Rising from the Ashes of Ascension
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: As much as I might wish, I do not own Stargate: SG1, Highlander: the Series, or any recognizable characters from either show. If I did, I wouldn't be working in the public schools system. However, any characters that are not from either show are mine and I will use and abuse them as I see fit. Everyone else will be returned eventually, for I am only borrowing for awhile, but they might end up a bit scuffed.
Warnings: Potty language, violence, and occasional sexual references
The next day, more like the afternoon since Jack and Sam had to work off their hangovers. While Sam was silent about it, Jack loudly complained about Daniel's overly cheerful mood. Methos had to go back into work that day, much to his relief, so he had not crashed on the Colonel's couch. Instead, completely sober, he drove himself home. Teal'c of course was the poster-boy for sobriety.
By the time everyone had sobered up, eaten a healthy breakfast, and had taken a shower, the team was ready to face a day of shopping.
Daniel, looking relaxed in a pair of jeans, white t-shirt, and dark sweater, quickly pulled on a long leather coat that helped to conceal his sword that was hiding in a secret pocket that had been sewn into the lining. He was grateful to Jack, Methos, and the others, for preserving that specific article of clothing. It was so hard to find a jacket of the right length and thickness that would mask the presence of an antique, but lethal weapon.
Daniel needed to get some of the basics for his new home. While he hadn't found a home yet, he figured that it wouldn't hurt him to get some of the basics. Jack had promised him that he could store his new stuff in his basement or garage until he found a place of his own.
While his more valuable (not junk) belongings had been stored by his teammates, some of the stuff like bed linens, cookware, and the like had been given away to charity. Sam had figured that he wouldn't have minded if stuff like that had been given to a family in need so most of it had been donated. Luckily they had kept his art, his piano, weapons, journals and books.
It had been quite the struggle to keep Abbott away from Daniel's journals. Teal'c had to actually threaten the man with bodily harm if he continued to persist in acquiring their friend's personal diaries. Rumor has it the big guy threatened to dislocate the man's shoulder, shave his head, and tape his eye lids open and force him to watch Star Wars Episode One again and again. Teal'c could creatively cruel and nothing was crueler than making someone watch Jar-Jar repeatedly.
The group climbed into Jack's truck and headed over to Janet's house. Janet has expressed a desire earlier that she would be more than happy to help Daniel find items for his new home.
The short, fireball of a doctor rushed out of the house, purse and coat in hand. Janet wasn't about to miss a chance to go shopping for Daniel, especially when it was going to be on his dime. The man had promised her and Sam that they could help him pick out linen-like things, as long as they didn't stray into the girly-realm, which meant no pink, flowers, lace, or cute animals and children.
Sucker.
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"How about this?" Sam asked, holding up a butterfly-themed bathroom ensemble, as she stood in the middle of the bathroom section of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. "You said nothing about insects."
The look Daniel shot her would have made the Goa'uld as a whole tremble in fear.
Janet laughed at the both of them. "How about something more masculine?" she asked, holding up a dark brown wastebasket that had bronze accents. "Its tasteful and all of the accessories coordinate with each other."
"Fine," Daniel sighed, looking up to the heavens, praying to the gods of old that Jack and Teal'c would come and rescue him. Unfortunately Teal'c was busying himself in the candle section and Jack was busy being fascinated by the beer making kits on the other side of the store.
Janet, noting the look of exasperation, with a hint of desperation, made a decision. "Daniel, if you give me your credit card, I promise that I will keep Sam in line and get you what you need. I know you like blue, so I'll find you something nice for the bedroom, and get you the stuff for your kitchen. Go hang out with the guys, hit the Barnes and Nobel store next door and we'll meet you over there in two hours or less," the red-head said, with a slight smile on her face.
Daniel cursed under his breath. It didn't matter the age he was in, he hated shopping. While he could spend hours at a museum or on a dig looking at broken pottery shards, being trapped in a store or market place set him on edge. It made the Y chromosome in him demand that he smash something.
He pulled out his wallet, a nice black leather one that Jack had given him a week after he had come back from Vis Urbana. Daniel pulled out a credit card and handed it over to Janet with an order that if there was anything girly in her purchases he promised to give Jack tips on how to make her nurses cry for weeks upon end.
Of course he knew, as well as she did, that Daniel didn't mean a word of it. He just had to say it to keep up his manly appearance.
Once he left the women to their devices, he went and found Jack and Teal'c. Teal'c had found several candles he declared to be satisfactory and Jack had decided to buy the brew your own beer at home kit that he had found. Once the men made their purchases and Daniel had had a word with the store's manager, letting her know that the two women he had been with had his permission to use his credit card, they headed over to Barnes and Nobel. Daniel had given the manager the best poor me, puppy dog look to convince her that nothing wrong was afoot; he just wanted out and away from the shop-aholic women. His pouty lips and sexy eyes had the fifty-some-odd year old woman melting at his feet, willing to do whatever he asked of her.
"You dog," Jack said, nudging his friend, knowing exactly what Daniel was up to.
"I do not understand why you refer to DanielJackson as a canine O'Neill," Teal'c rumbled. "He is clearly a member of the homo sapiens species."
"It's an expression," Jack said, clearly missing the amused look on the Jaffa's face. There was something about purposefully mangling human expressions and exasperating O'Neill in the process that caused his heart to swell.
The men walked out to the truck and stowed their purchases in the covered bed of the truck.
Daniel then drug Jack in to the gigantic bookstore chain, with the promise that Jack could go lose himself in the sports section while he browsed the history section and Teal'c hit the sci-fi section. When Jack started to complain, Daniel reminded him that the other options were to go join the women as they shopped. That shut Jack up in nothing flat.
Two hours quickly passed. Sam and Janet found the Colonel and Teal'c sitting in the café, each of them nursing cups of hot tea.
"Where's Daniel?" Sam asked, looking pleased with her self, sitting down between her teammates at the counter.
Janet, also looking pleased with herself. She had successfully convinced Sam that no, Daniel would not be happy if they had gotten the blue and yellow flowered plates and that the Colorwave Graphite 16-piece dinner set (two sets actually) would be a better choice. They had both agreed that the Shangrila flatware would be a perfect complement to the place settings.
"He's over in the history section, more specifically standing in front of the ancient world history section, quietly cussing in two languages over the apparent idiocy of the writers, especially one by the name of Steven Raynor," Jack sighed. "We tried to bribe him away from the section with coffee, mentioned that he was scaring small children, and made a college freshman cry, but we got nothing. You're turn," he muttered and returned his focus to his tea and copy of In-Fisherman.
Sam and Janet looked at each other.
Janet sighed. "Fine, I'll take one for the supposed great and almighty flagship team of the SGC, she muttered," and stalked over to the history section, doing her best to ignore the trashy romance books that were silently calling her name.
"Daniel," Janet called, watching her friend flip furiously through pages of a book.
"Can you believe that jerk got all of these supposed enlightened people to review his book? Steven claims that the myths of Egypt were isolated to the region and do not have a direct cross-cultural pollination until the age of Ptolemy and that is the height of arrogance to think that the mythology had any real influence on western culture beyond Roman," Daniel raged.
"Well, we all know he's a jerk, but we need to go," Janet said placating. "You were right and he was wrong."
Daniel shook his head. "But the point is that his points are loosely made, with very little effort to disprove the idea of cross-pollination and influence upon other cultures. He ignores way too much evidence and these great minds of academia totally kiss his butt in hopes that through him they'll get free publicity for their own hack writings."
Janet took a deep breath and willed herself to not grab the man by his ear and drag him away. "We know Daniel. But think of it this way, Steven might have a nice shiny published book with his picture on it and you don't, but you aren't the only one on base that can't publish what they've discovered. Dr. Lee, Sam, myself, along with all of the other scientists on base have to hear about our colleagues out there in the real world go on about this or that theory when we know they are wrong and can't say a damn ting about it. Let it go. Besides, you make better money, get to travel more, speak more languages than he does, and get to meet really interesting people. Do you think Steven gets to meet people like Thor everyday?"
Daniel stood there and thought it over for a minute. Janet was right, as usual.
"Fine," he said, shrugging. "Where are we going next?"
"The Colonel mentioned Circuit City and that you need a new television set, along with a DVD player, and the like," Janet said, tugging on her friend's hand, hauling him away from the source of his irritation.
Daniel let her lead him away. If his heart was really into staying at the bookstore, he could have easily overpowered the diminutive doctor with little ease. It wasn't a matter of knowing how disarm and kill someone twenty-six different ways, unarmed; he simply towered over her much smaller stature.
"How much did you two spend?" Daniel asked suddenly, remembering that he had handed his credit card over to the two biggest shop-aholics of the SGC.
Janet winced, but she figured (correctly) that Danil the Immortal actually had more than enough money to support many third-world countries. "You know the phrase don't ask, don't tell?"
Daniel nodded, feeling slightly numb.
"That also applies to shopping," she said as they rejoined the group in the café.
"Oh gods," Daniel groaned.
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They walked into Circuit City, as a group, but split up immediately, having divied up their respective tasks. Sam went to go look at the laptops; Janet went to look at the DVD players; Teal'c was in charge of finding a stereo system; and Jack was in charge of Daniel and finding a sweet television that would be appropriate for movie nights, hockey-watching, and the occasional special on the History Channel.
"How about this one?" Jack asked, pointing to a television against the wall, ignoring the hovering sales clerk.
Daniel looked at his friend with a baleful look. "Jack, why would I need a fifty inch television set?"
Jack looked at the Immortal as if he were crazy. "Why? Because it's fifty freaking inches!"
"So to you size matters?"
Jack O'Neill, the man that reveled in making new recruits, cadets, and the occasional nun cry, looked stunned for a second that the normally reserved archeologist would say something like that. Then again, the reserved, helpless, geeky archeologist had grown into a confident, former Ascended Being, and incredible smartass. Though to be honest, the helpless geek personae had only been a front, showing the world what they wanted to see; it had never really existed.
"No, it'll let me see the blood on the ice when I come over for hockey nights," was Jack's response.
"Hockey? Somehow I don't exactly recall ever liking hockey," Daniel said, scrunching up his face.
"You were a big fan of the sport. I swear! You told me that there were some holes in your memory. This must be one of them," Jack lied with ease.
The two friends haggled and argued over which television to buy. Jack's opinion was bigger the better. Daniel wanted something a bit more practical. They finally agreed on a LG thirty-two inch LCD HDTV. Jack then pointed out that Daniel would need an entertainment center which they could get at a later date.
The others returned with purchases in tow, in two occasions (Sam and Teal'c had nervous store employees following them, though Teal'c sales clerk looked a bit more on the terrified side of nervous).
"Okay, how much of a headache will I have when I get my credit card bill?" Daniel asked, looking at the items in everyone's hands.
"We didn't get rid of your tapes or DVDs, so you'll need a DVD-VCR combo player," Janet explained, showing off the Samsung box in her hands.
"I know you have your computer and laptop at work, but you'll need something at home. Plus with this, I can make all sorts of upgrades to it so it will be able to handle anything you bring home from work, from a security stand-point," she said, ignoring the murderous look coming from the Colonel.
"DanielJackson, I have investigated the options that this establishment provides and I feel that I have procured the optimal sound system for your new place of residency. Matt here has reassured me that if you choose, you would be able to strip the pigment off the interior fortifications of your domicile with this particular system," the Jaffa rumbled, causing everyone to look at him for a second, most of all the clueless sales staff.
"Good one T," Jack laughed, noting the miniscule smile on the large man's face.
Daniel sighed. "I am going to have a heart attack when I get my credit card bills, aren't I?" he asked as they made their way to the front counter to pay for the items.
Janet handed over the credit card he had given her earlier and he in turn turned it over to the cashier. "As your doctor, I can say with authority that you'll survive," she said dryly
"DanielJackson, I have found that if you wish to have items that will last and are of good quality, you must be willing to part with a certain amount of money. In the end, if you get items of lesser quality, it will cost you more in the end," Teal'c said, dispensing with his sage advice. "Also, did you not inform us when we went on vacation in the southern state of Dakota that you are in possession of a vast amount of wealth?"
At this point Daniel wished that the earth would open up and swallow him whole or at least for an alien invasion to take place.
Neither happened, but something else did.
Daniel suddenly felt a familiar pounding and buzzing sensation, originating at the base of his skull. He ignored his friends, looking around for the source of his disturbance.
Coming out of a back room was a man. He looked young, not more than twenty-five, but as Daniel well knew, appearances could be deceptive. He was of average height, weight, and build, with brown hair and dark brown eyes. Other than the Fire Dogs polo shirt and name tag he was wearing, he was one of the most non-descript person Daniel had seen in a long time. The Immortal could easily blend into a crowd and get lost easily. A very handy trick to have, Daniel thought to himself.
The other Immortal crossed the isles, all the time looking at Daniel with contempt and out-right hostility.
"Yes?" Danil said, matching the other Immortal's hostility with his own.
"Why are you here?" Kevin, according to his name tag, hissed, his eyes narrowed.
Danil rolled his eyes. "Getting my teeth cleaned. What does it look like? I'm shopping. Is that a problem?"
"This is my store. I don't like others being here."
Danil snorted. "I'm supposed to care why? This isn't Holy Ground. How old are you? When in the hell did you move to Colorado Springs?"
"I'm old enough and I moved here last year," Kevin snarled, not caring about the strange looks they were getting from everyone.
The Ancient Immortal mentally shook his head. "Good for you. Now can I finish my shopping and be on my way? I promise that I won't come back and ruin your happy existence."
"Bullshit! I challenge you," the angry geek snapped.
"Why?" Danil asked, totally confused.
Kevin stood there, his hands balled into fists resting on his hips. "Because you are like all of the rest. You'll come after me eventually. You're probably new to the Game anyway and just want my power."
Danil stood there and blinked. He had never come across such a stupid Immortal. Hell, even Silas wasn't this stupid, he thought to himself. "Did you not feel my Quickening signature? I don't exactly feel like a newbie. So why don't you just go back to doing whatever it is that you do and leave me the fuck alone."
"I challenged you. You can't back out! We can have it out here if you want?"
Danil ground his teeth. "Quit being retarded. You know our fight isn't for mortals' eyes. Let's take it outside and around the back."
"Don't get involved. I'll take care of this and be back before you know it," Danil said quietly to his friends.
"Daniel, you aren't going to kill him are you? He's just a kid," Janet asked.
Danil shook his head. "I don't want to, but if I have to I will. I think he's just being an arrogant pain in the ass that I had the unfortunate luck of running into."
"I wish you well DanielJackson," Teal'c intoned.
Jack looked at his friend carefully. "Just remember that if you lose I will not be happy with you and there won't be a second chance for you. No glow club. Do you even have you're, you know what?"
The Immortal patted his long brown leather coat affectionately. "I don't leave home without it Jack. Don't worry. Just stay here please."
"I'll be waiting for you. Wait about 5 minutes or so before following," Danil ordered the idiot that had been brash enough to challenge him.
With that, Danil, the Immortal peaceful explorer with a nasty side to his personality walked out of the store followed by Kevin the Immortal geek with a death wish, several minutes later (there was no need to announce to the mortals at large that something was up – at least O'Sullivan had enough sense to see that).
"Sir, you your total cost will be $4,530.85," the cashier called after the Immortal.
"Sign for me Jack," Danil called out, grinding his teeth. "I left something in the truck."
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Together the Immortals walked out of the store and headed around to the back of the red and white building. Danil checked for cameras, but saw none.
Kevin the geek snorted. "The store is in such bad shape financially, which was why you got such a good deal on your stuff, they won't spring for new cameras to replace the ones I broke a couple of months ago when I took a new Immortal's head. It wasn't that powerful of a quickening, but it was destructive enough. This is going to be so cool. It will be like how Darth Vader faced and killed Obi Wan." The boy was fairly bouncing with excitement.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Danil asked, totally shocked that whatever true god that was up there in charge of deciding who could and could not become Immortal would allow suck a dork to become one. "How old are you?"
"I've been an immortal for eight years now," he replied, taking a few practice swings with his sword.
"Did your teacher ever tell you not to be stupid?"
"He taught me what I needed to know then I killed him," Kevin said coldly, not knowing how much that simple statement pissed off Danil.
However, Kevin the geek didn't need to know that. "Are you going to at least introduce yourself or shall I just refer to you as Kevin of the Fire Dog people?"
"My name is Kevin O'Sullivan. What's yours?"
Danil let a small, but evil smile touch his lips. "I am Danil of the People of the Sea. I was also known once upon a time as Hades," he said, holding his sword, the Jian, in his left hand; quickly he engaged the whelp and the fight was on.
Danil and Kevin crossed swords, the sound ringing through the air. Metal clashed against metal. Danil quietly prayed that no one would bother to hear the noise and come and investigate.
Kevin's feet shuffled, moving hesitantly across the gravel and snow covered loading area while Danil was sure footed and nimble. While he was content to play the idiot for awhile, he was not willing to deliberately trip himself up, risking a quick beheading by a fool.
"You don't have to do this," Danil said, despite his anger at the kid, hoping that he would see reason.
"You're scared," Kevin said, referring to how timid Danil of the Sea monkeys or whatever he called himself was fighting, not understanding that the name that had been used to introduce him-self was not a modern moniker; that it wasn't something derived from an RPG.
Danil was playing mostly defensive, letting the kid think he had an advantage, but all the while keeping an amused smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling? I'm beating you!" Kevin snarled.
"Because I know something you don't know," Danil said, amused at this point.
"What's that?" Kevin snorted as he took a mighty swipe at Danil, hoping to catch the other off guard, thinking he was facing a newbie.
"I'm not left-handed," he said, immediately switching his grip and let loose a flurry of strikes that Kevin could barely defend him-self from, if at all. It finally seeped through his thick head that Danil of the Sea monkeys was not a virgin to the Game - that this man was literally a sword master. And the fact that he was so completely fucked it wasn't funny.
Before he knew what had happened, Danil disarmed Kevin and had him on his knees, the Jian pressing against his neck.
"Is this where I'm supposed to beg for forgiveness?" Kevin squeaked, trying and failing miserably to sound brave.
Danil snorted and swung his sword, cleanly severing the head from the body releasing the boy's Quickening.
Mist began to pour out of the headless body, creeping across the ground, rolling towards the victor.
Blue lightening crackled, lashing out from the body, touching the building, lights, the metal railing along the wall, power lines, and finally Danil. He screamed as the energy filled him, all of the power and knowledge that had been Kevin of the O'Sullivans now belonged to him. Through the transference of O'Sullivan's Quickening to him, Danil was able to see that while O'Sullivan him-self had been pretty weak, the Quickening of his former teacher had been pretty powerful.
This had been Danil's first Quickening since he had returned to the land of the breathing and solid. He reveled in the feeling of victory, even though the fight had been lame and the loser even lamer. It helped to connect him with his identity, with the knowledge that he was an Immortal, that while the public aspects of his life had been destroyed, his other, more secretive life and skills were still present. It was hard to describe how he could feel happy after killing a moronic punk that had gotten himself in way over his head, but there was something there that he could appreciate.
Soon it was over. Danil picked him his sword where he had dropped it once the lightening had hit him. He then walked over to Kevin's sword and picked it up. It was a rapier, of Spanish design probably made in the seventeenth century if he had to make a guess. He really didn't want it, but he couldn't just leave it lying around. Besides, since Abbott had been such a nice guy about the whole Watcher thing, he figured that it would make a nice present for the man. He also prayed that the Watcher Clean-up Crew would arrive and take care of the body. He did not want to be hauled in for questioning about the mysterious death by decapitation that occurred behind Circuit City.
Daniel, no longer Danil, concealed the swords in the folds of his coat and calmly walked back around to the front of the store and found that the sliding glass doors had been blown out. He stepped through the shattered glass and took in the sight that filled his vision.
Televisions, large and small had been blown apart, several of them on fire. Glass and plastic crunched underneath his boots, Electronic parts were either melted or shattered. DVDs were everywhere. Stereo speakers had been blown out. Cash registers were shorted out.
The oddest sight was Jack standing there in the middle of the floor, holding a hand to the back of his head, while Janet was trying to pry it away to see what kind of damage had been done.
"What in the hell happened here?" Daniel asked, honestly confused. The Quickening from his perspective hasn't been that powerful.
Teal'c looked over at his friend, with relief, mixed in there with annoyance and a side of humor. "Apparently while you were out at the truck, there was a mysterious excess of energy in the electrical lines that overloaded the system, causing this scene of destruction and chaos. Did you perhaps notice anything amiss while you were outside with your task?"
Daniel shook his head, his eyes wide. "Nope, not in the least. What happened to Jack?"
Sam, at this point, was struggling to not laugh. The scene around them was not a place where laughter was appropriate, but she could not help herself. She held in her hands a boxed set of DVDs.
"When the power surge occurred, the Colonel was hit in the head with this," she said, choking on her laughter.
"Quiet you," Jack ground out, hating her for laughing at his predicament.
Daniel leaned slightly forward, looking at the title on the box that Sam held.
MacGyver, the complete 5th season.
"Oh," was all Daniel could say, before breaking into open laughter, and then quickly sobered. "What about the stuff I just bought?"
"We need to get the Colonel back to the mountain. He might need some stitches," Janet called out, trying to catch everyone's attention. "Your stuff can wait."
"You so owe me Spacemonkey," Jack growled.
Daniel did his best to hide his smile and contain himself. He had just experienced a Quickening and had seen the aftermath of his friend being beaned in the head with a copy of MacGyver. It was funny, in a sick way.
A/N: Well, what do you think? Crap or not? Hit the shiny review button and let me know what you think.
I have a vendetta against CC and I just wanted an excuse to, in a literary sense, get some revenge against them because I can't do it in real life (I'd go to jail). Yeah, think what you will about the Kevin O'Sullivan character, but he served a purpose. Plus, it officially put Daniel back in the Game.
Thank you to everyone that has been reading my stuff and a double thank you to those of you that have put me/the story on a list or have left a review. I do appreciate it. Again, another big thank you to Lorilei for nagging, I mean encouraging, me to get this chapter done and out.