Chooseday Tuesday: In Enemy Hands
Hello everyone! New Tuesday, which means new Chooseday!
Last week's winning choice was path C: “I don’t know anything.”
Quick Recap: The team that found you released the other captives but found you highly suspicious; you have no idea why. John, Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla have proven to be less than friendly, but for the moment, they aren’t going to kill you. They think you know something, but you’ve told them all you remember.
Written by: @silverwolverinex
Illustrated by: @autistic-crypt1d
In Enemy Hands- Chapter 2
content warnings for needles and laboratory imagery.
“What do you know about Michael?” John asks, gruffly.
You bite your lip, but decide to answer truthfully. “ I don’t know anything.” You have never heard that name before. Just another word that means nothing to you in the useless soup that is your memories.
Ronon raises his gun again, this time aimed at your face. He’s staring at you with a hatred you didn’t think was possible of a complete stranger. But he waits. His hand is taught, the muscles in his arm clenched so hard you think he might hurt himself, yet he waits…waits for John’s order.
“John,” Teyla says quietly. “I feel he is speaking the truth.” The commander looks from Teyla to you, sizing you up.
The silence grows uncomfortable before finally John slings his gun aside and pulls out a stretch of rope. “Alright. You’re coming with us.”
.
“What?” You reply, as the rope is secured around your body- John instructing you not to move, and Ronon stepping an inch closer as John continued to restrain your arms to your side.
“You might not remember now, but soon, you will. And then, I want to know everything you know.”
“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Rodney says looking around, “The location of-,”
“Is already compromised if he’s an agent of Michael’s.” John finishes for him.
“Then we’ll kill him or dump him somewhere without a stargate.” John shrugged, finished up the job, then gesturing for Ronon to help carry you up and out of the prison. Ronon was NOT gentle.
They dragged you back to the stargate, and it was already dialed up when you got there- Rodney having jogged ahead to dial it through so you wouldn’t see the address. You are roughly pushed through- and out the other side.
.
The room itself is outfitted with burgundy metals and beautiful ancient carvings, set to a large clearing where the gate opens up to a sort of sleek operations room. It’s clearly ancient design, and there are windows beyond that allow you to see the cool blue sky- much nicer than the gray, murky planet you have just arrived from. However, what puts a damper on all the intricate architecture is the squad of men aiming guns at you as soon as you enter. As if being tied up wasn’t enough.
A wave of nausea hits you as the squad begins to move you- you’ve got this horrible deja-vu, a sense of ‘repeating’ as you look around the room. Have you been here before? Have you met these people? These…Lanteans? How do you know that?
“Hey!” Someone shouts as you fall to the floor, unable to keep your balance, and there’s a flurry of footsteps, but your vision goes blurry.
You come to again in a perfectly square cell with thick steel-like bars around every edge. The decorative interior of the main hall is gone, replaced by gray walls and a force-field around the steel beams. There’s at least one other guard in the room with you- on the other side of the cage, of course.
It seems you have just traded one jailer for another.
.
The nausea hasn’t left you, and the guard looks startled as you double over in pain. There’s nausea, and hunger. Your stomach is aching- as if it is desperate to start tearing into itself- as if that would help satiate the need that you feel to fill this hole within you.
Why isn’t the guard helping? Why is he just sitting there watching another human starve in agony?
“Please…” You heard yourself murmur. “I am so hungry…anything will do.”
The guard stares for a moment longer, before he radios someone. Someone named “Sheppard” and “Keller.”
In a few moments, John reappears, with Rodney, and a woman who has the scent of chemicals and antiseptic about her- with a slight whiff of illness- although you are sure she isn’t ill herself. A doctor, you surmise, relieved that the guard took you seriously and you may actually be getting some medical attention.
.
“Alright,” John sighs. ‘What seems to be the problem here, Gary?”
Rodney cocks an eyebrow at him, “Gary?”
John just shrugs, “What? You don’t like it?”
Rodney looks like he’s about to start in on a talking point, but you interrupt- “Can you help me? There’s something wrong- I…I don’t feel well.”
“We know.” John Sheppard doesn't change the look on his face, and Rodney looks squeamish, staring here at you- quickly averting his eyes to his tablet, looking at whatever was displayed there. Keller’s eyebrows pinch in guilt and pity- she cares about you- or at least what you’re going through, it seems.
“What’s the problem? Can you tell me?” She asks, her voice unsteady, but patronizing, as if she were talking to a child or perhaps trying to calm an angry animal.
You frown. “My stomach. I am so hungry.” Your arm had started to hurt as well- a spot just beneath your elbow, with strange track marks going up the vein- it was throbbing and pulsing the longer you stayed curled up on the floor, clutching your knees.
“Okay. Sure.” She replies, absently. She’s got something in her hands. She fiddles with it for a moment before she continues, trying hard not to make eye contact with you, “I have something that will help but I have to get close to you.”
You stay completely still and give a small nod. Rodney swallows loudly, nervously- his scent is ripe with fear, as he types away on his little device to open the door. It unlatches and opens, the pain field around it deactivating.
John stays rigid, holding a wraith stunning rifle at his side- wait, a what? How do you know? Even just thinking about the odd gun at his side hurts your head- and you remain seated when the Keller woman steps in to approach you, John’s gun aimed at you the entire time.
”This might sting a little.” Keller is holding your arm, looking at the track marks- you were distracted by the- the what? Memory? As she injects you with a relatively small needle, right among the other track marks.
.
||The sight of the needle forces another flurry of images to the forefront of your mind. Needles. Tubes, a sickly, cloudy liquid that wormed through the straws of the machine you were hooked up to-|| beeping and a voice…then you saw their faces- you remembered these people. Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, John. The way they strapped you down and forced you to undergo these treatments…something’s wrong here.
These flashes are too jostled, they don’t make sense. You’ve never been to Atlantis before- you’ve never known any of these humans, and yet…where had they taken you? A dirty lab with all sorts of wraith equipment, filling you with strange drugs to- to what? Starve you? Poison you? Had they done this to you?
Your eyes snap open and you are full of fear and anger. You have been abused. John was there. Rodney was there. The cell is open and now is your chance- this is not where you want to be.
A. Shove Keller at John and make a run for it. You could try to make it back to the gate.
B. Wrench your arm around Keller’s neck and hold her to your chest as a protective shield.
C. Remain in the cell. This is the time to collect information and plan your escape.
The cell is open and now is your chance- this is not where you want to be.
Voting ended onJun 30
Please keep in mind that this poll will be closing on Saturday the 27th, not Tuesday!
The paths here and on the Discord have diverged so if you want to see and vote on that one too, head over there!
All paths will be posted on the AO3 collection here
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