A/N: Okay - you've all survived the torture? Good, good. Now that the opening salvo has been fired, the troops are moving in...

Chapter 23

Physically, Rodney felt like every shot of Novocain he'd ever had in his life had come back to haunt him. Mentally wasn't much better, especially after seeing Sheppard get hit with the cattle prod and Chaya practically having an orgasm on the spot. That little image was going to haunt his dreams for a long time, that's for damn sure. And he was so glad he didn't see the shot to the nuts clearly since Lorne was blocking part of the view. But what happened next….

That got Rodney's brain working again. In all those cheesy monster movies he and his sister sat through every Saturday night when their ages were still in the single digits, they always presented shape-shifting with tons of squishy, crunching sound effects that just made him hide his eyes and Jeannie laugh at him. But the real thing was so swift, controlled, smooth, and, and … and just so freaking cool he couldn't believe it. His brain suddenly started to focus on the dynamics of it – of the ratios of energy transfer it would take to change something from one shape to another, how would mass be affected, the changes in physiology, where in the hell did all that damn fur come from? Then while his brain got distracted by the absolute impossibility of it all, his emotions started to wake up as well. And one thing was certain – pissed didn't even begin to cover it. Yes, it would be absolutely fascinating to study something like this – it just blew his mind that these things really did exist – but the Mengele Method was not the way to go about it. Hell, with all the new medical scanners – even that cool one they got from the SGC last year – there was absolutely no reason for any invasive procedures whatsoever. Or dissection….

Yeah, he saw the surgical tools sitting out. Everyone saw them, and he knew it was so planned that way. Crazy, manipulative, son of a bitch….

By the time they were herded out his anger was just starting a slow boil. He met Sheppard's eyes as he passed the table, and although they were a little unfocused from whatever Chaya had pumped into him a few minutes earlier, they were still the same pale green aware eyes he'd seen twinkle in amusement at one of Radek's really lame jokes in the lab. That brought the boil up a notch, and by the time he was marching down the corridor to his own quarters he was producing more steam than Yellowstone National Park. He knew how important their, well, his work was at the Project, and there was no way in hell he was going to let some psycho soldier with a hard-on for power trips and collecting and torturing freaks jeopardize his research. Oh, hell no – that sick little display they were all made to sit and witness was the quark that broke the quantum camel's back.

They made a very big mistake when they locked him in his room for the rest of the night – they didn't take his computer away. They were grunts following orders. They didn't know any better. He was instantly in front of it and in a matter of minutes modifying the directives he'd put in place for stage two of the break-out/take-over plan. The subroutines he created to lock selective doors could just as easily be tweaked to unlock others. And Zelenka wasn't the only one who could manipulate the security server…. His fingers flew like a master pianist, and it took just under an hour to make all the changes he needed, plus a few extras.

Now, how to notify the others. He looked through the various security feeds. "Holy crap," he muttered as he discovered Kolya didn't post guards on any of them. "He's probably too busy getting Chaya off to think of that." Then his face fell and he grimaced sickly. "Oh, man – I just made myself sick," he muttered. He shook his head a few times, and after a brief glance at his watch, started working again. Looked like admin had locked Lorne out of the system. "Bah, what's admin to a genius," Rodney muttered and got busy.

-oOo-

Zelenka couldn't sleep, and plugging in one of the disks from his treasured Xena collection was not providing much of a distraction from the images that kept playing through his mind. He was aware of werewolves – he knew of a thriving vlkodlak community in Budapest, and he even went to university with one of its princes – and he'd heard of werebears and, yes, wererats, but never of a werepanther. It made sense that there were other types of changelings out there, and even though he knew Pavl was vargyr, he'd never seen him change.

That was truly the most fantastický sight he'd ever witnessed. And at the same time, the most sickening and heart rending. It had been a couple hours since then, and he prayed that Sheppard was all right.

His computer let out an incredibly loud beep and Zelenka practically leaped out of his skin. He glanced that way and saw a box of text flashing in the center of the screen. Zelenka got up, his lips slightly sticking out from a frowning pout, and pushed his glasses up as he walked over to his desk. His eyebrows shot up when he got close enough to read the text.

Come to my room. Hallways in residential section are clear. Goons are locked away and deaf and dumb for the night. Rodney. Then it was gone.

A second later Zelenka heard his door lock disengage. "Oh, you devious čubčí syn." He grinned like a madman as he left his room to head for Rodney's.

-oOo-

Lorne sat at his desk playing solitaire on his computer, an empty bottle of Maalox sitting near his hand. He secretly wished it was a bottle of whiskey, but it was going to have to do for now. He should have just ferried Sheppard to the mainland, dropped his ass off on the beach and let him fend for himself, but no – he had to go all duty bound and bring him back. He was hoping things would have worked out for the better, and they could have taken him back home in a civilized manner, but the explosion down on SL2 screwed things up. Now he was probably being skinned alive at the moment for all he knew, his e-mail had been disabled so he couldn't contact anyone on the outside or inside, and his radio had been confiscated. "Shit," he muttered and picked up the bottle of antacid before he remembered it was empty. He hurled it across the room.

Then he lost another damn game of solitaire. That made thirty-some in a row, stingy damn program. He had the laptop in his hands, and was seriously contemplating hurling it as well, when it let out a startlingly loud boop and the message popped up on his screen, shortly followed by another that said, Grab Ronon, he's not online. Lorne blinked at it a few times, and thought it was a joke, until he heard the lock to his door disengage. He kissed the screen.

Things were back on track.

-oOo-

Keller was the last one to show up to Rodney's clandestine meeting. Her eyes were puffy and red, but she had a determined set to her mouth. She went over to stand by Ronon where he leaned up against a dresser, and he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a brief squeeze.

"All right, now that we're all here, how many of you were sickened by that twisted and perverted little display tonight? Hmm?" Rodney said from his perch on the edge of his desk as he raised his hand and waggled it. He got several nods in reply so he lowered his hand. "Okay – lockdown is now in effect. Peter and Chuck will be notifying everyone who is on the lists Radek and Lorne supplied me, and they will help keep any innocent bystanders out of the way until this thing is over. Hopefully nothing out of the ordinary will be noticed until after the eight o'clock shift change when Lorne's guys come on duty. Those that are Kolya's lackeys will find themselves locked in their rooms once they turn in."

"Communications in residential sections will be jammed, and feed for all stairwells will be on a twenty-four hour loop," Zelenka said as he pushed up his glasses. "If my bug is still in security, we will be able to activate it via remote for two hour window for all other sections of Atlantis. Top two levels of tower, and all lab levels will have active but heavily monitored communications. If we are lucky, Kolya will go to bed and we can lock him up with the rest."

"Fat chance," Rodney muttered.

"Have you checked on John?" Keller asked.

"Aye," Carson said. He was sitting in Rodney's desk chair and had his chin braced in his palm. "He's still alive, seems relatively unhurt." He was watching the security feed from the astronomy lab on Rodney's computer. "She hasn't done anything … invasive yet." Keller came over, looked over his shoulder, and let out a quick sigh of relief.

"Good," Lorne said. "How about my guys in holding?"

"They're fine," Rodney replied. "I can't override the cell's controls remotely – we'll, uh, have to send someone down there to do it to let them out." He glanced at Zelenka.

Zelenka drew his chin back and shook his head. "Don't look at me – I'm not going anywhere near the wampyr."

"Someone on security can do it later – be less suspicious to see one of them down on that level right now," Lorne replied. He didn't blame Dr. Z one bit for not wanting to go in that room. That few hours cooling his heels down there was bad enough.

Radek slumped in relief.

"No, I have something else for you to do," Rodney said and grinned crookedly.

"I do not like that look on your face, Rodney," Zelenka said. "It makes my, my šourek … ustoupit. No, no, not good."

"You and Keller are going to free Elizabeth."

Zelenka's eyebrows shot up. "Oh." Then he set his features. "There are guards posted."

"I know." Rodney glanced at Carson briefly. "That's why I had a little discussion with Dr. Ferrell in weapons when we first started planning this whole thing. She hates blood as much as I do – still can't figure out why she works in R&D there – but she's going to float us some of the stunners that are on loan from SGC. The lab has been left unlocked until I tell her otherwise." Rodney was barely containing himself. "We just have to pick them up. I'll be able to brief you on how to use them."

Carson looked very relieved. He'd made the point time and again that he didn't want any spilled blood with this coup.

"Stun guards, get Elizabeth out, take her someplace safe until the all clear is given, piece of cake," Rodney said with a few quick finger snaps.

Zelenka looked at Keller. "I'm not too hot of shot. You?"

Keller beamed. "Pretty damn good, actually. Piece of cake," she said to Rodney.

"Take her to either your or Radek's room and keep her there until it's clear," Carson said. "As soon as you hear, get her to the infirmary, immediately. We don't know what kind of shape she'll be in."

Keller and Zelenka both nodded.

"I want to accompany you and Ronon when you get Sheppard," Carson said to Lorne.

"Oh, hey, doc. That isn't a good idea," Lorne said. Their part was the most risky, and had the greatest chance of encountering gunfire.

"I know it isn't, but there's a bloidy good chance you'll need me."

Lorne drew his lips in as he considered Carson's words. "All right – but you're wearing armor. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Understood, major," Carson replied. "I'll need to swing by the infirmary and grab a kit – I'll grab a kit for you, too, Jenn. And a few other things." When Lorne started to look like he was about protest again Carson held up a hand. "Won't fill but a small pack. Nice and tidy."

"All right."

Rodney stood up and walked over to his printer. "While I was waiting for you all to show up, I got into Kolya's personal files and found some information on Sheppard." He held the paper on the top of the stack up, and it had a small photo of a man in an Air Force uniform along with a ton of print. "Did you know the guy was a captain in the Air Force?"

"Kolya mentioned something about it, but not his rank," Lorne said.

"Huh. Anyway, he was a pretty damn good pilot from the sound of it," Rodney continued as he flipped the paper back around. He missed the glance between Ronon and Lorne. "But he was court-martialed and less than honorably discharged in 2003. He disobeyed direct orders, flew into enemy territory to rescue two downed pilots, got shot down in the process. But he did walk out of the desert a week later with one of the guys. That's probably the only reason they didn't dishonorably discharge him."

"What? Let me see that," Lorne said somewhat sharply and held his hand out. Rodney lifted his head and looked a little startled. He handed the papers over and Lorne stepped off to the side to read them. Everyone watched him in silence for the next minute, and they could tell he was getting pissed. "Oh, yeah – that's the actions of a, a less than human animal." Lorne crumpled the papers. "Fucking brass – should have given him a medal." He threw the wad of paper at Rodney's overflowing garbage can hard enough to knock a few more things out. Then he ran his hands back over his hair and settled them on his neck. "Shit."

"That's kind of what I thought," Rodney said in a rush. Then he was nervously glancing at the other papers he held. "And I found Michael's records, too."

"Who's Michael?" Ronon asked. He was looking a little pissed, too, and the question came out pretty threatening.

"He's the, uh, vampire in the basement," Rodney squeaked out.

"Kolya's son," Zelenka added quietly.

"What?" Lorne, Ronon, and Keller all said at once.

Rodney glanced back and forth between them. "We didn't tell you? Oh, sorry – thought we did." Rodney cleared his throat. "Anyhow, um, Lt. Michael Kenmore was part of the NATO forces in Kosovo, went MIA in early 2002, was presumed killed. Instead he was, ah, turned."

Zelenka nodded and frowned. "Lots of wampyr's in that area then. Very bad time."

"His last name is different," Keller said.

"His mother divorced Kolya shortly after he was born, changed names." Rodney grimaced. "Can't say I don't blame her."

"Are my boys safe?" Lorne asked again, his tone a bit panicked.

Rodney nodded spastically. "The force field keeps him in the cell."

"He hasn't been fed for long time," Zelenka added. "Can't dematerialize when that weak." Now they were all looking at him. "What? I grew up knowing these stories. Didn't you?"

"Only in Saturday Creature Features," Lorne said.

Rodney was staring at Zelenka. "I can't even begin to imagine what your childhood was like."

Zelenka smiled broadly. "Quite enjoyable, actually," he said and pushed his glasses up.

Lorne grunted and shook his head. Then he glanced around the room. "All right. Get what you need to get, meet back here and be ready to go in one hour. And be careful, for Christ's sake." They all nodded.

"Remember – all stairwells are safe," Zelenka added.

"Thanks, doc," Lorne replied. Then he fixed is gaze on Rodney. "You know for sure where those stunners are?"

"Um, yeah."

"Good. You can come with me and Ronon to pick them up." When Rodney started to protest Lorne just waved him off. "C'mon, time's a wasting. Besides, you get the cushy part of all this once it starts – you're our eye in the sky." After a quick check of the hall, he was dragging him out of the room.

"And there's a reason, you know," Rodney muttered. "Direct contact with violence gives me hives."

Ronon slapped him on the back, waited a moment, then peered down the back of his shirt. "No it doesn't."

Rodney gave him a sick little grimace.

End Note: Tah dah duh DAH duh DAAAA! Charge!!!