You Mean My Day Just Got Worse?
Part Three! The End I Promised!!!!
Michael's Lair:
"So who do you think you've pissed off more, Michael or Kolya," came Rodney's voice from behind the colonel.
Yep, that was the million dollar question. Both probably wanted to be the one to kill him, which was probably why nothing had happened yet. Instead he replied sarcastically, "I don't know, who do You think you've pissed off more?"
Rodney was really starting to loose faith in this whole thing. "As far as I can see we are still stuck tied to each other and a couple of chairs awaiting our death sentence by two of the most evil beings in this galaxy. Well you'll probably die first. My genius will probably be exploited and then I'll die."
"McKay, must you be so negative?" asked the colonel.
"Well seeing as how screwed we are I'd say yes," started Rodney. He was working up to a rant now, "And another thing…."
Well his next thing was cut off by an impatient "Shut up" from Sheppard.
"Shut up. SHUT UP? This is how my friend treats me in the last hours of my life?" ranted Rodney.
"Rodney just be quiet for two seconds, I think I have an idea," said the pilot calmly, "Remember the team movie night two times ago?"
"Oh yeah the one were you talked Ronon into making his choice Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Why?" questioned the astrophysicist.
Sheppard sighed. For one so smart, McKay could be pretty dumb some times, "You see the table to your right? There is a burner on low. I say we scoot our chairs over to it and burn off the bindings on our hands so we can get out of here."
"Oh," replied Rodney. "But if we light the place on fire like Sean Connery did I am gonna blame you for it! Cause I don't see a fireplace in here."
John chuckled and replied, "At least we die on our own terms, so start scooting."
"Oh that's real comforting Colonel!" snarked Rodney, "Once we get outta this mess I am never going off world with you again. It's lab research for me here on out!"
"Just scoot!"
Five long minutes later they reached the lab table. After some creative maneuvering, in which McKay swore he pulled his arm out of his socket; they managed to get their hands from behind their backs so that they were stretched between them close enough to the flame to allow the rope to burn.
"Uh I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I don't think this is working," said McKay several minutes later.
However Rodney was wrong, one of the few times he actually was, because as soon as he said this the rope came free.
"Oww it's hot, my hand is burnt!" complained McKay.
"Hey, but at least your hands are free," replied Sheppard, "Come on and untie yourself."
They spent the next few minutes fumbling with the ropes that bound them together around the middle, and the ones that tied their ankles to the chair legs. But finally they were free.
"Ok Indiana Jones, what's our next move?" asked McKay mockingly.
Sheppard raised and eyebrow and that wiped the smirk of the scientist's face. "Yeah, it's your turn."
"Gee thanks Colonel!" replied Rodney bitterly. "Well assuming we can even get out of this room, we have no idea where anything is in this place!"
Suddenly a brilliant thought came to John, "True but look around? The walls are lined with books. One of them is bound to have schematics to this place right? I mean this place has obviously been around a lot longer than Michael has."
"Huh, not bad!" admitted Rodney grudgingly.
"Yeah well I try, okay I'll start over here," replied the colonel.
"Right!" said McKay as he started to examine the shelves nearest to him.
Atlantis:
An hour later Lorne had assembled the people he needed to execute this op. A surprising number of people volunteered, even those off duty. Everyone had come to respect their CO and would willingly do anything to get him back. Three jumpers had been set up. Two would have two teams of marines each, and the last one would have his team, Zelenka, Ronon, and Teyla. They would be the ones spearheading the operation.
As the jumpers exited the gate, they immediately went into stealth mode. It was a bit unnecessary as the gate was in orbit around the planet and nobody would have seen them exit, but one could never be too careful.
Using the jumper's sensors they quickly determined the location of both Sheppard and McKay. The dots were located in a complex of some kind, and did not appear to be moving. It only took five minutes for the jumpers to get to the structure. It was an old stone complex that was almost completely covered in plant overgrowth. However standing out considerably were two hive ships that had been parked right next to the complex. The ships had completely crushed the trees that had once been there. Fortunately one of the ships must have been landed a few times because it had created a larger hole in the forest than the other, giving the jumpers just enough room to land undetected close to the complex.
The sensors indicated a few life signs on the hive farthest away from them, but they were not human or wraith. However there were many more of these inside the complex. Also inside however, there were only three human life signs. Two of which were those of Sheppard and McKay. They determined that the third had to be Kolya. His life sign was in a different part of the complex. There also was only one wraith life sign in the whole complex. This greatly disturbed the group because it was the wraith who had taken their friends in the first place. Teyla confirmed the solitary wraith life sign, and was just as puzzled as the rest until they saw one of the unidentified signs exit the nearest wraith hive.
It was one of the bug creatures they had seen Michael create. This was bad, very bad! Now they somehow had to work a plan to get their guys out.
Cell of Funness
"What've you found?"
"Umm a boring diary, directions for a good sounding pie of some kind, local myths, and a collection here on the voodoo medicine of this planet," replied Rodney bitterly. This was not working out well and any second Michael could show up and ruin all their hard work.
Sheppard walked over carrying a book, "Well I think I have been a little more successful." He opened up the book to display a map of the complex, not to mention the history of the place.
Both men bent over to study it when they heard the sound of the door being unlocked. Sheppard quickly scanned the tables and picked up a heavy metal bowl, the best weapon that the room offered and took up position by the door. McKay grabbed the book and backed into the corner.
Michael opened the door bearing a tray of needles. Unfortunate for him, as he turned to shut it, Sheppard struck hitting him in the head with the bowl. Fortunate for the Atlanteans, a couple blows to the head later, Michael was down for the count.
McKay grabbed the book before he cautiously followed Sheppard out into the hall. They were going to need quite a bit of luck if they were going to make it out of the complex without running into anyone, because they were smack dab in the middle of all of the entrances.
They moved down the hall as stealthily as possible, trying to make very little noise. A left, a right, another right, and another left later they found themselves closer to achieving their goal. All that stood between them and freedom was a large chamber. They had had a couple close calls while sneaking through the halls; those bug soldiers could creep along quite with a great deal of stealth. However according to the map this was a fairly large chamber, a welcoming hall of sorts, and they would be spotted for sure if someone was inside.
The colonel opened the door a fraction to determine if someone was inside. The coast looked clear so he opened the door a little more to allow them to creep inside. The room was shrouded in darkness and he need not have bothered to be so stealthy because nobody would have seen them enter anyway.
The chamber was large and had a ceiling that went up to the next floor. There was one skylight that allowed to setting sunlight to stream into the room. There were a few chandeliers that helped to partially light the room, but there were plenty of shadows lining the wall for them to keep to and remain unnoticed.
In the middle of the room the floor was sunken in and a mat had been placed on the floor. There were also a couple racks that housed a variety of fighting poles and sticks allowing them to determine that the room was being used as a training center of sorts.
"Talk about a creepy gym," commented McKay under his breath.
The two team mates cautiously made their way to the door keeping as much to the shadows as possible. However they were half way to their destination when a voice called out from the opposite shadows, "Running away without a fight Colonel."
Sheppard whipped around to see Kolya set out from the shadows into the light streaming in from the sunset, and replied, "I prefer to call it a strategic escape, although if you wanted to chat, you could've just asked."
Kolya picked up two Bantos rods that were lying in the rack nearest to him, "I am done talking with you. Let's end this."
The pilot grabbed two of rods of his own and stepped onto the mat to face his arch foe, "You first," he said with his usual sarcasm.
Rodney could not help watching the events unfold without being terrified. The opening blows were strong. Both men were pretty much set against each other. All of the tension between the two from the past seemed to have been leading up to this moment as they battled to gain the upper hand. First it seemed like Sheppard was winning, but Kolya only appeared to be testing him out. Rodney was mesmerized by the sheer amount of technique the genii commander had. He was almost playing with the colonel. Granted Sheppard was good after a little under three years of training with Teyla, be even she still kicked his ass on a regular basis. The one thing that the pilot did have on his side was strength, Kolya was weaker than he appeared to be and Rodney noticed that his blows were getting weaker. One thing McKay also noticed was the strangely familiar sound of an explosion occurring in another part of the complex. He could only hope that it was their guys finally showing up in a rescue attempt.
His attention was brought back to the situation at had as Kolya managed to knock one of Sheppard's sticks from his hand, but the quick thinking colonel dove to avoid a blow and grabbed another off one of the racks as he turned away. Then the two were at it again. All of a sudden Rodney was puzzled by their unspoken consent to stop, however the two fighters began to circle each other.
"I must admit," said Kolya panting, "You know how to do more than shoot a gun well."
Sheppard, who was also breathing heavily, but not as much as his foe, replied cheekily, "For an old guy, you're not so bad yourself."
A blink of an eye later the two were at it again. This time around they were able to land some glancing blows on each other, Rodney winced as Sheppard was struck on the thigh, that is going to leave one nasty bruise, he thought to himself. The colonel struck back though landing a heavy blow to Kolya's upper right arm. However, the fight was disturbed a second later as an explosion shook the room leaving a gaping hole in one of the walls.
The force of the explosion threw all three of the room's occupants to the ground. Rodney was still trying to get his bearings and see through the dust filled room when he heard a voice shouting orders to go in that sounded a lot like Major Lorne. He could just see the shadow of Ronon barreling his way through the still slightly burning hole in the wall. The cavalry had finally arrived and they seemed to be making a rather large bang just to get to them.
McKay struggled to get up, something was wrong with his leg because it wouldn't quite support his weight, and was soon assisted by Sheppard who had appeared by his side. Unfortunately Rodney spotted movement out of the corner of his eye a second too late. Kolya had drawn a nasty looking knife out of somewhere and had hurled it at Sheppard before turning and fleeing the room as fast as he could.
The impact of the weapon forced both of them to sink back to the ground. Rodney ended up on the bottom somewhat cushioning the colonel's fall. Still dazed McKay could see the large knife sticking out of his friend's side. With the thought of that not looking too good he saw Ronon arrive at the scene with Teyla and Major Lorne right behind him. He finally felt like they were in good hands and allowed himself to succumb to the darkness caused by the pain in his leg.
Atlantis: Infirmary
Slowly Rodney came back to the world around him. He could hear the beeping of monitors and quickly determined that he was in the infirmary. After the two days he had had, he was actually thankful to be there at the moment, granted he knew that it would get old pretty quick, for now he was relieved. He looked down to see that his leg had been put in a cast, great limited mobility, and the little cuts he had sustained all had nice bandages on them. The Band-Aids of course were actually pretty nice, someone had chosen Batman ones.
His relief was cut short pretty quick as he went over the last things he remembered. Sheppard had been in a bad way then, but how was he now?
"McKay," grunted Ronon as he looked up from the chair he was sitting in at the edge of the scientist's bed.
"Sheppard?" he asked hesitantly of the former runner.
Teyla walked over from behind the curtain and replied, "He is still in surgery, but we do not know much more."
Rodney swallowed before asking, "How long have we been back?"
"Four hours," replied Ronon succinctly.
Just then Elizabeth walked in followed by Major Lorne. "McKay, you're awake," came the major's semi cheerful observation.
"Rodney," Elizabeth addressed him, "Are you doing alright?"
McKay nodded and replied, "Yeah, you need to know what happened don't you?"
Lorne replied gently, "Well that would be really helpful for starters."
Just as Rodney finished filling them in on what had happened on the hive and then with Michael, Dr. Keller arrived on the scene in a set of rather bloody scrubs.
"Well," she began breathlessly, "I was able to remove the knife without causing a great deal more damage. Unfortunately the knife had been smeared with slow acting poison that we did not detect until part way through when his systems started to shut down. However we were able to counteract it and complete the procedure. The knife slid right in between the ribs, puncturing a lung, but that was repaired. He's still going to be out for a while, but should make a normal recovery." The strain of being the acting CMO was definitely something Keller seemed to still be getting used to.
Everyone was visibly relieved to hear that Sheppard was going to be okay and a watch was quickly established to stay with him until he came to.
Atlantis: Later on in the Infirmary
John slowly became aware of the beeping of the monitor's next to him, but the most familiar and annoying sound was that of someone typing furiously away on a laptop. He forced himself to open his eyes and turned his head toward the pecking. McKay was sitting up in the bed to his left working away at his laptop while his casted leg rested a top of a pile of pillows.
He tried to sit up only to hiss in pain as he jostled his side. McKay's voice drifted over from next to him, "I wouldn't move around if I were you."
"Really McKay, I hadn't noticed," replied John through his teeth.
Just then another voice joined the conversation, "Rodney you could be a little more helpful." Elizabeth was sitting in a chair at the foot of John's bed sporting a laptop of her own, but had stopped reading it to pay attention to him instead. "It was my turn to play the infirmary waiting game," she smiled, "Ronon went off to the gym to work out some frustration," she said delicately, "and Teyla is due in another thirty minutes."
"Oh, thanks," he replied quietly, and then asked, "So what happened?"
Elizabeth took a sip from the cup of coffee she had and answered, "Well Zelenka found your transmitters and gave the location to Major Lorne who took three jumpers full of marines, Ronon, and Teyla to extract the two of you. After a great deal of C-4 later they finally found you seconds too late it seems to prevent all of this damage from happening, and got you back here as soon as possible."
"And Kolya?" he asked looking past her.
She replied sadly, "He disappeared as did Michael."
Seconds later they were joined by Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne who all wanted to see how the Colonel was doing.
Conclusion:
About a week and a half later Sheppard was released to his quarters, but still had a couple of weeks to go until he was put back on light duty. However he couldn't stay cooped up I his quarters and sough solace on his favorite place in the entire city, the East Pier.
As he leaned up against the railing he fingered the knife that Kolya had thrown at him. Ronon had been kind enough to clean all traces of poison from the blade and returned it to him. Unfortunately his thoughts were bothered by the fact that Kolya was out there. After the last incident with Lucius he thought the man was gone for good, and now he would have to go back to watching over his shoulder when on missions for the crafty genii commander to show up.
Well he would just have to be on the lookout, Kolya would not get the better of him. Next time, well next time hopefully it would end. But for right now he wasn't going to dwell on it. There were other things to focus on, but he'd be ready for him whenever they met again.
--fin—
Ha I finished it! Wow this is kind of a cool feeling. Normally I do wip's and this is kinda nice. Yep hopefully you enjoyed it. Reviews are always appreciated, but I am not going to beg for them. I know this is kind of, well really a lot more serious than I like to normally write, but hey it works, I think! Thanks for reading,
--Lemons--