Thor wasn't alone when he arrived. Several Asgard had joined him, all watching Shawn as they were introduced to Hammond and SG-1, but when the introductions were over, one turned to look around the briefing room.
"Ian Brooks is not here?"
Jack scowled, but Sam was the one who shook her head and answered first.
"No."
"That is unfortunate. I would have been interested in meeting him and speaking with him."
"He is undoubtedly being held in a separate facility," Thor said. "What Loki did has severely damaged our probability of being allowed to speak with him…"
"What did you do with Loki?" Daniel asked, curiously. The archeologist had missed everything the night before, and had been shocked and dismayed when he'd heard that an Asgard had actually kidnapped Ian – or any other human for that matter. He was as curious as anyone else what the Asgard did to punish one of their own.
"We are still involved in discussions with him about his actions," Thor answered. "They will wait until we have finished our work here, however."
"Rest assured," another of the Asgard said. "He will be held accountable for his actions."
Jack didn't look mollified one bit, but Hammond nodded.
"What exactly are you going to need for this thing you're doing?"
"We would like to take Shawn Adams with us to-"
"No."
Jack didn't even need him to finish the sentence to have an answer for them, and no one in the room was surprised.
Thor stepped forward.
"But since we know that the unfortunate events with Loki will make you think twice about allowing any of your people to come anywhere with us at the moment, we have brought all the necessary diagnostic technology with us. We merely require a room to work in without distractions."
"And Shawn Adams," the first Asgard added.
Shawn stepped forward, but Jack caught him by the collar of the shirt and stopped him.
"No tricks, guys…"
The first Asgard blinked.
"Tricks?"
"We will not hurt him, O'Neill," Thor said. "You have my word."
Shawn gave Jack a reassuring smile.
"It's okay, Jack. Really."
Jack scowled, but let go of Shawn.
"We can set you up in one of the spare labs," Hammond said, not looking any more excited about the prospect of the Asgard doing experiments with Shawn. "If you'll follow us?"
Thor nodded.
"Thank you, General Hammond."
The general led the way out of the room, but gestured for Teal'c and Jack (the dog) to take point once they were in the corridor. There weren't a lot of personnel still on base – only the evening shift, now – but they would still cause quite a scene as they walked, and Teal'c was more than capable of making sure none of the personnel stopped and gawked and got in the way – and he could do it with just a look.
OOOOOOOOOO
Ian walked into his apartment about the same time the Asgard were beaming into the SGC – even though he didn't know it. He sighed, tiredly, and pulled his light jacket off, hanging it neatly on the hook by the door before heading into the kitchen. A quick check in the fridge proved to him that he needed to do some kind of shopping – which he already knew, really – and he pulled a Mountain Dew out and popped the top, taking a long drink as he reached for the phone book and his phone.
Ten minutes later, he tossed the empty can in the garbage and headed into his bedroom, opening the closet and reaching into the very rear of the high shelf, blindly searching until his fingers found a handle. Taking hold, he pulled the ugly suitcase down, and carried it to his bed.
"Fucking Asgard…" he muttered, unlocking and opening the suitcase and looking at the assortment of technology and weapons he had available to him. Weapons that no one else knew about – mainly because he wasn't certain what to do with them. The SGC could use a couple of them, but they were so deadly that they absolutely couldn't be trusted in the wrong hands, and while he knew Hammond was wise enough to not try anything with them, Hammond wasn't the highest ranking general in Washington. He could be ordered to turn over these – and it wasn't something he could do. So for now, they'd remain a secret, until Ian could figure out what to do with them and how to keep his own people safe from technology that was way too advanced – even for him.
He pulled out a device that looked about the size of a bar of soap – and looked a lot like one, too – and closed the suitcase once more, locking it up and putting it back in his closet. Then he sat down on his bed, his attention fully on the device in his hand as he fiddled with it for a couple of minutes, quietly setting it for his purposes.
Only when he was certain he had it exactly as he needed it did he reach for his phone, this time dialing a number that he definitely didn't need to look up.
"Hello?"
He couldn't help but smile when he heard the voice on the other end of the line, and he stretched out on his bed, the device resting on his stomach.
"Hey, Cassandra."
"Hi, Ian," she sounded just as pleased to hear his voice, and that made him feel good. "Are you done for the day already?"
"Yeah. Done for the week, even."
"Really? Why?"
"There's a project going on at work that they don't need me for, so Hammond gave me the rest of the week off."
Cassie didn't know about the Asgard being in town, and even if Ian wanted to tell her – and had the clearance to tell her – he wouldn't have done it over an unsecured phone line.
"Really? What kind of project?"
"Secret classified stuff that if I told you about I'd have to kill you," he told her, and smiled again when she chuckled at what was probably the worst threat ever. He'd never hurt her. She knew that.
"Well, then…" she said. "If you can't tell me what it is, then maybe you can tell me what you're going to do with your days off…?"
"Funny you should ask, because that's one of the reasons I'm calling."
"Oh? Good. I hope that means you want to spend some of it with me?"
"I'd love to, Cassandra, you know that." He sat up on his bed once more, and caught the device as it tried to slide off his belly. "But what I really need is a favor."
