Disclaimer: I don't own 'Stargate Atlantis' or any related concepts or characters; you know the drill by now. Also, the basic details of the plot were inspired by 'The Phantom of the Opera', although I have naturally put my own spin on things; hope it meets with your approval
Feedback: Always appreciated, trust me
The Phantom of Atlantis
A few hours later, as John sat in the control room of Atlantis- the room which had for so long been his private domain, before the expedition arrived and forced him into hiding-, he couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of inappropriate hope at the fact that Elizabeth trusted him enough to give the order that allowed him to take up position here in the first place (He might not be explicitly in charge, but he was still going over the city's defences and coordinating the troops in Sumner's absence; a definite step-up from where he'd been mere days ago, to say the least).
He knew that her decision was based more on practicality than anything more- with Sumner having accompanied Caldwell on the Daedalus and Everett being shipped back to Earth with the rest of the wounded he was technically the superior military expert in terms of organising the city's defences; even Everett's forces had deferred to his superior knowledge of their enemy and available resources-, but a part of him still couldn't help but feel that there was more to her reasons than that; she hadn't even bothered to assign anyone to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't do anything he was supposed to…
He shook that thought off; Elizabeth was just basing her actions on the fact that they'd spent time together before and he'd always stuck to his side of their various deals and discussions, there was no… deeper meaning… behind it.
God, I'm thinking too much about this… he reflected to himself, trying to force that pointless train of thought to stop before it got much further; wishing for the impossible was not going to help anything right now.
In terms of practical wishes, he just wished that the Wraith would reach the location where McKay had calculated they'd have to make their last 'stop' before reaching Atlantis sooner rather than later; at least once they were there they'd know whether their plan for taking out the rest of the hive-ships was going to work or not.
The thing that frustrated him most about the current crisis were those moments when he couldn't actually do anything to actively contribute to the city's defence; when he wasn't making an active difference, he felt like he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and somebody to march in and try to arrest him…
The sound of everyone else in the control room falling silent- accompanied by the sound of rapidly-approaching footsteps- prompted John to glance up from the laptop that he was currently studying- he'd been checking the positions of the railguns in case anything needed to be relocated after the damage caused by the Wraith earlier-, to see an unexpected new arrival in the control room.
"What the… Lieutenant Ford?" he said, turning to look at the new arrival even as the other man stared back at him, his left eye now completely black and the skin around the eye distorted as though it had been burned by something.
"Reporting for duty, sir," Ford said, standing to attention as though nothing was amiss about his appearance, his tone making it clear as he glared at the man before him that he would rather report to anyone but a masked man who'd shot him the last time they'd come face-to-face.
"In that condition?" John countered, folding his arms as he glared at Ford. "Lieutenant, as much as I respect your desire to help, right now you're doped up to the eyeballs on Wraith enzyme; you're in no condition to take part in anything to do with protecting-"
"I'm a trained soldier with detailed tactical and explosive knowledge; I think I can contribute more than some talented amateur-" Ford began.
"I've been killing Wraith since before you even entered the military, Lieutenant; I thinkyou should consider yourself the amateur in this situation," John countered, his arm folded as he glared at the lieutenant. "Even if we were dealing with something you had encountered before, you're in no shape to try and coordinate anything; you have to go back to the infirmary-"
"I don't take orders from you!" Ford yelled, grabbing John by his cloak and hauling him out of the chair, pinning him to the console before John could stop him.
"Point… taken…" John muttered, even as he slowly moved one hand underneath his cloak towards his gun. "However… I have… other… methods… of making… you stop…"
With that, he pulled out his gun and fired it directly at Ford's chest, the point-blank-range stun blast sending Ford collapsing to the ground in a heap just as Doctor Beckett and a couple of other members of the medical staff hurried into the room, looking anxiously at the lieutenant.
"Is he-?" the Scottish doctor began.
"Just stunned, but he is definitely not going to be fit for doing anything any time soon," John replied, slipping his weapon back into its holster as he looked at Beckett pointedly, ignoring the stares from the rest of the people in the room. "You need to keep a better eye on your patients in this condition; the last time I encountered this, the poor bastard went and practically burnt himself out trying to fight three Wraith in hand-to-hand before they all fed on him…"
"All of them?" Beckett asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the Phantom.
"Mass enzyme overdose meant that it took a lot more to put him down than it would have done if he was normal," John said, shrugging dismissively as he tried to conceal his own memories of that particular failure; he'd tried to break out of a hive-ship after it got lucky with the aid of a couple of prisoners, but in the end both of them had died when the enzyme he was forced to give them as a 'boost' resulted in them becoming so irrational that they pushed themselves too far and ended up being fed on while he escaped. "As you said, the enzyme makes them stronger so the Wraith can take their time feeding on the victim; they don't do it that often, but overdosed victims can provide a great deal of energy when the need arises."
"Right…" Beckett said, nodding slightly uncomfortably as he looked at John- clearly concerned about how John had come by that information-, before he turned to the rest of his team. "Let's get the lieutenant out of here."
"Good luck with the 'weaning', by the way," John said, nodding slightly at the other man as Beckett's staff picked Ford up.
"We'll… do what we can," Beckett said, nodding at the masked man as he began to follow his men out of the control room, leaving John to return his attention to the matter of the city's defences. He was just about to contact a couple of members of the science team- he might be able to divert a bit more power to the city's weapons systems if he could work out a means of transferring drones from the jumpers to the city- when Elizabeth walked into the room, looking anxiously at him.
"Problem?" John asked as he stood back up to look at her.
"We just got word from the Daedalus," Elizabeth replied, her expression grim as she looked at John (Communications to the Daedalus had been diverted to Elizabeth's office while the staff in the control room focused on coordinating the city's military efforts, thus limiting the potential distraction from their work that might result from the Daedalus's messages). "They managed to destroy two hive-ships, but the other ten have managed to work out a way of negating our teleportation frequencies and are still approaching Atlantis."
Damnit… John muttered, cursing himself for allowing himself to feel even slightly optimistic at their chances; he should have known the Wraith would have a way around teleportation after all the Ancient information he'd found on the topic.
"What's the plan now?" he asked, deciding to cut straight to the chase. "I mean, aside from the obvious one of getting everyone behind the shield to think of something…" He paused as he took in the expression on Elizabeth's face. "That's it, isn't it?"
"We were wondering if you could offer any further suggestions…" Elizabeth began, her slightly hesitant tone prompting John to put a lid on his aggression before he unleashed it; the last thing he wanted was to give Elizabeth reason to be uncomfortable around him after everything he'd done to try and assure her that he could be trusted.
Even if he could never deserve… to be that close to her… he could at least have her friendship; in the end, it was more than he had a right to expect, and he should be content with that.
After the Daedalus had landed at Atlantis's west pier- damage sustained during the confrontationmeant that the ship would have to make full use of Atlantis's shields until it was repaired-, Colonels Caldwell and Sumner swiftly joined the rest of the senior staff in the conference room to go over their next plan of attack. With the Phantom having barely managing to re-establish the shield before the Wraith bombardment started- there hadn't been time for him to return to the chair so he had been forced to activate it from the control room-, the small group were now brainstorming any ideas that might allow them to figure out how to deal with the Wraith assault before the ZPM ran out (Which, according to Doctor McKay, would only be in a matter of days due to their possession of only a single ZPM and the scale of the Wraith bombardment currently facing them).
"We have to face facts here," Sumner said as he looked around grimly at the assemblage of people before him. "Even if we destroy these hive ships right now, more are just going to show up, and we have no way of knowing how many there actually are out there."
"Coupled with the fact that Atlantis is the only way to get to Earth- and, from there, to the rest of the Milky Way galaxy-, I think it's safe to say that they're going to keep coming for as long as we're here," Doctor Weir added, the expression on her face making it clear that she was aware of the implications of her last statement no matter how much she disliked them.
If they couldn't defeat the Wraith, their only option might be to destroy Atlantis…
"As long as they know we're here…" the Phantom muttered, nodding thoughtfully as he leant back slightly in his chair his eyes closed underneath his mask as he thoughtfully clasped his hands and tapped his chin with his index fingers.
"What?" Sumner asked, turning to glare pointedly at the other man; right now he was in no mood for any more of their strange ally's enigmatic bullshit.
As though Sumner's words were a cue, the Phantom's eyes snapped open as he looked sharply over at the lieutenant colonel, a slight smile on his face.
"I have a plan to… well, if it works, we should manage to drive the Wraith off without needing any back-up…" he said, the grin slightly fading from his face even as he spoke, as though he'd just realised something he'd overlooked earlier, before continuing, "but… I'm going to need Teyla's help if we're to have any hope of pulling it off."
"My help?" Teyla asked, looking up uncertainly at the Phantom's last comment. "In what way may I be of assistance to you?"
"Well… that's a bit of a complicated story…" the Phantom said, looking uncomfortably around at the other people in the room before his gaze settled on Sumner and Caldwell, evidently concluding that they were the people he needed to address more specifically with his latest news. "What I'm about to tell you is going to be… potentially disturbing… but I can assure you that it is not as drastic as you might think, and I would appreciate you hearing me out before you make any decisions about how to respond to it."
After a moment's solemn silence, Sumner nodded.
"All right…" he said, trying to conceal just how puzzled he was at the Phantom's request even as he recognised that he wasn't as concerned about it as he might have been earlier.
After the man had so far cooperated fairly effectively with him and Dillon during the initial Wraith assault, Sumner supposed the Phantom had earned some leeway in his dealings with them, even if the mask and the lack of information about their mysterious ally's past still made the colonel uncomfortable…
"Thank you, Colonel," the Phantom said, nodding briefly at the colonel before he turned back to look at the rest of the people in the room. "In a nutshell, the reason that Teyla and some of the other Athosians are able to sense the presence of the Wraith is because they have Wraith DNA."
Teyla's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" she said, looking at the Phantom as though she wasn't certain whether to be horrified or outraged at what he'd just said (Not that Sumner could blame her; the idea of sharing any kind of ancestry with those things would be enough to creep him out, and he hadn't spent his life fearing that he'd be killed by those assholes).
"It was part of a Wraith experiment conducted by one of their scientists after he went rogue a few decades ago," the Phantom explained, looking at Teyla in a conciliatory manner, evidently trying to apologise for revealing this to her so suddenly. "He was trying to… well, 'improve the food supply' by blending human and Wraith DNA- Wraith life energy tends to be more potent than human, but they traditionally avoid feeding on their own kind; it's a whole thing regarding their belief in their superiority over us that makes it more 'acceptable' to hunt us rather than each other-, but he had to abandon the experiment when he found out that the DNA he introduced to the subjects' genetic makeup also gave them access to the Wraith telepathic network; he assumed that subsequent interbreeding with normal humans would dilute the Wraith genes out of the population after he ended the experiments, but things didn't quite work out that way and at least some of the subjects' children retained some degree of awareness of the Wraith psychic network."
"And you know this… how?" Sumner asked, looking critically at the Phantom.
"I found the lab where the scientist conducted the experiments a few years back- damn thing had been abandoned for centuries; the Wraith generally don't bother cleaning up after themselves- and, after checking over the data he'd left behind, I tracked the subjects he'd released back to their relevant home planets to check on what had happened to them," the Phantom said dismissively. "None of them seemed to be harmed by what had happened to them, and baring a slight 'sensitivity' to the Wraith there were no signs that there was any future danger to any of the local populations; so long as none of the natives drew attention to themselves by trying to tap into the Wraith telepathic network directly- and even if they knew how to do that, why would they have wanted to do it in the first place?-, I figured that it was easier to leave them alone."
"Just out of curiosity, why didn't the Wraith scientist just… feed on his test subjects and get rid of them that way?" McKay asked, looking uncertainly at the Phantom.
"Well, firstly, he didn't exactly make his plans with long-term containment in mind; given that he was operating without permission from the senior Wraith, he was the only person who even knew the experiments were going on in the first place, and he'd been relying on the cells and general fear of the Wraith to stop anyone trying anything, but he figured that couldn't lost long enough for him to fine-tune the experiments to accomplish his goal while eliminating the side-effects," the Phantom explained. "As for why he didn't just feed on them when things got ugly… well, Wraith can get gorged just like anyone else, and the guy had reason to believe that his fellow Wraith were coming close to finding out what he was up to; he wasn't sure he had enough time to feed on everyone there before they were able to break out and try to escape, so he figured it was easier to let them go and hope they either died or proved unable to pass on their 'gift' to subsequent generations."
Noting their slightly sceptical expressions, the Phantom shrugged. "Hey, I'm not exactly a Wraith psychologist; I'm just telling you what I've gathered from the information available at the base, I can't be certain why the bastard didn't just kill them when he knew it wasn't working out."
For a brief moment, there was simply silence as the rest of the people in the room processed the information they had just learned, before Teyla spoke at last.
"I… have never been able to sense the thoughts of the Wraith," she said, looking slightly uncertainly at the Phantom. "Are you certain that the scientist whose work you discovered is the reason for my peoples' gift? Could it not be something we… evolved, is the term I believe you use for such changes… over time to protect ourselves from them?"
"Possible, but unlikely; you'd need some kind of psychic ability to begin with for that to be the case, and all records I've discovered regarding Athos in the Atlantis databanks make it pretty clear that it was never populated by anything more than average humans while the Ancients were active," the Phantom said, shaking his head before he continued his explanations. "Anyway, assuming that you are descended in some way from the Wraith test subjects- which all the evidence I've gathered assures me is indeed the case-, my best guess is that, over the years, your people subconsciously repressed that ability to stop themselves from having to deal with some of the stuff they were picking up; if we can get past that- I've picked up a few meditation techniques over the years that might help you do the job-, we might be able to 'trick' the Wraith into thinking that we're going to blow up the city-"
"Oh, now I get it!" McKay said, a smile spreading across his face as he looked at the Phantom. "If we can trick the Wraith into thinking that we're about to detonate the ZedPMs-"
"The city has automatic safeguards to dampen the explosive potential of the ZPMs in the event of an overload, so the scenario you're proposing wouldn't work even in theory; in any case, after all the effort they've put into trying to take Atlantis in the first place, I'm not expecting the Wraith to back off because of something they think we're going to do," the Phantom interjected, looking at McKay with a slightly frustrated gaze that Sumner had to admit he sympathised with; it was almost frustrating that this man could never seem to do anything that Sumner wouldn't essentially approve of in the end. "The plan's a bit more complicated than that; after Teyla 'alerts' the Wraith hive-ships of our intentions by accessing the telepathic network, we wait for them to stop firing- given that they want access to Atlantis they're unlikely to want to continue doing anything that would help us destroy the city-, and then, as Daedalus departs, they beam a nuclear bomb directly above the city's shields and detonate it."
"And… then what?" Sumner asked, looking sceptically at the masked man. "We don't exactly have the power to sink the city to make it look authentic, and even if we could there's a chance it'd take too long to completely conceal the city from the Wraith…"
"Precisely why we're going to cloak the city instead," the Phantom clarified.
Elizabeth blinked.
"Cloak it?" she repeated, looking in confusion at the Phantom.
"Well, the principle's straightforward enough; after leaving the shield on just long enough to protect us from the hard radiation generated by the explosion, we switch the shield generator over to a stealth cloak generator- simply remove a cloak generator from a… gateship… and link it up to the shield; the procedure is fairly straightforward- and we can safely cloak the city to conceal it from all Wraith scanners," the Phantom explained. "All we need is good timing and a bit of luck, and we're sorted."
"Luck?" Caldwell repeated, looking with renewed intensity at the Phantom with that last comment. "Why is that a factor?"
"Well…" the Phantom said, once again appearing slightly uncomfortable as he looked at the colonels. "You see, by cloaking the city like that, we'd essentially be replacing the shield with the cloak, which means that if the Wraith do start firing on us while we're cloaked…"
"The city will be blown to pieces because it's utterly defenceless," Caldwell concluded.
"Pretty much, yeah," the Phantom confirmed, nodding slightly uncomfortably at the colonel. "It's a long shot, I know, but if you've got any better ideas I'd like to hear them."
After a brief exchange of glances with Caldwell, Sumner knew that he and his counterpart were on the same page; there wasn't any time to think of something else.
"All right," he said, glancing over at Caldwell. "We'll have all non-essential personnel transferred to the Daedalus in the event that a quick escape's required if this plan doesn't work; McKay, you and Zelenka see what you can do about wiring a cloak generator up to the city's shield, while the… Phantom… does what he can to help Teyla tap into the network."
"Good plan," the Phantom said as he stood up, the rest of the people around the table following suit as though his actions had been a 'cue'. "Let's move."
"OK," John said as he sat opposite Teyla in her quarters, candles illuminated around them to better aid Teyla in entering the right mindset- they'd relocated to her quarters to attempt the meditation exercises he'd suggested; McKay and Zelenka were currently working on linking the city's shield generators to a cloaking generator from a 'gateship' while Elizabeth organised the evacuation of all but the most essential personnel to the Daedalus-, "with the Wraith so close to us in such large numbers at the moment, gaining access to the network shouldn't be difficult; the tricky bit is making sure that you get in without anyone else getting out."
"In… what sense do you mean… getting out?" Teyla repeated, looking at John in confusion.
"Look, the fine details aren't important; we can talk about the specifics of this ability of yours later," John said, waving a dismissive hand even as he admitted to himself that there probably wouldn't be a later even if this worked given his current reputation; he wasn't going to start kidding himself that Earth as a whole would be any more keen on hi continued presence in Atlantis than Sumner had been so far just because he helped them out during this mess. "All that matters is that you need to stay focused here; make sure the Wraith get the clear impression that we're willing to destroy Atlantis rather than let it fall into their hands, but don't 'stick around' any longer than that."
"I… will try," Teyla said, nodding uncertainly as she faced the man before her. "But… what you ask of me… it is beyond anything I have ever done…"
John could only nod at her.
"I know," he said, looking sympathetically at her. "Believe me, if there had been a better way to bring up the matter of your heritage and lead you into this, I would have done so, but we can't afford to worry about that right now; you really need to focus if this is going to work."
Nodding in understanding, Teyla sat back once again and closed her eyes, John taking up position opposite her.
"OK," he said, looking calmly at her. "To begin, stop paying attention to the world around you. For the moment, there is nothing else around us but you and my voice. Focus on that feeling you get when you are aware of the Wraith… return to the darkness within… conceal yourself in that darkness…"
For a moment he simply sat in silence, waiting for Teyla to respond, until she finally spoke.
"I… I am on a hive-ship…" she whispered, her voice low as though concerned that someone would hear her. "I am among Wraith… they are all around me…"
"You're not really there, Teyla; this is just your mind's way of coping with stimulus it was never intended to receive," John said, trying to keep his voice low to avoid snapping her out of it before they were finished. "You're accessing the Wraith telepathic network; all youneed to do right now is send them what we want them to hear."
"Of course…" Teyla said, her voice trailing off as she raised her head slightly, the better to focus her attention on what she was doing. For a moment there was silence, Teyla's eyes twitching slightly as though she was dreaming as John stared anxiously at her, and then Teyla's eyes opened sharply, smiling briefly at John as she did so.
"It is done," she said simply. "I made contact with the Wraith, and the thought of destroying Atlantis was first in my mind; if the screams of defiance I sensed are anything to go by, they are evidently not eager to lose the city…"
Her voice trailed off as John tilted his head slightly to one side, apparently listening for something, subsequently smiling as he looked back at her.
"The firing's stopped," he said by way of explanation, indicating the ceiling above them; even when listening intently, he could no longer hear the sound of the Wraith weapons pounding against the shield. "Your message must have gotten through; all we need to do now is wait, and-"
"Doctor Beckett to… Phantom?" Beckett's Scottish voice suddenly said over the radio, cutting him off mid-sentence. "We have a problem; Lieutenant Ford's regained consciousness and is on the move even as we speak."
John blinked.
"WHAT?" he yelled, staring incredulously at the radio, his conversation with Teyla forgotten in light of this newest complicated. "But he's-"
"'Doped up to the eyeballs on Wraith enzyme', I believe was the term you used, correct?" Beckett asked, his tone displaying his anxiety as he spoke. "He's taken all the enzyme I've harvested from the Wraith bodies and seems to be heading for the gateroom; I've called Sumner, and I've even tried to speak to the lieutenant, but he's nowhere near interested in listening to me in his current state, and with the military down to the basics to prepare for evacuation we just don't have the manpower-"
"Call them back," John said, standing up and pulling out his gun, shooting an apologetic glance at Teyla for leaving her like this before he headed for the door. "I'm the only person available who knows what Ford's really capable of in his current state; I'll take it from here."
With that he turned around and hurried out of Teyla's room, already calculating the most likely route from the infirmary to the gateroom that Ford would take, trying not to think about the irony that he was about to go up against someone on Wraith enzyme after spending so long keeping a sample as a 'secret weapon'…
For a moment his hand strayed to the pocket where he kept his phial of enzyme once again, but he drew his hand away almost instantly; in this situation what was required was a clear head to out-think Ford's current inclination to rely on brute force to solve his problems, and the enzyme- in any dosage- would compromise that ability significantly…
John tried not to think about the issue that use of the enzyme could leave him in a state here he'd be inclined to do something he'd regret when he had a clear head; he'd never been entirely certain what effect the enzyme had on his judgement after using it- given that he'd only ever used it in a fight his decision had generally been limited to nothing more complicated than who to attack first, particularly since he always left his fights fairly quickly once he'd finished off his foes-, and he wasn't about to risk finding out what he might do this way.
If he encountered Elizabeth while on the enzyme and did something he'd regret later…
Turning around a corner, John's eyes instantly fell on Ford as the lieutenant ran towards the door at the other end, his gun in his hand as he stared intently at the other end of the corridor, and thoughts of Elizabeth had to be pushed aside; he had more immediate matters to deal with right now than the question of what he might do.
"Lieutenant Ford!" John yelled, aiming his gun at the young man before him, his finger already tightening on the trigger.
As the lieutenant spun back around, John couldn't restrain the slight wince at the sight of Ford's face; the memories conjured up by the sight were areas he really didn't want to get into right now…
"What are you doing here?" Ford asked, glaring angrily at the masked man before him.
"I'm here to take you back to the infirmary; what else?" John responded, staring intently at the other man; talking calmly to someone in this state might not work, but he might manage to convince the other man to make a mistake that would leave him vulnerable if he pushed him too hard. "You're not well-"
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Ford spat, glaring at John in contempt. "You'd like to remain the city's hero, swooping in to save the day all the time and leaving us all looking like pathetic idiots; you just can't take the fact that there's someone else out here now who can do just as much damage to the Wraith as you can-"
"You're barely thinking rationally right now, lieutenant; that enzyme seriously disrupts your brain chemistry!" John interjected, glaring in frustration at the man before him. "You might be able to outlast a Wraith in a fight in your current state, but you're also barely capable of thinking of any strategy more elaborate than 'hit it until it's dead'; you need to come back-"
"What, to a city where people listen to a renegade element like you?" Ford countered, glaring at the man before him. "At least I'll have training when I go out there; where did you-?"
Before anything further could be said- not that John thought it likely either of them would make any impact on the other in this confrontation; Ford's condition made rational debate virtually impossible-, the city suddenly shuddered as though something had struck it- most likely the aftermath of the nuclear bomb they were using to trick the Wraith, John noted with a brief part of his mind; he vaguely recalled hearing a message from Elizabeth earlier, but since he'd turned off his radio while looking for Ford it hadn't been that clear and they were too deep inside the city-, sending John stumbling off his feet and giving Ford a chance to turn around and enter the teleporter just behind him before John could regain his balance.
Cursing at his ill luck, John hurried into the teleporter as quickly as he could, selected the teleporter Ford had just travelled to- recently-used teleporters tended to register a slight 'warning' signal if they'd been used anytime in the last few seconds; John speculated that the Ancients had used it to prevent accidents caused by someone trying to go to a booth when someone was getting out of it-, subsequently departing just in time to see Ford hurrying down another corridor that, if memory served, led towards the 'gateship' bay.
Damnit! John cursed inwardly as he hurried after the lieutenant down the currently-empty corridor, praying that he'd reach the bay in time even as he knew he wouldn't; with that enzyme currently in his system, Ford was capable of outpacing him by a not-inconsiderable amount even without his head-start…
Hurrying into the gateship bay, John was just in time to see Ford enter one of the ships- he might not be able to pilot it long distances himself, but the gateship's automatic autopilot when in Atlantis would at least help him get through the Stargate without being stopped-, John diving through the rear hatch- he vaguely registered Zelenka's unconscious body lying alongside the ship, but he didn't have time to worry about that right now- after Ford just as the lieutenant had set the ship into motion. Even as the gateship rose up and began to move into position to descend, John had already drawn his gun and fired it at the lieutenant, only for the stun-blast to do little more than annoy the other man as he grabbed John by the cloak.
"We were better off without you here undermining everything!" Ford yelled, John vaguely registering the gateship's descent into the main control room- he'd learned over the years- as his deranged opponent glared at him. "If they want a 'vigilante' taking action here, maybe they'll let me go when I get rid of you!"
John vaguely had time to wonder what train of thought had led Ford to that conclusion- maybe he thought that the senior staff hadn't found him because they were deliberately trying not to and thought that they'd leave him alone if he proved himself 'superior' to the Phantom?-, but then he felt himself start to fly backwards and instantly reached for another pocket…
Looking back, Elizabeth wasn't certain what had startled her more; the moment when the Stargate activated (Becaue she'd had absolutely no idea what had caused it) or the moment when the gateship descended from the ceiling and a black-clad form that could only be John was hurled out of it (Becaue she definitely hadn't expected that to ever happen; she'd grown so used to the idea of John as the seemingly-indestructible Phantom that the idea of something in Atlantis being able to throw him like that seemed almost impossible), the body striking the steps hard even as the gateship rotated to face the Stargate.
For a moment Elizabeth was tempted to hurl caution to the wind and hurry down the stairs to see how John was, but then he leapt to his feet and Elizabeth caught a brief glimpse of something green under his cloak- evidently an Ancient shield device- before he was hurrying up to the control room, urgently glaring at McKay.
"Ford's in there; shut down the wormhole!" he yelled at the Canadian scientist.
"I can't; the gateship's in control!" McKay countered., looking in frustration at the Phantom.
"Can they detect the wormhole?" Elizabeth asked, looking over at McKay.
"The cloak might be able to shield it from them, but that's not the only issue," McKay said, his grim expression making it clear that he didn't have good news for her. "If he gets away…"
Elizabeth understood McKay's point all too well; if Ford got away now, then all their efforts to save Atlantis could be undone.
"Lieutenant Ford," Sumner said, activating his radio as he glared at the gateship. "I am ordering you to stand down; this is a direct order!"
For a brief moment, the gateship simply hovered in front of the Stargate, as though Ford was contemplating the orders he'd just received, but then the gateship moved through the Stargate, the wormhole shutting down as soon as it vanished.
"Damnit…" John muttered where he stood beside her, staring grimly at the now-deactivated Stargate. "That could have gone a hell of a lot better…"
"The question is, did they detect it?" Sumner asked, jerking his head up slightly to indicate where the Wraith ships still hovered above Atlantis.
For a moment, the sparsely-populated control room stood in silence, everyone inside it holding their breath as they waited for what might happen next, until a radio call from the Daedalus finally broke the silence.
"This is Daedalus," Caldwell's voice said over the radio. "Our sensors indicate
"I can confirm that; they're headed for hyperspace," McKay added, glancing briefly at his laptop before looking up at the others. "I'm gonna keep the cloak up for a while just to be sure, but… I think they bought it."
Nodding in acknowledgement at McKay, Elizabeth walked over to where John and Sumner stood on the balcony, staring at the Stargate where Ford had vanished through mere moments ago.
"We can find the gate address in the log…" she said, already knowing as she said it that her suggestion wouldn't work.
"It doesn't matter where he goes," John said simply. "The second he gets to wherever he's going, he's gonna ditch the Jumper, turn around, and dial another address that we can't trace; he's gone."
"Yep; he got away," Sumner confirmed, nodding grimly before he turned to look at the Phantom. "And so did you."
Of all the things Elizabeth had been expecting to hear Sumner say to the Phantom, that hadn't been anywhere near the top of the list.
"Pardon?" John said, looking with at-least-slight incredulity- the mask made it hard to be certain- at the man before him.
"Due to lack of manpower in this area, you got away from the control room in the confusion caused by Ford's departure," Sumner clarified, briefly indicating the rest of the people in the gateroom; aside from those in the control room itself, the area was practically deserted. "As of yet, my teams have been unable to locate you in the city, although I will naturally order search parties to resume their efforts to track you down once normal operations have resumed after the debriefing on Earth…"
Noting the Phantom's evident confusion, Sumner sighed. "Look, I'm not saying that I like you any more than I did before this whole mess- you're still a potential hazard who could prove dangerous at some point down the line if he continues to insist on doing his own thing-, but, after what you've just saved us from…"
The colonel shrugged. "Let's just say I'm… willing to allow for the fact that you're of more use to us at present as a free agent rather than confined to a cell somewhere…"
"So long as I continue to coordinate with you when the need arises and we face another crisis of this scale, correct?" John replied, the slight smile under his mask now evident to all as he nodded at Sumner. "You know… you're not that bad."
"Go," Sumner said briefly in response, indicating the nearest door, only the slight smile on his lips any indication that he had even heard the Phantom's response in the first place.
With one last nod, John turned around, jumped off the balcony, landed in a roll on the lower level that culminated in him being on his feet and moving in a matter of seconds, subsequently hurrying through the door before him and back into the depths of the city that he knew better than anyone.
Even with the loss of Lieutenant Ford- to say nothing of the men they'd lost during the Wraiths' initial assault on the city-, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile.
They'd saved Atlantis, destroyed at least five Wraith hive-ships, would soon be heading back to Earth, and Sumner even seemed to be more accepting of John's presence…
And why was that last one so important to her?
More importantly, how come she'd only just realised that she'd forgotten to consider the possibility of seeing Simon again?
AN: In case anyone's wondering why John didn't just suggest that he go and pick up some extra ZPMs from his offworld storage facility to help with the hive-ships, the reason is that he's fully aware that using those ZPMs would only be a temporary measure that would do nothing but buy time- particularly given the limited number of drones currently stored in Atlantis, thus limiting their opportunities to strike back-, so he doesn't see any point in mentioning it as it wouldn't do them any real good (Coupled with the fact that he's doubtful Sumner would allow him out of the city long enough to pick them up).