I've been pretty busy with Thanksgiving plans, but I hope to post the next part of my MacGyver/Murdoc story soon. In the meantime, I'm reposting part five of A Little Problem. Enjoy!

A Little Problem Part Five

Rated: PG

When MacGyver heard the sounds of Susan and Ellie entering the house, he approached the broken jeep and began honking its horn, hoping to alert their attention. For awhile, neither of them heard it. It was a fairly small sound that didn’t carry well throughout the house. Still, MacGyver continued to honk the horn, hoping the persistence of the sound would finally catch their attention. He heard them rustling and talking downstairs as they settled in after coming home from work and school. Ellie stopped talking and heard the beeping noise.

“Mom, I hear something upstairs,” she said.

“What is it?” Susan asked.

They listened harder, now both picking up on the beeping sound.

“It sounds like a car horn,” Susan said. “It sounds like it’s very far away.”

“No, it’s upstairs!” Ellie said.

Susan looked at her daughter. “How can you be so sure?” She asked.

“It’s Jack! He’s in trouble!” Ellie said. She ran upstairs.

“Careful!” Susan shouted, running after her.

MacGyver held onto the jeep, bracing himself as the floor shook from the movements of the two giants as they ran. He kept honking the horn, hoping they would see him before they crushed him.

Ellie stopped at the top of the stairs, catching her breath. Susan wasn’t far behind her. She looked down to where the sound of the horn was coming from and saw MacGyver, sitting on top of one of her toy jeeps.

“Jack?” Ellie asked. “What’s the matter? What are you doing out here? You look…different. What happened to my jeep?”

“Easy kid, take it easy,” MacGyver said, hoping to slow down her frantic questions.

Ellie crouched down on the floor to get closer to him, and Susan watched in fascination. MacGyver flinched a little, not used to being faced by something so large.

“You’re not Jack,” Ellie said. “You look like him, though. Who are you?”

“Name’s MacGyver.”

“You look like Jack, except for the hair. Are you Jack’s brother?”

“No, I’m his cousin, actually.”

“Wow,” Ellie said. She looked up at Susan. “Mom, isn’t this cool? They’re like twins almost! I’ll have two of them!”

Susan could see the look of concern on the second small man’s face and she saw the evidence of the wrecked toy jeep, as if he had tried to help Jack escape. Gently, she placed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, trying to calm her excitement, hoping to get into the conversation. Ellie stilled, knowing her mother’s move meant she wanted her to settle down.

“Where is Jack?” Susan asked. “What happened?”

“I was trying to help him get out of here in this jeep,” MacGyver said.

“You can actually drive it? But it’s a toy.”

“Not really, Mom,” Ellie said, pointing at the wires and batteries sticking out of the hood. “It looks like he made it so it could run.”

MacGyver smiled at her. She really was a bright kid. “Well, yes that’s right,” he said. “I used parts from some of your toys. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I think it’s cool!” Ellie said. “Wow, you’re smart!”

“So, where is Jack now?” Susan asked.

“Is he hurt?” Ellie asked, concern on her face.

MacGyver sighed. “No, it’s much worse than that, I’m afraid,” he said. “Somebody took him.”

Susan’s eyes widened in alarm. She didn’t like what she was hearing, and she had a dreadful feeling that she knew who took Jack, her stomach dropping. “Took him?” She asked.

“Yeah,” MacGyver said. “Some guy came in here with a container and took him. He said that Jack would benefit his research.”

Susan’s mouth dropped open and she covered it with her hand in horror. She shook her head.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

“Allen,” she said, shaking her head again. “No, it can’t be true.”

“Who’s Allen?” MacGyver asked.

“My boss,” Susan said, her voice laced with disgust. “We work in a laboratory studying alien species. I always insist that the studies be humane, but he doesn’t listen. He’s a brutal man. If he has Jack, I’m afraid he’ll end up killing him with his experiments.”

“Oh God,” MacGyver said. “Listen, you’ve gotta take me to this laboratory.”

“But why? I work there. I’m sure I can sneak Jack out of there. Trust me, MacGyver, I’ve done it many times before when I thought Allen was taking things too far.”

“I’m sure you have,” MacGyver said, “but I don’t want to risk you getting caught. I’m small. I can get in there undetected. All you have to do is show me where Allen might be keeping Jack, and I’ll do the rest. What do you think?”

Susan nodded. “All right,” she said. “I think you’re right. You can get in there and rescue Jack much easier than I can.”

“Good, then let’s do it,” MacGyver said. “I am going to need a few things first.”

***

Susan carried MacGyver in the palm of her hand to the laboratory where she worked. She took the back way, where fewer security guards and the cover of thick, lush, leafy trees concealed her. The facility was massive for someone her size. She could only imagine how gigantic it must’ve looked from MacGyver’s perspective. It was an impersonal, cold, yet beautiful building, all concrete and glass. Parts of the roof reached up in jagged angles, giving the building an irregular, modern shape. Some of the glass reached up toward the sky in high, swirling spires. They reached the side of the building, where several pipes were along with the ventilation system. Susan lowered herself to her knees and lowered MacGyver near the pipes.

“You’ll easily get in through these pipes,” Susan said. “I know where all of them go. One of them leads directly to Allen’s lab.”

MacGyver looked up at her, still slightly intimidated by her size. “Just tell me which one, Susan,” he said. “I’ll take it from there.”

Susan showed him the pipe to enter the building through, helping him gain access to it. She watched as he crawled inside. “Don’t forget your rope,” she said, handing him a coil of string.

“Thanks.”

Susan smiled at him. She couldn’t help it. He was so small and adorable, just like Jack. He was half concealed by the shadow of the pipe, so all she could really see of him was a tiny silhouette. “Do you think you’ll be able to help Jack?” She asked.

“Sure,” MacGyver said. “It shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, I owe him.”

“I know Allen, MacGyver,” Susan said, her expression turning serious. “If he catches you, he’ll make things very painful for both you and Jack. Don’t let him torture you. Don’t let him harm Jack.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get Jack out. Everything will be fine.”

Susan sighed. She managed a nervous smile. “I’ll wait here,” she said. “Be careful.”

MacGyver nodded and waved, and then he turned to proceed through the piping.

***

Allen was growing impatient. His little subject hadn’t yet awakened from stasis, even though he had placed him inside the controlled environment over an hour ago. Grabbing a nearby pen from his desk, he began to poke at the tiny figure, trying to rouse it.

“Wakey wakey,” he said.

Jack O’Neill awoke to the feeling of something prodding and jabbing him on the back. The pressure being applied to his back made him wince and groan with pain. He stirred and tried to sit up, feeling groggy and dizzy. As he tried to get his bearings, he saw a clear glass window he could lean against until he fully recovered his senses. Once he leaned against it, however, he instantly regretted it. Waves of intense, sharp, hot, and searing pain shot through his body. It almost felt like he was being electrocuted. The pain crippled him, paralyzing him, making it difficult to move away from it. He released a loud scream and then clenched his jaw tightly, trying to fight the pain. His muscles cramped and went into spasms, his entire body tightening. He convulsed uncontrollably, and finally it was these jerky movements that allowed him to free himself from the electrified barrier. He collapsed on the floor, panting.

“That was stupid,” A voice said above him.

Jack looked up through tear-blurred eyes and saw the enormous shadow standing over him. Still gasping, trying to recover from the pain of the jolt, he wiped the moisture from his eyes to get a better look at what he faced. It was the same man who had grabbed him earlier. From the sound of his ragged breath and the piercing hot pain that filled his side, Jack remembered how the jerk had broken one of his ribs. Now, he was electrocuting him. Wonderful.

“This barrier is rather deceptive,” Allen said, smirking, already enjoying the pain he was inflicting on Jack, his new little experiment. “It looks clear, like you could walk right through it. But…” he touched the barrier with his pen, sending sparks flying. “The more you touch it, the more you try to escape, the smaller the barrier will become. Soon, you won’t even have room to stand. The pain will be merciless.”

“Yeah, well I’m not enough of an idiot to touch it again,” Jack said.

Allen smiled and touched the barrier with his pen again. It had shrunk to the point where it touched Jack’s hand. He screamed and ran to another side, but he was shocked again. He couldn’t see most of the barrier until it was too late. Allen continued this sick game with him until the barrier wrapped around Jack’s body, continuously shocking him. He laughed as Jack cried out, his body convulsing uncontrollably. He had nowhere to run for relief. The excruciating pain made Jack feel as if he was on fire, and it intensified the pain in his side. It became harder and harder to breathe, and soon the pain consumed him entirely. He lost consciousness.

Satisfied with the outcome of his game, Allen turned the barrier off, causing Jack to slump pitifully to the floor of his cage. Allen was pleased to humiliate the little man. He had too much arrogance. Now, he would be weakened enough to submit to his first experiment without resistance. In case he was still stubborn enough when he awoke again, Allen pinned him to a small table, placing him on his stomach. Tiny restraints wrapped around Jack’s wrists and ankles.

“Our work has just begun,” Allen said to the tiny, unconscious figure.

***

MacGyver faced a labyrinth of pipes leading through the laboratory. He was glad Susan had given him detailed diagrams and instructions on how to infiltrate the complex; otherwise the journey to Allen’s lab would have taken much longer and would have been far more complicated. It was dark inside the pipes, so he had rigged a small light from another one of Ellie’s toys which she had gladly given up for him to use. Navigating the pipes using a homemade flashlight and plans written on a piece of paper the size of his body made the trip awkward, but he pressed on, folding up the paper as many times as he could and then finally getting rid of it when he was confident of his direction. He supposed if he had been Susan’s size, he would be fascinated by her ability to draw such detailed diagrams in miniature, but he was the miniature, and the so-called sticky note she had used and claimed it was the smallest piece of paper she could find became more of a cumbersome nuisance to his small stature than a help.

He knew he was close when he heard someone scream. It was a deep scream filled with pain, and it almost sounded inhuman. He knew it was Jack. Soon, he heard the screams directly below him. He knew he had to be close. Using the tools he had brought along, also loaned to him by Ellie, he began to cut an opening into the pipe. Once he was done, he prepared the coil of string he had brought along to use as a climbing rope, tying a harness around him and securing the other end to a nearby bolt. He tugged and tested the string, hoping it was sturdy enough to hold him.

Up until that point, MacGyver hadn’t once looked down through the opening he had carved out of the pipe. His fear of heights played a role in this, but another factor was his fear of seeing what terrible things Allen had already done to Jack. The screams had silenced, and he wondered if his cousin was already dead. A shudder of adrenalin ran through his body, anger over this cruel torturer who claimed to be acting in the interest of science motivating him to press ahead, no matter what. Jack needed him. Sighing deeply, preparing himself, he finally looked down to get a sense of where he was.

He was right above Jack’s cage. The top seemed uncovered, but the walls of the cage were high enough to keep Jack trapped inside. The lack of covering on the top of the cage might make it difficult to get out, but MacGyver knew it would make it easier for him to get in. From what he could see, Jack was once again unconscious and he was strapped to a table.

“Aw Jack,” MacGyver said, wincing, feeling intense sympathy for his cousin. He could almost feel his pain, sensing the pain in his side and the hot, jolting pain of the electrified force field that had surrounded the cage earlier. He touched his ribs, even though nothing was wrong with his. It was almost as if Jack was still telepathically communicating with him, even though he was unconscious. “I know, Jack,” he said. “I’m here. I know it hurts. I’ll get you out.”

Slowly, doing his best not to let the cold sweats and panic overtake him, he swung out from the opening in the pipe, dangling from the string high up near the vast ceiling like a tiny spider on a web. He began to descend, releasing the string little by little, tightening the slack. Soon, he would be inside Jack’s cage. He stopped in mid-air when he saw the large presence of Allen return to the lab, this time with a syringe that was too large for someone as small as Jack. MacGyver cringed. He hated needles, and he knew Jack did, too.

What would happen when Jack saw that he was about to become this sick man’s unwilling lab rat pincushion? Even lab rats at home were never injected with such large needles. Allen could cause Jack great damage. Of course, MacGyver knew that’s how this man operated. He reminded MacGyver of those sadistic scientists during Nazi Germany, performing all kinds of gruesome, inhumane, and unspeakable so-called “experiments” on those believed to be undesirable. Allen was no different. He was just on a different planet. MacGyver saw it clearly. He intended to commit planetary genocide, and Jack was about to become his latest victim.

To be continued…