-----------
A/N: Since somebody asked… inspirational music for this part includes Gundam Wing's "White Reflection", "Mortal Kombat", Yellow Dancer's "Look Up! The Sky is Falling", "Kung Fu Fighting", and Blade's "Blood Bath Dance".
-----------
Rumbling wolfhound by his side, Officer Dexter Keir leaned near the Preventer in charge of this operation, voice barely ruffling the pilot's white-blond hair. "No offense, sir, but couldn't we just hover over and firebomb the area?"Zechs Merquise grimaced at the warren of alleyways ahead, listening to his comm with half an ear as his cordon of Preventers checked in. North… south… spinward… good. After a fashion, anyway. Confining a known infectious, intelligent hazard near the corridor to one of the colony's docking hangars didn't quite qualify as good on the worst of days. All the colonies in the Alliance, and this thing had to pick the one Noin and I thought would be a good vacation spot. Some days it just doesn't pay to shuttle off the planet. "Stay in pairs. Move in slowly. Report if you see anything, do not pursue," he ordered. "This is a plague, and we will contain it as such." He nudged his mike off. "Officer Keir. Your own people can't confirm that we've cleared all the civilians from the area. And unless I'm mistaken, one of your colony's breeding Horus falcon nests is on an arch two streets in." He damn well wasn't mistaken. Noin had been so enthused about seeing the sky-hunters of Earth's Two Lands in their adopted environment she'd all but force-fed him the nest maps for three days.
Overkill, Zechs thought wryly. But familiar overkill; Treize was just as bad when it came to his roses and songbirds.
We're Gundam pilots. There's no such thing as overkill.
"I know that!" the police officer snapped. "But given the circumstances-"
"Those circumstances make it imperative that we confirm any kills visually," Zechs said coldly, sidearm drawn and ready as he approached the first suspicious alley. "Given the extent of the injuries one of these creatures has survived, we can't just incinerate the area and pray we destroyed it."
"Like hunting a damn Shinigami," Keir grumbled under his breath.
A small smile tugged at Zechs' mouth. "I've done that, Keir. This is nothing like a Shinigami." He paused, measuring the man in a cool blue gaze. "Or even an insane Shi no Yami carrier."
"Right," the officer said at last.
Not convinced. Oh well. Signaling wait, Zechs spun low around the corner-
Nothing. No people, no hovers, no wheeled go-carts in the street. A street-hawker's wok lay abandoned on a sidewalk stove, charred remnants of what had been hot-pepper pancakes sending up wisps of smoke. A balcony door stood ajar five floors overhead, hinting no one live or sane remained in that apartment. And a light tan page of last week's Checking Spin drifted diagonally across the street, crinkling in the breeze.
Worse than nothing, Zechs thought grimly. Where are the pigeons?
A hover whine snagged his ear. If that's another news crew trying to breach the cordon, I swear I'll zat first and ask questions later-
"Wind," came a cool, familiar voice over his comm.
"Wing," Zechs returned, not turning from the street as the hover settled behind Keir to discharge its passengers. "Make yourself useful, Yuy."
"Hn."
Wing Zero, SG team members - wait, no name? Zechs risked a quick glance toward the balding man in the unlabeled variant of SG-1's uniform.
He was armed like the rest, though, and he knew enough to keep his voice down. Even if the tone of his English said he wanted to drop someone off a cliff. "You'd better have a damn good explanation for dragging me out here, Colonel!"
"Trust me, Jacob. It's a doozy." O'Neill's smile was wry.
"Who are you?" Keir demanded in Universal, gun not - quite - aimed at the unfamiliar uniforms.
"They've come to help." Quatre intercepted the officer with a warm smile. "They'll be working with us."
Keir and his hound looked them over, both sparing a long glance at the golden mark of a First Prime on Teal'c's brow, and a longer one at Jacob. "If you say so, Preventer Winner."
"Who's he?" Jacob grumbled, eyeing the growling wolfhound in turn.
"Oh, he's a cop," Duo said cheerfully. "And a Beastmaster. So that cover you thought Selmac had? Pretty much blown."
They brought the Tok'ra? Zechs frowned. Then again, it wasn't as if they could have left him back at Angels'. A few of the civilian staff were Survivors, and they did zat first and ask later.
Jacob glared at the braided pilot. "You kiss your mother with that mouth, kid?"
Hmm. Zechs' lips twitched into a thin smile. Maybe Sthenno was right; Tok'ra do have a death wish.
The growl he heard was pure human. "Our mothers died with honor," Wufei said flatly. "You will not speak of them."
Jacob dodged the black gaze. "I didn't know."
"No," O'Neill stated bluntly. "There's a lot you don't know, Jacob. Try and stay in one piece long enough for us to fill you in."
"Status?" Heero inquired, moving up to cover Zechs.
"Noin briefed you?"
"Aa."
One less worry. "The infection moves fast enough to leave a perceptible scent on any of those affected," Zechs said swiftly. "We're fairly certain no one's gotten past the cordon, and the number of evacuees roughly tallies with the usual population of this area-"
"Roughly?" O'Neill demanded.
"This isn't the best part of town." One hand tangled in Hrere's fur, Trowa scanned the suspiciously vacant rooftops. "Usual for plagues."
"Which is what worries me, sir. This is an intelligent plague." Sam flanked her commander, nervous blue eyes flicking over empty porch stoops. "What does it want?"
A scream pierced the wind.
-----------
-Hunt/scent/kill-Blood dripped off the Reaver's tendrils, already cooling. Cloth and flesh fell heavily aside.
Through slit eyes it regarded the whimpering bundle beside the corpse.
-Easy prey-
Too easy. It left the small creature undamaged. The young thing's cry would add the perfect touch.
-Bait set-
It skittered up and out of sight, considering its orders. Its goddess had been explicit in those last moments before the life-pod was fired free from her ha'tak. Hide its nature until it reached the colony. Wreak bloody, public chaos - then escape, going to ground in the tightest, most vile warren it could find. Snare its decoys. And wait for the trap to close.
For this trap was hers.
As Sanq knew Dimme, the goddess knew Sanq. Cops would anchor the lines, but it would be Preventers who did the hunting. And mixed in with the Preventers, called to hunt such a glorious, deadly creation as a Reaver… would be pilots.
-Preventers/camouflage/kill. Wing/hidden/destroy-
And now the waiting was over, and it was free to kill as many Preventers as possible.
-Prey comes.-
-----------
"Not how I planned to spend my day off….""Jacob Carter." Teal'c kept his voice low, barely above the background rustle of stray papers in the breeze. SG-1's throat mikes would transmit it, and he suspected the Preventer communicator clipped to his collar would as well. "We have no reason to believe the transformation renders the Reaver deaf."
From the Tok'ra's scowl, that aborted hand movement was not meant to be one of O'Neill's combat signals.
From the way black eyes narrowed, Chang Wufei knew precisely what it was supposed to be.
Perhaps this was not the best way to arrange our forces, Teal'c thought, checking on Zechs and Keir in their center; O'Neill and Major Carter were quite capable of handling point. But the beast climbs. And SG-1 is not capable of that.
That was a whisper-tread on steel drawing Teal'c's gaze upward, where Duo and Heero had just leapt from one tenth-floor balcony to the next. Across the street Quatre and Trowa were covering them from the same level, while Hrere perched on a railing, ears pricked forward, wings and whiskers spread into the wind.
The gravity here is less than Sanq, Teal'c knew, feeling a perceptible lightness of limb. Yet not that much less. They train for agility, rather than strength…. I must ask Janet Fraiser to examine our guests closely, the next time she has the opportunity.
Keir's hound growled. "Blood," the Alliance cop reported tersely.
Chang frowned, listening to his communicator. "They see it. Around the right corner, in a second-floor studio, by a broken window. One body. At least it has the right number of limbs to be one." The Preventer tensed. "And a child. Quatre says he's alive, and frightened. The wind's not right for Hrere to scent if he's infected."
"Can anybody say 'trap'?" O'Neill's voice grumbled over Teal'c's ear-piece. "If Cat can find the kid, why can't he pull this bug out of a hat?"
"Empaths sense human emotion, O'Neill," Zechs said into his borrowed radio. "The Reaver's not human anymore."
"You don't know that."
"The empaths on Angels' staff were clear," Zechs said bluntly. "And terrified, from Noin's report. As soon as the infection hits the brain, the victim starts sliding away from human."
"Okay… so if it's an animal, your Beastmasters ought to be able to lock down where it is, right?"
"It's not an animal," Keir bit out, listening to Chang's quiet translation. "We lost five cops and a companion when Officer Marui tried to influence the damn thing. She couldn't… and it didn't bother infecting them. It just killed them."
"Dimme knows what we are, O'Neill," Wufei added levelly. "She knows better than to make it that easy."
"We're not leaving the kid there, Colonel," Jacob said shortly.
"All due respect, sir - that's what this damn thing is counting on." O'Neill sighed. "Yuy?"
"Move in."
-----------
-Three directions-Shards of mirror glass, strategically placed, accented the scents brought by the wind with flickers of movement. Left and right from above, shadowing a single, cautious trickle of bodies on street level.
Good. They feared it.
But not enough.
-Spread out/weak-
Time to weaken them further.
-----------
Following Heero across the last balcony before their target window, shadows rendering his comrades in glowing hues of worry and controlled rage, Duo bit back a grimace. Does anybody else think this is a bad idea?Dumb question. Nobody wanted to be here.
No. Someone was enjoying themselves. Way too much, if that pale flicker at the edge of his sight was any indication.
Too much and not enough. He knew that hue; predatory anticipation, sure as any Shinigami with prey in sight. But it was fractured. Faint. So faint.
Wait a second…. "I think I See it."
Heero stopped. "Where?" Jack demanded.
"I don't see it, Jack, I See it. Gweled, not canfod, damn it-" English didn't have the right words! "I don't have a target! It's behind a wall. Somewhere in there. And it's faint."
"Sōzōryoku, not shikaku," Heero clarified, scanning the building before them. "It's not projecting human emotion, but it is projecting." Silence asked the question.
"It knows we're here," Duo obliged. "I think it's somewhere it can scent us."
"Scent us?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Duo swallowed, stomach queasy as he traced that gray swirl of anticipation. "It's hungry."
The comm went quiet.
"Cannibalistic, or just carnivorous?" Trowa asked levelly.
In the background Duo heard the familiar snick of the acrobat's grapnel gun, the leathery beat of Hrere taking off for their target's roof. It made his gut clench. "How the hell should I - k'so!"
Heero had taken one more step forward. Anticipation flared, nova-bright. Metal clicked.
Duo leapt on his partner, burying them both in shadows as the world came apart.
-----------
Goa'uld energy cells, rigged to explode, Teal'c realized, flattening Major Carter as the balconies shrieked and twisted apart. Beside him Jacob Carter and O'Neill hit the ground as one, latching onto a howling Chang before he could run to the plummeting steel that had been Heero's position. Zechs and Keir dropped into a crouch, opening fire on the Reaver's lair, trying to provide cover for the falling Wing. Surely a futile effort-Dust swirled about a swoop of line, and two bodies slammed into vibrating glass.
"Son of a bitch, they're alive," O'Neill breathed, weapon raised and watching for the Reaver as Hrere screamed challenge from the roof. Five floors above them Trowa winced and shook his head, gloved hands wrapped around the line that had carried the Beastmaster to the shuddering window. About ten feet below Quatre hung limp and pale, one side of his face already red as the blond blinked, dazed, at the window-frame that had appeared in front of him.
"Stay put, dammit!" Jacob gripped Chang hard enough to bruise when the pilot lunged for settling steel. "Ever hear of secondary bombs? It's trying to catch rescue personnel. This whole damn place could be mined!"
"So it could." Black eyes hot with rage, Wufei lifted an empty hand. Swept it across-
Heat shimmered away from the Dragon, striking street and wreckage like the hammer of the sun.
-----------
-White fire-Three columns of flame shot into the sky. The Reaver flinched back, snarled.
Three fires. Three ignition switches, disabled before they could set off their charges.
-Dragon-
The first part of its trap was shattered. Useless.
The second….
-Now!-
-----------
"01, status!""Acceptable, 05." Heero squinted at shifting shadows, wincing at the scrape of steel and concrete against his arms. The wreck of the balcony pressed close around him. Creaks and shudders played an ominous duet; sharp as his ears were, they couldn't pick out which were settling wreckage and which might be an ongoing firefight.
Despite Maxwell's occasional jokes, he was not made of Gundanium. Collapsing steel should have flattened him….
Ah. Ragged breathing against his neck told why it had not.
"02?" Wufei's voice demanded.
Nestled in his shoulder, long braid a silken rope trailing down his arm. "Unconscious." Even without light, Heero could picture every line of that stubborn, protective Shinigami. Duo's form was as familiar as his Gundam, and just as dedicated to his survival.
It took strength and will to summon the black knife, instants of destructive telekinesis almost too brief for instruments to record. Shaping it into a shield that would hold the seconds of their fall took training, determination… and not a little insanity.
Heero pressed an ear near Duo's throat. Listened to the reassuring drum of a weary heart. Stifled a sigh, and started inching his hand toward a vest pocket he hated to open. He could already feel the ghost of metal winding around his hand, malign mark of what all but a few thought he was. "02 is out, 05. Status?"
A pause. "Wait one."
Gunfire rattled outside of Heero's impromptu prison. An inhuman shriek vibrated down twisted steel, shaking loose concrete dust. One of the rods poking him trembled, hinting at a dangerous shift in the debris overhead.
Wait one, hell!
-----------
Yep, this qualifies as a lousy day. Jack backed up against Zechs as they fired at insectoid shadows, grateful for the tall blond's height; good as the Wing was, he'd probably have stepped on them in the middle of this mess. Teal'c's staff weapon cracked thunder through the air, bass counterpoint to Jacob and Wufei's fire. One, two, three at least - our monster's been busy.And the damn things were fast.
Daniel took one of these down? Jack ducked a claw swipe, shutting the shrieking terror of infection away. Survive first. Doc later. Space monkey must have been getting in target practice when I wasn't looking-
Standing over his whimpering, bloodied hound, Keir was yelling something into his comm. Zechs snapped out a reply that had to be Countermand that!
Oh, I hate multilingual ops….
A tendril yanked his feet out from under him, claws wet with the Reaver's own blood shredding his vest. Dammit, just once wouldn't something stay down when it was shot?
Thuck.
Orange bloomed on the neck of the Reaver reaching for his throat. The creature blinked, snarled-
Jack emptied a magazine into it. Dislodged the spent clip as it teetered, surprised. Slammed in another.
Thuck. Thuck thuck thuck-
The Reaver drooped, sliding to seared ground like softened jelly. Fist-sized bullet holes tricked red-black fluids onto the pavement. Five darts stood out of its skin, clustered in a tight group on neck and shoulder.
I love a guy who takes the high ground. Jack risked a glance up to the window-ledge, where Trowa was already picking his next target. Hrere vibrated along the sixth-floor ledge above him, wings and paws working as she watched for any sign of ambush while her human concentrated on the fight below.
Wait a second.
Trowa was there. Quatre wasn't.
Oh hell, tell me he didn't….
Light gleamed off a broken window on the third floor. And there was one gun conspicuously missing from those playing the anvil chorus in this wreck of an alley.
Where the hell is Sam?
-----------
-Trap sprung-The younger ones had their targets.
-Bait breathing - shift?-
A hitch in the young thing's sobs. The Reaver listened from its ceiling perch, catching the near-soundless creak of prefab flooring as cautious steps neared the luring carnage.
"Shh…."
Claws flexed.
-Closer-
"I'm a Preventer. I've come to get you out."
-Closer!-
"He doesn't look hurt... hurry!" A catch of breath. "The remains - it was feeding-"
And the little blond would be easy meat.
-----------
Thank the kami for Une's obstacle courses-Muscle and bone dropped at the flicker of shadow, sending Quatre in a roll across the bloody floor as insect-quick talons struck for his throat.
His hands were empty. Quatre snatched one of Trowa's knives from his boot, threw, and rose, already reaching for another-
A squeal, and the boy he'd come to rescue barreled into his arms, shaking like a leaf. No-!
Blade quivering in its heart, the Reaver hissed. Twisted his lost gun between its talons, shattering steel and plastic. Bullets spilled to the floor in a cymbal-clash of tungsten.
Gold eyes gleaming, it bared its fangs.
"Quatre, I'm on you-"
Sam's voice. Sam's glint of blonde hair, at the doorway edge. But it was already leaping-
-----------
Blue-green eyes met the Reaver's, determined and afraid. Young in its arms, the human spread an empty hand, as if to bar it from its prey with mere flesh and bone-Fury/fear/hatred/will to live!
The Reaver curled on itself, too late realizing reflex had betrayed it.
Quick limbs smashed against the floor, the little prey's cry lost in the crack of its own bones. It reeled back, claws sinking into its skin to tear out the alien thrust of emotion. Physical pain it could endure. Mental torment it would laugh at; it served a goddess, what were human considerations of love or conscience to Her will? But this-
Black. Breathless. The abyss of space….
Cold, suffocating death. Even to a creature the goddess had reshaped with her own hands.
-No! Illusion!-
It fought to see the colony around it, the warmth and light and air - anything but the gaze locked on its, fierce and unyielding as the sea under a banshee's whip.
Die!
-----------
God! Sam gripped her P-90 tight against that conflagration of emotion, using the familiar feel of metal and plastic to keep her hands from clawing her own flesh. Killing rage swept over her, pushed and pummeled her, dragging her down like a riptide.Shoot. One finger on the trigger. So easy….
The Reaver shrieked, writhing away from Quatre.
Sam shook herself, trying to hold back the firestorm in her mind. No! I won't. I won't kill it this way! That's still a person, whatever Dimme did to it-
Still a creature trying to kill them all.
"Quatre! Move!"
Gray-green slashed toward her.
Here's where Rambo would shoot off the tentacles-
Sam ducked, firing at the Reaver's center of mass. A tendril scraped over the back of her vest, catching in kevlar to yank her off balance. Claws snatched for her face.
The empath dove and rolled aside, dropping the shrieking child to come up with a smaller holdout gun. Teeth bared, Quatre opened fire.
-----------
No!Jacob shook his head, trying to dislodge Selmac's panicked scream. Adrenaline was a hot rush in his system, burning away thoughts of Council plots and counter-plots in one pure blaze of now.
Get it away!
Duck and aim and fire-
I'm dying….
The hell you are! Jacob thought, exasperated. A little adrenaline's not going to-
Rational thought went dark.
-----------
Taking aim at the chaos below, Trowa laughed. That's right, my love. Fight!It was lightning. Fireworks. Breathing with Petky in a stoop, talons fisted to kill.
It was Quatre's pure fury, sweeping out to encompass them all.
Trowa caught the edge of it and held on, riding the wave of rage as he would a favorable wind. Bright sparks of love and fear flickered back to him; the others, accepting Quatre's deadly gift in their own way. Wufei, a quick flash of tigerish fury. Heero, the cold, implacable anger of the crocodile at bay. Duo, the joyous blend of love and death, bright and dark as a raven in flight-
Jacob fell.
And from the way that dark face had grayed, Teal'c was a heartbeat from following.
But - Selmac is Goa'uld! Trowa thought, stunned. They're not vulnerable to empathy; they never have been! The sarcophagus shuts down that part of the host's mind….
-----------
Lamashtu used Winner empaths to drive people insane.Heartbeat drumming in his ears, Jack focused on the dying firefight, forcing back the impulse to empty lead into the creatures Wufei and Zechs were spray-gluing to the street. Despite staff scorches, a multitude of bullet rounds in inhuman hide, darts filled with a mix of tranqs and RNA inhibitors, and a zat blast apiece, they still writhed and snapped weakly as the Preventers' glue-bonds took hold.
Tough little monsters. But looks like it's over. At least down here. The colonel anchored himself against waves of alien fury with the scent of smoke, a wolfhound's growl as Keir cleaned its wounds, the sporadic gunfire still coming from the building lair. Sam? "Carter, report!"
"We got the kid," his 2IC said, breathless. "Just got back to the stairs. The Reaver went up through the ceiling. It may be the original source. It's the most… completely transformed one I've seen." She gulped a breath. "Sir, it's wounded. Not just physically."
Zechs' dark chuckle tickled the air as he dropped an empty spray can and took out another to anchor down a seared tendril. "Still playing, Quatre?"
"It can't decide if it's a cat or a mouse." The empath's voice was light and grim. "Heading north and up."
"Hrere and I have the roof," Trowa said evenly.
"Thanks, koibito." Quatre laughed softly. "We'll catch it before it gets there."
"Watch your back." A small smile touched Zechs' face. "But you might want to tone it down. Our guests aren't having nearly as much fun."
Fun. He's not kidding. Jack stepped and skidded around the balcony debris to where Jacob was slumped on the ground. The alien rage ebbed out like the tide, left his muscles limp with one of the worst adrenaline drop-offs he'd ever felt, short of that chilly, heart-stopping moment the cryo had killed Hathor's offspring inside him just as the snake had almost won control of his body. Zechs, the Wing - they're not even shaking. Wish SG-3 could see this. "Teal'c?"
"I am here, O'Neill." Paler than usual, Teal'c leaned on his staff weapon.
Yeah, I just bet. Thanks to Ma'chello's little body switcheroo, Jack had firsthand experience of how a Jaffa had to maintain emotional equilibrium for his prim'ta and himself. Teal'c had to be hurting.
For the cool, logical, we-are-so-much-more-mature Tok'ra, it must have been like taking a sledgehammer to the face.
"Jacob." Jack patted the slack cheek. "Hey. Rise and shine, we got work to do."
Closed eyes squinched. "Ugh."
"You're so eloquent in the morning. Really. Now I know why Carter's willing to fight Daniel for the coffee. Self-preservation."
"Ack."
"Yeah, we covered that. Come on. We got pilots to dig out."
"Urgh…?"
"Got me. I don't know how-" Jack yanked a thumb toward the wreckage, "But they're under that pile. And in one piece, if Heero's telling the truth."
"Hn," came over the communicator.
"Hey, it's got to be dark in there," Jack pointed out. "How would you know?"
Jacob blinked at the colonel. And cringed. "Anybody get the number off that freight train…?"
"04, if I've got everybody else's straight." Jack held out a hand. "Come on…."
Tattered green cotton fluttered back, exposing an inch-long gash in his forearm.
I didn't even feel it. He felt it now, a fiery burn that chilled him to the bone. "Teal'c-"
The Jaffa might as well have teleported to his side, open med-kit in hand. "Remain still, O'Neill."
"Sleeves," Jack bit out, fingering shredded kevlar, trying not to watch that alien black slide under raw skin. "We need sleeves on these things."
"Indeed." Teal'c slid the needle home.
Janet says it'll work. Trust Janet. "Anybody else hit? Sing out." Jack pitched his voice Zechs' way, where Keir was still fussing over whining black fur. "What about Cujo over there?"
The blond Preventer kept his gaze and weapon trained on the Reaver's lair. "If you're referring to Sugu, I believe the ryōken - the… iew?"
"Dog," Teal'c said firmly.
"The dog will be fine." Zechs listened to another channel on his communicator, gave a quiet order. "We'll evacuate him to the veterinary wing with us, but he shows no signs of infection."
"History states Dimme always was more skilled at targeting her presents to human life-codes than the rest of the Eight," Wufei observed. Black eyes narrowed with interest, as if the Dragon saw the key piece to a puzzle in Jacob's shaky form. "So Sthenno's notes were accurate. The Tok'ra did give up the sarcophagus."
"It steals the soul," Jacob shot at him.
"Our information states it suppresses the host," Wufei returned, unflinching. "Primarily by blocking the action of those parts of the brain concerned with human empathy. It blunts emotion. Without that, the Tok'ra must have found other ways to avoid what they cannot endure." The dark head tilted slightly. "When was the last time your symbiote allowed you to feel human rage?"
Jacob's jaw clenched.
"Yuy," Jack broke into the staring match. "Maxwell can see these things. Can he tell if we got them all?"
"Duo's not conscious." Heero's tone was even, just a hint of unease under the level calm. Something creaked and grumbled in the background of his transmission. "Zechs?"
"There's a Shinigami on Angels' staff," the blond obliged, glancing toward the unsteady pile of debris. "We'll ask her in once we have the last one here contained. Heero-"
"Contain the Reaver."
"Your little problem's not stable, you baka," Wufei objected. "We need to get you out."
"Status acceptable," came the cool reply. "Continue the mission."
"If you say so." Jack blew out a breath, eyeing his wound. The sickly black seemed to be stopped. For now. "Everybody gets a strip-down and a once-over when we get back to Janet. No excuses-"
Glass shattered.
-----------
-Dying-The empath's fury bled strength from it, aching fierce as the loss of blood and bone. The two humans it had marked as prey hunted and harried it, never pausing, never yielding to their own, weaker bodies' demands for rest.
It was slowing.
-Serve the Goddess-
The window was a fragile barrier. The fall, even less so.
-Buried human scent/high trap/caught agile/caught Wing pilots-
Metal and concrete flew.
-----------
Heero stiffened at the bone-rattling thump. Tried to drag Duo tighter into his arms as steel and rubble shifted, impromptu spears creaking closer to imprisoned flesh. One shuddered above their lungs; he couldn't see it, but the ring of ragged metal was clear as a space-borne dawn."Heero," Wufei's voice came with a rattle of gunfire. "It's digging in! We can't get a clear shot!"
"Acknowledged." And there was no more time to be subtle.
Sinking into himself, Heero spread a gold-wrapped hand out and up.
-----------
Teal'c ducked a pack-sized chunk of rubble, wishing for one of the Tau'ri helmets as concrete ricocheted off his skull. Aim thrown off, his staff blast seared past the creature, barely singing a tendril.It moves like a flame, the Jaffa thought dizzily. If the System Lords can create such beasts at will….
Jacob Carter crouched by him, bleeding; a stray javelin of railing had whipped into the Tok'ra's vest, twisted end smashing into his ear as the point sank into his shoulder. O'Neill sprawled feverish and cursing on his opposite side, prying a slab off his foot. Zechs knelt behind them, trying to breathe past cracked ribs from a slung molding. Chang lay limp on the edge of the rubble nearest Heero, blood streaking black hair, pale throat in easy reach of stretching talons. Keir-
Sugu howled.
Hrere screamed and dove, a silver-gray blur in the dust. The Reaver dodged claws, hissing-
Shh-whoom!
Rubble erupted under the Reaver's feet, flung up by the familiar force of a Goa'uld ribbon device.
The Reaver slipped.
Fire hit it from all sides.
-----------
Crouched by the window their target had leaped through, Sam watched the inhuman body fall. She took her finger off the trigger, hands trembling. Shock and fury sang through her nerves like plucked notes on tangled strings.It's Quatre. Isn't it? I can't - I can't tell anymore-
"Trowa." A whisper of pain, longing, dimming anger. The empath leaned against the wall by the window-frame, a careful distance away from the shivering child they'd dragged along with them.
"Soon." The Beastmaster's regret ached over the comm, a taste of tears on her lips. "Can you reach Duo?"
Sam forced herself to breathe. Muscles burned when she moved, exacting killer interest for those long minutes Quatre had pushed them all past their limits. "I thought he was unconscious."
"He is." Quatre let himself slide to the floor. "But if there's another Reaver, he might still sense it…."
Adrenaline crash. Whatever Quatre did to us, he did to himself, too… he's about two minutes from out cold. Sam swallowed. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Iie… maybe." He held out a shaking hand. "Anchor me."
His touch was heat, and grief, and a sparkle of weary, exultant survival.
-----------
Question.Drift of concrete dust in his nose. Vibration of bone and heart and steel. Darkness.
Question.
Aching weariness. Creak of shifting metal. Familiar, worrying sh-thump of a ribbon device in close quarters.
Question! Not the previous gentle tap, but a full-fledged shake of impatient need. Friend/needed/Wing in peril/Heero in danger!
Heero.
Flickers. Look for the flickers.
Three, pinned and weakly radiating fury. One more, fading into the shadows of death somewhere above.
Relief. Question?
'S'all of 'em, Quatre… lemme sleep… Heero? Gotta get Heero….
Tired relief. Comfort.
No! Duo fought the wave of sleepiness. Wake me up, Quatre, I gotta get Heero out-
Comfort. Friend. Reassurance.
Darkness reclaimed him.
-----------
"…Reaver keeled over with about two zillion holes in it, Teal'c zatted the heavy stuff off the pile, and Heero blasted his way out. And a good time was had by all," Jack summed up as the hover ambulance crew unceremoniously dumped a half-conscious Quatre onto the last free bed in this ward. Duo was curled in the cot next to his, snoring softly. "Ow!"Janet taped Jack's IV down with an exasperated sigh. "Stay put."
"He will," Daniel reassured the doctor, giving his friend's free hand a squeeze. "Trust me, Jack. You don't want that-" he shot a dark look at the ragged black wound, "-getting any worse than it is."
The colonel rolled his eyes, settled back against the raised bed. "Itches like crazy."
"Good." Janet's smile had a vicious edge as she bustled over to check Teal'c's bruised head. "Don't scratch."
"You okay, Sammie?" Shadows under his eyes, Jacob squeezed his daughter's hand.
"Just shaky." Sam glanced at the small blond surrendering to sleep. Deliberately looked away. "If you're here, Janet, your patients…?"
"So far, so good." Janet's voice held cautious hope as she cleaned Teal'c's healing wound. "They're not out of the woods yet. But Dr. Ellary has them in hand, and I'm the only expert on Tau'ri physiology here."
Daniel smiled, recalling how both doctor and raven's attitudes had shifted from controlled panic to hope and cautious interest. "He told us all to take a break. Or at least go see our own patients. Something about with his luck, Tau'ri would be just as bad as a few Preventers he's met, and there's a limit to the hospital budget for replacement windows." The archaeologist winked at Janet. "I think he likes your eyes."
"Concussion," Sally declared across the room, snapping off the Penlight of Doom.
"I do not," Wufei declared, dark eyes stubborn. Fingers clenched on his chair arms, knuckles white.
"Chang," Heero said, warning.
"A glancing blow," the Dragon said sharply. "I've had them before. We all have. I will not be confined here while we have yet to track the Reaver to its source-"
"Wufei." Trowa's voice was quiet as he sat on Quatre's bed, Hrere purring by his side. "If you were piloting Shenlong between L4's secondary port and the main Moon Base, eluding a tel'tac equipped with Macha's advanced stealth detection, power down to seventy-five percent, life support at fifty, and a flutter in your secondary reactor couplings, what would be your trajectory?"
"Ah." Dark eyes lost focus. "A moment…."
"Concussion," the conscious half of Wing Zero concluded.
"Rest," Heero added bluntly, seating himself by Duo's cot. "We'll need you to fly in a few days."
"Fly?" Jacob said sharply. "I thought you guys were Special Ops."
"And therein lies a tale," Jack said wryly.
"You said that before." Jacob frowned. "It'd better be a good one. When the High Council figures out you shuffled me off the planet without Freya and Caton-"
"Oh, they know by this time," Jack said matter-of-factly. "The general should have kicked them back to your base right after we left. With a note and everything."
"What?"
A tall blond in Preventer's blue and green limped into the doorway. "Is he always this loud?"
Daniel took in the familiar cast of features, the sardonic twist of lips when Sally snatched his arm and sat him down, her blue tendrils twitching among blonde strands in pure irritation. "Are you - Relena-"
A wry smile. "My sister."
Your sister's a Peacecraft, and you're a Preventer. Daniel bit his lip. That's got to be awkward.
"Zechs." Heero nodded, attempting to rise. Lurched, one arm unexpectedly encumbered.
Still snoring, Duo snuggled into his shoulder. One hand was locked on Heero's elbow, his braid had somehow twined around Heero's arm, and a sleepy smile softened his lips.
Heero sighed. Sat back down. "Keir?"
"Still in surgery." Zechs eased out of jacket, armor, and shirt with a series of winces. Sally piled them all aside and ran careful fingers over the reddening bruise along his ribcage, mumbling diagnoses as she went. "But Sugu's recovering, which means Keir stands a chance."
"Recovering?" Sam sat up. "The Reaver doesn't affect animals?"
"As far as the medics can tell, no." Pale brows drew down. "Noin had to condense some of the reports for me, but it seems to be specifically looking for human proteins to latch onto."
Sam breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is a good thing?" Daniel said skeptically.
"That's a whole ecosystem out there," Sam pointed out. "Just like Gault. Think of what would happen if the Reaver could be spread by, say, birds?"
Daniel swallowed dryly.
"A very good thing," Jack concluded.
"All told," Zechs hissed as Sally poked a shade too hard, "The sector seems clear. When do we fly?"
"That has yet to be discussed." Heero looked at Jack.
Jack's expression stayed blandly civil. Just a flicker of a glance slid toward Daniel. It's a risk, that flicker of eyes said. I think we're on the right track. You?
Daniel squeezed his hand. Go for it.
"Grab a cup of coffee, Jacob," Jack said bluntly. "This is going to be a long story."
-----------
Translations from Welsh:Canfod - to see, perceive. Implies visible light.
Gweled - to see, perceive. Can imply nonphysical visions.
Translations from Japanese:
Aa - informal yes.
Shikaku - sense of sight.
Sōzōryoku - mental image, imagination.
Koibito - lover, boyfriend/girlfriend.
Ryōken - hound, hunting dog.
Baka - idiot.
Iie - no.
Translations from Egyptian:
Iew - dog (masculine).