No. 24

Prompt: Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay (+ Team), "Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys"
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/700591.html?thread=92449967#t92488111

John stood beside Rodney overlooking the medical isolation bay. "Say goodnight to the bad guys, Rodney. It's time to go."

Rodney gazed down at the dozen sleeping figures. "But they're so cute!"

"They were a lot less cute before they got hit with the Ancient de-aging device and were shooting at us," John pointed out.

The Genii soldiers, once an elite strike force team, had been reduced to toddler-hood. Lorne had emergency-retrofitted them with pajamas by cutting down t-shirts and turning them into onesies with his previously undisclosed mad sewing skills, and now the twelve of them were curled in a massive puppy pile on the bed Carson and his team had cobbled together by wiring together several cots from the infirmary.

One moment the team was receiving fire from all sides, the next there was a glowing light from the Ancient device John had activated, the one they'd retrieved in hopes of it being a weapon, and then there was crying. Lots of crying. From toddlers swimming in the clothes the Genii soldiers had been wearing.

"But now they're so small and defenseless," Rodney said. "They look just like regular children."

"Because they are regular children. For now." None of them had had their adult memories and had, for no good reason, trusted Ronon the most. He'd endured their crying and demands for hugs and piggyback rides with surprising aplomb. He'd been the one to talk them into coming into the jumper, coming back to Atlantis, submitting to exams by Carson, and then eating and being bathed and put to bed.

"Zelenka thinks the effects will wear off in the morning," John reminded Rodney.

Rodney sighed. "I know."

"And then, we'll have hostages."

"Mostly naked hostages, unless their clothes grow with them."

John grimaced. "Right." He turned away from the window and radioed for Lorne. Rodney followed him, and together they returned to the rec room where Teyla and Ronon were engaged in some kind of Pegasus board game that was sort of like mancala but had different colored stones and way more rules and seemed infinitely more complicated.

"How are the children?" Teyla asked.

"You mean the hilariously shrunken enemies?" Ronon snickered and scooped up a handful of glittering stones, considered them.

"They were frightened children," Teyla said, her tone reproachful.

"They're sleeping like angels," John assured her, with no small amount of sarcasm. "I'm sure they'll be back to their devilish selves in the morning."

The Genii might have been more devilish if they hadn't awoken stark naked and tangled all up with each other in a highly inappropriate fashion. Lorne returned the bare essentials of their uniforms – underwear, trousers, shirts – and Rodney and John joined Elizabeth in the control tower to listen while she made the call to the Genii.

Karma was a bitch, and Rodney and John had all kinds of photos of toddler Genii to prove it.