Tales Told Part 11
Title: Tales Told Out of Turn Part 11/?
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Pairing/Grouping: House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Crossover w/Stargate: Atlantis and Eureka ( I do my best to explain the non-House shows, eventually.)
Summary: House spent way too much time moving around the world as a child and some places had more interesting people than others. How much trouble can a childhood friend cause?
Warnings: Several characters are injured and one is mentioned having broken bones in this part, but not to worry all the good guys survive in the end. (I dislike most death fics so don't worry too much.)
Not beta'd. Tell me if you see something wrong, please. I'd have gotten it checked, but life has been conspiring against me. See my last post for details.
(Part 10)
****
"I see you're still alive."
Sheppard hitched himself higher and patted the blanket beside him. "Hi to you too, Jo. Sit."
Jo flashed a smile as she sat hard enough to bounce them both. Sheppard grimaced as his chest protested. Jo made a face. "Sorry, Shep."
Sheppard shrugged a shoulder. "No problem."
Rolling her eyes, Jo thumbed Sheppard's arm. "I take you aren't freezing your balls off anymore?"
"Well, yeah, classified though."
Jo smiled. "Don't I know it. I hardly miss the Rangers with all the excitement of my current job."
Sheppard made a show of looking up and down Jo's uniform. "Look like a deputy of a sheriff to me."
"I know." Jo cocked her head. "You getting a lot of flack still?"
"I don't hear it if there is talk." Sheppard rubbed his bare wrist. "Never got to thank you."
Jo grinned. "Well, that makes two of us." Jo nodded at Sheppard's wrist. "Want me to find your stuff and get your wristband?"
"If you're really that bored, sure."
With a pat to the blanket beside Sheppard's leg, Jo left. Sheppard turned his head to watch as Daniel came from the tiny bathroom and sat down beside him.
"Colonel Sheppard, are you healing alright?"
Sheppard nodded. "Just fine, sir."
Daniel smiled. "No need to call me that. It's just Daniel."
"Okay, Daniel it is."
"I, ah, couldn't help overhearing. May I ask what you'd need a wristband for?"
Sheppard turned his arm to show his wrist. "I didn't do this to myself."
Daniel carefully angled Sheppard's arm to look over a very faint scar. "Who did?"
"A couple of soldiers that were misguided." Sheppard shrugged at Daniel gaping at him. "Jo made them understand where they made their error." Sheppard smiled grimly. "She's really persuasive like that."
"Please tell me someone reported the attempted murder."
"Right. Like anyone was going to listen to a disgraced pilot already on suicide watch because he hadn't been hungry in a few days."
Daniel shook his head. "Still..."
"You weren't there, sir. If you had been you'd have made the same decision." Jo slipped Sheppard's wristband onto his wrist and cocked her head at Daniel. "Doesn't do much to yell attempted murder when the soldier responsible is the golden boy of the base."
"Ah." Daniel made a quick face before rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Sorry, it just makes me mad. I'm too used to how Jack has always dealt with the few people that can't tolerate certain differences."
Sheppard titled his head. "Oh?"
Daniel smiled as he looked towards Johnathon curled up asleep on one of the little couches that had been moved into the room. Then he turned back and made helpless sort of gesture. "One memorable time when a solider was cornered and hurt just for being a Pagan those responsible found themselves blue from woad and on report for being high while on duty." Daniel brushed his hand through his hair. "I've never gotten Jack to say how he managed to get the woad on them while they were on duty. He always says it was magick and since the Pagan was in a coma the idiots couldn't exactly blame him."
"Pure woad is expensive." Jo patted Sheppard's leg. "Glad you finally got a good commanding officer. That's hard the higher up you go."
Daniel sat down on Sheppard's bed as they watched her walk away to check on the quiet argument Henry was having with Blake.
"How do you think he got the woad on them?" Sheppard watched Daniel fidget with his watch as he glanced at John before looking back down at his watch.
"Jack didn't. I did." Daniel gave Sheppard a smile that made him blink in response. "I just love that Jack insisted it was magick."
Sheppard drifted wondering if Daniel knew that Jack would have found out where the woad came from within a hour or two. Part of what makes him a good officer using what had already happened to make a point. Sheppard lolled his head to the side and looked towards Johnathon. It must be driving him crazy not to be able to fly. Sheppard yawned as he slipped further towards sleep.
****
Chase checked over Sheppard in the dim light of early morning. He wasn't sure how he felt about any of this. House's friend had managed to make their lives more eventful than House usually did on his own. Smoothing down Sheppard's IV tape shouldn't have resulted in his eyes popping open, but Chase just held still and waited for the soldier to recognize where he was.
"Morning, Doc."
"Morning. How's the chest?"
Sheppard scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Fells like I've got a healing stab wound."
Chase nodded and pulled a chair closer to sit in. "How did you end up involved in this?"
"Someone accidentally shot at me with a not-so-alien rocket thingy called a drone."
"Sounds better than stumbling along because caring is just taking too much energy."
Shrugging, Sheppard reached for the ever present glass of water. "I was just stumbling along. If General O'Neill hadn't of asked for me to fly him I'd still be flying transport just to be able to be in the air."
****
Rodney tried to stay as still as he could so that Sheppard would keep talking. He'd already decided that he liked this room better because Sheppard was on same side of the room as he was. Much simpler to overhear conversations this way.
"You like what you do now?"
"Yeah. Mostly. I'm a little unhappy with something I did a while back. I caused...unpleasant things to happen."
Rodney bit his tongue to keep from yelling at Sheppard about his not-choice that had woken an enemy they hadn't known about prior to that mission obviously wasn't his fault. Stupid man. Ought to know better by now.
"'Something you knew about before it happened?"
Rodney could almost hear Sheppard frown.
"No. I should have found a different way to handle it."
Rodney nearly sat up then, except he heard a soft smack of skin hitting skin and then Chase's voice.
"Quit. Split second decisions shouldn't be second guessed. They just are. You and Rodney are still alive, so I'm guessing that counts for something. You haven't given up, so..."
Rodney opened one eye enough to watch Chase shrug before standing up to start around Sheppard's bed towards him. Quickly closing his eye, Rodney tried to relax as he felt Chase approach.
****
Johnathan plopped down into one of the corner cafeteria's seats and dug into the sandwich he'd tricked Daniel into paying for. Across from him Daniel sat his tray down before angling his seat to better see the area. Blinking, Johnathan wondered when this had started happening, or if he'd just missed seeing it.
"So."
Johnathan looked up. "So?"
"If you could pick something to do, what would it be?"
Throwing down his sandwich, Johnathan frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know. Help fight, something, hell, even translate, which I hate."
"You refuse to learn Ancient. What could you translate?"
"Hey! I learned Ancient. Somewhat."
Then Johnathan's head snapped up. Something was wrong. Glancing around he didn't see anything out of place, yet. Daniel glanced around too, picking up either on Johnathan's discomfort or he felt the same thing.
"I think we'd better go back to the room."
Nodding, Johnathan stood and gathered his tray. If it was a grab attempt he'd try for them in one of the hallways. If it was assassination, they were pretty much screwed. Well, he was, Daniel just might come back.
****
Hurrying along while trying not to stand out, Daniel wondered wither Jack would have noticed what Johnathan did, or if Johnathan noticed because he was Jack, sort of.
The attack was sudden, they grabbed Johnathan and slammed him into a wall. Daniel had wondered about the clone's ability to fight with the difference in bodies, but either Johnathan had practiced or it had never mattered because he was kicking serious ass. Slamming himself into his attacker, Daniel went for the knees since he didn't have a good opening for going after the eyes.
They were gone as fast as they attacked. Johnathan trying to chase after them only to go down in a heap holding his side.
"Shit. Just peachy. You okay, Daniel?"
Helping Johnathan back up, Daniel looked him over. "I'm fine."
Rolling his eyes, Johnathan grimaced as he flexed his shoulder where he'd gotten hit the time after the ribs. "You're always fine. Come on, we'd better go check on McKay's guests."
****
Johnathan somehow wasn't surprised that the people from Eureka had managed to capture one of the people attacking them. He settled on the edge of Sheppard's bed again, since there were a lot of people squabbling in the middle of the room crossing it would be difficult at best.
Jo, the lady that he'd learned was an ex-Ranger, held down the idiot with her foot while controlling his arm, bent up and in at a painful angle. Beside her the darker-skinned Blake was screaming at Henry who was yelling back at her. On the end of Rodney's bed sat Jack Carter nursing a forming black eye with an ice pack.
Johnathan leaned a little to his left... yep, Sheriff Carter had ear plugs in. Something nudged his elbow and Johnathan turned to look at Sheppard holding out ear plugs. "Thanks."
****
House was more than a little pissed. He pulled Chase further onto his lap and ignored the shot of pain that lanced up his leg as a result. He braced himself against the side of the van as they rounded a corner way too fast. The driver was in a screaming match with the gunman that sat on the only bench across the van from where House was on the floor.
From the size of the van and the amount of shackles laying around House was certain they'd meant to get more than just him and Chase. And the screaming match seemed to point to the fact they hadn't done as well as they should have. Smiling, House shifted Chase again in an attempt to get more comfortable.
He'd have already started yelling at their captors, but the guy still had the weird weapon pointed at them. It had made Chase simply crumple to the ground, looking a lot like he'd gotten hit by a tazer. House didn't want Chase hit again so soon, besides not wanting to see how it'd interact with the Vicodin in his own system.
Snorting silently, House congratulated himself on having just downed a dose before they were kidnapped.
****
"Where's House?" Cuddy watched as the whole room full of people went still. "He's supposed to be somewhere and I thought he might be hiding in here." She glanced around, counting heads and came up one short, with the bathroom door closed. She nodded at the door. "Is he hiding in there?"
There were several shaking heads, so Cuddy turned to leave the room and almost ran into Wilson.
"Sorry." Wilson steadied her for a moment as he searched the room. "Has anyone seen Chase? He was supposed to come by my office and he isn't answering his phone or my pages."
There were shared glances and Wilson frowned as Cuddy told him she was looking for House.
"Could they have run into trouble?"
Rodney snorted. "House is trouble."
Jo tapped her fingers on her belt. "Might have been kidnapped."
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Like anyone is stupid enough to want to kidnap House." She sighed. "I'm going to be annoyed if I check every one of his hiding places and I find him in his office."
Wilson waited until she was gone before closing the door. "Kidnapped?"
Johnathan opened the bathroom door to give Wilson a look at the bound and gagged man sitting on the floor.
"Oh." Wilson frowned before looking at Rodney. "Will they kill him for insulting them?"
Rodney shrugged after a moment. "I don't think so. I don't get killed and I whine a lot more when I insult my kidnappers then House would."
Sheppard muttered under his breath. Wilson almost smiled at the glare Rodney directed at Sheppard.
"Oh, shut up." Rodney turned back to Wilson. "It depends on who has them."
"Right." Wilson absently checked Sheppard's IV as he spoke. "If they are both together the captors might get House to cooperate by threatening Chase."
Rodney nodded. "Or he just might get himself beaten until he shuts up and they'll have to threaten Chase with him. Either way we need to find them fast." Rodney looked at Daniel. "Any chance we're going to hear from O'Neill and Thor any time soon?"
"I don't know." Daniel suddenly straightened. "Oh, oh, shit. I don't think Jack is with Thor."
Everyone turned to Daniel, but it was Johnathan that spoke. "It looked like Thor and sounded like him."
Daniel nodded as he pulled his phone from his pocket. "I know, but he never asks to speak to Jack, just pops him in and out, usually in the middle of a sentence. It didn't seem odd at the time, but Jack has been gone far longer than normal."
****
The only thing House hadn't expected was to land on Thor when the gunman threw him into their cell. Shifting as quickly as his stupid leg would allow, House rolled over to find O'Neill laying against the wall. A quick glance around showed House that Chase had been dumped into the room behind him.
House snorted as he found O'Neill was the only one cuffed. Checking the bound hands, House frowned and started calculating how long it had been since O'Neill had been taken. A groan from Chase drew his attention and House shifted around until he could see the others.
"Hey!"
Chase jerked and clutched his head. "Shh...up."
House's brows raised. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"
The hand that flipped him off was shaky, but House didn't care as long as Chase was awake.
"I landed on Thor. Do you think that'll kill him?"
Blinking, Chase sat up and looked Thor over before flopping back down. "I don't know, actually. My vision is blurry."
Making a soft sound, House turned back to O'Neill. His hands looked pretty bad. Squeezing a fingertip hard, House made a face at the recovery time of the capillaries. Starting at O'Neill's head, House checked carefully for anything else that was in danger of falling off.
"Shit."
Chase's head snapped up from where he'd started to doze. "Wha...?"
"O'Neill's got a lot of bruising. He's got broken ribs, and from the feel, it isn't the first time. His breathing is labored. His hands are bound too tightly. Of course, none of that's going to kill him as fast as the broken skull."
Chase crawled closer. "Where's the break?"
House pointed out the huge bruise across O'Neill's temple. He helped Chase lean against the wall next to O'Neill. "Do you know anything about how long Thor can be unconscious before we start worrying?"
"No." Chase scrubbed as his face. "I wonder why they grabbed us."
"For leverage, of course."
House whipped his head around to see...Thor? Glancing down, House checked, and sure enough Thor was still on the floor. Looking back up, House decided that regardless that the thin voiced captor looked like Thor it wasn't Thor at all. "Leverage against who?"
The not-Thor smiled. "Dr. Daniel Jackson, of course. He is, after all, the most important person the SGC has."
Sneering, House gestured at O'Neill. "I don't think Dr. Jackson will like this."
"If he dies we'll simply revive him. Dr. Jackson will give us what we want."
The door clanged closed before House could reply. Leaning back against the wall, House resettled his leg before looking over at Chase. "Think Daniel will just give in?"
O'Neill shifted and whispered, "No." He blinked and tried to flex his hands, which made him moan.
House rubbed a little circle on O'Neill's neck pushing his dog tag chain back and forth gently. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
****
Rodney poked the bound bad guy in the ribs. "It doesn't make any sense that they kidnapped O'Neill by beaming him out, but not everyone else. Explain."
The guy shook his head.
Sheppard sighed. "If you don't answer his questions, I'll tell Sheriff Carter to let Jo play with you."
Jo grinned and waved a little at the man as he paled.
"Okay, fine. Something blew up. Ended up with orders to come pick up anyone the boss thought could be useful."
As Rodney started to ask another question, the man's breathing started to quicken.
Johnathan cursed and ran out into the hallway shouting for help.
****
Cuddy stood near the doorway of the room as they waited for the police. "Someone want to tell me why I've got a dead man that wasn't a patient and why he's tied up?"
Jo shrugged. "Classified."
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Right." With a disgusted sigh, Cuddy turned and went out into the hallway. She sat in a nearby chair and motioned to Wilson as he came towards her. "Wilson, have you found House or Chase yet?"
Wilson stopped in front of her. "No. I'm starting to worry."
Nodding, Cuddy glanced at the closed door of House's friend's room. "That General wasn't in there just now."
Sitting next to Cuddy, Wilson sighed. "He's missing too."
"How long do you think it'll take the kidnappers to threw them all back at us?"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Wilson smiled grimly. "Shouldn't take very long. I'm more worried about what shape they'll be in by then."
Cuddy nodded. "Do you know what is going on? I really don't like thinking that my hospital is the battle ground for a bunch of spies or terrorists."
"Not exactly and what I do know you wouldn't beilive. Just try not to think about it." Wilson stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go check on Foreman."
****
Pulling the ice pack from his eye, Jack Carter sighed. "I really hate waiting."
Cracking an eye open, Johnathan looked at him. "Not much else to do. Or do you want to be in the middle of that discussion?" Jerking a thumb, Johnathan pointed at Daniel, Henry, and Rodney quietly arguing about what group could have taken their people.
"Nope. Henry tends to talk over my head a lot."
Johnathan grinned. "Tech babble. Daniel does...did that to me with languages."
Carter nodded absently. "Does it bug you that no one knows when you save the world?"
Running his hand through his hair, Johnathan snorted. "No. People would just panic, pick apart how the world was saved, and then try to make sure nothing like it ever happened again. Way too much trouble."
"Yeah. Plus, if they knew you'd never get to go anywhere without someone bugging you about it."
"True. So, how did you save the world?"
Carter put his ice pack back onto his blackening eye. "Came back in time from a future ripping itself apart and let someone die to save everything. Lost my wife, unborn child, and my best friend."
Johnathan sat silently for several moments. "Time travel sucks."
"Yeah, it does."
****
Wilson found Foreman sitting up and trying to eat while fending off Cameron. "How are you doing?"
"I'm making sense when I talk now, so pretty good I guess."
Nodding, Wilson perched on the side of the bed. "I think House and Chase have been kidnapped by the same group that drugged you."
Foreman exchanged a look with Cameron before turning to Wilson. "How long before they get fed up with House and kill him?"
Fidgeting with the pen in his pocket, Wilson shrugged. "I don't know. I think they'll be able to get him to cooperate somewhat since they have Chase too, but that won't stop House from being, well, House."
Cameron patted Wilson's arm. "They'll be fine. We'll get them back, Wilson."
"Sure." He just hoped it was alive and, if not unharmed, hurting from something that could be fixed.
****
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Pairing/Grouping: House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Crossover w/Stargate: Atlantis and Eureka ( I do my best to explain the non-House shows, eventually.)
Summary: House spent way too much time moving around the world as a child and some places had more interesting people than others. How much trouble can a childhood friend cause?
Warnings: Several characters are injured and one is mentioned having broken bones in this part, but not to worry all the good guys survive in the end. (I dislike most death fics so don't worry too much.)
Not beta'd. Tell me if you see something wrong, please. I'd have gotten it checked, but life has been conspiring against me. See my last post for details.
(Part 10)
****
"I see you're still alive."
Sheppard hitched himself higher and patted the blanket beside him. "Hi to you too, Jo. Sit."
Jo flashed a smile as she sat hard enough to bounce them both. Sheppard grimaced as his chest protested. Jo made a face. "Sorry, Shep."
Sheppard shrugged a shoulder. "No problem."
Rolling her eyes, Jo thumbed Sheppard's arm. "I take you aren't freezing your balls off anymore?"
"Well, yeah, classified though."
Jo smiled. "Don't I know it. I hardly miss the Rangers with all the excitement of my current job."
Sheppard made a show of looking up and down Jo's uniform. "Look like a deputy of a sheriff to me."
"I know." Jo cocked her head. "You getting a lot of flack still?"
"I don't hear it if there is talk." Sheppard rubbed his bare wrist. "Never got to thank you."
Jo grinned. "Well, that makes two of us." Jo nodded at Sheppard's wrist. "Want me to find your stuff and get your wristband?"
"If you're really that bored, sure."
With a pat to the blanket beside Sheppard's leg, Jo left. Sheppard turned his head to watch as Daniel came from the tiny bathroom and sat down beside him.
"Colonel Sheppard, are you healing alright?"
Sheppard nodded. "Just fine, sir."
Daniel smiled. "No need to call me that. It's just Daniel."
"Okay, Daniel it is."
"I, ah, couldn't help overhearing. May I ask what you'd need a wristband for?"
Sheppard turned his arm to show his wrist. "I didn't do this to myself."
Daniel carefully angled Sheppard's arm to look over a very faint scar. "Who did?"
"A couple of soldiers that were misguided." Sheppard shrugged at Daniel gaping at him. "Jo made them understand where they made their error." Sheppard smiled grimly. "She's really persuasive like that."
"Please tell me someone reported the attempted murder."
"Right. Like anyone was going to listen to a disgraced pilot already on suicide watch because he hadn't been hungry in a few days."
Daniel shook his head. "Still..."
"You weren't there, sir. If you had been you'd have made the same decision." Jo slipped Sheppard's wristband onto his wrist and cocked her head at Daniel. "Doesn't do much to yell attempted murder when the soldier responsible is the golden boy of the base."
"Ah." Daniel made a quick face before rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Sorry, it just makes me mad. I'm too used to how Jack has always dealt with the few people that can't tolerate certain differences."
Sheppard titled his head. "Oh?"
Daniel smiled as he looked towards Johnathon curled up asleep on one of the little couches that had been moved into the room. Then he turned back and made helpless sort of gesture. "One memorable time when a solider was cornered and hurt just for being a Pagan those responsible found themselves blue from woad and on report for being high while on duty." Daniel brushed his hand through his hair. "I've never gotten Jack to say how he managed to get the woad on them while they were on duty. He always says it was magick and since the Pagan was in a coma the idiots couldn't exactly blame him."
"Pure woad is expensive." Jo patted Sheppard's leg. "Glad you finally got a good commanding officer. That's hard the higher up you go."
Daniel sat down on Sheppard's bed as they watched her walk away to check on the quiet argument Henry was having with Blake.
"How do you think he got the woad on them?" Sheppard watched Daniel fidget with his watch as he glanced at John before looking back down at his watch.
"Jack didn't. I did." Daniel gave Sheppard a smile that made him blink in response. "I just love that Jack insisted it was magick."
Sheppard drifted wondering if Daniel knew that Jack would have found out where the woad came from within a hour or two. Part of what makes him a good officer using what had already happened to make a point. Sheppard lolled his head to the side and looked towards Johnathon. It must be driving him crazy not to be able to fly. Sheppard yawned as he slipped further towards sleep.
****
Chase checked over Sheppard in the dim light of early morning. He wasn't sure how he felt about any of this. House's friend had managed to make their lives more eventful than House usually did on his own. Smoothing down Sheppard's IV tape shouldn't have resulted in his eyes popping open, but Chase just held still and waited for the soldier to recognize where he was.
"Morning, Doc."
"Morning. How's the chest?"
Sheppard scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Fells like I've got a healing stab wound."
Chase nodded and pulled a chair closer to sit in. "How did you end up involved in this?"
"Someone accidentally shot at me with a not-so-alien rocket thingy called a drone."
"Sounds better than stumbling along because caring is just taking too much energy."
Shrugging, Sheppard reached for the ever present glass of water. "I was just stumbling along. If General O'Neill hadn't of asked for me to fly him I'd still be flying transport just to be able to be in the air."
****
Rodney tried to stay as still as he could so that Sheppard would keep talking. He'd already decided that he liked this room better because Sheppard was on same side of the room as he was. Much simpler to overhear conversations this way.
"You like what you do now?"
"Yeah. Mostly. I'm a little unhappy with something I did a while back. I caused...unpleasant things to happen."
Rodney bit his tongue to keep from yelling at Sheppard about his not-choice that had woken an enemy they hadn't known about prior to that mission obviously wasn't his fault. Stupid man. Ought to know better by now.
"'Something you knew about before it happened?"
Rodney could almost hear Sheppard frown.
"No. I should have found a different way to handle it."
Rodney nearly sat up then, except he heard a soft smack of skin hitting skin and then Chase's voice.
"Quit. Split second decisions shouldn't be second guessed. They just are. You and Rodney are still alive, so I'm guessing that counts for something. You haven't given up, so..."
Rodney opened one eye enough to watch Chase shrug before standing up to start around Sheppard's bed towards him. Quickly closing his eye, Rodney tried to relax as he felt Chase approach.
****
Johnathan plopped down into one of the corner cafeteria's seats and dug into the sandwich he'd tricked Daniel into paying for. Across from him Daniel sat his tray down before angling his seat to better see the area. Blinking, Johnathan wondered when this had started happening, or if he'd just missed seeing it.
"So."
Johnathan looked up. "So?"
"If you could pick something to do, what would it be?"
Throwing down his sandwich, Johnathan frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know. Help fight, something, hell, even translate, which I hate."
"You refuse to learn Ancient. What could you translate?"
"Hey! I learned Ancient. Somewhat."
Then Johnathan's head snapped up. Something was wrong. Glancing around he didn't see anything out of place, yet. Daniel glanced around too, picking up either on Johnathan's discomfort or he felt the same thing.
"I think we'd better go back to the room."
Nodding, Johnathan stood and gathered his tray. If it was a grab attempt he'd try for them in one of the hallways. If it was assassination, they were pretty much screwed. Well, he was, Daniel just might come back.
****
Hurrying along while trying not to stand out, Daniel wondered wither Jack would have noticed what Johnathan did, or if Johnathan noticed because he was Jack, sort of.
The attack was sudden, they grabbed Johnathan and slammed him into a wall. Daniel had wondered about the clone's ability to fight with the difference in bodies, but either Johnathan had practiced or it had never mattered because he was kicking serious ass. Slamming himself into his attacker, Daniel went for the knees since he didn't have a good opening for going after the eyes.
They were gone as fast as they attacked. Johnathan trying to chase after them only to go down in a heap holding his side.
"Shit. Just peachy. You okay, Daniel?"
Helping Johnathan back up, Daniel looked him over. "I'm fine."
Rolling his eyes, Johnathan grimaced as he flexed his shoulder where he'd gotten hit the time after the ribs. "You're always fine. Come on, we'd better go check on McKay's guests."
****
Johnathan somehow wasn't surprised that the people from Eureka had managed to capture one of the people attacking them. He settled on the edge of Sheppard's bed again, since there were a lot of people squabbling in the middle of the room crossing it would be difficult at best.
Jo, the lady that he'd learned was an ex-Ranger, held down the idiot with her foot while controlling his arm, bent up and in at a painful angle. Beside her the darker-skinned Blake was screaming at Henry who was yelling back at her. On the end of Rodney's bed sat Jack Carter nursing a forming black eye with an ice pack.
Johnathan leaned a little to his left... yep, Sheriff Carter had ear plugs in. Something nudged his elbow and Johnathan turned to look at Sheppard holding out ear plugs. "Thanks."
****
House was more than a little pissed. He pulled Chase further onto his lap and ignored the shot of pain that lanced up his leg as a result. He braced himself against the side of the van as they rounded a corner way too fast. The driver was in a screaming match with the gunman that sat on the only bench across the van from where House was on the floor.
From the size of the van and the amount of shackles laying around House was certain they'd meant to get more than just him and Chase. And the screaming match seemed to point to the fact they hadn't done as well as they should have. Smiling, House shifted Chase again in an attempt to get more comfortable.
He'd have already started yelling at their captors, but the guy still had the weird weapon pointed at them. It had made Chase simply crumple to the ground, looking a lot like he'd gotten hit by a tazer. House didn't want Chase hit again so soon, besides not wanting to see how it'd interact with the Vicodin in his own system.
Snorting silently, House congratulated himself on having just downed a dose before they were kidnapped.
****
"Where's House?" Cuddy watched as the whole room full of people went still. "He's supposed to be somewhere and I thought he might be hiding in here." She glanced around, counting heads and came up one short, with the bathroom door closed. She nodded at the door. "Is he hiding in there?"
There were several shaking heads, so Cuddy turned to leave the room and almost ran into Wilson.
"Sorry." Wilson steadied her for a moment as he searched the room. "Has anyone seen Chase? He was supposed to come by my office and he isn't answering his phone or my pages."
There were shared glances and Wilson frowned as Cuddy told him she was looking for House.
"Could they have run into trouble?"
Rodney snorted. "House is trouble."
Jo tapped her fingers on her belt. "Might have been kidnapped."
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Like anyone is stupid enough to want to kidnap House." She sighed. "I'm going to be annoyed if I check every one of his hiding places and I find him in his office."
Wilson waited until she was gone before closing the door. "Kidnapped?"
Johnathan opened the bathroom door to give Wilson a look at the bound and gagged man sitting on the floor.
"Oh." Wilson frowned before looking at Rodney. "Will they kill him for insulting them?"
Rodney shrugged after a moment. "I don't think so. I don't get killed and I whine a lot more when I insult my kidnappers then House would."
Sheppard muttered under his breath. Wilson almost smiled at the glare Rodney directed at Sheppard.
"Oh, shut up." Rodney turned back to Wilson. "It depends on who has them."
"Right." Wilson absently checked Sheppard's IV as he spoke. "If they are both together the captors might get House to cooperate by threatening Chase."
Rodney nodded. "Or he just might get himself beaten until he shuts up and they'll have to threaten Chase with him. Either way we need to find them fast." Rodney looked at Daniel. "Any chance we're going to hear from O'Neill and Thor any time soon?"
"I don't know." Daniel suddenly straightened. "Oh, oh, shit. I don't think Jack is with Thor."
Everyone turned to Daniel, but it was Johnathan that spoke. "It looked like Thor and sounded like him."
Daniel nodded as he pulled his phone from his pocket. "I know, but he never asks to speak to Jack, just pops him in and out, usually in the middle of a sentence. It didn't seem odd at the time, but Jack has been gone far longer than normal."
****
The only thing House hadn't expected was to land on Thor when the gunman threw him into their cell. Shifting as quickly as his stupid leg would allow, House rolled over to find O'Neill laying against the wall. A quick glance around showed House that Chase had been dumped into the room behind him.
House snorted as he found O'Neill was the only one cuffed. Checking the bound hands, House frowned and started calculating how long it had been since O'Neill had been taken. A groan from Chase drew his attention and House shifted around until he could see the others.
"Hey!"
Chase jerked and clutched his head. "Shh...up."
House's brows raised. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"
The hand that flipped him off was shaky, but House didn't care as long as Chase was awake.
"I landed on Thor. Do you think that'll kill him?"
Blinking, Chase sat up and looked Thor over before flopping back down. "I don't know, actually. My vision is blurry."
Making a soft sound, House turned back to O'Neill. His hands looked pretty bad. Squeezing a fingertip hard, House made a face at the recovery time of the capillaries. Starting at O'Neill's head, House checked carefully for anything else that was in danger of falling off.
"Shit."
Chase's head snapped up from where he'd started to doze. "Wha...?"
"O'Neill's got a lot of bruising. He's got broken ribs, and from the feel, it isn't the first time. His breathing is labored. His hands are bound too tightly. Of course, none of that's going to kill him as fast as the broken skull."
Chase crawled closer. "Where's the break?"
House pointed out the huge bruise across O'Neill's temple. He helped Chase lean against the wall next to O'Neill. "Do you know anything about how long Thor can be unconscious before we start worrying?"
"No." Chase scrubbed as his face. "I wonder why they grabbed us."
"For leverage, of course."
House whipped his head around to see...Thor? Glancing down, House checked, and sure enough Thor was still on the floor. Looking back up, House decided that regardless that the thin voiced captor looked like Thor it wasn't Thor at all. "Leverage against who?"
The not-Thor smiled. "Dr. Daniel Jackson, of course. He is, after all, the most important person the SGC has."
Sneering, House gestured at O'Neill. "I don't think Dr. Jackson will like this."
"If he dies we'll simply revive him. Dr. Jackson will give us what we want."
The door clanged closed before House could reply. Leaning back against the wall, House resettled his leg before looking over at Chase. "Think Daniel will just give in?"
O'Neill shifted and whispered, "No." He blinked and tried to flex his hands, which made him moan.
House rubbed a little circle on O'Neill's neck pushing his dog tag chain back and forth gently. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
****
Rodney poked the bound bad guy in the ribs. "It doesn't make any sense that they kidnapped O'Neill by beaming him out, but not everyone else. Explain."
The guy shook his head.
Sheppard sighed. "If you don't answer his questions, I'll tell Sheriff Carter to let Jo play with you."
Jo grinned and waved a little at the man as he paled.
"Okay, fine. Something blew up. Ended up with orders to come pick up anyone the boss thought could be useful."
As Rodney started to ask another question, the man's breathing started to quicken.
Johnathan cursed and ran out into the hallway shouting for help.
****
Cuddy stood near the doorway of the room as they waited for the police. "Someone want to tell me why I've got a dead man that wasn't a patient and why he's tied up?"
Jo shrugged. "Classified."
Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Right." With a disgusted sigh, Cuddy turned and went out into the hallway. She sat in a nearby chair and motioned to Wilson as he came towards her. "Wilson, have you found House or Chase yet?"
Wilson stopped in front of her. "No. I'm starting to worry."
Nodding, Cuddy glanced at the closed door of House's friend's room. "That General wasn't in there just now."
Sitting next to Cuddy, Wilson sighed. "He's missing too."
"How long do you think it'll take the kidnappers to threw them all back at us?"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Wilson smiled grimly. "Shouldn't take very long. I'm more worried about what shape they'll be in by then."
Cuddy nodded. "Do you know what is going on? I really don't like thinking that my hospital is the battle ground for a bunch of spies or terrorists."
"Not exactly and what I do know you wouldn't beilive. Just try not to think about it." Wilson stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go check on Foreman."
****
Pulling the ice pack from his eye, Jack Carter sighed. "I really hate waiting."
Cracking an eye open, Johnathan looked at him. "Not much else to do. Or do you want to be in the middle of that discussion?" Jerking a thumb, Johnathan pointed at Daniel, Henry, and Rodney quietly arguing about what group could have taken their people.
"Nope. Henry tends to talk over my head a lot."
Johnathan grinned. "Tech babble. Daniel does...did that to me with languages."
Carter nodded absently. "Does it bug you that no one knows when you save the world?"
Running his hand through his hair, Johnathan snorted. "No. People would just panic, pick apart how the world was saved, and then try to make sure nothing like it ever happened again. Way too much trouble."
"Yeah. Plus, if they knew you'd never get to go anywhere without someone bugging you about it."
"True. So, how did you save the world?"
Carter put his ice pack back onto his blackening eye. "Came back in time from a future ripping itself apart and let someone die to save everything. Lost my wife, unborn child, and my best friend."
Johnathan sat silently for several moments. "Time travel sucks."
"Yeah, it does."
****
Wilson found Foreman sitting up and trying to eat while fending off Cameron. "How are you doing?"
"I'm making sense when I talk now, so pretty good I guess."
Nodding, Wilson perched on the side of the bed. "I think House and Chase have been kidnapped by the same group that drugged you."
Foreman exchanged a look with Cameron before turning to Wilson. "How long before they get fed up with House and kill him?"
Fidgeting with the pen in his pocket, Wilson shrugged. "I don't know. I think they'll be able to get him to cooperate somewhat since they have Chase too, but that won't stop House from being, well, House."
Cameron patted Wilson's arm. "They'll be fine. We'll get them back, Wilson."
"Sure." He just hoped it was alive and, if not unharmed, hurting from something that could be fixed.
****