Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 and all related concepts are the property of MGM, while the character of Spike belongs to Joss Whedon and James Marsters, among other people (Also, the original idea for this story came from Jedi Buttercup's 'An Unexpected Gift', so I don't own it either, although I have put my own spin on things, and have been given his full permission to use his idea)
Feedback: I'd appreciate it, of course
The Ghost in the Team
As he charged along the road after the car that currently held Vala, Mitchell tried to focus more on his current goal and less on his current… passenger, for lack of a better term… hiding out in the back of his head. Spike being able to 'hitch a lift' in peoples' bodies might be a cool trick to witness, but it just felt weird when it was actually happening to you; you couldn't shake the annoying feeling that somebody was watching you even when you knew that there was nobody there (In the physical sense of the word, anyway)…
Still, on the other hand, you got at least some degree of access to Spike's vampire reflexes; the guy couldn't actually possess people when he did this, but he was able to give them a slight 'nudge' to make them do stuff if the need arose when their simply human reflexes and senses weren't fast enough to register something that Spike had picked up…
"Pick up the pace, willya?" Spike 'yelled'- and God, that was weird; with Spike's voice technically coming out of his mouth while he was 'inside' Mitchell, it sounded like Spike was simultaneously right behind him and a few inches in front- as Mitchell felt his body involuntarily shift to increase the speed of the motorcycle, breaking his train of thought as he continued to race after the car that apparently held Vala.
"Yeah, no offence, but you got any ideas about what we're going to do when we get there?" Mitchell pointed out, grateful that he didn't need to worry about being discreet at this pace; anyone sharp enough to hear that he was essentially talking to himself and answering in a different voice in this kind of situation probably deserved to know the truth about Spike. "I mean, right now all I can do is find out where they're going; in case you've forgotten I'm not exactly heavily armed here, you know!"
"Just get us up alongside that sodding car; I've got a plan!" Spike retorted, Mitchell's body already pushing the bike further and faster even as Spike's words reached his ears (Or maybe his brain; now that Mitchell thought about it, if Spike was in him, was Spike actually speaking or was he just hearing Spike's thoughts?).
As they drew up alongside the car, Mitchell couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of panic; he might have decided to trust Spike in the field, but after so long reading about the Goa'uld- to say nothing of that incident with Ba'al brainwashing members of the Jaffa Council about a year back-, it was kind of hard to feel entirely comfortable dealing with a guy who could essentially take control of your body if you gave him just enough 'leeway' to 'gain access'…
"Look, Spike, if you're thinking we can ram this thing off-" he began.
"I'm not that stupid, Mitch; I just need to get close enough to get inside this thing!" Spike interjected, as he 'nudged' Mitchell just enough to move him a few inches closer to the car, which had by now pulled off down a side-road with no other traffic.
"Insi- ah; gotcha," Mitchell said, nodding in understand as Spike's intentions became clear to him; get in close enough to the car, and Spike might- wouldn't be easy, but it was possible- be able to 'jump' out of Mitchell and into the car without anyone else who might be on the road really seeing him 'jump' out of Mitchell's body (Or, even if they did see him, they'd probably pass it off as some kind of brief optical illusion of some sort; when you got down to it- to say nothing of factoring the existence of demons into your world-view-, it really was amazing how often people must have been kidding themselves for centuries to avoid facing the reality of the world they lived in).
No sooner had he finished processing what Spike was planning then he had pulled up to the car- he was now only a couple of feet away from the side at this point-, followed by a sudden temporary feeling of 'emptiness' as Spike 'jumped' out of his body- it wasn't a bad feeling; it just felt 'odd' having someone 'jump' out of him after it had been there for the past while, kind of like an inverted version of how it felt a bit strange getting out of a pool after going for a swim- and into the car, prompting Mitchell to pull back a few feet while keeping an eye on his target.
If he'd learned anything about Spike's methods over the last few weeks, it was that, when the vampire wanted to get physical, things would definitely start flying, and he didn't want to be too close to the car when Spike started doing what he did best.
As he 'landed' inside the car- and God, he was grateful he had enough 'control over his environment' to stay in one place once he'd got his feet on the ground; it would just royally suck if he'd been thrown out of this thing after the trouble he'd gone to in order to get here-, Spike smiled casually at the shocked Trust agents before him as they sat around the currently-bound Vala; evidently news of his presence at the SGC hadn't become public knowledge to these buggers yet.
"Hello there, gents," he said, waving nonchalantly at them before he glanced at the group's prisoner with a slight grin. "Sorry we took a while, Vala; been a real pain to track-"
The sound of a gunshot drew Spike's attention back to the Trust agents, one of whom- a woman dressed in dress blues who looked a bit like a harsher version of Sam; evidently she was the 'Colonel Carter' that detective guy had told them had come to pick Vala up- was staring at the gun that he now held in front of him in shock at the lack of effect it seemed to have had on Spike.
Glancing behind himself, Spike's grin grew broader as he realised that the bullet had hit the window behind him, leaving him unharmed while creating a not-insignificant crack back there; at least he'd given them a physical demonstration about what he was capable of (While also establishing that the windows were bulletproof; at least that limited his need for restraint in case civilians came along who might get caught in the crossfire).
"Now then, mate," Spike said, tutting slightly as he turned back to look at the woman who'd just fired the gun at him. "That wasn't very smart, was it?"
With that, he shifted into his vamp face- maybe it was just a psychological thing, but he felt that he was… better at touching stuff when he was more in touch with his demon- and lunged at the man who'd shot him, slamming the man's head into the side of the car and sending him falling to the ground. As he spun around to punch the Sam look-a-like in the face, he smiled slightly as he noticed Vala wrapping her cuffed hands around the neck of the driver, forcing his hands off the steering wheel and making him lose control.
As the car spun around to the side before sharply overturning, Spike tried to grab Vala in some half-arsed attempt to protect her- he had to be operating on mad instinct; how much could he really do to protect her when he didn't even have a body any more?-, only for Vala to fall through him as the car spun over and over, finally coming to a rest on the side of the road- fortunately the right way up- as Spike, lacking anything to keep himself inside the car- found himself flying through the door to land on the ground, briefly finding himself flying through a couple of nearby trees- and God, wood looked weird from the inside- before he finally hit the ground (Which, fortunately, he did not fall through; he wasn't sure how he'd have stopped falling if he didn't have this whole 'instinctively solid enough to walk' thing going for him).
"Damn…" he muttered, getting back to his feet as he glanced back at the fortunately-still-deserted road, quickly noting that Vala was scrambling to her feet and getting out of the car while Mitchell pulled up alongside the crash site, leaping off the bike and drawing his gun before he registered that all of the people he might have used it against were either dead or just out of it.
"You all right?" he asked her, only for Vala to automatically raise her hands, an anxious expression on her face as she crouched on the ground beside the door she'd just crawled out of.
"Hey," the colonel said, lowering his weapon reassuringly, apparently unaware of Spike as he currently hurried towards the two of them- not that Spike could blame him; without the need to brush branches aside he was making really good time getting back, but he wasn't making much noise to let Mitchell know he was there either-, "everything's going to be OK-"
Before he could say anything more, one of the men from the car- how the bastard had remained conscious after all that Spike really didn't know- suddenly leapt out of his door, his gun raised to fire at Mitchell, only for the gun to be knocked out of his hand before he could get off more than one shot when Spike literally leapt through the man in question, following it up with a quick kick to the head that was followed almost instantaneously by Mitchell shooting him in the chest, leaving the man dead on the ground.
"Huh," Mitchell said after a moment's pause, prompting Spike to turn around and look at him. "Interesting trick."
"Thanks; been practising," Spike replied, nodding briefly at the lieutenant-colonel before he turned back to look slightly awkwardly at Vala (And God, what was it about this woman that put him on edge so much?-, who was staring at him with horrified confusion evident on her face. "Ah… look, if it helps, I'm not going to-"
Before Spike could say anything else, the sound of a car was heard from the other end of the road, a blue vehicle pulling up alongside the crash site as Spike and Mitchell looked anxiously at Vala.
"Oh my God," the driver- a young man, maybe not much older than twenty at best- asked as he stepped out of the vehicle, looking in confusion at the sight before him. "Is anybody hurt?"
"No, we're fine; we just… well, our friend got picked up by a bad group; let's leave it at that," Mitchell said, looking over at the clearly-shaken Vala while trying to look reassuring; after Spike had just jumped through a guy in front of a Vala who clearly didn't know who they were, the last thing they needed was her freaking out after everything they'd gone through to try and find her. "Look, we've… got some… friends coming who'll be here to pick us up soon; if you could just… move on, we'll be fine."
"Uh… sure," the man said, nodding briefly at Mitchell uncertainly before he walked back to the car, slowly getting into it as though he was waiting for someone to say something before he finally got back into the car and drove off, leaving Mitchell and Spike to exchange relieved glances before they turned back to Vala.
"Well," Spike said after a moment's pause, as he looked uncertainly at the space thief- evidently his experience with memory loss on a previous occasion wasn't much help when dealing with someone else suffering from it, "now that that's out of the way-"
"Do… do I… know you?" Vala interjected, looking at Spike with an uncertain expression on her face as though trying to place his face.
"Me?" Spike repeated, looking at Vala in surprise; he didn't think he'd made that much of an impression on her in the couple of weeks they'd spent together…
"Yeah, you know him; Spike joined our team- I'm a member too- a couple of months before you… went missing," Mitchell confirmed, nodding at Vala before he stepped uncertainly towards her, filing the implications of her remembering Spike rather than him away for later consideration. "Look, this is a… well, it's a long story, and we're not exactly in the right kind of place to tell you it; any chance you could… come along and let us… fill you in on things in more detail?"
For a moment Vala simply looked silently between the two men, clearly trying to come to a decision- not that Mitchell could blame her; after being abducted by the Trust already it was only understandable that she'd be a bit uncomfortable about things- before she nodded slowly and turned to look at Spike.
"All… all right," she said, looking at him with an expression that it was nearly impossible to decipher but that Mitchell was encouraged to note at least appeared less hostile than it might have done. "So… what now?"
"Well…" Mitchell said, looking reflectively at the bike for a moment before he dismissed that idea- Vala was still getting used to the idea that they were here to help her; asking her to trust him on a motorbike with her right behind him might be pushing it a bit- and pulled out his phone. "Just let me call someone, and then we'll-"
"No!" Vala yelled, automatically moving as though she wanted to grab the phone from Mitchell, only to stop herself mid-motion. "I… I mean…"
Mitchell nodded in understanding.
"I get it; you're… going to need more time… to get comfortable with that idea, huh?" he said, slipping the phone into his pocket as he looked reassuringly at her, even as he tried to work out how long they had until anybody from the SGC caught up with them; hopefully they'd have at least enough time to convince Vala that they weren't insane.
"OK," he said, moving over to pick up his bike and take it off to the side of the road- if they waited by the upturned car, people might just think they'd had an accident, and he could easily say they'd already called for assistance if someone passing stopped to offer help-, "your name is Vala Mal Doran. You're a member of Stargate Command, a top-secret facility located beneath Cheyenne Mountain. It's the command center for a military organization responsible for off-world exploration and reconnaissance by means of a device known as a stargate, a portal which allows near-instantaneous transport between planets.
Vala could only stare at him after that.
"What?" she said, looking slightly blankly at him.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth," Mitchell said, shrugging slightly. "Seriously, if I was lying to you, wouldn't I have come up with something less whacko?"
"Uh… OK…" Vala said, nodding slightly uncertainly at him. "So… we're… space explorers?"
"Well, technically, me and my team are the explorers," Mitchell clarified. "You're just along for the ride, because... well, you're not originally from this planet. You're an alien."
Vala's eyes widened.
"Well, in the technical sense of you weren't born on Earth; from what I've gathered you're descended from a bunch of humans who got taken off Earth centuries back by these snake-like things…" Spike added, waving a hand uncertainly before he shrugged as Vala looked at him in confusion. "Hey, I only joined this outfit a month ago myself; I'm still getting my head around everything myself."
"Ah," Vala said, swallowing slightly before she indicated the area where Spike had jumped through the now-dead man. "And… you can do that… how? Are… are you an… alien too?"
"Actually, he's a ghost vampire who got sent to us in an amulet by some ex-member of a black ops operation who used to hunt and experiment on demons; it's… well, it's a really long story…"
"I'll bet," Vala muttered, but Mitchell and Spike were both relieved to note the slight smile on her face as she looked between them, even if it fell away a few moments later. "Hold on; he's a vampire?"
"Look, I don't feed on humans, and in any case I'm pretty much as close to being a ghost as you can get; why would I even need to eat?" Spike pointed out, shaking his head as he glared briefly over at Mitchell before turning his attention back to the matter at hand. "Anyway, look, the point is that you were abducted by some renegade aliens who're hiding out on Earth and wanted to try and find out something you knew from… a while back… and as far as we can tell the gizmo they were using to hack your mind backfired and you lost your memory."
"Ah," Vala said, nodding slightly in uncertain understanding before she looked at the two men again. "And… what happens now?"
"Well… we've got this device back at Stargate Command that should be able to help you remember what you've forgotten; if you come back with us…" Mitchell began, waving a hand uncertainly as he looked at Vala. "Look, I get that you don't have any reason to trust us, but-"
"I know him," Vala said, indicating Spike.
The two men blinked.
"Me?" Spike repeated.
"Well, I know I can… trust you; I just don't remember how I know that… does that make sense?" Vala asked, looking uncertainly at Spike.
Spike shrugged. "Got me there, Val; we had a few interesting chats while I was there before you vanished on us, but that's all I can tell you about us either way."
Once again, Vala simply sat in silence for a few moments, looking contemplatively at Spike, before she finally nodded.
"OK," she said, swallowing slightly as she looked at the intangible vampire. "What now?"
"Well, first order of business is for me to call for a ride; everything else we can worry about when we get back," Mitchell added, pulling out his phone and dialling the relevant number. "After that…"
Even as he tried to appear nonchalant about this whole situation, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Vala's recognition of Spike over him was going to be very significant later on…
He wouldn't bring it up now, of course- teasing Jackson about Vala's flirting was kind of amusing normally, but teasing a vampire and an amnesic about the possibilities didn't really appeal to him when one of them didn't know how they related normally-, but he'd have to keep it in mind for later…