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shanachie_quillCharacters: Evan Lorne/Aiden Bancroft-Lorne, Jonas MacFadden, Deke Zulu, Murray, Wall, Megan Reeves, Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, David Sinclair, Colby Granger/Meredy Eppes-Granger
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis, Numb3rs
Chapter: Splitting Up Is Bad
Written For: Gommeroi (originally my co-author, now I’m finishing this for her)
Prompt:
Summary: Past and Present collide when Lorne and Aiden travel to LA to track down a goa'uld and meet with the Numb3rs team. Can everyone put their personal issues aside to find the bad guy in time?
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Spoilers: anything aired is fair game, but we went a bit AU; especially since we started writing this before everything had aired, we didn’t like all of the things that were going on and well, things just kinda got Jossed all around
Warnings: swearing, violence (although not worse than what was on the show), hey Aiden’s here of course there’s swearing, just general about what you’d see on the show, Marine shenanigans
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me; Meredy doesn’t belong to me either. Not making any money off of this.
Colby shook his head as Don dropped a large envelope on his desk the next morning. "What's this?" he asked the lead agent.
"Don't ask me," Don replied. He pointed at Evan and Aiden who had just entered the office. "Ask them. It came in this morning addressed to you, Meredy, and David."
Colby held up the envelope as they reached the desks. "Do I want to ask?"
Evan grinned as Meredy handed Aiden a cup of coffee and the linguist immediately took a sip. "You can survive on what the Marines brew, but not on instant?" he teased.
"Instant coffee is sacrilegious," Aiden retorted. "Those are the non-disclosure agreements, Colby, or at least they should be. You, Meredy, and David need to sign them. Then we can go into the war room and Ev and I can give you some information. Unfortunately we couldn't get you cleared for more than 'need to know'."
Don frowned. "What about Megan and me?"
"I'm not sure," Evan responded. "When I got the clearances last night, you two weren't on the list. Hopefully it'll come through soon. Look, I know how you feel about being out of the loop, but this really is out of my hands. I don't make the decisions."
Don nodded. He wasn't happy about it, but he had learned over the years that there were some things he couldn't fight. This appeared to be one of them. While they had been talking, Colby had ripped the envelope open and passed the papers out to the correct people. All three of them read through them and signed on the lines, then looked at Evan and Aiden. "To the Batcave!" Aiden announced.
Evan shook his head and pushed her in the right direction. "I'm vetting movie night," he grumbled. "And banning Sheppard. And taping Deke's mouth shut." When the agents looked at him in confusion, he shook his head. "Don't ask. You really don't want to know."
Aiden set her coffee cup down and picked up the file she had prepared before leaving the SGC, passing it out to the three agents. "In 1928, in Giza, Egypt, a group of archaeologists made an astounding discovery. They found what they thought was a stone ring with hieroglyphics on it. It turned out not to be stone, but a new type of metal."
"Nice history lesson, Aiden, but what does this have to do with anything?" Meredy broke in.
"I'm getting to that," Aiden said. "Fast forward quite a few years to the mid-nineties and the arrival of one Doctor Daniel Jackson on the scene and the acquisition by the Air Force of the ring."
"Aid, need to know," Evan reminded her.
Aiden switched to French. "This is need to know, Ev. They need to know what they're up against."
"Skip the history and just explain aliens and bad, bad things happening," he replied in French.
Aiden crossed her arms and glared at him. "If I don't give them the history we're going to have a repeat of Seattle," she responded, forgetting in her annoyance to speak French.
Evan knew that if he let her get sidetracked by the argument, she would continue it all morning. It would be quicker and easier to bribe her. "If you don't listen and follow what I'm telling you, I'll tell Sheppard no field trips for three months," he threatened.
She snorted in response, knowing that he would try it, but what would actually happen. "That won't last. Gimme three days and he'll be begging you to take me away."
Evan glared at her, knowing how right she was. "Fine." He decided it was time to pull out the big guns. "Then when Murray blows up the jumper, you don't get to help."
"Woolsey's gonna let him do it?!"
He nodded, knowing that she hadn't heard yet since Sheppard had told him just before they left. "He wants to be sure we know how to prevent it so he gave Sheppard permission a couple of days ago to let Murray try it."
Aiden pouted, but agreed, "All right. I'll be good." She turned back to the agents who had been watching in amusement.
"Is it really safe to bribe her with explosives?" Colby asked as Evan sat down beside him.
"It's safer for her to blow things up with Murray and supervision than by herself," Evan responded.
Aiden took up her position at the front of the room and began to outline what the gou'ald were. "Goa'uld are snake-like creatures that take their hosts by force through the mouth or back of the head. Once they are inside, they take control, trying to wipe anything of the host from existence, leaving only the goa'uld to do what they want. There is a coalition of goa'ulds, but they spend most of their time fighting each other and trying to steal each other's vast lands so we rarely have to face more than one of them at a time. They are all evil and hell bent on taking control of the galaxy. They conquer planets with human populations and make the people worship them as gods. It the people don't, they get destroyed."
"Aiden, have you totally lost your mind?" Meredy asked with a grin, not really believing anything. Her grin faltered as Aiden stared back at her stone faced and the agent realized the linguist was totally serious. "So you have fought these goa' whatsy things, Evan?" Meredy asked, changing the subject.
Evan nodded seriously. "I have faced some of them, not as many as the front line team, and I'm fighting elsewhere now, but..." He shrugged, at a loss, because their clearance didn't cover Atlantis. "Aiden is telling the truth about them. They have their own armies, made up of mostly what are called Jaffas and some of just humans; which they consider cannon fodder. The Jaffas are men and women that carry an infant goa'uld in their stomach in a pouch much like a kangaroo carries their young," Evan explained.
"Ew. That is so gross, Evan!" Meredy shuddered, then refocused on their conversation. "So you think whoever is doing these killings is a goa'uld?" she queried. "And do you understand this language as well as she does?" Colby and David were stunned at what they were hearing from the Air Force officer and his linguist. They exchanged glances and continued listening to the discussion.
"Yes, we do think it is a goa'uld that is doing these killings, but we're not sure which one. As Aiden explained, there are many of them. As old ones get knocked out, new ones arise to take their places. And Aiden speaks and reads the language fluently. I know enough to piss them off."
David looked up from where he had been taking notes, halfheartedly. "You guys aren't making this up to screw with the FBI, are you?" David asked, unsure what to believe. He'd heard and seen a lot during his time as an FBI agent, but this was pretty unbelievable.
"No," Aiden and Evan replied together.
"So what's next?" Colby asked.
Evan looked over at Aiden. "I'd like to go back to the warehouse and look around again. There were too many people there yesterday and the body and I just need to see the place again. Then we can see where we go from there."
Colby nodded, getting to his feet. "Sounds like the warehouse is where we need to be then. Let's go. Two cars?"
Evan nodded. "Sounds good."
Aiden stretched as she got out of the car and Evan grinned at her. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he replied, still grinning. "Nothing at all."
"That is not a nothing grin," she retorted, grabbing her camera, but leaving the rest of her back pack in the car.
Evan glanced over and saw that the agents were deep in a discussion with the officers guarding the building so he pulled the linguist closer to him and kissed her briefly. "I like the casual clothes," he admitted. "Much nicer than your uniform." He nodded at her back pack. "Grab your pistol."
Aiden smiled at his words and took her nine millimeter and holster out of the pack, clipping it to her waistband. "It feels weird to wear it this way," she told him as they walked over to join the agents.
"I know," he said.
"You guys got permits for those things?" David joked as he saw both of them were wearing guns.
Evan pulled his wallet out of his pocket and flipped it open, showing David their military permits and IDs. "Good enough?" he asked.
"I was kidding," David told him.
Evan shrugged. "Better safe than sorry. Believe me, we're both qualified though. More than needed in some cases. We cleared to go in?"
The guys nodded as Meredy opened the door. They watched in amusement as Evan backed off and let Aiden begin to poke around on her own, shadowing her, but not stopping her from poking her nose into whatever she wanted. "Do you get the feeling they work this way a lot?" David asked Colby as the agents began to do their own work.
Colby shrugged as he glanced over at the two Air Force personal. "As long as they work well, why should we care how they do it?"
Aiden went around one of the crates and found a small round machine. Evan glanced at it and said, "Is that Ancient?"
"Yeah, I think..." She studied it for a moment and then turned frantically to him. "Don't think!" she ordered. He quickly blanked his mind, well used to orders like that from her. The machine rose into the air anyway and Aiden watched with horrified fascination. "I said 'don't think'." she yelled him.
"I didn't do that!" Evan yelled back.
She grabbed his hand and shouted to the agents who were all standing stupefied, "Run!" Somehow in the mad scramble for cover, Aiden got separated from Evan. When she looked around again, she found herself hunkered down behind some boxes with Colby on one side of her and David on the other. Meredy and Evan were behind another set of boxes, close enough for her to yell to them, but there was no cover between the two groups. The machine had them pinned down and was somehow firing at both groups at once. The three agents and Evan were returning fire, but so far hadn't managed to do much damage to it. Aiden had her own nine millimeter out, but was currently more interested in ranting, than in shooting. "I told him not to think; obviously he didn't listen, because if he had listened, that goddamn thing wouldn't be firing at us. But, no, he must have thought on because it turned on. I hate Earth. I hate the thrice damned Ancients. And I hate having a husband who can accidentally turn things on!" She glanced over at Evan and Meredy, noticing that the machine seemed to be concentrating the majority of its fire on them. Above her head, Colby and David exchanged amused glances. "Evan!" she yelled across the open space.
"What?" he yelled back. "Little busy here!"
"Did you try thinking off at it?"
Evan rolled his eyes. For a smart woman, Aiden could sometimes ask the dumbest questions. "No, Aiden," he snarked back. "I'd much rather sit here and get shot at, than turn it off. It's not responding to me!"
Aiden dropped down so she was below the level of the crates and tried to work out the problem. "So if Evan didn't turn it on, who did?" She looked around at the two men beside her, then over at Meredy next to Evan. "Shite. One of them has to have the gene! And be pretty damn powerful."
Colby glanced down at her. "Gene?" he asked. "What gene?"
Aiden had opened her mouth to tell him that she would explain later when she heard a yell from Evan and Meredy's position. She whipped her head around to see Evan down on the ground, clutching his arm. "Evan!" she screamed. Popping up like a jack-in-the-box, she snapped off one quick shot, then ducked again as the machine exploded.
As soon as the debris had stopped falling, she was up and running. Skidding on the gravel, she dropped to her knees beside Evan. Meredy had ripped his sleeve open and was examining the wound. She backed off as Aiden got there, followed quickly by Colby and David. "Go get the first aid kit," she ordered Colby.
David was looking in awe at the mess that had been the machine. "I think you killed it," he commented.
Evan tried to lever himself up to see the aftermath, but Aiden shoved him back down before he got more than a glimpse. "How many shots?" he asked, then yelped as she poked his wound.
"Just one," she answered, accepting the first aid kit from Colby. "Stop bitching. You've been shot worse than this."
He flinched away from her ministrations. "Jesu, Aiden, you're worse than Deke. Take it easy!"
"Stop being such a baby," she snapped at him as she dug through the kit. She pulled out the alcohol pads and swabbed off his arm, drawing another yelp from him. "It's not that bad," she decided. "Looks like just a graze."
"It feels like it's on fire," he responded.
"Can someone go get my back pack from the car?" Aiden asked as she considered Evan's expression. "Breathe, Evan. Nice and slow. I've got something for the pain."
David loped over to the car and returned quickly with Aiden's pack. She dug through the bag and pulled out a small jar. Unscrewing the lid, she revealed a bluish paste that she slathered on Evan's arm. He breathed a sigh of relief as it took effect. "Thanks, Aid," he said as the lines of pain on his face smoothed out.
"Mmm-hmm," she replied absentmindedly as she began to wrap the wound.
Meredy picked up the jar that Aiden had set down. "What is this stuff?" she asked.
Aiden shrugged. "I don't know what it is exactly. Our doctor got it from an ally. It's a topical numbing agent. I don't know anything other than that. Most medical stuff goes way over my head."
Colby took it from Meredy and smelled it. "Man, that stuff stinks!"
Evan sat up and rotated his shoulder to see what his range of motion was. He knew he'd pay for it if he overdid it before the stuff wore off, but he wanted to see how much he could move it now. "Believe me, that smell is a vast improvement," he replied.
David came back from where he had been examining what was left of the machine. "I can't believe you did that with one shot," he said. "What kind of ammunition are you using?"
Evan got to his feet with Aiden and Colby's help and looked at what was left of the machine. "Damn, Aiden," he said when he got a good look at what little was left. There wasn't much left for them to study. "We've talked about your anger management problems."
Aiden pouted in response. "It shot you first." She turned to David. "And I was just using regular ammunition. Apparently I hit it in just the right spot."
The three Agents and the two Atlanteans stared at the destroyed Ancient device. It was scattered into several pieces. "Damn, Aiden," Evan swore again, looking down at the device and nudging it with his toe.
"It hurt you,” Aiden deadpanned.
"We need to do some footwork," David suggested when it was clear they weren't going to be able to get any information from the device. "Do some door knocking to find out who's been coming and going and some research to find out who owns this place."
"Evan and I can do the door knocking," Colby suggested, looking at Evan. The Air Force officer nodded in agreement.
"I can go back to the office and work more on the translations," Aiden agreed.
"I'll go back with Meredy and Aiden and start the property search," David said.
"No!" Meredy said firmly.
Everyone looked at Meredy in surprise. Colby glanced at her and arched his eyebrows. He walked over to his wife and redirected her to talk in private away from their friends. "What's wrong, Mer?" Colby inquired in Spanish.
"I don't want to be separated from you. I have a bad feeling and things never end well when we're separated like this," she replied in Spanish.
"We're just going to ask some questions and look around," Colby assured her in Spanish.
Meredy gave Colby an anxious glance. "I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling, but it doesn't feel right you going off with Colonel Lorne without David or I to watch your back."
Colby put his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be fine, Mer. I know you're not keen on the outside help, but neither am I. We're gonna be fine," Colby tried to reassure her. He gave her a kiss on the lips and hugged her.
Meredy sighed. "I feel like something bad is gonna happen," she whispered to him in Spanish.
"You're going to have to trust me," Colby murmured.
"I do, but I'm not happy about being separated from you. Please be careful, Cole."
He grinned, the sexy smile that had made her fall in love with him. "Always," he told her. They shared another kiss and a cuddle. Meredy watched as Colby walked back over to Evan. Evan and Aiden said their own goodbyes; the linguist was apparently just as apprehensive about splitting up and reluctantly turned him loose when the two agents rejoined them. Meredy headed to the car with David and Aiden, while Evan and Colby went off to do some footwork.
"Is everything alright?" Evan queried, as they walked out of the warehouse.
"Meredy's just worried about me and has a bad feeling about all this footwork on my own," Colby replied.
"I've learned to trust people's bad feelings and gut instincts," Evan said quietly.
"Usually when Meredy gets like this she's right about her bad feelings."
Colby and Evan walked along the streets, knocking on doors and talking to people when they answered. Three hours later they hadn't gotten much from the local people in the area. One old woman did admit to seeing a tall thing man with short black hair and dark eyes hanging around the place. The strange man had a small band of weird men dressed in alien clothing, and speaking a strange language, coming to and from the building. The elderly lady had been afraid for her life.
The two men were now back in front of the warehouse, discussing what they had discovered. "All roads lead to Rome," Colby muttered. "And this is Rome."
"I'm glad I didn't become a federal agent," Evan joked. "The footwork is a killer."
"I thought you'd be used to it being in the Air Force?" Colby asked, walking back into the warehouse.
"We sometimes get to fly to where we're going, which definitely has its advantages."
Colby nodded. "I was in the army once."
"Yeah, Aid mentioned that. Where did you serve?" Evan replied.
"Afghanistan mostly. With the CID."
Evan's eyes went wide and he nodded. "I'm glad our girls are getting along," Evan said, changing the subject as he followed Colby back towards the device Aiden had destroyed.
"Yeah me, too," Colby agreed.
"I didn't think anyone could swear like Aiden does, but your Meredy's a trooper at swearing." Evan grinned. "Although I think Aiden's still got her beat on number of languages just because that's her job."
"Yeah, she is and she doesn't always think before she speaks. We tell her to filter her mouth," Colby said, grinning. "You know I was worried that Aiden and Meredy wouldn't get along and would make it hard for us to work together. You and Aiden hiding behind the bureaucratic crap doesn't help with either of us."
Evan winced. "The sort of work we do. The things we've seen. Some things are best not known by the general public," Evan tried to explain.
"I understand that from with working in the Army, but Meredy not so much. She didn't know me back then since it’s been years since I left the Army. Although I'll admit that some of my Army stuff has come back to bite me in the ass."
"I know how that goes," Evan responded. "And with the filter thing, I've got the same problem with Aiden. If she thinks it, it comes out of her mouth. It leads to some really interesting staff meetings sometimes."
Colby laughed. "I can imagine. Glad to know that part of her personality hasn't changed since Afghan."
Evan wanted to question Colby about working with Aiden, but decided now wasn't the time. The two men searched the warehouse again, but found nothing new.
"We should head back to the office, report what little we've found, and get a team in here," Colby told Evan.
"A good idea and I can check on Aiden. Make sure she hasn't blown the office up or something."
Colby laughed at that, until he saw Evan wasn't kidding. "That's a consideration?"
Evan shrugged. "Well, she didn't pack any explosives, but she's pretty good at improvising." Still chuckling the two men prepared to leave.
Ba'al had been watching the two men from a window with a small band of loyal Jaffa. Despite what Aiden had translated, he wasn't one of the clones, but the real deal. Ba'al had come back to the warehouse to retrieve the Ancient device he'd found, but instead he found two strangers looking around his building.
"Take these two Tau'ri alive. I want to find out who they are and what they are doing in my property," Ba'al commanded.
"Yes, my Lord," his First Prime agreed.
Inside the warehouse, Evan and Colby were unaware of the approaching Goa'uld and his Jaffa. It wasn't until Colby heard a crunching sound from one of the Jaffa's boots he looked up and caught sunlight reflecting off something shiny from behind one of the crates. Before Colby could warn Evan, the agent felt himself being stunned by something.
Colby felt his body go all tingly and gave Evan a surprised look before collapsing to the ground. Evan raced over to assist Colby, but was zatted himself and ended up joining his friend on the floor of the warehouse.
"Take the prisoners to our van, make sure they are secure, and can't escape,' Ba'al ordered. His First Prime turned and relayed more precise orders to the other Jaffa to do as Ba'al had commanded.
Back at the office Meredy was going over the photos from the site again with David, to see if they had missed something. He had set up a property search as soon as they got back to the office and the computer hummed quietly in the background. Aiden was sitting on the table staring at the screens which were now split with her translations on one side and the goa'uld on the other. Each of them had a cup of coffee sitting in front of them as they worked. The room was silent except for the flipping of papers. Don and Megan were out, working on other cases.
Meredy's bad feeling had been getting steadily worse as the day went on and now she pulled out her cell. She dialed Colby's number and impatiently waited. She was anxious when he didn't pick up straight away, which was unusual for Colby since he always answered on the first ring. Meredy tried several times and still got no answer. She started to panic.
"What is it?" David questioned. Aiden glanced over at the question and could see how worried the female agent was about getting no response from Colby.
"Colby isn't answering his cell, David," Meredy said, worriedly.
"His cell might be out of range," David suggested, although he didn't sound very confident.
Meredy didn't answer, but merely dialed Colby's number again and put it on speaker. "You've reached Agent Granger. I'm sorry I can't take your call right now. Please leave your name and a message and I'll get back to you ASAP."
"He's not out of range," Meredy said flatly.
"He might be busy,” Aiden said quietly.
"Cole always answers his cell on the first ring no matter how busy he gets. Especially if he knows it’s me," Meredy replied apprehensively.
Aiden sat there thinking and started to worry about Evan. "Can I use your cell to contact Evan? Maybe he'll answer," Aiden asked Meredy.
"Sure," Meredy replied, passing her cell over to Aiden.
Aiden tried a few times and also got Evan's voice mail. "I'm also getting the answering service," Aiden said worriedly.
"Maybe we should go back to the crime scene?" David suggested.
"No. I've got a better way of finding our men," Aiden disagreed.
"Meredy?" David inquired, bowing to the decision of his partner.
"Whatever happened to the two boys, they probably aren't in the warehouse anymore. If Aiden has a better and faster way of finding our boys, I'm in. You stay here and inform Don and Megan that Colby and Evan are missing." Meredy stood up and clipped her holster to her pants, grumbling, "I told Colby so! I told him I had a bad feeling about this! I'll have my cell with me and on at all times," she told David.
"Okay. Good luck in finding them," David said giving Meredy's shoulder a squeeze.
"Thanks," Meredy answered. "I'll find him and bring him home," she promised David. She then turned and faced the linguist. "You said you have a way of finding our men?" Meredy queried her.
