21st Prescription and Fifth Gate

[atadiscoverer]

Who: Carson Beckett (atadiscoverer), Jennifer Keller (forsometimenow), and anyone unlucky enough to be asleep at the same time...
What: Nightmare Plot
When: 5th October
Where: The lost city of Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy.
Rating: 15, for horror and stuffs.

Jennifer had fallen asleep at her desk in her bedroom while pondering Conan's problem and her frustration with thus far being unable to do anything about it.

Anybody entering into her and Carson's shared nightmare will find themselves in the beautiful city of Atlantis- though currently, it is in a state of disarray and horror.

The two doctors are in the infirmary, where a group of patients is groaning and screaming in pain- and underneath their skin, movement can be seen- parasites inside their body, stuck beneath their skin, ready to burst out at any moment.

Jennifer is clearly in a panic, but she's trying her best to be brave and direct anybody nearby to help her get the patients sedated so that she can begin to operate on them.

Meanwhile, Carson has, likewise, fallen asleep at his desk, only he was pondering over various materials he would need to set up a clinic in the City Royale. He has quite an extensive list so far...

...In his dreams is another story. He's panicked, too, having never seen an outbreak like this before. Coming to the Pegasus Galaxy meant that this was nothing new, however.

Of course, the following announcement doesn't make things any better:

Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. We have Wraith in the city. Repeat. We have Wraith in the city. All defence teams report to stations.

"Great. Just what we bloody need. More injured..."

OOC: There are going to be sections going up for maximum interactivity. This nightmare is going to be split into two parties, one to help Carson fight off intruders, one to help Jennifer with the parasite. Your character can be anything from helping with wounded, killing Wraith, being infected with the parasite or helping keep our two doctors calm.

This nightmare is based on Stargate: Atlantis Episode 04x04 "Doppelgänger" and the three-part SG:A Season 1 Ending "The Siege."

Information on the Wraith is here, information on Atlantis is here. Plot synopsis of "Doppleganger" is here.

There are going to be four sections. Two will go up initially, while the next two will go up when the nightmare has progressed some.

Any questions, feel free to ask, and have fun with your nightmares.

SECTIONS: [ The Parasite : The Wraith : Jennifer's Fear : Carson's Fear]

Comments

THE WRAITH

[atadiscoverer]

The door to the infirmary opens and in runs an emergency team followed by Dr. Rodney McKay.

On the guerney is Lt. Col. John Sheppard. And he looks a little worse for wear, a bleeding cut over his temple, and being knocked out by numerous Wraith stun weapons. Carson instantly drops what he's doing and goes over to help, when he's collared by Rodney.

"Carson! I need your help. Now. Follow me!" And he's already off towards the door. "Rodney! Hey! Hold on, what's so bloody urgent?!"

"There's no time. The Wraith are here, and... There's no time! Just come with me." "Fine. Just hold on!"

((OOC: People can feel free to fall in and follow Carson around, make yourselves known, calm him down, but interrupt McKay at your own risk.))

[peeta_bread]

[Peeta runs to follow them, recognizing Carson.]

Dr. Beckett!

[atadiscoverer]

[Carson turns around at that, pausing, frowning.]

Peeta? What're you doing on Atlanti--

[That is until Rodney notices that Carson isn't following him.]

Hel-lo! Didn't you hear me! There's no time!

You! Yes, you. [He's talking to you, Peeta.] Do you know how to use a gun? We might need some protection.

[peeta_bread]

[Peeta looks startled, looking at the man.]

N-no! Why do I need a gun?!

[atadiscoverer]

Because there's Wraith all over the city, and if we stand here talking for much longer, we'll all die. And we can't spare the men from the security teams already fighting them off!

[Carson sighs.]

Rodney! Listen to me. Where are we going?

Fine! I'll explain while we walk. Take this. [He hands Carson a side-arm, before turning to Peeta.] You just stay on the lookout for anyone coming behind us, okay?

[peeta_bread]

[Peeta nods, glancing behind them and walking with them, hoping his explanation to Carson makes sense to him.]

[atadiscoverer]

I need you to sit in the Control Chair.

What?! There's no bloody way--

Carson, you're the only one that can do this right now. No-one else has enough concentration of the ATA gene to make the chair work and--

[It's at this point that, around the corner, a squad of 6 Wraith soldiers appears and starts shooting. Carson notices, goes wide-eyed and pulls Rodney into an alcove, motioning frantically for Peeta to find cover.]

[peeta_bread]

[Peeta runs for cover, managing to avoid getting shot, but feeling helpless.]

[atadiscoverer]

[Should've took the gun, Peeta. In fact, there's one sliding towards you from Carson.]

Just shoot at them as many times as you can. Point and pull the trigger. Be careful, they'll only stun you with those weapons, but if you're caught you're dead.

[As the doctor's giving someone a crash course in shooting, McKay is on the comms.]

This is McKay. We need a security detail on Level 3 now! There are Wraith between us and the Chair room.

[peeta_bread]

[He grabs the gun. He listens to the instructions and does his best, actually hitting a Wraith at one point!]

[atadiscoverer]

[And that's all McKay, Beckett and Peeta can do. Hold them off. It's not like their small-arms fire is even denting the Wraith. They just seem to shrug it off like it was nothing.]

Where the bloody hell are they?!

How the hell should I know?!

[schrodingersghost]

[Danny had no clue what was going on here. Not that this was anything new.

Luckily, point and shoot energy blasts at the creepy looking bad guys didn't take much to figure out.

Have a ghost boy coming in from the side and blasting the wraiths with powerful green energy blasts.]

[gentleidealist]

[Lloyd finally catches up. He's not great at shooting things, but he's good with a sword. Damn good with two.]

Hey, ugly! Over here!

[You have about two seconds before he runs at the wraith soldiers to chop them into pieces. Who cares if they have weapons? SO DOES HE.]

[deterrence]

[cover fire comes in the form of what appears to be sharp metal shards chained together forming out of nowhere, which deflect incoming attacks. Once the soldiers are sufficiently distracted, they disappear.

Shizuru herself is behind a wall, peering out to get a better view]

[atadiscoverer]

This is our backup?! I wanted Security, not The Goonies!

Rodney, be nice. Fine.

[Both Carson and Rodney are going to start advancing, the Wraith soldiers sufficiently distracted by Danny, Lloyd ad Shizuru's attacks. They split into groups, two of them aiming their stun rifles at Lloyd, attempting to take him down before he gets there, likewise with the two going for Danny.

The final two go for Rodney and Carson, the two doctors keep firing, occasionally ducking back in to reload their clips. The shots that hit, from all parties using projectiles, simply stall the hulking Wraith.]

Keep attacking! They have regenerative abilities, but they won't last forever!

[gentleidealist]

[To call Lloyd lost would be an understatement.]

Hey, what happened to him? What's going on?!

[atadiscoverer]

Uh...

We don't have time for this, Carson. Just c'mon! Before it's too late!

[Carson sighs, shooting Lloyd an apologetic look.]

I wish I bloody knew...

[And then he's off to follow his Canadian friend.]

wraith party and didn't invite me? lol

[commandshumor]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, for all on Atlantis, the wraith invading the place were a rival hive of Todd's, so the commander's ground support was tolerated. The rivals had already taken his ship out, which had not helped his already pissed mood of not being allowed near Sheppard. He could have easily given him back his strength and thus rejoin the battle but the colonel's stubborn streak had been the end of the conversation.

The remainder of his crew-only half a dozen including Kenny-had been beamed down and were working on dealing with the rival wraith elsewhere in the city.

The commander had just cleared the corridor when McKay and Beckett appeared. "You two are out of place here" he grunted.

THE PARASITE

[forsometimenow]

Jennifer was outwardly calm, but on the inside she was anything but. This was, by far, the worst outbreak she had seen in her time at Atlantis- and of course it had to be connected to her fear of parasites.

But she had a job to do, and so she was going to do it- and so she went to the patient who had been brought in first, having no time to do a full prep for surgery and instead getting herself as clean as humanly possible first.

[[OOC note: Feel free to have chest/stomach-bursting aliens happen if you choose to come and help her. :3c The parasites are bugs about the size of a human fist.]]

[deductiongeek]

Conan stumbles into the room, barely even aware as his body shifts as stretches to match his mental image of himself. The image of a tall teenager in a blue school uniform.

[forsometimenow]

By this point, Jennifer has a tablet with an attached scanner in her hands, moving from patient to patient, directing her team as best she can. However, she sees a person that looks vaguely familiar, pauses to look at him curiously, then stops and shakes her head. Focus.

"Parasite? Try to find an open bed if you can; it's a madhouse."

[deductiongeek]

This wasn't helping solve his confusion.

"What happened here?"

[forsometimenow]

"There's been an outbreak," she replies in a calm, clinical tone. "Parasites underneath the surface of the skin. If we don't get them out..." She lets that hang.

[squartatore]

Sayaka enters, and is immediately drawn to the commotion. The parasite-infected patients all look like they're in a bad state. "What's going on?"

[forsometimenow]

Jennifer barely registers that she doesn't know who the new arrival is, but gives them a glance at the question.

"Parasite infestation," she replied, her voice filled with a clinical calm. "I've never seen anything like it before."

[squartatore]

"Me neither." Which can't be very reassuring, so she adds, "What can I do to help?"

Healing spells might not be of use, she thinks, they'll have to go about this the old-fashioned way.

[forsometimenow]

"Do you have any medical experience?" Jennifer asks, wincing when she glances over at a patient and sees one of the parasites straining underneath the skin; she looks away again with a visible effort. "We need to get those things out of everyone without killing them."

[squartatore]

The parasite's movement is disgusting to behold, though nowhere as bad as some other things she's seen. She tamps down the urge to avert her eyes. "Are they in the bloodstream, or just underneath the skin's surface?"

[forsometimenow]

"Underneath the skin," says Jennifer, once more going to wash her hands and prepare as best she can to remove it from the patient. "But they can still do plenty of damage; they appear to be trying to break out, and that's enough to kill a person."

[squartatore]

"So we put the patients to sleep, and cut these things out before that happens." Surgery seems like the most efficient way for get this done with, and a scalpel can't be too different from a large blade, can it? Bleeding, at least, she can handle. "That's what I think -- unless you had a plan already."

[forsometimenow]

"That was my plan," Jennifer replies with a grim smile. "I've got my team working on it, but we're already overwhelmed. Any help you can offer would be invaluable."

[squartatore]

"All right." Sayaka nods, and steels herself. "Tell me where you want me --"

It occurs to her that she should probably sterilize her hands, maybe hide somewhere private for a moment to call forth her magic if necessary. "Also, what do I do to prepare?"

[forsometimenow]

"Make sure you're as clean as possible. I'd love to have time to prepare to do proper surgery, but we can't-"

She's cut off as there's a shriek, louder than all the rest, and Jennifer's words die on her lips as a parasite suddenly bursts out of the skin over the nearest patient's stomach, blood flying everywhere.

[squartatore]

Stunned, she goes still, unable to take her eyes off the patient. The sight has driven home just how grave the situation is.

Hesitance be damned! These people need help right now, she can't worry about maintaining falsehoods at a time like this. The ring on her left hand shifts, taking the form of an egg-shaped jewel that bathes her body with light. Now in her Puella Magi outfit, she rushes over, focusing her will on the wound to close it.

"I'm sorry." Whether the apology is directed at Jennifer or the patient, even she doesn't know. "I should have done this sooner."

[forsometimenow]

Jennifer, despite her fear and desperation (and the blood spattered all over her, is unable to do anything but stop and stare as the girl transforms before her eyes- and all of a sudden, the patient is healing.

"... How?" she whispers. "I didn't even think..."

She had seen a lot of things in her time in Atlantis, but nothing quite like this.

[squartatore]

If it were up to her, no one would see this at all. "Just know that I can." Explanations can wait. As the spell circle fades, the patient's stomach looks almost good as new, bloodstains remaining as the only suggestion of what had transpired.

"Takes time we don't have, and removing the parasites is beyond me." Which brings them back to the original solution: surgery.