AN: Be warned there is more Shep Whump ahead, and lots of it. I apologize for it being a short chapter but I thought it was a good place to stop. I hope you are all still enjoying the story after this chapter. :)
Chapter 12:
Jumper 1 left Atlantis almost immediately carrying the requested marines and Dr. Beckett. He insisted on coming in case they found the Colonel injured and no one was going to object since it was a real possibility. They flew swiftly through the air and landed in roughly the same spot as before.
Major Lorne greeted them alerting them that not only has Colonel Sheppard disappeared but Ronon and Teyla as well. Sgt. Stackhouse reported to Major Lorne that Dr. Weir wanted him to check-in with her immediately so Lorne took off towards the Jumper where he could dial Atlantis and update Dr. Weir.
While Lorne was gone Carson drew Aiden aside to check and see how he was feeling.
"I'm doing fine doc, really. I don't know what you gave me but it's working so far, I feel great." Aiden told the doctor.
"Aye, well like I said it's not a permanent solution, your body will build up an immunity to it eventually, but it will give me more time to develop one." Carson replied, clearly anxious to start looking for his missing friends.
When Major Lorne came back, he was panting but looking triumphant. "Dr. Weir has allowed us to go back into the tunnels and try to find them." He said between breaths. "She wasn't too pleased about the idea but I pointed out that each time someone was taken it was when there were only 2 people in the tunnels so we both agreed that it would be best for us all to go and no one stays in there alone."
"Yes sir" the marines replied more than happy to start looking.
"Alright, Lt. Ford and I will go first. Doc, you're in the middle with Sgt. Stackhouse and the rest of you are covering our 6." Lorne instructed. "I've got a bad feeling about why only certain people are being taken and I don't want to risk anyone else being next." He said with a pointed look at the doctor.
Major Lorne's statement didn't make Carson feel too ready to go and look for Colonel Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla but he wasn't about to back down now that he had practically argued himself hoarse with Elizabeth to get here.
They all filed into the tunnels, hoping to find some passageway that would lead them to their friends but their LSD's were blocked by interference and they had NO idea where they were going. When Major Lorne next checked his watch, he found they'd been in there for over an hour and knew it was getting dark outside. He didn't want to be potentially caught in an ambush so he decided to head back and start again tomorrow.
They were about three quarters the way there when they heard several pained grunts and a yelp. Major Lorne and Aiden turned around to find the three marines had been knocked unconscious and the doctor missing. Damn it! He cursed himself. If anymore people go missing there won't be anyone left to command Atlantis!
Aiden and Major Lorne tried to wake their unconscious comrades up so that they didn't have to try to carry all 3 of them out. The last two woke and despite having major headaches were able to walk out of the tunnels without a problem. Sgt. Stackhouse needed to be carried out. He had tried to fight off his attackers and ended up with a harder crack on the skull.
When they got out into the open, Major Lorne was glad to see that it was till daylight and quickly checked on the injured marines. When he came to Stackhouse he was surprised to find a note pinned on him. He read it, eyes going from curious to furious in seconds. He turned to the other two marines.
"Help me get Sgt. Stackhouse back to the Jumper, we need to return to Atlantis." He instructed them before turning to Ford. "I'm sorry Aiden but I must get this message to Dr. Weir immediately. I think I know who has the Colonel and friends." He said, his eyes turning dark and furious.
"What does the message say?" Aiden asked curiously.
Major Lorne handed Aiden the note for him to quickly read. It wasn't addressed to anyone specifically but he knew it was meant for Dr. Weir. It read:
If you would like to see Colonel Sheppard and his friends, wait for my call at 7 o'clock tonight. We'll see if you're willing to make the trade this time.
Aiden handed the note back to Major Lorne, confused by the note and by the Major's reaction. "I don't understand." He said.
Major Lorne checked his watch before he licked his lips and quickly began to explain. "About 2 years ago Colonel Sheppard was kidnapped and fed upon by a Wraith. He was being used as a bargaining chip by Kolya to get what he wanted, which was the current leader of the Genii Ladon Radim. Dr. Weir never made the switch and we thought Colonel Sheppard dead but when his team arrived to retrieve him they found that the Wraith had restored Sheppard's life in thanks for Sheppard giving the Wraith his life back."
"Kolya has Colonel Sheppard?" Aiden asked.
"Yes and now I really have to go, I'm sorry. We'll be in touch!" Major Lorne said as he quickly ran up the hill and to the Jumper to deliver the message to Atlantis.
I'm sure you will Aiden thought before he headed inside.
Ronon, Teyla and John got back to the cell to find the promised food, water and supplies waiting for them. Ronon and Teyla found a bench in the cell and gently sat John on top of it. John grunted when they sat him down but otherwise made no noise. Teyla knelt down in front of John to begin examining his knee while Ronon went and grabbed some water to give him.
Teyla noticed that John's knee was quickly swelling passed the limit of his pants and decided to rip them open to relieve the pressure it was causing and get a better look. She winced when she saw the various bruises on his leg and guessed that the rest of him looked similar. His knee was a mass of deep purple bruises and swelling to the size of a melon. She started gently feeling around to see if any bones were broke, causing John to hiss and grunt in pain.
When she was finished she gently laid his leg on the bench and swiftly took off her jacket, bunching it up to make it like a pillow, and laid it under John's knee hoping the slight elevation would help with the swelling. She then went over to the supplies and found something she could wrap the joint with and went back over to John.
"I believe it is severely sprained but I cannot tell as I do not wish to move it." She told him as she began wrapping his knee. John sat still but couldn't keep his groans of pain in while she applied pressure to the joint to wrap it.
When she was finished, John let out an exhale of relief. "Thanks Teyla." He told her. "I'm sorry you guys were caught up in this."
"There is nothing to apologize for John, you did not do this." Teyla told him softly. She turned to Ronon, "Do you think you could set his arm, I am afraid I have never been good at it?" She asked.
"Yeah, I can do it." Ronon replied and started moving toward John.
"That won't be necessary Mr. Dex." Kolya's cold voice interrupted. "We have brought you a doctor to help Colonel Sheppard." He said smiling.
Dr. Carson Beckett was shoved into the cell sporting a fresh black eye and looking none to happy about his treatment.
"You son of a bitch!" John spat furiously. "Keep your hands OFF my people!"
"Now, now Colonel Sheppard, this should be the last of your people to join you. I have no need of anyone else." Kolya chuckled. "Besides, it was not my fault that force was necessary to bring the good doctor in."
"Bullshit!" John responded. "Carson isn't a fighter, no offence doc, especially when it's an ambush which is how I'm guessing you've grabbed them." He said as he began to stand, grimacing when the change in position aggravated his injured knee. Ronon was quickly beside him, using his hand to keep John down.
Carson had been focusing his attention on the man who had kidnapped him, his normally gentle eyes ice blue with fury but when Ronon immediately went over to stop John from getting up he focused on John. He was immediately by John's side trying to keep from trying to throttle the man on the other side of the bars.
"Bloody hell!" he cursed. "I need my med bag."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible doctor. You may have something in there to use on my men and I cannot have that." Kolya told him plainly.
Carson turned around, "You're telling me you want me to treat him with only the basic supplies you've given us?" he exclaimed. "You want me to set that arm without giving him any sort of pain relief?" he yelled even louder pointing at John's deformed arm.
"Yes." Kolya said his voice showing no emotion.
Carson's eyes widened in horror, "At least allow me to place it in plaster to avoid any more damage to it." He practically begged.
"I'm sorry doctor. You have the only supplies that you will receive in the room with you. I'm afraid you must do your best with those." Kolya said before he walked off.
Carson just stared after Kolya, horror struck at the idea of what he was going to have to do to his friend and at how much Kolya enjoyed the idea. He turned around to face his friends, his face slack with shock.
"You ok doc?" John asked his voice tired and rough with pain. Carson just stared at him, still in shock. "Did they hurt you?" he asked the doctor again.
"No Colonel, I'm fine." He replied not caring if they believed him or not. He was more worried about the Colonel. Carson walked back over to John and began examining him as best as he could. Teyla filled him in on her guess about John's knee and told him that she was worried there was more damage than she could tell. Carson began to gently unwrap the Colonel's knee, dismayed by how much swelling was present. He looked up at John saying, "I'm sorry" before he began to bend the joint and probe it, trying to feel for broken bones. He cringed when he felt the grating of bone on bone. He ignored his patients groans of pain and continued his examination, probing around trying to see if he could feel the knee cap and after noticing that he couldn't (probably due to swelling) he moved on to see if there was any tendon, ligament or muscle damage.
By the time he was finished, John's lower lip was bleeding from him biting it so hard. Carson didn't even give John time to prepare himself before he quickly set the bones in his knee. John cried out, the sound filling the halls of the tunnels and tearing through the hearts of his friends. "I'm sorry lad, I thought it best to not give you time to think about how much it would hurt." He told his friend sadly.
"S'ok doc." John replied through gritted teeth. "Was probably a good idea anyways."
Carson just sighed, "You know Colonel, you don't have to always make my job so interesting." He told John trying to make the mood happier than he felt.
"Got to keep you on your toes." John panted, still trying to control the pain that coursed through his body. "You'd think I didn't care if I didn't keep you so busy."
Carson laughed, wincing a little when it put pressure on his slight swollen eye. He dreaded doing the arm next but he knew he needed to fix it before blood flow was compromised. "Alright son, I'm sorry but I've got to examine your arm now." He said while he reached for John's arm, leaving John's knee on his legs for a moment.
John gently moved his arm away from his body where he had been keeping it protectively. Carson outwardly cringed when he saw the shape of John's arm. He could already tell it was broken in more than one place and had some muscular and possible nerve damage. He focused his attention on the main break, deciding that was the most important.
Carson looked up at John, "I am so sorry for this." He said, unable to keep himself from apologizing before he set the main break in his patient's arm. John screamed a scream Carson had only heard once over a radio while John was stuck on a Jumper having an alien bug suck the life out of him. Carson couldn't help the tears that silently fell down his face. When the scream stopped, Carson looked up to see that John had thankfully passed out from the combination of the pain from both breaks and exhaustion. He then noticed the tears running freely down Teyla's face and the wetness and fury in Ronon's eyes. I hope he gets his hands on that monster and strangles the life out of him! Hell I hope I can strangle him! Carson raged in his head. As a doctor Carson took an oath to do no harm but he couldn't keep to that if he was able to get his hands on the man who had caused his friend so much pain for the second time.
While John was unconscious, Carson went about splinting his arm and knee as best as he could. He knew that neither splint would hold when Kolya got his hands on John again but there was nothing he could to about that.
After he was finished, he stepped back and sank down on the ground, leaning against the wall. His wrist was throbbing from the work it had had to do but he ignored it as he looked at the other two. "Are you two ok?" he asked.
"Yes, we are fine." Teyla responded for both of them, her eyes never leaving John.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" he asked hoping they knew.
"We do not fully know. All we know is that Kolya seems interested in making John suffer." She said sadly.
"He said that Sheppard needed some weapons training." Ronon replied his eyes dark with fury and concern.
"Weapons training, Colonel Sheppard is very adept at most weapons how much more training could he get?" Carson yelled.
"Kolya said that the best way to show John how to use the weapon was to use it on him. Then he proceeded to show us what would happen to John if we did not behave." Teyla responded quietly.
"You're telling me that he broke the Colonel's arm and knee to prove a point?" Carson exclaimed.
"I believe John's arm was already broken when we got there but his knee, yes." Teyla replied.
"He had Sheppard strung up by his arms over a beam when we got there." Ronon told him.
"How long did he hang there before he was let down?" Carson asked.
"About 10 minutes I think?" Teyla said. "We were not really paying attention."
"Aye, I can imagine." Carson told her, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"How is he?" She asked her eyes still on John's sleeping form.
"The sooner we get him out of here, the better." Carson told her. "His knee is broken and I suspect there's some ligament damage as well. I couldn't feel his knee cap but it could be because of the swelling. His arm is bad. It is broken in at least 2 places counting the break I fixed, if not 3. There is definite muscle damage and a possibility of nerve damage as well." He said sadly. "I'm afraid that he'll have to undergo surgery to fix the damage by the time Kolya's done with him. Let's hope Atlantis comes soon."
They all nodded in agreement knowing that it was best for their friend if they came sooner rather than later. Almost as one they all thought Please hurry!
Elizabeth sat in her office at 7pm, anxiously waiting for Kolya's "call" to come in. Major Lorne came flying through the gate (in the Jumper) and furiously handed the letter to her while Dr. Keller took care of the marines. When she looked up from reading the letter she could see hate and vengeance in Lorne's eyes and she hoped that he got the chance to release it. She knew that almost everyone who was close to John wanted Kolya dead and when they all thought he was dead they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now, he had John again AND Teyla, Ronon and Carson.
The gate dialed in and she ran out of her office to the control center. "We're receiving an analog video." Chuck told her not even bothering with the usual chatter. He knew that she was waiting for this, they all were. Major Lorne, Rodney, Radek, Elizabeth, Chuck and several others on the staff were waiting in the control center area, waiting to see what would happen next.
"Dr. Weir are you receiving me?" Kolya's voice came over the airwaves shortly before his face appeared on screen.
They already had a channel open so Elizabeth wasted no time. "Yes, we are." She said coldly.
"Good." He said smiling. "As I'm sure you already know I have Colonel Sheppard, Mr. Dex, Ms. Emmagen and Dr. Beckett. I will release them when you are willing to trade."
"I want to see and talk with them first." She said her voice hard, adding a bite to her tone.
"Very well." He said moving out of the way for her to see Colonel Sheppard and his team.
Elizabeth couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her lips. John was strung up, the ropes on his hands tied to an overhead beam. She noticed the splint on his arm that was suspended above his head and the other splint on his knee which was dangling freely. They had torn his shirt down the middle so that she could see the deep bruising that covered much of John's torso. The others, she noticed, were kneeling beside John with a gun pointed at each of them. They were being forced to watch their friend endure this humiliation and pain. She saw that Teyla and Ronon appeared unharmed but Carson's left eye was swollen and he was cradling his injured wrist close to his body. Damn Kolya for doing this, Damn him!
John looked at the screen, hatred, pain and guilt in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything, his look said it all. We do not yield to terrorists! It said. Ronon's eyes reflected John's but with more rage in them than she had ever seen. Teyla's face was hard but her eyes spoke the volumes of a woman watching her lover suffer. Carson's expression was pure disgust and hatred.
"Are you all alright?" She asked, not knowing what else to say.
"We are fine Elizabeth." Teyla responded for the group that was kneeling. She knew that Elizabeth could see that John wasn't even alright let alone fine.
"What have you done to him?" Rodney asked not bothering to hide the hate in his voice.
"I have merely been having some training practice with a quarter staff." Kolya answered like it was no big deal. "You see, for every hour that you delay in complying with what I want, Colonel Sheppard will get trained on a new weapon. We started small with the quarter staff and will be working up to more interesting and volatile weapons." He explained while moving over to a table full of weapons. "You will be able to witness our next weapon of choice." He said while pulling out a metal rod about 2 feet in length.
"What is it you want Kolya?" Elizabeth asked hoping the fear she felt didn't show. She didn't know if she could watch John be tortured again, her mind screamed NO!
"Atlantis." He said quickly. "I want you and your people to turn Atlantis over to me. I will allow you to pick a planet to live on and happily give Colonel Sheppard and his team back to you." He told her, sweeping his hand toward them all. "I am sure that, like last time, you'll want time to think about it and maybe even try to rescue them but I must warn you, your scanners are no use here and you do not have Ladon Radim there to help you. So take your time in considering my offer, I will leave you with a demonstration of what happens every hour that you waste."
And with that he took off his shirt and began dancing around John, twirling the metal rod around and around. The first blow landed hard on John's side, they watched as he bit his lip and ground his teeth to keep from crying out. The next one landed just as hard as the first on his hip causing him to cringe and whimper.
Kolya continued his assault for a full 5 minutes striking John wherever he could find, including both of his feet, his hip once more and his upper back. When the last blow fell hard against his hip John couldn't hold back his pain anymore and cried out hard and loud.
Kolya stopped and took a step back, evaluating John's state. He turned to the camera, "I have changed my mind Dr. Weir." He said. "You may have 3 hours to decide. I believe Colonel Sheppard is not as strong as I thought and he will need more time in between sessions." He told her practically giggling with joy at the sight of John. "And to give you a hint at what the next session will contain if you do not turn Atlantis over to me.." he said as he pulled a gun out and fired at John hitting him in the shoulder.
And with that the feed went dead leaving the friends of Colonel Sheppard stunned into horrified silence.
~20 Minutes Earlier~
They came for the group shortly before 7, insisting that Ronon and Teyla carry him while they escorted Carson by twisting his injured arm behind his back. When they got to the cavern Kolya had a Genii doctor give John a shot of some numbing agent they had come up with in his arm so that they were able to string him up once again without having to have him pass out.
His friends were once again forced on their knees beside him so they could watch as Kolya tortured and humiliated him. When Kolya made the connection with Atlantis, John felt Atlantis and Jocelynne reach out to him.
"Are you alright?" They asked.
John just laughed, "No, not really." He opened his mind to them so they could see and feel what he saw and felt. He felt Atlantis try to comfort him while Jocelynne tried to get more information from him.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Underground on Adora." He told her "I don't know where specifically it's a maze."
"Alright, let me see what I can get from others. I have not tried it before from such a distance but I believe I might be able to." She told him trying desperately to help.
John barely heard the conversation but he knew that Elizabeth knew his orders and therefore didn't have to say anything. He hung there trying to separate himself from the pain in his body knowing more would come. He was able to hold back the cry of pain as he felt a metal bar hit his ribs, breaking a few at the least. He felt Jocelynne wince at his pain and he winced in return for her. This punishment was for him, not her but he knew that by being connected with him she felt it all to. When the bar hit his feet he couldn't hold back the small gasp of surprise at the pain, he hadn't thought Kolya would go that low. The next blow struck his back right on his shoulder blade and he could feel blood dripping down from where the edge of the bar had caught. The last blow landed on the same hip it had already hit and John couldn't hold back his agony any more, he had to release it. He cried out as much as his lungs would let him, letting tears stream down his eyes.
He heard Jocelynne and Atlantis crying and then Jocelynne spoke, "I have your location. I am on my way to Dr. Weir and Major Lorne to let them know. We should be there soon. Please hold on!" she begged feeling guilty for asking him to endure more.
The connection broke just as Kolya fired the gun at him. He could feel the white-hot pain piercing his shoulder, slicing through muscle and bone. With the last of his energy spent, he let himself fall into pain-free oblivion.
Teyla, Ronon and Carson watched in horror as Kolya used John for target practice, the sharp edge of the rod cutting him in several places while it was being spun around and cutting deeply whenever it struck his flesh. They cringed when they heard his ribs snap like pencils, the bones in his feet crack and his hip break. Teyla and Carson couldn't keep the tears from falling down their face as they heard him cry out in agony.
Just then they all felt a presence in their mind. "Please hold on. We are coming for you. I have your location and am taking it to Dr. Weir and Major Lorne. Hold on and help him hold on."
Teyla and Ronon both knew who that voice belonged to and looked at each other, the tiny hint of a smile in their eyes. They both looked at Carson whom they knew had no idea who it was, his face was as blank as it had been when this all started.
When the feed died, Kolya walked out of the room with a satisfied smile on his face. His men lowered John back down and cut him loose, watching him fall hard onto the ground. The 3 friends quickly ran over and picked him up. Together they carried him back to the cell where Carson could do his best to assess the damage done and try to keep him alive until help could come.