The Wronged One –
by SGA-SAF
Disclaimer: As much I'd love them to, these guys do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for some fun.
Genre: Shep h/c / team fic/whump. Gen / friendship.
Rating: T
Summary:John's loyalty to one of his team members is strongly tested when an advanced alien group kidnap the team, discover Teyla´s link to the Wraith and decide it's a bad thing. (team whump, but Shep gets the brunt of it). Takes place in season 3, post –The Game- spoilers up to and including that one.
Characters: John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Elizabeth Weir,
Carson Beckett / Others.
Warnings: None that I could think of…
The story is complete, but it's easier to update them chapter by chapter and I will, hopefully, update daily.
Big thanks to putschki1969 from GW and Sterenyk Strey for giving this story a critical eye and giving me some much appreciated advice during the tale. All mistakes are mine, and I hope it's a fun read!
Chapter One
John Sheppard could no longer keep himself from falling into the wet sand beneath his feet. His face and belly hit the ground, the cold mud soaked through his BDUs and waves of water made their way into his airways. He coughed, but only succeeded in inhaling more water.
He really wished he could use his hands to wipe the grime and dirt from his face and to steady himself upwards, but they were held tightly bound behind his back with metallic handcuffs.
Their supposedly harmless mission to M5X 666 had turned south rather fast, really making its sinister designation proud. John chuckled bitterly at the memory of McKay's scoffing when he had joked about the designation being a bad omen, but here they were, running from allies-turned-hostiles faster than John had been able to say "I told you so!"
Up until now, John had been quite good in keeping his balance enough not to fall, but his luck was running out.
Teyla and Ronon had been walking ahead of him and while McKay was having some trouble to keep up with their quick pace, he didn't join the waves as often as John did. To be honest, he had yet to fall even once, much to Sheppard's chagrin.
Not that he wished for them both to keep falling, but he really hated being the slow one in the group, never mind the circumstances. He was just glad that none of his men from the military were around to see their CO like this.
John called on his remaining strength and pushed himself up on his knees to give himself a moment while he exhaled hard through his nose to clear it of the muddy sand and water, but broke into another cough instead.
"John?" Teyla threw him a concerned look that he really didn't care for.
Worse yet, she had stopped walking, tilting her head as if in confusion about what to do next.
Ronon had offered to carry him, Teyla and McKay had both offered to take him between them for steadying, but he wouldn't have any of it.
Ronon and Teyla had put quite a distance between themselves and John and Rodney, which Teyla was about to remedy when she finally decided to run back to him.
He shook his head and motioned in the direction she came from, "Stop! I'm fine, just needed a … a moment, keep walking!"
John cursed himself and forced his shaky legs to lock under him enough to get back on his feet, a task that would have been much easier to handle if his hands had been free.
None of their knives, not even Ronon´s sword, had been able to cut through the metallic clasps, any attempt had tightened their grip around his wrists and had caused sparks from an apparent force field, until they finally gave up and decided to let somebody on Atlantis deal with it once they were back home.
He knew he was slowing them down by his constant falling and there was not a thing he could do about it, other than cursing himself, but he would be damned if he let himself be carried while his legs still worked.
Besides, having to carry him would slow them down just as much, so he could just as well spare them the added weight of his sorry ass to haul along.
"Like hell you're fine!" McKay panted behind him, coming to a halt and grabbing Sheppard's right arm by the elbow, "you shouldn't even be walking on your own through this mess!"
"I CAN and I WILL!!" John snapped at him, trying to yank his arm free of Rodney's grip but failing. He exhaled in frustration and quickly turned around to continue his wade through the mud towards Ronon and Teyla, who had now stopped to wait for him and McKay rather than continuing with their much quicker pace.
McKay still held tight to John's elbow and tried his best to keep up with his friend, steadying him whether he wanted the help or not. "Do you actually LIKE the way your
face keeps hitting the ground? Granted, with the water and sand it's a lot softer for your thick head, but…"
"Rodney!" John spun around, almost knocking McKay off his feet and gave him a glare, "Stop talking and concentrate on getting your ass to the Jumper!" and with another yank of his trapped elbow, he added, "Let go of me!!"
McKay did and John stomped forwards, only to almost fall again into another stumble which was stopped by both, McKay speeding forward and regaining his hold of Sheppard's right elbow, and Teyla´s hands reaching out for his left.
"John, let us help you!" Teyla said, locking her arm in between his and pulling him in motion, no argument to be had.
Sheppard sighed, "Guys! I appreciate you wanting to help out, but it's really not necessary!!"
The sound of a familiar blaster coming to life made John flinch involuntarily.
"Actually, I say it is!" the Satedan growled when they reached him, his gaze locked onto something behind them in the distance.
"Gee, thanks, Chewie!" John grumbled, half expecting to find himself on the receiving end of a stun shot to stop the argument, but when he followed his friend's gaze, his eyes went wide at the sight of half a dozen armed men seated on hovering flying crafts, still tiny in the distance but speeding towards them, and howling in anger.
"What the hell?" McKay yelped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "They weren't supposed to find out we're gone until morning!" he stared at Ronon and added with a high pitched voice, "I thought you stunned them!"
John glanced at Ronon, "You didn't kill their people, did you?.. Hey..!" he yelped in surprise when Ronon suddenly gripped him around his middle, lifted him off his feet and none too gently threw him over his shoulder like a potato sack, "Ronon…."
"Not up for discussion, Sheppard!" Ronon shot back, "we gotta move fast and letting you stumble behind us will only slow us down!"
Being draped over Ronon´s shoulder with his hands bound behind his back was quite the uncomfortable position, and John still struggled in the grip when Ronon turned to McKay and Teyla, who both had already broken into a run before the Satedan could tell them to move it.
"Ronon, come on man…"
Ronon tightened his hold, "don't make me shoot you!"
"Uh..," Sheppard didn't get out more than that when Ronon sprang into a run, his shoulder knocking into John's chest and forcing any air otherwise used for a protest out of him.
"And no," Ronon finally replied, "I didn't kill them… yet"
McKay and Teyla kept up the pace, and while Rodney was wheezing a little, he didn't fall much behind. "Really wish we hadn't left our guns in the Jumper! Whose brilliant idea was that, anyway?!" he gasped out in between laboured breaths.
"Told you it was a bad idea!" Ronon deadpanned.
Teyla, despite still running, shook her head, "We were supposed to be among friends, there was no reason to assume that we would be attacked!"
"Always be prepared!" Ronon shot back.
Despite everything happening around them, Sheppard had to chuckle at that, "Well said, boy scout!"
They could just see the outlines of their puddle jumper, meaning safety, when the hover crafts closed the distance and the first three men came within weapon's range.
Something sharp struck Sheppard in the left leg and he yelped in both surprise and pain.
He tried to look at his leg but since he couldn't while draped over Ronon´s shoulder, he went for distracting himself by loudly cursing himself for allowing this mess to happen in the first place, and even more so, for the fact he couldn't do anything to help out.
Bullets and stunner blasts alike kept whizzing past and around them.
Ronon turned around while staying at a run, and fired a round into their attackers, knocking one of the pursuers off his craft and forcing the other two to steer away from him. One didn't make it and crashed into the ground, his craft whooshing away into the air without sense of direction, hitting into and knocking another hover craft pilot from his path until he too lost his balance and forced his craft to come to a halt to avoid falling off it.
The jumper was now right behind them and Rodney pushed the remote to open the rear hatch, the team running into the shelter of Jumper One.
Rodney hit the control to bring the hatch back up, locking them within the safety of the jumper and slamming his hand down on the control button to get the jumper's protective shield up, while Ronon set John down.
Sheppard hissed in pain when his leg gave out, refusing to take any of his weight.
Teyla and Ronon caught him before he could hit the ground, and eased him down on the floor.
"I think I caught a bullet!" Sheppard grimaced at their shocked expressions, following their gaze down his leg and at the puddle of blood quickly pooling underneath his BDUs. He longed to be able to press a hand into the wound, but his bound hands prevented him from doing so.
"Oh my God!" Rodney's face turned white, dumbfounded in what to do next.
"We must stop the bleeding!" Teyla urged, and searched through her tac vest for the pressure bandage, which she quickly uncoiled, "Ronon…"
"Yeah I know!" the Satedan replied, already a knife in his hand and slicing through the leg of Johns BDUs, removing the fabric from the wound.
Teyla wrapped the pressure bandage around the injury and knotted it in place. "Rodney, give John some water!" she said, just to wake McKay from his stupor.
"Wha? Oh, right!" Rodney grabbed a bottle and held it out for John, who shook his head.
"Not yet! Let's just get the hell outta here!"
Sheppard tried to lift himself back up in a standing position, now that his leg was tended to, but not quite managing. He took a deep breath, held it to brace himself and tried again, only to slump back down and release the trapped air in his lungs with frustration.
"John", Teyla put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head, "You cannot…"
"I can still fly us home, I just need to sit down over there", John answered with a nod toward the cockpit, releasing another deep, pain-filled breath.
"And how exactly will you manage that in your current hogtied state?" Rodney admonished, "You stay put, I can fly this thing home too, you know, you won't be able to handle any controls anyways right now!"
John looked at Rodney for a moment, pressed his mouth shut and finally nodded, "Ok, just remember to fly in a straight line!"
McKay crossed his arms, "This coming from the guy doing face plants on the beach…!"
Sheppard shot him a glare, and Ronon gave him a look that had the scientist hurry off into the pilot's area, when a rain of bullets and glass sprayed from the front into the back of the Jumper.
"JESUS!" McKay yelled, hunching over and bringing his hands up to protect his face while staring in horror at the shattered windshield and the onslaught of even more bullets on the Jumper's controls.
Ronon jumped to his feet with a raised gun and pulled McKay back to them, pushing Rodney down to the floor and out of harm's way.
"Close the bulkhead door!" Sheppard yelled at the shocked scientist, who complied and hit the button, shielding them from the bullets and glass still spraying in every direction.
"How is this possible?!" Teyla gasped, clicking on her flashlight and illuminating the room, "have you not raised the shield, Rodney?!"
"Of course I did!!" McKay turned around to face his team, "Their bullets went straight through it!"
"What are you talking about?!" John looked back at Rodney in confusion, trying to straighten himself up but hissing in pain when his injured leg was pulled in an uncomfortable angle, "how did they do that!?"
Teyla nervously eyed the bulkhead door and tensed, "Will they get through?"
McKay shook his head, "no, we're safe in here, the hull is pretty steady and their weapons aren't strong enough to do any damage to it…"
Sheppard wasn't so sure, "You sure about that? They just smashed the window of the Jumper, which was SUPPOSED to be protected by the shield!"
McKay's face went slack, "True, and that's not the only…"
"Can you FIX it?!"
"Sure, just point me to the next bullet proof glass store!" McKay snorted, "No! There is no taking this ship into space or through a Gate now, even if I could get the shield back up and working; the controls and the DHD have been shot to hell!"
Teyla stared at the panicked scientist, then at Sheppard's leg and grimaced at the sight.
The bandage she had wrapped around John's injury was already soaked through with blood.
**************
End of chapter one
- to be continued….