The Immortal Spacemonkey
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or Highlander. If I did, I wouldn't work in the public school system. Any characters from either show what you many recognize belong to their respective owners. Any characters that you don't recognize belong to me. I promise to return the borrowed character once I am done with them, though they will be a bit scuffed.
Warning: Potty language and violence
Chapter 14
That afternoon, the members of the SGC found out about their next gladiator competition. It was to take place the next day, in the afternoon, just as before. However, there was a slight deviation to the previous day's script.
The Goa'uld had decided, based on what had happened in the arena earlier, that Daniel would have his own show. The hope was that the skilled swordsman would get killed, leaving the others unprotected, thus giving Janus that reputation of being the one to finally have destroyed SG-1.
"Well, that was totally expected and anti-climatic," Daniel observed, once they had received the news.
Harris and O'Neill were having kittens at this point. Harris was genuinely concerned for the archeologist's safety, while O'Neill was worried about Daniel's mental health. Daniel was obviously going through mental anguish over killing humans the way he had and that worried O'Neill, as both a commanding officer and as a friend. Daniel just shrugged, smiled, and said everything was 'fine.' Of course, knowing Daniel, 'fine' could mean that despite having an RPG imbedded in his chest, he was mildly uncomfortable and all he really needed was some coffee.
Daniel just smiled and retreated into himself.
Sam made another midnight visit. She reassured the colonel that they would be ready to go with their diversionary explosions by the next afternoon. She was also concerned for Daniel. Miller had overheard, due to covert lurking, that the opponents that Daniel would face were among the finest swordsmen the planet had to offer. O'Neill did not have much to reassure his second-in-command with, but told her to be careful and the explosions had better be something to catch everyone's attention.
The next afternoon came too quickly for everyone, except for Daniel. He had spent part of the morning meditating, trying to clear his head. As far as anyone could tell, he had a distant, far away look in his eyes.
Long suppressed memories of past battles, involving both mortals and Immortals, invaded his thoughts. He remembered the carnage caused by wars fought for so long that nobody could remember why they were started in the first place. He remembered the blood and the sounds of screaming, dying men. He could even smell the blood, along with the stink of sweating, screaming, dying men. He remembered being the one that was the cause of the blood and the weak, fearful people. Their sweat was acidic, causing his nose to wrinkle in disgust. How could men be so weak and cowardly, he wondered?
While Daniel was in the middle of an acid trip, minus the acid, through the past, Jack went over to talk to him. Unmindful of the danger he was placing himself in, Jack lightly nudged his friend with the toe of his boot as he squatted down to Daniel's level. Before he knew what was happening, Daniel was on top of him, hands around his throat. Daniel's eyes reflected the violence that his mind was remembering. It took the combined efforts of Teal'c and Abbott to pull the normally gentle Daniel off the colonel (Daniel could be quite squirmy when he wanted to be).
"Oh jeez!" Abbott exclaimed, panting from the effort. "He's in a full-blown flashback! Come on Daniel! Snap out of it!"
"DanielJackson, if you do not stop fighting, I will be forced to take extreme measures," Teal'c ordered.
Like a light switch suddenly flipped, the struggling subsided. "Crap! Did I hurt anyone?" he asked concern for his friends evident in his blue eyes.
O'Neill was sitting on the ground, massaging his throat. "No, not at all," he said sarcastically. "I happen to like having my windpipe crushed."
"Jack, I am so sorry," Daniel said, looking horrified.
"Yeah, I know. What the hell were you thinking?" Jack said, pissed.
"He was lost in the past," Abbott explained. "It can be pretty dangerous to try to bring them out of a flashback like that, especially the older ones."
O'Neill and Teal'c looked at Abbott quizzically, while Harris looked at the CWO as if he had suddenly grown another head.
Abbott made a quick explanation of how he knew about Daniel to the members of SG-1. O'Neill looked pissed, but Abbott could not quite figure out if the colonel was pissed off at him or at Daniel or at the whole situation. Instead of trying to find out, he did an about face and made a hasty retreat to his commanding officer to explain what had happened.
"Daniel, do you want to explain yourself?" Jack said crossly, sitting down across from him on the ground. Teal'c also joined them.
"I am so sorry Jack. I sometimes get lost in the past," Daniel blushed.
"Well, no shit. That was more than getting lost in the past Danny. You weren't home. Has being here brought all of this on? You weren't like this before, even before PF9-whatsit," Jack said.
"Yeah, being here hasn't helped. And before PF9-121, there were times I would get lost in old memories, but generally they weren't violent in nature. Things have gotten worse since then," Daniel said, holding his head in his hands, between his knees. His voice sounded so lost and mournful at that moment. "Maybe taking that Quickening on Holy Ground messed me up more that I realized."
"Daniel, we have all done things in the past that we are not proud of," Teal'c said. "If you recall, I was the First Prime of Apophis. I am responsible for many peoples' deaths."
"What T is trying to say, I think, is that we understand what it's like to have a past that is not all sunshine and happiness. But you weren't all bad Daniel. I looked up your record under the name Albert Scott. It's amazing what the Freedom of Information Act will allow you to access," Jack explained.
"Great," Daniel muttered, not bothering to look up. "What did you find?"
Jack looked pretty impressed. "You received the Silver Star for acts of bravery in battle."
"How brave is it when you know that even if you get killed, you'll still come back?" Daniel said cynically. "It's fucking bullshit, if you ask me."
"I didn't ask," Jack said smartly. "Your record said that you volunteered to be a part of a scout party in Algeria and it came under heavy fire by the Nazis. Several of your fellow soldiers were caught out in the open, pinned down under fire and several were seriously wounded. You crawled out there and pulled all three men back under cover. You treated their wounds and called in for fire support, thus saving everyone's lives. You could have just left those people to die there, but you didn't. If you were still the bastard that you've been alluding to, you would not have done what you did. You did risk getting shot and killed yourself, ending your life as Albert Scott. You would have been forced to leave and start over. It doesn't matter if your Immortality would have saved you. What you did was still brave and the Army and Sergeants McMillan and Ramirez, who wrote up the report of the incident, definitely thought so. I even looked up McMillan and Ramirez and found out that both of them survived the war, married their high school sweethearts, had several children, and went on to have successful careers. What you did mattered and you are a good person Dr. Daniel Jackson," Jack finally finished, surprising everyone, including himself, how long winded he had become.
"So what you are telling me is for me to get my head out of my ass and deal with it," Daniel said, giving his friends a small smile.
"Yeah and you can explain how Abbott knows about you," Jack said, frowning.
"He's a Watcher. My Watcher actually," Daniel explained. "They watch Immortals, record our lives, and generally don't interfere." At this point Daniel then muttered something about Darius and Horton being a fucking bastard, but did not elaborate. Instead he went on with his story. "They are supposed to be a secret organization, but I knew about them a long time ago. I saw Abbott's tattoo and figured out what he was. Now don't worry, he is not telling the Watcher Organization about the SGC. As far as they are concerned, they know what the public knows. They know that I work for the Air Force, translating and such. Abbott is a good man, loyal first to the country and would not risk giving this group classified material or knowledge about the SGC."
Jack did not look happy at the thought of someone following Daniel around and reporting his activities. It bothered him for two reasons. One, National Security could be easily compromised, leaving the U.S., the SGC, and SG-1 vulnerable to a multitude of enemies. Two, it was creepy to think that there was someone always watching, recording every little thing you did, from the coffee you got in the morning to who you might be sleeping with at night. It was no less disturbing than the idea of Big Brother watching the people.
Jack sighed and shook his head. "Abbott and I will have to talk about this eventually, but right now, you need to get ready. They'll be coming for you soon and hopefully Carter will be ready also with the C-4."
"Jack, if I get killed in the ring, you are not to risk yourself in getting me out of there. Make your escape and I will make my escape once I've revived. Besides, if I do revive in front of them, maybe I can use that to my advantage," Daniel said.
"Nobody gets left behind Danny. You know the rules," Jack responded, shaking his head.
"Jack, do not sacrifice yourself or the others on my behalf. I know the gate address to the Alpha Site just as well as you do. Anyway, here come the overblown bad-guy guards. Have fun and please remember to get me the hell out of the arena if you can help it, but if not, leave me a bread crumb trail and I'll find my own way home," Daniel said, false cheer in his voice.
"Yeahsureyoubetcha," Jack called after his friend, causing Daniel to smile. "Come on Carter, don't fail me now."
SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1
Daniel was marched out to the arena in pretty much the same fashion as before. He was equipped with a sword and shield, though this time he was not given a helmet. Daniel assumed that the gladiators would try to come down on top of him, trying to take him out with a blow to the head. Joy oh joy, he though as he was marched out into the center of the ring. I just love head wounds.
He looked around to assess the situation. The arena was packed. Apparently, everyone and their mother had come to see the fight. He looked into the boxes, where the important people sat and saw Janus make his grand entrance.
The Goa'uld was once again in his finest tunic and toga, made out of white linen, embroidered with gold and deep purple threads. On his head rested a tacky laurel of golden leaves. Janus' eyes glowed with anger when he saw that Daniel dared to stare at him openly and defiantly. Daniel just smiled and rolled his eyes before turning his back on the false god.
Janus gestured for silence and with total obedience, the crowd hushed themselves. "Tau'ri," he said the word as if it were a slur, "today you shall finally meet your maker. Your God wishes that you will have the grace to enter the Elysian Fields with your back straight and head held high. With that, let the games begin." He finished with his lame ass speech and stepped back, gleefully ready to see Jackson die in the ring.
Daniel's opponents enter the ring, coming out from a gated tunnel. The three men were huge, muscular, bald, tattooed, and a whole lot of other bad-guy clichés.
Oh shit, Daniel mentally screamed. Please let Sam and Miller start blowing stuff up now!
Instead, the three attackers triangulated him, trying to trap him. Luckily, Daniel was able to make good use of his feet, dodging out of the way of the heavy blows that were coming down from above. At one point though, a stray slice from a sword got though his defenses, opening up a lengthy gash across his sword bearing arm. He hissed in pain, dropped his shield, and quickly switched his sword to his left hand.
He backed up, forcing the others to chase him and come at him one at a time. Just as it looked as if he would back up again, Daniel charged the first gladiator. Take by surprise by the sudden move, the gladiator left himself open to Daniel's attack. Daniel was able to slice diagonally, from shoulder to hip, killing the other person.
Daniel scooped up the fallen sword. His wound had healed, giving him full use of the limb. As he rearmed himself, he looked up at the other gladiators and realized that one of the men was the prisoner he had sparred with earlier: Perrin.
He felt absolutely sick over this. He desperately prayed to whatever true deity that was out there that Sam would get it in gear and get him the hell out of the damn place.
"No mercy," Perrin rumbled. "You die and I go free," he explained.
The second gladiator bulled his way into the fight, while Perrin hung back, confidant that the Tau'ri would defeat the man, but be too worn down to put up much more resistance.
Daniel grimaced, but went into the fight with his head held high, projecting confidence in his abilities. He easily defeated and dispatched the second gladiator, leaving him to face Perrin.
He did not want to do this. Perrin seemed to be a good man caught in a situation he had little control over. Apparently, the promise of freedom was enough to motivate him into fighting.
"Perrin, please don't," Daniel began, shaking his head.
"I want my freedom, your life is a small price to pay," Perrin said coldly as he advanced towards Daniel.
Daniel took a deep breath, silently cursed Sam for not blowing things up before now, and expertly twirled both swords in his hands.
Daniel and Perrin battled back and forth. Perrin was able to make good use of his sword and shield, while Daniel fought expertly with both swords. Janus, looking on, enjoyed the sickening display of brutality.
Just as Daniel had gained the upper hand in his fight against the larger mortal man, Daniel felt a series of rumbling explosions. He spared a second to glance over at Janus. What he saw made him smile broadly.
The seating area where the Goa'uld and his entourage sat was being enveloped in a black cloud of smoke and the structure was starting to crumble. Spectators were screaming and trying to run away from the catastrophe, trampling each other in the process. Janus, he was happy to note had a momentary look of panic and outrage on his face before being obscured by the collapsing structure and the dust. Daniel guessed that Sam and Miller must have wired the support columns with the C-4, hoping to take out the snake-head. Coupled with the explosions that were now rippling across the arena, taking out key support columns was the staff weapon fire coming from the tunnel he had entered the arena through, targeting the Jaffa warriors.
Daniel pushed Perrin to the ground as he also dove for cover, hugging the ground. He heard Jack yell for him to move. Turning to Perrin, he saw the man had taken a staff blast to his chest, ending his life. Daniel groaned. He had really wanted the man to be able to taste freedom, not though his death, but by escaping with SG-1 and 6. One more reason to hate the Goa'uld, he thought bitterly.
He scrambled to his feet, tossed away the swords he held, and took off running, staying low and making his path too erratic to follow. Despite his efforts at evasion, a few of the blasts came too close for comfort.
By the time he reached the tunnel, the arena was covered in a smoke and debris cloud, obscuring his flight. Jack was yelling at him to move it and took off running down the hallway. Daniel followed his friend, confident that Jack knew where he was going.
They emerged from the tunnel system into the court yard, outside of the arena. Chaos reigned there also, causing few natives, Jaffa, and the like to notice the two Tau'ri emerging into the open. They were joined by Teal'c and Sam. Harris, Miller, and Abbott, Sam yelled in explanation, had already left for the Gate. Sam, he noticed, was wearing a flimsy dress, with her boots. Sam noticed his stare and returned it with a patented death glare that was as deadly as two shots from a Zat gun.
The members of SG-1 raced through the streets, knowing that any minute, Jaffa would start raining down on them.
They were not to be entirely disappointed. About a mile from the Stargate, they encountered a squad of angry Jaffa who began firing upon them. Jack tossed him a 9mm that Sam and Miller had been able to find among their lost gear. Taking careful aim from behind a series of small boulders, SG-1 opened fire, killing their pursuers.
"Move it people," Jack yelled and nobody needed to be told twice.
They all took off for the Gate. Daniel raced towards the DHD and started punching in the coordinates for the Alpha Site as fast as he could. Since they had missed their scheduled check-in time, their GDO codes had been locked out of the dialing computer, preventing their safe return to Earth. As soon as the seventh emblem engaged and locked, a blue whoosh of "water" emerged from the large ring. All members of the SGC ran though the event horizon, grateful that they were finally able to be going home.
A/N: Well? What do you think? Be a pal and hit the shiny review button and let me know.
Thank you for reading my stuff it. Also, thank you to those of you that have put me on your alert and favorites lists. That is incredibly kind of you to do so and is very much appreciated.
Well, my insomnia has kicked in to high gear, so I am posting WAY EARLIER than anyone ever should. Not even the crap on QVC and infomercials could put me to sleep, though I did have the desire to get better abs through hip-hop aerobics, buy CDs, and find out about cures the medical community doesn't want me to know about. Also, thank you to everyone who asked about my hand. It is much better, thank goodness and the brusing is fading. Much love and appreciate to everyone.