Plan and Lie - August 12th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 12
Title: Plan and Lie
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Haly’s plan puts people in danger, mostly herself.
Notes: Part 39 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 3
Word Count: 2250
Faith sat next to Lucius as he complimented her hair and her eyes. She worried that he would not like the rest of her as much. She offered a grape, he nibbled it from her fingers.
Suddenly a shout went up. “Wraith!”
Faith charged to her feet, taking position next to Ronon as he stood. They both took position in front of Lucius.
“Wraith?” Lucius said fearfully.
“There are no Wraith here,” Teyla said calmly to the others. “It’s just an illusion.”
Ronon growled.
Faith nodded. “Michael.”
“You keep a Wraith here?” Lucius clarified.
“He’s unable to feed,” Elizabeth assured. “Most of us don’t want him here.”
“Only she does,” Ronon said with a derisive indication of Faith.
“I’d prefer it,” Lucius said, getting their attention, “if he wasn’t here.”
Ronon smiled. “Finally.” He switched the setting on his gun.
Faith grabbed a handgun from Lorne.
“I should come too,” Teyla said.
“No,” Faith said, “stay here with Lorne. Michael could not have left the lab. This will be simple.”
Ronon and Faith left the cafeteria, heading straight for the lab.
“I really want my sword,” Faith said suddenly. “I don’t get enough chances to take someone down with a sword.”
“Do you want to stop and get it?”
“No. Let’s get this over with, I know you’re eager to, and I want to return to Lucius.”
They continued on in silence. Only when they reached the door, did they notice the problem.
“No guards,” she said in surprise.
Ronon removed his gun and pointed at the door. Faith opened it. Nothing - empty.
Faith tapped her comm. “Elizabeth, come in.”
“Yes, Faith?”
“Michael is not in his lab. We have to assume he escaped. All civilians need to be sent to quarters and we need to start sweeping the City.”
“Understood.”
88888888
Haly’s heart was racing, it had been for two hours. She had remained with Michael, not able to explain that during a search like this, anyone using an Ancient scanner would be looking for single, isolated life signs first. With there being two of them, anyone wondering in this far would not think much of it until they started sweeping every nook and cranny. And that took time.
Michael signaled Haly that he heard something. She went still, listening as hard as she could. He nodded.
She gulped and turned her back to him. There was a moment of hesitation before he picked her up. He stepped out of the room into the dimly lit hallway. He regarded Faith and Ronon as they turned to look at him from where they were working on the door sensor Haly had messed with.
Haly was afraid, if this didn’t work, she’d be forfeiting Michael’s life. If it did work, there was still no guarantee that either of them would escape unscathed. The look on Ronon’s face was frightening. He waffled between his need to protect her and his hatred of Michael - which increased every second he held her to his chest with a hand wrapped around her neck.
“Is Sheppard on Atlantis?” Michael demanded.
“Haly,” Faith said, “are you okay?”
She nodded, but the movement was restricted when Michael moved her to cover half his face and his heart.
“I’m going to kill you,” Ronon spewed.
Haly whimpered.
“Is Sheppard on Atlantis!?” Michael demanded again.
“Yes,” Faith shouted, determined to vie for Haly’s safety. “Just let her go.”
Michael didn’t hesitate. He shot Ronon. And again. And again before using the stunner on Faith. As soon as she fell, he aimed one last stunner at Ronon to make sure he’d stay down.
He let Haly down. She dashed across the hallway and grabbed Faith’s earwig.
“Haly to Colonel Sheppard,” she said.
“This a Sheppard,” he responded almost immediately.
“You have to come quick,” she told him. “Something is wrong with the cat.”
There was a pause. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes. Come quickly!”
“On my way.”
“The cat?” Michael asked.
Haly shrugged. She walked over to Ronon and took away his gun. The first thing she did was check the charge and then the setting. She knew he wouldn’t have had it on stun. She clicked it to stun and stepped back.
“It is not wise to wait out here,” he pointed out.
“Could drag them in,” she suggested.
He grabbed Faith and lifted her, transporting her to the far side of the room they had been using. Then he grabbed Ronon’s arm and dragged him to the other side of the same room. He was breathing heavily when it was done.
“Haly!” John called. He was moving quickly but not running.
“Alone?” she called out.
“Yes.”
Haly gestured Michael to stay. She stepped out, relieved to see John by himself.
“What is going on?” he asked. “You used cat.”
Her hand remained behind her back, Ronon’s gun awkwardly held. “Lucius, he was going to do bad to Faith.”
John frowned, his expression going stony. “What? Teyla and Ronon were supposed to be watching him.”
“They tried but everyone likes him. Faith, Ronon, Teyla, Evan….No one was paying attention to me…or to Michael.”
“You know where Michael is?” he said in surprise.
Haly swallowed. “I let him out.”
“You did what?” He took a step towards her.
She raised Ronon’s gun in both her hands, aiming it at John. She was shaking and on the verge of tears. “Lucius was going to hurt Mom,” she cracked. “Knew he would distract them. Let him out. Hid from them.”
John’s hands came out to show he wasn’t aiming anything at her. “So you got Michael out?”
“Yes. Made a plan. Executed.”
“And what was the plan?”
“Knockout first team with stunners and contact you.”
“You called me on Faith’s com.”
“She and Ronon got here first. Plan worked, knocked them out.”
His eyes widened as he looked again at the dank surroundings. “Where are they?”
“Behind me,” she said. “And Michael.”
Michael slowly came out the door. He kept the stunner loose in his hand as he showed he wasn’t threatening either of them.
“That was dangerous,” John told them.
“We are aware,” Michael said. “Haly entered my lab proving that no guards were around. She insisted that we leave. Once we were down here where there is no power and no sensors, she explained the plan.” He glanced at the top of Haly’s head. “She does not speak well.”
“When she’s anxious,” John said. He sneezed, startling all three of them.
“Stop Lucius,” Haly said. “Make everyone normal.”
“Yes. Why don’t you all stop pointing weapons at me?”
“I have no weapon trained on you,” Michael pointed out. He saw Haly’s hand come up and handed her the handblaster.
She approached John, lowering the weapons. He sighed and picked her up. He immediately took Ronon’s weapon, glad to see the stun setting.
“Let’s check on Faith,” he suggested, needing to assure himself she and Ronon weren’t injured. He was able to inspect Haly, finding no signs of physical trauma.
He glanced at Ronon, glad to find him breathing and unharmed. John approached Faith and kneeled down. He reached out a hand and touched her cheek.
“Stunned,” Haly whispered tearfully.
“I know,” he assured.
“It’s bad for her,” she said.
“Just keeps her down for a long while. She’ll be fine once she shakes it off.”
Haly nodded and turned to hug him, putting her head on his shoulder. Her gaze went to Ronon. He was moving. She didn’t think, she aimed the handblaster at him and fired.
John jumped, spinning around.
“He was twitching,” Michael said, amused.
“Yeah, in no time at all he’ll be better,” John told him.
Michael nodded. “How long was he a Runner?”
“Seven years,” Haly answered.
Michael barely managed to hide his surprise. Then he refocused. “Do we know how this…Lucius is changing everyone?”
“Why didn’t it work on me?” John asked, trying to hold in a cough, then turning away from Haly to give a rough exhale.
“The sickness you have?”
“May explain why it didn’t hook you,” John suggested looking at Haly.
“I’m all better,” she told him, inhaling.
“I ordered off-world travel suspended…maybe it would be beneficial to go back to the world we found Lucius on.”
“For what purpose?” Michael asked.
“The people there were also…enamored with him. Maybe it’ll give us some idea what is causing this.”
“We can’t go through the Stargate,” Haly pointed out.
“I’m going to say it’s allowed,” John said. He looked at Michael. “Assuming you’ll stay in the Jumper.”
Michael held up his right hand showing the explosive device attached over his feeding mark.
88888888
John was glad the area around the village was well-trod. It allowed him to take long strides as Haly rushed alongside him. To leave Atlantis, he had declared Michael dead, killed by Ronon. He said Haly was in need of some fresh air and had taken the Jumper. No one really questioned him, expect Rodney who wasn’t affected by Lucius. He hadn’t answered the scientist’s questions, just ordered Rodney to look into Lucius - quietly.
“Where are we?” Haly asked.
“This is where my team met Lucius, where Faith and Carson brought him from,” he explained. “I want to check something out.” He stopped suddenly and kneeled to look at her. “Did Michael hurt you or threaten you in any way?”
She shook her head, her long hair coming loose of its barely managing confines.
“Why did you think Lucius was going to hurt Faith?”
Haly looked down a bit. “People hurt her when she was little. She doesn’t like being touched by people she doesn’t know.”
That was true.
“It just felt wrong.” She tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. “Ronon is the only one she lets kiss her.”
He didn’t want to get into that particular puzzle. “So why go to Michael for help?”
“You weren’t there,” she told him, “no one else to ask. Laura went to Earth, Katie and Susan don’t fight. Evan and Teyla were right there - smiling.”
“How did you get the guards to leave their posts?”
“Didn’t, they just weren’t there. Gave me bad feeling.” She pulled keys from her pocket. “Just like when I took Evan’s keys. And when lunch wasn’t made.”
John took the keyring. “That’s how you got the stunner, from the armory?”
“Yes.” She looked up at him with trepidation. “Am I going to be in trouble?”
“No.” He grabbed a small group of hairs and brushed them back behind her ear. “But let’s figure out what’s going on, okay?”
She nodded, taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders. He shook his head as he followed her. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was not biologically Faith’s child - their expressions and mannerisms had become very similar.
They entered the village. The streets were deserted and the cheer that had hung on everything was gone. The people eyed him wearily.
“Did everybody catch your cold?” Haly asked, looking around at the miserable, sickly villagers.
“Willa,” John called as he approached a sharp-featured brunette. She was one of Lucius’s wives.
“Sheppard,” Willa said as she looked up and then rushing towards him, calling to the rest of the villagers. “Sheppard!”
Several of the villagers moved closer.
John scanned for a threat, but saw nothing immediately. “Are you all right?”
“Where is he?” Willa asked desperately.
“Lucius?”
“Did you take him?” she demanded, then gentled. “Of-of course, if you did, we’re not angry.”
“He came to my planet on his own,” John explained cautiously.
Haly scanned through the crowd, looking for anyone she could talk to. She saw a boy a year or so older than her. She maneuvered around John and out of the little crowd of men and women. She approached the boy, noting he did not look sick.
“Hi,” she greeted, startling him.
He looked up from the figure he was playing with. “Hi,” he said a little glumly.
“Are you sad about Lucius?” she asked.
The boy’s face twisted in disgust. “I hate him.”
“Why?”
“He came and nobody liked him then…it changed. Everyone liked him - even my mother and father.” He looked across the square where John was with the villagers. “When he travels for short periods, they become like that.”
“Do you know why?”
He shook his head. “We hate him.”
“We?”
“All the kids, we can’t get the adults to listen to us.”
Haly nodded. “He made my mom like that too and all the people in our village.”
“Maybe he’ll leave forever.”
“Does he do anything that may seem strange?”
The boy thought for a moment. “He takes a daily medicine, he was worried that it was running out.”
“Do you know what it is for?”
“No.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“They would, his wives.”
“Thank you,” she said, rushing back to John. She pulled on his sleeve.
John kneeled.
“We need Lucius’s daily medicine,” she told him.
He raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
“Can I fix her hair?” one of the women asked.
“Sure,” John said. “I need Lucius’s daily medicine.”
“Does he need more?” Heleen screeched, “I can bring it to him!”
“We both can!” Willa said.
“I-I can handle it,” John assured them.
The woman took Haly to a table and sat her down. She undid the barely held together braid and redid it. It was a little tight, but it held.
“That looks better,” John said, “thank you.”
“Is she your daughter?” the woman asked.
“No, my niece.”
Haly smiled.
Title: Plan and Lie
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Haly’s plan puts people in danger, mostly herself.
Notes: Part 39 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 3
Word Count: 2250
Faith sat next to Lucius as he complimented her hair and her eyes. She worried that he would not like the rest of her as much. She offered a grape, he nibbled it from her fingers.
Suddenly a shout went up. “Wraith!”
Faith charged to her feet, taking position next to Ronon as he stood. They both took position in front of Lucius.
“Wraith?” Lucius said fearfully.
“There are no Wraith here,” Teyla said calmly to the others. “It’s just an illusion.”
Ronon growled.
Faith nodded. “Michael.”
“You keep a Wraith here?” Lucius clarified.
“He’s unable to feed,” Elizabeth assured. “Most of us don’t want him here.”
“Only she does,” Ronon said with a derisive indication of Faith.
“I’d prefer it,” Lucius said, getting their attention, “if he wasn’t here.”
Ronon smiled. “Finally.” He switched the setting on his gun.
Faith grabbed a handgun from Lorne.
“I should come too,” Teyla said.
“No,” Faith said, “stay here with Lorne. Michael could not have left the lab. This will be simple.”
Ronon and Faith left the cafeteria, heading straight for the lab.
“I really want my sword,” Faith said suddenly. “I don’t get enough chances to take someone down with a sword.”
“Do you want to stop and get it?”
“No. Let’s get this over with, I know you’re eager to, and I want to return to Lucius.”
They continued on in silence. Only when they reached the door, did they notice the problem.
“No guards,” she said in surprise.
Ronon removed his gun and pointed at the door. Faith opened it. Nothing - empty.
Faith tapped her comm. “Elizabeth, come in.”
“Yes, Faith?”
“Michael is not in his lab. We have to assume he escaped. All civilians need to be sent to quarters and we need to start sweeping the City.”
“Understood.”
88888888
Haly’s heart was racing, it had been for two hours. She had remained with Michael, not able to explain that during a search like this, anyone using an Ancient scanner would be looking for single, isolated life signs first. With there being two of them, anyone wondering in this far would not think much of it until they started sweeping every nook and cranny. And that took time.
Michael signaled Haly that he heard something. She went still, listening as hard as she could. He nodded.
She gulped and turned her back to him. There was a moment of hesitation before he picked her up. He stepped out of the room into the dimly lit hallway. He regarded Faith and Ronon as they turned to look at him from where they were working on the door sensor Haly had messed with.
Haly was afraid, if this didn’t work, she’d be forfeiting Michael’s life. If it did work, there was still no guarantee that either of them would escape unscathed. The look on Ronon’s face was frightening. He waffled between his need to protect her and his hatred of Michael - which increased every second he held her to his chest with a hand wrapped around her neck.
“Is Sheppard on Atlantis?” Michael demanded.
“Haly,” Faith said, “are you okay?”
She nodded, but the movement was restricted when Michael moved her to cover half his face and his heart.
“I’m going to kill you,” Ronon spewed.
Haly whimpered.
“Is Sheppard on Atlantis!?” Michael demanded again.
“Yes,” Faith shouted, determined to vie for Haly’s safety. “Just let her go.”
Michael didn’t hesitate. He shot Ronon. And again. And again before using the stunner on Faith. As soon as she fell, he aimed one last stunner at Ronon to make sure he’d stay down.
He let Haly down. She dashed across the hallway and grabbed Faith’s earwig.
“Haly to Colonel Sheppard,” she said.
“This a Sheppard,” he responded almost immediately.
“You have to come quick,” she told him. “Something is wrong with the cat.”
There was a pause. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes. Come quickly!”
“On my way.”
“The cat?” Michael asked.
Haly shrugged. She walked over to Ronon and took away his gun. The first thing she did was check the charge and then the setting. She knew he wouldn’t have had it on stun. She clicked it to stun and stepped back.
“It is not wise to wait out here,” he pointed out.
“Could drag them in,” she suggested.
He grabbed Faith and lifted her, transporting her to the far side of the room they had been using. Then he grabbed Ronon’s arm and dragged him to the other side of the same room. He was breathing heavily when it was done.
“Haly!” John called. He was moving quickly but not running.
“Alone?” she called out.
“Yes.”
Haly gestured Michael to stay. She stepped out, relieved to see John by himself.
“What is going on?” he asked. “You used cat.”
Her hand remained behind her back, Ronon’s gun awkwardly held. “Lucius, he was going to do bad to Faith.”
John frowned, his expression going stony. “What? Teyla and Ronon were supposed to be watching him.”
“They tried but everyone likes him. Faith, Ronon, Teyla, Evan….No one was paying attention to me…or to Michael.”
“You know where Michael is?” he said in surprise.
Haly swallowed. “I let him out.”
“You did what?” He took a step towards her.
She raised Ronon’s gun in both her hands, aiming it at John. She was shaking and on the verge of tears. “Lucius was going to hurt Mom,” she cracked. “Knew he would distract them. Let him out. Hid from them.”
John’s hands came out to show he wasn’t aiming anything at her. “So you got Michael out?”
“Yes. Made a plan. Executed.”
“And what was the plan?”
“Knockout first team with stunners and contact you.”
“You called me on Faith’s com.”
“She and Ronon got here first. Plan worked, knocked them out.”
His eyes widened as he looked again at the dank surroundings. “Where are they?”
“Behind me,” she said. “And Michael.”
Michael slowly came out the door. He kept the stunner loose in his hand as he showed he wasn’t threatening either of them.
“That was dangerous,” John told them.
“We are aware,” Michael said. “Haly entered my lab proving that no guards were around. She insisted that we leave. Once we were down here where there is no power and no sensors, she explained the plan.” He glanced at the top of Haly’s head. “She does not speak well.”
“When she’s anxious,” John said. He sneezed, startling all three of them.
“Stop Lucius,” Haly said. “Make everyone normal.”
“Yes. Why don’t you all stop pointing weapons at me?”
“I have no weapon trained on you,” Michael pointed out. He saw Haly’s hand come up and handed her the handblaster.
She approached John, lowering the weapons. He sighed and picked her up. He immediately took Ronon’s weapon, glad to see the stun setting.
“Let’s check on Faith,” he suggested, needing to assure himself she and Ronon weren’t injured. He was able to inspect Haly, finding no signs of physical trauma.
He glanced at Ronon, glad to find him breathing and unharmed. John approached Faith and kneeled down. He reached out a hand and touched her cheek.
“Stunned,” Haly whispered tearfully.
“I know,” he assured.
“It’s bad for her,” she said.
“Just keeps her down for a long while. She’ll be fine once she shakes it off.”
Haly nodded and turned to hug him, putting her head on his shoulder. Her gaze went to Ronon. He was moving. She didn’t think, she aimed the handblaster at him and fired.
John jumped, spinning around.
“He was twitching,” Michael said, amused.
“Yeah, in no time at all he’ll be better,” John told him.
Michael nodded. “How long was he a Runner?”
“Seven years,” Haly answered.
Michael barely managed to hide his surprise. Then he refocused. “Do we know how this…Lucius is changing everyone?”
“Why didn’t it work on me?” John asked, trying to hold in a cough, then turning away from Haly to give a rough exhale.
“The sickness you have?”
“May explain why it didn’t hook you,” John suggested looking at Haly.
“I’m all better,” she told him, inhaling.
“I ordered off-world travel suspended…maybe it would be beneficial to go back to the world we found Lucius on.”
“For what purpose?” Michael asked.
“The people there were also…enamored with him. Maybe it’ll give us some idea what is causing this.”
“We can’t go through the Stargate,” Haly pointed out.
“I’m going to say it’s allowed,” John said. He looked at Michael. “Assuming you’ll stay in the Jumper.”
Michael held up his right hand showing the explosive device attached over his feeding mark.
88888888
John was glad the area around the village was well-trod. It allowed him to take long strides as Haly rushed alongside him. To leave Atlantis, he had declared Michael dead, killed by Ronon. He said Haly was in need of some fresh air and had taken the Jumper. No one really questioned him, expect Rodney who wasn’t affected by Lucius. He hadn’t answered the scientist’s questions, just ordered Rodney to look into Lucius - quietly.
“Where are we?” Haly asked.
“This is where my team met Lucius, where Faith and Carson brought him from,” he explained. “I want to check something out.” He stopped suddenly and kneeled to look at her. “Did Michael hurt you or threaten you in any way?”
She shook her head, her long hair coming loose of its barely managing confines.
“Why did you think Lucius was going to hurt Faith?”
Haly looked down a bit. “People hurt her when she was little. She doesn’t like being touched by people she doesn’t know.”
That was true.
“It just felt wrong.” She tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. “Ronon is the only one she lets kiss her.”
He didn’t want to get into that particular puzzle. “So why go to Michael for help?”
“You weren’t there,” she told him, “no one else to ask. Laura went to Earth, Katie and Susan don’t fight. Evan and Teyla were right there - smiling.”
“How did you get the guards to leave their posts?”
“Didn’t, they just weren’t there. Gave me bad feeling.” She pulled keys from her pocket. “Just like when I took Evan’s keys. And when lunch wasn’t made.”
John took the keyring. “That’s how you got the stunner, from the armory?”
“Yes.” She looked up at him with trepidation. “Am I going to be in trouble?”
“No.” He grabbed a small group of hairs and brushed them back behind her ear. “But let’s figure out what’s going on, okay?”
She nodded, taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders. He shook his head as he followed her. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was not biologically Faith’s child - their expressions and mannerisms had become very similar.
They entered the village. The streets were deserted and the cheer that had hung on everything was gone. The people eyed him wearily.
“Did everybody catch your cold?” Haly asked, looking around at the miserable, sickly villagers.
“Willa,” John called as he approached a sharp-featured brunette. She was one of Lucius’s wives.
“Sheppard,” Willa said as she looked up and then rushing towards him, calling to the rest of the villagers. “Sheppard!”
Several of the villagers moved closer.
John scanned for a threat, but saw nothing immediately. “Are you all right?”
“Where is he?” Willa asked desperately.
“Lucius?”
“Did you take him?” she demanded, then gentled. “Of-of course, if you did, we’re not angry.”
“He came to my planet on his own,” John explained cautiously.
Haly scanned through the crowd, looking for anyone she could talk to. She saw a boy a year or so older than her. She maneuvered around John and out of the little crowd of men and women. She approached the boy, noting he did not look sick.
“Hi,” she greeted, startling him.
He looked up from the figure he was playing with. “Hi,” he said a little glumly.
“Are you sad about Lucius?” she asked.
The boy’s face twisted in disgust. “I hate him.”
“Why?”
“He came and nobody liked him then…it changed. Everyone liked him - even my mother and father.” He looked across the square where John was with the villagers. “When he travels for short periods, they become like that.”
“Do you know why?”
He shook his head. “We hate him.”
“We?”
“All the kids, we can’t get the adults to listen to us.”
Haly nodded. “He made my mom like that too and all the people in our village.”
“Maybe he’ll leave forever.”
“Does he do anything that may seem strange?”
The boy thought for a moment. “He takes a daily medicine, he was worried that it was running out.”
“Do you know what it is for?”
“No.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“They would, his wives.”
“Thank you,” she said, rushing back to John. She pulled on his sleeve.
John kneeled.
“We need Lucius’s daily medicine,” she told him.
He raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
“Can I fix her hair?” one of the women asked.
“Sure,” John said. “I need Lucius’s daily medicine.”
“Does he need more?” Heleen screeched, “I can bring it to him!”
“We both can!” Willa said.
“I-I can handle it,” John assured them.
The woman took Haly to a table and sat her down. She undid the barely held together braid and redid it. It was a little tight, but it held.
“That looks better,” John said, “thank you.”
“Is she your daughter?” the woman asked.
“No, my niece.”
Haly smiled.