Fic: Arrogate, NC-17, McKay/Zelenka by inkscribe
Title: Arrogate
Author: inkscribe
Pairings: McKay/Zelenka
Warnings: Non-con. Dark but with a hint of a hopeful ending … eventually.
Rating: NC-17
Words: ~4,000
Spoilers: S3.20 First Strike and extrapolations into S4
Locations: bottom_rodney, malesofatlantis, notmcshep, rodneysmutwelovezelenka, wondergeeks, my LJ, other backup journals
Feedback: yes, please!
Summary: AU. In a damaged Atlantis, Radek falls victim to an invader.
Author's Notes: Arrogate began as something else entirely, but needed to become what it is. It can be read as a stand-alone story but others in the series will flesh out a broader picture of what is happening to our intrepid heroes. *g* And yes, it is eventually a positive resolution.
The title is the verb arrogate, meaning to seize control without authority and possibly with force.
A huge thanks to my betas mice1900, sgatlantislight and ankhmutes. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is not mine; please don’t sue, we’ll both regret it in the morning.
So without further ado AND in honour of the opening of S4 of Stargate Atlantis, I present to you …
Radek knew something stalked him along the darkened corridor. He heard the subtle sounds as his ears strained in the echoing, oppressive silence. He felt the hair on his neck rise just as the hackles on a dog, forced himself to stifle the hysteria that threatened to well from his body as a whimper, growl, or laugh. Still, he moved onward, hoping his unknown pursuer was an observer, and not a threat. He knew the thought was a foolish hope, but he thought it nonetheless.
In truth, they were lucky to have survived as well as they did. Despite hitting the water with the force equivalent to several million megatons of explosive, Atlantis itself had stabilised relatively quickly on its new planet. Yet not even a week later, strange power problems that could not be attributed to their frantic flight through space were cropping up everywhere. As far as Radek and his engineers could determine, the problems had no mechanical or systems origin. Sabotage! he thought. Radek felt himself flush with rising anger. Whomever was doing this had to be skilled, had to know things about the power systems. Had to be someone like McKay. That thought stopped him suddenly. Ne, Rodney would not do anything to hurt their precious city, not after everything they had survived.
He’d left Miko and Simpson some time back, muttering angrily to himself. Neither were contributing in any tangible way toward fixing the problem. Most recently, the fluctuations had cut off several expedition members physically from other areas of the city, and then communications had cut out entirely. Radek’s team members were clearly tired, stressed, and becoming more than a little afraid, and at the time Radek believed getting away from them for awhile would be a prudent move. He needed time to think, he needed time to reason out what was going on. He needed time to find McKay and get the strange fluctuations and anomalies fixed once and for all.
Shortly after leaving the lab, though, Radek was plunged into utter darkness. He was left to grope his way quietly down the hallway. In the strange, still silence of the city, he found himself trying desperately not to think of ghost stories he’d heard as a child. Soon his head hurt from the constant push to force his senses to work beyond their normal limits, the strain of listening in the almost-absolute silence, the strain of trying to see through the inky blackness. Only his hands guided him now, as he stepped carefully along the corridor, staying slightly ahead of whatever or whomever was pacing him in the dark. As terrible as sabotage was, the idea of a hidden intruder was just as terrifying, and possibly far more deadly.
“Radek,” he heard, a whisper in the darkness. “Radek, is that you?” The engineer stopped, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. It sounded like Rodney, but why would Rodney be in the corridor, following him in the dark? Unless - unless Rodney was cut off, too. Radek took a step forward. “Radek?” he heard again.
“Rodney?” Radek hissed.
“Oh thank god,” he heard Rodney sigh.
Radek felt relief surge along his veins - Rodney would do anything to save the city, even venturing into the darkness, alone, like Radek. Still, something was wrong in the city, and Radek didn’t have the full picture. “Why are you following me?” he asked.
“I wasn’t sure it was you,” came the voice, harsh to Radek’s ears. “I - I’ve been alone,” Rodney admitted. “I’m scared.”
Radek sighed. Rodney had more than a few fears, most of them well justified. Yet Rodney faced his fears over and over again, leaving Radek positively impressed more often than not. Not that he could tell that to Rodney, of course. The man was already impossible. However, at the moment, Radek could only agree with him. “I’m scared too, Rodney,” he confessed. “Power is down. Radios are silent. It is not good, no?”
He heard Rodney pad closer in the darkness. “No,” the scientist agreed quietly, his voice still strange, stressed. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Out of where, Rodney?” Radek replied, exasperated. “We have nowhere to go.”
“Out of the corridor?” Rodney hissed, his voice strangled and tight. A hint of an upcoming panic attack? It was there, just on the edge of Rodney’s voice. He wondered whether Rodney had also considered an intruder, or possibly even seen evidence of one. Radek suppressed another shiver of fear.
“Ano, Rodney,” Radek agreed. Radek understood how debilitating panic attacks could be. He knew their very survival might depend upon Rodney being able to remain calm, or at least, functional, as they dealt with this crisis. “Do you have a destination in mind,” he whispered. “Or should we just hide in the next room?”
“The next room,” Rodney said. “I really want to get out of this corridor.”
The hint of panic again. The tightness, the fear: Radek heard it plainly. They made their way a few metres further in the darkness before coming to a door.
“Power is out,” Radek said. “I will have to override manually.”
“Let me try,” Rodney said, stepping close. To Radek’s surprise, the door slid open immediately to Rodney’s touch, and the two men hurried inside, the door closing almost silently behind them.
The relief Radek hoped to find in the shelter of the room evaporated immediately at the sensation of Rodney standing close, too close - the chief science officer’s chest tight against Radek’s back. Before Radek could utter a sound, he felt himself propelled hard against a wall, pinned under Rodney’s weight. “Rodney,” Radek protested. “What’s -”
His own voice cut off abruptly as he felt it: two hands sliding under his shirt, rough and hard. He knew Rodney could behave strangely under stress, but this? This was new. This was - more than strange, it was disturbing. Frightening. He felt Rodney’s body press harder against him, the unmistakable rigidity of an erection pushed against his thigh.
“Rodney,” Radek hissed. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but …” his words trailed off as Rodney traced hands along Radek’s abdomen, a finger teasing under his waistband. Confused, he felt his body respond to the caresses, a small shiver run along his spine. Fear.
He heard Rodney hum appreciatively and grind himself against Radek’s thigh.
“What are you doing?” Radek protested, trying to push back from the wall. “Rodney, this isn’t like you.” The scientist ignored him, slipping his hands away from Radek’s skin and unzipping his top. Radek found his shirt tugged down over his shoulders and off his body, and then Rodney was again pressed hard to Radek’s back, his arms again around Radek’s torso in a strong embrace.
Rodney’s breath was warm against his neck. Radek shivered again, his fear twisting together now with faint arousal. When did he become aroused by Rodney? When did Rodney want to do - do whatever this was? They had already survived so many terrible things together, but Radek could not remember Rodney becoming ... lustful ... when in extremis, not even once. Colonel Sheppard had implied they should sleep together, but surely that was only a joke? A comment on their tendency to argue like an old married couple? Radek was confused, but Rodney kept touching him and Radek’s body kept responding.
“Rodney?” Radek whispered again, his voice heavy with the confusion he felt.
“Shh,” Rodney soothed. “Just let it happen.”
Radek felt Rodney nuzzle him, mouthing along shoulders, along his neck. He moaned and shivered under Rodney’s hands, relaxing slightly into the touch. Rodney’s tongue felt warm and wet against Radek’s skin, a counterpoint to the roughness of his hands across Radek’s abdomen.
Roughness? Rough hands? Rodney with rough hands? Radek shook himself out of his stupor, suddenly realising the nagging fear at the back of his mind was now screaming loudly as he finally understood something was very, very wrong not just with the city, but with Rodney. He tried to turn himself, twist out of Rodney’s embrace, only to feel those hands hold him still, impossibly strong on his body.
Too strong, Radek realised suddenly. Rodney was too strong, too different. He looked like Rodney, he sounded like Rodney, but he could not be Rodney. Replicator?
Do prěde, Radek thought as a wash of fear turned his blood to ice. “Ne,” he whispered. “Stop this.”
If Rodney had been taken and replaced by a Replicator, there had to be more than one, possibly many more. He thought back to Miko’s strange behaviour earlier in the lab: could she also be one? His heart raced at the sickening realisation that if Rodney was already gone, the city was very probably doomed. Radek twisted harder, trying again to wrest himself from Rodney’s arms, but to no avail. The man - the thing - was too strong for him.
“Shh,” Rodney soothed again, continuing to mouth along Radek’s shoulders without breaking his grip, the tips of his fingers still digging firmly into Radek’s skin. Radek shivered now only from mounting terror. Not-Rodney was going to kill him, and not through overblown metaphor or abused exaggerations. Radek was going to die, and his death was going to be at the hand of someone who looked just like his friend.
“Whoever you are, ne!” Radek shouted. “You cannot do this. You must not do this.”
“Whoever?” not-Rodney mocked. “You don’t know who I am?” He snorted.
“I know who you’re supposed to be,” Radek shot back, “but you’re not him. He wouldn’t do this!”
Radek felt hot breath on the back of his neck, the scent of old coffee and new sweat coming strong to his nose. He smells just like Rodney, Radek thought, feeling even more ill at the deception.
“You cannot do this,” Radek repeated. “The city needs me, needs us.”
“I need you,” Rodney laughed, then bit down on Radek’s trapezius. “Ow,” Radek yelped. “What are you doing?”
He felt the warm welling of blood along his shoulder, the rasp of Rodney’s tongue lapping at it. With a sudden, sickening lurch in his stomach, he knew exactly what Rodney was doing. Radek had listened carefully to Carson’s briefings. He understood the basic mechanism of the nanite ‘infection’ as well as anyone who wasn’t a medical doctor or a nanobiologist. Saliva and blood - that was more than enough. And not-Rodney had incredible strength and he bit Radek; and now Radek would be just as lost as not-Rodney, his mind turning against him as the nanites re-wrote his consciousness.
He blinked back bitter tears, tears of anger and frustration. To have survived so much together - power failures, booby traps in abandoned labs, the Wraith, the Genii, the stupidity of political decisions made back on Earth - to have survived so much, only to fall to one pretending to be one of their own.
Not-Rodney ground his erection again against Radek’s thigh, interrupting his thoughts. The engineer felt himself flush hot and vital with anger. He felt strength surge within him as the anger forced adrenaline through his veins. He raised his hands and shoved hard against the wall, surprising Rodney enough that he not only pushed them both back from the wall, but also ended up sprawled on the floor, Radek atop Rodney. Still angry and again afraid, Radek rolled from Rodney and launched himself to the door, scrabbling his hands ineffectually against its surface.
The door refused to open for him.
“Do prěde,” he cursed. “Open, damn it! Open!” He continued to scratch and claw at the door, to no avail. “Do prěde,” he said again, his voice trailing into a whisper as panic overwhelmed him.
He slid to the floor, panting. His mind wanted to go a dozen different directions. He felt unable to follow his own train of thought.
Time passed. Radek opened his eyes and blinked. He was surprised to see the room no longer in almost darkness, but suffused by dim amber light. Rodney’s doing, no doubt.
Rodney was silent, crouched nearby, staring at him with wide eyes, pupils blown wide and apparently black in the dim light.
“Do prěde,” Radek whispered. He turned his body and retched on the floor. Rodney watched him, unmoving.
“Why?” Radek managed to gasp. “Why this?”
Rodney shrugged. Elizabeth.
Radek heard the name clearly yet Rodney hadn’t uttered a sound.
Fear tightened its grip around Radek’s heart. Elizabeth? But she’s in a coma, injured, dying! he thought frantically. But at the thought of her, Radek realised with a plummeting certainty that the sound in his head, the disorganised chatter in the back of his mind, was something else. Not disorganised. Not the meaningless detritus of his fear, no. Join us, he heard Elizabeth. Elizabeth? Yes, Elizabeth! The nanites were already long into their invasion and recreation of her mind, her body. She might not be awake, but she was fully in control.
Yes.
Radek realised there was more chatter, more voices, Elizabeth’s was distinct from the others. Others? Many others, already. The colonel. Major Lorne. Teyla.
“We’re going to die,” Radek whispered. Rodney laughed, wild and hysterical. Radek felt anger rise again in him. “Don’t you laugh at me! You have no right to laugh! You have no right to do - to do this!” he shouted. “I do not want this, I do not want to be changed!”
Radek wanted to be himself, be human, and alive and well. He wanted to do his work, explore the mysteries of the galaxy. He shook his head, grabbing his hair with both hands and holding it tightly as he shut his eyes against the strange blue light of the room. He desperately wanted to shut his mind against the voices. “Stop invading my mind,” he sobbed. “No more! Ne.” His anger broke to tears and his voice broke likewise. “Prosím,” he begged. “No more.”
Worried voices jumbled together, ran unbidden through his mind. He moaned against the discomfort and disorientation. He heard Rodney sidle closer to him, felt him place those strangely roughened hands on his skin. Radek flinched at the contact, the flinch dissolving to a shiver of pleasure as the sensation of contact washed through him. Radek forced himself to look at Rodney, to assess the eyes, the skin, rough and patchy even other than on his hands. He wondered for a moment at these differences, how imperfect a replica Rodney now seemed, then he turned and retched again. He lay curled in a shivering bundle against the wall, aware only of his own body and the touch of his ersatz-friend’s hands.
He wondered how long it would take for the nanites to alter his reality completely.
Radek lost awareness of time passing, lost awareness of the meaning of the sounds in his mind or the utterances of his own throat, a throat no longer making the sounds familiar since childhood, a throat sounding mechanical, inorganic. He knew only that time did pass and that he was not alone. The voices in his mind were loud and clear, as bright as the low light that now seemed so clear and bright as a sunny day.
“Ne!” he exploded angrily, pushing with his weakened body and his frightened mind against Rodney, against the others in his mind. He leapt up, flinging himself again against the door, scrabbling again with his hands, wishing crazily that they could be rebuilt from nanotech from the inside out so he could get out. He scratched and scratched, crying in a voice no longer fully human. He wanted out but could not get out. He could only hear Rodney’s voice now in his mind, clear not yet and he needed help hey, I’m here, I’ll help, I’m helping, he had to have have me ...
He froze at the thought. “Have me?” he repeated, his voice rich with unfamiliar sound that sounded strange yet was so truly his own that he nearly wept.
He turned to look again at not-Rodney, strong and bright in the dim blue light. Powerful, strong. Invulnerable. Radek wanted that, wanted to experience that. Needed that. If he couldn’t be that he needed to taste it, savour it through his own senses, even as his senses became not-Radek, became nanite. A growl tore from Radek’s throat, and he lunged at the imitation-Rodney, grabbing him forcefully with his own hands, now impossibly strong and propelling him against a wall. He didn’t care anymore that it wasn’t Rodney, it wasn’t real. It was only an infection, tiny robots rewriting his brain to be and do something he wasn’t.
Then Radek was taking not-Rodney’s mouth, roaming his hands over not-Rodney’s skin, nosing the air to catch not-Rodney’s scent, the doppleganger sending off waves of pseudo-pheromones heady in the stale air of the tightly-closed room.
He stopped suddenly, blinking as he heard more voices in his mind. Not so painful now, just a slow swelling of welcome, join us … join us, be joined. He looked again at not-Rodney. No matter that his friend wasn’t real, he was there: changed, capable, and wanting. Radek lunged forward again, now stripping the doppleganger of his clothes even as he tore through his own, urgent in his need to join join us and be joined yes, join us. He heard the voices’ approval loud in his mind and his body surged with the happy security of belonging to … to this, whatever this was, this new self that was no longer human, no longer Radek.
Touch was important. Essential, the voices confirmed. Radek needed to touch, needed to take. Join. He moaned, a ragged keening unlike his human voice, the alien sound somehow proper in his ears. He looked again at Rodney, saw his pupils still blown wide, easily mistaken for human-normal but perhaps there was a flicker of something else, the flicker of impossibly small machines changing position, shifting slightly as they adjusted to their tasks? No matter. Radek’s cock surged, painful and eager. I’m ready, Radek thought, certain that not-Rodney could hear his thoughts clearly. I want you, want you now.
Again, the scent of the man before him washed over him, and Radek caught a sarcastic Ha, better than a man, thank you very much! in the corner of his mind. Naked, Rodney was beautiful and Radek wondered for a moment whether he was likewise beautiful. Oh yes, yes, you have to ask?, not-Rodney thought at him.
Rodney - Radek had to think of him now as Rodney - sank to his knees before him, and Radek growled with unrestrained lust. He could hear only Rodney’s voice within his mind now, the unabated snark yes now, now you moron that made Radek want to laugh out loud at the sheer truth of it only the truth. Radek dropped to his own knees, pushing Rodney to the floor, supine. He raked his fingers along Rodney’s torso, watching the scientist writhe with pleasure, thoughts spilling quickly from his mind damnit in me, in me as Radek explored him. Every touch, every stroke, every point of contact adding to the fire that burned between them.
He spread himself over Rodney’s body, pressing his cock fill me, do it into the crease of the scientist’s thigh. He mouthed Rodney’s torso god you’re killing me, hurry up, trailing saliva across white-bright skin. He found a nipple, grazed it lightly with his teeth god yes, like that, more! before soothing it with his tongue, raspy yet soft. He growled again, guttural, primeval. Rodney split his legs, drew them up into the air ready for you around Radek’s body. Radek felt him thrusting up at him, felt their cocks rub together, the neural feedback of his mine his mine his nearly driving him mad with rising lust.
A small voice in his head - his own - I might hurt you. Rodney looked at him, vulnerable in his position only, his eyes hazed with unrestrained lust. “Don’t care,” Rodney rasped. “Won’t matter.” Heals fast Rodney added silently. Do it, do it!
Of course it heals fast, Radek realised. No harm could come to Rodney, he was Replicator, even more durable than Wraith. Radek waited no longer. He wet his fingers yes yes yes just do it!, slicking Rodney’s entrance quickly with saliva before pressing against him, trembling in his need. He pushed in slowly yet steadily, pushing until he was seated firmly into Rodney’s channel before drawing back just as slowly. The smell, the powerful scent pheromone rose to wrap him again in its heady embrace and he could slow himself no longer. He sat back, kneeling between Rodney’s legs. He grasped Rodney’s hips tightly in his fingers, then thrust in, hard yes, finally, rough possessing.
His own hands and body now possessed of strength far beyond Radek’s imagining, he gripped the scientist and pounded claimed into him with a fierceness which would have surprised Radek before. Now, however, his heightened strength made it seem somehow natural to rut like this, hard, harsh, and unforgiving. Rodney keened beneath him, his thoughts dissolving to echoes of yes that yes more harder yes as Radek drove in and out, pounding mercilessly into Rodney’s arse. Radek complied, fucking Rodney fast and furious until he stiffened, crying out with a whistled, harmonic shout as he came deep inside Rodney, his body pumping and pumping until he was entirely spent, his breath ragged and harsh in his completion.
He felt the minds of others in the city, welcoming him to them, happy for him. He blinked as he realised he, too, felt happy.
Without warning, Rodney lunged up and pushed them over, reversing their positions. Radek’s limp cock slid from Rodney’s body as the scientist slicked his own fingers want you, want you now and began to prepare Radek for his own fucking. “Yes,” Radek rasped in perfect accord to his thoughts yes. He wanted Rodney to claim him, take a final piece that would join him seal him forever to the Replicator’s vision of Atlantis.
Rodney wasted no time, pushing into Radek hard and fast, gripping him tightly and fucking, ramming into Radek. Sounds shredded the air as their nanite-infected throats squealed the pleasure of their rut, rising as the speed of Rodney’s fuck rose until he too came with a shout, gripping Radek yet tighter in his ecstasy.
Radek thought he heard the voices, faint now, no longer loud and strong in his mind. No longer voices of Elizabeth, of Colonel Sheppard. Major Lorne. Teyla. Then the pain hit: convulsion after convulsion, seizing through Radek’s body. Tearing pain, shredding him muscle by muscle. The nanites are overwriting me! he thought in a panic. Every muscle, every tendon, even his bones - all were becoming nanite. Agony. Long, unbroken agony. Radek’s world faded to dark pain.
Voices again, deeper, clearer, closer. Carson. “We’ve got you now, Radek. Hold on.”
Author: inkscribe
Pairings: McKay/Zelenka
Warnings: Non-con. Dark but with a hint of a hopeful ending … eventually.
Rating: NC-17
Words: ~4,000
Spoilers: S3.20 First Strike and extrapolations into S4
Locations: bottom_rodney, malesofatlantis, notmcshep, rodneysmutwelovezelenka, wondergeeks, my LJ, other backup journals
Feedback: yes, please!
Summary: AU. In a damaged Atlantis, Radek falls victim to an invader.
Author's Notes: Arrogate began as something else entirely, but needed to become what it is. It can be read as a stand-alone story but others in the series will flesh out a broader picture of what is happening to our intrepid heroes. *g* And yes, it is eventually a positive resolution.
The title is the verb arrogate, meaning to seize control without authority and possibly with force.
A huge thanks to my betas mice1900, sgatlantislight and ankhmutes. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is not mine; please don’t sue, we’ll both regret it in the morning.
So without further ado AND in honour of the opening of S4 of Stargate Atlantis, I present to you …
Radek knew something stalked him along the darkened corridor. He heard the subtle sounds as his ears strained in the echoing, oppressive silence. He felt the hair on his neck rise just as the hackles on a dog, forced himself to stifle the hysteria that threatened to well from his body as a whimper, growl, or laugh. Still, he moved onward, hoping his unknown pursuer was an observer, and not a threat. He knew the thought was a foolish hope, but he thought it nonetheless.
In truth, they were lucky to have survived as well as they did. Despite hitting the water with the force equivalent to several million megatons of explosive, Atlantis itself had stabilised relatively quickly on its new planet. Yet not even a week later, strange power problems that could not be attributed to their frantic flight through space were cropping up everywhere. As far as Radek and his engineers could determine, the problems had no mechanical or systems origin. Sabotage! he thought. Radek felt himself flush with rising anger. Whomever was doing this had to be skilled, had to know things about the power systems. Had to be someone like McKay. That thought stopped him suddenly. Ne, Rodney would not do anything to hurt their precious city, not after everything they had survived.
He’d left Miko and Simpson some time back, muttering angrily to himself. Neither were contributing in any tangible way toward fixing the problem. Most recently, the fluctuations had cut off several expedition members physically from other areas of the city, and then communications had cut out entirely. Radek’s team members were clearly tired, stressed, and becoming more than a little afraid, and at the time Radek believed getting away from them for awhile would be a prudent move. He needed time to think, he needed time to reason out what was going on. He needed time to find McKay and get the strange fluctuations and anomalies fixed once and for all.
Shortly after leaving the lab, though, Radek was plunged into utter darkness. He was left to grope his way quietly down the hallway. In the strange, still silence of the city, he found himself trying desperately not to think of ghost stories he’d heard as a child. Soon his head hurt from the constant push to force his senses to work beyond their normal limits, the strain of listening in the almost-absolute silence, the strain of trying to see through the inky blackness. Only his hands guided him now, as he stepped carefully along the corridor, staying slightly ahead of whatever or whomever was pacing him in the dark. As terrible as sabotage was, the idea of a hidden intruder was just as terrifying, and possibly far more deadly.
“Radek,” he heard, a whisper in the darkness. “Radek, is that you?” The engineer stopped, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. It sounded like Rodney, but why would Rodney be in the corridor, following him in the dark? Unless - unless Rodney was cut off, too. Radek took a step forward. “Radek?” he heard again.
“Rodney?” Radek hissed.
“Oh thank god,” he heard Rodney sigh.
Radek felt relief surge along his veins - Rodney would do anything to save the city, even venturing into the darkness, alone, like Radek. Still, something was wrong in the city, and Radek didn’t have the full picture. “Why are you following me?” he asked.
“I wasn’t sure it was you,” came the voice, harsh to Radek’s ears. “I - I’ve been alone,” Rodney admitted. “I’m scared.”
Radek sighed. Rodney had more than a few fears, most of them well justified. Yet Rodney faced his fears over and over again, leaving Radek positively impressed more often than not. Not that he could tell that to Rodney, of course. The man was already impossible. However, at the moment, Radek could only agree with him. “I’m scared too, Rodney,” he confessed. “Power is down. Radios are silent. It is not good, no?”
He heard Rodney pad closer in the darkness. “No,” the scientist agreed quietly, his voice still strange, stressed. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Out of where, Rodney?” Radek replied, exasperated. “We have nowhere to go.”
“Out of the corridor?” Rodney hissed, his voice strangled and tight. A hint of an upcoming panic attack? It was there, just on the edge of Rodney’s voice. He wondered whether Rodney had also considered an intruder, or possibly even seen evidence of one. Radek suppressed another shiver of fear.
“Ano, Rodney,” Radek agreed. Radek understood how debilitating panic attacks could be. He knew their very survival might depend upon Rodney being able to remain calm, or at least, functional, as they dealt with this crisis. “Do you have a destination in mind,” he whispered. “Or should we just hide in the next room?”
“The next room,” Rodney said. “I really want to get out of this corridor.”
The hint of panic again. The tightness, the fear: Radek heard it plainly. They made their way a few metres further in the darkness before coming to a door.
“Power is out,” Radek said. “I will have to override manually.”
“Let me try,” Rodney said, stepping close. To Radek’s surprise, the door slid open immediately to Rodney’s touch, and the two men hurried inside, the door closing almost silently behind them.
The relief Radek hoped to find in the shelter of the room evaporated immediately at the sensation of Rodney standing close, too close - the chief science officer’s chest tight against Radek’s back. Before Radek could utter a sound, he felt himself propelled hard against a wall, pinned under Rodney’s weight. “Rodney,” Radek protested. “What’s -”
His own voice cut off abruptly as he felt it: two hands sliding under his shirt, rough and hard. He knew Rodney could behave strangely under stress, but this? This was new. This was - more than strange, it was disturbing. Frightening. He felt Rodney’s body press harder against him, the unmistakable rigidity of an erection pushed against his thigh.
“Rodney,” Radek hissed. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but …” his words trailed off as Rodney traced hands along Radek’s abdomen, a finger teasing under his waistband. Confused, he felt his body respond to the caresses, a small shiver run along his spine. Fear.
He heard Rodney hum appreciatively and grind himself against Radek’s thigh.
“What are you doing?” Radek protested, trying to push back from the wall. “Rodney, this isn’t like you.” The scientist ignored him, slipping his hands away from Radek’s skin and unzipping his top. Radek found his shirt tugged down over his shoulders and off his body, and then Rodney was again pressed hard to Radek’s back, his arms again around Radek’s torso in a strong embrace.
Rodney’s breath was warm against his neck. Radek shivered again, his fear twisting together now with faint arousal. When did he become aroused by Rodney? When did Rodney want to do - do whatever this was? They had already survived so many terrible things together, but Radek could not remember Rodney becoming ... lustful ... when in extremis, not even once. Colonel Sheppard had implied they should sleep together, but surely that was only a joke? A comment on their tendency to argue like an old married couple? Radek was confused, but Rodney kept touching him and Radek’s body kept responding.
“Rodney?” Radek whispered again, his voice heavy with the confusion he felt.
“Shh,” Rodney soothed. “Just let it happen.”
Radek felt Rodney nuzzle him, mouthing along shoulders, along his neck. He moaned and shivered under Rodney’s hands, relaxing slightly into the touch. Rodney’s tongue felt warm and wet against Radek’s skin, a counterpoint to the roughness of his hands across Radek’s abdomen.
Roughness? Rough hands? Rodney with rough hands? Radek shook himself out of his stupor, suddenly realising the nagging fear at the back of his mind was now screaming loudly as he finally understood something was very, very wrong not just with the city, but with Rodney. He tried to turn himself, twist out of Rodney’s embrace, only to feel those hands hold him still, impossibly strong on his body.
Too strong, Radek realised suddenly. Rodney was too strong, too different. He looked like Rodney, he sounded like Rodney, but he could not be Rodney. Replicator?
Do prěde, Radek thought as a wash of fear turned his blood to ice. “Ne,” he whispered. “Stop this.”
If Rodney had been taken and replaced by a Replicator, there had to be more than one, possibly many more. He thought back to Miko’s strange behaviour earlier in the lab: could she also be one? His heart raced at the sickening realisation that if Rodney was already gone, the city was very probably doomed. Radek twisted harder, trying again to wrest himself from Rodney’s arms, but to no avail. The man - the thing - was too strong for him.
“Shh,” Rodney soothed again, continuing to mouth along Radek’s shoulders without breaking his grip, the tips of his fingers still digging firmly into Radek’s skin. Radek shivered now only from mounting terror. Not-Rodney was going to kill him, and not through overblown metaphor or abused exaggerations. Radek was going to die, and his death was going to be at the hand of someone who looked just like his friend.
“Whoever you are, ne!” Radek shouted. “You cannot do this. You must not do this.”
“Whoever?” not-Rodney mocked. “You don’t know who I am?” He snorted.
“I know who you’re supposed to be,” Radek shot back, “but you’re not him. He wouldn’t do this!”
Radek felt hot breath on the back of his neck, the scent of old coffee and new sweat coming strong to his nose. He smells just like Rodney, Radek thought, feeling even more ill at the deception.
“You cannot do this,” Radek repeated. “The city needs me, needs us.”
“I need you,” Rodney laughed, then bit down on Radek’s trapezius. “Ow,” Radek yelped. “What are you doing?”
He felt the warm welling of blood along his shoulder, the rasp of Rodney’s tongue lapping at it. With a sudden, sickening lurch in his stomach, he knew exactly what Rodney was doing. Radek had listened carefully to Carson’s briefings. He understood the basic mechanism of the nanite ‘infection’ as well as anyone who wasn’t a medical doctor or a nanobiologist. Saliva and blood - that was more than enough. And not-Rodney had incredible strength and he bit Radek; and now Radek would be just as lost as not-Rodney, his mind turning against him as the nanites re-wrote his consciousness.
He blinked back bitter tears, tears of anger and frustration. To have survived so much together - power failures, booby traps in abandoned labs, the Wraith, the Genii, the stupidity of political decisions made back on Earth - to have survived so much, only to fall to one pretending to be one of their own.
Not-Rodney ground his erection again against Radek’s thigh, interrupting his thoughts. The engineer felt himself flush hot and vital with anger. He felt strength surge within him as the anger forced adrenaline through his veins. He raised his hands and shoved hard against the wall, surprising Rodney enough that he not only pushed them both back from the wall, but also ended up sprawled on the floor, Radek atop Rodney. Still angry and again afraid, Radek rolled from Rodney and launched himself to the door, scrabbling his hands ineffectually against its surface.
The door refused to open for him.
“Do prěde,” he cursed. “Open, damn it! Open!” He continued to scratch and claw at the door, to no avail. “Do prěde,” he said again, his voice trailing into a whisper as panic overwhelmed him.
He slid to the floor, panting. His mind wanted to go a dozen different directions. He felt unable to follow his own train of thought.
Time passed. Radek opened his eyes and blinked. He was surprised to see the room no longer in almost darkness, but suffused by dim amber light. Rodney’s doing, no doubt.
Rodney was silent, crouched nearby, staring at him with wide eyes, pupils blown wide and apparently black in the dim light.
“Do prěde,” Radek whispered. He turned his body and retched on the floor. Rodney watched him, unmoving.
“Why?” Radek managed to gasp. “Why this?”
Rodney shrugged. Elizabeth.
Radek heard the name clearly yet Rodney hadn’t uttered a sound.
Fear tightened its grip around Radek’s heart. Elizabeth? But she’s in a coma, injured, dying! he thought frantically. But at the thought of her, Radek realised with a plummeting certainty that the sound in his head, the disorganised chatter in the back of his mind, was something else. Not disorganised. Not the meaningless detritus of his fear, no. Join us, he heard Elizabeth. Elizabeth? Yes, Elizabeth! The nanites were already long into their invasion and recreation of her mind, her body. She might not be awake, but she was fully in control.
Yes.
Radek realised there was more chatter, more voices, Elizabeth’s was distinct from the others. Others? Many others, already. The colonel. Major Lorne. Teyla.
“We’re going to die,” Radek whispered. Rodney laughed, wild and hysterical. Radek felt anger rise again in him. “Don’t you laugh at me! You have no right to laugh! You have no right to do - to do this!” he shouted. “I do not want this, I do not want to be changed!”
Radek wanted to be himself, be human, and alive and well. He wanted to do his work, explore the mysteries of the galaxy. He shook his head, grabbing his hair with both hands and holding it tightly as he shut his eyes against the strange blue light of the room. He desperately wanted to shut his mind against the voices. “Stop invading my mind,” he sobbed. “No more! Ne.” His anger broke to tears and his voice broke likewise. “Prosím,” he begged. “No more.”
Worried voices jumbled together, ran unbidden through his mind. He moaned against the discomfort and disorientation. He heard Rodney sidle closer to him, felt him place those strangely roughened hands on his skin. Radek flinched at the contact, the flinch dissolving to a shiver of pleasure as the sensation of contact washed through him. Radek forced himself to look at Rodney, to assess the eyes, the skin, rough and patchy even other than on his hands. He wondered for a moment at these differences, how imperfect a replica Rodney now seemed, then he turned and retched again. He lay curled in a shivering bundle against the wall, aware only of his own body and the touch of his ersatz-friend’s hands.
He wondered how long it would take for the nanites to alter his reality completely.
Radek lost awareness of time passing, lost awareness of the meaning of the sounds in his mind or the utterances of his own throat, a throat no longer making the sounds familiar since childhood, a throat sounding mechanical, inorganic. He knew only that time did pass and that he was not alone. The voices in his mind were loud and clear, as bright as the low light that now seemed so clear and bright as a sunny day.
“Ne!” he exploded angrily, pushing with his weakened body and his frightened mind against Rodney, against the others in his mind. He leapt up, flinging himself again against the door, scrabbling again with his hands, wishing crazily that they could be rebuilt from nanotech from the inside out so he could get out. He scratched and scratched, crying in a voice no longer fully human. He wanted out but could not get out. He could only hear Rodney’s voice now in his mind, clear not yet and he needed help hey, I’m here, I’ll help, I’m helping, he had to have have me ...
He froze at the thought. “Have me?” he repeated, his voice rich with unfamiliar sound that sounded strange yet was so truly his own that he nearly wept.
He turned to look again at not-Rodney, strong and bright in the dim blue light. Powerful, strong. Invulnerable. Radek wanted that, wanted to experience that. Needed that. If he couldn’t be that he needed to taste it, savour it through his own senses, even as his senses became not-Radek, became nanite. A growl tore from Radek’s throat, and he lunged at the imitation-Rodney, grabbing him forcefully with his own hands, now impossibly strong and propelling him against a wall. He didn’t care anymore that it wasn’t Rodney, it wasn’t real. It was only an infection, tiny robots rewriting his brain to be and do something he wasn’t.
Then Radek was taking not-Rodney’s mouth, roaming his hands over not-Rodney’s skin, nosing the air to catch not-Rodney’s scent, the doppleganger sending off waves of pseudo-pheromones heady in the stale air of the tightly-closed room.
He stopped suddenly, blinking as he heard more voices in his mind. Not so painful now, just a slow swelling of welcome, join us … join us, be joined. He looked again at not-Rodney. No matter that his friend wasn’t real, he was there: changed, capable, and wanting. Radek lunged forward again, now stripping the doppleganger of his clothes even as he tore through his own, urgent in his need to join join us and be joined yes, join us. He heard the voices’ approval loud in his mind and his body surged with the happy security of belonging to … to this, whatever this was, this new self that was no longer human, no longer Radek.
Touch was important. Essential, the voices confirmed. Radek needed to touch, needed to take. Join. He moaned, a ragged keening unlike his human voice, the alien sound somehow proper in his ears. He looked again at Rodney, saw his pupils still blown wide, easily mistaken for human-normal but perhaps there was a flicker of something else, the flicker of impossibly small machines changing position, shifting slightly as they adjusted to their tasks? No matter. Radek’s cock surged, painful and eager. I’m ready, Radek thought, certain that not-Rodney could hear his thoughts clearly. I want you, want you now.
Again, the scent of the man before him washed over him, and Radek caught a sarcastic Ha, better than a man, thank you very much! in the corner of his mind. Naked, Rodney was beautiful and Radek wondered for a moment whether he was likewise beautiful. Oh yes, yes, you have to ask?, not-Rodney thought at him.
Rodney - Radek had to think of him now as Rodney - sank to his knees before him, and Radek growled with unrestrained lust. He could hear only Rodney’s voice within his mind now, the unabated snark yes now, now you moron that made Radek want to laugh out loud at the sheer truth of it only the truth. Radek dropped to his own knees, pushing Rodney to the floor, supine. He raked his fingers along Rodney’s torso, watching the scientist writhe with pleasure, thoughts spilling quickly from his mind damnit in me, in me as Radek explored him. Every touch, every stroke, every point of contact adding to the fire that burned between them.
He spread himself over Rodney’s body, pressing his cock fill me, do it into the crease of the scientist’s thigh. He mouthed Rodney’s torso god you’re killing me, hurry up, trailing saliva across white-bright skin. He found a nipple, grazed it lightly with his teeth god yes, like that, more! before soothing it with his tongue, raspy yet soft. He growled again, guttural, primeval. Rodney split his legs, drew them up into the air ready for you around Radek’s body. Radek felt him thrusting up at him, felt their cocks rub together, the neural feedback of his mine his mine his nearly driving him mad with rising lust.
A small voice in his head - his own - I might hurt you. Rodney looked at him, vulnerable in his position only, his eyes hazed with unrestrained lust. “Don’t care,” Rodney rasped. “Won’t matter.” Heals fast Rodney added silently. Do it, do it!
Of course it heals fast, Radek realised. No harm could come to Rodney, he was Replicator, even more durable than Wraith. Radek waited no longer. He wet his fingers yes yes yes just do it!, slicking Rodney’s entrance quickly with saliva before pressing against him, trembling in his need. He pushed in slowly yet steadily, pushing until he was seated firmly into Rodney’s channel before drawing back just as slowly. The smell, the powerful scent pheromone rose to wrap him again in its heady embrace and he could slow himself no longer. He sat back, kneeling between Rodney’s legs. He grasped Rodney’s hips tightly in his fingers, then thrust in, hard yes, finally, rough possessing.
His own hands and body now possessed of strength far beyond Radek’s imagining, he gripped the scientist and pounded claimed into him with a fierceness which would have surprised Radek before. Now, however, his heightened strength made it seem somehow natural to rut like this, hard, harsh, and unforgiving. Rodney keened beneath him, his thoughts dissolving to echoes of yes that yes more harder yes as Radek drove in and out, pounding mercilessly into Rodney’s arse. Radek complied, fucking Rodney fast and furious until he stiffened, crying out with a whistled, harmonic shout as he came deep inside Rodney, his body pumping and pumping until he was entirely spent, his breath ragged and harsh in his completion.
He felt the minds of others in the city, welcoming him to them, happy for him. He blinked as he realised he, too, felt happy.
Without warning, Rodney lunged up and pushed them over, reversing their positions. Radek’s limp cock slid from Rodney’s body as the scientist slicked his own fingers want you, want you now and began to prepare Radek for his own fucking. “Yes,” Radek rasped in perfect accord to his thoughts yes. He wanted Rodney to claim him, take a final piece that would join him seal him forever to the Replicator’s vision of Atlantis.
Rodney wasted no time, pushing into Radek hard and fast, gripping him tightly and fucking, ramming into Radek. Sounds shredded the air as their nanite-infected throats squealed the pleasure of their rut, rising as the speed of Rodney’s fuck rose until he too came with a shout, gripping Radek yet tighter in his ecstasy.
Radek thought he heard the voices, faint now, no longer loud and strong in his mind. No longer voices of Elizabeth, of Colonel Sheppard. Major Lorne. Teyla. Then the pain hit: convulsion after convulsion, seizing through Radek’s body. Tearing pain, shredding him muscle by muscle. The nanites are overwriting me! he thought in a panic. Every muscle, every tendon, even his bones - all were becoming nanite. Agony. Long, unbroken agony. Radek’s world faded to dark pain.
Voices again, deeper, clearer, closer. Carson. “We’ve got you now, Radek. Hold on.”