WIP_FIC! Wip_Amnesty Post The Second; Fandom: SGA

[jade_dragoness]

Another wip_amnesty post. For a very large WIP that will never get done.

Title: Untitled Dragon!Rodney Fic
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis.
Word Count: 10,200
A/N: I go and turn Rodney into a dragon. I have no shame. Yes, I have a WIP that tops at 10 thousand words. And this thing is unbetad.
*-*-*-*

Rodney grumbled silently to himself as he walked behind Sheppard.

This planet with it’s all too pretty people were probably one of the most frustrating ones he could ever recall visiting. And he’s visited so many planets at this point that this observation had quite a lot of weight.

Instead, of embracing Sheppard as one of their own and sitting down to hammer out some sort of trade stuff -he didn’t really care about the details- they had insisted that he -Rodney McKay the smartest man in two galaxies- go through their -so called - sacred ceremony in their holy temple.

They didn’t even have the decency to have their temple right in their town instead of out in the middle of nowhere. So, they were all forced to hike what seemed like 50 miles just to get there.

If he hadn’t picked up such a strong energy signal coming from the same direction he would have refused to do such a silly thing.

When had technology required he pay it respect and homage? Ok, some of the more high-tech Ancient devices sometimes made his knees go weak in sheer awe, but that was as far as he was willing to go when it came to worship. Actually giving such things a mystical reverence, made no sense to him at all.

Really, there was a reason he had gone into astrophysics. Never having to deal with primitive cultures was definitely one of the benefits.

“Come on, Rodney. You get this over with, then you can try to get at the energy source and play,” said John without even having to turn back to face Rodney.

Rodney glared. “Fine. But I want it noted on the record that I‘m doing this under complete protest. It‘s idiotic.”

“Respecting another culture‘s customs is important,” Telya protested mildly.

“Yes, yes. And normally I would be all for it-” Rodney ignored Sheppard’s disbelieving snort. “But why do they insist that I have to be the one to do it.”

Telya and John exchanged glances. John lost to the ‘You’re the team leader’ look on Telya’s face.

“Well, you see Rodney.” Sheppard turned to give Rodney a smirk. “These nice townspeople believe that their gods gave them a device that ‘improves them’ by unlocking hidden potential.”

Rodney gave him a ‘Get On With It’ look.

“Soooo,” Sheppard drawled out. “They took a look at me. At Telya.” He pointed at her, then shifted to Ronon who was at point. “And at Ronon. Then at you.” His finger swung to point at Rodney’s slightly protruding abdomen.

“And well,” Sheppard’s grin grew larger. “Let just say that they see room for improvement.”

Rodney’s eyes flashed. He gritted out through clenched teeth, “Oh, that’s not funny at all, Colonel.”

“It is from my point of view.” His mouth curled up in a smug smile. The one that made his eyes nearly twinkle with mischievous glee.

Right before Rodney could break out into a rant guaranteed to flay the flesh from Sheppard’s bones:

“We‘re here.”

The sheer rarity of Ronon Dex’s tendency to talk, especially when they were off world, meant that whenever he did chose to speak, he got the instant attention of his teammates.

“Hey, great.” Sheppard said brightly, he was glad he escaped whatever McKay had planned to say to him. This time he ignored the nowhere near inaudible grumbles coming from behind him.

He scanned the area slowly and carefully. He kept the hold on his P90 and shifted his position so that he could have an easy field of fire should it be necessary. John then glanced over at Ronon and silently signaled him to do a recon around the temple surroundings.

He didn’t want to find any hidden surprises waiting for them. One Genii were enough for this galaxy. For any galaxy…really.

Just as promised there was a small delegation of townspeople at the entrance to the temple. They had insisted on being witness and to make sure that only one person entered the holy temple.

The leader of the town had told them that they would only allow McKay to enter.

He hated that. For all his teasing of the other man, the thought that McKay would be entering a potentially dangerous environment without any back up made him angry in the way few things did. If it had been Telya, Ronon or - hell even him - then he would have been annoyed but he would also have had the knowledge that they would handle things pretty well.

Telya and Ronon both regularly kicked his ass when it came to fighting or sheer physical conditioning. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. But when it came to fighting they had a skill level he didn’t…yet!

McKay on the other hand was suppose to be the brains to their brawns. Sure, Rodney was a member of the team and had turned into a helluva shot, when he could remember to actually load the gun right and look at what he was shooting. For all his protests he managed to pull his own weight, but usually they were right there with him, providing support, or cover as need be.

This was another beast altogether.

You did not send any member of your team alone anywhere without backup. It just wasn’t right! It rankled at John to the point that baiting McKay was actually the only way that he was able to keep himself from aborting the entire mission and getting them all back to Atlantis.

Because if there was one person that John was obligated by duty to protect it would be Rodney McKay. And not just because the other man was a civilian and therefore it was his duty to die for his protection. It had also to do with the number of times that the man’s intelligence had been the key point in their survival whether on missions or back in Atlantis.

Even without adding the personal affection he held for the quarrelsome scientist.

But this situation had proven necessary. The Ternidians refused to even consider trade talks until Rodney had gone in their temple. And Rodney, for all his protests, actually wanted to be in there.

His scans had revealed some technology that him nearly bouncing out of his own skin with excitement.

The other man hadn’t been that giddy in a while and it made John smile to see. Yet it still wouldn’t have been enough if the natives hadn’t insisted that it was perfectly safe and that every adult entered the temple once in their lives.

They had just had a ceremony for one of theirs youths who’d come into adulthood just a few days ago.

And the team had been there to see it. This, had made them decided to give it a try.

Only his sense that they weren’t lying to him, and Telya’s assurance that these people had a good reputation, allowed him to okay the plan to go through with this.

He did have to admit to himself that the look of the temple helped. It obviously was well cared for, there were cultivated plots of multicolored flowers, trees and perfectly circular shallow pools lined with polished white stones, at regular intervals all around the temple grounds. So since the stories about the high traffic the temple received were true, then it was unlikely that McKay would stumble into something that could hurt him.

John considered this thought and winced. ‘Well, at least it’ll have easy access if we have to storm it.’

The temple entrance was at ground level with no pesky stairs to climb. It was well lighted so even from this distance the entire team was able to see pretty far into it.

The group waiting for them was the trade delegation that had refused to cooperate from before.

As they grew closer, John was delighted to see what looked like food baskets stacked on top a large flat rock.

“Is that food?” McKay asked, sounding as equally happy.

“I believe that will be food that will be consumed after the ceremony,” said Telya, heading off McKay’s food hunt.

“Right. Right;” sighed McKay. “They brought food. At least they are not totally primitive savages.”

John quickly elbowed McKay to shut up as the townspeople got within earshot.

Before anyone could exchange any greeting, Rodney asked, “So how long is this thing suppose to take.” He still had one blue eye on the food baskets.

The trade negotiator looked taken aback by this abruptness before training took over to smooth out his expression.

“That is entirely up to the gods to decide. The gift of betterment can take from mere minutes to an entire day to complete.”

At Rodney’s sour face, the man looked apologetic and continued, “It varies from person to person.”

McKay dismissed him and starting checking his pockets to double check he had enough power bars to last him a day if needed.

A quickly look at his scanner verified that the energy signatures he had picked up the instant they had arrived through the wormhole was indeed inside the temple.

“Come on, the sooner we get this ridiculous thing over with the better.” McKay stomped off.

The entire delegation looked a little shell shocked by McKay’s rude manner. They were more used to dealing with diplomatic traders who would never have such attitudes. Especially, never on the first meeting.

John left Telya behind to settle the inevitable ruffled feathers left in Rodney McKay’s wake.

He quickly caught up to the scientist, who stood at the entrance, eyeing it with characteristic panic. “If I die-” he started.

John interrupted, “Radek will take over all your research as his own and get that Nobel Prize.”

McKay eyed him with horror. He yelped. “He will not!”

“Well, you won‘t exactly be there to claim your stuff as your own,” John grinned, satisfied to have shocked McKay out of that mental track. You couldn’t go into a potentially dangerous situation with such a state of mind.

So furious was McKay at the thought of anyone claiming his research, that his cheeks were turning red. “I‘ll haunt him,” he hissed. “No, better yet. I‘ll ascend. Then I‘ll use my ascended powers to make his like a living hell!”

McKay gave John one last glare then stomped off into the temple.

John settled down against the temple wall at entrance. It gave him a good field of view while providing him with cover so no one could attack from the back, and -best of all- he could react quickly to any sign of distress from Rodney.

The Ternidians had told them all that McKay would need to do is stand right on the raised stone pedestal in the center of the main chamber of the temple and then wait. The gift of betterment was suppose to start up instantly.

John reached into his side pocket and pulled out his shades. He put them on and settled even more comfortably against the wall.

He nearly jumped up when Ronon seemed to materialize out of then air right next to him. He bit back a curse and just gave him an inquiring glance.

“The perimeter is clear.” Ronon said quietly.

“Good. Then st-”

Whatever else John was going to say got lost in the loudest roar he’d ever heard.

“Fuck!” John shouted, throwing himself forward, thinking it was an explosion.

Faster than the normal eye could follow, Ronon pulled out his gun and pointed it right at entrance. Telya started running towards them both.

John and Ronon exchange looks.

John breathed, “McKay.”

Instantly, they ran into the temple.

“Raaaaaaawr!”

This roar nearly made them both drop their weapons as the clutched at their ears with simultaneous cries of pain.

Then the walls started to shake.

“It‘s collapsing! We have to leave!” Telya shouted over the sound of stone grinding ominously.

“We can‘t leave Rodney!” John shouted back.

“The temple is going to collapse!” Telya gave John a look of agonized eyes. “We can‘t risk entering it further!”

John ground his teeth and agreed.

As one, they turned and ran out.

The delegation of Ternidians were already far away, some behind cover and others flattened on the ground. They ran towards them.

A final roar had them diving behind the flattened stone the Ternidians had used to hold the food baskets. The same food baskets that were spilling on the blue tinged grass.

John raised his head from the cover of his arms. To his horror the large dome that had been the roof of the temple was collapsing, lifting a cloud of gray dust into the air.

“Rodney!” he shouted, helpless and angry. This wasn’t suppose to happen!

He was set to run back when Telya’s hand grasped his arm. “Wait! Look!”

From the ruin, a large pale scaled arm burst out of the rubble.

He recoiled. ‘God! It looked like it was the size of his entire body!’

Behind them the Ternidians cried out in fear.

John tightened his hands on his P90 to the point they ached.

The arm was joined by another which grasped the sides of a wall that still stood. Even from this distance John could see the muscles on the thing’s forearm bunch with the force exerted to pull itself up.

When the huge fanged head came into view, the Ternidians started screaming, and next to him, Ronon started to curse.

If John wasn’t in shock he would have stared at Ronon for such an uncharacteristic action. As it was, his eyes were glued to the dragon.

‘A fucking dragon!’

‘A dragon had not been in the game plan.’

The dragon got stuck for a few seconds before it thrashed and pulled itself completely out of the gray rubble.

John’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. The entire dragon was about the length of 3 puddle jumpers, from tail to snout tip. It was streaked with blue against pale scales.

It’s jaws were huge, it looked like it could swallow a grown man down with a quick snap that wouldn‘t even give him a chance to call for help on the radio. John tried to push away the image of what could have happened to Rodney out of his mind.

Rodney was incredibly smart. He wouldn’t die so easily. He was just too brilliant and quick on his feet. When he was panicked the exercise hating man practically flew.

John jerked out of his shock ordered Telya back to the Ternidians, who were too scared to move, to get them back to the town. From their reactions, they had expected a dragon to come out their temple even less than he did.

He and Ronon slowly moved closer, trying to use the whatever cover was available to get a closer target.

Ronon was back to his quiet self but John could practically see the tension vibrating under the surface. This thing looked a helluva lot tougher than a Wraith. Hell, it looked like it could eat a Wraith dart for breakfast and still have room for seconds; human-sized seconds.

They both saw the dragon look around in what looked like confusion. It started to growl, low and steady. It’s bat-like wings stretched back, then started flapping.

The strength of wind power those wings generated started buffeting their bodies. It shook the leaves in the trees and bent branches.

The strength of them reminded John of the power in the blades of a Blackhawk helicopter.

John was glad for the protection of his sunglasses. He was able to keep a clearer eye on the dragon while even Ronon was forced to cover his eyes with his free hand to protect them from flying debris.

The more John observed the dragon, the more he got the nagging sense of familiarity. But if he’d ever met a dragon before, he was sure that was a memory he wouldn’t easily forget. So why did he have the feeling he knew this thing?

Then, Ronon and John were forced to hit the ground with a tree branch came flying out at them.

“Enough of this!” Ronon raised his gun.

“No! Wait!” ordered John. Little clues seemed to fall into place. “It‘s not attacking! It‘s panicking!”

Hesitatingly, Ronon lowered his gun.

John couldn‘t believe what he was about so say, “I think that‘s Rodney!”

“McKay?!”

John could understand Ronon’s disbelief but it was the only thing that made sense to him. Even though he couldn’t explain it, he was certain that this was true. Rodney had been the only one to go into the temple that had a source of high technology, and the reactions of the Ternidians, they were expecting a dragon even less than he did. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Stay here!” John struggled to his feet and walked towards the dragon. If he was wrong, he wanted to be the only target.

He set down his gun and cupped his mouth with his hands. He took a deep breath and bellowed, “Rodney!”

No response. He got closer, “Rodney McKay!”

“McKay if you don’t stop freaking out! I swear I‘ll--!!!” John stopped. How exactly did you threaten something that could outweighed you by what looked easily like several tons?

But, just the threat seemed to be enough. The dragon’s - no Rodney’s - frantic wing flapping stopped.. His growling slowed and then stopped as his eyes settled on John’s.

As he met them, John was flooded with intense relief, because those eyes were Rodney McKay’s. The clear, blue eyes blazed with the man’s intelligence. Rodney snorted and gave him a look, “I can’t believe you’re actually threatening me!”

The dragon’s voice was deeper and sounded like a rockslide but the quick cadence with the unmistakable faint Canadian accent was without a doubt, Rodney McKay.

John couldn’t fight back the grin of delight and relief that exploded onto his face. Any doubt was razed to the ground with the power of that look and the tone of the voice. It was so Rodney that he couldn’t image anyone - or anything!- else being able to mimic it’s scathing scorn so well.

“Get down from there!” he called through cupped hands. “We need to figure out how this happened to you!”

Rodney‘s eyes rolled in their sockets, and he snorted again but at least he started to carefully pick his way down from the shattered temple ruins. He kept his wings tightly folded back, though, John could tell from the faint tremors that Rodney kept wanting to open them up. Especially, when he slipped on loose stone.

As, he got nearer, John saw how what he took to be pale blue scales were actually just covered with gray stone dust and the vibrant blue scales were Rodney’s true color. There were a pair of ivory horns curving back from Rodney’s skull but other than that Rodney was blue from snout to tail tip. He didn’t have the traditional spines down his back but other than that he looked very much like the kind of dragon you would find on the cover of a fantasy novel. And, oddly enough, he had ears that were mobile, pointed and almost furry looking.

Ronon joined him, carefully keeping an eye on Rodney. “Is it McKay?”

“Yeah, it is.” John reached for his radio and called Telya.

“Telya.”

“Yes, Colonel.” Her voice barely cackled through the speaker.

“Can you get the Ternidians back here. I got some questions for them.”

Rodney was finally close enough to stand near, and his height cast a shadow on them.

“Has the creature been subdued?” Telya’s voice sounded doubtful.

His ears had no trouble picking up the tiny radio sound. Rodney growled lowly, “Subdued? I could squash them like bugs!”

“The creatures is Rodney, if you can believe that.”

“We‘ll be back as soon as possible.” There was relief in Telya’s voice. “But it may take me some time to convince them to return. They were incredible frightened. They were not expecting such a situation.”

“Get them back as soon as you can. Sheppard out.” John clicked off the radio.

John was amused to see Ronon staring up at Rodney in fascination.

“He looks like a dragon.” John said. “They‘re only exist in stories on Earth.”

Rodney’s snorted at them.

“What are you telling me that you think dragons are real?” John asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

Rodney gestured to himself then narrowed his eyes at both of them. “All you have to do is open your eyes, Colonel.”

“Yeah. So, it seems you are real.” John bit back a grin. The familiar bantering with Rodney was helping him calm down as the adrenaline leeched out of his system. He kept his hands on his P-90 though to hide the reaction tremors.

Rodney lowered his head until it was parallel to John’s own. He clicked his huge jaws twice, and rumbled deep in his chest. “Didn‘t your mother ever tell not to piss off something that could swallow you alive?”

John coughed, and took the smallest possible step back. His grin fought to escape his control. “Right. Rodney, I don‘t think you‘d eat me. Ronon would so kick your ass.”

Ronon just grunted, though he didn’t exactly looked thrilled at the prospect of going up against a dragon in single hand combat. “I‘d let McKay eat you.”

Fortunately, before the Rodney could do something that he would regret. Probably regret… eventually. Telya returned with the Ternidian delegation, even though they refused to get closer than 30 feet from the huge thing with big teeth. As Telya said they were calling Rodney, to his rather obvious pleasure.

“I‘m pleased you were not killed in the collapse, Doctor McKay.” Telya smiled up at Rodney. The relief and joy at the survival of her teammate shone brightly in her eyes. John was bemused by how easily she accepted McKay’s transformation into a large blue lizard thing with wings. But then this was hardly the first time one of her team mates was transformed. Especially into something blue. And scaly. John grimaced. He hoped getting McKay back to normal proved easier than that not at all fun adventure.

“I thought I was dead too.” Rodney said, as he raised his eyes to glare at the delegation. John felt rather satisfied at the faint screams this action evoked. “Simple ceremony my ass. I don‘t exactly think this is better!”

“Don‘t worry, Rodney. We‘ll find out what happened and get you back to normal in no time. Stay here, Ronon. You too, Rodney.” John nodded Telya to join him, and he headed for the delegation.

They looked uneasy and frightened. And at the sight of them John’s anger rekindled. Even with relief at Rodney being alive hadn’t failed to kill the smoldering coals.

This situation would never had happened if they hadn’t insisted Rodney go through their ritual. He was more than a little mad at them. Though, it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t mad at himself as well.

He shouldn’t have let their reassurances that the temple was perfectly safe be taken at face value. He should have done a full search of the temple before letting McKay go in there. Ultimately this was his fault, his responsibility to hold.

His self-flagellation would have to wait until he had McKay safely back on Atlantis and back into human shape, though.

“I want answers,” John stated without preamble. He cradled his P90 in his arm. His entire body language screamed a clear threat that he better get those answers soon. Like right this fucking second! “I want to know how my teammate ended up a dragon.”

Telya for probably one of the first few times that John could see wasn’t smiling or trying to reassure the natives that he wasn’t going to kill them if they failed to answer. If anything the look in her eyes seemed to say that if the Ternidians didn’t give them news that they would like then she would be joining him in expressing her displeasure.

The two delegation leaders looked very uneasy. The female said, “We don‘t know how this could happen.”

The male leader nodded, looking shocky as he kept tossing glances at Rodney’s direction. “The gift of betterment is not suppose to cause such a drastic physical change.”

“The gift from the Ancestors, is suppose to unlock the hidden potential inside a person,” said the oldest, yet still incredibly handsome, person in the delegation. He was probably the only one in the entire groups of Ternidians that didn‘t look freaked out. If anything he looked fascinated. “Our most ancient of scriptures describes this as the hidden potential in the blood. That skill laying dormant would be awakened if they had existed in a person’s ancestors. We could never have foreseen that such a lineage existed within your Dr. McKay.”

John’s eyes widened, in shock at the idea of Rodney having dragon genes all this time, then narrowed. “Is there anyway to reverse it?”

“We have never wanted to reverse the gift of betterment. We do not believe it is possible.” He looked apologetic.

“But you‘re not sure?” Telya asked as John processed this.

The man nodded.

“We‘ll need to contact our people,” John said grimly. “We‘ll need to excavate the temple to look for a solution.”

“You can‘t do that!” cried out a young female. “It would be a violation of our holiest sites!”

“Sheiltra!” said the oldest male again. “It is our responsibility this has affected their teammate. We will cooperate with you search.”

John nodded, and returned to Ronon and Rodney.

Rodney gave his an inquiring look. “Why? What did they say?” he demanded. His claws flexed with his agitation, carving furrows into the blue grass.

“Nothing we want to hear. They have no idea why this happened.” John told him.

Telya added, “They insist that this has never happened before.”

John was amused as to how well Rodney’s reptilian face managed to convey his entire disgust with the situation. “Morons.”

“Rodney, you and I are heading back to Atlantis.”

“Good!” Rodney said relieved. “Carson better be able to fix this.”

McKay’s core body was a little less than the same size as a puddle jumper in width, even though it was longer than one. He would have to keep his wings pinned back. He couldn’t open them up at all but it would be possible to get Rodney back to Atlantis through the Stargate and under the care of everyone there.

He wanted that now. John wanted Rodney checked out by Beckett, to have Zelenka use Atlantis’ scanners and sensors. He wanted some of the best minds he’d ever met start to work on getting Rodney back to normal. He wanted him in the care of people he trusted.

“Telya, I want you and Ronon to stay here and keep an eye on the ruins. I don‘t want any of the Ternidians to get near it.” John ordered. “I want everything left as it is for when the investigation team gets here.”

“We will keep them away,” Telya said firmly.

“Come on Rodney.”
*-*-*-*

They were faster getting back to the Stargate then it had been for them to get to the temple. John was amused that even though Rodney could move quicker as a dragon than he ever had as a human, he still seemed to be grumbling about the high speed they moved at.

Though, he did look somewhat awkward. As if he wasn’t built to move on all fours for long lengths of time. John wasn’t sure if this was because Rodney was used to walking on two feet or if it was simply his new body.

McKay had looked incredibly smug when they finally reached the Stargate and John had to pant for breath before he could talk. It just made John promise himself to take Rodney on morning jogs with Ronon for an entire month as soon as Rodney was human again.

Before John hit the address on the DHD, he told McKay, “Let me go through first. Give me about five minutes to prepare everyone for you. I don‘t want you getting shot by some hair-triggered Marine, alright?”

McKay nodded, settled back on his haunches and watched John trigger his IDC security code.

John tossed Rodney one last look before going through.

Weir was looking down at him from the higher level of the control room. Her expression radiated concern and she opened her mouth to ask him why he was back so early when he started calling out orders.

“Stand down! A dragon is going to come through in a few minutes! It‘s Doctor Rodney McKay.” John shot all the nearest Marines a grim look and triggered his radio for wide broadcast. “I repeat, everyone near the control room, stand down. Do NOT shoot the dragon coming through the Stargate! It‘s Doctor Rodney McKay!”

“A dragon!” Carter demanded. Her face was a mix of surprise and fierce questioning. “Rodney‘s a dragon?” She did a small double take in disbelief at what she was saying.

He barely glanced at her as he came up the Stargate control station. “I need the door to the puddle jumper bay opened!”

“Yes sir!”

John barely got himself back to the embarkation area when Rodney started to come through.

Choked off cries were the only sounds before silence reigned.

John was satisfied that not a single Marine lifted a gun towards Rodney. He would see tense faces but not one arm raised. If they had, then that Marine would have found him or herself facing the worst duties he could think of for the next six months. He had no idea exactly how tough Rodney’s current body was, and exactly how much punishment it could take but he was in no hurry to find out by having someone shoot McKay. Just because a temple fell on him and he came out of it okay didn’t mean that a bullet couldn’t kill him.

Rodney had to slither like a snake to get forward enough to pull his body out of the Stargate. Once, he managed to get his body out of the gate, he could then stand up on his legs and pull his tail out of the shimmering wormhole. It was a tight fit, but he was able to stretch himself up enough so that he was standing on his hind legs so he could clear the embarkation area of any part of his body.

“That was so annoying.” Rodney muttered. The acoustics of the Gate room made his voice audible even where John stood.

“Can you get yourself up in to the jumper bay?” John called out to Rodney as soon as the Stargate disengaged.

Rodney’s neck stretched out and up and stared at the open bay doors before nodding.

McKay aligned himself to face the entrance. He coiled down and jumped up with as much strength as he could force out of his legs.

John was awed by the height McKay could achieve in his jump as he cleared the three stories with ease.

As soon as the flat, spiked tip of Rodney’s tail vanished from view the bay doors closed right behind him.

John gave everyone another look and was amused at the white faced shock on the expressions of so many, soldier and scientists alike.

You would think that after coming to another galaxy, to the legendary city of Atlantis, and fighting albino, space vampires that a little thing like an astrophysicist transformed into a dragon would hardly manage to cause such a great reaction from everyone.

“John.” Carter’s voice was full of warning that her patience was quickly at the end of it’s rope and that he better have a good explanation. John was a little bemused at how familiar that tone sounded to his ears.

“I‘ll explain.” John told her. “But we need to have Beckett take a look at McKay. A temple fell on him. Also we need to get a team together to start to go through what remains of the temple so we can find out exactly what did that to him.”

Carter nodded and called Becket on her radio, and ordered him to the jumper bay. “Explain as we go,” she asked as they both headed for the bay.

John was able to explain everything pretty quickly. Atlantis had been kept appraised of what the Ternidians had wanted to do, so all John had to describe was what happened upon their reaching of the temple.

“I‘m not going in there!”

John and Carter exchanged glances then as they came upon the bay entrance they saw Carson Beckett, the Atlantis expedition’s head doctor, staring into the bay with wide fearful eyes.

A low rumble answered Beckett, which made him yelp.

“Carson!” Carter called.

Beckett‘s head snapped over. “There‘s a bloody huge dragon in there!” he shouted, pointing a trembling finger at the bay doors.

“We know,” Carter's said soothingly. “That dragon is Rodney.”

If anything this made Beckett turn paler. He pleaded, “You‘re kidding me. Please tell me this is a joke.”

“No joke,” John said. “He needs to checked out.”

“I‘m not exactly well-versed in dragon anatomy!” Beckett protested as John tugged the Scotsman into the bay.

“Well, this is your lucky day. You get to discover it for the first time!” John said calmly. A wicked gleam sparked into his eyes. “Rodney‘s not hungry yet. If you can figure out how to get him back to normal beforehand then maybe he wouldn‘t feel like eating Scottish food today.”

“That‘s not funny.” Beckett complained, his clear unease making his accent thicker than usual.

“John,” quelled Carter. “Let Carson work.”

With so much hesitance he looked sort of robotic, Beckett approached McKay.

Rodney’s snort was full of agreement. “Yes. I don‘t want Carson distracted from trying to fix me.” Rodney’s horned blue head moved closer to Carson. “Well!” he demanded. “Don‘t stand there gaping like a drooling idiot! I don‘t have all day. I want my body back!”

“Aye, alright. But I think I‘m going to need a wee bit of help,” Carson said as he eyed Rodney’s large dragon body with a worried look.

John noted that Rodney’s ranting actually calmed the doctor down. It was something familiar in this strange situation.

As soon as Carson started calling for assistance Rodney settled down with all four legs tucked under him and his head lowered to the floor.

“Exactly how did this happen?” asked Beckett as he started to cautiously flashed his penlight into Rodney’s huge slitted eyes, they were more cat like than reptilian in appearance. To his relief the eyes reacted normally to the light. Maybe examining a dragon wouldn’t be as difficult as he thought.

“There was something in the temple that did this to him. I don‘t know what it was because the temple collapsed.” John explained, his face was grim. “But I plan to find out.”

He continued, “From what I was told whatever-the-hell it was is suppose to active genes in a person. One of the delegates said it was the ‘hidden potential in the blood’.”

“Aye, that sounds like recessive genes to me,” Beckett agreed. His fear had drained away, and was now being replaced with fascination at this thought. The geneticist wanted to check out Rodney’s blood work, right away.

“We won‘t know for sure until I can get a team to excavate the temple.” John carefully watched Beckett continue to check Rodney out.

Carter just watched Rodney with wide fascinated eyes.

Carson said, “You look like a western dragon, Rodney.”

“How did a flashlight make you come up with that brilliant deduction, Carson?” Rodney sarcasm made his voice sound even more gravely. “Was it a lack of Made in China stamp in my pupil?”

“Rodney…I agree with Carson,” Samantha Carter looked stern before she gave Rodney a small smile. “Eastern dragon‘s don‘t have wings.”

“She's right,” Beckett agreed. “I took a course in school about Mythical creatures. Fascinating really. In it the teacher explained about dragons and how their stories are a worldwide phenomenon. That people who had absolutely no contact with each other had similar stories about great reptiles that could fly. Of course, the professor explained that the stories probably came from ancient people finding dinosaur fossils and then making up the creatures that would have such huge bones.”

Rodney snorted derisively.

“Err, not that you aren‘t real Rodney. It‘s just what the professor said.” Beckett explained weakly as the great blue dragon glared at him. He coughed then pulled out his stethoscope and lined it up to where Rodney’s heart would be if he’d been human.

Instantly, the most boggled expression John had ever seen crossed the doctor’s expression.

“What‘s wrong?” he demanded.

Beckett carefully stepped back from McKay and pulled the stethoscope off. “I think I‘m going to need the more medical equipment down here.”

Rodney made a loud noise that clearly indicated he was just short step from a panic attack. “What? Oh my God! I’m going to die aren‘t I? I knew it! Something had to be wrong. No one gets turned into a giant blue lizard and manages to stay healthy!”

Quickly, Beckett moved to calm him down. He didn’t really want to see what freaking out dragon would look like at close quarters. “As far as I can tell there‘s nothing wrong with you other than the fact you‘re now a dragon. But I want those scanners up here because, unless I‘m hearing things, you either have two hearts, or a multi-chambered heart.”

The surprise on Rodney’s reptilian face was rather comical, John would decide later. But now, seeing Rodney rear up so he could use his forelegs to try to feel his own heartbeat through his chest then scramble up towards his neck as if to verify what he felt was worrying because of the implication of Carson’s words.

If such a simple thing as Rodney’s heart or hearts had been changed, what other surprises would Rodney’s new body hold for them?

And would they even be able to change him back since he‘d undergone such drastic changes?

This isn’t like when I started to turn into a bug, John thought. Then he’d still been person shaped, even if he hadn’t always been in his right mind. At least, Rodney had that advantage, he was still Rodney just currently dragon-shaped. He hoped that wouldn’t change. Because if it did…

“That‘s it, I‘m going back to the planet. I want three squads of Marines with me, as well as Zelenka and anyone else he decides that he needs,” said John.

“Do it,” nodded Carter. John could see that she too was thinking about what Carson’s discovery meant, and was relieved at her acquiescence. She was probably also reminded of the reports about his bug transformation and what this could mean for Rodney.

John tapped on the radio and contacted who he needed.

He left the jumper bay with Rodney’s head leaning close to hear what Carson was saying.
*-*-*-*

Even with John pushing everything together as fast as possible it still took five hours to get the investigation team together.

The Marines had been ready to go in minutes but the scientists had slowed everything down, to John’s quickly fraying patience.

Radek Zelenka had first demanded an explanation of what had happed. Being told of Rodney’s condition had sent the Czech scientist running down to the jumper bay with what looked to be half of the scientific contingent of Atlantis, who had stood right outside the jumper bay and gawked like tourists.

After seeing Rodney for the first time, Zelenka had lapsed into a blue streak of rapidly fired Czech words for a solid minute. He would have continued for even longer but Rodney had snapped and growled at him, so Zelenka composed himself enough start planning what he would need.

Gathering excavation equipment took even longer, since most of it was just winches, pulleys, rope, shovels, and a few things the archeologists had brought along to dig up ruins. Atlantis wasn’t equipped to handle major construction disasters. Considering that John felt time was an issue, they ended up deciding to carry everything on a couple of puddle jumpers. Unfortunately, there was only enough room for the equipment and a few of the less athletic of the scientists, the rest of them would have to make the trip on foot.

From the noises Rodney made, as he watched them set up to go in the jumper bay, it was clear that he wanted to come back with them. John refused to even consider the option. Rodney needed to be looked over and should something happen to him the best place for him was right here in Atlantis.

John was certain that he only wanted to return so he could supervise the scientists that were coming along because he didn’t feel he could trust them not to screw up and destroy anything that could restore him back to normal.

Carter had agreed with him in his refusal to allow McKay to return. She had to remind the Canadian scientist that Beckett had just started checking him over and had still to finish. She would not let him return until then, at the very least.

Rodney had grumbled but agreed with a reluctant nod. Which was lucky because his pissed off snarls started making everyone pretty nervous. Not that this was an unusual situation, this was McKay after all, but the fact that he had teeth longer than a grown man’s hand put a new spin on the entire thing.

Carter also thoughtfully ordered the cooks in the mess to make something for McKay to eat. And to have it brought down from the mess in a big pot. Something that didn’t need to be eaten with utensils. This helped soothe McKay’s temper, a little.

After all that, the entire team was on the planet just a couple hours short of dusk.

When he arrived at the temple site, John saw that the delegation of Ternidian townspeople that had been there had swelled. It now looked like the entire population of the town was gathered and waiting. The town had a population of around two thousand men, women and even children. They easily outnumbered them.

Talk about making everything worse.

John was glad to see that they were staying away from the temple. He lowered the puddle jumper he was piloting down near where Telya and Ronon stood guard. He then shut off the stealth mode.

He was very gratified at how shocked and startled the Ternidians reacted when the puddle jumpers shimmered into sight. They all stared, and were utterly silent as he walked out towards the rest of his teammates.

“Colonel Sheppard, welcome back,” Telya greeted him. “How is Doctor McKay?”

“Beckett had just started to move most the medical scanners down to the jumper bay, that‘s where Rodney‘s staying at the moment, when we left.” John eyes the Ternidians who were watching the rest of the investigation team approach the temple grounds. “How have they been?” He tilted his head towards them.

“They want to start excavating their temple. The leaders have managed to talk the townspeople into waiting for your return. It is fortunate you came back when you did, their patience was running thin,” said Telya. The stress from the past few hours was clear around the lines of her eyes.

John nodded. He had expected as much from the reaction of some of the original delegation.

“Major Lorne.”

His officer walked up. “Yes, sir.”

“I want you to secure the perimeter. I also want one squad to help the scientists set up the equipment.”

“Yes, sir.” Lorne looked over at the ruins of the temple. After all the time that had gone by the stone dust had finally settled, or been blown away, so the total ruin was clear to see. It was an extensive job. “I have a feeling this job is going to take a while, sir.”

“Yes,” John sighed, then was struck by an idea. “But I may be able to get us more hands to make this go faster.”

“Leader Cromus,” John called. The older man nodded. “If I could have a minute of your time.”

“What can I do to help?” Cromus asked cautiously. The puddle jumper, and the number of soldiers milling around made him nervous. Even if he’d been the first to suggest cooperation between their people and the strangers. They were clearly of a superior technological level, higher than they had first estimated. If they decided to fight them, what could the Ternidian people do but die? But he would keep it from coming to that, without losing the sacred gift of the gods held with what was left of their temple.

“I was thinking on a way our people could work together to get this mess cleaned up,” John said.

Cromus felt a huge swell of relief. “We are most eager to restore our temple to it‘s former glory.”

John gave him a lopsided smile. “I‘m happy to hear that. Here‘s what I think we should do.”
*-*-*-*

It took them a hour of planning out the logistics for them to coordinate their people.

Half of the Ternidian population returned to their village only to return in the morning so that work could proceed in continuous shifts for greater speed.

John had the scientists work out what needed to be moved first with the input of some stone masons and architects from the village.

Most of the other villagers started clearing the surface debris that had been blown away from the temple site, before they joined in the major excavations. Fortunately, the medical team that had gone with them had brought quite a number of face masks to keep any lingering stone dust from settling into lungs, so that they had enough for the Ternidians and the rest of the Atlantis team.

Still, with all the man power involved, John was frustrated at the slow speed it was taking. He’d only tried to help once by suggesting that they use the puddle jumpers to move some of the bigger stones but the scientists had shut him down with unhappy looks and Zelenka had rolled his eyes. He had been told that they would only use such ‘heavy machinery’ when they were able to salvage any technology possible. Otherwise moving such stones could cause a major shift in the rubble that could easy damage or destroy anything as delicate as Ancient technology has proven itself it could sometimes be. And could he please go away now, thank you.

At that, John had nodded and walked away to check thing up with Lorne. At least the Major wasn’t allowed to sneer at him to his face. And he was not sulking!

Lorne’s report had told him that everything was running as smoothly as possible. And after a few hours it was clear to him that he didn’t have anything to contribute beyond being another pair of hands hauling broken stone or carrying a gun to guard the perimeter.

So he took Telya, Ronon and himself off duty. Leaving Zelenka and Lorne in charge so they could return to Atlantis for some rest.

Ronon and Telya had already been on duty for more than eight hours. He wanted them to eat something other than MREs and sleep in a place where they wouldn‘t have to keep their guard up.

They hiked back to the Stargate, since the puddle jumpers could be needed later.

And in less than a second later they were back on Atlantis.
*-*-*-*

First thing, John did was return to his room for a shower and a change of clothes. The uniform he was wearing had a small coating of stone dust, and smelled strongly of sweat.

Showering in hot water killed the feeling of tiredness that had started to creep up on him.

So, by the time he returned to the puddle jumper bay, he was alert and ready to deal with anything. Still, even knowing full well what he was facing walking into the bay, seeing a dragon made him tense in reflex.

Seeing the same dragon drinking what looked like the word’s largest metal cup, made him double take.

“Please, don‘t tell me he‘s drinking all the coffee in Atlantis again. The Dadealus won‘t be able arrive with more for another month,” John said as he walked over to where Carson Beckett was frowning at a set of lap tops. He was surrounded by various machines. Several members of the medical staff were manning the equipment. Though it was clear from where they were standing they were trying to put something solid between themselves and the dragon growling at them from the opposite end of the jumper bay.

“If he got a vote that‘s exactly what he‘d do.” Beckett answered him with a tired smile. “Luckily, Sam's agreed with me that he‘s not to have anything that we aren‘t sure could hurt him. So all he‘s drinking is water.”

“If I don‘t get food in a few hours I‘m biting the closest leg I see.” Rodney grumbled and the waved a claw dismissing Carson from his attention and focusing instead on John who was smiling up at him.

Carson rolled his eyes. “I don‘t think you‘ll have to resort to cannibalism quite yet, Rodney.”

“Well, if I don‘t get fed soon I‘m sure going to consider it,” Rodney said.

John was amused to see that whatever his feelings had been earlier, Carson was completely relaxed around Rodney now.

Carson rolled his eyes again then asked, “Were you able find anything back on the planet, Colonel? When Ronon and Telya stopped by they told me to ask you.”

“No,” John crossed his arms and leaned against one of the medical scanners dragged down from one of the labs. He wasn‘t surprised to hear that Ronon and Telya got gotten to the bay first. As a team they looked out for each other, and neither of them had seen McKay in over six hours so they would have wanted to get an update on his condition before taking care of themselves.

He looked up at Rodney as he answered Carson. “The going‘s slow. They’re trying to clear the debris away first before they try to get to where they think the technology is, so it‘s not crushed by shifting stones.”

At this Rodney snorted again. “I‘ll be surprised if they find anything bigger than a breadbox in all that mess. I should be there to supervise at least.”

“Hey, don‘t worry, buddy. Things are going to move pretty fast. Even the Ternidians are helping to clear the rubble. It‘s going to go a lot faster than if we were doing it ourselves.”

Rodney’s blue eyes closed, in what looked to John as relief, before they opened again. “If they don‘t find something in 24 hours I‘m going back.”

John stared back, put his hands on his hips putting and set the most determined expression he had on his face. “The only way you‘re going anywhere is after you get cleared by Carson. Otherwise, you‘re staying put.” He growled.

“But -”

“No buts!”

Rodney growled back in annoyance. “Fine, fine.”

John eyed him for a moment before being satisfied that Rodney had listened to him.

“So, Carson. What have you been able to find out? Anything that can help us get Rodney back to normal?”

Beckett sighed, then rubbed his eyes. “Nay, I‘m afraid not. It took us forever to get all the medical equipment down here. But they aren‘t exactly calibrated for something as big as a bus.”

The insulted sound Rodney let loose made John grin up at him.

“It also took us a while to get a blood sample.” Carson continued, “Every needle we tried on his skin just broke. We ended up having to get the DNA sample from a mouth swap.” Carson’s mouth twitched with a suppressed smile, “I went through two nurses before I found one whose courage wouldn‘t break at the sight of that mouth full of teeth as big as my hands.”

“Rodney, scaring the nurses,” John tisked. “You know they’re only going to find a way to get revenge the moment you‘re back to normal.”

At this Rodney snorted again, and he waved the warning away dismissively. He made a ‘move it along’ gesture to Carson, that told John that Beckett had even more news for him.

“So, what exactly did you find,” he asked, his shoulders tensing. If it was good news, Carson would have told him from the moment he got here.

“That‘s the mysterious thing,” Carson said, his expression frustrated. “According to the DNA test, Rodney is human. Except for the Ancient gene, he is one hundred percent as he should be. He‘s got no extra genes, no signs of mutation and nothing missing. I can‘t see why he‘s a bloody dragon!” Beckett threw his hands up in complete exasperation. “It doesn’t make any sense. He‘s clearly not human.”

John rocked back on his heels at this revelation.

This wasn’t a good sign.

He’d been hoping that the doctor would be able to pin point what had changed in McKay so that they could then reverse the process like then had for him when he began to mutate.

But his DNA not showing the slightest change….it didn’t seem possible. All one had to look at Rodney to see that something drastic had taken place.

John looked at Mckay to see how he was taking to news. But the man turned dragon, was eyeing him back just as curiously. He’d obviously gotten the news a while back to have no reaction to it now.

John was glad he hadn’t been the one to tell Rodney that. McKay was bound to have been pissed off.

Beckett, too looked at Rodney as he said, “I‘ve sent the another DNA sample up the to the lab that had that Ancient DNA scanner. It should be able to do a more in depth look at his genetic sequences. Definitely a lot better job than the sequencer we brought from Earth.”

Curious, John asked, “Why didn‘t you use that first?”

“Because, Rodney wanted to look at the results too. And the Ancient sequencer is non-portable.”

John nodded, he didn’t really expect Rodney to feel any different.

“When will the results come back?” he asked grimly.

“Any second now.”

Then as if heralded by Beckett’s answer, one of the bio techs walked in. The disappointed expression on his face told them all the answer.

Nothing had been found.

Carson took the lap top holding the results from him and keyed them to scroll on the screen.

John peeked over his shoulder, and Rodney leaned cover to take a look.

“Damn.”

The soft explicit word made John tense again.

“What?!”

“It‘s the same results all over again. There‘s nothing changed in his DNA.” Beckett looked defeated. “I don‘t know how this could be.”

John mouth‘s twisted in shared disappointment. Then an idea stated to nig at him from the back of his mind.

“The Ternidians said that the gift of betterment was suppose to ‘bring out’ the potential within a person,” John said slowly as he tried to form the hunch he had into coherent thought.

Carson and Rodney both looked at him in interest.

“What if the betterment is intended to activate recessive genes? Instead of changing all of a person‘s DNA it just finds the strongest, best genes and makes sure that they are used?”

Carson’s eyes widened. “Yes. This could be why Rodney‘s DNA is still the same but that would mean…..”

“…Rodney‘s always had dragon genes in him,” John finished for him equally as dumbstruck.

“That‘s not possible!” Rodney blurted out.

In shock, they both turned and stared at Rodney who looked back at them just as shocked.
*-*-*-*

“So, how will this get Rodney back to normal?” asked Samantha Carter with a frown on her lips. She was sitting in one of the chairs dragged down to the jumper bay. They had just finished telling her about John’s idea about why Rodney’s DNA remained unchanged.

Beckett, and John occupied the other seats while Rodney lay on this stomach in a position that reminded John strongly of a tiger he’d once seen at a zoo when he was younger. The big predator had just been fed and was laying down digesting his meal.

Carson had decided that since Rodney’s DNA wasn’t any different that they could risk letting him actually eat something.

Beckett confessed to John that he was worried that Rodney’s hypoglycemia would still be active even in a dragon body, and he was in no hurry to see a dragon start displaying the symptoms. But he was even more worried about having to treat Rodney, since they wouldn’t be able to start him on a high glucose drip.

Rodney had swiftly devoured half the meal planned for dinner. So now he was content, with a full stomach.

Teasingly, John had told him to enjoy it while he could because that the mess cooks were already scrambling to find enough protein to feed a dragon. And a call for help had been put out to the mainland.

So, soon all he would have to eat would be mystery meat, instead of the Daedalus brought meat.

Rodney had sniffed derisively then ignored him.

“We think that Rodney always had dragon genes,” Jennifer clarified.

“What about the possibility that the dragon genes came from another source than Rodney‘s ‘interesting‘ ancestry?” Carter asked.

Carson was shaking his head even before she finished asking her question. “I‘ve seen Rodney‘s blood work in files going back several years. I also have all of his previous medical files before he came to Atlantis. Such a drastic genetic change would have to have happened in childhood. Otherwise we would have seen something. And the biotechnology has only been available for the last fifteen years so on Earth it‘s not possible that he underwent gene therapy for dragon genes when he was a lad. It would have predated SGC opening the Stargate in the first place. That‘s not even taking into consideration of where the genes came from in the first place.”

“So if Rodney already had the genes in him from birth. The somewhere in the McKay ancestors…there was a dragon.” John nearly bounced in his seat at this. “And even if Rodney‘s ancestor was a kinky bastard willing to have sex with a dragon.” John’s smirk grew at the growl from Rodney. “To have human looking babies, they would have to have a human form.”

“At least that’s what we think is the most likely possibility. We can‘t be a hundred percent sure though,” cautioned Carson. “At least not until Radek confirms it with what he finds on the planet. But once we know how Rodney was transformed we can work on getting Rodney back into human shape.”

He sighed, “At least that‘s the theory. For all we know the addition of the dragon genes could have come from some outside source manipulating the genome of an ancestor of Rodney‘s, who knows how far back in history.”

This grim news made them all silent in thought.

“I can‘t be a dragon for the rest of my life.” Rodney said, sounding despaired and panicked.

His ears swiveled in agitation before flatting. Distress radiated from his draconic body.

“They don‘t give Nobel prizes to dragons,” he moaned.

As serious as the situation was, John had to fight off a tiny grin. That was such a Rodney thing to say. “I‘m sure they won‘t hold that against you, buddy.”

Rodney glared back.

“We‘re going to do everything we can to get you back to normal, Rodney. You know we won‘t give up,” said Carter as she reached and tentatively patted Rodney’s arm.

“And at least you‘re not a bug,” John chimed in.

“Will you get over your bug issues,” Rodney growled.

“They‘re not issues,” John protested. “They‘re legitimate concerns.”

“About bugs.”

“Other people have bug concerns. You make it sound like I’m the only one.” John complained.

Rodney gave John a smug look, which was rather impressive looking on a dragon.

Carter smiled before giving them both a quelling look. “Well, I think that‘s the sign to end this meeting. John, you need to get some rest. Go. Come back later after you‘ve gotten some sleep.”

John thought about protesting, but he could see Carter’s point rather easily. He had been on his feet for far too long. There was simply no pressing reason for him to miss sleep. Rodney wasn’t in any immediate danger, no Wraith were attacking and nothing catastrophic was happening in or to the city. He might as well get some shut-eye.

“Alright.” He gave Rodney his own firm pat on the arm. “Sleep tight, buddy.”

“Yes, like I‘ll be able to sleep comfortably on the ground. Hey, do you think you cou-”

Whatever else Rodney was going to say was cut off by the door closing behind John. Yeah, sleep sounded good.

End of Dragon!Rodney.