A break from reality

by SuperMom1

Elizabeth stood looking at John with her mouth wide open. It took her a moment to comprehend what he had just said to her, but when she did she turned to Carson and said, "test him for nanites." What if John had been infected by nanites at the end of 'The real world? There's definitely whump instore for John.

4. Chapter 4: Things are looking grim

Chapter 4: Things are looking grim.

John felt an electric shock run through his body and it didn't take him long to realise where he was. He was strapped to a bed in a tiny room and Fletcher and two of his goons were in there with him. There were leads and wires attached to his forehead and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening.

His back arched of the bed as a jolt of electricity ripped through his body, shredding his nerve endings apart. He felt as if he were burning up from the inside out as his muscles went rigid and when it was over, he could have sworn that he smelt his hair burning.

He clenched his teeth waiting for the next jolt of electricity to rampage through his body, "What…are…you…doing?" He asked taking shallow breaths.

"Electro-shock therapy. In 98 percent of cases, it has proved effective in helping a person who's suffering from psychosis. It is only a mild electric shock to the brain, so there shouldn't be any lasting damage," the blurry image of Fletcher told him, "but I should warn you that you will have a headache for a few days, and you'll probably ache all over."

"I…know…what…you…are…doing, but…why?"

"Whatever medication we have given you is not working, because you always seem to fight back."

John looked at the ridiculous hallucination and wondered why he was so confused. One minute Fletcher was talking about psychosis and the next he was telling him that he was always fighting back.

"What are you talking about?" He asked suddenly feeling stronger again.

"I will break you Sheppard and Atlantis will be mine; you can't keep fighting back forever."

John smirked at the blurry image," I don't think you'll ever own Atlantis, because if you could break me you would have by now."

"Perhaps but think of what's happening to Elizabeth while you're in here fighting. Not to mention what is happening to your own body. Eventually, you will be mine to do with as I please."

He had no idea how to answer that and he wondered if he would ever wake up again. A shiver ran down his spine when the thought of becoming a replicator hit him and he knew that he'd rather be dead than become one of them. He knew that Elizabeth would feel the same way, so he made up his mind if he awoke again, he would tell Carson to use a strong EM Pulse on him and Elizabeth, even it ended up killing them.

"I will die before I hand Atlantis over to you."

"You really think that if you died, you'd kill us. There are plenty of other people on Atlantis, so we'd find another way."

"Why don't you just infect the whole of Atlantis anyway?"

"It would be too much of a drain on us, so by infecting one or two people at a time we become stronger."

This guy was really beginning to annoy him, so he really hoped that he'd disappear soon. His vision was almost back to 100 percent normal and although he still had a splitting headache, he had every intention of trying to find a way out of the fake world that he was in.

"I think I'll leave you to rest now and the next time we try the electro-shock therapy, I think I will increase the length and intensity of the shock," Fletcher suggested while untying the restraints.

Great," he thought watching the hallucination leave; I really need to get out of here before he fries my brain.

He watched as Fletcher left the room and once he was sure that Fletcher was gone, the first thing he did was try to get out of the bed he was laying in, but unfortunately, it was harder than he thought. The minute he sat up a wave of nausea and dizziness came over him leaving him closing his eyes to try and get a handle on things. After a few minutes, he began to feel better, so he hopped down from the bed and walked over to the door. His legs were feeling like jelly, so it was slow going, but when he finally made it, he was surprised to find that the door was unlocked.

Cautiously he opened the door and peered into the hallway outside. At the moment there didn't seem to be anyone around, so he left the room and headed for a door at the end of the corridor. He hadn't gone far when two large orderlies came through the door followed by Fletcher.

"Colonel Sheppard, I think you'll find that there is no escape from this facility," Fletcher told him with an evil grin.

John turned and tried to run in the opposite direction, but his legs felt weak, so he didn't get far before the two orderlies caught up with him and pulled his arms behind his back.

"Colonel Sheppard I think it's time for your medication," Fletcher sneered.

He started to struggle when one of the orderlies tried to open his mouth. He managed to keep it tightly shut for about a minute and tried to kick out with his legs, but they were just too weak, and he could barely lift them off the floor.

Once his mouth was open Fletcher came towards him with a hand full of pills and stuffed them in his mouth, he tried to spit them out, but the orderly held his mouth closed so that in the end he had no choice but to swallow them.

Suddenly, he felt incredibly sleepy, and he barely noticed it when one of the orderlies picked him up and carried him to his room, by the time they dropped him on the bed he was barely conscious and the last thing he heard before the swirling inky darkness took him again, was the door being locked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Teyla wandered into the ICU to see John and she found Carson at his side checking the wound on his head.

"How is he, Carson?"

"He's just had a massive seizure and torn some of his stitches, so I've just been stitching him up again."

"What about the subdural haematoma and skull fracture?"

Carson sighed and she could see that he was exhausted, "the skull fracture is beginning to heal and the bleeding on his brain has stopped completely, so hopefully, there won't be any setbacks in that area."

"Perhaps you should go and get some rest, Dr Beckett?"

"Don't worry about me Lassie, I managed to get a few hours' sleep on the cot in my office, so I'm alright for now and I really need to be on hand until this crisis is over."

"May I sit with him for a while? Ronon has just gone to sit with Elizabeth."

"Yes, but I'll be staying too as I have instructed a member of my staff to sit with him at all times. I have just given the same instructions for Elizabeth."

"Carson, I am worried about Elizabeth, I have never seen her looking so pale."

"I know Luv and if Rodney can't come up with a solution to the problem in the next five hours the only option will be to use a strong EM Pulse to eliminate the nanites in both her and Colonel Sheppard."

Teyla was shocked by the suggestion, but then she knew that the security of Atlantis was paramount, "but won't that kill them."

"It may, but at some point, we are going to have to contact the SGC and let them know what is going on and I know that is what they would suggest, and I know that Colonel Sheppard and Dr Weir would want us to put the safety of Atlantis first. Besides if Caldwell were here, he would have ordered us to do it by now."

Teyla looked into his face and she could see the sadness there and she knew that if he had to do it, he would be devastated.

"I really hope that it doesn't come to that Lassie because the last thing I want to do is have to kill my patients."

Teyla nodded her head at Carson and turned to look at John. For the moment he was still, but she could still see the pain on his face even though he was unconscious.

All of a sudden, he started to gag and choke, so in a split-second, Carson sat him up. It was clear to her that he was about to be sick, so she looked around for a dish, but it was too late. Before she could get the dish under his chin, he lost his meagre stomach contents all over the bed and the floor.

John seemed to retch long after his stomach contents had been expelled so she rubbed tiny circles on his back hoping that it would soothe him. Finally, he was finished, and they were able to lay him back down.

"Teyla I'm going to have to ask you to leave again."

She nodded and left the room just as Dr Keller and one of the nurses came in. Not really having any idea what she was going to do next she found herself walking to the mess hall. It was probably time for an afternoon snack so perhaps she would pick up some sandwiches and head to Rodney's lab to share them with him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Elizabeth was in total darkness; she had no idea where she was or what she was doing there. The last thing she remembered was being dragged out of the ICU when Carson had discovered that she was still infected by nanites. She had then collapsed on the floor outside the isolation room and after that nothing, until now.

Slowly her senses began to return, first the sense of smell; she was definitely in some kind of hospital room. Next, her hearing returned, and she heard a clicking sound in the darkness, it sounded like someone was clicking a pen. Finally, the darkness faded, and she found herself sitting in Fletcher's office.

"Ah, Dr Weir, welcome back. It appears that your doctors attempt to inject you with wraith DNA to distract us has failed. We have managed to turn off the wraith DNA. The only problem is we can't manage to get rid of Colonel Sheppard's ancient gene. We may need to eliminate him and try to assimilate someone to fulfil our plans. That's if he doesn't cooperate with us in the next few hours."

She chuckled at him, of course, Colonel Sheppard would be causing him problems, she'd be a bit worried if he didn't, "you do know that Colonel Sheppard would rather die than become one of you, don't you? And believe it or not, I feel the same way." She looked around the room and had to wonder why they were sitting in Fletcher's office, but he wasn't telling her she was crazy," and why have you decided to give up the façade of telling me I was mentally insane."

"There is no need to, our work is almost complete, very soon you will be one of us and through you, we can take over Atlantis, but if you like we can change this location to something you may find more appealing. "

She watched as the view changed from a drab office to the East pier of Atlantis, which was one of her favourite places to go with her friends. She saw someone in the distance, and she could have sworn that it was John.

She called to him hoping that he would notice her, "John it's Elizabeth are you alright?"

"He can't see you because he's not really here; he's just a figment of your imagination."

She looked back at him and she thought that he looked at her before he began to fade away.

Turning her attention back to the ridiculous hallucination, she laughed, "You do know that Carson will kill us before you have a chance to carry out your plans."

"They won't know what's happening until it's too late."

"You know what this conversation is going nowhere fast, so why don't you tell me where John is so that we can find a way out of here."

"I don't think so Elizabeth, I think you can go back to sleep until you are needed again."

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp prick in her neck and instantly she found herself falling into the darkness again and she wondered if she would ever wake up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next time John awoke he appeared to be sitting on a balcony above the East pier on Atlantis. He looked out at the brilliant blue ocean and up at the tall glass spires that were glistening in the late afternoon sun, there was a gentle breeze in the air, and it was as close to perfect as he could imagine, the only problem was it wasn't real.

Looking out at the ocean it didn't take him long to realise that his vision was almost 100 percent and if he'd had a pair of glasses, he was sure he'd be able to see perfectly. His headache was almost gone, and he felt better than he had for days, which was probably not a good thing if the nanites were still hiding in him. He shuddered to think that he may be turning into a replicator and he really hoped that there was enough of him left the escape and then find a way to help Elizabeth.

Scanning the horizon his eyes finally settled on the East Pier and he was amazed to see that Elizabeth was standing out there talking to someone and the person looked remarkably like Fletcher.

"Elizabeth!" He yelled and he was convinced that his voice was carried off in the breeze.

He stared in her direction for a few minutes, and she didn't seem to be aware that he was nearby.

He yelled at her again, "Elizabeth, just hang on, I'm going to get you out of here?!" But there was still no reply.

Just as he was about to yell again, he felt the world begin to fade away and right before the darkness claimed him, he saw her look his way, which gave him hope that the nanites in their bodies were connected in some way.

When he awoke again, he was strapped to the bed in the small, tiny room and Fletcher was standing over him with his two goons.

"Colonel Sheppard, it is good to see you awake again," Fletcher commented and John felt freaked out at the way the man stared at him.

"You know I have to admit that I don't like your accommodations, especially after my lovely trip to the East Pier this afternoon," John quipped.

John wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a moment of panic cross Fletcher's face.

"It is time for your next Electro-shock Therapy and as I said after the last session, I was going to increase the length and strength of the charge."

"You know what Fletcher, go right ahead because if you fry my brain, I won't be much use to you will I."

"My dear Colonel, haven't you worked it out by now, whatever I do to you in your mind, only weakens your physical body, so it becomes much easier for us to take over your body."

"Think what you like, but you will never win. I will keep fighting you from within my body and my friends will continue to try and find a way to eliminate you from our bodies, so go your hardest because you won't succeed."

"I think it's about time we got started Colonel Sheppard," Fletcher told him as he started to attach the leads to his head.

Even though he'd been through it before and knew what to expect he still wasn't prepared when the electricity hit his system. His back arched of the bed as the jolt of electricity ripped through his body, shredding his nerve endings apart. He felt as if he were burning up from the inside out as his muscles went rigid and this time it seemed to be more painful and go on longer than it did the first time. When it was over, he could have sworn that he smelt his hair burning again.

"I think that's enough for today Colonel, tomorrow I may try again, but with a stronger jolt."

He knew that Fletcher was trying to weaken him so that the nanites could more easily take over his body, but there was no way he was going to let that happen easily and he knew that he would fight till his last breath. With these thoughts rolling around in his head it wasn't long before he drifted off into the darkness again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson was sitting with John again, it was all he seemed to do these days. It had been over three hours since Rodney had contacted him to tell him where the nanites were hiding and they were no closer to finding out how to eliminate them. He knew that they didn't have much time before the nanites had completely overrun Elizabeth's system and he guessed that the same could be said for Colonel Sheppard. The deadline for eliminating them was two hours away and he was hopeful that they could find something in that time as the last thing he wanted to do was kill the two leaders of Atlantis.

John was becoming restless again and Carson feared another seizure. If that happened, he feared that John's slowly healing brain could start to bleed again.

All of a sudden John grabbed his head and started to scream. Carson watched as his friend's muscles began to tremble and his back arched off the bed and then he started to thrash about and this time it seemed to be more severe than it had during the last seizure.

The alarms started blaring as he tried to hold John's head still. Jennifer arrived a split second later and he started yelling orders, "he's seizing again, give me 20mls of Lorazepam."

Moments later he injected the syringe into his patient's IV, and he watched as the convulsions ceased.

Sighing with relief he turned to Jennifer, "I really need to get him under the scanner as I want to check his brain. Hopefully, the seizure hasn't caused another bleed."

Five minutes later they had John under the scanner and Carson wasn't happy with the results, "it appears as if there is a small bleed in the area where his skull was fractured."

"I guess we'll need to keep a close eye on his intracranial pressure again," Keller commented with a look of worry and concern.

"Yes, and I want someone sitting with him at all times. Do you mind taking the first watch Luv as I need to contact Rodney, to see if he's found anything?"

"As you wish Dr Beckett and I really hope that Dr McKay's found something because we only have two hours left until the deadline," she took a deep breath before continuing." What happens then, Doctor?"

"I will have to contact the SGC to inform them of the situation and then I'll have to use a strong EM pulse to eliminate the nanites in both Dr Weir and Colonel Sheppard."

"But Dr Beckett that may kill them, at the very least they'll end up with severe burns and possible radiation poisoning."

"I know Lass, but I'm sure that stargate command will tell us the same thing so I have no choice but to think of the safety of Atlantis."

"I really hope that it doesn't come to that," Jennifer said looking up at him and he didn't miss the tears brimming in her eyes.

He smiled at her and pulled her in for a hug, "I know it seems harsh but sometimes on Atlantis things don't go according to plan and at times we have to make the hard decisions. I really hope that Rodney will find a solution before it's too late because on more than one occasion he's come through at the last minute and that's what I'm banking on now."

When she finally pulled away, Carson smiled at her again hoping that it would encourage her, "I really need to contact Dr McKay now, so can you take first watch over Colonel Sheppard."

He was relieved when she nodded and wiped away her tears. Although she was young, she was always professional and very dedicated to her patients which was one of the reasons he had brought her to Atlantis, but they'd be time to talk to her later, now he really needed to talk to Rodney and hopefully, he would have found a solution.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John was coalescing in the darkness and there was no sight or sound. He had no idea where he was or why he was there, but it had to be better than the fake world that the nanites had created for him. It was peaceful here and he wanted to stay here for as long as possible.

A soft humming sound awoke his sense of sound, but the intense darkness remained.

He spoke into the never-ending darkness, hoping that someone would hear him, "Hello, is anyone there?"

There was no reply, all he could hear was the steady humming surrounding him. The darkness was relentless and left him feeling a little afraid.

Eventually, a voice whispered in the darkness, "John Sheppard, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you," he whispered in reply.

"I can help you eliminate the nanites, but you have to be quick as Elizabeth doesn't have much time."

"Who are you?" John asked with confusion.

"I am the AI, which is Atlantis."

Wow! John thought I'm actually talking to Atlantis.

"I have always been aware of your presence, but I haven't been able to hear you until now."

"Your mind has always been too busy, John Sheppard."

Although it was a great opportunity to find out more about Atlantis, Elizabeth needed his help and if Atlantis had a solution, he really needed to find out what it was.

"What must I do to get rid of the nanites Atlantis?"

"You will have to go to the chair room, and I can eradicate them from there."

He knew that Elizabeth couldn't connect with Atlantis so how was Atlantis supposed to help her. "That will help me, but what about Elizabeth?"

"The nanites in your body are connected to the ones in Elizabeth's body, so once they're eliminated from your body, the ones in Elizabeth should deactivate again, in time you find a way to eliminate them from her body, but as I can't connect with Elizabeth it will be difficult for me to eradicate them."

"I'm really tired, Atlantis, can't you just do it from here?"

"My connection with you isn't strong enough unless you're sitting in the chair."

Great, the last thing he needed right now was to have to move, his head was about to split in two and he didn't think he had it in him to move an inch. But at least Fletcher wasn't torturing him at the moment.

"Will I be able to talk to you again, Atlantis?"

"In time, but for now you need to get to the chair room, as within the hour Dr Beckett is going to activate an EM pulse to try and eliminate the nanites."

"I guess I'd better get going then Atlantis."

It wasn't long before he felt himself falling into the never-ending darkness again and he hoped that he would wake up soon.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson sat next to John's bed and he wasn't happy by what was happening, John's intracranial pressure seemed to be rising and the deadline for contacting the SGC was fast approaching.

He was almost convinced that Colonel Sheppard was going to die. If the brain injury didn't kill him, the EM pulse that he would have to activate certainly would.

A moan from the bed caught his attention, "Colonel Sheppard."

He watched as the Colonel opened his eyes and tried to grab his hand, so he took John's hand in his. At that moment it was obvious to him that John was blind again.

"Colonel Sheppard, what is going on?"

"I know how to eliminate the nanites."

"Okay lad, why don't you tell me what we need to do?"

"You need to get me to the chair room right away."

John seemed desperate so Carson decided to grant his request despite his medical condition.

Carson was about to contact Rodney and a medical team to help him shift the Colonel to the chair room when the alarms started blaring and John lost consciousness again.

TBC…