Rising from the Ashes of Ascension

Chapter 23

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

Kali stormed through the palace, trailed by her Jaffa. Her priestess knowing that her goddess was enraged chose to make herself scarce.

She arrived back in her personal chambers, finding her pet still sitting on the bed, looking as if his mind had been completely blown away.

"What can you tell me about Daniel Jackson?" Kali demanded, grabbing the Immortal by his chin.

"Daniel?" Methos mumbled sleepily. "I remember him. He was one of the worst, a Horseman like us for awhile even. People screamed when we arrived and those that could ran away. Hades always followed Death, catching those that thought they were safe once we had finished. Blood was everywhere."

"Make sense," Kali snarled.

"Thousands of years ago, we rode across three continents, laying waste to all that stood in our way. Danil joined us for a time, going by the name of Hades," Methos mumbled, too far under Kali's pheromone-driven spell. He couldn't help himself; while he would have never let anyone, especially a Goa'uld find out about the existence of Immortals, this was far from a normal situation.

"Are you telling me that Daniel Jackson is like you?" Kali hissed.

Methos started laughing. "He's been around as long as I have, maybe longer," the Immortal snorted. "Danil is extremely hard to kill."

"Jaffa, kree!" Kali bellowed.

Her Jaffa ran into the room, prepared to do whatever their goddess commanded of them.

"Go back to the cell where the body of Daniel Jackson is and bring it to me!" she ordered, her eyes blazing with furious anger.

"Yes my lady," her First Prime said and bowed. He quickly retreated, with his fellow Jaffa following him quickly.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

The Jaffa entered the cell and found nothing.

Mai'tac.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

While Kali's Jaffa were busy discovering his mysterious disappearance, Danil was wandering the halls looking for an armory. His plan was to find Jack and the others, save Methos (he had a pretty good idea what she was doing to him), and kill the fucking bitch who tried to snake him. It seemed to him that it was a pretty good plan. Of course there were the details that could get in the way: no weapon of any sort, he didn't know where the others were, Methos was probably drugged out of his mind, and the goddamn Goa'uld would be pretty hard to kill. However, little things like details had never really bothered him before. Where there was a will there's a way, as the cliché goes, he thought to himself.

He looked along the walls, taking note of the doors looking for familiar glyphs that would indicate that what behind the door were weapons and not more guards, slaves, or worthless junk to his cause. Finally, after making three wrong turns and a couple of near misses with the Jaffa that were clearly searching for him, he found an armory.

Danil considered the array in front of him: staff weapons, pain sticks, and zats. Ignoring the pain sticks, for they were pretty useless in his current situation, and the staff weapons. While the staff weapons would inflict massive amounts of damage upon his enemies, it would be harder to hide and a bit cumbersome while sneaking through the palace. In the end, he picked up a zat; two shots after all did kill.

Once he was armed, he slipped back out the door and did his best to find his way to the cell where the team was being held. Danil crept along the corridors, doing his best to figure out where he was and where the others were. He made it back to the main hall, staying in the shadows. Danil remembered being taken off initially by the Jaffa. They had gone down a hallway that was to the right and forced down a flight of jet stone stairs. Once there, they had been marched down a corridor and from there, thrown into a cell.

Moving silently, a skill honed by centuries upon centuries of experience and his time in the SGC, he moved from column to column, avoiding notice. While it had only taken them about a minute when they had first entered the palace to arrive in front of Kali's throne, this escapade had taken him at least half an hour or more. Danil knew that if anyone, any servant, guard, or slave were to see him, his plans of revenge and escape would be ended pretty quickly.

The first obstacle that Danil encountered was a Jaffa standing guard in front of the stairs that led downstairs to the cells. Zatting the guy twice, while praying that no one heard the noise, Danil removed the immediate threat. He dragged the body off to a side alcove and did his best to shove the body behind a statue of Kali.

Danil then paused long enough to spit on the statue. It was a petty move on his part, but his was pissed and entitled to some pettiness.

He crept down the stairs, expecting a Jaffa or someone to loom out of the shadows and jump him. A part of him, the nastier side to his personality, would have welcomed the chance to rip someone to shreds in order to release some of his anger over what had happened to him. However, he knew that getting the team and Methos out of there and killing Kali to keep the secret of Immortality safe had to take precedent.

Danil did encounter two Jaffa guarding a familiar cell and took them out with one blast a piece from the zat.

The others, hearing the commotion outside, stood up, unsure as to what was going to happen next, but praying that it was either Daniel or Methos outside the door.

The door swung open, adding a tad bit more light into the dimly lit cell. A tall figure stood in the door way with a slightly disconcerting smile on his face.

Daniel.

"Daniel!" Jack exclaimed with relief. "Where's Adam?"

"Kali has him," Danil tersely replied and backed out of the door to let the others pass freely. He bent over and picked up the Jaffas' staff weapons which he tossed to Jack and Teal'c. He then grabbed a zat off the belt of one of the stunned Jaffa and tossed it to Sam before turning his back to them, checking out the hallway once again.

The others saw a familiar and not-fully healed neck wound.

Danil was about to tell the others to hurry up and get going as he turned back around to face them, but found himself face to face with two primed staff weapons and a zat.

"I'm not a Goa'uld," he said snidely, struggling within himself to not launch him-self at the others and beat them.

"Oh yeah, like we're supposed to believe that," Jack said snidely. "Back up slowly against the wall."

Danil felt Daniel pushing himself to the forefront, screaming at him to calm the fuck down.

Luckily he listened this time.

"Believe me Jack, it's me," Daniel said, his blue eyes pleading for acknowledgement.

"Why should I believe you?" Jack snapped.

"Because it's me," Daniel said, knowing how lame that sounded.

"Yeah, so what? What does that prove?"

"Why would I have broken you out if I were a Goa'uld?" Daniel said patiently.

Jack paused for a second. "Good point, but what's up with the entry wound and why are you still bleeding?"

"I got the entry wound when Kali was kind enough to decide that I would make a good host for Shiva. So thanks to her brilliant idea, she attempted to stick a snake in me. It hurt like a bitch and Sam, even though Jolinar was Tok'ra, I am so sorry that it happened to you. No one should have to go through that."

"You just said you got snaked!" Jack exclaimed, not seeing how this could possibly convince even the most mentally challenged person in the world that Daniel was not a Goa'uld.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "It didn't work. My Quickening, what makes me Immortal, attacked it. Shiva burrowed his way out of my body; I vomited him up and then proceeded to rip the body in half before Kali was kind enough to kill me with a staff weapon," he explained. "Obviously I got better. It was only a slight case of death this time."

"He sounds like Daniel," Jack remarked to his two teammates. "He's certainly sarcastic enough. Carter, do you sense the presence of a Goa'uld in him."

"No sir," Carter tersely replied, never taking her eyes off Daniel.

"How about you guys showing a little faith in me? Can't you find it in yourselves to try and believe me?"

Jack snorted. "You know I don't believe anything even if it is true!"

Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel all looked at him for a second and blinked.

"Look guys, you are just going to have to trust me on this. Immortals can't be snaked in general, but if Kali is doing what I am fairly sure she is doing with Methos, she will be creating a line of Goa'uld that will be compatible with Immortals. Imagine what Earth would be like if thousands of Immortals were turned into hosts. They would be the perfect hosts and destroy everything. Even the nicest Immortal in existence would be turned into a monster. It didn't work on me because the Goa'uld in question wasn't genetically compatible with me like he would have been with a normal human. Janet has done enough tests and experiments on me to determine that my DNA, while similar to yours, is slightly different. She then ran Siler's and then later Methos' and came to a conclusion that there is a genetic difference between regular humans and Immortals. We then had her destroy the evidence of course."

The members of SG-1 stood there for a minute, taking in all what Daniel had rattled out.

"Okay, but put one foot wrong and I will kill you dead myself," Jack said as they lowered their weapons.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can ask Kali what I did to her husband. I am sure she'll be more than happy to tell you all about it," Danil said, switching out personalities. "We have to go and find the Old Man, destroy some baby-prawns, and you get to watch as I kill that bitch for trying to snake me."

The other three members saw the sudden switch in disposition. Daniel's eyes grew harder, his voice harsher, his words more brash and foul.

What cemented their opinion was Daniel turning on the two downed Jaffa who were beginning to revive. He then fired twice per Jaffa, killing them in cold blood.

The others looked at him with some shock.

Danil shrugged. "Don't need any enemies at your back," was his response.

"Lay on McDuff," Jack said, shrugging himself, seeing the logic to Daniel's actions. "Put your Immortal bloodhound abilities to good use and find Adam. I am sure that where ever he is, Kali won't be far away."

Danil turned and looked at Jack, fingering his zat slightly. "Did you just call me a dog?"

"Hey, look at the time," Jack made a point of looking at his watch. "I think we're going to be late to the party. Let's move out."

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

They stole quietly through the passage-way, with Danil in the lead. Along the way, they found their gear and weapons. The members of DG-1 pulled on their vests and turned their radios on, using their usual frequency. If they had to separate at some point, it made sense to have a way to communicate with each other, rather than relying on luck. They were SG-1 after all and their luck tended to be notoriously bad. They took their zats and other valuable gear, but left their more conventional weapons, P-90s and side-arms behind. They were out of bullets and it made no sense to carry around worthless weapons. Daniel was also happy to have his extra knives back in his possession. He felt naked without them.

Sam did make Danil sit down for a moment and bandaged up his neck. It hadn't healed like the staff weapon had, and was still bleeding slightly. When asked about it, he told them that neck wounds didn't heal as quickly or nicely like other wounds.

After that, SG-1 had fun running from places of cover to new places of cover, hiding when patrols got too close, they made their way to the upper floor of the palace where Danil was certain where Methos was located.

They found him in the S&M bedroom from hell, buck naked, lying face down on a bed. Kali was nowhere to be seen.

As a group they ran across the room to the bed. Methos was unresponsive when they touched him but his eyes were open, he was breathing, and he had a stupid smile on his face. He had been, literally fucked, senseless

The guys rolled him over, but still, nothing.

"Ah jeez!" Sam muttered. "This is exactly why we need an all female SG team when it comes to dealing with goddamn Goa'uld queens. At least I don't have to worry about a court martial this time." After that, she proceeded to slap the crap out of him.

After the fifth blow, Danil grabbed her hand. While it had been amusing to watch Methos get slapped around by Sam, it was taking up valuable time. "Let's try this," he suggested.

In his hand was one of his hold-out knives. Danil was all prepared to stab his old friend, killing him. While he was fairly sure that it would straighten Methos out, stabbing the bastard in the heart was a bit of payback for all of the time he had stabbed him.

Just as Danil was about to strike, Teal'c primed his zat and shot the naked Immortal once.

"Come on!" Danil yelled at his friend, waving his hands for emphasis. "That is not fair! I deserve the chance to stab him for once. Fuck!"

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead," Teal'c intoned.

"Johnny Carson. Good one T," Jack said, impressed.

"Indeed O'Neill," Teal'c said, bowing slightly, a tiny smirk appearing on his face.

"What's going on? Why am I naked?" Methos moaned, holding his head with one hand and trying to pull the bed sheet over his lower half. While he was over five thousand years old and modesty was not one of his quirks, he did not want to have three men and Sam standing around him while he was completely without clothes.

"What do you remember?" Jack asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

"We were in a firefight and after that, not much. I did have the weirdest dream though," he said, feeling like his body had been run over by a pack of wild elephants.

"What was it?" Sam asked.

"It was about a gay boy named Shannon who met a genie and wished for a fur coat, a flying car, and a planet full of unicorns. Three of the unicorns were named Feathers, Cadillac, and Tom Cruise and they had adventures."

With that, everyone took a huge step back.

"Okay freaky, let's get you dressed so we can blow this popsicle stand," Jack said, more than a bit disturbed.

"I get to kill her," Danil stated. "I am not leaving until that bitch is dead."

"What are you talking about?" Methos asked as Teal'c and Sam threw his tattered pants, t-shirt, socks, and boots at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. His underwear has been shredded to pieces.

Danil had wandered over to one of the shelves and picked up a sword from a pair that looked very similar to a Dao sword of the Naga. It was a heavy blade; the metal was sharp, widening it's width to the top of the blade. If he had to make a guess the sword was probably about seventeen inches long and about three inches wide. The handle was wooden and bound with something similar to rattan. While he had never used this type of sword before, he figured he could adapt to it quickly.

"Well buddy, you died in front of Kali and managed to revive in front of her. She then carted you off to here, had her way with you, and I am fairly confident that you told Kali all about Immortals, including myself. I overheard enough conversations as I was sneaking around the god-forsaken place to know that she knows I'm not dead. Also, because you two got frisky, she's going to be able to produce a new line of Goa'uld that is capable of taking over Immortals. So, get your ass dressed so we can find her whirlpool love and burn it so she can't invade Earth with the help of the Immortal population. After that, we find Kali and I kill her."

"What'd she do to you?" Methos grunted, lacing up his boots, trying to process all that Danil had told him. His memory was coming back to him and it made him more than just a little nauseated. It made him see red and want to kill something real bad then afterwards drink him-self into a complete oblivion. Sounds like a plan, he told himself.

Danil would have replied but a familiar voice prevented him from replying.

"You killed my beloved Immortal. Your severed head will serve as a reminder to all that dare to oppose their goddess," Kali screamed, madness over taking her, holding two swords, similar in design to the one Danil was holding, in a double handed grip. While for most beings that would have been impossible, but Kali did have an extra set of

Danil rolled his eyes. "Told you I was Goa'uld free," he snarked at his teammates.

With that, he tossed the second sword to Methos. "Is Death up for some horse-riding?"

Methos grinned evilly and caught the blade easily. "Always."

A/N: Well, what do you think? Crap or not? Hit the shiny review button and let me know what you think.

First off, the weird dream was not a self-insert moment (especially because I'm not a gay boy and I kind of hate unicorns – they are my school's mascot) but a reference to Planet Unicorn Heyyy! I saw it on Redeye one night and struck me as being one of the weirder things out there. You can find it on Youtube.

Secondly, Teal'c's quote was from Johnny Carson. I thought it fit and was quirky enough for the moment.

Third, Lorilei deserves credit for Sam slapping the crap out of Methos and muttering about the need for an all-female SG team. It was her idea and I loved it.

Fourth, I am going on vacation so the story will be put on hold until the end of July. I will have my notebook with me so I will still be working on the story, just without a computer handy. Don't let that dissuade you from reviewing (plus I won't actually leave until the end of this week). Someone has to feed the plot bunnies while I am gone. You don't want the plot bunnies to die do you? FEED THE PLOT BUNNIES!

Lastly, thank you for continuing to read and review my stuff. Thank you for putting me on your lists and what-not. Even if I can't get back to you as quickly as I have in the past, please know that I do appreciate you taking the time to read this story and drop me a review or two.

Cheers!

PS…Mai'tac supposedly means damn in Goa'uld.