Fic: Detained (Leverage/Stargate: SG-1 crossover, PG)
Title: Detained
Author: sheryden
Fandoms: Leverage/Stargate: SG-1
Rating: PG
Characters: The Leverage team; Jack O'Neill, Vala Mal Doran, Daniel Jackson, Cam Mitchell, and Walter Harriman
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1734
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Neither belong to me. Which is actually kind of sad.
Summary: During a routine job, the Leverage team is detained by a secret military team with ties to Eliot's past.
Notes: I wrote this for the Crossover Challenge at leverageland. Now that voting is done, I can post it. I tied for 1st Place, by the way. :)
Nate shifted uneasily in the plastic chair he’d been sitting in for the past two hours. His legs were getting stiff from the hard plastic, and he really needed a drink. His only consolation-aside from the fact that he and his team weren’t locked in a jail cell-was the fact that they’d been kept together since they’d been caught. Their prints had already been run, and their captors had already made a point of calling them by name. Nate knew all too well that there was no logical reason Sophie, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison weren’t already on their way to a holding cell to await extradition.
In fact, the only reason Nate could think of that they hadn’t been carted off to parts unknown was the fact one of the team’s captors, a bespectacled man named Daniel, seemed to know Eliot. Daniel and Eliot hadn’t said much to each other, but Nate had caught a glimpse of sudden and haunting recognition on Eliot’s face. Recognition had been followed by resignation-Eliot hadn’t tried to fight his way out. Rather, he’d slumped against the wall and had allowed himself to be taken. Nate had taken his cues from Eliot, and now here they all were, waiting.
He glanced around the room at the three people who had managed to get the drop on them. Other than Daniel, there were two others, a man and a woman, both clad in black. One of them, a tall strapping man the others referred to as Mitchell, was obviously a military officer. He had the posture and the sense of propriety that marked him as a man accustomed to rules and regulations.
The other two were more of a puzzle. Neither of them resonated with the same kind of military vibe as Mitchell did-in fact, the woman-Vala-was downright casual. She was currently sitting on top of the table, smiling brightly and making small talk with Parker and Sophie.
“I’m a thief, too,” Vala said, her legs swinging nonchalantly. “And Daniel over there is a grave robber.”
Daniel blinked at her. “I’m not. I’m… I’m not a grave robber.” He smiled apologetically at Nate and his team, then shot a glare at Vala.
Vala leaned forward and half-whispered. “He’s in denial. He’s a grave robber.”
Parker flashed a sloppy grin. “Nate used to pretend he wasn’t a thief.” She glanced fondly at Nate. “But now he admits it. Sometimes, you just have to be patient.”
Sophie nodded. “You really do.”
Daniel scowled. “I’m not a grave robber,” he snapped. “I’m an archeologist.”
“Who steals things from people’s graves,” Vala said pointedly.
“I don’t steal from… I’m a scientist.”
Throwing her hands up in the air, Vala said, “He rationalizes it.”
About then, the door opened, and a mousy-looking man with gray hair and glasses poked his head into the room. “Colonel Mitchell. The General has arrived.”
Mitchell, who had been leaning against the wall, intently watching Nate and the rest of the team, walked toward the door. “Thanks, Walter. Jackson, keep an eye on these people,” he said to Daniel. “I’m gonna go brief General O’Neill.”
After Mitchell left, Nate watched as Daniel walked over to Eliot and sat down in a chair across from him. They chatted quietly with each other, and Nate felt an urge to move closer so he could hear their conversation. He trusted Eliot completely, but since their capture, Eliot had been content to simply slump down in a chair and stare at the walls. He’d given no sign that he was sizing up the guards or otherwise planning an escape. It simply wasn’t like him.
After a few minutes, a man in dress blues walked-no… breezed into the room, tossing his hat onto the table. Eliot immediately stood to his feet and stood at attention.
“Relax, Spencer,” the man said, waving at him. “You look like someone killed your kitten.”
Parker audibly gasped.
Eliot’s posture eased, and he sat back down in his chair. “It’s okay, Parker,” he said, his voice tinged with fatigue. “It’s an expression. It’s good to see you, General.”
The man nodded and said, “Likewise.” Then he turned to Nate and the others. “I’m General Jack O’Neill. You’re kind of on my turf. Wanna tell me why?”
“We were sightseeing,” Nate said. “I think we took a wrong turn.”
To Nate’s surprise, O’Neill smiled. “Right. I saw you picked up a couple of souvenirs, too. What were you really doing there? Who hired you?”
When none of the others answered, he turned to Eliot. “Spencer, what was your job, and who is your client? Tell me now.”
Eliot sat up in his seat. “We were trying to retrieve some jewelry that had been swindled from our client, sir. She’s a widow who owns an antique store, and she poses no threat to anyone. . Our mark swindled her family heirlooms out of her, and we were just getting them back for her.”
O’Neill nodded. “You got sloppy.”
“A little,” Eliot groused. “I got distracted.”
A tiny smirked ghosted across O’Neill’s face. “You’re one of the best retrieval specialists in the business, and you got beaten by an archeologist.”
Daniel stood up, looking a little deflated. “Jack.”
“Daniel?” O’Neill waved him off after a moment. He looked back to Eliot. “Nice job with the Butcher, though.”
Eliot smiled slightly. “You heard about that?”
“Oh yeah.”
O’Neill turned to Nate. “Eliot and I go back a few years,” he said, gazing fondly at Eliot. “I try to keep track of him. In fact, I know who all of you are. And I know about your little Robin Hood thing.”
Nate folded his arms across his chest. “You know us all because you keep an eye on Eliot?”
“Yep.” O’Neill leaned against the wall. “Plus, your hacker is on a list.”
Hardison sat up. “Wait. A list?”
O’Neill glanced at him. “A list of people I might need at some point.”
“Let me ask you this,” Nate said. “What were your people doing there today?”
“Nate,” Eliot said, his jaw clenched.
“No,” O’Neill said. “It’s all right. We were retrieving an item, too.”
“What item?” Nate asked.
“A little stone with writing on it. It was in the box with your client’s heirlooms.”
Hardison frowned. “Oh, this just screams conspiracy theory.”
“What do you want with a rock?” Nate asked.
O’Neill shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You can have the rest of your client’s stuff. That rock is all we want. Well, that and your assurance that you and your people will be on a plane back to Boston as soon we let you go.”
“You’re gonna let us go. Just like that?” Nate arched an eyebrow.
“You have nothing to fear from me, Nate,” O’Neill said. “If I was going to be a pain in the ass for you and your people, I’d have done it by now. Like I said, I keep an eye on Eliot.”
Nate bit his bottom lip. There was something about O’Neill’s demeanor and the way Eliot relaxed around him that made Nate feel like he could trust the guy. “All right,” he said. “We’re on a plane tonight.”
Hardison stood up. “Now, hold up. Hold up. Aren’t we gonna ask why the Air Force wants a rock with some super-secret writing on it?”
O’Neill cocked his head at Hardison. “I’d love it if you didn’t.”
“No, no, no. What are you people up to here? Hm? You making some kind of super-weapon?”
Nate shifted in his seat and glanced at Eliot, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Hardison,” Nate said. “Leave it.”
Hardison shook his head. “Are you on a list, Nate? No, I’m on a list. And I wanna know who these people are.”
“Look, Hardison,” O’Neill said. “What we do here is classified, and I’m cutting you and your team a break by letting you walk out of here. Do I need to rethink that?”
Eliot stood up suddenly. “No, it’s all right, sir. We should tell him the truth.”
O’Neill glared at him. “Should we now?”
Taking a breath, Eliot turned to Hardison. “I didn’t want you guys to find out this way. But… This facility houses a giant ring that allows people to travel to other planets.”
“Spencer,” O’Neill said warningly.
Eliot threw him a glance, licked his lips, then continued. “A few years ago, I was captured and had an alien forcibly implanted in my head. You could say I wasn’t myself for a while. General O’Neill, Daniel, and their former teammates rescued me.”
Vala clapped her hands. “Oh! Me too! Except for the part about them rescuing me.” She waved her hands disdainfully at O’Neill. “What was your name? I was Qetesh.”
Eliot didn’t answer her, though his did arch his eyebrow slightly. He glanced down at the floor, and the room was silent for a long moment. Finally, Hardison he let out a breath. “Funny. Fine, man. Make fun of the sci-fi geek.”
“What?” Eliot said, plastering his best innocent look on his face. “It’s true. I was treated like a god.”
Hardison shook his head. “Just stop it.”
“My eyes would glow.”
Setting his jaw, Hardison turned to Nate. “Can we go?”
“I wish you would,” O’Neill said. He gestured to Daniel. “See to it these people find their way out of the mountain. Spencer and I will be up in a minute.”
***
After Daniel shuffled the others out the door, O’Neill spun to look at Eliot. “Always pushing the envelope, aren’t you?”
Eliot reached back and winced as he ran his fingers along the telltale scar on the back of his neck that was the only visible marker of his time with the Goa’uld. “Trust me, General,” Eliot said. “I know the guy. A convincing lie would just make him dig. The truth was the better way to go.”
O’Neill let out a breath. “I hope so. I don’t need a world class hacker trying to get into the SGC files. So,” he said. “I think these people are good for you.”
“Yeah.”
“You should stick with them.” O’Neill placed a hand on Eliot’s shoulder. “And I meant what I said. You and your team have nothing to fear from me. I’m just glad you’re all on our side.”
Eliot grinned. “Thank you, sir.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
“Right back atcha.”
Master Fic List
***
Author: sheryden
Fandoms: Leverage/Stargate: SG-1
Rating: PG
Characters: The Leverage team; Jack O'Neill, Vala Mal Doran, Daniel Jackson, Cam Mitchell, and Walter Harriman
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1734
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Neither belong to me. Which is actually kind of sad.
Summary: During a routine job, the Leverage team is detained by a secret military team with ties to Eliot's past.
Notes: I wrote this for the Crossover Challenge at leverageland. Now that voting is done, I can post it. I tied for 1st Place, by the way. :)
Nate shifted uneasily in the plastic chair he’d been sitting in for the past two hours. His legs were getting stiff from the hard plastic, and he really needed a drink. His only consolation-aside from the fact that he and his team weren’t locked in a jail cell-was the fact that they’d been kept together since they’d been caught. Their prints had already been run, and their captors had already made a point of calling them by name. Nate knew all too well that there was no logical reason Sophie, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison weren’t already on their way to a holding cell to await extradition.
In fact, the only reason Nate could think of that they hadn’t been carted off to parts unknown was the fact one of the team’s captors, a bespectacled man named Daniel, seemed to know Eliot. Daniel and Eliot hadn’t said much to each other, but Nate had caught a glimpse of sudden and haunting recognition on Eliot’s face. Recognition had been followed by resignation-Eliot hadn’t tried to fight his way out. Rather, he’d slumped against the wall and had allowed himself to be taken. Nate had taken his cues from Eliot, and now here they all were, waiting.
He glanced around the room at the three people who had managed to get the drop on them. Other than Daniel, there were two others, a man and a woman, both clad in black. One of them, a tall strapping man the others referred to as Mitchell, was obviously a military officer. He had the posture and the sense of propriety that marked him as a man accustomed to rules and regulations.
The other two were more of a puzzle. Neither of them resonated with the same kind of military vibe as Mitchell did-in fact, the woman-Vala-was downright casual. She was currently sitting on top of the table, smiling brightly and making small talk with Parker and Sophie.
“I’m a thief, too,” Vala said, her legs swinging nonchalantly. “And Daniel over there is a grave robber.”
Daniel blinked at her. “I’m not. I’m… I’m not a grave robber.” He smiled apologetically at Nate and his team, then shot a glare at Vala.
Vala leaned forward and half-whispered. “He’s in denial. He’s a grave robber.”
Parker flashed a sloppy grin. “Nate used to pretend he wasn’t a thief.” She glanced fondly at Nate. “But now he admits it. Sometimes, you just have to be patient.”
Sophie nodded. “You really do.”
Daniel scowled. “I’m not a grave robber,” he snapped. “I’m an archeologist.”
“Who steals things from people’s graves,” Vala said pointedly.
“I don’t steal from… I’m a scientist.”
Throwing her hands up in the air, Vala said, “He rationalizes it.”
About then, the door opened, and a mousy-looking man with gray hair and glasses poked his head into the room. “Colonel Mitchell. The General has arrived.”
Mitchell, who had been leaning against the wall, intently watching Nate and the rest of the team, walked toward the door. “Thanks, Walter. Jackson, keep an eye on these people,” he said to Daniel. “I’m gonna go brief General O’Neill.”
After Mitchell left, Nate watched as Daniel walked over to Eliot and sat down in a chair across from him. They chatted quietly with each other, and Nate felt an urge to move closer so he could hear their conversation. He trusted Eliot completely, but since their capture, Eliot had been content to simply slump down in a chair and stare at the walls. He’d given no sign that he was sizing up the guards or otherwise planning an escape. It simply wasn’t like him.
After a few minutes, a man in dress blues walked-no… breezed into the room, tossing his hat onto the table. Eliot immediately stood to his feet and stood at attention.
“Relax, Spencer,” the man said, waving at him. “You look like someone killed your kitten.”
Parker audibly gasped.
Eliot’s posture eased, and he sat back down in his chair. “It’s okay, Parker,” he said, his voice tinged with fatigue. “It’s an expression. It’s good to see you, General.”
The man nodded and said, “Likewise.” Then he turned to Nate and the others. “I’m General Jack O’Neill. You’re kind of on my turf. Wanna tell me why?”
“We were sightseeing,” Nate said. “I think we took a wrong turn.”
To Nate’s surprise, O’Neill smiled. “Right. I saw you picked up a couple of souvenirs, too. What were you really doing there? Who hired you?”
When none of the others answered, he turned to Eliot. “Spencer, what was your job, and who is your client? Tell me now.”
Eliot sat up in his seat. “We were trying to retrieve some jewelry that had been swindled from our client, sir. She’s a widow who owns an antique store, and she poses no threat to anyone. . Our mark swindled her family heirlooms out of her, and we were just getting them back for her.”
O’Neill nodded. “You got sloppy.”
“A little,” Eliot groused. “I got distracted.”
A tiny smirked ghosted across O’Neill’s face. “You’re one of the best retrieval specialists in the business, and you got beaten by an archeologist.”
Daniel stood up, looking a little deflated. “Jack.”
“Daniel?” O’Neill waved him off after a moment. He looked back to Eliot. “Nice job with the Butcher, though.”
Eliot smiled slightly. “You heard about that?”
“Oh yeah.”
O’Neill turned to Nate. “Eliot and I go back a few years,” he said, gazing fondly at Eliot. “I try to keep track of him. In fact, I know who all of you are. And I know about your little Robin Hood thing.”
Nate folded his arms across his chest. “You know us all because you keep an eye on Eliot?”
“Yep.” O’Neill leaned against the wall. “Plus, your hacker is on a list.”
Hardison sat up. “Wait. A list?”
O’Neill glanced at him. “A list of people I might need at some point.”
“Let me ask you this,” Nate said. “What were your people doing there today?”
“Nate,” Eliot said, his jaw clenched.
“No,” O’Neill said. “It’s all right. We were retrieving an item, too.”
“What item?” Nate asked.
“A little stone with writing on it. It was in the box with your client’s heirlooms.”
Hardison frowned. “Oh, this just screams conspiracy theory.”
“What do you want with a rock?” Nate asked.
O’Neill shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You can have the rest of your client’s stuff. That rock is all we want. Well, that and your assurance that you and your people will be on a plane back to Boston as soon we let you go.”
“You’re gonna let us go. Just like that?” Nate arched an eyebrow.
“You have nothing to fear from me, Nate,” O’Neill said. “If I was going to be a pain in the ass for you and your people, I’d have done it by now. Like I said, I keep an eye on Eliot.”
Nate bit his bottom lip. There was something about O’Neill’s demeanor and the way Eliot relaxed around him that made Nate feel like he could trust the guy. “All right,” he said. “We’re on a plane tonight.”
Hardison stood up. “Now, hold up. Hold up. Aren’t we gonna ask why the Air Force wants a rock with some super-secret writing on it?”
O’Neill cocked his head at Hardison. “I’d love it if you didn’t.”
“No, no, no. What are you people up to here? Hm? You making some kind of super-weapon?”
Nate shifted in his seat and glanced at Eliot, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Hardison,” Nate said. “Leave it.”
Hardison shook his head. “Are you on a list, Nate? No, I’m on a list. And I wanna know who these people are.”
“Look, Hardison,” O’Neill said. “What we do here is classified, and I’m cutting you and your team a break by letting you walk out of here. Do I need to rethink that?”
Eliot stood up suddenly. “No, it’s all right, sir. We should tell him the truth.”
O’Neill glared at him. “Should we now?”
Taking a breath, Eliot turned to Hardison. “I didn’t want you guys to find out this way. But… This facility houses a giant ring that allows people to travel to other planets.”
“Spencer,” O’Neill said warningly.
Eliot threw him a glance, licked his lips, then continued. “A few years ago, I was captured and had an alien forcibly implanted in my head. You could say I wasn’t myself for a while. General O’Neill, Daniel, and their former teammates rescued me.”
Vala clapped her hands. “Oh! Me too! Except for the part about them rescuing me.” She waved her hands disdainfully at O’Neill. “What was your name? I was Qetesh.”
Eliot didn’t answer her, though his did arch his eyebrow slightly. He glanced down at the floor, and the room was silent for a long moment. Finally, Hardison he let out a breath. “Funny. Fine, man. Make fun of the sci-fi geek.”
“What?” Eliot said, plastering his best innocent look on his face. “It’s true. I was treated like a god.”
Hardison shook his head. “Just stop it.”
“My eyes would glow.”
Setting his jaw, Hardison turned to Nate. “Can we go?”
“I wish you would,” O’Neill said. He gestured to Daniel. “See to it these people find their way out of the mountain. Spencer and I will be up in a minute.”
***
After Daniel shuffled the others out the door, O’Neill spun to look at Eliot. “Always pushing the envelope, aren’t you?”
Eliot reached back and winced as he ran his fingers along the telltale scar on the back of his neck that was the only visible marker of his time with the Goa’uld. “Trust me, General,” Eliot said. “I know the guy. A convincing lie would just make him dig. The truth was the better way to go.”
O’Neill let out a breath. “I hope so. I don’t need a world class hacker trying to get into the SGC files. So,” he said. “I think these people are good for you.”
“Yeah.”
“You should stick with them.” O’Neill placed a hand on Eliot’s shoulder. “And I meant what I said. You and your team have nothing to fear from me. I’m just glad you’re all on our side.”
Eliot grinned. “Thank you, sir.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
“Right back atcha.”
Master Fic List
***