No place like home

(PART TWO)

Summary: It was his mission to bring Atlantis to it's knees, to save it for the Wraith. And he was going to do this by going for one person. The one person who's death would make Atlantis crumble. Elizabeth Weir.
Previously:

"Thanks," She said quickly, slipping on her socks and shoes as John followed suit. They walked back to Atlantis together, arriving back in the control room to find McKay, Carson and Cadman all looking very somber.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking at each face. Carson looked at her and sighed.

"There's been a murder on Atlantis."

The charismatic young man straightened his clothing, his long brown hair falling over his eyes as he brushed it away, walking through the halls of Atlantis a slight bounce in his step. This place was new, his predecessor had tried and failed to be the inner thorn in the humans side, but he would not fail. It was his mission to bring Atlantis to it's knees, to save it for the Wraith. And he was going to do this by going for one person. The one person who's death would make Atlantis crumble. Elizabeth Weir.
Elizabeth frowned, the figure at her side shifting slightly, uncomfortable as the white cloth in front of them was pulled, revealing a pale body. Elizabeth winced, as did the others around her, as the cloth was pulled back over to cover the body torn asunder. She looked up at Carson, eyes cold and shielded.

"What happened Carson?"

Beckett in turn, sighed.

"He was found about an hour ago, floating by the northern towers of Atlantis. Rodney was doing his daily perimeter scan when the lad was found. Looks like he was killed with a knife or sharp implement and thrown over one of the many balcony railings."

"Any chance we could have another wraith in the city?" Elizabeth asked, blood pumping cold at the very thought. Carson shook his head.

"I thought of that, but there are signs of struggle here, like fingernail marks. It was a human who did this."

That news made her blood run colder.

"Are you saying," John said, his voice emotionless, "One of us could be a murderer?"

Carson sighed, rubbing his hand across his face, black rings around his eyes.

"It's exactly what I'm saying. Someone here killed this man. And we have to find out who."

Elizabeth nodded, turning to look at her flagship team, in appearance, all somber, determination lining their features. Elizabeth had never been prouder.

"Rodney, we need to suspend all gate travel immediately. And have someone account for all the puddle jumpers. I want them guarded. If this murderer is still on Atlantis, I doubt he's going to want to stay here longer then he has to. Carson, Autopsy as soon as you can. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with here."

"Aye lass."

She sighed, a tired sigh as her headache slowly increased in volume, before turning to the others.

"Colonel, I need you to take a team and sweep the base, just in case. Look for the usual Wraith sabotage. Ronan can accompany you. Teyla, I need everyone restricted to their quarters until the search is complete. We'll need to interview everyone and find out who doesn't have a sound story to account for their movements at the time of the murder."

"What are you going to say?" John asked, as Elizabeth motioned for his earpiece.

"Everyone has a right to the truth." Elizabeth answered, sighing again.

As the group turned and walked to their respective jobs, John turned back, a small smile on his face.

"Well, you got your emergency." He said in a slightly dead voice. Elizabeth nodded slightly, taking a few steps from the room as she connected the microphone, before turning back to Carson, a slight frown on her face.

"Carson," She asked, crossing her arms in front of her, "What was his name?"

Beckett looked at the covered body before sighing, looking back up at the leader.

"Mason. Victor Mason. He was a geneticist."

Lorne blinked, trying to work the sleep from his eyes as he shifted slightly, the P90 in his arms unusually uncomfortable, reminding him he was tired. Doctor Weir's announcement had woken him up from his slumber and after returning just four hours before from a mission off-world, his eyes drooped as he fought to stay conscious.

Footsteps alerted him to someone nearing and he wrenched open his eyes, it was his job to guard the Puddle Jumpers with three other men, one at each entrance and one inside. He watched suspiciously, P90 raised slightly, as a man walked toward him, slowing and finally coming to an abrupt stop.

"What the hell is going on?" The man asked, rubbing his arm slightly as if he had been bitten.

"Security Protocol sir." Lorne answered immediately. "Please return to your quarters until further notice."

The man frowned slightly.

"Why? What happened?"

Lorne rolled his eyes. Scientists.

"Sir. It has to do with something I'm not at liberty to divulge. Please, return to your quarters willingly or face a long night staying in the brig."

The man nodded absently.

"Sure thing." He walked away in the general direction of the quarters as Lorne frowned. The man must be new, Lorne hadn't seen him before. Shrugging he went back to guarding the door, unbeknownst to him, the young man walked away with a smile on his face, evil and cruel all rolled into one blood-chilling grin.

The search teams had returned from their hunt none the wiser, reporting to Elizabeth the apparent lack of not only possible sabotage, but explosive devices and/or Wraith. Elizabeth had only nodded mutely, her headache fully blown now as she discreetly swallowed a few Advil she always kept hidden in her draw and sighed.

"Elizabeth?" Came John's voice, standing in her darkened office doorway and looking at her in concern as she furiously scrubbed a hand across her forehead.

Not hearing him, she was surprised when an unexpected hand rested quickly on her shoulder as she jumped, spinning around to see his sheepish smile.

"Sorry." He said quickly, backing up a step and sitting on the corner of her desk. "I just dropped by to see how you're doing." Elizabeth frowned, defensive.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

He shook his head slightly.

"I'm not saying you aren't. But all this has to make a person stressed…"

She nodded slightly.

"I'll be fine." She repeated the same sentence again at his disbelieving look. "I said, I'll be fine. I don't need a babysitter."

John shook his head slightly.

"If I hadn't seen you stay up for four days straight without sleep, I would swear you were tired." Elizabeth smiled wanly.

"Yes, well, the city never sleeps."

"But you need to." John answered, concerned. Elizabeth nodded.

"I will. Once we find out who the murderer is. I don't think I could sleep even if I tried. To think anyone of us could be a murderer…"

John smiled sadly.

"Nearly all of us have killed someone Liz. It's not a secret."

Elizabeth stared at him for a long second.

"Yes. But this is different."

John nodded.

"Yeah, it is." He suddenly looked determined, pulling her from the chair, his face clearly concerned. Elizabeth fought for a second, before letting herself be pulled out into the control room. "Dinner." He said quickly to her questioning look, "I insist."

Knowing how stubborn he could be, she rolled her eyes, which he took as a yes, pulling her into the halls. They had made it half way before loud voices caused John's hand to slide to the gun holster on his leg, pulling Elizabeth behind him as they slowly approached an open doorway, John poking his head around the doorframe. Elizabeth, slightly worried, automatically relaxed when she felt beneath her hand (she was resting one of her hands against John's back, the other tightly being held in his own hand) his back muscles relaxing, and she knew then it was nothing serious. She watched him slip the gun back into the holster and turn to look at her, pulling her beside him so she could hear and see inside the lab too.

"Oh god. What do I do? I'm a bloody dead man." Elizabeth frowned at Rodney's voice, shuffling slightly closer to listen more clearly, seeing John's smirk and feeling her interest pique.

"Rodney…" Came Kate Heightmeyer's voice, the psychiatrist sounding unusually annoyed, "It's not your fault."

"Oh yeah?" Rodney screeched, "Hey, Hey, your right! Your right! This is all Carson's fault! If he hadn't have had to go to the mainland, he would've realised not to leave this…this THING in my care! I'm way to busy to look after a-a-a ball of furry monstrosity! How does he expect to keep this city afloat AND look after this…thing?"

John sniggered slightly, stuffing his fist in his mouth to stifle the sound.

"We just have to find him before Carson gets back from the mainland. That's all."

"Oh, FANTASTIC." Came Rodney's voice, now clearly annoyed. "Not only do I have to spend the rest of the afternoon looking for that infernal bundle of diseases, but if Elizabeth hears we lost a bloody mouse in Atlantis, she'll lose her head. Do you know how fast those things breed? There are probably hundreds of them already."

Kate sighed as Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Since when has she ever 'lost her head' with anyone? Except for that time John threatened her control on Atlantis. And when Rodney blew up a solar system. And…okay, but a mouse? She wouldn't lost her head over a mouse.

"I'm sure there has to be a female for that to happen Rodney."

"Well, I'm sure that abomination to animals everywhere has already broken into the lab rat room and kidnapped a wife."

"Do you have this aversion to all animals, or is it just this mouse?" John could hear McKay scoff.

"I was quite happy with my cat thank you. They're solitary, less work then dogs. They're friendly, they eat whatever your eating, they sleep ninety percent of the time. They don't slobber on your brand new furniture, they don't cling to you and they don't eat cheese. And that's just the start."

Elizabeth shook her head slightly, turning to John and pulling him up, purposely walking into the lab, to find Rodney glaring in the crack between a cabinet and the floor, and Kate peering into a box sitting on the desk. They both looked up as Elizabeth and John sauntered into the room, neither showing any sign they had just eavesdropped onto the entire conversation.

"Elizabeth. Sheppard." Rodney said in greeting, climbing from the floor and onto his stool. "I dropped a pen down there somewhere." He said dismissively to Elizabeth's raised eyebrow.

Kate nodded and smiled, looking at Rodney slightly.

"What's going on?" John asked, picking up a small device off Rodney's desk and looking at it, only to have it snatched away by Rodney.

"Important work." Rodney said quickly and sharply, now if you wouldn't mind…"

"I don't." John said, grinning, throwing himself onto a spare chair and twirling himself around. Elizabeth smiled slightly, as Rodney sighed.

"Fine. But It's all boring. I'm trying to work out how to lower the energy output for the shields so we can attach the Naquada enhanced generator, raising the compatibility ratio and chances of protecting ourselves from the next Wraith attack." Rodney said importantly, shuffling several papers.

"Point five thousand, dash eight, A, squared, negative C seventeen."

Rodney stared at John.

"What?"

John pointed to one of the complex equations on the page.

"The answer is negative five thousand,eight hundred, bracket A, six squared, end bracket C seventeen."

Rodney, frowning in suspicion, looked at the equations for a long minute, before glaring and scribbling down the new answer.

"Yes, yes, Very good. Now, I have to go…eh…um…finish…some…aspect ratios. Yes. See yourselves out." He vanished quickly, but not after throwing Kate a look which clearly read 'Your not getting out of this'. Kate sighed, and looked to the two leaders.

"Rodney is going to complain if I don't help him. Was there anything else you needed?"

Elizabeth smiled.

"That was it. We just came by for a social call. You can go, before Rodney get's grouchy."

Kate smiled her thanks before following in the direction McKay had gone.

"Well," John said quickly, clapping his hands together, "Dinner. I don't know about you, but coffee would do me well right about now." Elizabeth nodded, taking once last glance at the lab, with a brief through to whether the mouse would indeed find some way top infest Atlantis with it's offspring, before shrugging, following John into the hall and toward the commisionary.

TBC