x x x
Chapter 2
x x x
The Empress brought the Doctor to a large cavern, lined with webbing. He tentatively touched one of the walls, and was surprised to find that it was soft and completely non-adhesive. Like a very large padded room. He idly wondered what this place was for, and the Empress seemed to recognise his curiosity, as she spoke, "This is my-" she made a hissing sound, "-private lair."
'Welcome to my parlour said the spider to the fly.' the Doctor thought idly, biting his lip so as not to show that he found anything funny whatsoever. Instead, he looked up at her and asked, "So... what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Creatures from the sky attack my children." she hissed, staring upwards, as if she could see what was going on above-ground, "You did this?"
The Doctor shook his head, "No, I didn't." He frowned up at the spot on the roof that she seemed to be staring at, but saw nothing of interest, "The humans are fighting back. They have their own ships and weapons. They will defend themselves." He turned to face her, now, "I did warn you to leave this world alone."
She growled, lowering herself down onto the soft floor, so that she was closer to his level, "My children are starving, they are not to blame!"
"No, you are." the Doctor snapped, "You understood that, when you set them loose on a world filled with life too dangerous for them to hunt. They die because of your pride."
She hissed, leaning back slightly, baring her teeth at him, now, "There is another option, little man."
"And what would that be?" he asked, frowning as she crawled closer to him, "We are both the last of our kind." In spite of the hissing and spitting, she managed to lower her tone to sound almost seductive. It took the Doctor a second to realise what she meant, and he quickly stepped back, away from her.
But one of her sharp talon-like arms caught him, pulling him closer instead. "You can't seriously be suggesting that we-?" the Doctor said, fearfully. He didn't want to finish that sentence... he really didn't.
"Do I repulse you, little Doctor?" she asked, hissing slightly.
He stared at her with fear, for several seconds, before realising that she was not joking, and this was actually a perfectly serious proposition. "Well... ah..." he hesitated, "Not the word I'd use... terrify, that's a much more appropriate word, right there. Ah, frighten, unnerve, alarm, disturb, scare, intimidate-"
"Enough!" she snapped, hissing angrily, "Your words all mean the same."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, wondering if he would actually survive any attempt to escape. Upon deciding that it would be impossible, he sighed, "Considering the fact that you're not a member of my preferred species..." not by a long shot. He hesitated once more, trying to think of the least offensive way to words this.
This was worse than the time Jackie Tyler had asked, 'Does my bum look big in this?'
"You're- I mean, you are rather pretty for a... giant... man-eating... spider." His words trailed off as he realised she wasn't really hearing them. She had stopped listening at the word 'pretty'.
"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, seeming surprised but flattered. Difficult to tell with all the hissing, but she was female, it was a safe guess.
"Well... I really don't know what the standard is for your species, I mean-" The hissing sound she made sounded like it was meant to stop him from speaking, and he decided that was probably for the best. He didn't want to prattle on and accidentally insult the murderous creature that... seemed to be... flirting with him.
He cringed as she leaned closer, hissing softly in his ear, "Your species doesn't understand the hunger... and our children would be free of it." He closed his eyes leaning back against the arm that held him, and tried not to think about who was speaking. About what she was. "Think of it, a new race, our new race."
He frowned, not opening his eyes, and trying to keep the fear and horror out of his voice as he asked, "How is what you're suggesting even possible?"
He tried to back away, as her teeth grazed his neck, but she held him securely. The hissing sound she made in his ear seemed to attempt to imitate purring, now. Very poorly, but he supposed it was the thought that counts. "Let me show you."
x x x
Martha Jones watched, through the fifth floor window of the hospital. The flying things were shooting the spider-monsters, and had yet to injure a single human. Everyone else in the building was shrieking about monsters coming up from the ground and down from the sky at the same time, but the way Martha saw it, the aliens from the sky were on their side.
The enemy of my enemy.
All the survivors they had managed to get inside before barricading the doors had been seen to, and were in good health, or at least stable. It was a refugee shelter, now, far more than a hospital.
Most of the staff had been off duty, when it had happened. It had been the night shift, after all. Martha had been so incredibly lucky to even be here. Her sister Tish had been out drinking, and somehow managed to break her ankle dancing. Martha had brought her in to the emergency room literally minutes before all hell broke loose.
She had, of course, helped out as best she could. Still only a student, not even qualified to be an intern yet, but they had needed all the help they could get at first.
Now, as she watched the ongoing apocalypse with sadness, one of the flying things buzzed past the window, right in front of her. It seemed to hesitate, then flew backwards, so that it hovered right in front of Martha, spun over in the air in a way that put her in mind of a backflip.
It then sprouted very vicious-looking spikes and dived down towards a spider-monster below, firing laser-beams at it. Once the giant spider was dead, the flying thing returned to her level, hovering right in front of her. As she watched, it retracted its spikes, and lights flashed brightly around its middle.
Martha smiled faintly at it, "Show off." It spun in a circle, now, and continued to hover, giving the strong impression of a cat bringing her a dead bird and expecting praise. "Good killing machine." she offered, and it flipped over again, before buzzing off across the street, and began circling around a group of people.
Martha watched them curiously, wondering who they were and how they had got through the spider-monsters. But then logic kicked in, and she ran back downstairs, calling out to whoever would listen, "There's people down there, we have to let them in!"
x x x
When Jack and his team reached the doors of the hospital, they were greeted by two men- one older, the other relatively young- and one very young woman. She was the first one Jack noticed, out of the three. She was very pretty, with dark skin and bright eyes. The second the doors opened, one of the flying things zoomed over to the girl and hovered right next to her shoulder.
"I think it likes you." Mr Saxon said to her, smiling.
"But they're dangerous! They've been shooting everything in sight since this started!" the younger man said, fearfully.
The girl held up a hand towards the creature next to her, and it hovered slightly lower. She tentatively touched its metal shell, and the lights flashed as it made a strange metallic buzzing sound, "The girl is our friend." it spoke, in perfect- if childlike- English.
"We have seen them firing on the Arachnids." Tosh observed, logically, "But not on us."
The creature made a slight buzzing sound, then chirped, "Racnoss go splat! Fun!" Mr Saxon barely suppressed a laugh, covering his mouth with one hand in a poor attempt to hide it.
"Is that what the spiders are called?" Ianto asked, directing the question to the flying creature.
"Bad spiders!" the creature answered, in a tone that seemed to be an affirmative to the question asked, "Bad spiders go away now!" it shrieked, flying upwards and out the door again, firing over their heads at a swarm of the spiders- Racnoss- that had emerged from a side-street.
"Everyone inside, now!" Jack ordered.
His command was obeyed eagerly enough, as Tosh and Ianto quickly entered the building. Mr Saxon pulled his terrified girlfriend after him, as he stepped inside, and Jack spent only a second watching the confrontation between the flying creature and the Racnoss, before following the others and slamming the door behind him.
Once the door was barricaded, Jack asked, "How many people are here?"
"Over a hundred." the elder man answered.
Jack swore under his breath... it was one of those words he'd picked up during his travels with the Doctor, apparently it meant something like 'damnit'- unless the Doctor had toned down the translation from something more obscene, so as not to encourage Jack- although he had been led to believe it was in the Doctor's own native language, "There's no way we can evacuate that many."
"We could stay here." Mr Saxon suggested, watching Jack a little too closely, with a calculating expression on his face, "They seem to have done a good job of keeping the Racnoss out, so far."
Jack nodded slowly, accepting the logic in that suggestion, and turning to the three people who had met them at the door, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness. This is Ianto Jones and Toshiko Sato. We were sent here on UNIT orders, to try to rescue any survivors."
"I'm Dr Neil Brown, my associate Dr Alan Davidson, and one of our brightest medical students, Martha Jones." the elder man said, in return, "We've brought in anyone we could find, but we can't fight, if the- ah, Racnoss- do get in."
"Leave that to us." Jack said with a nod, before turning to the girl, "Miss Jones?" She blushed when he focused his full attention on her, and he smiled faintly at that, "That creature seemed to like you, maybe you could convince them to help us create a perimeter here? Extra security?"
Martha nodded, "Yes sir." she answered, obviously recognising the military efficiency even if she wasn't a part of any such organisation.
"May I go with her?" Mr Saxon asked, glancing at Martha, "As an official emissary, so to speak. Unless there's anyone here who outranks me, politically?"
Jack glanced at Dr Brown, who shook his head, "There's no one else here, Mr Saxon."
Jack nodded, "Go ahead."
Mr Saxon glanced to Dr Davidson, "My fiancée is a bit upset." he said, lowering his voice, "Stress... and arachnophobia. If there's anything you could do for her?" he asked. Dr Davidson nodded, and Mr Saxon smiled, "Thank you, doctor." His lip curled at the title, with something close to distaste, but it didn't show in his voice. Then he turned to Martha, "Lead the way, Miss Jones."
Jack watched them leave, then tapped on his commlink, "Archie, Gwen, you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Cap'n." Archie's voice answered.
"We hear you, Jack." Gwen replied a second later.
"We're at Royal Hope Hospital, now." Jack informed them, "But we've got over a hundred survivors here, no way to evacuate them all. We're barricading ourselves in, so if you're closer to us than the perimeter when you find your people, head this way."
"Sure thing." Gwen answered.
"I figure I'd rather stay at the pub." Archie said with amusement, but then he became serious, "'Sides, we're too far for that, but I'll pass it on to UNIT for ya?"
"And have you tell Colonel Mace your theories on why I might have ended up in the hospital? No, I'll tell them myself, thanks, Archie." Jack answered, hearing Gwen's nervous laughter over the comm as he said that.
x x x
Martha led the way up the stairs- the lifts were out of order- to one of the higher floors. In theory, it was safe to open a window, up there. The best way to let one of the flying creatures in, to negotiate with them.
As they climbed the stairs, she glanced back at Mr Saxon, "It's an honour to meet you, sir." she said, trying to be polite, "Wish the circumstances were a bit better." she added, getting nervous now. The way he watched her was a bit unsettling.
He blinked, and suddenly seemed friendly again, "Yes, of course." He took the next few steps more quickly, catching up to her, as they continued, "You're training to be a doctor, then?" he asked calmly.
"Yes, sir." she said, with a nod, "I've always wanted to do something to help people. Save lives." she smiled, "I know it sounds kinda corny when I say it that way, but-"
"I understand." he said, not looking at her, but instead looking further up the staircase, "The greater good, am I right?"
"Something like that, sir." She decided they were high enough up, now, at the fifth floor, and led the way out through a corridor, to one of the wards with a view of the river.
She approached the window, and Mr Saxon stood at her side as she opened it. Two of the creatures swept in, from above. They were in the room before she'd even seen them! And it somehow felt a bit creepy- almost ominous, even- the way there were suddenly two instead of the one she had seen earlier.
"You brought a friend?" Martha asked, not at all sure which one was the original.
"We are one." The one on the left spoke, and it sounded like the one she had heard earlier.
Then the other one spoke, "You are our friend." Its voice was slightly lower, which was the only indication of any difference at all between them. Then that one, with the lower voice, buzzed around them both in a circle, and hovered near Mr Saxon. "We like your friend too." it added, floating closer to Mr Saxon.
He held up a hand, palm facing upwards, and the creature next to him moved to hover less than an inch above his palm. He smiled, "Very friendly, aren't they, Miss Jones?"
"Y-yes." Martha said, nervously, "Do they, um... do they have names?"
In perfect synch, the two creatures answered, "We are Toclafane."
"Well, I am Harold Saxon, and this is Martha Jones." Mr Saxon said, glancing between the two creatures- Toclafane- carefully, "We're both very pleased to meet you."
"Very happy to know you both!" the first one cheered.
"Happy to serve." the one hovering over Mr Saxon's hand added.
"That sounded like an offer of help, to me." Martha pointed out, and Mr Saxon nodded in agreement.
"The Racnoss are trying to hurt us." he said calmly, if rather bluntly. As if he was talking to the children these Toclafane spoke like, "Would you mind protecting this building from them?"
The creature hovering over his hand spun in a circle, "Happy to." it answered.
"Kill the bad spiders, yes!" the other cried, floating over to spin around Mr Saxon, somehow emanating an air of glee, "Kill them for our Master!"
Martha frowned at that, although Mr Saxon seemed to take it in his stride. Two more of the creatures floated slowly down, outside the window, now. "Kill the spiders!" one of the two newcomers cheered.
"Slay the Racnoss!" the other crowed brightly.
The two inside the building zoomed out to join their friends, and four more floated down from above to join them now. Spinning and showing those sharp spikes again, they split up, zooming in different directions around the building, in a perfect formation.
"Well, that was easy." Martha said quietly. A bit too easy, somehow... but right now, she wasn't complaining.
x x x
Jason Smith had worked for Torchwood Two since he was nineteen. He was now twenty-eight, beating the average life-expectancy of Torchwood field ops by a good two years. His boss, Archie, had also passed that record- God knows how, as he was usually drunk while out on missions, maybe that helped?- before he had been given a command position behind a desk.
Jason and Archie had found three survivors at the Winchester pub. A twenty-something hoodie-wannabe named Simon, his girlfriend Daisy, and a relatively young (also in his twenties) ex-army guy called Ed.
Ed knew enough about guns that Archie had immediately enlisted him to, "Help us shoot the bad-guys." Ed had been ecstatic at that offer.
Simon had also proved himself to be pretty good in a fight, when one of the Arachnids had got too close, and he'd crippled it with a few well-aimed swings of a cricket bat.
Daisy, on the other hand- to quote her own words- "Couldn't hurt a fly." Much fun had been poked at that, before they had been forced to flee from the pub.
Now, they were on their way out of the city. Archie led the way, while Jason and Ed covered their retreat. "Y'know..." Simon was saying idly, "Sci-fi fans like me spend their whole lives preparing for the apocalypse. But I was always counting on it being a zombie outbreak. Never expected this."
Archie just nodded, "Not many people know this, but zombies are really very easy to contain. There was this thing in Cardiff, a century and a half ago. And Colorado had some, in the sixties. L.A. has a whole lab workin' on it, underground-like. Zombies won't be the end of the world. It's all aliens."
"So these things're alien, then?" Simon asked.
"Didn't they come up from underground, though?" Ed added, "I mean, that makes them demons, doesn't it?"
"If we don't know what it is, we call it alien until we do know." Jason answered.
Archie nodded, "Y'know Nessie's an alien. So's the wolfman, old Jack told me some stories about him. Vampires, mummies, I've 'eard that the devil's really an alien, but I don't believe in 'im, since I ain't seen the proof."
"That's just great, that is." Simon said, his voice squeaking slightly.
"Innit, though?" Archie said, grinning toothily at the thought.
They turned a corner, and ran straight into a pair of the Arachnids. "Shite!" Archie yelled, shooting one of them in the head. The other hissed loudly, and more of them emerged from the shadows. "Run!" he turned and hared off in the other direction. It was a slightly longer route, but Jason knew that they could reach UNIT barricades that way, too.
Jason fired at the Arachnids, bringing down two of them, before following the others, all of whom had the good sense to run, except for Ed. Ed had shot down three of the things, before Jason grabbed his arm and ordered, "Retreat!"
They could hear the Arachnids skittering behind them, as they chased after Archie. Two more turns- and thankfully nothing else blocking their path- and they could see the barricade. Jason turned to fire off a few more rounds at their pursuers. The spiders were faster than them, and would catch up very quickly if not shot at.
"We're not gonna make it!" Jason shouted, as they ran, "They're closing in!"
"Runnin' from a predator... just gotta outrun your friends." Ed said, loudly and clearly, reloading the two guns he was carrying, as he ran.
Jason didn't understand this until he heard Simon yelling, "Don't you dare!"
But Ed had already stopped in his tracks, turning around and yelling a war-cry at the top of his lungs, emptying both of his guns into the oncoming horde of spiders.
Jason didn't dare stop running to try to save him. Instead, he grabbed Simon as he tried to turn and save his friend, and urged him forward towards the barricade. He heard it when the war-cry was cut off with a sickening crunch, and glanced over his shoulder. The spiders had stopped to devour their prey, buying them time.
They got within range of the barricade just as the spiders resumed their pursuit, and would never have made it without Ed's heroic sacrifice. The echo of gunfire flying above their heads, bringing the monsters down, sent such a wave of relief through Jason that it killed the adrenaline he had been running on. He collapsed, exhausted, just past the perimeter.
He distantly heard the muttering of, "Bloody heroic idiot..." from Simon, and suddenly felt guilty that he hadn't been the one to make that sacrifice, instead.
x x x
