Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My
The every other thing day is working for me, so you will have another chapter on Tuesday! Time for Tony to meet Ba'al.
Title: Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1
Characters: Gibbs, Tony, Jack
Rating: TEEN (Gibbs/Tony)
Summary: Tony had never heard of goa'uld or tok'ra or igigi, and he sure as hell didn't know Gibbs had a passenger riding around in his head, but if Gibbs thinks one little alien parasite is going to make him go running, he has another thought coming. He's Gibbs' second, and that means he doesn't give up on his boss.
Parts One and Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Chapter 10
The room the guards escorted them to looked like a reject out of an ’80 rock video. Gold walls and a giant black throne with an elaborate carved back were pretty high on the tacky scale. A man in a black leather outfit that also screamed ‘80s stood up.
“Samas,” he said, his voice echoing. “How wonderful to see you. This is a pleasure I had not expected.”
“Ba’al,” Gibbs said, but he had the Samas reverberation to his voice. Tony looked again, but it was definitely Gibbs talking. Gibbs held his shoulders a little tighter and higher, and he had a whole set of little tells. “I thought I recognized your mark on your servants.”
One of the guards grabbed Tony’s shoulder and forced him to his knees. “Geez. Try asking nicely,” Tony complained softly. Ba’al’s gaze moved from Gibbs to him.
“This one is interesting. Have you chosen him to host one of us?” Ba’al stepped down from his throne area and walked over to stand in front of Tony. Yep, the bad guys knew who the weak link was, and it wasn’t Gibbs. Or Samas. Ba’al reached out and ran the back of a finger across Tony’s cheek. Strange jewelry that covered his whole hand was cool against Tony’s skin. “He is older than most when they take a goa’uld.”
“My own host is older,” Gibbs said in Samas’ voice. It was starting to weird Tony out a little, and yeah, he was repressing because he would rather focus on that weirdness than he would all the other magnificently wrong things happening in the room. “Humans are designed to age, and attempting to stop that process is unhealthy.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ba’al said, “I am doing quite well.” Weirdly he kept stroking Tony’s cheek. Tony looked up at Gibbs to see if he should be doing something or just letting the alien pet him like a dog. “Are you so desperate to be a host that you jumped in the rings with Samas?” Ba’al looked down at him.
“I was just trying to stay with the boss. We try to get kidnapped together.” Tony even tried to keep a civil tone, but Ba’al glared down at him.
“He is mine,” Gibbs said, stepping forward.
Ba’al finally turned his attention back to Gibbs. “So he is,” Ba’al agreed. The man had an oily smile, like a cross between a used car salesman and a porn star. Tony definitely had an itch to arrest the guy, although he could just imagine how that would turn out.
Tony shifted as his knees started to ache, and the guard rested his staff against Tony’s back. Yeah, they were not into subtlety. They did, however, get their point across. Tony quieted.
“Bring it,” Ba’al called and servants scampered out from archways behind his throne. They actually scampered. Tony had never seen someone act out that particular verb before. “I had wanted to provide you a gift. Perhaps a consort would be an appropriate one.” Ba’al lifted an eyebrow, and a woman appeared with a jar. In it swam a snake-like creature with a beige body and greenish fins. The head was pointed and darker, and had beady red eyes.
“I can make you a god,” Ba’al told Tony.
“I don’t suppose this is negotiable?”
“No.”
Tony swallowed, and Gibbs’ hand came down to rest on his shoulder. Tony settled back on his knees and trusted Gibbs to fix this. Ba’al took the top off the jar and reached in for the snake. It squealed and writhed, but Ba’al ignored the creature’s struggles and brought it over to Tony.
Tony was looking up and really wishing he wasn’t facing this on his knees, but then Gibbs darted forward. Or not Gibbs. Tony blinked and it took him a second to realize that something had come out of Gibbs’ mouth. A big something. He watched as a dark green snake wrapped around Ba’al’s arm and opened its mouth to show lines of what looked like teeth. Samas. That was Samas. Looking at the two side by side, Tony could not believe igigi and goa’uld were even the same species. Samas was twice the size of the other runt, and she had huge fins which spread out, making her look a little dragonish. The goa’uld was closer to the worm end of snakiness.
Samas literally ripped the goa’uld in half and then flipped herself into the air. Gibbs had to reach out for her, but she landed on his arm and wrapped herself tightly around it before starting to munch on the head she’d ripped off the goa’uld.
Cannibalism. Lovely. Yeah, Tony was definitely going to think of goa’uld and igigi as different species. Any other thought would seriously damage his psyche.
“Well. That changes things.” Ba’al dropped the still squirming back half of the goa’uld before he turned and walked to his throne. He then sat and sprawled like an arrogant teenager.
Samas started making noises, and Tony looked up in alarm. Staying on his knees, he quickly scooted aside as Samas vomited up goa’uld parts onto the floor. Tony could feel his eye twitch, and he noticed that even the badass guards looked a little grossed out.
With a flip of a tail, Samas darted into Gibbs’ mouth, vanishing. Okay, there was something worse than cannibalism-it was eating someone and then vomiting them back up.
“I’m going kneel on his other side. The side without the…” Tony gestured toward the pile of goa’uld parts. Despite the fact that shifting his weight had earlier led to a weapon in the back, none of the clanky-guard people even commented as Tony knee walked over to Gibbs’ left side. “Maybe next time you could vomit him up away from me?”
Samas’ hand stroked Tony’s hair. “Of course. I would not want such inferior genetics to stain you.” This was actually Samas now, and Tony had no idea what sort of internal conversations Gibbs and Samas were having that led to them taking turns.
“Your host is a volunteer,” Ba’al commented.
“An unwilling host means you are trapped inside the body. And given that poor excuse for a goa’uld you attempted to inflict on my human, you have a problem.” Samas smirked. “A rather serious one.”
“I could solve it the way Ra did,” Ba’al warned. “There’s no reason why I can’t rip you out of that host and force you to breed.”
Tony’s stomach rolled and he nearly added to the vomit on the floor.
“Yes because it worked out so well for Ra. The younger ones who came after me, are any of them still alive or are they all as genetically inferior and damaged as that thing?” Samas gestured toward the ground.
Ba’al looked around the room. “Leave us,” he ordered everyone. That earned him quick bows all around the servants scurried away. One of the guards grabbed Tony’s shoulder and pulled him to his feet.
“Leave him,” Samas roared, turning on the guard. Tony stumbled back, startled by the sudden violence, but then the body language shifted and Gibbs was there speaking with Samas’ voice. “He is mine. You touch him again, and I will rip that deformed symbiote out of your stomach and leave you to die on the floor.”
The guard lost most of his color, but he held his ground until Ba’al waved him away. At that point, he fled, clanking and clinking the whole way. Tony actually felt a little sorry for him.
“Lord Anubis did warn that you queens were a rather volatile lot.” Ba’al sat on his chair and made a production out of studying his fingernails. He looked up at Tony. “So, how do you serve your queen if not as a potential host?”
Later Tony promised himself he would die laughing at the idea of someone calling Gibbs a queen, but right now was probably not the best time. “Mostly when he gets this angry, I try to keep him from killing people.”
“Oh.” Ba’al gave a little nod. “Carry on, then.” He waved a hand toward Gibbs, and that was not improving Gibbs’ temper at all. This was heading toward full nuclear meltdown.
“Boss, you remember that speech you gave me about keeping my cool?” Tony reached over and rested a hand on Gibbs’ arm. Gibbs turned a vicious glare in Tony’s direction, but that was nothing new. “Hey, it could be worse. You could be here alone, and then you would totally try to kill that guy, and you and I both know you wouldn’t succeed.”
Gibbs narrowed his eyes, and Tony swallowed. Oh yeah. This was Ari-level obsessive fury. Ba’al had no idea yet, but he was so totally dead. It might take Gibbs months or years, but he was going to kill Ba’al deader than a really dead thing. “You’re scaring the natives, boss,” Tony said in a low voice.
Gibbs shivered, and Samas stood there, even angrier than Gibbs, and that was not easy. “You will show us to rooms and give us privacy,” he ordered Ba’al. “You will provide sustenance and a place to rest and a place for me to swim and if I am displeased with any of it, I will start shredding your empire one deformed and pathetic parasite at a time.”
Tony stared in horror, fully expecting Ba’al to pull out some alien ray gun and shoot them both. Instead, he started to laugh. “Your reputation does not do you justice. I will provide all that. I also have a range of willing hosts if you would like to trade in the current model.”
Ba’al had no more than gotten to the word ‘justice’ before Gibbs turned and headed for the doors. They didn’t open, so Gibbs stood there, furious. He turned and gave Ba’al and evil look.
Ba’al raised his hand and the doors opened. “This way,” one of the guards said, far more respectfully this time. Gibbs barely managed more than a growl before he stormed out.
“Tony,” Ba’al called out. Tony stopped, shocked that some alien overlord knew his name-shocked and a little creeped out. “Calm her.”
Tony gave his best goofy smile. “It’s what I do best.”
“For your sake, I hope so,” Ba’al said firmly. Tony really didn’t have an answer, so he trotted after Gibbs, the guards clanking along behind.