Cardiff; TORCHWOOD Three Hub

A steady beeping sound suddenly erupted from the computers. Toshiko 'Tosh' Sato, TORCHWOOD's residential computer genius, started investigating before anyone else had the chance to look curious.

"We've had a major spike in Rift energy," she called out in her permanently gentle voice. Captain Jack Harkness, the team's leader, appeared over her shoulder.

"Where?"

"Just outside, but the cameras didn't catch anything," Tosh said, pulling up the screen. Except for a lovely, calm picture of the Roald Dahl Plass at night, there was nothing.

"Is it a glitch?" Gwen Cooper said over Tosh's other shoulder. The police liaison's thick Welsh accent was unmistakable.

"No," Tosh said firmly. "Something came through; I'm just not sure what." She hit a few more keys and frowned. "It's still there, actually."

"Of course it's still there Tosh," Owen Harper, the team's medical officer, said with his usual sardonic tone. "If it came through, it's usually here to stay, which means a hell of a lot more work for us."

Tosh shook her head, clicking on the mouse. "No, I mean that it's like there's a huge ball of Rift energy, just sitting there. It's as though it's drawing power to itself, but not electricity."

Jack straightened. "Tosh, keep an eye on it and in contact with us. Owen, Gwen, you're with me."

The three adults moved out, grabbing guns as they went.

Kathryn sat up abruptly with a deep, choking gasp. In the process she fell off of the bench she'd been lying on. Her thoughts still incoherent, she fumbled at her neck, sighing in relief when she found what she was looking for.

Though she still didn't know why, Kathryn was ridiculously attached to a burnt out DNA transporter, despite the fact it was the thing that had taken the fifteen year old from her family and into the TARDIS in the first place.

That settled, Kathryn looked down at the wallet she had brought through with her. The I.D. card had, eerily enough, her picture on it, but with a different birthdate and the name 'Josephine Cole.' There was also a capital 'T' made entirely out of hexagons, but no hint of what it stood for.

"Still, gives me a name and some info," Kathryn mused. "And money. An absurd amount of money."

Kathryn made a face, spitting off to the side in an effort to rid herself of the taste of the rift. It was everywhere, weighing down on her like a wet wool blanket. She could feel the energy saturating her cells, but it was wrong somehow. Impure and requiring purification before storage.

Kathryn picked herself up off the ground, pushing the wallet into her back jeans pocket. Usually she put everything she found into her Gallifreian messenger bag, but she didn't want to risk losing her new name if something happened to her bag.

The area was city, but seemed very quiet for a city. Maybe she just wasn't near the bars or—if her nose served her true—the wharf. Kathryn—no, Josephine. She must remember that name now.

Josephine/Kathryn seemed to be standing in a huge plaza, with some kind of monument. There were backlit letters on it, what must have been a local dialect and then English.

"In these stones, horizons sing." Josephine shrugged. "Nice sentiment." She knew a great many languages, but the one that was translated was one she didn't know. It definitely looked Earth-based however, which was a good sign. However, it was certainly not something from the Americas, which was a bad sign.

Across from the large, oddly shaped building was a huge tower-like fountain. Something at the base of it caught Josephine's eye, causing her to do a double take.

Perception filter. There was a perception filter on one spot, just the one square, at the base of the tower. And three people were rising out of the ground, as if on an elevator.

Josephine stepped backwards, feeling her heart jump into her throat. The man in the lead, the one in the World War Two army trench coat…he was wrong. But oh, so magnificently wrong! A huge glob of pure temporal energy. Even with her eyes open she could see the silver wisping from his skin. It was such a sharp contrast from the tainted rift that Josephine suddenly wanted to latch onto him and drink in the silver.

And yet…and yet he frightened her. It was unnatural. Nothing could live with that much raw time in them. So he couldn't exist.

I got glimpses of other things, people I think. A man who felt weird, like he shouldn't exist.

Josephine backed up, remembering what she'd seen in the Doctor's head scarce hours ago. If the Doctor had doubts about this man, then she was certainly not safe with him.

Her nerve broke. Josephine wheeled about and took off running.

Jack caught sight of the staring young girl immediately. He wasn't really worried about her seeing them, but his instincts told him there was something off about her.

Suddenly she turned and ran off. Tosh's voice echoed through the team's ear pieces.

"I have a dual screen up. It's the girl. Whoever or whatever she is, she's the Rift energy. I don't know how, but it's her."

"Can you track her?" Jack shouted, starting to pursue the girl.

"Definitely."

"Good, because we're about to lose her."

Josephine had never run so fast in her life. She felt as though she was floating, flying. The energy of the Rift poured through her, fueling every stride. She would never get tired, could escape these people without a second thought. They'd never catch her.

The power danced up her spine and raced through her veins as she twirled in-between people and down streets, up alleys and across roads. Whatever was happening, it was going deeper than mere energy absorption, like she'd had for the past few months. Now…this was energy. This was life. This was power.

And she would never let go.

Jack, Gwen, and Owen all stopped, gasping for breath. Once he had enough to speak, Jack talked to Tosh. "We're coming back to the Hub. We have to wait until she stops. There's no way we'll get her on foot."

Tosh's voice came back to him. "I was clocking her at 88.5 kilometers an hour."

"55 miles an hour?" Jack gasped, doing the conversion in his head. "That's impossible."

"She's still going at that speed."

"Any idea where she's going?" Gwen cut in.

"None. It's like…it's like she's running for the pleasure of it. She's on the beach at the moment."

"Keep tabs on her," Jack ordered. "See you at the Hub."

Josephine was still running, laughing from the mere ecstasy of it. Oh, such freedom! She was never going back, never.

Deering.

Josephine tumbled, rolling head over heels as the name resounded in her head. After crashing to a complete stop, she lifted herself from the sand, gasping for air. Who knew that name? Who would have any idea of that name?

She looked up and out over the empty beach. Her eyes widened at the face she half saw in the ocean fog before she scrambled back up and ran back the other way.

Josephine slowed on her own power this time, leaning against a wall. She suddenly felt very tired and very hungry. As marvelous as the temporary fuel had been, she felt as though she were suffering from the worst adrenaline and sugar crash in history.

Pushing herself off the wall, she walked shakily out onto the street. It was a city; somewhere there was bound to be an open restaurant, even at…whatever time this was.

"She's stopped," Tosh announced as Jack, Gwen, and Owen stepped through the door.

"And you couldn't tell us when we were still outside?" Owen complained.

"She only just stopped. A restaurant near the edge of the city."

Gwen frowned. "An alien that stops for fish and chips?"

"We'll ask it when we catch it," Jack said. "Get in the car."