Author's note: This chapter contains spoilers for many episodes in both seasons one and two in Stargate, and some for MacGyver.
And this chapter is for my mom, it's her birthday on Sunday. Happy Birthday Mom! I Love you!
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"Jack?" Detective Murphy repeated in confusion. But MacGyver didn't answer; in fact it looked like he was completely catatonic, at least to her. But he wasn't, not on the inside.
Mac looked around and found himself surrounded by a familiar darkness that defined the 'Zone'. The brothers had often found themselves in this safe haven when they were both unconscious, but it was extremely rare to be able to meet here when one or both were awake, and it meant that something really bad was happening or about to happen. So, feeling on edge and cautious, Mac slowly turned around, searching for Jack. He knew he had to be there somewhere. As he turned, he realized that behind him images were being projected as if they were a film in a movie theater, images that were gruesome and disgusting.
A common theme among them was a snake-like creature Mac had never seen before. It repulsed him with its beady red eyes and slimy fangs.
'This must be what Jack's thinking about right now,' Mac thought, it was the only reason why he was there and Jack wasn't.
He wanted to turn away from the images, as they were disturbing, but they switched to something he knew was more horrific for his brother. The images now included visions of a young boy wearing a mixture of olive colored BDU's and desert robes. He smiled coldly at him and unfurled his hand to reveal some weird jewelry with a red stone in his palm, and instantly Mac felt a pain emanate from his gut and ripple through his body. It was similar to being punch really hard, by someone with a fist the size of an eighteen-wheeler. The boy's eyes glowed.
Then the image changed.
The same boy was now towering over a figure dressed in all black, which was on his knees and looked to be in intense pain. There was a light orange…beam… emanating from the strange piece of jewelry the boy was wearing again, and closer inspection proved that the man in black was Daniel, a friend of Jack's he had only just met. Out of the right corner of the "screen" appeared a gun being held by a hand whose thumbs had the telltale sign of breakages in the past. An unsettling feeling developed in the pit of his stomach as he guessed what was going to happen.
"Skaraa! Skaraa…. Don't! Skaraa!" Jack's voice echoed through the zone, it's anguish clearly evident.
Then, the shots rang out.
Mac flinched, his mind taking him back to an incident in his youth that had forever sworn him away from the weapon that had haunted him through his life.
He didn't know what the relation was between this Skaraa and his twin, but he cold tell by the tone in his voice that the pulling the trigger had definitely taken something away from him.
Then the images changed again, this time coming quickly as if in fast forward.
Major Carter, the pretty blonde that was on Jack's team with Daniel, was behind bars, surrounded with dull gray walls. Her eyes glowed as well.
A black man, old and dying, strapped to a bed with thick leather restraints. Armed guards in the background. His eyes glowed as he spat out hateful phrases in a language that was definitely not English.
A woman with flaming red hair, teasing him with one of the disgusting…snake-like creatures, her eyes glowing as well.
An ugly…monster, that lifted Jack up off the ground by his throat; his eyes glowed.
Mac was starting to get the point that glowing eyes were bad.
He could feel Jack's hatred and disgust; it was begining to overwhelm him as the changing memories (he now realized that's what they were) picked up speed. He had to get to his brother before he became lost in the past,
"Jack!" he cried out, "Jack, come on! Stop! Talk to me! Jack!" he cried out into the darkness.
"Mac?" The slideshow of memories were now replaced by his brother, for which he was grateful. He ran to him and enveloped him in a supportive hug. He was worried about him, and the bleak tone in his voice confirmed his fears. Jack was scared, and so was he. He had just been given a window into Jack's life that he had found frightening, and he felt bad that he hadn't tried to contact his brother during these past years when he certainly had needed someone to talk to or to comfort him. But he was here now, and he would do what he could to make up for it, but first things first. He stepped back, and looked his brother in the eye, keeping his hands on his shoulders in support.
"Jack, what happened? Where are you?"
Seeing Mac, his eyes lost the cloudiness similar to the first moments of coming back to reality after having a particularly bad nightmare, which Mac realized, was exactly what this was. Jack shrugged off his brother's hands while answering.
"It was that damn SOB Kinsey! He got the drop in me and knocked me out. I came to in a freakin' trunk!"
"Jack, where are you?"
"How the hell should I know?! I couldn't see squat!"
"Jack…"
He let out a sigh, visibly trying to get a handle on his anger. After a moment, he responded,
"I don't know. There was a gravel road, and they let me out at some small warehouse out in the middle of nowhere, no landmarks, no nothing. They tied me up and… they…" he gulped as if trying to hold down his lunch.
"Jack, what did they do to you?"
"Nothing…yet," it felt like he was pulling teeth, trying to figure what they were doing to Jack, so he tried something different. Those images had to have something to do with what was going on.
"What are those snakes with glowing eyes?"
Jack visibly flinched as he looked up at his brother. 'How the hell did he know!?'
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Kinsey tried to slowly back away while the Goa'uld was threatening the idiot Colonel. He was just as surprised and scared as he was for he hadn't known that the man was anything but human. The man in front of him, the one that he had contacted, was part of a secret agency that he belonged to. He had a good reputation for specializing in…ehem dirty deeds, so Kinsey had called him to get rid of a most annoying thorn in his side.
He wasn't stupid, as some people thought; he knew that a Goa'uld symbiote was dangerous; it was his main reason for fighting to shut down the Stargate Program. But how the hell did one get onto Earth? And why this man? If he was implanted, then surely others higher up in the agency were as well. That thought scared him.
He was only a few steps away when the Goa'uld turned his attention towards him.
"Where are you going?"
He tried to speak, but only a pitiful squeak came out so he cleared his throat and tried to put as much self-confidence in his voice as possible. See, being in Congress was good for you.
"Nowhere. I just thought you might like some time alone with…" He cleared his throat again while making an obscure gesture towards O'Neill. He had gone from being the one in charge to becoming an underling, and he hated it. It was time for him to think of something to get himself out of this.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Murphy had been trying to rouse her friend, MacGyver, for a few minutes but had given up when it was clear her efforts were in vain. Mac had just frozen and nothing she could do could reach him. The blank look on his face made her nervous.
A feeling grew inside her that said she should get help, so she leaned over into the backseat where she had left her purse to reach her cell phone, and started to dial Pete's number.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
He was sitting on the curb, listening to the three members of O'Neill's team arguing over what to do next when his leg started to vibrate. The sudden weird feeling startled him and he let out a small yelp of surprise. It took him a few second to realize that it wasn't his leg beeping, but his cellular phone was ringing. He pulled out the technological marvel and pressed the appropriate buttons to accept the call.
"Thornton-"
"Pete, It's me Kate," He had forgotten that he could just call her to find out their location. Cell phones were still a new concept to him. Mac had laughed at him many times saying that he needed to move into the new century instead of keeping his head in the sand.
"Kate! Where are you? You and Mac just took off!" At his statement, Daniel and Carter immediately ceased their conversation and listened in on the call.
Murphy quickly relayed the route Mac had taken.
"Pete...something's wrong with MacGyver,"
"What?" Pete was nervous, 'Now what happened to him?' he thought.
"He just...he just stopped,"
"Stopped?"
"He won't move, he won't speak, he doesn't respond when I talk to him or touch him... he's just...well, frozen,"
'Frozen!? What the hell?'
"What happened? Did he see something?"
"No, he just-" Murphy was getting frustrated; no one knew what was going on. She hated not knowing something or not being in control. She was in the middle of answering Pete when she saw Mac's eyes blink. She pulled the phone away from her ear, ignoring Pete's shouts from the other end.
"Mac? You okay?" He shook his head as if trying to shake of the last dregs of whatever had held him in its grasp. "Mac?" he looked up at her and she saw the glassiness that was in eyes dissolve, leaving the familiar, caring, dark eyes in its stead.
"Yeah, Murph," he saw the phone in her hand," is that Pete?" He didn't wait for her to respond; instead he took the phone from her. He was acting as if this were an everyday occurrence, whereas she just sat there in shock over the abruptness of his change. "Pete?" he asked in between the other man's ranting. Its effect was immediate, he quieted.
"Mac? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, listen to me, I know where Jack is."
"You do? Where is he?" Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c all visibly perked up, coming to the same, and correct, conclusion that they were talking about O'Neill.
"Well, I don't know where exactly, but I know how to get there," he said as he opened the door to the car and climbed out, Murphy mimicking his own movements, "look, you just have to trust me. We don't have much time!" He paused, waiting to hear Pete's confirmation.
If there was one thing he did, it was trust his friend, MacGyver. After all the years that they had worked together, Mac had more than proven to him that his trust was well placed, heck, he had saved his life on several accounts.
"Yeah I do...so what's the plan?" Mac allowed himself a brief smile before tossing the phone over the hood of the car to Murphy, who caught it skillfully.
"Tell him where we are, and stay on the phone with him, updating him on our location. We're walking from here on out."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Pete told SG-1 the directions that Kate had previously relayed to him as they crossed the street to the car that Mac and Jack had arrived in, not an hour earlier. Carter opened the driver's door and to her surprise, the keys were still in the ignition.
"They weren't planning on staying long, and they needed a quick getaway," Pete explained.
"Makes it easier for us. I'll drive, I know a shortcut to where they are," she said as she started the car. As she had told the Colonel once, these were her old stomping grounds from when she was assigned to the Pentagon. Pete took the front seat next to her as Daniel and Teal'c piled in the back. She quickly put the car in gear and sped off even as Daniel slammed his door shut.
"Okay Kate, we're on our way."