Mac was still getting used to the War Room.

Jack commented recently that after all the months he'd been with the agency, he might consider just sitting the Hell down for a briefing once in a while instead of standing there practically at attention the whole time the boss gave them the run down. But Mac preferred to stay on his feet. It was a solid alternative to fidgeting in his chair. Although, he appreciated that after a month or two of his coming on full-time here, without any comment about it from Thornton whatsoever, a large bowl of various sizes of paperclips had appeared on the small table nearest the chair he usually chose to stand near.

The multiple screens, overlaid with images similar to a heads up display, the flashing data on all sides … It was a lot to process. And normally his agile mind enjoyed it. Even if he did prefer to stand because it helped him focus.

Right now, however, he couldn't focus on any of it. After he'd seen O'Neill on the security footage from outside of one of the large banks downtown, he'd even dropped the paperclip he'd started shaping. All he could hear was O'Neill's voice in his head.

"Well, cockadoodledoo, there Hollywood … I think we can arrange for you to wet your whistle again today."

The sound of dirty water splashing in an old metal wash tub.

Chair kicked out from under him.

Bag pulled over his head.

Drowning. But not in a way that would just end.

They kept taking him to the edge of passing out, then bringing him back from it, to ask, to inflict other suffering, and to start again.

For days.

Multiple times a day.

Until…

Mac was vaguely aware of his surroundings, standing next to one of the leather chairs, facing Director Thornton and the screens she liked to use. But he was also almost completely in his own thoughts.

Finally, a voice penetrated his all-too-perfect memory.

"Mac … MacGyver?"

Mac blinked. Both Jack and Thornton were looking at him, but he was pretty sure Thornton had been the one to say his name. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Are you with us?"

Mac's head dipped a curt nod he'd picked up from Jack not long after they met. "Yes, ma'am."

Her head tilted slightly like she wasn't sure she believed him. "What are your thoughts?"

Mac took a slow measured breath and forced his mind to filter past the memories he'd been caught up in to what he'd heard in the background. "About the likelihood that O'Neill is the reason for the power disruption at Terminus, or your suggestion that we add an analyst to the team full-time?" he asked without missing a beat.

Jack's eyebrows climbed, because he'd been at least 97% sure that Mac was lost in that ginormous brain of his giving itself a tour through all the shit O'Neill had done to him in the last year, and maybe the stuff that had happened leading up to the bastard being assumed KIA in Afghanistan the first time. Before Patty could answer, Jack put in, "Do you hafta add another member of the geek squad to the team? Because Mac's brains come with an ability to use them to kick some ass, but ain't never met one of the Nerds from 3rd who could kick anything besides the bucket out in the field."

"Nerds from 3rd?" Mac snorted. "Nikki knows like four kinds of martial arts. I mean, you'd have to convince her to put down her laptop to use them, but…"

Patricia Thornton gave them both one of her characteristic enigmatic looks of appraisal. "You don't feel your team could benefit from an analyst?"

"I do," Mac said. "The tech stuff is outside my areas of expertise. I get the gist, but it's not a particular interest for me. We've needed to call in remote backup on any number of missions because of it."

Jack shrugged. "I guess it's better than you tellin' us you're adding somebody else from Tactical. Last time you tried that, we damn near had a real ugly friendly fire incident."

Mac was about to agree when Thornton cleared her throat. "I'm glad you seem open to expanding your resources. I've already decided to assign you someone who is not only our most brilliant tech expert, but can also handle themselves in the field and who doesn't share MacGyver's aversion to firearms."

"I don't…" Mac began.

"And you've already mentioned her." Thornton paused. "Nikki Carpenter will be joining your team, effective immediately, and has already been briefed to accompany you to Terminus due to the nature of their operation."

"Oh," Mac said softly, feeling a blush creep up his neck. "That's good."

Jack shook his head with an amused smirk. "Well, I guess I'm on my own if I wanna lodge a protest about this one."

Mac ran a hand through his hair. "Well, tech help will be nice…"

"Sure," Jack laughed. "Bet you wouldn't be so agreeable if Patty assigned that Knight kid."

Mac's shrug was convincing, but his increase in color robbed it of some of its believability. "Josh is alright." He paused. "But he's not exactly the most physical analyst here. He might not fit in with a field team. Especially one that likes to move as fast as we do."

"Mmm, that's what's up," Jack said with a double raise of his eyebrows.

Patricia smiled slightly and it was noticeable enough that Mac thought it constituted an amused grin for her. He forced a smile to cover any obvious change in his coloring. It wasn't forbidden to work with your girlfriend at DXS, but it was sort of embarrassing when everyone seemed to know the full nature of that relationship.

He decided to just brush it off and move back to the more pressing topic at hand. "Given what you've shared about Terminus, Director, I'm glad we'll have real tech knowledge in the field. But as far as whether it's likely that O'Neill is the cause of their power disruption, I'd say that's anyone's guess." He swallowed. "But also given the nature of their work and the fact that no one else is responding to a potential threat, I think it makes sense for us to go in regardless."

"That was my assessment as well," she said approvingly. "Jack?"

Jack took his feet off the coffee table. "I'm down. So long as tech support stays in the damn van."

Patricia nodded. "That's SOP, generally speaking."

Mac frowned at one of the screens thoughtfully. "I think I should say, ma'am, that as much as I want to be the boots on the ground if this is O'Neill … I've never had any experience with this type of threat."

Jack gave him a funny look. Patty had been saying a lot of Mac-sounding words. He had no idea what they meant, but he figured his partner would be up for anything as science-y was what she'd been going on about. "Dude, between the Army and the last six months, you've got experience with every damn thing under the sun."

Mac shook his head. "Not a potential Biological."

Jack paled and looked between Mac and Patty. "Wait, what?"

Thornton raised a single eyebrow. "You've been going back and forth with me for the last ten minutes, Jack. Was I somehow unclear?"

"Well, I knew you were talkin' science nerd stuff, I didn't know you were talkin' Zombie Apocalypse."

The eyebrow didn't lower. "We don't know if there are weaponizable materials at Terminus, but given the timing, I do believe we're better off assuming there could be. But I do believe your team is more than capable of taking this on."

Mac had still been more than half caught up in his memories of O'Neill throughout this conversation, but her confidence in him caused him to focus fully and his shoulders to square. "Yes, ma'am."

"Miss Carpenter is waiting in the van in the parking garage."

Jack sighed loudly and put his hands on his thighs to rise as though it were the most difficult task in the world. "Guess we better go stop the Zombie Apocalypse then."

Mac shook his head. "You know Terminus does more than bio-research, right?"

"What else do they do?"

"All kinds of cutting edge research. Zombies are the least of your worries there, pal."

"Like what?"

He grinned. "They're deep into AI. Half their lab work is done by robots."

"Sonovabich," Jack sighed. He followed Mac out of the War Room mumbling about the robopocalypse.

0-0-0

The lab had every conceivable piece of tech known to man. But what it didn't seem to have was any sign that it had been breached from the outside. So, it seemed unlikely the glimpse they'd gotten of O'Neill on that security camera had anything to do with why the place was on lockdown that Nikki had to override, or why they were looking around under the reddish emergency lights.

It wasn't terribly concerning that there wasn't anyone in the lab. The posted hours for Terminus said it was a Monday-Friday operation, small, but absolutely cutting-edge. What was concerning was the lockdown itself, and the fact that automation seemed to be keeping business as usual operating 24/7 and no one had shown up when the external power went down, nor had the owner or CEO responded to their attempts to reach them.

Mac took in every shiny surface, every label, every cabinet and drawer, looking for something - anything - even slightly out of place from what he'd memorized on their way across town.

Jack, clearly a nervous wreck about the fact that they were in a bio-research lab full of autonomous robots, was right on his elbow. "Maybe we shouldn't have left Nikki in the van," he whispered, side-stepping a robot on wheels carrying a tray of centrifuge vials.

"Why not?" Mac asked absently, leaning over to look at one of the computer displays running information.

"Look at all this stuff!"Jack gestured with the nine millimeter he had drawn on entry and had no intention of holstering until he was sure he wasn't going to have to put a couple of rounds in one of the weird little sci-fi critters running around this lab. "She's our tech expert."

"Oh, now you're in full support of a 'tech expert'?"

"I wasn't not in support of it! I just don't want anything or anybody gettin' in my way when I'm supposed to be watching your back!"

Now that it was clear this was probably, in fact, almost definitely not about O'Neill, Mac was a lot more relaxed, a lot more in the moment. "You just want someone else between you and zombie germs." He snickered and shook his head. "She's our computer analyst. She doesn't have any more interest or expertise in this kind of lab tech than you do, pal."

Over the comms, Nikki broke in, voice full of mock-offense. "Did you just compare my skill set to Jack's?"

Mac only half heard her. He was frowning at an inventory sheet. "Mmmmm," was all he said.

"Mac!" Nikki prodded when he didn't respond as she expected.

"Well, you don't," he replied, not really paying attention.

Jack stepped closer when he saw how Mac's frown was deepening.

"Neither do you, Mr. C in Biology," she huffed.

Mac grinned but didn't look up from what he was doing. "Just because I'm not interested in dissecting eyeballs or fetal animals doesn't mean I wasn't good at fixing lab equipment. My friend Frankie was a biology major and always said I was the best lab partner to have around even though we didn't take any of the same classes at MIT other than Organic Chem. Because I could fix all the equipment."

"Yeah, well, if Frankie had ever seen you go all squeamy over reruns of House when Boze insists on watching it, he probably wouldn't have let you anywhere near his stuff."

Jack noticed Mac looking a little uncomfortable but didn't say anything.

Mac replied stiffly, "Maybe. And you're brilliant at software, Nikki. I'm not trying to knock your skills. But they still don't make you any more expert than Jack with this particular tech."

She huffed loudly over the comms and Mac shook his head, smiling a little, and Jack thought he was looking like he thought he'd just dodged a bullet. Jack didn't say anything. If there was something Mac was keeping from Nikki, Jack was more than willing to support that. He liked her alright, but something about her always made his spidey senses tingle a little.

Nikki interrupted his thoughts and Mac's. "At least I have the consolation of knowing you think my ass is cuter than his," she said, the edge of flirtation quite clear.

"That I do," Mac agreed absently. He made a face.

Jack had already come to think it of as the uh oh face. He felt his stomach drop. "What's wrong, Mac?"

"Couple things." He leaned against the counter. "One, there's stuff on this inventory list that I haven't seen anywhere in the building."

"Maybe it got used up already," Jack offered hopefully.

"It's not consumable stuff," Mac said with a frustrated headshake. "It's equipment."

"Oh, that's probably not good."

"Probably not," Mac agreed. "Also this run report right here." He indicated a scrolling spreadsheet on the monitor in front of them. "It doesn't appear to go with any of the experiments here."

"What's it go with?" Jack asked anxiously. "It's zombies isn't it? It's zombies and you just don't want to say it out loud." Jack shifted from foot to foot like a kid.

Mac glanced at him. He felt a little bad for Jack right now. He was entirely out of his element. He flashed a grin that was slightly teasing, but mostly reassuring. "I think it's safe to say no one is cooking the solanum virus here, Jack. But it doesn't go with anything. It's just randomly spitting out amino acid chains that don't actually go together."

"How do you know, if you were so bad at biology, Mr. I'm-Not-Sure-I'm-The-Man-For-The-Job?"

"I said I got a C, not that I didn't learn anything," he scoffed.

"What do you think it means?"

Nikki chimed in over the comms. "Either somebody's up to something and they don't think the techs who pass through during regular business are going to notice the data doesn't mean anything, or there's a serious malfunction in all this automation."

"Exactly," Mac agreed.

"Malfunction in a robot zombie factory? Maybe we should let somebody who didn't get a C in Bio on in here."

"What did you get in Biology, Jack?" Nikki asked in their ears.

"I'll have you know I got an A." Jack shrugged with a little grin. "But mostly because I let one of the cheerleaders do my homework so I wouldn't lose my eligibility."

Mac grinned, too. "Don't worry, Jack. C or not, I won't let the robots turn you into a zombie." He paused, letting his face look suddenly serious. "What'll they call it if the robopocalypse and the zombie apocalypse start simultaneously?"

Jack smacked him in the arm, pretty damn hard actually, "You're not funny!"

Mac rubbed his arm but cracked up anyway as Nikki laughed raucously over the comms. "He's definitely funny!" she supplied.

"See?" Mac grinned. "Nikki thinks I'm funny."

Mac clearly noticed something else on a subconscious level even before his exceptionally nimble mind caught up, because he started moving again before his expression even changed. Once all of him was on the same page, his expression morphed into the creased forehead of intense problem solving.

He was typing something into another one of the computers and saying, "Hey, Nikki, can you pull up the building blueprints alongside the wiring schematic and send it to my tablet. Something's bugging me." One of the automated equipment transport robots bumped into him hard, almost knocking him off his feet. "Ow!" He backed up against the counter as the robot shifted directions, reminding him of a very expensive, very heavy Roomba.

Jack eyed the retreating device warily. "I told you those things've got something against humans. Not so funny now that you're gonna have a big ole bruise to show for laughin' about it, is it?"

Mac, who had been absently massaging his leg where the thing bumped into him, stopped and shook his head. "I hate to admit it, pal, but those robots are actually what's bugging me at the moment."

"Now you're just pickin' on me again," Jack said almost like he was pleading with Mac for that to be the case.

Mac heard his tablet beep a split second before Nikki confirmed she'd gotten him what he asked for. He shouldered around Jack to get a look at it, remarking seriously. "Not teasing even a little." As he squinted at the tablet, he added. "How many of those little square guys giving you hives did you notice when we came in?"

"There's eight of 'em."

"Correction, there were eight of them. Count again."

Jack turned and started doing exactly as Mac asked, looking for all the world like he was playing eenymeenymineymo. "Well, shit … Maybe I counted wrong when we came in," he hedged.

"I don't think so, cause I made eight, too. And now there's only seven."

"Maybe we both counted wrong. None of them have gone in or out of the door and it's the only one. Plus that security lock is louder than a pissed off ex showing up to get her stuff and finding you with somebody new."

"We didn't count wrong. They're going somewhere, and they're not doing it by the main door. That's why I'm … Look! Here it is."

Mac set his tablet down on the counter and pointed at the wiring schematic. Jack stared at it like he actually thought that might help him see whatever it was that Mac had stumbled on. After a minute he gave up. "Do me a favor, kid, and just tell me what I'm lookin' at."

Used to having to fill Jack in on where his head was, especially with this kind of thing, Mac pointed at the area of concern on the schematic. "So the blueprint shows the whole lab, all the square footage and capacity and outlets and all that right?"

"Yeah?"

"The electrical schematic shows wiring and breaker boxes and all the power stuff. Still with me?"

"Sure."

"How come for a place this size with all this efficient equipment, there are extra breakers along that wall? And what looks like an active wiring job is just cut off on these plans?"

Jack frowned. "So … Too much electricity disappeared a robot?"

Mac smirked, just a little. "Kinda. I think the robot disappeared to wherever that power is actually going. And I'm pretty sure it's on that wall. Both of our backs were to it this whole time."

"A hidden room in the zombopocalypse lab? Great. Awesome. So glad your ginormous brain got us tapped for this mission, Mac."

Mac grinned at him. "Zombopocalypse, huh?"

Jack shrugged and tentatively smiled back. "Well, what else am I gonna call it? I didn't realize bein' your Overwatch meant I'd need to know the plural of apocalypse!"

Mac headed toward the suspect wall, clapping Jack on the shoulder on his way by. "Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this … You know, before we get past one-apocalypse-at-a-time territory."

Jack has to chuckle at that. Nothin' rattles that, kid. Well, not nothin'. He was pretty rattled when we had to repel down off that damned mountain in Afghanistan. 'Course he was also bleedin' so I don't know if that counts. Even bein' actually afraid of something doesn't slow him down much though.

He caught up to Mac who was crouched down sliding his fingers along seams in the stark white paneling and mumbling to himself.

"Whatcha doin', kid?"

"Looking for where that other robot disappeared to. I'm betting it's behind this wall."

Jack nodded. It made as much sense as anything else. "What can I do to help? Poke around the wall, too?"

"Um … maybe, yeah." Something gave under his fingers. "Wait … no … help me with this." He indicated the panel he'd been exploring under one of the lab tables.

Jack holstered his weapon and groaned as he squatted down next to Mac. He started trying to get his fingers under the edge of the panel Mac was focused on. After a couple of frustrating minutes and Jack nearly jumping out of his skin twice as robots rolled by them, Mac gave up trying to do things the hard way and remembered his pocket knife.

He was starting to get a little frustrated when the panel finally gave way and slid aside like an automatic elevator door. "Yes!" Mac leaned into the opening, ducking his head further to avoid bumping it on the lab table and the opening. Jack heard him grumble a half-articulated curse.

"What's wrong, Mac. Were you wrong?"

Mac backed up and indicated that Jack could have a look. "Not exactly."

Jack crawled forward with some difficulty in the cramped space. He stuck his head into the hole in the wall and understood Mac's cussing. The dimly lit space revealed an access shaft. There was a square of light below that revealed the shaft at least went somewhere, and there were cables that suggested some sort of elevator or dumbwaiter type arrangement that was probably down at the bottom.

Which was roughly sixty feet below them.

"Sorry, dude, but it looks like we're in for another rappelling adventure." He backed out so he could check in with Mac.

His young partner was already digging around in drawers and cabinets, looking for a way to get them down the shaft. "Um … yeah. Shouldn't be too hard. We've got some decent anchoring points and … yeah. I think I can go get the firehose from the other side of the lab to get us down there."

Jack stood and raised an eyebrow at him. "Here I thought you'd be worried about the climb, kid. You were usin' your Dalton vocab under that table. If it ain't the heights, what's eatin' you, Mac?"

Mac started to go after the hose, but he glanced over his shoulder at Jack. "Well, I'm not psyched about it, but I'm more concerned you might be right. Something is up with the tech here."

"Huh?"

"I don't like zombopocalypse … Does Zobotigedon work for you?"

Nikki chimed in again, reminding them that they had a new team member listening to their comfortable banter. "Okay, Jack is right. You are not funny, MacGyver."