Disclaimer: I do not own Angel or the Stargate Franchise.
Cadman and Stevens stare warily at the dead Wraith. They stand still, listening for movement in the disturbingly quiet forest. Stevens shifts until they were back to back and scans the trees.
It isn't particularly dark. The planet's two suns are high in the sky but Cadman swears to God that the man in front of her melts out of the shadows. She damn near shoots him before she realizes that he is dragging a Wraith by the hair behind him. He's wearing leather in the same distinctive style as the villagers and she concludes that the Council had downplayed their involvement with the one they called 'Destroyer'.
He's splattered with blood and… other things and Cadman keeps her gun trained on him. His clothes cover his slim form in brown leather which is worn with use in some places but looks strong. The collar of the outfit comes up to mid neck to protect the vulnerable point. The material is molded against the man like a second skin but still seems to allow movement with ease.
"Stevens," she warns and doesn't take her eyes off the blood splattered figure. Stevens turns and stands next to her.
The man… boy looks at them from under long shaggy brown hair, blue eyes flicking from their guns to the patches on their shoulders. He frowns at them, and casually breaks the Wraith's neck and walks away.
They exchange looks and follow him.
"Hey! Wait!" Cadman calls out to him and he pauses, eyes glaring at the flag on her shoulder before speeding up again. It confuses her but it isn't really surprising that he would recognize the flag. Although most natives of Pegasus didn't look at the flag to identify them as Atlantian since so many countries made up the Atlantis Expedition.
They follow him though the underbrush and other than a few annoyed looks he ignores them.
She looks away when Ronon bursts out of the trees and by the time she looks back, he's gone. The rest of the team filters out behind him and the Major and Parrish heads towards them.
"You both okay?" the Major asks and she nods slowly glancing back to the last place she'd seen the 'Destroyer'.
"We're fine, sir. Had some help."
"What happened?" the Colonel demands.
"We were on the cliff overlooking the gate with a couple of the village kids when the Wraith came dialed in. Six of them came through. We took the kids close enough to the village and left them with some of the adults. We went headed back towards the gate hoping to head them off."
"Apparently, we weren't needed," Stevens continues for her, "Someone was picking them off one by one. The Wraith were running from him. We were following him but he pulled a Houdini."
"The same guy that Dr. Weir's so interested in?" Stevens and Cadman exchange confused looks.
"The Destroyer," Lorne volunteers.
"That would be him, sir," she turns to the Major, "I think we should talk to the Councilors again. They left out how close their contact with him is."
"I still don't know why I'm here. Captain Kirk over here," McKay motions at the Colonel, "is the one that Ancients go ga-ga for."
"Rodney," Cadman grins and is elated when McKay glares at her. Annoying him is the only good thing that could come from the two teams being of world together and let's face it McKay's hysterical when he's annoyed.
McKay just growls at her.
"What Ancients?" Stevens asks and he's been on the team long enough not to trust the Major suddenly innocent look.
The first person they meet on their way to the village is Councilor Cronin. He's standing in the middle of the path, seemingly not afraid that the Wraith are still around.
"Major Lorne. Are you or your team injured?"
"We're fine, Councilor. Someone took care of the Wraith before we could."
"I see," the Councilor mutters, "If you would follow me, I will answer your questions."
Lorne introduces Sheppard and his team and Cronin leads them back to same room they had met in. He motions them to sit.
"As I have told you before, the one my people call 'Destroyer of Wraith', is not an original inhabitant of this world. In the time that he has been here, he has become a part of us. We know that the Wraith come and he fights. We have been blessed that the Hives have not come."
"Who is he?" Sheppard asks.
"He is anger. He is Wrath. He is many things. He fights the Wraith not because he hates them or even because he wants to protect others. He fights them because they are there. I do not know many things about him. He has never given me his name. I do know that he will not hurt us and that he prefers to be alone. The few times he has ventures into the village, he came to trade."
"Can you take us to him?" Lorne asks and Cronin frowns. "We only mean to talk to him.
He looks up from the water and stares at the group walking towards him. Cronin leads the ones who arrived before and four others. He tilts his head to the side and studies the weapons and the uniforms and tries not to panic. He'd thought he was hallucinating when he had found the man and woman.
That's obviously not the case. He has accepted that he was in a dimension that had a… machine that permitted passage to other dimensions. Or, as Cronin insists, worlds.
What he can't accept is that people from Earth are also here. Let alone military because as far as he knows they didn't make a habit of jumping dimensions.
Then again, he has been gone a long time.
He studies one face after another and pauses on one that seems familiar. The man makes him think of an office and yelling.
Of an older man sitting behind a desk and a photo of two boys. It makes his heart ache a he pushes the memory away because he can't afford to think of the past any more. There would be nothing left for him even if he decides to abandon his mission and go home.
Cronin, perhaps noticing his unease, smiles reassuringly and asks after his health.
He shrugs. He doesn't have any problems fighting the demons… the Wraith anymore. They were fun to hunt and he never allows any of them the chance to feed on him.
Feeding on humans make them less susceptible to damage and quicker to heal.
He doesn't know what feeding on him would do to them. Probably give them such a energy boost they would end up high.
There is a moment of silence where he continues cleaning his weapons and Cronin seems content in making sure he's been keeping good care of them.
One of the two women walks closer and kneels. "I am Teyla Emmagan," her tone is soft and her body language is open and welcoming. It's a testament to how far he's come, or fallen, that his first thought isn't how pretty she is but that although she's out of arm's reach she's close enough that he's fast enough to kill her before the others start shooting.
He doesn't think anything in his body language has changed but Cronin looks up and gives him a disapproving glare.
Cronin can always make him feel like a misbehaving child which reminds him of another man.
He nods in acknowledgment and the woman, Teyla, points to the man that makes him think of home and says, "This is Colonel John Sheppard."
She continues on but he doesn't hear anything but the rushing of blood in his ears. His breath comes in short bursts and he wants to laugh because this was completely ridiculous.
He doesn't notice them exchange glances or the worried look that Cronin gives him.
First they have patches of flags that represent Earth countries and now they just happen to have a man with his last name.
Eve's new plan is probably drive him insane and maybe he'll be distracted enough that he'd walk right off a cliff.
He's seized suddenly with the need to get away and he stands quickly, too quickly, startling Teyla and causing the big man with the dreadlocks to raise his weapon but he ignores them and rushes back into the trees.
Eve's plan works because he's fifteen feet in before he senses it and the next moment his feet lift off the ground and he's crashing through branches, knocked right through the tree line, light suddenly brighter and slamming into the middle of the stream before he feels the blow to his chest.