Spoilers: Lockdown

Chapter 11

"I thought you were supposed to be helping me."

"I am."

"You think so? Apparently our definitions of 'help' differ."

"Nah, just our interpretations."

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"Why are you here?"

"Why are any of us here?"

"Ja-ack."

"I'm helping you. You've spent the last however long it's been helping me, being there for me, ignoring everything else because you don't want to screw up and lose me again, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate how much you've done for me but you're starting to bug the crap out of me. So just do your normal thing, and get so engrossed in your translations that you need me to do my normal thing and remind you to eat and sleep and…breathe, and then we can do our SG-1 thing and find the big honking space guns."

The silence echoed around Daniel's office.

"Okay."

Jack strolled the halls of the SGC aimlessly, giving Daniel some time and space to look over the Ancient writings he had been ignoring. Jack had already told him all he knew about the Lost City of Atlantis, which wasn't much although he had a sneaky feeling that it was probably in a different galaxy. But he was so looking forward to watching Daniel's excitement when he figured it out that Jack couldn't spoil it by giving away the punchline.

As he roamed the corridors that had been his second home, or possibly his first, for more than five years he couldn't believe that nothing had changed. Everything else in his life was so different, but down here the walls were still gray, the floors were still painted with vibrant, colored lines to guide newbies to where they needed to be. The air still tasted stale, the soldiers wore green or blue, the scientists wore white lab coats, Anubis wore…

Anubis? What the…

He shook his head to get rid of that thought. Anubis was dead, and this was just…a Russian? Probably that Russian Colonel Hammond had mentioned. He stared at the back of the man he had just passed, but couldn't get the image of Anubis out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.

What disturbed him the most was not that he was imagining Anubis walking through the halls of the SGC, but that he could feel it. A sort of sixth sense he had developed during his frequent visits to the sarcophagus at the behest of both Ba'al and Anubis. And it was something he hadn't felt since he had returned to the SGC.

A cold shiver of fear ran down his spine, and then he was running. He needed to get away, he needed to tell someone, he needed to…he needed to…Crap, he couldn't think about what he needed to do. He just wanted to get out of there.

Elevator. No, damn it, elevators just reminded him of that pit and the antigravity generator, turning the room and flipping his stomach.

Daniel. Daniel would know what to do.

He hurried off to Daniel's office, ignoring the stares he was getting from the people he passed in the halls. He knew he looked panicked, because he was panicking, and he couldn't hide it. Anubis couldn't be here, but if he told the Doc, she'd order him to get a psych evaluation. Daniel would talk him through it.

He rounded the corner into Daniel's office and froze. Daniel was leaning over his desk, staring at the Ancient writing intently, a grin on his face that was unlike Daniel.

"Daniel?" He half-whispered, half-whimpered, stepping cautiously forward.

Daniel turned to him and there was fire in his eyes. "Colonel O'Neill." His voice sounded almost friendly, but the name was wrong. Daniel would never call him that. And he would never look at Jack so murderously.

And Jack would never feel so threatened in his friend's presence.

He backed away slowly, but Daniel followed him, moving more quickly. "What is it, Jack? You look terrified. You having flashbacks again?"

And that was enough to jumpstart him into action. He fled to the hallway, slapping the alarm as he rounded the corner and sprinted down the corridor. Over the blaring siren he could hear Daniel chasing him, but his adrenaline spiked and he quickly increased his distance. As he rounded the next corner he slammed into the large, solid body of Teal'c.

"O'Neill, what has happened?" Teal'c asked, looking down at him.

"Anubis! He's in Daniel. He's after me, Teal'c. We have to get him out of Daniel."

Just then Daniel rounded the corner looking concerned, his eyes wide with worry. Jack was just barely sitting up, his elbows on the floor behind him, unable to move.

"Jack! Are you okay? There's something wrong with him, Teal'c, he just freaked out." He sounded completely normal.

"No, Teal'c, it's not Daniel! It's Anubis! Can't you see that? That isn't Daniel. You gotta believe me."

Teal'c looked between the two men, Daniel looking calm but worried for Jack, and Jack looking terrified out of his mind. He offered his arm to help Jack up. "O'Neill. You need to calm down. You are only among friends. Anubis was destroyed with his fleet months ago."

Jack got to his feet but didn't let Teal'c go, trying to pull him away from Daniel. "I don't know how it's possible, but I can feel him, Teal'c. That isn't Daniel. It's Anubis. You can't trust him."

"O'Neill."

"No! Teal'c, restrain him, lock him up, zat him, we have to do something." He positioned himself so that Teal'c was a barrier between himself and Daniel. "That isn't Daniel."

He was so focused on making sure that Daniel didn't try to hurt him that he didn't notice Janet sneak up behind him and inject him with the sedative. He swung around, pushing her away from him as he fell to his knees, the drug already taking effect.

"No, Doc, I'm not crazy. Can't you feel it? It isn't Daniel, it's Anubis. Doc. You gotta…you gotta…get him out of there." His final words slurred as he fell forward into her waiting arms.

Teal'c and Janet both stared at Daniel. "What did you do? What set him off?" Janet asked, checking Jack's vitals and laying him out on the floor.

"Nothing. He went for a walk while I was working on the translations and when he came back he just ran away. He pulled the alarm and started yelling that I was Anubis. I don't know what happened, I didn't do anything to upset him like this. Maybe it was just too soon to bring him back in. He wasn't ready to be back down here."

"No. I guess not. But he was doing so good on the surface." Janet said sadly. "I have to get back to the infirmary. Colonel Vaselov was just admitted, too, he was found collapsed in his room."

"Vaselov. He's the new Russian officer, right?"

"That's right. Help me get the Colonel to the infirmary, Teal'c. Daniel, I'm sorry you had to see this. I'll let you know when he wakes up, but I think you should stay away until we're sure he's okay. We wouldn't want the whole base to think you've been possessed by Anubis, now, would we?"

Daniel laughed. "No, of course not. Just let me know when he's okay, I'm a little busy with the translations."

Teal'c helped Janet to carry Jack back to the infirmary, but as Daniel started walking away, Teal'c noticed it was not back to his office. "Daniel Jackson. Are you not returning to your office to complete the translations?"

Daniel turned around, looking slightly nervous. "Uh, no Teal'c, I'm going to the Control Room to check over some Gate addresses. I think Walter might be able to help me with something."

As Daniel disappeared around the corner his smirk was in place. These fools were far too easy to manipulate. Once he escaped through the wormhole he would return with a greater army and he would destroy the Tau'ri. Particularly O'Neill, though now his friends would think him nothing more than the pathetic, weak-minded human that he was. It was most fitting that O'Neill would never escape his fate.

To lose the faith of his own people was a greater torture than Anubis could have ever inflicted.

TBC