((I am thankful that those that have responded positively to the 'timeline' style tried this past chapter. I, in no way, am trying to Mary Sue this, I've read a lot of Mary Sue's an so far Janet/Kallisto hasn't walked on water or with a flick of her wrist killed all Goa'uld in existence.))

((I worked on this chapter to tie up the loose end that I left last installment.))

EDIT ((small changes in the text and punctuation; I swear that cough should have had two asterisks around it but took them out for some odd reason, so I tweaked that sentence – I have no Beta; if I could find one, that would be nice, but so far no luck.))

Colorado Springs, Colorado
Stargate Command -- Level 16 Secondary Command Center – 7:54 pm

As Carter finished updating O'Neil on the status of the NORAD satellites in orbit, she glanced back to find her commanding officer's attention focused on the Local News stations recap of today's events, specifically the mugging at a local park and the macabre details about the decapitation of one of the assailants.

"Sir?" she asked, swiveling around in her chair and moving to stand before the seasoned officer.

Raising his hand to forestall any further conversation, Jack moved closer to the bank of monitors and adjusted the volume on the news coverage.

'…sources say the budget shortfall will impact the Denver County School Districts by causing cut backs among non-essentials programs, such as Student Band and Drama Clubs.' stated the elder anchorman as he turned away from one camera to glance into another.

'Now returning out top story of the night, we go to Allison Flad live from St. Joseph's Medical Center in Downtown Denver for an update. Allison?' said the lead anchorman.

'Thanks Tom. I'm standing here in the ER of St. Joseph's where not only the victim, Jonathan Winters is receiving treatment, but also the two surviving assailants from the apparent mugging gone array as well.' said the slim brunette reporter as the footage changed into a collage of shots from early at the park, prominent is the black body bag being carried by two corner technicians as other homicide detectives paced around the scene of the crime, denoted by the bright yellow plastic tape and various markers…

…

'Nicky ditch the old man and get the wallet.' said the leader of the group, as he grabbed Kallisto from behind and they began to struggle.

With a harsh shove, John was sent tumbling to his knees at the edge of the walkway while Nicky walked over to the prone form of his companion and grabbed up the wallet. He started looking around for the now lost camera that Tony had unsuccessfully tried to use as a weapon against Kallisto. The wallet in one hand and the knife in another, Nicky turned in time to see Kallisto ram her forehead forcefully into Rico's nose, causing it so break with an audible 'crush'.

Gripping the hilt of the knife tightly, he moved toward Kallisto's exposed back…

…

'Where there any witnesses to what exactly happened tonight Allison?' said the studio anchorman.

…

As she felt the hilt of the knife make contact against the muscle of her back, Kallisto couldn't help but let a ragged groan escape from her lips. Her eyes lost focus, as her body started to send out biological alarms that it had been violated.

Screams…constant and high pitched tore through the eerie silence of the small area.

The screaming, at first sounded foreign to her ears, it took only a few moments to realize that person screaming wasn't her. Her body was starting to feel heavy… sluggish… the leader of the group had her still in his grasp, with her arms pinned toward her sides, but something had changed.

As she felt herself dropped to the ground, her body felt the sharp impact of the pavement against her knees. Holding herself upright with one hand, she turned her head in time to see the victim locked in a struggle with the one the leader had referred to as 'Nicky', but what held her attention was the individual behind the struggling men… a women, dressed in jogging shorts and a simple t-shirt, stood there in shock; the whites of her eyes visible even to Kallisto from this distance.

As her attention focused on the woman… her pain addled mind took in the features…her height, the shape of her face… her hair color…Cass…No… it couldn't be here… this is too far from Colorado Springs, her mind tried to reason.

…

'Yes there was Tom. Local Denver High student Lisa Hunter was jogging through the park, and happened upon the crime already in progress. A Police spokesperson refused to elaborate on the details of what transpired, but state that it was in fact Ms. Hunter who flagged down a passing motorist who then called the police.' spoke the reporter.

…

Before Nicky could make a move towards this new interloper, the old man he had tossed aside appeared before him and made a grab for the knife.

The struggle between the two took a turn for the worse, when the younger man was able to get his arm down between their bodies in the struggle and with a quick upward jerk it was over. With a slump, the older man started to sag toward the ground as his hands grasped at his stomach, in an effort to staunch the flow of blood from the stab wound.

As the two remaining thugs stood there staring down the obviously scared girl, the world around her crystallized; the events of the past week surfaced and the haze that had started to encroach upon her was rebuffed for now. She had had centuries to learn how to deal with the pain and emotional anguish that accompanied every 'death' in positive ways, but there were times when the anger and rage served a purpose, that was not only focused but also deadly.

And now that she could think clearly, she could tell that the next person about to become another statistic was little more then a teenager…glancing at the fallen body of the first victim a glacial calm invaded her being and she ceased thinking and only reacted on instinct.

As she pushed herself upward, Kallisto regained her footing. Reaching within the now tattered trench coat, she grasped the hilt of the dagger tightly, her thumb flicking away the clasp holding the slim blade in place and slowly unsheathing it; she moved silently toward the leader's back.

As the one she knew now as Nicky waved the bloodstained knife toward the scared girl, Kallisto struck quickly; the leaders cry of surprise was cut short as the blade the dagger slipped between two of his ribs and punctured his lung, air seeping against her hand from the wound. Kallisto shoved the now slowly dying thug to the side without a glance, and moved to stop the other thug from hurting anyone else.

Nicky turned in time to watch her close the distance between them, bring her dagger toward him in a low sweeping arch; the edge of the blade slicing the thin material of his shirt and catching him across his stomach, leaving a feint crimson trail in its wake. Losing interested in the jogger, Nicky and Kallisto slowly circle each other, their weapons held at the ready.

'RUN GIRL!' the silence of the deadly area was broken by the harsh and labored shout from the older victim toward the jogger; her fright broken she took flight, down the path she had come from crying out for help as she fled.

Taking the offense, and trying to exploit the fact that his opponent was already injured, Nicky pressed forward with several quick and violent thrusts. Kallisto sidestepped the majority of them, only having to physically block his blade with her own twice.

The sound of sirens in the distance brought the first glimmer of what Kallisto perceived as an emotion to this Nicky's eyes…fear; and the next attack was more reckless then the others, as the sound of the sirens grew ever closer. Her mind was also focused on the need to not be detained by the police.

His final attack was a violent thrust toward Kallisto's torso, that she side stepped and pressed forward driving the hilt of her own blade squarely under his ribs… and as she stared into his eyes, he smiled. The reason for the smile came when she felt the blade of his knife pierce her stomach… the twist that he gave it with the waning ounces of his strength and the sick almost gleeful smile was too much.

Yanking the dagger roughly out from his body, Kallisto stepped back and raised the dagger upward bringing it downward swiftly, the blade easily sliced through his neck. Nicky's body slumped to the ground, with his head coming to rest a few yards away.

The fight had taken too much from her, the energy from the anger and emotional turmoil of the past week, though immense, was spent and her wounds were starting to take effect. As she slowly made her way toward the fallen form of the elder victim, she roughly fell to her knees at his side. As she reached her hand outward, to put what little pressure she could muster against his still seeping wound, his bloodstained hand reached outward and took a hold of hers. The contact was forceful causing her to look toward him and the sight that greeting her was confusing; his look was not one of fear for himself but more concern for her and his next words shocked her to the core.

'Leave… me. I'm not… going to…' his breathing started to become labored and intermixed with coughing 'run Kallisto…you can't… be…here.' his head slowly slumped as the movements of his chest decreased.

She sat there, upon her knees, staring intently into the now placid face of this stranger; outwardly she looked calm, but her mind was in chaos. The sound of sirens grew louder and was now accompanied but the rapid staccato of people running up the path.

She scrambled to her feet and fled into the woods running as fast as possible, with little thought as to her destination. Running blinding through the park she soon emerged onto the city streets and kept running making blind turns, finally as she turned down a long alley her body reached it limit and ceased to respond.

Her breathing started to come in shallow gasps as her vision blackened at the periphery, walking became difficult as her body became heavier and heavier from the loss of blood. Tripping, she crumpled to the grimy ground in-between two commercial sized dumpsters, roughly landing in a crashing heap. The impact of her body against the edge of one dumpster started an avalanche of garbage bags that covered her dying body like a bed of new fallen snow.

((More to come…))