WHIP NO MORE
By ErikaHK
Chapter 5
Teyla watched in horror the scene taking place before her eyes. She saw John's defiance and felt the pain in his eyes as he did so. She heard the yelling and saw the shaking of the scientist's body. She looked at John and saw the anger boiling inside him. He moved and jumped on his chair and held a cry of pain on pursed lips. She wanted to do the same.
With wide eyes she glared at the guards beside her that returned it with a smile. They invited her to try anything with their looks, but she didn't. She looked outside again and controlled herself. Freyr kept his activity for several minutes and all she could do was watch in silence.
One little sound out and one of your friends die.
She flinched each time Rodney flinched. She gasped each time John demonstrated his anger. She knew exactly what John was feeling because she was feeling the same. How could one man do this? Plan everything so perfectly just to cause pain. With only one act, one whip, he tortured three and each one on a personal and individual manner.
She watched the look on the colonel's face when he was taken back to his cell. He was ready to break Freyr's neck with only his glare. She expected him to lose control and go for it, but he didn't. She took a note to herself to keep the same control towards the man.
After both friends were locked up, Freyr came back, entered the room and faced her. She didn't bother to hide the anger inside her, because even if she succeeded, she knew he would be aware of it. She just controlled it. She presumed it would be enough to make him angry, or at least less pleased.
He didn't bother to hide his emotions too. He was happy. The gag was removed from her mouth and he spoke.
"So, what about now?"
"Do you expect that I say anything after what you have done?" She fought to keep her tone down.
He liked the defiance. His smile grew. He signaled the guards and she was taken back to her cell.
Ronon hadn't slept the whole night. He couldn't. Not when he had placed his colleagues and friends into this. He couldn't tolerate mistakes, especially when they were his.
He heard everything that happened during the night. He heard Rodney being brought even as the men tried to do it silently. The scientist didn't let any sound out except for a moan. He sounded as if he was unconscious. Later, he heard John taken to the square again and Ronon expected to be dragged out for another session like yesterday. After the initial exchange of words, Ronon realized that now would be McKay's time.
He got up ready destroy the door if he had to. When the scream started Ronon charged and hit the door. It didn't even move. He did it again. And again the door remained. As each round of screaming he charged to burst the door open, but all he got was an aching shoulder. But that didn't mean he would stop doing it.
After the silence came, he paused and waited. Nothing happened. He grunted and punched the wall hard enough to bleed his fist. It was his fault. If he had been more careful they wouldn't be suffering now. He continued punching the wall until it was heavily stained with blood then fell on the floor holding his face down.
Rodney felt his body limp on the hands of the guards. His body was shaking and weak and he let himself be carried away. His mind was empty. He couldn't think on anything else but the pain. The wave pulsed under the beat of his heart and burned his body. Even the breeze hitting his injuries made them hurt.
He opened his eyes briefly and saw Sheppard being untied from the chair. The expression on his face made Rodney's guts twist. The colonel was pure anger. Even in his fragile state Rodney could notice it.
They both were half carried to opposite directions back to their cells. He was thrown inside the cell and fell hard on the floor. The vibration of his body hitting the ground made every single slash on his back shoot a stinging pain that spread to his limbs until it reached the tip of his fingers. He wanted to scream, but only a silent moan escaped hid lips.
He was in deep shit. He couldn't remember all of them being that bad at the same time before. They had being captured and even tortured in the past, but there was always a string of hope to get them through and somehow they always managed to get lucky enough to escape or be rescued. This time he had screwed up bad. He had been the only chance of getting them out of that jungle, but he messed it up.
I'm so stupid!
Easy task: get to the 'gate and get help. How could that be so hard? Just dial the dammed thing and go back. But he failed. And they would all pay for it. Especially Sheppard. He knew how hard must've been for the commander of the team to watch, not only someone he was supposed to protect, but also a close friend, being tortured right in front of him. Rodney knew how pissed that made him.
He should have been stronger. He shouldn't have yelled so hard. He shouldn't have yelled at all. He knew that the others hadn't. He wasn't around on their round of torture, but he knew them well enough. He was feeling like a damn coward. Screaming like a weak little girl. He also felt humiliated and violated.
It was easy to break him. He knew it since the first encounter with Kolya. Since then he worked hard to be stronger and the Pegasus Galaxy always gave him plenty of opportunities to practice. This was another one. Something made to tough him up. Ronon had said it in more then one occasion that he needed that.
Back on Earth, while he lived that little and unimportant existence thinking that he knew everything about the universe, he wouldn't bother to think about the importance of being tough. Now he knew things better and was amazed to find how much the Pegasus Galaxy had changed him. Dr. Rodney McKay actually resenting having all the brain power and no brawn. This galaxy is truly messed up.
He was fuming inside his cell. Pacing from one side to another, he had his hands closed so hard that his fingers and knuckles were white and the muscles of his face were aching after so long holding his jaw shut tight. He was still breathing heavily and the adrenalin still pumped through his body. It had been one hour since Rodney was whipped and he still felt the same sensation of fury.
The stress built inside him since the previous day. He was able to control it before, but that control was coming to an end. First was Teyla, and the threat Freyr made about her future, then came Ronon, that barely even flinched at the stake, probably too pissed to feel anything, and then Freyr showed that he saved the best for last.
Damn, he could understand pain and he understood what it meant for the stronger members of the team. He knew that they could hold it together if they had to, but Rodney was a different story, he wasn't a warrior, he wasn't trained to withstand pain and endure torture. Rodney was a scientist, meant to stay in the lab running crazy experiments and even with the limited training he received when he became a part of the team he would never be one. The little man knew how to be tough, but his limitations were very narrow.
It was cruel. Freyr knew it and did it because of that. He wanted control. Freyr wanted to take control away from the leader of the pack and felt pleasure in doing it. He didn't have principles or moral. He could beat the crap out a small child without feeling how wrong it was. He just enjoyed the power of the fear that came from his victims.
Something had to be done soon and John had to be the one doing it. But first he needed his emotions in check. He knew that the only way he would have a mind clear enough to think this through was to put his emotions aside. And, just like he was trained to do, he stopped. He took one deep breath and let it out slowly concentrating on the important problem: the walls separating the team and the sick man that put them there. After the initial blind anger was controlled he could use the remaining to focus him into his target.
After he calmed himself a little, his body started screaming at him again. He looked down at his wrists and noticed the red lacerations made by the bounds. Blood had run down to his hands and dripped on the floor. It was dry now and he was surprised to know that he hadn't felt it before. He looked at his feet and saw the same damage. Standing up pacing for do long made his ankles hurt. The edge of his pants grazed his skin and activated the exposed pain receptors of his ankles. He hissed at discovery and sat down turning up the end of his pants to right bellow the knees and above the slashes in his leg.
He leaned back against the wall and felt the shouts of his back as he did so and promptly gave up the effort. As his heart decelerated, the tiredness increased and he remembered the badly slept night and the beating he suffered on the previous day. If you add the stress and the anger management, you get a really tired colonel. He stood sitting on the floor thinking about his predicament for a few more hours until he dozed off again.
…
TBC…