Chapter 7: This can't possibly get any worse
Summary: His escape attempt thwarted, Rodney learns the hard way just how ruthless the Genii can be.
Atlantis
The tense silence was broken by Sheppard. "You're tougher than I gave you credit for," said the major with a wry twist to his mouth.
"Thanks," Rodney replied, "I guess working with you has its advantages." Elizabeth smiled, she found it reassuring that some of the scientist's acerbic wit was starting to return. Her countenance became more serious as she considered how to phrase her next question. "Rodney, you know that Carson told me that there were signs that you'd been," it took a moment to find the right words, "mistreated by the Genii?"
He nodded.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
She could see the pain in his eyes as she asked the question.
Here was the moment Rodney had been dreading. Shame filled him as he remembered the terrible details. "They tried to," he stopped and then took a deep breath before continuing, "to persuade me that it wasn't in my best interests to attempt escape."
The Genii Home World
"Commander Kolya," Kolya stood to attention at Cowen's words, "I want you to ensure that Dr McKay understands the consequences of his actions." As Kolya nodded, Rodney felt the knot in his stomach tighten. What did this maniac have planned? He didn't have particularly fond memories of the "quality time" he'd spent with Kolya when he'd tried to take Atlantis from them. He still cringed at the thought of Kolya's knife being twisted in his arm; the way Kolya had broken him.
Two guards pulled Rodney from his chair and out of the room. Sick with fear he stumbled along between them barely registering where he was going.
Rodney landed hard in, what looked to be, a featureless room. The single flickering bulb, the only source of light in this depressing hole, added to his unease. As he started to draw himself up, he noticed that one of the guards seemed familiar. He stared at Rodney, his eyes filled with malice as he snarled, "The man you attacked was Goran, my brother. I don't know if he's going to wake up again, you bastard."
The blow to Rodney's stomach caught him off guard and he fell heavily to his knees. Then, for what felt like an eternity the distraught soldier took his revenge in a frenzy of kicking and punching that left Rodney with no choice but the curl into a ball on the floor in a futile attempt to reduce the damage. As he lay there taking the punishment that was being meted out to him, Rodney thought back to his concern for the young soldier's safety, trying to cling the shred of humanity that separated him from his captors.
Kolya entered the room and dispassionately studied the scene before him. "All right that's enough," he said and the guards ceased their onslaught. "We don't want to risk permanently damaging McKay. He has work to do," he said.
In that moment Rodney's hopes soared. The lesson was over. Rodney was pulled to his feet, dazed and sore from the battering. He felt a sharp pain along his right side and although he didn't know much about Carson's voodoo he knew enough to know that he had a few cracked ribs.
Kolya looked over to a post at the end of the room. "Remove his shirt," he said in a matter of fact voice, "then prepare him."
"What?" Rodney asked weakly, shaking his head. "I don't understand, what's going on?"
Kolya shook his head. "Did you honestly think that was it?" he asked. "We trusted you and in return you betrayed us, now you must learn the consequences of those actions."
"Betrayed? Trust? You shot me and then kidnapped me, what did you think I'd do, say thanks for taking me away from everything and everyone I know?" Rodney knew he was digging himself a bigger hole, but he was past caring.
"Dr McKay, I know that you have a sentimental attachment to your uniform, so I'm giving you the chance to avoid having it damaged." Kolya was reaching for his knife as Rodney got the message. This wasn't going to end well.
"No!" Rodney yelled. "No! You people are nuts! Your whole society's screwed up!" By now he was waving his arms around as though he was in a heated debate with Radek. "This whole thing about trust and betrayal is just some sick mind control game, Kolya!" his rant was cut short as the guards grabbed him again. The realisation of his situation was slowly starting to set in, there was no reasoning with these people."
Kolya waited a moment until he was sure the ever irritating Rodney McKay had calmed down before starting to draw his knife. "Well? Do I need to slice it off you?"
The colour drained from Rodney's face, "No, that won't be necessary," he replied. Kolya nodded to the guards, signalling them to release him. Rodney could barely believe that this was happening, everything had spiralled out of control. While trying to regain his composure, he slowly peeled off his jacket and let it fall to the ground. With a growing sense of dread he took off his shirt and dropped it by his jacket. Seeing the bullet hole in his shirt he was reminded of why he had tried to escape, why he had to escape. For a moment he considered trying to make a run for it, but there was no point. They'd catch him before he made it to the door and his punishment would probably be much worse. There was nothing more he could do.
Kolya nodded to the guards. Rodney stood straight, the one thing the Genii hadn't taken was his dignity.
The soldiers pulled him over to the post and he went with them, powerless, impotent, and resigned to his fate. In short order Rodney found his wrists bound to the post, above his head. The actual realisation of what was about to happen started to set in. He began to tremble, praying to a god he didn't believe in. He heard the sound of the whip cracking. All Rodney could think about was that he had never been closer to home, and never been further away from it at the same time, as he had been earlier.
I'm sorry that this has to happen, Dr McKay," Kolya said softly to him, sounding sympathetic. Then his demeanour changed and he began to speak in a more formal tone, addressing the room rather than the scientist.
"The charges levelled against you are theft, assault and desertion. On the charge of theft, you are found guilty. On the charge of assault, you are found guilty. On the charge of desertion, you are found guilty . Do you have anything to say before sentence is carried out?"
"It wasn't desertion, I was just trying to get home."
Kolya ignored him and continued, "The sentence is fifty lashes. Do you wish to plead for clemency?"
I'm not going to give this bastard the satisfaction of hearing me beg. "Just get this over with," Rodney replied dully and in that moment, he remembered his mantra in full, the first duty of a prisoner is to survive, the second is to escape.
"Very well." Kolya nodded to the soldier to whom he had handed the whip. Rodney closed his eyes and tried to prepare himself for the worst.
It wasn't until the third blow that he cried out.
Atlantis
There was a tense silence, everyone had clearly been shocked by Rodney's revelation. Teyla reached over again and held Rodney's hand. "Dr McKay, I am sorry for what has happened to you. We all are."
Rodney managed a weak smile, it didn't last long. He continued quietly, "I can't actually remember all of it. I.. I… must have blacked out, fortunately." He had a pained look in his eyes.
John started to speak, "I'm sorry, this is all my fault." He was shaking his head as if to deny what had happened to his friend. There was now a look of anger in his eyes. "I should have killed the bastard when I had the chance."
"It wasn't your fault, Sheppard so forget the martyr complex. You thought I was dead and I understand. Anyway, it didn't work. It just made me want to get away even more. So after I recovered I started planning how I was going to escape. That's all I want to say about it." Rodney took in a deep breath.
"Just before I escaped, I planted a little surprise in the computers they use for their calculations."
Johns eyebrows rose in surprise. "Dare I ask?"
"The modifications I made were designed to activate if I didn't enter an abort code. That way if I was killed or managed to escape it would start, leaving me safe if I was brought back. It should have activated a few hours ago, all the data their computers now produce will be garbage. It should also be printing snide remarks about Cowen and a few other surprises. I was being creative at the time, should take them a while to fix.
John grinned and then said, "Rodney McKay, the master hacker."
"So with any luck it could be months or even years before they get their research program back on track?" Bates interjected. Rodney nodded, not paying much attention.
He started to drift as he remembered the meticulous planning that went in to the sabotage. This was his revenge for what they'd done to him. From disguising the malicious subroutines to placing the dead man's switch that would set it off after a few days, he knew he could make life much more difficult for the Genii scientists after he'd left. He only wished he could see the look on Cowen's face as their flagship project crumbled around him. Then again, he hoped never to see the bastard's face again.
The rest of the meeting was a blur. Rodney found it strange: he almost felt like he wasn't there, like he didn't connect with this place or these people. Afterwards, he returned to his quarters. Like everything that day, the room didn't feel right. It was no longer his sanctuary from stresses of daily life.
Rodney had hoped that things would return to normal once he'd told his team what had happened but this was not the case. He felt hollow, it almost seemed like he'd left part of himself in the Genii underground complex.
He hated them for that and he hated himself for helping them.
