Hello! This is my first fanfiction, and I know that it's terrible, so bear with me. I've never actually let anyone read anything I've written, and am very, very nervous about making a fool of myself, so please, no hate! Constructive criticism, however, is both extremely welcome and much needed. I doubt anyone's going to read this, but if they do, the next chapter won't come out for a couple of weeks, as I'm going away to a place with no internet. (Oh, the horror!) Anyway, without further ado, here's the first chapter! :)
Rose stood in the center of a tech-filled warehouse—the floor scattered with wires and machines. She pressed the jump button, taking a deep breath as the wind began to pick up, starting a cyclone of which she was in the eye of. Something was wrong, though, just slightly off. She could feel it. Her mind whirred at a million miles per hour. She'd checked and rechecked, she was sure. Come on, Rose, think! Something's wrong, something… not connected! She looked around, hair flying in her face and disrupting her vision. Her eyes widened and she lunged for two wires—red and blue—and forced them together. Her victory was short lived however, as in a flash of light, she fell to the ground on her hands and knees with a groan, vision swimming. She looked up just in time to get a sense of her location—Cardiff, right where the doctor parked his TARDIS when the timeship needed to recharge, early twenty-first century if she had to guess—before the world went black.
Owen leaned against the wall of a nearby building, rolling his eyes, while Gwen and Tosh fussed over the recently materialized alien. Ianto and Jack had gone for a half month's long special mission, and already there was more excitement than they usually got while the two were there! Of course, the team would have had their suspicions of this so called "special mission," save for the fact that they were there when the orders were given, so they knew it wasn't just the two blokes going on vacation to do things none of them wanted to think about. He sighed, standing up.
"Look, let's just bring her back to Torchwood. We'll ask Jack what to do when he gets back." Gwen stood, nodding. She was still upset with Owen, but, as much as she was trying to ignore him, his suggestion made sense.
"Good idea. While he's away I'll interrogate her, see what I can learn. Tosh, see if you can figure out what species she is. Now, Owen! Help me pick her up! If we see someone comin', we'll pretend she's just drunk." And with that, the three of them got to work. Luckily it was nighttime, so they wouldn't have to worry as much about being caught carrying around an unconscious girl. Still, they hurried back to base as quickly as they could under the circumstances.
Owen and Gwen placed her on the autopsy table while Tosh took blood and DNA samples. Much to all of their frustration, they were unable to identify her species. Gwen scowled.
"Tosh, help me get her to the cells." She appeared to be uninjured, which was good. They never knew what treatments would cause more harm than good. None of them wanted to go home, claiming they needed to be there if she was dangerous, but it was mostly because of simple curiosity. Two hours later, the girl opened her eyes, blinking in the light and stretching slightly. Then she froze, her gaze locking on Gwen, the only person not watching from the computer.
"Hello," she said slowly, certain she wouldn't understand English but trying to appear unthreatening. "Welcome to Torchwood." The girl's eyes widened with panic, and she looked around the cell for an escape. It was small, with a stone bench on one side. The floor, ceiling, and three of the walls were concrete, but the fourth wall was glass.
"Please," she begged. "Let me out." Everyone was shocked at not only her ability to speak English, but also at the defeat in her eyes now that the panic had subsided. Gwen took a step forward and sat down across from her.
"I can't. I'm sorry. But you're safe now." The girl narrowed her eyes, clearly not believing. "My name's Gwen," Gwen introduced herself.
"Rose," the girl informed her, then grinned slowly. "But most call me… Bad Wolf." As soon as the predatory spark in her eye was there it was gone, bringing back the defeated young woman, sitting criss- cross in the cell. Gwen narrowed her eyes.
"Bad wolf. What does it mean?" The girl shrugged.
"Everything that is, everything that will be." She waved her hand. "It's my name. But you know that." Gwen nodded, deciding that maybe she would tell her more if she thought she already knew—that worked most of the time.
"Of course. Now, what are your intentions on Earth? Are there more of you?" Bad Wolf grinned and winked.
"Nope," she replied, popping the p. "One of a kind, me. And I've told you a thousand times, I'm not gonna hurt anyone."
"By us, do you mean Torchwood?" The girl rolled her eyes.
"There's no need to play games. I know how it works and I'm not gonna tell you anything new just 'cause ya pretend to be nice. Been there, done that. If you're gonna try to dissect me again, you're welcome to try." However, her words weren't defiant, just… tired. Gwen changed the subject—clearly she wasn't going to change the girl's mind about their intentions.
"Are you hungry?" Her head shot up, hopeful, for a second, then suspicious, and finally back to tired. She had the most expressive eyes Gwen had ever seen.
"Yes, but I'm not eatin' anything I get from you lot." She grimaced. "Learned that lesson the hard way."
"We're not going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to, I promise." It was very clear the girl didn't believe her.
Back in the hub, Owen turned around from watching the screen, texting Jack.
"Found an alien, don't recognize the species."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Not sure. Gwen's interrogating it, but we aren't getting any information. What should we do?"
"Wait for me to get back. Try not to antagonize it."
"K" he shut the phone off and spoke into his earpiece.
"Gwen, Jack says to wait until he gets back. He might be able to identify it. Until then, it stays locked up. It could be dangerous. Wouldn't be the first time an alien tried to trick us." This last sentence was directed at Tosh, who glared.
Rose saw Gwen listen to her earpiece, but she couldn't make out what was said. "It's a her, not an it," Gwen replied snappishly. Oh, so they were talking about her.
"What did they say?" she asked.
"We can't do anything until the boss gets back. Don't worry, you aren't in any danger. But you should eat something…" Bad Wolf shook her head, and Gwen sighed. It was going to be a long seven days.
The female alien had given up on refusing water after the first day, but it wasn't until two days later when Gwen finally got her to eat something. It wasn't much, just chips, but it brought some color into her cheeks. On the fourth day of her incarceration, Owen went in while the alien was asleep to collect another blood sample for Tosh's research. No one was watching the screen until they heard a scream coming from the monitor in Bad Wolf's cell. Owen's scream. They watched in morbid fascination as she sat up, eyes glowing, and stared into Owen's eyes as if reading his very soul. All three went running when a golden light came out of her eyes and knocked their teammate unconscious. Directly afterwards, she curled back up and went back to sleeping. They pulled him out, and he woke up an hour later with one hell of a headache.
When Bad Wolf woke up and learned of what had happened, (Gwen told her, hiding her confusion that she didn't remember,) she had apologized profusely, looking absolutely terrified. Gwen, who'd formed a fragile friendship with the girl, had comforted her to the best of her ability. The team couldn't wait for their boss to return, in fact, the only one person who wasn't secretly excited to figure out what she was, was Rose herself. She already knew what she was, but the story was too long and complicated to tell, not that they would believe her. She was terrified, in fact, of their mysterious boss returning. Gwen was nice, and neither Tosh nor Owen were outright unfriendly, which was far, far more than she had ever expected of Torchwood. Doubtless their boss, whoever he was, would have a much different attitude. Alone in her cell, hearing only the distant call of weevels, Rose shuddered.