Title: The Last Chance

Date: 28th December 2007
Author: Kazavid
Chapter: 8/9
Rating: M
Pairing: John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)
Archiving: None
Warnings: Sexual Content
Spoilers: Anything up to The Seer
Feedback: Yes
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary: Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 8

Alex put the stun gun she'd gotten in the holster on her hip, she looked at Ronon as he set his blaster to stun, she hoped that they wouldn't have to use them.

They met up with Lorne in corridor 12.

"Zelenka is Colonel Sheppard still in the main chamber?" Lorne asked him.

"Yes, he's still in there." Zelenka confirmed.

Alex grabbed Lorne's arm, "Let me see if I can talk to him first." she asked him.

"I don't think you should." he told her, he didn't know how Colonel Sheppard would react, he was unpredictable, and he didn't want her getting hurt.

"He knows me, he's not going to hurt me." she said, trying to convince him to let her try.

Lorne, was reluctant to let her do it, but after a lot of persuading from Alex, he finally gave in and said she could try.

They found him easily enough, he was tapping away on one of the consoles. The screen above the console showed that he was still trying to gain access to the dialling system. Alex noticed the P90 resting on top of the console.

"John?" she cautiously approached him, as Ronon, Lorne, and the other security guys slowly took up positions.

He didn't respond, he ignored her and carried on trying to access the dialling system.

"John, what are you doing?" she asked, trying to distract his attention away from the console.

She'd gotten within a few feet of him when he must have realised how close she was. He spun around and stared at her, his eyes gleamed malevolently. He looked around the room, at Ronon, Lorne, the security team, then his gaze returned back to Alex.

She couldn't tell what he was thinking, because looking at him, was like looking at a stranger. Before she could think of what to do, he grabbed her, spun her around so that her back was against his chest, and wrapped his arm around her neck, using her as a shield. He squeezed his arm, tightly, against her throat, as he looked at Ronon and the others with their weapons trained on him.

"You don't want me to hurt her, do you?" John said threateningly.

Alex knew that Ronon and Lorne, were hesitant about firing their weapons, because John had hold of her. But if she had to take a stunner blast, to stop John from gaining access to the dialling system, then so be it.

"Shoot." she told them, causing John to yank his arm painfully against her neck.

"We'll hit you." Lorne pointed out.

"So... just shoot." she told him. John's arm tightened around her neck until she couldn't breathe.

Ronon aimed his blaster and was about to fire, when John, forcefully, thrust Alex from him towards Ronon. Alex went barrelling in to Ronon, who caught her, and stood her upright. He aimed his gun at John, who was now heading towards the door, and fired. The stunner blast from Ronon's gun, hit John, but it didn't affect him, the energy blast radiated across his body and he just seemed to absorb it.

"What the..." Ronon bit out, wondering how Sheppard could still be standing.

John lifted his arm, aimed the P90 at them, and started firing. Everyone scattered and took cover. Ronon dragged Alex behind a wall as several bullets bit in to the surface of the wall, sending pieces of masonry flying out. John took off out the door, with Lorne and the security team following him.

"I think you should stay here." Ronon told her.

"No."

"Alex, he's not himself, you saw that..."

"I'm not staying here."

"Fine, then make sure you stay behind me, because I don't think he'd hesitate in killing anyone, not even you." he remarked bluntly.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon and Alex followed Lorne and his team, but before they reached them, they heard the sound of gunfire. They arrived to see three, of Lorne's four man team, lying injured on the ground. Lorne was kneeling down beside Harper, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his stomach.

"I need a medical team to corridor 17, I have three injured, one critical." Lorne was saying in to his comm. "And send a security team with them."

Alex took a bandage from Lorne and moved over to Lieutenant Chan, she wrapped the bandage around a bullet wound in his arm, which was bleeding, heavily. Adams was sitting with his back against the wall, wrapping a bandage around his thigh, he didn't look too bad.

"You need us to stay." Ronon asked Lorne.

"No, the other security team should be here shortly." Lorne told him.

As Ronon and Alex went to walk away, Lorne shouted out, "Ronon, I don't know how you're going to stop Colonel Sheppard, not without..." he didn't say 'killing him' but Ronon didn't need to hear the words, he knew.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon was ahead of Alex, his gun raised and ready to fire, "Stay there." he told her, as he moved cautiously to the end of the corridor.

He must have seen John because he took off, firing his blaster as he ran around the corner. Alex heard the scuffle, but thankfully she didn't hear the sound of a P90 being fired. As she got to the corner everything went quiet, she held the stun gun tightly in her hand, and pressed her back against the wall, she was just about to take a peek.

John appeared from around the corner, knocking the stun gun from her hand. She jerked back, but wasn't quick enough, he knocked her backwards, sending her sprawling on the floor. He pulled a knife from his belt and moved towards her, she rolled to the side and managed to get up. But he was still looming towards her, intent on killing her. She looked along the other corridor and saw Ronon lying on the floor, she didn't know if he was dead or just unconscious.

John suddenly swung his arm out with the knife in it, arcing it towards her, she pulled back, but the knife still caught her, slicing deeply in to her forearm. She had to back up, away from him as he kept on coming, she went to turn and run but he dived at her, knocking her to the ground. She managed to grab his hand as he tried to bring the knife down, aiming to plunge it in to her chest. It was taking all her strength, which wasn't enough, because she could see the knife getting closer.

The tip of the knife had just pierced her shoulder, when Ronon kicked him away. John stood there glaring at Ronon, then ran at him and started fighting. Alex grabbed her stunner, as she turned around, she saw John swinging Ronon around and slamming him, hard, against the wall, she winced as Ronon's head recoiled off the wall.

Ronon could feel himself about to lose consciousness, he fired his blaster at Sheppard, and saw him fall to the floor, just before he passed out.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Open your eyes John." the voice told him.

"Go away." he bit out, curling his knees and arms in to his body.

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can, just go away and leave me alone." he wasn't in the mood for this.

"This really is your last chance, John."

"I've had my five chances." he told the voice.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, I'm afraid I had to mislead you with those."

This got John's full attention, he opened his eyes and sat up, nothing but blackness surrounded him.

"Am I dead?" he wanted to know, had he, or hadn't he, succeeded in saving Atlantis.

"No, you're not dead, but if you don't listen to me, you and everyone else on Atlantis, soon will be."

"You said that before, and nothing has changed." John bit out.

"I know, and I'm really sorry that I had to do that to you."

"Do what? Stand back and watch me fail?"

"I'm sorry I told you that you could change things, when I knew you couldn't."

"You knew I couldn't change anything, then why the hell did you put me through all that?" John snarled, angrily.

"It was something you had to experience. You needed to come to terms with the pain, needed to control your emotions, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do what you have to do."

"There you go again with the cryptic talk."

"If I'd brought you back to this specific point in time, and given you the memories of what happened, you wouldn't have had the fortitude to be able to change anything.

"So now you're telling me that there is something I can change. Why should I believe you?" John asked harshly.

"Why should you believe me? Because I think you already know, or suspect what happened the first time."

John hung his head down, he'd been having too many nightmares lately, and they'd felt too real. This, added to the fact that he knew, he hadn't been told everything about how Atlantis had been destroyed, had made him suspicious.

"I'm the one responsible for Atlantis blowing up, aren't I?" he asked.

"Yes, but you must understand, at the time, you had no choice, or opportunity, to do anything other than what you did."

"The nightmares I keep having, they aren't just nightmares are they, they really happened. I killed Alex, and Ronon, and all the others, didn't I?" he didn't really need the confirmation.

"Yes."

"Tell me what happened." he needed to know what had happened the first time.

"The first time, everything played out as it did now, a little bit different, but the resulting conclusion was the same. The pieces of the artefact were found and assembled, and McKay connected it to the dialling system. When the energy began to build, you tried to remove the artefact, which resulted in you activating the portal. McKay managed to shut the Stargate down, but while the portal was open, one of the entities came through. It can't survive here for long, not without a human form to inhabit. And your particular DNA drew it to you like a magnet."

"So when I dreamt that I wasn't in control of myself, I really wasn't in control, this entity was?"

"Yes, it took control of your body and and you couldn't fight it. This is when your friends where killed, not by you, but by the entity that controlled you. It redialled the Gate, and that's when you were able to assert your will over it. The pain and grief you felt, over what you'd done to your friends, and knowing that if it succeeded in opening the portal, not only would everyone else in Atlantis be killed, but a lot of people on other worlds. So you stopped yourself from touching the artefact, knowing that it would cause the Stargate's energy to build up to explosive results."

"How did I survive? When I first asked you if I was dead, you said 'not yet', how could anyone have survived the explosion?"

"You survived because the entity was still possessing you. As the Stargate's energy overloaded, and it was a fraction of a second from exploding, the entity retook control of your body. It touched the artefact, which created a link between the artefact and you. The artefact then placed a protective layer over you, unfortunately, the layer didn't last long enough, so although you survived, you were badly injured. It's only because you survived that I was able to come back and give you the opportunity to change it."

"So what makes you think that things will be different this time around." he wanted to know.

"Because the first time you didn't know what was going on until it was too late. This time you have had four days to prepare your emotions, and hopefully, you will have the strength to take control of your body."

"I thought you said I took control of my body the first time, that I stopped myself from activating the portal?"

"You did, but it was after your friends had been killed, and after the Gate address had been dialled. This way you'll be taking control of your body before all that happens."

"So where am I now?"

"You're in a corridor, unconscious."

"The entity is still inside me?"

"Yes, it's still there."

"So what do I have to do then?" John asked, but he already had a gut feeling about what he had to do.

"I think you already know the answer to that."

"I have to die, don't I?"

"Yes. You must convince one of your friends to kill you."

"Can't I just do it myself?"

"The entity wouldn't allow you to do that. And you wouldn't be able to stay in control long enough to succeed in harming yourself to the point of death."

"You don't make it easy do you." John closed his eyes for a moment. "Okay, do what you have to." he told the being.

"When you wake up, you will only have seconds to convince one of them to kill you. Then I'm afraid the entity will take over."

"I know there's something else you want to tell me, so just spit it out." John said.

"The only people who are close enough to be able to kill you are Alex and Ronon."

"Damn it, Alex won't do it, I know that, so it will have to be Ronon."

The long silence told John that something else was wrong. "Something else you'd like to tell me?" he asked.

"At the moment, Ronon, like you, is unconscious."

John groaned, he knew Alex wouldn't be able to do it, no more than he could if it were the other way around. "I still can't tell anyone what I'm doing, or why?" he asked.

"No, you can't tell anyone. Not until the time has passed."

"Let's just get on with it then."

"Close your eyes."

John closed his eyes.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John began moving, he moaned because his body felt like it was on fire, his nerve endings tingled painfully from all the stunner blasts he'd taken. He opened his eyes and saw Alex leaning over Ronon, damn it, why did it have to be her, Ronon he might have been able to persuade, but not Alex.

"Alex!" he groaned, loudly as he raised his head up to look at her.

She turned to stare at him, wariness in her eyes, as soon as she saw him she knew he was back to being himself.

"John." she said moving towards him.

"Don't!" he shouted, holding his hand up to stop her from approaching him. "Stay away."

"But..." she stopped where she was.

"You have to shoot me." he told her.

"What? Why?"

"It's the only way to stop this."

"Stop what?" she took a step towards him.

"Stop me from accessing the dialling system."

"But you're alright now."

"No, I'm not. You have to shoot me." he told her again.

"If we keep shooting you, it will kill you." she pointed out.

"And if you don't shoot me, I'll kill you, or Ronon. Do you think I could live with knowing I'd done that?" he said, groaning as he felt the thing inside him trying to take over.

"I can't." she cried.

"You have to, you know what will happen if I dial that address again. You saw those things that came through the Stargate, well there are thousands waiting to come through this time, there will be no stopping them."

"You're asking me to kill you... I won't do it." she couldn't do it, how could he even ask her.

"Alex, please, I'm begging you, shoot me before it's too late." he tried to concentrate on keeping control of himself, but with each second, it was getting more difficult.

"No." she said outright.

She watched as he stood up and began walking towards her, it looked like he was fighting with himself, one minute he was John, the next he was a stranger who looked at her with hatred in his eyes.

"Shoot me." he told her harshly, grimacing as the entity fought for control of his body.

Alex began backing up as he came towards her, she kept on backing up until she couldn't go any further.

"Alex, do it." he told her, he grimaced as if in pain and bent over, clutching his chest. When he stood up straight she could see, he was back to being a stranger.

She raised the stunner in front of her, tears were running down her face, because she knew she had no choice. She saw him change again, he was back to being himself, he stared at her, his eyes pleading with her to shoot him.

She fired, watched as he stopped momentarily, then carried on coming towards her. Again she fired the stunner, again she watched as he stopped, this time he dropped down to his knees. He got up and took a few steps closer to her, his eyes were that of a stranger, but she couldn't fire again, it would kill him, and she couldn't do that.

He got within a couple of feet of her before he was hit by Ronon's blaster, he fell, first to his knees, then he toppled over on to his side. She quickly hunkered down to feel for a pulse.

"Is he..." Ronon asked, but didn't finish the question as he watched Alex perform CPR on Sheppard.

"We need a medical team to corridor 10 in the South sector, Sheppard is down..." Ronon said in to his comm.

"Ronon, what's going on?" Colonel Carter asked.

"Sheppard is down, Alex is giving him CPR." he replied. Ronon, felt helpless as he watched Alex trying to get Sheppard breathing again.

Just then Lorne came along the corridor, he saw what Alex was doing so he took over the compressions, while she gave mouth to mouth.

"Anything." Lorne asked as Alex checked for a pulse, she shook her head and carried on with the mouth to mouth.

Alex was just bending down to give him mouth to mouth, when one of the dark entities started rising from John's body. No wonder he'd been acting weird, if he'd had one of those things in him, Alex thought. Both she and Lorne, fell back as they tried to keep away from it. Ronon couldn't see anything.

Alex grabbed his arm and dragged him back.

"What is it?" he asked, confused by her and Lorne's actions.

"There's something there." she told him.

"I can't see anything."

"Trust me, it's there."

The entity hovered a few feet above John's body, the dark mass started to change, began to take on a shape. It's features, and body, looked just like a gargoyle, the kind you saw sculptured on very old buildings, and it's eyes gleamed like vivid red pools of blood. It stopped hovering and began to rise.

Lorne grabbed his hand gun and started firing at it.

Alex got Ronon to change his blaster setting to kill, and she used that on the entity. Whether it was the weapons fire, that killed it, or the fact that it had nowhere else to go, they weren't sure. But as it died, it exploded in a pulsing wave of energy, that sent everyone crashing back against the walls. Lorne and Alex were knocked unconscious, Ronon was just dazed.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Ronon, are you okay? Can you hear me?" someone was talking to him.

In the distance he could hear the sounds of people talking... "Charge... clear... again."

"We need to get him to the infirmary, I can't do much here." he heard Doctor Keller's voice.

Ronon opened his eyes and saw Sheppard being rushed away on a gurney. He got up and looked around, Lorne was being tended to by a nurse, as was Alex.

"Is Sheppard dead?" he asked the nurse who was checking over Alex. He didn't really want to hear her answer.

"Yes, they've taken him to the infirmary to see if Doctor Keller can revive him." the nurse told him.

"Is Alex and Lorne alright?"

"Yes, they just appear to be knocked out."

Ronon bent down and picked Alex up, "I'll take her to the infirmary."

"Oh, but we have a gurney coming for her."

"I'll take her." he said, giving the nurse no choice in the matter.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon put Alex on a bed in the infirmary, and stood back as a nurse tended to the cuts on her arm and shoulder. He looked over to where Doctor Keller was working on Sheppard, trying to get his heart started, it didn't look like they were having much luck.

He was joined a few moments later by McKay, and Carter.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>