Fic: Chase the Morning {32/37}

[scarlet_gryphon]

Chapter Three: Infiltration



Date: February 9, 8 A.I. [2008]

Location: North American Wraith Stronghold, Alberta, Canada


A small group of near-human Abnormals, led by Nikola and Henry, made their way into the labor camp just outside the Wraith Stronghold for the entire North American continent, blending in with the human workers who resided there. The plan was to meet up with some of the Abnormals already within the camp who had been contacted by Will a few days prior to the planned incursion and gather as much support among the Abnormal community as possible. Many still remembered the Sanctuary Network and the work of Helen Magnus, and wanted to join the fight against the Wraith in any way possible. Nikola’s and Henry’s group wasn’t the only one infiltrating a Wraith Stronghold; at each of the other six Continental Strongholds, a similarly small group of near-human Abnormals were entering the camps, spreading the word to those who could be trusted.

The plan was to get inside the actual Strongholds and set off a Wraith-specific poison that the scientists of the Alliance had come up with. It had been tested against a small Wraith camp a few weeks before, and had killed seventy-five percent of the Wraith in the party upon exposure. The rest had been weakened significantly and had been easy targets for the snipers positioned around the camp. The poison was deployed by aerosol attack, using UAVs or a deployment canister similar to a smoke grenade. It took a few seconds to work, but when it did, picking off those who survived was a less formidable task then trying to attack a whole platoon of Wraith Drones and Lieutenants.

While the poison was effective, it had to be placed and handled properly, and the plan was to place traps around the base, setting them with a remote release in order to give the rebel forces time enough to set the canisters off, let the poison do its work and then come in guns a-blazing. One of the problems with the plan, however, was that they didn’t know if the poison would affect the Wraith Queens. However, there hopefully wouldn’t be much cause for concern about that, since the Queens tended to stay on the Hive Ships in orbit.

On that front, the Alliance Fleet would be jumping out of hyperspace and immediately entering into battle, coming from the Beta Site when given the order to do so by Stargate Command. The entire collection of Jumpers from Atlantis would be joining them, providing aerial assistance to the gliders and F-302s as needed. Having fighter ships capable of cloaking and shielding would be a boon to the fleet, not to mention the effect the drone weapons would have. Unfortunately, even though Atlantis itself had weapons capabilities, it couldn’t participate in the fight directly, since the dome covering the fair city had its primary shield on the outside, and there wasn’t enough power for the secondary shield that the city did have.

Just after total sunset, Nikola and Henry left the ramshackle hut they had been staying in, keeping to the shadows in between the buildings until they reached a dilapidated church, which was where they were supposed to meet the local leader of the Resistance. Henry paused before slipping through the decaying wooden doors, keeping an eye out for any possible threat. Nikola was ready to Shift to his Vampire form, able at any minute to defend himself and Henry if needed. Even though they had guns- zats and nine mils- they didn’t want to have to use them unless absolutely necessary, since the sound of bullets and energy firing would alert the Wraith to their presence, and that was not a viable option.

Nikola stopped Henry as they went deeper into the church, holding out a hand in a signal for his companion to halt.

‘What’s going on?’ Henry hissed, shifting his weight.

‘Thought I heard something.’ Nikola replied, keeping his voice low as well. ‘It was coming from a hallway over to our left.’

‘Maybe it’s our contact?’

‘It’s entirely possible. Stay here. I’m going to check it out.’ Nikola left Henry crouched by a row of pews and crept along one of the aisles, staying low to the ground as he moved. The sound he’d heard a few moments earlier had reminded him of fabric shifting, though it had almost seemed too light for any normal person, and certainly too light for any Wraith, as they tended towards leather products when choosing their clothing. He continued on, ears straining to catch any repetition of the mystery sound. When he reached the end of the aisle, Nikola ducked into the hallway, pausing momentarily and listening once more.

He could hear the minute sounds of mice scrabbling in the walls, as well as the soft breathing coming from Henry’s direction. One of the advantages of being a vampire, even if only a half-breed, was that he had heightened senses, though hearing and sight were higher on the list than the other three. Nikola waited, listening for anything out of place. It took a few minutes of tense stillness, but soon the sound occurred once more, coming from farther down the passageway. He motioned to Henry to follow him, waited until the werewolf had joined him, and then continued on, moving as silently as possible. As they crept forwards, the sounds grew louder, especially when the floor suddenly dipped down below ground level, leaving the church behind entirely. Henry and Nikola followed it, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

The path ended in a large open area that the two Abnormals could only assume had once been the cellars of the church, leaving them in near darkness. The footsteps had faded away, and Nikola was beginning to wonder if he’d been imagining them when suddenly someone appeared right out of thin air beside him and hit him over the head with something hard and heavy. Nikola crumpled to the ground, taken by surprise. He could hear Henry struggling nearby, but those noises soon stopped, though he couldn’t see why. A voice he hadn’t heard in eight years spoke somewhere above him, sounding just as dry as it always had.

‘Well, this is a surprise. Hello, Nikola.’

Nikola barely had time to process this sentence before the darkness that was eating away at the edges of his vision finally overcame him, sending him spiraling into the black void of unconsciousness. He woke some time later, strapped to an uncomfortable bed that seemed to be made purely from splintered wood and itchy woolen blankets, his wrists and ankles confined by rough but effectively made restraints. Nikola opened his eyes slowly, feeling as if his entire body had been thoroughly pummeled with mallets of varying sizes and shapes. God, he hadn’t felt this bad for years; his accelerated healing capabilities meant that bruises normally went away almost as soon as they were received, and only repeated massive injuries took a great toll on him. Thankfully, he’d never had to experience that too much, which was a blessing, especially with all the hell he’d been through over his greatly extended lifetime.

Movement from his left made him turn his head, which turned out to be a mistake. His head throbbed horribly, and he groaned against the unaccustomed pain. He must’ve been hit over the head harder than he thought; the last time his head rang like this he’d been mortal and had had way too much alcohol. Come to think of it, that had been just after John had announced his engagement to Helen. The male members of the Five had gone out to celebrate, eventually ending up in a semi-reputable tavern where they had stayed nearly the entire night, only coming home when the bartender escorted them out. The memories of that night were still somewhat foggy, but they carried with them a strong sense of joy and camaraderie that he hadn’t encountered since.

The source of the movement came into Nikola’s field of view, but all he could see was the sleek fabric of a leather duster and dark-colored clothes; his vision was limited to somewhere around the waistline of the person standing next to the bed he was strapped to. Automatically he tried to struggle, tried to break his bonds, as the only people he knew of who wore such clothing were the Wraith, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to make it easy for them, not when he could still fight. In his desperation and anger, his vampiric features came to the fore; his eyes turned jet black and the planes of his face grew sharper, much more defined than they had previously been. Nikola snarled, attempting to bring his sharpened fingernail-claws into play, but the restraints held him back, even with his augmented strength.

‘Really, Tesla, there’s no need to worry. I’m not going to harm you.’

Nikola stilled, the shock of hearing the haunting tones of one he thought dead momentarily snapping him out of his manic attempts to escape. He tried to crane his head, not caring about the raging headache he now had thanks to his futile struggles, but still couldn’t see more than a small portion of the man standing in front of him. Apparently this was noticed, as his companion crouched down, bringing his face down to Nikola’s eye-level. The man smiled wryly as Nikola smoothly Shifted back into his human form, one corner of his mouth quirking ever so slightly. Nikola stared at him for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.

‘What, no kind words for an old friend?’

Nikola recovered his composure enough to snort softly. ‘Well, given that for the past eight years I’ve thought you dead, it’s a little hard to come up with something nice to say. Oh, and the fact that you’ve got me tied down isn’t much help, either.’ He replied, settling back on the bed now that he could see who he was speaking with. It looked like John Druitt, but experience told Nikola not to believe his own eyes until he could get more solid proof. After all, he could be the captive of the Wraith and was simply hallucinating seeing his old friend and rival. Nikola wasn’t about to say anything more than trivial banalities until he was doubly sure that John really existed and wasn’t working with the Wraith. Unfortunately, he didn’t have access to a Truth Seer, like Peter, so he’d have to be careful with what he said.

John nodded, and then began removing the bonds holding Nikola’s wrists down, though he didn’t touch the ones on the half-vampire’s ankles just yet. ‘Yes, well, we had to be sure you weren’t under the influence of the Wraith or their allies.’ He said as he helped Nikola sit up. ‘Though given your past proclivities, I highly doubt that you’d want to be aligned with beings such as the Wraith.’

‘I’m not.’ Nikola said, rubbing at his wrists. His headache seemed to have gone down some, though it lurked in the back of his head, ready to come back in full raging force if he moved too quickly. ‘But of course, you can’t be entirely sure that I’m not, just as I can’t be sure that you aren’t.’

‘Then I suppose we’re just going to have to trust one another for the time being.’ John replied. ‘At least, until we can get a Truth Seer here. There’s one in our group, but she’s not here at the moment.’

‘And how can I be sure I can trust what she says?’

‘You know they can’t lie about what they See.’

‘I’ve never been too sure about that, but we’ll have to see when the time comes. Where’s Henry?’ Nikola asked as he made short work of the bindings around his ankles.

‘Foss? He’s in containment as well; I haven’t yet been to see him.’ John told him. ‘He didn’t take too kindly to being brought in.’

‘Given that your group attacked us, I’d say not.’ Nikola said, getting to his feet. He nearly fell down, but John moved swiftly and caught him by the elbows, propping him up until Nikola felt like his ankles weren’t going to give out on him like wet noodles any time soon. ‘Thanks,’ he continued on, stepping away once he felt confident on his own two feet. John waved his thanks away and led him out of the room, which Nikola only now noticed was more of a cell than an actual room. There wasn’t any furniture besides the bed, which was waist high, and a bucket in the far corner of the room. Nikola didn’t have to guess to be able to know what that particular container was for; he was just glad he hadn’t had to use it at all.

‘How long have you been here?’ he asked John as they moved down the winding passageway outside the cell.

‘In Canada? About three years.’ John replied, stopping outside a reinforced steel door. ‘The rest of the time I’ve been travelling, trying to collect as many rebels as possible and organize them the best I could.’

‘Hmm. That doesn’t explain why you didn’t contact us all those years ago, but we can leave that discussion for a later date. Henry, Will, and I have been doing the same thing you have, hence why we’re here. Although, I think we may’ve had a little more luck than you in amounts of rebels.’

‘Really? How so?’

Nikola merely smiled as John opened the cell door, stepping to one side as he did so. A growl that was suddenly choked off sounded from within the room, and Nikola poked his head around the door to see Henry chained to the wall, nearly fully transformed into his werewolf form. It wasn’t surprising; Henry had come to accept the wilder side of his Abnormality, just as Nikola himself had all those years ago, and allowed his werewolf form to come to the fore when needed.

‘Henry, calm down. It’s me, Nikola. We’re safe.’ He said, cautiously advancing into the room. Henry watched him warily, golden eyes following Nikola’s every movement. Nikola made sure to stay just out of the range of the short chain that was connected to a heavy iron collar surrounding Henry’s neck, keeping his body language open and relaxed. ‘We’re among friends here, Henry. Just relax and change back to your human form. It’ll be much easier to explain once you’re back among the furless and clothed.’

Henry snorted but did as Nikola asked. Brown fur smoothly shifted back into pink skin, and Nikola looked away in deference to Henry’s privacy before the last bit of transformation had occurred. ‘You wouldn’t happen to have a blanket or a pair of pants nearby, would you?’ he asked John, stepping out of the cell. ‘I’d rather not have to have a discussion with Henry being naked and all. It’s kind of distracting, to say the least.’

‘Agreed.’ John opened a nearby storage closet and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt out of it. ‘These might be a little large, but they should work.’

‘Excellent.’ Nikola stepped back into the doorway of the cell and threw the pants and shirt to Henry, who quickly put the pants on. ‘We’re going to get that collar off of you, Henry, so just give us a second.’

‘Us?’ Henry asked, his voice raspy.

‘He means me,’ John said, coming into view. ‘Hello, Henry.’

Henry blinked at the sight of John, tilted his head, and then went ‘Huh.’ He waited patiently as John unlocked the collar from around his neck, and then carefully got to his feet, pulling the shirt on over his head as he did so. ‘I thought you were dead.’

‘No, sorry.’ John said with a flash of a grin. ‘Those rumors are completely made up, fortunately.’

‘Yeah, I guess. Why didn’t you come back to the Sanctuary once you’d set the bomb?’

John shrugged, but Nikola could see a brief flash of grief cross his face before it was forced away. ‘I went looking for Helen.’ He said softly. ‘I eventually found her in Russia. She’d been a prisoner of the Wraith for three years by then, and she wasn’t doing well.’ He paused, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. ‘She died five days after I rescued her. I buried her in London, next to her mother’s grave.’

Nikola closed his eyes as a sudden wave of grief swept over him, just catching Henry’s movement of sinking back to the floor, his knees being drawn to his chest in a motion meant to block out the world. God. Helen was dead. Somehow, Nikola had known all this time, but he’d wanted so badly to have it otherwise, to believe that his longtime friend and love had somehow survived. At least she hadn’t spent her last days alone and friendless. It was a small comfort, but one Nikola took to heart.

‘Thank you,’ he said quietly, opening his eyes once more. ‘For telling us, and for being there for her.’

‘Of course.’ John replied just as softly, his voice momentarily ragged with the pain of loss and sorrow. He cleared his throat after a few seconds, blinking rapidly. ‘We should move on; the others are waiting for us, and I’m sure they’ll be anxious to hear about your journeys. I know I am.’

‘Right, right.’ Nikola said, nodding. He went over to Henry, who was still sitting on the floor, and knelt down beside him, placing a gentle hand on his young friend’s shaking shoulder. ‘Henry, I know that right now you want to mourn Helen more than anything in the world; I do as well. However, we’ve got to move on and continue with our original mission. We can mourn later, once we are not under such dire time constraints, but if we are to carry out our part of the plan, then we need to get moving. Are you willing to do that for me?’

Henry sniffed loudly, and then nodded. ‘Thank you.’ Nikola said gently, giving Henry’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘We can talk about this later, okay?’

Henry nodded, wiped his eyes roughly with the back of his hand, and then got to his feet, Nikola staying close by him just in case. The three men moved out of the cell, the sound of Henry’s and Nikola’s bare feet striking against the earthen floor making an odd counterpoint to John’s heavier booted treads. Nikola and Henry followed after John, taking the twists and turns of the tunnels the best they could. It felt strange, going shoeless, but Nikola was relatively certain that situation would be rectified pretty soon. He’d have to ask John about it, of course, but he doubted that they’d be refused the use of their boots, because even underground it was chilly.

He brought up the subject as they reached the more populated areas of the underground complex, and John agreed to return at least some of their gear to them. Their weapons weren’t, for understandable reasons, given back to them at the time, but John told them that they’d be getting them back once the rest of the rebel leaders were assured of the willingness and safety of the two Abnormals. That made Nikola and Henry feel much better, so they went along with it, feeling both ecstatic that John was alive and well and grief-stricken at the news of Helen’s death. It was certainly an odd combination; certainly bittersweet at the very least.

They reached the conference chambers with time to spare, and the three men got to talking about their various exploits over the years since they’d seen one another, Nikola and Henry telling John about the slow revival of the Sanctuary Network, and John speaking of the networks of spies and rebels he’d helped to create all over the world. When Henry mentioned that the Network was much bigger than it had been before the Invasion, Nikola stopped him with a shake of his head, reminding him that they were saving that information for the leaders of the rebels. John was about to ask what Henry had meant when the door to the Council chambers opened, and an aide stepped out.

‘The Council will see you now,’ he said, giving John a terse nod of recognition.

The three men got to their feet and went inside, the door shutting behind them with a muted thud.