AN: My apologies for the delay, my hard drive kinda... died. Fortunately, my fiancee is a computer geek, and happened to have a spare 120 gig hd laying around, so now all my stuff is safely transferred and info is saved. Thus, y'all get more story! To that end...

More whumping! Ok, not a LOT, but still, more! Anyhoo, I have to say that I truly hate if I write something that contradicts canon, but what's done is done. (Wish I had seen Hot Zone more recently, though). T'is one of the dangers of not having a Beta. Anyhoo, I hope ye enjoy, and if I dun update tomorrow, I WILL update on Wednesday. Only one or two more chapters after this one!

Chapter 7

Colonel Sheppard was on his feet and in a defensive posture in a second. He was ready to fight them when they came in. However, when Soren turned, it was to open the cell with Teyla and Karina in it, and Sheppard's stomach twisted. The women backed away as Soren and one of his men entered their cell. Teyla tried to kick at the man approaching her, but he deflected the strike, spun her around and knocked her off balance. He then grabbed her by the arm, half lifting her from the ground. She kicked at him, but it was useless. The blows didn't phase him in the slightest. Soren grabbed Karina in the same way. The blonde flailed wildly, but her efforts were wasted.

"Leave them alone!" Sheppard shouted, wishing the door of his cell was open. Even Zelenka had jumped to his feet in outrage at the treatment of the women. But his rage was quickly replaced by fear as the other two guards turned and entered the men's cell.

Sheppard took quick stock of the situation as his wish was granted. He saw that the men's weapons were still holstered, and he smirked. There was no way he was going to stand by and let the bastards take the women, so in a heartbeat, he made his choice and lunged towards the nearest guard, aiming to disarm him. The huge man was prepared, though, and spun away from the attack, striking John across his back.

Sheppard bit back a cry as the fire flared back up across his skin where the guard had hit him. Out the corner of his eye, he saw the other guard backhand Zelenka as the smaller man tried to back away. His attention was immediately drawn back to his own assailant, though, as the behemoth drew back to hit him again. He managed to duck the next blow, but the huge man moved with surprising speed and managed to plant his knee into Sheppard's gut. John stumbled and crashed into the

back wall, and where his skin hit the metal, pain blossomed. He struggled to get his breath and clear his head. The guard stood over him, and with a wicked grin, he gripped Sheppard's arm. Pain exploded where the giant's fingers dug into his flesh. It was dizzying.

Meanwhile, Zelenka couldn't stop himself from crying out as he was similarly manhandled and dragged out of the cell. The pain was almost as bad as it had been when they were interrogating him, but now it was localized only where anything came in contact with his skin.

The four companions were hauled down the hallway and through another series of twisting passages. Sheppard tried to focus on their path, but the pain in his arm was radiating outwards to his fingers and his chest. The only thing he could tell was that this did not seem to be the same way he'd been taken before.

They walked, or were dragged, for a few minutes before they came to what looked like another cell, only a bit larger than the ones they had been in before. They could see a crumpled form on the floor.

"McKay!" Sheppard shouted, but the man on the floor remained motionless. The cell door slid open, and the men were both thrown in. Zelenka collapsed and curled up on the floor, gasping in pain. Sheppard remained standing, but only just barely. He was doing his best to not move his right arm.

Soren grabbed the restraints that bound Karina, and in a moment, the young woman's arms were freed. She too, was tossed into the cell. Then Teyla's restraints were removed, and finally she joined her companions. The door slid shut, and the group remained silent for a moment, unsure of what had just happened. Teyla was the first to move, turning to check on Rodney.

"Dr. McKay?" she asked, kneeling behind her friend who was lying on his side. She looked up at the others, shucking her jacket as she spoke. "He is unconscious," she said, using her jacket to dry the drenched man off as best she could. Rodney groaned at the contact.

"Teyla, stop," Sheppard told her. The pain was fading quickly now, and his breathing had evened out. He could see that Rodney was in the same kind of hyper-sensitized state that he and Zelenka were in. He knelt down opposite Teyla.

"But Colonel," Teyla started to protest.

"It's hurting him," Sheppard told her. Teyla immediately stopped drying Rodney off, and left her jacket draped over his waist. While Sheppard and Teyla tended to McKay, Karina knelt to check on Dr. Zelenka. The small man was just sitting up, and when he saw the young woman in front of him, he immediately flushed again. Karina quickly tugged at the neck of her shirt, pulling it over her head to reveal a kind of tank top beneath. She handed the shirt to Zelenka, who took it with a grateful smile.

"Hey!" Sheppard said when he noticed he was the only one left with nothing to preserve his modesty. Teyla raised her eyebrow.

"Would you like my shirt, Colonel?" she asked, smirking. Sheppard groaned as he saw that Teyla's shirt wouldn't help him very much, and since her undergarments weren't as modest as Karina's, she would be almost as bad off as he was.

"No," he grumbled reluctantly. He looked back at McKay, who was slowly waking up. The Canadian groaned.

"Who turned the heat down?" he grumbled, grabbing Teyla's jacket and pulling it up as if to cover himself better with a blanket.

"Ah, come on Rodney, I didn't need that!" Sheppard groused, averting his eyes. McKay's eyes fluttered open.

"What?" the scientist asked, still getting his bearings. Noticing his current state of undress, McKay yelped and immediately covered himself with Teyla's jacket. "Well! Uhm... Good to see you all! It's cold in here, isn't it? Very, very cold..." Rodney stammered.

"Yea, well the shower they used to wash that oily crap off had no hot water when I got run through it," Sheppard said. Rodney shuddered as the memories came flooding back to him.

"Yea, I don't like that stuff much," McKay said grimly. "Very... unappetizing."

"And I thought that nothing could ruin your appetite," Sheppard said, keeping a straight face.

"Oh, ha ha," McKay shot back.

"Well now that you two geniuses are back together, have the use of your hands, and are covered... sorta... how about figuring a way out of here?" Sheppard said, looking between McKay and Zelenka. No sooner were the words out of hs mouth than a deep rumble rolled over them, shaking the walls of their cell and causing the lights to flicker.

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End Notes: Uhm... actually, I got nuttin to say. Reviews? Is it sucking yet?