The twins, three hours later, walked down the hall to the high-level containment lab that had been set up in one of the cargo bays. Passkeys at the ready, they pressed the cards against the door scanners as they approached it.

"Daniel Bashir."

"Richard Bashir."

"It miss-pronounced my name. It mis-pronounced my name again." Danny commented mournfully as the door opened, revealing the room inside. A plastic curtain had been built around the artifact, through which they could see it's bleary shape sitting atop a pedestal, so much like it was meant to.

It was a little ironic.

Scientists were gathered in the room, walking about, comparing notes, calibrating tricorders and other instruments with which to scan the artifact with. Dax herself was standing near the entrance, reading over a data pad and pacing aimlessly in front of the curtain as she did so.

"Hello." the twins greeted smoothly.

"As beautiful and exquisite as ever, the lovely, Jedzia." Danny flirted, eyebrows moving up and down. The Trill rolled her eyes.

"Sorry; I'm taken." she said. Danny made a pouty face.

"Ahh, but that doesn't mean you can't be stolen!" Rickey insisted, both hands over his heart, batting his eyes.

"You two are worse than your cousin!" she snorted with a chuckle, turning away from then and heading around the curtain perimeter.

"Oooo, does ickle Julian have a crush?" Danny asked teasingly, him and his brother following along behind her.

"It was a long time ago." Dax answered, face flushing slightly. "It never really became anything."

"Reeeeallllly?" the twins chorused cheekily. Dax rolled her eyes again as they came up on the other side of the perimeter, where a makeshift console had been set up.

"Dax, this cargo bay can't be a lab forever; there are things people need in here." Chief O'Brian told her as he came up from the maze of crates nearby, a data pad in one hand. She took it from him, giving the list a quick once-over.

"We got shipments for Quark, the Klingon restaurant, and Garak that have been waiting here since this thing arrived. A lot of these things are perishables, and Garak has been bugging me about it since yesterday; keeps saying he has a deadline." the red-head informed. Danny and Rickey leaned in close from behind them breathing heavily and noisily into their ears. The two Starfleet officers jerked away from them.

"Do you mind?" O'Brian exclaimed as the twins grinned broadly at them, hands folded behind their backs and rocking on their feet innocently.

"We have most of what we need; we can move it to a proper lab tomorrow." Danny said. Rickey nodded.

"Didn't want to take any risks with this one; they keep getting stolen. You know, this is the longest we've had one, since we got onto this project." he added. "Every time we find one of these things, some guy comes out of no-where in the middle of the night and buggers off with it."

"What does that have to do with keeping it down here?" the Chief asked.

"Each time it got stolen, it was in a lab." Rickey explained.

"So, naturally, keeping it in a public space might work better!" Danny continued, spreading his arms wide as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Just an experiment." both men finished off. Chief O'Brian shook his head, as if to shake himself out of an illusion.

"Well, go tell the ravenous shop-keepers that they'll have to wait one more day." Dax sighed, shaking her head and handing the data pad back to the Chief. He looked up at her, eyebrows raised hopefully, looking pathetic.

"Pretty please can you go tell the klingon?" he begged.

"Nope. I have my own klingon to deal with at home; these are my working hours." the trill teased. The Chief let out a pathetic moan, head tipped back, before walking off with his head hung low, kicking at the floor depressingly.

"Daww." Danny exclaimed, both hands over his heart, looking after the engineer lovingly. "Poor widdle O'Bwian. So awone."

"Shame on you, Jedzia; shame on you." Rickey added, shaking a finger at her. Dax sighed and rolled her eyes again, putting her focus back on transferring the readings on her data pad to the console.

Rickey and Danny cast each other a glance. Coming out from behind the console, they slowly approached the curtain. behind it, a few more scientists could be seen moving around past the hazy material. Danny gave a shiver of excitement.

"To think, how many worlds they visited..." he whispered to his brother without looking at him, smiling.

"And we were the only ones..." Rickey finished quietly with a grin.

Dax came up from behind them.

"So, I couldn't help but notice that these things have been found all over." she commented. "You found one on Romulus, Vulcan, two on Tyree. I read your report, but still...what are these things, exactly?"

Danny shrugged. "We don't know."

"Some theorize that they're keys; like codes for a nuclear missile." Rickey told her.

"Others say that they are the weapons, waiting for the code." his brother continued.

"That last one's our best guess." Rickey added. Danny nodded.

"Yeah; nobody can even touch the damn thing."

They moved towards the curtain, Dax's head pricking up, curious.

"What do you mean, nobody can touch it? You've been handling it, surely somebody's touched it at some point?" she pressed. They parted the flaps to the curtain entrance, entering the circular area.

"Yeah, somebody touched it." Danny said, looking at the artifact.

"They turned to stone." Rickey concluded.

It sat on a pedestal, covered in dust from it's long sleep in the tunnels and highlighted by the bright, white lights that were trained on it. A set of holographic rings coming from the pedestal ran up and down it's length, scanning the artifact and trying to map out what might be inside of it; if there was anything inside of it at all. A few scientists were pointing tricorders at it and scratching their head, trying to understand the thing.

It was a long, twisting, polygonal shape, with cold, gray metal that seemed to glint evilly as the lights shone off of it. it sat there, cold, judging, and the unease it caused just with it's mere presence was as obvious as the scientist's skittish behavior.

Dax froze as her eyes landed on it. No matter how many times she had looked at it, her reaction was always the same. She would always stop and frown at it, and she wouldn't take her eyes off of it as long as she could see it, as if she were keeping tabs on it in some way, as if she were subconsciously afraid it might attack her.

In a way, she was right to be afraid.

"It was like the immune system, rejecting a disease."

"'Cept, this disease was actually a person."

"And we have no idea what that immune system is protecting."

"So, we just call it-"

"Medusa."

"Hey; don't steal my thunder, Dan! That was my line to say!"

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist the dramatic effect!"

Dax sighed, shaking her head but still looking at the Medusa Artifact worriedly. She shivered, and rolled her shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension in them.

"Well, if it's like an immune system, then maybe Julian could-"

"No." both twins said as one, cutting her off. She tipped her head to the side, surprised and suspicious. The brothers were uncharacteristically serious-looking.

"Why not?" she asked, eyes narrowed. They crossed their arms over their chests.

"The Medusa Artifact is dangerous. Very dangerous. And it has a certain affect on certain people." Danny explained.

"Like hypnotic suggestion." Rickey added.

"Some people just touch it; for no apparent reason, they just walk up to it and touch it." Danny continued as Dax gave a small shiver.

"And one time, Julian almost did the same thing. He can't go anywhere near this thing, Dax; got it?" the other twin affirmed. Dax nodded, and the twins looked back at the Medusa Artifact. Quietly, so that Dax couldn't hear him, Danny whispered something under his breath.

"He can't know the secret he doesn't know he has."

AAAANNNND: DUN DUN DUN! The Obelisk has made it's appearance! Nothing's as it seems! Oh dear! Oh no! Whatever shall happen next! Oh-

Oh, what's this; I finished a fanfiction? Hmmmm...

I FINISHED A FANFICTION! /)^0^(\

Go check out my COMPLETED Destiny fanfiction, Fever! With comedy and feels abound!

And...I swear...if they kill Mack...I...will cry...and boycott Marvel...for ten years...no joke...#MACKLIVES! If we do it before it happens, it has a higher chance of success!

Who wants to take a stab in the dark at what powers the twins have? ^^ What powers do you want to see?

If They Had Powers: If Garak were to gain Inhuman powers, what would those powers be, based off his personality, situation, and the powers you've seen in AoS and the comics? Just as a "what if", scenario, we all know he can't be Inhuman; you have to be human first in order for that to happen. And in case you need to know, this takes place a few days after the events of "Doctor Bashir, I presume?"

Next time: Garak has a deadline, and meeting it is going to be costly; more than one might think...

Read and REVIEW!

Cheers!^^