A/N In my Protectors series, Xander notes, 'the words change, the reality doesn't.' It's one of the reasons I like crossing Buffy with Stargate. The parallels between the shows seem obvious. Except one uses Magic as an explanation and the other uses science. The experiment done on the swim team on Buffy might cross both, we never learn specifics about it. And I still maintain it would have made changes to Xander that the writers simply ignored. This authors note is in response to a private message a guest reviewer sent me. Since it was a guest reviewer, this is the only way I can respond, plus I've figured out a way to work it into my story. Thanks ;)

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First McKay's arrogance led to him ignoring all of the warnings signs and blowing up most of a solar system. Which included an entire world full of animal and plant life. He'd not just killed them, he'd killed their potential. Who knows what discoveries could have been made there? Or what they might have evolved into. Xander's pointing that out to McKay, upset McKay.

"Why didn't your Ascended version stop it, huh?! Answer me that!"

"If I had to guess? I'd say it's because it's a lesson you need to learn. You, yourself confessed to Kolya that you're an arrogant man who tends to think all of his plans will work. You never learn from your mistakes. How can you claim to be a genius if you fail to learn such a fundamental lesson? This time your arrogance killed a world of potential, next time it might kill alot of humans. Nobody likes your arrogance McKay. Very few people envy your intelligence, no matter what you want to believe. It isn't your brains that make people not like you, it's your arrogance. One of the reasons we on AG 1 like you, is that you've cut way down on your arrogance around us. Figure out how to cut it down around everyone else before you get someone else killed."

Anyway, that was last week. This week a retrovirus Dr. Beckett has been developing to fight the Wraith had backfired and mutated a Wraith girl into something a whole lot worse. In the process, Sheppard had been injured and now he was mutating, just like Xander nearly had in High School. 'How many parallels to my life are there here?' He thought.

Then word came that Sheppard had attacked the guards on his quarters, injured Dr. Weir and escaped.

"Stay here, Cordy and keep the door locked."

"Where are you going, Xander?"

"Sheppard is AG 1's responsibility, Cordy. We have to take point on stopping him. This one scares me more then any other crisis we've dealt with. If what the swim coach was doing hadn't been halted, I would have become something else, just like Sheppard is now. I have to help him, the scientists can figure out a way to fix it, but not if he's not here for them to help. And I know it'll eat at him if he hurts someone else or worse, kills someone in this state. I had no control over the Hyena when it was in me, but I remember everything that happened while it was. He might too. Buffy was nearly raped by my body. Someone else was in the driver's seat, but that doesn't change the fact that I have to live with it. It's no different for Sheppard right now. If I can save him that guilt, I will."

"Crap. I hate it when you're heroically stupid. On the other hand, you wouldn't be you, if you didn't try and I'd probably be calling you a chicken. Go. Help him. I'll stay locked up safe, I promise."

A quick kiss for luck and Xander was out the door. He met up with Teyla and Ronan. Using a life signs detector, they set out after him. Wondering if Sheppard's senses had increased as well as his strength, Xander gave instructions before they started.

"We know he's stronger now. None of us can hold back, because he won't. We put him out, hard and fast. Don't worry about injuring him, he'll heal. We need to knock him out and get him back to the infirmary so the doc can fix him. If you see an opening, don't hesitate."

Ronan and Teyla agreed and they set out to find their missing teammate.

They cornered him on a catwalk, Xander on one side, Teyla and Ronan on the other. He surprised them by jumping off the catwalk and landing on his feet a story down. Xander didn't hesitate and jumped after him, tucking and rolling when he landed and coming up on his feet.

"Somewhere in there, you're still you, Colonel. I know it. You don't understand why you're acting like this and yet, at the same time, you do understand. I can't let you hurt anyone, Colonel. You don't deserve to have that on your conscience. We'll stop you, I promise." Deliberately provoking him.

Sheppard screeched and attacked him. Xander side stepped and brought his knee up and into Sheppard's gut, winding him. Then brought his hand down hard on the base of his neck, stunning him. Sheppard stumbled forward and then swung his arm back. Xander ducked and gut checked Sheppard again. Ronan arrived while the two of them were fighting and fired his energy pistol on stun and Sheppard finally went down.

"Great timing, he really is stronger and that blow to the back of the neck should have put him out, he threw it off real quick. Let's get him to the docs, so they can start fixing him." Xander said, bending over and picking Sheppard up and slinging him over his shoulder. Ronan followed, pistol ready to stun Sheppard again if necessary. Teyla kept her P90 ready. If stunning didn't work again, shooting him might be necessary. Beckett could take a bullet out and Sheppard would recover.

They got him back to the infirmary and strapped down and Beckett injected more of the viral inhibitor. The scientists went back to trying to figure out a cure, knowing time was limited.