Elizabeth drew her knees close to her chest, wiping her cheek against the rough fabric. John had been right. The Genii had lied, deceived her with false stories and once again she found herself back to being scared and alone with no idea who she was. It was like she was waking up on that desolate rock all over again, only this time the situation begged new concern for her safely. After all, Aldran had been telling the truth about one thing; he hated the Atlantis expedition with a fiery passion.
She flinched at the thought, still finding it hard to believe he had turned so frivolously. She had spent nearly four months in his company thinking they were friends, believing everything he told her without question and the very idea that it had all been some elaborate scheme made her skin crawl... if he'd managed to keep up such a facade out of pure spite then there was no telling what else he was capable of.
John stirred in the cell beside her and she brushed the remaining moisture from her face, composing herself as he groggily sat up.
"What happened-" he massaged the base of his neck, remembering the energy weapon with a slight wince, "never mind, where's Ronon?"
She shook her head indicating she didn't know and he forced himself up into a standing position. This was bad, and not just the regular kind of bad that haunted him on most missions. He could already feel the failure creeping up, threatening to swallow him; it was the Replicator home world all over again.
"We need to get out of here-" he set his jaw firmly, moving to inspect the cell. It was fairly standard, nothing compared to the ones hidden beneath Atlantis but it still didn't present a lot of options for escaping and he lashed out, kicking the bars in frustration.
Elizabeth jumped, not sure where the anger was directed but feeling her nerves bristle in response to his tense pacing, "I'm sorry-" she spoke sotly, keeping her head down, "if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be stuck in here."
John turned sharply, feeling the knot in his stomach grow as he took in her huddled position on the ground. He'd been so focused on the situation he hadn't registered the fear playing openly across her features and he immediately relaxed his posture, moving to kneel beside her.
"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for... Elizabeth, look at me-" he grasped her shoulder, catching her gaze with forced confidence, "I'm going to get us out of here okay?"
She nodded, smoothing her fingers over the sudden throb in her temple. Everyone one of his actions seemed to stimulate a fleeting picture in her mind and while it furthered her instinct to trust him, it did little to ease the growing tension.
John frowned flattening the palm of his hand against her forehead, "you're warm," he noted with concern, "headache?"
"Yeah," she pushed forward a reassuring smile, "but don't worry, it's just... little things are starting to come back, it's all a bit overwhelming."
His heart skipped a beat at the admission. "You remember something?"
Elizabeth felt the reassurance twist weakly on her face. It was hard struggling to complete the picture of a thousands of scattered images in her head but watching John in front of her now, hanging on to every word out of her mouth, she realised he was just as much a victim as she was. Whatever their relationship had been he'd cared about her, the look in his eyes told her as much.
"Mostly just random flashes-" she let her hand fall down, idly clasping her wrist over her knees, "you don't know who Sedge is?"
He raised an eyebrow, recalling the animal he'd met back on earth. At the time he'd joked that Atlantis would welcome the edition but he'd never dreamed the dog would be brought up again in such a remarkable context. "On earth we take certain types of animals and keep them as companions-" he explained, a hesitant smirk touching his lips, "although I'm a little offended you can remember your dog and not me..."
She felt the expressed need to apologise again but the words stalled at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.
"It's okay-" John gave her arm a gentle squeeze before returning to his full height. Regardless of whether or not she was the 'real' Elizabeth Weir, in his opinion she'd proved herself to be close enough... and he was going to do whatever was necessary to get her back home safely.
Stepping forward, he squared his shoulders as the squadron of guards that appeared before them. "Afternoon boys."
"Aldran wishes to speak with you," the taller man at the head of the group unlocked the door and John felt some of his fears ease.
The comment had been directed towards him, not Elizabeth, which meant for time being she was in no immediate danger. "Well, better not keep the man waiting-" he stepped out, grunting as he was shoved roughly into the middle of the circle. Two or three guards he might have been able to take but Aldran had obviously learnt from his fathers mistakes, taking out extra insurance.
Hearing the prison door slam loudly behind him, he tried to pay special attention as they started moving through the maze of long twisting corridors. If by some miracle he did manage to evade the triple security detail he would need to know which turns to take in order to get back to Elizabeth; two left, one right, left, stairs, left, right-
They eventually came to a stop outside a large, secure room and John swallowed nervously as the group dispersed, spreading out across the hall to stand guard.
Seemed Aldran wasn't the type to take any chances.
The two men that remained suddenly grasped his arms firmly and John watched the one on the left input some kind of code into a keypad on the wall. He pursed his lips together committing the number to memory; thirty-two, six, eighty-four, seven, seven, two, forty-two, sixty-three, seven, four-
A loud whoosh sounded as the lock clicked open and he allowed himself to be led in, finding Aldran at the centre of the room with forceful glare, "where's Ronon?"
The Genni commander kept his stance straight, not in the slightest bit intimidated by the Colonel's anger, "he was unnecessary and quite frankly, a nuisance. I disposed of him."
"Oh you did, did you?" John felt his muscles tense in response but refused to give up on his friend quite so soon. If anyone could out fight the Genii and escape unharmed, it was Ronon and to be honest the young leader didn't look like much of a match for the large Satedan warrior.
"I'm only going to ask this once Colonel-" Aldran stepped forward purposefully changing the subject. He wouldn't allow Sheppard to become privy to the knowledge but the aggressive man who had killed three of his men was now unconscious in the forest, acting as bait for the rest of the team he suspected were lurking out there somewhere. If he could get Sheppard to offer up the information freely, he would gladly go back and finish off the job.
"How many of your people came through the gate on this mission?" he demanded, bending his knuckles back with a sickening crack.
John didn't flinch, despite the fact they both knew he would lie, "two, myself and Ronon." He raised an eyebrow, daring the man to make a move. There was no way he was going to give away what might be his last chance at a rescue, so the sooner they got this over with the better.
Aldran sighed, unbuttoning the cuffs of his jacket and rolling them up to elbow length, "I had hoped we could do this the easy way-" he drew his fist back, slamming it into the side of John's face without hesitation. The blow left his fingers tingling and a heavy smirk fell across his lips, "actually that was a lie, this is much more fun."
John spat a mouth full of blood onto the floor, raising his head defiantly, "that all you got?"
"How many people Colonel?" Aldran pressed again, hovering over the slouched man.
"I thought you were only going to ask onc-" John buckled as Aldran's knee came up hard and fast into his chest, sending him straight to the floor. The impact was enough to wind him and he remained still on the ground, struggling to catch his breath, "...about two hundred... so you'd better start run-" another blow to his stomach sent his vision spiraling and he bit down hard on his lip.
He was supposed to be stalling and at this rate he was going to pass out before he'd gained enough time for Lorne to do anything productive. "Okay, wait-" he flinched as Aldran's foot hovered inches away from his rib cage, "that's all you want to know?"
Aldran nodded, "I'm sure you can understand the need to protect my base from intruders Colonel."
John grasped his side, hoping the show of pain would make his lie more effective, "just another two, that's it."
"And where are they now?" Aldran narrowed his eyes suspiciously, letting his boot fall back to the ground with a heavy thud. He was half hoping the man wouldn't answer the question and he flexed his muscles in anticipation.
John rolled onto his back, easing the pressure that had start to build in his chest. Lorne's team had enough C4 to blow the entire complex to the ground so he knew they wouldn't have gone back through the gate but it would take a little more than a beating to get him to admit that. "When we didn't check in..." he swallowed tightly, "they probably went... back through for reinforcements."
Aldran regarded the information carefully then swung his boot back, landing it square into John's side. He believed the Colonel wasn't stupid enough to lie but just because he needed the man alive, it didn't mean he couldn't take some enjoyment from inflicting a large amount of physical pain, keeping him just shy of any fatal threshold.
With a subtle nod, he directed the guards to lift the injured man off the floor.
"What...don't tell me... fun's over already-" John panted heavily, letting out sharp cry as his arms were bent forcefully behind his back. He knew it was far from being over but took a small amount of comfort from the fact that he was still at least partially in control. Lorne's position had remained undetected, Elizabeth hadn't been hurt and Aldran was, for the moment, distracted...
If his injuries were the only compromise then he figured that was a fair trade off.
**
**
Ronon woke, instantly aware of muffled voices to his far left.
Straining to hear a distinction to the sound, it didn't take him more than a few moments to realise they belonged to Genii soilders. What was stranger than their obvious lack of covertness however, was the fact he seemed at no disadvantage to their presence. The hard ground and light noises alerted him to the fact he was outside, the voices belonged to only two men, and his body wasn't restricted in any way whatsoever.
Either they completely incompetent or just plain stupid.
Cracking half an eyelid, he listened to their hushed conversation deciding on the latter assumption.
"I'm telling you this is a waste of time, if they were going to come they would've done it by now."
"We'll maybe if you'd keep quiet!"
"Look, I say we kill him and be done with it."
"Be my guest, it only took what? -Four- shots to knock him out? Good luck."
Ronon felt his lips curve in a small smile as their words washed over him, idiots... he could take them without so much as a second breath.
Leaping up with a speed neither of the men could've seen coming, he dodged their blasts, knocking each of them down simultaneously. They'd barely hit the ground before he had their fallen weapons in either hand and he stunned them both - pretty much just for the hell of it- before tucking the guns tightly in his waistband.
Now, he needed to find Lorne and fast.