Gifted Castaway

By Leesa Perrie

An AU and kidfic, of sorts. Where full names are known, I have used them. Where full names are not known (in canon), I have refrained from making them up.

"I'm a nightmare, a disaster
That's what they'd always say
I'm a lost cause, not a hero
But I'll make it on my own
I've gotta prove them wrong"

Lyrics from 'Me Against the World' by Simple Plan

Chapter One – The Genius Misfit

The Atlantis Expedition, headed by Dr Elizabeth Weir, and with Colonel Marshall Sumner as Chief Military Officer, Dr Carson Beckett as Chief Medical Officer and Dr Radek Zelenka as Chief Science Officer, entered the lost city of Atlantis, to find that it was powered up and sitting on the surface of a great ocean.

A matter of minutes after entering the city, it became evident that the place had been inhabited until recently, possibly even still was. Excitement at the possibility of meeting Ancients soon turned to puzzlement as a handful of Earth computers were discovered patched into Atlantis' systems. However, no sign of the people responsible was immediately obvious.

Colonel Sumner organised security teams to work out from the control room and check for life, and ordered the scientific staff to remain in the gate room until areas were secured.

Dr Zelenka, along with Dr Peter Grodin, studied the laptops, trying to get a grasp on what each one was linked into, and learning how things were set up in this alien city, and what wonders it held.

Three hours passed, and no sign of inhabitants had been found by the security teams, but a lot of other things had been. Such as ships that were clearly designed to go through the stargate, and information including the fact that the power levels in the city were extremely low. It was clear that the ZPM was depleted, and that the central tower was being powered by a single naquadah generator. The rest of the city was in darkness.

They also found evidence that the city had at one time been under the surface of the ocean, and that the shield had been failing, causing at least two areas to be flooded. And then they discovered the life sign detector. Unfortunately, it only covered the central tower, and there were no life signs unaccounted for by expedition members.

It was certainly a puzzle, and one that would not be explained for several hours.

Colonel Sumner and his teams had checked out the level that the control room was on, and the two levels below, and temporary quarters were set up within these areas, as well as a temporary mess hall and small infirmary. Guards were posted at the entrances to each level, and people were split up into teams and shifts. Supplies were moved into surrounding corridors and rooms, and the gate room started to look less cluttered.

Peter had found the gate shield, which had caused several sighs of relief, and Radek and his team were beginning to understand how the database was set up.

Seven hours after arriving in Atlantis, the personnel were still coming to terms with the fact that they were in an alien city in another galaxy, with no immediate way home, when the stargate activated and a wormhole formed.

Peter, who was still in the control room, attempted to bring up the shield, and found to his dismay that it was no longer responding. Colonel Sumner was called to the gateroom, and the security team stationed there quickly took up positions to defend against any potential hostiles that came through.

But what came through was definitely unexpected. Just one person, a teenager, exited the wormhole carrying a sack, which he put down as soon as he was through. The wormhole disengaged behind him as he looked around. Elizabeth saw fear and surprise flit across his face, to be swiftly replaced with annoyance.

"Who are you?" the kid demanded, jittering nervously whilst managing to sound irritated at the same time.

"We could ask the same of you," Elizabeth said, looking at him closely. He was human, with short brown hair and piercing blue eyes. About fourteen to sixteen at a guess. Pale and on the skinny side, he wore blue jeans that had seen better days, and a ratty looking blue t-shirt with the faded words 'I have nothing to declare except my genius' on it, along with a pair of scuffed and dirty sneakers. Definitely from Earth, though how he had come to be in the Pegasus Galaxy was anyone's guess.

"I'm Rodney McKay, genius," he said smugly, though Elizabeth could still see a glimmer of fear underneath. He narrowed his eyes at them. "You're from Earth," he stated. "SGC?"

"Yes, we're from Earth. So are you, by the looks of things," Elizabeth came down the stairs to the gate room floor. "We're a multi-national expedition, to find the city of Atlantis, the lost city of the Ancients."

"Not lost anymore," the boy said, tilting his head slightly, and seemingly judging whether she was to be trusted or not. "A military expedition? Because, forgive me, but you don't look military to me."

"A civilian expedition, with a military escort," Elizabeth confirmed. "I'm Dr Elizabeth Weir, leader of the expedition. How did you come to be here?"

The kid folded his arms across his chest, and glowered at the guns still aimed in his direction, before turning his gaze back to Elizabeth, with a raised eyebrow.

"Colonel Sumner, I think your men can stand down. I doubt he's much threat to us."

"We don't know that, ma'am," the Colonel responded uneasily.

"No, we don't, not for certain," she looked round, noting which military people were in the room, and made a decision. "Colonel, Major, shall we step into the meeting room we found a short while ago? I'm sure the two of you would be sufficient to defend me, should that be necessary."

Sumner nodded.

"Rodney," she indicated the stairs. "I think we should take this talk somewhere quieter."

"Fine," Rodney watched the two military men warily, but followed them to the meeting room. Elizabeth asked Radek and Carson to join them as well.

Rodney sat on a chair furthest away from everyone else, crossing his arms over his chest again, and watching them through narrowed and wary eyes. Elizabeth made introductions, hoping to try and put him more at ease.

"We'd like to know how you came to be here," Elizabeth said, watching him closely.

"Okay," he paused, clearly thinking. "Well, there were these people, Rogue NID I think. They turned up about four years back, when I was twelve, and took me through a stargate. Only they lost access to it after that, and couldn't go back to Earth. The group split up, went to different worlds, but kept in contact with Earth through a Goa'uld communicator. The other group were found out, sent back to Earth and arrested. They said it was something to do with SG-1," the kid's eyes lit up. "Did you ever meet them? I heard stories about them, they sounded…cool. Wish I could have met them," he lost his enthusiasm slightly. "But then I wouldn't have ended up here, so it's probably as well the group I was with was never found."

"Why they take you?" Sheppard looked the kid over. "Hate to break it to you, but you don't look anything special."

The glare aimed his way was withering, but only made the Major smirk, much to the boy's annoyance.

"I'm a genius," he said smugly, raising his chin up haughtily. "I built a nuclear bomb for my science fair when I was eleven. A working model, but without the uranium. Of course, it caught the attention of several agencies, including your CIA, and NID as well, apparently. Thought I was some sort of pre-teen terrorist or something equally as stupid. Got me out into a school for 'gifted' children, which was far better than ordinary school."

"That sounds…enterprising," Elizabeth said cautiously, silently amused at the kid's attitude. "What did your parents think about it?"

"Not got any, not anymore. Died when I was nine in a car accident, along with my sister. I got shoved around the system, 'cause no one wanted me," he rolled his eyes. "My foster parents at the time soon handed me back after that little stunt. Heller, that's the guy in charge of the group I got stuck with, he found a machine off world that was supposed to make a person smarter than they already were. He wanted to try it out, but Maybourne said to wait. Then they grabbed me. Guess they wanted to try it out on a genius and make a super-genius, and being a kid, they figured they could keep control of me. Of course, being an unwanted orphan, no one would miss me much. Probably think I ran away or something."

"They used this machine on you?" Sumner asked.

"Yeah, but it shorted out. It didn't make me smarter than I already was, probably because it stopped working," Rodney paused, a haunted look passed though his eyes and he admitted quietly. "It hurt. A lot."

"And you were twelve when they did this?" Elizabeth felt sick at the thought.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I survived."

"What happened to Heller and his group? And you still haven't told us how you come to be here," Sumner reminded him somewhat impatiently.

Rodney looked at him sharply, and seemed to draw himself back together, starting on his explanation with a rapid-fire delivery that left them stunned, expressing himself with his hands at the same time.

"They found a ship, like the other ships here, and decided to use it to move some of their finds to another planet. So they filled it with things, including a naquadah generator they'd stolen from somewhere, and computer equipment, and some supplies, food and such like. Then half the group piled in, including Heller and me. Only something weird happened with the ship, and the next thing we know we're in the gateroom of this city. I worked out later that it had moved us in time and space. Only a few weeks forward in time, according to the program I found, but also into another galaxy. The city lit up for us, but we were underwater, and running out of power for the city's shield. Heller took Jacques with him to try and find a safe planet. They didn't come back," the kid paused, very briefly, before continuing.

"The city's shield failed before the others and I could get the gate dialled, but it rose to the surface before flooding, so everything was okay. We patched the naquadah generator in so as to power the control tower, and then Morrison went to find out what had happened to the others. He never came back either. So there was just Samuels, Levenson and me left here. After a week or so, we found an address in the database that was flagged as friendly, and we went through, all three of us, and met the natives, the Athosians. Of course, those two Neanderthals nearly messed things up," there was another brief pause, before returning to his tale.

"They went there pretending to trade for food, but Teyla, she's the Athosians' leader, she knew they weren't being truthful and so told them she wasn't interested in trading with them, and we left. But the ext day, Samuels and Levenson went back and somehow managed to grab Teyla and a kid called Jinto and brought them back here as hostages. Halling, he's Jinto's dad, and he leads whenever Teyla is off world, he sent through the food they demanded, but they said it wasn't enough. They wanted more. I tried to argue with them…" he paused, the haunted look returning to his eyes. "Usually, I get away with that. Arguing, so long as I do what they say in the end. But now and then, they…didn't like it and would…" he was shaking slightly, but trying hard to hide it from them. "Teyla had got free of the ropes binding her, and whilst they were…distracted…she attacked them. She had no choice but to kill them, or they would have killed Jinto and herself. I let them go back to Athos, of course. She let me keep the food that had been sent through," a brief smile crossed his face. "She even tried to get me to go with her, back to Athos. But I wanted, needed to stay here."

"What did they do to you, Rodney," Elizabeth asked gently, "When they didn't like you arguing with them?"

He kept his eyes down, wrapping his arms around himself again, but protectively this time. He didn't answer.

"Rodney, please. We only want to help you," she pushed carefully.

"They had…" he stopped, his eyes darting around the room before returning to the table top. "They had one of those Goa'uld torture sticks. Used it on me sometimes But it's okay," he looked her in the eyes, pushing the pain down. "It's okay, really. You kind of get used to it after a while, and it's not so bad then."

"Bloody hell," she heard Carson mutter, and knew he wasn't the only one shocked by Rodney's admission. Elizabeth didn't believe that anyone really got used to one of those things, despite what Rodney said. She could plainly see the lie on his face, but decided not to call him on it.

"No one should have to," she said to him instead.

"I don't want or need your pity," Rodney bit back, anger hiding his discomfort.

"No, I guess not," she moved on quickly. "So, the Athosians trade with you?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, I offer them information if I find something in the database that might help them with their farming or whatever, but…" he shrugged. "It's more charity than trade. Teyla, she keeps asking me to join them on Athos. I don't think she likes the idea of me being alone here, but this is my home now," he looked thoughtful. "You know, I think she…likes me," he shrugged. "Don't know why. She's the first person to give a damn about me, I mean for me, not for what I can do for them…for…for probably as long as I can remember," his said this in such a matter of fact fashion, as though it was just a normal part of life that no one would care about him. And then he was off again, as another thought obviously struck him.

"You're not going to send me back to Earth, are you? This place is amazing and I want to stay," he stared at them, a mix of defiance and desperation on his face. "You need me to stay. I know more about this city than you do…Do you have one of those crystals that power this place? The ones here are out of power and I haven't found out how to recharge them yet…they work by generating power from the vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace…it's really quite fascinating…"

"We call them Zero Point Modules," Radek informed him. "And yes, we know how they work, and it is most interesting."

"But we don't have one," Elizabeth added. "We were hoping to find one here, but at the same time knew this could be a one way journey. Though we're hopeful of finding a way home somehow."

"So, you won't be sending me back to Earth. That's good. Well, not about you being stuck here…but…I won't go back to Earth, even if there was a way to send me back. This is my home now…and I won't leave it. Not like there's anything for me back there anyway, certainly not compared to this," he waved his hands to encompass the room and beyond.

"Well, it's a moot point at the moment anyway," Elizabeth said in her best diplomatic voice.

"Yes, well, so long as you know. If a way to return is found, I won't be going," he sat, glaring in defiance. Elizabeth found herself having to quash a smile at the image of a typical rebellious teenager before her, knowing there was more to him than that. She suspected he used his attitude to hide his fears and insecurities, and his pain; after all, he'd been physically abused, mentally as well. She just hoped they could gain his trust, and that he could be trusted in return.

"Okay, so we know where you stand on that," she said. "I'm sure we have more questions, but for now…I think Dr Beckett should give you a physical, and then maybe you could show Dr Zelenka some of your work here?"

"Don't need a physical," he muttered darkly, casting a hostile look Carson's way.

"I'm sorry, but every member of this expedition is required to have a regular physical. If you intend to stay here, then that applies to you as well," there was no room for argument in her voice.

"Fine," he said unhappily.

"Major Sheppard, you're his escort for now," Sumner ordered, turning to Elizabeth. "I think it would be prudent to keep at least one guard on him for the time being."

Elizabeth looked like she would argue, but then changed her mind.

"Alright, for the time being, just to be safe. I hope you understand our need for caution, Rodney."

"Sure," but his tone of voice showed his displeasure.

"Right, well, if you'll come this way, I'll take a quick look at you," Carson said, standing and indicating the way out of the room. Sheppard and Rodney both stood and followed him out to the makeshift infirmary a level down.

When they arrived at the infirmary, Carson asked Sheppard to step outside during his exam. Rodney looked a little freaked out, pulling away and watching Carson with wary eyes.

"Ach, lad, I'm not going to hurt you," Beckett said in his most reassuring voice. Rodney seemed to be weighing up whether or not to trust him. Carson maintained eye contact, trying to look as unthreatening as possible, which wasn't that hard a thing for him to do, and refrained from pushing the boy further, letting Rodney set the pace of things. A few moments passed, and Rodney looked away, before sighing and nodding.

"Okay."

Carson made sure the exam was quick and efficient, and was pleased to find that, other than needing to put on a few pounds, the kid was healthy and unharmed. He picked up a chart to make notations, and allowed Sheppard to return.

"Well, I'm glad to say everything looks okay, though I still need to see the results from the blood tests."

Rodney nodded, his legs swinging from side to side as he sat on the bed.

"Can I go now?"

"Do you have any medical conditions that you know of?" Carson asked first.

"Um…deathly allergic to citrus, and I reacted badly to a bee sting when I was a kid. And Jacques, she was a medical doctor, diagnosed me with hypoglycaemia. Though she couldn't find a reason for it." He scowled. "But then I don't think she was much of a doctor really. Her bedside manner certainly sucked, big time."

"Hmm, I'll have to do some tests later to confirm the hypoglycaemia, but it can wait. Just make sure you eat regularly in the meantime. Aye, you can go now."

Rodney slipped from the bed and quickly headed away from the makeshift infirmary, the Major following him closely.

"You hungry?" Sheppard asked.

"Hungry and tired," Rodney admitted in a brief moment of candour.

"Let's find some food, then."

It didn't take long for Sheppard to track down some food supplies, and armed with a couple of PowerBars and bottles of water, he let Rodney lead him out onto a nearby balcony.

"Cool," he said, awed by the view.

"It is nice, isn't it?" Rodney said, around a mouthful of PowerBar. "There's whales out there, well, not whales really. They're fish, not mammals. I see one quite often passing by, they're really quite interesting. I looked them up in the database. There's all sorts of things out there, in the water. And on the mainland. Just one continent, but it's huge," he flung his arms out wide at this, before tearing into the second PowerBar.

"Yeah. Where d'you get the t-shirt?"

"What?" the kid looked down at his shirt. "Oh, this. My foster parents at the time gave me some money to get some t-shirts with. They weren't too pleased when I came back with this, especially as it was too large for me back then. Still wore it though, even though it was too big. It's the only thing I have that's mine. Got a couple of plain shirts that Heller got for me before we ended up here. They still had a contact on Earth, you see, and someone at the SGC who smuggled things in and out. Including clothes for the brat, as they called me."

"Can't imagine why they'd call you that," Sheppard said with a smirk.

"Probably 'cause that's what I am," he said with a shrug, and then suddenly grinned. "Look! There's one of the whales…"

Sure enough, a whale like creature could be seen swimming along a few hundred metres from the balcony. They watched it in silence for a few minutes before it swam away. Sheppard was amazed at the transformation. The arrogant, defiant and desperately insecure teenager suddenly became an overexcited kid. It was nice to see.

"Sometimes, if you wait a minute or two, there'll be another one," Rodney said, watching the waves intently. "The Ancients called them Flagecallus, which is a terrible name if you ask me. I prefer whale, even if they are really big fish, not mammals."

"You spend a lot of time whale watching?"

"No, usually I'm too busy trying to get things working, or reading the database. But sometimes I just like to get outside and…yeah, watch any passing whales."

"Must get lonely. I know I'd get lonely here on my own, for…how long have you been here for, anyway?"

"About two months now. And I spend a few hours with Teyla and the Athosians now and then. It's not so bad. Quiet."

"You're a terrible liar," Sheppard said.

Rodney scowled at him, and the Major decided to change topics. Sure, the boy was lonely, he had no doubt of that, but if Rodney wanted to pretend otherwise, who was he to argue? Just so long as the kid knew he wasn't really fooling anyone.

"You said the city lit up for you when you got here."

"Yeah, that was…cool. There's some things here that the others couldn't get to work for them, at least, not until I'd got them to switch on. And there were other things that wouldn't work for them even then, like the ship that brought us here. That's gone, by the way. It sort of just…vanished. I think it had been pre-programmed to bring people here and then leave, or something. Wish I knew who'd programmed it and why."

"Yeah, that ship could have been useful. So, you have the Ancient gene, like I do."

"Is that what it is? A gene from the Ancients?"

"Apparently they interbred with humans, and so some of us have the gene, though most of us don't. You're one of the lucky few."

"It would have been a lot harder to survive here without it," Rodney sighed. "I'm supposed to show…Dr Zeloona…or whatever his name is, some of the things I've done here."

"It's Dr Zelenka," Sheppard corrected him. "And I'm sure he'll be glad for any information you can give him. Like why the shield didn't activate when you dialled in."

"Oh that's easy, I programmed it to recognise a signal I sent through and disable the shield. Didn't want to go splat by accident or anything."

"No, I can imagine not."

They headed to back to the control room, where Radek and Peter were waiting for them.