tony dismissively. This had clearly been one of the things they'd been arguing about.

"You know, it's not entirely clear according to the translated text that the power source is meant to power the device in question."

"Then why would it even be here?"

"Uh, you know it is just a rough translation, guys..." Daniel tried to interject, but was ignored as Tony and Bruce launched into another discussion full of half-sentences and cut-off phrases. He wondered if this was how Jack had felt back in the early days of the team when he and Sam had started brainstorming.

He sighed and walked over to the tablet again to take another look at the original text. Even in code, sometimes the original text held clues and nuances that a translation, no matter how accurate, missed. He skipped the formal introduction and went straight to the description of technology. He read it over again, carefully reading each sentence in its original Ancient under his breath.

Half-way down, he frowned and double-backed in the text to study the structure of the sentences. Oh. When he looked at it as a whole, including the brief, formal introduction, it read like an official document. And the technologies described... no, not just described, listed. Not only that, but the last sentenced seemed to be cut off, as though there was meant to be more to the list. But why then include only these two pages...

A short while later he stepped back when a loud yawn interrupted his concentration. He scanned the room and blinked, realizing there were suddenly a lot more people milling about, mostly sitting around the long table. Tony and Bruce had moved away from his original translation and seemed to be having fun debating science over crude marker drawings of what Daniel assumed were their theories of the device described in the tablet. And there was food on the table. On cue, Daniel's stomach growled.

Steve looked up from where he and Cassie were hunched over a laptop with Clint looking on in amusement. He grinned at Daniel.

"Come on over and help yourself, Daniel," he said.

"Thank you," said Daniel and wandered over to refill his coffee mug and grabbed a danish from what looked like a severely-depleted pile. "I see they've moved to trying to construct the device."

Steve chuckled. "Yup, not that I have any idea what they're talking about."

"None of us do, Cap, so don't worry: it's not just you," said Clint absently, wincing at something Cassie was doing on-screen. Daniel leaned over and saw they were playing a computer game: one of those empire-building ones.

He gulped down the rest of his coffee and finished his danish. After a short pause, he grabbed a second.

He placed a hand on Cassie's shoulder to get her attention. "I'm going to go grab a shower," he told her once she'd looked up.

"Okay, Uncle Daniel," she said. "Maybe you should try and take a nap too."

He shrugged. "Not a bad idea. I'll try."

He doubted it would work, there were too many thoughts buzzing around inside his head, the elation of discovery infusing his veins. He was tired, yes, but he also felt more invigorated, more awake, than he had in months.

He managed to make it out of the conference room before the giddiness overtook him completely. The tablet wasn't just a document: it was an inventory, he was sure of it. Figuring out why only two pages had been left behind had taken him a bit longer despite the answer staring him in the face the entire time. Running down both tablets were decorative symbols and he'd thought they were mere decorations. Which was why he hadn't paid them any attention.

Once he had though, it had taken him only minutes to realize what he was looking at: a gate address.

The first thing he did when he made it to his guest suite, wasn't take a shower. Instead he paused in front of the nightstand, where he'd placed the Target bag containing the 'present' Cassie had brought him from Sam. It was fairly large, but not particularly heavy. The package was wrapped with military precision in sandy brown wrapping paper covered in little cartoon pyramids and Sphinxes and tied with bright red ribbon. Daniel grinned, wondering where Sam had managed to find the wrapping paper.

Carefully, he untied the ribbon and unwrapped the gift. After a quick search, he found a pair of scissors in a desk in the suite's main room. He opened the box and instantly was assaulted by the aroma of chocolate and walnuts. Delighted, he immediately grabbed a cookie and popped half of it in his mouth. He wondered when Sam had found the time to bake.

However, that wasn't the main present. Underneath the cookies, he found an Egyptian puzzle box. It was one he'd given Sam for Christmas several years ago. Well, he supposed this answered the question of whether or not she'd managed to solve it...

First, he studied it from all sides. Then he popped the rest of the cookie into his mouth and began to fiddle with it. It'd been a while since he'd solved a puzzle box, but he managed to figure it out eventually. Inside was exactly what he needed; Sam had certainly out-done herself.

He turned on the Asgard anti-surveillence device and picked up his cellphone. His first call was to the mountain. Vala picked up on the second ring.

"Hello, Vala mal Doran here. Please tell me you have something to help relieve my boredom."

Daniel chuckled. "Sorry, I'm afraid not. Although, you're welcome to some of my excitement; I have way too much of it."

"Daniel! We heard about the masoleum blowing up. Are you alright?"

Daniel sighed. "First of all, it was a museum, not a masoleum, and second, it didn't blow up, it was attacked. By a bunch of guys with even less fashion sense than the Goa'uld."

"Oh, so not only unfashionable, but also insane. I mean, honestly, who makes it their goal in life to be less fashionable than the Goa'uld? Crazy people, that's who. I'm glad you weren't blown up."

"Thank you, Vala, I am too. Listen, I struck out in Washington. Any news on your end?"

"We got more words of doom and gloom from the Tok'ra. Apparently they got a look at the armada: at least five ships, but it looked like they may have run into some supply problems so their departure's been delayed. The Tok'ra aren't sure for how long, though."

"Well, that's almost good news, I suppose. I... may have found something, but I'm not sure how much help it'll be." It required gate travel, after all.

"Then keep working at it. If anyone can do it, you can. Go Daniel, ra, ra. And don't forget that you promised to bring me back a t-shirt."

He shook his head. "Sure. Maybe I'll even manage to get the Avengers to sign it."

"Oooh, that would be lovely. Just remember: kidnapping is bad. At least that's what Cameron keeps telling me."

"Ehem, well, yes kidnapping is bad. I definitely won't be doing any of that." He paused. "Listen I should go. I'll see you in five days."

"Oh, well yes, alright then. I'll see you when you get back. Just don't forget the souveneirs."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Bye, Vala."

"Bye, Daniel."

He heard her hang up before he'd managed to find the right button on his phone. Then he sent a quick text to Sam: Thanks for the cookies. :)

He ran a hand through his hair as put his phone down and turned off the anti-surveillence device, closing the box after he was done. He noticed his suitcase had been delivered from his hotel room at some point in the morning (Tony had insisted last night he could have someone get it for him and since Daniel didn't actually have anything classified inside he gave Tony his key). The idea of a shower and fresh clothes was definitely appealing right now, so he was glad he'd said 'yes'.

His phone was ringing when he got out of the shower. He grimaced and answered.

"Hey, Jack," he said.

"Daniel, what's this I hear about you and Cassie not spending the night in your hotel?"

Daniel's eyes narrowed. "Are you having someone follow us, Jack?" he asked slowly. He was supposed to be on vacation.

"What? No. I mean, they're not following you... I just thought I'd have someone go check up on you after what happened at the museum. For all we know you were the target of that so-called heist."

"You mean, other than the fact that no one was looking for me, that the bad guys never went anywhere near the Egyptian wing – which would've been the obvious placed to look for me given the date – and that they didn't look military or like anyone with the connections to know why I should be a potential target in the first place?"

"Well, when you put it like that..."

"Besides, I have a tracking chip embedded in my shoulder so don't tell me you don't know exactly where I am right now. And even if I didn't, whoever you sent to 'check up' on me could've just followed whoever Tony sent this morning to pick up my suitcase from the hotel. So what you're really asking is why are Cassie and I staying at Stark Tower?"

"I thought it was called Avenger's Tower now?"

"Not officially."

"But the St-rk was never replaced; there's just a big 'A' there, which stands for neither 'Tony', nor 'Stark', nor, uh... 'Industries'."

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jack, why are you calling?"

"Look Daniel, I don't know how you managed to get yourself into Tony Stark's good graces–"

"–He's friends with the Hulk. You know, big green guy who saved Cassie's life."

"He's just a bit memorable, yes."

"Well, apparently making friends with the Hulk makes you a friend of the Avengers. I met Doctor Bruce Banner, by the way, he's a really interesting guy: quiet, polite... pretty much the complete opposite of the Hulk in every way. I like him."

"You like everyone, Daniel."

"That's not true and you know it," Daniel snapped into the phone. "Just because I like giving people the benefit of the doubt when I first meet them doesn't mean I continue to like them all. The names Kinsley, Maybourne and Woolsley come to mind, not to mention the more obvious ones like Apophis, and Anubis, although I think 'dislike' is much too mild a word for those two."

"Woolsley's not too bad."

"He's also never accused you of helping the people who murdered your wife."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. He could hear Jack taking a deep breath.

"Right, well, either way you need to be careful. The Avengers were affiliated with SHIELD, after all. In fact, three of them – including Captain America – are former SHIELD agents. For all we know–"

"–Jack, you did not just accuse Captain America of being Hydra. He and Black Widow were among the group of people who exposed Hydra's presence inside SHIELD, not to mention taking out those helicarriers. I've read the reports, Jack, and yes, we would've taken those helicarriers out before they could've been used as the global threat Hydra wanted to use them as, but not before hundreds, if not thousands, of people were dead!"

Daniel took a deep breath. Reading the reports had been a horrific experience. The extent of the damage caused by the helicarriers going down into the Potomac was minimal compared to the number of lives Hydra had planned to take. It didn't matter that he knew the Apollo could've blasted both helicarriers from orbit without so much as breaking a proverbial sweat, the very thought of what Hydra had accomplished and how close they'd been to achieving their goals made his blood freeze.

Thank god for Captain America. Wait. Daniel blinked, vaguely aware that Jack was talking in the background.

"Jack?"

"What?!" Jack snapped, sounding annoyed. Had he figured out Daniel had been ignoring him?

"What's Captain America's real name?"

There was a pause during which he could picture Jack glaring at him through the phone. "Steve Rogers."

"Oh. Huh, I think I met him yesterday: he was at the museum."

"Great Daniel, good for you."

"Actually, I also found these Ancient tablets–"

"–It's a museum, I'm pretty sure there are supposed to ancient tablets at a museum. Not that I ever looked for them. I sort of skipped ahead to the armour and swords – and the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are cool."

"No, listen Jack, that's not what I mean."

"No, Daniel, you listen. The Avengers are a grey area. We don't know what they are outside of SHIELD yet. And until we figure out whether or not Hydra managed to infiltrate the SGC, you need to stay away from anyone suspect."

"Jack, Hydra has not infiltrated the SGC! Do you know how I know that? Because if Hydra had infiltrated the SGC they wouldn't have needed those goddamned helicarriers! If anyone involved is suspect it's the IOA. The World Council leader was Hydra, remember, and the IOA caved to him really easily when he asked them to let the Council and SHIELD deal with the New York crisis and the Chitauri invasion."

"The helicarriers could've been a distraction..."

"Distraction for what? They'd been lying patiently in wait for decades as they slowly grew and infiltrated their people into the right places. Exposing themselves too early wouldn't have been to their benefit at all. I may not be some great tactician, but even I can see that."

"Right. I'll follow up with the IOA later. Always love giving those guys a hard time. I'll try talking to the President again and see if I can't get some of the restrictions lifted or eased off or something, but Daniel, I'm serious. It really doesn't matter what you or I think: the Avengers, and Tony Stark in particular, are a bit of a grey area with the government. Everyone involved is walking a fine line and you have enemies who'd love to use something like this to bury you, get you kicked out of the program... or worse."

Daniel frowned. "Why Tony Stark in particular?"

"He's unpredictable, brilliant and has this thing for sticking his nose where it shouldn't be. Now I have every confidence in Carter and her teams' security, but the NID and the Trust have managed to hack us before."

Daniel winced and then closed his eyes, his night of insomnia catching up to him with a bone-deep exhaustion. "So, you're saying that if Tony managed to hack the SGC someone would try and make it look like I helped him."

Which would be treason. For him and anyone who could be accused of helping him. At least anyone affiliated with the SGC. That included Jack. Thankfully, Daniel had a reputation of going against orders and causing trouble all on his own, which meant that keeping Jack out of it would be easy enough so long as he didn't actually tell him anything.

"Thanks for the reminder, Jack. I can't just leave without causing suspicion, but I'll think about it. I should go, though. Didn't get much sleep last night."

"Daniel, you're supposed to be on vacation! Don't make me call Cassie and tell her to make sure you eat and sleep."

Daniel chuckled. "Don't worry, I ate both dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Was just too wired to sleep in-between."

"Well, food is good, but make sure you sleep too."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother. I was actually about to take a nap."

"Good, then I'll leave you to it while I go make the IOA sweat a little."

"Have fun with that."

"Youbetcha, Dannyboy. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Jack."

He hung up and stared at the phone, taking a deep breath before placing it down carefully. He ran a hand through his hair. His plane left for Colorado Springs in four days. He had four days to come up with a plan. It would be difficult, but not impossible. Save maybe Sam, no one knew the project better than he did. But his friends, his team – with the exception of Vala – were all career military. He couldn't let them risk everything along with him. Sam had already done it once before, but she was busy. Earth needed her working on the shield more than he needed her as backup.

Daniel sat down and clenched his fist. The danger was too great and, as usual, no one was listening. He had a lead now, which might turn out to be nothing but held a potential for reward that made it worth following up on. He had to do something.

And it looked like he would have to do it alone.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Well, it looked like that nap wasn't going to happen after all.

You have now come to the end of Act I, thanks for reading! There'll be a short interlude, probably published when I'm about half-way done writing Act II. Thank you for the reviews/favourites on part ii. I will be replying to reviews, but I wanted to get this edited and posted first. :)