Katie fell against a wall under a bridge. While she didn't get tired from running anymore (three hearts pumping blood and oxygen really helped with that), adrenaline rushes were more potent, and made her weak after they passed. Besides, she had to collect her thoughts.

"Right," she said. "I've been sucked through a rift in time and space only to be dumped in 21st century Cardiff. While I am familiar with the century, I have no knowledge about Cardiff besides the fact it has a bay and it's in Wales and they're all British. That is not good. I still have money and psychic paper. That is good. I'm being chased by a group led a man who should not exist. Extremely not good. The existing-yet-not-existing man now knows I have something wrong with me, and will probably try to dissect me the next time he finds me. Very extremely not good. I have no idea what to do next. Bad. Very, very bad."

Any time you would care to show up would be nice, Doctor. She thought to herself.

Katie slid down the wall until she was sitting. She shut her eyes most of the way, closing out the sight of the underside of the bridge, but still not seeing it in energy. Focusing on her memory, she tried to recall all she could about the strange man.

"He seemed to spew energy, of all kinds, but mostly time energy. Not as an attack though. I don't even think he knows what he's doing. It's more like…he has so much he can't hold it all in. It doesn't go anywhere either, just hovers around him like a shield. It was full of life. Usually, it just feels like electric water, but this time, it was pure electricity. It hurt to absorb it like that."

She finished closing her eyes, and smiled blissfully, just for a moment. "Oh, but it tasted wonderful all the same. So pure, so refreshing." She frowned. "Don't you dare, Moore. You haven't let yourself go all energy hungry psycho nut yet, and you are not going to start now."

Katie sat watching the dull gray stone come to life with remnants of heat and the sound of her voice. Rift energy hung all around her, like a heavy blanket. After watching for a few moments, she opened her eyes and sighed.

"I'm stranded on earth, in Wales, being hunted by somebody called TORCHWOOD. I need a way to prevent them from catching me and/or dissecting me, a way to signal Doc, and a way to survive until then. Step one: avoid unwanted detection."

Unslinging her bag from her shoulder, she opened a small pocket inside. She pulled out a red velvet pouch and dumped the contents into her hand.

A collection of assorted rings spilled into her palm, some more expensive looking than others. Selecting one that appeared to be made of steel, she put it on her right hand.

"Jack, the signal's gone."

Looking at Tosh in the back seat, Jack asked, "What do you mean, gone?"

"I don't know. It just…vanished."

"Get it back."

Katie wiggled her fingers, smiling. "I knew it was a good idea to alter that bio-damper. And the Doctor thought it was foolish." Pushing herself up off the ground, she patted the wad of money she had taken from the wallet. "Let's play offense."

Owen had parked the TORCHWOOD van on a side street, away from streetlamps. It was the place Tosh had last been able to receive the energy signal. She was now using every shred of intellect she possessed trying to retrieve it.

"Tosh, it can't have vanished," Jack said. "Did you try—"

"Yes, I did. I've run everything I can think of five times, and there's still nothing."

"Purchases made recently? Anything on CCTV?"

Gwen spoke up in defense of Tosh. "Jack, unless you can give us a better description of her, we can't look for anything."

"I told you all I can. She was about 20, hair in a braid, pale skin, and teeth like a piranha."

Tosh looked like she was about to say something, when the roar of a motorcycle without a muffler reached them. Scarce seconds later, someone came shooting out from an alleyway, using a controlled skid to stop in front of the van. Jack, Owen, Tosh, and Gwen had no time to react when the person on the bike pointed an odd looking gun at the windshield and fired.

They all ducked in an automatic reaction. When no sounds of shattering glass reached them, they looked back at the front of the car.

The windshield was covered in thick pale pink goo, as was the rest of the car. When Owen tried to use the wipers, they couldn't even move, and the doors refused to open.

Owen swore. It sounded like he would continue, when Tosh spoke up. "Someone's breaking through the TORCHWOOD firewall."

"That's not possible," Jack said.

"It has to be. They're downloading something."

"What is it?"

Tosh's brow furrowed as she studied the screen. "A video chat. A very well protected one. It would take me days to find out where it was coming from, much less who was sending it."

A window popped open on the screen, revealing a girl with deep ginger hair, pale skin, and bright green eyes. Her shoulders were visible, looking to be clad with black leather. She grinned widely, showing perfect teeth.

"Hello!" she said, her American accent coming through clearly. "You must be Toshiko Sato, TORCHWOOD's resident techy. As much as I would love to chat with you about computers, scanners, and how to upgrade your firewall against me–though, it's pretty impressive as is—what I really need now is to chat with Bright Boy. Is he there?"

"Who are you?" Gwen asked, leaning over to look at the screen. The girl's attention shifted to her.

"Gwyneth Cooper! Nice you meet you, impressive track record by the way. Seems you did a bang up job as a police officer. Oh, and I love the accent. It would be great to sit down with you as well, but I need to speak with your C.O. Although Toshiko, if you've can talk to any of the other members, you might ask if any of them have lost an inordinate amount of money lately."

Owen turned around as best he could in the driver's seat. "What the hell is she talking about?"

The girl cocked her head, still smiling. "Is that Harper? You lost a wallet recently, medical man?"

"No, I haven't." Owen said. "My wallet's in my pocket."

"Oi vey. Isn't that just peachy," the girl said, rubbing her face. "That probably means mystery person hasn't lost it yet, and Genius hasn't made it yet and won't know how to fix it. Lovely. Oh well, we can work around that." The girl's face turned serious. "Now, I need to talk to your boss. I know he's in the car."

Tosh silently handed the computer up to Jack. He looked steadily at the girl. "What do you want?"

"To make a business proposition."

"Go on."

"I've got a tracking and homing device that I believe was made by your techy."

Jack looked behind him at Tosh. She seemed surprised. "Tosh, you know anything about this?"

"Well, I've been experimenting with new ways to explore the Rift, but it's still in the experimental stages. It won't be ready for another three months at least."

"She did a marvelous job," the girl interjected. "Well, she will do a marvelous job, but the chip is completely fried. I need that brilliant mind of hers to create a new one. The first one. Whatever. After I signal a friend with it, you need to send a wallet with a TORCHWOOD access card, a whole lot of money, and the chip through that rift of yours."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I also want you to stop hunting me. Makes life difficult when you're on the run, especially when the only thing you did wrong was get sucked though a rift in spacetime. Which it seems hasn't even happened yet."

"What could you offer us?"

"Knowledge about a good number of your alien artifacts, as a well as a few languages that would help out in the future. I give you that, you fix my chip so I can call my friend, and in the end you get rid of me."

"Who is this "friend?"

"A very old one. He would never harm Earth even if it killed him. You have nothing to worry about from him."

"Who are you?"

The girl smiled and held up a wallet with identification. "Josephine Cole, Area 51. Temporal Physics."

"What the hell is Area 51 doing over here?" Gwen protested. Jack smiled.

"Good try, but that's psychic paper. You need to practice with it some more before using it again. Your birthday just changed."

The girl shrugged, not seemingly bothered. "It was worth a shot. I—oh oh!" The girl's smile grew wider. Clicking on something, she started typing furiously, talking all the while.

"Nice move Genius Child," she said, referring to the meaning of Tosh's name. "However, normal tracking moves won't work with me, and neither will viruses. You're good. You're very, very good, but I'm better. Trust me, I can out-code you easily. You've got no hope if I'm sitting in front of the computer."

Jack looked back at Tosh. She was staring at the screen of a different computer. "How…?" she said.

The girl laughed. "Yes, I did turn an ordinary laptop into a Quantum computer. I can show you how, if you want. Might be over your head, though. Humanity won't get there for at least another 500 years. Maybe 600. Never could remember all those dates. Anyway, the public doesn't get ahold of them until three thousand some-odd. You could be seriously ahead of the game. But first, you have to help me."

"If you have so much computing knowledge," Owen asked cynically, "what do you need us for?"

"Some of the stuff I need isn't found in a store. You seem to have a wealth of alien tech at your fingertips. Besides, it's easier to make peace with you then hide. Figured I should just get it over with and come to a truce."

There was a cracking sound, and a long split appeared in the now-hard pink stuff covering the van. The girl smiled.

"I reckon we have about two more minutes before I have to go. That should give me three minutes head start. If you want to talk, leave me a note somewhere around the area you lost sight of me. But just to add something to the pot of things I might be willing to offer you, I'll give you a sneak-peak, Harkness."

She smirked before continuing. "I may have the answer you've been looking for."

Jack stared at her, eyes wide open, skepticism evident in his expression. "What are you talking about?"

The girl's voice went down in pitch, and smoothed out. "You've lived so very long, without really knowing how you do it. I'll even guess that you've died countless times, only to come right back. Didn't you ever ask yourself how?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack stated. The girl shrugged.

"Alright. But, ah, I will say this." She leaned closer on the screen, as if about to impart a great secret. "You aren't the only one.

"Chat with you later, Skippy. Think about my proposition."

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*