I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of it's characters. I do, however, own my badguy and my story. So here's the last chapter that I have written at the moment. I will try to write more so that I can post soon. As I said previously I have ideas purcolating in my brain. So hopefully I'll have something soon. Ta. :)

Chapter Twelve

"Having a hard time coming up with an idea Dr. Rodney McKay?" came a familiar voice from beside them.

They all stopped in their tracks and Rodney tried to pry his wrist from his friend's strong grip. John pulled him towards the bed and the man lost his footing and went down hard to the floor. Ronan tried to grab him before he fell but was unable to move fast enough. John let go before the man landed and there was a large lop-sided grin on his face.

"Dr. Beckett!" Teyla yelled out. "We need you now!"

Ronan and Teyla each took hold of one of Sheppard's arms and held on tight even though he was strapped down. Rodney was slowly trying to get up off of the floor. "Ow! Man in pain here. Man down!"

Beckett came running in to the room with a nurse in tow and saw the commotion. "What happened?" he asked as he came up beside Ronan. The nurse ran to Rodney's side to try and help him to his feet.

"Puren woke up." Teyla said. "He grabbed hold of Rodney as we were trying to leave and pulled him down."

"Quick Susan. Grab another sedative." Carson said to the nurse. Susan left Rodney's side and ran to the shelf to get a needle.

John was yelling. Or rather Puren was. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE THIS BODY! YOU WILL NOT TAKE HIM FROM ME!" He began to struggle so much that the veins in his neck were showing and his wrists were severely bleeding. They looked down at his ankles and saw that they were bleeding as well. The restraints were cutting him. Then quite suddenly one of the wrist restraints broke and Ronan lurched as the arm came free. His hand clamped onto Ronan's neck with surprising force and strength. Ronan tried to pull the man's hand off and was completely surprised when he could not. Apparently Puren gave John Sheppard amazing strength. Much more than he previously had. Ronan tried to speak and found himself unable to.

Teyla tried to help him but to no avail. Ronan's vision began to blur and he looked down at his friend. He saw the evil in his eyes. Evil that he had never seen in those eyes before. The fingers squeezed tighter and Ronan's vision went hazy. The Runner could barely hear the commotion around him. Things seemed to be in slow motion. Then before anyone knew what was happening, Ronan was going down. John let go and Ronan crumpled like a stone.

The two security detail at the door had rushed in while all of this was happening and were trying, along with Teyla, to free Ronan. When Ronan had landed on the floor they tried to get a hold of their CO. The two security guards were hurled in different directions and slammed into the walls for their effort. They did not get back up. Teyla got a surprise backhand across the face and she too flew backwards with enough force to hit a table of equipment behind her. She lay on the ground with her eyes squeezed shut in pain.

While Puren was distracted with the other people in the room, Carson grabbed the needle with the sedative in it and drove it into John's arm before Puren could react. Within minutes John was out cold again.

In the aftermath, Carson and his nurse were the only ones standing. A slow moving Rodney raced to Teyla's side while Carson went to Ronan and his nurse went to the two security guards.

Ronan lay on the floor on his left side and Carson knelt down beside him. He checked for a pulse and was relieved to find one. If he hadn't have found a pulse everyone would have been devastated. Especially John who would have been technically responsible for a friend's death. Carson moved Ronan onto his back and saw the large bruise in the shape of a hand forming around his neck. The man had lost consciousness due to a lack of oxygen. Who knew that Sheppard was capable of that much force.

Then there was Rodney, who looked like he was in some pain from his incident with John. Carson watched as the physicist leaned over the prone form of Teyla. He was panting heavily. Rodney reached out a hand and placed it on the Athosian woman's shoulder. "Are you okay Teyla?" he asked with concern. He saw a rather large bruise beginning to form across her left cheek.

She grimaced, moaned and then slowly opened her eyes. "Yes Dr. McKay. I believe that I am relatively unharmed." She said in a haggard voice.

"It sure doesn't look like it. You have one nasty bruise on your face. And you hit that table with a lot of force. How is your back?"

"It is sore, but I believe that I will be okay. Can you help me up please Dr. McKay?" she asked as she reached her hand out.

He took hold of her hand and then slowly helped her to her feet. She was unsteady for a moment and then she seemed to collect herself. They helped each other over to where Carson was now trying to fix the restraint that had broken when Puren had attacked them. "How are Ronan and the Colonel?" Rodney asked.

"I have not had a chance to fully look over either of them yet Rodney. How are the two of you?"

"We'll live Carson. Well, Teyla will at least. I think Puren did something to my wrist. It hurts like hell. And then there's my back. Don't get me started about my back."

"Rodney. You didn't fall on your back." Carson said with a look of exasperation.

"No. But I still hurt it." Teyla rolled her eyes. Rodney did not see the quick movement.

"Well you'll have to wait I'm afraid. First we have to look at Ronan and Colonel Sheppard. Then there are the two security guards over there."

"Well then let's get going before something else happens." Rodney said hurriedly.

Beckett's thoughts were running on over time. Puren had to be purged from the Colonel soon or more members of the SGA were going to be harmed or even killed by him. Things were getting out of control. And he couldn't keep sedating Sheppard or there would end up being some permanent damage.

Carson, Teyla, Susan the nurse and Rodney all managed to get Ronan off the floor and onto one of the infirmary beds. Carson then began to check him over to see what kind of damage John had caused. There was, of course, the bruises. On further inspection he found that his larynx was slightly crushed as well. But he would eventually heal. Ronan would not be able to speak normally for a while. He would most likely have to whisper when he spoke. When Carson told Teyla and Rodney they were naturally upset but not surprised. "It's not like Ronan is a chatterbox Carson. I don't think he'll have too much of a problem with it. But just how the hell did Sheppard, sorry… Puren. Just how the hell did he break free? And where did all of that strength come from? It's not like Sheppard is this massively strong guy. I mean, usually it's Ronan doing the ass kicking. Not the other way around. And now a second member of our team is down and out for the count. And might I add, our strongest member."

"I don't know what to tell you Rodney." Beckett said. "Puren must be affecting the Colonel on many different levels. That is the only way that I would say he was able to get the drop on Ronan. And that added strength is why he was able to break the restraint. Susan is trying to tend to Sheppard's wounds. I don't like the fact that everytime Puren wakes up the Colonel loses more blood. And this time the cuts were really bad. This just makes things worse for the Colonel. Much worse. And it doesn't help Ronan either."

"Great! That's just great!" Rodney said as he placed his hand on his lower back.

"Do you want me to take a look at that Rodney? Or can ye wait until I've looked at the others?" he asked the physicist with some sarcasm in his voice.

Rodney just looked at him with his eyebrows raised. Beckett took that as a sign and he sighed. He walked over to the man and led him over to one of the beds to their left. By the time he was done with the examination on McKay the nurse, Susan, had come over to tell them the news about Sheppard.

"I was finally able to stop the bleeding on both his wrists and his ankles. But I don't think he can lose much more blood. The cuts are pretty deep, especially on the wrist that broke free. They're bandaged up again but I don't think the restraints will help much."

"Thank you Susan. You can go on your break now." Carson said as he took the notes on John from her hands.

"Call me if you need me Dr. Beckett." She said and turned to leave them. Beckett smiled as she left and then turned back to the remaining members of SGA-1.

"I think it's best you two head back to the lab. The quicker we get Puren out of the Colonel the better. I'll keep an eye on Ronan and the Colonel. And I'll let Dr. Weir know what has happened."

Teyla and Rodney both turned to look at Ronan and then John They nodded their heads in silence and then left the doctor to tend to their teammates. They knew that Puren was getting stronger which meant that there was a time crunch. They had to get that machine working one way or another.

When they reached the entrance to the infirmary they turned back one last time to look at Ronan and John. They glanced worriedly and then turned back, heading out the door and down the hall.

Carson watched them leave with a mixture of sadness and worry. He could see how truly frightened the two were for their friends and teammates. He only hoped that they could figure out the machine before it was too late. He smiled wanly and then headed over to check on John and his new injuries.

Not long after Rodney and Teyla had left the infirmary, Dr. Beckett walked into Dr. Weir's office and sat down in the chair across the desk from her. He had a grave look on his face as he stared at Elizabeth.

She had been waiting for the man to show up. Had been waiting for the news that he had for her regarding Ronan and Sheppard. "Well. What's the verdict Carson?" she asked with concern.

"Ronan has still not woken up. But he should soon enough. He won't be talking in his usual manor though. He'll have to give his larynx time to heal. Puren used a lot of force when he was holding onto his neck. He'll have some good sized bruises for awhile on his neck too. And I don't know how he'll feel with the fact that John bested him. I don't think he'll be embarrassed, he'll just be ill-tempered for awhile." Elizabeth smiled at the comment. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Ronan's not Mr. Cheerful Carson. When was the last time you saw him crack a smile?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Exactly." She said. Carson smiled back and shrugged. "How is John?" she asked changing the subject.

"Ah. That's a different story lass. Let's just put it this way, we won't have our Colonel much longer if we don't get Puren out of him. Puren has healed the Colonel's previous illness but the man is growing weaker by the hour. And I mean the Colonel. Puren is getting stronger and Colonel Sheppard is getting weaker. I don't know how much longer he can last. And it doesn't help that every time Puren wakes up the more blood the Colonel loses from the restraints. I don't know why he won't heal the wounds. It's just not good. Not good at all."

"Um… Carson. I get everything you're telling me, but what previous illness are you talking about?"

Carson sighed. "I guess ye did'na know, but he had a slight flu. I didn't know until after he came back from the planet. What else is new there. When I did the workup on him I saw it. All the signs were there. And I think that's what made it easier for Puren to invade him. He was already in a slightly weakened state."

"That's great. He doesn't tell anyone he's feeling sick and ends up unknowingly letting himself get taken over by an evil Ancient device. I really wish he would start telling us these things. Then he wouldn't get in to as much trouble." She sighed and sat back in her chair.

"That's Colonel Sheppard for you. Not wanting to let anyone in on the fact that something's wrong. Just so that he can be there for his team and the rest of Atlantis."

"What about the others. How did they fare against Puren?" she asked.

"Rodney has a sprained left wrist and he pulled a muscle in his lower back when he fell. He'll be okay though. Teyla has a good sized welt across her left cheek where the Colonel hit her. She also has a nasty bruise on her back from where she hit a table. But she should be okay too. At least she says she can continue her work. She doesn't have a concussion. There wasn't enough force. Preston and Mills, the two security guards, are still unconscious. They hit the walls rather hard. They both have concussions. Plus Preston broke one of his ribs and Mills broke his right arm. They won't be of anymore help to you for the time being."

"Well thank you for the update Carson." She said and then sighed. "You know, when we get John back he's not going to be a very happy camper. He's hurt people and he's not even aware of it."

"That's not entirely true Elizabeth."

"What do you mean?" she asked sitting forward and placing her elbows on the desk, her chin in her hands.

"I think that Colonel Sheppard is aware of everything that is happening to him. And what he is doing to others."

"How do you know that?"

"It's just a feeling. But he's still got to be in there somewhere. He just has to be."

Elizabeth's eyes went wide. "If that's true Carson, then we have to get John back as soon as we can. Otherwise, I'm afraid we're just going to be left with his body. And I can't have that. I am not going to let John die. Not on my watch."

TBC in Chapter Thirteen….

A/N: Not really a cliff hanger per se, but a good place to leave it. Then you won't be chomping at the bit so much to find out what happens next. Hope you enjoyed. I'll write soon. Later days. :)