"Owen's dead…?" I asked, horribly frightened.
Jack nodded. "Martha's doing the autopsy right now. You can go look."
As soon as he said that, I was running to the autopsy room. Everyone looked sad and depressed. Toshiko was crying her eyes out. I went over to her.
"I'm so sorry…" I said. "I know how much you liked him…"
She just cried and nodded.
"This is Dr. Martha Jones. The time is 6:30 AM. Autopsy on Owen Harper, Caucasian, aged 27, Torchwood Officer 565. Time of death witnessed at approximately 20:30. Autopsy begins," she said.
She was about to take a saw into his chest when Jack burst in, yelling, "Stop! Nobody touches him till I get back, is that clear?!"
We were all very confused when he ran back out.
He came back about an hour later with a small box in hand. He ran into his office and we all followed him.
"Jack?" Gwen asked. "Jack, what have you got?"
I moved next to him as he opened the box. He stuck his hands in and pulled out a metallic glove. I backed away in fear of it, running into the wall.
"Oh, my God…" Toshiko said.
"You can't use it. Not after Suzie…" said Gwen.
"I'm using the glove," he said defiantly. "I'm bringing Owen back."
Eyes wide in fear, I shook my head. "No…" I said. "You can't. You don't know what's going to happen-"
"Frankly, I don't care," he said, pushing past all of us.
I don't really remember what happened after that. But, I do remember Martha pulling my ear and snapping in my face.
"Are you ok…?" she asked.
"What?" I asked.
"You sort of… started talking weirdly," she said.
I looked around. Everyone was looking at me. "What?" I asked again.
"You were saying 'Death is coming. Death will come'," Gwen said.
I stared blankly at the glove in Jack's hand and said, "That's right. If you use the glove, death will come."
He ignored me and pushed past all of us, going to the autopsy room, saying, "You can't stop me."
Everyone chased after him, except me. I put my hands on my head. It felt like my brain was on fire, but I wasn't looking at any mirror.
"Why is he doing this…?" I asked. "Only bad things happen when you meddle with the life and death of humans…"
Then, my head started having excruciating pain. I screamed and said, "Death is here! He's coming back!"
I ran out of Jack's office, all the way to my room where I shut the door and locked it.
My head felt fine when I got back to my room. I crawled into my bed, saying, "He's coming back. This isn't right."
A while later, I must've dozed off, there was a knock on my door. I bolted up right. They nocked again.
"It's me, Gwen," she said. "Just came to see what was wrong. You seemed kinda weird."
"Is Owen… back?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said through the door.
I got up and opened it. "He's not himself," I said.
"Martha said his body's cells are changing," she said. "Is that what you mean?" I nodded. "You know, it's kinda funny. We've got two dead people working for Torchwood."
"Who's the other besides Owen?" I asked.
"You, of course!" she said.
"Do not put me in the same category as that monster," I said seriously.
"Do you have a problem with him or something?" she asked. "Yeah, he's not always that nice but-"
"He's not Owen," I said. "He's changing into something evil."
I pushed passed her and walked into the main room and up the stairs. There, Owen was just hanging by himself.
He saw me come in and smile. "I'm back," he said, jokingly. "Looks like we're on the same team. Dead people, whoopee."
I stared at him and said, "You're nothing like me. I have two heart beats, yet you have none. I have a strong pulse, while you are silent. I can sleep and you cannot. We are not the same, in fact, we are anything but. So do not put me on the same level as you."
"What's got you so worked up?" he asked.
"You're changing," I said.
"Yeah," he said.
"Into something else," I said.
"Don't know what, though," he admitted.
"I do," I said. "That thing in the darkness has its hold on you."
"Have you seen it, too?" he asked. "You know what it is?!"
I nodded. "I can't say. He doesn't want his name spoken, but he goes by Death." I closed my eyes and said, "He comes… Be ready."
"Death?!" he asked. "Wait, what-"
I walked down the stairs and into the main room of the Hub.
Minutes later, Jack and Martha ran in. She was holding the device used to measure Owen's body.
"Have you seen Owen?" she asked.
"He said he needed the loo…" Toshiko said.
"His digestive system is shut down. He can' eat or drink, so he certainly doesn't need to pee," Martha said.
"He's not here anymore," I said. "I was just talking to him, but I walked away and he left."
"Where is he now?" Jack asked, getting his trench coat on. "I'll go find him."
"I don't know," I said.
Jack sighed and started heading towards the elevator.
"Jack, he's about fifty percent human right now and fifty percent something else. But that fifty percent human is dead. It might be wise if we stop think of him as Owen…" Martha said.
"I'm going to find him," Jack said, walking into the elevator.
Martha sighed and set the device down on a desk. "He's always like that!" she said. "Doesn't it just drive you insane?"
"Yeah…" Gwen said.
Gwen and Martha called me over to look at something Toshiko found on the CCTV. "Look at this…" they said.
Owen's pupils were black and he said, "Melkurian abatha duroc minus mill kabal."
"Where's Ianto…?" Toshiko asked. She walked away and started looking for him. "I need to know what he's saying."
She found Ianto and asked him to go into Jack's safes. In one of them was a device that could translate any language.
She brought the device to the computer and said, "We should be able to get the translation through the computer speakers."
"If you want to know what it says so badly, you can just ask," I said.
"Owen isn't exactly here right now-"
"I meant me," I said. "I know every language in the universe."
They all stared at me. "Really?" she asked. I nodded. "Well, why didn't you say so before?"
"Come on, then," Martha asked. "What's he saying?"
"I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds," I said.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this…" Gwen said, looking a little nervous.
"You don't know the half of it," Jack said, walking in with Owen.
"I'm King of the Weevils…" he said.
I rolled my eyes while everyone else wanted proof. So proof he gave them. Down in the cells, they visited Janet, as Jack called it. Owen stuck his finger through one of the holes and the Weevil walked towards him, and then started bowing to him.
That's when Gwen figured out what I'd been saying all along. She found an article from a long time ago. Death himself said the words Owen had said.
Owen looked at me and said, "You were right…"
"Of course I am," I said. "Rarely am I wrong, not meaning to brag."
Jack didn't look very happily at me. "So what does this mean? What's happening to Owen?"
"The only reason he's been back here for so long is because something's trying to cross over," I said. "And that's Death itself. The last time this happened, twelve people died. Death needs thirteen souls to have permanent hold of the earth."
"How did they stop him at thirteen?" Jack asked.
"Faith," I said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
I sighed. "I'm not going to just tell you how to solve all of your problems," I said. "Live a little."
"Addy, can you just tell us before people start dying?" he asked.
"One already did," I said. "But it doesn't count yet. Owen's only a tool right now."
"Yeah, I am still in the room…" Owen said.
"I'm just telling it as it is, alright?" I said. "Anyway, the rest would be your future. Spoilers."
Jack groaned in frustration. "You're way too stubborn!" he said. He proceeded to walk upstairs with everyone else following him.
I followed them up into the conference room. Martha was still very skeptical about the whole 'Death' thing.
All of a sudden, Owen's wristband started beeping. (It was attached so we could figure out how much his body was changing.)
"What it at now?" he asked.
Martha looked at her device. "Eighty percent…" she said, worried.
"What happens when it gets to 100?! We fight monsters! What happens when we turn out to be the monsters, when I do?" he asked.
"Even if we have to fight you, you're already dead," Jack said harshly.
"Yeah, and what do we do with the dead?" he asked. Jack didn't answer. "Come on, what do we do? We embalm them…" He paused. "If we inject a formaldehyde solution into my veins, it'll petrify my neural pathways and freeze-dry my brain. It's the only way to be sure."
Not going to work…
Jack and Martha got everything ready but I stayed away, knowing that something was going to go wrong.
Owen was properly set on killing himself, even though he was already dead. He was going to die again.
When he was ready, everyone came to watch. They strapped him into a chair. He was at ninety-five percent.
I still stood well away from everything. Not because I didn't like him or anything, I was just worried that if I died while still regenerating, I won't be able to come back. Owen was a very funny person, he kept all of us laughing, even though he could be a little rude sometimes, and he was still a likeable guy.
"Are you ready for the first injection?" Jack asked.
Owen nodded.
That's when the glove lunged for Martha. She screamed while trying to pry it away from her.
"LOCKDOWN!" Jack yelled.
Jack managed to throw it off of her. The glove only got back up and crawled after her. Toshiko and Gwen pulled Martha up to escape the glove. That's when Ianto came holding a long pipe. Owen was trying to get out of the chair to help, but he couldn't escape.
"Owen, Owen!" Jack said. "Don't. Move. Everyone spread out. Addy, you stay back, ok?"
"Got it," I said.
They all proceeded to spread out.
"Where'd it go?" Gwen whispered.
"I think it's under the cabinet…" Martha said, still shaken up.
It reminded me of the time when the Cyberman's hand chased after Amy and me when we were investigating the Pandorica.
We all heard it scuttling around. Everyone bent down to try and get a glimpse of where it was.
Then, it lunged at Martha again. It went for her face this time. Everyone ran after her, trying to pry it off. I stepped back a couple more feet, in case it changed its course of action.
Jack pried off the glove and Owen got free, stomping on the glove screaming for Jack to give him a gun. So he did.
Bang!
The glove was destroyed.
But it was too late for Martha. Feeling worried, I ran over to her. Jack and Gwen were next to her. She was old now, very old and fragile.
The wristband on Owen started beeping rapidly. He was at 100%.
I turned to see him. His eyes were completely black. "I will walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds!" he said in a hoarse whisper.
He started screaming, like he was in pain and collapsed to his knees. Black fog came out of his eyes, mouth, and ears.
"GET BACK, ADDY!" Jack screamed at me. "GET AWAY!"
And so I ran for my room.
Jack was right. Being there would be way too dangerous for me.
I saw everything play out like I knew it would from my locked room. I closed my eyes and sat on my bed, concentrating.
Death killed twelve, nearly getting to thirteen before Owen sacrificed himself, but was still here because he was already dead and had nothing to lose. Martha became her normal self and Death went back to where he belonged.
We were all sitting in the Hub together, Martha too. Owen looked to me and said, "Do you still hate me?"
"I never hated you," I said. "Just what was using you to come through."
He nodded in understanding.
"Ok, so are you two going to be a team now?" Gwen asked. "'Cause technically you're both dead."
"They should get a team name," Ianto agreed.
Owen and I looked at each other and laughed. "How about…" I said. "The Not Dead Yets?"
"I rather like that one," Jack said. "It's catchy."
"This is just… mad," Martha said.
"Like my dad says," I said, "'Anyone who is remotely interesting is mad in some way or another'."
"I'm going to use that some time," Jack said.
"But what will the Not Dead Yets do?" Gwen asked. "It's not like we have a lot of jobs for people who don't have a heartbeat."
"Correction," I said. "I have two currently."
"Two?" everyone asked.
"Didn't I tell you?" I asked. "Time Lords have two hearts."
"I don't believe you," Gwen said.
"I can prove it, if you'd like," Martha said. "There's an x-ray machine in there. We can take a look."
"You could just use a stethoscope," Owen suggested.
"Yeah," I said. "That's how my dad found out about me."
Martha went over and got a stethoscope. She put it into her ears and put the speaker on the left side of my chest. "The other?" she asked. I pointed to my right side. She moved the speaker piece and listened. "Two hearts. She's right."
"Really?!" Gwen asked. "Can I hear?"
Then Gwen, Toshiko, Ianto, and Owen wanted to hear it too. Jack refused everybody, saving me the awkwardness.
"Just leave her and her hearts alone," he said. "Plus, it's about time you went to bed, Addy. 21:34."
I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine… Good night everyone. See you in the morning."
"'Night," Owen said.
"Sweet dreams!" Gwen said.
"Good night," Martha and Toshiko said at the same time.
Ianto just smiled and waved. I waved back and went to my room to sleep.
(I do not own Torchwood or Doctor Who. This was made for entertainment purposes only and no copyright is intended.)
