Deprogramming
Deprogramming
by Katmellie
Summary: A experimental Black Ops program comes to light, when Jack returns from a secret mission earth bound, and acts like a total other person, but what exactly has been done to him and can Sam stop it from happening again?
Category: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Future Story
Episode Related: 202 In the Line of Duty, 410 Beneath the Surface
Season: Season 6
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: PG
Warnings: minor language, violence
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 06/07/03
All week long she had been struck in her lab, no missions for them, not while the Colonel was off on some Black Ops. It just turned up out of the blue; one morning they'd been sat in the commissary, eating their breakfasts and the next thing, the Colonel was called down to the Generals office, and hadn't been seen since. The only way the others had found out, where he'd gone or supposedly where he'd gone, was when they'd been waiting for their briefing, and Hammond had informed them that they would be on stand down, until the Colonel returned from his mission.
After about a day or so, she and Jonas had been sat in her lab, going over some artefact brought back by SG-4. It had shocked her a little; she'd wished she'd never shown Jonas how to use a computer, especially the part about hacking into things. He'd hacked into the Black Ops section, while asking her what Black Ops was all about, she thought about stopping him but she was more than a little curious, about where the Colonel was. Wondering if he was all right, when he'd be back with them, with her. What they did find wasn't anything that mention the Colonel, or anything that would lead to his whereabouts. It was like he wasn't even there, as if he was still there at the base, and hadn't gone on a Black Ops mission. But that couldn't be possible, she could be sure about that, looking in his office, which was in its usual mess, his quarters, Simpsons box sets lining a wall, and the gym his usual hang out point, were all missing their main occupier.
She was going stir crazy, not knowing where he was or what he was doing, and to think some where down there long history path, she had thought about transferring out of the SGC, to get away from her feelings for him. From this experience, she had certainly learnt that it would have been a bad decision, which made her the more grateful that she chose not to do it and that Janet had talked her out of it. If she couldn't stand to be out of his company for a week, then what would she have been like for month? But she already knew what she'd be like, not sleeping and eating, being moody with anyone that even spoke to her. It was like he was some kind of drug to her, a druggie needing to get her next fix of him, even if it was just a smile or a look, it would sure enough put her on a high until she needed her next fix. Could someone get kick out of the military, for being addicted to his or her CO?
But the week was at least over, he was back but he wasn't the same, something about him was different. There hadn't been any big things in the papers, about some leader being killed of some terrorist organisation; there hadn't miraculously been some unknown prisoners of war rescued or anything that could be linked to a Black Ops operation. It was as if he'd gone on holiday for a week, had a really bad trip back on the plane and was now taking it out on everyone else. He hadn't said a word about the whole thing, but that could be understandable, it seemed to have really affected him though.
Looking at him across the gate room, while the gate spun round, locking in the coordinates for PS2 3W2, he seemed distant from everyone else, playing with something in between his hands, his cap shadowing over his features. There wasn't any friendly banter, no comments about the red mark on Jonas's neck, just complete silence apart from the gate spinning round. She was sure this was not the man, who had a week ago, had been making jokes with them in the commissary, watching her laugh across the table. Physically he was the man but mentally, he was another person. Someone was filling in for the Colonel, while he was in the other guy's body, having a whale of a time, making jokes and enjoying himself.
The last coordinate locked and the gate engaged, normally he would have watched the magical event of the gate engaging, but he didn't even bat an eye at it, just kept playing with whatever was in his hands. Distantly she heard Hammond give them the all clear, but she couldn't get over the change in him, who was this man in front of her? Teal'c led the way up the ramp, sparring a moment to look to her, she nodded knowing his look to her, asking the same question that was going through her head. Jonas glanced at the Colonel a few times, passing pass both of them, following Teal'c through the gate.
With a sweep of his hand through the air, he motioned for her to go first, idly resting his other hand on his P90; none of the usual kindness was in his face. Letting the thought drop, she stepped up onto the ramp, adjusting her own P90 in front of her, focusing on the mission before them. Looking over her shoulder, she found him walking beside her, just a little behind her, but there were lines, new lines and old lines, covering his once childlike appearance. What had happened to change this man, in a week?
Stepping through the gate, she immediately put her sunglasses on, looking round the small clearing, round the gate, spotting Teal'c and Jonas already unpacking the F.R.E.D of her equipment. The gate closed behind her, the Colonel went off in silence, fiddling with that thing in his hands again. Frowning at the impostor in front of her, she stepped down the steps, keeping a watchful eye over the Colonel or whoever he was. "Teal'c, you keep watch over Carter, while she takes her soil samples and sets up her equipment. I'll take Jonas to go look at his ruins; I want base camp set up by the time we get back. I'll give you three hours and then it better be up by the time we get back". This was certainly not her Colonel; this must be the one with one L and has no sense of humour. He set off towards the direction the UAV had indicated the ruins, not asking for direction or distance, just walked off at his own pace. Jonas jogged off after him, looking to each of them for sympathy before being absorbed into the tree cover.
There was something different in the atmosphere; it wasn't subtle about being there either, it was affecting them all, which7 could lead to trouble. It was true, when one thing affected one member of the team, it affected them all and this was a prime example. Unclipping her backpack from her back, she let it drop to the floor while she unclipped her P90, placing it on top of the F.R.E.D, next to Teal'c's staff weapon. There wasn't the usual humorous feel to the mission, normally it would feel like they had gone camping and were just there to have a good time.
But this mission felt like they're actually working, no jokes just point-blank orders. The Colonel had never given them, a specific time to have the camp set up, he'd normally say 'just set it up when ya not playing with ya doohickeys'. His whole manner was off. Even when he was giving his orders out, normally he'd say 'ya' but he actually said 'you', showing this was defiantly a different Colonel Jack O'Neill, using proper English when he was speaking.
Teal'c began to unpack the tents from the F.R.E.D, placing them into a semi circle order, round what would end up to be there campfire. Shaking her head at the atmosphere, she snatched up her backpack, slamming it down onto the F.R.E.D, unfastened the flap and took out her sample kit. She stopped when she felt a hand, gently resting on her shoulder, giving comfort the way Teal'c did. He didn't have to say words; the warmth of his hand and his strong presence was enough to comfort her. Taking a deep breath, she realised how much this was already affecting her, it made her angry to think something was hurting him or that there was something wrong, and he was doing his usual 'shut it away and it'll go away' thing. Nodding her head to him, she picked up her sample kit, leaving Teal'c to set the camp up while she went off to collect samples.
The grass wasn't that long, just about a foot or a foot and a half, but she found with every step it was harder to walk, forcing her legs to move and bend. If she had somehow gain about a twenty pounds, she could understand her trouble in walking, but this wasn't the physical weight, keeping her feet weighted to the ground. It was all the emotional weight that had been weighing up, her heart had sunken from its place in her chest, all the way down into the bottom of her boots. The effort that it was taking just to lift one foot, it was the kind of effort she would normally put into her projects, making herself work un-humanly to get the job done.
Dropping to her knees from sheered exhaustion, shifting to sit properly on the ground, spreading her legs out with the sample kit between her legs. Whenever they're off world, she would think of it with a bubbly feeling in her stomach, the anticipation of going off world with her family would sometimes be too much for her. But all she could think about was going home, to go home and find her Colonel, the man for the past seven years who had stolen her heart and been one of her best friends.
Opening her sample kit with a sigh, she looked round the clearing, pulling her sunglasses off, letting them fall to rest against her chest. There was so many trees lining the clearing, she was feeling let down by the Colonel, not making his usual argument that they should fight the trees instead of the Goa'uld as they had taken over, nearly every planet they had been to. She was starting to think he had Dendrophobia, a fear of trees. Imaging him cowering away from a two foot tree, a tiny little tree, brought a smile to her face, making her chuckled down at the spatula and sample pot in her hands.
To say, the atmosphere at the beginning of the mission was off, the whole atmosphere round the campfire was out of this world, no one was talking, just sitting around, looking at nature dance in the fire. No one dare speak, even though the Colonel was sat a good ten feet away from the campsite, playing with whatever it was he'd been playing with all morning. They all glanced at each other, opening their mouths to say something but then thought twice about it, not wanting to risk an ear bashing from the Colonel. She was certain now, this wasn't the normal Jack O'Neill, and it was kind of like the film they'd watched once, 'Face off'. Someone had switched places with her Colonel, making her feel like she'd been for the most of the past week, while he'd been gone playing secret agent.
Jonas's sudden movement caught her eye, watching him crawl over to sit down next to her, keeping his eyes firmly on the Colonel as he moved, hoping not to be caught by Mother Goose. Sipping at the instant coffee that Teal'c had made her early, gone cold from the time she'd allowed it to cool down. "What's wrong with the Colonel?" Jonas whispered pointing passed her in the direction of the lonely Colonel. Absently, she looked over in his direction, following the direction that Jonas had pointed in; hating to see the Colonel isolate himself from the team she quickly looked away, staring down at the black liquid in her mug. Shrugging her shoulders, she slumped down against the log behind her, taking another sip from her cold coffee.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, a thing Jonas had started to do after hours of observing the Colonel, he sat watching the Colonel. They all were in there own way, Teal'c was supposedly Kel'nor'riming but she saw him open his eye once or twice, checking on the figure hidden by the shadows, the firelight playing over his back. Jonas was so obliviously watching him it was scary, the man had only been with the team for little over a year, in that short amount of time, he was tuned into everyone's feelings, he also felt the change in the atmosphere, or it was really obvious. And she was... playing it by ear, if she made too much of it, it would show her feelings for him, and if she didn't make too much of it, it would appear she had no feelings for him anymore. All she wanted to do, was go over to him, pull him into a fierce hug and tell him to tell her everything that happen, no matter how horrible it was.
The cloud she'd been musing on suddenly was blown away, when Jonas nudged her leg with his elbow, his eyes following the lone figure. Sitting up, she found the Colonel was making his way back over to the camp, whacking at the grass with a stick, he'd picked up on his travels. Teal'c opened an eye; hardly moving a muscle while he watched the Colonel, drop into a heap on one side of the fire, poking at the fire with his stick. "I'm sorry, guys" Everyone gather him their full attention, it was eating at her the way his face looked, it was like he had everyone else's worries playing over his face, making him age faster. "It was a rough mission, and before ya's start I don't want to talk about it. I shouldn't have let it get to me, and I'm sorry for the atmosphere I've created. I'll make it up ta ya's when we get back; take ya's all out for some drinks. What ya's say?" They all looked at each other, nodding their heads in agreement to his proposition, smiles broad on two of the faces. This was their O'Neill; the O'Neill with two L's and has the sense of humour, bring laughter to all four corners of the galaxy.
Looking over the once shadowed figure, she found the lines on his face were still there, not as prominent but they're there. He shoved the stick into the fire for one last time, letting the fire take it and make used of it. "Now, Jonas. What's this thing I've noticed on your neck?" That was the O'Neill she was in love with, the teasing and child like man. She looked to Jonas beside her, watching his cheeks go redder than Santa's suit, the same colour they had gone when she had questioned him about it.
The atmosphere had changed drastically from how it was previous; they're all smiling, or trying, taking time out to enjoy their night by the campfire. Jonas started fiddling with the zip of his jacket, looking sheepishly to their fearless leader, a smug look clouding his features. "Erm... I was watching this film with Lieutenant Maas, it was about this err... assassin and..." She nudged him with her shoulder, giggling at his attempt to change the topic to the film, looking across the fire at Teal'c for his support. "Jonas Quinn, do not attempt to changed the subject" They're laughing while Jonas covered his face with his hands, she looked across at the Colonel, and found that he wasn't laughing, his face neutral to all emotions.
The bad feeling she usually got when something bad was about to happen, suddenly dawn upon her, making her want to jump to action before whatever it was could happen. The Colonel suddenly jumped to his feet, looking round for something like he was stiff as a board, his back straight with his hands at his sides. The laughter stopped as everyone watched the Colonel, he sighted whatever he was looking for, walking very oddly over to the F.R.E.D, he picked up her P90 and the RID, starting off towards the DHD. They all looked at each other, slowly getting to their feet to follow him, keeping a watchful eye over what he was doing.
When Teal'c was near enough, he looked over the Colonel's shoulder; a confused eyebrow went up, looking to both her and Jonas before looking at the Colonel. "O'Neill, why are you dialling home?" The Colonel just ignored him, laying his hand firmly down on the red orb in the middle of the DHD, lighting the night with the gate when it engaged. Placing her hands on her hips, she watched him send the iris code, then drop the remote onto the ground, flicking the safety off on the P90. He shoulder barged Teal'c out the way, the strengthen it took to do it never showed on his face, like it was no trouble for him to make the six foot Jaffa stumbled backwards.
Teal'c made a grab for the Colonel, only to be presented with a fist in the face, knocking the Jaffa back a good three feet while the Colonel carried on towards the gate. Jonas ran up behind the Colonel, jumping onto his back, making them both fall down onto the ground, in front of the steps. Jonas struggled to get to his feet, but the Colonel was already on his feet, P90 in hand, aiming at the young man. He shot him without hesitation in the leg, making Jonas crumbled back down onto the ground, nursing his bleeding leg. She was out of it, shocked by the sudden change in him, acting more like robot than like a human.
He started up the steps to the gate, ignoring the cries of pain coming from Jonas, showing no feelings towards him. Shaking her head at the scene in front of her, she watched as the Colonel cross the event horizon. Sprinting as fast as she could, leaping up the steps, just barely making it through before the gate shut down. Coming through on the other side, she found to techs at the bottom of the ramp, both shot in the leg, crying out in pain after the man, going through the door. Watching him walked out the room, she noticed that it seemed similar to how Arnold Schwarzaneggar, walked in the Terminator, walking after his prey.
Jumping over the side of the ramp, she quickly ran after him, finding him aiming at personnel in the corridor, all of them running for cover before he pulled the trigger. Taking a deep breath, she jumped onto the unsuspecting Colonel's back, holding on for dear life as he tried to shake her off, reaching for her with his free hand. "Colonel, what's wrong?!" Somehow she'd managed to knee him in the back, making him lose his grip on the P90, dropping it to the floor, only to free up both his hands for him. He reached for her over his shoulders, grabbing onto her jacket and her wrists, pulling and tugging to get her to release her hold.
Giving up on that approached, he looked at the wall behind him, quickly backing up into it, and he bashed her into the wall. Her head connected with the hard concrete behind her, she lost her gripped and fell to the floor, holding a hand to the back of her head. Looking up to find the P90 being shoved in her face, she couldn't believe that someone she loves would shoved a gun in her face, especially him. For a moment, she saw pure hatred in his eyes, all of which being directed straighter at her, and then his eyes were neutral, just like they were back on the planet, when she had looked across at him. "Major Carter!" She looked to the airman, sliding her a handgun across the floor, taking advantage of the Colonel's daze.
Picking the gun up, she aimed straight back at the person, who was aiming at her, finding his confuse expression that had made her laugh on many occasions. The P90 slowly lowered down out of her face, the safety clipped back on into placed and then he dropped it to the floor. He looked down the corridor at the horrified faces, getting even more confused with his surroundings. Using the wall behind her, she pushed her way up the wall with her legs, keeping the gun in her hands focused on him all times. "Carter? What's going on? How the hell did I get back to the SGC?" There wasn't any time to answer his questions; a dozen airmen swiftly pounced on him, taking him down to the floor, pinning all limps to the floor before handcuffing him and struggling to take him away down the corridor. He pushed and struggled against them, not understanding why they're taking him away.
The pained expression on his face, looking over his shoulder at her, pushing back against the airmen trying to take him away, made her want to cry. The man they're taking away was her O'Neill, the one that had come through the gate moments ago, wasn't at all the man that she saw being dragged away. Lowering the weapon in her hands, she clicked the safety back on, handing it to an airman who had remained behind. "Ma'am, what just happen?" Looking to the man next to her, she just simply shook her head, listening to the cursing and shouts coming down the corridor. Wiping a hand over her face, she tried to block them out, focusing on the thoughts that were going through her head.
Sitting at the briefing room table, she watched Jonas across the table, his eyes closed off to everyone, his leg resting on a chair in front of him, sleeping the pain going through his leg away. Teal'c was poking at his nose, the plasters stuck across it; scream out in contrast to his skin, making them be noticed to everyone. It seemed unreal that she was the only one out of the team, that hadn't been injured as badly as they had, Teal'c with his broken nose and Jonas with his shot to his thigh. Now that she had thought it over, all the people that been shot or hit in Teal'c's case, were all disable not killed. That had to say something in the Colonel's case, he wasn't going on a psychotic rampage; he was disabling everyone but for what reason was unknown. From what she had been told, the Colonel didn't remember anything about this little episode, so what exactly was going on?
They all stood except for Jonas, when Hammonds office door opened, revealing the man, who had been on the phone for the past half an hour, after being dragged out of bed by her phone call. He waved for all them to take their seats again, dropping into his seat at the head of the table. They all looked to him expectedly, she didn't know whether to be anxious of his news or worried by the way he covered his eyes with his hand. His hand dropped from his eyes, while he pulled himself closure to the table, leaning down onto it with his elbows. "What I'm about to tell you is confidential and must not go further than this room, is that under stood?" She didn't need to look at the others; her head was nodding while he was saying it, wanting him to carry on even if it meant something bad.
Hammond took a deep breath, looking at each of them before looking down at his hands, nodding at them about something. Licking her lips nervously, she found herself moving closure to the table, so she was able to hear him clearly and could grab onto something it was really bad. "When the Colonel was in the Black Ops, just starting out as a matter of fact, he agreed to take part in a experiment" There was silence in the room, an uncomfortable silence that made most of them shift in their seats, not taking their eyes off the General. "The experiment was to make the ultimate soldier by using hypnosis, so the soldier wouldn't be affected by memories of a pass mission. The Colonel was the only participant that took to the method well, using cue words to start his missions and end them. Before each mission he would be programmed with the target and what he was supposed to do, and after each mission he would be debrief, cancelling the cue words" She found herself to be staring down at the table top, taking all the information in, not sure if she should believe it or think it to be another cover up. Of what was unsure. "The problem this time was, his debrief was interrupted and the cue words were still there, but his mission wasn't. The cue word that starts it's the same every time, but the cue word that ends it's chosen by him. Does anyone know exactly what word started this and what word ended it?"
She heard Jonas shift in his seat, grunting at the pain it cause in his leg, lifting her head to look at him across the table, she noted the pain that was playing over his features. Teal'c was deep in thought, staring off, at the gate behind her, through the window. Sitting back against her chair, she stared off herself, going back over their conversation around the campfire and what was said when they were in the corridor. "O'Neill started acting strange after I spoke to Jonas Quinn" She shook her head, sitting forward to lean onto the table with her arms. They all looked at her when they noticed she was shaking her head, running a hand through her head, she went back over what was said.
From the moment she butted into what Jonas was saying, the Colonel had acted weird, while she was laughing, she didn't hear him chuckling. "No, it was after Jonas said... assassin, I didn't hear him chuckling like he would have done, he always chuckles when I giggled at something" Looking to Hammond she suddenly felt scrutinised, by what she had just said. "The Colonel and I have nearly the same sense of humour, so if I found it funny so would have he" Feeling the guilt over nothing washed over her, being able to breath without difficulty. Jonas stood up from his seat, using the crutch he'd been giving and the table to support him self, the pain was making new lines form on his young face. "If you don't mind General, I think I'll go to the infirmary, I'm not feeling too good" Hammond nodded his head at him, leaning back into his chair, resting his arms on the arms of the chair.
Jonas hobbled his way out of the room, re-closing the door behind him, leaving the room to fall into silence. "Does anyone have any know, what made O'Neill stop?" Going over the events in her head from the corridor, she found herself suddenly feeling scrutinised again, not by anyone in the room but by herself. Resting her head into her hands, she thought of the best way to tell them. "I do" Letting her hands fall from her face, she folded them up underneath her, using them to hunch herself over the table. "The cue for him to stop is either, 'Major' or 'Carter' or even both. One of the airmen shouted, my name and that was about, the only thing that was said before he stopped. Which was kind of good at the time, as he had the P90 aim directly at my head" Hammond nodded his head, shifting in his chair slightly, avoiding meeting with her gaze.
Resting her head in her hand, she watched Hammond sit forward again, folding his arms up on the table, looking between her and Teal'c. His shoulders fell slightly, his head bowing for a moment before looking very confidently at them. "The Colonel wouldn't have hurt anybody. When he hasn't got any orders to follow or a mission, there's a kind of back up programmed into him. When he doesn't have orders to followed, he has to return to base command, where they program the mission into him, and get there at any means, even it means shoot to kill. But in the whole history of the program, the Colonel has only done this twice before and that at his own fault. He's come close to killing someone before when he's following this order, had a rifle pointing directly in his commands face at one point, before he suddenly sprinted off" She didn't need to know that, from what she had seen in his eyes, deep down she knew he wouldn't hurt her, nothing that a little time wouldn't cure. But it still scared that he was capable of doing it, it would only take a split second and he could have either pulled the trigger or ran off, killing someone else instead.
A shivered ran through her to the bone, considering the Colonel to be a murderer was nothing she had ever had to deal with. There'd been that whole thing with Kinsey, but she was sure then that he hadn't have done it. Seeing it though in first person, sent a shiver up her spine, making her despised herself for even thinking he would hurt her. Seeing him shoot Jonas, their hadn't been any hesitation in that act, but when he had the gun pointed at her, it was like he was fighting inside with himself. Not knowing whether to act on rage or on... that other feeling they'd got for each other.
Teal'c stood up from his seat, it had affected him more than anyone, he'd only been hit in the face, but from one single blow to his face, he'd been knocked out. Unable to protect the people that he now considered his friends and his family, and that he hadn't been able to stop the Colonel. Not from hurting everyone else, but that he had been inadequate to stop him, to stop his brother in arms from causing harm to him self and to the other members of their close knitted family, Jonas and her. "What will happen to O'Neill now?" Her own thoughts were put on hold, waiting for the General to reply to Teal'c, giving them both a hope that it wouldn't be held against the Colonel. "He'll be sent to be de-cued and then to have the whole memory of the event wiped from his mind" She was appalled by it so much, her fists tighten so much her knuckles cracked, pushing the seat out from underneath her, pounded her hands onto the table, looking Hammond dead in the eye. "So, he'll have no memory of this and we've all got to play hush-hush, because the air force messed up the Colonel, by not de-cueing him?" Hammond's head feel in disgust, his own fists clenched on the table, showing the whites in his knuckles.
Shaking her head at him, she looked away from him, banging her fists off the table. That was why the Colonel was so confused, he probably doesn't even remember signing up for the experiment, had that wiped from his memory as well. No wonder, the Colonel doesn't like scientists; just to think all the things they'd put him through, finding the best candidate for their little tests. Wiping the disgust from her face, she left the room, slamming the door behind her. This was more than just cleaning up a mistake, this was taking something from him, and they're messing with his mind, just like those people who memory stamped us. Taking small amounts of his personality, people are who they are because of what they've experience, so got knows what the Colonel would be like if he didn't have whatever memories had been taken away from him.
They're shipping him out at any given time, sending him to have another part of his personality taken away from him. All she could think about was how it was going to be hurting him, not the pain that it had cause to the men, who had gotten in his way and had pay the price for it. For the past two hours she'd been sat in her lab, hitting a hammer off a device that had never worked, using it as a way to vent her frustration. There had to another way for them to do it, instead of taking his memory away from him.
They'd certainly made their ultimate soldier, the strength he had when he knock Teal'c down with just one punch, it was like he was superman and didn't know it. The ultimate soldier with no feelings, with no problem in shooting innocent people just to get a mission completed, some more casualties of war to add to their lists. But the thing was; she could remember late night discussions, her father would have with someone on the phone, about candidate #53. Paperwork and photos laid out on his study's desk, failure reports and a success report. It's something she didn't want to acknowledge, her father was part of this problem or had been some influence in it at one point. She felt sick to her stomach, they're using him like a puppet, and her father was using the man, she loves, like a puppet. The Colonel had a dark past, she knew that but her father had an even darker past. He wasn't even allowed to tell her, when he'd joined up, his past was that classified.
There's a knock at her door but she couldn't care less, it could have been the President and she would have just sat there. All she wanted was to be left alone, her head was starting to caught up with her, the pounding at the back of her skull, warning her of a killer headache and the knocking at the door wasn't helping. "Major Carter" She dropped the hammer down onto the workbench, spinning round on her chair, ready to bite their heads off, only to find Teal'c stood in the doorway. His hands casually clasped behind his back, his swollen nose with its plasters saying its own hello. "Sorry, Teal'c. What can I do for you?" He came further into the room, slightly bowing his head to her, looking to the not so well device behind her on the workbench.
Turning back round on her stool, she grabbed a box off the side, sliding the bits across the table into it, saving them for future torture. She stopped when the hand was on her back again, her anger was neutralised from the warmth of his hand, making her skin tingle where he had his hand. "General Hammond, told me to informed you that your father, will be coming through the gate soon and O'Neill will be moved as soon as he is here" The box with the pieces in flew across the room, scattering them across the lab before the box hit the wall, spiralling down onto the floor with a thud. Truth be told, she didn't want to believe her childhood memories, just for the week before and today to disappear, for them to restart their month.
Covering her face with her hands, she tried to calm her temper down; Teal'c didn't deserved to have it turn on him. The man who deserved it would be here soon, why couldn't he tell her what the Colonel was? Wouldn't it have worried him that a situation like this could happen? She's tired of all the secrets that played in her life, first their was her father's secret past, then their was Jonas's secret missions in the middle of the night and now there was the Colonel's secret past and his secret other side. All the men that had ever been in her life, were either secretive or they're top secret. Even her life was now top secret, she certainly wouldn't be able to tell her children about her military career, if she's ever was able to have children or have the time to have them.
Shaking her head at her misfortune, her hands fell from in front of her face, she pushed her self away from the workbench, barging passed Teal'c to go into the corridor. It was about time she went and saw him, the others had been to see him but he kept asking to see her. There wouldn't be anytime when her father came, they'd probably sedate him and then take him away to their secret laboratory, the crazy little scientist standing there, ready with his four inch needle. "Major Carter, where are you going?" Glancing over her shoulder, Teal'c was following her, his hands down by his sides, his eyebrows scrunched together.
Stopping outside the elevator, she slid her ID card in the reader, pleased when she heard the ding and saw the green light. Entering the elevator, she pressed the button for the level, where they'd taken the Colonel, looking at Teal'c as he stood just on the outside of the threshold of the elevator doors. "I'm going to see the Colonel, come get me as soon as my father's here" He nodded his head and moved back, the doors closed off to him and began the ascent to the floor, creaking its way up the long shaft.
The doors opened onto the quiet level, but she could hear the distant cursing, complaining to the SF's guarding him that he wanted to see Hammond. Existing the elevator, she followed the cries and curses down the corridor; her hands shoved deep into her pockets, unsure what she was supposed to do with them. As she got nearer to his cell, the cursing became louder; the SF's noticed her coming. One moved aside when she stopped in front of the door, the other unlocked the door, opening it for her before closing it when she'd stepped inside. The room was exactly how she remembered it, dark and bars.
There was finally silence in the room; he leant against the bars of his cell, resting his forehead on his hands while he watched her. She often wondered, what it had felt like for him, to come in and see her, when Jolinar taken control of her body. "Well, this seems familiar except... we've swapped places, Carter". It's ironic that they think the same thing; it made her smiled at the thought, feeling a little more comfortable in being there. Taking a step forward towards the bars, she took her hands out of her pockets, holding onto two of the bars, looking at them both from the ceiling and then down to the floor. "Carter, what's going on? What have I done that deserves me to shut up in 'ere?" He moved along the bars to stand opposite her, placing his hand on top of her own until he noticed, quickly moving it to the next bar along.
Shoving her hands back into her pockets, she bit down on her lower lip, unsure of what to tell him even though, he wouldn't remember it after they've done what their going to do. She could stand there, tell him she loved him just as much as he loved her, and in a few days he wouldn't remember a thing. "Well, when we were sat round the fire, Jonas's started his explanation on how he got his hickey. And he..." She jumped when he kicked at the chair they'd placed in his cell, he shot across the cell, shoving his face towards her as far as the bars would allowed. "I know that, tell me what I did! Not the whole story!" Rubbing a hand over the back of her head, the egg shape bump had formed quite nicely and so had the headache now. "You knocked Teal'c out and broke his nose, you shot Jonas in the leg and two techs in the gate room, and for some reason tried bashing some sense into me, using a concrete wall as your tool" He'd sunk to the floor against the bars, holding his head in his hands, muttering something to himself.
Sighing at the sight before her, she sunk down behind him, laying her legs out in front of her, her hands hooked round the bars behind her. Resting her head between the bars, she found his head there as well and then his fingers entwined with hers round the base of the bars. "I'm sorry if I hurt ya. Teal'c told me that I pointed a gun in ya face, ya don't know how sorry I am, Carter" It was just a simple touch, but she could tell how sorry he was even without his apology, she knew he was sorry for it. The apology should have been coming from whoever had messed up his de-cueing thing; it's their fault that all this mess happened. "When are they taking me?" His fingers tighten round hers, giving her support or giving him support, but whatever it was, they both needed it. "As soon as my dad gets here, their going to take you to be de-cued" Their connection was broken when he moved away, she turned round finding him sat against the opposite wall, his legs and arms folded up in front of him, creating his own barriers between them as well as the bars.
She didn't know whether to feel hurt by his sudden change, or to try and understand it, but she did hunger for him to touch her again, to simple hold her hand and tell her it was going to be fine. "Major Carter, your father has arrived" Nodding her head, she stood up straightening her uniform, looking at the man who was hiding in the shadows again, his face covered up in the darkness of the shadows. Quickly turning away from him, she left the room in complete silence, walking with a purpose down the corridor, going over what exactly she would say to her dad or wouldn't do to her dad, like hitting him in the face and telling him to go screw his little experiment.
Entering the briefing room, she found both General Hammond and her father, talking on the other side of the briefing room, whispering and waving their hands around at each other. They stopped when the door closed behind her, both turned to looked at her and Teal'c, she wasn't hiding any of her emotions, she was pissed off and they could both tell. Taking a deep breath she walked further into the room, noting Jonas sat in one of the seats round the table, sleeping soundly with a light snore, coming from him. Stopping beside him, she wiped the light sheen of sweat from his forehead, like a mother would do for her own child, hoping that he wasn't in too much pain, it was his first gun shot wound. He was taking it well, hadn't said a bad word against the Colonel for it either.
Remembering her intentions on being there, she looked back towards her father; he was dead in her sights, missile lock and everything. He shuffled under her glare, moving slightly behind Hammond for defence and protection. "Why didn't you tell me?" Both men looked shocked, looking at each other, they backed up slightly away from her. They're lucky that Teal'c was holding the back of her shirt; she would have been battering the information out of her father otherwise. The military were always taking things away from her, a normal childhood, her father's parentage, her mother, and the chance at normal life. Now they're hurting someone she holds most dear to her.
Folding her arms in front of her chest, she stared at her father, watching him move passed the General, coming to stand in front of her like a schoolboy, about to be told off for something. "Sam, I couldn't tell you. This is the most top secretive project, the air force has going, and it's more classified than the Stargate. You know I couldn't tell you, if you had mention something of it to Jack, he would have killed you" Her frowned deepened, causing her father to bow his head even further, trying to avoid looking at her face. "There's two back up orders in Jack's head. The one you've all encounter and another one. If you so much as mention anything that relates to the program to him, he turns into the naughtiest piece of work known to man" Her eyes widen in shock, covering her mouth with her hand. "What like?" Jacob looked up at her, his own frown now evident, eyebrow raised questioningly at her, placing his hands on his hips. "Like cue words, old target codes, code names and numbers, the de-cueing process. Why? What have you said?" The lights in the room turned off, dropping the room into darkness until the emergency lights came on, followed by the an alarm.
Gulping down the guilt that rose to her mouth, she turned to Teal'c behind her, staring into his chest, searching there for the answers. That bad feeling was back, telling her to run down to the control room and get out of there before the shit hit the fan. This was all they needed, a Major who was terrified, wanting to make a break for the gate, while a Colonel was running round the base in some trance, ready to kill anyone who got in his way. Today can be classed as their worse day ever. "Sam, what did you say?" She found herself looking into her father's worried eyes, burrowing into her to get the answer out of her, tightly holding her in place by her shoulders. Holding onto his Tok'ra uniform, she ran back through their conversation and the way he'd acted. "I said you were coming back and then they're taking him to be de-cued" Jacobs head dropped, cursing under his breath at her, letting go of her arms, he rubbed a hand over his balding head, scratching at the back of his head. "There's only one way to stop him now, and that's to kill him before he kills everyone else" Everyone gasped in the room, not sure whether they should agree or voice their disagreement.
An airman came running up the stairs, from the control room, handgun in his hands, she knew that look on his face. Normally she saw it when they're going into battle against the Goa'uld. "Sir, Colonel O'Neill has broken out of his cell and... he's making his way up each level to the surface. Already he's killed ten people, sir" Hammond looked at the young man; the look of horror and shock he gave the younger man, made him winced at the sight. He nodded his head to the airman, moving over to the top of the steps, going down into the control room. "Major, whatever it takes. You take him out or bring him down some way, but make killing him the last on the agenda. We've already lost a few good men and women, I don't want to lost anymore" She nodded her head, already making her way to the door as he went down into the control room. This was her fault and she was going to correct it, even if she had to kill him to do it.
In the corridor, she could hear her father and Teal'c, following behind her as she jogged down the corridor, to the armoury on the level. People were shouting in the corridors, running to the elevator and to the stairwell access. Finding the door to the armoury already opened, she headed on inside, looking over all of the weapons that were left in the lockers. She found one P90 left with a single clip; nearly all the other weapons were depleted of ammo. It was as if they're all armed up for a full-scale war. "Sam, Jack isn't going to be himself. It isn't even Jack in a way. It might be his body but in mind it isn't him" Loading her P90, she shook her head moving passed him, making sure the safety was on.
Following the other personnel up the stairs, she saw Teal'c and her father right behind her, Teal'c with his staff weapon and Jacob with two handguns in either hand. Licking her lips nervously, they slowed down when they got nearer to the gun fire, airmen were lining up against the wall, shooting down the corridor, covering each man or woman who made a break for the corridor opposite the door. Squeezing passed everyone; she patted one of the airmen who were firing, signalling for him to move back.
Peeping round the corner, she could see one of the lab's floating worktops, sitting in the middle of the corridor, blocking it off to everyone. Looking to Teal'c opposite her in the doorway, she pointed to him and then across the corridor, to which he nodded his head. Aiming her weapon down the corridor at the workbench, she watched it while Teal'c ducked across the corridor; a spray of rapid fire came from the right side of the unit. Leaning back against the door behind her, she looked at all the faces looking at her, all of them wondering what plan was formulating in her head, for taking down the legendary Colonel O'Neill. "That corridor (she points across to where Teal'c and a few others were waiting) leads round behind where the Colonel's holding his ground, right?" Some of the airmen nodded their heads at her, most of them had a puzzled look to their features and her father was... well, confused.
Pointing to one of the airmen next to her, she signalled for him to cover her and Jacob, moving to the opposite side of the stairwell, she let the airman take her spot. Tapping her father on the shoulder, she pointed for him to go first, psyching herself up for the big dive across the hallway after her father. Jacob moved to stand in front of her, nodding his head as he counted to himself, and then quickly jumped across the hallway, just missing the shots fired by the Colonel. Clutching her weapon close to her chest, she ran across the hallway, noting that there weren't any shots fired at her. Standing in the middle of the corridor, she looked at her father, thinking it was strange that he didn't fire at her. Shaking the thought away, she told Teal'c and Jacob to follow her with a simple hand signal, jogging down the corridor before turning left.
Baseball sliding across the floor to the corner, she lay flat along the floor, looking through the sight on her P90, the Colonel lay on the floor further down the corridor behind his barricade, firing at the airmen down the corridor. Laying her weapon down on the floor, she watched him for a moment, thinking how he hesitated to shoot her before and didn't fire at her early in the corridor, when she ran across. Cursing at herself for the stunt she was going to pull, she pushed herself to her feet, taking her weapon with her, running down the corridor to him. Her dad called after her but she didn't stop, even when the Colonel had his own weapon pointed at her, she kept running towards him. She was right in assuming that he wouldn't fire on her, it was like his limbs and brain had locked up on him.
Crouching down beside him on the floor, she gently pulled the weapon out of his hands, sliding both her P90 and his gun away, down the corridor towards Jacob and Teal'c. Looking back at him, he was frozen where he was, staring up into her eyes with his dark brown ones. "Major Carter" He shook his head out of his daze, his hands falling down beside him while he looked round at the worktop and the corridor behind her. Wiping the fear and anxiety from her face, she thank whatever ascended or real God person, had stopped that trigger from firing or whatever feeling had stopped his trigger finger. "Carter, what...? How'd I get from my cell to 'ere?" Ignoring his question, she searched him for weapons, listening to the footfalls coming down the corridor towards her.
Her father pulled her to her feet, while Teal'c helped the Colonel to his own, making sure that he was all right. Jacob had worried written all over his face, the lines of age showed as well as new ones. "That was stupid, Sam! He could have killed you!" Breaking out of his hold, she took a step closure to the Colonel, preventing Jacob from getting to him or taking him away from her. She didn't know what it was, but she felt an urgency to protect him from something. Looking over her shoulder at him, she found him looking at a scathe on his side, his shirt and t-shirt crumpled up in the grip of his hand while the other one, lightly traced over the bleeding scratch.
A radio was shoved into her face, following the hand to its owner; she found it to be one of the airmen from the stairwell. "Ma'am, General Hammond wants to talk with you" Nodding her head, she took the radio, moving away from the crowded corridor, so she could hear Hammond clearly. "Major, what's happen?" Looking behind her for moment, she carried on walking down the dimly lit corridor, clasping her finger down on the radio's button. "Colonel O'Neill is back to being Colonel O'Neill, sir" Taking her finger off the button, she leant against the wall behind, slowly sinking down onto the floor. Listening to the General while watching the Colonel, slumped against wall down the corridor from her, one of Janet's staff were putting a dressing onto his injury. "Major, they're here to take him away. They should be at your position in a few minutes" Shaking her head, she raised the radio to her mouth, clasping the button down. "Understood, sir" Getting up to her feet, she passed the radio to someone as she passed them, her mind concentrating on the figure climbing to his feet with assistance from Teal'c and her father.
Standing behind her father, she checked over the Colonel's appearance, for herself, before turning to the sound of footfalls, coming from down the corridor behind her, from the direction of the elevator. Placing her hands firmly on her hips, she stood firm between them and him, finding Teal'c was also stood beside her, blocking their access to him. The little platoon of men stopped just within a foot in front of her, sizing up both her and Teal'c. "We're here to collect Colonel O'Neill and General Carter" Her father squeezed passed her, standing between her and the Captain in front of her. He nodded his head to them, moving aside when the Captain moved forward, his men following in suit, but she stood her ground and so did Teal'c. Closing the gap that Jacob had slipped out of, they formed a strong barrier between them and the Colonel behind them.
She looked at her shoulder when someone placed their hand on it, finding one to be on Teal'c's as well, pushing her aside so he could move passed them, holding his wrists out to the Captain. All she could do was watched, the cuffs being secured on into placed, a leather belt was wrapped round his waist and fastened into placed, then the hands cuffs were attached to that, making him out to be a prisoner then of the honourable soldier that he was. "I'm sorry, Colonel. But we've got our orders, and they say you've got to be restrained" The look of disgust the Colonel gave him was memorable, before one the Captains men nudged the Colonel into moving, with the butt of his rifle.
Following behind them, she listened into what the Captain and her father were talking about, keeping an eagle eye on the Colonel. Teal'c was next to her, glaring at the Captain when he dare to looked behind at them. "Captain, why did they send all of you? I was going to bring the Colonel in for the treatment" They all came to a stop when the Captain stopped, looking to Jacob and then to her and Teal'c, a shocked look upon his face. "They didn't tell you that their ending the experiment, all case studies and anything involved are going to be destroyed, especially the Colonel" She would have killed the Captain there and then, if Teal'c hadn't of grabbed her, pulling her away from him in a bear hug around her waist, lifting her up away from the floor. Her father stood there motionless for a moment, before hitting the Captain straight in the face, making the Captain stumbled backwards and hit his head against the wall, sliding down into a heap on the floor.
Teal'c put her down before the Captain had even hit the ground; she frowned down at the form on the floor, stepping over him before being dragged off down the corridor by Jacob. "We need to get Jack!" They sprinted down the corridor, quickly catching up to the six men that were escorting the Colonel. She pulled her father to a stop, watching the group stop in front of the elevator. "ASSASIN!" The Colonel suddenly jumped into life, head butting the one in front of him into the elevator doors, making the soldier slumped down against the doors. Two of them grabbed onto his arms, he struggled for a moment before running up the wall in front of him, up and over the soldiers, landing steadily onto his feet before kicking on of them in the head. It was like watching one of those Kunfu films with Jet Li in it.
The other soldier spear the Colonel into the wall behind him, somehow the Colonel got the man into a head lock, and with a swift movement of his arm, sent an eerie cracking sound down the hallway to them. The other three ran off down the hallway, knowing when to pick their fights. The Colonel looked down at his restrains, frowning he snatched his hands away from the leather belt, breaking the cuffs chain in half. He turned in the direction the three soldiers had run off in. "MAJOR CARTER!" He looked round at the men surrounding him on the floor, she could tell that he had changed, his movements weren't stiff like they were moments ago, when he was fighting with the soldiers. It was like the incredible Hulk, the way he changed from one to the other.
Running down the hallway to him, he turned round to face them, showing them the handcuffs round his wrists. "What the hell is going on? First I'm handcuff and now they're knocked out?" Grabbing hold of his wrist, she pulled him into the awaiting elevator, pushing the button for the gate room level. Teal'c and Jacob slipped into the elevator before the doors closed, her dad leant up the wall of the elevator, taking the moment to have a breather, holding a hand over his heart, lucky he had Selmac or he'd be having a heart attack at his age. "What the hell's going on, Carter?" The door opened in front of her, still holding onto his wrist, she pulled him along the corridor and up into the control room. She needed to protect him from the powers that be; there was no way she was going to let them kill him, just because they wanted to end their stupid experiment.
Everyone in the control room was surprised and scared, when she dragged the Colonel into the room, coming to stand in front of Hammond when he turned to face them. She looked down into the gate room, seeing the safest place to hide him from them, from the people who wanted to kill him. "Sir, we've got to send the Colonel to a planet" Pushing a technician out of the way on his chair, she started the dialling sequence for the Land of the Living, ignoring everyone else in the room. "Major, what's going on?" Taking hold of the Colonel's wrist again, she dragged him out the room, leaving her dad to explain it to him, all of them following her and the Colonel. The Colonel was cursing and complaining, struggling against her while she pulled to stand at the base of the gate, just as the gate engaged.
Letting go of his wrist, she pointed to the gate in front of them, pushing him up the steps of the ramp, towards the event horizon. He stumbled up the steps, stopping out of her reach, rubbing at his wrists; he looked round the room at everyone. "Carter, what's going on?" Stepping up onto the ramp next to him, she heard Hammond and Jacob talking in the corner; Teal'c was stood at the base of the ramp, watching them both. "Sir, you have to go! They're going to kill you other wise, they can't get you as long as you go through there!" Pushing him up the ramp again, he stumbled backwards, frowning at her like she was mad. "GO!" He fell backwards onto the ramp, like a blow had hit him, landing on his butt before scrambling to his feet and through the gate, rolling through onto the other side.
The gate closed down in front of her, her head fell to her chest, and turning round she went down the ramp, dropping when she got to the end, leaning against the railing. Her heart had suddenly begun to hurt. The door opened to the gate room, Jonas came in limping on his crutch, smiling at them all before noticing the atmosphere, he was getting good at that she thought. "What?" They all shook their heads at him; Hammond and her father left the room, while Teal'c sat down beside her on the ramp, placing his comforting hand on her shoulder. For some reason it didn't bring what it intention, all she wanted was to go cry somewhere. "What happen while I'd been asleep?" She looked up at him, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Oh nothing much, Jonas. Just the Colonel breaking out of his cell, then being taken away to be killed, and then I sent him through the gate for his own safety. The usual I suspect" He nodded his head for a while, before frowning at them.
Shaking her head at him, she got up from the ramp, almost falling if Teal'c hadn't have grabbed her in time. Pushing his helping hands away from her, she left them there, deciding that she needed to go home and soak in the tub. Then drown her self in a few bottles of wine and anything else in the cabinet, hoping to make the pain in her chest go away.
The End
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