"What are you doing?" Rodney looked up from the table he was working on, and stared at the huge guard coming towards him.

"I'm working! Just working!" he said a bit too quickly. The guard came towards him slowly, menacingly.

"Step away from the table Doctor" Rodney did as he was told and sidled away from the table, the guard looked at the table he had been working at, his eyes grew in fascination.

"What is this?" he asked picking up the only object on the small table and trying to examine it.

"Oh that?" Rodney began trying to think of a way to wriggle out of this situation,

"Well that's a generator that will power my demonstration of an EMP." He concluded feeling quite proud that he had come up with an adequate lie. The guard looked at him before turning the device over in his hands.

"BE CAREFUL!" Rodney cried as he lunged forwards ready to catch the device should it fall.

"It does not look like a generator to me" the guard said watching the scientist with an amused expression on his face, he turned back to the table and threw the device back on it carelessly, he then turned and saw the scientist had his arms folded and wore the characteristic McKay look, one of annoyance and scepticism.

"Oh really" Rodney said, regaining some of his sarcasm that he had lost over the past month.

"So you've seen EMP generators before? You've studied them for at least 3 years have you?" he watched the guard closely, when the guard said nothing Rodney raised his eyebrow

"Didn't think so, now are you going to let me work or are you going to stand in my way and prevent me from doing my job?" The guard glared at him and made to raise his weapon, but before he could strike, a small explosion came from a table near the back of the room.

This caught the guard's attention and the hand that had reached for the weapon fell to his side, he turned towards the table and saw a crowd of scientists huddled together, fussing over someone lying on the ground.

"You will stay here, I shall deal with your insolence shortly." The guard told Rodney angrily as he stomped off towards the gaggle of scientists clustered around the table.

"Oh I'm so looking forward to that." Rodney muttered as he turned back to the device, which the guard had carelessly thrown on the table.

"Stupid oaf, doesn't know how to handle valuable equipment," he muttered as he examined the device carefully to make sure that it was still transmitting its signal. This device was the only way his team would have a hope in hell of finding him, he had to make sure that the distress beacon kept up for as long as possible.

The others had to find him! They had to! He didn't think he could stand being in here much longer.

The other scientists kept their distance from him, as if he was a lion looking for his next meal.

Speaking of food he hadn't eaten in quite a while and he was getting kind of hungry, he looked around for someone to ask about the catering in this place but there were no guards.

He blinked a couple of times before turning to the sight of the earlier explosion, all the guards that were supposed to be guarding him were caught up in the struggle.

'Well that just proves that they are oafs!' he thought as he picked up the device again and put it in one of the pockets of the white lab coat he had been given, he started to edge towards the door closest to him.

'This is too easy' he thought as he reached the door without alerting any of the guards. He began to walk out of the room and down the corridor, he turned back to see if his captors had realised that he had slipped out of the room, but they all seemed too intent on attending to the commotion back in the lab.

He broke into a run as he rounded a corner, the corridor ahead was clear too,

'Ok this is strange, surely they should have realised that I'm gone by now?' he thought as he reached the cell he had been kept in for so long. He stopped and stared at it, disgust all across his face.

Before he could do anything else an alarm started to sound, he looked around to see if any guards where in the immediate area.

'Knew something was going to ruin my day!' he thought glumly, he now had to find a way out of here without being caught by the guards, this was going to be tricky.

XXXXXXXXX

"Doctor Weir we are ready for take off." Major Sheppard said from within the cockpit of one of the Puddle Jumpers that Atlantis had at its disposal.

"Glad to hear that Major. Bring him home safely!" Elizabeth said from the safety of the control room, she watched as the Jumper came down from the ceiling and sped off through the open gate and onto another planet.

She sighed as the gate closed behind them, all she wanted was all her people home, was that really too much to ask?

XXXXXXX

The Jumper sped through the gate. Major Sheppard put it into stealth mode as soon as they were clear of it, and he brought up the HUD.

"The transmission appears to be coming from a north easterly direction," Lieutenant Ford told the small group inside the Jumper as they zoomed over the tops of some trees, John nodded as he continued concentrating on flying the Jumper towards the small beeping dot that was hopefully McKay.

They soon reached an area devoid of trees, and landed carefully. This area was close to the complex, so if there was a firefight at least they wouldn't have to run far.

"Ok we're here. Lorne I want you and Phillips to come with us, sorry but I need Briggs and Lucas to stay here with the Jumper." John said as he rose from the pilot's chair, he grabbed his P-90 and headed towards the open door of the Jumper followed closely by Teyla, Ford, Major Lorne and Lieutenant Phillips.

They spread out as they exited the Jumper, all holding their weapons ready to fire on any hostile threats that may emerge.

They walked quickly through the small forest that encircled the Jumper, all waiting for an ambush. Major Sheppard reached the other side of the forest first; he quickly squatted down and waited for the others to catch up, soon the whole group was crouched down waiting for his orders.

"Ok, we've got to be quick about this, we have to get in grab McKay and get out ASAP." They all nodded watching him carefully waiting for his next command.

"Can anyone see a decent entry point?" he asked, he could see no actual place where they could enter the complex.

'It can't be underground! Please don't let it be underground!' he thought as he tried to see as much of the building as possible.

"Sir, can you hear that?" John turned to see Lieutenant Phillips staring at the complex, John listened carefully and sure enough he could hear a faint noise coming from the direction of the complex. It sounded like a siren; a siren that might be used if a prisoner had escaped!

'He hasn't? We come half way across the galaxy to save his bony ass, and he escapes on his own!'

"SIR!" John was brought out of his thoughts by the cry of Major Lorne, John stared down at the complex, a figure had suddenly materialised outside of it.

"What the hell?" John said staring as the figure began to sprint towards their hiding place. John grabbed the small spyglass and peered through it towards the sprinting figure.

"It's him!" he cried as he took the spyglass away from his eye, the figure was pelting towards the tree line.

"Sir!" this time it was Ford's voice that brought him back to earth, he looked towards where the young Lieutenant was pointing and saw a group of about five new people running after McKay.

"Ok let's help him out!" he said and he took aim at the approaching figures.

XXXXXXXX

'What? I'm outside? How did that happen?' Rodney thought as he whirled around on the spot, he stopped facing the tree line. 'Well where else is there to go?' he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

'Faster McKay faster!' his legs were protesting against the sudden pace at which they were being forced to move at. He hadn't gone this fast since, well ever.

Suddenly he heard a strange noise from behind him, it sounded like his captors had managed to get out as well.

He tried to push his legs harder, he needed to reach the tree line. He looked at the small forest that stretched ahead of him, it wasn't that far away. If he went a bit faster he could reach it.

Suddenly he heard the sound of gunfire from ahead of him, he heard the sound of a body dropping behind him but he did not turn around.

'They came! They actually came! I knew that my ingenious idea would work!' he thought happily as he sprinted towards his friends.

He was 10 feet away when he felt something hit him in the back, he fell forwards into the hard ground.

He managed to raise his head a few inches off the ground, he could see the Major and Lieutenant Ford now. He could see them getting up and running towards him still firing at the oncoming goons.

'At least help has come' he thought before his head fell down and he slipped into oblivion.