Last Resort

Elizabeth had retreated to her room in an attempt to try and do her work in a more private place. Where she had no one bothering her with trivial things or wanting to talk to her about what was going on with the Major. And she certainly didn't want to hear one more person saying that she needed rest or let others take of matters. She acknowledged she was tired but she had gone like this before. It didn't matter to her as long as she could manage keeping her mind occupied in something not related to the current situation.

Unfortunately for her the universe decided differently when a call from the Gate room informed her that John had escaped his cell and had attempted a futile escape through the Stargate. The Sergeant on duty also told her the man had rendered one of the consoles useless, knocked two technicians unconscious but had run away as soon as the guards had spotted him. John was now on the run and possibly dangerous too.

She dropped her papers and quickly got up, making her way over to her door which opened in front of her only to reveal the run-away.

She gasped and immediately backed away further inside her room, almost tumbling over some of her carelessly dropped shoes. The thought of calling for help did cross her mind but she knew he would stop her. She jumped again as she heard Rodney's voice coming heavily through the radio, a dread sense of déjà-vu overtook her senses.

Ignatius walked into the room, almost sensing her fear for him. He didn't even have to say one word to intimidate her. Then again he knew he must be looking like he was about to kill her, and that was not that far from the truth either. He continued to close the distance between himself and the woman he wanted to despise so much.

Elizabeth didn't need to look back to know she had reached the far end of her room and that she had nowhere to go anymore. Nothing prepared her for what came next as John grabbed Elizabeth by the front of her jacket with one hand while he hit her square in the face with the other. Ignatius caught her before she hit the floor, lifted her over his shoulder and carried her out of her room and away from that part of the city.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Rodney had spent most of his evening in his lab. He hadn't been really working, just checking on his fellow scientists, bantering a little with Zelenka. All he was doing basically, like most people in Atlantis, was keeping his troubled mind occupied. Zelenka had caught up on his mood and had gently kicked him out of the lab, telling him he should get some rest. He had agreed without much complaint, knowing if Carson would find him there in the middle of the night he would send him straight back to the infirmary and would keep him there until his wound had fully healed. That was something Rodney didn't really look forward to, in fact he hated sleeping in the infirmary.

It had been two days since he had talked with John, and since that conversation he hadn't heard of any improvement whatsoever.

Rodney decided that before going back to his room he could afford to pay John another visit. He had just approached the transporter when the city's alarm went off and he got the news John had escaped and was now roaming Atlantis. He blinked and at once his heart skipped a beat as he remembered Kate had told him she was going to try and get through to the Major.

He gulped the dreading feeling down and quickly opened the doors of the transporter, coming eye to eye with an unexpected sight. There she was, his Kate, lying uncomfortable against the side of the transporter, unconscious and a dark red stain covering the right side of her white shirt, making it look even more horrifying. Rodney quickly kneeled besides her, wanting so much to touch her, feeling if she were still with him.

"Oh no! Kate!" He felt panic rise in his chest, swallowing hard as he noticed the blood had already dripped onto the floor of the transporter, forming a small puddle underneath her. He softly touched her face, fearing it would be cold to the touch, but instead he felt movement as Kate turned into his touch. Semi-conscious she struggled to talk to him, assure him she was okay while the guards downstairs weren't.

"Rodney..." her speech was slurred and he could hear her struggle against unconsciousness, "John... guards... shot..." Kate's head lolled backwards as she was loosing the battle rather quickly now.

"What?" Rodney forced her to look up at him but her eyes were glazed over and he knew he had to keep her awake some how, just long enough for him to find out what she meant. "Kate! Come on, stay with me." He shook her shoulders a little, forgetting for a second he could cause more damage that way.

"Can't..."

He knew he couldn't wait any longer; in fact he should have probably done so the moment he found her, but his mind was too occupied. He fumbled for his radio and practically shouted for Beckett to get his medical ass to the transporter he was at ASAP.

"Rodney..." Carson came flying around the corner, skidding to a halt in front of the transporter. A small team of medics and nurses had been following him and stopped right behind him, waiting for his orders.

"The brig..." Rodney remembered Kate had tried to tell him something before she had gone into shock.

"I have a team on the way," Carson replied quickly.

Rodney shifted away, reluctantly leaving the psychiatrist in the more than capable hands of Carson Beckett.

They managed to get her stabilized enough to roll her to the infirmary where they could treat her better. Rodney stayed close by and followed the team as soon as they moved. Although nearing the infirmary Carson asked Rodney to stay outside so he could do his job properly, without having to worry about a concerned friend. But McKay wouldn't listen and hurried inside with the rest of them, positioning himself in a way he could follow every movement up close.

"Carson, I think there are injured soldiers down at the brig."

"One of the other doctors has that area covered, Rodney." Carson turned his attention back to Kate while Rodney backed away a little, letting the doctor and his team do their job.

"Is she going to be okay?" Rodney still hovered rather close by.

Without looking up from his work, Carson replied, "She has been stabbed with something small but sharp. She has lost a lot of blood and I am sure her she's suffering from a collapsed lung," he finally looked up at Rodney, giving him a reassuring look. "She will be fine, Rodney, thanks to you. You found her just in time," Carson looked up again and he noticed McKay turned rather pale and seemed to be drained of all his energy. "Rodney, are you ok?"

Rodney was startled by Carson's words. The doctor shouldn't be worried about him this moment. He nodded, "I'm fine."

With those words he turned around and all but ran out of the infirmary. Rodney's mind was racing, the image of Kate's blood-stained body dancing around in his head. Another feeling of dread pushed itself in first place when he realized something much worse. "Elizabeth…. Elizabeth, please answer me!" His heart was racing alongside his mind. What if something had happened to Elizabeth? He had to find her.

He quickly made his way to the control tower where he met with Sergeant Bates, who he immediately called to attention, "Sergeant! Have you seen Dr. Weir?"

"No, she answered our call when Major Sheppard appeared in here. She said she'd be here in..." Bates cursed softly and quickly turned his radio on and tried to reach the Commander of Atlantis again. They received nothing but static and at once they knew they had a huge problem. "Damn it!"

"He has her." Both men came to the exact same conclusion at the exact same time, looking at each other for a plan.

"Damn it! Lt. Ford, come in!" There was a moment of static before Ford's voice was heard over the radio.

"Sir, we have a problem." Bates looked from Rodney to the Stargate in front of him, patiently waiting for Ford to reply.

"Tell me about it! Hatfield, Stackhouse, and Cortez were shot. And I have no idea how he managed." Ford was in utter disbelief, as he had thought it was rather impossible for someone to escape from the brig.

Rodney interrupted the conversation, "He used Dr. Heighmeyer, probably as a shield and used her to escape. She's in the infirmary."

They could hear Ford sighing on the other side, "Sgt. Bates, gather a team and start searching the living quarters and the labs." But before Ford could finish, Bates interrupted him.

"Sir, we think... no, we are, actually, convinced Major took Dr. Weir."

Ford cursed loudly, "Sergeant, gather as much men as you can find and start sweeping the city. And send a small team to Dr. Weir's room just to be sure he has her."

"Yes Sir." Bates looked at Rodney and signaled up the stairs, "With me Doctor."

Once they arrived up the stairs and into the control area, Rodney could see the chaos John had created when had disabled a few consoles. "What happened here?"

"Major Sheppard disabled the city's life sensors. If we go out and look for them, we only have the small ones, not the city wide sensor."

Rodney moved in front the dead console and panel. He touched the keys but nothing happened, confirming the Bates' statement. McKay cursed softly as he knew that by now John knew exactly what he was doing and for some reason it involved Elizabeth.

Memories from the moment Kolya had threatened them during the storm, and his particular interest in Elizabeth, came floating back to the front of his mind. He shook his head in an attempt to shake them back to his subconscious mind. He suddenly felt like the world was too much to carry and he had to steady himself.

"Dr. McKay, you ok?" Bates looked at Rodney and noticed how all the color had drained from the man's face.

Rodney pulled himself together, taking a deep breath in an attempt to settle his mind at ease and in order to have Bates think he was okay. "I'm fine. Just gather your team and get Grodin and Zelenka here, to work with me."