A/N hey guys! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, life has been super hectic.
If you've never heard of the game predator (we used to play this a lot at school) then here's a link to read up on the basic rules -
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or plots from Stargate Atlantis, with the exception of aalice Riley.
Happy reading!
Alice was sitting in the cockpit in one of the Jumpers, Rodney had asked her to look over some of the damaged drivepods and see if she could get them operational. She was slowly becoming an expert in all things Ancient spaceships. Alice rested her head on her palm, intently focused on the screen in front of her. She felt the hairs on her neck prickle, she raised her head and looked behind her, she jumped a little when she saw John leaning against the cargo bulkhead.
"I didn't scare you, did I?" John chuckled.
"Geez John!" Alice smiled, leaning back in her chair and put her hand over her heart "How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long. I was just in the neighbourhood and thought i'd stop by." John pushed himself off the bulkhead and moved towards her "I thought you might need a break" John winked and pulled out a paper bag.
Alice laughed and smiled "Major Sheppard, is this a date?" She said jokingly.
John took another step forward "well, if you need more convincing?" John reached into the bag and pulled a jello cup "y'know this might be one of the last jello cups in the entire galaxy..." John moved up and lent forward on the control panel, holding the cup out in front of him.
Alice lent forward smiling "Oh is it now? well I guess I can't say no to that." Her face was close to John's, he closed the gap and kissed her softly.
"Come on, I've got a whole lunch packed. And you really do need a break." John took a couple of steps back towards the cargo area and reached in to take the rest of the items out of the paper bag.
Alice just shook her head, "John...if anyone saw us..."
John's face fell a little as Alice hesitated in her seat, "come on Riles, let's just pretend we're a normal couple...just for lunch, and jello?"
Alice smiled again, and laughed softly. Giving in and standing up to follow John into the cargo area of the Jumper. She couldn't help the small sense of panic that flared up in her chest when he said 'couple', she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind.
Alice had woken up alone that morning, but she had a smile on her face. John had left a note on her datapad saying he'd dashed off early to get back to his room, so he could get ready for their upcoming mission. She was walking down the hall towards the armoury.
"Another day, another planet to explore!" Ford's chirpy voice echoed through the hall. Alice opened the door to see him strapping on his thigh holster.
Rodney looked miserable, as he normally did when they had an early call time. Alice laughed and started grabbing her gear from the lockers. John was already suited up. Alice smirked and winked at him when she caught him looking over at her. Luckily, Ford and Rodney were too busy putting their gear on to notice.
"Teyla's already in the gateroom, so grab your stuff and be there in five" John stuffed a few extra P90 clips in his vest and then pointed at Alice and winked, "that means you Riles!"
Alice just stuck her tongue out at him, he sighed and headed out to the gateroom. "I don't know how you get away with that, i swear he'd bite my head off if i did half the things you did." Ford crossed his arms and looked at her.
"Come on Lieutenant, let's get moving. We wouldn't want to keep the Major waiting." Alice threw a stunner at him and raced out the room behind John.
They'd just landed the Jumper back in the bay, Ford and Alice were sat in the cargo area. John had wanted to give Chaya a front row seat. She stood up quickly and reaching over Ford's head slapped the door release. Ford gave her a cautious look, but before he could say anything Alice took off out of the bay.
She'd never been the jealous type, but she couldn't stand watching John drool over the alien priestess.
"Aly! hey you okay?" Ford ran up behind her.
Alice just shook her head "I'm fine Ford, I just don't think we should be trusting her so easily. We know nothing about her, and the Major is just willing to show her everything."
Ford just shrugged "the Major knows what he's doing, just trust him."
Alice just scoffed "Come on Ford, you saw him. I don't exactly think he's thinking with the right head." Without waiting for a reply she slipped into the armoury and unceremoniously threw her equipment down into her locker. Rodney walked in behind her, he looked similarly unhappy.
"Can you believe him!?" Rodney threw his arms around animatedly "she's obviously hiding something from us!"
Alice sighed "you're preaching to the choir Rodney."
Rodney wheeled around at her surprised, "what... so i'm not the only one?!"
Alice nodded, "I don't trust her."
Rodney had just unclipped his vest and sat down on one of the benches directly across from her. "Then I need your help to figure out what she's hiding."
Alice was sat in Rodney's lab looking over the data she'd pulled out from the Puddle Jumpers scanners, she was looking for anything that could help them figure out what Chaya was hiding. Rodney had left to go brief Elizabeth on their progress so far, Alice was avoiding leaving the lab. John was acting as a guide for Chaya, and she didn't really feel like seeing him right now, she was feeling ashamed and embarrassed about how she'd acted on the planet.
"Alice, can you meet us in the infirmary? Carson might have something..." Rodney's voice came through her ear piece.
"I'll be right there" Alice locked down her laptop, shutting it down and headed out towards the infirmary.
"Blood work shows no viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections. MRI reveals no tumors or cancers; no heart defects of any kind. Blood pressure 130 over 70; total cholesterol 107. She's in perfect health." Carson pointed at the different scans and charts pulled up on his screen. Alice bit down on the inside of cheek, maybe she was just being jealous and paranoid. She groaned slightly, feeling even worse than before about her behaviour.
"I'm happy for her. Why did we need to see this?" Elizabeth looked at Carson confused.
"Because, Doctor, she's too healthy." Carson stated
"What does that mean?" Alice put her hands on her hips and squinted back at the screen, hoping whatever she was missing would jump out at her.
"There's no trace of any diseases or congenital conditions that you typically find in pre-technological societies. No rickets no fungi, STDs…" Alice cringed, and looked back at Carson wrinkling up her nose.
"Perfect health?" Elizabeth questioned again.
"Aye, and from what she told me, this may be the norm among her people." Carson lent back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"But she is human?" Rodney asked suspiciously.
"Oh, without a doubt." Elizabeth, Rodney and Alice all shared a look. Alice saw her confusion reflected back in their faces.
"So, that's a problem because?"
"Because human life, quite simply, Dr. Weir, is more fragile than that. I don't care what galaxy we're in. It's unnatural." Alice saw a smug look cross Rodney's face, Elizabeth just looked concerned.
"Riles!" Alice was on her way down from the control room back to Rodney's lab. She'd been helping Grodin decipher some Ancient text on the new machine Chaya had activated.
Alice took a deep breath and brought her shoulders down into a taunt position. "Yes, Major?" she said politely.
John gave her a confused look "We're just about to go into a briefing with Chaya, to try negotiate a deal. I thought you might like to join us and then grab some lunch?"
"No thanks, i've got a lot of stuff I'm trying to translate at the moment, so I'm probably going to skip lunch." Alice pivoted quickly and headed down the stairs out of the gateroom.
She was muttering to herself as she walked back into Rodney's lab, Radek was there now too. He gave her a weird look, then just shrugged and continued looking at his laptop.
"Aly, good you're here. Any idea what that control panel is?" Rodney walked in behind her.
"I've got the data here, I'm just about to go through it. I'll let you know when i have something." Rodney nodded at her, he looked frustrated. "You okay Rodney?"
"We shouldn't be giving her access to our database, and letting Sheppard keep an eye on her. It's just asking for trouble, I mean you can see the drool coming out of his mouth from a mile away." Alice bit down on her lip again, keeping her mouth shut. it was one thing thinking she saw John flirting with Chaya, but is was another to know someone else could see it too.
Alice put her head down onto her desk, she felt like a ridiculous teenager spying on her boyfriend. This was exactly why she hated getting so involved with people. She just hadn't realised how strongly she'd started to feel towards John, and if she was being honest with herself it scared her.
"You want to send her back?" Alice and Rodney were walking after Elizabeth as she headed towards the control room.
"All I know is she's not who she's pretending to be." Rodney was arguing, Alice hadn't said anything yet.
"And you know this because…?"
"What, I'm not allowed to have intuition?" Rodney snarked back.
"You? No." Elizabeth gave Rodney an amused look. "But what about you Captain, do you feel the same?"
Alice had been chewing on the inside of her mouth again, "I'm not sure" she said truthfully, "but, something's definitely wacky here. And I'm not sure if we should be trusting her so much."
Elizabeth eyed her, considering what she'd just said "I asked Major Sheppard to keep an eye on her."
Rodney scoffed "Which is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse."
"What?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him.
"Look we should give her a one-way ticket back home." Rodney's voice was getting slightly louder and his expression was defiant.
"There is obviously something very…different about her, yes, but that doesn't necessarily make her a threat." Elizabeth tried to reason.
"It doesn't rule it out, either." Alice and Rodney spoke at the same time.
"Then, for the moment, I think what we could gain by securing a treaty is worth the risk of her being here." Elizabeth's voice told Alice that the conversation was over.
"Fine." Rodney gave Elizabeth a frustrated look then turned to head back to his lab. Alice gave Elizabeth an apologetic look and then followed after Rodney.
Alice slumped in her chair in the mess hall, she was still avoiding John and Chaya. She'd stuck herself in Rodney's lab poring over the Ancient data from the new console until her growling stomach had forced her out. She'd sat down in the corner of the mess hall on an empty table, she wasn't exactly feeling overly chatty.
"A picnic, unbelievable..." Rodney hissed under his breath, he plonked his tray down across from Alice and dropped forcefully into the chair.
"What are you mumbling about?" Alice was using her spoon to push around her mashed potato - at least that what she thought it could be - on her plate.
"Kirk.." Rodney replied, Alice looked at Rodney blankly, "Sheppard, he's taking Chaya on a picnic out by the south docks. i just ran into Stackhouse who'd seen them walking out together."
Alice threw her spoon down into the mush, and shook her head disbelievingly. "The last thing we need is for the ranking military officer to be compromised! We still don't even know who or what she is" Rodney had shoved a mouthful of food in his mouth as he spoke. He was getting more agitated as he went.
Alice pushed her tongue against the back of her teeth. She'd hated feeling like this, she tried to stay reasonable, thinking over and over in her head that he was just being diplomatic, not romantic. Alice and Rodney sat in silence while they finished the rest of their meal, both quietly brooding.
They both threw their trays into the bin and headed back to their rooms. "Night Rodney." Alice would've slammed the door if she could. She took off her shirt and threw it onto the floor, she felt ridiculous, acting irrational and emotional.
Alice was sat in bed, she was too frustrated to sleep. She threw her hands down on the bed and grunted, getting to her feet she shrugged on her uniform jacket over her tank top and shorts and slipped on her boots. If she couldn't sleep then she would go see if she could figure out this console. At least that would keep her mind busy.
"Evening stroll?" Alice jumped slightly as Rodney's voice came up behind her.
"Geez, you scared me." Alice placed her hand over her heart. "I..um..couldn't sleep. I thought i'd take another look at the data we collected for that console." Rodney smiled and nodded.
"Same, I'm just on my way to the lab now. After you." Rodney swung his arm out in front of him gesturing for her to take the lead. Alice couldn't help but laugh at his attempt of chivalry.
They were chatting quietly when another figure appeared, walking in front of them. Alice wanted to steal away and hide, John was the last person she wanted to see right now. She felt silly for hiding away from him all day, and she knew he wouldn't be happy with her.
"Major." Rodney called out. Alice closed her eyes and screwed up her face, silently cursing Rodney.
"Rodney. What are you doing up so late?" John jumped slightly and turned to face them, only then realising that Alice was there.
"I was just, uh… neither of us could sleep, so we were going back up to the my lab to do a little research. What about you?" Rodney looked between Alice and John awkwardly.
"Oh, no thanks." John looked uncomfortable.
"No, I mean, what were you doing up so late?" Rodney crossed his arms over his chest, probing him further.
"I'm always up late, Rodney." Alice rolled her eyes, usually it was because he was off seeing her. Obviously that wasn't true of tonight.
"A word of caution" Rodney's voice turned hard, and he took a step forward "—the whole Captain Kirk routine is problematic, to say the least, let alone morally dubious."
"What routine?" John said defensively, quickly glancing at Alice's face.
"The romancing the alien priestess. It's very 1967 of you. Actually, I'm surprised—" Rodney's voice was agitated and harsh.
"If and when" John cut him off "anything I do becomes your business…"
"It becomes my business, Major, when an alien woman who is clearly not who she claims to be has the ranking military officer wrapped around her little finger." Rodney spat back at him, gesturing down the hall to what Alice just realised was the guest quarters. John had just left Chaya's room, this late at night.
"Don't go there, McKay." John held up his finger threateningly, his eyes darted from Rodney to Alice. Alice's eyes were wide with shock and betrayal.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm not normally Mr. Sensitive, but you've got to believe me when I say there is something about her. I know it's intangible, but I can feel it—" Rodney kept arguing back.
John took a step toward McKay, he was furious "I said don't go there!"
"It's just a matter of time before I prove it, Major. I'm just recommending that in the meantime, you keep your…" Alice looked to see why Rodney stopped talking, Chaya had appeared from her room, she must've heard Rodney and John's raised voices. She crossed her arms angrily and stormed back into her room. John watched her leave and then shot Rodney a stern look.
Rodney stood his ground and then looked at Alice, "Let's leave Kirk to get back to his business." He started walking off down the hall.
Alice stood there a minute longer, John finally looked into her eyes "i can't believe you would do that." she tried to make her voice hard, but it came out as a high pitched whisper. Before she stepped past him to follow Rodney.
"Riles, wait please," John reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving.
"Don't..." she tugged her hand out of his grasp. Refusing to look at him as tears welled in her eyes.
Alice couldn't believe it, Rodney and her had actually been right. Chaya was actually an Ancient. This hadn't made her feel any better though, she was still upset with John and was still avoiding him.
It had been a couple of days since Chaya had revealed herself and fled back through the gate to protect her planet. They were supposed to be heading on a mission in the next few days, but Alice wasn't sure she'd be able to work alongside John like nothing had happened.
Today they were searching previously unexplored parts of the city, Alice had gotten Rodney to agree to let her work with him up in the control room rather than go with John and the team.
She hadn't been face to face with John since that night, and she was trying to make that last as long as possible. She knew it couldn't though, there wasn't exactly many people on the base and she was still a member of his team. At the moment, Alice was focusing her efforts on monitoring the power output, making sure nothing John or the team touched suddenly caused a spike in consumption.
"What? What is it?" Alice looked up Rodney looked excited. Alice had taken her earpiece out of her ear, she'd not really wanted John's voice in her head right now. Quickly she grabbed it off the table and replaced it in her ear.
"Some sort of laboratory." Teyla sounded distracted, she must've been looking around the room.
Rodney slouched back into his chair, seemingly unimpressed. "We've come across dozens of those. The city's full of them. Something unusual about it?"
"I'd have to say ... yes." John said.
"Why do I need to come?" Alice was following Rodney through the city resistantly. "I could monitor everything from the control room, I'm much more use up there!"
"Don't be ridiculous, come on. Beckett and Elizabeth are meeting us there." Rodney waved his hand dismissively at her. Alice groaned and plodded after him. She really didn't want this to the time to be in a small lab with John.
Alice stared down at the women in wonder, they'd removed her from the ice and were waiting to see if she would regain consciousness. "Aly dear, could you check her blood pressure?" Carson nodded at the machine. Alice nodded and began setting it up on the lady's arm.
"Breathing shallow, pulse rapid. I'll run an E.E.G. to determine any brain activity." he looked down and started touching the woman's hand.
"What is it?" Elizabeth shuffled closer trying to see what Carson was doing.
He pulled out a folded piece of paper, "Don't know." he passed it back to Elizabeth who unfolded it. Rodney moved to look over her shoulder.
"It's Gate addresses -- five of them." he announced to the group "M7G-677 -- we've been to this planet."
"Doctor Weir?" Alice looked down and realised the women had her eyes open now. Alice stopped what she was doing with the pressure cuff.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" Elizabeth spoke softly.
The woman didn't respond or react. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of." Rodney waved his hand in front of her face. "Freezer burn."
"I thought she wasn't frozen?" Ford spoke from behind Alice.
"Ten thousand years -- d'you expect her to dance a bloody jig?" Alice smiled at Carson's sarcasm.
"It's the eyes, Carson, you look at the eyes. The lights are on but nobody's home." Alice watched at the women turned her head slightly to look directly at Rodney. "Don't take a medical professional to know that ..."
Elizabeth smiled "Of course she can see us." the women reacted and moved her head to look at Elizabeth "And hear us. Hello. How are you feeling?"
The woman looked like she was trying to smile "It worked"
"What was that?" Rodney still held the piece of paper in his hands.
"She said, "It worked."" Elizabeth repeated.
"What's that mean?" Rodney huffed.
"I assume something worked." Alice tensed as John spoke, he was behind Rodney. Alice had been careful not to look his way or meet his gaze since she'd stepped in the room. Though every so often she could feel his eyes on her.
"Yes, that's very sharp!" Rodney quipped back at him.
"Thank you!" even without looking Alice could tell he would have his signature smirk plastered on his face.
Alice watched as the woman closed her eyes and stopped moving, "Carson?" Alice said wearily.
"Right, let's get her to the infirmary." Carson checked her vitals once more, Alice stepped back to let the incoming medics take over.
"I want video on her at all times recording everything. We might not get a second chance at anything she may say." Elizabeth was already heading for the door, as she spoke over her shoulder at Carson.
Alice moved away and began to follow the rest of the team out of the room. They'd moved in a group, but Teyla, Ford and John moved off towards the armoury to stow their gear. Alice wanted to get out of there as soon as she could, she couldn't bear feeling his eyes on her.
She headed back to her quarters, Carson had said he'd radio them when the woman was awake again. She closed the door and let out a deep breath. She walked over to her desk and scooped up her datapad, intended to sift through some of the data they'd recently collected. The door chimed alerting her to someone outside, without thinking she yelled at them to come in thinking it was probably Ford or Rodney. She was still looking down at her desk when she heard them come in.
"Riles..." Alice froze, she hadn't expected his voice.
She turned quickly to see him standing a few steps from the door. "What are you doing here?"
"Why do you think I'm here, you've been avoiding me for the past couple of days" John took another step forward, but stopped himself from coming any closer, as Alice reactively stepped away from him. "Look nothing happened between Chaya and I."
Alice crossed her arms over her chest "I saw you coming out of her room."
John rubbed the back of his neck "Riles...I swear nothing happened.
Alice sighed "Look it's fine, just forget about it." Alice looked down, she was trying to force herself not to cry.
"No!" John took another step closer, his voice was tight and defensive. "Look, I'd just been escorting her back from another meeting with Elizabeth, they'd been talking for hours about faith and god..." John made a slightly disgusted expression.
She took in a deep breath, running one hand through her hair and placing the other on her hip she turned back to face him. "I'm sorry, I guess i'm just overreacting." she paused, John's eyes were staring intently at her "John...I'm so confused."
"What's wrong?" John took another step forward, he was close enough now to touch her. Alice looked down towards the floor, John reached out putting his fingers under her chin and lifted it up again.
"Just..." Alice's eyes were wide and unsure. "This is getting to real. We aren't supposed to..."
John rubbed his face, "Do you know how hard it is to see you, be around you and not be able to touch you or kiss you whenever I want. But, if we want a future together then we'd have to give up everything we've worked for." he moved and sat down on the bed, bringing his head down onto his hands.
Alice felt her shoulders relaxing, but she didn't move from where she was standing. "I'm just not sure i'm ready for this..."
John stood up and walked back over to her, he stopped a couple of steps away from her and held out his hand. Alice looked down at it for a second before taking it, she felt John tug on her arm and she let herself be pulled into his arms.
Alice revelled in the feel of his arms around her and the sound of his heartbeat, "I'm sorry."
John kissed the top of her head, his voice was barely audible. "What do you want to do?"
Alice could feel a dull ache in her chest, she knew this was a cross roads for them. But she couldn't honestly think of an answer for him right now. She loved spending time with him, and laughing with him. But he was right that for now they couldn't afford to feel anything deeper. "Can you give me a couple of days to think about it... please?" She whispered back to him.
He nodded, placing another kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight Alice."
Alice had barely slept that night, she had been trying to think through the situation she'd found herself in. A few minutes ago Alice had received a call through the radio to report to the conference room, apparently their ice lady had woken up again and told them a bit more about how she got there.
Alice jumped up the stairs, taking them two at a time, as she reached the last step she looked up to see Ford and John moving from the control room to the briefing room. John and her locked eyes for a second, she could see he was nervous and uncomfortable. She nodded quickly at them and moved into the room.
"Time travel?" Ford scoffed unbelieving.
"That's what she said." Elizabeth was standing up behind her chair "She somehow found a way to travel back in time to when the Ancients inhabited the city."
"How did she do this?" Teyla lent forward and rested an elbow on the table.
"That will be one of the first questions I ask her when she wakes up again." leaning forward onto her chair Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hands.
"...If she ever wakes up again." John raised his eyebrow and cast a quick glance towards Alice, before returning to look at Elizabeth.
"Well, let's not be too quick to exclude the possibility that the woman might be, umm, what is the clinical term ... nuts?" Rodney muttered, sarcasm dripping off his words.
"She may be senile, yes, but that doesn't explain that she knows so much about all of us." Alice could tell Elizabeth was concerned and struggling to understand what was happening.
"Is time travel even possible?" Ford looked around the room, swiveling his chair in a childlike fashion.
"Well, according to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, there's nothing in the laws of physics to prevent - " Rodney started explaining.
Alice took in a deep breath and smiled at Ford's confused face "Basically, yes." Rodney gave her a disapproving look, "so long as you have the right tech, that is." She added to appease him.
Ford and John were both smiling at her "Not to mention a really nice DeLorean." John quipped
Rodney huffed "Don't even get me started on that movie!"
"I liked that movie!" John retorted.
"You like every movie..." Alice couldn't help but add smirking, Ford laughed and John sent her a dirty look.
They all turned as Carson entered the room with a tablet in his hands. "The results of the D.N.A. test. It's a match." He walked over and put the tablet down in front of Elizabeth. "She is you."
"Okay, even by SGC standards this is weird..." Alice saw Ford and John nodding in agreement with her. "maybe we should give Elizabeth a minute" Alice stood up as she saw Elizabeth staring down at the tablet. Teyla and the others stood up and headed towards the door.
"Alice?" Alice turned at the sound of her name, Teyla was walking up behind her smiling. "I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me?"
Alice gave Teyla a grateful smile "I'd love to!" as she walked off towards the mess hall, she could feel John's eyes following her out as he stood talking with Ford and Carson. It took most - if not all- of her willpower to not look back at him.
"It's such a nice day, do you want to sit outside?" Alice gestured with her tray to the open seating area outside the mess hall.
"Lead the way." Teyla followed her out the door and they found a table against the railing.
"Y'know sometimes i still can't believe I get to be here and do what I do..." Alice looked out across the city and the expansive ocean beyond them, a light breeze brushed past her face.
"You previously worked at Stargate Command, is it?" Teyla looked at her completely interested in her answer.
"Yeah, I was stationed there for just over two years before I was offered a position on the Atlantis expedition." Alice took a bite of her food, she'd never really spoken much about her life on Earth. Teyla knew she'd been part of the programme for a while, and that she didn't have any family left back in the Milky Way, but that was about it.
"And you were close with your former team members?" Teyla asked.
"I guess so, I actually wasn't with SG4 for long. It had only been about 6 months, before that I was on SG11. Now, that team I was close with." Alice stuffed another mouthful into her mouth.
"What were they like?" Teyla prodded her.
"They were my first SG team, so they put me through all my paces, pulled pranks on me, y'know the normal. But, one of team members Evan has been like a best friend ever since." Alice smiled, she felt a tinge of guilt creep up her.
"And you two were together?" Teyla looked at her curiously.
"Um... not at first. See, it would have been against military regulations for us to be anything more than teammates while he was my direct report. He was a Major, and I was only a Lieutenant." Alice fidgeted with her hands slightly, "but once I moved to SG4" she paused, "y'see we don't get a lot of time off base."
Teyla just nodded knowingly, with a slight smirk on her face. "But you two are no longer...um...dating?"
"i really wouldn't have called it dating in the first place, more like just blowing off some steam." Alice blushed slightly.
Teyla seemed to tell she was getting uncomfortable, "what about the military then, what made you want to become a soldier?"
Alice inhaled, "That's simple, they paid for my degree. Now enough about me, tell me more about how your people are doing on the mainland."
Teyla's face beamed "They're doing quite well, the children have been asking for you to come visit though. They enjoy your games."
Alice laughed "I never once thought I'd ever be teaching stuck in the mud to kids from a different galaxy. I'll try and request to fly a supply mission over soon though."
Teyla was about to reply when both the sound of their names came through the radios "SGA-1, please report to the briefing room." They both exchanged a quick look then stood up heading towards the main tower.
Alice was leaning up against the table, the rest of her team was there now as well, waiting for Elizabeth. Rodney had just been explaining that they'd given the Alternate Elizabeth a slight stimulant to try keep her awake longer. He'd also told them what she'd said about the 'first' time they'd arrived. Alice was growing increasingly unnerved.
Elizabeth soon appeared with Alt. Elizabeth in a wheelchair. Once they'd all settled she cleared her throat "Seeing the city like this, sitting on the surface of the ocean -- you can't imagine how relieved I am."
"What are you saying? The city didn't rise the first time round?" Rodney's voice was fast paced and slightly high pitched.
"No. No. The city was in serious trouble the very moment we arrived." Alt. Elizabeth's voice was grave. She explained how the shield had began to collapse around them, as soon as they'd started moving out and exploring.
"Colonel Sumner drowned?!" Elizabeth asked in shock, she looked around at the rest of the team, everyone had a similar horrified expression on their faces.
"And he wasn't the only one to perish." she continued, her voice low and solemn, she turned her face towards Alice. "Captain Riley" Alice swallowed and felt a cold chill run up her spine. "You tried to get everyone back into the gateroom, but the shield was collapsing too fast. The bulkheads to the control room sealed themselves and..." Alice couldn't bear to look around at her team. She didn't want to see the looks of horror or sadness on any of them.
"Riles..." she heard John move in his seat.
Alice held up her hand, "I'm okay." She took in a deep breath "please, Dr Weir continue."
Alt. Elizabeth nodded and turned to Rodney "Despite your efforts, there was nothing you could do, Rodney. Within seconds the Control Room was flooded."
Rodney stared at her in shock, "I died?!"
"You never gave up trying, right until the end." Alt. Elizabeth said a distinct sound of pride in her tone.
"Well, a man wonders how he would choose to go out, given such dire circumstances. Now I know." Rodney tried to calm his expression and shuffled in his seat.
"Trying to save the lives of others. Both of you." she turned to look at Alice as well.
"But ultimately failing!" John quipped, throwing a smug look at Rodney.
"I'm sure if I had a few more seconds, I ..." he started defensively.
Elizabeth shook her head "Wait a second." she interrupted Rodney. "Why didn't the failsafe mechanism engage and raise the city to the surface?"
"Because there was no failsafe the first time. Atlantis remained on the ocean floor. The shield completely collapsed. Water came crashing in, flooding every room in the city." She looked at Ford and Carson. "You both drowned while attempting to get our people into ships." Ford and Carson looked at each other uncomfortably, then Alt. Elizabeth turned to John "And we, along with Doctor Zelenka, we found ourselves trapped." she began breathing fast, her voice coming out scared and uneven "We were under attack. We didn't know where we were or who was shooting at us. And that's when John ..." Her head lolled to the side and her eyes shut.
"Carson!" everyone was out of their seats.
Carson rushed over to where Alt. Elizabeth was, tapping his earpiece "This is Beckett -- I need medical assistance in the Conference Room, A.S.A.P!"
Alice and the team watched as Carson and the medics took Alt. Elizabeth back down to the infirmary.
Alice had her arms crossed over her stomach, the cold chill hadn't left her body. "Riles, you okay?" John had come over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"it's just..." Alice didn't even know how to put it into words.
"Unsettling?" John tried to offer.
Alice just nodded, "just to think it had all ended there. No future, no Atlantis..." she paused for a minute and bit her lip "no us..." she whispered quietly so the others wouldn't hear.
John took in a deep breath, "but it didn't happen, and we're here." he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "and that's all that matters."
"Alice!" Rodney walked over to them clicking his fingers, "I need you to help me sift through the database, see if we can find any mentions of this time Jumper."
Alice ran her fingers through her hair, "Sure Rodney. I'll see you later Major." John lifted his hand off her shoulder and gave her a small smile.
Alice and Rodney we're heading to the infirmary, although they hadn't yet found a mention of the Jumper in the database. Rodney'd had an idea about how it could all come make sense.
"Well, it's obvious." he didn't even wait until he was fully in the room to begin talking. John and Elizabeth were standing near Alt. Elizabeth's bedside, they both looked up as Rodney began speaking. "The Puddle Jumper they escaped in must have been some sort of a time machine; had to have an additional component built into it."
"Flux capacitor!" John said shrugging.
Rodney gave him a skeptical, surprised look "... Yeah. The question is, where's the time machine now, hmm?"
"Why don't we ask her?" Alice took a few steps to see Alt. Elizabeth starting to open her eyes.
"What happened?" her voice was gravelly and rough.
Elizabeth moved closer to her alternate counterpart "Can you tell us: the ship that you escaped in -- where is it now?"
"It's gone." she whispered. Alice brought her arms up to hug herself as she listened to Alt. Elizabeth describe how John, Radek and her had engaged the Wraith - the only survivors of the entire expedition. "The next thing I knew, I woke up here."
John shuffled his feet "You mean now?"
"No. Then." she clarified, she explained how an Ancient named Janus had found the Jumper crashed into the ocean and she was the only survivor.
"Ha!" Rodney exclaimed "Ah, the bitter taste of ultimate failure, hmm?" He smiled smugly at John.
John gave him a displeased look "Well, if you'd just figured out how to fix the damn shield in the first place, none of us would have died."
Alt-Elizabeth smiled fondly at the sight of the pair of them bickering, while Elizabeth just rolled her eyes.
"I did everything I could, including valiantly attempting to save your sorry ..." Rodney took a step forward, Alice sighed giving Teyla an exasperated look.
"Gentlemen. Focus." Elizabeth said sternly at the two men. "Please, continue."
"Needless to say, I was very confused. He explained to me that the ship we had escaped in was a time machine. He was the one who built it. After I was feeling better, he brought me before the Atlantean Council." Alt. Elizabeth's voice grew weaker as she spoke and by the end of the sentence she'd fallen back asleep.
The rest of them stood there for a minute, trying to decide what to do. "We can't really afford to miss being hearing about her time with the Ancients." Alice murmured softly, "the things she could tell us. i mean there are so many things we still don't understand."
Elizabeth and John agreed "okay, well let's all stay and take shifts keeping an eye on her. That way we won't miss anything."
They all then moved around the room, to find a comfortable spot to rest in whilst they waited. Alice took one of the nurses chairs and brought it over to the end of the bed. A few hours had passed Alt. Elizabeth was still unconscious, Alice had propped her feet up against the wall and had drifted into a light sleep. She could just about hear Rodney snoring a little further away from her, and she could pick out the deep low breaths of John.
Alice awoken suddenly as she heard Elizabeth speaking "The note she left" Alice rubbed her eyes, and tried to focus on what Elizabeth was saying "-- coordinates of planets to have known Z.P.Ms."
Rodney, who had been lying down on an empty bed, jumped down and fumbled trying to pull the note out of his pocket. As he exposed it, John took it from him. "They could still be there." his voice was rough, but full of optimism.
"M7G-677's on here!" Rodney exclaimed, pointing to one of the addresses "I mean, this is amazing! Elizabeth, we've got ..." He trailed off and Alice followed his eye line to Alt. Elizabeth who had closed her eyes. Elizabeth walked slowly over to her older self, and gently took her hand. Alice bowed her head in respect and nudged Rodney towards the exit. She looked back just before they walked out the door, to see Elizabeth start to cry and John awkwardly putting his hand on her shoulder.
Elizabeth was strong and she was the perfect leader for this expedition, she was glad that she trusted John enough to show her more vulnerable side.
Alice flopped down onto the gym mats. She'd not been able to sleep, too much had happened over the past couple of weeks. For what felt like the millionth time she'd almost been killed by the Wraith, she'd found out she'd died in a different reality and her and John were in a state of hiatus. It all just felt like too much.
She reached up and wiped the sweat off her forehead, she guessed it was roughly 4am, so unsurprisingly the gym was empty. Normally, she would have been cuddled up in bed with John by now. His absence hit her harder than she thought. She still hadn't decided what to do. She couldn't deny her feelings for him, but she was terrified of what they could mean, or if their feelings put their mission in jeopardy then surely they had to stay apart.
She laid there and let her mind wander. It wasn't often that she felt homesick, but right now she wished she could simply get up and walk out of the SGC and go to the nearest bar with her friends to drown out their sorrows. Although she'd gotten close to her Atlantis teammates, she missed the friendships she'd left back home, Evan in particular. With how things now were with John, she felt like she had no one to pour her emotions out to.
FLASHBACK
"Phew!" Alice braced her body as she jumped through the gate and landed heavily on the steel ramp in the SGC. Her SG4 teammates were ahead of her, they'd just returned from a supply and update mission to Langara - following SG1's recent mission to save Kelowna from Anubis.
"Welcome home SG4" Sergeant Walter Harriman's voice echoed around the gateroom.
"Right, clean yourselves up and report for debriefing in an hour." Alice nodded as her CO unstrapped his helmet and headed towards the men's locker room.
Unclipping her own helmet, she began walking down the ramp and out the left sliding door. She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair, catching them in the small knots that had began to form. "Well don't you look positively filthy." Alice sneered as Major Evan Lorne appeared in the hall in front of her. He was dressed in his regular SGC uniform, he must've either already come back off a mission today or wasn't scheduled for one.
"You spend three days down a naquadria mine and see how dirty you look..." Alice snarked back to him.
Evan stared seriously back at her for a second and then a mischievous glint lit up his face, "who ever said I was talking about the dirt." He had a cheeky grin on his face as he looked Alice up and down.
Alice couldn't help but smile at him, "you can't keep your mind out of the gutter for one minute can you," she rolled her eyes at him. "I need to get ready for our team debrief." She started to resume her path towards the locker room.
Evan smiled and moved aside "hey, some of us are heading out of the hole into town for drinks tonight, you up for it?" He looked hopefully at her.
Alice took a couple steps forward "As long as your paying." She quickly kissed his cheek and then took off.
The debrief didn't take long, the core had stabilised and the Langaran's seemed to be back on their feet. Alice was in her quarters getting ready to go out, she'd put on a maroon high waisted skirt and simple black top. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and pulled a few strands of her brown hair out to frame her face.
She heard a knock on her door, quickly taking a look in the mirror she walked over and opened the door. Grabbing her purse and keycard as she went. Evan was stood against the doorway grinning "you ready?"
"Mhmm" Alice smiled and pulled the door shut behind her. Together they walked towards the main elevator. "So, who's out tonight?"
Evan reached out and pushed the call button, "Holmes, Ryans, Marco, Ritter, and a couple of the nurses."
Alice clicked her tongue, "sounds like a good-" just then the elevator opened to reveal Daniel Jackson and Lt Colonel Carter.
Alice quickly stepped next to Evan to make a space, "evening."
Daniel smiled at the two of them as he stepped out of the elevator "Major, Alice. You two going up?"
"Yeah, we're heading out to a bar in town. Either of you feel like escaping the mountain?" Alice looked at both Carter and Daniel.
"Sorry, we're heading out early in the morning. Have a drink for us though." Carter replied smiling at the two of them. She'd held her hand out to hold the doors open as Alice and Evan stepped inside.
"Next time then!" Alice called as the doors started closing.
They met up with the rest of the group on the surface level and managed to convince an Airman driving a supply truck to drop them off in town. Laughing they made their way into one of the few bars in the town, and took up a free space down at the corner of the bar. It was a Thursday night, so it wasn't too busy.
"you want the usual?" Evan placed his hand on Alice's shoulder as she hopped up onto one of the bar stools.
"Yes please" she said enthusiastically, Evan chuckled and moved towards the bartender, "but can you get an extra cherry!" She called out quickly to him.
"So, how you been Riley!" Ritter took the seat next to her. "We've missed our little rookie." He reached out and went to tussle her hair.
"Watch it Ritter!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled her head away from his grasp. "I'm not the SG11 rookie anymore..." she muttered, throwing his wrist back towards him.
"Aww don't be like, you'll always be our little rookie who threw up the first time she stepped through the gate." Ritter grinned at her, whilst she gave him an evil glare. He wasn't wrong though, her first trip through the Stargate almost a year ago had been rough.
"Give it a rest Ritter, don't forget I was there for your first trip..." Evan had returned with two drinks in his hands, a disaronno and coke for Alice and a beer for himself.
Ritter shook his head "that's not fair, you're supposed to take my side"
"Since when?" Evan lifted his beer up to his lips and took a swig, "besides Aly is much better company than you."
Alice stuck her tongue out at Ritter, who just smiled and took a sip of his drink. He muttered something about them but stopped as he saw Evan watching him.
A few drinks later, the boys had decided it was time to show off their masterful dance skills. Alice sat on her stool with her legs crossed watching Evan and Ritter clear an area in the dance floor as they showed off their breakdance moves. Alice lent back on the bar, slipping her straw in her mouth.
The nurses from the base had headed back already as they were on call in the morning, so that left Alice with Holmes from SG6. Both of them had knocked back a few drinks, and Alice had been trying to explain something to Holmes, but his head was focused on the girls across from them. "Go talk to them! Staring at them like that is only going to creep them out."
"But...what do i say?" He looked at her slightly hopelessly. Holmes was the same age as Alice and as far as anyone knew he'd never really had a proper girlfriend. He was a good looking guy, just shy when it came to talking to girls.
Alice brought her head close to him, "you travel across the galaxy, facing unknown horrors...yet you cringe away from speaking to a girl." Alice smiled at him. "Just go say hi, ask about her." She moved back to her original position, almost falling off her chair in the process. Holmes took a deep breath and started to stand up "oh and mention you're military, girls love guys in uniform" she winked at him and turned her attention back to Ritter and Evan.
There were a few girls at the edge of the dance floor eyeing the two boys up. Ritter seemed to be eating up the attention, and moved over to kick up a conversation with them, pulling one of them onto the filling dance floor. Evan was walking back over to Alice. "You guys are great!" Alice laughed at him.
Evan took a gulp of his beer, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and then offering the other one out to Alice. "Would you like to dance?" He gave her a wide grin.
"You know i'm not a good dancer..." Alice said hesitantly, but she reached out and let him pull her off her seat. Glad to have his strong arms to catch her as she stumbled a bit.
"You just need to let go a bit, you're just too tense." They got onto the dancefloor, Evan pulled her in close with his hands on her hips. She reached up and wrapped her arms behind his neck. She drew in a deep breath and lifted her chin to look him in the eye.
He was already staring down at her, "y'know that you're my best friend..." he slurred slightly, but his voice was slightly husky.
"Only cause no one else will put up with you" Alice giggled.
Evan chuckled slightly, and pursed his lips slightly. Slowly, he started leaning in towards her. Alice held her breath and felt herself tilting her head to meet his lips. She could taste the bitterness of the beer on his tongue. She brought herself up onto her tip toes so she could push herself against him more.
Evan squeezed her hips, as they both pulled away to take in deep breaths. Without pausing he started trailing kisses along her jaw and down her neck. "Oi! Get a room you two!" Alice smirked and just held her finger up towards Ritter's voice. Evan chuckled.
"He's right, let's go" Evan quickly knelt down and threw Alice over his shoulder, she shrieked in surprise. "Back to the mountain!" He stretched out his arm and put his leg up on a chair in a typical hero pose.
"Put me down" Alice was laughing and lightly pounding on Evan's back. But he just proceeded to carry her out the door.
Alice felt her head throbbing, she groaned slightly. Somewhere a light was on and it felt like it was shining straight into her face. She moved to grab her pillow and pull it over her face, but when she reached up she felt something soft and spiky. Opening her eyes she saw a mass of brown hair and the skin of a man's shoulder.
She blinked slowly and lifted her head, "Evan?" She whispered.
"Go back to sleep Aly-cat." Evan grumbled, shuffling himself and pulling the blanket up.
Alice moved so she was sitting up, the light that had been bothering her before was Evan's digital alarm clock, that was offensively bright green. Alice took in a deep breath and grabbed the glass of water next to the bed.
She finished off the water and looked at the clock, it ready 5:46am. This was around the time she'd normally be getting up anyway. She reached over to the bedside table and took out the spare hair tie she kept there, and quickly wrapped her hair up into a bun.
This wasn't the first time Evan and her had spent the night together, after she'd moved to SG4 a few drinks and they'd both given into the desire. Alice looked down at Evan, he was really the only person she'd felt comfortable to let her guard down with.
Alice yawned, "come on Evan! I'm hungry" she whined, as she moved his arm so she could rest her head on his chest.
"What time is it?" He mumbled sleepily.
"About 6ish" she felt his arm moving to embrace her as his face screwed up. She knew he wouldn't be going back to sleep now. "And it's pancake day today." She poked his nose.
"Alright, alright" he opened his eyes and looked down at her. "I'm up."
Together they got out of bed and picked up their discarded clothes from the night before. "I'm gonna hit the showers first, i'll meet you in the mess." She gave him a mock salute and headed out the door back to her room.
When Alice made it to the mess hall, Evan was already there sat with Daniel Jackson. "Morning Daniel, Evan" she greeted them.
"Morning" they both replied to her. She grabbed a plate of food and joined them.
"So where are you headed this morning?" Alice looked at Daniel.
"We're headed to the alpha site to resupply and Sam wants to check on the progress of the new weapon." Daniel said softly. "What about you two, what are you doing on your day off?"
Evan nodded at Alice to go first, "not much, i'm just planning on staying on base. I've got some more reading to do, still deciding if i will finish my doctorate."
"You really should" Evan said through a mouthful of pancake, they'd had this conversation a few times. Alice just wasn't sure she'd be able to complete it, or if she even wanted to. Alice gave him a sharp look. Evan cleared his throat "I'm heading home to see my sister and my nephews." He grinned at the both of them.
"That sounds very nice, Alice i hope-" Daniel stopped mid-sentence at O'Neill came through the door and gestured for him to follow. Alice and Evan waved goodbye as Daniel made a hasty exit.
"I don't want to hear it Evan!" She said quickly seeing his mouth open and the look in his eyes.
"Come on Aly, we both know you're smart enough to. You just need to apply yourself, why are you so afraid of committing yourself to something" Evan took another bite, "okay, okay but you know i think you can do anything." He held up both of his hands in surrender.
Alice smiled at him and shook her head, "so, when do you need to head out?"
"Probably around 7:30ish. So, not too long" he brought his wrist up and looked at his watch. "Why? What you thinking?" He eyed her suspiciously.
"Well..." she started slowly, "I thought we could finally watch the last episode of Star Trek" she smiled eagerly at him.
He rolled his eyes at her "you're ridiculous, you know that what we do is so much cooler than Star Trek."
"I know! But we promised to watch it together, and we hardly ever get a spare moment to watch it." She pouted at him "and we left it on a huge cliffhanger...come onnnn" she droned out.vc bbf
Evan smiled "alright, but only one episode." He picked up both their trays, whilst Alice jumped up and headed for the rec room.
Grabbing one of the dvd cases of the stack she slipping in the movie and flopped onto the sofa. Evan walked in a few seconds later, sitting down next to her and placing his arm across the back of the sofa.
End of flashback
Alice sighed, pulling herself up off the mat. It was only a few weeks after that, that Ritter had been killed offworld on a mission. The next few weeks had gone past in a blur, Alice and Evan had both retreated from grief and not spent a lot of time together.
She'd started to pull back from everyone and do what she did when things got a bit too intense. Ritter's death was a stark reminder of why she was afraid of getting close to people. Evan had finally confronted her about it. They'd had a fight and hadn't spoken since.
Before they could resolve it, Alice had been offered the position on the Atlantis expedition. And she'd struggled to tell him. She deeply regretted this, she wished she could go back and apologise to him.
Alice thought about how she'd feel if she had to go back to just being friends with John. She groaned out loud and threw her face into her hands. She didn't understand how everything had become so complicated, she had fun with John and enjoyed teasing him, especially when he couldn't react. But if her feelings ran any deeper...
"Woah, the gym mat kicking your ass?" Ford stood in the entrance of the gym looking awkwardly at Alice.
"No..." Alice sighed and started to pick herself off the mat "just a lot on my mind."
"This is about that guy isn't it" Ford flashed a grin at her.
"No! And my dating life is none of your business" Alice crossed her arms over her chest and popped her hip.
"Mhmm" Ford gave her a disbelieving look. "Well I actually did come here looking for you." Alice tilted her head and looked at him curiously, she also just noticed that he had his thigh holster on with a gun stuffed in it.
Alarm flashed through her "what's going on?"
Ford chuckled "calm down, you up for a litte game of predator?" He drew another gun from the back of his waistband. She could see the bright red glow of the In'tar.
The alarm Alice had just felt vanished instantly. She was grinning at Ford and hopped towards him taking the training gun out of his hand. "So, who's are we and who's playing?!" She said enthusiastically.
"Stackhouse, Fields and Royce are the omnis, you, Lloyd, Hindle and me are Carnis, and Brooks, Michaels, Salmon, Shields, Thompson and Crewe are the herbs." Ford explained grinning. "Though some of SGA 5 are joining later, they'll radio which teams."
"You guys are so cruel putting the juniors as herbs" Alice shook her head but was smiling wide. "What are the boundaries?"
"We've taken over the whole south pier." Ford looked like an excited child. "We're on half intensity and omnis are on full, so try not to get hit." with that Ford took out his on In'tar and headed out towards the south pier.
Alice and Ford had split up, she was crouched walking through the hall. She'd heard a noise up ahead and was trying to see whether it was one of the herbs or an omni. She held her In'tar out in front of her, she stopped and placed her back up against the wall and took in a small breath. She'd reached the only open doorway in the hall, if someone had been in the hall they'd have to be in here.
She rolled her weight onto the balls of her feet, bouncing up and down lightly, before spinning through the doorway and into the room. Keeping low, she swept the room noticing a flicker of movement to her right. She quickly aimed her gun, "Lloyd?" she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Riley?" Lloyd looked relieved to see her. "Thank god, I just managed to escape Royce. I thought you were him."
"Just little ol'me" Alice smiled back at him, she picked herself off the floor, but kept low to the ground. "Have you seen anyone else?"
Lloyd looked out the door behind her, shaking his head "no-one other than Royce."
"Okay, let's get moving. We're sitting ducks in here." Lloyd nodded in agreement. Quietly they headed out the room, and down the hall.
They'd decided to stick together, whilst moving towards the abandoned labs they'd managed to hit Thompson and get one of his life bands. They were moving now towards the upper balconies, as they turned the corner though Stackhouse was walking towards them. "Run!" Alice yelled, as a red energy blast soared past her head.
Alice and Lloyd quickly raced back the way they came. They were running as fast as they could, skidding around corners and blindly firing back on Stackhouse. Alice was looking behind her as they turned a corner, she came to an abrupt halt as she slammed into a hard object. She felt herself careen towards the floor, before she could feel the impact from the floor she felt body tense in pain as she was struck with Stackhouses' In'tar.
"Omphh" she hit the ground, but it was soft and warm. "God, what the hell are you guys doing?" She heard John's voice in her ear.
She opened her eyes and found herself face to face with him. Both of their faces were scrunched up in pain, John had been touching her when she'd been shot by the In'tar. "Oh damn, sorry sir." Alice felt hands gripping her arms and pulling her off John.
Stackhouse propped Alice up next to him, while Lloyd pulled John to his feet and helped him lean against the wall. "Again...what the hell are you doing?" John repeated himself, his voice prickling with annoyance.
"Um..." Stackhouse muttered.
"We're just getting in some late night training, sir" Alice jumped in lying swiftly, trying to stop herself from wincing as she spoke.
"Training..." John repeated in disbelief, cocking an eyebrow and staring at her.
Alice pursed her lips trying to keep a smile off her face, "yes, sir."
"And how many of you are out here training exactly?" John said in his lofty voice.
"Just us, sir" Lloyd jumped in at this point. He was standing at attention, with a deadpan serious look on his face. Alice wasn't sure how he was doing it.
John started stretching out his limbs, pulling a face slightly as he did. "Uh huh, right. And you didn't think you should have made your CO aware of these late night...training sessions," John swept his gaze across from Lloyd to Alice and then Stackhouse.
Alice pushed herself off Stackhouse, regaining most of her motorcontrol now. "We didn't think it was necessary to distrub you, sir." Alice stretched out the last word slightly as she said it, giving him a small smile.
"Sure" John muttered, he picked up Alice's In'tar that had fallen on the floor when she'd crashed into John. "I guess this is only fair then." John turned up the intensity and fired at Lloyd and Stackhouse. He then turned the gun on Alice.
She held up her hands quickly in defeat, listening to the two soldiers groaning on the floor. "Hey, i got the same hit as you before."
John smiled at her, "you should get better at lying. Training? Really?" Alice took a step back, glancing down quickly at the ground. "Also if you're going to play predator and keep it a secret you should try not to use a general radio frequency Stackhouse." John looked down at him tensed up on the floor.
Alice took John's momentary distraction as her opening, moving quickly she dived down and grabbed Stackhouse's In'tar and fired at John. She missed, but it gave her enough time to spin and turn around the corner. "Guess this means you're in the game!" She yelled back to him.
She was grinning as John chased after her, she shot back at him a couple of times. She rounded a corner and saw a doorway heading to a couple of abandoned labs, dashing inside she quickly chose a room and dove behind one of the control panels.
Panting heavily, she crouched down and pressed her back up against the base of the control panel. Her heart was racing. The room she was in was completely dark, with only a thin strip of blue light emiting from the powered down console. She strained her ears to hear any sign of footsteps approaching.
She couldn't hear anything yet, though he couldn't have been too far behind her. Another few seconds went by and she still heard nothing, inhaling she began to peek around the corner of the console to look at the doorway. Nothing. She resumed her original position, then again she moved to peek around, she jumped back squealing in surprise as John's face appeared close to hers. "Got you!" The next thing she saw was the room lighting up with a flash of red. "And it looks like that was your last life." He chuckled, as she spasmed on the floor.
"Not...fair..." Alice managed to say between her clenched teeth. Though she did notice he'd turned down the intensity before he hit her, so she was already regaining control of herself. "You play dirty." She exhaled as her muscles finally stopped tensing.
"You should know that better than anyone," John winked at her and pulled her up to her feet.
"And since you know me so well, this shouldn't come as a surprise!" She shot her In'tar, hitting John square in the chest. He groaned, gripping the panel he slowly slid down onto the floor. Alice was grinning and giggling. She squated down next to him, "i think i win."
A/N Hope you enjoyed the read! The next chapter might take me a while to get up, but I'll do my best!
