Chapter 5 – Terminated

Radek had to blow air into Rodney's lungs several times before he was finally rewarded when the man beneath him twitched, inhaled a long rattling breath and then released it in a whimper.

Radek shifted around and grabbed his own jacket which Rodney had dropped to the floor in his insane eagerness to get himself killed. He tried to ignore the scream of pain in his crushed ankle, but couldn't stop the cry escaping his lips as his limb jarred with each pull of himself across the floor.

The new robot, their saviour, now stood over the remains of Unit 318. A small plume of smoke rose from the ruined metal of the enemy robot where its power cells had been destroyed.

Rodney was lying so still, he was almost lifeless. But at least he was now breathing on his own, although with difficulty, even though he was bleeding and broken.

Radek moved over and glanced down at the blood spreading out and soaking through Rodney's shirt from the wound in the centre of his lower abdomen. He had no idea what the robot had done to him, as his sight had been obscured by his own pain and terror at the time.

Rodney was not only Radek's boss, but a man who he considered to be his friend too. But Rodney was now so silent, vulnerable and still for once in his life, and so very human and fragile. But icy fear filled Radek at his realisation that Rodney was human and weak and had been seemingly so easily rendered this way.

Radek had to push up Rodney's shirt to gain access to the injury and gauge how bad it was before attempting to stop the bleeding. He winced when he saw it. It wasn't a burn this time, but a single circular penetrating wound. It looked fairly deep and was positioned just below the hollow of Rodney's belly button. Blood oozed out across the pale skin and Radek quickly pressed the jacket against it and tucked part of it into the waistband of Rodney's trousers to keep it in place and maintain the pressure.

Rodney moaned and coughed harshly. Radek looked up at him, but Rodney's eyes remained closed as he spoke weakly, "What happened? D-did it work?"

"Yes," Radek snapped with more anger than he had intended. He cursed Rodney's actions and how badly he was hurt because of it. It may have destroyed the robot, but he had no right to do such a thing. They could've worked on the solution together.

"Rodney, you are even stupider than the one track minded robot over there."

"Gee, th-thanks, Radek. Under your loving care, I f-feel better already!" He winced and scrunched up his face as he mumbled, "I think something fairly vital inside me's broken."

Radek kept the jacket in place over the stab wound and pushed Rodney's shirt up the rest of the way with his free hand. He baulked at the extent of the bruising and the unnatural curve and movement of Rodney's chest.

He tried to hide his concern, but his voice still wavered and betrayed the lie as he said, "Do not worry, Rodney, we will soon have you home where the infirmary staff can 'prod and poke' you all day long."

Rodney winced and coughed, "That just sounds painful."

"It was a very brave thing you did. Especially knowing that it might not work."

"Hey! I knew it was going to work! And it did, didn't it?" Rodney said indignantly, although the effect was diminished by the trickle of blood which ran from the corner of his mouth. He coughed again and moved his hand over Radek's to clutch his lower abdomen tightly. "Ow."

Tears leaked from the corners of Rodney's eyes and ran down his bruised face. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to pull air into his body to keep himself alive. His chest moved jerkily and he whimpered and sobbed.

Radek didn't quite know what to do with him. Rodney was supposed to be the strong one. Radek sighed sadly and tentatively reached out to Rodney and placed a hand on his forehead - the only part of him not bruised or broken, burnt or bleeding. Rodney sniffed sadly and winced, before becoming quiet. Radek took that as encouragement and said, "It is alright, Rodney, I am sure Colonel Sheppard has already found a way to reach us."

"And if he hasn't?" Rodney gasped and coughed again; blood speckling his lips.

Radek turned to the new Unit and asked, "Can you help us? My friend is hurt and we need to get him back to the stargate."

The red-eyed robot turned to look down at them, and Radek flinched as the thing's eyes met his. But it moved swiftly and as it approached it spoke towards Rodney, "His upper frame is broken and discontinues in places. Vital organs; heart, lungs, intestine, have been compromised."

Rodney mumbled, "And the rest…"

Radek was shocked, Rodney was in worse shape than he imagined. He had hoped that the stab wound had not gone so far as to hit anything important. But despite Rodney's teammates' frequent, unkind and unfounded complaints about his podgy belly, it wasn't enough to protect him from the damage caused by the depth of the injury. If his bowel had been cut into, like the new and hopefully good robot claimed, then it would already be leaking its poisonous waste into his bloodstream. There really wasn't a lot of time before a life threatening infection took hold. That was if Rodney managed to keep breathing through his damaged lungs and his heart kept going for that long.

Rodney closed his eyes and Radek patted his face. "Rodney, you must try to stay awake, at least until we are safely back on Atlantis."

But Rodney ignored him and his head dropped to the side limply as he fell unconscious and his breathing became shallower and more laboured as the vital seconds ticked by.

The robot turned to Radek and said, "You have a broken ankle."

"I did suspect that was so."

Radek glanced at Rodney as his life gradually slipped away in silence. Rodney was not supposed to die like this. Not alone, and certainly not without a good fight or argument. And absolutely not for Radek's sake.

If Rodney's injuries killed him, then Radek would probably be asked to take over the role of Chief of Science on Atlantis. But he was unsure he would ever be able to accept such a position. It was bad enough when Rodney was hurt and he had to take over temporarily, but knowing that Rodney had died (and for Radek) so that he could be promoted, would never sit well with him. His own feelings of guilt would destroy him very quickly; the very idea was abhorrent to him.

He needed to be stubborn and strong and heroic to get them both through this; just like Rodney McKay himself.

He turned to the robot and ordered, "Carry him. And help me. We must hurry back to the stargate."

The robot obeyed without question and the terror clutching Radek that it would try to attack diminished, but was entirely replaced by a deeper feeling of fear that Rodney was not going to last the time it took them to get back. Neither of them had radios or GDOs and Atlantis would never lower the shield on a whim, even if they knew where the scientists had been taken. There was too much of a risk that they would lower the shield, only to be invaded by a whole army of murderous psychotic and relentless killing machines.

The friendly robot crouched down and gathered Rodney up into its arms surprisingly gently. It held out one elbow and Radek grabbed on and as the robot stood up straight very slowly, Radek was pulled up too. He kept all his weight on his good leg, but the fracture in his other one ached and burnt unmercifully and he found that his eyes watered and he gritted his teeth from it, just as Rodney had done before he had become unaware of the world.

The robot moved at a steady speed, but not too quickly, just enough to allow Radek to hop alongside using the sturdy, but cold, metal as a crutch. He winced and cried out at the jarring, but he still did it, he had to do it, for Rodney.

It turned out that the room they were in was one of several surrounding a massive circular room where the gate was. Radek could see the guns in the ceiling, sleek, as was the Ancient's design, but dormant. They were all aiming towards the gate and Radek could see their victims littered throughout the room. Skeletons of varying degrees of freshness and a stale smell of decay hung in the air, but they pressed onwards and Radek even managed to resist the urge to gag through the terrible pain and the death surrounding them. There and then, he outright refused to let Rodney become just another one of the corpses on the floor. He snorted at that; some of Rodney's stubbornness had worn off on him, but that was to be expected when he worked day in and day out with the man. He had found out long ago that the only way to deal with the biting wit and comebacks that made up Rodney McKay, was to give as good as you got.

"Carefully place him by the dialling device, please," Radek asked his clunking and totally obedient companion.

It did as asked and Radek narrowed his eyes as he transferred his leaning weight from the robot and onto the DHD podium.

He suddenly had an idea and asked, "Do you know where our equipment is? Rodney mentioned he had some pills, I had a scanner and we both had radios."

The robot stood completely still and stared out impassively. Radek sighed, it was obviously not going to help them. He glanced down at Rodney, who was now breathing in fits and starts and the jacket against his midsection was soaked through with blood which glistened in the artificial lights.

The robot suddenly turned around and stalked away. Radek's good leg was shaking under the strain of supporting most of his weight. He desperately longed to sit down, but he knew that if he did that, he would not be able to get back up again. He also had no idea how to collapse to the floor without the jarring through his body transferring to his injured leg and making the pain so bad he would probably scream.

Rodney breathing was causing Radek pain just to listen to it, so he certainly didn't need any more. He contemplated dialling Atlantis right then, but knowing that it would be futile, he forced himself to wait for the stomping metal feet of the heavy robot to get louder as it returned to him… which it did a minute later.

It held up its loosely closed hand and dropped their equipment into Radek's outstretched hands.

He turned to the robot and said, "Thank you. Please can you go back and wait in the alcove?" So that it wouldn't see the address to Atlantis. Not that it mattered too much with the shield they had to protect them.

It nodded and walked away. Radek had no idea what Rodney had done to it in the brief time he was activating the machine, but he fully intended to ask him when he was better, as he desperately tried to convince himself that everything was now going to be fine.

He hammered the address and sent through his IDC. Not even bothering with the radios as he slowly made his way to the floor with the help of the DHD. He crawled over to Rodney's unmoving supine form. The tantalising pool of blue seemed miles away and the pain was so awful… but he had to do it for Rodney, and he did. He grabbed Rodney's good arm and dragged his dead weight all the way across the impossible gulf and through the gate.

When his eyes saw the familiar floor in the Atlantis control room he collapsed down and mumbled, "Raise the shield behind us." There was a familiar swish as it did.

He heard shouts for medical teams and other calls of joy turning to concern, but the sounds all swirled together and were lost to him as the floor rose up and met him head on. Then there was only silence and darkness.

Rodney was pale and shaky as the infirmary staff pumped his body full of drugs to fend off the infection trying to take over him from his punctured intestine. Carson had reassured everyone that a course of strong anti-biotics should get the little blighters causing Rodney's illness in no time, unless they were tougher than the usual Pegasus Galaxy nasties.

The implement used to pierce Rodney's abdomen had been about the size of a penknife, but much shorter. Carson had found evidence of twisting, and somehow Radek already knew this to be the case, as he had witnessed the horrendous torture Rodney had endured and he remembered some of Rodney's agonised screams (even above his own).

Rodney was kept sedated while on a ventilator for a few days after his return to Atlantis, to help his badly crushed chest and multiple rib fractures to heal, along with the many associated internal injuries.

Carson said it had been touch and go for a while, but once Rodney was on oxygen and was no longer alone when it came to breathing, he had started to get better very slowly. His stab wound had been sealed and bandaged and most of the bruising and burns he had sustained were hidden beneath the sheet pulled up to mid-chest level. But the visible portion of bare skin above the sheet was black and blue. And his jawline seemed to change colour each day as it got better, purple to black, then green and yellow.

Radek had his ankle placed in a cast after it had been set, and now spent what little time he felt like being mobile, hopping around on crutches. Although he mostly stayed in the infirmary, waiting for McKay to get better and being hypnotised by the hiss and sigh of the ventilator nearby. Carson had even wheeled up another bed so that he could stretch out his leg and not be forced to sit cramped and in pain in one of the flimsy plastic chairs. The throb lessened after that so he was grateful. It also allowed Rodney's team to visit him and use said chairs to sit between the beds.

Radek got some work done on his tablet while he sat there. But going over the data they had downloaded from the robot just made him all the more anxious about Rodney's condition and what they had both been through.

John had visited many times, as had Teyla and Ronon. They told Radek that the address of the robot facility didn't work anymore and they had requested the Daedalus to check it out.

Lorne had come down too. Radek had wanted to dismiss his apology as unnecessary, but ended up accepting it; if only to stop the Major from feeling guilty for no reason.

Elizabeth visited as well, her face full of concern and worry as she glanced over Rodney's damaged body. She even thanked Radek. Thanked him! For getting them both back, even though they were hurt. Radek had explained what happened to both her and Sheppard, as well as writing it up in a report. No matter how many times he pressed the fact that it was Rodney who saved them both, they still gushed their praises for Radek and he felt guiltier than ever that Rodney had been so badly hurt and he had only broken his ankle.

So that was where Radek was a few days later, sitting on the bed next to Rodney's, tapping away on his tablet and feeling thoroughly miserable as his ankle ached and throbbed despite the cast and painkillers and where he had it resting on a soft cushion. The tube had been removed from Rodney's airway and he had been taken off the sedatives to allow him to wake up when he felt strong enough.

Radek checked through the base code of the robot for the umpteenth time and sighed. There was a sudden small cough and a groan next to him. He shook himself away from the soul-destroying and guilt inducing work and glanced across at the source of the quiet sound.

He was glad when he saw a pair of watery blue eyes looking back at him, as he hadn't seen Rodney's eyes for days, but then, neither had he seen the other man move or even breathe properly under his own volition for quite a long time. But Rodney was looking at him blankly.

Radek startled, "Rodney!"

"Radek? What happened? I… I… It hurts..."

McKay turned his face away and closed his eyes very tightly with his brow furrowed. He drew in a shallow and shuddering breath and started to shake. He grimaced and bunched his hands into fists as his chest rose up a short way and then stayed still. His knuckles went white and his pale face turned pink at the effort as he held his breath.

Carson had been alerted already by the rapid bleep of the heart monitor and quickly came over. His touch and words were gentle as he soothed Rodney while Radek looked on helplessly.

The softly spoken words Carson said floated back to Radek, "It's alright, Rodney. This should help with the pain." He injected something into one of the many lines feeding Rodney fluids and drugs. "You're safe and you'll be feeling sound again very soon too. You have to breathe though or else I'll have put you on the ventilator again and that'll only make your throat sore again. Breathe now; in and out, deeply and slowly." Carson straightened up with a nod of satisfaction. "There you are."

Carson gave Rodney a tiny sip of water and by the time he walked away, after checking that Radek was comfortable too, Rodney was asleep and his face was smooth again.

A couple of weeks later, Rodney had already discharged himself from the infirmary and any form of prescribed rest. He was back in the labs, hunched over a laptop with his arm in a sling where his shoulder had been dislocated. He still had to be forced to return to the infirmary regularly for check-ups and painkillers, but his chest was getting better each day, even though he winced whenever he shouted, and Radek often saw him with his eyes closed in pain and his free hand curled around his ribcage.

Radek still had the cast wrapped around his lower leg and crutches were leaning within reach on the table next to him.

As he worked, he kept an eye on Rodney.

He had managed to get the information out of Rodney as to how he created a good robot. The other scientist had told him that he had implemented a simple alteration in the robot's base code to get it to become instantly friendly and to quash its murderous intentions. He had reactivated the ethical subroutines, the ones which prevented all harm coming to humans, and adjusted it so that its purpose was to obey and assist humans in any way they asked (except if it meant hurting or killing other humans).

Other than that, Rodney had not really said very much at all since they had returned. He seemed to have withdrawn in upon himself, which was not really surprising, considering the extent of his injuries and how close he had come to dying back in the facility. But it was sad to see him that way and even though Radek tried his best to coax him out of the shell, he didn't have any success.

Radek was contemplating giving it another go that afternoon and trying to engage Rodney in conversation, when they were both called to the Briefing Room. It was about time, as the Daedalus was due to have visited the robot planet that morning.

Radek hopped and his crutches clicked, while Rodney moved stiffly beside him with a permanent grimace on his pale face. His breath still rattled and wheezed as he struggled to move properly, but if he was too stubborn to get his pain meds topped up regularly, well, there wasn't a lot that Radek or anyone else could do about it.

As it turned out, the facility was now no more than a massive blackened crater in the ground. How it had happened and why, was unknown. Rodney remained silent and pensive as he held his hand against his lower abdomen, so Radek had to speculate; "It may have figured out that the others were dangerous to humans. Based on what Unit 318 did to us, a logic error possibly formed between the routines Rodney re-activated, and the actions of Unit 318.

"I suspect it did something to the gate to make it explode, or used the power from the facility to cause an overload."

Sheppard said, "Caldwell and the IOA won't be very pleased about losing such a massive facility full of ruthless machines."

Elizabeth added, "I know, but seriously, would you want even a single one of those things on Earth? " She then looked at Rodney, "Especially when it took the most intelligent man in two galaxies to outwit it?"

Rodney looked up at her, but his face didn't alter and he sighed before returned his gaze to stare resolutely at the table in front of him with his expression guarded and tight with pain.

They went through a few other possibilities, but Rodney said nothing other than to occasionally grunt in agreement, but only when he was asked.

The meeting was over quickly and Radek retrieved his crutches to stand, but Sheppard told him to stay put. John placed his hand on Rodney's unhurt shoulder as the scientist tried to get up and said, "No. You're not going anywhere just yet, McKay."

Rodney frowned at him and Radek turned to watch the others leaving the room. Elizabeth gave him a small nod before she stepped through the doors and they closed; sealing the three men in the Briefing Room.

Sheppard perched on the table next to Rodney and looked at him in concern as the scientist hung his head down sadly and closed his eyes. Radek was already closely sitting next to Rodney on his left side. They flanked him with their unconditional support and friendship, where he sat downcast with a heavy cloud of depression resting upon his shoulders and overwhelming him. But even with both Radek and John there with him, he still looked miserable.

John asked, "So, are you going to tell us what's up, Rodney?"

Radek felt the need to justify his inclusion in the meeting so he added, "The base is destroyed along with all the robots. You should be happy, yes?"

Rodney lifted the hand pressed against his lower belly away and moved it up to hold onto the side of his chest. He continued to look away from them and didn't make eye contact.

John furrowed his brow at Radek, who returned a bemused expression. John then stood up and grabbed a chair. He pulled it up alongside Rodney and sat down so that they were at the same level.

They sat like that for several minutes, only the occasional soft hitch in Rodney's breathing breaking the silence. Still he remained pensive and withdrawn and Radek spoke up, "Everything is better now, Rodney. The robots have gone, you are healing, I am nearly better…"

"No," Rodney said abruptly.

Sheppard leant in and studied Rodney's face intensely, "No, what?"

"No, things aren't better. They're worse."

Radek frowned in confusion and Sheppard vocalised his thoughts, "I thought Carson said the only trauma to your head was the bruising along your jaw? It didn't affect your brain as well, did it? How can things possibly be worse?"

Rodney sighed and closed his eyes. He said quietly, "I broke." He looked up for the first time and glared at Radek, "When it started on you… I couldn't take it." He looked down again and shut his eyes. "I'm weak and pathetic. I broke under torture before – just a few papercuts - and I did again."

"It was more than papercuts," John said solemnly. "And it was either that or get permanently injured or killed. It's better to break than to be seriously hurt."

Radek furrowed his brow, "It allowed you to bluff anyway, and fix the robot to help us."

Rodney dismissed him, "That was all luck. It was only luck that I spotted the correct line of code and found a workaround fast enough that Unit 318 didn't suspect anything."

Sheppard placed his hand on Rodney's back and Radek felt the strong urge to do something similar to try and physically soothe Rodney's mental anguish. John said, "But you did. You're alive, although not quite whole yet. Radek's alive."

Zelenka nodded and smiled as Rodney looked sidelong at him.

Sheppard continued, "And another threat to the Pegasus, indeed the whole universe, has now gone thanks to our resident genius right here."

Rodney started to perk up a bit and his mouth became flat where it had been curved down in a constant sad grimace for days.

John grabbed Rodney's arm and hauled him upright. He grinned at Rodney and said, "Come on. I think this is cause for a celebration!"

Radek grabbed his crutches and pushed himself up. He smiled at John and Rodney and said, "I agree."

John nodded as he helped Rodney over to the door. "How about we take the afternoon off? We could spend some time out in the sun on one of the piers. Perhaps Radek's got something which will lighten the mood."

"I am unsure what you mean, Colonel," Radek said with a sly smile as his mind wandered to the stash of contraband alcohol, chocolate and coffee in his quarters. He may have let slip the existence of the hidden crate in his discussions with Sheppard about how to get Rodney back to his old self. Besides, it was about to be replenished in a couple of days anyway by his contact on the Daedalus.

Rodney's lips did twitch upwards at that and he gave the other two men a painfully small smile, before his face fell in annoyance and he said, "But there's so much work to do. I can't leave the lab for five minutes these days without someone trying to blow something up or activate something that could be dangerous and might even end up trying to kill them."

Radek said calmly, "It is alright, Rodney. I left strict instructions for no-one to touch anything for the rest of the day."

"You…" Rodney floundered. "You knew about this?"

Radek felt a knot easing inside his chest as Rodney continued to rant all the way to the transporter. The sound of the other man's voice raised in anger and irritation was like music to his ears and soul. His friend was going to be alright. It would take time for Rodney's mental wounds to heal, but he now knew that they were well on the way to getting better along with his physical ones.

Fin.

A/N – This is also the third and final part of my 'Rodney gets tortured' trilogy (Part one was Reavengeance II, part two was Intimate Torture) Not that I could ever promise him that he won't get hurt again… poor Rodney!