Away From Atlantis
Disclaimer. Not mine, I don't own John, I don't own Stargate Atlantis. I don't own the episode Vengeance. I only own the bigger picture, and because it was my idea. But I don't get payed for it so I might as well own nothing.
This story starts up after The Game and ignores Irresponsible. So Kolya is still alive.
Chapter Six song Fault Line by Ten Years
Ten weeks after his change.
John still couldn't believe that Rodney would voluntary put that on.
"So how's the ninja lessons going, Jet li?"
"What do you want?" Rodney asked, not taking his eyes off Ronon.
"We lost contact with the Taranans." Elizabeth said.
John still thought Elizabeth was being paranoid.
"You mean the volcano people?" Ronon asked, getting ready to smack Rodney again.
"Super volcano people." John added. Yeah, after seeing that, he hoped he wasn't around for when Yellowstone blows.
"What happened to them?" Rodney asked, still shuffling his feet.
"Well, we don't know thats why we're going."
"They usually check in from time to time from the new settlement." Elizabeth said, "We've been sending them food, medical supplies."
John was having a hard time keeping his face straight, it was mean to laugh at Rodney getting his butt kicked by Ronon, but the motions Ronon was doing were hysterical, and Rodney's heart beat was going too fast, it sounded like he was close to panicking.
"It's the least we can do since getting to Orion blown up." he added still trying not to laugh.
"But we haven't heard from them for a few months, I tried to contact them by radio, but no response." Elizabeth said, not a hint of a smirk on her face.
John gave in, he smirked. Rodney's heart was still beating fast, all he wanted to do was yell boo because he had a feeling Rodney would jump about a foot in to the air.
"So send a MALP." Rodney said turning as Ronon moved.
"We just did." He said, he'd have to come and watch more often, if all the sessions were like this. "Everything looks okay, but the settlement is a few kilometers from the gate, so we don't know anything yet."
"I want you to check it out." Elizabeth said giving in, her face showing how amused she was by Rodney.
"What?" Rodney turned away from Ronon, his mistake.
Bonk. "Uh...Oha!" Rodney bent over his hurt stomach.
John winced hits like always hurt, but Ronon's... Ouch. Didn't stop it from being funny. He supposed it helped that Ronon was having a harder time landing hits like that on him now. He was careful, but he was slowly increasing his speed and such, in their fights. So on missions he could use more of his actual strength.
Rodney continued to groan.
He looked up at Ronon an made the eyes watching motion.
"Eyes. Yes." Rodney mumbled.
Ronon grinned at him and shrugged.
John smirked at Rodney. "You may want to change first."
He and Elizabeth left.
He snickered as soon as he was sure they couldn't hear him.
An Hour And Half A Hour Later
They stepped through the gate and headed for town.
And half hour after that they were able to see the town.
"They've gotten a lot done haven't they?" McKay said.
"Yes. Teyla answered. They are a hard working people."
John touched his radio and made a call. "This is John Sheppard from Atlantis, Taranan settlement please respond."
Nothing...
Teyla looked at him, he shrugged, "It was worth a try."
Teyla looked over a the town. "I've made several trips to assist them, so I know the settlement."
"Good, glad someone does." he said pulling out his sunglasses.
They head through the field, to town.
Once they reached it, they noticed it didn't look like an attack had happen, it looked like they had just up and left. But they had left everything behind, had they moved, they likely would have taken with them. They entered an office, he called out, noting the dust. "Anyone home?!"
Of course no one answered.
"I think we should power these work stations up, and made that will tell us something." He said, trying to turn one on.
Then the life signs detector beeped, Rodney pulled it out. "Whoa."
"I got something. A single life sign."
"Where is it?" Teyla asked looking at McKay.
"It's below us. Quite a way below us"
"That can't be right, I thought they only build above ground." he said.
"You are correct Colonel, but others that have lived here built tunnels, and they run beneath us." Teyla told him.
"But the Taranans didn't use them." she paused looking at Rodney.
"Well," Rodney said, "someone is."
"Where are they?" John asked her. "This way," she lead them through the settlement to a hatch set in the ground.
He tied a rope, and lead the way. Once at the bottom he began to have a bad feeling, it sat right behind his stomach, and felt cold. He looked around, scratch that. A Very Bad Feeling. The setting was something right out of a horror movie, flickering lights, and all.
He knew before the day was over something was going to attack them.
Now that they were all down, he turned to Rodney. "Which way?"
Rodney point to the left and on, he lead the way, Rodney a little behind him, so as to tell him where to go next.
As they headed towards, the little life sign, he noticed everyone was on edge, heart's going a little faster then they should. Everyone holding their guns tightly, even Rodney.
"Lets stay close shall we." he said.
They all nodded.
Twenty Minutes Later
They passed a door, Teyla opened it and called for everyone, "Wait, come see this."
John stepped over immediately, he saw a gross, sack, thing hanging from the ceiling.
"What is that?" Ronon asked.
"It looks like a cocoon of some sort." Teyla said.
He touched it. It was slimy, but the slime seemed almost dry.
"What's inside of it?" Ronon demanded.
"Nothing," he said leaning closer. "What ever it was has hatched."
Rodney stared at the little beeping life sign, a little scared.
They continued on for another ten minutes, when Weir called them.
"How's it going there?"
John heard Rodney jump, and smirked. As creeped out as he was, Rodney was, well, jumpy.
"I think I know why, we lost contact with the Taranans."
"Why?"
"Because their not here." He said, stepping down a stair way.
"What?! All of them?"
"Looks like it, the entire settlement is deserted."
"Rodney's picked up a life sign beneath the settlement, and we're following it. But we don't think it human though."
"Why not?"
Because I feel really creeped out, because we found the weirdest egg thing, you know stuff like that, he thought.
Rodney answered."Because we found this pod."
"Really I thought it was an egg." he said just to be contrary.
"Yeah, Well, what ever it was, something hatched from it." Rodney said annoyed.
"Did you say egg thing?"
"Yeah, it's this great big slimy..."
"It's pod." Rodney said glaring at him.
"Well I still think it looks more like an egg, but who knows what it really is." he said, this dim, flickering light was annoying him. His eyes couldn't seem to adjust to this light.
"I'm sending in back up." Elizabeth said, her worry coming through.
"We can handle it." Ronon said.
"I know you can handle it, but I would rather be safe then sorry."
"All right, if you feel the need." he said, Elizabeth was nice like that, he hadn't needed to even ask. And she got what they weren't saying, that it was damn creepy, and that all of them before her call, hadn't spoken in anything louder then a whisper.
"I feel the need. Weir out."
They walked on, but they'd relaxed some. Except for him, and he knew it was because he was feeling what ever the hell they were tracking. And all he could tell was it gave him a cold chill, and it felt nasty.
"It's a hell of a complex down here." he said trying to get them to talk to distract him self.
"It's like a maze." Ronon agreed.
"We're closer." Rodney said watching the life signs detector.
John felt like snapping. I knew that! Thats why I wanted to talk because it's freaking me out. But he stayed silent.
"How far?" He asked, if they weren't going to let him forget he might as well know.
"About forty meters."
Dang. No wonder he felt snappish.
"It's stopped moving so we're gaining ground on it." Rodney said.
John looked back over his shoulder, he didn't know why he just did. Rodney, and Teyla were there, but no Ronon. Now he knew why he'd looked back, he'd heard Ronon move away.
"Stop, where's Ronon." he knew he was in the room over behind them, and now that he thought about it he smelled something other then the general staleness.
"Ronon?" Teyla called.
"In here."
They went in to find a bunch of Taranan bodies dumped in a pile.
Ronon was holding his nose.
"Oh my god." Rodney whispered.
"Taranans." Teyla said.
John winced it looked like they hadn't died peacefully, then he noticed how they'd all died. "Their necks, all have the same wound. Tell me I'm not seeing, what I think I'm seeing."
Rodney bent down, "Your right, that neck wound is scary familiar."
"You don't think..." John didn't bother finishing his sentence. No, someone had been playing with Iratus bugs, that much was clear.
He then noticed Ronon had stepped out of the room, and in to the next.
Damn it! He got up and followed Ronon.
"Ronon you've got to stop running off ahead." Then he saw what he was looking at. Teyla and Rodney followed him in to the room.
"Oh. No."
"The Iratus bug." Rodney said. They all stared at the jar holding to persevered bug.
"I hate those things." he said, all he wanted to do shoot it, even though it was dead already. Those things had partly made him what he was now.
"Well now we know why the wounds like familiar." Rodney said.
"But it is not native to this planet." Teyla said.
"Well someone brought it here." Ronon said.
"Well lets hope thats the only bug they brought." Rodney said a little negatively.
Who would do this? Clearly not the Taranans, he knew the Genii didn't know or care to do this sort of thing. So who?
"So some kind of Wraith experiment?" He asked Rodney.
"Well, the Taranans didn't do this to themselves."
He stared waiting.
"I do not sense any Wraith in the settlement." Teyla said.
And as good as that was to hear, he still thought it was still likely a Wraith experiment. Suddenly he felt their little friend coming.
Crap. He couldn't say anything, he tensed. What to do? Then the life signs detector beeped, Rodney looked at it.
"Oh, ok. Our little friend is on the move and he's coming towards us."
"How fast?" Ronon asked.
"Very fast." Rodney replied.
"I bet it knows we're here." Ronon said.
John turn to aim his gun, out the doorway. Ronon joined him in the doorway. Teyla and Rodney stood behind them, guns ready.
"Ronon, stun."
"Why?"
"Stun." he said, even though he knew it wasn't very nice. He wanted to see it or speak to it, and Ronon killing it when there was the slightest possibility it could be a person. Stun it was.
Ronon reluctantly set it to stun.
The detector beeped rapidly, Rodney looked down at it and whispered, "It's stopped."
He leaned out to see past the pile of Taranans, he saw nothing.
"I think it's on the other side of the wall." Rodney told them pointing to the wall.
John shared a look with Ronon, then he lead the way. Ronon followed then McKay, and Teyla.
"Colonel Sheppard, come in." he twitched along with everyone else, even Ronon. They stopped in the Body room to talk to Lieutenant Negley.
"Colonel Sheppard, this is Lieutenant Negley. Do you copy?"
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Sir, my team have just come through the gate, and we are proceeding to the settlement in order..."
"Great. Terrific. We'll meet you there." he hissed. "Right now, I need radio silence. Sheppard out."
"It's still there." Rodney said. Looking up at him and Ronon.
He and Ronon turn out in to the hall, guns held at chest height.
It wasn't there. John could feel it there, as he took two steps out, further in to the hall, he knew it was here. But where? He looked up, and around.
The beeping was getting annoying.
Suddenly he looked up and to the left, there was shaft leading up. He had gun aimed at the darkness, he froze, looking up. Ronon came over his gun pointing up too.
They waited, he could feel it near, it felt very close. Slowly he lowered his gun and took a step back from the bottom of the shaft. Ronon did the same.
Then it jumped out.
It flung Ronon away from it, it grabbed him and held him to the wall. Screaming through it's mandibles at him, he couldn't turn his gun to shoot at it. Teyla and Rodney were shooting it's back, but that wasn't stopping it, from trying to crush him.
He couldn't see to focus on what everyone else was doing so Ronon grabbing it, and shooting it in the head, came as a surprise.
It screamed, and fled, he slid to the floor. "Ouch."
"Are you okay?" Rodney asked worried.
Teyla knelt down next to him. He waved her off, "I'm fine." He used to wall to get up, and Teyla followed ready to catch him should he stagger. He groaned a little.
"Are you sure?" Ronon asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure." That it cracked my collar bone, he finished silently.
"Good, Now what the hell was that?" Rodney asked.
Now that he was standing, he had to ask. "Did anyone get a good look at it?"
They all shook their heads.
"I know all I saw was that it had mandibles." he said
"Well it seemed to have two legs and two arms." Ronon put out.
No one else add anything.
"Well, I think it's safe to say it definitely hatched from the egg." He said.
"Pod." Rodney said.
"I find it more like a cocoon." Teyla said.
They were silent.
"You shot it in the head, and it still ran away." Rodney said looking up the hall where it had run. "Hopefully it'll bleed to death." Ronon said.
"Yeah. Lets go finish it off." he said, leading the way.
Five Minutes Later
"It's still running away from us." Rodney said.
"Lets hope getting shot in the head slows it down."
"We need to finish it off to make sure." Ronon said being his bloodthirsty self.
"I couldn't agree with you more." he said. His feeling that it wasn't over yet was growing. He also hoped that his feeling, of feeling more, was wrong.
But he wasn't holding his breath.
"Yeah, and how is that going to work? It only ran away because Ronon shot it in the head. It didn't care about the bullets hitting it." Rodney said negatively.
"It did appear to have a hardened shell on it's back." Teyla put in.
"Right, Ronon set your gun to kill."
He said, cutting through the chatter.
"Lieutenant Negley, this is Sheppard how far away from the settlement are you?"
Silence.
"Lieutenant Negley, please report your position."
There was no response.
"You did say radio silence." Rodney offered.
"Lieutenant? Respond!"
"Great." Just what they needed, their backup disappeared. But how? And somewhere between the gate and the settlement. This day was really turning out badly.
They walked in silence for a minute.
Rodney tapped his shoulder, and signaled that their little friend was to the right.
"It's through that door way."
Rodney went and reached for the door knob, John stood ready to blasted anything that came out, Teyla and Ronon stood behind him.
Rodney held up three fingers and counted down and then he whipped the door open.
Nothing came out, they couldn't see it. They walked slowly in to the room, nothing. All they saw was more egg sacks, no creature. They cleared the room only eggs. It wasn't there.
"Shit." Was all he could say, being in a room with them was making him sick to his stomach.
He went over to an egg, that hadn't hatched. He, and Ronon searched the room, they couldn't find it.
He went back out in to the hallway, where Teyla had been waiting to make sure it didn't double back.
Ronon shut the door behind them, apparently it bothered him to have the eggs, at his back.
"We searched the room it's not in there." He said, Rodney was looking at the detector. "Just a bunch of eggs."
"Pods." Rodney corrected him, looking up.
"Whatever." he said stifling his urge to smack Rodney.
"Is there another way out?" Rodney asked, looking at him and Ronon.
"No, Rodney we would have followed it if there was."
"Why?" Ronon asked.
"Because it's still on the move." Rodney said grimly.
John stared at the ceiling, he'd thought it didn't seem to stay to the hallways, like they did, it had come from the ceiling before. Air shafts.
"Alien." he said thinking out loud.
It reminded him of it, because in the move that was how they'd moved around.
"What?" Rodney asked, grumpy.
He stopped looking at the ceiling and looked at Rodney.
Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla were staring at him.
"hun? Oh! In the movie Alien, the aliens moved around by air shafts, like ours seems to." he said.
"And systematically murders the crew, Thank you so much!" Rodney said.
"They didn't kill them all." he said.
"What do we do now?" Teyla asked, trying to get them back on track.
"We track this thing down and kill it." Ronon said.
"Right, but first we need to take care of the eggs." he said.
"Pods."
"Whatever, Rodney!" John was annoyed, let it go, seriously Rodney. He pulled out some C4 and added a detonator, he waved it and smiled.
He went it to the room and set it on one of the eggs, Rodney and Teyla did the same.
He was setting his last charge when he felt a surge in one of the eggs, he flinched they were hatching.
He heard a roar, he winced, the sound seemed to echo a little in his head.
"Sheppard! Their Hatching!" Rodney yelled.
"We're good, Go!"
He let Rodney and Teyla get ahead of him, he looked back, it was almost free of it's egg.
"Shut the door, Shut the Door!" Rodney yelled as soon as he was clear.
He got through the door, and helped Ronon slam it, but the creature got it's fingers around the edge of the door. "Damn it!" he swore, he yanked it the door open, and shot it. It fell back screaming, he and Ronon shut the door. And ran around the corner, He checked that his teammates ears were covered, and he said "Fire in the hole."
It blew the door clear in to the hallway.
"Everyone okay?" he checked.
"Yes." Teyla said.
"I'm good." Ronon said looking back down the hallway.
"I think you singed my eyebrows." Rodney said touching them.
John ready his gun and lead the way back to make sure they'd killed everything.
"Think you used enough dynamite, Butch?" Rodney yelled after him.
The room was gone, it was a compete mess.
Nothing had survived.
He sniffed, it smelled like burned meat.
"Rodney?"
The detector beeped.
"I think we got them all."
"Thats good."
"And our little friend is that way." he said pointing.
They set off that way.
Thirty Minutes Later...
Negley had failed to respond, John at this point was sure they were dead or captured, both were bad.
He swore again.
"Perhaps they encountered the creature?" Teyla said.
"And, what, it what killed all four of them all?" Ronon said, skeptical.
"No way. One creature couldn't have killed four Marines." John said frustrated.
"It almost killed all of us." Rodney said.
"But. It. Didn't." Ronon said.
"We need to find them." he said, still feeling frustrated.
"If they were alive we would have seen on life-signs detector." Teyla said being unusually negative.
"Not if they were back in the settlement, this thing has only has a range of a hundred meters." Rodney pointed out.
"Where's the creature?" John asked, he was feeling it get away from them.
Rodney looked down at it, "Hold up."
They stopped.
"It's back that way." He said, pointing back the way they'd came.
"Wait... you said it was that way." Ronon said, pointing the way they were going.
"It was. It must have doubled back." Rodney said.
"Damn air shafts." he muttered. They were chasing their tails, it knew where it was going, and chasing it was only giving him a headache.
"Obviously it knows it's way around far better then we do." Teyla said.
"Perhaps we should go back to the gate, and find out what happened to the Marines, and get some others to help us search." Teyla finished.
"You mean give up?" Ronon asked.
He stood, and considered. He wanted it dead, he really wanted it dead, but it had them chasing it, and it was tiring them out. He was betting it would try to kill them again, when it thought they were tired enough.
"No, not give up. Just we should come back with others to clear the whole complex." Teyla said.
"I like this plan. I mean if we're taking a vote." Rodney said.
"Sounds like giving up to me." Ronon said, they all looked to him.
He still really wanted to hunt it down, but his team... He had to consider what was best for them. If it had killed the Marines...
"Teyla's right. Enough of this cat and mouse, we're going back to get back up. And do a full sweep and find the Marines."
He could tell that his call frustrated Ronon, but Teyla and Rodney were relived. He wondered if Teyla was aware of the fact it was the sense of the creature that was making her feel sick.
He turned and lead the way back.
They were almost back to the gate, and there was no sign of the Marines, that they could see or find on the scanner.
"Of all the other worlds I've seen, nothing like this has ever happened." Teyla said, shaking her head.
"So none of us saw enough, to give a good description?" he said.
"No." Teyla said.
"No, that thing move incredible fast." Rodney said.
"I don't know I thought it looked sorta human." Ronon said, walking fast.
"If by "human" you mean, clad in a grotesquely proportion exoskeleton, yes, very "human"." Rodney said.
"I mean it two arms and two legs." Ronon said
"It looked like a giant bug to me." He said, "Man, I hate those things."
"If it was indeed a Wraith experiment, why would they be combining the genetic elements of the Iratus bug and the Taranans?" Teyla pointed out.
"Which as we know is how the Wraith evolved." Rodney said.
"I mean the Iratus bug bites humans and a thousand years go by, Wraiths." He finished.
"So their trying to create more Wraith?" Ronon asked
"That doesn't make sense either, if that was want the goal was, wouldn't it just be easier to put a female and a man together, and get a room." He asked puzzled, a lot of this wasn't making sense.
"It doesn't work like that for Wraith, at least we don't think it does." Rodney said, sounding a little grossed out. "We're not entirely sure as to the Wraith's reproductive methods."
John kind winced at that, the idea of watching a Wraith... "Yeah, that is one film I would not want to see."
"Anyway, look, it's more likely they were trying to create some sort of hybrid creature. And not another Wraith." Rodney said.
"So you mean a Super-Wraith? Great, thats just what we need." He swore, if that came to pass they were screwed, it was bad enough fighting one, but an army. Ugh.
They made it to the point where they could see the gate.
"Well thats the whole distance from the settlement, and we haven't seen the Marines." He took a deep breath and blew out.
"Maybe they went back to Atlantis?" Rodney suggested.
"Without telling us? No way." he said, shaking his head.
"They have to have run in to the creature." Teyla said, still feeling negative.
John still couldn't see that either, if it took out four Marines... it didn't fit. If that were the case they would have found blood, or their bodies, or something.
There is no other explanation for why they are not responding to us." she finished.
"If that thing took down four marines... It is one nasty bug-person." Rodney said.
"Dial us out." He said to Rodney, turning to look back towards the settlement.
"Right."Rodney pressed the first symbol. It sounded wrong, he was turning back to Rodney when he pressed it again, it still didn't lock.
"No." Rodney gasped, John had a sinking feeling. He watched as Rodney bent over and pulled off the cover to the DHD.
"What?" Ronon asked, looking annoyed still.
"No. no. no. no."
"Rodney?" he asked.
"The control crystals missing." He said, looking up at him, worry written across his face.
"We can't dial out?"
"Missing?!" Ronon and Teyla's voices mingled.
"Please tell me you can fix it."
"IT is not a matter of fixing it is just gone!" Rodney said, being his short tempered self.
"Someone removed it to prevent us from dialing out."
Shit. John felt deep down that going back was a bad idea, but if they were stuck here killing off the monsters was necessary. He took a deep breath, his headache had been fading the further he'd gotten from the monsters, he could no longer deny it there was more then one, and damn it. He really didn't want to go back.
He took a deep breath and reached out.
He fumbled through the darkness of his mind, he felt Teyla vaguely, he ignored her and reached passed, nothing, nothing, nothing. There, something... he couldn't get a good lock, but something was there. He opened his eyes.
"Maybe we could stay here." Rodney said.
"Stay here?" Ronon asked passing furiously. "No we have to go and kill it, and hunt down who ever took the crystal."
"Hey, Elizabeth will wonder why we haven't checked in." Rodney defended his idea.
"Then we can ask her to send a Jumper, and more back up."
"We don't know how long that will take." He said. His mind was made up they had to go kill the monsters, and get who ever he was vaguely sensing.
"We'll be safe here. The life-signs detector will let us know if anything comes near us." Teyla said, being unusually cowardly.
Wow, it had her running scared and she didn't even know there were more. John considered again, No. They need to know who was behind this, and get rid of those things.
"She's right. We can set up a... a... What do you call it?" Rodney said.
"A Perimeter." he offered.
"Yeah a Perimeter. Wait it out."
That plan was crap, there were enough, that he could sense, that he knew they would never be able to hold it.
"We're not leaving without those Marines." He said, that was his official reason and he was sticking with it.
"Lets go back to the settlement." He lead the way.
Fifty Minutes Later
They were back in the tunnel, his headache was back in full force, he couldn't get a better read on the other person yet, but he no longer had to focus to feel it, he could tell it was Wraith, but the mind was dimmed. He was having no trouble blocking it either, which was good.
They were back, hot on the tail of their little friend. The life-signs detector was still not showing them any of the others he was sensing, but they were getting closer to those too.
Suddenly his head snapped up, he could now read the thoughts of the other, it was Michael. He pulled his mind away. He now knew who it was, and it left him with a bad taste in his mouth.
Teyla had stopped as well. "Are you okay?" Ronon asked, having caught her when she swayed.
"I'm sensing something."
She paused, "It feels like a Wraith, but there is something different about it."
"Rodney do you see anything?" he asked.
Rodney looked at the life-signs detector. "No. No, I've still got just us and our little friend. Who is still on the move, heading... No."
"No, picking up another life sign. Just popped up out of nowhere." He turned the detector and showed them.
"How is that possible?" Ronon asked.
Teyla was still trying to get a better read on what she was sensing, he could feel her reaching out. He pulled his shield up, and locked down on his thoughts just in case.
"Maybe one of the eggs hatched?" Teyla put out, focusing on them again.
"Maybe."
"That or part of the settlement is shielded." Rodney said thinking.
"Maybe it's one of the Marines." Ronon said.
"If it is one of the Marines, that something Teyla's is feeling is head for him." he said. They set off walking fast.
Twenty Minutes Later
The life-signs detector was beeping loudly again.
"We're close." Rodney told them.
John didn't bother checking the vent that came out in the wall, nothing was there, he focused forward.
He heard Teyla step off to check a room, he turned around, In time to see the door slam shut.
He ran to the door, calling. "Teyla?!" he pounded on the door.
No response.
A vent opened, they all started coughing. Then they heard the roar of the creature.
He could hear over the roars, Teyla calling for them.
It charged, it caught John, and sent him flying in to the wall. He was seeing stars, where was it? He heard it howl in pain, as Ronon shot it. He shot at it, he heard Rodney start shooting, it screamed again. Then it fell to the floor.
The smoke cleared, it had only been released to disguise the monster's approach.
He stood up, the monster lay there, dead.
Rodney had been knocked to the floor, and was still sitting on his butt.
Ronon was the only one who had not been knock down.
John ignored it's body, he went back to the door, and pounded at it.
Ronon gestured for him to step aside. He did so. Ronon kicked the door.
It shuddered. Ronon stopped kicking it, and shot the door, once, twice, three times, it opened, to an empty room.
"Shit."
"Teyla. Respond?" He said, tapping his radio.
Nothing.
He looked to Rodney, who was tapping at the life-signs detector.
"I seeing two life-signs moving away from us, but one floor up, I think. That or more air shafts."
"Let's go." John ran for the stairs they'd come down.
"Wait!" He and Ronon stopped, Rodney caught up.
"They disappeared."
"What?" Ronon demanded.
"The life signs they just vanished. I was right, part of this settlement is shielded."
He and Ronon continued, running faster.
"Wait! No! We won't be able to track them." Rodney called after them.
Fifteen Minutes Later
"You need to aim for the stomach area. It seemed to be a soft and vulnerable. You were able to kill it when you hit it there before."
Ronon glared at Rodney. "I noticed that."
"Which way?" John asked cutting in.
"I don't know. It's not showing me anything. It's useless."
John couldn't hide his annoyance, he took a deep breath, he felt something coming from the left.
"This way." Ronon said, starting down to the left.
John was surprised, "Why?"
"Because."
"Okay." They went left.
Another Fifteen Minutes Later
They found a door.
When he tried to open it, he found it to be locked.
"Must be some sort of security locked down. Whoever took Teyla must have trigged it."
Rodney said.
"We got to open this up." He said. Who knows what Michael could be doing to Teyla.
"Stand back."
He and Rodney looked at Ronon, in time to take one step away from the door as Ronon shot at the door.
"Jeez! Easy Chewie!" some times Ronon was, well, Chewie.
"Mind giving us more heads-up there!" Rodney cried.
Ronon looked at the door, it was mostly undamaged. "Do you have any more C4?"
He nodded and set the charge.
Ronon, and Rodney waited around the corner, when he thought it was ready. He grabbed his pack, and jogged around the corner.
"All right, that's the last of the C4. So let's hope that enough. Ready?" They both nodded. "Good."
He pressed the detonator, it beeped and turned red. But there was no bang, Ronon and Rodney looked at him.
"What happened?" Rodney asked.
He shrugged and looked around the corner in time for it to explode.
"Jeez!" he sighed.
He looked back around the corner, the door was open.
"All right, let's go get Teyla."
As they passed through the door way, the life signs-detector beeped a lot.
"Whoa!" Rodney exclaimed.
Even as he asked, he knew. "What?"
"Serious energy spike."
"What does that mean?" Ronon asked.
"That we've entered the field." He told Ronon.
As Mckay answered. "We probably just enter the shielded section of the settlement."
John cocked his head, he was feeling a whole lot more of the Creatures than he'd been before. This wasn't good.
He saw lights starting to flash, Michael would know they were here. They needed to move fast.
Five Minutes Later
They were coming down some stairs, when he first saw them.
"Oh, my God!" Rodney said.
Two of the Marines, dead, from Iratus bug bites.
John sighed, they had died horribly. Knowing Michael was behind this was making him angry. Being angry was making it hard to block the bugs which in turn, made the anger grow. How could Michael make such things?!
He took a deep breath, and let it out. He was back in control of himself.
"Where are the others?" Ronon asked.
John pulled the tags off their bodies, Ronon looked around the corner.
"Sheppard. Over here."
He got up and head over. The others were there. Dumped in the hall like trash. He bit back his anger, and took their tags too, he closed Negley's eyes. Michael was going to pay.
Then they heard chittering, like from an Iratus bug.
"Did you hear that?" Ronon asked.
John got up, he could tell it was coming from the right.
"Oh... It sounds like bugs." Rodney groaned.
John headed that way. Where there were bugs, Michael was probably there, and if he wasn't. John was still going to kill all of those bugs.
"Come on." Ronon grabbed McKay.
Rodney was fitting with the life-signs detector. The beeping echoed loudly in the hall.
"Put that thing away. I thought you said it wouldn't work here anyway." he said trying not to snarl. It wasn't Rodney's fault he had a headache.
"I just... I thought I could re-calibrate it to take in to account the..."
A creature leapt, knocking Rodney to the ground. It roared in his face, he screamed. John was shooting, but all he was hitting was it's back. Ronon had a better shot at killing it, and he did so. Three hits to it's chest and stomach and it was dead.
The Creature collapsed.
"It's dead." he said. Why hadn't he noticed it? He'd almost got Rodney killed.
"You okay?" he asked, pulling Rodney to his feet.
"Yeah..." he said looking at the body. He picked up the life-signs detector, poked at it once more. "Got it!"
"Teyla's that way." He said pointing left. They ran that way.
"John! John!" he heard Teyla calling up the hall. He ran faster. He and Ronon made it there a the same time, Ronon shot the Iratus bug off her.
"Nice shot!" he said relived, it had sucked when it was him being fed upon, but his teammates. All he could say was that he was just happy to have gotten there in time.
"You okay?"
"Now that your here."
They started to uncuff her from the table.
"It's Michael. He's the doing this." she said.
"Michael?!" Rodney said.
"Yes, he escaped the planet."
"Where is he?" John asked, seriously.
"I don't know when he heard you, he took off."
"Okay we need to stop and think for a moment a come up with a plan." he said, charging after Michael would likely get them killed.
"The best plan is to kill him." Ronon said.
"Hey, wait a minute. He has the control crystal, and if we talk to him, we can find out if he has more labs and where they are."
"Maybe I should look at these workstations." Rodney said, ignoring that little disagreement.
"I might be able to tell you that, without Michael."
"We don't have that kind of time." Ronon said.
"Well I could stay here, and find out how many of those creatures he's created, where other labs are." Rodney said.
"Ok, fine. Teyla, stay here with Rodney, me and Ronon will find Michael. Rodney work on getting the shielding down, so we can use our radios." He said, turning to head out the door.
"But..."
"Rodney get the shield down it's that simple. Lets go." He and Ronon left the room.
He and ran down the hall following the turns, till they came to a split. John picked the side he thought he sensed Michael down.
"You go that way and I'll go the other." He said pointing Ronon down to the left, and he took the right.
"Hey, wait. Ronon, if you meet Michael set it to stun."
"Why!?"
"We are going to need to talk to him." He said, as angry as he was, he had to remember that they needed to get out of here, alive.
"NO! No, more talking, no more letting him slip through our fingers. No, I'm going to do what we should have done when we captured him. He needs to die, or we're going to keep paying for this one mistake."
"Ronon we need him alive to tell us where the crystal is." John said, it was this attitude that worried him, if Ronon was told about him, how would he respond? he feared Ronon would take it badly.
"John." Ronon said, clearly angry.
"Ronon if anyone is going to kill him it will be me! Are you clear on this?" He said firmly.
Ronon gave him a hard look, and set his gun to stun.
"Good." they set off their separate ways.
John had been running for maybe ten minutes, he thought he was close to Michael, but he was feeling a little turned around. Damn maze.
He jumped when Rodney hailed him over the radio.
"Sheppard, you there?"
"I guess you got the shielding down."
"Yep. Any luck finding Michael?"
"Not really." He said. He was in an area that had almost no lighting, just him and his flashlight.
"Is the life signs detector working?"
"Oh... a yeah."
He rolled his eyes, honestly sometimes.
"Oh, my god."
John winced that didn't sound good for them. "What?"
"I'm reading a ton of life signs near you."
He exhaled, he had been feeling more of the Creatures. And it made sense for Michael to unleash them on him and his team...
"Define a "Ton" and how "Near"?" he said, if he could get the drop on Michael they had a chance.
"A few dozen, their all bunched up and maybe..." Rodney trailed off.
"Survivors maybe?" he said, trying to be optimistic.
Rodney and Teyla were silent over the radio for a minute. Then Rodney spoke again.
"Well what ever they are some one just let them out, and their headed your way."
He closed his eyes, he had thought maybe there were some survivors, but if they had been let out... They had to be the creatures he'd been feeling.
"Great." he opened his eyes, he would focus.
He could hear snarls, he waited. One came around the corner, it charged him, he killed it. He killed it's friend behind it. He backed down the hall.
"Keep going, straight up the tunnel. Ronon should be around the corner."
As he got closer he realized it wasn't Ronon. He pulled his nine mil, and waited.
"Right now."
Michael stepped out on Rodney's count, stunner raised.
"It's not Ronon." he told, Rodney and Teyla.
"Is it one of the bugs?" came Rodney's slightly concerned voice came over the radio.
"No, it's Michael." silence came back to him.
"Colonel Sheppard." Michael greeted him.
"Michael." he said. Ignoring the stunner in his face like Michael was ignoring the nine mil.
"No offense, but I was kinda hoping never to see you again." he said.
"I had hoped just the opposite." Michael said, smiling a bit bloodthirstily.
He smiled, "Well you seen me, now give me the control crystal, and we'll leave."
"I don't think so."
"Or I can just kill you."
"Not if I stun you first."
True, did he want to test his theory? Not really, but he probably could take more then one stunner.
Then they heard a Creature in an air shaft, John stiffened. Shit.
"As much as I would love to catchup, and all that. I need that control crystal." he said.
"Extraordinary, aren't they?"
"I think their more gross then extraordinary, but..." he trailed off, one had jumped down in to the hall behind him. He could feel it, it was silent, but he could feel it.
"I thought you'd be impressed." Michael seemed almost disappointed.
"Not so much." He said, with a little smirk.
"After all, I merely am continuing the experiment that you started."
It was getting closer, but he still had time.
"What then? Take over the galaxy? Thats a little too Dr. Evil if you ask me."
"Sheppard the Creatures are closing in on you very quickly. You need to move." Rodney said, over the radio.
Thanks Rodney I already knew that. He took a deep breath not looking away from Michael.
"Rodney, you and Teyla get to the gate. Me and Ronon will meet you there."
"You sure?"
"Yes, now go."
"Michael, if you don't give me that control crystal I'm am going to kill you."
"I won't do that, Colonel."
The monster was very close now, he wanted to turn and look, but then Michael would shoot him. Damn it!
"Michael I will kill you." he said, he had to make a decision.
"I don't mind dying here, because you and everyone on your team will die today." Michael said.
The monster was too close, he had to act now.
He shot Michael three times, Michael only got a shot off, and it hit him. But he shook it off, he was tackled by the monster. He only barely managed to keep a hold of his gun. He fought to move, and kicked it back enough, to roll over.
He was trying to fight it off, it was trying to eat his face. He and the monster wrestled. He fought off the monster's hold on his hand with the gun and shot it five times in the stomach. It went limp, he shoved it off his self and was back on his feet. Michael lay there against the wall bleed, eyes wide.
John didn't know it, but his pupils had become slits, his eyes turning gold, almost metallic in color.
"What are you?"
John straighten from his crouch, blinking back the gold, turning them back to his normal hazel. "Does it matter?"
Michael laughed, and choked, and died.
John was searching his body for the crystal when Ronon ran up to him.
He found it, he'd shot through it. "Damn It!" He swore.
He stood, Two more creatures, were coming down the hall, where Michael had come from. Ronon shot them. Only one died, the other got up. He and Ronon ran for the door right near by them, they made it through, the bug that was still alive came after them.
He and Ronon shot another one, John didn't know it but Ronon thought he'd seem John's pupils become slits as they ran, killing bugs as they went. John was focusing with his instincts. He'd been bashed around enough today, and he was angry, enough of his men of had died today. It was becoming easier to just think and find the bug-men.
He wasn't sure when he mentally called for them, telling them where he was, all he wanted was all of them dead, he really, really wanted all of them dead. He didn't even realize what he was doing when four bugs jumped him and Ronon.
Ronon got one in the face right away, it died, but the other got the jump on him. John was being circled, he kinda came to himself he realized he was barring his teeth at them, he stopped, and blinked what was he doing? He shot them, both died. What had he been doing? Ronon screamed, trying to fight the last one off.
John dashed over and emptied the last of his clip in to it's head. Ronon bent over panting, "Thanks." Ronon straightened having picked up his gun. He looked at John strangely, "What's with your eyes?"
He blinked, "What do you mean?"
"ah, they were... never mind." Ronon figured it had been a trick of the light. Because after he'd blinked it had went away.
John reloaded. They ran some more, finally they made it to a three way, bug-men were coming from all three sides. They went back to back and killed all the ones they could see.
It went quiet.
"This is messed up." he said. Bug-people, really, it was something out of a movie. He was down to his last clip for the P-90 and he only had two more for his nine mil.
They ran to a door, ignoring the hordes of bug-people coming down the halls, trying to kill them. Ronon opened the door, while he fired his P-90 to keep them back. They were face to face with two more bug-people. Crap, he jumped back. Ronon didn't move fast enough, one of the two grabbed him, John shot his, but failed to kill it, his gun clicked empty, he backed away.
He dropped his P-90, and drew his nine mil, he shot it twice more, before it collapsed.
Ronon was fighting his, he shoved it far enough away, and grabbed his sword, he slashed down, cutting its arm off. Then he followed up with a slash that took it's head off, it collapsed bonelessly.
They both entered the dark room, slamming the door behind them.
He ran in looking for another door, when an eerily familiar voice spoke.
"Colonel is that you?"
He spun, a man stepped out of the shadows. He saw Carson Beckett standing there.
"Carson... what the Hell?"
"Took you bloody long enough. Eight months!"
He and Ronon exchanged looks, "Eight months?"
"Yes Eight bloody months stuck here with Michael! Haven't you been looking for me ever since Michael kidnapped me off the planet?"
"No not really." he said, this was very weird. Carson Beckett was dead, but here. Weird.
The door banged behind him. Bad time to talk.
He strode over and grabbed Carson's arm, and began to drag him away. "We can't really discuss this now, so lets save it for later."
"John!"
"Yes Ronon, I would love to talk about this, but we are being hunted. So save it!"
He kicked open the door, and lead the way, he shot the bug-person guarding the door and ran dragging Carson along with him down the hall.
They were at another cross tunnel, When he notice a latter going up the wall. "This must be where they got up."
"What?" Ronon asked.
"This way." he went over and started climbing. "We should get a chance to use the air shafts after all."
At the top he found he was at the surface, he cleared the way for Carson. Carson once clear, took deep breaths, "It's my first time on the surface where I'm not being moved."
"Thats nice..." he could feel bug-people on the surface. They were cut off from the gate for the moment.
Ronon was clear, and began shooting the bugs that were trying to follow him up.
He stopped, and looked around trying to get his barring.
"Do you see that?" He asked pointing.
John stopped scanning for movement and looked.
A Dart.
Good they might be able to get out of this yet.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ronon asked, grinning.
"Yeah, I can fly us out of here." He said, starting to run for the small craft.
"Well I was thinking we should blow it up, but your idea is better.
John was almost to the craft when a Creature jumped him, he shot it, but it cracked his head against the dart making him see stars. It made him angry, he found he was muttering to himself as he started the Dart. "Stupid thing. Kill me... ha! Take this Michael." Once he realized he was muttering, he stopped. What was he doing?
He shook his head to clear it, losing his temper now would not help.
He picked up Ronon, and Carson, and flew towards the gate. He found Teyla, and Rodney surrounded. He scooped them up, and started shooting the Bug-people. Take that! He grinned to himself.
He deliberately hunted down the bug-people he could find on the surface. Finally he could find no more to shoot at, as there had been less to find, and less to kill, and less to give him a headache, he'd calmed down. As he calmed down, all he could ask was why had he done that, rather then just leave?
He could come to no good conclusion, so he dialed the gate. Taking them to a safe planet to unload, and dial home.
As he dialed, he wonder how he should explain himself to his team.
I'm going to end it there, because this chapter got away from me as it is. So see you next time.
Dark shadowed rose