A/N: Stinking head cold still forcing me to sit down – hence another chapter for you in record time!

Okay, it's time to up the action!

Warning: If you are a bit squeamish, you may want to skip parts of this chapter…you have been warned….

The Legacy of Janus

Chapter 10

Major Evan Lorne stood waiting patiently outside Mr Woolsey's office, where a meeting was currently going on. Through the full length glass window he could see Mr Woolsey sat behind his desk, General O'Neill perched on the edge of said desk, and none other than Colonel Samantha Carter sat in one of the armchairs facing them. His CO, Lt. Colonel Sheppard sat on the other chair, with Doctors' Jackson and McKay standing beside them.

Lorne looked at his watch. It was barely 0600, and it looked like they had already been at it for hours, whatever IT was. But he was sure he would find out soon enough.

With over half of the old SG1 team now in the city (who he had actually worked with during his term with Stargate Command, prior to his posting on Atlantis), it was bound to be something big. What he did know for sure was that, whatever it was, it was going to affect his Commanding Officer…

"Good morning, Major," came the dulcet tones of Teyla, who now stood beside him.

He smiled at her. "Morning, Teyla. How are you feeling?"

She bowed her head graciously, "I feel fine, thank you." She looked towards the office, and frowned slightly. Apparently, she had not been asked to attend.

"How long have they been in there?" she asked, almost a whisper.

"I'm not sure, though I would say they have been in there a while."

As they continued to watch, McKay and Carter seemed to have become more animated; Rodney was gesticulating wildly, and Carter was now perched on the edge of her seat as she appeared to be arguing her case. Lorne couldn't see the expression on his CO's face, as his back was facing him, but the hunch of his shoulders wasn't a good sign.

John then shot up from his chair, causing McKay and Carter to pause with whatever conversation they were in, to look up at him. John turned to Daniel, made some frantic signs with his hands, and then stood there. The whole office was now staring at him.

What had he said, or rather signed, to cause such a reaction?

Teyla felt her heart begin to race. Now that John had turned slightly, his face could now be seen. He looked pained and seriously troubled….what was going on?

She had to get in there! She started to move towards the walkway, when Woolsey stood up, held out a hand and gestured for John to sit down. Which he slowly did, and Woolsey continued to speak to him, and he nodded, then looked at the floor.

Glancing at Lorne briefly, Teyla then took a deep breath and then made her way down the walkway. Woolsey noticed her approach, stood up, and gestured for her enter.

As soon as she had entered, everyone turned to face her. Accept John, who was still looking at the floor.

"Good morning," Teyla said, trying to sound as normal as she could.

"Good morning, Teyla," said Woolsey, warmly.

"I am sorry, I did know not there was to be a meeting…" she began and Woolsey smiled awkwardly.

"We thought it best to let you sleep, Teyla, after what you have… been through of late."

She bowed her head gracefully. "I thank you, Mr Woolsey, but I assure you it was not necessary. I feel perfectly fine." She directed the last straight at John, who still had not turned around.

She turned then to Colonel Carter and smiled, genuinely pleased to see her. "Colonel Carter, it is good to see you again. You look well."

Carter smiled back. "It's good to see you too, Teyla. And please, its Sam, remember?"

"Of course." Teyla bowed her head graciously at her.

The salutations now out the way, the attention and atmosphere returned to one of tension. Teyla looked quizzically at each of them in turn.

"What have I missed?" she asked carefully.

"Carter here is going to use a device to take the whole city out of 'phase'", said O'Neill, making speech marks in the air with his fingers.

"Which, as I said before, is not possible!" whined McKay.

"Yes, it is Rodney!" retorted Carter firmly, clearly both of them picking up their argument almost exactly where they had left off.

"Kids! Please!" barked O'Neill loudly. "Play nicely…"

"May I ask, to what end would this serve?" Teyla asked, not quite grasping what they were discussing.

"The Perpetrator uses a Cloaking Device that takes the user out of phase."

Daniel explained slowly. "John believes he is still in the city. So the only way we can find him is if we are also out of phase. Now, we have a device here that will allow us to utilise that same technology to take the whole city out of phase, thereby allowing us to find him more quickly."

Teyla raised her eyebrows, once again impressed they could harness such powerful technology.

"The problem is that, once initialised, the device releases lepton radiation" complained Rodney slowly and loudly," which has a habit of pulling other creatures through from other dimensions!"

"As I've just told you, Rodney, I've already resolved that issue…" retorted Carter, clearly frustrated with the constant questioning of her work.

"Which leads us onto the next issue: powering the said device!" McKay said sarcastically. "According to your calculations we need at least three Naquadah Generators. Which, in case you haven't noticed, we are currently using our Generators to cloak the city, so that San Francisco can't see us! We just don't have the extra power to run your device as well!"

Carter glared at him. "Sometimes, McKay, you can be so…narrow-minded! I brought three with me from the SGC!"

Before he could reply, O'Neill held up his hands.

"Ok, kids, that's enough!" He then looked straight at John. "Sheppard?"

John, who had still been staring at the floor, looked quickly up at him, and stood up.

"Look. Are you sure about this?" O'Neill asked him, his voice sounded doubtful.

John looked at him for a moment, and then nodded, but O'Neill continued to stare at him, as if he had yet to be convinced.

"Ok then." O'Neill then leant round Teyla to gesture for Lorne to come in. The Major quickly hurried into the room, saluting as he did so.

The General quickly brought the Major up to speed with their plans.

Teyla was no longer listening to their conversation; instead her focus had turned to John. He was now sat forward on the edge of his chair, hands hanging between his legs, clenching and unclenching his fists as he continued to stare at the floor. She was about to approach him, when O'Neill's voice brought her back suddenly.

"…In the meantime, Major, you will accompany Colonel Sheppard down to the remains of the lab…."

SGA SGA SGA SGA

A sense of uneasiness had settled firmly in the pit of Teyla's stomach as they made their way down the corridors to the East Pier. She walked closely beside John, so much so that they gently brushed against each other as they moved slowly but surely towards the lab.

Major Lorne and Doctor Jackson quietly followed along behind. McKay was now tied up with Colonel Carter as they worked, albeit argumentatively, together to set up the interdimensional device. Which would hopefully allow them to track down the man that now appeared had set the chain of events in motion.

It turned out that John had asked if he could return to the lab, which had at first been refused. Apparently, she had later learnt from Doctor Jackson, that was when John had shot up from his chair, demanding that he needed to do this! With very little remaining from the lab or its contents, Mr Woolsey had relented, and agreed that he could go, providing he took backup – just in case.

As they turned the final bend in the corridor, the four of them stopped in their tracks, as the true extent of the damage from the blast could finally be seen.

Now clear of all the debris, the large blackened burn marks were evident everywhere. The blast had scared every surface, and the walls were pitted where shards had flown at high speed, impacting everything in its path.

John took a deep breath in, seemed to hold it, and then stepped slowly forward. Teyla glanced briefly back at the others, and then turned back to follow him.

John glanced up at the scorched holes where the sconces had once been as he continued to slowly make his way down the short distance towards the gaping hole that used to be the wall/entrance.

Teyla moved to his side, as he stopped for a moment. He took in another sharp breath, and she looked up at him. His face was set firm, a muscle in his cheek twitched, and his eyes seemed focused on something – through the large hole before them.

Without looking at her he started to make his way towards it, and she saw his fists were now clenched once more. Was he in pain? Was he sensing something or was it merely the memory of it?

She followed him, as did the others. He stopped again, just inside the room, and Teyla moved to stand once again beside him. Only this time, she noticed, his breathing was now more laboured.

"John?" she murmured quietly. "Are you alright?" He merely held out an arm, as if he was telling her to keep back. He stepped forward again, and Jackson and Lorne moved to stand beside her.

"What's he doing?" asked Lorne quietly.

Teyla could only shake her head, as they watched John move slowly further into the room. Which no longer looked anything like a room: all traces had since been destroyed.

John stopped suddenly, and seemed to stagger slightly. All three started to move towards him, but John quickly held up the 'HALT' military hand signal, and they instantly froze. He then took a step forward, and then stopped. He then turned slightly, then took another step, swayed once again, and then stopped.

Teyla gasped as she realised that she had seen John do this before! "John?" her voice, though strong and loud for him to hear, was now anxious and concerned. Again, he gave the HALT command, and she glanced quickly at Daniel.

"What is it, Teyla?" Daniel clearly could see something was wrong.

She was about to reply, when John moved again, in the same direction when suddenly he doubled over, holding his head tightly. Teyla rushed forward, as did Daniel and Lorne. She grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him up, but he was too heavy. Lorne quickly moved to his other side, and held John's arm. Daniel rushed round to the front, leaning down to try to see his face.

"John? What's wrong? John? Can you hear me?" Daniel's voice was now urgent.

John continued to hold his head, which was tucked tightly between his arms now, his heavy breathing was rapid and kept catching as though the pain was hitting him in waves.

"Whoa, Colonel…" said Lorne quickly, "he's going down…" he said as John's knees finally buckled, and Daniel quickly stepped in to help Teyla and Lorne support his descent until he was on his knees.

Teyla, struggling to keep her nerve, moved around to the front of John. "John? Look at me! John!" Her voice carried command and control, but John continued to pant heavily and his face was still hidden by his arms that were now completely rigid.

She leant forward, now on her knees and peered up at him. What she saw made her heart stop for a second, and gasp out loud. Recovering quickly, she couldn't help but silently curse she had not been wearing her TAC vest, and reached quickly in her pocket of her pants for a tissue and then reached in towards his face. After a moment, she removed said tissue and it was covered with blood!

"Oh my God," murmured Daniel quietly. But before they could do anything a strange noise suddenly came from John.

It was low, like a grunt. He was still panting hard, and the noise had been so slight, they weren't sure that they had even heard it. And then, there it was again. Only it was longer, and slightly louder. More like a groan now. John's tight grasp of his head seemed to increase even more. His whole body was now completely stiff and he began to pitch forward.

"Ok, Colonel, we got ya…" said Lorne, as he and Daniel tried to steady him as he seemed to be heading face first towards the floor. Only suddenly, John let go of his head, and quickly landed both hands squarely on the floor in front of him.

Lorne had had enough of this, and activated his earpiece. "This is Lorne. We have a medical emergency! I need a Med team to Janus' Lab STAT! Colonel Sheppard is down; I repeat the Colonel is down!"

John continued to pant, his head hung low, and the groaning was now becoming much louder. Teyla held his arm with one hand, and wrapped her other around his back, not knowing what else to do. She looked across at Daniel, who looked equally as worried.

At that very moment, the most heart wrenching, blood curdling roar of pain came from John, which made Teyla turn cold. The last time she had heard him cry out like that was when Lieutenant Ford had been trying to remove the Iratus bug from his neck almost five years ago.

She looked down, and her stomach lurched painfully and for a moment she had to fight the bile that had quickly risen.

John was now vomiting blood. A lot of blood! He continued to wretch violently and the blood kept coming….

What was happening to him?

"Where the HELL is that Med Team!" whispered Daniel angrily, as he continued to steady John, who had now resumed his panting.

Just then, the city wide radio system kicked in. "This is General O'Neill. Standby for city 'Clean Up' to commence in – twenty seconds."

"What?!" cried Daniel loudly.

John suddenly gave another agonising roar of pain, and began to pitch forward, and it was only Daniel's quick reflexes that stopped him from hitting his head on the floor. "Ok, buddy, I got ya…" he said quietly to John as he gestured for Lorne to help.

"We need to get him on his side, now!" Daniel ordered, his first aid training kicking in instantly. They had to stop him from swallowing or choking on his own blood. John was still completely rigid as the pain continued to rack his entire body, making the act of turning him hard. But together they did it and he was finally on his side, with his head facing Teyla in her lap.

Teyla held onto him tightly as he started to convulse. His face was contorted with pain; his eyes were screwed tightly shut, his breathing still laboured and irregular, and the blood kept flowing from his nose and onto her clothing.

"Oh, SO not good!" Daniel whispered as he pointed at John's ears, where a small trickle of blood appeared to be slowly running down. "Where the hell…?"

"Two…One…Operation Clean up has commenced…" came Chuck's voice over the radio, and then there was a strange sensation that washed through them. Like a wave of energy, the interdimensional device powered up and spread its energy across the entire city.

John was suddenly still. Had he passed out or…? Teyla quickly checked his artery at his neck, and gave a sigh of relief as she felt a slow but steady heart beat.

His face now looked relaxed, his eyes remained closed, and his breathing was steady. But the blood continued to seep out of his ears and nose. As Teyla looked down at him, her lap now drenched with his blood, her tears began to build and she tried hard to blink them away. She pulled him slightly closer towards her. Teyla then rested one hand lightly on his shoulder, while the other gently stroked his sweat drenched hair away from his blood splattered face.

"Er guys?" came Lorne's voice from one side of the room. "I think we got a problem…."

Both Teyla and Daniel looked over to where the Major now stood. Where there had been the gaping hole they had just come through, was now a door. Only the door had no handle, and no obvious way of opening it. They appeared to be trapped.

"Oh boy…" groaned Daniel.

SGA SGA SGA SGA

"What do you mean, you can't get in?!" exclaimed Rodney loudly, his sudden anxiety masked by his apparent rudeness. "The lab should be right there!"

"I'm sorry, sir", came the shaky voice of the med team leader over his headset. "But the wall seems solid."

"Wall? What wall?! There shouldn't be a wall, just a hole!" Rodney shouted roughly at whoever the incompetent guy was!

"I'm sorry, Sir, but there's no hole…"

"Damn it!" Rodney said loudly, slamming his tablet down hard on the table. "Do I have to do everything myself?!" With that, he shot up from his chair, and after glancing briefly at Sam, he strode quickly out of the lab.

It only took a moment before curiosity got the better of her, and she too ran out of the lab.

It didn't take long for her to catch up with him, as her time as Commander of Atlantis, she knew the layout of the place.

Rodney stood there for a moment, staring wide eyed at the wall that now had mysteriously materialised. The Med Team stood to one side, quietly talking amongst themselves.

Rodney walked quickly up to it, reaching out hesitantly with his hand, and placed his palm flat on the smooth surface.

Sam grimaced slightly and went to join him. "Magnetic Harmonic Resonance?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe…" he answered thoughtfully, now all trace of his earlier animosity had gone. He turned around, looking at the places on the wall where the slots for the sconces should have been. The walls were perfectly smooth. He frowned. "Or not…" He slowly turned to look at Sam, who looked as concerned as he was.

All Rodney could think of, at that moment, was the urgent call from Lorne requesting immediate medical assistance; that Sheppard was down! By the tone of the Major's voice, the guy was seriously worried, and he was usually so controlled. No, whatever had happened in there was not good for his friend. He felt a painful twinge of guilt.

A friend he had appeared to have virtually ridiculed in front of everyone…he hadn't meant it to come out like it had, he kept telling himself, but his conscience was not going to let him off that easily. And he wasn't sure if his friend was going to either.

And now, with no obvious means of getting to him, he just hoped he would get a chance to apologise…

SGA SGA SGA SGA

As Lorne, Teyla and Daniel slowly looked around it was plain to see that they were SO not in the lab they were previously in!

As though they had travelled back in time the lab looked as though nothing had happened! The room was laid out with its entire ancient tech; large monitors appeared to be active and scrolling through something, as ancient text moved rapidly up the screens. Lights were on and the walls were in perfect condition. It looked the same as before and yet it felt completely different.

Now that John was laying peacefully in Teyla's lap, Daniel moved quickly to join Lorne in inspecting the new door, and sure enough there was no obvious way of opening it. In fact, it looked more like a wall than a door. No panel, no sensor, no handle – nothing!

"Tey-la?" came a faint whisper from her lap, and she quickly looked down. John's eyes were open and looking at her, blinking slowly.

She gasped, and smiled widely. "John?" her voice caught as she spoke his name. He rolled slowly onto his back, groaning slightly as he did so.

"It is so good to once again hear your voice…."she whispered to him as her tears returned to blur her vision.

He smiled weakly at her, and opened his mouth once again to say something, when both Daniel and Lorne rushed over.

"Sir?"

"John?"

He turned his head towards them slightly, and his smile widened. "Hey guys" he said, more strongly this time, but some residual blood must have caught in the back of his throat as he suddenly gagged and began coughing violently.

They lifted him carefully into a sitting position, and leaning to one side he finally managed to clear it, spitting the blood onto the floor. He panted slightly as he continued to lean forward, resting one arm on his knee as he caught his breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Now covered with blood, John looked at his hand for a moment, and then wiped it off on the leg of his pants. Teyla gently rubbed his back, which was now soaked with sweat.

"John? How are you feeling?" asked Daniel gently as he squatted on the floor in front of him.

John looked up, his eyes were still pained and glassy, but his colour was returning quickly. He couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Better" he said softly, and coughed again.

"You had us all pretty worried there for a moment, sir," said Lorne, who stood behind Daniel, and John looked up at him, giving him one of his classic lopsided grins.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." It was then he realised his surroundings had completely changed and looked around slowly. "What just happened?" he asked.

"They've activated the device, John, so we should now be in the same dimension as the Perpetrator," said Daniel. "But, it appears it has done something rather…unexpected to the lab…" he finished, also looking around the room.

"I'd say…" John uttered, and then started to get up, and everyone moved quickly to help him. "I'm…ok," he uttered, but couldn't stop a small groan as they finally got him back on his feet.

Teyla kept a hand on his back as he swayed slightly, but seemed to quickly steady himself.

"Are you sure you're ok, John?" asked Daniel, not wholly convinced that he should even be standing after that amount of blood loss.

"I'm good," said John, though his voice sounded a little strained. Both Teyla and Lorne exchanged glances; it was his typical dismissive response whenever he had been hurt or injured…

"Okay," said John, which came out more like a groan, "what we got?" He coughed again, as he moved to lean rather heavily against a nearby table.

"We seem to have a door, sir," said Lorne simply. "Without any means of opening it."

"O-kay" said John, as he slowly, and rather stiffly, made his way over to the door. He looked over the smooth metal that appeared to be completely fused with the very walls themselves. A brief look around the door confirmed there was indeed no way of opening it; no panel, no sensor…. "Ok, that's not good", he murmured more to himself than to anyone in particular. He coughed again and he grimaced slightly as he did so.

He turned back to the others, who now stood watching him intently.

SGA SGA SGA SGA

"…So we shut it down" concluded Rodney, who now stood in Woolsey's office, after briefing everyone on the current status of the lab.

The room was silent, and Rodney glanced across at Sam, who smiled slightly and nodded.

"I think it best, sir," she added, turning to O'Neill. "It's not worth risking the Colonel's life."

"Have you tried them on the radio?" asked Woolsey.

Rodney tried so hard not to roll his eyes, or be facetious. "Yes. We got nothing."

But his frustration was mounting quickly. "Look, we turn it off, get them out, turn it back on and then go search for the bad guy…" added Rodney plainly, knowing how the General liked simple.

O'Neill looked at them for a moment and then nodded.

"I agree," added Woolsey. "Go ahead, turn it off."

Both Sam and Rodney nodded and quickly left the room.

It was not even five minutes before the voice of McKay came over their headsets.

"Er, guys? We've kinda got a problem here…"

O'Neill glanced at Woolsey for a moment before he activated his earpiece.

"What kind of a problem, McKay?"

"It would appear we, er, can't turn it off…" said Rodney, who sounded rather perplexed.

"What do you mean, you can't turn it off?" asked O'Neill slowly.

"Well, Sir…" Sam answered, "It would appear that the device now has some kind of force field around it. We can't get to it TO turn it off."

O'Neill rolled his eyes. Why was nothing ever straight forward anymore? "Great. Just….great! Ok, see what you can do…"

"I'm on it, sir. Carter out."

O'Neill looked at Woolsey, who looked as concerned as he felt.

"Don't worry. Carter will sort this out. She can do this kinda thing in her sleep…" said O'Neill, trying to sound optimistic.

Woolsey frowned. "Well, I just hope the Colonel has that kind of time…."

Tbc

Well? What do you think? Please let me know, I love to hear what you think, and it helps drive the story on!

Next chapter: Already well underway…Someone makes a return to the story and the search for the Perpetrator begins….