But before her hand touched his shivering back with concern and before her voice told him how she felt about those three shots, the Letelk spike through the man's chest activated its hellish burning; he could already feel the fire getting down to his side, hurting even more than the deadly bullets whatever if it was closing his wounds. It was like a smouldering piece of iron was sliding in the gaps left by the gunshots to close it, it felt like an eternity of agony…

"Oh dear what have-I done?! Mitchell!! Please Mitchell!! I'm so sorry; I thought you were one of those rowdies!!" The woman exclaim with visible remorse and anxiety, bending down on Cam and trying to take a look at the wounds in a nearly hysterical way.

"Damn it…" Grunted Cam as the pain was slowly getting away but as the gaps were now closed and not bleeding anymore. These words showing that he wasn't able to hold the pain any longer on the moment. Still his shirt was wet by the thick crimson liquid but, fortunately, its dark color made it hard to distinguish the red of the haemoglobin. "V…Vala… why… can't you be careful when… you should?!" He managed to growl with frustration, brokenly and raucously, panting as he was trying to catch back his breath without hurting even more his lungs, his raw muscles and his ribs, labouredly and shakily rolling to his knees and hands.

Cam tried to hold the shivers that sore his muscles in the long run but that wasn't too easy… He faintly pushed her back as she was trying to set him down back to the floor to take care of him, groaning slightly as he was striving to finally get back on his feet. The woman helped him a little bit to stand still –his dizziness was getting even worst and he felt like being asthmatic and slowly suffocating- but once again he broke free from her worried hold; his self-pride had taken a gruelling shot as well…

"Oh I'm sorry Mitchell, believe me I could not know it was you! I'll never forgive myself for doing such a thing, really; I beg your pardon!!" She kept on with a desperately sorry look on her face; while she held him by circling his chest with her arm as he nearly stumbled to the floor. How good it felt to hug such a hefty man… but it wasn't her concern right now: "Are you well?" She then tried sheepishly after a short nervous laughter.

"Yeah… yeah I'm… fine." Cam answered with an irritated but exhausted tone, breaking free from Vala's hold once more and getting steadier enough to stand at last. He knew that if she learned about the foreign object impaling him, she would go really insane from worrying… and he just felt too grumpy to let her be concerned about him and to treat him as a child right now.

"But I shot you down…" Vala began with a slight suspicious and disbelieving tone, staring at him and inspecting him from his mesmerizing blue eyes to his army boots.

"I'm wearin' one of their bullet-proof vests." He lied, shrugging with detachment before subtly adjusting the stolen leather jacket: if she had taken a closer look, it would have been obvious that he wasn't wearing that kind of shielding and that sure was odd to realize he took gunshots without any difficulty… How worn out he felt! He hardly believed he was still able to pretend to be fine…

"Oh… that's better." Vala let out, kind of ashamed, acting with a fake disinterest as well: she had one of the worst fears of her life when she thought she killed her colonel!

It may be even worst than that time she punched him in the face, but now Cam wasn't feeling like reprimanding her and blaming her: there was still this disheartening and draining effect caused by the alien spike… At this moment, Cameron noticed that she was wearing some nearly trash-looking black coquettish clothes just as some female from the crew were bearing: a really short dark skirt, some worn out pantyhose, high boots with thick heels, a black tank top and a black leather jacket decorated with a few grey graffiti… and of course a studded belt with a gun sheath hanged on it; the weapon was of course in Vala's hand. He blinked a little bit with shock, not expecting to meet her dressed that way as he was going to find her and free her from the guards.

"You just… changed your…" Mitchell began with bewilderment and tilting his head slightly to the side, raising a little the forefinger as he hesitated to point at her.

"Um yeah I thought that… it may be a good camouflage since all the women aboard seem to be coming out of one of those music videos at TV where they play that hardcore music… I managed to steal some garnishments when I escaped: those pirates are not watching us anymore!" Vala answered to his mute question as she caught the wondering look on Cam's face. "But I see that you had the same idea, Mitchell." She added teasingly, nodding to what he was wearing himself.

" 'kay, right, so we're the perfect pairin'… How about rockin' the place now? " Cam humoured her now that he was getting back from this surprise. "We only have to find Sam, to meet Jackson and Teal'c on the catwalk at 0230 and to get the hell out of here!" He added.

"Oh: Carter is at the infirmary right now." Vala said lightly, without showing any unease.

"What?! What happened, what's with her?!" Cam asked, worrying.

"She's alright: it was our plan to escape we made when they came for the guys and putted us in the same cell… We acted like we were not well at all so they would move us to an easier place to break out, but it worked only with her." She answered nearly cheerfully, amused to see the apprehension in the man's eyes. That was cute from him…

"I hate this place…" He muttered, all the bad memories about the sickbay coming back to his mind. "And am-I the only one that escaped with bare luck?" He added, a little bit complaining. The Vala's amused look still on him wasn't helping either so Cameron decided it was time to get back to their main goal and keep going in those corridors. At least, they now had a clear place to go: that so called infirmary where remained a non-competent physician.

"We're moving now. I know exactly where she might be, but we have to be alert with all those armed jerks lurkin' around…" The SG1 leader said, and waited for her approval nod before leaving and going for a light jog, followed by Mal Doran in her stolen elicit clothing.


"Another breather?! But we just had one few minutes ago! We'll never be able to go anywhere or to catch on the others if you keep slowing us down this way!" Vala said with a nearly offended but surely disbelieving tone as she was coming back toward the man: she hasn't noticed he had stopped once more somewhere after her.

But she knew after all that it wasn't about spoiled and lazy manners that would stop the man from keeping up on her: it was only the way he looked since they began their jogging and on this very moment that were telling her so... Mitchell was standing up faintly, his back leaned on the metal wall and his hands on his laps, and his head dropping backward and leaning on the wall as well; he blinked and stared blankly, his mouth half opened. Cam was not only dizzy due to the lack of oxygen; there was the feeling that his throat was swelling to stop all air from coming in, that some kind of metal ring was circling his entire torso to suffocate him and that his lungs were as dry as sand and as burning as hell. The raspy wheezing coming out of his own chest was by itself kind of scary, but was nothing compared to the feeling of the bullets still in his side, stuck in his muscles and entrails, slightly moving and weighting at every step he made and followed by the burning of the Letelk healing… He had to concentrate on breathing, even if he felt as his lungs were not large enough for the amount of air he used to drag in, all that because of the freaking alien spike! And how could he run if he couldn't oxygenate himself?!

"What is going on with you? You use to beat me every time it comes to marathons…" Vala kept on when she realised Mitch wouldn't answer before a few minutes; she doubted something was wrong and was growing concerned… but at the same time irritated that he was hiding that important health troubles to her. What if those breathing problems jeopardized the entire SG1 team and their respective plans for escaping? And why couldn't he stop playing at Superman or at the ultimate hero and denying every injury he got? Was his ego that important? Were all the military men that pointlessly obstinate? She wasn't able to understand Cam on that…

Cameron knew they were close when he vaguely recognised the corridor just in front of him, but right now he felt too winded to waste his breath to talk and answer something to the woman now beside him. Though he had to make sure she would not worry too much when there was more important going on. If they kept going, they would end up soon on a part of the ship where the passage is shaped as a "T"; on their right, there would be a dead end leading to a blocking collapsed part of the ship and on their left, there would be the way to Sam…

"Tired…I… They sur'ly gave me… somethin'" Cam answered and lied, trying to speak with a confident tone between two wheezing. He pushed himself entirely up to prove he was fine, but the vertigo stroke again and he went even paler.

As Vala was going to chide him for being that careless and stubborn, two guards bolt from the blue right in front of them, coming from the corridor leading to a dead end –so it wasn't one after all, there must be a secret passage through the collapsed pile of junk- Both the guards and the two SG1 were pretty surprised and the eyes wide opened, each of those pair having the reflex to point their gun at the other, without shooting yet; only aiming their enemies tensely. Vala and Cam with small handguns, the two rebels with huge alien weapons…

"Hey, they're in black: they're with the bitch Royer!!" Exclaimed one of the guards, both of them dressed in fact in red; they were rebels…

"Whoa whoa whoa wait! That's only a mistake: we simply dressed in black to confuse them and sneak on them, we're not actually with Royer!" Mitchell lied immediately, concerned about fooling them to prevent the guard from shooting at them. After all, Vala and he had nowhere to get cover if they began the gunfight… And staying there on place to fire at each other was purely suicidal.

"… Fine, then you'll know who's the most dim-witted and hated Canadian fellow…" The other rebel decided to test them with this kind of question, clearly suspicious and not lowering his gun.

"That geek doctor… uh… is it Mc Kay?..." Tried Vala, not seeming too convinced by her own answer.

"That's what I was goin' to say" Cam whispered to her, grinning at the silliness of the moment but unfortunately knowing they failed since the rebel asked the question they had no mean to answer to.

"Wrong, it is the stupid Captain Royer! If you don't know that then you never went to any of our secret briefings!" The other guard replied with anger, furiously eying the woman and the pale colonel.

At this moment, Mitchell knew he had to react; they were trapped, they had been discovered… and he could do it… Before the rebels could do so, Cam opened fire on them, using his unarmed hand to immediately drag Vala behind him to shield her with his own being. One of them collapsed immediately, but the second had enough time to fire at the two SG1 members before dying as well under Cam's bullets. It was like the time froze for the slit second; the blast –looking a little bit like those coming from Jaffa staffs- was coming their way, Mitchell knew he could take it if he had to since the alien spike through him could heal him and he raised one arm to protect his face from the shot going straight to his head. The blast awfully burned his skin and muscle, he was slightly shovelled back by the strength of the impact and he cried out at the same time the rebel fell to the floor. All this happened so quickly: when Vala finally realised what just happened, -she had been pushed back a little as well when Cam backed up on her- Mitchell was squeezing his injured forearm between his chest and his other arm to stop in vain the hurting, half bent, wincing and letting out a pained groan and the two enemies were dead on the ground. She immediately froze with panic, thinking that he had been shot in the torso once more because of the way he was clutching his arms on it. But then she noticed the light puff of smoke coming out of the man's limb by the sleeve of the leather jacket as a ghastly smell of burnt skin reached her.

"Why did you do this??!!!" Vala asked hysterically, eyes wide open with horror, trying to reach for the man's injured arm to take a look at it.

"Goddamned… Vala, shut it up a little bit: I knew what I was doing!"

Cam groaned with his clenched jaw, wincing from the awful pain and a little bit by the alarming feeling it caused; the weapon was stronger than he thought and he had a deep burned hole to the bone in his shaking limb…Breathing heavily and fighting the dizziness such a wound cause, he slightly turned his back on Vala to make sure she would not catch the disgusting sight of his burned and aching forearm, hoping it would heal soon. It began: this suffering and the flaming even worst that Cam thought for a second he would faint under the stabbing pain, biting his tongue to not cry out and tightly closing his eyes to not see his burned flesh swelling back from its carbonised look to its normal form. When the healing stopped, leaving his forearm cured but sore and filled with spasm, Mitchell could finally breath out with relieve, keeping his arm squeezed on his torso a little bit longer as to protect it. Yet there was still that burned flesh scent…

"You mean you got shot once more on purpose?!" Vala asked him with an offended disbelieve. "You could have got us killed; you could have got yourself killed! … What, you think it's clever?!" She kept on frantically; he wasn't helping her to get rid of her stress and anxiety at all… "Let me see what you did to yourself this time, maybe there's still something Dr Lam can do…"

Vala finally added, pulling on the man muscular shoulder to turn him around and to face him. Cam could see the worried look on her face, feeling guilty to lie to her that way… but it wasn't time to tell her the truth, to explain what the monster had after him and to show her the alien spike: they still had to find Sam and he knew the gunshots would attract more guards eventually so they could not stay on place for too long. Yet he held his arm tight on him like a mulish kid, making sure Vala would not reach his limb, and saying with a slightly irritated tone:

"Again, Val, I'm tellin' you; I'm alright!"

"But I saw th…" She began to protest fiercely, frowning and dubious.

"The bullet-proof vest has armoured sleeves as well." Cam interrupted her with an annoyed tone and a hard to believe lie, brushing past her to walk toward the end of the corridor.

"That doesn't even exist!" She protested and turned toward him as he was bending to grab the rebels' alien guns.

"How can you be so sure?" Mitchell asked to fool her, inspecting the weapon that burned him as hell, trying to avoid using his still slightly and unwillingly shaking arm. Cam then moved to walk slowly parallel to the wall toward the T-junction to check if there was still danger ahead without being noticed, ignoring Vala that had to trot to catch on him and keep on with the discussion.

"Cameron!" Mal Doran said with a reproachful tone, setting her fists on her hips with admonishment. She knew he wasn't telling her something and things were getting way too weird now. "Look at me when I'm talking to you at least!" She added.

Reluctantly, like the little brat that was being lectured, Cam turned to face her with a forged and long exasperated sight, rolling his eyes and avoiding her severe look. She could catch a hint of a bitter look on the handsome man's face, but she couldn't know where it came from. However, as she was going to indeed lecture him –how ironic; Vala being wiser than the SG1 leader!- they both heard breaking glass sounds and some clanking noises not so far from them… Some people were fighting hand-to-hand few meters away!

"That comes from the infirmary…" Began Mitchell with shock.

"Carter!" Realised Vala with utter concern.

Together, without waiting anymore, they rushed in the empty corridor toward the sickbay, readying their weapons anxiously.


They were fighting just past the door in the middle of fallen gurneys and cheap hospital beds, as if Jasde the Cadelan came in just at the same time Carter was heading to the exit, surprised each other and engaged the struggle. So Cam and Vala were too close to use their guns; they would risk harming Carter as well, even more due to the fact she and the doctor were closely wrestling for a needle filled probably with a sedative chemical.

"Sam!" Mitchell let out as he burst by the doorway, seeing what was going on with shock.

"Cam?!" Carter asked with astonishment, turning her head toward him to see if it was really him.

But that distraction was enough for the Cadelan black woman to take advantage of the situation, to tear the syringe off Carter's hands and to raise it, ready to strike with it. Catching her doing so, Mitchell followed his heroic impulsions, dashed for the two women and interfere between his favourite scientist and the untrusting doctor. The tip of the needle dove into some flesh, releasing its sedative liquid…

To be continued!!