Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Part 9/12
Chapter 9
Pawn
Ronon dumped the last bag of supplies on the floor of the ship, grunting, "That's the last one."
"Great!" John said, clapping his hands together. "Let's go then."
"Uh, we should wait for Rodney, John," Elizabeth called from her room, where she, Allie, and Teyla were folding laundry.
"He's not back yet?" John asked in annoyance. "I thought he just wanted to see what technology these people had."
"Which was none," Ronon quipped, surveying the scruffy pile of food they had bartered for.
"Yeah," John agreed. "So where'd he go?"
"I saw him heading off to the edge of town," Teyla said as she entered the bridge. "He said something about a strange energy reading."
John sighed. "You did tell him when we were leaving, right?" he asked Teyla. She nodded.
"Of course. He said that he would be back by then," she answered, then frowned.
Ronon anticipated her next comment. "He might've got a little too . . . interested in whatever he was looking for. You know how McKay is with technology."
Everyone else rolled their eyes. Rodney's penchant for things to tinker with was legendary.
"Well we'll just hafta call him away from his fun," John sighed. He tapped his earpiece.
"Rodney, come in."
When no response was forthcoming, John frowned and tried again.
"McKay, do you read?"
"Perhaps he is out of range?" Teyla suggested, an eyebrow quirked in interest.
"Like hell he is," John muttered angrily. "He just upgraded these headsets so that their range is over one thousand miles!"
He punched a code into the ship's computer, then asked Teyla, "He had his scanner with him, right?"
She thought for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, he had it. He was looking at it when I saw him."
John smiled. "Great. First good thing that's happened all day."
"What's a good thing?" Elizabeth asked, returning from her room with Allie perched on her hip.
"Rodney's got his scanner, which came with this ship, which means we can track the scanner from the ship," John said, scanning the readings the ship was giving him.
When no one replied, he added, "It's a rental. They didn't want us to lose their toys."
Secret Underground Bunker - Interrogation Room
Rodney woke up slowly, blinking repeatedly to clear his eyes. He looked around groggily, but his stupor quickly wore off, to be replaced with self-righteous indignation as he figured out that he was tied to a chair.
"Hey!" he yelped, straining against his bonds, which didn't give. Growling at them, he looked around again. He was in a small, concrete room whose only furnishings were the chair he was tied to and the bright fluorescent lamp hanging from the low ceiling. Rodney was just about to start to yell for help when a door opened behind him and Kell stepped into the room.
"Well, well, well," the ex-Commander said, walking around his captive with his hands behind his back. "What have we here?"
Planet's surface - Ship's Bridge
"That's weird," John said, frowning as he looked at the readouts from the scanners.
"What's weird?" Ronon asked.
"These say he's . . . underground . . . but that can't be right, they also say he's five miles away, he couldn't get that far in this amount of time!" John said.
"The scanner might be acting up," Elizabeth said as she and Teyla started to open the bags of food to be sorted. John was about to reply when a shocked gasp from behind him caused him to turn around. Teyla had found a piece of paper in one of the bags and was now holding it in her hands, staring wide-eyed at the words on it.
John glanced at Ronon and the two men immediately stood to walk over to their wives.
"What is it?" Ronon asked quietly, placing a supportive hand on Teyla's shoulder. She swallowed, then handed him the paper mutely.
He read its message out loud:
"One unharmed engineer for one Ronon Dex. That seems fair, doesn't it?"
A moment of silence passed, then Elizabeth cursed voluably in several languages.
"He's back," Teyla sighed grimly, staring at the note that held a friend's life in the balance.
Secret Underground Bunker - Interrogation Room
"So you're the great Rodney McKay, are you?" Kell asked, staring down at Rodney, who gulped and nodded a shaky yes. Kell snorted.
"Don't look so great to me, I don't know what Ronon sees in you," he scoffed, glancing at his nails. He hummed for a minute, ignoring Rodney, who was too scared to say anything anyway, then he walked back to the door and rapped shortly on it. Two stocky guards entered into the room carrying a table, then stood with their backs to the door.
On the table were Rodney's gear, the scanner, and a few knives, none of which looked at all appetizing in Rodney's opinion. Kell walked over to the table and picked up one of the knives, turning it so that it caught the light.
Kell was about to speak, probably to offer some insult or menacing thought, but Rodney's earpiece squawked from the table.
"Kell! I know you're listening, answer me!" came Ronon's voice.
Kell smirked and turned back to Rodney, who saw the crazed look in his captor's eyes and gulped, his fear doubling when the murderer spoke.
"It's showtime."
To Be Continued...
A/N: Heehee. Rodney-whump. Almost as fun as Shep-whump. But don't worry, I'll return them both in one piece (mostly). Only two chapters and an epilogue to go, so keep your hats on!
Hannah 554: Thanks, it was kind of a brain-wave moment while I was thinking, "hey . . . dude . . . how are they going to know if it's safe . . . i need more coffee . . ." Lol. And I was totally freaking out about how long it took me to update (two months argh) -should be shot- but now I'm not worried because squee you liked it! -hugs- Thanks so much for reviewing!
fyd818: Hah I was just watching "Echoes" too! -high fives to fellow fangirl- The tags thing was seriously a brainwave, like -right- before I fell asleep a while ago. Lol. And yeah the adventure is still definitely going – the good part will be in the next chapter (which will be up as soon as the server lets me! Thanks so much, you are sooo nice to me and I'm glad you let me write this because it is SO FUN! -insert multiple exclamation marks-
Izzles: Haha, I felt kinda bad about having that chapter delayed so long since it's sooo fluffy! -also melts into a puddle of goo- I'm soo glad you liked it! Don't worry there'll be more sparky fluff near the end of the 'fic (waah it's only four chapters away) so stay tuned! Next chappie shall be up as soon as the server lets it be! -tacklehugs back- I'm sooooooo glad you liked it!
