Title: As the 'Gate Turns: Catalyst
Author: Annerb
Rating: Not for the kiddies! Language, violence, torture and implied non-con
Summary: Someone should have told him that it isn't wise to wake sleeping giants.
Classifications: Series, Drama, Action
Season: Mid-season 8, up through End Game (AU from there)
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Author's Note: Short, but nasty. What did we really think would happen to a Goa'uld captive? This bit isn't very pleasant, but it feeds into later plots. Oh, and sorry for my new cliffhanger obsession, but I told you there was one big twist left! This part is dedicated to Lauren and her Goa'uld obsession. :)

Feedback: Always appreciated!

Part 17: Catalyst

Haley woke to find herself surrounded by humming, white light. She stretched her hands out experimentally to feel walls on all sides, pressing close into her body. She was trapped, encased. She fought the panic threatening to rise in her throat and forced herself to take slow, even breaths. Closing her eyes, she imagined the wide stretching sands of a beach and the endless open waters of an ocean.

Just as her mind finally began to calm, the humming abruptly stopped. The grinding sound of rock sliding against rock broke through her mental image. She kept her eyes tightly closed, briefly submitting to the childish whim that if she couldn't see it, it didn't exist.

"Ahh…Look what you've done to yourself!" exclaimed a chillingly familiar voice.

Haley's eyes flew open; focusing on a pair of elegantly manicured hands reaching over the edge of what Haley suddenly realized was a sarcophagus. Oh god, how had she ended up back here? It must be a dream.

She didn't realize she had spoken out loud until Enki answered her in his disturbingly cheerful voice. "Oh, my dear, you tried to make a fool of Baal. Don't you remember?"

One hand left the edge and lifted slowly to Enki's face. Haley couldn't help but follow its path. She gasped when she saw Enki's face. He had always been handsome in a boyish sort of way. Intelligence sparkled from brown eyes and his golden hair fell in soft, careless waves. Enki wasn't nearly as vain as most Goa'uld, but he knew that his host had charm.

But now, as Haley followed the trajectory of that one fine hand, she saw that it trembled gently as it reached his face. It carefully caressed a rough crevice that had once been the home to one of his brown eyes.

"It is not wise to make Baal angry," he intoned, all of his previous merriment gone. "It was because of you, you know. He had to punish me for letting you escape through the Chappa'ai."

All Haley could think was that this can't really be happening.

Enki then laughed heartily and smiled, causing his scar to stretch and twitch grotesquely. "But let's not dwell on that, okay? You're back now, where you belong." Then he tsked at her and reached out to touch her cheek. Haley automatically flinched away from his touch. "Look what you've done to your beautiful face…"

Enki passed Haley a small hand mirror and she could see what he was talking about. A rough scar reached across her neck and onto the lower part of her cheek. "Too much damage for it to heal completely," he admonished again.

Memories quickly assaulted Haley as she stared at her ravaged face. Jacob and Daniel, backing into the Stargate. Terror, determination and a little bit of pride mixing in her gut. Her finger pressing on a small trigger. And then, rather than the expected nothingness, a massive explosion near her ear. The weapon had backfired. She had been dead then, she was almost certain. But they had brought her back.

Haley shut her eyes and tried to quell her rising terror. No one even knew she was here, they must believe her to be dead. Now the one thing she had worked so hard against had come true, she was in the hands of the Goa'uld once more. And this time, there was no escape.

In the distance, Haley could hear Enki continuing to prattle on brightly, as if they were long separated friends. "…he was so mad! Your little bomb also took out a good amount of his guard, something else you will have to pay for…"

Hands came and forced her to step out of the sarcophagus. She stumbled slightly and Enki took hold of her arm. "I'm sorry I can't protect you from this, my pet. You really shouldn't have tried to cross him."

Two Jaffa stepped forward to escort Haley to see Baal, she presumed.

"You'll survive, my sweet," Enki said as she was taken away. "You always survive."

Haley could only hope that he was wrong.

But survive, Haley did. She made a conscious effort to fade out, to ignore what was being done to her body. Knives pierced her flesh, acid ate her skin and pain sticks prodded her relentlessly. The days blurred into weeks, until they no longer meant anything. The humming white light of the sarcophagus was the only marker of passing time. One death, two death, three death, four.

The sarcophagus was beginning to affect her mind, but Haley just built a wall in her head and began stuffing all the things she could never tell Baal behind it. It was only after she had lost count of her deaths that she realized that he had never even asked her a question.

Shortly later, the torture suddenly stopped, only to be replaced by something worse. Enki was back, his voice jovial and worshipful as he asked her to share her secrets. Haley shut him out, refusing to speak. He just smiled softly at her, his eyes full of admiration that made her stomach clench.

He was careful to never leave any marks. He didn't want to damage his 'masterpiece,' his ultimate creation. He whispered of her endless potential, greatness that she still had left to achieve. She tried to ignore his hands on her skin and his breath harsh in her ear. He always sighed and called her 'my pet' with wistful reverence.

Then one day Baal was back, ending what he called Enki's 'playtime.' Haley only resurfaced long enough to stare in horror at an ornate urn and scream in agony as her body was invaded.

Haley quickly discovered that she could hole herself away in a small corner of her mind that Anat seemed incapable of reaching. Haley carefully hoarded her secrets there, even as Anat continued to slowly chip away at her defenses. Anat plied Baal with their body, trying to keep him from noticing that she was in a constant battle to subdue her host. Haley could feel her fear, that Baal might not deem her worthy of this 'special' host.

Then one day her family was there, kneeling at her feet. The thought of them seeing her like this made her sick. 'Please,' she begged, 'please don't show them my face.'

She could feel Anat's pleasure in ignoring her plea. 'Don't you want them to know you live still?'

As her mother's eyes widened with shock, Haley pulled quietly back into her corner, silently weeping.

When next she dared emerge from her self-imposed exile, Haley felt the cold metal of a knife in their palm. Another nightmare hovered before her. Haley could see the horror in Jack's face as he hung from the wall in front of her. But in his eyes, he was offering her atonement. She could read his forgiveness there.

Haley refused to release the knife, she refused to simply retreat again. 'No! I won't do it!'

'Why do you struggle so strongly, human?' Haley could feel Anat digging into her mind, curious as to her attachment to Jack. Haley couldn't let her know, she couldn't allow her admission to her vault of information. She focused solely on her fortified walls, denying Anat access.

Baal's impatient drawl distracted Anat from her goal. Haley pulled their arm down and she could feel Anat trying to divert Baal. She didn't want him to know that she struggled with her host. Haley tried to ignore the feel of Baal's hands on their flesh. But then his voice was whispering in their ear. "…my pet."

In that moment, something snapped. Haley had been hanging by a thread for so long, fighting Anat with everything she had. But asking her to kill her father and to submit, even now, to Baal, it was too much.

Mentally, she launched herself at Anat, tearing down all of the walls. Haley felt Anat quail in fear before her rage and then her body was shifting and Baal's blood was flowing over her hands. All Haley could think was that he deserved this and worse. Memories danced around in her head. Baal torturing Jack, ripping Haley from her mother's womb and a thousand other nameless atrocities. His hands, carving his name into her flesh.

Haley could hear herself taunting him, reveling in his obvious fear and confusion. He was demanding to know why. And so she whispered gently in his ear, "You know what I am, Baal. You have given vengeance form; you have woken the nameless menace. I will cleanse this galaxy with blood and flame, starting with you." Even as she said it, she knew it was true. The trembling in his shoulders increased as she spoke, the air full of the metallic tang of his blood.

She sat back on her heels and offered one final taunt, "Bet we're wishing we had taken the rules a bit more seriously now, aren't we, brother." She then leaned in close and offered him the soft benediction of a kiss before feeling the snap of his neck against her palm.

The flush of vengeance began to slightly fade and Haley stared in horror at what she had done. Jack called her name, but she can barely hear him. 'What have I done?' Anat took advantage of her stunned motionlessness to wrench control of their body back.

But Haley was still bewildered, now feeling Anat's revulsion and confusion alongside her own. With her carefully built walls now in disarray, memories, voices and feelings wandered vicariously through their mind. Haley tried to suppress them, not wanting to let Anat see them.

But Enki's disembodied voice whispered to her. 'My greatest creation. You still don't understand your role. Your potential is still untapped.' His voice haunted her. She was unable to stop the words, unaware of time passing, until she felt Anat trying to kill Daniel.

'Please, not Daniel,' she begged.

'You have forced my hand. Their blood is on your hands, not mine,' Anat snapped back, her fury a bright flame in their mind.

'I won't let you do this,' Haley bit back, feeling her own anger rising in response.

But Anat just laughed, "Nothing of the host remains."

Haley launched herself at Anat once more, pushing aside her fear. She had to save Daniel, at any cost. But the rage was building again in response, sweeping Haley along with it. She was aware of the need to destroy him, even as she tried to save him. She had become a monster.

"Kill me," she begged, but they do not seem to hear her.

Enki was there again, inside her head. His voice whispering. His feelings flowing over her. 'This is what you are meant to be, my pet. This is who you are.'

'No,' she thought weakly, but the voices only grew more insistent. The memories continued to compound in her mind. So much death, so much pain. And underneath it all, a growing fury.

'Don't fight it, my child. It is your fate.'

'I know,' Haley sighed mournfully before the waters of her rage rose over her head and swept her away.

Enki's voice was her constant companion through the chaos, finally making a command that she could not ignore: 'Now, wake up!'

Haley's eyes snapped open and her arm automatically rose to efficiently stop the downward momentum of the knife towards her chest. The wide eyes of her attacker betrayed his surprise and she felt her lips curve into an answering smile.

'This is who I am,' she thought. No more running, no more struggle. An easy flick of her wrist and the man screamed, nearly obscuring the satisfying, delicate sound of his bones snapping.

"You should have killed me while you had the chance," she remarked darkly.

With ease, she quickly reversed their positions. Now she stood tall over her attacker, knife pressed to his throat. She felt a thrill of pleasure at his obvious fear. "You should have made sure I never survived the removal of the symbiote, but you let your host's humanity get in the way. A weakness you will live only long enough to regret, I promise you."

Haley rustled through his clothes and pulled out the stolen security card. Her captive's eyes darted quickly between the partially ajar door and her face. She smiled wider. "But for now, I just want to thank you for giving me a way out."

Her fist smashed into her grandfather's face with a satisfying crunch, and then she was gone.

Everything flowed through her head with ease as she walked the halls of the SGC. She had but to think of something and the knowledge was there, waiting for her. Memories shuffled orderly into place. Her body responded to the merest trace of a thought, moving quicker than she would have thought possible. She was finally at equilibrium, everything in its place. All walls were down and the path lay clear at her feet.

This time, she didn't pause at the threshold of the wormhole, not even when he called her name.