Disclaimer: Blah Blah Blah...just like my previous ones-I don't own StarGate or any of the characters, I just enjoy sending them on a wild ride, and I promise to have them home by dinner
A/N: Hopefully this chapter will make the Summary make a little bit more sense, and I am pleased to inform everyone...the plot thickens, quite considerably. I had hoped to get this up last night, but, sadly, I had to get to bed before my wonderful and amazing friend could send it back, read and revised. Anyway, I hope you enjoy :). (Oh, and PLEASE review, I really wanna know what you guys think about it!)
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Chapter 2: In the Hands of a God
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The first thing she realized was that she was lying on something hard and cold. The second was that she was strapped down, metal bands encircling both her wrists and ankles.
Sam's eyes flew open – something she immediately regretted. The sudden light that seared into her open eyes felt like a nail being driven through her skull, tearing the sensitive tissue into painful shreds. She snapped her eyelids closed again, but the damage was done; her head pounded, a knot of pain forming in the base of her skull.
The next time she opened her eyes, it was a mere crack. Ever so slowly, Sam began to widen her eyes until, after what felt like an eternity, she could look around her.
She was lying on a metal table standing just off-center of the chamber. The walls seemed to be made out of stone, the door behind her and to her right shining metal. The ceiling above her head was low, looking somewhat earthen in nature. Wooden beams crisscrossed the roof, creating even more of a slightly claustrophobic feeling to the room. Counters and cabinets were spaced along the walls, all of the strange implements resting on them looking as if they were neatly in their correct places. Small, artificial lights set into the ceiling gave off a faint glow, fully illuminating the room, but not making it over-bright.
Sam heard a groan, then someone shifting around directly to her right. She turned her head, catching a glimpse of graying hair and a surly expression.
Colonel O'Neill groaned again, shaking his head as he blinked harshly. His head darted to his right, then his left, his face lighting up when he saw Carter awake and watching him. His head snaked back around to his right, then looked back toward Sam.
"Daniel's still out of it," he said, then attempting to peer past her. "Teal'c over there?" he asked, his voice not quite hopeful but not quite anxious either.
Sam quickly double-checked, but found the same thing as she had the first time she had given the room an inspection.
"No sir," Carter replied. "He's not there; just a wall and some cabinets." She heard her CO sigh and grumble under his breath.
"Guess we can only hope that that's a good thing then," he finally said, this time loud enough for her to make out his words. He let his head flop back against the table he was fastened to, his eyes roving over their surroundings.
"So what do you make of this, sir?" Sam asked, glancing around again, herself.
"We're strapped to tables. In some kind of laboratory. By some wacko snakehead."
That pretty much sums it up, Sam thought wryly, although she didn't speak her thoughts aloud.
A moan to Jack's right brought both Sam and Jack's attention snapping over to where Daniel was finally beginning to awaken, yelping as the light struck his sensitive eyes.
"Jack? Sam?" he called out, his eyes screwed tightly shut.
"We're here," Sam answered, trying to reassure her friend. She drew breath to say something else, when the door behind them slid open. Sam craned her neck around, barely managing to get the entire opening in her peripheral vision.
Two large, burly men dressed in the traditional Jaffa armor stepped into the room, then off to either side of the door. Behind them strode a tall, skinny man with shocking silver hair that fell to his shoulders in rippling waves. He moved with a grace resembling that of a cat, his posture erect and stiff.
He swept around the tables, halting at the foot of O'Neill's where all three of them could see him. He cocked his head to one side, as if examining the three people strapped down and immobile before him.
"I am Belenus," he finally stated, his reedy voice strengthened with the dual tones of the Goa'uld. He rested one hand on the metal surface of the table by his side, eying them coldly. "You are my prisoners."
"Naw really?" quipped O'Neill. "We hadn't noticed, being tied to tables and all."
The Goa'uld ignored the insolent colonel, instead turning his back on them and crossing to the counter beyond. He seemed to pick something up, fiddling with it as he continued. "You are here for one purpose alone: I have had rare opportunity to experiment on a Tau'ri. And I am intrigued to discover if there is anything…unique…about your specific breed."
He turned back to face them, his lips quirked in a malicious grin. "You are here for my amusement and interest." He twirled the long, slightly knotted utensil through his willowy fingers, inspecting the three of them again.
"How shall we begin?" Belenus asked, turning and placing the rod back onto the counter.
~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~
Not much happened the first time around. It was basically just poking and prodding, Sam decided upon reflection. Belenus had drawn blood from each of them, then basically done the equivalent of a CAT scan and an MRI. After examining the results of each test, a strange, thoughtful look seemed to settle over his features, and he left without another word. Not that Carter, Daniel, or O'Neill really minded.
"What was that all about?" Daniel asked after Belenus had left.
Carter sighed, saying, "I'm not sure. And I'm not even sure why he really needs us. He's already experimented on an Earth human."
"Yeah. I heard that too," Daniel admitted.
"Do you know who that guy is?" O'Neill cut in.
"Apparently that's Belenus, who was the Celtic god of fire and science," Daniel replied without hesitation.
"Science," Sam mused. "I guess that explains one thing; his fascination with experimenting on us," she said morbidly.
~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~
Fourteen hours; that was how long they had been lying there, strapped to the cold, unforgiving metal of the lab tables, staring at the same monotonous ceiling.
"Ya know, they could have given us someplace nicer, like a nice comfy cell or something," O'Neill complained.
"Yeah, real relaxing and nice," said Daniel sarcastically.
"Well it would be better than here," snapped Jack, turning his head viciously to the side.
"Boys! Please!" sighed Carter, who had been forced to deal with their bickering for the last eight hours. Both Daniel and O'Neill quieted, both of them glaring sullenly at their surroundings.
Sam, meanwhile, was busy exploring the metal that was cuffing them to the tables, attempting to find a catch or a hole, something by which she could pick the lock holding them tightly secured. So far, she had had no luck, her probing fingertips merely coming into contact with more cold, heartless steel.
"Damn," she cursed quietly as her left wrist cramped for the third time that day, forcing her to stop her investigation yet again. She laid her head back against the flat surface, currently agreeing with her CO; a cell was much more comfortable than being tied down on the tables.
The door slid open again, Belenus swooping into the room. He stopped by what was his equivalent of a computer, searching through the databases for something. He seemed to find whatever it was that he had been looking for, for his head suddenly snapped upward, his cold, ice blue eyes examining Sam in a malignant way.
"Take her to Lab 2A-f," he commanded imperiously, one of the Jaffa moving quickly to obey.
With a small snick, the cuffs binding Carter to the table sprang open. Before she could move, however, she was hauled roughly off of the flat surface, her feet slamming into the floor and her knees buckling as the blood suddenly rushed back into her legs. The Jaffa grabbed onto her shoulder, keeping her upright as she nearly fell to the floor, then half dragged, half pushed Carter out of the door and down the hallway.
"And now," drawled Belenus, "For the rest of you."
~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~
Sam was marched down the corridor, her legs finally beginning to reawaken enough that she didn't solely rely on the Jaffa to hold her upright. As they walked, Carter attempted to remember the directions.
Right, right, middle fork, left. Up the short flight of steps, down the sloping tunnel. Right, left.
And then, the man was stopping, opening a door similar to the one in the other lab. Sam was pushed inside, tripping over her feet as she was shoved over. She broke her fall with a shoulder, rolling to stop any more serious injury other than a few bruises. She fetched up against a counter, knocking her head into the stone edge of it.
She lay there, dazed for a second before shaking her head to clear her vision and sitting upright. To her surprise, the Jaffa that had escorted her to this new room had taken a step closer to her, his face creased in a slightly worried frown.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you fall," he said, his voice, to Carter's surprise, gentle and sounding truly sincere. She looked at him again, this time looking past the armor and the tattoo stamped onto his forehead.
He was a fairly young man, with sandy blonde hair flopping across his forehead, partially hiding the ugly mark burned into his forehead. He had thoughtful, hazel eyes that glinted with a youth and an innocence that service to the Goa'uld seemed to not have tainted.
The young man offered Sam a sheepish grin, then moved back against the door, blocking her only escape, and resuming his previous, serious glare.
He's just a boy Sam realized as she ran her fingers through her hair, then rubbed her wrists where the metal had chaffed at the skin. She stood shakily to her feet, working the feeling back into her numb legs, and began to investigate the room she now found herself imprisoned in.
In general layout, it was very similar to the one where she had previously been held along with Colonel O'Neill and Daniel. This room, however, seemed to be more of a biological testing room. There were vials as well as glass and pewter beakers, syringes and metal tubes. When she quickly peered into the cabinets, she found liquids and the pickled remains of various species, some of which she recognized from planets she had previously visited, some still alien to her.
Sam half expected her guard to stop her from poking around, but he didn't. In fact, he hardly moved at all, the only things that shifted constantly were his eyes as he watched her stalk about the room.
After about half of an hour of pacing around the small, enclosed space, contemplating ways to escape, Carter heard something out in the hallway.
The Jaffa guarding her stepped aside, and Belenus stepped into the room. He ignored Sam for a moment, pulling a chair out from a corner and sinking down into it. It was only then that he raised his gaze to stare imperiously into Carter's pale blue eyes. He leaned back, crossing his legs, as if contemplating what he was about to say.
"Why have you brought me here?" Carter finally said, shattering the silence that had descended.
"Now, now, Samantha," purred the Goa'uld, "No need to be impatient. All will be made clear in due time." He continued to watch her with his searching gaze, a small smile beginning to lift the corners of his mouth.
"You may be wondering how exactly I know your name…your full name, I should say," Belenus finally said, shifting his gaze to look at the Jaffa still standing guard at the door. He nodded curtly, and the young man bowed, slipping out of the room and closing the door behind his retreating form. "Because, in fact, you are known best by your most commonly used name. Major Sam Carter," he supplied at Sam's continued confused look. Carter nodded once, slowly, a knot of apprehension growing in her gut.
"So how do you know my name?" she asked venomously, surly complying with what the Goa'uld had been attempting to get her to ask.
"Because," Belenus said, openly smiling now, "That's the only name he ever screams."
The door slid open, and two Jaffa entered, carrying a semi-conscious form between them. The sandy blonde haired man stepped in after them, reclaiming his position by the door as the two others lifted the limp body onto the table, fastening the cuffs around his hands and feet.
The Jaffa obstructing her view suddenly moved aside and Sam saw, with a thrill of horror and recognition, her father, Jacob Carter, lying motionless on the table.
With a soft curse and a few hurried steps, Sam was by her father's side, her fingers flying to check his pulse. As her fingertips brushed his neck, Jacob moaned softly, his eyelids flickering frantically.
His face was covered with bruises and cuts in various stages of healing. His shaggy hair was matted with dried blood, the cuts under them having healed long ago thanks to Selmak's healing capabilities. He was wearing a thin, gray shirt and tan, baggy pants, his bare toes poking out of the soft fabric. Three quarters of his toenails were missing, where they should have been merely ragged and oozing holes.
"What have you done to him?" Carter hissed, rage boiling up inside of her. She closed her eyes, battling the nausea that rose in her throat and fighting down the fury that threatened to overwhelm her. She clenched her hands, her nails biting into the soft flesh as she restrained herself, realizing that acting upon that anger would only make things worse for both her and her father.
Belenus merely smiled, showing perfect white teeth that flashed with a distinctively evil gleam. "Oh, he's been the perfect little toy," he said calmly.
In her world, it was the father who was meant to protected his daughter, who fought for her honor and destroyed the man who harmed her. In this world, however, it was the daughter who battled for her father, who demanded retribution for the wrongs done to him.
Carter leaped for the Goa'uld, a snarl fixed on her face, pure hatred gleaming in her usually calm and collected eyes. Surprise showed on the man's face, shock at her audacity glinting in his piercing gaze. She was a mere foot away from wiping the smirk from his face, when Sam was grabbed on both sides and slammed onto the ground, the breath being forced from her lungs as her back impacted the hard floor.
She bucked, attempting to fight the men off of her, but they merely knelt on her stomach and on her shoulders, effectively holding her down onto the ground.
Belenus stood up, a new vindictiveness in the straight line that his mouth formed. "I would have done this almost painfully, but now? Now I think I will enjoy it to its fullest."
The Goa'uld reached behind him, picking up a syringe from a metal tray. He inspected it, then knelt by Sam's still fighting form. He lowered the tip of the needle until it was hovering just above her neck, the point quivering. She stilled almost instantaneously, knowing that if she jerked now, then the needle could puncture her windpipe, effectively killing her.
Belenus smirked, then plunged the tip of the needle into the soft skin on the side of her neck, directly into the vein pulsing under her jaw. She felt the swelling of the needle as he drew the blood from her body and into the tube.
The needle withdrew, the vial that was attached filled with the dark red substance that was her blood. She felt the warm trickling of blood as it continued to flow viscously from the puncture in her neck, wetting her shirt with a sticky red stain. Belenus stood, turning to the counter again, placing the syringe back on the metal tray and retrieving a second needle, before repeated the process on the other side of her neck. Then, to her horror, he drew a long, serrated knife from his belt. Fear coursed through her body, her heart beginning to race as he lowered it almost lovingly to her chin, tracing the curve of her jaw as he moved the blade out of sight behind her head. She felt a sharp tug, then the piercing pricks of hair being wrenched from her scalp. She bit her lip to stop the sharp intake of breath that threatened. The Goa'uld drew the knife away, a lock of hair clutched daintily between thumb and forefinger.
He rose again, motioning haphazardly behind him, and Carter felt herself being tugged to her feet then forced to her knees, her head being pulled up sharply by a tug from a hand laced through her hair.
Belenus moved back into her view, carrying two small beakers filled with navy blue liquid. He dipped a needle into the first one, checking to make sure it was flowing correctly, then turned to smile at Sam.
Behind him, Sam saw her father's eyes open and his gaze flit sideways. He stopped, staring at her with shock resonating in their dark brown depths. "Sam?" he managed to whisper in the sudden silence. She couldn't say a word, her jaw locking so that the tears that threatened to drip down her cheek wouldn't fall; she could only attempt to give him a small, reassuring smile. It came out as more of a grimace, her eyes holding all of the pain and fear that she felt inside.
Belenus' grin only grew as he turned his back to Sam and bent over her father, almost lovingly lowering the needle and piercing the back of her father's neck, injecting the liquid into the symbiote wrapped around Jacob's spine.
Sam watched, unable to look away and afraid to blink as Jacob's muscles tightened, going into spasm as the liquid worked its way into his system. He jerked, fighting the metal restraints, his eyes glazing over, no longer seeing his daughter as she watched him with barely concealed terror.
"What are you doing to him?" Sam nearly screamed, her voice choked with anger and fear for her father.
Belenus turned to her, smiling like the Cheshire Cat. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," he said loftily as he stabbed a second needle filled with the remainder of the navy blue solution into Jacob's arm. "You'll find out soon enough."
Jacob suddenly slumped against the table, unconscious for a few agonizing moments. Then, his eyes snapped open, the dark depths of his irises clouded with pain and confusion. He turned his head, his gaze locking with Sam's for a split instant.
Something flashed through Jacob's eyes, something Sam would only later be able to put words to. It was a mixture of fear, anger, and hate.
Then, it was gone as Jacob turned his head away from his daughter as the darkness claimed him once again.