Chapter Six

Bad Luck

"We gotta get out of here, now!" Buffy yelled after a moment, turning around.

"Yeah, I'm getting that." Sheppard said as he turned to leave, urging the rest of his team to follow.

They knew that there were more Wraith around there somewhere, but they could see none. Only Buffy could sense their presence and she knew that they were far off. Still, they needed to leave that planet as soon as possible.

"This one really veered away from the rest of them." Buffy commented as they made their way, quickly, back to the Stargate.

"How could you possibly know that?" Rodney demanded.

Her face darkened and her eyes hardened. She became contemplative, remaining silent for a few moments. Finally, she spoke.

"I honestly have no idea." She said. "I can just, I don't know, feel it." She sounded unsure herself, and wasn't surprised when she received four very skeptical looks.

"Well, stranger things have happened." Aiden said after a moment, "I guess…"

"Kinda not our top concern right now," John reminded them as he skid to a halt when he reached the DHD.

Without hesitation he dialed, waiting impatiently for a wormhole to establish. It burst to life with a loud splash. He waited, ushering his team and Buffy through before following himself.

On the other side, Sheppard was greeted by the usual hustle and bustle of the numerous personnel, most of them not even giving them a second glance. The ones who did however, shot them irritated glares at the obvious fruitlessness of the mission.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth demanded as she strode into the room, eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. "Why are you back so soon?"

Sheppard gave a one worded response. "Wraith."

Her eyes widened. "But you all seem to be okay."

"There was only one," John explained.

"One? Why only one?" She asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, not one."

Elizabeth looked at her expectantly.

"Lots." Buffy continued.

"Well, only one that we came across." McKay amended.

"Okay, so what happened?" Weir asked.

"Buffy kicked the crap out of it, that's what happened." Sheppard told her, almost accusing.

"How?"

"That's what I'd like to know." He responded, turning his head to the small, silent figure besides him.

"Don't look at me." She said, obviously uncomfortable by their scrutiny. "I don't know. It was just like instinct took over."

"Heck of an instinct you got there." John told her. "But that doesn't explain why you're so strong."

"Hey," She said, raising a hand for emphasis, "Lost my memory here, I'm as shocked as you are… though, that was pretty cool."

"Well, I think another visit to the infirmary is in order." Elizabeth announced, "And since it's pretty late, you should get some rest and we'll proceed with the debriefing at 0900 tomorrow."

Buffy groaned. "Do I have to?"

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed, "Yes."

"Crap." She muttered, inaudible to almost everyone.

John's eyes narrowed on her as she turned to walk, somberly, to the infirmary. There was something off about her, other than the freakish super strength and abilities she seemed to posses. The way she spoke, the way she acted, her very presence reminded him of the impossible. He shook his head clear of his thought, convincing himself that it was simply a very strange coincidence. She was just a girl, albeit strong, but that could be explained easily enough once she was tested more thoroughly. Yeah, that was it…

"I didn't do it!" Buffy said defensively, jumping back from the livid scientist who was shooting her a menacing glare.

"What happened?" Rodney demanded as he skidded into the lad, only to find the charred remains of some ancient device whose purpose was a mystery to all that had studied it. There were also blackened smears on the walls and on the faces of many other angered personnel.

"I was just walking by on the way to the infirmary, when BOOM, that thing, whatever it was, exploded." She said, gesturing the twisted and mangled machine in the center of the lab. "I wasn't even in the room!"

"We haven't been able to even turn it on." One of the scientist reminded Rodney. "Not even with major Sheppard's, or anyone else's, ancient gene. But when she walked by the thing just lit up and started chirping."

"Chirping?" McKay asked in disbelief.

"Yes, chirping. And then, as Buffy so eloquently put it, boom." He said, his 'boom' far less enthusiastic than hers.

His once white lab coat was now the same color as the smudged walls and his hair stood up in places, giving a very comical appearance. Or at leas, comical to Buffy. No one else seemed all that amused. The man pushed his askew glasses up his nose and his posture straitened as he waited for her explanation. She looked at him for a moment, her face unreadable. Finally, she too straitened up and her eyes bored into his.

"How do you know my name?" She asked. She recognized the man now as the one she had collided with a few hours earlier.

He paused for a moment, as if in though. "Uh… I must have heard it around somewhere."

She held her gaze for a moment before finally turning her attention back to the machine.

"What was it?" She asked.

"No one could figure that out, though there was some speculation."

"Such as?" Buffy prodded.

"Nothing of real probability."

Before Buffy could reply Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard walked past the lab and stopped dead in their tracks. Both of them doubled back and entered the room, twin looks of surprise on their faces.

"What the hell happened here?" John asked, looking around at the destruction of the lab and the state of its scientists.

"A small explosion, nothing to worry about," Buffy said, hoping to downplay the event, as well as her involvement, "which I had nothing to do with, by the way."

"I'm sure." Sheppard muttered sarcastically, surprised to see the glare that Buffy shot him.

"Anything of importance get ruined?"

"No, nothing of importance," Rodney said scathingly, "But you'll be happy to know that the potted plants were unharmed."

"Well, as long as they're okay…" John shot back.

Rodney glared at him and Elizabeth just shook her head. "You two should probably get started cleaning up this mess." She said, and then turned to Buffy, "And you need to get down to the infirmary before anything else goes wrong."

"Alright, alright," Buffy complied reluctantly.

"Good." Weir said, glad to have her cooperation, but not trusting her completely. "But I'm coming with you."

"I don't know what to tell you." Carson said as he stared at a monitor with a blank look. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"You sure?" Buffy asked skeptically.

"Yes. I mean, there are a few anomalies, but that's to be expected." His accented voice explained to his unappreciative patient.

"Are there any other tests you can run?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, at least, not in here. I would, however, like to test her physically." He turned to Buffy, "I'm very curious about this amazing strength of yours that I've been hearing about."

"Aren't we all?" She muttered.

"But we should begin tomorrow." He told her, obviously happy that she had been in there for over half an hour and had broken nothing, and he didn't want to press his luck.

She stood up, a look of relief evident on her face as well.

"Great." She said.

She backed away from the bed she had been sitting on, not noticing the tray of medical tools behind her. She bumped them and turned quickly, watching as they hit the floor with a clang, the small tools scattered, bouncing slightly before they stilled. She looked up, guiltily, wondering, not for the first time, why these things kept happening to her. Beckett didn't look angry so much as deflated. He rolled his eyes, thinking that it was too much to ask for that she could leave the infirmary intact.

"Oops," She said, wincing slightly, "Sorry."

"They say she's bad luck." A scientist whispered into the ear of another.

They were seated in the commissary, watching a lone figure as she sat at a far table.

"You should see the remains of that ancient device she blew up a few hours ago."

"I did! It was completely destroyed."

"I wonder how she did it."

"She, of course, claims she didn't. But I heard that she has a bunch of… supernatural powers." The scientist lowered her voice further. "They say she blew it up because it has the key to finding out who she is. She doesn't want anybody to know."

"I thought she doesn't know who she is." The other said, confused.

"That's what she wants us to think." The female insisted. "If you ask me, that whole 'lost memory' thing is an act. I mean, she can remember her name just fine."

"But, why would she pretend not to know who she is?"

"Maybe she's a spy." She suggested.

"I don't know, it just seems a little… out there."

"This whole situation is 'out there.' Look at how small she is." She pointed out, "How could she possibly take down a wraith?"

"I don't know. But supernatural powers? That's just a little too hard to believe. Maybe her race is just naturally more advanced, physically."

"If they were, it'd probably show on Dr. Beckett's exams."

"Yeah, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."

"You know, some of the other people around here have nick named her Buffy the Wraith Slayer."

He spit out his drink at that. "What? What kind of a nick name is that?"

"It seems to fit."

"So? Please, she took out one wraith."

"With her bare hands."

His eyes widened. "What? I didn't hear about that. I assumed she used a weapon of some kind. Are you sure?"

"Positive. Heard Major Sheppard and Lt. Ford talking about it earlier. They seemed impressed. Really impressed."

"Were you eavesdropping again?"

She looked slightly abashed "No… not really. They were right next to me!" She defended.

He eyed her doubtfully.

"Anyway, Sheppard seems skeptical about her also."

"Really? Wasn't he the one that brought her here in the first place?"

"Yeah, well, looks like this little discovery of her unnatural abilities has changed his mind, or at least, has caused him to start questioning some stuff."

"Well, she is kind of… strange." He admitted, "But I mean, that's to be expected right? She's an alien."

"Do you see Teyla going around braking machines, devices, and noses?"

"Well, no…"

"Exactly."

"The weirdest thing about Buffy is, she seems so… I don't know, familiar." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. When she ran into me yesterday, I thought I'd recognized her from somewhere."

"And I thought she was crazy." She commented.

"Yeah, I know it sounds weird. It must just be another one of her 'supernatural powers'" He said sarcastically.

"Supernatural or not, that girl's bad luck."

Major Sheppard knew that he was crossing a line as he entered the room. Searching Buffy's personal quarters without her knowledge was an invasion of privacy and he knew it. Not that he knew what he was looking for. All she had were clothes that had been issued to her by Dr. Weir and what she had arrived in. He wanted to be sure, however, hence the trespassing. He was looking for anything at all, anything… weird.

Since he had met the girl, alarms had been blaring in his mind. There was something about her, something he just couldn't place. He needed to know what. He searched the small drawers, and, as he already knew, they seemed to be filled only with the clothes she had been given. He lifted them up, searching for something that might be hidden underneath. Finally, after lifting the last article of clothing his eyes fell to a tiny object in the corner of the drawer.

It was a silver necklace, resting on a delicate chain. He picked it up, examining it. A cross. A symbol that was very common on Earth, but not necessarily exclusive to it. Odd, but, explainable. Then he looked closer at the chain. It too was silver. He looked at the clasp and saw a flattened portion near it. There was something on it. He held it under the light so that he could make out the tiny writing. It read:

'14 KT

ITALY'

"Huh," He said, his eyes widening in surprise, "That's weird."

Okay, here's the part where I apologize about my long absence and beg for you for your forgiveness. I know it's been over a month, please forgive me. Please?

And again I must thank everyone who has given me all that encouraging feedback; it's what keeps me going ;)