Chapter Four

"Jack, they're everywhere!" Tag's voice was strained with fear and Jack could hear chaos erupting around the young man.

"Tosh, how many exits are there out of the London archives?" Jack asked, rushing up behind the Asian woman. Nearby Suzie and Owen were both typing away at their computers, trying to find any information they could about the Cyberman invasion that was happening all over the world.

Tosh was focusing on the war occurring in London; the war that Yvonne caused by refusing to listen to Jack and continuing to work behind his back on her precious project. "Just the main one and the service lift," Tosh whispered, her eyes flicking up to Jack.

"What about-?" Jack began to ask before Tag cut him off.

"I can't use the service lift," Tag argued. "It's too noisy; it'll lead them straight here," Tag replied and Jack could hear him shuffling through something. Abruptly the shuffling stopped and Jack heard screaming on the other end of the line.

"Shit, Jack. They're getting closer, they… God, they've got everyone," Tag whispered and Jack couldn't help but sharing his pain. They'd heard Tag send the staff to look for weapons, and hiding places they could defend, anything that might help them while Jack and Tag searched for an exit to get them all out – even though Jack was still in Cardiff.

"You can't do anything to help them; it'll only get you killed if you try," Jack replied evenly, making sure to keep his eyes locked on the screen so he couldn't see the tears running down Tosh's face as she listened to the phone conversation through her earpiece. "I can't just sit here!" Tag cried.

"I know it's hard, but you have to. You need to find somewhere in the archives to hide. Hide until it's over or until we can get there," Jack said, leaning over Tosh's shoulder so he could study the plans of the Tower's archives on the screen, looking for anywhere that Tag might be able to hide.

"I can't," Tag denied, his voice hitching.

"Please..." Jack begged. "I don't want to lose you," he whispered, aware that his team were watching him, but he didn't care; he just needed the man he was quickly falling for safe.

"You promise you'll come?" Tag whispered after a moment.

"As fast as I can," Jack swore, trying to put as much sincerity in his voice.

There was a loud crash and Tag swore as a series of smaller crashes followed, before the unmistakeable sound of metallic footsteps approached.

"Hurry!" Tosh cried, unable to stop herself before Jack could get the word out.

"YOU WILL COME WITH US. YOU REQUIRE UPGRADING!" Jack's heart froze at the metallic voice.

"No," Tag hissed and Jack could envision him scrambling away from the metal monsters as they heard his shoes squeak on the floor.

"IF YOU DO NOT COME, YOU WILL BE DELETED."

The loud bang of a metal door slamming shut made him jump in shock. "Fuck, that was close! I don't know how long this door will hold them back Jack," Tag breathed.

"That won't hold them," Jack stated, as he heard the Cybermen pounding on the door.

"I gathered that. I know where I can hide I just needed to slow them down," Tag replied. As he ran, the pounding grew quieter as he got further from the door.

"How close to the hiding place are you?" Jack asked staring at the speaker as if he could see through it to the man on the other end.

"I'm nearly there!" Tag cried, relief evident in his voice.

Jack had almost relaxed when there was a loud crash and the footsteps and hollow voices returned. "DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!"

Clearly, Tag's barricade hadn't been enough and they'd made it through the door. Judging by the volume of their voices and footsteps, they were also getting way to close to Tag.

Jack was about to tell him to hurry, when he heard Tag cry out in pain. Jack winced when he heard the phone clatter to the floor. The device must have shattered, Jack realised when a silent line sounded, leaving him with a feeling of ice in his stomach.

"Tag? Tag?"

Tosh and Jack arrived in London in record time, taking in the carnage left behind after the Cybermen and Daleks had disappeared. Owen and Suzie were helping the people of Cardiff, knowing UNIT would have London covered. The damage had been bad in Cardiff - the Cybermen had been rounding people up all over the world, damaging everything in their wake - but it hadn't been a war zone. Not like London.

Jack had wanted to leave Tosh at the Hub; not wanting her to witness the destruction one stupid woman's mistake had raked across the country. Tosh hadn't let Jack talk her out of going to London; instead she had demanded to accompany him while he looked for any sign of Tag.

When they got to Torchwood Tower there was still smoke emitting from several windows; although, it looked like most of the fires had been put out. UNIT was already on the scene, starting the clean up. Rows of covered bodies lined the paths outside the tower and Jack felt the ice that was already in the pit of his stomach spread. Seeing Jack's distress, Tosh slipped her hand into his and offered him a small, comforting smile.

Finally, someone noticed them and they were bustled into the over-sized command tent which was occupying the sealed off road.

On the way there Tosh had tried to hack into Torchwood's mainframe while Jack drove, but the entire thing had been locked down and sealed. Due to a safety precaution installed in all the Torchwood bases in case they should come under siege, the mainframe was locked for six months and only the Leader of that specific base had the passwords to unlock the seal before the six-month period had passed. Even Tosh, with all her skills, couldn't get anything other than two year old employment files, which were no use to them.

Over in the corner of the tent sat the twenty-six survivors receiving medical attention from the doctors. Soldiers had already searched the damaged tower and scanned for life signs with technology that had been salvaged from alien visitors; but they had been unable to find anyone - only the few wounded before them remained.

Jack scanned the group, looking for one person in particular; admittedly it was harder when he didn't know what the person he was searching for looked like. All the people around them were eyeing him cautiously, but none of them showed any sign of recognition when they say him. A list was shoved into Jack's hands, snapping him out of his daze. He glanced down to see that it was a list of those that were already dead, and the missing. Jack stared at the list blankly, willing something to jump out at him, but none of them meant anything - other than Hartman's. "Jack?" Tosh whispered gently when he continued to stare blankly at the list, not even flicking to the other pages. "Is he on there?" she added, reaching out and placing a hand on Jack's arm.

"I don't know Tosh," Jack whispered, unable to stop a lone tear from sliding down his cheek.

Tosh looked surprised for a moment, before the dawning fear began to show in her eyes. "I thought... I thought you might have looked him up," she confessed. "It's almost been a year; you two are practically dating long distance."

Tears were sliding down Tosh's face as Jack slowly shook his head. "I promised him," he replied. "I'd wait until he told me. It was a game of trust, but now I don't know anything about him. I don't know his name; I don't even know what he looks like."

"So, we have no way of knowing..." Tosh breathed, realisation sinking in.

Jack shook his head weakly. "He knows what I look like, Tosh. He's seen me here in the past - before we started talking – he's seen my pictures in the archives." Jack stared across at the survivors who were watching them cautiously and Tosh followed his gaze, letting out a small sob of understanding.

"If he was here, I'd be holding him already," Jack murmured.