Author's Note: I knew I forgot something in my last chapter…THANK YOU YOU WONDERFUL BETAS YOU!! :D

Author's Note2: Thanks also to all you patient readers out there. You peeps rock! And to answer a quick question, unfortunately, Murphy's Law is a staple in my life, x.x but it's taught me patience if nothing else. A friend of mine once told me she thinks I actually thrive on chaos. I think she could be right. :P

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When the lights went out, Daniel was working on translating the stack of gold metal sheets the police had brought to him. The anthropologist pushed his work aside and tried to extract his leg from the sling. As luck would have it, when the earthquake began he was only half out of the bed. That quickly changed as he painfully hit the floor with the hard metal artifacts falling on top of him. Everything else clattered to the ground as the building tried to shake itself apart.

"Ow!"

When it ended and the lights came back on several minutes later, Daniel found himself rather ungracefully sprawled on the ground, his good leg twisted up in the blankets and his notes scattered in all directions. Shoving the rather heavy stack of metal sheets off his chest, Daniel gingerly rubbed at his newest bruise and tried to unwind his leg.

"Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel looked up to see Major Steve Wilder in the doorway. The Major was looking at him with worry, but very quickly mirth entered the man's eyes and Daniel could tell the guy was having a hard time not laughing out loud.

Frowning with discouragement, the anthropologist turned back to his attempts at freeing his leg. Major Wilder quickly came over to him. "Here, let me help you."

"Thanks." As soon as he was back to sitting on the bed Daniel noticed the rest of SG4 and SG10 coming into the room.

"We got here as soon as we could," Major Goodrich, the leader of SG10, said, and looking out the window with grin, added, "Looks like things have been busy."

"Ya." Daniel looked out the window as well and automatically tried to get up again to get a better view, but Wilder was quick to push him back down. "We weren't expecting the earthquake," Daniel admitted.

"It's just bad timing," Wilder reassured him. "Where's Major Carter?"

"Last I heard they caught a couple guys but they still haven't caught up to Akh."

Goodrich raised an eyebrow in question. "Akh?"

"Ya, ah, the goa'uld," Daniel clarified, gathering up the notes still left on the bed. The others helped to pick up the rest and he began putting them back into some semblance of order. "They checked in about twenty minutes ago."

Just as he finished his sentence the phone rang. Unlike everything else in the room, it had surprisingly managed to stay on the table during the quake. Daniel arched his eyebrows and, picking up the receiver answered, "Hello?"

"You okay Daniel?" Sam's voice came through the other end.

"Oh ya, got hit by another boulder, but I'm fine," Daniel replied giving the not so light sheets of gold a reproving glare. Then, before she could ask for details, he quickly added, "SG4 and 10 just got here."

"They have impeccable timing. Most of the power's out in the city from the quake and 911's already getting swamped with calls. Captain Murphy's not going to be able to keep her men on this anymore."

"How close are you to finding them?"

"We're at a complete dead end here." Daniel could easily hear the frustration in her voice but she quickly followed it up with, "I've got a few ideas where to pick it up again. Can you put Steve on the phone?"

"Sure." He handed it over to the waiting Major, saying simply, "It's Sam."

"Hey, Sam," Wilder said into the receiver with a small smile, but it quickly faded, and in the next moment he stated, "You got it." Then, turning to his men the Major ordered, "VonGnechten, get up to the roof and signal as soon as you're there."

Lieutenant VonGnechten gave him a curt, "Yes, sir," and shot out the door at a run. A couple minutes later VonGnechten's voice came back over the radio, "Here, sir."

"All right, Sam," Wilder said into the phone, "What are we looking for?" He listened for a minute, then fingering the radio, asked, "Von, in the entire blacked out section of the city can you see anything that still looks like they have power?"

"Yes sir, another hospital, not including this one, and what appears to be a small airport."

Major Wilder repeated what VonGnechten had said to Sam. Then after another minute of listening, replied, "We'll see you there." He hung up the phone and turning to the waiting group informed them, "We're heading to the airport. Let's go folks."

Daniel quickly pushed himself off the bed. "I'm coming with you."

"No," Wilder firmly told him. "You're staying here and calling General Hammond. If the gould manages to get on a plane we'll need NORAD to track it."

Reluctantly Daniel sat back down again. It just felt so wrong to be here in the hospital when the rest of SG1 was out there, actively doing something. As soon as SG4 and SG10 had left Daniel reached for the phone, but all he got was a message that all the lines were occupied. He tried a few times before he realized he wasn't going to get through.

And he no longer had his cell phone. They weren't allowed in the hospitals, but surely someone could get him a line out. There had to be some dedicated lines here somewhere for emergencies. Once again he pushed himself out of the bed.

It was awkward moving about with his cast, and his hands sought anything to grab a hold of for balance. He finally found an IV stand that he could take with him to hand on to and managed his way out of the room. As soon as Daniel reached the elevators he knew it was a mistake.

It was chaos. All the elevators were in use as people came in and out, moving patients to the spare rooms as fast as possible.

Daniel didn't have a lot of experience with earthquakes, and while it had knocked just about everything down, the hospital hadn't collapsed and it had ended rather quickly. But from the activity here he could only guess they were getting an overload of patients in the ER. There was no way he was going to find an open phone line in time.

Slowly, Daniel made his way back to the relative quiet of his room and shuffled his way over to the window to see for himself. It was still dark, especially with the power out in most of the city, but it also made it easier to spot the blinking red and blue lights of emergency vehicles, and there were a lot of them.

*****

Teal'c scanned the dark ground while Major Carter and Detective Riley handled the small crowd at the control tower. With the Captain's urgings, the Detective had decided to stay with them and drive them straight over. Teal'c felt CaptainMurphy had very much wanted to remain as well, but she had been needed elsewhere, and only after expressing her deep desire to MajorCarter that she 'be kept in the loop' had the Captain let them go.

Something caught the jaffa's eye and he walked over to the shadowed lump on the ground. It was a man, dead from a fall. A search of the body produced a gun and Teal'c reasoned the man had most likely been one of O'Neill and MacGyver's captors.

His keen eyes could see no other shadows out of place so he carefully made his way back to the others. Two from the crowd looked to be animatedly talking with the Detective while MajorCarter stood apart. As soon as she saw Teal'c approaching she made her way over and quietly asked, "Find anything?"

"I believe your assumption was correct. I found the body of one of Redfield's family in the field beyond." He saw the Major's breath catch and he calmly reassured her, "There was no one else there. If the Colonel and MacGyver had been here with the goa'uld, all of them have now left."

MajorCarter swore, surprising the jaffa, but he did little more than raise an eyebrow. She didn't even notice as she turned away, anger coloring her face. "We're going to loose them, Teal'c."

He wanted to reassure her that that would never happen, but he himself had watched many friends die in battle. Then DetectiveRiley was walking back to them. "A small jet plane took off not too long ago. Air traffic control tried to radio them but they didn't get any response. Another thing, they don't know who was flying it. The owner of the jet as well as the contracted pilot are both still here."

"That has to have been them. Can I use your phone?"

Detective Riley tossed it over to her, but MajorCarter snapped it closed again a minute later, her disposition darkening as she handed it back. "Your service is out."

Five minutes later MajorWilder, MajorGoodrich, and their respective teams showed up. "Did you get a hold of General Hammond and NORAD?" MajorCarter asked as soon as they stepped out of their jeeps.

"I told Daniel to do it so we could get over here as fast as possible."

Again MajorCarter swore. Teal'c was no longer surprised by this reaction, but the rest of the SGC members were not only startled but somewhat alarmed by it. "The lines are all clogged now and Daniel doesn't have his cell phone," MajorCarter snapped. "Give me your phone."

MajorWilder was quick to hand it over, but as they all listened in on the conversation, it was clear it was already too late. When she finally hung up she leaned against the jeep in defeat and exhaustion. "There were too many planes being rerouted to other airports for NORAD to locate ours now. They could have gone in any direction."

Teal'c frowned with worry. The day's events were beginning to strain the Major past her capacity. DetectiveRiley must have noticed that as well because he gently suggested, "Then how about we go back to the hospital?"

MajorCarter merely shook her head, some strength returning to her face with her determination. "We have to get back to the mountain. Major Goodrich, take your team to the site. The structure's a little unstable, probably more so after the earthquake, but see if you can find anything to help us." She made a face, "I hate to say it, but you might need to call the NID to help with clean up."

MajorGoodrich just grinned at her, "Don't worry, we'll get it covered. Just find our snake."

She smiled in appreciation, then, turning to MajorWilder said, "We need to pick up Daniel on our way back." She grabbed the jeep's door and pulled it open, saying as she was about to get in, "Detective, thank you for the help, I'll give you a call."

"Hey!" Riley grabbed her arm, stopping her. "You can't just drop me like that, I'm coming with you."

Most of the SGC members had moved to pull DetectiveRiley away from the Major, but Teal'c knew the Detective meant no harm so he stepped between them and put his hand on DetectiveRiley himself. "It would be safer if you were to remain here." The Detective looked at the jaffa, startled, but a moment later Teal'c felt the man understood what he was really saying. Sounding a little less sure, DetectiveRiley still protested, "What about MacGyver and the Colonel?"

Giving him a pain filled expression, MajorCarter told him with earnest sincerity, "I'll let you know what happens as soon as I can."

DetectiveRiley finally stepped back. "You better, or the Captain's going to have my hide!" Then he turned to Teal'c, fierce eyes staring the jaffa down as he pulled out a little card and handed it over. "You're going to make sure she gets that arm looked at, and you're going to catch this guy, and you're going to make sure she calls me, right?"

With a faint smile, Teal'c inclined his head in agreement. When he looked up again he could see traces of humor on the SGC members' faces, even MajorCarter seemed pleased by DetectiveRiley's actions. After a few more final orders, the group split up and went their separate ways with words of 'good luck.'

As Teal'c crammed in the back with SG4, MajorWilder headed the jeep back into town. They were as far as five minutes down the road before the Major asked, "Who's MacGyver?"

Teal'c could see Carter in the front seat wearily lean her head back. She didn't respond, so Teal'c answered, "He is a friend of O'Neill's."

"A civi?" Teal'c nodded, and MajorWilder exclaimed, "The damn gould took a civi hostage with the Colonel?" Again Teal'c nodded.

Then LieutenantVonGnechten curiously inquired, "When you say MacGyver, do you mean the MacGyver?"

"I do."

There was a series of awe filled sounds from the row of men beside him and Teal'c raised his eyebrows at them in wonder.

*****

MacGyver nervously watched as Jack continuously checked the side window, like he was trying to look behind them. Leaning over, MacGyver murmured, "What are you looking for?"

"Fighters," Jack calmly replied.

His blood running cold, MacGyver asked in a strained voice, "Would they shoot us down?"

"Probably." In Mac's mind Jack sounded far too calm about it, then the Colonel told him, "But if they haven't shown up by now, they're not going to."

Mac sank back into his seat not very reassured. He looked out the dark window at the distant ground below. He didn't care much for heights, and flying with his friend, also named Jack, Mac had grown a fine appreciation for pilots as well as a deep seeded fear of crashing; something that had come close to happening on multiple occasions with that Jack.

Regarding the complacent Colonel flying the plane, Mac tried to feel the same way about their current situation. The goa'uld at their back didn't bother him in the slightest. Nor the fact that they'd been tossed from one event to the next without pause for breath. Chaos wasn't anything new to MacGyver, and normally he'd be just as relaxed about it as his counterpart. But never before had he gone into the air at the same time as Jack, let alone in the same plane.

They had kept in touch almost for that reason alone.

Off to their left, the sky began to transform from blue to red to yellow as the sun crept over the horizon. For a moment MacGyver forgot all his worries. He'd never seen a sun rise in a plane before, and he watched it with awe, a small smile curling his lips.

The moment was rudely shattered as the goa'uld suddenly demanded, "Where are we?"

"Just reaching Arizona now," Jack growled out and then caustically asked, "We going anywhere in particular? Or you want I should just circle the state a few times?"

"Impudent tau'ri," Akh snapped back. Yet before the goa'uld could give them any further directions, several lights in the cockpit began flashing, accompanied by a small chirping noise that sounded dreadfully ominous. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm not doing anything," Jack testily retorted. "There's something wrong with the plane."

"Then fix it!"

Jack turned in his seat to glare at the goa'uld. "How?" When Akh didn't readily answer, Jack added, "Would you like to fly the plane?"

MacGyver thought for a second that the Colonel would actually let go of the stick, but he finally turned back around. Gripping his armrests tightly, Mac braced for what he'd known would happen from the second they took off.

An explosion rocked the plane and Jack had to fight to get it level again. "Ah, crap! An engine just blew."

That wasn't something they could fix, his mind automatically informed him, and almost desperately, Mac wished he could close his eyes, but they refused to shut as he was forced to helplessly watch the ground get closer and closer.

Jack was able to control the decent of the plane well enough that they didn't hit the ground and explode in a dramatic fireball, but they did hit the ground, several times in fact. First the plane lost its tail, then a wing, and then after a fierce beating, practically fell apart, leaving a trail of wreckage amidst the mountains of Northern Arizona.

When MacGyver regained consciousness, he found himself looking up at the sun with nothing between him and the sky above. Groaning, he tried to get up, but realized he was still buckled to the seat. While the entire top of the cockpit was gone, their seats remained perfectly intact.

Jack was slumped over, but there were any visible injuries, at least not any new ones. Mac twisted around to look for Akh, finding the goa'uld no where in sight. They were sitting in the largest piece of debris visible -running from the backs of their seats to the nose of the plane. Would Akh have survived the crash? If it wasn't for the fact that he'd been expecting it, MacGyver would have been surprised that he and Jack had survived. Most would call it a miracle, but MacGyver rarely believed in miracles anymore.

Unclasping the seatbelt, Mac slowly got to his feet, holding onto the seat to keep himself upright. His body was shaking like it was ready to collapse in shock, but as far as he could tell he had sustained no new injuries.

Then Jack groaned, coming around. The Colonel blinked against the bright light, and looking about with a semi glazed expression, huffed out, "Any landing you can walk away from…"

Chuckling, Mac asked him, "Are you hurt?"

"No, and yes." Jack squeezed his eyes shut in pain as his hand went to his injured side. "Damn but this hurts."

"Don't try to move," Mac told him, looking around to see if there was anything he could use to get them some help. The radio looked shot, but with the right bits that might be repairable.

Yet Jack wasn't listening, and freeing himself from his safety restraint the Colonel got out of the seat, stumbling away from the broken cockpit as fast as he could. Mac followed, worried Jack would hurt himself further. "Jack! Slow down, you need to rest."

"We need to get out of here!" Jack retorted, climbing the hill. He stopped at the top and Mac quickly caught up. They could see most of the wreckage from the higher vantage point. Desert vegetation didn't grow tall enough to block it out and they could easily see where the plane had scoured the land.

Mac turned to see if he could figure out where they were. The sun was still rather low in the eastern sky, so not a great deal of time had passed since the crash. The mountains blocked his sight to the north, but the hills seemed to descend to the south; that would be their best route. Perhaps the crash itself would have been noticed.

Beside him, Jack wondered out loud, "Do you think the snakehead made it?"

As if in response, they heard Akh's unearthly voice yell out to them, "Tau'ri!" The goa'uld stumbled out of the wreckage, half his body torn or burnt, but he had the hand with the alien device raised towards them and glowing with his fury.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack groaned. "Can't you just die!"

Like an answer to his plea, a bolt of lightning descended upon the goa'uld from a cloudless sky. Mac flinched at the sound of the alien's scream, but when it was over, he was fairly certain the goa'uld was dead.

"Thank you!" Jack exclaimed heavenward, and began back down the hill.

"Jack!" Mac called out, feeling suddenly like they shouldn't get too close.

"I don't want to leave Gould technology for just anyone to find," Jack explained, reaching the still smoldering body.

"Do you think that's wise right now?" Mac persisted, the warning feeling gnawing at his gut.

"Why not? Lightning never strikes the same place twice." As soon as Jack said it, the Colonel paused, his hand hovering above the purple pendent. "Ah crap!" He turned and the two of them scrambled back up the hill.

Mac could almost feel the surge of electricity in the air around him, as not one, but three more deafening cracks of lightning struck ground. Almost as an afterthought, clouds began to roll in from over the mountains. The air grew suddenly cold, then just as quickly, thick with renewed heat.

It never actually rained, and the clouds passed by quickly, but in the short time they were there, they lit up the sky in amazing bursts of brilliant light. Unfortunately, one of the many bolts of electricity struck the Arizona shrub just right to set it aflame.

They'd taken cover as best they could, but as the clouds rolled away, they could clearly see the growing fire left behind. "This can't be good," MacGyver commented, watching the flicking red grow and spread.

"Ya think?" For a moment neither of them moved, but in the next, Mac helped Jack to his feet and the two of them took off down the mountainside as fast as they could. The fire trailed after them with amazing speed, the very nature of the dry plants providing the perfect fuel.