SGI- Chapter 3

SG-1 were in the briefing room the following day looking a little worse for wear. Mia Solomon was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma they were all trying to solve. After a night of research to verify the names and places she'd given them and finding conflicting information, theories had been readied and presented to General Hammond the following morning.

"So let me get this straight. The woman, Mia has what we can only describe as super human abilities and although she's from Earth, you believe she comes from another Earth, different from our own. One where time moves faster than it does here and humans have evolved differently to form what they call mutants who are essentially humans with super powers?."

The team sat around the table nodding at the General's condensed explanation of the last hour.

"Well I'll be." Their leader seemed to be thinking hard about what they'd just told him. The ever curious Samantha Carter looked like she was bursting with questions, Daniel too. Colonel O'neill looked contemplative and Dr. Frasier looked a little sick while the ever stoic T'ealc nodded his head to acknowledge he understood what was said.

Alright, let's go around the table and figure out how to proceed. Doctor Frasier, why don't you go ahead and tell us what you've learned about Ms. Mia Solomon first.

The doctor nodded curtly and began her report.

"Physically, Mia is recovering from the injuries she took on from Airman Wells and should be fully recovered by end of day today. The injury she sustained from saving me however is healing at what we would consider a 'normal' rate and it'll be a while yet. I had her on some pretty heavy pain killers, but she's no longer sedated by them after the events of yesterday.

The fact that she's able to be conscious and even hold a conversation tells me her pain tolerance is exceptionally high. Her stomach and intestinal tract are still regenerating so she can't eat food yet and is on an IV for nutrients. I need to keep a close eye on it as she doesn't ask for more when they run out and they're currnelty the only source of nutrients she has.

She must be in a severe amount of pain, the staff blast she took burned through several layers of tissue and was surgically repaired since it didn't seem to be healing like her other wounds, but I can hardly tell when I speak with her. Her threshold for pain is higher than average." The doctor shook her head and flipped to the next page in the folder she had with her.

"I've been able to confirm with her that she was indeed held captive and tortured at some point in her adult life, likely within the last five years. Injuries she takes on from others, using her abilities apparently heal perfectly, not even leaving a scar behind."

Looks of shock, sympathy and anger could be seen on everyone's faces. They'd all seen the extensive scarring on the exposed parts of her gown, the doctor had probably seen even more.

"Mentally, I'd say she's smart and resourceful with a lot of practice to conceal her emotions. I went through the surveillance footage for last night and she didn't sleep much. Any time she closed her eyes, she seemed to wake up terrified of whatever she was experiencing.

She spent some time looking around the room, used the facilities and spent some time using physical stimuli to keep herself awake. Pinching, pulling, poking and prodding herself to stay awake. Psychology isn't my field, but I think it's safe to say she probably suffers from PTSD to some degree, exasperated by her current situation.

I recommend getting her situated in a less clinical setting. I saw her glance at the observation window more than once and wouldn't be surprised if she's aware of being watched.

The general nodded and looked to Major Carter next. She nodded and picked up one of the many papers in front of her.

"We first realized she might not belong in this universe when we looked up Mia Solomon and found her." She clicked a remote and a picture of a much younger Mia came upon the screen situated at the front of the room.

"Mia Solomon, age 13. Currently a dual citizenship for Canada and the United States of America residing in Ontario, Canada with her mother, step-father and step brother. No flags came up in regards to her family and they all seem to be a regular family."

The screen was turned off and she continued onto the next point of investigation. "The Xavier School for Gifted Children in Westminister, New York does not exist. I did find the Xavier Family, but they're old money going generations back.

Likewise, I didn't find any other the other schools or labs and bases she mentioned. The full report has further details, but if we found any of the people or places she mentioned, they're vastly different from what she described. All these things combined helped me reach the conclusion that she must be from another reality."

"Thank you major." The General looked to Daniel next. "Doctor Jackson, what did you find out about mutants?"

"Well general, it's interesting really. Mutations happen to viruses, people are born with too many or too few chromosomes and some people claim to have powers or telepathy or healing, but none have been tested and verified. I didn't find any evidence of a doctor Henry McCoy, nothing about the Friends of Humanity which Mia stated was a mutant hate group and nothing came up about a government funded sentinel program.

We don't currently know how she got on P3X-666, she said she woke up there. The fascinating thing is though, not only was she transported to another planet, but another reality too. I can't imagine how that could have happened and would love to speak with her at some point.

General Hammond nodded his head and looked to his unofficial second in command and old friend Colenel O'Neill.

"What's your take on all of this Colonel?"

Jack stared at the table in front of him and rubbed a hand over his face before speaking. "Well sir. I think she got a raw deal and came from a pretty rough place. She seemed sincere when I met with her, you can't fake that kind of fear." His eyes darkened and his gaze turned stony as he recalled soldiers, friends who'd held the same look in their eyes and he shuddered.

"I don't think she's outright hostile, but she definitely doesn't trust us right now and I'm sure she'd run the first chance she gets.

Are we going to tell her what we learned?"

General Hammond had considered if they should perhaps keep the full truth from her. As of now, they had no way to send her home, nor could they release her from the base. Concealing the truth from her though, would only result in more mistrust and fear. As someone who had saved two of his people, he didn't want that for her and would like to extend whatever courtesy he could to her while they figured out what to do with her.

"Doctor, do you think she'll be able to handle the news of being in an alternate reality? Will it hinder her recovery or cause her to become violet or otherwise mentally unstable?"

The major shook her head. "Sir, I don't know how she'll take the news, but I do know that lying to her or concealing the truth won't be helpful. In my professional opinion and in my personal opinion if it matters; I strongly suggest we try to be truthful as possible."

The general looked at her and nodded. "Thank you doctor as always for your candor and in this matter your personal opinion as well as your professional opinion is appreciated." He stood and everyone else stood as well.

"Now, why don't we head down and we'll tell our guest what we've discovered."

*0*0*0*

Mia, still in her medical bed but reclined into a more seated positioned nodded her head as General Hammond finished telling her she was in an alternate reality.

He'd come into the room with the small group standing behind him, the doctor at her side.

Mia had been surprised to learn he was the general in charge of the entire base, and she could see he was being sincere in what he was telling her.

"Miss Solomon, do you understand what I've just told you?" Mia nodded her head slowly again but otherwise not reacting as they'd expected. No outburst, no denial, not crying or rage. Just calm acceptance as she read over the documents that had been provided to her by the general.

When she finally looked up from the documents, it was to ask a question.

"So I'm in an alternate reality, an alternate Earth from mine. And there's a version of me who is a teen and she's living and well with her family?" She took out a family photo and was looking at it, tears welled up in her eyes and fell onto the papers in her lap.

Uneasy at the display of emotions the General answered the question that had been asked quickly. "From what we've found that is indeed the case."

Mia smiled a watery smile and asked if she could keep he picture. "Of course, we can have a copy made for you." The General was quick to grant the simple request.

"And what's going to happen to me? Can two of me exist in the same universe? Can I see my…or rather her family in person or will a giant black hole come into existence and wipe us all out? Will I ever be allowed to leave here? Is there a way to get me back to my own reality?"

The general was surprised at the questions, but they weren't completely unexpected.

"Well, we do have some experience with different realities. Doctor Carter can probably answer your questions about that better than I can. I'll make sure you're given the opportunity to speak with her." He motioned to Dr. Carter and the tall, beautiful woman with bright blue eyes stepped forward a bit and nodded in Mia's direction.

"As for your other question about meeting your alternate family or even leaving this base. That's a little more tricky."

Mia's expression hardened and General Hammond was caught off guard by the change, but didn't stop speaking.

"You aren't a prisoner and nothing unethical will be done to you while on this base. You have my word. You saved two of my people at great risk to yourself and so I'd like to offer you a safe place to stay here while we sort out your situation."

Mia didn't look very agreeable and so he tried to explain why they couldn't simply let her leave.

"This base and what we do here is top secret, known only to a few governments around the world. Even if you keep our secret, you would have nowhere to go and no means to live legally. We need time to create documents for you if stay in this reality for the long term. If you can stay at all."

Mia narrowed her eyes at what he wasn't telling her outright and surprised him once more. "I can't occupy the same reality as my other self can I? This reality will try to erase me or something if I stay won't it?"

He couldn't deny what she said and nodded solemnly. "We don't know how long. it could be days or even weeks before you feel the effects, but we do know that physical distance is a factor. Right now, Mia Solomon in this reality is in Canada and we are at least a couple thousand clicks away which should give us time to figure things out. In the meantime, we can get you set up in a VIP room on base once the doctor says you've recovered enough. We can get you set up with some things to make your stay more comfortable if you'd like."

"Thank you General that's very generous and I appreciate it."

The team of SG-1 were introduced to Mia, but things were kept short as all of them could see she was very uncomfortable.

*0*0*0*

Once the general left, the doctor informed her she'd like to check on her wounds. "Your wounds are healing as expected I suppose. The staff blast will still be a while, but your back can support you now and most of the damaged organs in your abdominal area have regenerated. I can get you some solid food to try for breakfast if you'd like."

Mia could tell the doctor was trying to cheer her up and she tried to muster up some enthusiasm. The doctor wasn't fooled though and Mia felt the bed dip as the doctor sat on the edge of it.

"You must miss your family a great deal."

Mia looked at the photo she still had in hands. "You have no idea. They died in a car crash a few years ago while I was being held by terrorists in the middle east. They learned what I can do and captured me almost four years ago and forced me to heal their wounded while they went out and slaughtered women, men and children."

At the doctor's sharp intake of breath she continued. "You're surprised I've chosen to tell you what happened to me."

The doctor shook her head. "No, not surprised really. I didn't think you'd really let us help you at all. I thought you'd just keep to yourself, but I'm glad you decided to open up."

"Well, it isn't anything that matters anymore even if this was my reality. It's in the past and they were wiped out."

The doctor stared at Mia in surprise. The tone she used told the doctor the group didn't simply disband. "What happened to them?"

Mia chuckled dryly. "Tony's superhero origin story happened. We busted out of there and blew the place up. After that, Tony went back and destroyed what was left of them, leaving the leader for the villagers of Gulmaira to take care of."

"You killed all of them?" the doctor sounded appalled which angered Mia somewhat, but she felt that it was necessary. They were a blight that needed to be wiped out and all she could do now was either join them in death or atone for the lives she'd taken.

"They were monsters. They raped children, laughed as they beat people to death. We were starved and tortured, I was there for weeks nearly dead myself before we escaped. I did die at least once in those caves and Yinsen used the leads on a car battery to shock my heart."

The doctor's eyes followed Mia's fingers as she rubbed at a splotchy scar on her chest and her eyes widened.

"Yes, that's how I got this scar. It's how I got most of the scars you've noted in my charts and it's the reason why I've lost my hearing on one side and lost most of my reproductive organs. They were monsters. If we didn't do what we did, we'd all have died in there."

The doctor wasn't surprised Mia had read the chart that had been made up for her records, but she was surprised that Mia seemed to have understood most of what was recorded on it.

"Mia, were you able to understand the chart or just glean bits of it?"

The woman took a moment and answered indirectly. "One of my friends is a doctor and I also volunteered at a hospital. I don't have any formal training or education in medicine, but know my way around the body well enough. It's helped me greatly with controlling my abilities too."

The doctor nodded and stood from her perch on the bed. "Well, since you'll be here for a while, why don't we work on making you a bit more comfortable? We still need to be careful with the wound on your side, but I think we can get you into something better than this thin gown."

With that she left the room and Mia took the time to go through the papers General Hammond had left with her. So much was different and so many of the people she knew didn't even exist in this reality. Mutants and the x-gene didn't exist and whoever the people on this base were, whatever they did, alternate realities were not unknown to them and they somehow had access to other planets. It was a lot to take in and for the first time since finding herself at the base, she was grateful for the solitude.

*0*0*0*

Doctor Frasier returned to the isolation room some time later. There was no clock in the room so Mia could only take their word that it was still the same day. The Doctor had a tray of food in her hands and the tall blonde woman, Samantha Carter followed in behind her carrying a small pile of clothing and a pair of shoes.

The doctor sighed as she saw that Mia had removed her IV and was about to admonish her when Mia spoke first.

"The IV finished and I made sure the antibiotics were done too before I took it out. It was uncomfortable."

The doctor could see that the IV had been properly removed and the bags had been neatly stacked on the side for disposal and looked around for the tubing and needle.

"Looking for these?" Mia smartly waved the items she was looking for in her hands and the doctor did nothing to hide her annoyance.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything dangerous, I just didn't see the bio waste bin."

The doctor shook her head and carefully collected the items for proper disposal. Mia definitely had more medical knowledge and practice than she'd led her to believe. She was being deceptive or modest. Either way, it meant that they couldn't underestimate her.

"I was going to remove them anyways so it's fine. I'm just glad you didn't hurt yourself." She glanced down at the woman's hand to confirm and saw that a bandage had been applied and there was only a small drop of blood staining it.

"I think you've recovered enough that you can try eating some solids. I brought up a bit of everything available for breakfast today." The doctor went back to the tray she'd set down earlier and brought to Mia in the bed on a rolling tray that went over the bed.

Mia's mouth watered at finally being able to eat food instead of being on an IV and she dug in without thought, quickly finishing the tray.

She gave a little burp as the drained the last of the juice that had been included before looking up at the doctor's and the blond woman's astonished faces.

"Do I have something on my face?" She wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

It was the blond woman who seemed to find her voice first. "Holy Hannah, do you always eat like that?"

Mia flushed a bit realizing how quickly she must have eaten the food and explained. "I need a lot of calories and nutrients after using my abilities. I'm always ravished after I help someone, and the more I get, the sooner I heal."

Doctor Frasier took the tray and walked it to the door, talking to someone on the other side before returning the Mia and the blond woman.

"If you needed food to recover, why didn't you say something sooner?"

Mia shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't know why I was here or if I was allowed to ask. I figured you would eventually offer me food if you wanted to."

"You mean to say, you thought we'd withhold food from you." The doctor seemed upset, but Mia just shrugged.

"I wasn't sure what you would do really, but I can go a while without eating if I have to. You had me hooked up to some good stuff too so I just ignored my hunger. Pretty sure I was missing a chunk of my digestive track for a while anyways and it's never fun dealing with that."

The blond woman eyed her warily before speaking. "Just how often have you dealt with taking on massive traumas?"

Mia shook her head while trying to think up a number. "I don't know, dozens, maybe hundreds. I was out of it a lot when I was held captive and heavily drugged. I remember bits and pieces of bodies, blood, eviscerations, blown off limbs but couldn't really give you an exact breakdown. In my most recent memory though I'd say maybe twenty or so a few days before I ended up here."

"And you feel all of it when it happens? The breaking, tearing, burning. All of it?" She looked a little green, but it was apparent to Mia that whoever she was, curiosity and wonder were a big part of her personality.

"Of course I feel it. How can I not?" Mia was so casual about it but the clothes, still held in the woman's hands faltered a bit at what she heard.

The doctor took the clothes from the woman and led her to a chair. "Why don't you sit a minute and I'll take care of this."

"I'm sorry if I upset you. I should have thought before speaking, but it's been a crazy day finding out I'm in an alternate reality with no way to get home and being told I'm stuck in some secret army base. Or maybe I'm not handling this very well, I don't really have a frame of reference here, but I think I'm doing alright."

The woman looked up from her seated position, her pallor a bit better. "Right yes, that's why I'm here." She stood and walked over to Mia, holding out her hand for a shake.

"I'm here to answer some questions about your situation if you want more information."

The next hour was spent talking about alternate realities, cascade failure and other aspects of multiverse theory while Mia ate her way through another two trays of food and two tall glasses of water.

Mia was surprised to learn about the quantum mirror and hoped that she'd be able to return to her reality on her own. Samantha told her that she'd already put out a request for it and it would arrive a day or so.

"No way! You mean to tell me that you guys go to other planets through a wormhole and keep all the cool stuff you find in area 51?! Area 51 is real?"

Samantha found herself enjoying the other woman's company. She seemed to have a solid grasp of both practical and theoretical science despite her claim that she'd never studied in a formal setting. The two of them discussed different methods of trying to find Mia's reality and in the midst of some calculations there was a knock on the door and Jack strolled in, dragging a tv on a cart behind him.

His eyes widened when he saw the papers scattered around with room with symbols and equations, he couldn't make sense of.

"Don't tell me you've been boring her with your egghead math Carter." His tone was almost jovial as he seemed to be teasing the blonde. He turned to plug the TV in ad Samantha stood up quicky in a show of respect to her superior.

"Not at all sir, we were just discussing alternate realities ad calculating the speed differences between her reality and ours."

The colonel looked over at Mia and his eyes widened when he realized that she wasn't bored at all. "You actually understand all this stuff?" he picked up a sheet and held it up for reference as Mia shrugged indifferent.

"Not like Samantha does, but she's a great teacher and I think I understand the basics." She wrote something on the paper she had on hand and closed her eyes looking disturbed.

Jack got closer to see what she'd been writing, but couldn't make sense of it so he turned to his second in command. "Carter?"

The woman glanced at the equation and sighed. "Eight days sir. She's been missing from her reality for just over a week."

"They'll find me. Tony will figure out a way. If he knows I'm missing, he'll find me. If it's been eight days it won't be much longer, I'm sure of it. Or maybe the quantum mirror will work and I'll get back on my own."

The two Air Force officers looked at each other unsure, but it was the colonel who broke the silence first. "Well, I hope you won't be disappointed I didn't come to discuss alternate realities with you. Carter has some things to do, so I offered to keep you company. You ever watch The Simpsons? I'm on season 7 and have lots of catching up to do if you're up for it."

Samantha rolled her eyes at her superior and he didn't back away from calling her on it as she left the room, taking the pages of equations with her, but leaving the clothes behind for Mia to change into.

"So, you're an egghead huh?" Maybe I can find something else to watch…". He was about to unplug the TV but Mia's voice stopped him. "No!"

He turned around surprised. "I mean, please. The Simpsons are great and I'd love to watch it with you. I grew up with it and it'll be nice to have something familiar."

Jack's eyes softened as he stepped away from the outlet and hit play on the DVD player. The CRT screen lit up with the familiar blue cloudy sky and large yellow font spelling The Simpsons and Mia leaned back with a sigh.

By the time the episode ended, tears were running down her face as she was pulled back to a simpler time in her life and yearned badly for the comfortable hugs of her family. Jack didn't turn to look at her and simply let the next episode play, giving Mia time to compose herself.

"It's weird to be watching TV on an old CRT screen, I haven't seen one of those in a long while."

Jack kept his gaze on the TV, but picked up the conversation. "Oh yeah? TVs are different in your reality?"

"CRT was replaced by LCD TVs, liquid crystal display. They're only a few inches thick and can be mounted on the wall. Smaller, lighter and with a sharper image. Stark Industries was working on transparent TVs and Tony had holographic screens in his workshop. Those were probably the coolest screens I saw, but they were just for his personal use."

Jack's ears perked up at Tony's name. She'd mentioned him a lot, and she was pretty sure he'd somehow find her, even in another reality. They were all curious about him.

"So who's Tony? You mentioned him a couple times and said something about his superhero origin story. What's that all about?"

Mia understood now why Jack was visiting with her, but she didn't mind and appreciated his attempt to keep it casual. She wondered what would happen if they weren't happy with her replies though.

"Tony Stark, millionaire, playboy philanthropist as he likes to refer to himself." She gave a small chuckle and Jack raised a brow.

"My world is full of mutants. Homo sapiens consider them a blight, but some think they're the next evolutionary step for humans calling them homo superior.

If there's a power you can imagine, it probably exists somewhere. Telepathy, empathy, telekenisis, lasers from the eyes, super healing, ability to fly. Some people don't get cool powers though and are simply green, purple, sparkly or have gills and webbed hands and feet.

Some mutants have joined up to fight regular humans for supremacy, some formed groups to protect humans and try to co-exist. Some try to spend their days in hiding and some are in detention centres, many of them kids who were surrendered by their families or caretakers when their powers manifested around the age of puberty."

Jack turned to look at her when he heard about that. He would never have abandoned a child when they needed him most. What kind of world had she come from?

"Don't look so shocked. The government tells everyone how dangerous mutants are and that they're working on a 'cure'. People are scared and don't know any better.

When I last closed my eyes to sleep, it was in Westchester at the school for gifted children. Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men who fought to rescue mutants in distress and try to show humans that mutants can coexist peacefully. The school took in children who had nowhere else to go and would train them to safely use their powers. Some were sent by their parents and paid a tuition to help with the cost. Just before I woke up in the cave on that planet, we'd rescued children from the sister school in Massachusetts.

The school was hit hard by privately funded troopers who took as many children and they could. Some staff and students were killed that night, the rest ended up in privately funded labs. It was one such lab that the X-Men had finished with before I ended up on that planet. 13 traumatized souls we all did our best to save before I ended up here."

Mia sipped at some water before she continued. Jack still had his eyes on the TV, but Mia could tell he was listening to every word and winced at how tightly he'd balled his fists at the mention of children.

"Tony Stark, was a regular human, no powers unless you counted his genius.

He owns Stark Industries, who among many other things, also had a private contract with the United States government for offensive and defensive weapons.

The latest weapon of mass destruction, the Jerico missile is why he'd been captured a few years ago. The terrorists wanted him to create missiles for them in those caves and got carried away with their methods of persuasion. That's when I first met him, forced to ensure his survival using my abilities."

Mia paused I her tale and took a deep breath before she continued. Jack watched her carefully, his sharp gaze focused on her reactions.

"Tony agreed to make them the missiles they wanted, but it was a lie. instead made himself a suit of armor that allowed us to escape. That suit of armor was the birth of Iron Man."

Jack looked at Mia incredulous. "Iron Man? Really?"

Mia shrugged. "Yeah, it's what the media called him, but he argued that the suit was actually made of a special titanium alloy he invented. He refined the suit when he finally got back home. The one from the caves fell apart when he used the flight capabilities."

Jack turned to look at her in shock. "Yeah, I know. Like I said, he's a genius. So if he knows I'm missing, he'll find a way to find me, even in another reality. The X-Men have resources too and I vanished from their base. They'll try to find me too, I'm sure of it. Who knows, maybe there's a mutant with the power to open or create portals."

Jack's mouth opened, then closed again. It seemed he was at a loss for words and at that moment the doctor chose to return, in her hands a tray heaped high with sandwiches, some sort of meat smothered in gravy, cooked vegetables and various other food items.

She made a bee line for Mia and pulled away from Jack's hand away when he tried to reach for a piece of food. "This is for Mia, she needs it to heal up. You can go and get your own food."

Jack looked at Mia and the amount of food piled on the tray. The woman shrugged unbothered and it was Janet who spoke up. "Better close that mouth before the flies get in."

"We don't have flies on the base."

"Well, you never know. That isn't why I'm here though. Now that her digestive tract has fully recovered it's time for some more regular nutrition for Mia," She set the massive tray of food in front of Mia and the woman dug in without second thoughts.

Jack looked on in abject fascination as the massive pile of food started to disappear and turned to the doctor.

"Is that normal? Where is all the food going?"

Mia, unbothered, kept eating, enjoying every bite and already feeling her body responding to all the food she was finally feeding it.

"She seems to have an extremely fast metabolism and told us that she needs to eat more when she uses her abilities. She had three trays at breakfast earlier and suffered no ill effects so I see no problem in allowing her to continue. She's quite underweight for a woman of her age and height, I'd say she's almost malnourished."

The food was all consumed by the time Janet was done speaking and Mia dabbed the corners of her mouthy daintily.

"That really hit the spot, thanks Janet."

Jack, seeing his time was up unplugged the TV and got ready to roll the cart out. "Next time, I'll bring snacks. Maybe T'ealc can join us. You like Star Wars?"

Mia shrugged. "It's alright."

"Don't let T'ealc hear you say that, he loves those movies. You alright if he sits in on our next tv session?"

"I don't mind. Do you mind if I don't want to answer all your questions?"

Jack winced at being called out, but if she was smart as he'd been told he half expected her to know what was happening.

"I'd appreciate it if you could answer some questions, but it's okay if you don't."

His eyes hardened when he noticed Mia's shoulders relax at his words. As he'd suspected, she was testing him to see just how badly they wanted answers from her and how far they'd go for those answers. Of course she didn't trust them, she hardly knew them.

"Thanks Jack." He smiled and gave a casual salute as he walked out of the room.