The ride thought the Gate was just as Jack remembered: the icy coldness which felt like it slipped under his skin, into his bones, and the rush as the Gate spat them out on the other side. Oh yeah. How he missed it, he felt alive after a long time. When he opened his eyes; he was on the other side, in the darkened Atlantis' Gate-room. The only source of light was the Gate's bluish shine; witch gave the room an unearthly look, before the Stargate snapped shut behind Jack and his young companion, leaving the occupants of the room in an inky darkness.
"I thought you said it will take down the shield?" Jack whispered to J.J. while his gaze explored their surrounding. He making note of the room's security and the possible escape routes.
"Well, the shield shut down."
"Yeah, with the whole damn city." Jack noticed from the corner of his eye as the guard's moved closer their position. He more felt then saw as J.J. moved closer to him and tried to act nonchalantly.
"Ups" offered the younger boy lamely.
"Ups?! We really need to work on your vocabulary." Jack muttered under his breath. It was strangely comforting to knew even without his memories he could be a smart ass. The light snapped back to life, it's power blinded momentarily everyone in the city. But as soon as they could see clearly again, the guards surrounded them fully, with their guns aimed at their duo.
"You are surrounded, put down your weapons." ordered a man in grayish uniform; his hair was dark and unruly just like Jack's. Jack measured up the man, he was young, about Daniel's age, but definitely military, and he held an aura of a leader. It could also be seen from the reactions of the others in the room, as they freely let him take the lead. He most probably was Sheppard, his original once talked about him, and the potential he saw in the man. He heard J.J. grumble beside him.
"No shit Sherlock!" J.J. muttered then turned toward Jack with wide, confused eyes. "What's sherlock?"
"I will tell you later." Jack promised, without taking his gaze away from the man before him, some of the guards lowered their guns a bit. He noticed Dr Weir, as she heading toward Sheppard, at her side was two others who he never met. Both held them like warriors. Jack could see the woman's fine muscles shifted with every move she made, her gaze was alert, and her hand never left the knife which was strapped to her side. She was beautiful and deathly, she reminded Jack to Night Fox. The man, he was another story, he had a hard edge to him, he carried the darkness in his hart and soul, and he was a survivor. He held an alien looking gun in his hand, and a large sword like thing was strapped to his back. Jack's gaze flickered back toward Dr Weir, if he could win her trust over, most of their problem would be solved.
„It's time we put Plan B in monition." He mumbled, more to himself then anyone else but J.J. heard him.
„Plan B? What happened with Plan A??"
„ Plan A never work, so we just skipped it."
„Ah!?" J.J. frowned "Didn't it make that Plan B then Plan A." seeing Jack's frown he hurriedly added "Just asking."
"We discuss this theory later."
"Ookey, and what's Plan B?" Jack's eyes glittered as he whispered back.
"Don't worry about it. Just follow my lead."
"I had any other chose?!" Gee the kid pick up the O'Neil-ism pretty fast.
"We came in peace," Jack started, as he held up his hand as Daniel used to do, it always worked for him, they were always welcomed, with a warm huge or with enemy fire. His gun was still in his hand, seeing Sheppard suspicious gaze on it, he made a show to put it down.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Weir demand, but before Jack could answer, a strangely familiar voice piped up.
"How the hell you shut down the ZedPM?" inquired McKey, as he approached them, his face was flushed for irritation. He picked up some weight and muscle over the years, but beside that he didn't changed, well from outside anyway. Jack knew the other man would be here, but to see someone who He actually met before felt somehow reassuming.
"Accident?" Jack asked back with as much innocence as he could, while he still tried to analyze his feeling toward seeing McKey again.
"Accident? What you…"
"Rodney, not now. You didn't answer our questions yet." Sheppard interrupted the raving scientist. His gray eyes narrowed as he studied Jack's face.
"We are fugitives, we came from the future. We were attacked, and thanks to solar fluxus we were sent back to the past…" declared Jack with a blank face.
"Solar fluxus?! Fluxus?!" McKey sputtered. Rodney remind Jack at Daniel, when he called Daniel's artifacts rocks. "It's max solar flares, and time travel only could occur if a sun is in the wormhole's way, and just happen to be cross a solar flare. Its one to a million, for such an incident to happen, and even then you need to…"
"Thanks Rodney," this time Dr Weir interrupted him, she studied both of Jack and J.J. "I know I see you somewhere before, both of your face seem familiar to me."
Jack knew he needed to tell her something to take this discussion out of open, to get her to trust them, him. It was a risk, he didn't know who to trust in Atlantis, who could be working to the Trust or NID. He titled his head, as he tried to recall what his original said about her, what could be a help to acquire her trust.
"When we first met, Kinsley wanted to shut down the gate, and I told you it was in your hand to do what was right." Her eyes widened as she finally recognized the face.
"We finish this discussion in my office." She ordered.
"Elizabeth?!" McKey looked perplexed at the sudden change, his voice mirrored his puzzlement. He wasn't the only one, most of the Atlantis' crew regard her curiously.
"Later, Rodney." She turned her attention back to Jack and his companion. "Follow me." Jack nodded and followed her with J.J. close behind him, he saw from the corner of his eye as McKey joined the two alien warriors before they too followed them toward Dr Weir's office. Before he stepped inside the room, he caught sight of Sheppard as he dismissed the guards and started up to the office as well.
The office was similar to the whole city in its architecture; it looked a bit futuristic for Jack's test. As soon as the door was closed behind Sheppard and they settled down around the table, Weir learned forward and started to question him
"Are you, Jack O'Neill?" several people who know the original Jack O'Neill gasped and turned their attention toward Jack, they studied his feather to try to find a resemblance to the men who they knew.
"Yes and no." seeing his answer wasn't sufficient enough, not that he was surprised, he nodded toward J.J. with a smirk on his face. "He is the original Jack O'Neill."
"And you would be?" Sheppard recovered first enough to ask the question that nagged all member of the Atlantis crew (well that part of the crew which was present).
"His clone." Jack answered, his voice bored, like people get cloned everyday.
"A clone?" McKey's blue eyes widened as he studied the two boys. Jack could almost see as the man's mind was working. "How?"
"Asgards. One of their old pet-project was shell we say studying the inferior races, like us, they borrowed a few individual for their tests, and left clones in their place for the time. One of their scientists tried to clone me to be able to study me, but something went amiss, as you can see, when we caught him, he wasn't able to destroy the clone, namely me. And here I am."
Their horrified expression was clearer then any word how they felt about cloning and the Asgard at the moment.
"I was the head of the SGC, how it is I didn't know about this."
"We, as my original and me with General Hammond decide it would be best for all involved if it remind a close kept secret. Only the President, my ex-team and a few others were keen to this information."
"And you tell us now, because?"
"Because I have no other choice." Jack glanced toward J.J. who sat beside him, deep in thought. "Our lives depend on it to escape from Earth to somewhere, where they couldn't come after us. For now anyway."
"What happened with General O'Neill??" Weir glanced toward the younger boy; while she tried to process everything she just heard.
"Oh it's a long story…" Jack trailed off, before he started to relay the last few days' important happenings, leaving out some fact, like their mind talking ability, or the knowledge J.J. could recall sometimes or his contact's real nature.
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J.J. tried to listen as the others talked around him, but his mind stared to wander after a short time. When he first see the city, he was sure he saw this city before. This place seemed so familiar and strange the same time. His head started to hurt as he tried to remember where he exactly see Atlantis before, the faint humming in the background just made his headache even worse.
He rubbed his eyes in hope to easy his headache. He knew he should listen, but he just couldn't. He placed his forehead on the table's cold surface in hope to easy the pain; he blinked a few times, before he lost his battle and closed his eyes.
