Fic: Heaven for the Weather, Hell for the Company (Gen, 15)

[sgasesa_admin]

Title: Heaven for the Weather, Hell for the Company
Author: frith_in_thorns
Recipient: greyias
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG-15
Disclaimer: Stargate belongs to MGM etc, not me.
Notes: ~9000 words. Title is from a Lostprophets song.
Summary: Breaking Rodney out was only the first step. Now they have to survive the pursuit and get back to Atlantis, and both those things are easier said than done...

"What took you so long?" was the first thing Rodney said when John kicked in the door, and John had to laugh, recognising his own reflected attitude.

"Took us a while to decide whether we wanted you back," he said, and spent the time that Rodney took to roll his eyes to study him intently for bruises, cuts, dilated pupils - "Did they hurt you?"

"No," Rodney said, which meant that John didn't have to regret that this was a stealth mission, not a blow-everything-up one. But he shuddered. "They told me they needed me in good condition, and didn't look happy about it."

Time to dwell on that later. John pulled out his spare pistol, and tossed it over. Rodney made to shove it in his holster, before apparently remembering that it was missing, along with his jacket, tac vest, and his own weapons, and pushed it into his pocket instead. "Alright, McKay. Let's go home."

-

Rodney dropped without needing to be told into the damp vegetation beside John, who pulled out his radio as soon as he was satisfied they weren't visible from the blank-walled stone compound huddled against the low cliff. They were about half-way up a gentle slope leading to it. Behind them, about a kilometre away, was the forest through which John had previously trekked.

He opened the channel. "Teyla, I'm ending radio silence. Come in."

"Here," Teyla's voice crackled back, after barely a pause. "Do you have Rodney?"

"Yep. He's fine."

"Good. Where are you?"

John glanced around. "Not near any landmarks. Stay where you are, we'll come to you. Out."

"Received. Out."

So far, so good. Everything was going much more smoothly than John had dared to expect. He'd only encountered a single guard while locating Rodney's cell, and that same guard had been the only person they'd encountered on the way out, too. Less animate, that time.

In fact, there had been very few life signs within the large building. They had suspected that there were tunnels into the cliff behind, although he hadn't really fancied taking a look to see if that was indeed the case.

"How far away is Teyla?" Rodney asked, keeping his voice low. "Is Ronon with her? And a Jumper?"

John shook his head. "Sorry, McKay, you only get a small rescue team today. When we find Teyla, you'll be looking at it."

"If this is your idea of a joke..."

If only. "It isn't. Come on, we need to get moving."

The early-evening light was bad, and the dark knee-high vegetation was sodden with recently-fallen rain. John had got close to the compound by crawling, but now he strode, preferring speed over staying hidden. It would only be a matter of time before Rodney's escape was discovered, and they needed to have reached the trees by then. He constantly glanced around, secretly glad that Rodney's movements were so audible, since it meant that he could easily be kept track of while engaging his eyes elsewhere.

"Why don't I get a proper rescue?" Rodney hissed.

"What's wrong with this rescue?"

"Apart from it consisting of just the two of you and no Jumper?"

John grinned, despite facing in the wrong direction. "We aren't supposed to be rescuing you. Woolsey sent a request for negotiations, and it's been agreed that he'll be received tomorrow."

"So you mean that I could have waited a few more hours and got a nice ride home?"

Teyla suddenly rose up from where she had been lying on the ground, as silent as a shadow. Even John, who had known she was somewhere around, jumped slightly, and Rodney let out a strangled cry, which he immediately muffled with his hand. "Don't do that!"

"It is good to see you again, Rodney," Teyla said, as if she had just met him by chance in a hallway. "You are not hurt?"

"He's fine," John assured her quickly. "Moaning about the rescue, though."

"I do not trust these people," Teyla said, her voice dark. "I have heard that they do not treat their word with honour. But Mr Woolsey wishes to try the diplomatic way first, due to my lack of evidence. I believe that would be - " she frowned deeply - "a mistake."

"Right," Rodney said, looking slightly mollified. "So I get a super-secret rescue mission, then?"

"Indeed." Teyla's face quirked into a brief smile.

"Ok," John said. "I hate to kill the party, but we need to be getting a move on. It's a good few hours' hike to the Gate, and since Ronon's still recovering from being shot in the leg during your capture and couldn't join us, I guess it's up to me to set the pace. Which'll be fast." He gave Rodney a slight push to get him started, and to emphasise the point.

"What did they want from you?" Teyla asked Rodney, in a way which John guessed was designed to pre-emptively stop him from commenting on the march. They needed to reach the trees as quickly as possible. Their luck couldn't hold forever. Or even for long.

"I don't know," Rodney said. "They told me that the Elri needed me in good condition, but that was all. They didn't even ask me any questions."

"Teyla?" John asked, but she shook her head.

"I have never heard of... Elri. The word is new to me."

"Something specific to this planet, maybe?"

"Perhaps. I suggest we do not find out."

"I agree." They stepped at last into the shadow of the trees, and John sighed in relief. The close branches above their heads seemed to bring with them some measure of security, irrational as the feeling might be. Not that he was courting bad luck at all... But he felt uneasy. Everything had gone far too smoothly. The unguarded Gate, the undisturbed trek to the compound, and the way that Rodney had been so easy to break out of the cell. He hesitated, swinging round with his P-90 held out, as if he could shoot at whatever thought was haunting him.

Teyla stopped beside him, as did Rodney. "What is it?" she asked.

"Probably nothing. This just seems... too simple."

"Come on, Sheppard. Don't be so positive." But Rodney also looked around, his nervousness betrayed by involuntary twitching of his body.

There was the same worry in Teyla's eyes. "Do you think - "

At that moment, the silence was split open by a bell, clanging loudly from the direction of the compound. John wished that he felt more surprise. It had been far too good to be true. "Off the path," he said, tightly.

No hesitation. The three of them pushed blindly into the undergrowth, moisture from the flat leaves pressing onto them and soaking into their clothes. Low-lying branches clawed. John tried to hold them from springing into the others' faces.

If they got lost they would be in serious trouble, but it was also preferable to being captured.

"We're going the wrong way!" Rodney hissed.

"We'll find it again later," John hissed back.

"They'll know we went into the wood," Rodney said. "Anywhere we go, they'll probably be waiting for us when we get out! Or set it on fire, or something!"

"It is too damp to burn," Teyla said, in a way which was probably meant to be reassuring, but which sounded as if she was dodging the issue. Or maybe that was what she was doing. It was sometimes hard to tell.

"That's not helpful!"

"McKay," John said, trying to get all of their focus back on the immediate. He swatted away a low-hanging branch, and was showered with water droplets. "What level of tech are these people at?"

"Primitive," Rodney replied. "They've got guns, but they traded for them. No computers or sensors or things like that. Give me the life-signs detector."

John passed it over without a word, not surprised that Rodney would take its presence for granted. "We think there's more to the base than the compound, but it doesn't show it. We tried on the way in."

"Well, fortunately for us, the people chasing us are no longer inside the compound," Rodney snapped, turning it on to display a multitude of dots appearing, where there had been none earlier. "Why didn't you give me this before?"

"Because you didn't ask, and I forgot about it."

Rodney snorted, but apparently accepted that as a reason, or at least an excuse.

"Where are they heading?" Teyla asked.

Rodney was still studying the screen. "They're spreading out. I wish this thing showed what the landscape looked like."

"I don't think Google maps cover the Pegasus galaxy."

"Thank you for that oh-so-helpful remark, Colonel."

John shrugged.

"It is a large forest," Teyla said. "We were inside it most of the way from the Gate."

"Do you know how far it goes in directions other than between here and the Gate?"

"Unfortunately not."

"Right." Rodney pointed. "Let's head that way."

"Is that the right direction?" John asked.

Rodney shrugged, with a look of mild desperation just about visible in the gloom. His pale face and arms almost seemed to glow. "It's away from the dots chasing us."

"Away is good," John agreed. "Are you sure they don't have anything to track us with?"

"Of course I don't know! How would I?"

"You might have seen something."

"Well, I didn't. And if I had, I would have said."

They increased their pace, no longer caring so much about being quiet. Leaves and branches slapped across John's face and upper body. He kept glancing behind him to make sure that Rodney was keeping up, although he could have safely left that task to Teyla, who was at the back.

"I'm getting a stitch," Rodney muttered. John ignored him, knowing from experience that in these sorts of situations, that was often the best thing to do. He briefly wished that they didn't have quite so much experience in these sorts of situations, though.

"How far ahead are we?" Teyla asked, and Rodney checked the LSD again.

"They're gaining on us," he said, shortly.

"You say they have guns," John cut in. "What kind?"

"Um... sort of like the Genii have."

"Aren't the Genii supposed to be on our side?"

"That does not affect who they trade with," Teyla pointed out.

"Sheppard." Rodney's voice was urgent. "They're going to catch up with us soon."

"Any chance we can evade them?"

Rodney thrust the LSD at him, and John saw that the pursuing dots had formed a rough line, clearly to effectively flush them out. "Good strategy," he couldn't help commenting.

"Well, I'm glad that you admire them!"

"McKay, calm down," John ordered.

Teyla pointed upwards. "We should climb the trees. They are more likely to look around than above them."

"Climb the trees?" Rodney was clearly not enamoured of the idea.

John knew that there wasn't time for an argument. It was likely their best shot. "Just do it." He glanced around, but Teyla was first to pick out the tree which was easiest to climb.

"Rodney, you should take this one."

Her voice was firm, and Rodney reluctantly shoved the LSD into his pocket and reached for the first branch. Teyla chose her own tree, and was up in the lower canopy faster than it seemed should be humanly possible. John followed her example in a tree of his own, pulling himself upwards through layers of damp greenery, stopping when he found himself a fork to crouch in semi-comfortably. He gave a thumbs-up to a panting Rodney, who scowled, and returned to intently studying the LSD. John wanted to risk whispering across to ask how much time he thought they had before their pursuers arrived, but resisted.

Instead, he stared downwards as time ticked by, watching droplets of moisture bead on the edges of leaves, straining against gravity, until they dropped. Teyla looked calm, and he wondered how she managed it. He was pretty certain that he didn't look anywhere near that collected himself. But then, he would look far more so than Rodney did. He tried to give the scientist a reassuring smile, but Rodney suddenly began gesturing violently at both the LSD and the surrounding forest. John nodded back, to show his comprehension. They were about to have company.

Barely a minute later there was a rustling in the undergrowth, and a thick-set man in dark clothing pushed himself into view and paused, looking suspiciously around. He was flanked by another identically-dressed man, several metres further down what John guessed must be the line formation.

Neither of them were looking up. Yet. John fought against the urge to hold his breath.

"Anything?" the further man asked the nearer, his voice low.

"I don't know." The nearer man was stopped right beneath Teyla's tree. John exchanged a long look with her. "I thought I had a trail, but if I did, I've lost it."

"Could have been an animal," his companion suggested.

"Could have been. I hope we catch the prisoner before he's needed by the Elri."

"They won't be happy."

"I know that. We just have to hope they won't take it out on us."

John looked across to Rodney. And froze.

Above Rodney's head, a massive snake was winding its way down the tree trunk, tasting the air with delicate flicks of its forked tongue. It was electric blue, with black markings. Bright and distinctive. Universal language for, I'm poisonous. Leave me alone.

Rodney hadn't noticed it yet. But he did notice the sudden intensity of John's stare.

Don't move, John mouthed.

What? Rodney mouthed back.

Don't. Move.

He should have known better. Rodney looked up, straight into the snake's cold black eyes.

John had to admire him for not screaming. His eyes popped and he went sheet-white, but he didn't make a single sound. Just began to slowly lean backwards, away from the snake, and also out over the drop.

Teyla was staring too, her hand outstretched across the gap towards him as if she could help.

The men took another look around.

Rodney was still leaning backwards, tilting away from one danger, and towards the tipping point to another.

The nearer man shrugged. "Move on."

Rodney fell.

The instant it happened, John was already sliding down his tree, bark scraping his hands and clothes. He was moving as Rodney tumbled down through the air and crashed to a stop in the undergrowth.

The man turned. "What - "

There was movement in the corner of his eye, and then Teyla launched herself at the man from above, using him to break her fall, her knife glinting as it projected outwards from her fist. He dropped instantly, with a muffled grunt, as John leapt the last few feet towards the other man while he still fumbled for his holster, his own knife out and slicing towards the carotid. There was a spray of blood which spattered across the low-hanging leaves, and the man died quickly and silently.

John hardly spared him a thought, already running back towards the others. He didn't worry about checking on the man Teyla had taken out. She knew how to do her job, sometimes better than he did. "McKay?" he asked urgently, not daring to speak until he was close enough not to have to raise his voice.

Rodney was sitting up, his face still pale, and his hands shaking. Teyla was inspecting a bloody gash on his upper left arm where he must have caught it as he fell. It stood out starkly, dark against the skin. "I'm ok," he said.

That in itself was cause for concern. "You sure?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Well, I was nearly dinner for a snake, I've probably got internal injuries and a fatal infection in that cut, but nothing's actually broken."

That was better. "Glad to hear it."

"Sheppard, you're bleeding."

John rubbed at the blood he had felt land on his jaw. "It's not mine."

"Oh." Clearly, Rodney wasn't comforted by knowing that. His breathing was still ragged.

Teyla took a powerbar from her pocket and handed it to Rodney. "Here, you need the sugar. Eat it."

Rodney obeyed without speaking, which further convinced John that he needed it. Rodney's hypoglycaemia was good for a joke, until it wasn't. It could be too easy to forget that his complaining had a serious basis. Some of it, anyway. Occasionally.

He noticed the LSD lying by his feet and picked it up to study the display. "We're behind the line now," he informed the two of them. "We'd better take advantage of it before they realise they're two men down." He tilted the screen to illustrate.

"That way, then," Teyla said. "Rodney, are you alright to walk?"

"You realise we'll be heading away from the direction that's towards the Gate, right?" Rodney asked, as he accepted John's hand to help pull him to his feet.

"More fun that way."

"This is probably the worst rescue in history."

"You're enjoying it really, you can't fool me."

Rodney glared, but didn't answer around the last of the powerbar which he'd just put into his mouth. "Did they feed you?" John asked, wondering why that hadn't occurred to him earlier.

"No. I'm starving."

Wordlessly, John tossed him another powerbar from one of his own vest pockets, and caught Teyla's quiet laugh. Clearly they had both thought the same way while preparing their gear.

They resumed pushing through the forest. Rodney reached out a hand for the LSD, but John shook his head. As military commander, he decided that it was his responsibility to keep an eye on the movements of their enemy. So far it seemed that the said enemy hadn't noticed that anything was wrong and were still heading steadily in the same direction, as the three of them took the perpendicular route. Hopefully they were all in the forest, rather than some of them walking along the edges.

Rodney was right. The LSD would be much more useful if it also showed topography.

"Stop," Teyla said suddenly. "We're near the edge."

It was true. Between the branches, sky was visible ahead of them. "We're going to have to lose our cover," John said. "Best do it while their attention's still in the trees."

"I have an idea," Rodney suggested. "We could wait here until they realise they've lost us and give up."

"You want to risk your life on the assumption that they're as lazy as you?"

Rodney huffed irritably. "Anyway, surely they'll be watching the edge."

"It's a risk we're going to have to take."

The trees thinned quickly. John led the way, his P-90 raised. Beyond the forest, the ground was covered in the same dense vegetation which had been near the compound, sloping upwards steeply to meet with stands of massive boulders. "We can take cover in there," he whispered, although he was no more likely to be overheard than he had been a few metres back. The imminent exposure seemed to call for it.

"What if someone sees us walking to them?" Rodney whispered back.

"Then we run."

Teyla shook her head. "I think we should crawl."

"Are you both insane?" Rodney asked, clearly horrified.

"If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even be out here. You should act more grateful."

"Yes, clearly I wanted to be captured at gunpoint!"

"We should go," Teyla said sharply.

"Yep, we should." John took a last look around. "We're crawling. I'll go first. Rodney, follow me exactly, and keep right behind me. Teyla'll follow you." He dropped to his knees without waiting for discussion, and, after a couple of seconds, Rodney copied him.

As soon as he began pushing forwards, damp plant material streaking across his face, it occurred to him to hope fervently that none of this growth was poisonous to the touch. He hoped even more fervently that Rodney didn't come up with the same thought.

It was much worse than pushing through the forest had been. There was the thick growth always in front of his face, and tough and knobbly stems pressing painfully into his palms and kneecaps. The ground was very cold.

And when he looked up, the rocks he was aiming for seemed to approach only at the pace of a slug. Which was a creature he currently felt more than a little kinship with.

His foot was suddenly caught and shaken. He stopped moving, and bent his head so that he could see behind him through the crook of his elbow. "What?" he hissed.

Rodney was tensed, his eyes wide. "Listen."

John listened, now free of the noise of his movement. High, on the upper edge of hearing, there was indeed a faint sound, rising and falling in tone before it died away.

"It's a bird." His voice sounded surer than he felt.

Rodney twisted his head behind him, clearly communicating the message back. John waited until he looked around again. "Teyla heard it first. She says not bird."

Crap. "It doesn't matter what it is. Keep moving." Not that he had a reason to doubt Teyla's judgement, but he hoped that she was wrong. And there was nothing they could do about it, either way. He was suddenly aware of how much sky there was above them, and how exposed they were from that angle. Rodney's reassurances about this planet's level of tech didn't reassure him; they had, after all, been fooled in that way before.

A few minutes later, he was made even more aware of the sky. There was a flash of lightning, followed by a rolling clap of thunder, and then rain began pelting down from the low-hanging clouds, falling in heavy sheets which drenched him instantly.

He could hear faint cursing from behind him, but John found himself smiling grimly. With the lowered visibility they were harder to see, and it was doubtful that their pursuers would be quite so eager about the hunt. He took a quick pause to scrub the last of the blood belonging to the man he'd killed from his face. They weren't far from the rocks now.

"For the record, I am so not enjoying this," Rodney muttered as he finally emerged next to John into the slight shelter offered by the lee of a standing boulder. Another flash of lightning threw Teyla's face into momentary sharp relief as she followed, and Rodney made room for her. He poked the cut on his arm, where the blood was being diluted by the rain.

"Don't do that," John chided. He pulled a dressing and bandage from his vest and began wrapping Rodney's wound, his hands feeling the chill of the other man's skin. Then, while Teyla cautiously looked out across the land they had just traversed, he stripped down to his t-shirt and passed over his jacket. "Put this on."

Rodney hesitated.

"You need to hide the bandage. It's too white. I suppose we could coat it with mud, but that wouldn't be exactly hygienic."

"Thanks." Rodney accepted it, and pulled it on gratefully as John zipped his vest back up.

"You're welcome."

Teyla sat back down. "No one is visible. Are we still being followed?"

John checked the LSD. A few dots were still headed in a direction which seemed to correlate with that of the Gate, but most of them had begun congregating together instead of moving forward.

"Crap. Looks like they've realised we got through their line."

"You know what would be really useful right now?" Rodney suggested. John turned towards him, half expectant and half exasperated, guessing what was coming. "A Jumper."

John shoved his non-injured arm. "Be helpful, or don't say anything."

"We have a problem," Teyla interrupted. She was still staring at the screen. On it, the group of dots had formed a tighter clump. And they were beginning to move along a bearing which led straight towards the three dots near the edge of the display.

Rodney grabbed it. "That can't be right." He stared at it, and John resisted the urge to ask him what he thought could possibly be wrong with the piece of equipment. "It's like they know where we are."

"Could they?"

"We've been through this - how on Earth should I know? But they're heading straight for us. Oh God, they have to know we're here."

"Then I suggest not waiting around." John stood up. So did the others. "We can go faster here. So follow me, and keep going." Now he just had to fulfil the impossible task of finding a pace that would both keep them ahead of their pursuers, and be sustainable for Rodney. Although there was a significant difference between where Rodney thought his limits were, and where they actually were.

"We're going to die," Rodney snapped, but he fell into line. John set a pace which was somewhere between a very fast walk and a jog, mindful of the torrential rain which made everything slippery underfoot. But it could be worse. Around the boulders, the ground was mostly covered in short vegetation, which made it relatively easy to cover, and the rocks themselves were between them and the hunters, so they didn't have to watch out for pot-shots. The trouble was that he had no idea how long they would have this protection, or whether it would even run in anything resembling the direction they were trying to go.

He tried to watch the screen as he ran, but the up-and-down motion of his body made that impossible. He stopped sharply, and was run into by Rodney, who never seemed to be able to master those sort of stops, but he ignored that in favour of getting another proper look at the display.

That's impossible.

"Colonel?" Teyla tilted the screen towards her, and Rodney looked over her shoulder.

"This can't be happening."

"It is."

The dots had changed direction, and were again moving to converge on their current position. "They know where we are," Teyla stated flatly.

"But that's impossible," Rodney countered. "How could they? They didn't before!"

"I don't know either, but clearly they can."

Teyla hefted her P-90. "Then I suggest we make a stand here."

"What do you mean?" Rodney asked. He looked afraid.

She smiled grimly. "It seems that we cannot escape. The only other alternative is to fight, is it not?"

"Oh, God," Rodney muttered. "You're serious."

"Deadly so," John said, and didn't notice his word choice until it was too later. He hoped the others hadn't noticed, although there was little chance of that, and then decided that this really wasn't the time to be wasted on useless thoughts. "We're in a defensible position. But to track us like this, they clearly do have some sort of technology."

Rodney finally succeeded in snatching back the LSD, and he bent over it protectively, fiddling with the settings. "No energy readings which weren't there when I last checked." John opened his mouth, but was cut short. "Which, before you ask, was in the forest. Low-level signals from the compound, but I can't find anything else even when I widen the sensors to their maximum."

"But we couldn't detect life-signs within the compound. Isn't it possible - "

"No. Trust me."

"Alright. What's your theory?" John was joining Teyla in finding a good defensive position. He had already decided where Rodney's would be - as safely out of the line of fire as possible. With only John's spare pistol, he was a liability, not an asset. Teyla had found a narrow V shape between two of the rocks and was busy piling stones into its cleft for her to crouch behind. John copied her.

"It's only a theory, mind you, but their movements certainly do suggest that they have both a way to read life signs, and a method of communication. Granted, it's only the communication which we can be certain about, but even so. It suggests that somewhere on this planet, there is tech which - " he paused for effect - "Is cloaked."

"Oh." John let the implications of that sink in. "That's bad."

"I know. Assuming that's true, we have no way of knowing what we're actually up against." A jagged fork of lightning and its following thunderclap punctuated his words.

"Right now," Teyla said firmly, "We are up against a band of armed men."

She was right. No use speculating on possible high-tech ways to be killed, when all it would take was a good old-fashioned bullet. "McKay, stay here," John ordered. "In this spot. If you get shot I'll kick your ass; we didn't come all this way out here against orders for nothing."

He left Rodney where he was, and knelt down in his small fortified position, propping his P-90 up in front of him. From where he was he couldn't see Teyla, but knew exactly where she was. He peered out across the darkening landscape, obscured by the rain-curtains which blurred the boundaries between the dark hillside and the darker forest.

"Here they come," Teyla said. John strained his eyes, wishing that his sight was as good. But it wasn't long before he, too, could pick out human shapes. "Are you ready?"

"Always am," he replied, and pictured the lopsided smile which was certain to have just crossed her face. He licked the rainwater from his lips to moisten his suddenly dry throat. No one ever gets used to waiting for a fire fight.

They had the high ground. And their pursuers couldn't know exactly where they were, not until they started firing.

There was a muzzle flash. A bullet slammed into one of the nearby rocks, chipping off splinters of shrapnel. He waited.

Another shot, from a different position. John marked it, and laid down a burst of fire. Then he ducked down behind his parapet while it was returned. He heard Teyla fire, and after that the sense of clarity was lost, and it was a rain-drenched blur of firing, ducking, firing, while the claps of thunder could barely be distinguished from the guns.

"What's going on?" Rodney shouted at one point, and John yelled at him to shut up and stay down without turning his head.

"You can see their life signs, you tell me!"

"I'm not using it for - ok, I am now! A load of them are breaking off." Teyla laid down another spray of fire. "And now there're two less of them."

"Good." Chips of stone were still flying. "We're winning, yeah?"

"Yes!" Rodney's voice held panic. "They're running. Except some who aren't moving, they're probably wounded."

John raised his head. It was hard to see anything at all, and he remembered the dark clothing their enemy wore. "McKay! Keep talking!"

"They're heading away. Except - shit!"

"What?"

But Rodney was already scrambling past him, emptying the clip of his pistol. There was a yell. And John saw, almost too late, the dim figure who had nearly got beneath his guard collapse to the ground.

Silence fell.

"Nice catch, McKay," he said, shakily.

"Yeah." Rodney handed over the LSD without being asked for it. John looked at the collection of retreating dots, and the few which were remaining. As he watched, one of them flickered out.

Teyla joined them. John peered at her. "Are you hurt?" he asked urgently.

"Not badly," she said. She touched her fingers to her brow, and they came away dark. "Just a graze."

"You sure?"

She stepped away before he could inspect it for himself. "Yes."

Well, that wasn't the most reassuring thing she could have done, but he had to accept it. "Ok. Let's move while we can." He wiped the rain out of his eyes.

"I hate this," Rodney muttered.

"We will be home soon," Teyla said.

"Yes, if nothing else goes wrong."

Privately, John agreed with Rodney, but it would do no good to say it out loud. "McKay, keep an eye on life signs. Don't let anyone sneak up on us."

"I've already stopped that from happening."

"Yeah." John clapped him on the shoulder as he handed the device back, and felt a sudden burst of pride. "Yeah, you did."

As so often happened with McKay, the moment he finally got praise he didn't seem to want it anymore. "I wouldn't be so optimistic, if I were you. We've got more problems to worry about."

John tilted the LSD towards him. "They're still retreating."

"And that seems fine to you?"

"What are you trying to say?" Teyla cut in.

Rodney was fiddling with the settings again. "You know the bit in the first Lord of the Rings movie, in Moria, with all the orcs?"

"We have seen that movie many times, yes."

"Don't use that tone of voice! It's a classic!"

"Is this actually leading somewhere?" John asked.

"Yes! When they're surrounded by orcs, and getting ready to fight to the death, and all of a sudden all of the orcs just run away - "

"Because the balrog scares them off, yes." John paused, and a nasty thought stole into his mind. "Are you saying we're about to meet a balrog?"

"Not a literal one, obviously. But they didn't put that much effort into that fire fight..."

John groaned, and wished that Rodney didn't have such an unnerving knack for being right. "The stuff you were talking about before. Cloaks."

"Yep."

"So we have a cloaked balrog."

There was another crack of lightning, and Rodney flinched. "Stop talking about balrogs!"

"You brought them up!"

John switched immediately into seriousness. "Ok, we're going to start going quicker. Now."

This time the pace he set was fast - one which Rodney would probably think disregarded him completely, although John was in actual fact checking every few steps to make sure that the other man was able to keep up. The rain was pelting down harder now, and the light was almost gone - he dreaded when they would have to switch the flashlights on, or risk falling at every step, but that would have to happen soon.

The thunderstorm was increasing in violence. Forked lightning stabbed jaggedly across the cloud-swirled sky, and thunderclaps followed faster and faster.

"We're going to die," Rodney gasped, somewhere behind him.

He heard Teyla's, "No, we are not," and smiled grimly.

"Easy for... you to say," Rodney panted.

"McKay, please shut the hell up!"

Rodney actually complied, possibly due to shortness of breath. Thunder boomed, almost overhead. John felt as if he was swimming through strangely breathable water, rather than running. Can you drown in rain?

And that was when a bolt of lightning slammed hard into the boulder beside them, blinding, deafening. John threw himself away from it, landing hard on the rough ground, his eyes full of light, the image burnt onto his retinas, and his ears ringing. He bent his head forward and rubbed his eyes fiercely.

"Are we dead?" he heard Rodney ask. Looking round, blinking, he saw that his teammates looked as shaken as he felt. Somehow, that made him feel slightly better.

"If I was dead and in heaven, McKay, I wouldn't have to hear your voice," John responded automatically, his eyes sweeping over Rodney and Teyla, checking for injuries. There didn't appear to be any, for which he was heartily thankful. Teyla was doing a good job of hiding her shock. Rodney wasn't even bothering to try.

"You know, until now, I didn't rate 'being struck by lightning' particularly highly on my list of Possible Ways to Die in Pegasus!"

"You have a list?" Teyla asked.

"Of course, don't you?"

Teyla raised her eyebrows. "No."

"Well, you should. It pays to be prepared!"

John rolled his eyes. "Where on this list does 'getting shot up by angry natives because I was too busy complaining to check the life-signs detector' come?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Rodney snapped, but he did take the hint and check. "No one around."

"That we can see," John reminded him.

"Yes, that we can see. You think I'd be likely to forget that amendment?"

Even with the LSD's empty screen John peered around them, shielding his face with his hand. He still preferred to trust his eyes; not that his eyes could see much in the murk. "As long as the screen stays clear, we might do better staying where we are and waiting the storm out," he said. "They do say lightning doesn't strike twice." He said the last part with his eye on Rodney, but, disappointingly, the other man refused to rise to the very obvious bait.

"Yeah, whatever." Rodney pulled John's jacket more closely around him. "Much as I hate to say this, I think we should keep moving until we reach the Gate. Atlantis isn't having a monsoon, and that makes it extremely favourable right now!"

"I agree." Teyla had visibly brightened at the prospect of being dry again.

"Right."

"When I get back to Atlantis," Rodney said as they moved, walking now in deference to the almost-failed light, "I'm going to have a shower. A really long, boiling shower."

"Haven't you had enough of falling water for a while?" John asked. He had a special part of his brain for dealing with these sorts of mindless McKay conversations while walking.

"Only the cold sort. And after my shower I'm going to the mess hall, and I'm going to get - "

"McKay, I really don't care."

"I'm cold," Rodney muttered.

"We're all cold. And you're wearing my jacket, so don't complain to me."

"We will be home soon," Teyla said. Her voice showed that she, too, was finding this miserable.

"If the Colonel's leading us in the right direction."

"I am sure John knows the way."

"You aren't serious!" John glanced round indignantly at Rodney's assertation, and was in time to catch a glimpse of a smile flicker across Teyla's face. "No, you aren't. Hah."

He sighed. "Alright, McKay, you tell us what direction we should head in."

Rodney huffed, and began fiddling again with the life-signs detector, his feet slowing.

CRACK. A bolt of lightning slammed into a rock, again near them. Near Rodney. Next to Rodney. He had lagged several metres behind John and Teyla.

Teyla reached him first, where he was on the ground, and rolled him over onto his back. John wanted to shout, No, don't move him, be careful of him! but didn't, because Teyla paid for more attention to first Beckett and now Keller than anyone else had, and so if she was doing something, it was probably the right thing to do.

"Rodney, are you hurt?" Teyla asked urgently.

"Yes!" Rodney wasn't bothering to keep his voice down. "I can't see, ow, oh God, I can't see!"

"McKay, calm down!" John caught one of his flailing arms and pinned it back against the ground.

"No! My eyes hurt! I can't see!"

"Open them!"

"No!"

"McKay, you've only been flash-banged!" God, he hoped that was true. He met Teyla's eyes.

"I don't think he is badly hurt," she said.

"Oh yes? And what exactly are you basing your oh-so-expert assumptions on?"

"McKay!" John snapped. "Just open your damn eyes!"

Rodney opened them. He shut them instantly, and then cracked them open again, squinting. "Ow. Ow."

"But you can see?" John asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

"It's coming back."

"See, I told you." He could see the same relief in Teyla's face. And then her expression changed.

"John," she said, urgently.

"What is it?" Rodney asked, blinking.

She got up and took a few steps, water filling the dents her heels had made while she had been crouching down. She picked something up.

"Oh, crap," John muttered.

Rodney squinted harder. "What? What is it?" His night vision was completely gone.

Teyla pressed into his hands the smashed life-signs detector. It had been flung out of his grip and into a rock. There wasn't even a hint of a glow from its splintered screen. She said nothing, but then, she didn't really need to.

"That is supremely unhelpful," Rodney stated flatly, his fingers probing the casing, trying to coax even a flicker of power from it, but without success. His eyes were gradually beginning to open properly again.

"Can you fix it?" Teyla asked, but obviously already knew what the answer would be.

"No chance."

"Do you remember anyone being on the display?"

Rodney shook his head, and then stopped. "I...don't know."

"What's that mean?" John was feeling nervous, and consequently short-tempered.

"It means I don't know! I don't know if I saw anything or not. Maybe."

"We should move," Teyla said.

Rodney huffed in frustration. "This is stupid! We don't even know what direction we're moving in! All you two keep saying is that we have to keep moving."

"There is nothing else we can do," Teyla said. John wished it was easier to see past her layer of calm. Right now, he was pretty sure that she, too, was frustrated, and almost at her snapping point. She pushed dark strands of hair from her face, revealing again the scrape along her brow.

God, this whole thing was messed up. He fleetingly wondered what would have happened if he and Teyla had followed orders.

CRACK. Another lightning bolt, this one a football pitch's length away. Rodney shrieked, and cut himself off forcibly, shoving his hand across his mouth.

And John thought, They stopped chasing us...

"It's the lightning!" he exclaimed. "It's targeting us!"

"That's ridiculous!" Rodney protested.

"You want to bet on it? We already know that they know where we are!"

CRACK. Further away, but from a different direction.

Teyla pointed. "I believe the Gate should be straight that way."

"Based on what?" John asked.

"I have been working out how far we have come. If we leave the rocks and go straight that way, we should come across it. Or at least, near it." She paused. "Also, we will be on lower ground."

It was a convincing argument. And John was willing by now to believe anyone who told him a firm direction. Not that he would say that out loud. "Ok. How far do you reckon we are from it?"

"Not too far."

Rodney snorted. "We can't even see the forest any more."

"Which means that people have less chance of seeing us."

"This is the worst and most badly organised rescue ever."

"I believe you have already said that."

"It bears repeating."

"You've already repeated it." John ignored the urge to switch on his flashlight as his feet caught in twisted stems, tripping him. He regained his balance, and tried to watch where he was treading, but it was just a uniform dark mass around his shins.

"It bears a lot of repeating."

"McKay, shut up."

"Your grasp of the subtleties of conversation never ceases to amaze me, Colonel."

"Rodney..." Teyla began.

"Ok, fine. Shutting up."

The removal of that source of distraction only left the sound of the pouring rain as it hammered down on the undergrowth and onto them, and the sound of their footsteps. The two others were only slightly paler shapes against the deep grey of everything else.

There was no more lightning. No more anything. John found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, they'd manage to make it safely to the Gate after all.

Of course, that was a mistake.

There was another flash and bang - but we're not high enough for lightning to strike here - and then a scream, and then he was firing into the darkness at where he thought the muzzle-flash had come from, and there was another from the side, and he was firing there too -

And then there was silence. John stood very still. And then he swore inside his head, and clicked on the flashlight, swinging around in a fast circle and switching it off again while he waited for his brain to resolve the picture his eyes had captured.

The first man he reached was dead.

"John!" A whisper reached him. Teyla.

"There were two shooters. This one's dead - "

"So is this one."

He straightened up, and a sudden flare of pain in his arm made him swear again, out loud this time, as he dropped the P-90, letting the cord catch it.

"John?"

"I think one of them got me." He raised the fingers of his left hand to his right upper arm. Without seeing it, he could already feel that there was a lot of blood. The same slick layer as the rainwater was leaving, only warmer. "Oh, shit." And then another thought cut through his head, this one bearing with it a different sort of pain. "McKay?"

"Oh, are we talking now?" The voice sounded... odd, and came from near the ground. John fumbled towards it, hearing Teyla's movements at the same time.

"Rodney, are you alright?" she asked urgently.

There was a laugh which managed to convey very little humour. "I think someone shot me. This really isn't my day." His voice ended on an tremor.

"No, it really isn't," John agreed, his hand clamped over his arm, warm sticky blood congealing in the gaps between his fingers, even as the rain tried to wash it away. The pain seemed to be coming in waves.

He heard and dimly saw Teyla drop down beside where Rodney was. He did the same. His body was telling him that sitting down was a better idea than standing up was.

Gentle fingers pulled his hand away and pressed a dressing in its place. "How's Rodney?" he asked.

"He's been caught in his side, above his hip." Teyla was now winding a bandage around his arm. He remembered that they had hidden Rodney's, and looked down to see that that really wouldn't be necessary for him. Blood was doing a good job of darkening it.

Her voice was the same one that Keller used when being clinical.

"McKay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. Here."

"You ok?"

There was a pause, clearly for Rodney to come up with a sarcastic remark. Then he apparently gave up. "No."

A sarcastic remark would have been much more reassuring.

And then that unearthly wail started up again, the one they had heard earlier while crawling to the rocks. It made John try and hunker down into the ground, instincts telling him to hide.

Teyla, however, stood.

"Can you see anything?" John asked.

"No. But we should move."

Rodney groaned. "Please, no..."

"Last time, that noise meant people were coming for us," John pointed out. Not that he wanted to move, really. He gritted his teeth. "Come on. Now."

Somehow, within a fog of a lot of pain, they managed to get moving, with Rodney between Teyla and John, so that they were supporting him. More in Teyla's case, less in John's. And they were going forward, probably with Teyla steering.

"You should have left me alone," Rodney muttered. "Then you wouldn't be here, and...you know."

"Yeah. I know. But we weren't going to just leave you there."

"Thanks."

"It's ok."

"Wonder what... they wanted me for?"

"That is not important," Teyla said fiercely. "Whatever it was, they had no right." John could picture the flint in her eyes.

"Really," Rodney said quietly, between breaths. "Thanks. For coming for me. I didn't... I thought..."

"We are your team."

"Mmm. But still... Really."

"It's not like you to go soft," John commented.

Rodney snorted, and then grunted, possibly at pain caused by the snort. "I was talking to Teyla. Not you."

"Yeah, of course you were."

Teyla made a noise which could have been indicating irritation or amusement. Probably a mixture of both.

"You know where we're going?" John asked, to change the subject.

"I believe so."

"Well, that's comforting."

"It's much more comforting than when you say it, Sheppard."

They walked on further, and John realised that they had arrived at the edge of the forest again. Hopefully in a different place. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said. Three of them together, two of them injured, trying to walk in a group through the trees?

"When we left the Gate, there were paths leading in more than one direction," Teyla said, and John belatedly remembered that she was right.

"So we're looking for a path that comes out here?"

"I will look for the path," Teyla said, and John was relieved that he didn't have to concentrate on more than walking and keeping Rodney walking.

"Great."

"They won't let us go, though," Rodney muttered. "That noise? They're hunting us."

"They will not catch us."

"They might."

"Rodney, we will not let them."

"Oh." To John's great surprise, he didn't protest. And, like a miracle, a pale path appeared beneath their feet.

"It should not be far," Teyla said confidently, and John decided not to doubt her.

Under the trees it was even darker, but there was less rain. John could see the path, when he looked for it. His arm ached. He was bone-achingly cold.

There were voices.

They stopped.

"...useless. We should have just let them find their own way here in the first place and caught them like that."

"The Elri willed - "

"Yes, I know they wanted to bring the fire from the sky and burn them. But even that didn't work properly. And I bet he didn't escape by the will of the Elri, no matter what anyone says."

"Quiet."

John could see a flicker of light from between the trees. "Three men?" he whispered.

"We can take them," Teyla whispered back.

"No," said another voice from behind them. "You can't."

Everything seemed to freeze. John tried to think of options. Any options.

"If you move, I'll shoot."

John groaned. So close. So damn close.

"We surrender," Teyla said.

"Good. Move."

They trudged on down the path, heavy footsteps trailing them. "Do something!" Rodney hissed in John's ear.

"There's nothing we can do."

"But we're nearly home..."

And they were at the Gate, in a very different way to how they imagined they would reach it, only a few short minutes ago. John's imagination, at least, hadn't included the barrels of four guns being pointed at them.

Lit by lanterns, the three men in front of them were wearing the same dark uniform as the men they had previously seen. "Move away from each other," one of them said.

They did, reluctantly. Rodney wavered without the support. His face was very white. John glanced at his arm, and saw that blood was still slowly seeping through the bandage. He was feeling lightheaded.

"Did you have fun escaping?" one of the men asked.

"Bastards," Rodney spat.

"Sorry to see you're hurt. We really don't want you dead. Or rather, the Elri don't."

"So why don't you tell us what the hell the Elri are?" Rodney asked furiously. "Since we've been running around in the dark not even knowing what we're running from, or why you decided to kidnap me in the first place."

"They make the lightning if they're provided with...someone to serve their purposes."

"So they don't actually exist?" John asked. He had a horrible felling that he was on the brink of working out what was going on.

"Of course they exist! They give us the lightning."

Rodney groaned. "And your 'someone to serve their purposes' - they wouldn't happen to have to sit in a chair-like thing, would they?"

"The Elri have spoken to you?"

"No! Common sense has!" He made a gesture, and gasped harshly with the movement. "You strap some poor bastard in a control chair until they die?"

"The current servant of the Elri is growing ill and weak."

"So you want me instead?"

John wondered if they'd try to deny it.

"Yes."

Teyla was practically radiating fury.

And John made a choice. "I'm better at working the...Elri's...machines than McKay is. Let the other two go, and I'll come with you."

Rodney gaped. "Sheppard, don't be so stupid!" He tried to turn, but somewhere in the middle of the motion he lost his ongoing battle with gravity and folded to the ground. Teyla instinctively jerked forward to catch him, and stopped herself in mid-movement.

John held out his hands. "Well?"

They appeared to be thinking about it. John wished he knew whether or not these particular men were blindly following orders, or had the authority to make decisions of their own.

Then the man who was possibly the leader shrugged. "We would have had your leader, when he came, but you will do instead."

"So you'll let McKay and Teyla go?"

"Certainly not. What I meant was, we'll have all three of you. Now, keep your hands together in front of you."

John's brain seemed to have assumed the consistency of treacle. But one thought barged its way to the surface. It was the right decision. Breaking Rodney out was the right decision.

The man pulled out a strip of cloth, and began to wind it around John's hand. John waited.

Then he kicked out.

There were gunshots, but the man in front of him was now a shield. And the focus of all the men was on him.

That gave Teyla the time she needed to attack.

It didn't take long.

"Rodney?" Teyla crouched down beside him.

"I'm ok," Rodney said. He was breathing heavily, but he didn't look worse than he had before.

John grinned. "What say we go home now? Then you can make an official complaint about how bad your rescue was."

"Maybe it wasn't that bad," Rodney admitted. "I mean, it could have been worse. Possibly."

"You're welcome," John told him.

Teyla was already beginning to dial Atlantis on the DHD. "I imagine Mr Woolsey might be unhappy with us," she commented, as she keyed in her IDC and returned to the other two. She looked tired now, and the scrape along her forehead was still dark, diluted blood leaking in fat water droplets down her skin.

"He'll admit we were right," John said. "After a while. When we tell him what these people intended."

"A lightning machine must be good for keeping away the Wraith," Rodney said in a considering sort of way, still from the ground.

"Don't even think about it, McKay," John warned him, while bracing himself for being again used as a support. "We are not coming back here."

They stepped through the Gate, and suddenly there was no more rain.

What there was was Atlantis, with morning sun spilling in through the stained-glass windows into the open brightness of the Gateroom, and Woolsey hurrying down the steps towards them with a look of horror on his face. They must look out-of-place, soaked, coated in mud and blood, and supporting each other.

In fact, the image of them standing in the Gateroom looking as they did was so funny that John wanted to laugh.

Woolsey spluttered something about 'disregarding orders and hindering diplomatic relations', and at that John actually did laugh. Teyla grinned, and even Rodney managed a smile.

"And now you're going to tell me how they weren't diplomatic at all and you took the best course of action," Woolsey said with a sigh.

"Afraid so," said John, riding out a wave of euphoric triumph. "I really don't think they'd have been very good friends."

"I think we need a med team," Teyla cut in, just as John felt Rodney begin to slump.

"They're already on their way. I called them as soon as you arrived looking like you've been to hell and back."

"We made the right decision to go," Teyla said firmly, in the way of one making sure that there was absolutely no ambiguity about her position.

Woolsey sighed. "Tell me about it later."

Keller and her team arrived, and John was pressed gently but firmly onto a gurney, while the same thing happened to Rodney. He heard Teyla protesting when this treatment was also applied to her, and grinned wryly.

He lay back and closed his eyes, and the sunlight from the windows washed over him, replacing some of the chill which the dark and the rain had stolen.

Yes. They had made the right decision. And they had come back.