Title: Monsters SGA

Author: Heatherf

Disclaimers: Not mine, no money made

Characters: McKay and Beckett and then the others

Warnings: Some violence, some cursing.

Warnings2: I've been distracted lately

Thanks: MegT because she knows grammar. I don't.

All mistakes in this story are mine, and I like them.

Rating: General

Spoilers: This was written before Sheppard turned into the wall scaling, lizard creature thing. It is incorporated into the story in tiny bits. Any misses with his lizardness is due to my not going back and adjusting it after the Lizard ep aired.

Any similarities to other stories is pure coincidental. This has been sitting around for a few weeks.

I borrowed the idea of Zelenka and his 'illegal' still. I hope that is okay.

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Part 1

McKay and Beckett stood shoulder to shoulder facing the closed doors that marked the beginning of the abandoned, uninhabited section of the city that they were to explore and map.

Two clean cut marines stood slightly behind the pair waiting patiently. Sheppard had warned them that traveling with McKay and Beckett could be mind numbing and would be considered hazard duty. The Colonel had promised the two marines extra time off on the next duty rotation.

"Why do we have to do this?" Rodney whined as he stepped forward and pried a control panel away from the wall with practiced ease.

"To make your life Hell," Carson answered, "and apparently Dr. Weir wishes to drag me down with you." The Chief Medical Officer re-adjusted the black canvas shoulder bag, pushing it behind his back with his forearm. The supplies inside banged annoyingly against his lower back and then the bag slid to its previous position under his arm at the point of his hip. He tried to ignore it.

He caught sight of the two near mute marines behind him and offered them an apologetic smile. This little adventure was not going to pleasant for any one.

McKay grunted and manipulated the crystals that would allow him to override the mechanisms that kept the door sealed.

"Oh, and going with you is the highlight of my day?" McKay's words dripped with sarcasm.

"Could be worse, Rodney," Carson reminded with a hint of tired resignation. This day was going to be hell.

"How could it possibly be worse?" McKay mumbled out around the crystal he held in his teeth as he switched the placement of two others. A few rather nasty scenarios ran rampart through his head making it abundantly clear in mental color exactly how much worse it could be. He was unwilling, however, to admit that to the Scotsman.

"You could be teamed with Kavanagh," Beckett pointed out casually, pulling his trump card.

McKay paused in manipulating the crystals and once again grunted. He hadn't thought of that. He had been thinking more along the lines of drowning, becoming a Wraith entree, getting shot by medieval weapons and other things of that nature. However, he was unwilling to concede that he had missed the particularly deplorable scenario involving being teamed with Kavanagh and ignored the comment hoping that his silence was enough to discourage further conversation.

The marines nodded their silent agreement and shared relieved looks. Kavanagh was an arrogant ass most times, worse than Dr. McKay, because even though McKay had arrogance down to an art form, when a situation deteriorated to gun fire, bow and arrow attacks, spears and such the man listened. Kavanagh could not seem to switch gears from giving orders to taking them when a military situation arose and his inability and lack of cooperation often times put marines' lives in danger.

Dr. Beckett, the marines generally agreed, was an okay guy to travel with. They didn't travel with him often but it was nice to have a doctor off world with you even if he did seem a bit soft. The man was willing to give his all and often times put his own life on the line to save a soldier. McKay had too. It made traveling with the two doctors more bearable and dealing with their steady conversation tolerable.

The silence that stretched between the two scientists had the marines relishing the quiet.

Beckett simply chuckled, realizing silence meant a victory for him in his and McKay's mild verbal sparring. Of course, Rodney was still sucking on Ancient crystals, but that had never kept the man quiet before.

McKay let a small smile crease his features. It had been the first time in a long month since anyone had heard Beckett laugh, let alone see a true smile.

Sheppard had commented on Beckett's lack of humor ten days ago. The Colonel's complaints and usual reluctance to submit to a post mission physical were met with short tempered, brogue laced, cutting remarks instead of the easy going tolerance they had all grown used to when dealing with the Scotsman.

It sparked curiosity but any inquiry into what was bothering Beckett was met with redirection or denial.

The damn man could be a stone wall if he put his mind to it.

Rodney had shrugged the ill temper off. Perhaps it was a bad letter from home, in which case, McKay didn't have much sympathy for it. He never got letters from home. No one from home knew where he was nor did they seem to care. Rodney prided himself with the constant reminder that it was in fact mutual. He never received nor did he ever send a letter on mail day. Who would he write too? His sister Jeannie? She never acknowledged his video--why would he set himself up for another possible snubbing. What was the point? Where was the benefit?

If Beckett wanted to feel sorry for himself because his 'mum' sent him a stern letter or forgot to write him then so be it. Carson was a big boy and didn't need to be hanging on the skirts of his mother any longer. Hell Rodney couldn't remember the last time he ever depended on his mother for anything, except maybe a stern talking to if she ever had the mind to be concerned about his activities.

Rodney mentally shrugged he didn't have the patience for people feeling sorry for themselves when letters from home were disappointing.

What did they expect?

The Daedalus had come and gone, dropped supplies and handed out mail. The three days that the Daedalus normally orbited around Atlantis were met with good cheer and something akin to relief--except maybe for Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir.

The Daedalus, or more fittingly, her commanding officer, was more of a nightmare than a relief.

McKay cast a sideways glance at his teammate and wondered if Sheppard and Weir hadn't sent him off with Beckett in hopes of getting the man to open up about whatever was bothering him. Surely the two commanding officers knew better than to send him. Rodney didn't understand why people didn't gravitate toward him, but he recognized it and accepted it and it just proved to him that the rest of the human race was flawed.

"Here we go," Rodney announced and placed the last crystal in place and stood back.

The doors, as expected, slid open.

The thick smell of wet, stagnant air hit them like a wall.

The two doctors stared into the darkened, moisture ridden halls that had yet to be explored.

Rodney and Carson both twisted on their flash lights and played them against the walls and down the exceedingly dark corridor. The thick blackness seemed to swallow the beams before they reached the far end of the dank hallway.

The lights criss-crossed one another as they were directed up and down the walls and across the puddled floor. Light reflected back at the two scientists periodically bathing them in shallow reflections.

The hall stretched beyond the lancing beams of light. Water marks marred the once pristine walls and a heavy clammy smell pervaded the area.

"Shall we?" Carson asked with a sigh. He really had no urge to explore the dark recesses of Atlantis. He had enough to do between his responsibilities in the infirmary and his lab.

Beckett knew full well that Rodney felt the same way. The astrophysicist had made it abundantly clear time and time again after Weir had assigned them this section of the city--not that any section of city away from their respective labs would have been met with any pleasurable agreement.

Both men had gawffed and tried to refuse publicly and privately to no avail. The marines had already checked this section of city and found nothing of interest to report. Both scientists had more interesting research boiling in their labs. Scurrying around the bowels in the deep recesses of Atlantis reinvestigating something that had already been labeled as 'no significant findings', left much consternation in the two doctors. Their current works in their respective laboratories held viable chances of developing 'significant findings' that demanded their attention much more than the cold dark belly of Atlantis.

Rodney felt a cold coming on already.

They were issued their orders and sent on their way. They might not have been military but neither was Dr. Weir and yet her orders stood firm and they felt compelled to follow them even if it was with great reluctance. The two men were dismissed like disobedient school boys. And like errant school boys, they whined, complained and scuffed their feet at anyone who cared to listen.

"After you," Rodney smiled and stepped aside, letting the geneticist go first.

Carson cast a tired glare at the astrophysicist and shook his head. "Figures."

The marines waited patiently. Sheppard had told them to follow, keep the two out of trouble and bring them back safe. A simple babysitting chore. Neither Sullivan nor O'Connor were looking forward their assignment but the promised time off was a carrot they both cherished.

Beckett took a deep breath and let it out before stepping forward, leaving the security of the well lighted airy halls of the inhibited Atlantis behind. With a cautious step, he led the way down the corridor, doing his best to avoid stepping in the standing puddles of brackish water. He cast his flashlight beam to the floor letting it occasionally sway its way up the stained walls, searching for nothing in particular but feeling the need to investigate anyway. The little beam of light struggled to cut through the gloom.

Beckett peered over his shoulder. Rodney was only a half step behind with his own flashlight dancing this way and that, but even that close the darkness seemed to cloak and mute his features.

The two young marines followed a few steps behind, their arms draped casually over their P-90s. Beckett at first was unclear why Sheppard felt the need to send two marines along but in the thick encroaching darkness, Carson was thankful. He like Joey Sullivan, the young man from Montana who had a bacon fetish and Sean O'Connor from Maine who thought the ocean looked just fine from the shore line. O'Connor had once confided to Beckett that water was something to be drunk and wash from, not for swimming. Beckett had laughed then. It seemed like ages ago.

Nothing seemed funny now. In the thick darkness, Carson felt a pang of relief that the Marines were behind them with their P90s.

Sullivan offered a small smile of reassurance when he saw the worried hesitation on Beckett's face. O'Connor appeared as confident and proud as he would on a parade field.

The medical doctor felt only a twinge of comfort.

The heavy blackness envelop around them, sealing them off from the lighted sections of the city.

Carson faced forward. He felt his pulse quicken and breath catch. He didn't like this, not one bit. And he certainly didn't like exploring darkened areas of Atlantis with the Pegasus Galaxy's biggest trouble magnet by the name of Rodney McKay. They only thing they were missing was Sheppard. Put the two together and Carson as well as the rest of the city was assured something would get blown up or torched.

However, Rodney alone was enough to bring a moon falling from its orbit.

"We're doomed," he muttered.

"What was that?" McKay asked quietly, keeping his voice unconsciously low.

"Ah, nothing," Beckett answered just as quietly as the sense of unease increased and the pull to return to the lighted part of the city became more difficult to ignore. He peered longingly back over his shoulder and noticed that the lighted part of the city appeared nothing more than a poorly shrouded silhouette.

After a few steps he chided himself for being like a frightened child still at his mum's hip.

With the thought of his mother, his heart plummeted and his stomach knotted as a tortured breath caught and gnarled his chest.

The blackness of the corridor behind him suddenly lacked any real threat to him. It paled in comparison to the fear that had seeded itself just four long helpless weeks ago with the return of the Daedalus.

The ship would return in just a few days and Beckett, for the first time since the ship had been making appearances, dreaded its mail run.

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The working quiet of the gate room was shattered by a disembodied voice screaming over the hidden speakers.

"We need a medical team!"

"We need a medical team! Now!"

A second voice hollered over the first, "Send back up! Oh God send back up!"

The people in the gate room shared frightened looks as others began mobilizing medical and tactical teams without understanding why or where to send them.

"Sergeant Thomas? Is that you?" Weir asked leaning over a console. She could hear Sheppard behind her organizing a squad of men on a different frequency. It amazed her how he could go from acting like a junior high prankster to a qualified leader of men.

"Where are you?" Weir continued. More wordless screams screeched across the comlink.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" The voice screamed again, others could be heard yelling in the background, "We need help! Send help!"

Weapons were fired. The rapid burst of two P-90s held the blatant charge of panic.

"Hurry!"

"No! This way! We've got to go this way!" The voices boarded on hysteria.

"Thomas! Calm down! Where are you? What's your location?" Sheppard cut in on the panicked communications.

Static and gunfire erupted over the small console speakers.

There was no answer.

The new Canadian at the console tapped furiously at his controls, "Colonel, they're in Section 3 lower level 2 near the North Pier."

Sheppard was already running for the door relaying the information to his men.

Weir kept her eyes glued to the console as if hoping by sheer force of will she could physically bring her people to safety.

The shots fired became increasingly panicked, the short bursts became longer until the unmistakable sound of an empty gun still firing clicked over the speakers.

There was a moment of silence and then a piercing terrifying scream of violent death erupted from the comlink, slicing through the gate room and all who stood safely within its walls.