Chapter Two: Unexpected Companions

"I swear, six feet tall and with TUSKS!" Jack exclaimed to a roar of laughter. The atmosphere in the Hub was upbeat and cheery. Captain Jack Harkness was in his office retelling the newly reformed crew his favourite past encounters- something he had been doing quite often recently.

The new additions seemed to have lightened things up. Perhaps it was Martha Jones' beautiful smile and wit that did it, or maybe Mickey's playfulness and humour. Whatever it was, Jack was really enjoying the buoyant vibe going around and was hoping to keep it going for as long as possible. He knew that with Torchwood, good times don't last too long.

"That's unbelievable! I don't believe it. You're making it up! It can't be true," snorted Gwen Cooper hysterically as she nudged Ianto playfully, seeing him completely lose restraint howling away silently with laughter next to her. Jack took a short pause as the entire group quietly laughed at Ianto's rare outburst of emotion before he continued his story.

"Turns out the white things are tusks, and it's woken up, and it was so not happy to see fifteen of us naked there! We ran full pelt and Brako falls and I turn to him and say-"

"We shoulda turned left," supplied Mickey as the entire group cracked up heartily at the punch line.

"You stole my line AGAIN!" guffawed Jack. "That's so unfair! I'm gonna get you for that later."

"Oh really? When you retell the same old joke? Remember? Couple years back with the Slitheen lady," he shuddered playfully," That was a real mess."

"Ah, yeah. Forgot about that," he said.

"Well, you tend to forget and lose track of a few things when you've lived a few hundred years. Unless you're the Doctor, maybe. Speaking of which, he should be back by now, "Jack said delicately as he turned to Martha.

"He said he wanted to do a bit of sightseeing on his own," shrugged Martha. "Maybe he's just enjoying himself. The TARDIS still has about 16 hours worth of refuelling left to go anyways."

"Too bad the Rift's been so quiet. It would have been fun to run around Cardiff with him again," he said resonantly. "For old times' sake," he added, as he caught Ianto's eye.

For a few seconds there was complete silence.

BOOM!

Then the whole office shivered and Jack sat bolt upright, staring at the ceiling. Something strange was happening. There seemed to be an earthquake. Perhaps just a Rift wave of energy. Perhaps it was nothing. BOOM. The whole hub quivered once more. Dust fell slowly through the air. Slowly, the crew began making their way out of Jack's office, staring either blankly into the high ceiling or to each other.

There was a pause. Then -

SMASH!

A deafening explosion rocked the Hub. Bright white flashes of light burst from the Rift Manipulator high above. It churned and angrily issued dark hot smoke all around as sparks erupted from underneath it, cascading all over the main area.

"What the hell's going on?" Jack roared as he sprinted back into his office to grab a fire extinguisher and straight to the Rift Manipulator. Gwen and Martha were already at computers typing away furiously to find the information.

"Oh my god Jack," shouted Gwen as Jack fought against the flames. "It's all over the place."

"What's all over the place?" asked Mickey as he joined her at the computer staring wide eyed at the screen.

"Rift activity. Spiking all over Cardiff. It's stretching out. Tons of them Jack," said Gwen tensely.

"It's impossible! Rift energy's off the scale. It's widening. By itself!" shouted Martha. "Tosh's calculations were all accurate. But this shouldn't be happening at all."

"Never mind that now. We've probably got tons of aliens crawling all over Cardiff right now. We need to contain them before anyone gets hurt," commanded Jack as he ran back to the team. "We'll deal with whatever caused this later. Ianto, prep the SUV."

"Yes sir," Ianto replied, running off.

"Jack, I don't think you understand. It's all over the place. Look," gestured Gwen towards the computer. "14 just in one sector. We're never going to be able to get to all the aliens in time. There's too few of us!"

"Gwen, I need you to focus. We've handled things this big before. Pull some strings with the police. Get the right people to the right places. Make up a story. I don't care. Martha, get through to UNIT. Hate to say this but tell them we need a small favour," instructed Jack carefully.

"Understood," said Martha as she hurried off in the other direction.

"What about the Doctor?" cut Mickey, "Shouldn't we be calling him to warn him or something?"

"Mickey, this is the Doctor you're talking about. I'm sure he can handle himself," said Jack. Although, he feared for everyone else.


Fifteen minutes later, Matt and Ivy were still wandering the empty dark halls of the museum, trying to find the tour. They walked and feasted on some crisps as they did. Matt was forced to share his spoils with Ivy. She mentioned something about shoving her new boots up some delicate areas and, being one to keep her word, Matt had reluctantly complied.

Ivy's mind was racing, trying to remember where the incredibly boring woman had said they were going. Something about... history? Ivy stopped dead, and, because she did, Matt did too. He looked at her nervously. Ivy's eyes were closed and she raised a hand to her head in frustration.

"Are we lost?" Matt asked tentatively, afraid that the question might just push Ivy over the edge. She was rather high strung today and Matt knew all the warning signs.

She responded in a flat, sarcastic tone of defeat, "No Matt, we just don't know where we're going."

She let her hand fall with a sigh, looking around, hoping the tour would magically pop out of the walls, and they could continue with their mediocre life and below mediocre tour. The stone walls seemed to grow closer together though the ceiling was too high to make out. Ivy continued leading them up some magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors.

It was vast but empty. Nobody else was there on that floor and if they weren't lost before, they were now. Ivy's heart gave a horrible jolt. They were going to be in serious trouble if they didn't find the tour soon.

Then without any warning, the whole building shook angrily and a terrible ripping noise tore through the air. Ivy and Matt were knocked off their feet completely and for a moment they seemed to have had to cling on to the cold stone floor as the world around them shuddered violently.

"Ivy!" screamed Matt behind her.

Then suddenly everything stopped instantaneously. The strange noise that screamed through the air streaked past, then vanished quietly into nothingness. The building no longer shook. The walls calmly stood in its place as though nothing had happened. Ivy got up on her feet quickly and looked around with her heart doing somersaults. Something strange just happened.

"What was that?" gasped Matt as he slowly got up, hand on his bottom which cushioned his fall.

"I dunno. Earthquake?" said Ivy thoughtfully. "Come on, let's just go down to the entrance. Everyone might be waiting for us there."

It was really not her day. She began to walk down the stairs, but then Matt raised a hand.

"Can you...smell something?"

Ivy sniffed carefully and the foulest stench entered her nostrils, a ghastly mix of old socks and raw meat. And then they heard it- a growling and beastly noise. Ivy's heart almost stopped dead.

Matt pointed: it was coming from downstairs. They could now hear shuffling footsteps getting closer. Slowly and carefully Ivy and Matt crept to the banisters of the stairs and peered down.

They shrank down against the stone stairs as they saw it. It was a horrible sight. A large gangly sort of creature with dull, brown skin, its great ugly head perched on top of its muscular beastly body. It sniffed lungfuls of air noisily, turning around on the spot inquisitively and for a moment Ivy saw its terrible face full of razor sharp teeth and exposed gums.

"What is that?" Matt muttered quietly to her.

"I'm not sure," said Ivy nervously, panic rising in her, adrenaline already spread throughout her system as the creature slowly looked up straight at her. Their eyes met. There was an eerie, silent pause before the creature sprang into action. "But I think we better run!"

They ran full pelt down the corridor as they heard the hellish growls of the strange creature grow louder. Ivy dared for a moment to look back. She saw it pursuing them relentlessly up the steps after them. Again, she met its wild, crazed eyes full of hunger and edacity that were set upon her, its bony hands outstretched clawing the air, its dark sunken face leering...

"This way!" cried Matt urgently as he turned right around the corner.

"Do you know where we're actually going?" asked Ivy testily though she followed suit, casting aside her morbid fascination of looking at the beast.

"Does it actually matter?" he shouted back angrily, "We can't actually stop and ask for directions right now if you haven't noticed!"

Ivy resisted an urge to argue before an angry growl from behind reminded her of her predicament. She saved a mental note to blame Matt for this to be used later. If there was a later. Surely the creature would catch up with them.

"Ivy! Stairs! I bloody love stairs!" gasped Matt with relief as he stopped at a fire exit door.

"In! Get in now! Quickly befo-"

Too late. Before she could finish the creature lunged at her back knocking her down. Ivy turned on her back and froze as the fearsome figure towered over her. Rows of razor sharp teeth glinting. It raised its claws high above its head, poised and ready to deliver a fatal wound to its prey. She wished she had known what to do. But she froze. Overcome with shock. The fear engulfing her mind as she lay on the ground, and she knew there would be no release, no escape, that she would die here...

But then, as the moment hung, harsh foam erupted : a jet of billowing swirling white smoke spewed straight into the face of the creature as it faltered and stumbled backwards falling on the ground screaming a harsh cry of pain. Ivy quickly scrambled back up embracing Matt in a tight hug and staring around.

A man in a brown striped suit and a long, light brown coat stood by the fire exit, a silly grin and a fire extinguisher in hand. He turned to Matt and Ivy silently and cocked his head gesturing them to get in the fire exit.

"You!" Matt cried.

"Run," he said, pointing behind him.

Without hesitation Ivy and Matt darted into the stairwell. The man's gaze was fixed on the creature and he did not take his eyes off it when he entered in after them. Then, when they were safely inside, he tossed the fire extinguisher at Matt who fell back down a step as he caught it.

Quickly, he pulled out from his top pocket a long thin object that looked nothing like what Ivy had ever seen before. Without any explanation, he then pointed it at the lock of the door and pressed a button on it.

Blue light and a strange sound emanated from the tip of the object for a few seconds before they heard a resounding click from the lock.

"Right then! That ought to slow him down a bit. Mind you, a Hoix could easily burst through the wooden frame," he turned to face Ivy and Matt who stared back with utter blank expressions on their faces. "Oh, right! Introductions! I'm the Doctor and Mr. Beastie in there is a Hoix. An alien," he added, when their expressions didn't change.

"Aliens?" Matt muttered, still hugging the extinguisher like a lifeline, "They don't exist. You're off your rocker, mate. You really are crazy."

"You're that kid in the shop. And you're a thief," said the Doctor, staring at him.

Loud slashing noises on the other side cut their argument short. The Hoix was attempting to claw its way through the door.

"Down?" asked the Doctor.

"Down," repeated Ivy.

"Down!" cried Matt as he started running down the stairs first, still clutching the fire extinguisher tightly in both arms. Ivy followed while the Doctor took the rear as the first line of defence.

"Ok. If it is an alien, why is it coming after us?" asked Ivy exasperatedly. It was just not making any sense to her.

"It's hungry, and you've got food," said the Doctor. Matt paused for a moment feeling responsible.

"Hoix live to eat. And they eat a lot. It can smell the food through the wrapper, through your jacket, through the door. It can even smell food if you buried it in a nuclear bunker."

The terrible slashing noises grew louder but the pitch was different now from when it started. The Hoix must have made huge progress in tearing the door down.

"Alright. We'll just give it the food then. That ought to stop it, won't it?" asked Ivy again.

"For a while. But now it's got your scent. He thinks you're food too," replied The Doctor quickly.

"We could use this," supplied Matt gesturing to the fire extinguisher. "It looked like it really hurt him just now."

"The Hoix are very sensitive to chemicals."

"Good."

"But that's just foam. It'll sting him. Not stop him."

"Bad."

"-And- it's empty."

"Well why am I carrying it around then?"

"I don't know! You tell me."

A loud metal crash came from above. The Hoix was through. Matt dropped the fire extinguisher immediately and they ran through the exit door just two floors below where they came from. The Doctor stopped to lock the door with his device. Then they sprinted through the long corridor exhausted. Running out of breath and ideas. There was nothing on this floor of the maze-like museum but statues and store rooms. No security guards. No cleaners. No one to help them except The Doctor. They needed a plan quickly. The won't be able to outrun the Hoix forever.

"Wait! Stop!" Ivy cried.

"A store room," she muttered quietly. And then an idea struck her as she grabbed the door knob trying to force it open.

"We can't hide in there!" said Matt desperately.

"I've got an idea," she replied testily. "You--Doctor, can your thing open this?" she panted.

The Doctor looked taken slightly aback at being told what to do. He hesitated for a second and was about to argue but the roaring calls of the Hoix made him spring into action. He produced his metal device and with a click, the door sprung open.

"What's your idea?" he asked Ivy urgently though with a hint of scepticism. His eyes darting between her and the exit where they came from for the monster to come through. Ivy ignored him as she quickly emptied her pockets of all the food and hastily threw them inside the store room. Matt caught on and did the same.

"I told you, it's still got your scent."

But before the Doctor could finish she quickly took off Matt's jacket roughly off him and threw it inside as well. She also deposited her own jacket.

"Oh...kay," said The Doctor inwardly feeling a tiny bit impressed though he did seem to want to argue another point.

"Quick, let's hide," said Ivy as she ran behind a massive marble statue of Boadicea.

They quickly joined her before the fire exit door crashed open. The Hoix charged through it angrily. Then paused, sniffing the air for the scent of food. Its hideous head snapped right to the store room. Cautiously as if sensing a trap, it crept towards the room, crouching low almost on all fours.

Ivy quietly prayed behind the statue that her plan would work. It glanced around momentarily before sniffing the air again and growled angrily into the inside. Then it leapt straight in.

Before Ivy could even get up from behind the statue she saw The Doctor was already at the door. He threw something round and small inside the room before slamming the door shut and with his device, locked the creature in.

There was pathetic moan issued from inside the room as red smoke spewed out of the edges of the door. Then finally when the smoke cleared, there was a great thud from inside.

"Wow, what did you do?" asked Matt, heading for the Doctor too.

"Quinuclidinyl benzilate with a little dash of nitrous oxide. Knockout gas. Stole it from Torchwood. I thought it would be interesting to see how it worked. Pretty well I would say. A bit strong for this fellow over here but no permanent damage. I would say when it wakes up it will still be feeling some confusion, stupor and unfortunately, panoramic illusions and hallucinations."

"You had knockout gas and you didn't tell us?" shouted Ivy.

"Well," said the Doctor stretching the word for a bit "looked like you had it covered."

"Had it covered?"

"Yeah. Pretty good idea to trap it inside like that. Even though you did forget it could smash through doors and you can't get rid of your scent just by throwing away your jackets"

"Yeah well, you're the smart one here. Why didn't you give us your plan? You look like The Man With The Plan."

"Why does everyone call me that?" asked the Doctor quietly to himself. "I didn't have a plan. I never really have a plan. Sometimes I do, and they're really good. But not this time. And like I said, you guys seemed to have had it covered."

"Who -are- you?" asked Matt.

"I'm the Doctor," said the man, grinning proudly at that fact.

"Is that a secret agent name or something?" Matt's eyes narrowed as he inspected the Doctor.

"Not really, no," the Doctor replied, shrugging.

"So, people just call you the Doctor?" Matt clarified.

"Yeah."

"And what exactly do you do, Doctor?" asked Ivy, looking remarkably like Matt in her scepticism.

"Well, I travel a lot. I enjoy knitting sometimes. Books. Read loads of books-," the Doctor began to detail his life, but Ivy cut him off.

"I meant," interjected Ivy, "What do you do? Is this a job or something? I mean you know about aliens and stuff. Do you work for the government?"

"Nah, I just travel. Cardiff's just a regular pit stop for me," once again, the Doctor gave a shrug and a grin.

"Wait," cried Matt, "Never mind all that now. What about that Hoix thing in there? He's not going to be unconscious all day."

"I'm going to call some friends. They can take care of him. Send it back to its home planet before he even wakes up," said The Doctor briskly as he pulled out a mobile phone from his coat pocket.

Ivy's mind was racing. She ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly, fixing the floor with a bewildered stare. Aliens. Home planets. Hoix. Questions exploded inside Ivy's head like fireworks. It was all finally sinking in. Aliens really existed. No denying it now no matter what the newspapers said about rising alien hoaxes. She finally saw one up close. Too close.

She didn't know what to think or feel. She felt petrified of what she didn't know, but then the next second she felt absolutely elated as though a large balloon was swelling inside of her. She couldn't believe it. Well, she could now. Aliens were real.

Then there was some commotion. Heavy shuffling of feet was heard. Rhythmic and heavy footfalls echoing all around the corridor. The Doctor raised an eyebrow towards high heaven and turned off his phone. Ivy moved in front of Matt protectively and the Doctor moved before her. Then at the end of the corridor came five heavily armed men with their rifles pointing directly at them.

"It's okay! It's okay. It's me! It's me! I'm the Doctor," announced the Doctor quickly and all of them lowered their weapons.

"Doctor, we have orders for you to come with us," said one of them, "And your companions," he added, noticing both Ivy and Matt who were still behind him.

"They're not my-," the Doctor started to explain.

"Ok!" cheered Matt and Ivy in unison.