As she shone her flashlight into the darkness, Angel McNamara precariously looked around. It was only now, as she was deep within the tunnel and unable to see the daylight that she realised that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. ‘Too late now,’ she shrugged and shone the light up at the ceiling.

Tree roots hung from the ceiling and dripped water. From where, she didn’t know. The place had an eerie feel to it, but that didn’t hamper McNamara’s curiosity. Turning the corner, she shone the light on something that quickly bolted around the next corner. ‘Must be a rat,’ she noted and heard a noise behind her. Spinning around quickly in defence, the anthropologist jumped as a figure came around the corner.

“McNamara!” Hunter whispered, calming the woman.

Sighing in relief, Angel whispered in reply. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on people like that?” She took a deep breath and turned back around. Hunter pointed the flashlight mounted on her weapon down the tunnel.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to go running unarmed into unknown hostile territory?”

“No actually.”

“Well I am now.” The Sergeant nudged Angel with her elbow. “We should head back, don’t want to get separated from the others.”

“They’ve got their own things to worry about. You go back, I’ll be alright.”

“Yeah, sure you will.”

McNamara shot her a look, but it was lost in the darkness. Pushing a stray lock of hair aside, she continued down the tunnel with Hunter in tow. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That… thumping, pounding sound…”

Sergeant Hunter listened carefully and nodded. “Yeah… I hear it…”

“It’s coming from down here, let’s go.”

It didn’t take long for the two to reach the main chamber and the source of the noise. A faint, orange, glowing light permeated the area, blinding the two women momentarily before their eyes adjusted from the dark. The sight was incredible. The chamber was surrounded by a spiralling stone staircase, which led down to the bottom. Peering down, Angel could see the source of the light, which was some kind of pedestal.

“Is that the Codex thing?” Hunter asked, gesturing down.

“No, no… a codex is a kind of an ancient book of sorts.”

“That’s no book.”

“No… but we’ve found *something*. I’m going to take a look.” Angel headed down the staircase, carefully keeping a hold of the root-covered wall.

“Of course you are,” Adrienne breathed and followed her.

~*~*~

Jake Mackenzie was more than a little relieved to be able to hand over Start into the care of Tatyana Diens. He realized just how exhausted he was feeling as he watched the medic peer closely at Tirion as he supported her in his arms. Start's eyes were firmly closed and Diens flashed him a look of pure concern. MacDonald returned from scouting around the immediate vicinity.

"How is she?" the Lieutenant asked. Diens glanced up at him, not saying a word as MacDonald activated his radio.

"O'Shea," he said, wanting to make sure the rest of the team was all right.

"I'm here. Did you find them?" Mac heard Rhea ask. He could hear the worry in her voice.

"Eventually," MacDonald replied. "Have Hunter and McNamara come out yet?"

"No, they haven't. Should I-?"

Mackenzie interrupted sharply. "You'll do nothing of the sort." A short silence followed this before he heard her yelp and swear. O'Shea's radio went dead.

"What the hell now?" Mac muttered. That something had happened to O'Shea was obvious. He looked down at Tirion Start and gently pulled himself out from beneath her, hearing her groan slightly in complaint. "I'm sorry, doc," he said softly, balling his jacket up and placing it under her head. He stood to speak with MacDonald.

"As soon as Diens has checked Start out, I want you to head back to the base camp." He held up a hand to stall an imminent argument. "She'll need carrying - I can't do it," he held both injured hands out from his body slightly by way of reinforcing his words. "Diens goes with you to monitor the doc."

"And you?" MacDonald asked. "Where are you going, major?"

"To find the others. O'Shea at least is in some difficulty, I'm sure," he replied. "I'll keep in contact." He stooped to pick up the discarded sidearm and rammed it into his holster. Start's eyes snapped open as his own face was a few inches from hers.

"Jake?" she said in a feebly weak voice.

"Mmmm?"

"Just don't break your neck or anything," she told him, closing her eyes once more.

Mac grinned at her. "I'll be careful, Tirion," he replied in a low voice before heading back towards the trail. He could tell MacDonald wasn't happy with the situation - come to that, neither was he himself - but it seemed the only way.

The rain had almost stopped, but the inclined trail was thick with mud and very slippery. It took almost an hour to reach O'Shea and the stone structure, the same one into which McNamara and Hunter had vanished. Mac skidded to a halt when he finally located Rhea. She was lying flat on her back towards one side of the building, the wrecked remains of a crushed radio close by. She was muddy and wet and unmoving.

"O'Shea," he said, picking up one cold hand. "Wake up," he urged, feeling more than a little concerned. Her eyes fluttered open as she started to wake. "What the hell happened here?"

"Mac? How did *you* get here?"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah... stupid question, I know," she conceded, struggling to sit up. Mac could see she was in pain and that it appeared to emanate from her shoulder.

"Did you take a tumble?" he asked softly.

"A biggie," came her response. She allowed Mac to look at her injury and he hauled up her poncho, looking closely at her shoulder.

"Why can't you keep out of trouble for even a minute?" he muttered as he realized she'd dislocated the joint at the very least. He heard O'Shea snort. "What?" Mac looked at her in surprise.

"That's good coming from you," she told him. Mac was relieved to see some return of her spirit as he knew what he had to do wasn't going to pleasant for either of them - infinitely worse for O'Shea.

"This is going to hurt," he said in a soft voice. "Just lie back and think of... hell... think of how much fun you're going to have when it's payback time."

"Payback?"

"Yup... for the amount of pain I'm gonna cause, you'll want payback!" He could see she was completely confused, as was his intention, and he quickly snapped her shoulder back into place. She yelped loudly and fell limp. Mac looked down at her feeling remorseful, but knowing it *had* to be done. She stirred soon after and threw him a look of part gratitude and part animosity. He shrugged apologetically and helped her just inside the building. Safer and out of any further rain.

"Stay here," he instructed. "I'm going to find the others." He could see she wanted to go with him, but that she also knew she realistically couldn't.

He crouched down. "You'll be fine," he reassured her. "Trust me."

"Its not *me* I'm worried about," he heard her murmur. Mac frowned down at her bowed head and pushed his radio into her hands.

"Try not to wreck this one," he told her wryly. "You're armed I hope?"

Rhea nodded. "But this leaves you out of radio contact."

"Only until I find the others," he replied. "No worries." Mac felt far happier knowing Rhea had the radio rather than himself. "Contact MacDonald and tell him what's happening here." He began to walk away, before stopping and turning to face her. She looked so small and defenceless, but Mac knew she was probably the toughest out of all of them. "And...," he continued, "see if...." He faltered.

"Yeah, yeah... I'll ask how the doc is too," she said, frowning at him. He nodded and smiled slightly, then dove deeper into the dark building.

~*~*~

"This is going to hurt," Mac was saying softly. "Just lie back and think of... hell... think of how much fun you're going to have when it's payback time." He'd just found Rhea lying on her back in the mud, unable to move an inch thanks to her injury - and now he was talking in double-dutch.

"Payback?" she asked in confusion.

"Yup... for the amount of pain I'm gonna cause, you'll want payback!"

She didn't understand a word he was saying, but realisation came with the searing agony that shot through her when he pulled her shoulder back into its correct conformation. Unable to stifle a cry, she was also unable to prevent her brain from shutting down completely.

~*~*~

When she finally came to, she would've felt normal if it hadn't been for the fracture in her collar bone. But it appeared that the major's repair job of her dislocation had solved one major problem - the bone's ends were once again realigned and ready to be healed by Asreal.

She was vaguely felt herself being raised up out of the mud and helped to walk. It was only after she noticed the complete lack of rain falling on her face that she realised that Mac had helped her into the doorway of the big, stone building.

"Stay here," he said. "I'm going to find the others."

Opening her mouth, she was about to protest when Asreal spoke up.

/*Don't you even think about it young lady. You're going to stay here and I'm going to fix you up... properly.*/

She closed her mouth again and settled for just looking up at him, hoping that she was conveying her misgivings effectively. Mac seemed to sense this in her, and he crouched down beside her.

"You'll be fine," he said gently. "Trust me."

"Its not me I'm worried about," she whispered in reply, bowing her head. She felt something being pushed into her hands, and looked down at the radio that he'd just given her.

"Try not to wreck this one," he was saying. "You're armed I hope."

Without significantly raising her head, she managed to nod. "This leaves you out of radio contact," she said, biting her lip with worry.

"Only until I find the others," Mac said. "No worries."

//This isn't the West Indies and you are *not* Desmond Haynes!// she though viciously as there was a shuffle of clothing, indicating that he'd just stood up.

"Contact MacDonald and tell him what's happening here," he said from high above her head, and the sound of retreating footsteps told her that he was heading off in search of McNamara and Hunter.

She finally looked up from the stunning view of her lap, gazing at his retreating back and wishing like crazy that she wasn't. //Please let me come,// she asked silently, moisture welling in her eyes. He turned back to face her for a moment and she almost burst into tears at the pain that was evident on his face.

"And see if..." his voice trailed off into nothing.

She had to tighten her lips to stop the sob escaping. "Yeah, yeah, I'll ask how the doc is too," she said thickly. There was a nod, followed by a faint smile and he was off.

Rhea looked after him until she couldn't distinguish him from the darkness any longer before she picked up the radio. "Diens?" she said into it, surprised at the tremor in her voice.

//Get a grip woman, or else they'll come stampeding up here and then where will we all be. If anything happens to Start Mac will probably toss himself off that cliff again - but not into the river.//

"O'Shea?" a female voice, Diens' replied. "Where are you?"

"Where you left me. The major's gone after McNamara and Hunter." She paused and took a deep breath. "How's Start?"

"With a bit of luck she'll be fine," the medic replied, the response even sounding false over the medium of radio waves.

"I- Uh... Okay," Rhea finally said, unable to form much else but the affirmative in the end. Start wasn't good. She wasn't even as good as bad. "Uh, would you mind keeping me informed, if that's okay?"

"Of course. Diens out."

/*So you're not going to give me a chance to fix you up properly then,*/ Asreal commented wryly.

"Once again, no," she replied aloud.

/*Can you say 'glutton for punishment'?*/

"I would, but some would say that that would be tempting fate. And I really don't want to give that guy another go at tossing me around the joint if you don't mind too much."

/*Can I at least take a moment of your consciousness?*/

A faint smile curved her mouth. "I don't think that I've got the willpower to resist, even if I could be bothered to. Knock yourself out." Just before she fell into her trance, she glanced at her battered watch. "You've got half an hour," she mumbled before she blacked out completely.

~*~*~

Opening up her gummy eyes, Rhea looked down at the timepiece clinging to her wrist by a thread. "I said half an hour!" she protested to her symbiont.

/*I must've lost track of the time,*/ Asreal replied, trying to sound innocent and failing.

"Like bloody hell!" She scooted herself up into a standing position, using the wall as support until the world decided to stay more or less upright.

"Hunter?" she called into the radio, almost as if the extra volume in her voice would help the signal carry to the two women. "Hello? McNamara? Anyone?"

When there was no reply, she kicked a heel back against the wall behind her. "Shit Mac, so much for that bright idea." She hissed. "MacDonald, you there?"

"O'Shea? Have you heard from Major Mackenzie?" the Canadian asked hurriedly.

"No. I have a sneaking suspicion that radios don't work in this place. I'm going to have to go in after him."

"You will do no such thing. I'm not having another person walk into what could potentially be a death trap," MacDonald replied.

"I don't see you here to stop me," she shot back and shut off the radio before the lieutenant could reply.

~*~*~

While Jake Mackenzie felt tremendously guilty at leaving Rhea by the entrance, he knew she couldn't accompany him inside. When he'd looked back at O'Shea, just before he entered the structure, he'd caught a glimpse of what looked like unshed tears. He knew she *had* to be in lot of pain and that she was also probably terrified of being left alone. But what could he do? He sighed slightly, worrying about her, but walked deeper inside.

It got dark surprisingly fast, and Mac pulled out his flashlight, lighting up the way ahead. He saw overhanging roots trailing down the walls, moisture running freely down them. Underfoot, the going was rough - several times nearly saw Mackenzie fall on his face. Only grabbing at the roots prevented that from happening, although his automatic reactions succeeded in hurting his left hand again. Mac swore under his breath - colourfully and descriptively - glad that no one was around to overhear him.

Without a radio, he knew he'd have to rely on more 'traditional' methods of locating McNamara and Hunter. He shouted. No reply...unless he counted his own echo. He walked onwards until he reached a section where the tunnel split three ways. He searched frantically for a sign - *any* sign - of which route they could have taken. Nothing. Not even a partial footprint. He stood looking at the three choices, trying to see it from the point of view of the others. Which would *they* have taken?

Frowning, he opted for the left hand one... for no other reason than it looked the least uneven. Maybe they went for it for the same reason? He sure hoped so. He marked the tunnel with a small heap of pebbles - just in case MacDonald needed to come in after them - before bending his head to enter the slightly lower-roofed tunnel.

The walls were becoming increasingly slick as the water continued to run in rivulets down the stone, dripping off the roots and onto Mackenzie. It was a dead end. Simply stopped in a heap of fallen rubble. He about-faced and headed back, swearing at the lost time. He moved the small pile of pebbles to the central tunnel and tried that one instead.

The going this time was slower as the uneven ground made caution advisable. He hadn't gone far when he heard something... He halted. It was coming from behind him. He spun quickly, reaching for his sidearm and almost tripping himself over as he slipped on the wet floor. He could clearly hear the sound of footsteps approaching as he backed up slightly, pressing himself against the rocky wall. The footsteps grew louder and closer and Mac gripped the gun in both hands - having pushed the flashlight into a pocket - awkwardly trying to hold it in hands that refused to cooperate. Mac backed up some more, retreating while still looking back down the tunnel. A mistake in retrospect, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time.. Had he been looking where he was going instead of walking like some lame-assed crab, he would've seen the gaping hole in the floor.

The first he was aware of the danger was when his leading boot landed on nothing, swiftly followed by the rest of him. He stumbled backwards, dropping his gun as he went, and vanished from sight.

~*~*~

Rhea distinctly heard the clatter of metal falling on a hard surface. “Mac? Is that you?” she called uncertainly, thanking her lucky stars that she was pretty much armed to the teeth (even if the ribbon device was gunked up with mud). She followed her ears down one of the three branches on offer, not even sure if she was going down the right path. On her way in she skidded on some pebbles, once again attempting to break her neck with the greatest of ease.

“Jesus,” she swore, righting herself after falling flat on her backside. “Oh my butt.”

/*Serves you right for going against orders,*/ Asreal commented smugly.

//Can it buttmunch,// she retorted and stepped carefully along the length of the tunnel.

/*Buttmunch?*/

//Blame a certain American sitcom.// Coming to a slight turn in the tunnel, she craned her neck in an effort to see around it before realising that the effort was pointless – if she could see someone then they could see her too. Drawing in a deep breath, she advanced around the bend, only to find nothing there.

“Mac?” she called again, a bit louder than before. Another step forward caused her right foot to collide with something lying on the ground. Crouching down, she discovered that it was a sidearm. “MAC?!” she now hollered, realising that it was probably his. “BLOODY HELL, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

There was a faint sound, almost like someone yelling. Her head swung around like it was on some kind of hinge, but she wasn’t able to see the source of the noise, even with Tok’ra enhanced night vision. Standing up, she scanned the tunnel – finally picking up on the large hole in the ground.

//No sheet of tarpaulin,// she commented.

/*What?*/

Rhea shook her head. //Never mind. I think we can assume that’s where he’s gone.//

/*Got a thing for holes doesn’t he?*/

//No more than I do,// she said, stepping over to the edge. “Mac? You been stupid enough to fall down there?” she called, unable to see much of anything down the hole. “What now?”

/*I don’t know. You can’t see what’s down there, so you don’t know if it’s a vertical drop or what.*/

“But it might not be.”

/*But it might.*/

“But it mightn’t.”

/*Oh for God’s sake! Just kill us both then!*/ Asreal finally said in exasperation – after a few more ‘might’/‘might not’s had passed between the pair.

“Like you could’ve stopped me anyway!” Rhea said with a grin. “No guts, no glory.”

/*Whatever happened to ‘when in doubt, chicken out’?*/ the Tok’ra said with a sigh.

Rhea perched herself on the edge of the hole – Mac’s gun (presumably) tucked into the waistband of her shorts. “Geronimo!” she hooted as she pushed herself into the great unknown.

~*~*~

“WAAAAAAGH!” Rhea hollered as she shot out of the other end of the Jumbo tunnel slide from hell. Her fall was thankfully broken by something that was considerably softer than concrete, although it wasn’t all that good for her because she managed to collect something or other with her stomach – the overall effect being to wind her.

“Oof!” grunted the something that she’d landed on. It was then that Rhea realised that she hadn’t so much landed on a something as a *someone*.

“Mac?” she finally gasped, her voice a little muffled by the mouthful of what she suspected was his jacket, but could possibly be a pants leg.

“Rhea?” the voice replied. “You wanna get off me?”

“I think I can manage that,” she said with a groan, spitting out the whatever it was that had lodged in her mouth and rolling to one side.

“You bit me!” Mac exclaimed.

“I did not!” she protested, sitting up. “And if I did I didn’t mean to!” She scooted around to look down at him – noting the wet patch on the shin of his pants. “Well, you were trying to knock my teeth out...”

“You sure about that? And what are you doing here?”

/*And so it begins…*/

“Um, I didn’t hear that bit about staying where I was…”

~*~*~

The fall had winded Mac so much that her lay quietly at the bottom of the slide for a long while. Too long it seemed as an incoming missile landed hard on his chest. On all of him, to be exact.

He heard the newcomer grunt "Oof," as she contacted, then a voice he recognized spoke, kinda muffly. "Mac?"

"Rhea?" he replied. "You wanna get off me?"

"I think I can manage that," he heard her reply, groaning slightly as she moved.

Mac realized that his leg hurt where she'd been lying. "You bit me!" he said indignantly. He also realized his left ankle was hurting a helluva lot more.

"I did not! And if I did I didn't mean to! Well, you were trying to knock my teeth out..." she snapped waspishly.

"You sure about that? And what are you doing here?" Mac scowled darkly at her as she looked back at him. His ankle was now almost unbearable, adding to his current anger.

"Um, I didn't hear that bit about staying where I was," Rhea replied.

"For crissakes, O'Shea. I *told* you to stay put," he retorted. "And you know damn well I did too!" He struggled to sit up, hissing in pain as he moved his left leg. He saw Rhea move to help him. "NO! Stay there!" he snarled. "Maybe you can at least obey *that* order!" Mac had a horrible feeling he'd done something to his ankle... more than just land awkwardly.

"Mac.." He spun his head to look at her. "Let me help you... Please." He felt her hands under his arms in an attempt to help him upright. He knew she had added strength, courtesy of Asreal, but was still surprised when she almost succeeded.

"Aaghh," he cried, dropping back down heavily. "Oh shit," he added, knowing he'd broken the bone. Rhea tried to pull his boot off and he groaned at her to stop. "Leave it," he said between clenched teeth. "Get out of here and find some help... NO... no arguing O'Shea... Not this time."

He looked up at her as shock began to set in, and he shivered uncontrollably. "I'm not leaving you, Jake Mackenzie," she replied firmly. Mac hadn't the energy to argue. Instead he lay back on the cold stone floor and watched as she scurried around like some insane creature.

~*~*~

Rhea couldn’t miss the way Mac hissed when he moved that she probably hadn’t done him a world of good by sinking her teeth into his leg, no matter how much an accident it had been. She moved to help him, but he snapped at her to stay put, adding a crack about her apparent inability to follow orders.

“Mac, let me help you.” He looked at her, a not exactly friendly appearance to his features. “Please.” She tried to bodily lift him off the floor, but when he started yelling and swearing she abandoned the effort to focus her attention on his foot. Or ankle to be precise. An attempt to try removing his boot resulted in some more pointless orders passing from his lips to her ears.

“I’m not leaving you Jake Mackenzie,” she said, showing some of her own stubbornness. It was her turn to feel guilty about the situation – after all, if she’d only called out while she’d been looking for him he probably wouldn’t have fallen down the jumbo slippery dip from hell. If he hadn’t taken that spill he wouldn’t have what was probably a broken ankle. Although she probably would’ve had a bullet lodged some place interesting if the dropped gun was anything to go on, since he’d probably been holding it when he fell.

After her stubborn retort, Mac began to shake and some unknown medical faculty that had previously remained hidden from her purview told her that he was going into shock.

//Shit, shit, shit,// she cursed mentally, scrabbling around for something that she could use to get his boot off his foot. Nothing came to hand immediately, so she was forced to turn out his pockets in the somewhat vain hope that he was carrying a knife or something. Of course he wasn’t, and of course she’d lost hers whilst seeking help earlier.

/*You’ll have to distract him or he’ll fight you all the way,*/ Asreal said helpfully.

//Yeah, but what?// she wondered as she carefully unlaced his boot.

/*Well, he didn’t realise that he’d hurt himself until after he’d noticed that you bit him. By accident, of course.*/

//Of course… Wait, you want me to *bite* him again?// Rhea asked incredulously.

/*Whatever it takes to get his mind off his ankle.*/

//I’m gonna make sure he knows that its your fault he’s gonna end up with more teeth marks in him,// she said grudgingly as she scooted up to Mac’s top half. “I’m sorry about this,” she apologised as she picked up his left hand. “And I’ll have you know that it wasn’t my idea.”

Pushing up the cuff of his jacket, quickly bit into his wrist before scooting out of the way of any possible blows. Thankfully the ploy seemed to have work because he was too busy raining curses down upon her head (Vampire??) to notice that she’d slipped his boot off. It was only when she dared to try for the sock that he called proceedings to a halt.

“Argh. Stop, stop!!” he roared, trying to pull his foot away from her hands.

“Shit a brick Jake, would you hold still,” she grunted, finally resorting to poking at the bite mark she’d inflicted earlier to take his mind away from his foot. Succeeding at removing his sock, she wrinkled at the pervasive odour emanating from his feet. “Phwhoof, toe jam.”

“I do not-” he started to protest before she waved the comment away, although her intention had been to disperse the odour cloud that was hanging around her nose.

“Get over it,” she murmured as she began to inspect the very swollen and purple joint.

“It’s broken,” he informed her through gritted teeth.

“No shit Sherlock,” she replied. “I have seen plenty of broken bones in my time.” Looking around, she began to scout for something that she could use to splint his foot with. There were some sticks in the corner, what they were doing there she had no clue, but she was left without something to use to bind it up with.

//Duh, stupid,// she thought as she finally realised that she was still ponchoed up, and she slipped the garment over her head.

“Okay, need cutting tool,” she muttered as she stared at the formidable material of the slicker.

“Why don’t you use your teeth?” Mac wheezed.

“Ah, bite me,” she retorted.

“Get up here so I can,” he shot back just as quickly.

Rhea glanced at his face, noting the shadow of a smile playing around his lips. She shook her head and looked back down at the poncho in her hands. //Crap, he’s got a good plan there,// she thought as she searched out a seam. Finding one, she clamped her incisors down on it, at least trying to loosen the stitching so that she could separate it with a bloody good yank. A bit of gnawing and some grimaces at the taste later she figured that the stitching was suitably loose and pulled at the seam. It came apart with a satisfying ripping sound and a few moments work garnered her some nice looking waterproof bandages.

She collected the wood she’d spotted in the corner, and noted that it was suitably thick. //Maybe they had people breaking stuff all the time after coming down the alternate entrance,// she wondered idly as she headed back to Mac, who dutifully kept a stiff upper lip while she went to work binding up his ankle. A few minutes later she leaned back to admire her handiwork.

“Not bad for someone who isn’t a medic,” she murmured, glancing at Mac. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked, noting a slight greenish tinge around his mouth.

“No,” he groaned unsteadily, wiping at the cold sweat that had broken out on his forehead.

“Whoah boy.” She scooted out of the way just in time to avoid being vomited on. “Mmm… projectile too. My favourite,” she murmured as she went to help with the aftermath of the sicking up. A movement of a few metres away from his original site managed to improve conditions slightly, and Rhea’s stomach stopped making threatening moves of their own. Sitting with her back against a wall, she pulled Mac over to be half-sprawled between her legs, his back resting against her chest.

“How’s that?” she enquired towards the head that was resting wearily on her shoulder.

“Better,” was all she could make out before he slumped into a restless slumber.

Wrapping her arms around his chest, she rested her cheek against his own and waited for him to either wake up or someone to find them.

~*~*~

When the insane woman leant close and sunk her fangs into his left wrist, it was all Mackenzie could do to stop himself from swatting her across the cave. Instead he hurled insults - mainly targeting her ancestry and likening her to a creature of the night. "Hell... don't I have enough injuries already for you O'Shea?" he snapped at her. He glanced down, noticing his now removed boot, but even that didn't lift the deep and dark scowl he was presenting Rhea with.

But when he felt her try the same with his sock, he yelped at her to stop, hearing her telling him to keep still. She managed to get the garment off, but only after sadistically prodding the fresh bite mark on his hand.

"It's broken," he told her, a tad unnecessarily.

He heard her sarcastic reply of, "No shit Sherlock. I have seen plenty of broken bones in my time."

Mac decided to let her deal with it and lay back, closing his eyes in an attempt to block out the throbbing pain. He could hear her scurrying back and forth before she ended up once more at his side. She was holding her poncho between her hands, trying to tear the thing. He couldn't understand why his suggestion of her biting the material was so badly received.

Eventually she tried his suggestion, and Mac was amused to see her gnawing at her poncho, managing to loosen a seam enough to rip it apart. Strips of the material, plus some sticks that she'd rustled up from somewhere, made an ample splint and he was surprised to see her actually make a reasonable job of it. That said, the pain she caused along the way was enough to unsettle his entire stomach contents. The damned annoying thing was, he missed O'Shea entirely.

He felt Rhea half haul him to a less...dire part of the cave, and leant back against her body. As he rested his head against her, Mac found it was pretty comfortable - enough so that he fell into a sleep. One that was pain-filled and restless, but sleep all the same. He knew he'd be able to move on once he'd rested for a short while. He just needed to regain some strength. He nestled closely to her in his half sleeping state, comforted by the feeling of her arms holding him tightly round his chest.

~*~*~

At the bottom of the staircase in the main chamber, Angel McNamara looked up at the amazing view the light source was projecting. There was a different perspective from down here and the entire enclosed area twinkled and sparkled as the light reflected off it. Colours ranging from blue to green to yellow to orange to purple flittered over the cavern walls.

“This is incredible,” McNamara murmured.

“Nice light show,” Hunter acknowledged, looking around, but keeping an eye on the renegade anthropologist and the device in the centre of the room.

“No, no, no…it’s more than a light show… it’s…” She gestured around with a look of amazement – one that wasn’t normally seen on Angel’s face. “I think we’ve found our Codex.”

“Wait a second, I thought you said that a Codex was a book… or something…”

“Sort of. Maybe. I explained it wrong… it doesn’t have to be a physical paper book, just a document of some sort – like a manuscript.” The anthropologist looked up at the walls. “See that?” She pointed to the pictographs that were evident by the reflective light. “It’s like a giant book in Mayan. I can’t translate any of it as I don’t know the language… but I’m pretty certain that this is what we’re looking for.”

“Okay, so we’ve found it. Can we go back to the others now?”

“What? We can’t just leave it here…”

“We’ll go back and tell the others and report it so they can send someone down here who knows how to translate it.”

“Just give me a few more minutes to look around…” Angel wandered over to the central point of the room – the light source.

“Don’t touch it.”

With a frown, McNamara shrugged off the warning and carefully reached out for it. A small electric shock zapped at her fingers, causing her to pull back quickly. “Okaaay… not touching it…”

“Anyone up there?” A distant, but familiar voice echoed through the cavern.

“O’Shea.” Hunter was already on her way up the staircase.

“Wait! We can’t just leave!”

“Yeah, we can. Now move.”

“I’m not leaving.”

The sergeant jogged back down and grabbed the anthropologist by the collar. “Yeah, you are. Now.”

~*~*~

Adrienne dragged McNamara up and down and around, all the while shouting to O'Shea to keep up her yelling. At one point, Hunter believed that she had gotten them very, very lost. She hid that fact and made a decisive left turn.

"Where are we going?!?" the anthropologist whined.

Hunter relaxed her grip a bit and said, "This way."

"Oh good," she snorted. "So you have no idea."

"No no.." Adrienne said quickly. "I'm Army. I ALWAYS know where I am. It's just a little farther..." But before she could take another step, her boot didn't fully connect with solid ground. She teetered on the edge, grabbing McNamara for support. Together the two tumbled down another shoot about two stories long.

They landed in a heap at the bottom. "Son of a bitch..."

Angel removed her leg from Adrienne's neck and groaned, "I'm Army. I ALWAYS know where I am... my ass."

"Hunter?"

The sergeant chuckled a bit. "See. We're EXACTLY where we should be."

They felt their way through the dark into the next room. "O'Shea?"

"Hunter, thank..." There was a yip and a squeak and Adrienne was petty damn sure she saw feet at eye-level.

"McNamara! Are you alright?!?"

She winced and started to stand. "I'm fine just slipped in somethi.... oh my God!"

Adrienne caught the distinct odour and erupted in laughter. "Oh... Oh... Oh my...Oh I'm sorry... It really isn't THAT funny," she said in between gasps.

Upon seeing the civvie's evil glares, Hunter cleared her throat. "Um... What are you guys doing down here?"

~*~*~

Mac woke slowly to see two other faces peering down at him in the dim light.

"Wha...? He jumped slightly in automatic reaction, jarring his ankle. He groaned as Rhea held him a little tighter.

"Hunter?" He frowned slightly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Major," she replied. McNamara scuttled over to her side and Mac's nose wrinkled slightly. He saw Hunter shift sideways a little too.

"He broke his ankle," he heard O'Shea explain. She continued muttering and Mackenzie was sure he heard a reference to his neck...something about it would have been better if... But no, surely he'd misheard. He scowled up at Rhea and saw one of her wide-eyed stares and knew his first thoughts had been correct.

"We can't stay here until it heals," McNamara added. "We found the Codex, by the way."

"Where? Near here?" Mac struggled upright with a great deal of effort. McNamara jerked a thumb over her shoulder, indicating they were now well below the room that held it.

"It needs a specialist team to decipher the text and it can't be moved... that I can see, anyway," she told him. "But I would have liked a longer look at it."

"I'm sure we can arrange that," Mac responded. Hell, *he* wanted to see the damned thing too! With the help of the three women, Mackenzie got to his feet. Foot, to be exact. He leant heavily on Hunter as she stood to his left, Rhea to his right. "This is never gonna work," he muttered as the group tried to make progress. McNamara led, lighting the way with her flashlight. Mac knew their chances of getting out like this were almost non-existent, particularly when he knew some of the tunnels would only allow for single file. They tried their best and made about 20 feet in the next hour before Mac called a halt.

"This is insane," he said firmly. "You three are to return to the outside and find help." He knew it was unlikely to come from MacDonald and Diens, as he hoped they were already on their way back to civilization by now, to take Tirion Start to a hospital. "Maybe Pueblo...?" Even that he knew was a false hope. Pueblo was way too far away for reasonable assistance. But he knew it would be impossible like this. He was hindering them completely and *that* wasn't an option.

"Perhaps there's something you can use in our equipment... where we camped last night... maybe something there..." He petered out, earning himself three concerned looks. "I'm fine," he said, injecting some force into his voice. "And you'll be back soon... Go."

Mackenzie looked up to see them looking down at him, each wearing a similar statement. One that boded ill for any order obedience. Mac decided to go for their weakest link. "Hunter. That's an order," he said, knowing she'd find it hard to disobey one so direct.

~*~*~

Shining the flashlight around, Angel remained verbally silent. However, inwardly she scowled. If Hunter hadn’t dragged her out of the Codex room, then she wouldn’t be in this mess. //Military… always think they know best. Well, I’ve got news for them and it’s all bad… holy cow…// “Um, guys?”

The short banter between O’Shea, Mackenzie and Hunter stopped. “What is it?” Rhea asked.

“If you’ve finished your little military ‘yes sir’ business… that,” she shined the flashlight towards the end of the tunnel ahead. What the anthropologist assumed to be natural light spilled through a small hole. “I think we found the light at the end of the tunnel…so to speak.” It was all Rhea could do not to roll her sometimes-glowing eyes at the cliché.

“Hunter, check it out.”

“He changes his mind about orders a lot, doesn’t he?” McNamara mumbled and went with the Sergeant. The two reached the end of the tunnel and pushed against the wooden door, which was somewhat like the cross-section of a tree trunk. With one particularly rough shove, it swung open to reveal the Codex room. Angel hadn’t been on-balance with that shove and fell flat on her face with an “Umph!”

“I told you you’d get another chance to take a look,” the sergeant said.

“You did not,” McNamara frowned and helped herself up. “Major? Doctor?” The anthropologist called back to the other two. “Good news.” With that, O’Shea and Mackenzie headed towards them. Angel frowned again. “I didn’t even realise we were walking uphill…”

~*~*~

Rhea looked around the Codex room in amazement. It was… beautiful, for want of a more appropriate word.

“Wow,” she breathed, looking around at the way the various light colours played off what looked like pictures on the wall.

“I second that,” Mac said, leaning heavily on her as he craned his neck to look around as well.

“Well, although it’s nice to be back here, we’ve still got the same problem,” Hunter commented. “How’re we going to get him up the stairs?”

Rhea finally noticed the long staircase winding its way up the walls. “I think she’s right. You can’t bump all that way on your butt.”

“Excuse me?” Mac enquired mildly at her comment.

“How else was I supposed to get up stairs when I had a whacking plaster cast on my leg?” she asked him just as mildly.

He shook his head in bemusement. “Well it looks like we’re going to have to revert to our original plan anyway. Hunter, you can go back to the base camp and see if there’s anything there that’ll help me get out of here.”

“I’m staying here,” McNamara piped up.

“Like bloody hell you are,” Rhea said. “If anyone’s staying down here, it’s going to be me.”

“But-”

“Do you speak Mayan?” Rhea demanded, grunting a little as she lowered the major to the floor. There was no point trying to support his weight if he was going to have to wait a while for help.

“Well, no-” McNamara was so surprised at the question she obviously forgot to lie about her talents.

“Then get moving before I move you,” she growled, straightening to her full six feet – a height that had her towering over the petite archaeologist.

“O’Shea!” Mackenzie barked.

“Asreal knows a bit of Mayan,” Rhea lied glibly.

“You mean she could translate this?” the anthropologist asked in amazement.

“Some of it.”

/*Rhea!*/

//Hey, I said I wasn’t going to leave him and I plan on doing just that!//

/*You’re going to get yelled at.*/

//So I’ll yell back. It’s not like I wouldn’t anyway.//

/*You’re incorrigible.*/

//Thank you.//

“Since that’s the case McNamara, it’d probably be better if you went with the sergeant,” Mac said wearily.

McNamara nodded silently, probably not liking the fact that her specialty was being intruded on by someone who wasn’t in the slightest bit qualified. “Yes major,” she said softly, turning to follow Hunter up the stairs.

“So, can Asreal really translate this?” he asked when the two women were out of earshot.

She shook her head. “No.”

“Then why…?”

“I told you I wasn’t leaving,” she said stubbornly. “So I’m not.”

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