Through a Hyperspace Looking Glass Chapter 7: Fear
"Oh crap!" Jack said as he pulled up the video from the deep cellars. A thin man dressed enterially in tight black leather was marching toward the camera.
"What's wrong Jack?" Gwen asked, looking over his shoulder. The guy looked pretty good but something about him made her uneasy.
"It's Joseph Howard, former time agent."
"Oh crap!" Gwen and Ianto said at once.
"Worse. This guy was thrown out of the agency for excessive measures. He once set off a nova just to flush out a suspect."
"That's insane!" Andria gasped.
"That's not what's worrying me. This guy can wirelessly access any electronics within fifty feet. If he can get to the first level of cells he can break the temporal lock down."
"How did he get here?" Erwin asked.
"He was captured by Torchwood shortly before I was recruited. I have no idea how they took him down without vaporizing him but they did. When I took over I reset the timer on his cryo module to let him out about three minutes before the earth explodes." He typed some keys, bringing up a diagnostic log."Looks like the temporal lock down during the Dalek incident tripped the timer."
"So, how do we deal with him?" Gwen asked, strapping her tac harness on again.
"I'm not sure. He has sub-dermal armor and an enhanced metabolism that allows him to repair light damage quickly."
"Maybe I can help." All eyes turned to look at Erwin as he spoke,"Just tell me whether or not you want him alive."
Jack smiled,"He should have been killed, not captured. He has no place in this universe."
"Done." Erwin put a hand to Andria's cheek and then headed for the stairs.
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Erwin sealed the last door behind himself and welded the bolts closed. No matter what happened he had to hold this door, past the next staircase was close enough for Howard to access the main network and release the lock down.
Then he went to work, if the estimates held he would have five minutes to prepare the hall for his guest. First he established three layers of one way force fields along the area, then he vanished and reappeared in six different places as holograms were activated. Finally he dimmed the lights and spawned twelve small flyer holo-demons. With his interference set he settled back into the shadows and started searching for his opponent.
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"What the hell?" Jack asked as the entire group watched the video feed."Is it just me or did he just become six of him?"
"Did you know he could do that?" Gwen asked Andria.
"I've seen him use that ship of his to take down two Borg cubes on his own. But nothing like this" She answered.
"What?" The Doctor asked.
"The Borg are a long story. But the cubes he destroyed were each about a thousand times the size of his ship." She answered,"Then there was the time he walked into a ten-thousand degree plasma injector room without any protection other than his personal shield."
"Damn, and you brought him in here?" Jack turned to the Doctor.
"I had no idea, but I did say this guy doesn't belong in this universe." The Doctor put up his hands to ward off the verbal assault.
"Well, I just hope he doesn't cause too much damage down there." Jack returned his view to the screen as the door at the far end opened.
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Joseph Howard was pissed. He had been put on ice for way too long, and now it was time for some pay back. He opened the door and was rather surprised to see six copies of the exact same person standing in a room filled with so much EM interference it made his eyes hurt.
Whoever this Torchwood shit was he was going to regret getting in the way of Captain Joseph Howard.
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Erwin finally found the entry point into this guy's wetware. His copies giggled as he found a simple trinary system.
"What are you laughing at chrome dome?" Howard growled out.
The idiot couldn't feel Erwin gently inserting a cyber-virus into his buffer. In about five minutes this guy would be cowering on the floor from images only he could see.
"Are you going to answer me or not?" Howard was getting aggravated with the silent treatment.
"I'm just thinking how tasty my holo-demons are going to find you."
"Bring it on."
The demons sped forward, not even bothering to dodge the former time agent's swings. One of the demons solidified and bit into the agent's shoulder. He howled as hot pain shot through his entire upper quarter. The organelles ripped through his armor and got into his circulatory system. The agent let out another howl and rushed at the nearest copy.
He was rather unsurprised to see his fist pass through the holo and sink into the wall behind it. The illusion vanished and another demon bit into his extended arm.
He ran at the next illusion, passing right through the force field. Erwin raised an eyebrow from his hiding place and dropped the effort of keeping the fields up. He redoubled his efforts to hack the guys robust but simple firewall.
Howard punched into another copy and was rewarded with six more bites. The organelles in his system were reaching critical mass, soon it would be too late.
After destroying the third illusion the angered time agent could feel his movements getting sluggish, like it was taking more effort to make his muscles respond.
Erwin dropped the last of his effects and stepped out in front of his would be assailant. The time agent staggered toward the new target and was about to lay the little shit out when he felt his whole body lock up.
Erwin started circling his victim,"So, what should I do with you now? Jack told me enough about you to give me every reason to kill you."
Howard's eyes went wide at the name of his former associate. If Jack was in charge of this place then he was totally screwed,"But wait, we can work something out."
"Quiet." Howard's voice died as his vocal cords stopped working."In about ten seconds you will see things that will drive you insane, just before you explode."
Erwin turned and unsealed the door leading to the upper levels."So, if you will excuse me, better luck in your next life."
He closed the door as the screams started.
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The entire team watching the video feed was stunned to see the former time agent start screaming as Erwin left the room. He fell to his knees, clawing out his eyes in a spray of blood. Then there was a flash and the video went dead as the promised explosion consumed Joseph Howard.
A moment later Erwin reappeared from the dungeons looking tired and strained. He walked over and collapsed onto the couch.
Andria finally broke the spell of shock and rushed to him,"Are you okay Erwin?"
"Will be, just as soon as Jack releases the lock down and I can reconnect to my ship."
She looked at him with mixed emotions,"You know, this is the third time you've collapsed today. It's starting to get old."
He grinned,"Rough day." He swiveled his head to see Jack,"If you don't mind."
Jack blinked for a moment,"Oh!" He punched some keys and the Hub rejoined the regular flow of time.
Erwin seemed to perk up at once, but only shifted enough to lay his head in Andria's lap,"If you don't mind, my dear, I'm just gonna take a little nap now." He was asleep before she could protest. She did the only thing she could and started stroking his scoured head as he slept.
Gwen was torn between the sweet scene of obvious love and the absolutely calm brutality shown on the monitor. She turned to see the other three men still staring in shock. She nudged Ianto and motioned for them to head into the next room. Ianto tapped Jack and Jack grabbed The Doctor. The four moved into the conference room before speaking.
"Damn,"Ianto started,"I would hate to be on the receiving end of his anger."
"You can say that again." Gwen agreed as he started pouring coffee."Who knew a human could handel that kind of power."
"He can't." The Doctor said.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked as he motioned for the group to sit.
"He has a very advanced set of bioware implanted in his body. It runs parallel to his spine, as well as down each arm. It uses some kind of zero point energy generation to produce those effects." He took a sip of coffee,"There are only two drawbacks I can find. One is the terrible concentration it takes to cast his spells. And the other is a tendency toward darkness."
"Darkness?" Gwen asked.
"It influences him to do things in the most unkind way possible. He doesn't have to worry about it most of the time, but with a situation like that, he can either fight it or go with it."
"So that display was not his normal personality?" Ianto inquired.
"I don't think so."Jack said,"He seems like a good enough guy. You two were laughing with him just before this happened. Did you think he was capable of what he did?" Gwen and Ianto shook their heads. Jack continued,"That's what we mean. He is a nice guy, but if you piss him off, or threaten his friends, his bioware shifts his tendencies in that direction."
The four sat in silence for a long moment until Ianto set his cup down,"I'm gonna get us some pizza,"He said standing up."What does everyone want?"
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"Thanks for the help Jack, Doctor." Erwin and Andria shook hands with the pair before climbing into his ship and lifting. The quantum filament had formed just on the other side of Luna and should pull itself in behind them.
"What do you think the next reality will hold?" Andria asked as she hugged him.
"Who knows. But with our luck it'll be trouble."
"Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure."
"I hope so, but if we keep going like this we will eventually find ourselves up against an unsurmountable obstacle."
"Do you think it was smart to let them have all those plans?" She asked as they sat on the couch, preparing for the jump.
"They did help us, and it will be at least thirty years before they can use it. Unless they get another brain on the team like that last one." He initiated the jump.
"Whatever is next, here we go."
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Here's chapter seven. Sorry about the long delay, but had some others to work on.
Thanks to my wife for reviewing for me.