O'Neill Interrupted – an interlude. Part 6
At first it seemed to Jack that his interrogation would go along the standard lines. The usual high table, the straps – except in this case there was the interesting, but not unique, addition of a yoke across his neck which also held his hands securely in place, and the normal gloating attendants standing in the wings to observe.
Things started to go south when Herak brought out a spiky metal ball, holding it extended on the palm of his right hand so Jack could get a good look at it.
"We have recently used this on Jonas Quinn, with great success. My Lord Anubis was very pleased with the information we obtained from him."
Jonas? Jonas had been here? And recently? Jack tried to get his head around the information. Where was Jonas now and what about Teal'c and Carter? Had they been captured as well?
He knew better than to ask. He closed his eyes, fighting the sudden urge to struggle.
"I see you are ready, Colonel O'Neill. Good." Jack didn't need to look to recognise the echoing tones of the Goa'uld.
He felt, rather than saw, the snake approach, that weird hair rising on the back of the neck sensation growing as the seconds stretched on.
When it happened, it took him by surprise even though he had been expecting it. There was a sudden, sharp pressure against his skull then pain as the thing burrowed into his brain. He couldn't tell where the entry point was as agony engulfed his entire head. It moved quickly, tentacles seeming to reach down deep inside him, inching their way through his thoughts.
Jack could hear himself whimpering, a soft, low sound that did little to alleviate his distress, but he couldn't help it.
"The pain is severe, I have been told - a rather pleasing side-effect of the device. But you can end it swiftly by not fighting. Show me what I need to know and you can return to your cell. There is food waiting for you already."
"Peto Abyssus."
Anubis laughed, and Jack felt his breath against his cheek as he leaned closer and spoke softly into his ear.
"The only one going to Hell is you, Colonel. In fact, you are already there."
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Jack had never thought he would be happy to see a cell, but when he was tossed back through the door, he could only feel relief.
He rubbed at his neck, cringing at the stabbing pain that shot down and sent his spine spasming. The nasty metal ball was still imbedded somewhere inside his head, ready for the next session. Herak had taken great delight in telling him that when he had finally regained consciousness.
And all for what? The questions had seemed random and often quite meaningless. Anubis had wanted gate addresses – where the Alpha site had been moved to, the planets the Tok'ra used, planets with Ancient technology. That last one seemed of special interest.
Jack had resisted, feeling the snake pushing into his thoughts. He had tried to keep his Ancient knowledge from the Goa'uld at all costs, mentally spitting out gate addresses at random as a distraction. For once his ability to forget the details of missions and briefings unless important, was an advantage as he regurgitated the symbols without any actual information. At last the barrage of information had been too much and the Goa'uld had called a halt to the proceedings, with a promise of more to come.
Jack crawled his way to the bowl sitting in the center of the room, seeing Anubis had not been lying when he had said he had ordered food for him.
Food for his pet Tau'ri.
Jack took a few bites of the soft bread and promptly threw up.
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"This time we shall try something different, Colonel." Anubis stretched out a gloved hand and patted him gently on the shoulder. Jack couldn't help flinching. "You have done well." Another pat. "I am pleased. Already my men are investigating the planets you have given me, so we shall move on."
Jack could do nothing but shake his head. He was ill-prepared for another interrogation so soon after the last. If Anubis found out about the information Jack held in his brain, he would use it to destroy everything that stood in his path to total domination, including Earth.
"Tell me about yourself, Colonel. Tell me a little of your life at the SGC. What led you to be alone on the planet where you were captured?"
For a second an image of the alien ship flashed through Jack's brain, and he panicked, replacing it with the first thing that came into his head – with his strongest memory.
Charlie lay on the floor of the master bedroom, the hole in his chest pouring blood. Jack knelt beside him, sure his own heart would stop at any moment.
Sorrow engulfed him.
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Anubis had his memories. He had seen his most private moments of grief and had twisted them, taunting him as being weak and not worthy to be called a warrior. He had laughed as Jack cried silently, tears running down his face and on to the hard metal table. Jack couldn't even wipe them away.
Now, back once more in his cell, he scrubbed at his face in a futile attempt to hide the evidence of his weakness.
He had hidden the Ancient knowledge within him from the snake, but at what cost?
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The now regular meals were a means of working out the passing of time. Once a day they arrived, now in proper plates or bowls. Every two or three days Jack was taken back to the torture room and played with. And every three or four days he managed to keep some food down.
When asked about his use of Ancient – something that was happening more and more often as his will-power was eroded – he dredged up memories of his childhood that were so detailed he surprised even himself - Father Dooley, snapping the wooden ruler at any boy who couldn't repeat the declensions immediately when he shouted out a question, even in the middle of a science lesson. Jack's knuckles still had the scars, but it was amazing how much he had actually retained. It had come in handy when he and Teal'c had done the translation during the time loop. And he remembered his mother's pride when he received the school prize for Latin – a subject he had seen as totally pointless and a complete waste of time.
He had SO proved himself wrong.
It seemed to work. Now Anubis didn't even bother to attend most of the sessions, leaving Jack to the tender mercies of Herak and his Jaffa.
The First Prime told him they had no intention of removing the device, and that they were amazed he had lasted so long. Most, he said, died within a few days. Then he asked about Charlie again, and laughed as the memories flooded Jack's brain.
Was Jonas dead? How many others had been lost while Jack was in this living hell?
To complete his misery, the dreams were back. The last one featured Daniel, his face so twisted and contorted that he looked like a completely different person. He ranted at Jack, shouting accusations that he had been trapped, one moment demanding in a supercilious tone to be released and in another calling out for his father.
His voice sounded like Charlie's.
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"You intrigue me, O'Neill. I assumed you were like any other First Prime, loyal and clever, but merely a warrior, but our sessions have hinted at something more – something you hide." Anubis leaned forward on his throne, his hood nodding as he moved his head. "I grow weary of our games. It seems that for some reason my little toy cannot delve deep enough to truly uncover your secrets, so I have decided I must reluctantly resort to more primitive methods. Fortunately Herak is well practised in the art."
He waved a hand and Jack was pulled from his position on the floor. Just as he was almost to the door, Anubis spoke again, causing the guards to halt in their tracks.
"Do not be concerned that you are being damaged beyond repair. I keep a sarcophagus for just these occasions."
His laughter followed them out.
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Breaking bones is much harder than you think – unless of course, you are a Jaffa with over two hundred pounds of solid muscle with orders from his god. Then it's quite easy.
Jack's leg snapped as soon as he shook his head when the first question was asked. It seemed Anubis hadn't been taken in by his subterfuge after all. The words 'ancient' and 'secrets' merged into background noise as his attention was riveted on the sight of a piece of his tibia sticking through the skin.
It all seemed so unreal, like a dream sequence in a movie. Even the pain he knew he should be experiencing was dull and easily ignored.
But extreme pain can only be ignored for so long, even when you are losing your mind. Eventually, as a pain stick sent signals along his nerves and out his mouth and eyes, he collapsed, his limbs still twitching even as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
He woke in the sarcophagus, and for long horrifying moments thought he was back in the hands of Ba'al. When the lid split open and Herak's face stared down at him, the reality of his situation returned and he was somewhat relieved to know Ba'al didn't figure in the equation. Ba'al had his own brand of sadism that even Anubis and his goons couldn't aspire to.
He lay there, wondering why they didn't lift him out, but pleased at the same time to rest, even if it was likely to be short. What he didn't expect was the sharp poke of Herak's finger into his leg and the resulting excruciating pain.
"Well? What are you waiting for?"
"He is not healed, My Lord."
Jack could hear the anxiety in the First Prime's voice. It was clear Anubis didn't appreciate mistakes being made.
Within moments Herak was rudely pushed aside, replaced by the black hole that masqueraded as the snake's face. Jack's leg was grabbed in a gloved fist and moved, shoved backwards and forwards until he moaned in agony.
"Take him out." The order was terse and the resulting actions hurried, and Jack was soon dumped in a heap on the floor, blood splattering across the cold metal. He watched through eyes blurred with pain while the Goa'uld took a staff weapon and fired at the Jaffa standing next to Herak. The First Prime didn't flinch.
"Test it."
The resulting mess was scraped up off the floor and thrown unceremoniously into the golden box.
It looked like it may be a while, and it appeared everyone was quite prepared to wait.
"Could I get a little help? Bloodstains are so hard to get out of the rugs."
"There are no rugs."
Jack rolled his eyes at the Goa'uld. "Look, if you want to continue 'playing' with me, you'll have to do some old-fashioned doctoring." He gestured to his leg. "This isn't the soundest limb I have. It's been through a lot in the last year or so and it's almost out of warranty. You wouldn't want a one-legged Tau'ri with a very foul temper stomping around your palace, now would you? I get very tetchy when I have to limp."
Jack was sure that if the snake had any eyes he would be rolling them in return. "You are beginning to annoy me, O'Neill. Do not try my patience any longer." Anubis turned to Herak. "Have him returned to his cell and see to his injuries." With that he swept from the room, leaving behind a very apprehensive group of Jaffa.
From the corner of his eye, Jack caught movement. "Hey, guys, you may want to check your buddy."
They stared at him. He raised an eyebrow and pointed towards the sarcophagus. Finally understanding, they all watched as their recently deceased comrade sat up, looking rather disoriented.
Jack grimaced. So it worked. Just not on him. Oh well, he could live with that. Or die with it, as the case may be.
He raised a hand, waving it for attention. "Hello. Still bleeding here."
Once again they stared at him and he finally realised what the problem was.
Everything he had said since waking in the sarcophagus had been in Ancient.
Crap.
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The tall figure stalking towards them, its eyes glowing hotly in the semi-darkness of the corridor, had even the behemoth Jaffa ducking to get out of its way. Jack twisted his head to watch its progress until it turned the corner. The strange creatures, skulls or kulls or something, were certainly scary looking, but he wondered just how much use they would be in a real battle. They looked like typical cannon fodder. He had heard the Jaffa talking about them during his sojourns in the torture chamber and they didn't seem any more enamoured with the things than he was.
His thoughts were violently turned back to his own situation as he was pushed up against the wall inside his cell and told to stand.
Wasn't going to happen.
He slipped into an untidy slouched posture, his broken leg stuck out in front of him.
"We have no healers. Our symbiotes heal our injuries. Those that can't, die." One of the guards appeared in the doorway, holding a bundle out. The First Prime took it and flung it on the floor, where it broke open, revealing a few bandages and some lengths of wood that could be used as a splint. "Here. I shall see clean water is brought."
He turned to leave.
"Hey, Nuby isn't going to be happy you know."
Herak ignored him and left, the guards following and shutting the cell door behind them.
Jack couldn't resist a parting shot. "Bet you miss my dry wit."
He sighed and began the grim task of treating his own injuries. The broken leg was by far the worst, and it was a gruesome sight, one that had his already queasy stomach churning. But he pushed down the nausea and got on with the job, doing the best he could with no help. True to his word, Herak had a large container of water delivered, and he used that to carefully wash the wound, drying it with some cloth that was bundled in with the bandages. By the time he had finished splinting and wrapping his leg, Jack was shivering with cold.
He recognised the signs - he was going into shock. He pressed his hands on the limb, willing the healing power he had used back on Harry's moon to return, but only managing a minute or two of warm glow before losing consciousness.
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The pain stick had him thrashing, crying out against his captors as the electrodes shot current into his body. He strained against the chair he was tied to, begging over and over for it to stop. "Punto…por favour."
Except he had Daniel's face. And he was speaking Spanish.
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TBC