Chapter Two
The members of SG-1 quickly ran back into the compound while Hammond stayed behind to deal with their new visitors. They ran inside the elevator and heard gunshots halfway down. They leaned against the wall of the elevator as the doors opened. Jack slowly peaked his head around to make sure the hallway was clear and motioned the others to enter the hall before him.
They cautiously found their way to the weapons room to gather the P-90's. From the sounds of it; they were going to need them. Teal'c grabbed his trusted staff weapon and Jack once again motioned them out. They ran down the hall towards the gate room; the source of the battle.
"What the hell is going on!?" Jack asked one of the soldiers who was reloading his weapon; while using the wall next to the gate room door as a shield.
"Something came through the gate with SG-6, sir!" The soldier responded, not taking his eyes of the weapon he held.
"And you didn't notice it?!" Jack asked sarcastically after taking a quick peak at what their target was.
Inside the gate room he saw a monstrous form standing at a height of over six foot five. It's skin as black as night and it's eyes were crimson red. Huge razor sharp teeth gleamed in the light as gobs of saliva dripped from the tips. The blood soaked claws on both it's hands and feet were an inch long. It's snout was that of a dog's; except uglier.
"It had to have been invisible when it came through, sir!" The soldier replied before he quickly turned his attention back on the creature. The bullets didn't seem to have any effect on the creature except for pissing it off further.
"You know. This whole invisibility thing is really getting on my nerves." Jack said with a roll of his head.
"Sir." Sam spoke, ignoring her commanding officer's remark. Jack looked at what she was pointing at with her eyes and noticed the creature coming closer.
"Teal'c! Fire your staff weapon." Jack ordered and, with a slight head nod, Teal'c did as was ordered. He opened the end of his weapon; electricity volts flowing throughout and fired upon the beast before him. The power of the blast caused him to stumble a few feet but it didn't slow the creature down.
"Well. That's not good." Jack responded to the lack of damage his friend's weapon caused on the alien.
MEANWHILE:
The group of Angel Investigations sat impatiently in a room that looked close to an interrogation room. Hammond had excused himself to check on the wounded soldiers that were attacked by whatever was on the base. Cordelia had tried desperately to allow Angel wherever it was they weren't, but the General wouldn't budge on the matter.
"Well at least we got invited." Fred said with a hesitant smile; her attempt at brightening things up failed. Miserably, from the look she got from Cordelia. Which was a glare mixed in with a little bit of an eye-roll.
"Angel. We've got to get out of here and help. That… thing is going to kill everyone." Cordelia brought up.
"I know, Cordy. But we're kind of locked in here." Angel replied as he paced back and forth.
"And…" Cordelia waited for Angel to continue.
"And what? You want me to break the door down?" Angel asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Well. Yeah." Cordelia answered with a 'duh' look flashing across her face.
"Cordy…" Angel began but was interrupted.
"Angel. If we don't do anything all those people are going to die!" Cordelia exclaimed; her worry for the people on the base growing with each passing minute.
Angel looked back and forth between the door and Cordelia's pleaded expression. He looked over at Fred and all she gave him was a shrug of her shoulders; indicating she didn't want to be dragged into helping him decide what to do.
"Wes?" Angel asked, wanting a second opinion on the matter.
"Well, the Powers did send her that vision for a reason. You're their champion and they expect you to fight this… this evil." Wes answered; unfortunately for Angel, not the one he was looking for.
"What if they didn't just send her that vision as a way to get her inside?" Angel asked; really not liking the idea of breaking the door down.
"Oh for pet's sake! Fine, I'll get us out of here!" Cordelia exclaimed as she walked up to the door.
"Cordy…" Angel started but kept quiet as Cordelia spoke up to one of the guards.
"Excuse me, sir. Could I please get a glass of water? I am awfully thirsty." Cordelia asked in a most innocent manner through the barred window. The guard outside the door nodded his head and walked off to retrieve the water for her.
"Okay, Cordy. You get us out of here. Then what? There are bound to be more soldiers throughout this base." Angel whispered.
"One punch from you and they're out cold." Cordelia replied, not looking at the frustrated vampire. "Besides, earlier you were contemplating threatening you're way in. Now, you won't even break the door down."
"That was before we earned some trust from them." Angel argued.
"Oh, don't give me that crap." Cordelia turned around angrily in his direction. "You used to do anything it took to stop my vision from coming true, and now you won't even try. It's like all of a sudden you don't give a damn!"
"Yes, I give a damn! But none of your other visions was on a military base! Meaning if they need to, they'll shoot us down!" Angel exclaimed.
"And bullets don't even slow you down!" Cordelia argued back, her voice rising.
"But they can kill you!" Angel instantly shot back, Cordelia falling silent.
They stared into each other's eyes for a moment in silent before the turning of a key in a lock got everyone's attention.
"Are you still going through with this?" Angel asked in a whisper.
"Only if you help me." Cordelia replied.
Angel saw the door begin to open and, without much thought, ran in front of the door. He grabbed the handle and the side of the door as he quickly pulled it toward him before pushing it forward again, knocking the door hard on the guards head, knocking him out cold, the contents of the water spilling everywhere.
Angel fully opened the door only to be welcomed by the other guard, his gun aimed at Angel. Angel looked at Cordelia and back at the guard, a slight smile playing on his face. Before the guard knew what was happening; Angel had him pinned to the wall, his feet dangling in the air, and his P-90 under his chin.
"Where are they fighting that thing?" Angel asked in a non-friendly tone.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The guard gasped out as he tried helplessly to wiggle free. Angel pressed the gun a little harder to the guards throat.
"Where?!" He asked again, only a little louder.
"Four floors down, but you can't get there without a card." He quickly replied.
"Can you get there?" Angel asked.
The guard nodded as best he could with a gun under his chin. Angel quickly pulled the weapon away from him; allowing the guard to fall to the floor below.
"Go." Angel said gruffly as he motioned down the hall with the P-90.
"Now there's the Angel I remember." Cordelia retorted to Fred and got a giggle from her in return.
"Colonel!" Sam yelled as she unloaded a round of P-90 ammo in the creatures backside. The beast had grabbed Jack by the throat and held him in the air. He could feel the tips of the claws pierce his skin as the grip grew tighter.
"Carter… I… don't… think… that's… helping." Jack choked out as he tried to loosen the grip around his neck by prying his fingers between his neck and the creatures hand.
"Excuse me? Can I borrow this? Thanks." Jack heard someone unfamiliar say before he saw the creatures head get pushed forward slightly by the impact of something hitting the back of it's head. It's snout mere inches from his face now. The stench of it's breathe now unbearable. The alien snarled at Jack before dropping him to the floor. Jack recognized the man as the one he saw outside the compound earlier. He also noticed the stranger's friends were with him.
How the hell did they get down here? Jack wondered as he scooted away from the beast to sit near Carter. Once he got a clear view of the man he noticed he held Teal'c's staff weapon. Jack looked over at his friend and noticed he seemed a bit shocked that anyone would even attempt to take his weapon from him. He still had his hand in the air; as if he were holding an invisible staff weapon, except he had an open fist from when the weapon was torn from his grasp. Sam and Daniel looked just as shocked as Teal'c was.
Jack turned his attention back on the man who saved his life and watched a battle unravel before him. The man used the front of the staff as he smacked it into the face of the alien, green blood covering the walls of the hallway.
"Angel!" Jack heard the brunette with the 'vision' scream as the claws of the beast came in contact with Angel's stomach; leaving four long, deep marks in the man's flesh.
Angel looked down at his wound before looking back up at the alien. "That was my favorite shirt!" He exclaimed before turning the staff weapon in his hand, only to have it end up underneath the beast's chin; knocking it backwards. Every member of SG-1 looked shocked beyond belief. That should have at least weakened him. But yet, he seemed more worried about his shirt then his skin. The alien lunged forwards; knocking Angel on the floor and the staff weapon out of his reach. The alien started swiping his claws down on Angel; his only protection being his arms and hands.
As the only means of escape Angel grabbed it's head in his hands and just as he was about to snap it's neck he saw a splatter of green blood fly up out of it's head. He slowly looked up and noticed the staff weapon was sticking out of it's head. And at the end of the weapon was Cordelia, covered in green goop.
"Okay. That was gross." Cordelia responded as she swiped at a glob of blood that attempted to fall in her eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here!" Jack asked, furious that they were there.
"Oh, no. No thanks needed. It was our pleasure. How 'bout next time we let you die?" Cordelia responded, angry that this man wasn't even the slightest bit thankful.
"I had it under control." Jack retorted with a look of uncertainty. Sam trying hard to hide the smirk that was forming on her face as she stood behind Jack.
Angel slowly got back to his feet only to fall back down on his knees as he gripped his stomach.
"Angel!" Cordelia exclaimed as she wrapped an arm around her friend.
"We need to get him to the infirmary." Sam said as she helped Cordelia lift the wounded man off the floor.
Sam heard Jack groan as she passed him; leading Cordelia and the man who helped them defeat the alien down the hallway to be examined by Dr. Frasier.
As they entered the infirmary they noticed a few beds already occupied by soldiers who were previously injured in the battle against the hideous alien. Dr. Frasier was standing in the middle of the infirmary talking over with General Hammond about her patients conditions; stopping mid-sentence when she saw a strange man being dragged in by Sam and a brunette she didn't recognize.
"Oh, my god!" Dr. Frasier exclaimed as she ran over to mend the wounds the man had acquired.
Sam and Cordelia were instructed to lay him down on a bed so he could be treated properly. Cordelia looked up at Sam after lying her friend down and she could have sworn she saw worry in the woman's eyes. Cordelia backed up out of the doctor's way to stand by Fred and Wesley.
"Is this really a good idea?" Cordelia whispered to Wesley who stood behind her.
"There's not much we can do, Cordy." Wesley answered.
"But as soon as she looks at his wounds, she's going to get suspicious of him." Cordelia whispered back. She noticed Daniel looking at her and she quickly smiled at him; hoping he wasn't suspicious of them already. She learned from experience how difficult it was to help someone when they were suspicious of her intentions. Daniel slowly looked away from her; his forehead wrinkling in confusion.
"This can't be." Dr. Frasier spoke once she looked at the gashes on Angel's stomach.
"Told ya." Cordy directed at Wesley.
"Dr. Frasier?" Hammond asked; wondering what she was disturbed about.
"His wounds. They're already healed, sir." She announced and everyone's heads turned toward Cordelia and her group.
"I'm guessing you want an explanation." Cordelia laughed hesitantly; not really sure what to tell them at this point. If they weren't believing her for having visions then there was absolutely no way they were going to believe Angel was a vampire. Unless he put his game face on.
"Ya think?" Jack retorted; if she had a nickel for every time his sarcastic side came out, she would be rich by now. Cordelia thought as she glared at the Colonel with her arms crossed.
"Colonel." The General said strictly toward Jack.
"Sorry… sir." Jack apologized slowly; but deep down he didn't really mean it. These people, whoever they were, were really starting to get on his nerves.
"Okay. I guess an explanation is only fair." Cordelia replied as she walked up to the bed where Angel was now sitting up with Dr. Frasier still examining his wounds.
"My friend, Angel, here. He's well… he's a real quick healer." Cordelia said; stating the obvious.
"We sort of noticed that. But it's physically impossible for a human to heal so fast." Sam responded as her forehead crinkled in confusion.
"Who says I'm human." Angel spoke up as he slowly raised his head to look everyone in the eye. Daniel shivered as Angel's eyes pierced his.
"What are you saying… exactly?" Jack asked, becoming extremely cautious of the strangers before him.
"We're not saying anything." Wesley spoke up as he slowly walked forward.
"Well, somebody had better say something." Hammond said in a frustrated tone flowing through his voice.
"You wouldn't believe what we told you anyway." Cordelia replied as she brushed a strand of loose hair behind her left ear.
"First I think we need to discuss how you got out of that room." Hammond announced.
"Got out? You make it sound like we're some kind of lab rats for you or something." Cordelia replied angrily.
"Not at all. I just couldn't allow you to wander the base freely." Hammond explained.
"Again. Lab rats." Cordelia stated simply as she crossed her arms in front of her chest while looking away from the General.
"Sir. Maybe it'd be best if we all just sat down and explained both stories." Sam suggested.
"Agreed." General Hammond nodded his head as he walked out of the infirmary.
"I guess we should follow." Jack said as he turned to follow Hammond.
The rest of SG-1 followed their Commanding Officer with the gang of Angel Investigations in tow.
"Uh, I'd rather have Mr. Angel stay here so I can examine him a little more." Dr. Frasier spoke when she saw Angel getting off the bed. Cordelia stopped at the door only to walk back to Angel.
"Two words doctor." Cordelia said as she wrapped her hand around Angel's upper arm. Dr. Frasier tilted her head slightly with a confused expression on her face as she awaited Cordelia's elaboration."Lab rat." Cordelia finished with a whisper before dragging Angel out the door with her. Once everyone was seated in the briefing room General Hammond looked at SG-1, then over at Angel Investigations.
"I am going to start with explaining things here, only because you've already done so. Even if it was just a small amount." Hammond started; noticing, but deciding to ignore, Jack's impatient look.
"I'm sure you all have already noticed the Stargate."