crossoverfic | Black Magician 4/?

Title: Black Magician
Author: Shifty
Rating: PG
Summary: Methos' past comes back to haunt him and SG-1 make a surprising discovery. Highlander/Stargate.
Previous chapters can be found here

Disclaimer – Neither the programs, nor their characters, belong to me. I’m not making a profit, just having fun.

Many thanks to XWingAce and Moonbeam who betad this. Even if I didn’t agree with everything you said.

Chapter 04:

Methos glanced at the next paper and wondered if perhaps giving that test had not been such a good idea. He gave a despairing look at the pile he’d already marked. Every page was covered in red comments. He picked up his red pen and, as he read over the answer to the first question, made a mental note to buy them in bulk in future. He wished for the umpteenth time that night that high schools had teaching assistants to do this sort of thing. The doorbell rang and Methos sighed in relief.

“Saved by the bell,” he muttered as he quickly dropped the pen and went to answer the door. He sensed no Immortal presence, but that seldom meant anything. He reached under the table in the hallway to assure himself that the gun he had secured there when moving in was still in place.

Opening the door Methos saw a man in his fifties with greying hair. Despite this it was clear that he was quite fit and not to be underestimated. He simply oozed military. Methos narrowed his eyes, wondering what the military wanted with him. Next to the older man stood a tall man in his thirties. His hair wasn’t regulation length and, while it was obvious that he was capable, he did not have the rigidity that came with military training. His face also seemed somewhat familiar.

“I’m Jack O’Neill and this is Daniel Jackson,” the older man greeted.

“May we come in?” Daniel asked.

Methos watched them both warily. He remembered now where he had seen the younger man previously. They had frequented the same linguistic circles and he remembered the outlandish, but mostly accurate, theories that Daniel Jackson had argued. He had tended to avoid the young man simply for that reason. The fact that he was now working with the military did not bode well.

“What are you here for?” Methos asked, pulling Adrian Blackwell’s naïve curiosity around him like a cloak.

“We would just like to talk to you for a moment. It shouldn’t take long,” Daniel told him with a friendly smile. Methos stepped back, opening the door wider and gesturing for them to enter. It would not do to make them suspicious of him, after all. The last thing he needed was the military looking into his past.

Jack and Daniel stepped into the apartment and glanced around, taking everything in. It had a very homey feel, which seemed to invite people to make themselves comfortable and relax.

“Through to the end and to the left,” Methos told them.

There was a brief pause as both Jack and Methos waited for the other to go first. Finally Jack conceded and walked rather stiffly to the sitting room. He disliked having an unknown factor at his back and kept feeling the urge to turn around and make sure that the other man was still there and not reaching for a weapon. He had noticed the strangely assessing look on the man’s face. While he expected a certain level of caution, he could not shake the feeling that that sharp gaze had been cataloguing their strengths and weaknesses to be filed away for use when relevant.

The first thing Daniel noticed when he entered the sitting room was the number of odd artefacts and artwork dotting walls and shelves. He could find no discerning pattern in their origin, though. Some were Roman, some Greek or Egyptian, from various periods in history. Mixed in with these were a number of African items and a few modern sculptures. Curiously, mounted on one wall were two swords and an axe that looked as though they had been used frequently and quite recently. There were also a number of paintings, only a few of which whose artists he recognised. It was the photographs that drew Daniel though. The majority were of a young woman, in several exotic locations around the world, who looked progressively thinner and paler as the pictures went on. The second largest amount of pictures consisted of an old man with a cane and a much younger man who, in some photographs, had long hair and in others very short hair. There were only a few of a woman with white blond hair that had to be fake, and a boy with strawberry blond hair. None contained the man calling himself Adrian Blackwell at all.

Methos watched as the two men entered the sitting room, keeping enough distance between him and them that should one of them decide to try something he would have enough time to react. He noticed Daniel looking over his photographs and felt unaccountably exposed.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked. Daniel turned around and shook his head. He took a seat next to Jack on the couch and Methos breathed a sigh of relief. He took the chair closest to the window that lead to the fire escape, which also happened to be situated beneath his brothers’ weapons.

“We just have some questions for you,” Daniel told him. “Do you know either Adam Pierson or David Bennett?” It took Methos a moment to remember to breathe. They knew about at least three of his identities. He needed to know if that was all they knew and just how much danger he and other Immortals were in. He schooled his features into a curiously puzzled frown and shook his head.

“I’m sorry Dr Jackson, I don’t know an Adam Pierson. David Bennett, on the other hand, was my grandfather,” he replied. Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he stared at him. Methos met his gaze with a friendly ‘I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful’ smile. Sometimes he found it useful to use one of his previous identities to support the history of his present one. People seemed less inclined to dig when you could produce extended family. It had certainly worked for the Watchers.

“How did you know that Daniel was a doctor?” Jack asked, voice laden with distrust. Methos shrugged negligently.

“My major at college was History, but I minored in Archaeology. I found Dr Jackson’s theories fascinating.” Daniel leaned forward, looking enthusiastic but Jack raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

“Did you believe them?” Jack asked. Methos shrugged again.

“They did sound a bit farfetched, but I’m of the opinion that the academic community needs to be shaken up every now and then,” Methos replied. He looked the other two in the eye for a moment before asking, “Was that all you had to ask me?”

“Yes, that was all,” Daniel replied, disappointment clearly etched in his features. He was not sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly had not been a complete lack of anything substantial.

“I hope you find who you’re looking for,” Methos said politely as he stood up to lead the other men out. Jack stood and looked Methos directly in the eyes.

“We will,” he said, his expression inscrutable. Daniel stood as well and they began to make their way out of the room. Daniel paused at the door and turned to look back at Methos.

“Mae govannen,” he said, watching Methos intently. Methos stopped short and paled dramatically. He stared at Daniel incredulously for a moment. The pronunciation was atrocious and the accent just as bad, but he recognised the words. He had no idea how they could have found out about that language when he was the only person alive who could possibly know it, but he was not willing to stay long enough to find out.

Methos pulled himself together and blanked his face to reveal nothing, though he realised that there was no way that the two men could have missed his reaction.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Methos asked, belatedly donning a mask of ingenuousness.

“Mae govannen,” Daniel said with an innocent smile. “Do you recognise it?”

“Sorry, it’s not familiar,” he told them, frowning in confusion. “What language is it?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” Daniel replied, a little disappointed as he began to wonder if he had imagined the initial reaction. A glance at Jack seemed to confirm that there was something strange about Adrian Blackwell.

“I really am sorry I can’t be of more help.” Methos smiled politely as he gestured to the doorway, clearly indicating that the questioning was over. Daniel returned the polite smile with one of his own though Jack remained frowning.

“Thank you for your time,” Daniel said, wanting to speak with Jack alone so that he could compare notes and perhaps confirm his suspicions.

“We’ll be in touch Mr Blackwell,” Jack told him, his posture threatening.

Methos smiled benignly as he showed them to the door. Once they had left, he leaned against the door, taking several deep breaths. This, he decided, was the shit resolutely hitting the fan.

Methos immediately went to his room and pulled a suitcase out from beneath his bed. The first things that went in it were the photographs of Alexa and the others. Next came his journals. He knew that Daniel was an astounding linguist and he could not risk the man getting his hands on any of his journals. While he did use an extensive mix of languages, many of which were dead and lost to time, there were enough languages that he knew Daniel would either recognise or speak that it was not worth the chance.

He took a moment to glance out of his window and noticed that there were two men in a car across the street. If they were watching the front of the building then there were undoubtedly others watching the back of the building too. He returned to his room to pack several changes of clothing, several passports under different identities and a wad of cash of varying currencies that he had on hand for just such an emergency. He then picked up the phone and dialled the police.

“Hello,” he said, his voice wavering slightly as he feigned fear and anxiety. “There are two men in a car outside my apartment block. I think they’ve been following me.” He listened for a moment and made several more comments before putting the phone down. He then called a moving company and arranged for them to come collect his things the next day. He knew better than to call the airport from his apartment as it would not be hard for them to find out from there just where he had booked a flight to. At least this way he bought himself a few hours, and by then he could be on his way to anywhere.

When he heard sirens in the distance he picked his suitcase up and glanced out the window. The policemen went up to the car and ordered the men to get out. The men in the car began to argue and a crowd began to gather. It would take several minutes for them to sort the situation out. Methos smirked as he went to grab his coat before leaving the apartment and making his way down the stairs. He had the brief, absurd thought that at least he did not have to finish marking the papers.

--

Daniel watched Jack’s expression as he listened to someone on the other end of the phone. The older man’s frown steadily increased.

“We’ve lost him. He called the cops on our guys and he’s gone.” Jack’s frown turned into a muted glare as Daniel grinned.

“Don’t you see what this means?” Daniel said. “He wouldn’t run if he didn’t know something.”

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a dead linguist to track down.”

TBC

The language used is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish. This will not be a crossover with Lord of the Rings, I just couldn’t be bothered to make up my own language.