Chapter 14
Tesla stared at his two rescuers incredulously; he could not believe his ears. Not from these two. First off, he hasn't been inebriated since the latter half of the 19th century, let alone brainwashed; and secondly…how the hell could plant boy have beaten him in a fistfight, he had abnormal vampiric strength for crying out loud!
His double rambled on about the vile witch, Galidriel, and her plans; he listened half-heartedly, not paying too much attention; frankly he was still stumped on the idea that Parrish even managed to escape. Then there was all this other information he couldn't process, that Galidriel had brainwashed him, turning him into a mindless drone, then kissing him…he was pretty sure he would've remembered what the kiss of death felt like, brainwashed or not, and on top of that, he mused about why the princess's young cousin was here, apparently having switched sides.
This was all coming too fast, not even his genius mind could jumble through it. He raised his hands up to halt the onslaught of confusing information.
"Alright, hold on!" he huffed, silencing his bumbling double. "Start from the beginning," he ordered shortly.
Parrish blinked, surprised that he would have to repeat himself to the genius.
"Uhh, well, the device brought us here to…" he began, but Nikola shook his head, he was confused, not clueless.
"From the brainwashing!" he clarified.
"Oh, right, well, we were separated, I was put into a cell, I don't know where they took you, but when I woke up you were there, pretending to be normal but you really weren't, you were trying to lure me into a trap set by Galidriel-"
"Trying?" Nikola looked at him skeptically.
"A-and succeeding…but anyways, at some point I realized you weren't acting right, so I called your bluff, knowing that if you were the real you, you would have nothing good to say about that woman…I used language I'm not proud of, but I had to provoke you, it worked, you snapped and nearly broke my windpipe."
"You don't say…"
"I do…and then Galidriel and her gang showed up and she kissed you…"
"She kissed me?" Nikola remained skeptical.
"Oh yah, and you kissed back, it was unsettling…"
"And then you stood up to her?" Nikola quirked his eyebrow in disbelief.
"Well, sort of. I know it's not me, but I just kind of got carried away, and then Lilia decided to help me, led me here to find you, you tried to beat me up, I managed to hold you under the water long enough to render you unconscious, we gave you the antidote and here we are," recounted Parrish.
"And you didn't think drowning me would cause any kind of permanent or irreparable damage?" Nikola put his hands on his hips.
"Well, I had lifeguard training," shrugged Parrish.
"You instill such confidence in me," Nikola muttered sardonically.
"Well you're alive aren't you?" Parrish said indignantly.
The debate was stilled when Lilia walked into the room carrying a pile of clean clothes in her arms. She walked up to the pair and handed a set to Tesla, they were technically his anyway, and it was better than the flimsy white briefs he was wearing. She handed Parrish a similar set, smiling at him sweetly as he accepted the dry clothes to replace his own soaked garments.
Nikola watched with a slightly bemused smile.
Lilia politely left the room to let the men change and Nikola eyed her as she went, smirking mischievously.
"What is it?" Parrish asked, noticing Nikola's sudden interest in the woman.
Nikola turned his attention back to Parrish, his smile growing wider.
"You dog," Nikola winked at his double.
"What are you talking about?" Parrish glared at him.
"Manipulating a lovesick demi-princess into working for our side, I'm impressed, I didn't think you had it in you," Nikola slapped him on the back, the warmest gesture Parrish thought he's ever received from the old genius.
"It's not like that, Tesla, so just lay off," Parrish shrugged away from Tesla.
"We are talking about the same brunette that just walked out of here, right?" Nikola pointed to the door Lilia exited from.
"Yes, and I didn't have to manipulate her into anything, she's a good person, trapped here just like we are. When we leave I promised I would take us with her, and I meant that, but not for any reason your lewd mind can come up with. No one deserves to be trapped here, and unlike some I don't need to manipulate them to gain their trust."
Nikola made a non-commital gesture, turning and placing his pile gently on a chair.
"I don't know how long you've lived, or even how you even managed it, but I pity the distrust you have for people, must be lonely inside that head of yours," Parrish walked away with his pile of clothes, moving a decent distance away to change.
Nikola mewed over the botanist's words, the man was more right than he would ever admit. His century+ of living had been spent mostly in isolation, nothing but his inventions and his thoughts, his thoughts about Helen.
So many times he had almost convinced himself to shun his promise to stay in hiding just to watch her from a distance, if only to see her to remind himself of why he had made that promise.
He'd almost done it too, several times in fact, once he made it almost halfway to her before stopping himself. It wasn't until Rome, when he realized his promise no longer applied.
He smirked slightly. Seemed like plant boy had grown a spine while he was out of it, or if anything, a strong opinion. There was more to his botanist look-a-like than he realized, not like he was going to tell him that or anything.
The two dressed in silence, barely acknowledging each other. Parrish muttered something quietly to himself, while Nikola whistled the tune to some song he remembered hearing through the halls of the Sanctuary one night. It reminded him of Helen.
Suddenly Lilia ran back in, not bothering to knock, running over to Parrish.
"Hide!" she whispered sharply.
"What?" he asked, unsure of what was happening.
"Hide! She's coming!" she pushed him behind a blinder, then ran back to Nikola and forced him to sit on a chair, dragging over a stool with some fragrant oils and other grooming items, immediately pouring a splash of it on to her palm and shoving it through his hair.
"What are you doing?" he cried, slapping away her hands.
"Just hold still; act like you're brainwashed!" she forced her hands back to his head.
"Like I'm what?" he turned to look at her.
"Shhh!" she grabbed his chin and forced his face forward just as Galidriel walked in.
He straightened up immediately, understanding what she had meant.
"Who said you could continue to prepare him? I said to watch him," glowered Galidriel at Lilia.
"He was becoming restless, mistress, I'm sorry I didn't know what to do," she said shyly stepping away from him. "I thought it couldn't hurt to continue."
Galidriel sneered at the young girl.
"You aren't fit to, you might screw it up, as per your record, the others are still searching for your Dr. Parrish, if you had just done what I said instead of becoming blind with your fantasies for the wimp we would not be having these problems, now get out!"
Lilia stayed strong, but Nikola could sense the hurt radiating off her. He stayed still though, trying to remain as unmoved and uncaring as Galidriel expected him to be.
Lilia left the room quickly. Galidriel turned to him, a soft, yet unsettling smile on her face. Nikola had to use all of his will not to flinch from her outstretched fingers. She was a creepy woman, but he couldn't think of that right now.
"Ah, now that we're alone," she said, drawling gently.
Nikola tried to think of something pleasant…you know, like torture, or food poisoning.
Her hands entwined around his neck.
"Did you miss me?" she asked gently, a finger tracing his cheek.
"Yes, mistress," he said as stiffly as possible.
"Everything has been arranged my sweet prince, just a few more hours and you and me, we'll be together."
Nikola felt her breath on his ear and he silently prayed that some problem would arise that would distract her from getting any closer.
"Doesn't that sound nice?" she sighed, her lips just brushing across his skin.
No.
"What about the princess?" he asked.
"She has her right to you, no doubt, but I also have mine, and despite what the princess claims I have more power in this manner than she realizes, don't you agree?"
Her hands slid down the front of his torso, undoing the buttons of the crisp black jacket, her nails scratching against his chest. He was going to have nightmares about this.
"Yes, mistress," he fought to keep his voice even.
Kill me now, kill me now, kill me now…
She maneuvered around him to come face to face, straddling his lithe hips. He never knew his whole body could revolt against one entity. Her hands slid into his hair, great, now he'd have to shave his head, wouldn't Johnny just have a big laugh over that.
He tried not to look over to the blinder where Parrish was hiding, he hoped that he would use that newly acquired backbone to get her off of him!
She cupped his cheeks in her hands, leaned in for a kiss and he broke, flinching away from her venomous kiss.
She looked at him in confusion.
"What's wrong, my prince?" she looked into his eyes.
He was about to apologize, claim that something hurt him, instead of the obvious which was he'd rather kiss the butt of a leperous, rabid, flying monkey…or John, instead of this woman, but he caught a glimpse of something, a reflection in the large silver earring she wore.
He looked into her eyes, maintaining the act of the big dumb ape.
"Did I hurt you?" she coddled him, ugh she was sickening.
He nodded compliantly.
"I'm sorry, my sweet, I didn't mean to," she said coyly, again leaning in to kiss him. This time he let her, knowing it wasn't going to last long.
Her lips touched his and he used all the strength his mind had to imagine he was kissing someone far more pleasant than this woman.
She tasted like evil.
What are you waiting for? Do it! Get it over with; he thought desperately.
Suddenly he heard a loud clang and a thunk, and the slimy lips fell away from his and a dead weight slumped into his chest.
Finally.
He cracked his eyes open, finding Galidriel lying unconscious on his lap.
He quickly pushed her off, having no regard for her wellbeing if she managed to bump her head and become brain dead.
Parrish appeared behind him.
"Are you alright? I didn't mean to leave you hanging for so long but I didn't want her to become aware of my presence until it was too late," he said quickly.
Nikola snarled grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
"If you ever leave me in that position again I'll hit you so hard you're going to be feeling it in the afterlife!" he growled then released him.
He looked back down at the unconscious witch. He shuddered and stood up, shaking out all the goosebumps she left on his skin.
"Ugghh, she touched me! She touched me all over!" he whined.
"How could you stand it? I would've broken way sooner than that," Parrish muttered honestly, causing Nikola to growl throatily.
"I know," he said sharply.
"Oh…s-sorry," Parrish shied away.
"Yah, next time, you get to be me!" Nikola pointed a finger
The door to the room opened and Lilia peeked her head through, happy to see Galidriel down and her two heroes safe and sound.
"Is she down?" she asked.
"Yes," Parrish nodded.
"Fortunately," scowled Nikola.
"Good, then come with me, no one is guarding the stone, they are all searching for David," she waved them over to follow her.
"Oh, so you guys are on a first name basis are you?" Nikola looked over at Parrish, who just glared at him.
The halls of the castle were practically empty, they had only run into a few people so far, and Nikola found it weird. Surely the whole kingdom couldn't be out searching for his double, he assumed everyone was preparing for the wedding tomorrow. However there was still something very unsettling about all of this, something wasn't right, something hadn't been right since they had been here. He thought it was Galidriel, but it wasn't the only things off about this place, it was there he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"This way," Lilia said, opening a large, heavy door.
They followed her into the room, almost halted by the sight.
"That's definitely not a stone," muttered Tesla.
The Stone of Ramanak was not a stone, it was machinery unlike Nikola or Parrish had ever seen.
"It's not Ancient, not wraith either, I've never seen technology like this before, of course, I'm no Dr. McKay," said Parrish, examining the delicate and whirring clockwork of the stone.
"Well neither am I," said Nikola, pushing up his sleeves.
"The Rjivulin is over here," Lilia gestured to a control panel. Nikola walked over confidently, lifting up his finger, preparing himself to read it like a children's pop-up book.
His confidence soon shattered as his pop-up book turned into a 5000 page novel about Existentialism in five different languages written backwards.
"Damn it!" he cried.
"What's wrong?" asked Parrish.
"They're gone, all of them, it started with my ability to change, and now I can't even command a simple magnetic manipulation! What has this place done with my powers?"
"Your powers?" Parrish asked.
"How else do you think I have lived so long? The aliens abducted me?" Nikola cried angrily.
"Your immortal?" asked Parrish.
"I'm half-vampire with electric and magnetic powers, and yes it does take a lot to kill me, except in here! Why?" Nikola snarled.
"What's a vampire?" asked Lilia.
"Well, I'd show you but my power-point presentation is not working right now!" Nikola fumed. "Dammit, I just got those back, don't do this to me!"
Parrish looked at his double in a new light. He wasn't die hard fighter, his strength came from his special abilities, without them he was just a whiny, super-smart, brat! Parrish almost laughed with the revelation, he was no different than any McKay, Sheppard, and Lorne he's ever met.
And here he was thinking that Tesla was some kind of Batman/Hercules, a strong-willed superhero, whose strength came from his convictions and beliefs, a moral code, or even just a stubborn attitude. Nikola Tesla's strength came from an abnormal power, a shield that protected him from any dangers, but beneath it was just a man, like him.
"If you knew where the, uh, stone was, why haven't you escaped beforehand?" Parrish asked, ignoring Nikola's wailing.
"To tell you the truth, I never knew how it worked, and I never had the courage to try," she said sadly, looking down at her hands.
"We're hooped," sighed Parrish, technology was never his strong suit, he needed Hayley's help just to work the electronic microscope, he was useless in that regard. He could almost hear her laugh at his fumbling.
"Uh, which cord goes into which slot?"
"The big end goes into the computer and the small end goes into the scope."
"Yah, but where?"
"Just let me do it, Parrish."
"No, no. I can't keep pulling you away from your work every time I need to examine a sample."
"Give it."
"No."
"Give it."
"I won't…hey!"
"Pay attention this time, this end goes into this slot here, like this, and this end goes into this slot here, like this. Now you turn on the electronic microscope and…there you go, all ready for testing Doctor."
"What would I do without you, Dr. Kiang?"
"You'd probably be using a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes to solve all of the plants mysteries."
"Oh, ha ha, very funny."
Parrish snapped out of his reverie just as Tesla bumped past him towards the control panel.
"We're not hooped, I can figure it out, its just going to take longer than I'd like, but I can do it, unfortunately for them, my genius can not be taken away!" Nikola stood proudly at the panel, taking a moment to collect himself.
"Let's see what this button does," he pressed something and the lights went down and a loud siren started blaring off.
"Are you sure about that?" Parrish turned to his double.
"Just a fluke! I'll fix it!" Nikola claimed stubbornly.
"In the next five minutes, cause I'm assuming that's when the cavalry will come bursting in," Parrish sighed sardonically.
"Maybe you should barricade the door if you're so nervous," chided Nikola impatiently.
"Fine, Lilia help me lift this thing," she nodded and helped him push a heavy, amp-like object in front of the door. "It's not going to hold them for long."
"Luckily, that is more time than I need," Nikola claimed, pressing buttons furiously.
"You're beginning to sound like McKay," Parrish rolled his eyes.
"What a McKay?" Lilia asked innocently.
"Uhh, it's loud and obnoxious…you'll find out soon enough," Parrish shrugged.
"Oh."
"A-ha! Come to me, the inventor of alternating current! You cannot hide from me!" Nikola muttered to the panel's screen.
"Will you stop messing around?" cried Parrish.
"Just one second…" he pressed a few more buttons and the alarm fell silent.
"You did it," sighed Parrish. "Now we can get out of here."
"What? No, I just shut off the alarm, who can think with all that noise?" shrugged Nikola.
Parrish face-palmed, letting out a tired groan.
"Now I can get to the real business, basic controls, instructions, schematics, ooh look profile pictures, it's like facebook!" Nikola muttered.
"What?" Parrish moved to stand beside him.
"Seems this stone has kept a standing record of all of this lands male visitors, up to date as well, all of them, there's Roger, that's his double, a Henry Stone…died of a brain aneurism…hmm, that's weird."
"What?" asked Parrish.
"Seems like all of the men who underwent the blending procedure have either gone insane, or died of a brain aneurism, their brains obviously can't take the stress of it all," Nikola mumbled.
"So they're unwittingly killing people, trapping one here under a spell and sending the other away with two consciouses to die of an exploding brain, as if I weren't freaked out enough already," groaned Parrish.
"Don't worry," Nikola shrugged, moving quickly through the data to find what he was looking for, it was way too advanced for the primitive minds of Caspar and Galidriel's kingdom.
"Oh, easy for you to say, worst comes to worse, they brainwash you again and you get to live out in peace being a prince, me however, I'm Mr. Exploding Brain!" cried Parrish.
"Do you want to switch places, because if you think getting to be the sex slave of Galidriel the vile is a trip to wonderland, think again!"
"It's better than being dead!"
"Care to bet on it?"
"Boys!" cried Lilia. "We don't really have time for this!"
Nikola nodded and returned back to the panel.
"A-ha! Here we go, good ole start button. Give me life!" Nikola said dramatically, pressing whatever button it was and the machine came whirring to a whole new kind of life, bright lights and buzzing, and a certain crackle of electricity in the air.
Just in that a loud thump came at the door.
"They found us," said Lilia.
"Just in time," muttered Parrish, running to hold back the horde, pressing his back firmly against the door.
"Hold on kiddies, I'll have us out of here in a jiffy," he quickly read something, pressing a control every now and then.
~~~~Elsewhere~~~~
McKay drained the last of his coffee in one bitter, cold gulp; how long had he been up?
Carter and Helen were still chatting away about temporal theory, and some basic quantum mechanics, all in relation to the strange device sitting before him. They had been talking for a while and he had ceased to be apart of the conversation. He doodled absently on his notepad as he fingered the edge of the device, thinking about whether he preferred the blonde Carter to the brunette Helen Magnus, he did have a thing for blondes but it was stumping him, because she was a British Carter, a sexy British Carter wearing leather pants…
Suddenly the device shook and glowed, nearly launching out of his seat.
"Whoa!" he cried.
The two women spun to him, surprised by his sudden outburst.
"What is it, Rodney?" asked Carter.
"It's…it's…"
"Well done, Dr. McKay," said Magnus.
"It wasn't me, as much as I'd like to take credit for it, it lit up on it's own."
"My word," muttered Helen, lightly touching the device. "What's it doing?"
~~~~Elsewhere~~~~
Nikola grinned in awe at the information he had found. He looked up to his struggling companions.
"I get it! Parrish…the devices they're not…"
"Now is not a good time, Tesla!"
"Yes, but it's really fascinating!"
"Tell us on the other side!"
"Fine," Nikola pouted slightly, pressing one more control and then, like the whoosh of the Stargate, a portal opened up. "Voila!"
"Thank god," sighed Parrish, still attempting to restrain the door.
Nikola's face fell suddenly.
"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! Don't do this to me, not now! Gah! I hate you and you're blasted creator!"
"Stop arguing with the machine!" cried Parrish. The door burst open and he and Lilia flew to the ground, landing on their faces.
"Step away from the controls, Tesla!" cried Galidriel, holding a gun-like weapon up to his face. "Or I shoot your friends."
Nikola hesitated for a moment, but then lifted his hands up in defeat.
The portal shut down.
"Good boy, you're learning," Galidriel sneered, stepping up to him. "Take them to the dungeon, including the prince, I will collect him when we're ready."
"Going to brainwash me again, Gally?" Nikola muttered bitterly.
"Unless you've chosen to do what you're told," she shrugged.
"Makes sense, a woman would have to brainwash men to get any attention," Nikola remarked bitterly. He watched her stiffen slightly. "You're just a desperate whore, Galidriel, a desperate, lonely woman, and I will not stop until I see your pathetic life come to an abysmal end."
Galidriel spun and slapped him, he barely flinched, holding himself strong.
"I will make you change your tune," she seethed. "Take them away!"
Tesla felt a slight sting and then fell into darkness, his last image being the face of the loathful woman, glowering down at him. He was going to pay for that, wasn't he?
~~~~Elsewhere~~~~
The three scientists stared in wide-eyed shock at the now dead piece of machinery lying in front of them.
"That has never happened before!" cried McKay to the two women.
"You are sure you did nothing?" asked Helen.
"Positive, I barely touched the thing!" he lifted his hands up innocently.
"It had to be from their end, they must be trying to get back," suggested Carter, more hopeful than scientifically sound.
"Or maybe it was just a fluke, we should run a diagnostic to be sure," said Helen.
"Agreed," said Carter.
"If we're right, and Tesla trying to get through or reverse the process we have to be very careful he and Parrish don't rematerialize inside a computer," said McKay.
"Nikola in the ship's systems…I don't even want to think of that," Helen shook her head.
"Lets get started on it right away then, it may take some time before they attempt again, better not waste a minute," said Carter.
"I should notify the others, I promised I'd keep them updated," Helen said, quickly dismissing herself.
The two scientists nodded and began pulling up their laptops and tablets to connect to the device.
Helen managed to make it outside the lab before sucking in a large gulp of air. Tesla was alive, she knew he was, call it faith, or stubborn determination, but he was alive, and dammit if she didn't do all in her power to get him back she'd kick herself. But first thing's first, she had to find Kate and Dr. Kiang, they deserved to know this as well.
Nikola was soo grounded after this, she decided…so grounded.