Chuck had just finished a mission and was walking slowly down a street waiting for Casey and Sarah to bring the car, they knew he wasn't great at running, yet they still ran ahead. What was the big deal? The mission was over now anyway? Still it was nice to have a little alone time once in a while.
Suddenly a bright light shone from down an alley-way, it wasn't just bright, it was really bright. He knew he shouldn't investigate stuff like this without Sarah and Casey and he was the intersect after all, but he just wanted to know what it was. He slowly and carefully approached the light, luckily for him it was 2 in the morning so there were plenty of shadows to hide himself in. Although he did note mentally that the shadows could work both ways, and he had no idea what was lurking there.
He entered the alley-way to find the source of the bright light. It was some kind of portal or mini continuously explosion, the lights just flared out from this spot in the air just above ground level and it was big enough for Chuck to step right into it if he wanted to, not that he was going to.
He walked a little closer. Suddenly a creature burst out of the centre of the light and fell forwards. Chuck jumped backwards. The creature had an ugly face it looked like some kind of monster, or something you'd see out of a science-fiction movie.
"Oh my god," Chuck gasped. "I'm going crazy, that's it, I've lost it, on the mission, must have had some kind of blow to my head."
The creature peered at Chuck then growled, Chuck leant a little closer to him and it suddenly sprang at him. He quickly jumped back to get out of it's way, the creature opened it's mouth to display a large jaw of horribly sharp teeth and it leant closer to Chuck, poised to attack.
"Sarah! Casey! Little help here!" Chuck yelled, hoping someone would here.
Just then a shot could be heard from behind Chuck and it flung straight into the creature's chest.
"Sorry darling," Said a female English sounding voice.
The creature flew back and howled in agony before it collapsed.
Chuck turned to see a pale teenage girl with long black hair and piercing blue eyes walking towards him, she put her gun away into her black leather jacket.
"No, no, I don't mind, erm thank you," Chuck said.
"I wasn't talking to you," The woman/girl said.
She walked up to the creature and leaned over it, she made an action with her hand that looked like she was taking a pulse. She sighed and then pressed her hand on what seemed to be an ear piece stuck in her ear.
"I had to shoot, he was about to attack," She said. "No, he's gone, I'm putting him back through, too much of a clean up."
The girl managed to haul the creature back into the light and suddenly the light vanished as if it was never there. She took a deep breath and then started walking back towards Chuck.
"Thanks, you know, for saving my life back there," Chuck said.
The girl looked at him as if she was totally uninterested. "You should go," she said.
"Yes, right, I will, but what was that thing? I mean it's teeth!" Chuck exclaimed.
"It's a weevil," The girl said and walked off.
"Hang on! Wait! What's a weevil?" Chuck asked. But she ignored him and continued walking on, Chuck ran after her.
Just then a car pulled over and Sarah and Casey got out.
"Chuck, you're alright, we heard a gun shot," Sarah said.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, bit well, freaked out but fine," He turned to the girl who had now stopped and was eyeing Sarah and Casey almost as if she was figuring out what they were. "This girl saved me, from a weird creature thing, it was about to attack me and she shot it,"
"Shot it?" Sarah asked,
"What kind of creature?" Casey asked.
"It was a big thing, with huge teeth and a nasty screwed up face." Chuck tried to explain.
The girl gave him a harsh look, "It can't help it you know, it's born like that. And it was just scared, I wouldn't have killed it if you weren't there."
"Right, sorry." Chuck mumbled.
"You said a creature? Born like what, an animal?" Casey asked, he was really intrigued with this situation.
"And a teenage girl with a gun," Sarah said, eyeing the girl. She pulled out her own gun and pointed it at the girl who didn't even flinch, instead she just stood there.
"Sarah no! She saved my life!" Chuck said.
Sarah didn't look at him instead she just stared at the girl. "I think you'd better come with us."
"I'm not going with anyone," The girl said calmly, "I've got stuff to do thanks,"
Sarah pointed the gun at the girl's head, "Get in the car."
The girl reached for her ear-piece, but Casey quickly stopped her by pointing his gun at her head too. "She's got a point, get in the car, contact anyone and I'll shoot."
"Can't I at least let my Boss know I'm going to be late." The girl said innocently.
"Depends on who your Boss is." Casey said firmly, "And why he employ's so young?"
"Well, when I say Boss, he's not strictly speaking my Boss, I work with him, not for him, although I do get paid, quite well too." She said lightly as if this situation was nothing new.
"Give me the ear-piece, all weapons and get in the car." Sarah said.
"Alright, alright," The girl said.
She handed over her ear-piece and two guns.
"Is that it?" Casey asked.
"I'm not keen on weapons, carry what I have to." The girl replied.
"Come on guys, this is hardly fair, she saved my life." Chuck said.
"Can't be too careful Chuck, and there's something fishy about this." Sarah told him.
The girl got in the car and Chuck sat next to her in the back. They got started and made their way back to the base. Casey blindfolded the girl as they took her in and then sat her down. Once she was tied to a chair he took the blind fold off her.
"Hmm, nice base, a little small, nonetheless, cosy." She said sounding a little amused.
"Who are you? Who do you work for?" Sarah asked sitting in front of her.
"I'll give you an answer for an answer." The girl replied.
"It doesn't work like that." Casey said.
"Come on Sarah, Casey, what about you Chuck? Not going to let them treat me like this without a little fairness, are you?" The girl asked.
"How do you know our names?" Casey asked.
"Oh come on, wasn't that hard, for a start you all called each other those names and the labels in your clothes over there gave it away." The girl nodded towards their cover clothes that were on the side with their name badges on it.
"Dammit, she's good." Casey said.
"Thank you," The girl replied.
"What's your name, you know ours." Sarah said.
"Fair enough, my name's Arianna." The girl replied.
"Arianna what?" Sarah asked.
"Well miss Walker, or agent Walker I presume. That's just it, my name is just Arianna," Arianna replied.
"No surname?" Chuck asked.
"Nope, never had one," She replied.
"Everyone has a surname," Casey said.
"Not everyone, me for example, would have thought that was a bit obvious by now. Bit slow you lot." Arianna said.
Casey just growled quietly.
"Fine then, Arianna, who do you work for?" Sarah asked.
"Like I said, I work with, not for." Arianna said defiantly.
"Who for then?" Sarah asked.
"Torchwood." Was Arianna's reply.
"Never heard of it." Sarah said, "Me neither," replied Casey.
Chucked gasped a bit, "I do, just flashed."
"Flashed?" Arianna asked, "You've got some kind of computer brain or what?"
They looked at her suspiciously but said nothing.
"What is Torchwood Chuck? Is it real?" Sarah asked.
"Oh yes, it's real. A secret organisation set up by Queen Victoria in 1879. It was originally created to protect the British empire but now it is protects the Earth, worldwide." Chuck informed them.
"From what?" Sarah asked, "Protects from what?"
"Exterritorial threats by using scavenged alien technology." Chuck finished.
"What a load of rubbish." Casey said.
Arianna just laughed, "Just like an American, ironic really."
"What's ironic?" Casey asked.
"My sort of Boss is American." Arianna said, "Great guy."
"Captain Jack Harkness." Chuck filled in for them.
"That's a heck of a lot of information you've got in there." Arianna said to Chuck, "You definitely human?"
"Yes!" Chuck said.
"So, now you know everything, can I go now?" Arianna asked.
"First we need to have a word with the General." Sarah said.
"Oooh, the general, sounds spooky." Arianna laughed.
They turned on a screen and a formal lady in uniform turned round. "What is it?" she asked.
"General, we've got this.." Sarah began but the General cut her off.
"Arianna?" The general asked.
"Hm? Sorry do I know you?" Arianna said, she'd met a lot of people in her time, a lot of general's, she couldn't be expected to remember every single one of them.
"You saved us from the Graske. Do you remember?" General asked, "Or has that not happened for you yet?"
Casey, Chuck and Sarah looked incredibly confused, but realisation dawned on Arianna's face.
"Oh yes, General Diane Beckman, how could I forget, yes that was about 12 years ago for me, how long for you?" Arianna asked.
"7 months." She replied. "It's good to see you again."
"You too. Would greet you properly you know, but your friends have got me all tied up." Arianna explained.
"Oh of course, let her go agent Walker, she's no threat to us." General ordered.
Sarah did what she was told but she was very confused about the situation. Arianna held out her hand and wiggled her fingers, Casey sighed and placed her guns in her hand and then her ear piece which she quickly put back in her ear.
"Thank you," Arianna said.
"So, Diane, how's things? With all those secret agents and stuff. And what's with Chuck and his brain full of information, knows a hell of a lot about Torchwood, that can't be right surely." Arianna said as she sat herself on the table.
Sarah looked uneasy and Casey was just plain annoyed, but Chuck was finding this quite amusing.
"I can't tell you about Chuck." General replied.
"Come on, you used to tell me everything, who am I going to tell? Anyway, even if I did tell someone you could always ship me off to a forensics lab, they'd have a field day." Arianna said a little too cheerfully.
"I wouldn't do that, you're a nice girl, and Captain Harkness would be onto me, and we all know what he's like," General said with a small smirk.
"Was that a joke General Beckman? I think it was." Arianna teased.
"You bring it out in me Arianna." The general smiled.
Sarah gave Casey a look, this never happened, the General was always serious, she was a highly respectable director of the NSA. Suddenly Arianna put her hand to her ear and began talking, "Right yes, I'm a little busy, just having a nice chat with General Beckman, remember her… yes the Graske's… ah those were some good times… Nah, I'm going to hang out here for a bit, met a couple of secret agents… No, no, you're not missing out on much, it was strictly professional… okay bye."
"Jack?" The General asked.
"Yep, you know what he's like." Arianna said, "Anyway, stop distracting me, what's in Chuck's head. Some kind of computer I'm guessing. A chip you've implanted. No that's not you General, I'm thinking more of a virtual thing, memory transfusion perhaps?"
The General laughed. "You're just as brilliant as I remember, he's the intersect, he got sent an email with all government Intel on it, information from all…"
But Arianna cut her off, "Let me guess, it's now stuck in his brain!" She laughed, "Now that General is brilliant, haven't seen that in, oh I don't know, few years. But why him? I mean no offense Chuck, but General I thought you were keener on, well agent types, not superstore assistants."
"It was an accident, it wasn't meant for him, but we're using what we've got." The General said.
"Right. What were you aiming for anyway? Why a computer in a person? Why not just build a droid…" Then Arianna paused. "Oh I see, you wanted an agent that could do the job of an agent but had all this knowledge, they'd be almost un-stoppable."
"Precisely." The General said.
"It's not good General, when you humans mess with computers it never ends up well." Arianna said.
"You talk like you're not human." Sarah said.
"She's not." The General said.
"What?" Casey said.
"She's a Time Lord, I'm surprised she hasn't told you, she talks so much sometimes, family trait I suppose." The General said.
"Yes, the gob is definitely my Dad's fault." Arianna agreed, "Great in some situations though, talk my way out of things, brilliant."
"How is your Dad by the way?" The General asked.
"Wait, wait." Chuck interrupted. "So she's not human. What's a Time Lord, why is a teenage girl working for a British secret organisation that hunts aliens?"
"The Time Lords are a race of aliens, she's not a teenager, she's a lot older, but Arianna can tell you that, and she works for Torchwood, because she knows a lot about aliens." The General filled in.
"I'm 153." Arianna said. "And I'm working for Torchwood at the moment, because I'm waiting for my Dad to come back to Earth and pick me up, I haven't got a hold of him yet, he's quite busy you see."
"153?" Chuck mouthed, totally gobsmacked.
"General, what are we supposed to do with her, she knows about Chuck, we can't let her just wander around, that will put him in danger." Sarah said.
"We're not going to do anything with her, she's above us and certainly you agent walker, the NSA and CIA has no interference in the work of Torchwood, not even UNIT does. And she's not putting Chuck in danger, if anything she could help you protect him." General Beckman said.
"Could she get it out of my head?" Chuck asked, "I mean she figured it all out pretty quickly, surely she's clever enough to get rid of the intersect from my brain."
Casey, Sarah and Chuck turned to Arianna who just looked at them and shook her head.
"No, no, no, I'm not intervening, whatever the US government has done, they can un-do, nothing to do with me." Arianna said.
"Please, you don't know what it's like, my family and friends are in danger and I can't do anything about it." Chuck walked up to Arianna and looked into her eyes pleadingly.
Arianna looked away, she had to. She could never resist someone asking for help, but if she intervened it would cause all sorts of problems between the U.S. and the U.K. Arianna turned to the screen to see General Beckman.
"Arianna is not to interfere but she may be able to help you. Might I ask what you are doing in the U.S. anyway Arianna?" The General asked.
"Oh, right yes. There's been several flares of rift activity over here, no idea how or why, but they just pop up all over the place. For some reason there has been a large number in Burbank, California. Hence why I'm here now." Arianna said.
"Anything we can do?" The General asked.
"You lot! With your guns in everyone's faces! No thank you." Arianna said.
"You carry gun's I'll remind you." Casey said.
"Only on Earth and I only use them when it's kill or be killed."
"Well, if you do need any help." The General said, "Then we'd be happy to provide."
Arianna paused for a moment, "Well actually" She wondered round the room for a bit before continuing. "The team were just heading back to Cardiff to check readings and such and monitor the situation there for a while, I was looking for somewhere to stay for a bit whilst they were gone."
The General smiled, "Anywhere you need, all paid for, by NSA, that is transport, clothes, food, housing, you name it."
"Thanks General, I'll let Jack know, it's perfect." Arianna smiled. "Can I have a little chat with him somewhere?"
"Sure," Casey said, he led her through to a different room and then came back again.
"General?" Sarah asked. "Why are you doing this? She's an alien!"
"We owe her our lives Agent Walker. Now see that she's comfortable and I'm relying on you three to help her out a bit and show her around, she might even be able to help on a few missions if you ask her nicely, you could use a brain like hers." The General informed them before she switched off the screen.
The three turned to each, Sarah looked worried, Chuck looked confused and Casey looked a little interested.
"Alien's hey?" He said with a smirk.
"Well I don't think she should be too near Chuck, she's not safe." Sarah said.
"Sarah, I'll be fine, in fact I'll be more than fine, I'd be dead now if it wasn't for her," Chuck said.
Arianna walked back in.
"I hope you don't mind me staying, I'll be no trouble, might even be able to help you out, if you want." Arianna said.
"It's gonna be great." Chuck said and he smiled sincerely.
Just then a machine noise started and then quickly stopped, Sarah walked over to the printer. She picked up the sheets of freshly printed paper and handed them over to Arianna.
"I suppose this is for you." Sarah said.
"Ah yes." Arianna read them, "Here's the address to my new house, car details, etc."