A/N: Warning: Spoiler for Coup d'Etat. Well…they didn't know for sure in the show, so it's not really a spoiler, I guess. But just be warned! Other than that….Enjoy!
"But…you…you're dead." Elizabeth choked out.
Kolya smiled enigmatically. "Not yet, my dear Doctor Weir. While, yes, there are some who would prefer me dead, I have several things I must do before I allow them to catch me."
Elizabeth tried valiantly to keep her recently eaten lunch from making a reappearance. She gathered all the courage she could and stared at Kolya, her face now a mask of serenity and diplomacy. "What did you do to my team, Kolya?"
The evil in the man shown through his eyes. "You mean Major…excuse me…Colonel Sheppard and the skinny guy? Oh, they are fine for now. I will deal with Sheppard later, after I'm finished with yourself and Doctor McKay."
He leered at her and Elizabeth shuddered. She pulled Rodney closer to her in a vain attempt to protect him, or herself, she wasn't sure. But it was obvious Kolya had planned for that. He very patiently and deliberately pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Elizabeth.
"Now, now, Doctor Weir. I'm sure Doctor McKay can take care of himself. Well, once he wakes up. Why don't you and I go over there and have ourselves a little chat?" He motioned to the other side of the room with the barrel of the gun.
Elizabeth stayed where she was, now clutching Rodney almost desperately to her. Kolya raised an eyebrow and brought the gun down to point at the center of Rodney's chest. "Do not try my patience, Doctor Weir. You will find it in short supply. Now, as I said, move over there or I will kill him where he lays."
The look in his eye showed the truth behind his words, so Elizabeth swallowed, nodded slowly, and then eased Rodney's head off her lap. She stood on shaking legs and walked to the other side of the room. The glare Kolya pinned her with kept her frozen in place while he quickly and efficiently tied Rodney up and then came over to her.
"Please, Doctor Weir, have a seat. We can talk civilized, can we not?" Elizabeth physically shuddered at the venomous almost reptilian hiss to his words. She sat down quickly to try to still her shaking knees. She took several deep breaths and pulled every bit of professionalism she could muster into focus in her mind. When she was convinced she could speak without her voice shaking, she looked him in the eye.
"Why are you doing this? This lab means nothing to you. You can neither read Ancient nor activate any devices here. The people of this planet have nothing to offer the Genii, nor are they allies or spies for your people." At this, his eyes closed in a glare, but he remained silent and Elizabeth took a deep breath and continued.
"I don't know what you hope to find, but I assure you that there is nothing here for you. And Atlantis will neither trade with your planet, nor bow to your demands. Your people…."
"SHUT UP!" Kolya's sudden outburst startled Elizabeth into silence. He took a calming breath and continued. "I have no people thanks to you and your team. Because of my repeated failures to take Atlantis and its secrets, I have become an outcast. 'My people' as you call them, have cast me off like so much garbage, and wish me dead. So no, I have no 'people' any longer, Doctor."
"Then…why?" Elizabeth recovered quickly and pulled her diplomatic façade on again. "What can you possibly hope to gain by these actions? You are one man, alone. You can not take Atlantis, and I assure you that when we are late, a team will be…"
With no warning and in a move too quick to avoid, Kolya backhanded Elizabeth across the mouth. It snapped her head around and she immediately brought her hands up to her mouth, tasting blood.
He calmly wiped the blood off the back of his hand with a cloth from his pocket and then looked at her. "Do you never shut up? I told you once, and yet you forced me to result to this to get you to comply."
The world swam before her eyes and Elizabeth fought the urge to slump back against the wall. She would not let him see that weakness. Her mind raced frantically, trying to think of a motive or what he could possibly want. Her thoughts were interrupted by Kolya's grunt of disgust.
"You would never have made it on my team, Doctor Weir. You have been left unbound, yet you do not attack or even attempt a cowardly escape. You did not even retaliate on my attack. Which just shows you and your team are weak. How you ever defeated my strike force, I'll never know."
At her continued silence, he smiled cruelly. "Well, while I dislike dirtying my hands with your blood, it appears you've learned something. Good. I would hate to have to resort to…more convincing methods with you."
Elizabeth felt like someone had stabbed her in the stomach. She had never considered herself weak. Never. She used her words as weapons, and she was quite proficient at her 'attacks,' seldom losing. She relied on appealing to people's senses of logic, dignity and morality to achieve the results she desired. Yet, for the first time in her entire professional career, she knew words would not help her here.
"Still you do not attack? Fine. Speak and tell me why I should spare such a pathetic life." He stepped back several feet and Elizabeth immediately felt a bit of the tension locked in her chest ease at the increased distance.
She drew another deep breath and pulled her frazzled thoughts together. Her jaw ached and her mouth felt like it was on fire, distracting her attempts to focus. She could feel the blood still running down her chin, yet she knew wiping it away or trying to soothe it would only reinforce his belief in her weakness. She straightened her shoulders and tried to ignore the pain.
"If you are not doing this as a member of the Genii, and you do not have a team, why are you doing this? What do you hope to gain? Supplies? Information? You must have something you want that we can provide or you would have never come here and done this. What is it?"
Kolya's patience was gone. He surged forward and roared, "REVENGE! Simple revenge! You and your people destroyed my life! Because of you, Doctor Weir, I am a fugitive. Because of you, I have nothing! And as I have nothing, I have nothing to lose. I have no rules. No one to answer to." He leaned up close and whispered hoarsely. "I have nothing to keep me from killing you where you stand for the misery you have caused me. And rest assured, Doctor, it will not be quick. And I will make sure you feel every agonizing second as I drain the blood from your body, drop by drop."
He withdrew a long bladed knife from the pocket of his jacket, unsheathing it fluidly. He looked at it closely, and then slowly brought it up to her face. Every thought in her head vanished as he drug the point of the blade down her swollen jaw line, scratching just enough to hurt, but not enough to break the skin. Yet.
He pressed the blade tip under her chin, and then stopped at a moan from the other side of the room. He pulled the blade back and turned to see Rodney stirring, looking around confused and dazed. Elizabeth's heart soared at knowing she wasn't alone, but it plummeted quickly as Kolya turned back to her with an evil look.
"Maybe I should start with Doctor McKay. Let you see what is in your future. And maybe if you're lucky, I will tire myself and end your life quickly."
He turned and headed across the room. Elizabeth looked at the door, gauging the distance, and then looking back to Rodney. She couldn't leave him! She would not leave her team member, her friend, in the hands of this maniac.
She knew she had to do something. But she had no fighting skills. She had never even held a weapon and knew she couldn't. It seemed everything in her life had been leading up to this moment. All her fights with the military about unnecessary violence. All her debates and discussions with the leaders of so many countries. Trying to talk them all down and to see reason. To voluntarily pick up a weapon went against the very fiber of her being. She wasn't sure she could take a life, even to save her own.
But could she do it to save Rodney's?