Chapter 4

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"Colonel, we've got something exciting planned for you today," Athena gushed as she opened the door to John's tiny cell.

John blinked even though the light coming in was minimal. It had been twenty three hours since he had seen any. And he seriously doubted what she had in mind would excite him. The last few days had been more than enough. And yesterday had been just downright cruel.

A few men in military fatigues had come in and unlocked his wrist chains claiming to be rescuing him. A small scuffle at the door had John getting some blue light in the chest and he had woken in a nice soft hospital bed with a young doctor placing a stethoscope to his chest. His hopes had risen and he had felt like doing a dance. Well if his possibly fractured leg would hold him he would have.

He had enjoyed the soft mattress and pillow while a few people popped in and out taking blood and checking his pulse. He had tried to ask a ton of questions but all he got for answers was that his team would be coming for him soon and then they'd fill him in. He'd almost wanted to cry knowing he would be seeing them again and that they knew he was alive.

But an hour had gone by and aside from the constant tubes and wires nothing was really being done. And he meant nothing. It had dawned on him that a real hospital would have at least cleaned the wounds on his back or taken x-rays or scans or changed him into clean scrubs instead of allowing him to lie here in his dirty flight pants and shirt. And whatever they were pumping into his veins was making him a little woozy and disoriented.

He had finally closed his eyes and pretended to sleep and that was when he saw it; the doctor had spoken to the nurse and his eyes had glowed. John had thought at first that he was just imagining it; he was a little lightheaded after all. But the more he watched them the more suspicious he got.

And when he had asked if they had cleaned his back, they had said yes, he was all set but that it might still be painful for a while. He had known then these were no medical staff. His shirt was still glued to his back in a few spots and he was sure no one had even attempted to do anything about it.

When there was only the nurse in the room he had pretended to waken and asked if he could use the bathroom. She had seemed a bit nervous at that but had agreed and helped him to sit up. He had used the bathroom and looked inside the medicine cabinet but had found it completely empty, which hadn't pleased him since he figured he needed something to use to help him escape.

But he came out slowly like he was still weak then pushed the woman aside, ripped his IV out and grabbed for the door. It was unlocked but he found that his two favorite goons were stationed right outside. Definitely not a real hospital. And they hadn't been too happy to see him trying to escape. He tried for a few swings in each direction but as he got one to go down the other one managed to grab him from behind and hold him around the neck in a choke hold.

It had been all over at that point. Athena had strolled by and shaken her dainty head while her eyes had turned yellow. She had scolded him for ruining her fun and told him they could have so much more fun if he would just play along.

He had struggled a bit more and managed to kick out at his captors and he had even managed to get one right where it really hurt. It had only resulted in them taking his boots away and leaving him with nothing on his feet. That had really sucked since it had gotten more than a little chilly last night.

So now here she was with just one more fun thing up her sleeve and he could barely muster up the energy to sneer at her.

"Not sure I can handle any more of your kind of excitement, Medusa. We can just take a day off and you can go and relax."

"Yes, well, I will relax for this one. My associates here will be doing the work today and they plan on taking you on a little field trip." Her smile was as warped as her mind, John thought.

"But we went on a field trip yesterday, didn't we? To Fantasyland?" John quipped. "And I'm pretty sure my mother didn't sign the permission slip for this one either."

Athena merely chuckled and motioned for the goons to unlock his chains. They picked him up from his slumped position on the ground and hauled him to his feet. John's left leg was still throbbing most of the time and it gave out as he tried to put any weight on it.

They didn't seem to care. They just dragged him along as they walked with him struggling all the way. And by the time they had crossed a few hallways, gone up a set of stairs and through a set of doors John's leg was aching and he was limping badly. But he had made sure to memorize the route as it seemed they were actually going outside.

And sure enough Athena waved at him with a "Have fun!" as he was hauled out the door to a large stretch of concrete. He looked around to see exactly where he was and it seemed it was a kind of a courtyard but he didn't see any fences. He thought his luck had changed and he started having visions of getting away from these two and heading into the woods he saw in the distance.

As they moved a bit further into the middle of the area, John saw that the edges of the concrete dropped away though he couldn't tell how far the drop was. He hoped it wasn't far, though he didn't really care at this point. He'd do anything to get away from this place.

But before they got anywhere near the edge he was stopped and shoved to his knees where they proceeded to attach his metal wrist bands to a pole that was about three feet tall and sticking out of the concrete.

"Have fun. You actually get a few hours out here today. Athena must be feeling extra generous."

And then they left him and went back inside. John couldn't believe his luck. They had actually left him alone outside with no fence or guards. Of course he was chained to a pole but still, how long would it take him to get this thing out of the ground?

He wrapped his hands around the pole and began to push and pull and that's when he realized it might take a bit longer than he thought. It might take a bit longer than the two hours they were giving him out here. The pole was in the ground really tight.

He looked around some more and tried to figure out exactly where he was. The building he'd been in was huge and looked like it might have actually been a hospital or some other type of institution at some point. That would explain the little cells in the basement. The worst patients could have been left there. But he saw no other signs of life and many of the windows were broken or shuttered up.

He knew it was April but here it was still very cold out. And it had been especially chilly at night. His little cell had no heat. It also had very little in the way of circulation and he had found the air very stale by the time Medusa and the twins showed up. Of course that left quite a few places but if this was The Trust he'd hazard a guess that he was somewhere in Russia. That would make escaping just a little bit harder. The closest town might be miles from here and he didn't have any shoes.

After tugging at the damn pole for the better part of an hour John grew tired and twisted himself around so he was leaning his back against the pole and his hands were hanging above his head. Not the most comfortable position but it was better than kneeling in front of it for another hour.

He should look at the bright side. He wasn't being used as a punching bag, whipping boy or being barbequed. He was getting some nice fresh air and that was something he hadn't really had in five days. Yeah, it was cold but he'd lived in Antarctica for a year, this was nothing.

He closed his eyes and thought of himself in front of a cozy fire, Teyla by his side and Torren toddling nearby. He actually felt warmer. Yeah, this might be one of the better days. He thought back to what Athena had called to him as he'd been brought out to her.

"Enjoy yourself, Colonel, today is Friday."

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"Colonel Sheppard, we need to celebrate," Athena called out as John squinted up at her and the soft light she brought in with her. "You've been here with us for a whole week. It doesn't seem like it's been that long."

John tried not to groan as he shifted his aching shoulders and glared at her. "No, seems more like a few months. We starting over today or do you have another whole bag of tricks to lay on me this week?"

He really wasn't looking forward to anything new but then he remembered last Monday was 'whipping' and he sure as heck didn't want a repeat of that either. He'd take the weekend though. Saturday and Sunday hadn't been half bad, although they certainly hadn't been great.

Saturday apparently was Bath Day. And as much as John appreciated that he didn't smell like blood, sweat and urine anymore, he usually preferred to take a solo shower. But these people had simply stripped him of his shirts first and hung him up again. Then they'd removed his pants and shorts and his bare feet hadn't done a whole lot of good when he'd tried to kick them.

Athena hadn't done much of the work for this one either, she allowed her goons to do it for her as she stood back and watched. And John was pretty sure one of them was more into men as he had been a little too handsy when cleaning around John's privates. But he'd had little choice as he'd hung there buck naked and let them pour water on him, soap him up, wash his hair then rinse him again.

Athena had made sure to come closer and 'inspect' him. She practically did the white glove test though she wasn't actually wearing white gloves or any gloves for that matter. And it creeped him out to think of Her Snakiness getting off on touching him that way. So he'd closed his eyes and pictured himself in a big tub full of bubbles and Teyla scrubbing his back.

But once he was clean, they had released him and given him about an hour to dry and had even provided warm air flowing from the vents above his head. He had quickly sucked down his mushy oatmeal and used the facilities and drank as much as he could. He had felt weird walking around with nothing on but as they had taken his clothes he hadn't really had much choice. He had checked out the room and realized that there was a camera in one corner and he hated the thought that someone was watching him. He had then awkwardly wondered if they would actually give him anything else to wear or if this was the new torture.

And they had an hour later. They had thrown his freshly washed and dried clothes at him, given him less than a minute to put them on and then hauled him back to his dark little room to be chained up again. He had decided Saturday was definitely one of the better days.

Then Sunday had come along and he wondered if the snakes had all gone on vacation. They had come in early, unchained him and left the door open to the bigger room. He had been apprehensive at first about what they would do to him if he went in there but after a few minutes of no sound, he had ventured out. There was no one around except there was a larger bowl of what looked like soup waiting on the floor for him.

John had lifted it to his face and almost cried when he realized it was some sort of stew. And there were actual bits of vegetables and beef inside, limited as they were. It wasn't nouvelle cuisine but it had tasted like heaven after the week of watery oatmeal. He had eaten it quickly wondering if they would come in and try and take it from him before he finished but no one bothered him.

And they had stayed away until the sun had begun to set and the dim lighting that filtered in through the small window was even dimmer. Apparently Sunday was a day of rest, for everyone.

Though John had hardly rested. He had spent a good portion of the day trying to figure a way out of the room then had spent more time trying to unhook the camera from the wall but it had been recessed right inside the stones and he couldn't get to it. Then he had done some exercises to try and keep his strength and endurance up. Being chained to the wall for twenty three hours each day had really put a crimp into his typical fitness routine.

But it looked like today he was right back to the old schedule, or was it a brand new one with more and different fun and games?

"I have something for you to actually play with today? And if you play nice, you may very well be rewarded with skipping my play time."

She cocked her head and John was unchained and walked out to the bigger room. The goons stood next to him as they placed him in the center of the room and Athena pushed a large cart over that held a piece of equipment that was the size of a boom box. But as soon as she brought it closer he knew it was Ancient tech. He could feel the power source still humming inside and it was very strong. Rodney would wet his pants for something like this.

"Here's your little toy, Colonel. Why don't you touch it and see how it works," Athena invited sweetly.

John knew she was anything but sweet. And he knew better than to touch anything the Ancients made without a twenty page instruction manual. They'd had more than a few mishaps on Atlantis because of just this type of thing.

"You know, I don't think that's a very good idea. I gotta tell you, the Ancients were brilliant but they also invented some pretty scary things that didn't always work the way they intended them to. I could touch this thing and the whole building could implode or I could turn invisible and then slit your throat. You want to take that chance?"

"Yes, I do Colonel Sheppard. And we did translate some text that was found with this and I think I have a fairly good idea what it's supposed to do. I promise, it won't hurt you. I just want you to turn it on so that I can use it. Simple enough."

John didn't trust her as far as he could throw her and he certainly wasn't stupid enough to actually give her access to some Ancient tech but he also knew she could just knock him out and press his hands to the surface and it could turn on itself just from the contact. But if he did it he might have a chance to sabotage things.

He took a step forward and reached out his hands, which were still cuffed together, and before his skin even made contact with the hand sized pads, the device lit up and several buttons glowed. He noticed Medusa's eyes lit up too at how quickly it came to life.

"You know not all Ancient tech can be run by anyone. Some of it you need the gene to actually use it."

John figured she already knew that or she wouldn't be asking him to turn it on. But what she probably didn't know was that most Ancient tech had an internal switch that could be shut off so that no one without the gene could use it. And the switch was a mental switch. He didn't think McKay even knew about them or could find them to do it. And he'd never told anyone. He had liked being the only one to discover this little secret.

John knew he needed to act fast before Athena decided to step in and use the device so he dug deep and quickly found the switch and sure enough one little thought and this baby wouldn't work for anyone except an Ancient, or him. Let's see how that frustrates Snake Lady.

"It's on," John announced and stepped back again noticing that it immediately turned off. He tried to hide his smile but Athena narrowed her eyes at him and ordered, "Turn it back on again. And keep it on this time."

John turned it back on then left his hands there. "What's it supposed to do?"

Athena glared at the lights and buttons on the machine and he thought she was attempting to see if she could figure things out while it was on. Then she quickly shoved him back and the machine stopped glowing again. Her frown was immediate.

"Are you sure you can't somehow keep it on even after you stop touching it?"

John shrugged and touched it again. He dug inside and actually attempted to break the switch that would allow others to use it. If she wanted her hands on this then he knew it must be something dangerous. He finally managed to encode his thoughts deep enough in the device that he would now be the only one able to use it. Even if they somehow managed to get another gene carrier, it wouldn't work for them. For some reason this device seemed to remember DNA and mind prints. He still didn't know what it did.

He picked his hands up from the plate and again it shut down. Athena gave a heavy sigh.

"Keep your hands there and think of …" she stopped and looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "…Mr. Woolsey. Close your eyes and concentrate on Richard Woolsey. Tell me if you feel or see anything."

John looked at her strangely. "This is supposed to read people's minds? Aren't we a little far away for that? Not to mention how the heck would it know who to connect to?"

"According to the text I translated this was designed to infiltrate the mind of your enemy. It let you know what they were thinking so you could plan your strategy against them. Now do as I say! Concentrate on Richard Woolsey. I want to see if it works."

John did actually concentrate and think of Woolsey but only because he too was curious if that was what it truly did. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and asked, "Am I supposed to feel something because I'm not really getting anything?"

"Maybe you aren't really trying," she suggested viciously. "Perhaps you need some incentive to do better."

She tipped her head at the goons and they started pulling at John's shirt. He had a bad feeling about what her incentive was so he began to struggle in earnest. "Uh, maybe he's just asleep. Are we in another time zone?"

By the time she got around to answering him, his shirt had been slipped over his head. Next they strung him up and she walked around to face him.

"I suppose he could be but personally I don't think you were really trying. I think you want me to not have access to this device. So if I can't do that then I guess I'll just have to go back to my regular routine."

"Uh, no you don't," John insisted as he saw her push the device outside the door and come back in with the whip. "I swear, it was on. You saw the thing light up. I can't help it if it didn't do what you thought it would. Those Ancient instruction manuals weren't always accurate I've found."

The goons stood aside as Athena stroked his back with her fingers and John tried not to flinch. He knew what was coming. And his back hadn't even recovered from the lashing a week ago. He attempted to brace himself but when she let the whip fly and it tore through his barely healing skin, a small groan escaped from between his lips.

"I went easy on you last week, Colonel, I hope you remembered. Now that you've been here a while you won't have that luxury. I'm sure you understand."

What John understood was that his back was being ripped apart and the pain was greater than it had been last time. And he knew he needed to do something about it or he wouldn't be able to get through this.

He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the pain in his back but his mind took over and it became much more bearable.

"Oh, Teyla, that feels incredible," John moaned as she raked her nails down his back from her position above him. He'd been leaning against the sink as he finished shaving and Teyla had come up behind him. He loved it when she did little things like this. She had scratched his back then they had quickly moved to the bed. Then John had lain down on his stomach while Teyla straddled his hips and continued scratching his back.

Her touch remained and John moaned again in ecstasy. He knew he would never get enough of her touching him. Her fingers then lightened to a caress but he felt her lips and teeth begin to nibble a path down from his shoulder to his hip and back up again.

As she leaned over him, he could feel her hair sweep across his back tickling his sensitive skin along the way. When he groaned, she flicked her head to brush it over him once more.

"Do you like that sensation, John?" Teyla teased as she did it again and got the same reaction.

"I like everything you do to me, Teyla," John replied his voice muffled by the pillow under his head. "So whatever you want, I'm game."

A feminine chuckle had floated over his shoulder and he felt her teeth nibble down his back again, nipping and sucking as it went along. John thought he had died and gone to heaven when her lips and teeth moved lower and snuck under his shorts. She pressed her nails into his bottom and kneaded then she nibbled and sucked where her hands had just been.

John could feel himself grow hard as she rubbed herself against his back. Finally he could stand it no longer and quickly rolled over to pull her to him. Only he ended up rolling them both on the floor. Luckily he had landed underneath and taken the brunt of the fall. The hard floor was cold against his back but he had Teyla pressed to his front so he honestly didn't care.

He pulled her beautiful face closer and tasted her lips with his as her hands started exploring his front. He allowed his own hands to explore her curves as well while his lips devoured her mouth and then migrated south to traverse the mountains and scale the peeks.

Teyla grabbed his head and held tight as he sucked on her nipples and the cold floor was all but forgotten.

Athena pulled on Sheppard's hair to see his eyes closed tight and his lips pursed then she dropped it unceremoniously on the hard floor. His back was striped with gashes and blood pooled under him but he seemed oblivious to it. He lay there with tiny moans coming from his lips but otherwise didn't make a sound.

He was strong, this one, though he had only been here for a week. Once the weeks stretched into months, he might not be so obstinate. She hoped not, though she did like the fight in him. But she wanted the device to work. It was all part of her plan. She signaled for his bowl of porridge to be placed nearby then she left, locking the room behind her. Her assistants would be back in an hour. She hoped he knew better than to dilly dally. There was only one opportunity each day for eating and such. He best take advantage of it.

But as she left he was still lying on the cold stone floor, a partial smile on his beautiful full lips.

John heard the door close and could feel he was finally alone. But his back was in agony and he had no desire to even try to get up. He knew they'd make him soon enough. He relaxed against the floor again and went back into his dream. He didn't know why but this time it had been so real and he almost had believed he had actually been there.

He lifted his head from Teyla's chest and dragged his mouth down her torso until it moved past her navel then nuzzled in her soft curls. His tongue snuck out of his mouth and into her delectable core and she whimpered with delight. Life was so sweet and he knew he could stay here forever…

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The whimper came from Teyla's mouth and she opened her eyes swiftly as it woke her up. Her breathing was rushed and her heart was beating rapidly. She tried to remember what had woken her but before she could think she felt the desire curled like a flame inside her center. Then she remembered.

She had been dreaming about John. But as she closed her eyes she could still feel it as if it had actually happened. Tears filled her eyes when she realized it had not. John was not here and he would not be again.

But in her dream he had not only been with her, he had been kissing her and touching her quite intimately and she had been reciprocating. She ran her hands over her sensitive body and could still feel where his lips and hands had been. It had felt so real.

But she and John had never actually done any of the things she had just dreamed of although she herself had longed and hoped for them for many years. Why was it now that she experienced what she just had? Could it be her subconscious letting her know that she had lost all her chances at having a romantic relationship with him?

She slipped out of bed and padded across the room to check on Torren. He was still sleeping soundly, as he did most nights. She was glad of this. It was difficult enough dealing with John's absence without being wakened each night with her child. He was such a good baby and she knew she was very lucky in that respect. But John had gotten in the habit of reading a story or singing a silly song to Torren each night and that had not happened in the last week.

Teyla thought of the date and realized it had been one week since John had … been gone. She still could not bring herself to call it anything other than that. She knew she was deluding herself and that she would need to admit his fate at some point. But she knew it would not be today.

She moved back through the room and pulled open a dresser and slid her hand in the back. She touched the garment she was looking for and sheepishly smiled as she brought it back with her as she returned to her bed. She laid her head against the soft pillow and brought the fabric to her face and inhaled. John's scent stimulated her senses and memories of him swam through her mind.

She knew it was silly of her to still have the shirt she had found in his quarters last week but John's scent still remained and she did not ever want to forget the man that was John Sheppard. Although she knew she never would. He was not the type of person one could ever forget.

She closed her eyes and pressed the shirt against her cheek once again. She could still feel the lingering sensation of John's hands on her body and the scent of him merely intensified that feeling. She allowed herself to be sucked back into that dream and knew it would most likely break her heart into further pieces when morning came but for now she would take every little bit of him she could.

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