Naturally, the moment he felt himself dissolving the first thing Jack O'Neill thought of was Thor. No one else he knew could just make folks vanish into thin air – and Thor seemed to take an innocently malicious glee in snatching people out of the very worst places. While Jack had been fairly certain the hallway had been deserted, he wasn't sure of it, and even as he was rematerializing the first thing he felt was irritation at just how flippant the damned Asgard were getting.
They materialized in a small room – not the bridge of Thor's ship as Jack had anticipated. It was about 12 foot by 12 foot, and there were no windows, just a door. It didn't really look like a cell, but that was the first thing Jack thought of when he saw where they were.
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
She and the others were looking around as well, but none of them had bothered to move.
"Did we have an appointment I forgot about?"
"No, sir."
"I didn't think so." He scowled and looked around the room. "Thor!"
The door opened almost immediately, but it wasn't a little gray alien that walked in. It was a man. Dressed in black, he was lean but hardly athletic, tall and had a look of supreriority on his pale long face that made Jack dislike him immediately. Of course, that honestly didn't take all that much, anyways, really.
"No, Colonel O'Neill. Not Thor," he said. His voice was silky and low, almost seductive – if not for the sneer on his face and the arrogance in his voice. "Whoever that is…"
"Carter?"
She knew what he was asking immediately, and Sam hesitated for a moment, concentrating.
"He's not Goa'uld, sir."
Well that was good. He supposed.
"Silence," the man said, his voice still smooth. He walked over towards Jack, and smiled, but it wasn't a friendly smile, and Jack didn't respond likewise. "So this is the famous Colonel Jack O'Neill…"
Jack folded his arms across his chest.
"I wouldn't say famous…"
The man ignored him, and looked over at Sam.
"Major Samantha Carter…"
Sam didn't reply, either, but the man wasn't even looking at her any more.
"Doctor Daniel Jackson and the big unknown named Teal'c."
"So… you read the guest book at the hotel," Jack said, sarcastically. "Congratulations."
Of course, Teal'c wasn't signed in under Teal'c, so he hadn't read the guest book at the hotel for his information, but Jack didn't care. It was a way to get the man talking so they could figure out what he wanted, where they were, and how they were going to get back.
The man sneered again.
"My Master knows who you are…"
"Yeah? Hear that, guys? We are famous. They'll be putting us on a Wheaties box any day now."
Sam smiled, and the arrogance on the stranger's face faded into irritation and outright anger – although he was obviously trying to hide the fact that O'Neill was annoying him.
Jack knew that people who took themselves so seriously hated to be mocked – one of the reasons he did it so often. This guy was obviously no exception.
"My Master wants to speak with you, Colonel O'Neill…"
"Well… who is he? Maybe we've already spoken and he just didn't pass the word on to you…"
"We do not speak his name." The sneer was back.
"Must be pretty hard to call him up, then."
The pale face turned a little red, and again the sneer gave way to poorly hidden anger. This was a man who was not used to people making fun of him.
"You will soon come to fear his name, Mudblood."
Sam and Teal'c both frowned, but Jack wasn't looking at them and didn't see it. He was still in the middle of annoying their host.
"How can I fear a name if you don't speak it, sport?" He didn't give the man time to answer – not that he expected an answer. "I'll tell you what. Why don't we start with an easy question? Why not tell me your name? Then we can work our way up to your boss's."
Obviously trying to regain the upper hand, the man smiled, and it would have been a cold smile if he hadn't looked so angry.
"I didn't introduce myself? How rude of me. Lucious Malfoy."
"Lucious Malfoy?" Sam repeated, with a note of scorn and surprise in her voice. Jack turned to her.
"You know him?"
"He doesn't exist, sir," Sam said, looking from Malfoy to O'Neill. "He's a character in a book."
Jack reached out a finger and poked Malfoy before he realized what was happening.
"Don't touch me you filthy-"
"He feels pretty real," Jack said, ignoring the sputtering of the indignant stranger.
"He's a character out of the Harry Potter books, sir."
"Oh for crying out…" Heartily sick and tired of anything Harry Potter related, Jack looked over at the now very red Malfoy, who was obviously trying to figure out how he'd lost control of things. "Why don't you grow up?"
The man raised up the walking stick he'd been carrying, and pointed it at O'Neill, his face filled with fury.
"You need to learn some manners, Mudblood. I'll sta-"
Before he could finish, he suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, and his eyes rolled up in his head. Without a sound he crumbled to the floor. Jack had been watching Malfoy, who had had all his attention on O'Neill and Carter and hadn't been watching Teal'c, who had suddenly lashed out and knocked the man senseless with a single blow to the side of the head. The walking stick clattered to the floor as well, and Jack reached out with his foot and kicked it away from the now still form.
He looked at Teal'c.
"Thanks."
"You are welcome, O'Neill."
Daniel looked around, frowning. Certain things were definitely not adding up, but this wasn't the place to discuss them.
"Now what?" He asked.
Jack wished adamantly that he had a weapon, and lacking a gun, he reached down and picked up the walking stick Malfoy had pointed at him.
"Now we find out what the hell's going on." He said, heading for the door.
