SOMETHING WICKED part 4
Teyla made it back to the gate in a lot less time than it had taken to get to the building. Panting, out of breath, she dialled up Atlantis.
Dr. Weir was in the control room, discussing duty rosters with Peter Grodin when the gate began to power up. Grodin immediately raised the shield, then waited; Dr. Weir looked at him questioningly. Symbols appeared on the screen in front of him.
"It's Teyla's IDC," he said.
"Teyla's?" she repeated, puzzled, then, "Lower the iris. Hello, Teyla, it's Dr. Weir."
"Dr. Weir, we have a problem on the planet. Major Sheppard appears to be compromised."
"Did you say compromised?" questioned Elizabeth, thunderstruck.
"Yes. When I left Lieutenant Ford, he was holding Dr. MacKay at gunpoint. We were unable to get him to respond to our radio calls. Ford sent me back to get help."
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. " Teyla I think you should come through so that you can debrief properly, and we can make appropriate contingency plans." Because if Sheppard had lost it, God help McKay, she thought.
"Very well, I shall come through now."
Teyla tapped her earpiece. "Lieutenant Ford? Dr. Weir wishes me to return to Atlantis in order to fully explain what is happening. I shall return as soon as possible, and bring help." Without giving Ford a chance to update her, she stepped through the wormhole.
"That's great, but- " he realised he was talking to himself. "You'd better hurry then." He said to the empty air, and turned his attention to trying to get past the forcefield.
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On the other side of the gate, Teyla was met by Dr. Weir. "Come into the boardroom," she said, "I have Dr. Zelenka, Dr. Beckett and Sergeant Stackhouse waiting to hear what you have to say."
Obediently, Teyla followed, and sat at the spare place at the table. Only then did the adrenaline start to wear off, and she suddenly felt drained.
"Tell us what happened on the planet, Teyla," requested Dr. Weir.
Haltingly at first, Teyla began recounting events after they had stepped through the Stargate, ending at the point she and Ford had returned to the building to see McKay being threatened by the Major. "Lieutenant Ford tried to raise the Major on his radio, but he did not respond. We then tried to enter the building, but a forcefield had been established at the doorway. It stunned the lieutenant when he tried to enter. That was when he asked me to come for help."
She sat back, feeling tiredness catch up with her. For a moment, no-one said anything, then Dr. Weir broke the silence.
"And you have no idea what may have happened while you were away on perimeter duty?"
"No."
"Very well." There was a pause while Elizabeth steepled her fingers together, thinking. Then she said, " Sergeant Stackhouse, I'd like you to put together the equipment you will need to retrieve Dr. McKay and Major Sheppard. Dr. Beckett, you will accompany them in case of any injuries, or in case the Major needs your help. Dr. Zelenka, I'd like you to go too, in case they need help getting through the forcefield. Be ready to leave in thirty minutes. Teyla, do you feel able to return to the planet?"
"I am well enough," replied Teyla.
"Good. You will need to show them where to go. Take a few minutes to get something to eat. I'll see everyone back here in half an hour. Dismissed."
Thirty minutes later, Elizabeth Weir stood at the balcony overlooking the jumper bay, chewing her fingernails as she watched the jumper with Beckett, Zelenka, Stackhouse and Teyla aboard disappear through the wormhole.
"Bring them back in one piece," she whispered.
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Major Sheppard, meanwhile was having problems of his own. He hadn't really believed that McKay would let Pete take him over to the extent that he had no control whatsoever. He'd tried talking 'Pete' down, stalling for time, hoping that when he was overdue to check in by radio, Ford would work out that something was going on and send for help. All he had to do was play for time….
Trouble was, 'Pete' wasn't playing along. After McKay had been 'taken over' for the second time, things had gone pretty much downhill. 'Pete was adamant that Sheppard was going to get him out, and Sheppard was equally as determined that: a, he wasn't letting McKay go without a fight, and b, he wasn't going to inflict 'Pete' on an unsuspecting universe. Besides, he had no idea how to deactivate the forcefield. He wasn't about to let 'Pete' know that. He had a hunch that once his usefulness was over, then so was his life.
The trouble was, 'Pete' wasn't the most patient of beings, and was getting more riled with each passing minute.(Come on Ford), thought the Major. He decided to try to find out more about what 'Pete' actually was, in the hope that it would give him something to work with.
"So, what did you do to get shut up in that contraption?"
"I did nothing."
"Come on. No-one gets shut away for nothing."
'Pete' looked at Sheppard, and his expression was so cold, Sheppard flinched. "You wish to know more about what I am. I will tell you, it will do you no good. You cannot stop me."
"Why not, they did."
The anger radiating from 'Pete' was palpable. "And when I find them, they will wish they had not. Long ago, this world was colonized by people such as yourselves. They were interested in improving their purity, and believed that they could rid themselves of the darker side of their personalities. They designed a way to 'remove' all the wickedness residing in the darker halves of their psyches. Then they selected one of their members, one who had not been successfully cured of his demons. Into that person they drained all the negativity they had collected. Then, using the same technology, they removed that person's consciousness, and placed it in the receptacle. Until your Dr. MacKay came and freed it. Now, I am free again, and I will not be returned."
There was silence while Sheppard digested what 'Pete' had said. "Okay," he said finally, "Why only you? Why not choose others to share the burden?"
"There were no others. I was the only one for whom the treatment was not successful. Now, you will deactivate the forcefield."
"I can't do that. There's the small matter of you hijacking Dr. MacKay."
"He is a casualty of war."
"Not in my book."
"You have no choice. I will return Dr. MacKay when I have another suitable body. Deactivate the forcefield before I am forced to harm you."
"You kill me, you're never getting out."
"I am not stupid, Major. Eventually more of your kind will come. They will only see you and Dr. MacKay in need of assistance. They will deactivate the forcefield, and I will be free. Of course by then, it will be too late for you."
"I'm expendable."
"You, perhaps, but Dr. MacKay? And the others who will come? Are you willing to risk them."
"If you get out, they'll be at risk whether I'm alive or not."
'Pete' moved so fast it took Sheppard by surprise. He responded by moving between 'Pete' and the exit. The creature bore down on him, and Sheppard continued backing up. Eventually, there was nowhere left to go.
"Give it up," suggested the major. "I am not getting you out of here."
"You have no choice. Deactivate the forcefield, or I shall cause Dr. McKay great pain."
"No."
Immediately, McKay screwed up his face, and began screaming, "Christ! Make it stop, make it stop!"
The major hardened his face. "No." he said again.
The screaming went up a notch. "Major! Please! Do what he asks!" shouted McKay in sobbing gasps.
"Okay! Okay! Stop. I'll do it." Sheppard just couldn't stand by and watch his friend suffer any longer.
Instantly, the screaming stopped, and the sudden silence seemed loud by comparison. Sheppard began to breathe again.
Pete looked at him, a sly smile on his face. "It is just too easy to manipulate you," he said. "Now, once again, the forcefield if you please."
Sheppard turned, and looked at the doorframe. At the bottom edge there was what appeared to be a small box. Maybe that was the mechanism. He squatted down, and began fiddling with it, mind working overtime. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ford and Teyla had arrived back. "Good timing," he thought.
He risked a look up at Pete, who was standing over him, tapping a foot in impatience. The expression on his face was not pretty, and Sheppard knew he couldn't let this creature get free. He made his move.
He turned on his heels and in one fluid movement, launched himself up and out using his head to butt Pete in the abdomen. The force of the blow sent Pete reeling backwards, but he recovered incredibly quickly, and it didn't take long for Sheppard to realise he was in trouble. Pete fought back ferociously, with much more strength than Sheppard would have believed McKay possessed, and was rapidly gaining the upper hand. Sheppard was no novice at hand to hand, and had picked up a few moves on his travels that had nothing to do with the Marquess of Queensbury, or fair play, but Pete was relentless, recovering from each hit far more quickly than Sheppard would have believed possible. He himself was struggling, it was taking all his time just to hold his own. Of course, it had only been a short length of time since he was out cold on the floor, that might have something to do with it, but excuses didn't count.
Pete smacked him upside the head, and for a moment, Sheppard saw stars. It was in that moment when Pete ripped the P90 from the clip on Sheppard's vest, and the major realised that McKay had been taking notice during those firearms lessons he'd made him go to. After just a brief glance at the weapon, Pete had flicked off the safety, and even as Sheppard was scrambling away as fast as he could, (nowhere to go, no cover, his mind was telling him), pointed it and opened fire.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion at that point. Sheppard heard the chatter of the automatic fire, and felt the thud as the first round hit him in the shoulder. His body was now at the mercy of the laws of physics, and the force of the impact started him spinning. The next round glanced off the bottom of the vest, but the third took him squarely in the upper leg, knocking that appendage out from beneath him. He felt himself falling, and it seemed to go on forever………….
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It was with a feeling of huge relief that Ford heard the sound of the puddle jumper as it flew overhead. He watched it circle, then land a few hundred yards from the building. He turned, and redoubled his efforts at getting the cover off the box he'd found near the floor on the doorframe. He'd scoured the entire area, and decided this was the mechanism keeping the forcefield going. If they couldn't figure out how to turn off the energy field, then the Major and Dr. McKay were royally screwed.
He kept glancing at the still form of the major, and each time didn't know whether to be disappointed or glad that he hadn't moved. Disappointed because it must mean the major was in a bad way, but relieved because at least he didn't know about it. After the Doctor had shot Sheppard, he'd seemed to totally lose it, stomping around and apparently yelling, every now and then stopping to let fly a kick at the major's still form. Ford couldn't hear anything, it seemed that the forcefield stopped anything from getting in or out; radio waves, sound, possibly even air, so he couldn't hear what was being said, but he could guess. For maybe the hundredth time he wondered just what in the hell had happened during that time he and Teyla had been absent. He was getting seriously worried that McKay was going to burst a blood vessel; he looked like a man on the verge of apoplexy.
The sound of running feet told him the cavalry had arrived, and he turned to see Stackhouse, Zelenka, Beckett and Teyla all shifting in his direction as fast as they could. He carried on with his knife, prying away at the box, praying they could get in there in time.
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There was yelling. It was loud. Couldn't they see he was trying to sleep for God's sake?
"McKay, cut it out." Was that his voice? How come it sounded as puny as a new born kitten?
He opened his eyes, and saw McKay striding around, shouting and cursing, he appeared to be psychotic. What was going on with him now?
"McKay…" he tried, louder, but his breath hitched in his chest, and wouldn't come properly. Gradually, memory filtered back. Languidly he turned his head to the entrance to see Ford, Teyla, Beckett,.. Beckett? Zelenka? And Stackhouse? Where had they come from? He could see them looking at him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. They didn't look too happy though. He let his head roll in the other direction, to see McKay – 'Pete' looking at him. He didn't look too happy either.
"Hello," tried the major lazily.
I told you, major, it would just be a matter of time before more of your kind came. Now I can return Dr. McKay to you. Which one shall I take instead?"
All the memories came back in a tearing hurry, and along with them, so did the pain. Sheppard sucked in as big a breath as he could manage. He felt at a distinct disadvantage lying on the floor, and tried to sit up. Big mistake. Huge.
Pete watched him struggle, making no attempt to help. Eventually, Sheppard gave it up as a bad job, and looked up at Pete. "You're not.. having any.. of them." He said, as confidently as he could. "You…. still need me…. to get out of here."
"I think not. You friends out there will set me free, and the joke is, they won't even know what they are doing."
"They won't let you go once they realize you're not McKay."
"Who will tell them? You? You will be dead by the time they manage to deactivate the forcefield."
"I'm tougher than I look."
"You'd have to be. Most of you is flowing out onto the floor. I will merely suppress myself until we are away from here, then I shall take over Atlantis, and from there, well, we shall see."
Sheppard wondered if all the bad guys had the same person writing their lines, but contented himself with saying, "I'm not done yet."
Pete got up again, and began roaming around the room aimlessly, as if his body contained too much energy, and he had to keep moving in order to work it off. There was a thought there, Sheppard decided, but it kept eluding him, sliding away as he tried to grasp it. He decided he couldn't do this alone, needed help. With immense difficulty, he flopped over onto his front, and using his good right arm and undamaged left leg began crawling the short distance to the doorway, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he went. It took a while, he kept having to stop. Even boot camp hadn't been this difficult.
Booted feet appeared in front of him. He risked a look up and saw Pete looking down at him. Looking up like that made him dizzy. He rested his head on the cool floor. Pete squatted down beside him.
"What do you think you're doing major?" he asked in a singsong voice. Was it just imagination, or did Pete's personality sound like it was getting more unstable?
"I felt….. like going out… for a bit," panted Sheppard. It was a lot harder to breathe like this.
"Oh, here, let me help you." said Pete in that same singsong, falsely 'being nice' voice.
Sheppard's "No, thanks, I can manage," was drowned out by the cry he fought to hold back as Pete grabbed him by the shoulder straps on the vest, and dragged him the rest of the way, depositing him roughly against the wall nearest the door. His vision greyed out as he fought to stay conscious, fearing going under might be another mistake in his list of bad things to do today. On the positive side, he was upright, made it a lot easier to breathe, and he was near the door now, closer to help when it came. But, he had to try to warn them. McKay wasn't McKay. McKay was B.A.D. By looking to the side, he could see Ford. Help was so close, he could almost touch it. He almost cried with frustration; so close, so close and he couldn't do a thing to warn them, or maybe………… Blood soaked the front of his shirt, and his trouser leg. It was pooling, sluggishly on the floor beneath his shot-up leg. It made him feel nauseated looking at it, but it might just provide a way to warn them.
He glanced at Pete/McKay again. He was striding around the room once more, like Brownian motion, never ceasing, but more importantly, not looking at him right now. Dipping a finger in the sticky blood, he began to write….
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Teyla was the first to reach Ford where he was crouched by the door. Her face paled as she caught sight of the major lying motionless on the floor, blood slowly seeping out from beneath him. Beckett was a close second, and was rather more vocal.
"Bloody Hell!" he swore. "What's gone on here, then.?"
Ford quickly filled him in on what he had seen happen, McKay beating Sheppard at close quarters, then shooting him."
"How many times do you think he was hit?"
"No idea, sir, maybe three times? I couldn't really see properly."
"And has he moved at all since then?"
"No, sir. But Dr. McKay doesn't seem… right either."
Both men watched as McKay stormed around the room, hitting on walls, and occasionally, as he passed, the major.
"We've got to get in there, and soon. Major Sheppard won't stand a chance if this keeps up much longer."
Ford agreed, and turned back to the box which was showing signs of giving where he had been patiently chipping away at it. Suddenly there was aloud 'crack' and the cover came off completely, displaying pulsating tubing, flashing with white light. Zelenka appeared at Ford's shoulder, and gratefully Ford shifted out the way to allow the scientist better access.
He stood, easing the kinks out of his back where he had been crouched by the box for so long.
"Lieutenant, would you mind telling me about the forcefield. I will have a better idea of how to deactivate it if you could tell me what you know."
Ford described what had happened when he had inadvertently rushed into it, Zelenka nodding as he did so, absently pushing at some of the tubing with a long handled probe.
"Think you can deactivate it sir," he asked.
"Yes, yes, probably with a little time."
Beckett came to look at what they were doing. "Aye, well time isn't what the major has a lot of right now," he said grimly.
"In that case, if you will stop talking, and let me work…." Zelenka bent back down to the mechanism, muttering.
Stackhouse called," Lieutenant Ford, the major is awake!"
Ford, Beckett and Teyla watched while Sheppard and McKay 'chatted'. They could all see that McKay was definitely not himself, and Teyla drew in a sharp intake of breath when she saw the major roll over and begin to crawl their way. Ford clenched his fists when he saw McKay haul the major to the door, and dump him there, striding off again.
Teyla said, "Look, the major is writing something."
Ford and Beckett squatted down to see what it was the major was trying to tell them. It was taking some time, Sheppard kept having to stop, and he was writing upside down to him. The blood loss was taking it's toll, and even from here, Beckett could see the major was getting shocky.
"You need to lie down, lad," he murmured. "lie down and get your legs up."
The message was almost done.
MCKAY…..POSSESSED….EVIL…DON'T…LET…HIM….OUT….
John's finger slid on the last letter, and he could feel he was almost spent. His body began to slide down the wall, when the thought about McKay hit him like a brick wall.
Hypoglycaemia! McKay suffered from hypoglycaemia, if he carried on burning up energy at the rate he was doing, it wouldn't be long before his blood sugar began to drop, and he would eventually fain – pass out.
At that moment Sheppard became aware that the ranting had stopped. Squinting up, he saw Pete staring at him and the message he'd written. "Oh, very well done, major," said Pete, still in that nicey nicey voice that promised bad things to come. He wasn't wrong. Pete bent down and grabbed handfuls of Sheppard's shirt. He began to shake him, his face red, "Don't do that ever again!" he yelled, spittle spraying. Sheppard tried to push his hands off, but didn't have the strength. He cringed, thinking that this time Pete was going to kill him, but instead, Pete let go, dropping him hard to the floor, still conscious, but beyond doing anything much to help himself
Yep, Sheppard knew it, Pete's personality was on a downward spiral, and was rapidly getting out of his control. Hurry up, Ford, he thought to himself, 'can't hold on much longer'.
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