The scraping had stopped some time ago, apparently for good, but Sam had new things to think about as her fingers probed every inch of space. She'd been searching for ages and only just finished checking the ceiling, but she was afraid of missing something if she worked too fast. In all her worry and discomfort in this air-tight little room, she'd overlooked one simple and basic fact: the air in her cell remained suitable for breathing.
It wasn't air-tight at all! Fresh air was coming from somewhere - there must be a vent. So she felt along the stone and naquadah surface, ignoring her tingling fingers, thumping the wall to check for hollow spaces. She worked for hours, it seemed. She eventually moved to the next wall, beating back the need to take a break, the desire to give up. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap thud. Sam froze. She knocked on the wall again. Thud.
Excited now, she kept knocking until the hollow sound was replaced by solid wall. She figured out the dimensions of the hollow area and was pleased to find that it was plenty big enough for her to fit through. She removed her belt and used the hard edge to scrape away the wall around the edges of the vent. She exposed the seam, then worked at prying the vent loose. It took a while, and Sam knew her hands were torn up and Janet would have a fit, but it was worth it. The vent door finally came loose from the wall with a muted pop and Sam set it down. She lifted herself into the vent and started to crawl blindly through the dark.
He stood quickly as the footsteps approached his cell. They stopped and he moved silently next to the door, which soon creaked open. Bright light filled the little space, but his symbiot helped his eyes adjust immediately. A guard stepped into the room with his weapon lowered; he was not expecting trouble.
He had never dealt with Teal'c.
Teal'c made quick work of him, ramming his head into the wall while grabbing his weapon. He stepped into the hall and similarly disabled the other two guards. He stripped them of their weapons and dragged them into his former cell, shutting the door behind him. He found the panel that must lock the door and smashed it with his fist. It crumpled with a satisfying crunch. A weapon in each hand and a third tucked into his belt, he made his way down the well-lit hall.
Apparently his captors didn't like their prisoners to damage their cells. Their tone varied between angry and bewildered when they discovered how he's been spending his time. He didn't think anyone had ever done that to a cell before.
They came and took him away, one staying behind to examine the damage he'd done with his rock. He'd spent several hours in another holding cell, and now he was apparently being presented to some authority figure. That was as much as he could guess from their strange language.
From what he could tell without his glasses, the chamber they took him to was large and bright with opulence, but not the sort distinctive of a Goa'uld. It was also silent.
Perhaps they were waiting for him to talk? He pointed to himself and said his name. One of his guards responded by hitting him across the face and Daniel stumbled backwards as the chamber erupted in what sounded like heated arguments. He checked to see if his nose was bleeding, but it was okay. Then he realized nobody was paying attention to him; the focus was on the guard who'd hit him – and it was intense and disapproving.
He took a step backward. Nobody even spared him a glance. He took another step back. And another. Soon he was in the hall. It was empty. With another look at the chamber, Daniel put a hand on the wall to guide him and walked quickly away, squinting and blinking in a futile attempt to bring the world into focus.
The footsteps came quickly and the door opened almost without warning, but he was ready. He took out the first two guards with ease. The third was a struggle and the fourth, fifth and sixth pinned him against the wall and cuffed his wrists together with something resembling medical restraints.
So, he wasn't free, but at least the now-recovered guards were taking him out of that cell. They had just turned the corner when they found themselves face to face with another figure. Jack squinted in the bright light his eyes had not yet adjusted to, and realized that the figure was none other than a surprised and spectacle-less Daniel.
As his guards came to the same realization and moved to apprehend Daniel, who backed up and prepared for a fight, Jack took advantage of the distraction and his special ops hand-to-hand combat training and tackled the closest alien. But a nearly blind Daniel and a Jack with his arms literally tied behind his back were not enough to bring down six armed guards. They were being pushed to the ground when another figure rounded the corner and started zapping guards left and right.
It was Teal'c.
Jack grinned as the Jaffa worked to remove his restraints. Things were certainly looking up.