A/N: How'd you like the first chapter? Fun, eh? LOL Anyway, not much to report, so...on with the story!

Work in Progress

Chapter 2

The two guards shoved John into a chair, and soon he was bound to it by thick, black straps around his chest, wrists and feet. Tired, his head now pounding a double-bass beat, he gazed up at the lead Wraith, somehow still managing a smug grin.

"I assume this won't be a pleasant chat," he said. The Wraith sneered at him.

"You assume correctly."

"Oh, good. And here I was worried that the cliché was completely wrong."

The Wraith noted his insolence, but ignored the comment. Instead, he paced menacingly in front of John's chair, his hands clasped behind his back. John took the opportunity to test his bonds, but they were knotted tight.

"I am interested to know what you have done with our troops. They are not being picked up by our sensors."

"What troops?" John asked, not understanding what he was talking about. Then, he remembered the Wraith soldiers who had disappeared during their battle. "Oh, those troops." He shrugged as well as his bindings would allow. "That wasn't us."

The Wraith stopped pacing and glared at him. "We know that you were the last to be in contact with them, Sheppard. I only wish to reclaim them, and then you may go free."

John snorted, but quickly covered it with a cough. "Listen…" he cocked his head in thought, "…think I'll call you Kevin. Can I call you Kevin?"

"Kevin" didn't reply, so John accepted that as a "yes", and went on.

"First, Kevin, I don't know where they went. One minute they were there, the next…And second, I've been around long enough to know that you aren't just going to release me or my team once you've got what you wanted. You can't think for a second I'm gonna buy into that."

Kevin searched John's face for a moment, his yellow eyes narrowed into slits. It seemed at first as if he were about to simply end the interrogation right then, by slapping his hand against John's chest and sucking the life out of him. Instead, he straightened up and grinned slightly, showing his pointed teeth.

"You are an interesting man, Sheppard. But I assure you, though many would pay highly to acquire you and your…team…I have no interest in you, other than to attain the information I seek."

John's gaze was skeptical. Though the room was dimly-lit, the light that did reach his eyes hurt his aching head as much as if he were staring at the sun. He suddenly found himself wishing that Todd was around. At least Todd had a sense of humor, twisted though it was. "I wish I could help you, Kevin. But I don't know where they are."

"And I doubt your sincerity, as well as your knowledge," Kevin replied. "But soon, you will tell me all I need to know." He turned his back on John, waving his hand in a silent command to his guards.

"I told you, I don't…" John began, but he stopped when the guards began to close in on him, their hands stretched out toward him.

From where they stood in the dirt-floor holding cell, Rodney and the rest of the team suddenly heard a scream that could've only come from John Sheppard.

John's unconscious body hit the dirt floor with a thump. Teyla was beside him immediately, gently turning him over and feeling his pulse with her slender fingertips. Ronon stood off to her left, glaring wickedly at the Wraith, who had since relocked the door and were now walking away, and Rodney knelt on John's other side, for once silent as he took in his friend's condition. There looked to be a feeding-mark on John's chest, but there were no other signs – no gray hair or wrinkled skin. Didn't mean they hadn't fed on him, Rodney muttered mentally. He knew enough about Wraith torture to know that they could've sucked out his life and then given it back, over and over again.

Also, John's lip was cut, sending a thin trickle of blood down his chin, and there were bruises on his face and chest, as well as some kind of rope burn on his wrists. In short, John was pretty beaten up.

"John," Teyla whispered when his eyelids flickered slightly. When he didn't wake, she wiped her hand across his sweat-slicked forehead, then stripped off her jacket and tucked it around him. Seeing this, Rodney did the same, using his as a makeshift pillow for John's head.

"What did they do to him?" Rodney asked, though it was more rhetorical than anything else.

Teyla shook her head. "He is badly injured, Rodney. We must get him out of here before they return."

"I wish we could. We've thought of everything, and came up with nothing."

She seemed undeterred by his pessimism. "Perhaps if we figured out what they were after, we could use it to bargain with them."

"Great," Rodney snapped. "Shall I call them back in here, or will you?"

"Rodney," she warned, her voice suddenly tired.

"I'm just saying, something tells me they're not interested in bargaining. And if we don't do something soon, Sheppard is going to die here!"

As she stared at him, she suddenly understood the motivation behind his anger. He was afraid – afraid for John, and for himself. After checking John's pulse once more – and grimacing at his rapid heartbeat – she stood and placed both hands on Rodney's shoulders, her eyes gentle.

"Rodney," she said, causing his gaze to meet hers, "we will escape this place. You must have faith." He tried to sneer at that word – faith – but couldn't. Instead, he only nodded once as she continued. "I know our situation seems hopeless right now, but I have faith in you. Use the talents you were given, and think of a way out. Please, for John's sake."

The calm in her brown eyes relaxed him, and he took a deep breath. "Okay," he murmured. "Okay, give me a minute."

She nodded, and backed away, letting her hands slip slowly down his arms before they left him completely. Once more, Rodney moved toward the cell door, his mind turning with every second. He reached out and took hold of the metal bars, ran his hands down their length until he was crouched near the floor. Then, he stood, shuffled over about a foot to his right, and repeated his motions. By the third time, he had reached the door's hinges, and closely inspected each one.

"Hmm," he said quietly, but Ronon heard him, and stood beside him.

"What?" The Satedan asked, his eyebrows knitted closely together.

"It's rusted right at the hinges. A few well-placed hits, and this door should fall right off."

"Gonna make a lot of noise, though," Ronon replied, his head jerking in the direction the Wraith usually came from.

"Well, I'm giving us options, here. I haven't heard a better one from you yet."

The large man shrugged. "Don't have one."

Teyla stepped forward then. "We could use our clothing to hold the door on the opposite side, so that it will open, but not fall to the floor."

Rodney snapped his fingers. "That might work. We could borrow the jackets from Sheppard to tie around the door, knotting it to the frame on the left."

Satisfied with their plan, they set to work carefully removing their jackets from John's sleeping form. They worked in silence to tie them where Rodney indicated, knotting them as tightly as they could, as their hands were all becoming very cold and difficult to move.

"Who's gonna kick it?" Ronon asked, as they stared at their handiwork. He looked pointedly at the scientist beside him, who rubbed anxiously at his forehead.

"I, uh," Rodney stuttered, "I was hoping you'd volunteer, as you're the strongest. But if you…"

Before Rodney could finish, Ronon pushed him aside and gave the door a swift kick. It shuddered with the force, but that was all. Ronon aimed a bit lower, and tried again. Once more, it clattered against the jamb, but didn't move.

"What's going on?" John muttered, keeping his eyes shut. He was worried that if he opened them, they'd explode. Teyla knelt beside him, her hand on his chest on the side opposite his wound.

"We are attempting to escape, John. Can you stand?"

Slowly, he cracked open his eyelids, and cautiously gazed up at her. As Ronon kept working on the door, John moved his limbs one at a time, making sure each one worked, and then nodded.

"Yeah, but you might have to help. I feel like I've been hit by a cruise ship."

She managed a small smile, then stood and reached down for his hand. He gave it to her, and she began to carefully pull him up, first to a sitting position, and then onto his feet. He swayed a little as he stood, but then quickly steadied himself using Teyla's shoulder for support.

"Thanks," he breathed.

"We were very concerned for you," she told him. "You have been unconscious for a long while."

"I kinda wish I was still out. My gut feels like it did on the first day of school."

Though she only half-understood him, she nodded. "We should be free very soon."

Ronon gave another hard kick at the door, then cursed quietly. His ankle hurt after that last try, and he knew that it would probably swell up in a while. Not one to give up, however, he braced himself for another shot.

"Wait!" Rodney suddenly hissed, and Ronon dropped his leg. "They're coming."

Everyone was silent as they listened, and each person's heart dropped into their stomach as they heard the familiar sound of boots approaching them. Without even discussing it, Teyla and Rodney worked to remove their coats from the door, tossing them into a dark corner. No good could come to them if the Wraith saw that they'd been trying to escape.

When the Wraith entered the room, everyone in the team stood protectively in front of John. John felt both grateful and embarrassed at that; he should be the one covering his team, not the other way around. Still, he wasn't sure he was up for round two against the Wraith, so he let them guard him.

"Kevin" looked around at the team, noticing with amusement the way they guarded their leader. Such dedication, he thought; even in the face of death they show no fear, only determination. He had been bent on taking Sheppard for another interrogation, but now, he decided a change of tactic was needed.

"That one," he said, pointing to Rodney.

John started to push forward, but the others held him back. Rodney gulped nervously when the guards took hold of his arms, but as his anxiety gave way to anger, he yanked himself out of their grasp and scowled at them.

"I can walk just fine," he snarled, and Kevin nodded for them to allow him to continue alone. "Take care of Sheppard," he called to Teyla and Ronon, staring meaningfully at them, and they nodded in return.

Rodney had been strapped into the chair John had occupied earlier for a while now, and he was only getting angrier. As one of the guards moved away from him, he turned his head and spat on the ground, scowling as he saw it was mostly blood, with a small bit of saliva mixed in. His jaw hurt, but he wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of seeing he was in pain. He might just be a scientist, but he'd been kidnapped and tortured and chased enough these past years that he could be almost as stoic as Sheppard.

Sheppard. He suddenly remembered the way his friend had looked back in the cell, his body bruised, his headache refusing to let his eyes focus normally, and his anger burned hot in his chest again.

Kevin stepped forward then, looking just as angry as Rodney felt.

"Where are my soldiers, Doctor McKay?" He shouted.

"I don't know!" Rodney roared back. "We had nothing to do with it!"

"Tell me!"

Rodney stopped struggling against the straps holding him, and glared up at the Wraith leader.

"Go straight to Hell!"

Kevin stepped back, and gestured to the guard on Rodney's left. Before he could blink, the guard hit him across the face with something hard and possibly metallic. Rodney's cheek split open under the force, spilling warm blood down his face and neck. His jaw now felt positively broken, but he merely gasped in one lungful of air after another, praying to anything that would listen not to let the tears in his eyes fall. He couldn't cry now, no matter how much it hurt. He had to be strong, for the team – for his friends. He had to make John proud of him, make them all proud of him. Oh, God, why couldn't he just die right now?

"Take him back. He has proved much stronger than I thought."

The guards started to unbuckle the straps, starting with his legs and working up.

"We will see what the woman has to say next."

Rodney's head snapped up so hard that his teeth rattled together.

"No!" He shouted. "Leave Teyla out of this!"

Kevin stopped the guards and gazed down at him, his eyes curious. "And why would I do that?"

"I…" Rodney gazed around the room, thinking fast. As soon as the first idea came to him, he replied, "I could help you find them. Your soldiers, I mean."

The leader seemed to think about this. Then, he spoke to the guards. "Unbind him, and let him…clean up." To Rodney, he said, "If you fail at this task, every one of your friends will die. Horribly."

Rodney nodded. "I figured as much," he muttered as he stood up. It took a moment for his legs to understand what his brain wanted them to do, but as soon as he felt steady, he followed the two guards out of the room. Hopefully, he'd just bought the others enough time to escape, and go for help. Of course, there was no guarantee that he'd get out of this alive, but that didn't matter to him anymore. And though he knew that it wasn't a pretty way to go, he would gladly die at the Wraith's hands as long as he saved the team.

"Okay," John said after Ronon and Teyla had tied the jackets to the door once again. "Let's try this again."

"We cannot just leave Rodney here, John," Teyla argued. Though her voice was calm, quiet, her eyes were furious. She flicked her gaze at his chest, reminding him of what he'd gone through, of what Rodney was most likely experiencing at that very moment.

"He told us to, Teyla. And for once, I'm not gonna argue with him. We'll get to the Jumper, and get the hell back to Atlantis. The Daedalus is still docked at the city, and she can easily take out the two ships circling the planet."

"But once the Wraith know we are attacking them, they will kill him!"

"We don't know if he's even alive now, Teyla!"

"But…"

Ignoring the pain that ran the entire length of his body, he grabbed her shoulders. "Enough!" He shouted at her, and her eyes filled with frustrated tears. "If Rodney is still alive, then we have to get help. We're no match against the Wraith without our weapons, and we don't have time to go looking for them."

Silently, she nodded, though she wanted to scream and never stop. She suddenly felt numb all over, as if she were falling into an endless black hole. She could only stare blankly as John turned to Ronon and said, "Do it."

"Okay," the large man replied.

Ronon eyed the door carefully, looking for the weakest spot, and then kicked at the hinges as hard as he could. At first, it didn't look like it worked at all, but his sharp eye determined that the gap between the door and the rest of the cell had widened slightly. Encouraged by that sight, he gathered all of his strength, reared back, and kicked again. The door broke free at once and swung out, but the jackets did their job at holding it up. With a proud grin on his face, Ronon gestured for them to follow, and then rushed through the open space.

Teyla hurried after him, and John followed her, his breath hitching in his chest with every step. Pushing the pain away, he kept watch behind them as they wended their way through the tunnels, looking for the way out. Luckily, they encountered no resistance, and soon broke out into the daylight. Though he originally thought that was somewhat convenient, John pushed his concerns aside and stopped to take in their surroundings. He shaded his eyes with his hand, wishing he had his aviators' glasses on him, and saw that they were in a small meadow, surrounded on all sides by nothing but trees. They had been imprisoned in some kind of underground cave system, one that had probably had been a mine at one point, but that had been reclaimed by the ecosystem over a period of decades. Maybe, John thought, even centuries.

"I believe the Jumper is that way," Teyla said to the men, pointing ahead and slightly to the left.

"That way it is," John agreed, and Ronon continued to take the lead in the direction she'd indicated.

They made it into the forest with no trouble, though John had needed a rest about halfway through. Teyla agreed to sit with him on a large fallen tree, as Ronon kept watch for any approaching Wraith. Her hands braced on the rough bark, she straddled the trunk, letting her legs dangle over each side. He sat sideways, his legs hanging only over one side, periodically wiping sweat off his face and neck.

"Maybe you guys should've left me, too," he said quietly. Ronon and Teyla exchanged a worried look.

"Never woulda happened," Ronon muttered in reply.

"Why would you say such a thing?" Teyla asked at the same time, and John shrugged.

"I feel sick as a dog. I'm slowing you down." He looked up at the sky, noting that the clouds were tinged with a light pink color. "Sun'll be down before we make it to the Jumper, and they'll have discovered us missing long before that."

Teyla shook her head. "We will make it, John. Together."

"He's right about one thing," Ronon said then. "They've noticed."

Teyla swung down off the tree, her eyes spotting movement from behind them. "We must go."

Heaving a sigh, John slipped down as well, nearly tripping over an exposed root. He tried to take up the rear once more, but Teyla wouldn't have it. She lightly nudged him into the second position, and he locked his eyes on Ronon's back, concentrating on keeping his breathing even. His stomach still lurched around, feeling like a thousand butterflies ramming against his gut, but he couldn't get sick now. They had to get to the Jumper. That was it, he told himself; get to the Jumper, and get into space. Then, you can puke your guts out as long as you want.

Finally, they broke through the trees, and the Jumper stood right where they'd left it, in the middle of the field. They could hear crashing noises behind them, quickly advancing on their position, and John ran as fast as he could for the Jumper. Surprisingly, the back hatch was still open, looking incredibly inviting to him, and he ran inside without stopping, though his vision began to swim dangerously.

Ronon and Teyla soon followed, and he slammed his fist against the control panel just as the Wraith began to shoot at them. A stray blast made it through the closing gap, hitting Teyla in the shoulder. She sank to her knees, but didn't lose consciousness. John rushed forward and slipped into the driver's seat, and the Jumper's lights immediately blinked on. He powered up both the engine and the cloak, and as Ronon and Teyla secured themselves beside him, he expertly lifted the ship into the air. More lucky shots from the Wraith hit the Jumper, but they didn't do much damage, and in moments, John had piloted them through the atmosphere and into the black expanse of space surrounding the planet.

"There are the Wraith ships," Teyla said, pointing past the front screen. Just as Rodney said, two Hive ships glided through the stars, their hulking masses seeming to almost touch each other. Just beyond them was the Stargate, suspended in space by the planet's magnetic field.

"Yeah," John agreed. He started to dial the symbols for Atlantis, and watched as the Stargate's lights began to blink on, one by one. The Wraith ships noticed what was happening, but as the Jumper was cloaked, they had no idea where or what to shoot at. Instead, they fired in the direction of the Stargate, figuring they would hit anything either coming out or going in.

"Atlantis, this is Sheppard," he called over the Jumper's radio. After a short pause, the radio crackled, and a welcome voice responded to his call.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Colonel Carter. You were due to check in almost 24 hours ago."

"I know," he said, "but things got a little hairy down there. Not much time to explain, but we might be coming in hot."

"Understood," Carter replied crisply. "We'll be ready for you."

John switched off the radio, then swung the Jumper easily between the vessels. Right before they reached the event horizon, he pushed the Jumper to top speed. They took a single hit on the rear bulkhead just as they slid completely through, and for a sickening moment, John thought that they wouldn't make it. Then, he saw Atlantis' control room before him, and he slammed on the brakes. Ronon caught himself from smashing forward by throwing his hands down on the control panel, and Teyla did the same by grabbing onto Ronon's chair.

"Shield up!" Carter shouted as soon as she saw they were safe. The shield shimmered into existence, brightening as Wraith blasts tried to penetrate the Gate.

"Gonna go park this baby," John told her over the radio, and she nodded.

"Any injuries?" She asked him.

"None life-threatening," he bit off. His mission was over, and he'd be damned if he let her confine him to a hospital bed. Rodney was still down there, somewhere. Alive, he hoped, though it was almost too much to hope for after all this. The Wraith wouldn't take kindly to having three prisoners escape, and get past two Hive ships.

He was all right. He was The Rodney McKay, genius extraordinaire.

He was all right. He had to be.

If he wasn't, Teyla would never forgive him.

And John would never forgive himself.

TBC...