Small Miracles
John staggered slightly as he was pushed roughly into an empty cell. He fought dizziness and struggled to stay on his feet as flashes of light popped behind his eyes. He took a deep breath, trying to ward off the heaving he knew the dizziness and nausea would eventually bring.
“You may have blocked me, but Oberoth will get what he wants from you; make no mistake about that.” John’s captor growled.
John glared back, grunting. The Replicator, John couldn’t remember his name, sneered at him and, turning sharply on his heel, walked away, leaving John alone.
John fell to his hands and knees, dry heaving. His head throbbed and lights popped behind his eyes again. He groaned and pushed himself up to sit against the wall behind him. He took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes slowly.
He looked around the empty cell. It was stark, gray and cold. John knew from past experience that the chances of breaking out of his cell were slim to none; he looked around, checking for weaknesses anyway.
The room spun as he tried to stand and before he could fight it, the dizziness took over and his world went black.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“He did WHAT!?” Carter fought to keep her voice down, her blue eyes flashing angrily, her lips pressed together tightly.
Rodney, Ronon and Teyla looked at one another, exchanging guilty looks.
“Just as I started through the gate, he yelled something about a lead on finding the Replicators. Before we could stop him, he pushed me through the gate. I’m assuming he went to whatever planet he thinks the Replicators are on now.” Rodney grimaced under Sam’s glare. “I could go back and see if I can retrieve the address from the DHD.”
“Even with the address, we have no idea what we’re going to find on the other side.” Sam closed her eyes with a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. Opening her eyes again, she looked at Rodney and Ronon.
“Rodney, Ronon, go back and see if you can get the address. And come right back here when you do.” She stared Ronon down, daring him to argue. “We’ll get everything we’ll need against the Replicators ready while you’re gone.”
Rodney and Ronon nodded at Sam and hurried back through the gateroom.
Sam turned to face Teyla. “He’s gone to find -“
“Elizabeth. Yes, I believe he has.” Teyla interrupted, Sam’s worried look mirrored on her face.
*~*~*~*~*~*
John’s head was throbbing. He groaned, almost wishing that he was still unconscious.
He gingerly sat up, breathing deeply through the wave a dizziness that hit him. Once settled against a wall, John took mental inventory of what he had and knew.
He had…well, nothing really. They had stripped him of any slightly useful weapons he’d had on him when he’d been captured. Although, without an ARG he was pretty much sunk anyway.
He knew…only slightly more than he had. The lead he’d gotten had proved to be a good one. The Asurans definitely were on this planet. And Oberoth was here. John could only hope that it meant that Elizabeth was here too.
Then all he’d have to do was break-out, find and rescue Elizabeth and high tail it back to the gate and back to Atlantis. ‘Piece of cake’ he thought with a snort.
John heard footsteps down the hall, getting closer, and scrambled to stand up. He fought as darkness threatened to overtake him again. He needed to stay alert; to find out everything he could; to defeat the Asurans once and for all. And, with any luck, bring Elizabeth back home to Atlantis.
John pushed himself away from the wall as another Asuran he’d never met came to stand in front of him.
“What, Oberoth afraid to come see me himself?” John snarled.
“Perhaps you simply don’t rate as a priority to Oberoth. He has more important things to work on than extracting information from you.” the Asuran sneered, moving into John’s cell.
The next thing John felt was searing pain as a hand was shoved into his forehead.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I got it!” Rodney shouted as he and Ronon ran through the control room to Sam’s office. He had just spent hours going through the fifty or so addresses he’d retrieved from the DHD and was sure he’d finally found the right one. He thrust his data pad at Sam. “When are we leaving?” he asked impatiently.
“Whoa! Hold on! We’ll go AFTER we send a MALP through. We are not going to go in blind.” Sam cut Rodney off before he could start arguing. “We won’t be any use to him if we’re captured as soon as we set foot through the gate.” she reminded him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sheppard’s team gathered around the screen with Sam and Zelenka. The area immediately surrounding the gate was deserted. It was hard to tell if the Replicators were there or if they’d ever been there at all.
“We’ll have to go through. Gear up, we leave in ten minutes.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
John squeezed his eyes shut against the images in his head. They had obviously probed Elizabeth’s mind; some of the memories he had seen were not his own.
John pitched forward as the Replicator roughly pulled its hand out of his forehead, just barely stopping himself from face-planting on the hard floor.
“I won’t show you anything!” John gasped through clenched teeth.
“Oh…this was just for fun. Oberoth will get what he needs when he’s ready.”
“I won’t show him anything!” John snarled angrily as the Replicator chuckled and walked away. Once the Replicator was out of sight, John slid down the wall to sit on the floor again, dropping his head to his knees. He breathed deeply through the pain and nausea again and thought about what he had seen.
Visions of Elizabeth in front of that damned window, being thrown by the force of the blast, lying unconscious in the infirmary. Visions of what he could only assume were the torment Elizabeth had suffered at the hands of Oberoth; God how he hoped they weren’t true. How anyone could survive that…he shuddered at the thought.
He pushed himself up again, taking one last deep breath. Time to find a way out of here; to make a plan. If he waited around for Oberoth he wouldn’t be any good to anyone. He gathered his strength and began plotting his escape, thinking it would be a lot easier if he had a little help.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The remainder of Sheppard’s team and Sam made their way through the gate, weapons raised, moving cautiously past the DHD. Rodney consulted his life signs detector, trying to detect ANYTHING that could lead them to Sheppard. He swallowed hard, turning in a circle slowly.
“I’m picking up an energy signal from that direction.” he pointed.
“Let’s go. Ronon and I will take point, Teyla, keep Rodney covered.” Sam’s face set in determination, she nodded at Ronon and started off in the direction Rodney had indicated.
They met no resistance along the way. Rodney confirmed that there were, indeed, Replicators in the building, as well as one human life sign and one life sign that was unlike anything Rodney had seen before; he guessed that it was Elizabeth, as she was neither human or Replicator now.
Sam assumed that they were so intent on whatever was going on in the building that they hadn’t thought to monitor the area directly surrounding it. That would change, she knew, once they breached the threshold and began their search for Sheppard.
They fell back into the woodsy area directly behind the building to form a plan.
“Rodney, how many Replicators are we up against?” Sam asked in a hushed tone.
“No more than 20; seems they’re simply here to do some research. This must not be their permanent base.” Rodney looked a little relieved at that realization. “If we move quickly, the ARGs should be effective enough to neutralize them all before they can adapt to them.” Sam nodded in agreement.
“We still only shoot if necessary. We get in, we find Sheppard, and we get out. Taking out as many Replicators as we can along the way.” Ronon whispered, looking to Sam for agreement.
“What of Elizabeth?” Teyla asked. “Do we try to find her as well?” she implored Sam silently with her eyes. Sam considered for a moment. Going after Elizabeth was risky and part of her wasn’t sure that it was a risk worth taking. However, being Jack O’Neill’s second in command for so many years had taught her, among other things, that you don’t leave anyone behind, no matter how dire the circumstances. She met Teyla, Ronon and Rodney’s eyes in turn, finally nodding slowly.
“We’ll split up. Ronon, you’re with me. Rodney, you go with Teyla. First one to find either Sheppard or Weir radios the other.” Sam met Teyla’s eyes with a tight smile and was granted a small nod in return.
Sam and Ronon moved toward the building when Rodney’s hushed cry of “Wait!” made them turn around.
“How are you going to avoid the Replicators?” Rodney asked worriedly.
“McKay, I’ve fought the human form Replicators a few times more than I’d like to remember. That’s why I came along, remember? I think we’ll be all right. If not, we’ll call for you.” Sam tipped her head to Rodney and Teyla and signaled to Ronon to follow her again.
They entered the building quietly, Sam’s unease growing by the minute. This was way too easy. It was NEVER this easy to get into the enemy’s stronghold. And when it was this easy to get in, it usually meant it was next to impossible to get out. She shook the feeling of foreboding and followed Ronon down the hallway.
They stopped at the junction of two hallways and held their breath, listening closely to anything that might indicate what direction they should take. Finally Ronon nodded to Sam and indicated that they should go left. She wasn’t sure how he knew, but had the utmost confidence that if anyone could find John without a life signs detector it would be him. Besides, what kind of leader would she appear to be if she didn’t show confidence in her people’s abilities?
They crept quietly down the hall, ARGs at the ready, but still not meeting any resistance. Their eyes met for a minute, Sam’s uncertainty mirrored in Ronon’s eyes as they moved toward rooms that looked like they could be cells. They found Sheppard in the first room they approached, leaning heavily against the wall, barely conscious and shaking.
Sam sank down onto her knees in front of John and called his name quietly. She winced as she watched him shake his head and try to focus on her.
“Are you hurt?” Sam asked in a hoarse whisper.
“I…I don’t think so.” John answered, his voice cracking from pain and lack of use. “Mostly just had my mind probed…” he finished.
Sam probed John’s arms and legs as he talked, checking all over for any cuts or broken bones. She met Ronon’s eyes with a grim expression, satisfied that John was uninjured; physically, anyway. She frowned as she watched John struggle to stay conscious.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rodney’s eyes stayed locked on the life signs detector as he followed Teyla as quietly as he could. He wanted to find Elizabeth and Sheppard as much as the next guy, but he really, really hated the Replicators. He paused for a moment, his hand poised on Teyla’s shoulder, as he considered what direction they should take. If he was reading this right (and of course he was, he’s Rodney McKay after all!), Sam and Ronon had not met any Replicators on their way to find Sheppard or Elizabeth; they all appeared to be in one room, the room he and Teyla were headed straight toward. He swallowed hard and indicated to Teyla that they had to turn right and head right into the proverbial lion’s den.
Teyla lifted her ARG and nodded for Rodney to stay slightly behind her. They quietly walked up to the room Rodney had seen all the life signs in and peeked through the small window in the door.
They found Elizabeth, lying on a cold-looking metal table, a sheet draped over her naked body. Her eyes were closed, but they could see the rapid movement of them under her lids. Almost like she was dreaming, or having a nightmare. Rodney squeezed his eyes shut against the vision of Elizabeth in such torment and groaned. He was vaguely aware of Teyla whispering their location to Sam; of her pulling him back way from the roomful of Replicators to hide in a dark corridor.
“Colonel Carter and Ronon have found John; they are on their way here. We need to be sure that the Replicators stay here. It will be easier to stop them all at once.” Teyla whispered to Rodney. He nodded silently, his face paling slightly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Sheppard? Let’s go…up and at ‘em!” Ronon growled, lifting John under the arms and propelling him out of the cell. Sam led the way toward Rodney and Teyla, Ronon practically dragging John behind her. They knew that they wouldn’t meet any resistance along the way, but stuck close to the walls and kept as quiet as possible nonetheless.
They found Rodney and Teyla quickly. Teyla noticed the haunted look in John’s eyes and it worried her. She wondered how many times his mind had been probed before they found him; it was on the tip of her tongue to ask him when they heard a scream coming from the roomful of Replicators. A familiar, haunting scream.
John’s head popped up, his eyes looking around frantically. Teyla moved forward quickly and placed a finger to his lips to quiet him before he could call out Elizabeth’s name. She met his eyes with hers and shook her head slightly.
He nodded just a little bit; pleading Teyla silently with his eyes.
“We are going to get her out of here, John. Please, just be patient; do not do anything rash.” she whispered. John took a deep breath and nodded again; steeling himself against the screams they still heard.
He pulled himself out of Ronon’s hold and snuck up to the door, peering through the window, needing to see for himself that it was indeed Elizabeth on the other side. His stomach turned as he watched Oberoth jam his hand into Elizabeth’s forehead. He cringed as she screamed again, the terror in her scream fueling John’s anger, making it harder to hold back.
He turned to the others, his fury mirrored on their faces. He looked at Rodney and Sam.
“We need to get her out of there now!” he growled. He stared at Sam and Rodney expectantly, willing them to come up with a plan.
Rodney shook his head in an attempt to block out Elizabeth’s screams and nodded his head. “Right. The ARGs should work on all of them, provided we strike quickly. We can’t give them any time to adapt to the frequency or we’ll never get out.” Sam nodded in agreement and met the others’ eyes with a grim look.
“We have to be careful not to hit Dr. Weir with the ARGs. As far as we know, if the ARG hits her, her nanites will deactivate and they’re the only thing keeping her alive. “Sam warned quietly, not meeting John’s eyes. “As soon as we open that door our presence will be obvious. Do not hesitate! John, get to Elizabeth as quickly as you can and get her out of there; we’ll take care of the Replicators .” Sam glared at Rodney as he whimpered quietly.
They quietly moved to take their places around the door, but before they could move in, John saw Oberoth pull Elizabeth to her feet and roughly push her out a door on the other side of the room. The rest of the Replicators followed, blocking John’s view.
Not waiting for orders, John burst through their door and began pushing his way through the crowd of Replicators, focused only on getting to Elizabeth and getting her away from Oberoth. He vaguely heard the others call his name as he staggered through the crowd, his head spinning and the floor threatening to rise up to meet him. He took a deep breath, shaking his head to clear it and kept pushing through.
The Replicators in the room did whatever it took to slow John down. Oberoth would be furious if Sheppard caught him before he was able to get Weir to the gate. They relied on their mental link to keep them informed of Oberoth’s progress and swarmed John and the others.
John shoved one Replicator after another out of his way, fists swinging and making contact with them. He reeled as the Replicators hit back, a fist making contact with his face, splitting his lip. Another fist found purchase with his eye and John could feel it begin to swell immediately. He could hear his teammates scuffling with the Replicators too and ignored it. All that mattered was getting out of that room and to Oberoth.
They finally broke their way through, actually shooting as few Replicators as possible. John took off down the hall, hurling himself through the door at the end of it. He panicked for a moment when he still couldn’t see Oberoth and Elizabeth.
“I see them, over there!” Rodney called to John, propelling him by his shoulder in the right direction. They ran after Oberoth, Ronon, Teyla and Sam right behind them; Replicators still swarmed all around them.
They chased Oberoth back to the stargate, where he stopped in front of the DHD, his hand gripping Elizabeth’s arm tightly. He sneered at the John and the others as they stood in front of him.
“She’s one of us now, Colonel Sheppard. She belongs with me; with her kind. You left her behind once before, surely you can do it again.” Oberoth mocked, dragging her around and beginning to dial the DHD.
John heard Sam shout “Now!” and could see Replicators disintegrating in his peripheral vision. He didn’t dare take his eyes off of Oberoth and was about to run and attempt to tackle him when Oberoth turned in disbelief.
Before either man had the chance to say anything, Rodney turned and aimed his ARG at Oberoth. John watched as Oberoth pulled Elizabeth in front of him like a shield just as Rodney fired. The bulk of the energy of the blast from the weapon managed to hit Oberoth, but Elizabeth was caught in the cross fire.
Her eyes found John’s as she cried out and collapsed as Oberoth broke into pieces. John shouted her name and ran to her, throwing his jacket around her unconscious form and scooping her up off of the ground. Rodney looked on in horror, the ARG hanging limply in his hands.
“Rodney! Snap out of it! Dial the gate!” John shouted. As soon as the gate whooshed to life John ran through to Atlantis, only vaguely registering that both Sam and Rodney were calling for medical teams to the gate room into their radios.
The gate room was a flurry of activity. John gently placed Elizabeth on a gurney, meeting Jennifer’s eye with a grim look.
“She caught part of the blast from an ARG, doc.” he supplied as the others came barreling through the gate behind them. He tried to follow Elizabeth’s gurney to the infirmary, only to be waylaid by a medic.
“Colonel, you’re bleeding. Let’s get you cleaned up and make sure you don’t need any stitches.” John shrugged and followed the medic to the infirmary, collapsing on the first available bed he found.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
John thrashed on the bed, the visions in his dream tormenting him. Over and over he watched in slow motion as Rodney took aim and fired the ARG, hitting Elizabeth. Over and over he saw her collapse; he felt helpless.
He could feel anger rolling off of him; he should have taken Rodney’s ARG and taken the shot at Oberoth himself. Everyone knew what a rotten shot Rodney was; it never should have fallen on his shoulders. Not knowing how much was riding on an accurate shot; not knowing how much Rodney would blame himself for what had happened. John was the military commander; he should have taken that responsibility on himself.
John jerked awake, panting for breath and struggling to push the anger away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
John opened his eyes slowly, blinking in the light of the infirmary. He groaned and moved to rub the grit from his eyes.
“Hey there.” he turned to see Teyla smiling gently at him from a chair beside his bed. “Welcome back.”
“How long was I out?” he asked, his voice rough. He turned to see Ronon and Rodney gathered around his bed too.
“Long enough to make Jennifer fuss over you a bit more than usual.” Rodney pouted slightly. “You had a concussion, a black eye and a split lip. Not to mention some pretty nasty nightmares.” he finished with his usual tact. Ronon elbowed him in the arm and glared at him.
“You had us all worried.” Teyla began, “you seemed to have an extreme reaction to the Replicators’ mind probes.”
“Yeah…they showed me everything Oberoth had done to Elizabeth from the time we left her with them. And they were kind enough to drudge up some of my own memories too.” John mumbled, running a hand through his hair. “I swear I could feel every single thing he’d done to her…” his voice trailed and he looked up at the ceiling. “How is she?” he asked quietly, not sure he wanted the answer; the feeling was confirmed when he looked back at Teyla.
“Well, she is alive; but only barely. The ARG blast was enough scramble her nanites but not enough to disable them completely.” Teyla took John’s hand. “Dr. Keller thinks that the nanites may be able to be reactivated, but there’s no guarantee that they will work properly if they are. Not reactivating them sentences her to a life on machines or death.” she said quietly, as Rodney shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “We don’t have to make any decisions now. We can wait until you are feeling better…although I hate that we have to decide this at all.” Teyla squeezed John’s hand before letting it go and standing up. “We should let you sleep…” she looked at Rodney and Ronon who grunted in agreement and the three of them moved to leave the infirmary.
Rodney took a few steps before stopping and turning to look at John.
“For what it’s worth, John, I’m sorry…I …I never meant…” his voice broke as he gestured helplessly.
“Rodney, it wasn’t your fault. You were trying to save her; we all were. Considering what a lousy shot you are, things could have been a lot worse.” John smiled weakly. “We had to try…” Rodney nodded slightly and the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. He waved to John and hurried out of the room.
John let his head fall back onto the pillow with a sigh and let his eyes slide closed; welcoming the darkness sleep brought him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
John was out on his makeshift driving range, driving one ball after another mindlessly into the water. It had been three days since he’d been released from the infirmary; a week had passed since their attempt to rescue Elizabeth. He had met with Keller that morning and discussed, again, their options. He knew Elizabeth wouldn’t want them to try to repair the nanites. She hadn’t wanted them turned on again in the first place. At the very least they could fix that mistake . . .
He and Keller had finally agreed to suggest turning off the machines and waiting to see what happened. Either Elizabeth would wake up, without any guarantees about her mental state, or she’d die. John hated both possible outcomes, but felt that he owed it to her to do what she’d wanted all along and leave the nanites inactive.
He would meet with Carter later that afternoon to tell her . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~
“John, do you have a minute?” Sam gestured for him to follow her to the balcony as the rest of his team filed somberly out of the briefing room.
“Sure.” He shrugged and followed her.
“I should write you up for going off by yourself….”Sam let her voice trail. “I’m not going to, but I need to know…why’d you do it? Why didn’t you at least take Ronon with you?” she asked, sounding more like a concerned friend than a commanding officer.
John took a deep breath and looked out over the ocean. He licked his lips nervously; taking his time to put together an answer that he hoped would make sense to Sam.
“It was my fault that Oberoth had her in the first place. Against my every instinct I left her behind to go through that….torture-” he shuddered at the memories of what the Replicators had shown him of Elizabeth’s memories‑ “alone. I owed it to her to try to get her back. And I couldn’t risk taking anyone with me. I knew there was a good chance that it would be a one way trip through that gate and I wasn’t about to take chances with anyone else’s lives.” He met Sam’s eye, imploring her to understand. She returned his gaze, finally nodding and smiling slightly.
“I understand.” she said softly. “Next time you get the idea to fly solo, though, reconsider. We’re all in this together. And we’re stronger when we work together than we are when we have to come rescue you in the middle of a rescue mission.”
John cleared his throat uncomfortably and looked back out over the ocean. “I couldn’t NOT try…” his voice trailed and he saw Sam nod out of the corner of his eye.
“I know…” she touched her earpiece as her radio activated. “Yes? Okay….he’s right here, I’ll let him know. Thank you.” Sam turned to John. “Elizabeth’s awake.”
John’s head whipped around to look at Sam. “Is she…Elizabeth?”
“Dr. Keller says it’s too soon to tell. Right now, just the fact that she’s awake at all is pretty amazing. I’m heading to the infirmary now, why don’t you come with me?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
John paused outside of the infirmary, letting Sam in ahead of him. He looked at the woman lying in the bed, surrounded by machines and nurses.
It would take time; she may never come completely back to them. But he had gone back for her, they had saved her, he had rectified one of the horrible mistakes he’d made. Maybe it wasn’t too foolish to ask for just one more small miracle…