Atlantis: City of the Future!

Designed and built during the 'technology' boom of the 50's, Atlantis was supposed to be a glimpse into the future of the modern city. Though it was technologically advanced for the time and a marvel of modern engineering and architecture, Atlantis fell into disrepair and corruption.

The criminal element stepped into the vacuum left by Atlantis' lackadasical governing body. The Wraith are an organized crime ring that have been sucking the life out of Atlantean business through protection money and graft. They are brutal and without compassion.

The Genii are more of a street gang and are in direct opposition to the Wraith. Originally a group of disgruntled citizens and business owners, the Genii slowly became more and more criminal, believing that they only way to defeat the Wraith was to fight fire with fire.

For decades this has gone on in Atlantis, but recently, there has been an upsurge in community involvement in the clean up effort. To that end, a new mayor, Elizabeth Weir, and a new Chief of Police, Stephen Caldwell, were elected on a tough anti-corruption platform.

It's an uphill battle, though. The community is scared and the police are outgunned by both the Wraith and the Genii. In addition, there is still a lot of corruption within the police department, but Caldwell has one squad he knows is clean: Bates, Stackhouse, Markham, Cadman, and Lorne. He also has made sure the crime labs (Parrish, Miko, Simpson, & Grodin) and coroner's office (Carson & Biro) are clean.

Another problem the police face is a small band of vigilante citizens. Though everyone knows their leaders are Teyla Emmagen and Ronon Dex, no one can prove anything. Even Teyla and Ronon are caught unaware when a new, high-tech vigilante shows up, though. This unnamed man appears occassionally to wreak havoc within both criminal organizations and literally nothing is known about him.

Now, Rodney McKay is an eccentric billionaire genius inventor (of course). He runs a small, but extremely profitable tech firm out of his family estate. He's known to be misanthropic, rude, and generally unpleasant to be around. In fact, no one bothers to seek his company except for Radek Zelenka, whom the world at large assumes to be one of Rodney's scientists. This is untrue. Radek is his creative partner ("Lab assistant!" Rodney insists) and co-conspirator in their personal war against crime in Atlantis.

John Sheppard is a private detective, formerly a member of the Atlantis PD. He was drummed out of the PD by Caldwell's predecessor, Everett, on trumped up corruption rumors to cover up Everett's own involvement with the Genii. Rather than face a fixed IA investigation, John retired from the force and opened up his own office with his rookie partner, Ford, who followed him when he left the PD. Sadly, Ford was killed by the Wraith and that loss eats at John.

John and Rodney meet when Radek decides to call a PI to solve an industrial espionage issue at the tech company...

***


Welcome to Atlantis, City of the Future!

Rediscover Yourself in the Lost City!

Atlantis is Rising and So Can You!

John stared in fascination at the vintage posters lining the walls of ZPM Technology's reception office. The artist renderings of Atlantis' familiar skyline sparkled and gleamed even fifty years after the fact.

He wished the same could be said for the city herself.

Decades of a failing economy, ineffective governance, and a booming criminal underworld had tarnished the city almost beyond recognition. John still loved her, though. He loved her towers and spires, even if neglect had left them dingy and in disrepair. He loved her tiny pockets of ancient-seeming technology that had somehow managed to survive the years and remain viable. He loved her people; the hardworking people who stayed when everyone else left, because they loved her.

Atlantis was not an easy city to love, though. The Wraith's grasp on organized crime and on the city herself made it nearly impossible for anyone to conduct business unmolested. The Genii's guerilla methods for dealing with the Wraith were nearly as bad and no one knew what to think of the masked vigilante who had recently begun stalking the city's criminal element. Even the city herself could be merciless and capricious to even her most loyal citizens; last year's gas leak in the heart of the Athos neighborhood was an example of that.

Nonetheless, John stayed, even when leaving would have been easier.

"Mr. Sheppard? Dr. Zelenka will see you now."

John followed the bored looking receptionist down the short hallway to an office that appeared to be deserted. There were no messy piles of paper, no equations scribbled on the whiteboard, hell, there wasn't even a computer on the desk and everything John knew about scientists told him this was not a working office.

"Radek?" The receptionist scowled at the empty office before smiling too brightly at John. "If you'll excuse me a moment?"

She leaned past him into the hallway. "Radek!"

A door slammed somewhere in the distance and the sound of running footsteps could be heard headed in their direction. "Yes, yes. I'm coming. No need to yell."

"Get in here; Mr. Sheppard has been waiting." The receptionist patted John on the arm and motioned him further into the office. "Would you like coffee or water?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

"All right, then." She slipped out just as Dr. Zelenka slipped in and John got his first look at his potential client.

Dr. Radek Zelenka was...rumpled. That was the best description John could come up with, even though he knew the other man held doctorates in both electrical and mechanical engineering and was considered one of the best scientific minds in the world.

"Mr. Sheppard, it is a pleasure to meet you. We have much to discuss, yes?" Dr. Zelenka motioned him to the visitor's chair as he settled himself behind the desk.

"I do have to say I'm curious as to why you called me, Doctor." Curious was an understatement. Except for the handful of scientists and support staff employed by ZPM Tech, no one in Atlantis was exactly sure what the company did. There were rumors of government contracts and, after seeing the security measures in place, John was inclined to believe them.

Dr. Zelenka pushed up his glasses to rub at his eyes and John realized he was younger than he had assumed. Now that he was looking, John could see the dark circles under his eyes and the fine lines of tension around his mouth that made the good doctor seem a good decade older than he was. "You must understand this is not easy for me to say."

John nodded and let himself settle into the uncomfortable chair. He could tell this was going to take awhile.

"As you may or may not know, ZPM Tech works exclusively on confidential contracts, both governmental and civilian. We pride ourselves on both the quality of our work and - "

The sound of shouting outside the door interrupted Dr. Zelenka's explanation and John jerked sideways in surprise when the door slammed open.

"Radek! What the hell do you think - Dammit, Jeannie, let go!"

John peeked around the door to see the receptionist - Jeannie - trying to bodily remove the shouting man from the doorway. Her arms were locked around his chest and her feet were planted, but she just didn't have the body mass to stop him and she was being dragged forward with every step he took.

"This is none of your business, Rodney! Let Radek handle it."

"Of course this is my business. This is my business!" The man - Rodney - grunted a little and used the doorjamb to try to pull himself into the room. Apparently Jeannie was stronger than she looked. "Just- god! We're not kids anymore, Jeannie, let go!"

John could see the smirk overtake the annoyance on Jeannie's face and wasn't surprised when she abruptly released her hold, sending Rodney stumbling into the room. He narrowly missed braining himself on the corner of Dr. Zelenka's desk before he managed to pull himself upright with a huff. He appeared not to notice Jeannie slipping into the room and closing the door behind them, but John noticed he waited until he heard the snick of the door to start his harangue.

"I don't know who you think you are, Zelenka, but I can assure you that hiring some ... some two-bit Mike Hammer is not the answer to our little dilemma."

"Rodney - "

"And, in fact - "

"Rodney, I - "

"I think it's a reflection of your - "

"Dr. McKay!"

"...disregard - What?"

Dr. Zelenka gestured towards John. "I'd like to introduce you to John Sheppard, the 'two-bit Mike Hammer' I have decided to consult on this matter."

Rodney didn't even bother turning around, "'You' decided? You? Need I remind you your name is only first because of 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'? You don't have the authority to - "

"I agreed, Rodney." Jeannie spoke softly, but it was obvious her words carried weight with Rodney. All the bluster disappeared and he seemed to deflate a little.

"But, Jeannie, I - "

"We need proof, Rodney, but we can't have the police in here investigating and whoever is doing this will bolt at the first sign of an internal investigation."

While Jeannie's soft explanation seemed to calm Rodney, something about it set off alarms in John's head. He was pretty sure there was something more going on here, but when Rodney finally deigned to look at him, John realized with a shock of lust that he was here for the duration.

***

John walked a slow perimeter around the labs of ZPM Technology and reviewed the progress he had made on his assignment. He had learned several things during the two weeks he had spent undercover as ZPM Tech's newest security guard.

1. There was definitely someone smuggling classified designs out of the building.

2. He was ninety-five percent sure Dr. Kavanagh was the culprit.

3. The good doctors McKay and Zelenka had some sort of super-secret, hinky side project they were working on.

4. Rodney McKay was the smartest, crankiest, most sarcastic bastard in the universe.

5. John thought he might be in love.

There were rules, though. John wasn't one to blindly follow the dictates of others, but he did feel strongly about the few rules he made for himself. The most important being the separation of work and pleasure. John grimaced and pushed the thought of Chaya out of his head. He had learned that one the hard way. As long as Dr. McKay was his client, there would be no... hanky-panky.

And there was going to be hanky-panky, of that John had no doubt. He knew Rodney probably thought of himself as subtle, but staring at John's ass everytime they met was just about as obvious as he could get. So, as soon as John wrapped up this case, hanky-panky.

He was close to wrapping it up. By the weekend, if all things went smoothly, he could be enjoying the company of one Dr. Rodney McKay. All he was missing was definitive proof that Dr. Kavanagh was the culprit and, if he was correct, he could get his hands on that proof in about fifteen minutes, when Kavanagh returned to the lab after his 'long lunch.'

And that was when the wheels fell off the wagon.

Dr. Kavanagh never returned from lunch.

By three-thirty, Rodney was into his second hour of ranting



I. ZPM Technologies (Zelenka, Peterson, & McKay)
A. John has a meeting with Radek re: industrial espionage. Experimental tech designs have been accessed without permission and they need to know who the culprit is.
B. Rodney busts into the meeting, ranting about Zelenka going too far, blah blah egocakes. Witty banter and instant attraction. Rodney agrees to John investigating. Undercover at ZPM?

II. John @ ZPM as security guard
A. run-in with Kavanaugh, interaction/flirting with Rodney
B. Kavanaugh's body is discovered in one of the labs
C. Police confiscate experimental tech in raid on Genii
D. Attempted break-in at ZPM
E. John notices Rodney and Radek being squirrley. He follows them back to Rodney's estate.

III. Stargate - Rodney's estate
--Huge old inherited mansion/estate on a penninsula. 3 sides are sheer cliff. On the extreme end is an old abandoned lighthouse, which is now Rodney & Radek's secret lab/batcave.
A. John watches them make like the McBickerson's until he's sure they're not behind the espionage, then gets sucked into what they're making. He realizes the vague reports he's been hearing of a super-vigilante must be them.
B. He realizes Rodney has been going out in the suit and gets pissed (scared) and accidentally makes a noise. Blah blah exposition cakes.
C. They all work it out that John is a better point man for the vigilante activities and begin training him on using the equipment.

IV. John's first night out
A. Rodney's reaction to him in full regalia (Zelenka had done most of his training).
B. Rodney's voice in his head (part of suit is full VR communication wtih home base (Rodney)
C. Kicking ass
D. Home again/battle lust
E. The future...