" Are you sure your up to this?" Sheppard sounded concerned for me, and I smiled playfully.

" Yes, I'm sure. It's been three months since that whole Genii-trying-to-trap-the-alien-horse thing, trust me, I'm fine."

The truth is, I have missed all sorts of fun stuff that I was oddly to weak to experience. Like, the Kid Planet - the entire population made up of kids and young adults, and the Mist Planet – the surface is nothing but mist and Gate, but the mist is really the inhabitants. All the fun stuff, I am not missing this huge event. A massive hurricane is baring down on Atlantis and is threatening to destroy the entire city.

I shiver at the thought of such a storm, welcome back.

" That's the last of them." McKay says behind me from one of the controls.

I glance over the rail in time to see the Gate shut down, now only myself, Sheppard, McKay, a couple of Sheppard's men, and Dr. Weir are still in Atlantis. We only have to see Ford, Teyla, Carson, and the Athosians through and we can hunker down and ride the storm. We hope.

" Okay, so now all we have to do is deactivate the lightening platforms and hope that the shield comes on when we need it."

Sheppard rolls his eyes, " McKay, we're only doing this because you said it had an eighty percent chance of working. If it doesn't..." he doesn't finish his sentence but looks at me.

If it doesn't work I'll be the only one who survives. That what he was going to say.

McKay nods, " Right. Okay, I'll take station two, Elizabeth you'll take station one, and Sheppard and Faith get stations three and four."

Sheppard and I exchange looks, " Where exactly is station three and four?"

McKay point to a display screen showing a blueprint of Atlantis, he gets up and points at two flashing dots furthest away from the other two, closer flashing dots.

" Are any of these thing anywhere close to a transporter?" he sounded doubtful but he has to ask.

McKay thinks as he looks at the screen, " I think Elizabeth's is, your guys is a brisk walk away from one."

" By walk you mean-"

" By walk I mean run."

" Oh, great. Come on, Faith, we've got no time to lose." we turn around and leave, heading toward the central tower's transporter.

" This is going to be a blast." my voice is dripping with sarcasm but I get the smile from Sheppard that I was aiming for.

" Maybe for you, but I actually have to work."

I smile, " So do I. I thought you had already learned that I can't do everything."

His expression becomes grim, " Ya, you can survive exploding ship and the hard vacuum of space but if a certain amount of blood escapes you..."

" Ya, and that's just what we know. I don't want to say that my life on the Hive was pampered, or easy, but I never had such a thing happen there. For all I know, it could be because of my age." I knew that I was rambling my worries, but it was something that had been bugging me while I had laid in the infirmary.

I stopped my train of thought as we walked into the closet like room and the panel opened before us, Sheppard punch the glowing dot that would be closet to station three. The doors closed and white light filled the room, as the light disappeared the doors opened and I saw a different hall in front of us.

" You gotta love those thing, they cut travel way down." I laugh at his joking tone.

We start running in the direction of the station, silence being the thing that fills the space between us. Then I stop suddenly and grab his wrist, " What?" his surprised voice asked a lot more then that one word.

" You know, it would be a lot quicker if you would agree to just ride me." I didn't understand the expression on his face so I ran over what I had just said and I stopped when I got to the end of my sentence, it sounded like something else.

I shake my head, " No such luck." stepping back I shift into a chestnut Arabian, my dished head raised to watch Sheppard. I had nothing against this form, I actually really liked it, even more since the Genii.

" Right." he shakes his head at himself and jumps up onto my gleaming back. Entangling his hands in my long mane, I playfully whisper, hold on tight.

Having every intention on doing so, I burst into a vampire's version of a gallop, in other words, really really fast.

I can feel Sheppard's thighs tighten around me but it doesn't bother me, my Wraith had done the same thing on that retched planet all those thousands of years ago.

Within ten seconds, I slam on the brakes and mentally laugh when Sheppard curses. He slides off my back and glances at the exit to the platform holding the lightening station, " Forget the transporters, other than the stop your a much better way of transportation."

Playfully, I stretch my neck out and bend my front legs in a bow, Sheppard's laugh is drowned out by the howling wind outside. In the distance I see the many flashes of the lightening that we so desperately want to harness. Sheppard activates his radio, " Okay, we're here." he has to yell to be heard over the wind.

McKay's voice is nearly impossible to make out, " I told you to contact me when you reached the first station."

" We are at the first one, McKay."

" Oh, I already finished with mine."

" Good for you."

" Mine, too." Elizabeth's voice entered the conversation.

" Good for everyone."

" Where are you?"

" I'm at the damn grounding station.

" Not you."

" I'm in the transporter."

A short pause, " There you are."

" There I am."

" McKay!"

" Oh, all right."

Sheppard heads to the station and I walk out to the edge of the platform and raise my head at the dark rolling clouds racing toward us. This better work.

The grounding mechanism in front of me hums before detaching, " One down, one more to go. Come on, Faith."

Lowering my head, I jump up the steps separating the panel for the mechanism and the edge before trotting up to Sheppard. He jumps up and on we go.

" Sheppard, we've got and Athosian party incoming, they've got wounded."

" Stop, Faith," I slow until I'm at a steady walk but I don't stop, " Were they attacked?"

" I don't know but we'll ask them in a second," a pause, " What the-"

I throw my head as I stop, throwing a look at Sheppard I see worry etched on his face but I also see the worry that he can't go to see what happened without risking Atlantis.

" I'll go, you can make it there without me, it'll just take a little longer. Besides, I'm sure everything is fine and I'll catch up to you soon."

He nods and slips from my back before running away from me. When he disappears around a corner, I glance behind me. If something is wrong it can't be a coincidence that so many have evacuated. Growling, I shift into a black wolf and literally peel paw. I shifted because: one, being smaller even I can be more maneuverable, and two, hooves make noise.

I extend my talons as I run, my normal wolf claws growing into two inch deadly weapons, my fangs lengthened as well. My growling turns into snarling when I hear more heartbeats than there should be in the Gate room and none of them say " wounded Athosian". I burst into the room and leap onto the closest person, I catch a glimpse of his uniform and pure hatred flows through me as I recognize the Genii. Before he can scream I open my mouth and sink my fangs into his jugular, my fangs going so far I can feel the bones.

" Commander Kolia!" I look up to see a young Genii raising his round, three barreled gun at me. I bare my bloody teeth and jump into the air between us. I plow into his lower lags, knocking him to the ground.

" Tev!" the voice belonged to another young Genii, the Genii under me being his brother, I look up and see more Genii coming to help save Tev.

My hatred may be raw and pure, but survival would be the determining factor. Knowing this, I jump left and run for the hallway leaving the Gate room, I am two feet away from cover when a bang from above me tells me that my survival is about to be questioned. Sure enough, red hot anguish permeates my back before I lose all feeling in my lower body. I crash to the ground as out of the corner of my eye I see five Genii aiming those guns at me and I know that pain is about to intensify.

Just before the bangs of the many guns signals my "death", I summon every ounce of strength I can and send a mental burst toward the direction that Sheppard will be, "Sheppard! Genii! Here!" then nothing.

The first thing I become aware of is the pain, not only in my throat but in my chest, my head, my back. My spine was healed long before I regained consciousness, I also shifted back into my vampire form. I know this because I can feel that my hands and feet have been restrained and I also feel a cold wall pressed against my shoulders.

I open my eyes to see the Gate facing me, through the many colored windows of the room I see that the storm is finally here.

" Now!" something beeps above me, I glance up to see activity in the control room, " Now!" another beep.

" McKay?" this voice is unfamiliar but obviously male.

I look down at my wrists and bring them to my lips, fangs, skin isn't the only thing they'll tear. I reach down as the rough rope falls away and rip the rope tying my feet with my talons. I kick the remains off and roll over into a crouch, surveying the area around me to see no one guard my once lifeless body. I start to my right toward the stairway leading to the control room, I creep up until I can peek over the edge, I recognize McKay at a control panel and Dr. Weir standing behind him, but I also see eleven men that I don't.

" Commander, there is a massive wave approaching the city." I follow the voice to a scrawny, dark haired Genii watching the screen that had been tracking the storm, the screen now shows a long line headed toward Atlantis.

Everyone turns toward a older man also with dark hair but the skin of his face shows a lifetime of wear and tear.

Has to be the Commander.

" Do you really want to risk the lives of your men on the small chance that Atlantis isn't completely destroyed?" Dr. Weir directed her question toward the man I had pegged as Commander.

The man pauses for a matter of seconds before turning toward his men, " Grab what you can, we're leaving."

Weir sighs, " You've made the right choice."

" Your coming with us."

" What? Why!"

" To serve as payment for what you've done," he turns to a one of the men, " make sure that the body of the creature is among those to be taken."

The man nods and hurries towards the place I hide, I can't see anything good coming of it so I think of the smallest animal I can on such quick notice and I shift into a tiny white mouse. I'm amazed at how big everything looks and I watch as the young Genii hurries down the stairs without a backward glance. Deciding this isn't the best place to be when all the fun starts, I jump from step to step until I reach the last one and am able to look around the corner. The man is starring at my torn roped with a look of desperation, he can't tell his Commander this or they wont get out of here until they find me and he knows it.

I face forward just as the Gate starts up and I see the other Genii with items that rightfully belong to us but that they are stealing "as payment". McKay is ushered down before Elizabeth and I watch as he is pushed toward the Gate when suddenly automatic weapons fire pecks the Genii around him with holes.

Seeing a perfect entrance opportunity, I leap forward and shift into my original form, the Commander holding Weir in front of him. His eyes darting between me and Sheppard.

" Let her go!" my voice was full of authority as I gave the command.

He looks at Sheppard, " And risk hurting Dr. Weir?"

" I'm not aiming at her." with that he presses the trigger once and hits Kolia squarely in the shoulder as he fall through the Gate after dropping Elizabeth.

Sheppard runs toward her, " Are you all right?"

She stares wide eyed at him, " No." then she turns to me, " You were dead."

I smile at her, " Nice to see you too."

" Um, we have a problem." Ford said from above us in the control room.

We hurry up to see him watching the screen and McKay typing away at a laptop. I look at Sheppard, " Were is Teyla and Carson?"

The look on his face says I just voiced the question he had been asking himself. McKay typed at his laptop for two minutes, he announced that he was ready when Teyla, Carson, and Sora stumbled into the room.

I heard a beep from McKay's laptop and felt the energy emanating from the city, hurrying to one of the doors leading outside I rush out to see the shield flare a brilliant white as the wave passes around it.

This is so cool.