Fanfic / The Search for Victory

The Search for Victory by Morena Evensong is a crossover of Stargate-verse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Starting when Daniel Jackson’s life is saved by the Hulk when he’s caught in the crossfire of the Hulkbusters’ latest attempt to capture the green Goliath, the storyline continues to witness the Avengers become involved in Daniel’s search for a secret project that brings together the technology of all of the Four Great Races, as well as the Avengers left on Earth joining the SGC as they prepare to defend Earth from the imminent Ori invasion.

The Search For Victory contains examples of:

• Adaptational Origin Connection: The reason the super-soldier serum worked so well on Steve Rogers is due to him coincidently having the Ancient gene.
• All Your Powers Combined: The titular Victory is a spaceship that represents a combination of technologies from all four of the Great Races (Ancient, Asgard, Nox and Furling).
• Androids Are People, Too: Daniel swiftly talks to JARVIS when he confirms that the A.I. can interact with him, where some people would just ask Tony such questions as he designed JARVIS. Daniel even takes time to apologise that an anti-surveillance device he's about to use will stop JARVIS interacting with them during the upcoming talk.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: During the Ori invasion of New York, JARVIS lists the various scientists who are preparing to defend Stark Tower and the methods they’re using to do so, and concludes with the detail that DUM-E has a fire extinguisher, which Tony notes is the detail that really concerns him as he worries that DUM-E might injure someone on their side rather than the enemy.
• Artistic Licence – Biology: Invoked; Marvel fandom often speculates that the super-soldier serum only worked on Steve Rogers because Erskine made last-minute changes to the formula that he never wrote down before he was killed. Here Daniel speculates that it was actually something about Steve's own biology that made him more receptive to the serum. It's later confirmed after Steve and other Avengers accompany Daniel to Atlantis that Steve has the Ancient gene, suggesting that the gene is the reason his body responded so well to the serum.
• Ascended Fanboy: John Sheppard is noted to be a long-time fan of Captain America, and Lorne also admires Rogers’ history.
• Atrocious Alias: When Major Davis tries to correct General O'Neill that Rhodes's armor is "Iron Patriot" rather than "War Machine", Jack states "War Machine sounds cooler; Iron Patriot makes him sound like a steam locomotive".
• Awesome, but Impractical: Invoked during the battle against the Ori when Steve uses a newly-discovered drone system to create a duplicate of his shield at a massive size, as the shield effect looks cool but isn’t as versatile as his real shield as it isn’t made of vibranium.
• Berserk Button: Just hearing about what the Goa’uld did to Cassie when she was just a child nearly causes Bruce to transform into the Hulk.
• Big Applesauce: One of the Ori ships lands in Central Park. The reasons are speculated to be a combination of a) lingering radiation from the Chitauri wormhole combined with unique energy readings from Stark Tower and the Baxter Building making it an interesting target, and b) if you're going to invade a planet, it's best to target the largest, most poputated city of the most technologically advanced nation, based on the assumption that it might be their capital. It's noted that by this logic, Beijing is just as viable a target, though the fact that the Ori at least know which country has the Stargate is implied to have affect the decision-making process.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Nox show up on Aeneid to help SG-1, the Atlantis expedition and the Avengers cure the victims of the Prior’s plague.
• Birds of a Feather: The Avengers muse that bringing Tony Stark and Rodney McKay together might be interesting, but after learning that McKay once blew up a solar system by accident, Sam (Wilson) and Clint each suggest that they’d prefer to hide behind a wall to witness such a meeting.
• Blood Knight: Ronon and Natasha each enjoy the chance to spar with someone unfamiliar.
• Boom, Headshot!: During the invasion of Earth, a Prior is killed with a sniper rifle so powerful that the shot not only destroyed his head, but a good portion of his upper body, to the extent that the bloody remains were scattered all over the nearest Ori soldier, who subsequently vomited from horror.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: As Cassie prepares for a potential last stand in Stark Tower alongside Maria Hill, Happy Hogan and JARVIS, she mentions ‘Del shakka mel’, the Jaffa war-cry of ‘I die free’, which swiftly goes viral on Twitter and is adopted by the city’s defenders.
• Brick Joke: When Tony hears about the scope of the SGC's science, he offers everything short of Pepper's shoe collection. Later, when James hears about the time-dialation field, he mentions that Pepper might actually trade her shoe collection for that.
• Broken Masquerade: Obviously the Battle of New York revealed alien life to the rest of humanity, but the campaign against the Ori leads to Cassie Frasier revealing the existence of the Stargate Program to the general public, followed by General Hammond taking part in a press conference to explain the full details.
• The Bus Came Back: Cassie Frasier plays a key part in the storyline despite not having been seen in SG-1 since two years before her mother died.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: As the Victory reaches Earth, Sam Wilson hurries to alert the others that five pyramid-like ships have just appeared around them, and Daniel nonchalantly reveals that the ships are Teal’c with some Jaffa allies.
• Canon Character All Along: Turns out the Furlings were the Kree.
• Canon Welding: Quite a few interesting ideas, ranging from Steve Rogers possessing the Ancient gene to how the Stargate Asgard can be reconciled with the Asgard seen in the Thor films, although the writer freely admits that the storyline mainly works if the events of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) are dismissed from this version of the MCU.
• Cargo Cult: A non-serious example; when Daniel lends the Avengers a phase-shifting device and explains how it works, Mack asks to take a look at the device (promising he won't do anything to take it apart in the process) and muses that he "may build a shrine to it" during his analysis.
• Chekhov's Gun: During the raid on the museum, Daniel discovers a pair of Ancient tablets that eventually lead him on the titular search for the Victory.
• Continuity Snarl: The SGC are still at war with the Ori and the events of Stargate: The Ark of Truth never happened, but Atlantis is currently under the command of Richard Woolsey.
• Contrived Coincidence: The chain of events that led to Daniel Jackson, S.H.I.E.L.D. and over half of the Avengers (Natasha and Clint were tracking Daniel independently, Steve and Sam were just there for a day off, and Tony was alerted to the attack on his own) being in the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a major raid seem to be this at first, but it’s later confirmed that the Ascended set it all up.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: A relatively minor example, but much to Tony Stark’s chagrin, the Iron Man armours can’t do much against the Ori’s technology despite being so much more advanced than standard military weapons.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: The raid on the museum only lasts as long as it did because the Avengers and SHIELD agents inside the building weren’t armed at first, such as Natasha having to take a gun from one of the attackers and Steve using a breastplate from their armour as an improvised shield. With Clint and Coulson armed and ready outside the museum and Iron Man arriving shortly after the attack starts, the remaining villains are soon defeated.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Natasha observes that Daniel has this, considering that he nearly experiences a flashback when he visits the museum where his parents died in front of him when he was a child.
• Demoted to Extra: In a sense; Major Carol Danvers is introduced as a ‘mere’ pilot of an F-302.
• Didn't Think This Through: After Cassie exposes the Stargate program in an effort to mitigate the consequences of Daniel going AWOL with the Avengers, Jack points out two major flaws in her descision making; 1) Daniel's been so crucial to several off-world political relations, that not only would he have countless places to hide out, but the fallout if anything happened to him would be catastrophic, and 2) Cassie has thwarted SG-1's efforts to keep her past as a Tyke Bomb secret, meaning there's a good chance of unscrupulous people wanting to see how she ticks.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Invoked when Teal’c comments that he looks forward to fighting alongside the Asgardians after his positive experiences as an ally of the Asgard.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Tony gets an idea of the scale of the science involved in the Stargate Program, he states that he will sign over his soul, his firstborn, or anything else to take part in the program, but adds that he won't sign over Pepper's shoe collection out of a sense of self-preservation.
• Everyone Went to School Together:
  • Sam Wilson is actually acquainted with at least two members of the SGC; he studied medicine under Doctor Janet Frasier for a time, and he trained with Cam Mitchell during their time in the conventional military before Mitchell was transferred to the SGC and Wilson acquired his distinctive wings.
  • Tony mentions having previously met Senator Robert Kinsey, and nonchalantly dismisses the man as "an ass".
  • Jane Foster recalls meeting Rodney McKay at a science conference years ago, where the two had an enjoyable talk for about five minutes before it escalated into a screaming match, although Jane recalls finding the science exhilarating even if the man himself was an asshole.
• Faking the Dead: Coulson explicitly acknowledges that he did this to the other Avengers.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Tony Stark is acknowledged as being so brilliant that Daniel speculates he could have soon built an interface into the Iron Man suit that would allow him to access Ancient technology even without having the Ancient gene himself (probably), but Daniel still chose not to take Tony along on the search because his attitude would have cost them too much time.
• God Guise: At least considered; given the Ori's association with fire, some of the SGC discuss the possibility of having the Human Torch pose as an Ori manifestation, but they never actually do it.
• Hero of Another Story: From Daniel’s perspective the Avengers are this during the raid on the museum, as he only recognises them after the assault is over.
• Heroic Sacrifice: During the Ori invasion of New York, Colonel Reynolds, having sustained serious injuries, takes a pair of grenades to sacrifice himself to blow up an advancing Ori patrol.
• Hidden Depths: JARVIS turns out to be a Closet Geek who likes to play World of Warcraft in his spare time. Not that he'll admit it.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: When two Ori ships make it to Earth, the SG teams briefing the regular military forces note that their key advantage is that the Ori forces have only encountered SG teams in small numbers rather than fighting Earth’s forces in large-scale ground operations, so they won’t actually know what to expect when they genuinely come to Earth itself.
• It's All About Me: General Ross was so consumed by his attempt to capture the Hulk that he not only continues chasing the Hulk even after the Battle of New York saw the Hulk proclaimed a hero, but opens fire on the Hulk without checking for civilians in the vicinity, with the result that Daniel Jackson and Cassandra Frasier have to be saved by the Hulk when Ross's attack destroys Jack O'Neill's cabin.
• It's All My Fault: Daniel blames himself when a Prior comes to a planet he visited during the search, but the planet’s Head Protector makes it clear that he can’t blame himself for his enemy's actions.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Cassie decides to reveal the story of the Stargate program to the press because she reasons that she never actually signed an NDA and therefore won’t get in legal trouble for her actions.
  • While Jack O'Neill has been forbidden to take experimental aircraft out for a flight again, he takes advantage of the fact that said rules don't prevent him from getting a lift down to a nearby airfield from his office by War Machine, as the War Machine armor isn't experimental and Jack isn't the one flying it.
  • While Odin forbids Thor bringing more Asgardian soldiers to aid against the Ori, Sif and the Warriors Three accompany him back to Earth as friends ‘paying him a visit’.
  • As the time before the Ori armada arrives at Earth shrinks, O'Neil gives Carter a 'blank check' to recruit whatever resources she feels she needs to get the planet-wide dimensional-phase shift device operational. She uses this as an excuse to recruit Tony for his help assembling an arc reactor to power certain technologies.
• Magic A Is Magic A: The portal that allowed the Chitauri to come to Earth is explicitly described as a wormhole, although Daniel notes that Sam's still trying to work out how that portal allowed two-way travel (the Chitauri coming to New York while Tony was able to send a nuclear missile through it back to their mothership at the same time) where most wormholes created via the Stargate are one-way only.
• Meaningful Name: The ship Daniel discovers a map to is named the Viltoriaus, which is the Ancient word for "Victory".
• Mistaken Identity: When Thor initially meets War Machine, he assumes that the armoured hero is Iron Man having lost a bet that required him to repaint his armour.
• Mundane Solution: Once it’s confirmed that the reason the Super-Soldier Serum was effective on Steve alone was because he has the Ancient gene, Doctors Beckett and Keller speculate that they could combine the Ancient gene therapy with a lesser version of the serum to treat genetic disorders and chronic diseases such as asthma (much like how the serum cured Steve's existing health problems) without actually turning the subject into a full super-soldier.
• Mythology Gag: Some of the Stark Industries staff mentioned during the defence of Stark Tower are named after the actors who played the title character in Doctor Who.
• Noodle Incident: Daniel privately recalls how, after he tried to distract a Goa’uld ship by introducing himself as ‘the Great and Powerful Oz’, Jacob subsequently returned to the Tok’ra to find them all panicking about this ‘unknown’ Goa’uld and nearly bust a gut from laughing so much.
• Oh, Crap!: Jane delivers a variant when Darcy spots the five Ori warships arrive in orbit via satellite.
• One-Steve Limit: Sam Wilson and Samantha Carter are both involved in the plot, but neither of them interact directly.
• Out-of-Character Alert: From a certain perspective; when Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team initially discovers Daniel’s official record, the entire team note that he seems like a good candidate for HYDRA on paper, considering his lack of family ties and his publicly discredited reputation for his unorthodox academic theories. However, the fact that Daniel had the Hulkbusters shut down helps them rule that out as no HYDRA agent would do anything that would make it easier for the Avengers to come together.
• Outside-Context Problem: Obviously the Ori army were unprepared for Earth’s superheroes, but on a more practical level, once Skye is provided with a program to ‘translate’ for her laptop when she accesses the Ori ship’s database, it doesn’t even have a firewall for her to breach as the Ori’s followers have no experience with computers.
• Poor Communication Kills: According to Marvel, when the Kree made first contact with the Asgard, they called themselves 'furling' (Kree for 'friendly traveler'), and the name stuck. When Cam lampshades the silliness of that, Daniel and Rodney point out how human history is full of similar instances.
• Put on the Bus: Daniel has the Hulkbusters shut down after they nearly kill him and Cassie when they destroy Jack’s cabin while hunting the Hulk, particularly after the Hulk helps pull Cassie from the rubble and General Ross wastes time criticising Daniel for "interfering".
• Remember the New Guy?: The Fantastic Four appear in the story and are apparently well-established as heroes, despite never having been mentioned in any MCU franchise up to this point.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Beyond the Avengers and other Marvel heroes facing the Ori, Jack O'Neill has a confrontation with Brock Rumlow when a HYDRA team try to abduct him, although this attempt is thwarted with aid from War Machine.
• Rules Lawyer: When Daniel discovers tablets hidden in a broken statue, he observes that he isn’t technically stealing them from the museum as the museum didn’t even know the tablets were there.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: More 'Screw This, I'll Do It'; after the Avengers arrive in Atlantis, Clint is initially reluctant to give Doctor Keller a sample of his blood as it goes against his usual policy of not leaving evidence, but after being briefed on some of the alien infections that have struck Atlantis in the past, Clint acknowledges that it's a good idea to give them samples now.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Invoked; McKay gives a long elaborate description of a new control chair he’s found on the Victory and how it works, while Steve sums up how it works in a sentence that’s around a quarter the length of McKay’s description but that even McKay feels is a good way to look at it.
• Shipper on Deck: In keeping with Natasha’s attempt to set Steve up on dates, she approves of a young female lieutenant being sent to help him work an Ancient weapons system on the Victory, speculating that Steve may respond better to something spontaneous rather than someone he’s already in close contact with.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Atlantis is brought to full power by the new ZPMs, it activates a training program that releases what Clint calls the “Silver Death-Tribbles”, although McKay notes that they’re more like the Tribbles crossed with Cousin It.
  • Due to the blue coloring of their armor, Tony can't help but compare the goons attacking the Met to The Smurfs, going so far as to call their leader Papa Smurf.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: The SGC's absence in the Battle of New York is explained as the powers that be not wanting to break The Masquerade.
• Super Serum: Doctors Beckett and Keller are able to confirm that Steve Rogers has the Ancient gene, which is the reason the serum worked on him and none of the subsequent test subjects (as opposed to the theory that Doctor Erskine made last-minute changes he didn't write down). They even speculate that a modified version of the serum could be combined with the Ancient gene therapy to treat lesser infections such as Steve's original respiratory condition.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Basically the reason Rhodey decides to just accept being called ‘War Machine’ rather than ‘Iron Patriot’ despite ‘Iron Patriot’ being his official title. When everyone from his best friend to a general he just met expresses a preference for the original name, Rhodey finally decides that it’s clear by now that the only people who thought the change was a good idea were the people who insisted on it in the first place.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Thor manages to damage an Ori battlecruiser by channelling an entire lightning-storm into a single blast of energy.
• Underestimating Badassery: When Hydra try to capture Jack O’Neill, Jack manages to take down most of the strike team sent to capture him by himself as they only knew of him as the general in charge of Homeworld Security without knowing his full history, although Jack still needed assistance from War Machine and Coulson's SHIELD team to take down the rest of the soldiers.
• The Unmasqued World: By the end of the fic, due to Cassie's whistleblowing, Jane leaking satelite images of the space battle, and the very public fights with the Ori, the Stargate Program becomes public knowledge.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Teal’c reflects at one point that the Ori army is this, which particularly irritates him as they have only delivered their past Curb Stomp Battles due to their powerful technology when their forces would just be toy soldiers without such an advantage.
• Weaksauce Weakness: While the Ori armor is basically bulletproof, Natasha is pleased to find that it can still conduct electricity when she attacks a soldier with her Widow’s Bites.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Invoked; at one point Steve reflects that the Ori are worse than Hydra because at least Hydra are basically honest about their objectives where the Ori can initially pretend to be peaceful and caring before they unleash the plague.
• X Meets Y: Daniel describes the armor used by the Hydra goons during the museum raid as making them look like a cross between knights and Ninja.

---