I meant to do this last time, but better late than never:
We'd like to present Virtual Cookies to Malicean for the 100th Review/Comment! Thank you so much for that and for your cheerleading of the fic from the beginning. We both appreciate it a lot. Here, have some extra frosting... (g) Thank you, everyone, you make our day when you let us know you're reading and enjoying the story.
This chapter is a bit longer this time, as Our Heroes interrogate the Valkyrie, who is not as dumb or weak as Theo thought. Enjoy!
Chapter 38
Teal'c entered the room where the Thunder Mountain residents ate their food, much satisfied with his accomplishment. His stomach rumbled as if he had expended much energy, when all he had done in fact was stare. He had noticed in the past that humans became increasingly nervous the more he stared, especially if he refused to talk. Curiosity about the new female saboteur had taken him up to the brig, and he had stayed, trying to gain her measure and ascertain exactly her relationship with General Waverly.
Standing in line, he placed a large bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy onto his tray, followed by some green beans. Next came some meat, also a mystery, because that was what the server called it. His last stop was the sweet section. There was no Jell-O. In fact he hadn't seen that delicacy here since they'd arrived. This time, there was a plate of cookies and he helped himself to four.
Looking around for a table, he spied Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill sitting together. He had not seen the younger man all day and felt pleased that they could eat dinner together.
As he drew closer, O'Neill's face lit with a grin. "T, old buddy. Take a seat."
Teal'c nodded and sat down, immediately taking his napkin and placing it onto his lap as he had seen others do. Why this custom had flourished eluded him, but he followed it.
Major Carter entered, selected her own dinner and brought it back to their table.
"How's the generator going?" Daniel asked as she sat down beside him.
"I'm done making it. All I need to do now is test it and then hook it up."
"How long will that take?" O'Neill asked.
"I should be done tomorrow. We can do a test run by maybe lunch --"
"And be home by dinner," O'Neill finished for her. "Sweet."
She added her usual caution. "Don't get your hopes up. The gate itself still has to be connected to the power supply and the computer. The program is very basic -- I'm not sure if I put enough in to actually get the gate to work. Plus the calculations for stellar drift--"
O'Neill put up a hand to stop her. "Yeah, I know. Tons of things could go wrong. We're used to that."
An odd increase in the cafeteria's noise level caught Teal'c's attention. He looked toward the door to see Erin Gant, Lee Chen, and Markus Alexander in the doorway. "Markus Alexander has returned."
The others turned to watch. Markus spoke briefly with a few people who came up to talk to him, but followed Erin on the way to the chappa'ai. The three stopped there, and Erin appeared to be telling him about the explosion. The debris and water had been cleaned up, but the scorch marks remained on the floor and wall behind the gate. Erin was gesturing, while Markus listened silently with folded arms. After one quick glance at the fountain and explosion remnants, Lee watched the room instead.
"Wonder where he's been?" Daniel spoke, his curiosity apparent.
As Daniel knew Markus the best, Teal'c thought it unlikely that anyone else would know. Teal'c presumed that Markus' activity this afternoon was related to something personal, probably Meaghan, given that he was keeping it so secret. But Teal'c was not going to speculate aloud.
"He doesn't look too happy," Daniel added, as Markus turned back toward the seating area and started toward SG-1's table.
To Teal'c, Markus seemed mostly thoughtful, but the line of his jaw and slightly narrowed eyes suggested deep anger as well. He waved Erin and Lee off to their own tasks, and sat down at the table, at Daniel's other side. "Good evening."
"Welcome back," Daniel greeted him. "What have you been up to?"
"Planning for the future," Markus answered briefly, then glanced at the Stargate with a grim expression. "And came back to find that the present is still kicking my ass."
"Sorry you missed all the fun?" O'Neill quipped.
Markus didn't try to smile at the weak joke. "We were lucky." He tore his gaze away from the Stargate and looked at O'Neill. "Thank you for catching her before she got away with it and freed Waverly."
O'Neill nodded, now serious. "I trust Erin told you that explosion can't have accounted for everything missing? There could be another bomb."
"Yeah, she told me. And that it hasn't been found." His mouth twisted into a grimace of reluctant distaste. "We're going to have to get it from her."
"Yes," Teal'c agreed. "I have been observing the two prisoners. I believe she must be questioned without General Waverly's presence. She fears him and seeks his approval. She was willing to sacrifice her life to gain his release. For any interrogation to be effective, she must be separated from his reinforcement. This should be done as soon as possible."
Markus glanced at him with interest. "I just told Lee to move her to an interview room for pretty much those reasons." He got to his feet. "I should go speak with her."
"You have time to eat, first," Daniel interjected. "We've waited until you got back, ten more minutes won't matter."
Raising his brows a little, Markus said, "Ten minutes may matter very much in the end." He paused and let out a soft sigh of resignation. "Since I'm reminded that humans need more than air to live on, I'm going to get dinner. Be right back."
Teal'c watched him go up to the food line and back and was especially vigilant of those who approached him. But no one seemed threatening; in fact, on the contrary, most people seemed to be seeking reassurance. He gave it freely, projecting confidence and strength, and seemed to take his time with each person, though he moved through the gathering efficiently.
When Markus neared the table with his tray, he noticed Teal'c's intent gaze and gave a rueful smile. "Still making sure no one puts a knife in my back?"
"Or your front," Teal'c agreed with a nod.
"Well, thanks." Markus transferred his dishes to the table, handing the tray off to a boy eager to collect it from him. He sat down and looked at all the food -- the same as Teal'c's without the cookies, but including coffee and bread -- in bemusement. "Natalie's been at the staff again. She thinks I don't eat enough on good days, and now it looks like she means to fatten me up."
"If Natalie's your chef, she should get a raise. I have no idea what animal the meat came from," O'Neill said, putting more of it in his mouth, "-- and I don't want to -- but it's pretty good."
"You can have mine, if you want. I know what it is, and my stomach is rebelling just looking at it." He pushed the plate away in distaste. "All the cookies were gone," Markus said, eyeing Teal'c's cookies hopefully.
Teal'c deliberated, mostly to tease him, and then surrendered one cookie. He held back from letting Markus take it, until he accepted the condition, "But first you must finish at least half of the food before you."
Markus rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. "Mom". Jeez, it's a wonder I get anything done."
---+---
Markus entered the corridor leading to the interview room. He felt a little like the Pied Piper, with Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c all trailing him. Sam had gone off to test the generator, and while he was interested to look at it, he had more important things to do.
The food that Malek had eaten for them was sitting there like a lump in his stomach, which wasn't helping his vague anxiety about what he was going to do. Despite Markus' warning about the stewed meat, the Tok'ra had gone ahead and eaten it anyway.
He was going to throw up.
'You are not. The meat was nothing not eaten on a hundred different planets, and we need protein. I have seen in your memories that you have never eaten adequately,' Malek answered. 'Taking your dinner to Meaghan every day is noble, but replacing that meal with fifteen-year-old MRE's is not nutritious or appealing. It is no wonder you do not appreciate food.'
Markus had time enough only to object to that unfair observation before he reached the door to the interview room. Taking a moment to settle himself, he opened the door and went in.
Somewhat like Meaghan's room, but smaller and not on its own life support system, the room was divided into two halves. The half he was in was the observation room, with a large window that looked into the other half. There was a table underneath the window, a few chairs, and a microphone on the table for speaking into the other room. It was dim in this room, so that the mirror effect on the other side would block any view inside. Erin and Lee were already there with two of Lee's security people.
The other room was brightly lit, and furnished with only a small table and two chairs. There was a young woman sitting in the far chair, her hands cuffed together on top of the table. She had long blonde hair, framing a face that might have been pretty, if her eyes weren't cold and her mouth wasn't curled into a sneer.
He gasped at the sight of her and blurted, "Shit!"
"Markus?" Erin asked, frowning at him.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from Susan. "I knew I should've gone to look at all the new people, I knew it," he muttered. "I've seen her before. I recognize her."
Erin asked in confusion, "How on Earth can you possibly recognize her?"
Technically it was Malek who recognized her, Markus realized. It was Malek's memories he was getting it from, but he couldn't go into that right now. "I saw a, uh, picture of her in Valhalla Sector," he lied and went forward toward the window to get a closer look and avoid Erin's eyes.
'This is not good at all,' Malek told him. 'She was one of Simmons' disciples from an early age. He sent her, about the same time he sent Lee here, to infiltrate those who had taken over the bunker at Greenbrier. She attached herself to the leadership there, and when Waverly was ready to attack, murdered her lover in his sleep and blew up the guard house. She has no compassion and little fear.'
"Markus, I know her," Lee said. "Her name's Susan --"
"I know," Markus interrupted. "I've got chapter and verse on her already. Basically, she's a viper."
Lee looked like he wanted to say more, or question Markus' source, before he figured it out and clamped his jaw shut.
"You don't have to do this," Erin suggested. "You should do what you usually do and watch the interrogation from here."
"She's right," Jack nodded. "Leave it to Teal'c and me. Don't play her game."
Markus watched her sitting there, her expression bored as she tapped her manacles against the table. He let himself give a little sigh. "Much as I appreciate the thought -- no, I have to play her game. Because she's got me in check and she knows it. If letting her taunt me gets me a step closer to finding out if there's another bomb, then that's what I'll do. I'm going in. Alone," he added, as Teal'c and Jack stepped forward as if to join him.
"Is that wise?" Teal'c asked, making it clear in his polite way that he certainly didn't think so.
"I want to know if she recognizes me or not. If you guys come trailing in after me, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" He forced a bit of a smile. "Let's see if I can get her to play my game first. You can spring to my rescue if she does anything, but for now stay out of sight and try not to give away that someone's watching."
They stepped back to let him do his thing, which he appreciated. He was getting a little tired of all the second-guessing and excessive concern.
But it wasn't quite over. On the way to the inner door, Daniel stopped him with a gentle touch on the arm. His gaze was concerned. "Are you sure you're up to this? So soon?"
Markus bit back a sarcastic response, knowing Daniel meant well. "I told you I don't get vacations, Daniel, especially not in the middle of a war. Step back," he gestured for Daniel to move out of the line-of-sight of the door and waited until they were all quiet to open the door.
When he entered the room, he had to blink against the sudden brightness and took a moment to close the door behind him to let his eyes adjust. Turning back, he saw that Susan was watching him.
She was sitting at the opposite end of the table, away from the door where he was. Both of them were easily visible to the watchers behind the mirrored glass window, but he ignored the mirror. He stayed near the door and folded his arms, giving her a deliberate and lingering appraisal.
"So, another visitor to the zoo?" she spoke at last and tossed her head like a restless horse. "Or are you going to ask stupid questions or just stare at me?"
"There's certainly enough to stare at," he responded, dropping his gaze to the ample cleavage displayed by her tight and low-cut sweater.
Saying it made him feel even more like throwing up, but it got the response he wanted -- she relaxed slightly and leaned back to display her attributes more fully, confident in her own desirability and ability to manipulate men. She gave him a lazy perusal of her own. "Not too bad," was her final evaluation. "Enough to work with. Who are you and what do you want from me? Besides the obvious," she added with a flirtatious grin.
"I'm the man who can free you." He took two steps closer and leaned against the other chair. "Interested?"
"Of course. But it depends on the price, doesn't it?" she returned, licking her lips suggestively. "There's some things I'll do, and some I won't. But I can assure you that you'll like what I do, very much."
Markus felt nothing but disgust. But he kept his revulsion off his face enough to smirk at her. "I'm sure. But I think for letting you go I should get something more valuable than what you give away for free."
She straightened and glared at him, as if she was offended, but not really. He saw the exact moment she figured out he was playing her by the flare of her eyelids. But then the mask returned, and she smiled. "Oh, I never give away the good stuff for free. Maybe I should offer a small down payment?" She beckoned with both hands for him to come nearer. "You could come over here and I could offer a taste of my skills? I've been told I have a talented mouth."
"That I believe," he agreed and pulled out the chair at the other end to sit in it. "But I'd rather you use it to tell me where you put the rest of the explosives you stole."
She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Oh, so quickly to business, Markus? You are Markus, I presume? I'm disappointed. I thought for sure you'd let me kneel at your feet and blow the king of the mountain first, before getting to the tedious questions. I promise not to bite," she invited with a grin.
"I think I'd rather take my chances with a cobra, Susan. Thanks."
"So Lee told you about me, did he?" Her eyes flicked to the mirror and she smirked.
There was a clicking sound and then Lee's voice came through the speaker mounted in the corner of the ceiling, "Susan DiTullio. Simmons' vicious lapdog. It's been awhile, but I remember."
She chuckled and called out, "Right, Lee. You were such an angel back home. And then you turned on us, for what?" She turned back to face Markus and her lip curled in scorn. "Are you fucking him? Or did you buy him with some shiny title in your new empire?"
Markus was about to deny both accusations heatedly, but Malek stopped him, 'No. Do not allow her to provoke you. She will see emotion as a weakness.'
So he restrained his tone and said, "It's not an empire, Susan. If I'd wanted to conquer and make myself king of half of the country, I could've done it years ago. I'm far more interested in civilization. In bringing people together to rebuild. If there was someone else doing it, I'd follow them, but there's not, there's just me."
"I'd applaud, but …" she drawled and lifted her manacled hands. She leaned forward, not a trace of the seducer left in the cold eyes. "I don't give a shit what lies you tell yourself. Justify it all you want. All you are is a rebel and a traitor, and General Waverly waited too long to fry your ass."
His hands clenched into fists, and his chest seemed to freeze, as he was back there in that dark room with Waverly and Simmons and West pronouncing his execution. It was just a flash and it was gone, but it left him scrabbling for something to say that wouldn't give away that she had rattled him. He hadn't expected Waverly to tell her, though he should have.
"Is that the kind of world you want to live in?" he asked. "Where people are murdered so barbarically?"
"That is the world we live in, in case you didn't notice up here on your nice little throne. Don't bullshit me about what a wonderful world this could be if we all held hands," she sneered. "You preach a good line, but it's funny how your enemies keep dropping dead. You are the rabid dog loose on the country, and it's up to me to put you down."
She wasn't going to listen, so there was no point in talking anymore. She had used up all his patience already. "Where's the bomb?" he demanded.
"What bomb?" she retorted with a smile.
"Tell me where it is," he said. "You can go free, I don't care, just tell me where it is." He frowned, hearing his words echoed faintly in another voice. But it wasn't Malek.
She widened her eyes in mockery and shivered. "And if I don't tell? Are you going to hurt me? Tie me up and do what you want to me? Oooh, please don't throw me into the briar patch," she cooed.
She sounded like she meant it too. God, he really was going to throw up. She laughed at him. "No, you're too weak, aren't you? You're not going to hurt me, I can tell. And don't try telling me I'll die too, because that's a small price to pay for taking you out."
"There are children who live here," he protested, fighting growing rage. How could she just sit there? "They've never done anything! They're innocent. You can't want to murder them! Nobody could be that cruel."
But he was wrong. "It's not like you don't have time," she said with a shrug. "If you're too stupid to evacuate, well, that's not my fault, is it?"
"Tell me where the bomb is," he repeated, more coldly, trying to keep a grip on himself. But she was wrong if she thought he couldn't do anything to her. He had learned a lot from her masters. He had learned pain and fear and despair -- he'd always been a quick study. "Tell me what you did with it. Tell me, or by God, I will -- "
The echo was back, a sibilant murmur in his ears.
...Tell me about the Big Death, Markus. Tell me the access codes for the computer. Tell me how many guns, how many men --'
Markus shoved himself away from the table, heart suddenly pounding. He was dimly aware of Susan staring at him, startled by his reaction, but his overwhelming feeling was of panic, rising like a thick paralyzing liquid up his throat, choking him. The left side of his chest was on fire with a piercing pain.
He moved backward to the door and fumbled for the knob, when it turned under his hand and the door opened.
"Markus?" Daniel's concerned voice was echoed internally by Malek.
At first he couldn't speak at all. He rushed into the other room to stand at the back wall and focus his eyes on the dull gray paint to try to get his head back together.
Malek extended some soothing feeling which helped to calm his suddenly racing heart and the pain went away. 'Simmons is not here, Markus, and your ribs are healed. It was memory, nothing more.'
'I know.' But it had felt so real … He put his head against the cool surface of the wall, inhaling the vaguely metallic scent of old paint. 'Couldn't you make it go away?'
'I could,' Malek admitted, 'But that would require my taking control and that seemed likely to frighten you more.'
"Markus?" That was Erin this time, standing close beside him. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Did she do something?"
He shook his head and inhaled a deep steadying breath, before turning around. Thankfully someone'd had the presence of mind to send the two guards into the room with Susan and shut the doors. He wanted to sink into the floor, especially when he saw the sympathy and concern on their faces. Managing a sheepish smile, he said, "I guess I just blew my chance to not have everyone hover around me all the time, didn't I?"
"Pretty much," Jack agreed cheerfully, but his gaze was full of understanding.
"Are you feeling better?" Daniel asked. "Should we go someplace else?"
"No, I'm okay. It wasn't her." He nodded toward the window, behind which Susan was sitting again with a more thoughtful frown on her face. Probably wondering how she could turn his breakdown to her advantage, he thought sourly. He drew in a long breath to keep his voice steady. "I -- I guess I'm not quite as well as I thought."
"Here, sit down," Daniel pushed one of the wheeled chairs at him. "You still look a bit shocky."
His legs were grateful to sit down, and his hands were trembling when he rubbed his face. After he got his brain working again, he looked up at his friends. "She's right about one thing -- we should evacuate."
"I think that's exactly what she wants you to do," Jack said, folding his arms and glancing at the blonde in the other room. "You open the doors to get everyone out, and West falls on top of you. We know he's got at least a dozen choppers with him, so he can get here quickly if he's not that far away. In fact, he could already have snipers and rocket launchers on the ridge opposite, waiting for the doors to open. That's what I'd do."
"Yes, that's a risk," Markus agreed. They could already be under siege and just not know it yet, but it didn't matter. He straightened, feeling more like his normal self again. "But there's practically an entire case of C4 missing. That's a certainty. I can't risk the entire population of the mountain for 'maybe' there are enemies in the hills. There are one hundred and eighteen kids here between newborn and fourteen. Would you be able to live with yourself if they get killed by the next bomb?" he asked rhetorically, "because I sure wouldn't."
"Assuming there is another bomb," Erin put in. "We don't know that she had the time to put it together, arm it, and put it someplace or not."
"Therefore she must still answer questions," Teal'c declared.
"Oh, she's going to answer some questions all right," Lee said, with a threatening glare at the window.
"Why not," Daniel started hesitantly, looking from Markus to Jack, "until there's confirmation, evacuate the children up to the first floor? Don't open the doors, keep everyone in the garage. As I recall, the garage floor is hardened and thick, since it's the roof above NORAD. Since she's not likely to put the bomb in the garage itself, that's probably the safest place in the whole mountain."
Finally a sensible suggestion. Markus pushed himself back to his feet. "Yes, good idea, Daniel. I think that'll be enough salve on my conscience for now. Lee, if you'll pass the word to Sarah and Andrew and Kate to get that going."
"Okay," Lee nodded. "What else do you want me to do?"
Markus couldn't help looking at Susan through the window and felt his face harden. She was not going to get away with destroying his home or threaten children under his protection. "Question that bitch. You, and Jack, and Teal'c. You can promise her freedom, but not Waverly's. He stays here. I have plans for him." He opened his mouth to say that he didn't care how they got the information from her, but the words wouldn't come out.
Hadn't he said he didn't want to build a new nation built on a foundation of blood? Hadn't he always said that he wanted something better than the world the previous generation had, not the same thing? But how could he just let her sit there in silence, gloating, when she was threatening to destroy everything anyway?
Malek said, 'You have two paths: you may hold to your principles and risk the loss of life, or lose your principles in the hope that you save lives. Neither outcome is certain. But I can tell you from watching Valhalla Sector, that once torture becomes a permissible method of information gathering, it grows easier to resort to it, again and again. You have experienced the end of that path, Markus. Do you want to start down it yourself?'
Put that way there was only one answer, but it was not without irony that it was Malek telling him these things. 'Weren't you the one arguing that sparing Waverly's life is about the stupidest and short-sighted thing I could do, even for a higher ideal?'
'True. But you were right, and you found a better solution. You held to principle for him. Do the same here, even though -- or perhaps especially because -- you are angry at her.'
He nodded slightly and turned back to Lee. "You can scare and threaten her as much as you like, I don't care. But don't hurt her. If she won't tell us, then we'll have to find it ourselves."
"I understand," Lee said.
"And what are the rest of us doing?" Erin asked, realizing she'd been left out of the list on purpose.
He glanced around, to double-check that they were all alone. It still felt odd to mention her name in the open though. "I'm going to talk to Meaghan, and you and Daniel are coming with me. You and she need to know something, and I'd rather explain only once."
"Now?" Erin questioned, a puzzled frown on her face.
His already frayed patience snapped. "I thought you'd like to find out what everyone else in this room already knows, but if you don't want to, you don't have to," he said and started for the door. "Lee, if there's a problem, you know where I'll be. Use the phone."
Erin heaved a sigh and came after him. "All right, all right. Sorry. I'm coming."
He didn't need Malek's wordless criticism to feel badly about snarling at her. In the corridor he stopped, closed his eyes briefly, and turned to Erin. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to be so sharp with you."
Her eyes were kind and understanding, as she put a hand on his arm. "I know, Markus. I know you're not entirely yourself right now, and that's okay. I'm not going to be mad, I'm worried about you. I know things were much worse in Valhalla than you're telling me."
He swallowed hard. "They were," he admitted and couldn't look her in the face. "Come on. I only want to do this once. And if I can't do it at all, Daniel can."
Markus started off again, but as he approached Meaghan's section, ushering Erin and Daniel into the locked-down section, his footsteps slowed. 'Erin's right, I shouldn't be doing this now. This is purely personal, and I have more important things I should be doing --'
But Malek saw right through his excuses to the heart of his reluctance. 'And is your Meaghan so narrow-minded then?' Malek asked.
'No!' he defended her automatically. But Malek was right -- he was afraid that she wasn't going to be able to accept what had happened to him. That it was going to change them.
'Of course it will change your relationship,' Malek soothed. 'My existence and her freedom will change it, you know this. Yet perhaps it will be for the better, Markus. Your lives are but halves now, separated by glass. Only when she is free will you have the chance to become whole and one together. It may be that your love will not survive the change, but I doubt it. Your Meaghan is a wise and loving woman. I think you wrong her, if you believe her feelings are dependent on the walls of her prison.'
Markus hoped that was true.
---+---
Jack watched the others leave and the door close behind them. He wasn't surprised that Markus was showing some after-affects of what had happened to him, but he was also hopeful the young leader would be all right. Markus was probably doing the right thing, by going to see and talk to Meaghan. As much as Jack himself had never really been able to talk about all of his various traumas, even to Sara, he suspected Markus would find it helpful.
Either way, the best thing that Jack could do to help him right now, was to find the bomb somewhere inside this bunker. And that meant interrogating the saboteur sitting in the other room.
He turned to meet Teal'c's gaze. "I am so not looking forward to this."
"I am," Lee said. "Thunder Mountain's my home and I'm not letting Simmons destroy us from the grave. But I've got to go get the kids upstairs." He cast a rather longing look at Susan through the window and turned his back. "Hopefully you two can get it out of her by the time I get back."
When he was gone, Jack exchanged another glance with Teal'c, who opened the door, and they went in. Jack gestured the two guards out of the room and shut the door behind them.
Susan got a good look at him and her eyes narrowed. "Well, if it isn't the traitor O'Neill. The general told me you were here, kissing Markus' ass just like Lee."
Jack ignored the provocation and swung the chair around to straddle it. "Tell me something, Susan. Why on Earth do you care about that bunch of losers in Valhalla Sector? The whole thing was rotten to the core -- it fell apart in less than a day. Emerson and Simmons are dead; most of Simmons' band of thugs are dead with him. The old regime is gone. There's nothing left for you to be loyal to."
She snorted. "Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night? Hope it helps. Because I know where my loyalties are, even if you don't. And they're sure as hell not with this pathetic band of rebels."
Jack had the momentary urge to smack some sense into her or pound his own head against the desk. Appealing to her better nature wasn't going to work, since she apparently didn't have one. Appealing to practical sense wasn't going to work, since she didn't have any of that either. She was a fanatic, pure and simple. Getting the secret from her was going to take time. And time was in short supply.
From where he was standing against the wall opposite the window, Teal'c said unexpectedly, "Colonel West is a prisoner at Millhaven."
Jack very carefully didn't react to that news, given in Teal'c's usual matter-of-fact tone. But Susan did. She jerked and turned her head, spitting, "You lie!"
Grim satisfaction filled Jack, at what she'd given away. There was a plan, and West was a part of it. They'd been right; she was here to force the doors open. Rescuing Waverly had been a bonus.
Teal'c answered with glacial calm, "You are completely without external support. Speak of the explosive device and you may salvage your own life."
She wavered, glancing down at her manacles. Jack was hopeful for about a tenth of a second that she might actually give it up, but when she looked up again, with a scornful look, he knew it wasn't going anywhere either. "Right. Like I'm going to believe anything a traitor like you says. If West were really a prisoner, Markus would've said."
"I guess he forgot," Jack said, with a nonchalant shrug.
She smiled, with gleeful satisfaction, "Yeah, maybe he did. It was something to watch him freak out. Colonel Simmons must've done a number on him. Can you tell me what?" she asked, with an eagerness that Jack suspected was only partially feigned. "Did he make Markus dance? That's always fun to watch." Her pointer fingers mimed a little can-can dance on the tabletop.
Jack was not going to ask what it was. He didn't want to know what Simmons and this nasty girl thought was 'fun', but he hoped Markus hadn't been involved.
But Teal'c took one step away from the wall, drawing both Jack and Susan's attention. The Jaffa was still wearing his stoic face, but now his eyes were narrow with anger and his jaw had tightened. "You would take pleasure in the pain of others? Then it shall be just retribution for your victims to force the location of the explosive from you."
"You wouldn't dare," she said, raising her chin proudly, but shrinking back in her chair away from him.
"Would I not?" Teal'c answered flatly. "Markus Alexander bid us not to harm you, that is true. But we are not his slaves -- we may make our own decisions. My decision is that the innocent lives you threaten are worth more than you."
Jack tensed so he wouldn't lean away from his friend, too, as Teal'c unleashed "Apophis' Scary First Prime" again. He believed Teal'c, even though he also knew Teal'c had no intention of carrying out his threat to hurt her.
But if Teal'c was gonna play 'bad cop' that left Jack to play 'good cop', and he could do that. "Murray, good buddy," he cautioned, "let's not get carried away. Markus is gonna be mad if he finds out."
"Yeah," Susan agreed, "wouldn't want Markus mad at you, would you?" She laughed. "God, what's he gonna do, O'Neill? Pat you on the head and send you to bed without supper?"
He gave her a long look and shook his head. "You are incredibly stupid, aren't you? I'm trying to help, and here you go, getting all sarcastic and making Murray more angry. Guess I should just shut up and let him do what he wants."
"Oh, were you trying tosave me?" she retorted sarcastically. "Silly me, I thought you were trying to manipulate me." She leaned back in her chair, all at ease. "Well, go ahead, boys. Let's see if you really are willing to do what needs to be done. Come on," she taunted. "I'm right here. You can hit me. Slap me. Break my fingers. Two big strong guys like you could probably have a good time raping me on the table. You can break me into little bitty pieces and I'll tell you whatever you want."
When neither Jack nor Teal'c moved or spoke, she gave a slow triumphant smile. "Didn't think so. You're pathetic. Weak. And that's why you're going to get exactly what you deserve."
Jack took a long slow breath into his lungs, keeping a grip on his temper. It was gonna be a long night.
---+---
Daniel trailed along behind Markus and Erin. He knew why Markus wanted him along -- to give the background on the Goa'uld and Tok'ra, as he had done in the car to Kurdy. It made him a little nervous, realizing how important this was to Markus. Yet he was also curious to meet Meaghan. Sam had met her, and said she seemed amazingly sane for a woman who'd been in a prison cell with only one other person to talk to for a dozen years. Daniel understood Meaghan's connection to Markus as a psychological dependence, but he also knew how much Markus loved and depended on her in return. With beautiful and intelligent women all around him in the mountain, how and why had he chosen someone both inaccessible and many years his senior?
Markus used a number pad to access a locked hatch-door, and they entered one of the quarantine rooms. The room behind the glass was brightly lit. Meaghan was curled into an armchair, reading a book, but set it aside when she saw who was coming in.
Daniel understood part of Markus' attraction right away. Meaghan was a beautiful woman, with a warm and kind smile that brightened the whole room. She was older than Markus, but not by that much, and her dark hair had only a few thin silver streaks through it. It was hard to believe that she was a carrier for a deadly disease that had wiped out billions of people fifteen years before.
"You must be Daniel," she said, turning her attention to him. Her voice came through the speaker set above the window and more faintly through the window itself, which was odd at first, but after a little while he stopped noticing.
"That's right," he nodded. "Pleased to meet you."
"Pull up a chair," Markus told him and Erin, and settled in the chair at the end of the small table set up against the window. They gathered two smaller chairs from the back of the room where there was a terminal and some monitoring equipment.
He took a deep breath and started, looking from Erin to Meaghan. "Before I get to the point, I want you both to know that you are the most important people in my life. That hasn't changed, and that's the reason I have to tell you this. It's my hope that when you hear it that you won't feel differently about me either. But …" he shrugged a little, uncomfortably, "I guess I'll find out, but no matter what, you both need to know. This is about what happened in Valhalla Sector. I haven't been … exactly honest with either of you." Erin snorted softly, in a definite 'no kidding' way. He went on, "It's not an easy thing to talk about and it's more complicated than you can imagine. So I'm going to let Daniel start. With Seth, I think," he suggested and Daniel nodded.
That made sense. So Daniel started with Seth, explaining about the Goa'uld, who and what they were. Why they were dangerous. Erin nodded impatiently, listening, and no doubt wondering what this had to do with Markus. Meaghan listened, with no outward sign of impatience, but she barely took her eyes off Markus. Daniel wondered how much she was guessing already.
He then went into the basics of the Tok'ra, emphasizing their differences from the Goa'uld and especially how the host's mind and personality remained the same, even though there was another personality now sharing the body. With Markus' nodded permission, he also explained how Martouf and Jolinar were Tok'ra. Both women were surprised by this, but Erin nodded as if their oddness had been properly explained.
Markus took up the story then. "When Daniel and I were captured and taken to Valhalla Sector, Waverly and his intel director, Colonel Simmons, wanted to know about our defenses, our numbers, allies, everything. And I wouldn't tell them." He watched his hands, fingers idly tapping the surface. "The first thing Simmons tried to do to force it from me was to drug it out of me. It was administered by one of Waverly's doctors, Gordon Fukizaki, who was also in charge of their Big Death project."
He paused and Daniel listened, curious himself, since he'd never gotten any of the details for what had happened while Markus had been gone.
Markus went on to explain, more haltingly, how he'd figured out that the drug had been altered. He skipped over the shock torture that had followed, to describe how Fukizaki had come to visit him in the cell and make sure he was okay. "And then," he glanced up at Daniel, "you discovered something about our friend."
"Right. I did. Gordon Fukizaki was actually a Tok'ra," he said, carefully not mentioning Malek's name yet, since Erin had heard it in the gateroom when they'd arrived. "He'd come to this planet fifteen years ago to help cure the Big Death. Trapped in Valhalla Sector, he put his skills as an agent to good use and worked against Waverly's achieving the Big Death. As he told us, he couldn't prevent the research entirely -- Waverly wanted it too badly -- but he did what he could to sabotage the research, helping Devon, Jeremiah's dad, secretly. Gordon wanted to help us escape."
Markus added, "But by that point I wasn't well. Simmons wanted his answer. Our third day -- fourth day? --" he asked, frowning in confusion. "Anyway, Gordon discovered that I had two broken ribs and was bleeding internally. There was nothing he could do to fix it either, only if we could get out of Valhalla Sector and he could use one of his alien devices."
Meaghan gave him a worried once-over, clutching the arms of her chair, "And that's what he did?" she asked. "Because you're fine now. Right? That's what you said."
"I'm fine," he reassured her and Erin, too. "Daniel? You can tell the rest. I don't remember very much of how we got out."
That couldn't be true, Daniel knew, since Malek also had memories of it. But if Markus didn't want to tell it, Daniel was fine with doing it for him. So Daniel described how Jack and Charlie had helped them, and Devon had been left behind to die and the marines had saved them. Then he took a deep breath, tried to frame his words very carefully and told them how Ramirez had shot Gordon in the back. "Jack and I pulled Gordon and Markus into the tunnel and secured it behind us."
He took a deep breath to explain the rest. "Gordon, or I should say Chuan, which was the real name of the host, was dying. And so was Markus. He was deep in shock by then, from blood-loss and other injuries. He would've died, but there was another option, and that's what we did." He could see that Meaghan already knew, and she was looking at Markus in amazement, but not with fear. Markus wasn't looking at either of them, just staring at the table, sitting tensely, waiting for their reactions.
Daniel finished simply, "Markus accepted the Tok'ra Malek and they are now together."
Erin's eyes widened and she scooted her chair back from the table. "'Malek'?" she repeated. "Markus? What does -- are you still -- what does this mean?" she asked, in a trembling voice. "Isn't that what they called you before?"
"Yes," he answered, still refusing to raise his eyes. "I don't know if it's fate or what, but apparently I became host to Malek in Daniel's reality too. And yes, I'm still me, though I don't expect you to believe that. But it means that there is someone else in here, with me. Someone who has a different mind and thoughts. But mostly what it means, and the reason I had to tell you this --" he took a deep breath and looked up to meet Meaghan's gaze. "Malek understands the Big Death. He is confident that he can cure you."
That shocked her, as even the revelation that there was an alien in his head had not. Her eyes widened and her lips parted, as her already pale skin suddenly looked tinged with frost. "He can --" she whispered, and her hands pressed against her chest in agitation. "Really? Truly?"
Markus nodded and swallowed. He put his hand flat against the glass. "Yes. He -- We -- can cure you. You can be free, Meaghan. Soon you can leave this cell and step outside." His breaths were unsteady as he continued, "I promised you someday you could feel the sun on your face -- and now I can. We can."
She didn't speak, only stare at him in shock.
"Please don't be frightened of me," he said to her, his voice cracking in his anguish. "I had to come back. To finally set you free."
Color came back in her face, as tears started to roll silently down her cheeks. "I know," she whispered. Her hand trembled as she lifted it to press against the window, matching his. "I could never be afraid of you, Markus. Never. You came back to me and that's all that matters."
He bent his head to rest it against the glass, shoulders shaking. "Even if I didn't come back alone?"
"Even then," she reassured him softly.
Daniel very quietly stood, though he was sure that Markus and Meaghan were in their own world and wouldn't notice anything at all. Erin was watching them, her expression oddly shattered, and it took a moment for Daniel to catch her eye. When he did, he gestured for her to get up and follow him out. What they were watching was intensely personal, and he felt like an intruder.
Erin joined him out in the hall, as he made sure the door was locked before turning to her in concern. "Are you okay with this?"
"It's -- it's so much to take in," she said, sounding lost. "He was really gonna die?"
Daniel nodded.
She swallowed hard. "She knew. She told me two days ago. How could she know that?" Her gaze hoped Daniel could explain it, but he had no answers.
"I've seen a lot of amazing things traveling through the gate," he said. "Some of it is technology so far beyond us it might as well be magic, and some of it, I don't know, maybe it really is magic. In any case, we can't explain it. It just is." He tried to smile at her, reassuringly touching her shoulder. "Markus really is the same person, Erin. He, um, has an invisible friend now."
She quirked a small unwilling smile at "invisible friend", then glanced back at the door and let out a small sigh before turning away. "I guess. I'm glad he told me." She inhaled a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "We'll let them deal. I've should go check on the evacuation and how things are going with Susan."
The Susan part was easy enough. They found Lee, Jack and Teal'c taking a break in the observation room.
"Nothin'," Jack reported to Erin in disgust. "There's a bomb. That much I can pretty much guarantee. But every time I think she might spill something, she stops. And now she's not talking at all."
"I was going to take her back to her cell for the night," Lee said, sounding and looking as frustrated as Jack. "We're all getting tired. And I know I'm going to hit her if she keeps provoking the shit out of me like this."
"Me, too," Jack added, and scrubbed a hand through his hair. He added more reasonably, "It doesn't help that she thinks both Lee and I are traitors. Maybe tomorrow morning you can have some other people do this so she won't have such an automatic rejection of every single thing we say."
Erin nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe I should do it," she gazed at the other blonde woman thoughtfully. "I'll get Theo to help."
Lee snorted a laugh. "If you can keep Theo from killing her."
"All right, take her back," Erin said to him. "We'll start fresh in the morning. Assuming of course the bomb doesn't go off tonight," she added wryly. "I'm going up to the garage to see how it's going. Markus is still ... busy, I don't know how long he'll be."
Leaving Lee to handle transferring Susan back to the brig down the hall, Daniel, Teal'c and Jack followed Erin up to the first floor.
They could hear the sounds of kids shouting and laughing. When they went in, it looked like pure chaos, with little kids chasing each other around the cavernous space, older kids climbing the cars parked on the sides, and parents futilely trying to restore order. The only ones not doing any of it were the handful of young teenagers standing in a small group off to the side, pretending they were above all the fun.
Daniel glanced at Erin to see her reaction. She had her arms folded, but a smile on her face as she watched. Andrew and Sarah came up to her and Sarah shook her head with a broad shrug, saying, "They're all here. Now whether they'll sleep or not…"
Jack chuckled. "It's a giant slumber party. Of course they're not going to sleep. Put the overheads off," he gestured up to the big banks of flourescents, "that'll help. Then we'll do a little singing, and Daniel here will tell some stories -- he's good at that -- it'll be fun." He waded off into the melee with a grin, paying no attention to Daniel's sputtered denial or Erin and Andrew sharing a glance at his taking charge.
Daniel followed in his wake, completely unsurprised that Jack did get everyone settled, with help, and ended up with a little girl on his lap. Daniel started to tell the condensed version of the story of Gilgamesh, which managed to hold most of the kids' attention.
Toward the end, he happened to glance up and see Markus in the shadows by the door. There was no way to tell how long he'd been there, and apparently no one else had noticed him yet. In the moment when he didn't know anyone was looking at him, he looked fragile, as though imagining the scene of the happy children before him dissolved into destruction and death. He noticed Daniel's attention and gave him a little nod, but didn't move from his contemplation.
Some of the kids followed Daniel's gaze. One preschool age girl got to her feet and practically flew over to Markus. She insisted on a hug and then took his hand, drawing him into the crowd.
An older boy asked for "the special story", and soon the others were adding their pleas, until Markus gave in, and sat down.
"All right, all right. But only the first part, and then everyone's going to sleep," he said sternly. The kids agreed eagerly and urged him to start, falling quiet in bright-eyed anticipation as Markus began.
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…"
the long night passes, but what will the morning bring?
To be continued...