Serpent's Vow

21: Flash-bang

As Daniel watched, the blood still splattered on the  golden rod's surface began to fade like fog on a window in a cool  morning. It was the strangest thing. The rod looked, well, shinier than  before. Why was that?

Cloning stiffened, flipped the rod so he  held the handle like a knife, and darted out into the hallway. The sound  of a blade sinking viciously into flesh met Daniel's ears and he  gulped. Metal clanged and more booted feet rushed down the hallway  towards the room. Daniel had no doubt Cloning could handle himself, but  anyone could get overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Daniel could fight  if push came to shove, but he would much rather talk. Talking he could  do, fighting he could... passably do. Besides, if he kept working with the  Quantum Mirror, he ran the risk of accidentally revealing to the Jaffa  and, by extension, the Goa'uld how to use the technology. And if he  found the right reality, then what? Leave it open until the gang  returned? Escape through the Mirror alone without Jack and Teal'c and  Kaiba? No, the latter was not even remotely an option.

"Jack's going to kill me," he muttered under his breath.

With  a huff of frustration, Daniel switched off the Mirror and quickly  scanned the room. There wasn't any good place to hide the remote where  it wouldn't immediately be found except for the crates. So he pried the  top of one of the wooden crates open and tossed the remote inside before  dropping the lid shut.

Then he drew his gun and stepped warily  towards the doorway. Pressing his back against the wall, he leaned  around and peered out into the hall. Cloning was handling the situation,  but even Daniel could tell he wouldn't last much longer with martial  arts and his rod alone. Odd. If Cloning was identical to Kaiba, then why  wasn't Cloning using a kara kesh? Daniel knew Kaiba had one.

Unless  Cloning only mimicked Kaiba appearance and physical ability at the time  of replication. That was more up Sam's alley than Daniel's but if it  was true, then this was probably the right decision. Daniel lifted his  gun and stared because holy shit! 

Cloning had literally just tossed a Jaffa back down the hall hard enough to slam him against the wall without a kara kesh. That was impressive.

Still. He missed one.

Daniel  raised his gun and fired at the Jaffa stalking Cloning from behind. It  wasn't a headshot. Actually, it wasn't a good shot at all, but it was  definitely a lucky shot. The bullet pinged off the Jaffa's armor before  deflecting into the soft unprotected area underneath the warrior's  raised forearm. The Jaffa grunted, flinching back, and staggering  briefly before his head suddenly rolled off of his shoulders.

Oh.

Daniel  gulped. He'd seen a lot, especially over the past few years, but a  beheading wasn't... Well, it certainly wasn't a sight he could remember  seeing. Nor was it a sight he ever wanted to see again.

The sound  of a staff blast rang down the hallway, an energetic hum compared to the  loud pop of gunfire, followed by a hoarse cry of pained surprise.  Cloning stumbled back towards Daniel facing where the blast had come  from. One hand was pressed against a shoulder which wasn't bleeding but-

It  wasn't bleeding. Why wasn't it bleeding? Staff blasts tended to  cauterize wounds, true, but they still bled and burned the fabric and  skin around the wound leaving scorch marks. None of those tell-tale  marks were visible. Daniel blinked and stared at the wound in confusion.

It  looked more like a computer error. It fizzled and blurred before  resettling in the form of Cloning's trench coat. That was new.

Cloning's  eyes flashed gold and the Jaffa cursed, preparing to fire once more.  Except this blast wasn't aimed at Cloning. It was aimed at Daniel.  Orange gold energy blazed across the expanse towards him. Daniel had  just long enough to comprehend the fact that this was going to hurt  before he was pushed aside and Cloning was suddenly there and gone!