When It All Comes Undone {Shadow Team}

[Lt. Commander Katarina Foster]

Is there a reason why I am still here?
Nobody ever seem to make it clear.
I've been waiting here for so damn long.
I just need you to show me now,
If there was ever really any way out.
I've been ticking like a time bomb,
Every move I made was wrong.
I hope it's not too late.
Save me, cause I still believe,
There's something in me,(Worth saving)
Save me, from this disease,
That's feeding on the better part of me.

Kat knew the moment Johns' biology started to switch over. It was instinctive as the virus in her blood tingled and she read the tell tale twitchs in the fallen soldiers limbs. Vampire blood, even diluted like hers was, was powerful serum and it was created to to infect. It would at least keep him functioning on some level until the straight stuff could be given.

What she miscalculated was just how potent her own blood was.


Kat was completely unprepared for John to bolt off the table and crouch in confusion across the room. Already the virus was spreading and she saw the surprise, disgust and dismay fly over his features before blood lust got the better of his mind.

Well, hell.... This was going to be more intense than she'd even imagined and she'd imagined alot.

When he tense to spring, Kat drew his eyes and intercepted him just as his new fangs snapped millimeters from her own throat. With their faces only inchs apart, she gazed into his eyes and whispered "I'm sorry, John." just as Curse's pistol came down on the back of his skull and she was forced to catch his full dead weight as he slumped into her.

Vaguely, she heard herself shouting orders but her attention was on John alone as the team made ready to move out and she placed her wrist to his mouth once more. Long moments passed by as things were secured and the fallen soldier drank from her vein. His pulls were hard and lengthy and she could already feel herself starting to weaken.

Shit, Shit, Shit. This was not good.

Then, suddenly, they were all moving and Kat kept pace with the stretcher as they raced down the halls and up the elevator to the medic pad. Conscious of every passing second, the red headed commander clamored into the chopper even as the others took care of things around her. Darkness drifted in and out of her vision but she forced herself to keep her vein at John's mouth until she suddenly felt herself pitching forward. The last vision in her mind was of her team and the tone of her own voice sounding surprised.

"Damn, Jordan... Would you look at that? I don't have ice in my veins after all..."

Then, she promptly passed out even as the new doctor pressed bagged blood in to Johns mouth.

[zeke]

Leaning back against the chopper, Zeke quietly waited for the others to return. He didn’t have to think really hard to foresee how this was going to turn out. The explosives expert was as good as dead, nothing short of a miracle would save the guy and he was too skeptic to believe any hope in stupid miracles. Any time now the rest of the squad would show back up in the helipad with upset faces waiting for him to play the chauffeur.

Well, he was looking forward to get a shower and see if Rae would be in any mood to go to one of those dark places in the base with him.

One of the hospital staff had came up to the helipad trying to sneak a peek at the chopper there, only to be turned down by that mean looking glare of his and sending the idiot back down. He didn’t need any moron looking around and asking questions.

Yeah, he would never win a prize for being the friendliest type…but who the hell cared about it?

Any time now the squad would be back up…but it was taking more than he expected. It wasn’t the concern about a guy he hardly knew, it was the waiting that was annoying him. Future wasn’t hard to foresee…

But he was really off.

Frowning in confusion, he watched as the others brought the explosives expert back to the chopper, all tied up in a stretches and the commander was holding her wrist over his mouth like she was freaking bottle feeding him.

“What the fuck?”
Last he heard, that wasn’t how blood transfusions worked.

But no one seemed to pay him much attention right them and he didn’t want to stick around either, doctors and hospitals made him nervous and the faster they were out of there, the better.

So before long the chopper was in the air and they were heading back home.
Only one thing was concerning him right now, the brunette woman giving the blood bags to the unconscious guy better not make a mess on his bird.

[Lt. Jasper Owens]

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day of the wrong week
I used the wrong method with the wrong technique
Wrong

As sudden as the brutal mental agony started, it was over. Jasper gave a reprehensive glance up, and saw the butt of Curse's rifle hovering over John's head. He must have knocked the John out before those nasty little vampire instincts were able to cause any bloodletting and destruction. Thank God.

Still nursing his aching head, he glared at Neftari with a sarcastically defiant expression. "Gee, sorry to steal the almost rampaging vampire's spotlight," his acidic, yet pained tone quipped. Then he chuckled darkly, standing himself up. "Beaches and oceans? Damn, why didn't I think of those two in the first place?" His tone took on a lighter connation, his own mind having latched onto Neftari's to alleviate the still echoing ache.

Note to self; avoid newborn vampires in the future. If dealing with normal people and their emotions were difficult at times, newborns were officially impossible. Evidence? The skull splitting mirgraine he was sporting right now.

Within no time after Sheppard was unconscious, the team rolled out with him on a stretcher, Foster positioned on top of him with her wrist latched onto his mouth. Despite having latched onto Rae's emotions to keep his mind distracted, he couldn't help but feel a rolling wave of disgust. This was wrong, almost as wrong as wrong could get. But he'd keep his mouth shut, anf follow orders up until the point where someone's life was at stake. Jasper might be a soldier, but he was a person with morals too. And he wouldn't blindly ignore what he knew to be right in the stead of others.

When they were all pretty much in the chopper, Jasper was surprised to see the civilian doctor join them. For whatever reason, Calugarul seemed to know the woman, and Foster was letting her stay, which was good enough for him. She appeared to be aware of the situation, so she probably knew what she was getting herself into.

As the chopper took off, he looked to Foster momentarily, to ask what their next plan of action would be, but it appeared as though the blood loss was too much for her. Jasper reached out quickly, and caught her softly. Well, now it looked as though two people were going to need medical attention once they got back to the base.

Sighing, Jasper pulled Foster onto his lap, and grapped an extra bandage to apply pressure to the cut on her wrist. "Someone needs to radio base and let them know Foster's going to need medical attention too," he said to no one in particular; he was exhausted, and it was more than apparent in his voice. "Or should we start trasfusing her with the blood that we have on board, try to stabilize her?" He glanced at they Doc, looking for a course of action.

Hopefully this would all be over soon.

[Sgt.Willow Harding]

After Kat nodded at them it was go time. The situation unfolded very quickly, Willow watched as Kat barked orders and got the mess under her control. She had never seen a turning before but her mind wanted to soak up that knowledge so her curious self went to stand in the doorway. Staying away from John at the ready to help if needed.

The commander had Julian cut her wrist open and the blood flowing from her wrist was used to bring Sheppard back to life. He reacted with a savage response, like someone who hadn't drank water in days. His hands clenched the commander's wrist closer, drinking he blood she offered him.

Kat asked someone to radio in and warn base of John's situation. She saw Kalii take the initiative and radio in. Willow sensed that Kalii would fit in quite nicely with the team. Her eyes glanced to outside the O.R, making sure no one was walking by. They didn't need a bystander getting hurt or worse someone goes to the media and sings like a canary.

John pushed Kat away with such force that made Willow nervous...causing her to back up a little bit. He looked surprised at something maybe that he was moving around when he was suppose to be dead. No it wasn't...maybe it was fear? Willow couldn't be sure..she wasn't trained on expressions.

Willow then left to clear a path to the chopper making sure any objects were out of the way..Then the team moved out, to the chopper of course...Jasper looked pained, her mind wondered why. But she quickly pushed it out of her mind and moved with the team. She climbed in last to make sure she stayed out of the way. Besides she always loved the window seat. Here they all were crammed into a chopper.

Kat said something to Curse and promptly fainted, it was a good thing that Jasper was near by he made the Commander was safe in his lap. Her eyes drifted to Sheppard who was restrained on the stretcher. Oh man this mission defiantly went sideways, Willow did not know how he was going to react to the news he was a vampire. She really didn't know the man,

She snapped out of her thoughts when Jasper asked a question about the Commander whether to radio to base about her needing medical attention or transfuse her a with bag of blood right now. The smart thing was to transfuse. Getting her stable now was the most important thing.

Even though she wasn't a medical person by any means she had been in combat situations before where people got hurt. The quiet soldier let her voice be heard while she glanced between the doctors and Jasper, “Commander should be stabilized now then later when her situation is worse.”

[Lt. Kalii Duran]

When the shit hit the fan and chaos ensued, Kalii took a deep breath and steeled herself. It was time to do her job. Sheppard had reacted violently and Curse had to subdue him with a gun butt to the head. They had things in control there for the most part, as much control as you can have when you have just turned a man into a vampire who comes around stark raving mad and lusting for blood.

Kalii was waiting at the doorway, guns raised. As soon as they started to move she headed out. If the look on her face didn't scare people and scatter them out of the way, then the twin .45 automatic pistols certainly did the job. She walked with a strength and confidence and there was even a graceful way in how she moved.

Keeping her guns trained on anyone that even looked like they might challenge her she cut a path through the hospital. Through the hallways into the elevator that took them too the roof. When the doors open she moved out, scanning the area for anyone that might be a threat, someone who might try to stop them from getting to their ride.

When she was sure it was clear she allowed the others to pass her by and she took up a guard position at the rear. Watching the elevator bank in case someone tried to follow them up. After the rest were in the helicopter she turned and ran toward the chopper. Climbing in she found a seat against one of the bulkheads, resting her head against the metal framework. She kept her weapons at the ready until the big bird lifted off the heli-pad. Only then did she put her weapons back on safe and slipped the handguns back into the holsters strapped to her thighs.

Her face remained passive as she glanced at the Commander and Lieutenant Sheppard. Then she turned her head to look back out the window. There was nothing more that she could do. It was up to the doctors and the lab techs back at the compound. She just hoped that this was going to work and that they weren't going to lose two of their team, instead of just one.

[Julian Jackman]

With a sense of urgency he couldn’t shake and a voice whispering nonsense in his ear, Dr. Jackman was having some problems concentrating on anything but the urge to bang his head against a wall. Why in all sanity, the Team kept him on their payroll he had no idea…and with a grumble of impatience, he did his best to focus on the task at hand.

And promptly threw up his hands in frustration when Curse decided to knock out his patient. Oh, yeah, THAT would help the rampaging vampire inside of their fellow soldier. Now he could add possible concussion to the list of Shepperd’s problems.

With a glare at Jordan and an unintelligible growl to Kat- something about ‘suicidal being his territory’- he waited impatiently for the blood bags to arrive, and despite her orders, began to attach a portable heart monitor to the Commander as well. The last thing he needed was to have to take care of TWO critical patients on a heli packed with soldiers.

And one civilian, by the looks of it. Nodding in silent thanks to Mercy as she fed John blood, he started checking monitors and eyeing the faces of his fellow team members for signs of shock or other problems. Wasn’t that the first cardinal rule of health care? Make sure you don’t have another patient you didn’t know about in the first place?

…Or was it ‘don’t let the patient die?’ Feh, it was all the same in the end. At least no one was getting ready to keel over and—

Fuck, scratch that.

“God, this is a clusterfuck,” He grumbled to himself once they were in the chopper, practically leaping over Duran on his way to the Commander whens he proceeded to pass out. With a backwards ‘get the hell outta my way’ when he elbowed the woman in the side, he proceeded with a rapid trauma assessment.

“Doctor, hand me one of those blood bags,” He reached out behind him without looking, and snatched the squishy bag when he felt it in his hand. Hooking it up to a needle and IV, he tried to assess Kat’s responsiveness, rubbing his knuckles against her breastbone. “Commander? Kat, can you wake up for me? I’m going to start an IV, alright? You’re going to feel a pinch on your arm,”

He always found it a good idea to let the stronger supernaturals know what he was about to do. With a barked’ keep her steady’ at Curse, he inserted the butterfly and hooked her up to a bag. God, he hoped that the chopper would move at the speed of light. All they needed were TWO hungry vampires unrestrained in the tiny bay.

Meanwhile, both Lucien and Rae were keeping close tabs on the growling John. The older soldier was a bit more concerned about the doctor, keeping himself close to her side. Warily, he watched his once fellow human gnaw on the plastic covering the blood, eyes narrowing at the red staining his lips. Once upon a time, he would have been disgusted at such a sight, but deep down, he knew how strong the drive to survive could be.

No one wanted to die bloody on the battlefield, despite what they said during peacetime. If it were death, or conversion…who knew which he would choose. As the Commander went down, he tensed, but remained where he was. If anything, Kat would know how to control her hunger. He was needed right where he was, in front of a newly turned vampire.

Rae sat in the back of the chopper, watching with outward dispassion as the scene unfolded. John was doing some kind of weird slurping and she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about his new lifestyle- then again, maybe she’d just earned herself a new nightlife partner!- and Kat was going ‘fainting damsel,’ which was kind of funny. She didn’t laugh, of course, ‘cause it would only mean yet another few hours in the brig, but instead made her way through the belly of the helicopter until she was at the front.

Poking her head into the cockpit, she breathed a sigh of relief when open sky greeted her eyes. Man, it was no wonder why Zeke liked to fly and protected his bird like it was his best friend. “You got the best seat in the house,” She said with a sigh, keeping balance with a hand on his chair. “I hope you’re up for sharing. Fly fast, flyboy. I think the CO just fainted, John’s chewing on plastic bags and everyone else looks liable to spontaneously combust. Now would be a good time to let the led out.”

And thank God for small favors, she thought, finally noticing the low landing lights that marked the base as she finished speaking. When the chopper settled down, she blew the pilot a kiss before heading out with the rest of the grunts. She kept a wide girth between herself and the not-so-happy Julian, who was in charge of keeping Kat stable, and did her best not to hover over the gurney that would carry John toward a containment room.

Though, that didn’t stop her from threatening their lives. Her voice echoed through the bunker as she promised slow, painful death at the hands of her friend- Lucien just sighed and rolled his eyes, keeping close to Mercy with a pained expression on his face, as if he were dreading the doctor’s reaction to her surroundings- and with a quick efficiency, the Team hustled inside the secret base.

Another mission completed. What was a bit of FUBAR between friends, anyway?

[Raven 'Amunet' Neftari]

And the saga continues in Live or Die...That is the Question