Lt Col John Sheppard (ancientgene) wrote in noexits, @ 2021-08-31 11:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, ₴ inactive: john sheppard, ₴ inactive: matt murdock, ₴ inactive: rodney mckay, → week 019 (the monolith) |
Week 19 | Day 1 | Morning
Who: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, and Matt Murdock
What: Rodney's checking that John's alive and they discover John has a new roommate
Where: Room 502
When: Week 19, Day 1 (seriously backdated)
Warnings: references to character death
Status: complete
John woke up to what he thought was thunder. No, bombs? No… something loud. It took him almost a full minute to realize that the sound he was hearing was someone pounding on his door. Shit, was there an emergency?
Wait, he wasn’t on Atlantis. He really needed some coffee, he thought, as he got himself out of bed and blearily opened the door to find a very frantic Rodney McKay standing there. “What the hell, McKay?” he asked, not being quite functional enough to remember what happened the previous week. At least he didn’t have a roommate for Rodney to disturb - as far as he was aware.
***
Rodney had no idea who his new roommate was or even if he did have a roommate. In fact, he could have been naked and not realized it, though thankfully when he reset he had had his usual SGA uniform on. He also wouldn’t have knocked so much considering he had delicate knuckles, but this was a special case.
So when John opened the door, Rodney stilled for a blink of an eye and then he surged forward for a hug. “Thank God you’re not dead still.”
--
Okay, McKay was hugging him. That was weird. Wait. Rodney’s words penetrated his sleepy brain fog and John suddenly remembered what happened the previous week. He patted Rodney’s shoulder for a moment and then stepped back to let the man inside. “Yeah, I’m fine, McKay,” he said. “How about you? Did you survive the week?”
It wasn’t the first time that John had to confront his own mortality, so he was able to take it largely in stride. He walked over to the coffee pot that he’d picked up in Florida so he could make some, figuring they both needed it.
***
He cleared his throat as Sheppard took a step back and then shifted his weight from one foot to the other. It was true he wasn’t normally a hugger, but he was aware that he was also partially to blame for John’s death and that wasn’t a good feeling at all.”I did, though I spent most of it in the theatre. Which, by the way, have some terrifying mannequin heads.” He had almost screamed, but thankfully the fear of being killed by those monster things kept him tight-lipped. “Thankfully getting resetted means my stomach is full.” McKay had not had a lot to eat the last few days prior.
“What about you? Are you okay? This makes us 1 to 1 on dying now.”
--
“I’m fine, Rodney,” John said. “I’ve actually been through worse. That wasn’t nearly as bad as dealing with the irratus bug.” He shuddered remembering that whole disaster. Yeah, he’d take being killed by whatever the hell they were dealing with last week over that any day.
He got the coffee brewing and then leaned back against the counter. “How about we both avoid dying anymore,” he suggested. “I much prefer you alive.” Even when Rodney irritated him, John was glad to have him around.
“Let me have a cup of coffee and change my clothes, then we can head down to the dining hall and I’ll make bacon and eggs.”
***
“I can certainly get behind the idea of no more dying.” It wasn’t pleasant at all and he had no idea how Doctor Jackson had done it so many times and not go completely crazy. “Did you get to be a ghost and see all the rest of the carnage?” If so, he hoped John hadn’t seen him crying a few times. Rodney quickly pushed that thought away.
“I should probably be upset you’re so easily thinking about food, but I’m hungry so I accept. I think today calls for some toast too.”
--
John shook his head. “No, no ghost hanging around. I just… ceased to exist, I guess. Weird to think about. Better than being an ascended being again though.” That had been annoying as hell, being able to observe, but not really interact.
“How bad was it?” he asked, grabbing a couple mugs from the cabinet. He hadn’t really stocked the kitchenette, but he had a few useful things lying around. “I guess none of the superpowered folks were able to kill those things either?” He’d discovered pretty quickly that bullets were useless.
***
In the other room, Matt had been listening into the conversation the whole time. How could he not? After a couple of days being told to shush, he was surprised that people were talking at all. It was a wonder that he didn’t make any noise himself when he was startled awake by the banging on the door - for a split second he’d worried those things outside had made their way in. How’d he get into this bed, anyway? Where was this room? He was so disorientated.
The other person… whom he now could identify through the eavesdropped conversation as John… got up to answer the door so quickly that he didn’t even notice Matt was there, which was fine. It gave Matt a chance to calm down and situate himself… to figure out where he was and what was happening.
The two men spoke so lightly of dying and being brought back that Matt instantly thought about the Hand, which instantly put him on edge. His fists automatically tightened, anticipating he would have to try to fight his way out again. The casual mention of superpowered folks also piqued his interest... did the Hand have them on their side? It was plausible. But the longer he listened, the more he wondered. Their conversation was about those murderous creatures outside as if they had been trapped in the building as he was, nothing about kidnapping Danny, or their mission to destroy New York City, which Matt would’ve assumed would be top on their list of priorities.
Out of curiosity, Matt quietly rose from the bed and walked to the closed door between the bedroom and the area where the two men were talking. He’d listen to a little bit longer to try to piece things together.
****
Rodney made a sound that wasn’t a word at all and more of a ‘oh this is awkward’ because Rodney didn’t know much about what happened afterward. It wasn’t that he stopped entirely, but being the reason for Sheppard’s death was way worse than all the other ways they had come to near death experiences. Rodney much preferred it when he could save Sheppard’s life.
“... I don’t know. After what I caused... Well, I thought it best to just keep to myself and stay quiet.” That was glossing over a lot of it, but that’s what he could admit. “I do wonder if this place decided to show us that it could really, truly harm us if it wanted to, which I know means it sounds like Derleth is a sentient being, but it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.”
He watched John for a moment. His expression fell and suddenly he said, very sincerely. “I should have been the one to chase those things away.”
--
Scrubbing a hand through his hair, John shook his head. “Hey, no, don’t do that, Rodney,” he said. “I made my choice and I’d do it again. You were only out there because of me. I was the team leader and it was my responsibility to keep everyone under my command safe.” The last thing John wanted was for Rodney to wallow in guilt over something that was not his fault.
“I’d say you sounded crazy for implying the campus is sentient, but after some of the things we’ve seen in Pegasus…” he trailed off. Anything was possible went unsaid. “At least we have better coffee here.”
The coffee pot was done brewing and he poured each of them a mug. “We should check the network. See if everyone else is okay,” John said, patting his pockets and realizing his phone was still in the other room. “Got your phone on you?” he asked.
***
The way the two men spoke to one another, their tone of voice and heartbeats, made Matt believe they were close… and by close, he assumed boyfriends... working together in an organization called Pegasus together before this? But something about the campus being sentient sounded worrisome. Were they all captives?
Freshly brewed coffee did smell really good, though, and it momentarily distracted him before he realized, Oh shit, he’s coming in here.. Matt stepped away from the door and quickly turned his head around, but there really wasn’t anywhere he could hide. This is it, he thought, finally standing in the middle of the room, waiting for the man to enter, and he braced himself for another fight.
***
Rodney’s expression faltered at the question. “...no. I forgot it when I woke up.” He had gotten distracted by trying to make sure John resetted to being alive. He didn’t say anything else about feeling because he did even if he knew that was how it went when you went on missions. “But you’re right -” He started to move to the bedroom door. “- I’ll go get yours while you - AH!” He had opened the door and shouted in a much more shrill cry than he would have liked, but it couldn’t be helped.
--
The moment John heard Rodney scream, he dropped the mug he was holding and sprinted across the room to the bedroom. “What is it?” he asked, wishing he had his sidearm on him. He skidded to a stop right behind Rodney and stared at the man standing behind the door.
“Who are you?” he asked. “And where did you come from?”
He hadn’t had a roommate since he first arrived here, but if he got one last week, he wouldn’t exactly have known.
***
The pair were genuinely startled and confused, their heartbeats and breathing patterns made that clear to Matt, who continued to silently stand, regarding them before saying, “I could ask the same of you guys.” He considered whether or not to continue, then decided to answer.
“I’m Matt. Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.” He kept his voice emotionless. “I showed up in the lobby of this apartment two days ago, I don’t know how, and I don’t even know how I wound up in this room. I’m hoping that now that people are talking , I can get an explanation.”
At his sides, his hands unconsciously into fists.
***
Rodney was pretty sure he lost at least a full six months of his very valuable life with that scare, but he tried to cover it up with clearing his throat like maybe that would erase everyone’s memory of his less-than-manly scream of surprise.
“Yes, well -” Well what? He blinked. “Well you’re not in an apartment, for one. This is a university, or a college if you’re American. But it’s not exactly a normal one considering there’s a huge void around all of the campus.” It didn’t really occur to Rodney that that might be too much information too soon. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Matt was wearing glasses for a reason. “Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?” That was weird. “Nevermind. I’m McKay, this is Sheppard. We’re both originally from Earth, but well, it’s complicated.”
--
John sighed at Rodney’s rambling. “Jesus, Rodney,” he said. “Hi, Matt, I’m John. Why don’t you come and have a cup of coffee with us and we’ll explain things.” He paused, giving Rodney a pointed look. “Slowly. I’m sorry you showed up last week. It was… not a good time to arrive.” It wasn’t a good time at all, but he wasn’t going to get into that just yet.
“I’m assuming you have a vision impairment,” he continued. “And were unable to read the welcome letter. Or the network.” God, how helpless he must have felt. He moved over so he was standing right next to Matt and held out his arm. “We have a shared bedroom, a shared living area, and a private bathroom.”
***
It might’ve been a lot of information at once, but Matt was grateful for anything. He listened with his head cocked slightly to one side. McKay… Rodney... wasn’t lying, which was both a relief and a surprise. It still really didn’t explain how he got here in the first place, and what was this void that he mentioned?
Okay, John, the guy who was in the other bed when Matt awoke, was the observant one. Forcing himself to let his guard down, the corner of his mouth quirked into a brief but awkward smile. “Yeah. I’m blind. I … uhhhh… bumped into a couple of people, but they kept telling me to be quiet.” He then added, hopefully, “Those things outside are gone?” A pause. “Coffee sounds really good, thanks.”
***
Rodney looked entirely surprised - an expression that was wasted on Matt even if it was a genuine reaction. Blinking, he took in Matt again. He hadn’t known a lot of blind people so it never occurred to him. Then he suddenly couldn’t help picture what it would have been like to suddenly find yourself here and during the week with the monsters and Rodney felt horrified and very grateful for his ability to see.
“They’re gone.” He started to explain the theory and concept of Derleth scientifically until he caught John’s expression and trailed off before saying more succinctly. “Basically we’re trapped in a bubble in time and space and the rules of physics and reality change every week.” Was that so hard to say the first time? Yes, yes it was.
--
“Take my arm,” John offered. “I’m on your left. About a foot away. We’ll go in the other room and have coffee and explain, in non PhD level terms, what we know.” He was concerned about Matt, wondering if he used a cane or a guide dog. Either way, it didn’t seem like he had an assistance device with him, so it was going to be tough for him to find his way around the campus.
Maybe someone around here could rig up some way to help him get around. There were enough brainy folks like McKay on campus.
***
There was at least one person here who knew that Matt wasn’t as helpless as one might suspect from a blind man, but obviously she hadn’t warned anybody. Yet. But sure, he’d play the blind card for a little while longer, at least until he had a better understanding about what the hell was going on. Besides, John was being kind. It wasn’t deception as much as it was reciprocation, right?
“Thank you,” Matt said, moving forward and placing his hand upon John’s upper arm, allowing him to be led. “So, urm. Does this place happen to have anything to do with the Hand?” He hesitated to ask, just in case these two were affiliated with the organization. In their conversation, they sounded like they had a long history together in a group called Pegasus, but he needed to be certain.
***
Rodney watched John with Matt and not for the first time wondered how John was so good with people. Rodney often tried his hardest and most of the time he received reluctant amiableness. Rodney had pretty much given up on trying to change himself, but once and a while he was still in awe at how easy being personable come to someone.
“Uh. I don’t think I’ve heard that name before, but with a name like the Hand, I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re bad.” Mostly because it reminded Rodney of the Foot Clan from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though he’d never openly admit that. “As far as anyone’s been able to figure out, no one is in charge. Which is ridiculous because of course someone is in charge, we just haven’t figured out who or what or why yet.” Rodney would not believe this was just some big, weird string of coincidences.
--
John guided Matt out of the bedroom and over to the sofa. “Bathroom is about 20 paces to your right, kitchenette is a little further to the left,” he said. “How do you take your coffee?” Luckily he’d gotten a regular sized pot so there was plenty for all three of them.
“Never heard of The Hand,” he confirmed. “But, yeah, I agree with McKay that it sounds sinister. They from Earth?” He poured a mug of coffee and handed it to Rodney before pouring one for himself. “Like he said, there’s not much we know about this place. First batch of folks arrived here a few months ago. Every week, the campus resets. Sometimes the entire campus goes somewhere, like we went to Disney World or wherever the hell that place was last week. The other weeks, it’s just the campus in the middle of this weird void.”
***
Matt acknowledged John’s directions with a nod, turning his head slightly to the right and then the left,- all part of the act. “Black, thanks,” he said, gratefully, but his smile faded on the topic of the Hand. He needed to explain things in such a way that didn’t directly implicate him. At least for now. “Yeah… they’re bad.” Just before I came here, I was with a couple of my friends, they were on their way to stop them from… well… they had plans to destroy New York City, but we found out their secret organization had been around for centuries, pulling different strings from behind the scenes.” Was that vague enough? If only Rodney knew the truth that elements of the Hand was actually very much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
While they explained their predicament on campus, Matt frowned. “I’m finding this hard to believe, but okay. I’ve learned about some pretty far out stuff these past couple of days, so at this rate? College travelling through space and time sounds just about right.” He remembered a part of John and Rodney’s overheard conversation, and wanted to ask about it without cluing them in that he’d been listening. “Are there others here besides us?”
***
“Why is it always New York?” Yes, that was Rodney’s first comment. Then he got ahold of himself and brought his attention back to more on-topic discussion. He was glad of all the things he dealt with, secret societies and ninjas weren’t part of it.
“Lots of people. Well, more than you’d probably expect. Some of them are insane.” Rodney was thinking of Rick as one of them. “And some have powers for some inexplicable reason.”
--
After he finished pouring coffee and handing it out, John went and sat in one of the chairs in the living room. His head was pounding, felt like he had a hangover, thanks to the whole ‘coming back from the dead’ thing and then the unexpected presence of a new roommate. It was probably too much to hope that the campus gave them a quiet week.
“Probably about 60 or so?” John estimated. “It’s hard to know for sure because people sometimes disappear as mysteriously as we all arrived.” He rolled his eyes at Rodney again. “And, yes, super powers are hard to believe when we got yanked from our secret flying city in another galaxy to a creepy campus in a pocket universe, Rodney.” His tone was slightly exasperated, but yet fond. This was the way they always talked to each other.
Should he be so open about the whole Atlantis thing? Probably not, but what could it really matter here?
***
“I think I might’ve met one of those insane people when I first arrived.” Matt’s mind went to the wild lady with whom he fought, the one spinning knives and had ended their brawl by licking him… still hadn’t decided whether to be turned on or creeped out by that. He was glad that Rodney had brought up the superpowered people without being asked; made it a whole lot easier. But John’s estimated number made Matt scowl. “So many? And… we’re all prisoners?”
But it was the rest of what John said that stunned Matt. “You’re saying that you two are from outer space?” The coffee he’d been given was gripped by both hands, forgotten as he processed what he’d been told.
***
Rodney was of the opinion that spaceships and the like were much more believable than magic and superpowers. One was science afterall. “Not originally. I’m from Vancouver. But yes, currently living in a city which is also a spaceship. Secret military exploration, wormholes, aliens, etcetera. But something like this has never happened to us before.” Though he had been thinking about the SG1 files and SG1 had gone to a few planets where they were prisoners or had their realities altered. It was still nothing like on this scale, though.
--
“We’re from Earth,” John confirmed. “Well, I am. Jury’s still out on McKay.” He flashed Rodney one of his charming grins. “But yes, I’m US Air Force. Military commander on the base. Rodney’s head of science.”
He missed his city. And yes, he thought of Atlantis as his.
Someday they’d get to go home. He had to hold on to that belief or he’d go insane. “You know, there were those mist creature things,” he reminded Rodney. “Remember? A few months after we first got to Pegasus? Fabricated realities to make us think we were back on Earth.” That had been a bizarre experience. Since no one dead from his past showed up yet, he didn’t think this was like that though.
***
Matt remained silent as the two of them spoke and reminisced. Yes, this sounded all far-fetched, and every fiber of his being argued against it as something too ridiculous to be true. Then again, here he was with his own set of unusual powers, and he’d recently met Danny, who kept reminding people he was the Immortal Iron Fist, along with a bullet-proof man and a super strength Joan Jett. And they were fighting against an organization that remained in power for centuries using some sort of Substance that kept them from dying, and who had brought his dead girlfriend, Elektra, back to life.
What more, he’d been in Midtown when a wormhole opened over Manhattan and released an alien attack that the city was still recovering and rebuilding from. Which included enormous worm-like creatures that swam through the air, in between skyscrapers, and were ultimately defeated by the Avengers. If crazy shit like that could happen in his small experience, why couldn’t this.
He took a long sip of coffee and rested the cup on his thigh, mustering the confidence to interrupt. “Urm… guys? I… kinda have a confession to make? I, urm… may have super powers of my own.” He turned his head away - was it embarrassing? Shame? Let’s go with nerves. Matt wasn’t accustomed to telling people about this particular secret. “I’m blind, yes. But my other senses… are enhanced. Stronger than ordinary. Way stronger. They help to compensate for my lack of sight. I’m not as lost as I pretended to be.”
***
“Oh.” He blinked. “Well. That’s good.” He paused. “Right?” If Rodney were being honest, he hadn’t really thought too much about how helpless or not helpless Matt was. It was one of Rodney’s shortcomings - he had a hard time putting himself in other people’s situations which is why it often led to people thinking he was a gigantic ass. Sometimes he definitely was an ass, other times it was just because he didn’t always think like other people. “It’ll definitely be helpful here, anyway. Who knows what this place will throw at us. Would be cruel to put someone completely helpless here I imagine. Probably why there’s no kids.”
--
John was a little surprised by Matt’s confession, though he certainly couldn’t blame the man for keeping that to himself until he understood better what he was dealing with. “That’s definitely good,” he echoed Rodney’s sentiment. “I was wondering how you were going to get around with a cane or a dog.” It sounded like he might not need other, which would make things much easier.
“This place does throw a lot of weird stuff at us,” he said. “Those monsters last week were the worst so far. One week we were all different sizes. One week we became alternate versions of ourselves. Or, well, we were in the bodies of an alternate version of ourselves.” Or not in a body, as the case had been for him and Rodney. “We spent a week at Disney world though.”
***
Matt expected the two men to be upset for deluding them, and was relieved that they were not. He had kept his powers a secret for so long, it felt strange being able to talk so openly about them, but at the same time it was liberating. He wouldn’t have to hide what he was able to do, to pretend he was somebody he wasn’t, taking advantage of people’s kindness when he really didn’t need or deserve it. The secret of being Daredevil was a completely different matter. It wasn’t necessary to bring that up, Matt reasoned. Nobody really had to know he was a masked vigilante who not only beat the shit out of criminals, but actually got satisfaction from doing so.
Maybe now that he could live his life authentically, he wouldn’t feel the need to become Daredevil anymore, to put that part of his life behind him? Foggy and Karen would be happy.
At least he hadn’t been captured by the Hand. Yes, Matt was now a captive of a different kind, but somehow he could deal with that. At least he wasn’t alone and didn’t have to fight his way out like he’d expected. The things Rodney and John were telling him seemed unbelievable, and because the scope was so large, Matt was a bit numb, unable to grasp the full scope of what was happening. He just nodded his head as if he did understand, and drank his coffee.
“That does sound weird,” was all he could say.
***