AU: And we are go for Plan B...
Chapter 31: Plan B, because Plan A never works
Thursday, 18th March 2004 – 2321 hours – Kiowa, Colorado – Lieutenant Colonel Carter
Moving behind a stack of crates, I stood and listened to the commotion hoping that John would not be found out, holding my ground instead of barging into that room when Gracie started screaming blue murder, stifling my shocked outcry at the sound of a gunshot, then Charlie's encouraging words followed by a very familiar grunting scream. A cry similar to the one I had heard almost sixty years ago when setting my Colonel's leg in the same frozen wasteland he was stuck in right now. Only this time, it was worse, because that sound came from John.
The righteous fury that burned low in my stomach wanted to storm into that room guns blazing and burn everything to the ground, hunt every one of the arseholes who dared to take the two people who mattered most to me. Who dared to shoot my partner and lover. That's what the emotionally compromised woman wanted. What the highly trained and almost spec ops level Colonel knew had to happen – she had to put emotion aside, ignore the painful screams, regroup with her team, and come up with a new tactic, a new plan. They would be looking for us now. Squeezing my eyes closed to gain some semblance of control, I quietened my breathing and took in the sounds of the warehouse.
"Randy's dead. They probably got Jed too. Find them. The Colonel says there will be three." A distant voice echoed. While I knew deep down that 'the Colonel' could be anyone, my bet was on it being Simmons. This was just the kind of stunt he would pull.
"Naw, the fourth one turned into a Mary-Sue. She'll be at home." Another replied. I recognised Pete's voice immediately.
"What about the old woman?"
"As old as the hills. She's not cut out for this." Pete replied mockingly.
"Ya sure 'bout that? She knocked you out." The other man laughed.
"Don't remind me. She'll be at home waiting for their triumphant return." Pete stated, only to receive a raucous guffaw in return.
"Maybe I'll take them home to her then. Especially the boy. Maybe her tastes extend to necrophilia as well as paedophilia." The unknown man lied. John wasn't dead. He wouldn't die without me. He would fight and survive. It's what he did. Always.
"Eww gross, man. Wish I never told you about that. You're as bad as those other two sicko's." Pete barked, clearly unimpressed with his counterparts comments. "Besides, he's not dead, just shot up a little." His words made me breathe easier despite wanting to zat him.
"Hmm, maybe I'll prop him in a chair and make him watch me fuck her." The uncouth one said haughtily. I'd heard enough. Carefully moving out from my hiding space and towards the back door one silent step at a time.
"Dude! Seriously, just shut up." Pete berated him, his voice more distant over the footsteps of him walking away while the sound of his colleague laughing echoed. I was still going to zat him, but maybe – just maybe – only once instead of twice.
Opening the door quietly, listening for movement and hearing nothing, I stepped out into the darkness only to end up with a set of large arms, one around my waist, the other choke holding me while his heavy breath ruffled the loose strands of my hair.
"Teal'c! It's me." I rasped. He let go immediately. I squeezed my eyes closed and breathed deeply to stop from coughing.
"Colonel Carter." I nodded and motioned with a circular motion in the air for us to regroup. After one final deep breath, I moved after him over to the fence line where he unhooked a star picket and opened the fence. "Our surveillance revealed this."
"Wow. That would have been much easier than climbing underneath." I noted just as Daniel approached.
"Indeed. Where is young O'Neill?"
"Inside. Plan A is a bust." I stated without reservation.
"Isn't it always." Daniel replied, taking off his glasses, cleaning them then putting them back on his face. "So, what type of 'inside' is John." He asked with quote fingers. "Captured, hiding, shot?" My lip trembled without it meaning to, so I closed my eyes and willed the unproductive feelings away. "Shit, it's the last one, isn't it?" Nodding slowly before flicking my eyes between to two of them was all I could do.
"He will be most displeased. O'Neill takes great offense to being shot." Teal'c added making me laugh a little. He wasn't wrong. He especially hated being shot in the arm or shoulder. I had a sudden memory of him complaining about wanting sleeves on his bulletproof vest. Funny how the little things come back when you aren't actively trying to remember them.
"They have John, Gracie, Charlie, and Cassie in two cells. Inside this door, along the back wall," I pointed from the door along the rear wall of the building. "About halfway down is an office, inside are the cells." I didn't see much more because we were interrupted. I had to retreat and hide. John was already inside and had to hide in there."
"What made them find him?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know for certain, but it was something Gracie did. She was screaming up a storm, then there was a bright light, like a flashbang grenade. After that, all hell broke loose. That's when he was shot." I explained, seeing recognition dawn on Daniel and Teal'c's faces. "What?"
"Sam, you know how Gracie talks about her 'genie'?" Daniel asked with his questioning look of slight confusion that he used when he asked Jack about things. The one where he looked at his feet, scrunched his eyes and either played with or bit his lip.
"Yeah. She talks to people through toys, has vivid dreams, that kind of stuff. Samantha insists she healed her." I replied, not having the gumption to tell him what Jack had done to me. I didn't think he would approve if he knew about that night.
"Yeah that, and other things." He paused and bit his lip. "Sam, Gracie's ancient gene is highly developed. She can change form fluidly."
"What do you mean? Like you did?" I asked, my lip trembling just thinking about the day that he died. Really died.
"Yes. Only she can't control it. It happens during times of extreme emotion. Like when Charlie threatened Samantha." Daniel explained. At some point his hand had reached out and gripped my shoulder.
"Oh God, I heard her crying for Jack. Daddy. Do you think she sensed John in the room?" I asked. Daniel looked down, then back into my eyes and nodded.
"When I was Ascended, I could sense the Others. Even now, I know when Oma is nearby, even if I can't see her. It's how I found Jack when he was stuck at Ba'al's palace." Shutting my eyes tight, I let him pull me in for a hug. It felt so good to able to wrap my arms around my brother by choice and accept his comfort. I had wanted to since I arrived but was too angry and stubborn to let him – anyone – near me. I deserved his censure. Suddenly it was all too much. My accident, Jack being frozen, Grace's kidnapping, John being shot. The soldier retreated leaving the trembling emotionally distraught woman in her wake, just like after General Landry died and I slipped into the same despair caused by likening him to my Jack. Except that time, Teal'c had been the one to pick up the pieces.
"I'm sorry, Daniel." I whispered, gripping onto his shirt hard while he rubbed his hands up and down my back.
"Shhh, it's OK. Time travel sends everyone crazy. Just look at Doctor Who." He jested making me laugh into his shoulder.
Pulling back, I asked in jest, "Who?"
"Exactly." He replied with a real smile. The first one I had received from him since before the accident on the Odyssey. God, I missed my Daniel. The sound of the radio crackled to life. Despite having the sound down low, it cut through the silent darkness. Teal'c immediately scanned the area beyond the trees for patrols in case they were using the radio to zero in on our location.
"SG-1." The voice sounded out slowly, as if us being here were a revelation. "Or is that SG zero point five." The familiar voice of indomitable Colonel Frank Simmons wafted over the radio. "It seems I have something of yours. Say hello, young man."
"Bite me!" John replied with a grunt and shaky sound, as if his teeth were chattering.
"Tsk-tsk-tsk… now, now, Colonel. May I call you Colonel?" He drawled in his distinct tone that raised my hackles. The man who tapped my house when Orlin arrived and did any number of other unconscionable things. John either didn't bother answering or couldn't. But he could scream which meant they were manipulating his wound.
"You have five minutes to surrender, or we will use him to determine how much pain a human can withstand before they pass out." Simmons gave the ultimatum, closing the transmission out with another grunting scream from John. It was enough for the soldier to come thundering back, banishing the distress to the far reaches of my psyche.
Switching the radio off, I turned to Daniel and Teal'c with renewed determination. "So, Plan B. We try sneaking in again, or Plan C, we go in guns blazing. Either way, we are down a man and a zat but up a set of radios. We know where the others are being kept. So far, we know of three people inside. I didn't see any patrols or other guards." I briefed succinctly. "Anything else?"
"The exterior guards are neutralised." Teal'c added.
"I make our count four." Daniel chimed in. "There is a window like the one John climbed through on the other side. It looks down on a large open area with a makeshift laboratory and a chair with straps. One man in a white coat and Simmons." He provided a clear breakdown of another area of the warehouse. "There are no others in the lab area that we could see."
"Pete?" I prompted for information on my ex-arsehole.
"Carried Grace to and from the chair with another man we don't recognise." Daniel replied. "There could be one other guard inside the front door, but I don't think so. I think this is a very small operation."
"So, three armed, and a doctor. Three of us." I stated with a heavy breath. Daniel nodded. "I personally like Plan C. I really want to shoot someone. Zat first, ask questions later?" I asked. Daniel smiled and nodded. Teal'c looked at both of us before offering his opinion.
"May I suggest Plan D since Colonel Simmons knows not of you." Teal'c stated before outlining his idea. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
~ ~ J 💞 S ~ ~
Friday, 19th March 2004 – 2325 hours – Kiowa, Colorado – John O'Neill
Sitting slumped in the chair with my hands tied behind my back, I could barely make out the words that Simmons said into the radio through the latent pain, though I still recognised an ultimatum when I heard one. They were all the same. You will do this or else. The problem was 'the else'. In this situation 'the else' was little old me and whatever instrument the white coat was using in my open wound.
"One minute, Colonel." Simmons gloated tapping the face of his dress watch that matched his dark grey suit, the shock of white from his plain business shirt standing out against the collar.
"Or what, Simmons. You'll shoot me?" I muttered.
"Oh no, my dear Colonel. I will shoot your daughter." He replied. Opening my eyes a crack, I saw his sneering face right there. Drawing in all my rage, all my pain, I screamed a battle cry and launched myself forwards intent on knocking him over. That was when I realised that my hands were not only bound but tied to the chair. Losing my footing, I fell backwards onto the chair then bounced off and landed hard on my injured arm, the battle cry quickly becoming a scream as the excruciating pain shot through every nerve ending. Breathing hard, I tried roll onto my back, but the chair stopped me from going anywhere. Simmons merely laughed, the low rumbling sound washing over me in waves. As I opened my eyes, I saw in the shadows behind Simmons a blue dress uniform. Casting my eyes up, I recognised Martin Kennedy. A deliberate shake of his head and a look to the Colonel told me everything I needed to know before he retreated a little just as his target crouched down.
"Well, quite the little Jack O'Neill, aren't you?" Simmons asked rhetorically. My only answer was a defiant spit in his face as he crouched over me. It was all I had the energy for. With nothing but a look behind me, he ordered that my chair be righted. His flunky was not gentle. "Oh, would you look at that, time's up." He said theatrically, looking at his timepiece. "Doctor? Let's remove that bullet. Without the morphine."
"Not by my watch." Daniel said as a zat shot rang out dropping the white coat.
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson." The sound of Teal'c's monotone voice made me smile internally as a second shot rang out dropping the guard that stood by the far wall leaving Simmons and Shanaham.
A funny whirring noise from behind me caught my attention. "Shit, c'mon you stupid piece of sh… arghh!" Another zat shot from Teal'c and Shanaham dropped to the ground to join the other two who were laid out shocked still unable to get up.
"Well, well, well. SG zero point five. Come to rescue your fearless leaders offshoot." Simmons said, a sickly smug smile in his tone. The sound of another zat arming and a nudge at my temple was all I needed to know about my situation. Nevertheless, I looked up at my team, half my team and smiled. I knew Sam wouldn't be far away.
"Actually, it's more like SG zero point seven five." Daniel responded while scratching his chin. "Teal'c?"
"Zero point eight seven five, Daniel Jackson. Young O'Neill is half the original's size." Teal'c countered with a sharp look to Daniel who was nodding. My brain was too foggy from the blood loss to work that one out.
"Indeed. Zero point eight seven five." Daniel repeated then looked at Simmons with a cheesy Space Monkey grin as Sam marched – tall and proud – into the light, held up her zat and pulled the trigger making Simmons grunt and fall to his knees. I tried to smile through the agony, though I suspect it looked more like a grimace as she stood over his electrified form. His eyes widening with recognition.
"Now, we are SG-1, and you are nothing." She said, then aimed and fired a second time. Behind him, Kennedy emerged from the shadows, his hands clapping slowly.
"Well done." He said, earning himself three zat's pointed in his direction.
"Wait!" I rasped, coughing violently before crying out when the action of doing so reverberated up to my shoulder. "Arghhh… Sam… wait!" I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut and breathing hard. "Martin's… Mar…" I grunted, faltering on his name though determined to get it out because I could feel the opportunity sliding away. Knowing I would not have another chance to tell her that he was a friend. I rasped her name once more. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but I knew I didn't have time.
"John." Sam called out, storming over to my side, and placing her hand on my cheek.
Swallowing the heaviness in my throat, I tried again, "M-Mart… Kenn'is on our… our…" I couldn't get the rest out as darkness overtook.