On my LJ site is a pic of the people from Atlantis you need to know. Figured I should supply something for those that aren't familiar. And onto the next chapter.
Somewhere in Nevada
Dr. Elizabeth Weir just sighed and pressed on the intercom button again. These training sessions were going to be the death of her. She was in charge of a very important project. A project that seemed to only encompass people who acted like children on a daily basis.
"Let's try this again gentlemen." She watched the two men whine and hang their heads. "We will continue these trials until I feel you are trustworthy for the field. Now, continue."
She took a minute to jot down some notes as the two subjects started to engage. A shuffling noise behind her pulled her attention around and she smiled up at her assistant. "I think they are starting to hate me."
"As long as they don't hate me, I don't see what the issue is." Michelle smirked and went back to her computer. "It still going slow then I take it?"
Elizabeth nodded while making more notes. "Too bad common sense isn't a super power. I swear it's almost like they have to sacrifice IQ points to use their abilities. And it's not just the men. The women have been equally as cocky. Well, all except for one, a uh..." she pulled over another paper "a Teyla Emmagan. She passed with flying colors. She's our number four with me, you and Ronon."
Michelle never looked up from her work as she spoke. "I'm sure you will remember that Ronon was a complete ass when we first got here. They'll come around, it just takes some time."
"Yes but he had a very good reason for being an ass. He was trying to protect a remarkably gifted younger sister." Elizabeth turned and smiled back at the younger woman.
Michelle finally looked up and smiled. "Ronon is an ass regardless, trust me." Dr. Weir just snorted and Michelle continued. "What about the new guy, Sheppard?"
"He's up next actually. I haven't had a chance to speak with him, only read his file. Did you know he is ex-military?" Michelle shook her head. "Apparently he was discharged after disobeying orders. I'm not too sure what to make of that. We don't need someone reckless out there getting us all killed."
"Yeah but military training might come in handy. Especially if we are trying to pull in Almeida."
Elizabeth tightened her lips and dropped her head to her chest. "You're right. I just hope Sheppard works out. We are going to need all the help we can get to bring Almeida in. I'll get Rodney to gather all the classified files on John Sheppard. Maybe he can get me the whole story there."
Michelle leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her coffee. "Speaking of Almeida, I have everything we've been able to find on him. Rodney wasn't kidding when he said they've kept this locked up so tight even he can't get to much."
"That's saying something coming from Rodney." Elizabeth made her way over to the other woman and studied her screen, a picture of their next target staring back at them. "He's handsome. Even though it's one of those typical "boys don't smile" military pictures."
Michelle shivered a little. "I guess he is...for a killer."
Dr. Weir glanced at her. "He's scared Michelle. He doesn't know what's happened to him or why. They did this to him. Our own government turned him into a monster. You can't forget that. I'm planning on you being able to help him."
Properly chastised, Michelle nodded. "I'm sorry Elizabeth."
"Don't worry about it. I'd be more upset if you weren't scared." Elizabeth went back to her seat and finished with the two current subjects. She excused them and watched as two new men entered the small arena. She recognized the one on the far right as Sheppard. She couldn't help but grin at his hair. Did he just roll out of bed and come straight here?
"Ok gentlemen this is how this works. I need you both to engage in combat while I observe your abilities. Once I've seen enough I'll let you know when to stop. Keep it clean and simple. I'll know what I'm looking for once I see it." The man on the far left started stretching, jumping up and down like he was getting ready for a boxing match. Turning her gaze back to Sheppard, he just stood there. Confused, she opened the intercom again. "Major Sheppard...you do realize this is for a team position?"
"Yes ma'am. You made that clear at the briefing this morning."
Elizabeth turned to look at Michelle, who just shrugged at her. She turned back to watch them and just said "well then, begin."
Both women watched as the man facing Sheppard made his way to the other side of the arena. Sheppard didn't move. His opponent didn't seem phased by the lack of concern and smirked as he reached out to grab John by the throat. He wasn't able to get a hand on him though. Sheppard caught his wrist before the other man could touch him. Glancing up at the booth, John never took his eyes off of Elizabeth as he started to float upwards.
Michelle was the first to rise and approach the glass. "Dr. Weir...he's a flyer."
Elizabeth slowly stood. He was half way to the top of the arena by now, the other man dangling in his grip and struggling, begging to be put back down. She looked down from them to try and gage the distance he'd flown and finally returned her gaze to his. He gave her a little smirk and she couldn't help but smirk back. She watched as he lowered the other man to the ground, none to gently and he just sheepishly shrugged when she gave him a raised eyebrow at the rough treatment.
She opened up the intercom again. "That's very impressive Major. The ability to fly is very rare. Even among our kind."
There it was again, that cocky smile. "There's more where that came from doc."
She gave him a confused look and then took a step back in surprise when he suddenly burst into flames. Elizabeth glanced at Michelle, both of them dazed. She walked to the glass as he hovered back up in the air again and came closer, finally putting a fiery palm on the glass between them. She raised her own hand and timidly placed it on the other side of his, ready to pull it away if the heat was too much but the glass was cool to her touch. He could control the heat.
Elizabeth never broke eye contact with him as she spoke to Michelle. "We've found our fifth team member."
"Wait, we haven't even seen him-"
"Michelle, he can fly and set himself on fire. He's coming with us."
3 months later
Chicago, Illinois
"We're coming up on the drop point. I gotta find a place to land this thing." John fiddled with the instruments in front of him while the rest of the team geared up. Not for the first time, he thought how seriously strange his life had become. He went from working on a farm to being chased out. Forget he'd saved a boy's life. The only thing they'd had for him were shotguns and shouts of "freak." Honestly, he was glad to have gotten out alive. Next thing he knew he was being approached by a very neurotic scientist named Rodney McKay. His story seemed crazy. A "special" team that tried to help out others of their kind. Of course he'd ran into other people who had strange abilities like he did, but he'd never thought about grouping up with any of them. Apparently it was becoming an increasing necessity. He couldn't fault normal people for being scared. The issue changed when those normal people decided that violence was the only option they had. And now, with what McKay had told him, they suspected that the government had started creating their own "special" people. Mutants. And it supposedly had started with this Anthony Almeida.
John glanced behind him to see how they were coming along. His eyes fell on Dr. Weir, something that he couldn't seem to keep from happening more and more. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her much yet, but he got the feeling it might be in his best interest to be careful there. It wasn't that he was bad with women, quite the opposite. But Dr. Weir wasn't just any woman. He had the feeling she had the ability to take something from him he'd never given another human being. His heart.
Besides, he needed to focus all his energy on keeping his more than inappropriate thoughts from the front of his mind. The woman was a mind reader after all.
Elizabeth turned around and made her way to the seat beside Sheppard. "I know our jumper isn't what you are used to flying Major, but I hope it's enjoyable."
"Are you kidding? This thing is like something out of a science fiction movie. I've never heard of anything like it." He pulled up the holographic HUD and did a scan of the buildings below them looking for a big enough rooftop to land.
"Well, just don't let McKay hear you talk like that. He built the thing. We'd never get him down from his ego high. Not that he's all that grounded anyway." She smiled at him and he had to hold his breath for a second.
The jumper shook as it touched down. John punched in a few things as he started to speak into his ear piece. "We've landed McKay. You able to read us?"
"Yes, I see all five signals. I went ahead and did a scan of the building. It's the one on your right. Looks like there are about 15 life signs. Dr. Weir or Michelle will have to track down exactly which one is Almeida."
Elizabeth stood up and moved to the back of the jumper as John released the rear hatch. "Copy that Rodney." She let her gaze travel to each member of her team. "This is the first time we've had to extract someone. It doesn't matter how much we've trained, this is a special case. He's scared and confused and we have no idea how he's going to react. Everyone stick together and stay focused." She looked over at John and he gave her a small nod.
Ronon buckled his vest. "Let's do this."
Everyone moved out of the jumper, quickly making their way down the side of the building and over to the one housing their target. Ronon, being the biggest, was in front with Michelle, Teyla and Elizabeth behind him. John brought up the rear covering their six.
Once inside the entrance they stopped, Elizabeth and Michelle both closing their eyes and concentrating. John knew the doc was a psychic but Michelle was an empath; something he wasn't familiar with. Teyla had tried to explain it to him. Something about being able to feel people, their emotions and personalities. It was like a borderline psychic and Dr. Weir was trying to help her pull it all together. He honestly didn't care how it worked, as long as she was able to keep them out of trouble.
"I think I might have him but you'd know better than I would Michelle. His mind is such a mess." Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked at her assistant, her eyes still closed and concentrating. It took her a few moments but she eventually picked up on something. "He's on the 4th floor. I feel...fear, sadness and anger. There's a lot of anger."
"Just my kind of target." Ronon pulled his tranquilizer gun from it's holster and started for the stairs. They went up to the 4th floor sending anyone they came in contact with out of the building. Elizabeth stopped them before moving further down the hall. Each level had six rooms, three on each side. John spoke up from the back. "There's windows on each end. Teyla and I should watch'm in case he gets out this way." Elizabeth glanced at each window. With his ability to fly and Teyla being able to teleport it made sense. "Ok, do it." She watched as Teyla took the window behind them and John made his way slowly down the hall stopping near the end. They were all dressed in black swat outfits and hard to see in the dark. Only John had special gear on; fireproof gear.
"Ok Michelle, which room?" Everyone turned to watch her. She closed her eyes and concentrated again. She never could explain to people how it felt to reach out to someone else, emotionally. Extending her consciousness and feeling around she was suddenly caught up in a wave of sorrow. Alone. Killer. Monster. The feelings were swirling, but were tinged with something else, almost like another set of emotions were present. Immense hate and anger: Death. Run. Kill.
This had to be him. "He's through here." Ronon went to move but Michelle stopped him. "Be careful. His emotions, it's almost as if there are two of him." They turned where Michelle had indicated and Ronon entered the empty room, a mattress on the floor and a few items scattered around. He shifted to the side to let in Michelle and Elizabeth. The room was dark, but as they slowly entered, Michelle's eyes focused on a blacker corner. There it was again. Some kind of movement.
He was blinking.
She felt his awareness of them and the panic spike. Run.
She turned to Elizabeth and spoke softly. "He's in the far corner." Ronon kept his gun arm trained on where she had indicated. Elizabeth stepped in front of them, holding her hands up as a sign of peace. "We're not here to hurt you Mr. Almeida. We just want to help."
They all watched as he stepped out of the shadows, the small amount of light coming from the holes in the walls illuminating his form. His right hand slid along the wall, bracing himself. The color of his skin turning from brown to a milky blue, claws replacing his fingers and the transformation spreading up his arm. His breathing was ragged and he stumbled a bit as he came closer to Dr. Weir. He raised his head and a pair of yellow slitted eyes fell over them. That's when he finally spoke.
"Ya shouldn't have come here."
He lunged for Elizabeth but Ronon intercepted him, slamming them both to the ground. Almeida rolled away seemingly unphased by the attack. Ronon stood and started to change himself, his skin turning shiny and silver and hard as steel. "Want to try that again, this time with me?"
Almeida growled and swung, Ronon ducking it easily. He countered with his own swing and Almeida caught it, pulling him closer and then pushing with a force Ronon wasn't expecting. The beast had tossed him so hard, Ronon went through the wall landing out into the hall in daze.
He turned towards the two women. Elizabeth tried accessing his mind but it was so chaotic she couldn't find a thought to hold onto. He lunged at her again but Michelle stepped in front of her. "Michelle!"
The beast stopped, a hair's breath away from the young woman who was panting furiously, no doubt in fear. They just seemed to be looking at each other. Elizabeth watched as Almeida leaned in closer and seemed to smell the other woman. She finally spoke up when she noticed Michelle lifting her hand to touch him. "What're you-"
"Shhh." Michelle was scared to death but she had to do something to stop him from hurting Dr. Weir. Out of desperation she'd made an emotional link with him, which seemed to work. He'd stopped. Now though, she could clearly feel him. At least, she could clearly feel this part of him. Beautiful. Warm. Want. MINE.
Michelle took a deep breath at his sudden posessiveness. She reached up a hand and touched his cheek, slightly taken aback by the scaled feel. Michelle kept her eyes on his, trying to calm him. Easy, we're friends. Calm down. He leaned down closer and she stiffened as he ran his nose along the side of her neck, smelling her again.
Suddenly he growled and reared back, reaching for his shoulder. She saw him pull out a dart and they both turned at the same time to see Teyla through the hole in the wall, her gun pointed at them. Almeida pushed Michelle behind him and growled again, this time at the other woman. He took off towards her, but Teyla ported before he had a chance to tackle her.
He stopped in the hall, looking around, clearly confused. He spotted Sheppard at the far end, guarding the window and took off at a run. Elizabeth pushed through the hole in the wall and shouted down the corridor. "Stop him Major!"
Teyla popped back into the hall, raised her gun and fired every shot she had left, all the darts hitting Almeida in the back. He roared at the pain but kept moving and tackled Sheppard, throwing them both out of the window behind. Michelle, Teyla, Ronon and Elizabeth all ran to the end of the hall but it was Elizabeth who shouted with worry. "John!"
Sheppard was there, floating in mid air, holding onto Almeida by one arm. He'd changed back and it looked like John was holding just another homeless guy. Only the multitude of darts in his back gave away the fact that he was indeed their target. John strained to pull him up and settled him over his shoulder, panting a bit at the weight.
"Well that was easy." He flew into the now broken window and landed sluggishly in the hall. He looked up at Ronon. "A little help here big guy? He's kinda heavy."
