I always say this wouldn't be possible without the help of my dear friend, Spirit Speaker. But it's true. This chapter is quite the trip, so enjoy.
Mitchell looked up with a sense of fear at the throne Dormammu was sitting on. The clothes he wore should have made him look like a punk rock star, but instead, they made him look even more menacing.
"Jackson, Vala, you two are the experts on life in this galaxy. What is he?" The answer wouldn't matter unless they knew what his weaknesses were.
"I'm not familiar with his species. But I can tell you for certain that he is not an ascended being," Daniel stated, not that it made everyone relax. Relaxing in the presence of such a being was not easy.
"I've never even heard of something like him. I wonder where he came from."
The flames on his head burned high, but they did not seem to give off any heat at the moment. His outfit looked like he could have been part of a punk rock band, but it was more malicious than that. When they looked at it, it seemed to swallow the very idea of light.
"Welcome. I have been waiting for you for some time. It was rather intolerant of you to release me and run off before I could thank you. But we'll discuss that later. Right now, while I'm still recovering my strength, I am mildly curious about you," Dormammu looked at them and studied them with the same laziness any god would study an ant with. It was a brief and necessary distraction while he focused on finishing his conquests.
"We are explorers. Peaceful ones. We were concerned about the fate of our friend over here…" Daniel started to explain but was quickly cut off.
"Peace? Friends? You carry weapons, but claim you come in peace. You claim to have friends, yet it took you several hours to return for his body. The explorer part I can see is true, but why do you explore? And why did you release me if all you're interested in is peace?" Dormammu smiled. His words carried a tone of malevolence that even the Goa'uld couldn't pull off.
"Your release was an accident, I'm sure. We didn't intend to release anyone." Daniel could tell this wasn't going over well.
"You enter my prison after 700 years of being left alone and you claim you didn't intend to release me? You are wiser than you look. But unfortunately for you, I have been released, and now I can continue my campaigns. I'll collect your souls to start with." Dormammu raised his hand and a blue flame appeared on it. Before the team could even raise their guns, a massive black spike rose from the ground in front of Bosworth and impaled him.
The remaining members stepped back and looked in horror as the man bled to death before them. Without a word, a friend and ally had been murdered in cold blood. Dixon swallowed hard and tried to keep his eyes clear.
"What the hell was that for?!" Ayal screamed at the Dread Lord.
"Because I could. Because you lied to me. Don't lie to gods, we don't tend to like it," Dormammu was already starting to lift his other hand.
"We need to get out of here!" Carter yelled as she turned away from the Faltine sorcerer. Most of the group ran towards the entrance with her, but Dixon stopped to get Bosworth's body.
"Dixon, what do you think you're doing? We can't stay here any longer!" Mitchell tried to grab Dixon, but Dixon had already stood up with Bosworth's dog tags.
"His family at least deserves these. Now let's get moving!" They turned towards the door but before they could get very far, Dormammu started laughing.
"You insects can run as far as you want, as long as you want. You will never get off this planet unless I allow it. So go on, flee. The Mindless Ones are in need of some prey." Dormammu continued laughing.
The seven remaining members of the expedition ran from the room. Teal'c and Mitchell were on point, while Dixon and Carter covered their rear. When they reached the top level of the construct, they paused and tried to figure out what to do next.
"We have to get a message to Homeworld Command. But we can't risk that thing following us to Earth. Anyone have any suggestions?" Mitchell was trying not to think too much about Bosworth's horrific death.
"We could always go to the Alpha site. We might be able to figure out a way to deal with this there," Daniel suggested.
"Better make it the Gamma site. Can't let the Lucian Alliance find out too much about our offworld posts." Dixon was worried about the two scientists but there wasn't much they could do about their involvement now.
The teams started moving slowly back towards the gate. They only managed to get about half a klick from the Palace before a horde of strange creature brown creatures came rushing towards them. Standing over a foot taller than any member of the group, they had a single eye slot.
"Jackson, I hope you know how to kill those things." Mitchell hoped that they would last long enough to get to the Gate. But these beings looked to be on a rampage.
"I have no idea what those are, but hopefully that eye slot is a weakness." Daniel was not used to feeling so useless in these situations. His knowledge of Earth's myths was not helping in this case. To think that after so long of fighting pretenders, monsters, and ascended beings, they would finally run into a real god was so ironic it was funny. If it weren't for the fact they were very unlikely to make it off this planet alive, Daniel would say something about it.
"I have a suggestion: Stop talking, start running. Shoot them if we have to," Kefira offered.
"She's right, we have to keep moving." Ayal took the initiative to head towards where the Gate was a few hours ago.
They made it another klick and a half and saw the Gate ahead of them before the Mindless Ones fired their first blast at the group. The ground in behind them exploded as dirt and superheated rocks flew into the air.
"What the hell? These things are Cyclops?" Mitchell was terrified now.
"Who?" Ayal and Kefira both asked
"Doesn't matter, we need to get to that Gate." Carter shouted at the group while Mitchell fired a couple rounds at the creatures, to no effect.
The managed to make it to the Gate without anyone dying, but the blasts were getting closer and closer. As Daniel tried to dial the coordinates of the Gamma Site but it as soon as the Gate started spinning, it quickly stopped again.
"Daniel, now would really be a good time to dial out." Mitchell fired a few more rounds at the creatures, managing to hit one of them.
A cold, cruel voice materialized from the center of the Gate.
"I told you, you are not leaving this planet without my permission. And I still have plenty of hellish experiences for you before you are allowed to die." Dormammu's hands glowed blue and red. and he raised them above his head.
Dixon, not waiting for any orders, took a shot at Dormammu, with no effect. He ran towards the Dread Lord, hoping that with his death he may be able to save the others, but before he could reach the demon, a burst of mystical fire enveloped him and he screamed in anguish for a few minutes. Right before he died, he saw the pale, purple light envelop the surviving members and was grateful that they could at least have made it off the planet and hopefully would find a way to stop Dormammu.
Gotta hate the Mindless Ones sometimes. This chapter was very amusing for me. Anyways, thanks go to Spirit Speaker, Nightmare Nursery, and Minori for their wonderful reviews. Hope you all don't hate me too much after this chapter. And thanks to everyone who keeps adding this to their alerts, you guys are the best.