The room was pitch dark, only backlit from the bright hallway outside. The bathroom door was closed, as were the closet doors.
It was just like Mac to find the one room in the place that had an en suite bathroom. The rest of SG-1 was stuck with more repurposed conference rooms.
The cot he'd drug in was made, although sloppily. A uniform hung over the back of a chair. Jack was about to leave the room when he heard the muffled thunk again.
He drew his weapon and headed towards the bathroom. He was about five feet away from the door when it swung open suddenly.
"Hey Jack... what's with the artillery?" MacGyver asked, looking at him curiously.
o-O-o-O-o
They all stood in the gate control room, watching as Colonel Carter made a few final calibrations to her gate program. MacGyver stood in the front, watching over her shoulder.
"Okay. Let's fire it up." She typed at her keyboard, and the gate began dialing.
They watched as the energy beam powered up, making a deep thunking sound as it started to build up the necessary power.
"The lights might go out," Carter warned as the fifth chevron locked in place.
The gate spun again, was about to lock onto the sixth chevron, when MacGyver suddenly lunged for the gate controls.
Before anyone could stop him, he smashed the emergency shutoff, launched a separate program, and typed a code into the dialing computer.
He slowly turned around to see four weapons pointed in his direction. He slowly raised a finger to point at the Stargate.
"Kill me if you want. But without me you'll never open that gate again."
"Open it now," O'Neill said in his best don't mess with the scary Colonel voice.
"I'm going to need some answers before I do that," Mac said coolly.
o-O-o-O-o
MacGyver sat in a locked conference room. He'd expected this, of course. A small price to pay.
He put his head in his hands. What had he just done? How could he have possibly thought that this was a good idea? He sighed. It was over now.
The door clanged open and the big guy with the gold tattoo stepped in.
"Come with me," He said, towering over him.
"Sure," He said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.
A moment later, he found himself across from the archeologist. He thought that was an interesting choice for an interrogator, but who was he to judge?
"My name's Daniel. Who are you?" The man asked,as if he actually cared.
"Name's MacGyver." He said wearily.
"Why did you come through the mirror?"
MacGyver paused. He didn't know about any mirror, but he did know why he was here. "To seek justice."
The archeologist sat up straighter. "For who? Or what?"
"A good friend of mine." MacGyver said. Never in a million years did he think he would actually be going to bat for this particular friend, but here he was, shutting down one of the main travel methods in the country for his sake.
Proving him right.
"Why did you just shut down the gate?" Daniel asked quietly, searching his face for answers.
MacGyver realized why he had been chosen for this particular meeting. There was something calming about his presence that the others just didn't have.
It was working.
"To get someone to listen," He said simply.
Daniel sat back in his chair and spread his hands in a gesture of vulnerability and welcome.
"I'm listening."
o-O-o-O-o
"Mac's in trouble," Daniel said simply.
"How do you mean?" O'Neill said, doodling on the back of his folder.
"I mean, the MacGyver in our holding cell is not the one that met the other SG-1 on P4X-396, which means the Mac of the other reality is somewhere not here."
"How long has the other MacGyver been an imposter among us?" Teal'c asked.
Colonel Carter shot up in her seat.
"I can't believe I didn't see this sooner! MacGyver hasn't suffered from cascade effect because he's not from an alternate reality."
"Well, actually guys, both of them are in trouble."
Carter looked up. "The imposter? What's wrong with him?"
"He wants justice for his friend. He shut down the gate so that he could get us, anyone, to listen to his plea. Sam, you looked him Jack Dalton? He's in prison? Mac thinks he was unfairly tried. See, Dalton was one of the conspiracy theorists when the SGA opened. Except he was right about what we're doing here, and went to great lengths to warn both us and the general public that we're playing with fire."
"So he was locked up," O'Neill said dryly.
"Yes." Daniel said. "Mac thought it was an unfair trial, not realizing that the government was desperately trying to keep the secret under wraps."
"And here he discovered that Jack, Dalton I mean, was correct about everything." Carter said.
Daniel nodded. "Exactly. He wants Dalton out of prison, and he's happy to keep everything quiet. He wants justice."
"Carter? How's the gate coming along?" O'Neill asked, changing the subject quickly.
"Not great, sir. He's completely locked it out. I think I can work around it, but I'd need time." The rest was left unsaid.
"I checked in on Teal'c and the other SG-1. He's holding his own, but soon we're going to need another one of us down there to help him. Major Carter and their Doctor Jackson are doing okay, but Dalton isn't. I've never seen the end stages of cascade effect, but I can assume that the attacks would come closer together and be more violent. That's exactly what's happening now. He's in trouble."
A silence fell on the room as its four occupants looked at each other.
O'Neill spoke next.
"What do we do about the missing Mac?" He said simply.
*plot twist* :D see you all next week.