Title: Vengeance
Author: mysticalweather
Category: Drama, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG
Related episodes: 38 Minutes
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I just borrowed them for a little while. The story, however, is mine.
Archive: Free to a good home, as long as my name is on it.
Feedback: Yes, please! I heart feedback! It is much appreciated.
Author's Notes: Graciously betaed by Meg! But any mistakes are still mine, and mine alone. Please just ignore them. This my first attempt at SG: Atlantis fic. Hopefully it doesn't suck. And if it does...well, hopefully I'll get better! Also, many of the scenes are rather short. I did this purposely to give it more of an episodic type of feel. Hopefully it worked.
Thanks to Meg for encouraging my McWeir muse, demanding snippets, and reassuring me that the story was good. huggles
This is for all the McWeir shippers…a small, but mighty ship! :)
He could feel the anger seething beneath the surface the instant he laid eyes on her. She was another one of those women - cocky, arrogant, and oh-so confident. Just the kind of woman he hated…the ones that needed put in their place.
She'd humiliated him. And right in front of his own team! The disdain in her voice rang in his ears as the words she'd spoken repeated themselves over and over…
A small smile crept across his face as he imagined her fall from grace. Oh, she would learn where her proper place was. And he was just the man to teach her.
'But, first things first...' he thought as another figure came into his line of sight.
Rodney was muttering to himself as he stalked through the hallways of Atlantis. Why is it whenever Major Sheppard leaves something in the puddle jumper, Rodney gets elected gofer? Yet another example of how this place would fall apart without him.
Rodney let out an exasperated sigh and turned the corner into the jumper bay. The sooner he got this over with, the better. The bay was dark, and as he fumbled for the light, he heard a groan come from the shadows ahead of him. He paused.
"Who's there?" he called out, suddenly feeling very nervous.
Unexpected movement in the dark caught Rodney's attention, and then out of nowhere a figure hit him in the chest at full force and took off down the hallway. Before Rodney could even register what had happened, he found himself lying on the cold shiny floor.
Sitting up slowly, Rodney checked his arms and legs to make sure everything was still working properly. 'What was that about?' he wondered irritably.
Another painful groan from the darkness caught Rodney's attention. Clumsily he made his way over the button that turns the light on.
What he saw in the light made his stomach turn.
"McKay?" Sheppard said into his comm. "Sometime today would be nice."
"Major!" Came the scientist's reply. "Get Doctor Beckett, a medical team, and a security team to the jumper bay right away."
"What? Wh- "
"Just do it!"
Carson Beckett ran to the jumper bay, dodging Athosians and others who were ambling in the hallways.
When he arrived, he found a mass of confusion.
"Step aside, please!" The Scottish man ordered, making his way through the crowd of people.
In the center of the confusion was Doctor McKay; he was knelt down beside Doctor Andrea Simpson.
"Lord in heaven." Carson muttered as he looked at the young woman.
She was in a pitiable state, her face badly bruised. Her uniform was torn open, and her exposed skin was already arrayed in black and yellow bruises. Most troubling was the pool of red blood seeping from her head.
"What happened?" Carson asked, bending down to check for a pulse. 'Thank God' he whispered to himself. She was breathing, as well. Those were two very good things.
"I'm not sure, exactly." McKay said. "Will she be all right?"
"I hope so." Carson replied before turning his attention to his medical team. "Get me a stretcher! We need to get her back to the infirmary as soon as possible and get her stabilized."
McKay watched in a daze as Doctor Simpson was carefully lifted and carried off towards the infirmary.
The approach of Sergeant Bates, the officer in charge of security, went completely unnoticed by McKay.
"Doctor?" Bates started. "We need to have a talk."
Damn him. Damn. Damn. Damn! He'd been so close to showing that wretch where her place was. Damn McKay had to walk in and spoil it. Still, he did get some satisfaction from exerting his prominence over her. The fear he'd seen in her eyes had been his reward. That'd show her. Maybe next time she won't be so vocal in disagreeing with his opinions. Not that she would get a next time. If she recovered, she'd tell them who he was. And head injuries are so hard to predict after all...
Still, he needed to be more careful next time. McKay had nearly caught him.
Suddenly a plan came to him. He smiled. All his problems would soon be over.
"How is she?" Doctor Kavanagh asked Doctor Beckett, gesturing over to Andrea. She was lying in the cot, motionless. The only indication of life was the insistent beeping of the heart monitor.
"Hard to say, really." Beckett sighed. "She's had immense trauma to the parietal lobe of her brain. With these type of injuries the best we can do is release the pressure from around the brain to allow the swelling to recede. She may wake up, she may not."
"So, you don't think there's any hope?"
"I didn't say that, son. The brain is an amazing machine, and right now it's trying to repair itself. We just have to wait and see if she'll come out of it."
"Do you mind if I sit with her?"
"Of course not. But try not to stay too long, she needs time and peace so she can heal."
Kavanagh nodded, and took a chair next to the infirmary bed as Doctor Beckett turned to leave.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Doctor Beckett practically shouted across the infirmary.
"Her tube came out somehow, I was trying to fix it." Kavanagh explained quickly.
"Aye." Beckett said, taking the I.V. tubing from Kavanagh. After checking to make sure his patient hadn't been harmed, he fixed the apparent problem and turned back to the scientist. "Why don't you let her get some rest? She's had quite an ordeal."
"Of course."
Taking the unconscious woman's hand into his, he muttered under his breath, "I'll be back later."
Elizabeth was not taking the news of Doctor Simpson's attack lightly. How could something like this have happened? It's one thing to be attacked by an alien species...hell, it was practically expected.
This was different. This attack came from within Atlantis. According to what little Rodney had seen, it has been a person who'd knocked him over. That could mean only one thing. One of their own people had nearly beaten a fellow colleague to death. And had at least attempted to rape her. Had Rodney not shown up and scared her attacker away...
The thought sickened Elizabeth.
A knock on her office door announced the presence of Sergeant Bates, Rodney McKay, and Doctor Kavanagh.
"Come in!" Elizabeth called.
Kavanagh was the first to speak. "Doctor Weir, I insist that something be done about Doctor Simpson!"
"What would you have me do?"
"Take into custody the one responsible!"
"I plan on it, just as soon as we find out who that person is."
"Oh please, isn't it obvious?"
"What do you mean?" McKay jumped in.
"Oh, well, let me think. Who was the only other person there when this happened? Who was found with Doctor Simpson's blood on them, while kneeling over her unconscious body?!"
"Hey!" Elizabeth interrupted. "You have absolutely no proof that Doctor McKay is responsible."
"Well, you have no proof that he's isn't responsible."
"What are you suggesting?"
"He needs to be taken down to the holding cell."
"What?!" Rodney exploded.
"What good would that do?" Weir asked.
"Well, it'll keep the rest of us safe until Doctor Simpson wakes up and identifies her attacker." Kavanagh said, giving McKay a withering look.
"What if she doesn't?" Rodney asked.
"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you, McKay? That way we'd never know for sure that it was you!"
Elizabeth sighed and looked to Sergeant Bates for a suggestion. "Well, ma'am, locking him up for security precautions might not be a bad idea. Just to be on the safe side."
"Elizabeth!" Rodney pleaded. "You know me better than to think I could do something like this."
She sighed. His eyes were so earnest. She just knew he wasn't responsible, he couldn't be. Unhappily she examined the top of her desk. Sometimes making these decisions tore at her heart. Such is the burden of a leader.
"I'm sorry, Rodney."
The hurt and betrayal in his eyes was unmistakable. He tried to say something, but she held up a hand to silence him. "No, I don't believe you did this. But spending a couple days in the holding cell won't hurt you. And maybe it'll make the person who is responsible a little careless. He'll think we believe that you are the one who attacked her."
Rodney looked positively crestfallen. "I'm sure you're doing what you feel is best." He said, his voice void of emotion. With that he turned away from Elizabeth and allowed Sergeant Bates to lead him away.
Now alone, Kavanagh closed her office door and turned back towards Elizabeth.
Elizabeth raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Actually, there is something else that we need to discuss…"
Elizabeth struggled to open her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to remember what had caused the unbearable pain in her head. It was then that she realized her hands were tied up. She sat up quickly, and immediately regretted it. The room spun around and she nearly passed out again. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, after a few seconds the floaty feeling in her head subsided. Finally, she opened her eyes again.
Looking around, Elizabeth tried to get her bearings. There wasn't much to be seen in the room she was in. Most of the back part of the area was shrouded in darkness. A small lantern was flickering firelight across the space around her. She obviously was in a section of the city she'd never seen before. Ugh, what happened? How did she end up here? The last thing she could remember was being in her office with…
"Good to see that you are awake, Elizabeth," said a familiar voice from the blackness in front of her.
John Sheppard had been busy trying to explain the concept of Ferris wheels to Teyla when the power failed all over Atlantis.
"What the hell...?" Sheppard wondered aloud.
"Perhaps we should go to the control room."
"Yeah, no kidding..."
Sheppard grabbed his flashlight, and he and Teyla quickly made their way from Sheppard's quarters down to the control room. There they found Sergeant Bates and Doctor Zelenka already working on the problem.
"What happened to the power?" Sergeant Bates asked Doctor Zelenka, as he nodded a greeting to Major Sheppard.
Zelenka looked up from the control room computer he'd been working on. "From what I can tell, someone was able to remotely access the main command module and set it to turn all power off for 'maintenance' for…one hour."
"How can you use a computer if the power's out?" Sheppard piped up.
"It's running on the back-up battery, Major."
"Oh!" Sheppard said, nodding his head. "Makes sense..."
"Anyway, can you fix it?" Bates cut in.
"Not alone."
"What's that mean?" Sheppard asked
"It means I need McKay's help. He knows the command codes better than I."
Bates sighed. "Fine. I'll have him brought in from the holding cell."
"Good." Sheppard said. "Meanwhile, I'm gonna go see if I can find Doctor Weir."
"Why are you doing this, Kavanagh?" Weir asked, desperately trying to keep him talking.
"Oh, you don't remember? You don't remember a conversation we had not so long ago. You know, the one that included you humiliating me in front of half the base. And my research team."
"I was trying to get answers to a problem. I took what you had to say into consideration, but had I followed your recommendation, Major Sheppard's team might very well have died."
He was getting closer, and his proximity was nerve-wracking to Elizabeth, especially considering what had just been done to Andrea Simpson.
"You're the one who attacked Doctor Simpson!" Elizabeth accused.
"Maybe," Kavanagh said with an impish smile. "Nothing that she didn't deserve."
"For what?"
"She forgot her place."
Elizabeth looked at him with disgust. "You mean she disagreed with your conclusion."
He was inches away now. Invading her space. Elizabeth struggled to maintain control of her fear. Any minute now someone would find them, she just had to stay calm until then.
"Where I come from, Elizabeth, women have respect for men. And occasionally they need reminding of why women are the weaker sex."
Under guarded watch, Rodney was busily helping Zelenka work on the control room computers.
"This makes no sense!" Rodney exclaimed. "Why in the world would anyone here want to purposely cut power to the base? Unless of course you were..."
"Were what?"
"Trying to hide something."
Startled, Rodney looked up at Zelenka, and then over to his personal armed guard. "Quick! Go find Major Sheppard and Elizabeth!"
"I'm not supposed to leave you alone, sir."
"Don't worry, Lieutenant," Zelenka spoke up. "I'll make sure he behaves. This is important."
"I'm sorry, sir. I have to follow my orders."
"Lieutenant!" Major Sheppard called from the balcony. "Get up here now! Weir's office is trashed and...she's missing!"
"They'll notice I'm gone." Elizabeth said, trying every negotiation trick she'd ever learned to talk herself out of this one. "As soon as they do, they'll find us."
"I don't think so."
"Oh, come on. You obviously used a transporter to get us here. McKay'll be able to figure out where the energy was sent to."
Kavanagh narrowed his eyes, and leaned in even closer to her. "You are correct. Except...McKay is currently in the holding cell. Under your orders, I believe."
Elizabeth suddenly couldn't breathe. Oh God, Kavanagh had manipulated her to have Rodney locked away. She felt the hope in her start to deflate; she tried not to let it show, but failed.
"Serves him right. He interrupted my little 'tête-à-tête' with Doctor Simpson. And as for the other scientists…well, it seems that someone ordered the power cells in the city to be turned off for maintenance...so I'm afraid that with McKay behind bars...there's just no way for them to find us."
With that he roughly cupped her face with his hand. "Skin so soft..." he murmured, she tried to turn away from him, but he wouldn't have it. Forcefully he pressed his mouth to hers.
From the control room, Zelenka and McKay could hear the major giving his men orders to search the city for Elizabeth.
Rodney just hoped it wasn't too late for her.
Shaking his mind back into focus, he worked on solving the problem at hand. Power. If they had power, maybe they could figure out what had happened to Elizabeth. Or better, where she was being held.
Concentrating on the command module that had been tampered with, Rodney stared until the lines of code began to cross. The program appeared to be taunting him. There had to be a way to get the power back.
"Did you try rewriting the maintenance program?" Rodney asked for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Yes, that was the first thing I did." Zelenka answered, once again. "But it won't let anyone change the coding until the programming has been completed."
"What about-"
"McKay! Please stop bothering me with questions I've already answered. I can't think while you're talking."
Rodney sighed and turned back the laptop. His stomach growled. It felt like it'd been forever since he last ate. God, what time was it anyways?
Time?
Wait a minute!
Rodney quickly scanned through the lines of commands. "Hey, the maintenance command module that is causing the blackout is using a looping 'if statement'. As long as the results are false, the loop continues and the power stays off. The result will only be true after one hour has passed. That will divert the loop to the 'end run' and that's when the power will be restored!"
"How does that help us?" Zelenka asked. "If we wait for the program to finish, it'll probably be too late."
"No, don't be stupid, of course we can't wait. But, what if we were able to create our own program that would effectively change the time according to the computers? Then, when the maintenance loop runs again, the results become true, the program ends, and the lights and power come back!"
"No, but...well...that could work."
"Of course it could. My ideas always work."
Ignoring the look Zelenka threw at him, Rodney rubbed his hands together in excitement. This had to work. Elizabeth needed him.
She could feel it. Bile was rising up from her empty stomach. She didn't even try to hold it down.
Horrified, Kavanagh jumped away from her. That was just the distance she needed. Grateful that he hadn't tied her feet as well, she kicked up with all her might, making contact with his groin.
Kavanagh crumpled to the ground.
"Weaker sex my ass," she said, turning to run.
But Kavanagh wasn't finished with her. Reaching out, he grabbed her left ankle, and she fell down to the ground, hard.
"Got it!" McKay announced happily. "Running the program…now!"
An instant later, the lights started powering themselves up. "And now to find out where they went."
Quickly switching the control room's main computer, which was now fully operational, Rodney did a full diagnostic program on the transporter near Elizabeth's office. Odds were, whoever had taken her had used the transporter to get away.
Scanning the information as it was compiling, he pinpointed one transporter use not long after the 'discussion' in Elizabeth's office. Going on a hunch, Rodney did a search for where the transport energy was sent. A red circle began flashing on the snowflake-like map of Atlantis.
He had to get there.
"Go!" Zelenka said. "I'll inform the search teams of their location."
Elizabeth quickly learned that falling down after having a head injury was not a good thing.
Moaning, she struggled to get up. But Kavanagh still had a firm hold on her ankle. He twisted it sharply to the left, and she cried out, feeling the bone snap.
The pain was so intense that she saw stars. She blinked back the tears, and took a deep breath, hoping to slow the throbbing pain in her ankle.
Anger and adrenaline flowed through her veins. Noticing that he was still on the ground, she used her other foot to deliver another hard kick. This one aimed right at his nose.
She felt a sickening crack when her boot made contact. His head snapped back, and she used whatever opportunity that gave her to get away. Unable to walk, Elizabeth began scooting herself along the floor, hoping to put some distance between them.
But it wasn't enough. She hadn't even made it to the doorway before he was picking himself off the floor. Obviously the worst of his pain had passed, as he was once again able to stand. He approached her, as though teasing her. Glaring at her for the trouble she'd caused, he reared his arm back and delivered a dizzying punch to her left cheeckbone. The force of his blow knocked Elizabeth flat on her back. He knelt beside her and jerked her back up to a sitting position.
"You have spirit, no doubt. "He whispered in her ear. "But that will only make me enjoy this so much more."
Distantly, she could feel his hands on her, tugging at her shirt. 'Help me...Rodney...' her mind pleaded as she felt a dense fog envelop her mind and she was pulled from consciousness.
As soon as the transporter opened, Rodney heard a painful scream.
'Oh God, please don't let it be too late.' Rodney thought silently as he headed towards the scream he'd heard.
He looked around him. He'd never been in this part of the city before, and he idly wondered what the Ancient's had used it for once upon a time. Now wasn't the time for that though, he had to find Elizabeth – and fast. Turning to the left, he ran until he found a door at the end of the long corridor.
That led to yet another long corridor.
'Oh come on!' His mind screamed. How many corridors did the Ancients really need, anyways?! Turning the corner, Rodney dashed down the second hallway until he came to the large door at the end of the passage. The door opened silently as he approached it.
The room inside was dark, lit only by a small lantern. Blinking to adjust his eyes to the darkness, Rodney looked around for signs of Elizabeth. The light didn't show much about what was inside, but Rodney could make out a figure lying on the floor not far from him.
His heart leapt into his throat. It was a body.
No...it was two bodies. Blinking rapidly, Rodney hoped the darkness was only playing tricks on him. But there was no doubt about what he was seeing. Elizabeth was lying unconscious on the floor...and someone else was hovering over her.
Understanding snapped into place in an instant. Wide-eyed at what this man was about to do, Rodney ran up from behind him, pulled him from Elizabeth, and shoved him roughly to the ground.
The man grunted in surprise as he suddenly found himself lying face down on the ground.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Rodney shouted. He wanted nothing more than to run to Elizabeth's side to make sure she was all right, but he knew he couldn't – not until this man was incapacitated. Or dead.
Silently thanking Major Sheppard for teaching him some basic moves, Rodney quickly grabbed the surprised man by his long ponytail. Jerking him around, Elizabeth's attacker met the full force of Rodney's fist.
Not letting go of the man, Rodney swung the man back around so he could the attacker's face. Surprise flashed in Rodney's eyes as he recognized Doctor Kavanagh.
Anger flowed through Rodney, the like of which he'd never felt before. One glance back at Elizabeth's motionless body caused that anger to overflow. Rodney swung again, this time the punch caught Kavanagh just under the chin and the force of the blow snapped his head backwards.
Rodney felt the man go limp, but couldn't resist kneeing him in the stomach as he fell. Kavanagh hit the ground in a heap.
Seeing that he was unconscious, and probably would be for some time, Rodney hurried over to Elizabeth's side. Feeling for a pulse, Rodney nearly passed out with relief when he felt her steady heartbeat.
Rodney felt his heart sink as he looked over Elizabeth's injuries. This was almost too much. Finding Doctor Simpson had been hard enough to deal with. And now, finding Elizabeth in a similar condition...Rodney swallowed the lump forming in his throat and focused his attention on the injured woman. Noting the gaping rip Kavanagh had torn down the middle of Elizabeth's shirt, Rodney quickly took off his jacket and draped it over her.
"Come on, Elizabeth, I'm here now." he whispered, placing the back of his hand on her cheek. He could tell she'd put up quite a fight. Her left check was starting to swell and some nasty bruises had already begun to form.
Rodney let out a breath as Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open. A panicked looked crossed her face and she tried to jerk away.
"Easy! Elizabeth, it's just me."
"Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, her voice cracking with effort.
"It's just me..." Rodney repeated, grabbing hold of her hand. "How are you feeling?"
"I've been better." She replied, trying to smile, but her swollen cheekbone protested. Her forehead wrinkled with the pain.
"Yeah, don't worry. We'll get you to Doctor Beckett, and you'll be good as new in no time."
Rodney was about to say something else when he felt powerful arms grab him from behind. Reflectively, he threw his arms up to block whatever attack was coming. 'Damn!' McKay scolded himself. 'I should've kept a closer eye on that guy!'
Fully prepared to launch into another attack, Rodney stopped just short of decking Major Sheppard.
"McKay!" Sheppard protested, grabbing Rodney's arm.
"Sorry, Major!" Rodney quickly amended. "I thought you were..." He trailed off, gesturing towards the still unconscious Kavanagh.
"Yeah, noticed that. How's Doctor Weir?"
"She awake, but she needs to get to the infirmary right away. She's has several serious injuries."
Rodney had no more finished his sentence when the medical team ran into the room. They started towards Kavanagh, but Rodney stopped them. "No! See to Doctor Weir first."
The med team looked to Sheppard for approval. The major nodded his head, and they headed over to check on Elizabeth.
Noticing the extent of Kavanagh's injuries, Sheppard just had to ask. "Did you do that to him, McKay?"
"Well, some of it." Rodney grinned. "I just finished off what Elizabeth started."
Rodney took a deep breath and stepped into the infirmary. The flowers were nice; he'd picked them up on their last mission.
Stepping over to the infirmary cot, he checked to see if she was awake. No such luck. Rodney sighed as he sat the vase of brightly colored flowers on the nearby table, hoping that when she did wake up again, they'd at least bring a smile to her face.
"Hey!" Someone called from the other side of the infirmary.
Rodney turned and saw Elizabeth sitting up in her bed, and waving him over. Backing away from Doctor Simpson's cot, Rodney went over to see Elizabeth.
"And where are my flowers?" She asked with raised eyebrows and crossed arms.
"Oops. Knew I forgot something." Rodney said with a smile.
Rodney held out as long as he possibly could before signaling something behind him. And in walked three nurses, each carrying beautiful bouquets of alien flowers.
Elizabeth smiled and swatted at Rodney playfully. As they watched the nurses leave, her face suddenly turned serious. "Rodney, I don't know how to thank you for what you did for me."
"You don't have to-"
"Rodney, if it hadn't been for you, both myself and Doctor Simpson could very well be dead right now."
Rodney sighed and took her hand in his own. "But you're not. And that's the important thing. But, my question is...why? Why would he do this to you?"
"Remember when the puddle jumper got stuck in the Stargate."
"All too vividly."
"Well, while we were trying to find a way to get you home, both myself and Andrea had a little difference of opinion with Doctor Kavanagh."
"And that's why he..." Rodney trailed off. "The psycho...so, what are we going to do about him?"
"Well, I think he'll get to experience that lonely planet I threatened to send him to last time he was causing problems."
"So...he'll be gone...no need to worry about him again?"
As Elizabeth nodded, Rodney let out a sigh of relief. "I just..." He paused and took a deep breath.
"Rodney?" She prompted.
"I just…when I saw what he was doing to you…I just…I lost it. I've never been one to make decisions based purely on emotion...but...when I saw you lying there…it scared me...and...I just...reacted." He sighed and briefly closed his eyes. "All I know is I don't ever want to see anyone hurting you like that again."
Elizabeth nodded and pulled him closer to her. Elizabeth laid her head on his chest and allowed his arms to envelop her in a warm embrace. "I've never felt safer than I do right now."
Rodney leaned down and kissed the top of Elizabeth's head. He gave a small smile as a sudden realization came over him.
"And neither have I."
Fin