A/N: Much of the dialogue is taken from the episodes "The Storm" and "The Eye" from Season One.
Rodney woke up having the mother of all headaches grace him with its presence. The room spun mercilessly and he had to shut his eyes to prevent whatever it was he last ate from resurfacing. The pain ebbed in the next minute and he cracked an eye open to see if it would return. Nothing. Apparently it had to do with trying to sit up. He should be safe laying on his back then. Starring at the ceiling was an interesting enough task... Right. He tried to get up again, bracing himself for the pain. It washed over him like a bucket of ice-cold water. Now it was time to get to his feet.
"You finally decided to join the world of the living?"
"Yes, Carson, thank you for caring. Can I have some pain killers here? Morphine sounds like heaven to me right now."
"Stop, stop, stop, lay back. What's wrong?"
"Other than my head imploding soon, not much. You?"
Beckett had already started examining him, flashing that damn pen light into his eyes.
"I need a blood sample."
"Did I ever mention I hate needles?"
"Only every time I come near you with one. There. All done."
"Are you going to sprinkle it around and chant now? Because really, a painkiller would have sufficed."
"You still have Wraith toxin in your blood. Your primitive brain is in hyperdrive because of it, hence the headache."
"My what kind of brain? I mean, is that a standard medical term, or are you just trying to insult me? Because adding insult to injury is so not a good bedside manner thing."
"Your head will stop hurting soon. I'm releasing you from the infirmary. There are actually wounded people who need that bed. So go get some tea or something and report back in the morning for another check up."
Great. Tea. Well coffee would go so much further. Rodney made a bee-line for the mess hall. Once he was up on his feet the pain subsided to a constant but bearable pressure in the back of his skull.
He got himself the largest mug available and then decided to take it back to his lab and maybe get some more work done before the meeting. He walked to the transporter, sipping the hot coffee on the way. His mind was occupied with the new set of equations he had been working on. It was particularly frustrating, because he kept thinking himself in circles, the solution looming just beyond him. He was certain he could have solved it long ago if he could just dedicate enough time to it...
The doors of the transporter closed behind him, he put his finger to the location he wanted to go to on the map, yet when the doors opened again he found himself in an empty, dark hallway.
What the...?
He could have sworn he had chosen his lab as the destination. Could the transporters be malfunctioning now? That would just make his day. A new problem to divert him from his equations. He activated his COM link.
"Zelenka? I seem to have a problem with a transporter... Zelenka? Radek? Oh, for the love of God! Hello!? Anyone?"
Oh, yeah. This was going to be one of those evenings when everything just went to hell. Rodney stepped back into the transporter, trying to figure out where he was. The map indicated... level 15? But that was an uninhabited level...
"Oh."
It was the level where they had kept Steve.
Rodney walked down the corridor and to the room where he knew she would be.
"Good evening, Dr. McKay." A Marine greeted him with a smile. "Come to talk to the Wraith too?"
"Yes, yes. What do you mean, too? Who else has been here?"
"Well, there was Dr. Gaard from the biology department, Dr. Holden from anthropology, Dr. Kavanagh from chemistry..."
"Huh. Why?"
"Well," the Marine said, "it turns out we got us a smart Wraith this time. And she's spilling the beans."
"Right. I'm going in. She is secured, right?"
"Of course."
As Rodney entered, she turned to face him immediately. Some kind of twisted mockery of a smile graced her features. He went closer, feeling his face going through many shades of purple.
"What are you doing? Are you still using that...that connection thing?"
"I wanted to see you."
"Excellent. I'm turning into a zombie. Why? What do you... No. No more feeding off me. No."
"I wanted to see you to know you were all right, and to ask for forgiveness. If I can offer comfort in any way, tell me."
"Comfort?" Rodney exploded. "No! You think you can just use someone like that and then say you're sorry? What am I saying? Of course you do, you're a Wraith! Stop using our connection. Let it fade or something."
"I can offer you the solution." She transmitted it then, and Rodney was left blinking like an idiot and striving to follow her thought process, which was now downloading directly into his brain. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. It was elegant, clean, mathematical precision.
"How did you read my mind? How did you know about that equation?"
"When I feed I see things from my source," she said. "I did not mean to offend. It seemed to me you were in great need of this solution."
"What else did you see?"
"You mean from your secrets? From the secrets of the Lanteans?" the Wraith asked. "Nothing. I would have had to kill you in order to go that deep into your mind. And if I killed you, I could not use the information I got anyway, since your companion would have killed me too."
"Right." Rodney growled. "I don't believe you. Damn it!"
"Eve."
"What?"
"Earlier you wanted to know my name," she explained. "I have no name. I did not understand the question then. But the one who calls himself majorjohnsheppardusaairforce said my name can be Eve. You can call me that."
"Oh, I'm doomed." Rodney sighed. "You know what? Just stop this connection we have going, and I'll call it even. Why is it that you could force me to come here?"
"I summoned you. But I assume you responded to my call by your own free will. And the mathematical dilemma was again something you transmitted, and I was open to receiving it."
"What other stuff can you do? Other than math I mean. Do you know your way around ancient technology?"
"My kind are fast learners."
Rodney pulled out his tablet and pulled up some of the ZPM schematics he's been working on.
"Are you familiar with this?" he asked, holding it up for her to look at.
"That is not Lantean technology. It belongs to those we used to call World Makers."
"Who?"
"I believe they are now extinct. Legend had it the Lanteans were their descendants."
"Right. Legend. Who were they? What else did they do?"
"I was very young when I first heard of them. The Lanteans were trying to re-evolve into this original species. We appeared as a result of their unsuccessful tries. Our biological ancestor is an insect-like life form. The Lanteans were intrigued by this insect's long life span and tried to bring it to humanoid form. All they managed to do while interfering with the natural process of evolution was to create us. Ever since then, they've been trying to wipe us out of existence. It is, I believe, the way humans evolved also. But humans must have been a closer match to what they were hopping to obtain. You seem disturbed by these facts. In the research facility where you found me you will also find proof of what I'm telling you."
"Back to our subject of discussion. Do you know how to perfect these schematics?" He forced his voice to remain calm.
"I need time to work on this. Can I have the device?"
"What, my tablet? No. I'll get you a clean one in the morning. Get some rest or whatever it is that you do at night. And don't summon me anymore. I will come and see you when I feel like it."
Rodney found he felt like seeing her again very early the next morning, however. So he uploaded a new tablet with only the equations his brilliant team of moronic scientist had been unsuccessfully working on for moths and he went to level 15.
The Wraith greeted him, standing in the exact same spot he'd left her the night before. He could have sworn her eyes sparkled as he walked in. He fought the need to rub his chest where she had fed upon him. A chill ran through him at that particular memory. He braced himself, thought the force field off and handed her the tablet through the bars.
She looked at him with something akin to awe. Her fingers brushed his hand as she took the tablet from him. Cold, velvety fingers. Deadly fingers, which could pry the life from his still-beating heart. Rodney felt like screaming and running for his life. She prolonged the touch, as if sensing his terror and enjoying it. She smiled. Feed me.
"So, I'll come back later and check your progress with those." Rodney backed out of the room as fast as he could without tipping off the Marines who stood guard to the fact that he was actually running from a caged prisoner. All he needed was people having more reasons to make fun of his cowardice.
She followed him with her eyes as he left. A human could manipulate Lantean technology? He was certainly not Lantean, she would have felt it. But he turned the shield off and then on again. Things had changed while she slept. Atlantis was a pale replica of what it had been, and there was a new war. She looked at the equations he brought for her. At least she would not die of boredom. The pain caused by hunger made it hard for her to concentrate and think, so solving the puzzles would take longer than usual. Pain was distracting enough by itself, but with humans all around her, just out of reach, it was pure torture.
She called to her guards and asked to speak to the leader woman. It only took minutes for the green-eyed woman to come stand in front of her cage.
"You are prompt."
"How may I... Well, what did you need to talk to me about?"
"I wish to assist your expedition. I will offer any information and aid that I am capable of. Yet, I must ask that you provide nourishment. I have not fed properly in more time than all your lifetimes put together. I will die."
"I see. You do understand that we cannot provide the kind of nourishment that you require?"
"I do not kill my source. I ask for no sacrifice. Surely you can see the predicament I find myself in, and that my needs are not impossible to meet?"
Elizabeth nodded. She envied the Wraith for her eloquent way of stating her case. If the person standing in front of her was not a very dangerous alien being, she would have been convinced that she had studied diplomacy and negotiation tactics for long enough to handle herself even in the middle of the most vicious peace treaty signings in Earth history.
"I will see what I can do."
"Thank you. I am sure you will find the best solution."
Elizabeth called for a senior staff meeting even before she had left level 15. John, Rodney, Carson and Teyla were already in the conference room when she arrived.
"What was so urgent that I had to leave my very important work in the hands of incompetent dwarves in order to attend this meeting?" McKay jumped at her as soon as she entered.
"Our prisoner. We must make a decision. She asked me to arrange for a way to feed her."
"We knew this was going to come up sooner rather then later." Sheppard put in his two cent's worth.
"We cannot let her starve," Elizabeth said. "I will not authorize such treatment of a prisoner."
"And you're suggesting...?" Sheppard asked, arching his brows.
"I'm asking for your input before I reach a decision."
"Dr. Weir, I cannot believe that you would feed a Wraith!" Teyla exclaimed. "It is outrageous! My people and all humans in this galaxy-"
"I understand she feeds differently and the victim does not bear ill effects. Dr. McKay, have you had any side-effects?"
"Other than the hole in my chest?"
"She is tactically useless. My vote goes for a swift execution." Sheppard finally voiced the thought that no one else in the room could put into words. The alternative to feeding her.
"What? No! She, she can do amazing math and God knows what else! She's better than a computer..." McKay made himself shut up before he could finish his sentence.
"This being a civilian operation, and given that she's not a liability, on the contrary, it seems she can be useful in many ways..." Carson stopped in mid-sentence also.
"I'll do it."
Everyone in the room turned to McKay.
"McKay..." Sheppard's tone was warning.
"I said I'd do it. Well someone has to, so why not me? I've been there before. I can do it."
"I was thinking of something more like a public search for volunteers." Elizabeth said.
"If you want to drag it out, fine. In the end, no one will offer themselves. It will still be up to me. I'm going to benefit the most from her expertise, it's only fair."
"I agree with Major Sheppard," Teyla said. "Killing it is the best option. To hold and feed a Wraith is completely against the wishes of our ancestors! I and my people will have no part in it," Teyla added with barely controlled anger before she stormed out.
"So, it's three to two, then?" Rodney sighed. "Guess I got a Wraith to feed, huh?"
Rodney felt faint. He could not believe the words that had come from his lips. He had to make fists to hide the violent shaking of his hands as he was escorted to level 15. Eve was smiling at him again and he swallowed the knot in his throat. The room was full of Marines, all pointing their guns at the Wraith. The shield, however, was down and the cage opened. The presence of the soldiers was strangely not reassuring. Did Rodney actually wish to be alone with a Wraith and let it feed off of him? He shook his head to clear his thoughts, took off his shirt and advanced to stand in front of her.
Please, don't do it like last time...not in front of them...
I will not hurt you...any more than I have to. You will feel pain. Will you give me your pain?
Yes. Whatever you wish. Just, don't do that. Don't make me...enjoy it...please.
He felt her arms go around him and bring him closer. Her opened palms splayed over his broad back, his muscles quivering under her touch. He wished he was alone with her so that no one could see his arms closing over her waist.
So much skin! All the emotions playing within him: fear, dread, pain, disgust, need, embarrassment. She would take it all. The way his chest arched into her, bringing him closer when she breached him brought her satisfaction like she had not felt in thousands of years. The power and energy of his restless mind washed her pain away.
***
The puddlejumper was set on a steady course for the mainland. John hated having to take Teyla away from Atlantis. It had been her wish not to return to the city of the ancestors until it was purged of the presence of the Wraith. Elizabeth's determination to keep the damned creature amazed him. He would have chosen to keep the loyalty of the Athosians over keeping a Wraith in the city anytime. But all the scientists were taken with the knowledge the Wraith shared. At every meeting he attended lately, all he heard about was Eve this and Eve that. Nobody seemed to care that the Wraith technology she was so willingly telling them about was probably outdated, and the same was likely true for the Wraith combat style and strategy she had told them about as well. Nor did anyone show any interest in the fact that even if studying her physiology was exciting genetic research, the similarities between her and other Wraith might be insignificant, given that she had been a lab rat for the Ancients.
Rodney was the first to visit her in the morning and the last to leave her cell at night. He had her assisting him with the ZPM calculations, and he was confident he would be able to build one soon enough. That might have been the only thing that Sheppard deemed useful. Still, he was suspicious. What if sweet little Eve was feeding Rodney a way to build some sort of bomb instead of a ZPM? He knew there would be tests and simulations before actually installing the ZPM when and if they were able to build one, but still...
"Major."
Teyla's concerned voice interrupted his thoughts. John looked up in the direction she was pointing in. What he saw knocked the breath out of his lungs. Dark gray clouds swirling and moving in the distance.
"That can't be a storm-it stretches across the whole horizon."
"I've never seen something like that from so high.
"I've seen a lot of things from this altitude, but nothing like that." John activated the COM without taking his eyes off the menacing-looking clouds. "Atlantis base, this is Jumper One. We're gonna change our heading to investigate a storm."
The connection was very poor and after getting what he assumed was an ok from Weir he made maneuvers to bring the jumper higher, above the canopy of clouds.
"Oh, shit! This is-"
"Do all storms look like this from above?" Teyla asked, furrowing her brow.
"No." Sheppard called up a display on the screen in front of him. The reading made it clear that they were dealing with the mother of all hurricanes. "This must cover twenty percent of the planet. The velocity of the wind is unbelievable!"
"Is it headed towards the Mainland?"
"It's tracking right towards the settlement." The concern in John's voice matched hers.
"And after that?"
"Straight to Atlantis," John said, still looking in disbelief at the readings on the screen. "You have to warn your people and we must start bringing them back to Atlantis. When this thing hits it will leave nothing in its wake."
"The city of the ancestors is home to a Wraith now."
"Yeah, I'm not exactly crazy about that either. However, she's our prisoner."
"My people and I will not share lodgings with a Wraith."
"For God's sake, Teyla! That storm will not just ruin your crops! It will kill anyone who stands in the way. There is nowhere else you can be safe but in Atlantis."
"I will talk to my people."
"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't mention Eve at all they wouldn't have a problem in coming over to spend some time in Atlantis, eh?"
"You mean I should lie to them?"
"You don't know much about politics, do you? Look, it's easy. Do you want yourself and your people to live or not? We don't have time to argue about this. I'm leaving you on the Mainland and I have to return to Atlantis and warn them of what's coming. It's really your choice what you tell them."
The rest of the flight went by in tense silence. John was pushing his luck with the speed of flight and he almost missed the settlement entirely, unable to slow down in time. He managed a spectacular 180 degree turn, however, and settled the craft next to a small wooden house.
***
"So the city will survive?"
"Yes. The chances are... well within the ninety percent area..."
"Seventy." Zelenka spoke over Rodney's enthusiastic assessment.
"Fine...eighty percent, then-still very good chances. If we can harvest the energy of the lightning, which we can, and with the interface I will write to make the hallways act like conductors, we will be able to sustain the shield to protect us from the tidal waves and other storm related horrors."
"We still need to evacuate the majority of population. The only safe place, once lighting strikes will be the control room."
"I was getting there! What Zelinsky said." Rodney gestured at Zelenka, annoyed by the interruption.
"Zelenka!"
"Gentlemen! Focus." Elizabeth stopped their quarrel before it had a chance to escalate. "We still need to evacuate to Manara."
"I hate owing those guys a favor," Sheppard mumbled under his breath as he made his way out of the conference room and towards the jumper bay, to help organize the groups of Athosians being flown in.
Soon the city was silent. Except for the control room and the areas in vicinity to the grounding stations, everything had been shut down.
"That's everybody. We've got, uh, just over four and a half hours until the storm hits. Let's get down to the labs," Rodney said as the Gate shut down after the last group had been evacuated. He turned to leave followed by Elizabeth, while John stayed behind to give the last instructions to the only two Marines remaining.
"Evacuate the people on inbound Jumper Two as soon as they come in."
"Yes, sir."
"Then you go to level 15 and wait for further instructions." He said, and than took of on a light sprint to catch up to Weir and McKay. They were both leaning over the display on McKay's laptop screen. He joined them in looking at the 3-D map of Atlantis.
"Can the city handle being transformed into an electric conduit?" Weir asked, concerned at seeing the computer simulations Rodney was showing her. It just seemed impressively dangerous.
"Yes. Theoretically."
"Like dinosaurs turned into birds theoretically, or theory of relativity theoretically?" Sheppard pitched in, sounding a lot less scared than he ought to be under the circumstances.
"What?" McKay blinked at him. "Uh, sort of between. Elizabeth-you take grounding station two. I'll take grounding station one. Major- you take stations three and four."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second-where are stations three and four?" Sheppard interrupted again, waving a hand in front of Rodney as if to scatter his words.
"Here and here." The two points he indicated on the map were at the edge of the city.
"And we are...?"
At that McKay put his finger to the center of the map "Here, yes. I need to get done quickly so I can start working on the subroutines, and Elizabeth was complaining about her knee the other day..."
"Wait, wait, wait a second. Are these things even close to a transporter?"
"Uh, yes, Elizabeth's is."
"And mine?"
"Uh, it's a brisk walk away."
"And by 'brisk', you mean, 'far'."
McKay smiled. "And by 'walk', I mean 'run'."
"Okay." Sheppard sounded resigned.
"You need to radio in once you've got to your first station. And no more useless stupid questions! We are on a tight schedule!"
"Alright, let's do it."
They split up, each bent on his task. Sheppard ran towards the closest grounding station of the two he had to disengage.
"Sir, Jumper Two is still on the Mainland. They just checked in to say they'll have to wait the storm out there."
"Lovely! Stand by. Sheppard out."
He continued his run and as he got to grounding station four, Rodney and Elizabeth announced their tasks were completed successfully. He punched in the code McKay dictated over the radio and made his way to the last station. The shortest route meant running up two flights of stairs and continuing in a straight line. This was one of those times he just hated grunt work.
"Apparently there are wounded coming in." Weir's voice came over the radio.
"That doesn't make any sense. Who is it?"
"I'm headed to the control room now. I will ask them momentarily."
"Right. Tell McKay not to forget about Eve unless he wants to fry his precious Wraith-computer."
"I can hear you, you know! And of course I didn't forget about her. As soon as we sort out the incoming wounded problem, I'm heading over to move Eve."
The control room was swarming with people. None wounded. The two Marines they left guarding the Gate were dead on the floor.
"Great!" Rodney said to himself, recognizing that they were Geni by the uniforms. Their leader was obviously the smugly-grinning man who stood in the balcony, looking down on the gate room. All thoughts of Eve fled Rodney's mind as panic took over.
"You must be Doctor Elizabeth Weir?"
"Yes? And you are?"
"And that is Doctor Rodney McKay."
"You seem to know a lot about us, yet I know nothing of you."
"They are Genii." Rodney finally spoke.
"I am Commander Acastus Kolya. And right now all you need to know is that we are in control of Atlantis."
Things just went down hill from there. McKay explained there was a storm coming that threatened to sink the city, but Kolya, the sneaky bastard, figured out that they must have had a plan, since there were people staying behind. All he could do was lean casually over a console while not-so-casually he pressed down the buttons that let Sheppard hear a part of their conversation over the radio. He managed to shut down the power everywhere else in the city except the control room and the last grounding station. As the Genii soldiers took him to a different room to 'persuade' him to share the plan to save the city, he remembered Eve.
She had felt the sudden surge in human energy as the Genii flooded the Gate Room. She was also very aware of the rise in Rodney's fear. The connection she had with him only grew with every feeding. It was not perfect yet, but she could sense much more than she let him know. Suddenly the force field went out, leaving only steel bars holding her prisoner. Eve grinned with satisfaction-she could handle steel bars. She grabbed two of them on the lower half of the cage and with one swift motion tore them out. She proceeded to crawl out through the opening.
Everything was drowned by darkness and silence. She made her way over to the lower levels, careful not to give away her presence. She encountered no one. Her goal was to find McKay. She could feel he was terrified of something, or someone. His fear felt like a living creature imprisoned in her chest. As she got closer to the control room she could hear voices, but she only recognized one of them, that of Dr. Weir. She went around the control room and into a small corridor to the left. At the end there was a door, and behind that door was Rodney McKay.
Eve opened the door by force, surprised there was not an Ancient lock mechanism functioning. McKay was tied to a chair and one man was twisting a knife slowly in his forearm, making his blood spill into an already impressive puddle on the floor. The other two looked very amused by his screams and whimpers.
She smiled.
Enemy, Eve! Her smile grew wider just as they started shooting their primitive rifles at her. She moved fast enough that only five bullets tore into her flesh. She jammed her palm into a man's chest, propelling him into the wall opposite her. She drained him within seconds as her wounds closed. Another man had flung himself on her back, trying to choke her to make her let go of his companion, while the third, the one with the knife, let go of Rodney and was trying to reload the gun the first enemy had emptied in her direction. She raised her hair from her shoulders and brought it around the throat of the man who had jumped on her back. The magenta braids snaked around his flesh and began to squeeze even as she made her way across the room to the third man. She knocked the gun out of his hands and hit him in the forehead with the heel of her palm. The one behind her was choking and yet fighting to get free, making it difficult for her to fight efficiently. One of them had to die in order for her to be able to feed from the other one. She reached behind her and grabbed the arm of enemy number two, flicking him on the floor in front of her.
Enemy number tree was already trying to clear his head enough to stand up and run out of the room. She couldn't have that. Eve hissed at him and grabbed him by the throat. One wicked twist of her wrist made the bones in the man's neck break with the sound of dried wood. She dropped the dead body and leaned over the last one. His screams of horror died with him as he shriveled away.
From his chair, Rodney stared at her wide-eyed. She freed the knife from between his arm-bones, making him cry out in pain. She laid her hand over the hole in his arm and a clear liquid spilled from her palm into and over the wound, sealing it efficiently. Then she cut through the ropes and helped him to his feet. He staggered after her, losing his balance after only a few steps. She kept him from falling and lifted him in her arms to carry him away.
Rodney felt limp, paralyzed with fear and nausea, so he took big breaths and concentrated on regaining control over his trembling hands. He showed her the way to his room in his mind and they were there in no time at all.
"You are fast...strong. Intimidating, actually." He rummaged through the drawer of his night stand and pulled out a power bar. "My blood sugar is kinda low. If I don't eat I go into hypoglycemic coma and then I die," he explained, speaking around a mouthful of chocolate-flavored bar. "I'll be fine in about ten to twenty minutes. Then we can...Oh, my God! You...you, you just killed those men back there! I thought you couldn't do that!"
"I don't need to," Eve explained, "but I am capable of feeding normally. You said they were enemies, and I could feel your hate towards them. I know you wished them dead."
"No, that's..." McKay took a breath. "Well, see... My species doesn't think their wishes will come true. Those men you killed were Genii. They attacked us at our weakest, took us as hostages, and they want to take over the city. I can't let that happen because...well because of your kind. We are better at defending this city. And by defending this city we-we defend my entire galaxy. So it's important that we keep Atlantis. I need your help." He ended his explanation quickly, raising his chin to a mutinous angle.
She was looking at him as if trying to decide something important. Her green eyes sparkled with life in a way he'd never seen before. Her entire being seemed filled up with light, and he could have sworn her skin had a glow to it. Rodney's heart was pounding with fear and excitement. The cold sweat due to impending hypoglycemia was forgotten by now and so was the sharp pain in his arm. The liquid had hardened into a white crust over the wound, and although it still hurt a lot it didn't make him want to scream himself unconscious anymore.
He had his very own Wraith to use as a weapon!
"I understand," Eve said finally. "Are the others held also?"
"No. there are no others, really, just Elizabeth. Major Sheppard is somewhere around. He was... Damn!" McKay snapped his fingers. "I need to communicate with him!" He ran over to his desk and pulled out his laptop and a portable power unit. He typed furiously for a few minutes, then he pushed enter with a sound of victory. "Major Sheppard, do you read me?"
"Rodney? That you?"
"Yes, yes obviously. Where are you?"
"Jumper bay. What's going on?"
"Well Kolya and his happy Nazi bunch are still holding Elizabeth hostage. I'm in my quarters with Eve."
"Did you just say you're with the Wraith?"
"She helped me escape...they were sort of torturing me."
"Well secure her in level 15 and meet me in jumper bay two, ASAP!"
"I can't do that. Level 15, like the rest of the city, has been powered down. Did you disable both you grounding stations? Because time is running out? Only seventy-eight minutes left until the storm's full impact."
"Grounding station three is held by the Genii. I didn't get a chance to disable it. And there was shooting there...let's just say the damned thing has seen better days. How many hostiles in Gate Room?"
"Well at first it was about twenty people, but as they took me to another room the Gate dialed. They're probably a lot more by now. Eve took out the three that were holding me."
"Right." Sheppard's voice was neutral, But Rodney could just picture his eyes going dark at that news. He thought it best not to go into detail.
"I'm heading over to the grounding station with Eve," McKay said. "Meet us there?"
"Can she take the guards out?"
"I believe so. Why?"
"Then you go and take care of that. I'm waiting for jumper two to come in from the Mainland before heading to the Gate Room. See you when I see you. Sheppard out."
"Understood." Rodney cut the link and closed the laptop with a grim expression. He needed to hurry. He packed everything in his room he could use into a backpack. "All right," he said to Eve. "The grounding station is pretty far and we can't use the transporters, so it's gonna be quite the workout... well for me, anyway. When we get there, hopefully without encountering anyone on the way, you will dispatch the Genii standing guard and I'll disconnect the grounding station. Got it?"
Eve just looked at him, her eyes expressionless.
"Right. Let's go."
They made their way through the green glow of Atlantis' corridors.
***
"Commander, Major Sheppard was not secured, I repeat, Major Sheppard was not secured. He has killed Doren, Hiram, Scoff and Mwen. The target is guarded."
"Do not pursue the Major any longer. Guard the station at all costs and make use of lethal force if Sheppard comes anywhere near you. Understood?"
"Yes, commander."
"How are the technicians advancing on disconnecting the grounding station?"
"No progress yet, commander."
"Sora, go get Doctor McKay. Maybe now he will cooperate." Kolya threw Elizabeth a wicked smile that made her stomach roll and churn.
But it was his turn to look sick when Sora came running back, face white as a sheet.
"McKay...is gone, commander. The Wraith are among us. The men who were with him... they've been desiccated!"
"What kind of trick is this?" Kolya demanded, his voice full of rage as he grabbed Weir's arm, pulling her up from the chair she was sitting in.
"I have no idea," Weir hedged.
"Yes, you do!" He dragged her after him to the small chamber and pushed her down next to one of the mummified bodies. "What happened to my men?" Elizabeth stared in horror as she tried to figure out if one of the unrecognizable bodies was Rodney's. "Are you harboring a Wraith? Are you their allies? That would explain why you refused to help us in developing our weapons against them!"
"No! Look, there is a Wraith prisoner in the city. It must have escaped when the power was cut prematurely due to your arrival. Please! It must be recaptured before..."
"It will be. By my men! How incredibly arrogant your kind is! Is it not enough that you claim the rights to inherit Atlantis before the children of the Ancestors in this galaxy can have a word in the matter? We deserve it as much as you do, if not more! But now, you think you can actually tame a Wraith! And my men are paying for your foolishness!"
He hit her across the face with the back of his hand. Elizabeth wiped away a single tear as he started yelling into his radio. "Mowrian, do you hear me? Are you still at the grounding station?"
"Ye... mann...er. reaki...up." Static buzzed over the radio as the storm was now close enough to interfere.
"Listen to me Mowrian! There is a Wraith free in the city! Did you hear me? Mowrian!" Kolya listened, shoulders tense, fingers gripping the radio so hard they went white. Nothing but white noise.
Time seemed to stretch out indefinitely. Then he suddenly heard sounds of a fight, then screams and the sick sound of a body hitting the ground. He could not make out the word his men screamed over the static, but he didn't need to. He knew what it was.
"You!" He spat at Weir. "You better have those codes, because it's the only thing keeping you alive right now!"
He dragged her brutally back to the control room. He gave orders to a group of seven men to head out to the grounding station and make it disengage, no matter what. Then he sent out others to bring Rodney back. Then finally he settled into waiting and glaring at Elizabeth.
At least Elizabeth knew Rodney wasn't dead. But was he hurt? Did he manage to get away from the Wraith? She wished they would just bring him back, so she could see he was all right.
The only real problem Rodney McKay had was being soaked to the skin and freezing. He concentrated at working an interface between the grounding station and his laptop without getting himself electrocuted. The wind was so wild it felt like it was a living creature, bent on blowing the flesh off his bones. The rain kept getting in his eyes and moving his injured hand was pure hell. Yet he was grateful for all the distraction and noise the storm provided. This way he could pretend he had not heard the agonizing screams of the Genii guards. One of them, the lucky one in Rodney's opinion, got thrown over the railing of the balcony. He probably screamed until he was drowned by the huge, ice cold waves. The other two soldiers suffered the same fates as those who tortured him just an hour ago. She left the technicians alive to help him, and was now holding his gun on them.
"All right, turn that switch and hold down that button at my signal" Rodney screamed over the whine of the approaching storm. He counted down, holding up fingers. Then the connection sprung into life and he could use his laptop instead of the damaged controls of the ancient machine. "Yes! HA! It worked!" The grounding rod separated at the middle.
"To the control room!" he called out to Eve. She was already a step ahead of him, as she was just finishing draining the life out of the last Genii scientist. As she dropped the dry body, a particularly deep and vicious looking cut healed over the right side of her throat.
"Stop! Stop! What are you doing?! Who told you to do that?" She just gave him a blank stare for a second and then turned away to lead the way back to the Gate Room.
Later, Rodney promised himself he would throw up until there was nothing left in his clenching guts. Now, he just followed her.
They broke into a sprint. He had five minutes left to get to the main control console, rewrite a last subroutine and engage the shield before they all ended up fish food on the ocean floor. Gunfire could be heard two hallways away, and as every instinct he had told him not to he hurried even more. He was out of breath when they arrived.
The Gate Room floor was scattered with dead bodies. Kolya held Weir in a headlock with a gun pressed up against her right cheekbone.
"Let her go, Kolya!" Sheppard screamed, aiming his P-90.
"You would not risk hitting the good doctor over here!" Kolya spat at him over Elizabeth's shoulder while he backed up slowly towards the opened wormhole.
"I'm not aiming at her!" Sheppard gritted out between his teeth and pulled the trigger. The single shot got Kolya in the shoulder and he fell back through the event horizon just before the gate closed.
Rodney rushed over to the mainframe console and punched in the security protocol codes, not paying attention to Kolya and Sheppard. Time for watching the show was a luxury he couldn't afford. His fingers flew over the keyboard, his mind racing.
"Redirect current... energy level... come on, come on! Yes! Now!"
And then there was a shield between them and nature's rage. They were all looking at each other with bright eyes. Elizabeth came over to him and gave him a hug. She only noticed Eve was behind him when she pulled back from the hug to examine his face. The Wraith's green eyes froze the blood in her veins and she instinctively took a step back.
Eve took her own step back, realizing the human woman's fear. Then she stood there with her arms pulled tight around herself. She watched them dial Manara and make contact with their people there, making sure they were not hostages themselves. She watched Rodney, pale and trembling with exhaustion, working relentlessly to ensure the shield's resistance. He only stopped when the eye of the storm was above Atlantis. Carson was instantly next to him.
"Your blood sugar levels must be low enough to make you feel it. You need food, Rodney."
"Yes, well the places where food is are not close enough for someone to get there and back before I have to put the shield up again. And when I do that, anyone in the hallways of the city will be fried like barbecue gone very, very wrong. Now just let me catch my breath...and...I'll be fine. Besides, I just ate a little while ago. I'm just tired, but...really, no big deal."
"You're going to the infirmary as soon as it's safe!"
"Right."
The roar of nature cut the conversation short and Rodney was engrossed in working the commands again. He felt like the damned storm would never pass and he was doomed to stand there and push buttons while his head swam with dizziness forever. All he was aware of were the readings on the screen in front of him and what he needed to do to keep fires from starting anywhere because of overloads. But then the storm did pass. The screen went blue and everything around him faded. Eve was at his side within seconds, grabbing him under his arms to break his fall.
"Where is this infirmary?" She asked Beckett in a soft but firm voice, ignoring Sheppard and Ford aiming their guns at her.
"This way," Said Carson and everyone followed him.
