More reviews! Thanks guys for keeping up with me. Sorry there taking so long get up and I hope my explanation of the father/son thing was okay. I also posted a wee fic about Jack and Sam called 'The Picture' so thanks if you reviewed that too.

Chapter 9

Ford scanned the large Ancient room one last time and then followed the security team out as he said,

"Section 13 clear"

"Section 19 clear" Teyla's voice also said.

Although John and Elizabeth were not in the same room both let out a frustrated sigh after hearing both voices. They had been searching for almost 2 hours now and not even a quarter of the city had been done. Rodney was watching the life signs detector monitoring the entire city but no one appeared to be out of bounds. The scientist was also very grouchy and Elizabeth had to restrain herself from hitting the man. He was supposed to be looking after Elizabeth but he was getting her more agitated.

"Hump!" came from the irritable man and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"What is it Rodney?" she asked exasperated.

"Well, where do you want me to begin?" he asked his voice laced with sarcasm. "We have a maniac lose in the city, everything and everyone is at a standstill so nothing's getting done and I need a drink, food and the toilet!"

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh as he said the last part. Rodney had thought he wasn't allowed to leave the control room which she knew was not true.

"Rodney, you can go to the bathroom. It's just down the hall. You just need to take an officer with you." She explained trying to keep the smile from her face.

"Well, no one told me!" he cried and pointed to the screen displaying the life signs. "Watch this for me. You!" He said pointing at the nearby officer and ordered. " Come with me!"

Both men disappeared and Elizabeth turned back to the screen. As her eyes continued examining the screen she listened as all sections were cleared. Her eyes came to rest on the jumper bay where she could see two people standing at each entrance.

All of sudden an orange spot appeared in the centre of the room and began making its way to the door that led to a transporter. Frowning Elizabeth grabbed a radio as she felt a wave of panic over take her.

"Security to the jumper bay!" she cried into the radio and heard John order everyone there. She barely noticed Caldwell come stand next to her. They watched in horror as two life signs died away and one moved towards the transporter.

"Sheppard he's left the jumper bay and heading for transporter and stairwell 3." Caldwell told John and Elizabeth saw many dots begin to flow to that area.

However, the dot they were watching disappeared again bringing confusion to all in the room observing the situation.

"Anyone got him?" John asked but received many "No sir!" through the radios. "Damn it! Where the hell is he?"

"His life sign has gone too Colonel." Caldwell explained. "He killed two men at the jumper bay. We need someone at the scene."

John ordered three of his own team to go there and began to plan their next move. Suddenly he heard an "Ooof!" from behind and turned to see men fall to the ground as if stunned. John raised his P90 in the direction the shots came from and Everett appeared round the corner. Confused John held his gun steady as the marine walked towards him holding a P90.

"See they let you out then." Everett said in a mocking tone. "Little does everyone know how much of a scumbag you really are"

"They all know it was you who orchestrated the attack. Okay maybe it was Holden that stabbed Bates, but you pushed him into doing it." John muttered still focussing on the man's chest with his gun.

They could hear footsteps thundering down the hall but just as Ford and his team reached the door it slammed shut.

"Colonel! We can't get in!" he cried while hitting the door with his foot.

"What did you do?" John asked with a low voice.

Everett waved his right hand. "Ancient gene remember!" And a huge smug smile appeared on his face. "It's just you and me. Or maybe we could invite Elizabeth down to watch me kill you." He growled.

John was about to retort when he heard a "whoosh!" from behind him. The door behind him had closed too and it had been just enough to distract him. He heard one bang and felt pain sore through his left arm. The arm hit went flying out and John had to struggle to keep his right arm holding the P90. As tears of pain filled his eyes John began taking random shots in the hope of hitting his target.

But to his dismay the bullets never reached any part of Everett's body. One by one the bullets hit off a green wall that had surrounded him. John stopped firing. Everett unzipped his jacket to reveal a round device glowing from his chest.

"The shield device." John winced as his arm continued to pulse with pain.

"Yup!" Everett cried with a smirk. "Turns out there are several. Only, I think I've managed to master it better than McKay ever did."

Realisation hit John. "That's why we couldn't see you, the shield prevents the life signs detector from seeing that person."

Everett nodded and began walking forward again. The malice in his eyes did not go unnoticed by John and he flung down his P90 onto the ground. This was going to get very ugly.


Elizabeth paced the control room as Rodney fiddled with the controls. He was trying desperately to override the door controls but nothing would work.

"The gene must have a stronger control over the systems!" he said and eventually stopped moving the clear panels. "It's no use."

Elizabeth stared at him. "There's nothing else we can do!" asked in disbelief. "What about shutting power down to the city?"

Caldwell glanced at Rodney with a raised eyebrow and Rodney sighed. "Well, we could try." He said then went to the other Ancient device. "But we wouldn't be able to see their life signs."

"Why can't we see Everett's now?" Caldwell asked puzzled and was answered by a shrug from Rodney.

"I have no idea but I'm a little busy right now Colonel" he snapped.

It suddenly became very dark everywhere near the control room and Elizabeth waited for a response from Ford. After a few seconds he said,

"Nope! Nothing!"

Elizabeth gave Rodney a nervous look which he returned.


The only thing visible was the green glow coming from the shield device on Everett and it was then that John noticed how close the man was. He braced himself for the blows that were about to come. And they did.

The first was straight in John's face just below his cheek and he stumbled. The next he felt in his stomach that made him double over and was then met by a knee crashing into his face. Falling to the ground Sheppard fought to keep conscious. Breathing through the pain a thought struck him, a way of disabling the shield device.

Everett was about to punch the back of the officer's head when he saw the man go limp. At first amazed at how quick that had been Everett then let a small smile of triumph appear on his face.

Just as he was about to drag Sheppard's body down the hall he heard something fall on the floor. Looking down, Everett saw it was the personal shield device. When he realised what had just happened, it was too late.

The marine felt his feet go from beneath him and fell to the ground with a loud lump. Sheppard was then in his face and began punching it. Neither knew how many John gave but he saw that the man was badly hurt. Stopping himself before he killed him John backed off slightly and then stood up when he saw Everett could barley move. Touching his earpiece he announced.

"I have him." And then closed his eyes and imagined the doors around Atlantis opening.

Everett chose this moment to strike and kicked John's shin. Shouting in pain John fell back against the wall and saw Everett lunge towards him. Using his hands to push off Everett he felt a pain surge through his arm where he had been shot. Crying out in pain as Everett pressed the open wound and then sneered in his face.

"Once I kill you Sheppard, I'll go after everyone you care about. Including that bitch Weir!" his voice was full of menace and John's rage increased ten fold when he heard his warning.

With strength he didn't know he had John shoved Everett backwards and heard a single shot come from his side. Everett's face looked shocked, then scrunched up in pain and finally went blank as his body fell to the floor.

Breathing heavily John saw blood flow from the side of the dead marine's head and closed his eyes. Taking another couple of deep breaths he looked to where the shot came from.

Lt. Ford was lowering his P90 as Teyla and more soldiers ran past him to secure the area. Looking at the body and then to Sheppard, John saw the horror in the young marine's eyes. Giving Ford a grateful and reassuring nod he then sank down to the floor and watched the rest of the events proceed around him.

He heard Ford call for Beckett and then tell Caldwell the threat had been eliminated. While everyone else stood around Ford and Teyla knelt beside John with concerned eyes.

"Colonel?" Teyla asked gently but got no response as John blacked out.

Author's note: Good fight scene? I hope the bit about the shield made sense. Especially how it fell off.