The Long Way Home

Chapter One Hundred & One: Human

There was blood smeared on Hope's pretty, exotic features, that was the first thing Ronon noticed when her image came through the video link that had been set up through the Stargate. They'd received Drew Hartford's IDC and Chuck, the usual Stargate Tech had announced that a video feed was being sent ahead. Elizabeth had conjured the team to the Gateroom in time for the video to be exhibited.

The instant Ronon laid eyes upon Hope's dishevelled frame he hadn't been able to tear his gaze away. His nostrils flared in outrage, his fists clenched so tightly that the skin stretched over knuckles turning them white. The right side of her face was swelling slightly from the yellow and green bruising that marred her face, her inky dark left eye was bloodshot from where it looked like someone had punched her.

Hope wasn't looking at the camera, her expression was defiant, her jaw sticking out and her eyes focusing on something beyond the camera. Her arms were pulled behind her back, thrusting her modest chest forward. Ronon could only guess that her hands were bound behind her back. She was on her knees struggling to keep her balance as she wavered from side to side disorientated.

"Look at the camera Hope." that sickly familiar voice chimed.

Hearing that deep rich voice sent a flash of rage sparking through Ronon's consciousness as he growled out loud at the sound. Hope let out a sharp cry as the horrendous crack lashed out through the room as a very human hand slapped her injured cheek. The force of the blow twisted her head causing her chestnut hair to fall across her face as she spat vivid red blood onto the floor.

He had no doubt that Drew Hartford was the man behind the camera. It was his ICD and that was definitely his voice and he was the one hurting his woman. It wasn't the Wraith's style to beat down on people, they would tear the life straight out of her but using their fists was something they saved for battle. To beat someone the way Hope was beaten was a human element to the torture he knew she had been enduring.

"I told you to look at the camera." That cold voice snapped again.

"Go fuck yourself ." Hope spat her voice hard and emotionless.

The hand reached out again cupping her chin between brutal fingers. Ronon could see them digging into into her tender flesh as her head was yanked to face the camera. Ronon was snarling, his face contorting in vengeful fury as the camera zoomed in on her disgruntled features.

"I hear you Chewie." John muttered, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

The best way to deal with this situation was to disconnect, but it was easier said than done. It was difficult to watch someone you love being so brutally tortured and John didn't envy the other man. He wished he knew what had happened to Cassandra although that thought was selfish in the face of what his friend was going through.

Drew's worn face appeared in the view of the camera as his fingers snaked through Hope's chestnut hair, gripping it in one hand and tilting her head back until Hope let out a gasp of affliction. The other man's eyes were red rimmed and out of focus, in the days he had been away he had forgone shaving. There was sweat trembling down his brow as he turned that almost maniacal grin to the camera. Hope ground her teeth as his grasp tightened. He was standing behind Hope now, watching as her chest heaved with exertion.

"He's been taking the enzyme." Carson Beckett murmured into the silence of the room as he tried to wrench himself from the images in front of him.

Drugs...

Drugs didn't change what was happening right now and Ronon wasn't going to tolerate that as an excuse. What the man was doing to his woman made him want to tear something apart. There was a sickening, convulsive urge to break something, there was fury rushing through his veins. He would tear Drew Hartford to pieces with his bare hands for what he was doing to Hope. He would destroy every bone in Hartford's body for this nauseating display.