Title: Four Hours till Midnight
Author: Feline Feral
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I have no claim to the Stargate Sg-1 characters. This is for entertainment purposes only and no profit was made. Please don't sue.
Notes: Written in response to the Jaffa, Java and P90's 2005 Halloween Challenge
Summary: Sg-1 discovers that the strangest things can happen in four hours. They find out that it's more than the kiddies that come out to play on Halloween. J/D slash
Four Hours till Midnight.
It was only 8 o'clock but the silence in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex was astounding. The base closely resembled a ghost town, most of the people having gone home to celebrate Halloween. Everyone left on base was left doing paper work or cleaning up after the Halloween party.
The commissary looked as if a bomb had gone off. Orange and black streamers hung off the ceiling, with fake spider webs in their midst. Paper plates and plastic cups covered any spare surface in the room. The food or liquid that had been contained on or in them was everywhere.
The room was dark with the orange lights and jack-o-lanterns providing minimal light. Unbelievably realistic skeletons sat in the corners of the room. All in all the party looked like it had been a success, which it had been.
Unfortunately that didn't bode well for the group of four that had been elected for clean up duty. Each party, as per tradition involved a draw to find out which team would plan it and which one would clean it up. The draw for clean up was always held during the party so no one could back out. This year the clean up fell into the capable hands of SG-1 and they were not happy about it.
As Jack slowly shoved paper plates into a garbage bag he looked over to Daniel. "This is all your fault, you know."
Daniel stopped what he was doing by one of the skeletons. "How is it my fault?"
"You picked us out of the container."
Sam looked at Jack incredulously. "You can't honestly be blaming that on him. I mean do you know the chances involved with that draw?"
Jack looked over to Sam. "No I don't and I don't want to."
"You never answered SamanthaCarter's question O'Neill." Teal'c said as he fiddled with his costume.
The group hadn't changed out of their costumes yet. They had been planning to go out after the party but then they had gotten chosen to clean up.
Daniel made his way to the door while Jack tried to explain stuff to Teal'c.
"Where are you going?" Sam called out to him.
Looking back Daniel said. "To change, I can't clean in these. I can barely move." He motioned to the leather pants Jack had talked him into wearing.
Jack was at his side in an instant. Daniel blinked. "Yes Jack?"
"Nothing, I'll go with you. Don't want this stuff to get dirty." Jack was wearing a pair of scrubs from the infirmary.
Daniel snorted and they could both hear Sam and surprisingly Teal'c laughing. Jack's excuse was pathetic. "Whatever you say, Jack." He turned and left.
'What?" Jack looked to Sam and Teal'c questioningly. "It's true. Janet would kill me."
Teal'c shook his head. "I believe JanetFraiser said you could keep those so it does not matter."
"Thanks for the help." Jack said dryly and then went off to catch up with Daniel.
He found Daniel pulling on a pair of jeans in the locker room. Walking up behind him he said. "Drats and here I was hoping I could offer some assistance." Jack kissed Daniel's neck while wrapping his arms around the younger man.
Daniel snorted. "Is that all you can think about?" He pulled away form Jack and turned to face him.
Jack got defensive. "No…well not all the time. Only, especially when you're wearing those pants."
Daniel blushed but before he could say anything the claxons went off. The two stared at each other for a moment before taking off to the control room.
When they arrived they found Teal'c, Sam and General Hammond already there. Sam was clacking away at the keyboard. After a few minutes she looked toward General Hammond.
"I don't know what happened, sir. Everything seems fine. I doubt the gate was even activated."
General Hammond sighed. "Alright, people keep alert. Doctor Jackson if you would come with me we will check the security footage."
Confused Daniel only nodded and followed General Hammond. To him it would have made more sense to take Jack or maybe Teal'c not him.
"Sir, where are we going?" Daniel asked when he noticed that General Hammond was leading away from both the others and the room where they could view the security footage.
General Hammond didn't answer instead he brought Daniel back into the commissary where he then locked the doors.
"Uh, General Hammond what is going on?" Daniel asked, instinctively backing away from the man.
A malicious smile fell upon the General's face. Quietly and yet perfectly clear he said. "Your death."
Daniel stuttered. "Ex- excuse me?"
"You heard me. I want you dead."
"W-why?" Daniel asked as he moved farther back.
"Because it's my job." The General took two steps forward and then he was gone. In his place stood someone…something Daniel immediately recognized.
Dress in a long black robe with the hood up stood the Grin Reaper. Daniel swallowed slowly as the creature advanced upon him, sickle in hand. The creature was one level above skeleton. What was left of its skin was decayed and hanging off the bones. Maggots crawled over all parts and the robe stank of death. The most disturbing thing was the face. There was almost no skin left there and it was the most populated area for bugs. In place of the eyes were red dots of fire. The face bore a permanent smile as all the flesh that made the mouth was gone.
"Grim Reaper?" Daniel asked in disbelief. "That's so beyond cliché. The Grim Reaper on Halloween…gee never expected that." Daniel winced at his sarcasm. He had no control over it anymore. That came from spending way too much time with Jack O'Neill, not that that was a bad thing.
"I don't really care. Today's the one day of the year I get to choose who dies and I choose you." The Grim Reaper swung the sickle at Daniel's head.
Daniel ducked and moved away from the creature, trying to put as much as he could between them. "Why? I mean why me?"
The Grim Reaper shrugged. "Why not you?" He moved closer and closer to Daniel, sickle raised high.
Jack, Sam and Teal'c looked at each other silently. It had been a while since the General and Daniel left and they still hadn't figured out what was going on.
No one spoke for a while but when someone did it was Sam. "It was a false alarm, sir. It's got to be. The gate is showing no evidence of being activated."
Before Jack could respond Teal'c spoke. "Should GeneralHammond and DanielJackson not have returned by now?"
Without responding Jack lean over Sam and hit the microphone. "General Hammond?" He said into it and then waited. When there was no response he looked to Sam and Teal'c. "Let's go."
The group started to exit the control room but as they reached the door they heard crashing from upstairs. Without a word the three ran up the spiraling stairs and into the conference room, all ignoring the fact that they had no weapons. The sight before them both shocked and confused them. General George Hammond was picking himself off the ground.
"Sir?" Sam said cautiously as she moved toward a hidden weapon.
General Hammond looked up. "Major Carter? What is going on here?" He demanded.
"We were going to ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be with Daniel?" Jack asked as he watched the General move around the table.
"Why would I be with Doctor Jackson? You four should be cleaning up the commissary."
Teal'c's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you not hear the alarm? Do you not remember talking with us in the control room?"
George Hammond looked at the three in front of him in confusion. "No the last thing I remember is working on paper work and hearing a noise. Where is Doctor Jackson?"
Jack didn't say anything as he suddenly bolted from the room. The meter for measuring how much danger Daniel as in was suddenly going haywire. The others looked at his retreating for with raised eyebrows before following him.
By the time Jack stopped running he was standing in front of the commissary. Leaning against the wall to catch his breath Jack waited for the others to catch up.
When they did it was Teal'c that spoke. "What is wrong O'Neill?"
Jack shook his head. He really didn't know. He just had a really bad feeling. Looking into the window in the door Jack's eyes widened and he tried to open the door. The doors were locked though so all they did was rattled on their hinges.
"Colonel?" General Hammond asked.
Silently Jack moved out of the way and the others looked through the window. As soon as Sam saw into the window she tried to use her pass card to unlock the door but it didn't work.
They all watched helplessly as Daniel ducked under the swinging sickle. He had blood on his cheek and on his arms and shirt revealing that he hadn't quite managed to avoid it every time. As Daniel tripped over a garbage bag a thought came to Sam.
"Would anyone happen to have a container or something on them?" She asked while pulling stuff out of her costume pockets.
Sam had been a mad scientist so her white coat and pants had been stuffed with various chemical containers. Why? Simply because she had felt like it.
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy and Jack made to respond. Before he could however Teal'c spoke. "Will this work Major Carter?" He asked holding out an orange balloon.
"It'll do." Sam said as she grabbed it.
Everyone watched incredulously as she blew some air into it and added some of the chemicals. Tying the balloon off Sam looked at everyone. "Back up."
When they complied she whipped the orange balloon at the door. As soon as it hit the door it exploded. When the smoke cleared they could see one of the doors lying on the floor.
"Sweet." Jack said before barging into the commissary. Sam only gave a small smile and followed him in with the general and Teal'c behind her.
The Grim Reaper stopped and stared at the door when he heard the explosion. When he saw Jack come storming in he turned to Daniel. "You got lucky, very lucky. Never doubt that." Then he was gone in a puff of black smoke.
Daniel sighed in relief and collapsed to the floor. He saw Jack crouch beside him and he looked at Jack. "What the hell took you so long?"
Jack snorted. "Well I see your sense of humour hasn't been affected. Are you okay?" Jack gently touched a cut on Daniel's cheek.
Daniel winced and leaned against Jack. "I am now."
General Hammond cleared his throat and the two men separated. "Doctor Jackson, would you mind explaining what exactly happened here?"
"Someone wanted to kill me and they may have done just that if you guys hadn't gotten here when you did." Daniel said simply while trying to move away from Sam who was attempting to put antiseptic on the cuts he had.
"We could see that son but who?" The General said.
Jack, who had taken the antiseptic from Sam, gently cleaned the cut Daniel bore on his cheek and applied a bandage. Daniel winced and shifted slightly.
"The Grin Reaper."
Before anyone could ask if he was serious the claxons went off again. Everyone looked at each other and sighed before making their way back to the control room. Hoping nothing would be wrong or the problem would be easily remedied.
When they got there they felt their stomachs drop. The gate was open and the guards were on the floor unconscious.
"Major Carter shut it down." The General called before telling anyone left on base to be on high alert.
Sam nodded and shut it down. She was a little surprised at how easily it shut down. 'What now?" She asked. They had no idea what, if anything had come through.
"We go to the armoury and then do a base sweep." The General said.
Together the group of five made their way quickly to the armoury. When they reached it Jack handed out the weapons. He gave Teal'c a staff weapon and Sam, Daniel, General Hammond and himself got a P90. Just as the they exited the armoury the lights went out plunging them into pit blackness.
"Crap." Jack said.
"Understatement." Daniel muttered.
They both got a glare from the General and shut up. Using the lights on their P90's the group slowly made their way down the hall. They didn't get very far before a cackling laugh was heard over the P.A system. The group froze and waited to see if there was more…there was.
"Hello Sg-1. You know, you really should have more security around here."
Four people tightened their grips on their weapons and took in a sharp breath. "Ba'al." They whispered.
"He must have been what came through the gate." Sam said.
"I'm waiting for you." Ba'al's voice filled the hall. "All you have to do is find me. If not it's simple you all die." Then there was nothing but silence.
"Let's start with the control room." General Hammond said.
The other four nodded and they began moving down the hallway again. When they reached the control room it was empty.
"Figures it couldn't be this easy." Jack said as they went to check the conference room and George's office.
"Indeed." Teal'c replied.
When those rooms and the gate room were cleared they made their way through the rest of the base. The group quickly became on edge.
The base was completely deserted, everyone seemed to have disappeared. The personnel were gone and they hadn't seen even the slightest evidence of Ba'al.
As they went down the final hallway everyone was on high alert. A blast from a staff weapon suddenly went flying past them and the group slammed themselves against the walls.
Ten Jaffa marched down the halls firing staff weapons and zats at the group. Teal'c took out 3 of the Jaffas with well aimed blasts and Daniel nailed another 2 with a spray of bullets. General Hammond managed to take one out before one of the worst things that could happen happened – his gun jammed.
Jack took out 3 before taking a zat blast. Groaning in pain Jack dropped his P90 and fell to the ground. As Sam took out the last Jaffa Daniel made his way over to Jack.
Jack was slowly getting off the ground. "Ow, man I hate those things."
"Today's just not our day." Daniel said as he stood beside Jack and held him tightly around the waist until he was sure Jack could stand on his own.
"It would seem so." Jack said wishing he could be at home right now watching the Simpson's Halloween special cuddled up with Daniel.
"Ba'al must be in the commissary, sir." Sam said to Jack.
As Jack picked up his P90 he said. "That does seem like the place to be today."
The group, thankfully without any further resistance made their way to the commissary. As soon as they reached the doors, one of which that was still lying on the floor Ba'al laughed.
"Took you long enough to find me. Please come in."
At the General's nod they slowly entered the commissary. They found Ba'al sitting nonchalantly in a chair facing the door.
Looking around Jack saw no Jaffa. "What do you want Ball?" He asked, tightening his grip on his P90.
"You're world, you as my slaves. Take your pick." Ba'al said indifferently.
"Uh, how about neither?" Jack said.
"That is not a choice." Ba'al said angrily.
"O'Neill." Teal'c called out.
"Yeah T?"
"What is on his face?"
Looking closely at Ba'al, Jack smiled. "Looks like Ball's got himself some warts. You should try burying some potatoes."
Ba'al's eyes flashed yellow. "Impudence! I gave you a choice but you ignored it. Now I will make my own."
Daniel spoke as he moved around one side of Ba'al. "Let me guess our deaths?"
"I don't know Daniel that's kind of obvious don't you think?" Sam said moving down Ba'al's other side.
"Silence!" Ba'al yelled standing up. "You will die!" He ripped a table cloth off a table revealing a bomb underneath.
"I knew it." Jack mumbled.
General Hammond's eyebrows rose. "You knew there was a bomb?"
"No, that when the black cat crossed my path this morning it wasn't going to be a good day."
Before anyone could reply the bomb exploded. Everyone tried in vain to protect themselves. The room filled with a bright light and when it retreated Ba'al was gone but everything was as it had been moments before.
"What the…" Daniel started.
Teal'c' s eyebrows rose incredibly high. "Indeed."
"Is this what you go through all the time?" General Hammond asked.
"Uh sometimes, sir." Jack said then turned to Sam. "What the hell happened?"
"I have no idea." She replied as she turned in a circle taking in the room.
Suddenly a clock struck midnight and began chiming. The entire group jumped and looked around warily. There were no chiming clocks in the SGC so the group was trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.
Daniel noticed something as he looked around. "Guys…where are the skeletons?"
Everyone looked at each other and around the room. Teal'c griped his staff weapon tightly and the others put a new clip in their P90's and pulled off the safety.
Standing in a tight circle with their weapons raised the group waited. Scraping and creaking sounds filled the air as multiple skeletons crept out of the shadows advancing on the group.
Well that's the end. Hope you enjoyed it. Happy Halloween everyone!